Molly McNearney on Comedy Writing, Rejection, & Keeping Hope
· 59 min · S1 E13
Episode Molly McNearney on Comedy Writing, Rejection, & Keeping Hope
Our first guest of 2025 is the incredible Molly McNearney, the Emmy-winning Co-Head Writer and Executive Producer of Jimmy Kimmel Live! With over 20 years at the late-night show, Molly is the powerhouse behind iconic segments like “Mean Tweets” and “Handsome Men’s Club,” and has written for the Emmy Awards and the Oscars.
While Molly’s work has a massive audience, she usually plays a behind-the-scenes role and there’s quite a lot of mystery around what her job technically entails. Today, we’re excited to get into it all, including:
-what the work of a writer and producer for one of the biggest late-night comedy shows actually looks like.
-what prepared Molly most to navigate a male-dominated field with confidence.
-writing comedy, even in the face of constant, intense breaking news.
-the best way to handle rejection...and when to push back, too.
-and, learning to give yourself the same pep talk you would give to your best friend.
For more Molly, check out her Work Friends profile: https://argentwork.com/blogs/work-friends/molly-mcnearney
Work Friends is produced by ARGENT (www.argentwork.com), a women’s clothing label on a mission to redefine workwear and drive forward women’s progress. For more, follow ARGENT on Instagram, @ARGENT, and subscribe to the ARGENT YouTube channel, @ARGENTWork, for clips and bonus content.
To be featured on a future episode, email your work questions and dilemmas to WorkFriends@ARGENTWork.com for a chance to have one of our amazing guests weigh in with advice.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Links in the notes 5
Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them. Explicit shows are for adult profiles only, and children’s profiles hear only children’s shows. More about this list.