Comedy Think Tank Offers Jon/Stephen/Conan/Dave Advice
Should you find yourself a guest on The Daily Show, Colbert Report or any other late night comedy program with a political bent, Mark Katz has your primer. In this guide he breaks down the steps to avoid looking like an unfunny chump, mainly DON'T TRY TO BE FUNNY. Smile, take your lumps and let the pros handle the rest.
He also offers some perspective on the roles between the talking heads and the comedians who mock them:
"Topical humor shows are the closest equivalent of the 'no-spin zones' that other cable talk shows only pretend to construct.
Humor can be the true anti-spin. Here's why: Spin is: 'I think you are just dumb enough to believe this' — and the partisan talking points kick in from there. Humor is: 'I think you are smart enough to understand what's really going on.'"
But just who is this Mark Katz fellow? Why, he's the principal of the Soundbite Institute, "A New York-based creative consultancy that specializes in applying humor sensibilities to strategic communications." He also spearheaded the Clinton White House's "Comedy War Room" that helped the President compose speeches to the Washington press corps, so take that with a grain of salt if your humor runs more along the lines of Karen Hughes.
In other news, there's an entire think tank dedicated to comedy? Isn't that the (insert Center for American Progress/Brookings Institution/Heritage Foundation reference according to taste)?
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