Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade - William Shatner

Episode Date: June 14, 2023

Going to space, comedy analysis, and SNL stories with William Shatner. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whether you're doing a dance to your favorite artist in the office parking lot, or being guided into Warrior I in the break room before your shift, whether you're running on your Peloton tread at your mom's house while she watches the baby, or counting your breaths on the subway. Peloton is for all of us, wherever we are whenever we need it. Download the free Peloton app today. Peloton app available through free tier or paid subscription starting at 1299 per month. This next character was a thrill for me to have on the podcast. Mr. William Schatner, we did this for a while back, so we do talk about him going in outer space, which was an extraordinary to

hear it firsthand. And he hosted SNL like my eighth show. And he was, I've mentioned before, one of the funniest hosts ever. And so we talk all about that. And you can talk to this too. The other thing about it is he's so philosophical. He's incredibly curious. And I'm still in awe of his brain. And what you see him, it's like, what? He's 90, one or something. You universally liked kind of guy, super famous. Everyone knows who he is.

He is such a great life, great career. And he always, like you said, curious. He's always trying new things, he got involved in space, we talked about that. We had done this a little while ago, so if some things, I talk about, did you talk about UFOs? I might have asked him about that,

I'm excited. Or you said you believed in it? I do get into him, yeah, yeah. And then he wanted to really get really into them. Yeah, because when we take this, Roswell just happened. That was in 1947 So it was a while ago, but yeah thrill around we talk about because it just came out

Mike Tyson fifth that we did a huge so shuncon You were some get left on and I just found this one in the glove compartment I'm like guys we never even aired this one so Shatter we had a great time with and you could You could talk to him every week if we could. He's just a blast. Yeah, Bill Shatton or two is friends, Billy Shatton or BS BB. If you see the cap here, do you call him Leo or do you call him? I call him Cap.

What's up Cap? I know, hey, no Cap. I'm a goddamn, I'm a goddamn husband. Would that guy say to you, since I got go to Italy and make town wistern. I can think of worse things than that. I was doing Brad Pitt and Leonardo Capprio. I don't normally do little sketches on this podcast. It's not what we're about.

No, we'll do them soon. No. Keep your eyes peeled. All right, so William Schattner, enjoy this one. What a fun, fun guest. Billy Schatt. His pants. You both are vying for great hair. It's all an illusion. My skull is like a game of risk. There's only so many soldiers in so much territory. There's a lot of product, fluffing, I think. And a lot of eruptions.

Arruptions, yes. I erupt off to me. Yeah. Speaking of eruptions, hey, how are you Bill? It's so nice to see you. Are you guys got a thing going here? Yeah, yeah, we do. Well, we're discovering in real time.

We can think of anyone we want to talk to and you were literally the first person that popped into my head. No, I'm not kidding. I'm not kidding. You could have had Trump, President of Vice President of America. You know, let me tell you something. We're doing very good. Excuse me. Excuse me. You did a terrific thing. I wouldn't go up, you know, base says nobody cares. Listen to me. We're doing very well. We're doing terrific. Many people are saying, excuse me. Excuse me.

We're not going to do what are you doing? He does that. I don't know. Usually we're a dinner and I let him go because it crows me. I do it for my own amusement, but no, seriously, William Shatner, well, wait a minute.

Seriously, are you in your bedroom? What? One of my, one of my bedrooms, what is that? One of my bedrooms. Are you wearing pajamas? I, I, I, I'm doing a, Jeffrey Tuban. Let's put it that way.

I'm, he literally, it's called doing a tuban or, or, or, or, or a single. I mean, he could have, he could have pleasureed himself before, after the zoom. He just couldn't really reach in and do it. I've only I didn't see it. I didn't I didn't want to watch it. It made the picture. It was literally like this like in between zooms. He's standing walking around and then he starts and everyone's like what? He reaches down. No, the camera tilts down, he's already kind of doing it, right? And he gets caught for a second. Where you gonna get the camera tilts down like that? Yeah, I think so. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha global economics, but all I thought it was the tube and I did this figure of speech

When you're you were dating in the 1950s Wait a minute This figure speech, but when did this what when did this come up? He's a to a woman. He's a very nice guy But he can't, but he can't keep it in his pants. When did that phrase come in? He can't keep it in his pants. That came in around June the 30th, 1962. When your teacher said it to you, uh, tear your pants, but she was referring to a pencil I was trying to steal and I put it in my pockets.

Are we going to start recording or are we? We're always recording. We're almost done. We're almost done. Shoot the rehearsal. Oh, happy hour came. I thought of a question I wanted to ask you guys. Yeah, I have 38 for you, but go ahead.

All right, this will be the 1A. Okay. You two are very funny guys. Your reputation, stand up, series day. You're very funny people, naturally, professionally. Is it an onus? Is it onus for you? Like to have a conversation like this Like you're expected to be funny?

Not in this particular session, no, but in life sometimes you're gonna do an hour. We're gonna do an hour. Right. We're gonna talk and we're gonna smooth and we're gonna yeah. You feel it like incumbent upon you to be amusing? it like incumbent upon you to be amusing? Are your revenues at stake because you're known to be amusing or funny. So you got to be funny now. Well, since this is quote unquote kind of behind the scenes, we don't have as much of the allegiance to joke per moment. Like I'm very interested in your whole life. So I like that we're gonna work on both frequencies.

And I'm not. So it kind of cancels it out. It really does, and that's the question, who do I, who do I, who do you play to? Who's the most appealing, right exactly? I think you'd play, when I heard about this, cause Dana did mention you early on, we were gonna say, let's talk to people from SNL

or SNL related, like music, act, cast member, host, whatever, just some wispy connection, and then we can talk about anything also, but we'll touch on it. And then Dana put you on this first list of like, and I was like, oh cool. And then I said, I don't know him, I almost saw you the other night,

but I don't know him, but that's someone that is a guy that has so many things over his life that you can keep asking stuff about that you've been asked a million times. We try not to do that. We try to get... No, I did have a few jokes. Steve Dive on your new album, which is... Yeah, have you heard it? It's incredible. Bill, the lyrics, the one, uh, toughy about being Jewish in the 19,

whenever and getting bullied and how you had to be a badass. I think because you're not reinterpreting a space Odyssey or, or, you know, rocket man, that this is bi-autobiographical in the sense I know you had someone working with you, but listening to you and your stories. So the whole album is autobiographical. That was the point, I guess. The whole thing is mystical in the way it came together.

And also, there's an addendum to it that I could talk to you about. I would like to know right now. Yeah, well, okay. So I did this album called Bill and the thought was well let me just sketch it in. It just came out I'm right it's very nice. Yeah it's been out about about a month. I became friendly with a guy who doesn't write for a living who is an executive. I don't quite remember the circumstances, but turns out we started meeting at a Chinese restaurant of which you will know.

So I know I won't say its name, but a weird Chinese restaurant whose main menu was duck. Like, oh, Chinese duck. Sounds like an old joke. Right. Two Chinese men went into a... And a duck guy. You can't do those jokes anymore. So it became a routine.

