Did Robin William really ad lib all those great Mork lines?

Thank God it’s Friday (Question Day). What’s yours?

Nick gets us started:

Is there much room for ad libbing on the set of sitcoms? I know in films it can work because you shoot multiple takes - but in a sitcom format (i'm thinking of Robin Williams in Mork and Mindy) do writers appreciate when actors ad lib or is it generally frowned upon?

Some shows like CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM are built around the actors improvising after being given a detailed outline. Most scripted sitcoms don’t allow for ad libbing except maybe early in the rehearsal process.

On multi-camera shows, cameras change shots based on line cues so it’s imperative the actors speak the lines as written or else you're going to have three cameras crashing into each other.  That's generally not good. 

Robin Williams didn’t “exactly” ad lib on MORK AND MINDY. I know this first-hand. He’d deliver a line on the first take. Then deliver another on the second. And still a different one on the third. The studio audience would be in awe of how quick and inventive he was. But here’s the thing. The “ad libs” were just the jokes that had been in the script and were replaced. Writers wrote them, not Robin.

Not to take anything away from Robin and his enormous talent, but he is notorious for stealing other people’s material.

From Ane:

I'm lucky enough to work as an assistant to the dramaturge in a theater and sometimes I get to watch rehearsals. I've noticed that the directors can get extremely specific about what they want from an actor. And the actors do their best to please. What's it like when working with "big stars"? Do they get lots of directions on what kind of emotions they should display and so on, or is it more like "Do whatever you want, we trust you"?

That depends on the director’s style. Some, like James L. Brooks (pictured: right) are incredibly precise. “On this line lift the cup up to here, cock your head just a bit to the left, and give him a look like ‘you know what he’s after but our history together should tell you that I’m wary but not to where I can’t be convinced.” It’s actually quite impressive to watch him do it.

Some actors love that. And several have won Oscars for their performances in Jim Brooks movies so you can’t knock it.

But other actors hate it. They like to find the moments themselves so they find this technique very stifling. I remember once watching Jim direct a scene with two actresses. One just relished the input while steam was coming out of the other’s ears.

Then there’s Woody Allen. He very rarely “directs” an actor’s performance.  He lets them just do their thing. And many actors have won Oscars performing in Woody Allen movies. So there’s a lot to be said for that method as well.

But here’s the thing with Woody Allen – he has the luxury of being able to get the very best actors in the world. Does Meryl Streep really need to be told how high to lift the cup?

And if an actor can’t give Woody the performance he really wants he merely replaces him.

For me as a director, I’m like the dad teaching his kids how to ride a bike. I let them ride on their own but I’m running alongside steadying the bicycle whenever needed, telling them to slow down occasionally and warning them that they’re headed straight for a fence. So far no one's ever won an Oscar on any of my movies.  But in fairness, I've never directed a movie. 


GMJ has a question about Nicholas Colasanto:

I noticed he directed over 29 different television series between the mid-1960s through the early 1980s. Have you ever had a chance to see any of his projects? I suspect his professional way expressing his concerns to writers extended to his work as a director before "Cheers".

I’ve seen a lot of his HAWAII FIVE-O’s (the original “good” version). Directing one-hour TV is quite a feat. Unlike features, you have to be fast. It has to be hard enough banging out an hour show in the crunch time allotted without having to stage elaborate action sequences. But Nick apparently had the knack.

He was also a highly respected acting teacher.

ScottyB has a question about one of the Bar Wars episodes that David and I wrote for CHEERS. It’s the one where the Cheers stunt apparently kills Gary.

At what point of a show's run do y'all sit there hashing out a script for the week, have someone go, "You know what would be really cool? Let's have Carla's disembodied head float around Gary's bar and pretend it gives him a heart attack!" and know whether it's even possible (in '80s technology, that is) for someone to be able to make Carla’s big head float around in an endless video loop?

This is why it’s great to have a partner. I didn’t remember how we arrived at that stunt, but my partner David Issacs did. Here’s his answer:

Can't remember all the details, but as we did in all the Bar Wars escalations we were looking for something that topped the last one. It really came out of the idea that because of Nick Tortelli, Carla would have TV repair and tech skills, so she could hook it up. We checked to see if it was possible that it could work in theory and it was something she could set up and run.


D.I.

