Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - 190. In Memoriam 2017

Episode Date: January 15, 2018

Gilbert and Frank take a loving look back at some of the unforgettable talents who left us in 2017, including Jim Nabors, Mary Tyler Moore, Dick Gregory, George Romero and Martin Landau. Also in this episode: Harry Dean Stanton breaks out, Gilbert hangs with Tobe Hooper, John Hurt presides over The Last Supper and Rose Marie inspires a generation of funny women. PLUS: Hymie the Robot! The First Lady of Voice Acting! The artistry of Jonathan Demme! The brilliance of Chuck Barris! And the boys remember their VERY FIRST podcast guest! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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To hear them in person, plan your trip at tnvacation.com. Tennessee sounds perfect. Gilbert, there's no goddamn script here. Jesus. Hello, this is Gino Comporti, and I am pleased to tell you that you are listening to the Gilbert Gottfried most colossal podcast ever done anywhere. Except here. Oh, Jesus. © BF-WATCH TV 2021 It was down in Louisiana where we used to have a little tiny shack of bottom-miles to go across the Texas border in a cotton-free...

Black car! Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and I'm here with Frank Santopadre, and this is... What did I do? It's good. Keep going. And this is Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast. Paul Raybone. Paul Raybone? Raybone, the jazz musician

Hey, you don't have to call me Ray Paul Raybone You're in luck because I brought my Raybone with me And I'm going to play it later in the show Wow Okay, I see where we're off Paul Raybone Raybone

My professional name from here on out Come and get your love was their big name Raybone. Raybone. My professional name from here on out. They had Come and Get Your Love was their big name. Raybone. Remember them? Hey. It's his gay porn name. It is. We are doing, our fans insist on it, our 2017 In Memoriam episode.

This begins with people we wish had had died and no these are people although gilbert is being overcome with consumption sitting about a foot away from me so he may be the last name red uh we're going to we've done a couple of these now this is our third one there's our second one with paul the first one we did at Gilbert's Kitchen Table. And the listeners responded to them. So, you know, a show like this that pays tribute to the past, it's only fitting. So, we're going to

go through some of our favorite people that we lost during the year. And Paul has some, believe it or not, Gil, some vital research. Oh, okay. Vital is the key.

He has some tidbits. We're going back a year, so I'm starting in January. I started him on this, yeah. I started him back on last New Year's. I started him on this, predicting who we would lose. Let's start with our favorite, and we'll try to keep this as reverent as possible, with Gilbert in the room. you know that can be difficult.

I urge you to check out the episode that we did paying tribute to. Who was it now? Musicians. David Cassidy, for one. Oh, yes. But that's not even what I'm referring to. And I'll think of it. But there was one episode where we did a tribute episode. one. Oh, yes. But that's not even what I'm referring to. And I'll think of it. But there was one episode where we did a tribute episode.

And, oh, boy. Anyway, let's start with character actors. Yes. And we love to talk about character actors on this show. We lost Benson, Robert Guillaume. Oh, yeah. At the age of 89, recently. Had you ever met him in your travels?

No, never met Robert Guillaume. All the sitcoms you did? Yeah, never met him. I know he was one of those people, like, I think it became overboard with him where he felt really responsible, you know, that he was a black person. Yes. I found that in the research research had to keep the image and and i think he he went a little you know like a little much with it like he didn't like um rochester on the jack benny show yeah well why it's kind of why he was perfect to play that part because that was the polar opposite of a Stepin' Fetchit character.

He was also a song and dance man. I don't know what you found about him, Paul, but he grew up in the St. Louis slums, grew up without plumbing, without electricity, and it was a hardscrabble life. And he was the first Nathan Detroit in the first black version of Guys and Dolls, which I found interesting. He also was the first African-American to sing the title role of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera. I had no idea that he was a musical guy. I had no idea that he was a musical guy. And that's odd. You find things out about these people when they pass.

Yeah, that's right. I was reading some director said on Benson, they're all supposed to be sitting around the breakfast table. Benson Dubois. Yeah, and they had like plates with pancakes in it. And he took offense to that. Did he? Yeah. That's interesting.

You have to send me that. Yeah, he said, this is like Uncle Ben. Interesting. So he was very sensitive about stereotyping. Great in Aaron Sorkin, a short-lived Aaron Sorkin show called Sports Night. Great in bit parts. A doctor on all in the family comes to mind. Very, very funny.

And really, he stole that show, that show Soap, which was a well-written show and an ensemble cast, and he stood out. Yeah. Which was a credit to his talent. And I found out he was a folky. Did you find that? He was a folk singer with a group called the Pilgrims. Boy, it's funny these guys.

Had no idea. How do you transition from that? I don't know. He was a multi-talent, and he never sat on his balls like Mr. Belvedere. So we'll give him that. Well, it's trying if you've never done it. Here's a name.

Here are two names and I found this interesting because people confuse them because their names were alike. Two great character actors. John Hurt, the elephant man, the British actor, passed away. And also John Hurd passed away in the same year, a couple of months apart, which I found odd. But last year, the guy that played Kato from the Panther films died, and the Green Hornet died.

So there's the Green Hornet and Kato. But John Hurt, Midnight Express, a movie that's come up on this show. Of course, the famous chestburster scene in Alien, he was also known for. But do you remember him as Jesus in Mel Brooks' History of the World? No. When they're all posing for the Last Supper. And I think Art Mitrano is the photographer. Oh, my God.

Or is playing Da Vinci. Yeah. So he was, I didn't know much about him, but he also hung around with Oliver Reed, Peter O'Toole, Richard Harris. Oh, yeah. The heavy drinker. The heavy drinking crowd. Bad boys. Yeah.

Yeah. He's also great in a picture called V for Vendetta. But a Shakespearean actor trained at the. I'm sorry. Go ahead. A Man for All Seasons. Yes. One of my favorite.

Yes. Paul Schofield. Yes. He did some weird, unfunny comedy with Ryan O'Neill. Called Partners. Yeah. I believe. And he was a gay cop.

Yes. Yeah, it was tone deaf. Yes. As I recall. Boy, the things you remember. Oh, yeah. When would that have been? Roughly?

The 80s? 80s. Early 80s, maybe? He was tough as nails and a ladies' man. And his partner's gay. You know, according to this, Gilbert, he was in Thumbelina. Oh, my God. Everybody was in Thumbelina.

Boy, so I worked with him and Gino Conforti. I think so, unless it's a different version of Thumbelina. And none of you remember it. Because he did voice work for things like Watership Down and Thumbelina. And none of you remember it. Because he did voice work for things like Watership Down and Thumbelina. He was knighted in 2015, and he's very, very good in a Death in Venice knockoff

called Love and Death on Long Island that people should see. But his career performance is in The Elephant Man, in Lynch's Elephant Man. He's magnificent. And another bad movie I remember him in. You're just pick the pick all the clunkers yes yeah as we pay tribute to the poor guy is dead with uh judd nelson wow you've stumped me judd nelson is like this edgy wild Edgy, wild lawyer. Oh, I remember this movie. Like something like Stormy Days.

Stormy Monday or something? Something like that, a pun. I know, that's it. Stormy weather, maybe. Well, we'll have Paul look it up. And Ray Bone. Ray Bone. Ray Bone.

And it's like John Heard is a brilliant but crazed killer. I don't remember this picture at all. What do we think? It might be stormy weather or something? I don't know. Just look up John Hurt, H-U-R-T, and Judd Nelson. Yeah. Two Ds.

Not a good movie. But people, if you haven't seen The Elephant Man, I never had the pleasure of seeing it on Broadway. But that film, that Lynch film the pleasure of seeing it on Broadway, but that film, that Lynch film, produced by Mel Brooks, of all people, is just a performance that will... I'm not an animal. I'm a human being. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. You never got an audition? Yeah. Gilbert Gottfried is the EleF's John Merrick. Wow, I'd like to live to see that.

While he's looking that movie up, I'm going to bring up John Hurd, another guy who left us too soon. What wasn't this guy in? The Pelican Brief. Cat People. Oh, wow. With Nastassja Kinski. Big. Awakenings with Robin Williams.

Yeah. Of course, the Home Alone pictures where he was the dead. A great movie called Cutter's Way with Jeff Bridges. Oh, yeah. You guys need to see that one. I'm going to throw a lot of film recommendations. He was in Big. He wasn't Big.

I said that. He has the pissy. I'm sorry. I just said that. Ray Bone. Well, I was looking up the other one. Chilly Scenes of Winter. Another good picture with him and Mary Beth Hurt.

No relation. Great as a corrupt detective on The Sopranos. He did everything. 105 films and 67 TV series. Jesus. John Heard. Yeah.

