Ian Talks Comedy
219 episodes - English - Latest episode: 7 days ago -Join NYC teacher and former stand up comedian Ian Fermaglich as he talks comedy with some of comedy's best.
Homepage Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
Comedian Ivan Decker
April 13, 2024 13:00 - 55 minutes - 51 MBIvan Decker and I discuss his Netflix special; his current You tube special Popcorn; your wife asking you to get something that's closer to her; his son; grandparents; the frenulum; being behind on comedy in Canada; Paul F. Tompkins; debuting as a 16 year old doing Mitch Hedberg; being booed off stage; me seeing Carlin booed off stage; the internet allowing you to know who a comedian is before you see them; my standup career; calling comedy clubs; hunting for jokes; laughing during situation...
Robert Wolterstorff (creator, Street Hawk; Quantum Leap)
April 06, 2024 13:00 - 53 minutes - 49.5 MBRobert Wolterstorff joined me to discuss being mentored by Norman Lear; a quick overview of his career; going to SFSU; being mentored by Norman Lear; selling a Good Times; going to work on the Jeffersons; turning down a chance to write / produce the Incredible Hulk; his pilot Pen 'n' Ink aided by Louis Schwartzberg; doing a college interview for Benjamin Spock for President that got picked up by PBS; Jeffersons episodes; befriending Roxie Roker and her husband Sy Kravitz; Jeffersons writer's...
Debra Frank (Moonlighting, Wonder Years)
March 30, 2024 13:00 - 1 hour - 61.2 MBDebra Frank joined me to discuss Sky King; wanting to be Mary Tyler Moore and he Girl from Uncle; being an extra in WUSA and meeting Paul Newman; dreaming of being in Perry Mason; being a tour guide at Universal; doin a Columbo impression on The Peoples Choice Awards; doing theatre and having a lot of downtime; writing a spec Rhoda script and a female Woody Allen film; being a stand in for Kathleen Quinlan and playing a leper in I Never Promised You a Rose Garden; being Louise Lasser's dialo...
Jim Pankovits (6 years in MLB, played in Game 6 of 1986 NLCS)
March 23, 2024 13:00 - 54 minutes - 50.9 MBJim Pankovits discussed with me his father teaching him the game; being a catcher made him know all parts of the game; Doug Rader; watching the Braves; playing and losing the Little League and College World Series; Ed Lynch; getting drafted and moving to second base; minor league travel horror story; getting called up; his first major league hit; the pitchers he went deep off of; facing Dwight Gooden, Orel Hershiser, Steve Carlton; catching Nolan Ryan; facing Fernando Valenzuela; playing for...
Babs Greyhosky (Magnum P.I., Riptide, A-Team)
March 16, 2024 13:00 - 44 minutes - 40.9 MBBabs Greyhosky joined me to discuss her love of early sitcoms; her and her father watching The Rockford Files; always wanting to be a writer; having a family friend in Don Bellasario; wrote spec scripts as a substitute teacher; moved to LA and became a secretary for Battlestar Galactica writers; typed pilot of Magnum, PI; humor; first assignment; her name; memorable episodes; stories the king; Greatest American Hero asked to write wedding episode and another fan favorite; Bill Culp; how writ...
Doug Sivco (SNL key page 1980-1981, newcaster)
March 09, 2024 14:00 - 37 minutes - 34.6 MBDoug Sivco discussed early kids TV; watching SNL in high school; going to Rutgers and being on the radio; trying out to be an NBC page; NBC Nightly News; Space Shuttle Columbia; Election 1980; literally bumping into to Ted Kennedy; Letterman morning show; getting the job at SNL; taking messages for the cast; remembering hosts Elliot Gould, Chevy Chase, and Rodney Dangerfield; Burt Reynolds saves his butt; getting his brother in almost every week; carrying out Mick Jagger; escorting out Debor...
Aubrey Solomon (Quincy, Ice Age 5)
March 02, 2024 14:00 - 1 hour - 58.4 MBAubrey Solomon and I discussed being born in Canada; not watching TV since the 1960's; going to USC; his movie, The Klutz; working on the tv show The Art of Film; working on the TV show That's Hollywood and using his thesis on 20th Century Fox; he and his partner Steve Greenberg are asked to write a spec script about MLK & JFK; it gets to Jack Klugman; they pitch him an episode he likes; they get hired and moved up to story editors in the same season because they worked fast; Klugman ran the...
