Poking a Dead Frog Read online

  PRAISE FOR MIKE SACKS

  Poking a Dead Frog

  “A greater look into the craft and business of comedy writing than you can find anywhere else. . . . A comedy nerd Bible.”

  —Bradford Evans, Splitsider

  “No one generates more interesting, revealing, entertaining interviews than Mike Sacks. His love and knowledge of comedy are apparent, and, as a result, the fascinating and sometimes tight-lipped comedy greats open up to him in ways they rarely do. Poking a Dead Frog is a classic.”

  —Bob Odenkirk

  And Here’s the Kicker

  “Comedy writers . . . tend to be depressed, brilliant, erratic, and sometimes even funny. Mike Sacks’s collection of remarkably frank interviews with twenty-one of them reads like a secret history of popular culture.”

  —Time

  “One of the most essential comedy resources ever written. . . . An indispensable window into the minds of many of the most influential comedic minds of the last several decades.”

  —Comedy Central Insider

  “Compulsively readable . . . enormously winning . . . [and] filled with great advice on how to make it in an insanely difficult field. If someone were to ask me how to break into comedy writing, I would encourage them to read this book. . . . A funny, sad, tremendously insightful group portrait of the comic mind.”

  —Nathan Rabin, The Onion

  “Entertaining and informative.”

  —The New York Times

  “A fascinating mix of cultural reportage, how-to, and hagiography . . . Sacks digs into the inner workings of the comic mind (a sometimes deeply troubled one) and into the inner sanctum of the writers’ room.”

  —The Austin Chronicle

  “Laughter may be universal, but the world of comedy writing is shrouded in mystery. . . . [Sacks] helps lift the veil.”

  —Vanity Fair

  Your Wildest Dreams, Within Reason

  “Your Wildest Dreams, Within Reason makes you laugh out loud, and at the same time it inspires wonder. . . . Mike Sacks is not just a sensational comic writer, but a sensational writer—period.”

  —David Sedaris

  “A brilliant and hilarious writer.”

  —Comedy Central Insider

  “A hugely eclectic and highly original collection.”

  —The Huffington Post

  “The fun in Your Wildest Dreams is watching Sacks unpack his weirdness, and there’s plenty of weirdness to unpack. . . . [A] breezy, imaginative humor anthology.”

  —The Onion

  Sex: Our Bodies, Our Junk

  “Finally, someone has managed to find the hilarious flipside to the unspeakable tragedy we all know as ‘human sexuality.’”

  —Jon Stewart

  “A spot-on parody of earnest sex guides, Our Bodies, Our Junk is a hilarious and addictive page-turner.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  PENGUIN BOOKS

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) LLC

  375 Hudson Street

  New York, New York 10014

  USA | Canada | UK | Ireland | Australia | New Zealand | India | South Africa | China

  penguin.com

  A Penguin Random House Company

  First published in Penguin Books 2014

  Copyright © 2014 by Michael Sacks

  Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

  Text from the cartoon “Item #3715 - Cozy Cardigan” by Roz Chast. Used by permission of Roz Chast and Conde Nast Licensing.

  Excerpt from “Step Brothers” movie review by Roger Ebert. Used by permission.

  Excerpts from “Freaks and Greeks” character bible by Paul Feig. Used by permission of Feigo, Inc.

  Late Night with Conan O’Brien submission packet by Todd Levin. Used by permission of Todd Levin.

  “Temple of Laughter” by Edward Jessen (pages 448 and 449). (www.edwardjessen.co.uk)

  Other illustrations by Louise Pomeroy. (www.louisezpomeroy.com)

  Photograph by Seth Olenick. (www.setholenick.com)

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

  Sacks, Mike.

  Poking a dead frog : conversations with today’s top comedy writers / Mike Sacks.

  pages cm

  ISBN 978-1-101-61327-6 (eBook)

  1. Stand-up comedy—United States. 2. Comedians—United States—Interviews. 3. Comedians—United States—Anecdotes. I. Title.

  PN1969.C65S23 2014

  792.702'8092—dc23

  2014005646

  Version_1

  For K & Little D,

  and for my parents, Elaine and Jerry

  “Sometimes magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect.”

