Writers united will never be deleted.
Chris Taylor of The Chaser team and his take on the American writer’s strike.
In my experience writers will do whatever they can to avoid having to work. The cafes of Sydney are filled with writers putting off their screenplays and their essays, ordering one more cup of coffee to postpone their intolerable date with the laptop.
I can relate to that. I sat here procrastinating for five minutes before I wrote the sentence you’ve just read.
It has been two months now since America’s television writers decided to go on strike. The most immediate impact was felt by the late-night talk shows which, in the absence of writers, went from being merely unwatchable to completely unmakeable.
The writer’s strike has been highly educational for this non-TV owner. I used to see, back in the 1990’s, the David Letterman show, and like many people got a kick out of his gags.
While I realised his “Top 10″ lists were probably some sort of team effort, I was surprised to learn writers have been supplying Letterman with his every last one-liner.
So what does that make him really? Little more than a glorified newsreader who tells jokes?
As much as I hate the ugliness of the entire tv industry, I have missed Dave and Conan but especially Colbert and Stewart. Will be good when they’re all back running on all cylinders.
You do wonder how funny any of these guys are when you know the bank of writers they have behind the scenes. But the thing that confuses me is that when you see any of the talk show hosts do unscripted stuff in interviews outside of their shows say on Oprah or when they do Q+A’s at conferences or dinners they are hilarious. So why the writers?
Though I have realised just how much the writers do for these guys when you watch the writers doing videos uploaded on to Youtube about the strike from the picket line. The context, the lines they deliver and even some of the mannerisms are the same as the hosts. Is very freaky.
I’m surprised the writers themselves don’t try and get their own gigs… they’d clearly do well :) But then again there would be writers who prefer to shun the limelight, so it wouldn’t be for everyone. Probably therefore why they are writers and not performers.
Interesting point about the writer’s mannerisms apparently rubbing off onto the likes of Letterman et al though… you’d think any talk show host would have their own clearly defined persona.
Glad to see you writing again! I’ve been MIA for awhile but enjoyed this post. Making the point that you waited awhile before writing your sentence made me laugh. Look forward to more posts. Have a wonderful day!
Thanks Manda… I’m sure there’s people out there who would prefer it if I wrote less though ;)
I don’t know if it is writer’s mannerisms rubbing off onto the likes of Letterman et al’s but more their mannerisms rubbing off onto the writers. Almost like Letterman, Conan, Colbert and Stewart are just characters that the writers intimately know and can easily write for because they become a part of them. Gee that sounded way too NIDA for my liking.
Also I have seen why the writers don’t get their own gigs. Some of Stephen Colbert’s writers did a few Youtube picket line videos and although funny and very Stephen the performance was lacking. A guy like Colbert has refined his performance and character over 10+ years doing improv on stage at Second City in Chicago while he may need writers to help with filling 4 x 30 minutes of tv content each week the brilliance of the performance and character are truly his own.