Ian Talks Comedy
by Ian Fermaglich
Latest episode
Mark Sweet (comedian/magician, audience warm up 1986 - present)
Mark Sweet (comedian/magician, audience warm up 1986 - present)
About this podcast
Join NYC teacher and former stand up comedian Ian Fermaglich as he talks comedy with some of comedy's best.
Episodes
The newest 50 of 349 episodes
- Mark Sweet (comedian/magician, audience warm up 1986 - present) · 1 h 9 min · Season 1 Episode 339Mark Sweet joined me to discuss early children's television; his father taking him to a magic store owned by Roy Kissell; doing kids birthday parties at 8; opening grocery…
- Sandra Furton Gabriel (talent booker, Late Night with David Letterman 1982 - 1989) · 53 min · Season 1 Episode 338Sandra Furton Gabriel joined me to discuss getting a backstage pass to John Lennon when her husband played in his band; other jobs in entertainment; being a booker for The Robert…
- Chaz Jankel (Ian Dury and the Blockheads) · 59 min · Season 1 Episode 337Chaz Jankel and I discuss his changing his name at 13; his neighborhood growing up; producing an album in Port Jefferson, NY; skiffle music; Lonnie Donnegan; being into…
- Comedian Bobby Collins · 38 min · Season 1 Episode 336Bobby Collins joined me and discussed Ed Sullivan; Robert Klein; Long Island Comedy Clubs; first time doing stand up; his first five minutes; following Freddie Prinze; working…
- Allison Smith (Broadway's Annie, Kate & Allie) · 45 min · Season 1 Episode 335Allison Smith joined me to talk about The Honeymooners; being in love with the Annie soundtrack; her family finding out she could sing; getting in the kids chorus of Broadway's…
- John Moffitt (Ed Sullivan Show director / creator Fridays) · 47 min · Season 1 Episode 334John Moffitt joined me to discuss doing the school news on the radio; going to Your Show of Shows live; going to Dartmouth; wanting to be a pilot; getting into the NBC management…
- Ted Wass (Soap / Blossom / Oh God, You Devil) · 46 min · Season 1 Episode 333Ted 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…
- Marlene Weisman (SNL Graphics Dept. 1988 - 1995) · 1 h 2 min · Season 1 Episode 332Marlene 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…
- Ian Maxtone-Graham (SNL, The Simpsons, The Hanukkah Song) · 52 min · Season 1 Episode 331Ian 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…
- Andy Robin (Seinfeld / SNL Season 16) · 51 min · Season 1 Episode 330Andy 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…
- Brent Forrester (The Simpsons / The Office) · 47 min · Season 1 Episode 329Brent 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) · 43 min · Season 1 Episode 328Ken 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…
- Morgan Fairchild · 46 min · Season 1 Episode 327Morgan 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…
- Catlin Adams (The Jerk / A Jazz Singer / Sticky Fingers) · 1 h 14 min · Season 1 Episode 326Catlin 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) · 49 min · Season 1 Episode 325Bill 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…
- Melody Anderson (Flash Gordon / Manimal) · 40 min · Season 1 Episode 324Melody 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…
- Jill Kleck Woo (p.a. Fridays, The Blues Brothers, Eye Magic Productions) · 42 min · Season 1 Episode 321Jill 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…
- Robert L. McCullough (Bionic Woman / BJ & the Bear / Falcon Crest) · 1 h 1 min · Season 1 Episode 322Robert 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…
- Art Dielhenn (director Punky Brewster / Head of the Class / Sister Sister) · 1 h 6 min · Season 1 Episode 321Art 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…
- Dan O'Shannon (Newhart / Cheers / Modern Family) · 58 min · Season 1 Episode 320Dan 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…
- Seth Freeman (Lou Grant / Brooklyn Bridge) · 55 min · Season 1 Episode 319Seth 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…
- Prof. Frank Chindamo (SNL Season 6 writers assistant / creator LaughMD.com) · 37 min · Season 1 Episode 318Frank 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…
- Marsha Posner Williams (producer, Soap / Night Court / Golden Girls) · 1 h 0 min · Season 1 Episode 317Marsha 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) · 41 min · Season 1 Episode 316Susan 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…
- Kevin Kelton (2021 Interview with Better Audio) · 1 h 3 minKevin 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…
- Ross Shafer (Almost Live!/Late Show/Match Game) · 60 min · Season 1 Episode 315Ross 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…
