John Mellencamp: Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

The Guardian's The Q&A has retained this Proust-derived prompt from at least 2007 through 2026, and ABC independently put it to the Obamas in 2011.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded John Mellencamp said elsewhere, not written here

My quick temper and the chaos that ensues in the hurricane that follows.

Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, December 2015 source ↗

Others on this question

The desire to please. It’s a losing battle.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, October 2020 source ↗

Julie Andrews English actress, singer and author

I interrupt too much.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, April 2008 source ↗

I try too hard not to get things wrong.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 January 2024 source ↗

I’m very impatient – next question.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 June 2026 source ↗

Ungratefulness.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, December 2015 source ↗

It’s not our God-given right to be happy. So, if a man can laugh out loud once or twice a day, that would be happiness.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 18 December 2015 source ↗

I need a long and lingering death to make sure that I have time to have a deathbed conversion.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 18 December 2015 source ↗

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