Episode 241 – Barry Blitt

Virtual Memories Show 241: Barry Blitt

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“It was nice to have been offered this retrospective book, but I wish it had just stopped there.”

Why is award-winning illustrator Barry Blitt so uncomfortable with the flap copy praise of his new decades-spanning compendium, Blitt (just out from Riverhead Books)? We spend an hour trying to get to the bottom of that, starting with his horror at looking back at his work (both from seeing rookie mistakes and from deciding he was better back then). We talk about how his New Yorker covers shifted from observational to topical illustrations, how he’s become the de facto voice of that magazine, his Canadian roots (and how its attendant hockey fetish got him started as an illustrator), his first Mad magazine, his fear of overexposure, the difference between punching down and going for cheap laughs, and how he’s made smartassery as career asset. Also, I bust his balls about his uncanny resemblance to Bob Balaban. Give it a listen! And go buy Blitt!

“Playing piano is an antidote for drawing, where you put a line down and it’s there on the page. Here you play a note and it’s temporary, it drifts away. You make a mistake and it’s behind you in a second. If your next phrase is nice, that’s what’s happening now.”

“One of the great things about Francoise Mouly is that she insists on seeing everything I sketch in my sketchbook. ‘Please don’t self-edit’ is her credo.”

Enjoy the conversation! Then check out the archives for more great episodes!

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About our Guest

Barry Blitt was born in Montreal, schooled in Toronto, and burnished to a gleaming shine in London, New York, and Connecticut. He has been contributing fussy little drawings to countless publications for what seems like years. His hobbies include visiting the shops and keeping friends and loved ones at arm’s length.

Credits: This episode’s music is Nothing’s Gonna Bring Me Down by David Baerwald, used with permission from the artist. The conversation was recorded at Barry’s home in Connecticut on a pair of Blue enCORE 200 Microphones feeding into a Zoom H5 digital recorder. I recorded the intro and outro on a Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone feeding into a Cloudlifter CL-1 and a Mackie Onyx Blackjack 2×2 USB Recording Interface. All processing and editing done in Adobe Audition CC. Photo of me and Barry by me. It’s on my instagram. There are a bunch of neat pics in this set.