Ian Talks Comedy

Jamie deRoy discsses her father backing "The Pajama Game" and "Damn Yankees"; her dad being a big fan of Broadway; getting advice from Harold Prince her senior year of high school to stay in Pittsburgh; her leaving for NY fter one year in college; working with Larry Keith and Margot Moser; Sidney Simon; Margot Moser wants her to stay in NY and take voice lessons with her teacher; getting cast in The Drunkard; becoming friends with its musical coordinator, Barry Manilow; getting hired in the mountains and having Barry write the charts; not writing patter; opening for Irving C. Watson; being a popular opening act with comedic songs; opening for Joan Rivers; performing in the Monkey Bar with Crandall & Charles and Mel Martin; Norman Steinberg; Jeffrey Richards has Jamie watch The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged; she becomes co-producer; revival of show is paused by 9/11; producing Mr. Saturday Night; it was supposed to follow The Lehman Trilogy but COVID hit; Jamie performs a duet with Tyne Daly at a benefit for Primary Stages; COVID closed Broadway; many people quit acting; a British cast gets stranded in NY; Jamie gets COVID in October 2022; producing Beetlejuice, Tina, Fiddler on the Roof, Angels in America and The Inheritance; two most emotional theatre events - the end of The Inheritance and the first "Jamie deRoy and Friends" which paid tribute to cabaret critic Bob Harrington in 1992; producing The Lion, The Two of Us (with Jay Johnson) and Say Goodnight Gracie (with Frank Gorshin); seeing understudies; co-starring with Rene Auberjonois in Threepenny Opera; how sitting next to Martin Scorcese got her cast in Goodfellas and how leaving to go to Cannes got her a bigger part that wasn't cut; appearing in See No Evil, Here No Evil; recording nine albums; her TV show of over thirty years, Jamie deRoy and Friends; what shows she has currently out and about to come out; working with Judy Gold; and making sure to tape everything.

Penny Peyser joined me to discuss her love of poetry; starting to write sonnets in a Shakespearean acting class; why some musings become sonnets; having adult children allows her to write adult poetry; do relationships make you a better writer; writing about the division in our country; growing up in Irvington, NY; her father's political career; going to Emerson College; being a member of the Proposition; which is harder - Broadway or improv; Hot L Baltimore; Conchatta Farrell; working on The Tony Randall Show; Tony Randall vs. Mary Tyler Moore on smoking; Hans Conried; Brian Dennehy; Rachel Roberts; starring in the pilot film for BJ and the Bear; her uncle, director John Peyser directs Charlie's Angels; her roles in the In Laws and The Frisco Kid; being pregnant on the set of the TV movie western Wild Times; The Girls in the Office TV movie; guest starring in an episode of $weepstake$ where they didn't know what accent she should play; The Blue and The Grey; The A-Team; guest starring in Masquerade; being a castmember on Crazy Like a Fox and Knots Landing; guest starring on Shameless and procedurals; being about to do a one woman show as her Shakespearean sonnetcharacter Lady Penelope at the Fringe Festival; malls

comedienne Meghan O'Malley and I discuss her influeces; taking film studies; making student films; her clothing she wears for a set; amount of shows a night; her Instagram show "Barely Making It"; difficullty of Zoom shows; first time performing; taking a class in stand up; being a female comic; pyschinng out an audience by her demeanor; comedian friends on Facebopok; bringer shows; her dad and a field trip I took with him; the homeless; comedians Darin Patterson and Sheba Mason; comedy clubs we have worked; her act described as "silly cleverness"; being told her act was too smart; Rusty Kuntz joke; the c word; Canadians; Jordan Peterson; New Zealand; Hannah Gadsby; Australia; South Africa; high fructose corn syrup; foods that gross us out; hating milk; Eva Anderson; new Night Court; not having a "fallback" job; trying to do a good job but not be promoted; losingmemory due to concussions; getting a role in a SAG film asa bartender because she was a bartender at the bar the movie was shot at; getting bumped by a female comic who made out with the emcee; sexual predator comics; Louis CK; Bill Cosby; old comics who try to hide their jokes when performing; cats; wanting to perform song parodies at my weding; her dad's archery club

