Category: Comedy Books

I recently read “How To Audition for TV Commercials: From the Ad Agency Point of View” by W.L. Jenkins. I recommend this book as an addition to taking a commercial class or doing one on one coaching. Here are the quotes I found must useful:

“If you treat every part as if it were a big one, you’ll book lots of small ones.” (1)

“Ad agencies and directors want to see someone that we believe. We want somebody who is that person in the commercial.” (4)

“If you come in and you’re not as serious as we are, then we don’t want you!” (7)

“The final decision between you and another talented actor who looks just as right for the part as you do may not be about being right for the part at all. It may come down to, “are you a person we want to work with?” An actor who seems to be taking the situation lightly isn’t somebody we want to work with.” (7)

“If your motivation comes purely from the idea that this looks like an easy way to make a few bucks, then you won’t last very long.” (8)

“What happens in that audition studio is really more important than what happens in the commercial.” (8)

“Every character written into any TV commercial, directly or indirectly, has something to do with what’s being sold. They know how they fit in with that program without actually being a salesperson.” (10)

“Dorothy Kelly looks for “a feeling of confidence. A feeling that the person is a professional. Someone who knows what they’re doing so there’s that certain bearing. That the person is in control.” (11)

“One of the things that hindered me as an actor was that I got so hung up on who I thought I wanted people to think I was that I forgot who I was.” (15)

“Advertising is a cutthroat business where agencies spend a lot of time landing a client and, once they ge tone, spend the rest of their time trying not to lose it.” (20)

“Advertising people don’t have much time to get things done, so the one thing that you don’t want to do as an actor is waste their time at an audition.” (20)

“Brand personality. Target market. Tone and manner. These three advertising elements are the DNA of a brand, and therefore, elements that are at the heart of a commercial.” (26)

“You’re always going to be confronted by scripts that don’t track. What do you do there? The best thing is to roll up your sleeves and look for the concept.” (29)

“The creative team wants to know, “Is this ad honest? … Believable? … Clear? … Memorable? … And lastly, they want to know: if we replaced our client’s logo at the end of the spot with one of our competitors, could they say the same thing we’re saying?” (31)

“As far as the client is concerned, their product is the star of the commercial, not you.” (39)

“A TV commercial concept will be directly related to the prospect of either selling something or creating a strong bond between the target market and the advertiser.” (43)

“One giveaway to a brand’s personality is its slogan.” (45)

“Reading for an advertiser where you’ve discovered the style of music they use in their ads could be helpful.” (47)

“Don’t Sell! Actors who can deliver “selly” ad copy without selling are number one in my book.” (51)

“Look for the approval date at the top of the script. That date – or its revision number – is your clue to a change in the commercial.” (58)

“MOS means filming without sound.” (61)

“The best way to play misdirection is with honest conviction.” (69)

“When scenes look short, that doesn’t mean that when you read, you must rush to do them in the allotted time.” (70)

“If they don’t include the name of the advertiser, ask who it is. If they don’t tell you what’s being advertised – a product or a service – find that out, too.” (107)

“It will be infinitely more helpful if you know something about the director’s style and the kind of spots he directs before you go to the initial call.” (108)

“Speak to the casting director or have your agent speak to the casting director and ask, ‘What types of spots does this director do? Is he a comedy director? Is he a drama director? Is he a people director?’” (109)

“When you put on any of these [audition] outfits, it should look like something you wear all the time.” (112)

“If you make it to the callback, wear the same clothes you wore to the audition. That little bit of recognition can go a long way.” (112)

“Never, never wear read; red bleeds on videotape.” (115)

“Don’t ask acting questions like, “What’s my motivation?”” (120)

“Be sure to find out when the callback is being held and when the spot is shooting.” (121)

“Believe that they’re looking for you.” (122)

“Ask if you’re being paired with someone. If so, find someone to run lines with, even if you’re not going to go in with them.” (123)

“The reason there are so many bad commercials on TV is that the scripts are bad to begin with, and only bad actors are willing to sacrifice their integrity to work in them.” (124)

