Ian Talks Comedy

Rich Halke and William Lucas Walker joined me to talk about their influences (William - Dick Van Dyke & Gilligan's Island and Rich HBO Comedy Hours); family members and friends who are funnier than you; Rich Rosenstock; David Lloyd & Jay Sandrich; how writing for The Jackie Thomas Show got William a job on Roseanne; Norm MacDonald; the Gilligans Island - Roseanne mash up; starting Sundays at 7; Rich meets Carmen Finestra; Eddie Maxwell; Fred Fox Sr,; George Balzer; Sidney Resnick and the importance of family; bringing a baby to the Friars Club; Leonard Stern; Carl Reiner tells many stories, one about Danny Simon's sons head size; Treva Silverman; the genesis of The Mary Tyler Moore Show;  Treva saves the day on MTM many times and gives great notes; Bob Carroll and Marilyn Pugh Davis; Korby Siamis & Tom Fontana influence Bill; Rich helps start the Television Academy Interview webpage; William talks about working with June Lockhart & Milton Berle; William's Frasier episode Roz's Krantz & Gouldenstein Are Dead; James Earl Jones; Irma Kalish writes Maude's abortion, Bob Newhart nixes one on his show; Garry Marshall; Michelle Pfeiffer's hands; Ed Asner; David Lloyd saves Frasier; Allan Burns, Treva Silverman saves Kathleen Turner; Home Improvement's pilot; casting decisions; Michael Fishman; Glenn Quinn; how to write a spec script; what these dinners mean to them.

Vic Kaplan joined me to talk about going to NYU, working at World News Tonight, Three's Company pilot; Dick Clark Live Wednesday; Fridays; producing stand up specials for Billy Crystal, Garry Shandling, and Robin Williams; It's Garry Shandling Show; Out of this World; doing comedy specials with Harry Anderson, Dennis Miller, Richard Lewis & Penn & Teller; Lookwell; Roc; Get Smart '95; joining Ellen for the Puppy Episode, working with Mary Tyler Moore, Ron White, and Louis CK; KC Undercover

SNL writers David Mandel, Lew Morton, and Steve Koren joined SNL archivist James Stephens and myself to discuss being the SNL era wrote about least; Al Franken mentoring Dave; learning how much politics to put in a sketch; Ross Perot; Steve Koren's progression to writer; Morwenna Banks; being in a sketch with Bill Murray; Honker meets Canteen Boy; Farley writes a sketch; Lunch Lady Land; being an extra in a monologue; NBA  sketch with Martin Lawrence; Red Hooded Sweatshirt; Joe Dicso; February 1993 star-studded lineups; sneaking into Paul McCartney's rehearsal; Herb Sargent; Weekend Update writing breakfast; Norm MacDonald; Jim Downey; Swayze v. Farley Chppendales; Jack Handey; Tuesday night stress; Wednesday read-through; producing your sketch; watching your sketch live; trimming lines; rewriting a monologue between dress and air; Eddie Vedder pitches Operaman's evil twin; You put your weed in there; Musicians to Explain Whitewater; Michael McKean; Taxi Driver: The Musical; Bob Evans Show; the nightmare Sarah Jessica Parker episode; Massapequa Goodfellas; Ian Maxtone-Graham; Jim Carrey: Hot Tub Lifeguard; Elevator Etiquette;  Bob Newhart; Monday pitch meetings; It's a Wonderful Newt; Quentin Tarantino's Welcome Back Kotter; John Travolta episode; Grease Goodnights; Planet of the Apes (Charlton Heston); Bob Newhart Goodnights; George Foreman as Hulk; Q & A monologues; George Wendt / Francis Ford Coppola episode; Charles Grodin episode; sketches that never got on; watching the show now; watching with your kids; leaving the show; hearing your jokes or bits repeated;Perspectives; Rock for Michael; celebrity impersonations; story first

Carl Gottlieb spoke to me about childhood radio and TV memories;  growing up in post WWII Manhattan; going to Syracuse University with Larry Hankin and Frank Langella; joining the Committee; making A Session with the Committee; writing for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour; winning the Emmy for a great sketch involving David Frye and Liberace; Music Scene with Groucho Marx; The Ken Berry WOW show; Flip Wilson specials; writing commercial parodies for the first three SNL's; Sammy & Company; The Absent Minded Waiter gets Carl an Oscar nomination; The Jerk; Mork & Mindy; Dr. Detroit; working with Dan Aykroyd and Howard Hesseman; The George Burns Comedy Week; being on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson; Morton & Hayes; Carl's Rules for Life

