Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - 59. Greg Evigan

Episode Date: July 13, 2015

This week, Gilbert and Frank phone up one of the most visible and popular TV actors of the 1970s, 80s and 90s, former heartthrob and "B.J. and the Bear" and "My Two Dads" star Greg Evigan, who shares memorable anecdotes about everyone from Burt Reynolds to William Shatner to simian TV sidekick Sam (AKA "The Bear"). Also, Greg shares the stage with Ben Vereen AND John Travolta, jams with Paul Shaffer and lends his car to Ringo Starr! PLUS: Don Kirshner! The strange genius of Glen A. Larson! "Pink Lady and Jeff"! |"The Battle of the Network Stars"! And Gilbert sings again! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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She has truly changed my life. Another member said, the day after my first session, my friends and family said I sounded like myself again for the first time in weeks. You deserve to invest in your well-being. Visit BetterHelp.com to see what it can do for you. That's BetterHelp.com. Don't forget to follow us on our Facebook page, Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast, on Twitter, at Real Gilbert ACP, and on Instagram, Gilbert Podfried, P-O-D-F-R-I-E-D. You see, it's kind of a pun on the last name. Ah, never mind. Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and this is Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast.

I'm here with my co-host, Frank Santopadre. Our guest this week has been acting on the big and small screen for over 40 years. He's a former teen idol and pinup. Hey, I had his poster on my wall. So did I. Who's gone on to appear in dozens of TV shows, including Dallas, Barnaby Jones, Columbo, William Shatner's Tech War, Melrose Place, Jags, CSI, and Desperate Housewives. And of course, BJ and the Bear.

My two dads and the immortal are a year at the top with our good friend Paul Schaefer. In his long career, he's co-starred with everyone from Mickey Rooney to Ringo Starr to Orson Welles. Please welcome the pride of Sayreville, New Jersey, and by far the most handsome guest we've ever had on this show, By far the most handsome guest we've ever had on this show. Actor, singer, and songwriter, Greg Evergan. Yeah. Now I need a nap.

You know, you got everything right except for the name. That reminds me of the story. You know what? We'll rerecrecord it, Greg. Okay, what did I... How did I fuck up? It's Evigan. Evigan. Okay, Greg Evigan! In case

if you're too... I gotta tell you, it's really quick. I got to do the Johnny Carson show one time. And Burt Reynolds was the host that night. And I knew Burt because I work – there was a show that Lonnie Anderson did, and I got to meet Burt. But I came to the show, and he introduced me.

And, you know, it was at the end of the show, so I'm in the green room for, God, man, I don't know, you know, what is it, two hours, right? And I'm waiting. I'm waiting to go on. You God, man, I don't know, you know, what is it, two hours, right? So, and I'm waiting. I'm waiting to go on. You know, nervous as can be at this point, you know. And then I can see that there's only a minute left or whatever, two minutes. And I hear, and now a good friend of mine, I want you to meet a good friend of mine. I mean, this guy is great.

He's got a great career going. Greg, and that's no exaggeration, okay? And then I come out, I sit there and then the first question I think was, so, how do you like working with Stacks? Okay, that's a good opening question.

Judy Landers on the show for anyone out there who didn't see BJ and the Bear. Oh, we remember Judy Landers. Yeah, and then the music started playing. Okay, that was one of the... It's the worst feeling, man. The music starts playing. It's like, well, thanks for coming on the show, Greg Hinton.

You know, and that was it. So, anyway. It was pretty fun. I love it. So anyway, that was pretty fun. I love it. Now, you had the honor of being in a TV show that's remembered as one of the worst TV shows of all time. I had a few of those, right? Well, you're at the top may qualify, but we'll get to that.

Pink Lady and Jeff. Oh, my God. Yeah. They must have spent a lot of money on that show. I think it's Sid and Martin Croft, right? I'm pretty sure. I think Fred Silverman

was infamously behind that show. Oh, okay. And describe the show to us. Well, see, there's two girls from Japan. I think they're called, yeah, me and Kay. That's right. Me and Kay. That's right.

And I guess they had huge careers over in Japan. And so for me, any opportunity to do my music you know because that's always been my passion or the music so so any opportunity to do the music uh i would be there and i have i had this band called getaway city and uh and we uh and we just got to do the show but it actually for us it was a really good spot but the show what was jeff uh those guys jeff altman yeah so they these two the japanese girls were uh singers in japan they were very popular yeah yeah pop stars right and somebody got the idea they're trying to break them in the u.s i'm pretty sure it was jeff altman uh wasman was just an unknown comedian and they were

like, and these girls couldn't speak a word of English. Which was a big problem. Yeah. You could just see the meeting where they were saying, oh, it's like Sonny and Cher. Not Sonny and Cher, Tony Orlando and Dawn. Yeah. We'll put a guy in the middle and two singers.

Except if Dawn didn't speak English. It's pretty funny, though. I have that tape of that. I mean, that's a pretty funny thing. Because we did this song. We did one of my songs with the band. And we got a really good track out of it. So it was really great at the time.

