An Interview with Clive Barker

from August 21, 1996


Adam Corolla: ...tonight. Talk about this. We get a lot of calls, because, because it is a newer thing. Where kids or teenagers are getting more in to experimentation earlier. It's, it's a different society than when it was, I'm sure, when you grew up
Clive Barker: Oh, man, absolutely.
Adam Corolla: And twenty five years ago it was not...
Clive Barker: In England. In Liverpool. I mean, you know, we're talking about a working class, northern city, you know, in the late 60s. Yeah, that was a tough time to come to realize that you were gay. I mean it was, I don't think that it is easy now.
Adam Corolla: When did you realize, in your recollection?
Clive Barker: Ahh, when I was 18, 19, I guess. I had much older girlfriends right through my childhood, my adolescence. When I was 15, I had a 19 year old girlfriend which was a big deal when you are 15. 15 is a much older ...
Adam Corolla: It would be huge if I had a 19 year old girlfriend now, too.
Clive Barker: That's a whole other thing though.
Adam Corolla: And were you having sex with her?
Clive Barker: Yeah.
Adam Corolla: Oh, really?
Clive Barker: Yeah, what do you want? Diagrams?
Adam Corolla: I don't know. Just 15 getting it on with a 19 year old is pretty good.
Clive Barker: Yeah, yeah. She helped.
Adam Corolla: And you stuck with woman all the way through until you were 18, 19?
Clive Barker: Yeah
Adam Corolla: But when you were, let's say, as early as 11, 12, did you have thoughts? Now looking back ...
Clive Barker: I think everybody has thoughts at that time. I think even you, Adam.
Adam Corolla: No, no, that's true.
Clive Barker: Mainly of truckers, I suspect.
Clive Barker: The, the issue of the kind of openness of your sexuality at that time. When you are just looking at possibilities and one of the things that happens is your possibilities start to narrow and stuff to become very specific as you get older.
Adam Corolla: Right.
Clive Barker: And, and... I don't.... I think of sexuality as being this incredibly malleable, protean, changeable, wonderful, flowery thing. I don't think that it is fixed.
Adam Corolla: Um-hmm.
Clive Barker: I don't think that it is about saying I am this and I will always be this.
Adam Corolla: Right
Clive Barker: I think that it is about being aroused by the world and finding the world sexy. I mean, do I still look at beautiful women? Absolutely.
Adam Corolla: Do you ever get, like a sexual hankering for a big set of jugs?
Clive Barker: Yes.
Adam Corolla: Oh you do?
Clive Barker: Oh yes. Yes.
Adam Corolla: Oh, me too. Fine, then I can move in.
Clive Barker: -Laughs-
Adam Corolla: Drew, do you have a hankering for a set of jugs or do you want to go to the phone?
Clive Barker: He does but he doesn't want to talk about it.
Adam Corolla: Mike, 14, you're on Love Line with Clive Barker.
Caller Mike: Hey, hey, Adam, Drew, Mr. Barker. I have idolized you since I was like 8. This is amazing.
Adam Corolla: What, what was the first piece of work that you saw by Clive?
Caller Mike: Hellraiser II.
Clive Barker: Oh man.
Caller Mike: One of the greatest movies in the world.
Clive Barker: Thank you very much.
Caller Mike: I love your work.
Clive Barker: Thank you, man.
Caller Mike: I seen, I saw that thing on A&E.
Clive Barker: Oh yeah!!
Caller Mike: Yeah, that was great.
Clive Barker: With my mum and dad on it? Did you see my mum and dad on that? That was a real trip. My mother and father, I have to say, my mother and father came on this, this kind of show about me.
Adam Corolla: They did a profile.
Clive Barker: Yeah, they kind of denied that they had anything to do with me. It was, my mom says, you know, "Um, I don't know where he gets it from but he doesn't get it from me."
Adam Corolla: "Not on our side."
Clive Barker: My father swore "He doesn't get it from me."
Doctor Drew: Didn't, didn't...
Clive Barker: You know, it's like a primal moment when your mother and father, on television no less, say that they have absolutely nothing to with who you are.
