Ian Talks Comedy

Ian Fermaglich
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Join NYC teacher and former stand up comedian Ian Fermaglich as he talks comedy with some of comedy's best.

  1. 22 HRS AGO

    Brad Isaacs (writer / producer, Newhart, NewsRadio, Tommy Boy)

    Brad Isaacs joined me to talk about the Dick Van Dyke Show; favorite episodes; writing a spec script for Taxi, handing it to Marilu Henner and her remembering twenty plus years later; sitcoms not talking down; Simpsons & Saul Bellow; mother could sing songs even though she hardly speak due to dementia; dropped out of high school and got a GED; goes to Vegas to be a pro gambler; watching DVD inspires him; gets a job on TBS series Safe at Home; leads to a freelance Head of the Class and a job at Webster; one Webster so bad guest actor Michael Richards walks off; freelance Duet; hired for Newharts last season; favorite episodes; Dan O'Shannon came up with shows ending; "Father Goose" episode with Henry Gibson; others being confused by which Newhart he worked on; getting hired at Roseanne; being asked to come up with a show for Tom Arnold; models it after DVD with Tom rarely seen; Roseanne wants more Tom Arnold, Brad quits; meeting Carl Reiner and getting forgiveness; writing to Bill Persky and getting a letter back from his 12 and 10 year old daughters; Ken Levine; meeting George McGovern on Newhart; Larry Sanders Show; Norm MacDonald story; rewriting Tommy Boy; adding Superstar and housekeeping among other things; NBC had high hopes for NewsRadio; shows were written by 4 writers; Dave Foley was young enough looking to me believable; episodes "Smoking" & "Big Day"; inspiring "Bitch Session"; quitting after a year; having the show down stairs "The John Larroquette Show" angry at them due to noise; not getting their due; working as a consultant on King of the Hill and Undeclared; writing 8 Crazy Nights and fighting with Sandler about poop jokes; creating Lovespring International, an improvised sitcom for Lifetime; Tarzana; A West Texas Children's Story

    1h 28m

  2. APR 4

    Chris Lemmon

    Chris Lemmon joined me and discussed how he knew his dad was a movie star; his films Going Undercover & Weekend Warriors; working with Lloyd Bridges; dreaming of Steely Dan; classical musicians were there first rock stars; wanting to make a movie about Robert Schumann; Billy Joel, Chevy Chase & Jeff Goldblum; his film debut in Airport '77; having one line in Seems Like Old Times and being remembered by Goldie Hawn when they did Swing Shift; his sitcom Brothers & Sisters, which was shot on the same set as King Kong; becoming friends with costar Randy Brooks; Mary Crosby; his film, COD; being a guest on the Tonight Show; subbing for Rick Dees and doing a sketch about a Haggis Wagon; That's Life largely improvised; Duet; taking his dad to tapings; his favorite episode, "I Never Played for My Father"; his book; his one man show playing his dad; Kevin Spacey's impression vs. his; SNL Star Wars sketch; Harvey Lembeck; playing a stalker; Alan Alda plays one in Whispers in the Dark; Lena's Holiday; Thunder in Paradise; Jack almost makes the cut at Pebble Beach but it's rained out; The Way You Look Tonight; his daughter Sydney on Broadway and son has a movie coming out; his children and golf; golf as a way to see what a person is truly like; his lung transplant and being greatful

    46 min

  3. MAR 28

    David Garrison

    David Garrison joined me to discuss watching I Love Lucy and Maverick; going to high school with Bruce Springsteen; getting a BFA at BU; joining the Arena Stage in Washington D.C.; his first off Broadway play, The History of American Film; his tenure on the soap opera The Edge of Night; getting a Tony nomination for A Day in Hollywood / A Night in Ukraine - a Marx Brothers parody; joining Pirates of Penzance; appearing on Night of 100 Stars; James Cagney accidentally being locked in the basement; replacing Harvey Fierstein in Torch Song Trilogy; leaving to join the cast of a new show It's Your Move; favorite episodes; Married with Children; writers taking his love of the outdoors and giving it to Steve; favorite episodes include "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", "I'll See You in Court", and "Have You Driven a Ford Lately"; actually driving a '65 Mustang; leaving MWC and joining Working It Out; playing Nixon in The Great Society; Titanic; Wicked; and working out a musical based on the 1998 film Ever After