Every time you came into New York, you'd go all the way to Sam here and we'd go to the Chinese room and have a duck. And we became the best of friends. There's quite a difference in our ages. But we have so much in common, including people and people we know, people we don't know in the work.

And we just became inordinately friendly. It was just a lovely thing that was happening. And then one day he brought a friend of his along to dinner to have duck. And this friend was a guy he was friendly with in university and they had a musical group together and this guy whose name is Dan Miller went on to do they might be giants and he's one of all kinds of awards and Rob the the poet went on to do not to be an entertainer, but to be an executive. So now Dan, the musician says to us, why don't we write an album? Oh, okay, let's write an album. And one of the two of them said, let's make it about Bill and Bill said,

oh, okay, let's make it about me. Because I've written several books about my, yeah, Bill said. So I've written several stories about things that have happened to me and they've became books. So we took some of the incidences that it went through my life like the one that comes to mind that is most succinct would be, I'm leaving home. I graduated from University of Montreal and I've been an actor since I was very young in

Montreal, but now I'm going to the Mecca of Canada Toronto. I'm on my way to Toronto, I'm leaving home, and I'm crossing a bridge, probably across the St. Lawrence River. And I'm driving a little cheap car, my father lent me a couple of hundred dollars, and I bought it more as a minor, and it's falling apart, but it's my conveyance,

and I've got everything I own in the car, and I'm driving across this bridge. And coming at me is an 18-wheeler. Oh my God, and that 18-wheeler's pushing this volume of air, and the air almost pushes me over the bridge. And I almost go over the bridge, and all my belongings with me, I'd have died, and nobody would have known that I ever existed. But I exist, and I cross the bridge. And the song is about, we're always crossing a bridge and we're always facing 18 wheelers

coming at us. So the song, although ostensibly about me, is generalized, is a more general appeal. And that's what we've done with all the songs on Bill. Now, the next part of this conversation, or this soliloquy, is, I'm in New York City. Bill has been released, it's getting phenomenal reviews. Bill has been released, the three of us are having dinner. I'm on my way, this is Sunday night,

and on Monday morning, I'm on my way to the desert to go up in the air. And we said, let's go write a song about space. We got to write it. So we started sketching out, you know, yeah, then, and then what's his name? Said, little blue dot. And then we go in that and we figure out what it's like. And we kind of sketch out the song. When I come down from space, being having been in actuality in space, I call Rob. I said, Rob, you remember the dinner we had last week? Yeah. Everything we talked about space. Yeah. Everything we said at space is going to be like, forget about it. Has nothing to do with the album. And we've written a song of what actually I felt to have. We've got a monumental song. Is that so far from the moon,

or this is a new song now? Yeah, good. So far from the moon was... It's on Bill, and it's kind of this kind of thing. And this is a whole thing. To come and then to the next album. Well, I was so, just to go to that, I was driving down the 101 from Santa and as, and you, it was landing and you came out. And of course, like everyone has told you, first of all, how articulate you were, because I looked at the Wikipedia page, you're not, you know, 22, 23, 24 years of age. I felt like you were so present. And then what you said was so emotional.

The world has talked about it. How does it feel now? It's been a few weeks later that you spontaneously came out of there and you talked about that thin blue line, shot in doubter space, the whole world's in tears. And this happens to you now. I mean, it just, I still a little bit. Well, sir, what you're saying is really, to me, is fascinating. When I, two years ago, a young producer who produced a better link than never a series that

went around the world, went around with some great guys. And it was very successful, but it was too expensive. And then we're canceled up for two years. So this guy, Jason Erlich, was the producer on it. So he says to me one day, you know, Blue Origin is going to send a spaceship up there and they're going to get passengers. And you should go. And I said, Jason, nobody. Why would I want to go? I don't need to go. I don't need to go. I've got shit to do. Exactly. I got interviews to make.

He goes, it's 12 minutes. You're like, OK, everyone's got 12 minutes. Somewhere. So he says, no, we really really would. So he calls Seattle, calls Amazon. And they say, great idea. Come on up. So we fly up to Seattle.

And we enter the lobby of Amazon, which is a giant room filled with Star Trek, Hariff and Elia. Oh wow. Unbelievable number, the spaceship itself, the enterprise itself is in a big glass globe and people flock there and there comes Jeff Bezos. Hey Jeff, and we take pictures around the enterprise. Then we sit down on the table and they say, Jeff. And we take pictures around the enterprise. Then we sit down to the table and they say, oh yeah,

that's a really cool idea. So we leave Seattle thinking, hmm. And I'm thinking, well, I suppose, you know, go up in space. COVID hits a year goes by and nothing happens. And then somewhere about six months ago, they call and they say, you know, Jeff is going to go up.

That's all we hear. So Jason Erlich says, well, maybe Jeff will pick you. He is. I don't know. I don't. I say he Hawkins. I'm lovely lady. He picks a very young guy.

And then those two. So now they go up. And I said to Jason, you see, he said going to sit there with him. That's not. And then the court cares about me. Nobody cares about it. So now they announced the second vehicle is going to go up. And Jesus, you can go in a second. And I said, let's say I select the vice president, you know, no, you, they want the president. The president went up. The vice president never appears. You know, I'm not going gonna go out, I don't need to go.

Too much trouble out the desert, I'm ready with, they call Shadder, we'd like to go. I'm thinking, you know, up in space. I like it. I like it. I wait, let's just, what's that? Space.

Yeah, no pilots, we don't, you don't even, you don't even have a pilot. He has a press a button like a ride. Maybe the need a pilot. Yeah, all the time. That's that. Yeah, no, no pilots. We don't, you don't even know. Is press a button like a ride? Maybe the need a pilot. Yeah. Or the right spirit. You're actually, you know, you were trying to take over. If it's not, I could get voice commands. I can't believe it. I agree to go based on the thrill of going up purely in only. Yeah. To my mind, nobody's going to pay any attention. They weren't going to pay any attention to begin with.

Second shot, forget about it. Just for me. Oh, no, it was counting. I don't know what I heard about. The Kirk is going into space. It was so big. I mean, if who knew? I could have predicted it, but I know from your point of view, why would you think

it's a whole data? If I had called you, if you just said, call me, I'll tell you what it would be like. But no, you kept your silence and what did I know? I used to run a PR firm and it was a home run. But if the, no, I was a bye guy, they could have said, it would have made sense. I go, do you want a bye guy?

And I'd be like, bye bye, bye bye. And I go up in the rocket. But no one was listening to me. Yeah, but it's a certain permanence to buh-bye. Or of war, see you soon. Yeah, see you soon. Yeah, we'll be back in a bit. That's why I've been exploded it.

If it exploded on takeoff, that would have been the greatest mic drop. Oh, wow. And there was that possibility because going through my head, yes, it's going to blow up. And the pause are the, that documentary everybody's seen about the Hindenburg.

Yeah, exploding and people running. Oh, the humanity of humanity. If it had been filled with helium, it would have been, oh, the humanity. Oh, my God. That's funny. Now, that's funny.

