Welcome to Kelly Corgan Wonders.

I'm Kelly Corrigan.

And today I'm wondering about the creative process.

Since my daughter, Claire, and I wrote a children's book called Marianne The Maker,

we've been awfully curious about why and how humans across time and culture keep

making things. Today we're sitting down with Meredith Scardino, the creative force behind comedy

hits like Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Girls Five Eva. Before creating her own shows, Meredith honed

her comedy chops as a writer on the Colbert Report, where she

developed that distinctive blend of smart, funny, and original that has become her trademark.

Meredith and I actually go way back to our Radnor, Pennsylvania days. We'll dive into how this

animator turned comedy writer navigates the creative process from the chaos of brainstorming to the precision

of editing and why sometimes the best ideas come when you're supposed to be doing something else.

Here's our conversation with Meredith Scardino.

Okay, so when you were little, did you always sort of feel like I'm a creative type?

Like I'm different than the other people around me, either in your family or in your friend group.

I mean, I was into drawing and painting and art stuff and cartoons.

So I took cartooning classes.

I was drawing all the time.

I took a lot of art classes.

So I feel like that was the first thing that I was like, oh, I like to make things with my hands. I also, I'm the youngest in my family.

Are you the youngest? Both of us? It's like, and ask anyone who's creative who didn't grow up

with like a massive amounts of wealth.

...