Do TV writers ever have to scrap jokes because people on Twitter beat them to it? "All. The. Time," says Weekend Update head writer Alex Baze in a new Fast Company piece containing interviews with several top TV comedy writers about how Twitter affects their jobs. Baze continues, "We were doing a run that scolded global warming deniers that used the line 'If you’re still denying global warming, you’re the mayor from Jaws.' I was pretty happy about that joke, written by Pete Schultz, and then about an hour before show time, Gary Janetti tweeted that exact joke, pretty much word for word. We ended up having to cut the whole [...]
Last week, on the Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Jason Alexander joked that cricket was "a bit gay." This caused a bit of a stir and didn't really make any sense because sports, regardless of their often personifications, are not living things that have sexual preferences. What is most compelling about this story is instead of rushing to offer some quick apology, Jason actually thought about his actions. He could have easily had his publicist issue a statement yet he chose to write a very long and thoughtful "message of amends." Read the whole thing below:
Here's a fun list of TV tropes and jokes that are overused to the point of exhaustion. Seriously, TV way overuses these cheeseballs, it's really annoying, and…TV's standing right behind me, isn't it?
"Guys, would you mind taking a listen to some of my new Oscar material? Feeling a little nervous about it. I mean, I know I've done this more times than anyone but Bob Hope, but you never can be too prepared, right? Okay, how about, uh: I've been getting ready for the Oscars and my White Swan is ready, but my Black Swan's another story! Uh, I'm so nervous I feel like I'm about to give The King's Speech! …Was that not this year? I really haven't been to the movies in a while." – Billy Crystal
Casey Anthony is fun to hate. She’s a relatively attractive woman. She’s a compulsive liar. She leads the kind of small town party life that is somehow both hokey and titillating. She probably killed her daughter. Fun to hate.
So when the “Not Guilty” verdict came down on her trial, Twitter was aglow with jokes and jokes and spaghetti. I wrote a bunch myself. Although I wasn’t really following the trial — which, let’s face it, is literally every person’s response when discussing it — Casey Anthony was easy to hate. And from my whole total five minutes of reading headlines about the circus, I guess she seemed kind [...]
