writer

An acquaintance of mine used to ask me if I ever listened to The Sound of Young America, and I told her I didn't like it. As it turns out, I had it confused with some low-rent internet podcast with a similar name I cannot recall at the moment.

Anyway, Jesse, the fellow who helms Sound of Young America, recently had a couple great interviews with some very funny women. First, he interviewed Anne Beatts, who was the first female editor of National Lampoon, wrote for Saturday Night Live when that show first started, and created Square Pegs. Major TV nerd points to those of you who remember Square Pegs.

If you've been paying attention to the credits during the last few years of South Park, you'll notice that Trey Parker has directed and written every episode. I've noticed this, too, but in my reviews I've always mentioned the two men together because the show still feels very much like a joint venture to me.

The question remains, though: what is Stone's role if he's not writing the episodes? This article helps explain. It seems that Stone, in addition to serving as an executive producer, doing voices and contributing ideas, also serves as the mouthpiece for the show while Parker works on the creative side of things. Parker would rather create than have to deal with censors and network executives, so Stone steps in to fight those battles.

If you don't know who H. Jon Benjamin is, let me inform you: he's a writer and comedian most of us probably first saw when he played "Ben" on Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist. He was also a writer on that show and would later show up on Home Movies (one of my top five favorite series of all time), and the recent short-lived animated series Freak Show for Comedy Central.

In an interview with Gothamist, Benjamin revealed he was working on a new Web series for Super Deluxe called "Thunderpoint." What the series is exactly remains to be seen, but if Benjamin is behind it, I'm going to go out on a limb and say it'll be damn funny.

Eric Drysdale is a writer and comedian most will recognize as the stage manager "Bobby" on The Colbert Report (see Bobby as a leprechaun in the clip at the end of this post). Drysdale is also a writer on the show and previously wrote for The Daily Show. In addition, he's performed several times at the UCB Theater and also played with Tammy Faye Starlite, a satirical country band.

However, none of those credits could answer a question that's been nagging at me ever since I first saw Eric/Bobby appear on The Colbert Report: where had I seen this person before? After a bit of Web searching, I finally solved the mystery: in 2000, he appeared on an episode of Premium Blend singing "This Rubik's Cube is Driving Me Crazy," a song he performed under the stage name "Crazy Davis" according to this thread.

If you've been having trouble sleeping at night because you're concerned about what might become of Notes from the Underbelly creator Stacy Traub if her show doesn't make it, you can stop worrying. Traub has signed a two-year deal with Warner Bros. Television that will allow her to develop new series should Notes from the Underbelly not get picked up for another season. Otherwise, Traub will remain with the show as a show runner and executive producer. As far as what new shows she would develop, Traub says she likes shows with "flawed characters." She's also written for Kitchen Confidential and Spin City.

Notes from the Underbelly is about a young couple who become pregnant and must settle into a more mature lifestyle while simultaneously hearing advice from meddlesome family and friends. It will air on ABC.

Apologies for being late with this news, but Chris Hayward, known to cartoon fans as the creator of Dudley Do-right and to others as the co-creator of The Munsters passed away on November 20 at the age of 81. Hayward wrote for Jay Ward Productions, starting with Crusader Rabbit and later writing for Rocky and Bullwinkle, the show where Dudley Do-Right, a moral Canadian Mountie whose love interest was more interested in his horse than him, first appeared.

His live-action credits include creating The Munsters with Allan Burns, and winning Emmys for writing on both Barney Miller and The Hero. He also wrote for Alice, My Mother the Car, 77 Sunset Strip and Get Smart.

I'm a big Jay Ward fan, but had you mentioned the name "Chris Hayward" to me before today I wouldn't know who you were talking about. Still, I think his career is worth remembering, as it reflects a time even before The Simpsons when cartoons could be just as smart and funny as any live-action sitcom.

