Robert Illes, author of Funny is Money
Original Airdates: Mar. 20-23, 2026
TVC 729.1: Ed welcomes two-time Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Robert Illes (The Carol Burnett Show, Sanford and Son, Fernwood Tonight, Lily, Silver Spoons, Sister, Sister). Bob’s memoir, Funny is Money, is a humorous, irreverent, deeply personal, and often moving look at his forty-two-year career writing and producing comedy for network television—a career that not only included such meteoric highs as winning those two Emmys in a span of four years, but which often had moments that left Bob wondering how to find his piece of ground in an industry that always seemed to be shifting. Funny is Money is available in hardcover, paperback, and as a eBook through Bear Manor Media and Amazon.com. Topics this segment include how Bob broke into TV writing (along with his longtime writing partner, James Stein) by working with George Schlatter and Digby Wolfe on Sing America Beautiful, a star-studded variety special headlined by Tennessee Ernie Ford; how Bob and Stein began their comedy career in radio, hosting a popular weekly show on KUSC-FM, the campus radio station for the University of Southern California; and why writing comedy for television is often a two-person job.
Robert Illes, Bill Cosby, and Stanley Ralph Ross
Original Airdates: Mar. 20-23, 2026
TVC 729.2: Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Robert Illes talks to Ed about how he and James Stein got their first big break in television when they wrote the weekly monologue for comedian Bill Cosby on The New Bill Cosby Show (CBS, 1972-1973); working with Tom and Dick Smothers on The Smothers Brothers Show (NBC, 1975) and with legendary comedy writer Pat McCormick on several TV shows; and how a funny moment with writer Stanley Ralph Ross when he and Bob worked together on The New Bill Cosby Show later became the inspiration for one of the Grandfather Stratton episodes of Silver Spoons (NBC, 1982-1987). Bob’s memoir, Funny is Money, is available in hardcover, paperback, and as a eBook through Bear Manor Media and Amazon.com.
