Six Degrees: Ben Karlin discusses love and Valentine’s Day

Ben Karlin’s new book is quite appropriately timed for that wonderful or terrible (depending on your perspective) Valentine’s Day holiday. Ah, for the days of getting glittery heart cards from everyone in your elementary school class.

Questions for Ben Karlin: Lovers Lost
Deborah Solomon
The New York Times Magazine
February 10, 2008

Since Valentine’s Day is on Thursday and you just edited an anthology of lovelorn essays by 32 guys — “Things I’ve Learned From Women Who’ve Dumped Me” — I thought it might be interesting to ask you about the current state of romance in America. O.K., well there’s your first mistake.

Do you observe Valentine’s Day? It’s not part of my faith, if that is what you are driving at. I loved the idea of Valentine’s Day when you were a kid and you made a card for everyone in your class and everyone in your class had to make a card for you. So you walk away that day with, like, 35 Valentine’s Day wishes.

Are you saying you wish Valentine’s Day could be more inclusive now? Yeah.

It’s true. Love is not very democratic. I think it needs some revision.

Where are we now romantically as a nation? Can you give me a State of the Union report? Based on what I read on the Internet, teenagers are hooking up and having sex, and I think the entire nation will have had sex with itself by the year 2019.

Do you think the Internet actually increases the number of romantic entanglements a person has in a lifetime? Well, yeah. If you go back to colonial times, and you wanted to meet someone, you had to get on your horse and ride several leagues or fathoms or whatever they were called. That was a lot of work, and you’re obviously not going to be churning through 25 people in a month.

What kind of idiot churns through 25 people in a month? Single New Yorkers with Internet access.

It’s been a little more than a year since you left your job as the executive producer of “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report,” which you helped create. Why would you leave Comedy Central? You didn’t hear about the sex scandal, clearly.

Is that a joke? Yes.

. . .

Does anything good ever come of romantic rejection? There is a truism that from pain comes growth. That’s definitely something I’ve been told.

But do you believe it? I’ve never found heartbreak to be instructive. I disagree. I know that when I was dating and relationships didn’t work, I always took away a lesson — like, “Beware the kooky woman with the brother in the military.”

Now that you’re married, can those lessons help you be a better husband? Probably not.

Do you have any dating advice for your children? I have an 8-month-old, and he is not getting a MySpace account until he is at least 13 months.

Read the full interview here.

Fun Fact: Deborah Solomon interviewed Stephen Colbert at the New York Times Center in November 2007.

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EDIT: Newly minted New York Press journalist Nate Sloan also has an interview with Ben. An excerpt, behind the cut (Ben Karlin dropping the f-bomb is going to be the death of us here at NFZ):

Ben Karlin markets his book with funny people telling funny stories
By Nate Sloan, New York Press

I suggested to Karlin that the title of the anthology and his role in its creation implies he’s an authority, if not the ultimate authority on being dumped. Getting dumped is the worst, so why would he or anyone else want to revisit these feelings?

“There’s a reason why I edited an anthology versus write a whole book on the subject,” he explains. “I mean, I’ve been dumped, but only enough times to fill a 28,000-word book and my contract called for 40. I do like the idea of taking universal subjects and themes and trying to bring an interesting approach to it. As a comedy writer, the instinct is often to go very esoteric, and I like the challenge of trying to be relatable but also funny. Sadly, I failed. My next book will be about a mutant dwarf population in Micronesia.”

About a year ago, Karlin left his position as executive producer of both The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report. Since then, he has finished up this book and started his own production company, Superego Industries. Superego has a multi-platform deal with HBO to produce and develop content for TV, film and the Internet.

“We are going to do a show about a guy who tries to become the richest man in the world,” says Karlin. “A movie about f*cked up children of divorce, a movie about the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold, and several other ideas that look great on colored index cards but will actually be quite difficult to make.”

I did find it a little suspicious that the publication of Things I’ve Learned From Women Who Dumped Me and its live shows are all taking place during the month of February. A heart-tugging coincidence?

“I wanted to release this book around the Jewish holiday of Simchas Torah,” says Karlin. “But my publisher—with their so-called marketing team—thought Valentine’s Day would be more appropriate.”

Read the entire article here.