Joe Toplyn

Author: Joe Toplyn

  • Why the Internet Hasn’t Changed Late Night

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    Joe Toplyn
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    A lot of people think the Internet has fundamentally altered the nature of late-night comedy/talk shows.  But I don’t. Take the article by Jason Lynch in The Daily Beast last April that sports this headline and subhead: For one thing, “that time slot after the local news” does matter. It matters a lot. Only people who watch…

  • How to Write a Joke

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    Joe Toplyn
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    There are formulas for writing jokes. Experienced joke writers go through a systematic process to turn something like a news item into a sentence or two that will make people laugh. You may have heard that “Writing is rewriting.” That describes only part of the process. Writing a joke is first thinking of what to…

  • How the Two Jimmies Can Prepare for Colbert

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    Joe Toplyn
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    As I write this, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is dominating its competition. Since its premiere on February 17, 2014, Tonight has earned a 1.28 rating in Adults 18-49, compared to a .65 for Jimmy Kimmel Live and a .51 for Late Show with David Letterman. But the game is changing. Sometime in 2015…

  • How Jerry Seinfeld Writes a Joke, Revealed

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    Joe Toplyn
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    Jerry Seinfeld appears in this frustrating New York Times video teasingly entitled “How to Write a Joke.” In the video he calls comedy writing “a secretive thing.” He also says about his handwritten draft of a bit revolving around Pop Tarts, “I’ve never shown anybody this stuff.” Jerry then proves how secretive he is by…

  • The Hugh Grant Fallacy

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    Joe Toplyn
    in

    This week, on June 18, Access Hollywood perpetuated a longstanding misconception about The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. A voiceover referred to “the game changer, when in 1995 Hugh Grant came on shortly after his dalliance with a prostitute. Jay beat Letterman in the ratings that night and stayed number one for nineteen years.” Game-changer?…

  • When O. J. Simpson Killed, So Did Jay Leno

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    Joe Toplyn
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    As a host of the Tonight show, Jay Leno was typically regarded by the media as dull, not edgy. For example, a February 2014 article by Daniel D’Addario on the website Salon bears the headlines: “Jay Leno thrived by being America’s dullest man. With less edge than David Letterman or Conan O’Brien, Leno was the perfect…

  • Seth Meyers Did Not Steal My Joke

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    Joe Toplyn
    in

    Ideas get stolen in show business all the time but less often than you might think. I teach a class in comedy writing for late-night TV. A couple of nights ago I was giving my students some practice in turning newspaper articles into monologue jokes. Toward the end of the session I mentioned an article…

  • How to Create Funny Products

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    Joe Toplyn
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    Short-form comedy, the kind on comedy/talk shows, often turns up in consumer products. That’s why the same writing techniques used on late-night shows can also be used to create funny products like tee-shirts, bumper stickers, and novelty gifts. For example, here’s how I used late-night comedy writing techniques to create two greeting cards that the…

  • 5 Reasons To Do Field Pieces

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    Joe Toplyn
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    Why aren’t Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers doing more field pieces on their shows? Field pieces, or “remotes,” are comedy pieces that are shot outside the studio. They’re great for comedy/talk shows. Here are 5 reasons why. 1) It’s fun to see the host out in the real world for a change. Watching the same…

  • Comedy Writing Is Not Rocket Science

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    Joe Toplyn
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    If you know the techniques, tricks, and rules, comedy writing isn’t as hard as it looks. When I was co-head writer of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno I directed a sketch featuring Jay and astronaut Story Musgrave. The sketch was a comedy tour of Space Center Houston, the official visitor center of the Lyndon…