Sep 15, 2016
Happy to present to you my conversation with author, comedian,
and musician <a href="http://www.davehillonline.com/"
target="_blank">Dave Hill</a>. Hill is a busy guy these
days. He just released his second book of essays, Dave Hill Doesn't
Live Here Anymore, he's on the road doing stand-up and
storytelling, and developing a new television pilot. Hill has a
distinctive voice as an essayist – he can give himself over to
silliness and then comment on something more serious in a way that
leaved you no choice but to stay engaged, if only to make sure
you’re following his tone correctly. Among the praise heaped on
Hill's writing from Michael Ian Black, Malcolm Gladwell, Jim
Gaffigan, Todd Barry, and his sometime touring partner Janeane
Garofalo is this from Dick Cavett: “The next president’s first
official act should be to declare Dave Hill a living national
treasure. He is a major figure among American comic writers, past
and present. When reading his stuff, I laugh so loud, the neighbors
complain.”
You may also have seen Hill doing stand-up, with a mix of shorter,
sillier gags and longer stories. And that's his band, <a
href="http://valleylodgehq.com/" target="_blank">Valley
Lodge</a>, playing the ebullient theme to Last Week
Tonight with John Oliver. Hill does a lot of things, and does
them all very well.
We kicked things off with an unexpected anecdote about how Hill, an
accomplished guitar player, once auditioned to play with J. Mascis
of Dinosaur Jr. There is a lot of talk about the new book, which
tells the story of how he reconnected, or maybe connected for the
first time, with his father after his mother died. And a special
thanks to Joyce Linehan, who brought Hill to Boston for a
salon-style reading and conversation. She was kind enough to let us
do the interview at her house.
After the interview, stay tuned for new music from Walter Sickert
and the Army of Broken Toys. For your listening pleasure, I have
included Come Black Magic, the first single from their new album of
the same name. If you like what you hear, please visit <a
href="https://armyoftoys.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Sickert
and the Toys on BandCamp</a>, where they are running a
special that allows you to <a
href="https://armyoftoys.bandcamp.com/album/come-black-magic"
target="_blank">buy and download the band's entire catalogue for
as little as six bucks</a>. Take advantage of that while you
can.