‘Success didn't spoil me, I've always been insufferable’ – New York’s Fran Lebowitz is in Edinburgh and wants to talk

She is best known for her books, including A Fran Lebowitz Reader, a collection of her essays and writing, some of it from her previous two books, which was published in the UK for the first time in 2021 and brought the 74-year-old a whole new generation of fans. In it she shares her dry humour, opinions, bug bears and tales from her colourful life, such as the time Charlie Mingus chased her down the street and Leonardo DiCaprio offered her a vape.

She’s also a familiar face on screen, in her friend Martin Scorsese’s Emmy nominated documentary Pretend It’s a City, which was premiered on Netflix in 2021. The pair share a fascination with New York, their home city, and despite her love/hate relationship with it, Lebowitz could not imagine living anywhere else. She also had a role in his film, The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), leading to the DiCaprio experience, and a recurring role in the TV show Law & Order from 2001-7, playing a judge.

After growing up in New Jersey where she was expelled from school, Lebowitz arrived in New York in the 1970s and wrote a column for Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine and hung out at Studio 54. All the while she was writing for magazines and commenting on American culture, but her current novel, which she began in 2004, is as yet unfinished.

A style icon - Vanity Fair included her in their International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 2008 - she favours bespoke Savile Row men’s suit jackets, white shirts, Levi’s and tortoiseshell rimmed glasses, often accessorised by a cigarette.

Top 20 Fran Lebowitz quotes

Answering questions from an audience is probably my favourite activity in life. I think probably because when I was a child, nobody ever asked me anything. I grew up in the 1950s and nobody asked children questions.

My idea of a great literary dinner party is Fran, eating alone, reading a book. That’s my idea of a literary dinner party. When I eat alone, I spend a lot of time, before I sit down to my meager meal, choosing what to read.

Polite conversation is rarely either.

I was so shocked when hugging started. I thought, Are you out of your mind? I would put my hand out and people would go in for a hug. This is when someone’s introducing you to someone. I think it would be great if hugging stopped.

At a certain point you lose interest in yourself, or at least you should. There’s a limit to how long you can think about one person, even if that person is you. I’ve lost interest in the subject.

I cannot stand in front of a place smoking a cigarette without ten people instantly asking me for directions. And I'm always surprised by this. Like, “Really? Do I look welcoming to you?”

The good thing about being in someone else’s apartment is it’s so much easier to leave than it is to get someone out.

If you can eat it, it’s not art. If you can say ‘I’ll have that and a cup of coffee,’ it’s not art.

I try not to go out during day. There are a number of reasons: it’s crowded, it’s too much light caused by the sun. It’s the kind of harsh direct lighting that is unflattering to the heavy smoker.

I never got along with Andy [Warhol]. Andy never got along with me. He’s done much better since he died.

The opposite of talking isn’t listening. The opposite of talking is waiting.

The best fame is a writer’s fame. It’s enough to get a table at a good restaurant, but not enough to get you interrupted when you eat.

When Toni Morrison said, “Write the book you want to read,” she didn’t mean everybody.

I don’t sleep, so at four in the morning, I flip around on the TV. That’s how I watch television. I used to always read before bed, but I couldn’t sleep. It’s too stimulating, so I thought I would watch TV since it’s boring.

Most writers have a hard time writing. I have a harder time than most because I’m lazier than most. I don’t want to brag, but I’m the laziest person I have ever known. I am more than slothful: I’m almost inert. And since writing is so arduous, I tend to avoid it assiduously.

There is one thing that has disappeared, not just from the US but from the entire world, is the idea of ever being embarrassed by anything.

Racism is a fantasy of superiority.

I’m stunned to turn the television on and you see what I think of as people doing chores. You know what I mean? Cooking is something that I hate. I mean I hate doing any like domestic work which includes, in my opinion, cooking. To me it’s like watching someone sweep.

How would I describe my lifestyle? Well, I can assure you I would never use the word “lifestyle.

Success didn’t spoil me, I’ve always been insufferable.

An Evening with Fran Lebowitz, Monday 4 November, Usher Hall, 7:30pm