Betsy Borns

Stand-up comedy has become such a staple of American entertainment that we may forget that it was not that long ago that it was a more rarefied profession.

And we may also forget just how hard that profession is.

In the late 1980s, just a few years into the start of the stand up explosion, a young writer producer named Betsy Borns put together a book about stand up comedians and how they work.

Borns called her book Comic Lives.

So here now, from 1987, Betsy Borns.

After Comic Lives Betsy Borns went on to work in TV on Roseanne, Friends, and All of Us, among many other projects.


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Jim Gaffigan
Gilbert Gottfried

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Gilbert Gottfried

We got sad news last week but comedian Gilbert Gottfried had succumbed after a long battle with muscular dystrophy.

Funny and controversial, by turns relatable and outrageous, Gilbert Gottfried built a fan base of millions.

In 2012 while he was on a whirlwind book tour, I had a few minutes with Gilbert.

And I found him to be exactly the kind of guy you would hope that he would be- the kind you’d love to sit down and have a few beers with.

So here now, from 2012, my interview with Gilbert Gottfried, as we talked about his book called…

Gilbert Gottfried was 67 when he died last week.


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Sarah Silverman

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Steve Allen

Long before Jimmy Fallon, way before Jay Leno, before Johnny Carson, or Jack Paar .. NBC’s Tonight Show was hosted by its co-creator Steve Allen.

In the fall of 1954, the 32 year old comedian and entertainer became the host of televisions first-ever late night talk show.

Largely thanks to Alan’s intelligent humor, The Tonight Show became a hit.

Steve Allen soon moved on to other Ventures, but was always widely popular and in-demand.

I first met him in early 1987, when he wrote a book he modestly called How To Be Funny.

So get ready for some tips from a master of his craft. Here now, my 1987 interview with Steve Allen.

Steve Allen died in 2000. He was 78.

Ed McMahon

Photo: Christa Chapman

Ed McMahon had a career in broadcasting that dated back to the 1940s. But perhaps nothing he did on television was as memorable as this: his 30-year on-are partnership with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show.

In 1998, McMahon wrote an autobiography, a mmoir of his decades in television entertainment. That’s when I met him.

So here now, from 1998, Ed McMahon.

Ed McMahon died in 2009. He was 86.