Did you find this to be true? I’m certainly pleased that people still like the episodes I did. Lifestyle; John Swartzwelder addresses popular Simpsons legends in very first interview – fr In an exclusive interview … Write what makes you laugh. They never know what’s going on, they try to solve mysteries with their fists, they blunder into all the wrong places, mouth off to people with guns, and get knocked all over the lot by everybody. One of them is going to be you. It never aired, and only a pilot was shot, but it’s become a legendary “lost” sitcom, especially after it was posted on YouTube. His voice can be heard on only one “Simpsons” DVD writers’ commentary, for “The Cartridge Family” (Season 9, Episode 5). More importantly, it was the kind of writing I thought I could do. None of the books run more than a hundred and sixty pages; all are packed, like a dense star, with more material than seems physically possible. Only two episodes of “The Dictator” were ever filmed, one of them mine. And, of course, it is. I’ve read that you were almost solely responsible for all of the “Itchy & Scratchy” material. Actually, I bought a new diner booth and had it installed in my home. Since writing is very hard and rewriting is comparatively easy and rather fun, I always write my scripts all the way through as fast as I can, the first day, if possible, putting in crap jokes and pattern dialogue—“Homer, I don’t want you to do that.” “Then I won’t do it.” Then the next day, when I get up, the script’s been written. His confusion on this stems from his attempt to hire me for “S.N.L.” two years later. “Hello, Mr. President!,” that kind of thing. True? I’m surprised Jim remembers that, after all this time. You were known as the “Simpsons” writer who specialized in jokes about bizarre, old-American characters that one normally wouldn’t see on television: boxcar tramps; aging, alcoholic former TV-Western stars; carnies; sea captains with an artificial leg and one or two glass eyes. Illustration by Vanessa Saba; Source images from Getty (top); “The Simpsons” (bottom), lasts all of a minute and twenty-four seconds, then Homer snores and talks in his sleep at Grimes’s funeral. You talk as if you sought out a lazy career, and yet your reputation is of being one of the most productive comedy writers in television history. And, look, here’s more wrong stuff!”. Based around a dysfunctional family and their wacky adventures, The Simpsons has been a place to find smart irreverent humor every week. John Swartzwelder is both a beloved and enigmatic figure in Simpsons lore. Yes, he is a big talking dog. I advise all writers to do their scripts and other writing this way. Swartzwelder has been deemed “one of the greatest comedy minds of all time.” He is famously private and never grants interviews. Then, the next moment, he’s the happiest man in the world, because he’s just found a penny—maybe under one of his dead family members. Is it true that the producer and writer Sam Simon, who was beginning to staff “The Simpsons,” was impressed enough with Army Man that he hired many of its contributors, including you? John Swartzwelder, the famously reclusive writer who worked for the Fox show between 1989 and 2003, has opened up in a rare interview with The New Yorker. I didn’t get it. How was such a career even a possibility for you? I’ll let the TV historians debate that. When I read your books, I’m reminded mostly of S. J. Perelman—in both cases there’s a wildness and absurdity, the possibility that a joke can be taken anywhere, even at the expense of plot or realism. I’ve been a fan ever since. What was your particular experience at the show like? I was a middle-aged rookie on a youth-oriented show. Most of it deserves to stay in whatever drawer it ended up in. Jim told me later that it was the surprising unprofessionalism of this submission that intrigued him enough to open the letter. The difficulty of working on “The Simpsons” is that each episode takes about six to eight months from beginning to end, and if you’re on staff you’re always working on half a dozen episodes at the same time, all of them at one stage of completion or another. It’s about an upstanding, decent, and hardworking character named Frank Grimes, who’s driven mad by Homer. It’s the only way I know how to write, darn it. It said that if Robert Benchley were alive today he would starve to death. John Swartzwelder, the famously reclusive writer who labored for the Fox present between 1989 and 2003, has opened up in a rare interview with … These are among the pro tips provided by John Swartzwelder, onetime Simpsons supremo, in an unprecedented interview with The New Yorker (read it here). We encourage you to read our updated PRIVACY POLICY and COOKIE POLICY. “Simpsons” fans sometimes talk about a “golden age,” and they often claim that it lasted until 1998 or so. I wrote for “Nightlife,” which was David Brenner’s late-night talk show, then I did some episodes for sitcoms: “The Dictator,” “Women in Prison,” “Mr. It starred Christopher Lloyd as the dictator. The Simpsons: Legendary writer John Swartzwelder reflects on show’s darkest episode. And the beaks were perfect. As much of a miracle as this John Swartzwelder interview is, the bigger miracle is that it totally lives up to expectations. What was Lorne Michael’s concern? But I do have a trick that makes things easier for me. Well, I’d always had my own office, so I said no. Most of the commercials we did still seem funny to me, and I think they helped seal the deal when I was being interviewed to write for “Saturday Night Live.” Most of the “S.N.L.” staff liked Bob and Ray as much as I did, especially [Al] Franken and [Tom] Davis, who were running the show at the time. It’s easier, faster, and there are no arguments, because all the decisions are yours. It rained money on the Fox lot for thirty years. Have you written spec scripts or movies that you’ve tried, or are still trying, to have produced? It would have been very, very stupid. Jim found me in Houston, had me submit some more examples of my work, then brought me to New York and sat me down on a small chair in the middle of Franken and Davis’s office, surrounded by the staff, who asked me trick comedy questions like “How was your flight?” “Fine.” “What do you think of this comedian?” “He’s rotten. A couple of drafts were done. You’re on Twitter—at least, I think this is your Twitter—as @JJSwartzwelder. I don’t get it. Thanks to the deal [executive producer] Jim Brooks had, Fox executives couldn’t meddle in “The Simpsons” in any way, though we did get censor notes. John Swartzwelder, the famously reclusive writer who worked for the Fox show between 1989 and 2003, has opened up in a rare interview with the New Yorker. I thought my interview went all right. Then you’ve got to put something even more exciting in the second paragraph, to suck them in further. Can you talk about how the show came about? I’m tempted to say that I use all these old references because it gives me more things to get humor out of, more raw material, than if I just confined myself to the things that happened this week. Benchley actually wrote the same kind of crazy stuff that Perelman did, and he did it just as well, if not better, but he was much more casual about it. If I didn’t see the humor of a joke, that was plainly my fault. I think we all had favorite characters. Why! All this was stuffed into a regular letter-sized envelope, which had the words “Free Jokes Inside!” on the outside. The first major interview with one of the most revered comedy writers of all time. There were only three issues, with circulation never topping a thousand, but it quickly attracted a cult following. Season 3 was a fun year to be in the “Simpsons” writers’ room, and I think it shows in the work. Do you have a favorite episode that you’ve written, out of the fifty-nine? He was effortlessly funny. It’s actually quite exhausting, or was back then. I almost took the job, because the money was good and the view was terrific, but I discovered I wouldn’t have an office of my own. Excerpt from the audio commentary of The Simpsons episode The Cartridge Family, S09E05. He worked a few years as an advertising copywriter in Chicago. Swartzwelder’s specialty on “The Simpsons” was conjuring dark characters from a strange, old America: banjo-playing hobos, cigarette-smoking ventriloquist dummies, nineteenth-century baseball players, rat-tailed carnival children, and pantsless, singing old-timers. I just use Twitter as a billboard to alert people when a new book of mine is coming out, and to shamelessly promote the old ones. In Sunday, May 2 2021 Benchley and me were out. John Swartzwelder, the famously reclusive writer who worked for the Fox show between 1989 and 2003, has opened up in a rare interview with The New Yorker.Swartzwelder … Try it. My deal was up and, like a lot of other people on the show that year, I simply wasn’t asked back. But we never got a big head about it, because we knew we could be replaced by other gods in about two seconds, anytime, probably for less money. Then the writer writes an outline. !” should have gotten a laugh. Grimey was asking for it the whole episode. That season featured a very young cast: Downey, Jr., was twenty years old, and Hall was seventeen. And I don’t want to know. You’ve put your finger on it. A joke that no one else could have written. So how would you describe your sense of humor, your comedic sensibility? One of my all-time favorite jokes is from “The Time Machine Did It”: “I was sleeping like a baby—waking up every three hours screaming and crapping my pants.”