Mike Royce: Sweet Sassy Molassy!

Paul's guest this week is Emmy-Award winning writer, comedian, Executive Producer and Showrunner Mike Royce.   A fellow upstate, New York native, Royce grew up near Syracuse and attended Ithaca College before heading to NYC to pursue comedy as a career.   Mike gives a lot of background on the New York City comedy scene post-boom when he was the house MC at the Comedy Cellar performing with a lot of his comedian buddies like Dave Attell, Todd Barry, Louis CK.  Mike then went on to a job as an audience warmup comedian on Spin City before teaming up with Ray Romano on Saturday Night Live and coming up with one of the great catchphrases of all-time "Sweet Sassy Molassy" during the hilarious SNL Sportscenter Spoof. 

Mike then moved to Los Angeles when he was offered a writing job on Everybody Loves Raymond, and went on to win two Emmy Awards, before being hired as the showrunner for Louis CK's HBO Sitcom "Lucky Louie." From there he went on to be the showrunner on "Men Of A Certain Age" starring Ray Romano, 1600 Penn, and has a new show called "Enlisted" that begins in November on Fox.   

The two talk about the transition from standup to TV writing and producing as well as getting into some sports talk, as Mike is a big hockey fan- NY Rangers and now LA Kings.