No narration. Just speech.
"Thank you for coming."
"It's a pleasure to be here."
"It's great to have you here. Before we begin, I just have to ask about that jacket."
"Yeah, this is my wife's idea."
"Your wife put that on you?"
"No, she encouraged me to develop my own personal style."
"And that's what you came up with?"
"I mean, if I'm going to be choosing my clothes on purpose, I may as well choose ones that make me stand out, right?"
"They certainly do that."
"Good. It's working."
"Now, you were recently spotted out with a few certain movie stars."
"I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific, because I like to brag."
"In this picture, that's you, and that's Brie Larson and Joe Manganiello."
"That's right."
"What's going on in this picture?"
"Now, here's the thing about that. It may seem obvious, but when you meet a movie or TV star, they are not who they play on screen. Brie Larson can't actually fly through space, and Joey Man doesn't have to deal with vampires on a regular basis. But he is that shredded. That part's true."
"But he doesn't use those muscles to fight the forces of evil?"
"I'll be honest, I've never seen True Blood, so I don't know what he does on it. But just because, say, Michael Cera always plays awkward people on screen, that doesn't mean he's awkward in real life, right?"
"Of course."
"Even me here in this interview, this is related to who I really am, but even this is a performance."
"How so?"
"Well, I'm out here to promote my book..."
"We'll get to it, don't worry!"
"And that means I need to present myself as being funny and approachable. I need to tell amusing stories to make people find me relatable, and at some point I need to reveal something that seems like a very intimate detail about my life, to create sympathy. And everything I say here will be at least mostly true, but it's all crafted very carefully to draw people in so they're more likely to buy my books."
"But what does that mean about your jacket?"
"It means that most of what I said about it was true, but the punchline may be different. Perhaps I chose it specifically so that you'd feel compelled to ask about it, so I could tell that story? Or maybe I was in a rush and grabbed the first thing that fit me from Value Village. The point is, it led to a story and an audience laugh, which was exactly what it was meant to do."
"I think I need a drink."
"I think we all do. And if everyone will reach under your seats... there's nothing there. Sorry about that, it's a budget thing. Blame him."
"Hey, I didn't promise them anything."
"And that was your error."
"Anyway, you wrote a book, and I have it here; it's called Head Ripper: Getting Away with Everything. What's this book about?"
"So this is a children's book... I'm kidding. This is a political intrigue set in the late '90s, around the Bill Clinton impeachment."
"So, it's maybe a little topical."
"Maybe a little. It's fiction, and it's trying to speculate about what might have happened if America had had to go to war during the impeachment proceedings."
"So it's a happy book."
"It's a comedy, obviously. There's a character in there that's based on my late father, so it's also a very personal book to me."
"I see. And is that character a hero or a villain in this book?"
"A little of both? Everyone in the story is some shade of gray, so there isn't anyone in it who's wholly one or the other."
"Much like real life."
"Speak for yourself, I'm delightful."
"Head Ripper: Getting Away with Everything is on shelves now. David Norris, everyone! We'll be right back after this."
2020-06-22 · Boss Music Intensifies
2020-06-15 · Accept the Unexpected
2020-06-08 · Failing The Test
2020-06-01 · Best Laid Plans
2020-05-25 · The End?
2020-05-18 · The Only Explanation
2020-05-11 · Personal Victory
2020-05-04 · Six Questions
2020-04-27 · It's A Team Effort
2020-04-20 · The More Things Change
2020-04-13 · It's All About Perspective
2020-04-06 · Fake It 'Til You Make It
2020-03-30 · Keeping It Clean
2020-03-23 · How To Save The World
2020-03-16 · Time For A Change
2020-03-09 · Music To My Ears
2020-03-02 · Unfamiliar Territory
2020-02-24 · Something From Nothing
2020-02-17 · The Times Are Changing
2020-02-10 · The Missing Piece
2020-02-03 · Wrong Place, Wrong Time
2020-01-27 · Overexposure
2020-01-20 · As Seen On TV
2020-01-13 · Written By A.I.
2020-01-06 · Promises Kept
2019-12-30 · Ringing It In
2019-12-23 · Happy Unspecified Seasonal Holiday!
2019-12-16 · The Lair
2019-12-09 · Time To Get Cracking
2019-12-02 · Not A Suicide
2019-11-25 · The One That Knows What Number It Is
2019-11-18 · Venting Frustrations
2019-11-11 · The Test Takers
2019-11-04 · Make Your Play
2019-10-28 · Horror With Smart People
2019-10-21 · The Interview
2019-10-14 · It Must Have Happened At Some Point
2019-10-07 · Work The Problem
2019-09-30 · Cogs in the Machine
2019-09-23 · First of One
2019-09-16 · Curse Your Inevitable Betrayal!
2019-09-09 · Be Brief
2019-09-02 · Changing Channels
2019-08-26 · It's A Process
2019-08-19 · Armed And Dangerous
2019-08-12 · Good Intentions
2019-08-05 · A Simple Procedure
2019-07-29 · Finale Feelings
2019-07-22 · Fun And Profit
2019-07-15 · It Builds Character
2019-07-08 · Aviator Safety
2019-06-24 · Something's Been Bugging Me
2019-06-17 · It's All About You
2019-05-27 · Rough Encounters
2019-05-20 · Wishes Three
2019-05-13 · A Gentle Nudge
2019-05-06 · A Simple Misunderstanding?
2019-04-29 · Don't Spoil It
2019-04-22 · Under Scrutiny
2019-04-15 · Prepare To Resist
2019-04-08 · Making Small Talk
2019-04-01 · The Crisis
2019-03-25 · Just Kidding
2019-03-18 · How About That Local Sports Team?
2019-03-11 · Public Engagement
2019-03-04 · The Hero We Need
2019-02-25 · The Negotiation
2019-02-18 · Executive Orders
2019-02-11 · The Talk
2019-02-04 · The Big Game
2019-01-28 · If It's A Girl...
2019-01-21 · The Nature Of Picasso
2019-01-14 · I'm Sorry, Ms. Jackson
2019-01-07 · Never Saw It Coming
2018-12-31 · Duelling ...Holidays?
2018-12-24 · Too Much Cheer
2018-12-17 · Taking Out The Trash
2018-12-10 · Let's Go To The Movies
2018-12-03 · Not For Donuts
2018-11-26 · Horizons Made Broad
2018-11-19 · It's The Journey That Matters
2018-11-12 · Anthing You Can Do...
2018-11-05 · Let's Call It "Laundry"
2018-10-29 · Unfriended
2018-10-22 · A Conversation About "Tacos"
2018-10-15 · Changes
2018-10-08 · An Adult-Sized Secret
2018-10-01 · Street War
2018-09-24 · Whither Whether Why
2018-09-17 · The Pitch
2018-09-10 · The One That's Meta
2018-09-03 · A Night At The Movies
2018-08-27 · We're Vampires
2018-08-20 · The Final Showdown
2018-08-13 · The End Of The World
2018-08-06 · A More Rational Kind Of Love
2018-07-30 · Death Troubles
2018-07-23 · True Love
2018-07-18 · At Least It's Not Des Moines