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Art Bell - Founder of Central - the mindshift podcast... Mon, 5/31 8:03AM 51:36

SUMMARY KEYWORDS comedy, people, , economics, channel, point, job, listening, , thought, world, walked, called, years, entertainment, programming, day, michael, business, reasons

SPEAKERS

Art Bell, Darrell Evans

A Art Bell 00:00 And I said, I am going to go make an appointment with the head of programming at HBO. Now you gotta remember I was a very low level employee at that point compared to the ANA program. very formidable woman. Her name was Bridget and I walk in and I say, Bridget, Thanks for seeing me. I really want to pitch this idea to you. I think that HBO should start an all comedy network 24 seven comedy, and she said, Stop right there. That is the worst idea I have ever heard. And let me tell you why. And she proceeded to tell me why. She gave me reasons like no comedian is ever going to want to be on a 24 seven comedy network. Nobody's going to want to watch that much comedy. There's lots of comedy all over the dial. HBO does great comedy, why should we risk our reputation doing something else? And she sent me on my way, I walked out of the out of her office, very discouraged. My discouraged feeling lasted about five minutes. This is the

D Darrell Evans 01:00 mind shift podcast where we share real stories, real strategies that will help you find real success. This is the place to hear from people just like you who have taken their ideas, goals and dreams from a point of inspiration to realization or when life knock them down from a point of breakdown to breakthrough. I'm your host Darrell Evans. Let's get started with today's episode. Hey, what's going on my friend and welcome to another episode of

Art Bell - Founder of - the Pmagined 1sh oifft 2 p1odcast... Transcribed by https://otter.ai the mind shift podcast. Listen If you have ever found yourself laughing or maybe even crying, laughing while watching shows like with southpark from the 90s future Rama that Daily Show key unpeeled show any of those shows on Comedy Central? Well, you have my guest today to think his name is Art Bell. Now while working at HBO, art pitched the idea of a 24 hour comedy network and helped develop and launch , the comedy channel which eventually became Comedy Central. It's now in its 30th year on . In my conversation with art today, you'll hear him discuss what initially drew him to comedy, in the first place is kind of not so journey from the world of economics to the world of entertainment. When his belief factor actually kicked in. He shares some insights about what corporate jobs teach you. He'll share the straw that broke the camel's back during one of his roles at CBS that actually took it to HBO. And we'll learn about the breakdown with Bridgette, and the breakthrough with Michael Fuchs. Art is also the writer of a memoir titled constant comedy. How I started in lost my sense of humor, which was recently honored as a finalist in the 2020 best Book Awards for memoir. Before we jump in two quick questions, are you subscribed to the podcast? If not, go ahead and hit subscribe or follow right now, wherever you're listening to this show, so you never miss an episode. And number two, are you a part of the mind shift community. It's our global community where we gather to share interesting insights and inspirations from the shows and our guests. members of the community also get special access to behind the scenes content, invites to monthly Q and A's and also have an opportunity to network with other like minded people from all across the globe. If you're not a part of the community after the show, visit mind shift community.com that's mind shift community.com to join for free Art Bell. Welcome to the MindScape podcast. How are you sir? I'm good, Darrell. Thanks for having me. Where are you coming in from in United States?

A Art Bell 03:42 I am in fabulous Greenwich, Connecticut on the east coast.

D Darrell Evans 03:45 Wow. Wow. How's the weather up there?

A Art Bell 03:49 Good enough. I guess it's kind of cloudy and rainy. It's not snowing. That's always a good good sign. But I'm not gonna be here for long I'm actually moving out west.

Art Bell - Founder of Comedy Central - the Pmagined 2sh oifft 2 p1odcast... Transcribed by https://otter.ai D Darrell Evans 04:00 Oh, really? To where?

A Art Bell 04:01 Yeah, we're moving to Park City, Utah. Okay, okay. , we've always loved and now's the time.

D Darrell Evans 04:07 So great to have up there in the in the winter.

A Art Bell 04:09 Great snow, great summers, great springs, Great Falls. Actually, the spring is kind of the least of it. They're kind of wet there. It's beautiful, beautiful place.

D Darrell Evans 04:21 Well, I'm glad to have you here on the show today. I think the listening is in for a treat. For me. I'm in I'm, you know, we talk a little bit offline. I thought I was being pumped when I saw the request from your team to come on the show. And I had to do a little research and I'm like, well, I'll be Gosh, darn. He really did start Comedy Central. So I'm super geeked out because you know, I grew up and I'm a huge fan of comedy. I've always believed that comedy is one of the best medicines available on the planet in the area of stress reduction. And so I mean, just you cannot Sit through something comedic and and just not worry about life's stresses. But tell us about what drew you to comedy.

A Art Bell 05:10 Well, you know, you and I have that in common. I've always been a big comedy fan. And I think I became a comedy fan very young, like seven, eight years old. I was taken by the power of it the power of people's ability to get other people to laugh. I just marveled at that. No, I, you know, I had a funny family. My brothers were funny. My father was funny. I had uncles who were funny. So my mother wasn't that funny. But anyway, she knows it. But the point is, I was initially drawn to comedy because I was amazed at how powerful it was. I mean, somebody can get me to fall off my chair. Laughing that's, you know, that's, that's a superpower. I started watching , which was Friday show on every Sunday night at eight o'clock, because I wanted to see the comedians who around was

Art Bell - Founder of Comedy Central - the Pmagined 3sh oifft 2 p1odcast... Transcribed by https://otter.ai on . I saw him for the first time. And then Solomon, you know, I was too young to watch. watch late night shows like , well, was Johnny Carson, essentially. But that's where I got my initial round of professional comedy was on . And I went on from there just loving it. I I I grew up listening to albums, albums, albums. And was my hero. When I was in college, he was the , hot comedian in college. I wrote comedy too. I wrote I got initially attracted to satire. We started an underground newspaper in high school, called the tongue, we gotten a lot of trouble. We're just, you know, doing everything we could to take apart the the administration in the school in an effort to point out what was wrong with things and I thought that was just great. And then college, you know, did a little performing. And that's how I fell in love with comedy. It was just it's basically been my preoccupation since I was a kid.

