Comedy History 101

The Kids in the Hall are one of the most iconic sketch comedy groups in history. And we do a deep dive into their origin story with Paul Myers - who knew KITH in their early days.

Paul is the author of The Kids in the Hall: One Dumb Guy, the executive producer of the documentary The Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks, as well a the brother to Mike Myers - and he gives insights into what it was like to see the group emerge onto the Toronto comedy scene.

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Legendary comedian Rick Overton joins us to talk comedy. Rick's IMDB page is the size of a phone book; and includes Beverly Hills Cop, playing Matt Damon's boss in Steven Soderbergh's, The Informant! - and Showtime's: I'm Dying Up Here.

We do a deep dive into Rick's comedy origin story - spanning back to his jazz musician father who played with Thelonious Monk.

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The iconic TV show Last Comic Standing - ran from 2003 to 2015. It was a reality show, where comedians competed to be, well, the last comic standing. The show helped launch the careers of such comedians as Amy Schumer, Gary Gulman, Nicky Glaser - and our guest today: Rob Cantrell.

Rob was a finalist on Season One of Last Comic Standing - where he lived in a house in the Hollywood Hills with such comedians as Ralphie May, Rich Vos, and Cory Kahaney. Rob tells what it was like to go from obscurity to being on an NBC prime time TV show - as well as tales of the San Francisco comedy scene in the 2000s.

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Our special guest is Wayne Federman author of the new book: The History of Stand-Up: From Mark Twain to Dave Chappelle.

Wayne's impressive creds include Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Larry Sanders Show, Silicon Valley - as well as head monologue writer for The Tonight Show. We do some serious deep cuts into the history of stand-up comedy.

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As a tribute to the great Jackie Mason - who passed away this weekend - we have a reprise of our episode on Caddyshack 2. Jackie starred in the movie - which has the notoriety of being the worst sequel OF ALL TIME! Jackie took on the Rodney Dangerfield role for the movie - in this classic battle of the snobs vs. the slobs, (Spoiler Alert: The slobs win in the end!)

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Legendary comedian Rick Overton joins us to talk comedy. Rick's IMDB page is the size of a phone book; which includes Beverly Hills Cop, playing Matt Damon's boss in Steven Soderbergh's, The Informant! - to Showtime's: I'm Dying Up Here.

Rick also has a new comedy special, out called: Rick Overton's Set List.

We do a deep dive into Rick's comedy origin story - spanning back to his jazz musician father who played with Thelonious Monk.

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From the archives: Sasha Baron Cohen plays activist Abbie Hoffman in the Netflix film, The Trial of the Chicago 7.

As seen in the film, by day, Hoffman was in the courtroom - fighting conspiracy charges. By night, he would regularly perform at The Second City. Hoffman's stage appearance marked a transition at the theater - from a bunch of squares doing sketches; to progressive radicals that changed the face of comedy; marked by the addition of Harold Ramis as a cast member.

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To bookend the pandemic, we have a CH101 reprise on comedy helping to deal with tragic events.

We look at comedy right directly after 9/11. They said irony was dead - but comedy help us pull through tragedy - especially with The Onion, SNL, Letterman, The Daily Show, and Gilbert Gottfried's legendary joke at the Friar's Club Roast.

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Our guest is Art Bell; the man who pitched the idea that became Comedy Central. Art was also the head of programming at the network.

We do a deep dive into the origin of such iconic shows as Mystery Science Theater 3000, South Park, The Daily Show - and talk about the early careers of Jon Stewart, Marc Maron, and Bill Maher.

Art also has a new book out: Constant Comedy: How I Started Comedy Central and Lost My Sense of Humor.

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From the archives: I talk to David Litt- former head joke writer for President Obama. We dive into what made Obama funny in the Oval Office; and contrast that to Trump's vastly different sense of presidential humor. (Trump's humor wheelhouse: mocking a disabled reporter and making fun of a sexual assault victim.)

You might also know David Litt from his recent appearance on Newsmax - where he was booked to discuss Elon Musk hosting SNL_ but instead blasted the network for spreading election fraud lies.

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