Through this Friday, all available back issues of Wholphin are half off—10 bucks apiece for countless warm evenings of rare films, featuring Miranda July, Paul Rudd, Donald Trump, and a monkey-faced eel. - - - -

C O N C I S E   I N T E R V I E W S   W I T H N O T A B L E   P E O P L E. - - - - (Please: All Concise Interviews with Notable People are real and unembellished, and should not be considered satirical or fabricated. To think so would be wrong. The first four interviews first appeared in Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, the print brother of Timothy McSweeney's Internet Tendency. The remaining three appear here for the first time.) - - - - - - - - - This cluster of interviews was conducted over a 15-month period, from April 1997 to July 1998, by Jill Stoddard, a writer and bookseller living in Cambridge, Mass. Her subjects are Al Gore, the president of the United States; Stephen King, a novelist; David Mamet, a playwright; and John Tesh, the multimedia artist. JS: You have to pay for that over where it says "cash register." Al Gore: Oh. Thank you. JS: You know, I didn't think the doll thing was scary at all. Stephen King: Really. JS: Can I get your last name, please? David: M-a-m-e-t. JS: Great. We can hold that book for you for four days. JS: Would you like one of our discount cards? John Tesh: Heh heh. No thank you. I'm not from around here. - - - - The following interview was conducted in June 1997 by Greg Beato, a journalist based in San Francisco. Joe Eszterhas, a writer of screenplays, lives in Los Angeles. GB: I was wondering what products and/or processees you use on your hair to achieve such body and luster? I have seen pictures of you from the '70s, and your hair did not seem quite as spectacular. Joe Eszterhas: I let the sun beat up my hair, and I spend as much time as possible in Maui. I'm also happier in my life than I've ever been. That might have something to do with it. - - - - In September, Tim Rogers, a journalist based in Texas, posed the following two questions to Heidi Murkoff, the co-author of "What to Expect When You're Expecting," the nation's best-selling pregnancy guidebook. No. 1: TR: So, drinking during pregnancy -- that's a bad thing, right? I mean for the woman? Heidi Murkoff: Yes. No: 2: TR Is it ever appropriate to tell your pregnant wife, "I don't want to hear it"? Heidi Murkoff: You don't want to hear it? TR: You know, like if she's going on and on, and then you just say, in a loving way, "Hey, I don't want to hear it." Heidi Murkoff: Sorry. She needs that support 24-7. - - - - The last interview was conducted in 1993 by Todd Pruzan, an editor at McSweeney's. His subject is Pam, a star of the MTV television program "The Real World San Francisco." TP: Where's the baggage claim? I'm totally confounded! Pam, from "The Real World San Francisco": Ha ha ha! - - - - Read The Service Industry Read The Briefing Read I Am Friends with a Working-Class Black Woman

- - - - MAIN PAGE   |   ARCHIVES   Memories of Amanda Davis   Red dot denotes content that is new today. Black dot denotes newish content. McSWEENEY'S STORE SUBSCRIBE TO: McSWEENEY'S THE BELIEVER WHOLPHIN FUTURE McSWEENEY'S BOOKS THE AMANDA DAVIS HIGHWIRE FICTION AWARD INVITE A McSWEENEY'S AUTHOR TO SPEAK IN YOUR TOWN OR COLLEGE THE BEST AMERICAN NONREQUIRED READING McSWEENEY'S MONTHLY MAILING LIST McSWEENEY'S-RELATED EVENTS AND VARIOUS TOUR DATES ORDER INQUIRIES AND ADDRESS CHANGES SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: FOR BOOKS FOR THE QUARTERLY FOR THE WEBSITE FOR WHOLPHIN McSWEENEY'S INTERNSHIPS CONTACT US - - - - LETTERS TO McSWEENEY'S LISTS McSWEENEY'S PREDICTS McSWEENEY'S RECOMMENDS NEW WHOLPHIN FILM DAN LIEBERT, VERBAL CARTOONIST JOKES BY BRIAN BEATTY REVIEWS OF NEW FOOD DISPATCHES FROM MOSCOW SO YOU WANT TO BE PRESIDENT? DISPATCHES FROM THE ANACOSTIA THE WINNER'S CIRCLE WITH ERIC FEEZELL BEN GREENMAN'S FAKE CELEBRITY MUSICALS DISPATCHES FROM A HUMANITARIAN JOURNALIST DEB OLIN UNFERTH'S SICK OF THE REVOLUTION DISPATCHES FROM IRAQ SHORT IMAGINED MONOLOGUES PHILIP GRAHAM SPENDS A YEAR IN LISBON STAINED TEETH: A COLUMN ABOUT WINE DISPATCHES FROM THE NAPOLEONIC WARS AT THE MET KEVIN DOLGIN TELLS YOU ABOUT PLACES YOU SHOULD GO IN EUROPE SONGS OF ENEMIES AND DESERTS: LIVING WITH THE SUDAN LIBERATION ARMY LAWRENCE WESCHLER'S EVERYTHING THAT RISES: A BOOK OF CONVERGENCES THE CONVERGENCES CONTEST ABOUT WHAT IS THE WHAT ABOUT BOWL OF CHERRIES ABOUT COMEDY BY THE NUMBERS ABOUT JOHN BRANDON'S ARKANSAS ABOUT MICHAEL CHABON'S MAPS AND LEGENDS ABOUT UNDERGROUND AMERICA ABOUT DEB OLIN UNFERTH'S VACATION LETTERS FROM AN EARTH BALL TO, OR CONCERNING, SEAN HANNITY DISPATCHES FROM ADJUNCT FACULTY AT A LARGE STATE UNIVERSITY ADVICE FROM A PERSON WITH A BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN PSYCHOLOGY DISPATCHES FROM THE NBA ENTERTAINMENT LEAGUE JOHN MOE'S POP-SONG CORRESPONDENCES B.R. COHEN'S ANNALS OF SCIENCE INTERVIEWS WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE INTERESTING OR UNUSUAL JOBS OPEN LETTERS TO PEOPLE OR ENTITIES WHO ARE UNLIKELY TO RESPOND DISPATCHES FROM A PUBLIC LIBRARIAN MICHAEL IAN BLACK IS A VERY FAMOUS CELEBRITY DISPATCHES FROM ROY KESEY, AN AMERICAN GUY MARRIED TO A PERUVIAN DIPLOMAT LIVING IN CHINA DAN KENNEDY SOLVES YOUR PROBLEMS WITH PAPER STEPHEN ELLIOTT'S POKER REPORT - - - - ADDITIONAL MATERIAL