Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - 135. Burt Ward

Episode Date: December 26, 2016

50 years ago, ABC's "Batman" series debuted, launching "Batmania" and introducing the world to a 21-year-old actor named Burt Ward. Burt joins Gilbert and Frank for a look back at one of the most popular and enduring shows in TV history, sharing his memories of co-star/mentor Adam West, Frank Gorshin, Vincent Price and yes, Cesar Romero. Also, Burt spars with Bruce Lee, Adam makes like Moses, Shelley Winters works her charms and Ol' Blue Eyes lobbies for the role of The Joker. PLUS: Lesley Gore! Lorenzo Semple Jr! "Legends of the Superheroes"! Batman meets "The Ghost of Frankenstein"! And Burt and Adam go to a nudist colony! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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and this is Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast. And I'm here with my faithful sidekick and young ward, Frank Santopadre. And we're once again recording at Nutmeg with our engineer, the evil Frank Furtarosa. with our engineer, the evil Frank Furtarosa. Our guest this week is a well-known actor and, watch me fuck this word up, philanthropist. I know how to say piss, so that, it's kind of a bladder problem he has.

And a genuine pop culture icon. Notable TV appearances include The Simpsons, Clueless, Spongebob Square Pants, Futurama, Robot Chicken, The New Hollywood Squares, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien, among others. But to millions of fans and TV viewers, he'll forever be known for defining the role of Robin, the boy wonder on the original and much-beloved Batman television series. Fifty years after first donning the tights, more about that later, he's returned to the role that made him famous in the newly released animated feature, Batman Return of the Caped Crusaders. He's one of the people we've wanted to talk to. Also one of our most requested guests ever since we started this

podcast almost three years ago. And we're pleased to say he's finally here. Holy anticipation. Please welcome to the show the boy wonder himself and quite a philanthropist, Bert Ward. Hello, citizens. Now, can you, Bert, as Gilbert Gottfried, say, I'm Gilbert Gottfried, and we're going to speak to our guest today, Bert Vore. Well, your handler, Roger, told us you'd do a Gilbert impression. Yes. Well, I'm accused of a lot of things. But let me see what I can do.

Well, hello, I'm Gilbert Gottfried, and our guest today is Burt Ward. Pretty good. That'll do. That'll do. Now, we have to, I have to, start off the interview in a way no one can ever follow it. Uh-oh. You're going right in for it, huh? Yeah, I'm going right in for it.

Bert, consider yourself warned. Okay. And I believe you talk about it in the book. Yeah. Okay, and I believe you talk about it in the book Yeah When Batman was the number one show on the air How much pussy were you and Adam West getting? Well, I don't know You know, Catwoman had a lot of cats on the show And, you know, we had, well, all those statuettes of cats.

And we had one of the shows we were chasing, there was a cat house, not like you would participate in, but one that actually had cats for rescue. So, you know, I'm 15 and a half, Gilbert. Oh, Robin's age is fixed. I'm antiseptic and all-American. Well, Bert, in your book, which I'm going to plug here, because it's a fun read, Boy Wonder, My Life in Tights, which you wrote, you co-wrote with Stanley Ralph Ross,

the late great Stanley Ralph Ross. There are a few stories of you and Adam enjoying your fame. Well, you know, that is true. And actually, my book is one of those books you can actually judge by its cover. Yes. I recommend people get it and look at the cover. Yeah, it's terrific. It's full of great stories.

Let's just say that Adam and I have great love and respect for our fans, and we will go to great lengths to please them. And I heard, and I asked Adam about this, that he and the Riddler, Frank Gautian, attended an orgy together, and they were kicked out because they didn't weren't taking it too serious well uh i wouldn't doubt it uh adam and i together uh accidentally wandered into this nudist colony one time but you know we were we couldn't understand we thought they were all in the process of changing to other clothes but they never did oh sandstone in malibu

yes that's in the book oh that's right that's right yeah now was there one person out of the entire nudist colony who was in any way attractive? Oh, actually, yes. Really? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. A lot of very young people. Very, I mean, I guess there was all ages, but mostly young, you know. Wow.

Mid-20s, early 30s, you know, a lot of, and very open-minded, so to speak. Because whenever I see photos or footage of a nude beach, you always go, ooh, these aren't the kind of people I want to see naked. Always a guy who looks like Vic Tabak. Oh, yeah. Well, that gave me a hard time. So you can neither confirm nor deny, Bert, the story about Adam and Gorshin at the... Yeah, I don't know that. You know, the only stories I know are the ones where I was there myself, you know. Can you tell us one of those stories, please, Bert?

Oh, jeez, you know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. You know, my memory fades me when it comes to things of a risque nature. Okay. You and Adam were very close, but was there also a rivalry? Because you hear stories about you guys. I don't know if they're BSs or what but stories about you guys waiting each other out to see who could be the last one to show up on set was that ever true

a lot of people said that yeah but but what happened was one time one time we were both supposed to come out and and i came out of my dressing room ready to go on set, and he wasn't ready, and it was very hot on set. So I went back into the room. Then he came out, and I was thinking that somebody would let me know when he came out, and it was a mix-up. But they made a big to-do of that, as though, you know, we were out trying to outlast each other. We really just wanted to film the scene, but it's so hot in those costumes. And, you know, in those days, they didn't have the cooler lights like they have now. We had these giant arc lamps, and I'm telling you, you could fry eggs under those,

you know, from 20 feet away. It was so hot and so uncomfortable. So we really tried to stay cool as much as possible. You had a story where you were in the Batmobile with who you thought was Adam West. And then when this car was speeding down the road, you looked and it was not Adam West driving. Well, actually, quickly, it was my very first day of filming. The very first shot, 1965. And I came out of makeup and in my Robin costume at about seven in the morning. And they said, we're going to film this scene coming out of the Batcave. And we're going to use Bronson Canyon in Hollywood to film it here. And so we want you to go inside the cave, get in the Batmobile,

and we're going to drive it out and we're going to photograph it. I said, great. So I went and got in the Batmobile. I looked over. It took a moment to adjust to the darkness, but I could see it wasn't Adam. And I said, well, who are you? He said, my name is Hubie. I said, oh, well, what do you do?

He said, well, I'm a stuntman. I said, really? He said, well, who are you? He said, my name is Hubie. I said, oh, well, what do you do? He said, well, I'm a stuntman. I said, really? He said, well, what are you doing here? He said, well, this is a very dangerous shot. And, you know, we don't want to take a chance that Adam West could get hurt. So they hired me to do this. I said, really? I said, that dangerous?

Oh, yeah. And I said, is this a good business that you like being in? He said, oh, let me tell you, the more broken bones I get the more money I make I said oh well now wait a minute this if this is dangerous do I have a stunt man he said oh yeah you have one I said oh great well where is he oh I think he's over having coffee with Adam West I said wait a minute I'm sitting in this car and and you're telling me this is dangerous? Absolutely. We've got to come out of the cave at 55 miles an hour. We're going to go straight for the camera. We're going to make a sharp left turn. And, you know, this is something that, you know,

amateurs shouldn't do. I said, well, wait a minute. I'm an amateur. And so at that point, they were saying, OK, let's lock it up. Getting ready to shoot. I said, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, please come over. So the assistant director came over, and I said, I mean, I understand this is a dangerous shot. Absolutely. I said, well, why aren't you using my stuntman instead of me? He says, we can't use him. I said, why not?

