A bunch of chairs surrounding a large square table in a classroom.

The TL;DR
  • Late Night Writing Workshop is an elective at the Tisch School of the Arts where students get the opportunity to write monologue jokes, desk pieces, deep dives, remote segments, and comedy sketches
  • Students also learn how to cultivate a writers' room environment
  • The class ends with a mock table read of a late-night episode using students' material from the semester

NYU offers dynamic offerings through its core curriculum. This being said, NYU also offers a plethora of exciting elective courses across its vast academic programs. One of my favorite electives I have taken is a dramatic writing workshop about writing for late-night TV shows. Taught by an Emmy Award-winning writer with experience writing for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and The Amber Ruffin Show, this class was an inspirational masterclass in sharpening the skills necessary to write for late-night TV.

A long corridor with hard-wood flooring on the 7th Floor of the Tisch School of the Arts where I too my late-night writing class.
The 7th floor of the Tisch School of the Arts where I took the class!
Course Curriculum

The curriculum of the course delved into weekly workshops regarding specific aspects of late-night writing: monologue jokes, desk pieces (segments like Jimmy Fallon’s “Thank You Notes”), remote pieces (segments that occur outside of the studio), comedy sketches, and deep dives (long-form segments about specific topics in the style of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver). Of these different types of segments, deep dives quickly became my favorite. Though they presented the unique challenge of making jokes about sophisticated (and oftentimes serious) subject matter, I learned to appreciate how much they taught me about crafting long-form comedy. 

A large dark reddish building on a city corner.
You may not think it, but Bobst Library is an excellent place to write jokes!
The Writers' Room

Another aspect of late-night writing we learned was how to pitch comedy pieces: a very daunting yet tremendously important skill. We also spent a great deal of time crafting a writers’ room environment. This included learning how to exchange feedback and support our fellow writers. We also learned how to benefit from the strengths of other writers in the room. These are skills that transcend the class. Irrespective of our potential involvement in professional late-night writers’ rooms, learning how to provide feedback and work as a team are fundamental skills I am glad to have learned in such a positive and warm environment.   

Class Show (or, The Most Fun I’ve Ever Had Taking a Final)

While most college finals present stress for students, the final for this course provided the opposite. As a class, we collaborated to create material for an original episode of late-night television. Not only that, but we had special guests serve as our “hosts”: Amber Ruffin, Jenny Hagel, and Ally Hord from Late Night with Seth Meyers. During our final class, we had a table read of our material. We then rewrote it according to our hosts’ notes. Bringing real-world experience, our hosts provided bountiful feedback and inspiration to us that I will remember forever.  

This workshop is indicative of the myriad of academic electives you can enroll in at NYU Tisch. As someone who grew up watching late-night television, this course was an inspirational opportunity to practice skills for this unique medium of writing under the tutelage of a professor with real-life industry experience. Throughout the semester, I received invaluable feedback and gained the confidence to believe that I could someday write late-night TV. 

Jake Vitarelli (he/him) is a rising senior studying dramatic writing at the Tisch School of the Arts. In addition to being an Admissions Ambassador for the NYU Office of Undergraduate Admissions, he also serves as the Managing Director of the Broke People Play Festival (NYU’s largest student-run new-works theater festival) and is a member of two NYU comedy troupes. Having dreamed of coming to NYU for many years, Jake is thrilled to be able to offer tips and share his college experience with prospective students!