Jay Johnson (Soap, Broadway's The Two and Only)
February 24, 2024 14:00 - 1 hour - 59.6 MBJay Johnson talks to me about being introduced to puppetry by Ricky Layne and Velvel; starting with his cousins Jerry Mahoney doll at 11; having dyslexia; reading scripts; doing 918 shows the summer after high school at Six Flags in Georgia; hiss first puppet, Squeaky; working Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs in Texas; going to college for marketing; finding Edgar Bergen's trunk; Bob is in the Smithsonian; being friends for 40 plus years with Harry Anderson; surviving Reno with Harry; his 7 foot pa...
Larry Mollin (CHiPs, Beverly Hills, 90210)
February 17, 2024 14:00 - 1 hour - 55.5 MBLarry Mollin joined me to talk black and white TV; going to Georgetown to study foreign service; going into acting in summer stock with Jeffrey Kramer and Marty Nadler; transferring to Ithaca College; going to Canada where they paid artists; touring Canada's schools and prisons; Santa Jaws leads to a three-album deal; being a roadie for Blood, Sweat & Tears; being friends with the Second City crew; Dan Aykroyd; getting heckled by and destroying Lorne Michaels; his CBC series "Workday"; Disas...
Susan Lanier (The Hills Have Eyes, Welcome Back Kotter)
February 10, 2024 14:00 - 55 minutes - 51.6 MBSusan Lanier and I discuss MLB manager Hal Lanier; her song, "On the Way to Woodstock"; watching "The Miss America Pageant"; growing up in Dallas; being a DJ at 14; studying with Uta Hagen; acting in the film The Pickle Goes in the Middle; doing non-Union movies in NYC with Warhol and Putney Swope directed by Robert Downey, Sr.; going to LA and getting cast on Happy Days; not knowing the current stars; turning down an audition for SNL; Welcome Back Kotter; doing Night of the Iguana with Tenn...
Jonathan Rosen (host of the Retro Pop Culture Podcast)
February 03, 2024 14:00 - 36 minutes - 33.7 MBPodcaster / author Jonathan Rosen joined me to discuss growing up watching TV with his family; being a teacher; not wanting to be in show business; being an author of children's author; writing a blog about nostalgia; meeting his co-host Ike Eisenman; his guest want list; landlines; Kim Richards; guests Paul Williams and Meeno Peluce; crushes Cher, Lisa Whelchel, Audrey Landers; leaving things off you want to talk about; musical guests; guests he wouldn't have; guests who pass away after you...
Julie Larson (Dharma and Greg, The Drew Carey Show)
January 27, 2024 14:00 - 1 hour - 56.4 MBJulie Larson discusses growing up in Geneva Illinois; Mike Royko; her dad being her greatest comedy influence; growing up in a crowded house; southern sitcoms on the 1960's; Rose Marie; moving to Chicago in 1980; taking classes at Second City; moving to L.A. in 1984; becoming a Comedy Store Player; meeting Colin Mochrie & Ryan Stiles; performing with them at night while working for a law firm in the day; being asked to do improv in an Irish festival; meeting the co-creator of Dharma & Greg t...
Sal Viscuso (Soap, MASH, Barney Miller)
January 20, 2024 14:00 - 57 minutes - 52.9 MBSal discusses growing up in Brooklyn and having TV and movies be his safe space; Catholic school; moving to California at age 12; going to public school; joining the drama department at UC Davis; studying at NYU under Olympia Dukakis; doing a few commercials and The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3 in New York; moving to LA and getting a role in The Montefuscos; The Montefuscos getting canceled; doing Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman; how being nice to a kid at an Elvis Costello concert got him booked on Th...
Markus Jennings SNL Superfan & Facebook Administrator
January 13, 2024 14:00 - 1 hour - 56.2 MBMarkus Jennings and I discuss our mutual love for Saturday Night Live; Chris Farley; Jim Downey; getting tickets; my episode backstage; Chris Elliot; how he can't have a favorite episode; my favorite episodes; favorite cast; impressionists JAJ, Dana, Phil, and Joe Piscopo's versions of the same people; favorite musical guests; cast members; and trivia
Rick Mischel (Animation Producer, Studio Head)
January 06, 2024 14:00 - 34 minutes - 32.1 MBRick Mischel and I discuss being native NYers; growing up on film; went into law entertainment; read scripts at Electric Pictures; becoming Senior VP of Acquisitions for Live Entertainment; FHE; producing Suicide Kings; becoming President of Harvey Entertainment licensing Casper & Richie Rich; Mainframe CGI creates DVD films (Max Steele); Reach Games; Sony hires him to create a features studio; Hotel Transylvania, Open Season and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs tv series; Spiderman animate...