D Darrell Evans 07:07 Wow, that's interesting. That's interesting. Now, I read that you also took an interest early on in college and economics. And I thought there was something humorous that I read, and I think it was what tell us you were in economics, what how did you pivot from took you down the path of economics and then this, this 180 shift, and then I'll bring up this other thought that that I came across that that was hilarious.

A Art Bell 07:31 Well, I started college, and I signed up for economics, you know, the way everybody starts college like, okay, that fits into my schedule, we'll find out what that's about. Right. And I went, and I had a terrific professor, a very, very smart guy. And he gave us a first economics test, you know, about five weeks into it, and I studied hard, and I got the test back and I'd failed, I got about a 99. That was the first time I really kind of bombed anything to that, to that brilliant extent. And I said, I'm gonna have to recalibrate the way I go about this. So I studied really hard. And suddenly, I find I'm interested in it. You know, it's not just about doing well on tests, or, or, or quizzes, or any of that I'm, suddenly I'm a fan of economics. And I ended up majoring in it. I was a double major with English as well. And I came out of college, and was offered a job as an economist, right out of college in Washington, DC. So that's how I got into economics. I spent three years as an economist at a consulting firm, doing really high level problem solving for the Department of Energy Department of the Environmental Protection Agency, and some also some private clients. I was I was way out over my skis. I mean, I was working with people who were so much older than me and smarter than me. And I was, I remember being at one meeting with the chairman of a company and he said, Okay, what does the kid think? And he and I realized I was the kid. And he actually wanted to know what I thought, which was kind of a thrill.

Art Bell - Founder of Comedy Central - the Pmagined 4sh oifft 2 p1odcast... Transcribed by https://otter.ai Anyway, that's how I got into economics. Did that cover what you thought was in?

D Darrell Evans 09:16 Yeah, yeah. And I, that leads to the, to the quote that I found, as I was doing some research, and one of the pivot points was, you get to a point where you're like, finding yourself reading coal weekly, every week, and you're like, I'm just not a coal weekly kinda guy. Take us through that.

A Art Bell 09:33 That's it as much fun as I had been an economist and it was great. I was reading coal week I said, You know, I don't think I can do this for the next 35 years. And I gotta do something else. And so I changed the channel. That was my first instinct. Okay, dad, go back to school is out there. And in the back of my mind, I really hoped I could find my way into the entertainment industry, partly by getting an MBA and you know, having that to flash around. Yeah. And that's

D Darrell Evans 10:01 MBA came from Wharton. I think, Wharton, yes. Beautiful, you know, interesting, we'd like to talk about the the different pathways that people take as entrepreneurs. And I see you as an entrepreneur, certainly in the sense that anyone who creates something from scratch is an entrepreneur, I don't care if there's a paycheck or someone above you report. And it's always been thrilling to me to kind of unpack the mindset and the thought process that leads to the change. So so now that the economic role is like, Okay, I got to change, but use the good work there pivot, and I love to talk about that for a second, go down the path of MBA, what is your first thought, as you finish the MBA as to where you where you want to go? You did say you've thought maybe somehow get an entertainment, but take us back to that pivot point. Because I think a lot of people sometimes get stuck thinking that where they are, is where they have to be because it's paying the bills or because it's what, you know, family suggested they do. And this is specifically for the younger folks listening, because you are a young guy this time, you know, young in the room of economics, but now you're pivoting back to MBA, and then a career. But take us back to some of your thought processes there.

A Art Bell 11:15 I knew I didn't want to go back into consulting, not because I didn't like it, I just wanted to change. And while all my are not all my friends, but several my friends at Wharton,

Art Bell - Founder of Comedy Central - the Pmagined 5sh oifft 2 p1odcast... Transcribed by https://otter.ai were going to investment banking, consulting, you know, sort of the typical MBA routes, I raised my hand and I said, I am going to go into the entertainment business. And it was just because I thought it would be interesting, I just thought and you know, again, I had a feeling for comedy. I thought, I know I loved it. I didn't know if I could make a career out of it. But I liked it. And along the way no one was was critical in another way for me, because they they had something there called the warden follies, which was a satirical musical comedy review that was put on by the students every year. And when I got to Warden, I said, Hey, you know, you got entertainment club or something? I mean, when it guys like me, people like me hang out? And they said, Well, not really. But we do have the word and follies and a lot of people who came to Wharton from the entertainment business, that's where they end up working on that. So I went to the meeting. And lo and behold, yeah, for choreographers, you know, Broadway directors, people who wanted to get out of that, and into investment banking. There they were, and we put on a hell of a show the first year I said, Man, this is like really professional orchestra, you know, and, and, and, and very clever writing, some of which I did, and performing, you know. And then a second year, I wrote the show, which was a great experience, partly because it reminded me how much I loved writing comedy, and how much I felt strongly about comedy. Also, it was also a good, good time for me to say to myself, you know, you do have a little bit of a feel for comedy. It's not like, I'm not making this up. I got a lot of positive feedback on it, not a hobby. And it's not a hobby, so that that's what I thought comedy, that would be great. And when I was looking for a place to work cable, tell it This was the mid 80s. And cable was, you know, coming into its own where a handful of cable channels out there that were there was no sports channel, ESPN is making a big splash. There was no all comedy network. And I said to myself, now, how is it that there's no old comedy network? I mean, why would that not be there? And I thought, yeah, somebody will do it eventually. But I really like to work for one. Given that there isn't one, I am going to go work for the first job. Which was the only job offer I got other than, you know, consultants wanted me but I didn't want to work there, which was CBS. And I went to work for CBS television stations, which was a compromise for me. I didn't want to be a financial analyst at CBS. But there it was. And I remember my dad saying to me, okay, you're going to work for CBS, you're making about half as much money as you were making when you got to business school, because you were working as a consultant in Washington. how's this gonna work again, and I said, it's going to work, you know, trust me, this is what it is the business I want to be in. It's not the job I want to be in. But I got to give it a shot.

