Max and David talk war stories about working on “The SIngle Guy” including Ernest Borgnine, playing poker, NBC screwing Jay over, Buz Kohan, David Bowie, The Garth Brooks Joke, Max telling the show runner stuff he shouldn’t, having your partner being yelled at, the love of Jim Burrows, lunch of Walter’s, setting up boundaries, Will & Grace, Mid Century Modern, early success, why they never hired Jay Kogen, feeling like a fraud and then feeling like you know stuff, rebooting Will & Grace, being best friends, their daughters are best friends, and David gives advice on being a twin and showing little kids “Stage Coach.” 

Bio: David Kohan and Max Mutchnick are the creators and executive producers of "MidCentury Modern", and are perhaps best known for the 16-time Emmy Award-winning comedy series “Will & Grace,” which ended its 11-season run on NBC in April 2020. The trailblazing series is still praised for its significant social impact and groundbreaking representation of queer characters. High school friends Mutchnick and Kohan started their entertainment careers almost 25 years ago as writers for “Dream On”, “The Dennis Miller Show”, and “The Wonder Years”. Mutchnick graduated from Emerson College and currently serves on its Board of Trustees. Kohan is a proud alumnus of Wesleyan University, where he majored in English and philosophy. Mutchnick is married to entertainment lawyer Erik Hyman. They live in Beverly Hills with their twin daughters, Evan and Rose, named for the couple’s maternal grandmothers. Kohan is also co-creator and producer of daughters Olivia and Nora. He currently lives in Los Angeles with Nora and his wife, Blair, a board member and motion picture agent at UTA.

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Writer/Actor/Singer/Improviser Jim Wise talks with Jay about meeting as runners on The Garry Shandling Show, song Improv, acting, writing for Mad TV, Jay Leno, The Groundlings, singing for a living, being one of the best song improvisers in the business, and how Jay pushed him in all the right directions. 

Bio:JIM WISE is a fervent improviser and an alumnus of the Groundling Theater. If you’re in your 30s, you may recognize him as the irascible Coach Tugnut from Disney Channel’s EVEN STEVENS. If you’re between the ages of 40 and 50, you might remember him from NBC’s JUST SHOOT ME as Kenny the Psycho who threatens to fold David Spade “like a lawn chair.” And, if you’re in your 20s, you may have heard Jim’s powerhouse lead vocals on “Goofy Goober Rock!” in THE SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS MOVIE. As a Writer/Producer, Jim’s credits include MADTV, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, BETTER LATE THAN NEVER, BEST TIME EVER WITH NEIL PATRICK HARRIS, and CARPOOL KARAOKE. Jim also enjoys the distinction of being one of two writers who wrote for both THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO and THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON. Finally, Jim is delighted to be a guest on DON’T BE ALONE WITH JAY KOGEN.

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Writing legends John August & Craig Mazin talk about their journey to screenwriting, podcasting, & writing a book.  They talk about how to boil  down 15 years of shows down to a book, the origin of the scriptnotes podcast, the need to help people combined with being annoyed by people, what each of them considers good writing, why people who hate books on writing wrote a book on writing, there are no rules to screenwriting, customizing your process, the moment they thought the might be good enough to make a living at writing, their messiest jobs, their best jobs, the changing nature of show biz, and why the Scriptnotes book weighs a lot less than you think it does. 

Bio: Craig Mazin is the multiple Emmy® award-winning co-creator, executive producer, writer and director of the smash hit HBO series THE LAST OF US. An addition to setting viewership records for HBO, THE LAST OF US has earned 51 Emmy® nominations including 9 Emmy® wins, a Peabody Award, an AFI Award, a BAFTA Award, two SAG Awards, a DGA Award, a WGA Award, a GLAAD Award, two Film Independent Spirit Awards, and four Golden Globe Award nominations.

Previously, Mazin served as creator, writer and executive producer of the HBO limited series CHERNOBYL, for which he won 2 Emmys®, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, a Peabody, and awards from the Writers Guild, the Producers Guild, the Television Critics Association and the American Film Institute.

