Ian Talks Comedy

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

Paul Linke and I discuss his one man shows; how his eulogy for his first wife turned into a one man play on HBO; how his second wife inspired his second show and his friendship with Charles Nelson Reilly his third; his new show, The Summer I Got Old; watching Kate Smith and Howdy Doody on an early TV; his love of the Doors turns into a performance piece based on "The End" at USC; appearing in The Baby Makers with Barbara Hershey; hosting, acting in and promoting The Golden Theater Festival; hosting the 1974 Christmas Seals Telethon; being a good eulogist working with Jackie Gleason & Lucille Ball; going to the Last Waltz; 60's music; his recurring role on Happy Days; Henry Winkler and Johnny Depp having the same aura; appearing with Alan Alda in a scene on MASH; Alda's technique and Michael Richards; slam dancing on CHiPS; the MAIT Team episode; seeing Timothy Leary's ashes; Keith Richards; being on The Mike Douglas Show; his role in Motel Hell; Elaine Joyce and JD Salinger; appearing on Supertrain and Just Men with Betty White; his 25 year friendship with John Ritter; and how his shows require a lot of adrenaline and make him crash afterwards

Harper the Fox joined me to discuss Mr. Rogers and his unintentional role in the porn industry; people using VR to go to their childhood homes; being an English lit major; teaching herself guitar; parodying Paul Simon with "Pound in Silence"; being a writer; the Onion; being a geek; meeting her husband, an extroverted improv comedian; the c word; her writing process; how her fans write parodies; an example of her poetry from her book, Wandering Lust; trying to get known; how showing your tits helps; her Hallelujah parody; Johnny Cash; her vocal range is limited in female singers; changing keys on songs; her Conspiracy Kids songs; Honey Taylor's Bigfoot Encounter; Stallone's porn; Joey Chestnut vs. adult stars; funny porn tropes; we've always been dirty & filthy; her podcast Dirty Folk; degradation & dick ratings; all bodies eventually was together; and her film Cops vs. Whores.

Tommy Ruben joined me to discuss the closed knit cast of CPO Sharkey; growing up in Larchont, NY and his dad working for Sgt. Bilko; his dad Aaron, writing for Fred Allen, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, The Andy Griffith Show and creating Gomer Pyle USMC; Don Rickles getting booed on Comic Relief; Sharkey's scripts scripts had ad-libs written in; being a class clown; guest starring on MASH; going to the Oakwood School; his dad''s film, The Comic; his father liked to build sitcoms around someone; creating CPO Sharkey; Polish jokes got the most letters; his first scene; episodes focusing on his character; the Johnny Carson incident and how has dad was mad; NBC wasn't all in on Don; Bob Newhart; his brother writing the punk rock episode; appearing in More American Graffiti with Cindy Williams; the difference in Drew Barrymore and James garner's acting methods; appearing and writing and episodes of The Stockard Channing Show; Rhonda Bates; being in his brothers movies; almost getting The Hardy Boys Show; and studying photography at the School of Visual Arts.

Larry Charles joined me to talk about his early heroes, The Little Rascals, 3 Stooges, and Abbott & Costello; trying stand up as a duo; the bimmies; portraying rabbi on stage; selling jokes; Darrow Igus buys jokes & leads to Fridays; the parakeet; Diner of the Living Dead; The Clash; Ronnie Horror Picture Show; 2nd Amendment sketch; Joe Shulkin; not all Fridays writers on drugs; harsher political satire than SNL; Men who Hum; more edgy music, then Kim Carnes; pause after Fridays; writing for Arsenio Hall; Dragnet; Seinfeld: The Library Book, The Limo, The Subway, The Outing; a scary incident with his family, art, and police; his voice; Carroll O'Connor & Carol Burnett; Mel Brooks; working with Shelley Berman on Curb; John Astin; Sandy Baron; Borat and the nude fight scene; more women liked Borat than predicted; loving Mad Magazine & National Lampoon; favorite writer was Michael O'Donoghue; Sacha Baron Cohen should have won the Oscar; Matt Walsh; faux doc on assassination of George W. Bush; Andy Kaufman returns to Fridays as a born again Christian; Nathan Fielder; Marty Feldman

Michael S. Baser joined me to discuss watching Sky King as a kid; using comedy as a deterrent to bullies; starting a stand-up duo as a teenager; meeting Kim Weiskopf; his father not helping them; A Year at the Top; writing the first transgender character on TV in the Jeffersons; writing the Barbara's Friend suicide episode of One Day at a Time; creating Mr. Furley on Three's Company; creating 9 to 5; working for Glen Larson; working with Janet Jackson on Good Times; giving Michael Moye his first job on Good Times; Carter Country; Melanie Griffith; Norman Paul; Three's Company; Lana; Don Knotts; Campus Cops; wanting Jane Curtin on 9 to 5; Rachel Dennison; Al Jean & Mike Reiss; and his pilot, Crazy Dan

Ricky Blitt joined me to discuss sports; Monty Python; pitching The Ringer about fixing the Special Olympics; weed helping him know who his friends are and work harder; his last 32 years being better than first 32; college work gets praise from his father; working up to ones potential; John Cleese; comedy is harder and less prestigious than drama; Seinfeld & Friends will will stay because they were mainly for laughs; Seth MacFarlane asked him to write his current script; both fans of of All in the Family and SCTV; Taxi and Mary Tyler Moore blended it the best; he writes things that others won't and does it hilariously; Family Guy being a game changer; writing When You Wish Upon a Weinstein); difference between Family Guy and Seinfeld writing rooms; writing the pilot becoming Glenn and casting Sally Struthers; his brothers, Barry, a Pulitzer winning cartoonist; writing a movie for Cher and Johnny Knoxville; Dear Santa and not talking down to kids and constraints of a PG movie; not liking When Harry Met Sally; OCD; and writing a pilot for Rob Gronkowski