Ian Talks Comedy

George Beckerman joined me to talk about early TV, his first writing job, 1983's NBC Yummy Awards; Paul Winchell and Pinky Lee; growing up in Forest Hills; going to high school with Jerry Springer; going into the textile business; getting his suits on the cover of GQ; selling his business and moving to LA; writing a screenplay "Beverly Hills Shrink" for Fred Weintraub; writing a special "Blondes vs. Brunettes" directed by Steve Binder; seeing Joan Collins sans makeup and working with Don Novello; pitching 30 episode ideas to the producers of Alice; getting a job on TBS sitcom Safe at Home with pissed off cast; hiring Dan O'Shannon and Tom Anderson; an arrest during rehearsal; pitching for Head of the Class and a movie for Gene Wilder; first head of the Class "The Russians are Coming"; the problems and greatness of multi-cam comedies; writing "Child of the 60's" and meeting Lori Petty; writing "Parent's Night" and having 23 characters to write; writing Trouble in Perfectville for Robin Givens and having it changed; working with Tannis Vallely and her father on two different shows; Howard Hesseman; becoming friends with Robin Givens and her mother and needing to get Mike Tyson off the set; Leslie Bega and Khrystyne Haje; creating and leaving "Molloy"; becoming friends with Mayim Bialik; Jennifer Aniston; fighting with Bill Bixby on the set of "Man of the People"; Monty has great cast including Henry Winkler, David Schwimmer, and China Kantner - daughter of Grace Slick and Paul Kantner, but was short lived; The Jackie Thomas show was the most fun he had; trying to turn Jackie Thomas into a modern day Dick Van Dyke; playing tennis with Norm MacDonald; working with Chris Farley; meeting his wife Geraldine Leder writing for "Secret Service Guy" a show that never aired; having his film script optioned by Ben Stiller and not getting a budget; writing a Lifetime movie for Kirstie Alley; a Hallmark time travel movie; writing for children's television; making a short film "Autocowrecked"; writing a song with a member of Foster the People; the current state of TV as a business; Adam I. Lapidus and the Simpsons

Dave Hackel joined me to discuss growing up in Delaware, Ohio; being kept busy by TV; working in radio at 14; doing everything for a cable channel in Columbus for three years; moving to LA and getting a job that supplied prizes for game shows; Turtle wax; writing in the same building as game show writers; getting first break, on Fish; working with Abe Vigoda; getting staff jobs on Shirley, a Shirley Jones sitcom; writing the made-for-TV movie, The Great American Traffic Jam; writing a Love Boat; Harper Valley PTA; 9 to 5 and meeting with April Kelley; doing Webster and working with Bruce Johnson; problems on the set; Alex Karras & Susan Clark vs. Emmanuel Lewis & producers; Out of this World; writing for Dear John; an episode he writes wins Cleavon Little an Emmy; Bill Asher (Bewitched) was a fan of Becker; being a consultant on Frasier; writing #2 Wings fan favorite "Stand Up Kind of Guy"; the story behind it; Wings being a show the meant something to him professionally and personally; working with Al Franken on Lateline; Becker having come from a previous pilot; making him a doctor and casting Ted Danson; test pilot script read; Ian Gurvitz's contributions; trying to make Becker dramatic and showcase issues and still be funny; retirement; travelling the US with his wife, Peter Casey and his wife; Detroit; Motown Museum; Kansas City; Minneapolis; becoming a Padres fan late in life; game show writers; Markie Post; Monty Hall; guests over 90; meeting Carl Reiner; Shawnee Smith; teaching in NYC; teenage political apathy; April Kelly's memory and not knowing who the hosts and musical guests on SNL anymore.

Ian Gurvitz joined me to discuss the derivation of his name; growing up in Plainview; TV he watched including Laugh-In and Batman; William Daniels; going to Ithaca College; moving to NYC and writing for comics; getting hired to write for short lived sitcom A Fine Romance; selling a Wonder Years; writing The Great TV and Movie Quizbook; creating Normal Life with Moon Unit and Dweezil Zappa; writing a Get a Life; creating Charlie Hoover; paying "Where's Sam?"; inspired by a Married with Children episode; joining Wings for a a six week tryout and lasting 6 years; how The Contest episode of Seinfeld deflated the writers room; hiring Amy Yasbeck; writing an episode while his mother is dying in the next room; writing his 1st episode with Kirstie Alley as Rebecca Howe; music rights; Tony Danza Show; watching Ted Danson become Becker; episode he wrote "Crosstalk"; the genesis of Becker; his film LA Blues; working on The Exes; keeping a journal while in development and publishing it as "Hello, Lied the Agent"; why is TV better; business model of TV has changed with streaming; The Bear; Only Murders in the Building; We Were the Lucky Ones; The Day the Crown Cried; his first book, Deconstructing God about religion; his second Dumbf*ckistan, about Sarah Palin's rise to power; anti-college stance of people who went to Ivy League schools; intelligence of other countries; Trump's crowd size; Nixon; Democrats can't brand or fight; Roger Stone; Roy Cohn; Democrats are pushing people away; don't be a dick

