Michael Patrick King and Lisa Kudrow didn’t plan on paying much attention to the title of their HBO comedy “The Comeback.” But it turns out that’s actually the case with this show, which keeps coming back every 10 years.
“It’s more meta than we tried to do,” Kudrow said on Variety’s Awards Circuit podcast. King added. “We thought the second season would come back right after the first season, but that didn’t happen. And here we are, making it our brand to be something we come back to every 10 years!”
“The Comeback” first aired in 2005 and was canceled, but was revived in 2014 and returned for its third and final season in March of this year. Again, they didn’t intend to do this, but “The Comeback” ended up being quite a chronicle of how business has changed over the past 20 years. So why end it now?
“Because it’s a perfect piece,” Kudrow says. “It’s a trilogy, and it’s perfect. It’s coming full circle. In the first season, reality shows were the death knell for scripted television. Now, AI is the death knell for scripted television.”
King said, “We’re always faced with potential extinction events, and that creates enormous fear and comedy. I mean, we thought reality TV would end narrative television. And now it’s like we have another wing in the house when we want to watch reality TV. We… I have some kind of attitude at the end of this situation. There’s probably going to be an incredibly well-received, emotional human show, and then there’s going to be a show with digital actors that people can continue to watch while they’re doing it. We’ve created a space because we think it’s authentic. That’s why we have a final series because this threat is so real. ”
In this episode of Variety’s Awards Circuit podcast, “The Comeback” creators Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King talk about the evolution of the series (and Kudrow’s character Valerie Cherish), what they wanted to say this season about the AI threat, and why they’re ending the show. He will also look back on his first appearance on a variety show and take on a 10-question quiz on the award circuit. Listen below!
Call the Awards Circuit Podcast with your burning questions and comments! Leave a voicemail at (323) 617-9110.
In this season’s “Comeback,” Valerie somewhat reluctantly agrees to star in a new sitcom that is mostly written by an AI. As they learn the truth, the show’s star and pilot director Jimmy Burrows expresses concern. King said he has heard from many real-life writers about Burroughs’ speech about how complicated it is to be a writer.
“We also learned very early on that this wasn’t a joke, and that it was actually different from two years ago when people were doing terrible monologues at awards shows. The joke was, ‘ChatGPT wrote my monologue,'” King says. “That’s in the past now. We had a sense that there was something far beyond where we were now that no one had ever seen before.”
This season’s “comeback” pokes fun at the Hollywood list we’ve all assembled, including variety shows. In one episode, Billy (Dan Bucatinsky) is excited about landing on Variety magazine’s “50 Over 50” list.
“We should do ’50 Over 50.’ It would be a great homage!” King says. “People are so proud of it!”
Speaking of Variety, this season’s Awards Circuit Podcast has been examining guests’ first appearances on Variety’s pages. For King, it was November 14, 1984, and his play Today’s Special was mentioned.
“It was a play about three sisters. They actually have something about each of them that, together, makes them perfect people,” he says. “It was a family comedy, and it took place in Woodstock, New York. It must have meant a lot to me at the time. The fact that Variety magazine talked about it at all was more like a dream come true. It’s a small blur, but it has a big impact.”
And for Kudrow, on March 14, 1989, a review of The Groundlings Sunday Company’s show “And On Sunday He Laughed” won some praise, praising “some of the show’s most delicate work in her highly amusing portrayals of self-absorbed chatter in a quiet theater.”
10 Q’s with Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King:
1. Childhood nickname: Kudrow: “Lisa Pizza.” King: “Sissy”
2. Something you loved as a kid and can’t believe you’re into now: Kudrow: “Candy.” Dot, it’s just sugar!” King: “My grandmother used to make us something called ‘stove toast,’ where you put buttered white bread on top of the gas jet, take two tablespoons of sugar, and put it on the toast.We’d sit at the table like characters in a Dickens novel and eat toast on the stove, and then we’d probably fall into a coma and take a nap.”
