Ian Talks Comedy

Jerry Minor joined me to discuss his first memory of seeing Johnny Cash TV; the Detroit Lions; playing Michael Jackson's glove; being a Jehovah's Witness; proselytizing; leaving the Church and starting comedy; going to a show to try stand up; going to his first comedy show; working in Second City Detroit, Chicago, and Toronto and the similarities and differences; Mr. Show; being hired on SNL in 2000 and moved to cast when Tim Meadows leaves; Grandmaster Rap; working with Eminem on first show; impressions of Billy Dee Williams and Al Sharpton; working with Dana Carvey; the Tom Green episode, Mena Suvari; XFL delays Jennifer Lopez episode; Conan O' Brien; playing Sharpton to Darrell Hammond's Jesse Jackson; being let go; the problem of being the new guy; writing and the song "Somebody's Fucking My Lady" with Craig Robinson; Rodney Dangerfield; Martin Short Show; Anchorman; Abbott Elementary; Beer League; Lucky Louie; working with Louis CK; being in Funny People by Judd Apatow; guys named Jerry; being on the 1st season of Bob's Burgers; Brickleberry: Howard Stern; Yucko the Clown and JD; directing at Second City; SNL's 50th anniversary; David Cross inspires new podcasrt "Playing to the Back of the Room"

Kres Mersky and I discussed her name; starting acting at a local park at 14 and getting the bug; going to Beverly Hills High with Rob Reiner, Richard Dreyfus, and Julie Kavner; TV debut on Virginian; doing three episodes of Ironside; working with Carl Reiner in The Comic & Oh God!; working with Rob Reiner on the TV show which birthed Spinal Tap; doing a B motorcycle movie; skating in Holy Rollers and Charlies Angels; being in Won Ton Ton, the Dog that Saved Hollywood as Theda Bara; having most of her Charlies Angels scenes with Farrah Fawcett; having Richard Pryor discover her one woman show and putting an excerpt on his NBC variety show; appearing in Husbands, Wives and Lovers; guest starring on two classics, Taxi & Barney Miller; Stephanie a 1981 pilot starring Stephanie Faracy; being in the last movie directed by George Cukor; appearances on Open All Night and Ryan's Four; her most famous role as Wormser's mom in Revenge of the Nerds; guesting on Facts of Life and St. Elsewhere; focusing on family; writing and starring in a one woman play about Isadora Duncan; going back to do a Murder, She Wrote; writing and starring in a one woman play about Einstein's secretary; Nuts and Chews her many character play a la Lily Tomlin; doing Einstein research at Cal Tech; making a short film Rope, with her husband editor Paul Geretsen; and his making many commercials during COVID

Rick Mitchell joined me to discuss Carol recognizing him from TMZ; writing a performing speeches in his past ; it really not being that hard to write a good speech; giving a good speech requires you know your audience; this book can help save you from listening to bad speeches; differences in different religious weddings; worst speeches are graduation and bar mitzvah; not being Jewish and everyone thinking he is; taking a DNA test to find he's half Jewish; attending UC Davis; working at Second City and Improv Olympic; SNL being a big impetus; Norm MacDonald, Rodney Dangerfield, Mitch Hedberg, and George Carlin; his style; writing for Yakov Smirnoff; trying stand up after killing at his high school graduation; corporate gigs; his career at TMZ; writing monologues for Ellen; having her voice before being hired; her being from New Orleans; backstage gossip; what hurt her was always saying "be nice"; telling stories; guest hosts; Eugene & Dan Levy were hard; Wanda Sykes & Jennifer Anniston were easy; Robert Downey Jr, his favorite and Jason Sudeikis

