Welcome … to Blackbird Spyplane !!

We’re down to a final few tees and caps in our Spyplane Merch Sale, HERE. Cop & enjoy before they’re gone 4ever.

— Jonah & Erin

Ebon Moss-Bachrach — he’s a fantastic actor who does his d*mn thing, most recently, in The Bear, the smash-hit FX series about lovable f**ked-up people who make great sandwiches. The show centers on a hot young chef named Carmy who cooked at many Michelin-starred restaurants around the world, but then his brother, Michael, died and willed him the Chicago lunch spot. (Blackbird Spyfriend Matty Matheson is on the show, too.)

Ebon plays Cousin Richie, who — in a show where everybody yells insane s**t at each other constantly across a hot kitchen — probably yells the most, and yet his performance is multi-layered, very funny and, as the season goes on, sneakily moving … 🥲

The Bear just got picked up for a 2nd season. Later this month Ebon will pop up in Sharp Stick, the new film from Lena Dunham, who cast him as Desi in Girls a few years back. Next month he’s in the new Tony Gilroy Star Wars show, Andor. And you can also see him in a lil cameo way back when opposite tha god Gene Hackman in The Royal Tenenbaums…

Top, with Jeremy Alan White in *The Bear*; bottom, with Gene Hackman as a young moptop in *Royal Tenenbaums*.

More impressive than any of that ?? Ebon’s a longtime Blackbird Spyplane reader, which means his taste levels are certified Mach 3+. The other day we hit him up at [REDACTED ISLAND] in Greece, where he took his vacation to a whole new level by chopping it up with us about the magic of The Bear, hardware-store jelly fisherman’s sandals, custom-made linen summer suits …

… and the sublime power of “Old Greek Dude with a Pot Belly in a Bikini Combing his Hair at the Seashore” mindset.

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Blackbird Spyplane: Richie’s a fascinating part of The Bear — he’s a dirtbag coke dealer, he can be mad annoying and a big d*ckhead, but he also cares about ppl, reads sci-fi novels, which is tight, and represents the soul of the restaurant and the neighborhood in a complicated, poignant way. How do you see him?

Ebon Moss-Bachrach: “I guess I’m interested in characters that are not so immediately likeable — which is a good thing, because I seem to end up playing a bunch of them. The Bear is so much about grieving and loss, and when Michael dies, four months before the first episode takes place, Richie’s rocked. In my mind, growing up, he was adopted into the Berzatto family as this fourth kid — like, this big Italian family would put out another plate for Richie. So he loses his magnetic north, the neighborhood is changing, the restaurant is changing — I have so much sympathy for him. I understand the anger and the loss and the futility he feels, that feeling of powerlessness and disenfranchisement that makes you want to yell and scream and take up as much space as you can.”

Ebon as Richie referencing *Blade Runner* on *The Bear* in the classic Member’s Only jacket. R.I.P. Modell’s, too.

Blackbird Spyplane: Richie has a locked-in uniform — high-top Adidas, fantastic track pants, and when he’s not working, a wild black Member’s Only jacket. What do his outfits reflect about the character?

Ebon Moss-Bachrach: “We had great costume designers, Courtney and Cristina, and we were all coming from the same place. I take costumes really seriously, so sometimes those meetings can be tense — I try to go in diplomatic, take a breath outside the wardrobe room and say, ‘Ebon, listen to what they have to say, don’t be an a**hole.’ But this time we were completely simpatico. Before I went in, just to myself, I was like, I see Richie in Adidas high-tops — and when I walked in, there was this row of 10 beautiful Adidas high-tops already there.

“The track pants were important to me. I’m not sure what the Chicago equivalent of Modell’s is, but I like to think basically everything Richie wears came from a store like that. I imagine my entire wardrobe cost exactly what one of those nice t-shirts that Carmy wears costs… And the Member’s Only jacket is incredible. It’s at least 20 years old and the shoulders are still so stiff. You could balance crates on them.”

Blackbird Spyplane: Tell me about how you dress. We have a mutual friend who got dinner with you a while back and she told me you showed up rocking a Democracy Now! hoodie with hiking boots and a fleece. She said, ‘It was a very Spyplane outfit’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, I own all those things, too.’”

Ebon Moss-Bachrach: “You have the Democracy Now! hoodie??”

Blackbird Spyplane: I have the cap. The same one Danny DeVito wears.

FYI if you own a Spyplane hat we used these same union-made caps. Also, Danny — come on Blackbird Spyplane!

Ebon Moss-Bachrach: “Man, my dream is to run into Danny DeVito one day when I’m wearing the hoodie. God bless him, and god bless Amy Goodman. As far as my style, it’s gotten narrower and narrower as I’ve gotten older. I can’t really wear anything with logos and graphics anymore, it’s mostly about plain t-shirts, plain jeans for me these days. I don’t know if it’s a graduation into a quieter way of living or something — it’s not like I care any less about clothes, but I’m appreciating more subtlety.