That's it. It's never had gone on. It's filled with hydrogen. And that's what. That's it. It's never a god. I'm a hybrid and that's what they were putting in the rocket. And then he says, any time he's on, Bill, on the launch pad, go ahead, David. I was saying, he just, he got worried because right before they went up, they go, can you sign these 200 waivers? Just press hard 12 copies, just initial where if you blow up everything's cool. And they did that on the first conversation. There were there were multiple. Did you ever skydive? Did you guys ever skydive? No, but I've been in a...

Well, that's true. Airplane. That's like being on the... Well, they take film of you saying it's okay. I mean, the plan they go through to make sure they're not to blame if you die. I'm still suing no matter what. I'm suing. Paramount pictures or something.

Anybody else. I'll sue anybody in here. By the way, I have to say, I know you went up and it was fun, but everyone is so horny for Mars. Like why Mars? To me, and this is my opinion, it's even a bigger shit hole than the moon. Like nothing's happening on Mars, nothing's happening on the moon.

And I believe in UFOs and stuff. So that's sort of, what do you mean you believe in UFOs? Yeah, I mean, I mean, I mean, see, I told you, I'm just gonna say, they are real. I don't believe, they're real. Wait a minute, wait a minute,

there's a difference here. UFOs means unidentified flying out. I believe things are unidentified. They're everywhere. The shit going on that's unidentified. There's stuff in my room. We did, it's out there. You know what fatamorgana is?

I worked with them. It was, it's a pasta dish, isn't it? No. Fatamorgana. Star Wars. No. Fatamorgana? No, no. No. No. No. No. Fatal Morgana is the phenomena that you see in the desert with Oasis. Why do you see Oasis in the desert on occasion?

In the Maraish, in the pool, in the parties and the thing. Yeah. That's being projected from an actual Oasis. Some where it could be a thousand miles away, but as a result of some visual phenomena, where that image is projected into a heat, a shelf, a current, and it's a broadcasting phenomena like whales bounce off their sound off of

war. Sonar. Yeah. What warm currents and the Earth thousands of miles away, these images bounce off a heat current and then appear on Earth 100 miles, 10 miles, a thousand miles away. Right. And that's called a Fatemorgana. So wait a minute, when miles, 1,000 miles away. Right. And that's called a Fatemogana. So wait a minute, Wing Shattered.

You might be seeing you Fatemoganas. Yeah, Wing Shattered. So you're saying Star Trek was not real. You're saying that you didn't go to those planets. No, no, I did. Thank you. Thank you, it doesn't get it. de la gente. Deja que no se puede ver. cosas más adivina menos y vende más con intuity mail sim la marca número 1 en email marketing y automatización empieza hoy mismo en mail sim.com más saben

a tus públicos de marcas competidoras en número globales de clientes en 2020 y 2022 I I want to do my wish list but in a second I have a wish list Well I have a question too okay but this is is it related to blue origin? I think instead of coming to blows you can take a look at the related to blue origin. Yeah. Oh, this my wish list is because of movie. Go ahead. Oh, this the William Shatter was the first artist to go in space and come back down and then we got all this cool poetry basically spontaneously. So the next spaceship I'm thinking Dylan, Dr. Dre Springsteen Howard Stern, Billy Eilish,

and David Spade. You just added me. I just added you in, but I mean, shouldn't you send Bob? Can we send Bob? Because you interrupted him from asking questions. I did. You're like, you're making, you throw him a bone. Now we're getting into Ron Nerv, which I love by the way. Does anyone ever Ask you about that show, Bill? I do a show called I don't understand. I'm doing a talk show called I don't understand. Again, There hardly anybody's watching it because it's it's streaming, but you can look at it. But I can't all those I do. I've done but you can look at it. But I can't all those, I do, I've done 50, half hours. Yeah.

We are just strangest people and subjects. Yeah. And although it's the personality driven like, like, Ron Irv, like, what's a lie? What's a lie? Oh, that's why you catch me on what's a UFO? No, what's a lie? Well, what's a UFO? Okay, talk about a UFO.

The biggest lies we tell are the stories we tell ourselves. Oh boy, heavy. No, that requires the analysis too. David, take a UFO thing, for example. Sure. What do you mean you believe in UFOs? What does that mean? Well, UFO is a term you write unidentified flying object. That could be a piece of paper in here. It's unidentified means nothing. Is it actual aliens from different planet? That's a little more specific. And have you seen those pictures? It could be fake on the moon where there's like three ships on the side of it waiting in the wings. Terrifying.

No, I haven't seen that. Terrifying. And there's a lot of stuff like that. But I believe sometimes a kid, I was into that stuff. So, but I think you're into that. Well, I mean to it in as much that, those recent pictures from the Navy, you pile and make me think, what is that? And from the Navy, pilots, made me think, what is that?

And then the Navy talks about ships going under the water, disappearing into the water. What is that? We don't know. They could be coming from the bottom. They don't have to come from space. They could be chilling on the bottom, the ocean, shooting up. Or the conversations I had with Bob Ballard, who is the guy who's filmed the Titanic, and he's a major marine biologist.

So he was looking, he had sent a bathosphere down to the separation of tectonic plates at the 30,000 feet under the ocean. There is a bleeding scar in the ocean, I believe you are meant, where the tectonic plates are separating and there's a magma right there. Yeah, hot stone, okay? So he puts a bathosphere with people in it down below and he's late lurking there and he can't come up

because there's a cave and finally he gets up and they're coming up like this slowly and they're looking at the window and they're seeing what seems to be like a chimney and they're going past the chimney and suddenly there's a top of the chimney and spewing out of the chimney is hot 600 degree Fahrenheit water, 6 boiling point of water is 212 degrees, 600 degrees Fahrenheit is coming out of this plume of water. Not only it's 30,000 feet under, so there's 30,000 feet of pressure, 600,000 degrees, 600 degrees Fahrenheit boiling water, and it's all sulfurous. Okay.

And as they go by, they see 13 foot worms living there and clams, they're living. Right. In those, in that, yeah, my asthma of extreme condition. It's beautiful. Tumor Biles. What does that say about life?

It can go anywhere. It's terrifying. Terrifying. Well, why is it terrifying? Well, I think the mode, there's, it's there's so much unknown that way that we don't pay attention to when we always have to. But unknown doesn't mean necessarily terrifying.

Just to me it does, but I think. It's just believe it. That's a clue to your whole character. Fear. Fear. Don't lean in, that makes me more scared. That means you're onto something. But no, when you lean back, that's scary.

Self-deprecating. I know, I'm scared of six footworms and I'm like, you're saying defecating? Yes. No, I was just describing an action that I'm performing right now. No, I said, deprecating. Almost a coup in. Yeah. The whole thing is a waste down a fair. No one sees me go through. I have a dentist Miller story that just to like, just to change gears, I'm sorry. This is so many boring, but I think you were the host of SNL and Dennis said that he walked somewhere

with you. You might not remember this. He was his observation. But he told me years ago that when you walk with people that when you walk with you, when people would yell your name, you would casually go like that because that's kind of what they wanted. And you would just say it why you talked because it was so ingrained in people that's going, hey, I was going, hey, why you're still talking. so ingrained in people to say I was going why you're still talking. That's a lovely story. It's can't be true. It can't be true at all. I can't even do that. That's more of a spock thing. I can't do that. He said people wanted you to do it and you were like casual because you were so famous.

