Alon Yehuda Kaplan interviews Emmy-Award-Winning "Daily Show" writer, best-selling author, soon-to-be father, and all-around-hyphenate, Rob Kutner.
AYK: So, you've won four Emmy Awards (Daily Show), wrote and produced "Jewno" with your wife, Sheryl Zohn for the Shushanchannel.com, write & produce sold-out Purim shpiels in New York City, and now a best-selling book. What have you done lately?
ROB KUTNER: The biggest thing is impregnating my wife... that I know of.
AYK: I know you watched the "Left Behind" series. Have you managed to offend any major Charismatic Christian leaders with your book?
ROB KUTNER: No! And I'm bitterly disappointed. Imagine what a boon it could be for sales to have a James Dobson or a Ted Haggard rail against my book. Burning books still means you have to buy them first.
AYK: It's the most beautifully designed comedy book I have ever seen. How much control did you have over the graphic design?
ROB KUTNER: Basically, a veto. And in fact, I vetoed an early design of the cover which depicted God giving mankind the finger. Not in my religious comfort zone. But otherwise, I was gobsmacked by the amount of work and love that Josh McDonnell, the publisher's designer put into this.
AYK: "Apocalypse How" is a national best seller. Wow. What does that even mean?
ROB KUTNER: Well, it got to #5 on the LA Times bestseller list, which is considered national. Mainly because the LA area sprawls far and wide enough to be larger than some nations.
AYK: It's hard to imagine a darker or edgier subject. Was there anything you wrote that your editors deemed "too edgy" or "too dark" for publication?
ROB KUTNER: Thankfully, they gave me a free hand. The one thing they asked me to change was a piece of advice I had for not getting accosted by post-apocalyptic leather biker punks: "Try not to be too rape-able."
AYK: You grew up in Atlanta. Was there a large Jewish population growing up? Was your family involved? What was it like showing up at Princeton? Were there certain expectations that you had as a Southern Jew that were different from your Northern Brethren?
ROB KUTNER: Whoa, easy with the questions. You wearing a wire or something? Atlanta had a small but scrappy population when I was there, but now has one of the fastest growing in the country. My parents are extremely active machers in the community (my Dad's organization, Jewish Health Care International, is part of the Federation). Princeton was not that big a deal because, before college, I attended a Christian school K-12.
AYK: How did you end up going to a Catholic school for 12 years?
ROB KUTNER: It was actually Presbyterian. And I went there because the Georgia public school system is not that great, and my Mom had also attended the school (Westminster) and emerged intact. It was a great classical education. I was super-prepared for college.
AYK: Did your parents let you leave after your bar mitzvah?
ROB KUTNER: They gave me the option, but I had a number of friends and opted to stay.
AYK: At your school you were cast as a merchant in a play about the life and death of Jesus. Who got cast as Judas?
ROB KUTNER: Great, now you have to make me feel even worse about the part I missed out on. At least I could have pocketed 30 pieces of silver for my trouble!
AYK: Rumors have it that you and Sheryl are reproducing yourselves. Have you had any of the "how can I bring a child into this world" kind of moments?
ROB KUTNER: All the time! But since I'm looking forward to the Apocalypse, we're hoping she has three eyes so she'll fit in.
AYK: How did Sheryl break the big news to you? Where were you?
ROB KUTNER: Sadly, we were both stuck at home. We conceived our child during the WGA strike, when two cold, unemployed writers had a lot of time on their hands.
AYK: How you bonded with Jon Stewart over fatherhood?
ROB KUTNER: I've tried to remind him of my upcoming dependent, particularly around job evaluation time.
AYK: Are there a lot of baby pictures being flashed at the Daily Show staff room?
ROB KUTNER: Yes, I'm actually pretty late to the game. A few of my co-writers already have one or two little ones. I have no idea how they've been producing such good work on so little sleep, but I aim to join that loopy fraternity.
AYK: You're going to be bringing up a baby in NYC and L.A. Looking around at your colleagues and friends, what challenges do they have? As parents in a big city? As Jewish parents?
ROB KUTNER: One thing is that, in big sophisticated cities like NY and LA, you have very judgmental, type-A parents who want their kids to master French by age 3 and be Harvard-ready by kindergarten. The challenge is to balance exposure to the best child resources available but not to force our kids' "enrichment" beyond what they should learn on their own. As Jewish parents, I think we have to re-learn our traditions in a basic new way in order to explain and share them with the little ones.
AYK: You and Sheryl were some of the founding members of the Shteibel Minyan in L.A. (Which has become huge.) What's you Shabbat life like in NYC?
ROB KUTNER: While we know lots of great Jews here, we haven't found the exact fit community for us. So we do a lot of ‘shul-hopping.' It keeps things interesting, but can result in some sore legs.
AYK: What piece of pop culture are you most looking forward to exposing your baby to?
ROB KUTNER: Dr. Strangelove. I'll probably get a call from Child Protective Services for that answer.
AYK: Sheryl has probably had a hand in producing every reality t.v. show on the sci-fi network. Did her aliens and poltergeists inspire you to pursue the supernatural & malevolent?
ROB KUTNER: The difference is, Sheryl's shows cast a skeptical glance on all those phenomena, whereas I believe in them wholeheartedly. There is some friction when she asks why I was late and I say, "abduction."
AYK: Your Mom sent me "Apocalypse How." Out of curiosity, how many books has she purchased?
ROB KUTNER: How much of a loser would I sound like if I said, "triple digits?"
AYK: We tried to co-write a screenplay with me with my screaming one year-old in the room. What have you learned from other people's annoying parenting that you are hoping to avoid?
ROB KUTNER: The one thing we see a lot of in New York is parents who don't seem to know the word, "no," a lot of negotiating happening. That being said, I hesitate to judge until we see the kid we get and how we handle it.
AYK: We wrote a script together about a man who is being haunted by his parents (My Parents Scare Me.) They were ruining his life out of a desire to protect him from all possible danger and disappointment. A Korean agent who read it told me, "I don't understand why parents would act that way." She honestly didn't get it. Do you think this is a Jewish thing, or just a Rob thing?
ROB KUTNER: Definitely Jewish. Although there are two varieties of Jewish parents, as our friend Ruthie suggests: those who think everything their kids do is gold, and those who think it's all shit.
AYK: You've gone from being our "writer friend" to being our "successful writer friend." When do you think you crossed the Rubicon?
ROB KUTNER: I'm not sure I'm comfortable with you comparing me to Caesar, considering how he ended up.
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