Filed Under Comedy Writers
Rob Kutner, a good friend and a writer for “The Daily Show”, has made a video with an appeal for people who are on the writers side, but have no idea how they can help. Here it is:
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Filed Under Comedy Writers, Funny 2.0, Humor Magazine
The current strike by the Writers Guild of America is incredibly unfortunate. Though the internet is a relatively young medium, the writers are right to insist that they get compensated for sales/viewings on the web - particularly after making the sacrifice they made in 1988 to support the equally young at the time DVD market. There are far better sources out there for the why and the wherefores of the strike, so I’m not going to talk much about it. Readers should definitely check out Deadline Hollywood and United Hollywood, the first a good source for what’s going on and the second serving as a web arm for the writers’ voice in this mess. What I’m interested in is what might come out of this strike - by looking back at something that was part of the last.
Many say the 1988 strike set the stage for reality programming, but I think it’s arguable that it also was influential in creating the next paradigm in comedy - that being “The SImpsons.” At the time, George Meyer, who had talken a self-imposed withdrawal from the industry after stints at SNL and Late Night with David Letterman, starting toying with a photocopied newsletter called “Army Man.” At only 8 pages, it’s still coveted by comedy writers today.
“Army Man” had a ramshackle layout with several short typewritten jokes scattered throughout the page, but it was all pro when it came to the writing. I have copies of the three issues produced and each one I’ve poured over numerous times, digging into the little details - appreciate the economy of the comedy.
Here’s a taste of what Army Man was like:
That woman in the Virginia Slims ad is cute, but she smokes.
Submissions Policy
Due to the tiny volume of mail we receive, we are able to acknowledge every submission with a heartfelt personal note, and occasionally even a gift.Can’t-Draw Comics
Okay. Here it is. The caption says, “Honorarium.” And it’s like an aquarium, only it has little trophies and plaques swimming around. Can’t you just picture it? I hope so, because otherwise I’m in deep trouble.
Army Man was begun before the writers strike, but after the first issue the strike was certainly on. And several comedy writers, who had jokes they wanted to tell, ended up contributing to Army Man - as contributor Ian Frazier relates here in this interview with Believer.
Once the strike was over, SImpsons producer Sam Simon, who was a big fan of Army Man staffed some of the Simpsons writers room with Army Man contributors including Meyer, John Swatzwelder and Jon Vitti.
Writers write. If the strike goes on for any length, they’ll start making stuff again but for themselves. Stuff like Army Man. And this time, it would be photocopied 200 times and handed among friends. It’s going to get to the rest of the world through the web.
Predictions have been that a long strike could be good for web entertainment and if the audience does go looking, and the writers are writing, they’ll find each other. There will be a direct connection between creator and audience. So a side project that’s creatively fulfilling like Army Man could become something that has demand in the marketplace. Demand that the studios could be totally cut out of.
Now of course, with broadband video maturing, that creatively fulfilling strike side project doesn’t have to be Army Man. It could be the Simpsons.
I’m not sure how close we are to this yet. I think the key would be getting a writer-created show sold through something like iTunes. Or some micro-payment structure equivalent to what ZeFrank did with the show and Jonathan Coulton does on his site. I can see this more likely in some ways for a sci-fi show, which has cult audience that will be loyal to something - but with many writers also being the performers in comedy, they have a chance to go beyond cult - attracting a general public who’s missing new work by them.
But if I was among the producers, I’d be looking to solve this faster, before writers start writing for themselves. Because it seems like to me, the longer this is drawn out, the producers resistance to giving up a residual looks like a risk at giving up the entire pie.
Note: If you want to see more joke from Army Man, Maud Newton typed up a bit of it a while back, here’s a larger version of page 1, issue 1 and The Believer put issue one in the middle of the book, the same issue where they interviewed Meyer and Fraizer.
I’d love to put all the issues online myself, but I’d rather have some kind of permission first. However, after the jump, you’ll find my favorite cartoon from “Army Man” ever…
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Filed Under Comedy Writers, Sitcom
Yesterday the California Supreme Court finally heard the case of Amaani Lyle, a former writers’ assistant on “Friends” who has sued Warner Brothers for an environment of sexual harassment. Among the conditions mentioned in the lawsuit were drawings of vaginas, ruminations on the sexual habits of Courtney Cox and Jennifer Aniston and, my favorite, the character of Joey as a rapist. Smoking Gun has the full complaint. According to this article in the LA Times, the justices seem to be favoring the writers right now.
