I just think he\'s a very interesting Character. Plus he\'s totally insane, which is a bonus.
"George Carver, a staff writer for Comedians Quarterly, arranged an interview on May 1st at Arkham Asylum with the Joker. Logs show that Carver arrived on time and waited approximately twelve minutes before the Joker was brought in. Arkham staff has emphasized that all standard security measures, including a full body restraint system, were employed in order to ensure Carver\'s safety. The following is a transcript of the interview tape.
GEORGE CARVER: Since you\'re the Joker, why don\'t we start off with a joke?
JOKER: I\'d prefer to end with one. Besides, I\'m more of a performance artist, really.
GC: Oh, come on. One little joke?
J: All right. Did you hear the one about the three blind priests conducting an autopsy? The first priest reaches in and says --
GC: Maybe we shouldn\'t start off with a joke.
J: No, wait -- I\'ve got a better one. Why did the writer miss his deadline?
GC: Why?
[At this point orderly Alex Toklas entered with the brownies.]
J: Brownies! Go ahead, have one. I had them baked special.
TOKLAS: It\'s all right, I had one myself earlier.
GC: Okay. Mmm. Good. Now, Joker -- you\'ve said in the past that you feel unappreciated as a comedian. Why do you suppose that is?
J: Well, you see, it\'s society\'s preoccupation with their provincial little notions of sanity. When the public considers my work they don\'t see the wit, the rhythm, the je-ne-sais-quoi. All they see is corpses. The look at me and say, "That guy\'s a maniac."
GC: But you are a maniac.
J: Yes, but I\'m a homicidal maniac -- in all other respects I\'m perfectly normal. And although I\'ve resigned myself to being misunderstood in my own time, I too would prefer to have the recognition of my peers.
GC: Your peers. Other murderers?
J: No, no. Other comedians. I mean honestly, what\'s the difference between what I do and what, say, the late great Lenny Bruce did?
GC: Well, Lenny Bruce never killed anybody.
J: Ah, but you\'re doing it, aren\'t you. You\'re letting the medium blind you to the message. Comedy is comedy, whether you find it in snappy one-liners, blasphemous rants, or the rictus grin of the recently deceased. The only important question is: does it make you laugh?
GC: But murder doesn\'t make people laugh.
J: Well, maybe it doesn\'t make you laugh. I, thankfully, have a more cosmopolitan sense of humor. Frankly, I\'d hoped that a fellow comedian such as yourself would be able to see the wit behind the brutality.
GC: So is that why you\'ve {cough} spoken to us but turned down {cough} - excuse me - turned down interviews with more mainstream magazines?
J: Not really. I turned down those journalists because none of them had any severe allergies.
GC: What?
J: Well, one of them was highly allergic to garlic, but try hiding that in brownies. Yuck!
GC: I {cough} I don\'t understand.
J: See, this is exactly what I was talking about. I\'ve been telegraphing the punchline from the beginning of the interview, but you\'re so concerned about dying that you can\'t even see it.
GC: {cough} Dying? What do you {cough} you mean you {cough, cough} you put peanuts in those?!
J: Finely ground and mixed with the flour? Of course!
GC: How {cough} how did you know?
J: Oh, please. Your name\'s George Carver and you\'re allergic to peanuts? You can\'t expect something that ironic not to get around.
GC: My God, why?
J: The joke! Don\'t you get it?
GC: {cough} What? {cough}
J: Why ... did... the... writer... miss... his... deadline?
GC: {cough, cough} Why?
J: He was killed by a nut! HA HA! HA HA HA HA!"
