December 18, 2019

What do Lou Reed, Bill O'Reilly, and Adam Driver have in common?

Answer: They all walked out on Terry Gross — the magnificent interviewer of NPR's "Fresh Air."

Info gleaned from "Adam Driver skips out on his NPR interview after host Terry Gross tries to make him listen to a clip from his new Netflix film Marriage Story" (Daily Mail). Gross was on notice that Driver was sensitive about listening to himself. In previous interview with her, he refused to listen to a clip, and this dialogue ensued:
'I don’t want to hear the bad acting that probably was happening during that clip,' he joked.

'Does it throw you off to hear yourself?' she inquired.

'Yeah, no, I’ve watched myself or listened to myself before, then always hate it,' he replied. 'And then wish I could change it, but you can’t. And I think I have, like, a tendency to try to make things better or drive myself and the other people around me crazy with the things I wanted to change or I wish I could change.'
Each of us only knows our own inner life. Some of us more than others have a sense of what Driver is attempting to explain there. I do think there's a great range in how minutely people examine and reexamine their failings and imagined failings. I'm going to guess that Driver's acting is great because he's so uncomfortable with himself all the time that it produces a fascinating on-screen spectacle. In an interview, he doesn't have a script, he's supposed to be producing his own words, and the weird uncomfortableness is not part of a movie, but really him. I can believe that experience, inside his head, is intolerable. Those who feel confident, who roll along unconcerned with imperfections, and who love the sound of their own voice probably don't realize how much they are enjoying freedom from the condition Driver describes.

Why did Lou Reed walk out? According to Terry Gross:
For years I had wanted to interview Lou Reed. When people would ask, “who’s the person you most want to interview?” My answer would be “Lou Reed.”

I finally got to interview him (this was a few years ago) and he ended the interview, in about six minutes or so, or less, because everything I was asking him, he didn’t want to talk about. He said, “I’m sorry this isn’t working” and he walked out.
Why did Bill O'Reilly walk out?


66 comments:

wendybar said...

NPR sucks. I don't know why taxpayers have to pay for Democrats talking points all the time....

rehajm said...

wedybar sums it up- one and done.

Compelling would be NPRs sick burn of Michelle Obama. But alas, they cannot...

Is Terry Gross married to one of those car guys?

Wilbur said...

"One of us still has a program".

Funded by the taxpayers, you worthless leftist piece of mierda.

donald said...

There is nothing magnificent about that hack and she would not be employed outside of this taxpayer funded dreck.

Marcus Bressler said...

I find Terry Gross to be a terrible interviewer. She asks questions that can be answered "yes" or "no" and seldom asks enough open-ended questions.

THEOLDMAN

YMMV (and who among you can tolerate her pronunciation of "Fresh" in "Fresh Air"?

RMc said...

you worthless leftist piece of mierda.

I'm totally stealing "mierda" and using it in place of "media" from now on.

Ralph L said...

My recorded voice sounds nothing like what I hear in my head. It's unbearable to me.

Jamie said...

I have a friend, a voiceover guy, who can't *stand* Terry Gross. He says that for fun he once put together an audio montage of her saying... dang it, something that she says all the time, and that (since I no longer listen to NPR) I can't recall. He also thought, and I tend to agree, that she was too apt to answer her own questions, about herself, before (or during) her interviewee's answers.

I used to enjoy some of her interviews. But during the W era, when it became impossible for me to look around the imbalance in her choice of guests, I lost interest. She's a better interviewer than some - but I already know what she thinks and will say (about pretty much anything, I think, but particularly when she's interviewing a political guest), and the cultural guests she chooses are often either boring or bizarre to me.

Sally327 said...

I'm not sure I understand the point of agreeing to an interview, participating initially and then deciding to end it because it's making you uncomfortable or the interviewer drifts into forbidden territory. Do what the politicians do. Prevaricate, obfuscate, evade. Just make sh*t up if you don't want to answer honestly. And don't take yourself so seriously. Nobody really cares that much what you're saying anyway, it's all just more blah blah in an ever expanding universe of blah blah.

This post should have the narcissistic tag.

Shouting Thomas said...

I'm unclear on what is fascinating about Lou Reed.

Did I miss something?

rehajm said...

My recorded voice sounds nothing like what I hear in my head. It's unbearable to me.

Me too. I think it's common. I used to do the high school video morning show with the announcements and stuff. First time I heard myself I was shocked and mortified. One of the teachers explained it sounds different than that inside the heads of everyone else, too. Then I was fine.

rehajm said...

I'm unclear on what is fascinating about Lou Reed.

He's from a time where the people found themselves fascinating. He reminds them they're fascinating to themselves...

Temujin said...

"One of us still has a program."

