You Asked ... Comedy Writer Rob Kutner

StoryLink is thrilled to have comedy writer Rob Kutner, an Emmy nominee this year for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as our Featured Screenwriter for September.

A four-time Emmy winner, Kutner now writes for The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. He contributed to the bestseller America (The Book) and is the author of the satirical end-of-times bestseller Apocalypse How: Turn the End Times into the Best of Times! Other writing includes HBO's Dennis Miller Live, as well as pieces for the Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Esquire, and Maxim.

For those in the Los Angeles area, Kutner will be part of the Writers Guild of America West and Writers Guild Foundation's annual event on September 10th, Sublime Primetime, where a selection of the year's best television writers gather for a lively discussion of their craft, nominated projects, and the business of writing for television.

In celebration of Emmy season, Kutner answered questions from the StoryLink Community. Those whose questions were chosen will receive a The Dialogue: Learning from the Masters DVD (Winner's Choice) from The Writers Store.

Obviously, these are stressful times for many Americans. How do you, as a comedy writer, remain topical and satirical while remaining sensitive to the times? – Alan

I think bleak times are when people need to laugh the most. Your misery is our gravy. How was that for sensitive? Not good? Perfect.

For the aspiring comedy writer is there an appropriate way to send a body of "spec sketches" to those who hire in the industry? Or should I stick to spec screenplays and teleplays hoping to find representation and work? – Young

Well, it depends which genre appeals to you most. If you’re at all interested in late-night comedy-variety, yes, you should have a sketch packet at the ready. And you should also be writing topical jokes regularly – it’s like a muscle you have to work on to build up. Only without the opportunity to have Jose Canseco inject you in the butt.

Considering the diversity of media you've been involved in, do you think diversification is crucial for aspiring film/TV writers, or would that time be better spent zeroing in on our target platform/outlet? – Alaindominic

I think you have to diversify to improve your odds of breaking in. I moved to LA intending to be a sitcom or screenwriter, but on the side I was faxing in a few jokes to a topical comedy show my friend worked at. I think you can guess which action led to my current career.

Satire and comedy often work together, and the nature of Jon Stewart shtick is his willingness to push the margin between crass and sass. What are some of the hot topics you're drawn to in your humorous writing, and what advice do you have for comedic writers looking to get to the edge of their comedic limits without turning an audience off? – Blood of Poets

I like to find a humorous outlet for anything that makes me angry: stupidity, hypocrisy, overconfidence, and extremism of any kind. I would advise comedy writers to ride it out all the way to the edge and let their juices flow. Never censor yourself on the first draft. You can always trim, tone down, and soft-pedal later. But it’s hard to pump the zeal into something you’ve already softened in your mind.

Since you write for "live" television, have you ever had a situation where something that played really well in rehearsal turned out to bomb when it went before the audience? Then, in retrospect, would you — or could you — have written it differently? – Carleton

Yes, I would say that has happened to me...just about every single day. And on the flip side, sometimes something will get crickets at rehearsal, but the host or others will believe in the joke and it will kill with the audience. Sadly, there’s no way to bulletproof a joke – other than by getting the audience boozed-up beforehand.

I've seen Stewart turn an amusing satirical setup into big laughs. How much do you adjust the writing to the political persona and convictions of the performer? How do you keep the edge with O'Brien? – Dan

Being successful in this field is hugely dependent on writing to the voice, sensibility, areas of interest, and style of humor of your host. For all three hosts I’ve written for, I had been following them for years recreationally, but studied them extra-hard when I was applying to work for them.

What is it like to share your life with a fellow writer, please? Does the fact that you are both writers help or complicate your relationship? ...What are the positives and negatives of your very unique situation, please? – Karel

It complicated matters when we used to try to write together – the last thing a married couple needs is one more thing to argue about. But now that we pursue our own projects, we use each other as sounding-boards at every stage of the process. What keeps things interesting is that my wife and I have very different sensibilities. It would be so much easier if she would just break-down and admit that mine is correct.

Which is more important in breaking into the business - making contacts or writing flawless material? – Diane

The hard part is you have to be doing both in parallel. If one of those is particularly enjoyable and the other hellish, I would recommend writing with a partner whose skills are complementary to your own.

Working on a show like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, how do you work around finding new material consistently to keep up with the amount of episodes? How do you avoid being repetitive in the material? – Michael

On The Daily Show, I was fortunate enough to work with a crackerjack research giant named Adam Chodikoff and a whole team of footage producers who were constantly manning every media outlet for material. Being repetitive was more of the creative challenge. The writers were constantly being asked to pitch new angles and ideas, and we had to throw a lot of them at the wall to get just a few to stick. Believe me, you did not want to be the person who had to clean off that wall.

What are the benefits and pitfalls of being part of a writing group of a live talk show like The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart? Does having patience and exercising compromise help in improving your work and lead to an eventual solo deal? – James

The benefits are that you have an ongoing “workshop” session for improving your own work. It’s like the Learning Annex but without a “Singles Wine Tasting” class going on next door. The pitfalls are that sometimes your own creative priorities are preferences are submerged and squelched in the service of someone else’s. But to your last point, I think that does teach you how to eventually take the reins yourself and realize your own unique way of squelching others.