Journalist/Comedian Harmon Leon dives into comedy cult classics, comedic influences, and all things comedy history.
Our special guest is Wayne Federman author of the new book: The History of Stand-Up: From Mark Twain to Dave Chappelle.
Wayne's impressive creds include Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Larry Sanders Show, Silicon Valley - as well as head monologue writer for The Tonight Show. We do some serious deep cuts into the history of stand-up comedy.
Remember in Goodfellas when mobster Henry Hill took his date, Karen, to The Copacabana? That was pretty true to form. The mob actually owned the legendary club. We saw this recently in the movie The Irishman - when Don Rickles was on stage performing for Crazy Joe Gallo.
We dive into the mob’s connection with The Copacabana - where you’ll learn such interesting tidbits as what happened to comedian Allan Drake’s wife when she had an affair with a mobster. Spoiler Alert: It doesn’t end well…
From the Archives: Since the beginning of the 20th century, slipping on a banana peel has been a comedy trope. We’ve seen such legendary silent comedians as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Laurel and Hardy - all do a variation of the slipping on a banana peel gag.
But how did the “slipping on a banana peel” gag come into our lexicon? And why don’t we see people slipping on banana peels in 2021? Listen on....
