How do I become a comedy writer/actor on a show like MADtv?

[OCNSFAN1978]

I have a reason to ask this and if it sounds lame I'm sorry......I was a Performing Arts Major in Community College.....I worked on 4 plays at school.....I was in 1 as a Fairy Princess in an acting club play.....

I want to be an actress and I think MADtv might be I'm saying might be a good start or maybe not I don't know.....does anyone know here on how to get on this show?.......

I'm asking as many people i know how you can and none of them really know....They only know it is probably difficult.....I can't write sketchs but I have been writing stories in 1991 since I'm 12 so 13 years........

I don't think any of my stories can be turned into a sketch.....So I ask again how do you get on MADtv?......Melissa

[MysterE]

I tried searching for this topic, but couldn't really find anything, although I know this has been brought up before. All I could really find though was this from the Mo questions thread:

11. What advice do you have for people who want to get into comedy/improv

"Get into improv classes. Learn to think on your feet. Learn to write sketches. Then, get your buns up onto stage at any and every venue. GET SEEN! Get your comedy out there!!!!! Being in L.A. helps. and never give up. It's a long road! Cripes, I was thirty-one when I got MAD. "

Oh, and about the writing- this is from Alex Borstein thru her website:

Information for Aspiring Writers

So many of you are writing in with the same question, "How do I get started as a comedy writer?" Or, "Can you read my sample script?" I thought it might save some time if I addressed those two questions on my site, so here goes...

There is no direct route to becoming a comedy writer. My only and best advice is to start writing what you think is funny and to keep writing. Try playwriting, screenplays, teleplays, everything. See what you enjoy most of all. You can find out more information about format and technical questions from various books on entertainment writing at your library or bookstore. If you are interested in Tv writing then you need to write some sample scripts or "specs" as they're refered to in the industry. Here's how you do that, pick your favorite show or shows and write a sample script of an episode. Your goal is to best capture the "voices" or characters on the show while telling a clear, direct and entertaining story. You will have to write many samples befor you come up with something that doesn't suck. Have people read it who will be honest with you, not your Mom who thinks everything you do is great. When you feel like you have really created a solid, funny sample (spec) you can start pounding the pavement. You have to send it out to agents to try and get representation as a writer. This is an almost impossible task. Most people gain access to agents after working in LA or NY within the industry as assistants for quite some time. Some poeple are lucky enough to know people in the industry and some people actually do submit material blindly and get lucky.

Many agencies have the same policy that I do about not accepting unsoliscited materials from people. It is unfortunate, but legally there is too great a risk in accepting someone's script blindly. Many times lawsuits come to pass based on an idea being too similar to someone else's and by not accepting any material you can avoid such suits entirely. Sorry

Hope that helps! Good luck.

I hope you don't mind that I retitled your thread and moved it to the off-topic forum- you should feel special though, cuz this new thread of yours is what will be searched for in the future when that question is brought up.

...btw good luck!

[Scorpiogrrl4405]

lots of face time, auditions lots of auditions, getting out there at every opportunity, gets you important face time and gets you noticed by people


all of the castmembers had to go through numerous auditions where they had to provide examples of 3 original characters and 3 different celebrity impressions.


Just hard work and pounding the pavement and performing whenever and wherever the opportunity arises.

[OCNSFAN1978]

Originally posted by MysterE
I tried searching for this topic, but couldn't really find anything, although I know this has been brought up before. All I could really find though was this from the Mo questions thread:

11. What advice do you have for people who want to get into comedy/improv

"Get into improv classes. Learn to think on your feet. Learn to write sketches. Then, get your buns up onto stage at any and every venue. GET SEEN! Get your comedy out there!!!!! Being in L.A. helps. and never give up. It's a long road! Cripes, I was thirty-one when I got MAD. "

Oh, and about the writing- this is from Alex Borstein thru her website:

Information for Aspiring Writers

So many of you are writing in with the same question, "How do I get started as a comedy writer?" Or, "Can you read my sample script?" I thought it might save some time if I addressed those two questions on my site, so here goes...

There is no direct route to becoming a comedy writer. My only and best advice is to start writing what you think is funny and to keep writing. Try playwriting, screenplays, teleplays, everything. See what you enjoy most of all. You can find out more information about format and technical questions from various books on entertainment writing at your library or bookstore. If you are interested in Tv writing then you need to write some sample scripts or "specs" as they're refered to in the industry. Here's how you do that, pick your favorite show or shows and write a sample script of an episode. Your goal is to best capture the "voices" or characters on the show while telling a clear, direct and entertaining story. You will have to write many samples befor you come up with something that doesn't suck. Have people read it who will be honest with you, not your Mom who thinks everything you do is great. When you feel like you have really created a solid, funny sample (spec) you can start pounding the pavement. You have to send it out to agents to try and get representation as a writer. This is an almost impossible task. Most people gain access to agents after working in LA or NY within the industry as assistants for quite some time. Some poeple are lucky enough to know people in the industry and some people actually do submit material blindly and get lucky.

Many agencies have the same policy that I do about not accepting unsoliscited materials from people. It is unfortunate, but legally there is too great a risk in accepting someone's script blindly. Many times lawsuits come to pass based on an idea being too similar to someone else's and by not accepting any material you can avoid such suits entirely. Sorry

Hope that helps! Good luck.

I hope you don't mind that I retitled your thread and moved it to the off-topic forum- you should feel special though, cuz this new thread of yours is what will be searched for in the future when that question is brought up.

...btw good luck!

No I don't mind you retitled it and moved it.......It took me a few minutes to find it but I found it.....

I didn't know what section to find the subject so that why I made a new thing........I'm going to have think hard about this.......

Maybe if I can get patience maybe i can think of a few sketchs to write my brother is a film student at NYU maybe he can help me think of somethings............I have til 2008 so far lol......Melissa

[Vancome Guy]

Im with ya. I wish I could be a writer too. I got a lot of fan fics in the Submissions form which is good practice. I write fan fics for tons of my favorite shows, because the more you write the better you'll get.

[madOC112789]

you have to start small to get anywhere.....the best advice is not to expect to get where u want to be too fast. with success always comes a great deal of failure. the people u see on tv didn't just get there. it take YEARS and YEARS of hard work. To even audition for a show like mad tv you have to be a well known improv/stand up comedian who knows what they're doing with years of experience. its an uphill climb.....way way uphill. There are tons of aspiring actors/ writers out there, u have to work hard to get even slightly successful in show business. its harder then it looks