The Definitive Guide to Comedy
The Brits may be grappling with Brexit, still. But give ’em this much credit. They’re showing U.S. up with respect to improving the working conditions for women in TV comedy. Saskia Schuster, the head of comedy programming for Britain’s ITV network, told a festival audience Monday that: “I won’t commission …
Who is Nell Scovell? She’s the creator of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, first staff writer hired for SPY magazine, second woman ever to write for The Simpsons, and one of only a handful of women to ever write for David Letterman. Scovell’s other TV credits include Murphy Brown, Coach and …
Kat Radley spent the better parts of 2016 and 2017 submitting writer’s packets to late-night comedy shows. “I think I lost count at one point, but if you name a show, I pretty much sent a packet for it,” Radley told me. Last August, the first packet she’d submitted turned …
Cannot remember ever seeing a late-night TV writing job actually posted in the wild like a regular job opening — and definitely don’t recall ever seeing an industry site grabbing and posting the entire submission packet instructions before. But that’s what happened this past week. The official CBS job posting …
The Writers Guild Association has announced nominees for 2015 achievements in writing for TV, and there’s plenty of praise to go around for broadcast networks, cable, and streaming services. Winners will be announced Feb. 13, 2016, in simultaneous ceremonies held on both coasts for WGA East in New York City …
For millions of students and teachers, it’s time to go back to school this week. For a handful of lucky comedy students, it’s also the start of a very specialized schooling, as Joe Toplyn leads a new group of would-be TV writers in his Comedy Writing for Late-Night TV class …
Any time is a good time to pick up a book, but summertime sure feels like the right time to lounge poolside or on the beach, or anywhere you feel most comfortable, really, with a great read to pass the carefree day away. On weekends this summer, The Comic’s Comic …
Ray Jessel, at 84, would seem like an unlikely contestant to round out this season’s auditions for America’s Got Talent. And yet, NBC producers knew more than you. In his pre-audition interview, Jessel told us that he only started performing at age 72. After singing an original ditty he wrote …
Neal Brennan‘s first one-hour stand-up special does indeed focus squarely on his relationships with “Women and Black Dudes,” but before we get to his Comedy Central broadcast — which premieres uncensored at midnight this Saturday — let’s start at the ending. This is not a spoiler alert, insomuch as it …
This week’s episode of Modern Comedian, the documentary webseries by Scott Moran, goes way back to a time before iPhones — when apps meant appetizers — and when we all had the opportunity to experience Mitch Hedberg in our lives. Lynn Shawcroft, who was married to Hedberg, shares stories about …
