Don't Be Alone with Jay Kogen

”Wicked” Scribe Winnie Holzman Attributes Her Success To Mentors, Drive, Luck, & Not Working with Jay

The amazing writer Winnie Holzman talks with Jay about hard word and being lucky, Wicked the Musical, Stephen Schwartz, My So Called Life, laying in bed depressed about writing, fighting your fear, tricks of staying in the creative process, Marianne Williamson, studying Broadways musicals even when she didn’t know she wanted to, being driven towards showbiz at 13, taking the train to acting classes, mentors: Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim, loving acting, being married to the great actor, Paul Dooley, how her daughter Savannah is a great writing partner, and Jay’s feud with Ted Danson.Bio: Winnie Holzman is the writer (with renowned composer/ lyricist Stephen Schwartz) of the musical Wicked, which is now the 4th longest running show in Broadway history, and has been performed in over a hundred cities around the world. After graduating from Princeton University, she studied acting, joined a comedy group, got accepted into the newly formed NYU Musical Theatre Program, (where she studied with such luminaries as Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim) wrote a musical (Birds of Paradise, which had a short run off-Broadway) then joined the writing staff of the TV drama thirtysomething, and went on to create the series My SoCalled Life, starring Claire Danes. Other TV credits include Once and Again, (reuniting with her mentors, Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz) Huge (with her daughter, Savannah Dooley) and Roadies (with Cameron Crowe.) She’s written two plays with her husband, actor Paul Dooley: Post-its: Notes on a Marriage, and Assisted Living. Most recently, she completed both screenplays for the movie adaptations of Wicked

Political Guru, Mike Murphy, Says The People Have Spoken & They Don’t Want Jay

“Hacks on Taps” political guru, Mike Murphy, talks about growing up in Detroit, studying ads, becoming a political consultant by being the only one to raise his hand, starting political pacs, being on the outs with the current Republican party, what the Dems should do to win a bigger percentage of the vote, how buying an EV can really help America, being a Republican in Blue Los Angeles, and secret Republicans in Hollywood whispering that they were conservative! Bio: Mike Murphy is one of the Republican Party’s most successful political media consultants, having handled strategy and advertising for more than 26 successful gubernatorial and Senatorial campaigns, including 12 wins in “blue” states that have consistently voted Democratic in Presidential elections, running successful gubernatorial campaigns for Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Christie Whitman (NJ), Tommy Thompson (WI), John Engler (MI), Terry Branstad (IA) along with many other GOP Senators and Members of Congress. In 2024 Murphy founded the EV Politics Project, an organization focused on breaking down the growing partisan divide over Electric Vehicles. Murphy has worked on five GOP Presidential campaigns, and in 2000 was a key strategist for Sen John McCain’s “Straight Talk Express” campaign. He also advises several Fortune 500 corporations, as well as several Hedge Funds and Trade Associations. In 2020 he served as a key strategist for Republican Voters Against Trump. Murphy is also a widely quoted pundit; he wrote the popular “Murphy’s Law” column for TIME and is a longtime senior analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. He also co-hosts the popular podcast “Hacks on Tap” with his longtime friend David Axelrod. He also serves as co-director of the Center for the Political Future at USC and was a longtime senior fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Murphy also works as a writer and producer in the entertainment industry with projects at HBO, CBS and 20th Century Fox Studios. In 2021 he wrote and created the CBS network pilot “Ways & Means” starring Patrick Dempsey. Murphy was born in Detroit, Michigan and attended the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He lives with his wife Tiffany and daughter Audrey in Los Angeles. He is on Twitter/X at @murphymike.

BONUS EPISODE! Writer Rob Kutner Encourages Jay To Be Anti-Anti-Semitic

Writer Rob Kutner talks about being anti-anti-semitic, “The God Gang” cartoon, beards, and a lot of other “Jew talk.” Bio:Rob Kutner is an Emmy-winning writer for TV (The Daily Show, CONAN, Teen Titans Go!) and books (Apocalypse How, Snot Goblins & Other Tasteless Tales, Look Out for the Little Guy), and the head writer of the independent kids’ animated series God’s Gang. For more info, and to “join the gang,” go to www.godsgang.com.  For more Rob info, go to www.robkutner.com. For a good time, call “SKIFFY" at 555-6969

Writer/Showrunner Peter Murrieta Explains Jay Needs To Give Back Everything Now

Writer Peter Murrieta talks about how teachers pushed him to a better life, riding in the car with his grandparents, baseball, creating TV, college training him to be a showman, being a rare latino at Second City, Danny Trejo, collecting baseball cards, loving writing, and becoming a teacher to give back. Bio: Peter Murrieta is a two-time Emmy Award winning producer and writer who has contributed his voice to multiple projects that have expanded and further legitimized the entertainment value of telling stories about diverse cultures. After moving to Los Angeles, Peter was accepted into the esteemed ABC Writing Fellowship. His success during the fellowship led to writing positions on Jesse, Three Sisters and All About the Andersons, before he created the critically acclaimed series Greetings from Tucson, which tells the story of an upwardly mobile bi-racial. The series’ Latino cast is a perfect example of how he’s been able to bring the lighthearted examination of his culture to the predominantly white television landscape. As a producer, Peter is dedicated to ensuring that diverse and underrepresented persons have opportunities in the industry on both sides of the camera, as evidenced by his work on the Emmy Award winning, Disney’s Wizards of Waverly Place.Peter has produced and written on NBC’s Welcome to the Family, ABC’s Cristela, TV Land’s Lopez, Norman Lear’s Netflix re-boot of One Day A Time and CBS’ Superior Doughnuts. He was an Executive producer and writer on the Imagen Award winning Netflix series, MR. IGLESIAS, starring comedian Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias. And most recently, he is a writer and an Executive Producer on the Amazon FreeVee series, “Primo,” for Universal. And wrote on the staff of the drama for Peacock, “Field of Dreams.” Peter was honored in 2018 with the Imagen Foundation’s Norman Lear Writer’s Award for his dedication to broadening the diversity of the entertainment industry. He was just named a member of the 2024 Influential Latinos in Media by the Imagen Foundation as well. Having taught at the prestigious American Film Institute, Peter is now a professor of Practice at Arizona State University, and is happy to have a foot back in his home state of Arizona, excited to serve as Deputy Director for The Sidney Poitier New American Film School.

Simpsons Showrunner Mike Scully Confirms Jay Will Never Be Beloved

  Writer/Producer Mike Scully talks about being new in a writer’s room, Yakav Smirnoff, how he learned empathy from a non empathetic childhood, being a boss, taking over The Simpsons, how 5 daughters run his life, writing with his wife Julie, writing with his brother Brian, doing stand-up, Amy Pohler, Parks & Rec, how Jay ruined Bruce Sprinsteen being on The Simpsons, NRBQ, being a Masshole, getting fired, owing a lot to his mom, writing jokes for the Golden Globes, the WGA, and how Scully costs Jay millions when he unionized Fox Animation Domination. Bio: MIKE SCULLY BIO 2025Emmy,Peabody,and Writers' Guild of America Award winning writer/producer Mike Scully has worked in all genres of TV comedy: animation, single-cam, multi-cam, hidden-cam, award and live performance shows.He joined "The Simpsons" writing staff since 1993 and was promoted to showrunner in 1997 for Seasons 9 through 12 and co-wrote and co-produced "The Simpsons Movie,”released in 2007. In 1998, he organized writing staffs of all the Fox animated shows to win Writers Guild of America union coverage for the writers,which had been underpaid and without healthcare and pension contributions for the first nine seasons of the series. He was a consulting producer on the show until 2021 and continues to write occasional episodes.Scully also served as writer/producer on the Emmy-winning "Everybody Loves Raymond," as well as"Parks & Recreation,” starring Amy Poehler. (He also appeared on the show four times as a disgruntled citizen of Pawnee asking stupid questions at town meetings.) He was a writer/producer on the critically acclaimed “The Carmichael Show” starring comedian Jerrod Carmichael.He has written jokes for Poehler and Tina Fey when they hosted the Golden Globes and for their current liveshow,The Restless Leg Tour.He co-created (with wife Juie Thacker-Scully & Amy Poehler) the animated Fox/Hulu show"Duncanville”starring Poehler, Ty Burrell, and Rashida Jones,which ran three seasons. He also co-created some non-critically acclaimed and very quickly canceled shows such as "The Pitts”, “CompleteSavages", and an animated version of "Napoleon Dynamite.”In 2024, he and Julie produced the ABC pilot Shifting Gears starring Tim Allen and Kat Dennings.The Scullys parted ways with the show after it was ordered to series.  He has five daughters who provide a never-ending financial reason to keep working.