Dan and Jay's Comedy Hour. The Podcast. · Jason Klamm

Episode 311 – New Silhouettes with Frank Conniff

·59 min·3 clips

Frank says The Time Tumblers is about stopping Ronald Reagan by assassinating Fred McMurray.

1. Dan and Jay welcome Frank Conniff to Dan and Jay's Comedy Hour and frame the episode around his book, his audio releases, and the show's time-travel jokes. 2. Frank Conniff is the guest and TV's Frank, which matters because he connects Mystery Science Theater 3000, writing, acting, and audio work. 3. The episode asks what The Time Tumblers is really about and how Frank turned comedy writing into books, audio books, and songs. 4. Frank says the promoted release is a new audio version of 25 Mystery Science Theater Films That Changed My Life in No Way Whatsoever, available through dumb-industries.com. 5. He adds that The Time Tumblers also has autographed hard copies, an audio version, and an ebook with Wikipedia links for obscure show-business references. 6. Frank explains that a portion of the ebook proceeds goes to Wikipedia, which makes the format part sales pitch and part archival joke. 7. The hosts press him for the premise of The Time Tumblers, and Frank says it is narrated by a watcher from an alien race that can observe all of history. 8. He says that narrator wants to change history without doing something obvious like killing baby Hitler, because that would attract supervisors. 9. Frank's workaround is to stop Ronald Reagan by interrupting Fred McMurray's career path in the early 1960s. 10. He extends the plot to Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival, the Hollywood Squares, and a final section built around Jack Webb. 11. The conversation stays playful because the hosts treat the premise like a chain of increasingly absurd historical substitutions. 12. Frank also jokes that the show's long-running time-travel material makes his book sound familiar even though he does not think actual time travel exists. 13. He names Lizzie Borden, H. H. Holmes, Lee Harvey Oswald, and D. B. Cooper as past guests in the show's universe. 14. The discussion turns to Frank's New York City background, and he says he was born and raised there. 15. He names Jack Dempsey, Jimmy Cannon, Jackie Gleason, Phil Silvers, and Ed Sullivan as people connected to his family life or near-misses. 16. Frank tells a story about missing Ed Sullivan at the Dean Rusk Institute when he visited Frank's father. 17. The tone stays loose and conversational, with the hosts interrupting, joking, and letting celebrity references stack up quickly. 18. Frank keeps the delivery self-deprecating, especially when he describes acting as something he mostly got through writing his own material. 19. People who like Mystery Science Theater 3000, comedy writing, and old show-business stories would get the most from this episode. 20. People wanting a tightly structured interview or a single-topic discussion may skip it. 21. Frank says his acting came mainly from writing things and getting cast in them, including Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. 22. He describes one Sabrina the Teenage Witch part as a Rudy Gazzuti grown-up baby, which shows how specific and odd the casting could be. 23. Frank says his comedy career has often depended on DIY projects, including a sketch show podcast with David Feldman and live work with Trace. 24. He contrasts that with the shrinking world of sitcom writing in Los Angeles, where many of his peers are struggling. 25. The hosts and Frank then pivot to audio-book craft, with Frank admitting that reading his own book aloud was harder than writing it. 26. He says teleprompter readers like John Fugelsang make it look easy, while he needs edits and retakes. 27. Frank also says he prefers reading books because audio books let his mind wander, while walking and driving are better uses for audio. 28. He notes that he does not currently drive, has to jump through hoops to regain a license, and mostly gets around by walking and Uber. 29. The discussion ends with Minneapolis and airport talk, including LAX, Burbank, Detroit, Boise, and the Minneapolis lakes. 30. The episode feels like a mid-interview hangout more than a formal Q&A, with celebrity stories, book promotion, and digressions carrying most of the runtime.

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