An Interview With Tom Straw, Author of The Trigger Episode, Part Two

This is the second part of a two-part interview

Tom Straw has quite an impressive background, having written and/or produced for such shows as Grace Under Fire, Cosby and Night Court. He currently writes for The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. I talked to him about some of those shows during the first part of the interview.

Ironically, another Night Court writer, Bill Bryan, has also written a novel about television. While the two writers -- and their respective books -- are quite different, I decided to add a question about them to my interview by email.

While Straw's entire novel is great -- I'd give it an 8 -- the last 50 pages are even better. I began my interview by asking him about that. The main character, Hardwick, is a paparazzo.

Your writing becomes even more witty and clever in the last 50 pages with gems like a reference to a “cliché death.” What would, in your opinion, constitute a “cliché death”? 

Thank you for saying that.  A cliché death would have to be something so done that you can explain it in shorthand.  Drunk driving.  Gun cleaning mishap.  Mistaken for burglar.  Chute failure.  Casino bus rollover.  You pretty much get the whole story in the headline.  And anything with “disgruntled” or “estranged” as a modifier for a killer immediately lumps it in the cliché death category.  Pair it with “postal worker,” or “former lover,” and you’ve hit the daily double.

You drop a level if the death has a famous nickname.  Pulled an Elvis.  Copped a Cobain.  Worked a Hemingway.  These clichés of demise are the equivalent of having sandwiches named for them.  Speaking of which - did a Mama Cass.

What statement are you trying to make about the paparazzi with this book? The book's main character, Hardwick, is part of the paparazzi.

It’s hard to like these people, especially being back in LA, as I have been lately, seeing them swarming all over Robertson Boulevard and The Grove and outside the clubs in the Cahuenga Corridor, cockroaches inured to light; they don’t scatter, they gather.  The term “in your face” comes to mind.  But they are a reality.  The right picture is worth five or six figures now, so the economics say, deal with them, they aren’t going away. 

Article Author: Scott Butki

Scott Butki was a newspaper reporter for more than 10 years before making a career change into education.

He is an in-house media critic, a recovering Tetris addict and a proud uncle.

Visit Scott Butki's author page — Scott Butki's Blog