Alan Katz: Forty Years of Getting Paid to Be Funny
Alan Katz has written more than 50 books and spent five years writing for The Rosie O'Donnell Show. He grew up in a family of shoe-store owners and teachers and announced early that he'd be a writer — his father's response was that as a writer, you are your own merchandise. We talk about…
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Alan Katz has written more than 50 books and spent five years writing for The Rosie O'Donnell Show. He grew up in a family of shoe-store owners and teachers and announced early that he'd be a writer — his father's response was that as a writer, you are your own merchandise. We talk about what that life has cost, the bullies who taught him to write on deadline, and why he tells kids a joke at someone else's expense is never worth it.
Key topics
- "You are your own merchandise": the cost of a career where next year is never guaranteed
- Comedy writing in advertising — Pepsi, McDonald's, and a musical about Sperry computers starring Kirk Douglas
- Writing song parodies on the 5am train for a show that aired at 10
- How his daughter's dinner-table question became Take Me Out of the Bathtub
- Writing jokes for Henny Youngman at $7 apiece, in high school
- The agent who said write only for television, and why he refused
- What happened to the sitcom
- Kids who say they don't read for pleasure
Timestamps
01:25 A family of retail and teachers, and a kid who wanted to write
02:12 The costs: a best seller one year, no idea the next
03:17 How the Rosie O'Donnell Show job happened
04:19 Broadway, comedy, sitcoms — why their sensibilities lined up
05:15 Comedy writing in advertising, and a musical about computers
06:22 The Scholastic joke books
07:01 Writing parodies on the 5:30am train
08:03 Simone's question at dinner
08:26 Simon & Schuster was across the street
09:28 What he'd be doing if none of it had worked
10:40 Got Your Nose, and the packages kids send him
11:30 Two Sides to Everything, with his wife Rose
13:12 A typical Tuesday, and Jerry the ventriloquist dummy
13:50 "Turn the Tub Around," and what his kids are proudest of
14:52 What people get wrong about a comedy writer's life
16:00 The text chain with Dan Gutman and Peter Lerangis
16:51 Whether his kids thought he was funny
18:02 Keeping a notebook — writers observe
19:15 Awesome Achievers, and never joking at anyone's expense
20:56 A funny kid, and the bullies who demanded jokes
22:04 Writing for Henny Youngman at $7 a joke
22:38 How live TV taught him to write under pressure
24:24 What he wouldn't tell his younger self
25:26 Mildred Feinsilver, and three years chasing a sitcom in LA
26:56 Is he a good boss to himself?
27:53 Soupy Sales, and why jealousy isn't the word
28:48 The part luck played, and the advice he gives his son
30:00 The most unglamorous thing he did this week
31:29 Advice for someone starting out — and stay away from AI
33:31 What happened to the sitcom
35:15 Lie-ographies: laughing your way into the facts
38:17 Two stories about his name
41:56 What's next, and 27 ways to tell a Barbie story
45:07 Has it been worth it?
46:29 Kids who don't read for pleasure
49:14 Keep reading, keep writing, keep being kind
