"I’m an English person who has not been to Mexico" (NOT ACCURATE)

October 9, 2018 10:57 AM

As research for a new play, Daniel Radcliffe visited the fact-checking department at The New Yorker. He even got to fact-check an article, saying, "I’m more nervous about this than I am about going onstage tonight." This is not Radcliffe's first office gig. It's good to see young actors with backup career plans.
posted by Etrigan (23 comments total)

I love this. Obviously we are getting a scripted view of Radcliffe, but everything makes him seem like a very likable person.

I think we need a television series, "Hi, I'm Dan", where he shows up and does various office jobs for a couple of hours.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 11:14 AM on October 9, 2018 [17 favorites]

I also love this! But wish it were longer and more varied. I’ve always wanted to be a fact checker, I just have never known anything about the actual work involved.
posted by gucci mane at 11:17 AM on October 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

I, too, loved this, but I've been left with a lingering question that has been bothering me more than is reasonable: did a New Yorker fact checker also call up New Yorker fact checker Parker Henry to fact check the description of his role in the fact checking process? And if this had been mentioned in the piece, would that fact check fact check also have to be fact checked?
posted by zachlipton at 11:23 AM on October 9, 2018 [22 favorites]

I've always been amused at the nature of the fact checking I've been involved in. I give an interview and then a month later get a call from a fact checker saying "so did you say this? Is this accurate? What about this" - 5 minutes later all done. I could total lie my pants off, but there you go.
posted by drewbage1847 at 11:37 AM on October 9, 2018

I used to be a factchecker and I loved it; if I still lived in NYC I would probably still be doing it. I can confirm that this was a good description of the fact-checking process in general -- I like how he paraphrased the description and didn't make the rookie mistake of directly quoting the writer -- but cannot speak to this particular piece.
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:40 PM on October 9, 2018 [9 favorites]

I can confirm that this was a good description of the fact-checking process in general -- I like how he paraphrased the description and didn't make the rookie mistake of directly quoting the writer -- but cannot speak to this particular piece

It's that final disclaimer at the end that leads me to believe you really have worked as a fact checker, QA tester, or lawyer.
posted by Tomorrowful at 12:48 PM on October 9, 2018 [16 favorites]

metafilter: I've been left with a lingering question that has been bothering me more than is reasonable
posted by standardasparagus at 1:07 PM on October 9, 2018 [12 favorites]

> if this had been mentioned in the piece, would that fact check fact check also have to be fact checked

Yes! The writer can't be their own source. If it's factual information and it's in the piece, it has to be checked.
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:14 PM on October 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

Love the twist at the end of the article.
posted by zardoz at 1:15 PM on October 9, 2018 [4 favorites]

I could total lie my pants off, but there you go.

But can you lie your pants back on? That’s the real test.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:45 PM on October 9, 2018 [5 favorites]

He also does a solid version of "Alphabet Aerobics" by Blackalicious.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:45 PM on October 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

While I'm not taking issue with the statement, I think it's worth noting that Daniel Radcliffe will be 30 next year, and has been an actor for nearly 20 years. "Young actor" might be a little off-target here.*

*Today's Oh-shit-I'm-old moment is brought to Millennials courtesy of Generation X.
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 1:54 PM on October 9, 2018 [11 favorites]

As a kid, I used to watch Herman's Head. And I always wanted to be a fact-checker, I'm like - THIS IS MY DREAM JOB!

Boy sure is glad I never went into that, because, may as well be making buggy whips in this reality!
posted by symbioid at 2:37 PM on October 9, 2018 [4 favorites]

I love that Daniel Radcliffe is still so....Daniel Radcliffe-y.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:52 PM on October 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

This piece manages to combine two favorites: something very much akin to library reference work, and the unreliable narrator. I felt a little extra squirt of oxytocin as I read it.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 3:16 PM on October 9, 2018 [7 favorites]

*dreamy sigh*
posted by Hermione Granger at 6:21 PM on October 9, 2018 [6 favorites]

This is where I trot out my tenuous connection to this story, which is that my college pal Jeremy Kareken is the co-writer of the play in question.
posted by jscalzi at 6:26 PM on October 9, 2018 [5 favorites]

I also have a tenuous connection to this story, which is that I have also hunched over a review of a Mexican restaurant in Greenpoint, Brooklyn (but not that particular restaurant).
posted by moonmilk at 9:13 PM on October 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

"Young actor" might be a little off-target here.*

I had “seven” as the over/under, so good job waiting until twelve.
posted by Etrigan at 4:09 AM on October 10, 2018

I have a tenuous connection to this story, too, in that I was also starstruck when I found myself at a post-wedding dinner party next to my friend's uncle, Peter Canby, the head of fact checking at the New Yorker.
posted by ambrosen at 4:59 AM on October 10, 2018 [1 favorite]

I would LOVE to see the play in question. And this article was FANTASTIC.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 7:03 AM on October 10, 2018

he is very pleasant and kind and thoughtful, and it is an enormous gust of fresh air compared to jkr's godawful media presence.
posted by poffin boffin at 9:41 AM on October 10, 2018

Another great Daniel Radcliffe anecdote... While starring in a play in London, he discovered that paparazzi were frustrated if he happened to wear the same clothes twice. The resulting photographs would look like they were taken on the same day as older ones and would thus have no value... So he wore the exact same clothes every day for six months while leaving the theater.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:44 AM on October 10, 2018 [3 favorites]