Ian Talks Comedy

Larry Jacobson joins me and Luigi from the Married with Children podcast to discuss opening remarks; Gerard Mulligan, his daughter becoming a TV writer; how jokes can backfire; comedy influences; listening to classic comedy movie dialogue; W.C Fields; Grouch Marx; Woody Allen; Jack Benny; Richard Pryor; starting standup; having Paul Rodriguez tell you you're a better writer than comedian; selling...

Gerard Mulligan joined me to discuss growing up in Rhode Island; early TV influences such as Milton Berle and Groucho Marx; Steve Allen's Westinghouse Show and its help in creating the Letterman show; high school writing; learning sensitivity in comedy; being an English teacher; moving to San Francisco and being a notary public in City Hall; meeting a homeless man who had the plan for the country;...

Mitchell Laurance joined myself and James Stephens to discuss Alan Zweibel getting him a job as Lornes gofer; being an extra in "Dancing in the Dark"; "Hollywood Bingo"; being in a Jerry Lewis sketch with Robert Klein as Steven Klaven; playing Eric Idle's nurse, Chevy Chase's model' and Kirk Douglas' leg man; being in Bill Murray's first sketch "Execution Rehearsal"; "Hey You" with Gilda Radn...

Blaine joined me to talk about his first time doing stand up; favorite comedians; his new wave band; Elvis Costello; Fridays; Darrow Igus; Ted Wass; not being allowed to watch certain shows; Andrew Dice Clay; bonding with your dad over comedy; Red Skelton; Patton Oswalt; Small Doses pilot; Mad TV; Artie Lange; Spishak; writing the Claymation sketches; Bea Arthur; Mark Hamill; Donny Most; Mart...

Bill Oakley joined me to talk The Steamed Hams Society and Food Discovery Club; foreign 7-11’s; favorite burger; McRib; Shamrock Shake; best fast food chicken; best fast food pizza; Roy Rogers; Fuddruckers; Jollibee; early TV favorites; Green Acres ; SNL and Letterman ; met Josh Weinstein at 14; St. Albans School; Harvard Lampoon; Sunday Best; Simpsons - Marge Gets a Job; Treehouse - making n...

Peter Mehlman joined me to discuss It's Like You Know ; his pursuing stand up; Seinfeld and my coincidences; college; Shirley & Maury Povich; being a Yankee's fan, MLB's disclaimer; both of us having dogs named Izzy; Howard Cosell; hypocrisy in sports; NFL anti-trust; sports fans in the US: Detroit Lions; Knicks; Lakers; Lifetime's Attitudes; Dick Cavett; Woody Allen; meeting Larry David;...

Mr. Vance joined James Stephens and I to discuss the ubiquity of "Eddie and the Cruisers"; his early influences; Alan Freed; rock 'n' roll; Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers; buying 45's; being one of the first modern "teenagers"; singing doo wop on the corner; Brill Building; doo wop and rap being music movements that started on the street; Jay and the Americans opens for The Beatles and The Roll...

Phil and Tom talk about early influences (Phil - Marx Brothers, Preston Sturges, Tom - Little Rascals, Bob Newhart, Johnny Carson, Woody Allen); Tom's father being head of ABC; taking ratings books to school; having Elizabeth Montgomery over for dinner); Phil gets the acting bug in high school and becomes a playwright in San Fransisco; Tom breaks his leg and watches Johnny Carson every night and d...

Steve and I talk about his early influences (classic comedians and cartoons); meeting his partner, Karl Tiedermann in Horace Mann High School; his college radio show; sending his best bits to the National Lampoon Radio Hour; working with Doug Kenney and Sean Kelly; his first piece Silly Puddy Destroys the World; kids newspaper parody; MOMA Fun Book; King of the Z's a documentary about a cheap 40's...

Wayne Kline talks about growing up with a Methodist minister as a father; Max Schulman; reading because his family couldn't afford a TV; Woody Allen; John Oliver; Alfred Hitchcock; Get Smart ; Gilligan's Island ; Ginger v. Mary Anne; Dobie Gillis ; becoming an Army reserve; selling jokes to George Kirby; never being able to imitate Ed Sullivan; writing The Ed Sullivan Show to sell jokes; reading a...

Mike Sacks joined me to talk about his comedy idol, Chris Elliot; his books being autobiographies of characters he's assuming; Andy Kaufman; how his books fooled his father; Tulane; his magazine writing; self publishing "Stinker Lets Loose"; "And Here's the Kicker"; Buck Henry; Jack Handey; Robert Smigel; mean comedy; Jesse Watters; his character, Skippy Battinson; Don Rickles; right win...

Randy Cohen joins me to talk about the creation of the Top 10 List; growing up in Reading, Pennsylvania; going to Cal Arts to study music and having little talent for it; betting on Johnny Carson's monologues; being a Knicks fan; the solitary life of a writer; first article about Japanese game shows; Modest Proposals a book of satirical letters; meeting the Pope; his first two books; not working w...

