Blog Archives - Dan Fiorella: Writer @ large

Dan Fiorella

Sketchy Tales: Christmas Edition - The Grinch: If I Stole Christmas Here's How It Happened

12/14/2018

Looking back on my material, I didn't do a lot of O.J. bits back when the trials were going on. Lord knows everyone else was. This was before the internet so stuff like that was left to the pros. Also, that earlier on, (for the same reason) there wasn't a real pressing need for me to do topical humor. Later, as the trial faded from memory, OJ wrote a book. And I had an outlet. And the holidays were coming up, so, I did an OJ bit, kinda...

If you liked this bit, you'll love my book, Lost Claus, the story of a tough PI and an elf who have to save Christmas. It's over at Amazon. Buy a copy today! Yule be glad you did!

Dan Fiorella · The Grinch: If I Stole Christmas Heres How It Happened

Sketchy Tales: Christmas Edition -Barry Minot Christmas

12/13/2018

This is actually a Skit Happens/Sketchy Tales combo. I wrote and submitted a sketch to the Prairie Home Companion called "A Charlie Brown Mid-Life Crisis." It wasn't used. However, Keillor could the last line of the sketch and incorporated it into this one. Barry Minot was a reoccurring segment on the show. It was, as a friend called in not funny, but funny-ish. So, I present it here for a listen. And just remember that end bit being said by Pig-pen to Charlie Brown and his family.

If you liked this bit, you'll love my book, Lost Claus, the story of a tough PI and an elf who have to save Christmas. It's over at Amazon. Buy a copy today! I'll be glad you did.

Dan Fiorella · PHC - Barry Minot Christmas

A Face for Podcasts: Series 6 Podcast part 2

12/12/2018

Galaxy Rangers Reviewed: Series 6 Podcast,
Episode 16.2

Part 2 has dropped, as they say in the podcast biz. The gang over at the Series 6 Podcast invited me to sit in on one of their sessions to explain and defend "The Ax," one of the episodes I wrote for "The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers" series. I'm the 16th episode they've reviewed so far.
I should point out this is part 2 of 2, and here's where we actually talk about the episode itself. They said they were going to "go easy" on it because I was there, but, hey, what's the point of that? It was a lot of fun.

Listen to Episode 16 of the Series 6 Podcast hosted by RD and Jay here.

Sketchy Tales: Christmas Edition - Yikes, Virginia

12/12/2018

Man, did I beat this bit into the ground! It was a prose piece originally, which made sense, as I was parodying letters. I got that printed in the Staten Island Advance. Also The Big Jewel ran a version of it. Then I decided to re-do it as a radio bit for PHC and they went for it. Few liberties were taken and the voice work was A-1. The ending was altered a bit, as endings usually were to sent up the next segment better, or because PHC bits often didn't end on "jokes."

We present this comedy to remind you that my Christmas Comedy Caper,Lost Claus is available over at Amazon. So buy your copy today and avoid the holiday rush!

Yikes, Virginia! The Further Correspondence of Virginia O’Hanlon & Mr. Francis Church

Sketchy Tales: Christmas Edition - Song parodies

12/11/2018

Song parodies are tough sells; on one hand, they are perfect for radio content, short and sweet. On the other hand, if you can't get them on the radio, there's very little chance it'll go elsewhere. Comedy troupes don't really do song parodies (at least that's what they started telling me). And I don't play an instrument or sing well, so doing it myself wasn't an option. Also, I have no friends, so I can't get them to do it. So, I'll put them here!
"Polar Vortex" was written for one group, hence the lead-in to the song. It was the first winter they started talking about weather conditions being created by the Polar Vortex over the Arctic. And a lot of people were denying it existed and was a "made-up" term. "Coal" was written back in my ACN days because they were always open to a decent song parody and they loved holiday content. And "Only the Good Die Young" kinda merged nicely with the "Yes, Virginia" story. Also, it was easy to write holiday stuff well ahead of time to submit.

We present this comedy to remind you that my Christmas Comedy Caper, Lost Claus is available over at Amazon. So buy your copy today and avoid the holiday rush!

The Polar Vortex Only The Bad Get Coal

Skit Happens: Christmas Edition - The Claudashians

12/10/2018

You fall into some ruts writing comedy. Like, for example, trying to figure out how many different plays on the work "Claus" you can come up with. Or, how many times can you mock the Kardashians? Or what if you can combine the two during the holidays? So, attempting to put a twist on a trope, that popped up out of a funny title, threw in some jokes that had been knocking around in my head that had no home and this happened. This was written for ACN and their short-form sketch format. It is what it is and there's was no real reason to attempt to expand it.

