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J.R. Havlan, 17-year veteran writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, picks the complicated and jittery brains of the writers who help create The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, 30 Rock, Letterman, SNL, The Office, and more. Writers’ Bloc Podcast will let you in on how blank pages become your favorite television comedies. You love the sausage, now hear how it gets made.
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Hasan Minhaj is a comedian, actor, correspondent for The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, and now the star of "Homecoming King", a one-man show he wrote that's running at The Cherry Lane Theater in New York City thru November 15, 2015, and hopefully even longer than that. Oh! And he was also in a Pizza Hut commercial! I mean, this guy is killin' it. In…
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"Over The Edge" is a 1979 movie about teenagers who rebel against the monotony of their planned suburban community and the adults who force them to live there. It's not the most famous movie you'll ever see. It's also not the best movie you'll ever see. But it got 89% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is pretty damn good, it was Curt Cobain's favorite movi…
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Mike Sacks might know as much about comedy writing as almost anybody. Why? Because he's interviewed dozens of the best comedy writers on television for his books, "And Here's the Kicker" and "Poking a Dead Frog". But wait! There's more! Mike also co-wrote the hilarious "Sex: Our Bodies, Our Junk" with several other writers including Bob's Burgers w…
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Sarah Pappalardo is the co-founder of Reductress, the first and only satirical women’s magazine. Reductress is a hilarious website conceived, developed, and run by Sarah and her co-everything, Beth Newell. Sarah tells Writers' Bloc all about how she and Beth took an idea and made it into an actual product, and trust me, there's more to it than meet…
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Matthew Diffee is a very funny man and an excellent artist, which makes him perfectly suited for the world of cartooning. Matt has been contributing cartoons to The New Yorker since 1999 and he now has a fantastically entertaining book out called “Hand Drawn Jokes for Smart Attractive People.” We start, as usual, at the beginning, discussing the mu…
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Arthur Meyer is a writer and performer on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" and the proud co-author of the fake menu "FUDS" which he, Dan Klein and Kelly Hudson lovingly crafted into the book, "FUDS: A Complete Encyclofoodia".BUY NOW!Arthur and I somehow manage to shove aside the obvious sexual tension and get to know each other on a persona…
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In an earlier phase of his life, Ted Alexandro was a music teacher, an experience he used to help co-create the web series "Teacher's Lounge" which recently won best Best New Comedy Web Series at the Cynopsis Awards. Ted and I talk almost exclusively about creating the web series and what it takes to bring a project like this together on both the c…
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Jessi Klein is the Executive Producer and Head Writer for "Inside Amy Schumer" which is all an intelligent BlocHead such as yourself should need to know to just go ahead and start listening. She was also a development executive at Comedy Central which means she knows the business as well as the creative side of comedy writing and she's got a few th…
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Eric Drysdale is a man of many talents not the least of which is the writing of materials suitable for inclusion in the category of televised comedy/variety. On Thursday, December 18th Eric and his co-scribes ended their long run writing for The Colbert Report on Comedy Central and with any luck he'll will soon be employed at the network that for s…
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Doug Abeles is one of the cockiest comedy writers in the business, or more accurately, whatever the opposite of "cockiest" is. Those of you in your late 20's or later might be inspired to hear that Doug is a successful, Emmy Award winning comedy writer who didn't even start trying to get into the business until his early 30's. And even then, he sti…
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(undisclosed number of) years, so I was thrilled to find out he was not only working but also willing to talk to me about it. His latest gig was writing for a new sketch show called "Friends of the People" that will air on Tru TV starting in October. Hugh shares that experience with me as well as what it's been like for him to chase work and find w…
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Jason Ross is a writer for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, but here's the rub - he lives in L.A. even though the show tapes in New York City. What what?! We discuss how a writer living 3000 miles away from what you would imagine would be his office can, 1 - do his job, and 2 - get his job. Both answers are great stories. Before moving to L.…
