When you dream about getting published does it include
an appearance on the Daily Show with John Stewart where you show off your book and everyone laughs at your jokes? Last week Freakonomics co-author Steven D. Levitt lived that dream and he explains what it is
like to be on the Daily Show in the Freakonomicsblog:
First, Jon Stewart sure seems like a fantastic guy. Smart,
friendly, down to earth, funny the whole time on and off the
camera. Maybe he should run for president sometime. I would vote
for him. His only problem is that he is not so tall, and
Americans grow their presidents tall.
Second, sitting in the studio, no matter how hard you to try, it
is impossible to imagine that 2 million people are watching what
you are doing (actually in my case 2,000,002 because my parents don't
usually watch, but they were watching last night). Which is good
if you are someone like me who is inherently anti-social and
frightened by crowds. It certainly would be more nerve-wracking to
do an interview in front of a live audience of 2 million people
stretched out over the Mall in Washington.
Third, television, except maybe Charlie Rose, is a terrible medium
for trying to talk about books. I had a long interview -- over 6
minutes -- but Stewart was asking hard questions that I couldn't give
real answers to (essentially he wanted me to explain regression analysis,
but to do it in 15 seconds). One key point in Freakonomics is that we
try to show the reader how we get our answers, not just assert that
we are right. On TV, there just isn't time to follow that path.
Fourth, it sure is nice to be in front of an audience that is dying to
laugh at and respond to anything you say. (For instance, I'm not sure why,
but the audience burst out laughing when I mentioned crack cocaine.) I
wish the students in my 9 am undergraduate lecture were so responsive. Of
course, if my lectures were one-tenth as entertaining as the Daily Show,
I bet my students would be plenty responsive.
