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Art and Vinnie sit down for part two of our interview with Comedy Channel aliumni and famed sitcom writer Betsy Borns.
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Art and I worked with Betsy Borns at the launch of the Comedy Channel in 1989. While there she was a producer on one of the network’s signature pieces called “Thirty, Sixty, Nineties”.
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Her career skyrocketed after she left us. Art and I remained in a quiet, steady orbit, watching her success from a distance…so basically, we were Michael Collins [may he Rest In Peace] to her Neil Armstrong.
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She was a writer and producer on two of the greatest sitcoms of all time, Roseanne and Friends. She wrote the classic Friends episode "The One with the Baby on the Bus" that featured the now famous “Smelly Cat” song. She went on to write and produce a wide variety of sitcoms including Bob Newhart’s return to prime time with “George & Leo” and in 2003 Betsy co-created…with Will Smith and Jada Pinket… the long running sitcom “All Of Us”.
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She has a new book out called “Talking To Myself” which has an origin story that rivals Bruce Wayne’s Batman origins! Besty is also the writer of “Comic Lives” a book that came out in 1987 which is an incredible deep dive into the world of stand-up comedy. Betsy spoke to EVERYONE on the comedy scene from the 60s,70s and 80s and jam packed so much information and back stories making it a perfect time capsule of a seminal period in the history of stand up.
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Art and Vinnie sit down with Comedy Channel aliumni and famed sitcom writer Betsy Borns.
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Art and I worked with Betsy Borns at the launch of the Comedy Channel in 1989. While there she was a producer on one of the network’s signature pieces called “Thirty, Sixty, Nineties”.
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Her career skyrocketed after she left us. Art and I remained in a quiet, steady orbit, watching her success from a distance…so basically, we were Michael Collins [may he Rest In Peace] to her Neil Armstrong.
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She was a writer and producer on two of the greatest sitcoms of all time, Roseanne and Friends. She wrote the classic Friends episode "The One with the Baby on the Bus" that featured the now famous “Smelly Cat” song. She went on to write and produce a wide variety of sitcoms including Bob Newhart’s return to prime time with “George & Leo” and in 2003 Betsy co-created…with Will Smith and Jada Pinket… the long running sitcom “All Of Us”.
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She has a new book out called “Talking To Myself” which has an origin story that rivals Bruce Wayne’s Batman origins! Besty is also the writer of “Comic Lives” a book that came out in 1987 which is an incredible deep dive into the world of stand-up comedy. Betsy spoke to EVERYONE on the comedy scene from the 60s,70s and 80s and jam packed so much information and back stories making it a perfect time capsule of a seminal period in the history of stand up.
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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Art and Vinnie sit down with Comedy Channel's power couple, Nick and Robin Bakay.
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Love was in the air at the launch of the Comedy Channel back in 1989. Robin Bakay was a key member of the on air promo team whose difficult job at the time was to define this brand new, 24 hour comedy network with promos that reflected the programming. It was difficult at the time because our programming consisted of short comedy clips and old black and white comedy shorts. But Robin and her team (lled by Marc Chusid} delivered incredible, short bursts of comedy image pieces which made the newtwork look much cooler and funnier than it actually was.
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At the same time, her furture husband Nick Bakay was an essential on air component of Comedy Channel's programming including writing for (and co-hosting) the "Alan Havey Show." Nick also dveloped and hosted "Sport's Montster."
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Nick and Robin got married and left Comedy Central for much greener pastures, settling in LA where they continued to write and perform on "Sabrina The Teenage Witch" and "Mom" (among their many other credits.)
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Art and Vinnie sit down with their favorite therapist, Jontahan Katz. You will feel so much better about your life after you listen to this interveiw.
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It was Art's turn to write up the intro for this week's guest Jonathan Katz. He called me in a panic and said; "Vinnie, I have a confession to make. I know it was my turn to write the intro for todays’ guest, but after hours of research I still don’t know how to do this intro."
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I encouraged Art to make that confusion part of the intro. Art's frustration is that he found Jonathan's web bio unhelpful and that his Wikipedia write up "read like it had been hacked by a team of Russian surrealists"
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I can't blame Art. One minute, Katz is a comedian, but the he's hanging with David Mamet and writing screenplays with him.
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Then he's fronting a hip NYC jazz combo "Katz and Jammer", while also working as Robin Williams' Music Director!