A real working actor. And I think the last thing he may have done was appearing on Ileana's podcast. Yeah. There was actually a bittersweet story she had to convince him to do the show and he kept saying nobody wants to hear from me nobody

knows who i am and she finally convinced him to do it and he did it and he had a good time and he passed away a couple of days later and um an actor i always love seeing things and he's in my beloved after hours scorsese's picture which so I got some good stuff on John Hurt. Gilbert is partly right. He's always got part of these things. What is it called? The movie's called From the Hip. From the Hip?

Fine. That was Stormy Weather? But wait, no, wait. Here's the kicker. The lead character played by Judd Nelson is Robin Stormy Weathers. Incredible. You are a savant. Robin Stormy Weathers. If ever Iy Weathers. You are a savant. Robin Stormy Weathers.

If ever I met one. That's a nice piece of work. That's a good one, isn't it? And their big trick, I'm a spoiler now, to prove, I don't know, to make him angry. You know, because he has to defend him, but he doesn't want to defend someone guilty. You know, because he has to defend him, but he doesn't want to defend someone guilty. So he starts yelling out that John Hurt couldn't get an erection. And that makes him.

It's as bad a movie. The way I'm describing it is a better movie. You can do a tribute show like nobody's business. Okay. He's defending a guy. So the takeaway is do not see From the Hip and Partners, but do see The Elephant Man and Love and Death on Long Island. But the one thing that might want to have you take a look at From the Hip is the defendant here in one of these cases is a professor accused of killing a prostitute with a hammer. Oh, that's it. You don't see that every day.

Nice stuff. Let me forge ahead here with some of our favorite character actors and this this uh this next one was in gay porn no no i'm just jumping ahead this gentleman died uh far too soon this is um uh the late bill paxton yes 61 And that was sudden and unsurprising. And apparently he'd had difficulties since he was a child. Had some rheumatic fever that weakened his heart, which I think was the same situation with Bobby Darin, if I'm not mistaken.

Oh, my God, yeah. From Fort Worth, another musician had a new wave band called Martini Ranch. I love that. As I said, you research these guys and you find all the cool stuff yeah and he he remained very young looking yes yeah yeah james cameron directed him in a music video for his band and that's how they forged a relationship and then two years later he cast him in terminator and then aliens and he became a star a james

cameron theater company of one. Oh my God. Terminator, Aliens, True Lies. Right. Is he in True Lies? I guess he is. Titanic you mentioned. Titanic of course. And Big Love which is not James Cameron. Big Love.

Great show. Terrific show. I love him in a movie called One False Move which is a thriller that people should see. Apollo 13, of course, Tombstone, and a movie you like. I've talked about it. A Simple Plan. Very good movie. Yeah.

Sam Raimi. Yeah. That was one of those movies that, you know, is one of those, like, it goes back to that, you know, Treasure of Sierra Madre premise of people who get wealth, and then it drives them out of their minds. Yes, it's a movie about greed and bringing people down. And it builds and builds, and everything that can go wrong is going wrong. Terrific picture. And Billy Bob Thornton. Yeah, Billy Bob Thornton and Bridget Fonda. Bridget Fonda and Bill Paxton.

See that one. I had the honor of interviewing. Oh, and Gary Cole, I think. Correct. Yeah. I had the honor of interviewing him a couple years ago. He directed a movie called The Greatest Game Ever Played, and the Writers Guild asked me to interview him,

and he could not have been cooler. He really was fun and sweet, and there a not a bit of pretense about him um uh he waved to jfk in the motorcade as a kid in dallas isn't that fun trivia yeah a very very lovely guy and uh the storm storm chasers pay tribute to him because he's in Twister when he passed away. Yeah, it's just sweet. We had talked about this ahead of time. They have a storm tracker website that they use to track storms in Oklahoma. Correct.

And also the storm chasers. And so a bunch of these guys went out to various locations in this area, turned on their GPS so you get the little dot that shows where you are on the map, and they all arranged themselves a certain way that they got BP. They spelled his name. They spelled his initials. Wow. And one of the guys said, we just had to do it because it was the only time that storm trackers were ever seen as cool.

Yeah, that's a sweet tribute. Wow. It's a sudden, I mean, a great actor, a versatile actor, and 61 too soon. Here's two Brooklyn boys and two favorites of Gilbert's right here that we lost this year, both in their 80s.

Joe Bologna. Oh, yeah. Who we wanted on this show. Yes. And we talked about him, and we talked about him with Norman, and we talked about him with Bill Macy, and he'd been sick for a long time.

Married his longtime spouse, Renee Taylor, on the Merv Griffin Show. Oh, wow. I saw the web. It said on the stage of the show. Was it actually during the show? Well, now I could be wrong, but I don't think it was on the air. I think it was on the stage. Interesting guy.

He started his own ad agency. Won Clio Awards. He was an ad man. Did you know that? Wow. Like Dave Thomas. Before he got into acting? Yeah.

Now, a bad show. Actually, a bad attempt at a spinoff. Oh, he was in the Married with Children spin-off. Yes, yes. That's right. With Matt LeBlanc? Matt LeBlanc. Boy. Whatever happened to him? Gilbert's contribution is he's going to find all the turkeys. Yeah, that's right.

And it was one of those Married with Children would do that a lot, where they try a spin-off where Al would say, hey, it's my best friend so it's and you go if it's his best friend how come we've never heard of him before you know who was one of one of uh one of his best friends in the business was art metrano he directed art's one-man show and he was the guy that gave art the title jews do not belong on ladders wow which art was

here telling us about just a couple of weeks ago wow he and renee his wife who's still with us great character actress wrote lovers and other strangers yes which is a scream and um the the doctors who were treating him for cancer kept him alive long enough so that he could attend the 35th screening uh 35th anniversary screening of my favorite year. Oh, wow. Which is so sweet, which he's in the Sid Caesar part, King Kaiser. And he's absolutely wonderful. And Dick Gutman, our friend Dick Gutman is his publicist, and we were working on it.

I guess he wasn't well enough to do it. Yeah. So that was a big loss for us. And this one, too, some of these people really sting because we really wanted them desperately. And for whatever reason, we couldn't make it happen. And that's Martin Landau. Yeah, we really wanted to talk to Martin Landau. We tried like crazy.

Marin got him, damn it. And that's a good show. It's a good episode that Marc Marin did with him. Because he would have had so much to talk about. Brooklyn kid and a cartoonist for the Daily News. And a particular interest to Gilbert in Ed Wood, he played the supporting role of Bela Lugosi. Of course. Oh, yeah.

Of course, he won the Academy Award. He won the Academy Award, right. Yeah. And, oh, Mission Impossible. He was great in Mission Impossible. Yeah. Rollin' Hand. Oh, with Alfred Hitchcock. Was that? Oh, Mission Impossible. He was great in Mission Impossible. Yeah. Rollin' Hand. Oh, with Alfred Hitchcock.

Was that? Oh, it was, yes. He played James Mason's gay henchman in North by Northwest. That was the thing that got him noticed. And I heard that when he was making North by Northwest, he asked Hitchcock, he said, why did you hire me? What made you hire me? And because he saw him in a play where he hardly spoke at all. And Hitchcock said to him, because there's a circus going on in your head.

Oh, I love that. I never heard that. Yeah. He turned down a promotion at the Daily News. Circus going on in your head. Oh, I love that. I never heard that. He turned down a promotion at the Daily News. He was a successful cartoonist, but he wanted to act. And so he auditioned for Actor's Studio, and he told the story that only he and Steve McQueen, they were two of 2,000 applicants that actually got in. Boy, just. Can you imagine?

Just hearing this, it just is a further kick. I know. Doing the research, it killed me. I said to my wife, I do not want to research Martin Landau because I'm going to just sit here and I'm going to have a pain in my stomach. Because we were trying for him. Dick Gutman, again, was really trying for Martin, and we sent dates. I mean, it was close, and then he just suddenly took a turn for the worst.

He had a dry spell in his career, a big dry spell. He wound up doing things like slumming on things like Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island. But bounce back. Baps. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Real low points, but pushed through and made a comeback with Tucker. Yes.

The American Dream, Crimes and Misdemeanors. Oh, he was terrific in that. Which is absolutely wonderful. And, of course, Ed Wood, written by our pals Scott and Larry. He's just got great presence. I don't know. That's another way of saying what Hitchcock said. One of my favorites.

He just kind of fills a room, you know. Crimes and Misdemeanors, which is a part with a sympathetic killer. Yes, yes. A wonderful movie. That's not an easy thing to pull off. It was great in that.

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Please play responsibly. Live from Nutmeg Post, we now return to Gilbert and Frank's Amazing Colossal Podcast. amazing colossal podcast. Here's another guy, no less memorable, different kind of character actor. You brought up Big Love before, who we lost this year.

