Daniel O'Brien's Blog, page 11
March 6, 2016
cracked:
Did you know cats modeled their “meow” after the cries...
Did you know cats modeled their “meow” after the cries of human babies, just because they knew us humans care about that noise? Did you know dogs can read your mind (emotionally), and live in constant suspicion that you know where the good food is (you totally do)?
In the next LIVE episode of the Cracked Podcast, host Jack O'Brien leads Cracked’s team of pet-loving/fearing comedians through all the ways our dogs and cats are more powerful, creepy, and awesome than we ever could have imagined.
Jack will be joined by Carmen Angelica, Dan O'Brien, Alex Schmidt and Jake Weisman.
The Shocking Truth About Dogs, Cats & More!
I’m doing this live podcast! See you Wednesday.
March 2, 2016
thisdanobrien:
For a few days, this is what almost all of my...
For a few days, this is what almost all of my scripts look like. The most daunting thing for me to see is a blank page, so I always make sure there’s SOMETHING on there as soon as possible, even if it’s as simple as “CHARACTER: [First line]. ADDITIONAL CHARACTER: [Second line].“ This chunk has a clear little skeleton to it, but some scripts are even more bare bones (MICHAEL: [Banter]; KATIE: [Aggravated Response]; SOREN: [Distracted non sequitur] DANIEL: [Sweats, Farts]. KATIE: But you know, that reminds me…[Thesis of the After Hours episode].)
I don’t know if this is a useful practice for anyone and I’ve never known a writing teacher who suggested doing it (most in fact suggest the opposite and there are probably a bunch of real writers reading this shrieking Nooooooo never do that), but it’s just something I’ve been doing for years and it helps me. It ensures that I never have to look at a blank page and even if I end up changing it, it’s still helpful to have a starting place. And this way I don’t waste an hour trying to pick the specific words that Josie has to say, I can just leave her name there as a reminder knowing that I can come back to it later.
It’s a weird method and I’ve never done an ENTIRE script that is just placeholders, but it usually works. Right where the above picture cuts off is where dialogue actually starts happening. There’s three more pages of actual dialogue after this that wouldn’t have happened without these dumb placeholders serving as a jogged, warm-up lap before the actual run starts. Eventually I’ll get to the end of the episode and then address everything with brackets, including this opening scene and every time I write a line like "Josie, Bub, you know you’ve always got my support, but lately you’ve been acting like [FUNNY JOKE]” which happens VERY often.
Rom.Com will be back every Wednesday for the entire month of February and then again a few months later, and I promise there will be words in it.
Hey, remember when I wrote that thing a year ago? Now you can see the episode this turned into! It’s the last episode of the third season of Rom.Com and I sure hope you like it.
February 24, 2016
Me: What? How would that ever be useful, why would-Prettiest...
Me: What? How would that ever be useful, why would-
Prettiest Girl in the World: Hi, I’ll have a Bacon Double Cheeseburger.
Bacon Double Cheeseburger: Why settle for A Bacon Double Cheeseburger, when you can have THE Bacon Double Cheeseburger?
*Happy Marriage*
Me: God dammit I’m a million percent worse than that guy!!!!!
February 21, 2016
February 17, 2016
Y'all coming to SXSW this year?
Yeah! Details to follow!
February 15, 2016
February 10, 2016
Hello Daniel, love the work you do. In the spirit of the impending holiday, I was wondering if you had a memorable (good or bad) Valentine's experience you'd be willing to share with us?
True Story! I had my first real kiss with a girl from a neighboring town when I was in high school, and we had a few like really early, lame, Classic Daniel-in-High-School Dates (Classic Daniel-in-HS Date = Chain Restaurant + Movie + Asking You Lots of Questions + Driving You Around Telling You What One of My Favorite Songs is About). This started in January, which is a tough time to start a relationship because it’s so close to Valentine’s Day and suddenly you’re in this odd situation with strange rules and expectations that are all getting in the way of your very early, casual relationship.
