On Comedy

Via Jane Espenson's blog, an episode of NPR's This American Life called A Tough Room.

The first sizable segment examines life in THE ONION's writers room. As interesting as the dynamic of the writers was the narrator's commentary, especially the remark about how the writers dissect a joke is the opposite of funny. I frequently go through that sort of process when I'm doing comedy, and generally end up at a point where I have no idea anymore whether something that was hilarious at the time is any good at all. At that point, it's nice to have editors, co-writers, or a substantial amount of time to go without looking at the work, so I can come at it with fresh eyes.

I've got to admit, there's something very rewarding about reading a bit you forgot you wrote and getting a laugh out of it.

...

Maybe it's time to pull THE TOKEN GOBLIN back out of the drawer and give those materials a read...

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