Algonquin Round Table

This was a group of creatives that would meet for lunch at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City during the interwar period of the 1920s. Many of them were newspaper writers and columnists, and the subjects of their conversations were often printed in the papers of the day.

Later, several actors and performers joined the group, but the “membership” was always informal.

Why I Looked It Up

I encountered the term recently in a book, though I can’t remember which one.

Also, I always remember a throwaway scene from Friends where Joey is remembering all the times he didn’t understand something his friends were talking about. In a flashback, Chandler is seen speaking to the group:

I mean, it was like the Algonquin Kids Table.

All the friends laugh knowingly, while Joey is just confused. Here’s the scene.

Postscript

In the movie The Martian, a character comments on how long it’s going to take to send messages back and forth to Mars.

32-minute round trip communications time, all he can do is yes/no questions and all we can do is point the camera. This won’t exactly be an Algonquin round table of snappy repartee.