From 'Fresh Prince' to Web jester
Andy Borowitz tells it like it isn't ... sort of
By Todd Leopold
CNN
(CNN) -- Andy Borowitz is crazy. By choice.
Almost every day, he puts out another story on his "Borowitz Report" Web site. He doesn't have to do this. He could have coasted.
In the early '90s, he was one of the creators of the very successful "Fresh Prince of Bel Air." He produced the movie "Pleasantville." There were other things he could have done than cope with the daily pressure of writing a humor column on the Web.
He chalks it up to curiosity.
"I wanted to get away from big, expensive network projects," Borowitz, 46, says of his life a few years ago, "so I moved to New York and I did nothing. And then I discovered the Internet. I didn't think of it as a moneymaker -- I wrote stuff I thought my friends would find funny."
That was in 2001.
Soon, however, his friends were e-mailing his columns to other friends. And they sent them on to other friends. And before he knew it, Borowitz was getting e-mail from people complaining when he missed a day.
"I feel like Cal Ripken or something," Borowitz says of three years of almost-daily columns. "This insanity is all self-imposed."
The accumulated achievement of "The Borowitz Report" has had its upside. Borowitz is now an in-demand humorist, with pieces in The New Yorker and regular appearances on CNN's "American Morning." (He has a contract with the network.) With the election campaign in full swing and "fake news" -- as exemplified by Borowitz's columns, the Onion and "The Daily Show" -- the hot thing, his Web site now has millions of visitors.
And, of course, there's a book: "The Borowitz Report: The Big Book of Shockers" (Simon & Schuster) -- a collection of the Web site's best stories, with some commentary by North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il (OK, it's made up) -- which Borowitz is on the road promoting.
'I was a funny kid'
You won't find much of the "Borowitz Report" news in the mainstream media, though sometimes the headlines aren't too far removed from the real thing.
"Dennis Miller takes obscure, hard-to-understand parting shot at ABC," one banner read. Or: "Bush eyes sweater-rich Kashmir as key source of static electricity." Or: "Baseball takes bold steps to alienate remaining fans." Or: "Ralph Nader considers wrecking 2004 election."
Borowitz, a native of Shaker Heights, Ohio, was drawn to comedy from childhood. "If I was a good athlete, I would have done that, but I was missing a key ingredient -- talent," he says. "And I wanted to be a rock star, but the same thing [applied]. ... But I was a funny kid and a funny-looking kid."
Not that comedy was going to be his life. Borowitz matriculated at Harvard and intended to go to law school, as encouraged by his father, an attorney himself. But he fell in with the comedy crowd, those folks who run the Harvard Lampoon and the Hasty Pudding Club, and pretty soon he was giving life as a comedy writer a shot.
While in his 20s, Borowitz was a writer for "Square Pegs," the critically praised early '80s show that gave Sarah Jessica Parker her start. He later worked for NBC Entertainment President Brandon Tartikoff, who gave him the opportunity to work with Will Smith.
Borowitz remains friendly with Smith, whom he admires greatly.
"He's an amazing show business story," he says, noting Smith's rise from rapper to TV star to film star and polished actor -- not to mention his smarts (Smith was offered a scholarship to MIT after high school).
Years ago, Borowitz recalls, he introduced Smith at a NAACP event as "the next president of the United States." He was only making a joke at the time, but says that he could see his words coming true someday.
'All boats are rising'
 | | 'FRESH PRINCE' ORIGINS |
Andy Borowitz says the idea for "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" came out of a serendipitous meeting with Quincy Jones -- the show's executive producer -- and Will Smith, who had been signed to a development deal by NBC.
"I met with Quincy Jones and Will at Quincy's mansion, and Quincy was telling stories about his affluent children," Borowitz recalls. "I thought if we took Will and put him in Quincy's family, it would be a good idea. It was a very natural progression from there."
"Fresh Prince" is now being carried on Nick at Nite and a DVD of its first season is due in January. Borowitz is providing commentary.
|
|
Borowitz has plenty of competition for his jokes nowadays. Indeed, with so many sources of "fake news" and political humor out there, he finds he has to limit his own intake.
"I've sworn off the Onion," he says, concerned that he may unconsciously copy "America's Finest News Source."
On the other hand, he adds, there's so much demand for humor that all producers have benefited.
"When 'The Daily Show' came out with their book and it went to No. 1, I was concerned that it would obliterate mine," he says. "But all boats are rising." "The Borowitz Report" is getting more coverage than ever, he says, and picked up 4,000 e-mail subscribers in a recent week.
"I think it's all because of what's going on," he says.
Indeed, it's a good time to be a satirist.
"I think the reason that satire is on the rise is because the real news is so bad right now," Borowitz says. "I'd love it if we lived in a world where there was nothing to satire, but given this world, people need satire and comedy right now. ... [Humor] enables us to look at the horrible things going on and survive [them]."
He finds, in fact, that some people need "The Borowitz Report." Which probably explains why he gets complaints when he doesn't write a new entry.
"I get a lot of mail from readers who are very depressed, and 'The Daily Show' and 'The Borowitz Report' are the only laughs they get," he says. "One person said he gave up his antidepressant medication [because of 'The Borowitz Report']."
He pauses. "I don't think I'd go that far, though."
