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F'ing the Boss, Screwing the Host

By Jason Chin, October 28, 2009 at 9:23 am

As the Letterman scandal grows deeper, and a bit more disturbed, more information about sex in the workplace and sexism in comedy comes out.

The Office.jpg

The ongoing, asinine theory that "women aren't funny" is strongly addressed in a great piece in the current Vanity Fair. (As I wrote that last sentence I remembered that most of iconic comedy routines (Viewer Mail, Stupid Human/Pet Tricks) on Letterman were created by his then-girlfriend, a writer on the show, Merrill Markoe.) Anyway...penelope-cruz-vanity-fair.jpg

this piece by ex-Letterman writer, Nell Scovell, is a fascinating look at behind the scenes of the office without being a "tell-all". Rather, it's more scathing towards the hiring process of comedy shows, particularly the coveted talk-show circuits. Scovell was a staff writer for Letterman in 1987. The article is online here and available in the current Vanity Fair. Not only is a great article, she directly mentions "improv performers" as rich resource of talent. 

Filed under: TV shows

Tags: David Letterman, Merrill Markoe, Nell Scovell, Vanity Fair

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  • FernandoDiaz said October 28, 2009 at 12:00 am

    Thanks for the link Jason, I followed the link for Merrill Markoe to her Wikipedia page to her site, to her blog, to her "statement" on Letterman, which brought me to this gem: "Merrill Markoe presents: Quickdraw Noir"

    So deep in the rabbit hole it hurts. But what a find, thanks for your stewardship, sir.

  • offdisc said October 28, 2009 at 12:00 am

    The Quickdraw cartoon is just brilliant!

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