Word: gagsmithing
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...from his days as a TV writer, he thought comedy was one-liners. As he matured, Simon learned that the most enjoyable laughs come from character and situation. Of Lost in Yonkers he boasted -- correctly -- that its funniest scene has not one joke. Paul Rudnick, 36, the most gifted gagsmith of his generation, has yet to learn that lesson. He excels in Hollywood (Sister Act, Addams Family Values), where narrative is usually written by committee. On the stage, his first love, he has not moved beyond pastiche...
Theater: Paul Rudnick is a great gagsmith, not a playwright...
Carter was represented on the Washington Hilton podium by Powell, who speaks for the President daily to much the same audience for considerably less than $35 a head. (Surely a fresher face was in order, some correspondents may have felt.) In his monologue, drafted by Presidential Gagsmith Jerry Doolittle, Powell quickly took the offensive. "President Carter wanted very much to be here tonight," he began. "After all, he seldom has the occasion to dine with an institution held in lower esteem than ..." He did not finish the sentence, but went on: "He, of course, wanted me to express his regrets...
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