Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Being an author involves, unfortunately, a certain amount of writing things down.
This is a periodic and irksome interruption of a day spent in either arrogant or self-loathing indolence.
Hemingway wrote, It is always a mistake to know a writer.
Moses came down from the mountain to find the Jews worshipping a golden calf.
Such, finally, is analogous to the process of the writer: I dunno.
I did this and that, andthisoccurred.
We all know it, and, so, do not associate with those who share our vile secret.
But enough about me.
What does one actually do, sitting there all day every day?
Such, I believe, was, within living memory, the putative task of the University.
My particular club was composed of Shel Silverstein, myself, and Ricky Jay.
It makes fascinating reading, but is actually useful only if one happens to be Sandy Koufax.
Our philosophers club adored trading the tips we felt we had been born to understand.
Sled dogs, similarly, love only one thing more than running, and that is running in unison.
Why is one arm always longer than the other?
More geese, is the worlds greatest punch line.
Because it has more geese, is a tragedy.
There is more distance between the setup and the payoff.
Comedy-room writers refer to their job as shaving syllables.
The magician learns never to repeat an effect.
Critics talk about form and texture, artists talk about turpentine; pilots call it hangar flying.
It is pulling the sled in unison.
The mission was getting the Gag right.
We three did a movie together,Things Change(1988).
Rix and I were living in Lake Tahoe, as guests of Harrahs.
They invited us up to the Eye in the Sky, the observation center hidden above the casino floor.
A woman whod been drinking too much started screaming.
As she walked across the floor she climbed upon a crap table, and tore off her clothes.
The security crew took her away.
Ricky commented that pickpockets know you cant steal a guys money while hesthinkingabout his money.
I said, well, thats interesting, as thats the same way that a drama works.
The woman baring her breasts and screaming is involved in an operation that partakes of both Magic and Drama.
Perhaps the two terms, then, are interchangeable.
This led to a 30-year-long discussion.
Iago, it occurred to me, is performing a magic trick.
He is faced with the impossible challenge, to convince Othello that his beloved wife is untrue.
He does so through suggestion, misdirection, and constant affirmation of his belief in her purity.
Iago has employed Othellos reason to lead him to absurdity.
He has, in effect, performed a magic trick.
Its the same mechanism as Drama.
We are given all the variables and assemble them to reach the wrong conclusion.
The tragedy and the tricks conclusion reveals to us the folly of our faith.
Prior toThings Change, we madeHouse of Games.
It was my (and I believe Rickys) first film.
It is about a confidence game, which is a magic trick designed to steal someones money.
The film about a confidence gamewasa confidence game.
The crooks wanted money, andwewanted belief.
No, like the thief, just long enough to let us get offstage.
I knew that imperfection on my part would lose me the audience.
Dave, Ricky said, at some point, you just have to ask for the money.
Well, Shakespeare, then, was teaching the audience, to ensure their enjoyment of the spectacle.
The confidence game, we then concluded, ismechanicallyidentical both to the Tragedy, and to the Joke.
Their execution depends on an understanding (conscious or not) of the nature of human perception.
How much better than jotting things down, this 30-year-long discussion.
How must that feel?
One year, one Irishman went into his bar and ordered only two shots.
Ohmigod, said the bartender, did one of your brothers die?
No, said the man, my doctor told me I had to give up drinking.