Comedian Trent Mabry joins me to discuss his podcast Echo Chamber; Rosie Ruiz: MLB umpires; watching Seinfeld at 6 made him want to be a stand up; his first and second times performing; differences between Indiana and NYC open mic's; importance of social media; not burning material; Norm MacDonald and Gilbert Gottfried; day jobs; winning Indiana's Funniest comedian and that driving him to come to NYC; supportive parents; comedy was the only thing he ever wanted to do; his old podcast where he interviewed comedians; Jeff Altman; no set comedy topics; getting bits to flow together; booking guests and guests he'd want; ultimate goal is a late night show; favorite host being Letterman; Seinfeld NYC vs. Actual NYC; Indiana; his father being a farmer; my great-grandfathers job selling lightbulbs on horseback in NYC; SNL; inability to act; David Spade; being an old soul and watching early TV; streaming doesn't introduce people to old shows; using COVID to watch Sopranos; Rockford Files; Par Bircher; Mark Normand; joke tellers vs. story tellers; playing with silence; alcohol; almost fighting a heckler; getting booked at a Chamber of Commerce dinner; watching the flow of the show he'll perform at; Rusty Kuntz; touchy jokes; recoding a set for SiriusXM

Karyl Miller joined me and talked about growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the late 1950's; being a loner; listening to radio and begging her father to buy a TV; going to Cal Arts for a summer program; not going to college; going to night fashion school; mom wanting her to marry a nice Jewish man; being inspired by Lily Tomlin; wrote spec scripts while designing dresses; met Garry Marshall; got a job writing interstitials for Love, American Style; wrote for a dress designer sitcom called Needles and Pins; her spec script got her hired for Lily Tomlin specials and season 3 of the Mary Tyler Moore Show; writing Lily Tomlin's monologues; turning down Lorne Michaels' offer for SNL; writing for Cher's 1975 variety show; her first MTM "Rhoda's Sisters Wedding" and the famous letter sequence; her other episode "WJM Tries Harder"; writing for Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice; writing a freelance episode of Karen; writing a Maude and being afraid of Bea Arthur; being brought into Diff'rent Strokes when Charlotte Rae wants a female writer and being fired after 9 days; teaming up with Richard Pryor to write a Sanford & Son that didn't get filmed; finishing writing a pilot Richard started; working on the Erma Bombeck sitcom Maggie; being picketed while going in to write Love, Sidney; writing an episode of the Bea Arthur sitcom Amandas; being a TV snob and not writing for "bad" shows; the nightmare that was The Cosby Show; Madeline Kahn; Kate & Allie; Foley Square; being on staff on My Sister Sam and fighting with Dianne English over an episode where Pam Dawber has an affair; writing an episode of David Rules; her career being hurt by turning down shows she didn't like and the shows she dd not hiring women; turning down The Love Boat; how doodling on scripts led to cartooning and creating her own font; becoming a political cartoonist and being the President of the Southern California Cartoonist Society

Ferris Butler and his biographer D.B. Frick joined me to discuss his garage band version of SNL "Waste Meet News"; his love for Sid Caesar and Ernie Kovacs; Brooklyn in the 50's and 60's; his pilot for the Vintage Seltzer Hour with Michael O'Donoghue and Garrett Morris; going to NYU film school and being taught by Martin Scorsese and classmates with Billy Crystal; creating Waste Meat News; having Radames Pera on; the budget; New York Magazine says Waste Meat is being copied by SNL; getting hired by Jean Doumanian; how the crew was excited for new season. but the press was already hostile; not getting anything on the premiere; getting Leather Weather on the Malcolm McDowell show; writing the tag to Eddie Murphy's first appearance; writing Tort-U-Matic and her monologue for Jamie Lee Curtis; co-writing Reagan Co for the Robert Hays episode; Howard Stern has beef about his Leather Weather Girl vs. Ferris' sketch; writing the Kung Fu prostitution sketch and slipping a watersports joke by the censors; the difference between head writers Mason Williams and Stevens and Moore; writing one joke for Weekend Update; Brian Doyle-Murray; Bill hosts; he was recommended by Letty Aronson; more Bill Murray stories; is Ferris Butler, Ferris Bueller - Del Close wanted to do a movie about him, Quentin Tarantino believes it; writing "Prison Confession" sketch for Ray Sharkey episode; writing a sketch that got cut at dress; writing the "Big Brother" sketch for Deborah Harry episode; the re-evaluation of season 6; Name That Sin; musical guests; saving his sketches; not being surprised Dick Ebersol didn't as him back; not getting credit for writing for SNL; not being invited to any anniversary; Waste Meat News is in the Paley Center for Media