Adam Corolla: It's like Dahmer's folks took a little more responsibility than yours.
Clive Barker: - Laughs -
Doctor Drew: Didn't your grandmother figure in your life prominently?
Clive Barker: My grandmother was, actually ... I'm Irish-Italian. My grandmother, both my grandmothers are, were amazingly strong willed, powerful women. My Irish grandmother, my father's mother, was an incredible storyteller and would tell very grim, dark, morbid tales....
Doctor Drew: This is where it came from. This is where it came from.
Clive Barker: Yeah. Oh, I think for sure.
Doctor Drew: I think, last time you were on the show, one of those stories still stands out in my mind.
Clive Barker: It's the candyman story.
Doctor Drew: The candyman story.
  Scary sound effect played
Doctor Drew: It was a little bit of a different twist on it...
Clive Barker: Thank you very much over there. (Referring to the sound effect)
Doctor Drew: But what a interesting thing for your grandmother to be telling you...
Clive Barker: Yeah, my grandmother told stories of terrible genital mutilation visited upon little kids by, by creatures that stalked the streets of Liverpool. And it stayed in my mind since when I was a little kid.
Doctor Drew: And you still can't go into public restrooms?
Clive Barker: I still can't go into public restrooms.
Adam Corolla: What is the candyman story that your grandmother told you?
Clive Barker: My, the candy, my grandmother said that, I guess I was around five, if I went into public restrooms, there would be a man who would come and cut my dick off.
Adam Corolla: Really? The candyman?
Clive Barker: Well, no, I later invented the candyman to explain what my grandmother had taught me. I mean, it was a response to something. Candyman is a Clive Barker invention, but that story which appears both in the movie and the original story, that stuff came from my grandmother when I was five.
Doctor Drew: Are a lot of your stories sort of a re-working of some your Grandmother's original...
Clive Barker: Well, no, not, but stuff that I was told when I was a kid. I was ....
Adam Corolla: How old were you?
Clive Barker: I was five.
Adam Corolla: Five?!? I found out the Easter Bunny wasn't real when I was five and I'm still not right. Let alone someone was going to cut off your genitalia
Clive Barker: - Laughing - The truth was that she said that the Easter Bunny was going to come and cut off my genitalia which was really problematical for me.
Adam Corolla: Wow. I mean, couldn't she just say to use the seat liner and let it be at that?
Clive Barker: They didn't have seat liners then. Come on.
Adam Corolla: I don't know. What the hell kind of advice is that from Grandma? Anyway, Mike?
Caller Mike: Yup.
Adam Corolla: You started, you were exposed to the Clive Barker material at a fairly young and tender age.
Caller Mike: Oh yeah.
Adam Corolla: Has it demented you? Twisted you? Do you have a compulsion to kill or cut off your genitalia or dress up in a big bunny outfit and cut off other people's genitalia? Are you ok?
Caller Mike: By my standards I'm pretty ok.
Clive Barker: I love that! By my standards! Good for you, Mike. Go on. Define your own terms. Go on, man, that's it.
Caller Mike: Well, basically, you know, if you are not like me, you pretty much are twisted and demented.
Clive Barker: There you go. Good. You see.
Caller Mike: That's what everybody should think.
Clive Barker: Yup.
Caller Mike: Just like me.
Adam Corolla: Alright. Mike?
Caller Mike: Yup.
Adam Corolla: This narcissism thing is only get you so far in life. Eventually you've got to start making money. And then you can start back into it. Am I right?
Clive Barker: There you go, absolutely.
Adam Corolla: Steve, 18, you're on Love Line with Clive Barker.
Caller Steve: Ahh, yeah. I just got married like, maybe a month ago. And my wife really likes her sex. You see, and ah, we've been married a little more than a month now and I've gone through four boxes of 36 condoms. And sex is her primary thing for the day and I just can't keep up with it, you know. I don't know what to do or to tell her. She get's quite pissed off when I can't ...
Adam Corolla: How old is she, Steve?
