ITT 229: Behind the Scenes of the Founding of Comedy Central with Art Bell
Art Bell is the former TV executive who founded The Comedy Channel, which became Comedy Central. He continued his television career as President of CourtTV. After Art left the TV business, he took some writing courses and found he loved writing. Constant Comedy: How I Started Comedy Central and Lost My Sense of Humour is his first book, not counting a humor book he wrote with a couple other guys while at Comedy Central.
Today, Art and I are going to talk about creative processes, the business of comedy, and the up and down journey that entrepreneurs and creatives go through.
In this broadcast, Art and I talk about:
- Art’s journey to finding what he actually wanted to do for his career
- The inspiration behind his book Constant Comedy: How I Started Comedy Central and Lost My Sense of Humour
- Why you need to use every skill in your toolkit, no matter the job
- How Art managed the leaps between professions
- The importance of knowing and believing that your idea is inevitable and how to use that knowledge to make it happen
- The various ways Art bootstrapped his idea for Comedy Central
- The single thing people are looking for when you pitch an idea
- Art’s best tips for divvying up roles after a merger or acquisition
- Some of Art’s most creative ideas when it comes to marketing
- Art’s best advice for creatives wanting to make a name for themselves
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