Ian Talks Comedy

Brent Forrester (The Simpsons / The Office)

Brent Forrester talks about writing for "The Ben Stiller Show", "Daddy Dearest", "The Simpsons", "Mr. Show", and "The Office"

Ken Lerner (Rocco Malachi on Happy Days / Lou Schwartz on The Goldbergs)

Ken Lerner joined me to discuss growing up in Brooklyn as a Yankee fan; being in the peanut gallery on Howdy Doody; his brother, the late Michael Lerner; studying with St

Morgan Fairchild

Morgan Fairchild joined me to discuss not being allowed to watch Dobie Gillis; improv and acting training from Larry O'Dwyer; being in the Junior Players; Happy Days; see

Catlin Adams (The Jerk / A Jazz Singer / Sticky Fingers)

Catlin Adams joined me to discuss immigrating for Israel; Our Miss Brooks and The Gale Storm Show; 1950s anti-Antisemitism; being in acting class taught by Anna Mizrahi;

Bill Nuss (Mee-Ow show / NBC exec / 21 Jump Street ep / Pacific Blue creator)

Bill Nuss joined me to discuss watching Off. Joe Bolton as a child; writing to Johnny Carson; his love of Honeymooners; going to film school backward; creating the Mee-Ow

Melody Anderson (Flash Gordon / Manimal)

Melody Anderson joins me and discusses having a crush on Tonto; going into radio journalism; hearing a radio broadcast of Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf and wanting to go

Jill Kleck Woo (p.a. Fridays, The Blues Brothers, Eye Magic Productions)

Jill Kleck Woo and I discuss being restless on a farm; watching the Brady Bunch and wanting to go to California; going to Ohio University; Bernie Brillstein offering a jo

Robert L. McCullough (Bionic Woman / BJ & the Bear / Falcon Crest)

Robert L. McCullough joined me to discuss watching test patterns and Captain Tom; going to BHHS w/ Burt Ward; going to Stanford to mingle; became a page and a gopher at U

Art Dielhenn (director Punky Brewster / Head of the Class / Sister Sister)

Art Dielhenn joined me to discuss watching Roy Rogers; having celiac disease and dyslexia; a drama coach turns him onto acting; realizing in college he is not an actor; m

Dan O'Shannon (Newhart / Cheers / Modern Family)

Dan O'Shannon joined me to discuss Cleveland kids TV and his documentary; going to Cleveland State for a year; doing stand up; getting to know his character; buying a Che

Seth Freeman (Lou Grant / Brooklyn Bridge)

Seth Freeman joined me to discuss going backstage on Kukla, Fran & Ollie; Hop-along Cassidy; writing for his school paper; teaching math to inner city students so they ga

Prof. Frank Chindamo (SNL Season 6 writers assistant / creator LaughMD.com)

Frank Chindamo joined me to talk about being half Ecuadorean and half Italian and can only speak English; living in Queens; Winky Dink and You; getting the writer's assis

Marsha Posner Williams (producer, Soap / Night Court / Golden Girls)

Marsha Posner Williams joined me to talk about wanting to know how TV was made; being able to type 122 WPM; getting a job as a secretary for Steve Gordon on "The Practice

Susan Silver (Mary Tyler Moore / Bob Newhart shows, author Hot Pants in Hollywood)

Susan Silver joined me to discuss being a Sagittarius; watching Your Show of Shows; being born in Milwaukee and moving to Whitefish Bay; being rocked by her mother; North

Kevin Kelton (2021 Interview with Better Audio)

Kevin and I discuss Face the Music; Fridays; Twilight Theater; Laugh Trax; No Soap, Radio; The Jeffersons; getting SNL; Eddie Murphy's showcase; getting stuff on his seco

Ross Shafer (Almost Live!/Late Show/Match Game)

Ross Shafer joined me to talk about watching Rusty Nails as a kid; flipping bikes, cars, houses, and businesses; college football; owning a stereo / pet store named Woofe

Peter Lefcourt (author The Deal & The Dreyfus Affair, writer / producer Cagney & Lacey)

Peter Lefcourt joined me to discuss listening to Jean Shepard, his first TV, joining the Peace Corps and going to Togo; living in Paris three months a year; coming back a

Marc Weingarten (comedian, owner of the Ice House 1978 - 1982)

Marc Weingarten joined me to discuss putting color strips on a black and white TV, trying to watch TV with Orthodox Jewish parents; moving from NY to Miami to Israel to C

Rebeca Arthur Golden (Perfect Strangers, Scrooged)

Rebecca Arthur Golden joined me to discuss her love of Lucille Ball; her current dogs; her beloved dog Emmy who was her dog on Perfect Strangers; being a born performer a

Greg Evigan (BJ and the Bear, My Two Dads)

Greg Evigan joined me to discuss writing the theme to My Two Dads; watching Honeymooners; piano lessons; high school bands; winning an Award for Hello Dolly in high schoo