When you’ve been able to launch a successful career in comedy straight out of college, landing a series of beloved cult sketches on MTV, and continuing on to hit shows like “Reno 911!,” it’s easy to get tired of thinking you have all the answers. However, reflecting on those experiences during the latest episode of “What 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.”
She added: “We just made our most recent ‘Reno’ movie two years ago, so it’s a 25-year period. While the characters remain the same, the subject matter has changed and also the pace of the comedy is changing. If we stuck to our guns and did everything the way we did when we first started, I think this show would have had a life like no other.
Comedy has changed, especially since Kenney-Silver first started consuming it as a kid. Back then, she would watch “SNL” and get away with 10-minute sketches, but these days, she sees that “people are consuming comedy in 10 seconds.” Rather than ignoring these changes, it’s best to embrace them and think creatively about what it means for your craft. Comparing it to how digital has quickly overtaken film and how cell phones are being used for professional shoots, Kenney-Silver shared that the advancement is par for the course.
“I just did ADR for a movie and they missed a line, so I did it in my bedroom closet on my iPhone and it’s in the movie,” 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 Nobody Tells You” below.
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