October 9, 2023

Larry Charles talks to Marc Maron about Scott Adams and Bob Dylan.

This is an excellent episode of Marc Maron's podcast, with Larry Charles talking about "Seinfeld," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Borat," and his new movie "Dicks: The Musical," but what I'm writing this post to highlight is something that surprised me: a discussion of Scott Adams, which is followed immediately by a discussion of Bob Dylan.

This isn't random opining about celebrities. Larry Charles worked with Scott Adams to develop the TV show "Dilbert." And Larry Charles directed the movie "Masked and Anonymous," which he co-wrote with Bob Dylan.

Start at about 1:23:00 in the podcast and you'll be at the first mention of "Dilbert," which prompts Maron to ask, "What do you think of that guy going a little off? Did you see that coming?"
LARRY CHARLES: People are going off these days. There's something in the air. It's like "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers." He's a brilliant guy. And he's a fun guy. I really enjoyed my time working with him. And he taught me a lot of interesting things. Very unique, original mind. But I think he kind of slipped into that Trump world and started to believe his own hype to some degree.

MARC MARON: What did he teach you?

LARRY CHARLES: Well, for instance, he told me that when he was an engineer at Bell Telephone that he would write every day, 15 times, "Dilbert is going to be a hit" — 'til it was a hit — and so, when I did "Borat," I thought, I'm gonna try that affirmation thing, and I would write, every day for like a year, "Borat is a phenomenon, Borat is a phenomenon," and it worked.... I think he [i.e., Scott Adams] also looks at things — he had a great ability to look at things — from another angle. So I appreciated his unconventional way of thinking about things. You know, he had an engineer's approach to life. He always was looking for a solution. And the solution is what I think led him to some of the right-wing stuff he's gotten into. He sees it as logical. He sees everything as: It's gotta be logical. The mystery, the X factor — even though he's into all of that — he's still looking for logic.
 
MARC MARON: He probably bought into the decaying of American civilization because of entitlement programs... Like, I'm trying to figure out how a guy with logic would buy into something... He's probably of the libertarian thing.

LARRY CHARLES: Very much so. I think that would explain a lot.

At that point, and without ever saying the name Scott Adams, Maron cuts straight to "the Dylan movie" (and speaking of not saying names, they never say the name of the Dylan movie either).

Larry Charles said he "was working with Bob Dylan for a year, writing, in the cubicle of the boxing gym there," and Charles thought he should direct the movie, but he was "too embarrassed" to present himself to Bob with such presumptuousness.

His wife said, "Just ask him," so he did, and Bob said "Okay." Another thing Bob said was, "I gotta tell you, I'm never going to watch this movie."

LARRY CHARLES: He wanted to do the whole movie with dance.... He's riffing all the time. He was trying accents on me. And I would go: Why? Why? Why?... He didn't give a fuck. And even his real voice wasn't his voice. There's no real him, really, and he knows that. He's a protean personality. Which we all are to some degree, but he's very conscious of those many masks.

MARC MARON: Most of us don't want to float.

LARRY CHARLES: But he's gotten used to it.

MARC MARON: 'Cause he'll grab something.

LARRY CHARLES: Somebody will give him something to grab onto.

55 comments:

wild chicken said...

Was Scott Adams an engineer? Why is he characterized that way?

I thought he was an economics guy, a number cruncher or something.

Dilbert was the engineer.

re Pete said...

"I’m a man of contradictions and a man of many moods . . . I contain multitudes"

rhhardin said...

Adams says that artist opinions are always wrong. They don't have training in getting things right.

rehajm said...

But I think he kind of slipped into that Trump world...And the solution is what I think led him to some of the right-wing stuff he's gotten into

...and this is what passes as rational thought with the left nowadays. No articulation or understanding of why Trump is so popular, only pejoratives and condescension and...illogic. From my perspective 'that Trump world' is the world of Trump Derangement Syndrome.

...WAIT! HOLD THE PHONE! A stab at analysis...

He probably bought into the decaying of American civilization because of entitlement programs...

