A Conversation with Ed Asner

In magazine writer heaven, every interview begins this well:

Me: We’re so excited to see you on Sunday!

Ed Asner: Where am I gonna be Sunday?

Me: New Orleans.

Ed Asner: (long sigh) Oh, another freak in town.

Talking with Ed Asner is exactly what you want a conversation with Ed Asner to be—the famous gruffness is there, but not directed at you. I spoke to him Thursday morning about his one-man show, A Man and His Prostate; he was preparing to leave Atlanta for an Illinois show date before planned Sunday and Monday night performances at Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre on St. Peter Street.

Ed Weinberger, one of the writers of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, wrote A Man and his Prostate about his own struggles with prostate cancer and approached Asner with the “little ditty,” as Asner called the text. “It fits me perfectly.”

“Why?”

“Well, I’m a grouch. So is he. He doesn’t realize it, but he sure as hell is. So I can put my stamp on it and roll off the grouch.” This isn’t Asner’s first one-man show—he toured as FDR for four years earlier in his career—but it does carry an important message: check your prostate (if you have one, of course). “We have to keep providing the information for the dummies that don’t pay attention.” It’s not all warnings and information, though. Asner promises great humor, which is of course his goal as a performer to make the most of: “You do it for the laughs. And the bigger they come, the more I like ‘em.”

I asked why he kept working—at 87, and after an award-studded career, many people would be content to sit back and collect syndication royalites. “As a kid, I discovered my calling. It’s a knack I’ve tried to perfect. It gives me great satisfaction to satisfy an audience, and I’d be guilty of grave error if I didn’t exercise this calling.”

Of course, I had to ask about The Mary Tyler Moore Show. How could you not? Asner returned to the idea of a calling. The ensemble, "a wonderful company,” didn’t know they had a hit on their hands, but the scripts were “a joy” and the best Asner had seen since moving to California. They had to do it, and the reaction was up to the audience. Asner doesn’t seek out reruns of his TV work, but will watch them if he happens upon them. “I’m surprised at my own subtlety. A look, a reaction.”

“It must be nice to be able to look back on earlier work with satisfaction.”

“It is. You can get lazy or bored at maturity, you think ‘I’ve already done this.’ You have the maturity, but you don’t always bring the energy to the work that you do when you’re younger.”

Energy seems to be one thing Asner doesn’t lack—in addition to his touring show, voice work, and advocacy for autism awareness and non-profits (a cause close to his heart because of his son’s and grandson’s struggles with the condition), he’s written a book. The outspokenly liberal Asner’s The Grumpy Historian, co-written with Weinberger “when he would behave himself, I have to slap him down sometimes but I’m bigger than he is,” hits shelves October 10. “Historian” because, as Asner and Weinberger see it, there’s no reason the constitution can’t be interpreted liberally, as there were disagreements among the founders almost before the ink was dry; “grumpy” because it’s Ed Asner.

All good things must end, and especially when talking to one’s idols, less is sometimes more. I thanked Asner and added that I’d been a longtime fan of his TV work. “Well, you’re welcome. You’re an enjoyable person.” You heard it here first, folks: this writer is Asner-approved.

Due to Tropical Storm Nate,  A Man and His Prostate has been rescheduled for December 8 & 9 at 7:30 pm. lepetittheatre.com.