He is currently involved in “The Office,” having written two episodes for the most recent season — “The Merger” and “Business School.”
“Story has forward motion and there is a better chance sometimes of conveying emotion in a story than a joke,” Forrester said.
“The Genius Show” was developed in the spring when Flam approached Wynne Renz, a writer and performer, about producing a storytelling-based show. Coincidentally, Renz already had the same idea.
“We both wanted a humorous show that’s also very literary,” Renz said. “There’s a lot of that in New York and we wanted to tap into the great TV writers, great screenwriters and bloggers and actors.”
There are a few comedy clubs in Los Angeles that feature similar style shows, including the “Sit ‘n Spin” show at Comedy Central Stage in Hollywood.
“Hilarious people read and you know they’re not actors, not stand-up, but they’re so good,” Renz said of “Sit ‘n Spin.”
Many of the performers are connected to Renz, who works as a Hollywood assistant. She met Nuñez when she was a receptionist at his manager’s office in Toluca Lake and met some of the other performers when they were all students at Emerson College.
A screenwriter and comedian, Adam Ginivisian met Renz when they were both planning a 30th anniversary celebration for the Emerson Company Workshop, a comedy group at the college.
A screenwriter and comedian, Ginivisian plans to read an essay about a New Year’s Eve when he walked around Boston carrying a sign soliciting a kiss from a girl at midnight. The efforts resulted in humorous responses from hundreds of college coeds, Ginivisian said.
“You have a plethora of performers with different backgrounds and writing styles and performance experience, all reading these different varying essays in front of an audience,” Ginivisian said of the storytelling performance. “It’s a great format.”
For more information, call The Westside Eclectic at (310) 451-0850.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 5, 2007. Read the original PDF.