recent programs
What They Want
[Listen] [Listen] [Listen]
In the television business, this is pitching season. This is the time when writers file into network offices, sit down on waiting-room sofas, flip through that day's trades, get asked "Can I get you guys anything?" and are then led into a large office with a bunch of young executives and a guy named Josh who has a yellow legal pad on his lap, make some small talk, chuckle appreciatively, endure a small, expectant silence, and then go into the pitch... Aired Wednesday, September 27, 2006. [MORE]

Friends in the Room
[Listen] [Listen] [Listen]
I was having lunch with a friend of mine the other day. And he suddenly looked up from his Cobb salad. "Oh, here's something I forgot to tell you," he says. "You know who I ran into the other day?" "Who?"...
Aired Wednesday, September 20, 2006. [MORE]

Shoot it Single Camera
[Listen] [Listen] [Listen]
I have a friend who is trying to get a TV show on the air. Actually, if you're a television comedy writer, you only really have two kinds of friends -- those who have shows on the air, and those who want shows on the air... Aired Wednesday, September 13, 2006. [MORE]

Grey Hair
[Listen] [Listen] [Listen]
I went away for a few weeks this summer, and I grew a beard. I didn’t plan to grow it. I just planned not to shave. You know how that is...
Aired Wednesday, September 6, 2006. [MORE]

The Feet
[Listen] [Listen] [Listen]
This is going to sound crazy, but the truth is, I don't really know any celebrities. I mean, I know a few well-known people, I guess. And I've worked with famous people, but I don't really know anybody famous. You know, like, friends of mine. I don't know what it's like to be out to dinner with someone and get interrupted by autograph seekers. Or to walk through a fourth of July of flashbulbs...
Aired Wednesday, August 30, 2006. [MORE]

Big Agent
[Listen] [Listen] [Listen]
So, here's what went down a few weeks ago. Maybe you read about it. My agent, and his entire agency, were bought by another, larger, agency for a lot of money. Now, for years, they had been denying that they were even interested in such a thing. "Oh, no, never, we like our independence," they'd say. "Besides," they'd add, "we think our agency is worth a lot of money, and we're pretty certain there's no one out there with enough cash to make a deal.".. Aired Wednesday, August 23, 2006. [MORE]

Summer Sign-Up 2006
[Listen] [Listen] [Listen]
Aired Wednesday, August 16, 2006. [MORE]

Room Tone
[Listen] [Listen] [Listen]
Here's a bit of technical background. One of the things you need to record, when you're shooting on a soundstage, or for that matter, on location, is the noise that the place makes all by itself. The noise of the room. I know, it sounds silly, but each place has its own special sound, and it's important to record that sound so that later, when you have to fix an audio track, or record a wild line, you have something to put underneath it so that it blends in with the rest of the audio track that was recorded live...

Aired Wednesday, August 9, 2006. [MORE]

It's Tepid!
[Listen] [Listen] [Listen]
In the summer, all of the big media moguls gather in Sun Valley for a conference put on by investment banker Herb Allen. I couldn't make it this year. But I did see pictures of them, marching around in their awkward leisurewear and when I did, I thought of this story...
Aired Wednesday, August 2, 2006. [MORE]

Big Money
[Listen] [Listen] [Listen]
Let me ask you a question: if someone gave you, say, 50 million dollars today, would you think that's a lot of money? I'm not ashamed to say that I myself, me personally, would...
Aired Wednesday, July 26, 2006. [MORE]

Two or Twenty Minutes
[Listen] [Listen] [Listen]
In pretty much any kind of labor dispute, I instinctively side with management. This, I know, is a character flaw, and yet I can't seem to shake it...
Aired Wednesday, July 19, 2006. [MORE]

House in a House
[Listen] [Listen] [Listen]
Sometimes when I'm reading a magazine article, or one of those awful New York Times news analysis pieces, the reporter will feel compelled to say, in the middle of referring to a person or a place, something like, "full disclosure: the author is personally acquainted with... " you know, whatever they were writing about. So if they're writing about Yale or Harvard, they'll say, "full disclosure: this reporter is a graduate of Yale," which didn't really need to be disclosed, actually: you can tell someone went to Harvard or Yale just by the tortured non-logic of his argument, and how often he uses the word "obviously." The full-disclosure ruse is just a way of bragging to people about something that it would be pushy or la-di-da to mention any other way -- full disclosure: this reporter is short-listed for the Pulitizer Prize; full disclosure: this reporter once saved a kitty's life -- all wrapped up in disingenuous ooze. Aired Wednesday, July 12, 2006. [MORE]

Pineapple Rice
[Listen] [Listen] [Listen]
I have a friend who's an excellent chef. The other parents at her kid's school know that she's a great cook, and so at some point, during that awkward, stilted small-talk parents engage in when they're talking to their kids' friends, one parent asked her 10 year-old son, "So! What's your favorite thing that your mom cooks?"...
Aired Wednesday, July 5, 2006. [MORE]

It's a Mistake
[Listen] [Listen] [Listen]
I got a call from a reporter recently. He was doing a piece on the decline of the TV sitcom, trying to figure out why thee hasn't been a really big hit in a while. Dramas, serials, reality -- all of those areas are doing robust business. But comedy, which used to pay the big bills, isn't doing much of anything...
Aired Wednesday, June 28, 2006. [MORE]

[more Martini Shot shows]