Thanks, David. And thank you guys for all your questions.

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Before I blogged I drew

In my book, THE ME GENERATION... BY ME (GROWING UP IN THE '60s), which you should buy already, I talk a lot of cartooning and doing caricatures during my teen years.  I went through a real Al Hirschfeld period.  He was the caricaturist of the NEW YORK TIMES for sixty years.

Once I got to the UCLA campus radio station KLA (all of this great stuff is in the book) I did the posters for them.  I was so terrible on the air I probably would have been fired had I not been able to draw.

Anyway, one of my KLA colleagues, Sharon, recently unearthed a couple of the posters.  So I thought I'd share them today.

This was for a concert we presented.  Since everyone knows exactly what each member of the Grassroots looks like, you can see how expertly I captured them all.

Likewise, you know all of these people of course.  By the way, Bill Pearl became Billy Pearl (a very successful disc jockey in the '70s who wound up on KHJ), Steve St. John became Steve Weed (a long time successful program director and jock with stints that included WXLO New York and KIIS Los Angeles), Don Enright became a well-known TV and movie producer, and Vincent G. Thomas is Tom Greenleigh who went on to own radio stations. 

I haven't drawn in a few years.  Maybe I'll pick it up again.  Let me know if you have a concert you want promoted. 

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What to do in Hawaii

If you’re in Hawaii on July 29th here’s something really cool to do!

Ron Jacobs, local personality known as Whodaguy and the architect of the KHJ Boss Radio format along with co-creating AMERICAN TOP 40 and hatching the San Diego Chicken – is staging a one-man show one-day only. He’ll be reflecting on his life growing up in Hawaii and God-knows-what. Ron is the one of the most colorful interesting people I’ve ever met. Trust me, you’ll get more fascinating stories, laughs, insight, and culture out of this concert than from four museums, three books, six luaus, four pineapple factory tours, and five Elvis movies.

Speaking of the King, he and Jacobs became friends. Ron emceed his first Hawaiian concert. And this was after Jacobs pulled a stunt on the radio parading around a fake Elvis that caused a statewide frenzy. Or, in the case of Ron Jacobs -- just par for the course.

It’ll all the be there – from the war to the surf craze, from the hula to Ho, natives and haoles, statehood, tourism, mysticism, Judaism, the dawn of rock n’ roll, the birth of Obama, radio, cool cars, and lots of words with k,a,e,u,h,o,n,and i's in them. Plus, a never-before attempted feature -- a talk radio segment, where you can call him on your cellphone and ask questions.  Talk radio live.  I'm curious to see if he hangs up on someone. 

Imagine Garrison Keillor on Maui Wowie with a little Hunter S. Thompson, Mark Twain, and Dr. Emmet Brown thrown in. 

Here are the details. Wish I could be there.

This is a once in a larger-than-lifetime opportunity. And all you need to know to summarize just who this gentleman is and what he does:

"It is fitting that Jacobs is performing at the site of the former Insane Asylum in Kaneohe."

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Andy Griffith 1926-2012

So sorry to hear of the passing of Andy Griffith. I never worked with him, only met him once. It was at a memorial service for one of his writers.  Just the fact that would attend says a lot.

Andy was an amazing performer. He could be scary evil as in FACE IN THE CROWD, or your cuddly uncle. His likability quotient was off the charts. And as Sheriff Andy Taylor he represented the best of what America once was -- trustworthy, kind, homespun, humble, and (here's a blast from the past) used common sense.

Oh, and his show was funny.

I find it interesting that in this day and age of edgy comedy, THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW still airs like 18 times a day and gets good ratings. There still is a place for warm gentle humor set in small town America with characters who had a genuine affection for each other -- a place free of cynicism and vagina jokes.

Ironic that this comes a day after my Cosby post.  Like Bill Cosby, Andy Griffith involved himself in all the show's scripts.  But unlike Cosby, he treated his writers with great respect and they stayed with him for years.

Younger readers might just know Andy as the old country lawyer, MATLOCK. The hair was white but the humanity, and savvy was still there. I hear all those über smart Aaron Sorkin characters talk and think, I bet Matlock could outsmart 'em.

Much older readers remember Andy from his bumpkin Air Force private in NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS. If you haven't seen it, rent it. Imagine Woody Boyd from CHEERS only ten times funnier.  (And the film features a cameo by a young struggling actor named Don Knotts.)

