If you had a talk show, who would you want to interview? I have a hard time deciding. Do I only get one night as the host? Then I\u2019d better make it count. I would need to balance my own desires \u2013 interviewing people whom I find interesting \u2013 with the needs of the audience. Some of the people on my list would need lengthy introductions, because I\u2019d want to talk with people who aren\u2019t well-known by the general public. Then again, it\u2019d be amazing to interview Bruce Springsteen, and I think most of the people who watch talk shows know about him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s a wrinkle: when does the show take place? If we\u2019ve already decided that I magically get to interview whomever I want, why not stretch the boundaries and allow me to pick people from anytime in their life? If I could interview Bruce Springsteen as a 74 year-old grandfather, maybe I could also choose the 35-year-old artist who just released the album that would make him blisteringly famous.There\u2019s a lot to consider when answering this silly question. The one thing that I never considered: how my opportunity to play talk show host would benefit me outside of the studio. Sure, I hinted at the idea that this opportunity could last longer than one night \u2013 but my primary goal is creating a good show that people enjoy. If it only lasts for one evening, then\u2026that\u2019s the way it goes. I\u2019m already playing with house money \u2013 who cares if I go bust at my first time at the table?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackie and I saw Late Night with the Devil on Saturday. It\u2019s a horror film in which David Dastmalchian plays Jack Delroy, a talk show host in the \u201970s who is competing in the ratings against Johnny Carson. On Halloween 1977, Delroy invites to his show a psychic, a skeptic of the paranormal, a parapsychologist and her subject, a child who is supposedly possessed by a demon. Gang, it\u2019s a good film. It had me scared throughout \u2013 mostly because I spent two-thirds of the movie expecting someone to die in a surprising way. It\u2019s my usual hangup when watching violent dramas, and why I\u2019ve avoided horror movies for most of my life. I know something bad is going to happen, but I don\u2019t know when.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few years ago, I began watching The Kill Count from Dead Meat<\/a>, a YouTube channel started by James A. Janisse. It was the beginning of an exploration of a genre that has so much to offer, but I\u2019ve been too scared to engage with.\u00a0 <\/span>James\u2019 videos provide an analysis of horror films\u2019 production, along with an overview of the plot and \u2013 obviously \u2013 a list of people or entities that are killed. For a person who doesn\u2019t want to be surprised by murder and destruction, it\u2019s a very safe way to learn about these movies. Then, last fall, I found The Morbid Zoo<\/a>, hosted by Mariana Col\u00edn. Mariana is an academic whose insight into horror is probably my favorite thing on YouTube. Her videos have helped me understand that monsters serve a very particular function, both within the media that contains them and for the audience who watches them. I cannot say enough great things about her work, but for now I\u2019ll limit my comments to \u201cGo watch her videos.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As I see it, the problem with Jack Delroy in Late Night with the Devil is that he doesn\u2019t want to interview people for what he can learn about them. He wants to create an event that will guarantee success in the Nielsen ratings. But if you want to be a good interviewer, you have to deeply care for the person you\u2019re talking with. You have to see them as a fully formed being, not a monster, and not a stepping stone to fame. If you invite someone into conversation, you have to be open to whatever they share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s something I wrestle with every time I sit down to write. I want to create things that invite people in to a conversation, but I\u2019m afraid that I won\u2019t be understood \u2013 or that the reader will share a reaction that cuts me down. \u201cFear\u2019s a powerful thing,\u201d sang a man who grew from a depressed boy born in the mid-Atlantic. I remember that line, and I step forward onto the stage. We, after all, have a great show tonight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n -Paul<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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