Re: How do you write?

Description: Don't indulge the block.

Question:  The Craft of Writing

Transcript: I’m Co-Executive Producer of the “Daily Show” with Jon Stewart.  And I’m basically an enabler for Jon.  You know he’s . . .  Jon, in a way, doesn’t really need anybody else.  But you know there are a few of us who are there to kind of help out.  So I . . . I write material for him.  I help shape material that other people write for him.  I, you know . . .  We sit around and we come up with what’s going to be on the show and this and that – me, him and a few other people.  That’s . . . I . . . I . . . I think enabling is . . . is . . . is . . . is the proper verb.  I’m Jon’s wing man, but he’s got a couple. 

Question: What was it like to go from writing for cartoons to writing for people?

Transcript: It’s a lot more exciting to write for people.  It’s a lot more immediate.  The . . .  One of . . .  You know it can be very boring writing for cartoons because it basically takes . . . you write it and then a year later you see it.  With . . . with . . . especially at the “Daily Show”, you’re putting on a daily show.  It’s really that old show business, “let’s put on a show”, and you’re cranking it out that night.  And if it’s good, great.  But if it’s not, you’re doing another one the next night.  And it’s kind of . . .  When you’re at a place like the Simpsons or something, you can sometimes forget, “Oh, that’s what I got into show business for.”  Because I like to, you know, entertain and put stuff out there in front of an audience.  I much prefer people.

Question: How do you write something for others bring it to life?

Transcript: It takes a certain amount of trust.  And it depends on who you’re writing it for.  There’s some people who you write . . . like for Jon Stewart or Phil Hartman or something where you write it and you know they’re going to make it better, and . . . and that’s a pleasure.  And there are other people who aren’t going to make it better or who don’t see the joke.  And I think when you’re a younger writer, that’s a bit more frustrating.  Or . . . or it’s a bit harder to let go of the joke like that.  And you’ve gotta sort of have write . . . written a million jokes and thrown out, you know, half a million jokes; and seen the other half butchered, you know, before you can just really not care.  It . . .  It’s . . .  You care, but you’re a . . .  You are . . .  It’s a job.  You crank these things out, and if it doesn’t go over well, you’ll just do another.

Question: What is the joy in what you do?

Transcript: It’s . . . it’s putting on a show.  It’s really . . . it’s writing something.  It’s, you know, all the stress.  It’s kind of like a newsroom, and it’s running around.  And you put on the show, and there’s an audience there, and they’re laughing, and then you’re done.  You know and it’s really . . .  And then you go at it again.  It’s like . . .  It’s like working at the circus.  You know, like how fun is that?

Question: What does it feel like when the show is over?

Transcript:     Such a relief.  You know it’s . . . it’s not as stressful as you’d think because you get used to the . . . the rhythm.  And it . . . it’s a tremendous relief.  That said, you’re always doing another show the next day.  So you can’t be that relieved.  And one of the things . . .  You know like we’ll get a week off here and there, two weeks off here and there.  And I kind of find it hard to really enjoy those vacations in a way, because I know I’m gonna have to come back.  There’s no . . .  You know it never ends.  It’s . . .  It is a perpetual motion machine.

Question: What is the struggle in what you do?

Transcript:     There is . . . they’re staying current, obviously.  There’s wanting to make sure we are up-to-date on everything.  But there’s also not wanting to . . . to replicate anything that’s been on another show.  And then there’s always . . .  You know we’re not a real news show.  We’re not . . . We’re 99 percent a comedy show, but not strictly a comedy show.  So . . . but we look at the news, and so a lot of it is going, “Okay.  Well here’s a funny thing from the news, but how do we examine . . .”  How do we . . .  Instead of just taking a joke from something about the news and make a new joke of it, how do we examine how the other people in the news are covering it?  You know it . . . it . . . it becomes this whole meta game of . . . it’s . . . it’s not about us making a joke about something the President said.  It’s us making a joke about how CNN covered what the President said.  It . . .  It . . .  I think the hardest part might be that, you know, producing a half an hour of material every night is making something new every night.  It’s not repeating ourselves.

Question: How do you get past writer’s block?

Transcript:     That’s a good question.  I mean yeah.  I can say I’m a craftsman; but then again you indulge in block.  I mean that’s just an indulgence.  You really just have to . . . to push through that.  I don’t know.  I’ll go walk the dog.  I used to have a cigarette.  I can’t do that anymore, so I’ll drink more coffee.  I’ll curse myself.  You know, just start typing something, anything, and you generally get through it.  I . . . I . . . I . . . Blocks are generally just laziness.

Recorded on: 9/4/07