{"podcast":{"title":"Catching Up With Comedians","slug":"catching-up-with-comedians-7071369","podcast_index_feed_id":7071369,"rss_url":"https://feed.podbean.com/richscomedy/feed.xml","website_url":"https://richscomedy.podbean.com","image_url":"https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/18297050/CUWC.jpg","author":"Rich Stein","episode_count":66,"summary":"Rich Stein, a long time standup comic, took a few years off the road to teach high school, get married, and have a kid. Now, retired from teaching, he is back on stages and reconnecting with old friends and trying to Catch up with Comedians. Plenty of funny stories, anecdotes and tributes to the greats both famous and infamous!","last_synced_at":"2026-08-02T06:18:54.878489+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/catching-up-with-comedians-7071369"},"episode":{"title":"Comedian Max Dolcelli joins host Rich Stein","slug":"comedian-max-dolcelli-joins-host-rich-stein","published_at":"2025-11-09T05:28:05+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/catching-up-with-comedians-7071369/comedian-max-dolcelli-joins-host-rich-stein","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/catching-up-with-comedians-7071369","url":"https://richscomedy.podbean.com/e/comedian-max-dolcelli-joins-host-rich-stein/","audio_url":"https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/qweaxxe63b9wbey9/ep47_Max_Dolcelli9mwf6.mp3","summary":"Max Dolcelli is a man who has had to claw and fight for anything he ever had in life. Born in Liguria, Italy the first son of a ship builder, he lost his father when he was but five years old but under him were a 3 year old sister and a baby brother. Life got immediately harder as mom couldn’t raise three young children without a job so Max and his sister went into a catholic orphange and mother moved in with Grandma with her infant and they would put one foot In front of the other to cope with the loss of the husband, father and breadwinner. Fortunately for Max and his little sister after six months they were rescued from a torturous place where Max was made to kneel bare legged on rice for hours and his sister left bruised and both were psychologically scarred. Mama Angela would marry Papa Jimmy a year later and he took the entire family to America by way of New York Harbor. It was no longer Ellis Island but for these native Italians who could not speak English, it was kind of a 1959 Ellis Island revisited. Plus Papa Jimmy was a black man and that would also make their assimilation less fluid. Max’s journey to comedy was a long one ( as he was barely six when he landed in New York) and many kids gripe about when their family moved and they had to switch schools a few times.Max said his tough childhood made him tougher and he learned how to fight to defend himself and he learned how to get laughs to disarm his combatants altogether.Max took the stage at the New York Catch A Rising Star and through sheer guts and strength he did well enough on his first shot that the club owner told him to keep coming back that he could get regular stage time. Like many comics who I have had on my show, his desire was so great that he rose through the ranks of opener to headliner very…","meta_description":"Max Dolcelli is a man who has had to claw and fight for anything he ever had in life. Born in Liguria, Italy the first son of a ship builder, he lost his…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4094,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/catching-up-with-comedians-7071369/episodes/comedian-max-dolcelli-joins-host-rich-stein/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/catching-up-with-comedians-7071369/comedian-max-dolcelli-joins-host-rich-stein.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}