{"podcast":{"title":"Ian Talks Comedy","slug":"ian-talks-comedy-140290","podcast_index_feed_id":140290,"rss_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/21d579e4/podcast/rss","website_url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ian-fermaglich","image_url":"https://d3t3ozftmdmh3i.cloudfront.net/production/podcast_uploaded/5576385/5576385-1589847499688-96aa14b6ccf94.jpg","author":"Ian Fermaglich","episode_count":330,"summary":"Join NYC teacher and former stand up comedian Ian Fermaglich as he talks comedy with some of comedy's best.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-28T12:18:37.346010+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ian-talks-comedy-140290"},"episode":{"title":"Brad Isaacs (writer / producer, Newhart, NewsRadio, Tommy Boy)","slug":"brad-isaacs-writer-producer-newhart-newsradio-tommy-boy","published_at":"2026-04-11T13:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ian-talks-comedy-140290/brad-isaacs-writer-producer-newhart-newsradio-tommy-boy","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ian-talks-comedy-140290","url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ian-fermaglich/episodes/Brad-Isaacs-writer--producer--Newhart--NewsRadio--Tommy-Boy-e3hnim1","audio_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/21d579e4/podcast/play/118261889/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-3-10%2F679d597e-37e8-eeea-0aeb-3a20628affdc.mp3","summary":"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 &amp; 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; &quot;Father Goose&quot; 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 &quot;Smoking&quot; &amp; &quot;Big Day&quot;; inspiring &quot;Bitch Session&quot;; quitting after a year; having the show down stairs &quot;The John Larroquette Show&quot; 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…","meta_description":"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 remembe…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":5256,"processing_state":"processed","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/ian-talks-comedy-140290/episodes/brad-isaacs-writer-producer-newhart-newsradio-tommy-boy/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ian-talks-comedy-140290/brad-isaacs-writer-producer-newhart-newsradio-tommy-boy.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}