First Draft Episode #224: Tim Baltz

Tim Baltz, comedian and actor, co-created, co-wrote, and starred in Shrink, and can now be seen on HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones. He has also appeared in Bajillion Dollar Propertie$, The Opposition with Jordan Klepper, and Drunk History.

Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode

• Tim’s dad was a professional actor and he toured in one production starring Bill Daly, an actor who was in Newhart and I Dream of Jeanie

• Other early comedy influences for Tim were W.C. Fields, Fawlty Towers, and Monty Python’s Flying Circus

• The poet Robert Service

• The hubs of Chicago improv that Tim is familiar with: Improv Olympic, now known as iO, started by Del Close and Cherna Halpern; Second City, which featured some groundbreaking American comedians like the cast of Pinata Full of Bees, which was made up of Adam McKay (co-writer and director of Anchorman and Talladega Nights, writer and director of The Big Short and Vice, creator of Succession, and much more) Rachel Dratch (comedian and actress from Saturday Night Live, Sisters, and Wanda Jo from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver), John Glaser (comedian and actor from Parks and Recreation and Inside Amy Schumer), Scott Adsit (comedian known for 30 Rock, Veep, and The Goldbergs), Jenna Jolovitz (comedian known for MadTV and Greetings from Tucson) as well as Tina Fey, Steve Carrell, Stephen Colbert, Amy Sedaris; and The Annoyance theater, founded by Mick Napier 

• “Breakups” was a web series created by Ted Tremper, who went on to co-create Shrink with Tim

• Sue Gillan, (actress from Shrink) and Claudia Wallace (actress from Shrink, Fred Claus, and The Oath)

• The Sopranos (TV Show)

• Seinfeld (TV Show)

• Michael Scott (portrayed by Steve Carrell) from the television show The Office

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