#233 Laughing with Courtney Cronin Dold: Comedy, Music, and More

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Jeff Dwoskin 0:28

All right, Beth, thank you so much for that amazing introduction. You get the show going each and every week and this week was no exception. Welcome, everybody to Episode 233 of classic conversations as always, I am your host Jeff Dwoskin. Great to have you back for what's sure to be a hilariously rockin classic conversation for the ages. My guest today is Courtney Brown in Dold comedy writer, television producer development consultant stand up comic What doesn't she do? I know she's written for Wayne Brady J. Moore all the stars that's coming up in just a few seconds. But in these few seconds so that may Harken upon episode 232. Jim Heir was here, Jerry Larry Gary Terry. From Parks and Recreation. We talk all about that show his career re conversation. So fun. You know what else is fun? My conversation with Courtney? We reminisce on the Detroit comedy festival that we were both at when he goes deep and share some personal stories from the Wayne Brady show. She talks about punchlines and backlines that's the work she does with Rockstar musicians to get them on stage to perform their first ever stand up comedy set. We share our love of the monkeys Courtney introduced me to John billings, the bass player of the monkeys from our previous episode. Thank you, Courtney. We talk her love of Kiss. We talk a little how sparks there's so much so much bundled into this conversation. Enjoy. All right, everyone. I'm excited to introduce you to my next Yes, originally hailing from Boston, comedy writer, television producer development consultant stand up comic. Welcome to the show. Courtney Cronin, Donald, what's up?

Courtney Cronin Dold 2:18

Thank you, Jeff. Good morning. It's morning. For me. It's always morning for a comic. I think. It's like at night. When it's laid out. It's more.

Jeff Dwoskin 2:28

So you've done so much for me. But let's let's dive into our The one interesting connection that we have the Detroit Comedy Festival 2000s Yeah, we were both there. We did not meet we did not meet. We did not know each other. But we were both there.

Courtney Cronin Dold 2:44

Now. I was only in town for like, I think three days. And I didn't go to any of the other events because I didn't have a car. I don't remember seeing any other the shows. Maybe there was one before ours. But you know, when you're so nervous, you're not. You can't even like take any of it in because you're just your sets just going through your head. So I think that's probably what happened. Also, it's I mean, it was a long time ago at this point. So it was January 2007.

Jeff Dwoskin 3:08

It was a long time ago. The it was fine. Now. I think when you sent me a clip I didn't even inadvertently I just happened to say oh, here's one from me. And I think it was from that festival.

Courtney Cronin Dold 3:17

It was I watched it. I think it was a different venue. But I noticed I recognize the logo. That was remarkable. Oh, it was Yeah, I haven't been there. 15 years. I don't remember.

Jeff Dwoskin 3:27

Oh, good. That was fine. You know, it was funny because they made a movie on it. There's a Detroit International Comedy Festival movie. Ryan Hamilton was like one of the big headliners.

Courtney Cronin Dold 3:39

Oh, I love Ryan. I did his first Comedy Festival with him in Salt Lake City when he was like brand spankin new. And my friends that I did the festival with have gone on to great things. One of them was Matt Iseman who's the host of American Ninja Warrior we were we did that together with two other comedians Michael Batson PJ Walsh. And Ryan was like our favorite

Jeff Dwoskin 4:00

Ryan Hamilton is hilarious. I worked with him I think twice I worked with him twice funny Ryan Ryan Hamilton stories he had this amazing joke where he would do like that that new you know when you have like that big thing blow up thing outside the car,

Courtney Cronin Dold 4:12

the car dealership the car dealership thing guy? Yeah. Yes,

Jeff Dwoskin 4:17

imitation and it would bring the house down every time and so

Courtney Cronin Dold 4:21

pogo stick that's what I remember his pogo stick but

Jeff Dwoskin 4:25

the funniest thing is and this is like I think a comedian nightmare is he did the joke it killed and then he forgot that he did it did it again. And he looks at the audience. He goes why? Why that usually kills and goes like you already did it.

Courtney Cronin Dold 4:40

That's when you know you got to take a little break a break. It was too many shows.

Jeff Dwoskin 4:44

It was funny. So I ended up in the movie, the International Comedy well, because I can't remember who it was. It was the guy from it was the FBI agent from the sopranos was supposed to MC one of the nights. He was supposed to be like the guest MC Al. And he didn't show up. And I happen to they picked me to be the emcee that night, and then his place. And so the person that I happened to bring up was in the movie. And so I have a speaking part, quote, unquote, in this movie. And so that's how I ended up on IMDb originally with my first movie credit.

Courtney Cronin Dold 5:18

All right. Wow, that's awesome. You're doing stand up in it. So that's cool.

Jeff Dwoskin 5:22

How did you start in comedy is that where all the other amazing things that you do route from stand up comedy?

Courtney Cronin Dold 5:29

Yes, the routes or stand up comedy. I mean, I was like a theater geek. And I went to theater school in Boston. And a lot of the people I graduated with have gone off to be actors and directors. And it's funny, like the one person I'm still good friends with and kind of, you know, bonded with is also a writer. But I started as a stand up, and I just always wanted to do it. And I had this weird, crazy thing happened to me where I'm like, Oh, my God, life is short. I got to do this. So at 22, I just started writing, and just forced myself to get up. And then I took a class just one day, because I did this open mic and this comedian that since passed, David Fitzgerald, he had a class and he's like, you can audit my class, you can like take it for free. I'll help you like, build some more material. So I went and I just took the class the one time, but it ended up getting me a lot of stage time. And I also made a friend in the class Dave Ratigan, who I'm still friends with just did the Hampton Beach Comedy Festival with him. So that's your comic for 27 years? Oh, I just gave my age away. Oops, I meant I started at 14. That's what I meant.

Jeff Dwoskin 6:36

Oops. You know, it's interesting in doing my research on you, I realize we each have a crazy college roommate story. I'm the guy that if someone's like, oh, I had the craziest roommate in college, I go, I Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna win this contest. So you go first, because I never lose. But it seems like you have probably one that is of equal.

