Ian Talks Comedy

The J. Geils Band Richard "Magic Dick" Salwitz joined me to talk about his first musical hero, Louis Armstrong; practicing his instruments; playing the cornet; getting his first harmonica at the ae of3 when he had the flu; wearing harmonicas; how long a harmonica can last; "Whammer Jammer" breaks harmonicas; meeting J. Geils and Danny Klein in 1966; bootlegs; first record deal; having the Allman Brothers as fans;  "Musta Got Lost"; 70's radio airplay and DJ autonomy; opening for the Rolling Stones; performing during an earthquake in Japan; doing SNL with Rodney Dangerfield in 1980; reaction videos to "Love Stinks"; "Centerfold"; "Land of 10,000 Dances"; punk rock; Dennis Miller uses him as a cultural reference in a joke; being introduced to Shun Ng; Shun Ng's childhood; how acoustic guitar and harmonica blend perfectly; Shun being a semi-self-taught musician; Shun's genius; being self-taught on harmonica; his attack playing of the harp; how martial arts and music relate; James Caan's martial arts career; my daughter's martial arts and music lessons; greatest rock 'n' roll front man; rhythm 'n' blues help form the sound of the J. Geils Band; 70's R & B; what he's listening to now; the two types of harmonicas and how people who play woodwind instruments shouldn't smoke.

Jeremiah Ukponrefe joined me to discuss being Canadian; not being a reader growing up; memoirs being both hard to read but also fascinating; the Percy Jackson series; The Outsiders; Of Mice and Men; writing a book; his process; "booing" candy on Halloween; his book The Hive, being Star Wars meets Starship Troopers; morals being subtly hidden in science fiction; self-publishing; his book being one in a series; describing his series' universe; his protagonist, Alex; research; stand up career; only putting crowd work on You tube; how it's hard to break in stand up in Canada; Second City; writing freelance comedy; worse response doing stand-up; bombing on a date; bombing for 35 minutes; no bringers shows in Canada; wants to be knows as a science fiction / fantasy writer and a stand-up comedian; can sell books at shows; book feedback; target audience; each book in his series is for a different demographic; still keeping a day job; producing stand-up shows; roast battles; learning to do stand-up in his voice; storyteller comedians; Ellen DeGeneres; Jay Leno

After the interview is the audio of my last stand-up appearance from August 2011.

To order the Hive" Hive (The Arcane Volumes): Ukponrefe, Jeremiah: 9781777332907: Amazon.com: Books

Game show legend Jim Peck joined me to talk about living in Milwaukee during the Happy Days era; favorite radio shows; the first time he saw a television; going to Marquette University; getting the performing bug; his first job as a booth announcer at WISN; Don Pardo; hosting a series called Confrontation; Jim Peck's Hotline; hard to get guests; Take it from Here from Washington DC; Big Showdown; falling down during entrance and having it be on YouTube today; emulating Johnny Carson; contestant interviews; Hot Seat; the Richard Dawson "feud": Second Cance; Peter Tomarken; going out with Monty Hall on his 94th birthday; Peter Marshall; his unaired late night pilot After Hours: The Jim Peck Special which would have featured Susan Anton, Robin Williams, and Loni Anderson; You Don't Say; Nipsey Russell; Dick Gautier; Robert Ridgely; 3's a Crowd; led to divorces and firings; originally pitched by Jess Oppenheimer as a clean game show and sexed up by Chuck Barris; Chuck realizes "no one had fun on the show"; cheating on game shows; Press Your Luck; The Price is Right; his famous perm; Confessions of a Dangerous Mind; Everything's Relative and other game show pilots; You Tube 3's A Crowd reaction video; being hired to sub for and take over for Jack Barry on Joker's Wild; Barry dying and the syndicator choosing to go with Bill Cullen; calling his mother's friend out of the audience to play game; Divorce Court; Doug Llewellyn; Judge William Keane; show was done with actors and scripts; guest lawyers including John Erlichman; Judge Keane decided case by what he saw, not original outcome; hosting the Drum Corps International on PBS; Milwaukee; retiring from WTMJ-AM in 2021 - his first radio job.

Comedian Glenn Hirsch joined me to talk about his "nickname" Gleeb Hush; the other Glenn Hirsch (The Duck Sauce Killer); meeting a third Glenn Hirsch (a doctor); a similar situation I had with my brother; growing up in Jackson Heights, Queens; his mother being an organized hoarder; old report cards; being a fan of impressionists not comedians growing up; always able to make others laugh; sixth grade teacher asks him to do a monologue; COVID helped him learn about himself; entertaining is exhausting; having several health scares including a burst appendix, sepsis; Non-Hodgkins lymphoma diagnosis; too many stand ups to keep track of; less than seventy comics when he started; no such thing as bringer shows; picking a number and getting a spot; being asked back by Budd Friedman; taking two years to get decent slots; can't make a comedian; me trying out for Last Comic Standing; my sitcom pilot; not caring if he ever got a sitcom; appearing on Evening at the Improv; comedian comradery; adding tags to friends bits; losing to Brad Garrett on Star Search; cancel culture in clubs; playing 55+ communities; Bobby Slayton; being a "New York" sports fan; drugs; having a long distance marriage; concerts he went to; seeing the Rolling Stones with his daughter; getting "spit on" by Joe Cocker and passing around a joint backstage; meeting Muhammad Ali twice; meeting Pete Rose and Willie Mays; his daughter being friends with Y.A. Tittle; guesting on Dallas; losing a part to Sam Kinison: being passed over for a part of a New York Jew and asked to read for his Irish best friend; would he of rather hosted a talk show or had a sitcom; helping John Debellis write monologue jokes; writing and producing Comedy Club Superstars; not being able to just sit and write for others; and how Tom Snyder had the best talk show format

Director Paul Miller joined me to discuss appearing on TV before ever watching it; Howdy Doody; becoming a director; getting hired at the Ohio State University TV station; getting a job at KGO TV San Fransisco; Electra Woman and Dyna Girl; working freelance for NBC Sports; directing the Oscars and the Osmonds; getting the call to direct Fridays; working with KISS; directing the Hollywood Cubes sketch; how live TV makes changes up to the last minute; how Saturday Night Live uses more pre-taped segments then when he was there; directing the Gilbert Gottfried / Larry David pilot Norman's Corner; NBC urges Lorne Michaels to hire him to replace Dave Wilson as SNL's director; SNL being a writer's driven show; directing the pilot for In Living Color; appearing on camera in first SNL episode; Phil Hartman, Dana Carvey, and Jan Hooks; Sam Kinnison; being pre-empted by the World Series; Roy Orbison; directing SNL during the Technician's Strike; '88 Debate sketch; Mike Myers; coming back for anniversary shows; Damon Wayans; Jim Carrey; working on The Ben Stiller Show, Mad TV, and Not Necessarily the News; directing and being nominated for the Cable Ace Award; Dennis Miller; Kathy Griffin; directing 2 Super Bowl half Time Shows; can you win an Emmy for directing the Emmy's?; directing Charlie Brown's Christmas 50th Anniversary; where he keeps his Emmy; producing and directing The Carol Burnett Show's 50th Anniversary; and his charity work building schools in Africa.

Diana Peckham joined me on the phone to discuss watching the Wide World of Disney and The Ed Sullivan Show; "The Wizard of Oz"; her father being a wrestler in the 1956 Olympics and her grandfather being a professional wrestler in the 1930's; awareness of Andy Kaufman; seeing his challenge on SNL and writing a letter in; being one of four chosen for a "wrestle off"; taking her father and grandfather as coaches; Andy Kaufman's misogynist persona; talking to Al Franken after the show; not knowing what she was getting into in the match; not knowing the referee was Andy Kaufman's manager (Bob Zmuda); her wrestling past; her parents working as AD and assistant AD at Emerson College; offers after the much; the FBI; going to college to be an English teacher and getting a job as a P.E. teacher; having her appearance grow as legend year after year; getting the tape in 1989; showing the video to her AP Lit students; being retired in New Hampshire; getting recognized on FB when SNL started streaming; REM used a clip of her in their video for Man on the Moon; getting royalty checks and marriage proposals; being made to stay in her dressing room during the show; almost getting her shoulder broken during the match; did not fight during dress rehearsal so segment went long and bumped Mr. Bill; how she would have played it; Kaufman v. Lawler; the SNL vote; did Andy die of AIDS or lung cancer?; getting slapped at the wrestle-off; her other competitors; how Andy would wrestle his girlfriend and other plants; the movie "Man in the Moon"; teaching; her children being athletes; and wrestling in the 30's and 40's.

Melanie Chartoff joined me to discuss watching Soupy Sales and Steve Allen; being interviewed by Johnny Carson and Oprah Winfrey; living by herself in Woodstock, NY her the summer of her junior and senior years of high school; her college sweetheart; writing funny songs and putting it into an act; auditioning for the new Laugh In; moving to L.A.; being in the Proposition; working at the Improv with John Debellis; John Debellis and Larry David's love of baseball; getting Fridays; writers room at Fridays was a boys club; Brandis Kemp; "Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "Road to El Salvador" parodies; "Women Who Spit" and "Diner of the Living Dead" almost get them kicked off TV; Reagan getting elected in '80 changes the tone; Elevator Sisters; the Plasmatics; musical guests; Marty Feldman; Mark Blankfield's pharmacist; Madeline Kahn; getting her tooth knocked out on live TV; the Andy Kaufman incident; doing a movie "Doin' Time" with Mohammed Ali but not meeting him until years later; Fresno; appearing on Newhart; Parker Lewis Can't Lose; letters from prisoners; The Hollywood Autograph Show; guesting on Seinfeld; being in the finale; Tom Kramer; Tina Sinatra; being a voracious reader; writing a novel; Rugrats and its thirty years of popularity; Phil Proctor; going to England with Robin Leach; Coaching charismatzing - discovering ones unique force of personality; doing improv with therapists; being a feminist; her titles for Fridays; hot tubs; women putting their sexuality out there; Fridays director Tom Moore in the NY Times in a body suit learning how to do trapeze; classic Fridays sketches - "TV is fake"; "Door to Door Whores", and "2nd Amendment";

Tracy Newman joins me to discuss the first time she picked up a guitar; folk music; her favorite childhood movie "Hans Christan Anderson"; Danny Kaye; George Carlin; Jeff Altman; going to college; going to New York; The Limelighters; Italy; performing at the Bitter End; performing at the Improv; becoming a teacher at the Groundlings; Rodney Dangerfield; dating Rodney Dangerfield; The Groundlings being the feeding ground for SNL; Heidi Gardner; being a founding member; teaching improv; Phil Hartman; non-show business Groundlings; teaching Tress MacNeille, Paul Reubens, and Conan O'Brien; thinking Conan was too raw for Late Night when he got it; Promise of Love TV movie; Valerie Bertinelli & Eddie Van Halen; making an experimental short "True Bliss" with then husband James E. Dean; teaming up with Jonathan Stark; film looping; studying sitcoms to write a spec script;  getting hired on Cheers for season 11; her episodes, including, Rebecca's Lover - Not! with Harvey Fierstein; people not knowing Ellen was gay; daytime TV; writing "The Puppy Episode" where Ellen comes out; writing an Ellen for Mary Tyler Moore; winning an Emmy, a Peabody, and a PETA Award; appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson; beating Peter Mehlman for an Emmy but not a Writer's Guild Award; paying for her Peabody; Hollywood Walk of Fame; meeting famous people in LA; Lowell Ganz; being asked to show-run Hiller & Diller by him and Babaloo Mandel; writing various pilots; Bob's bad timeslot but great cast; creating According to Jim and Soul Man; hiring Jim Belushi, her song "Carpool'

A performance of Carpool follows the interview.

To buy Tracy Newman's albums visit Tracy Newman and the Reinforcements - I Just See You - Amazon.com Music 

Brian Levant joined me to discuss his first TV souvenir: the scripts to a defunct series Noonday; collecting box tops to get toys; still feeling the way about toys that he did when he first got them; his book "My Life in Toys"; his first word being TV related; collecting salt and pepper shakers; playing with the toys he collected and not keeping them in pristine condition; watching Leave it to Beaver and then bringing them back twenty five years later; The Flintstones; not really collecting superheroes; got the job directing The Flintstones when Stevenn Spielberg saw his Flintstones collection; how Happy Days grew him professionally; Garry Marshall's style; playing basketball while writing and softball in between tapings to create a family atmosphere; Weirdly & Creepella Gruesome; Hanna Barbera "stealing" characters; The Great Gazoo; Harvey Korman; Allan Cumming's stunts in "Viva Rock Vegas"; the book putting his collection to bed for the most part; my collection of TV artifacts; writing the classic Happy Days "A.K.A. the Fonz" and "Hard Cover"; leaving to produce Brothers and Sisters; upcoming 50 Years of Happy Days book with Fred Fox; first episode I remember watching in syndication; my favorite Happy Days joke "Mama, Papa, Sister"; the episodes "Stolen Melodies", "Letting Go"; the finale; Beethoven being a sitcom on steroids; Charles Grodin; Jingle all the Way and working with Arnold Schwarzenegger