Show Notes
Before streaming, before social media, and before reality TV took over, millions of viewers stayed up late watching USA Up All Night.
This week on Still Here Hollywood, Steve Kmetko sits down with television personality, comedian, actress, entrepreneur, and USA Up All Night host Rhonda Shear.
Rhonda shares behind-the-scenes stories from one of cable television's most beloved late-night shows, the challenges of being a woman in Hollywood during the 1980s and 1990s, her experiences with Playboy, Joan Rivers, George Burns, and Johnny Carson, and how she reinvented herself after Hollywood to build the wildly successful Rhonda Shear Intimates brand and the famous Ahh Bra.
She also discusses the reboot of Up All Night, the changing comedy landscape, her thoughts on political correctness, and finding love with her junior high school sweetheart after decades apart.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction 01:36 The Legacy of USA Up All Night 03:58 Landing the Hosting Job 05:26 Was Rhonda Shear a Trailblazer? 08:21 Why Fans Still Love Her 09:55 Building Rhonda Shear Intimates 12:12 The Story Behind the Ahh Bra 13:52 Returning to Stand-Up Comedy 15:10 Wild HSN Stories 18:36 Creating the Up All Night Character 21:09 Comedy Training and Improv 22:04 Being Told She Could Never Make It 24:19 Becoming an Accidental Feminist 26:09 Creating Opportunities for New Talent 27:29 Female Comics Today 29:20 Finding Material in Real Life 33:06 How Rhonda Sees Herself 34:11 Beauty Queen Beginnings 35:53 Working with Johnny Carson 36:11 Political Correctness and Comedy 37:07 Rebooting Up All Night 39:28 Career Regrets and Reinvention 41:38 Dating Glenn Frey 42:43 What Wouldn't Fly Today 48:24 Advice from Joan Rivers and George Burns 50:07 The Most Important Part of Her Story 52:12 Jewelry, Creativity and Never Retiring 54:23 Up All Night Returns
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