He said, because he doesn't look like you. I said, well he said because he doesn't look like you wait a minute why would you hire a stunt man for to be my stunt man if he doesn't look like me well we couldn't find anybody else I said oh my god so we came out of the cave at 55 miles an hour we went straight for the camera he made the turn perfectly but unexpectedly my door flew open, and the centrifugal force was throwing me out of the door. I reached behind me, and I grabbed the gear shift knob with my little finger, and it kept me from falling out, but it pulled my little finger completely out of joint, so it was not in the joint. It was incredibly painful. It knocked

the camera guy off the camera truck it knocked a big arc lamp over they stopped everybody rushed over they they picked me up because like now I was just bent over in pain and they looked at my hand they said my god even through the glove your hand is like twice the size I said I know I don't know what it is but it's killing me they said we got to get you to the hospital I said great thank you and they, we'll do that just as soon as we get the shot. I said, what do you mean the shot? I'm not going now. No, no, we got, we got 80 guys on the crew. This is costing us $35,000 an hour. We got to get the shot first. I said, oh my God. And well, long story short, that was 730 in the morning. And I got to the hospital at noon.

Wow. And they fixed it, and I came back. But that was day one of four days in a row that I ended up going to the emergency hospital from third-degree burns, explosions, every horrible thing you can imagine. I mean, for example, one of the days I'm tied on a table in a subway and Batman's supposed to break through the subway wall oh yeah that's the pilot yes this is all the pilot the first episode right so what happens is uh uh uh Batman is supposed to break through this wall by setting a charge well they were supposed to build a breakaway wall and you know with balsa wood so you know a small charge would blow everything apart

and he would rush in and rescue me. Well, the problem is the people that built the set forgot to build a breakaway wall. So now you had a real wall no different than your house. And there's no time to two or three weeks to build a breakaway wall. So what did the special effects guys do in their infinite wisdom? They used two half sticks of dynamite and nearly blew the entire soundstage down. Is this where the two by four fell on your face? And you fell on my nose and broke my nose.

But let me tell you something, Gilbert, just a piece of advice. If you're tied down on a table and you can't move your arms and the special effects guys shooting, getting ready for the shot, walk past you. And in my case, you smell liquor on their breath. You know, that's a bad sign. Liquor and dynamite, a bad combo, Bert. Very bad, especially at 730 in the morning. That could have easily have killed a few people. Or worse.

Well, you were burned in the is it the Mr. Freeze episode? No, no, no, no. There's a lot more in this episode. So that was the next day. Then the next day after that, we're supposed to climb out of a burning car. In this case, they made a death mask of me. And as Jill St. John was supposed to dress up as Robin, that was really me. And so they have this car turned over on the side and it was supposed to burn. And out comes the Riddler. He climbs up and jumps down. And then I'm underneath

him, you know, in a burning car. And I'm supposed to climb up and jump down too but when I got up there and just before I started to jump the car unexpectedly blew up and all I remember was that ground was coming at my face like unbelievably fast and oh that was a second degree burns in the back of my neck and my arms back to the hospital again that was the second day then the next day or third day then the next day I'm in the I swear I didn't think I was going to survive the first episode the next day they're shooting this quarter of a million dollar shot this is a one-time shot and believe me in 1965 a quarter of a million dollar shot is like a two and a half million dollar shot today so there's no second takes and what this was

is that Batman had just been drugged in the Whiskey-A-Go-Go sure and and I'm supposed to be coming out of the car to rescue him and the Riddler shoots me with a dart in the arm and I fall back into the passenger seat and then Frank Gorshin as a Riddler comes and tries to start the Batmobile and all the fireworks go off. And they said, Bert, no matter what you do, no matter what, don't you dare move. This will ruin the shot. There's no way to fix it. You've got to do this. So what happens? I didn't move. Fireworks go up. But guess what? They also come down. And now they're burning through my cape. They're burning into my arm where it wasn't protected by the glove. They're burning into my undershorts.

And, you know, I nearly went nuts over that. So this was a very painful experience and all kinds of burns. And I'm back at the hospital. This doctor keeps saying to me, you must be very accident prone. You know, this is the fourth day in a row you've been here I swear I didn't think I was going to survive the first episode but you know what the what the

studio did they were very smart what they did after that was take out a very large life insurance policy and I'm telling you by the last couple of episodes I swear they were trying to collect on that policy it's one of the funny runners in the book that Adam's stuntman is doing everything, UB Kearns, and they're saying with you, just use Bert. That's right. If it's ever really dangerous. But if it wasn't dangerous, they could use my stuntman. Yeah. So did they ever use your stuntman?

They used him. He didn't look much like you. You wouldn't always tell when you watch the series. Well, his nose looked like Cyrano de Bergerac. You can always tell that it's him and not you in the fight scenes. Yes, and actually, they did choreograph the fight scenes because they were like a ballet, and the fight scenes went on for like two or three minutes. And my stuntman was a fantastic guy.

He was also an expert swordsman. So where they could use him, they would. But really, because he didn't look like me, yeah, what a great guy. He was a dear friend. But I had to do the majority of my stunts. Incredible. You got hurt a lot. Oh, my.

So much. I couldn't believe it. And there's so many dangerous things that they don't do now. Like, for example, I was on top of a soundstage. If you've ever been up a soundstage, I mean, just going up to the top in these creaky old wooden stairs that you can see through them and you're going up 65 feet and you get up there, you know, I mean, only a monkey would feel comfortable up there. And you get up there and you get out on this thing and they say, now look, Bert, there's a fight scene. We've got some good stuntmen here.

They're not going to drop you, but we have to hang you over the end of the soundstage. I said, you're not hanging me over the end of that sound. I'm not going to trust your stuntman has got greasy fingers for meeting a hamburger. You know what drops me? I made him tie my leg to a pole. Wow. So that if they did let go, at least, you know, I wouldn't get killed.

What about that Catwoman episode? Are you actually dangling? Tell me you're not dangling over a pit with the actual tigers in there. That is real. And let me tell you something. Three wild Bengal tigers. No, there's a real backstory to that. And you have to understand the camera crew were 15 feet above me in a steel cage.

Right? They're in a steel cage 15 feet above me. The cats can jump 25 feet. And I was 12 feet above them. And what happened was they were like snarling and they would tap around me to get them to and and and the director said oh no this is not working you know can you hang meat over his head and they hung meat over my head and they're jumping up at my face and I'm turning and twisting against the bonds and they afterwards they said, that was so realistic. Well, yeah. I mean, like, I nearly got killed.

