Catching Up With Comedians

58:10

Comedian John Kensil joins host Rich Stein

Catching Up With Comedians ·

2026/09/27

This is part two of my two part episode with Comedian John Kensil. I re- ran the final 90 seconds of part one to create a smoother transition to parts one and two. We were chatting about comedians when we were young and John mentioned how many of them came on to The Mike Douglas Show ( which was taped for many years in Philadelphia) and many actors came on Mike Douglas as they were acting in dinner theater so as to keep their careers afloat. Bob Crane was doing dinner theater after his tv work

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53:24

Comedian John Kensil joins host Rich Stein

Catching Up With Comedians ·

2026/09/13

John Kensil was an absolute pleasure to chat with on my podcast. He brings over thirty years of comedy chops to our mics at C.U.W.C. and he is unbridled about the comedy business and its evolution. Unlike many comedians, however, he has a very fun and affable way of accepting what was/ is/ and always will be an ever changing and evolving business in terms of comedy tastes, comedy styles, approaches, genres and whatever else gets thrown into the stew. We ended up chatting for quite awhile and so

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59:30

Comedy Director Linda Mendoza joins host Rich Stein

Catching Up With Comedians ·

2026/08/30

On my second visit with Comedy Director Linda Mendoza, we cover her extensive directing of the Gershwin awards for Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Burt Bacharach, Paul Simon, Paul McCartney and her equally expansive direction of the Mark Twain Awards for American Humor, including: David Letterman, Bill, Murray, George Carlin and Tina Fey.We also discussed her directing of so many icons of comedy in both sitcoms and specials, including, but not limited to: Martin Short, Bernie Mac, Chris Rock, John

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65:12

Comic, Actor Chip Chinery joins host Rich Stein

Catching Up With Comedians ·

2026/08/15

Chip Chinery‘s life and career should be a college course, a documentary or at least a footnote at the National Comedy Center in Jamestown,New York. Chip started Comedy as an amateur at just 15 years of age. He performed stand up through high school and into college where he was active in Theater, film and video classes and he produced and starred in his own documentary at Miami University in Cincinnati titled “From Here To Fraternity’l After college Chip worked at the CBS TV affiliate in

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59:56

Comic, Actor, Bob Greenberg joins host Rich Stein

Catching Up With Comedians ·

2026/08/01

Bob Greenberg, conceived in the Catskills and born at New York Hospital in Manhattan was destined for the stage.Bob has done everything in this business from comedy clubs to television sitcoms, dramas, mini-series and films. A longtime member of the Friars and Lambs, Bob has Won Best Actor Awards for Jimmy Breslin: How To Read The Newspaper and The Stella in two New York Theater Festivals. A talented character Comedian and impersonator, he regularly portrays Jackie Gleason, Lou Costello, Oliver

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51:40

Comedian Jimmy Shubert joins host Rich Stein

Catching Up With Comedians ·

2026/07/20

Jimmy Shubert born and raised in Philadelphia was one of seven boys with a police detective Dad and a school teaching Mom.Jimmy attended a magnet high school for the creative and performing arts and he was a professional working magician by age 15. He especially liked taking the acting classes Jimmy started performing stand-up comedy right out of high school in the local Philadelphia area. He moved out to Los Angeles during The Comedy Boom of the eighties and after being noticed by Sam Kinison, he

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48:16

Director Linda Mendoza joins host Rich Stein

Catching Up With Comedians ·

2026/07/05

Linda Mendoza is an award-winning Director, born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. She was a Sociology Major before falling into the television industry. Linda got her start in the multi- camera/variety genre as a production assistant. She worked her way up on hit shows such as 'In Living Color' and ''Saturday Night Live." Linda’s love of stand-up started at an early age. Later her opportunities working with artists like Robin Williams, on 'Robin Williams at the Met', Billy Crystal’s 'Midnight

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63:22

Comedian Tom Ryan joins host Rich Stein

Catching Up With Comedians ·

2026/06/19

Tom Ryan has been a full-time standup comedian for over thirty years. He made two appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman and recently performed at Carnegie Hall.Since he was about 10 years old, Tom wanted to be a standup comedian. The first standup comedy he ever heard was from David Brenner and George Carlin. At 26, he left an insurance job in his hometown of Philadelphia to move to Florida where he landed a job at a local golf course. The job lasted only 3 weeks. Ryan says,

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28:15

Filmmaker and Animator Gene Hamm joins host Rich Stein

Catching Up With Comedians ·

2026/06/08

This is Gene Hamm‘s third visit to my show. He brings a lifetime of art and animation to his third feature film Entitled: "Don’t Call Us, We’ll Kill You!" It will be on the Roku channel. In addition to his work for Disney, Hanna Barbera, and many others, he has also taught animation for over 25 years at the Art Institute in Marin County. He is also promoting his new online course where he will teach animation from conception to completion. In this class, Gene will take you through all the

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40:43

Comedian Andy Huggins joins host Rich Stein

Catching Up With Comedians ·

2026/05/21

Andy Huggins:Andy Huggins always loved Comedy and has a vivid memory of the sound the audience made laughing hysterically in a huge movie theater, when he first watched the Marx Brothers in Duck Soup. After graduating from high school in Virginia, he started doing Open Mic nights and telling jokes between the musical acts. He moved to Los Angeles after Johnny Carson kept mentioning that all the wave of new comedians came from The Comedy Store on Sunset Boulevard. After working in LA for a couple

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58:50

Comedian, Prop Master and Show Runner Joe Dalo joins...

