Ian Talks Comedy

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; Ron Howard mentored his son about being a child actor; Laverne & Shirley; Jerry Paris; Gas Pump Girls; did not know how to ride a motorcycle; Any Which Way but Loose; playing doctors, lawyers and rabbis; "Don't Shoot, I'm a Lawyer"; new character on Happy Days; worked throughout his 40's and 50's; Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Irreconcilable Differences; working with George C. Scott in Exorcist III; Love on the Run; The Feud; The Goldbergs asked his son if his real dad Ken can play his TV dad; The Running Man; Family Ties; Lafayette High School; Gravesend; Sledge Hammer; Adam Schiff fan of his on West Wing; Fabulous Baker Boys; Marc Maron and his brother; supposed to be in cast of Chicago Hope but given four episode run; auditioning on Zoom; Marty Brest; coaching on Zoom; loaded dreidels

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 average; her first film Up in the Cellar; getting cast; having to have stunt breasts; doing a McMillan and Wife; meeting Christopher Guest on The Fortune; shooting movie Katherine with Sissy Spacek and an unsure Henry Winkler; The Jerk is a smart dumb comedy; Theodora Van Runkel created her character's look; learning how to ride a motorcycle; improv in scenes with Steve Martin; her son watching it in school; Stanley Kubrick being a fan; getting the part by tackling Steve Martin and biting him on the nipple; Steve stood in lobby at premiere because of nerves; Jazz Singer is a great soundtrack; Neil Diamond was not a good actor; read for both female parts; changed scene to Neil turning her down for sex; her character kept changing; Olivier's acting was terrible; admitted doing the job for the money; quitting Square Pegs after being told teachers were going to be just as important as kids; going to AFI to learn directing; not knowing what to do; Obsession; Parasite; film waves; becoming friends with Melanie Mayron; writing Sticky Fingers for her and Rae Dawn Chong; Rae Dawn drops out and Helen Slater takes role; after movie, taking time out to have children; becoming an acting coach; Danitra Vance; Christopher Guest; SNL; Ellen Burstyn at 93; Lee Grant at 100; theater is for the rich now; directing Carol Kane

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 against type on Bunker's Place; wanting to be like Jean Arthur or Carole Lombard; guesting on Fall Guy and with Dirk Benedict on A-Team and Battlestar Galactica; CHiPs; Police Woman Centerfold; starring in movies of the week; Manimal; loving the animals; show is made fun of but was a fun job; playing Edith Adams to Jeff Goldblum's Ernie Kovacs; High School USA; Boy in Blue with Nicholas Cage; St. Elsewhere; Murder, She Wrote; going to NYU to get her masters in social work; being a trauma treatment specialist; wants to be known for doing good; EMDR treatment; sees patients 20 hours a week; Zoom therapy; www.counselingbymelody.com; calming techniques; what she does if patients recognize her