The Comedy Writing Team MATCH GAME

In an earlier post I talked about the benefits of writing with a partner. Summary: you always have a ride when your car is in the shop.

But you have to find the RIGHT partner. Some tips from someone who’s been in a successful partnership for 39 years:

Make sure you both have similar sensibilities. If you love Patton Oswalt and his all-time favorite comedian is Pauley Shore, keep lookin’. (If his all-time favorite comedian is Pauley Shore keep looking even if your favorite funnyman is Dan Rather.)

There have been a number of sibling teams that have worked out. The Charles Brothers, the Coen Brothers. Make sure you and your sib really get along and your last name begins with C.

He/she partnerships? If you complement each other then go for it. Some of Hollywood’s most successful teams are this configuration. Certainly one of my favorites – Anne Flett Giordano & Chuck Ranberg.

Do you and your potential partner have similar work habits? If you like to work in a quiet office during the day and she is only comfortable writing at the Viper Club after hours, continue your search.

Have similar aspirations. If your goal is to be a writer and his is just to use this as a means to move into directing or to get chicks, pass. If he wants to write Oscar winning movies in five years and you want to punch up Bette Midler’s Vegas act, shake hands and run.

Figure out just how you’re going to work. Head-to-head? Splitting the assignment up and each taking individual scenes? One person writes the rough draft and the other rewrites it? There’s a screenwriting team of women who sit around the pool and get smashed. One mans the computer while the other floats on a raft. That works for them. I could see it working for me. What works for you?

The Odd Couple would not make a good writing team. Felix would want to start the assignment right away and turn it in early. Oscar would wait until legal action was threatened. Both of you need to be one or the other.

Now the essential stuff:

You must trust and respect your partner. If you don’t think he’s the talented one of the two you haven’t found the right person. And that’s not saying you always have to defer to your partner. I don’t know a single writing team that doesn’t argue. But here’s the key:

Don’t make it personal.

Let me repeat in all-caps:

DON'T MAKE IT PERSONAL.

Think of TV wrestlers. They kill each other on camera and after the show all go out for beers. Argue over script issues but don’t let the disagreement bleed into personal feelings. And along those lines…

Fight fair.

No passive-aggressive bullshit, no mind games, no guilt trips. My partner and I have a policy. First off, we both have to agree before a line goes in. Secondly, if we can’t agree, and one can’t quickly convince the other, we just throw the line out and come up with something else. Trust me, it takes less time to craft a new joke than spend all afternoon arguing and ultimately one person ends up unhappy.

I know this sound like a lot of rules but the rewards if you find the right person can be enormous. And don’t kid yourself. Your car will need servicing sometime.

Happy hunting.

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My Tweets for the Week

For those who don't follow me on Twitter, here's what you missed this week.   

If you juxtapose the letters in Gabby Douglas’ last name – it will spell – “USA Gold!” And more amazing – Phelps spells “Spleph.”

How come Siri understands Martin Scorsese and not me?

Two more endorsements for Romney: A porn star and Clint Eastwood.

I hate when I swim and there’s that damn World Record yellow line that keeps eluding me. It’s annoying. Stop it!

How soon till Gabby Douglas becomes a judge on AMERICAN IDOL?

The DARK KNIGHT with Anne Hathaway trounces TOTAL RECALL at the boxoffice. Two breasts are still better than three.

I bet the Peacock has not received one complaint during the Olympics from viewers who miss their favorite NBC shows.

Taking @tomleykis to lunch for his birthday. He’s so old he remembers when radio was good.

Ticket prices are rising again. Just in time for the new Will Ferrell movie.

Vin Scully, talking about Twitter called a Tweet a Twit. Earlier this year Bob Uecker called it a Twat.

Colin O’Donoghue joins the cast of ONCE UPON A TIME as beloved storybook character Speedy Alka-Seltzer.

NBC is hoping they can average in these big Olympic numbers and beat Univision for the 2012-13 season.

You can follow me @KenLevine or by just going here.  

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Funny writers on funny writing

Earlier this year I participated in a seminar at U.C. Santa Barbara on comedy writing sponsored by the Carsey-Wolf Center. I spoke on a panel that included my partner, David Isaacs, Cheri & Bill Steinkellner, Jon Stark, and Janis Hirsch. Lots of good information and plenty of laughs. The session was recently made available on line and I thought you might enjoy it. Cheri is the moderator.

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Worst network note ever

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Friday Questions

Here are some Friday Questions.  Do you have one?  Please leave it in the comments section. Thanks.

Kev starts us off:

What do you think of Gotham Writer's Workshops and other workshops like that? Worth that money?

It depends on who’s teaching them and how much they charge. Check the instructor’s credits. Remembering that just because a guy has six Emmys doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a good teacher, but if an instructor’s last credit was PETTICOAT JUNCTION or his best credit is ASK HARRIET you might want to see who else is on the faculty. And if the workshop wants hundreds of dollars, that’s a red flag too.

But if the price is reasonable and the instructor appears to know what he’s doing, then sure, go for it. If nothing else, you'll get more practice, meet other young writers who are trying to break in, you might get a partner out of it, or at least a support group. Although I would worry about taking a sitcom course from the Gotham City Workshop.  You look to your left and there is a student in white clown make up. 


