In this interview, I chat with author/screenwriter John Blumenthal, a funny and talented writer of not only fiction, but screenplays, essays and book-length non-fiction.

Formerly a contributing editor of Playboy Magazine, Blumenthal has authored six books, including The Official Hollywood Handbook (Simon & Schuster), Love's Reckless Rash (St. Martin's Press), The Tinseltown Murders (Simon & Schuster) and Hollywood High (Ballantine). He has also co-written two feature films--20th Century Fox's SHORT TIME and Columbia Pictures' 1999 hit comedy BLUE STREAK.

Through cyberspace we discussed his new novel, What's Wrong with Dorfman, a comedic story about Martin Dorfman, a neurotic, hypochondriacal worrier with a few minor obsessions and a wildly dysfunctional family.

I read in an interview somewhere that you got your first break at Esquire magazine. Tell us a little about that experience.

After college, there was a major recession and I couldn't find a job so I became a housepainter in Nantucket. Not a career goal by a long shot. But one day, my roommate brought home a copy of Esquire which he bought because Groucho was on the cover and he was a big Marx Brothers fan. In the "Editor's Notes" section, Editor Harold Hayes wrote that Esquire needed a new editor and invited people interested in the position to write to him. So I wrote a funny letter about how 4 years of college had prepared me for nothing in the real world and a month later Hayes invited me to NYC. I came in 3rd, so I got a job as a fact checker. Not the greatest job in the world but it was a foot in the door. I became friends with people like Nora Ephron and talked to writers like John Sack and Tom Wolfe. Quite a rush for a kid just out of college.

What did you do for Playboy magazine?

I started as an assistant editor in 1974, a year after I got the Esquire job. Mostly I did humorous stuff. I did Playboy Interviews with the cast and writers of Saturday Night Live, with Chevy Chase and with the cast of Hill Street Blues. I also wrote numerous humorous essays for them and worked with comedians like Andy Kaufman and David Steinberg. I set up a wrestling match between Kaufman and a Playmate in Atlantic City. Boy, that was surreal. Andy Kaufman was a very weird guy.

What is the single thing you love the most about writing?

Typing the words "The End." Actually, I really love writing the first draft. Rewriting is more of a chore. I like getting checks too. Who doesn't?

What is the single thing you dislike the most about writing?

When your computer freezes in the middle of a sentence and you haven't hit the "Save" button in the last three hours.

(Ugh! I know the feeling!) Moving on… When do you get your best ideas?

Usually when I'm about to go to sleep. Occasionally on the can. Or when I'm not thinking about writing at all.

Where do you live?

In a ridiculously humungous house in Westlake Village, CA, a small town that is known mostly for being incredibly boring.

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