WEBVTT - Some Time With... Lenny Ripps (Part 1) 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:21.800 Hey, fan Arritos, Welcome back to How Rude Taneritos. If 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:24.880 you've been listening to this podcast long enough, you've definitely 0:00:24.960 --> 0:00:28.120 heard us mention Lenny Rips a time or two. Lenny 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:31.600 was a writer on Full House during seasons one through three, 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:36.879 creating some unforgettable episodes, including the Sea Crews, which we 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:37.279 can't wait. 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:39.800 We won't hold him, we won't hold him responsible for that. 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:42.400 We forgive him and can't wait to talk to him 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:42.800 about it. 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:47.440 Yes, I personally have a personal affection for Lenny because 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:50.800 he is the writer who created Kimmy Gibbler and I 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:53.599 cannot wait to pick his brain about this. He's known 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:56.080 us since the very beginning, and we're so excited to 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:57.680 walk down memory lane with him. 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:00.480 Here he is, Lenny Rips. 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:04.240 Lenny, we haven't seen you since the original Full House, 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:07.200 like for thirty something years, we haven't seen you. 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:10.440 It's really extraordinary because full House is with me all 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:17.240 the time. I get upgrades and and I cut the line. 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:21.640 See people, Hey, that's that's it, you know it was. 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:23.520 It was good for a lot of line cutting. 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:29.040 There you go, And it's interesting how beloved. 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:31.440 It is, so so beloved. 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:33.640 I yes, we just went to I just went to 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:35.480 nineties Con this weekend where they do a bunch of 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:41.280 different shows. Oh my gosh, Like the fans absolutely lose 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:45.120 their mind over Full House. It's it's so great and 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:47.960 it's such a it's such a crazy thing that it's 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:50.000 still going after all these years. 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:53.120 And it's interesting because it was such a struggle to 0:01:53.200 --> 0:01:53.880 figure it out. 0:01:54.200 --> 0:01:57.240 Yeah, the first season we were like, oh, I don't know, guys. 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:01.120 The issues were that we were not used to writing 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:05.200 family shows, you know, I mean I came The first 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:09.320 people I wrote for was Joan Rivers and Rodney Daangerfield 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:10.080 and Bette Middller. 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:11.799 You know what I mean. 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:13.600 I mean that blows my mind. 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:15.400 Wait, you got to tell this story because this is 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:17.120 crazy how you met Joan Rivers. 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:19.880 I'm getting everyone's history because yeah, things that we didn't 0:02:19.919 --> 0:02:21.800 know about when we were kids that now were like, 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:24.440 oh my god. We were like everyone was legendary that 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:26.200 we were working with and we had no idea. 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:27.440 We're just bopping around. 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:28.560 Like, well, okay, I'll tell you. 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:32.239 I got out of college with a degree in film history, 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:37.120 which is worthless, but it's but for four years you got. 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:38.960 But for four years you love it right. 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:42.040 Yeah, it's like getting a degree in show. 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:45.399 And tell you know right, right, which is also called 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:46.120 a theater degree. 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:51.160 But so I got out of school and it was 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:51.799 a recession. 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:54.520 There weren't a lot of jobs, so I moved back 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:57.640 to Baltimore just to look for work. 0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:01.519 I did eight different things, and I became a social worker. 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:06.600 Really yeah, my husband's a social worker, so I love it, yea. 0:03:07.480 --> 0:03:09.600 So I did that for three years, and in the interim, 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:16.240 some friends of mine and I started a downtown newspaper okay, 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:22.200 and I wrote restaurant reviews and a boxing column and 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:26.400 it was pretty funny. And a woman who worked for 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:30.040 the state of Maryland read it and was doing bicycle 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:36.240 training films for children, okay, and hired me to write 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:39.560 these little films. And in the interim, Joan Rivers came 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:41.800 to Baltimore and this friend of mine, this woman is 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:44.640 the most aggressive person I've ever met. And she walked 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:48.720 backstage and she said to Joan Rivers, I have a 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:51.080 friend who's really funny. John says, great to have him 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:53.720 come tomorrow night for the show. I'd like to read 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:54.240 his jokes. 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:55.600 Wow. 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:57.240 This friend of mine called me the next morning and 0:03:57.240 --> 0:03:58.960 said John wants to read your jokes, says I've never 0:03:59.000 --> 0:03:59.600 written a joke. 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:01.960 Is that I don't have any order to read. 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:05.960 But yeah, but but but I mean I was funny 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:09.160 and then super funny, but they weren't. 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:11.880 She was so stupid that he was so fat. 