SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Each week, a guest draws a card from NPR's Wild Card deck and answers a big question about their life. Comedian Chris Fleming is kind of obsessed with Fresh Air host Terry Gross. He talks about her in his new HBO special "Live At The Palace."
(SOUNDBITE OF COMEDY SPECIAL)
CHRIS FLEMING: The completely unmanageable tension of every episode with Fresh Air with Terry Gross...
(LAUGHTER)
FLEMING: ...Is so refreshing. It feels like every episode was recorded in the space between the living and the dead.
(LAUGHTER)
FLEMING: It feels like the guest is sitting on one end of a long medieval table, and Terry's on the other end just cleaning a gun.
(LAUGHTER)
DETROW: On Wild Card, Rachel Martin asked him about it.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
RACHEL MARTIN: This is the point in the conversation where I, as the host of an NPR podcast...
FLEMING: Yeah.
MARTIN: ...Need to ask more about your perceived reverence for Terry Gross.
FLEMING: My muse?
MARTIN: What is your muse?
FLEMING: You talking about T.G. right now?
MARTIN: What is (laughter)...
FLEMING: So...
MARTIN: I'm talking about the Terr (ph).
FLEMING: I didn't...
MARTIN: I've never met the Terr, so I don't...
FLEMING: 'Course you don't.
MARTIN: I mean, it's...
FLEMING: No, I don't even think the Obamas have access to Terry.
MARTIN: She's a mystery.
FLEMING: I mean, Terry records, from what I've heard, in, like, a chamber in Philadelphia, facing, like, a window, and, like, in, like, a...
MARTIN: She doesn't want to see the people.
FLEMING: She's in, like, a sensory deprivation tank, right? She's, like, on the sea floor.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
FLEMING: Like, and no one has access to - she's like the chupacabra if it - with, like - if it went to Wesleyan or wherever she went, you know? Like...
MARTIN: (Laughter).
FLEMING: There's the mystery of Terry.
MARTIN: It - but it's also wonderful because we do - as the host of a show where people are supposed to spill their guts, Terry's like, no, thank you.
FLEMING: (Laughter).
MARTIN: Yeah, people don't need to know me. Like, I'm - I will be asking the questions here.
FLEMING: That's - and I think it...
MARTIN: You know?
FLEMING: That's the power that I'm tapping into when I try to talk about her. And also, I relate to that. I also...
MARTIN: Yeah.
FLEMING: I think that sometimes. I think people bleed too much about themselves, and then as soon as when they do - I mean, like, comedians. I think sometimes it's, like, OK, we get it. Like, I think sometimes we know too much about people.
MARTIN: Right.
FLEMING: And I think there are very few mystical beings left in this world. Sufjan Stevens. Terry Gross.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
FLEMING: Who else?
MARTIN: That's it. It's a short list.
FLEMING: All of Sweden.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
FLEMING: Or Iceland. Sweden or Iceland. But there is such a - I - yeah, I love someone who activates my magical realism. Like, who really...
MARTIN: Yes.
FLEMING: ...Who just - who ignites it.
MARTIN: Yes.
FLEMING: 'Cause I think that's my - I think that's kind of what I do is a lot of the time, I'm drawn to magical realism, and Terry - I've been - I have been obsessed with Terry Gross for years, and...
MARTIN: Really?
FLEMING: Yeah. I...
MARTIN: We need to make this happen. I mean...
FLEMING: I don't know. You know, it's like a point on the...
MARTIN: Do we need to meet her?
FLEMING: No. No, I couldn't meet her.
MARTIN: Oh.
FLEMING: And we could do - I think I might. I think my heart might just stop. I think I might just evaporate after I met Terry Gross...
MARTIN: Right. Yeah.
FLEMING: ...'Cause my hero's journey is complete. And then...
MARTIN: (Laughter).
FLEMING: ...Then I can fade back into the Atlantic (laughter).
MARTIN: (Laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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