Ian Talks Comedy

Greg Evigan joined me to discuss writing the theme to My Two Dads; watching Honeymooners; piano lessons; high school bands; winning an Award for Hello Dolly in high school; being i Jesus Christ Superstar & Grease on Broadway and road; being cast in A Year at the Top with Paul Shaffer; All that Glitters; his memorable two-part One Day at a Time; BJ and the Bear not getting a DVD release; drivin...

Maggie Wheeler joined me to discuss 60's sitcoms; her parents not wanting her to pursue acting; her inspiration; Anna Deveare Smith; being 18 in the late 70's; Studio 54; MTV voice-overs; Rubinoos commercial; her audition for The New Show; her cheerleader characters; attempting to break dance with Penny Marshall and the Breakers; working with her idols; Lorne sends her audition tape to Ran...

Brad Isaacs joined me to talk about the Dick Van Dyke Show; favorite episodes; writing a spec script for Taxi, handing it to Marilu Henner and her remembering twenty plus years later; sitcoms not talking down; Simpsons & Saul Bellow; mother could sing songs even though she hardly speak due to dementia; dropped out of high school and got a GED; goes to Vegas to be a pro gambler; watching DVD in...

Chris Lemmon joined me and discussed how he knew his dad was a movie star; his films Going Undercover & Weekend Warriors; working with Lloyd Bridges; dreaming of Steely Dan; classical musicians were there first rock stars; wanting to make a movie about Robert Schumann; Billy Joel, Chevy Chase & Jeff Goldblum; his film debut in Airport '77; having one line in Seems Like Old Times and being...

David Garrison joined me to discuss watching I Love Lucy and Maverick; going to high school with Bruce Springsteen; getting a BFA at BU; joining the Arena Stage in Washington D.C.; his first off Broadway play, The History of American Film; his tenure on the soap opera The Edge of Night; getting a Tony nomination for A Day in Hollywood / A Night in Ukraine - a Marx Brothers parody; joining Pirates...

Robin Riker joined me to discuss Julie Brown; her families history in show business; making her stage debut at 4; her parents start a theater in Aspen; her dad hosts a kids show Cap. Rick's Showboat; appearing in the Colorado Shakespeare festival at 10; auditioning for her parents; divorce; watching Walt Disney & Old Yeller; being a waitress; getting parts on Joe Forester, MASH, & Rock...

Robert Hays joined me to discuss loving the Lone Ranger; moving from Virginia to Turkey to Nebraska; changing schools & becoming class clown; being a Marine brat; signing up for an acting class in college; selling his horse to buy a VW bus and moving to the Old Globe in San Diego; being taught by Craig Noel; working with Leonard Nimoy; getting a job on Rockford Files from Eddie Foy III; his da...

Ken Estin remembers the laugh track; MTM shows; going to college to write short stories; send a Bob Newhart Show spec to the Charles Brothers; tracked down 2 years later for Taxi; working with Jim Burrows, Glen & Les Charles; party after each show; 1st script "Reluctant Fighter" wins Writers Guild Award; Christopher Lloyd won Emmy's for his episodes; having to cut 10 minutes from "Elegant Iggy...

George Arthur Bloom joined me to talk about watching Beanie and Cecil; wanting to be a pro baseball player; joining the Coast Guard; getting a job in the mail room at MCA; working his way up to Lew Wasserman's assistant; going to Universal with Wasserman; asking to learn how to be a producer; working on late 60's TV shows; optioned what would become Blade Runner after he lost the option; A...

Julie Brown joined me to discuss Captain Kangaroo; being in her high school homecoming court; the scary nun's in elementary school; being funny in Van Nuys High; studying at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco; meeting her comedy partner Charlie Coffey; Denzel Washington being in the cast; starting a comedy team, Brown & Coffey; playing San Francisco and gay audiences; guest...

Dirk Benedict joined me to discuss Montana v. Montauk; not having a TV in Montana until 1956 and not watching one until college; lived out in ranch houses; now only watches old movies and English football; Steven Spielberg could not believe the number of movies he hadn't seen; movies are just pictures, not like early dialogue based films; having same acting teacher as Sir Anthony Hopkins; Whit...

Comedian Trent Mabry (album It's Good to Be Here) and I go over the 1977 syndicated special featuring Anson and his guests Lou Rawls, Tanya Tucker, The 5th Dimension, Marty Allen, and Skiles and Henderson

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 N...

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 f...

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...

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...

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 Ji...

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...

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...

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; Wil...

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.