Not Funny

John Mulaney tells the story of the time Mick Jagger hosted Saturday Night Live, and as a writer for SNL, Mulaney got to pitch sketch ideas to the ageless lead singer for the Rolling Stones.

Jagger had a 2 word review for most of those ideas.

“Not funny.”

Unsaid was that it wasn’t funny to Jagger.

Mulaney clearly thought otherwise, but it wasn’t about him, the writer. It was about Jagger, the performer. And whether he thought it was funny.

Putting aside Mulaney’s considerable expertise in deciding what is/is not funny, it didn’t matter whether he or Jagger thought something was funny.

What mattered is if it worked.

The audience got to decide that.

We can tell ourselves all kinds of stories about the work we do, but it’s the customer, the client, that writes the ending.