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Jonathan Katz (Actual Size) |
June 2002
with Jonathan Katz
A work in progress
These excerpts are pretty much uncut, samples of raw material that
will be edited nicely and broadcast on WNYC‘s “The Next Big Thing.”
If you want more detail on the background of what’s happening here,
scroll down. If you just want to hear these bits, unanalyzed (wise
of you) then do that.
Audio Excerpts
With Tom Leopold
With Ahna Tessler
With H. Jon Benjamin
With Laura Silverman
With Al Franken
Background Notes
From Jay Allison
This is the wrong way to do this. You shouldn’t be reading this
first; it will ruin the effect. And we cut the audio excerpts wrong too.
We left in some preamble between the improvisers which destroys the
illusion and we sometimes left in Jonathan laughing, which is out of
character. We’re doing all this to honor Transom’s purpose of
exposing and discussing process.
So, here’s what you do. Stop reading now and turn on the radio.
Then, quickly turn off the radio and click on one of the RealAudio
links from this page. Somehow convince yourself that these little fragments
(without the setups and laughing) are coming over the air,
unheralded. “Hello…you’re on the air with Jonathan Katz.”
When you’re done listening, click
here for the process stuff.
From Jonathan Katz
As a “child of the sixties,” I see things from a slightly skewed vantage point.
But recently I realized that people fall into one of two camps: those people
who believe that history repeats itself and those people who believe that
it’s the people who say that, who repeat themselves.
I have always had a burning desire to have a radio show and on that show I
will take this stance:
HONESTY MAY NOT BE THE BEST
POLICY, BUT IT’S THE ONLY ONE WITH IT’S OWN PROVERB
 Jonathan Katz a.k.a. Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist |
About Jonathan Katz
Jonathan Katz is an accomplished standup comic, musician, actor, and writer. Katz co-created, wrote and starred in the hit pop culture animated series “Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist,” which aired on Comedy Central for the past six seasons and received Emmy, Peabody and CableAce Awards.
Additional Support for this work provided by
with funding from the
and
The National Endowment for the Arts
Okay, this work is IN PROCESS. The cuts here on Transom are excerpts. This is not a finished thing. That’s all you need to know for now. When you listen, just pretend that you are hearing something like this on the radio. Then we can talk about how it might be framed, what could be added, how much or little introduction it needs, how the concept can be firmed up or if it needs to be.
You can read more background here on this page about how things got this far.
You can also hear what WNYC’s The Next Big Thingis doing with the idea.
We hope that various participants/producers/talent will be along to talk about it all, even though they know that talking about comedy is a stupid thing to do.
Jay, shouldn’t you be using your considerable power within the industry to turn this into a real show? Seriously, with shows like this, we could finally attain world domination!
turn this into a real show
such a thought has occurred to us, yes.
Didn’t I hear that Tom Leopold guy doing his thing as John Walker Lindt on Harry Shearer’s "Le Show" some months ago? He’s got this droll, hyper-ironic thing going on. This answers the question, "Why isn’t there more comedy at transom.com?"
Also Laura Silverman is wonderful in "Dog Love." I love her. She is, however, missing the point that were her dog to eat her after she’d died, that dog would be showing the ultimate love. Laura’s DNA would be incorporated into the dog, nourish the tissue of the dog, and Laura’s consciousness would be absorbed up into the dog and her death therefore would be of great consequence to the dog. You’ve got to put yourself in the dog’s place and have a little understanding of how things really work in the animal kingdom.
No? Oh, okay.
Hey, I’m talking to myself here.
I’m talking to yourself as well. This needs to be a real show and I need to be the one who screens the callers. Specifically, I will screen them for Depression, Dyslexia and Alzheimers.
Dr. Katz…
Couple of questions. When you were recording this, I assume it was improvised. Do you find that you get funnier stuff when you record off the cuff or when you write your jokes down, practice them, and then record? How much improv was in your comedy central show?
Also…sometimes I find that public radio shows achieve the humor they’re aiming for….and without naming any names, sometimes they don’t. So what do you think these shows could do to get me laughing like I did when I listened to you and Tom Leopold or Al Franken? Do you think a show like "Seeing is Believing" fits with the mission of public radio?