“If you look at the script and think, “This is terrible! I’m not going to do this!” then go to the casting assistant or casting director and politely tell them that you’ve just gotten a call from day care about your kid (or some plausible excuse) and that you’re sorry but you can’t audition. Don’t tell them the spot stinks!” (124)

“The worst thing an actor can do is turn down the spot after he or she gets cast.” (124)

“While in the waiting area, find some place to read the copy out loud so that the first time it comes out of your mouth isn’t when you’re in the studio… If you’re going to go in to read soon, stand up. Stay on your feet so that you can maintain your energy.” (125)

“Always have a jacket and a tie with you so you can switch wardrobe. Likewise, have a ball cap and a denim jacket available.” (126)

“When you pick up the material, you must ask, what can I add to this to make them need me? Why do they need me? .. the most successful people in the business have this attitude: ‘What can I bring to this?’ Every script is a puzzle to solve, a game you can play to try to figure out what you can do with the material. The worse the commercial, the more work you should be doing to make it better.” (128)

“Whether you think it’s the wrong one of the right one, come in with a choice. Even if it’s wrong, you’re better off than having no choice at all.” (130)

“If you decide to make weird script interpretations or do something off the wall purely because you feel it’ll make an impression, that’s a bad choice. Make choices based on the truth you see in the scripts.” (131)

“Slate as yourself because good directors are always looking under the skin for the real person inside. According to director Danny Levinson, “If you slate your name and go into character they can see where you can go. If you’re automatically the character they never know where you started.” (133)

“Turning a line or lines, or a piece of business, into a statement that is overtly “selly” is the mark of an amateur… The last thing we want to see is someone selling something… Unless directed otherwise, please resist the temptation to hammer on lines like these.” (135)

“When you blow a line, or get lost or bobble a prop and you have the presence of mind to keep on going, after you finish it would be appropriate to say, “I know I screwed that line up there,” or, “Obviously I klutzed that prop, so would it be all right if I gave it another shot?”” (139)

“Even if you’re really pissed about being interrupted, don’t show it. Ever. Because if you do, then the director will feel that on the shoot, which is infinitely more chaotic than an audition, you won’t be able to handle it.” (139)

“One of the main reasons the same actors get hired over and over is because they’re cool and flexible; i.e., they’re reliable.” (140)

“Some of the better directors have worked with certain actors, and they’ll alert us to watch out for somebody they like. “Hey, keep an eye out for so-and-so. I worked with her and she’s really good.” An endorsement like that can color our opinion in such a way that even though this anointed talent didn’t really perform well, the director will make us feel that, “look, even if you didn’t see it today, this girl’s gonna do better than anybody else we saw.” In a case like that, it’s a lock that that actor is going to be called back – even if she doesn’t look right for the part.” (147)

“Michael Norman says, “Something I tend to do is, I may see somebody on an initial tape and I’ll think, ‘They’re totally wrong for this, but they’re an interesting character and a good actor.’ And I’ll bring them back to the callback just because I want to meet them. And I’ll want to get their Polaroid and save it for something else, ‘cause I think they’re interesting and I’ve never seen ‘em before. An actor may come in and feel like, ‘Why did they call me back for this? My agent sends me and I’m totally wrong and I don’t get it.’ Well, it may be that the director is interested in your for something you never even thought of.”” (149)

“The best actors I’ve worked with have either been highly intelligent, or they simply are the character that I’m looking for – in which case they don’t have to be intelligent, but they do have to be reasonably good at taking direction.” (150)

“There’s an air about true professionals – they seem to be in complete control, yet so loose at the same time. It’s immediately apparent that they’ve done their homework and that they’re comfortable in the situation. When we see that, our comfort level instantly moves into the warm zone.” (151)

“No matter what, try not to pick up on the energy of the room. Even if it appears that we’re dealing with some kind of bad mojo, don’t play into it.” (156)

“Bernard Hiller recommends doing this: “When you walk in, you’re not walking in to audition. See yourself as going into the shoot. It’s a different attitude. You’re not trying out anything. You’re there already. You’re part of the team, so you’re going in to meet people who are already crazy about you. And even if they look really serious, that’s how people look when they’re really crazy about you.” (156)