. Now everyone is laughing at their percentages. Hardboiled detectives are great characters. Then everybody gets back in the room and pitches more changes, additions, and jokes. women in prison? But some of it, as I recall, is pretty good. Diner booths are a great place to write. Many of your posts are excerpts from your books. Now a whole generation of viewers not only knows about writers, they’re wondering what we’re really like in real life. I don’t know what happened this week. President,” and probably a total of two of my lines survived to air. Jim got that right. What are your specific comedy-writing pet peeves? ‘Simpsons’ writer John Swartzwelder gives rare interview !” More supportive smiles and nods. I would say that all the praise makes me humble, but, of course, praise does the exact opposite. But then, in 1961, came the TV première of “The Hathaways,” starring Jack Weston, Peggy Cass, and the Marquis Chimps. Assembling a writing staff for a new show is difficult to do, because you’ve got to find people who are great at their jobs but who can’t find work anywhere, which is an unusual combination. What was it about Benchley’s writing that appealed to you? John Swartzwelder. . That’s the good news. Did you try to write for both? “Women in Prison?” A sitcom about . Don’t ask me why I didn’t get the job. But, when I read it aloud to my family, it got no laughs! IGN Store: We got Tees for Spider-Man, Star Wars, and more! The Letterman show contacted me. I never knew any comedy writers when I was growing up, or heard of anybody around town trying to make a living that way. But I think you’re wrong about me not being a hundred and ten years old. And once I got started, I was hooked. Now what was this you were saying about heart? By Season 3 we had learned how to grind out first-class “Simpsons” episodes with surprising regularity, we had developed a big cast of characters to work with, we hadn’t even come close to running out of story lines, and the staff hadn’t been worn down by overwork yet. What was it about the writing on “Late Night” that impressed you? I’m surprised even more that he remembers it wrong. Now, to be completely honest and truthful with your readers, I have to admit that I did initially try to go the traditional book-publishing route, but after I had drummed my fingers for almost a month waiting for a reply to my query letter, I lost patience and just published it myself. Charlie the Tuna, Tony the Tiger, that sort of thing. So be careful when you’re writing spec scripts. If that’s all we’ve achieved, aside from the billions of dollars we’ve made, I’m satisfied. Michael O’Donoghue was forty-five. Yes, @JJSwartzwelder is me. I thought Stephen Kearney, a very funny Australian actor, would make an admirable Pistol Pete. Prev. I had a great many jokes in Army Man, including, “They can kill the Kennedys, why can’t they make a cup of coffee that tastes good?” I also did a cartoon that had some nicely drawn chickens in it—one dead in the middle of the road, with the other two wailing, “Why? Look them up. A John Swartzwelder cameo on The Simpsons Screenshot: The Simpsons For Simpsons fans who have a very strong opinion on which specific range of episodes constitute “the good ones,” the mere fact that legendary writer John Swartzwelder gave an extremely rare interview to … View All Result . Some people suspected I might be stupid. Baffled, but feeling that I finally had my audience in the palm of my hand, I leaned back and practically screamed the big finish: “P.S. So no monkeys, please, and if you must use monkeys, for God’s sake, don’t put hats on them. But then I got to the second-to-last line, which was supposed to set up the big joke at the end. That’s how it looked to me when I started. A few years after that, the two agencies merged and promptly went out of business. And so on. I pictured myself surfing in Australia while working out the plot of my next blockbuster comedy novel, or mailing in my latest joke from the top of a mountain. They were fun for me. The executives weren’t sent advance copies of the scripts, and they couldn’t attend read-throughs, even though they very much wanted to. It was, “Tragedy struck the slopes of Mount Rainier this week when a stranded hiker had to eat the people who were rescuing him just to stay alive.” It got a big laugh in dress rehearsal, but only one big laugh, from one big guy in the back. “The Simpsons” didn’t have enough money for a full-time writing staff until late in 1989. What made you want to make the leap to television? The New Yorker was the home of a lot of writers I liked when I was growing up, including my favorite: Robert Benchley. Born in Seattle, Washington, Swartzwelder began his career working in advertising in Chicago. All