Sunday Apr 11, 2021

When Bill Maher Wanted Me Fired From Comedy Central: Founder Art Bell

Creator of Comedy Central, author of the book Constant Comedy

My guest for Episode #57 is Art Bell, the creator of The Comedy Channel (which later became Comedy Central). He's also the author of the book Constant Comedy: How I Started Comedy Central and Lost My Sense of Humor, and co-host of the podcast “Constant Comedy.”

Today, we talk about Art's “favorite mistake” (it involves the comedian and talk show host Bill Maher) and topics and questions including:

The ad campaign for “Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher” and how that ended up leading to an award
Why it's bad to surprise the talent
Did Al Franken walk out on “State of the Union: Undressed” because he didn’t know it was going to be live??
Was that show a better fit, the next year, for Dennis Miller?
Having to often talk Nancy Grace into going on the air on Court TV
Is it risky to write a memoir like this? Did you need lawyers involved to make sure you weren’t making a mistake?
Jon Stewart – on “Short Attention Span Theater, was it a mistake to fire his co host Patty Rosborough without taking to him? – telling or asking? He was surprised…
Mistake for them to not make him the original host of The Daily Show?
Mistake for Michael Fuchs to say the programming quality was a 2 or 3 out of 10?
You decided quickly it was a mistake to say you were quitting?
New York mag called the channel “the biggest flop in years”
Making adjustments?? PIVOTED and made changes as quickly as we could
Getting fired from Comedy Central and lessons learned