How TV shows go about creating “fake shows-within-shows”

Refinery29

This Is Us has The Manny, while Insecure created slavery drama spoof Due North. "We were all joking about two of the writers on staff having this like, illicit pre-Civil War affair, and then the jokes got lengthier and more intricate and just really funny," says Natasha Rothwell, the Insecure writer who plays Issa Rae’s friend Kelly. "And at one point, someone said, what if this was a show? What would happen if Underground and Empire had a baby?"