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Chris Regan is a comedy writer who won five Emmys during his seven seasons on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He talks with us about leaving a lucrative (potential) career in advertising to chase a very potentially un-lucrative career in comedy writing. It turned out well. We talk about the early days at TDS and what it's like to leave a secure, h…
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Charlie Grandy was a writer on The Daily Show without Jon Stewart. He was also a writer on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and was on staff with me when we won our first Emmy. Good times. We talk about those years, the difference between the “Jon” and “non-Jon” writing processes, and what it’s like to get a job where you feel like the least qualifi…
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Lesley Arfin was one of the growing number of fantastic people I'd never met before talking to them on the podcast. Fortunately, we hit it off nicely and had a great conversation about her work as a writer on Girls, Awkward, Portlandia, and Brooklyn 9-9. As you might imagine, these are all very different shows which means very different styles of w…
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Damien Fahey is a writer for Family Guy on FOX. We discuss that. He also voiced two episodes of Family Guy called, “Peter’s Daughter”, & “I Dream of Jesus”. We forgot to discuss that. In addition to writing for the TV box, Damien has also appeared on it, first as the long-running host of MTV’s flagship program, TRL, then as the guest host of The La…
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Rebecca Drysdale grew up in Versailles, France and Vancouver and Montreal, Canada, which makes her sound more like a line of designer clothing then a comedy writer, but comedy writer she is! For the fantastically funny Key and Peele show on Comedy Central. Rebecca attended Sarah Lawrence College for a minute, where she met her writing partner, none…
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In this episode we talk to Mike Royce (executive producer of "Enlisted", Fridays at 9 on Fox) about the intricacies of transitioning from comedian to staff writer to executive producer and showrunner, which is not as easy as it sounds, and it doesn't even sound easy. We also discuss different shooting styles and writing styles and the benefits of g…
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Lisa Ann Walter is, and always has been, a very busy woman. Known for stand-out roles in features such as The Parent Trap, Bruce Almighty, War of the Worlds, Killers and Shall We Dance, Lisa also co-created, produced and starred in several half-hour sitcoms including Life’s Work for ABC, and she's the creator and judge of Dance Your Ass Off for the…
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To say Chuck Tatham's resume speaks for itself... is ridiculous, mainly because resume's don't have the power of speech. They're inanimate objects. The very concept is absurd. As resume's go, however, Chuck's is very impressive to look at: 22 years in the business as a writer and producer at 15 different shows including "Arrested Development" and m…
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Bill Persky is a veteran Emmy Award winning comedy writer who started, like so many other comedy writers of his era, as a gag writer for established comedians not all of whom, as it turns out, were terribly funny people... until Bill helped them out of course. He soon moved on to writing for Variety shows for the likes of Sid Caesar, Bob Hope and B…
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Wyatt Cenac joins me for a live taping at NYC PodFest 2014. Wyatt won 3 Emmy Awards during his time as a writer and correspondent for The Daily Show, but did you know that Wyatt was also a writer for the hilarious animated series, King of the Hill? And do you know how he got that job? Did you know that Colin Quinn almost got him a job writing for S…
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Opus Moreschi is a classic Hollywood triple threat: a writer, performer and mammal. He also happens to be the head writer of The Colbert Report and a close personal friend of mine... as far as he knows. I've been promising a Colbert writer for a long time now and I'm happy to "report" that it is now a reality. Opus and I cover just about everything…
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Travon Free is a comedian, actor and Emmy nominated writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart from Compton California... and that's where our journey begins. After some astonishing twists and turns and shootings and two-on-one street fights and a high school basketball championship and a bunch of other amazing stuff, the journey ends at The Daily …
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Mike Drucker is a stand-up comedian and staff writer for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, not necessarily in that order. Before landing his "dream job" at Late Night, Mike was a contributing writer for The Onion and Saturday Night Live as well as a localization writer for Nintendo... whatever the fuck that is. He's appeared in comedy festivals around …