Alan Zweibel joined me to discuss growing up where I now live (Wantagh, NY); bar mitzvahs; writing for borscht belt comics; getting his shot on SNL; his famous poetry class anecdote; writing a parody of the Passover Haggadah with Dave Barry and Adam Mansbach; "Go the Fuck to Sleep"; Emily Litella; keeping the character going by adding "Bitch" to her vocabulary; writing and appearing on Chevy's Weekend Update; the Charles Grodin episode; when SNL broke format; writing the Gilda and Elliot Gould romance episode; people loving Gilda and her death affecting people who didn't know her; her dying on his birthday; Bunny, Bunny; his and my favorite Roseanne Roseannadanna; Mr. Death; meeting his wife at the show; being a guest writer three times; doing shows four weeks in a row; Andy Breckman; the 5th season Weekend Update running gag with his picture; being a cast member for one episode for his role in the Conductors Club sketch; Joey Bishop sketch; Lord and Lady Douchebag; being asked to stay by Jean Doumanian; Steve Martin's Best Show Ever; Chico Escuela and his comeback attempt; John Stearns; It's Garry Shandling Show; Ed Solomon; differences in writing for Billy Crystal and Martin Short; Marilyn Suzanne Miller, Rosie Shuster, and Don Novello; Marc Maron; Quintlexia; Gene Wilder; OJ Simpson and the anti-Buffalo sketch he turned down; Celebrity Battle of the Sexes and Races; commercial parodies Banshee and Swill; Jim Downey; Bruce Kirschbaum; Arnie Kogen; Jay Kogen and his It's Garry Shandling Show script.

For his amazing book Laugh Lines go to

Unfortunately, my computer decided to do an upgrade twenty minutes into my interview with Mr. Long.  We discussed becoming a writer, getting his hirst and second script assignments which he described as disasters. he and his partner got their footing and wrote classic as "Veggie Boyd" and "Woody Interruptus" (which introduces Herni).  The rest f the interview is here where he talked about not going to the last episode because Boston didn't care when he went to the 200th episode parade; feeling proud that America cared so much to say goodbye; Pig Sty; George & Leo and Bob Newhart not being able to smoke; the Cameo episode with Larry, Darryl and Darryl and Jere Burns; Sullivan & Sons - Brian Doyle-Murray wants a drive net instead of a trailer; starting to write comic political pieces, most American are in the center politically and don't like rules; Covid restrictions and vaccines; everything is failing; more people are writers than historians; unemployment hypocrisy; reporters became journalists with narratives; Congressmen and Senators are inherently corrupt; All in the Family; school choice and merit pay; schools having different missions and different standards; old fashioned note taking schools; parental rights on both sides; must need to learn basics first - then left or right ideology; hire efficiency experts; Sesame Street; hypocrisy of people who got rich off government contrats now hate government giving contracts

Kiki Steele joins me to discuss getting hired at SNL at the tail end of Dick Ebersol's regime and the beginning of Lorne Michaels second; watching the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show; going to Emerson College; being mentored by Norman Lear; Andy Kaufman wanting to hang out in the ladies room at Fridays; working with Paul Miller again on Norman's Corner and Madame's Place; The Hollywood Cubes; Lorne Michaels; messing up timing at the SNL 15th anniversary and being bailed out by Robin Williams; SNL being like a family; her typical week: clean up on Monday; host pitch meeting; typing up scripts Tuesday night and Wednesday morning; putting together the read through packet; timing sketches in read through; waiting for the sketch cards to go up; asking writers for changes; bound scripts delivered on Thursday; counting down musical guest; rehearsals Friday; Herb Sargent delivering baked goods Saturday morning; dress rehearsal; live show; favorite writers: Robert Smigel, Jack Handey; Franken & Davis; the 86 - 90 cast; Bronson Pinchot worst host; Tom Hanks and John Lithgow favorites; Sigourney Weaver gave the pa's gifts;  Buster Poindexter had a song ready every week; Francis Ford Coppola episode; William Shatner; Prince; 15th Anniversary show; Comedy Channel lures her away but she works two jobs; working with Marc Maron, Alan King, and Bob Hope; finding the movies for MST3K; Higgins Boys and Gruber; Alan Zweibel; women writers; Andy Breckman; first job when hired in 1985 was to clean out old scripts from all the way back to first episode; has her SNL jacket; Lorne got her a clock when she left; working with Will Durst; leaving Comedy Central; doing a pilot with Dave Attell; seeing the moonwalk for the first time; Liberty Weekend; Waylon Jennings saves her life; Terry Sweeney; Danitra Vance; Randy Quaid; Victoria Jackson; Paul Simon; Andrew "Dice" Clay; Sam Kinison; her three daughters, two work/worked at SNL; college admissions consultant

1. Listeners, email me at [email protected]

2. Future guests include SNL script supervisor Kiki Kazanas Steele, "Cheers" writer Rob Long, comedian Megan O'Malley, actress Penny Peyser, Broadway producer and comedian Jackie De Roy, and Kevin Kelton doing a commentary track about the November 1984 SNL hosted by George Carlin with Frankie Goes to Hollywood