Looking ahead, Mazin is executive producing the upcoming HBO E-sports drama DAMAGE alongside writer, director and executive producer Celine Song.

In addition to his work in television, Mazin has written numerous hit feature films, which have grossed over one billion dollars in theaters worldwide.

Mazin can be heard on the popular screenwriting podcast Scriptnotes, which he co-hosts with fellow writer John August.

Bio: John August is a screenwriter whose credits include Aladdin, Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Frankenweenie and the first two Charlie’s Angels movies. He directed the 2007 film The Nines starring Ryan Reynolds and Melissa McCarthy, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

He earned a BAFTA nomination for his script for Big Fish, and a GRAMMY nomination for his song in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In 2016, he received the Writers Guild of America West’s Valentine Davies Award in recognition of his humanitarian efforts and civic service.

In addition to his work in film, John wrote the Arlo Finch middle-grade novel trilogy, and the book for the Broadway musical of Big Fish.

Since 2012, he has co-hosted the popular weekly screenwriting podcast Scriptnotes. His company, Quote-Unquote Apps, makes utilities for writers (including Highland and Weekend Read) along with Writer Emergency Pack, which is used in 2,000 classrooms nationwide.

Born in Boulder, Colorado, John received a BA in Journalism from Drake University and an MFA in Film Producing from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. He lives in Los Angeles with his family.

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Michael McKean talks about going from goofball to respected dramatic actor, how his high school drama teacher, NYU and Carnegie Mellon  pushed him into a lifetime of being a creative person, Christopher Guest being his roommate, the credibility gap, being a long haired hippie, how Rob Reiner and Penny Marshall got him on “laverne & shirley”, being a writer, Annette O'Toole being the perfect partner, always searching for the right performance, glenn gary glenn ross, how being in real rock groups like “the left bank” led to “spinal tap, and how being in a movie with Jack Nicholson and Ellen Barkin can go from elation to disaster.

Bio: Michael John McKean is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, composer, and musician. Over his career he has received a Grammy Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. McKean started his career as Lenny Kosnowski in the ABC sitcom Laverne & Shirley from 1976 to 1983. He was briefly a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live for its 19th and 20th seasons from 1994 to 1995, and played Gibby Fiske in HBO series Dream On (1990–1996). He has acted in films such as Used Cars (1980), Clue (1985), and The Big Picture (1989), the latter of which he also co-wrote. He is also known for having collaborated with Christopher Guest acting in his films such as This Is Spinal Tap (1984), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), and For Your Consideration (2006). He co-wrote the song "A Mighty Wind" (for the Guest film A Mighty Wind), for which he won a Grammy Award, as well as "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow" from the same film, which was nominated for an Academy Award. He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 2019 for his role as Chuck McGill on the AMC series Better Call Saul (2015–2018; 2022). Since 2020, he has voiced Lou Pickles in Nickelodeon's Rugrats franchise. He has acted in shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, Veep, Grace and Frankie, Breeders, and The Diplomat. On stage, McKean made his Broadway debut as Edna Turnblad in the musical Hairspray (2004). He took on dual roles portraying J. Edgar Hoover and Robert Byrd in the political epic play All the Way (2014). He has acted in Broadway plays such as the Tracy Letts play Superior Donuts (2009), the Gore Vidal revival The Best Man (2012), and the Lillian Hellman revival The Little Foxes (2017). To date, McKean is the twenty-second highest-earning game show contestant of all time, having accumulated $1,115,400 during his appearances on Celebrity

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Writers Tom Gammill and Max Pross discuss being comedy writing partners and then not being partners on SNL, Gary Shandling’s Show, Seinfeld and dozens of great comedies, while Marc Wolodarsky and Jay Kogen, also former writing partners, do the same.  They discuss the state of show business, what’s life like after writing, becoming an EMT, writing novels, pilots with puppets, development hell, pitching shows to people who weren’t born when we started, Harvard Lampoon, David Letterman, and The Simpsons! 

