368 - Mike Reiss: Yes! You Should Take Chances with Your Career
Mike Reiss started writing for The Simpsons because NO ONE else would take the job. They didn’t know they were passing up the opportunity work on what would soon become the #1 animated series on prime time TV. Mike has tons of stories about TV writing, comedy, and creating something people love. His secret: “We said, ‘No one’s gonna watch this so let’s just make this for us.” In this episode, Mike tells me why he took a chance, why he wasn’t afraid, and how it became the most fulfilling career move he ever made.
Links and Resources
Springfield Confidential: Jokes, Secrets, and Outright Lies from a Lifetime Writing for The Simpsons by Mike Reiss
The Simpsons
Follow Mike on Twitter
My interview with Nancy Cartwright (the voice of Bart Simpson)
The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson
It’s Garry Shandling Show
Not Necessarily the News
National Lampoon
Conan O’Brien
James L. Brook
Sam Simon
Jake Hogan
Carol Burnett
The Flintstones
The Critic
Family Guy
South Park
Alf
Itchy and Scratchy
Aristotle
Taxi (tv show)
Chico and The Man
Mary Tyler Moore Show
Jim Brooks
Louie
Teen Angel
Whoopi Goldberg
Al Gene
Mike Reiss’s speech at Havard
Mark Twain quote “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter”
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Larry David
Seinfeld
Cheers
Chevy Chase
Richard Pryor
Sabrina the Teenage Witch
My interview with Nell Scovell
Beavis and Butthead
Frasier
Psych
Roseanne
All In The Family
Big Bang Theory
Harvard Lampoon
Rocky and Bullwinkle
Citizen Kane
Terms of Endearment
Spotlight
Thor
Thomas Pynchon
J.D Salinger
Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
V. by Thomas Pynchon
Tom Clancy
Buzz Aldrin
James Taylor
Magic Johnson
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
Veep
Silicon Valley
The Comedians
Billy Crystal
Josh Gad
Poking the Dead Frog: Conversations with Today's Top Comedy Writers by Mike Sacks
Sick in the Head: Conversations About Life and Comedy by Judd Apatow
Born Standing Up by Steve Martin
Even This I Get to Experience by Norman Lear
The Hitchhiker by Charlie Lee
I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltucher.com/podcast.
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