Show and Tell: New Yorker Profiles (2012)

Collected mostly from The New Yorker's Tina Brown-helmed '90s, the 15 polite yet probing profiles by contributor John Lahr in Show and Tell: New Yorker Profiles appear to be a haphazard mix, ranging from composer Irving Berlin to comedian Eddie Izzard. But the subjects prove extremely well connected: There's David Mamet and his self-described ''psychological stalker,'' Neil LaBute; Woody Allen and his favorite director, Ingmar Bergman; and Mike Nichols, who starred in The Designated Mourner, written by fellow interviewee Wally Shawn. Breaking up the clubby atmosphere are Roseanne, in an especially sharp and lively piece, and Lahr's poignant portrait of his disappointed actor father, Bert Lahr, best known as The Wizard of Oz's Cowardly Lion. An illuminating spotlight on the ways private lives, art, and celebrity converge. B+