I wonder if anyone remembers his stand-up act. That's right, Andy Griffith was originally a comedian (and also a musician). His routine of describing a football game although he had no idea what was going on remains as hilarious today as it did fifty years ago. I was a weird kid and wanted to see top flight comedians. Andy was one I made a point of seeing. And it wasn't because I was just a sucker for North Carolina humor.  I just marveled at his timing.

And if none of this sounds familiar, they mimicked his voice for Huckleberry Hound. 

For years Andy lived in Toluca Lake in the San Fernando Valley in a nondescript house on a corner. Just one of the neighbors. A friend who lives in Toluca Lake said one Christmas Eve he heard carolers and wandered outside to see. There they were on a flatbed truck going through the neighborhood.. Led by Andy Griffith. Would you expect any less?

If there was a Mayberry they would surely have a 4th of July parade today. Even as everyone fought back tears. Because a celebration of America is a celebration of Andy, and that's worth a parade, a picnic, and fireworks... as long as Barney isn't lighting them.

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Bill Cosby: mentor?

This post is along the lines of Sunday's.

I’ve always been a big fan of Bill Cosby. Loved his comedy albums as a kid, took my wife to Las Vegas to see his stand-up act (more like a sit-down act. He just sat in a chair, smoked a cigar, and held a giant audience in the palm of his hand), and admired THE COSBY SHOW (at least when it started). He was a true original and his comedy came out of reality. You laughed because you related.  He was also a damn good spokesman for Jello. So I respect his work. We’re clear on that, right?

Recently, WRITTEN BY, the WGA’s monthly magazine did an article where they referred to Bill Cosby as a writer’s mentor. I think they were being a little overly generous. I wouldn’t call him a mentor.

I’d call him an egotist who worked his writers as if they were pack mules.

I know. You say potato and I say potato.

There’s no question that there was much to be learned from Bill Cosby, and those writers who survived did take lessons that helped them in their future work. But what a cost.

The article explains how the process worked on THE COSBY SHOW. The staff worked out a very rough story area on Wednesday, then wrote an entire script over the weekend. Cosby would shit on it at the table reading on Monday. If there were lines he didn’t like he would read them in funny voices. Rather rude to the writers who killed themselves all weekend to service you. Then would come the hours of notes, Cosby would tear the whole script apart.  Often, with his big cigar, he would literally blow smoke into the writers' faces.  And then the staff went back to now write a completely new script and cough. Those rewrites, even in the article, were termed grueling.

And this went on week after week. Hundred hour weeks were common. Month after month. At least he didn't smoke $2 Tiparillos.

Oh, and did I mention, at the end, Cosby ad libbed stuff?  I’m sure it was funny but why put everybody through that just to ultimately do it yourself?

Talented showrunners would understandably bolt after a season or even a few weeks of this. One writer was so fried after she quit that she spent six months working at the Coney Island Aquarium.

Are there shows with long hours? Absolutely. Is it difficult to write for a comedian who has a very strong voice? You betcha. But you know that going in.

However, to have a star just arbitrarily toss out draft after draft and force his staff to write around the clock for seven months is unfair and highly disrespectful.

I don’t know why the staff bothered to do anything for the table draft. Why work hard crafting jokes and scenes and moments when everything's just going to be dismissed? Just write down the first thing that comes to your mind and head for the train. The fact that the staff didn’t do that (and never did that) says something about how admirable and professional they were.

Fact: Writers burn out. Fact: Writers do not do their best work at 4:00 AM after being in the room for fifteen hours. How would an actor like it if he were asked to strenuously rehearse every day from 7:00 AM until 11:00 PM and then an audience would be brought in and he'd be asked to perform NOISES OFF for two hours?

The fact that Cosby established this grueling schedule and maintained it shows, to me, a lack of consideration and compassion. Yes, the show was a smash hit, and he was the 800 pound gorilla, but I will never be convinced it would have been any worse had the writers not spent 70% of their time writing material that everyone knew was gong to get thrown out. I could however, make an argument that the shows would have been even better had the staff not been walking zombies.  And if some of the better writers had not quit.

But that’s the way they did it. A number of people made fortunes of money (including sweater manufacturers). And the show is a classic.

