Caitlin’s Corner: Comedy and Satire Newsletter — Issue #3

This is issue #3 of my newsletter. Subscribe here for future issues.

It’s happening, get on board!

Hey all! Welcome to issue #3. This newsletter is like a t-shirt and a Bedazzler to me — I have to force myself to stop embellishing it. But I just love the creators and writers I’ve been talking to SO MUCH, it’s hard to stop singing their praises.

2016 is mercifully being put out of its misery. Check out this piece by Brooke Preston for Second City and Red Eye to see how I feel about this year. She nailed it.

In the first issue of 2017 we’ll work on setting goals for the year in front of us. Looking back on this year, my big takeaway is that I finally got my writing groove back. After feeling like I was in a major idea slump for the last half of 2015 into the first half of this year, I sat down one day and started pitching and writing more pieces than I ever have in my life.

I published on new outlets like The Billfold, Paste Magazine, and several Medium publications, and sent many insane emails to myself while on the train with subject lines like “Tiny House Hunters who love real big houses” and “LaCroix but made in New Jersey by mobsters.” (I actually wrote both those sketches and love them!)

I attribute some of the surge to switching locations (moving from Portland, OR to Brooklyn, NY) and the natural boost that comes with that, and some to joining Medium and writing more dumb little pieces that delighted me (and sometimes others as well), like this fake water diary.

I also got my groove back when it came to writing tougher, more timely pieces. These two that ran on The Second City Network were some of the hardest pieces I’ve ever written, and I’m very proud of them.

Hey, Brock Turner’s Dad, Let’s Do Some Simple Math

How to Write Satire in Times Like These

It’s natural to have peaks and valleys in writing and creative processes, but damn, it feels better to be on a peak than in a valley! I already have some big plans for 2017, so I hope to force myself through deadlines and editors and weeping and writing frantically in public places to keep going at this pace.

I also started performing this year, something I NEVER thought I could do. Why did I think that for so long?? Who the hell knows. But I’ve shown myself that stage fright can be beat back frantically moments before initiating a scene, and that scene can go fine. Sometimes even well. And through taking improv classes at UCB I’ve met some wonderful people this year, including my improv team, Skillet. Turns out there was nothing to be so scared of. EXCEPT IMMINENT FAILURE AT ALL TIMES.

Let’s start planning how to crush 2017, shall we? To inspire you, I have an interview with writer Maggie Phenicie about her recent McSweeney’s piece, I chat with “Straight Marriage” webseries creators Chris Burns and Kelley Quinn, and there’s lots of other fun stuff (aka puff paints and sparkles). Let’s do the damn thing!

Caitlin aka KunkelTron

• I wrote the 2016 Gift Guide for Comedy Lovers for Paste Magazine. Happy to end the year with a piece in a new publication (for me)!
• Inspired by my writing prompts piece from the last newsletter, here is a seasonal spin on the idea I wrote for Second City Network called “Holiday Writing Prompts for the Difficult People in Your Life.”
• I spent three hours writing this Medium piece when I had so many other things to do. When I started I literally said to myself, “Caitlin, don’t you dare write an annotation for every single book you read this year. Don’t. You. Dare.” Then I went and did. I don’t regret it at all: Books I Read in 2016.

Looking for a Christmas gift? I’m teaching new sessions of the Satire 1 and 2 classes I developed for Second City starting in January. Take a look!

WRITING TIP: Keep Pieces You Admire

When I read/view a comedic or satirical piece I admire, I bookmark it or add it to a google doc full of links, along with a brief note about WHY I liked it. As this list started to grow, I began to separate it by publication, and then keep notes about the kinds of pieces that seemed to succeed at each of them.

Now when I pitch an outlet, I go and check my (admittedly, weirdly detailed) list and use those pieces and notes as inspiration when I come up with pitches. What have they already done? Which angles have they already taken? How can I write something new and fresh on a topic or in their voice?

In 2017, why not start keeping tabs on the things you loved and why? Former students of mine know that I LOVE this Ira Glass quote and use it constantly, but I really do think that cultivating a certain level of taste is extremely important in comedy. So I leave you with this for the year ahead:

Featured Artists: “Straight Marriage” Webseries Creators Kelley Quinn and Christopher Burns

I’m so excited to have an interview with comedians Chris Burns and Kelley Quinn today discussing their hilarious webseries “Straight Marriage.” Check out the trailer here. The series is a comedy about two self-obsessed gay actors who make a dramatic series about a straight couple. Let’s learn a bit about them before we dive in, shall we?

Chris is a writer/comedian/actor living in Brooklyn. He’s been in lots of dumb videos online, including the role of “chubby gay teen, Bryce” in Hulu’s Difficult People. In addition to “Straight Marriage” you can catch him monthly in Lake Homo High at the Annoyance, or online at @fatcarriebradshaw on Instagram and @fatcarriebshaw on Twitter.