Trace Baeulieu joined me to discuss his last name; riffing on teachers and film strips; his quick stint at Univ. at Minnesota; stand up; having a day job; being an opener; meeting Frank and Joel; joining for the second episode; all original episodes done in one day; not as many jokes in early days; Frank's an old soul, makes history and baseball references; Ground Zero; jokes for the group; audience feels smarter for getting jokes; Ed Platt; Peabody Award; Dennis Miller; Trace's cell phone; Jetsons; Comedy Central execs only came to Minnesota once; not having Comedy Central himself; Crow tattoos; my name; Freaks & Geeks; working with Joe Flaherty; SCTV; writing for Americas Funniest Home Video; being a fun job; Silly Rhymes for Belligerent Children; JD Salinger; Cinematic Titanic; conventions; Atheist convention; Sklar Brothers; not riffing on good movies; Godfather; Godfather III; Unforgiven; North by Northwest; slapstick comedy; Pee Wee's Big Adventure; Dr. Strangelove; Groucho; Jack Benny; doing a radio play in Chicago; his podcast; the Oscars; Inside Out; Harry Shearer; Harry Potter; Crow's voice; David Frye; Mads are Back

Stu Kreisman joined me to talk about stalking the original cast of SNL; writing for National Lampoon and Alan King ; SCTV; his two tours with Night Court (1984 - 1986, 1990 - 1992); Cheers; Newhart; Homeboys in Outer Space; Harry Anderson's and 1985 SNL monologue

Andy Goldberg & Wendy Cutler of the improv group Off the Wall joined me to discuss the founder, Dee Marcus; how they met her; the original members, Chris Thompson, Judy Pioli, and Joie Madigow; having four women and two men; Marc Sotkin and Robin Williams join; improv games; characters; Paul Willson, David Ruprecht, Phil Lamar, and John Ritter join and leave; Maryedith Burrell; Completely Off the Wall pilot loses to Fridays; appearances on The Dating Game, The Goodbye Girl, and Fernwood Tonight; Norman Lear's compliment; voiceover acting and looping; Super Loopers; Diary of a Young Comic with Richard Lewis; hanging out at Cantor's Deli; Garry Shandling, Bernadette Birkett, Archie Hahn, Tom Tully, and Harry Murphy join and leave; Ken Levine takes classes; 1985-1986 sketch comedy Off the Wall not affiliated even though Susan Elliot was a cast member; George Wendt; Laverne & Shirley; Dance Night; celebrity fans Bruce Willis, Sam Shepard, and Gene Hackman; appearing on An Evening at the Improv; having a monthly guest, including Chevy Chase; Wendy & Bob Perlow due gags on People Do the Craziest Things; Candid Camera; Edinburgh Festival; Puppetry of the Penis; Groundlings cross-pollination; his book, Improv Comedy and teaching Bryan Cranston

Dan Vitale joined me and discussed social media presence; attention he got from Marc Maron's podcast; Lorne Michaels seeing him; his audition for The New Show; his fluctuating weight from 1986 - 1991; Cobra Kai; streaming services give more content; Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Bill Burr & Louis CK; being Lorne Michaels protege; being funnier now than when he was "hot" in the '80's because he's off alcohol and drugs and older; being listed above Norm MacDonald as a SNL cast member in Rolling Stone; growing up in Island Park, Long Island; other famous Island Park residents including Al D'Amato and the basis for Tony Soprano; where he did stand up pre Covid; living through Covid and protests; going back to college and feeling like Johnny Lawrence from Cobra Kai; IPhones; Dave Attell, memories of Don Novello and Randy Quaid; wanting to know who from his cast was invited to the 40th anniversary; Joan Cusack; Anthony Michael Hall; Damon Wayans; Jon Lovitz; Nora Dunn; Dennis Miller; Danitra Vance; Terry Sweeney;  A Whitney Brown; Jim Downey; Franken & Davis; remembering the Madonna episode and the horrible week working with Chevy Chase; being with world's largest man Michael Hebrank (1100 lbs.) at the Brookhaven Rehabilitation Center; intermittent fasting; coming back for the Ron Reagan Jr. episode; residuals; current SNL; Baldwin's Trump vs. Carrey's Biden; Taran Killam; Darrell Hammond making SNL a civil service job; Alan Zweibel; and John Murray

