One of the writers once asked Johnny what he was looking for in a monologue joke. His reply: "It should make me say, 'Why didn't I think of that?'"
The funny thing about comedy is that when you are immersed in it for a long time, you can recognize humor -- but you may not laugh at it.
When I first started on the show, the staff included a veteran writer, whose career dated back to Caesar's Hour. We would watch the tapings together backstage, and if a comic was good, Gary would inevitably say things like, "That's a good joke," or more often, "That's an old joke." No laughter -- just calm pronouncements about the quality of the material.
After a few years of spending my days typing jokes, I became the same way. When we were dating, my husband made the mistake of taking me to a comedy club, and was dismayed that I didn't laugh... at... any... of the jokes.
"What's bothering you?" he asked.
"Nothing."
"Don't you think they're funny?" he asked.
"Yes."
By that time, I'd developed such a comedy immunity that best I could manage was a wan smile. I only laughed out loud at the sickest jokes.
I guess that was a common thing. The guys would often pepper the first drafts of the material with stuff that would never make it past our censor -- but they threw them in just to make Johnny laugh. They would be on things like animal mutilation -- that's the kind of stuff that would get me to giggle while I was typing the piece.
I've gotten over that now and do laugh freely at standups and humor pieces...
