Friday, October 17, 2008

It Ain't Easy Being Funny.

IF YOU ENJOY THE DAILY SHOW, think about what makes it so enjoyable. Someone actually digs through copious amounts of news and raw data, digests it and processes it.

That man, apparently, is Adam Chodikoff, a Daily Show producer.

Here is his news diet, as reported by Women's Wear Daily:

Chodikoff reads seven newspapers a day in print, sits through hours of hearings on C-Span on a Saturday and watches Sen. John McCain grilling on Rachael Ray’s talk show.


The story continues:

But consuming everything is only half the task. The competitive advantage he gives (Daily Show host John) Stewart is having some historical memory in an amnesiac news cycle inherently more invested in the next angle than in context.

There is no question for you guys here. I just want you to appreciate the fact that being a good journalist - even in the world of humor - involves knowing what is going on in the world.

(the photo above comes from Women's Wear Daily)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The author of this article makes a good point when saying even in when being a humorous journalist, the journalist still must know the facts. If not, if they make a joke about something that isn't true, it won't be funny at all. It takes talent to make news funny, and journalist who do this well are extremely good journalist.

Geo said...

Yeah, that author is a wicked smart guy!

- George (your teacher, and the guy who wrote the blog post)

Megan McCue Journalism said...

It's so surprising to read that kind of thing because you don't think that things like humorous journalism would take so much research and thought.

Chasee said...

I respect these guys more than anybody else out there right now. Every joke so carefully constructed and relevant, their material is great. Not to mention the number of kids our age who would know even less about what's going on without stuff like The Daily Show, and the writers and all the staff behind it.