David Foster Wallace: Everybody’s pissed off and exasperated and impervious to argument from any other side.
Mark McGrath: If you exude that kind of confidence and exude that kind of fun, it’ll translate to the audience, hopefully.
Wallace: As of now, of course, they’re rare.
McGrath: Ones that can fill certain spots.
Wallace: Why?
***
McGrath: I was throwing my voice high, I was singing in falsetto, I was screaming and yelling.
Wallace: Writing-wise, I think this kind of interior state is dangerous.
McGrath: It was my escape. It was my whole life.
Wallace: Maybe even to wear a button.
McGrath: Even if it’s not happening.
***
Wallace: As in walking into rooms and forgetting why I’m there, drifting off in the middle of sentences, feeling coolness on my chin and discovering I’ve been drooling.
McGrath: It’s really mellow, it sounds like a song that would play in a loop while you’re watching The Price Is Right.
Wallace: Nor do I much care, really. But I’d prefer to live past fifty.
McGrath: You know when a comedian cracks the code on an impression?
Wallace: Probably the quickest, most efficient way to respond is to say that this question leads nicely into the whole reason why pop-tech books might have some kind of special utility in today’s culture.