3. Songs you sing at karaoke or in the shower: Kurdrow: “It’s different every time. I always find it interesting, but why does this song bother me today?” King: “I have to be careful because I don’t sing and I don’t think musically. So when I hear a song, it gets stuck in my head. I can still hear Adele’s voice saying, “Should I give up or keep chasing the pavement?” As she was wetting herself during the show, Lisa thought the lyrics were “Should I give up or keep chasing the rainbow?” And I thought it was very Valerie-like to describe it as “chasing rainbows,” but now that’s on my mind a lot. ”
4. What are some other titles for your show? Both: “Raw Footage.” King says: “When I started researching, I got the raw footage from a bootleg tape of ‘The Osbournes’ because I knew someone who worked on that show. The color bars I kept from the first season, that’s where it all started. It wasn’t the final cut, it was the second editor’s creation. It was supposed to be like an assembly, but the raw footage was there first, because it was all raw footage and that’s how we defined what the show should be for television.”We wanted to refine it. ”
Kudrow added: “And how awkward would that actually be!” King said, “All the downtime that I saw when I saw the footage for ‘The Osbournes’ was just plain boring. And I could see people trying to start things. So ‘Raw Footage’ was the first title and we thought we were going to do it with one camera too. Carolyn Strauss from HBO was very keen and we had two cameras. I said, ‘Why don’t you try the stand?’
Don’t you wish it wasn’t called “Raw Footage”? Mr. King was relieved. “Well, because I don’t think ‘Raw Footage’ will ever come back.”
5. What is your secret talent?: King: “I can wiggle my ears.” Kudrow: “I don’t have any!”
6. Favorite ice cream flavor: King: “Chocolate chip mint.” Kudrow: “I don’t like ice cream! It’s too cold. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve wondered why this is a snack. Milk! I hate milk. It’s just chocolate! It’s a snack. But frozen milk, that’s kind of bullshit.” So what is Kudrow’s favorite dessert? “I love chocolate chip cookies.” (Fans of “Friends” may have noticed that it was Ross who hated ice cream on the show because it was too cold.)
7. The item I can’t live without: Kudrow: “Too much! But Nicorette.” King: “My version of nicotine, and that’s television.”
8. What TV show in history do you wish you had been a part of?: King: I feel like there’s a magical bridge like “Brigadoon” that I wish I had crossed to get to “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” “It felt like something new and warm, and I’m sure she was a great No. 1. It felt like a fascinating circle of great writers.” Kudrow: “When I was a kid, it was ‘The Brady Bunch.’ Or ‘The Partridges.’ I once thought to myself, “What would it be like to be partridge family?” Wouldn’t that be great? I wasn’t acting, and there wasn’t even a possibility of it. ”
9. Fictional character you most identify with: (No questions asked)
10. Favorite advice: King: “I always tell writers there’s only one path and it’s yours. Don’t feel like you need to have someone else’s path, because they’re all very personal to that person. Don’t compare your path to others. It’s hard to do, but it’s a valuable lesson. When you start down the path to writing and showrunning, you’re going to look around and see how other people got there. But it’s not helpful, so just keep going. ”
Kudrow says: “I had an acting teacher, and it was really just a cold-reading class. It was about acting, auditioning, dealing with TV and movies, and along those lines. Do what you’re supposed to do, be yourself in that character, and then at least you’ve done a good job. The rest is not your job. That’s your only job, and it’s really that simple, so don’t take it personally.”
At the beginning of the episode, the Awards Circuit Roundtable discusses the CBS “60 Minutes” fiasco, previews the Tonys and answers listener questions about the on-air drama at the Emmy Awards.
Variety’s “Awards Circuit” podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jazz Tunkay, Emily Longeretta and Michael Schneider, who also serves as a producer, is your one-stop destination for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each episode’s “Awards Circuit” features interviews with top film and TV talents and creators, discussions and debates about the awards race and industry headlines. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you download your podcasts.
