Bruce Baum first attended UC Davis as a Poli/Sci Major and intended to play for the Football team. But providence stepped in and he joined up with his cousin Ken and started a comedy duo on campus where they also played guitar and banjo, sang funny songs and started getting people's attention.  Before long he wrote a screenplay and moved back to LA and was accepted into the UCLA Film Dept. based on Bruce's screenplay and their ever growing list of gigs they were performing around town.  AS Bruce says on the pod this was all pre comedy club and comedy explosion but his timing was spot on as no less than Robin WILLIAMS, DAVID LETTERMAN, GARRY SHANDLING et al were featured in his early student films. As fate would have it Bruce was just starting to cook as the infamous Sunset Strip was giving birth to The Comedy Store and with it the first wave of comedians who were  born and bred there, most of whom traveled from the four corners of the USA as well as Russia ( Yakov ). Bruce was one of those original types who wasn't just telling jokes or doing a monologue on stage, rather he used props and played musical ditties and created more of an audio/visual panorama of comedy from the stage.  His class of Comedy (1976) gave stand up a Turbo boost by doing comedy in syndication on the show "MAKE ME LAUGH" hosted by Bobby Van.  It played the same comedians for five days straight and in smaller markets that did not yet have comedy clubs. By the early eighties every major, medium and small city had COMEDY CLUBS EVEN IF IT WAS ONLY IN A BAR, SALOON, RESTAURANT OR BANQUET ROOM.  Comedy had exploded and Bruce and his comedy colleagues were riding the perfect storm.  Bruce went on to headline at comedy club, casinos and night clubs for the rest of his career all the while writing, producing for television series as well as appearing on Hollywood Squares, Match Game, Arsenio Hall, The Simpsons and creating his own brand of short films and independent features which were always and still to this day his passion.  Look for " BRUCE BAUMS PERSONAL STASH" soon to be streaming on your favorite services as well as all his award winning shorts and films that were featured on Fox television, Comedy Central, SHOWTIME, HBO, as well as his student films with Robin, David and Garry and his epic Clown Away starring George Carlin, Garry Shandling and Carrie Snow. When in doubt go to BruceBaum.com where you can access his Facebook, Instagram and Youtube Channel which will link to all of his comedy content, films and merch. please welcome to our mics this week,  Bruce "baby man" Baum