92: Harvard to Hollywood with Futurama Writer and Lawyer Patric Verrone

In college, Patric Verrone was an editor of the renowned Harvard Lampoon. He graduated from Boston College Law School and briefly practiced law before becoming a TV writer. Early in his career, he was a monologue writer for The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. He's written for Futurama (which is coming back next year!) since its first season and has served a producer and executive producer on the show. He also served a the president of the Writers Guild of America during the 2007-2008 writers strike. On top of all that he also sculpts, paints, and sells historical figurines. Patric has one of the most fascinating careers of anyone in entertainment—I could've talked to him for hours.  

Patric's figurines: verrone.com 

Watch Futurama on Hulu: hulu.com/series/futurama  

00:00 Introduction 

01:00 Funny as a kid? 

08:00 Writing for the Harvard Lampoon 

24:00 Leaving the law to work in Hollywood 

26:00 Writing for Joan Rivers 

34:30 Getting hired by Johnny Carson 

37:00 The beginning of Futurama and "the most overeducated cartoon writers in history" 

55:20 Leading the 2007 writers strike 

1:10:00 The 1960s Marx presidential figurines   

––––  

Support the podcast and join the Honest Offense community at patreon.com/ericcervone​​​​​​

Eric Cervone on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericcervone

Eric Cervone on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericcervone

https://www.ericcervone.com