The New Yorker makes its own instructional video

Ever wonder how a "Talk of the Town" piece gets made?

Published June 14, 2011 12:01PM (EDT)

This guy knows what makes The New Yorker interesting.
This guy knows what makes The New Yorker interesting.

Ah, The New Yorker sense of humor. Either you get it, or you didn't go to a liberal arts school and probably live in a fly-over state. For their upcoming edition that will be entirely composed of "Talk of the Town" pieces, the Manhattan critical institution put together an instructional video (in the style of a 1960s classroom film) about how the magazine cherry-picks certain people for "Talk of the Town" segments. (Hint: Eccentric starlets and death defying acts are always interesting; cats are not.)

If you ever wanted to know what Hendrik Hertzberg actually looks like (apparently like the Dos Equis guy, leading me to think this is actually the strangest viral marketing The New Yorker has ever participated in) or what David Remnick dreams about, this video is for you.

Favorite part: "Although some may regard Cindy Adams as a chestnut, in fact, Cindy Adams is always interesting."


By Drew Grant

Drew Grant is a staff writer for Salon. Follow her on Twitter at @videodrew.

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