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:15.120 That right, So I sat down and I wrote ten 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:17.240 jokes and I went backstage and she didn't went on 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:21.000 stage and killed and she used it interact for five years. 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:24.960 Oh my god. My first joke was my mother's allows 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:29.280 the cook she serves ketchup as a vegetable. It was 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:32.679 a big joke. That's great, And I got seven dollars 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:33.440 and fifty cents. 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:36.080 Wow, and every week, which is still a lot for 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:37.000 comedy these days. 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:42.760 Right, So every week I sent her fifty jokes, okay, 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:44.320 and she would buy one or two. 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:48.839 But in turning them down you begin to understand waiting 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:53.640 jokes is about syntax and vocabulary, and John Rivers wouldn't 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:55.320 say those words are not in that order. 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:58.119 Right, you still find her voice? 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:00.200 Yeah, and stand up. Do you have a very very 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:02.719 definite way you tell jokes you tell stories? 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:03.800 Yeah? Yeah. 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:06.840 But great line for the old comedy writers was I 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:10.680 think Jewish rage gentown. Well, you know, which means put 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:11.760 your sensibility. 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:17.200 I mean, so many of the best comedians comedy writers 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:19.880 are Jewish and there is a certain. 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:21.440 You. 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:25.760 I find that it's great writing, so but not a ca. 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:27.960 Can't came out here. And I hung out with the 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:30.520 comedy story in the ambrov and started writing jokes. And 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:34.040 Joan Rivers was out of town for the for three 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:36.800 months and so, and when she came back and down, 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:39.120 she got me a few interviews. And I started in 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:44.200 variety televisions okay with uh for for Dick Van Dyke 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:47.560 and Captain and t'aneil who you I. 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:50.200 Guess Captain and t'anil muskrat Love come on. 0:05:52.440 --> 0:05:55.520 And all of these hockey shows, right, And I wrote 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:57.160 the Star Wars Holiday special. 0:05:57.600 --> 0:05:59.040 Oh, well, we're going to get to that. 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:01.320 We're going to get to that because Andrea watched it. 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:04.599 Well try to, I'm sorry. 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:09.200 So then after that I was doing pretty well in variety, 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:11.599 and my agent said, Vriety is dying. 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:12.920 You got to this sitcom. 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:16.840 And so I took a pay kind of half to 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:20.160 get back into sitcom. And so that's how I got started. 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:24.600 And then I wrote features and other things. I wrote 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:25.080 Full House. 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:27.599 So how did you get involved with Full House? Did 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:29.000 you meet Jeff Franklin. 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:32.240 And he put and I were doing Bosom Buddies. 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:34.320 Oh, okay, was doing Buddies. 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:35.159 Jeff was a. 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:38.800 Consultant one Buddies, Okay, so he would come in a 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:42.239 few days a week to punch up and look at stories, 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:44.120 you know, I mean, he was very helpful obviously. 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:45.600 Yeah, that's where we met. 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:49.400 How did you wind up on Bosom Buddies? Just through 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:50.359 the the. 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:55.440 In the business, I had done a show for Paramount. 0:06:56.400 --> 0:06:59.840 With Angie who was in Saturday Night Fever. 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:04.520 Donna was the girl in the backseat and really really 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:05.360 talented person. 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:09.640 So that was my first full time sit coup there 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:14.560 and Paramount was very much a family then everybody knew everybody. Yeah, 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:18.960 and when some Buddies came up, I was young and 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:21.680 was and Buddies at the time was a very very 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:22.280 hip show. 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:24.640 Yeah, oh gosh huge. 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:27.080 So I was new blood or. 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:30.600 The Paramount a lot, and I got an interview and 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:33.880 it worked out. And again, guys, that was the difficulty. 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:37.640 You go from some Buddies where we're doing tattooed jokes 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:41.920 and sexual jokes to a full house you've got to 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:42.880 figure out. 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:44.640 Yeah, yeah, he has a lot. 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:46.880 Actually, that explains a lot about the season one. 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:52.000 Well, we were just trying to find our way with 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:55.240 kids without writing adult jokes that kids are. 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:58.720 Saying, right, And also, like the show, you know, originally 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:02.000 was the about three comics, and it really was kind 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:05.600 of more focused on the adults on the guys, which 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:08.920 was most show. Most shows that had kids in it 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:11.920 were about the adults and the kids were kind of 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:14.880 the side pieces. And Full House was one of the first, 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:18.280 like real big family sitcoms that the kids were just 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:21.360 as important I feel like in the storylines and in 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:23.760 what was going on in the house and the scenes 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:26.480 as the adults were. And I feel like that that 0:08:26.720 --> 0:08:28.760 wasn't the case always with a lot of. 