D.R. Ball, '14

Few Robins School students imagine an internship working alongside comedians, listening to celebrity interviews and becoming familiar with the entertainment industry. However, that’s how marketing and entrepreneurship major D.R. Ball spent his summer as an intern for “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”

Out of a few hundred applicants, Ball was chosen to be one of 15 interns at the show’s New York City office. “I’ve always loved TV and used it as an outlet to take my mind off things,” Ball said. “’The Daily Show’ was like no office I could have imagined working in. Everything was just so enjoyable.”

Throughout his internship, Ball was able to rotate between six departments; general production, audience coordinator, control room, accounting, tape library and reception. “It was really great to get such different perspectives on all the elements of the show,” Ball said. “My duties varied from transcribing tapes and pulling old clips to watching the producers create the show and assist with accounting tasks.”

Ball would start each day with a catered breakfast for the staff followed by a production meeting. “The producer and head writer would walk through the day’s show, what would be discussed and what guests would be visiting,” Ball said. Each day ended with a show rehearsal and taping.

Unfortunately, Jon Stewart was only there for the first week of Ball’s internship as he was filming a movie overseas. “While I would have loved to see more of Stewart, the British comedian John Oliver took the desk for the summer and was hilarious,” Ball said. “He made a point to reach out to the interns and make us feel a part of the show even with Stewart away.”

Throughout his internship Ball was able to see guests such as Seth Rogan and Armando Iannucci, creator of one of Ball’s favorite TV shows, “VEEP.”

“I learned a lot from the guests that appeared on the show,” he said. “I am just sad that week after I left Sandra Bullock and Kerry Washington were guests!" 

One of the challenges Ball encountered during his internship was his lack of creative experience compared to the other interns. “Most of the other interns were film studies majors so while they understood all the production elements, I did a lot of listening. However, I was always asking questions and learned a lot in a short amount of time,” Ball said. “Being a business student gave me an advantage when working in the accounting department and other aspects of the internship where others did not have that knowledge.”

“Dr. Adam Marquardt really helped me market myself even though I had no prior production experience,” he said. “I learned a lot about branding myself and identifying and using my strengths to capitalize on what I do best and putting myself out there.”

While he was intimidated by the city at first, by the time he left Ball said he was on the subway every day seeing as much as he could. “After living in NYC this summer and having a previous internship in Washington D.C., I hope to return to one of the two after graduation, possibly working in the business side of TV or advertising,” Ball said.

When asked for series recommendations, Ball suggested “Homeland,” “Modern Family,” Scandal.” And of course, “The Daily Show.”