Act 1<\/a><\/strong><\/big><\/p>\nColbert<\/strong>: Mr. Sendak, thank you so much \r\nfor talking with me today.\r\n Sendak<\/strong>: It's a pleasure.\r\nColbert<\/strong>: Now, tell me about children's literature. \r\nDon't you think that by writing books for children, \r\nyou are sending children the message that reading is important?\r\n Sendak<\/strong>: Very much so. yes. \r\n\r\nLet's talk about kids. I don't trust 'em. \r\n Is that true?\r\nThey are just biding their time until we're gone, \r\nand then they get our stuff.\r\n That's really good.\r\nAnd they take our place.\r\n Uh-huh, that's an interesting point of view... \r\nThank you.\r\n ...but not interesting to me, particularly.\r\n There is something in this country that is so opposed \r\n to understanding the complexity of children, \r\n it's quite amazing.\r\nWhat do you mean 'the complexity of children'? \r\nbecause children have it easy, they get driven everyplace\r\nwe feed them, we dress them.\r\nNewt Gingrich said it: children don't have a work ethic.\r\n But Newt Gingrich is an idiot. \r\n Of great renown, I'll give him that. \r\nHe's a historian, you know.\r\n Yes but there is something \r\n so hopelessly gross and vile about him, \r\n that it's hard to take him seriously. \r\n so let's not take him seriously.\r\nwell let's agree to disagree.\r\n sure.\r\n\r\nWhy write for children?\r\n I don't. write. for children. \r\nYou don't?\r\n No. I write. and somebody says, \"that's for children!\"\r\n I didn't set out to make children happy, \r\n or to make life better for them, or easier for them.\r\nDo you like them?\r\n I like them as few and far between as I do adults. \r\n Maybe a bit more, since I really don't like adults, \r\n at all, practically.\r\nLet me just get that down. \r\nMaurice Sendak: \"Children: Eh.\"\r\nAlright, didn't know that.\r\n\r\nNew topic: book signings. \r\n Dreadful.\r\nReally? You must have groupies.\r\n Yes, you do -- but they don't mean anything!\r\nHot young moms coming up to you? right? \r\nWhere the wild MILFs are?\r\n That would not affect me because I am a gay man.\r\nSorry, what?\r\n I said, \"That would not affect me because I am a gay man.\"\r\nI think, I'm sorry, I must be mishearing you, \r\nI think you just said you were a gay man.\r\n Yeah.\r\nOk... Why are you allowed to write children's books? \r\n Why not?\r\nYou aren't allowed to head boy scout troops.\r\n I wouldn't dream of wanting to.\r\nBut... What does a gay man care about children? \r\n They're people, they're people...\r\nGay men can't have children.\r\n Of course they can!\r\nNo they can't. Do you know how it works?\r\n They're capable...\r\nSir, excuse me. you are completely misguided \r\nif you think that gay men--\r\n You *can* do that!\r\nI'm sure you've put some effort into it. \r\nBut it will not work, sir!\r\n (laughs)\r\n\r\nLet's go on to a new subject.\r\n Why not.\r\nYou've expressed frustration in the media sometimes that \r\nall they ever want to talk about\r\nis Where The Wild Things Are<\/em>.\r\n True.\r\nlet's talk about Where The Wild Things Are<\/em>.\r\n (winces in pain)\r\n\r\nWhy not do a sequel to this? It's a natural.\r\n Because it is the most boring idea imaginable!\r\n\"Where the Wild Things Are 2: Still Wildin'!<\/em>... \r\nfeaturing Vin Diesel<\/em>\"\r\n Who's Vin Diesel?\r\nOh, he's incredible. Have you seen Fast and Furious<\/em>? \r\n No\r\nor... Too Fast Too Furious<\/em>? \r\n I don't go to the movies. \r\nWe do this book, we get a tie in \r\nwith Burger King or Taco Bell,\r\nit comes with a Where the Wild Things Are<\/em> snack pack...\r\n It is so bad, that it not only will sell, \r\n it will make pots and pots of money for you.\r\nCan I get the blessing of your estate?\r\n Absolutely.\r\n(to the cameraman) You've got that on tape? \r\n But it's got to be as bad as that looks like it is.\r\nWell listen, let's let the public judge \r\nwhether it's bad, by whether they buy it. \r\nBelieve in the free market?\r\n No.\r\nOk, well I can't help you there.\r\n\r\nBy the way, in Where the Wild Things Are<\/em>, \r\n\"the wild rumpus\": is that... is that...\r\n It can be!\r\nIs rumpus... sex?\r\n Sure.\r\n\"the wild rumpus begin\"?\r\n Yes! the whole bed going up and down, yes\r\n The mother screaming, the father saying \"shut up\"\r\nYou know -- making love.\r\n Making love. And being happy. \r\n\r\nLet's talk about In the Night Kitchen<\/em> \r\nfor a second. can we?\r\n Sure.\r\nThis one gets banned all over the place. You know why.\r\n He's got a dick.\r\nHe's got a tallywhacker, okay?\r\n A tallywhacker? I never heard that.\r\nOh yeah, yeah. a johnson. \r\n A johnson?\r\nA johnson, you never hear of johnson? \r\nA schvantz. \r\n (nods in recognition) \r\n\r\nYou've got kiddy schvantz in your book. \r\nWhy are you printing a smutty book?\r\n Because... he's a boy.\r\nYeah, yeah. But you don't have to rub it in our face. \r\nWhy... Boys wear pants.\r\n Not when they're dreaming...!\r\n Have you never had a dream, yourself, \r\n Where you were totally naked?\r\nNo.\r\n I think you're a man of little imagination.\r\n\r\nWell I love the book, but I've just made \r\nsome adjustments to it. I - every copy I have, \r\nI've removed all the penises from it. \r\n Oh my god, you have!!\r\nYes, so you can see, there's nothing there.\r\nI removed the penises, \r\nI removed the butt crack over here, okay. \r\nI've taken the penis out over here. \r\nYou don't have to worry about the penis offending \r\nanybody. (wiggles finger through cut-out hole)\r\n Not at all. Wow. \r\n\r\nBut I keep all the penises, \r\nI cut them out and I put them in a little plastic bag.\r\nI also cut out all the other penises I see \r\nin the books and magazines.\r\nI've got a couple hundred here.\r\n(holds up bag of penis cut-outs)\r\n And there's nothing wrong with you<\/em>, of course. \r\nI come across a lot of penises.\r\n I am so impressed.\r\n\r\n[Flashback to earlier interview]\r\n It is a miracle that I have lived this long \r\n without having destroyed a person.\r\n I still have a little bit of time.\r\nTo kill someone?\r\n To kill someone. Yeah.\r\n[\/Flashback]\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is a transcript… of Stephen Colbert’s interview with Maurice Sendak, from the Colbert Show in 2012. It is the best Kid Lit Interview. Ever. And perhaps the best Colbert interview, too. Update: see also Part 2 and Part 3. Grim Colberty Tales w Maurice Sendak Act 1 Colbert: Mr. Sendak, thank you so much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1202,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[205,207,1],"tags":[60582,60581,60583,60590,60589],"class_list":["post-2175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-glory-glory-glory","category-indescribable","category-uncategorized","tag-colbert","tag-part-1","tag-sendak","tag-tallywhacker-cut-outs","tag-wild-things"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iVvB-z5","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2175"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3948,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2175\/revisions\/3948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}