RTA – Jay Martel (Key and Peele, Alternatino, The Present, and Strangers With Candy)

 “There’s nothing better than satirizing what’s going on right now and knowing that thousands of people are reading it. ” – Jay Martel

Today I interviewed Jay Martel.

JAY MARTEL is a novelist, essayist, screenwriter, director, actor, and TV producer. The science-fiction comic novel “Channel Blue” was published by Head of Zeus in 2013, and “The Present” was released as an Audible Original in March of 2021. He’s a contributor to The New Yorker. As a journalist and critic, he’s written for Rolling Stone, Vogue, GQ, TV Guide.

Martel served as a show-runner, executive producer and writer for the award-winning sketch show “Key & Peele,” and many other comedies, including “Alternatino,” “Teachers,” “Halfway Home,” and “Strangers With Candy.” He has created numerous series for MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central. For his work in television, Martel has received Emmy, WGA, Peabody and Comedy awards.

He has worked extensively as a writer, producer and presenter with Michael Moore, collaborating on the television programs “TV Nation” and “The Awful Truth” as well as the film “Fahrenheit 911.

He’s gardened for Richard Nixon and was once arrested for confronting Jeb Bush about Florida’s death penalty program.

For more, go to jaymartel.com

In this episode we speak about how:

• Taking control of your career and creativity to maintain sanity, Satire post-Trump, avoiding comparisons and finding happiness in show business, and Strangers With Candy