And Here’s the Kicker: Conversations with 21 Top Humor Writers on Their Craft

Steve Martin was correct: Comedy is not pretty.

It may look easy in the eyes of those sitting in the theater seats or on the couch at home, watching a movie or TV show and enjoying the jokes. But behind each gag is a writer — sometimes plural — laboring over word choice, phrasing, pacing, timing. It takes a lot of work to make a joke funny … and even then, it may be all for naught, if it falls flat with the audience.

VANITY FAIR‘s Mike Sacks gives us an intriguing glimpse on the business of making people laugh by interviewing nearly two dozen of comedy’s MVPs, in AND HERE’S THE KICKER: CONVERSATIONS WITH 21 TOP HUMOR WRITERS ON THEIR CRAFT. You may not recognize all of his subjects, but chances are, they’ve all entertained you.

Buck Henry discusses writing THE GRADUATE and his famous hosting duties on the early seasons of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, where he suggested to Lorne Michaels that he should look into recurring characters, thus making him indirectly to blame for, say, Goat Boy. THE OFFICE co-creator Stephen Merchant reveals what he loves about American comedy that the British can’t quite pull of, and Harold Ramis talks at length about making CADDYSHACK and GROUNDHOG DAY (but no mention of VACATION, oddly).

Dan Mazer dishes out more behind-the-scenes details of BORAT, while Merrill Markoe reminisces about how she and David Letterman were basically flying by the seats of their proverbial pants in creating his legendary, influential NBC talk show. Paul Feig talks about how deeply he tapped into the pain of his childhood and adolescence to write FREAKS AND GEEKS, and Bob Odenkirk speaks candidly about what worked and what didn’t during his days with SNL, MR. SHOW and THE BEN STILLER SHOW. He seems unafraid at telling it like he sees it, which is one reason I like him so much.

Todd Hanson discusses the seed that became THE ONION, and Marshall Brickman focuses on his collaborations with Woody Allen. In one of the highlights of the entire book, Mitch Hurwitz gives a great case for just allowing creative people to be creative, without worrying about studio notes and research; one should listen to him, since he did give us one of TV’s greatest sitcoms ever in ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT.

David Sedaris reveals how much license he allows himself in turning real life into his hilarious essays, and George Meyer tells us what it’s like being a writer on THE SIMPSONS. In a nice nod to the power of print, Sacks interviews Al Jaffee, creator of the MAD magazine Fold-In.

Envelope- and button-pusher Robert Smigel shares the edgy impetus behind Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and TV FUNHOUSE (a criminally underrated gem of modern satire, in my opinion), and what he learned from SNL that Odenkirk did not. Also repping SNL is Jack Handey, he of the breakout hit “Deep Thoughts.”

Other interviewees include Dick Cavett, Larry Gelbart and Dave Barry. Adam McKay provides the intro; Tae Won Yu, the priceless illustrations the open each interview; and advice to aspiring writers is not only sprinkled in sidebars throughout, but actually helpful — because they’re brutally honest.

After reading this book, I cursed Sacks for sucking up my entire afternoon. I picked it up, intending to just thumb through it for a minute or two, but made the mistake of starting to read the conversation between he and Henry. The Q-and-A style retains each conversation’s laid-back style, so it’s all too easy to get caught up in the leisurely discussions. I could have read it all day long, and essentially did.

Those who want to learn more about the brains behind the buffoonery should read AND HERE’S THE KICKER for fun, but it should be a required read for screenwriting wannabes. —Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.

“Marlon and I were eating dinner in the Russian Tea Room, in Manhattan. A young woman walked up to our table and said, ‘I’m just crazy about the both of you. This is just too much of a dream for me, and I want you to know that I’ll do anything — absolutely anything — with the both of you. The only problem is that I don’t have very large breasts.’ Brando didn’t see this as a problem. He delivered a monologue that went something like, ‘Listen, honey. I’ve been to bed with girls with big breasts, little breasts, saggy breasts, breasts that you can tie together, cross-eyed breasts — it doesn’t make any difference. You are just fine.’”

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