John Lithgow: A Confederacy of Dumptys

John Lithgow’s acclaimed acting career has seen him star in shows like “3rd Rock from the Sun” and “The Crown” and films such as Bombshell and The World According to Garp.

In his newest collection of satirical poems and illustrations, Lithgow expertly tracks the dark and lyrical stories of 25 “American Scoundrels.”

Join us as award-winning actor, author and illustrator John Lithgow presents the stories of both long-forgotten figures and the bad actors of today.

NOTES

Photo by Robert Zuckerman.

OCTOBER 7, 2021

SPEAKERS

John Lithgow
Actor; Author and Illustrator, A Confederacy of Dumptys: Portraits of American Scoundrels in Verse

Melissa Caen
Attorney; Political Analyst

The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum 📣, bringing together its 20,000 members for more than 400 annual events on topics ranging across politics, culture, society and the economy.

Founded in 1903 in San Francisco California 🌉, The Commonwealth Club has played host to a diverse and distinctive array of speakers, from Teddy Roosevelt in 1911 to Hillary Clinton in 2010. Along the way, Martin Luther King, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton have all given landmark speeches at the Club.

[amcinternetsolutionsllc]

A modern day Dr Zeus.... awesome Lithgow, from creation to delivery, he hits the ball out of the park, , with flowing panache, he stands out and delivers, a rhyme for the ages to soothe our hurting soul...

[phyllisneal]

What a treat 💞 To hear John Lithgow once more, doing what he does best💞 Bravo, John! BRAVO!

[patj]

Kudos to the Common Wealth Club of CA for having on one of the absolute best, most talented actors ever. Mr. Lithgow is a joy to listen to.

[arezooshaytoon]

Aside from being a wonderful brilliant actor its ALWAYS wonderful to just listen to him. He is fascinating to listen to.

[Chereese]

I absolutely love everything about John Lithgow.
He's a great artist too.
Who knew.
I'd love to have a conversation with him.
He's very interesting.
Brilliant man.
Great interview, Thank you very much!

[helenromanelli]

OMG...I love this man. He is a wordsmith without peer. His eloquence is so exquisitely on target as to make us wince even as we laugh. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[patstevens]

Absolutely genius! Somehow the phrase “a Roald Dahl for grownups” came to my mind - you are a wordsmith of great caliber! The proof is in the pudding, a pudding with a standard of its own. Can only be compared to itself. So excuse the comparison to Mr Dahls. Thanks a lot! You made my day.

[swisskiwi]

Lovely man. The type of person everybody would love to meet bc you can just see that he is genuine.
Well done Mr Lithgow! 👏

[d.thurston]

He has such a clever wit and stately manner. I loved him in 3rd Rock and his movies, immensely talented.

[karwalker]

Thanks to brilliant John Lithgow and to his wife and others who encourage him in his new talent! Love him as an actor. Creepery should be infamous.

[strangepattie]

How many people can say, “Acting is my day job”?

[hieroglyphictributes]

Pure delight! Thank John for so succinctly summing up these vile characters and imparting your delicious humour in rhyme. 😊👍

[agny]

John's humility is something lost on alot of people today... I'm not religious whatsoever but as an ex-addict I know that humble pie is the only thing that can stop a snowballing catastrophe. More people should consider this

[fairwitness]

Shel Silverstein for grown-ups! I have loved John for a long as I can remember. What a spectacularly talented man!

[annajacob]

Spectacular! Such a joy to hear John Lithgow sharing his wonderful imagination, wit and humor. Love his words 🧡

[wer]

Your hard work has given a very valuable and truthful vision of our history. The artful giggles soften my anger with the harm created by these characters. Love and admiration for John's gifts to the world!

[aubreyaskew]

Always liked this man and his character acting but didn't know he was at this level of truth telling! Perfect description of the orange fool of an embarrassment of a president.Well done John!

[bettyfox]

I love his excellent intelligence and his warmth of speech. It’s fun to listen and smile for a while, even when we are truly sick of all of the offenses taken on our country, I can see the light around the world now❣️

[laurelrobbins]

I have loved John Lithgow for a very long time - his range of acting talent is impressive. I’m so happy that this aspect of his talent has shown itself. I love that he talks about satire - I believe that satire and sarcasm are the weapons of intellectuals. Unfortunately, so many people do not recognize these things for what they are, but we can certainly use them to evaluate people’s intelligence. Maybe if we make understanding both of these things a requirement for folks before they are allowed to run for office, we could make sure that they are smart enough to do the job.

[irishmade]

American kids will learn alot of their History while having fun. History can be boring but this will make it easy and easy to understand and remember. Well done John from Ireland 🇮🇪🇮🇪🇺🇸🇺🇸👍👍