Caller Steve: Ahh, 19
Adam Corolla: Umm-hmm. And you're doing it how many times a day?
Caller Steve: About seven or eight.
Adam Corolla: No! No!
Caller Steve: Yeah, that's the problem. I can't keep up.
Adam Corolla: No, I don't inhale seven or eight times a day. You're not, you're not doing sex ...
Caller Steve: That's what I don't get. She's ten years before her prime and I just ...
Adam Corolla: Oh, she hits her prime and you're going to have to get a crash cart in there to bring you back from your refractory period.
Caller Steve: I know. Uh, what can I do?
Clive Barker: Were you, was it like this before you were married? Did you just never have sex before your marriage?
Caller Steve: We were dating for, like, three months and had sex a couple of times.
Clive Barker: So you dated, you knew one another for three months and then you got married?
Caller Steve: Yes.
Clive Barker: Ok.
Adam Corolla: And this didn't show up before the marriage?
Caller Steve: Well, yeah, not as much though. Because we just moved into our own apartment, so ...
Adam Corolla: Ok, Steve. If she's alright, then let me talk to her.
Caller Steve: She's at work right now.
Adam Corolla: Oh really?
Caller Steve: Yeah.
Adam Corolla: God knows what she's doing to keep herself busy there.
Caller Steve: - Laughs -
Adam Corolla: Steve, listen. My, my advice would be to cut down to maybe just five, six times a day.
Caller Steve: Oh.
Adam Corolla: I mean, no, you're going to have to tell her what you're comfortable with and sort of agree on something here. Because six, seven times a day is, that's unbelievable.
Clive Barker: Yeah, and quality goes down once you get to that kind of quantity, don't you think?
Adam Corolla: Oh, absolutely.
Clive Barker: Just do it once and do it really well.
Caller Steve: I, I tried. She's never satisfied. It's like an obsession. I just don't get it.
Adam Corolla: Steve, how is her psychological condition? Does she seem ok?
Caller Steve: Yeah.
Doctor Drew: Because this kind of really out of the ballpark, excessive sexual activity could be something... There are neurological conditions associated with this too.
Adam Corolla: Drew, did you say ballpark?
Caller Steve: I've never met a girl like this before you know.
Adam Corolla: I've never met five girls like this. I mean, who collectively good for seven times a day. This is amazing. Listen, Steve, does she satisfy herself?
Caller Steve: Yeah, I guess.
Adam Corolla: Because you are going to have to get her a toy and then, you know, make yourself a trip to the... Do they have one of those huge inventory type supermarts at your place that you can buy a palette full of C cell batteries that you can drop them off at the door? Come on, Steve, she has to start taking care of herself. You're only so much man.
Caller Steve: Yeah, I know.
Clive Barker: You can watch.
Caller Steve: I'm only human. I'm not a bionic super guy or anything.
Adam Corolla: No, you're no Steve Austin.
Caller Steve: No.
Adam Corolla: Alright, so listen. Tell her that you are not comfortable with that many times a day. My penis is sore just hearing this. Clive's penis is sore but it may be for other reasons. Clive, you ok?
Clive Barker: Yeah, my penis is just fine.
Everyone: - Laughs -
Doctor Drew: Sounds like another horror story that his Grandmother...
Adam Corolla: You want Drew's heat pack? Or are you ok?
Clive Barker: No, really, it's too small.
Adam Corolla: Alright, this is a ridiculous problem. I don't know where to begin with this. She has to service herself to some degree and you have to explain to her that you are only good for X amount of times in one day.
Doctor Drew: Or she may be truly disturbed. Watch out.
Adam Corolla: Yeah, another good character to write about in your book.
Clive Barker: Well, the other thing is that we are not addressing is that's a kind of sex fantasy as well. The idea of a nymphomaniac is, is a sex fantasy for a lot of people. The idea of a somebody who just, a woman who wants endless sex, but actually in the real world it's nightmarish
Adam Corolla: Like be careful what you ask for...
Clive Barker: You just may get it.
Adam Corolla: Alright, I suggest that you put a new character in your books and you call it Nymph-head.
Clive Barker: Thank you.