At 91, Harry Dean Stanton. Oh my God, yeah. And we just have a moment of silence and say Paris, Texas. Paris, Texas, one of my favorite movies of the 80s. Yeah, that's a great, great movie. And that was the, and that, at 58, he talked about how Paris, Texas put him on the map. Oh, geez.

And he'd been acting. At 58, yeah. He'd been acting. He's in The Godfather 2, I guess. He's one of the FBI guys that's guarding Frankie Pantangeli. But he was in everything. He worked with Hitchcock. He was in Inner Sanctum.

He was in a series directed by Hitchcock called Suspicion. He's in Kelly's Heroes. He's in Tulane Blacktop. Was he ever young? I don't think so. We talk about John Hurt. He's also an alien. He's one of the crew in Alien.

I had one interesting tidbit here. He was in Cool Dan Luke. Yes, he's one of the crew in alien and uh he's uh i had one interesting tidbit here he was in cool dan luke yes he's cool but and he taught paul newman to sing i don't care if it rains or freezes as long as i got my plastic jesus oh wow he was working for for years before anybody and then repo man so it was paris texas. Yeah. Oh, this guy. And then Pretty in Pink. Yeah. And then Wild at Heart. And then he was suddenly a star. Yeah.

After. He was one of those guys that had like, you know, kind of America or the West just written all over his face. Yes. Absolutely. A million lines in his face. Yeah. He was great. Apparently close friends with nicholson he was best man at jack nicholson's

1962 wedding and they lived together for two years after nicholson's divorce now there's an odd couple that's pretty close friends imagine doing the odd going to see the odd couple with jack nicholson and harry dean stanton another guy who had his own band harry dean stanton and the repo men and they sang at hunter thompson's funeral oh or harry did i don't know if the band was there but this is the kind of stuff you find yeah bill paxton had a band yeah robert guillaume had a band you know these musicians these guys that are kind of doing double duty yeah um anyway great character actors who really, really left their mark. And here's a couple of others, a short list of wonderful faces and people we wished we'd gotten on the show.

Chuck Lowe. Do you know that name? Chuck Lowe was Maury in Goodfellas. Oh, my God. A local guy, New York guy. He's in The King of Comedy. He's the guy making the faces in the background. Oh yeah! So Scorsese must have

been a friend or used him several times. Found in my research that he played in Goodfellas the character Maury was based on a guy named Martin Krugman who did own a wig shop, was involved with the Lufthansa heist, and his body was never found. Oh, my God.

Yeah. Isn't that interesting? Stranger than fiction. And speaking of Scorsese and tough guy character actors, Frank Vincent passed away. Oh, yes. Who this year? Frank Vincent, another one I would have loved to.

I always, there's that one line in Goodfellas where, you know, he's pissing off Pesci at the bar. Billy Batts. And then he goes, yeah, I'm just having fun with you. Just breaking your balls. Yeah, I'm breaking your balls. And then before he takes a shot, he's got the shot glass up, and right before he takes the shot, he goes, now go get your fucking shine box. He's brilliant in that movie.

Well, of course, Pesci beats the shit out of him in Raging Bull, too, because he's Salvi, and he hits him in the head with the metal pole. He was Pesci's friend from childhood. He was Pesci's friend forever. Frank Vincent. Yeah, they used to call him Spit Shine Johnny. poll he was pesci's friend from childhood he was pesci's friend forever frank vincent yeah yeah and yeah they used to call him spit shine joy make your side like fucking mirrors was he italian frank vincent sounds like what yes he was italian yeah and uh speaking of raging bull lamotta himself passed away this year too oh yeah jake lamotta but but Chuck Lowe and Frank Vincent, two guys from Goodfellas, two memorable, memorable faces, and just memorable New York actors.

And I remember that in the movie, like, what am I, a schmuck? What am I, a schmuck on wheels? Yeah. I want my money. He's great in that performance. Yeah, give me my money. Yeah, Maury. John Hillerman going all the way from New York to Texas.

Oh, yes. Another guy we chased. John Hillerman. And John Hillerman's one of those people born again as an Englishman. Yes. Yes. And was he ever young? Like Harry Dean Stinn.

Never. John Hillerman blazingzing Saddles, and Paper Moon. It's kind of like how Jonathan Harris was, you know, Jew from Brooklyn. Yes. But he became an English Shakespearean actor. John Hillerman was just a character actor you just love seeing. You knew he was going to class up everything. I think he's in What's Up, Doc?

I think we asked Pogdanovich about him when we had him here yeah paper moon um billions so good uh would have loved to have gotten him obviously we say all the time on the show we can't get everybody and here's another guy we didn't get and that was richard anderson from the six million dollar man and the bionic Woman. You know that actor. Died at 91. Oscar Goldman, who was also in Paths of Glory, who had an acting career seven days in May. And, of course, he got an action figure, the Oscar Goldman action figure in the 40-year-old version. You guys are, at least half these people you're talking about, I've never heard of. You know this actor. You ever see The Six Million Dollar Man?

Yeah. He was the, what's the word I'm looking for? The contact, the big man, the guy that oversaw everything, Oscar Goldman. Yeah. Yeah, but he's in a million things. Yeah. Michael Parks from Then Came Bronson. Oh, my God.

Remember Michael Parks? Oh, absolutely. absolutely saw him at chiller fest he he was one of those you know james dean james dean types yeah bad boy yeah james dean type like a poor man's dennis hopper uh yeah yeah yeah because because then came bronson i think was an easy writer yeah that's when they were all wanted the next fugitive. Yes, yes. And great in Twin Peaks, the original version of Twin Peaks as a sleazy villain. I remember a chiller. He was already looking.

Good actor, though. Who was he in Twin Peaks? He was Jean Reno. Jean Reno. Yes. One-Eyed Jax. One-Eyed Jax. Yes, he was the guy with the knife under his sleeve.

Rich is a great villain. Glenn Headley. Glenn Headley. The late wife. Well, she was married to John Malkovich, and she was one of the founders of Steppenwolf, the theater company in Chicago. You know Glenn.

Oh, okay. Am I saying her name right? Is it Glenn Headley or Glenn Headley? I think it's Glenn Headley. But look that up. I've never actually had to say it before or hear it. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Oh, okay.

She was Tess Trueheart in Dick Tracy. Yeah. Oh, all right. You know the actress I'm talking about. Yes, yes. She was in a lot of stuff. Died young, 62. I hope I'm saying her name right and since i'm not that far

removed from bringing up twin peaks i'd like to bring up miguel ferrer who we lost oh yes jose ferrer's son um and a really close friend of richard kynes our friend richard kind uh terrific actor robocop and he worked like crazy worked in everything uh he was a beloved guy he was apparently also the the son of rosemary caluni oh yes so he was show business royalty um a wonderful actor uh for us peaks fans he was just memorable and the best thing is the best thing about that show albert rosenfield and since i'm here to bring up bad things okay every one of our okay you got a bad you got a bad miguel ferrer movie blank check yep i know that one that was he was going for the check yeah absolutely yeah but he was terrific terrific

in everything he did and funny yes and edgy and funny and RoboCop. Playing a sleazebag but doing it with a wink. Oh, yeah. And the same thing on Twin Peaks. He played a good guy, but he was a major asshole. Here's one. Did I get the pronunciation of Glenn Healy right? Or does it not have that? It's H-E-A-D-L-E-Y, so it could be either way.

It could be either way, but our listeners will tear me a new one about it. Mike Connors died, Mannix. Oh, wow. He was 91. We called him when we first started this show. Dara called him up, and he said he was having back surgery, and he never got back to us, and we followed up, and I don't know what the hell happened, but it would have been fun to have Mannix. Here's an actor I think you like, Gilbert, and he did a lot of things. Powers Booth. Oh, I did like Powers Booth.

He did this movie, Southern Comfort. Oh, good movie. Walter Hill. Yeah, and it was similar to Deliverance, but boy, it's a really strange film. Yeah. He did a lot of good work. He won an Emmy for playing Jim Jones. Oh, he was.

The Reverend Jim Jones. He was great in that. In that Piana movie. He had this total presence about him. Did a lot of stuff. Sam Shepard, the playwright, and I believe the writer of Paris, Texas, who helped Harry Dean Stanton. Do I have that right? I don't know.

I think Sam Shepard wrote that screenplay. I'd like to know that. I think that's true. Let me check that out. You can find that. Also a good actor. Yeah. Yeah.

Very good in the right stuff. What was the one, the early one in Texas with the, they lived in a remote farm and. With Jessica Lange? Days of Heaven. Oh, he's in Days of Heaven. Oh, the Terrence Malick movie. How could I forget that one? Unbelievable. Oh my God, he's great in that. Oh, he's unbelievable. of Heaven. Oh, the Terrence Malick movie. How could I forget that one? Unbelievable.