So about a week before Valentine’s Day I said over AOL Instant Messenger “Hey, should we go out Saturday? It doesn’t need to be like an official Valentine’s Day thing, it could just be a Saturday, because I know we haven’t really been going out that long, and we haven’t even talked about what we ‘are’ or what we’re ‘doing’ and I’m not trying to rush that conversation, because I’m totally cool with the as-yet-undiscussed thing that we’re doing, I just saw that a Saturday was coming up (as often happens) and Saturday is usually when we see each other, and I still wanted to see you, but I didn’t want you to think there was any kind of Valentine’s Day pressure, mostly my Mom just wants to know if I need to borrow her car this Saturday, so I need to let HER know, which is why I’m trying to arrange this a week in advance, you know? It’s more about scheduling? Anyway it’s fine if a) you are busy on Saturday or b) you think it would be GREAT to do an officially-sanctioned Valentine’s Day thing or c) you want to go out in a low-pressure, classic Saturday type of situation where we pretend it isn’t Valentine’s Day [which is a weird made-up holiday and we don’t even totally understand the origins of it did you know that?] or d) you think it’s weird to go out on Valentine’s Day at this stage of our still-unclassified non-relationship, so you’d like to skip it, though you’d still like to in the future continue this still-unclassified non-relationship. All options are fine, just let me know, and sorry for making this weird.”
And she said “Daniel. Dummy. I’d love to go out Saturday.”
And then on Saturday morning, she IM’d me to say “I actually can’t go out tonight. I forgot to tell you but I am moving.”
And we never saw each other again!
February 9, 2016
Announcing Dead Presidents: With Daniel O’Brien (A New Podcast)
Hey Friends!
The wonderful folks at Howl.Fm, Earwolf (and Cracked OG Lex Friedman) reached out to me a little a while ago about doing a podcast miniseries about presidents. After some brainstorming, my producer Erica Mu and I decided to focus on five presidents who were featured on money. It turns out that no one knows why certain presidents were chosen for certain denominations (the Treasury Department either doesn’t know or refuses to tell us), so I decided to treat each episode like a mystery that needed solving, volunteering myself as the historian/detective on the case.
To listen to the podcast, you need to download the Howl app. There are a bunch of amazing podcasts exclusive to Howl and I’m in great company (Lauren Lapkus! Paul F. Tompkins!), and while it does cost money to subscribe to Howl, you can get a month free if you use the promo code PRESIDENTS. Here’s what one of the people at Howl told me to tell you to make that happen.
“Go to Howl.fm and click start free trial.
Create an account.
Once you reach checkout, input the promo code PRESIDENTS which will give you 1 month free.”
Here’s the link to the show which, again, is called Dead Presidents with Daniel O’Brien.
A five episode podcast that was just me delivering monologues about presidents would have been boring, so we brought in a buuuuuunch of special guests and, boy is it a good group.
Episode One features incredible human and YouTube sensation Hannah Hart. We talk about George Washington, Canada and strippers.
Episode Two features the impossibly talented, Golden Globe-winning actor and creator of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Rachel Bloom. We talk about Thomas Jefferson, Aspergers, and strippers.
Episode Three features the wonderfully kind and hilarious frontman of Fall Out Boy, Patrick Stump. We talk about Andrew Jackson, duels, and social anxiety.
Episode Four features my dear friend and nemesis Liana Maeby. We talk about Ulysses S. Grant, Ryan Gosling and strippers.
Episode Five features hilarious actor, comedian and radio personality Ralph Garman. We talk about Grover Cleveland, Charles Barkley and cancer.
I’ll be writing more in-depth posts for individual episodes as the week goes on (I apologize in advance for the self promotion that I’ll be doing for both this podcast and the new season of Rom.Com). This was a whole lot of fun and I can’t believe I got to talk about presidents with all of those cool, nice people who have inspired me over the years.
I’d love it if you gave the show a listen (each episode is between 21 and 27 minutes long). My big brother Tommy wrote the theme song and I had a real blast working on this.
Thanks!
February 8, 2016
HI Dan! I just wanted to say thanks for all the awesome stuff you make. Your talents have made what has been an awesome birthday even better! My wife gave me your book AND there will be another episode of OCPD tomorrow! Keep being awesome, dude! The people
“MY WIFE!”
(Seriously though thanks for the kind words and happy birthday.)
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