Dana, Bill, February 21, 2005

The Bill Dana Oral History Collection, 2005-2007, 2016-, consists of sixty-eight audio-visual interviews of a cross section of comedy experts, writers, producers, directors, and noted comedians who have had a direct influence on the history of the art form in the United States Interviews with Bea Arthur, Eddie Brill, Barbara Feldon, Jamie Masada, Vin diBona, Norman Lear, Fred Willard, and Diane English are representative of the diverse experiences that are documented. Among the topics covered are the birth of the joke, the creative process, the nature of show business, the beginning of their career, and the highlights of their creative lives. Also included excerpts from the interviews are. In addition, transcripts of interviews with Jonathan Winters, Betty White, Jay Sandrich, and Bill Persky and photographs are also included. The interviews were dubbed from masters originally shot on DVcam. Formats are DVcam, DVD, VHS cassettes, and Betacam.

In 2016, the oral history project was resumed through a partnership with The Interviews at the Television Academy Foundation. The first oral history conducted was with director/producer, Kevin Bright.

Highlights: The collection contains the last-known in-depth interviews with noted comedians Don Knotts, Tom Poston, Louis Nye, and Jan Murray before their passing. Knotts, Poston, and Nye were best-known collectively as the "Men in the Street"; comic personalities on Steve Allen's "Tonight Show" on NBC in the 1950s and 1960s. Jan Murray was a game-show host and Catskills stand-up comedian during the 1950s and 60s.