Ian Talks Comedy

Susan Isaacs joined me to discuss teaching at Chapman University; living on $400 a month rent in NYC; watching the Flintstones; no VCR's; watching Carson and SNL; being in the Groundlings with Lisa Kudrow, Chris Kattan, Will Ferrell, and Maggie Baird; going to USC Film School; guest starring on Family Ties; nice bosses making nice sets; starting a comedy troupe King Baby, with Tony Hale; Tony leaves to do Arrested Development; getting cut from Planes, Trains and Automobiles; Scrooged and Seinfeld and being awed by the height of Michael Richards and Bill Murray; reboots; TV is better than movies now; The Wrong Guys; She's Out of Control; doing a Sony digital commercial short; being a professor; hard to be just an actor; Singer & Sons pilot; getting added to the cast of Anything but Love the day before it was cancelled; Harold Gould v. Tom Bosley; Eric Stoltz v. Michael J. Fox; Peggy Sue Got Married; doing Delirious with John Candy; John Candy's life; funny people have trauma; Jodie Foster and Ron Howard are two child stars who've survived; Michael Jackson; her book Angry Conversations with God; turning it from a book to a one person show; story is universal even if not religious; improvising one of the first movies ever shot on an I Phone - Ride Share in 2011

Tommy Kovac joined me to discuss seeing Sam Kinison at 2; favorite SNL episodes; favorite comedy movies; Adam Sandler, Woody Allen, & Chevy Chase movies; loving all different sitcoms; comedy albums from Cheech and Chong and Radio Dinner; George Burns v. Brad Dourif & Nicholson v. Pachino 1975; 1994 Best Picture, 1980 Best Song; SCTV Perry Como, Bob Dylan; having done 2,500 shows; favorite guests Mitzi McCall & Charlie Brill; worst guest: Nicholas Myers & Butch Patrick; forgetting questions; wanting to have on Valerie Landsburg & Laraine Newman; having Cindy Morgan on; me almost getting Richard Dreyfuss and asking Jerry Seinfeld; being declined by Joanne Worley and Ruth Buzzi; people who died after being booked; Joe Polato; Richard Heard; pop culture nerd outs; belly buttons; sports; Cathy Rigby; Sean Weatherly; next year making 10 years

Bob Illes joined me to talk about his new book Funny is Money with 39 anecdotes; growing up in South Central LA; early TV influences; meeting writing partner James R. Stein at USC; doing the Stein & Illes show; Digby Wolfe; winning a contest to write for Tennessee Ernie Ford; Mike Ovitz; hard to get a radio job; working on Tom Smothers Organic Show; writing monologues for Bill Cosby on The New Bill Cosby Show; friction between Cosby & George Schlatter; meeting Groucho; working with Pat McCormick; Aaron Ruben hiring them on Sanford & Son; the controversial "Lamont, is that You" episode; doing a pilot for Schlatter called Lampoon w/ Alan Katz & Pat Proft; Joe & Sons; One Day at a Time; getting dressed down by Norman Lear and his mea culpa; What's Happening!!; Fernwood Tonight; A New Kind of Family with Rob Lowe & Janet Jackson; Dick Clair; Pat McCormick; working on The Steve Allen Comedy Hour and making a bad impression on Catherine O'Hara; his friendship with Sherman Helmsley; Anthony Geary & Ron Glass; All in the Family on the Nixon tapes;

Michele Lee joined me to discuss her podcast Knot Done Yet and her co-hosts Donna Mills and Joan Van Ark; her father being a makeup artist in the arts; watching early TV including Ed Sullivan & Sid Caesar; being on stage since age 17; having two careers pre (Herbie the Love Bug) and post Knots Landing; being on Broadway in Vintage 60; her dad said not to audition for How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, she did and got the part; starring in The Comic with Dick Van Dyke and going to his 100th birthday party; Dick not understanding hate and still performing; a person's legacy; guesting on Laugh In, Love, American Style, The Love Boat, Hollywood Squares, Tattletales, and Alias Smith & Jones; loving Barry and being friends with Henry Winkler; Juie Harris; Knots Landing not intended to be a soap; her podcast not being political; realizing we're trying to form a More Perfect Union; Night of 100 Stars; seeing Hal Linden & Barbara Eden in Love Letters in their 90's; All Star Party for Joan Rivers; turning down Sinatra and their long friendship afterword