“Forget about all the other people in the room. Take focus and seek the director’s attention.” (157)

“If you say, ‘You know, this is a cute script. I like this,’ it sort of breaks the ice and they’ll say, ‘Do you want to take a pass at it?’” (157)

“Actors being too friendly turns me off.” (159)

“The director may decide to push you in a different direction just to see how you handle it.” (159)

“If a director likes you, he may ask for a take that’s a little forced, just so he has something safe to use to sell you to the client.” (161)

[At a callback] “Before they being, they strike out by not asking, “What is it that you’d like me to do?” Don’t ever assume. Just ask and you’ll have begun your dialogue with the director.” (162)

“As soon as somebody gives direction, the actor’s next job is to ask, “What do you mean? Do you mean like this?”” (162)

“It’s the job of the talent to enable the director to start the casting session as quickly as possible. So a crucial quality is the ability to listen.” (164)

“Never show off in the session. Don’t show off during the slate. Don’t draw attention to yourself by being a smart aleck. Don’t try and humor the agency or the casting director. Everybody’s trying to do that. The way to get noticed is to draw attention to yourself by being quiet, highly attentive, and charming. If you quietly communicate that quality, people will notice you.” (165)

“Don’t feel that, by staying longer in the room, you’ll in any way increase your chances of getting the job. On the contrary, you probably reduce your chances.” (165)

[In a callback] “I want to reassure what they did in the initial casting and see if they can duplicate that. It’s very interesting that some people have no clue what they did.” (166)

“Pros just say, ‘Higoodtaseeya,’ and then they get on with the work. No schmoozing, no war stories, just focus – ask the director a good question about the part and go to work.” (169)

“One sure way to lose a part is to play to the director or someone else in the room you think is important.” (169)

“After your audition, hang around for a minute or two in the waiting area.” (172)

“Be yourself, and you’ll find your niche. Or rather, the niche will find you.” (175)

“Headshots and those materials just get thrown away. Agency and production people just toss your stuff in the trash because they’re so busy creating and managing advertising that they don’t have time to pay attention to actors. That’s why casting directors were created, and they should be the focus of your personal advertising campaign.” (180)

I recently finished reading “The Second City Unscripted: Revolution and Revelation at The World Famous Comedy Theater” by Mike Thomas. The book is a history of the famous improv theatre in Chicago compiled as almost exclusively quotes from different people involved with Second City.  Here’s the quotes I found valuable.

Sheldon Patinkin:
“There was more of a willingness to fail then, because we all knew that as the only way you were going to find the good stuff.” (11)

Alan Arkin:
“There is no place to fail anymore. And failing is crucial. You don’t learn from anything unless you fail.” (11)

David Steinberg:
“It’s no surprise that I would become a stand up comic, where you only have to be yourself all the time.” (28)

“What you took away from that is, if you try to hide any version of yourself, you’re not going to be good. And be as smart as you want to be. Don’t play to the dumbest person in the audience. Play to the smartest person in the audience. That seems like a little rule, but at the time it was a sort of revolutionary thing.” (28)

Eugenie Ross-Leming:
“You were dealing with funny people who understood that there is no price too high to pay for funny, including self-humiliation.” (58)

Dave Thomas:
“The thing you do that becomes the most popular is not necessarily the thing that you love the most.” (108)

Conan O’Brien:
“People increasingly want comedy to mean something, and they wan tit to be relevant to what’s happening in the world, and I’ve always believe the opposite, which is it should be irrelevant. It shouldn’t mean anything. You shouldn’t look for meaning in comedy. That’s my religious conviction and I’m orthodox about that.” (112)

“John Candy was everybody I wanted him to be, and I still think about this when I meet young people who seem happy to meet me. I never want to let them down. I want them to walk away feeling as happy as I was when I met John Candy.” (113)

Danny Breen:
“You can’t do the sily stuff till later in the show when you’ve earned the audience’s respect. You had to make them respect your intelligence before you could do a fart joke.” (138)

