Hosted by Fritz Coleman, with Louise Palanker, James Arnold Taylor and Rob Izenberg. Featuring Lisa Kushell Arch, Russell Arch, Helen Bartolotti, Dominic Ga...
Some time during the 90s, my Premiere Radio cohorts and I began workshopping a comedy talk show. I do not recall the exact idea evolution but the fully formed concept was called The Couch and it involved a panel of three comedians helping two people solve a dispute. (We were hotter than Hot Bench, prior to Hot Bench.)
Our host was Fritz Coleman and we rehearsed this concept once a week at my home over the course of a year, honing it to a shiny brilliance that charmed and captivated. On The Couch with me were Alan Wenkus, Larry Morgan, Rob Izenberg and James Arnold Taylor, ultimately whittled down to Rob, James and me, with Fritz as host. We took this idea to my friend and mentor Henry Winkler. He loved it. We shot a pilot at NBC and we shopped it around town for two years!
At long last Comedy Central commissioned its own pilot. By this I mean, they loved the concept and hated us. We were all recast with Doug Stanhope, Mario Joyner, Sue Murphy and Kathleen Madigan. All wonderful comedians but remember the part about how we had rehearsed this weekly for over a year? Additionally, Comedy Central opted to have the couch solve two disputes per half hour rather than fully delving into one and offering substantive solutions.
And so, before our very two-way mirror hidden eyes, the finished pilot succumbed to scathing focus group scrutiny in which the volunteers enjoyed donuts and complained about the lack of warmth, care and advice provided by the comics who were going mostly for laughs, (as was their nature and training, to be fair.)
And then, the following day, the guy who had green lit our pilot left Comedy Central. Our show was not picked up and some very wise and funny friends on a couch advised me to move on. I’m not sure who beyond that lucky focus group saw the Comedy Central version of The Couch but here is our original, old school, authentic pilot, filmed on the KNBC newsroom set, in between the 6pm and 11pm news, edited by Jame Arnold Taylor and featuring a cast that includes… Russ and Lisa Arch, Amy Palanker, Dominic Garcia, Helen Ledesma Bartolotti, Melinda Ruben Liberatore, Tim Pilcher, James Ledesma, Marty Belafsky, Will Kohlschreiber, Eric Caver, Michael Ambers and Abe Smith, with a theme song by Rob Izenberg, and produced by Paul Block and Henry Winkler.