Cody asks:

Have you ever missed a deadline because you just couldn't get the episode to gel no matter what you tried?

I'm getting cold chills just thinking about it.  Yes, it has happened. But only after all night rewrite sessions still produce nothing. There are several options:

Send a partial script down to the stage with instructions that the rest will follow, and you keep working on it.

Shut down the show for a day. Studios hate this of course, but usually we make the day up by shooting the next show on a four-day schedule instead of five.

A third option is to just scrap the script, and insert next week’s script, assuming it’s in decent shape, and there is not a big swing set that needs to be constructed.

One of the reasons why we always produced our multi-camera shows on a Wednesday-Tuesday schedule instead of Monday-Friday is that if the script was really in trouble we had two weekend fail-safe days to fix it. Also, if we had to push shooting the show back from Tuesday to Wednesday we still had the crew. The camera crews generally work two shows – one that films on Tuesday night and the other that films on Friday night. They need two days for each show – one for camera blocking and the other for the actual filming. If you have to push back a Friday shoot night you’re screwed because the crew works Monday on their other show. The only day of the week that the crews don’t normally work is Wednesday.

The truth is throughout the course of a season there will always be at least one script that is just snake-bitten. Hopefully, it is only one or two. And part of your job as a showrunner is to manage these crises. If it becomes a habit, if scripts are routinely arriving late to the stage, or you have to shut down repeatedly chances are you’ll be replaced.

But most of the time you are able to cobble together something that’s at least acceptable. It may not be your best show of the season but no stunt involving a shark is required.


Sean in NoCal wonders:

In your career as a baseball broadcaster, have you ever gotten fairly close to a player only to see him traded? I know as a fan, having a favorite player trades mid-season just kinda sucks.

That happens frequently. Usually it’s bittersweet because you know the player is going off to a better situation, but of course, you’ll miss him.

After I did a year in Baltimore I latched on with Seattle. Later that next year I was calling a Mariners-Orioles game from Camden Yards. It was late in the season and by then I’d become good friends with most of the Mariners.

Suddenly a bench-clearing brawl erupted, and this was a hairy one. I’m describing it all on the radio and thinking, “Ohmygod, I’m friends with all of these people. They’re slugging each other and honestly, I don’t know who to root for.” That was bizarre.

One thing I should point out – when I say “friends” that’s not “close friends.” You don’t want to get too close because then it’s hard to be objective on the air. I’ve actually become better friends with a number of players once they retired.


Christodoulos has a question related to my book (which is crying to be read by you):

Which movies of the era would go well with it? Which movies do you feel capture the experience of everyday life in the 60's?

THE GRADUATE, EASY RIDER, HOW TO STUFF A WILD BIKINI. And there’s an obscure movie that you never see anymore and I have no idea if it is even available to rent, but it’s called A SMALL CIRCLE OF FRIENDS, starring Brad Davis, Karen Allen, and some unknown actress named Shelley Long. But of all those ‘60s college unrest movies, this was the best. At least I thought so when I last saw it – in 1980. Who knows? Today I might cringe. It might not hold up like HOW TO STUFF A WILD BIKINI.

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The 8 Tips For Becoming a Good Warm-Up Guy

Over the years I've written, produced, and directed hundreds of episodes of sitcoms shot before a live studio audience. Especially in the late '90s when I was freelance directing and it seemed like every week I was at a different studio on a different stage with a different show.  Just as I moved around, so did the warm up men.  My wife and daughter, Annie would often attend these filming nights.  Annie was ten then.  She became somewhat of an aficionado of warm up people.  Some she liked, others she tortured.  After awhile she knew them all -- their strengths and weaknesses.  And thus she's compiled the 8 Tips For Becoming a Good Warm-Up Guy -- the most comprehensive and only guide to this unique art.  So today I'm going to turn it over to Annie. C'mon, folks, let's give her a big hand. 

Being a warm-up guy cannot be easy. You're the commercials that no one can fast-forward through. (Though DISH is probably working on that.) You struggle on the standup circuit,, claw your way onto a studio lot, and all you get is heckled by a sassy ten year-old. (At least, all the warm up guys I sat through did.)

Growing up listening to warm-up guys every week has made me a self-appointed expert on the subject. So, should you be lucky enough to land one of these auspicious gigs, here is some unsolicited
advice for you at no charge. I won't even make you give me an autographed photo of the cast.

1. It's a big deal to get that job, so act like you want to be there. There's nothing more annoying for the audience than having the first scene end and you're already in the parking lot. Worse is the extended sigh as if to say, "Shit. I gotta talk to these idiots again?" Gee. Thank you. We idiots are not thrilled by you either.

2. Not everyone in your audience is brand new each week. Some of us are related to the cast or crew. For those of us who are there time and time again, please throw in some new material. The people who create the show write a completely new episode each week. All we're asking for is one new fresh knock knock joke.  And maybe lose the one about the blonde and the dead bird. 

