Our assistant speaks!

In response to my post about how David Isaacs and I work, several people wondered if our assistant, Lana could share her point of view. She graciously obliged. Personally I think she was waaaaay too kind. At one point she calls us “geniuses”. Please substitute “two notches above hack”. She also left out the part where we’d be pitching “hilarious” stuff, I would turn to her say, “Okay, what have we got?” And she’d say, “Nothing!” Or she’d delicately announce, “America’s not laughing, boys.” One of my other favorites was, “How do your wives put up with you guys?”

I also asked Lana to provide a picture of herself. This is what she sent, claiming it was her passport photo.

Lana would sometimes pitch better jokes than ours (which we would then use of course). We decided a way to give her credit was to name a character in an episode of ALMOST PERFECT after her. At the first runthrough one of cast members said, “Can we give her a better name? I mean, Lana Lewis is really a dumb name. Can’t you come up with anything better?” We then introduced him to Lana Lewis, who was standing right next to us. The name stayed in. And we’ve used it in a couple of other places as well. If you’re currently producing a show and need a name, we highly recommend Lana Lewis. Anyway, here’s her all-too-kind report:

"Some bloggers posted that they'd like to hear a few words from Ken and David's Writers Asst. That would be me; and I'd love to.

What I am great at is being able to keep pen to paper while laughing hysterically and then later being able to actually read it. Best of all, I get paid for this! I love working with these guys. Ken and David can not only create full-circle storylines, but also fill them with laughs, big laughs. In my experience I've seen a lot of writers who can write story and others who can pitch jokes; but Ken and David do both exceptionally well. Most entertaining are the pitches that don't make it into the script for one reason or another-issues like character, storyline or just that they were (my words) "too much for the network suits". Despite the Hollywood stereotype of the difficult and monstrous Producer, these comic geniuses can Executive Produce a show that everyone (and I mean everyone) loves to be a part of. They never have trouble crewing up.

What is our typical day? Aren't any really, ...It's kind of like "Seinfeld": not about anything, but stuff just happens. Hey, I think we should do a show about us. We've certainly got enough material. Oh, wait a minute... two male writers and Sally/Lana... that would be "The Dick Van Dyke Show". Yeah, well, ....it worked once...

Lana Lewis

By the way, I keep Ken and David's discarded jokes. They're $10 each or 10 for $75."