Cast & Crew, August 2010

George Segal George Segal was born in Great Neck, N.Y., in 1934. He had a magic act there when he was 10, and has been performing ever since. Segal is known for his dramatic and comedic performances alike. He first started attracting critical attention in 1965’s Ship of Fools, as a P.O.W. in King Rat, as an Algerian Paratrooper in Lost Command, and as Nick in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (for which he was nominated for an Oscar). The Comedy Talks speakers’ series marks the second time Segal has appeared in a symposium. The first was a few months ago at the Ventura Film Festival Tribute to Paul Mazursky, who, as it turns out, had directed him in Blume in Love in 1973. This is also the second time he has appeared with Ronnie Schell, the first being a benefit for San Francisco State, a few years ago. It is also a little known fact that Mr. Segal meets Mr. Mazursky and Mr. Schell for breakfast two or three times a week at the Hollywood Farmers Market. This would be the first time the three of them have taken their act on the road. We shall see what we shall see. Segal has appeared in many comedies. Among his numerous comedic roles he has played a frustrated adult son in Carl Reiner’s Where’s Poppa?, a comically unfaithful husband in A Touch of Class, a suburbanite-turned-bank-robber in Fun with Dick and Jane, a bookworm in The Owl and the Pussycat, and a neurotic dad in Flirting With Disaster. He says that Blume in Love is far and away his favorite.[return to top] [return to home page]

Paul Mazursky Born Irwin Mazursky on April 25, 1930, in Brooklyn, NY, the future acclaimed director studied literature at Brooklyn College. In 1963, he signed on as a writer for television’s Danny Kaye Show, and two years later wrote the pilot for The Monkees. In 1969 Mazursky co-wrote and directed Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. A candid comedy about the “new morality” of the sexual revolution, the film was a massive hit whose success gave him the freedom to make movies according to his preference. He responded with 1970’s Alex in Wonderland, the clearly autobiographical tale of a young filmmaker pondering his future. In 1973 he directed Blume In Love and in 1974 he made Harry and Tonto, directing star Art Carney to an Academy Award. Mazursky’s next directorial effort, An Unmarried Woman, remains the most highly regarded of his films, with an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. In 1980 he directed Willie and Phil, an homage to Francois Truffaut’s Jules et Jim, and in 1982 Tempest, an update of the Shakespeare drama. He then directed the 1984 comedy Moscow on the Hudson, starring Robin Williams, and in 1986 the hugely successful Down and Out in Beverly Hills, starring Bette Midler, Nick Nolte and Richard Dreyfuss. 1988 brought Moon Over Parador, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Raul Julia and Sonia Braga. With 1989’s adaptation of Isaac Bashevis Singer’s Enemies, a Love Story, Mazursky achieved new levels of acclaim, scoring Best Director honors from the New York Critics’ Circle and leading stars Anjelica Huston and Lena Olin to Academy Award nominations. His most recent film is a documentary called Yippee, which chronicles Paul’s journey to Uman, a small Ukranian town that is the site of an annual gathering of Jewish men making pilgrimages to the burial place of Rabbi Nachman. [return to top] [return to home page]

Ronnie Schell Bay Area native Ronnie Schell began his career in show business right here in San Francisco, when as a senior at San Francisco State University he auditioned as a stand-up comedian at the famed Purple Onion nightclub and was signed for a five-month stint. After graduation he played North Beach’s Hungry i, Bimbo’s 365 Club, and Fack’s 11 Jazz Club. From these hot engagements in San Francisco he easily moved into the most prestigious hotels in Las Vegas, for yearly engagements, where he still performs. Schell began his TV career playing Duke on the hit series Gomer Pyle for five years, and was a series regular on Good Morning World, That Girl, and the Jim Nabors Hour, as well as making appearances on countless beloved 70s and 80s sitcoms, variety shows, and even soaps. As a motion picture actor, Schell has appeared in over 24 films, including Love at First Bite, The Shaggy D.A., and Carl Reiner’s Fatal Instinct. Audiences can hear his voice giving life to many big-screen cartoon characters, from futuristic Jetsons to little blue Smurfs. In 2002, Schell received the very first California Standup Comedy Legend Award. Of note to local readers, Schell has been producing San Francisco’s almost-annual Comedy Night, an all-star comedy extravaganza benefit for the athletic department of San Francisco State University, since the late 1990s. Past performers include Phyllis Diller, Carol Channing, Tim Conway, Merv Griffin, Will Durst, Brett Butler, Rich Little, Tommy Smothers, and too many more to name. Check back here in January for information on the 2011 show. [return to top] [return to home page]