Joshua Funk:
“Finally in my life I felt like what we do is important. And it’s so easy to think of comedy as that jester in the king’s court, where this useless goofball is making people laugh and that’ his whole existence. And I get that feeling sometimes when I look at myself in the big perspective. Is making people laugh really a valuable role in society, or am I just a joke? Especially in times like that, when you see people who are firemen and people who are going to war and people hwo are doctors and lawyers and saving lives and making huge differences. You second-guess it. Before 9/11, the shows had degenerated into a bunch of poop and fart jokes and just silly scene work. We were livin’ life high on the hog. There was nothing that was pissing us off. We didn’t feel the importance of social commentary. We were just going for laughs. And then when 9/11 happened, I think the paradigm of Second City finally went back to where it was when JFK got assassinated and when the Vietnam War happened and when the civil rights era happened.” (234)

Bruce Pirrie:
“The take-away from the success of Facebook of Revelations was: get a brand name in the title.” (241)

Joe Canale:
“That’s the first time they really started to realize the impact a title could have. Every time we pitch titles, I pitch “The Second City Sells Out, because it’s a double entendre. But they’re very conscious now of getting a good title because they think that can help them out a lot.” (243)

Mike Thomas:
“Talent needs stability and opportunity to truly shine.” (247)

“The one thing I like to say is “Enjoy the journey.” When you go on your road to stardom or fame in this business, the journey turns out to be a lot more fun than you ever think it will be. That’s only in retrospect, but the journey is a blast.” (248)

I recently finished a great comedy book, “And Here’s The Kicker: Conversations with 21 Top Humor Writers On Their Craft” by Mike Sacks. I got a ton of useful quotes from it, and this is the last of four parts. I recommend buying the whole book, as there is a lot of insight inside. Since the book is interview style based, I’ve put the writer’s name above all of the quotes that are attributed to him.

DAVID MINER

“The best representative is the one that finds you, not the other way around. This is because he or she (no matter how high up the food chain) was excited by your work.” (180)

“Unsolicited e-mail may as well be spam. Send a letter in an envelope. If it’s not worth a first class stamp to you, it’s not worth thirty seconds to me.” (180)

“Ask a represented writer friend for a reference. References from clients are the ones we take most seriously.” (181)

“If you are just starting out, go along with the enthusiasm of the representative that is interested in working with you – no matter what his or her title. All that matters is that he or she believes in you.” (181)

DAVID SEDARIS

“This first writing teacher had suggested that I got to graduate school. But something inside me though, No, it’s better that I just start writing. That’s sort of my job as a writer, isn’t it? Just to write?” (184)

“I get up, I go right to work, I take a break, and then I go back to work at night. I don’t just sit at a desk for two minutes and then say, “oh, okay. I tried. Maybe tomorrow.” (196)

“You can’t teach a lot of things. That’s the scam of any kind of art school. There are a lot of people who excel in school, but once they don’t have homework anymore, whether it’s painting or writing or whatever, they can’t function. They need a professor telling them to write a story by such and such a date. In the real world, the most important part is sitting there and writing. It’s not easy to function in that vacuum, but that’s what you have to do.” (196)

GEORGE MEYER

“You have to be willing to look stupid, to stumble down unproductive paths, and to endure bad afternoons when all your ideas are flat and sterile and derivative. If you don’t take yourself too seriously, you’ll bounce back from these lulls and be ready for the muse’s next visit.” (208)

“You can’t keep bitch slapping your creativity, or it’ll run away and find a new pimp.” (208)

“Most TV shows are exhausting. The network figures out how many shows will literally kill the staff. Then they do one fewer.” (211)

“If I could eliminate either advertising or nuclear weapons, I would choose advertising.” (212)

“We’re not aiming for consistency. We’re not making screws; we’re trying to innovate and keep a step ahead.” (212)

“The season is long and punishing. Sometimes you ring the bell; sometimes it falls on your head.” (212)

“Experience as much as you can and absorb a lot of reality. Otherwise, your writing will have the force of a Wiffle ball.” (213)

ALLISON SILVERMAN

“A lot of comedy is about status shifts, and I would mark down whenever a shift would occur.” (235)

