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 success from a distance…so basically, we were Michael Collins [may he Rest In Peace] to her Neil Armstrong.
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She was a writer and producer on two of the greatest sitcoms of all time, Roseanne and Friends. She wrote the classic Friends episode "The One with the Baby on the Bus" that featured the now famous “Smelly Cat” song. She went on to write and produce a wide variety of sitcoms including Bob Newhart’s return to prime time with “George & Leo” and in 2003 Betsy co-created…with Will Smith and Jada Pinket… the long running sitcom “All Of Us”.
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She has a new book out called “Talking To Myself” which has an origin story that rivals Bruce Wayne’s Batman origins! Besty is also the writer of “Comic Lives” a book that came out in 1987 which is an incredible deep dive into the world of stand-up comedy. Betsy spoke to EVERYONE on the comedy scene from the 60s,70s and 80s and jam packed so much information and back stories making it a perfect time capsule of a seminal period in the history of stand up.
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