Courtney Cronin Dold 6:58

Totally insane. And now that he's dead, I'm not afraid to tell people who he is. Because I was always afraid. I used to have to have like a buzzer on me that would like reach the police immediately when I was back in Boston. And I was always afraid he was going to show up at a gig, you know, because I'd already left school at that point, moved back to California. Yeah, he was insane. Like, completely insane. Like would show up at like council meetings in Rhode Island and Providence where he ended up moving, screaming and yelling about Jesus wants this and doesn't want that. And we get thrown out. I mean, carried out by multiple police officers, he was so violent. And then he ended a heart attack while he was driving. Thankfully, he's the only one that died because that would be really awful if anybody went with him. But he made a few appearances on local television. And in one of them, he start singing the song that he wrote about Jesus. Now, Jesus is good with me. But like, it was a little over the top and just a little crazy. Like, the lady was trying to get him to stop. But he kept singing. So if anybody wants to look that up, look up the guy who ran for mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, and kept getting arrested all the time. And on the morning show. His name was Chris Christopher Young.

Jeff Dwoskin 8:08

It's so weird. So my guy's name is Christopher also, no way. Yeah. And Christopher Christ, what's going on here. He also is dead. He, I'm living with this guy. And he's just he's not riot he would put on these weird shows. And he would kind of show about, I would guess you would call it now alpha maleness to his girlfriend who was Jewish, but he's not Jewish, and apparently didn't even like Jews. So put a pin in that one for a second. But eventually how this story ends is he went to Wisconsin where she was shot her she lived. And then they found him dead. He killed himself in a hotel or motel that that was like my second story. The first story is I left my key once in the mailbox and my roommate or may suitemate stole all my CDs, which is weird. This is late 90s I had 50 CDs. That was a big

Courtney Cronin Dold 9:00

deal at the time. Yeah, for sure. There was good tunes back then.

Jeff Dwoskin 9:04

Well, I just I just mean like, I didn't spend my money on drugs. I bought CDs. This is where you'd walk into a store and there'd be like, maybe 30 CDs you could buy. No, I did the same. And so that was that would have been my crazy story. But this one trumps it. That's, that's weird. I'll give it to you. But it says

Courtney Cronin Dold 9:21

yeah, murder. Trump's perv. I think murder Trump's perv curves pretty bad. But murder is

Jeff Dwoskin 9:27

why you didn't thankfully didn't kill her. It's like it was only recently somebody said to me, like, Isn't it weird that you were living with someone literally capable of killing and I was like, Oh, I never it never even occurred to me. Just

Courtney Cronin Dold 9:40

it's terrifying. It's terrifying. You start stand up right after that too.

Jeff Dwoskin 9:44

I didn't but it was I didn't start till years later, but I didn't I didn't really know how my my story is I didn't really know how to and then got into the web development business actually did the website for Margaret Lee's comedy castle. Okay and of the pages was like we have Comedy Club classes, writing classes. And that's how I knew that existed. So that's sort of my story. Alright, so back to you. Sorry, back to me. You had this crazy story and this, this drove you into comedy.

Courtney Cronin Dold 10:12

It did. I went and I did material about it right away. And then I found that I was like, more comfortable with talking about things that were actually happening to me because I realized my material that was observational was so disconnected. So early on, I was like, I should probably be talking about personal things. And I kept getting like, pushed in that direction. But I was put into a pool of people that were so far ahead of me that I was scrambling and trying to get five years experience in one. And it was really, really hard. And it was scary. Because I did comedy in Boston for like a year. And then my family was in LA at the time we moved from Michigan when I was 11. And they spend half the year here and half the year in Massachusetts, my parents when I was a kid, obviously not half the year, just the summer, but I went and did the open mic at the Laugh Factory. And I got past that night because the owner loves Boston comics. And all his clients were Boston comics, it was weird. Some of them still do stand up. A couple of them don't. But I remember it was really weird. And like, I remember Bill Burr was all annoyed with me. It's like, what he's like you got past like he was like, not like in a mean way. But just like no one could believe it. I couldn't believe it. The next day, my boyfriend who was a comedy star comic broke up with me. Like, apparently all hell broke loose because I was way too green, which was true. And I'd never hosted before maybe three times in Boston, like doing like not road shows, but like, out of the city shows because there's so much comedy there. So like hosting and like, what's it called, I don't even remember the town anywhere such and such in New Hampshire. And so and so Maine, were only the people in that town would come to the show, no one would drive from anywhere else be like in a community center or something. So I'd only done that kind of stuff. And here I am at this club and all these people I was so scared. They just threw me into hosting. I was hosting every week doing Sunday spots for like eight minutes and totally wasn't ready and just got thrown into the fire. So I was surrounded by all these established people who were had been doing it for a while. I'd say like the person who was kind of the newest was probably Dane Cook. i You should Tyler and they've already been doing it like three, four years. At that point. It was very hard. But I managed to live there for almost five years. I don't know how I did it. Because I literally got nothing. I was like the one client that got nothing. like nothing ever happened. It was weird. Nothing. Like I just was a regular and I did spots. And I did the road. And I just I guess I cut my teeth. And I guess that was a good thing because it pushed me I think I never really liked being on camera. I didn't like it. And I was afraid it which is weird because I was an actress. I was in theater, school and whatever. But it wasn't till I left that I realized because I went with a new manager and he's like, you're a writer. He's like, I don't know how you didn't see this, but you're a writer. So that's what you should be doing. And he was totally right.

Jeff Dwoskin 13:04

That's awesome. Yeah, I know. You said everyone was kind of punching above your

Courtney Cronin Dold 13:09

they were I was the lowest on the totem pole. It was it was so hard being in that talent pool. Was it all right, and hard?