  —Teller

  “I was not the class clown. . . . I’ve always maintained that the class clown, the guy [who] when the teacher is out of the room sets the clock back, makes noise, throws water balloons around the room, those kids . . . grow up and they’re killed in a motel shoot-out.”

  —Conan O’Brien

  “I wanted to play on the dark side, a little bit under the center of tonality. Not really flat, but just on the underneath side.”

  —Chet Baker

  “And now I’ll serve you the beans you so justly deserve.”

  —Chris Elliott as Marlon Brando, Late Night with David Letterman

  CONTENTS

  Praise for Mike Sacks

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Epigraphs

  Introduction

  Interview JAMES DOWNEY (Saturday Night Live)

  Ultraspecific Comedic Knowledge: Writing for Monty Python TERRY JONES

  Pure, Hard-Core Advice DIABLO CODY: (Juno, Young Adult, Sweet Valley High)

  Interview MIKE SCHUR (Saturday Night Live, The Office, Parks and Recreation)

  Ultraspecific Comedic Knowledge: Writing a Submission Packet for Late-Night TV TODD LEVIN (Conan)

  Pure, Hard-Core Advice ANDRÉS DU BOUCHET (Best Week Ever, Conan)

  Interview HENRY BEARD (National Lampoon, Bored of the Rings, Latin for All Occasions)

  Ultraspecific Comedic Knowledge: Getting the Details Right JAMES L. BROOKS

  Pure, Hard-Core Advice MEGAN AMRAM (Parks and Recreation)

  Interview PEG LYNCH (Ethel and Albert)

  Ultraspecific Comedic Knowledge: Writing for Seinfeld PETER MEHLMAN

  Pure, Hard-Core Advice PAUL F. TOMPKINS (Mr. Show, Best Week Ever, Bob’s Burgers)

  Interview ADAM McKAY (Saturday Night Live, Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Step Brothers)

  Ultraspecific Comedic Knowledge: Two Hundred Essential Movies Every Comedy Writer Should See BILL HADER

  Pure, Hard-Core Advice SCOTT JACOBSON (The Daily Show, Bob’s Burgers)

  Interview BRUCE JAY FRIEDMAN (Stern, The Heartbreak Kid, Stir Crazy, Splash)

  Ultraspecific Comedic Knowledge: Writing Jokes for Awards Shows BRUCE VILANCH

  Pure, Hard-Core Advice KAY CANNON (30 Rock, New Girl, Pitch Perfect)

  Interview CAROL KOLB (The Onion, Community)

  Ultraspecific Come
dic Knowledge: Choosing Headlines at The Onion WILL TRACY

  Pure, Hard-Core Advice GABE DELAHAYE (Videogum, This American Life, Funny or Die)

  Interview GLEN CHARLES (Taxi, Cheers)

  Ultraspecific Comedic Knowledge: Finding an Agent for a TV-Writing Job JOEL BEGLEITER (UTA)

  Pure, Hard-Core Advice MARC MARON (WTF with Marc Maron, Maron, Conan, Late Show with David Letterman)

  Interview GEORGE SAUNDERS (Pastoralia, In Persuasion Nation, Tenth of December)

  Ultraspecific Comedic Knowledge: Finding a Literary Agent for Your Humor Book BYRD LEAVELL (Waxman Leavell Literary Agency)

  Pure, Hard-Core Advice DAVE HILL (The New York Times, This American Life, Tasteful Nudes)

  Interview TOM SCHARPLING (The Best Show on WFMU, Monk)

  Ultraspecific Comedic Knowledge: Writing for Radio BOB ELLIOTT (Bob & Ray)

  Pure, Hard-Core Advice AMY POEHLER (Saturday Night Live, Parks and Recreation)

  Interview ROZ CHAST (The New Yorker)