I’ve been firmly on the writers’ side, allbeit queasily at times, but one fact mentioned in the court makes me absolutely certain that the claim is without merit: she was told she would be working in an environment where sexual explicit talk would occur. Two of the Supreme Court justices noted it during arguments. Warner Brothers lawyer also makes a compelling point that breaking a story can require “going down blind alleys”, making it difficult to know what will finally make an episode work. In fact, one anecdote about sex with a prostitute ultimately created material that found its way into a script. (The case itself perhaps even made fodder for Lisa Kudrow’s ill-fated “The Comeback") The lawsuit never alleges, to my knowledge, that Amaani was directly sexually harassed, i.e. propositioned or asked to perform sexual favors. Even in a free writing environment like a comedy show, I would expect that form of sexual harassment to still be prosecutable.
Hopefully here’s where the lawsuit will get nipped in the bud. The Supreme Court is only deciding whether a lower courts decision to let the case continue on to a jury is correct. Though I think a jury trial would ultimately fall Warner Brothers way, I imagine it would be hard for a jury to sort out why an uncensored writing environment is necessary. The California Supreme Court has 90 days to decide.
Update: The NY Sun covers the story as well, detailing more of the arguments. In particular, there’s mention that sitcoms stay white and male because this behavior is allowed. I agree with the ideal of more balanced staffs, but the job of comedy writing requires people to say taboo things. I have several comedy writing friends who actively make jokes about each other religions, sex lives, etc. It’s part of the gig. A level of decorum needs to be set, but it can’t be set by the courts. When a joke goes to far afield of the writer process is the head writer’s job, not a lawyer’s. (Also, adjusted post title - the actual lawsuit is getting a poor reception from judges - hence unfriendly.)
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Filed Under Comedy Writers
Thanks to a comment on my previous post by Tony, my new favorite reader, I got alerted that the Channel 4 special featuring a conversation between Ricky Gervais and Larry David is now available via BitTorrent. Still watching, so I’ll have impressions later, but here’s the link to the torrent:
Download Ricky Gervais meets Larry David.
UPDATE: Finished watching the whole thing now. The focus of the show is clearly more on Larry David, with several clips from Curb Your Enthusiasm
What struck me the most from the show is that Larry David has been lazily mislabeled a misanthrope. In conversation, he’s constantly talking about connection - connections with interviewers, audiences, between characters. There’s definitely a desire to be selective and for some distance, but only because he recognizes what connections are real and which are unreal. The choice to outline scenes for Curb Your Enthusiasm and let the actors come to the joke naturally makes incredible sense now… real humor comes from connection.
Ricky Gervais also has some great observations, particularly after what sounds like a unendurable night at the Comedy Store, where every comics’ catchphrase was “what the fuck?”, and all have un-unique ethnic experiences. Ricky talks about wanting the “right laugh” - not caring if the wrong people laugh. It’s very close to what Patton Oswalt talks about with comedy not being needy.
Larry David kids that he’s comfortable doing the interview because it’ll never be seen in the US. Even with it available on the interweb, let’s hope HBO, Comedy Central or BBC America make him uncomfortable.
More: Time Out London story.
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Filed Under Comedy Writers, Sketch Comedy
What is the Chappelle Theory? According to the site, It’s a film with Charlie Murphy, written by Neal Brennan (though I suspect that might just be wrong). Just got dropped this in my mail box - uncertain of source yet. Visit http://www.chappelletheory.com/next. The video links are not working (possibly because they don’t exist).
(Picture of Chappelle Theory movie page removed because the site is complete bullshit)
More to come. Considering I’ve heard Neal Brennan was bothered by Chappelle believing the sketches for the third season were racist, perhaps this is a pointed satire of that.
It may instead also seems to be the coming out party for anti-social.com (another weblinc domain), which has added this disclaimer to the site (though not in an easy place to find), asking peeps, particularly Cosby, not to sue. See my earlier speculation. It may just also mean that it’s not a film and the whole site, including this update, is a hilarious parody. (Yes, I did just swallow the red pill.)
