# I get to interview Brooke McEldowney -- help **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 22, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-get-to-interview-brooke-mceldowney-help/349467 "2006-03-22T18:52:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-get-to-interview-brooke-mceldowney-help/349467/1 "2006-03-22T18:52:36Z")
I’ve gotten permission to do a short interview with Brooke McEldowney (9 Chickweed Land and Pibgorn), and want to ask questions that will speak to his fan base (of course I mean besides me). So, if you could ask Brooke 3 questions what would they be? Speak up Pibgorn fans! ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-get-to-interview-brooke-mceldowney-help/349467/2 "2006-03-22T19:15:07Z")
Didn’t Edda really leave high school early so it wouldn’t be so oogy to dwell on her bod all the time? Why aren’t Juliette’s sheep all dead from neglect and the black spavins, or whatever? Farming is a more than full time job, even if you have a hired man from the Twilight Zone. It requires few gowns. When is someone going to knock Edda’s and Amos’s heads together and lock them in a hotel room with a good sex manual? ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-get-to-interview-brooke-mceldowney-help/349467/3 "2006-03-22T19:23:10Z")
This question is probably so trivial I doubt it’s worth asking but, to me and my warped imagination, Drusilla reminds me of [Monica Bellucci](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000899/). Is the character modeled after her or any other real-life person? ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-get-to-interview-brooke-mceldowney-help/349467/4 "2006-03-22T19:26:33Z")
Who’s going to be Titania in _Pibgorn_? Why are all his men so wimpy? Not a single one is remotely sexually agressive. The women crawl all over them like bitches in heat and the men can barely respond. Is he getting any grief from the bible belt for portraying a gay couple in _Pibgorn_? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-get-to-interview-brooke-mceldowney-help/349467/5 "2006-03-22T19:47:36Z")
How come he’s cut back [Pibgorn](http://www.comics.com/comics/pibgorn/index.html) from six to three new strips a week, when the dialogue’s already been written for him? Lazy bastard. I don’t mind the wimpy men/sexually ferocious women thing…it reminds me of the characters in Peter Dickinson novels. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-get-to-interview-brooke-mceldowney-help/349467/6 "2006-03-22T19:49:39Z")
> [@teela brown](#): > > Who’s going to be Titania in _Pibgorn_? Pib has GOTTA be Puck, do we all agree? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-get-to-interview-brooke-mceldowney-help/349467/7 "2006-03-22T19:51:22Z")
Is there going to be a Pibgorn book? Is the strip in any newspapers, or just a webcomic? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-get-to-interview-brooke-mceldowney-help/349467/8 "2006-03-22T20:22:15Z")
> [@teela brown](#): > > Is he getting any grief from the bible belt for portraying a gay couple in _Pibgorn_? I think you mean _Chickweed Lane_. And Seth and Mark barely count as a gay couple…I’ve been reading for almost a year and I only remember them being in the same strip together about five times. Seth spends more time with Edda than he does with Mark. Then again, Edda spends more time with Seth than she does with Amos, so _shrug_. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-get-to-interview-brooke-mceldowney-help/349467/9 "2006-03-22T20:27:49Z")
WTF is with the latest _Pibgorn_ storyline? I can’t make heads or tails of it. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-get-to-interview-brooke-mceldowney-help/349467/10 "2006-03-22T21:16:06Z")
> [@AtomicDog](#): > > WTF is with the latest _Pibgorn_ storyline? I can’t make heads or tails of it. Brooke is giving us Shakespeare’s [A Midsummer Night’s Dream](http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/midsummer/index.html). Right now we’re Finishing up [Act I, Scene 1](http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/midsummer/midsummer.1.1.html) ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-get-to-interview-brooke-mceldowney-help/349467/11 "2006-03-22T21:25:06Z")
When is he going to have a fat girl for a character? I love Brooke and love his comics but it doesn’t quite compute that he’s so into the power and mystique of Woman, while only acknowledging the lean-thighed, tight-abbed, big-boobed blow-up doll figure. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-get-to-interview-brooke-mceldowney-help/349467/12 "2006-03-22T21:31:28Z")
> [@AtomicDog](#): > > WTF is with the latest _Pibgorn_ storyline? I can’t make heads or tails of it. It’s a 1920s-style dead-play. Write. Playwrite. Damn, that ruins the scansion something fierce… ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-get-to-interview-brooke-mceldowney-help/349467/13 "2006-03-22T21:32:48Z")
Oh, here’s a question: I haven’t seen Pap since Thorax sold the farm. Should I hope for him to either reappear in _Chickweed Lane_ or turn up in _Pibgorn_? Or both? (although now that I think of it, I believe I do remember him having words with Thorax two storylines ago) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-get-to-interview-brooke-mceldowney-help/349467/14 "2006-03-23T02:27:18Z")