Very realistic. It was a very dangerous show. You are a gutsy man, my friend. Either that or not very smart or both. So do you have a lot of lifelong injuries now from the show? No, just my ego. Didn't the sidecar? I was was very lucky I was very resilient uh very my been very athletic my whole life is a black belt in karate yeah in fact a piece of trivia for you um I used to live in the same complex of condominiums as Bruce Lee yeah we were gonna

ask you about Bruce yeah he and I used to spar together and i mean he was an incredible martial artist but a piece of trivia is that bruce lee's first filmed fight scene of his career was fighting me oh and the piece of the action that's great and and you know that was uh uh it was it was terrific it was great and and i remember when um when brandon his son was only six months of old of age and he and brandon and his wife linda we all went down into chinatown because bruce had lived in hong kong for a number of years he knew all the most authentic foods to order and custom made and stuff like that he was really an amazing martial artist and he was a very nice man. And we just, since you brought up Bruce,

we just lost Van Williams. I know. That said, he was an incredibly nice man too. Yeah. And God, you know, it's hard. I mean, it's hard to see people and look today we lost Zsa Zsa Gabor. I was just telling everybody.

She was on our show too. Interesting anniversary. December 20th, 67 was the last day to production for you guys. The last day, the last day of filming. No, I think it was June of 68. Was it really? Yeah, because remember we had three seasons. We did 120 episodes and the last season was 26 episodes that were finished in

june of 68 okay i got bad information i'm going off of that new batman coffee table book that just came out oh well you know but jaja was yeah was the last villain yeah she she could have been you know and but we had some great stars i mean gosh you know and I know you've talked to Adam and and Julie and we've had some of the greatest actors of all time yeah I mean for history buffs of course like in one of the episodes where we had Tallulah Bankhead as Black Widow yeah I mean one of the one of the actors in in the scene with her was George Raff I remember I mean wow my gosh I mean you know and I remember as a kid yeah exactly being scared of these people watching them on television and in movies and here all of a sudden I'm working with him and and then Vincent Price oh my gosh

when he came on the set I was like oh you know and yet he was the nicest man in the world but oh man we we had a heck of a fight scene uh that that he and I had on uh on on that egghead show where Adam and he Adam and Vincent played a trick on me I don't know if you know about that where I had a scene where Vincent had me around the neck kind of a neck hold and he was taking an egg and break it on my head and then he would have a line and then Adam was supposed to answer and then he egg and break it on my head and then he would have a line and then Adam was supposed to answer and then he'd break another egg on my head it was like three or four eggs during their dialogue and the two of them messed up like 11 takes I mean I had like 40 eggs and going down my underwear I mean down my neck talk about an about an egg shampoo. Anyway, I was so angry. Because I saw them goofing up, and I really believed that it was not an accident.

So I was supposed to pick up a box of eggs and throw it at Vincent once I got loose. Well, what I did, I was so angry, I picked up that dozen eggs, and I hit him on his egg head so hard it moved his egg so his egg was tilted for the rest of that scene yeah now you know I have to ask you you're talking about all these legends what were you 1920 at the time yeah I was 20 going on 21 I actually had to go to court to get my contract approved and you're sharing the screen with vincent price and and and george raft and liberace and caesar romero and all of these virgin the great marie's evans great shakespearean actors yeah morris evans and and then there were so many stars that wanted to be on the show

that they couldn't get them all on the show so that's why they created the scene of going up the side of the building when someone opened a window whether it was Sammy Davis Jr. or Dick Clark or Don Ho Jerry Lewis white Jerry Lewis I mean you know it was like the thing and even then they couldn't get all the stars on the show that wanted to be on is it true the rumor that Frank Sinatra was trying to get on I've I heard he wanted to be. He wanted to be the Joker, but they'd already cast Cesar Romero, who was fantastic. And, you know, Cesar with that mustache of his, you know, which they put the white face paint over. I mean, it was hilarious. Because he refused to shed it.

And every one of these guys loved it. They loved being on Batman. And I assure all of our listeners, I will be telling the Cesar Romero story again during the show. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast. But first, a word from our sponsor. This episode is brought to you by Secret. Secret deodorant gives you 72 hours of clinically proven odor protection free of aluminum, parabens, dyes, talc, and baking soda. It's made with pH balancing minerals and crafted with skin conditioning oils. So whether you're going for a

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You're in for a treat, Bert. Okay. He's going to see. We'll do it now. All right. We'll get it out of the way. Frank Verderosa, I need a drum roll, please. Bert, I'm going to warn you for the second time.

a drum roll, please. Bert, I'm going to warn you for the second time. The Cesar Romero story. Now, Cesar Romero, if I don't know if I've ever told this on this show. Never once. No. He, you know, he was

like, played always like the Latin lover. Absolutely. But he himself was gay in real life. What's that? Yeah, but, and to quote Jerry Seinfeld, not that there's anything wrong with that. But Cesar Romero, it is by legend, used to gather a bunch of boy toys together.

And he pulled down his pants and underwear. And some claim he just like stand on the floor like that. Others said he would stand ankle deep in warm water. Really? He would instruct these boy toys to fling orange wedges at his naked ass. Really? Now,

I wish this was a visual podcast and the world could see the look on Burt Ward's face right now. I'm trying to get a grip on myself. So are you asking Burt to deny this or confirm it? Yes. Well, I never saw anything like that. All I saw was him dressed in that Joker outfit, and he was every bit a gentleman on set.

I mean, you would never know whatever he did in his private life. Did he smell like orange juice? No, no, no, no. But I did notice him drinking that at the craft services table. There you go. So we have proof. You know what's funny, Bert? The comic books now, the 66 comic books,

the artists have actually gone to the trouble of drawing, of illustrating Caesar with a mustache. You can see the traces of the mustache under the makeup. Oh, absolutely. It's become part of the lore. Listen, this Batman 66 comic book series is a huge hit. I mean, it is, you know, they've drawn Adam and I to look like us instead of the comic book characters traditionally. They've got so much great stuff. And, and you know there's so much merchandise out there there are these these

caricatures of us that i swear look totally real and then of course like in las vegas and well and other places gambling casinos now have an 11 and a half foot tall batman and robin one-armed bandit with our photos on there that's great now just coming out this month is uh a fantastic pinball machine uh from stern pinball that is a batman pinball machine like you can't even imagine adam and i uh recorded over 300 lines of dialogue that is actually in the machine. Plus, that machine has got an HD television built into it. So while you're playing the pinball, you're watching our series and you're watching our movie. And in addition to that, it has a projector that projects the bat signal

on the wall behind the pinball machine. Somebody really was creative. I would kill to own the pinball machine. Somebody really was creative. I would kill to own that pinball machine. Also, the DVDs, they look terrific, I have to say. Oh, I got to tell you, Warner Brothers did the most. Warner Brothers did an amazing job because that footage, even, you know, they went and they reprinted all of those 35 35 millimeter prints but they cleaned them up and the sound is so fabulous i can't believe what what a great job warner brothers did it was fantastic it's a beautiful looking show too to go back and look at the production design and the costumes and the color you know because of course in those days you the little tease was batman in color exactly and it

was a show that took advantage of of color and i tell you, Gil, I bought the box set, and they look absolutely wonderful. You find yourself wanting to go back and look at some of them? Well, I do look at them. I do see them. And you know something? It brings back great memories. I actually see things that I had forgotten. Because, you know, you do 120 episodes at six days per episode.

