Friday, April 01, 2005
Welcome to the Daily Show, I'm John Stewart.
So, how do you get a comedy writing job? What is the typical path one takes if he wants to write jokes for a living? I guess the Harvard Lampoon has quite a network set up...but assuming you're not in that (and I wasn't...those Lampoon kids are weird, dude. And by weird, I mean, constantly on coke), how do you break in?
You could be a stand-up comic, I guess--and maybe someone sees you in "the biz" and hires you for a job. But doing stand up seems like kind of a miserable existence until you hit it big. Then again, what isn't a miserable until you hit it big? Actually, my current job isn't--I enjoy the work and get paid well. But most jobs are pretty awful--for a long while, it seems.
What is it about our culture that forces people to "pay their dues"? I don't want to pay my dues. I didn't pay my dues in college and still got to go to the House Formal. Why should I have to now?
Perhaps it's because striving for further happiness is what life is all about. Perhaps it's what gives young people motivation to innovate and create. Perhaps it's becaue a lack of life experience makes younger people flat out bad at most jobs (or, at least, not as good as those who have a little age in their bellies).
Perhaps that's all a crock of shit. I don't know. What I do know is that this post better take a turn for the humorous, and fast, because I'm starting to get bored. Take it off!
Well, I've got a fantasy baseball draft to do, so I can't stay long (that's also the line I use whenever I get into an awkward situation with someone. 'Oh! I'm sorry! I forgot, but I have to go to my fantasy baseball draft.' It's a bit awkward when I say it in August, but it's usually fool proof).
I guess this didn't take a turn for the funny after all. Worst. Post. Ever.
Now that Jeremy has referred his cronies to this blog, I'm starting to feel an obligation to up my prose, to write about something meaningful, something serious, something...something...something in the way she mooooves...
Man, you'd think I was a Lampoon member based on this.
You could be a stand-up comic, I guess--and maybe someone sees you in "the biz" and hires you for a job. But doing stand up seems like kind of a miserable existence until you hit it big. Then again, what isn't a miserable until you hit it big? Actually, my current job isn't--I enjoy the work and get paid well. But most jobs are pretty awful--for a long while, it seems.
What is it about our culture that forces people to "pay their dues"? I don't want to pay my dues. I didn't pay my dues in college and still got to go to the House Formal. Why should I have to now?
Perhaps it's because striving for further happiness is what life is all about. Perhaps it's what gives young people motivation to innovate and create. Perhaps it's becaue a lack of life experience makes younger people flat out bad at most jobs (or, at least, not as good as those who have a little age in their bellies).
Perhaps that's all a crock of shit. I don't know. What I do know is that this post better take a turn for the humorous, and fast, because I'm starting to get bored. Take it off!
Well, I've got a fantasy baseball draft to do, so I can't stay long (that's also the line I use whenever I get into an awkward situation with someone. 'Oh! I'm sorry! I forgot, but I have to go to my fantasy baseball draft.' It's a bit awkward when I say it in August, but it's usually fool proof).
I guess this didn't take a turn for the funny after all. Worst. Post. Ever.
Now that Jeremy has referred his cronies to this blog, I'm starting to feel an obligation to up my prose, to write about something meaningful, something serious, something...something...something in the way she mooooves...
Man, you'd think I was a Lampoon member based on this.
