Jimmy Kimmel’s team sent us a note saying this was the first time they've ever moved forward with an idea from outside their writers room.
25 years ago, I stepped into an advertising class at NYC's School of Visual Arts taught by Adam Chasnow.
On the last day of class, Adam took me aside and said "You're pretty good at this. If you wanted, you could put a portfolio together and get a job."
I'm not sure whether to thank or curse him, but I wound up having a long career in advertising after that.
25 years later, Adam calls. He’s now the Chief Creative Officer at Fortnight Collective and has an assignment for VRBO (a home rental company). They're doing a tie-in with Jimmy Kimmel and asked if I could develop some ideas. Better yet, he let me work with my friend and fellow comedian, Steve Maloy.
We were warned from the get-go they likely wouldn’t use any of our ideas, as their writing team generally handles all this stuff.
That’s par for the course in advertising. When I worked with The Onion on AT&T, they said they'd be "collaborative," but their writers pretty much patted us on the head and told us to scram after the paperwork was signed – not this time!
— Jimmy Kimmel Live (@JimmyKimmelLive) June 16, 2021
It's really special to have this come full circle with my first teacher. Big thanks to everyone at Fortnight Collective and Kimmel for being so great to work with.