Dipping My Toe in the Water and Getting It Bitten Off

Or at least chewed a little...

In all the years I've been reading other people's blogs I've posted comments maybe twice. I've generally felt that reading the comments is like watching dogs fighting. If you try and interfere, you're likely to get bitten yourself.

I'm a regular reader of the blog by Ken Levine, a TV comedy writer on shows like Cheers and Frasier. 

Yesterday he wrote a blog titled 'Writing Room Etiquette' about the 'ribald' behaviour that goes on during the writing of a sitcom. He described the obscene humour that the writers use not as material but as a way of letting off steam. He told the story of a temporary secretary (engaged as stenographer) who didn't understand the culture. The showrunner (the man in charge of the writers) was being deliberately gross in his humour when she suddenly said in a stern voice: 'Can we just confine our comments to the script?' 

The other writers expected him to shout at her but instead he just said: 'Alright. Take this down. "Fade in. Interior apartment - day. Fred enters. Fred says..."' 

You can see what's coming, can't you? He dictated an extremely, ultra-obscene monologue, which she had to take down. Then he said: 'Okay, now read that back to me.' Levine recalls that she 'had to recite the entire offensive speech. By now we [the team of writers] were on the floor, holding our sides.'

For once, I thought, I'll leave a comment. It was only thirteen words long: 'Sounds like there's a fine line between writing room etiquette and office bullying.'

Mine happened to be the first comment. Now there are forty-seven more. They did not uniformly agree with. Nor did they address the issues I raised. Instead, it seems that I'm a prude, I don't understand writing, I think (sorry, 'whine') that comedy should be 'nice and polite'. Oh, and I have a stick up my butt.

If anyone is interested in the full context, it's here. 

It's interesting that Levine was a write on the TV version of MASH, because, on reflection, his story reminds me of a scene in the movie version. There is a nurse (played by Sally Kellerman) who is a humourless square who doesn't appreciated the coolness of the guys. When I saw the film as a teenager, I was immensely amused by the scene in which she is watched in the shower by all the male doctors and then the sound of her having sex is played across the camp tannoy. And then I watched the film a few years later and felt like I'd been part of a bullying mob.

Anyway, feel free to leave comments.