Storytellers Series: Blythe Roberson
Author Blythe Roberson returns to Antioch to talk about her time in writing and the journalism fields.
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Blythe Roberson talks about her comedic expertise by using One Direction as an example.
Former Antioch Community High School graduate and current author and writer for the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Blythe Roberson talked about her experiences on Tuesday, April 2. She previously worked on Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and is currently working as a comedic writer in New York City. She has been very successful thus far, but she gives a lot of credit to the teachers at ACHS.
“The teachers here inspired me to try what I want to try and helped me do things now that before I was bad at,” Roberson said.
Roberson graduated from ACHS in 2009 and attended Harvard University for college, where she started writing comedic pieces. She talked about several different pieces of writing that she has created and how the tone and jokes were used depending on the geographical location. Her New Yorker pieces consisted of humorous political jokes and her comedic headlines for The Onion in Chicago were more straightforward yet still comical. Senior Christian Ortiz commented on the presentation.
“I find it inspiring that she came from Antioch and now she’s doing what she loves in New York City,” Ortiz said.
In her past, she was an intern on the Jimmy Fallon show and was really exposed to the world of comedy, which she loves passionately now.
She also performs live at venues. While presenting, she gave a quick show about her favorite band, One Direction. Following that, she then went into discussing her book. Throughout the description, she talked about how her book took a year and nine months to write the book from start to finish, and now it is being turned into a TV show which is the reason she quit the Late Show. Nonetheless, she had a blast at the Late Show and described that a normal day in the office for her included googling and watching the celebrities throughout the day.
Concluding her presentation, she gave her input and advice about writing tips. One tip that was consistent throughout the entire first day was to write every day, and that was no different for Roberson. By constantly writing and having lots to write about, writer’s block can be easily overcome and can allow writers to continue toward their goals.