I interviewed the journalist who interviewed Brian Wilson about Norbit
Because someone had to figure out if this pervasive internet rumor was true.
It was 4 in the morning on Friday, June 13th, and I couldn’t stop thinking about one thing: did Brian Wilson really say his favorite movie was Norbit?
Before I continue, let’s quickly define two proper nouns:
Brian Wilson: singer and songwriter; known for the Beach Boys and his solo work, especially the album Smile; struggled throughout his life with mental illness.
Norbit: an Eddie Murphy film from 2007; arguably the low point of Murphy’s career.
I first heard the rumor that Brian Wilson’s favorite movie was Norbit on Wednesday evening, about ten hours after learning Wilson had died. Well, I didn’t exactly hear it. I saw this post on Instagram:
I read the text on the hat a few times, trying to comprehend it. Was this real? Not the hat. The hat looked real. But did Brian Wilson really say this? In that moment, I googled brian wilson norbit, which brought me to a Reddit post from 8 years ago. The Reddit post linked out to a Spin article titled It’s Been Ten Years Since Brian Wilson Said His Favorite Movie Was Norbit.
But as I read the Spin article, I started to suspect that this could all be a mirage. Because while Spin said the interview had appeared in Asbury Park Press and had been conducted by interviewer Mark Voger, it did not link to the original article. Instead, Spin provided a link to a blog post by Beach Boys fan Michael Leddy. Leddy also did not link to the original Asbury Park Press article, but both Leddy and Spin linked to a Beach Boys forum where the text of the article (along with the byline Mark Voger and the article’s title, “DON'T WORRY, BABY”) appeared to be pasted in its entirety.
As I continued to google brian wilson norbit, looking for the original article or anything else I could find, I saw chatter about this all over social media. I even learned that, in the wake of Wilson’s death, people were watching Norbit and posting reviews of it on Letterboxd, according to Cracked.
I even saw that this anecdote had been added to the Wikipedia article for Norbit:
Musician Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys called Norbit his favorite movie in a 2007 interview with the Asbury Park Press, although he admitted that it was the only movie he had seen in the last couple of years.
I realize that most people would have let this go at this point. But I felt I needed to know. Did this exchange really occur? Did Brian Wilson say his favorite movie was Norbit?
I decided I had three options:
Forget about this and move on with my life, like a normal person.
Reach out to Asbury Park Press and ask if they could dig up the original article from their archives.
Reach out to Mark Voger, the journalist who had conducted the article, and ask him about it.
I chose option 3.
What’s the best approach for asking a stranger on the internet if Brian Wilson once told them his favorite movie is Norbit?
I found Mark Voger relatively easily. I googled mark voger journalist and his website is the first one that popped up. As I scrolled through his website, I started to get nervous. This guy looked like a heavy hitter. I saw that he has seven books published—which he not only writes, but also designs—and has interviewed not only Brian Wilson but also many other legends, including Peter Fonda and David Cassidy.
I was concerned. What would Voger say when someone emailed him to ask him about Norbit?
I considered three scenarios, each bad in their own way:
Scenario 1: The Norbit interview was indeed an internet myth and Mark Voger would tell me he had no idea what I was talking about. But at least I would have my answer.
Scenario 2: Yes, it’s true, but Mark Voger is sick of people asking him about it.
Scenario 3: It happened 18 years ago and meant nothing to Mark Voger. He can’t even recall if it happened, because who would remember a thing like that?
But I had to know, even if one of these was the outcome. So I took out my laptop in the early morning of Friday, June 13th, and composed the following email:
I've read a few excerpts from your Brian Wilson interview from 2007 in the Asbury Park Press. Any idea why they don't have the original online anymore? I think you should post it on your own website! Incredible work.
It was vague enough that, if he was sick of talking about Norbit or if the Norbit anecdote was a myth, I wouldn’t be immediately blocked.
I clicked send and waited.
And, about 6 hours later, he emailed me back.
The Interview with Mark Voger
Over the last several days, Mark Voger and I have exchanged a series of emails. I ultimately asked him to be interviewed and he agreed. We conducted the interview via email, which was his preference.
The following is our interview:
Q: Can you confirm that you are the Mark Voger who interviewed Brian Wilson via telephone in 2007, and that during this interview he said his favorite movie is Norbit? I ask because, with your original interview being unavailable on Asbury Park Press, I want to ensure that this is not just a crazy internet rumor.
A: Thanks for asking, D.F. I am absolutely “the” Mark Voger who interviewed Brian Wilson for the Asbury Park Press in 2007, and he absolutely told me his favorite movie was Norbit. What happened was, this was the third of four times I’d interviewed Brian. I learned from the first interview in 2000 that he didn’t have much to say, not that he was rude or arrogant. I believe it was related to his ongoing recovery; Brian was candid about his early use of psychedelics and his long struggle with depression. Anyway, that was my take on why his answers were so short. I will say that he was very kind, he hung in there, and he did his best. For that first interview, I had maybe 20 questions ready, never expecting to get to them all, but we burned through those in no time. So I was better prepared for him in 2007. I had a raft of questions, not all of them related to his music. Anything to keep him talking.