It was sort of a fun complimentary story that you were walking in. Actually what I do is like what the queen does, you know, I just sort of regally. Well, let's put a head on them. Nothing serious. What's more of a popular phrase that you hear is that beam me up Scotty or warp speed captain. You know, have you gone out and signed autographs? Yeah. I'm a little bit like that. Oh, Comic Con is big one.

You, you, you, you probably don't do them because you're too big of a deal at those things. No, no, I don't, I, I, I don't do small things. I just do very large things. Yeah, you do that. Or small things that pay very well. I think that's good. It's a, it's a, you're not afraid to say no. The sign on the autograph, the sign,

they said, would you sign something? So it's a toss up between those two, which is the most popular. See, Dana, that was a good question. That was a good question. Why shouldn't you be able to ask a good question, David? Because I'm kind of stupid, Dana said, but I think that that was,

because I know starts are going up. Are you going to get along? I've had five years of intensive therapy. I started at 60. I learned I learned a lot. You came up a lot in therapy. Does David know about therapy and all that kind of I do. I haven't gotten into it, but that means I'm not fixed yet, but I'm just sort of skimming by. But Dana teaches me a lot, because Dana and I are old friends, and he's very smart. Three SNL.

And we have dinners, and I learn a lot from him, because he knows a drill. And so. I'm the older statesman. But I do, we get along really well. I've known David since before SNL. There was a movie that David was in.

Everybody quiet. Eight heads in a. It was a straight-rolled David and you were splitting your right on the ledge. It was a beautiful performance of you who are known for your comedy. Throttled that comedic instinct way back and you were very real and, and it was really a good, really good performance. What movie would that have been that I would have- Not Jack and Jill.

Tommy Boy. No. There was one called Warning Shot where I played it straight. There's a couple where I don't do that many and people say, you should do it more, but the truth is, I don't get offered that stuff. Of course, you have to go out there and find it and chase it and work for nothing and do all that. And it's a big, okay, I hope you can find it.

It's a thought I've had. And I need you two guys to corroborate it. Most, if not all, comics, people known for the comedy and do stand up and do, and now become traditional, oh, you're funny. It'd be funny. Yeah. Uh, started off as actors.

And just you were, you were naturally amusing and people said, Oh, you're funny and you developed that gift. And finally, the acting roles, uh, became less and less and the desire, the demand for you as a comic became more and more in your careers became that of being funny. Is that what happens? I started it just as a standup with no aspirations to do anything other than. No kidding.

I tried to be, did he want to be a standup? To be the opposite of what I just said. No, but well, I would, yeah, go, I mean the same thing. I worship movies, you know, we talked about Goldfinger the other day, Sean Connery, or the Great Escape. But for me, when I was, I had big family, five of us, rough and tumble childhood.

When I would see the Danny K show, or the Jackie Gleason show early on, and then Carol Burnett and some others brothers and flips, well, I aspired to that when I saw laughin' and when I saw Sarah Knight Live, because I could kind of do voices and I got a lot of attention for that. When I was eight, nine years of age, I could talk to like the Beatles. That was a big hit with my mom, you know. At least something was. I said, mom, you know, do you think you can make me some pancakes and she dropped the batter and screamed?

So I ran out. No, it was, she laughed. But I, I, what about you being a dramatic actor and then also going on third rock and other things that are overtly comedic and then you went back Boston league, you played Danny Crane, that, that arc. I mean, you, you're a Wikipedia page is just loaded with shit. I mean, it is the most impressive, most eclectic career. Twilight zone keeps going. I, I, I, I love to make people laugh, but I don't tell jokes per se. I mean, I can tell you.

But you're very funny. You put so much. I have the same sense of humor that you guys have. Your mind works, oh, you can make it funny. You can make it straighter, you can make it funny. You make it funny because you like to see people smile and then laugh. So I'm the same way, but my whole genesis

was that of as an actor, but I always trying to find the fun, the comedy, the laugh. It's so light, yeah. And no matter what it was, because people, if there's somebody just died in their arms, might be not amusing, but might have an observation that in retrospect is funny. You know what I see you? You seem just seeing you from a distance

in your career and then on talk shows and stuff. You do have a lightness to you that's more of a comedic side to me than some actors are very heavy for all the drama you've done. And so, and that's fine too, but I just felt like when me and Dana were going to talk to you, you just feel like it's going to be more fun because you're sort of on that vibe anyway. So, you wouldn't take anything offence or that kind of stuff. You just kind of go back and forth with it and do your- Absolutely. I think talk shows like the ones, essentially,

this is a talk show or at least, you know, the effect is, you want to be informed, you want to have some insight, but you also want to be amused, you want to laugh. If you can make you laugh and inform me at the same time, it's much more entertaining. And I've gone by that for a long time. Well, I would say two things.

One is, like I work with Mickey Rooney in 1981, my first job ever. I met a lot of older actors at that point that were bitter by their time and show business and or self-important. And you did none of that ever appeared in your vibe. It was, you had a sense of humor about the entire ride, and you could do something flat, dramatic, brilliant,

or you could do something completely hilarious. And you just, to me, I admire that about you that you never got self-important or bitter and you seem to be having fun. I don't know what that's self-important about. Well, a lot of people find a reason maybe to be. They dealt with it. Yeah, when the media page feels pretty good. They research a reason for feeling self-important. I know, I don't get it. And I never understood, for example, Brando said about acting. It's child's play.

And he got discouraged about it. I think that being an actor, which is, I mean, you're reading somebody else's words, there's so many colors. There's so many nuances that if you're working, if you're really working and thinking about it, I could, you know how subtle timing is. You don't have to tell YouTube guys how you can miss a laugh just by somebody coughing in the audience.

I mean, it's as delicate as a cobweb and to keep that cobweb alive, to make every night in your stand-up or to play the laugh is still there. And sometimes the three of us know only too well, the laugh disappears. What the hell? What happened to the laugh that was there? What are you doing that is suddenly different from last night that the laugh didn't I did it this weekend I did two shows and there's one joke or not joke, but I sort of talk for a little bit

Do it do it. Tell us Give us the exam. Well, it's not really exact The well there was one where I said when people Sneeze I just said bless one where I said when people sneeze, I just said, bless you. And I said, I used to say that, but for two years in the middle, recently, when they would sneeze, I'd say, oh, shit, we're all gonna die. And then I say it's so real. They were like, right? And then one night, it's a big laugh the next night. I added

to it and I said, and then for a month, when it got really bad, I said, Oh, fuck, we're gonna for sure die because of your deadly poison boogers that you're shooting out at 3,000 miles an hour into my faculties. And then I go, but then I tighten it back up. It's just bless you now. It's easier. It's one night they just listen, I can stare the next night. They're like, Hey, that's a funny joke. And you go and you read, listen back. What was different? It's an eyebrow. It's it's it's either you're allowed or quiet or also also I love that phrase that we've all heard and we it's a worthwhile discussing. It's too soon. Oh yeah, it's about anything,

about making political commentary on something that's too soon. So COVID might be, it's too soon as a question. As soon as it bombs too soon. Yeah, I'm, yeah, some people are still wearing masks. Well, that's true. If they don't laugh too soon, exactly. I think a lot of it is just clarity, right David?

I mean, if you do a bit and you've got like three lines you have to say in sequence perfectly to set up the funny part. And then you get kind of used to it and maybe you skip one little phrase and they don't get what the premise is. It's one word. And if you're right, imagine being in a long run play of which I have been in more than one, and every night, you know that laugh is like a pearl.

There's a string of pearls of laughs that you, that I've come about, you're in rehearsal and you don't know where the laughs are. Take my wife, please, that's a laugh. But where the other laughs are are you really don't know until the same with your stand up. You write your stand up and then, okay, that I know that's gonna be funny, but is this funny? Oh, suddenly they're laughing.

Why the hell? They laugh on the set up and you go, that's not even the funny part. Well, they all decide that's the funny part at once. It's crazy. Yeah. That's the funny part at once. It's crazy. Yeah.

Go into Saturday Night Live for a second to that point, is that it read through, you get laughs, and you get on the show. That's Wednesday. Thursday you do a dry rehearsal, five, 10 times in a row with the crew laughs the first time, then there's no laughter. Friday you're doing walkthroughs, no laughter,

everyone's bored, looking to ceiling. By the time you get to the practice show at like 7 p.m. on Saturday, you're like, I don't even know. And then, ah, this is funny. But you're almost everyone's tired of it by the end. I just want to say I was on Oprah one time, but it was with Chevy Chase and Tina Fey and people and she always asked, who's your favorite host? So at that moment, because of, you're the name that came up for me. I just said William Shatton. The reason was, one was it was such a thrill being a Star Trek fan. It was like maybe my sixth show and I got to play Khan in a sketch.

I'm doing Ricardo Montepan. You know, all that was surreal. But then I was, I noticed your attitude about SNL, like was so light and fun. And I said to you, you're so loose and I mean, so much fun. Why, I mean, how are you doing this? He goes, well, how else would you do this?

We're under rehearsed. We don't know where we're going. And it was the perfect attitude. I'm like, why take this so seriously? It's impossible when it happens. It's great. But then the other the other part that is butt tightening is the word Hey, what you remember the words you got to remember the words in this case they're all in front of you So you're not gonna forget the words the other thing is you're riveted looking at the cards

as against trying to get Lucer to look away and give it a little juice. But so many of the people who come on are, you know, I went down the street and Christopher Wacken, which I've mentioned, just stared straight at the cards and never looked at anybody and it worked. He just looked straight at the card, didn't even look over at you. Now, why were we going here? Not going to whack, you know, but with him it worked. You know, Dana, let me bore you guys with a quick story. Christopher Walken, I don't really do a good impression, but he was on the movie I did.

And we were in a house with the lights off. It was getting dark and then we come out and the lights come on. And we were in a house with the lights off. It was getting dark and then we come out and the lights come on and so we start in the dark. So we're standing in the dark, it's probably four of us. We can't even see each other and he goes, David, if you have a work with an actor dog and I go, yeah, there's one in this movie. And he goes, they're good, you know,

they know what they're doing. They train them pretty well. And I go, yep, and then dead silent. And then he goes, hey, David, you ever work with an actor cat? And I go, an actor cat? I go, no, and he goes, they're no good. They don't do anything like they have a trainer. But if you say go there, they don't.

And then if you yell at them, they jump. But any cattle do that. And I go, yeah. And then silence. And then he goes, Hey, David, you have a work on act of mouse? And I go, no way. So you go to old Joe on mouse trap. And I go, oh, that's right.

You did a movie called mouse trap. And he goes, they're good. The smart. Smart. You say go up and take a beat and go to the right and they do. I don't know how. And I go, oh, and he goes, I'd work, I'd work again with the mouse. I go, I'll look at it.

And he's deliberately very serious. Very serious. He's just telling me, was he doing a routine? No, just telling me, I know, so funny to me, we were, and the other people in there were going. And then he goes, and they're like, okay, rolling. And he's like, okay, quiet. I'm like, is it a joke? I don't know. It just was so great. Acta mouse. I did a play. Boys in the band was a big hit. And then Crowley was the author's name. And he had written the second play, it was probably his first play,

and boy's name was his second play. Anyway, we were now in Los Angeles, we were going to go to Broadway on Crowley's next play. And it wasn't as good as Boy's in the Band. So the opening moment is this actress, well known Broadway actress, his name I can't remember, and I come out on the apron in darkness.

And we're holding hands, and the curtain's part, the lights come up, the play begins. So we walk out onto the apron, opening night in Los Angeles, sold out house, she clutches my hand, and then she turns to me, I guess, and whispers, are we in a disaster? Right when it comes up. And we were. You got out of what's Angela. She doing wasn't a disaster. But imagine opening night.

Yeah, are we in a disaster? It's all your inner monologue is the whole night is a I have my Christopher walk in moment that I don't know how funny it is, but it always stuck with me We're in a wooden spaceship an 8-H, right? Jack handy sketch. So we're gonna land on planet earth, but our our landing door always killed somebody So when we walk out the the local towns people were mad kill them hang them high And so in rehearsal he had one line where he would say let's get out of here So when we walk out the local towns people were mad, kill him, hang him, huh? And so in rehearsal, he had one line

where he would say, let's get out of here, but he would just say to me, he'd say, let's get out of here. And then we'd go back in the wooden spaceship, cramped in this little space, and he'd laugh for like a minute after everything. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Let's get out of here.

Just look at that. I love you. You know, he is admirable. He's a on it. I know. He is admirable. He's a wonderful actor. You're brilliant. I guess you know something that strikes me as being astonishing is that he was a tap dancer. He was a dancer. And so there are films that, at least one that I can think of, where he does a little tap dance routine while waiting around a lamp pole.

Yes, I thought, of course, he just ended up in a battery, he told the director I can do this, but a sensational kind of, what a character he is. He was a child. He was a child. And in this one day, when I do, and he's got a broom and he goes, what if I dance to round with the broom? Same thing. And we said, yeah. And he's got a broom and he goes, what if I danced around with the broom? Same thing.

And we said, yeah. And he's really good. He did that old video. Pretty good for a stir. He did a video for like, not Moby, but back or someone where he dances. He's very, very light on his feet, fun to watch.

You know, when I was in S.A.L. I had this old Southern gentleman who was doing my wardrobe and Christopher Walken was the guest host and he'd been a child actor and it performed in New York City. The dresser was a child. No, Christopher Walken said, and the dresser knew him back then. And just talked about him now, Chris had this sort of almost scary, funny vibe around him

and he said to me, this old Southern gentleman said about Chris, you know, he's got the devil in his eyes. And he was serious. He's got the devil in his eyes. He's also got the devil in his hair. I mean, right. It's his whole thing. It's the devil.

