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When I interviewed Larry King, it was at his house, a cliched mini-mansion in Beverly Hills. I sat and waited in his trophy room, where ever inch of wall was lined with awards and pictures of King with presidents and baseball hall of farmers. I was worried.
I was not particularly a fan of his, and at that point he was in his 80s and bragged a lot about taking steroids. His assistant brought me bottled water, like I was in the waiting room of an agency. My confidence grew: this would not go well.
Then he came in to the room. He was small and thin and old. He immediately greeted me by name, sat down with me, and said, “let’s get going.”
I have never interviewed someone so present in my life. He locked eyes with me and listened to every question carefully, answered every question frankly and fully. He was fun and funny and I immediately understood why he was a legendary broadcaster.
I interviewed for that show folks who were my heroes, like @IraGlass and Terry Gross and @RaySuarez. I learned the most from Larry King.
He was so profoundly there with me so immediately it took my breath away, and while he was famous for not prepping, he emphasized ignorance combined with curiosity. We ask questions because we don’t know the answer, not because we do.
He told me the favorite question he’d asked was of an airplane pilot: “when you take off, are you sure you will land?” I can’t say he wasn’t vain, I was in a room where the trophies were stacked so high they were structural. But he was unafraid to look ignorant in his curiosity.
He told me he learned this skill doing overnight shifts on the radio. He broadcast from an all-night diner, and to fill time he’d basically talk to anyone who came in. So he truly couldn’t prep, he just had to sit down next to them and be curious.
I have to say: that interview with Larry King on The Turnaround changed the way I thought about my entire career. I am very grateful to him for that, and always will be. https://maximumfun.org/episodes/the-turnaround-with-jesse-thorn/larry-king/
Our conversation was excerpted in @NPR’s obit. https://www.npr.org/2021/01/23/716062722/veteran-broadcaster-larry-king-dies-at-87
