I went to soccer games.
What sports professional professional like MLS.
Get this my third LAFC game. Three soccer games. Yeah, it was. It was super fun. Like soccer is the only sport that I really enjoy watching. I don't keep up with it, but I do enjoy watching it. And I guess it's maybe because I played it as a kid. You know, up until I was like, up until Boyne's World, like twelve or thirteen, I played soccer every year. My parents actually coached my team and stuff, so I was
really into it. But yeah, so I saw about like two years ago, a friend invited me to an LAFC game, and it was so much fun. They have like a whole cheering section which is basically like a permanent dance party going on. They never stop moving there, and they're drumming and they're chanting. They never stopped moving the whole game, and it keeps the audience's energy up so high. And the stadium where LAFC plays is it's very small, like compared to most stadiums, so you can no matter where
you're sitting, you can see their players' faces in the game. Yeah, so so yeah, So a friend took me a couple of years ago, and then I took some friends after that and then yeah, I had friends in from out of town and their kids love soccer and they play all the time.
So we were like, let's go to l A f C. What does l a FC stand for?
Sorry, La Football Club Los Angele Football Club.
Yeah.
So it's a team, it's an MLS team, and they're great. They're really good. They're like probably one of the best in the MLS. I think, I'm told. But anyway, it was so, it was, Yeah, it was super fun. India was not into it, still still not into sports. Yeah, so I was like, maybe maybe you'll get into soccer. No, no, but you know, I guess he just takes after me. But yeah, it was. It was super fun. So I went to a sport a sports ball event. Wow, that's really great again, Yeah, do you.
Stand in the cheering section? Are you part of the cheering section?
No?
Know, how you get in that? I mean they're like they're all wearing like yeah, no, they like know these chants, they have all these rituals and they're like so into it, and but god, I would be exhausted. They're like for ninety minutes, they're dancing the entire time, like you know, everybody, it was. It's really fun. It's a great one. It was a draw. Yeah, it was a really exciting game.
Like why they got to play for ninety minutes to go and nothing happened and nothing happened in ninety minutes.
It's like, what the hell was the point of that?
It should be like quidditch, just play until somebody scores.
If it takes a month, it takes a month.
It looks like that LAFC might be in the eighth team like out of nine noe. So what does that mean like ratings? Yeah, like where they following the raidings?
Yeah?
Ok, no, it looks like it looks like Vancouver is in first place, Portland second, third is Austin, fourth, Minnesota fifth, Colorado FC, Dallas is sixth, San Diego seventh, LA FC eighth, ninth, Seattle, ten, Salt Lake, eleven, San Jose, twelve, Saint Louis, thirteen, Houston, fourteen Sporting CAC and fifteen the LA Galaxy.
So no East Coast teams, Well, those.
That's the Western Conference in dot you got in the Eastern Conference.
Okay, so there are there's.
Yeah, and I guess I don't know about, like how like.
The see this has when my eyes start lacing over and I go, I don't have time for sports because now I would have to like investing keeping track of the stats and who's traded for what. And I'm like, Nope, too much time, too much mental energy.
No.
Yeah, but going to a Gabe showing up and watching them kick the ball around super fun. I had a good time.
They're also incredible athletes.
I mean I I joke that you nothing happens in ninety minutes, but they run essentially for an hour and a half.
Yeah, it's crazy to watch. It really is crazy to watch.
We went to a King's playoff game, King's hockey game. I got to I got to bang the drum. So at the end of every period.
Wait, wait a minute, wait, like what do you mean what is banging the.
Drum the end of every period or at the so I think they do it before the game too, So before the game and after every period there's a big drum and somebody gets to bang the drum, going, go Kings, go, and to get the whole crowd fired up.
And you got selected because your topanga. Of course, of course, because ever go.
To anything and have a normal experience. She goes to concerts, She's on stage within thirty seconds exactly.
I was playing drums for Rolling Stone this weekend.
Just picked up the guitar and jam to the sphere and.
It was It was a lot of fun. Mostly it was fun because Adler was very excited about going with me to bang the drum. And my kids then were like, why do you get to be on the big TV? Why can't be on the big question?
I've been asking since two thousands.
My kids had so much fun. Adler is such an athlete and such a jock. He doesn't care what the sport is. He's just in it and he wants to know all about it. What are they doing now? And why are they doing that? And so what's that? What's a power play? And why is he in there? And like we taught him about time out, the timeout and the penalty box and uh, and he just sits there the whole time, watching the entire entire thing. It got to be pretty late and I was like, you know,
we have to go, and he was really bombed. He didn't want to go, but it's a school night and I'm like, you can't be out until eleven New Yours, not even six.
It's such a change, though, from when he used to bring in places and he like even sporting events, where he was like, it's seven thirty, we gotta go.
We gotta go.
Is it getting dark?
I need to go now.
Now he thinks he's like real mister independent and he didn't want to leave. But we got home. The game still wasn't over, and I woke him up the next morning for school and he went did the Kings win?
Just immediately needed to know.
It was so much fun.
So you guys had fun at sporting events. I had like the best sandwich that was great?
Where from?
Oh I made it? Okay, okay, I wasn't gonna leave.
What was in it?
Peanut butter and jelly, no complicated ham, A little bit of.
Ham from new hot honey, uh swojo. We got it, We got it, We got Is he not the best, it's the greatest.
It's it's incredible, the hot honey sour dough.
Yeah that was my night. So okay, pretty happy, good for.
You, Pretty happy. Welcome to pod meets World.
I'm Daniel Fishel, I'm right or Strong, and I'm Wilford.
