I think of Aaron and Mark as one entity, kind of like Brundle-Fly.
Alcohol Page 3
Or Norman Bates and his mother.
Quote: YesNo @ February 6 2009, 11:51 AM GMTI think Tony jordan was legend building. That is, I think he was lying.
Spot on. People think more of a man who can wang out a brilliant monologue half-cut than one who can do it sober. Which is odd. If I was commissioning a piece, I'd prefer to know the writer didn't need a drink to get going.
Personally, I like a drink but never mix it with writing. Drink numbs the mind, in my experience, and drains energies I can put to thinking a problem through. You can achieve a dreamlike state of creativity in the morning, without the need for a hangover. Some of my better ideas come from that period of the day.
As to writing seeming to flow better when drunk, SEEMS is the the key word. Everything seems better when pissed. Except Oasis.
Quote: SlagA @ February 6 2009, 5:28 PM GMTSpot
Drink numbs the mind, in my experience, and drains energies I can put to thinking a problem through. You can achieve a dreamlike state of creativity in the morning, without the need for a hangover. Some of my better ideas come from that period of the day.As to writing seeming to flow better when drunk, SEEMS is the the key word. Everything seems better when pissed. Except Oasis.
I'm the opposite. I can't think in the morning at all. I'm most creative in the afternoon. I also think there's a difference between having a couple and being drunk. If you're a very anxious person having drinks can relax you, whereas I suppose to other people it's numbing. I've had a very lucid, sensible conversation with a doctor once who was surprised - because I was on morphine at the time (for medical reasons) - so maybe it's just me. Maybe I need my brain slowing down a bit. Btw, Harry Hill is right, morphine is very more-ish (whereas hash is very Moorish - boom boom).
Well, sorry to disappoint you all but I've never been drunk and have been t-total virtually all my adult life.
Of course, I've never written anything funny 
So, there you have it.
Nice to know the future of comedy is in the hands of such sensible, sober people. Let the hilarity begin.
Quote: Chuck D @ February 6 2009, 9:38 PM GMTLet the hilarity begin.
Wha'choo talkin' 'bout Willis? It's already begun.
Quote: SlagA @ February 6 2009, 5:28 PM GMTPersonally, I like a drink but never mix it with writing. Drink numbs the mind, in my experience, and drains energies I can put to thinking a problem through. You can achieve a dreamlike state of creativity in the morning, without the need for a hangover. Some of my better ideas come from that period of the day.
That was near enough what I was going to write, only I have hangover so it would probably not have come out as eloquent. As a lifelong pisshead, who has had lifelong problems with writer's block, I speak from bitter experience. And indeed experience of bitter.
I'm useless when I'm hungover.
Quote: chipolata @ February 6 2009, 9:35 AM GMTAlcohol actually kills brain cells, so long term it probably damages the creative process. And if you need a crutch like that to write, you've got problems as a writer.
As a doctor I have to tell you that in general that is an unproven assertion.
Yes, in chronic abuse alcohol causes cerebral atrophy, but there is no evidence that regular drinking or even a binge causes greater cell loss above that of the normal rate of neuron death.
(The brain damage associated with alcoholism is via secondary effects on nerves due to liver disease.)
In general though alcohol (or drugs) will not make you more creative. Comedy writing requires a lot of logical thinking as well as inspiration.
Interestingly (to me), the other week I was phoned up by my development producer asking me to write a bridging scene that night. Having had a very good night out I returned home and had to work out how to turn on the laptop, think up the scene, write it, edit it and email it on.
The scene worked surprisingly well when I read it the following morning and everyone found it funny.
But I really felt I had got very lucky to have got away with it. I think working to a deadline probably sobered me up a bit.
It seems what a lot of people are talking about here when they describe drinking and writing is binge drinking. I don't binge drink and maybe only get 'drunk' about once a year - if that. As I don't smoke or drink coffee, I probably sometimes use alcohol as some of you use stimulants like coffee, energy drinks or cigarettes or weed. If I drink alcohol it tends to be good stuff and I drink lots of water too.
But I think we should remember that comedy writers (or writers in general) aren't teachers, mayors or police officers who have to be grown-up and responsible to some degree! If I wanted to be that boring I'd go and try something that paid better and was easy to get into.
Prostitutism?
Quote: Tim Walker @ February 9 2009, 6:50 PM GMTProstitutism?
The belief that prostitution accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular prostitute is superior to others.
Quote: JohnnyD @ February 9 2009, 6:57 PM GMTThe belief that prostitution accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular prostitute is superior to others.
Exactly. I'm a prostitutist. Don't mock religion please.
Quote: Tim Walker @ February 9 2009, 6:50 PM GMTProstitutism?
Maybe some people shouldn't drink. 