Fake Radio

Emmy winner Ray Romano joins David Koff & Dan Kinsella on stage

David, on stage with 4-time Emmy winner, John Larroquette in "The War of the Worlds"

Cast member Scott Hennelly, delighting Emmy-winner Fred Willard on stage in LA

7-time Emmy nominated actor Jeff Garlin in "Christmas in July"

George Wendt joins the cast for "The Phantom of the Opera"

Phil Proctor from "The Firesign Theater" with cast member Julie Millett

Kevin McDonald from "The Kids in the Hall" joins the cast in Portland, Oregon

Backstage fun with Mark McKinney from "The Kids in the Hall" and "Superstore"

Now that's an INTERESTING idea...

My friend Robin Jones started Fake Radio back in the late 1990's. Back then, it was meant less for audiences and more for bringing Robin's friends and family together to do something fun: impromptu readings of old-time-radio scripts. Robin found a bunch of old scripts — commercials and all — and handed them out to his comedian friends. Then, without rehearsing, they read them on the spot, often improvising to have a little bit of fun.

When I joined the cast in around 1998, my first performance with the troupe was for Lux Radio Theater's version of "It's A Wonderful Life" at the now defunct Fake Gallery on Melrose & Heliotrope in Los Angeles. There were about 30 people in the audience that night; half of those were the cast. It didn't matter. All of these amazingly talented comics, improvisors, actors and voice artists just showed up, got a script handed to them and then.... hit the stage. It was unpredictable, went completely against every piece of theater training I'd ever learned and... absolutely one of the greatest live shows in which I'd ever had the pleasure to perform. I was hooked and Robin invited me back for more.

When Robin left Los Angeles, I took over as Artistic Director in 2001 and revamped the amazing cast, rounding it out with friends I met from my Improv work at The Empty Stage with Stan Wells. I also started to brining the show to bigger venues to reach larger audiences. To do that, I had to entice them with more well-known guest stars. I've had the incredible pleasure to share the Fake Radio stage with many of my comedy and acting heroes including three Emmy Award winners, three cast members from the legendary sketch comedy troupe "The Kids in the Hall", two cast members from "Saturday Night Live" and two original cast members from the show "MadTV".

Two things that haven't changed from Robin's time: no rehearsing in advance (except for a one-hour sound check just prior to curtain) and continuing to delight audiences with our weaving of improvisation into classic old-time-radio scripts. Today, nearly 20 years later, Fake Radio is still delighting both the press and audiences of all ages. Check out Fake Radio online to learn more and then come see us live when we perform one of our signature shows along the West Coast of the US!

Page 1 of the original Lux Radio Theater's 1947 transcript of "It's a Wonderful Life"