Thursday, February 3, 2011

Cornel West Brings the Funk of Black History Month to the Late Late Show



Cornel West, member of the high council in the Matrix films Black public intellectual, philosopher, and scholar performs his effortless genius negritude once more (and this is the paradox, like other great professionals he is so polished and practiced that the difficult is made to look easy).

As I am learning, interviews for a popular audience are difficult to do because personality has to be balanced with communicating complex facts in a setting that is not generally amenable to a college or university lecture. Some folks can do this effortlessly (like Professor West) and other amazingly accomplished scholars not so well (see Professor Nell Irvin Painter's painful interview on the Colbert Report as an example).

I always pay close attention to the great performers of the pundit and intellectual classes. Why? One, I admire anyone who is a master of the craft. And two, many of the skills exhibited by the most engaging and incisive intellectuals who ply their craft in public life are transferable to the classroom. While many of us who make our living in the library and in front of students are indifferent to the art of teaching as a performance, for those of us who ponder such things a great interview is a gold mine of professional riches.

Brother West and Late Late Show host Craig Ferguson put on a master clinic in the art of the interview. While the complexities of Black History Month in the post-racial Age of Obama cannot be reduced to 20 minutes, both gave as good as they got and offered us a good many gems to improvise around.

8 comments:

Historiann said...

I think you're being too hard on Painter--after all, Colbert's schtick is to interrupt and contradict his guests, whereas Ferguson's interview of West was mostly just letting West be West.

I agree with you in that Painter should have had a snappy 1-sentence description of her book ready to fly. But I'm not sure how much composure most of us would have in the face of an appearance on the Colbert Report. Painter showed that she could play along and that she has a sense of humor. She didn't come off badly--she just didn't really sell her book well at all.

(I really wonder what her agent had to think about all this!)

chaunceydevega said...

Fair point. She has done great interviews before. But, that format was just not a good fit or sell. Has West or Dyson ever gone on Colbert up against the fake O'Reilly? Amiri Baracka aka Leroi Jones would be fun in that spot too because he can be so unhinged.

Oh Crap said...

When I grow up, I am going to look like Nell Painter.

Historiann said...

Chauncey, I think your point about the venue is terrific. It's her agent who should apologize for the booking, not Painter!

(And, Oh Crap, I agree: Painter is gorgeous.)

darrelplant said...

chauncey, West was on Colbert's show (not for the first time) just a couple of months ago:

http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/tue-january-18-2011-cornel-west

darrelplant said...

I meant weeks...

chaunceydevega said...

@Darrel--Thanks, I missed that. Will have to dig it up. I can imagine it was alot of fun.

tc said...

Dunno if you saw before Chauncey, but Brother West was on Ferguson's show a couple of months ago and one could tell that his mind was blown a bit by Brother West. I think that's why he had him come back. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBXnbIUm12o)