He may be building a career on comedy, but Simon H. Rich ’06-’07 seems to be proving that he is
By Catherine J. Zielinski
Oct 15, 2008
He may be building a career on comedy, but Simon H. Rich ’06-’07 seems to be proving that he is no joke. In his short time as an alumnus, the wunderkind has been frightfully prolific: he is the youngest writer in the history of “Saturday Night Live,” has his work appear regularly in The New Yorker, and has just renewed his contract with Random House after publishing two books with them in the last two years. FM snagged the budding author for fifteen questions.
1.
Fifteen Minutes (FM): You’re the youngest person ever to be a staff writer for Saturday Night Live. Is this going to be your full time job now?
Simon H. Rich (SHR): Am I the youngest writer ever? That can’t be true, the show’s been on for 100 years. That’s before child labor laws, so there must have been chimney sweeps and God knows what.
2.
FM: Do you have a favorite segment you’ve contributed so far on the show?
SHR: My favorite sketch that I wrote was a fake commercial called “Life Preservers for Drowning People.” The life preservers were incredibly expensive, but what are you going to do? You’re a drowning person. It never came close to airing on the show.
3.
FM: Now that you’re out of Cambridge, are you living the glitzy Manhattan life undergraduates dream about? Cristal flowing, guest stars inviting you to their penthouse suites?
SHR: I don’t even have furniture in my home.
4.
FM: Both of your books seem to center heavily around childhood. Why such a focus on this period?
SHR: Most of the people I’m close to tell me that I’m still a child, especially after they see my home and the fact that there is no furniture in it. So I guess I don’t know much about being a grown-up yet.
5.
FM: A lot of your books are incredibly imaginative, something that’s usually the result of a lot of time alone. Did you have a lot imaginary friends growing up?
SHR: They were imaginary in the sense that they were written into existence by the writers of the Golden Girls. But they were real in the sense that I loved them.
6.
FM: In “Free-Range Chickens,” your newest book, you make childhood less terrifying through things like giving Dracula a Match.com profile. How did you cope with monsters before dating sites were invented?
SHR: One good strategy I discovered early on was hysterically sobbing and screaming. I’ve stuck with it, and it’s only become more effective.
7.
FM: You have sort of a dark sense of humor, with sarcasm permeating through both of your books. What influenced your humor, and do you yourself find it dark at all?
SHR: My biggest influences are probably Roald Dahl, The Simpsons and The Golden Girls. But I also read a lot of horror, like Stephen King, Richard Matheson, and Edgar Allen Poe.
8.
FM: Random House just signed you on for your first novel. What will it be about?
SHR: It’s called “Elliot Allagash” and it’s about money.
9.
FM: Is writing a novel harder than the previous short-essay format of your first two books?
SHR: It seems way easier, but that’s probably a really bad sign.
10.
FM: Many studies have indicated that women find humor to be the number one desirable trait in men. But, your MySpace page says you’re currently single...
SHR: Are you sure those studies said “humor” and not “rugged good looks?” I think they probably meant “rugged good looks.”
11.
FM: Growing up with a famous editorialist father (New York Times editor Frank Rich), was writing something that came naturally? Was there any pressure to fill his shoes?
SHR: My father was a proud Harvard Crimson Editor and this interview is probably the closest I’ll ever come to filling his shoes.
12.
FM: The Internet is full of bloggers madly stating how jealous they are of your success. What do you have to say to all the haters out there?
SHR: It is?? Oh my God...what do I do?
13.
FM: Your brother Nathaniel went to Yale...
SHR: Athletic rivalry.
14.
FM: You’ve said that you don’t like Bob Dylan. What is currently playing on your iPod?
SHR: Strangely, Bob Dylan. What’s that about?
15.
FM: You were away for your mom’s birthday for the weekend. Are you close to your parents?
SHR: Extremely. Please put a flattering picture of me on the side of this article, because my mom will clip it out regardless—but if it is a bad picture, I am worried that she will be ashamed.
