The Commercial Break · Comedy Podcast | Commercial Break LLC

TCB Infomercial: Billy Gardell

·48 min·3 clips

Billy Gardell says he was a “walk in time bomb” with sleep apnea, asthma, and type 2 diabetes.

1. The Commercial Break talks with Billy Gardell about Mike and Molly, Bob Hearts Abishola, stand-up, weight loss, and The Vortex. 2. Billy Gardell appears as a longtime comedian, the star of Mike and Molly and Bob Hearts Abishola, and a performer reintroducing himself after major health changes. 3. The episode asks how a comedian with two network sitcoms behind him rebuilds a career while changing his body, his act, and his public image. 4. Gardell says he started stand-up in 1987 and worked Orlando, Atlanta, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles before settling in Los Angeles around 1996. 5. He describes the old comedy path as moving from local gigs to pilot season, with 50 pilots once being ordered in a three-month stretch and only about five now. 6. He says Mike and Molly came after he was thinking about leaving Los Angeles and returning to Pittsburgh, with Randy Bauman from WDVE involved in the radio idea. 7. Gardell says the last audition of that pilot season was a “hail Mary” that became the CBS sitcom Mike and Molly. 8. He says Mike and Molly ran in syndication from 2016 to this year and drew roughly 11 to 13 million viewers a week. 9. He names Melissa McCarthy, Reno Wilson, Robin Reed, Lou Mastillo, Swoosie Kurtz, Katie Mixon, Chuck Lorre, Jimmy Burrows, and Peter Roth as part of that television team. 10. Gardell says he became recognizable after the first season, with people calling him “Mike” in public and later “Bob” after Bob Hearts Abishola. 11. He says he stopped stand-up for about three years, including during COVID, because he was heavy and dealing with medical issues. 12. He says he reached 379 pounds, had bariatric surgery, and hired nutritionist Terry Ublek to work on the mental side of eating. 13. He says he was smoking, had sleep apnea, asthma, and type 2 diabetes, and his resting heartbeat reached about 136. 14. Gardell says the reason to change was simple: he wanted to be alive for his wife and son. 15. He says losing 170 pounds changed his stage movement, his equilibrium, and even caused him to fall down twice after reaching his goal weight. 16. He says his new stand-up hour is about 45 minutes of new material and 15 minutes of “greatest hits,” organized like football quarters. 17. Gardell says the first quarter covers weight loss, the second covers marriage, the third covers his 22-year-old son, and the last section is about his father. 18. He says his father died of lung cancer and that writing about him became a source of healing, while his wife still jokes that he is a “hack ripoff” of his father. 19. The interview has a conversational, supportive tone, with long answers, personal examples, and direct back-and-forth from the hosts. 20. People who like sitcom history, stand-up craft, and recovery stories will get the most from it.

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from The Commercial Break