D Darrell Evans 14:12 I love that I love that this is the business I want to be in. This isn't the job I want to be in. But it's gonna work out. I love that, that that message, right? Because some people want to jump from, you know, chapter one to chapter 12. And into the dream job, right. And

Art Bell - Founder of Comedy Central - the Pmagined 6sh oifft 2 p1odcast... Transcribed by https://otter.ai there's a journey that we take. And I think that's something that we're going to continue to unpack here for the listening audience. And that is these different moments of changing and shifts and ebbs and flows. But you knew now I know where I want to go. And so let's at least get my foot in the door. You're at CBS. What do you do at CBS? And then how does the jump to HBO come in?

A Art Bell 14:52 at CBS. I was working for television stations. I was a financial analyst. It was around the time that I don't know if if any of your listeners will remember that. We use Excel now as spreadsheets, there was something now called visicalc, which changed the world. And then Lotus 123 came along. So those were the originals. And I spent hours and hours in front of these spreadsheets, doing revenue projections and analysis of whether we should, CBS should take part in the Olympics and analysis of you know, whether we should take another, this particular show on at the stations. So I was an analyst, you know, gotcha. And despite the fact that I didn't love the whole thing, it was a good first corporate job. And corporate jobs teach you a lot of important things. Number one, if you want to stand out, you're going to have to figure out how to communicate. And it's not just writing emails, it's standing up in front of talking to people. And I noticed that the people who really did well, at corporations were the people who could get up and talk to 300 of their fellow workers in a compelling way. And so I made that, really an objective of mine. And that's how I got noticed a little bit at CVS, we had, you know, we have sales conference, and whatever. And I would end up speaking, and people say, Man, you're great at that you really am, you know, and I'd say, Well, I practice. And that was true. I do. I did practice, I did observe how it was done. And that was, that was my CBS experience, it was really pretty boring other than,

D Darrell Evans 16:33 yeah, you know, it's interesting. You mentioned this art, because I got a degree in finance thought I wanted to go work on Wall Street, as an analyst, I'm enamored by the numbers I'm enamored in, in my current world, where I spend with making strategic decisions with business growth. And it all starts at the numbers. It's all sales, its marketing, its data, its metrics. And there is an aspect of it that is critical to decision making. I just didn't see myself sitting at hours. Get the desk running it. In fact, I'm one of the probably the only people on the planet who has a finance degree who can't stand Excel. And so I get it. And I remember Lotus 123. I didn't, I was a little too young for the prior platform you mentioned. So what what makes you leave CVS

Art Bell 17:17

Art Bell - Founder of Comedy Central - the Pmagined 7sh oifft 2 p1odcast... Transcribed by https://otter.ai A Art Bell 17:17 I decided to leave before I actually left. And I just wanted to leave because I went into my boss one day. And I said, you know, I'm working pretty much 10 hours a week on this particular report, which gets distributed to about 25 people. And I went to ask them, you know, is there anything I could do to improve the report? And they said, Well, basically, we don't use it. We just throw it out. Good answer. Well, you know, when it was an honest answer, so I, I wasn't put off. I was just doing what I was told. So I went to my boss. And I said, you know, it turns out, I'm working 10 hours a week to do this report, which we've done forever, I guess, around here. And she says, Yeah, that's, that's a long standing report here. And I said, Yeah, but nobody's reading it. Why don't you have me do something else? Or, you know, let's design something that people can use? And she said, No, we've done this report here the same way for five years. And we're going to continue to do the report here five years. So I went back to my office and said, Okay, so much for this. So much for this job. I just I that wasn't me. That was Yeah, it was always coming up with ideas. I was always trying to make things better. And while I always did what I was told, at some point, you just got to say, look, this, this isn't my kind of place. As luck would have it. A friend of mine who had left CBS station, went over to HBO, now HBO at that time, it's the mid 80s. They've been up on the satellite for nine years, roughly. And they were about as successful an entity as you could find anywhere. But especially in the entertainment business. They were changing television, they walked in and said we're doing uncut movies, we're going to use a subscriber model like magazines, and we are going to change television. And they did. And my friend called me up and he says, You can't believe how cool it is to work here. Everybody's young, everybody's excited. They're doing great things are changing television. They're high fiving in the halls, it's very successful. And guess what? They need somebody to do subscriber forecasting and modeling. And they want to do some modeling. And he said, I think you're the only one I ever met in the entertainment business who actually knew anything about modeling. Because I had done econometric modeling, and I said, Great, so I went over I interviewed for it. They gave me the job. Now. That was pretty much the last thing I wanted to do at HBO, of course. Exactly. But as you pointed out, I was I was at CBS, which is a monolithic, gigantic company. HBO was not a gigantic company. So from my point of view, I was putting myself one step closer to the product. And that was my goal. get as close to the product as you can go. Because if you're working I and I said this to a lot of people, if you're working in A company and you're a peripheral job, that may be great, because that's what you like to do. But the people were close to the product. You know, that's those are the people they're going to hang on. Those are the people are going to shape the future in a big way at that company. So if you're in finance, google finance company, I'm cool with that. If you want to work at another company in finance, I'm cool with that. But if you want to be in television and work with the product, get over that a programming, but you can't do it on day one. Yeah, very hard.