This edition of Skit Happens is brought to you by "Lost Claus" the snappy comedy mystery! Leaping Yule Logs, Santa's missing! And only one man can find him, Nick Flebber, PI. Get your copy today at Amazon!

The Claudashians

Sketchy Tales: Christmas Edition - Do You Know Your Secret Santa Claus?

12/9/2018

As American Comedy wound down, I was starting to download audio files of all my produced bits they did. And I found this one late in the game. I'm sure I've mention it before on the blog, but it was the first piece they bought from me. What a hoot, right? It got a massive rewrite, however. The song was lifted from a script I had written, a family comedy about a Christmas pageant and I wanted a bit where the kids would write a Christmas song. I had the song kicking around, based on "Do you know the way to San Jose." And it was more like "Do you know the ways of Santa Claus" about gift giving. So, still, it was a beginning.
ETA:
Hey, I found a version of it in my script of "Christmas Carol." It's included now! Compare and contrast!

Sketchy Tales is brought to you by "Lost Claus" the Christmas Comedy Caper that's more fun than a barrel full of elves! Get you copy today at Amazon.com!

Do You Know Your Secret Santa Claus

Sketchy Tales: Christmas Edition - Murder on the Polar Express

12/8/2018

Here's one of those bits that started out with a goofy title and I was able to turn it into an actual sketch. I think the mash-up works quite well and I came up with a very serviceable mystery plot to carry me through the bit, while still remaining silly. It could have been yet another commercial parody 2-minute bit (it certainly would have been if ACN were still a thing) Alas, TMI: Hollywood wasn't buying (a figure of speech, since they never actually buy material with money). But it's a solid longer-form sketch that would play nicely, so I release it into the wilderness of the internet, which is probably the most ridiculous sentence I've ever written...

If you liked this bit, you'll love my book, Lost Claus, the story of a tough PI and an elf who have to save Christmas. Yule love it! It's over at Amazon. Buy a copy today! I'll be glad you did.

Murder on the Polar Express

Merry Plague-mas!

12/7/2018

We set the dial on the Way Back Machine way, way back! This bit is from my college humor magazine, The Plague, circ. 1979. I don't know if college magazines generally did Christmas themed issues, but we did and I jumped all over it. If the graphics look very much like a regular newspaper ad from the day, there's a reason for that. I worked my way through college at K-Mart (R.I.P.) and I was friendly with the woman who laid out the ads did for the local paper. She let me go through her discarded company "clip art" and I was able to grab a bunch of it (enough for 2 future bits in The Plague). Oh, the frustrations I worked out in this 2-pager, mocking the store and it's cheapest, both in prices and employee benefits, with a mix of store graphics and typewriter inserts (since we didn't have the budget for graphic lettering; and that would have been a pain to do that lettering one letter at a time!). And, as I mention elsewhere on the blog, I was able to pitch this bit to Cracked magazine in 2000. Comedy life lesson: Never throw anything away!

If you liked this bit, you'll love my book, Lost Claus, the story of a tough PI and an elf who have to save Christmas. It's over at Amazon. Buy a copy today! I'll be glad you did.

Cavemart Christmas Ad - The Plague at NYU

Sketchy Tales: Christmas Edition -Twelve PHC Days of Christmas

12/6/2018

This is one of those quirky moments with my time on Prairie Home Companion (which I'm planning to take on in the future) and by quirky, I mean Garrison Keillor actually credited me on this bit and even has my name as the copyright holder, which I assume is a song writing thing for him. They did change it a bit, but I must honestly say I was surprised that it made the cut. It's a silly little trifle, but I guess it struck somebody's funny bone. I apologize for the quality of the sound on this bit and all the PHC bits...I had to literally record them off the website. They only streamed the audio and I couldn't get the guy to send me an audio file for beans. I had to get a special cord (thanks & farewell, Radio Shack) that I could plug into the ear jack and plug into the mic jack to play it on one window and record it with some software. Technology, amirite?

We present this comedy to remind you that my Christmas Comedy Caper, Lost Claus is available over at Amazon. So buy your copy today and avoid the holiday rush!

Dan Fiorella · PHC - Twelve Days Of Christmas

comedy, writer, Dan Fiorella, Daniel fiorella, screenplay, sketches,radio,computer games, television writer