The Pickle Brothers were a three-man comedy act which enjoyed considerable success during the late 1960s. Their madcap style, characterized by fast patter and constant motion, encompassed sketch comedy, spoofs of then-current television shows and commercials, and social and political humor.
The Pickle Brothers were Ron Prince, Michael Mislove, and Peter Lee. They met and first performed together while theatre arts majors at Hofstra University, on Long Island, New York. They worked alongside Francis Ford Coppola, Lainie Kazan, and Madeline Kahn. Following college, they played extensively at clubs and coffeehouses in the New York City area, including Bud Friedman's Improvisation. They were soon placed under contract by Fred Weintraub, owner of The Bitter End. [1] They performed in concert at many colleges as well as at major clubs including The Cellar Door in Washington, D.C., and The Troubador in Los Angeles.
Beginning in 1965, they were the house act at The Bitter End in New York City's Greenwich Village, appearing on the same bill with such performers as Van Morrison, Richie Havens, and the Chapins. They were the opening act on three tours with The Beach Boys. They appeared on such major network TV shows as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and The Ed Sullivan Show . By 1967, plans were in the works for them to star in their own TV series, and a half-hour color television sitcom pilot was produced. The pilot was written by Gerald Gardner and Dee Caruso of The Monkees TV series, and directed by William Friedkin, later known for The French Connection and The Exorcist . [2] The group disbanded in 1968, primarily over creative differences. Each former member continues to pursue creative and artistic interests.
Hal Linden is an American stage and screen actor, television director and musician.
Frederic Charles Willard was an American actor and comedian. He was best known for his work with Christopher Guest in This Is Spinal Tap (1984), Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), For Your Consideration (2006), and Mascots (2016), and for playing Ed Harken in the Anchorman films. He also appeared in films like Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), American Wedding (2003) and WALL-E (2008). He received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for playing Frank Dunphy on the sitcom Modern Family.
William David Friedkin was an American film, television and opera director, producer, and screenwriter who was closely identified with the "New Hollywood" movement of the 1970s. Beginning his career in documentaries in the early 1960s, he is best known for his crime thriller film The French Connection (1971), which won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and the horror film The Exorcist (1973), which earned him another Academy Award nomination for Best Director.
Andrew Dice Clay is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He rose to prominence in the late 1980s with a brash, deliberately offensive persona known as "The Diceman". In 1990, he became the first stand-up comedian to sell out Madison Square Garden for two consecutive nights. That same year, he played the lead role in the comedy-mystery film The Adventures of Ford Fairlane.
Kung Fu is an American action-adventure martial arts Western drama television series starring David Carradine. The series follows the adventures of Kwai Chang Caine, a Shaolin monk who travels through the American Old West, armed only with his spiritual training and his skill in martial arts, as he seeks Danny Caine, his half-brother.
Thomas Lee Kirk was an American actor, best known for his performances in films made by Walt Disney Studios such as Old Yeller, The Shaggy Dog, Swiss Family Robinson, The Absent-Minded Professor, and The Misadventures of Merlin Jones, as well as the beach-party films of the mid-1960s. He frequently appeared as a love interest for Annette Funicello or as part of a family with Kevin Corcoran as his younger brother and Fred MacMurray as his father.
Cynthia Jane Williams was an American actress and producer, known for her role as Shirley Feeney on the television sitcoms Happy Days (1975–1979), and Laverne & Shirley (1976–1982). She also appeared in American Graffiti (1973) and The Conversation (1974).
LaWanda Page was an American actress, comedian, and dancer whose career spanned six decades. Crowned "The Queen of Comedy" or "The Black Queen of Comedy", Page melded blue humor, signifyin', and observational comedy to jokes about sexuality, race relations, African-American culture, and religion. She released five solo albums, including the 1977 gold-selling Watch It, Sucker!. She also collaborated on two albums with comedy group Skillet, Leroy & Co. As an actress, Page is best known for portraying the Bible-toting and sharp-tongued "Aunt" Esther Anderson in the popular television sitcom Sanford and Son, which originally aired from 1972 until 1977. Page later reprised this role in the short-lived television shows Sanford Arms (1976–1977) and Sanford (1980–1981). She also co-starred in the 1979 short-lived series Detective School. Throughout her career, Page advocated for fair pay and equal opportunities for Black performers.
Vince Edwards was an American actor, director, and singer. He was best known for his TV role as Dr. Ben Casey and as Major Cliff Bricker in the 1968 war film The Devil's Brigade.
Stephanie Catherine Miller is an American political commentator, comedian, and host of The Stephanie Miller Show, a Progressive talk radio program produced in Los Angeles, California, by WYD Media Management and syndicated nationally by Westwood One. In 2017, Talkers Magazine ranked her the 23rd-most important radio talk show host in the U.S. Miller has leveraged her talk show via various platforms including online, as well as via her Sexy Liberal Tour live comedy show.
Sandy Helberg is a German-born American actor.
Shirley Ann Hemphill was an American stand-up comedian and actress.
Hootenanny was an American musical variety television show broadcast on ABC from April 1963 to September 1964. The program was hosted by Jack Linkletter. It primarily featured pop-oriented folk music acts, including The Journeymen, The Limeliters, the Chad Mitchell Trio, The New Christy Minstrels, The Brothers Four, Ian & Sylvia, The Big 3, Hoyt Axton, Judy Collins, Johnny Cash, The Carter Family, Flatt & Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys, The Tarriers, Bud & Travis, and the Smothers Brothers. Although both popular and influential, the program is primarily remembered today for the controversy created when the producers blacklisted certain folk music acts, which then led to a boycott by others.
The Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show featured many notable comedians and entertainers of the era as guest stars. Many of the scripts of the series are archived at the UCLA Library in their Special Collections.
Fred Robert Weintraub was an American film and television producer and writer.
Robert Illes is an American award-winning screenwriter, television producer, playwright and author.
Sandeep Parikh is an American writer, director, actor and producer of comedy. He is best known for his co-starring role as Zaboo on the award-winning web series The Guild. He is the founder of Effin Funny Productions, a content company focusing on alternative stand-up comedy and the creation of original web series The Legend of Neil, available online.
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American actress and comedienne. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She earned many honors, including the Women in Film Crystal Award, an induction into the Television Hall of Fame, a Kennedy Center Honor, and the Governors Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Kathleen Cody, often credited as Kathy Cody, is an American actress. She is best known for her role as the characters Hallie Stokes and Carrie Stokes, on the television series Dark Shadows, appearing from June 1970 through April 1971. Her career in film and television lasted over 30 years.
Michael Herman Elias is an American writer, film director and producer.