Here I am at 14, in the worst suit of all time. Orrin’s on the left in the fashionable sports jacket ensemble. It was 1974 . President Nixon was still in the White House. Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s home run record. All in the Family was the #1 TV show. I was in Middle […]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N2GHwPNiVU] Del Close with Bill Murray and Charna Halpern at Del’s final birthday party on March 3, 1999, one day prior to his death at age 64. Here is Part 2 of that party. Halpern runs the famed iO Theater in Chicago, formerly the Improv Olympic. She recently found these notes written by Del, who […]

Among my unusual encounters with famous comedians, one of the most awkward was with the brilliant Emo Philips . Awhile ago I caught his strange act. He did an encore, but I had to go to the bathroom badly. I held it in just long enough to catch the curtain call and then I rushed […]

As the week wore on, the frenzy of meetings and entertainment continued. We saw “Broadband Theater”, with Evan Spiridellis of JibJab who we later met along with his brother Gregg for a hot chocolate with creme de menthe. Later that night we saw “The Don Rickles Project.” It was a privilege to see Rickles, who […]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYffXv7jMYQ] Orrin and I went to Aspen for the 13th HBO Comedy Arts Festival Tuesday – Sunday of last week. (Feb 28-Mar 4). We flew into Denver from Boston and were hit with a flight cancellation going to Aspen because of a massive snowstorm, which more or less stayed there the next few days. We […]

. A bunch of scenes ended up on the cutting room floor for this episode, so instead of leaving them there, we thought you might like to check them out. Besides, Orrin worked too hard on them to just trash them.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=HPiZoND209U] Here’s a clip of jazz great Bill Evans at his peak in 1965 performing “Beautiful Love.” This great song debuted in the 1932 classic film “The Mummy.”

Here’s a bonus stereoscopic version of The Hypnotist. You’re going to need red and blue 3D glasses for this. If you don’t have them, we’re giving away a limited supply of them FREE with our DVD/Poster Bundle. Or you can just pick one up for a nominal donation.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=NZMTPGc0Z6A] Thank You Mask Man is a cult animated short narrated by Lenny Bruce. It’s a bit of a relic from the 60s, but it’s still fun, depending on if you like that sort of thing. I love the static background noise at the beginning.

James Brown died on Christmas day. He was 73. He’s the basis behind much of today’s music. Here he is giving us a dance lesson.

You remember the fries I took home with me from that restaurant from Episode 1? (Who’s That Guy) At the time, I took em home and I put em in my freezer. Well last Saturday after many months, I took em out of the freezer, put em in my Foreman Grill and ate em. They […]

Here’s an excerpt from our 11/24/06 interview with Emily Kasriel on Closeup.

This is the man they nicknamed “Odd Bob.” He is the subject of this month’s episode, that is, my acquaintance with him. I worked in a camera store in Buffalo and Robert Elmer Kleasen, a photography buff, was a customer of ours for a short time. He was also an ex-Texas death row inmate. His […]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-gRb_MuUgg&feature=PlayList&p=B76E7D5CBF8E3CDE&index=0&playnext=1] This slideshow is from the Buffalo Blizzard of ’77. Buffalo is my hometown. I lived in Chicago, which is colder and Boston, which chills you to the bone more. But Buffalo has its own brand of famous weather. And after the steel mills and the other industries like Trico left town, Buffalo experienced a […]

Here’s proof! If you’ve seen this month’s episode (“The Big Time”) you know that at the beginning of my career, I went to New York to try to make it in show business. The episode, like all the others, was taken from real life. This is not a Halloween costume. It’s a polaroid of me […]