The Jason Pollock Interview: Could Emily Brontë Beat Up Jane Austen?

Today we interview Jason Pollock: writer, stand-up comic, actor, raconteur, magician, and man-about-town. He's just released You're Really Reading This Book? My Ramblings on Social Media. 

Tell us about your new book, Jason. How did it come about?

I’ve seen people doing Gofundme and Kickstarter to get out of debt and save their mortgage. I think that’s kind of tacky. This is a way to have accomplished something and sell something at the same time.

At a horror con back in October, I met a horror writer named Joe Knetter. He said he wrote a book called Thoughts and took them from his Facebook. I said that’s a great idea! People have found my Facebook funnier than my actual stand-up. Why not compile that into a book with chapters? He said to do it. I said, “Isn’t that stealing a similar idea?” He said, “I don’t give a shit.” Thus, the rest is history.

How does your book compare with great works of American literature, such as Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick or Pimp by Iceberg Slim?

This is a great question. As far as Moby-Dick goes, probably more laughs per page. Pimp? Unfortunately, not as much sex and violence.

Jason, how would your book be different if it had been written by, say, Jane Austen?

I don’t think it would be different. I, honestly, believe that Jane would’ve written it the exact same way. Not even a question.

While we’re on the subject: if Jane Austen fought Emily Brontë in a steel-cage death match, who would win?

I think we both know they don’t call her “Bruiser Brontë” for nothing.

Fox News has proven that writers (such as Jason) who use the Oxford comma are terrorists. Why do you hate America, Jason?

We all know Fox News is not necessarily accurate. I don’t hate America. It’s quite the contrary. It’s because of my love of the American people that I’m really trying to correct, educate, and get America to use the proper punctuation.

We’re almost out of room. Any last requests, Jason?

Yes. Please extend the interview. HAHA!! I jest. It’s, seriously, an honor that people are reading and liking the book. Thanks for taking the time to interview me to help me publicize it. The more books sold the more I can pay off the vet bill and catch up on the mortgage. It’s all for a good cause!

Thanks Tony and fellow readers.

You can follow Jason on Facebook here.

Jason Pollock's new book is currently available here or here or even here.

Bookstore Reading Tomorrow, Wed 28 Nov

 

There will be a reading on Wednesday 28 November - tomorrow night - at the Chester County Book and Music Company in West Chester, PA, USA.

The readers will be members of the Main Line Writers Group.  We will start at 7 pm and end (we hope) around 8 pm.  Each writer will get a maximum of ten minutes to read.  In addition to myself, the scheduled readers include:

• ALIZA GREENBLATT, a local author whose work will appear in the 2013 anthology "Main Line Voices."
• JASON POLLOCK, an actor and stand-up comic.  He is best known as "Bigfoot" in Judah ("30 Rock") Friedlander's How to Beat Up Anybody.
• JULIA SCOTTI, a writer stand-up comic who was a finalist in the 2012 national "Ladies of Laughter Comedy Competition."
• NICOLE VALENTINE, who just received her MFA in Creative Writing.  She is on the board of the online community FIGMENT, and has a story in the anthology "Chester County Fiction."

The Chester County Book and Music Company is located at 975 Paoli Pike, West Chester, PA 19380.  It is in the West Goshen Center at the intersection of Route 202 and Paoli Pike, so it is easy to find.  Sadly, this bookstore has announced that it will close in the near future.  The loss of this enormous independent bookstore will be a great loss to the Philadelphia area.  And, since it will be closing, this may be our final event here.

This event is free and open to the public.  The bookstore does request that you call them to say you plan to attend, so that they can put the appropriate number of chairs out.  Their number is (610) 696-1661.

Hope to see some of you at the reading!

Jay Black, Dena Blizzard and Nick DiUlio Read Their Work at PA Bookstore

Someday I’ve got to learn how to delegate.

My writers’ organization, the Brandywine Valley Writers Group, has regular public readings at bookstores. I’m the current president of the BVWG. For our May reading, I delegated the responsibility for organizing the reading. The result: in May, we had three readers and one audience member. ONE!

For our June reading, I was determined to have good readers and a sizable audience. So I did everything myself. I sent our press releases. I posted it as an event on Yahoo and Facebook. I emailed so many reminders that people got sick of them. And I stacked the lineup with good, funny writers: comedian-screenwriter Jay Black, comedian and former Miss New Jersey Dena Blizzard, and editor-reporter Nick DiUlio.

I know that their presence drew at least three audience members, all of them fellow stand-up comics: Norm Klar, LaTice Mitchell-Klapa, and Jason Pollock. So I already had a larger audience than last time. (Jason has already put his version of this event on his blog.)

I had dinner with my readers before the show (except for Jay Black, who was coming from another gig in North Jersey.) We ate at the Magnolia Grill inside the bookstore, so we didn’t have far to travel. But the Chester County Book and Music Company is a BIG bookstore, reputed to have the largest selection of books east of the Rockies. The speaker’s area isn’t visible from the Grill.

Now I LIKE the people I was dining with, and I lost track of the time. So it was almost time for the event to begin when one of the BVWG officers showed up and said that I was needed. I left my guests—who hadn’t finished eating—and hurried over to the speaker’s area. Where I found another officer of the BVWG already at the lectern, organizing the speakers. (And putting herself on the lineup, which I had already arranged to fill our allotted time.) I realized that I should have delegated someone to be in the speaker’s area while I was dining with our guest speakers.

But it turned out all right. Even with her unanticipated addition, we kept to our time, since a few speakers went short. I took the opening spot – the least desirable, since people are still arriving. (In fact, Jay Black arrived during my reading. My dinner guests missed it entirely.)

Nick DiUlio read a fine personal essay titled “Yes (I Think) We Can: Surviving Family Brunch in a Post-Election America.” It can be found here, on his website, About Twenty Pounds of Headlines.

Dena Blizzard read a short piece from her blog, and a very funny article she wrote for HybridMom.com.

And, to my amazement, Jay Black wrote a hilarious piece just for this event. I hope he posts it on his blog (or gets it published somewhere).

Was this event a success? Well, we had about 25 listeners (some came and went over the course of 90 minutes). That’s as many as most professional authors on book tours get.

My guest speakers all said that they’d like to do it again. Perhaps I’ll schedule another such event before my term as BVWG president ends in August, provided I learn how to be in two places at once. Or learn how to delegate.