Doe Oh, Welcome to today's episode. We are very excited about our guest today. One of the more confusing parts for us while recapping the show so intensely weak after week has been the surprising string of additions and subtractions from the writer's room in the later seasons, a musical chairs of sorts. And because of this, we've heard a bunch of names we don't remember, forcing even Will to admit, uh, nope,
can't place him, which is very hard to do. Before the podcast, we would have thought we knew everyone who wrote an episode, but now we know we are wrong, which happens a lot like when we didn't remember that episode that Love is Blind guy stole his quote from We Got Your Many Many Emails. We have already recapped that episode back in season three, so.
We got to the podcast.
Weirdcast every week will just be us listening.
To and then god, I think it was season three episode one, and okay, so the trainy episode movie Theater I'm Exploding your Head part five, that's that's season.
Three episode one.
Yeah, wow, jeez, there we go.
Get the big brain on, Brad, you know you.
Know, Okay, Well, enough of that. This week we are introduced or maybe reintroduced to a writer with two very important scripts to his name, season two's I Am Not a Crook and season four's Uncle Daddy. He started his career in the world of stand up comedy, surrounded by some of the biggest names in the field, and then transitioned into TV, writing not only for Boy Meets World, but Sybil, Smart Guy and Michael Jacob's less known title.
Maybe this time he'd also end Jay Leno's Tonight Show Writer's Room, a gig suited for his on stage experience, all as he was still also performing stand up and even owning his own legendary club in Philadelphia where he booked some of the biggest legends to ever tell a joke. The former professor and radio host also now finds time to be an author, releasing a handful of books, including his newest, a meta novel about Larry David with a
main character apparently different than the Larry David we all know. Okay, that's just one of the things we need him to explain the other. Why do we only kind of remember you? He may not have ever won a super Bowl, but today he's our Pod meets World MVP. It's time to talk to Steve Young.
I can't wait to talk h about the Super Bowl.
I know he's gonna love him.
Amazing Number eight, number eight.
I did hear that? He there's another writer named Steve Young and their checks used to get crossed. Oh my god, I want to ask him about that. I want to know. Did you ever you know, wouldn't it be great to get your checks mixed up with Steve Young?
Yeah?
The quarterback?
Yeah, well it wasn't Steve Young the quarterback.
Darn it. I know you said it was Steve. I listened to another podcast you did, and I heard that story and I thought, Man, if only it could have gotten mixed up with the quarterback.
Huh, yeah it was. It was Steve Young who wrote for Letterman and I wrote for Leno, and so it got switched a lot, and hid, believe me, I would rather have his checks.
Oh how are you?
Oh, I'm wonderful. I just took my mother to breakfast and I couldn't get back to my place fast enough, So I'm now at my lovely daughter's house doing this. And right away, by the way, you would know the name of my daughter if you watched any of the shows I wrote, because anytime you brought on a character who is not a regular cast character, I named them after my kids.
Tell us your kids' names Kelly.
And Casey, until Bob Young, the executive news here at the time, said stop, you cannot dan for your kids.
That's right, Uncle Daddy. Wasn't her name? Her name was Kelly, wasn't it? Yeah?
And Kelly is here today.
Oh that's so cool.
Okay, well, thank you so much for joining us. We are collecting Boy Meets World writers like Pokemon, so you got to catch them all first. Let's get a little into your origin story. How did you find yourself doing stand up?
Oh? Stand up? I can't. I couldn't do anything else, I mean really, yeah, that was it. I started actually when I was twenty twenty one standing in line at the troupe door. That was the only place you could
do comedy at that time. And later on, when I there was no comedy club, I came back to Philadelphia and there were no comedy clubs, but there was a group of people who were doing comedy, me included, and I was the only one that could wear a three piece suit and talk, and so I opened up a club where actually I met Bob Young and Bob Meyer, and I ended up managing them at the time, and we all did stand up for years at that club.
What was the name of the club?
Tell us tell us.
About the club, the Comedy Works. It ran from about eighty to ninety three, and we were fortunate enough we came out at the time where I could book on a weekly basis. Leno, Jim Carrey, signed Felt, Eddie Murphy, I mean, everybody who they were, the young Gun. Yeah, and at the time, although I will tell you that Bob and Bob, Bob Meyer and Bob Young were is good or better than any of them, I don't know. Mostly your familiarity is with them on you know, just
on a set. But actually, if if you look on the wall or the outer wall of the Comedy Store, there's Bob Myern, Bob Young.
So you you did you own the club or you were just running a club?
I owned it, Okay, So you.
Owned a club and then you were also a manager.
I was also a manager, and I couldn't see. The thing is I couldn't do anything well. So what I tried to do is a little of everything right.
And you were also a comedian, so you owned a club, you managed other comedians, and you yourself then performed at your club.
I'm assuming yes, yes, yeah, they wuldn't allowing me you to perform. There's a restraining order at other clubs.
My favorite thing in the world is going through the list of the big comedy clubs what they're called. They're always like Chortle and the Haha House, right and all like so just to hear comedy works is yeah.
So let's well, let me let me backstory. When about a week before we were going to open up, a number of people, uh, we were at a restaurant trying to decide on the name of the club, and we had had a few extra Uh. We were loaded dollars dollars and we were we were uh, we were sitting around and I came up with I thought the best
name would be Comedy Shmamedy. And the reason would be if people would call information for the name, uh, you know, to the club, what's the name, and the person would say the operator when they had operators, would say what's what's the name? Uh, and and the person would have to say Comedy Shmamedy, And it would be pretty hard not to laugh, right, right, just for saying it. And the radio person who was at that dinner, who's going to promote for us, thought we stuck with that name.
