Editing Strangers with Candy (section)

===Writing and production===
Colbert, Dinello and Sedaris wrote most of the episodes. The process started with an "overlying outline": knowing the start and the end of the episode, they would build the scenes in between and later would improvise together in a room. Whatever they laughed at went in the script. Colbert later said of this method: "Our rule was, if it makes us laugh, we put it in the script. There was not a single thing said by a character in that show that was right. Every choice was the wrong moral choice. Because of the freedom Comedy Central allowed us, we said and did things that were outrageous and extreme."<ref name="chicagotribune">{{cite web|last=Schlegel|first=Chad|title='Candy' was dandy but 'Wigfield' is weirder|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2003-04-30-0305010030-story.html|website=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=April 30, 2003|archive-date=September 28, 2023|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230928205641/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2003-04-30-0305010030-story.html}}</ref> They would also keep typos in.<ref name="Transcript">{{cite web|url=https://jerriblank.com/transcript.html#mytop|title=Transcript from the 6/12/00 online chat with Amy, Stephen, and Paul|work=[[Comedy Central]]|date=June 12, 2000|access-date=October 19, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110810121809/http://www.jerriblank.com/transcript.html#mytop|archive-date=August 10, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Austin">{{cite web|last=Birmingham|first=Steve|work=[[The Austin Chronicle]]|url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/screens/2006-07-21/388486/|title=Blank Generation: Amy Sedaris on 'Strangers With Candy'|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404134725/https://www.austinchronicle.com/screens/2006-07-21/388486/|date=July 21, 2006|access-date=April 27, 2023|url-status=live|archive-date=April 4, 2023}}</ref><ref name="WWHL">{{cite web|last=Cohen|first=Andy|author-link=Andy Cohen|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp-lDJZGdlw|title=After Show: Stephen Colbert on 'Strangers with Candy' {{!}} WWHL|work=[[Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen]]|date=May 15, 2020|access-date=April 28, 2023|url-status=}}</ref> Sedaris recalled: "That's what I learned from working on ''Strangers.'' If you're not laughing, how do you expect anyone else to laugh?"<ref name= "Esquire"/> Alterman said of the show's structure "The way we approached [it] was to present each one as a morality play where in the third act the protagonist, Jerri Blank, would always, without fail, make the wrong choice. And then to cap it off, she would come back in the epilogue in the fourth act to say what she learned, and she would also draw the wrong lesson from the wrong choice she had made."<ref name="CCORAL"/> To absolve themselves of the offensive stuff they had written, they would imagine all the scripts were written by a middle-aged woman named Jocelyn Hershey Guest, in a similar way to [[J.D. Salinger]] alter ego [[Glass family|Buddy Glass]]. "In the world where she’s writing, these are the right moral choices," Colbert has said.<ref name="lat24">{{cite web|last=Blake|first=Meredith|title=An oral history of 'Strangers With Candy,' the comedy that changed TV's rulebook|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2024-04-07/strangers-with-candy-comedy|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=April 7, 2024|archive-date=April 7, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240407100825/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2024-04-07/strangers-with-candy-comedy}}</ref> Very occasionally they would write with a collaborator such as Cindy Caponera,<ref name="cindy">{{cite web|title=Cindy Caponera|url=https://thegotham.org/resources/author/cindy-caponera/|website=[[The Gotham Film & Media Institute|The Gotham]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250121121513/https://thegotham.org/resources/author/cindy-caponera/|archive-date=January 21, 2025}}</ref> [[Mitch Rouse]], or [[Thomas Lennon]].<ref name= "Esquire"/> Some of Jerri's phrases like "You got skills to pay the bills" and "I like the pole and the hole" came from things Sedaris' brother [[Paul Sedaris|Paul]] would say.<ref name="Austin"/><ref name="blackfilm">{{cite web|last=Warner|first=Kara|url=https://www.blackfilm.com/20060623/features/strangerswithcandy1.shtml|work=Blackfilm.com|title=Strangers with Candy: An Interview with Amy Sedaris and Dinello|date=June 23, 2006|access-date=April 27, 2023|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230401192422/https://www.blackfilm.com/20060623/features/strangerswithcandy1.shtml|archive-date=April 1, 2023}}</ref> Much of Jerri's past is taken from anecdotes in ''The Trip Back'', some of which are also in Fisher's autobiography, ''[[The Lonely Trip Back]]''. Several lines of dialogue in the series were taken verbatim from Fisher's public-service film.<ref name="Paley"/> Sedaris would often watch the show without sound to see if a deaf person could follow: "Okay, if I couldn't hear or understand anything, could I still find the show entertaining?" And I did. 'Cause everyone was so interesting to look at."<ref name= "Esquire"/> The third season was written in [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]], [[South Carolina]], Colbert's hometown.<ref name="92Y">{{cite web|last=Levy|first=Dan|author-link=Dan Levy (Canadian actor)|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVUszT2K3lo|title=Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello with Daniel Levy|website=[[92nd Street Y|92Y]]|date=February 12, 2020|access-date=April 28, 2023|url-status=}}</ref>

