getting-off-the-lot

'My Name Is Earl' Creator Garcia Reveals Secret Fast Food Day Job That Kept Him Busy During The Strike

mark · 02/14/08 06:20PM

While some writers mused about taking minimum-wage gigs to help them make ends meet or alleviate their boredom during the strike, My Name is Earl creator Greg Garcia actually followed through on the idea, hoping to reconnect with the people a sitcom showrunner tends not to encounter while locked in a writers room with a dozen former Harvard Lampoon writers for 14 hours a day. According to THR, Garcia quietly took a month-long job at an undisclosed fast food joint, careful not to reveal to his new coworkers that he was actually a millionaire TV producer patiently waiting around for some kind of deep-fryer mishap he could possibly work into a future Earl. Not unexpectedly, Garcia experienced some amusing plot complications during his high-concept adventure, which ended with the kind of feel-good, hugging-and-learning resolution we all expect from our Hollywood-produced comedies: