Ian Talks Comedy

Jeff and I talk about the "Atomic Shakespeare" episode of Moonlighting; Night Court memories; the origin of Duckman; writing 7 days a week for 6 months (Duckman and Radioland Murders); getting Jason Alexander to play Duckman; why he loved writing it; a possible reboot; the writing staff; how he and Ron have kept a 40+ year partnership; how they work; Mork & Mindy yearly reunions; Gina Hecht; CNN History of Sitcoms; Meet Joe Black written as a screwball comedy for Tom Cruise and Gene Hackman; Bo Goldman lengthens it, takes out humor, becomes three hour epic with Brad Pitt and Sir Anthony Hopkins; Cupid; writing second episode and being show runners; Jeremy Piven's bad behavior gets them fired; The West Wing; meeting with Aaron Sorkin; agreeing to run writer's room; Aaron Sorkin's micro-managing cause Jeff & Ron to quit; working on a pilot for John Cleese; working with Larry Gelbart on a TV version of Network with James Garner; being told single cam's won't work; being asked to inject comedy into She Spies; being told the comedy is hurting She Spies internationally; writing a pilot like Succession in 2003 with characters based on Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch; Jason Alexander in a Hart to Hart reboot; script doctoring Just My Luck for Lindsay Lohan & Chris Pine; current proijects; great pilot scripts vs. star driven "ok" pilots; weirdness of Duckman vs. family of The Simpsons

John joins me to talk about his book Stand Up Guys and making it like the book the Last Laugh; how comedians "learned" their craft; Elaine Boosler; his mentor comedy mentors; Ronnie Shakes; Larry David; Richard Lewis; auditioning for the Improv; Bill Maher; crowd work; dealing with hecklers; Rita Rudner; Gilbert Gottfried; Andy Kaufman; not watching Man in the Moon; Richard Belzer; his Strat 'O' Magic Srand Up League; Bob Costas; Drew Carey; Max Alexander; Dennis Wolfberg; having strangers give Gilbert Gottfried a dollar; Saturday Night Live - Joe Piscopo, Gilbert Gottfried, Eddie Murphy & Hal Wilner; writing Weekend Update; The SNL/Fridays rivalry tries to hurt John and Larry David's friendship; Billy Crystal Comedy Hour; Into the Night starring Rick Dees; DC Follies; John Roarke; Steve Barker; The Good Life with John Mendoza; writing a dark take on The Flintstones for Billy that was nixed by censors;  Make Me Laugh; comedy today; Jackie Martling; his travel schedule; Joe Piscopo

Michael Short talks to me about how the "attic" comedy tapes he made with his brother Marty led to him being hired on SCTV; joining the show in series 3; writing the Earl and Floyd segments; Stretch Your Arm; getting hired by John Candy to write on Big City Comedy the Monday after SCTV wrapped; Margaret Trudeau; returning to SCTV for the second US cycle; pitching Great White North Palace and winning the Emmy; playing Mike the Bartender on the Cinemax season; the anonymity of working for SCTV;  Jim Carrey almost joins the Cinemax cast; working with Jonathan Winters; Speed Zones; Dave Thomas Show; how working for the former Christian Broadcast Company (then Family Channel) let some things by on Maniac Mansion; NBC executives ruin the Martin Short Show; the evolution of Jiminy Glick; working with Jan Hooks; having to make sure he was fired from the Bonnie Hunt Show; casting Bonnie for an unaired Dave Thomas pilot; working on Mad TV with Artie Lange; being too edgy for Wayne Brady; pitching "Pimp My Outhouse" for Blue Collar TV; reality TV; being the first writer hired for Schitt's Creek and being (with Dan Levy) the only one who was there for the whole series; winning the Emmy for best comedy, but COVID keeping him away