Rich Little Born in Ottawa, Ontario, the “Dean of Impersonators” began his career as an impressionist as a teenager, concentrating on reproducing the voices of Canadian politicians such as then-Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and Ottawa mayor Charlotte Whitton. Little acted in Ottawa’s Little Theatre and became a successful disc jockey, frequently incorporating impersonations into his show. In 1964 he made his American television debut on CBS’s The Judy Garland Show, where he astounded Garland with his imitations of various male celebrities. His impression of James Mason in A Star Is Born absolutely thrilled her, and with that memorable appearance, he broke into show business. In the late 1960s and 1970s, Little entertained audiences in the sitcom Love on a Rooftop, on Dean Martin’s Celebrity Roasts , in the Emmy-winning ABC-TV variety series The Julie Andrews Hour, and in The Kopycats — a comedy-variety shows consisting entirely of celebrity impersonations, with the actors in full costume and makeup for every sketch. Little has been a frequent guest on variety and talk shows, delighting audiences with his spot-on impressions of public figures such as Johnny Carson, Jimmy Stewart, and Richard Nixon. Little is currently touring the country with his show Will The Real Rich Little Please Stand Up and performing his self-written and directed play Jimmy Stewart and Friends. He is also finalizing his book Little by Little: Celebrities I've Known and Been for publication. Active in several charities including the Juvenile Diabetes Fund and the Children’s Miracle Network, Little was named to Miami Children’s Hospital International Pediatrics Hall of Fame and been honored by the naming of the Rich Little Special Care Nursery at Ottawa Civic Hospital. [return to top] [return to home page]

Carol Channing Since her Broadway debut in Blitzsteins’ For An Answer and a Time Magazine cover story, which hailed her performance as Lorelei in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, San Francisco’s Carol Channing has been a star of international acclaim. Her Broadway appearances include some of the most memorable characters in theatrical history, winning three Tony Awards including one for her legendary portrayal of Dolly Levi in Jerry Herman’s Hello, Dolly! as well as one for Lifetime Achievement. Channing’s career has been varied and continuing. During her first film role in The First Traveling Saleslady starring opposite Ginger Rogers, she also gave newcomer Clint Eastwood his first on screen kiss. Among her numerous TV and Film successes was the madcap Muzzy in Thoroughly Modern Millie, which earned her an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe Award. In 2003, Channing released her best selling memoirs, Just Lucky I Guess, and started touring world wide with her one woman show entitled The First Eighty Years are the Hardest. In 2008, Channing was inducted into the Smithsonian Institute in D.C., along with eight other legendary ladies of stage and screen. She still performs with the gusto of a young aspiring actress and has recently committed her life to bringing a refocus on the Arts to the public educational system. Through the Carol Channing/Harry Kullijian Endowment for the Arts Foundation, Channing offers lectures and performances, hoping to engage the public’s support for education in the Arts while also creating scholarships. [return to top] [return to home page]

Steve Rossi Born Joseph Charles Tafarella in 1928, Steve Rossi is a stand-up comic, actor, and singer who was discovered (and renamed) by Mae West in 1953. As a 20-year-old student playing the lead in The Student Prince at the Civic Light Opera Company in Los Angeles, he was spotted by West, who hired him for a show that ended up at the Sahara in Las Vegas. As half of the Allen & Rossi comedy team, straight man Rossi appeared on over 700 television shows. (The other half of the team was comedian Marty Allen.) Of those 700 television appearances, 44 were on The Ed Sullivan Show, including three of the four episodes on which The Beatles appeared. A few of the other 700 shows they appeared on were The Dinah Shore Show, The Merv Griffin Show, The Mike Douglas Show, and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Allen and Rossi were also regular guests stars on What’s My Line, Hollywood Squares, Password, and numerous other game shows. The duo, brought together by Nat “King” Cole in 1957, recorded 16 comedy albums. They also appeared in a spy spoof film The Last of the Secret Agents (1966). Nicknamed “The Legend” by Howard Stern, whom he managed in the 1980s, Rossi still performs regularly and just completed his first joke book, entitled You Wanna Be Comedian? Buy this Book and I'll Teach You How. He is currently working on an autobiographical book called Showbiz Undercover. In 2004 Rossi was inducted into the Show Business Legends Hall of Fame at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas. [return to top] [return to home page]