- Peter Lefcourt (author The Deal & The Dreyfus Affair, writer / producer Cagney & Lacey) · 56 min · Season 1 Episode 315Peter 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…
- Marc Weingarten (comedian, owner of the Ice House 1978 - 1982) · 58 min · Season 1 Episode 313Marc 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…
- Rebeca Arthur Golden (Perfect Strangers, Scrooged) · 1 h 5 min · Season 1 Episode 312Rebecca 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 and…
- Greg Evigan (BJ and the Bear, My Two Dads) · 53 min · Season 1 Episode 311Greg 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 school; being…
- Maggie Wheeler ("Janice from Friends", Seinfeld, Curb) · 43 min · Season 1 Episode 310Maggie Wheeler joined me to discuss 60's sitcoms; her parents not wanting her to pursue acting; her inspiration; Anna Deveare Smith; being 18 in the late 70's; Studio 54; MTV…
- Brad Isaacs (writer / producer, Newhart, NewsRadio, Tommy Boy) · 1 h 27 min · Season 1 Episode 309Brad 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…
- Chris Lemmon · 46 min · Season 1 Episode 308Chris 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…
- David Garrison · 29 min · Season 1 Episode 307David 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…
- Robin Riker (Get a Life, Alligator) · 51 min · Season 1 Episode 306Robin 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…
- Robert Hays · 1 h 11 min · Season 1 Episode 305Robert 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…
- Ken Estin (Taxi / Cheers / Tracey Ullman Show) · 1 h 14 min · Season 1 Episode 304Ken 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…
- George Arthur Bloom (writer, Transformers & My Little Pony cartoons) · 47 min · Season 1 Episode 303George 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…
- Julie Brown · 48 min · Season 1 Episode 302Julie 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…
- Dirk Benedict (The A-Team) · 1 h 31 min · Season 1 Episode 302Dirk Benedict joined me to discuss Montana v. Montauk; not having a TV in Montana until 1956 and not watching one until college; lived out in ranch houses; now only watches old…
- Susan Isaacs (Scrooged / Seinfeld / Planes Trains, and Automobiles) · 50 min · Season 1 Episode 300Susan Isaacs joined me to discuss teaching at Chapman University; living on $400 a month rent in NYC; watching the Flintstones; no VCR's; watching Carson and SNL; being in the…
- Tommy Kovac (host, Splat from the Past) · 56 min · Season 1 Episode 299Tommy Kovac joined me to discuss seeing Sam Kinison at 2; favorite SNL episodes; favorite comedy movies; Adam Sandler, Woody Allen, & Chevy Chase movies; loving all different…
- Bob Illes (redo new Jan 2026 interview!) · 1 h 17 min · Season 1 Episode 298Bob Illes joined me to talk about his new book Funny is Money with 39 anecdotes; growing up in South Central LA; early TV influences; meeting writing partner James R. Stein at…
- Michele Lee · 46 min · Season 1 Episode 297Michele Lee joined me to discuss her podcast Knot Done Yet and her co-hosts Donna Mills and Joan Van Ark; her father being a makeup artist in the arts; watching early TV…
- Bob Illes (author, Funny is Money, Vintage 2020 ep w/ better sound) · 1 h 36 minBob Illes and I discuss his early years; starting a radio comedy show at USC; Digby Wolfe; winning a contest to write for Tennesse Ernie Ford; Mike Ovitz; writing monologues for…
- Dean Cameron (Summer School, Fast Times TV series) · 37 min · Season 1 Episode 295Dean Cameron joined me to discuss the RFK assassination; in a play and getting the bug; doing theater with Anthony Edwards & Eric Stoltz; movies he read for; getting a pilot The…
- Roger Director (writer / producer, Hill St. Blues, Moonlighting) · 55 min · Season 1 Episode 294Roger Director discusses his last name; how TV is the writers medium; growing up in East Rockaway inhaling DDT; like to tell stories economically so went into journalism…
- Denise Nicholas (Room 222, In the Heat of the Night) · 42 min · Season 1 Episode 293Denise Nicholas joined me to discuss watching the Ed Sullivan Show; living on the same block as Hitsville, USA; not fitting in with her family; joining the Free Southern Theater…
- Mark Malkoff (author, Love Johnny Carson) · 1 h 16 min · Season 1 Episode 292Mark Malkoff joins me to discuss Johnny's likability; booking of civilian guests like the potato chip in front of celebrities; finding them; Vlasak Kresick; Martin Mull; Rohan…
- Steven Peterman (actor, Square Pegs / writer Murphy Brown, Suddenly Susan) · 1 h 10 min · Season 1 Episode 291Steven Peterman joined me to discuss a picture taken of him watching TV at 4; going to see Peter Pan in the theater; Milwaukee Braves; growing up and guesting on Happy Days…
