I’ve seen plenty of evidence of Jim Osterberg’s consummate knack of charming people, finding out what makes them tick. This is a talent he possessed even back in elementary school. The same adjectives crop up again and again about his manner: coy, flirtatious, charming, litte boy-ish.

 

The photographer Robert Matheu sent me a link of his interview with Terri Gross for NPR that demonstrates this manner perfectly. Duane Brown, his friend from the trailer park, also cited this interview as exemplifying the kind of coy charm he used on his teachers at Carpenter Elementary.

 

Listen out for how Jim uses the kind of subtle tricks espoused by Dale Carnegie in How To Win Friends and Influence People, but which in his case seem to come naturally: the humour, he way he pokes fun at himself to offset that overwhelming self-belief, the way he’ll take a word that Terri has used earlier in the interview and re-use it himself to subtly reinforce their bond, as well as that lovely all-American Jimmy Stewart burr. This is a textbook Iggy interview, the fact that it is audio only, conducted like a long-distance phone conversation, makes it all the more intimate. Gross, too, is an excellent interviewer who uses her flirtatiousness to get away with slightly cheeky questions.

 

The interview was first broadcast on Thursday 14 July.