Father Time with Jamie Kaler

Mark Valley is a West Point Grad, Army Veteran, successful actor, and Dad. You may know him from his numerous credits including Boston Legal, Pasadena, Keen Eddie, CSI, and Feud. He talks openly about growing up on the Canadian Border of upstate New York to a football coach Dad, his time in the Army, his first acting job with John Schlesinger and Anthony Hopkins, and fathering a child at an early age. Mark is an incredibly charming guy who is quick with an impression and tells a great story. He tells the story of how his 16 year old daughter comes to live with him in Venice, California at a time when he is a hugely recognizable actor during his stint on Boston Legal. How it didn't become a TV show unto itself is crazy. He's a great example of how to handle the responsibility of fatherhood and a shining example to all of you out there who are dealing with becoming a Dad at such an early age. 

Born Jonathan Morris Henson on July 11, 1967 in Stamford, Connecticut, John Henson is best known for his multi-awarded stint as host, writer and executive producer of E!’s Talk Soup. He studied acting at Boston University, then later in Playwrights Horizons and Three of Us Studios in New York. As such, he has several theater credits to his name, such as a production of Rosencrants and Guildenstern Are Dead, “The Greenhouse Effect” and Remote Evolution. John Henson began his professional career in the entertainment industry as a stand-up comic. With his distinctive style, he soon caught up with most comedy clubs all over the country. He did stand-up for over eight years. Yet he is also trained formally as a dramatic actor. In 1998, he appeared in the feature film Stag opposite Kevin Dillon and Andre McCarthy, then in Bar Hopping with Tom Arnold and Kelly Preston. He has also starred opposite Sarah Jessica Parker on Life Without Dick. John Henson’s television credits include ABC’s The View and Politically Incorrect, Comedy Central’s Two Drink Minimum and Stand Up, Stand Up, and A&E’s Caroline’s Comedy Hour. When he was selected of 3,000 applicants to replace Greg Kinnear as host of Talk Soup, his four-year tenure would earn him three Emmy nominations and the record for the highest rated and longest tenured host in the 11-year history of the show. On the side, Henson also writes, contributing articles to US Weekly, TV Guide Magazine and George. He is also a regular pop culture analyst for CNN and MSNBC. John Henson was also a host in the ABC reality series Wipeout. The show features fun, strong-willed, and outgoing people who battle it out in a series of grueling games for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to win $50,000.

He is currently hosting the Halloween Baking Championship and touring comedy clubs nationally. Find out when he's in your town. Twitter @John_Henson 

But more importantly, he is a wonderful husband and Dad, who shares hilarious stories of growing up, and now raising children. Seriously, one of the funniest and more articulate guests I've had. You can hear why he has been so successful as a host and comedian. 

John Preston is a Concore Entertainment recording artist and full time firefighter. John was a Marine Corps field wireman from 2000 to 2004 achieving the rank of Sergeant in his 4 years of service. John was with Second Battalion Seventh Marines (2/7) and served as a mission squad leader for 2/7 H&S running over 100 combat missions while in theatre.

John began his music career while in Iraq writing his song "Good Good America" which became an overnight success and gave John his first shot at the music industry signing a record deal upon his return from Iraq. The song and video inspired by Iraqi school children was a national media topic and was viewed hundreds of thousands of times in 2004.

John returned to the music industry in 2014 signing with Pacific Records and quickly releasing his first single "this IS war" in October of 2014. The song also became a national media topic when the Marine veteran made a call to action to veterans across the nation to stand against ISIS which had just made a surge through Syria and Iraq. The music video had thousands of views and secured John a second release with Pacific Records.

Just one month later, John released his Los Angeles Music Awards nominated EP "Your War is Over" and again took to the media. This time the topic was very different. John and two Marine bandmates had released a veterans tribute album that he referred to as being for us by us. John highlighted veterans' struggles with Post Traumatic Stress and suicide and took the fight public with several TV and radio appearances across the United States. John and Pacific Records partnered with Boot Campaign and donated 30% of album sales to help combat PTSD. John and his band took to the road and raised thousands of dollars up and down the coast of California for several different veteran charities all while never accepting any payment and giving all proceeds from the events back to the cause.

Still receiving accolades and media for his "Your War is Over" EP, John took to the studio again and in September of 2015 released in the Top 100 New Alternative Albums chart with his second EP "Day to Night." With this EP, John told the story of a Marine he was connected to that was killed on his last day of combat. Again, John took to the media continuing with his fight against PTSD, veteran suicide, and also reminding the people of America that the country is still at war. The album was released on the one year anniversary of the death of the Marine for whom he had written the song. John's video for Day to Night has had hundreds of thousands of views. Rather than celebrate his success, John continued to play charity events and do media all over the country now becoming a national advocate against veteran suicide.

John's life took a turn of tragic irony when in January of 2016 John's own brother fell victim to post traumatic stress and took his own life. The passing of his brother was enough to make him consider ending his career, but has instead fueled his hard work and passion and his new single "superman falls" on a compilation album titled Battlecry: Songs of America's Heroes. Preston Executive produced the album and was the driving force which saw the album reach #21 on the iTunes rock charts and continues to spread not only through the veteran community but the mainstream.

