Talking to the Man Behind the Animation

I told Jonathan Katz (of Comedy Central's Dr. Katz) that I was going to interview him for Fifteen Minutes. Thinking he would only be committing to a short question/answer session, he agreed. Here's what happened:

FM: What's it like to be animated?

JK: It feels okay. I like the part where they trace you. It's an odd kind of celebrity.

FM: Do you think that shrinks generally have messed up kids?

JK: Yeah I do. I think that people are surprised to discover that [I think that], but just like if I was an airplane pilot, that doesn't mean I would bring my kids up any higher.

FM: What?

JK: No, wait: that doesn't make any sense. Therapists--their interpersonal skills don't necessarily apply to themselves. That's about as delicately as I can put it.

FM: Is Dr. Katz a mess?

JK: Well, his relationship with Ben [his son] is loving and sweet, but it's also a little torturous and tortured. I wouldn't describe it as a healthy father and son relationship, but it's lasted a long time.

FM: Do you think they talk about things too much?

JK: I think that's the problem with Dr. Katz and Ben. They get so much from each other that it smothers the other possibilities of love in their lives at the risk of getting too heavy because they are cartoon characters. Neither one of them has healthy relationships with the opposite sex.

FM: Does Dr. Katz date?

JK: He does. Generally it doesn't go very well.

FM: Where's Mrs. Katz from?

JK: I don't know a lot about her. But when you meet her on the show you'll see.

FM: So is she going to stick around?

JK: I don't know--she may recur.

FM: Who do you think is funny that doesn't know that they're funny?

JK: Dick Albert--is that his name? Do you watch the local news? Probably not. There's a weatherman who cracks me up. He's so happy, no matter what's going on in the world or his life. You'll enjoy his work--really, he seems like the most one of the happiest people in the world, you know?

FM: Do you think he really is?

JK: He might be. You know, when I was going to college, there was this 12-year-old perfect master, a guru, in India, and people flocked to him to learn the truth from this guy. I think this guy Dick Albert is such a person that he has some kind of inner wisdom that he could share with all of us. But for now, it's just the forecast.

FM: When are or were your 15 minutes?

JK: You mean my 15 minutes of animation.

FM: Or fame.

JK: You know, I think they've been distributed very evenly over the last 50 years, or unevenly I should say. I don't know--maybe in 1995 when I got so much attention for the show, Dr. Katz, but it could have been my debut on the Letterman show in 1985--that was very exciting. But Dr. Katz is doing much better than Jonathan Katz ever did in terms of fame.

FM: (interrupts) So when you go to Star Market...

JK: Yeah, when I was on the Letterman show and I went out the next day, I would stare at people probably a little too long giving them the opportunity to recognize me. I know what you're thinking..."Yes, you did see me on television last night...I was funny, yeah." But Dr. Katz is well known in many countries around the world.

FM: Really? Do they translate it?

JK: Probably.

FM: In Japanese?

JK: It's in Mandarin. In Hong Kong. It's dubbed into--what do they speak in Brazil?

FM: Portuguese?

JK: Yeah.

FM: That's funny. I wonder, if in some languages it's just not funny.

JK: Probably I would think that the nuances and the characters are more pathetic in some cultures than this culture.

FM: Or what if they're in Italy where everybody lives with their parents until they turn 90?

JK: Right. He'd be a hero in Italy. He's a courageous man.

FM: If you were to go to a shrink, would you lie?

JK: About?

FM: Your inner turmoil.

JK: I used to do it when I was in college--I was kicked out of school and let back in under the condition that I would seek therapy and I would make stuff up just because I didn't want to be boring. But now I have problems--issues that I want to talk about. I try to be as frank as I can. I see a therapist once a week. I've been in therapy since I was a kid on and off. My wife and I were in couple counseling last year, and the therapist suggested that we try role playing in our marriage. The first week was her turn and she was the abusive warden in the prison and by the time I was deloused all the passion was gone.

JK: No (seriously). I see a therapist once a week and it's good. The first therapist I saw in Cambridge--the first thing I said to him was, "I had dinner with my father last week and I made a classic Freudian slip. I meant to say, `Can you pass the salt please,' and it comes out, `You prick, you ruined my childhood!'" [The therapist] said, "Would you like me to laugh at that?" and I said, "Not if you can help it." That's pretty much how I feel about therapy and comedy. I know it sounds like it makes sense, but it doesn't necessarily. It's a true story.

FM: Do you think that Dr. Katz's patients should trust his advice?

JK: No. I mean, I don't think he's a bad person, but I don't think that he's a good therapist. Every once in a while, Dr. Katz will say something incredibly insightful, but it never makes it on the air because it's not that funny.