3. This isn't your big chance to get into the Friars Club. Jim from Idaho didn't wait in line for three hours to hear how fat he is. A little gentle ribbing about where we're from or how long we've been
married is fine. If you start foaming at the mouth, you've lost us.

4. Give away candy and we'll laugh at your jokes. Give away merchandise from the show, and suddenly the sitcom we came to see is opening for you. (Well, not always. I once won a shirt and I was insanely excited. Thirty seconds later my mother handed the shirt back to the warm up guy. I believe her words to me were, "We have enough of this crap at home. Let the tourists have it.")

5. You might think this would go without saying, but your material should not rely on cursing or dirty jokes. Especially if it's a family show. The audience over at JESSIE does not need to know how long it’s been since you’ve received oral sex. One guy exclusively told raunchy jokes, like he was doing warm-up for Andrew Dice Clay’s bachelor party. Needless to say, the audience looked like they were sitting on burning coals.

6. Keep your energy up, no matter how late the filming goes. Keep a tool belt of Red Bull or pick up a cocaine habit. Whatever. Just don't yawn.

7. Make sure you can pronounce all the cast members' names correctly before you introduce them. It's important that the audience likes you, but it's equally important that the actors on the show don't want you dead. Don’t just take a stab at Kunal Nayyar. Ask him. At some point during the night, let everyone know who wrote and directed the episode and anyone else involved – line producers, assistant directors, that weird guy in shorts who’s always changing light bulbs. They all deserve a round of applause.

8. Just have a good time! You have an audience required to not walk out on you. That’s like a comic’s greatest gift. Don't worry if you have an off week. Just blame it on that week's episode and move on.

Knock 'em dead. And ignore the ten years-olds. They're just cranky their moms won't let them have swag.

Annie

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Adventures of a Warm-Up Guy

Here's a bonus Friday Question that leads to a worthy topic: Warm-Up Guys.

It’s from Brian Phillips:

Warming up an audience takes a special talent. Johnny Olson (pictured: above), of "The Price is Right", from what I have read, was great at it. Who warmed up the audience on the shows you worked on? If it is not someone associated with the show, who determines who gets the gig?

There have been so many over the years that I don’t remember a lot of their names. Ray, Mark, Wendy, and J.J. if that helps.   Usually either stand-up comedians or writers from the show handle the warm-up duties. I did the warm-up for CHEERS for awhile. Then I passed the torch to another writer, Earl Pomerantz. The great David Lloyd used to do the warm-up for THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW during his stint on the show. Jay Tarses, the showrunner of THE BOB NEWHART SHOW and TONY RANDALL SHOW did their warm ups – perhaps the most caustic warm ups ever.  I'm surprised he wasn't attacked every week. 

For comedians it’s a great gig. Steady work, a captive audience, and the pay is pretty decent. If you build a name for yourself you can score several gigs a week.

The showrunner hires the warm-up guy, or assigns it to his line producer. Here’s how I got my gig on CHEERS. For the first few episodes we had a comic who worked a lot of shows. Les Charles got a call at 5:00 on a filming night saying he was sick and couldn’t make it that night. Les turned to me and said, “You used to be a disc jockey, right?” I said, yes, and he said, “Congratulations. You’re doing the warm-up.”

After that night the cast went to Les & Glen and requested I do it every week. I was very flattered and it was also extra money. Honestly, I think the reason they preferred me was not that I was funnier but that I kept the audience in the show better. I kept reminding them what was going on in the story, I answered a lot of questions about the show, and in general just kept the audience more focused. And now that I think about it, he wasn’t that funny either.

Each warm-up guy has his own schtick. I did about a five minute intro. And from the reaction to the jokes I knew whether we had a good audience or 200 cadavers. A multi-camera sitcom filming generally takes two or three hours. You have to fill time between scene and costume changes and during conferences on the stage when the writers decide to change the script on the fly.

Some warm-up guys would have games and contests or do magic tricks. I answered audience questions and did a play-by-play of what was going on on the stage as if I were a golf announcer. I’d whisper, “There’s a two-writer/one-actor comfab. The last time there was one of those was July 23, 1978 on THE JEFFERSONS. You’re witness to history, ladies and gentlemen.” Nonsense like that.

A few shows will also hire a small band to play between scenes. On ALMOST PERFECT we had a lot of Carole King’s band. Needless to say, they were hot. I kept hoping Carole would sit in but she never did. I stole a bit from Jay Tarses. Whenever the band would finish Jay would make up the song title.  “That’s the theme from DUCK, YOU SUCKER.” “Music from a book: LBJ – THE WHITE HOUSE YEARS.” I think I even stole some of his actual song titles. No, wait. I didn’t steal them. It was an homage.

One of the reasons I liked doing the warm-up was that I felt I was really contributing to the filming. Actors feed off the energy of the audience and if I could generate a hot crowd then maybe the cast’s performance level might rise a percentage point or six.

Tomorrow: More on the subject with a guest blogger who’s an expert on the subject. But for now, let’s give a big hand for today’s blog post. I’m going to take a break, but in the meantime, here’s the band to play one of your favorites: “Love song from SAW IV: JIGSAW’S BAR MITZVAH.”

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