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This article was originally published on February 28, 2020.
You haven’t heard of Leap Day William?
It has been republished in honor of this years Leap Day.
Real life is for March, and nothing that happens on February 29 counts.
and I saved Leap Day and connected with my son!
By the end, you, too, might be singing intercalary carols around Rockefeller Plaza.
At that point, there had been more than 100 episodes.
We thought it could be funny to do a Leap Day episode.
Honestly, it wasnt that original an idea.
I think three other shows, likeModern Family, also had Leap Day episodes that year.
We knew we had to make up our own traditions after that.
Giving a bunch of comedy writers room to make up a whole holiday was such a delight.
What were the most integral components to Leap Day world-building?It had to feel like a substantial holiday.
We sat around for days laughing and thinking about ideas.
Which, coincidentally, now seems to be the premise of the HBO showThe Outsider.
Its basically the origin story for Leap Day William.
That was the winter ofNew Years Eve.But there wasnever a moviefor Leap Day!
We ended up writing many scenes for this fictitious movie.
We definitely broke out a full three-act structure forLeap Dave Williams.
The writers and I were originally thinking of Ray Romano and Rene Russo.
It was the only show ever where you got better guest stars than you couldve hoped for.
He wasnt available to film anything until about a month after we shot the episode.
We only had one day with him.
He came in with so many ideas and was eager to play around.
Its gonna take longer.
And he was like, We have to do it.
Dave Williams needs to do it.
We shot it in an actual Benihana in midtown.Tracy MorganlovesBenihana he has a hibachi table in his own house.
We had the actual chefs there as extras and to do the cooking, and Tracy knew them all.
When he came in to shoot those scenes, he was like the mayor of Benihana.
Im gonna have this guy make us lunch.
So, I sat at a Benihana table with Tracy Morgan and Steve Buscemi, who directed the episode.
It was just me, Tracy, and Steve having lunch at Benihana.
Tracy got us all of these house specials that they never make for just regular people.
Its one of my favorite memories of working in Hollywood.
Such interesting, great conversation in such a weird, specific environment.
Ill never forget it.
Leap Day is available to stream onHuluandPeacock.