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Despite his stern and intimidating stare, David Stassen is a very pleasant man. And why not? He has a job writing for The Mindy Project - one of the best sit-coms currently airing on the TV box. Before that he used to bus tables at a sandwich shop in Chicago and would sleep in the booths when his mean boss wasn't around. I probably skipped a few th…
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Hallie Haglund (@HallieHaglund) and Dan McCoy (@dankmccoy, @theflophousepod) are responsible adults with good jobs and healthy eating habits. Also, they have Emmy Awards for writing comedy-based material for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Together we give our unsolicited opinions of sitcom premieres I didn't get around to in Part 1 including The …
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Zhubin Parang and Daniel Radosh are Emmy Award winning writers for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In this ground-touching episode we band together to review several of this seasons new sitcoms including Dads (ugh), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (yea!), Mom (meh), The Goldbergs (sure, why not?), and Back in the Game (a solid single). For good measure, Zhubin…
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Despite the distinct lack of matching uniforms, Annie Mebane and Steve Basilone are a writing "team". They met in college, kept in touch, wrote a script together, sold it, started looking for work, and found it, ultimately landing at The Michael J. Fox Show. Now they're on Writers' Bloc to share their experience with (the portion of) THE WORLD (tha…
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Tom Ruprecht was a writer for The Late Show with David Letterman for 12 years before he jumped ship to pursue a career in looking for work. Also, he wanted to write some books, which he did! His latest is called This Would Drive Him Crazy: A Phony Oral History of J.D. Salinger, and it's exactly what it sounds like. After leaving The Late Show, Tom …
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There are a handful of people in this business who can do it all and Larry Wilmore is one of those people. He has not only created successful shows on his own, he has written for every genre known to television comedy, acted on "the TV" and in "the movies", written a book with another one on the way, and... he can sing! (I think. Not totally sure a…
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Chris Mundy is one of my more talented friends. Just ask my other friends. More importantly, Chris is a classic "nice guy" (except for the "finishing last" part.) He started his writing career at Rolling Stone (link to one of his cover stories) before venturing out to TV. His first job was at the final season of Chicago Hope where he ended up co-wr…
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Scott Jacobson is not only a friend to man and beast alike, but also the co-producer of Bob's Burgers which happens to be one of my favorite shows. Before that he took the typical route through the slightly lower echelons of the entertainment industry writing for various shows on Adult Swim which is actually a great place to watch full episodes of …
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Don't let the earnest headshot fool you - David Javerbaum (pr. "Javerbaum") is the author of the hilariously funny book, "The Last Testament: A Memoir by God". He also wrote the equally entertaining "What to Expect When You're Expected: A Fetus's Guide to the First Three Trimesters". He also wrote the lyrics for John Waters' "Cry Baby" on Broadway.…
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Rob Kutner was my fellow writer and officemate at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart for six and a half years. Before that prison sentence he wrote for Dennis Miller Live, and in 2009 he left TDS to board the unsinkable Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien! Unfortunately, that show sunk. Fortunately, Rob retained his writing job at Conan on TBS and has bee…
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Meet Gene Perret, writer for Love American Style, All in the Family, Three's Company, The Carol Burnett Show, Welcome Back Kotter - do I really need to go on? Okay, I will. Gene was also Bob Hope's head writer for 12 years! And he has graciously brought his vast experience and wealth of knowledge to Writers' Bloc. Gene shares some brilliant persona…
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Megan Ganz is a 28-year-old comedy writer whose resume reads like someone who's been working her ass off since she was 12... which she has. After writing for the satirical newspaper The Michigan Every Three Weekly at The University of Michigan, Megan was asked to join the staff of The Onion. She quickly moved her way up to Editor and that's when TV…
