Ian Talks Comedy

Sal discusses growing up in Brooklyn and having TV and movies be his safe space; Catholic school; moving to California at age 12; going to public school; joining the drama department at UC Davis; studying at NYU under Olympia Dukakis; doing a few commercials and The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3 in New York; moving to LA and getting a role in The Montefuscos; The Montefuscos getting canceled; doing Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman; how being nice to a kid at an Elvis Costello concert got him booked on The Tonight Show; getting Soap; meeting Richard Nixon; befriending Diana Canova & Robert Urich; his mother's reaction; MASH; his father; Ray Abruzzo; Barney Miller; how his meatballs impressed Carl Reiner, Mel Broos, Anne Bancroft, and Dom DeLuise and got him three movies; Family Feud; Richard Dawson; Mike Douglas; his play A Steady Rain which landed him on Scandal; wanting to appear on The Bear; his meatball recipe

Markus Jennings and I discuss our mutual love for Saturday Night Live; Chris Farley; Jim Downey; getting tickets; my episode backstage; Chris Elliot; how he can't have a favorite episode; my favorite episodes; favorite cast; impressionists JAJ, Dana, Phil, and Joe Piscopo's versions of the same people; favorite musical guests; cast members; and trivia

Rick Mischel and I discuss being native NYers; growing up on film; went into law entertainment; read scripts at Electric Pictures; becoming Senior VP of Acquisitions for Live Entertainment; FHE; producing Suicide Kings; becoming President of Harvey Entertainment licensing Casper & Richie Rich; Mainframe CGI creates DVD films (Max Steele); Reach Games; Sony hires him to create a features studio; Hotel Transylvania, Open Season and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs tv series; Spiderman animated features; visual effects for MIB 3; Garfield; animation is worldwide; Smurfs; animation quality keeps getting better; working with Popeye; Diary of a Wimpy Kid; Ice Age; Rick & Morty; watching Family Guy, Bob's Burgers, and Simpsons;

Former child actor Sparky Marcus (Issoglio) discusses the origins of his name; being on TV before watching it; first job a McDonalds commercial at 3 1/2; being a SAG member; working on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman; playing a child evangelical preacher; being spanked by Dabney Coleman; Freaky Friday; working with actors who don't like children; not liking to watch himself; not remembering being on a Carl Reiner sitcom; going on AM LA in 1976; meeting George Lucas on the set of The Bob Newhart Show; shooting WKRP and Bad News Bears; being on a series is better than chasing work; child acting hours; working with Jack Albertson, Johnny Whitaker, and Henry Fonda; Grandpa Goes to Washington; What's Happening; David Hollander; Airplane; Goldie and the Bear Go to Hollywood with O.J. Simpson; Happy Days; working on Goodtime Girls with Peter Scolari; Marcia Wallace; Loni Anderson; voice work; Richie Rich; residual checks; Man with Two Brains; getting injured on Trapper John, MD; quitting at 18; not wanting show biz; being unaware of his earnings; having a part-time job parking cars to make his "own" money; Frank Welker; cartoon work; Nancy Cartwright; Don Messick; Rodney Alan Rippy; Norman Lear; Bad News Bears jersey; parents sold all his stuff; getting $30,000 at 18 and spending it in two years; working in PT; meeting his wife on the job and becoming best friends; Kim Richards; Kroft Supershow; his scripts

Covers of some of the most famous songs by people you didn't think would do it: Sammy Davis Jr, Jack Albertson, Carroll O'Connor, Glenn Close, Terry Bradshaw; Jim Nabors, George Burns, Frank Sinatra, and Tiny Tim

Kenneth Tigar joined me and discussed the pronunciation of his last name; his favorite radio shows; hist first TV; watching Requiem for a Heavyweight; Norman Lloyd; acting was just a hobby; getting a PhD in German from Harvard; translated Brecht plays into English; working on The Proposition improv troupe and Broadway show with Judy Kahan, Paul Kreppel; and Fred Grandy; leaving the Proposition to write his dissertation; his first theatre and television roles have been playing Germans; most recognized for Barney Miller; Norman Lloyd and John Randolph get him to L.A.; auditioning for Danny Arnold; shooting the episode "Werewolf"; Danny Arnold's directing; portraying Jesus in the episode "The Photographer"; Lou Grant; not able to be typecast; Bosom Buddies; shooting his Emmy Award winning Hill Street Blues; Cheers; playing Himmler; Night Court; Just one of The Guys; 18 Again; Lethal Weapon 2 & 3; Sam Anderson