Jeff Dwoskin 13:17

Well, right, as I was gonna ask was, it was a great though, in the sense that sometimes that's not bad, right? I mean, or sometimes that's something that is good, right? If you have if everyone's there, you rise to the talent that you're around? Do you feel like you accelerated and got better because you had to because you're around this insane amount of talent,

Courtney Cronin Dold 13:35

maybe. But every time I was on a showcase, it was very clear that I was the greenest, so I would never get anything. I mean, I remember I did a showcase with like, these New York comics flew in and these like, Chicago comics flew in. And we were all in the showcase together. And this guy says to me, so how do the development deals work out here? I'm like, Oh, I don't know. You can get like me. You know, you'll get a meeting and you go in and you know, they'll see you on the showcase. And, you know, maybe approach you and he goes, I got a development deal walking off stage. And I'm like, no, no, you did not. You did not get a deal. Walking off stage. Someone gave you a deal. I didn't believe that for a second. But he was like, no, no, I got one when I walked offstage. So he was expecting to get another one that night. And in my head, I'm like, that happens. But I he was lying. Now. I look back now and no, he was lying. But I did this whole showcase. And like three people in the showcase got the movie. I got nothing. We did the showcase for Friday night videos. Like five of the clients got it. I did it. And it was just like, What am I doing wrong? I'm doing something wrong. So I think it was because No, I think it was because you couldn't neatly wrap who I was on stage and put a bow on it. I wasn't the blank comedian. We didn't know her for doing this. It was just Courtney, the host who tells funny jokes. She tells jokes and she's nice to the audience and introduces people and I could never get out of that. I was always the emcee. And it was really hard to to break out, no one saw me as one of the comics. I hosted Barry Katz's showcase. I mean, think about that lineup, like Jay Mohr Joe Rogan, Paul about like it was the sickest line. Nothing. Nothing happened.

Jeff Dwoskin 15:14

Once you discovered that your path is writing, well, how did that up change your perspective and opportunities?

Courtney Cronin Dold 15:21

Well, I actually finally started making money doing it because you know, the road pays shit I get. It's funny, I make almost the same as I did 20 years ago. It's really weird. I think it was like the grinding and the road work and then pushing in the end. Like I remember this one guy worked for in LA he used to do these like three man shows. And everybody wanted to work for him because it was like one of the only gigs out here that actually paid. And it was like a 45 minute drive outside the city because nothing pays around here. I remember he'd be like, which Courtney Am I getting? Am I getting out of a writing job, Courtney, or am I getting just got off the road, Courtney? Because I only want to book you and it's just off the road coordinate. And I'm like, Okay. So I'm like, Alright, I guess I gotta find a way to do both. And I just started just really, really focusing on just trying to write jokes every time I was on the road, like, like, right before I got on stage, or I'd spend all the time in my hotel room and I'd want to have new material every single night I forced myself to do something new. And I used to do shows with Ralphie May and Ralphie really pushed me to write he's like, go around and start telling people you're a writer. Tell them you're a writer when we hang out at the Improv and we hang out everywhere. Tell him you're a writer, Tom, that's what you do. And then people will see you that way. And I was like, okay, so Rafi gets hired a Jay Mohr gets a sports show. Ralphie gets hired on it, because they were best friends. They're really good friends. And he gets hired as a writer. And he's like, telling me about the show and how they're looking for a showrunner. And I think I talked to Jay about it too, like at the Laugh Factory or something. And they're looking for a showrunner. So I go to the dog park with Ralph, his dog. And I run into KP Anderson, who's now like the producer of everything. And he and his wife are my friends. And I'm like, Hey, Jay Moore's looking for a showrunner. And he had just come off a Bill Maher show and was looking for work. And he called them up and he got the job. So rough, he's like, You need to call K p, and ask him to be the writers assistant. Because you hooked that up. And I went, Oh, I never really thought about that. And he goes, Yeah, call him and ask him to submit. So I submitted, I went up against like three other people and just writers assistant job. It's like doing scripts. And he's like, I want you to write while you're here. Basically, when you turn in the packets, at the end of the day, mine was always at the bottom. But I ended up working there for like a year and getting material on the show. And that's what gave me the confidence to like turn things in, and not be afraid to have someone read what I was writing.

Jeff Dwoskin 17:45

Sorry to interrupt, but we have to take a quick break. I do want to thank everyone for their support of the sponsors. When you support the sponsors, you're supporting us here at Classic conversations. And that's how we keep the lights on. And now back to my fabulous conversation with Courtney Cronin, Gould, and we're back.

Courtney Cronin Dold 18:04

But it's like the steps in this business that like people don't realize like how much of a grind there is. So in between my writing jobs, I'd be on the road trying to stay sharp. And then it just went from there. I went from that job to submitting to other shows I was another I did another writer's assistant job for Jeff Ross. Also, because Ralphie May, and I did a we did the roast of Carson Daly and I worked at MTV and worked for him. And then I got my first job where I was the actual writer, which was the Wayne Brady show. And it all really flowed. It's weird. Like, it all flowed really nicely. I went from like all these big shows to like this huge just drop. What happened? And then the hustle started all over again, I'm doing packet after packet after packet, even though I had these shows on my resume, and just I wanted it badly enough that I put the work in. And I think a lot of comics have trouble separating themselves from their material to the purse, because they always say how do you give away your material? Like, how do you do that? I'm like, I want my client to be happy. I want them to look good. I want to see them tell my joke and get a laugh that feels so good.

Jeff Dwoskin 19:12

I understand that feeling. I always tried to work because I did stand up comedy. And I was a leader at work. So I would present and I would you know I'd be funny, right? And so I would always try and give other people jokes. Like if somebody was going up later. And I'm guessing you're you're really really good at this because you do all the row shows. I'm good at kind of pulling together things that are happening in the moment and, and kind of calling them out on the spot. I would try and give people the work that they could never The problem is you can give people words, but if they don't have the confidence, confidence to deliver those words, you know, it never kind of comes out exactly how you'd want. So,

Courtney Cronin Dold 19:52

yeah, civilians doing comedy, it's hard. It's hard to sell them on how to tell the joke I always tell them get to the punch line is good. quickly as possible, because the setup is such a safe place to be. It's like you're standing on the cliff just jump off the cliff. Because I had a problem with that. In the beginning, I had these long setups and like people would tell me get to the joke, Courtney. And I'm like, Oh, yeah. All right. So now I tell other people that because it was the right advice. It's true.

