Laugh Tracks Legends of Comedy with Randy and Steve

Happy (almost) New Year you hosers! This time out we honor two true Canadian icons -- Bob and Doug -- the McKenzie Brothers! OK, it's Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas from the classic SCTV late night show, but boy did their characters "take off" in the early 1980s. Originally devised as a bit to meet "Canadian content" requirements, The Great White North was nothing more than Bob and Doug sitting on a...

Say hello to Imogene Coca, a mainstay of television's first golden age who delighted audiences over a career spanning four decades. Originally a Broadway actor and a headliner in Manhattan nightclubs, Imogene started her tv career with small roles before she was added to the cast of Your Show of Shows. Her work with co-star Sid Caesar is the stuff of legend, and it earned her both an Emmy in 1952...

Over the last 40 years few comedians have had the pedigree of today's Legend. Harvard Lampoon President? Check! Simpson's writer and show runner? Check! Late Night TV host tapped to replace Letterman's Late Nite show? Check! Tonight Show host (at least for a little while)? Check! Successful Oscar host? Check! Possessing a goofy but sharp sense of humor and a gift for comic self-deprecation, Conan...

You may not know his name but you surely know his voice(s), especially if you were a late night watcher of the annual Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon. Fred Travalena turned a fine singing voice and a gift for mimicry into a career that lasted well over 40 years. Fred was encouraged in show business by his father, also an entertainer, and he honed his skills and interest during a stint in the Army S...

We've decided to "class up" the joint today with some fine classical music. Well, not exactly -- our laughs this time out come from accomplished composer, conductor, and musician Peter Schickele -- better known to comedy fans as PDQ Bach. Peter was a musical prodigy who attended both Swarthmore College and Julliard and who started his career as a songwriter and film composer. Just for fun, Peter s...

Today we salute Foster Brooks whose signature character -- "The Lovable Lush" -- was a mainstay on 1970s television shows and Las Vegas showrooms. Foster started out as a traditional standup and worked his way up in LA (along with a number of day jobs). When game show host Dennis James introduced Foster to Perry Como, the crooner tapped him to be his regular opener. Dean Martin became a fan and Fo...

This week out we salute Jackie Mason who took comedy from the Temple and brought it to Broadway -- with a few roadblocks thrown in his path. Jackie started out his career as a rabbi -- and when he noticed that the funnier he made his sermons the larger the crowd he would draw Jackie connected the dots and made the leap to becoming a full-time comedian. A feud based on a misunderstanding led to a b...

On your Marx, get set, and go! This time out the Marx we are honoring is Leonard -- better known to us as Chico whose playful and crafty stage persona was a perfect blend with Groucho, Harpo, and Gummo. The eldest brother of the Marx family, Chico also took on managing the brothers' film career, winning them an unprecedented at the time deal to get a percentage of the gross. Unfortunately, Chico d...

This time out we salute Craig Robinson, who might well have ended up as your high school music teacher had not the comedy bug bit him hard while in college at Illinois State University. Along with hitting the books, Craig also hit the boards at Second City and doing stand up, eventually moving to Los Angeles where he caught the eye of Jimmy Kimmel's show. As these things do, one thing led to anoth...

An icon of 20th Century American humor, Jack Benny started as a violinist who would use comedy to save himself from bombing. He ended up as a legendary comedian who used the violin as one part of an indelible comic character. Vain, stingy, and eternally 39, Jack became a hit in the 1930s on the then-new medium of radio. He turned that into a stellar movie and television career -- earning himself t...

Meet Hasan Minaj, one of the brightest young comedians out there -- and a man who almost became the new host of The Daily Show. Born in Davis, CA to immigrant parents, Hasan caught the comedy bug in college, commuting to San Francisco to perform. His style of sharp eyed comedy and his youthful appeal eventually caught the eye of Jon Stewart and Hasan was the last Daily Show correspondent hired by...

Say hello to Howard Hesseman, who cut his teeth on satirical improv comedy as a founding member of San Francisco's "The Committee" back in the 1960s, then became a mainstay of television and film for the next 50 plus years. Most of us know Howard from his role as Dr. Johnny Fever on WKRP in Cincinnati, but there is so much more to his career. Later roles included a starring role in ABC's Head of t...

