Before she became a comedy writer, Claire Friedman (MBA 2014) followed the path of any good econ major, working at Goldman Sachs for five years and enrolling at HBS with plans to go into the business side of entertainment. While working at FX as an assistant, Friedman, a native New Yorker who started doing stand-up gigs at age 9, had an aha moment: She liked reading scripts. But she wanted to be the one writing them. “It was like I had been building up insurance for this very risky jump into a career that I wasn’t sure would work out,” she says. With a stint at Saturday Night Live under her belt, Friedman, who has also published humor pieces in the New Yorker, is now a staff writer for Showtime’s Desus & Mero—the “Bodega Boys” duo known for rapid-fire riffs on current events and pop culture. Here, she offers a quick glimpse into the work of the writer’s room.

How do you write for comedians known for ad-libbing?

A much looser structure works well. So much of the writing involves coming up with an idea and providing as much ammunition as they might need. We want to stay out of the way and give them the tools to come up with this insanely funny material. But we do write scripts and beat sheets for sketches like the one I just did with Amy Poehler as a therapist.

How does the nitty-gritty work of writing happen?

We might have a blue-sky brainstorm for sketch concepts, or we know that the guys want to do a ‘man on the street piece,’ so we’ll read the news and pitch ideas in a document we’re all typing into at the same time. The head writer picks the ones we’ll talk about some more—and we might influence the select by saying, ‘This idea would be great if we also did this.’ From there our picks go to the field team, and the producers, and then we let Desus and Mero weigh in to make the final call.

How do you fuel yourselves?

On show days the head writers bring in doughnuts, which is very exciting. If you talk to anyone who works in entertainment, they’ll ask, ‘Oh, what’s the craft services [catering] situation? Which flavors of LaCroix do you have in the fridge?’ Seltzer and junk food are typical. I didn’t know that you can get Fruit Loops with marshmallows—but you can, and I eat that now.

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