Jeff Dwoskin 20:21

Yeah, no. 100% That was one of the downfalls of Twitter going from 140 to 280. People got a little more verbose. You had to really work hard to be punchy. It was like I

Courtney Cronin Dold 20:31

know. And you're the Twitter guy. You're the Twitter, Twitter master. You got like a lot of great stuff on Twitter. Minor, just retweets.

Jeff Dwoskin 20:42

So tell me more about working with Wayne Brady. And the and the Wayne Brady show. He's hilarious. I used to watch them all the time on Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Courtney Cronin Dold 20:50

Oh, my God, Wayne's amazing. What I loved about that show was I always love to write song parodies. I used to always change the words to things and I just really love that. And also, I have such a deep connection with music. I mean, I'm not a musician, but I'm like a music nerd. And so that was like my way to feel like, Oh, I'm in a band. I'm in the Wayne Brady band, because we did songs almost every day. We do on every Friday for sure. But Wayne is the nicest person truly, most people that are extremely talented are kind. It's the people that aren't or who are worried or insecure that are not I have found in working with certain big personalities. Wayne, I was super lucky to have as a boss. It was kind of a weird place to work. Unfortunately, there was like, there's always someone. Okay, let me explain it this way. And I don't mean for this to sound sexist, because this has happened with women too, with women doing this. But every time you get the writer job, there's always people on the staff doing something else, but want your job. And that was the first place I'd ever been where the guys that actually really wanted. My job actually went out of their way. Really hard to get. There were three writers they actually got one of them fired. And he's brilliant writer he like works for the Wayans brothers. Like he, he's great. Got him fired. And I don't really think it was his fault. Like it was a forgivable thing. It wasn't a big deal. But boy did they push to get rid of him and it worked. Then they pushed to get rid of the other writer, because there were just three of us. And that work too. So it was just me. And then they started pushing to get their stuff on the air. And I was told that I had to work with them, even though they were sabotaging things, putting typos in the prompter. This is the first time I've ever told this story in public, by the way, and kind of harassing me. Like they put a stink bomb in my office. One time they went into my purse, they wanted me to quit, they were trying to make me quit. They found a picture of me and my office where I was kind of making a funny face and made like 100 copies of it and pasted it all over the office. They wanted me to quit. So I had no idea how badly I was being harassed and that I could have actually done something about it. Because when I left the show, I went to the lawyer, you know, we have two lawyers on the show. And she goes, Why didn't you tell me this in the beginning, this is completely unacceptable. And so I went and I told I told Wayne, what was happening. And he goes, I don't want to do their stuff. He's like, I don't like it. And we'd already been canceled at that point. And he goes, I don't care. If you sit in your office and take a nap you will be here every day, until the end of this season. He's like a new me. We'll just write the stuff. So I work we work together. I'm like, That's it. I'm going overheads. I just went right to him. It was really crazy. So it definitely came back to bite one of them in the ass years later, because I was working with a whole bunch of people, a couple of them used to work for Wayne Brady on the first season. And they all knew the story from all of us hanging out. And one of the guys submitted and he's like Courtney had some weird thing with this guy, call her in have her tell you the story. So I'm like, Look, he goes this got this better be bad, because I gotta tell you this writing submissions good. But I don't want that kind of energy here. I don't want the energy of someone who wants to sabotage other people instead of just worrying about themselves and doing their job. So he didn't get hired. I always felt bad about that. But that's because you're a nice person. And it's I am a nice person. I bet they I mean it was bad. That's like

Jeff Dwoskin 24:22

a shared definition of karma right there. It's like, if you're horrible to people, eventually, it comes back.

Courtney Cronin Dold 24:30

Yeah, not just me. The other two guys too. They were terrible to the other two guys. They were awful to them.

Jeff Dwoskin 24:37

What was it that kind of made you blind to being able to see it while all this kind of torment was happening? Well, yeah. As you describe it, it's like it's got my blood boiling.

Courtney Cronin Dold 24:46

Well, it was like my first big job on my own that I got purely from my sample in my meetings. So I felt like I was really proud of it. And I've done a bunch of samples at that point and did and get the job, you know. So I think I just did everything I could to stay there. And I just kind of ignored him. The tough part was they were all friends from another show. So these two guys were buddies with my superiors, so I couldn't go to them. They all hung out on weekends. Like they were all best friends. So it was like, I couldn't even go to them. But working with Wayne, I don't know why I went to the negative part. But working with Wayne working with the band was so positive and so much fun. And actually, one of my superiors was awesome. She was actually really, really cool. And she wasn't really diggin what these guys were doing. She was not really digging it. But everybody knew they wanted me to quit, because they knew I wouldn't get fired because I work too hard.

Jeff Dwoskin 25:39

Well, good for you for staying strong. That's good. Because I can imagine how difficult that it's not. It's a nightmare to go somewhere on a daily basis and, and have to deal with much negative energy. It was

Courtney Cronin Dold 25:53

really a bummer. Because it was such a fun place to work. And most of the people there were awesome. You know, there's always a bad apple. And it's there's been a few shows I've been on when there's someone who wants your job and they are gunning for your job. And that happens a lot, especially on a big show. Especially on a big show.

Jeff Dwoskin 26:09

You were there a long time. I mean, you did over 100 episodes with Wayne. That's I mean, yeah, he is. So I always I remember watching like specifically like Whose Line Is It Anyway, just the flat out improv stuff. And it's like, it's incredible. Absolutely. Yeah.

