Life is full of heartbreak, but the actor and former High Times editor tries not to sweat the small stuff.

Question: What harshesrnyour mellow?

John Buffalo Mailer: rn What harshes my mellow?  Well I just had arn movie that was setrnand ready to go with amazing stars and an amazing director and an rnamazingrnproducer and everyone and, because of a technicality unfortunately the rnwholernthing just fell apart.  Thatrnharshed my mellow a little bit. rnBut again, you know if you’re going to go into the movie businessrn it isrnso full of heartbreak and you get so close and it doesn’t happen and rnthen oncernin a while it works out and it is the fantasy, like it is that dream.  So riding the highs and lows of itrnyou got to have an iron constitution and you got to be able to do what rnDavidrnDinkins actually one said—who, you know, who was a mayor of New York rnback in the early '90s, late '80s, and had a rough time. rnYou know, one day after another it was something and actually my rnfatherrnwas talking to him and he said, “So you know, Mr. Dinkins, how do you rnnavigaternit all?”  And he said, “Well yournknow some days are good, some days are bad, but anytime there is a bad rnday Irnknow the next day is going to be good and vice versa, so you just can’t rnput toornmuch stock in that moment.”  Irnthink that ultimately when life is not tragedy it should be a party and rnifrnyou’ve faced the real stuff, if you’ve faced the ones closest to you rnbeing atrndeath’s door, passing on, you know, not to let the small stuff really rnharshrnyour mellow, as you put it.

Recorded March 30, 2010
Interviewed by Austin Allen