Okay- nice try. Partial credit. Of course while you were busy being a fucked-up drug addict Marc Maron, some of us were learning about the world around us and how it runs. One of the things you learn when you're learning about the world around you is resources are finite. Time and money specifically. So when short sighted government creates ill conceived Ponzi schemes disguised as entitlement programs it is obvious to people who have a sense of macroeconomics to realize the costs of Mediscare and SS and welfare and unfettered immigration are unsustainable. So these people who choose not to be drug addicts try to stop the madness don't appreciate it when people who chose to be fucked up drug addicts use lazy derogatory remarks as a mantra to try to help Democrats get elected so we can perpetuate the madness. It won't end well...

Ann Althouse said...

"Was Scott Adams an engineer? Why is he characterized that way?"

According to Wikipedia, Adams has a degree in economics and he worked with telecommunications engineers at Bell.

Buckwheathikes said...

"It's OK to be white." - The ADL says that is hate speech.

Scott Adams' point is that if you teach this, then of course white people should stay the hell away from black people.

You cannot program black people to believe it's NOT OK to be white and expect them to not be racists and to be a hate group. Adams is correct. But that doesn't matter to the elites. The elites need us divided, and so the message to blacks is that it's not OK to be white. They know blacks will hear that message and act accordingly, and of course white people are going to resent it.

Like the Jews, certain topics are "off limits." For example, you cannot discuss black crime statistics in the media as a journalist or you'll be fired. Adams found out that black racism is one of those topics that will get you cancelled.

Everybody, black and white, knows this is all BS, but everybody has something to lose. Scott Adams didn't care if he was made to lose, because he's insanely rich already. And like Elon Musk, he Adams believes in free speech.

Which is why Musk will be cancelled next.

The United States is FINISHED as a country. We all need to stop pretending about it and admit that we're the Nazi's now.

rhhardin said...

Pacific Bell was a different company from AT&T back in the day. They had their own stock.

The Crack Emcee said...

"He always was looking for a solution. And the solution is what I think led him to some of the right-wing stuff he's gotten into. He sees it as logical."

But you, who don't think logically, don't seem to get it. And are going to judge it wrong.

Amazing.

Rich said...

The problem with being the voice of a generation is just what was that generation trying to say. Having an older brother in high school and college during the sixties, one remembers the energy and the all-encompassing vibe of the era. The young were never so influential. Or so they thought. One should remember the saintly self-serving idealists of the era, the ones that were in full flower during the Clinton years.

The 1960s? A half century on, just what is the legacy of that vibe? Never was the legacy so ephemeral. The United States is having a debate today about whether or not to even remain democratic. Simple ideals of equal application of law and due process are as far away today as they were in the segregated south of the 1950s. Did the anti-war movement curtail the military-industrial complex? Not to any extent one would notice.

One suspects that a hundred years from now, historians and cultural commentators will be able to find a Bob Dylan lyric to support any point of view they might want to take. Dylan has always been the most Delphic of oracles. To some this was a celebration of what people wanted to do anyway. They would have done it whether he was there or not.

Having thought about how the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution passed in the wake of the Civil War over a century and a half ago remain near-stillborn artifacts of a Civil War that only succeeded in keeping the Union together and not of advancing its democratic potential, one thinks that there is a lot less to the great American ideal than one would like. It's decentralization and scattered cohesion make it a rich and varied society. It's hard to think of another society of so many distinctly different people all speaking one language.

Mr. Dylan has been a gifted musician and captures this quicksilver character of his society marvelously well. A man of many seasons.

chuck said...

> Was Scott Adams an engineer?

No.

Rich said...

Sometimes it's better not to know the true nature of the guy who makes the comics, or who makes the electric cars, or who makes the foam pillows. But when they choose to put their true nature out there, then they suffer the consequences. A newspaper who doesn't like what he says has no obligation to pay him to print his comic strip. Freedom of speech does not equal freedom of reach.

And like many others, he got sucked into the victimization vortex. Act out > get criticized for acting out > claim victim status > lash out > face consequences for lashing out > bleat loudly about being cancelled by "them" > face further consequences > descend into MAGA culture where you are honored for your victim status.

mikee said...

When a comic strip so accurately portrays the failures of business in the US, there is something very wrong with business in the US. I stopped reading Dilbert because it kept predicting how my managers at Motorola would make my work less possible to perform. If I was going to be mismanaged I at least wanted it to be surprising.

Lucien said...