And then they did we did this song, I think it was Let's Dance. That's what it was. Let's dance, let's dance. I did this song with the two of them dancing. It's pretty funny. You ever get a chance to see that on YouTube, which I think it's on there somewhere.

We'll have to dig it out. What we did find on YouTube what we did find in YouTube, what we did find in doing our research, we found that wonderful Ringo Starr special. Oh, my God. I got to work with Ringo, man. Of course.

That was pretty cool. It was surreal. I could not believe it's like the announcer comes on, they show them, and they go, it's the Ringo Starr special with George Harrison, Art Carney, Angie Dickinson. John Ritter.

John Ritter. Oh, and Carrie Fisher. And Vincent Price. And Vincent Price. Yeah, what a cast. So where did you see the whole thing? Because I've never seen it. Oh, it's on there.

It's on there. It's on YouTube? Yeah, the whole thing. The whole thing. The whole scene where he comes, where Ringo's alter ego wants to borrow your car. Right. What does he give? Slips you 20 bucks?

I got that Chevy. I got that Chevy, right. And I was dressed like a greaser from... So surreal. I know. Those are the moments, man. You know, those things like that. I mean, I got to work with a Beatle

because I can only imagine when I was jumping around on the bed with my sister and I jumping up and down as high as we could when we first heard those guys come over from England and take the world by storm. Just to work with a Beatle is great. Well, we joke about it, but for a kid from Sayreville, New Jersey, to work with one of the Beatles, yeah, that's a big deal. That's for sure. It's for sure. How did that even come about?

They just called you up and said, you want to be in the Ringo Starr special, and you jumped at it? No. Now that you mention that, I remember Althea, this fellow named Althea, and David Pomerantz, the guy that I wrote with. Wait a minute.

Wait. David Pomerantz? Yeah, David and I, we've written a lot of poems together. Okay. with it. Wait a minute. Wait. David Pomerantz? Yeah, David and I, we've written a lot of songs together. Okay. Yeah. Hold it. Hold it right there. Hold the phone. Hold the phone.

Stop. Stop. Stop. He wrote two songs for the movie Zapped. Oh, the Scott Baio movie. Scott Baio. Okay. And you want to hear them? Because I sing on each one in my part.

All right, Greg, we warn you. Okay, this is a song by David Pomerantz. And this is where Scott Baio and allegedly the ugly girl, because she wears glasses glasses falls in love. Take me to your heart. Show me where to start. Let me play the part of your first love.

All the stars are right. Let us make a wish tonight, my love. Pity those who wait. Trust in love to fate. Finding out too late that they've lost it. Never let it go. You will never know the ways of love.

Got to believe in magic. Tell me that two people find each other. Someone stop him. In a world full of strangers. Got to believe in magic. It's stronger than the moon that shines above. Because it's magic when two people fall in love. How do you know?

It's obviously the same David Pomerantz, right? I'm sure. It has to be. I don't know how many David Pomerantz. His writing has gotten a lot better. How the hell do you know the lyrics? How do you know that? How do you know that?

See, Zapped is one of those films that from the poster, like, it during the 80s of those like teen sex comedies. And it always promised to be a better jerk off film than it really ever was. And it fails as a jerk off film. But boy, I like the songs. Obviously. I'll sing the other one later. The Cinema of Scott Baio. But he also did a couple of Kenny Rogers hits. Oh, wow.

And the Barry Manilow hit. Which one? It may not be Mandy, but it's right up there with the success of that. Wow. We're going to Google that. So he's had a couple of big ones. Now, I think he went to some kind of like Hebrew school or something.

We've got to look this up. He was a Jew. I pick out who's a Jew. You haven't listened to too many episodes. Greg, there's a recurring theme where Gilbert needs to know who's Jewish and who isn't Jewish.

We're letting you sneak in as a token. Thank you. I'm honored to be here. A token boy. But speaking of the music, Greg, you know, let's talk a little bit about, you started out doing music before acting came into your life. Yeah. In fact, that's what, the first job was uh first real job i mean i got the jesus christ superstar is my first one that got me out of new jersey and then uh greece was

my second one that's that kept me in new york and then shot me over to chicago for a year and i did it there so i was playing zuko and that you know that. And then right after that, I met Don Kirschner on that, I don't know, if Paul ever told you the story, if he ever told you the story about a year at the top. Oh, we've talked about it. We're going to ask you plenty about that. Okay. Well, that was really my, that's what brought me out to California, that show. Because we were watching the video of that oh this is just all they have on youtube really is a is a um a

coming attraction oh we're watching a teaser we were watching you sing on drums and with paul schaefer there and paul schaefer is in like an elastic jumpsuit. Yeah, in his Elton John face. Yeah, the big Elton John glasses. And he's bald on top with long hair on the sides. I remember they spent so much money on this show. Because you had these three heavyweights, Norman Lear don kershner and neil bogart i mean each one of them in their field was i don't think there's anyone bigger at the time you know and uh they spent it was almost a competition of who could spend the most money to

get this thing going and uh and they had this outfit that we had to wear i think what that picture you saw we had these stars and and different, we had this entire thing that could have literally electrocuted us at any time, you know. The wrong transistor touched our body and we were fried on stage. And at a

certain point in the song, these things lit up. I mean, the technology then was not there to do this, you know, so it was so cutting edge, you know. Just to take our listeners through. Go ahead. No, go ahead. What were you saying?

