32 / matters magazine / spring 2018 Budd Mishkin and the Art of the “One on 1” Interviewing the interviewer BY DONNY LEVIT H e’s sampled soul food with Syl- via Woods of Harlem fame. He’s talked horror movies with Colson Whitehead. He’s mused over The Sopranos with Steven Van Zandt. Budd Mishkin has made a career of asking ques- tions to extraordinary people. And he’s received some enthralling answers. On a quiet weekday afternoon, Mishkin is tucked into a corner table at the Able Baker. His unassum- ing demeanor does not betray the thousands of in- terviews he has done on television, radio and the live stage. However, his crisp suit and tie indicate the look of a seasoned broadcast journalist who has been at it for nearly four decades. While New York City has served as his profes- sional environs for most of his career, he’s been a resident of South Orange for almost 15 years. He is married to Peri Smilow, a nationally-recognized contemporary Jewish musician. Their daughter, Al- lie Mishkin, is currently a ninth-grader at Columbia High School. Today, the interview table has been turned. And he has hundreds of stories to tell. “I’ve had the privilege of interviewing a musician one week, a writer the next week, and an architect the next week, and an actor, and an ex-politician, a nonprofit executive – all across the board,” says Mishkin. “It was like a weekly class in New York City.” For those who have tuned into NY1, New York City’s local news flagship, Mishkin’s face is instantly recognizable. He’s served as an anchor, reporter and host since the channel went on the air. During that time, he covered sports stories and anchored the nightly show “Sports on 1: The Last Word.” He would later create a weekly series entitled “One on 1 with Budd Mishkin,” where he profiled almost 400 influential New Yorkers between 2003 and 2017. In the aftermath of a merger between Time War- ner Cable and Charter Communications, Mishkin was among employees of NY1 who were laid off. “I will always be grateful for my 25 years at NY1,” he AJ Calloway, Zach Braff, and Budd Mishkin at SOPAC. (Courtesy of SOPAC)