Kelley is a writer, performer, and Missy Elliott superfan in New York. Her work has been featured on Reductress, FastCompany, Bustle, Mashable, and elsewhere. You can find her on Twitter and Venmo at @heykq. It’s also her Instagram handle, but that account remains private in order to safeguard her many nudes.

Tell us a bit about your backgrounds in comedy. Was this your first webseries?

Chris: I started comedy a month after I graduated with a bachelor’s degree I’ve never used. I took a week long improv class and quit my job and moved in with my uncle. Kelley and I actually met doing an improv show in the back room of a tile shop. She told me her first impression of me was that she’d never see me again. My first webseries was Sitters; it was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. I’ve made several one-off videos, including a couple of character reels of me in wigs.

Kelley: I did sketch comedy in college and moved to DC after graduating, which is where I started doing improv. I came to New York in 2012 and I just realized while typing that this fall marked my 10-year comedy anniversary! A few years ago, my first beloved improv group The Punctual Drunks, most of whom are also DC-to-NY transplants, filmed a web series with puppets provided by a friend. It was called Puppet Soap Opera, which is exactly what it sounds like. It was great and campy and fun.

How did the idea for “Straight Marriage” come about?

Chris: Kelley was dog sitting at a rich married couple’s amazing apartment. The dog’s name was Blake so I kept referring to him as our son. While Kelley was pulling laundry out of the IN-UNIT washer/dryer (can you imagine!?), we started fake-arguing as our idea of a straight married couple. It literally went on until we parted ways while getting on the subway.

Kelley: Yeah, the entire series started as a bit where we were shitty to each other in the way that straight sitcom spouses act, always annoyed about something trivial and assuming the worst about the other’s intentions. Chris kept making me laugh so hard. I’d accuse him of being an absentee parent and he’d say something insane about how he had to “golf with the boys.” Somewhere along the way it occurred to us that the bad caricature-y way we were playing straight people was actually the way queer people have been written in TV for most of our lives. So that was the origin of the meta-layer of the web series, where we play these self-righteous and well-meaning gay people who decide it’s their duty to tell a “straight story.” (Editor’s note: check out the “Date Night” episode of the series here for an example)

What was the writing process to create the episodes like?

Chris: My favorite kind of writing is writing separate things then sharing/combining. I think we have a good process where we both write when we have the inspiration/time and then text our ideas to each other, then we get together before we shoot a bunch of episodes and decides which ones we want to film and the rest we put back in the bank for later. (Here’s the “Keys” episode)

What was the production schedule like?

Kelley: We shoot in borrowed apartments (the first ~13 episodes were all in my high school friend’s beautiful West Village apartment, and going forward, we’re in my college friend Josh’s place on the Upper West Side), so our schedule is determined purely by when we have access to the space. We bounce around ideas leading up to those dates and then find crew. Most episodes are just Chris and me, so the coordination of schedules is minimal, but we’d like to feature more guest actors and that adds a layer of complication. (Here’s the “Book Club” episode, featuring several guest actors)

Who edited the series, and what was the post-production work like?

Chris: All episodes currently out were edited by our former director Hayley Kosan, who is great. The next batch of episodes were shot and edited by Derek Sexton Horani, who is also great. Kelley sat with both of them so we’d all stay in the process together. Kelley is better at editing than me. I couldn’t edit an iphone video (I’ve tried.)

Kelley: I am not an expert and can’t do any of the fancy stuff that really makes a series look and sound good (color correction, etc.), but I do like to sit and help with edits when I can, just for the timing of certain moments or finding the best takes. We’ve done ADR for a few episodes, but there’s not too much work on the back end once it’s shot because the episodes are so short. (Here’s an amazing shorter episode: “Weekend Away”)

How did you go about promoting the series?

Chris: We promoted it primarily on Facebook/twitter and got a couple of write-ups. Lots of people shared on Facebook, including comedians we both really love and respect, so that’s always nice. (Ed note: This episode killed me: “Dishwater”)

Kelley: We did the grassroots things of just sharing episodes and hoping people liked them. We are very lucky to have supportive friends! We still have not been written up by any of the mainstream comedy blogs (cough *Splitsider*) and we choose to believe it’s because every single one of them is homophobic. But we’ve gotten some really nice write-ups in Bustle and Stareable and some other blogs.

What are your plans for the series in the future?

Chris: If HBO is reading then they’re the only way for us!! Just kidding, we’re VERY negotiable. VERY. Until then we’re just gonna keep making episodes because they’re fun and we like making them. It’s fun to pretend to be straight, now I know why so many people go their whole lives doing it. (JK, JK)

Kelley: We got nominated for a couple awards at a recent webfest in NYC and might continue submitting to festivals. Otherwise, the plan is to keep making episodes, and then to write a half-hour version that we could pitch to people if we ever got interest. (Check out the “Funny Business” episode)

Any advice for actors/writers/editors looking to get started making a webseries?

