Game Changers With Vicki Abelson

What better way to ring in the New Year than with the Begley’s. We went Live from their magnificent, green home, where the banter was playfully brisk, hysterically funny, and full of love. Married 18 yrs, together 25, they met 28 yrs ago. The stories around all of that are priceless. As are the stories about them working together (NYBD Blue, Living With Ed, Begleyesque), and, how they tell them. T...

The year in review––mine. Gratitide–– more me––I'm naming names. Tonight's scheduled guests, Jeffrey Sherman and Wendy Liebman regretfully postponed for medical reasons. Wishing Wendy Godspeed, whatever the hell that means... what I mean is a miraculous swift healing. Dj, my banner maker is out of town, so getting a fill-in guest without the proper signage seemed unfair. Take the week off? Why not...

It took 2 1/2 yrs to nail down Norman Lear, a force of nature beyond compare at any age... at 96, in his Sony offices, where he still reads, develops, writes, produces daily, it's unfathomable. Norman’s worth waiting for. A four-time Emmy Winner, Academy Award Nominee, Peabody Award Recipient, American Humanist Award Winner, National Medalist of the Arts, Kennedy Center Honoree––Norman’s a goddamn...

Arriving at actor, author, collector, world-traveler, chef, and scholar, Thaao Penghlis’s home was a feast for the senses. Magnificent art and artifacts from the entrance to the john, where an enormous, gorgeous, Peter O’Toole as Lawrence oversees the proceedings. Next visit, I hope, a feast the belly––hIs lentil white bean soup recipe had Christinna and I salivating. Thaao lives his life to the f...

A rare guest I didn’t know prior to sitting down here, what a revelation and a treat to meet Fred Melamed. Lovely from the start, I was unprepared for his brutal humility, fierce self-reflection, and unflinching honesty. A fascinatingly unique conversation focused on how life affected his work, and his work affected his life. The Coen Brothers award-winning A Serious Man star talked being adopted,...

“Isn’t life fun?” Asks George Shapiro, mega manager of talent in the business of show. It sure is when he’s around. This BROADcast comes with a funny back guarantee. Stories, stories, stories, songs, cheers, accents, impressions––but it’s the stories––his partner, Howard West, friends since they were children; his uncle Carl (Reiner) coming home from the war, George’s hero for his service, before...

Giving thanks for an awe-inspiring chat with Emmy Winning composer, Snuffy Walden. With 13 nominations, 50 + BMI Awards, a lifetime achievement award, being the subject of Mark Maxey’s documentary, Up to Snuff, starring Martin Sheen, Aaron Sorkin, and Eric Burdon, currently kicking ass on the awards circuit, and garnering 21 of them to date––the secret to this man’s success seems to be in the “Yes...

Jimmy Vivino, Conan O’Brien’s long-time musical director, played, sang, and told first-hand stories about everyone from James Brown. Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, Laura Nyro, Phoebe Snow,Johnny Johnson, Hubert Sumlin, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Muddy Waters, Pinetop Perkins, Levon Helms, John Sebastian, Watkins Glen, The Fillmore East, New Orleans Blues, Uncle Floyd, The Dead, The Band, The Allman...

It’s Always Sunny with Pee Wee’s Miss Yvonne, Lynne Stewart. When have I laughed this hard for this long… is there anyone cuter… more good-natured… with more fun stories? From Ricky (Richard) Dreyfuss who proposed in the 4th grade, to junior college BFF Cindy Williams, all three going on to do American Graffiti with another pal, Harrison Ford, hello… auditioning for an uninterested George Lucas, m...

No matter how many times I sit down with Filmmaker Henry Jaglom, he’s always got a slew of new and stupendous stories to tell. This time he shared more than a few which he said he’s never told before, and they’re doozies. Raised by sophisticated, successful parents, Henry’s mother encouraged his love of theatre, nurturing his creative, empathetic nature, in contrast to his father’s keen business a...

I came into tonight a huge Amy Aquino fan. I left loving her a gazillion times more. How is that even possible. We started with Bosch. If you’ve yet to watch this stupendous Amazon series, pick up your remote right now. Well, after you check out Amy here… lots of behind the scenes there… here, and everywhere. From Working Girl, Moonstruck, Freaks & Geeks, Brooklyn Bridge with Marion Ross, who’s ce...