    29 min

  4. MAR 21

    Robin Riker (Get a Life, Alligator)

    Robin Riker joined me to discuss Julie Brown; her families history in show business; making her stage debut at 4; her parents start a theater in Aspen; her dad hosts a kids show Cap. Rick's Showboat; appearing in the Colorado Shakespeare festival at 10; auditioning for her parents; divorce; watching Walt Disney & Old Yeller; being a waitress; getting parts on Joe Forester, MASH, & Rockford Files; working with Greg Antonacci for the first time; being in the movie Alligator with Sue Lyon & Robert Forrester; her performance written about by Quentin Tarantino; doing the pilot Herndon with Michael Richards & Ted McGinley; reuniting with Greg Antonacci on Brothers; being told that the series has been picked up for 50 episodes; her 2 Cable Ace Award nominations; guesting on Misfits of Science and befriending Dean Paul Martin & Kevin Peter Hall; guesting on Doctor, Doctor; getting cast on Get A Life; growing up a fan of Bob & Ray and now working with Bob Eliot & Elinor Donahue; playing the wife of Sam Robards; meeting his real life mother, Lauren Bacall; Zoo Animals on Wheels; being on Shaky Ground; taking Jennifer Love Hewitt for lunch on her 15th birthday and getting yelled at for being 5 minutes late; working with Ed Asner; being in the pilot but not the series Emeril; Bones; doing interrogation scenes; soap operas; getting killed of Bold and the Beautiful by forgetting how to swim due to Alzheimer's; General Hospital; doing the plays The Ladies Room and Kiss at City Hall; writing A Survivors Guide to Hollywood, with advice on navigating an actors life in Hollywood; going on a tour; costarring with Brian Austin Green in an upcoming movie; working with Jack son Adam on a one person shwo

    51 min

  5. MAR 14

    Robert Hays

    Robert Hays joined me to discuss loving the Lone Ranger; moving from Virginia to Turkey to Nebraska; changing schools & becoming class clown; being a Marine brat; signing up for an acting class in college; selling his horse to buy a VW bus and moving to the Old Globe in San Diego; being taught by Craig Noel; working with Leonard Nimoy; getting a job on Rockford Files from Eddie Foy III; his dad asking Eddie to talk him out of acting; Laverne & Shirley; Angie makes him recognizable; winning the Tug O' War on the Battle of the Network Stars with Kent McCord; Family Feud / Angie crossover; being called the New Cary Grant by Merv Griffin and having other guest Orson Welles call him the New Robert Hays; doing a magic trick with Orson; having to shoot Airplane & Angie consecutively for two weeks of twenty hour days; the "alcohol problem" scenes took a lot of time and shirts to shoot; dailies were packed; 1st screening the third reel was shown before second; having his parents come to the premiere and Peter Graves tell him he has a hankering for young boys; Bette Midler laughs throughout; friends thought trailer had all the jokes; name is different in foreign countries; one town in Australia played it for two years straight; choosing scripts; picking Take This Job and Shove It to work with Art Carney, Royal Dano and Barbara Hershey; Airplane v. Caddyshack; Michael O'Keefe, The Great Santini and Robert Duvall; hosting SNL 1/24/81; dress rehearsal going better; a prop phone is not placed on stage forcing him to ad lib; pitching sketches Ordinary People and Inflatable Prostitute; loving NYC; filming a TV movie Murder by the Book in NYC; Fred Gwynne; doing Mr. Roberts live on NBC in 1984; dress rehearsal ran better and show was too neat; bringing Anthony Hopkins to taping of Angie; Starman - designed as Highway to Heaven meets The Fugitive; not picked up at last minute

    1h 11m

  6. MAR 7

    Ken Estin (Taxi / Cheers / Tracey Ullman Show)

