Written By: Jon Finkel
I’ve been reading Esquire Magazine for as long as I’ve been old enough to buy my own magazines. My favorite page in the entire publication, month after month, is the ‘What I’ve Learned’ interview by Cal Fussman. If you aren’t familiar, the questions are hidden and it’s written in a sort of stream-of-consciousness style, with the subject (often the biggest names in sports, media, entertainment, politics…you name it) seemingly riffing on 15 or 20 topics. They are, without fail, unbelievable.
Having done hundreds of interviews myself, many with high profile individuals, what I’ve always admired about the ‘What I’ve Learned’ interviews is the realness of the answers (a rarity) and the actual thought the subject put into them (an even bigger rarity). I know that it often takes 10 questions to get one good answer – if you’re lucky. I know how hard it is to build trust, find the right topics, take the unexpected angle and then somehow tease answers out of people who are often masters at saying things that don’t actually say anything.
Fussman is the Sherlock Holmes of interviewers, following clue after clue until he hits on the perfect answer.
What Fussman has done at Esquire for decades is nothing short of iconic in the magazine writing world.
Amazingly, I had never heard Fussman interviewed until Tim Ferris had him on his podcast recently. Ferris also greatly admires Fussman and rightfully places him in the pantheon of modern, legendary magazine figures. The interview is flat out wonderful.
The time they spend talking about the mythical, yet failed, Inside Sports, magazine, with titans like Hunter S. Thompson, Frank DeFord and Gary Smith involved in anecdotes, would alone make it a must-listen for anyone who appreciates sports magazine writing in particular and top-notch writing and storytelling in general.
His own stories about how he came to be a writer and why are riveting. His tales about his early life travels are equally awesome… But the main appeal for me was his general enthusiasm for what he does, his charisma, and the nuggets of wisdom sprinkled throughout from a master at the top of his craft.
I can’t recommend this Tim Ferris podcast enough.
Here’s the link: Cal Fussman on the Tim Ferriss Podcast.
Enjoy! I sure as hell did.
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Jon Finkel is the author of Forces of Character with 3x Super Bowl Champion and Fighter Pilot, Chad Hennings, Heart Over Height with 3x NBA Slam Dunk Champion Nate Robinson, as well as Jocks In Chief, The Dadvantage – Stay in Shape on No Sleep with No Time and No Equipment, and all twelve volumes in the Greatest Stars of the NBA book series for the National Basketball Association, which won several ALA Young Reader Awards.
As a feature writer, he has written for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Muscle & Fitness, GQ, Details, The New York Times, AskMen.com, ComedyCentral.com, Yahoo! Sports’ ThePostGame.com and many more. His work received a notable mention in the 2015 Best American Sports Writing anthology. He has appeared on CBS: This Morning promoting his books.