Oh, my God, he's great in that. Oh, he's unbelievable. I love that film. How could I forget? I'm kicking myself. Rance Howard, Clint's father passed away. Ron Howard, the patriarch of the Howard family. Someone sent me some wonderful color footage,

I guess it's 16 millimeter footage, backstage home movies of the Andy Griffith show. I'll share them with you. I put them on Facebook. And you see Rance Howard throwing a football with the kids. And it's just great. In Mayberry. Yeah.

And Jim Nabors is in there too. Wow. And the last name on this list, and I, nope, two more names on the list. Somebody we chased was Dick Godier. Yes, we wanted him. And I went as far as sending a letter to him. I wrote to him on his website. There was no response.

It went on for weeks. We don't know what happened. He passed away. And it turned out he was in assisted living. So I don't know that he was reading his mail. I don't know that he was able to do it. We talked to Bernie Coppell about Dick. We talked to Bernie Coppell about Dick. We talked to Barbara Felden about Dick, Norman Steinberg.

Jaime the Robot. Oh, yeah. He was hysterical. Hysterically funny actor. Robin Hood on Mel Brooks' Short Live When Things Were Rotten. Oh, my God. And the original Conrad birdie wow bye-bye birdie yes yeah and uh and an accomplished illustrator and a cartoonist another guy with uh

with additional talents um he was one of the first people i wrote down his name is still on the piece of paper hanging in my office at abc and uh didn't work out, but we would have loved to have Dick Cotier, who I found out had a short. He was comedy partners with Peter Marshall for a while. Did you know that? Yeah, so we could have asked Peter about him. So he was in two comedy teams, Peter Marshall. Yeah, yeah.

I think he did something with Peter Marshall where they wrote together or some such thing. And the last name of character actor on my list here and i know we're gonna forget people so oh absolutely post and write it and tell us who we forgot and yell at us but steven first from animal house oh yeah yeah um and saying elsewhere and steven first he was once on some talk show where he was talking about how fat he was and he could never stop eating. And he said he was so embarrassed about it. let's see uh he'd take out a list that he wrote and he'd go oh let's see uh greg wants the uh fish fillet and uh mark wants the uh whopper and uh he'd make it seem like other people make it like he was getting it for a party poor thing he died young 63 yeah funny guy and was in one of the

animal house spinoffs i guess delta house oh yeah yeah very funny guy i end i ended with him for a reason because tim matheson tweeted when steven first passed and i thought this was so sweet he wrote ah flounder you fucked up you trusted us oh wow rest in peace which i thought was just so perfect um some of these people we lost way too young like like uh like stephen first and and miguel ferrer and uh uh anyway and uh also aaron moran oh yeah she hadves John. She had a lot of problems, the poor thing. So we'll move on from character actors, and let's talk quickly, and we'll try to get through everybody. Let's talk about directors.

Four names I wrote down, and again, we can't get to everybody in time, but we're going to try. Somebody Gilbert lunched with, Tobey Hooper. Tobey Hooper. somebody Gilbert lunched with, Toby Hooper. Toby Hooper. I met him out in L.A., and I'm a big fan of the movie Life Force. Yes, you are.

Because there's an actress in it named Matilda May, who's a female space vampire, and she walks around naked. all of her scenes she's totally naked and i was telling him over dinner i how hot i thought she was and he said he invited me over to his house he had a big screen what a story and and he put on Life Force. I love that. I wrote Gil Lunch in parentheses on my notes. And he told me that Matilda May had to shave her bush for the movie. This is so sweet. She got ingrown hairs that were causing her a lot of problems.

Oh, my God. Once again, this is the kind of tribute you will not see on TCM. You will not see Ben Mankiewicz. She was sucking the life force out of various Londoners. Yes. We did a whole episode about life force. The life force. That's what that's called.

That's what that is. Yes. Yeah. It's what that is. Yes. Yeah. It's not a subtle ending. Of course, the thing that made him famous was the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Oh, yeah. And Leatherface based on Ed Gein, the serial killer. Real life.

Yeah. He was a professor like Wes Craven before he made it big. So I didn't realize he directed Poltergeist. Poltergeist. Yes, indeed, with our pal James Caron. Poltergeist is one of those weird ones where I think it was kind of like how the thing had the one director who's listed. Yeah.

I think it was Kristen. Kristen Ivey. Kristen Ivey. Yeah. One director who's listed, I think it was Christian... Christian Nyby. Christian Nyby. Yeah. But everyone says Howard Hawks was the true director. Well, Spielberg, they said that Spielberg came in. It was his story, and he produced it. But he said at the time, and has said it over the years,

that Tobey Hooper was the... That it was a perfect combination of their talents. Friend of McGarris', our guest McGarris, tributes poured in for Toby Hooper from John Carpenter and Stephen King. And after I left Toby Hooper's house, I went back to my hotel and jerked off. That's a beautiful, beautiful coda. What a tribute. I hope wherever Toby Hooper is.

I cannot add to that except to say that he was apparently a very warm and gracious guy and a lot of people liked him. Very nice and I met him. A lot of people liked him. Salem's Lot miniseries too, worth seeing. Along those lines, another master of horror, George Romero. Oh yeah. met him a lot of people like that salem's lot miniseries too uh worth seeing uh along those lines another master of horror george romero oh yeah passed away at 77 an icon yep yeah a real

titan uh another guy who made his bones in low budget horror like a hundred thousand dollars i i remember i put up a tweet when he died and i said someone call the police George Romero is eating my leg oh I like that and George Romero you know if you're a part of this whole living dead industry

he's the creator it all goes back oh yeah the father of the zombie movie the walking dead night of the zombie movie. The Walking Dead. Yeah, absolutely. There's like zombies all over the TV. Night of the Living Dead started it all. 50th anniversary, by the way. One of the things I always thought was great about that is the damn zombies could barely walk.

Yes. And it should have been easy to run away from everybody, but it kept building and building, you know, to the point where. And I remember I saw that with my sister Arlene when the theater used to be the Waverly Theater. Of course, on 23rd Street. And they were having midnight showings of that. It's still there, but it's not a movie theater. Is that on the east side? Yeah.

East 23rd, yeah. And we went there, and at first it was standing room, and then we found two seats. And that was, like, so different. $114,000 he made that movie for. Yeah. Yeah. The other thing, I always wondered about Dwayne Jones, the black guy. Yeah, yeah.

I'd say, what's that about? But actually, according to some of the stuff I read in the research, a lot of people kind of dismissed it or didn't give much thought. But he gave it a of thought he did because he saw those zombie movies as allegories that's right he was like dawn of the dead he was making a commentary about uh consumerism right blind consumerism and it's so dawn of the dead it's like it's it's one of those cases where like the sequel we've talked about this where the sequel's even better yeah yeah that's fun it's because it's a combination of horror and comedy there's more fun in dawn of the dead yeah but even but even the original film i think that he was there were themes about vietnam and violence that he was playing with because he said he didn't like torture porn because there was no context there was no there was no undercurrent for it there wasn't um so he he had a lot on his mind they weren't mindless horror

films yeah um he died at home while listening to the score from his favorite movie a quiet man oh wow which is uh which is sweet apparently that's how gilbert's gonna go watching matilda may shave her bush quietly. It'll appear in the New York Times. And we've lost famous character actor Shaver Bush. I loved him in The Last Picture Show. Shaver Bush. Yeah, from Texas, right?

From the Lone Star State. He was in a band before. Here's a director of one of your favorite movies, Save the Tiger. John Avildsen died at 81. More famous for directing Rocky and the Karate Kid series. And a movie called Joe with Peter Boyle. Oh, yeah. A very controversial movie.

John Avildsen, they called him the king of the underdogs. In fact, there was a documentary made about him. Did he do just the first Rocky or did he do... The first Rocky and then he stayed... He and Stallone stayed friendly and then he did Rocky V. But Stallone said when he passed away, I owe everything to this guy. Replaced on both Saturday Night Fever and Serpico, two films he was going to direct. But he had a nice body of work.

Do you remember a movie called The Stoolie with Jackie Mason? Yes, yes. I don't know this picture. Very peculiar film. It was based on a true story about this small-time hood who they were. He was a stool pigeon. I'll track that down. Yeah.

I always liked Joe. John Avildsen. The documentary is very good, by the way, King of the Underdogs. I don't think there was a mention of the stoolie in there. Jonathan Demme died, one of my favorites. Oh, yeah. Interesting reading, an obit in variety, and they said that he was almost defined by his lack of a signature because his films were so different.

