You Might Also Like: Stateside with Kai and Carter

John Green (0:00)

How do you not be grateful for this overwhelmingly wonderful thing in your life? Like, I have a friend who's a very successful author, and I remember she said to me once, of all the good things that ever happened to me, fame was the worst. And I think that's a pretty good way to think about it. Like, it's not the worst thing that ever happens to you, but of the good things, it's not the best.

Carter Sherman (0:27)

From The Guardian, this is Stateside with Kai and Carter. I'm Carter Sherman. Before we get into today's episode, I want to remind folks that our episodes are now dropping on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And sometimes we'll drop bonus episodes, like we did last week, when Kai and I talked about the alleged AI apocalypse. You can find our episodes on YouTube, Apple podcasts, all of the usual spots. So today, I'm talking to John Green, the author of The Fault In Our Stars and one of the most well-known writers in the English-speaking world. We're talking about his new book, Hollywood Ending. It's his first novel in almost a decade, and it's out today.

Hollywood Ending is about two young actors, Kai and Juniper, who make a film about Andy Warhol and then promote it through a meat grinder of a publicity machine. Most of us, admittedly, are not movie stars. But selling ourselves on social media, figuring out the line between private and public, finding out what happens when we give pieces of ourselves to strangers on the Internet, this is something that so many people are dealing with. I'm dealing with it. John Green is doing this on steroids. For years, he was a mildly successful author of young adult novels, including one of my favorite books, Looking for Alaska. Then in 2012, John published a book called The Fault In Our Stars. That book sold more than 20 million copies. For reference, that is the population of a small country. Hollywood, of course, adapted it into a movie, which went on to star Shailene Woodley and gross more than $300 million.

John's other books, Paper Towns, Turtles All the Way Down, and yes, Looking for Alaska, Hollywood adapted them too.

Since publishing The Fault In Our Stars, John also wrote two non-fiction books, including A History of Tuberculosis. Guess what? They were also bestsellers. At this point, John is probably as famous as an author can get. And even if you've never read a John Green book, there is a very good chance that you know his face and his voice, because John is one of the original YouTube stars. Way back in 2007, before we even had smartphones, John and his brother Hank launched a YouTube channel. Today, that channel, Vlogbrothers, has more than four million subscribers. I should mention, Hank did recently come under fire for his approach to AI, and I asked John about it. We talked about a lot of things, actually. But mostly, we had this conversation about fame that I found surprisingly relatable.

I wanted to know how fame changes you and how you hold on to what's real.

I'd love to hear from you on this topic. Feel free to send us an email at statesidepodattheguardian.com, and you can reach us on social media too. Drop a comment on any of our platforms at statesidepodcast. Finally, I wanted to put in a plug for a good cause. The Guardian and the clothing company Lingua Franca launched a special climate collection on September 18th. You can shop the custom hand-stitched sweater sayings hotter than expected, and it's a crisis, not a change. I am wearing one of the sweaters right now, and it is cozy. More importantly, if you buy one of them, 20 percent of the profits benefit independent journalism. Check out the collection at linguafranca.nyc.gov.

Now, on to the conversation with John Green.

John Green, welcome to Stateside, and congratulations on your new book, Hollywood Ending.

John Green (3:37)

Oh, thanks so much for having me.

Carter Sherman (3:38)

So I wanted to start by just saying, without spoilers, that this book is a lot about people being interviewed.

And so the fact that we are doing an interview right now, at least to me, feels a little meta. And I wanted to know, when you were writing this book, how much were you working through any complicated feelings you might be having around talking to journalists like me?

John Green (3:59)

Oh, I was definitely working through some complicated feelings and thinking about the journalist-subject relationship. I mean, I've been on both sides of the microphone in this gig. I've been the interviewer as well as the interviewee.

I also was thinking a lot about the attention economy more generally and how journalists have to participate in it just as much as I do. How we're all competing for the same limited amount of eyeballs and ears and everything else. And so, yeah, I'm conscious of the fact that it's a little meta and probably a little weird for you. But I promise to make it as normal as I can.