On a recent episode of After Midnight Kate Micucci was asked what she’s been up to and she said, “Painting garbage.” That made me laugh and I thought, yes, that’s something Kate Micucci would definitely do. Then, because I always second-guess myself, I regretted thinking that. I don’t know her personally, or anything about her, really, and I worried I was confusing her with the characters she’s played on shows like Scrubs and The Big Bang Theory: eccentric, funny, a bit childlike. Of course I knew her first from Garfunkel & Oates and the songs she sang with Riki Lindhome about anal sex and handjobs and, um, What’s Gonna Happen to Chris. Of course there are also her more recent solo songs about buckets of beans and the grocery store which are songs I’d play for my kids if I had kids. The point is, however, that she’s an actress and while she has a wide range I don’t want to risk assuming who she is privately is anything like the characters she plays publicly.
She really does paint garbage in the alley next to her house, though, and her videos of painting abandoned refrigerators and other trash are both hilarious and genuinely moving.
She’s also been very open about her cancer diagnosis. The good news is she’s doing well. She made a short video in December after her surgery which, again, as much as I don’t want to assume anything about her as a real person, seems like the funny, silly sort of thing a Kate Micucci character would do.
Maybe she’s been scared, maybe she’s been angry—she does say “I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life”—or maybe she dealt with cancer with the good-natured stoicism she showed and has put it behind her now. She does seem like she’s fine, but I don’t know and I’m not going to even speculate. I know from experience what it feels like to have cancer and have people tell you how you should feel, how you should react. But the only should in cancer is that each of us should be allowed to deal with it in whatever way feels right to us. So my message to Kate, and anyone else, is only this: I hope you’re doing well.
@katiemicucci The whole fridge! ☀️ #artistsoftiktok #summer2024 #trash #painting #fypage
A song about anal sex and handjobs? What a time to be alive. lol
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Even better: they’re separate songs. One is about anal sex and one is about being bad at handjobs.
Oh, I love her! Didn’t know she painted garbage but the video was so much fun! I hope she continues to stay well too!
I have many friends, men and women, who tell me they have a crush on Kate Micucci. I just like to say, and this is in no way a euphemism, that I’d just like to do a ukulele duet with her.
I hope she is doing well, Chris, and you too. My husband Michael often says that my songs remind him of Garfunkel & Oates even though they’re apparently about very different subjects. Thanks, as always, for keeping it real.