Yeah. I mean, Melvin and Howard, which is a movie I love with Jason, Jason Robards, um, something wild. No,

that picture, Melanie Griffith and Jeff and Jeff Daniels and Ray Liotta, um, as the heavy born on long Island started with Corman. He was one of the, he was a Corman guy, a Roger Corman guy. Um, it's always amazing who came out of the Corman film.

Oh, so many people. Bogdanovich and... That'd be a good show right there. Joe Dante. Well, we've had two. We had Bogdanovich and Joe Dante, who were both graduates. And to a lesser extent, Clint Howard, who was in all of those Corman things. He had a bad experience making a studio film

called Swing Shift with Goldie Hawn, and then decided from that point on he was going to make movies his own way, and did everything. He did political documentaries. The Talking Heads movie, Stop Making Sense, which is a masterpiece, really. He made a movie with Spalding Gray,

a film version of Swimming to Cambodia. which is a masterpiece, really. He made a movie with Spalding Gray, a film version of Swimming to Cambodia. Beloved guy. Everybody had nice things to say about him. See those movies. See Melvin and Howard if you can, if you haven't seen it. Of course, Silence of the Lambs people know. That was the thing that suddenly gave him a big breakthrough.

He was able to make anything he wanted. But see, one of his last films, Rachel Getting Married. Very, very good. That's a great movie. Terrific picture written by Sidney Lumet's daughter. Written by Jenny Lumet. Who's the lead in this? Her name just went out of my head. Anne Hathaway.

Anne Hathaway. Terrific picture. See that. See Something Wild and Melvin and Howard and his first film called Handle With Care. A real artist. And I like Married to the Mob, too, which has a fun performance by Dean Stockwell and a fun performance from Alec Baldwin. He really could do anything. Those Corman guys amounted to a lot.

Oh, yeah. They just showed up. They were not bullshit. They were like, okay, what are we doing? A comedy? They knew how to make a movie on a budget. Let's do a couple of TV icons here. Two people from an iconic show.

Mary Tyler Moore and Rosemary. Rosemary. We just lost Rosemary. Yeah, Rosemary. We just lost Rosemary. We were trying for. Boy, oh boy, did we. And I posted that on Facebook, and we did everything in our power on that one. Yeah, we desperately want to, Rosemary. And our pal, Harlan Ball, who brought us Charlotte Rae and brought us Tippi Hedren and so many people, was helping and was trying to make it happen.

I don't know if it was a matter of she didn't want to do an hour show, she was on oxygen, maybe she wasn't up for it. I think her health wasn't all that good. It took a turn for the worse, and we couldn't make it happen. But, God, that was another back and forth like Bill Dana. And she was like, I mean, she knew all these big time mobsters like Benzie. She knew Bugsy Siegel. Bugsy Siegel.

I think she knew Capone. Not movie mobsters, but real mobsters. Real mobsters. Yeah. She was a kid in Vaudeville. Yeah. Yeah. The story goes that she complained about her paycheck to Bugsy Siegel.

Oh, my. She was Baby Rosemary. Who signed that check, darling? She did Doug Benson's podcast. I think a lot of that stuff came up with Doug, so maybe you guys can find that one because we didn't get her. She was a child star. She was Baby Rosemary.

She was a singing star at age five. I mean, this stuff we would have eaten up, and we tried. She worked with W.C. Fields, for Christ's sake. She worked with Burns and Allen. Rosemary Mazzetta from New York, of course. I found this interesting, and I never knew this about her, God bless her. She was cut from the Phil Silvers movie Top Banana because she publicly refused the producer's sexual advances. How about that for timely?

Back then. So when was that? Back then. I'm going to say it was in the 40s. Wow. I don't have a – you can look up the date on the movie um what was the top banana it was a phil silvers uh movie the producer was was was making overtures not phil silvers yeah not not not bilko let's be careful but but i want to say too what i read some uh

women writers and comedians were posting all over Facebook how Sally Rogers, how her character on the Van Dyke Show, inspired them to go into comedy. And that was just sweet. Yeah. She was something else. And Gino, our pal Gino Salamone, had lunch with her, has great stories. Maybe we'll bring Gino on with his Rosemary stories. But God damn it, we tried. Yeah.

And we are the we are poorer for not having her and top banana was 1954 54 i'm way the hell off um so uh still that's that's a that's a long time before now when all is coming out and her co-star will we won't talk a long time about mary tyler more because we did a tribute episode about her with bill persky uh uh bill loved her to death. We've said this before and I'll say it again. She just doesn't get enough credit for being a straight man surrounded by funny people and setting them up.

And she was funny in her own right. But she let Asner shine and she let Cloris Leachman shine. And a lot of actresses wouldn't have allowed some other women to be funnier than her or Valerie Harper, who was getting the laugh lines in those early seasons and ted and ted knight and and sue ann nivens she was generous and she was smart because she knew i think billy said this she knew that that was going to make her successful and let people shine it's kind of like i i remember there was an interview they asked jack benny like how do you feel about example mel blank and and rochester rochester don wilson dennis day and his wife yeah everybody's getting the laughs old stealing the show from you right and benny said i want them to steal the show from me because the next day everyone will be

talking about how funny the Jack Benny show yeah I wonder if I don't know if she ever cited that personally or she or that's what she was she was uh inspired by or modeling herself after but if you look at that show and the Van Dyke show too yeah she has to play she has to play straight yeah a lot to funny people and like reiner himself um so uh and and billy helped her uh and he was modest about it but he and his late partner sam denoff brought her back after the van dyke show uh was gone she opened in breakfast at tiffany's on broadway i was gonna say you have that well i have something yeah i said because, because Mary Tyler Moore can do no wrong, I thought we should have one just to bring the show down. Yeah. One negative anecdote.

She was floundering. She was cast with Richard Chamberlain. Correct. They called it Holly Golightly, produced by David Merrick. Correct. Right, who closed the show after four previews a week before it was supposed to open out of consideration for the audience. Yeah. And she was, and the nature of this business, she was suddenly ice cold.

Yeah. December 1996. That is correct. And that Elvis movie where she played the nun also didn't help. Yeah. Didn't do very well. Bill and Sam wrote a comeback vehicle for her called Dick Van Dyke and the Other Woman, a CBS special, which was terrific and got great ratings,

and it led to CBS's interest in having her come in. And it led to them indirectly, led to the Mary Tyler Moore show. Wow. And she's great in dramatic roles. She's great in Ordinary People. Oh, God, Ordinary People. That was amazing. Terrific.

And a movie with Robert Preston called Finnegan Begin Again. I don't know if you guys know this movie. See it. It was an HBO movie. Yeah. And it's brilliant. And they're both brilliant in it. And I'd also like to point out that she raised a lot of money for charity and particularly for children.

And was a great New Yorker as far as I was concerned. Ordinary People was a shocker. Great in that. That she could play that kind of character so well. Never bad in anything fun fun in a movie called flirting with disaster where she and george seagull play ben stiller's parents terrific in comedy um so there's a couple of icons um another tv icon of that era jim neighbors oh and gilbert paid tribute in his own way recently to jim neighbors on the show

oh we don't have to go through that we don't have to go through that again And Gilbert paid tribute in his own way recently to Jim Nabors on the show. We don't have to go through that again. We don't have to go through that again. Let me see if the timing of this. Okay, so they've already heard that one by the time they're hearing this. This is the 15th that this is running. But here's some trivia. One of his first breaks, one of the first people to discover Jim Nabors and put him on television was, drumroll, Bill Dana.

Wow. Jim Neighbors was born in Alabama, Sylacuga or Salacoga. I don't even know how to pronounce this place. Our listeners in Alabama will get on my ass. Salacoga, Alabama. Moved to New York. He was working as a typist at the UN. Very strange.

And he was doing cabaret. And he was doing cabaret in a club called The Horn. He was in a band, too. Sort of. Sort of. I mean, in a cabaret program. There you go. Bill Dana saw him.

I got this story wrong. He'd moved to L.A. He was doing cabaret in New York, but he moved to L.A. That's where The Horn was. It was on Santa Monica or in Santa Monica. Bill Dana saw him, put him on the Steve Allen show. How about that? Wow.

And not much came of that, but then Andy Griffith saw him in the same goddamn club, and the rest is history. And he was supposed to do one part on the Griffith show, but he was supposed to do one episode as Go griffith show but he was so good he's supposed to do one episode as goober's cousin and most of us remember him for saying you're gonna fuck dolly pardon and then fuck me up the ass that wasn't that a catchphrase that I didn't know about? That's why Andy Griffith hired him. They had lunch boxes. Really?

This is sick. I think I misspoke. I think Goober came later after Zomer. I'll just chew anything I can to change the subject here. Goober came later. Goober came later, yeah. That was the autobiography of Jim Names. I'll just chew anything I can to change the subject here. Goober came later. Goober came later. Yes. That was the autobiography of Jim Nabors. This is going to be a running joke now.