That's a lot of your life that you have there yeah as a kid when I would watch it I was always looking forward to the Frank Ocean as the Riddler he's wonderful oh with his rubber face I mean Frank was fantastic he he was such a funny guy he came to my house years later and and you know, he met all our dogs. He was deathly afraid of dogs. But he was such a nice man. Oh, my God. And so innocent in the way he thinks.

You know what I mean? And so, I mean, that's what made him such a great comedian because he had a natural naivete that, you know, he would look at things and it wasn't from any filtered position. It was just like open and discovering things. He was such a nice man. I really adored him. And, you know, everybody on our show, Adam and I got along with and Adam and I were best friends. We've always been great friends. You know, it's got a lot of wonderful memories. It really does. Gorshin was also you know we talk about it on this show we've had Rich Little on here and Will Jordan and some of the great impressions that used to do the copycats with Frank I don't remember that show yes I heard

yeah and he was also a master impressionist the best Burt Lancaster oh yeah the best Kirk Douglas yeah uh oh and um oh the guy he looks just like. Oh, Richard Widmark. Yes. Yeah. And he was nominated for an Emmy for The Riddler. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. And his laugh was fantastic. I mean, I don't even know where it came from, but it was fabulous. Yeah. bit of trivia here that appeals to me. Is that one of the directors

who used to direct a lot of Batman was George Wagner. Yes. And he also directed The Wolfman, the original Wolfman. He sure did. And produced Ghost of Frankenstein. Wow. Did you know that he

worked with Lon Chaney Jr.? Wow. That's fantastic. Legend worked with Lon Chaney Jr.? Wow. That's fantastic. Yeah. Legendary director. Oh, we had some great directors. I mean, everybody, the crews, the cameramen, these were the best of the best. We really had wonderful people.

I always thought when Burgess Meredith was on as the Penguin, they should have had Lon Chaney Jr. do a guest appearance. Oh, that would have been great. That would have been great. What I was starting to ask you, Bert, as you were young, you were 20 going on 21. I mean, did it occur to you at the time? I mean, in a sense, were you too young to appreciate the people you were sharing the screen with? Oh, no.

Oh, no. You were. I was like a kid in the candy store. I was the kid in the candy store where every single one of these stars I was in of, you know, I don't think I could ever have gotten a better introduction to the industry than the, you know, experiences I had on Batman. They were pretty terrific. I got to admit. Can you say who you thought was the sexiest Catwoman, Julie Newmar or Lee Merriweather? Well, I will just say this because they're both beautiful women, that Julie

Newmar was the one who created the imagery that we think of with a Catwoman, everything was perfect. And her style was just great. So I would have to say that most people, because they watched the show, certainly some people saw our movie, but the ones that saw the show in reruns, I think they would have to say that Julie personified Catwoman. Something I've always wanted to ask you and Adam, Bert, when you first saw the scripts, when you first read Lorenzo Semple's pilot script, which people rave about, and of course, Lorenzo Semple, a great writer, I mean, Three Days of the Condor and Parallax View and so many other great things. What did you think? I mean, again, you were a kid.

It was really your first role. When you read that, did you think this is going to be a novelty thing and it's going to burn out or this is going to be something big? Nobody had an idea what it was. You have to understand this was a mid-season replacement for ABC. And in fact, none of us had seen or heard anything. So when January 12th, 1966, I had gone home after filming and sat there waiting for the show to come on. I really didn't know what to expect. But from the minute I saw the graphics, the opening, and you hear the Batman theme music, I am telling you, I knew this was going to be something really special. You did.

Really special. Yeah, that was Neil Hefty. Neil Hefty's theme. Oh, yeah, Neil Hefty's theme. And what about the Pows and the Zaps? Very clever. I mean, it was so ahead of its time. We used to say that we put on our tights to put on the world and that we were the only

superheroes that wore our underwear on the outside of our clothes right and and what's funny now uh superheroes are getting beyond serious to pretentious you know everything's and back then it was like just having fun with it. Exactly. You know, there are a lot of shows have copied us, but they have never had, in my opinion, the appeal that we had. And, you know, I got to be honest with you, in my opinion as well, there was a chemistry that Adam and I have together that through the years, honestly, we could just show up someplace and not even be talking. And people see us together and they start laughing. And it's like, oh, my God, is my zipper open? What's going on? Why are people laughing? I'm not even saying anything. But it's because he has this amazing stoic, you know, I mean, he thinks of himself like Winston Churchill.

He's a funny man. Oh, you know, and everything is so big and so grand. And I'm like the kid that, you know, just come right out and say this and say that. And you know what I mean? And he's like, it's kind of like a comedy duo. You know, it's almost like a Laurel and Hardy or one of the great comic duos. And it was a natural thing.

And the more stoic and stiff he was, the more flexible and unexpected I was. And we really played off that and it worked. I mean, people loved our characters. Did they ever tell you Robert Butler directed the pilot or any of the other directors in the early going? Did they say to you guys, look, this is a comedy, but we want to play it straight? Or did Dozier give you guys any specific direction about the way he wanted the show to be played? Or did you guys find it? No, I'll tell you what it was. In my my case because I don't know what they said to Adam

but in my case when they hired me they came to me and they said would you like to know why we hired you and I said sure because they said we've interviewed more than 1100 young actors for this role but the reason we picked you Bert is in our minds, if there really was a Batman and Robin, I mean, really, not a television show, but a real Robin, that you personally would be it. So we don't want you to, quote, act. We want you to be yourself and be enthusiastic. And that's all we want. So that's what I did and I was not limited you know

the things that I did like jumping over the door into the Batmobile or jumping out of the Batmobile or taking my fist and hitting it into my palm all of those mannerisms were mine nobody said oh Nobody said, oh, do this. You know, they were so concerned with so many visual and special effects to this timing and that timing and getting this thing to work that they never got. Nobody ever discussed my character with me. Okay. And they just seemed to like it, whatever it was. They liked it. And of all the seasons. Well, that was another thing Batman extremely successful show but it didn't run that long well it ran for three

years prime time twice a week for the first two years and you have to understand this was a decision based on money not on ratings batman was losing about three hundred thousand dollars a week uh and in 1966 67 and 68 that's like three million dollars a week now and they it was a business decision they made enough that they could you know show reruns for the next hundred years and recoup their money. And that was a business decision. But also there was another problem because the cost was so high. We had a situation where we had a unit direct a unit production manager who really is like a bean counter to keep things going and stuff. who really is like a bean counter to keep things going and stuff.

