Commenter lormac, responding to my having outed myself as a New Girl fan, says: “I feel like I could have lunch with Zooey Deschanel and and she would not make me feel like sh-t. Somehow I think that if I had lunch with Marissa Mayer, she would make it a point to make me feel that way.” I don’t totally agree with that last part but I do get it. MM doesn’t come off particularly huggy, but I’d guess that’s just her highly practiced corporate smoothness. Still, it got me thinking: of all the women who’ve been on the pop-culture radar lately, who’d be your lunchtime dream date? Like for instance, might it be:
Unlikely feminist icon Katie Holmes?
Beautiful, brilliant cypher Huma Abedin?
The polarizing Ms. Mayer?
The endlessly entertaining Lena Dunham? Or one of the many others who fascinate and delight us?
Also: which women terrify but deeply obsess you? Like you’d want to have lunch with them, but only if your best friend was there too?
Zaha Hadid. I am so in love with her work but she is supposed to be a terrifying human + I think she has done recent work for some pretty awful people.
Jenny Holzer. I would vomit from intimidation.
And Kim! We all wanna eat lunch with you but I’ll bring the rest of the girls from here because I will have like, pudding on my shirt and you will look all perfect and the rest of the girls can make me feel ok about this!
Even pre-husband scandal, I thought Huma Abedin was a pretty fascinating character.
Christiane Amanpour can do no wrong in my eyes, but my best friend would have to be there to keep me from babbling like a crazed spider monkey.
I would be proud to be the first to respond. What’s really important is that the lunch companion is not the type of woman who would spend the entire lunch looking around to see if there is anyone else in the room with whom she would prefer to be chewing chicken salad. Or checking her watch and wondering when she could gracefully leave this non-celeb (sigh)lunch. Or be too guarded to really dish (that probably leaves out Ms. Holmes). Here would be a short list of preferred female lunch companions:
1. Sigourney Weaver (intelligent conversation guaranteed)
2. Dolly Parton (I just know she would be a hoot)
3. Alexandra Fuller (she of authoress fame)
4. Pink (she of songstress fame)
5. Sue Grafton (to find out what happened to V)
6. Kathleen Madigan (if she does non-smoking lunches)
I am totally sitting at the Dolly Parton table
Me too!
We will need a big table, full of drinks. Because lunch with Dolly? Everyone will want to be there. Count me in!
Ditto.
Oh my God, me too! Then a little Sigourney time to calm me down.
Emma Stone. But I fear I would spend the whole time telling her how pretty she is and actively resisting petting her shiny hair.
I would love to have lunch with:
(1) Elizabeth Warren (Would be a majorly inspiring and eye-opening lunch)
(2) Rachel Maddow (Seems down to earth, and wicked smart)
(3) Amy Sedaris (bc you just don’t know what she would do next)
(4) Doris Kearns Godwin (I want to hear about LBJ, and she’s a good storyteller)
(5) Jenny Allen (she did a show off-Broadway called “I Got Sick Then I Got Better” that was smart, irreverent and funny. I liked the way she talked to the audience like she was sitting next to them at a dinner party)
Hasn’t Doris K G passed on? Not meaning she can’t be a dream lunch date.
She seems to be alive and doing speaking tours…(phew!)
Thanks. I wonder who I’m thinking of…
Being a “girl of a certain age” I was thinking of Katherine Graham! She would have been an excellent lunch date.
Good question! I feel like I should have better answers than this, but:
1) ditto, Rachel Maddow & Amy Sedaris
2) Hilary Clinton
3) Martha Stewart
4) Emily Henderson (HGTV)
5) Whoever Ryan Gosling is dating in hopes that he drops her off.
OOooooohhh, Martha. You are brave, girl.
Hilary, always Hilary.
What she said.
Oprah & Gayle — to discuss OWN programming.
For starters, maybe they could bring back “Girlfriends.” With Toni.
Lately I’ve been enjoying Single Ladies on VH1, but it’s not quite as good. Fun, though.
Lunch dates: Lisa Ling. She’s amazing. So’s her sister.
1.) Margaret Atwood (we share the same birthday and I love her work). To quote LK, my best friend would have to be there because I would babble on “like a crazed spider monkey.” LK, I LOVE this description.
2.) Kim. Over brunch with a whole bunch of ladies from this blog and my circle of friends because you just give off this really nice, super cool vibe.
3.) Bethenny Frankel. She is hilarious and determined–two qualities I love in people. Plus, I think she’d be a riot over lunch.
4.) Emma Stone. Totally agree with Kfletch. Emma gives off this down-to-earth vibe and seems like she’d be a good partner in crime for such shenanigans as kareoke.
5.) Kate Middleton. Just to see what kind of hat she’d wear and if Prince Harry would drop by for dessert.
6.) Winona Ryder.
Liz, did you see?!?! Soooo cool http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/ww350/how_writing_moves/
Oooh, good list! Definitely down with the Bethenney.
Hands down Lena! So funny, smart and talented. She may be a young hipster but I feel it in my bones she wouldn’t make me feel lame even though I’m a 39 year old whatever opposite of hipster is.
p.s. And the Fug Girls. Their blog and YA books ROCK.
ditto the Fug Girls. Love them
Me three about Amy Sedaris. Along with Jennifer Saunders and the Fug girls. We would drink lots of champagne cocktails, look at fashion magazines, and then craft something.
Dammit; I forgot about Jennifer Saunders!! Good catch.
I also forgot Bette Midler and Kathy Griffin – altho both of those are dicey.
I was a little afraid that I would have been bothering Hillary with my luncheon invitation. I am so proud of the rest of you girls n(o.a.c.a.) who just strutted on up and asked her to lunch. Hee.
Bette!!! No offense but I’d step on a lot of these others to get to her lunch table.
I usually keep a running list of women I’d want to have lunch or a stiff drink with…so here is a combo:
1) Terrifying Lunch Date: Hillary (But I expect to be uplifted post-date)
2) Fun Lunch Date: I’d have to vote Oprah and Gayle, but they could discuss whatever.
3) Stiff Drink: Fiona Apple. Not sure that we would even say much to each other, though
4) Another Stiff Drink, but with a nibble or two: Ina Garten. She seems like fun.
5) OK, one more drink: Dolly…thanks for the reminder of my love of her, @lormac.
xx
I have to say I’ve fallen in love all over again with Hillary Clinton due to the Texts from Hillary tumblr (http://textsfromhillaryclinton.tumblr.com/). When she blasted China and Russia for their failure to use their influence on Syria to stop the massacres, I actually clapped my hands with happiness that we have a Secretary of State who tells it like it is. I wouldn’t want to schedule the lunch until she has had a chance to catch up on her sleep, and then I would like to meet up over comfort food in sweat pants and talk about everything.
Of those you mentioned, Huma Abedin. No contest. She is both elegant and intelligent.
But what the hell would I wear???
Oh wait– let’s not forget Caitlin Moran!
And Nora Ephron (RIP) but she would’ve been great
I’m not really obsessed with/terrified of anyone, but I would absolutely love to have dinner, lunch, coffee, whatever with:
Gloria Steinem
Hillary Clinton
Michelle Obama
Stevie Nicks
Chrissie Hynde
Lorna Simpson
Betye Saar
Dolly Parton (She would be a hoot and is also very shrewd. I would love to pick her brain on how she built her businesses.)
Rachel Maddow (she seems to have a good sense of humor, is upbeat and is very intelligent.)
Hillary Clinton (I would be absolutely terrified but inspired.)
Martha Stewart (To see if I could find out a little about how she built her brand)
And Cate Blanchet (I am a huge fan.)
am i the first to say madonna?! she’s kind of insufferable but it would be interesting to hear how she’s dealing w/ lourdes.
What a great topic! As a photography and film buff, I would have to go with Shirin Neshat, Deepa Mehta, Cindy Sherman, Nan Goldin and Sylvia Plachy (or anyone of that group). I would completely shut down but would be silently hoping that an ounce of their talent would seep into my cells.
I was at a party with Nan Goldin earlier this summer and she told stories about shooting in sex clubs, ankle deep in “fluids,’” with her baby daughter strapped into a snugli. Everybody at the party got drunk (it happened to be her birthday) and my understanding is that she woke up the next morning in the shrubbery. Fantastic lady.
This is a great thread. I did something like this on my FB page and had my friends list their current girl crushes. Here’s my list:
Amy Poehler (just to hear her re-tell the story of first meeting Jimmy Fallon)
Ina Garten (she would cook for me and we’d eat lunch at her kitchen table in East Hampton)
Kate Middleton (do you think she would let me brush her hair?)
Anna Quindlen (her writing taught me so much about standing up for myself and others)
Jennifer Garner (we are about the same age with young children and I just know we’d hit it off)
Is it possible the Judith Martin (AKA Miss Manners) could be as hilarious in person as she is in print?
Love this one! Great pick. Maybe throw Carolyn Hax in and let them mix it up…
Or maybe they could armwrestle the new NYT Mag advice guy. Not sure I like him. (But he’s new, I’ll give him a while.)
My pick for lunch at a delicious, fun sushi place is Kristen Chenowith.
I would be terrified so my cool best friend lunch would be with me: at lunch with Katherine Jackson. We would probably get a quiet booth at the same sushi place…upstairs
I’ve decided I’m also lunching with Anna Wintour, because there is no way in hell she will eat her fries so I’m stealing them. SO many people picked Amy Sedaris, please ask her about getting busted for cyber bullying because I would love to hea that story.
You guys, we should also invite Meryl, no one has invited Meryl!
Joan Rivers. No need to bring a friend, we will become best friends.
Excellent choice!
This will seem the like the assiest ass-kissy response, but I have to say my pick would be you, Kim France! I’d already had a kid when Sassy was in print and I read it ALL the time, thinking that had to be about the coolest bunch of gals anywhere. I loved Lucky, too – once upon a time. I’d be so interested in a boozy lunch where I could ask about what was going on in your glamorous NYC life while I was being a school teacher, wife, and mom.
Tina Fey (though I bet she plays it close to the vest)
Emily McCombs & Jane Pratt from xojane.com (love a good overshare)
Melissa McCarthy
Miranda July
Lizz Winstead
RUNNER-UP – Janeane Garafolo (but not if she makes me feel bad about ordering something non-vegan)
Terry Gross. That way I could just nod and say, “Really? He said that?”
Rachel Dratch, because I loved her book and I think we’re simpatico.
Carolyn Hax, the Washington Post’s advice columnist.
Gillian Flynn, the author of “Gone Girl,” because I have a LOT of questions for her about her book.
Geena Davis! And though lunch would be good, I’d like to have been a fly on the wall during a Lucky editorial meeting, say 2005ish.
Chrissie Hynde (she was my idol after the first Pretenders album came out)
Kim Gordon (another amazing artist/musician/creator)
Patti Smith (enough said)
Tracy Emin (artist bad-ar$e)
1) Tina Fey, my totally huge non-stalking girl crush
2) Lisa de Moraes, the TV columnist for the Washington Post, because she is hilarious and we could dish about pop culture
3) Amy Poehler, because if she and Tina were both at lunch, we could just sit back and laugh
4) Emma Stone, because she seems super cool
5) Kerry Washington, ditto
6) Sandra Bullock, ditto
Heidi Klum. But I’d have to find an attractive bib to catch all my drool.
Would love to just listen to Jennifer Egan, Marilyn Robinson, and Meryl Streep
And Tina Fey
1) Anne Lamott
2) Kristen Wiig
3) Ann Curry