Ian Talks Comedy

00:45:31

Ted Wass (Soap / Blossom / Oh God, You Devil)

Ian Talks Comedy ·

2026/10/03

Ted Wass joined me to discuss watching horror movies as as a child; Lakewood Ohio; going to the Goodman School of Drama; going to NY; getting the role of Danny Zuko in Grease; being in the pilot for Handle with Care; reading the Soap pilot and wanting the role; his character arc; finding out Soap was cancelled while on Broadway; Soap protests; Danny with Chuck & Bob; playing a rabbi; recasting; working with Charles Lane, Eugene Roche, Richard Mulligan, and Billy Crystal; Triangle Shirtwaist

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01:02:37

Marlene Weisman (SNL Graphics Dept. 1988 - 1995)

Ian Talks Comedy ·

2026/09/26

Marlene Weisman joined me to discuss props she created; Steve Martin's Penis Beauty Cream; SNL Rerun Pills; Chris Rock's Guide for White People to Survive the Apollo; props done for Howard Stern; her diary; being remembered at the 50th ; growing up and watching Bewitched; going to college to be a graphic designer; Monty Python; being in a Xerox show with Keith Haring; working with Thomas Dolby; working for Stiff Records; Phil Hartman; taking a Graphic Design for TV class from SNL's Bob Pook; getting

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00:52:29

Ian Maxtone-Graham (SNL, The Simpsons, The Hanukkah...

Ian Talks Comedy ·

2026/09/19

Ian Maxtone-Graham joined me to discuss remembering the moon landing; Batman; writing humorous articles in high school and at Brown; getting hired on Not Necessarily the News; Motown Review; being head writer for Comedy Central game show Clash; getting hired at National Lampoon; asking Jack Handy to submit Deep Thoughts leads to him getting hired on SNL; Fred Wolf; Fetal Abuse Laugh-a-Thon with Victoria Jackson, Woody Harrelson, Phil Hartman & Jon Lovitz; Glenn Close Christmas monologue; working

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00:50:35

Andy Robin (Seinfeld / SNL Season 16)

Ian Talks Comedy ·

2026/09/12

Andy Robin joined me to discuss being "Penske material"; Candid Camera; Emergency; crooners; Paul Anka; being a Mets fan; writing for and editing Harvard Lampoon; rally for Dan Quayle;submitting for SNL; a sketch he wrote is similar to one going on that week; he gets hired by Jim Downey; writes a Godfather / George Bush sketch for Joe Mantegna; Dennis Miller disses Vanilla Ice; writing copy guy sketches with Robert Schneider; on air appearances; Jeremy Irons; cut for time Steven Seagal sketch;

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00:47:21

Brent Forrester (The Simpsons / The Office)

Ian Talks Comedy ·

2026/09/05

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

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00:43:18

Ken Lerner (Rocco Malachi on Happy Days / Lou...

Ian Talks Comedy ·

2026/08/29

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 Stella Adler; Hot Tomorrow with Oingo Boingo and Herve Villechaize; being on the Happy Days episode "Richie Fights Back"; "Fonzie Love Pinky"; playing 3 characters of Happy Days; being a member of the Coney Island Whitefish; demolition derby stunt drivers took liberties on him; Roz Kelly fights with Winkler; being in Grand Theft Auto;

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00:45:54

Morgan Fairchild

Ian Talks Comedy ·

2026/08/22

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; seeing Robin Williams rehearse Mork; getting called to be a recurring cast member on Mork & Mindy; David Letterman; Robert Conrad; doing a Bob Hope special with George Burns, Tony Randall, and Danny Thomas; Milton Berle shows up for shop talk; Jack Lemmon saves her on the dance floor; working with Rodney Dangerfield; hosting An

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01:14:47

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

Ian Talks Comedy ·

2026/08/15

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; auditioning for The Actor's Studio with Margaret Sherwood; her 60 years of friendship with Ellen Burstyn; taking class with Stella Adler; acting was about the craft; demystifying acting as making choices and sense memory; first TV role on He & She; parents let her stay in Actors Studio if she could pay for it and have a B

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00:49:05

Bill Nuss (Mee-Ow show / NBC exec / 21 Jump Street ep...