Buckwheathikes: You’ve hit on the reason I don’t like the poll question Adams riffed on. “It’s OK to be white” was a politically charged phrase to some, but not others. So using it in the poll segmented the respondents into classes of those who knew the term was contentious, and those who didn’t. I’d have been happier with “do you think there is anything wrong with being born white?” As a poll question, but suspect that Rasmussen was looking for something with more frisson.

Scott Patton said...

Scott Adams is not an engineer. He has degrees in Business and Econ.
"he had an engineer's approach to life".
Just within a week or so Scott Adams himself said that he has the mind of an engineer (or similar).

Kate said...

"Was Scott Adams an engineer?"

When I worked at Boeing as basically a secretary I ended up in the Industrial Engineering department and was surprised at how easily I fit into their mindset. Seeing the world as ergonomic problems to be solved isn't a career, it's a thought experiment.

Wince said...

rehajm describes the pattern of group-think.

Even if they cannot articulate Adams' indiscretion, the evil black hat has already been permanently and irredeemably affixed to Adam's head.

Speaking of entitlement programs, as the example Maron chose, isn't Trump actually criticized by establishment politicians for NOT endorsing the necessity of Social Security clawbacks?

Scott Patton said...

If I remember correctly, Scott Adams has had many nice things to say about Larry Charles.

Scott Patton said...

Scott Adams is similar to Ann Althouse in that he makes a point of doing a live video podcast every day.

Darkisland said...

Adams did budgeting and financial analysis mainly.

He was a bean counter, never an engineer.

I

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Buckwheathikes said...

You cannot program black people to believe it's NOT OK to be white and expect them to not be racists and to be a hate group. Adams is correct. But that doesn't matter to the elites. The elites need us divided, and so the message to blacks is that it's not OK to be white. They know blacks will hear that message and act accordingly, and of course white people are going to resent it.

And Adams also said that he's always looked at successful people and tried to imitate what they do in an effort to himself be successful. So if you start teaching Black people it's NOT OK to be White you're robbing them of a large group of successful people that they can learn from. Kind of ironic considering what Charles and Maron are talking about prior to brining Scott Adams up.

traditionalguy said...

Narrative deniers are crushed with accusations of being weirdos. Scott Adams is a normal liberal that used his superior mind to expose a major Dem narrative as destructive and false. That made him a CANCELED man in full.

WHO WAS HE? Did he ever write anything?

Jupiter said...

"Of course while you were busy being a fucked-up drug addict Marc Maron ..."

Thanks, I was wondering who or what Marc Maron might be.

gilbar said...

MARC MARON: He probably bought into the decaying of American civilization because of entitlement programs... Like, I'm trying to figure out how a guy with logic would buy into something...

Could some "guy with logic" explain to This brain damaged fellow, how;
the decaying of American civilization ISN'T because of entitlement programs???
perhaps you could explain how there ISN'T a decaying of American civilization?
maybe you'd like to explain how there Aren't entitlement programs?
Anyone? Any one at all? Rich? Inga? gadfly? lonejustice (or whatever it is that Chuck calls himself now?)

gilbar said...

Buckwheathikes said..
We all need to stop pretending about it and admit that we're the Nazi's now.

well, the Nazi's DID fight against the russians.. And for that we DO give them standing ovations

Kevin said...

He probably bought into the decaying of American civilization because of entitlement programs.

What a very Marc Maron thing to say.

There is plenty of evidence of the decaying of American civilization.

And there is plenty of evidence of the need to reform entitlement programs.

But tying the two together is how you get your Progressive audience to say, "that guy he's talking about is crazy!"

It's very intentional misdirection.

Buckwheathikes said...

Was Scott Adams an engineer?

I'd just like to point out that Bill Nye has a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Which is why he's known as Bill Nye - The Mechanical Engineering Guy.

Buckwheathikes said...

Was Scott Adams an engineer?

I'd just like to point out that Bill Nye has a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Which is why he's known as Bill Nye - The Mechanical Engineering Guy.

cassandra lite said...

True story (told to me by the source): Larry Charles got his start in show biz when he was the parking attendant at the health club where David Steinberg (who by the way was a VERY good basketball player) used to go every day.

Steinberg was then at the height of his popularity, hosting The Tonight Show frequently (guest-hosted the second most number of times during Johnny's reign). One day, knowing Steinberg was to host the show that night, Larry Charles slipped him some jokes he'd written. Steinberg liked them, used them, and the next day got some more and used those too.

