{"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":"Roger Director (writer / producer, Hill St. Blues, Moonlighting)","slug":"roger-director-writer-producer-hill-st-blues-moonlighting","published_at":"2025-12-20T14:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ian-talks-comedy-140290/roger-director-writer-producer-hill-st-blues-moonlighting","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ian-talks-comedy-140290","url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ian-fermaglich/episodes/Roger-Director-writer--producer--Hill-St--Blues--Moonlighting-e3cgqr3","audio_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/21d579e4/podcast/play/112797987/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-11-18%2F6e5530a2-e1f9-fe95-9af1-1056cadcb41c.mp3","summary":"Roger Director discusses his last name; how TV is the writers medium; growing up in East Rockaway inhaling DDT; like to tell stories economically so went into journalism; covering a house fire on Guy Lombardo Blvd, jazzed him up; writing a term paper on Lenny Bruce; decided to get a job instead of more education; created Stretch the Limo Driver for Vanity Fair; Sport Magazine; friend suggests him to Steven Bocho; writes a spec Bay City Blues and gets hired; Bay City cancelled and goes to Hill Street Blues; Michael Conrad still on show; his roll call was a great way to hook in audiences; writes poem that is Estherhaus' epitaph; stories were outlined on index cards, given to writers, then polish and assembled into an episode; favorite character was Howard Hunter; mine is Belker; changed TV; Bochco writes about human condition so there's humor in the episodes; going from newspapers to Emmys in year; doesn't remember being Michael O'Donoghue's Silverman leak; did a year profiling Tim Hutton; Knicks v. Lakers fandom; NY Football Giants; going to Moonlighting; pilot go to him; show had no parameters; having crazy ideas and using them; breaking the fourth wall; Rona Barrett clip show; Camille episode with Whoopi Goldberg and slapstick ending; Maddie gets married, America outraged; creating Herbert Viola to be David's sidekick; Charles Rocket; Eva Marie Saint asks for a line reading; working with Orson Welles &Stanley Donnen; writing with Mel Brooks on Mad About You; his new novel, Killing in Havana; writing a roman a clef about his career; writing a book about the 2006 champion NY Giants; liking women's soccer; being a Mets and Yankees fan; working with Charles Floyd Johnson on NCIS; Arliss; working on a show for "people who don't watch televison"","meta_description":"Roger Director discusses his last name; how TV is the writers medium; growing up in East Rockaway inhaling DDT; like to tell stories economically so went…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3297,"processing_state":"processed","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/ian-talks-comedy-140290/episodes/roger-director-writer-producer-hill-st-blues-moonlighting/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/roger-director-writer-producer-hill-st-blues-moonlighting.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}