#laughin

"Still Laughing" is the title of George Schlatter's new book and if you read it, you'll be laughing, too. There are first-hand, hilarious stories on every page and he shares many of them on this podcast episode. Schlatter went from being a Las Vegas bouncer (although he prefers the title, "executive in charge of emergency departures") to being a talent agent, where he struck up an early and valued friendship with Frank Sinatra. He eventually became a TV producer, handling top talent such as Dinah Shore, Judy Garland, Sammy Davis, Jr., Cher and many others.
When he wasn't meeting stars he was making them, especially as the producer of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. Almost overnight, the late '60s, early '70s comedy/variety hour made household names of Goldie Hawn, Lily Tomlin, Arte Johnson, Ruth Buzzi, Gary Owens, JoAnne Worley and many others. He gave a young writer from Toronto a shot -- Lorne Michaels. Not sure whatever happened to him.
Phrases such as "You bet your sweet bippy," "Hear come de judge," and "Sock it to me," swept through schoolyards and suburban homes across North America.
Not everything he tried worked. Schlatter has great stories about his flops, including Turn On, a 1969 experimental series that was canceled on the East Coast before the show was even seen on the West Coast.
Schlatter also talks about his greatest achievement: his 67-year marriage to wife Jolene. The couple donated so many scripts and other artifacts to the National Comedy Centre in Jamestown, N.Y. the place named their theatre after them. 

Harvey Brownstone conducts an in-depth interview with Susan Silver, Author, “Hot Pants in Hollywood: Sex, Secrets and Sitcoms”

About Harvey's guest:

Today’s guest, Susan Silver, is a show business trailblazer.  She was one of the first women to have a successful career as a television comedy writer, in an industry overwhelmingly dominated by men.   

Back in the late 60s’, and despite being the youngest runner up for a prestigious Writers Guild Award for a script she’d written in graduate school, the only open door for a female writer in Hollywood was as a secretary.  She worked her way up to be producer of a TV show starring comedian Mort Sahl, and then got hired as a casting director on the groundbreaking TV show, “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In”.  When the show’s producer, George Schlatter, refused to allow a woman to join his writing team – offering her a job as a writer’s assistant instead - she pivoted into the world of TV sitcoms, and never looked back.  

She wrote for some of the most iconic shows of all time, including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, Maude, The Partridge Family, The New Dick Van Dyke Show, Square Pegs, and many more.  In fact, our guest wrote the episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show called “The Square Shaped Room”, which won Ed Asner an Emmy Award.  She also wrote TV movies including “The Couple Takes a Wife” starring Paula Prentiss and Bill Bixby, and “The Girl Who Came Gift Wrapped”, starring Karen Valentine and Farrah Fawcett.   

She’s one of the founding members of “Women in Film”, and she’s taught comedy writing at the Television Academy, and lectured at the Paley Center, and at numerous universities.   She’s appeared on TV many times, on CNN, HLN and The Today Show to name only a few.  She’s had her own weekly radio commentary on Robin Hood Radio called “Susan Says”.  And she’s written op-ed columns for The New York Times – AND for 4 years she wrote a highly entertaining column about dating, called “The Search For Mr. Adequate”, on NEW YORK SOCIAL DIARY DOT COM.   

And FINALY, in 2017, she released her brilliant, hilarious, sometimes salacious, and very insightful memoir entitled, “Hot Pants in Hollywood: Sex, Secrets and Sitcoms”.   This book was such an enjoyable read, that I hated to get to the last page.    And let me tell you:  the episode describing a highly unusual medical “event” resulting from a particularly satisfying encounter with a vibrator, is most definitely worth TEN TIMES the price of the book.

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Harvey Brownstone conducts an in-depth interview with George Schlatter, Legendary Television Producer, Director And Writer 

About Harvey's guest: 

Today’s special guest, George Schlatter, is a legendary television producer, director and writer whose body of work is nothing short of jaw-dropping.    

For over 5 decades, he’s brought us some of the greatest television variety series and specials ever made.  He produced the Judy Garland Show, the Dinah Shore Chevy Show, the Cher show, and of course, his groundbreaking TV series, “Laugh-In”, which won him 3 Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe nomination.  AND he gave us television’s first reality show, “Real People”.   

He produced the first 5 years of the Grammy Awards, and dozens of TV specials with the greatest stars, including Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Lucille Ball, Elton John, Bette Midler, Liza Minnelli, Michael Jackson, Shirley MacLaine, Diana Ross, and scores of others.   He won his 3rd Emmy award for producing Sammy Davis Jr’s 60th Anniversary Celebration.  In 1987 he created – and for 15 years he produced – the American Comedy Awards.   

He’s received every honour imaginable, including 25 Emmy Award nominations, 3 Emmys, 3 Image Awards, the Television Critics Award, the Directors Guild Award, the Producers Guild “Man of The Year,” an honourary doctorate from Pepperdine University - and believe me, I’m just scratching the surface. On its 25th Anniversary, the Television Academy honored him for his outstanding contribution to television.  And in 1989, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.   

And later this year he’ll be releasing his highly anticipated book entitled, “Still Laughing: A Life in Comedy From the Creator of Laugh-in”.  And a documentary feature film about his life and career is being produced as we speak. 

For more interviews and podcasts go to: https://www.harveybrownstoneinterviews.com/ 

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