Author Mike Sacks with his dogs. Contributed
Potomac — If you picked up a book titled “Poking a Dead Frog,” might it be about biology, herpetology or even paleontology? Mike Sacks’ latest book is about none of these. Instead it is a collection of his “Conversations with Today’s Top Comedy Writers.”
His title came from a quote by E.B. White who wrote in The New Yorker: “Humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind ... [Humor] won’t stand much poking. It has a certain fragility, an evasiveness which one had best respect.”
Sacks writes “... the crux is that the process can be fascinating to a certain type of person. Not the type who wants comedy dissected to the point of death, necessarily, but the type interested in understanding the art and business behind comedy; of what it takes, exactly to make a career out of attempting to induce laughter from complete strangers with only the words or images that you create ... And, as you will read here, it is a tough, yet fascinating life.”
In “Poking a Dead Frog,” Sacks compiles a wealth of revealing interviews with renown comedy writers including Amy Poehler, Mel Brooks, George Saunders, Bill Hader, Dan Guterman, Adam Resnick and James Downey. His book looks into the ups and downs of comedic writing – as well as behind-the-scenes in TV shows like Saturday Night Live.
“This book was a great excuse to converse with the best comedy writers of our time. After talking with some of the writers for more than 20 hours, I became friends with them. It was an amazing opportunity to interview someone like Mel Brooks – after all, I watched his movies at the theaters at White Flint,” Sacks said.
Sacks is the son of Elaine and Jerry Sacks who reside in Potomac. He graduated from Churchill High School and Tulane University and now lives in New York City where he is a writer for Vanity Fair magazine and also a published humor author of “Your Wildest Dreams, Within Reason” and “And Here’s the Kicker: Conversations with 21 Humor Writers About Their Craft.”
He has had articles published in GQ,The New Yorker, Time, Esquire, McSweeney’s, Vanity Fair and other magazines.
Sacks is married with a 5-year-old daughter who “can’t believe all the green space when she comes to Potomac to visit her grandparents and to see where daddy grew up. We took her to Cabin John Park – nothing like it in Manhattan.”
His father, Jerry Sacks, said, “Michael's mother and I are not surprised that Mike has written for so many fine magazines. At Churchill, he wrote and edited for Erehwon, the literary magazine that won numerous national awards. Strange to think that he's gone from Erehwon to now working at Vanity Fair magazine in New York, and to teaching at many universities, including NYU, Yale, and Humber College in Toronto.
“He's become a mentor and adviser to many young writers who want to get into the field of comedy writing. From the latest book, we particularly enjoyed the interviews with screenwriter and novelist Bruce Jay Friedman, as well as the interview with 97-year-old Peg Lynch. Peg invented the modern sitcom form. Beyond that, she's incredibly sharp and still incredibly funny.”
Growing up, Sacks did not aspire to become a comedian, although he did see a lot of comedy in D.C. as a youth. However, he was a fan of Letterman, SNL, Monty Python and sit-coms and has always been interested in the process and the writing.
His wry sense of humor is displayed at the end of his book by his author’s photo. Instead of the typical glossy glamour-shot, the photo is of actor and friend Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”) sitting at a typewriter in his t-shirt.
He sums up his choice to become a writer: “Choosing a career as a writer is like joining the circus. You’re off the path and into the woods. If you must know exactly where you’ll be at all times and where exactly you’ll be in the future, get a job in an office complex in Gaithersburg, Md., which I did for a few years. It’s not fun. So just enjoy yourself and keep your head down and keep moving forward and when you trip, get up. Keep doing it. Repeat. That’s life.”