I mean, it's, he's quite a character. I wish I, I've never met him. I don't think. I mean, I would love to have a conversation with him. He's really interesting, really surprisingly vulnerable. He's kind of intimidating, but he's very, very sweet. And I, you know, it's almost old fashioned in a sense. I would like to know what you think about this Bill.

It's just when you see Al Pacino in the Godfather, which is brilliant. And then my performance, I love, is when he extended his Cubanino in the Godfather, which is brilliant. And then my performance I love is when he extenuated his Cuban accent in Scarface. Chorano, man. Chorano as yo garato. What do you got at home, man? Sego, bat, toro, baguay, right?

And it seems like his actors get older down their career, they'll become way more theatrical is because maybe they're bored or something. You know, they're, I think they're looser. I think they're looser. I think they're loose. I think more than just you can go in any directions. He go in three directions.

Yeah, or you choose one, two, three, you can, you don't just say hello. You go. Confidence, maybe like a confidence to go like, absolutely. You can play it more real like I don't always say hello in real life. I go, you know, you can do anything because that really happens in real life. So you can play it more real like, I don't always say hello in real life. I go, oh, you know, you could do anything because that really happens in real life. So you can play, there's so many different ways to play almost any line.

I'm answering for you, I'm sorry. But that's what I have. No, you're absolutely right. You're absolutely right. I do believe it has to do with confidence. If you've gotten older and you're still working, then there's a certain one. Something's working.

Yeah. How about you personally? I mean, do you feel like, did your confidence get to a point? Did it Abbot Wayne or did it go and where is it now? Absolutely, depending on how it's going. Yeah. But going along in that theme, it's also interesting how I think you should simplify. I think in a joke, the more you can cut away, cut suburface materials away from words, get a hone it down to its basic simplicity. The more simple

you are as an individual, as an artist, as a person, as in a relationship, the more honest and simple, it becomes then just being. Yeah. Right. Not trying, not pushing. You don't make the crowd work. I feel like the self-critical voice that, especially in standup or whatever, when you're doing a set and you're giving yourself a report card. The best sets are when that voice disappears and

you're just completely fluid in the moment. It's always a really nice place to get to but I did a movie with Bert Lancaster and Kirk Douglas talk about simplicity because I'm so I was so in awe of them and we're just shooting this scene around a little table and they have their lines but they just say them. You know, Kirk does like, I don't think we should rub the book just that. And birds like, if we don't rob it now, we'll never rob it. And they just like, they did take, but that's it. And their Bert Lancaster Kirk Douglas. Then I come around to my coverage and I'd go, what do you guys think or whatever? And that Kirk Douglas always said, I think we got it. There's no reason to do another take.

So he was, I like when you work at actors, they do 10 of the exact same takes. And you're like, I like the screw round and say, oh, they're going to pick it if they're good at it. But sometimes people go, this is the way I see it. This is the way it's going to be. You're not going to get me off it. So here it is. I got a funny moment. I got a funny moment.

I got a funny moment about that. I did a thing, a movie, Judgment at Nuremberg, it was called, and I played a officer at the lawyers desk. Is this from the game? I'm a Montgomery Cliff and everything, or no. Oh, that's it. Oh, that movie. Oh my god. That's so I'm at the desk doing nothing just being

This character that said this but I'm seeing everybody come in because everybody comes into test of that Yeah, so they all do their thing. They do one day Judy Garland come again one day, Judy Garland, come on, come on, come on, come on. First man, Gaster comes in, does his day and he does, you'll have to do him, you know, I didn't do anything. I have a good germany. I told you I did nothing. I was simply following orders. I didn't kill nobody, no, no, no, how? I'm going to make a brain. Sorry, go ahead. Perfect. Cut, cut, great bird, great. Everybody applaud bird. Burt says, thank you very much. And he leaves, okay? The next morning, hey, everybody were stopped by cutting the, not doing the schedule. Bert wants to come in and he didn't feel right

about doing it. He's gonna do it again. Take two. Take two. Bert Lang has to go back in. Now do Bert Lang has to like, you just, I'm telling you, I did nothing wrong. I never killed anybody. You can ask anybody

I was Great Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Was it like the same reading? Just did exactly the same thing. I just want to get it again left and left. He was sweet I got nice man. How about this? This is an IMDB roulette question There is Twilight zone in there. Did you ever do night gallery which scared the shit out of me? Nice man. How about this? This is an IMDB roulette question. There is Twilight Zone in there. Did you ever do night gallery, which scared the shit out of me? I was scared of night gallery. Do you remember? Oh, yeah, 67, 68. I remember I remember I you know all those jobs

back then. I love it. I love it. There's half-hour shows and then hour shows you did them to make a living I mean you had the rent to play and the children to feed and nobody you know the audience at large people are gonna watch you in this Don't understand that you also have to make a living as an actor and if you're not making $20 million a picture Which you put away and live on the interest? You you have to work. And so some of the jobs you take, because that's working in the way. By the way, I want to thank Bill,

for you saved me a lot of money. In? Well, here's the story. I happened upon, and I won't name the stock. I happened upon, out of a, probably a dumb investment. I got a lot of one particular stock. It's kind of famous now, but when it doubled,

the experts said, no, you got to sell it because it would gyrate down. It would double and then come back. But I remember you regretting selling price line, so I held onto it and I still am holding onto it today. So I just want to thank you. Fantastic. So it was the dot com bubble. Yeah. It wouldn't weigh up. Yeah. But because I was there originally, there's a thing called a tie in or a tie up or you can't sell it for a year and a half. Yeah. So it went up and I'm watching it go up. I got it for like 25 cents and it went up to $150 or more. I think I'm gonna be rich. I'm gonna be about and I can't sell it

And then I can sell it and it's back down to 25 cents. So I sold it and it goes back and it went up again Thousands of dollars. I have a bunch of yeah, go ahead. Well, I was just curious about this Star Trek and then part of the 70s, where you're kind of doing game shows or whatever, but then all of a sudden there's seven Star Trek movies. I mean, that's never happened to anyone in show business, a series from the, and then seven Star Trek movies, one in which you directed.

I just think that's a fascinating part of your incredible it was it was it was it was a did you not get paid I don't I think it said that you don't get paid a lot on Star Trek because that's an early job right? Well we didn't get no it was an early job and we were all I had done I had done Broadway and movies and stuff. Yeah, yeah, the four star track. But, you know, to get to that level, you had to star in, even movies didn't do it, you had to do a series.

And when I did that series, it put me in another level and I was able to do those movies. And I did, I stopped doing half-hour shows and then I worked shows. Stop playing the heavy on Charlie's Angels. Yeah? No, it just sounds like something someone would do. Right. Just for a week of work, go down there.

Do you ever play a bad, you do a couple of Columbus, right? Yeah, those are great. How is Peter Falk? You were, they were sensational. And, and I don't know whether this is common knowledge. They were very difficult to write for them. And they were difficult to reverse engineering. Yeah. Think it back to me. What's that? Exactly.