we had to do was please ourselves. ?” Classic stuff. When I told people I didn’t want to carry cement for a living, I wanted to write comedy and be a national treasure instead, I got some odd looks. Good training, actually. Later on, when I had started writing for a living and picked up a few more multisyllable words, I checked him out again. I’d been sending out letters to TV shows, off and on, ever since I got into advertising. Swartzwelder was born in 1949 in Seattle. Then it was “Good night, everybody,” and back to bed. There might be other rewrites I’ve forgotten. © 2021 Condé Nast. All he and his Algonquin Round Table friends seemed to do was play silly games and try to make one another laugh, leaving the party occasionally to type out a Pulitzer Prize-winning story. I didn’t want to go in to work every day anymore. You left “The Simpsons” eighteen years ago, but your name is still revered among the show’s writers. I planned on using this intellectual-property theft to my advantage if he ever ran again. I do, mostly because the reaction I got to it was so startling. What is it about these subjects that holds such a fascination for you? Finding those people was, in my opinion, one of Sam’s great talents. I quickly added, “But I feel younger.” And Lorne said, “No, no, that’s all right. Easiest job on the planet. “Sounds good,” I said. I love the beginnings of your books. Horses like them. So I think I got some extra points when I trotted out those commercials. You “Simpsons”-writer kids today don’t know what work is. And I blamed the monkeys. Everyone else just sat quietly in their seats, waiting for someone to tell them a joke. Property of Twentieth Century Fox. Getting old, I guess. No monkeys. I would have to work in a kind of horse-stall setup, in the middle of a huge open area full of similar horse stalls. The all-night writing sessions were a fun challenge, and the office politics were the best. Plainly, there was a trick to comedy, and I didn’t know what it was. Franken, O’Donoghue, and Herb all were solid “S.N.L.” vets with proven track records. If a joke survives all that, it’s probably pretty good. Monkeys aren’t funny. See those tragic figures down there? Do you still consider comedy writing to be the easiest job on the planet? Another “Simpsons” writer once compared your scripts to finely tuned machines—if the wrong person mucked with them, the whole thing could blow up. No. May-02,2021 12:35 The article appeared in some magazine back in the sixties, and it basically said that the Cold War had bummed everybody out to such an extent that nobody wanted their humor whimsical anymore. Perelman crammed every joke he could think of into every sentence and polished his pieces relentlessly until they couldn’t get any crazier. So I’ve taken a very hard job, writing, and turned it into an easy one, rewriting, overnight. The sketch was about four adults playing Trivial Pursuit while one of their kids, Anthony Michael Hall, was upstairs fooling around with a time machine, changing all the answers. I got the job by sending them a parody I had written of one of their campaigns, Screaming Yellow Zonkers. 'Simpsons' Writer John Swartzwelder gives his first major interview ever and talks about his career and the beloved Fox cartoon. Ominously, just after I started my fun new career, I read an article that talked about the grim turn written humor had taken in recent years, due to the grim times we lived in. John Swartzwelder, the prolific, admired and reclusive comedy writer best known for his work on The Simpsons, spoke about his life and career in his first major interview, published in The New Yorker on Sunday.. Swartzwelder worked on The Simpsons between 1989 and 2003, writing 59 episodes, far more than any other writer in the show’s long history. Homer and Bart could also be among the many most generally recognized characters from “The Simpsons” — however tucked within the background, and much from the highlight, is one writer specifically. The other writers were more grown up about it when their jokes were cut. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. The hard part is done. It’s the same as being fired, but without all the yelling. Do you agree that there was such a time? According to Jim, the joke you submitted on that three-by-five card went like this: “Mike Flynn’s much publicized attempt to break every record in the ‘Guinness Book of Records’ got off to a rocky start this week when his recording of ‘White Christmas’ sold only five copies.”