Art Bell - Founder of Comedy Central - the Pmagined 8sh oifft 2 p1odcast... Transcribed by https://otter.ai D Darrell Evans 20:27 Yeah. You bring up a great a great point. I've, man. So you're, you're in this corporate giant, and you're just doing things because we've seen the phrase I hate in business. We why do we do it this way? Well, because that's the way we've always done it. And it's just the it's the of it's the death of small to midsize firms. Corporations get away with it, because they've got cash to get away with it. But interesting perspective that you're like, Listen, okay, well, that's the end of my time here. And then still yet you make a jump to go take a seat of similar similar proportion in the world of economics and forecasting and analyzing. But now you're you've made a decision to go from a corporate giant to semi startup, right? They're they're doing innovative things. They're the Google of the day. And there's right there the media, Google of the day, right? And you know that you're getting get one step closer, I love how you put it closer to the product. At what point do you say I'm gonna pitch a new show? Call, I'm gonna pitch this new, this new channel at this. Because, you know, there's probably a lot of steps that happen in there. But your buddy gives you a call, you're now there. And but what how do you take the leap from modeling, subscription modeling to pitching this show?

A Art Bell 21:42 Well, the first thing I'll say is, and this is important, I dedicate myself to doing a great job in the job that I was given. For two reasons. One, it's your obligation. And number two, I thought, if I do a great job, then people will notice me around the company, because it was a chance for some exposure, people were definitely interested in what the future of HBO looked like subscriber wise. And, and I dedicated myself to that. And it worked. I got another job after that. Did it put me in programming? No, they put me into an area called new business development. And let's stop right there. Because I don't think they really intended to develop any new business. You know, I think new business development within companies is the hardest thing they have to do for a million reasons. That's probably a whole other podcast. But I went to New Business Development. And what they were really doing was they were testing a new channel idea that HBO had, and the background is HBO was in honor. No, they had lots of subscribers. They were the of the day. They were just booming. Yeah. And and, but they didn't have everybody. And that was a head scratcher for a lot of people, you know, hey, we're HBO. Why isn't everybody subscribing to us? Two reasons. One too expensive. But HBO wasn't gonna lower the price. Second reason. People didn't want sex violence and bad language in their homes. And for whatever reason kids religion didn't like it.

D Darrell Evans 23:11 segment of the segment of the population just didn't want

Art Bell - Founder of Comedy Central - the Pmagined 9sh oifft 2 p1odcast... Transcribed by https://otter.ai A Art Bell 23:14 they were never going to do it because HBO was presenting uncut movies that was their big stock and trade, you know? So they said, Okay, well, let's create an HBO like channel subscription model, a pay TV channel, no commercials, movies, some other stuff. No sex violence and bad language. And that's the rule. Now. There are a million things can that that that you're faced with when you're trying to put a channel together that way? Number one is one man sex violence and bad language is another man's. That's not so bad. Prior to selling something in the entertainment business by a negative, hey, we've got something that doesn't have the following. Think about that as a sales proposition. Right? When you really want to sell entertainment by saying, watch this. It's really fun. To make a long story short, the project failed. However, every job I had, even before economics, every job I had mowing lawns teaches you some thing that you can use throughout your career. And what I learned at that job was very important. I learned about the television business because I was in charge over I was responsible for doing research about how people use television and whether they would like this product. I traveled all over the country. I was involved in focus groups and one on one interviews with people, I found out how not only how hard their lives were sometimes but how television made their lives easier or serve them in some way. And it was a very important period of learning for me. I also would slip in a question about hey, you know, what, if they weren't all comedy channel, is that something you would like? And that was not a list of questions. But I did put that in there and I did note the responses and I put that in my bag. back pocket for for later use.

D Darrell Evans 25:02 You know, you touched on a couple of points there. And I love the backup to a little bit of what you said. And that is, every job I've ever had, I've done a good job. And it's just a principle I believe in when you're on this journey. you prosper where you're planted, you do the best work my dad taught me, you only get one chance to make a good first impression, do your best whatever that assignment is. And you said it. If I do a good job, it'll put me in a better chance to get noticed. Right? Never once have they promoted the person who shows up late never once do they promote the person who turns in poor quality work, they don't reward people who don't put in effort. So I love that point. It's a it's a simple point. It's understated. Sometimes Sometimes people want to go to the next chapter in our life, but they're whining and moaning and complaining and doing a substandard job in the current in the current gig. It's like these stairstep moments are bringing you closer and closer to this bigger broader vision. And then on the other side of it, it's like okay, now you're, you're traveling around, you're doing the demographic research, you're doing the psychographic, you're understanding the emotions, you're

Art Bell - Founder of Comedy Central - theP amgien d1s0h ioftf 2p1odcast... Transcribed by https://otter.ai understanding the feelings, you're understanding how people are flowing through the day, where does TV fit in? Am I right? In some sense in saying that, in this data gathering, you are actually finding the gap in the market?

