Writing For Conan O'Brien: Andy Blitz on Comedy and Standup

Dialogues #19

“I've heard some people say, 'The comedian is the modern day philosopher.' I always wonder how the actual modern day philosophers think about that, toiling away in obscurity”. - Norm MacDonald

🚨Episode 06 of the podcast with comedian Andy Blitz is out! 🚨

Andy was a writer and performer on Late Night with Conan O'Brien for many years.

I first remember seeing him perform standup on Conan when I was in college. He did a joke about Who Wants to Be a Millionaire that just slayed me. (The links to all these references are in the description of our conversation on YouTube.)

I took note of who he was way back then, and I would later see him do remotes and bits on Conan. They were always hilarious.

As I mention in the episode, the Slipnutz bit is pretty legendary.

And if you haven't seen it, you need to see the remote where Conan helps Andy find an apartment. (That real estate agent is a saint.)

Later I would see him again on a show called Human Giant. In our conversation, Andy talks about his comedy career after Conan, writing for other comedy shows like Review and Important Things with Demetri Martin.

I told Andy after we recorded that I wish I could go back and tell my younger self that I would eventually get to talk to him.

It was a pretty cool moment for me.

We talked about his legendary Conan sketch, “The Slipnutz” and opening for Slipknot, his early days of comedy, what it was like to work with Conan, whether he thinks about his comedy as having a purpose, why going to the Emmy Awards is boring (and why skipping them while pulling a prank makes them more interesting), not caring about celebrities (except Gene Wilder), and much more.

His conversational style and pacing is slower, but thoughtful.

Many of his stories had me rolling.

If you haven’t seen the clips I’ve mentioned, it’s worth watching the ones I link to in the YouTube description before listening or watching.

I'd love to hear your feedback on the episode.

Until next week,

Jared

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