No. 9 - YOU’RE ON IN 5-4-3-2-1...

YOU’RE ON IN 5-4-3-2-1…

April 16, 2025 • Issue No. 9

Before I was old enough to spend my Saturday nights under a disco ball on the dance floor, I had a different weekly ritual. After my parents had gone to sleep, my brother and I would sit in the front room (the living room that was only used for guests), change the channel to NBC, and wait for that familiar phrase: Live from New York, It’s Saturday Night! 

Every week we tuned in to see which ridiculous sketches they’d air. For reference, this was the Andy Samberg, Fred Armisen, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Kirsten Wiig era and even though I’m still a regular watcher (on Sunday afternoons after I’ve slept off the weekend) I have yet to see a cast that delivers what that group could week after week. There were frequent Sarah Palin gaffes, Maya had honed a staggeringly on-point Beyonce impersonation, and Andy Samberg may very well be the Weird Al-esque parody king of my generation. 

At least once per episode, our jaws would drop and we’d lock our widened eyes with the same questioning expression. Where do they come up with this stuff? Our best guess was that the cast pulled ideas out of a hat. We imagined that one hat had names of people (newsworthy or just relatable archetypes), another hat had locations or settings, and a third hat had some kind of conflict. Pull one idea from each hat and you’ve got an equation for comedy. 

It wasn’t until I followed Tina Fey to 30 Rock, a fictional sitcom about making a weekly variety show like SNL, that I realized sketch shows had rooms of writers churning out jokes and scripts to make moments like these happen. They may not keep three literal hats of ideas in the writers’ room, but everybody comes to the pitch meeting with something on the page. Comedy wasn’t magic or coincidence, it required preparation.

Recently, my dad asked me how I deal with writer’s block (he reads almost everything I write!) and I told him the truth: I haven’t. Of course, I’ve sat staring at my fair share of blank screens and pages — but that’s usually procrastination, not a lack of ideas. In fact, I have more ideas than I have time to actualize and guess what?

So do you.

(It’s Too) Quiet on Set 

Since you’ve been reading this, I’m sure some ideas have materialized. You’ve thought about your favorite SNL sketch, you wondered if Maya Rudolph’s new show Loot is any good (it is!), you created a mental image of what my brother might look like, you remembered your favorite era from Justin Timberlake’s long career, you revisited your own opinion of 30 Rock, you empathized with the idea of blocked creativity. You may have also thought about what you’ll eat for lunch, whether you worded that email correctly, and what you’re wearing to brunch this weekend. Your mind is constantly creating ideas and thoughts but we often quiet that flow in pursuit of ‘focus.’ We regard our ideas as a disruptive nuisance; yanking them up when they sprout organically only to turn around and demand they flower at a moment’s notice. Idea collecting is one of the few domains in life where I actually encourage hoarding (another is handwritten letters and cards). Hoarders look at an item and say, “I can't throw that away, I might need it.” While I would never recommend this approach in home organization, it’s absolutely essential when it comes to ideas. We have very little control of when ideas arrive, but we have complete autonomy of what we do when they show up. 

Take Four: 4 Steps for Collecting Ideas 

First, think about what kinds of ideas you want to collect. These are kind of like different hats, and this allows you to keep the right kinds of ideas handy when you need them. Once (in my short-lived days of being an intern) I had a boss who would end every meeting with, “Does anyone have any ideas?” I knew the question was coming and I was never prepared. When I would try to think of something grandiose in the moment just to be impressive, I was met with a thick brick wall casting shadows in my mind. Maybe one of your hats is for work ideas, problems that your team could solve, ways to improve internal metrics, promotions to improve client experience. Maybe you’re in a book club and you want to keep a short list of titles to suggest for upcoming meetings, or you want to gin up a menu of ideas for friend-dates. If you’re new to this, just try creating 2-3 categories of the kinds of ideas you’re interested in collecting.

Second, find a place for your collection. I’m a stationery girly through-and-through so many of my collections live on paper, but a few of my idea collections live on my phone’s Notes app. For example, I keep a list of newsletter topics in Notes because I often get ideas when I’m on the go (and tiny purses make it difficult to keep my ideas notebook with me). You might want your work lists to live on your laptop, while personal/social lists might be a better fit for a mobile device. If spelling, typing or writing will slow you down, try a voice recorder or a voice memo app. You do you!

Third, start collecting. When an idea that fits into one of your collections flits across your mindscape, nab it and deliver it to its place. Do not judge whether the idea is good or not, whether it’s realistic or cost-efficient. Just pluck it and place it where it goes. There is no penalty for collecting too many ideas and you’re not locked in to making it happen immediately (or ever!) This part should feel easy and fun, like window shopping in your own mind. No need to dedicate calendared time or sit staring at your lists to spark ideas to add, just go about your regular life and be open to the ideas that come when you’re focused on something else. Personally, my ideas like to visit when I’m cooking, washing my hair, or reading for pleasure.

Fourth, treasure your collections. None of the previous steps will matter if you don’t follow through to this last one. This step prevents your collection from becoming a place where ideas go to die. Did you ever collect anything when you were a kid? Kids have a knack for revisiting their collections and sharing their treasures. For my 2nd grade bestie, Chelsea, it was rocks. She kept them in her pockets during the school day and at recess she would line them up in the order of the day. (Please do not judge young Chels, we were besties because we were similarly quirky.) Empty your idea pockets and poke around in there! Some of the things on your list are just fragments and will need to be developed and clarified before you can put them to good use. Reorganize your ideas, add fresh ones, strike through old ones, select which ones you want to actualize, identify your favorites. When you inevitably discover something compelling in your collection, show it off by sharing your idea with a friend, colleague, supervisor, or loved one.

Zooming In On You

For SNL’s 50th Anniversary episode, all of my favorite cast members were back in Studio 8H and I felt like a kid again. In the Digital Short segment popularized by Andy Samberg, cast-member-of-the-moment Bowen Yang confides in Andy that he has anxiety. Samberg and a chorus of alums sing: so does everyone else. It’s a lot of pressure to write the funniest thing you’ve ever written, and then do it again, and again, and again. You probably don’t work on a weekly variety show that airs live, but you still experience the weight of meeting expectations. We can’t always relieve or escape that pressure, so the next best thing is to spread it out.

Childhood made me think that some people were born funny and could come up with laughs on the spot. And it was well-meaning (but willful) naïveté to believe that my hardest-hitting ideas are the ones I can drum up under pressure. The reality is far less sexy: Live from New York, it’s Days of Preparation! doesn’t have the same ring to it. The day you plant the seed won’t be the day you pick the flower. Respect your flow, collect your ideas as they come and when the moment comes you’ll be ready. 

Lights. Camera. Action.

💎 Enjoyed this newsletter? Forward it to a friend!