Steve Young joined me tot talk about his Emmy; his influences; watching Letterman as a teenager for the first time; going to Harvard; Conan O'Brien and the Harvard Lampoon; the Lampoon Castle; his submission; first National Lampoon piece; not  being a comedy nerd; Not Necessarily the News; The Rachel Sweet Show; sending a submission packet to Late Night in 1990; being the utility guy; man who...

Anson Williams joins me to talk about drowsy driving and his invention Alert Drops; his uncle Henry Heimlich and getting his Heimlich maneuver on the Merv Griffin Show ; the shooting on Alec Baldwin's set; his famous McDonald's commercial; Happy Days v. Good Times ratings battle; favorite episodes of Happy Days ("Fonzie's Friend", "And they Called it Potsie Love"); the difficulty of perf...

Norm Hiscock joins me to talk about his comedy influences: Bugs Bunny, Monty Python , SNL , and the Mary Tyler Moore Show ; liking comedy but not performing; meeting Mark McKinney and forming an improv group; Bruce McCulloch joins; the group goes to Toronto; Bruce and Mark joining SNL writing staff in 1985, launching Kids in the Hall ; running out of material and Norm joining; favorite Monty Pytho...

Jeff and I talk about the "Atomic Shakespeare" episode of Moonlighting ; Night Court memories; the origin of Duckman ; writing 7 days a week for 6 months ( Duckman and Radioland Murders); getting Jason Alexander to play Duckman ; why he loved writing it; a possible reboot; the writing staff; how he and Ron have kept a 40+ year partnership; how they work; Mork & Mindy yearly reunions; Gina...

John joins me to talk about his book Stand Up Guys and making it like the book the Last Laugh; how comedians "learned" their craft; Elaine Boosler; his mentor comedy mentors; Ronnie Shakes; Larry David; Richard Lewis; auditioning for the Improv; Bill Maher; crowd work; dealing with hecklers; Rita Rudner; Gilbert Gottfried; Andy Kaufman; not watching Man in the Moon; Richard Belzer; his Strat 'O' M...

Michael Short talks to me about how the "attic" comedy tapes he made with his brother Marty led to him being hired on SCTV ; joining the show in series 3; writing the Earl and Floyd segments; Stretch Your Arm; getting hired by John Candy to write on Big City Comedy the Monday after SCTV wrapped; Margaret Trudeau; returning to SCTV for the second US cycle; pitching Great White North Palace and winn...

Arthur and I discuss being able to name the host and musical guest for SNL by date; our love of SNL ; the Presidential Bash of 1992; the first episode he ever saw; why he loves SNL ; his audition in 2018; Dick Van Dyke Show; George Carlin; Norm MacDonald; Meyers Kids Night - his show he and his sisters put on in front of their parents; Wilmette, Illinois; Jim Downer; Robert Smigel; working on Jimm...

Ilene Graff joined me to discuss going to grade school and high school with my parents and Lowell Ganz; Queens; Mays Department Store; getting a job on Broadway right after college graduation; Promises, Promises; Jill & Jenny O'Hara; Grease with co-stars Jeff Conaway, Barry Bostwick and occasionally John Travolta; not getting to audition for the movie because she was thought of as too old and...

Brian McConnachie joined me to talk about early influences; Kukla, Fran & Ollie; Catholic prep school discipline; going to NY to sell his cartoons; Kit & Kaboodle; Alcoholic's Christmas; Heading for Trouble; Cochise at Oxford; Neglectful Mother Magazine; Guns & Sandwiches; Weight Waddlers; Tell Debbie; National Lampoon Radio Hour; Moby Dick; parodying Broadway shows; leaving the Nation...

Harry Shearer joined me to talk about radio as a default outlet; doing all parts of his Le Show; having a studio in his homes; Apologies of the Week; Randy Bass; Colin Powell Tribute Show; talking to whistle blowers; his impressions of Presidents Reagan, George HW Bush, Donald Trump, and George W. Bush; only seeing the Godfather last year and never seeing Titanic or Star Wars; Tom Leopol...

Rosie Shuster and Marilyn Suzanne Miller join me to talk about MSM's love of the musical Peter Pan; Rosie loving her dad's joke books, West Side Story, and being in the audience of the Ed Sullivan Show ; Rosie meets Lorne Michaels and Howard Shore; MSM goes to work for James L. Brooks & Garry Marshall; Rosie writes for Canadian children and crime game shows; sends a monologue for Laugh In that...

Nat Bernstein joined me to talk bout guest starring on The Golden Girls; early TV memories; going out to LA after college on a whim; getting a PA job on Angie ; taking acting class with Gordon Hunt; early appearances on Bosom Buddies , Taxi , Mork & Mindy and Hill Street Blues ; getting s free hairpiece for Hill Street ; appearances on Newhart and Night Court ; different ways people get into s...

David Misch joins me to talk about directing Tales from the Darkside and Monsters; written humor; the Marx Brothers; being a funny folk singer; Sommerville; being managed by Rollins & Jaffe; Piper Houser; Jay Leno; Andy Breckman; Mork & Mindy ; writing his first episode; Robin's ad-libs; writing the scenes on Happy Days for the Mork pilot; "Mork Gets Exposed", Jeff Altman; writing a pilot...