James Lipton is well known for his line of questioning on Bravo’s Inside the Actors Studio, where he uses an adapted “Proust Questionnaire” to find out his guests’ favorite and least favorite word, the noises they love and hate, and, of course, what they’d like to hear God say to them at the Pearly Gates. But ten questions does not fill a TV hour, and Lipton often packs the rest of that time with an array of superlative-filled comments and questions that become a new form of sycophantic poetry when strung together: What do we have to look forward to in Shrek the Third? What attracts you to odd hats? And whither the tattoos? (One of his favorite questions; he poses it to Brad Pitt in tonight’s episode.) Click on, and imagine just what it would be like to be interrogated by Lipton: You’d tell him everything … though very little of it would be interesting.
