On this week's Wits, a look inside the brains of some of our favorite funny authors. We join writers Patton Oswalt, John Hodgman, Neil Gaiman and Julia Sweeney for discussions of grandmothers, Beatles, wine, sex, and Dungeons and Dragons. Plus, music from singer-songwriter-authors (yep, double hyphenates) Josh Ritter and John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats.
Patton Oswalt is one of the top touring comedians today. He won hearts as the voice of Remy in Ratatouille. He starred opposite Charlize Theron in Young Adult and with Steve Carell and Keira Knightley in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, and was in TV's King of Queens. Patton is also the author of the essay collection Zombie, Spaceship, Wasteland.
Neil Gaiman is the bestselling author of books for adults and children. The recipient of many awards, his works have been adapted for film, television, stage and radio. Some of Neil’s most notable titles include The Graveyard Book (the first book to ever win both the Newbery and Carnegie medals), American Gods and 2013's UK National Book Award's Book of the Year, The Ocean at the End of the Lane. 2 million people follow him on Twitter. Born in the UK, he now lives in the US with his wife, the musician and writer, Amanda Palmer.
John Hodgman is an author, humorist, actor, and expert. He is a frequent contributor to "This American Life," appears regularly on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," has appeared on NBC's "Community" and "30 Rock," HBO's "Bored to Death," and was the PC in a series of ads for Apple computers. Hodgman is the author of the "COMPLETE WORLD KNOWLEDGE" trilogy, a compendium of invented trivia and completely fake facts. He hosts the "Judge John Hodgman" podcast, and in 2013, he released the original comedy special, "John Hodgman: Ragnarok" on Netflix.
Julia Sweeney is an actress, comedian and writer best known for her work on Saturday Night Live where she was a cast member and also for her monologues God Said Ha!, In the Family Way and Letting Go of God. She's been a panelist on "Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me!" and performed with songwriter Jill Sobule in a show called Jill and Julia. Julia will be out with a new book called "If It's Not One Thing It's Your Mother" in April of 2013.
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In this room, equipped with a dual-cassette recorder, Singer songwriter John Darnielle started setting some of his poetry to music, using a guitar he'd gotten for a few bucks at a nearby strip mall music store. His idea at the time was that eventually his day job would be "poet." Young men have all kinds of crazy ideas about what they're going to end up doing for a living. Today, John is the lead singer from the Mountain Goats.