Dan Pasternack Reflects on His Interview With Milton Berle 30 Years Later

On this day, thirty years ago on June 11, 1996, the Archive of American Television recorded interview #3 with none less than Mr. Television himself, Milton Berle. The interview was arranged, researched, and conducted by Dan Pasternack. Dan had been approached by a writer, Richard Halke, who was helping to find participants for the fledgling archive, still at the time in a 'pilot project' phase. Dean Valentine, who helped to found the archive, knew that Berle (who was 88 at the time) had to be one of the very first interviews captured. Since Dan knew Milton, he was tasked with the ask. Milton agreed with an important caveat: that Dan had to conduct the interview himself. 

Dan had caught the comedy bug very early, and as a young boy sought out the elder comedians of the day and got them to sit for recorded interviews, many who would go on to become his friends and mentors. Dan continued to have a profound influence on the collection, going on to suggest and/or conduct many more of the Archive's interviews in his singular style, with some of the biggest names in comedy: Sid Caesar, Billy Crystal, Bob Newhart, Robert Smigel, Jonathan Winters, Alan Zweibel, among many others. Dan recollected his interview with Whoopi Goldberg in a piece he penned here, a few years ago, so we thought it was time to check back on another interview milestone.

Watch Dan reminisce about his interview with "Uncle Miltie" below. Of course, all of these interviews are available to watch in full, on The Interviews website.

 - Jenni Matz, Director, The Interviews