But we did get sober. And when we got sober, I actually I actually had to get sober because this is a true story. I walked into an Olive Garden restaurant. I thought it was an Italian restaurant.
Well, I guess we could say goodbye to Olive Garden.
Endless breadsticks and laughs. That's what I'm telling you.
I mean, so out of everyone who came by comedy works, who do you think had the funniest set? I know you said Bob Young's pretty great. Who who had the funniest set?
There were? First of all, Leno was you have to see Leno in the club, not uh Leno. There was a comedian named Bob Nelson who's still around and a killer act. Mac and Jamie were a comedy team and and wonderful. But I could go down, Oh, Jim Carrey, the microphone went out and we it was sat three
hundred and fifty people. The microphone went out. He ended up doing the set where he would tell the joke and then the audience would roar and then shut up immediately because they knew they had to shut up to hear the next joke. He would tell the next joke and roar and then shut up immediately.
It was.
It was a brilliant night. Jim Carrey as no one is better. There might be people that say, but no one was better in terms of the guys that came through in the last forty so years. Wow, man, except for Buddy Hackett. Because he just saw that Buddy Hackett was one.
Another world alone.
He was exactly That's what I know.
Yes, yes, because he could not get Sandy. And the thing is, the thing is I didn't know that. I mean, I love Buddy Hackett. I saw that. Oh my god, I was ready to show that Buddy Hackett actually appeared. Okay.
Yeah, So as a manager and then club owner, did other comedians start to see you as a suit Was it hard to stay like one of the boys.
Yeah? Actually, when I went out to Los Angeles and I auditioned for Mitzie Shore at the Start Start. Yeah, my friend and comedian who started our club, Judy Toll. I don't know if you remember.
I loved Judy so much.
She was so so I mean, Judy was the best and I, you know, from from Philly, and I still think of her whole time. Uh. So Judy sat with Mitzi and kept Mitzi's head pointing towards the audience because Mitzie could care less about what's on state. I mean, she was looking at uh the stage with her help, Judy's help. And it was a night that I actually I just blew the audience away. And Mitzi said to Judy, how come I don't know about him and all? And she would not tell him that I was a club
owner because her and over at the improv. But Freedman, it was bad to say you were a club owner because we're in fact. Marjorie Gross, who was a brilliant comedy writer and a comedian, Yeah, uh, she sat was sitting on the balcony of my club one one night during the show, and she turns to me and she said, you don't seem like a club owner. And it was the nicest thing anybody ever said to me. I really took that as quite a compliment.
Yeah, you're like, thank you. So when does the idea of TV writing cross your mind? How does how does that enter your world?
Oh? I guess we all we all wanted to be writers like on SNL or Mad TV not Mad TV, well yeah, Mad TV, or or as the second Citty, you know, you know the great sket shows. And I mean, I love I watched Johnny Carson every night. I fell asleep to Johnny, you know. And the first person on the show was always a comedian at the beginning, and I lived and died with every comedian that went on there. If he did good or bad, it was I mean, my mother had a stack of comedy albums that I
would listen to, the ones I was allowed to listen to. Yes, back then, you weren't allowed to listen to until they went out, and my sister and I would listen to them.
So wait, so it was Is it true?
There was an entire like a system on Johnny Carson if you were a comedian of how you were treated by Johnny would dictate how your career would go or how you did that night. Where it was like if he invited you over to the couch, you were made right after yours.
Absolutely that was a different time. If you did Carson, it was a big deal number one. But if he called you over to the couch or he gave you a wink and did this, Yeah you were you were made Stephen Wright his first, his first set there. He wanted him back within the week. We booked Steve Wright that week because his agent called me up and said, he just said Carson and he just killed. We have no place to put him. So I ended up putting
them on for ten minutes in Philly. I paid him two hundred and fifty dollars for four shows after he killed on Carson and I couldn't. I had already Professor and Corey uh Wayne Cotter, the legendary with another the show was full of people who kill them and so to have him come on, but because the point is like Paul Prevenza, Blue Bleu, Boway.
Freddy Prince, Freddy Prince when he went to his whole life. Yeah, I mean that was incredible.
If you if you had a good set there, everybody in the industry knew about you.
Stephen Wright has one of my favorite jokes of all time where he just says, I have a decaffeinated coffee table.
You can't tell by looking at it. That's such a good joke.
Actually actually did one the other day I met. I actually gave him credit, but it was, Uh, you can't have everything where we did put it right.
So what are a few of the major differences between the LA and the Philly comedy scene.
Well, back then, the philadelph comedy scene was great. I mean those people who were Tom Wilson, they they were amateurs basically when we started, and they were good when we started. And Myron Young and Mike and Dwayne Cotter and these people. When New York Comics or LA Comics came in, accustomed to be the headliner and just blow everybody away, had to work really hard because when you were working every night at the three hundred and fifty
night seat theater, you had to be good. And it was quite a mixed audience, so you can't just walk in like Dennis Miller I had the middle Eddie Murphy, I middled because the Philadelphia acts were better than the headliners were good, really good, but just the laughter would bounce off the walls and just sound like a roar every night. That's what the FULLY comics expected and pretty much that's what they did.
And did you discover anybody, did you? I mean, in your in your club? Is there anybody from Philly that you were like? This is the guy or the woman that then became somebody huge.
Oh I guess the closest that is Tom Wilson. Yeah, you know, but I mean Tom did it on his own. But Tom what Uh? He worked my steps. So we were on the third floor and he his big job was saying stay to the right, stay to the right. Stay. That was it. That was his opening act. And then when uh, he wanted to go on stage, I said, okay, five minutes, five minutes, I'll give you, and he went on stage early, five minutes killed.