I talk to comedian / actor Dave Konig on working with The State; Jon Stewart; Kevin Meaney; Gilbert Gottfried; appearing on Subway Q & A, Hardcore TV;, Law and Order, The Apprentice, Louie, Crashing, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; the schedule for comedians on cruises and shooting a Dry Bar Comedy Special

Neal Marshad joins me to talk about his father, a graphic artist for Look Magazine; living near a movie theater; learning how to film high school football games; 16 mm vs. the split 8 cameras; going to film school with Leonard Maltin; his editing and documentary professors at NYU; is first documentary, "Sculpture by Isaac Witkin"; working friendship with Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara; creating commercials for NYC with comedians; meeting Tom Schiller; having Bill Murray in his office to tape the track of "Perchance to Dream"; shooting "Java Junkie"; shooting "Falling in Love" with Jon Lovitz and Victoria Jackson; "Love is a Dream" with Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks; "The Land Before Television" with Dana Carvey; "Linden Palmer - Hollywood's Forgotten Director"; shooting "Bar Mitzvah 5000" and getting it nixed by the censors; shooting a concert film for Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes; winning an Emmy for cinematography for the 1982 Super Bowl; producing the Johnny Walker Comedy Search for the Comedy Channel; discovering Steve Harvey, Judd Apatow, Brian Kiley, Ellen Cleghorne, Mark Brazill, and Ray Romano; BBC hires him to be the first network to stream video on their website; Mr. Blobby

Eddie Deezen joins me to discuss 1941; working with Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, and Christopher Lee; Midnight Madness and tough night shoots; loving most of the cast; doing a pilot with Ally Sheedy that didn't get picked up; doing a back door pilot on The Facts of Life; co-starring on Punky Brewster; going to The Tonight Show and getting his foot run over by Paul McCartney; Beverly Hills Vamp with Britt Eckland, Tim Conway Jr., and Pat McCormick; playing the ponies; starting as a standup at the Comedy Store and being gonged by Paul Williams on The Gong Show and its aftermath.

Impressionist Zach W. Arnold joined me and impersonated George Burns; talks about being in character; sang like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin; discusses his natural singing voice; sings as Ringo Starr; discusses blogging the city of Orlando' playing Ringo in two Beatles tribute bands; what's it like to be in a tribute band; impersonated every US President from JFK to Biden; discusses Rich Little; finding a new take on an impression; Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman, and Matthew McConnaughy; his take on Cheech and Chong; I do John Travolta and Robin Williams; we discuss impressionists Roger Kabler, DC Follies cast members John Roarke and Louise DuArt, Jeff DeHart, and Kevin Pollack; Jack Lemmon & Walter Matthau; Zach does Don Rickles and I introduce his John Wayne as Johnny Carson; impersonates Jimmy Stewart, Truman Capote and Paul Lynde; discusses Dana Carvey, Harry Shearer, Jim Carrey, and Rodney Dangerfield; impersonates Alan Thicke and Tom Brokaw; impersonating Eddie Deezen to Eddie Deezen; impersonating the Klumps; his philosophy of comedy; impersonates Katharine Hepburn, Joan Rivers, Ed Wynn, and Andy Rooney; discusses his grandmothers fascination with Andy Rooney;

Brian Kiley discusses growing up in comedy rich Newton, Massachusetts; his comedy influences - Bob Newhart and Woody Allen; not always being a clean comic; not getting an HBO comedy special as a dirty comic; realizing he needs to be a clean comic to get on Johnny Carson; being clean leads to jobs as an opener; 1985 gig on Boston cable; never did Carson, took 17 years to get to Letterman; TV debut on CBS' Morning Program; Johnny Walker Comedy Showcase; other contestants; being a finalist with Mark Brazill and Steve Harvey; getting the job at Conan and never leaving; getting hired at Ellen; perpetual 13 3week contracts; Clinton jokes; Norm MacDonald; the show changing after 9/11 and slowly putting comedy back in; jokes were not as mean; how he was only a guest at the last minute and never introduced as a writer; Roger Ebert; his mother dying and losing his hair at 22; mistake moustache; getting nominated for Emmys settled everyone down; originally college kids came to see the bands; loved writing In the Year 2000 and Satellite Channels; created the Allergic Zookeeper; writing the funny Emmy writer montages; writing for Conan's post NBC tour; writing for the White House Correspondent's Dinner; moving to Los Angeles; whether his kids find him funny; his black / white bit with Deon Cole; corporate gigs and charities; and his novels.