A serious blog about satire in the news, free speech, and the media.
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Check Please! exclusive interviews with authors, humorists, and webmasters of every ilk.
The Dangerous Imagination of Jamie Malanowski
October 1, 2007
Jamie Malanowski is an experienced editor and humor writer with a long history of targeting
the world inside the beltway. His latest novel, The Coup, ventures into narrative territory
just this side of absurd, exploring how an unscrupulous vice-president might use
the alarmingly plausible power of scandal to move up in the world. In this Check Please! exclusive
interview, Malanowski describes the genesis of the novel and discusses why the power of scandal
has become so significant in today's political world.
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Satire and Political (In)activity: Interview with Courtney E. Martin
February 12, 2007
Courtney E. Martin is a writer, teacher, and filmmaker specializing in cultural features, personal essays, profiles, and book reviews. Courtney has interviewed a wide range of feminists, social activists, and corporate leaders. Now it's her turn to be the interviewee, as Check Please! asks her to expand upon a piece she penned for the Baltimore Sun in January 2007. The article "After Laughter, Action", questions the political value of mainstream satirical media, arguing that while enjoyable, it doesn't prompt people into activism.
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What a State of Mind: Interview with Ian Vince
(November, 2005) The outrageously Orwellian, quintessentially British and only marginally fictitious Department of Social Scrutiny (DOSS) is an award winning website from the mind of Ian Vince, a London writer who also brought the world the uniquely surreal travelogue to Trepanning, a Cornish village "so remote it's on its own outskirts" filled with absurdly quotidian paranormal elements. Ian has just published his first book based on DOSS, Britain: What A State. The book, which is both a visual and intellectual treat, is a complete guide to life in the United Kingdom, noting helpfully that the book is a choking hazard and offering official government application forms for such sundry activities as death. It has been selling extremely well, briefly reaching the top 100 in Amazon.co.uk sales. Here Ian tells us where the website and the book came from, and where they're going.
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The Annenberg Election Survey and News Satire: Interview with Danna Young
(October, 2005) On September 21, 2004, the National Annenberg Election Survey (NAES) announced that the satirical Daily Show was the main source of information for many young viewers. Dannagal Goldthwaite Young, a senior analyst at Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center, developed the portion of the NAES that addressed media use and public opinion, with a specific focus on how late night comedy affects the opinions of the voting public.
This is a two-part interview. Go to Part One Go to Part Two
Interview with Larry Pryor, Director of the Online Journalism Review
(June, 2004) The executive editor of the Online Journalism Review discusses everything from mainstream media sites to The Onion, and points out just how much of an impact satire news is having on mainstream media.
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Featured Site Interview: Ben Dickson, Random Perspective
(June, 2004) Dickson is not afraid to satirize anything, even his own writing; his exuberance encourages readers to forgive the occasional typos which mark the otherwise sharp prose. With more multimedia features on the way and a (mostly) regular stream of articles, Random Perspective is just getting warmed up.
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