{"id":4530,"date":"2023-04-05T17:49:14","date_gmt":"2023-04-05T17:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vpms1.humber.smartmanagedservers.com\/convergencemag\/?p=4530"},"modified":"2023-04-05T17:54:18","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T17:54:18","slug":"where-are-my-jokes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/where-are-my-jokes\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Are My Jokes?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“He comes up to me and says \u2018where are my jokes?\u2019\u201d Red Button says to Lorne Frohman.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Khiana Gutierrez<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An 18-year-old Frohman comes back to Toronto from Los Angeles after writing a show. He is welcomed back with a dinner with his family at a chinese restaurant and at the time, his parents did not know what he was doing in his career. All of a sudden, the entire restaurant went silent.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo of Lorne Frohman.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cRed Button\u2019s walks in and he makes a beeline to me, just walks into the restaurant. \u2018How is he gonna remember me?\u2019 Its been like six months ago. And everybody\u2019s watching him and you could hear a spoon drop and he comes walking over and I\u2019m looking at him. And oh my god hes walking up to me,\u201d Frohman says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is when the American Oscar and Golden Globe supporting role winner, Red Buttons, asked for the jokes that Frohman wrote for him. Apologizing for interrupting his family dinner, Red Buttons gave his number to Frohman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt that moment my parents knew what I did,\u201d Frohman says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frohman, 68, has amassed a grand career in the comedy field. He is the creator and writer of, \u201cPryor\u2019s Place,\u2019 a children\u2019s show starring Richard Pryor. He directed \u201cIts Always Something\u201d for Gilda\u2019s club,\u201d for 17-years in honour of 1970s SNL star Gilda Radner. He wrote for \u201cD.C follies,\u201d a political and popculture satire show. He hosted \u201cDistinguished Artists\u201d an in-depth interview show written by Humber students and had guest stars such as Russell Peters, Sara Polley, Eugene Levy and more. Frohman is now a program coordinator for the Television Writing and Producing program at Humber College and the acting coordinator for the Comedy Program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While many platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime have expanded, Frohman has said that it\u2019s still the same process of writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThings have not changed over all the years, like I say. Platforms have changed but you\u2019re still writing late night, you\u2019re still writing hour episodic, you\u2019re still writing sitcoms,\u201d Frohman says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says that you have to learn how to write for people by doing your research on them, then put your own voice into it and make it different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou just find that you’re born with a sense of humour. It’s something that not everybody is given. I don’t want to call it a gift. You could call it a curse.”
-Lorne Frohman <\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Comedy has different avenues, in which one person can make fun of something that someone is sensitive towards. In that manner, everyone has a definition of what comedy means to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou just find that you\u2019re born with a sense of humour. It\u2019s something that not everybody is given. I don\u2019t want to call it a gift. You could call it a curse,\u201d Frohman says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He started his career with his friend, the late John Candy. They used to drive around the streets of Toronto to write, work and sell television. First, they started to pitch to Gerry Rochon, a film producer, Vice President of Production and his production achievements were The Littlest Hobo, Divided Loyalties and Executive Producer of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies at the 1988 Calgary Olympics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t know there had to be a budget. He had a lot of questions that he asked us and the two of us looked at each other like what\u2019s a budget and and he said, pitch your show and you know, John started pitching the show. And Jerry just you know, just saw two idiots in his office that didn\u2019t know what they were talking about,\u201d Frohman says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From their ideas and about five to 10 years later, Frohman started his writing career at CTV and Candy started his career at \u201cSecond City.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how it really began. And then you just start to slowly move your way into this world that you had no idea existed with writers, producers, agents, directors. I used to point at the television set and go mommy, \u2018that, that.\u2019 That\u2019s what I wanted, of course I was 42 at the time, but that\u2019s just all I wanted to do,\u201d Frohman jokes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He emphasizes that people in the business start with a great love and a great passion for comedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYears ago when you started off in this business, you didn\u2019t have schools. You didn\u2019t have books. There was nothing if you wanted to be a writer, a television writer, you would have to watch television, find the show that you could write and actually figure it out,\u201d Frohman says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frohman has worked alongside many legends in comedy and entertainment such as Richard Pryor, Dolly Parton, Robin Williams, Russell Peters and Jay Leno. Earlier in his career, he started and worked on late-night shows, when variety television was on the rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI spent most of my career light-writing jokes in desk bits and political humour and I enjoyed that,\u201d Frohman says. His favourite show he wrote for was \u201cD.C Follies\u201d a political satire\/ pop culture show, running two seasons in the late \u201880s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He highlights that the comedy business consists of writing for different people and different sectors. He wrote for sitcoms, late-night shows, and now is playwriting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI did the Dolly Parton show you know and so you learn. One day, you\u2019re writing for Dolly Parton. And then the next day you\u2019re writing for Richard Pryor, or you\u2019re writing for Jay Leno or you\u2019re writing a children\u2019s show. So as a freelancer you know, you never know where you\u2019re going to end up,\u201d Frohman says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In this 1977 file photo comedian-actor Richard Pryor is shown as he performs. Pryor, a fledgling stand-up comedian who had been playing small coffeehouses, helped the Improv establish itself when he became one of the first comics to take to its stage soon after it opened in New York in 1963.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Los Angeles Kings owner Bruce McNall (left to right), comedian John Candy and hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky show off their new Argonaut jerseys in Toronto Feb. 25, 1991 after it was announced they purchased the Canadian Football League team.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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In this April 28, 2012, file photo, Robin Williams appears onstage at The 2012 Comedy Awards in New York. A meadow in San Francisco’s expansive Golden Gate Park has been named after the late comedian and actor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Dolly Parton arriving at the 57th Academy of Country Music Awards held at Allegiant Stadium on March 7, 2022 in Las Vegas, NV.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Not only did Frohman write and create Pryor\u2019s Place for Richard Pryor and wrote for many great actors and comedians he is also a Humber professor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frohman has taught at Humber College for over 20 years. He created the Television Writing and Producing program with Robert Gordon, Joe Kertes and William Hannah. He also taught and continues to teach the comedy program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a Humber Now article, Frohman said that 80 per cent of graduates become successful in the TV industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of our students remember graduate \u2014 and they graduate, and it takes time for them to get into the writer\u2019s room. Others graduate and they go into producing, you know, they start working for production companies and they start producing shows in production and getting them to other than the writers room,\u201d Frohman says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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