This is Alec Baldwin, and you're listening to Here's the Thing from I Heart Radio.

You may not know the name of my guest today, but you certainly know his work.

In fact, you've probably watched hours upon hours of it.

He's been called the Stephen Spielberg of sitcoms, The Willie Mays of Directing, The sitcom

Sorcerer.

It's the legendary James Burrows.

The director of some of the most popular and acclaimed television shows in history, including

taxi, cheers, Will & Grace, friends, and phrasher.

In his five decades of work, the 11-time Emmy winner has directed 75 pilots that went

to series, including the Big Bang Theory and two and a half men spanning over 1,000 hours

of television.

He's also the author of a memoir entitled, Directed by James Burrows, which recounts his

incredible career.

Burrows also has an amazing pedigree.

He's the son of famed radio and theater director, Abe Burrows, Patoni and Pulitzer Prize winner,

whose credits include guys and dolls and how to succeed in business without really trying.

I wanted to know what it was like growing up with such an accomplished and influential father.

My parents were divorced, so we live with our mom.

Five blocks away from our dad.

So we'd see our dad probably twice a week once, you know, on a school day for dinner and

then on a Sunday for maybe football or something like that.

So he was around in that way.

...