TSAI

Interview Secrets

I’ve had great interviews. I’ve had awful interviews. Every bad interview I ever did was because the guest sucked. I was always fantastic.

I’m joking, of course. As a general rule, I’ve found that the interview is only as good as the guest. If your guest is closed, the interview will suck. If the guest isn’t a conversationalist, the interview will suck. If the guest would rather be somewhere else, the interview will suck.

Chris Rock was a terrible interview. But I blame this on his booking agent. He was promoting a movie and clearly didn’t want to be hanging out with me. He wasn’t funny. And when I asked if he feels pressure to be funny all the time, he looked at me and said: “Well, I turn it on when I have to. Like, I’m going on Oprah in a few weeks. I’ll turn it on then.”

We were the first show in the country to interview Justin Bieber. He trusts us, so we have a familiarity in our interviews now. They’re always good.

Howard Stern’s interviews are always great because he’s built a brand around the fact that anybody who walks into his studio is required to answer every one of his provocative questions. To his credit, he’s earned that!

Having the solid foundation I’ve set you up for so far allows you to attract potentially provocative interviews yourself. So here’s how to make the most of them.

Keep the Interviews Evergreen

Tom Schwab of Interview Valet points out the evergreen nature of interviews on podcasts; people can listen to them anytime. So if you spend an entire interview discussing this year’s Super Bowl, it will be irrelevant in a matter of days. “Talk about things that an expert would know,” he says. “The best podcast content that a guest can give is interesting ideas and things that will cause people to question and talk about it. A podcast going viral means that I listen to a podcast and then the rest of the day start talking about it and say, ‘You know, I was listening to a podcast this morning and the host was talking about this idea. I’ve never thought about it that way.’ That’s the amazing part where it goes from just being in a podcast to being talked about throughout the day.” This means including bigger ideas and timeless content a listener would only learn through your podcast.

Everybody Wins

“We always tell the guest that your goal for being on the show is to make the hosts look like a genius for introducing you,” says Tom. “You should be there to serve because if you do a good job serving, they will promote you better than you ever could because if you start promoting yourself, you sound vain. But if you do a good job, the host will promote you better than you ever could.”

Podcasters should never ruin their authority or their relationship with their guest, adds Tom. “So every interview should be a win for everybody,” he says. “It should be a win for the audience first, the host second, and the podcast guest third. And all of those have to win or it doesn’t make sense. One of the things that we always teach our clients is before the interview, the best question to ask the host is, what are you hoping to get out of this interview? What can I do to serve you and your audience? Begin with the end in mind, as Stephen Covey would say. It’s great because the guest will tell you what her audience is like, what means most to them. Content is king, but context is god. They’ll tell you where they want to go. And most people are nice. So if you ask what the guest is hoping to get out of the interview, chances are they’ll ask the same question of you.”

Do Your Homework

Don’t get enamored by the name of the guest. Do your homework. I interviewed Harrison Ford. Good God, almighty. I still have nightmares about it. Wonderful, talented actor. Probably a good guy. I wanted Indiana Jones to rock the mic. But he’s a suuuuuuuper slow talker. Monotone as hell. And boring. I don’t wanna sound mean. I really don’t. But I was enamored by having freaking Harrison Ford—Han Solo!—on the radio. I should have gone online and watched and listened to Harrison Ford in an interview setting. I didn’t. That was the last time I ever did that.

I had Kevin James on the show three times. He was terrible the first time. I couldn’t believe that Kevin James, from The King of Queens, was not funny. I figured he was having a bad day. So I booked him again. Same thing. I refused to believe it. CBS called and I booked him again in utter disbelief that Kevin James wasn’t funny 24/7. Same results. Maybe it was my questions? Maybe Kevin James hates radio interviews but was forced to do them? I don’t know. The point is I should have done my research. I should have listened to him on other shows and made a decision to have him on my show based on quality, not ego. While writing this book, I received a call from Netflix requesting an interview with Kevin James. I took the interview. But a scheduling conflict occurred right before the interview took place. To this day I refuse to believe Kevin James is a bad interview.

Let’s take out the celebrity portion of this. This principle is similar for any interview. Chances are pretty good you won’t be the first interview this guest has ever done. Watch, listen, and read their previous interviews. Are they vulnerable? Do they share? Are they good conversationalists? Are they interesting? Do they communicate effectively? Will they allow you to be a good interviewer? Will your audience walk away feeling good about you based on the interview?