Bob Illes and I discuss his early years; starting a radio comedy show at USC; Digby Wolfe; winning a contest to write for Tennesse Ernie Ford; Mike Ovitz; writing monologues for Bill Cosby; meeting Groucho Marx and Peter Sellers; writing for the Lily Tomlin special and winning an Emmy; The Super Emmy; writing the Sanford & Son episode, "Lamont, Is That You", The Smothers Brothers NBC reboot; Mickey Rose; Chevy Chase; Don Novello; Joe & Sons, One Day at a Time, getting dressed down by Norman Lear and his mea culpa; What's Happening!!, Captain and Tenille Show, Fernwood Tonight, winning another Emmy for the last year of The Carol Burnett Show, America 2-Night; Peeping Times; The Mary Tyler Moore Hour;       Steve Allen Comedy Hour; Catherine O'Hara, Flo, Private Benjamin, No Soap, Radio; Silver Spoons; Jason Bateman, John Houseman; The Cracker Brothers; Milton Berle; Double Trouble, Sylvan in Paradise, Jim Nabors; Courtney Cox; Jackie Bison Show; Harry Shearer, Stan Freberg; Amen; Sherman Hemsley; favorite episode; getting cancelled by NBC because Johnny Carson retired; age ranges in sitcoms

Dean Cameron joined me to discuss the RFK assassination; in a play and getting the bug; doing theater with Anthony Edwards & Eric Stoltz; movies he read for; getting a pilot The Best of Times; the sitcom Spencer; Fast Times the series; read Damone in 1982; Summer School; Carl Reiner, Kirstie Alley; crazy letters from fans; Amy Locane; favorite scene in the film; drinking vs. marijuana in the film; Prince of Bel Air TV movie; Joe Bob Briggs nomination for Bad Dreams; Ski School; ALF; They Came from Outer Space; improv; Ski School 2 with Will Sasso; Killing Box about Civil War zombies; co-starring Billy Bob Thornton and Matt LeBlanc; not seeing half his movies; Meg Tilly; starring in an unfinished film 211; It's a Shame About Ray; Trolly's Ghost Story with Anthony Edwards; replacing David Duchovny on State of Emergency; writing scripts; Hollywood Palms; Mr. Sterling series; working in computer programming; his wife is a TV editor; joining the band The Thornbirds; writing a song being so difficult; performing live is greatest thrill; meeting Penn Jillette while performing as a magician in Caesars Palace; new film, 213 Bones; pranking his dad as Chainsaw

Roger Director discusses his last name; how TV is the writers medium; growing up in East Rockaway inhaling DDT; like to tell stories economically so went into journalism; covering a house fire on Guy Lombardo Blvd, jazzed him up; writing a term paper on Lenny Bruce; decided to get a job instead of more education; created Stretch the Limo Driver for Vanity Fair; Sport Magazine; friend suggests him to Steven Bocho; writes a spec Bay City Blues and gets hired; Bay City cancelled and goes to Hill Street Blues; Michael Conrad still on show; his roll call was a great way to hook in audiences; writes poem that is Estherhaus' epitaph; stories were outlined on index cards, given to writers, then polish and assembled into an episode; favorite character was Howard Hunter; mine is Belker; changed TV; Bochco writes about human condition so there's humor in the episodes; going from newspapers to Emmys in year; doesn't remember being Michael O'Donoghue's Silverman leak; did a year profiling Tim Hutton; Knicks v. Lakers fandom; NY Football Giants; going to Moonlighting; pilot go to him; show had no parameters; having crazy ideas and using them; breaking the fourth wall; Rona Barrett clip show; Camille episode with Whoopi Goldberg and slapstick ending; Maddie gets married, America outraged; creating Herbert Viola to be David's sidekick; Charles Rocket; Eva Marie Saint asks for a line reading; working with Orson Welles &Stanley Donnen; writing with Mel Brooks on Mad About You; his new novel, Killing in Havana; writing a roman a clef about his career; writing a book about the 2006 champion NY Giants; liking women's soccer; being a Mets and Yankees fan; working with Charles Floyd Johnson on NCIS; Arliss; working on a show for "people who don't watch televison"