Tom Gammill was writing partners for 40 years with Max Pross before Max dumped him. Their credits include “SNL” “Letterman” “Seinfeld” and “The Simpsons”. After the breakup Tom wrote and starred in the play “A Morning With Ernie Bushmiller” which ran for one performance, and was a Consulting Producer for the final season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”.

Wally Wolodarsky began his career as a writer on The Tracey Ullman Show. Writing with Jay Kogen, he received an Emmy. Wally was a writer and producer on The Simpsons for the first four seasons, where he won his second Emmy. With his wife Maya Forbes he has written several features and television shows including Monsters vs. Aliens, A Dog's Purpose and The People vs. O.J. Simpson. Wally produced Infinitely Polar Bear starring Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana. Together, Maya and Wally wrote and directed The Polka King starring Jack Black and The Good House starring Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline.

Max Pross spent forty-two years writing for television, and now atones by working as an emergency responder.”

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Shane Black, Jim Herzfeld, Fred Dekker, and David Silverman look back on their formative years at UCLA and the shared house that became a creative hub and lifelong support system. What began as a loose collective of film-obsessed college friends evolved into a 24-hour open-door hangout where movie watching, gaming, writing, joking, and low-budget filmmaking fueled both friendships and ambition. In the early 1980s, these young creatives found their voices, their confidence, and their drive by building a scene together.

The group reflects on how that community shaped their careers and helped launch work that would later define modern film, television, comedy, animation, and genre storytelling. From blockbuster screenwriting and cult-classic filmmaking to animation history and television production, their shared origins reveal how collaboration, camaraderie, and persistence can have a lasting impact on both art and life. The episode celebrates the power of creative tribes and how a single house full of passionate film nerds helped produce some of the most influential movies and shows of the last three decades.

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Larry discusses his brilliant autobiography Comedy Samurai, becoming a writer, Friday's, arsenio, seinfeld, mad about you, borat, curb your enthusiasm, and all of the strife and feeds, and turmoil they and he created. We talk about the passion that drives you to take risks. And why wearing pajamas is dangerous.

Bio: Larry Charles, rose from the mean streets of Brooklyn and the working class housing projects of Donald Trump’s nefarious father Fred, to become the director of BORAT, BRUNO, THE DICTATOR and RELIGULOUS amongst others. He directed Bob Dylan and an all star cast (Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Jessica Lange and Penelope Cruz among others) in the film, MASKED AND ANONYMOUS which he and Bob wrote together.  He has also directed numerous episodes of CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM and was one of the original writers and producers of SEINFELD. He has been nominated for 12 Emmys, winning two, 8 Golden Globes, winning one, a Peabody award and some other stuff too. He has collaborated with a diverse group of cultural icons from Mel Brooks to Michael Moore to Nicolas Cage. In 2018 he created, directed, wrote and starred in the four-part limited series for Netflix, LARRY CHARLES’ DANGEROUS WORLD OF COMEDY. His new film for A24, Dicks: The Musical (formerly and more preferably Fucking Identical Twins), premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in the fall of 2023 and won The People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award.  And yet, despite all this, or because of it, he remains kind, humble and grateful.

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SCTV legend Dave Thomas reflects on the bold choices that shaped his life and career, from growing up in Canada to navigating success and uncertainty in Hollywood. He discusses how Shakespeare and literature helped ground him early on, and the pivotal decision to leave a lucrative advertising career to pursue improvisational comedy at Second City. Thomas shares stories of becoming head writer on SCTV and collaborating with comedy icons such as Martin Short, Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Harold Ramis, Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, and Joe Flaherty.

The conversation spans his career-defining work on SCTV, the creation of the McKenzie Brothers, Strange Brew, Mad Magazine, and later successes including Grace Under Fire. Thomas also explores his transition into animation, running his own studio, voice work across major animated series, and eventually shifting into dramatic television with shows like Bones and The Blacklist. He touches on international experiences, including time spent in Ukraine and Thailand, and reflects on lessons learned across decades in entertainment.

Throughout the episode, Thomas emphasizes that success in Hollywood depends on having at least two of three essential elements: talent, drive, and luck—along with the courage to take risks and follow creative instincts.

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