Directing Sketch on SNL + Netflix // Reconcile the AIsle
The people at the highest levels of comedy can seem like they were placed there, anointed by the gods, but the more people I interview for Reconcile the Aisle on Radio Misfits Podcast Network the more I realize that many of us start out the same way: we make stuff, we get better, and we hustle hard. And a lot of the time with no formal training.
And if you follow me or at least curious about what I’m doing so reading this blog, you’re probably on this wavelength, a misfit of sorts: doing art + life with your own particular style, that probably doesn’t fit any particular mold.
And that’s why you’re gonna love these two podcast interviews: two directors at the highest levels of sketch comedy who entered into their positions in unconventional ways.
Laura Murphy (Awkwafina is Nora From Queens, Last Week Tonight with Jon Oliver, The Iliza Shlesinger Sketch Show) and I speak about how she came to be a TV director without going to film school, directing the groundbreaking show MTV Girl Code, how to make a fun set where everyone wins, and negotiation and the film set. Then my character Queens Marie asks about the pizza selection while filming Nora from Queens.
Mike Diva (SNL) and I speak about how he went from creating on YouTube to directing at SNL, finding and keeping the funny in sketch comedy during the intensive production and post-production process, and being a torchbearer for other creative weirdos. Then Melania asks Mike to help her in her goals to live her best life … without her Trumps.