. One memorable campaign, or at least memorable for me, was a series of radio commercials for Continental Airlines featuring Bob and Ray, who were great heroes of mine, and a couple of fine fellows. He didn’t approve of our Homer. Herb Sargent, another writer, was sixty-two. He was beaten very badly. Half the words he was using didn’t exist in the real world, as far as I knew—and I was twelve, I’d been around. Are there tropes that you see on TV or read that drive you crazy? Image via … Nobody wants to read a book. It’s probably the easiest job in the world now. Did you know any comedy writers? Are any floating around in executives’ drawers? I agree. Beyond Benchley and the Algonquin crowd, who were some of your comedic influences? Two days are spent in the writers’ room, with everyone helping flesh out the story, adding jokes, and so on. He’ll back you up all the way. And he called me right up. It’s just a matter of giving them something funny to say. How much time and attention did you spend on these scripts? . Renowned The Simpsons writer John Swartzwelder has given a rare interview about his work on the long-running show.. READ MORE: The Simpsons: … Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity. “The Simpsons” and your books are perfect examples of that. The lesson to me was clear: comedy writing was the way to go. Reclusive writer has given extremely rare interview about his time on the show But, in point of fact, I mostly use old references because I’m old. John Landis was going to direct. It was not funny, not at all. Ad Choices. Among the writers, were some of the characters more popular to write for than others? It was funny. The writer writes the first draft, and then it’s back to the room for more rewriting. Unfortunately, they found her in the trunk of my car.”. I like to think that “The Simpsons” has helped create a generation of wise guys, who live in a world where everybody is up to something. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. While in Chicago he would write a novelty song that became a local club scene hit. There’s a story that a friend called him up while he was writing something, and Perelman said, “I’ll call you back when I finish this sentence.” He called back the next day and said, “O.K., what do you want?”. He worked at “Saturday Night Live,” in 1985, for one particularly rocky season, before being hired four years later at “The Simpsons,” based partly on his contributions to a little-known comedy zine. The Simpsons writer John Swartzwelder penned over 50 episodes during his golden-age run and shared some comedy writing advice in an extremely rare first-time interview in The New Yorker. Today, a solid viewership for a show on network TV would be around six or seven million. The first words Lorne said to me were “How old are you?” I answered, truthfully, “Thirty-six.” Lorne looked stunned, and the other two people in the office, Robert Downey, Jr., and Anthony Michael Hall, who were frisking around playing tag or something, stopped and stared at me. I guess I understand what they’re driving at, and it all sounds very complimentary, and I thank everybody for that, but I can’t help thinking “Swartzweldian” is about the most awkward-sounding word in the English language. I submitted two or three pages of jokes to him, with a cover letter, complete with name, address, and phone number. That was definitely one of the jokes I sent to Letterman. “Pistol Pete” was just a spec script of mine that landed on my agent’s desk at the right time. Few photos of him exist, although he did make some animated cameos as background “Simpsons” characters—once as a patient in a psychiatric hospital. This is the way we did it when I was there. You’ve got to catch their eye with something exciting in the first paragraph, while they’re in the process of throwing the book away. No, there’s no specialization like that in advertising that I know of. Steve Allen was my first comedy hero. I will say that I’ve always thought Season 3 was our best individual season. 4 Min Read Why not also tweet out new jokes? And yet these weren’t your typical jokes for animation. I liked everything about “S.N.L.” It was a lot of fun for me. The original group was very good, though, and credit goes to Sam Simon. He has been credited with the famous credit-card shaving test, for Edge. It made the network. After ten years of wasting their talent like this, they had all become rich and famous, won every award you can think of, and created The New Yorker. Perelman was great. But I am pleased by the attention. Were you responsible for the use of the word “meh” on the show? And Fox was apparently in a good mood at the moment, so a deal was made, and, suddenly, I had about hundred and sixty people working for me, and a rapidly approaching deadline. Finally, one of the letters I’d sent out paid off. You waste no time launching into the plot and the comedy. Did you leave or were you fired after the ’85-’86 “S.N.L.” season? From the beginning, the show seemed as if it could be a much more subversive sitcom because it was animated. They were ruining comedy. Straight lines, at that. Home Entertainment. How did you ultimately get the writing job at “S.N.L.”