Might want to put on the headphones for this one -- Bob "Bobcat" Goldthwait has a set of pipes (at least in the old days) that is indescribable. A perfect fit for the MTV era, Bobcat's comedy was edgy (to say the least) and he became a favorite of other edgy artists (Kurt Cobain was a big fan). Bobcat was a regular at Comic Relief fundraisers and he carved out a niche as a supporting actor in flic...

A beloved actor and part of the greatest television comedies ever, Art Carney will forever be identified as Ed Norton, blue collar pal of Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason) in The Honeymooners. First a radio star, Art started working with Jackie in the early 1950s on The Cavalcade of Stars where the Honeymooners began as a series of sketches. Those sketches earned Art five Emmy awards and an enduring...

Say hello to Red Skelton, a favorite of comedy fans for five decades. Red considered himself more of a clown than a comedian and his routines were filled with colorful characters and sight gags. A solid draw in movies back in the 1940s, Red took the leap to television when that medium arrived and he was a smash. Red was also famous for "working clean" which made him a family favorite both on scree...

Meet Louie Anderson, who started off writing punchlines for Henny Youngman, the King of one-liners, and ends with an Emmy-winning career that spanned television, movie roles, and best selling books. Louie had a self-deprecating style that endeared him to audiences and he was fearlessly honest about the myriad childhood issues that informed his comedy. When he passed in 2022 tributes from fellow co...

Say hello to the King of Cleveland, the Lord of TV improvisation, and Potentate of the Price is Right game show -- Drew Carey. A regular guy, Drew's enduring and broad appeal has made him a fixture on television since the late 1980s when he competed on Star Search. His Tonight Show debut in 1991 won Johnny Carson's approval and earned Drew the fabled invite to join the guests on the couch. From th...

There are legends and then there are LEGENDS -- and Chicago's Second City comedy troupe is the second kind. This episode we focus on Second City in the 1960s - before they became known as a talent pool for SNL and SCTV! After morphing from the Compass Players improv troupe, Second City became known for finely tuned sketches -- often deriving absurd and hilarious results from a normal setting (or v...

When Hee Haw first debuted in 1969 many saw it as a cornpone knockoff of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In and while the show did indeed trade in cornpone comedy it also carved out it's own niche, running in syndication until 1993. Hosted by country music Hall of Famers Buck Owens and Roy Clark, the show mixed regular features with bits involving special guests -- usually another top country musician. F...

One of the most popular film and tv comics ever (with some novelty tunes tossed in for good measure), Danny Kaye delighted audiences with his wordplay whether remembering if "the vessel with the pestle has the brew that it true," speeding through the names of dozens of Russian composers, or engaging is some good natured "faux-Swedish" dialogue on the Muppet Show. Danny was also a humanitarian, ser...

Say hello to this week's Legend Rob Reiner -- director, actor, writer, producer, activist and all-around mensch. Son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, Rob found his own path in Hollywood first as a writer for the Smothers Brothers, then with a breakout role in All in the Family, then as a movie director and actor. Rob practically invented the "mockumentary" format in the 1980s with This Is Spinal Tap...

This week it's across the pond to meet one of Great Britain's most beloved comedians, Frankie Howerd. After serving in WWII, Frankie launched his show business career, first gaining fame on radio and in music hall revues. When his popularity began to wane, Frankie tried different formats but it was a regular spot on David Frost's hit show That Was The Week That Was that brought him back into pubic...

Get your pjs on, grab a big bowl of cereal, and plant yourself in front of the TV (at least in your mind) -- its Saturday Morning Cartoon time with one of the seminal voices of animation. The name Daws Butler may not ring as many bells as Mel Blanc, but his characters sure do -- Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw and many more. A fortuitous early partnership with Stan Freberg paid off...

When you think of adjectives starting with 'f' that describe comedians you might think of "funny," "fast," and "fierce" -- but you may not think of "fluffy" -- not unless you are fans of Gabriel Iglesias who has ridden family-friendly and playful comedy to the top of the business. Always rotund, Gabriel was nicknamed "fluffy" by his mom -- we hope she gets a cut because it has become his trademark...

David Cross is one of the best of the alternative stand-up comics who emerged in the 1990s. He also co-created a legendary HBO sketch show AND was the actor behind one of the most cringe-inducing characters in a show full of them. We wonder what he does in his spare time! A self-described "misfit" in his Georgia hometown, David found his people when he moved first to New York, then to LA in search...