August 9 marks the one-year anniversary of our friend David Rakoff’s death. We commemorate his life with a special two-part episode. Part 1 features his Person and Place; Part 2 his Thing, and a terrific bonus story—”what he called, “the meanest thing I ever said about anyone… intentionally.”

From Randy: Person Place Thing began as a radio show for WAMC, all studio recordings. When I wanted to try doing shows on stage, I invited my friend David Rakoff to be the first guest, an experiment to see if the thing would work in front of a live audience. It wasn’t much of a test. David was, characteristically, so amusing, so insightful, so charming, that he would have made any format a delight. We could have done the show on ice, and he’d have flourished. We recorded this on March 14, 2012; David died on August 9. I miss him.

• PERSON: Richard Halliburton– adventurer and writer, a glamorous figure famous in the thirties.
• PLACE: The lobby of the Daily News building– like Halliburton, a deco gem.