Interview - Maddox: Author, jerky connoisseur and cult icon.

After ten years of (self – proclaimed) literary genius and a New York Times bestseller, web author and cult - icon George Ouzounian (AKA Maddox) is still finding time to be as offensive as ever. Simon Hartley tracked him down for an interview, and survived.

The Best Page in the Universe is a vent for your frustration, but you started it while employed as a computer programmer. At what point did you realise you could pursue writing seriously?

I quit my job in 2004, but I'm not sure I still take writing seriously enough. After all, I wrote a New York Times bestselling book in which one of the chapters is titled "Boners." I'm sure the english language has seen better days.

Would you say Maddox as a persona limited to your writing?

For the most part, because you can only be an annoying asshole in real life for so long before someone punches you in the face. It's a part of my character I sometimes try to suppress. It's that cynical voice who wants to argue about the injustice of having to pay $3 extra because the guy taking your ticket stub in the parking lot was incompetent and made you wait longer than you had to. We all have that voice; there's a little Maddox inside all of us.

My fans are often surprised when I treat them genuinely. They expect me to rip off their heads and shit down their necks, but I think many of the people I meet are pretty fragile and couldn't handle the abuse anyway.

Fair enough. Pop/consumer culture has always had its share of critics, yourself included, but the majority end up sounding contrived. What do you do that keeps you fresh?

What my writing has is something that all great writing has: truth. Whether it's a joke, a blog entry, satire, or even a press release, without that kernel of truth, there is nothing there to bond your words to the readers' psyche. I'm refreshing to read not only because I'm the greatest author of the 21st century, but also because I'm honest with my reader.

Over 70 million people have visited your site, and you highlighted in a particular post that you receive many more hits than major corporates, who spend millions on advertising. As a satirist of such companies and all their promulgation of branding, would you feel hesitant at the prospect of becoming a brand yourself?

Zefrank defines a brand as an "emotional aftertaste conjured up by a series of experiences." So anything you have an emotional experience with is a brand. The example he uses is the brand "grandma" being a much stronger brand than the more general brand of "old people." The experience people have with my brand is one that I have completely monopolized through a combined feeling of terror, fear, despair, annoyance, self-aggrandizement, humility (on the part of my reader), and dick jokes. It's a savory blend of raunch and smarts, like a trail with nuts and chocolate, but satire instead of nuts and chocolate.

The very nature of your work ensures you'll offend people. Have you ever received a very real threat or is it mostly pasty teenagers and soccer moms who send you hate mail?

I receive threats all the time from pussies on online forums. My theory is that the odds of someone seeing something that offended them from my site, then seeing me in public, and still remembering what they were pissed off about is very unlikely. Most people know that there's some serious tongue on cheek action going on in my writing. No hate mail from soccer moms yet. Yes, that's an invitation. Make it real.

How key is the satisfaction of "I rest my case" to the continuation of your website?

Not sure I understand the question.

Right. How difficult was it to publish your book, "The Alphabet of Manliness", given that your satire and parodies could be mistaken for bigotry?

The difficulty never comes from having to make a tough choice about content that may offend people, but rather, from the pressure of putting out a good product. If my name is on something, I want it to kick ass. I've never been one to hold punches or to be afraid of someone's reaction to a piece I wrote. As for bigotry, the strict definition is "a prejudiced person who is intolerant of any opinions differing from his own." I think most people are bigots. It's the bigots who have shitty opinions that cause problems in this world. Though to my credit, I'm not intolerant of any opinions differing from my own. Just most of them.

…And given that your book could polarise its readers, how has it been received?

Fairly well. The only real criticism I received about the book was that it was too awesome. I am my own toughest critic.

You state that you owe a debt of gratitude to Robert Hamburger, author of Real Ultimate Power. Would you say that a book of that nature paved the way for your particular style of satire?

No, I think our styles are quite different. Hamburger is a very funny writer, but we often write about different things. He's good at creating a fictional narrative for characters he's created, and somehow telling a story in a way that we can all relate to. I think the similarities can be drawn in that we both have a very over-the-top style, but our subject matter couldn't be more different. Where he paved the way for myself and other authors is in demonstrating that a web author cut from our fabric can not only publish a book, but be successful at it too. His success paved the way for many people. Plus he's a really solid guy in person. Coolest 12-year-old I know.

Your fan base is incredibly large. When you write something, do you consider the social implications of your work?

Yes, to some extent. I've gotten to the point where I can do some real damage with my voice; I can ruin people's lives, and you have to be very careful not to abuse that power. I think the last person who sent me hate mail got flooded with so much mail from people who read my site, that he lost his job (and that was after only 30 minutes). It's not my intention to ruin anyone's life because of my Web site, so sometimes I'll let people think they've won when they send me hate mail, when in fact I'm doing them a favour by not responding.

How much value would you place on a society's ability to mock itself?

It's important. Right up there with universal health care.

Blogging has exploded onto the web scene in the past two years, particularly in South Africa. How much credit would you give yourself and others like you for the phenomenon?

I give myself all the credit. Let's face it, most websites suck out there, and although I don't consider my site a blog, it's ultimately the main and only reason people still create blogs today.

Do you still get the same satisfaction from The Best Page in the Universe as you originally did?

Just as much, if not more so. If I didn't enjoy my website, I'd discontinue it.

maddox@xmission.com
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.com/

© Simon Hartley 2007