Comedy writing master coming to Springfield Improv

They say comedy is among the hardest things to write well, but for Springfield residents looking to improve their craft, a 20-plus year veteran of the comedy scene like Rich Talarico might be the guy to turn to.

While you may not know Talarico’s name, you’ve likely seen and laughed at his work. He’s written for “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “Key and Peele (including the iconic Substitute Teacher sketch, which has been viewed more than 215 million times on YouTube),” “Saturday Night Live” and many other comedy institutions. This week, he’ll be in Springfield teaming up with Springfield Improv for a three-day comedy writing boot camp.

Talarico’s own education in comedy was molded by one of the biggest names in the business today. Stephen Colbert, of “The Colbert Report” and “Late Night” fame, taught at a premier comedy venue in Chicago called the Second City. After taking a preparatory class, Talarico auditioned to get into the yearlong training that followed. The first year, everybody in the class but him and his two scene partners got in. The following two years, he was the only member of his classes who didn’t make the cut.

“I remember thinking, ‘Ooh great, I'm stuck here with all these losers who can't get into Second City,’” Talarico recounts. “Those ‘losers’ were people like Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Jack McBrayer.”

Needless to say, Talarico and his fellow students did eventually make it to Second City, a longstanding launchpad of sketch comedy and improv.

Over the next decade, Talarico took on a multitude of acting jobs in film and television. Then, when “Mad TV” came to Chicago looking for talent in 2001, Talarico was offered a writing position in Los Angeles. His career snowballed from there. Tina Fey had him come in and do some punch-up work (tweaking the jokes to make them funnier) on the 2004 film “Mean Girls.” This led to two seasons writing for “Saturday Night Live.”

“I lasted longer than Larry David, so I hope that translates into something,” Talarico said.

Springfield’s comedy scene is strong and growing

With a gap in his traveling schedule between comedy festivals in Tennessee and St. Louis, Talarico was on the lookout for a place in between the two locations where he could potentially do something comedy related. He was recommended Springfield Improv and decided to reach out.

“I jumped at the opportunity to get Rich out here and get to have a class with him,” says Springfield Improv founder Seth White. “I was pretty excited.”

White notes Springfield is a good choice for a comedy class like this. There’s no shortage of things to do when it comes to the town’s comedy scene. In addition to Springfield Improv and open mic nights at establishments like Blue Room, White points out that the city also has a rich film and screenwriting community. A comedy writing boot camp can create a bridge between those groups.

“I think Springfield's great for this,” White said. “Bringing Rich in here seemed like a way to provide a wonderful educational opportunity for a bunch of different people in Springfield who might not otherwise get that. It's not every day we've got someone coming to Springfield with the kind of resume that Rich has.”

The mechanics of jokes

The course will teach students the basics of how to write a joke, the building block of all comedy writing. Students will also learn what makes a joke work and what the moving parts are.

“How I look at joke writing actually comes from Sigmund Freud,” Talarico said. “It's funny because in comedy, everybody thinks that a joke is two parts. In late night parlance, they're even called two-liners. But Freud says there's three parts to the joke. There's an expectation of bewilderment and illumination, and between the bewilderment when the punchline is delivered and the illumination when the audience ‘gets it.’ That really dovetails from screenwriting advice I got through Billy Wilder, who says that the audience loves to add up 2 + 2. If you let the audience add up 2 + 2, they'll love you for it. That's what happens inside of every joke. There's kind of a self-rescue from the bewilderment. ‘Oh, I figured it out. I understand where the comedian was going with this particular idea.’”

Additionally, students in the class will learn how to brainstorm and come up with ideas, which Talarico believes many aspiring comedy writers struggle with.

“My advice is just to live life as a normal participant and wait for things to annoy you,” he advises. “The truth is what you know. Comedy writers don't get annoyed, and it's a wonderful thing. You're never annoyed because when annoying things happen [to me], I say ‘Thank you, annoying thing.’ And I've got something new to write about.”

After the brainstorming and pitch sessions, students will write comedy pieces in a “writer’s room” environment, bouncing ideas off of one another under advisement from Talarico. Then, they’ll be given several days to go off and do some writing on their own.

“They’ll face a lot of the things that writers face: an assignment, a deadline and a chance to hear their stuff back with some final notes,” Talarico said.

After this short break, the class will gather for a final lesson over Zoom.

Whether it’s scripted comedy or improv, White says the end goal is the same.

“Getting down to the craft of things,” he says, “we're trying to reach an audience, to connect with them. How do I express myself in a way that evokes laughter?”

Opportunities to shine in Springfield

What can students potentially do with the newfound knowledge they gain from taking the course?

“Locally, there certainly are opportunities,” White said. “You look at something like SATO48 [Springfield’s annual 48-hour film festival]. You would be ready to write a comedy. Here in the local area, we do a lot of independent filmmaking, and there's constantly a need for people writing, producing, acting in it. Springfield at various times has hosted sketch comedy shows and could easily do so again. There are a lot of different places locally.”

If aspiring comedy writers are aiming for loftier heights outside of the Ozarks, Talarico advises them to take that jump.

“Sometimes students will ask, how do I make it in the business?” Talarico said. “I feel like making it is making the decision to be an artist. If you can make that decision, in my opinion, you've made it, because after that it's just a matter of leveling up. There are people that are in the 1% of the business that very few people can even dream about touching. That's just the reality of the business.”

Each journey starts with a step, and goals can change as a career in showbiz unfolds.

“The Screen Actors Guild, for example, has 160,000 members nationwide, so there are quite a few people that are not Tom Cruise who are artists and who have made it,” Talarico said. “The important thing is that you're on the path. Whether you’re doing it for five minutes or five years, do the work on whatever level you can do, as best you can, every day, and you will keep leveling up. If it's just five minutes to think about an idea or ten minutes to research something, just do something every day. Take classes when you can. Put your work up. I always suggest partnering with local film schools. Find the kid with the camera who can shoot your thing. Write a script. There's all kinds of stuff writers and creative people can do.”

Comedy writing class sold out

While tickets for the class are sold out, interested persons can still partake as auditors — that is, attend the classes at a reduced cost without participating in discussions or getting feedback on their writing. Once this course is finished, White said he is open to similar endeavors in the future, in addition to Springfield Improv’s normal classes.

“We also are always looking to bring in outside folks who can give us a new point of view and have new things going on,” he says. “It was a wonderful chance that I happened to get the email from Rich’s people saying he was available, and so this is sort of that spark to restart doing that again and have more wonderful creative voices outside the Springfield area coming through, offering classes and giving their insight and wisdom to folks here.”

Paul Cecchini

Paul Cecchini is a freelance writer, aspiring author and award-winning former editor of the Mansfield Mirror newspaper (the Missouri one, not the Texas one). His writing mantra is that everyone has a story, and he’s always on the lookout for the next one to tell. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook @peachykeeny or view a sampling of his published work at muckrack.com/peachykeeny. More by Paul Cecchini