Commercials: Commercials play
Adam Corolla: Yes, indeedy-deed. Phone number: 1-800-LOVE-191. Fax number: 310-854-4455. I'm Adam Corolla and that is Doctor Drew. He's a board certified physician, addiction medicine specialist, and tonight is author, film maker, philanthropist and humanitarian Clive Barker. And we'll be back in ten seconds.
Station ID: Station identification
Adam Corolla: Oh well. Clive Barker is here but, of course, we're missing Doctor Drew who takes a very lackadaisical approach to the whole show.
Clive Barker: He does, he does. He's been over, over-praised, I suspect.
Adam Corolla: Oh, certainly there is that, but what it is is that he thinks that he has tenure and can never be fired.
Clive Barker: No, well, you know what? We can get Doctor Ruth.
Adam Corolla: Oh, I would kill for her. Do you know anyone?
Clive Barker: You know, I did an interview with Doctor Ruth once, and had a giggling fit.
Everyone: - Laughs -
Adam Corolla: How can you keep a straight face when Doctor Ruth is asking you a question?
Clive Barker: At your navel.
Everyone: - Laughs -
Adam Corolla: She's talking... She's getting an echo from your navel.
Clive Barker: She's getting an echo from your navel.
Adam Corolla: And she's like what's that poking me in the throat?
Clive Barker: Please stand up. I am standing up.
Adam Corolla: - Laughing - Oh, jeez. Drew?
Doctor Drew: Yes?
Adam Corolla: Quite a good looking guy for a doctor, wouldn't you say?
Clive Barker: He is. He is, absolutely.
Adam Corolla: I don't want to put you on the spot...
Clive Barker: No, no, no. You can absolutely do that. He's a married man. I can do that.
Adam Corolla: As a gay man...
Clive Barker: As a gay man, I can say that he's cute.
Adam Corolla: And what about me? I mean..
Clive Barker: Nyeah. [A negative, indifferent sound] But anyway.. - Clive laughs -
Adam Corolla: Oh, please. Come on. Seriously.
Clive Barker: I was being serious. Nyeah. [The same negative, indifferent sound] No, come on!! What do you want?
Adam Corolla: I want to know
Doctor Drew: Everybody is not for everybody, Adam.
Clive Barker: You know.
Adam Corolla: But why does Drew always get the good shake?
Clive Barker: - Laughs - What do you want? He's the one with the warming pad on his leg. It's very hot.
Adam Corolla: So it's like sympathy.
Clive Barker: There's a whole thing going on with gay men and warming pads.
Adam Corolla: Ok. So, if we're just at a bar and let's say two-stepping a little and you happen to stroll in.
Clive Barker: And he was limping in?
Adam Corolla: No, no. Let's forget the knee pad here. It's just Drew and I and dude's night and we're doing a little two-stepping and having ourselves a frilly drink
Clive Barker: Yeah, yeah. I'd go for the blonde.
Adam Corolla: Oh, really?
Clive Barker: I'd go for the blonde. Which is Drew.
Adam Corolla: Jeez, the chicks like Drew more and the guys. That sucks!
Doctor Drew: It does.
Adam Corolla: But I know that as soon as we get off the air that you're going to tell me that you're more attracted to me.
Clive Barker: A whole 'other thing. A whole 'other thing.
Adam Corolla: Alright, Clive Barker has himself a book. That book is called Sacrament. And he'll be signing that book at A Different Light which is a bookstore in West LA on Santa Monica and that will be at 7pm this Friday.
Clive Barker: This Friday! And I won't just be signing that. I'll be signing...
Adam Corolla: Whatever you've got.
Clive Barker: Yeah. Old books, videos, and places
Adam Corolla: Movie posters and things?
Clive Barker: Yeah, the whole deal.
Adam Corolla: Now what about something where a character is popular...
Clive Barker: Yeah.
Adam Corolla: That you invented? Like Pinhead? Are you getting a piece of all that Pinhead action?
Clive Barker: Nahh. Nahh.
Adam Corolla: Yeah, you are.