Robert Morse Best known for his award-winning roles in Broadway musicals and plays, Robert Morse is also familiar to today’s television viewers as the slightly eccentric ad man Bertram Cooper on AMC’s Mad Men, a role that earned him an Emmy Nomination in 2008. In 1955, Morse created the role of Barnaby in The Matchmaker on Broadway opposite Ruth Gordon and reprised the role in the 1958 film adaptation, this time opposite Shirley Booth. That same year, he won the Theatre World Award and was nominated for a Tony Award for Say, Darling. His performance as J. Pierrepont Finch in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying won him the Tony for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical. He also starred in the 1967 movie version. In 1964, Morse co-starred in the comedy Quick, Before It Melts, and the next year made the black comedy The Loved One, a movie based on the Evelyn Waugh novel that satirized the funeral business in Los Angeles. In 1967, he co-starred in A Guide for the Married Man opposite Walter Matthau, and in 1968 made Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? with Doris Day. In the same year, he appeared in the television series That’s Life, which blended the musical genre with a situation comedy centered on a pair of newlyweds. Morse was in the original Broadway cast of Sugar, a 1972 musical stage adaptation of Some Like It Hot, for which he was nominated for another Tony. He won a Tony for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show for his portrayal of Truman Capote in Tru (1989). In 1992, he recreated his performance for the PBS series American Playhouse and won the Emmy Award as Best Actor in a Miniseries or Special. [return to top] [return to home page]

Shelley Berman Comedian and actor Shelley Berman originally trained as an actor at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. While working as a sketch writer for Steve Allen’s “Tonight!” show, Berman received an invitation to join an improvisational troupe known as the Compass Players (which later evolved into Second City). In 1957, Berman landed his first job as a comedian at Mister Kelly’s in Chicago, which led to other nightclub bookings, and a recording contract with Verve Records. His comedy album Inside Shelley Berman became the first comedy album to be awarded a gold record, and the first non-musical recording to win a Grammy Award. He went on to earn two more gold records, as well as the first Grammy Award for a non-musical recording, and was the first standup comedian to play Carnegie Hall. Berman has starred on Broadway and in numerous comedy films, and has appeared on some of the most beloved television shows in history, including HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm (his role as Larry David’s father earned him an Emmy nomination in 2008). The author of three books, two plays, several TV pilot scripts, and numerous poems, Berman continues to do film and television work and make personal appearances across the country year-round. For over twenty years, he taught humor writing in the Master of Professional Writing program at USC, where he is now a Lecturer Emeritus. Berman spends his (precious little) free time volunteering for various charitable organizations, and indulging in his favorite hobby, knife collecting. [return to top] [return to home page]

Will Durst A Midwestern baby boomer with a media- induced identity crisis, Durst, according to the New York Times is “quite possibly the best political satirist working in the country today.” This equal opportunity offender is exceptionally adept at swatting both partisan political piñatas upside their heads. Although a prolific writer, he professes little need for material, having it regularly delivered at 7:00 a.m. every morning in the five papers he reads daily. Busier than a blind squirrel neck deep in an almond sorting warehouse, Durst is a regular commentator for audible.com, Air America, CNN, and NPR; writes a nationally syndicated op-ed column and daily website jokes; and still finds time to perform hundredss of comedy shows every year at clubs, corporate events, theaters and benefits — not to mention the occasional acting and voice-over role. Reigning as C-SPAN’s favorite comic (8 appearances), Durst is a 5-time Emmy nominee and recipient of 7 consecutive nominations for the American Comedy Awards Stand Up of the Year. He is the first comic invited to perform at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and the first American to be nominated for the prestigious Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the show Myth America. He has racked up more than 400 television appearances in 14 different countries while slinging jokes around the globe in his one man crusade to make people laugh out loud on purpose against their will. Hobbies include the never-ending quest for the perfect cheeseburger, while his heroes remain the same as when he was twelve — Thomas Jefferson and Bugs Bunny. [return to top] [return to home page]