Denise Nicholas joined me to discuss watching the Ed Sullivan Show; living on the same block as Hitsville, USA; not fitting in with her family; joining the Free Southern Theater and performing Waiting for Godot; Roscoe Orman; her part in the Civil Rights Movement; Negro Ensemble Company leads to It Takes a Thief with Robert Wagner; loving 2 1/2 Men; Room 222, the first "dramedy"; James L. Brooks; episodes were taken from the headlines; going on game shows with Karen Valentine; Hollywood Squares; injuring herself on Battle of the Network Stars; singing on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson in 1971; being the mystery guest on What's My Line; Match Game; Dinah Shore Show; having to prove herself to Sidney Poitier to cast her in Let's Do it Again; fighting to play Carroll O'Connor's girlfriend on In the Heat of the Night; asking for black writers; Redd Foxx; Baby, I'm Back; guesting on Diff'rent Strokes; her sisters gruesome murder; being in the pilot for Masquerade; guesting on Magnum, PI; getting an NAACP nomination for telefilm Mother's Day; joining the cast and writing staff of In the Heat of the Night; Ghost Dad; Richard Roundtree; her novel Freshwater Road; her second novel turning into her memoir deciding whether to work or not; 23 and me saying she is 64% European and 34% Nigerian; going to Nigeria and no one there believing she's Nigerian; Blacula; too much television shows

Mark Malkoff joins me to discuss Johnny's likability; booking of civilian guests like the potato chip in front of celebrities; finding them; Vlasak Kresick; Martin Mull; Rohan Varvedecker; couldn't get Letterman or Bette Midler as guests; tried for years to finally get Angie Dickinson & Dyan Cannon; getting into podcasts at the right time; Jimmy Buffet wanted to talk Johnny; wanting to book Jim Downey; talking to Robert Smigel; Stephen Colbert's cancellation; SNL's format is what keeps it popular; Johnny's breaking of Sahara hotel record in 1964 solidifies his fame; having old time guests; retiring and then gaining some weight kept him off TV; NBC's 75th; Carson gains power in 1967, more in 1979; show goes from 90 minutes to 60; some guests like Buck Henry & Suzanne Pleshette don't come back; wanting good talkers, not just big stars; James Garner & Burt Reynolds were both; comedians Rickles, Rodney, Martin Short & David Steinberg; Cher goes on with guest hosts; Warren Beatty; didn't like "bit" comedians; banning Orson Welles, Uri Geller & Kreskin; origin of Carnac; Steve Allen; Prof. Backwards joke makes him mad at SNL; Dana Carvey's Johnny sketches; Johnny on ;s "Here's Cliffy" episode of Cheers; Marc Shaiman; Jan Hooks; rock stars were few like Chuck Berry & ZZ Top; kept booking Tony Bennett; Arsenio never out rates him; warning Chevy Chase; Dennis Miller; Top Weekend Update anchors; Elaine Stritch; Buck Henry on Paar; Rickles and the geisha girls; Tiny Tim & miss Vicki; Ed Ames; Doc Severinsen still alive; Johnny's popularity grew through anniversary shows; only Letterman did them; Johnny places on Dave; picking Lorne Michaels brain; Tom Davis; Mark's natural curiosity

Steven Peterman joined me to discuss a picture taken of him watching TV at 4; going to see Peter Pan in the theater; Milwaukee Braves; growing up and guesting on Happy Days; getting his first onstage laugh in 1966; English teacher him to try Ivy League colleges; getting into Harvard; Hasty Pudding, playing female ingenue and meeting Dustin Hoffman; being on Broadway shortly after graduation in The American Millionaire with Paul Sorvino; being to embarrassed to audition for The Lampoon; wife tells him to audition for The Magic Show; going to LA and guest starring on pilots for 240-Robert and Skag; Peter Gallagher; Ethel is an Elephant pilot in 1980 with Todd Susman and Liberty Godshall; John Astin; Ed Zwick; Gideon's Trumpet and The Paper Chase with John Houseman; Making the Grade; Jay Sandrich; a pilot called Fog; Square Pegs - would've been a regular in season 2; Greatest American Hero; doing Family Ties in a leg cast; trying to write with Nick Wyman, then teaming up with Gary Donzig; writing a spec Family Ties, then Remington Steele; getting hired on Murphy Brown; working with Buck Henry, Jay Thomas, and Colleen Dewhurst; winning an Emmy for "Jingle Hell, Jingle Hell, Jingle all the Way"; episodes inception and impact; writing Emmy nominated "Come Out, Come Out Whoever You Are" and bringing laughs to AIDS patients; doing two years of lead up to Murphy's pregnancy and having Dan Quayle just call it a choice; Murphy Brown v. George H.W. Bush; Rush Limbaugh gets script and reads it aloud; Mr. Casual Sex, SNL's parody; Corky Sherwood Forrest; Cheers was the only sitcom that should go 11 years; fazing out Avery and Robert Pastorelli; Barry Manilow guest starred; Paul Reubens was after, but the Garry Marshall character was created during their reign; Rodney Dangerfield guests onm Suddenly Susan; Harvey Korman, Tim Conway, and Rose Marie guest; Combat Radio

