This woman should be allowed to go on TV and talk about whatever she wants for as long as she wants all the time.

I wish she had a podcast. I would watch every day.

"Most revelations are not.... practical." Pure gold.

One of the many things that I absolutely LOVE about Fran is that she is totally fine talking about being a misanthrope....being slothful, being the things that many of us are but don't have the courage or individual fortitude to talk about publicly. I live like her...I made the choice not to have ANYTHING around me that needed taking care of, not even a plant or a goldfish....so that I could have time to sit and stare and think. We need more people like this.

“I like to have conversations up, not down.” Oh how I love her.

Fran makes so much sense. You may not always agree with her, but she's the least hypocritical person I know. She doesn't pander to ANYONE. I have so much respect for her wit, intelligence and honesty

I can listen and watch Fran talk all day, any day..

Fran is light years ahead of most!

This interview was from 1994, but what Fran discussed here rings very relevant today. Her commentary on politicians, celebrities and the younger generation sounds so true.

It is a great mistake to call FL a cynic -- she is a polymath critic and intellectual with enormous scope and depth of knowledge -- that sort of appetite does not spring from cynicism.

"I even resist my own authority" OMG I need to do lunch with this woman LOL

I was shocked at the interviewer slyly twisting what Fran said about young people (as opposed to children). Fran was having none of her crap.

Fascinating lady. It never fails that some idiots will post the snide comments about her appearance or the "is this really a woman" stuff. So sad that one's idea of an attractive person is so limited and myopic.

I loved her comments regarding children and television. Spot on.

Fran is the real deal.

She has such bulls-eye, observations on society. She is a "speaking caricature artist". Love hearing what she has to say.....the Strand bookstore talk about Michael Bloomberg was SO right on. I wish Fran would do a things where you can rent a movie (or buy it) and there would be a "narrative" that acompanies the film, with just HER commentary!!! She could do this this with hundreds of films, and we could hear her comments during the film!

I can so relate to the anti-authoritative voice in your head that rebels even against your own authority. First person I´ve ever heard talk about it.

I would title this... "From the Heart". Dear Fran Lebowitz... you are a true INSPIRATION to me. The very best to you, always. Thank you.

wow, i am this woman, as soon as i got money for art i stopped doing it and now i can only express myself by talking to people because its always spontaneous and no one can shut me up or pay me to keep doing it. Massive authority problem, cant hold a job, as soon as something becomes a ‘should’ this visceral force comes over me and i need to get out of that as fast as possible. But, i have found that i can draw again as long as its only on scrap paper with bad pens and it doesn’t have to go up anywhere - as long as i owe no one nothing and can stop or start at any point without waste.

What an amazing interview. She hits the nail on the head over and over. She sees the reality of modern childhood.

damn she's awesome

Dated (1994) yet an outstanding interview.

I don’t think hanging out and talking to people in your early years in NYC at least to me, would mean one is “slouthful.” Maybe one could call it being an evolutionary... growing at one’s own pace and in what that entails for in particular, you. It's always a surprise when someone in the media speaks the truth. We want more.

she is smart and funny and I would love to go to those parties with her.

Fran is timelessly essential.

Please tell Fran that I love her dry wit and always enjoy her interviews and refreshingly honest take on various subjects. She is funny, intelligent and highly creative in her take on life. I would love to meet her but she doesn't do Facebook. I think she would enjoy all the art that is to be found online but she loves reading so maybe it's for the best!

I was very lucky because my dad took the tv away all the time and the house was full of books without any restrictions on what we read.

“I could have not mastered almost any instrument given to me.” 😂🤣😂🤣 deaaad

"Not writing is very time consuming". That's funny.

"I could've not mastered almost any instrument given to me."

She’s always been such an amusing intellectual. 🤣

Love the local cable access channel vibe of this interview!

I will always be thankful to my parents to allow me to try my hand at ballet, piano and painting, the latter of which led to a career in teaching art. And my dad did try to get me to play tennis, but the Florida sun was too hato for me. Fran makes so much sense and the way she clarifies, for example, for the Interviewer, her thoughts about young people , is done so well. The interviewer is so good too. what a pleasure!

