Transcript: The Imaginary List of Approved Writers

Rob Long on chasing down a Hollywood myth and what it means

This is Rob Long with Martini Shot for The Ankler.

When standup comics are out of material, they resort to the old cliches. What's up with the sexes, the nuts who run the country, and the differences between New York and Los Angeles.  

These days, I spend a lot of time in New York, and if it's one thing I've learned about people in New York it's this: they spend a lot of time talking about Los Angeles.  

Sitting in coffee shops or bars or just sitting down wherever — and a lot of being a New Yorker is wrapped up in sitting or looking for a place to sit — my ears keep picking out phrases like "Last week, in Silverlake” or "There's a new place on Abbott Kinney" in such unlikely places as waiting for the D train in the West 4th Street station, or at the Chick-Fil-A on 6th Avenue.

On the other hand, when I'm back in Los Angeles, I don't really overhear people talking about New York. I hear them talk about their Hulu series and who is reading their spec.