Catching Up With Comedians

Comedian Mark Knope has the distinction of getting divorced and doing his first stand up comedy spot, while he was training for his insurance license in Albuquerque, New Mexico way back in 1986.

That sounds more like the start of a Farrelly Brothers comedy film but for Mark it was the start of a new life and his comedy career has been going strong for 40 plus years.

Mark had been working as an insurance salesman for Liberty Mutual,...

Bruce graduated from Boston University with a business degree in marketing in 1988 and quickly headed to Los Angeles to try his hand at stand up comedy and acting.  From the first time I met Bruce he always had a smile on his face and a positive spirit and determination that whatever he was doing it was going to work. He took his training in competitive wrestling (Freestyle State Champion) and Powerlifting ( He set National Recor...

Comic Rick D’Elia is on the podcast this week.  Born and raised in Boston he came up in comedy in his freshman class with Bill Burr, Dane Cook, Patrice O’Neal and many other notables.  A booker told him early on to work clean as he was opening up for Joe Rogan and Louie C.K. Afterwards the booker told Rick those two guys are funny but they will never succeed in the business because they are too dirty. Rick later called him out on t...

Born and raised in Northern Kentucky and the oldest of six boys, Jeff brought a certain wisdom to his stand up as he witnessed many comics, singers and entertainers in a club his father introduced him to as a young teen; The Beverly Hills Night Club just outside of Cincinnati. Not only did he see young comics like Kelly Monteith but he also got to meet legends like The Ritz Brothers! Inspired by WC Fields, The Marx Brothers and bey...

Paul Boland joins me on the podcast this week. Paul was interested in the theater as a young man and acted, sang and performed in plays and musicals during high school and later in college and  community theater. 

He grew up on the east coast but visited his Dad in Los Angeles when he was 22 and decided to just stay and see what he could do in the LA theater scene.  From doing impressions and impersonations as a waiter he landed a ...

Darren Carter joins me this week on Catching Up With Comedians. Darren is a natural upper and one of those people who represent the comedy profession in the most positive way.   Despite his youthful appearance and high energy style, it’s hard to believe he has been performing for over thirty years.  Growing up in Fresno, his first years in comedy were in San Diego but he was on the  "ROAD” quickly as an opening act due to his many ...

Welcoming Steven Lolli to the podcast this week.  Steven is a big personality and a very strong comedian who after 20 years is headlining around the country and really starting to create some heat. He performed on NETFLIX IS A JOKE last summer on the same bill as Whitney Cummings, Nikki Glaser with Howie Mandel and Arsenio headlining.  He has a starring role in “Last Chance” a Film opening in 2025. As a writer he has worked for Kat...

Phil Tagliaferri bounced onto the stage of the Emerald Princess this past October while the wife and I were celebrating our second honeymoon// empty nest vaca.

This was a fourteen day cruise and the first one we had gone on without friends, relatives or castaways so we were determined to see every comedy show and as many of the large shows as we could fit in.  

Phil who wisely whittled his last name down to TAG, ( after countless t...

David started out as a deejay but as is often the case it  took only a dare from friends for him to try out comedy and take second place on his very first try.

Born and raised in Dubuque,Iowa, David was on his way to the west coast when he stopped in Colorado on advice from his brothers and that has been his homeland and home base in comedy ever since.  

He is a member of the 35 plus year club in stand up.  He has always enjoyed an...

Comedienne Linda Markus Smith came to national attention during the pandemic when she started her Zoom podcast "Comics Spot."

Most comics weren't working much, if at all, so her timing was perfect.  She had no agenda other than to just interview comics and hear their stories.

She had only started her comedy career maybe five years prior to the Pandemic so she was a newbie and relative unknown, which was also a plus for her because ...

Steve Klasky grew up in Los Angeles and remembers using his early school years as his first stage for entertaining his peers.  Always looking for laughs and vying for the attention from the fairer sex, he found theater and drama in high school and became his high school’s most celebrated actor.

 In College, beyond simply acting, he also took to learning the technical and theater production sides of the business.  Before long he was...

Scott Shimamoto the oldest of three boys was raised in the San Gabriel Valley and unlike many comedians he was a happy, energetic and industrious kid. 

Always a funny kid he did what he could as a smaller lad to keep his classmates and friends laughing as opposed to giving beat downs. His natural friendliness was his best anti-fight kryptonite as he said the fighting part was never much of a problem in his life.

From his earliest j...

Mark Cordes originally, from the midwest, had made a good living in  real estate with Coldwell Banker and one night he took the dare to go up at a comedy open mic night.  

He caught the bug immediately and within a short time he let his realtor license lapse and told his guys he was burning the boats and they replied that he could always come back if he wanted to.....  that was over 35 years ago and he has not only made a living in...

Chris Lewis started out his show biz career as a child actor which he describes in the podcast. He was even a contestant on a famous kids show which is even more interesting given the  career trajectory of the once popular host.

Chris has been continuing to audition and act in commercials and indie films while also making a name for himself in the L.A. stand up comedy circuit.

Once listening to Chris I'm sure you'll agree that his ...

Frances DiLorinzo one of four siblings never fancied a comedy career but with encouragement from a professor at Saddleback College she found out she had a gift for public speaking and getting some laughs. She plowed through her Undergraduate degree thinking it was just a phase but the spark was re lit when she stopped by the Laff Stop comedy club one night. Before long she was hooked and one of many who joined the eighties comedy b...

Chance Langton had been writing and playing music since a young boy. Long before his comedy career, he was a working musician and his journey took him from Massachusetts to New York, Nashville, Los Angeles and many parts in between. His story is interesting, to say the least and Chance is such a great storyteller that I felt it very important that I capture as much of his story as I possibly could.  From Doug Westin's Troubadour in...

Greg "Hilby" Hilbers a proud Oregonian and fan of comedy made his way to the Comedy Store in 1974, just two short years after it opened its doors on April 7, 1972. Although getting laughs and a strong response on his first stage performance, he headed back to Portland to develop more in his local scene but returned in 1976 to re establish his stand up career at The Comedy Store and became a paid regular within a pretty short time. ...

Julie Kidd raised three kids as a single mom, taught dance at night and started doing comedy once she re connected with her step sister Cindy Burns.  They struggled for years but eventually helped form The Laff Pack and that led to co-founding The Funniest Housewives of Orange County.   It took off pretty quickly and they were soon filling up large venues for monthly shows and corporate shows all over So.Cal. and beyond.   Julie an...