MADELEINE BRAND, host:
The moment Steve Jobs uttered the word iPad yesterday I thought who came up with that? We joked on the program that maybe there werent any women in the room when that got decided, and maybe they didnt watch this 2005 comedy sketch from MADtv either.
(Soundbite of show, MADtv)
Unidentified Woman #1: (as Character) Why use a maxi pad when theres the new iPad from Apple.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Unidentified Woman #2: (as Character) IPad?
Unidentified Woman #1: (as Character) With the new iPad, I could hook up my Apple to my peach and I can download protection up to a thousand periods.
Unidentified Woman #2: (as Character) I like that.
Unidentified Woman #1: (as Character) And with wireless Bluetooth technology, iPad sets you up for fast uploading without all that water bloating.
Unidentified Woman #2: (as Character) Oh, wow. Thats great.
BRAND: That sketch has been all over the Internet since Apple announced the iPad. The writers are here with us now. Bruce McCoy is here in the studio in Culver City and Tami Sagher joins us from New York. Welcome.
Mr. BRUCE McCOY (Writer, MADtv): Hello.
Ms. TAMI SAGHER (Writer, MADtv): Hi.
BRAND: Where were you when you first heard that Apple had actually named their device the iPad?
Mr. McCOY: You know, first thing yesterday morning, even before it was announced, I thought maybe someone leaked it. I saw it on the Internet, I think on Twitter perhaps.
Ms. SAGHER: Yeah, I found out from Bruce, actually from his Twitter because he tweeted a couple of minutes before it was announced that if it is called iPad, then he wants a residual check.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. SAGHER: And I was like, oh, this might be something.
BRAND: And how did you two come up with the sketch?
Mr. McCOY: Well, at MADtv, we always loved puns, some people think it the lowest form of humor. Personally, I think its the greatest source of comedy. And were bantering around ideas, someone said, oh, instead of an iPod, what about an iPad? And Tami and I thought, what if we merge an iPod commercial and one of those horrible feminine hygiene products commercials. And the end result was the commercial for the iPad.
BRAND: And also at that time the iPod commercial was really big, right? It was on TV everywhere.
Ms. SAGHER: The big thing was the silhouette dancing at the end. And that was actually the trickiest thing we had to do for that commercial is explaining to the art department our vision for that.
Bruce, I think you remember there were a lot of discussions of where exactly this device was going. And it actually contributed to our tagline for it which was...
(Soundbite of show, MADtv)
Unidentified Woman #1: (as Character) The new Apple iPad, please dont make us explain how it works.
(Soundbite of laughter)
BRAND: Yeah, thats one of my favorite parts is seeing those black silhouetted females, all-female dancers with the iPads.
Ms. SAGHER: Yeah.
BRAND: Exactly. So you two worked on this together?
Mr. McCOY: We did. This one we wrote rather quickly, which I think is usually a sign of a good sketch, when it just kind of flows right out of you, no pun intended. Im sorry. But, you know, it was kind of a silly idea we could use as many puns about feminine hygiene products and computers as we could. And we crammed them into a minute and a half.
BRAND: Apple itself, I think, is very spoofable, right?
Mr. McCOY: They really are. Weve done other Apple spoofs on the show. And as soon as we heard the name iPad, you know, everyone across the world, thats where your mind went to.
Ms. SAGHER: I think you nailed it when you said, oh, there must not have been a woman in the room when they said this because its just, its so obvious. Its so obvious that we wrote it.
(Soundbite of laughter)
BRAND: So obvious you wrote it five years ago.
Ms. SAGHER: Right.
BRAND: All right, thanks, you guys.
Mr. McCOY: Thank you.
Ms. SAGHER: Thank you.
BRAND: Bruce McCoy and Tami Sagher wrote the MADtv sketch on the iPad. You can see it at out ALL TECH CONSIDERED blog at npr.org/alltech.
(Soundbite of music)
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News.