in this episode, norman reads live from the halfmoon bar from "the ass's tale," by john farris. farris was norman's mentor from the day they met until the day he died. "the ass's tale" was the only novel he published. the broadcast is punctuated by the handful of bar patron's who refused to leave or shut up and listen. one of them even turned out the lights so that there's a pause while norman goes to turn them back. this is all fine. farris was an inveterate barfly and this spirit lives on through the chaos of this - his birthday - broadcast.