Downey Wrote That (2025)

 

I mentioned earlier that I was interested in seeing "Downey Wrote That" and now I have.

"Downey Wrote That" is a documentary about the comedy writer Jim Downey, who is most famous for being a long-time writer for SNL - including specifically writing for Norm Macdonald's Weekend Update - but was also head writer for Late Night with David Letterman in the early 80's. He's also particularly responsible for the most famous political sketches - the 2000 Presidential Debate is probably most noteworthy.

In short, you don't need my review. If you're interested in comedy writing and/or SNL, you'll enjoy this documentary. If not, you probably still will enjoy it but you probably have better things to do.

There is some of the regular "writing for SNL, is so stressful" blah blah blah, we get it. Fortunately, that's kept to a minimum. The movie impressively includes interviews with David Letterman, Lorne Michaels, Conan O'Brien, Adam Sandler, John Mulaney, Bob Odenkirk, Robert Smigel and the list goes on... it's crazy.

A small complaint is that in the "he played small parts in movies" section, they don't show his part in "Dirty Work" - a masterful performance. His part in "Billy Madison" is more iconic, of course, but show both.

My main complaint is that there are a number of montages where we see quick clips or shots of SNL sketches and I think the implication is that Downey wrote all of them but I can't be sure if it's that or they're just giving a flavor of the era. I would have loved to have a more comprehensive understanding of all the skits he wrote. Would I have been happy if this documentary was replaced by an Excel Spreadsheet? Yes, basically, but that's probably just me.

RIP Adam West

This past week I saw a Batman '66 action figure and thought back to how big that show was to me when I was a kid. I can't put into words how exciting and cool it was to me at the time. Some of that excitement survives to this day. If it was available on Netflix, I'd probably still watch it regularly. But don't bother looking for it.

I imagine the Batman tv series had a similar effect on Conan O'Brien. Something that perhaps isn't widely known is that, in his time between writing for SNL and The Simpsons, Conan created a TV series starring Adam West. The series, called Lookwell, was co-created by Robert Smigel who would go on to be Conan's first head writer at Late Night.

West starred as Lookwell, a washed up but self-important actor who was so famous for playing a detective on TV that he begins to believe he can solve crimes in real life. The combination comedy/mystery would presumably see him taking on a new crime every week using the powers of acting.

Although the pilot for Lookwell was produced, it was not picked up. But you can see the series' lone episode on youtube.

Brian Stack Leaves Conan

Thursday was long-time writer Brian Stack's last show. Stack joined in 1997 during the "Late Night" days and was a mainstay actor in sketches and bits. Some of my personal favorites were: Clive Clemmons, Hannigan (the traveling salesman), Artie Kendall (the Bing Crosby-esque singer), Brian LaFontaine (the creepy lounge singer), the singer of the Minty theme, WikiBear and Frankenstein.

The best-of tribute to him is not available on youtube but can be watched on the Conan website here.

This feels like a huge loss. He, along with Robert Smigel, Jon Glaser, Andy Blitz and Brian McCann seemed to be the heart of the show that I first fell in love with in the late 90s. And of those, Stack was the last one left.





"Hitlery-hoo???"

Classic Conan Callback, "Clutch Cargo" Confuses Crappy Crowd

THIS IS GONNA BE HUGE, CONAN. Like "Triumph" yet another classic bit has returned on Conan's new show. Again, I am baffled as to how the bit isn't intellectual property of NBC. It's wonderful but it's still puzzling.

Anyways, the classic piece returns and when such a Conan cornerstone unexpectedly comes back from the dead - after a hiatus of literally YEARS (I think) - I would have expected the audience to go crazy. I'd of expected the joy and surprise to overflow forcing the show to pause and wait for the 10 minute standing ovation to subside. Instead, the audience seems to not understand what's going on and, more than anything, they seemed confused.

Loved to see it. Hopefully it's back for good.