Ian Talks Comedy

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.

For over 45 years, Marty Nadler has been making people laugh in television (Odd Couple, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley), film (Pretty Woman, Princess Diaries, Valentines Day), stand-up (in the Improv in the 1970's and today), and on my podcast today. 3 episodes of Marty's 1979-1980 CBS series Last Resort https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMj2trx1E8c&t=4197s Look for Marty's new movie I, Morde...

My guest tonight is a real Renaissance woman.  She has been an actress on stage, screen, and television.  She writes, produces, improvs, acts, sings, dances, and teaches and best of all she’s here with me today.

Larry Strawther got into show business as a gofer for the Merv Griffin Show .  He went on to write for Laverne & Shirley , Happy Days , My Sister Sam, The Sinbad Show and Night Stand . His Most Extreme Elimination Challenge is still a cult classic among 20 and 30 year olds. But for me, he is best known as the executive producer (1989 - 1990), producer (1988-1989) and writer (1987 - 1990)...

Lane Sarasohn is a pioneer in television satire.  He, along with Ken Shapiro, Chevy Chase and Richard Allen launched Channel One in 1967 and released their greatest hits  in the 1974 hit film the Groove Tube (which grossed $104 million in today's money), which influenced much of  the comedy that followed.  In this supersized   episode,  he discusses the genesis o...

Steve Zacharias has had three careers in screenwriting.  First as a television writer on such shows as The Odd Couple, All in the Family (for which he won an Emmy), The Partridge Family, Happy Days, and Quark. Then in film with screenplays for Revenge of the Nerds ,   The Last Resort, Johnny B. Goode, In the Army Now, and Eddie. And for the last 15 years, teaching screenwriting at DuPaul...

As my first guest, I interview "Chicken Little Comedy Hour" "SNL", and "Fridays" writer and "Not Necessarily the News" head writer on his almost 50 years of comedy writing. Some sketches mentioned.  SNL: Dave's Variety Store, You Can't Win, Bucks Monologue 5/24/80 Fridays: Hollywood Cubes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se-eXJPu8_c&t=301s Do yourselves a favor and visit Matt's website www...