写为 吉米·法伦主演的今夜秀

Growing up, Mike DiCenzo had a dream: reuniting the cast of one of his favorite shows, 钟声拯救. As a senior writer on NBC’s 今夜秀 Starring Jimmy 法伦, he not only was able to make that happen, but had a boss willing to star in a sketch that brought Zack, Kelly, Jessie, and Slater back together.

迪森佐想让法伦扮演四个主角的贝赛德高中同学。 He persuaded 钟声拯救 stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Mario Lopez, Elizabeth Berkley, and Tiffani Ann Thiessen to take up their old personas and dress in ’90s duds. 这个8分钟的小品在2月3日播出后立即引起轰动，自那以后在YouTube上的观看次数已经达到2990万次。

“我的工作很棒，”DiCenzo说，他承认他仍然有“神圣的东西！当他意识到自己是在为一个拥有数百万观众的深夜节目写作时。 He was the first writer 法伦 hired when he succeeded Conan O’Brien on 深夜 in 2009, and he made the move to the 今夜秀 when 法伦 took over from Jay Leno last year. “演出的性质和你能与之合作的人都是令人惊奇的——我要为保罗·麦卡特尼写歌词，”迪森佐说。 个人回报也很好：“我奶奶绝对以我为荣。”

Joining DiCenzo at the 今夜秀 writers’ table each day is Arthur Meyer (COM’06). The two 艾美奖提名 alums pen sketches and celebrity bits that have helped the show 占据主导地位 competitors 吉米·坎摩尔直播！ and 《大卫·莱特曼深夜秀. During the recent February sweeps, 今夜秀 beat its competitors by more than a million viewers.

在成为同事之前，波士顿大学的文员只是在大学里短暂地见过面。 DiCenzo, who wrote for BUTV10’s now-defunct 曝光过度 as an undergraduate, went on to land a gig at the satirical news website 洋葱 before going to work for 法伦. He began to use Meyer, his neighbor in Brooklyn, in some of the 深夜 skits, drawing on Meyer’s background in sketch comedy as a member of BU’s comedy group 玩得慢的孩子 and then of 泛大陆3000, a sketch comedy group he belonged to in New York for six years after college. His talent for sketch comedy helped him eventually get hired as a 今晚 staff writer.

“它教会了我如何与其他喜剧演员合作，这是做喜剧的一个重要部分，”迈耶说。 “你能写出一篇好的小品的唯一方法就是合作，并接受别人的想法。 We do that every day at 法伦.”

The 今夜秀 is known for goofy humor, good-natured interviews, and skits like 米歇尔·奥巴马“跳妈妈舞”  and 汤姆·汉克斯表演诗歌. “这是一场非常真诚、积极的演出，”迈耶说。 “它并没有充满讽刺。 它庆祝的多于破坏的。”

The two writers credit 周六夜现场 alum 法伦 with setting the tone in the writers’ room. “剧中很多最好的创意都来自他； 他的思维方式不同，”迪森佐说，他形容自己的老板是一个喜剧天才。 “他是我见过的工作最努力的人，”迈耶说。

法伦 expects the same work ethic from his 今夜秀 writing staff. 梅耶说：“早上七点半坐地铁的时候，我就在想笑话的点子。”大多数晚上十一点，他还在家里用笔记本电脑工作，即使节目已经准备好了很久。 “你必须非常了解新闻和时事，这样你才能吸引尽可能多的观众。”

每天早上，在9点45分开会之前，节目的17位撰稿人都会收到四页的新闻摘要。 在那里，他们会从这些故事中获得灵感，构思草图。 These might end up in the show’s popular “感谢信”环节 or in a skit starring a guest (法伦 has a separate writing staff for his opening monologue). 编剧们的想法会被删减，而法伦对最终的选择有最终的决定权。 这份工作需要脸皮厚：迈耶估计，虽然他每周写25到30个笑话，但实际上只有一个能被播出。

编剧们偶尔会在剧中客串，有时是出于自私自利的原因。 Meyer, who is single, recently starred alongside fellow writer John Haskell on the 《今夜秀相亲》 skit. 法伦在节目中解释说，两人需要女朋友，并在屏幕上显示了他们的电子邮件地址。 By the next day, each had received more than 300 responses from potential girlfriends, and 今夜秀 cameras followed them on a subsequent dinner date and to a bar with a mechanical bull.

迪肯佐说，这幅素描之所以能成功，部分原因在于迈耶的时机把握和尴尬的停顿，这是需要时间和努力才能掌握的东西。 他说：“在大学里，我会在周六晚上和室友一起在宿舍里写草图。” “如果你想演喜剧，最重要的是不断地写作和练习。 你必须做很多次，直到你摆脱了粗糙的边缘。 你不可能一觉醒来就像你想要的那样好。”