Nice. One of them is funded by your tax dollars to keep them on the air. The other had the highest drawing commercial talk show in the nation at the time- for a decade, before he was forced to leave over sexual harassment claims. If left to the commercial market, Terri Gross would be doing a podcasts.

But her smugness in that clip comes through to me over the air. I quit listening to Terri Gross years ago, which is too bad. Because at first I really liked her show. But...either I changed, or I got better at seeing her approach to the interviews. And hearing that smugness. She's lucky we all send her money.

Shouting Thomas said...

I tried to watch a documentary on the scene surrounding Warhol and Studio 54 last night.

Started out with long discussion of how some character suffered from being born and living in South Bend.

You know, the horror of not being surrounded by like minded perverts.

The scene was, of course, terminated by AIDS. Which doesn’t, as we are constantly told, have anything to do with the actions of gay men. Probably caused by mobs of roving murderous straight men.

I gave up on the documentary. I really don’t want to know about these people. They’re kinda shitty.

rehajm said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
David Begley said...

Trump’s work is not done until he defunds PBS.

Leland said...

NPR still exists? Haven't we gotten well past the concept that if public radio and television doesn't provide it, who will?

Mike Sylwester said...

I very rarely have listened to Gross's show, but I happened to listen to her interview of O'Reilly. She really was obnoxious.

O'Reilly was there to talk about his autobiography, which recently had been published.

She began asking him a series of "questions".

X says that you are a fascist. What do you say about that?

Y says that you are a racist. What is your response to that?

Z says that you are a liar. Your comment?

After a few minutes of that, O'Reilly walked out.

AllenS said...

The thermometer about 30 inches from the stove read 105º, so no coal needed. The bad thing about burning wood and coal is that my bathroom is the farthest room from the wood stove, and the toilet seat is real cold. When I shower I turn on an electric space heater in the bathroom and let it run for a while before showering.

Hagar said...

O'Reilly was a skilled talk-show host who made it tolerable to listen to his show though perhaps disagreeing with both him and his guest of the moment.
Tucker Carlson is much too heavy-handed and way to old anymore for the fresh-faced youngster look.

Tina Trent said...

I'm thinking, why am I forced to support the hate-filled mumblings of hags like this?

ceowens said...

I was about 12 when I first heard my recorded voice. I said to myself " I wouldn't be friends with someone who sounded like that. "

gspencer said...

Terry Gross. You're not kidding.

Ralph L said...

the toilet seat is real cold.

A warm toilet seat is terry, terry gross if more than one person uses the bathroom.

They used to say about the Potomac at the marina below National Airport, the water's warm and you know why.

Bruce Hayden said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bruce Hayden said...


“NPR sucks. I don't know why taxpayers have to pay for Democrats talking points all the time”

And she is probably the suckiest thing on NPR. A very obvious political hack. I sent several irate letters to the NPR affiliate in Denver a couple decades ago about her hyperpartisanship. Told them they wouldn’t get a penny from me until they fired her. They didn’t, and got the money anyway.

I always thought that her name was very appropriate.

Darrell said...

Fucking old lady.
Some day a guest will piss on her and all her prior guests will wonder why they didn't do that.

cacimbo said...

O'Reilly knew how he would be treated by NPR. I suspect he anticipated he would abruptly exit the interview and hoped that would help generate publicity for his book. Certainly it generated more chatter and publicity than if he had just continued dodging the expected attacks.

M Jordan said...

Whenever I listen to NPR (which isn’t often) I change the dial when Terri Gross comes on. Yes, she is a good interviewer, yes, she has a good voice, yes, she has a unique style that works. It’s the content of what she says that I can’t stand. Every other show is celebrating someone or something I don’t celebrate. She is as pure a modern liberal as you will find. And she seethes with contempt for the Deplorables.

So I turn the dial ... and yes, my 20-year-old, paint-spattered radio has a dial.

J. Farmer said...

As a few others have mentioned, I loathe having to hear my recorded voice played back to me. When I started doing evaluations, my interviews were always recorded, and I would have to listen to them back as I wrote my reports. I eventually acclimated but the first few dozen I ever did were cringe-inducing.

The Crack Emcee said...

"Terry Gross — the magnificent interviewer of NPR's "Fresh Air.""

I don't know if crassly asking people about their most embarrassing moments makes her "magnificent" but, I'm not the target audience for her, either. She seems rather obvious, to me, whenever I listen. I just sit and wonder how long it's going to take her to ask something cringy. Her name is "Gross".

It's just all too pat for my taste.

J. Farmer said...

I never had much of a problem with Terry Gross or her interviewing style, but I was also never much of a fan. For celebrity/pop culture interviews, I still think Howard Stern is one of the best in the business. For heavier stuff, I prefer Brian Lamb or the other folks at C-Span.

