Why We Fight

Thanks to our friend Kati, MG & I got tickets to last night's Jack Oakie Comedy Roundtable, at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

The speakers were phenomenal: Jim Brooks, Larry Gelbart and the acutely self-conscious Judd Apatow. (Judd's mentor Gary Shandling was in the audience and Apatow seemed almost beside himself at the apparent imbalance of his being on stage while one of the men he most admires watched from the cheap seats.)

Great questions, great discussion. For example: How funny is too funny? Is there such a thing as too funny?

Gelbart answered that you, the writer, are your only real gauge. You have to decide. Brooks agreed, and added that, generally, it's too funny if it's not character or situation driven.

During the clips, the speakers were supposed to move off stage and watch from the front row. Although a good idea in theory, going up and down the three carpeted stairs proved to be a little tricky for Gelbart. Also, an able-bodied page had wiped out on them during the opening remarks, thus planting the idea of a second fall in everyone's mind. Life: Now with useful illustrations of handy screenwriting techniques!

So for most of the clips, Gelbart just slouched down in his chair, and Apatow, like a good comedy writer, yes-anded Gelbart's decision, until the two of them were marooned on stage, waiting for the lights to go down, chins on their chests.

"We're trapped in a terrible physical gag," Apatow observed. And then, at last, the clip rolled.

Maybe the best advice of the night came from Gelbart, who was asked about how he works:

"I get up very early, 4 or 5 am. Really, it's just a sneakier way of living longer."

And on working for corporate bosses:

"Organization is the death of fun."

All three guys were so funny, and made so many deft observations about the nature of comedy, that even though everything is at a standstill ("We're striking just in time." - Gelbart), it was tremendously inspirational.

This is why there's a writers' strike. Brooks started out as a news writer; Gelbart worked for Sid Caeser; Apatow began on a sitcom. And because they were well paid for their work, they were able to keep working, keep writing, and ultimately produce movies like "Broadcast News," "Tootsie" and "Knocked Up."