UPDATE: Site has been changed to show the link to the disclaimer and the logo updated with the addition of word “Bullshit.” I’m impressed - they didn’t get me with the first thing, but they did with the reveal of the fake film. I’ll have to check out anti-social whenever it launches.
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Filed Under Comedy Writers
On January 5 of Oh-6, Britain’s Channel 4 will be running an hour-long special featuring a conversation between two masters of uncomfortable comedy, Ricky Gervais and Larry David. There’s been no announcement if or when it will show in the US, but considering HBO has both Curb Your Enthusiasm and Extras, it seems like a perfect fit for them to pick up. But if not them, Comedy Central. Or BBC America. Somebody, please.
Until someone in programing wakes up on this side of the pond, we can read a partial transcript of their meeting thanks to the Daily Telegraph. Included in the text are observations about sitcoms and laughter:
Larry David: That’s the thing with sitcoms: everybody always has to say something funny. And everybody’s saying all these funny things, the audience is laughing, but nobody else in the scene is. (My thoughts on this from an earlier post.)
Another is the assertion by Gervais (41) and David (58) that people under 30 aren’t really that funny:
Ricky Gervais:I think you have to be a certain age to be funny. So few people under the age of 30 are funny.
Larry David: You have to discover when you’re inadequate to be funny and you don’t know you’re inadequate when you’re a kid.
Ricky Gervais: Exactly. Who wants to see unfeasibly good-looking, clever, popular people doing things brilliantly? Who cares?
An interesting argument against the age-ism Hollywood suffers from for not only actors and actresses, but also writers. I think people in their 20s are funny, but I don’t think it would be very easy for young comics to create something like the Office or Curb, which have the stench of failure inbedded in them. They’re funny, just not funny in the beaten-by-life way that Gervais and David have mastered so well. Of course, if you’re in comedy in your 20s you get plenty of rejection. So you’re ready to be really funny when you’re 30.
Again, some cable station (or PBS) should pick this up. If it shows up in bittorrent or one of the P2P networks, write me.
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Filed Under Comedy Writers, Sitcom
Didn’t like The Comeback much when I first saw it. Heavily influenced by the Office, the show seemed to have a mean streak that seemed to delight in the loss of dignity rather than simply record it like Gervais’ creation did. Plus, one Hollywood satire a night is enough already… so I stuck with Entourage.
That said, I still had to catch the recent episode where Lisa Kudrow’s character Valerie walks in on the show writers imitating her getting sodomized. Considering there’s a lawsuit in the courts relating to the sexual harrassment of a former Friends writers’ assistant, it’s an interesting plot choice. Though a quick check of the Smoking Gun shows none of the derogatory comments in the lawsuit mentioned Kudrow, it does make one wonder despite comments that none of the show draws upon her Friends experience.
The episode would definitely come down on the plantiff’s side, considering the parallels in sexual comments/behavior about a cast member. There’s a nice bend in the episode where the fame-obsessed Valerie ignores that fear of a lawsuit not karma is what finally gets her her own episode. I liked Comeback a bit more this time, the tone that seemed to pick on the pathetic is reduced. I may be so Hollywood-weary that I don’t continue to follow, but if they keep making focused material like this I might.
Previously on the Friends Lawsuit:
Writers’ Rooms: Naughty by Nature
Unfriendly Work Conditions?
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Mike Judge tells MTV he's kinda warmed up to the idea of doing a live action Beavis and Butt-Head movie. He just animated a short segment with the duo for the upcoming "The Animation Show."
John McCain will make a guest appearance on SNL this week. The host will be Steve Carell, who covered McCain for the Daily Show in 1999.
Andrew Dice Clay: "I think girl comics are doing better than guy comics today. They're more exciting than guy comics." Later, tells interviewer about a girl coming over who a "10-and-a-half." (AV Club)
Rob Corddry gets first staring role in the movie "Project A", a comedy about a man trained by the U.S. Gov't to be a jerk. Ben Stiller is a producer.
The good: CBS adds two sitcoms to schedule. The bad: Mike Birbiglia's show appears to have not been picked up. You can watch previews of what they did order.
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