Comedy Central picked up the series in 1998 after Colbert had already begun working on ''The Daily Show''. As a result, he accepted a reduced role, filming only around 20 ''Daily Show'' segments a year while he worked on the new series.<ref name="ign"/> The show was originally entitled ''The Way After School Special'',<ref name="Salon">{{Cite news|last=Millman|first=Joyce|author-link=Joyce Millman|url=https://www.salon.com/1999/04/05/strangers_4/|title=Middle-aged wasteland|date=April 5, 1999|work=[[Salon.com|Salon]]|access-date=February 26, 2024|archive-date=February 9, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230209071754/https://www.salon.com/1999/04/05/strangers_4/|url-status=live}}</ref> but later was changed to Strangers With Candy, which was just a name they had come up with years earlier, and had been wanting to use for one of their projects. It came from the phrase "Don't take candy from strangers," which would probably be a lesson from an "Afterschool Special".<ref name="blackfilm"/> Sedaris has credited producer Kent Alterman with the development of the show: "He really helped us shape that show. We went in there with strong ideas, but he changed it a lot from the pilot to the first episode. He had a good eye and really good ideas, and we trusted him from the get-go." [[Doug Herzog]], who was at the time, president of Comedy Central's parent company [[Viacom Media Networks|Viacom]], also noted his influence, "Kent recognized the brilliance and genius of ''Strangers With Candy'' really early on. He really championed it when a lot of us were looking at it, going, “What is this?”<ref name="CCORAL"/> The show faced slight censorship from the network, Sedaris said, "It was weird. Like they let you say "pussy," but not "faggot" — until the fourth show. They said, "You have to build up to 'faggot.'" And the script of one show had me writing in my "dirty, filthy Jew diary." Well, I could say "dirty," but I couldn't say "filthy." It was killing me."<ref name="Indexmag">{{cite web|first=Steve|last=Lafreniere|url=http://www.indexmagazine.com/interviews/amy_david_sedaris.shtml|title=Amy and David Sedaris, 2001|website=[[Index Magazine]]|date=2001|access-date=September 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014195935/http://indexmagazine.com/interviews/amy_david_sedaris.shtml|archive-date=October 14, 2007|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Mostly, however, the writers were left alone to their own devices.<ref name="CCORAL"/>

Vicki Farrell designed the wardrobe for the show. When designing Jerri Blank's appearance, Sedaris told Farrell "I want to look like I own a snake." Jerri would often wear high-waisted pants and snakeskin ankle boots, as well as turtlenecks because Comedy Central did not want track marks or tattoos to be visible. To complete the look Sedaris wore a [[fatsuit]].<ref name= "Esquire"/> Some of her clothes were custom made or came from thrift stores.<ref name="Transcript"/> Sedaris wore a wig and fake lashes, and told the hair and makeup department she wanted Jerri to look like a professional golfer.<ref name="GQ"/><ref name= "Rose">{{Cite news|last=Lorre|first=Rose Maura|url=https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/interviews/a31410/amy-sedaris-interview-the-heart-she-holler-gift/|title=Amy Sedaris on The Heart, She Holler and Jerri Blank's Take on Obamacare|date=December 2, 2014|work=[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]|access-date=April 27, 2023|archive-date=April 21, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230421144341/https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/interviews/a31410/amy-sedaris-interview-the-heart-she-holler-gift/|url-status=live}}</ref> It would take about 40 minutes for Sedaris to get into character.<ref name= "Outside">{{Cite news|author=Alarcon|url=https://outsideleft.com/main.php?updateID=60|title=Amy Sedaris Is The Funniest Person In New York|date=February 2000|work=Outside Left|access-date=April 28, 2023|archive-date=January 31, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230131175849/https://outsideleft.com/main.php?updateID=60|url-status=live}}</ref>