Constant Comedy With Art Bell & Vinnie Favale [Season 1]
In honor of the 30th anniversary of the network’s launch, former Comedy Central executives Art Bell and Vinnie Favale are pulling the curtain back on the channel’s tumultuous early days in their new show, “The Constant Comedy Podcast.” Drawing from their rich history in comedy, Bell and Favale will talk about comedy with the people who write and perform it. Art Bell is the author of the recently published memoir, Constant Comedy: How I Started Comedy Central and Lost My Sense of Humor (Ulysses Press, 2020). He is a former media executive known for creating, building, and managing successful cable television channels. While working at HBO, Art pitched the idea of a 24-hour comedy network which he helped develop and launch. He went on to hold senior executive positions in both programming and marketing at Comedy Central. After leaving Comedy Central, Art became president of Court TV, where he was a guiding force behind one of the most successful brand evolutions in cable television. Vinnie Favale is a producer, writer, and director. He has worked in the entertainment industry since 1979 at NBC, MTV, A&E, HBO, Comedy Central, and CBS. As the head of CBS Late Night, he was the executive in charge of the “Late Show With David Letterman” and the “Howard Stern” syndicated show. In 2019, he launched Favale Media. His “Hereafter Musical” has had successful productions off-Broadway and in Buenos Aires. The movie version starring Danny Aiello is in post-production and will be released December 2021. He's currently writing a new musical, “Happy New Year,” with his writing partner Frankie Keane. Learn more about him at vinniefavale.com and follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
Episodes
Art and Vinnie sit down for part two of our interview with Comedy Channel aliumni and famed sitcom writer Betsy Borns.
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Art and I worked with Betsy Borns at the launch of the Comedy Channel in 1989. While there she was a producer on one of the network’s signature pieces called “Thirty, Sixty, Nineties”.
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Her career skyrocketed after she left us. Art and I remained in a quiet, steady orbit, watching her succe...
Art and Vinnie sit down with Comedy Channel aliumni and famed sitcom writer Betsy Borns.
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Art and I worked with Betsy Borns at the launch of the Comedy Channel in 1989. While there she was a producer on one of the network’s signature pieces called “Thirty, Sixty, Nineties”.
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Her career skyrocketed after she left us. Art and I remained in a quiet, steady orbit, watching her success from a distance…so basicall...
Art and Vinnie sit down with Comedy Channel's power couple, Nick and Robin Bakay.
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Love was in the air at the launch of the Comedy Channel back in 1989. Robin Bakay was a key member of the on air promo team whose difficult job at the time was to define this brand new, 24 hour comedy network with promos that reflected the programming. It was difficult at the time because our programming consisted of short comed...
Art and Vinnie sit down with their favorite therapist, Jontahan Katz. You will feel so much better about your life after you listen to this interveiw.
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It was Art's turn to write up the intro for this week's guest Jonathan Katz. He called me in a panic and said; "Vinnie, I have a confession to make. I know it was my turn to write the intro for todays’ guest, but after hours of research I still don’t know how t...
Art and Vinnie talk to Art's Swarthmore College buddy, Michael J. Weithorn about his incredible thirty plus years as one of Hollywood's top sitcom writers. \
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Michael J. Weithorn has over thirty-five years of experience as a television comedy writer, executive producer and series creator, most notably having co-created and EP’d the CBS show “The King of Queens” from 1998 – 2007. Prior to that Weithorn created ...
Art and Vinnie have front row seats to the force of comedy nature, Judy Gold.
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Judy Gold has been a staple on the comedy scene for years and her stand-up specials have been featured on HBO, Comedy Central and LOGO. What year did LOGO come out of the closet?
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She has written and starred in two critically acclaimed, Off-Broadway hit shows: The Judy Show – My Life as a Sitcom and 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother...
Art and I first met Nancy Geller when we all worked together at Comedy Central. Art Bell had the original idea for a twenty-four-hour comedy network, and it was Nancy Geller who was a key figure in overseeing the slate of original comedy that defined and cemented Comedy Central's place in cable history and launched the careers of many seminal comedy figures that she continues to work with.
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Her shows at Comed...
Wayne Federman is a true renaissance man. He's a comedian, actor, producer and now the author of a terrific new book; "The History of Stand-Up: From Mark Twain to Dave Chappelle".
Wayne has performed stand up on just about every network and syndicated comedy show in the seventies and eighties including Comedy Central’s A-List and Two Drink Minimum.
He made his Tonight Show debut in 1994 and in 200...
Wayne Federman is a true renaissance man. He's a comedian, actor, producer and now the author of a terrific new book; "The History of Stand-Up: From Mark Twain to Dave Chappelle".
Wayne has performed stand up on just about every network and syndicated comedy show in the seventies and eighties including Comedy Central’s A-List and Two Drink Minimum.
He made his Tonight Show debut in 1994 and in 200...
Kevin Murphy was a writer and performer on the legendary comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000 which was the Comedy Channel's break out hit when we launched the network in 1989.
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In addition to writing for the show he was the voice of Tom Servo for most of the show's ten seasons on both Comedy Central and the Sci Fi Channel as well as the aptly titled feature film Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie.
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Art Bell and Vinnie Favale discuss the early days of the Comedy Channel with fellow Comedy Channel executive Gail Berman.
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Gail Berman is recognized as one of the most prolific content creators in the entertainment business, having launched award-winning properties for television, film, digital and the Broadway stage.
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Berman is the Chairman and CEO of The Jackal Group, a production studio creating scripted a...
Art Bell and Vinnie Favale discuss the early days of the Comedy Central and part one of our interveiw with fellow Comedy Central executive Mitch Semel.
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Mitch Semel has worked with TV legends and amongst us networks executives, he is a true legend himself. He started his TV career working for Brandon Tartikoff during NBC’s “MUST SEE TV” era, overseeing classic sitcoms like CHEERS, GOLDEN GIRLS, BOB HOPE SPECIA...
Art Bell and Vinnie Favale discuss the early days of the Comedy Central and part two of our interveiw with fellow Comedy Central executive Mitch Semel.
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Mitch Semel has worked with TV legends and amongst us networks executives, he is a true legend himself. He started his TV career working for Brandon Tartikoff during NBC’s “MUST SEE TV” era, overseeing classic sitcoms like CHEERS, GOLDEN GIRLS, BOB HOPE SPECIA...
Art Bell and Vinnie Favale discuss their roles in the origins of Comedy Central, Art's new book "Constant Comedy: How I Started Comedy Central And Lost My Sense Of Humor and interview Laure Zaks, President of Television at Mandeville Films.
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Laurie Zaks currently serves as President of Mandeville Television. In 2013, Zaks joined Mandeville Films to spearhead their television division. In her position, she over...
Art Bell and Vinnie Favale discuss the early days of the Comedy Channel and interveiw writer/producer Scott Carter about develooping and launching "Night After Night with Alan Havey" and "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher" for the Comedy Channel and Comedy Central.
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Scott Carter has been Executive Producer/Writer for “Real Time with Bill Maher” since it debuted on HBO in 2003. He produced the first 1,100 e...
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