Filmmaker and writer John Waters

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 11 June 2019

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We're revisiting our conversation with John Waters! You might know him as the director and writer of classics like Pink Flamingos, Hairspray and Cry-Baby, but even though he hasn't made a movie lately, he keeps pretty busy. He's done a ton of live performances, released a few compilation albums, and he just released his memoir and seventh book, Mr. Know-It-All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder. When he joined us in studio, John talked about Make Trouble, a book based off of his commencement speech at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2015. Jesse talks with him about Little Richard, trigger warnings, and how the film industry tried (and failed) to make the King of Trash compromise his work. Plus, he'll tell us about the fabulous Commes de Garcon shirt he wore to the recording. His memoir, Mr. Know-It-All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder, is out now.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.
0:13.7	I'm Jesse Thorn, it's Bullseye.
0:22.7	We're playing a couple of our favorite interviews this week looking back into the archives.
0:26.7	My first guest is John Waters.
0:29.2	The guy who made pink flamingos, hairspray, crybaby.
0:33.5	But also so much more than that.
0:35.7	He's written seven books, his latest is his memoir Mr. No It All, the tarnished wisdom
0:41.4	of a filth elder, which was just released.
0:45.2	He is also very sincerely the most charming human being I have ever met in my life.
0:50.0	Oh, and he's a record collector.
0:51.9	He's even released a couple of really terrific compilation albums.
0:55.5	He got his first ever record when he was just seven years old.
0:58.8	There's a copy of Little Richards, Lucille.
1:01.3	He shoplifted it because he's John Waters.
1:23.1	John Waters, welcome to Bullseye.
1:24.9	It's great to have you back on the show.
1:26.1	And it's nice to meet you in person.
1:27.9	That's a beautiful shirt.
1:28.7	We're kind of sure do you worry?
1:30.1	Oh, it's come to go soon.
1:31.7	Of course it is.
1:32.6	Just before we went on the air, we were talking about how last time you were on the show.
	...

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