London Paper Profiles Brooklyn Heights Resident Simon Rich

By on August 3, 2010 10:21 am in Celebrity Residents

London Evening Standard photo


SNL writer and nabe resident Simon Rich is profiled by the London Evening Standard today. His Elliot Allagash: A Novel is published in the U.K. this week:

London Evening Standard: Rich is bubbly and outgoing but he chooses his words carefully. His boyish countenance, dishevelled hair, pencil-thin frame and pink shirt bring to mind a grown-up Harry Potter, with enough geek-cool to perhaps be in a band.

Refreshingly for a Brooklyn writer, however, he considers himself as the antithesis of hipness.
“I’ve never been a cool person. I think I’m an old-fashioned writer and a really old-fashioned person. When I was young I tried to write cool, trendy stuff. I wanted to impress the girls at my high school and wrote short stories that had footnotes. But I was never really good at it and it never felt honest to me.”

Sadly, Rich doesn’t think he’s at the vanguard of a new breed of American writers who not only worship Waugh and Wodehouse but strive to emulate their writing style. He fears for the future of the “silly comedy novel”, his chosen genre. “Ever since I was a kid I dreamt of writing them and I’m going to keep doing it but I don’t know if that genre is going to be around for that much longer.”

,

7 Responses to London Paper Profiles Brooklyn Heights Resident Simon Rich

  1. Topham Beauclerk August 3, 2010 at 11:26 am #

    Was the Youtube clip an example of his humor? Obvious and unfunny, unfunny because obvious – Homer and farts! What a juxtaposition!

  2. Tony August 3, 2010 at 12:23 pm #

    That was painful. But he’s a Brooklyn Heights resident, so I imagine this blog will follow his every move.

  3. Ignatius J. Reilly August 3, 2010 at 3:00 pm #

    It would be really unfair to say this kid only got to where he is due to nepotism. Therefore, I’d rather just make fun of his physical appearance. He looks like a happier, more feminine Moe Tucker in the Evening Standard pic.

  4. Ben August 3, 2010 at 7:27 pm #

    Do Simon Rich and Donald Trump use the same barber?

  5. my2cents August 3, 2010 at 11:23 pm #

    That photograph up top is one the least flattering I have ever seen voluntarily used for press purposes.

  6. Heightsman August 5, 2010 at 9:52 am #

    I have to agree. This is one of the worst pictures I have ever seen. Also, enough with the loose tie look. Stupid.

  7. Homer Fink August 5, 2010 at 10:19 am #

    Simon was nice enough to sit in our tent last year at the Atlantic Antic… maybe we influenced him a little too much:

    http://www.backinprint.com/images/designer-210-Homer_fink_offi.jpg