David Pollock

In the half-hour solo portion of his interview, David Pollock talks about his early life and his father, who through a misunderstanding found himself on the Hollywood Blacklist. He describes early television he watched, and his years working on the radio as a writer and broadcaster. He concludes the solo portion of his interview by discussing his teaching career and the book he wrote, Bob and Ray, Keener Than Most Persons.

In the three-hour joint portion of their interview, David Pollock and Elias Davis detail how they met and began writing together, and discuss their collaborative process which has remained basically the same since they started. They talk about their early years writing comedy bits for KNX Los Angeles radio personalities, which led to their first television gig for The Joey Bishop Show. They speak of going to write for the syndicated, daytime Pat Boone Show, which became The Steve Allen Show the following season. They talk of becoming showrunners for The Steve Allen Show, and recall writing for other variety shows, including The Don Knotts Show, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, and The Carol Burnett Show. Davis and Pollock also discuss writing for several sitcoms, including The New Dick Van Dyke Show, All in the Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and finally M*A*S*H, where they worked on the last few seasons and helped write the finale "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen." They conclude by discussing their time as writers on Frasier and relating their favorite stories about each other. Stephen J. Abramson conducted the interview in a joint venture with the Writers Guild Foundation on January 14, 2015 in Los Angeles, CA.