Author John Fante grew up in Denver in the early 20th century, the son of immigrant parents. His books were largely ignored at the time, and it wasn't until writer Charles Bukowski helped republish Fante's works that he became recognized as a master writer. While his books, including Ask the Dust, Wait Until Spring and Bandini were all hailed by critics, the public never caught on and most of his books went out of print soon after being published.

Like most writers, Fante had to make ends meet by writing things he didn't especially enjoy, and that meant penning screenplays for many films that never got made.

On December 12 at 10pm, the PBS documentary series Independent Lens will air "A Sad Flower in the Sand," a look at the late author featuring interview with his wife, Joyce Smart, his biographer Stephen Cooper and filmmaker Robert Towne.

The men of Boing Boing recently chatted with comedian John Hodgman, he of The Daily Show, The Areas of My Expertise and 700 Hobo Names. The men talk about current events, politics, and weird stories from the news. The podcast is less like an interview and more like a random discussion, which is actually, I think, more interesting. Hodgman maintains his usual dry wit, and interjects whenever he can get a word in edgewise as the Boing Boingers go on about whatever is they go on about. You might learn a few things about Hodgman, but mostly it's just some guys kicking back and chatting.

Speaking of the 700 Hoboes, Hodgman alludes to a project started by Boing Boing to have artists illustrate each of the names in Hodgman's lengthy but engaging spoken word project. You can see the works here.

Alan Moore, known to comic book fans as the writer for The Watchmen, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Constantine, V for Vendetta, From Hell, and the recent Lost Girls, a tale about Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, Wendy from Peter Pan and Alice from Alice in Wonderland stepping out of their fantastical worlds and engaging in real-life sex, will appear in a future episode of The Simpsons titled "Husbands and Knives." Moore figures into a subplot involving a new comic book store that opens in town and threatens to put Comic Book Guy out of business. The new store gets even more notice when Moore decides to pay it a visit.

Moore is a fan of The Simpsons, and the feeling is mutual: many of The Simpsons' staff are also fans of Moore's work. His graphic novel The Watchmen is considered by many to be the first foray into comic books aimed at an adult audience. Apparently this philosophical series of "Garfield" strips from 1989 came too late.

[via Toon Zone]

(Left to right: Scott Adsit, Jay Johnston and Dino Stamatopoulos)

Dino Stamatopoulos has written for some of the funniest cult comedy series in the last ten years, including Mr. Show, TV Funhouse, Tom Goes to the Mayor, and most recently Moral Orel, an oft-misunderstood stop-animated cartoon created by Stamatopoulos himself. He's also written for other series, including Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and Mad TV.

With the new second season of Moral Orel starting November 12, Stamatopoulos and I spoke on the phone about what fans could expect in the new season, and about TV comedy in general.

Somebody forgot to poke me with a sharp stick and remind me about Spike Feresten's late night show, TalkShow with Spike Feresten is currently airing Saturday evenings on FOX. Criminy, I've been looking forward to this show since April, and Joel even interviewed the man recently, for the love of God. Seriously, where was my head at? Okay, don't answer that, I know exactly where my head was. Anyway, College Humor recently interviewed Feresten, and the interview contains a lot of stuff we already know: he wrote the Seinfeld "Soup Nazi" episode, he penned a script for The Simpsons, he was a writer for Letterman, etc. What I didn't know, however, is that he and some writers from The Simpsons were asked to do a script rewrite of the movie Jury Duty. The rewritten script was then thrown out by Pauly Shore. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around that one.

[Thanks to Katie S. for the tip.]

I wouldn't call myself a huge fan, but I've always had an admiration for comedian Laura Kightlinger. She's popped up from time to time on the TV screen on shows such as Saturday Night Live and Loveline, as well as Will and Grace, on which she was also a writer and producer. She's very funny, and this interview she did with USA Today's Whitney Matheson proves it. The two ladies talk about Kightlinger's IFC series The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman, which Anna first mentioned in May and is yet further proof that I need a better cable package because there are just too many channels with too many good shows I'm missing. At least, I assume the show is good since she's involved with it. Perhaps it totally sucks, but I wouldn't know. That's my point.