Courtney Cronin Dold 26:24

Incredible. He's amazing. Like, I'd be struggling to find like a lyric. I'm like, what did we put here? Because the secret is you write the punch line first. And then you write the setup for Song parody. At least that's how we did it. And I would be like, I can't find this. And Wayne would just come in and go doo doo doo doo doo and then just it would come out and I'm like, god dammit, Wayne Brady. You're so brilliant Wayne Brady.

Jeff Dwoskin 26:46

Okay, so that, let's pivot away. I'm gonna, I'll pivot to another. No,

Courtney Cronin Dold 26:49

I'm so regretting telling that story. I'm telling all these crazy things, but it's like, there's this weird reality of that world. That's kind of evil.

Jeff Dwoskin 26:57

i That's the truth. You know, the stories that tell the truth. I mean, anyway, yeah. It was fun. We did a pirate. Yeah, anyone can. I don't know what that was? I'm sorry. Let's talk about let's

talk about Curb Your Enthusiasm. My three lines.

Courtney Cronin Dold 27:19

Let's talk about it.

Jeff Dwoskin 27:21

That's three more than a lot of people. Right. So it's still cool, though. I mean, it's still you got to be part of such a thing. I know. It was season one, episode six. You're Jeff Greene's assistant.

Courtney Cronin Dold 27:32

Yeah, I'm Jeff Garland's assistant. And Jeff was at the Laugh Factory at the time. So I used to see him. He was there every Friday night. And when I got the part, he was like recurring, recurring, he would just point me in the lobby and go, you're my new assistant, recurring. And I was never on the show again, because I didn't get to do anything funny. Right. I was just like, delivering a phone message. There was no reason for me to do anything funny. I tried like a couple takes, but the director was like, just do it normal. Because like I tried a couple of things where I like kind of came in the door. Kind of funny, I thought, but it didn't matter. Because whatever take they used of Jeff and Larry because it all went in real time. There was no stopping that talk they were having about the kid burning down the camp and whatever, right? They had to use the best take of that they weren't going to cut away to me. That's not the way they did it. So it was like they pick probably the most boring. It's still soaring take that I did. And then they never had me back. It's still cool, though. It was cool. It was fun. I got to sit next to Larry and makeup. He was brilliant. He was super nice. And I was really friendly with Jeff. So it was a huge bummer. I remember I was like, had one of my many 1000s of crazy day jobs. And I was working at an auto mechanic in Van Nuys driving from the South Bay an hour and a half every morning at 6am. It was just like, oh, and then I get my Kirby enthusiasm. I'm so excited. I'm not even going to tell you what I made. But I do get residuals. So sometimes like a whole $40 But you know what, that's great. That's awesome.

Jeff Dwoskin 29:05

I just watched the episode. So hopefully, and I said Jeff Green, but I think that's his character on the show.

Courtney Cronin Dold 29:09

That's the character. Yeah, I mean, Julia Louie Dreyfus was on that episode and Fidel, what's her name? Is it Fidella Kevin Pollock's wife. She was the one crying when the cat died. Like I'm sorry, the cat just died. I mean, so awkward. I didn't get to see any of them because I was only in that office. I didn't get to meet anybody else because it was just Larry and Jeff that were in the office

Jeff Dwoskin 29:31

sales super cool. So I know you mentioned music and music seems to be one of your big threads. So I know you. You seem really into kiss from what I can tell and the monkeys and I love. I love the monkeys to do it. I love them. I'm wearing my monkey shirt

Courtney Cronin Dold 29:48

for you. I know I saw I love it. I love that usually I have something monkeys on my desk but I right now I don't I just have a Bruce Kulick bobblehead from kiss bye Uh, yeah, since I was a little little kid, I loved the monkeys. And then when it came back on TV of course and MTV, I was like 1211 12. And oh my god, that was huge. I mean, I recorded every episode I used to go to conventions. I'd save all my babysitting money and spend it on monkey stuff. Like, I was a huge dork. I'd go to the conventions with like a monkeys t shirt and all these monkey buttons, such a nerd and then we get autographs from everybody and I was super super into it. That's what people knew me at school. They're like, yeah, Courtney's really into the monkey. It's

Jeff Dwoskin 30:31

my first concert without my parents. First with parents was Barry Manilow about without parents just me and friends was that 20th anniversary Monkees reunion tour at Pine pine up in Michigan,

Courtney Cronin Dold 30:45

at Pine knob. That's where I saw my very first concert. My first two concerts were at Pine knob. I saw the Beach Boys. And with my parents, of course, because I was really little. And then my second concert was also at Pine knob and it was the Go Go's, but the opening band was this band that no one knew yet from Australia called in excess.

Jeff Dwoskin 31:05

Oh, nice. And I'm like, these guys

Courtney Cronin Dold 31:07

are awesome. And I was like nine, maybe that's really your nine.

Jeff Dwoskin 31:12

The cool. I did the same thing. I taped all the monkeys from MTV and VHS tapes. And I was so into it. I interviewed I'm blanking on his name, but the guy who put that tour together,

Courtney Cronin Dold 31:25

Andy, know that well put the 20th anniversary tour together. And so I don't remember who that was. But the I mean, I was a little kid. I don't Yeah, I don't remember I've seen

Jeff Dwoskin 31:35

like this house. As with the monkeys. I am like Mike Nesmith coming to a magic bag theater in Michigan to do a solo show. And no one would go with me. And I'm at this thing and an event. And I hear Mama Mama Mama Mama mumble monkeys. Mike Nazareth and I go, What did you just say? He goes Mike Nesmith is coming and I can't get anyone to come with me. And I go, Oh my god is that I will go with you. And I didn't know who it was. But we were somewhere where everyone knew each other. So I knew.

Courtney Cronin Dold 32:08

So we ended up seeing that it wasn't your old roommate.

Jeff Dwoskin 32:11

At this point, it is long gone. But so we went saw that concert together. I went and saw the mike and Mickey show when the 50th anniversary came at the Fox Theater in Detroit. I got third row. And I brought my wife and my wife was like at the end of it. She was like to me it was like the greatest experience ever. And she's like you enjoyed that. I was writable I mean, like, oh my god, like with Mike Nesmith with the monkeys was a whole different experience than the years where it was just Peter making a Davey. And if the for them a tour together, that would have been

Courtney Cronin Dold 32:48

I saw it once. We saw it once at the universal amphitheater. They did a show together and went by myself.