Sparky Marcus Issogilo (child actor, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Grandpa Goes to Washington)
December 30, 2023 14:00 - 49 minutes - 46.1 MBFormer child actor Sparky Marcus (Issoglio) discusses the origins of his name; being on TV before watching it; first job a McDonalds commercial at 3 1/2; being a SAG member; working on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman; playing a child evangelical preacher; being spanked by Dabney Coleman; Freaky Friday; working with actors who don't like children; not liking to watch himself; not remembering being on a Carl Reiner sitcom; going on AM LA in 1976; meeting George Lucas on the set of The Bob Newhart S...
Covers for Christmas
December 23, 2023 14:00 - 34 minutes - 31.7 MBCovers of some of the most famous songs by people you didn't think would do it: Sammy Davis Jr, Jack Albertson, Carroll O'Connor, Glenn Close, Terry Bradshaw; Jim Nabors, George Burns, Frank Sinatra, and Tiny Tim
Kenneth Tigar (Barney Miller, Night Court, Just One of the Guys)
December 16, 2023 14:00 - 1 hour - 60.3 MBKenneth Tigar joined me and discussed the pronunciation of his last name; his favorite radio shows; hist first TV; watching Requiem for a Heavyweight; Norman Lloyd; acting was just a hobby; getting a PhD in German from Harvard; translated Brecht plays into English; working on The Proposition improv troupe and Broadway show with Judy Kahan, Paul Kreppel; and Fred Grandy; leaving the Proposition to write his dissertation; his first theatre and television roles have been playing Germans; most r...
Dave Konig (comedian, actor, 3 time Emmy winner)
December 09, 2023 14:00 - 1 hour - 64.3 MBI talk to comedian / actor Dave Konig on working with The State; Jon Stewart; Kevin Meaney; Gilbert Gottfried; appearing on Subway Q & A, Hardcore TV;, Law and Order, The Apprentice, Louie, Crashing, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; the schedule for comedians on cruises and shooting a Dry Bar Comedy Special
Neal Marshad (Producer / DP, Schiller's Reels SNL; Johnny Walker Comedy Search)
December 02, 2023 19:45 - 56 minutes - 52.3 MBNeal Marshad joins me to talk about his father, a graphic artist for Look Magazine; living near a movie theater; learning how to film high school football games; 16 mm vs. the split 8 cameras; going to film school with Leonard Maltin; his editing and documentary professors at NYU; is first documentary, "Sculpture by Isaac Witkin"; working friendship with Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara; creating commercials for NYC with comedians; meeting Tom Schiller; having Bill Murray in his office to tape t...
Eddie Deezen and Impressionist Zach W. Arnold
November 25, 2023 14:00 - 1 hour - 66.3 MBEddie Deezen joins me to discuss 1941; working with Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, and Christopher Lee; Midnight Madness and tough night shoots; loving most of the cast; doing a pilot with Ally Sheedy that didn't get picked up; doing a back door pilot on The Facts of Life; co-starring on Punky Brewster; going to The Tonight Show and getting his foot run over by Paul McCartney; Beverly Hills Vamp with Britt Eckland, Tim Conway Jr., and Pat McCormick; playing the ponies; starting as a standup at t...
Brian Kiley (comedian, 27 years as writer for Conan O'Brien)
November 18, 2023 14:00 - 55 minutes - 51.7 MBBrian Kiley discusses growing up in comedy rich Newton, Massachusetts; his comedy influences - Bob Newhart and Woody Allen; not always being a clean comic; not getting an HBO comedy special as a dirty comic; realizing he needs to be a clean comic to get on Johnny Carson; being clean leads to jobs as an opener; 1985 gig on Boston cable; never did Carson, took 17 years to get to Letterman; TV debut on CBS' Morning Program; Johnny Walker Comedy Showcase; other contestants; being a finalist with...
