Filed under: Wonkette, David Lat, Culture, Tim Russert, DC bloggers, Scoops, Gossip, Sassy, Interviews, Foleygate, Law, Elizabeth Spiers
Big Head Rob is excited to bring you an exclusive Friday afternoon interview with the bloggerific lawyer David Lat (take that, Mr. Tim Russert, with your exclusive Sunday morning interviews all the time). The former assistant U.S. attorney is perhaps best known for impersonating a lady at Underneath Their Robes and for, well… impersonating a lady at Wonkette. A man with happy feet, Lat’s now shaking his bon bon to grow an audience at Above the Law, which is part of the Dealbreaker.com network. And, for the first time in a long time, he’s not impersonating a lady. Or is he?
BHR: With Foleygate in full swing, do you miss being a part of Wonkette?
DL: Alex, Ken, and the rest of the Wonkette crew are doing a great job covering Foleygate. But it’s actually not as esy a story to cover as one might think. The expectations for hilarity are ridiculously high. So I’m actually fine with not having to cover the misadventures of Mark Foley.
BHR: Yeah, they are trying pretty hard, aren’t they? What was your favorite part of your old position?
DL: The frequent parties, especially the hors d’oeuvres — like those goat cheese puffs at the GQ book party, or those mini-tortilla shells filled with southwestern salad at the Peter Beinart book party. I get invited to some parties these days, but not as many as before.
BHR: Ha. Goat cheese puffs, funny. Underneath Their Robes — hard to find time to keep it going? Will it continue?
DL: Basically I’ll be folding UTR into Above the Law. There’s nothing I could write for UTR that I couldn’t also post at ATL. Composing a formal UTR “farewell post” is on my long “to do” list.
BHR: Is Above the Law turning out to be all you hoped it would?
DL: Above the Law is turning out to be all I hoped it would — and more. It’s literally my “dream job”: I dreamt up the coolest job I could imagine, pitched my idea to some investors (Dead Horse Media LLC), and got them to back it. So far it has been a blast. Some days I can’t believe I make a living doing what I do.
It’s a lot of work, but it doesn’t feel like “work” because it’s so enjoyable. It’s the most fun job I’ve ever had, and I could see myself doing it for quite some time. I view myself as part of a long and distinguished line of what I’d call “niche gossip columnists” — e.g., Army Archerd and Hollywood, Michael Riedel and New York theatre. They’ve covered their beats for years, and I could see myself doing the same thing, assuming all goes well.
BHR: You’d make a great Asian version of Armey Archard, wethinks. But how’s the site doing thus far?
DL: ATL has been doing very well. As Elizabeth Spiers noted elsewhere, traffic is about three times what we expected. Reader feedback has been overwhelmingly positive; people are really enjoying the site. And this is just the beginning. ATL will only get better over time, as we obtain the assistance of interns (now accepting applications), recruit guest columnists, expand our readership, etc.
BHR: Why should Big Head Rob readers visit you everyday?
DL: Because we look at the law, which so many Americans find fascinating yet inaccessible, from a new and different perspective — one that’s irreverent, fun, and refreshing. It’s like “The Daily Show,” but for the legal profession. That pretty much says it all.
BHR: Well played, dear friend. Well played.
Some big, big blogger/gossip news has hit the fan in recent days, and you’ve asked us lots of questions. (What do we look like, a damned Magic 8 Ball?) Actually, we’re flattered, so here are a few of our best guesses: