“The Bob & Tom Show,” a morning radio show created in Indianapolis, features an assortment of comedy, news, talk and sports. It is one of the longest-running and highest-rated morning shows in the United States and airs nationally on more than 150 stations, according to 103 GBF.
When senior communication major Kaitlyn Kopetski learned about the opportunity to intern with “The Bob & Tom Show,” she knew she did not want an internship where she had to go get coffee or do paperwork. With Bob and Tom she could get real-life experience in comedy writing for up to four hours a day. Kopetski went for an interview and started on Jan. 12.
“I walked in on my first day and had no idea what to expect,” Kopetski said. “Everyone was very willing to take me aside and say, ‘Hey, we know you’re here to learn, and we want to help you,’ because a lot of people don’t have that opportunity in an internship.”
Kopetski has had the chance to work in a variety of different fields during in her internship. She recently did a voice-over for one of the show’s many comedy skits, took pictures in the studio and ran the show’s cameras. She continues to write jokes and puns for Bob and Tom to use on the air, several of which have been used during the show.
“I’m trying to dabble in as many things as I can right now,” Kopetski said. “As far as the show goes, the writing is kind of what I’m more focused on, because that’s something that I love to do…. But if it so happens that I’m doing more videos and voice-overs, I don’t have a problem with that at all.”
Being one of the few women writers for “The Bob & Tom Show,” and with the age gap between her and the target audience, Kopetski has had a few hurdles to jump through.
“I’m the youngest person in the building, and one of the only women who writes for them,” Kopetski said. “I’m surrounded by this masculine culture as a 21-year-old female.… It was very different, especially in the beginning, because I was a little bit intimidated for that reason. But now [I’ve learned] that I can try to bring in my own flavor.”
During Bob and Tom’s skits, they have fake celebrity call-ins, such as Bill Clinton or Larry King. Kopetski noticed that there were not really any women who did voice-overs for the call-ins. She emailed the producer, suggesting a skit idea with a female calling in and was chosen to do the voice-over for that skit.
Although Kopetski’s internship is far from over, she already has learned many valuable lessons in comedy writing. Kopetski said that the writing experience she gained from both her professors and teaching herself has been completely different from what she has learned at “The Bob & Tom Show.”
“I always had this understanding of comedy writing, and they [Bob and Tom] just blew that out of the water,” she said. “I’m taking something that I’ve learned, and I’m breaking the rules on it, because that’s what the audience likes to hear.”
Kopetski compared what she has learned at “The Bob & Tom Show” to how art students are taught.
“For art students, they learn all of these rules the first couple [of] semesters, and after they learn those rules, they are allowed to break them,” she said. “That’s what I’ve been able to learn.”