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We only knew him as the beloved Dr. Katz on Comedy Central's long runnig, ground breaking animation series.
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Take a listen and you'll find out the real story as well as some fascinating new information!
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Art and Vinnie talk to Art's Swarthmore College buddy, Michael J. Weithorn about his incredible thirty plus years as one of Hollywood's top sitcom writers. \
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Michael J. Weithorn has over thirty-five years of experience as a television comedy writer, executive producer and series creator, most notably having co-created and EP’d the CBS show “The King of Queens” from 1998 – 2007. Prior to that Weithorn created and executive produced the FOX sitcom “Ned & Stacey,” which ran for two seasons from 1995-97. With Ralph Farquhar, Weithorn created and executive produced “South Central,” an edgy, dramatic half-hour which aired to great acclaim on FOX in the spring of 1994. Additionally, Weithorn served as Creator and Executive Producer of the FOX sitcom “True Colors” from 1990-92 and as Creator and Executive Producer of the ABC series “The Pursuit of Happiness” in 1987.
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Weithorn’s free-lance writing credits include multiple sketches for “The Tracey Ullman Show”, an episode of “The Wonder Years,” (for which he earned an Emmy nomination in 1989), and an episode of “Cheers” (for which he won the 1984 Writers Guild of America Award). From 1982-86, Weithorn spent four years as head writer and producer on the hit NBC series “Family Ties.” He received three Emmy Award nominations for producing and another Emmy nomination for writing the two-part 1985-86 season premiere, “The Real Thing”.
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In the animation realm, Weithorn co-created the web series about two lovable testicles, “Baxter and McGuire” for Comedy Central’s Mother Lode, which was nominated for an Internet Emmy award in 2007.
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In 2010, Weithorn wrote and directed the indie feature, “A Little Help” starring Jenna Fischer and Chris O’Donnell, released theatrically in the summer of 2011 after winning Best Feature in several notable film festivals.
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In 2013, Weithorn directed and co-produced (with Rob Benedict) the short film “The Sidekick”, starring Benedict, Ron Livingston, Lizzy Caplan, Martin Starr and Jordan Peele. The film debuted to great acclaim at the 2013 Comic Con convention, and was released digitally by FilmBuff in 2014.
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During the 2013-14 television season, Weithorn served as Consulting Producer for the ABC series, “The Goldbergs”, writing two episodes. In the 2014-15 season, Weithorn created and executive produced the Fox comedy series, “Weird Loners.”
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Art and Vinnie have front row seats to the force of comedy nature, Judy Gold.
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Judy Gold has been a staple on the comedy scene for years and her stand-up specials have been featured on HBO, Comedy Central and LOGO. What year did LOGO come out of the closet?
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She has written and starred in two critically acclaimed, Off-Broadway hit shows: The Judy Show – My Life as a Sitcom and 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother
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She guest starred on CBS’ Madame Secretary and on the Showtime series I’m Dying Up Here and has had recurring roles Netflix’s Friends from College and TBS’ Search Party.
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Judy is also the host of the hit podcast, Kill Me Now.
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She has appeared on The Late Show, The Tonight Show and I don’t know if she remembers this, but we were both guests on Howard Stern’s radio show.
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Judy hosted HBO’s long running series, “At the Multiplex with Judy Gold” and I must add, her show pre-dates “Billy On The Street” by ten years!
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Judy also won two Emmy awards for writing and producing The Rosie O’Donnell Showand has made numerous appearances on The View, The Today Show, The Wendy Williams Show, and The Steve Harvey Show.
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She often pops up on The Food Network and per her website she asks that we not mention Chopped All Stars or Rachel vs. Guy…which of course we now have to ask her about those!
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Judy can also be seen on the new FX Documentary HYSTERICAL.
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Judy’s newest comedy album, Conduct Unbecoming, and her previous albums, Kill Me Now and Judith’s Roommate Had a Baby are available wherever you get your music.
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Judy Gold is the author of of a terrific AND timely new book titled; YES I CAN SAY THAT – When They Come for the Comedians We’re All in Trouble.
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Art and I first met Nancy Geller when we all worked together at Comedy Central. Art Bell had the original idea for a twenty-four-hour comedy network, and it was Nancy Geller who was a key figure in overseeing the slate of original comedy that defined and cemented Comedy Central's place in cable history and launched the careers of many seminal comedy figures that she continues to work with.
