Judd Apatow

And I think I became obsessed with comedy in the way he was obsessed with jazz.

And I felt there was a connection because a lot of the comedians like Lenny Bruce started by performing in the jazz clubs.

And so it all felt very much part of the same world.

Yes, it's still there in Syosset on Long Island.

And it was run by this teacher, Jack DeMacy, who was very, very inspirational.

He was our Dead Poets Society guy.

And he basically pushed all of us to use the radio station to do whatever you wanted to do.

If you were into sports, use it to talk to professional athletes and learn how to report and do play-by-play.

If you're into music...

You know, a lot of people would go to concerts and write reviews and interview artists.

So my friend Josh Rosenthal, he would go interview people like REM in the early 80s.

And he said, oh, maybe you should try to interview comedians.

And so I created a show called Club Comedy, and I got a tape recorder, and I would go off and kind of trick comedians into doing interviews with me, which was easier.

I just wouldn't tell them it was a high school radio station, and I would just call a publicist and say, I work for WKWZ.

Does Mr. Leno have any time while he's doing rascals in New Jersey to speak with me?

And I would show up with some huge tape recorder from, you know, the –

the school and the AV squad and they would all tolerate me.

Well, there were people I couldn't get to.

I couldn't get to Dangerfield.

I couldn't figure out how to get to Andy Kaufman, who was down south wrestling at the time.