Christian Bladt (host Bladtcast / Who are These Broadcasters?, SNL writer/intern/page)
November 11, 2023 14:00 - 1 hour - 62.2 MBChristian Bladt joined me to discuss growing up in small town New York; early Saturday morning cartoons, including Hickory Hideout; growing up with SNL in the late 80's; Nick at Nite 30-minute episodes and later 60 minute Comedy Central episodes, still watching; the 85-86 cast; Mary Gross; going to Marist College, interning at Conan O'Brien; meeting Amy Poehler & Robert Smigel; easy to get tickets for Conan; went to an SNL dress rehearsal in 1997; became a page week Norm was replaced by Coli...
Steve Stoliar (author "Raised Eyebrows", "Salamis & Swastikas", television writer)
November 04, 2023 13:00 - 1 hour - 63.7 MB"Raised Eyebrows" author Steve Stoliar joined me to discuss silent film comedians; Universal horror monsters; The Three Stooges; how The Marx Brothers were the best; becoming his secretary and archivist; meeting Groucho's friends; going to UCLA to study history and hanged to television; saw decline and fall of Groucho in person as well as rage-ridden Erin Fleming; saving all his witticisms; his book comes out and is now going to be a motion picture; 1972 - he tries at UCLA to get Animal Crac...
Michael Mann (actor All in the Family / Ernie Kovacs / Joe & Mabel)
October 28, 2023 13:00 - 40 minutes - 37.8 MBMichael Mann discusses the other Michael Mann; starting on radio before listening to it; recreating Charlotte's Web on the radio show Let's Pretend; his mom getting him into modeling at 5; a newspaper write up from 1952; performing on Broadway with Bette Davis in Two's Company; performing a portion of the show on Ed Sullivan; working with Lon Chaney, Jr. on a infamous 1952 adaptation of Frankenstein; playing Perry Como's son on his show; appearing in a play One Borrowed Time with Jean Lockha...
Gary H Miller (Bosom Buddies / Fresh Prince / Gimme A Break)
October 21, 2023 13:00 - 57 minutes - 53 MBGary H. Miller and I discuss Sergeant Bilko and showing Phil Silvers to Will Smith; not hearing TV due to elevated trains; new screenplay about growing up 1961; being a Brooklyn bred Yankees fan; being a teacher to get out of Vietnam; turmoil today vs. the 1960's; instant TV feedback; getting complete opposite reactions from one episode of Bosom Buddies; going to LA; writing a spec MASH; writing Fred Silverman and getting an assignment on Laverne & Shirley; writes an episode about alcoholism...
George Schlatter
October 14, 2023 13:00 - 56 minutes - 52.5 MBGeorge joins me to talk about his favorite radio programs; growing up with music; moving to Las Vegas; Sammy Davis, Jr; his wife, Jolene Brand; Ernie Kovacs; his biggest talent is to make things funny; inventing the Vegas lounge act; working on The Dinah Shore Show; Fat Jack Leonard; new comedians and brighter colors; can talk about many different topics like sex and politics; laughter is a panacea; taping Al Hirt on a high rise next to a dead man; origins of Laugh-In; predicting Reagan's pr...
Michael J. Weithorn (writer Family Ties / creator King of Queens)
October 07, 2023 13:00 - 1 hour - 67.1 MBMichael J. Weithorn joined me to discuss growing up in Rego Park; the blackout of 1965; his favorite series Dick Van Dyke, Get Smart, and Laugh-In; watching the original SNL in college; going to Swarthmore and having no idea how to get into show business; moving to California right after graduation and teaching for three years; impressing Arnold Margolin who helped him get an agent; writing a freelance script for Benson even though he didn't now Benson's job; his first job on Making the Grad...
Rachel Saya Jacobson (writer / producer Desus & Mero)
September 30, 2023 13:00 - 55 minutes - 51.6 MBRachel Saya Jacobson joined me to discuss her tweets, early influences including Laurel & Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, and vaudeville; always performing and creating; Kurt Vonnegut; going to The Tonight Show offices and seeing that's what she wants to do; the immediacy of late night; having a Jewish comedy writer dad and a Japanese mom; her father's always doing bits; going to Emerson; writing for the Hyena, its satirical newspaper; writers room vs. the isolation of writing alone; her duties as a...