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:31.280 You know, I think what we discovered is if the 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:34.240 story was not while the family was important, it was 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:35.200 the journey of the kids. 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:35.720 Yeah. 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:39.360 And I think the success was it was a time 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:43.520 in America when families were falling apart and everything was 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:48.440 very very different, that kids didn't have moms and dads 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:53.080 like they always did. Everything was changed, and Full House, 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:57.320 I think, in a positive way, gave validation and approval 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:00.400 to that. It says you can have an unc medicinal 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:02.800 family and still have a wonderful, loving family. 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:06.720 Yeah, and that's that is a message that so many 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:10.840 fans like reiterate to us over and over and over again. 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:15.000 How impactful that was because of how many people out 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:18.280 there that don't have families that look like you know, 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:21.439 quote unquote what yeah they think it's supposed to and 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:24.320 being raised by grandparents or uncles with this and I'm 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:27.199 so glad that full House that we got to be 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:31.000 a voice for making people who maybe didn't feel like 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:35.240 they saw their family on TV feel a little more like, No, 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:36.240 this is family. 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:38.800 Is who you, who you love, and who raises you, 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:40.280 and that's what that's what counts. 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:43.959 And it all seem very normal. Yes, you know, I 0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:45.880 mean that that's the other thing that I worked for. 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:51.400 This is a very normal family. Although the situation is odd, right, 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:52.680 the family is real. 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:54.280 Yeah, you know, and I. 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:58.880 Think we wanted without knowing it, probably it's something that 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:04.320 we wanted to say. Yeah, I mean, my parents stayed together, 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:06.000 but that was just for the sake of the dog. 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:13.480 But by and large, kids needed to see there's life 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:19.200 after divorce. Life yea of a parent. 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:21.800 Yeah, and you could so fine and be stupid and 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:23.960 be dopey and have a great. 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:27.920 Time, but there was definitely there was still heart to 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:32.240 the family that really like was you know, despite all 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:35.280 the ridiculous situations, that they really cared about each other 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:38.280 and it was genuine and and also you know, the 0:10:38.559 --> 0:10:40.920 because the cast really cared about each other, that sort 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:44.439 of genuine love and affection was a lot easier to 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:48.400 portray and to write for because we actually enjoyed each other. 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:53.040 Sometimes the conflict for me and other writers was not 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:57.040 everything ends happy right, right? And we I don't know 0:10:57.120 --> 0:10:59.400 if when I was there, we never got the answer, 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:03.000 but we never figured it out. But I wanted some 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:08.720 shows to end unhappy. Well, problems weren't solved. 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:11.080 In a little more realism, right, I haven't wanted. 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:13.320 To tell this story even a problems learned solve, people 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:14.679 still have each other in life goes on. 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:16.840 Yeah, that's an important message. 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:19.920 Yeah, but this was a different time in the world 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:21.920 and they didn't want to tell that story. 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:22.880 Right, Yeah, it was right. 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:23.360 Yeah. 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:27.079 People definitely wanted things to like, particularly sitcoms, Like I 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:30.000 wanted to kind of wrap up and know that there's 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:32.760 an ending and know that everything's going to be okay. 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:35.600 I'm also like you and a little more like well, 0:11:35.760 --> 0:11:37.439 but sometimes you know, it's not all tied up in 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:40.120 a nice little bow in twenty two minutes. But I 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:43.079 think there was also something really appealing about that to 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:46.319 people that because you don't get that, people were like, 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:48.880 oh great, I just want to see some family look 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:49.839 like they're getting it together. 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:50.880 Yeah. 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:53.000 I'm not saying that was right, by the way, I'm 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:55.440 saying that that was something that we sometimes talked about. 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:58.520 Yeah, oh I bet, because you know, Full House was. 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:02.320 Everything worked out okay and everyone ended with a hug, 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:04.840 and that's you know, that's not life, but it was. 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:09.160 But that's okay, it is. But my ratulation was that 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:10.240 fantasy is okay to. 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:11.280 Yeah, exactly. 