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Panel Highlights: Writing for Late Night
The saying goes that there’s nothing more mundane and boring than dissecting comedy, and that was partially true at Friday afternoon’s “Writing for Late Night” session in a cramped, hot Driskill Hotel meeting room. Luckily, the small crowd seemed to be comprised of “comedy geeks” who were into the minutiae.
Late night veterans Chuck Sklar (the dry one, a veteran of “The Chris Rock Show,” “Politically Incorrect”) and Austinite Dan French (more animated, has written for David Letterman, Dennis Miller, “The Late Show with Craig Ferguson” and “The Best Damn Sports Show Period”) joined Moderator J. Kevin Smith for a wide-ranging discussion of writing comedy for late night network consumption.
Both panelists began their careers as stand-up comics and each realized early on that he had a knack for writing material for others (Sklar for other comics, French for a syndication service that fed morning radio shows). The pair seemed to have a love/hate relationship with the craft, describing comics as “the most cynical, pessimistic (expletives) on the planet” and confiding that, on a late night show’s writing team, “the whole game is to be the worst human being in the room.”
They talked about other writers you’ve never heard of, complained about non-writers being promoted to head writers and dished mild dirt about celebs such as Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Fallon.
Questions from attendees included topics such as women in comedy (the panelists struggled to come up with examples of female comics they enjoyed, and I don’t recall them agreeing on a single name they did toss out) and whether or not Sklar and French found it difficult to write for “political” comics with contrary philosophies (right-wing comedy is problematic, French said, because “masters telling jokes to the slaves doesn’t really work”). But the majority of the conversation centered on how to break into writing jokes for late night talkers.
Sklar recommended making contacts and getting your foot in the door, even if you don’t have an agent. French said the networks and shows seem monolithic and impenetrable, but once you get in you realize how disorganized they are. Both recommended persistence, suggesting finding the e-mail address or fax number of anyone involved — even a low-level writer’s assistant — and sending in jokes. When Sklar and French manned these fax machines they would often read the material, they said, out of boredom, and they pointed to specific examples where hires were made based on those faxes and e-mail messages. You need to be good, they said, but you also need to make yourself known so that you are thought of when an opportunity arises. Most importantly, they stress being prepared when that happens.
This means a lot of writing. In French and Sklar’s case, this means reading 8 or 9 newspapers a day (or the Internet equivalent) to find premises that can be spun out into jokes. Once you’ve found 8 or 9 funny ways to spin out, or “tag” a premise, keep the best three.
“You need to find a reason to write jokes,” French said, “and not just in a vacuum; not just for your friends. You need to have a specific purpose, even if it’s just one you make up.”
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