Writer, Michael Elias, talks about growing up in the Catskills, where you had to make your money in the summer to survive the winter, and how that created a lot of tension. He also talks about taking acting classes, dealing with being an actor, and how acting helped him build scenes and characters. He talks about working for Glen Campbell without realizing how talented he was. He discusses his book Benders, L.A. and talks about going to Plato's Retreat and not scoring. He talks about Steve Martin and how The Frisco Kid was not what he originally thought it would be. It was originally supposed to be directed by Mike Nichols and star John Wayne. Carl Reiner may have made The Jerk better. Garry Marshall made Young Doctors in Love better, but some movies simply don’t turn out the way you want them to. Michael wants people to know that Jews were all over the West and that minorities helped build this country. He says there was always a hangout somewhere. Mel Brooks was an egalitarian. Michael talks about having many writing partners, including Arnie Kogen, Rich Eustis, and Frank Shaw. He talks about getting kicked off The Ed Sullivan Show, writing for The Tonight Show, and learning from Neil Simon and Ed Weinberger.  He wishes he could tell his mother what’s going on in his life now and imagines writing letters to her today. He also talks about giving yourself permission to stop reading books halfway through. He remembers me playing with the microphone at my bar mitzvah. He talks about paying rent at forty-two dollars a month while working as a substitute teacher. His father, a doctor, never really understood what he did until he saw the pilot of Head of the Class. Howard Hesseman had demands even though he was about to be fired.

Bio: Michael Elias grew up in the Catskill Mountains, a Red Diaper Borscht Belt Baby in a world of artists, intellectuals, tumlers, folk singers, boxers, and Jewish gangsters, some of whom sleep at the bottom of Loch Sheldrake. His childhood heroes were Jerry Lewis, Harry Belafonte, Rocky Marciano, and Abe ‘Kid Twist’ Reles. Educated in the classics at St. John’s College, Elias took his knowledge of ancient Greek and philosophy to New York, trained at the Actors Studio, acted in The Living Theatre, La MaMa and the Judson Poets Theatre. From there Elias and Frank Shaw dove into the world of stand-up comedy, playing coffee shops, night clubs, with five stints on The Tonight Show. Fired from Ed Sullivan they abandoned the act and came to Hollywood where he and Shaw wrote sit-coms, variety shows, and The Frisco Kid. After parting ways, Elias participated in the anti-Vietnam War movement, earned a subpoena from a Nixon grand jury, and teamed up with Rich Eustis and created Head of the Class. Elias continues to write novels and screenplays in Los Angeles, where he lives with his wife Bianca Roberts and their dachshund Mabel.

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