The Corpuscle

Leonard Lopate is an "Arts & Culture" talk show host on WNYC, one of the public radio stations here in the city. It's a great show, with excellent guests and an intelligent and engaged host. As a proof of this proposition, I can't tell you the number of times I've heard Leonard ask a question of a visiting author, there will be a slight pause, and then the author will (with a mixture of delight and mild astonishment) say, "You really did read the book, didn't you?"

Leonard is currently celebrating the 20 year anniversary of his show, and as part of the festivities he's replaying notable moments from that history. This afternoon we heard briefly from Lasse Hessel, the creator of the female condom. From the show's website, here's the text intro to the clip:

Many listeners want to know which were Leonard's best and worst interviews over the years—and Leonard always answers by saying: "I really don’t know," or "I can't remember." And it's true, because the really good ones, we hope, number in the millions, and the bad ones, we don't want to ever think about again. But one interview does stick out as particularly bizarre. Lasse Hessel, the creator of the female condom, came in to talk about his invention back in 1993. What followed may seem like a comedy routine, but we promise, this is real....

It is, in fact, pretty amusing. It's another one of those "What were they thinking?" deals. In particular, what was this guy thinking when he agreed to be interviewed on this show?

Here's a direct .rm link to Mr. Hessel's moment of fame (one hopes never to be repeated), or you can find that link on this page.