James Franco’s name-check of Carl Wilson’s ode to Celine Dion’s Let’s Talk About Love on the Oscars’ red carpet was an unexpected brush with the mainstream for Wilson’s tome, not to mention the 33 1/3 “book-an-album” series. Las night, Wilson appeared on The Colbert Report to discuss his book, which I am anxious to squeeze into my heavy work schedule of writing one day a week, typing my grandpa’s memoirs, thinking about starting to finish my final portfolio, and playing Fable II on my Xbox 360.
Not only did Wilson get to go on TV, he got the privilege of appearing on one of the funniest shows ever. Wilson acquits himself nicely, though an early mention of repulsion at Dion’s music is the type of thing that Colbert feeds off and keeps coming back to. The best part is Wilson’s mention of Dion’s treatment of crew and fans as a family (including the hiring of her family to work for her) and how they see her as very “real,” while outsiders think of her as “phony.” This scans with someone who had worked with Dion grousing at me for dissing her offhandedly; the person said that she treated her crew and backing musicians like family, paying them well, and that she was never anything less than courteous and even had a really goofball sense of humor.
The interview ends a tad abruptly, though Wilson’s observation on the problem with liking something ironically is worthy of further thought. Colbert asks if Wilson, as a hipster critic, shouldn’t like Celine Dion ironically. Wilson, decrying sarcastic views of taste, says, “The problem with taste is that we turn the people behind artworks into stereotypes.” Boy… uh, I’ve, uh, never done that before.
Also, Colbert invented a band name: Ogre Milk. Look for a band named in honor of this joke to be all over the blogs by the time SXSW is over.
The Colbert Report: March 4, 2009 [Hulu]
Celine Dion’s Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey To The End Of Taste [Amazon]
Celine Dion Is Amazing [YouTube]
@Michaelangelo Matos: I think so. Colbert can definitely take an interview and run with it, and Wilson came out looking very positive and not like some snobby hipster guy, which is what I’m sure Colbert was looking to steer him toward.
I just remember watching the interview and thinking “Christ, I could do a better job articulating why your book rules than you’re doing right now and I didn’t even write the thing.” However, I was eating tacos at my desk and not in front of a couple hundred people in a studio with a million more watching at home, so that’s probably a little bit of a bullshit thought. I think he handled it decently, but could’ve been a little better prepared. However, the truly frustrating thing is that these are both scary-smart people and it felt like they were kind of softballing everything.
Wilson’s interview with the av club was better (although the accompanying picture makes him look far schlubbier than he was on Colbert).
funny thing is that there is a band from Toronto called Ogre Milk.
[www.myspace.com]
It also helped that both that episode and the Daily Show before it were two of their funniest ever in general, so Carl couldn’t have had a better leadin — couple of political blogs I hang out on are talking about them to death and I was going “Make sure you catch that one segment…”
@Ned Raggett: That Doom Bunker thing was great.
It was a good interview but Carl looked like he drank a few too many cups of coffee.
[www.colbertnation.com]
[www.colbertnation.com]
Yeah, he was pretty nervous, it looked like. He acquitted himself very well, though.
@popgun: “Member since: 3/4/09″