By Rob N. LeDonne

Every Saturday night, Perry Sachs watches Amy Poehler or Seth Meyers read his jokes on Saturday Night Live’s infamous Weekend Update segment. Sachs, who lives in Los Angeles with his fiancée Julia, is a contributing writer to the show and e-mails in an array of jokes week after week, trying to figure out how to poke fun at Rosie O’Donnell, Pamela Anderson and George W. Bush. Along with SNL, Sachs has also produced and directed an array of film and TV work.

The Chronicle: Where did you go to school and what did you study?

Perry Sachs: I studied comedy and improv at The Groundlings and ACME Comedy Theater in L.A. From there, some friends and I started our own sketch comedy troupe “The Joke Pimps.” We performed everywhere from “The Comedy Store” to “Jack’s Sugar Shack” (Yes, THE “Jack’s Sugar Shack”). Although the Pimps have disbanded, we still work together on projects from time to time.

C: How did you get the job at Saturday Night Live?

PS: I was in development on a project with one of the creative execs at Adam Sander’s company, Happy Madison. Adam was nice enough to suggest me to the producer at Weekend Update. Adam is not just “nice for a celebrity” but truly one of the nicest guys you could ever meet.

C: What exactly does a contributing writer do?

PS: In this case, what basically happens is that SNL sends me set-ups for their Weekend Update segment and I send them jokes. I’m not on staff, so I only get paid for the ones they use but then again, I don’t have to deal with NY winters so it works out.

C: What is the process like?

PS: For me, I usually go through the set ups and jot down the basic idea for the joke. For example, if the set up has to do with Rosie O’Donnell, I’m pretty sure I’m going to have her eating somebody. Then I just keep going over them, re-wording until I get the best “punch.” After that, I pick my favorites and send them in. Sometimes I’ll send one in that I know won’t make it on the air just because I think it’ll make them laugh. I don’t do this for the money.

C: What are some jokes that you got on the air that got a great response?

PS: I had one about Viagra changing its name to “bo-oi-oi-oing!” That seemed to go over well. Funny thing is, my uncle was a vice-president at Pfizer at the time. I’m not sure if he saw the joke, I never brought it up – trying to stay in his will.

C: How many jokes do you write and from that, how many get on the air?

PS: I submit 10 jokes a week. Out of that it really depends-sometimes more, sometimes less, sometimes none. I prefer more.

C: Have you written for any other shows?

PS: I co-wrote a pilot at the end of last year that featured Nickelodeon stars Drake Bell and Jerry Trainer. We’re pitching it now.

C: What are you currently working on?

PS: Last year I directed a short film called F that was written by ex-Joke Pimp Michael Lacey and me and starred most of our old Joke Pimp friends. It’s a dark comedy, set in the ’50s, about a man’s struggle with his uncontrollable desire for feet. We’ve already won a couple festivals with it and are continuing the circuit. I just directed a couple episodes of a new Fuel TV show called, Galaxy Cabin: Log Cabin In Space which also stars an ex-Joke Pimp, Brian Jarvis. In addition, I just produced my first feature film.

Every week, Perry writes many more jokes than needed in order to whittle down to the very best of the batch. Here are jokes that didn’t make the cut….

According to a new survey, teenage girls who use cigarettes to stay thin don’t actually lose any additional weight… until they have their lung removed.

The View co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck is upset about an episode of Law and Order: SVU in which a character named Elizabeth Hassenback is raped and murdered, saying the character was meant to be her. Producers from Law and Order apologized for their mistake and promised that next time it would be.

It was announced Monday that Pam Anderson and Kid Rock are divorcing after only four months of marriage. The good news is that they’ve already agreed to joint custody of her Hepatitis C.

The House of Representatives gave final congressional approval Tuesday to a bill that would preserve internment camps where 120,000 Japanese-Americans were kept behind barbed wire during World War II…just in case (wink).

A new video game called “The Shivah” is being billed as the first game to star a rabbi. If you don’t count the ill-fated release from last year “Grand Theft: Foreskin.”