Gramer Girl here, I'm Minyon Fuggedy and you can think of me as your friendly guide to

the English language, writing, history, rules, and cool stuff.

Today, I have an interview with Dave Itzkov about his biography of Robin Williams, his

new podcast based on the book, and about writing biographies in general.

Dave is a culture reporter for The New York Times, where he mostly writes about film, TV,

and popular culture.

Robin is his fourth book.

Before we get to the interview, I do want to remind you that you can watch my new video

course on LinkedIn Learning Free if you have LinkedIn Premium, access to linda.com through

your library or want to sign up for the 30-day free trial.

Just search those platforms for grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing.

And now on to the interview.

Well, hi Dave, thank you so much for being here today.

Sure, thank you for having me.

Yeah, so I have your newest book, Robin, here, and I've been reading it.

And I'm wondering, what inspired you to become a biographer and a memoir writer?

Someone who writes about people instead of events or issues, for example?

I don't know if anything inspired me per se.

I think that's just sort of the trajectory that my life took, my career took.

As a writer, you just try, I think, all different kinds of things and you just sort of go in

the direction that whichever lanes are open to you and whichever paths keep you going.

I've certainly, particularly as a journalist, a lot of the stuff that I write needless

...