Well, it means that you know the, the, the criminal. Yeah. And the whole drama is, is, is Colombo learning with the criminal is, but you all were you the audience. No, it is. But what's the jeopardy? And then have you seen those things? Because he plays the very difficult to make it work.

Yes, I've seen Colombo when he, he makes a, a side story like he goes, is this your dog? Oh, I had a dog like this. Meanwhile, I know you killed the guy goes, is this your dog? Oh, I had a dog like this. Meanwhile, I know you killed the guy. But is this a? He played. Yeah, it was kind of a passive aggressive character. You fit when you watch it. If you're like, he knew, but he just left him dangling for we. Yeah. That's my wife. I don't know that when he unbuckled his coat. Yeah. Why'd you work on the seat? Might have been like,

going over this coat. Might have been a tubing, maybe a pre-tuban, an early tubing. I was gonna go there. Peter fall. Better not. Wait, Dana. Yes.

Gemini. When this guy did SNL, you were newer, you said. Oh yeah. Six shows. Who wrote the Star Trek sketch was that smile? Probably. I don't know. It was and and when Mr.

Shatner were you okay with that sketch beginning middle and or. Oh yeah. That that sketch reminded me or made me aware of the best comedy is played absolutely real. Yes. If you can be ultra serious. Yeah.

Ultra serious. If it's, you know, there's a comedic cloud, just a little hint, a mist of comedy. So the audience knows it's funny, but doesn't know it's funny. You know what I mean? There's a couple of those there that you guys, you superb comedians, know exactly what I mean.

The audience, you and I are three of us are talking to, might not know what we're talking about. But there is a hint of the actor is in on the comedy. Yes. It's absolutely real. And that's those are the comedic actors. And then there's the actors who don't have that hint and it becomes absolutely real and it's not funny.

Got wacky. You know, there was a TJ Hooker sketch that we did as well. And again, we played it just flat as real as possible. Some of the car was whipping around. I can't remember. And then there was one where you were played some vein, you were in a mirror posing, going, look at that butt, look at these arms.

Do you remember that one? Oh yeah, yeah. That was funny. I mean, you had a killer show. You know what I mean? That was like everything worked. It was a killer show. The epitome of that was there was a movie I did with

Deniro and I came on as myself to show him how to jump over a car Oh, and and I said to them look I'm gonna play hurt and Don't cut the camera because you're pretending. Yeah, cuz it's a real car Yeah, and I'll come up I play a car. I'm going to look real. Yeah. And I'll come up out of the car and I'm going to play her. Do not ever. Never.

We're at the camera. We're at the camera. Don't, no matter what happens, no matter, do not cut the camera. Never cut. Right. So I jump over the car and now I'm being ultra real. Oh, shit.

Oh, damn. And, and they cut the thing. Which is the most flattering thing they could have done for you. Why did you do that? I told you not to cut. It's almost like a round-crandom thing or something. Get out of here. That's the funny part. That would that would. That was actually fun. I did it again, but probably not as well as the first time where you played ultra ultra and the audience is in on the job. Yeah, pain is funny. I mean, look at look at that's that's Lauren Hardy. Look at all. Look at the three stages. Look at yeah, the three stages of have gotten when I think about

them now and the abstraction of people hitting your friend with a hammer in his face and on his head, it's tough. It seems funnier now than when I was a kid because I loved that in Costello, and I really liked the three-stugings. Well, I've been in Costello. I've been in Costello, I had more interlinked.

With that, who's on the classic sketch, that classic sketch is maybe the most brilliant written. Yeah. He's a comedy ever. And you deliver full circle. I did an homage to Abbott and Costello. Luke Costello. When Christopher Walkham was in Wayne's World 2 and he's kind of the bad guy and I'm playing Garth and he goes goth like that and I started doing that Which is very hard to do that Sustain the you know and then Mike started doing it But yeah, they were

Abankas Stella meets Frankenstein as a kid watching that on television was like Perfection when he saw Frankenstein and couldn't get it out. Yeah What's the matter with you? I know there's no one here uh, perfection. And he couldn't, when he saw Frank and started and couldn't get it out. Yeah. He was trying to. What's the matter with you? I know there's no one here. And he's just pointed. What are you talking about? Look, I'm going to go over here.

I'll be convinced that. I'll be back in five minutes. And then who invents that? Does, does Luke Castello invent that? Does the director say, hey, here's. I know. I just wonder those early movie stars. Vodville was such a breeding ground for all the basics of comedy. In fact, apparently, I don't know

that Abancostello, who's on first, had been performed by some other act. It's some point that maybe it was something that, yeah, that I don't't that it was the classic sketch in vaudeville which they they took but I can't imagine anybody doing it better because they played it so real absolutely the timing I mean that's just you can't beat those two actors doing that no because they're just like to be an F. no, I would have required hours of rehearsals day. Yeah, you get to your point about this whole podcast. I mean, one little drop beat. One guy who doesn't remember one tiny bit and the whole thing is done in a second. Yeah, it has to be seamless. But you know, it's very interesting. Those Vodvillian stars who

became movie stars, like the Marks Brothers and kind of filmed their Their place you look marks brothers today. They're not they're not I mean Leading against leaning against the building. What do you think you're doing building up the building? Ah, and he walks away in the building photo. That was that was a great comic But mostly walking around I don't know It's not big as they go. When I was a kid watching Rear Rones was a little too old-fashioned for me. I like Jerry Lewis. There's a kid that kids you. Yeah, but the audiences that were being entertained in those early

movies were serious people laughing at the Marks Brothers, and in the Harpo and today is like ludicrous. Well, it was, yeah, it's part of that 30s, you know, class warfare. I think I have this smart comedic palette. Meanwhile, I remember howling at Gilligan's Island. I mean, I don't know when I started deciding what was easy funny and what was smart funny, but we were talking about Bob Newhart earlier. And Bob Newhart was very dry. And I liked it for some reason even

it was dry and I was a kid going this mash was funny but it wasn't really like in your face like a sitcom and then but I liked corny shit too so I think over time my my comedy you started to decide what you like and what you want to focus on I guess but there but there are I don't want you to focus on, I guess. But there are basic tenets of comedy, seeing the banana peel, guy coming, or the guy slipping, and then you see the banana peel, those academic analysis of comedy are, they work, it's absolutely truthful.

So, that's funny, you see the fat man coming, you see the banana field, and you're just going to slip at your laugh. I mean, that's, yeah, coming to your head, you're like, oh, it's gonna be funny. Yeah.

It had to be when the guy put his ax down and run in the dinosaur head, and then they did a joke about slipping on the dinosaur tail. That, they had to have been laughing. Yeah. A million years ago, at that very basic comedy on the other hand. Slapping on the head and those jokes that the Marks Brothers did and then the three students hitting people.