Call Cosby brilliant, call him the man who saved sitcoms, call him a game-changer, a visionary, a titan in the world of comedy. But mentor? I was fortunate that I had mentors who didn’t send me screaming to an aquarium.

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Ann Curry was weak on cooking segments. KILL HER!

Ann Curry was weak on cooking segments!

That’s the horsehit explanation Steve Capus, the idiot president of NBC News gave for why they had to unceremoniously dump Ann Curry as co-host of THE TODAY SHOW.

Yeah. That was the problem. America tuned out in droves because Ann wasn't enthusiastic enough about whipped potatoes.  It wasn't the guests.  It wasn't that NBC's primetime lineup had become a national afterthought?  No, sir.  It was those damn potatoes!  Turn in your apron, Ann.   We can't allow you to bring down the National Broadcasting Company any longer.

Attention journalism schools: Forget international relations. Ditch Political Science. Teach cooking!

You tell me what’s worse -- A top executive of a major television network publicly humiliating a lifelong loyal employee by saying something hurtful and unconscionable or not being excited enough when corn muffins come out of the oven?

Ann Curry didn’t deserve that.  Jeff Zucker didn’t deserve that. Well… maybe Jeff Zucker. But not Ann Curry.

So why was she fired… excuse me – “re-assigned to exciting new challenges?”

THE TODAY SHOW ratings have declined. GOOD MORNING AMERICA is nipping at their heels. Robin Roberts apparently can baste.

Ann Curry is 55. Savannah Guthrie (her replacement) is 40.

This was NBC’s plan all along. Ann was just a placeholder while Savannah got more seasoning. Her goose was already cooked, to use metaphors that obviously have great priority at NBC News.

Everything NBC does this year revolves around its Olympic coverage. The Olympics will bring back millions of viewers who fled because of WHITNEY, THE PLAYBOY CLUB, etc. NBC is trying to maximize that coverage to promote its shows. So they want the new TODAY SHOW line-up already in place.  Pity because Ann is really a whiz on the mesquite grill and would absolute kill it on the 4th of July party segment, but alas, she’ll never get the chance.

Look, if they wanted to replace her it's their prerogative.  But they could have handled this matter sooo much better. And there’s a good chance it will backfire on them. Remember Deborah Norville, Mr. Capus? For years, the co-host of THE TODAY SHOW was Jane Pauley (pictured: right). The audience took to her. She asked knothead questions at times but made a mean strudel. After 13 years it was announced that she was being “re-assigned to exciting new challenges” and replaced by Deborah Norville, who was a rising star at NBC (and younger than Pauley). The audience perceived Norville to be a backstabber who squeezed Pauley out and they just hated her. Ratings plummeted and Norville was gone in five months.  Savannah beware! 

Ann Curry may not be flashy, may no longer be 40, and might not give a fuck how you make blintzes, but she’s the consummate professional, intelligent, sincere to a fault, and even in what has been described a “public execution” she has handled herself with dignity and grace.

Just compare these statements:

Ann Curry to the viewers of TODAY: “I have loved you and I have wanted to give you the world. And I still do.”

And:

The President of NBC News: “We gave her a year to prove herself, and ultimately we came to the conclusion that she had played at the highest level she could. When you’re in the major leagues of our profession, you’ve got to continue to be at peak performance in order to stay there.”

Here is Ann's final sign-off from THE TODAY SHOW. I offer her nothing but gratitude and wish her nothing but enormous success and happiness. For Steve Capus, I hope in three years he's covering a neighbor dispute over sprinkler heads for some Public Access channel.

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Actors: How to give notes to writers

Actors, here are some tips on how to convey your script concerns to writers in a way that might result in them addressing your problems without hating you, slashing your tires, or making you the butt of room jokes for seven continuous months.

One ground rule though: This is predicated on your note being a legitimate concern with the sole purpose of improving the show. There’s no hidden agenda of “this puts me in a bad light” or “I want to have the last line” or “this guy is not handsome enough to be my boyfriend”. We understand that you will never actually say your problem is “I don’t want the audience thinking I’m not attractive enough to snare a better looking boyfriend” so you will couch your objections in actor-double-speak. “It’s counter to my character’s arc” and that sort of shit. Understand this: we see through that crap immediately. And there’s nothing we hate more than arguing over the script under the guise of art and integrity when we all know damn well it’s purely about your vanity.