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Her shows at Comedy Central included Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, Dr. Katz Show, Exit 57 Sketch and Women Aloud.
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As an agent she represented a long list of comedy legends including Jim Carey, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal and Catherine O'Hara
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As NBC's Vice President of Late Night and Specials she oversaw Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Tom Snyder and a memorable TV special, Steve Martin, Live from 8H
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She was a producer on what was arguably one of the funniest shows in television history...SCTV
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At HBO she was responsible for developing and overseeing all Music and Comedy events and Late-Night Programming including;
Real Time with Bill Maher HBO, The Chris Rock Show HBO, Lady Gaga Live from Madison Square Garden, The Inaugural Concert for Obama and Robin Williams: Live on Broadway [just to name a few!)
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She's been nominated for eleven Emmy Awards and has a busy slate including working on the standup tribute which will be part of the must-see National Comedy Center museum in Jamestown, New York.
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Wayne Federman is a true renaissance man. He's a comedian, actor, producer and now the author of a terrific new book; "The History of Stand-Up: From Mark Twain to Dave Chappelle".
Wayne has performed stand up on just about every network and syndicated comedy show in the seventies and eighties including Comedy Central’s A-List and Two Drink Minimum.
He made his Tonight Show debut in 1994 and in 2009 helped launch Late Night with Jimmy Fallonand was the monologue head writer during its first season.
In addition to a prolific stand-up career Wayne has done lots of TV commercials, voice overs and numerous guest star appearances.
On the TV side, you may remember him as Garry Shandling’s brother on the Larry Sanders show or Larry David’s next-door neighbor on Curb Your Enthusiasm or his starring role in a special episode of the X-Files written and directed by David Duchovny
Wayne has also been in some of the biggest comedy movies of the last twenty years and has become known for appearing in just one scene in a film and then disappearing; he calls this the "Federman-and-out".
He produced two favorites of ours: The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling and the award-winning web series with Don Rickles, Dinner with Don.
Wayne is the busiest man in comedy, guesting on over 80 podcasts and hosting his own History of Stand-Up podcast which has spawned his fascinating new book; The History of Stand-Up: From Mark Twain to Dave Chappelle.
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Wayne Federman is a true renaissance man. He's a comedian, actor, producer and now the author of a terrific new book; "The History of Stand-Up: From Mark Twain to Dave Chappelle".
Wayne has performed stand up on just about every network and syndicated comedy show in the seventies and eighties including Comedy Central’s A-List and Two Drink Minimum.
He made his Tonight Show debut in 1994 and in 2009 helped launch Late Night with Jimmy Fallonand was the monologue head writer during its first season.
In addition to a prolific stand-up career Wayne has done lots of TV commercials, voice overs and numerous guest star appearances.
On the TV side, you may remember him as Garry Shandling’s brother on the Larry Sanders show or Larry David’s next-door neighbor on Curb Your Enthusiasm or his starring role in a special episode of the X-Files written and directed by David Duchovny
Wayne has also been in some of the biggest comedy movies of the last twenty years and has become known for appearing in just one scene in a film and then disappearing; he calls this the "Federman-and-out".
He produced two favorites of ours: The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling and the award-winning web series with Don Rickles, Dinner with Don.
Wayne is the busiest man in comedy, guesting on over 80 podcasts and hosting his own History of Stand-Up podcast which has spawned his fascinating new book; The History of Stand-Up: From Mark Twain to Dave Chappelle.
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Kevin Murphy was a writer and performer on the legendary comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000 which was the Comedy Channel's break out hit when we launched the network in 1989.
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In addition to writing for the show he was the voice of Tom Servo for most of the show's ten seasons on both Comedy Central and the Sci Fi Channel as well as the aptly titled feature film Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie.
After a run one hundred and ninety-seven episodes, Murphy took a sabbatical from watching and commenting on bad movies and in 2001 spent the year by going to a different movie every day and wrote a book about this experience, entitled A Year at the Movies: One Man's Filmgoing Odyssey.
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In 2006, he joined fellow MST 3k alumni Mike Nelson and Bill Corbett on Riff Trax whose stated goal is "WE MAKE MOVIES FUNNY".
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Kevin, Mike and Bill have riffed on 431 feature films, 387 film shorts and 16 TV shows.