“Right now I’m in Greece, and whether it’s here or other places I’ve traveled, like Portugal or Spain or Mexico, I’m fascinated by the old men of these countries. These are the dudes with true elegance, and class and style. There aren’t any beaches where I’m staying, it’s just rocks, and yesterday I saw this guy climb up out of the sea — he had a little black bikini, big belly hanging over it, great tan, and I just watched him walk over to a plastic grocery bag. He reached in and he had two figs, a bottle of aftershave and a comb. He didn’t have a towel. And he took out his comb and just stared at the sea, running the comb over his head for like two minutes. It was like this communion between his own hair and the waves. It was beautiful. Then he ate a fig, splashed on some aftershave and made his way up the steps.”

Blackbird Spyplane: Holy s**t — you witnessed something profound.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach: “That was the coolest dude I’ve seen in a while.”

OK baby let’s crack a can of this Mythos and luxuriate in a Speedo

Blackbird Spyplane: Speaking of dudes looking resplendent in small bathing suits under the Grecian sun, you emailed over a pic of yrself enjoying a brewski in some Persols and very sexy Speedos, king — what’s the story with these?

Ebon Moss-Bachrach: “I have four pairs, in black and navy. They’re square-leg briefs they don’t make anymore — they updated the new ones so the stripes don’t go all the way up, and it ruined them for me. What I like is that they’re not banana-hammock Speedos. They give you a bit more coverage. I love spending time in the water, and I think back to how much time I wasted swimming with board shorts on — the fabric just dragging in the water behind you. It feels like you’re a boat with a hole in it.”

Jellies with a linen suit ?? I am 1000% swaggerjacking this look

Blackbird Spyplane: Next up is a look I’m already plotting how to swagger-jack from you — a great linen summer suit with some very sick jellies.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach: “I had the jellies in mind when I got the suit made. Which is something I’ve never done before. I went to Mr. Ned in New York, because we were gonna be traveling this summer for 2 months and I don’t like to pack much, so I wanted a good utilitarian traveling suit, where I can wear different shirts with it, go without the jacket, wear it all the time. A good friend of mine who’s really dapper has been going to Mr. Ned for a long time, so I said, ‘I gotta go, I need this specific thing I have clear in mind,’ and I was thinking of wearing jellies with a linen suit — one pleat, kind of baggy — that can go the distance and handle getting compressed in a bag, you know, like, pressed up against a tube of sunscreen.”

Blackbird Spyplane: That’s perfect. I haven’t ever been up to Mr. Ned…

Ebon Moss-Bachrach: “It’s this Old World, old New York kind of thing. You go up to the 4th floor of this place on 5th Avenue, and there’s this guy Vahram Mateosian, who runs it — the first thing he says when he sees me is ‘Royal Tenenbaums, I made your bellhop suit.’ And I’m like, ‘That was 20 years ago. How do you possibly remember that, or recognize me?’ I was blown away. He said, ‘In my business, you need an eye.’

“He was so wise — like, I told him, ‘I’ve never been crazy about khaki, I’m thinking gray,’ and he said, ‘I think you’re gonna regret that, it’s not a great color for your skin.’ He did a quarter lining since it’s for hot weather, and he put the pants-pockets at an angle because I actually put my hands in my pockets, and he has all these enormous binders full of fabrics. ”

Blackbird Spyplane: How much did it cost?

Ebon Moss-Bachrach: “It was around $1200. Which is similar to what you’ll pay for a decent off-the-rack suit, so I was surprised. It probably goes without saying but I’m turned off by fast fashion — it’s pretty evil stuff. And I don’t buy much new stuff anyway. I like finding things on eBay. So this was the first piece of clothing I bought new in a while.

“I got the jelly sandals at a hardware store in Mallorca a while ago. They’re hard to wear for a while — they cut you, so you have to put in the time and really earn it, but by now they’re super comfortable. They were something like 3 euros, just sitting in between the light bulbs and the twine and the locks.”

Copped at a hardware store in Mallorca… unbeatable

Blackbird Spyplane: I need to get some jellies again, man… My mom copped me a pair when I was a Lil Spyplane and I think there’s a pic of me on the beach rocking them at, like, age 6. As I got older, with my dumb-American blinkers on, I was like, ‘tHoSe ArE FoR gIrLs.’ It’s perfect that you found them at a hardware store, because in Europe you see older dudes, much like the fig-and-comb guy, looking great in them all the time …

Ebon Moss-Bachrach: “Yeah, over here they’re macho! I think it’s time for you to reclaim them.”

Season 1 of The Bear is streaming in full on Hulu here. Sharp Stick comes out July 29. Ebon is on Instagram here.

The Cla$$ified SpyTalk chat room is here, full of recommendations.

The Master Jawn Index, featuring earth’s best Spyplane-approved things, is here.

The Blackbird Spymall, full of rare gems, is here.

Our interviews with Jerry Seinfeld, Tyler, The Creator, Emily Bode, Online Ceramics, Seth Rogen, André 3000, Matty Matheson, Nathan Fielder, Lorde, John Mayer, Danielle Haim, Daniel Arnold, Thomas Mars from Phoenix, Phoebe Bridgers, Michael Stipe, Héctor Bellerín, John Wilson, Rashida Jones, Hayley Williams, Ezra Koenig and more are HERE.

Our brilliant, provocative & delightful essays are HERE.

Blackbird Spyplane

Swag secrets of the Mediterranean