Finally, I used to record stuff like this all the time when I was growing up…hey, I still do….did you used to record shows, sketches, etc. before you decided to make a living out of it? Thanks…glad to have you on the transom.
I think hands down the worst public radio talk shows I’ve ever produced were ones that were meant to be funny. Counting on people to be funny – LIVE – is not funny. It’s deadly and painful. Having a comedian for a host would help and having call-outs to comedians would help and not doing it live would help…But here’s a deep question: Can regular people be funny on public radio? Does Dr. K like talking to the hoi poloi on the phone?
Gold star for Mr. Leopold’s use of "bonhomie"
The "squirel in a hat" gets top honors.
This is great stuff. What happens after it hits the airwaves at ‘NYC? Will he do more and is the idea to figure out what works best and then develop a regular show?
It would be a GREAT show…and best without unfunny listeners calling in. Just comedians. But wouldn’t listeners be unhappy if they were listening to a call-in show that they couldn’t call into? Mary – did you get a lot of angry Connection listeners who couldn’t call in when the program was re-aired at night?
Yup – "You’re on the air with Jonathan Katz" has hit the airwaves… it’s a collaboration with Transom and the Next Big Thing, a show out of WNYC hosted by Dean Olsher. We’re hoping to have the segment on every month or so.
As long as the callers are funny, doesn’t seem like this would need much framing — host of a call-in show, caller, it doesn’t matter what the topic is, what the name is — though I’m kinda fond of "seeing is believing" ….Nothing matters as long as you have Leopold and Franken as regular callers! I nearly peed myself…
Plus, I liked hearing Katz crack up, it made it "feel" live.
I liked the laughing, too. It wasn’t overdone like a few commercial morning shows I could mention. Bob and Tom being one and Howard Stern being another.
While I agree with Mary about the dangers of call in shows and unfunny wannabe comics (they get them all the time on Whad’ya Know?), I also think that they could be screened out, to a degree. I’d like to see what Katz can do with a Joe or Jane Average who isn’t trying to be funny. Consider Letterman with his mom or Biff Henderson. Perhaps with the help of a panel of experts comprised of various joke components (Bartender, Nun, Psychic, Lawyer, Hillbilly) he could attempt to answer any question someone may ask.
The call-in thing with real callers is something we wanted to try and may still. Actually, Jonathan preferred to call out to random citizens, but there are legal issues with this, except, evidently, in New York and Nevada.
In the meantime, as above, I’ll happily listen Benjamin, Leopold, Franken, Silverman, Tessler, et. al. rif on any topic.
these are things i love in no particular order: the sound of my own voice, listening to public radio, laughing uncontrollably, making other people laugh (controlably?.)
doing this project with jay allison has brought me closer to finding true love.
fondly,
jonathan
i would say "there is a lot more where that came from" but it seems a little cocky. there is some more where that came from.
jpk
thank you
is to comedy, what_________is to meat. the man tickles me.
jpk
and yes, he has a long hilarious history on the air at le show with harry shearer.
rich, i’ll forward your message to laura. maybe she’ll make an appearance hear herself.
jpk
hi jeremy,
i recorded anything that was loud enough to be recorded as a kid. check out the link to ira glass. i used to memorize the material of lenny bruce and a duo called burns a shreiber. i was burns…and schreiber.
jpk
i love the hoi poloi it’s the riff raff that get on my nerves. i would love to talk to real people but i can’t seem to find any.
jonathan
My favorite part of this was watching Jonathan (one of our nation’s great deadpan artists) giggle. Uncontrollably. In cutting the excerpts, the first thought was to drop the level on his track, so that he would stay in "character" whatever that was. But it was too much fun to hear him giggling, so we left it in.
What do others think? Does it mess up the illusion, what little there is, to have him laughing? Would it work better deadpan? Or is the giggling as infectious as it seems to me, so-what-the-hell let’s leave it in.
Are the folks from The Next Big Thing here? Can you talk about the context you created? (note: if you haven’t heard their arrangement of the material, go check it out at TNBT at WNYC. They’ll have more coming out in coming weeks.)
To have funny callers – pro’s, hoi polloi, or whatever – it is probably necessary to have callers that make Mr. Katz laugh (like the excerpts here). It is the interplay, the mutually "gotten" joke that is really tickling about these. David Letterman with Bif or his Mom- he is usually cracking himself up, and the audience gets to come with.