It was funny then but not funny now and I guess that's the changing tastes of funny. Although, I think there are, there are eternals of comedy that remain from Greek times to now. Well, they say there's only 12 notes. And everybody, the Beatles and Beethoven and everybody plays with those notes. And there's probably these basic tenets of comedy and we're just keep redoing the studio. And you try to add a little something

extra version of that comedy. Yeah, like people say, oh, this movie is similar to that movie and you're like, but it's two new people doing it 20 years later and it's just different. But there are certain themes you're gonna go into. The old girlfriend comes back or you do this. So every comedy movie and every movie movie, you're gonna fall into the same themes. What are you gonna do with it? Are you gonna make some spin on it,

little English to make it yours? I was I was drawn to the musicality of Monty Python and Andy Kaufman and the non-punchline punchline so there's a perfect example of Kaufman. Yes. Oh, the reality and how played it so straight. Yeah, you played it so straight. In fact, when he was on taxi, that was funny, but when he did the wrestling, that worked. Right. I was not a huge Andy Kaufman guy, unpopular opinion.

I was not a huge Andy Kaufman guy, like Mickey Mouse, maybe to me growing up was a little very much. It had to have a payoff or I didn't, I didn't really get what was going on and when everything was like wrestling was so straight, if it was a long play, I just wasn't grabbing it. And some of his stuff was really appreciated by a lot of comedians. And I was one of the few going, I don't, I like taxi, like taxi. I got to say, what did you think of taxi? I did like this performance and talk. Yeah, it was funny. It was a real character. Yeah. And it was funny the way he talked and the way he acted. That was comedy. And his attempt, I mean, it's really interesting, delighted to hear people talk about it. And he copped and did he desperately look for another gig in being the wrestler?

Did he or did he go nuts and think, you know, I mean, what happened to Ed Huffman? He was wonderful at that. That's a really good question. I don't know. I mean, there was something, it was like live gladatory in theater when he would go there and then he loved playing He was satirizing sort of the big-time wrestling guy being an anarchist in the arena and screaming at the crowd But the late great rob Williams told me a story once a new Andy back in that time And he met him for lunch or somewhere and he noticed that Andy had the wrestling clothes on Underneath his real clothes. This is just him out in the world.

And Robin members saying, oh, Andy, what are you doing? What are you doing? Like, maybe he's maybe he tipped over some place that we don't know where the line between performance and reality. I don't know. But like you're trying to get people that are guessing ahead of what you're doing and you're doing this long play and then you do a joke That's too much of a long play and you start to lose people because you're out thinking everyone and at certain point he lost me

Imagine the courage it took for a dick Sean Yes, I remember very well died on stage. Okay, so you remember the the great joke he told Okay, so you remember the the great joke he told of a there's old grandpa coming up from the civil war Yeah, here he comes yeah, there's the walk spy. Yeah, the grandpa they pretend grandpa walks by He just three minutes preparing you For the grandpa to walk past him. What happens if the audience doesn't laugh? Which yeah must happen. Yeah. Well, I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know if you get away with keeping them. I think there's a lot of anger that floats around in comedy and some of the best comedy. And I do think that Andy had his good measure. I sometimes stay at the park of Meridian in New York and they'll play Chaplain shorts in the elevator. And you just go, there's a lot of paythos,

and it's brilliant, but there's a lot of anger floating around the way he walks and stuff. And comedians sometimes are the bullied ones, sometimes the underdog, and so that always is informing. I mean, I was, before I had therapy, more passive aggressive people pleasing, this was my disease, in my characters the church lady was kind of cruel and have in a funny way Hansen Fran said I could beat you up you'll lose so you just wonder

You know if you turn the sound off and watch certain comedians you just go that's kind of an angry walk, you know Well, and you get named those comedians right now. I know we might get sued Well guys, it's been no we're finished with part one. We'll take a break Bill I just want to say this has been so much fun and I honestly don't know how you're you just don't you seem Decades younger as you articulate and philosophize with us and the strength of your voice. I don't really even understand it I don't even need to have an answer. I'm just observing it. I don't have an answer. I don't have to have an answer Good, I don't know, but I do think just for the rest of us and I remember Lauren Michael saying this you just keep going

There is no retirement in show business, you're just keep going. I let's the truth. You know, you just pay older people. I know. Yeah. But in your case, I don't know anything else. I can't go be a carpenter now. This is it. Right. Right. Right. You know, there is a stage. That's another thing. When you're in your 20s, I've got a grandchildren who want to be actors, you know, they're 15, 16 years old, that'd be an act of minute. So you're 20, 21, you're an actor, you're pretty boy or girl, you've got physical beauty and then you have to be about 30 and you're now half a step behind the 18 year old coming up.

You've got a decision to make. Are you going to continue? So now you're going through your your passages and you go through your thirties and you're still trying to do it now you're in your forties What are you going to do? Okay, I think yeah, I mean you well what about what about the 50s? What happens in the 50s? It's great. In your 50s, well, you're both successful in that you've made a living, you've achieved a modicum of fame, and you have some treasure in your talent and in your bedroom. Like you got white sheets for God's sake.

But there come points in your life that being an actor is, you don't have any skill to fall back on. You can't become a plumber in another, a plumber gains experience and gets to be a better plumber. An actor gains experience and it doesn't matter. Right. You do exactly. When I grew up with all the comedians were old,

it was just different. Bob Hope, Jack Benny, they're all in their 70s. Like, you know, it was a great deal. Yeah, but they manufactured a joke. They had a writer or hopefully some time they wrote it. Yeah. Yeah. And they would make a political joke and it was funny.

So you know, you had a known quantity with a Bob Hope. I want to tell you a Jack Benny. If you guys are, you guys are the Latter-day Bob hopes you'll go to an event and be amusing in your car in your in your comedy You'll work till you're you're what you fall off agent. That's not funny. Dana's Carol Channing you can easy Wow, hello. I once punched I played Regis on a short film and Carol Channing I was running down a street in New York. I go, I gotta go, I gotta get to David Letter, but I'm sorry, I've gotta go.

And Carol Channing was doing a cameo. I'm sorry Carol, I gotta go. And so then I, as Regis, I co-coctored, knocked her down. Sister, stuff you're doing, show. Dave's waiting for me. I'd love to talk to you, I'll just to God, you're one of the greatest,

but I gotta go. I just, I just, I just, I just, I greatest when I got to go. I just love Regis's voice. I mean, it just something about it. You know kid, you're terrific. You do the space things and all your... That's beautiful. You got it. You're tremendous.

You're tremendous job. Everybody's talking about it. You're the talk of the town. You were a captain cook. You're a daddy crate. Who knows where you're going? You're in out of space. Ladies and gentlemen,

William Schent that was here today And I'm telling you something was quite a treat joy, and I would love you very much. I love the charm of you guys You you're you two are wonderful together. You're gonna make a smash We're so glad to have you on and keep doing what you're doing and we'll have you back the next time you go in space We're having you back Take care real good luck.ala pleasure to be well this has been a podcast presentation of cadence 13 please listen then rate review and follow all episodes available now for free wherever you get your podcast no joke folks

flying the wall has been a presentation of Cadence XIII, executive produced by Dana Carvey and David Spade, Chris Corcoran of Cadence XIII, and Charlie Feinen of Brillstein Entertainment. The show's lead producers Greg Holtman with production and engineering support from Serena Regan and Chris Bezel of Cadence XIII. team.