Kliph Nesteroff, “The Comedians”
My conversation with Kliph Nesteroff, whose book “The Comedians” is a terrific history of the last century of American comedy, from vaudeville right up to today.
David Evanier on Woody Allen
Here's my conversation with David Evanier, author of the new Woody Allen biography, "Woody." Our conversation ranged from Allen's early days in standup and television through his nearly-half-century movie-making career. Among our topics: How he got an initially...
Tom Wilson, Back To The Future
Since today is "Back To The Future Day," the date that Marty McFly and Doc Brown travel to in the second movie in the series, I've dug into the archives for this interview from 1997 with the comedian who played the villain... Harris: Welcome to our guest microphone...
Welcome Back, Elayne
Last week, my wife and I were wondering whatever happened to Elayne Boosler. She was one of our favorite comedians of the eighties and nineties, who stood apart from female comics of the previous generation (Joan Rivers, Totie Fields) in that she didn't do...
Carl Reiner, “What I Forgot To Remember”
Comedy legend Carl Reiner returned to my show to talk about his new autobiography, "What I Forgot To Remember," in which he shares memories he didn't include in his two previous autobiographies. After I opened with "The Dick Van Dyke Show" theme, Carl revealed that...
David Steinberg on Colbert and Stewart
David Steinberg returned to my radio show to talk about the new season of his Showtime series, "Inside Comedy," which debuts Tuesday night with guests Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart. But before digging into that, I asked him about a story my friend Mark Evanier told...
Maz Jobrani Is Not A Terrorist
Here's my conversation with Maz Jobrani, an Iranian-American comedian who writes about his life in "I'm Not A Terrorist, But I've Played One On TV." I asked him about being typecast in those roles and when he decided he wouldn't do them anymore. We also discussed how...
Abridged History Of Comedy Abridged
Austin Tichenor and Dominick Conti -- two-thirds of the Reduced Shakespeare Company* -- were in the studio with me to talk about their latest production, "The Complete History of Comedy (Abridged). We took it from the beginnings (cave comedy) through Abe Lincoln's...