The world of talk show television can be summed up in a single phrase – fast turnaround. Jimmy Kimmel Live! has been entertaining audiences since 2003 with interviews, special guests, musical performances, athletes and human interest stories. Molly McNearney (Executive Producer & Co-Head Writer) and Danny Ricker (Co-Head Writer & Supervising Producer) spoke with Creative Screenwriting Magazine about creating a tightly-formatted talk show four nights a week.
“I agree that we have a very traditional format in that we do a roughly fifteen minute monologue followed by a lead guest segment and then a second guest segment and then a music performance,” says McNearney who is also Jimmy Kimmel’s wife. “The way that we deviate from other shows in terms of the variety of things we put in those.” The segment structure has remained stable over the years the show has been on air.
Kimmel has tried to mix things up, but realized audiences enjoy the comfort and structure of predictable late night television.
“Audiences want their monologue host standing. They want their late night host in a suit and tie. They want them to go to their desk and interview guests,” she continues.
Molly McNearney
Despite their adherence to a formula, Jimmy Kimmel Live! is constantly looking at inventive ways to surprise audiences. “We’ve done a show from someone’s house in Detroit. We’ve done a week of shows in Brooklyn. We’ve done a whole show on a laptop when we lost power,” recalls McNearney.
During COVID, Jimmy would deliver “mini logs” where he sat in front of his laptop and spoke for about eight minutes. When they realized the lockdown was going to be extended indefinitely, Molly and Jimmy shot the show from their home.
“It was just me and Jimmy. There was a camera that was operated via satellite. There was a guy in our garage doing sound, but there were no other human beings around us. We did an entire hour every night from our home.”
Danny Ricker started working on the show as a clip researcher. His approach to sourcing material was “to be a reflection of what America is talking about. As our country has changed, I feel our show has also changed,” he says. Ricker recalls the days when the results on American Idol were big news and that segment was written before the opening monologue. “That was what our country was talking about. Since then, things have taken a somewhat darker shift.” He’s referring to the political and social schism happening in the country right now. He likes this approach because it keeps the show current and relevant.
Creating Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Writers are given a brief of the day’s show to avoid duplication of ideas. Ricker oversees the writers’ room while McNearney attends to top line issues. Needless to say, the frenetic pace is difficult to maintain. Fortunately, there are only four episodes each week, so Friday’s are a day they can look to the week ahead. “On a Friday, we’re writing ideas for next week, and ideas for guests for the next three weeks,” says Molly.
Duplication of ideas also happens across other talk shows which follow the zeitgeist. Occasionally, there may even be very similar jokes. It’s more synchronicity than using each other’s jokes.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! employs nineteen writers across one floor of the building. A few writers sit with Jimmy in his office to write his monologues, but most work is done in isolation. Most of the writing is done in the morning and fine-tuned until the show is recorded later in the day.
The show has a writers’ assistant “who wakes up at four o’clock in the morning, combs the internet and figures out what the stories of the day likely are going to be,” mentions McNearney.
They send Danny and Molly a daily brief with ideas on a variety of topics and they whittle them down by 8:50 am. All nineteen writers send jokes and ideas regarding this daily brief. “If they have their own topic, or something we’ve observed, we love when they add that,” continues Molly.
Danny Ricker
By 9:30 am, Jimmy receives a packet of ideas for the day which is about fifty pages long. He selects the jokes and bits that he likes and whittles those down to about four pages of material.
“If your bit is selected, then you are partnered with a producer, a director, a graphics team, a prop guy and a wardrobe team and you punch up your bit,” states Molly.
After the punch up, it goes to the head writers for additional punch up. Jimmy Kimmel does a final punch up before a bit goes into production.
“All of these things are written at seven o’clock in the morning and then they are produced, edited and approved by Jimmy to go in our monologue at four thirty in the afternoon.”
While this is going on, there’s a team of four clip researchers who watch television and online to pull any relevant clips. “At rehearsal, Jimmy watches all the clips and selects the ones he wants in the monologue. Then the writers go back and we write jokes to those clips. On top of that, we are adding additional topics or jokes as the day goes on.”
Sometimes, there are pivotal events in the country, where the landscape changes so fast, monologues are written hours before the show goes live.
The 24-hour news cycle has changed the way live talk-shows are written. Back in the day, you could write a show, either the night before it went to air, or that morning.
We asked McNearney and Ricker what happens if the news of the days isn’t that interesting. What would Kimmel do?
“I think we’re less faced with nothing going on and more faced with some things are too dark to air.” There’s no comedy in tragedies, so the writers and Jimmy are aware of the environment and context in which they tell jokes.
Jimmy Kimmel isn’t always delivering jokes. “He likes to take his moments where he’s selective with when he’s going to be serious. If he takes on every cause, it kind of disintegrates and dilutes his voice,” Molly notes.
If there really is a news desert, even in today’s climate, the writers always have a stockpile of evergreen topics they can refer to.
Even in today’s world of news overload, Jimmy is aware of excessive repetition of various topics. In such cases, they can lean into those reserve jokes. If something exciting happens later in the day, the writers can pivot back.
“It’s kind of like having the buffet set. We have all the dishes laid out and then we can pick what the plate is going to be as the day goes on,” adds Ricker.
Writing For Guests
Writing monologues around a fast-paced news cycle takes up a large chunk of the writing day. However, the writers have some breathing space when writing for guests because not all of them have been confirmed for a particular day.
There are also cases where pitches are made weeks or months in advance in the case of major guests or events. The writers tend to write more topical jokes during short turnaround and bigger ones if they have the time.
Pitching ideas comes in many forms, but Ricker prefers more full-formed ones that can be referred to Jimmy so he can see how a gag might play out or end.
Tony Barbieri as Jack Byrd on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
“You also want to give either Jimmy or the guests trust in the idea. If you pitch an idea loosely, guests don’t want to look unfunny. You really try to have it really well thought out.”
“Molly and I have had plenty of experiences where a guest will like an idea, but wants to discuss it when they arrive at the studio. It’s always kind of a high-wiring act because usually the audience is in their seats when the guest arrives, so you need to really sell this person on this idea. And if they agree to do it, they’re going to be doing it in about eight minutes.”
Breaking Into Talk Show Writing
There’s no single way to break into writing talk shows.
Molly and Dan came from the Improv world. “We do have a handful of stand ups. We have also found really funny writers on social media,” says Dan. “It’s a similar skill set, cranking out jokes every day.”
He quotes a writer who posted online videos pretending to be the spokesperson of a company hit with a scandal. “She’s writing quick, topical humor. That’s essentially what being a late night writer is.”
In conclusion, we asked Molly McNearney and Dan Ricker the most admirable qualities of their writers. “I would say a very thick skin because you’re going to get ninety percent of what you write rejected every day. I would also say an original look at things because you need a fresh perspective or a fresh idea on a topic that’s been done over and over.” Danny concurs.
