The last big story to come out of Newsweek was the Sarah Palin cover controversy, with a cover image that had been previously featured on an issue of Runner’s World. Not the most glorious way to end out the year.

So The Washington Post Co.-owned magazine decided to end December on a high note, combining its interviews with some of the world’s biggest names into several different segments. There’s Newsweek editor Jon Meacham talking to both Hillary Clinton and Henry Kissinger about the role of Secretary of State (or “Hey, we’re relevant too!”), Bill Maher and Joe Scarborough thinking they are witty while discussing what it is that makes someone a pompous pundit good talk show host (was Dennis Miller not available?), and director Peter Jackson talking with James Cameron about how to make billions of dollars without ever technically selling out.

It’s an interesting tactic to pit one interviewee off another, and one that’s certain to sell copies, even without all the other interviews in the issue, like Bill Clinton, Timothy Geithner and Gen. David Petraeus.

Read More: Newsweek’s Interview Issue