#David Mandel Recalls Norman Lear 2017 Emmys Moment

Norman Lear was my babysitter.  

Every day, the school bus would drop us off, and in the two hours or so until my mother got home, I was “taken care of” by Good Times, The Jeffersons, One Day at a Time and Sanford and Son.  

Later on, as I got more interested in comedy, I started watching Maude reruns and, of course, the one and only All in the Family.  

To this day, watching a scene with Archie Bunker is like looking at an exquisite diamond through a jewelers loupe. Everything about it is perfect: the timing, the writing, the acting. And you cannot believe what comes out of Archie’s mouth (and I worked on Veep).  

In 2017, Mr. Lear was the one to present our Veep gang with the Emmy for best comedy. I ran back to find him in the green room and tell him some of what I just wrote. He was so gracious, despite clearly having heard it all before. But I wanted to let my babysitter know I had made good, and part of it was thanks to him. 

David Mandel is an Emmy-winning writer, executive producer and director whose credits include Veep, White House Plumbers, Saturday Night Live, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Seinfeld.