“It’s very important for any host or performer to not battle an audience but, rather, to become partners with them. As soon as you look needy or uncomfortable, the audience becomes worried and stops laughing – which is a big problem. Going out onstage and thinking of the audience as an enemy only makes you look more needy.” (237)

“It can be that way with a career too. There are a lot of times when your biggest task is just to stay calm and keep working.” (243)

ROBERT SMIGEL

“Downey once summed up SNL sketches this way: actors love to act in sketches about a crazy person in a normal situation, and writers love to write sketches about normal people in a crazy situation.” (251)

“Letterman, Steve Martin, Kaufman and Larry David, these guys were every bit as smart and extreme and inventive as any performer or writer who cultivated a reputation as being too cool for the masses. But they were just so brilliant and smart that they figured out a way to do what they wanted to do on network TV.” (253)

“You don’t necessarily need an academic education. What’s just as important, is to be self-educated – to read and soak in as much as you can from the world at large. Del Close once said, “The more you know about, the more you can joke about.” And he had funnier heroin material than I’ve ever had.” (260)

“It’s a cruel profession where there will probably never be enough work for people who are truly funny.” (261)

“If you think you have some talent, just try to find opportunities. Find like-minded people and keep writing. If you’re good and maybe lucky, it’ll probably work out. And you won’t hate yourself for not trying. Just have something to fall back on.” (261)

DAVE BARRY

“What you’re basically saying in a humor column is: I’m funny because you laugh. But that doesn’t put you above anybody. Pomposity or authority doesn’t work very well with humor.” (274)

“A sense of humor is a measurement of the extent to which we realize that we are trapped in a world almost totally devoid of reason. Laughter is how we express the anxiety we feel at this knowledge.” (275)

DICK CAVETT

“To succeed as a comedy writer, you have to be able to write in different comics’ voices.” (284)

“It’s essential to hear the comics in your head when you write jokes for them. If you can’t do that, you’ll never make it as a comedy writer.” (284)

“In some ways, the life of a stand-up was better than the life of a writer. You could affirm that a joke was funny right away. You didn’t get that sitting in front of a typewriter.” (285)

DAN CLOWES

“I receive letters from young writers asking for advice about a “career” in comics. If somebody asks me, I always say not to do it unless you can’t not do it. If you need encouragement from a stranger, then you shouldn’t do it.” (291)

LARRY WILMORE

“One of the reasons why comedy has fallen out of favor – too many writers aren’t writing about anything that anyone cares about. It’s all pop-culture references.” (296)

“If you score in the beginning, you’re gold. You can just recite your act in a monotone and it’ll still kill. That’s the key: the first thirty seconds in front of a tough crowd are very important.” (297)

“Dominance is very important. Jerry Seinfeld once said, “To laugh is to be dominated.” (297)

“Never listen to execs. Just do your own thing. Whether it happens or doesn’t happen, at least you did what you wanted and you tried. That’s what writers have to get into their heads – no matter what you come up with, it won’t ever be as bad as the executives’ suggestions.” (300)

“You can’t please everyone. You just try to do what you think is funny. If you attempt to appease advocacy groups, good luck. You can do it, I suppose, but it’s not going to be funny.” (302)

“”Breaking the story” means getting the skeleton of it down on paper. Once you have that structure, you can work from it. It’s always easier to have that framework ready as soon as possible.” (305)

“I didn’t care about the jokes so much as the story. The jokes are always the easiest to produce.” (305)

“These are just jokes. You can always come up with more later. Never become too attached to what you write; otherwise, you’ll never survive as a TV comedy writer.” (306)

“I look for a unique voice – maybe something I haven’t quite read before in terms of style and imagery. I can point out pretty quickly if this writer has a different point of view. Mediocrity is pretty easy for me to sniff out. Try to write from your experience. Try not to be derivative, like so many writers can be with references to pop culture. Investigate your own life.” (307)

“Beyond that, only do comedy if you love to do it. I love comedy, and I love to make people laugh, I truly respect the people who came before me and who did it well. It’s important to know your history – if only to know what you shouldn’t be writing.” (307)

JACK HANDEY

“Steve Martin’s sensibility appeals to smart people and dumb people alike. That, to me, is the best comedy.” (311)

