John Waters' "Mr. Know-It-All:" A Memoir of A Peculiar Life

Tom's guest for the hour today is the celebrated Baltimore-based artist, John Waters. He’s the director of 16 films, the author of nine books, a visual artist with museum shows to his credit, a spoken word artist, an actor, and most recently, a pitchman for haute couture. His latest book, published last year and now out in paperback, is called Mr. Know-It-All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder.It's part memoir, part advice column, and part peroration on the passing parade. It’s a fascinating, funny, and insightful commentary on subjects as disparate as the nature of celebrity, and the snobbishness of restaurants, the art market and architecture, and it’s an often deeply personal take on the importance of family and friends. Waters offers a behind the scenes look at the sausage making of his movies, from his transgressive cult classics to his mainstream hits. And he ruminates unstintingly on his successes and his mistakes during a long career in which he has re-invented himself multiple times. John Waters joins Tom on the phone from Provincetown, Massachusetts. Calls, emails and tweets are welcomed.Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.