Don't Be Alone with Jay Kogen

Firesign Theater Legend Phil Proctor Discusses How Jay Has Changed The Face of Nothing

Comedy and radio legend Phil Proctor talks about the origin of the Firesign Theater, his love of radio, his many careers as an actor, reporter, writer, comedian, author, and how he made the New York, San Francisco, and LA scenes when there were scenes to make!  He also talks about his biography “Where’s My Fortune Cookie” and how he almost died three times.  Let’s see if he survives our podcast. Bio: Proctor is a founding member of the thrice-Grammy-nominated Firesign Theatre, one of Rolling Stone’s “Thirty Greatest Acts of All Time” and whose archives were purchased by the Library of Congress. He’s appeared on-and-off Broadway, toured the USSR with the Yale Russian Chorus and the US and Canada with Proctor & Bergman and the L.A. Guitar Quartet in Don Quixote. He has appeared in scores of commercials, audiobooks, video games, films and TV shows, receiving Theatre World, LA Weekly, LA Free Press and Drama Critics' awards, and the Norman Corwin Excellence in Audio trophy as well as a recent Emmy for the PBS-aired documentary Feast Your Ears: The Story of WHFS Radio. His voice credits include memorable characters in Academy Award-winning films for Pixar and Disney from A Bug’s Life to Inside Out, the Drunken French Monkey in Dr. Dolittle, Dr. Vidic in Assassin's Creed, Simon Stagg in Batman: Arkham Knight, and Howard in the multi-Emmy-winning Rugrats, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has also added scores of voices to the Golden Age of Pulp Fiction series and appeared on Irish radio and live on stage with his late wife, Melinda Peterson, at the 77th Science Fiction Convention in Dublin. He was the announcer for 3 seasons of Big Brother and has a recurring role as Detective Polehaus on the long-running Adventures in Odyssey and can be seen in many old--time radio recreations at the Online Radio Theatre on YouTube. He is a 15-year member of the Antaeus Theater and to accompany his autobiography and audiobook, Where’s My Fortune Cookie? co-authored by Brad Schreiber, he co-wrote What to Say to Your Crazy Right-Wing Uncle, with Samuel Joseph and God Help Us! a political comedy which toured the U.S. and Canada starring the late Ed Asner. He currently co-hosts Phil & Ted’s Sexy Boomer Show, every Tuesday afternoon on KPFK with Ted Bonnitt, featuring conversations with friends like John Goodman, Penn Jillette, Weird Al,  Laraine Newman and Harry Shearer among others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writer/creators Kohan & Mutchnick Compare Their Success with Jay’s Failure Part 2

The conversation continues and we talk about being more confident as we get older, learning to be happier in the writer’s room, Linda Lavin, bad table reads, dealing with notes, notes are not helpful, politics in shows, Ryan Murphy’s genius, trying to make multi camera sitcoms in a world that may not want them, being high school friends, Sidney Pollack, David getting the writer’s job, Jay was polished, Alan Zweibel, being 22 and wearing a sport coat, being a team who loves each other, shabbat, wives don’t want to hear their husbands complain, shows that don’t use the writing staff, getting on board a story, the big idea of a story, fighting for your money, paying the price for fighting, trying to avoid the fight and winning anyway, juries love them despite being fancy guys, Jeff Zuker’s wife predicted Zuker’s loss, bicycles, live performance, and how nice it is to hang with old friends.    Bio: David Kohan and Max Mutchnick are the creators and executive producers of "MidCentury Modern", and are perhaps best known for the 16-time Emmy Award-winning comedy series “Will & Grace,” which ended its 11-season run on NBC in April 2020. The trailblazing series is still praised for its significant social impact and groundbreaking representation of queer characters. High school friends Mutchnick and Kohan started their entertainment careers almost 25 years ago as writers for “Dream On”, “The Dennis Miller Show”, and “The Wonder Years”. Mutchnick graduated from Emerson College and currently serves on its Board of Trustees. Kohan is a proud alumnus of Wesleyan University, where he majored in English and philosophy. Mutchnick is married to entertainment lawyer Erik Hyman. They live in Beverly Hills with their twin daughters, Evan and Rose, named for the couple’s maternal grandmothers. Kohan is also co-creator and producer of daughters Olivia and Nora. He currently lives in Los Angeles with Nora and his wife, Blair, a board member and motion picture agent at UTA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writer/creators Kohan & Mutchnick Compare Their Success with Jay’s Failure Part 1

