Christopher Guest & David Nichtern’s Lifelong Friendship On 'Good Friend'

Jamie Lee Curtis is exploring the idea of friendship on her podcast Good Friend. What does it mean to be a “good friend?” How are friendships started and deepened over time? She sits down with some of her own good friends, as well as people she’s never met, to find out about these fascinating and unique relationships. On this episode, she talks with her husband, screenwriter and musician Christopher Guest and his best friend from childhood, David Nichtern. David’s mother actually introduced Christopher’s parents to each other, and the boys were born only two weeks apart, so “we’ve had kinship, or friendship, literally since the day of birth,” David says.

But we all know a friend we had as a kid because our moms were friendly; those relationships don’t always remain as the kids get older and develop their own personalities. So the real “connective tissue” between Christopher and David is music. Independently, they both started listening to bluegrass music, which wasn’t super popular in New York City. “But we fell in love with it at about the same time, and it really was a powerful thing,” Christopher says. They played together for years and even had a band together called Voltaire’s Nose in high school. 

But friendship isn’t about having the exact same interests and goals. Many of Jamie’s conversations have been about how two people can have very different priorities and lifestyles that separate them for months or even years, but when they come together again, it’s as if not a day has passed. David and Christopher still play music together, but live very different lives. “I don’t like friends who do exactly what I do. The idea of being able to absorb somebody’s else’s experience….I’m very interested in hearing them talk about it,” David says. “It’s a big world, you can’t cover it by yourself. You gotta have friends.” Hear their entire fascinating conversation on this episode of Good Friend.

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