Chip Keyes (Gimme A Break, Valerie / Hogan Family, Shaky Ground)
September 23, 2023 13:00 - 1 hour - 95.5 MBChip Keyes joined me to discuss Chip being a nickname for William, his mother being a working woman during the war; watching Howdy Doody & The Mickey Mouse Club and wanting to be in to show business; watching Disney and westerns; getting his comedy from his mother's sharp tongue; the influence of The Dick Van Dyke Show; his love of Maverick and James Garner; writing his first sketch in eighth grade; Laugh In becomes a hit and he sees Second City as a way to make sketch performing a career; f...
Stacii (Cabaret Artist, Singer)
September 16, 2023 13:00 - 43 minutes - 39.9 MBStacii the Drag Artist joined me to discuss her journey; starting to sing in school; incorporating drag; constant performing; taking voice lessons; producing her own show; writing a one person show; her show at Sparkle; singing in French, pre-school; stage fright; being judged by Willam and Alaska from Rupaul's Drag Race; her first show My Quarter Life Crisis; makeup and drag time requirements; first time seeing drag; didn't know women could do drag; Broadway shows; wanting to do songs from ...
Ed Berenhaus (NBC page 1975-1977 (SNL, Tomorrow Show), Nick at Nite, Joan Rivers Show)
September 09, 2023 13:00 - 1 hour - 61.7 MBEd Berenhaus joined me to discuss his influences: Jack Benny, Sonny Fox, Chuck McCann, Soupy Sales, Jay Ward; seeing the Beatles at Shea Stadium and being able to hear them; going to Stony Brook University to be a director but segueing to TV and radio; the many rock acts he saw; growing up in Kew Gardens and having Art Garfunkel's school dictionary; becoming an NBC page when befriended by Cousin Brucie; giving the NBC tour; working with Sonny Fox on NBC children's programming; working on Sat...
Bruce Ferber (author, I Buried Paul; writer / producer Duet, Home Improvement)
September 02, 2023 13:00 - 51 minutes - 47.6 MBBruce Ferber and I discuss reading sports books as a kid; Thomas Wolffe; attending a summer writing session at Andover while in high school; Phillip Roth; Woody Allen; publishers don't like comic novels; the genesis of his novel "I Buried Paul"; meeting struggling musicians without an outlet; session musicians; there are less crappy sitcoms on now; his book "Elevating Oberman" and subsequent tour; "Cascade Falls" and cookie cutter architecture; "The Way We Work" reveals show business from al...
Randall Kleiser (Grease, Blue Lagoon, Flight of the Navigator)
August 26, 2023 13:00 - 39 minutes - 36.5 MBDirector Randall Kleiser joined me to discuss his drawing style; his latest work Drawing Directors; Quentin Tarantino; Robert Altman; getting inspiration from other directors; Spike Lee; Oppenheimer; Jerry Lewis; Nina Foch; earliest influence: "The Ten Commandments"; USC Dirty Dozen; "Captain America vs. the Mutant"; "Foot Fetish"; "Peege"; Bruce Davison; hiring the same actors in different projects; Marcus Welby, MD; Dawn; "Portrait of a Teenage Runaway"; "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble"; di...
Barry Blaustein
August 19, 2023 13:00 - 1 hour - 56 MBBarry Blaustein joined me to discuss watching political events of the early 1960's on a b/w TV; his comedy influences; going to school for broadcast journalism; "Broadcast News"; going to LA and getting jobs on specials; working on The Mike Douglas Show; submitting for SNL; Jean Doumanian asking him to write more, not doing it and getting hired anyway; the writing staff did not intimidate him; Elliot Gould and the Accordion Killer; Malcolm McDowell; Ellen Burstyn and Raheem Abdul Mohammad; h...
Jennifer Aspinall (Street Trash, SNL 1987-93, Mad TV 1995 - 2019)
August 12, 2023 13:00 - 59 minutes - 54.6 MBJennifer Aspinall joins me to discuss Universal horror movies; being shy, so stage makeup helped her; hired at a theater at 11; loving illusion; being on film sets at 18; being in front of the camera in Walk the Prank; playing a makeup artist on TV shows; starting out in film with "Playing for Time", "Vortex", and "The First Turn On!"; working on "Toxic Avenger"; gets hired from Metropolitan Opera House to SNL; would do roving special effects makeup; rotating number of artists, MAD TV allowe...