So, let’s assume you have a legitimate concern. We writers don’t like to admit it in public but we acknowledge that you live with the characters you’re playing, you internalize them, you do give them a lot of thought (sometimes too much thought), and ultimately you’re the one who will be in front of the camera, naked to the world. Begrudgingly, we also admit that a lot of your instincts are correct. Your suggestions many times improve the script.

So it’s just a matter of communicating your concerns in a way that will make us receptive to you and here’s the key – WANT to make those changes.

Quite simply, it’s all about showing us respect.

When we come down to the stage don’t glare at us like we killed your puppy. If the script doesn’t work it, we didn’t do it on purpose. Try to remain positive. Give us the impression that you’re not overly concerned, that you have every faith that we can fix it. Is that hard to do sometime? Yes, of course. But you’re ACTORS. Act!

One trick is to start by praising something. You love “this” but just have some issues with “that”. We know you’re bullshitting We do the same thing when giving notes to other writers. But we appreciate the gesture.

If you want us to shut you off completely just say, “My character would never say that!” Whether it would or not, you say those words and we hate you.

You throw a script on the ground, expect us to walk away.

Please don’t say something we wrote is “stupid”. I can’t tell you how many times an actor claimed a certain story point or character action was “stupid” and “no one would ever do this” when in truth it stemmed from an actual incident that happened to the writer. Don’t trap yourself. Just ask. You can very nicely say, “this bit seems a little out there. Do you know of anyone who really did this?” If the answer is no, our next response will probably be, “You think we went too far?” You smile and say, “Well, kinda, yeah.” Our rewrite will include examining that bit.

I worked on a show once where an actress, a noted British thespian questioned some bit of business by saying, “So my motivation for this is what, darling? I’m an out-patient?” Her way of registering protests was with slightly pointed humor. This can be disarming or really backfire depending on the tone. Be careful. In this case, she was a sweetheart and we knew there was no malicious intent. That line became our way of questioning something for the rest of the year.

If you don’t think your character would say something we’ve written please tell us (nicely!!) why. We’ll never expect you to come up with the alternate line, that’s our job. But guide us a little. We’re not mind readers. And if you can, explain your problems in plain English and not actor-speak. “This line goes counter to my emotional center” does not help us a whit.

Expressing your objection in the form of a question often softens the blow. “Don’t you think I’d be curious when I see him come to bed in clown make-up?” Often times it’s easier for us to just say, “We’ll look at that” rather than try to justify it.

And once we say we’ll address it just thank us and move on. Don’t keep belaboring the point. We got it. We’re on it. You made your sale. Walk away.

Sometimes we’re not sure if it works or not so we want to see it. When you show it don’t purposely sabotage it. Trust me, we can tell in one nanosecond if you are. And if you are, we’re likely to dig in our heels and insist that it stays.

Here is why we need you to give it your best shot in a runthrough. If you commit to the material and it doesn’t work then we know it’s our fault and not yours. By seeing it on its feet we can often see what’s wrong with the scene. An alternative might occur to us. A scene may not work but there are three great jokes in there that do and maybe can be saved.

Don’t try to win every battle. Give us a few. If we really believe in our best professional judgment that something works or will get the laugh, let us have it. We’ll be so much more willing to change something for you that we’re not as cock sure about. Again, it goes back to respect. Trust us a little.

Don’t question EVERY line. After awhile we’ll hide from you, or in the case of a drama, kill you off.

And finally, let me share with you the single best way to give a writer a note and almost be guaranteed that he’ll agree to fix it. This comes from Nick Colasanto (who played Coach on CHEERS). Whenever he had a problem (which wasn’t often) he’d start off by saying, “Look, I’m happy to do it just as written, but…” Then he would lay out his concerns. But the fact that he offered to do it as written, we ALWAYS, every time, went back and adjusted the line to his satisfaction. Try it. It will work!

Thanking us the next day when we have made your changes also goes a long way in the goodwill department.

Bottom line: we all want to make the best show. Unfortunately, we’re also all under tremendous stress, have giant egos, and are a mass of insecurities. These are some tips to help actors deal with writers. I bet you actors have an equal or longer list of things we writers can do better in dealing with you. I may flinch but I’d be happy to hear them.

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