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Riff Trax has such a huge fan base that have been able to raise over three million dollars on Kickstarter which allowed them to license and riff on a higher caliber of bad films,
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They also perform as Riff Trax Live where they host in-theater special events. These events are filmed in front of a live audience and simulcast to over 700 cinema screens all over the country with their partner Fathom Events.
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You can watch RiffTrax 24/7 on the Pluto streaming service where they have their own channel!
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Art Bell and Vinnie Favale discuss the early days of the Comedy Channel with fellow Comedy Channel executive Gail Berman.
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Gail Berman is recognized as one of the most prolific content creators in the entertainment business, having launched award-winning properties for television, film, digital and the Broadway stage.
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Berman is the Chairman and CEO of The Jackal Group, a production studio creating scripted and unscripted television, feature films, and commercial theater. The Jackal Group has produced such varying projects as the cultural phenomenon, Tidying Up With Marie Kondo for Netflix. On the theatrical side, The Jackal Group currently has Elvis, the Baz Luhrmann musical film for Warner Brothers and Carlin which the biopic on the life of George Carlin.
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Berman is one of the few media executives to hold the top posts at both a major film studio and a broadcast television network. She was named President of Paramount Pictures in March 2005. Before joining Paramount, Ms. Berman served from 2000 to 2005 as President of Entertainment for Fox Broadcasting Company. She took the network to the top of the ratings for the first time in its history, developing iconic hits such as American Idol, 24, House, and Arrested Development.
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Prior to FOX, Ms. Berman served as founding President of Regency Television, the TV studio created in 1998 as a co-venture between Fox Television Studios and New Regency Productions. Under Berman, Regency Television quickly grew into one of the most prolific and respected suppliers of TV entertainment programming, including the primetime hit Malcolm In The Middle. Earlier, as President and CEO of Sandollar Television, Berman served as executive producer on the global hit shows Family Guy, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel. Gail has produced over 300 episodes of television.
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Berman began her career as a theater producer after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in theater from the University of Maryland. At 23, she co-produced her first Broadway show, the original Broadway production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” (ROBERT STIGWOOD) which went on to garner seven Tony Award nominations. Berman’s other Broadway productions include “Hurlyburly,” by David Rabe (1984); Athol Fugard’s “Blood Knot” (1985); and “The Nerd,” by Larry Shue (1987). All three productions received Tony Award nominations.
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Ms. Berman currently serves as President of the Producers Guild of America.
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Art Bell and Vinnie Favale discuss the early days of the Comedy Central and part one of our interveiw with fellow Comedy Central executive Mitch Semel.
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Mitch Semel has worked with TV legends and amongst us networks executives, he is a true legend himself. He started his TV career working for Brandon Tartikoff during NBC’s “MUST SEE TV” era, overseeing classic sitcoms like CHEERS, GOLDEN GIRLS, BOB HOPE SPECIALS and REAL PEOPLE which arguably was the birth of modern reality TV…so we have Mitch to blame for that.
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Mitch switched sides from TV network to TV supplier as the head of UBU Productions where he oversaw their flagship show “FAMILY TIES”. While there he worked with newcomers Julia Louis Dreyfuss and Ellen DeGeneres on their big sitcom debuts.
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He did a short stint at PBS where he tried to kill off a lovable purple dinosaur…we cannot wait to hear all about that!
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He made a huge impact on Comedy Central…which is where Art and I first met him…with the launch of POLITICALLY INCORRECT and the number one show in cable: “ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS”
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He’s worked with and produced some of TV greatest talk show hosts including David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, Tom Snyder and Howard Stern.
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He was General Manager at the Onion and invented TV shows from home long before Zoom did when he launched Huff Post Live.
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He now heads up Semel Media, consulting with a wide variety of entertainment companies and is not only a liscensed pilot but is a certified flight instructor!
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Seinfeld is often mistaken for Mitch at corporate events, the resemblance is uncanny, although we think Mitch is better looking.
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Art Bell and Vinnie Favale discuss the early days of the Comedy Central and part two of our interveiw with fellow Comedy Central executive Mitch Semel.
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Mitch Semel has worked with TV legends and amongst us networks executives, he is a true legend himself. He started his TV career working for Brandon Tartikoff during NBC’s “MUST SEE TV” era, overseeing classic sitcoms like CHEERS, GOLDEN GIRLS, BOB HOPE SPECIALS and REAL PEOPLE which arguably was the birth of modern reality TV…so we have Mitch to blame for that.
