Comedy History 101

CH101 Reprise: Larry Charles won an Emmy writing for Seinfeld, directed Borat, Brüno, and Curb Your Enthusiasm, and has collaborated with Larry David, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Bob Dylan .

Larry joins CH101 for some serious comedy inside baseball:

How he helped shape the voice of Seinfeld with Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld

The chaos behind Borat's infamous poop-bag dinner scene

What it was really like making subversive comedy with Sacha Baron Cohen

Get the inside scoop on one of comedy's most fearless minds and check out Larry's new book: Comedy Samurai.

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Before SantaCon became the most hated event in NYC history, it began as a San Francisco subversive experiment of fun by the same anarchic collective that spawned Burning Man and inspired Fight Club’s Project Mayhem.

We talk to filmmaker Seth Porges, who has a new documentary about SanCon on how a subversive performance-art happening turned

You might know Seth’s previous HBO Max documentary, Class Action Park, about America’s most dangerous amusement park.

SantaCon premieres at DocNYC, Nov 13th

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CH101 Reprise: Kevin McDonald is best known as a founding member of the legendary Canadian sketch comedy troupe – Kids in the Hall –which appeared on CBS, HBO, and Comedy Central, and had a revival season aired on Amazon Prime Video in 2022.

Kevin joins CH!01 with tales of KITH, Winnipeg, & comedy in general.

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We go inside the PBS documentary series United States of Comedy with director Habib Yazdi. The five-part series spotlights diverse voices shaping stand-up comedy across America—capturing the next comedic generation redefining American comedy culture.

Habib shares stories from filming United States of Comedy, as we dive into creative resilience and what unites comedians across America.

WATCH: https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/united-states-of-comedy/

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As you heard, they yanked Jimmy Kimmel Live off the air - because the Trump administration has declared a War on Comedy. Holy Overton window!

In this reprise episode, we celebrate Jimmy Kimmel Live, and talk to Adam Spiegelman, who was a comedy producer for this iconic late-night talk show.

Adam was at Jimmy Kimmel Live right from the start, and we do a deep dive into producing comedy and comedians for Kimmel, where he brought such comedians as Neil Hamburger, Eddie Pepitone, and Andy Dick to the airwaves.

Adam gives the lowdown of what he looked for when booking standup comedians for the Kimmel show.

Also, remember, boycott parent company Disney, for yanking Jimmy Kimmel Live off the air!

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The legendary Comedy Cellar - is the Yankee Stadium of NYC comedy clubs. Founded in 1982, the club has helped launch the careers of Jon Stewart, Dave Chappelle, Colin Quinn, Dave Attell, Amy Schumer, Ray Romano...(you get the idea).

In this reprise episode, we talk to comedian Dave Juskow, who is a Comedy Cellar regular and host of the Comedy Cellar Tuesday podcast, on the history of this beloved and iconic club.

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Before Hollywood, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Uncle Buck, and Splash, John Candy was the heart of SCTV and Toronto’s Second City.

Paul Myers, author of John Candy: His Life in Comedy, shares Candy’s comedic rise alongside Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Dan Aykroyd, and Joe Flaherty—and his iconic collaborations with John Hughes and Steve Martin.

Paul also reveals how his brother, Mike Myers, met Candy as a teen—and how Candy encouraged him to start his comedy journey at Second City. Candy’s influence didn’t stop at comedy: he even partnered with hockey legend Wayne Gretzky to buy the Toronto Argonauts football team.

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Joel Thurm was the casting director for such iconic movies as Airplane, Grease, Rocky Horror Picture Show, as well being the head of NBC casting for a solid decade. He is also the author of the new book, Sex, Drugs, and Pilot Season.

We do a deep dive into casting in Hollywood, turning down Tom Cruise and Madonna, and insider stories on Taxi, David Hasselhoff, and what role Bob Hope played in getting Seinfeld on the air.

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We go inside Team Coco, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, and

Will shares his comedic journey from UCB and working on the documentary aka Tommy Chong, to becoming an original member of Team Coco, where he worked the entire run of CONAN on TBS and was the engineer of the podcast Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend.

Will tells us what its like to be the Zelig of comedy — working alongside such legends as Conan, Andy Richter, Amy Pohler, and Will Ferrell - to operating Jett Road Studios

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CH101 Reprise: We dive headfirst into the wonderfully weird world of comedian Andy Kaufman with director Alex Braverman, helmer of the new documentary Thank You Very Much.

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