  Ultraspecific Comedic Knowledge: How to Be Funny as a Journalist HENRY ALFORD (Vanity Fair, The New York Times, The New Yorker)

  Pure, Hard-Core Advice PATTON OSWALT (Feelin’ Kind of Patton, Big Fan, Young Adult, Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, Silver Screen Fiend)

  Interview DANIEL CLOWES (Ghost World, David Boring, Eightball, Wilson)

  Ultraspecific Comedic Knowledge: Writing Humor for Children DANIEL HANDLER, aka “Lemony Snicket” (A Series of Unfortunate Events)

  Pure, Hard-Core Advice ANTHONY JESELNIK (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The Jeselnik Offensive)

  Interview ADAM RESNICK(Late Night with David Letterman, Get a Life, Cabin Boy)

  Ultraspecific Comedic Knowledge: Writing a TV-Series Bible PAUL FEIG (Freaks and Geeks, Arrested Development, Bridesmaids, The Heat)

  Pure, Hard-Core Advice STEPHEN MERCHANT (The Office, Extras, An Idiot Abroad, Hello Ladies)

  Interview DAN GUTERMAN (The Onion, The Colbert Report, Community)

  Ultraspecific Comedic Knowledge: Working as a Hollywood Script Doctor ALAN SPENCER

  Pure, Hard-Core Advice MIKE DICENZO (The Onion, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon)

  Interview MEL BROOKS (The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein)

  The End: What Laughter Looks Like EDWARD JESSEN

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  INTRODUCTION

  The late comedy writer Jerry Belson, a veteran of The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Odd Couple, and The Drew Carey Show, among other classic sitcoms, wrote a joke that became one of the most well known, and most retold, in the history of television. It’s from a 1973 episode of The Odd Couple:

  “Never ASSUME. Because when you assume, you make an ASS of U and ME.”

  The joke is undeniably great. But perhaps the best and most effective joke that Belson ever wrote—and he wrote untold thousands—is the inscription that he wanted engraved on his tombstone:

  I DID IT THEIR WAY

  In other words: Hollywood’s way. The executives’ way. The wrong way.

  Belson’s tombstone epitaph never made it beyond the first-draft stage, but regardless, one would think that Belson had done it his way. Plenty of credits. Plenty of money. Plenty of respect from those within the industry. And yet, if there’s one motif evident in the lives of comedy writers, it’s the nagging feeling that one can never have it his or her own way. That a comedy writer must always genuflect to those with the power, with the money—those who deem themselves arbiters of What Is Funny.

  Whether through executive negligence or creative bartering on the part of the writers, the most beloved comedies of our time have avoided this trap. When Monty Python created their four-season television series, Flying Circus, they did so with minimal help from the BBC. In fact, as one of the Pythons, Terry Jones, explains in this book, BBC executives were disinterested in the result—until they saw the final product. Then they came terribly close to erasing the entirety of Monty Python’s first season for the grand purpose of reusing the tapes to record more “serious” entertainment.

  The creators of The Simpsons made it clear from the show’s inception that there would be no executive meddling. James L. Brooks, also interviewed in this book, declared, in essence, Stay away from our jokes, and we will produce a show for the ages. Actually, Brooks might have hired a lawyer to say as much in very clear legalese, rather than “in essence.” Whatever the case, Brooks saved the show and helped to create a classic.

  The creators of the U.K. version of The Office, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, flew so low under the radar that by the time executives became even vaguely aware of what their money had wrought, it was too late. Due to this neglect, the show set an influential precedent for its combination documentary-style format and cringe-inducing humor.

  It’s clear then: All great comedy has managed to circumnavigate executive meddling. But this is easier said than done.

  Since at least the fifth century B.C., when the playwright Aristophanes needed the financial help of a chorêgos, or rich benefactor, to help stage his comedies, writers have had to rely on others. The creative have never been fully in control of the marketing and distribution of their creativity. Playwrights have needed sponsors and performance space. Screenwriters have required even wealthier sponsors than the playwrights: Hollywood production studios. Humor writers for print have needed the acceptance, and then distribution, provided by magazines and publishing houses. The keys to the kingdom have been controlled by the less creative.