3. Past Guests whose episodes were "wiped out": John Femia, Sean Kelley, Marc Weiner Mike Preminger, and Dave Thomas.

Phoef and I discuss his name; Dick Van Dyke Show; reading mysteries; James Madison University; writing, directing, and acting in his own plays; sitcoms are almost Broadway plays; writing a spec Newhart; that script got to Cheers and he was offered a freelance job; turned down staff job on Newhart in 1986 for -Cheers; writing the Cheers episode "The Book of Samuel"; "Dinner at Eight-ish"; "Cheers: The Motion Picture"; the monkey episode; writing for periphery characters Al, Father Barry, and John Hill; replacing characters; Kirstie Alleys cigarette trick; "Gift of the Woodi"; The Kelly Song; Prince is a fan; made more money on the song than any one episode; co-creating Bob; writing "The Fan"; Thanks; The Fighting Fitzgeralds; The US version of Coupling; Rob!; Rob Schneider being hard to deal with; working with Cheech Marin and Eugenio Derbez; Boston Legal - working with Candice Bergen and William Shatner; using clips from a 1957 episode of the Defenders in a 2007 episode of Boston Legal; writing mystery novels; wanting to write an X-Files; shows he watches now; Poker Face being like Columbo and The Fugitive; his  new series Chesapeake Stars on Hallmark; past Cheers writers I've had on; 30th anniversary of Cheers' final episode

Jeffrey Kramer joined me to discuss early TV; watching 70's TV; being a guest actor; having Tourette's; starring in Madwoman of Chaillot at Ithaca College; co-starring with James Whitmore on stage at age 15; being mentored by Jean Stapleton & Bob Putch; making TV debut in Barney Miller; Happy Days;  "Hollywood Boulevard" and its fan Quentin Tarantino; Dick Miller; selling flowers on Fairfax and Pico in between gigs; Chico and the Man; Laverne & Shirley; co-starring in a pilot with Caroline McWilliams and Michael Keaton; turning down CPO Sharkey; Stick Around; "Heartbeeps"; Hard Copy (1987); Mary Tyler Moore Hour; Gene Kelly and Michael Keaton; using your celebrity for good; Marty Nadler; Struck by Lightning; Jack Elam; The Last Resort; Andy Kaufman; Jamie Lee Curtis; people who ask him for his autograph; The Incredible Hulk; "Clue"; "Santa Clause: The Movie"; hiring Dylan McDermont for The Practice; becoming a producer; working for Les Moonves;  Tom Skerritt; Fyvush Finkel; using the OJ case on Picket Fences; Adam Arkin; The Practice; Calista Flockhart; guest starring on and producing the pilot of Ally McBeal; the dancing baby; poaching male viewers from Monday Night Football because of the pretty female cast; crossover episode with The Practice; his children; Richard Dreyfuss; Jaws' 50th Anniversary in two years

Patrick Weathers joined me (while watching the December 20, 1980 episode of SNL) to discuss moving up to NY in 1979; working at Studio 54; writing a book about Studio 54 but his agent thinks a TV job is more secure; cold calling Audrey Peart Dickman; his impressions; doing practice sketches; getting his friend David Sheffield to submit; he and David getting hired; meeting Eddie Murphy; Joe Piscopo; Don Pardo; cast and featured players opening montage pictures taken same day; Bruce Willis; David Carradine not drunk or nervous, he saw hosting as highlight of his career; Malcolm McDowell; Malcolm and Patrick sent milk at a bar; Commie Hunting Season most objectional bit in SNL history; pranking writers Arnstein & Hurvitz with Omar Dykes of Omar and the Howlers; Omar brought in as "new talent" to meet Jean Doumanian; Patrick remembers his first speaking role as a door-to-door sniper from episode 3; head writer Mason Williams; seeing the lack of an Arlo Guthrie sketch at read through; James Austin Johnson's Dylans; portraying Dylan, Elvis and more in the Broadway show, "Rock 'n' Roll, the First 5000 Years"; Dylan seeing his Dylan and approving; we watch the Dylan & Guthrie sketch; recalling riffing on Dylan and Guthrie with David Sheffield and Brian Doyle-Murray after read through; Charlene Tilton; 3 Kung Fu sketches; going to Mad TV with David Carradine and afterwards people in a bar trying to fight him, Will Sasso, and David Carradine thinking he was Kain; going to John Lennon's psychic's house in the Dakota 5 days after his death; the psychic, Malene Weiner, telling him to keep John's guitar; his Beatles parody band The Deplorables (in which he plays all instruments); Prince and Aretha Franklin as musical guests; Robert Hays and Sally Kellerman as hosts; his now controversial Ravi Shankar expression; the high note that caused his eyes to bug out; Ray Sharkey; Babes in Thailand; Bill Murray hosts; Jean gets fired, Ebersol fires Patrick, Matthew Laurence and Yvonne Hudson together; getting hired but not appearing on The New Show; working at National Lampoon from 1985 to 1987; Woody Allen cast him and Ann Risley for SNL; Paul Reubens chokes his audition; Leslie Fuller; almost playing Captain Carl on Pee Wee's Playhouse; Terry Sweeney