Uh.
Then within i'd say a month and a half he was headlining. You couldn't help but headlining. He's so charming, so funny, and and a good looking guy and obviously a very good actor.
Yeah I got to direct him. I got to be his director.
Really.
Yeah, he was unbelieve the ball.
And a really nice guy. And are you familiar with Ralph Harris. No, Ralph actually had a show on one of the primetime networks and he played every character, most every character he could do. That was part of his act. And Ralph worked on the Steps for me too, and then got his own TV show and I'm not sure but network, but it was one of the three primary networks. So there were a lot of guys who came through who aren't weren't necessary that next day they became a star.
But I would say most anybody who came through, if you would ask the comedian that play back there, they will say they loved the club. It was. It was just the audience was great, the shows were always great, the number of acts that were on there, and and we were we always were inmates running the aside. We never felt like we were the corporate part of it. We always felt that we were we were we were all comedians too, and in effect we were all comedians.
So your first TV writing credit is on a show called Me and the Boys, which was an ABC sitcom starring Madge Sinclair and Steve Harvey. Did you did you know what to do in the writer's room or did you just slide in and learn as you go?
Well, this is this is funny.
I yeah, So I pitched and as an outsider, and uh, back then you had I don't still have to hire these two freelancers a year and I wrote the script and I thought it was pretty good, and uh in the.
Writer's room where I sat, but I really was not part of the writer's room here because I was an outside of bringing the script and excuse me. I came to the reading and uh, I didn't hear a word that was mine. And I actually at the end, you know, nobody left, nobody left, and I was sitting there, you know, in the network thanking me for writing the script, and I was thinking, I'll never I'll never work again. It was. It was so bad. And it's not anybody particularly fault.
This is what it ended up being. And the uh, I the next time I came into a writer's room or a reading, I would always sit down and say, please take a look at a page twenty five, third line down, the second conjunction, and is mine.
Right?
Yeah? It was. It was. It was tough, but the opportunity, excuse me to do it was wonderful.
Okay, So I want to get to eventually you are in nineteen ninety five. You are now a part of Boy Meets World, but you also have credits on another Michael Jacobs show, maybe this time with Marie Osmond and Betty White. How did you end up in the Michael Jacobs orbit.
I really didn't end up in the Michael Jacobs he was great. But it wasn't the Michael Jacobs. It was the Bob Yo Bob.
Yeah, yeah, we keep hearing that more and more.
Yeah, and Bob, first of all, he still is. I mean, he's a wonderful guy. He's been a friend for years and you know we all started together, and just a sweet guy. He really did not belong to TV.
He was too too kind.
Yeah, yes, always too kind. And every time I get a residual check, especially from Boy Meets World, I always hold it up say thank you. Bob.
Oh, did you know what Boy Meets World was before you wrote your first script? How did it work out that you so? Okay? I have to know? Were you also a freelance writer for Boy Meets World?
Ah? Yeah, yeah, I think no I knew about Boyne was great. You guys were terrific. I always tell people the reason Boy Meets World was great, Well, they had good writers and Michael Jacobs and all, but this was a perfect cast. This the cast makes the show. And you guys were easy to write for because the first script I ever wrote was a cheers and it uh it. I said, I can't write it Cheers It's it's way
too good. How can I write it. When I started writing, it was easy because the characters were so well defined that if I put the character's name down, it's said that character said, that character would say. And I just my fingers just followed the characters. I you know, I didn't feel it was me boy meets World, Uh, same thing. Although there was a particular point where I felt really
bad because I'm not going to use your name. Topanga started crying on the set because you couldn't get the line the way Michael Jacobs want.
This is what this is what I will remember, Yes, you will remembered this. When we did the recap of the episode, he was like, Danielle, don't you remember this? And I was like, what are you talking about? And he was like, you cried in front of everybody.
I felt so bad, like you know, you know, it's like I killed her.
I they may have been your words, but I don't think you were the one insisting I say it exactly the way you wanted it, right.
I think it was Michael, yeah, push pushing it at that time. I don't know what you know, he wasn't directing, But.
There's a fine line between the director and Michael Jacobs.
But you still you still you're a writer. As a writer, you stay back, you don't participate. I remember when I did maybe this time, and Marie Osmond is the sweetest person in the world. Betty White was just the consummate pro.
Uh.
I remember standing on seid. I would always write in lines for myself that I could do off screen, like a radio broadcast or something like that, because I could get scale, you know, for just doing it. And Bob Yam also told me stop doing that.
So just doing voice over the whole time, just saying Kelly and Casey over and.
Over again, pretty much pretty much.
And luckily I didn't have any more kids, because you know, I wouldn't have to stay writing the Uh. Marie asked me. I was standing to the side when I was doing during rehearsal where I would I would do. I think it was a race. There was a horse race, and I was doing the character of the sportscaster. Uh and play by playing and uh, Marie come Ben's talks to me on the side. She leans over and she said, how should I say this LINEH to a writer who's
working there. First of all, you'd never tell anybody to set how to say rhyme. That's really all horrible. But the director was watching her talking to me and I got and I didn't answer. I didn't answer. I think, should you know, uh, you could talk to Bob you know, whoever.
Whoever was directing.
Yeah, yeah, but that was an interesting experience because that was a great cast too at that point at the time, they really I forget who the young girl's name was on that. I love her. She did a lot, a lot of work. But the Johnson job.
