By David Edward Clark

Jim Burrows’s ’62 work in television has spanned decades.  He has created, directed, and produced some of the most influential sitcoms ever made, spanning from Taxi to Will and Grace, from Friends to Frasier.  Though his name might be unfamiliar, if you have ever turned on a TV or know someone who has, you are familiar with his projects.  I talked with Jim yesterday before he took part in the Apollo’s ribbon-cutting.

F+L: Could you tell us your favorite story from your days at Oberlin?

Jim:  Oh boy.
No.
Because it shouldn’t be printed.

Oh god, I think my favorite moment was the first–believe it or not–the first dance we had.  It was when we all had girlfriends.  There were 20 of us who lived in two houses across the street from one another because we couldn’t get into the White House.  Is White House still around?

F+L:  No…

Jim:  We couldn’t get into White House.  It was the house to be in senior year, so we had these two houses, and then somehow everybody hooked up, and it was the first dance.

I know it’s a romantic moment for a guy who does comedy, but that was—that and graduation, which was great.  We all had a good time.  I had a good time here.  I didn’t have any landmark stories.  Stories happened for me after.

Oh also, my father came to speak here in 1961 at Finney Chapel.  And he opened the talk by saying, “I want to talk to my son about how to succeed at Oberlin without really trying.”  That was his opening remark, and I was heckled about that for two years.

F+L:  Why is the Apollo important to you, and what memories do you have of it while you were a student?

Jim:  I’m going to talk a little about it tonight.  The Apollo is important to me because it scared me shitless.  I went in 1960, ’61, to see Psycho, and if you are not prepared for that movie, it is really scary.  So the Apollo made an incredible impression upon me, scared the living daylights out of me.  I’ve always had a fondness for something that scares the shit out of me.

F+L:  When did you realize you wanted to work in television?

Jim:  I didn’t do any theater at Oberlin.  When I got out of Oberlin, I went to Yale School of Drama and kind of got into the theater world.  And then through happenstance, I met Mary Tyler Moore in my work as a stage manager in the theater.  Nine years later, I wrote her a letter when I saw her show, and I said, “I can do your theatrical production you do in front of an audience and then put it on television.  I think I can do that.”  So I realized then that I realized I had a shot in 1974.

F+L:  What were your biggest learning experiences when you first got into TV?

Jim:  To play by the rules.  When you’re a director for hire on a show, you can’t set your own rules.  You have to then come in and play by the rules of the show that’s been on the air for five years.  And then, as you play by those rules, then you can start to make contributions.  But you can’t go in thinking you know more than them.  You have to respect them.  So it was learning about that particular process in television.

F+L:  What are some of the funniest moments from working in television?

Jim:  Well, I talked about some of this before.  From Taxi, it’s, “What does a yellow light mean?”  You know that, right?

F+L:  Yeah, I actually listened to this 3 ½ hour interview that you did for the archive thing.

Jim:  Oh my god.  Oh, for the academy that I did?

F+L:  I think so.

Jim:  Wow, you poor guy.

F+L:  I wanted to prepare for this.

Jim:  “What does a yellow light mean?” is probably the funniest moment I’ve ever directed, and then in the Friends episode with Schwimmer and the cat is hysterical.  And then some great Will and Grace moments: Jack pushing his kid out of the way, Karen mistaking her son in a swimming pool and making this compassionate speech to a boy who’s not her son.  But “What does a yellow light mean?” is the funniest moment I think I’ve ever done.

F+L:  What was it about that moment that was so hilarious?
Jim:  It’s one of the great jokes ever written.  I read that script on an airplane going over to New York that the Charles brothers had written.  And the stewardess had to come over to me and said, “Sir, are you alright?”  Because I was going like this [rocking back and forth], laughing so hard.

It’s a great idea.  It’s like, “Lower,” you know that thing?

You know, “You want the picture higher or lower?” [spoken in a lower pitch] “Lower”

“Do you want the picture higher or lower?”  [spoken in an even lower pitch] “Lower”

“Do you want the picture”—

You know what I mean?  It’s the same misconstrued thing, but you had a character whose mind obviously was gone, and that’s why it worked so well.

F+L:  What about some of the off-camera moments?

Jim:  The water-pistol fights on Cheers—the first two years, two and a half years of Cheers, the first three years of Cheers, we had Nicolas Colasanto as Coach, and then Nick passed away and Woody came on.  Woody was youth, so everybody’s testosterone got going.  So there were water gun fights, and there were football games, and there was chasing one another.

I do that consciously.  You’re in the fourth year of a hit show.  If you don’t let your crew enjoy themselves, it’s going to be torture.  So anything went on the stage, because you knew the show would be great, and the show was always great.  If the actors didn’t deliver on show night, then I would cut down their playtime.

F+L:  How has the sitcom developed during your career?

Jim:  It was great for about thirty years, but with the advent of reality television, it’s kind of dissipated because of the live sitcom.  Again, I talked about this.  People enjoy seeing–like on Youtube–seeing their peers fall down and hurt their ankle, rather than an actor.  They get more of a charge out of it, because it’s their peer, and, “Haha, it happened to you, it didn’t happen to me.”  A lot of schadenfreud-ing going on, which has taken over.   That’s why Youtube is so popular.  You remember America’s Funniest Home Videos?  It was always a big hit, because, “Look at that stupid guy.  I’m the same as that guy, but I didn’t do anything stupid.”  So I think that’s been the big change in comedy lately.

F+L:  What has made you so successful, and how did you develop these abilities?

A good choice of shows.  I was careful in my choice of shows.  In the beginning I was a whore—I did anything just to get the work, and then I was careful.  From Taxi, I helped create Cheers, so I knew what I was doing.  I did very few pilots during the Cheers years.  I did Night Court, which was a big hit.  And then after Cheers I was careful.  I did Frasier, and then Friends, and then Caroline in the City, 3rd Rock, NewsRadio, and then I chose Will and Grace.

So the ability to choose the right script helped, and also the ability to be able to bring everybody together to have a good time while you’re working, because if you have a good time while you’re working, that’s going to come across the screen and everybody’s going to enjoy it.  So that’s what I think I do best.  I make that ability for everybody have the best time in the world.

F+L:  You’ve said you can’t teach comedy—can you give us some tips anyway?

Jim:  Did I do the glasses on that thing [the Archive video]?  My father and the glasses?

F+L:  No

Jim:  This one, where you know, I can’t teach comedy.  That’s what my father told me.  He said, “Some people see the world this way, I see the world this way [Jim tilts his glasses to the point where they almost fall off of his face], you know?”

F+L:  I wish I had a photographer.

Jim:  Can I give you tips on comedy?

F+L:  Yeah.

Jim:  I can’t tell you how to make things funny; I can tell you how to make things funnier.  A lot of jokes don’t have to be said face on.  A lot of jokes can be said on your back, a lot of jokes can be said walking away, a lot of jokes can be thrown away.

One of the great things Teddy Danson was capable of doing behind the bar is throw the joke away.  It means, when I throw the joke away, it’s not BAMBAM [he “threw” the joke].  It’s [mutters] bambambambam.  The audience can hear it–they always heard it–and it looks more naturalistic.  It’s not a stand-up comedy way of doing a joke.

F+L:  I only have one last question.  So, could you explain your life as I stand on one foot?
Jim:  What?

F+L:  Explain your life as I stand on one foot, so you only have a little bit of time.

Jim:  I’ve been lucky enough to be brought up in the right family who taught me how to be funny, or gave me those genes on how to be funny, and I’ve capitalized on it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvn-tBeLpCk]

This is the “What does a yellow light mean?” scene from Taxi.