Welp, spoiler (as you may have seen on social media, perhaps): Yes, I’m working at The Nightly Show!
How in the world did this all happen?
Perhaps a little surprisingly, It all started about 10 months(?!) or so ago.
(What? Can you believe that?)
In Los Angeles, my friends and I (and a whole lot of other people) use this website called Staff Me Up. It’s mainly for reality gigs in LA.
Sometimes you’ll see stuff for New York. (It feels like the NY scene is continually growing on there.) Every once in a great while, you’ll see a magical unicorn – a listing for a scripted show.
Oftentimes people won’t even list what the show is. It’ll just say something like “scripted show on a major network” blah blah blah.
Last December, I saw a listing for the show that would replace Colbert. And I freaked out a little, ’cause how can that be true?! And why are they telling us? What is happening?
It’s been a dream of mine to work in the Jon Stewart family for a very long time. And it’s been my dream to live in New York City since I was a little girl. It’s the only place I’ve ever wanted to live!
I don’t remember exactly what information was given on the listing and what information I found around the internet. But somehow, somewhere along the lines, I ended up writing an email to the lead editor (and the one who was doing the interviewing/hiring).
I was basically like, “I know you might not really be thinking about me because I live in Los Angeles, but I am ready to move! It’s a dream of mine to work in Jon Stewart’s empire [etc. – basically everything you’ve already heard in this post].”
I really tried to plead my case. There was a chance she’d think I was crazy, or ignore me. But I wanted to do something!
(I’d rather take a chance and have her not like it, than have my resume thrown away and never thought of again. Whether that’s smart in general, I’m not sure. But in this case it worked out.)
…She told me my email was well-played – that she indeed wasn’t going to consider me. But basically she liked my spunk.
So, I got to have a phone interview.
As you know, since I only just moved to New York, I did not get that job 10 months ago. But we’ll get there next time.