When you’re able to launch into a successful career in comedy straight out of college, landing a cherished cult sketch series on MTV and continuing on in hit shows like “Reno 911!,” it’s easy to become jaded into thinking you have all the answers. However, in reflecting on these experiences during the latest episode of “What No One Tells You,” Kerri Kenney-Silver admitted that many of her accomplishments have come from keeping up with changing trends.
“When we did the pilot for ‘Reno 911!’, it was the year 2000,” she said. “Which sounds like a sci-fi movie now, but, things were different. Things were different in comedy, things were different in the world.”
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She added, “We just did our most recent ‘Reno’ movie two years ago, so it’s a 25 year span of time. While the characters have remained the same, the subject matter has changed, and also the pace of comedy is changing. If we stuck to our guns and did everything the way we did when, when we first started, I don’t think this show would’ve had as long a life as it has.”
Comedy has especially changed since Kenney-Silver first started consuming it as a child. Back then, she would watch “SNL” get away with 10-minute sketches, but nowadays, she sees that “people are consuming comedy in 10-second bites.” Rather than ignore these shifts, it’s better to embrace them and think creatively about what it means for your art. Likening it to how digital quickly overtook film and how now cell phones are being used for professional shoots, Kenney-Silver shared that advancement is par for the course.
“I just did ADR for a movie and they missed a line, so I did it from my bedroom closet on my iPhone and it’s in the film,” Kenney-Silver told IndieWire’s Future of Filmmaking. “So you have to keep up with technology and keep up with the changing times.”
Watch her episode of “What No One Tells You” below.
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