“If there’s one thing I learned about TV comedy, it’s that people don’t like sketch comedy in prime time.” (314)

“Aggressive, dark comedy, when it works, is really the best.” (315)

“It can take months or even years for an idea to click. I am usually suspicious of any idea of mine that I love right away.” (318)

“The jokes don’t usually change, but which jokes are used can change. That’s often how I can tell how good a premise it is – how easily the jokes come.” (318)

LARRY GELBART

“While confidence is always a comfort, risk provides a good deal more adrenaline.” (322)

“The problem with Sid was that he was at the mercy of the decision makers, the network people, who – yes, they respect talent, but they respect numbers a good deal more. If you don’t cut it – if your time slot’s not paying the rent – it doesn’t matter how gifted you are. They would have canceled Michelangelo if no one came to the Sistine Chapel.” (330)

“When you’re writing and come to a rough spot and the ideas just aren’t flowing, put down dummy text and keep on moving – especially if it’s at the end of the day and you’re going to stop. Your brain will never stop for the day, even if you have stopped working, and there’s a very good chance you’ll come up with something better. Also, at the very least, you’ll have something to come back to the next day, instead of a blank page. That’s important.” (335)

I recently finished a great comedy book, “And Here’s The Kicker: Conversations with 21 Top Humor Writers On Their Craft” by Mike Sacks. I got a ton of useful quotes from it, so this is part three in a rather long series of posts. I recommend buying the whole book, as there is a lot of insight inside. Since the book is interview style based, I’ve put the writer’s name above all of the quotes that are attributed to him.

IRVING BRECHER

“I didn’t even think about it, really. I just thought they were funny. I didn’t know any better.” (109)

“The circus is funny on its own. And when you throw in more funny, it becomes too much. You need a solid framework.” (112)

Q: So the Marx Brothers films were shown to audiences and then tweaked in the editing room?
“No, not the films. The brothers would travel around the country performing the script live.” (113)

“I don’t believe that you can teach anybody to be a top comedy writer. If anything, you have to teach yourself.” (115)

“I would say that if you think you’re funny, then do it. As long as people genuinely respond to what you produce, keep at it. If their laughs seem genuine, keep writing. And don’t stop. Never stop.” (117)

BOB ODENKIRK

“We would ask ourselves about every sketch, “Is it funny? Really, truly funny? Or do we just think it’s funny because we really want it to be funny?” That doesn’t sound very scientific, but I think there’s an important truth there. We took this very seriously. It was very, very important to us. Second: What is this sketch about? That was a little challenging sometimes, because we’d have an idea that seemed funny, but the sketch didn’t really have anything to say.” (122)

“When writers would pitch ideas at meetings, I would talk at length about every idea. Because when you shit on a writer’s idea quickly, they either clam up or they pitch ideas just for the sake of pitching them and just to sort of waste time. They know everything is going to get shit on, and they’re more apt to pitch something that even they don’t believe in. so you get this list of shitty pitches that are being bandied about.” (125)

“My feeling was “Brian, you are a funny guy. You wrote this because you saw something funny here. What is it? What was funny to you? Because if we can all understand why you thought it was funny, then maybe we can make it great, or maybe we can all agree that it is not very good. But you didn’t intentionally just write a piece of shit.” (126)

“Then people get older, and they just don’t want to hear a new idea. They want to sit back and watch the same people do the same thing they did last week. That’s what TV exists for – it exists to be a mild sedative.” (129)

“Robert Smigel used to talk about finding the core joke of your sketch, which was something that struck me as a great lesson and one of the first things that a writer should think about when it comes to sketch comedy.” (132)

TODD HANSON

“How many people can say that something like that happened to them? That they and their friends have this little group in which they did this little fun thing together and then it ended up becoming internationally respected? Most people go through their entire lives without ever having anything like this happen. They get married, they have kids, they grow old, and they die. And nothing like this ever happens to them. But it happened to me. That’s amazing. What are the chances it’s going to happen twice? I’m going to go out on a limb and say probably zero. But don’t get me wrong. I still complain every day.” (137)

