Graham Linehan: How I Made and Lost a Career in Comedy
KEY MOMENTS
0:00 – Intro: Graham Linehan and his book Tough Crowd
1:03 – The Joshua Trio and the origins of Father Ted
3:53 – Irish writers making British comedy
5:25 – Becoming a control freak about jokes
6:41 – Channel 4 and doing the opposite of everyone else
10:24 – The thrill of studio audience sitcoms
12:08 – John Lithgow, Laurie Metcalf, and sitcom acting
14:07 – Live audiences vs. online video
16:15 – The myth of canned laughter
18:08 – The decline of the cinema
21:05 – Movies that command silence
24:31 – Being a film critic and thinking like an audience
28:20 – The banned IT Crowd episode
29:58 – Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Matrix
32:18 – Fans, backlash, and JK Rowling
36:44 – How he was drawn into the gender debate
39:29 – Wikipedia and the media's coverage of him
41:25 – Trying stand-up comedy at 56
43:51 – The canceled Father Ted musical
46:01 – Words vs. actions and pronouns in the press
49:00 – Misgendering a Murderer and women's sports
52:20 – Why comedy needs a shared reality
53:42 – Ian Fidance and Calvinball rules
56:37 – Medical realities and his cancer treatment
1:01:08 – Jesse Singal, Katie Herzog, and the dating app stunt
1:03:27 – Teddy Pendergrass and women-only shows
1:04:28 – The Glinner Update and wrap-up
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Graham Linehan, creator of Father Ted and The IT Crowd and author of Tough Crowd: How I Made and Lost a Career in Comedy, joins Lou to talk about sitcoms, the greatness of Laurie Metcalf, and his cancellation (or cancellations).
We also get into the origins of Father Ted, Irish writers making British comedy, the thrill of studio audience sitcoms, the myth of canned laughter, the banned IT Crowd episode, how he was drawn into the gender debate, trying stand-up comedy at 56, the canceled Father Ted musical, his cancer treatment, and whether he had any luck on that lesbian dating app.