Arthur and I discuss being able to name the host and musical guest for SNL by date; our love of SNL; the Presidential Bash of 1992; the first episode he ever saw; why he loves SNL; his audition in 2018; Dick Van Dyke Show; George Carlin; Norm MacDonald; Meyers Kids Night - his show he and his sisters put on in front of their parents; Wilmette, Illinois; Jim Downer; Robert Smigel; working on Jimmy Fallon's bit for the SNL 40th Anniversary Opening and being a seat filler; he and I tell Brush with Sudeikis stories; MLB Umpires; ugly ballplayers; Panagea 3000; coming up with First Drafts of Comedy for Jimmy Fallon; my late night packet; working with Steve Martin; Shaquille O'Neal; favorite cast members; who wrote what sketch; underrated cast member; '94 - '95 season; getting to use the "vomit hose"; SNL trivia; Lorne Michaels; singing the Beatles with Bridey Elliot; running a Kinks email project; host/musical guest combos on Twitter; Don Pardo trivia; rare SNL episodes; being nervous going bad to 30 Rock; process of creating Thank You Notes and Superlatives; his Comedy Central pilot

Ilene Graff joined me to discuss going to grade school and high school with my parents and Lowell Ganz; Queens; Mays Department Store; getting a job on Broadway right after college graduation; Promises, Promises; Jill & Jenny O'Hara; Grease with co-stars Jeff Conaway, Barry Bostwick and occasionally John Travolta; not getting to audition for the movie because she was thought of as too old and then have an older actress get the job; working on I Love My Wife with Joanna Gleason and Lenny Baker; moving to Hollywood; guest starring on Brothers & Sisters; getting cast in the ill-fated Supertrain; there is many Supertrain podcasts but not one Mr. Belvedere; Mr. Belvedere's fans; Lewis & Clark; Wendy Holcombe; 13 13th Avenue; Bob Uecker makes Belvedere a go; Ilene's favorite episodes - singing with Robert Goulet; Belvedere's Very Special Episode; libraries; ratings; disastrous move to Saturdays; Rodney Dangerfield; her and her husbands class Making the Song Your Own; her annual holiday concert; watching Mr. Belvedere with my daughter; Brice Beckham's comic timing; adults on Belvedere creating a family atmosphere; what her TV kids are doing now; performing with her grandniece and Lora Tu-Chan from Awkwafina is Nora from Queens.

Brian McConnachie joined me to talk about early influences; Kukla, Fran & Ollie; Catholic prep school discipline; going to NY to sell his cartoons; Kit & Kaboodle; Alcoholic's Christmas; Heading for Trouble; Cochise at Oxford; Neglectful Mother Magazine; Guns & Sandwiches; Weight Waddlers; Tell Debbie; National Lampoon Radio Hour; Moby Dick; parodying Broadway shows; leaving the National Lampoon; watching the first SNL; doing a live PBS presentation of Rhapsody in Blue (with lyrics); his first wee, at SNL; getting a sketch on; Frank Zappa; a lost Emily Litella sketch; Name Those Bats; Veterans of Foreign Hairstyles; appearing on camera; Mr. Mike's Mondo Video; Lorne almost cancels a piece making fun of a sponsor; Caddyshack leads Brian not to come back for the 5th season; being over-payed by Caddyshack; Rodney Dangefield; SCTV v. SNL; winning an mmy and having Milton Berle mispronounce your name; Vikings & Beekeepers; Strange Brew; Max von Sydow; an unaired SCTV sketch parodying Harold Pinter; Woody Allen; Shining Time Station; regretting not meeting George Carlin; Bill Murray; how he wrote an episode of The Simpsons and one written about him; and his humor magazine American Bystander.

Harry Shearer joined me to talk about radio as a default outlet; doing all parts of his Le Show; having a studio in his homes; Apologies of the Week; Randy Bass; Colin Powell Tribute Show; talking to whistle blowers; his impressions of Presidents Reagan, George HW Bush, Donald Trump, and George W. Bush; only seeing the Godfather last year and never seeing Titanic or Star Wars; Tom Leopold's Conversion Roast and how he created his rabbi character for it; how 9/11 changed Le Show; lack of censorship; radio stations; Credibility Gap's Tonight Show parody "Where's Johnny?"; Night the Lights Stayed on in Pittsburgh; "Cracking Up"; "Who's On First"; Fernwood Tonight; Fred Willard; K-Time; Synchronized Swimming; The Day the Clown Cried v. Thicke of the Night; Tom Snyder; the infamous Cougerand sketch on SNL; OJ Simpson and the creation of the term "the n word"; Dr. Hibbert; "Excellent"; Laverne & Shirley; The Credibility Gap teaches statistics; Private Secretary; first paycheck

Rosie Shuster and Marilyn Suzanne Miller join me to talk about MSM's love of the musical Peter Pan; Rosie loving her dad's joke books, West Side Story, and being in the audience of the Ed Sullivan Show; Rosie meets Lorne Michaels and Howard Shore; MSM goes to work for James L. Brooks & Garry Marshall; Rosie writes for Canadian children and crime game shows; sends a monologue for Laugh In that Lorne submits and gets on; Lorne uses Rosie's fathers (Frank Shuster of Wayne & Shuster) CBC specials as a blueprint for SNL; MSM turns down SNL, changes mind; work together on a Lily Tomlin special; cast goes on Tom Snyder; Rosie writes New Dad and creates the Bees; Rosie writes first Emily Litella Update piece; MSM writes Slumber Party for Madeline Kahn; Hard Hars w/ Lily Tomlin and Mommy Beer; Laraine (as Shirley Temple) sings and dances with Garrett and Elliot Gould; The Nerds; The Festrunk Brothers; Uncle Roy; Let's Kill Gary Gilmore for Christmas; Fred Garvin, Male Prostitute; how SNL wanted to make itself laughs and everyone in the production was on top of their game; Lunch Counter Reunion; Lorne encourage differet comic sensibilities; Child Psychologist; coming back in 1981; Eddie Murphy; Adam Sandler; Rosie helping to craft the Church Lady sketches with Dana Carvey; The Taboosters; writing sketches more graphic to bargain for what you really want; MSM goes to the Tracey Ullman Show; Sarah Silverman; MSM on lack of artistry on television; Rosie works on Larry Sanders; MSM writes for Carol Burnett; Rosie is a fan of Arte Madrid; watching SNL today; ageism in Hollywood; Paul Shaffer's genius; being "middle-aged"

Nat Bernstein joined me to talk bout guest starring on The Golden Girls; early TV memories; going out to LA after college on a whim; getting a PA job on Angie; taking acting class with Gordon Hunt; early appearances on Bosom Buddies, Taxi, Mork & Mindy and Hill Street Blues; getting s free hairpiece for Hill Street; appearances on Newhart and Night Court; different ways people get into show business; The Wonder Years; writing a Wonder Years spec script; paying it forward; writing Opportunity Knocks; writing for Baby Boom; getting Doogie Howser, MD; Neil Patrick Harris; Doogie loses his virginity; how the computer tag was the hardest part of the episode to write; being nominated for a Scott Newman Drug Awareness Award; Markus Redmond; James B. Sikking; selling CBS and ABC The Gregory Hines Show and Over the Top at the same time; Annie Potts and Tim Curry; Norman Lear; Bruce Vilanch; Center of the Universe with John Goodman; Ed Asner; Jean Smart; Olympia Dukakis; Judd Hirsch; Rev. Jim's driving test; working for Nickelodeon's Supah Ninja and for Brian Robbins; Jay Kogen; how hard it is to keep friends in Hollywood where you may be working on a different show every year

David Misch joins me to talk about directing Tales from the Darkside and Monsters; written humor; the Marx Brothers; being a funny folk singer; Sommerville; being managed by Rollins & Jaffe; Piper Houser; Jay Leno; Andy Breckman; Mork & Mindy; writing his first episode; Robin's ad-libs; writing the scenes on Happy Days for the Mork pilot; "Mork Gets Exposed", Jeff Altman; writing a pilot for a late night talk show with David Letterman; Letterman and Raquel Welch guest star on Mork; "The Mork Syndrome"; Gina Hecht & Jay Thomas; Exxidor; Police Squad comes from M Squad; "Ring of Fire"; Callahan; his two weeks as a guest writer on SNL; Larry David; smoking pot in the offices; Ed Bluestone; John Belushi's cameo on Police Squad; Jerry Lewis; Muppets Take Manhattan; Little Shop of Horrors; Funny the Book; the comedy rule of 3; comedy not getting its due; Robert Wuhl; Rick Moranis; Oscars; Duckman;