Ian Talks Comedy

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; Northwestern; UCLA with professor Francis Ford Coppola; working on Laugh In; writing for Love, American Style and Room 222; writing the Mary Tyler Moore episodes "A Friend in Need" & "Room 223"; writing the pilot to Maude; wearing hot pants and being in a TV guide article; The Couple Takes a Wife and similar Seinfeld episode; Bob Newhart show; her favorite TV movie that didn't go; her political affair; helping Bill Clinton; offered a job writing for NASA; working for the ADL; my grandmothers WWII story; being a UN observer for the Simon Wiesenthal Center; Bob Woodruff a funny person; Square Pegs; saying she's in the age bracket 50 to dead; dating past 50; no longer dyeing her hair; choking stories; Dr. Heimlich & Anson Williams; her "adopted" grandchildren; working with the FIDF; future of Israel; antisemitism; Hitlers Ascent and Trump; being afraid to walk in NYC with the Star of David; NY vs. LA; Donald Trump; Buddy Hackett vs. Don Rickles; her parents

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 second show; Subliminal Advertising Sketch, Lie Detector Sketch; Chess Club Coach sketch; Trivial Pursuit sketch; being locked in Dick Ebersol's office to write Eddie Murphy's Christmas 1984 show; Christopher Guest Auctioneer Sketch, I Am Also the World, Prison Rape Sketch; Women in Prison tv show; Night Court and favorite episodes; Boy Meets World and the genius of Will Freidle; Townsend TV; Boogies Diner; Girlfriend Guy; BIFL; and what he's doing now.

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 Woofers and Tweeters; hamster drag racing; going to a comedy club when he had an ulcer; seeing there was a science there; trying it and getting good enough to win Showtimes Comedy Laugh Off; having a day job and not being able to move to LA; bombing on Alan Thicke's Canadian talk show; pitching Almost Live!; getting the show on the air on the fly; creating fame for little towns near Seattle; Louie, Louie campaign makes it a hit, but no one wants to syndicate; gets job to host Late Show but has to cancel remaining gigs; writers to Johnny Carson; Writer's Strike causes theme shows like TV reunions; Ozzy Osbourne; Hollywood Squares & Howard Stern; finding out Late Show is cancelled that morning; getting Match Game; memorable trip; Sally Struthers and Charles Nelson Reilly; Iraq War preempts show and ratings dive; began doing corporate gigs; his WOW versus POW theory; the book Love, Johnny by Mark Malkoff

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 and teaching in the Dalton School; being a cab driver and studying dialogue; becoming a professor at Marlboro College in Vermont; wrote a TV movie that sold and didn't get made; writing pornography and turning a story into a TV movie with Barbara Eden and Barbara Feldon; early freelance jobs; Eight is Enough; Dick Van Patten and the ponies; Rivkin the Bounty Hunter TV movie; American Dream; Scarecrow & Mrs. King; pilot Bulba with Jeff Altman & Bill Hicks; Devlin Connection with Rock Hudson; Cagney & Lacey, his 1st episode "Jane Doe #37" nominated for Writer's Guild Award; wins Emmy in 1985; creating I Had Three Wives and casting Victor Garber; working on Our Family Honor; writing Monte Carlo for Joan Collins and George Hamilton; Studio 5B; writing his first novel The Deal, a harsh satire on the film industry; his second novel, The Dreyfus Affair, about a homosexual love story on an MLB team; optioned three times and now being looked at by Timothy Chalamet; Di & I a fictional love story between Princess Diana and a Jewish screenwriter; working on Due South with Paul Haggis; The Woody satirizing Bob Packwood; Abbreviating Ernie about rough sex that leads to death and dismemberment; his TV satire Beggars and Choosers he co-created with Brandon Tartikoff; Eleven Karens about a man who had relationships with 11 women named Karen; Manhattan Beach Project, a satire on reality TV; his love of dark humor

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 California; his first time on stage; learning how to be a standup; producing Count Basie's final album; getting a job at the Laff Stop; investing 1% in that club; hearing the Ice House was for sale and buying it with three partners for $67,000; history of the Ice House; Pat Paulsen; seeing green George Lopez; Gallagher; David Letterman; producing Rick Dees comedy shows and writing an opening for Rick to be funny; sold out 6000 seats in 10 days; doing sports with Sweet Dick Whittington; getting Rudy Tellez as his manager; being a writer on Into the Night when Brad Garrett hosted; producing the Super Bowl of Comedy; creating the Uproar comedy label; becoming a Grammy voter; memories of Richard Jeni, Jay Leno, Harry Anderson, Jay Johnson, Marcia Warfield, Robin Williams, Ben Powers, Howie Mandel; what makes the best comedians; Woody Allen; George Carlin's friendship and advice; Bill Cosby; being bumped by Rodney Dangerfield.