Journalist/Comedian Harmon Leon dives into comedy cult classics, comedic influences, and all things comedy history.
From the archives: Sasha Baron Cohen plays activist Abbie Hoffman in the Netflix film, The Trial of the Chicago 7.
As seen in the film, by day, Hoffman was in the courtroom - fighting conspiracy charges. By night, he would regularly perform at The Second City. Hoffman's stage appearance marked a transition at the theater - from a bunch of squares doing sketches; to progressive radicals that changed the face of comedy; marked by the addition of Harold Ramis as a cast member.
To bookend the pandemic, we have a CH101 reprise on comedy to helping deal with tragic events.
We look at comedy right directly after 9/11. They said irony was dead - but comedy help us pull through tragedy - especially with The Onion, SNL, Letterman, The Daily Show, and Gilbert Gottfried's legendary joke at the Friar's Club Roast.
Our guest is Art Bell; the man who pitched the idea that became Comedy Central. Art was also the head of programming at the network.
We do a deep dive into the origin of such iconic shows as Mystery Science Theater 3000, South Park, The Daily Show - and talk about the early careers of Jon Stewart, Marc Maron, and Bill Maher.
Art also has a new book out: Constant Comedy: How I Started Comedy Central and Lost My Sense of Humor.