John signed with Concore Entertainment/ Universal Music Group and his single "before I am gone" started pre-release worldwide on September 5th and will release October 17th with John donating 100% of his sales profit to Stop Soldier Suicide.

"We are taking our message to the public and today we tell the mainstream that we are here and we are loud. The perception of the broken veteran is a myth that we refuse to buy into. My music is about our lives and the real battles we have and continue to fight: on and off the battlefield. We are here to show our community and the general public our talent, work ethic and our drive to push forward through all adversity."

One of the best things about doing this podcast is reaching out to some of my favorite comics/dads to come chat. And this week's one. Greg Behrendt is most notable for being a best selling author of the national phenomenon, "She's Just Not That Into You" which became a movie of the same name. He was a consultant on "Sex and the City" and "Committed", and he's done stand up on almost every late night show including The Tonight Show, Conan, and The Colbert Report. He even had his own talk show called, you guessed it, "The Greg Behrendt Show" . When I first moved to Los Angeles, he was one of the crushers that you would see around town at Largo, UnCabaret and all the other packed shows where the best comics in town would just destroy. I LOVED his act. He would kill. So glad he brought his brand of humor to Father Time. He's a great dad and really funny. Hope you enjoy!

Tom Everett Scott was born and raised in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, the third of four children of Cynthia (Pierce), an insurance saleswoman, and William Joseph Scott, who was a civil engineer. Tom spent his childhood in a "nice house in the woods", with a pond nearby, canoeing and camping. He acted in high school plays, but Tom planned to quit acting, and take a more serious look at the world. So, he enrolled in communications at Syracuse University in 1988. During his sophomore year he says "I went down to the theater and saw everything going on-people jumping around being idiots-and I thought, 'This is my home. This is where I should be.'" So, Tom switched his major to drama, and upon graduating, he moved to New York City. There, he waited tables, and eventually founded a theater company with 3 college buddies that they named "aTheaterco". From there, you probably know the rest. That Thing You Do, An American Werewolf in Paris, Boiler Room, ER, Southland, and La La Land are just a taste of his numerous credits. And now he is the foil to Andrea Savage on her hit TV show, "I'm Sorry" on TruTV. Tom is the proud father of two kids and talks openly about the joys and perils of raising kids today. And yes, he's as nice as you think he is. 

Born in Norfolk, Virginia, Michael Bunin spent the majority of his youth in Las Vegas where he attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and studied Theater Arts. His improvisational skills were honed at The Second City Players Workshop in Chicago and the famed Groundlings in Los Angeles. Bunin has been a staple at The Improv Olympic West in Los Angeles where he continues to display his improvisational talents. His numerous TV credits include Superstore, Modern Family, Mad Men, but of course he will best be known as the Squiggy to my Lenny as Kenny Morittori on the hit TBS show, "My Boys". Yes, Mike has no kids, but he's got a cool dad and gave us a counterpoint to having kids. This episode could easily be an outtake of a My Boys episode. And after listening to this, you'll have to make up your own mind, "To have kids or no kids. That is the question."

I love having Moms on the show. The actually are way smarter. And Kira is amazing. Kira Soltanovich grew up in San Francisco during a time when there were bad neighborhoods, cheap coffee and it wasn’t ironic to ride the cable cars. She began her comedy career back in 1998 after asking her Russian immigrant parents if they would support her dream to become a stand up. After her mother and father confessed “It’s not like you’re smart enough to be a doctor…” Kira took that as their blessing to pursue her dreams and she’s never looked back.   She was a series regular on How To Be A Grownup for TruTV, the hidden camera show Girls Behaving Badly and was a correspondent on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno for over 8 years. Recently, Kira co-hosted the game show Winsanity with Donald Faison for the Game Show Network.

One of Kira’s greatest achievements is shooting her latest 1 Hour Stand Up Special,You Did This To Me, which was completely self-produced and she shot it while over 7 months pregnant. The first stand up comedian to shoot a special pregnant!    Kira has appeared on The Jay Leno Show, Hello Ross! with Ross Mathews, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Last Call with Carson Daly, Hell’s Kitchen, Last Comic Standing, Set List TV, and The World Stands Up on Comedy Central. She has written for Joan Rivers, Scott Baio, Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber. And here’s an interesting fact, three of those people have dated each other.

Kira’s pilot Weren’t You Scott Baio? was optioned by New Line Television, her hidden camera dating show Who’s Got Game? was optioned by MTV and her feature film What’s Your Sign? was optioned by Terra Firma at Universal. For a while there, she and her writing partner were only developing projects that asked a question. Genius, right?

She’s been a writer on Easiest Game Show Ever, How’d You Get So Rich? for TV Land, Warning: Men Thinking, Raising Whitley and Prankstars on Disney.    Her half hour Showtime special, Here Comes Trouble, won Best Stand Up Special by a Soviet.*

Did you know once the kids who watch Nickelodeon go to sleep, the network changes over to NickMom? Well, it does. Kira is a recurring round table comic on Parental Discretion and performed on both seasons the stand up series NickMom’s Night Out.   Kira’s two children inspired her to have her very own podcast. On The Kira Soltanovich Show, she interviews other fellow comedians who have kids and they discuss all things comedy and colic related.

