Image via Simon and Schuster
Like lots of guys who go into comedy, Art Bell used laughter to deflect schoolyard bullies, disarm scowling teachers and win acceptance from the cool kids. Unlike most, he didn’t wind up behind a mic but in the corner office of Comedy Central. A 24-hour comedy channel? The concept was his.
Bell tells the story in his latest book, Constant Comedy. Fortunately, it’s better than many entertainment industry memoirs. The prose has snap, and if Constant Comedy falls short of a Robert Ludlum page-turner, it moves forward at an agreeable pace. Timing, in writing as in comedy, is everything. The self-deprecation keeps Constant Comedy on a plausible track. Bell doesn’t call himself a genius. In fact, he admits that he didn’t know what he was getting himself into.
Although he toyed with the stage in college, Bell was an economics major and came to HBO, then a new company, as a numbers juggler. No one asked him for his creative ideas but after a while be started talking about them anyway. With a strong sense for the business side, he knew how to get around licensing fees for all those film and TV clips with which Comedy Central entertained audiences in between original content.
And then came word that MTV (Bill’s model to some extent) planned to launch its own comedy channel, HA! (you might respond with “Ha?”). Beating them to the starting line, much less the finish line, was herculean. And then—eight weeks out from launch day—the Directors Guild of America retracted permission to use its members’ clips (Bell heard that Woody Allen queered the deal).
For a casual reader unfamiliar with how creative businesses operate, Constant Comedy offers amusing insight into the industry’s collaborative process. Bell had his idea—and then what? He couldn’t very well design the logo himself, recruit all the talent and pour over hundreds of hours of TV and movie footage for the funniest clips.
Bell had help. And the rest is history.
