# Brad Isaacs (writer / producer, Newhart, NewsRadio, Tommy Boy) Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/ian-talks-comedy-140290/brad-isaacs-writer-producer-newhart-newsradio-tommy-boy Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/ian-talks-comedy-140290/brad-isaacs-writer-producer-newhart-newsradio-tommy-boy.md Podcast: [Ian Talks Comedy](https://stenobird.com/podcast/ian-talks-comedy-140290) Published: 2026-04-11T13:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ian-fermaglich/episodes/Brad-Isaacs-writer--producer--Newhart--NewsRadio--Tommy-Boy-e3hnim1 Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/21d579e4/podcast/play/118261889/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-3-10%2F679d597e-37e8-eeea-0aeb-3a20628affdc.mp3 Processing state: processed JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/ian-talks-comedy-140290/episodes/brad-isaacs-writer-producer-newhart-newsradio-tommy-boy Duration seconds: 5256 ## Resource Brad Isaacs joined me to talk about the Dick Van Dyke Show; favorite episodes; writing a spec script for Taxi, handing it to Marilu Henner and her remembering twenty plus years later; sitcoms not talking down; Simpsons & Saul Bellow; mother could sing songs even though she hardly speak due to dementia; dropped out of high school and got a GED; goes to Vegas to be a pro gambler; watching DVD inspires him; gets a job on TBS series Safe at Home; leads to a freelance Head of the Class and a job at Webster; one Webster so bad guest actor Michael Richards walks off; freelance Duet; hired for Newharts last season; favorite episodes; Dan O'Shannon came up with shows ending; "Father Goose" episode with Henry Gibson; others being confused by which Newhart he worked on; getting hired at Roseanne; being asked to come up with a show for Tom Arnold; models it after DVD with Tom rarely seen; Roseanne wants more Tom Arnold, Brad quits; meeting Carl Reiner and getting forgiveness; writing to Bill Persky and getting a letter back from his 12 and 10 year old daughters; Ken Levine; meeting George McGovern on Newhart; Larry Sanders Show; Norm MacDonald story; rewriting Tommy Boy; adding Superstar and housekeeping among other things; NBC had high hopes for NewsRadio; shows were written by 4 writers; Dave Foley was young enough looking to me believable; episodes "Smoking" & "Big Day"; inspiring "Bitch Session"; quitting after a year; having the show down stairs "The John Larroquette Show" angry at them due to noise; not getting their due; working as a consultant on King of the Hill and Undeclared; writing 8 Crazy Nights and fighting with Sandler about poop jokes; creating Lovespring International, an improvised sitcom for Lifetime; Ta… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/ian-talks-comedy-140290/episodes/brad-isaacs-writer-producer-newhart-newsradio-tommy-boy/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/ian-talks-comedy-140290/brad-isaacs-writer-producer-newhart-newsradio-tommy-boy.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.