Andrew Nicholls

Andrew Nicholls joined me to talk about taping The Tonight Show; early English children's TV; The Flintstones; Monty Python; meeting Darrell Vickers; writing The Blob as a musical; trying to write a book depicting the real life of a comedy writer; how TV is like any other job in some ways; TV being a collaboration - both good and bad; We're Only Joking; how working in Canada gave him and Darrell a full tool kit for writing comedy; the many jobs in comedy he had; Alan Thicke buys some jokes but uses all that were sent; Thicke of the Night; teaming up writers to save money; Wayne Kline; how poorly the show was run; SCTV's parody; babysitting a young Robin Thicke; didn't sit in the audience of the shows he worked on so he has a different experience; writing for Mickey Rooney; working on the pilot Apartment 2C with George Carlin; finding scenes from the Canadian sitcom  Flappers co-starring Martin Short on You Tube; SCTV still holds up; Jimmy Neutron's notes flummox fans; sending a first draft away being like sending finely crafted sausage to a pack of dogs; network notes and suits; David Birney on St. Elsewhere; writing a sample package for Johnny Carson that two agents said wasn't good enough but got them the job; how Shelly Cohen got their package to Johnny; 13 week cycles of firings; Johnny saw their output and they stayed; Johnny firing everyone but them after 1988 Writers strike; meeting at Johnny's home in Malibu weekly; Check it Out; Don Adams; Art Fern, Telescam, Aunt Blabby; Teresa Ganzel; show only stopped tape twice; Overlaying Billboards; my favorite episode from 1990; George Carlin; people who died jokes; Johnny's theory, "If people laugh, it's funny"; Roget's Eulogy; two sketches that were nixed: Tongue Twister Magazine and Limerick Bank Robbery; doing remotes from Kentucky; Dominoes Deliverymen Falling; Sniveling Weasel Awards; Worlds Longest Limo; Johnny did not want to do remotes; remotes dubbed over by Johnny; George Carlin Show; Pearl; consulting on sitcoms; The Magic Hour and Howard Stern; British TV