Sarah Kay & Phil Kaye "An Origin Story"

some of you may have noticed that Phil and I have the same last name we look kind of vaguely similar to each other so whenever we travel around together usually the first question we get asked is whether we're brother and sister and the answer is no no and then they want to know if we're married and the answer is also no and they want to know if we're dating if we have dated and we will native or secretly dated one of us who did the other boaters burglar in the friendship all of which is a resounding no ha no the true story is that I grew up in New York City and Phil grew up in California on the opposite side of the country and neither one of us knew that the other person he existed until we got to college and we ended up going to the same University and in the very first week of our freshman year at college there was an orientation talent show in this talent show Phil perform spoken word poetry and I've performed spoken word poetry and that's where we met and we realized that we had the same last name and we said oh what a weird coincidence and pretty soon all of these other weird coincidences started to unravel around us and at this point in our friendship we basically got used to all of them but whenever we go somewhere new we like to share in the story because we think it's at least a little bit of an explanation for what's going on here this is all true it started with a sweater I was looking fly first day of college orientation as a freshman and I'm the type of guy who's always trying to make a good impression he looked like a tool and it's the first week of school so I've got people to meet and things to try I don't have time to waste on this guy loitering backstage and a talent show it started with a freshman talent show a chance to showcase what I know about spoken word and poetry try to get some people to notice me it started with a technical difficult some sort of delay somebody's iPod track wouldn't play I'm stuck waiting backstage and I noticed this girl and he walks over stupid sweater and all there was nowhere to run backstage was too small I'm so nervous about going onstage then I decided to strike up a conversation sorry I completely got ahead of myself I totally skipped introductions my name is Sarah Kay my name is Phil Kay I'm from California born and raised in NYC let's see fun fact about me my mom is Japanese and my dad is Jewish not a common combination but I think it's kind of cute people call me Japanese Ashkenazi Kamikaze and come December Hanukkah and Christmas plus you should taste my mother's brisket Jan kalamarez matzo ball soup with noodles brings my father Geoffrey to his knees it took mom Ranko and dad Michael to raise this linky cockeyed half-breed well I think that's it my mom my dad had me Oh plus my little brother he's 19 my little sister is a deadpan firecracker she's only 19 but it keeps me on track part of her name is Sarah my brother's name is Philip anyway where was I was started with a backstage interact no it started with the backwards first impression okay well I'll tell you where it didn't start it didn't start a fifth grade summer that's true it did not start a junior guards even though we were both there which are matching uniforms red bathing suits white t-shirts visors and our counselor mr. Johnson who probably figured that the shy girl in his morning class and the skinny kid in his afternoon class were cousins probably thought we carpooled over together in between family photo shoots and fourth of July barbecue and instead we merely coexisted almost met but always missed is spinning round like two sides of a coin look we've done the research and we swear we're not really and we've never dated and we're never ever going to because what are the chances of finding someone with your last name Japanese and Jewish with siblings called the same the odds of finding someone can finish your sentences well let you cut in line knows not to just lend a hand or an ear when you need them to give you their spine who is woman enough to be best man at your wedding who will keep every secret same every letter tell you how you really look remember every single one of your birthday without checking facebook what are the odds of finding someone who knows your poetry by heart who won't freak out if you're hanging out and accidentally fart yeah and if you have a date and you need to look fresh I will let you borrow my new products if you don't have a date and you need to look fresh I will let you borrow my cousin I always see you for the alligoon I've always save you as I will always pick you to be my partner even though you are terrible at handball when the fire takes all you have my home will be your home when you are old I can no longer remember my face I will meet you for the first time again and again when they make fun of your accent I will take you swimming because we also the same underwater when Ellis Island tries to erase your past I will call you by your real name when they call your number for the draft I will enlist a fight beside you and I will march with you from Selma to Montgomery and back as many times as a team we will stand together and against the hoses and the dogs because it didn't start with us started with Lennon and McCartney started with Thelma and Louise Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robert and Ernie Abbot and Costello Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are you Louise Watson and Sherlock get you and Charizard and they can tell you what a miracle this is they could tell you how rare this is that they could tell you how to wear a friendship always the chances are slim cards are always stacked against you the odds are always low but I see the best of you and the worst of you and I choose both I want to share every single one of your Sunshine's and save something for later I will tuck them into my pockets so I can give them back to you and the rains fall hard friend I want to be the mirror that reminds you to love yours I want to be the air in your lungs that reminds you to breathe easy when the walls come down and the Thunder rumbles when nobody else is home hold my hand and I promise I won't let go you

Channel: speakeasynyc

Views: 3,355,834

Keywords: SarahKay, PhilKaye, ProjectVOICE, spokenwordpoetry

Id: esgfG3BoAPc

Length: 6min 51sec (411 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 29 2012