# Ken Estin (Taxi / Cheers / Tracey Ullman Show)

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/ian-talks-comedy-140290/ken-estin-taxi-cheers-tracey-ullman-show
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/ian-talks-comedy-140290/ken-estin-taxi-cheers-tracey-ullman-show.md
Podcast: [Ian Talks Comedy](https://stenobird.com/podcast/ian-talks-comedy-140290)
Published: 2026-03-07T14:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ian-fermaglich/episodes/Ken-Estin-Taxi--Cheers--Tracey-Ullman-Show-e3ftdjt
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/21d579e4/podcast/play/116356157/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-2-4%2Fa76127a6-3260-5d93-a162-8d02741335fb.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/ian-talks-comedy-140290/episodes/ken-estin-taxi-cheers-tracey-ullman-show
Duration seconds: 4473

## Resource

Ken Estin remembers the laugh track; MTM shows; going to college to write short stories; send a Bob Newhart Show spec to the Charles Brothers; tracked down 2 years later for Taxi; working with Jim Burrows, Glen & Les Charles; party after each show; 1st script "Reluctant Fighter" wins Writers Guild Award; Christopher Lloyd won Emmy's for his episodes; having to cut 10 minutes from "Elegant Iggy"; Jim crying in "Jim's Inheritance" while Coach cries on "Coach's Daughter" on Cheers; Danny DeVito uses real life story to redeem Louie in "Louie Goes too Far"; "Jim's Marios"; wrote most Taxi episodes; "Shloogel Show"; "Louie & the Blind Girl" a taken on "Beauty and the Beast"; Sam Simon; creating a sitcom "Shaping Up"; cancelled in Top 10; Tim Robbins fired after pilot; Sam meets Jennifer Tilly and says I'm going to marry her and does; script credit; rewriting Beverly Hills Cop for Eddie Murphy; movies are too loose; created Tracey Ullman Show; her characters but sketches written by writing team; gets Matt Groening to create new characters for bumpers - The Simpsons; hires Sam Simon; James L. Brooks spins them off; he sells his share of Simpsons for $200,000; Sam Simon's Simpsons money goes to dog's charities; Way Cool World; and his book on breaking into TV writing And the Emmy Goes to . . .

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## Transcript

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