We cannot eulogize Jim Nabors. Okay, I got it. Goober came later. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. And Floyd came right away.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Here's. Oh, that's going to turn up in your act. As long as we're talking about TV icons. I was thinking, I was doing the notes on this, and I thought it'd be fun if we had people who remembered these people to come on the show and talk about it,

like Ronnie Schell to talk about Jim Neighbors and Burt Ward to talk about Adam West west who passed but we don't have the time no because each one of those would be another episode you can't have somebody come on for three minutes yeah and get off the line um here's an icon june foray oh my god 99 the first lady of voice acting i would have loved to have spoken to her. We blew that one. So she was Natasha. She was Natasha on Bullwinkle as we established. She was everything. She was everything.

She was Rocky. She was Rocky. Yes. It's important to point that out. She was also talking Tina in that famous Twilight Zone episode. Oh my god. How about that shit? That's awesome. She was great. She was Cindy Lou Who. Sci-fi just played that Twilight Zone episode. Oh my god! How about that shit? That's awesome! She was great. She was Cindy Lou Who.

A sci-fi just played that Twilight Zone episode. Oh, with Kelly Savalas with hair. The Marathon. Yeah, anyway, Cindy Lou Who She was Cindy Lou Who and the Grinch. She was Witch Hazel for Chuck Jones on Bugs Bunny. She was Nell on Dudley Do-Right and a million

other things. And she did comedy albums with Dawes Butler and Stan Freeberg. And she worked with Chuck Jones, as I said, and Tex Avery and Walter Lance. And she worked with everything. She did everything. And I even had the pleasure of writing for her when I wrote a couple of the Sylvester and Tweety mysteries later in the 90s. And that was a thrill. She had an 85-year career. She was insane. Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries later in her career in the 90s, and that was a thrill for me. She had an 85-year career.

She was insane. And I look at this and I say, you schmucks. She was 99 and we never got her. Yes. And the other trivia point here, at 94, she became the oldest person to what? Parasail? Win? to what uh parasail win once you jump uh win an emmy the oldest person to win is that true at 94 for mrs cauldron that's cool wow yeah yeah right well our friend mark Mark Evanier. Yeah, ridiculously talented.

She was close to Mark, and I think Mark put her memorial service together, and close with Leonard Maltin. She was even friends with guests that we've had on the show. Yes, yes. And we didn't connect the dots. I don't know why we didn't call June 4th. Yeah, that's one of those horribles. We won't make this a show about regrets.

Or that would have to be a whole other series. Why don't we do a whole episode about how we fucked up? Here's a guy, Monty Hall. Monty Hall, an Orthodox Jew. Gilbert, you would have loved that. Also Canadian. From Winnipeg.

Monty Halperin was his name. I don't know how it got shortened to Monty Hall, but not only a game show host, not only obviously the host of Let's Make a Deal, he was a philanthropist, which I didn't know. He raised a billion dollars in charity in his lifetime.

A billion dollars. Can you imagine that? At least what I found about him. Also produced game shows like Masquerade Party, Split Second, and also in a memorable Odd Couple episode where Felix and Oscar go on Let's Make a Deal. Funny guy, a versatile guy, did different things. And while we're on the subject of both game shows and kicking ourselves for guests we didn't get, see if you know where I'm going here, Gil. We had the Practical Jokers here. Yes.

And they told us, please, please, please, if you get this guy on the show, let us sit in. And he was on our list. Yeah. But I think difficult to get. Oh. And I hit wall after wall because he was a recluse, Chuck Barris. Oh, yeah. That would have been one of the reasons to do this show,

was to get Chuck Barris. And when you do a show like this and you sit down and you design this show and you figure it out, you think, okay, who's going to be fun? Who's got stories? Who's the raconteur? Who's the character? Chuck Barris. Chuck Barris would have been one of those great shows

where every story you go, is that true? Well, it doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. Yes, we lost game show impresario and CIA hitman Chuck Barris. From Philly, a renaissance man. He wrote Palisades Park for Freddie Boom Boom Cannon. He wrote hit songs.

What is his whole music connection? I don't know. They called him the Baron of Bad Taste. Chuck Farris on the gong show, whenever there was a dog act there, what he would do is he would fill the crotch of his pants. That's correct. With cold cuts. That's an old trick. So the dog would start running over and sticking his nose in his crotch.

And he'd be going, hey, what's going on here? Hey, stop it. Your Chuck Barrett sounds a little bit like your Floyd the Barber. He was nicknamed the Ayatollah of trasharola the baron of bad taste the sultan of what did i write here the sultan of schlock uh the dating game the newlywed game how's your mother-in-law hosted by our former guest wink martindale the dollar 98 beauty contest hosted by rip taylor oh god damn he was one of a kind his daughter died and he um from people i know that knew him told me that his daughter died and he was uh never the same oh and uh and retreated from the public eye so i don't know that we would

have gotten him but the day that i found out that he passed you know these little things flash up on my screen and you know each one of them is like a knife in my gut when we didn't get them so running out of time I think we should do comedians does that make sense comedians never die

we lost two giants this year but we did tribute episodes to them and that's jerry lewis and don rickles yes um so in the interest of time i will direct people to those episodes um we thought we didn't do a we talked about jerry a lot on the show but we did a 90th birthday show about jerry oh yeah and we did a rickles tribute that frank vertorosa made some lovely additions to uh some beautiful touches on that one. But we're going to talk about three guys lesser known than Rickles and Jerry Lewis.

One guy, and I guess it's okay to say now, was our first guest on this podcast. Oh, yeah. Ever. Yes. And it became a mystery because we didn't want to say it while he was alive and we didn't want to embarrass. Yeah, that's one we've never broadcast. We never put it out. And that was the professor, the foremost authority. It's hardly a secret anymore because I've told 40 people on social media, but he was the first person we sat down to talk to in his apartment. Yeah. We interviewed him at his apartment afterwards, we went to have some pizza.

In the pizza store. Yeah, in the pizza store. And I remember thinking and talking, saying, okay, you know, we tried a podcast. It was a disaster. You know, it was an attempt. It was just couldn't get the conversation rolling? He was 100 at the time. I think he passed at 102.

Yeah, he went from being funny mixed up to just mixed up. Yeah, yeah. It wasn't, and God bless him. I mean, he was there. We came in, his son set it up and brought us into his apartment. He was in the apartment forever down in the Lower East Side. He probably paid 10 cents a month. Yeah.

And he was game, and he was sweet, and he was nice, and we told stories. But it really wasn't. And in his defense, and to be fair, you and I really didn't have any kind of mojo either. We didn't know what we were doing. We set up the equipment on his coffee table. We couldn't see each other, so there was no way for Gilbert and I to react. We had no idea what we were doing. It was very awkward.

I remember both of us turning our heads to the side to look at him because we were sitting on the couch. It wasn't to be. And then Darren and I had a talk, and we said, is this going to work? And I said, why don't we get a guest who's an automatic? He does the work for us? Who was episode number two? Dick Cavett. Dick Cavett.

Because I'm not stupid. Dick Cavett. I have a lot of things, but I'm not stupid. Cavett's one of those click on the microphone. Yeah, we got Dick to come over. Gilbert poured some wine. Dara poured out some wine, put out some wine and cheese. And he sat down and bam, we had a podcast.

So this is a major reveal on the podcast. Yes! Well, we didn't want to embarrass the man in case he was chasing work at 100. But I find, of course, all these wonderful things about him. I mean, he was a union organizer. I mean, he was a radical lefty. I mean, practically a communist if he wasn't

a communist. Close friends with Lenny Bruce. Yeah, with Thomas Pinchon, for Christ's sake. Nobody's close friends. He accepted a National Book Award for Thomas Pynchon. Really? And people thought he was Thomas Pynchon because Thomas Pynchon was a recluse. And they didn't know what he looked like.

Born in the clubs. I mean, the character, the foremost authority, the hungry eye in the Playboy Club. He did radio with Edgar Bergen, for Christ's sake. Was he an Ed Sullivan guest? I don't know. I know that he's in a movie with Hope and Gleason called How to Commit Marriage. You know this picture? He's in Car Wash with Richard Pryor and George Carlin. In his later years, he used to solicit donations from drivers for children in the third world.

He walked up to their cars. Yeah. You mean like those guys that sell things on Veterans Day and stuff? Yeah, you could research this. It's online. It's in his times a bit. He looked like some homeless man. Yeah. So weird.

Yeah, he would stand outside the Midtown Tunnel and ask you to roll down your window, and he'd have a bucket for orphans, for children in the third world, and he'd collect money and send them the money. He was a person of conscience. Interesting man and almost our first guest. Anyway, here's two guys we never got. Shelly Berman. Lost Shelly Berman.