Actor, writer, producer, comedian Michael Elias joined me to discuss his new book, You Can Go Now; his fifty year friendship with Steve Martin; collaborating on Steve's stand up act and The Jerk; how Mike Nichols was supposed to direct The Jerk; how Carl Reiner changed The Jerk; Steves ad libs; Bernadette Peters; Bill Macy; a cut scene; childhood watching TV through a shop window; working as a busboy in the Catskills in the summer; forming a comedy team with Frank Shaw; appearing with The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson; how that shot got him a writing job; appearing on Playboy After Dark with Jerry Garcia; Head of the Class; The Frisco Kid; Black Bart; All's Fair; Szynyck; why Ned Beatty and Howard Hesseman were tough to work with; ABC demanding a change in Head of the Class cast in order to get fifth season; Billy Connolly; Tall Hopes with Terrence Howard; getting bumped from the Ed Sullivan Show; working with Milton Berle, Bob Hope, and George Burns; Strother Martin; Co-Ed Fever; Scared Silly; The American Snitch; Beaches; Garry Marshall; Young Doctors in Love; Hector Elizondo; Serial; performing in The Living Theater; being in The Brig off-off Broadway and in the film; Mark Lane; Dick Gregory; Dave Davies; Harry Shearer; Bob Einstein's Another Fine Mess; Lush Life;

Mr. Elias book can be purschased at https://www.amazon.com/You-Can-Go-Home-Now/dp/0062954164/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=you+can+go+now&qid=1621023854&sr=8-2

Sean Kelly talked with me about Between the Lions; comic books; radio comedy; being on early TV in Canada and making him jaded to TV; being on Saturday Night Live for two weeks; Jean Doumanian; Michel Choquette getting him on the Lampoon; Bruce McCall; Canada: The Re&$2!&! Neighbor on Your Doorstep; Beaverton: Canada's humor magazine; Canadian jokes; Son O'God Comix; Zimmerman; his son, writer Chris Kelly; Matty Simmons believing tits sell magazines; National Lampoon Radio Hour; John Belushi, Brian McConnachie, George Trow, and Christopher Guest join the Radio Hour; Well Intentioned Blues; writing Lemmings with Tony Hendra; hiring Chevy Chase; Zal Yanovsky tries to kill Chevy; Chevy permanently disfigures Alice Playten; Doug Kenney; Henry Bear; Michael O'Donoghue; Tony Hendra; Brian McConnachie; at a certain age everyone's Jewish; Paul Jacobs; growing old; seeing Christopher Plummer at 17 and working with him 30 years later; Harvey Weinstein; Robert Downey Sr; Jim Downey; Sam Gross; Al Jean & Mike Reiss; Fred Graver & Kevin Curran; Ted Mann & Tod Carroll; Disco Beaver from Outer Space; Steve Martin: All Commercials; Paul Reubens & Gilbert Gottfried's SNL auditions; Ferris Butler, and some anecdotes of the problems of Saturday Night Live '80.

Andy Breckman joined me to guess whether I was a vaginal of Casearean birth; his early childhood; only being allowed to watch one show a week on TV; realizing re never had to go to school again and leaving BU; going to LA and becoming a funny folk singer; transitioning into writing; Kevin Kelton;writing Hot Hero Sandwich; being turned down by SNL in 1980; how the SNL audition packet got him the attention of Merrill Markoe; pulling an all-nighter for his Letterman packet; going through his 13 week cycle without getting anything on the air; first joke that got on Letterman; writing a bit that bombed with Jim Downey; leaving Letterman for SNL after a year and a half; writing Dutch Couple for Eddie Murphy; why its bad for writers to get credit for sketches; Larry's Corner with milk through the nose; Winston University; The Bulge; White Like Me; Mr. Monopoly; Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, and Jan Hooks' first sketch - Andy's Psychic on a Game Show sketch; Mike Myers joins the Crips; Japanese Game Show; his feud with Don McLean; his song Railroad Bill; The Misery Index; Monk; Tippy Turtle;

Denny Johnston joined me to talk about starting out as a folk singer; writing his first act; early insights on Letterman, Robin Williams, and Michael Keaton; The Merv Griffin Show; him doing the funniest thing I ever saw on panel on The Jim Nabors Show; getting on The Tonight Show but not with Johnny; Chevy Chase & Friends; All Commercials . . .A Steve Martin Special; Dirty Dirty Jokes; retiring from stand up and the Moderna vaccine

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Bob joined me to talk about his favorite TV shows growing up; not being a TV addict; USF leading to a job in news, The Guiding Light, working at Radio City Music Hall; writing a telenovela in Mexico; Night Court: writing the episodes "Death of A Bailiff" and "Hart of Stone", writing for Roz, Dan Fielding, John Astin (Buddy) and Will Utay; writing the episode "Crossroads"; writing of Good & Evil; how thirteen episodes were written and only 11 filmed; how Mark Blankfield's character angered the sightless; how comedy can hit close to home; working with Don Rickles on Daddy Dearest; Boogies Diner; Kirk; today's ratings; Social Studies and working with Julia Duffy; Night Stand with Dick Dietrich (Tim Stack); The Wrong Coast; Quackerz; bringing Married..with Children to Russia; Scorpions; and working with Stan Lee for over 20 years on The Last Resort.