I just spoke to Ashley not too long ago. She's wonderful.
Oh, if you ever run into her again, I love her mother or sister. I mean, just you know, great, great, that's the thing when you do a show, you and here, you know, I'm a writer. I'm not down on the set. I'm in the writer's room. But there still ended up being some sort of familyness that forms with everybody. And you know that show that that show had, you know, it was quite the family. Even though we you know, the first of all, the title was horrible. It was
made for critics. Maybe this time, you know what I mean, just it was we tried to change beforehand. Can we get up with a better uh name? But that's what we ended ended up with. And you know, I mean this show. I mean it was going opposite Jack and you know, I I don't know if it would have lasted anyway, but it was a really nice experience because people friends of Betty would come in all the time, and you know, Carol Channing calling me over. Oh man,
I still have the script. They all signed it. She knew that I wrote the script and she started talking to me about, you know, the script, and it was funny and all that. And all I'm thinking is Carol Channing sounds just.
Like herself, so much like Carol chan Yeah, I couldn't.
I mean, it was so I never got over being in awe of these great people who were around. There are plenty of people I have disdained for, but I'm talking about just the experience, experience that you know the people when you run into these people. And Betty became the reason that I published my first book.
And which was what's the name your first book?
Great Failures of the Extremely Successful Why. I interviewed many high profile people on the traumas they went through in their life, and overcame them, uh Arn Brockovich, Teddy Pendergrass, uh Tony Curtis, John Wooden, I mean, but but it was her, Larry, Larry Gilberts exactly. He became a mentor of mine. He sent me over to his publisher and I'm not going to go into the long story, but it was something I wrote, wrote for Written by magazine that he thought was a book. I said, and I'd
never written a book. I don't know how to, you know, I don't know anything about He said, I'm sending you over to my publisher. And I did not have a what I wrote. They said, well, we're looking for something that's a little more uplifting and you know, hopefully some you know, that can help people. And I said, I have an idea, and I interviewed Betty White. I said, Betty, would your mind if I would interview the subject? And
they bought it right on her chapter. And so I became an author, you know, basically, you know, because of Betty White.
I'm sorry, I have to so my friends here, my fellow co hosts, know how addicted I am to mash It's one of It's basically the reason I became an actor.
So can you just what was it like working with Larry gelbart.
Well? First, of all, I wrote an article. It's written by magazine still out there. You know it's the Writer's Guild. Uh yeah, magazine, I think ye. Actually, okay, I was. I was contributing editor there and I wrote I wrote a story. Uh you know, as I was getting older and you know, there was ages, and so I wrote an article that, uh, I'm not a young television writer,
but I played one on TV. It was all. It was a chapter from a book called You'll Never Write in This Town Again, And in it I gave examples of how to fool executive producers into thinking that you were younger. And I would say, like, when you pitch an idea, and make sure you do it laying on the floor so the moose skin from the front of your face would fall to the back of your head. And always always be close enough to the desk that you could sit like this as you're discussing, so they
don't see your neck. The idea, the idea was. It was all farce. I put nobody's name in there except one. I said, never put any award that was prior to two thousand on your resume, Oscar, Emmy, Tony, whatever, unless you're Larry Gilbert. I did that because I knew Larry would read it, and he did get in contact with me. And let me just tell you, I teach a lot of business classes and leadership and all. I talk a
lot about mentors. So I talk a lot about Larry because I heard him speak at at a w G A thing and I went like, he's great and I want to get to know him. Uh. He gave his time to me all the time. It was such, he was such a manch so and the fact that he was here, I'm going to age it out here because
he was part of the Sid Caesar legacy. Your show, Your show shows and and and all the brilliant writers that were on that show mel Brooks and and Neil Simon and uh even Woody Allen was writing there one year. To me, it was like, oh my god, that's you know, I'm so close to genius here. Uh. Not not that I was getting closer. I just meant I was physical proximity. So yeah, he's a wonderful He was a wonderful person.
Amazing.
Getting back to your time on Boy Meets World, you were on set for the tape night where I burst into tears in front of everybody. Did you get to spend the entire week in the writer's room, because we've we've interviewed some other writers that were freelance writers and they never even made it to set at all. Did your relationship with Bob give you the opportunity to be inside the writer's room?
Yeah? I got to be in the writer's room. I've got I got the pitch during the show, I cheated and Bob cheated. That's so great and letting me be part of it, and down for the table read and the and the end going up for the rewrites and you know, you know, even you guys did the show, uh that I wasn't part of, and I was on. I came in and I just you know, was on the stage and there was one discussion and I mentioned the line to Bob. I said, why don't you try this?
And he actually put it in the show, and you know, and so I didn't get paid for.
That should retroactive.
But the line was, oh, I can't remember what the line was, but I was going back to if you're talking about line uh the book that I wrote about learning from failure and mistakes, etcetera, etcetera, And and if you want to do something, If you have a passion to do it, you should do it, no matter what parents say, no matter what coaches saying. Oh, this is a true story. When Beethoven was just a young child, he was told that he could never play music because
he was deaf. But did he listen? I feel like I feel like I'm on your couch. I don't know if he listened. It was a long time ago.
I did writing for a family sitcom hold any weight among your comedy peers? Or did you try to hide that job?