Jeff Altman and I discuss growing up in Syracuse; his father, Arthur, teaching him slight of hand magic; learning more at Johns Hopkins; moving to LA and going to the Magic Castle; trying out at the Comedy Store; doing a comedy album with Denny Johnston; his Carson impression and two times he met him; doing his voice on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman; doing voices on Norman Lear shows and Archie Bunker's Place; Celeste Holm, who his uncle discovered; his year living off income from being on Merv Griffin; Starland Vocal Band Show; guest appearances on Mork and Mindy and WKRP; playing Huey Hogg on Dukes of Hazard; getting the co-hosting job on Pink Lady; being told they spoke perfect English; working with Sid Caesar and Jim Varney; impressions; Rich Little; talking to Johnny right before he announced his retirement; his on-air prank calls to Letterman; Tim Thomerson; the origins of butt steak; being in the Israeli Candid Camera and almost getting arrested; his appearance on Night Court; his tough times being a cast member on Nurses; hosting Sunday Comics; Franklin Ajaye; doing an episode for the troops in the Gulf War; impersonating Bob Hope to Brooke Shields; his "dad" character; his album, I'll Flip You Like a Cheese Sandwich"; having Seinfeld ask him to be in The Bee Movie; retiring from comedy and going full time into sleight of hand; getting married to a girl he knew from high school and moving to Raleigh, NC; Max Alexander; Pink Lady covers and original songs

Ivan Decker and I discuss his Netflix special; his current You tube special Popcorn; your wife asking you to get something that's closer to her; his son; grandparents; the frenulum; being behind on comedy in Canada; Paul F. Tompkins; debuting as a 16 year old doing Mitch Hedberg; being booed off stage; me seeing Carlin booed off stage; the internet allowing you to know who a comedian is before you see them; my standup career; calling comedy clubs; hunting for jokes; laughing during situations that aren't funny because you can turn them funny later; do ex-comedians think that way; doing Conan; late night TV; how phones ruin comedy; not doing jokes because they might hurt someone's feelings, are in bad taste or might have been done; being on tour means not getting to see his comedy friends; people afraid of going to the bathroom during shows; Vancouver; sports; income disparity between hockey and soccer; American vs. Canadian measurements; Canadian accent is waning; Vancouver sounds like California; Boston Pizza; his love of Curb Your Enthusiasm and the Simpsons; looking like Colin Jost

Robert Wolterstorff joined me to discuss being mentored by Norman Lear; a quick overview of his career; going to SFSU; being mentored by Norman Lear; selling a Good Times; going to work on the Jeffersons; turning down a chance to write / produce the Incredible Hulk; his pilot Pen 'n' Ink aided by Louis Schwartzberg; doing a college interview for Benjamin Spock for President that got picked up by PBS; Jeffersons episodes; befriending Roxie Roker and her husband Sy Kravitz; Jeffersons writer's were older; moving to Universal to write pilots; working for Nicholls, Ross, West; writing for Sheriff Lobo; his pilot for Pen 'n' Ink leads to a lifelong friendship with Fred & Mary Willard; his pilot, the Outlaw; Street Hawk was originally supposed to precede Monday Night Football; finished second to Dallas but not good enough; cost $1 million an episode; getting Tangerine Dream to do the music; hiring Joe Regalbuto and Rex Smith; "predicting the future"; great writing staff; his sitcom pilot Sisters with Sally Kellerman; Quantum Leap; his episode "Jimmy" is nominated for an Emmy; writes Little Rascals movie for Penelope Spheeris; hired to make snow version of Baywatch called Extreme; creates Slappy & the Stinkers based on original Little Rascals script; Extreme; his pilot for Stinger, a superhero parody; Blade Squad; Twice in a Lifetime; his fun in writing Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction; how he got the audience to believe anything; working for military intelligence creating battle drills, IED simulations, and writing military role playing table tops; and working for the Spy Museum