Actually, neither claim was fair.
I apologise for making those statements.
And heres how it went…
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How many times have you seen the film now?
It will be the fourth time Ive seen it.
I think Michael Moore was quieter, but Bill Murray loved it.
Youve probably heard this before, but the vibe I got from the trailer was very Coen Brothers-esque.
So, I suppose its a mix of the cast and the bang out of story.
Do you feel any sort of ownership toward the film?
If people really like the film its not because of me.
I wasnt involved in the screenplay and I wasnt involved in direction, so no, I dont.
Actors must be like this all the time; theyre promoting things that theyre in but didnt direct.
This is the first time ever Ive been promoting something that I wasnt in charge of.
Its lucky that I really like the film because otherwise it would be a hard thing to do.
It would be wrong for me to think I owned it because I had nothing to do with it.
Did you feel any responsibility as to how the characters were portrayed in the film?
And, in fact, Jim Channon has seen the film and likes it more than the book.
I wish it did, but no.
I think the existence of the film has helped withThem.
His three planes just circling the Heathrow of his mind.
And Im just hoping that the next one to land isThem.
So, even ifAnt-Mancomes next, I cant be too annoyed.
How about the adaptations of your other books?
What if my wife or son didnt like the way they were portrayed?
I got paranoid, so when the option came up I decided not to renew it.
But there are some other options of mine.
I wrote this piece about being in Frank Sidebottoms band.
So there are a few.
Do you think youll write again something with such personal insight into your family life?
I wish I hadnt done it at all, to tell you the truth.
Did you find your family life easier to write about than conspiracy theories might be?
Or was it similar because youre still searching for a narrative in whatever youre writing.
Exactly, and the relentlessness of doing it every week, I got really miserable.
Writing a weekly column if you care about it and take it seriously can really screw with your head.
There were times when I was getting insomnia because I was panicking so much about it.
So Id say that the column was harder to write than the books.
The minute ones over you have to start thinking about the next one.
When youre researching a story do you find yourself creating an idealized version of it in your head?
I do, but I think what you gotta do is allow yourself to get rid of that.
What actually happened was that the protesters missed David and hit the childrens book section instead.
I was standing there shaking my head thinking, You useless fucking protesters.
You cant even throw a custard pie straight.
Youve spoilt the end of my story.
Of course, the opposite was the case.
At the time youre amassing the material and not reflecting on it.
When the idealized version of your story falls apart youve got to embrace that.
Were at the final stages of two of the programmes.
For some reason they only commissioned five this year, not six.
Presumably because they noticed that our final programme every year was a bit crap.
But you know whatll happen this year four will be good and the fifth will be shit.
I think were probably concentrating a bit more on using non-comedic people.
Youve also had several pieces on one of my favourite shows,This American Life.
It was Sarah Vowell who got me involved because she was a fan ofThem.
The first thing I did was something about Omar Bakri and Ive done about seven or eight since.
You haggle over every single word which I think is really good.
Its amazingly tight and perfectionistic, which is why I think its so good.
I only know of two Brits whove ever been involved; me and Jon Langford from The Mekons.
Hes great you should listen to theClassifiedsepisode.
Its an entire programme based around one page of classified ads columns in the Chicago Tribute.
Its really, really good.
Your latest contribution featured a character called Tony cheating his way into Broadmoor.
Thats right, this is part of my next book.
I think its going to be really good, but Ive got a long way to go.
They want it by July to publish it the following April or May and Im slightly worried.
It could be really good, I think.
Ive got a good feeling about it.
Im looking forward to it!
Thank you for your time, Jon.
It was a pleasure talking to you.
