SPOILER: Andrew Feldmar, psychotherapist, to be featured on “The Colbert Report”

Andrew Feldmar, a well-known Vancouver psychotherapist, made headlines earlier this year due to his unique problem at US Customs. Here is part of his story, courtesy of The Tyee:

LSD as Therapy? Write about It, Get Barred from US
BC psychotherapist denied entry after border guard googled his work.
By Linda Solomon
Published: April 23, 2007

…

Born in Hungary to Jewish parents as the Nazis were rising to power, Feldmar was hidden from the Nazis during the Holocaust when he was three years old, after his parents were condemned to Auschwitz. Miraculously, his parents both returned alive and in 1945 Hungary was liberated by the Russian army. Feldmar escaped from communist Hungary in 1956 when he was 16 and immigrated to Canada. He has been married to Meredith Feldmar, an artist, for 37 years, and they live in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood. They have two children, Soma, 33, who lives in Denver, and Marcel, 36, a resident of L.A. Highly respected in his field, Feldmar has been travelling to the U.S. for work and to see his family five or six times a year. He has worked for the UN, in Sarajevo and in Minsk with Chernobyl victims.

The Blaine border guard explained that Feldmar had been pulled out of the line as part of a random search. He seemed friendly, even as he took away Feldmar’s passport and car keys. While the contents of his car were being searched, Feldmar and the officer talked. He asked Feldmar what profession he was in.

When Feldmar said he was psychologist, the official typed his name into his Internet search engine. Before long the customs guard was engrossed in an article Feldmar had published in the spring 2001 issue of the journal Janus Head. The article concerned an acid trip Feldmar had taken in London, Ontario, and another in London, England, almost forty years ago. It also alluded to the fact that he had used hallucinogenics as a “path” to understanding self and that in certain cases, he reflected, it could “be preferable to psychiatry.” Everything seemed to collapse around him, as a quiet day crossing the border began to turn into a nightmare.

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It appears that Feldmar will be on ‘The Colbert Report’ tonight. Here’s the recap of the segment shoot from Feldmars son, also published in The Tyree.

CAUTION: POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR TONIGHT’S SHOW AFTER THE CUT

From The Tyee (and mad props for the story title):

Stephen Colbert Does My Dad
Sparked by a Tyee story, the TV satirist sent a crew to ‘do’ Andrew Feldmar. His son’s report.
By Marcel Feldmar
Published: August 20, 2007

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So, the way The Colbert Report seems to operate is pretty much to push as far towards the Conservative as possible in order to make it come across as just wrong. Jeff, the producer, does the interview, his assistant Aaron is there, a cameraman, and a sound guy. Jeff sits with Andrew and asks questions like “How does it feel to be a druggie?” “Where do you hide your stash?” and “Are you high right now?” I’m trying hard to not laugh out loud — and Andrew holds his own and hams it up — saying things like: “High? Yes, I am just over six feet high.” And “I’m not having flashbacks, you are.”

Thinking back on it, I can see how they could easily edit the clips into some crazy video mash-up of a crazy man in a nice house, but I’m just hoping they don’t make too much fun of us.

They have Andrew light and smoke a pipe while arguing about how he doesn’t smoke a pipe, stir a cup of tea for about three minutes, meditate, and listen to my iPod while looking a little blissed out. “Do it with great beatitude.” Jeff instructs. Little shots for what they call the “B” roll. Then, after having referred to me as a “Bongo Poet,” they do a little interview with me outside, asking if I was teased in school because my dad was a “hippie,” and if perhaps it was harder to mail drugs over the border now.

They do a shot of me holding my poetry chapbooks and then standing and looking cool outside.

I do mention my band, the Black Kites, saying how it is a shame that my dad can’t even see us play because he’s banned from entering the U.S. But who knows what will get cut.

They mention they might want to use some of our music, but nothing else is said about that so I don’t think it will happen. They might have used up their Canadian Drug Story budget on airplane tickets.

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