Comedians Name The Most Influential Radio Shows

Who's On The List?

In an article for THEINTERROBANG.COM, Comedian and former radio host CHAD ZUMOCK lists who he feels are the most influential radio hosts when it comes to the careers of comedians.

He writes, "After a very memorable on air chat between GREGG 'OPIE' HUGHES and his former longtime partner, ANTHONY CUMIA last week for the first time in two years, I began thinking about how radio has been so important to so many comedians through out history. The very brief OPIE AND ANTHONY reunion was a nostalgic trip and reminder of what once was one of the top 5 successful radio shows ever in the history of radio. That show alone made me familiar with some of the greatest comedians working today. The OPIE AND ANTHONY SHOW introduced me to JIM NORTON, RICH VOS, BILL BURR, the late, great PATRICE O’NEAL and I heard about LOUIS C.K. not from the legendary 'Pootie Tang,' but from the OPIE AND ANTHONY SHOW.

"They weren’t the only show to change the careers of comedians. I pretty much started stand-up comedy because I loved ARTIE LANGE so much on the HOWARD STERN SHOW. I identified with him being a lovable loser and the fact he embraced being a screw-up made me want to pursue radio and stand-up comedy even more.

"The marriage between radio and comedians goes way back to the 20s. In the early days of radio, comedians like vaudevillians EDDIE CANTOR and ED WYNN did classic bits and over the years and decades since comedy and comedians in radio would continue to grow and evolve."

Read the rest of the article, and find out who he thinks are radio's most influential hosts for comedy here.

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