I have to say, I always like Terri's interviews, although I don't always listen because so many of her subjects are - well, unknown to me or not that interesting to me. But I always appreciate her ability to interview.
It looks like they've posted it. You've GOT to listen!
http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=13Her interview with Robin Williams convinced me that she is the best Interviewer on the planet!
You know, Robin Williams - Mork, Mrs. Doubtfire, the guy that nobody can get any insight into because he's always "riffing", always making going off on tangents, always getting the interviewer laughing so hard and so distracted they don't know what to do or say next.
Terri got him to open up - yes, she laughed a lot of course. She even confessed at the end of the interview that she didn't know "how it would go", and thanked Robin.
But I got to hear Robin Williams talk about himself "as usual" in his normal comedic way, and still learned more about him in this 40 minutes than I ever learned in all his other interviews combined. Miraculously, Terry was able to get a very personal interview from the man who is the very, very best at deflecting personal interviews. And made him feel good about it!
Terri: I apologize if I've Aleda gotten too personal - I meant to tell you please stop me if I cross the line.
Robin: 8 inches. Oh, that wasn't the question? Actually, I was wanting to go Metric: 820 sounds ....
But the part that got to me the most was when she asked about his tours of Afghanistan and if his politics affected his reception from the troops.
In a nutshell - no. Everyone knew his politics. He made his jokes about the conditions, the things that the Troops were actually going through.
I don't want to spoil it, because if NPR posts the interview you need to listen to it. But one of my favorite parts was when Terri asked him about the Vietnam draft. He said that his number was 351, which meant that he would be called if the Viet Gong attacked from Kansas. If he had been drafted, he would have joined the same unit as W. Because that was the same unit that Bigfoot belonged to. W. was sighted at his unit as often as Bigfoot was! :rofl: