JONAH WEINER

The Writearound

THE WRITEAROUND:

A SERIES OF CONVERSATIONS

WITH WRITERS

Josh Eells is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, where he’s written cover stories on Zach Galifianakis and Lil Wayne, among others. He’s also a contributing editor at Men’s Journal, where he recently profiled Kyle Chandler. In this Writearound, we talk about hanging out with war dogs; munching pot chocolates with bearded comic geniuses; and what the celebrity profile still has to offer the world.

Stream or download audio of the Q&A here. 45 minutes, August 2011

Alex Pappademas is a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine, and he used to be GQ’s staff writer. In this inaugural Writearound, we talk about his recent Times Magazine cover story on the Teen Wolf reboot; several of his GQ profiles (including this one, of Quentin Tarantino); his stint working alongside Kurt Andersen, David Carr and others at Inside.com; and why pancetta just sounds better than prosciutto.

Stream or download audio of the Q&A here. 45 minutes, July 2011

Home

Vanessa Grigoriadis is a contributing editor at New York, Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone. She won the National Magazine Award for profile writing in 2007 for a piece on Karl Lagerfeld, and she was nominated for the Feature Writing award in 2008 for her piece on Gawker. In this Writearound, she talks about her crush on Justin Bieber (and the controversy that sprouted after she asked him his opinion on abortion in the case of rape in a Rolling Stone profile), her motivation in describing Britney Spears as an inbred swamp thing, why she doesn’t quite consider herself a journalist, and how “awful” it felt to read a profile someone once wrote of her.

Read the Q&A with Vanessa here. September, 2011

Louis C.K. is a stand-up comedian who also writes, directs, edits and stars in Louie, on FX. I interviewed him at his Manhattan apartment for a Rolling Stone profile and there was much from our conversation that I wasn’t able to fit into the piece. Topics discussed include his earliest experience making people laugh, his hardcore junior-high drug problem, his first encounter with hardcore pornography, working as a KFC cook, writing for the first season of Conan O’Brien, the ethical seriousness of his comedy, the tired tropes of television sitcoms (which he breaks down masterfully), and how much money he makes doing stand-up. 

Read the Q&A here. November, 2011