You know, it seems like I'm kissing up here constantly. But you guys, such a It's a great show and a wonderful cast. And by the way, I thought Ben Savage was going to become the next Albert Brooks. I really thought his delivery and a lot of deadpan and all that stuff. He seemed to have that sense that Albert Books was one of my is one of my idols. So you know that it didn't feel like a family show. It felt like a classic show. So I mean, what
did I watch? I had to watch a lot of shows because I was going to end up writing, because I wrote a lot of family shows, and that would happen. But my my thing satire and political humor and and you know, really things that you I wrote. I wrote, was it me and the boys? Oh no, it was the smart guy. I wrote a smart guy. And every time I would come into a show, I would pitch, usually that the one of the kids got drunk, or one of the kids was found with a gun, or
one of the kids. I always always pitched basically.
You wanted to write a very special episode.
Exactly, And I pitched this one where Taj, Yeah, Taj got drunk at a party.
I mean, here's the episode.
Never too young, Yes he was either twelve or thirteen years old and all that stuff. And everybody went, no, no, no, we're not going to put Taje in that situation. I get a phone call at the beginning of the next season that's remember that pitch that you made, come in, We're going to do it. And it was. It was because the I don't know if it was a Biden administration, but whatever they wanted ANTII drinking, anti gun type messages
and they would pay the networks for it. And uh so I got called in to write the script and an actual edgy script, and I won the not the amount I was nominated for you man a tanas You didn't pronounce it right, okay, but you said, but you used all the letters there exactly humaniti something like that. I was nominated for that, and I and I won another award for writing that because it was you know, real life uh stuff, So I got to write, you know, other things than just faun and I wrote for Sybil.
And I don't think that was a family show. Yeah, that was more of an you know, adults get to watch the shows too.
Can I.
When you were doing Moreman World, how old were your kids were they of of t G if watching age?
No, they were younger than that. That's why I could.
You know.
I once put them and my whole family on eBay, uh, to sell the family. Yeah, and I took them, by the way. I pitched that as a show too.
But we actually the dad sells his family on eBay.
Yes, I did that too, And it was back when people weren't doing that, and they were like four and five at the time, so they couldn't really figure out. And that's about this time. Uh okay, they they didn't know except today it's like there's a picture of my daughter when she was an infant in Betty White's arms and she never thought anything about it. She said, when she went to college and she showed it, everybody went crazy.
It was a great conversation starter because I think Betty ended up doing SNL and they did that commercial where she changed into another person by eating a certain candypark. Anyway, so they were younger. But believe me, she can't wait to tell all her friends I'm doing this.
Oh oh, So as a big comedy nerd growing up, you watched Carson's Tonight Show religiously and then you end up writing the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
That must have been quite a moment for you.
It was kind of cool. First of all, Jay worked for me for a number of years, so I guess it was a little bit of you know, payback.
Yeah, a little full circle swittering exactly.
And the thing is it was monologue writing, so it was really what happened that day or whatever, and you know, you give about you pitch about five hundred jokes and they go that one's good, you know. So it wasn't exactly where you sit there and go, hey, this is just a wonderful environment where my creativity is looked on as broken it was. And as I said before, what you had to write for Jay is nowhere near as funny as he was. And yeah, in the club person you would be double over for an hour and a
such a mechanic. He just knew. He still knows how to make it work. On the tonight show, he was working to a very watered down audience. Yeah, and that's what you're supposed to do.
But you're still doing.
Man, you're starting just I'm thinking comedically, every single night is a new five minute bit. Yeah much for them on I mean that's oh yeah crazy, that's when you're you're thinking about it from a comic standpoint, that's just nuts.
And how big would the writing stuff be? How many how many writers would be sitting around right now?
Well, there are a lot of inside outside writers. When when I was writing, I was an outside writer, and I would, you know, every day, be sending the stuff in and he would go over his house with a bunch of people and go through all the material and see what they would use. So you know, they were about twelve writers. Twelve writers at any time, I mean
with you guys, there were about ten writers. Yeah, you know, and still you figure all those writers and all those rewrites, you would figure something good would come out of it.
Yeah, such a shame.
By the way I looked, I did a little cheating. So I went back and looked at shows, and then I looked with somebody had put I think you guys did one hundred and fifty six shows something like that, and I think Uncle Daddy is like twelve or something like that rated. So I felt really good about that.
Yeah, people loved it.
People love that episode. It's a great one.
It was so real, and it was based on I think, you know, in part about my life. You know, you date somebody with kids, and you know you have to. Hey, so how you doing there, buddy Pale? You know, right right? And so you tried to in this case, you tried to write it the way it should be, not the way. But it was wonderful right up to the last second that the kid could have been murdered. But you know, everything up to that was just so sweet, just so right,
exactly what you should do. And I really did, you know, I didn't get along. I like the kids better than I like the girl, you know, I mean, when you meet them, it's kind of it's kind of fun to play with the young kids and all. And yeah, I made a lot of a lot of it. I had a lot of experiences with children as part of a you know, a family that wasn't your family.
Did you end up also, did that relationship end and you decided that it wasn't for you to have kids at that time?
Oh? At that time, Oh yeah, I mean I I was not taking so off. I was stressed over everything. I've been sober for thirty five years. Not that I was, you know, it's horrible drunk or anything like that, but I drank and it wasn't doing any good. And so at that time I was not making commitments to anybody. I could be charming, or at least I thought I was right. You know, when you're drinking, you don't exactly
know if you're charming, right, you think you are. But at the same time, later on I stopped drinking, you know, and everything, and that's when I ended up getting married in and and reversing the visecond.
And then you had children or you just bought your family anybay.
Yeah, well I would have done that if I would have known. That saved a lot of money.
So when did you decide to start writing books?
Well, it was when when our show Maybe This Time was we got the word that it was going on affair and and uh, I said to somebody. Somebody said you should write a book, and I said, I do not write a book. They said you would write what you know, and I said, well, I'm really good at failure. I've practiced it for years, I know. And and that became you.