Steinberg then introduced him to others, including his buddy Larry David. And from there a career was built.

hombre said...

"You cannot program black people to believe it's NOT OK to be white and expect them to not be racists and to be a hate group."

We are seeing in Israel today the viciousness of young invaders growing up with hate programming.

Buckwheathikes said...

Rich claimed: "A newspaper who doesn't like what he says has no obligation to pay him to print his comic strip. Freedom of speech does not equal freedom of reach."

Is it OK to intimidate a newspaper that refused to ban Adams' comic strip? To approach their advertisers in an attempt to destroy the newspapers' ability to operate if they do not do your bidding?

What you're advocating is "coercion." It's blackmail. Forcing people to adopt your set of beliefs with threats and intimidation, and if that's OK then you're no different than any tyrant or fascist.

And of course you'll likely get their fate.

Buckwheathikes said...

Rich claimed: "A newspaper who doesn't like what he says has no obligation to pay him to print his comic strip. Freedom of speech does not equal freedom of reach."

Is it OK to intimidate a newspaper that refused to ban Adams' comic strip? To approach their advertisers in an attempt to destroy the newspapers' ability to operate if they do not do your bidding?

What you're advocating is "coercion." It's blackmail. Forcing people to adopt your set of beliefs with threats and intimidation, and if that's OK then you're no different than any tyrant or fascist.

And of course you'll likely get their fate.

pacwest said...

He sees it as logical.

The horror!

Amexpat said...

Larry Charles has a great story about Dylan wanting to do a slapstick comedy after watching a lot of Jerry Lewis movies, which led to a meeting with HBO in which Bob turned his back on everyone after the head of HBO showed him his ticket to Woodstock. Despite that HBO greenlit a comdedy TV series with Bob in the lead. Full story here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQDTSu8v8QI&t=12s

The Crack Emcee said...

"The message to blacks is that it's not OK to be white."

It wasn't only liberal whites who made that argument as I grew up.

n.n said...

Adams's evolution was conceived and progressed in a confrontation with a rainbow of diversity (i.e. color judgment, class-based bigotry) birthed in left-wing ideology under the secular Pro-Choice ethical religion (e.g. DEI, principles of congruence, class-disordered ideologies). Think Zulu vs Xhosa. Think baby vs the technical term of art, socially distanced "fetus" that facilitates their wicked solution. #HateLovesAbortion

Tim said...

A big part of why engineers regard the US as a failure is that we can do the math. Math is cold. Math don't care. And right now, the math for the future of the United States looks pretty bleak. What would be interesting is to know what percentage of the uptick over the past few years in gun and ammunition is in fact going to engineers. I suggest rereading "The Cold Equations" and then checking your bank account and buying more bullets.

Joe Smith said...

Seems like a hit on Adams.

His point re: blacks is, why would you want to live around people who hate you?

Now, they may hate you for many reasons, some of them even good, but corporate media and government has done a good job of pitting races against one another.

Adams also goes out of his way to distinguish individuals from groups...

n.n said...

Adams warns people to stay clear of PoB bcause you cannot discern character at a distance. However, he elaborates to be wary of anyone who exercises liberal license to indulge diversity dogma. Life is an exercise in risk management. #HateLovesAbortion

Joe Smith said...

'I'd just like to point out that Bill Nye has a degree in Mechanical Engineering.'

Now do Dr. Laura...she has a PhD in physiology.

Impressive.

But I have a friend with a PhD in a hard science from Stanford (when it was a sane school) and he never refers to himself as 'Doctor.'

rcocean said...

I hate these fucking Hollywood leftists and their smug assumption that anyone who doesn't agree with their politics 100 percent and shows ANY independent thinking is evil, stupid, or crazy.


"A trumpist. Not our sort of people, my dear. What ever got into him? He seemed so smart. I heard he went a little crazy."

rcocean said...

Its Ok to be white. Its ok to be black.

Seems like common sense to me.

But the ADL wants censor and punish anyone who says the first. The second is OK. Who elected the ADL to anything? I certainly didn't vote for them. But they have veto power.

Robert Cook said...

"No articulation or understanding of why Trump is so popular...."

The reason Trump's multitude are beguiled by him are blatantly obvious: they feel (correctly) they have been lied to by our elected representatives, (we have) and they believe their needs and concerns have not been addressed, (also true, as only the wealthy are really being served by or represented in Washington).