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:16.480 And I think that that fantasy of family always sticking 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:18.319 together and working it out and ending it with a 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:21.199 hug and nobody getting really ever that mad like that 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:24.719 was a huge appeal of the show because so many 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:26.480 kids tell us like, I grew up in a in 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:30.199 an absolute absolutely chaotic household and everyone was screaming and 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:32.559 everyone was this, and so to see a family that 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:35.040 like can be upset at each other or something, but 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:37.440 then work it out and it's not it doesn't turn 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:38.920 into a big thing, and they hug it out and 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:43.000 everyone like that gave so many people hope that like, 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:45.240 you know what, my family might be kind of crazy, 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:49.400 but like, this is possible. It is possible to talk 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:51.760 through things and work it out. And I'm that's awesome. 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:55.400 If I had to do it now, I think I 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:58.800 might make Because the world's a different place. I think 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:00.920 you could tell all those works complicate the stories and 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:01.240 now for. 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:02.160 Sure, yeah, for sure. 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:04.199 And I think on Fuller we were able to do 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:07.760 a little bit more right because the sensibility is a 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:10.199 little bit different. People are kind of like, look, you 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:16.400 can't everything isn't perfect. But and also you were adults, Yeah, exactly, exactly. 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:27.920 How so had you written for any kids before? 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:30.160 Well, as I say, I mean the. 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:33.000 Bicycle videos that you had started with, but that was 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:33.600 really well. 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:35.359 But being a social. 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:38.840 Worker, I worked with the kids, so I hadn't necessarily 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:40.679 written for them. I knew how to listen to them. 0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:44.040 You really did, You really did, and you you wrote 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:48.240 some of the greatest, no really, some of the greatest 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:52.079 episodes for the kids in those in those early seasons. 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:56.600 You really like brought a voice to the young people 0:13:56.679 --> 0:13:57.360 of this show. 0:13:57.800 --> 0:14:00.240 And your and your humor and all of that, Like 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:04.040 so much of that is evident in Steph and you 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:05.959 know kind of the smart ass comments and stuff. 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:08.760 It's really well helped shaper. I love it. 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:12.040 Yeah, you wrote some of my favorite episodes, like the 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:16.960 chicken pox episode, so season one, the oat boat commercial, 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:20.280 you wrote that one. Just one of the guys with 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:22.480 Kirk Cameron, you wrote that one, Like all of my 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:23.440 favorite episodes. 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:29.080 Say wow wow, So thank you for residuals. I still 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:29.480 get them. 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:32.320 You're welcome. Well, well, those were a thing too, you know, 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:36.160 the gifts that keeps on giving me and I. 0:14:36.200 --> 0:14:38.440 Made friends on the show that are still friends today. 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:40.360 Oh I love that. 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:44.480 That is That's the one like common thing throughout the 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:47.520 cast and the crew, As everyone says, I like, I 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:50.520 still talk to people that I met thirty some odd 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:54.120 years ago on that set and we just clicked. 0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:56.600 It was just such a family. 0:14:56.680 --> 0:14:56.880 It was. 0:14:57.120 --> 0:14:58.680 We were really really fortunate. 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:04.160 In terms of the writer's staff. We were there eighty 0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:04.800 hours a week. 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:08.320 Yeah, I mean, you guys were That's the thing writers packed. 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:10.880 You know, nobody knows it, but writers are like, are 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:14.880 there all hours of the day and night. They're in 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:18.200 the writer's room. They they're basically trapped in there. They're 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:21.840 fed pizza and crusts of bread, no. 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:24.200 Energy drinks. 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:25.800 Yeah, yeah, they're locked in a room. 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:27.080 No, but it is. 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:31.440 I mean the writing staff is put in heavy, heavy, 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:33.680 heavy hours and really spends a lot of time in. 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:37.600 The being in battle. These are your comrades. 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:41.080 Yeah, it was kind of juggling you have to do 0:15:41.160 --> 0:15:43.080 because you're writing scripts that are coming up in the 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:47.840 future while revising the current script that we're shooting this week. 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:50.760 So there's a lot of manipulation of your brain. You 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:54.120 have to thinking forward but staying you know, current as well. 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:55.720 Benny, I don't know if you know this, but Andrea 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:58.480 actually wrote an episode of Fuller House at the end. 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:04.040 Is an incredible writer, and so she got to write 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:07.400 an episode. So she she was was there in the 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:08.280 writer's room. 