Re: What do you do?

Description: Jon Stewart's wing man.

Question: Beyond a simple title, how would you describe what you do for a living?

Transcript: I am sort of . . . I’m . . .  I work . . . 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 . . .  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: Is ethnic humor ever out of bounds?

Transcript: I can certainly make fun of my people, and others can too.  I mean it . . . it’s   . . .  I feel like I’m . . . not I’m, but I think as a Jew it’s sort of a specific case, because there are a lot of Jewish writers.  And we tend to go to the Jew well a lot in comedy.  And to be honest it’s really easy, and I don’t love that.  I think it’s a little too easy.  You know ethnically, I think I find a lot of comedy writers are Jewish and a lot are Irish.  I’m not sure why those two streams sort of came together, but you know it’s a . . . we tend to get along, so it’s nice.  Can . . .  I think some Jewish jokes are very funny, and I think others are, you know, are just . . . are just as . . . just saying the word “Jew” and expecting a laugh.  You know and . . . and that’s easy.  As far as other ethnicities go, I don’t feel like anything should be out of bounds, you know?  I just . . .  You know I’m stridently, you know, First Amendment . . .certainly the Second Amendment, too.  But I like all those amendments, you know?  And then again . . .  But that said, if you say something offensive, you know, you can expect to get your ass kicked.  You should have the right to say it, though.

Question: Do you self-sensor?

Transcript: I think everyone self-sensors.  I mean you think awful things.  I’m sure you’re thinking awful things right now; but you know we all think terrible, terrible, terrible things.  So sometimes the terrible things I think of are jokes.  And so I don’t always say those out loud.  I’m actually . . .  I probably self-sensor a lot less than a lot of people.  And I’ve certainly said some terrible things which I regret, but that’s okay.

Question: Has it become easier to self-censor with time?

Transcript: I . . .  You know I can’t say I think about . . .  You know I would ask you . . .  Or I’d ask anyone is it easier for them to self-sensor?  Sometimes . . .  You know do you walk around saying, “I’m censoring myself right now?”  No.  But you aren’t telling to every beautiful woman how much you’d like to have sex with her, or every attractive man the same thing if you find both of them equally attractive, you know?  You know has it become easier to self . . .  I don’t know.  I guess when you’re a kid, yeah, you say anything you want.  I’m an adult.  Now I don’t.  I . . .  I . . .  I would say it’s not any different for a comedy writer or a writer in general than it is for anyone else.  I . . . I think we are afforded more freedom.  I think I don’t . . .  I think writers and comedians don’t have to sensor as much, I think.  You know we’re . . . we’re given that latitude.  We don’t always use it that well, but we have it.

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 has comedy changed in the last two decades?

Transcript:     That’s a good question.  Comedy is a lot more self-aware.  I mean your audience is a lot more self-aware.  You know when I . . .  You’re not just making jokes necessarily anymore.  You’re making jokes on jokes.  And your jokes have reference to other jokes.  And it might have been in the old days, only other people in the comedy business would know these things; but now everyone’s     . . .  We’ve got such a vast cultural backlog on DVD and everything that everyone knows every Monty Python sketch.  And everyone knows this and that; that we’re all kind of . . . we and the audience are making references to . . . and winking at them from things that are 40 years old.  And that’s it.  And comedy probably hasn’t changed as much as we think it has either.  I mean that’s . . . that . . . that . . . I can say, “Okay, we all have that reference point,” but it’s probably in a small way not that big a deal.  And . . .  and . . .  That’s a good question, because I would say we still laugh at slapstick, but we don’t as much.  It would be very hard for, you know . . . to get away with something that’s like as primitive as like an early ‘60s, Jerry Lewis movie right now.  You just . . . You know even the kids aren’t laughing at that anymore.  I mean you got Mr. Bean.  And that’s nice, and that’s nice slapstick; but it sometimes seems more sophisticated.  But that . . . that . . . that might just be because of more of modern style. I think it’s probably exposure to more.  I think it used to be if you lived in a village and you didn’t have TV, and a clown came through you thought that was the funniest damn thing you’d ever seen in your life.  You know if he fell on his butt?  Amazing.  If you got, you know, eight hours of TV everyday and you could see amazing . . . you know you could see Marcel Marceau, and you could see Lenny Bruce, and you could see whatever whatever.  The exposure makes you more of a critic, you know?  If you’ve only eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwiches all your life, you think those are pretty great.  But you know once you’ve tasted caviar, forget about peanut butter.

Question: Where is comedy headed?

Transcript:     I don’t know.  There’s a . . .  There’s an awful lot of it being produced.  I think what we’re doing now, you know, is an area where we’re going to see a lot of comedy produced just in smaller . . . just with the Internet, sort of the powers given to people just to produce things.  I mean we’re going to see things on YouTube.  You know we’re going to see people have a funny idea and shoot it on their TV camera and get it out there that afternoon.  But people are always also gonna wanna see bigger, you know, more expensive things.  And they’re always gonna wanna see sitcoms, I think; or big, funny movies. You wanna see something nice, you know.  It’s like okay, YouTube.  That was a funny video that guy made, but I . . . I want a . . . I want a compelling story, too.  You know people like stories.  We’ve always liked stories.  So I . . . I . . . I don’t . . . I don’t think comedy is gonna change.  Okay here.  I don’t think the form comedy takes is gonna be all that different in the future.  Now you know I . . . I don’t know which way the world is gonna go; but if the world gets darker, then the comedy will probably become more darker or become more violent.  We might be seeing some of that now.

Question: Whose work are you watching most closely?

Transcript: You know I don’t . . .  I tend not to watch any comedy.  Otherwise it would be my whole life.  And also you know, it’s so critical . . .  It’s impossible just to watch anything and enjoy it, you know.  So I . . . I tend to keep away from it as much as possible.

Question: How is technology changing comedy?

Transcript: I don’t know.  I . . . I . . . I think it’s changing it for . . .  It’s changing it.  There’s really no telling.  Yeah it’s better.  It’s . . .  It’s . . .  It’s nice to be able to have a DVD of funny stuff.  And you know it’s nice to be able to go on YouTube and watch these funny guys.  But you know I saw these funny guys doing a David Blaine impression the other day.  That was funny.  You know I got to watch that and now I don’t have to see it anymore.  But it’s . . . it’s . . . it’s out there.  That R. Kelly “Trapped in the Closet.”  Like that’s all great stuff, and it’s there.  And so that’s all for the good.  As a, you know   . . . This isn’t strictly about computers, but you know as a . . . as a visual agent, you know, written comedy is being non-existent.  You know there’s . . . there’s a couple of pages in the front of the New Yorker and that’s really it.  So that’s kinda sad.  But you know there’s plenty to read if you want to.

Recorded on: 9/4/07