*No such award exists

Jonathan Mangum was born in Charleston, S.C., but spent most of his youth in Mobile, Alabama. He attended college in Orlando, FL. where he began performing with SAK Theatre’s TheatreSports, a wildly successful local improv show. While performing 13 shows each week and attending college, Jonathan began to work with a tight-knit group of improvisers that included Wayne Brady. While in Orlando, Jonathan appeared on such shows as Clarissa Explains it All, Welcome Freshman, Fortune Hunter, and Seaquest DSV.Soon after, Mangum moved to Los Angeles, where he was joined by his Orlando improv troupe later called, The Houseful of Honkeys. The “Honkeys” performed their critically acclaimed improv game show, You Bet Your Honkey at the ACME Theatre for nearly five years and went on to shoot several television pilots for ABC.  Around this time, Mangum appeared on Married…with Children, Just Shoot Me, and ER. Some time later, Wayne Brady asked Jonathan to join him on tour and he has been performing on the road with Wayne ever since, including a two year recent run in Las Vegas at the Venetian Hotel and Casino. Mangum has been a series regular on Comedy Central’s Stripmall, The Wayne Brady Show(ABC), The Drew Carey Show(ABC), Trust Us with Your Life(ABC), Drew Carey’s Greenscreen Show(WB), and Drew Carey’s Improv-a-ganza (GSN). He has made notable appearances on Reno 911, Pushing Daisies, The Sarah Silverman Program, and NCIS.After two seasons on The Drew Carey Show, Drew invited Jonathan to join the Drew Carey Improv All-Stars. The group went on to tour in over sixty venues, including Carnegie Hall and currently does several yearly Las Vegas performances. Mangum has also toured with Ryan Stiles’ improv group, Whose Live is it, anyway?Working with Rob Reiner, Jonathan appeared with Jack Nicholson in The Bucket List and soon after appeared with Eddie Murphy in Imagine That.Jonathan has also pursued writing, having written on The Wayne Brady Show and the award winning,  Brandon T. Jackson Show. He co-wrote and starred in VH-1’s spoof Home Purchasing Club as well as an award winning short film, Conversations. Recently, wrote an animated short pilot for the Walt Disney Company entitled, The Lumberjacksons and continues to develop ideas for television and film. Currently, Jonathan can be seen as the co-host of the  Let’s Make a Deal on CBS. Jonathan is married to Leah Mangum, a casting director, with whom he has two boys.

Today's episode is for my nerd/parent listeners. Matthew Sendeich, along with his partner Seth Green, are the Emmy winning co-creators behind the wildly popular cult classic TV show, Robot Chicken. Since then, they've gone on to create Stoopid Buddy Studios and are making some of the best animated shows out there. Super Mansion, Buddy Thunderstruck, Titan Maximum and all the Robot Chicken: Star Wars shows are just a taste of what their studio is creating. Matt is a true example of do what you love and create the job you want. He was a real comic book nerd who was at the forefront of the "comic book generation". He started with a high school internship at Marvel, long before Marvel ruled the world of movies. And now his company is one of the big innovators in the world of comic based television. He has a hilariously dark sense of humor which is even more wonderful when it's combined with being a parent. Enjoy and please forgive us when we tell the story of the guy who masturbated with a belt sander and stapled his scrotum shut.

These genius dads are my favorite single panel cartoonists since The Far Side. And as it turns out, they are some of my fave guests ever. I met them the day of the show and they are truly some of my funniest guests ever. Here's a little backstory. Daniel and Jeremy Lehrer are identical twin cartoonists and comedy writers. They grew up in a large extended family in Los Angeles where the emphasis was on academic excellence, classical music, fine art, and other activities designed not to get them laid.

After respectively graduating from Columbia University and Columbia Law School, Jeremy became a small cog at a big corporate law firm, while Daniel became a small cog at Ducati Motorcycles in Bologna, Italy. They engaged in a half-decade of the usual post-graduation soul- crushing work, before deciding to “Voltron” together to pursue their dreams of drawing and writing. They are represented at CAA.

@lehrerboys, Daniel and Jeremy’s Instagram account, is inspired by their horrible childhood fights over the Sunday Funnies and who got to read “The Far Side” first.

Their satirical and biting single-panel cartoons comment on everything from Kim Kardashian and “selfie etiquette” to gender-neutral toilets and masturbation in high-tech times. The Lehrer Boys bring an outsider perspective to their work.

They have created, sold, and developed numerous shows with studios including Fox, Adult Swim, Maker, and Amazon, and have been privileged to collaborate with talent like Paul Feig and Mila Kunis.

They also recently created “Highly Gifted,” a series of animated shorts with Maker Studios, based on their socially-challenged high school years and starring comedian Ron Funches, Josh Brener of “Silicon Valley,” Oscar-winner Nat Faxon, and pop-icon Kesha. Check them out at https://www.lehrerboysshop.com