Q: Did he seem sincere in this statement? (I know that might be hard to answer, especially considering the interview occurred via phone.)
A: I believe so, yes, in the moment. The exact exchange was:
“Have you seen any good movies lately?”
“Well, I’ve only seen one in the last couple of years. It’s called Norbit by Eddie Murphy.”
“How did you like it?”
“Fantastic movie. Very funny.”
“What’s your favorite movie?”
“‘Norbit.’”
Q: When I reached out to you about this and told you about the internet attention your exchange with Wilson is gathering, you used the word “flabbergasted” in all caps. You had not previously been aware of the fact that this moment has become memefied. Over the last 18 years since this interview was first published, has anyone reached out to you (other than me) about specifically Brian Wilson and his Norbit answer?
A: You are the first person to bring it up to me. For all these years, I had no idea the Norbit thing went viral. But I remember the exchange cold, because I’ve been telling the Norbit anecdote ever since. It is hilarious, after all. It's a guaranteed laugh at a party. In fact, I ended my 2007 article with it, as a funny little capper.
Q: My first reaction, in hearing about this Norbit anecdote, was a mix of confusion and amusement. You interviewed Wilson three other times during his lifetime. You might have a better sense of Brian Wilson as a person than people who have only heard his music or watched interviews with him. Do you think it’s fair for people to see the humor in this exchange?
A: You could argue that the humor here is at Brian’s expense. But I just think of it as a sweet and funny moment in time with a person who happened to be one of the most important songwriters of the 20th century. Brian gave likewise deadpan answers to other questions I put to him. The one album he’d bring to a deserted island was Sgt. Pepper. His favorite composer was Burt Bacharach. I asked him if he ever speaks with Mike Love, and he said: “He’s been suing me lately, so I don’t talk to him.” Of course, Wilson and Love reunited for a Beach Boys tour in 2012.
Q: Okay, you’ve also had a prolific career as a writer and journalist outside of talking to Brian Wilson about Norbit. Do you have any similar anecdotes or something else you’d like to share? Any fascinating moments in your interview history?
A: I’d say the most significant was when I interviewed Muhammad Ali at his home in 1971 for my school newspaper when I was in seventh grade. Mr. Ali had recently moved to Cherry Hill, NJ, the town I grew up in. He was very kind, and looking back, he really started me on my career in journalism. When I asked him if he had any advice for the children of Holy Rosary School, his words were prescient: “Just get your education. Automation’s taking over today, so get your brains ready. Choose your profession while you’re young and get working toward it, like I did boxing at 12, and by the time you’re in the 20s, they’ll be well perfected.” That’s word-for-word, because I recorded it, as I’ve done with 90 percent of my interviews over the years.
Q: Anything else you would like to promote? I know you have a few books out, including one that features some of your interviews with Wilson and other important figures from the 60s.
A: Wow, D.F., who could resist that opening? The book you refer to is "Groovy: When Flower Power Bloomed in Pop Culture” (2017) from TwoMorrows Publishing. At the moment, I’m most excited about my forthcoming book “Futuristic: Rockets, Robots and Rayguns of Space Age Pop Culture” (also from TwoMorrows). It’s about everything from Sputnik to tiny Japanese toy robots to Tang to McCarthyism to Dr. Smith to “The Jetsons.” It’s in pre-orders, due out Oct. 22. I’m already at work on my ninth. I’m 67 and starting to lose it, so I’m in a big hurry to get stuff done.
Q: Back to Norbit. How does it make you feel to know that people across the world are watching Norbit for the first time—or, in some cases, learning about the film for the first time—owing to this minor exchange from nearly two decades ago?
A: It’s fun. Though maybe I can no longer tell the Norbit anecdote at parties now.
Q: I do have to ask: have you seen Norbit?
A: I hope to go to my grave never having seen Norbit.
And that’s the end of the interview, although I would like to add one thing, for both Mark Voger and anyone else reading this: I think he should keep telling the story at parties.
Update:
I have corresponded further with Mark Voger after writing the above. I’m excited to say he mailed me a copy of his book Groovy as a thank you for tipping him off to this crazy story. He also wrote his own account of this situation, which you can read here.
He also wrote his own account of this situation, which you can read here.
This was a fun little story! I had heard of the Norbit interview as well before Brian Wilson's passing, but I never questioned it. If you see him in interviews later in life - that they are characterized by very short, typically one word answers that are often disjointed and only partially coherent which abruptly end - it would not be a surprising answer.
I also understand people find the anecdote about Norbit funny, but it is important to note that Brian Wilson suffered from severe mental illness for decades, and so it can be inappropriate to laugh at some of these antics. I am not saying that is what you are doing, but some of these comments online may step over the line. Brian Wilson was a kind, warm-hearted man who was also one of the great musical geniuses of the twentieth century - whose brilliance was tragically cut short by a mental breakdown. The number of people who took advantage of him all his life from his psychiatrist to his own cousin Mike Love is absolutely heartbreaking, but thankfully he eventually found peace with his loving wife and family of adopted children. He was one of the very few of the rock icons whose death actually affected me, even though he was eighty two and I knew his passing was approaching.
This is like a note in a bottle. A complete surprise and a chance to do more research and discovery. Thank you, D. F.!