He was sick almost from the moment that we started the show. Yeah, Shelly Berman would Oh, yeah. Lost Shelly Berman. He was sick almost from the moment that we started the show. Yeah, Shelly Berman would have been a great one. He was not in good condition. Yeah. When was he on Curb Your Enthusiasm? Because he looked okay. Before they shut that show down a couple years ago, we started the podcast in 2014, and we heard he was already starting to fade,

unfortunately. A very brilliant guy. Did a play with Gino Conforti that we just had on the show. The famous Twilight episode where everybody looks like him. Oh, everyone has his face. Yeah. Well, he had that brilliant routine talking about how he's on the phone with his father. Oh, yeah. I mean i mean wonderful it was funny

a monologist back when back when somebody could sit down and do a bit and hold an audience yeah just a stool and and do an hour an hour and a half and he was a compass player which was the predecessor of uh the precursor of second city in chicago i i remember he has one where he's like a guy on the phone talking to a girl that he just went on a date with the night before. And she, you know, obviously didn't do well. And one of his lines is, yeah, well, but when a man and woman are holding hands, how do you know which hand is the sweaty one? Funny guy. Funny guy. See if you can find, I was talking to our fans, Shelly Berman's routines online.

And I met him twice. You did? Yeah. Do tell. He was, one time. You shared a publicist. Glenn was his publicist. I was in, I think, San Francisco.

He was putting on a show, and it was actually about Jewish comics. I love it. And he was in charge of it. And he was a very nice man. And then I ran into him later, which I would love. I don't know if someone recorded this. I was in Vegas, and Larry King had on stage with him what he called the founders of Vegas. And he had Shelly Berman, Jerry Lewis.

Was Shecky there? Yeah, Shecky was there. I think maybe Phylliscky was there. I think maybe Phyllis Diller was there. Wow, what a show. Oh, yeah. It was amazing. Oh, and George Carlin. Wow, what I wouldn't have given. I worked with Phyllis Diller. Did you work with her?

I worked with her. She was a treat. She was one of those. She was like a hundred and walked around without a cane. I loved her. I had a great experience with her that I'll tell sometime on the show. He was nominated for an Emmy for that role in Curb Your Enthusiasm. Was he really? Yeah.

He was great. And I found this touching. Fred Willard wrote this on Facebook. I am outraged that the great, the legendary, the hilarious Shelley Berman has not been mentioned in any of the end-of-year memorial tributes. Wow. If you don't remember him, Google him. Please Google him. He was perhaps the end of year memorial tributes if you don't remember him google him please google him he was perhaps the greatest of his time shelly berman should not be forgotten so his his peak would have been what 50s or uh i want to say late 50s 60s or shelly berman i guess

so yeah mid 50s to late 50s um I'm not entirely sure. I remember him. I remember him as an actor. He was in a lot of stuff, too. Oh, yeah. He's in a Mary Tyler Moore episode with Gino Conforti. Oh, my God. Who we just talked to before we were recording this. You cast him as, like, a very prissy guy.

Yes. Well, he did that well. Yeah. He did it well. Here's one more name from the same era and the Playboy Clubs. All of these guys were contemporaries, the three guys that I'm mentioning here. Dick Gregory. Oh, yeah.

A friend of Ed Weinberger, another guy that we could have had come and talk about Dick. If we could do a seven-hour in memoriam, we would have all these people call up and talk about it. And I remember I met Dick Gregory at the U Hefner roast because he was like indebted to you. Oh, absolutely. For cash. Yeah. Yeah. The Playboy clubs. Hiring him.

Yes. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, he segregated. I mean, he segregated. Yeah. He integrated those clubs. Yeah.

He was instrumental in Dick Gregory's success. Born in St. Louis, raised by his mom, moved to Chicago to become a comedian. And we got that great story when Patty Farmer was here about how he used to prepare to be heckled. Oh, wow. He used to tell his wife while she was ironing his clothes, his shirts to go on, he would tell his wife, instruct his wife, yell the nastiest epithets at me that you can because he wanted to steal himself. Imagine that. Yeah.

The great Dick Gregory. Did a lot with his life. Hefner, by the way, since you're bringing up Hefner, we also lost Hefner. Yes. This year. I didn't put him on the list because I don't really think of him as an entertainment person. But, boy, he was so important in the entertainment industry. But he was important in the entertainment industry.

This is an interesting thing about Dick Gregory. He refused to appear on the Jack Parr show unless he could sit and talk with Parr, and that wasn't done either at the time. Wow. They did not, if they had a black act on the show, he did not then sit down and interact with the host, on the show, he did not then sit down and interact with the host. And he insisted that he do that.

Also very active in the civil rights movement. And he unsuccessfully ran for president in 1968. He became an assassination conspiracy theorist. He wrote a million books. Very, very interesting man. I met him too. He got involved in healthy diets he did he was a vegetarian and uh just a very very interesting man um a man of many talents and many interests and i had the pleasure of meeting him somebody so fun online in the research somebody i don't

know who this was but this could actually apply to a lot of the people we're talking about is this when dick gregory died he said heaven just got funnier oh yeah they say that a lot about about they won't say it when gilbert's gone they'll say heaven just got louder i haven't got noisier heaven just got jewier i love it calls to mind your Jewy Space. Always tops me. Always tops me. I want to mention three friends real quickly as we wind down. My friend Jay Lynch died, and some of the people listening to this show will know Jay Lynch. I get a lot of questions about when I wrote Bazooka Joe comics, and I wrote for Tops, and Gilbert knows this.

I used to write Garbage Pail Kids, and I used to write Wacky Packs. I have them on my wall at work. It was one of my first. My friend Mark Newgarden, who I went to the School of Visual Arts with, brought me in there generously, my late friend Russ Riley. I got to know Jay, who was an underground cartoonist and a legend and had been doing Wacky Packs, and I think had been writing Bazooka Joe since the 50s or the 60s or however the hell old they were.

A real interesting guy, a genuine character uh he worked for mad too you're a mad fan oh yes um look him up look up his work uh underground comics called bijou funnies uh which he also edited there's a great comics journal interview with him uh He was one of us. He was a fan of weird show business and weird arcane stuff and could do references like us, make these kind of obscure references. A sweet guy. I spent quality time with him. I wish I knew him better. Jay Lynch.

Len Wein, I have to mention. Len passed at 69, a mutual friend of mine and Mark Evaniers. I've mentioned him, too, on the show. He was a comic book giant. He created Swamp Thing. He created Wolverine. Yeah. He created the character Storm from the X-Men.

A lovely man who helped me in Los Angeles when I didn't know anybody, when I had nowhere to go for the holidays, uh, took me in a funny guy. Uh, again, one of us, I mean, could top us, could tell you who the 10th actor was, who was Fritz Feld's stand in. He knew radio. There's another one like you guys. Oh, Len Wein, you guys would have loved him. He introduced me to Harlan Ellison, which was a life-changing experience. I had Thanksgiving dinner at Len's house. His beautiful

wife, Christine, they took me in. I was living in L.A. with nowhere to go for Thanksgiving. He was one of those guys that just knowing him made me feel legitimate. You know, it made me feel like I was funny and I was one of the crowd. He had me to a poker game at his house. I didn't play poker. You know David Mandel

who wrote for Seinfeld and Curb? You must know David. David was winning at poker. I didn't know how the hell to play, but the fact that they invited me, I was thrilled to be there. Marv Wolfman was there too, another great comic book guru. I loved talking to him. I loved knowing

him. He was just a wonderful guy and I had the honor of introducing him to Whoopi, and they were both thrilled, and I think Whoopi was more thrilled to meet him. So we lost Len at 69. A lot of the obits mention Wolverine, which is huge with the kids now. My kids are all over Wolverine.

Well, you, Jackman, tweeted when Len died, I owed this man my career. Yeah, that's great. Which is, you know, maybe that was a little bit of hyperbole, but also Jack Mendelsohn. I'll get through this quick. We have a special name at the end. Jack Mendelsohn was a Renaissance man, another Brooklyn boy, Gilbert.

You would have loved Jack. He would have loved you. He was a Jew. Well, you'd never tell by the name. You could tell by the name. Jack, among his other credentials and other cool things that he did, wrote Yellow Submarine. He wrote a Beatle movie. I mean, the Beatles weren't in it, but it's still pretty cool.

Yeah. It's a cool goddamn thing to have done. He was a cartoonist. He had a strip called Jackie's Diary, G-A-C-K-Y-S see if you can find it it was a Sunday only strip that ran from 1959 to 61 you're going to love these credits he was a comic book

guy he was a cartoonist he started writing for Hanna-Barbera he wrote cartoons for Paramount he wrote the Abbott and Costello animated show the one but Abbott voiced he wrote will the real Jerry Lewis please sit down? Wow. Remember that cartoon show with David Lander?

