On this third episode of 5 Questions, I speak with Andy Borowitz, whose massively popular newsletter The Borowitz Report tops out around 200 words per post. So this intro is going to be brief!
Even if you belong to Andy’s army of loyal readers, you might not know that he is also the co-creator of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and wrote on classic 80’s TV shows, The Facts of Life and Square Pegs, which helped to launch Sarah Jessica Parker’s career.
In this fast-paced conversation, Andy and I discuss:
His career in and out of Hollywood
How to write succinctly
His grammatical pet peeve(s)
Whether AI will ever be able to write comedy
The best advice he got from Susie Essman (aka, the secret to a happy life)
Subscribe to The Borowitz Report here ↓↓↓↓
Some of my favorite quotes
Will Smith and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (00:05:12)
Andy: I realized pretty soon after Fresh Prince went on the air that it was really lightning in a bottle. It was a very fluky success. It was this kid, Will Smith, who had never acted before. Although now it’s very much in the mainstream of TV and it’s like the most wholesome, all-American show in the world, at the time it was really going against the grain because the networks and the media—the corporate media in general—were terrified by hip-hop. Hip-hop was, to them, gangster rap. It was, I would say, the inherent racism of corporate media really showing its true colors—no pun intended. They were very terrified by what they knew that Will Smith had. At NBC, they knew that he had a lot of charisma, but they were terrified by what he might have. So they were always trying to get me to take the edges off—not that I could ever find any discernible edges in Will Smith.
Chat GPT Knock-knock joke (00:16:47):
Paul: I went to ChatGPT and said, write a knock knock joke about Andy Borowitz. And here’s what ChatGPT came back with. Knock knock.
Andy: Who’s there?
Paul: Andy.
Andy: Andy who?
Paul: Andy Borowitz,I just published a story saying 83% of Americans think this joke is funnier than the Constitution.
Andy: That is absolutely horrible.
Andy on Life Choices (00:29:13):
Andy: I say this to my kids—I have three kids and this is maybe my only advice—I say “I do not have a big strong opinion about the choices you make other than I hope that when you make choices they will contribute to your being happy and healthy.” And when you make a choice if it’s going to make you happy for the moment like oh that drug looks kind of fun but it’s going to make you unhealthy, you should probably cross that off your list and just try to think about the choices you make are you going to be happy and healthy as a result of this choice. And even at my age I sort of feel like that’s kind of a good exercise.
See Paul tell jokes near you:
• June 19 and 20 - The Comedy Catch, Chattanooga
• June 25 - ❤️ Happy Couples Show, West Side Comedy Club, NYC ❤️
• July 21 - The Venice West, Los Angeles
• July 23 - Cobbs Comedy Club, San Francisco
• Aug 1 - Sticks and Stones Comedy Club, Southampton, NY
• Aug 8 - Atlanta Country Club (private show)
• Aug 13-16 - McCurdy’s Comedy Theatre, Sarasota, FL
That is all - have a wonderful day!