A Art Bell 26:17 Yes, I found a lot of gaps in the market, I found that the gap in the market that festival was trying to fill was a that was the name of the channel with its no sex violence in bed language was going to be a very tough proposition for the reason I stated because one, everyone's definition of sex violence and bad language is different. And it's hard to serve a very big audience by selling it by the negative remember, I you know, I was young and and uninformed to a certain extent. And I still maintained data or no data that there was going to be a comedy network in the world come hell or high water. And I kept waking up every morning looking, scouring the trade saying, okay, who's going to announce this? And nobody did. And I was nobody was more surprised than me. So then festival went down, you know, the project was over. And despite the fact that we were a new business development area, guess what, we could develop anything else, which cracked me up. And that was, that was a good lesson for me, as I said, very hard for businesses to develop businesses within for a lot of reasons. So I had nothing to do. He said Aren't you know, we'd like you stick around, we'll find some special projects, and stuff like that, but stick around so I not being one to hang out, do nothing. I said, All right, well, the handwriting is a little on the wallet probably fire me at some point, if they can't figure out what to do with me, I better get my resume together. As part of getting my resume together. I said, You know what, I am going to include my concept of a comedy network in my credentials, you know, and just say, look, this is one of the things I think should be done. And I would send that to or CBS or wherever, again, was going back there. But you know, any of the big entertainment companies saying, Hey, you know, I got this idea. Here's what the programming would be, here's the financials. And I really started putting that together. And sort of halfway through that I said, You know what, this is silly, I should really pitch somebody here. I haven't made a big pitch for it. So I got myself together. And I said, I'm gonna go make an appointment with the head of programming at HBO. Now, you gotta remember, I was a very low level employee at that point, compared to the ANA program, who was considered some kind of a genius, obviously, because she had made this channel so successful, very formidable woman, her name was Bridget and she said, Okay, I'll see you small company. Remember, that's more likely there. I walk in. And I say, Bridgette, Thanks for seeing me. I really want to pitch this idea to you. I think that HBO should start an all comedy network 24 seven comedy, and she said, Stop right there. That is the worst idea I have ever heard. And let me tell you why. And she proceeded to tell me why. She gave me reasons like no comedian is ever going to want to be on a 24 seven comedy network. Nobody's going to want to watch that much comedy. There's lots of comedy all

Art Bell - Founder of Comedy Central - theP amgien d1s1h ioftf 2p1odcast... Transcribed by https://otter.ai over the dial. HBO does great comedy, why should we risk our reputation doing something else? And she sent me on my way, I walked out of the out of her office. As you can imagine, after having that much cold water thrown on my idea and me, very discouraged. My discouraged feeling lasted about five minutes.

D Darrell Evans 29:25 I Why was that? Why was because that's because

A Art Bell 29:28 I said to myself, she's wrong. I mean, there you go. Okay, maybe HBO is not going to do them. Maybe I don't know enough about what I'm talking about. Maybe I got the wrong concept, maybe. But I know somebody is going to do a comedy network. And it should be HBO because I'm here and maybe it should be me. So I went back to my office and I kept working on my plans for a comedy network.

D Darrell Evans 29:49 I love that this belief that you had that the comedy this someone was going to start this thing and it might as well be me and it might as well be HBO. I just love that. You You know, at an age of 30, like I, I think back to when I was 30 is like, do what I've had that kind of confidence at that time to believe in my idea after someone as powerful, as influential as this individual was to kind of rain on your parade, what is going on in your, in your psyche? That gives you the ability to walk out of there after getting poured on? And you're like, yeah, she's wrong?

A Art Bell 30:25 Well, it's a good question. It's something you know, I wrote a book about this whole thing called constant comedy, how I started Comedy Central and lost my sense of humor. It's a memoir, which means I spent a lot of time pouring my heart out to the reader, just talking about what I was thinking and what I was feeling, as well as describing all the stuff that's going on. I sometimes look back and wonder myself, you know, I mean, it. It was, it was a very crazy time, a very special time. For me, I think. I had convinced myself at that point, because I was young. And I'd had some successes, you know, again, I, I went to work in Well, my first that whole story back economics, don't kid yourself. That was, that was a big when when I could come out of failing a test, and then throwing myself at the problem and becoming competent. To the point where I got a job right out of school as an economist, I mean, that was, that was a success. And then in consulting, again, I walked in

Art Bell - Founder of Comedy Central - theP amgien d1s2h ioftf 2p1odcast... Transcribed by https://otter.ai not knowing what the heck I was doing, thinking everybody there was smarter than me and certainly more experienced, and then starting to have some successes, not instantly, not instantly, but I had some successes. And so while I didn't have a huge track record of knocking them dead, I was starting to develop some faith in my ability, and some faith in my instincts, and my, and faith in my understanding of how organizations work. Remember, I learned how to talk to people that was, that was really something I considered, I was a super a superpower at that point. So why did I think that? I just nobody had said, No, you're fired? They just said, No, we don't think it's a good idea. You know, and I was convinced with all these channels popping up. I mean, there was an all music channel at this point. I mean, that's practically an all comedy channels, just a different subject, you know. And to me, comedy was as important in music. And by the way, music is very important to me. Yeah. So I just, I just couldn't understand why it didn't happen. And I was determined to use that as a way to get my next job.