Drew's a fan of that. He wrote Flintstones. He wrote Scooby-Doo. He went on to write live action. He wrote Laugh-In. He wrote Love Boat. He wrote Dick Van Dyke's variety show, Van Dyke and Company. I overused the term renaissance man, but he was.

show van dyke and company uh i overused the term renaissance man but he was um and quickly i was you know again floundering in los angeles and i didn't know anybody and i was holed up in a hotel room on ventura boulevard and i was i was only two days left in la that i could afford before i had to go back to new york and i was determined to make something happen i made a bunch of phone calls and i called my friends at mad magazine and i said is in L.A. that I could meet or will meet me or have lunch with me or talk to me or read my scripts? And Nick Meglin, did you know Nick, an editor at Mad? Nick was John Ficarra's partner at Mad. I probably have met him.

He answered the phone at Mad, and he said, oh, you've got to call Jack Mendelsohn. I said, you know Jack Mendelsohn? He said, yeah, he lives in Sherman Oaks. He lives 10 blocks from where you're staying. I called Jack, you know, a guy whose work I had revered on the Carol Burnett show and laughing. He comes to the phone. He says, well, what are you doing now? I went to lunch with him.

He said, give me your script. I gave him my script. He read it and he called me that night and he said, you should be working. He said, you got to move here. And my life changed. I moved to LA. I got an agent and I got legit quickly, um, because of Jack Mendelsohn and I went and he got me work and I wrote cartoons because an agent called me 48 hours later and said, Jack doesn't like anybody.

So it's praise from Caesar. So we want to sign you. And I signed with an agency and I started to work and that led to writing Saturday morning cartoons. And I got to meet June for a and write for her and wrote I wrote a cartoon show for Spielberg and it all came from Jack. I'd lost touch with him and I called him two years ago. I called him up and I thanked him and I'm glad I did. So last but not least. Oh, yeah. This, my sister Arlene, Arlene Gottfried, she was a photographer.

An interesting, well, you'd have to look her up on the internet and look at her books and the photos. She loved the old New York, you know, the decrepit, decaying New York. She sure did. And you'd see these people like, you know, junkies or just pathetic people. But her photos were never critical of them she never looked down on those people and one time she was taking photos of a gospel group and she loved them so much she became a pentecostal gospel singer. Isn't that hilarious? And my mother started to call her the singing photographer.

I love that. I love that. And she, the whole Spanish culture. Well, she captured New York as it was. Yes. She captured a whole different New York that will never come again. It's a really interesting point that you make, that she didn't judge these.

No, quite the opposite. You see the real wistful side of New York. The affection, the affection is in the pictures. The strangest people, and it was never looking down on them. Right. Yeah. Well, I think it's fair to say she steals your documentary. Oh, yes.

Yes, she does. And Neil has been here and told us himself that that was a pleasant surprise. Is there a Kleenex over there? Oh, yeah. That Neil had no idea when he took you on that he was going to get the bonus, the extra special bonus of Arlene. I mean, if there's one reason I'm happy for doing that documentary is that Arlene got her time in the sun.

And everybody discovered her. Yeah. You know, and everybody said, you know, people knew. I mean, people knew. People in the gospel group knew about her. People in photography certainly knew who she was. And she had said a couple of times, she said, they'll notice me when I'm dead. And sure enough, when she died, there was a beautiful obit in the New York Times.

Beautiful. I urge people to find it. She lived in the neighborhood. You saw her every day. Almost every day. Yeah. A very sweet person, may I say. Very, very sweet.

Much kinder than you. You got to wonder, may I say. Very, very sweet. Much kinder than you. You got to wonder how they're related. Oh, my God. You ever meet somebody and go, this is your sibling? How is that possible? Separated at birth, left on the doorstep. Lovely and everything you're not. Engaging and real and authentic and kind and ask you about yourself.

A human being. A human being in the most flattering and admirable sense of the word. I loved her the minute I met her. And there was just affection. And she treated me like a member of the family. She was here with us in this in the studio when we watched the documentary for the first time yes she was so happy that she lived to see the documentary so i'm going to tell people to find arlene's books they are on amazon midnight eternal

light there's a great one called sometimes overwhelming you can even find her singing oh yes online on youtube one of the great New York photographers, no question. And one of the great New York photographers. At her funeral, we had a group of gospel singers and people from the black church who loved her. It was a great, I have to say, you know, if a wake, if a service can be, what, an uplifting event? It was. It was a celebration of a life. I think she would have appreciated it.

I know that's a cliche. Yeah. One of them said, like, how original and different she was. And he said, how else do you explain how a Jewish girl from Brooklyn becomes a Pentecostal gospel singer. And these singers, these people from her gospel group got up and sang. Yes. And this little, what was it, where we were. It was a little memorial.

Yeah. A little memorial, a little chapel. And they got up, and you thought you were at a revival. It was amazing. Yeah, look up her name on the internet. Arlene, R-A-R-L-E-N-E. Look up her books. Look up her photography.

I think, you know, I was looking, doing research for the show, and the New York Times had one long scroll where they basically had photographs and little write-ups of all of the VIPs that passed away in 2018. I used it for research. And everybody was there, Rickles and Jerry Lewis and Chuck Berry and Mary Tyler Moore and all of these icons. And I got to the Gs, and there was Arlene Godfrey in that company. I think she would have appreciated it. Yeah. But, yeah, so that was a personal loss.

Yes, and she was a great and deserves to be mentioned with all of these other people. And I will say that Lily also stole the movie. Oh, yes. Let's not leave her out. Let's give her her due. And Arlene was there when my son Max was born. Was she? Yes.

Oh, you never told me that. Yeah. Yeah. You named Lily and Max after your folks. A nice tribute. was born was she yes oh they never you never told me that yeah yeah you named our you named lily and max after your folks a nice tribute there are so many great move moments in neil's movie um credit to neil um and everybody associated with making that movie but uh the arlene moments are my favorite and the funny thing is when neil speaks about her it's a lot more coherent and than i am speaking about it so yeah she was a gift he he loved her yeah she was and she was a gift to that film and and all so

many of her photographs are in it everybody i i give the movie to i'm going to give it to somebody at work tomorrow asked me for it everybody i've shown the movie to or given the movie to, I'm going to give it to somebody at work tomorrow, ask me for it. Everybody I've shown the movie to or given the movie to says immediately comes back and says, I had no idea. Well, you too, it's a credit to you the way you come across, but I had no idea this was going to make me cry or be so touching. I thought I'd laugh at Gilbert shenanigans, but I didn't think that I, and, and she's, she's a large part of that. And the stuff with your mom where she documented your mom's passing in photography, it's something. She was a great artist. Yeah. Yeah.

Anywho. Photographer, singer, everything. Everything. So I urge people to seek out her work. People wrote very nice things on Twitter and on Facebook when she passed. But seek out her work, which is the best way to remember these people. And thanks to Arlene, we're able to end this show on a nice note, which we don't usually manage. Yes.

That's a salient point. We were going to end it with Jim Nabors. Anyway, we miss these people. Their time will never come again. And that's 2017. It's why we do this show, to remember them. The ones we get, the ones we don't get. I'm Gilbert Gottfried. This has been Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast with my co-host and life partner.

You say that now. Yes. With my life mate. You know, it's legal now. Yeah. Frank Santopadre and Paul Raybone. Great jazz musician. Thank you, Paul Raybone.

It's okay, man. Happy to be here. Thanks for listening, guys. This has been our in memoriam, and leave us alone. There's a lot of people. Yeah, fuck off. See you next time. God cares God cares

God really cares Whether you're glad or you're blind Oh, the precious soul, precious soul so precious and God's well God cares you know God cares yes

God cares Let's go, kids. To the rich to come. To the poor to be. To the maker And the thief Well, God cares You know God cares Yes, the case.

When you don't let me in. When I can't find a friend to care. When I can't find a friend to care When I'm down I need to care Just remember In your heart Down in hell If in your heart

You don't have a soul Because someday, something in your life starts to grow Hold on because the chance, I know, might not take. Oh, yes, it can. © transcript Emily Beynon I remember when I was young And I thought I'd never forget When I'm holding on to tears When I don't have a job in place When I don't want to go on a trip When I have no place Just remember I am your friend

Just remember You never left your heart I'll kiss you God cares for you. God cares. God cares. God cares. Go, go, go! Web and social media is handled by Mike McPadden, Greg Pair, and John Bradley Seals. Special audio contributions by John Beach. Special thanks to Paul Rayburn, John Murray, John Fodiatis, and Nutmeg Creative.

Especially Sam Giovonco and Daniel Farrell for their assistance.