Andy
Borowitz has built a career that any comedian
or humorist would envy because he's carved his
own path virtually every step of the way.
Borowitz became a professional sitcom
writer just out of college, and after writing
for shows including "Archie Bunker's Place,"
"Square Pegs" and "The Facts of
Life," created the show that put Will Smith
on the map, "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."
Following that success, Borowitz ditched the Hollywood
shuffle to move back east and develop his own
comedy projects. These days Borowitz writes for
The New Yorker, provides humorous commentary for
CNN and NPR's "Weekend Edition," and
last fall released "The Republican Playbook,"
a satirical look at the "schemes, scams,
and dirty tricks" Republicans have used to
win elections since the days of Nixon. Along the
way, he has also appeared in several films, including
Woody Allen's "Melinda and Melinda,"
and created the award-winning satirical Web site
BorowitzReport.com.
Bankrate
spoke to Borowitz about some of the more notable aspects of his diverse and distinctive
career. Bankrate: How did "The
Republican Playbook" come about? Andy
Borowitz: Hyperion wanted a book for the 2006 election. There's always
been talk about a Republican playbook that they've used to win elections, and
we hypothesized about what that would look like. I tried to imagine that it was
an actual book, one that Republicans carry around with them when they campaign.
The added gimmick was that it would be George W. Bush's copy, so that we can have
his impressions of things, his juvenile scrawl, in the book. Bankrate:
How long did it take to write? Andy Borowitz:
We were on a very tight schedule. They suggested it to me in fall 2005 and originally
thought it would come out in fall 2007. Then they remembered there wasn't actually
an election in 2007, so everything had to be hurried up by about a year. So I
had about three months to write it. Bankrate:
How did you get your start in comedy? Andy
Borowitz: I was always interested in it. I was doing stand-up in college,
and I was president of the Harvard Lampoon. A TV producer named Bud Yorkin, who
was partnered with Norman Lear, saw me perform, and offered me a job as a writer.
So I went out to Hollywood just about a month after graduating college and started
writing for Norman Lear's sitcoms. I worked in television for about 15 years. Bankrate:
What was the first show you wrote for?
Andy Borowitz:
It was called "Archie Bunker's Place."
It was a spinoff of "All in the Family"
-- a vastly inferior spinoff, I should add. It
was Archie Bunker, but without any of the other
people you liked. It was a very intimidating introduction
to television writing, because Carroll O'Connor,
who played Archie Bunker, was a very formidable
actor, and at that point was ruling the set like
Hugo Chavez. He was a total dictator. This is
what happens when you're on television for 11
years -- you get complete power over everything.
He had the best parking space on the CBS lot,
which is usually an indication of power in Hollywood.
So that was my first show, and I worked on other
shows for about eight or nine years, and then
did "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," which
I created and executive produced. That show ran
for about six years, from 1990-1996. | 