Know what you’re getting into. Look, you’re online stalking your first date before you go out, right? (“Awwww … look at all the pictures with puppies, he has marriage potential.” “Whoa, she looks amazing in a pair of Lululemons, she has marriage potential.”) So, why would you not use the same stalker intelligence on someone you’re going to interview? Is he worth your time? Does she seem interesting?

You know why Joe Rogan is a great interviewer? It’s super clear that he knows his stuff. So many guests. So many topics. It’s so evident the dude is educated on every topic and intimately knows his guests. And they immediately respect him because he respects them by knowing his stuff. I don’t know whether he does the homework himself or whether he has producers that do most of the leg work. I guess it doesn’t matter. Either way, I have never heard him caught off guard in an interview because he’s so well-schooled.

Apply the same technique to your interviews. I can’t tell you how many hours that is. But every time I’ve done a big interview, I’ve spent hours on homework. I want to feel secure that I know the guests and thoroughly know their material. Most of the time, I’ve done so much homework I feel I know the guest so well that I know how they will respond before I ask the question. I know their personality. I know their history. I could play them in a movie.

Lewis Howes is one of the great podcasting interviewers. His podcast, The School of Greatness, focuses on interviewing hundreds of top-notch personalities who consistently have incredible insight into how to live a happy life. He told me he spends a couple of hours doing homework on each guest. The end result might be a sixty-minute podcast, but he’ll spend two to three times that long on researching his guest.

Conversely, I’ve done too much research on a guest and felt determined to get to every question because I put so much time into the homework. I never heard the guests’ answers because I was so focused on getting to all my questions. For example, I had a forty-five-minute interview with Lady Gaga that people tell me was good. But I have no idea because I didn’t listen to her answers. I just sped through the interview like Usain Bolt never listening or asking follow-up questions.

For all I know, the interview went like this:

Lady Gaga: “I just got back from a trip to the moon, where I performed ‘Born This Way’ with the ghost of Neil Armstrong.”

Me: “Cool. How was it kissing Bradley Cooper in that movie you did with him?”

Focus on the First Two Minutes

It’s essential to set the tone for the entire interview in the first few minutes. The guest is assessing if this is an environment they feel safe in immediately. If they don’t feel safe, you are in trouble. They’ll be closed and you’ll never get a great interview if you mess this up initially. So you know how I combat that? Kiss their butt. Like hard. Like enough where you’re super close to leaving a butt hickey. They need to know you’re a fan. Again, they gotta feel safe. They have to feel you’re coming from a good place. Most guests are insecure about being ambushed or not being capable of answering your questions. Put their minds at ease that you’re an ally.

Let Your Guest Be the Star

Is there anything more annoying than listening to an interviewer try to out-expert the expert? Your job is to get the best out of your guest—not to prove to the guest that you know as much as they do. Telling Stephen Hawking you know the difference between the Big Dipper and Little Dipper as well as he does will do nothing for your interview. Your job is to move the interview forward by being genuinely inquisitive and always keeping the interest of your audience as your motivation. How is this interview bettering your listener? Is it entertaining for them? You can learn along the way too. But that’s the secondary motivation.

Interview People You’re Genuinely Interested In

Ed Mylett, peak performance expert, is giddy over the guests he brings on to his podcast. His energy and excitement are contagious. He can’t wait to ask questions that will better him and his audience. You genuinely feel he’s so excited to help his audience with each and every answer his guest provides. This can only be done if you respect and are excited about your guest.

In my past interviews, you could clearly hear the difference between my interest level interviewing J. Lo and my interest level interviewing Mike Sorrentino from Jersey Shore. You cannot hide authenticity. And if you have no interest in your guest, your audience will feel it.

Killer interviews will make or break your podcast. But you can do more to get people to really love you, which we’ll discuss in the next chapter.

NOW HEAR THIS

• The best podcast content that a guest can give is interesting ideas and things that will cause people to question and talk about it.
• It’s essential to set the tone for the entire interview in the first few minutes.
• Do your homework—hours of homework—for each and every guest.
• Interview people who genuinely interest you.
• Do not ever try to out-expert the expert you’re interviewing.