Mark Andrews and Ted Mathot on Gag Sessions (Transcript)

Bill Hader (Inside Out's Fear) 'sits' in on a gag session. 

Continuing my exploration of what we mean when we use the term 'gag' is this transcript from the SplineCast. The SplineCast podcasts, in which Andrew Gordon interviewed some of the people who he worked with at Pixar, are a fantastic mix of reference and inspiration. And if you're into story the podcast with Mark Andrews and Ted Mathot is the motherload. There is so much good stuff in that one, I revisit it a lot. (And I know the microphone makes an annoying high pitched sound throughout the podcast, stick with it -it's worth it.)

In this podcast Andrew Gordon ask about the nature of gag sessions and in their reply Andrews and Mathot explain that a gag is not always a joke and that a gag session can be many different things: 

Mark Andrews: Well I think that a gag [session] is kind of the universal term for, a brainstorming session. You know, gags, it could be for jokes only. Gags could be for, you’re just talking about the scene and how it could be better, or what different directions you could go in, in the scene. Gag session could be just talking: me and Brad would have gag sessions where we sit there just me and him looking at the boards and going over it staging-wise: Let’s combine this, do we need this…? That is technically a gag session too. 

You know I think it’s just a general phrase for, anybody in the room one-on-one person, you know, beating out the scene or talking about the scene or talking about specific gags in the scene and what can we do here. Or even before you have the scene, you know— We need this clown to come into the room and then what does he do?! But he’s gotta get caught with his pants down! So you have the beginning and the end, and how do you build up to that in the middle? And then people just start throwing it all on the table. 

But there is all types of people, there’ll be the guys with the machine-gun mouths, who just go bla-bla-bla-bla and just shoot it out -and that’s great, the more ideas the better. Because when you hit the right idea it doesn’t matter who came up with it and the rule is: the best idea wins. And when everybody is shaking their heads around the room, you know you’ve got it! There is a consensus. Or a big laugh, and you got it! 

But you have to watch it, because some laughs— Everybody could be laughing but it’s just not appropriate, it’s just because it’s insane, or crazy, or something like that and you go: haha, that’s impossible, it’s so freaking funny! 

Ted Mathot: That happens a lot. Throw out these crazy ones, you know, just to get them out there.  

MA: You get Teddy Newton into a room and he throws up some wicked-ass stuff that just doesn’t apply but it’s the most hilarious things you’ll ever hear—

TM: The cool thing about that is, it can inspire other stuff that you can put in there… You know what I mean, it taks you down a road that you may not have thought about going down.