D Darrell Evans 32:37 And I love that you didn't personalize that. No, you know, so often in life, we get told no. And it's just sometimes people can't see your vision at that moment, right. So not everyone's going to align with your vision. And I think that's one of the interesting parts about success is everyone doesn't have to see your vision. As long as you believe in the vision. That's the key like you, you just have to be tenacious about that. And so I love that you. You're like, okay, she wasn't attacking me. She just didn't see it. Maybe I didn't present it quite right. But she didn't see it the way I see it, but I see it this way. So we're gonna keep moving forward. I love it. I love it. What's next in the process?

A Art Bell 33:12 As I said, I was in my office working on this. And my boss's boss, walked by my office. And he looked in and said, What the heck are you doing? You don't have a job. You have nothing to do, what could you possibly be working on? And I said, Well, that's this idea I've had and he walked in and said, Let me take a look. And I said, Okay, took a look. And he said, Wow, this is really something. He said, I think Michael Fuchs, the chairman of the company should see this. And then he said, Did Bridget see this, that, you know, the head of programming? I said, Yeah, she was kind of lukewarm. That was an exaggeration, because this isn't gonna tell him that. And he said, Okay, well, let's go see the chairman. And I said, Okay, and he said, No, right now, we're going to go see the chairman right now. I said, right now, I had no presentation prepare. I had no presentation materials. I had no idea what I was going to say. My presentation of bridges several weeks ago, hadn't gone so well. And he said, Yeah, we're gonna just walk right in and talk to him. And that's what we did. And we walked in, and he said, art has something he wants to pitch. And I pitched

Art Bell - Founder of Comedy Central - theP amgien d1s3h ioftf 2p1odcast... Transcribed by https://otter.ai my little heart out. And Michael was, he was a great audience, because he loved comedy. He was responsible for the brilliant comedy that was on on HBO at the time. And he listened. And I think my passion for comedy and my passion for the project is what sold it in that 15 minutes. So I say sold that gene, so go, great, let's let's do it. He said, sounds interesting. Why don't we see if we can pursue that. Let's do some research. Let's do a demo tape. Let's, you know, let's fill, fill it out and see if we should go forward to this. So do all these things and then give us a presentation in a couple of months. And we'll decide what to do. Now, I will point out that the other thing I sold him, I think with two other things, because I thought a lot about that meeting, when was vision, I said, you know, Michael, in 10 years, if this thing works, we are going to be the center of the comedy universe, we're going to be the greatest branded comedy that America has ever seen. And HBO should be the one to do that. And the other thing was fear. I said, you know, HBO is we are comedy on television. But that doesn't mean that somebody else isn't going to show up and take it all away from us. I said, if we don't do this, somebody else is going to do it. And you're going to be sorry, I might not. You're going to be

D Darrell Evans 35:47 you're helping him understand,

A Art Bell 35:48 I implied that it will have been an opportunity loss missed. Yeah. And, and I think you've reacted to it. Now remember, Michael had just been named the most powerful man in by , several weeks before cover story on the New York Times Magazine. So this was a formidable guy, Bridget was formidable enough, but this guy could, you know, kill anybody's career with a wink, you know? Or make it for that matter. So it was a it was quite a meeting.

D Darrell Evans 36:17 So you go from I'm not prepared for meeting to let's go do it right now. And you know, I love the being thrown into the fire and and it just lets you know, it lets it lets you know that hey, I was already been thinking about this for a while. Right? You learned how to communicate, which is a great point, a lesson that you learned that the company two companies prior that hey, communicator seem to get things done. Right. And then you go in and with the highest executive at the company, and you get it had to make you feel phenomenal walking out of there at least going from the No, the hard fast. No to that's interesting, because I always say, in the world that I've lived in for 30 years. In this get a yes, no, let's get a yes or no, I hate, you know, the maybe for the maybe lands. So he gave

Art Bell - Founder of Comedy Central - theP amgien d1s4h ioftf 2p1odcast... Transcribed by https://otter.ai you a couple of months direction. And so you had to be on cloud nine leaving out of that office, even though you didn't have a sealed deal, right.

A Art Bell 37:07 I was on cloud nine. I for a couple reasons. One, I had made it through the meeting without having a heart attack and die. Which, you know, again, you don't think about that.

D Darrell Evans 37:18 Yeah. And the

A Art Bell 37:20 second reason was, yeah, I got to the next step, whatever that was, you know, you know, moment. That was, I couldn't have I couldn't have imagined that happening that morning, for example. And there was I also realized I had a tiger by the tail and had that moment of, Oh, my gosh, what do I do now? You know, and that was that was part of it.

D Darrell Evans 37:44 So we all know how successful this channel has been, what was one of the, you know, what was one of the most difficult things you encountered getting it from? That's interesting to to live on air,

A Art Bell 37:58 my programming concept for the channel relied on the usual but also on short form programming that we were going to get for free from the studios who are trying to promote their movies, trailers, kind of, but also by clipping great comedy scenes from everything in the world, movies stand up comedy, the whole nine yards. And in order to do that, we had to get the approval of the unions, the Directors Guild, the Writers Guild, the music Guild, and we did, which was another amazing hurdle that I had just cleared. Eight weeks before we launched after having created a room full of these clips, just tons and tons of them. And that creation was difficult. We got a call from the Directors Guild, we changed our mind. Someone on the board decided they don't like this idea. And you cannot go forward with your programming plans. Imagine my disappointment at that moment. We got a launch in eight weeks. Yeah. And I went back to my office, that's the Lord's explain this. And one of my one of the people working he says, Oh, my God, we're

Art Bell - Founder of Comedy Central - theP amgien d1s5h ioftf 2p1odcast... Transcribed by https://otter.ai out of business. I said, No, we're at Plan B. And he said, What's Plan B? I said, Well, that's for us to figure out right now.

