Two Years Ago Today: The Phil Morris/Jackie Chiles Interview

Today is an anniversary of sorts.  Two years ago today, on December 6, 2010, we published what was to be a ground breaking, at least for us, interview with the actor who played one of pop culture’s most flamboyant attorneys, Jackie Chiles, the television lawyer from “Seinfeld.”  The character, now infamous, was played by actor Phil Morris.

That, we think, is the moment where we learned we loved this blogging thing.  It’s also the moment we realized that the sky is the limit with respect to blog posts.

Think about it: In this day of Internet blogging and journalism, every citizen is a pamphleteer.  Everyone can be a journalist.  So, why not seek interviews like journalists do?

Back in 2010, we had that thought, and so, we spent weeks and weeks and months and months communicating with the agent and publicist for Mr. Morris.

Our persistence paid off, and we were granted the interview.  After that success, we were emboldened, ultimately seeking and securing interviews with the director, writer, and several casts memnbers of My Cousin Vinny.  But it all goes back to Phil Morris and Jackie Chiles.

So, today, we share with you our favorite part of that interview.  Of course we asked Mr. Morris about the Stella Liebeck McDonald’s hot coffee case:

ABNORMAL USE: . . .  [aO]e of the story lines from “Seinfeld” was, I guess, Kramer’s burns from the hot coffee. Do you have any feeling about that? What about people filing these lawsuits for burning themselves on hot coffee?

MORRIS: Well, we’re so litigious in this society, too much. It’s way beyond the pale. So that’s where I kinda jump off from Jackie. I certainly wouldn’t put stock in a lot of that stuff. I think, it’s just, we’ve gotten away with way too much here in the United States in terms of the legal ramifications of everything. I think, again like I said, beyond the pale. Jackie is an opportunist. So anything like that is manna for him. But personally, I think we’re really hurting ourselves and shooting ourselves in the foot. Not only are we giving our legal system a bad name, but we’re abusing it! We’re misusing those bits of legal power that we have – we’re fortunate enough to have in this country. It kind of drives me crazy.

You can revisit the full interview here.