Ian Talks Comedy ·

2026/08/08

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 show at Northwestern with partner Dusty Kay; Seth Myers crediting it with his pursuing comedy; meeting Brandon Tartikoff; auditioning for SNL; Brandon gets them a pitch at Eight is Enough; going with Brandon as an exec to NBC; creation of Diff'rent Strokes; being in the room when the cancellation of SNL was discussed; worked on

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00:40:01

Melody Anderson (Flash Gordon / Manimal)

Ian Talks Comedy ·

2026/08/01

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 into acting; moving to LA and modeling to pay bills; getting gigs of Welcome Back, Kotter, Pleasure Cove, Elvis, and BJ in the Bear quickly; starring in Flash with Max von Sydow; playing it straight; meeting Queen; co-starring in Dead and Buried with a sick Jack Albertson; getting great reviews as an undead school teacher; going

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00:41:56

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

Ian Talks Comedy ·

2026/07/25

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 job in California; working with John Moffitt and Bill Lee; Friday Edition; musical guests; Andy Kaufman; Fridays next to Lawrence Welk; Don Novello; Maryedith Burrell; cancellation of Fridays; Not Necessarily the News; Rich Hall, Conan O'Brien, Al Jean and Mike Reiss; Tom Kramer & Michael Richards; Fridays now streaming; how

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01:01:54

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

Ian Talks Comedy ·

2026/07/18

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 Universal; becoming a set locator for Bionic Woman and pitching a script; goes to Eight is Enough, then BJ and the Bear; writes "Gasohol", "Beauties and the Beasts" and the creepy "Blonde in a Cell of Gold" guest starring Paul Williams; getting call to "fix" Falcon Crest, makes it more soapy;

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01:06:05

Art Dielhenn (director Punky Brewster / Head of the...

Ian Talks Comedy ·

2026/07/13

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; moving Oppenheimer's possessions as a moving man; spending 7 years directing at KRMA Denver; moving to KQED San Francisco and directing Pauline Kael; Peter Bonerz is a guest and invites Art to L.A.; Norman Lear hires him as an AD on Apple Pie and Hello Larry; does Sanford and says Redd and Jamie Foxx are two funniest people

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00:58:14

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

Ian Talks Comedy ·

2026/07/04

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 Cheers script to find a template for a spec script; Marc Sotkin reads spec, hires him on It's A Living; writes for Safe at Home; writes a freelance Charmings; getting hired with writing partner Tom Anderson on Newhart; writing a freelance Cheers on off time; coming up with the Newhart finale at same time as Bob's wife;

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00:54:45

Seth Freeman (Lou Grant / Brooklyn Bridge)

Ian Talks Comedy ·

2026/06/27

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 gain pride; deciding to move to LA; becoming a gofer at MTM; being mentored by Gene Reynolds, Allan Burns, and James L. Brooks; Jeff Melvoin's book on TV writing; WGA Foundation for TV writers; knowing all aspects of TV production in case you become a producer; working on the TV show Brooklyn Bridge; CBS wants to spin off Lou

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00:37:02

Prof. Frank Chindamo (SNL Season 6 writers assistant...

Ian Talks Comedy ·

2026/06/20

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 assistants job; Ferris Butler; Michael O'Donoghue; Charles Rocket's f-bomb; his sketch that was never produced; Bill Murray teaches him Cronkite; working on the first documentary about Mother Theresa; getting a MFA at Columbia; his shorts Cat and Mousse and Jelly Donut Saga; directing Food for Thought; creating a company Fun

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01:00:31

Marsha Posner Williams (producer, Soap / Night Court...

Ian Talks Comedy ·

2026/06/13

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"; getting hired by Tony Thomas; working for Soap; most controversial show ever; mix of comedy and drama; Billy Crystal's coming out scene; best of season cuts would be 4 hours long; Bea Arthur; Benson; Inga Swenson; Ann Jillian; Condo; Marc Price's set teacher was president of Marlo Thomas fan club; Estelle Getty

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00:40:33

Susan Silver (Mary Tyler Moore / Bob Newhart shows,...

Ian Talks Comedy ·

2026/06/06

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

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01:03:41

Kevin Kelton (2021 Interview with Better Audio)

Ian Talks Comedy ·

2026/05/30

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

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00:59:58

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

Ian Talks Comedy ·

2026/05/23

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

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