However, the resentments and unrest of Trump's multitudes leads them to accept his pandering lies and bullshit without any distanced or objective consideration, even today. They fell like bricks for him as many desperate marks fall for con men who are fleecing them, or as benighted congregations fall for false prophets. As is typical with the beguiled, they cannot even now see through his facade, or accept they have been had. They cannot dare admit to themselves there really is no one in Washington who truly has their well-being in mind, least of all the one in whom they are so desperately invested. When his iniquities are brought up, they hew to him even more desperately, as their last, only hope.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

YouTube: Norm Macdonald recounts what happened when Bob Dylan invited him to stay at his house.

From a comment over there: When I first read this twitter thread a couple of months ago I was haunted by the notion of
"typists" and "stenographers". | am a songwriter myself, it's been my way of life and the name I have defined myself with. The idea that those 136 songs and countless other poems I've written over the past few years are no more than stenography is terrifying. How do we know what is "real" writing and what isn't?
Leave it to Dylan to throw another mystery into our world of numb certainty.


Recently I found out quite by accident that you can lift text from a picture. YouTube doesn’t let me copy paste comments, so now I know to take a screenshot and go back and lift the text that way.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The day or so before the attacks in Israel, I happened to be checking my YouTube offers and Scott Adams had just gone on live. It turned out he wasn't doing his usual live broadcast, he was just conducting a test to see if he could go live on all three, YouTube, Rumble and Twitter platforms at the same time. I think he said there was 'nothing happening' or something to that effect. He said he had previously failed, one of the platforms failed to go on live, the previous two times he had tried. I stayed tuned for a while, long enough to find out the third time was the charm. Scott was finally live in All three platforms.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

From what little I know of the two, engineering numbers are not like economics numbers.

Engineering numbers answer to the laws of physics. Economic numbers answer to the laws of Pfizer, Moderna and Black Rock.

Buckwheathikes said...

"Now do Dr. Laura...she has a PhD in physiology."

I'd rather do Dr. Jill.

She has a fake doctorate in Education, which any teacher can purchase. And they only do it to get higher taxpayer-paid pay promised to those who have doctorates. It's a huge scam by the teachers union to steal taxpayer dollars.

Buckwheathikes said...

"Now do Dr. Laura...she has a PhD in physiology."

I'd rather do Dr. Jill.

She has a fake doctorate in Education, which any teacher can purchase. And they only do it to get higher taxpayer-paid pay promised to those who have doctorates. It's a huge scam by the teachers union to steal taxpayer dollars.

JAORE said...

Did I miss the comment about (Not That Kind of) Doctor Jill?

Gem Quincyite said...

in the past, Adams has described his role in Pac Bell as "The Pointy Haired Boss".

walter said...

Adans likes to claim he's a master predictor.
Did he predict his rant would get him cancelled?

Charlie said...

Adams is a free thinker and Hollywood types HATE that.

rehajm said...

True story (told to me by the source)

Oh my that’s good. I love David Steinberg. Funny as hell, we have the same birth day and I fondly recall the tonight show where he was guest host on a Friday because…reasons. Also, I thought he was dead 🤨…

Darkisland said...

Walter, yes he did predict his cancelation, sort of.

I've been using his podcast to go to sleep every night for 7-8 years. He's long talked about pushing the boundaries to see how far he could go before being canceled.

He views cancelation as a generally good thi, g as it has removed restraints on what he can say and do.

He has fuck you money and no children to leave it toso income is not a big issue. He seems to have a pretty good revenue stream from the podcast. Locals subscriptions and books.

I think he got himself canceled on purpose to Make a point

He does seem a bit surprised at what triggered it because the idea that you should avoid people who don't like you.

But, when the time comes, the reason really doesn't matter. Any excuse will do

John Henry

Tom said...

The inability to even conceive of how Scott Adams might arrive at his current thinking shows the epistemological closing of the left. Supporting or even tolerating Trump must be chalked up to be off or mental illness. It can be a logical, rational choice. How arrogant on their part.

walter said...

I think he got himself canceled on purpose to Make a point
He does seem a bit surprised at what triggered it because the idea that you should avoid people who don't like you.
--
Jumping on a racial landmine yields predictable results.