Chas Floyd Johnson joined me to discuss his name; radio; getting the first TV in the neighborhood in 1948; going to Howard with Stokely Carmichael; Stony Brook Prepatory School; working for JFK's 1960 campaign; Howard Players; getting his law degree; working in the US Copyright Office; getting an job offer at UNESCO; guesting on Toma and Kojak with Sylvester Stallone; working in the Universal mail room for three days; getting a job on Rockford; rising to producer; writing stories; David Chase; writing the phone messages on Rockford; Jim Garner being great to work with; doing The New Maverick and First Monday with Garner; macho and self deprecating; casting African Americans; Hellinger's Law pilot with Telly Savalas and Sean Penn (getting his SAG card); First Monday; Simon & Simon pilot; favorite Rockfords; Magnum, PI; Magnum vs. Higgins; being a military lawyer in Vietnam; first show to tackle PTSD; Ivan Dixon; Frank Sinatra guest stars; Magnum gets cancelled, killed off and revived; BL Stryker with Burt Reynolds; retiring after 55 years in show business; pilots that didn't sell The Silver Fox with James Coburn and Revealing Evidence with a young Stanley Tucci; JAG; life imitating art going back to his time as a military lawyer; NCIS and its spinoffs; Mark Harmon fits in with all his leads; Ziva; Pauley Perrette; all the writers he has worked with; Red Tails about Tuskegee Airman; making a documentary about the history of The Congressional Black Caucus; never wanted to write a sitcom; my working with John L Lewis (who he made a documentary about) and John McCain

Christopher Atkins joined me to talk about Rye Playland, his high school baseball career; modeling; meeting Claudia Black and running into her 40 later; modeling with Brooke Shields, Phoebe Cates, and Lisanne Frank; showing his swing in Blue Lagoon, Randall Kleiser making him sleep with a Brooke Shields poster over his bed for a week before meeting her; swimming with a professional naked baby; William Daniels; being beaten at The Golden Globes by Timothy Hutton; Child Bride of Short Creek about FLDS; Night of 100 Star; hanging out with Paul Newman, Gene Kelly, Mickey Rooney, and Princess Grace; I Love Liberty; The Pirate Movie; Kristy McNichol and its long cult status; her chewing gun; possible reunion; his hit "How Can I Live Without Her"; appearing on American Bandstand; doing Rock 'n' Roll Summer (1985) with Dick Clark; doing a parody of Nastassja Kinski's snake poster; doing Carson with guest host Joan Rivers; getting treated like the Beatles; A Night in Heaven; Perfect Match; Dallas; having Larry Hagman help you move into your dressing room; doing Circus of the Stars and putting your head in a lions mouth; Beaks; doing two movies as a love interest for Joe Pesci's real life girlfriend; twice doing the Jerry Lewis Telethon; Smoke 'n' Lightning; playing a crew member from Blue Lagoon who died of AIDS in It's My Party; his film Amy; how he got into writing and how he wants to make his own film

I watch one of my favorite TV specials ever, 1982's Night of 100 Stars featuring performances by Hal Linden, Michele Lee, Pam Dawber, Nancy Dussault, John Schneider, Robin Williams, David Letterman, George Burns and Sammy Davis Jr.

