Late Night TV Comedy Writing

04/07/2023

Algorithmic trading is the process of using computers programmed to follow a pre-defined set of rules for automatically placing trades in order to generate profits at high speed and high frequency. The pre-defined sets of rules, called an algorithm, can range from quantitative strategies to machine learning models that can reference any data or combination thereof, e.g. prices, volume, or tweets/news feeds for sentiment analysis. Algo trading makes markets more liquid by introducing a large volume of trades and orders; unlike human traders, computers don’t need to rest or sleep, are much faster at calculating and sending instructions, and don’t suffer from emotions (at least, not yet??)

06/11/2020

A student hit me up to help him with a joke that he said, "Wasn't quite connecting." After I responded, I realized that it could make a nice lesson so I'm posting it here.

This particular student writes for a show and does like a “This week in history,” humor segment. For context, in 1985, the Uni-Bomber was often in the headlines.

His original joke went like this:

In 1985, A University of Michigan student was injured when a package he was handling exploded.
The student was found unconscious but alive...
In a co-ed bathroom...
With a pulled groin and a smile on his face

This is good but there is a bit of a disconnect. Some show runners or head writers might use the phrase, “It’s not quite tracking.” In this case, I think the joke is tracking, but it's a little murky.

If we look at the joke, the key in the set up is “package he was handling exploded” This part of the setup is used to create an assumption that there was a pipe bomb or package bomb.

Then the modifier that makes the simple truth play to shatter that assumption is “pulled groin and a smile on his face.”

One common mistake writers make is something I call the associative gap; “pulled groin and a smile on his face,” is associating and playing off “package he was handling.” So we have to remove as much information between the those elements without taking away from the joke

Step 1: Remove any information that is irrelevant.
Step 2: Re-order the information so that the association between the statement and the simple truth take-off are close enough together we don’t get distracted with other information that makes us forget what information we were playing off in the first place.
Step 3: Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite.



I will remove “but alive” since unconscious implies that he is alive.
I will also remove “on his face,” because where else would a smile be?
I will reorder the information to move “package he was handling closer to the simple truth take-off to remove the associative gap.

And I will wordsmith a little to see if I can effectively tighten the joke for a more impactful laugh.

Here are the edits:

In 1985, there were reports of a University of Michigan student who was injured while in a co-ed bathroom after a package he was handling, exploded. He was found unconscious, with a pulled groin and a smile.

Reports are coming in that a University of Michigan student was injured in a co-ed bathroom due to an exploding package. He was found unconscious with a pulled groin and smile

Or if you want to keep the rhythm:

In 1985, a University of Michigan student was injured while in a co-ed bathroom due to an exploding package he was handling. He was found unconscious with a pulled groin and a smile.

In 1985, a University of Michigan student in co-ed bathroom was injured when he mishandled a package that then exploded. He was found unconscious with a pulled groin and a smile.

In 1985, a University of Michigan student sustained injuries while in a co-ed bathroom after he mishandled a package that then exploded. He was found unconscious with a pulled groin and a smile.

I think the last one is the best. Hope this helps!

28/05/2019

The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon might be in trouble according to Page Six, (take it with a grain of salt considering it's a rag under the flag of the New York Post). But they did switch their show runner recently. Jim Bell, an executive producer from the Today Show replaced show runner Mike DiCenzo, who left Tonight after 10 years, citing burnout.
Page Six's headline that Tonight is experienced a "stunning ratings loss" is a little exaggerated since The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has been steadily beating Fallon in the ratings each night by more than 1.5 million viewers a night. That's BIG!

This means shaking up the staff. Whenever a staff has a shake up there's more opportunity for Late Night TV writers to get work!

Stay tuned.

We’ve learned that Fallon’s longtime producer Katie Hockmeyer has now left.