Robert Strong Producer and host Robert Strong is a comedian and magician who has been crisscrossing the world since 1985, entertaining audiences large and small, young and old, formal and casual, and everything in between. Recently voted “San Francisco’s Funniest Prop Comedian” and the “Bay Area’s Best Performer,” Strong has appeared on CBS This Morning, performed for two U.S. Presidents and the U.S. Congress, and taken his act to more than 30 different countries. In his many years on the road, Strong had the pleasure of meeting dozens of legendary comedians, becoming increasingly intrigued by his impression that the behind-the-scenes chit-chat was often just as entertaining as the performances themselves. This revelation gave rise to the idea of bringing those personal, genuine, and fascinating backstage conversations to the public in the form of Comedy Talks. [return to top] [return to home page]

Juliana Gallin Producer Juliana Gallin is the founder and director of San Francisco’s wildly popular Ask a Scientist lecture series. Since its inception in 2003, Ask a Scientist has become something of a local phenomenon, bringing together world-class scientists and standing-room-only crowds for lively and entertaining conversations on the most fascinating topics in modern science. In 2010 she launched How-To Night, a monthly series featuring one-night mini-workshops on just about anything — from card tricks to beer-brewing to telescope-building. Her experience producing live events, and the exciting fact that she spent the entire 70s glued to the TV, uniquely qualifies her for her role as Comedy Talks producer. She is also co-author of the forthcoming cookbook The Lazy Gourmet (Viva Editions, Spring 2011). [return to top] [return to home page]

Frank Zamacona Director Frank Zamacona has been working in television for the past 25 years. His nationally distributed stand-up comedy series Comedy Tonight series helped launch the television careers of Whoopi Goldberg, Dana Carvey, Bob Goldthwait, Kevin Pollak and many others. Zamacona’s other director/producer credits include three humor specials with Mal Sharpe, Robin Williams’s first HBO special, Stephanie Hodge’s Special for Showtime, Carlos Mencia’s Comedy Central Special and Lisa Lampanelli’s HBO Special, Mean of Queen. His directing achievements include Soundtracks: Music without Borders Pilot on PBS, Charlie Rose on PBS, Divas on Ice for NBC, 52 episodes of the live-on-tape Petline series for Animal Planet, and 60 episodes of Fix-It-Line for The Discovery Channel. Grateful Dead: The Closing of Winterland and The Grateful Dead Movie DVD sets reached platinum sales and aired nationally on PBS. Frank garnered a regional Emmy for directing the Macy's Passport Specials featuring RuPaul, Tina Turner and k.d. Lang in concert, as well as the cast of Chicago with Jasmine Guy. Zamacona also received a Clio Award for a promotional spot he directed for PBS and Dancer, Fitzgerald, Sample and a regional Emmy and a Promax award for promotional spots for ABC/7 in San Francisco. Since 2007, Frank has directed over 20 operas for the San Francisco Opera in HD for theatrical distribution nationwide and live simulcasts for 27,000 people. [return to top] [return to home page]

Michael Bossier Researcher Michael Bossier has been involved in Comedy for over thirty years. He began as a volunteer for The Committee Workshop and went on to and study under Viola Spolin. He founded the Comedy Store Players and Spaghetti Jam, as well performed and directed countless Improv groups. He is (along with Debi Durst) one half of the comedy team Deb and Mike who have performed in London, Paris, Hawaii, Golden Gate Park, and all parts in between. He is teaching Improvisation this fall with Debi at San Francisco State University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). Nicknamed “Mr. Media,” Bossier has a noteworthy ability to absorb, store, and retrive information. Bossier has appeared on The Dating Game twice. [return to top] [return to home page]

Noam Eisen Pianist Noam Eisen was born and raised in Toronto Canada where he studied classical music at the Royal Conservatory of Toronto, and jazz improvisation with private teachers. He began performing at an early age, starting with concerts for family and friends, and then professionally at weddings, corporate events, and house parties. Eisen moved permanently to San Francisco in 2001 after earning a masters degree from Stanford University and following his three years of living a cultural dream in Paris. Currently performing with San Francisco’s “Cosmo Alley Cats”, Noam still makes time to do what he loves most — adding the excitement and intimacy of live musical entertainment to make your special event one that you will remember long after. Eisen performs private house parties, corporate events, and weddings all across Northern California. www.noameisenmusic.com [return to top] [return to home page]