And he begged the studio that if they would just let him direct the shows, he would bring everything in on budget. And for the last season, he did. But the sacrifice was the creativity and the quality and the charm that made Batman so loving to so many people. And, you know, so as a result of that you pay a price you know if you do things right ultimately I believe you're going to get the best results but if you try to cut corners you know you end up with something that isn't uh isn't what you thought you were making well as a lover of the show and I I defy anyone to find a bigger fan of the original show

than I am the uh the last season it's it's it's tough to watch in certain respects because you can see the budget cuts exactly the villains layers have been cut down to a staircase over a black backdrop and all the wonderful sets and the production design and the costumes and the effects yeah oh yeah jokes. I mean, the only one laughing at the jokes was the director who thought what he did was so great. What about it wasn't? What about this rumor, Bert, that and I hear it a lot that was it NBC that supposedly was going to pick up the show, but sets had been destroyed. Is that exactly. Yes. Yeah. But the set on Batman was over eight hundred thousand dollars and NBC was going to pick it up and wanted it. But when they heard that the bat, you know, bat cave had been destroyed, they said, you know, it's too much risk, you know, to recreate that and try to start off fresh. And do you have any idea how many times and how many variations you did on holy something?

Well, I had 387 holies. See, he's kept track. Holy barracuda. Holy ashtray. Holy smoke. Holy showcase. Holy haberdashery. Holy smoke. Holy showcase. Holy haberdashery. Holy popcorn.

Holy lodestone. Holy flypaper. Holy kofash. Holy jack-in-the-box. Holy red herring. Holy stuffy. Holy ravioli. Holy serpentine.

Holy grammar. Holy safari. Holy headlines. Holy iceberg. Holy blizzard. Holy schizophrenia. All of of those were I was allowed to do it the way I wanted I mean I honestly I didn't have it the only restriction I had was okay when when when Adam says this line you need to be over there and then you guys need to

go do this at the end of the scene I mean mean, that's the kind of restriction. I didn't have any characterization restrictions. I could do what I want. And I did. And it's so funny because after the show, when I meet people and I'd just be talking, they say, oh my God, you sound like yourself. You know what I mean? And oh, the mannerisms you have.

It's exactly like Robin. Well, yeah, you know, because it was really me. And you auditioned with not just Adam West, but also Lyle Wagner. Oh, yeah, that's good trivia, too. Yeah, well, I guess it came down to a point where Lyle Wagner and a young actor named Peter Dyle were auditioning. You could actually see it on the Internet. Yeah, it's on YouTube. And Adam and I auditioned together. And if you really watch the difference in our

performances, one was played very straight, which would have made it like another television show. And the other one was played with this subtlety and the innuendo and the, and all of the things that made people love Batman. And I honestly, I telling you it, it was the relationship that we created that actually we didn't plan it. I mean, Adam is a wild man. You got to understand what you're dealing with there.

Okay. And, and, and he, but, oh, and it, what made him, he made him like Peter Sellers in the sense that, you know, Peter Sellers was so great because everything he said was so funny, and yet he

played it so sincere, like he was just, you know, in being there in these other movies he did. And Adam is kind of like that in the real life, you know what I mean? He thinks of himself in such grand terms he he talks about the three b's okay Batman the Beatles you know what I mean and uh I mean it just you know oh and Bond and Bond yeah right Bond you know he told us he was offered Bond yeah I mean one time it really got me okay I? I mean, I really, really got it. I had enough when he was telling me that he really understood what it felt like to play Batman when he watched Charleston Heston play Moses. You know, coming down from the Sermon on the Mount with the Word of God.

You know what I mean? You know? Yeah. You know, I mean, he said, you know, I really understand it. He says now, especially when he parted the Red Sea. Okay. And I said, Adam, let me tell you something. The closest you ever came to parting the Red Sea was parting some redhead's legs.

You know, I mean. Wow. See, now that's what I wanted at the beginning. Now you're playing into his hands Bert you know Adam's a very funny but I heard Gilbert was very conservative and shy and retiring I remember what really let me know what type of show Batman was back then was I it always stuck with me there was a scene where Batman and Robin run into a bank, and they have to do really important business with the teller, you know, to help capture the

criminal. And the teller goes, oh, Batman, come ahead of all these people. And Adam West goes, And Adam Moss goes, oh, no, I'll wait on line with these other good citizens. Yes, exactly. But we did that all the time, even in our new Batman movie where, you know, we're supposed to chase after the villains. And he says, no, no, Robin, we can't go there. We have to use the crosswalk. You're in a hot pursuit of heinous villains going to destroy the earth. But we got to go through the crosswalk. You're in a hot pursuit of heinous villains going to destroy the earth, but we got to go through the crosswalk. Well, there was always that stuff. Put your seatbelt on. Oh, yes. A couple of times. I think there's one where you're talking about Catwoman and he commends you

because she's asleep in the Batmobile the time you brought her into the Batcave. Oh, no, that's Batgirl. Oh, is it Batgirl? That's right. It's Batgirl. Oh, is it Batgirl? Yeah, it's Batgirl. Let me tell you that story. You're noticing women for the first time. Oh, yeah, well, that's true. We had brought in Batgirl and, you know, we had to give her this knockout Batgas so she wouldn't know where the Batcave was. That's right. And then on the way out, we gave her some more knockout gas and we're in the Batmobile. Batman, of course, you know, in the driver's seat. I'm in the passenger seat and Yvonne Craig, who played Batgirl, was in between us and she was, you know, knocked out. And I had a simple line like, gosh, Batman, you know, Batgirl is very pretty. And his original

line was something like, well, I'm glad you noticed, Robin, it shows that you're growing up or something mundane like that. Well, what did Adam do? Okay, he is so shrewd. Don't be kidding. Let me tell you, this guy is really shrewd. He messed up 13 takes. And you know, the great thing about Adam, he'd been around doing stuff so long that he knew how long he could stretch the elastic.

You know, he knew that he could get them at the point where they're going to use that next take no matter what because they had to or people are going to get fired the director would never be hired again I mean he knew exactly what he was doing so when that and I knew there's something going on here because he doesn't normally even mess up a one take much less 13 takes so here came that last 14th take and I said gosh Batman know, Batgirl is really very pretty. And he said, I'm glad you noticed, Robin. It shows the oncoming thrust of manhood.

Yeah, that's what you got away with. Oh, not too long, about a week. And then the censors had us in and they're yelling at us in the at the production studio. I mean, we were in so much trouble with the censors every week for something that we did or we allegedly did or it looked improper. I mean, you know, it was a lot of a lot of craziness. Didn't Stanley Ralph Ross try to sneak curse words and other languages? Oh, he did. He did.

Which I love him for. Oh, he did. He did. Which I love him for. Oh, I love. Listen, he had a great, great show that he wrote for Catwoman, okay, where he introduced a new character played by Leslie Gore. Oh, Pussycat. The famous singer. Sure. Pussycat.