D Darrell Evans 39:11 Right, isn't it? Right?

A Art Bell 39:13 That's what we did. And let me tell you, we launched that channel with so much less programming that we needed to launch any channel ever. Wow. And it was I won't use the D word disaster. But it was, it didn't go well. Let me put it that way. I had all eyes on me. The Press couldn't wait to see what we were doing because Michael Fuchs, the chairman had bragged about how this was going to be the greatest the funniest channel HBO we are so smart here we have the smartest people are came up with this idea. It's going to be brilliant. And he said all that at a press conference and I was going you know what's quite like that. He said it anyway and When this thing got out there, the press had so much fun with the SHODAN Freud, of watching the most powerful man in Hollywood, fall flat on his face with a new channel, I don't think we would have been as eviscerated on day one, as we were. And I say day one week, one month one, you know, out of the gates, if Michael had not boasted so loudly about how great it was going to be. And there's a lesson for entrepreneurs. Yeah, you know, you have to have a certain amount of hubris to do any of this. But careful what you promise and when, because, you know, you're never as good as you are the day before you launch your product. You never look that good. Again, until, you know, months, maybe years later, wow, when it all comes together,

D Darrell Evans 40:50 took us years. And that in and of itself is yet another one. People start businesses and it's great on paper until you hit the world of execution. And it just takes time to bring the vision after you even hit the ground and start the game. I'm a huge sports fan as well. So I've always loved the game of practice and getting ready for competition. And then the kickoff almost, you know, use a football analogy, kickoff happens, and then all hell breaks loose. Oh, you're

A Art Bell 41:16 planning? That's a great analogy. I'll give you the other one that's very famous, which is Eisenhower, I think, said at once. But it's been said way back in the 1800s. You know, your plans after the first shot in a battle? Your plans go to hell?

Art Bell - Founder of Comedy Central - theP amgien d1s6h ioftf 2p1odcast... Transcribed by https://otter.ai D Darrell Evans 41:30 That's right. And Tyson says it everyone's got a plan. Do you get that it's all the same? It's all

A Art Bell 41:37 the same saying and man, you got to take that to heart if you're going to be successful. Because absolutely, because the rest of the story on comedy is what I call improvisational comedy. We had a plan, it fell apart. We had nothing to do but go forward. And I went to work every day saying how are we going to do less of what's not working and more of what's working to make this thing successful. And there was man, I can't tell you the incoming that we were getting from the press. Not to mention my boss, Michael, not to mention, you know, the whole world is watching. And I felt personally responsible for this. There's 400 people working on the thing now. And failure. That was it was going to be a horror show. If I fail, I will tell you the one other thing that came up almost immediately, as soon as Michael announced, the next day, MTV Networks put out a press release saying, Oh yeah, we're gonna put out a comedy channel too. And we're gonna call it ha, the comedy channel, the comedy network, sorry, ha, the comedy network. And suddenly, we had competition. And never underestimate the competition. And they were formidable competition, because they had done cable channels with advertiser support. HBO had never been in the advertiser business. So they were formidable. And six months later, six months after we launched, they launched Ha. And we went head to head for another six months. Like we were going to destroy each other. Wow, it was a war. And at the end of the six months, the powers that be decided to merge us. And I was faced with that as my next challenge, and the first thing I thought was okay, they merged us, I'm out of a job. And everything I thought was, why would they merge us we were winning. We're gonna beat these guys. But you know what? It was going to be a long war of attrition for for both companies. Yeah. And they just cut to the chase. Anyway. So we merged, I didn't lose my job. They put me in in a same room with the head of programming from the other channel, and they said, Okay, you guys figure it out. You can't call it Ha. And you can't call it the comedy channel. So rename it, reprogram it, restaffed it, I'm telling you, it was like doing the whole thing over again. But it was harder, because now suddenly, I'm working with the other guys.

D Darrell Evans 44:06 Yeah, another visionary who has a different vision

Art Bell 44:10

Art Bell - Founder of Comedy Central - theP amgien d1s7h ioftf 2p1odcast... Transcribed by https://otter.ai A Art Bell 44:10 on yet another concept, a different culture. But I was hell bent on hanging on to this. There will be a comedy network in the world. And it quickly became apparent that the other guys were too. I mean, it wasn't like we were at each other's throats, we quickly realized we've always wanted the same thing. We all wanted the same thing we want. We loved comedy. We wanted to see a comedy channel. And we we got it.

D Darrell Evans 44:37 Art year. This is the 30th year anniversary we've mentioned before, what's one of your proudest moments,

A Art Bell 44:41 I think, I think we're experiencing it now Dell. I mean, I think to be able to look in my rearview mirror and see something I started 30 plus years ago still standing and not only standing but thriving. I mean, arguably Comedy Central is one of the great comedy brands of all time, certainly up there with Saturday. In a live National Lampoon punch in, in Britain to name one there, you know, it's hard to do. It's part of the popular culture, it's made a difference in the world. It's employed 1000s of people, it's given a chance for people to be really, really creative. And its launch careers. I that's why I'm proud now, this is my proudest moment. 30 years, I love for them and good for us.