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Mitch switched sides from TV network to TV supplier as the head of UBU Productions where he oversaw their flagship show “FAMILY TIES”. While there he worked with newcomers Julia Louis Dreyfuss and Ellen DeGeneres on their big sitcom debuts.
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He did a short stint at PBS where he tried to kill off a lovable purple dinosaur…we cannot wait to hear all about that!
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He made a huge impact on Comedy Central…which is where Art and I first met him…with the launch of POLITICALLY INCORRECT and the number one show in cable: “ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS”
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He’s worked with and produced some of TV greatest talk show hosts including David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, Tom Snyder and Howard Stern.
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He was General Manager at the Onion and invented TV shows from home long before Zoom did when he launched Huff Post Live.
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He now heads up Semel Media, consulting with a wide variety of entertainment companies and is not only a liscensed pilot but is a certified flight instructor!
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Seinfeld is often mistaken for Mitch at corporate events, the resemblance is uncanny, although we think Mitch is better looking.
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Art Bell and Vinnie Favale discuss their roles in the origins of Comedy Central, Art's new book "Constant Comedy: How I Started Comedy Central And Lost My Sense Of Humor and interview Laure Zaks, President of Television at Mandeville Films.
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Laurie Zaks currently serves as President of Mandeville Television. In 2013, Zaks joined Mandeville Films to spearhead their television division. In her position, she oversees development and production of pilots and series for both network and cable. Among the numerous pilots that Zaks has shot, she has also launched the series THE FAMILY, WICKED CITY, and most recently, the limited series THE FIX, which she developed with Marcia Clark.
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Zaks has been working with ABC Studios since 2006. Previously a network executive, Zaks became President of Armyan Bernstein’s Touchstone TV-based Beacon Television. At Beacon, Zaks developed and executive produced the hit series CASTLE for five years.
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Prior to joining Beacon in July 2006, she was Senior Vice President of Current Programs at UPN. Beginning in 2002, she oversaw series programming responsibilities for all comedy and drama series at UPN, including VERONICA MARS, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, and EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS. Earlier in her career, Zaks served as Vice President of Current Programming for CBS Television Network, where she oversaw highly-acclaimed series EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, THE KING OF QUEENS, and THE GUARDIAN. Prior to joining CBS, she was Vice President of Comedy Development at Comedy Central, where she was one of the executives originally hired to launch the network in New York. During her tenure at Comedy Central, she was relocated to Los Angeles in 1996 to create a West Coast presence for the cable network. Zaks’ first gig was as an NBC Page in New York, which led to her first job on Saturday Night Live and jumpstarted her career in entertainment.
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Art Bell and Vinnie Favale discuss the early days of the Comedy Channel and interveiw writer/producer Scott Carter about develooping and launching "Night After Night with Alan Havey" and "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher" for the Comedy Channel and Comedy Central.
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Scott Carter has been Executive Producer/Writer for “Real Time with Bill Maher” since it debuted on HBO in 2003. He produced the first 1,100 episodes of “Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher” from its 1993 Comedy Central debut to its 1997 move to ABC. While at “P.I.”, Carter received eight Emmy nominations and three consecutive CableAce Awards for Best Talk Series. He has served as creator, producer or writer for “Root Of All Evil With Lewis Black” (Comedy Central, 2008), “Earth To America” (TBS, 2005), “The Conspiracy Zone With Kevin Nealon” (Spike, 2002-3), “Exhale With Candice Bergen,” (Oxygen, 2000-1). In 1997, Variety named him one of the “50 Creatives to Watch.” In 2007, he was a co-recipient of the Producer’s Guild of America’s Johnny Carson Award for “Real Time.” A former stand up comedian, Carter has written and performed two full-length monologues, “Heavy Breathing” and “Suspension Bridge,” at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Aspen Comedy Arts Festival, The Kilkenny (Ireland) Murphy’s Cats Laugh Festival, the Cleveland Performance Festival, Dixon Place, Primary Stages, Manhattan Punchline, etc. He is former Producing Director and a founding member of The Invisible Theatre, now in its 42nd season in Tucson, Arizona. Carter lives in Los Angeles with his wife, interior designer Bebe Johnson.