Randall Carver joined me to discuss watching Mighty Mouse as a child; going to military school; getting cast in Midnight Cowboy; becoming friends with Jon Voight; recreating a Ben Hecht story as UCLA drama piece; Barbara Sigel gets him an audition for Time to Run; being a reform student on Room 222; doing a TV movies Detour to Terror and befriending OJ; watching Lucille Ball run the show on Hello Lucy and Andy Griffith yelling at stagehands for cursing; doing a special with Minnie Riperton and telling Maya Rudolph about it forty years later; studying with Robin Williams; playing Jeffrey DeVito on Forever Fernwood; being typecast as young; his experience at the DMZ during Vietnam; being introduced on Taxi's pilot; his audition; the episodes "Blind Date", "The Great Line"; his TV wife, Ellen Regan; Ruth Gordon; Tony Clifton famous guest appearance; sending Tony a welcome gift; seeing Christopher Lloyd as Reverend Jim and knowing his time is short; not remembering saving a house in 1979; his next sitcom The Six O'Clock Follies was interrupted during the premiere with news of Iranian hostage tragedy; being on four episodes of The Norm Show; hanging out with Norm MacDonald; being in There Will Be Blood; getting married on the last day of the Mayan calendar; being on Emergency led his brother to become an EMT; Alias Smith and Jones; Randall, Jim Carrey & Andy Kaufman's love of Howdy Doody; hanging out with Andy right after he got his cancer diagnosis; forgetting TV appearances

Shelley Herman joined me to talk about about Bess Meyerson and Our Miss Brooks; going to see Elvis with a friend who's mother knew someone at NBC; getting the page job; working on The Tonight Show; giving away prizes on Stump the Band; getting people tickets; being on the Dating Game three times; going to the Rocky Horror Picture Show; Tim Curry; working on the $!.98 Beauty Show;; doing a sting operation for Chuck Barris; Battle of the Network Stars; the tragic life of Freddie Prinze; Jack & Mabel Albertson; Rickles / Carson cigarette box incident; getting harassed by McLean Stevenson'; knowing Jack Klugman from Philly; working on Van Dyke & Company; her friendship with Andy Kaufman; not watching Taxi b/c Andy says it was crap and then marrying one of the stars; Alan Zweibel hellps her clear Gilda Radner material for her book; meeting Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Jamie Farr; being friends with Susan Stafford; getting a meeting with Dick Ebersol; Andy Kaufman on Fridays; being a cast member on Off the Wall; Cynthia Stevenson & Squire Rushnell; hanging out with Richard Dawson; working on The Liar's Club; Alex Trebek and Ruta Lee; working on Love Connection; her love of game shows, especially Jeopardy; the original Wheel of Fortune; secrets of Supermarket Sweep; how she got her book title; introducing me to her husband, actor Randall Carver

Clark Brandon joined me to talk about his father, As the World Turns actor Peter Brandon; The Monkees; living between Greenwich and LA; getting his 1st TV series right after high school; getting the show as a pay it forward from the producer to his dad; The Fitzpatricks gets buried by Happy Days; guesting on Family; auditions; auditioning and not getting the Mackenzie's of Paradise Cove; being added to Wonder Woman for a possible spin-off; Out of the Blue and its mistakes; becoming friends with Mike Binder through Jimmy Brogan; the cast Dixie Carter, Eileen Heckart, and Peter Scolari; the story behind Bosom Buddies; doing an after-school special where he tries to take Marcia Brady's virginity; meeting Dick Van Dyke; hearing crew stories; playing a blind teen who makes out with Kim Richards on Hello, Larry; playing a pot dealer and smoking it for real in the movie Serial; being friends with Jonathan Prince before Mr. Merlin; getting the role; Barnard Hughes and Bill Bixby memories; too unrealistic for 1982; Andy Cohen's crush rumor; teen magazines; Merlin big internationally; JD Salinger a fan; being a journeyman actor; his role on Facts of Life; working with Nancy McKeon & Charlotte Rae; Pamela Adlon; doing the Hollywood Christmas Parade, a David Copperfield special, an anti-drug PBS doc and car shows with Sorrell Brooke; My Tutor; Crispin Glover's odd choices; Markie Post on Love Boat; Funland (1987) written by Bonnie & Terry Turner and and co-starring David L Lander; co-writing and starring in Fast Food with Jim Varney; his film, Skeeter; becoming a teacher, then an administrator in daughters' school; his current pilots and screenplay and being remembered for his roles as a good looking dick.