Chris: My advice would be just to do it! We’re always broke and we’re always anxious but when we see the episodes all done I always feel happy. I think even if you’re just shooting and editing on your iPhone you should just do it!

Kelley: My advice is way less positive than Chris’s, which I think is fair to say about our overall dynamic (he is fun and I am the pragmatist). I think — yes, do it, but like, have an idea of what you want to say before you start filming. I can’t watch another web series about depressed creatives trying to date and/or make it in New York City. I just can’t! So I guess my advice would be for people to think about things or places or people they love and find an original take on one of those.

I also think it’s important to have a good, fun crew, and to pay them what you can afford to, even as a gesture. We really try to make it a fun experience for people, and we get them food and transport even if we can’t afford to pay them the day rate they might typically charge a client.

Thank you, Kelley and Christopher! Once again, check out the webseries “Straight Marriage” and like it on YouTube. The power of comedy compels you!

Featured Writer: Maggie Phenicie

Maggie is a middle school English teacher, improviser, and humor writer in Baltimore, MD. She performs improv weekly with the Baltimore Improv Group and is working on a series of humorous non-fiction essays. She recently had a piece on McSweeney’s called “An Open Letter to God About Allowing Me to Wear Spanx Under My Angel Robe” that I really loved. You can read the piece here. She breaks down the process a bit for us below!

How did you come up with the idea for this piece?

When I was writing my piece, I was in Portland to be a bridesmaid in a friend’s wedding. I’m from the East Coast, and I was feeling very unstylish and uncool while I was there. I was definitely feeling insecure about my body. I was thinking to myself, “Will this continue forever? I thought I’d outgrow this stuff when I was younger.” I hadn’t, and I got the idea to write a letter to God, still being insecure about my body in the afterlife.

Were there any challenges working with the form of an open letter?

Initially, I wrote my letter as if I had already died. That made the letter feel less urgent and less important, so I changed it to be present-day me asking God for a favor in the future. The other thing is that with the open letter format, you have to be very frank and realistic. I had to keep it mostly true to myself.

What did you like about the form?

I liked writing the letter format because it allowed me to kind of just be me, as a character. It felt really honest and really true.

What was your goal when you set out to write this piece?

I wanted to talk about my own body image issues, and the issues that lots of women feel, in a funny way. I also wanted to put my many years of Presbyterian church education to use!

Thank you, Maggie!

NETFLIX HANGOUT FUN TIME

• I really liked the idea behind “The Characters” Anthology on Netflix this year, even if I didn’t love all the installments. By far my favorite was Tim Robinson’s chapter (the Pointer Brothers sketch is so, so good), followed by John Early’s and Natasha Rothwell’s. If you’re a sketch writer and/or performer, these are all essential watching.
• Ali Wong’s “Baby Cobra” comedy special, which she performed while seven months pregnant, is a profane, gross, cutting masterpiece.
• “Love” is the series that confounded me the most. There were storylines I found very compelling (Mickey’s attempted sobriety) and others I hated (everything that happened at Gus’s job). I thought about it for a while after watching the 10-episode series and it did feel quite modern.

LINK PARTY (Bring Your Own Golf Clubs)

• John Oliver said it the best: FUCK 2016.
• 45 Brilliant Things Samantha Bee said this year, on The Cut.
• Vulture’s Roundup of the 20 Best Comedy Sketches of 2016.
• Very funny lady Aparna Nancherla in The Village Voice talking about comedians and Trump.
• Splitsider put out their annual list of the best comedy books of the year.

Submission/Writing Opps

• The Magnet Theater in NY is taking 10-minute play submissions for production. Check out the guidelines here.
• The website Bustle has a ton of writer/editor jobs, along with paid, remote internships, up on their website right now.
• The NBC Late Night Writers Workshop has put out their guidelines and deadlines for their next submission period — it’s open from 1/2/17–1/15/17. Details here!
• If you’ve taken a class at Second City Hollywood or Chicago (or online!) in the past year AND you’re a female writer who lives in the Chicago area, you should submit to the Mary Scruggs Works by Women Festival at Second City. More details here. Deadline is 1/12/17.

Truth.

ABOUT ME: Caitlin Kunkel is a comedy writer, director and producer based in Brooklyn, NY. Her plays and sketch comedy revues have been performed at theaters across the country and she sold the first screenplay she ever wrote. Her comedy and satire writing has been featured on The Second City Network, The Huffington Post, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Reductress, The Billfold, Robot Butt, Public Radio International, and many other places across the vast internetz.

Caitlin also teaches people stuff! She has an MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage from Northwestern University, where she also taught screenwriting. She just finished a three year term as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, OR where she taught four courses she created: Modern Comedy and Satire, Introduction to Scripting, Scripting Intensive and Fight the Future: Dystopian and Post-Apocalyptic Stories (yes, that last one shares a title with the first X-Files movie on purpose. You gotta enjoy your life, huh?). She is the Program Designer for Second City’s online satire program. Follow her tiny thoughts on Twitter @KunkelTron.