ABSTRACT
Lynn Barber is one of the most celebrated interviewers in Britain. Barber has written extensively on the skills and ethics of interviewing and so it will be interesting to consider those views alongside a critical analysis of her actual profiles. This chapter aims to identify the main elements of the Barber style, her leading themes – placing all of that in the context of a range of theories such as those relating to the ‘celebritisation’ of the media, the broader culture and political arena, the ‘confessional culture’ and the manufacture of ‘authenticity’. It explores her humorous style, the pleasure it provides – and her role as a sort of jester to the contemporary court of celebrity. Enormous wealth usually accompanies celebrity. Barber’s coverage of it in her profiles tends to highlight the glaring disparities in wealth in society – but without any critical dimension. Humour is a crucial ingredient of Barber’s profiling technique.
