Ep. 10 | Peter Tolan
Two-time Emmy Winning Writer/Director Peter Tolan (Rescue Me, Analyze This, Analyze That...) joins us on The Matthew Aaron Show LIVE this Thursday (6/16 evening starting at 8:30pm CT.
Peter will be with us to discuss his work on THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW, MURPHY BROWN, his Emmy wins, ANALYZE THIS, ANALYZE THAT and the final, upcoming season of RESCUE ME.
Oh yeah... and our favorite TV critic Bruce Fretts from TV Guide will be calling in to chat with Peter as well.
Show starts at 8:30pm CT (6:30pm PT / 9:30pm ET). Subscribe for free and download the show on APPLE PODCASTS. You can also listen on the go on your Android/iPhone/iPad device via SPOTIFY.
PETER TOLAN began his career writing for short-lived sitcoms Carol & Company and Wish You Were Here. After writing for and co-producing the first six episodes of Home Improvement he began writing for the hit series Murphy Brown, a three season tenure for which he would share an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series (1992, as co-producer). In 1992 Tolan began writing for the HBO program The Larry Sanders Show, for which he received, in his capacity as co-/executive producer, three CableACE Awards for Comedy Series and an Emmy for co-writing (with series lead Garry Shandling) the series finale "Flip".
After writing for several more programs (Ellen, Buddies, Good Advice), and creating the short-lived sitcoms Style & Substance and The George Wendt Show, Tolan co-created the ABC satiric comedy The Job with comedian Denis Leary, who would also star as an amoral and hedonistic NYPD detective. Though critically lauded, the series languished in the ratings and was canceled after two short seasons. Tolan went on to create the similarly short-lived sitcom Wednesday 9:30 (8:30 Central), a mid-season replacement about an idealistic television executive who joins a struggling network, that was canceled by ABC after only five episodes aired. In 2004, however, Tolan found success with the FX drama Rescue Me, again starring co-creator Denis Leary as New York City firefighter Tommy Gavin, who bears many similarities to Leary's character from The Job. The series has been well received by both critics and audiences, garnering Emmy nominations for Tolan and Leary and averaging 2.7 and 2.8 million viewers for its first and second seasons, respectively. It ended in 2011 after seven seasons.
In February, 2013, Entertainment Weekly reported that "Tolan landed Greg Kinnear to play a defense lawyer with 'zero filter'" on an upcoming Fox Broadcasting Company television program entitled Rake. Tolan is currently producing pilots with comedian Jim Gaffigan and another based on the Israeli series Bilti Hafich through Fedora Entertainment, the production company he started with partners Michael Wimer and Leslie Tolan.
Tolan has also found success in film, having written the hit comedy Analyze This and its sequel Analyze That as well as the films My Fellow Americans, Bedazzled, America's Sweethearts, Guess Who and Just Like Heaven. In 2008 Tolan made his directorial debut with Finding Amanda, a semi-autobiographical film starring Matthew Broderick and Brittany Snow.