“I don’t think there is any point in making a joke that is not an honest joke.” (138)

“Everyone on the staff felt that it was just something to do where we would feel less like we were wasting our lives. Nobody ever had a goal of getting paid, let alone thinking we were going ot become media figures or have our work read all over the world. It was just something you did two nights a week when your shift ended.” (139)

“I don’t care if we are outside of the mainstream – I prefer it that way.” (140)

“People will often ask, “How do I get a job writing comedy?” And I just … it just annoys the fuck out of me. I always answer: “You do it for free for ten years and then, if you are really lucky, you get to write humor as a full-time job.” And they look at me like, “That’s not what I want to do.” (140)

Q: Any advice for those readers who dream of writing for The Onion?
“Start your own paper. Do your own thing. That’s what I would recommend to anybody who wants to do anything, not just write for The Onion. Do it for free and have fun. Whether it’s writing comedy or making music or painting or performing interpretive dance. If you want to do something creative, you should have a better reason for wanting to do it than to make money. If you want to make money, my advice is to sell shoes or go into banking.” (141)

“Comedy is extremely hard. It’s not just like, “this is so great!” It’s a hell of a grind.” (141)

“Mark Twain said, “The secret source of humor itself is not joy but sorrow.” He also said, “There is no humor in heaven.” (147)

BEN KARLIN

“Three things are needed to be successful in comedy, but I think it applies to almost everything. First, you need natural talent. Second, you need skill development. Third, you need ambition. Everyone’s ratio is different, but the most successful people have all of them.” (147)

MARSHALL BRICKMAN

“TV’s a monster. It just eats up material. It’s impossible to be continuously good. That’s why I’m amazed when I see a TV show that’s good consistently, night after night, week after week.” (151)

“I’ve always thought that television exists for the audience as a kind of parental entity. If it’s on TV, then it’s been certified by someone, somewhere. And if Johnny did a joke about Nixon or the mayor or whomever – then it became oaky to do jokes about that person.” (151)

“It’s easy to write for someone who’s already established a persona.” (152)

“It’s the hardest thing to develop a persona. That’s why movies and plays about fictional comedians are almost never truly convincing. Because it takes years for the audience to help a comedian shape a comedic persona.” (152)

“Developing a comic character requires a collaboration with the audience. It’s the only way you can do it. You have to get out there and do a variety of material. Over time, certain things, statistically, will continue to work, and other things will drop away, and the audience will tell you what seems correct for you – for what you project onstage as a personality.” (153)

“A lot of material was taken out because the audience just doesn’t care how clever the authors are. They only want a good story. And they’re right.” (155)

“After watching it, we thought, “Where’s the relationship?” When people come to me with ideas, sometimes they say, “I want to do a story about a war” or “I want to do a story about a hospital.” And I’ll always say, “Tell me the story in terms of a relationship.” (157)

“It’s a mistake to think that what you’re seeing up on the stage or on the screen is what the author intended. It isn’t. it’s always the result of a hundred compromises and accidents, both good and bad, and if you’re lucky, you get lucky.” (158)

“The great rule I learned from Woody is that when you get in a room with another person, you’re both responsible for the result – assuming that there’s a reasonably equal level of talent.” (159)

“Even though a great line or idea might be uttered by one person, it may have been triggered or stimulated by what the other party said.” (159)

“What I like to do is to turn ninety degrees from something that’s headed towards sentimental and undercut it.” (161)

MITCH HURWITZ

“I put in “call forwards,’ which were new for me. I inserted hints of events that hadn’t happened yet. And, of course, there’s no way you can get laughs out of that.” (170)

“I’m sure there are many great comic voices who really don’t quite understand what they’re doing – who are just true originals. But the rest of us tend to understand what already exists and then try to go further with it.” (173)

“In any creative endeavor, there needs to be progression. If there is no progression – no innovation – you’re finished.” (173)

“One of the key ingredients with humor is surprise.” (176)

“The system behind TV development is designed to fail. If you, as a producer, jump through all the hoops that the network asks you to jump through, the show probably won’t work. If you look at the success of the best shows, almost all are a result of someone breaking the rules.” (177)

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