{"id":29630,"date":"2020-04-02T03:16:29","date_gmt":"2020-04-02T07:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/?post_type=bu-article&p=29630"},"modified":"2021-09-01T16:17:57","modified_gmt":"2021-09-01T20:17:57","slug":"laugh-therapy","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/articles\/laugh-therapy\/","title":{"rendered":"Laugh Therapy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Late-night talk show hosts appear to reel off their monologues and perform sketches with such ease, it\u2019s easy to forget that a team of writers worked on the script. Colombia native Felipe Torres Medina (\u201915)<\/a> is one such writer, contributing to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert<\/em><\/a>\u2019s laugh-out-loud moments since he joined the show in 2019. His award-winning work has also been published<\/a> in the New Yorker<\/em>, BuzzFeed and McSweeney\u2019s<\/em>. When he isn\u2019t writing for Colbert, Torres Medina writes and performs stand-up at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COMtalk<\/em> spoke with Torres Medina about his experience as a staff writer for the number-one late-night show, life in his native Colombia, what he finds funny and how humor helps us make sense of politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q&<\/span>A<\/h2>

With Felipe Torres Medina<\/h4><\/div>\n

COMtalk: What draws you to comedy writing?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Felipe Torres Medina:<\/em> There\u2019s no other way to understand the chaos and absurdity that rules our lives. Donald Trump is president, hence nothing makes sense. Having grown up in a country that is dysfunctional, where things should not be as they are, it\u2019s always been a thing for me to poke fun at the absurd. Ever since I was a kid, I would do impressions of politicians. I didn\u2019t know what they were talking about, but I knew that they spoke funny and people laughed when I tried to speak like them.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It must have been a dream to become a writer for a show like The Late Show<\/em>.
<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Yes, it\u2019s a dream come true. It\u2019s a huge production and a very fun environment, but at the same time I do feel like it\u2019s a responsibility. I feel very privileged to be where I am.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do you think that people have such an appetite for political humor?
<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I think the basic instinct of laughing at those in power is very human. Punching up, to ridicule the decisions that people in power make, is sometimes the only way we can call them out. Laughter is so much like crying\u2014it\u2019s an emotional release in which you\u2019re expressing your vulnerability. We\u2019re saying, yeah, this made me feel something. Creating a space where you can say, \u201cWhat\u2019s happening is so bad, why don\u2019t we just laugh about it?\u201d is a healthy way to challenge the structures of power that are around us without having to harm anyone.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Colbert ties his humor to politics\u2014even building a past show <\/a>around a fake partisan persona. Is there a particular emphasis on politics in the writers\u2019 room?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re a show that talks about what\u2019s happening and what we think people care about that day. So, we can be political. But we also do silly stuff for the sake of doing silly stuff. In this political moment, it\u2019s important that we talk about things that are political, but it\u2019s never a guiding principle.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When real-world politics get crazier or more emotional, do you think it\u2019s harder or easier to laugh at?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I came from a country where a disrespect for political structures was already happening, so there is a sense of, \u201cOh man, it can happen here,\u201d which is obviously a little terrifying. But I don\u2019t think it\u2019s hard to write jokes about it. I think it\u2019s important to, actually, because we can so easily fall into despair. The moment we become apathetic to those things, that\u2019s when they win. Joking and laughing is a way to fight that apathy.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where do you find inspiration for your writing?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are some things that are so absurd that you have to call them out, which I think happens a lot as an immigrant or an outsider. I wrote a piece for McSweeney\u2019s<\/em><\/a> a couple years ago that was about historically accurate things to shout at your Cinco de Mayo party. I\u2019m not Mexican, but I know it\u2019s not a big deal there\u2014it\u2019s just this strange thing that Americans have decided to celebrate. And, for a while my fianc\u00e9e signed up for all of these subscription boxes and that was the inspiration for a piece that I wrote for the New Yorker<\/em><\/a>. I find that as Americans, we\u2019re a society of comfort and I like poking fun at those things that the US takes for granted.

In terms of consuming news, I\u2019m on the horrible bird website<\/a>. I read the New York Times<\/em>, Washington Post<\/em>, all of those. I also follow a lot of news from other places, like the BBC, and Colombian and Latin American publications.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Late-night television is notoriously competitive\u2014why do you think The Late Show<\/em> is so popular?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I think every show has its own voice, and Colbert has a magnetic personality. People are drawn to his honesty and his candor. And I think it\u2019s very interesting that he played a character for so long, but now he is himself, and people are drawn to him in the same way that they were drawn to his character. And I think that\u2019s a very wonderful thing.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How have social distancing practices in reaction to COVID-19 impacted your work?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Well, for starters, we\u2019re no longer doing shows at the Ed Sullivan Theater. Once Governor Cuomo asked to limit groups of 50 or more people, we stopped bringing audiences in. Soon thereafter, all the other shows in New York City stopped broadcasting from their theaters and studios. The challenges that come from making our show from home\u2014a production that involves hundreds of people daily\u2014haven\u2019t been easy, but it\u2019s been very cool to see how we\u2019ve not only managed to pull it off, but keep improving the show every day we do it.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you create humor about tragedy?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If I didn\u2019t make humor out of tragedy, I\u2019d probably go crazy. It\u2019s a defense mechanism and a way to feel something other than fear. Also, I have too many useless references to sci-fi in my brain that are unfortunately relevant in these apocalyptic times.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s it like to write material that Colbert will broadcast from his home\u2014even his bathtub?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s very, very fun. We try to come up with ways to communicate to people that, yes, this is strange; yes, this is hard; yes, this is scary; and yet, here we are. Here we all are in this large bathtub. Because the other option is to be outside and that\u2019s bad. So, I try to write with this voice that says, \u201cCome on in. The water\u2019s warm and we have canned goods in here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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