Jeff Dwoskin 32:54

And that's friends if we live in

Courtney Cronin Dold 32:57

totally, I went by myself. And I was like, overwhelmed. And actually maybe I didn't go by myself. There's no way but I feel like I was there alone. Maybe it's because I was just so connected to the music and just like in this other world, but after that I couldn't get through a show with them every when they play Daydream believer or it's a little bit needs living. I mean, I start to cry. It's funny. My friend Josh Kagan, who's a writer, he like wrote rights to Kim Possible movies and for Disney, and he wrote the movie The Duff. Everybody really likes that movie. And band slam like those are his films. He does television. And so he is my friend from college that I've stayed friends with because we were both big monkey fans. And like comedy nerds like we were big comedy nerds. So there's a place called the paradise right by our school and Mike Nesmith was coming. And we're like, we got to go to Mike Nesmith. It was probably around the same time as you went. And we couldn't get in because we weren't 21 Uh huh. We were 19 and 20. And we couldn't get in. So forget what we went off and did probably went to a bar or something because they served everybody back then. Yeah, we couldn't get in. So that was a huge bummer. So when the anniversary came, we've been to a few anniversary shows together and his wife, Kayla, she's also a writer. She's really into it too. She's written a lot of books. We all went together. And the last show that Mike ever did, we were at at the Greek within the Greek was the first place I saw them went three nights in a row. I went to that first tour where they were with the grassroots and hurdles and all that that was just a little too much opener. Too many openers for me my mom loved it. She's like Herman's Hermits, but I'm like god I'm getting bored Paul Revere and the Raiders snooze fast like gets get the monkeys out here like why are all these other bands with them? I think they thought they needed to pack the show, you know like with all these other bands anyway, then I did the three nights in a row were Weird Al open for them. And that was like the greatest thing ever. So the last show I saw a mike Nesmith died two weeks later, he definitely wasn't all the way there he would walk offstage and like walk gone in the middle of a song. And it was just heartbreaking. And he he would start to cry. He started to cry. And then the whole place was crying. I mean, we just had tears like, it was just oh my god.

Jeff Dwoskin 35:13

Sorry to interrupt this monkey chat have to take a quick break. And we're back with a little more monkeys.

Courtney Cronin Dold 35:21

It's funny I've actually become really friendly with Marty Ross from the new monkeys through this podcast zilch which is the monkeys podcast because Ken Mills who runs it has also become a good friend of mine. So through him, I've met John billings, who's the bass player for Mickey and for the touring monkeys. And he and his wife are friends of mine. Now I perform at their wine bar a couple times a year and, and when he comes here, you know, I go to the show and get to see him and they're just super rad. It's weird. It's like a young person. I never would have thought ham. I'm hanging out with Marty Ross from the new monkeys and having dinner with the new bass player for them. I mean, I would have never thought that as a kid. I mean, I'm not like starstruck or whatever. Like they're great people and I like them for the people that they are, but I admire what they do so much. You know what they do is great, and they're really good at it. So

Jeff Dwoskin 36:07

it's amazing. David fish off is the name I couldn't think of Oh, David fish off. Yes, yes, yes, I met Mickey Dolan's at Motor City Comicon. I have a headquarters album that's signed by Mickey Dolan's and Mike Nesmith.

Courtney Cronin Dold 36:21

Oh wow,

Jeff Dwoskin 36:22

it would have also had Peter Tork but that year at the Motor City Comicon where he was at and we were on the way to and I had free tickets the same year that are the same time that also in attendance was Norman redus. At the height of the walking dead.

Courtney Cronin Dold 36:40

I only play The Walking Dead slot machine. I've never even seen the show but it's the best slot machine. Oh, really? Vegas.

Jeff Dwoskin 36:48

And Stan Lee Wow. It took us we bailed after being in the car tonight even get into the parking lot. It was for some hours that it took us and Nikki might do this is 25 minutes from my house. It was four plus. And finally we had to bail so and then Peter died. Not too long after that. And the only time I almost met, I met Mike Nesmith at the Motor City Comicon as well. I paid $200 To have him sign the thing. I consider myself like a fan. You know, I mean, I know what I know. And but when you're in line with people, like I'm ready to spend my $100 to get them to sign my album. And there's people with multiple multiple I know I mean, it's that level of fandom that some of these people put in is well beyond what I consider and I consider myself Oh, I love them. I love them, you know. So that's where I met Mike Nesmith and Davy Jones. I almost met I'm going back 25 plus years. At the Strand Theater in Pontiac, they used to do the real live Brady Bunch.

Courtney Cronin Dold 37:48

Oh my god, I used to love that. I used to go to that here. Right. Do you remember who was Carol? I don't. It's um, Ashley. So huge. Now she's an everything game show host. She's in movies. Oh, my God. Like,

Jeff Dwoskin 38:01

I will circle back to that. But I but they do. They did the Davy Jones episode. And Davy Jones played himself.

Courtney Cronin Dold 38:08

And oh, my God, I would have died. Did he think girl

Jeff Dwoskin 38:11

you must have and, and I for some reason something happened afterwards. And I didn't go meet him. And I regret that now. That was that. But yeah, the real live Brady Bunch was something that we used to do. My wife and I would go when we were first dating, because we couldn't afford it. So we actually ushered

Courtney Cronin Dold 38:28

Oh, that's fun. Jane Lynch was Carol Brady.

Jeff Dwoskin 38:32

Oh, really? I wouldn't I wonder if she was here though. What do you think?

Courtney Cronin Dold 38:36

Maybe I saw her here. And then Melanie Hutsul was just be on SNL and she was on a bunch show. She was Jan. And actually they thought the only person from the live show that was in the movie was Henriette. mentale. She played Alice. Okay. She was the only one from their live one that got in the movie, but Jane Lynch was Carol. So funny.

