When I began the crowdfunding campaign for Comedy Writing Guru, I knew it would be challenging. Through the years, we’ve compiled an extensive contact list and planned to reach out to everyone on it.
That was the plan. What I hadn’t expected was the renewed communication and the flood of memories that came pouring in. The most extensive of these are the ones from the ROUND TABLE Comedy Writers Convention.
For those of you who don’t know, for 19 years Gene hosted a comedy writers convention, which I organized. It was a weekend long workshop that featured lectures, lessons, classes, and lots of laughs. We even had our own Mike Night featuring the stand-up comedy of our group.
The story of the convention conveys the idea behind Comedy Writing Guru. While working fulltime as a television writer, Dad went to his business manager and said, “Can I afford to lose $5000 a month.” His business manager said “Yes, but I would advise against it.” Dad didn’t listen and with the help of Ed Hercer—that’s a whole other story–ROUND TABLE was formed. As there were no hard-fast rules for comedy, he wanted our readers to learn from each other.
It grew quickly and found its own life. After about a year, some of the members who were spread out all over the world, asked for a way to meet in person. And Dad came up with the idea for a “Get Together.”
Yes, the first one was called a “Get Together.” Or so we thought. The business manager we mentioned earlier was a little confused about the idea. He asked, “It’s a convention, right?.” Dad said no as he felt convention was too formal for what we were doing. “Then it’s a seminar, yes?” Again the answer was no. We were planning on so much more. In frustration, the business manager said, “Let me explain something to you. A convention is tax deductible, a seminar is tax-deductible…the IRS doesn’t recognize a ‘Get-Together.’” And so the ROUND TABLE Comedy Writers Convention was born.
And it continued for 19 years.
The weekends were extraordinary. We had faculty members who volunteered and were incredible! They not only gave of their time but also their expertise. We had such professionals as Phil Lasker, Liz Sage, Rick Hawkins, Martha Bolton, Mike MacDonald, and Dave Boone. During our tenure we had students who went on to successful careers and then came back as faculty. Joe Medeiros is included in this category—but we’ll save his story for the film!
Although we had a lot of fun, the main focus of the weekends was to work. And we did work the participants. We would hand out absolutely, positively impossible assignments. Tasks like “Write an opening for a sitcom…you have 15 minutes” or “Write a 5-joke monologue…we’ll call on you in 20 minutes.” We knew we were asking a lot, but assignment after assignment, year after year, our participants did it.” One time, after Gene handed out an assignment and the group was busy getting to work, Phil Lasker turned to Dad and said, “If you gave me that assignment, I wouldn’t be able to do it.”
We figured out that with such a tight time schedule, the participants didn’t have time for self-doubt or procrastination. They simply got the work done. Most of the time the work was pretty doggone good, too.
There were two aspects of the weekends that became favorites of the participants. One was ‘The Comedy Games’ which was our version of the Olympics. We’d break the group into teams, hand out assignments, each table would present and the judges (faculty and staff) would hold up numbers. Scores would be kept and medals awarded at the end. It was fast-paced, fun, but also educational. The work mimicked the pace and atmosphere of writing on a staff. And I just want to say that my moniker of being the “Russian Judge” was completely uncalled for.
The other highlight of the weekend was ‘Mike Night’. The first few years, this wasn’t a part of the curriculum. The gang would go to dinner and then head to a local comedy show on their own. One of the participants presented the idea of doing our own show to highlight the talent in the group. We thought it was a great idea and Mike Night was added the following year.
We had some strict rules for the show. Each person was given 4 minutes to perform. The evening became a highlight not just for the participants but for people in the Community who would purchase tickets to attend and also for the hotel staff that we’d allow to be part of the audience. Shoot the more people laughing, the better.
When Dobie Maxwell joined our group, he would not only emcee the evening but would start the next day by giving notes to the performers. It not only was beneficial for the person on stage, but provided an education for all the convention attendees.
I made some great friends during the course of the conventions. Some I talk with on a regular basis but have lost touch with others. As happens in life, we get busy with the minutia and even the best intentions of staying in touch get lost. This project has reconnected me with many of the convention participants and faculty members and it’s been wonderful. They share a memory or two which spurs other memories from me.
The convention demonstrated that you can learn and have fun at the same time. We had lots of laughs while working hard. Comedy Writing Guru is going to help carry on that philosophy. Reconnecting, sharing old stories, and having a few laughs is just one of the perks for me.