Catching Up With Comedians ·

2026/05/10

My guest Joe Dalo was born in Philly and raised in South Jersey. He started out like most comics working open mics and progressed to the real comedy clubs like The Comedy works and The Comedy Factory Outlet.He also wanted to be an actor and he was in the road company of Toni and Tina‘s wedding. Joe had a building and construction background which gave him another side hustle; He started getting hired on prank and hidden video shows as a builder and prop-master. Due to his positive demeanor and

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57:12

Comic, Producer, Entrepreneur Rhonda Shear joins host...

Catching Up With Comedians ·

2026/04/24

Rhonda Shear grew up as the youngest of four kids in New Orleans. Her Mom Supported her dancing and modeling while Dad instilled in her the Mind of the Business Model. She left Louisiana with a College Degree from Loyola University, and the Title of Miss Louisiana USA/World/International She headed west to Los Angeles where she studied acting and started paying her dues. She graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena and studied with Harvey

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70:50

Comic, Actor, Writer, Director Ted Lange joins host...

Catching Up With Comedians ·

2026/04/09

My guest today Ted Lange was born and raised in Oakland California. While most people would recognize Ted from his 10 seasons starring as Isaac the Bartender on THE LOVE BOAT; before that show he had already appeared in 4 to 5 films, was a regular in a sitcom that ran for 39 episodes and he had already appeared in the Broadway production of the musical HAIR!TED Lange is a GRADUATE from LONDON’S ROYAL ACADEMY and is also a MEMBER of the AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE! Ted went on to write and

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60:48

Comedian Vince Harper joins host Rich Stein

Catching Up With Comedians ·

2026/03/28

My guest today is Comedian Vince Harper.Vince was dancing a lot as a teenager and inspired by his older brother, he started pursuing it full time. From a young man, he had joined a dance group that performed on the stages at Disneyland and eventually they were good enough to perform on TV shows, American Bandstand, Dance Fever, The Midnight Special as well as the Merv Griffin Show. His group known as "Dancin Machine" eventually was performing for the Stardust Casino in Las Vegas and soon after

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53:20

Comedian Jay London joins host Rich Stein

Catching Up With Comedians ·

2026/03/13

My guest on the podcast this week is Mr. Jay London. Raised in the Bronx, Jay’s two passions in life have both served him well: stand-up comedy and boxing.In both enterprises you are fighting for your life and in both you can kill or bomb out and die. Jay fought his way through the Bronx neighborhoods and school yards and later through the local comedy clubs and “Live at the Apollo!” He fought his way into the house on season two of “Last Comic Standing” where he first came to national

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68:52

Comedian George Hamaty joins host Rich Stein

Catching Up With Comedians ·

2026/02/27

George Hamaty started as a stand up comedian at Penn State and continued for twelve years developing an act while also studying acting.After college, he decided to head west to Los Angeles, which is where I first ran into George. He was only in LA for the years 1985 through 1991, but he rose up the ladder from opening act to feature act and met many people and definitely made his mark. George is proud to say that as an Arab American, he relied heavily on his ethnicity. Personal drama forced him

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32:26

Stand up Comic / Producer Linda Marcus Smith joins...

Catching Up With Comedians ·

2026/02/14

Linda Marcus Smith joins me this week for her second appearance on the podcast. Linda gained much notoriety during the pandemic when she interviewed not less than 1000 comedians for her podcast "The Comics Spot." Since the end of the pandemic, Linda has worked tirelessly rising up the ranks in the Las Vegas Comedy Clubs and Casinos. Just over a year ago she decided to make the move back to her native homeland, New York City. Linda has worked very hard over the past year to build up her Comedy

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66:16

Comedian Dan Rosenberg joins host Rich Stein

Catching Up With Comedians ·

2026/02/01

Welcome Dan Rosenberg to the podcast .In 1992, Dan moved to Los Angeles to start a stand-up career at age 22. He sold cars in the daytime and did stand up at night. When the Northridge earthquake hit in 1994, he took that as a sign to leave LA while he could still catch a plane that had an accessible runway. He moved back to Pennsylvania to coach basketball and after that he ended up teaching Comedy traffic school in Orlando, Florida, which basically jump started his return to stand-up

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60:53

Comedian, Producer David Uhlfelder joins host Rich Stein

Catching Up With Comedians ·

2026/01/18

My guest today is David Uhlfelder who was raised in Colorado and started his comedy career when he was barely 20 years of age and pursuing an engineering degree at Cal State University, San Luis Obispo.He earned his degree and has been working as a comedian for eight years now and without the assistance of a day job. To understand how you could visit: https://www.daviduhlfelder.com/ as well as https://www.cal comedy underground.com/ Not only can you see his credits and comedy history but you

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65:35

Comedienne, Writer, Actress Brenda Pontiff joins host...

Catching Up With Comedians ·

2026/01/05

My guest today is Comedian, writer, actress: Brenda Pontiff.A Texas, Gal, born and raised in Bay City. She was in the second generation of comics who started at Houston's Comix Annex which began the famed careers of Sam Kinison, Bill Hicks and the Texas Outlaws. One of these Outlaws has had a rebirth of late: Andy Huggins, of AGT fame. Brenda worked with Andy many years ago and now is opening for him at select clubs on the West Coast. Brenda, who refers to herself as a TEX-A-CORNIAN, proud of

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