Jeff Dwoskin 38:57

I can picture that. I can't picture who it was. But it was her

Courtney Cronin Dold 39:01

I'm sure it was because this was so long ago. She wasn't famous yet. I that's what I knew her from.

Jeff Dwoskin 39:06

Oh, that would be amazing if I saw her. All right. Thank you did if I ever meet her, I will ask that.

Courtney Cronin Dold 39:13

That's the first thing I said. I met her once. And that's what first thing I said was I remember you from the real live Brady Bunch. And I'm like, That lady is hilarious. Like, I hope I see her in something else.

Jeff Dwoskin 39:24

That's incredible. You're like really into not only the Monkees, but you're into kiss. You do kiss cruises. I saw you did some stuff with House sparks on Twitter bots with him. He's been on the show.

Courtney Cronin Dold 39:34

Oh God. Love how how? He's a good talker. He's a good Twitter too. He loves the Twitter. Yeah. How's great. How's a huge kiss fan? He's bigger kiss fan than I am. He's a big kiss. They call him Oh, you know, I'm not gonna say it. There's a word one of the podcasts use for kiss fans that are really really into it and they get super serious how doesn't get super serious but we actually clashed in the middle of a roast where he was like calling out my kiss knowledge and I'm like Are you really doing that I'm like, I brought you into this world. I'm the one who brought you into the kids stuff like he was always like known as a kiss fan, but he hadn't done any of the, you know the events or anything yet. And I'm like, God, I have Hal sparks. He's like the biggest kiss fan ever. And he's such a great comic, and we did the Monsters of Rock crews together. And he came and did my show. I have a show called punch lines and back lines where rockstars do comedy for the first time I write it with them. And Don Jameson from that metal show is now a part of it and helps write me write with me and how also headlines it multiple times. He's been on the show, but he was also on the show when we were kind of like figuring it out and working it out in Hollywood at this place called the Grafton. It was actually right across the street from the Comedy Store in this little stage in the corner and we'd have all these musicians come in and do comedy and then play music at the end of the night. So we kind of cheated with how but he wanted to come in and sing a bunch of Kiss songs which he did was so fun. It was really fun.

Jeff Dwoskin 40:56

He doesn't Yeah, he does like nerd halen too, right?

Courtney Cronin Dold 40:59

Oh my god. Nerd halen is so good. Nerd halen is so good. They, we all did a show together. In July we did punch lines and backlines with nerd halen in Vegas accounts Vamped this, this music club there. And it was the first time they've done comedy. And we had Chris Cale from Five Finger Death Punch doing stand up was myself and my producing partner is the Presley, US radio personality and host he hustled all these Monsters of Rock events. He was he and I and Chris and then how headlining and then nerd halen for two hours of nerd Halen, and he does Sammy and David Lee Roth, which is hard. And how, oh my god and their guitar player I love they have their bass player kind of they have like kind of a revolving door there but Jeff pages is a drummer and then Caleb Rapoport is the guitar player. He plays just like Eddie Van Halen, it's insane. Like he blows everybody away. And he's wearing like knickers with like striped socks. And like, you know, they all look like Waldo. They're basically all Waldos from the hopper teacher video. Yeah, so it's brilliant. anybody listening? Go see nerd halen. Oh my gosh, if your Van Halen fan, even if you're not if they put on a fun show. It's hilarious. But also musically. Yeah. How's a very He's amazing. It just going off the top of his head. He and I are total opposites. Like, I have to write everything down. I have to write it out. I have timing and the words are very important. But how is like, What time am I going on eight. Oh, let me think it's 752. I better figure out my act. And then he just does it. And it's like, really annoying. But here's the funny house sparks story. We're on Monsters of Rock the cruise and it's he and I and Don Jameson and my producing partner Izzy Presley and we're doing my show punch lines and back lines. And we did two shows one with Kip winger, from winger who seriously killed it, I killed it. And Chad Stewart from faster pussycat he's the drummer and he was awesome too. He's done the show before in Hollywood. He's hilarious. It was kind of weird. It was like two in the afternoon. We had like this de show. It was like so it was like laid out inside the room, which you know, comedy, when it's laid out is weird. But everybody heard about the kip winger show it was packed for that. But this one was so packed with people spilling out. There was nowhere for us to stand like it was pretty crazy. So how and Don and I are just, you know, I just done my set Chad just to set in house going up next. Or John just came offstage. And he goes, my partner does these jokes. He's not a comic. He's a comedian and a host. But he takes risks on stage with things that we just wouldn't say, because there's certain things you just aren't supposed to say. But he says them. And he does this joke where he's like, I hate being a Lyft driver. There's things better than being a Lyft driver, like full blown AIDS. Okay, it's time for your next comic. And I'm like, it's time for your headliner. And without missing a beat Don Jameson and I, at the very same time when and now house barks and hell turns around and goes, am I going up to full blown eight? It's like, do I have to follow full blown AIDS? And we're like, yep, have fun, because you brought me up to something totally filthy. And I had to walk up after that. It was so funny at how just ran with it. And it was hysterical. I mean, we were on the floor.

Jeff Dwoskin 44:19

How's the kind of the I remember, like, the first time I talked to him, I didn't tell him I was gonna do this, but I introduced him as his character from Dude, Where's your car? Oh, Dude, Where's My Car? Yeah. And he just did an entire monologue as that character, like on the spot. And I was like, sometimes I tell people I was like, it was all just improvised. It was so incredible. I couldn't get over it. And I tell people that because I don't want them to think it was planned. I was like, this is really impressive. I just caught him off guard and he just did it. Like it was incredible.

Courtney Cronin Dold 44:50

How sparks upstaging everybody, even when he's not on the podcast. How sparks? No I love how he's a great guy. We just work together in Vegas. Yeah, we did the roast of Bruce Kulick from Kiss and Grand Funk Railroad. He's been in Grand Funk real or for like 20 years. We did a roast of him for years eve.

