Ok Nice with Michael Koman
The writer for shows like Conan, SNL, Nathan For You, and How To With John Wilson answers 5 pressing questions and provides a playlist.
In college one of my friends (friend brag) asked if I was watching Nathan For You. Immediately skeptical of any recommendation because it means I have a task to do, I said, ‘Yeah, definitely’ even though I hadn’t been watching it. I’ve done this with Star Wars as well. Still haven’t seen that, though.
But he wouldn’t shut up about how funny it was and it was becoming increasingly obvious I hadn’t seen it— “Yeah. It’s so sad. Or funny.” I watched an episode as soon as I got back to my apartment. It quickly became my favorite show and the pleasant experience even prompted me to reframe any recommendation thereafter as a good thing.
On the heels of Nathan For You came another Nathan-adjacent show How To With John Wilson. Both had things in common: wild situations with wild people, Nathan Fielder (EP), and Michael Koman (EP/Writer). You really start paying attention to credits when you see Conner O’Malley and Susan Orlean on the same show.
Koman sounded so familiar to me, but I couldn’t put my finger on it until I was revisiting some old Conan clips. There he was. The Conan writer who called in sick only to have a skeptical Conan come down to his apartment and face the horrifying truth: his writer wasn’t lying.
With the announcement of How To With John Wilson getting picked up for a much deserved season 3, Koman was nice enough to answer 5 pressing questions and provide a 10 song playlist containing his heavy rotation.
What’s your day-to-day look like?
We have two small kids, so I’m up at the latest by 7am, usually a little earlier. I have no creative process other than forcing myself to concentrate when I have to. It’s always easy to work on something with set hours, like being in a writers room, since someone tells you when it’s time to start. If I’m working by myself I try to start by 10am, either at a desk or thinking on a walk. I usually go to sleep around 11pm.
Best advice you’ve been given?
The only advice I remember getting from my father was that if I put on my socks first, my feet would just glide through my pants, and he was right. Another excellent piece of advice, though it wasn’t exactly given as advice, but Conan once described how well served he’d been as a writer by his ability to go into a room, close the door and stay there until he had produced something finished and usable. That always seemed like a nice bar to set for yourself.
Favorite thing you own?
I recently bought a signed copy of one of my favorite books, Rabbit At Rest by John Updike, that he signed with the inscription, “For some good friend to mankind.” It’s a real treasure, and I still can't believe how little it was selling for. But if the house was on fire, and I could only grab one thing on the way out, it would have to be one of my son’s art projects or maybe a letter that one of them had written when he was little. Ideally I’d grab one thing from each of them so there wouldn’t be any hard feelings later.
What’s your go-to beverage?
I almost never drink anything when I leave the house. It has nothing to do with wearing a mask now, it just seems like a hassle to carry anything you don’t really need. But if it was summertime, and I suddenly felt thirsty, I guess I’d try to find some kind of lemon/lime seltzer. It is interesting that water is such a tiresome chore to drink but add a few bubbles and I’ll pay you anything you want for it.
Favorite piece of art?
The first thing that comes to mind is a painting I saw at the Ufizzi Gallery in Florence, Judith Slaying Holofernes, that I thought was a Caravaggio but was actually by one of his students, Artemisia Gentileschi. The expression on Judith’s face as she—sorry if this is a family newsletter—cuts Holofernes’ throat is mesmerizing and very convincing. I later read that Gentileschi had been assaulted in her teens by a man who worked with her father and that she modeled Judith after herself. I was so taken by the painting that I gave it seven paintbrushes, my highest rating for art. But, sincerely, something was captured there that you could feel without knowing why, and that’s miraculous to me.
The second thing that comes to mind is Alberto Giacometti’s The Palace at 4a.m. It’s a small, surrealist sculpture that I only discovered because a writer I love, William Maxwell, wrote about it in his short novel So Long and See You Tomorrow. Whether it’s philosophy or art, I can hardly ever understand anything complicated without some secondary text to explain it to me, but because of the way Maxwell describes it, I now love Giacometti’s sculpture. I also love that Giacometti supposedly thought about every detail of it for months but made it in a couple of hours, which I think is a great way to work.
Check out Michael’s playlist for ok nice here.
Michael Koman is currently working on the third season of How To With John Wilson and an animated special for HBO Max.
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