Comedy Writers Talk Balancing Humor and Emotion at Variety’s A Night in the Writers Room: ‘It’s a Catharsis, Both the Comedy and the Tears’

variety.com:

Valerie Wu Intern What is a TV “comedy” in 2023? In an era of blurred genres, it’s not so cut and dry anymore. Opening Variety’s “A Night in the Writer’s Room,” Variety’s Michael Schneider asked the nine comedy writers on stage to raise their hand if their show features a death.

Most did. He followed up by asking, how many of those deaths were murders? Many kept their hands up high — but holding his hand the highest was “Only Murders in the Building” co-creator John Hoffman (“Murder,” after all, is in his show’s title!) “I feel like that’s the beauty of [comedy], that you can kind of do anything … pick a world, be specific about it, be stupid about it, and then you’re good,” Hoffman said of the ability now on television to stretch the definition of comedy. “It takes a lot of work to subtract comedy from real life,” echoed Boots Riley (“I’m a Virgo”) in his comparison of comedy and drama, the latter of which he feels is comparatively more straightforward.

As for what makes good comedy, many of the panelists agreed that it was about striking a balance between humor and emotion — and not being afraid to shy from more serious emotions. “I love the saying that humor is a gateway emotion,” said Chris Harris (“Frasier”). “I think there’s something very powerful in terms of connecting with the audience first through laughter, and that’s how you get them to care about these characters.” “It’s a catharsis, both the comedy and the tears,” Migizi Pensoneau (“Reservation Dogs”) added.