And he had the greatest line for her where she meets me and she says hi robin i said who are you she says i'm pussycat but you can call me cat shall i steal your voice or end your life whichever you decide i'm sure it'll be the wrong choice. You've a pretty sharp tongue for a man about to say goodbye to this world, Batman. Beg, beg for your mortal existence. I'd rather die than beg for such a small favor as my life.

What are you waiting for? Can't you see how I feel about you, Batman? How I want you and Stanley was the editor of my book that I wrote okay and I love Stanley oh my I mean this man had a mind oh he could see humor and things that were just so far out there and he just did a you know I just love being in his presence he was one of the great friends that I had he owned that burger place in LA Hamptons for years oh I know I would go in there made the best burgers oh yep yep yep the great Stanley Ralph Ross is it true you were offered uh or considered for uh the graduate well let me explain what happened was um during the hiatus of my right after the batman movie it was the second season that larry turman a producer

was producing a small movie at fox wanted me to be in it i thought wow what a great chance for me to be in a film this is the same. They're not going to say no. It's during our hiatus. It doesn't conflict with anything, but they wouldn't let me do it because they didn't want to dilute the success of Batman. And of course that little film turned out to be the graduate. So when they couldn't get me, they got a guy named Dustin Hoffman.

And the rest is history. Burt Ward could have been Benjamin Braddock. And I have to get back to one of those other topics that interests me. Uh-oh. Since you were both wearing rather tight shorts. Yes. rather tight shorts yes there was a problem with how much uh the audience could would be able to uh decently look at and the catholic league raised some objections yes yes so they they thought well you know first of all man was not built for tight scott gilbert you know what i mean

and so you know although i'll tell you something as bad as my problem was trying to make everything look smaller, Adam had the opposite problem. They told him that he was so flat in the front that they wanted to put Turkish towels in his undershorts. So did they have you wearing like two jock straps at one oh they tried everything and you know we had some uh some gentlemen at the time in the wardrobe department they were perhaps a little light in their loafers and that was the that was the big thing for them I mean they wanted every god-awful contraption but I'll tell you none of it worked until they found this quack doctor that gave me these pills. And that's for real. That's not a joke.

And I took them for a couple of days, and then I thought, no, if I ever get married, I'll never be able to have children. So I stopped taking them, and I used my cape to cover. So these pills were to shrink your penis? Yes. Yes. Yep. Yep. And I'll tell you something.

What made it harder is because everybody on the set knew about this, right? It was like the big joke. And we were doing this three-part episode called the Londinium Larceny. Oh, sure. In which they had all these beautiful girls that were the henchmen's nieces or whatever you want to call it. Yeah, and they were all purposely bumping against me. There were scenes they're grabbing, you know, and they unfortunately grabbed the wrong play.

I mean, they were really trying to get a rise out of me, so to speak. What happened? Was it the Catholic League? Do I have it right? That objected? Catholic Legion of Decency. The Catholic Legion of Decency. It was an unnatural bulge in my shorts.

Is that what it was? An unnatural bulge. Yeah, Gorshin had a few in the Riddler suit, too. Yeah, I mean, it was pretty hard, you know, to wear a costume that tight- you know unless you're adam see what i can't understand what i can't understand is how come they can create a pill to make your penis smaller but they still haven't come out with a successful pill to make it bigger. Well, I guess they have to go to the Chinese and see if they can re-engineer it.

Like they're doing with that drone that they captured underwater. They're re-engineering our drones. Bert, there's a story in the book that I think Gilbert would be interested in because you know what he's interested in now. You can pretty much tell. I know where his head is at yes

you want to tell uh tell them about uh the Shelly Winters story from the book oh well actually Shelly Winters was a great actress and you know very famous but I had been forewarned about her that oh Bert you better, you better watch out. She's going to come after you. I said, come on. You're not going to come after me. Oh, you don't know Shelly Winters. And you know something? She really was very nice.

However, she did bring me a book that she gave to me at the end of the first day and asked me to read it. It was called The Delights of Older Women. See, there you go, Gil. There's one for you. I have to ask you too, Bert. You know, I've never seen a Batman blooper reel. Oh, my gosh. I guess it doesn't exist.

But did you guys laugh a lot? Was it hard to be straight-faced? And I'm sure you've been asked this question. I mean, you're being consumed by a giant clam, and you're trapped in a snow cone. Oh, well, no, but there's other ones. And, you know, what happens is when you're under the hot lights, and, you know, towards the end of the day, and you've been shooting all day long, and, I mean, in between every shot, by the way, the makeup people come out,

and the hairdressers come out, more hairspray in the hair. I mean, I got to be where I like I thought I had a concrete mask on my head. But but and the makeup people, the makeup on top of makeup, on top of makeup. Anyway, there was a scene one time that Adam and I, we really got ourselves into a mess where we couldn't stop laughing. And what it was, it was a cat woman. It was a cat woman scene where cat woman had left these two gold cat woman statues. And we were supposed to make a map out of them. You know, we're supposed to position them in a, you know, in a way. And Adam is trying to position them, and I'm trying to figure out what to do,

and of course, Adam, with his very fertile mind, came up with a numerical position, one number less than 70, and I started crying and laughing. He started crying and laughing, and we couldn't stop because we were so hot in the costume and sweating and and you get delirious you know what I'm saying and yeah and when he starts laughing his eyes cross in that mask you know what I mean and and you see him cross-eyed in the Batman cowl makes me laugh you know and every time I would laugh he would laugh and and this director was hilarious his

name was Oscar Rudolph such a nice man he came up panicking he says you two guys are going to laugh me out of the business he was in terror that we we couldn't stop laughing you and you and Adam have very funny chemistry and I said even as you said even then but uh I urge people to look at some of the interviews of you guys on YouTube. Even now, you've got a great act that you've developed over the years. Listen, we go out together and we make these big appearances at these convention centers. And purposely, when we go in to do the panels, we never in advance discuss anything. But I'll tell you what it's become it's getting a little more risque each time because he knows that I'm going to tease him about something

embarrassing and he's going to tease me about something embarrassing and you know what happens we're using double meaning language sometimes on in front of people and guess what they love it they know what's going on they know that even though they may not know all the facts they know that I am taunting the hell out of him and that he's doing it back to me but in in love I mean and in great respect with each other you know what I'm saying yeah I mean he talks about the fact that one of the reasons is he's able to stay so virile at 88 is because he eats our gentle giants dog food okay the dog food that you manufacture that's right which by the way we have double the lifespan of dogs which is pretty amazing uh but he he uses that because

he and actually he uses our dog food for his dog, too. But it's just that we both have a lot of fun together. I mean, you have to understand we genuinely love each other as human beings, you know, and so many great memories together. So many funny things. I can't tell you how many towns we've been asked never to come back to visit because of messes that we've gotten ourselves in. Oh, it goes on and on. Yes. Yeah.

