Ian Talks Comedy

Podcaster Shari Fesko (Saturday Night Ladies) and I discuss the TV, movies, and music of 1985

Paul Linke and I discuss his one man shows; how his eulogy for his first wife turned into a one man play on HBO; how his second wife inspired his second show and his friendship with Charles Nelson Reilly his third; his new show, The Summer I Got Old; watching Kate Smith and Howdy Doody on an early TV; his love of the Doors turns into a performance piece based on "The End" at USC; appearing in The...

Harper the Fox joined me to discuss Mr. Rogers and his unintentional role in the porn industry; people using VR to go to their childhood homes; being an English lit major; teaching herself guitar; parodying Paul Simon with "Pound in Silence"; being a writer; the Onion; being a geek; meeting her husband, an extroverted improv comedian; the c word; her writing process; how her fans write parodies;...

Tommy Ruben joined me to discuss the closed knit cast of CPO Sharkey; growing up in Larchont, NY and his dad working for Sgt. Bilko; his dad Aaron, writing for Fred Allen, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, The Andy Griffith Show and creating Gomer Pyle USMC; Don Rickles getting booed on Comic Relief; Sharkey's scripts scripts had ad-libs written in; being a class clown; guest starring on MASH; going to...

Larry Charles joined me to talk about his early heroes, The Little Rascals, 3 Stooges, and Abbott & Costello; trying stand up as a duo; the bimmies; portraying rabbi on stage; selling jokes; Darrow Igus buys jokes & leads to Fridays; the parakeet; Diner of the Living Dead; The Clash; Ronnie Horror Picture Show; 2nd Amendment sketch; Joe Shulkin; not all Fridays writers on drugs; harsher...

Michael S. Baser joined me to discuss watching Sky King as a kid; using comedy as a deterrent to bullies; starting a stand-up duo as a teenager; meeting Kim Weiskopf; his father not helping them; A Year at the Top; writing the first transgender character on TV in the Jeffersons; writing the Barbara's Friend suicide episode of One Day at a Time; creating Mr. Furley on Three's Company; creating 9...

Ricky Blitt joined me to discuss sports; Monty Python; pitching The Ringer about fixing the Special Olympics; weed helping him know who his friends are and work harder; his last 32 years being better than first 32; college work gets praise from his father; working up to ones potential; John Cleese; comedy is harder and less prestigious than drama; Seinfeld & Friends will will stay because...

Eddie Brill joins me to discuss watching Jackie Gleason, Ernie Kovacs, & Bill Dana as a kid; going to Emerson college; Andy Kaufman; creating a comedy major at Emerson; trying stand up, quitting, and going back four years later; running the Paper Moon Comedy Club; Fright Night; Bill Gonzalez' Cable Comedy Show; watching the '86 World Series in Boston; minor league stadiums; his dad catching...

Jameel Saleem and I discussed his watching Cheers and MASH as a kid; Jimmy Stewart; going to Hampton College with DJ Envy; wanting to be an FBI agent, then realizing he wants to be playing an FBI agent; getting small roles on Hack & The Wire; being in TV reenactments; his film, Exit Strategy; persistence; writing a freelance Ricky Smiley Show; getting first first job on Manhattan Love Story;...

Rob Kutner joined me to discuss Lost in Space; Letterman; writing; the Far Side; writing for the Princeton Tiger; applying to write for MAD; writing spec scripts; getting hired as an intern on Dennis Miller Live; the shows format; writing the rants; how 9/11 changed Dennis and comedy; going to The Daily Show; doing "Is America Ready for a Black President?" with Larry Wilmore; Buck Henry; getting...