Chris Kelly (writer / head writer, Politically Incorrect / Real Time with Bill Maher, 1993 - present)

Chris Kelly joined me to discuss his dad and his love of lesson plans; living in Canada and having having one US TV station; Little Rascals; other comedy hubs beside Canada; his influence; improv; his dad writing for SNL; Harry Shearer; every TV show having its own process; Letterman's reaction to being passed by Politically Incorrect in the ratings; having structure even in lunch orders; writing for the Village Voice; getting hired on HA!'s After Drive and Comedy Channels Sports Monster; being told Sports Monster had no viewers in Philadelphia; being the first to write about sports in National Lampoon; getting to NL when they got rid of the nudity, and having it shut down; the letters; the "prefect game" in Late Night; Tom Gammill & Cathy; writing VO's for Penn Jillette; meeting Bill Maher and discussing the Politically Incorrect should have a Johnny Carson like monologue; Bills early TV appearances; Buffalo Bill, Geena Davis and Jay Tarses; Slap Maxwell; Richard Mulligan; Arianna Huffington; Christine O'Donnell; moving to ABC; writing with Bill his New Rule on football streaming; Roseanne vs. OJ jury episode; great talk show guests; Charles Grodin; Dom Irrera makes a host look good; Andrew Smith on Johnny Carson and getting his job by "whipping it out"; Bill Scheft; Reese Witherspoon; having to write 100's of jokes on the same topic; Top 10 list; calling to congratulate Bill on 9/11 episode that got him fired; all desk show bits were created by Bill except New Rules written by Billy Martin; The Kardashians; Regis Philbin; what's Bill like; best and worst guests; Scott Carter's tremendous fingerprints on the show; his cat book, Downton Tabby