Deborah Paulmann (makeup artist SNL 84-89, 2000-05; Conan 2000 - 2019)
August 05, 2023 13:00 - 1 hour - 56.7 MBDeborah Paulmann joined me to discuss starting work in the makeup industry; not liking working in a salon; trying to get in the union; Bert Ruff; how the rules are different now; make-up is a dying art on the internet; SFX Youtubers; microblading; starting free lancing for Barbara Armstrong in 1978 and working exclusively at NBC for five years (1984 - 1989); going to As the World Turns, One Life to Live, then Another World, came back to NBC in 2000 and stayed to 2010; first regular job at NB...
Steve O'Donnell
July 29, 2023 18:45 - 1 hour - 73.7 MBSteve O'Donnell joined me to discuss Mike Chisholm; stand up; Sarah Silverman; Norm MacDonald loving to tell comic road stories; Massapequa; Jerry Seinfeld; Carson Daly; Larry Jacobson & Groucho; Edward Everett Horton; Jim Norton; Jim Gaffigan; Jackie "The Joke Man' Martling; hating 50's stand-ups; Shelley Berman; Jack Carter; older Rickles on Kimmel; Pat Cooper; David Brenner; Regis Philbin; using his actual gym teacher on Letterman; Norm's impressions; interview with Jane Fonda; Norm's Cli...
Mark Reisman (writer / producer Frasier, Sydney to the Max, Summer Rental)
July 22, 2023 23:00 - 1 hour - 60.8 MBMark Resiman joined me to discuss the brilliance of the Dick Van Dyke Show and working with Carl Reiner on "Summer Rental"; meeting Woody Allen as a teenager; Robert Klein and Rodney Dangerfield; seeing Don Rickles live as a teenager; going to Boston University; getting a job writing jokes for a birthday party comedy album and having it lead to writing for David Steinberg; getting hired for the last four episodes of season six of Saturday Night Live; becoming partners with Jeremy Stevens; wri...
William S. Bickley ( show runner, first 2 seasons Happy Days; creator - Family Matters)
July 15, 2023 13:00 - 1 hour - 68.2 MBWilliam S. Bickley joined me to discuss faking watching television; watching Liberace with his grandparents; finally getting television and watching anything; family sitcoms were an escape from an abusive home life; going to Baylor University to study English; being a Naval Aviator for a year; being confused for another Bill Bickley; forming a correspondence with Arnold Margolin that allowed him to pitch for Love, American Style; gaining a quick reputation; getting taken under Garry Marshall...
Arthur Meyer Returns
July 08, 2023 13:00 - 1 hour - 56.6 MBArthur Meyers joins me to discuss Ted Cruz's odd Eddie Murphy obsession; the reasons for the WGA Strike; AI; trying to create through AI a short story about if Hitler's name was Steve; AI can't deliver lines like Chris Farley or Mitch Hedberg; having a cold; me losing an episode with Dave Thomas; getting rid of credits; minirooms make show runners jobs harder and employ less writers; studios propose annual meetings to discuss AI; Lorne Michaels; SNL's 50th Anniversary; being a seat filler fo...
Kevin C. Haney (Oscar winning Makeup Artist -Driving Miss Daisy, SNL 1979 - 1985)
July 01, 2023 13:00 - 1 hour - 58.7 MBOscar winning makeup artist Kevin Haney joined me to discuss growing up in Cinncinnati; watching monster movies but not being a fan of gore; working with Rick Baker and seeing Tom Savini while at Letterman; getting busted walking the streets as Frankenstein as a teenager; being cast in The Wizard of Oz but being enthralled by the old age makeup more than acting; reading Dick Smith's makeup book; being the makeup man his senior year of high school; doing makeup for the Ohio State production o...
Barbara Lieberman (film producer Saturday Night Live 1981 - 1985)
June 24, 2023 13:00 - 1 hour - 75.6 MBBarbara and I talk about her getting the job as film producer at Saturday Night Live; opening the 1981-82 season with Prose and Cons; The Khaddaffi Look; filming some of The Last Days of Silverman's Bunker; Jerry Lewis filming a movie that was never used; working with John Belushi pre-SNL; Babies in Makeup by Nelson Lyon; Fur: You Deserve It with a young Sela Ward; Jogger Motel; Seth Green and Bill Murray: what really happened; Man on the Street Films; George McGovern plays golf through the ...