It's worth the read for those stories. Gil, do you want to ask Bert about the Legends of the Superheroes or the famous, the infamous roast? Oh, my God. Or the Solomon Grundy scene where they. Wow. Yeah, that was the legends of the superheroes. And then there was the, it, it,

it is, is a, it's a painful show to watch, but it's fascinating. And there's one scene where, uh, Solomon Grundy is, uh,

getting into a fight with you and, and Batman. And you're waiting for something to actually happen and batman and robin just kind of casually walk away yeah yeah that was not one of our biggies but it's fun to see you up there with charlieis and Gorshin and Howard Morris and all these comedy icons. Oh, it was fun to do that. You know, another movie we did together was our CBS Sunday Night Movie of the Week. Oh, the Back to the Batcave.

Yeah, you know, the misadventures of Adam and Bert that were based upon our books. You know what I mean? And that was fun, too. A lot of people love that yeah because i remember in the uh roast one they invent this character ghetto man do you remember ghetto man yeah i i i try to forget those memories tell us about the uh tell us about the dogs tell us about your charity great well you know great day my wife and i thank you my my wife and i for the last 22 years have rescued more than

15,500 dogs every one of them would have been put to death oh good for you in there good for you and how we got started was because we when we moved to we live, we had heard that Great Danes, the rescue, the lady who had been doing it, had passed on and that all these beautiful, gentle giants were being put to sleep in animal shelters. And my wife and I, I mean, you got to understand, the character I played on Batman, you know, I like to say I was the cape crusader and now I'm the canine crusader it's saving lives it's really not all that different except one is is you know entertainingly done and the other one is the real thing so long story short we I said to my wife Tracy I said look we can't let these dogs die why don't we just for a couple of weeks, right? Just a couple of weeks, we'll find somebody to take over this rescue. Let's save them. Well, by the end of the first month, not only had we not found anybody, but we had over a hundred at our house, including 62 puppies under seven weeks of age. And what has happened through the

years while still looking for somebody to take them over, we now have 45 breeds instead of one breed, all right, from tiny two-pound dogs all the way up to 300-pound giants. And what we found out was because of dealing with giant breeds that only live six to eight years or seven to nine years, depending on the breed, when we would lose a dog, we would literally cry. I mean that sincerely. And both of us said, we're going to find a way. We're going to do something to help these magnificent, loving creatures live longer because people love their dogs. And you know, you got to admit, dog is man's best friend, whether you had the best day at work or the worst, that dog loves you unconditionally.

So what we first discovered was by the way we feed and care for them, we added three years on average to a dog's life. That's actually pretty dramatic when you have a Great Dane that's only living seven to nine years. Now they're living 10 to 12. But then we said, we can't really go any further if we don't change the food. And when we went to make the food, we had no intention of selling it. This was just taking care of our own dogs. And we couldn't stand to see them dying so young. So we hired four of the top nutritionists we could find. We said, we don't care what it costs. I mean,

we're, thank goodness, we're able to afford whatever we want to do in life. And I said, make this great food for the dogs. Well, when they made the food, I thought, well, you know, if they do a great job, we can pull out another year, maybe a year and a half. We had no idea what we were going to find out. And I'll tell you what we found out that is so upsetting and it has changed our lives forever. And here's what we found out that all the dog food companies that make dog food, they're for profit and there's nothing wrong with that, but they all know something the average person doesn't know, which is the more fat content you put in dog food, the hungrier it makes dogs. hungrier the dogs are the more likely people are to feed them more and have to go buy more interesting and the coating on most dog

foods is like um lard you know the white stuff you see on a steak that you would never eat okay the next day and i say to people all the, would you ever consider pouring bacon grease down your garbage disposal? Of course not. It would clog it. It would ruin it. I said, well, you go feel your dog food. And when you feel that greasy feel on the outside and you realize that every single kibble is encapsulated in grease, what do you think is happening to your dog's intestines you're killing them every time you're feeding them so you manufacture a healthy dog food and

and uh yeah we don't add any fat okay and because ours is low fat at nine percent instead of 12 to 22 percent dogs like our food without us having to spray all that gook on the outside of it. If you felt our dog food, it's bone dry. It's not greasy. But here's how it works that's the most exciting thing. When dogs eat Gentle Giants, which is the name of our dog food, okay, this dryness, when it goes into their intestines, actually absorbs the grease that's been accumulating from eating other dog foods.

It absorbs it. And when your dog goes to the bathroom, it takes it out of the dog's body. In four to five weeks, everybody tells me, I don't recognize my dog. My dog is more alert than I've ever seen. My dog feels better. My dog's coat is so dramatic. I can't believe it. My dog at 12 years old that didn't play anymore now is running around like a puppy. Thank you for giving me my puppy back. Tell us where people can get it and how they can support the charity. Thank you. By the way, we take nothing from our dog rescue. We take no salary from our dog food. This is all about loving life. People can order it.

It's called Gentle Giants online at walmart.com, amazon.com, chewy.com. And what's great in today's world, they send it to you without any shipping charge. So it's just like having it in your store. Well, you and Tracy are doing wonderful work, Bert. You deserve congratulations. Well, I tell people. And a lot of credit. Thank you.

Thank you very much. And these dogs sound like they have a healthier diet than Gilbert does. Well, there's no telling what Gilbert eats. I won't go there. Do people support the charity as well, directly? Absolutely. To donate? And we're the only charity that the people who operate the charity have no salaries.

Oh, tell us the website. Tell us the website. Where they can go. GeneralGiantsRescue.com. Okay. You know, it's our charity. We love dogs. And you know something?

On the back of every bag of our dog food is our phone number. And people call every day from all over the united states they get free help where in today's world do you help people for free questions about care questions about feeding questions medical questions you know behavior questions we're helping them just because we love these animals and we want the people to have them many years longer. Well, as a fellow animal lover, you have my admiration, Bert. That's very noble work. I do appreciate it.

Although I do tell people that I've gone to the dogs literally because I have more than 50 in my house. People can't believe that. They say, oh, you mean five? I say, oh, no, no, I don't mean five. I mean 50. Okay, and where do they sleep? Well, wherever they want. They can go on our website and watch 27.

We fill the room with 27 in our bedroom, on the bed, all around the bed, you know, and people say, oh, well, what did you do? Get all the dogs and put them in one room? I said, oh, no, no, you don't understand. They're in all the rooms, everywhere you go. And we just love these animals, they we've lived with them they're not in a they're not outside in a yard they're in our house with us and the big ones and the little ones everybody lives communally together good for you guys good for you well will you have anything else for this man yeah i have one you are like a young guy when

you first started playing robin of course and you were the biggest one of the biggest stars in the world from that show and i always wonder like when the show went off what did you have to deal with you know something unlike a lot of other actors that are, you know, just down in the dumps for losing a show, you have to understand I never looked at it like that. I looked at it like I had a lot of fun and now I'm going to go do something else and have a lot of fun. When I was a young actor going to acting class, studying professionally, as well as at UCLA, I'll never forget after doing a scene, we were all leaving, going out, and the instructor had said, wait a minute, Bert, I got to tell you something.

