Ian Talks Comedy

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Kimiko Gelman and I discuss her growing up on Long Island; Loving ; getting cast on Rags to Riches ; working on the pilot; becoming friends with Tisha Campbell; Joe Bologna; Baby Jessica; Freddy's Nightmares with Page Hannah; Baghdad Cafe with Whoopi Goldberg; The Pickle and working with Shelley Winters and Danny Aiello; getting cast in Mother and working with Albert Brooks and Debby Reynolds; The...

Charlie Robinson talks about his early career in music;  his stage work; early film and TV roles; Fences ; Buffalo Bill and its famous (#57 all time TV show by TV Guide) Jerry Lewis episode; being added to Night Court ; the concept of Mac's character; Mac's sweaters; singing and hanging out with the Rivingtons;  when Richard Moll's car broke down; directing four episodes of Night Court a...

Margaret Oberman spoke with me about her rise to working on Saturday Night Live, writing for Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo and Rick Moranis; her favorite sketches; writing for Andrea Martin; writing a special that starred 21 year old Chris Rock; meeting Sammy Davis Jr.; writing Kim Kardashian's favorite movie Troop Beverly Hills ; writing the original script for The Man; writing the BBC series Too Muc...

Diana and I discuss The Bellinis;   Lenny (Luca Brasi) Montana; Hollywood High; auditioning for Marni Nixon Feast, Ozzie's Girls ; guest starring in a memorable Happy Days, Chico and the Man, Medical Story, The First Nudie Musical, Starsky & Hutch; Paul Michael Glaser; The Love Boat pilot;   Soap; audition; cast becomes family; Hollywood Squares, Dinah!;  Perry Como’s Early Amer...

In a lengthy interview, 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 Smother...

Meco and I discuss her modeling career; how the Cheetah Girls Movie inspired her; songwriting; trying out for The X Factor , The Lost Resort and the jungles of Costa Rica; the therapies that she did or did not take part in; her webseries about forming a girl group; and her website, everythingmeco.com

Steven Kampmann talks Cook & Moore; Second City; The Cisco Kid; WKRP in Cincinnati; Newhart; Back to School , Club Paradise ,   The Richest Cat in the World ; The Couch Trip ; Clifford ; Stuart Saves His Family ; For the Boys ; Multiplicity ; Analyze That; Special Delivery ; Buzzkill; Maurice!; and teaches me improv.

This is a list of the performers I would most like to interview on the podcast.  If any body has a lead or if they themselves are listening please email me at nycarter8@aol.com The list: In alphabetical order: Julie Brown (Just Say Julie)                           ...

Blues Brothers

Actor-producer-director Paul Kreppel joined me to talk about growing up in Kingston, New York; early TV; going to Emerson College with Henry Winkler and Andrea Martin; being a guest at Winkler's home during "Fonziemania", The Proposition; Fred Grandy; Judy Kahan; being on David Frost and Mike Douglas , Godspell, Don Scardino, Paul Shaffer; working with Ted Danson and Danny DeVito, auditioning for...

Rich Hall talks about being a street performer; Harry Anderson; moving to NYC in 1978 and doing stand-up with Jerry Seinfeld, Paul Reiser and Gilbert Gottfried;  writing for the David Letterman (Morning) Show ; doing The Tonight Show with Letterman as a guest host; Fridays ; writing and performing on Saturday Night Live ; moving to England; QI ; Otis Lee Crenshaw; BBC documentaries; Blazing S...

Unfortunately, Sy Rosen was talking to me during Tropical Storm Fay and the first thirty minutes were erased, but we talked about: growing up in the Bronx, Winky Dink and You , college, going in the reserves, not working on a Joan Baez in Sing Sing special, writing a spec script for the Mary Tyler Moore Show and getting a template back from Allan Burns; selling an episode of The Bob Newhart Show a...

My guest tonight was an original writer for Saturday Night Live, a short film maker with over 50 to his credit and is known for directing one of the most famous movies you have never seen.  He also was a protege of documentarian Robert Snyder and was befriended and mentored by Henry Miller. 

Fridays

Gary Murphy and I discuss 50's TV, The Dick Van Dyke Show , meeting his partner Larry Strawther, Butch Whacks & The Glass Packs, moving to LA, working on Merv Griffin, writing spec scripts, getting hired on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson , meeting Johnny, working two weeks and going to the Anniversary party, the classic Reagan Who's on First routine, getting fired and then rehired, le...

Larry Arnstein talks about growing up on Park Avenue but in an apartment in the back, going to prep school in the middle of nowhere, using the girl to boy ratio as a way to pick a college, meeting his funny and brilliant partner Matt Hurwitz, writing for the Chicken Little Show , writing a short film Purient Interest, writing for Eight is Enough and having to service all ten characters, getting re...

Comedy writers and Second City legends Jim Fisher and Jim Staahl joined me via Zoom. We discuss Fish's early days in a stand up comedy duo, joining Second City as David Steinberg's understudy, being groomed as the next David Steinberg, Jim Staahl's college career, being called a "funny" Hamlet, auditioning and understudying all five male performers (Fisher, David Blum, Joe Flaherty, Brian Doyle Mu...

In a 30 year career, Tom Reeder wrote for some of the best sitcoms of his generation: Barney Miller, MASH, Cheers, and Frasier as well as my personal favorite, Night Court.  His episodes are known for their quotability as well as its character explorations. We talk about his days as an usher for the Carol Burnett Show, getting his job on Barney Miller , writing for Danny Arnold, "Hash", Fish...

Kevin Bartini is one of the most sought after audience warm-up comedians, warming up crowds for The Daily Show, The Colbert Report,  The Nightly Show as well as headlining comedian across the United States.  He also is the only guest to see me do stand up. Kevin spearheaded the drive to turn West 121st street into George Carlin Way.  He talks about the positives and negatives of tha...

Darin Patterson is a stand-up comedian and writer who's performed at the Boston Comedy Arts Festival and the Park Slope Comedy Festival.  He is the host of the SNL Nerds podcast.  We talk about: the first time he saw SNL, our all time casts, Phil Hartman v. Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Jan Hooks, blue collar real life comedy, my 2010 trip to SNL, and what's next on his podcast.

My guest today created the character with the second most appearances on Saturday Night Live with twenty-seven, Mr. Bill..  Over his more than forty-five years in entertainment, he has been a writer, producer, director, voice-over artist, and even podcaster. He has also been active in environmental causes such as the destruction of Louisiana's coastline

Mark Rothman is best known for having been involved with the creation and production of Laverne and Shirley . He was also the head writer and show runner of numerous other shows including Happy Days and a writer for the Odd Couple. He  created Busting Loose and The Ted Knight Show. He also composed the theme song for Busting Loose. He was also writer, theme tune composer and executive produce...

For over 45 years, my guest has been writing comedy in all assets of the media; from National Lampoon magazine to TV specials, variety series, sitcoms highlighted by Cheers, Newhart, and as my listeners will know, my favorite sitcom “Night Court”.  He wrote a book Dick Cheney’s Diary in 2008 and is a frequent contributor to the Huffington Post. Dick Cheney's Diary https://www.amazon.com/Dick-...

On a special Ian Talks Comedy, I talk to my eight year old daughter, Alexa.