60sec. With...Greg Gutfeld
Monday, June 3 2002
Published on AllBusiness.com
Q.You came to Dennis Publishing's 'Stuff' from Rodale's 'Men's Health' nearly two years ago. Are you more of a 'Stuff' kind of guy?
A. I think I've always been a Stuff guy, which means looking at everything with a skewed sense of logic. That even helped the [Men's Health] editorial, because all men's magazines suffer from sameness—all the same visuals and language.
Q. What changes have you made to 'Stuff'?
A. What I've been able to do is make Stuff more about pop culture and add a bit of a more subversive nature to it. It's kind of like the difference between Animal House and The Simpsons. Men's magazines in general are like the Animal House mentality. Stuff reflects the more ironic nature of The Simpsons. One new thing coming is in our Letters department, which is like a crazy town hall. We're contacting people who hate our magazine or are mad at us. We'll find out why, and beginning in August we'll print the conversations verbatim. I don't think any magazine has ever done that.
Q. Any special pieces coming up?
A. We have a really great survey of the U.S. military in the July issue. The way I look at it is, we have a million armed guys all over the world, and it's really important to know what they're thinking right now.
Q. Were there any surprising responses?
A. One question was, 'Who do you find more trustworthy?' Used-car dealers came out ahead of both journalists and politicians…Maybe it's because used-car dealers dress better!
A. I think I've always been a Stuff guy, which means looking at everything with a skewed sense of logic. That even helped the [Men's Health] editorial, because all men's magazines suffer from sameness—all the same visuals and language.
Q. What changes have you made to 'Stuff'?
A. What I've been able to do is make Stuff more about pop culture and add a bit of a more subversive nature to it. It's kind of like the difference between Animal House and The Simpsons. Men's magazines in general are like the Animal House mentality. Stuff reflects the more ironic nature of The Simpsons. One new thing coming is in our Letters department, which is like a crazy town hall. We're contacting people who hate our magazine or are mad at us. We'll find out why, and beginning in August we'll print the conversations verbatim. I don't think any magazine has ever done that.
Q. Any special pieces coming up?
A. We have a really great survey of the U.S. military in the July issue. The way I look at it is, we have a million armed guys all over the world, and it's really important to know what they're thinking right now.
Q. Were there any surprising responses?
A. One question was, 'Who do you find more trustworthy?' Used-car dealers came out ahead of both journalists and politicians…Maybe it's because used-car dealers dress better!