This was one of the most relaxing and informative interviews I have heard with Fran. The interviewer should be commended for providing that calming atmosphere which made it very easy to engage with Fran. Not only did she listen to Fran’s responses but she gave the audience insightful information.

My god, I love this women.

I cannot believe I have never heard of you, but I am delighted to have discovered you. I moved to NYC 1973 from Argentina, knowing no one, and made a life for myself there. I really enjoy you dry humour and observances. Being aproximately the same age I fall into your way of thinking and enjoy listening to a person say what I think in a more appropiate way. I met Andy Warhol at an opening in a gallery where I worked, I neither thought much of him.

Fran will never read any of these moments and she’s is ok with that. Brilliant!!

Marcia Alvar was such a pleasure as well.

I love what she says about not writing. I as a visual artist find it very hard to not do the work I should. Keep it up Fran.

If you look at the world with clear eyes, and speak honestly? They call you a cynic. It is a lazy stereotype. it is similar to describing someone who is not a cheerleader, as someone who hates football.

She interests me because she is my age and yet has totally opposite experiences. We did not have a TV when i was young so i read a lot: similar, but my mother always worked. I was very close to my father. My mother taught piano, but I refused any part of it. I loved visiting NYC , but have absolutely NO desire to live there. I love where I do live (Iowa) which she considers an empty place.

What she says about children and television is just as relevant today but with social media.

I adore her evaluation of our inner dialogue. She speaks from her own point of view but we apply what we need to and can.

Wonderful interviewer = actually listens to the guest!

Such a remarkable mind.

Lebowitz has incredible memory so that worked out but here is another reason why interviewers should have direct quotes from the sources they wonna ask questions about in case they get their reading completely wrong by not reading very well or at all.

D*mn! Fran L is the best. Damn.

Really interesting interview. Host was excellent.

I love her

"Every issue was a ski issue"

Took one look at the interviewer's hair and chuckled to myself, "Ok this is gonna be fun." The minute they showed an unusually down-beat and rather exhausted looking Fran I thought, "Cool. This is gonna be like a chirpy lesbian Barbra Walters interviewing a prickly lesbian Oscar Wilde". The interview defied my silly and stereotypical expectations. Good interviewer and Fran on fire as usual. America has this weird narrative of children as little angels. No. They start mimicking the worst behavior of adults by the time they are in the 3rd or 4th grade. The innocence is short-lived. Their cruelty to one another can be surprisingly sophisticated.

A wizard of Poland from 1941 is not to be toyed with and very deadly. His children escaped by the inspiration of a ghetto boy Kaytek. Janusz Korczak was a very inspirational author for children at the time.

The thing about children is absolutely true

Her observations of the book 'industry' are acute. I bet the adult publishers never foresaw the success of Harry Potter! Children's books are 'real' books and now taken very seriously. How the world has changed.

The way Fran was talking about Gen x can be applied almost word for word to Gen z and alpha but with iPads and tiktok instead of tv

Posted 2014. Does anyone know when this was filmed? I have visual challenges, so even if it was on screen, I would appreciate the info here. Thank you. And, Thank you, for posting this.

Ivan Drago interviews Oscar Wilde

I wonder how she feels NOW about people with too much money. Hopefully..and likely different. But I digress, I could listen to her speak all day.

she' she's great

I like Fran but I think she wouldn’t care for me. That’s fine!

I was cheered by how Fran went after this interviewer, following her trying to push Fran on a misquote about children. In case you weren't listening, Fran indicted TV as a poor substitute for culture. And how that minor TV personality tried to not blush and squirm. And the bad influence of pro sports. At the end, the reporter shows her fangs (about Fran's book). What a bit of envy that was. Meanwhile, Lebowitz has a good writing legacy.

The things she said about TV (always-on) apply to smartphones tremendously (the numbing quality)

She is nonchalantly hilarious

It's such a terrible shame that this book is out of print. A really interesting young American woman told me it was her favourite book as a child. I have looked at the possibility of buying a second-hand copy & getting it sent to Europe but I won't get any change out of $250. I'm curious, but not that curious!

An Optimist Looks To Growth

She's right about sitting for too long in front of the T.V. (or any screen on whichever device suits us these days). It really is something ppl get addicted to when they're depressed. And we let children do that, instead of getting out & playing or creating something. l spent way too much time as a child sitting in front of the T.V., dreaming I was a part of the Brady Bunch or Stranded on Gilligan's Island. Stuck in Re-runs. Don't get me wrong, I played, I did art, I did other stuff. But way too much T.V... and it's only gotten worse. Quarentine or no quarentine, I feel so bad about letting my kid just watch TV (all damn day some days) & not getting out enough. Just bc I'm depressed. I gotta snap out of it and live life more!! (Frank Zappa's song "The Slime" comes to mind.) However, I definitely disagree with Fran's idea that children's ability to learn language is diminished if their caretakers first language isn't English! That's SUCH a homogenized, colonial, WRONG old way of thinking! The more languages, the better! Children's brain synapses flourish with more languages. Not to mention they are more culturally inclusive and informed.

Where is Marcia Alvar, now? I think she is wildly talented as an interviewer.

What does she say at 24:36?

I so relate to resisting even one’s own authority. Oy.

Fran likes her.

ok...

The interviewer sounds like Marcy from Married with Children - ..once you hear it, you cant un-hear it.

Pinky Lee!

If I talk like her my grown ups kids would say ( oh mom you can’t say that! that is so rude ) but I think and talk like that ! but because I’m not a spoke woman I get in trouble ☹️

19:09

Unless she inherited a wealth of money, how is she living in her own place in NYC able to eat, entertain herself, ect!

watched

Children want to be read to and play with physical toys like a picture puzzle or a train set. Go play bungee jumping with them. They like that. Adult children are much more difficult. That's my department.

I thank G-d for You

PM'TV , or more accurately, PMT'V

To bad she hasn't said anything about covid. It would be good,maybe she will.

It's painful to see the host Marcia Alvar not get Fran's jokes over and over.

I miss Tammy Faye Baker

My real question is what did she do for money, other then being paid to talk and interview, which I can’t imagine have been enough to survive in New York.

Fran was completely on point but the interviewer was poorly prepared. You cannot come to a Fran interview poorly prepared. She will eat you alive with her dry wit.

she talks like ben shapiro

Fran Lebowitz hates bicycles

I don't think she's a cynic. She's probably an INTJ.

What an abrupt and rude ending.

@ 16:30 she breaks down Trump's appeal to the masses.

Is that Oscar Wilde ??

Two power lesbians. One trying (a bit) to pretend femininity another doesn’t bother at all. Amazing though. Fran is awesome.

@27:12 - "There is some possibility - although I wouldn't bet any money on it - that [my novel] could be finished within a year." With such prescient instincts, perhaps Fran should have been a bookie rather than a writer…

Boy, I don't care for this interviewer. I cannot imagine what they are thinking by using her. She does not bring out the best in anyone. I also saw her with Edna Buchanan and she was very condescending. She literally looks down her nose upon her subject. Yuck. Whether she is or not, she comes across as supercilious. (It was also amusing to see her change in body language when they showed a clip from her interview with Calvin trillin during Buchanan's interview. omg). Please, please, stop using her. Had to cut this short because I could not watch her any more, and I love Fran, so I didn't like it at all....

Welcome back to "Lesbian Book Review"...

I do not like furniture. It's just a bunch of baggage that doesn't even know how to act.

The conversation here is so dated compared to 2021. The impact of TV in the 90's was nothing compared to social media.

The fresh september premenstrually handle because rice developmentally tempt afore a loutish ketchup. whispering, level train

I adore Fran...but this interviewer is not that great...

The 90s were so bad in fashion and design...