BIF Workshop: COMEDY WRITING FOR TV, STAGE & FILM w. Rich Talarico

1727 North Charles Street,Baltimore MD 21201

05 August, 2022

Description

Rich shares insights and techniques from his 30 years experience in comedy and late night TV (SNL, MADtv, Key & Peele, The Tonight Show) and from having co-written five resident company shows for Second City in Chicago. Students will learn essentials: how to write jokes, how to identify and use comedic devices, how to brainstorm, and develop ideas. The class will learn story structure and coming up with endings, as well as how to properly format and write scenes in proper format and to contribute to other students pitches and work, a valuable writers’ room skill. Rich Talarico is a Peabody Award winning and four-time Emmy nominated writer and producer best know for his work on Comedy Central’s Key and Peele. Rich wrote Key & Peele favorites; Substitute Teacher, Kareem and Jahar, Dueling Hatz, Racist Zombies, Teaching Center, and many more. Rich has also written/produced “Review” for Comedy Central, FOX’s “MADtv,” NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” as well as “The Tonight Show w. Jay Leno.” Rich wrote on the NBC Must See TV: Tribute to James Burrows as well as NBC's Red Nose Day and NBC's New Years's Rockin' Eve hosted by Ryan Seacrest. Rich produced and wrote comedian Frank Caliendo's “Frank TV“ for TBS. Rich was a writer/performer on “The Sketch Pad” for HBO. Rich did script punch-ups on Tina Fey's “Mean Girls” and Jordan Peele's “Get Out.” Rich took his first improv class from Stephen Colbert at Chicago’s Second City in 1992 and then did a stint on the road with Second City’s National Touring Company performing "The Best Of The Second City." Rich co-created five original sketch comedy revues with Second City's Etc. and Main Stage Companies. While in Chicago, Rich worked extensively at Improv Olympic (now iO) under the direction of Charna Halpern and the late, Del Close. Rich performed with the early casts of Chicago’s longest running improv show: “The Armando Diaz Experience, Theatrical Movement and Hootenanny,” and performed on iO house teams “Mr. Blonde” and “Faulty Wiring.” Rich co-created the scripted hit parody "The Roof Is On Fiddler" with TJ Shanoff and co-created the long-form improv shows “Strap Heads,” “Trio,” “Close Quarters” and “Dasariski.” As an actor, Rich has appeared on Comedy Central’s "Review,” "MADtv," “Late Night With Conan O’Brien,” and the feature film “High Fidelity.” Rich has appeared in numerous TV commercials, most notably A&W Rootbeer’s classic ad, “Mr. Dumass.” "I seriously don't think I've had the chance to absorb that much good content in a small amount of time ever... even in college!" — Jessica Christopher, Writing Student “I learned more about sketch writing in this class than any other class I’ve taken in the past.” — Mirejah Cruz, Writing Student "Rich knows how to write sketches -- that much is obvious. But it was clear that he loves helping people get better too. . . I have never had a sketch class that helps people so much with how to think about comedy. Don't wait to find a better sketch class. It might not come along." — Tim Marks, The KC Improv Company and Co-Founder of Fountain City Sketch Company