IvyGate recently ran a review of Simon Rich's "Free-Range Chickens" for its inaugural meeting of the "IvyGate Book Club." In case you didn't catch the review, here's a quick bio of our man Rich: Harvard '07 alum and former Editor-in-Chief of the Lampoon, Rich has written two critically acclaimed collections of humor stories and is a staff writer at "Saturday Night Live." His father is Frank Rich, a guy who writes columns for the New York Times. Simon lives in Brooklyn Heights, where I met him at a restaurant for this interview.

And so it goes:

Simon Rich arrives. I'm already seated and I wave him over. Rich looks like a 16-year-old. But he's affable and confident. On the other hand, I'm nervous because Rich is around my age and achieving everything I want to be achieving. Amy Poehler is his co-worker. Amy Poehler is my dream girl. You get the picture.

Rich wants to change our seat because it's the Mets' last chance to make the playoffs and he can't see the TV. For the first twenty minutes of our interview, Rich's attention is divided between me and the Mets. Rich orders an iced coffee. I order a Diet Coke.

Why did you choose Harvard?

Because of the Lampoon. I always wanted to write for the Lampoon. Because I heard if you write for the Lampoon you could write for the Simpsons. And the Simpsons was sort of the center of my whole world.

I noticed a lot of people liked the Simpsons until around 7 years ago.

I still like it. It’s probably the single most important--not just the most important TV show but probably the most important thing in my whole life. It taught me not only most of what I know about jokes but also about the world in general.

After the jump, Rich discusses Harvard's dating life, vampires, and being Frank Rich's son.

What’s your favorite episode?

“Bart’s Comet.” Bart discovers a comet that’s heading toward Springfield.

Did you do early decision?

I did. Early decision was a great scam. The prep schools had a good run with that. I went to Dalton [a New York City prep school]. But it couldn’t have lasted forever. People caught on.

Were you a member of any final clubs at Harvard?

Oh, of course not. Luckily the Lampoon has no social criteria for joining. It’s all anonymous submissions. You don’t know who you’ve let on staff until they’re there. Which is a miracle because if they had any kind of social element to their try-out process nobody would get in. When I was at the Lampoon we were the least socially confident people certainly at Harvard, possibly in the entire Ivy League. We were nerds by Harvard standards.

What was your major?

I was technically an English major but I was non-honors so I mostly took electives. I took a lot of classes about medieval history, monkeys, historic plagues, a lot of classes about the history of science. I guess I was technically an English major but I really spent most of my time at the Lampoon.

What about the Harvard dating scene?

That’s hilarious. It’s like asking about the parties at Alcatraz. You don’t go to Harvard for the social life. You don’t go to Harvard to interact with humans. But I loved it. I loved my experience there. But I think I had an unusual experience. I literally woke up everyday--my dorm was directly across from the Lampoon--I walked across the street, wrote jokes all day, ducked out to go to class and watched TV all night. It was less like going to college and more like living in an insane asylum. But I just had a great time. There might have been parties at Harvard but I don’t think me and my buddies would have been invited.

What’s it like being Frank Rich’s son? Are you tired of being compared to him?

It’s great. He’s a great dad. I can understand why people write about [our relationship]. But from my perspective I feel like we have pretty different jobs. One difference is that everything I write is made up and everything he writes is true. So that makes for a different process. Also, he’s writing about things like the future of the free world. And I’m writing jokes about chess-playing robots and Dalmatians. I feel like we’re in different boats. That said I understand why people write about us both being writers.

Your brother’s a writer too, right?

I have one older brother, Matt Nat. He also has a pretty different writing style. A lot of people write about that too. Which totally makes sense. But I feel like we have pretty different jobs.

Does you dad ever run ideas by you for his columns?

We all try to help each other out as best we can. I don’t think…I don’t really follow politics. I don’t know what kind of help I can be to him on that front. I’m a joke writer.

What's your primary focus in your career right now?

I feel like I'm still just starting out and I'm trying to just throw as much out there and see what will stick. I still have a ton to learn about writing. So I really have no idea what type of writing I'll be doing in a few years. Right now I'm trying to try a bunch of different things and just write as much as possible. My third book is a novel. I'm two-thirds of the way finished. I guess I shouldn't give away too much but it's called "Elliot Alagash." It's Random House. It'll be short but not as short as the first two books.

How did you learn how to write comedy?

I never took any creative writing classes. For me, the only way I've ever been able to learn anything about writing is to work for a bunch of hours and see what sticks. Just trial and error.

Favorite TV shows?

Other than the Simpsons? Golden Girls. True Life on MTV. Freeks and Geeks. I Love Lucy. Loony Toons, also. I liked Tiny Toons growing up; and I liked Animaniacs too. I watched an insane amount of television as a kid.

Favorite comedians? Comedy writers?

My favorite comedy writers are David Sedaris, TC Boyle, Philp Roth, Roald Dahl, Woody Allen. I think Ellen Gilchrist is really funny. I think Lorrie Moore is really funny. I think Steven King can be really funny, when he wants to be. P.G. Wodehouse. But my favorite writers are the writers who wrote the Simpsons.

Do you read IvyGate? You don't have to lie.

Um…not really. I'm sort of out of the loop. I've only been out of school for a year or two but it feels like a long time.

How is it working on SNL?

It's totally surreal. It's really fun. I think every comedy writer dreams of working for SNL. I feel like I'm learning a lot from everyone there.

In your stories, you put the reader inside another POV (inside the minds of chickens, Dalmatians, frogs, children) to call into question our assumptions. Can you explain a little bit more about your technique?

I like writing about characters who don't have all the information. As someone who's routinely lost and terrified of the adult world I identify with them. I like writing from the perspective of animals and children because I have a lot in common with them.

If you went to another Ivy, which one would it be?

I probably would have tried to go to Columbia just because I love New York City so much. Every time I try to move somewhere else I always end up back here. I tried to live in Charleston, South Carolina for awhile. And I lived on that chicken farm. And I had great times. But I always end up back in New York City because my friends and family are back here.

You write about your childhood (“If Adults Were Subjected to the Same Indignities As Children”). But you also write from the perspective of a 34-year-old software engineer, Dracula, God, etc. Is the process different when you’re not writing from personal experience? Do you think comedy rooted in personal experience is richer/deeper?

That’s a really good question. I think strangely all the pieces in my books are very personal. I don’t know any other way to write jokes than to write from personal experience. When I’m writing from the perspective of Count Dracula, that’s a very personal piece. Because I feel like everyone feels like Count Dracula on some level when they’re…I can identify with the desperation of Count Dracula. As hard as it is for me to meet girls, it’s way harder for that dude. Because he’s a creepy looking guy—

But he’s a badass.

My Dracula is sort of pathetic. I was hoping with those pieces people would kind of get on Dracula’s side by the end. Because he can’t help wanting blood, he needs it to live. But you can tell his schemes aren’t going to work.

It reminds me of the HBO series True Blood.

I still haven’t seen it. I’m dying to. I love stuff about vampires.

It’s very stylized, like a lot of HBO shows.

I love vampires. I’ve seen every Blade.

They made more than two?

They made three.

Why "Free-Range Chickens?"

It was really fun. I worked on a chicken-farm after college with three buddies from high school. It was my friend Josh’s farm and I lived there with a couple of high school friends.

What prompted that?

A bunch of friends were moving into a chicken-farm and they told me to come and I went along. I pretty much do whatever my friends tell me to do at all times. I don’t really have any kind of will or identity.

Including chicken-farms?

Yeah, it sounded weird but I wasn’t going to ask any questions. They’re my friends; I’m going to do what they say.

What is a chicken-farm?

It wasn’t just chickens. There was squash and cucumbers. It’s still around; it’s called Fishkill Farms. They sell at the Carroll Gardens Farmer’s Market on Sunday. They’re actually open for business right now. If anyone who reads your blog lives in Brooklyn, they should go to the Carroll Gardens market and buy some chickens, buy some eggs, buy some squash. It’s pretty high-quality stuff. I’m not just saying that because he’s my friend. He really knows what he’s doing.

Were you a chicken-wrangler?

I did some of that. I guess I basically tried mainly to not actively destroy things. Also, I tried to look busy so my friend wouldn’t yell at me. But hopefully I did less harm than good out there. I was not great at farming.

Did you ever hear of that college Deep Springs?

This was like an incompetent Deep Springs. A bizarro Deep Springs where instead of a bunch of noble hard-working earnest dudes it was four incompetent…

What would be your advice to people who want to write comedy?

I’m still way too young to be giving advice. I feel like I’m still starting out. Still have a ton to learn. I have no advice. But if anyone has any advice for me I’ll take it.