Jeff Dwoskin 45:09

I had Mark Farner I might show from Grand Funk. Oh, cool. Yeah, he's not with him. Now they Anyway, tell me about your corporate work. Like you're a stand up comedy coaching and, and all that is that a lot of what you focus on now or is just something that it's there when people need you are always and all that kind of stuff.

Courtney Cronin Dold 45:27

That's my passion. I mean, I like writing for comedians. I mean, most of the shows I've worked on have had comic talent, there's only like a few that were like, not comic talent. There's, like, you know, this, there's just you have to know how to speak comedian. You know, there's like a certain language and we're kind of like the mob like the mafia, like once you're in, you're in for life. And there's different levels. And the great thing about comedy is that there's no there's enough room in this business for everyone, because we all do different things. It just took me a really long time to find out what I really loved, which is writing for other comics and doing specialty shows, you know, like I do the wine shows and and do the Rock and Roll cruises and and do the, you know, the conventions. Like I love all that. But the private work I do is I worked with a show called pretty funny women. Lisa sevenstep just did a huge spread about her in the LA Times if anybody wants to look that up. She has been teaching a comedy class for years. And she would bring me in to like talk to the students about how to get a writing packet together. And you know how to get started as a, you know, doing TV writing, and I do unscripted TV writing, I do game shows, clip shows, hidden camera shows, green screen shows did I say game shows? Yeah, game shows whatever. I don't do sitcoms, or I've never done like a sitcom or any kind of like actual scripted show. It's just shows hosted by comics. Once I started doing that, she's like, why don't come and help me teach. So I'd come in and help her teach. And then I started getting clients from that she'd be too busy. And she'd like be like, can you take this person? Can you take that person? I'm like, yeah, so I'd start working God that was like calling about them. And I hadn't. So I like 12 years ago, I started doing this, maybe a little bit more. And then it started, I guess my name started getting passed around, I started getting calls from people like I got a call from a guy up in San Jose and I you know, I would get these random calls. I didn't even have a website or anything. And I'm like, Okay, this is working for me. So sometimes I'd have like three, four people in a day, and which was great. Any more than that, you kind of get fried. So I do that really like full time. And but right now I'm on a show. So I've had to put, I'm only taking like a couple of like my regular clients, because I just don't have the brainpower to take anybody else. So I've just told people, you know, I'm taking a break right now that I can't take anybody. I love it. I love like nurturing someone helping them whether at any level that they're at, they need corporate stuff, which is how I got the job on the show I'm on now because Michael eo is the host, and I write for his specialty corporate jobs. And I wrote for an award show for him. And so he tries to bring me in when he can and how I get these jobs with some of the bigger names is I walk up to them. And I say I get your voice. I understand your humor. I'd like to write for you. Can I submit some stuff to you? And if you want to use it, right, I'd love to work with you. And if you don't, no problem, give me a shot at nine times out of 10. They say okay, and that's how I started working with Don Jameson. That's how I started working with Michael. I just went up to them and said it. I've done that with a lot of people. I remember Nixon was one of the people that turned me down. He was like, You know what, he goes, it's good stuff. He goes, but I just want to write my own stuff, because he just gotten his comedy half hour and I wanted to write for it. And he's like, I just want to do my own stuff. He goes, you know, a couple writers came up to me and he's like, and it's nothing personal. Like he was really nice about it. But he was like, I just want to write my own stuff. How's like that? How won't use a writer ever. He doesn't need one, first of all, but I remember him telling me that he's like, I'm not going to do any of your jokes. And don't take it personally. I'm like, I'm not. I know how you flow. Don't worry about it. How no one could write that much in a lifetime for what you say in one set. So I don't want to write for you. It'd be exhausting.

Jeff Dwoskin 49:10

What show are you working on right now?

Courtney Cronin Dold 49:12

I'm working on like a comedy food travel show for a&e. And it's really fun and funny. And it's like a themed show about I don't know if I'm allowed to say the title or anything yet. But it comes out in June on a&e and it's hosted by Michael Yau. And it's a food and travel show and it's really good. It's a good show. I'm like, I feel really proud to be a part of it. And it's a great team, all veterans, it's all people who've been in the trenches. So everybody's really kind to each other. It's a nice group.

Jeff Dwoskin 49:40

That's awesome.

Courtney Cronin Dold 49:41

It's an awesome group.

Jeff Dwoskin 49:42

Very cool. Very cool. Well, thank you for spending all this time with me.

Courtney Cronin Dold 49:46

I know I guess we should we should call each other we need to talk on the phone. Jeff. We need to chat.

Jeff Dwoskin 49:52

Where can people keep up with you on social medias?

Courtney Cronin Dold 49:55

The social medias I'm better on Facebook and Instagram which is mostly my dog and food. I'm better at that than I am at the Twitter but I'll go on the Twitter for this because you're the Twitter man. So I will do it. But also go to my website, Courtney Cronin dole.com. And it has like what my services are because I like working privately with people because I actually care because I wish there was someone I always tell the feed, especially to female clients. I wish there was a me when I was you, someone who was just like, super straight, straightforward, and actually really helped me instead of like, just kind of spelling it out. People would kind of tell you what to do, but you still didn't get it. So you know, just really spelling it out. And that's what I do. Like, I want to help I care. Actually care. So that's

Jeff Dwoskin 50:41

awesome. Well, thank you very much.

Courtney Cronin Dold 50:43

Thank you. Thank you.

Jeff Dwoskin 50:45

All right. Give it up one more time for Cornette Cronin, gold. How fun was that conversation. So many great stories. I loved hanging out with Courtney bonding over the monkeys, I never pass up an opportunity to bond over the monkeys. Well, with the interview over there can only mean one thing I know another episode has come to an end. Can't believe it either. Another huge thank you to my guest, Courtney Cronin, Donald and of course, a huge thank you to all of you for coming back week after week. It means the world to me, and I'll see you next time.

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