A Day In The Life

Kersti Niebruegge

Kersti Niebruegge

Posted 01 January 2015

London Program

August 2004 Intake


Kersti Niebruegge (August 2004 - London): My Mountbatten year is a nice anomaly. It's the only job I've had outside of TV. After Mountbatten, I studied comedy writing at the Upright Citizens Brigade, and have worked at BBC Worldwide, Conan and Late Night with Seth Meyers. I also just published my first book, a satire about the Northwoods called, Mistake, Wisconsin. So what's a day like working on a late night comedy show and an evening spent writing?

MORNING - super sleep-deprived from writing all night, I drink a lot of coffee at work while scanning the news. Did anything happen overnight to today's guests? Do the writers need clips for research or sketches? Most importantly, did our office kitchen fridge get restocked with soda?

AFTERNOON - Staff production meeting where I find out what's happening in the show. Late night talk shows are daily, so all of the problems need to be solved today. Do I need to find an old potato chip commercial for a guest? Did the movie studio deliver the promo clips in the correct format? For real, why is there no soda in the fridge yet?! Rehearsal begins. A comedy bit gets cut and a new one is added. But someone restocked the soda!!!

EVENING - Last minute scramble to acquire a new promo clip because the guest doesn't like the one the studio sent. I run like Joan Cusack in Broadcast News to get the new clip to edit. Whew! The show tapes before an audience, and I get home just in time to watch The Goldbergs (this is very important). I try to write my book, script etc. without being totally distracted by the new episode of The Goldbergs. I go to bed at 2am when I'm getting nowhere with a scene about puking in church, even though it's really fun to write.

And my dear Mountbatten friends, that's a day-in-the-life. You can check out the lutefisk-induced puking scene in Mistake, Wisconsin (available on Amazon). But I think the main lesson I learned here is that I'll work for free soda.