  Until now.

  I cannot overstate that there has never been a better time for writers of comedy—or, for that matter, writers of anything. A twenty-one-year-old in her room in Oklahoma who writes hilarious jokes on Twitter is potentially just as important (or influential) as any professional comedy writer for The New Yorker. A teen making funny videos in his suburban garage can reach just as many people—certainly, just as many of the right people—than any director of a movie to be distributed by the large studios.

  We are now all on equal ground. If you want to write comedy, you can. There’s no one to stop you. And there’s no one to tell you what to do. This can be bad. It’s far too easy to create sloppy, forgettable work. On the other hand, it’s no longer a requirement to work on The Harvard Lampoon to eventually earn a professional living writing jokes. That can only be a good thing.

  It is also so much easier to communicate with our peers and mentors than ever before. We can access material in a few seconds and reach out to others almost instantly. I have fond memories of growing up in suburban Maryland, biking to the local library to look for inspiration, and staying up late to watch Letterman and whatever obscure, random shows that might air in the wee hours. I compiled dozens of files of clippings and took them with me when I went to college and everywhere else I eventually moved. Many of these clips were written by comedy writers; others were in-depth interviews with comedy writers. I pored over the mastheads of my favorite humor publications and the credits for the shows that I thought were the funniest. I occasionally wrote to these writers, seeking advice or attempting to sell jokes.

  This book is really an extension of my youthful attempts to contact those in the business whom I admired most. If there is a common trait among those I chose to interview for this book, it’s that each of these writers has always done it his or her own way and no one else’s. Each came to this business primarily because he or she wanted to create the sort of comedy that they themselves enjoyed the most. For all of them—be they writers of sketches, graphic novels, screenplays, New Yorker cartoons, fiction, nonfiction, television, stand-up, the radio—success was a by-product, not the goal.

  I am no humor expert; I don’t think anyone is. If something makes you laugh, it’s good. But if there is anything about which I am certain, it’s that we are now living in a comedic Golden Age.

 
Never before have there been as many comedy writers in the early stages of their careers producing the type of work that means the most to them and to others. By the time my five-year-old daughter reaches my age, most, if not all, of the young writers in this book will have already become the comedy legends of the next generation. Who are these writers? How did they choose this very odd profession? What do they want to accomplish? How exactly do they do what they do? And, perhaps most important, why? One of the reasons I wrote this book was to find out and to share what I learned with others who might find all this of interest, too.

  Luckily, there also still exist a good number of elder statespersons of “classic” TV comedies, film, and radio. Soon this ratio will be tipped more toward the young, and a bridge to another time will no longer exist. This is another reason I decided to write this book. How do these older writers want to be remembered? How do they think they changed the industry? Who influenced them? I feel lucky to have been able to connect with these older comedy writers, some of whom have not been interviewed in many years or at all.

  The writers in this book have played major parts in everything from creating what’s been called the first-ever sitcom to coining the term “black humor” to writing for Monty Python, Cheers, The Office (both the U.K. and U.S. versions), Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show, The Onion, The Colbert Report, Parks and Recreation, National Lampoon, The New Yorker, Seinfeld, Mr. Show, Bob’s Burgers, 30 Rock, Anchorman, Juno, Ghost World, Get a Life, Cabin Boy, Late Night, Late Show with David Letterman, the Tonight Show, and more. A writer or two may have even written the jokes you read this very morning online.

  Interspersed throughout this book, between the fifteen full-length interviews, are “Ultraspecific Comedic Knowledge” and “Pure, Hard-Core Advice.” The former includes specialized materials and information that might appeal to the comedy geek. “Pure, Hard-Core Advice,” as you may have guessed, contains straight advice—no muss, no fuss—from successful comedy writers or those within the industry, such as agents, that might prove helpful to writers just starting out or for those writers wanting to improve their standing in the industry.