For about a year I hosted a television show that included interviews. Neither of my co-hosts nor I had any experience doing that. We'd mostly been hired because we were perky and charming.
So, the way the show worked was an actual, experienced journalist would conduct the interviews and I'd sit in front of a green screen on which the interview subject appeared looking for all the world like they were answering my questions via some remote or satellite hook-up.
Since that shot could quickly become boring, the interviews were intercut with close-ups of me listening intently, nodding, laughing at jokes, or whatever reaction was required.
Now, having been an actor for a decade or so by then, I'd learned the number one rule of playing a scene -- "Acting is reacting". Maintain the reality of paying attention to whoever you're talking to and you're pretty much home free.
Following that gig, I got called a lot to do interviews for real and always begged off because carrying on an informative as well as entertaining interview is a very special skill.
I wish I'd been aware back then of the skills NPR host Celeste Headlee shares in the video below. But I more ardently wish the people in my social media streams would listen to what she has to say.
As online debates get coarser, angrier and more insulting, with friends unable to talk civilly to friends (either their own or mine) without just pissing all over their opinions and listening barely, if at all, to what's being shared in return, learning how to talk to one another is becoming a lost art.
And we all need to get a handle on that.
Enjoy Your Sunday...
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