Andy Hoglund joined me to discuss finding out about SNL through Wayne's World and Comedy Central reruns; my getting tapes mailed from Canada by Bronwyn Douwsma; going to Boston University; studying film; doing a term paper about how the original cast of SNL embodies the baby boomers; working for Sen. Ted Kennedy; writing an article about SNL movies and it going viral; his copy of the Shales / Miller SNL book being autographed by almost 100 cast members; first, by Dan Aykroyd, second by Colin Quinn; writing for Vulture; being asked to recap SNL's episodes for Entertainment Weekly; Don Pardo; Johnny Gilbert; meeting a lot of ex-cast members through stand up; Christopher Guest only one to not sign; Harry Shearer; Steve Martin & G.E. Smith only non cast members to sign; season 6 cast members Denny Dillon, Patrick Weathers, Matthew Laurence; Don Novello's friendship with Francis Ford Coppola; Peter Aykroyd; Mark McKinney and his work on Studio 60; KITH Brain Candy; Season 11; Fridays; Robin Duke, Jim Belushi, Mary Gross, and Kevin Kelton; Billy Crystal was the only time he sent the book away to be signed; Dana Carvey; Robert Carradine; Michael Davis; MST3K and Joel Hodgson; Anne Beatts; Yvonne Hudson; Brian Doyle-Murray; Adam Sandler; how Lorne Michaels has changed; me getting my picture with him; Colin Jost & Michael Che; Shari Lewis; and our friendships with the late Dan Vitale

Chris Regan joined me to discuss growing up in Central NY; 70's TV; enjoying black & white comedy movies; loving Monty Python; SNL; UK comedy; auditioning for David Frost; comedy aging poorly; Michael Davis; going to Ithaca College; being in a sketch troupe with Andy Daly and the Stangel Brothers; being a NYC comedian and mostly topical; going to a comedy club for the first time at 14; coming advertising; working for Nickelodeon; getting jokes on Weekend Update; Colin Quinn vouching for him to get a job on The Daily Show; political affiliation of late night writers; Gen X not getting a President; teaching; working on Talk Show with Spike Feresten and FOX's bungles; Lopez Tonight almost making him quit show business; Chuck Sklar; poker playing and pai gow; writing for Anthony Jeselnik and Greg Giraldo; first Family he worked on was the Simpsons crossover; his episode "Girl Internetted"; "Send in Stewie"; "Yacht Rockers"; Marjo Gortner; "Teacher's Heavy Petting"; the fun of writing for Chris Griffin; his relationship with Seth MacFarlane; Harry Shearer; the three Family Guy writing rooms; Family Guy references; new season; TV ratings and his new episode "Bring Up Brady" with Tom Brady coming next season

Elaine Aronson joined me to discuss 60's TV; growing up in Newton, Mass; going to college for dance; graduating from UCSB with a degree in dramatic arts w/o talking a drama class; teaching dance; being a secretary at Empire Pictures; writing scenes for child actors; getting Ron Zimmerman as a mentor; writing a spec Molly Dodd; getting hired on It's the Garry Shandling Show; first episode is Gilda Radner episode; strike happens and goes back to being a waitress; "Save Mr. Peck's" an all guest star episode; "Worry Wort"; how an episode doesn't start with tricks; moving to Night Court; Phil / Will; meeting Bill Clinton; writing the final episode and 30 Rock redoing it; doing Doogie Howser, MD; the Bochco method; having an ear infection and not being able to hear when having to interview deaf actresses; meeting her husband, Curtis Armstrong; Gilbert Gottfried; Clinic Defense Alliance; working on Good Advice & Cybill; Christine Baranski; the failure of The Gregory Hines Show; Maggie; The Weber Show; That 80's Show; The Game; Mystery Girls; Project MC2; You, Me, Her; how mini rooms are not leading to young writers being able to later run shows; her pilot Kitty's Dish; long hours currently on The Gilded Age; Long Island sets; Curtis' taping American Dad; Moonlighting