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:10.680 With well and it blew my mind. 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:13.680 It was so great to get experience because as actors, 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:15.880 we don't see the script until it's the table draft, 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:17.840 you know, till we're there for the table reading. 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:18.960 So I had no idea. 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:21.760 This process starts like three months in advance, where you 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:24.760 have to submit an idea and then you know, a 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:27.560 one pager and then an outline, and every single step 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:30.680 has to get approved by the network and the studio. 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:33.200 It's a very involved process and. 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:36.560 The pus at the end of the day, we don't 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:40.120 want the audience to see how you make the sausage right. 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:44.160 Because the sausage does not usually look good in the 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:47.080 very beginning. The sausage, the sausage that we start with 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:48.920 looks nothing like what's put on the plate, you. 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:49.320 Know what I mean. 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:52.440 Yeah, for the hell of it, I was doing an 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:53.640 episode of bos and Buddy. 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:56.520 I saved everything from the first page to the final 0:16:57.520 --> 0:16:59.640 shooting strip, and it's a document. 0:16:59.360 --> 0:17:04.280 This big, Oh my gods, and there's many colors. 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:06.359 And right, yeah, there's oh yeah, there's the whole color 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:08.200 of you know, rainbow of pages you go through. But 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:11.000 what a cool process to like see. 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:14.280 Really how you know, you you don't quite think you're like, oh, 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:17.520 there's a revision, there's this, but like it's constant going over, 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:20.120 No this doesn't work, and we get it and put 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:21.760 it up on our feet and we're like, no, this 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:25.040 doesn't work, you know, and like it's just a constant 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:27.160 process of like that Now that sucked. 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:29.800 Don't do that. Now try this? Now that sucked too, 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:30.080 you know. 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:32.760 Yeah, you know. 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:34.600 People would ask me how long does it take to 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:38.639 do a script? My answer is until you shoot it. 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:41.920 Right, and even then you may go back and shoot 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:42.240 it again. 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:43.320 That's right. 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:45.720 I mean I've worked on plenty of shows where we 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:49.040 would redo entire acts on a Friday evening. 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:50.920 It was not great for the actors. 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:53.760 No, No, I think we've had to do that a 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:55.680 couple times, where we had to go back and shoot 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:58.000 something from like a couple of weeks previous or whatever. 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:00.440 And yeah, you're like, oh, I've already let this out 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:01.480 of my brain. I can't go back. 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:06.800 It's also a very collaborative process. Once you get to 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:09.840 a certain draft of your script, then it's turned over 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:12.560 to the writer's room where you all got to collaborate 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:14.600 and pitch your jokes. Can you talk a little bit 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:16.280 about writer's room dynamics. 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:19.760 Yeah, Well, the writer's room is my favorite place. If 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:21.600 I have any skill at all is that I'm a 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:22.680 pretty decent joke writer. 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:25.000 Oh yeah, and I'm very. 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:28.840 Fast and I stutter. So my joke always was I'm 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:30.719 faster than you, and I stutter. And I get more 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:35.560 jokes in. But the writer's room is sports. 0:18:36.400 --> 0:18:40.720 Yes, yes, you're tableful of people who are all friends 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:43.760 until you sit at the table and becomes competitive. Right. 0:18:44.880 --> 0:18:47.840 I mean, you all say you're working, you all say 0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:50.480 you're working for the same script, and you're all part 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:52.520 of the same team. But I want to get my 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:55.080 damn joke in right, and I want to get as 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:57.919 many jokes that I wrote into that script as possible, right, 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:02.119 Because writers have egos the same way actors do. We 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:05.200 express our our egos is when you write a script 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:08.320 and you hear your joke right, and he gets laughs. 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:13.679 So the writers is at full house. Jeff Franklin, because 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:16.320 it was he ran the show, you would sit in 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:19.560 the room and you'd The process is from the first outline. 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:21.240 You go everything line by line. 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:25.280 And so you do the outline and you like it, 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:27.080 and then you write a second draft and you like it, 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:31.000 and then you send the outline out to the producers 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:34.520 and the executives and the studio and other people who 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:35.080 know nothing. 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:40.720 And and then that you have to incorporate all you 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:42.520 got to figure out how do you do notes? 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:44.400 You don't have to do everybody's notes. 0:19:44.800 --> 0:19:47.879