Constant Comedy With Art Bell & Vinnie Favale [Season 1]

By: Art Bell and Vinnie Favale
  • Summary

  • 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.
    © 2021
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Episodes
  • Episode #15 - "Speaking In Tongues With Betsy Borns P2"
    Jun 17 2021

    Art and Vinnie sit down for part two of our interview with Comedy Channel aliumni and famed sitcom writer Betsy Borns.

    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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    1 hr and 5 mins
  • Episode #14 - "Speaking In Tongues With Betsy Borns P1"
    Jun 17 2021

    Art and Vinnie sit down with Comedy Channel aliumni and famed sitcom writer Betsy Borns.

    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”.

    -

    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.

    -

    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”.

    -

    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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    1 hr and 33 mins
  • Episode #13 - "A Match Made In Comedy With Nick and Robin Bakay"
    Jun 10 2021

    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 comedy clips and old black and white comedy shorts. But Robin and her team (lled by Marc Chusid} delivered incredible, short bursts of comedy image pieces which made the newtwork look much cooler and funnier than it actually was.

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    At the same time, her furture husband Nick Bakay was an essential on air component of Comedy Channel's programming including writing for (and co-hosting) the "Alan Havey Show." Nick also dveloped and hosted "Sport's Montster."

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    Nick and Robin got married and left Comedy Central for much greener pastures, settling in LA where they continued to write and perform on "Sabrina The Teenage Witch" and "Mom" (among their many other credits.)

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    1 hr and 14 mins

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