Things I Learned from My Crispin Glover Interview

Crispin Glover podcast - Pyragraph

Yesterday was a big day around the Pyragraph Studios (i.e. my living room) as the guest for our weekly Self-Employed Happy Hour podcast was none other than Crispin Hellion Glover. He’s in Albuquerque for two screenings of his films, What Is It? and It Is Fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE. at The Guild Cinema, and The Guild’s kickass owner Keif Henley hooked us up with the interview. At the screenings on Dec. 5 and 6, Crispin will also present dramatic readings from his books, and do a Q&A and book signing at the end (more details in the pink box below). It’s my birthday today and I’m totally going tonight, and I can’t fucking wait!

I don’t interview for-real famous people very often so it has been an exciting week. I learned a few things as I prepared to interview Crispin, and as it all went down.

  • I like preparing for interviews when “preparing” means watching films like Rubin & Ed and Willard. (Note to self: More excellent filmmakers/actors on the show = more excellent movie nights.)
  • Crispin Glover is an easy, fascinating, exceedingly awesome interview subject. Some folks seemed to think I should be very, very nervous about interviewing him but I had a feeling that was a myth. I was right! He’s lovely to chat with.
  • Crispin is a consummate professional and won’t complain about a freezing cold room. I realized about 10 minutes into the show I forgot to bring in the space heater but it was too late. Crispin looked cold and I felt bad. Sorry Crispin; next time come in August, OK?
  • I’m a sucker for smart people who challenge the status quo. It was very cool to dig deeper into Crispin’s work and really think about his philosophy about and approach to pushing back against sanitized corporate media. I’m inspired by his artistic curiosity and freedom from constraints, including self-imposed ones.
  • Being an independent artist takes a lot of work. Just because you’re a famous Hollywood actor doesn’t mean your own creative projects will come easy—especially if they are challenging in any way for mass audiences. For one of his films, about 10 days of shooting were spread out over 2+ years. He does his website himself. By self-financing and taking a DIY approach he has maximum freedom with his projects, but they’re also very work intensive.
  • Few things motivate me to clean, but having a famous person come to my house is one. I need to do this more often.

Crispin Hellion Glover - Pyragraph

To listen to the podcast, you can stream it right here. It’d be great if you also subscribed at iTunes (and leave a review while you’re at it) so you won’t miss upcoming episodes. Cheers!

Don’t miss the screenings of Crispin’s films What Is It? and It Is Fine! Everything Is Fine. at The Guild Cinema in Albuquerque, Dec. 5 and 6 at 7pm. In addition to the film screenings, Crispin will perform one-hour dramatic narrations with projections from eight of his illustrated books, plus do a Q&A and book signing. Tickets available through Stranger Factory and The Guild.

More pics from the podcast:

Eva Avenue - Pyragraph

Eva Avenue and Josh Stuyvesant, who really isn’t sleeping.

Crispin Glover podcast - Pyragraph

Crispin Glover podcast - Pyragraph

Crispin Glover podcast - Pyragraph

L-R: Crispin Glover, Peri Pakroo, Josh Stuyvesant, Eva Avenue & Sage Harrington.

Crispin Glover on Self-Employed Happy Hour - Pyragraph

All photos by Turtle O’Toole.

About Peri Pakroo

Peri Pakroo is the founder, Publisher and Editor of Pyragraph. Outside her work with Pyragraph, Peri is a business author and coach, specializing in creative and smart strategies for self-employment, small businesses and nonprofits. Her focus is on helping people build structure for their passions to find success on their own terms. Peri is the author of several top-selling Nolo titles on small business and nonprofits including The Small Business Start-Up Kit, The Women’s Small Business Start-Up Kit and Starting & Building a Nonprofit. Since 2012 she has produced and hosted the Self-Employed Happy Hour podcast.

Peri accidentally started her first band The Moist Towelettes at the age of 40 with her husband Turtle O’Toole. Since then she has played in a number of bands including The Directory, Bellemah and her own downer-country project, Peri & the FAQs.

In 2012, Peri saw the need for a resource featuring the voices of a wide range of creative workers and the many different career paths they take. She founded Pyragraph to fill this need. Here’s the Pyragraph start-up story.

2 Comments

  1. […] Peri wrote a blog post about all the things she learned from this interview. Read it here. […]

  2. […] I wrote a blog post about all the things she learned from this interview. Read it here. […]

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