Know, that became your first book, Yeah, Betty.
Then there were a couple of children's shows I pitched and did not sell. Oh when I saw the Disney channel. Uh, and they gave it back to me after they ruined it by giving it to an executive producer who didn't get it. It was about a boy who could go back in time, but only fifteen seconds. That's all he could do. And sometimes he would go back in time the watch he was where and would do it without him. No, fifteen minutes, I'm sorry, fifteen minutes, go back in time.
And I wrote it as a book, sold it to HarperCollins because we weren't able to make it there. Then I wrote another book for HarperCollins, and then I had a thing with Larry David and U show. No. It was a conversation with Larry David that we were I was going to do an article on him, and it's too long the story to tell. But I ended up writing it into a book and it's called the Larry David Code, and it's how Larry Saves the world.
But I mean, and that's the Larry David we all know and love, or is this a different version of Larry David.
That's interesting because if you would read the preface of the book, it does explain that there is a Larry David who was very successful, very popular, very attractive man. This is not this Larry. Uh. This Larry David is very similar to that Larry David. But it's not that Larry David. And I have written notes to all of my attorneys to let them know.
Let them know it's a totally different.
And I didn't. I didn't. I put in my drawer for years, and I showed it to Richard Lewis, who was a friend, and he said, you gotta you gotta publish it. I said, well, Larry might get upset it screw Larry, you know.
And wasn't he Larry's best friend too?
Yeah?
Richard Lewis.
Oh, yeah, it wasn't different. Richard Lewis too, Yeah.
Very another very good looking, very successful.
Yes, yeah, there are there are. There are plenty of them in the book, and coincidentally, all with similar names to.
Some very I mean, we've named three Steve Young's on this podcast alone, and there are others.
My son represented Steve Young, a country singer. Oh and I got a check of his at one time too.
And did you want to be you or did you want to be him?
He was better than me.
Yeah, you wanted to be him.
They're all better than me.
So you have also taught writing at Temple. You were a political radio host. You are a bit of a renaissance man.
I was a political on air America. And keep in mind how well America did so I'm sure that both of my listeners were devastated when we ended. But yeah I did that. I was political editor of National Lampoon for a while. That was fun. That was because National Lampoon was a big deal for me when I was when I was a kid. But yeah, I told you, I did as much as I could because I couldn't
do anything well. And it was really you know, as it came in front of me, because like, I flunked out of four different colleges without ever getting a credit, so that was a lot.
How does one do that?
Well, it's interesting. I flunked out the first year and then I went and they said, you have to go back to night school to uh to get back into the day school. And people said, you can't flunk night school. That's like a possibility. So I took it as a challenge and I ended up flunking out.
Were you just not going? I mean, that's the only way to flunk out of night school.
I went and I took a public speaking course and I funked it there. I I found out later that I had a learning disability and so I couldn't retain any information and that that was it. Then I went in the army and I and I flunked out of the army. They said, I think we would be better if you would.
You would not be here anymore, and so I went back to the surge country by getting out of the army.
So yeah, So, by the way, that's why the book learning you know, Great Failures, That's what popped up in my mind because there were so many times that things didn't work, and then it led to something else. I mean even that. I wrote a movie that some very heavyweight producers took around town. Did not sell, but my agent called me up and said, there's a scene in there that I think would make a great, uh sitcom for kids, and we sold it to the Disney Channel.
So there it is. The movie didn't work, but we sold the TV show. TV show then didn't work. They gave it to me. I wrote, it is a book. The book. The actually book worked, and somebody bought it as a play, you know. I mean, it's just what happens. If you're just doing and doing, you end up running into something that you would have never expected if you didn't take the action. Oh look, I'm lecturing.
That right, and I already funked out. I already flunked out of your fund.
I'm going to send a magnet that put on your refrigerator.
Our last question for you. You have had a very long, fulfilling career in so many different fields. Is there still anything out there left that you want to do?
Oh? Let me tell you, I discovered a stand up approach after all these years, about eight or nine years ago, nobody at the club owners tell me. Nobody has ever done it. I've never seen that I've done. Many other comedians have told me. But it's something that I do now, and I'm better than I ever was. So I'm in my seventies and yet I now can get on stage
as a headliner and literally kill because they're not. What I do is I watch every other comic and then I do their material again because I say, I say at the beginning, I wrote material for tonight, but theirs is so much better than mine. I'm just going to do theirs again. And what I've done during the night is watch them and change their the jokes. I change them. I make them really absurd and just totally off the wall,
but I use them as the starting point. And I've only gotten I've only gotten beaten up a couple of times.
Yeah, I was gonna say that. Said that, I bet comedians love that. That's what they're known for. It's like, you know, my favorite thing is when I tell a joke and then another comedian tells the same one.
A little bit better and different than somebody.
You know, what I like to do is tell it before they go on. That's smart. There is only a couple comedians who I've ever said, Uh No, it's it's because I think it's a fun thing. And it's because I'm not making a lot of money on their material. And I tell them, if you like what I did with it, you take that that's yours. Oh you know, it's just so fun to do. And I sit there and I sit there every night and I'm writing, and you know, I'm at the beginning it's like it's not
gonna work. It's not gonna work. And then all of a sudden, but I spend most of the time turning them my girlfriend and saying, what do you say?
I can't hear.
I think this is really that's really cool. It's it makes it that it has to be live. That's what I like about it, is like, that's why the audience on the audience must love it because they are you clearly couldn't have written this ahead of time. And so it's like getting back to what stand up should be, which is a live experience. And we do this with our live shows too. The less we play, the more we just walk out on stage and engage with our audience, the better at night.
