gish jen, you wrote in 2009 that quote john updike chose me as his successor. i i never got to ask him why. >> guest: i know. >> host: successor to what? >> guest: what happened was it was a magazine in london and they were doing this millennials special. it was the turn of the century and so they asked all these people who they felt were preeminent in their fields. to name their successor for the 21st century. kate twiggy chose take moss, and john updike for reasons i never understood chose me. so here's this incredibly auguste man i've never met. i did not even knew my name. we had our picture taken together but i never got to ask him why. >> host: are you a fan of john updike? >> guest: of course i am a fan. but i would not of said he was a major influence on the accept for somewhat indirectly. indirectly he was an influence on us all and that's because here i am, i've immigrant roots compare interested in america. i see america, everything. i think updike gives the idea that's what the novel was for. the novel was for capturing america and writing america,

kate twiggy chose take moss, and john updike for reasons i never understood chose me. so here's this incredibly auguste man i've never met. i did not even knew my name. we had our picture taken together but i never got to ask him why. >> host: are you a fan of john updike? >> guest: of course i am a fan. but i would not of said he was a major influence on the accept for somewhat indirectly. indirectly he was an influence on us all and that's because here i am, i've immigrant roots compare interested in america. i see america, everything. i think updike gives the idea that's what the novel was for. the novel was for capturing america and writing america, one of the adventure of america. i have no idea. it was to capture merit in these books. that was his project. i think he could see me somebody come maybe he understood there was more to america than just what we saw in the rabbit books and think maybe some somebody was going to carry on the project and in that he was right. he was right. there was something else that was interesting about updike, and that all the thing

we spent plenty of money, sometimes we are just luck gish jen, you wrote in 2009 that quote john updike chose me as his successor. i i never got to ask him why. >> guest: i know. >> host: successor to what? >> guest: what happened was it was a magazine in london and they were doing this millennials special. it was the turn of the century and so they asked all these people who they felt were preeminent in

we spent plenty of money, sometimes we are just gish jen, you wrote in 2009 that quote john updike chose me as his successor. i i never got to ask him why. >> guest: i know. >> host: successor to what? >> guest: what happened was it was a magazine

early generations count everyone from william randolph hearst to george plimpton to john updike. ( applause ) >> what the hell is wrong with you people? ( laughter and applause ) >> wertheim: the modern era produced conan o'brien and colin jost, currently co-anchor of "weekend update" for "saturday night live." but most "lampoon" stars are not stars at all. david mandel, class of '92, has written for shows from "s.n.l." to "seinfeld." he's currently the show runner for hbo's "veep"... >> veep! >> wertheim: ...emmy winner for outstanding comedy series, three years running. >> david mandel: this is for chubby jews from the upper west side. >> wertheim: what made you want to join the "lampoon"? >> mandel: the building. you kind of, you can't help but notice it. you know, you see a lot of other organizations, you go to a lot of other meetings. and there's this one place that happens to have a castle. it definitely hits you. >> wertheim: it's hard to overstate the importance of the castle. built in 1909 in a style described as "mock-flemish," whatever that means, the exterior almost winks at you