“You don’t get comedy off of fun, happy, delightful people. You go to the worst.”SHERMAN-PALLADINO “One of the things that ‘Peak TV’ has created,” notes Alec Berg, “is this need to stand out.” The 49-year-old showrunner behind HBO comedies Barry and Silicon Valley is surrounded on this April afternoon by five fellow writer-producers gathered for The Hollywood Reporter’s annual Comedy Showrunner Roundtable, and each of them is nodding in agreement. “And one of the ways you can do that,” Berg completes his thought, “is by doing stuff that’s scarier or more controversial — taking on topics that, ‘Oh, can we talk about that?’”
The others at the table — Better Things’ Pamela Adlon, 51; Roseanne’s Whitney Cummings, 35; The Good Place’s Michael Schur, 42; The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s Amy Sherman-Palladino,…