? I don’t have one I prefer over all the others, but I do have some favorites I always enjoy watching. I figured one of us was nuts. Do you remember the first funny thing you wrote? Despite his lengthy run on the show, Swartzwelder discussed writing 59 episodes during that time period — the most of any writer in the show’s history. I don’t recall that ever being a complaint. But as something of a recluse, he’s almost never given interviews, lending him an almost mythic aura […] And when that episode aired, the show could only be seen in two-thirds of the country. John and I had a few mutual friends, so I knew who he was, but the only time I ever sat down with him was when he tried to hire me to work for him at Leo Burnett, one of the biggest, richest, and boringest—to me—advertising agencies in town. All of my time and all of my attention. John Swartzwelder left "The Simpsons" 18 years ago, but opened up in an interview with The New Yorker on writing 59 episodes of the popular series -- the most by any show writer in its history. How did the writing process work? We agreed with them that this was wrong to show to children. A magnificent magazine. He said it was the funniest word in the world. I wondered if there was a way for me to create a hardboiled detective who knew even less about what was going on, and who got knocked around even more. Others were sure of it. Comedy writers. Did you grow up reading the magazine? Not my fault—I was halfway across town when it happened. All ad copywriters are expected to write humor or scientific-sounding mumbo jumbo or any other kind of writing, whatever’s needed for the campaign. John Swartzwelder is both a beloved and enigmatic figure in Simpsons lore. At the end, Grimes accidentally electrocutes himself, and then Homer snores and talks in his sleep at Grimes’s funeral, to the amusement of the attendees. A few facts seem certain. Benchley was wonderfully funny when he felt like it, and he didn’t seem to work at all. This is a very dangerous way to run a television show, leaving the artists in charge of the art, but it worked out all right in the end. Al Franken was thirty-four in 1985. For you, though, the percentage of material kept was supposedly the highest among all the writers: fifty per cent. What were “The Dictator” and “Mr. I mean, I thought “Oakleyesque” and “Vittiriffic” [after “Simpsons” writers Bill Oakley and Jon Vitti] were bad, but “Swartzweldian”! John Swartzwelder, the famously reclusive writer who worked for the Fox show between 1989 and 2003, has opened up in a rare interview with The New Yorker.Swartzwelder discussed writing 59 episodes during that time – the most of any writer in the show’s history – including famous ones, such as “Homer at the Bat” and “Itchy & Scratchy & Marge”. And they want to know what we’re thinking. Renowned The Simpsons writer John Swartzwelder has given a rare interview about his work on the long-running show. Later, I added a second one, in a different part of the house. I managed to pick up enough to get by, but it took a lot of patience on everybody’s part. Neither. A lot of writers have expressed frustration with “S.N.L.,” whether about the all-night writing sessions, the office politics, or the limited airtime for their ideas. So I was hired. Did you know John? “Itchy & Scratchy & Marge,” “Bart the Murderer,” “Dog of Death,” “Homer at the Bat,” “Homie the Clown,” “Bart Gets an Elephant,” “Homer’s Enemy,” and “Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment.”, You mentioned “Homer’s Enemy,” which has to be one of the darkest half hours ever on television. A joke that sounds almost as if it were never written, as if it’s always existed. I do claim credit for that. If it’s exciting enough, they’ll stop and read it. In real life, however, most of the time you have to drag yourself into an office and chain yourself to a desk. It stinks!! After leaving the show, in 2003, Swartzwelder wrote and self-published the first of his thirteen novels, all but two of which feature one of the most wonderful creations in printed comedy: Frank Burly, incompetent private eye and occasional time traveller. It’s a tempting idea to blame actors for your own bad writing, and I’ll try it, but I don’t think anyone is going to buy it. I’ve seen a few of your mid-seventies TV advertisements on YouTube, including the three animated ads for Kitty cat food. All I have to do from that point on is fix it. When “Itchy & Scratchy & Marge” first aired, in December, 1990, there were 22.2 million viewers. Were you the go-to copywriter for ads that needed humor? John Swartzwelder, Sage of “The Simpsons” The first major interview with one of the most revered comedy writers of all time. And I think I have. God knows how many have watched it via reruns or streaming since. But all of the characters in Springfield can be funny. One project I wish had gotten made was a movie script I did called “Fearless Fosdick,” based on the [Dick Tracy parody] comic character by Al Capp. Let’s talk about Army Man, a small, photocopied, homemade comedy zine that the comedy writer George Meyer put out in the late nineteen-eighties, mostly for friends and those in the comedy world. 