Ian Talks Comedy

Deborah 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 t...

Steve 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...

Mark 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 la...

William 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 t...

Arthur 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; s...

Oscar 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 bo...

Barbara 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...

Bob 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 Cand...

Brian 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'...

Marc 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...

James 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 ; w...

Janine 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...

When 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 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 gu...

Kevin Kelton joins me for a writer's commentart for the November 10, 1984 episode of SNL hosted by George Carlin with musical guest Frankie Goes to Hollywood. We talk about working with Carlin; Carlin getting a second chance to act on SNL after not doing it on the premiere; Kevin assisting with a line for Gary Kroeger in cold opening about learning a Walter Mondale impression; odd '84-&#39...

Paul Barrosse joined me to discuss his influence of vaudeville and fifties TV comedians; working with Sid Caser at SNL; Dick Ebersol's host choices; Sid wanting more rehearsal time; he and Tim Kazurisnky fitting the same nichde so he knew he wouldn't get airtime; being in a comedy cabaret troupe with adults at 16; directing Threepenny Opera at Northwestern; student written comedy revues le...

Jamie deRoy discsses her father backing "The Pajama Game" and "Damn Yankees"; her dad being a big fan of Broadway; getting advice from Harold Prince her senior year of high school to stay in Pittsburgh; her leaving for NY fter one year in college; working with Larry Keith and Margot Moser; Sidney Simon; Margot Moser wants her to stay in NY and take voice lessons with her teache...

Penny Peyser joined me to discuss her love of poetry; starting to write sonnets in a Shakespearean acting class; why some musings become sonnets; having adult children allows her to write adult poetry; do relationships make you a better writer; writing about the division in our country; growing up in Irvington, NY; her father's political career; going to Emerson College; being a member of the...

comedienne Meghan O'Malley and I discuss her influeces; taking film studies; making student films; her clothing she wears for a set; amount of shows a night; her Instagram show "Barely Making It"; difficullty of Zoom shows; first time performing; taking a class in stand up; being a female comic; pyschinng out an audience by her demeanor; comedian friends on Facebopok; bringer shows;...

Alan Zweibel joined me to discuss growing up where I now live (Wantagh, NY); bar mitzvahs; writing for borscht belt comics; getting his shot on SNL ; his famous poetry class anecdote; writing a parody of the Passover Haggadah with Dave Barry and Adam Mansbach; "Go the Fuck to Sleep"; Emily Litella; keeping the character going by adding "Bitch" to her vocabulary; writing and app...

Unfortunately, my computer decided to do an upgrade twenty minutes into my interview with Mr. Long.  We discussed becoming a writer, getting his hirst and second script assignments which he described as disasters. he and his partner got their footing and wrote classic as "Veggie Boyd" and "Woody Interruptus" (which introduces Herni).  The rest f the interview is here where he talked about not goin...

Kiki Steele joins me to discuss getting hired at SNL at the tail end of Dick Ebersol's regime and the beginning of Lorne Michaels second; watching the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show; going to Emerson College; being mentored by Norman Lear; Andy Kaufman wanting to hang out in the ladies room at Fridays ; working with Paul Miller again on Norman's Corner and Madame's Place ; The Hollywood Cubes; Lo...

1. Listeners, email me at ifermaglich@richmondhillhs.org 2. Future guests include SNL script supervisor Kiki Kazanas Steele, "Cheers" writer Rob Long, comedian Megan O'Malley, actress Penny Peyser, Broadway producer and comedian Jackie De Roy, and Kevin Kelton doing a commentary track about the November 1984 SNL hosted by George Carlin with Frankie Goes to Hollywood 3. Past Guests whose episodes w...

Phoef and I discuss his name; Dick Van Dyke Show; reading mysteries; James Madison University; writing, directing, and acting in his own plays; sitcoms are almost Broadway plays; writing a spec Newhart ; that script got to Cheers and he was offered a freelance job; turned down staff job on Newhart in 1986 for - Cheers ; writing the Cheers episode "The Book of Samuel"; "Dinner at Eight-ish"; "Cheer...

Jeffrey Kramer joined me to discuss early TV; watching 70's TV; being a guest actor; having Tourette's; starring in Madwoman of Chaillot at Ithaca College; co-starring with James Whitmore on stage at age 15; being mentored by Jean Stapleton & Bob Putch; making TV debut in Barney Miller ; Happy Days ;  "Hollywood Boulevard" and its fan Quentin Tarantino; Dick Miller; selling flowers on Fairfax...