“There’s no more spiritual moment than an audience laughing.”
Norman Learis 99 years old.
He’s spent much of that time building a television legacy that is unparalleled.
CBS-TV/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock; Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage; CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images
And he’s not slowing down any time soon.
He brought taboo subjects, including abortion, into American homes through his work, provoking conversation and reflection.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Happy early birthday!
How does one celebrate the big 99?
It was originally [poet] Robert Frost’s farm.
When it comes to your career in Hollywood, what are your proudest of after all this time?
I couldn’t be prouder of the people who I found along the way.
Because life is a collaboration and television is the collaboration of collaborations.
I worked with a great many people.
[My current producing partner] Brent Miller.
Without whom there wouldn’t be the kind of activity we’re enjoying today.
All along the way, there have been a couple of dozen fabulous writers and producers.
And then the performers.
What are three things you’d like to go back and do over or do differently?
I can only think of one thing.
Nancy Walker was a major performer and comedian.
And one of the funniest people there ever was.
I did this show that was calledThe Nancy Walker Show.And I didn’t get it right.
It didn’t work as well as it should have worked for this great performer.
How did you get into the world of writing and producing comedy?
One of your earliest jobs was writing for Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.
Martin and Lewis were at the very beginning of my career.
I came to California with a wife and a small child, pretty much an infant.
I had a cousin Elaine here who was married to a fellow named Ed Simmons.
He came to California to write comedy.
I was a kid of the depression.
I wanted nothing more than to be an uncle who could afford to flip a quarter.
Ed wanted to write comedy.
It was a bit of a monologue.
How did Martin and Lewis find you?
I wrote something for Danny Thomas.
He was a major comic at that time.
That was my very first television show.
An episode of which was seen by Jerry Lewis.
And our second job was bringing them on to television, Martin and Lewis, onThe Colgate Comedy Hour.
Jumping forward in time, it famouslytook three pilots to getAll in the Familyoff the ground.
Why do you think the first two didn’t go?
What was the breakthrough or eureka moment on the third one that the first two didn’t have?
The gods wanted me to come across Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers.
I had Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton, but I had different young people.
Because the chemistry of those four people in every direction was magic.
Is there an actor you’re proudest of having brought into the spotlight?
Do you think I’m going to answer that question?
(Laughs)
You love them all equally, right?
It is the truth.
We’re talking about people who made me laugh to my toes.
I’m fond of saying there were places in my body I didn’t know could feel laughter.
In the ’70s, you had such a spectacular run as a comedy super-producer.
Was it a blur having so many shows on the air at once?How did you manage it?
I’ve likened it to a living plant of some kind.
If the climate demanded another leg, I had another leg.
I’m talking about the working climate.
It required me to have more energy in one way or another.
And I had it.
I learned I had it.
But how hard was it to get more inclusive TV made?
Was there a lot of pushback from executives?
They were continuing to be afraid of this or that or the other thing.
There were great people among those executives.
He represented other officers of the company, who were more tentative than he, some more brazen.
It became a very good collaboration.
Do you feel like we’re now starting to get back to the vision you had in the ’70s?
Right now Kenya Barris is brilliant.
Matt and Trey who doSouth Parkare fabulous.
And write about that.
It isn’t important that the roast is ruined and the boss is coming to dinner.
Let’s work with real problems, there’s comedy in the foolishness of the human condition.
You’re turning 99.
I think I will be retired, but I will not retire.
Whatever is streaming that night.
What’s the best online grid note you ever got?
“Come see me.”
Exactly what audiences took away at the very beginning.
That was the thrill of thrills.
That we had engaged families in adiscussion of what they had just seen.
Not to mention the joy of thinking about collecting families to do something together and then laugh.
I don’t think there’s anything better.
In my experience, there’s no more spiritual moment than an audience laughing.
It’s almost as meaningful as prayer.
(Video courtesy of Sony)
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