…and Drusilla is gonna be Titania, and the Prince (the guy with the goat legs and walrus moustache) will be Oberon. And Amos will be Bottom. Who wants to start making book? ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-get-to-interview-brooke-mceldowney-help/349467/15 "2006-03-23T15:41:28Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > …and Drusilla is gonna be Titania, and the Prince (the guy with the goat legs and walrus moustache) will be Oberon. And Amos will be Bottom. > > Who wants to start making book? In case you’ve missed it, I started it over here: > **[Cast Pibgorn's Midsummer's Night Dream before it is completely revealed](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=362165)** > > Okay, this was inspired by the current Pibgorn storyline (which is an adaptation of Midsummer’s Night Dream by Willy the Shake using characters from Pibgorn and 9 Chickweed Lane. The strip appears every MWF on Comics.com, so we have some time before... ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-get-to-interview-brooke-mceldowney-help/349467/16 "2006-03-23T16:31:02Z")
Whoops, no, missed that completely. Are you sure Demetrius is supposed to be Burkhardt? I thought it was Mark with his mussy hair slicked down in a classic 1920s 'do…D has a beard, which Mark has and Burkhardt doesn’t. If ALL the mortals are going to be played by Chickweed people and ALL the fairies by Pibgorners, maybe Geoff will be Oberon…but I’ve got a feeling Brooke is going to keep things segregated by species. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Punkyova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@The\_Punkyova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Punkyova)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-get-to-interview-brooke-mceldowney-help/349467/17 "2006-03-23T16:51:05Z")
How many hits a day does the Pibgorn site have to have before his syndicate gets a clue and starts putting it in newspapers so it can get even more readers, book collections and huge royalties? Can we see Geoff doing actual Episcopal priest things, like preaching, funerals, weddings, staying up until 3am to get the sermon done, and visiting the sick? Otherwise, it feels like he’s a priest just to give the relationship with Dru/Pib a little extra “oomph.” Kevin and Kell has a feature where you can pay a small amount to sponsor the strip for a day. Has he thought about doing something like that with Pibgorn to generate a little more income and make it more worth his time to increase the number of strips/week? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-get-to-interview-brooke-mceldowney-help/349467/18 "2006-03-23T21:21:18Z")
> [@The Punkyova](#): > > How many hits a day does the Pibgorn site have to have before his syndicate gets a clue and starts putting it in newspapers so it can get even more readers, book collections and huge royalties? > > Can we see Geoff doing actual Episcopal priest things, like preaching, funerals, weddings, staying up until 3am to get the sermon done, and visiting the sick? Otherwise, it feels like he’s a priest just to give the relationship with Dru/Pib a little extra “oomph.” > > Kevin and Kell has a feature where you can pay a small amount to sponsor the strip for a day. Has he thought about doing something like that with Pibgorn to generate a little more income and make it more worth his time to increase the number of strips/week? Geoff is a _priest_? I thought he was just a musician, one of whose gigs was church organist. ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-get-to-interview-brooke-mceldowney-help/349467/19 "2006-03-23T22:10:24Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Geoff is a _priest_? I thought he was just a musician, one of whose gigs was church organist. From Meet the Characters on the Pibgorn site: The solitary resident of the Glen Cottage, Geoff is a church organist who rescued Pibgorn after she took to the winter skies and crashed due to iced wings. Geoff finds his resultant, involuntary function as bridge between the fairy world and that of church musician to be more than a little awkward, and he strives to keep the whole affair quiet. Link: [http://www.comics.com/comics/pibgorn/html/cast\_Pibgorn.html](http://www.comics.com/comics/pibgorn/html/cast_Pibgorn.html) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Punkyova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@The\_Punkyova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Punkyova)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-get-to-interview-brooke-mceldowney-help/349467/20 "2006-03-23T23:52:37Z")
OK, so I can’t read. But he doesn’t do a lot of church organist stuff either: choir practice (depending on how many choirs - adult, several children’s choirs based on ages, contemporary, etc.- this can take a lot of time), services, music for weddings and funerals. Most church organists I know also teach music, using the church organ and piano. Granted he’s trying to keep this quiet, but it seems that his full-time, paying job should appear every so often. And the fact that he’s a church organist rather than a classical musician a la Amos; why is that? Is there something about Geoff that makes it important for him to be a church organist? (Most church organists I know are not underemployed musicians. They have degrees in Sacred Music, belong to church musician societies, often have seminary training and see what they do as a calling, a ministry, not just a gig. So again, why is it important for him to be a church organist, and not “just” a musician?) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-get-to-interview-brooke-mceldowney-help/349467.md?page=2)