i'm still not clear on how the wrong envelope got into warn beatie's hands. i'll be honest.ain. >> reporter: pepping is a family affair, working closely with his wife, molly, who's the head writer for "jimmy kimmel live" and co-writer for the oscars. does she have the final say or you? >> i have the final say. in any scenario, this is a great lesson for young comedy writers. you have the final say and the person who's saying it doesn't, you probably got a problem. >> reporter: do you have any anxiety going into this year? >> i want to make sure everything is right and the jokes are as good as they can be. probably widdled it down to 500 jokes. so hopefully by the end of next week i'll have that widdleed down. so you go from about 500 to 30? >> no, from thousands to 30. >> reporter: goodness gracious. jokes aside its his quest for imperfection makes it a success. >> as long as nobody is getting crushed, i think it's fun when things go wrong. i knew i would screw this up, i really did. the worst thing that could happen is everything goes perfectly. >> reporter: you secretly wa