(upbeat music) - We are pleased to welcome Roz Chast, who is the author of this compelling, interesting, gotta get this book, "I Must Be Dreaming".

Roz, great to have you with us.

- Oh, thanks for inviting me, - Roz, I'm an obsessive reader, but this book is so different from any other book I've ever read.

You're brilliant.

I'm sure people say that to you all the time.

The cartoons, excuse me, the illustrations and the writing, you did it all.

- That's what I do.

Yeah.

(chuckles) - But let me ask you this, 'cause I'm actually gonna ask people to go to, if we can show the graphic on page 10 of the book, why dreaming is so great.

Why is dreaming so great?

- Well, there's a lot of reasons.

For one thing, it's free.

Anybody can do it.

Everybody does do it.

And, this stuff that we make up when we go to sleep has always fascinated me since I was a little kid.

I didn't really understand what it was.

Every night, every single person, we do this odd thing that we call dreaming, but we don't really know what it is or why we do it.

And I think it's great because it's interesting and also it's a mystery.

A mystery of daily life.

- Roz, the other thing is, you're very upfront about the fact that you suffer from anxiety.

What is the connection between your anxiety and your work, your art?

- I think for me, it's probably humor and anxiety.

I don't know, they're kind of like peanut butter and jelly.

There's something, there's some connection there.

I'm not the most analytical person you've ever met, but I think there's a lot of things that if they weren't funny, I would probably just wind up like ripping off all my clothes and run screaming down the street.

- And you do not have dreams about that, do you?

- I have certainly had dreams where I haven't had clothes on.

I think everybody does.

That's a very common dream thing.

- Yes it is, yeah.

The other thing about you that is fascinating to me is when you were growing up, you were not allowed to read comics as a child.

- Yeah, - Because?

- Well, my mother was an assistant principal, my father was a teacher.

To them comics were for morons.

They were for people that did poorly in school, that didn't care about school, that were maybe kind of stupid.

And they were just bad.

They were just like junk books.

And my parents did not believe in that, especially my mother.

And she used to brag about being in school and taking comic books away from children.

So, go figure.

- Yeah.

I'm curious about this.

As a cartoonist, as an artist, how early on did you realize that you had a gift and a talent in this area?

- I always loved to draw from the time I was... Before I could write, like many kids.

Most kids, they draw.

I think when I was probably around five or six, you know how one kid is gonna be the fastest runner and one kid is good at math and one kid is the prettiest.

And, I was always the kid who drew.

So I never really thought like, "Oh, I have a talent."

It was just like, I'm the kid who draws.

- In 1978, you joined the New Yorker, you're on board there.

- Yeah.

- And how big a thrill was that?

- It was a shockaroo.

It was as much of a sort of shock as it as it was a thrill, 'cause I never really thought that was where I was going to be.

I thought if I were very, very fortunate, I would be a cartoonist for the "Village Voice", which published Jules Feiffer and Mark Allen Stamaty and Stan Mack.

People whose work I adored.

And, it was somewhat narrative and it was very personal and their styles were very idiosyncratic.

And, I didn't draw gag cartoons with the boardroom or the cocktail party in the line underneath.

That's not what I did.

So when they hired me, I was gobsmacked.

- Semi lucid dream.

Team, could we put up semi lucid dream?

- Talk about that.

- Well, lucid dreaming.

I have a feeling that your listeners probably know what lucid dreams are.

It's a dream where you're kind of aware that you're dreaming, but you keep dreaming.

I don't have them very often, but I've certainly had enough of them to remember them and think, "Oh yeah, that was one."

And, this one was, I come out of the grocery store and I have my grocery bags and I'm looking for my car.

And not only can I not find my car, but suddenly it's like, everything looks unfamiliar.

It's like, oh, even the grocery store that I just left looks very different.

And I don't know what parking lot I'm in.

This looks completely different.

And then I realized that I also, on top of everything else, I have somehow lost the frozen turkey that I bought.

And then I suddenly have this insight that I'm dreaming and that everything is completely fine.

And this is just a dream.

I haven't lost the car and everything like that.

But then I think, but I still have to find the frozen turkey.

I still haven't found the frozen turkey.

- That's in real life.

You haven't found the frozen turkey.

- That is what?

- In real life, not just the dream?

- Oh, no, no, no.

In the dream, I haven't found the frozen turkey.

So like, I'm aware that I'm dreaming and the fact that everything looks unfamiliar and that I can't find my car, it's no big deal.

But somehow, even though I'm aware that that's a dream, the frozen turkey part- - Oh my gosh, there's a lot going on here.

Dare I ask Nubbins.

My kid was sitting on my lap and I noticed his fingers were nubbins.

- Yes.

- What's nubbins?

I got a minute left.

Go ahead.

- Yeah.

I realized that there were no fingers there.

It was just nubbins.

And then I realized that mine were nubbins and I could make everything sort of...

I was dreaming and that I could make the fingers get smaller and bigger by will.

And I turned to him and I said, "Ha ha ha, we have sleepy hands."

- Roz, my dream that is recurring, I never shared this, that there's a math test in high school and I've absolutely not studied for a second.

I don't know if I knew there was a test or just didn't care that there was an exam.

And I'm sitting there and know absolutely nothing.

And when I wake up, I'm very grateful.

I know this.

I'm gonna go see a therapist and find out what's going on there.

I must be dreaming.

Roz, quick before we go.

Do you know what that is?

Do you know what that's about?

- What is about?

- My dream.

That I'm not prepared.

- All I know is that that's an extremely common.

I hate to tell you, but that is an extreme- - I'm very common, - Very common dream.

We all have that dream of being back and taking a test or you don't know.

I'm back in high school all the time in my dreams.

Sometimes it's even a lucid dream.

You would think that at some point I would realize, I would have an epiphany and I would not have that dream again.

But no.

- Not probably gonna have it tonight.

I must be dreaming.

Roz, well done, congratulations.

That's the book.

- [Roz] Thank you.

- Thanks, Roz.

- Thank you.

- What are you dreaming about?

See you next time.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Celebrating 30 years in public broadcasting.

Funding has been provided by The Russell Berrie Foundation.

New Jersey’s Clean Energy program.

The North Ward Center.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Delta Dental of New Jersey.

PSEG Foundation.

And by Seton Hall University.

Promotional support provided by Northjersey.com and Local IQ.

And by Meadowlands Chamber.

(light music) - The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, in partnership with utility companies throughout the state, can help you save money and create a more comfortable home through Comfort Partners, a free program that helps income-eligible customers reduce their utility bills through cost-effective measures that save energy, including lighting, hot water heaters, large appliances, heating and cooling improvements, insulation, and much more.

Learn more at NJCleanEnergy.com/CP.