J. Farmer said...

I never understood the appeal of Charlie Rose. The guy never shuts up.

Curious George said...

Never listened to a minute of her show. Based on the clip posted, I'm blessed.

George

Michael K said...

I did not like Bill O'Reilly and do like Tucker who is the only one on Fox I still watch at all. O'Reilly sure had loyal fans. I once wrote an Amazon review criticizing his Lincoln book. I don't like people who write imagined dialog of real historical figures with no footnotes. The review got all sorts of comments accusing me of being a leftist, etc, etc. It was sort of amusing. Almost the caricature of the right written by leftists.

Rory said...

"...she would not be employed outside of this taxpayer funded dreck."

For 45 years.

Levi Starks said...

I love Terry Gross interviews, but after seeing that photo of her I’m thinking maybe she would have been a better choice than Tom Hanks to play Fred Rodgers.

Charlie said...

I'm unclear on what is fascinating about Lou Reed.

Did I miss something?

No, you didn't miss anything.

MD Greene said...

It's possible that not everyone enjoys talking about himself. (I know, I know -- themself. Make me.)

Adam Driver is very good in this new movie, but it didn't leave me wondering what he is REALLY like.

Privacy is not overrated.

tim maguire said...

Not only do many of us hate the sound of our own voice when played back, I can also understand Driver's reluctance to review his own work. What he did in any moment was a reflection of his mindset in that moment. In the interview, the mindset is different so he can't help but sit there thinking of all the things he wish he did differently.

The first time Gross did this, fine. How could she have known he was so sensitive about it? But the second time, she knew. Driver didn't sit down for a gotcha investigative interview and he had no obligation to put up with one.

Roughcoat said...

Is she a lesbian? She looks like a lesbian.

narayanan said...

Q: Does Gross listen to Gross

Robert Cook said...

Back in 1975, the Dictators, a sort of precursor to the Ramones--not in musical style, but in subject matter and humor--had a deathless lyric on their first album ("The Dictators Go Girl Crazy"), to wit: "I'm just a clown walking down the street; I think Lou Reed is a creep!"

Yep. And way overrated.

The only whole album of his I enjoy is METAL MACHINE MUSIC, because he doesn't sing on it and there are no lyrics. (For those who think I'm joshing: I really do like MMM.) There are a handful of other songs Reed has done that are catchy, but they're always performed better by others than Reed himself. And there aren't that many. The only Reed song I like that he actually performs is "Walk On The Wild Side."

The Crack Emcee said...

Crazy Jane said...

"Adam Driver is very good in this new movie, but it didn't leave me wondering what he is REALLY like."

I'm starting to skip certain things because I know what actors are really like.

Robert De Niro, I'm looking at you.

Carter Wood said...

John Cale is a much better interview than Lou Reed. Here he is on Lou.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySKrgnVXDNs&feature=youtu.be

And Cale on Trump and Bowie, pre-2016 election.

Robert Cook said...

"I never understood the appeal of Charlie Rose. The guy never shuts up."

Absolutely! An egotist full of himself.

narciso said...

Diane rehms voice can tear
paint off walls, driver in addition to kylo ren is playing dan jones, in his pre fusion middleman role in the report.

Chuck said...

I listen to NPR and Terry Gross regularly; enough to add another prominent name to those who have walked out on Terry Gross. That is the name of Gene Simmons of Kiss, who walked off after she challenged him on his use of sexual language:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2002-02-20-0202200027-story.html

But much more importantly, I was wondering how you, Althouse, felt about this comments page and whether it made you think about the difference -- a difference that you have mentioned before -- between the readers of your blog who do not comment, and those readers who do comment. My own guess is that you have a large number of readers who do not comment, and that the non-commenters are not as thuggishly combative, angry, myopic, old Limbaugh/Hannity-devoted men who most often dominate your comments pages in print.

Robert Cook said...

John Cale has the distinction of having produced three landmark debut albums that still shine bright decades later: THE STOOGES, (their first album); THE MODERN LOVERS, (their first album); and HORSES, (Patti Smith's first album).

The Crack Emcee said...

Carter Wood said...

"John Cale is a much better interview than Lou Reed."

A better artist, too.

Howard said...

Blogger Michael K said...
O'Reilly sure had loyal fans. I once wrote an Amazon review criticizing his Lincoln book... The review got all sorts of comments accusing me of being a leftist, etc, etc. It was sort of amusing. Almost the caricature of the right written by leftists.


Great anecdotal story Doc. It's exactly what you people do here all the time whenever anyone dares to colour outside the Trump circle of love.

Howard said...