D Darrell Evans 45:30 Absolutely. This channel has blessed a lot of people and taking people from, you know, sadness to joy, even if even if but for a moment, because that's sometimes what comedy does, it doesn't remove what's happening in real life. But it certainly allows you to escape it for a hot minute, your book, constant comedy, how I started Comedy Central and lost my sense of humor. It's out on Amazon, it's out at art bill, writer, calm, we want everyone to get out and really learn more about this story, we haven't begun to unpack what this man has experienced. And what you're listening to, is someone who believed in a vision. He believed in a passion, he was passionate about his vision, but he also had a vision from his gut because of his own interests. Right? Sometimes people think they got to go start a business because it's gonna make money or because it's hot, or because it's the latest, greatest thing. What I've learned listening to your art, is this was something you really passionately believed, and it was something that was heartfelt. And that is, is there's something to be said about having your own personal meaning behind your project and your venture. So I just want to thank you for for persevering. You've mentioned earlier before we kind of wrap up your interest in music. And I know that you play both piano and

Art Bell - Founder of Comedy Central - theP amgien d1s8h ioftf 2p1odcast... Transcribed by https://otter.ai jazz drums. My daughter is in piano, she actually goes to a performing arts school in piano gels,

A Art Bell 46:50 and you're totally jealous. I wish I had

D Darrell Evans 46:53 GW been playing for years and got into a performing arts school that were the kids that audition had been playing since they were like they were eight years, 10 years. And she snuck in was proud. I couldn't tell you the day that I showed up part of my parenting was like, wow, because we're listening to some of the auditions and I'm like, whoo, wow. Okay. 130 kids were accepted. She was one. So it was one of the proudest moments and She's good. She's amazing. So anyway, where did your love for piano and jazz drums come in? And just let's let's, let's finish it up on the music side.

A Art Bell 47:28 Okay, yeah, lads. My mother was the music teacher in town, we lived in a relatively small town. She was a music teacher there for years and years. My brothers and I were expected to play piano that was it. We play classical piano, we had to we had to play for our supper, you know, you practice a piano before you watch television or do anything else. And, you know, as much as it was a grind as a kid, you know, you want to be out there playing baseball, your friends or something. It certainly gave me a love of music. I play classical piano for years. I got back to it after I left college. And then I decided I want to play jazz. And I want to learn what that was all about. So I took jazz lessons, which was a crazy transition from classical to jazz, but I did it. And then finally about 10 or 12 years ago, after having listened to jazz and loved jazz for so long. I said to myself, what the heck are those drummers doing? Man? That is just so cool. Yeah. And I listen, and I say how do they do that? And so I said, Okay, I'm gonna learn how to play drums. And, and I, and I took up drums, and I figured out what they were doing. And I figured out I couldn't do that. But I still try. I mean, listen to the greats. It's just ridiculous. These people, these people were playing since they were two, you know? And yeah, but I love jazz. And I love playing jazz drums and I love playing jazz piano and classical piano. I still do it.

D Darrell Evans 48:48 Yeah, I love it. I love it. I played saxophone growing up, I chose sports over the music side of things. But jazz concerts are one of my favorite draws to the to the all instruments

Art Bell - Founder of Comedy Central - theP amgien d1s9h ioftf 2p1odcast... Transcribed by https://otter.ai again for me through her eyes, you know, orchestra and things of that nature that I had never experienced before have a ton of appreciation for it today. So our bell amazing story. Amazing background, thank you once again for bringing one of the funniest places on the planet to our lives. been an amazing time for me just to chat with you. I love chatting with visionaries and understanding backstories but as we wrap up, I always like to ask my guests a final question. And that is if for whatever reason you weren't able to be here tomorrow on this planet. What would you want everyone to know you for?

A Art Bell 49:33 Well, I think I'd want them to know me for being helpful and kind to the people I worked with and who worked for me. You know, I hear from a lot of people since writing my book. And and the when I heard this the other day someone said you know Aren't you were so kind this was a comedian. You were so kind to me back in the day. You were so helpful and honest I didn't remember much about it. But if that was the impression I left, then that's, that's a good thing. And that's what I want to leave

D Darrell Evans 50:09 everyone listening to the show you were listening to a visionary. You've listened to an entrepreneur, you've listened to someone who persevered when odds were against him when people didn't believe in him. And you've also listened to a man who pivoted several times to get to where ultimately his breakthrough happened. And I think what we talked about on this show is the journey from inspiration, realization from breakdown to breakthrough. And we've just begun to unpack part of this journey. I think it's worth taking the time to get the book. And you will find the links to that in the show notes.

A Art Bell 50:46 I do want to mention today we are starting a podcast called the constant comedy podcast talking to people who are there back in the day, about their careers, some of them brilliant, and, and what comedy meant to them. So hopefully, that'll be fun. For Yeah, we'll

D Darrell Evans 51:00 link that up in the show notes as well. Great. Thank you so much for being here.

Art Bell - Founder of Comedy Central - theP amgien d2s0h ioftf 2p1odcast... Transcribed by https://otter.ai A Art Bell 51:04 Thanks for having me, Darrell. It's been fun.

D Darrell Evans 51:07 Hey, what's up my friend, thank you for honoring me with your time on today's episode of the mind shift podcast. Listen, let's continue the conversation. connect with me on social at Mr. Darrell Evans on almost every platform, with the exception of my Facebook page, which is at Darrell Evans fan. Until next time, remember you're just one shift away from that breakthrough you're looking for. Talk to you soon.

Art Bell - Founder of Comedy Central - theP amgien d2s1h ioftf 2p1odcast... Transcribed by https://otter.ai