THE MOST TRUSTED NAME IN FAKE NEWS

Daily Show Interview: As I mentioned in yesterday's post, an author who I signed to a book contract--when I worked at Penguin--recently appeared on The Daily Show. Michael Broder, who co-authored the first book in a new series I developed for Penguin/Alpha Books and Psychology Today magazine, was completely spoofed in the Daily Show piece which aired late last week. The show's producers told... well, never mind me trying to explain it... here's how it went down, in Michael Broder's own words:

They called me to do that "interview" through my book Can Your Relationship Be Saved? How To Know Whether To Stay Or Go. The interview lasted over 3 hours; you saw the result. For about half of the interview I was in on the joke. Sure, I knew what they were about when I agreed, but didn't give them a lot to make me look bad over--even knowing they use your remarks out of context. The only place where they crossed the line, however, was in not mentioning and showing the book, which they had promised to do. I've done over 1,000 interviews for my various books. This was the first time ever that the book I was interviewed for got no mention. Oh well...

What surprises me most about his experience is that Broder was interviewed for 3 full hours, yet his face graced the screen for maybe 45 seconds, tops. The fact that The Daily Show's correspondent (whose name I can't recall--he wasn't one of the regulars) didn't mention his book doesn't surprise me. Michael's a perfect target... he's strikingly bald, can be perceived as the type who takes himself way too seriously for his own good, and has a tendency to over analyze things in psychobabble (he is, after all, a psychologist with a series of successful interactive self-help audio tapes). Frankly, I'm surprised The Daily Show hadn't come ah knocking on Michael's door earlier. He's actually quite funny, with editing!