“Mike did a dick joke that lasted 10 minutes. We did a dick joke that’s lasted 10 years.”

So said Rob McElhenney, creator of the never-ending FX comedy hit “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” as well as a writer and executive producer on the show. The “Mike” in question was Mike Judge, co-creator, executive producer, writer and director for HBO’s “Silicon Valley” (not to mention “King of the Hill,” “Beavis and Butt-Head” and the film “Office Space”). The “dick joke” was a reference to an epic whiteboard geek-out session that graced “Silicon Valley’s” recent Season 1 finale – it’s better seen than read about.

The exchange between these two giants of television comedy was in response to the first question asked by “The Hollywood Reporter” executive editor Matthew Belloni at a summer comedy panel put on by the Hollywood Radio and Television Society (HRTS) on Thursday – a question that went something like, “what was up with that 15-minute dick joke?” It was a fittingly hilarious way to kick off a session that also included Fox’s “The Mindy Project” creator and star Mindy Kaling, and Michael Schur, co-creator and executive producer of both NBC’s “Parks and Recreation” and Fox’s “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.”

Giving a packed Beverly Hilton ballroom a peek into the creative process behind some of the biggest comedies on television, the conversation ranged from real-life personal quirks that have made it into the panelists’ respective shows (like her character, Kaling thinks its ridiculous when 30-something adults still expect everything to shut down for a birthday celebration) to how performing on a show affects their work in the writers room.

“I’ve found that people who have done a bit of acting tend to write dialogue better,” said Judge. “They understand that people have to say this stuff.”

Delving into business-related manners, Belloni wondered how TV’s declining ratings numbers and the era of niche comedy affected the panelists’ work.

“I’m grateful for the niche world,” said McElhenney, “because it’s what’s kept us on.” When “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia was still in the pitch phase more than a decade ago, McElhenney said the stakes were already lower numbers-wise, which meant FX could take a chance on them. “They could expect to have less viewers,” he said. “We were just going after a niche audience and that’s what has kept us on for 10 years.”

The panelists concurred that they would all love to have massively popular shows that everyone watches, but “no one really knows what that magic formula is,” said Schur and creating work they believed in came first. “I think about the business side of it, but I’m an artist,” said Kaling. And Judge reminded the crowd that “people seem to forget how many times networks had the perfect market-driven comedy that failed.”

Reflecting on the recent resignation of Fox Broadcasting Company president Kevin Reilly, Schur said that the best quality a successor could have from a comedy writer’s perspective is simply “being actively excited about the prospect of making good television.”

Photos by Chyna Photography.

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