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Neal Brennan is a writer, director and stand-up comedian with some high profile credits well worth mentioning, particularly that he was the co-creator and Executive Producer of Chappelle's Show on Comedy Central and the co-writer - along with Dave Chappelle - of the movie Half Baked. Neal's comedy-origin story is an unusual one and a lesson in focu…
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This is the interview fans of Rob Corddry have been waiting for - it's my interview with Rob Corddry! The co-creator and star of the ridiculously hilarious Children's Hospital on Adult Swim is living proof that really-super-crazy talented people can make it in Hollywood. Who knew? Rob is a fortunately busy man who's been in so many movies in the pa…
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Taped in front of a live audience at the University of North Carolina! Lewis Black is a two-time Grammy Award winning stand-up comedian and regular contributor to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart for the past 17 years. (That's not a typo.) He is also an author, a playwright and a mensch in disguise. We discuss all of these things and more including …
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Whoever came up with the phrase "nice guys finish last" never met Phil Rosenthal. The creator and Executive Producer of the 70-time Emmy Nominated "Everybody Loves Raymond" invites me into his home to discuss sitcoms, books, movies, and insane interviews with huge superstars. Phil has an amazing talent for clearly explaining otherwise complicated i…
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Sarah Silverman (seen here with monkey) is a popular American actress/comedian perhaps best know for being awesome. She created and starred in "The Sarah Silverman Program," was wildly hilarious in her concert movie "Jesus Is Magic" (Netflix the shit out of that thing!) and most importantly is a fine person and an excellent friend. Soon Sarah will …
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Part 2 of "The Writers' Bloc 'The Simpsons' Mini-Marathon"! Mike Scully is a longtime writer and producer for 'The Simpsons' who also wrote for 'Everybody Loves Raymond', 'Parks and Rec', the list goes on. This is a seasoned professional with willing to share his experience with BlocHeads around the world. Mike is also helping develop 'Dads' a new …
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Mike Reiss has written for "The Simpsons" since DAY 1 -- 22 years ago! -- and Writers' Bloc is thrilled to have him. Mike and J.R. talk about the show's humble beginnings - from an un-air-conditioned trailer parked on the Fox lot to the longest running primetime show in television history. Mike's endless string of stories and anecdotes about the sh…
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The Oscars are coming up and what better way to pre-celebrate than to listen to two people who've been there tell you what it's like to write for the Academy Awards? Rory Albanese is the Executive Producer of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart having worked his way up from his start as an intern for The Late Show with David Letterman. He's also a grea…
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No guest this time around, just little old me talking about my experience doing an AMA (Ask Me Anything) for the website Reddit. I really had an amazing time but believe it or not feedback on the internet was mixed. What!? Seems I didn't adequately "A" some of the "Q's", but all that is about to change. Plus you'll find out what comedy legend I dre…
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Ed Helms is... well, he's Ed Helms. Among other things he's an actor best known for almost everything that he does. Yes, The Hangover was a particularly big hit and yes, The Hangover 3 is coming soon to a theater near you, but Ed's talents go far beyond simply starring in record-breaking blockbuster comedy hits. He is also an accomplished musician,…
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Brendan Hay is a self-proclaimed geek who's been lucky enough to write for The Simpsons, Robot Chicken (Emmy nominated!), and The Mighty B! Before that, he was a headline producer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and a contributing writer to America: The Book. Currently, he is the head writer on Star Wars Detours, a new animated comedy from Luca…
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It's episode 4! We made it past the originally planned trilogy! And it's a good one, with Jo Miller, writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Jo and I get into every day operations at TDS as well as what it was like to work on Earth: The Book while we were doing the show at the same time. (Spoiler Alert: it was a lot of work.) Jo also talks abou…
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Jon Bines is a better comedy writer than he is a self-portrait photographer. He's also a brilliant, hilarious guy who writes for Jimmy Kimmel Live, and Writers' Bloc Podcast has him! Jon began his getting-paid-for-writing career at Comedy Central's "Turn Ben Stein On" which he happily left behind to work with Kimmel at "The Man Show" which, accordi…
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