the poker scene in season 1 was very written but then i let the guys go off and fuck around. i used some of that. I don't generally let people improvise though. That works for shows where you have two cameras that are just sort of following the action. i shoot my show like a movie and it would be all fucked up if folks just said things.
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On navigating the the challenges of having a main cast member pass away (in the show Silicon Valley)
On navigating the the challenges of having a main cast member pass away (in the show Silicon Valley)
The loss of CEW was fucking hard. I saw him with @rosepetalpistol at a place on the east side days before he passed away, his wife and beautiful daughter were there and we talked for 40 minutes about life, the show, and him. It was a huge blow to the show, he was the funniest person on it. So he's irreplaceable and I think that everyone felt that, and I felt worst for the writers and editors, seeing him over and over, writing him out of the show, the whole lot of it. But in the most disgusting and at the same time beautiful way, "the show must go on."
I think that saying means something bigger than most people think. The show is the most important thing in many ways, because it is for the w...
Well, I always felt especially bad that Charlie was disappointed by the show because he uprooted from LA and was definitely expected the show to be innovative and groundbreaking. Now, lots of people think it was, and if you check it out, there are plenty of sketches like Grandma the Clown, First Ladies as Dogs, Waiters Who Get Nauseated by Food, The Stupid Pranksters, and, yeah, the first Ace and Gary cartoon, and I'd say those and others were smart and original. We also had a legendary star performer who did amazing impressions and had beloved characters. So writing to the star's strengths, which included writing for his Regis, Perot etc. was always going to be an important ingredient. I ki...
It's been a priceless experience with the people I've met in the writer's room, and that I learned how to write a script. It's just great to finally have something where I can actually write the lines. As you work your way up, you think to yourself (or lie to yourself) that you could write it better. And now I get to do that. It's been great.
Question: You come from a very affluent family – are you a reformed “rich dick” or are those characters informed by people you went to school with? Or both? Or neither?
Answer: All of my characters are informed by who I am and people that I've come into contact with, as well as everyone else involved in making the show - like in the case of Rich Dicks, John Daly and people that he knew.
Larry David and I discovered that we were both obsessed with superman and admired him and also found him very funny at the same time, so that is why he came up a lot. Are you related to the hot dog Kobayashi in Coney Island?
Question: Peter and Nancy are my favorite characters on the show. What was the inspiration for Peter's pasta addiction and will they go anymore adventures like starting a B&B??
Answer: That came from a real dinner that Carrie and I had in Los Angeles. And we were looking at the menu, and we just thought "well obviously we can't order pasta, so I guess we have to order this." So we started talking about, why do we have to avoid pasta so much? So it was more that we were weighing the difference between the difference between enjoying life and really living, or ordering salmon.
Technically the debacle started before season 4 because one of the primary things I had intended to do was have Jeff Winger reunite with his Dad in season 3. The beginning of my firing, I think, was when I got a call from one of the compulsively unenjoyable personalities at NBC who just wanted to let me know that he had just had lunch with someone "very, very high up" [by the way, this is the kind of shit I will not miss about network television, why are you WITHHOLDING THE NAME of someone you're about to give me a note from] that was "concerned" because they had recently seen a little bit of Community and it had been Joel McHale attacking the study room table with an axe and so this anonymo...
We shot video for many many years. When I would edit the videos and see myself cracking up it ruined the bit. So I got good at keeping a straight face. Practice.
Netflix gave 8 alt comics the chance to do whatever we want for 30 min, and it really was so wide open. They didn't give many notes during the process and were very cool with us sticking to our guns if we preferred something a specific way. Almost all of the characters in my special are from my podcast or CBB.
The pros and cons of live action and animation are pretty much what you'd expect: in live action, you can shoot the same scene from a thousand angles for a thousand takes and figure out how to assemble the scene in "post," but if you realize that a character should have been looking a different direction or wearing a different kind of hat, you're either CGing their eyeballs or you're screwed. In animation, you can make eyeballs and hats change until the cows come home, but on the other hand, your script has to be darn near finished before the first actor even records their first line. The funny thing to me is that in live action, you can type "a room full of people" and nobody will have a he...
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Related posts tagged 'Improv'
i would use that money to maybe produce shows and perform as much as possible. reading books by Keith Johnstone or Del Close could give you some theory, but nothing will teach you like the stage and performing as much as you can! Watch great improv, it will help you do great improv. Maybe take the team to chicago for a few shows? That will be hugely helpful! Good luck
The next rule is “make statements” which is a positive way of saying don’t ask questions all the time … if we’re in a scene and I say “who are you?” or “where are we?” or “what’s in that box?”, I am putting all of the pressure on you to come up with the answers … in other words, whatever the problem, be part of the solution … don’t just sit around raising questions and putting up obstacles.
The first rule of improvisation is “agree” always agree and say “yes” … when you are improvising this means you are required to agree with whatever your partner has created … so if we’re improvising and I say “freeze I have a gun” and you say “that’s not a gun, it’s your finger” our improvised scene has ground to a halt … now in real life you are obviously not going to agree with everything everyone always says but the “rule of agreement” gets you to at least start from an open minded place … start with a “yes” and see where that takes you … as an improvisor I always find it jarring in real life when I meet someone who’s first answer is “no” …
When I first started taking improv classes (2003), I never used my own voice once in a scene. I really didn't feel comfortable doing that. I was a distinct character in every improv scene I did until I moved to NYC and started taking UCB classes (2008). So all of that character practice was great, but dropping them was also huge for me because it was easier for my performance style to translate to TV work.
The second rule of improvisation is to not only say “yes” but “yes and” … you’re supposed to agree and then add something of your own … “if I start a scene and say “it’s so hot in here” and you just say “yeah”, we’re kind of at a standstill … to me, “yes and” means don’t be afraid to contribute, it’s your responsibility to contribute … always make sure you are adding something to the discussion … your initiations are worthwhile …
I started to take improv classes with Washington Improv Theater at the exact same time I started going around to open mics in DC to watch and if lucky perform. Took about a month of watching before I really got to get on the microphone at any of the shows. So that month of foundations of improv learning with the great Dave Johnson really influenced my approach to standup. Not that I wanted to get up and improvise but the moments of not being funny on stage was easier to cope with after having learned to relax and build from nothing in class.
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