Unrelatedly, "Cartoon Therapist Dr. _____" was a clue in my crossword yesterday.
so – based on the photo caption, I figure life would be ok if we could carry you around with us – in a pocket for example. I think everyone should have one. I am saving up…
The only worry of a real live show is that you can’t screen for funny so easily and what if you got to laughing …at how unfunny it was … is that ok too? On the other hand, think of the possiblities of Seeing is Believing – it’s gotta inspire some great calls, not pre-conceived.
As process, these pieces are extraordinary. As a show, this is like Jonathan Katz’s breathing into the microphone as a kid: amusing in its self-indulgence. And as much as I appreciate the insight into improvisational technique, indicated by Katz’s lack of self-control hearing the terrific stuff his pals are coming up with, I think in any polished show — if there really is one here — he’d want to cut that stuff out. As good as the stuff is — squirrel in a hat is wonderful, Al Franken giving the pope "a piece of his mind" is brilliant (he sounds drunk here) — there’s a flatness to the bits. These are high-powered drop-ins. How tough is it for comedians to be funny? Isn’t that what they do for a living?
What makes Letterman’s technique of doing comedy with civilians so masterful is that he is simultaneously mocking and elevating the just-plain-folks he’s working with. Letterman makes us see the comedy in everyday life. By taking people off the street and involving them in comedy bits, he allows regular, not especially funny people to experience the joy of coaxing laughter out of what is an essentially nervous business.
Katz could easily take phone calls from unsuspecting strangers and set them up to be hapless straight men and women to his comedy. That isn’t what he’s doing here, though. He’s working with hilarious professionals. He’s the straight man. But then he blows the tension by laughing and you see that it’s just a process. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing here, at transom.org. I’m suggesting that to be an effective straight man, he’d have to do what he’s best at and keep a straight face.
You know as well as I do that Car Talk is at its most irritating when the brothers are blowing character. A little goes a long way. They are essentially civilians who happen to find each other endlessly amusing. Their thing is that they are grown brothers who apparently love each other enough to work together.
It’s funny when you see Bud Abbott blow it on stage, working with Lou Costello. It shows he’s in on the gag. But he quickly pulls himself together and stays in character.
Jonathan Katz doesn’t need us to tell him how to do comedy. If he wanted to do "Seeing is Believing" as a bit on somebody’s public radio show, he could work at home, on the phone with his pals and never run out of material. Not a bad gig for a guy who likes nothing better than to listen to the sound of his own voice.
It’s my b.o., isn’t it? Come on, you can tell me.
Jeez, there really a huge echo in here. Did someone leave the reverb on? Sounds like an old Elvis record. Or is everybody out at the beach?
And what’s this huge pall of smoke covering the Northeast today? Is something burning? Is it breakfast? Is it God’s bong hit?
Rich wrote:
And as much as I appreciate the insight into improvisational technique, indicated by Katz’s lack of self-control hearing the terrific stuff his pals are coming up with, I think in any polished show — if there really is one here — he’d want to cut that stuff out.
I agree with this. It’s fun for Transom, but might feel too clubby on the air. I think because this was the first time at something none of us had a really clear idea about, Jonathan (and he can correct me, harshly) was busy setting up everyone else and making them feel appreciated, and so wasn’t really concentrating on his own "character." In fact, his identity as host of this theoretical call-in show is one element that could still use some refining.
Have you ever randomly called people on the phone for fun? When I was a kid phony phone calls was sport. Remember the "Mishigas" segement on Charles LaQuidera’s morning show on WBCN in Boston? It was uneven but sometimes it could be very funny. The stuff we talk about on the phone is so mundane it’s kind of funny. Maybe you should experiment.
This weekend (August 3rd-4th) on the Next Big Thing we’ll be airing "You’re on the Air with Jonathan Katz". This time, Jonathan is asking listeners: "Would you accept a collect call from… the Pope?".
For stations and times, visit: http://www.nextbigthing.org
Mr. Katz,
I am a Dr. Katz fan and would like to inquire about available episodes of your animated TV classic. Do you have a web site that provides VHS tapes of this series available for purchase? If not, then who does? I would like to purchase some tapes.