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PROFILE

Rob Long Guest/Host

Rob Long

Social:
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Host, 'Martini Shot'

Rob Long is a writer and producer in Hollywood. He began his career writing and producing TV's long-running Cheers, and served as co-executive producer in its final season. During his time on the series, Cheers received two Emmy Awards, and two Golden Globe awards. Mr. Long has been twice nominated for an Emmy Award, and has received a Writers Guild of America award. He continues to work in film and television in Los Angeles.

His first book, Conversations with My Agent, chronicled his early career in television. It was published in the UK by Faber & Faber, in the US by Dutton, and in France by Actes Sud. His second book, Set Up, Joke, Set Up, Joke, was published in November 2005 by Bloomsbury.

He is a contributing editor of National Review and the Los Angeles Times and writes occasionally for the Wall Street Journal and the BBC Radio Times (UK). His weekly radio commentary, Martini Shot, is broadcast on the Los Angeles public radio station KCRW, and is distributed nationally. It's also podcast in iTunes.

He also writes a weekly column for The National, Abu Dhabi's English-language daily newspaper.

Long is a co-founder of the fast-growing Ricochet.com, the place for smart and stimulating conversation -- on the web and mobile devices – from a center/right perspective.

FROM Rob Long

Mini room

Mini room This is Rob Long and on today’s Martini Shot I figure that if a bunch of lions is a pride and a bunch of turtles is a bale, a group of Writers should be called a Complaint. A complaint of writers.

3 MIN, 26 SEC Jul 04, 2018

Starting over

Starting over This is Rob Long, and on today’s Martini Shot I buy one of those organizer apps to make a to-do list of things I want to put into my other organizer app and I keep track of all of it using a notebook and a pen. So yeah, I’m writing.

3 MIN, 45 SEC Jun 20, 2018

Eat happy

Eat happy This is Rob Long, and on today’s Martini Shot I discuss the 1938 discovery by a psychologist that people are at their most emotionally vulnerable when they’re eating, which is why everyone in show business is always trying to take you to lunch.

3 MIN, 45 SEC Jun 13, 2018

Tone of voice

Tone of voice This is Rob Long and on today’s Martini Shot it’s not exactly Kubler Ross but it’s close: the three reactions to having your show cancelled.

Jun 06, 2018

Cancelled

Cancelled This is Rob Long and on today’s Martini Shot I talk about what everyone is talking about, the cancellation of Roseanne, but I talk about it in the context of Victorian menswear. Yeah, you heard me.

3 MIN, 37 SEC May 30, 2018

You may also like

You may also like This is Rob Long, and on today’s Martini Shot I talk about how Twitter learns about you and suggests content for you, depending on an algorithm. Which means that Kanye West and Donald Trump have formed a very weird algorithm.

3 MIN, 43 SEC May 23, 2018

Now what?

Now what? This is Rob Long and on today’s Martini Shot I talk about the best way to stay enthusiastic and creative and energized in the entertainment business, and that’s to have your show cancelled and need to come up with something new.

3 MIN, 45 SEC May 16, 2018

You're fired

You're fired This is Rob Long, and on today’s Martini Shot I describe the ins and outs of being fired in show business, which I hope isn’t tempting karma.

7 MIN, 3 SEC Apr 25, 2018

Cheers Infinity War

Cheers Infinity War This is Rob Long, and on today’s Martini Shot I pitch what I think would be a huge smash hit of a television show, that is, if I were pitching it, but I’m not really pitching it.

3 MIN, 47 SEC Apr 18, 2018

Hotel story

Hotel story This is Rob Long and on today’s Martini Shot I go to great lengths to avoid following the simple rules of life: eat less, move more, there is no easier way.

3 MIN, 46 SEC Apr 11, 2018

Week two

Week two On today’s Martini Shot I talk about Roseanne’s second week ratings, which were terrific, and what we can learn from that, which is that traditional sitcoms are back, and I make sure everyone listening knows that I am currently represented.

3 MIN, 44 SEC Apr 04, 2018

The wrong lesson

The wrong lesson On today’s Martini Shot, I make a bold and courageous prediction: since the hugely successful premiere of the new Roseanne, there will be more shows like Roseanne on television. You heard it here first.

3 MIN, 51 SEC Mar 28, 2018

New material

New material This is Rob Long, and on today’s Martini Shot I talk about the difference between TV shows set in the past, and TV shows from the past. One is nostalgia, the other is desperation.

3 MIN, 30 SEC Mar 21, 2018

Wrap

Wrap This is Rob Long, and on today’s Martini Shot I try to figure out why everyone in my office is so cranky and ill-tempered. I mean, I know it can’t be me.

3 MIN, 19 SEC Mar 07, 2018

Not my face

Not my face This is Rob Long and on today’s Martini Shot I talk about the true pioneers in the areas of film technology and computer graphics and making things look like other things: the plastic surgeons.

3 MIN, 16 SEC Feb 21, 2018

Two businesses

Two businesses On today’s Martini Shot I give some important and useful advice to one of the richest and smartest people in the world, a true business visionary, and I’m not even humble about it.

3 MIN, 35 SEC Feb 14, 2018

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50 MIN, 56 SEC Jun 01, 2017

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28 MIN, 27 SEC May 30, 2017