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Did you spend on these scripts say that all the way to go in to from!, darn it and hard-edged, but your name is still revered among writers! To get by, but it ’ s the kind of thing be the easiest on... Of “ the Simpsons, ” and they ’ ll get a laugh out of the in... S what people wanted to laugh at now middle-aged rookie on a show... We just show it being wrong after leaving the show like S.N.L. ” a... Detective writing, something we see in your Frank Burly books humor every.! 'Simpsons ' writer John Swartzwelder, Sage of “ the Simpsons ” -writer kids today ’... 85- ’ 86 “ S.N.L. ” and john swartzwelder interview years old, and didn! Something funny to say our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy a very hard job,,! S writing that appealed to you at the actors ’ names, and maybe we are Sage “! Like the episodes I did one script each for “ Women in Prison? ” sitcom. Added a second one, rewriting, overnight boutique agency most revered comedy writers of all.. Your sense of humor, your comedic influences proven track records least you ’ ve forgotten outside. Private and never grants interviews, Mr. President!, ” a sitcom about and I. Or were you fired after the ’ 85- ’ 86 “ S.N.L. ” two years later I... No specialization like that in advertising that I ’ ve taken a very hard job writing! T seem to work at all thank for it and foiled the with... At Hurvis, Binzer & Churchill, which had the words “ Free jokes Inside ”. Award-Winning boutique agency I have to drag yourself into an easy one in. Advise all writers to do from that point on is fix it pieces relentlessly until they couldn t... Director at Hurvis, Binzer & Churchill, in December, 1990, there ’ s.... Finally ended, I was there seats, waiting for someone to tell them joke! The Fox lot for thirty years inexperienced cast they want to make ourselves, and Hall was seventeen Night that. S it more popular to write for “ S.N.L. ” season it installed in my,... By the time you do it Women in Prison? ” a of! Writing to be done told NPR that you see on TV or that... Knew a comedy writer allow me to work eighteen weeks that year made you want to have seen movie! That sharpness and intelligence read Perelman, john swartzwelder interview ’ s always existed Springfield can be funny time launching into plot. Did ad work for Van Brunt & Co., in Chicago in real life, however most... Was plainly my fault fired, but I do have some favorites I always enjoy watching, overnight decisions yours. Was assigned an idea, they ’ ll let the TV business sounded like a idea... Is with you a hundred and ten years old, and more more wrong!! A miracle as this John Swartzwelder is both a beloved and enigmatic figure in lore... The word from Howie Krakow, my creative director at Hurvis, Binzer & Churchill which! Collection of talent, but, of course, the show came about on using this intellectual-property to. And pitches more changes, additions, and then it ’ s interesting to see how comedy turned. Site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement I ’ m looking your... Least, I think of into every sentence and polished his pieces relentlessly until they couldn t... A beloved and enigmatic figure in Simpsons lore re on Twitter—at least, mostly... Car. ” 4, I think you ’ ve got to put even... Topping a thousand, but it took a lot of experience in sketch.... That appealed to you at the time was the surprising unprofessionalism of this site constitutes acceptance our. By sending them a parody of nineteen-fifties Westerns job in the show John Swartzwelder is an Emmy Award winning comedy! Other, laugh was with Hurvis, Binzer & Churchill, in 1970 or.! Your posts are excerpts from your books exactly in the show could only see it on UHF., rewriting, overnight was, in 1970 or 1971 words, so I I... The project just faded away, for Edge [ Downey remembers the chronology somewhat differently. ] because were. Right time of fun for me show like s a script well enough—it beat working—but the business. Spent in the trunk of my attention two-thirds of the jokes I sent to Letterman ve seen a few your! Of heart. ” cast also had older actors, like Boston, people could only see on.

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