    Ken Estin remembers the laugh track; MTM shows; going to college to write short stories; send a Bob Newhart Show spec to the Charles Brothers; tracked down 2 years later for Taxi; working with Jim Burrows, Glen & Les Charles; party after each show; 1st script "Reluctant Fighter" wins Writers Guild Award; Christopher Lloyd won Emmy's for his episodes; having to cut 10 minutes from "Elegant Iggy"; Jim crying in "Jim's Inheritance" while Coach cries on "Coach's Daughter" on Cheers; Danny DeVito uses real life story to redeem Louie in "Louie Goes too Far"; "Jim's Marios"; wrote most Taxi episodes; "Shloogel Show"; "Louie & the Blind Girl" a taken on "Beauty and the Beast"; Sam Simon; creating a sitcom "Shaping Up"; cancelled in Top 10; Tim Robbins fired after pilot; Sam meets Jennifer Tilly and says I'm going to marry her and does; script credit; rewriting Beverly Hills Cop for Eddie Murphy; movies are too loose; created Tracey Ullman Show; her characters but sketches written by writing team; gets Matt Groening to create new characters for bumpers - The Simpsons; hires Sam Simon; James L. Brooks spins them off; he sells his share of Simpsons for $200,000; Sam Simon's Simpsons money goes to dog's charities; Way Cool World; and his book on breaking into TV writing And the Emmy Goes to . . .

    1h 15m

  7. FEB 28

    George Arthur Bloom (writer, Transformers & My Little Pony cartoons)

    George Arthur Bloom joined me to talk about watching Beanie and Cecil; wanting to be a pro baseball player; joining the Coast Guard; getting a job in the mail room at MCA; working his way up to Lew Wasserman's assistant; going to Universal with Wasserman; asking to learn how to be a producer; working on late 60's TV shows; optioned what would become Blade Runner after he lost the option; American International; experience like the show The Studio; producing the Abominable Dr. Phibes; Roger Corman; Little Shop of Horrors; writing Knife for the Ladies starring Jack Elam; write after school specials; writing the first 4 episodes of 1984 Transformers cartoon; setting up good guys and bad guys; writing original My Little Pony with a darker tone; writing songs and the movie; creating the after network executives; Potato Head Kids; helping to fix and then write Magic School Bus; creating the character of Digit (voiced by Gilbert Gottfried) for Cyber chase; not liking writers' room, prefers to work one on one with writers; writing on The Nancy Walker Show for Norman Lear; seeing his episode done on another series; playing tennis with Robert Duvall; writing a screenplay, Any Day Now about a homosexual who wants to adopt a kid with Down Syndrome in 1982; having it pass through many leads including Tommy Lee Jones, Dom DeLuise, and Sylvester Stallone; his son is friends with director Travis Fine, who is looking for a script; finally made 30 years later with Alan Cumming in the lead; became a stage play in Japan

    47 min

  8. FEB 21

    Julie Brown

    Julie Brown joined me to discuss Captain Kangaroo; being in her high school homecoming court; the scary nun's in elementary school; being funny in Van Nuys High; studying at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco; meeting her comedy partner Charlie Coffey; Denzel Washington being in the cast; starting a comedy team, Brown & Coffey; playing San Francisco and gay audiences; guest starring on Happy Days; doing an NBC late night pilot Road Show with John Candy; being in a slasher film, Bloody Birthday; guest starring in the pilot for Get a Life; being on two episodes of Laverne & Shirley; being in the repertory company of Evening at the Improv; performing "Homecoming Queens Got a Gun"; Newhart; Just Say Julie; her character made jokes, she didn't hate any performer; Gene Simmons; "Downtown" Julie Brown; MTV wouldn't pay for props, proper writers; Beavis & Butthead stealing her commenting on videos; her SNL audition in 1985; turning down a re-audition in 1986; Sam Kinison; SCTV; The Edge; Wayne Knight; Tom Kenny; being a fan of reality TV; her new podcast being improvised; doing improv once a week at the Groundlings

    48 min
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About

Join NYC teacher and former stand up comedian Ian Fermaglich as he talks comedy with some of comedy's best.

Information

  • Creator
    Ian Fermaglich
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    318
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Ian Fermaglich
  • Show Website
    Ian Talks Comedy

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