Kent Alterman on authenticity, comedy, and Hollywood
There comes a point in everyone’s life where they ask themselves whether or not the path they are on is really the right one. Or whether or not following one’s gut is actually a good decision. For many, it’s hard to think that those who have dedicated decades to a particular career path have had to ask themselves these same questions.
For Kent Alterman, he recalls when he questioned whether or not he was a “right fit” for Hollywood or whether not he could be successful without being a “shark.”
From the outside looking in – it's hard to consider that this was part of his inner-dialogue. He started at Comedy Central as head of development and original programing in January of 2010. Within three years, he was promoted to president of original programming. In 2016, he was selected as president of Comedy Central and in 2018, Paramount and TV Land were added to his portfolio.
With such an upward trajectory, and string of creating Emmy® Award-winning series such as Drunk History, Key & Peele, and Inside Amy Schumer among many other hit tv shows at the network - he made a promise to himself: Above all, remain true to himself and do not let Hollywood change his character.
"I just made a very conscious commitment to myself in a way at the time that, OK, I'm going to just give it a shot. And if it works great, if it doesn't, it doesn't. But I'm not going to contort who I am as a person, and I'm just going to try to be who I am,” Alterman says. "Looking back on my years and this weird, evolving career that I've had, that has never had a lot of rhyme or reason to it, that has been a constant for me of just trying to be who I am and be honest.”
He notes that one strong voice in Hollywood that helped him develop his skill was the Academy Award winning filmmaker Michael Moore.
Alterman who graduated in 1981 with a degree in fine arts and applied arts originally worked in graphics design after college. He says that he kept feeling a “pull” to get involved in entertainment after moving to New York after graduation.
During those first years, he did everything from image campaigns to marketing for new shows with a firm that worked with entertainment agencies. He notes that Moore gave him first real opportunity as a writer, director, and producer on the Emmy®Award-winning series TV Nation, a satirical news magazine television series written, co-produced, directed, and hosted by Moore. From there, Alterman went on to produce and direct feature films like Semi-Pro, A History of Violence, and After the Sunset.
“I learned so much about so many things, including just really honing storytelling skills and comedic skills. I also learned a ton about different aspects about filmmaking and how to put a story together and how to edit and finesse it and shape it. Those were some of the two of the greatest years of my life, especially in terms of being formative and educational.”
“I learned so much about so many things, including just really honing storytelling skills and comedic skills,” Alterman says. “I also learned a ton about different aspects about filmmaking and how to put a story together and how to edit and finesse it and shape it. Those were some of the two of the greatest years of my life, especially in terms of being formative and educational.”
One thing that he says he appreciates about Moore to this day is that what you see is what you get.
"One of the things I always really respected about him was that he's never had a hidden agenda. With Michael, he's always been so great about saying, ‘Yeah, I'm left wing’...he leads with it,” Alterman recalls of his colleague.
In the same way, Alterman says that over the years, he has strived to be honest with people and give them the whole picture.
“You want to be compassionate and diplomatic, and I think people really do appreciate that. And that has definitely been part of my ethos.”
Tune in to the Duck Stops Here podcast episode with Alterman to hear in-depth conversations about his journey.
On how to make great TV
When you take a look at the great body of work that has been driven by Alterman, the question that inevitably comes up is ‘What will the audience think is funny?’ According to Alterman, there is no clear answer.
“There's no one way to define comedy and great comedy can come in so many different forms and expressions. But I think that on some level, the best comedy is comedy that's rooted in truth, but there's not any one kind of truth,” Alterman says. “It can be political truth, social truth. It could be about poking at hypocrisy or absurdity. Or corruption of power, and obviously one ripe domain for that kind of approach is the political world.”
The same is true in the more general sense of making great tv or movies, and reiterates that there is no one size fits all “formula”. He even admits that no matter how strong your gut is, you can never be too sure about anything in Hollywood.
"I remind people of a shocking truth, which is that nobody ever sets out to make any movie or TV show or anything else to not make it great,” Alterman says. “What that speaks to is how hard it is to execute and how many different people's hands it's in. It's such a collaborative art form...there's so many different factors into what makes something work or not work.”
A great example of this during Alterman’s career came with the transition of Trevor Noah as the replacement for Jon Stewart as The Daily Show host. It was a decision many people did not think was going to work.
From the beginning, Alterman was a strong advocate for Noah being the new host. He describes him as someone who has a point of view about the world, is smart and thoughtful, incisive, and in tune with the social media world.
However, even with all these qualities Alterman says that he had to constantly remind the media during that time that comparing Trevor to Jon, was totally acceptable - as long as they compared Noah's launch and the beginning of his stint with the beginning of Stewarts’.
"If you think about The Daily Show before Jon Stewart with Craig Kilborn, it was an entirely different show than the show Jon walked away from. And it took Jon some time to really turn it into the show in his image.”
Although he cautioned the media, Alterman says that he always knew that it was going to be a difficult for the audience embrace Noah.
"We thought of Jon Stewart as a national treasure. The world changed from when Jon took the show on to when he left to where it was headed, and we thought, this is an opportunity to try to just have a fresh approach.”
That turning point for Noah came during the spring of 2016, according to Alterman. During the primaries, Noah and The Daily Show produced a piece about Trump from the lens of an African dictator, imperial ruler of a country.
"I just happened to be in the studio that night, and I remember thinking this piece is so good. But not only is it good of its own accord, it's also a piece that could not have been done by anyone else in on late-night TV. It was born out of Trevor's experience and his vantage point. And I thought, ‘Oh, this is the secret sauce...this is where we're headed’...and the show is in his voice now.”
On beginning a new chapter
At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, while the world was undergoing major upheaval, Viacom the parent company of Comedy Central merged with CBS. In new chapter for the company, Alterman stepped down from his roles with the company.
Despite his departure, Alterman says that it was a good opportunity to step back from everything and lean into “being in the moment with family time and eating three meals a day together and watching a movie together every night.”
In terms of his professional life, he reveals that he is creating the next entertainment venture with his former colleague Sarah Babineau - the former head of Comedy Central content and creative enterprises.
“In the last few months, Sarah and I started talking about what we were up to and what TV and film projects we were developing. And we thought, ‘Well, why not? Why not form a company together?’ So, we're forming a production company of Good Walk Entertainment.”
Alterman says that they are in the formative stages of developing projects with people and that some projects will be talent driven, others writer driven – and they are even looking into podcasts.
Even though Alterman has said that there is no “secret formula” to success in Hollywood, there won’t be any surprise when he starts cranking out the hit shows in this new chapter of his career.
- By Rayna Jackson, BA ’04 (romance languages), UO Alumni Association communications director