Next on my hit list of “DR copywriters to interview” is Kevin Rogers, direct response wordsmith, consummate funny man, and “head honcho” of John Carlton’s stable of copywriters.
In this interview, Kevin opens up about the …

It just triggered a joke…

A copywriter walks into a bar and his hands are shaking.

The bar tender says “Do you drink much?”

The copywriter says “Na, I spill most of it!”

Whaaat!?

I don’t drink, I’m Muslim.

And thanks to everyone who contributed jokes and comments. Very impressive. It felt like a virtual late night after-party at a Hot Seat Seminar. Good times!

A deep genuflect to John for giving me the shot to be his first guest. As an ardent fan of this blog it was a sacred honor – thanks for making sure I didn’t blow it!

See you guys in the comments section.

Bartender! Guinness please.

Great post. I got to this late… but here’s my contribution:

Copywriter walks into a bar. Bartender asks, “What’ll you have?” Copywriter replies, “Just the check.”

Scott

Q: How many copywriters does it take to change a lightbulb?

A: Change? NO CHANGES!

Copywriter walks into a bar. What’ll it be, quips the bartender…a draft? Copywriter walks out because, having read David Ogilvy, he knows people don’t buy from clowns.

John Carlton replies:

Nor do copywriters drink first drafts.

We’re all about the final stuff.

Someday we’ll have to have a “Copywriters’ Open Mic Night” at a club somewhere, like in Vegas, that oughta be fun.

To study comedy, I bought all the best books I could find on Amazon (the ‘how to be an expert in a weekend approach’…) — so far the two best are, in order:

Judy Carter “The Comedy Bible” (covers premises, setups, a truly great book), and

Franklyn Ajaya “Comic Insights” (interviews with everyone from Leno to Carlin about their approach to comedy, nice case study approach)

For movies, there’s great comedic premises for example in “Groundhog Day”, and “Scrooged”, takes on familiar themes, or in “Coming to America”, re mis-matched frames of reference.
For standup, the new ventriloquist Jeff Dunham stuff’s ok.

I just bought the George Carlin “All My Stuff” 14 DVDs and will be re-watching all those for inspiration. Robin Williams is great for timing/improv, and Seinfeld for ‘what’s strange’ about everyday situations (I prefer George Carlin and Def Comedy Jams though).

So “Open Mic Night At Copywriters’ Central” … coming soon to a nightclub near you…

-k

Glad to hear you’re studying stand-up. I’ve never seen a “definitive” book on the craft. (let me know if any impress you.) Sounds like you’ve got some great source material with Carlin, et al.

I couldn’t resist finishing your joke. And since you’re studying stand-up, I’ll show you the devices I used to round it out afterward.

(Dedicated to Gary Halbert…)

Two copywriters – a rookie and a grizzled veteran – walk into a bar. They bet on who’ll be the first to get a girl out the front door first.

The rookie sidles up to a hot blonde and says…

“Can I have the honor of buying you a drink?”

The blonde rolls her eyes and spins her stool the other direction.

The rookie return to the table, sheepish and defeated.

The veteran walks over and sits down next to the blonde.

The rookie sees him chat with the bartender a moment. Next thing he knows the blonde turns her stool towards the veteran copywriter, and they begin talking enthusiastically.

Two minutes later the veteran hands the bartender a note and walks out the front door with the blonde on his arm.

The Rookie is stunned. He approaches the bartender (who looks like Richie Cunningham) and asks what the veteran copywriter said to make the beautiful blonde respond that way.

“It was really strange,” replies the young bartender “All he said was: ‘Hey Kid, call me a cab, will ya… it just started snowing in my friend’s apartment and he needs volunteers to help him shovel it.’”

The rookie smirks.

“Then he said to give you this note,” adds the bartender.

The Rookie opens the note. It says: “Lesson 1: Research! Know your buyer’s TRUE desire before you make the offer.”

Ken-
You were making it harder on yourself by not establishing characters first.

Once you have a character dynamic (rookie and veteran copywriter), then you just need an appropriate premise (research before offer in copy) and then it sort of writes itself (although, I needed the bartender to be naïve to prolong the payoff).

The joke could have gone a lot of different ways, but I decided to swipe Gary’s classic story lesson about the sexy coke fiend getting hit on at the bar. Seemed appropriate.

(However, in real stand-up there is NO swiping.)

Good “seeing” you again,
Kevin

Bought all the books on comedy, have been a longtime fan of George Carlin, and Def Comedy Jam and others. It’s a great stretch, to try and combine being a stand-up with dry technical stuff, but it’ll work great for internet video and seminars, when done well. As with copywriting, I anticipate at least a 4-5 year learning curve. It’ll be fun I think…

Ok two copywriters walk into a bar. They bet on who’ll be the first to get a girl out the front door first….

The first one sidles up to a hot blonde and says…”
(er um that’s all I got sorry lol)…

-k
p.s. talk about ziergernik loops, well it’ll come to me sooner or later..