Robert Illes

Robert Illes (17 May 1948; Downey, California) is an American screenwriter, television producer, playwright and author.

Robert Illes was born in Downey, California to immigrant parents. His father Peter Illes (1920–2002) who spent some 40 years in the printing and stationery business in Los Angeles, was a native of Hungary, emigrating to central California in 1931. Mother Pauline Corne (1924- ) is a native of Norwich, England. His parents met and married during World War II in Norwich, where Peter was serving in the U. S. 8th Air Force. They moved to the Southern California area after the war, eventually settling in Los Angeles. Robert has a brother and two sisters.

Illes attended Los Angeles public schools, where he excelled in art and creative writing, graduating George Washington High School before entering the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, studying telecommunications and journalism. He worked briefly for the Daily Trojan as a reporter before becoming a comedy newscaster for KUSC-FM, then a student run radio station.

He soon teamed up with another student, James R. Stein to co-host the Saturday night Stein & Illes comedy radio show for three years. They became very popular with the burgeoning FM underground audience. The show was a pre-Howard Stern-style free-for-all, featuring characters voiced by the two, as well as “live” regulars including Robert’s brother, musician Rick, providing the show “orchestra” and Steven “Larry J. Felix” Kutcher, an entomologist (insect expert) who gave a weekly USDA “bug report”, and was comic foil. Marcia Levine was the show’s long suffering and diligent producer. A number of fans of the show remain friends including brothers Dennis and Brian Pollack who also became professional TV comedy writers. Brian went on to win three Emmys as a writer for Cheers. Stein and Illes returned to the radio some 20 years later for a brief renewal of their performing chops.

After several failed attempts to get into professional radio - which at the time was becoming less and less “personality driven”, the two by chance took a course in TV writing at USC given by TV producer/writer Digby Wolfe, at the time producing a Tennessee Ernie Ford special for NBC. Wolfe decided to hire two students writers, and Bob and Jim, after writing a Tennessee Ernie Ford spec monologue, were selected. Their performer days ended when their radio show was “canceled” around this time, and they remained behind the scenes writers and producers, with occasional forays in front of the camera, or appearances at KPFK fundraisers.

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