Creating something doesn’t just happen.
It took a long time to create Kramer, the character.
What if I told you a joke about nothing took two years to write. Or that it can take a decade to write a book. In Brian Wilson‘s case – it took 40 years to write and record his masterpiece, Smile.
I remember watching a Sydney Pollack movie a couple years ago and couldn’t help thinking how bad it was. Soon after I saw an interview where he mentioned that movie consumed two years of his life. I dismissed it in a second and he dedicated two years of his life to it. I felt a little guilty.
Throughout my career it’s always pained me that people never understood what goes into creating something from scratch. When I wrote video game scriptsthat were thousands of lines created out of thin air people would say, “just get it done next week.”
“Next week? How about next month?” I’d say with a shitty attitude 1.
Whether you’re a designer, a photographer, musician, writer or a comedian (famous or not), creating something doesn’t just happen. I once had a friend tell me how easy it would be to write a column. He said he could crank out an article day – no problem. It’s easy. Until you have to do it.
Creating anything takes time. And doing it well takes even longer. Just ask Axl Rose, he worked on Chinese Democracy for over a decade before releasing it. And books take an eternity. What about the musician who talks about writing a song that sold millions in 10 minutes you ask? That’s different, that when stuff just pours out of you. And it’s rare. Really rare. Of course there’s a flip side to that phenomenon that once hit me like a knee to the groin.
I wrote a piece that I thought was hilarious. It just poured out of me. So much sarcasm and underlying humor that it was destined to be read by millions. And it was. The problem was that it sucked. It was clichéd, unoriginal and not something I wanted my name on. Over a million people read it and a good percentage either emailed me or commented on how stupid it was. And how stupid I was.
Lesson learned.
Most creative endeavors have to be worked on, and on, and on. It’s a process. Sometimes it’s great and other times it’s pure torture.
When I saw the video (below) from Jerry Seinfeld about what it takes to write a joke it made me feel good. Here’s the most accomplished comedian of our generation and it took him two years to write this particular joke about Pop Tarts
It took a legend two years to write a joke about Pop Tarts.
That’s what’s so great about this video, it isn’t easy for anyone and creating something can be painstaking. Jerry takes you through his process and you realize he didn’t get to where he is just because he’s funny. He’s a legend because he’s dedicated, works his ass off and has a vision.
Even if it is about Pop Tarts.
- Probably a good example of why I don’t have a corner office and the Pensky file.
- Although Louis C.K. is much better ↩
- Why are they called Pop Tarts? They don’t pop and they aren’t tart. I said that in my Jerry Seinfeld voice that’s actually me imitating someone imitating Jerry. ↩
The Joke That Took Two Years to Write is a post from: Shake Your Foundation