{"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":"Ken Estin (Taxi / Cheers / Tracey Ullman Show)","slug":"ken-estin-taxi-cheers-tracey-ullman-show","published_at":"2026-03-07T14:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ian-talks-comedy-140290/ken-estin-taxi-cheers-tracey-ullman-show","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ian-talks-comedy-140290","url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ian-fermaglich/episodes/Ken-Estin-Taxi--Cheers--Tracey-Ullman-Show-e3ftdjt","audio_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/21d579e4/podcast/play/116356157/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-2-4%2Fa76127a6-3260-5d93-a162-8d02741335fb.mp3","summary":"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 . . .","meta_description":"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 dow…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4473,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/ian-talks-comedy-140290/episodes/ken-estin-taxi-cheers-tracey-ullman-show/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/ken-estin-taxi-cheers-tracey-ullman-show.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}