Clive Barker: No. I made the first Hellraiser movie, this is the honest truth, ten years ago for $21,000. I wrote and directed it for $21,000. And I signed away all the rights for impepituity.
Adam Corolla: Is that forever more then?
Clive Barker: Forever more. That's what impepurity means.
Adam Corolla: Oh, man!
Clive Barker: You know what? One of the things is, you do those things and they seem dumb in hindsight. But, the truth is, they were giving me a million dollars to make the movie. And who knew that there were going to be sequels and plastic models and...
Adam Corolla: It's like people tell you to think with the brain that you have now ten years ago.
Clive Barker: Yeah
Adam Corolla: How the hell were you supposed to know what was going to go on?
Clive Barker: At the end of the day, I don't regret it. At the end of the day, somebody gave me some money and said go make a movie and I had a great time. And that's what it was.
Adam Corolla: But now when you come up with something, I'm sure that you have a team of representatives.
Clive Barker: Yeah but surely the chances of coming up with another Pinhead are fairly slight. The truth is these things are not in your command. You make these things and the audience is the one that tells you whether it's working or not.
Adam Corolla: Right, it's like breaking wind, really. You can't plan it.
Clive Barker: It's nothing, it's nothing like breaking wind.
Adam Corolla: Yeah, but I'm saying with the audience...
Clive Barker: It's nothing... Where does he get these things?
Doctor Drew: Just thank you for stopping him when he goes on like that. I just appreciate that so much.
Adam Corolla: - Laughing - I'm just saying it's not something that you plan. It's not something you work out.
Clive Barker: - Laughing -
Doctor Drew: He's saying "Don't negate me! Don't negate me! Go with me."
Adam Corolla: Here's what I'm saying "At 11:45, I'm going to break wind." It just happens. You feel it come up and the audience responds.
Clive Barker: Wait, wait. Can we back up a moment? When we're talking about the profounder things that happen in your imagination and the only thing that you can do is liken it to flatulence, I as an artist am insulted.
Adam Corolla: - Laughing - Well, I as a patriot, sir, am indignant. Drew, what are you?
Clive Barker: - Laughing - A blonde. A natural blonde.
Doctor Drew: No, Gray! This is gray!
Clive Barker: Oh, really?
Doctor Drew: The first year of their lives.
Adam Corolla: What is... Yeah, the triplets turn him gray. What is the name of the gay lead character in Sacrament?
Clive Barker: His name Will, Will Radjohns. And..
Adam Corolla: Does that mean anything? Anyone you know or anything?
Clive Barker: Actually, no. It was actually, my publicist's name is Will, he's outside, and I named him after Will but my publicist is straight. And, and I just like the name.
Adam Corolla: Are you sure because he was eyeballing me when I was heading down the hall to the coffee machine?
Clive Barker: No, I don't think he was.
Adam Corolla: Could you name a character Adam?
Clive Barker: I really don't think that he was.
Adam Corolla: Not a leading character but could you just work in like a Adam guy that gets killed or something at some point?
Clive Barker: Yeah, I think we could find something going on like ...
Doctor Drew: I'd buy that book.
Clive Barker: You would?
Doctor Drew: So would lots of people.
Adam Corolla: Casey, 16, you're on Love Line with Clive Barker.
Caller Casey: Yeah, hi everybody.
Clive Barker: Hello.
Caller Casey: Yeah, I have this problem. Really it's my friend who has this problem. See, she's on birth control and she is, like, using that for an excuse to go have sex with, like, lots of different guys.
Doctor Drew: You know, that is an argument that people have used against...
Caller Casey: Well...
Doctor Drew: Wait, wait. ...young people being on the pill. And yet, I can never... To my recollection, this is the first time that we've had this call.
Adam Corolla: Right, you've heard about the whole reason for the sexual revolution was the pill.
Doctor Drew: Right.
Adam Corolla: But we don't get... This is the first call of this time that we've ever had.
Doctor Drew: I've never heard somebody say "I'm having a lot of sex because I'm using contraceptions."
Caller Casey: Well, she doesn't use condoms, she doesn't like them.
