“That’s all I’ll admit to.” America Live anchor Megyn Kelly welcomed “a very special guest,” hubby Doug Brunt, to her show Friday to promote his first novel, Ghosts of Manhattan.* In the segment, Brunt teased his racy read of a Wall Street bond trader caught up in an all-consuming culture of “high-priced entertainment” involving “lap dances at Scores…[and]…$5000 bottles of champagne.” But, the whilom Internet security CEO assured Megyn’s audience that the bawdy book was entirely fictitious–as to him and Megyn. At least, on AL air.
Introducing the interview, Megyn proudly proclaimed that Brunt’s book has been compared to the works of Charles Dickens and Tom Wolfe (Steve Forbe’s review).** When he began to discuss his wanton work in detail, Megyn playfully remarked, “Now, you write in the book a lot about these…life-style choices, prostitutes, strippers, drugs. How do we know these people?” As Brunt began to chuckle, Megyn queried, “Are these people that we know?…Have they been to our house?”
Laughing, Brunt replied, “Everything is one degree removed from us, uh, Honey.”
Subsequently, after he explained that he had obtained much of the background material from people and friends, Megyn persisted, “Now, there is something else in the book that people need to know about: And, that is a naughty blond reporter.” Leading her witness, the erstwhile legal eagle exclaimed, “And, we need to get this on the record right now! This person bears no relation to anyone you may know?”
With a twinkle in his eye, Brunt dutifully declared, “No. None.”
Of course, Brunt was not under oath. Perhaps, he was telling the truth about Megyn not being THE “naughty blond reporter” in his book. But, it is almost certain that his sexy GQ pin-up girl with the “killer bees,” who Slate dubbed “a post-feminist news babe,” lies somewhere within waiting to be laid bare.
Off air, Brunt may have been more candid. In a “Q & A” on his Ghosts of Manhattan web site, he revealed, “Had I continued to work in sales and trading as a career, I may have resembled Nick [Wall Street bond trader protagonist] in some way. That’s all I’ll admit to.”
[Author’s aside: Ironically, last October, Megyn had her former husband Daniel Kendall on America Live as a guest.]
*America Live – 10/05/12 (@ 1:39 a.m. ET).
**Ibid at @ 1: 43 a.m. ET.
Carpe Diem 