And I said, what's that? He says, you know, you're different than every other actor in this class. And I thought, oh, geez, what's wrong with me? And I said, is that bad? He says, no, it's good. He says, every other actor's good. He says, every other actor here wants to be an actor bad. And I know you do as well, but you're different. You have this attitude that if it doesn't work, so be it. And you'll find something else and you'll

be happy. But every one of these others, I'm afraid if it doesn't work for them, they're going to be destroyed and end up going back to wherever they came from before they came to Hollywood. And, you know, maybe it's because Batman was the first thing I ever tried out for, that I wasn't burnout. I didn't have a bad attitude. I just went in and had the best time. And that's the way I've lived my life. Good for you. Tell us about, quickly, let's talk about the return of the Caped Crusaders. And I want to know how quickly it took you guys to get back into character after all these years. About three seconds for me.

Let me explain something to you. It never really leaves you, okay? And my character was really me, okay? Now, Adam was a different. And actually, Adam is really Adam Batman is that is Batman that he is he is stoic okay all right he is what he is and so am I and and in the case of my recording at Warner Brothers for the first of these two movies now second one's coming out oh yeah tell us about the one that's coming out. I will. But I want to first tell you that in the middle of the recording, I had 177 pages of dialogue. It's a lot of dialogue.

You know, no matter how good you do it. Oh, that was fantastic, Burke. Give us another take. Oh, that was more even better. Give us another take. But halfway through, the vice president of animation at Warner Brothers came out from the group he says everybody in this room is roaring and laughing but most important he says we're all stunned and I thought oh my god did I do something wrong and I said what are you stunned about he said Bert you sound

exactly exactly like you sounded 50 years ago. It's almost scary. All of us here, we're stunned. And, you know, when you think about it, here's you got Warner Brothers top people. These guys do every show. They're such pros. And for me to see them all laughing when I'm doing my stuff, they knew the script. They knew what I was going to say. Why are they laughing and having so much fun?

Because you know something? It reached them. It really reached them. Yeah. the script they knew what i was gonna say why are they laughing and having so much fun because you know something it reached them it really reached them yeah it was fun to watch it was it was it took me back and now we have the new one coming out next year you ask about that yeah yeah yeah we have a fantastic villain there's gonna be a lot of villains even in the second one but the main villain is two-face and played played by none other than William Shatner. How cool is that? Now let me ask you this the two most iconic television shows in history Star Trek and Batman with the actors working together is that unbelievable? Is that based on a story? That was genius on Warner Brothers. Based on a story by my old friend Harlan Ellison?

Yeah yeah oh oh it's it. But let me tell you something. Even with this movie we just did, it has turned Batman upside down on its head in many different ways. The reviews have been so great that it said this is the best Batman movie, including the major tentpole features. This is the best Batman movie of the entire year and maybe one of the best movies ever made so if you watch it you'll get a kick out of it and it's got so many references and double meanings and double entendres and oh my the guys that wrote it are geniuses i mean it was i'm so proud of it our old podcast guest steven weber's playing alfred oh wow yeah and i i love the fact that it's adam west and william shatner two actors totally in love with themselves oh yes

absolutely yes well let me tell you something uh uh i i've enjoyed when i've spoken to bill shatner and i see him out on the same events that I go to always been very nice to me and a very funny sense of humor that's one thing that I see is a greatly common thread between Adam and and Bill Shatner they both have this very satirical sense of humor and they see things in the funniest ways and and just in talking with with with Shatner I mean you know I I just had he did a television show where they came out to his house and they filmed it for HGTV you know where they fixed up his house or something and

and and I honestly I just asked him about it I I thought, you know, you know, I said, hey, you know, hey, Bill, how did you like doing that HTV special, you know, HTV special? And he said, you know something, don't you? You're not telling me what you know. You know something and you you're going to trick me into talking about it, aren't you? I said, no, no, honestly, I just wanted to know how you enjoy doing it. You know, and then he proceeded to tell no no honestly I just wanted to know how you enjoyed doing it you know and then he proceeded to tell me more than I ever wanted to hear about all the things that went wrong and this and this and that and he is just a delightful fantastic human being and I can see where he and Adam they are competitive there's no question about it and they each have their own shtick

both of which are immensely successful you're gonna have fun in the booth with those two oh exactly no i have fun with them on the road they're crazy guys and and the nicest of ways and uh and i'll tell you something this is even going to be a bigger movie than the one that just came out the one that comes out next year and the one that just came out is about as fantastic as I could have ever hoped for. Yeah, if you're a fan of the original series, I strongly recommend that our listeners check it out. It's rewarding for somebody who loved the original show.

That's for sure. Return of the Caped Crusaders. Yes. And the book? And the book by Burt Ward is Boy Wonder My Life in Tights. Filled with stories that can't be told on this podcast.

Exactly. All you have to do is read the chapter headings to get a feel for what the book is about. It's a fun read. Oh, Bert, this was a thrill for us. Oh, thank you for coming on the podcast.

Well, you two are delightful and highly intelligent and innately funny. I mean, you kind of remind me of Adam and I. You know, he's like Mutt and Jeff. Wow, that is quite a compliment. Or Abbott and Costello or Laurel and Jeff. Wow. That is quite a compliment. Or Abbott and Costello. Or Laurel and Hardy. Listen, come on with us another time and we'll cover more ground. We didn't ask you about Otto Preminger and so much else.

Oh, so many good things. I will tell you one thing about my book. Yeah. I didn't put everything in it because people said it might be too wild and crazy so I left a few things out so do you have another one in you well I well I might I might but I got to make sure I get approval from my wife because I rated my wife in my book okay and everybody asked me about that but let me tell you something she's about as hot as they come so she got top stars you know in every category believe you me and tell us again the website for the dog rescue

gentle giants rescue.com and we also have a great facebook page called gentle giants dog food and products but it also shows some of our things that we're doing with the dogs, and it shows a lot of the publicity, and hopefully after this comes out, we can get a little piece of the audio from your show and put it on because we want to promote you guys. You guys are really terrific, and if you ever come to Gotham City, California or Norco, you've got to look me up, and I'll bring you in amongst 50 dogs. And I'll tell you, you'll get more loving than you ever thought you got. I would love to see Gilbert in a room with 50 great Danes.

Tara? Oh, wow. Bert, we're going to take you up on that. Thank you. All right. Thanks, buddy. Thank you, Bert right. Thanks, buddy. Thank you, Burt Ward, ladies. This has been Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast with my co-host, Frank Santopadre. To the Batcave!

Yeah! That was Robin himself, Burt Ward. Burt, it's our last show of the year. We couldn't have asked for a better one. Well, thank you. I couldn't have asked for two better hosts and interviewers thank you. I couldn't have asked for two better hosts and interviewers than you guys. In fact, I am so thrilled, I'm going to go jump

in my Batmobile and take it for a spin around the block. Wear an extra pair of tights. Yes, I will. It's particularly chilly out there. And can I have some of those pills? Because my penis is way too big.

Oh. All righty. I'll send that doctor right over to your house. Thank you, Bert. Thank you. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We'll see you again.