TCC Podcast #109: It takes work to be funny with Eric Cunningham

Comedy writer Eric Cunningham talks about what it takes to be funny with Kira and Rob for the 109th episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast. A lot of writers dream of working for comedy shows like Saturday Night Live or one of the late night shows. But there’s a lot of competition and success isn’t guaranteed. What does that have to do with copywriting? It turns out, quite a lot. We talked to Eric about: •  the career path to become a comedy writer and what it takes to succeed •  how to deal with the up and down of project work •  what a day in the life of a comedy writer looks like •  how to stand out in a competitive space •  why you can’t wait to be chosen and what to do instead •  what sets the successful comedy writers apart from those who fail •  what does it take to be funny (and what we can do to be funnier) •  why he says “Yes” to lots of things (including condo board meetings) •  why copywriters should use more humor in their copy •  the one thing he has done to up-level his career •  where comedy is headed in the future We had some technical difficulties half way through the show but it doesn’t affect the excellent advice Eric shares about what it takes to succeed in the world of comedy—and copy. Listen by clicking the play button below. Or subscribe on your favorite podcast app (we like Overcast). Prefer to read? Scroll down for a full transcript.   The people and stuff we mentioned on the show: Streaks Eric’s Twitter Upright Citizen Brigade Theater Kira’s website Rob’s website The Copywriter Club Facebook Group Intro: Content (for now) Outro: Gravity Full Transcript: Rob:   What if you could hang out with seriously talented copywriters and other experts ask them about their successes and failures, their work processes and their habits, then steal an idea or two to inspire your own work? That's what Kira and I do every week at The Copywriter Club Podcast. Kira:   You are invited to join our club for Episode 109 as we chat with comedy writer Eric Cunningham about writing for TV outlets like Comedy Central and TruTV. What it takes to stay sharp as a comedy writer, his writing process and what we might borrow from it, and what it all has to do with copywriting. Welcome Eric. Rob:   Hey Eric. Eric:   Hello! Thanks for having me. Kira:   I'm so excited to have you here. I was just telling Rob, Eric is a good friend. He's close to home. He's a fellow New Yorker, and I've known him for a while and he's married to one of my best friends. So, this is a very special interview. I'm really excited that you're here. Rob:   Don't blow it Eric. Kira:   Yeah. No pressure! Eric:   What if this ruins a friendship? A long lasting .. Kira:   Right! Yeah, just to have you here as a comedy writer and someone's who's really outside of our space as copywriters and what we're doing, I feel like there's a lot we can learn from what you do day to day and just your experience so far. So, let's kick this off with your story. How did you end up as a comedy writer? Eric:   Sure, so I was not a funny child at all. I was like a big nerd and, you know, liked politics and all that stuff. And then, in college, I was kind of like looking for my thing and I couldn't find it because my whole thing growing up was being smart and then when you go to college, you're surrounded by all smart people, and then I was like oh, I don't have a thing anymore. So, I was just desperately looking for something that would differentiate myself a little bit, or just like find a home. And, they were taking columnists at the school newspaper and I was like, I don't have the attention span to write a full column, so I'll just write ... essentially this is ... I mean this is how old I am. It was basically Twitter before Twitter was there. It was just like short little one liner observational jokes that were not associated with anything else and just like here’s joke, here's a joke, here’s a joke. And, they published it, and people really liked it and it was different from all the other columns because it didn't have any kind of through line. It was just assorted thoughts and jokes about like the dining halls and other useless junk. But, it was received well and I was like, oh, I guess this will be my thing. From that, when I was graduating, I was like, I want to work at Saturday Night Live and decided to try for the NBC Page program which is a nice entry level position in the pipeline. I didn't end up getting it, but I was like I'm going to move to New York anyway and figure it out and started taking classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater and did all their improv and sketch. Got my first job in television, entry level, as a TV watcher for an old show called Best Week Ever, which is so fun. You would essentially do book reports, but about the Tyra Banks Show. It was very fun and from