Candy Clark Of American Graffiti Live On Game Changers With Vicki Abelson by Vicki Abelson

Spoiler Alert! Bob Cowsill of The Cowsills debuts tastes of 4 new Cowsills songs which haven’t even been recorded yet. Oh yes, he does! And, we sample three A Cappella versions of their hits, which will drop in mid-2019. Oh, please, stop whatever you’re doing. Or, multi-task. When Bob comes to call, we make records, Well, Bob oft makes records, but he charts news ground, and lightning strikes when...

We could’ve talked all night and I’d still have wanted more. Thoughtful, generous, revealing, insightful, and oh so fun, legendary, Grammy Winning bassist, Will Lee, took us on a thrill ride through his stellar, illustrious and industrious, career… growing up in Texas, seeing The Beatles on Ed Sullivan and that very night blowing the dust off his untouched drums and deciding he was going to be a m...

We were Live with The Goddess of Love. The Petite Flower, The Aphrodite of the Accordion, The Fashion-Plate Saint, The Princess of Panty Shields, The Empress of Elvis Impersonators, The Judy of Judyism, Judy Tenuta... and she was HYSTERICAL! Judy talked about Ladies of the Night which she did with Paula Poundstone, Rita Rudner and Ellen Degeneres, who back then said, "I want to do TV." Now that's...

Bernard Fowler On Game Changers With Vicki Abelson by Vicki Abelson

Fun doesn’t get funner. Cathy Ladman may be on I’m Dying Up Here, but she’s anything but. Whether she’s talking about her trip to Israel and her first boyfriend, the smitten Jerry Seinfeld, whom she convinced should try his hadn’t at stand-up, or, when on his set, she spontaneously broke into a Nichole and May routine with Mike Nichols; doing The Tonight Show multiple times and getting panel with...

We went Live on location with Marion Ross of Happy Days at The Happy Days Farm (it's embroidered on the towels!) and boy was it a happy day. What a exuberant, joyful, animated, articulate, observant, resilient, inspiring, determined, passionate, lovely, funny, and oh, so fun powerhouse of a woman! Marion talked The Fonz, Ron Howard, Anson Williams, Donny Most, and, Tom Bosley (not so happy). How G...

Michael Lally On Vicki Abelson's The Road Taken Part 1 by Vicki Abelson

I knew Michael Lally was an award-winning poet, a screenwriter, playwright, TV and movie actor, an author of now 30 books ~ his latest, Another Way to Pay, a collection of his poems from 1960-2017 (with a cover photo shot by Gus Van Sant), and, a documentary, Michael Lally: I Want To Call It Poems, currently being shot, including during tonight's show. I knew Michael was a hipster when it was cool...

Liberty and I could've both used a cocktail at the top of the show, but we laughed instead. I thought Mercury went direct. Yo. A few tech glitches couldn't stop the force that's Liberty Devitto. Drummer for Billy Joel for 30 years, Lib's been on 150 million albums sold, while between touring and recording with Billy he was running off with Stevie Nicks, The Beach Boys, Karen Carpenter, Phoebe Snow...

Jack McGee cameth! Funny, funny, funny... great stories, great storyteller, what fun. Just what the doc didn't order #NoDrugs #BothSober One of my favorite actors, from one of my favorite (maybe my favorite) shows of all time, Rescue Me, was in the house. We talked Dennis Leary, Peter Tolan, Lenny Clarke, and Steven Pasquale, yes, Jack I listened to him sing on YouTube, WOW. Loved him on Rescue Me...

Oh how I loved spending time with James Lee Stanley, a one of a kind, gazillion threat: amazing songwriter, stupendous voice, charming, handsome, smart, funny... fabulous! And, oh the life he's lived. A pro at 16 with a recording contract and friends like Cass Elliot and Peter Tork, before the Mamas and Papas and The Monkees... Henry Dilz, early advocates Les Paul, Bill Graham, a 10 album recordin...

When Anson Williams comes to call, I’m newly inspired, informed, and fantastically entertained. My years-long mentor, time spent here 'splains why. Anson's all about moving forward, focusing on what we do have, not what we don't; finding the diamond in the rough on the table in front of us and mining it for all it's worth. Throughout the BROADcast, Anson demonstrates through his life experiences,...

Jimmy Brogan, consummate comedian, took us through the glory days of stand-up with Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David, Larry Miller, Carol Liefer, Dennis Wolfberg… what it took to make it his life. Connecting to Hillary Rollins, which connected him to her father, Jack Rollins, who fortuitously became his manager (other clients included Woody Allen, Robert Klein, Letterman,. Billy Crystal - not bad compan...