Law Schools

'You Should Go To Law School' Is Common Advice For Comedians

Why are these jobs so similar?

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The AV Club has a great interview with Eric Andre and Josh Weinstein about the new series Disenchantment, where Andre plays a demon who dispenses advice about killing people. As it turns out, giving terrible advice about killing people could well have become Andre’s actual career had he followed his father’s advice and hung up comedy for the life of a lawyer.

It turns out Andre isn’t the only comic who family and friends thought would be destined for law school:

EA: No, hm, what’s the worst advice I’ve ever given somebody or gotten from someone? I know it’s out there, and I’m going to think of it on the way home…. No, wait, it’s my dad—my dad wanted me to go to law school. He was like, “Don’t do comedy.”

AVC: Why was he so against comedy?

EA: Because he was like, “Go to law school.” I studied for the LSATs for, like, a year. I went to Flatbush, Brooklyn, some big, big school in Brooklyn, to take the LSATs. I sat down, I went to fill my name out in the Scantron [sheet], and then I just took my pencil and broke it in half, and I got up and I walked out. I was, like, 22, 23.

JW: There are a number of people on the show whose parents wanted them to be lawyers. In fact, Rich Fulcher, who’s both a writer and actor and is one of the funniest guys ever, he actually went to law school, and then he had to pretend to his parents that he was working on a law job when he was actually doing comedy.

EA: Really?

JW: So, there’s a lot of people who are like, “You need to be a lawyer.” And you’re like, “No, I want to write jokes.”

What is it about these two jobs that create such overlap? Generally speaking, comedians have to be well-read and intelligent (unless they’re pretending to be cable company employees), skills that people tend to associate with aspiring attorneys. While stand-up requires some facility with public speaking, it demands solid writing chops even more, something a pre-law student would also demonstrate.

Most importantly, it requires someone comfortable working until 4 in the morning.

Eric Andre and Josh Weinstein on Disenchantment, Poochie, and why many comedians consider law school

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HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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