Max and David talk war stories about working on “The SIngle Guy” including Ernest Borgnine, playing poker, NBC screwing Jay over, Buz Kohan, David Bowie, The Garth Brooks Joke, Max telling the show runner stuff he shouldn’t, having your partner being yelled at, the love of Jim Burrows, lunch of Walter’s, setting up boundaries, Will & Grace, Mid Century Modern, early success, why they never hired Jay Kogen, feeling like a fraud and then feeling like you know stuff, rebooting Will & Grace, being best friends, their daughters are best friends, and David gives advice on being a twin and showing little kids “Stage Coach.”  Bio: David Kohan and Max Mutchnick are the creators and executive producers of "MidCentury Modern", and are perhaps best known for the 16-time Emmy Award-winning comedy series “Will & Grace,” which ended its 11-season run on NBC in April 2020. The trailblazing series is still praised for its significant social impact and groundbreaking representation of queer characters. High school friends Mutchnick and Kohan started their entertainment careers almost 25 years ago as writers for “Dream On”, “The Dennis Miller Show”, and “The Wonder Years”. Mutchnick graduated from Emerson College and currently serves on its Board of Trustees. Kohan is a proud alumnus of Wesleyan University, where he majored in English and philosophy. Mutchnick is married to entertainment lawyer Erik Hyman. They live in Beverly Hills with their twin daughters, Evan and Rose, named for the couple’s maternal grandmothers. Kohan is also co-creator and producer of daughters Olivia and Nora. He currently lives in Los Angeles with Nora and his wife, Blair, a board member and motion picture agent at UTA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Performer/Writer Jim Wise Has 40 Years of History with Jay but Still Has Questions

Writer/Actor/Singer/Improviser Jim Wise talks with Jay about meeting as runners on The Garry Shandling Show, song Improv, acting, writing for Mad TV, Jay Leno, The Groundlings, singing for a living, being one of the best song improvisers in the business, and how Jay pushed him in all the right directions.  Bio:JIM WISE is a fervent improviser and an alumnus of the Groundling Theater. If you’re in your 30s, you may recognize him as the irascible Coach Tugnut from Disney Channel’s EVEN STEVENS. If you’re between the ages of 40 and 50, you might remember him from NBC’s JUST SHOOT ME as Kenny the Psycho who threatens to fold David Spade “like a lawn chair.” And, if you’re in your 20s, you may have heard Jim’s powerhouse lead vocals on “Goofy Goober Rock!” in THE SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS MOVIE. As a Writer/Producer, Jim’s credits include MADTV, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, BETTER LATE THAN NEVER, BEST TIME EVER WITH NEIL PATRICK HARRIS, and CARPOOL KARAOKE. Jim also enjoys the distinction of being one of two writers who wrote for both THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO and THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON. Finally, Jim is delighted to be a guest on DON’T BE ALONE WITH JAY KOGEN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Screenwriters & Scriptnotes Podcasters, John August & Craig Mazin, Wonder If Writing’s Really the “Right Fit” for Jay

Writing legends John August & Craig Mazin talk about their journey to screenwriting, podcasting, & writing a book.  They talk about how to boil  down 15 years of shows down to a book, the origin of the scriptnotes podcast, the need to help people combined with being annoyed by people, what each of them considers good writing, why people who hate books on writing wrote a book on writing, there are no rules to screenwriting, customizing your process, the moment they thought the might be good enough to make a living at writing, their messiest jobs, their best jobs, the changing nature of show biz, and why the Scriptnotes book weighs a lot less than you think it does.  Bio: Craig Mazin is the multiple Emmy® award-winning co-creator, executive producer, writer and director of the smash hit HBO series THE LAST OF US. An addition to setting viewership records for HBO, THE LAST OF US has earned 51 Emmy® nominations including 9 Emmy® wins, a Peabody Award, an AFI Award, a BAFTA Award, two SAG Awards, a DGA Award, a WGA Award, a GLAAD Award, two Film Independent Spirit Awards, and four Golden Globe Award nominations. Previously, Mazin served as creator, writer and executive producer of the HBO limited series CHERNOBYL, for which he won 2 Emmys®, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, a Peabody, and awards from the Writers Guild, the Producers Guild, the Television Critics Association and the American Film Institute. Looking ahead, Mazin is executive producing the upcoming HBO E-sports drama DAMAGE alongside writer, director and executive producer Celine Song. In addition to his work in television, Mazin has written numerous hit feature films, which have grossed over one billion dollars in theaters worldwide. Mazin can be heard on the popular screenwriting podcast Scriptnotes, which he co-hosts with fellow writer John August. Bio: John August is a screenwriter whose credits include Aladdin, Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Frankenweenie and the first two Charlie’s Angels movies. He directed the 2007 film The Nines starring Ryan Reynolds and Melissa McCarthy, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. He earned a BAFTA nomination for his script for Big Fish, and a GRAMMY nomination for his song in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In 2016, he received the Writers Guild of America West’s Valentine Davies Award in recognition of his humanitarian efforts and civic service. In addition to his work in film, John wrote the Arlo Finch middle-grade novel trilogy, and the book for the Broadway musical of Big Fish. Since 2012, he has co-hosted the popular weekly screenwriting podcast Scriptnotes. His company, Quote-Unquote Apps, makes utilities for writers (including Highland and Weekend Read) along with Writer Emergency Pack, which is used in 2,000 classrooms nationwide. Born in Boulder, Colorado, John received a BA in Journalism from Drake University and an MFA in Film Producing from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. He lives in Los Angeles with his family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices