Clive and Smarty chatting on the couch

Slate.com has a series of Clive James interviews with various writers, directors, etc. I watched the Martin Amis interview, which I enjoyed but one thing struck me as unintentionally funny. There are several instances where they both appear to name-drop the most famous writers they can think of, and it really comes across like a parody of intellectuals rather than a real writer talking to a serious interviewer.

It’s in the way James will say “Oh, and Joyce”, and Amis responds with “Yes, yes, Joyce”. Or James: “Like Nabokov”; Amis: “Yes, of course, Nabokov”. It feels like a Fry & Laurie sketch. Especially in the way Clive James is perched on the couch, and both of them are smoking and drinking throughout the interview.

But Smarty has a great line. I don’t remember if it’s an original or he is quoting somebody else, but he says: Finnegans Wake is a 700-page crossword clue, and the answer is “The”.