Bob Christianson (musician, composer Gimme A Break, NHL themes; SNL Band backup keyboardist 1983 - 1986)
June 17, 2023 13:00 - 54 minutes - 50.8 MBBob Christianson joined me to talk about being the next Billy Joel; what it means to be a working composer; having Sgt. Pepper be his influence; going to SUNY Potsdam quitting student teaching; joining the Magic Show on Broadway; meeting and replacing Paul Shaffer in The Magic Show and Godspell; doing Gilda Live; performing "I Live to be Unhappy" with Gilda on Broadway; being in The Candy Slice Group; Doug Henning and Gilda Raner being private people; performing in the Broadway play Truckloa...
Brian Pollack (Cheers, Sledge Hammer!, Hollywood Squares)
June 10, 2023 13:00 - 1 hour - 61.7 MBBrian Pollack talked to me about his love for The Honeymooners and it's writer Leonard Stern; getting the job and working with Stern on Sledge Hammer!; writers on the picket line look so young; holding cue cards; working on the Horror Hall of Fame in 1974; writing for The Jim Nabors Show and Hollywood Squares at the same time; George Gobel; Rose Marie and Debbie Reynolds; subbing as Cher's cue card guy; "surprising" Paul Lynde for a TV show and finding him dead; Paul was hostile and anti-Sem...
Marc Jaffe (comedian, writer Seinfeld)
June 03, 2023 13:00 - 1 hour - 62.6 MBMarc Jaffe joined me to discuss living in Cleveland after Seinfeld; remembering his first TV; Winky Dink; Johnny Carson; liked to write funny things but was not always funny in class; making the teachers laugh; being influenced by Bill Cosby, Woody Allen, and Steve martin; writing for Garry Shandling and Paul Resier; finding his own voice; appearing on Evening at the Improv; easier to do short shots on TV; being a comedian is harder now; improvising what became "Bill & Ted" with Ed Solomon &...
James Patrick Dunne (writer Happy Days; songwriter "Do the Fonzie", "Pumps Your Blood"; Whitney Houston, Kenny Rogers)
May 27, 2023 13:00 - 50 minutes - 46.7 MBJames Patrick Dunne joined me and talked about growing up on the same blok with David Hasselhoff; how music drew him in; making piano records in high school; getting hired by Garry Marshall; being given access to all of the Paramount lot; scoring a movie for Dorothy Hamill; being a Phi Beta Kappa; writing "Do the Fonzie" for Happy Days; writing the theme song for Joanie Loves Chachi; writing "Nobody Loves Me Like You Do" for As the World Turns and having it covered by Anne Murray, Jermaine J...
Janine Dreyer (singer, music coordinator Saturday Night Live (1977 - 1980)
May 20, 2023 13:00 - 1 hour - 87.2 MBJanine joins me to discuss her renditions of the National Anthem and This Land is Your Land; moving to Long Island; Doc Pomus; studying historic preservation; getting a job as a receptionist in a service used by Howard Shore; Howard asks her to be his assistant; went to see Patti Smith perform; had to ask for lyrics from band for a shooting script, embarrassing her in front of Taj Mahal; trying to find Steve Jordan on show night; asked to create band space on home base; Leo Yoshimura balked ...
Alexa Fermaglich, 3 Years Later
May 13, 2023 13:00 - 32 minutes - 30.4 MBWhen I started this podcast in 2020, my then eight year old daughter joined me to talk about her life. Now three years later, she rejoins me to discuss favorite TV shows, music, Youtube, school subjects, her dog, boys and more. Plus she performs Beethoven's Ode to Joy.
Lisa Mende (Scrooged; Carol on Seinfeld)
May 06, 2023 13:00 - 37 minutes - 34.3 MBLisa Mende joined me to discussed being asked but ot being able to be on the last Newhart; only being allowed to watch PBS but sneaking The 3 Stooges; always wanting to be an actress; being a child actress in Yiddish theatre; going to study acting at The University of Bridgeport; doing improv with husband Dom Irrera; different types of improv; stand-up being harder than Broadway or improv; the guerilla shooting of Hollywood Shuffle; co-starring in Scrooged as Bill Murray's mother; working wi...