Dave Davies is much a better Fresh Aire interviewer than Terri Gross. In my life experience I have found that most people do not like the sound of the recording of their own voice obviously it sounds much different projected out into the world that does inside one's own head. I imagine back this is part of Adam driver's problem

Begonia said...

J. Farmer: Did you hear Terry Gross's two-part interview of Howard Stern?

I'm no Howard Stern fan but I loved hearing the two veteran interviewers talk to each other.

The Crack Emcee said...

Blogger Michael K said...

"O'Reilly sure had loyal fans. I once wrote an Amazon review criticizing his Lincoln book... The review got all sorts of comments accusing me of being a leftist, etc, etc. It was sort of amusing. Almost the caricature of the right written by leftists."

That's like when I come here. All of a sudden, I might as well be a liberal to you Hannity fans, when - everywhere else - I'm shunned by liberals as a black conservative.

No "safe spaces" for me.

Freeman Hunt said...

"Terry Gross — the magnificent interviewer of NPR's "Fresh Air.""

I have spent many minutes since reading this puzzled.

Known Unknown said...

Reading O'Reilly's "history" books are like buying laminated furniture. It looks good on the outside, but it's cheap on the inside.

Shouting Thomas said...

That's like when I come here. All of a sudden, I might as well be a liberal to you Hannity fans, when - everywhere else - I'm shunned by liberals as a black conservative.

No "safe spaces" for me.


I think of you more as a beggar and scam artist, Crack.

Please STFU about blackety-black-black for a while. That shit is boring as hell.

Your self-appointed role as spokesman for everything black is dumb shit.

Freeman Hunt said...

More people should walk out of interviews. If the interview is intellectually honest and interesting, stay. If it's some partisan toad who expects you to submit to his boring political hack job or some pushy, self-appointed boss who doesn't listen to what you say, leave. Always leave. In fact, the default position should be to leave. You stay if the interview is good enough to keep you there.

Interviewer thinks she can run right over your insistence to not listen to clips of yourself? Absolutely leave. Sounds like Driver left because he's not a spineless pushover. Good.

mtrobertslaw said...

The way to deal with an interviewer like Gross is begin to interview her: i.e., Before I answer that question Terry, I would like to ask you about that unfortunate and embarrassing incident you were involved in about six years ago. Is it true that ...

William said...

Lou Reed sure got his money's worth out of his talent and his addictions. Meth, heroin, alcohol, and he still managed to break seventy and die with money. He's an inspiring story for every young person who wants to take up a life of drug addiction and wretched excess......Adam Driver is intense and conflicted. I've never seen him be anything but intense and conflicted. He's playing on Netflix with some movie with Scarlet Johnannson. It has favorable reviews, but I bet it's a real downer and that Scarlet doesn't have any lingerie scenes.

Freeman Hunt said...

The interview of Jordan Peterson by Helen Lewis should be the model for hostile interviews. She does not agree with him, and she's no pushover, but she's intellectually honest, and she listens to what he says, so her follow-up questions are excellent.

Ice Nine said...

Chuck said..
>>I listen to NPR and Terry Gross regularly; enough to add another prominent name to those who have walked out on Terry Gross. That is the name of Gene Simmons of Kiss, who walked off after she challenged him on his use of sexual language<<

I heard that interview. Don't recall Simmons walking out but it is entirely possible that I didn't last to the end of it. Because that guy is a *fuulayyming asshole* and he demonstrated it in spades during that interview.

I don't care for Gross and certainly not for her politics but she is in fact a very good interviewer. She certainly probes to get people to talk about themselves - which is the whole idea, isn't it? And probing interviews are therefore generally interesting. They're like biography programs - you look at the subject of the bio and think that you don't have the least bit of desire to watch anything about that particular person, and then you start watching it anyway and it is simply fascinating. Because people - famous people, ordinary people - are interesting and their lives are invariably fascinating.

daskol said...

Actually, I think Terry Gross walked out of that one, would be more correct.

mccullough said...

Driver has a couple of flicks he’s contractually obligated to promote so Gross was very rude to play the clip knowing he asked her not to.

His agent will have a “except NPR” clause in his next contract.

Jack Nicholson would not do TV or radio interviews. Only print.

Hopefully Driver gets to that level.

I don’t know much about the guy other than that he joined the Marines out of high school. I think he’s a good actor. I liked him a lot in The Black Klansman

traditionalguy said...

We need NPR to do in depth Globalist Thinking like a practice squad that imitates the other team's best players. After running a fictional News cast, they proudly tell everyone that they have grants from all of the great Foundations and NGOs that are spending whatever it takes to eliminate the USA and then rule the Globe from Switzerland so they can be nearer their stolen gold god.

Ann Althouse said...

“ Is she a lesbian? She looks like a lesbian.”

Scroll back to the beginning of the video. She says some interesting things about her husband.