Doctor Drew: No, no. Contraceptions just means something to prevent pregnancy. Birth control pill.
Caller Casey: Yeah
Adam Corolla: Right
Caller Casey: She's had sex with, like, 27 different people. They're nobody from this town.
Doctor Drew: Alright, this has nothing to do with the birth control pill.
Caller Casey: Huh?
Doctor Drew: This has nothing to do with the birth control pill.
Adam Corolla: Casey!
Caller Casey: Yes
Adam Corolla: What do you want from us?
Caller Casey: Well, I would like to know how I could, what I could do to like change her mind and stop her from doing this 'cause...
Clive Barker: And she's your best friend here, Casey?
Caller Casey: Yeah.
Clive Barker: Ok, and so have you talked to her at all about this?
Caller Casey: Well, yeah and she doesn't listen...
Clive Barker: And what does she say? Does she say, is she looking for someone to just sweep her off her feet and just love her forever? Is that what it is and she's just going from guy to guy to find that?
Caller Casey: Well she, I think that she enjoys sex a lot.
Clive Barker: Nothing wrong with that
Adam Corolla: But, but it's hard to work in when you have a different partner each week.
Clive Barker: I think that's true.
Adam Corolla: You need to sort of find your rhythm and your groove and all that. And it takes a little way for that.
Clive Barker: Does she leave the guys or do the guys leave her? What happens? Does she go from guy to guy?
Caller Casey: Oh, well she, she calls all of them like all the time. She'll be going out with them. She'll have seven different boyfriends. I mean, none of them know of each other.
Clive Barker: Oh, so they don't know. Man!
Adam Corolla: Ok, but Casey it sounds to me like this girl probably has something going on other than just her legs being akimbo most of the day. I mean, it sounds like she wouldn't be the greatest friend or the funnest person to hang out with. Does she seem normal in every other aspect of her life?
Caller Casey: Yeah, I mean, she's real cool and everything. And she just started birth control maybe three months ago.
Doctor Drew: Twenty seven guys in three months?
Caller Casey: Huh? Yeah.
Adam Corolla: Ok, Casey.
Doctor Drew: Where are the parents? There is already something wrong with the fact that she can accomplish this means that there is something wrong at home.
Adam Corolla: Oh well, her dad, she has a step-dad.
Doctor Drew: Oh.
Caller Casey: And her mom doesn't care what she does.
Doctor Drew: Right.
Adam Corolla: Ok.
Caller Casey: And another thing that I was worried about, she's my best friend. And people are beginning to find out about it. And so they are giving me the reputation...
Doctor Drew: She is desperately trying to find some kind of emotional fulfillment.
Caller Casey: Really?
Doctor Drew: And she's doing it in all the wrong ways. Her family of origin is, ah, not anywhere that she can get empathy, comfort, reinforcement for who she is. So she is going out to get validation from whereever she can. Where's her dad? Her biological dad?
Caller Casey: Her, he's, I don't, he died or something a long time ago. She never really talks about him.
Doctor Drew: Well find out what's going on. Find out who your friend is, Casey. There is a lot of things going on with her and try to dig in and see what is actually going on under the surface and talk to her friend to friend. Talk to her and try to contact some genuine emotion within her, because I'm sure it's there.
Adam Corolla: Yeah, there is something there and you just have to see if you can reach it.
Doctor Drew: And maybe in that way, you'll be able to impact upon these behaviours and she'll stop or slow down.
Adam Corolla: Here's the deal too, and I always warn people that you do what you can. And then you move on. If the person is not going to respond to what you are telling them to, then don't let them drag you in to it with them. Do not let them take you down with them. You try your best. You do what you, you clear out your conscience. And then you move on. And hopefully they will respond. Amber, 20, you're on Love Line with Clive Barker.
Caller Amber: Hello
Adam Corolla: Hey.
Clive Barker: Hey.***
   


Still being transcribed as of March 10, 1999
taken from http://www.kazba.com/mikekaz/Barker/
The interview text is copyright 1996 to Love Line, Inc. Transcribed without permission