then, you just more and more other television shows and jobs and now I have my own show at the Upright Citizen Brigade Theater. I'm writing different scripts and just doing comedy. That's kind of my whole thing in a nutshell. Hopefully it wasn't too long and blathery. Rob:   We like long and blathery, actually. But I'm curious, if somebody was wanting to follow your path ... maybe even a little farther along, they're not in high school or they're not in college, but hey, I want to get involved in comedy. I think it would be fun to write. Maybe not for Saturday Night Live, but for the local comedy theater or that kind of thing. Could they follow the same path, or are there things that you would recommend they do that maybe you missed out on, or would do differently? Eric:   Yeah, I mean I think the one sort of question I do get asked a lot by people who are trying to do comedy is sort of like what the path is. It's so cliché, you've heard it a thousand times. There's no set path. The one thing I do encourage people to do is to find that thing that you love doing and nobody else is doing. So for example you know, if you ... one thing I don't get at all, Instagram stories. I'm not an Instagram story comedian and I don't really get it. But, if that's something that's attractive to you..and you're like, oh I really like Instagram story comedians and that kind of thing, then that should be a clue. You should go down that road, you're going to find a lot of success versus if I tell you, like, you should be tweeting 10 times a day. And, you don't like Twitter, well, you're going to be bad at it and it's not going to work, even if you put in all the effort. You should go after something that you really love and you're naturally drawn to. Even if it doesn't make a lot of sense or if you don't know why or can't see, like oh, I'll do this and then I'll get this, then I'll get this and I'll finally be happy. Like, that'll never happen. Just kind of go for it. Rob:   So, talk a little about the work ethic. Because I imagine this isn't the kind of thing where you get a job and you're just kind of showing up and the next level appears. It feels like this is the kind of thing that... because there's so many people that would love this kind of a job that you've really got to put in effort. So, talk about that. What did it really take to make you succeed in those first couple of jobs. Eric:   My very first job was working at Best Week Ever. It was very entry-level. I was a PA, so a lot of it was getting props when, you know, if we did a sketch and somebody needed like one of those tiny rings that holds a little bit of poison in it, from like the old Victorian Era. They were like, we need that prop. Can you go find one? It's like, oh yeah, we'll have to go find that. But, work ethic wise, you have to like, just do the one job you've been assigned to do and knock it out of the park. I think a lot of times in those very entry level jobs, one thing I'd recommend to people, is don't try to like, audition for you know a better job right away. Make sure you're doing your job correctly first and then people will take a shine to your other ambition. Especially in the entertainment industry, if you've an assistant, do the assistant job well, and then the person you're helping will try to help you. Versus, if you're not doing your assistant job well but you are essentially trying to do stand up comedy all the time in the middle of a meeting, that isn't going to bode well for you. But, work ethic wise, you just have to produce a lot of stuff constantly because you're right. There's so many people that want these jobs. Every job is hyper competitive. You've against 20 other people, 100 other people, sometimes more. And you just have to constantly do it. Also once you get the job, these contracts are so short. You're like well even if I hit a home run, the show could get canceled at the end of the season or I could get fired at the end of the season. Or, they're changing the direction of the show and they don't need writers like me anymore. So, even once you've quote, unquote arrived, you would find yourself right back where you started, so you've kind of never feel super satisfied or safe, I don't think. You've always thinking, well, if this doesn't work, what's my next thing. Kira:   Yeah, and I'd love to hear more about that because I think that's what similar with what you're doing is kind of jumping from gig to gig and it's not always a straight path and I imagine there are moments where it's frustrating because your show is canceled even though you did a great job on it. In a similar way, with copywriters, so many of us work project to project and we depend on having a system in place with leads, but sometimes we just have a really quiet month. So, how do you stay focused and not give up and kind of carve that path when there really isn't a path laid out in front of you.