Paul Myers joined me to discuss seeing The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show; death of JFK; seeing John Candy for the first time on Coming up Rosie; Second City Television; writing this book at same time doc is coming out; Candy's humanity; his idols Laughton & Gleason; death of dad at 5 changed him profoundly; KITH and their dads; Del Close finding him and shaping him; going to enlist in Vietnam to lose weight, similar to Stripes; mud wrestling scene in Stripes; three orange whips; John Candy was picked as a topic because everyone knows him; couldn't get Bill Murray or Rick Moranis; hosting Jim Belushi's first SNL as a cast member and having him on set of Only the Lonely; his twenty plus year friendship with Dan Aykroyd; Splash; Summer Rental; Tracy J. Morgan; Valri Bromfield; Planes, Trains & Automobiles; Uncle Buck; coaching Macaulay Culkin; Chris Columbus; Maureen O'Hara; no scandals; anxiety and weight two biggest problems; Paul liking Canadian Bacon and me liking Delirious; Paul's mom on SNL Mothers Day; Don Pardo flirting with his mom; his brother Mike Myers' character Lothar

Reuben Leder joined me to discuss his family moving with the Dodger in 1958; learning all the jobs of the movies while working on his fathers low budget films; his pilot Strange Customs; his fathers films I Dismember Mama and Ape; working with Victor Buono, working on last season of Incredible Hulk; working on Magnum PI; being sent to Hawaii; diffusing Darren McGavin; working on all aspects of the show; writing John Hillerman's Higgins monologues; his photographic memory and late night drinking; working with Orson Welles & Kim Richards on episode "Mixed Doubles"; Tom Selleck saying he was the only one who could write Magnum; getting an ear for music / dialogue as Jackie DeShannon's drummer at 14; playing on Magnum softball team against Orlando Cepeda; the Luther Gillis episodes; one was a back door pilot; brilliance of Eugene Roche; selling his first script to Alex Karras; Ivan Dixon; writing a song for a Magnum episode and getting $40,000 in royalties; Ernest Borgnine; leaving after season 6 due to too much rewriting freelancers scripts; Charles Floyd Johnson; writing a Rockford Files movie; being praised about script script from James Garner and cursed at by Rita Moreno; missing Frank Sinatra; working on Downtown with a young Mariska Hargitay; pilots: Danger Down Under with Lee Majors and Badlands 2005 with Sharon Stone; writing a Land of the Lost and Star Trek TNG under a pseudonym; the Star Trek TNG being on the last of 100 Greatest Episodes of all time.

Krista Errickson joined me and we discussed her Wikipedia page; her grandfather, a famous Broadway set designer; her godfather, Elia Kazan; her father's family, the McIntyre's being the family written about in James Michener's Hawaii; watching Mr. Rogers & Captain Kangaroo; Lawrence Welk; the earwig episode of Night Gallery; becoming a model at 13; being a contemporary of Brooke Shields; shooting a movie with her that got scrapped; Little Darlings; improvising in her scenes; her helping to compile the film's soundtrack; Alexa Kenin; Cynthia Nixon; fighting with Kristy McNichol; not wanting to do Hello, Larry; John Femia; Joey Travolta; crossover episode with Diff'rent Strokes; seeing the trauma in Dana Plato; the production company "banking" school hours by making them go to school during vacation; her pilot The First Time; appearing in the Doors LA Woman video; having to audition in a bikini for Mr. Belvedere; appearing on 21 Jump Street and pissing Richard Grieco's girlfriend off; befriending Johnny Depp & Peter DeLuise; meeting Brad Pitt; 90210 made her want to quit acting; getting to be the first western woman in Iran since 1978; producing documentaries; being friends with Joe Dicso, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, and the Murray brothers; dating Peter Aykroyd; being with Belushi three days before his death; drinking double Remy Martin's at 15; negotiating with the Taliban for a hostages release; most Muslim fundamentalists are illiterate; Christian fundamentalism; a 21 Jump Street episode that echoes Charlie Kirk that was made 4 years before he was born; Studio 54

Podcaster Shari Fesko (Saturday Night Ladies) and I discuss the TV, movies, and music of 1985