It is.
So that's such a cool it's like a cool tightrope walk that you're doing.
I really and thank you And isn't it when you do things live when the audience is with you, don't your minds move faster?
And doing this is why you go out and you know, that's what we want from comedy. In today's world, everything is you know, online or you know. We're all isolated in our own little doing meetings like this, you know, so the idea of like getting out into a room and listening and being a part of a group is just getting lost on us.
At the same time, I cannot send out a tape of mind and anybody would know what I was doing, right, right, right. I have my own too, and that's fine too. But the thing that makes me different is doing the other people's material, and unfortunately that puts me in a hole. But you know what, I'm at a point in my life where I'm not sitting there and going, oh, let me get on failing, right, right.
Right, get invited to the couch.
That's the best.
Well, when you when you also when you when you write your book about failing part two, I hope you start with us.
Well, I will agree the show that Danielle did and thank you got for the tears. I wish I could remember. I know you were making a speech.
It's at the very end.
It's the tag running for class president or something.
Yeah.
No, it's like Corey is running for president. You end up taking over the debate or something. I forget what.
Everybody was running for president.
Yeah, it's the tag. It's the very last scene of the show. So if you go back and watch it, and Will even I mean I said I wanted to rewatch it because Will said he could even see it in my eyes.
I can't. I can see that I've been covering.
Yeah, my husband said he could see it too.
Yeah that's great. It's not so great, but.
No, it's great. I love it. Steve, Thank you so much for coming and spending your time with us. Thank your daughter Kelly for letting us use her house and her name, and Casey, I really have enjoyed spending a bit of time with you. It makes sense now that we didn't really get to know you because you were only on our set for two weeks, so it's been a pleasure to get to know you a little bit now.
Yeah. Well, I'm glad, you know. I'm so pleased that I was part of it because when people talk about what are you show? I wrote something for Hbolay is very proud of for little kids. But your show is the one that I always think when I get introduced it is a writer for Boy Meets World. That's the first credit that they give. And now a lot of the audience is, I don't remember that show.
I'm too old for that.
Yeah, oh yes, my parents told me.
Yeah, that's where we are.
Ye.
I give you as the credit. I'm tolled that I could have been part of it.
Where can people find you so they know where to go see you in a city near them.
The Larry David code dot.
Com Great the Larry davidcode dot Com.
To find Steve David, I'll find a different Larry David different by the way.
I do not. I'm really that on up keep, so a lot of my appearances in two thousand and fifteen and sixteen may still be on there. So I don't know it. You know, Okay, check the date.
Check the date.
Okay, before you buy tickets, check the date at the Larry davidcove dot com. Thank you Steve for being with us today.
Guys, appreciate good to see you.
Bye bye.
It's so great that he for doing when he did the two episodes, actually got to spend the entire week on zet unlike a lot of other freelance.
Are funny because he actually has more memories than some people who are on multi.
How about some confirmation for you, Birsty.
Well, I didn't need it. I knew for sure. If we'll remembered it, it happened, and writer remembered it vaguely right.
It was like, yeah, once you pointed out, I was like, that's right, and I can tell you because I remember the fact that we changed the credit and all that was in a way.
Yeah, he's also the people that he's worked with, I mean, just the names that he's spouting out there. I would also officially like to ask that we try. It'll never happen, but we try to get Jim Carrey to come on the podcast.
Why would you Carry come on our podcast?
Let's find out why would My dad always says the worst thing people can say is no, you might as well just ask.
Then find him.
Well, I don't know how to find Jim Carry come on the podcast.
The Jim Carrey dot Com to the Jim Carrey Jim Jim to a.
Very interesting moment the last couple years on Well, then let's find out if maybe it's interesting in this sort of like Buddhist present tense constant. He's like a very interesting guy lately, so let's try to get him on one.
My favorite, my favorite recent Jim Carrey quote was they asked him why he was coming back for Sonic, and he was like, I spend a lot of money.
Yeah, we can get it. I'm telling you, we can get.
We can get them.
Okay, I just know how hard so many of our writers had to work like these stories. It's just the constant hustle. It's like, yeah, and like you have to manage the club or own the club, even to just get your own five minutes, and then you have to just hang out. Like I mean, the way that he must have spent every night of his life backstage with a group of comedians trying to make each other laugh, trying to maintain enough of an impression to get paid to get hired the next It's like such a hustle.
It's so much work. He's also running a business. He also owns the club. That's what you got that so much work.
I just you just have to have that, like I'm always going to be making people laugh and I can't stop, Like I just always you know, like what an engine to always have inside of you. I just it's crazy. Oh my god, it's so cool.
Well, thank you all for joining us for this episode of Podmeets World. As always, you can follow us on Instagram pod Meets World Show. You can send us your emails pod meets World Show at gmail dot com, and we have merch.
We hear it.
Podmeats World would like to personally apologize to the Olive Garden merch.
Also a reminder, we the kids still want to jump. We are on tour. You can go to podmeetsworldshow dot com for merch and tickets and to see the calendar of all the dates. So we hope to see you out there. We love you all. Pod dismissed. Pod Meets World is an iHeart podcast produced and hosted by Danielle Fischel, Wilfridell and writer Strong Executive producers Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman.
Executive in charge of production, Danielle Romo, producer and editor, Tara sudbachsch producer, Maddie Moore engineer and boy Meets World superfan Easton Allen. Our theme song is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon. Follow us on Instagram at Pod Meets World Show or email us at Podmeets Worldshow at gmail dot com