Neil Gaiman is more excited about being slammed by Colbert than by winning the Newbery award
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Nothing is more exciting than seeing someone famous get totally jazzed about their own personal Colbert Bump. Stephen Colbert said this during his Who’s Not Honoring Me Now segment on ‘The Colbert Report’ last night:
First up, the Association for Library Service to Children, who gave the 2009 Newbery metal for distinguished children’s literature to “The Graveyard Book” by Neil Gaiman. Here’s a little summary: an 18-month old escapes the murder of his family by stumbling ahead of an assassin into an old graveyard. Bravo, Newbery. Sounds like a fantastic children’s book. Hey, I’ve got a great children’s book too – it’s called “F@#k it, We’re All Going To Die.” Newbery please!
As soon as Neil Gaiman heard about it, he could not contain his excitement and Twittered his amusement at the mention:
This morning, Gaiman had this to say on his blog about the segment:
I want to go on record as saying that this is quite possibly as good as it gets: sitting in a hotel room with your daughter the night before your film premieres, watching your Newbery-winning book being mocked by a bitterly Newberyless Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Report.
If you missed the segment last night, you can watch it here.
h/t Jen for the Twitter catch and SoStorm for the blog entry
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12 Comments
February 5th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
While I was heartily glad to catch Neil freaking on Twitter, I must say I am dismayed with those of you that are NOT following him. :P
Get the man’s books – he is awesome. :)
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February 5th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
I really liked Gaiman’s Books of Magic miniseries, and he’s an entertaining writer, in general. I’m looking forward to seeing how Coraline turns out, too.
Very cute (and justifiable!) reaction from Mr. Gaiman.
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February 5th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
That shiny Newbery imposed on the book cover during Colbert’s bit? It’s the wrong award, a Newbery Honor, not the Newbery Medal (which is gold)…just an observation!
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February 5th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Gaimen went on his blog and wrote a bit about it! Here’s the link
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/02/hasty-one.html
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February 5th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
GAIMAN!!! *HEAD*DESK* I always do that!
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February 5th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Great to hear that Gaiman is an it-getter!
Off topic: A friend of mine met Gaiman and said he was incredibly nice. It makes me happy to hear that folks I admire aren’t jackasses in real life (or at least not in front of their fans, anyway).
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February 5th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Gaiman is my #2 obsession (after Colbert, naturally). Seeing my fandoms collide so magnificently like that cannot be good for my health. AH! I love them both!
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February 5th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Haha I was happy to hear he got a Newbery, I didn’t know about it until I saw the Report. I love Gaiman’s books and The Graveyard Book was really good, and I am so crazy excited that he’s an it-getter xD
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February 5th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
I’m not a follower of Mr. Gaiman (as in, I haven’t really read all of his works, but I occasionally read his blog), but I’ve read “Snow, Glass, Apples” for my contemporary lit class (we were reading the many evolutions of the story of Snow White) and I loved it! Deconstruction/defamiliarization of fairy tales (because I grew up watching the Disney-fied versions)? I’m there! :)
reCAPTCHA: $110,000 please
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February 5th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
I became familiar with gaiman when someone recommended “american gods” to me. Great book in my opinion. I have been following his work since.
Off topic: On Amazon.com I noticed that there are an awful lot of Christians criticising ‘american gods’ on the comments page, because they say should not imply that america has more than one god!!!!!!
Some people in this world take themselves far too seriously.
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February 6th, 2009 at 6:53 am
American Gods! Good Omens! Stardust! And best of all (imho, but I haven’t read them all): Anansi Boys! And check out the movie (if you can find the DVD anywhere): Mirrormask. Fantastic!
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May 30th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Ah… Well done, Mr. Gaiman!
Those of you that don’t read his works really ought to get started. I recommend Smoke and Mirrors as a good starting point… with American Gods as the follow-up. :P
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