I was just going to say, I was just going to give a little background, a little context for what this was for people that don't remember Year at the Top, and I think it was only four or five episodes. It was based on the Faust legend. You guys were songwriters who sell your soul to the devil. Right, as per Year at the Faust legend. You guys were songwriters who sell your soul to the devil. Right. As per a year at the top. Right.

Right. And Gabe Dell from the Dead End Kids played the devil. Mickey Rooney was in the pilot. I mean, this is legendary television. Yeah, we had a great cast. We had, what's her name, some guys and dolls. you know, we had Adelaide, what was her name? Oh, God. Blair, I'll tell you.

Oh, God. Oh, we'll think of it. We'll think of it. But she played my wife, you know, because we get zapped back and forth from being older, you know, older to younger. When we sell our souls, we're, our souls, Red Fox is in it. Phil Leeds. Oh, Phil Leeds. Phil Leeds.

Yeah, Phil Leeds played ball. And Alan Alda, you know, senior, played, that was me as an older person, was Alan Alda. And Vivian Blaine, that's who I was trying to think of.

Oh, Vivian Blaine, sure. From the movie, guys. From the movie, guys. From the movie, guys. So by senior, is this Robert Alda? Yes. Yes. Robert Alda. Oh, yeah, Robert Alda.

Yeah, Alan's the one from MASH. Alan's father. Yeah, Robert Alda. Robert Alda. He was like this kind of sharpy, handsome guy in the old movies. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I think he did

Guys and Dolls. I think he did. I think he did. I think he was Skye Masterson. Yeah, and I think that's where they probably met. And anyway, I'm not sure about that, but she played my wife as old as...

And then when we got Zapp back into the younger characters, of course, the wife was still the wife that was, you know, 70 or 65, 70, whatever she was. So that was the so we still had to resolve those relationships, which is, you know, I mean, the pilot was really good with Josh. I mean, the pilot itself was a good, a really good pilot. We're going to be having Josh Mustel. So we're basically constructing your whole band without knowing it. We already interviewed Paul Schaefer. Now you, and we're going to have Josh Mustel. We're only missing Don Scardino.

I was going to say, you better get Donny Scardino in there. We watched the video online. We watched I guess it's Like a Rising Star. Right. And you on drums, Paul on keyboards and I sent the video to Gilbert and he watched it and he had no idea that that was

Josh Mostel playing the violin. He was so good at it, man. He played the devil's son. He just had the right angle on it all the time. The sarcasm, the whole...

His relationship with Daddy was really on the rocks. We'll be asking him about that. So you were doing Greece and Kirshner saw you in Greece? How did they get you to L.A.? asking him about that. So you were doing Grease, and Kirshner saw you in Grease? How did they get you to L.A.?

No, I went to... What happened was I decided that... I had this thing in my mind about, you know, if you do a Broadway show for too long, you may end up doing it for, really, a long time, you know, 10 years. So I decided, okay, I'm going to do my nine-month contract, and, I'm going to do my nine-month contract

and I'm just going to get out and see what comes up next in life. And so that's why I just went back to New York and then I... See, this is when you're young and stupid you do those kind of things. Give up a perfectly good show to have nothing.

Not to interrupt you, but was John Travolta in that production of Grease with you? Yeah. What happened was I replaced Barry Boswick in New York. Oh, Barry Boswick. Yeah, he was great. He was the best to go of all of them.

And I replaced him. And then Jeff Conaway was promised a role in New York. So I did itaway was promised a role in New York. So I did it for four to five months in New York. And then they said, hey, you can either be his understudy or you can take the Chicago company. I said, I'll take the Chicago company. So I went to Chicago and I did it for another year there.

And after that year, that's when I decided I'm going to just let the contract expire, not take any renewal, and just go to New York and see what comes. And then I went on this audition, and we went through the entire summer of this audition, and I came right down to the end, and I didn't get it. I was really upset about it. I mean, that was one of those,

as an actor, you spend all those months working on it. And then the craziest thing, and how it happened, was I went to this girl I was going with who was doing this show called Musical Chairs that Don Kirsten was producing, and I was sitting in the audience, and I was waiting for her to be done with rehearsals

so we can go out and get some dinner. And Don Kirsten was sitting over there in the, you know, just in the theater in New York, in the seats. And he just, look, he kept looking at me, you know. And finally he goes, hey, babe, babe. He calls everybody Dave. He says, babe, can we come here? Wait a minute, he calls everybody Dave?

Everybody Dave. So everybody was Dave. So I said, oh, don't I know you? Do I know you, Dave? I said, well, I almost said, yeah, I auditioned for you for the whole summer, but I didn't. And he got distracted just at that moment, just to show you how things go in life. And the stage manager, she came out and she said, I've got to go over this one thing with you,

which gave me the time to go down and see Jay Segal. Remember Jay Segal? Jay Segal? In the jungle, the mighty jungle. Oh, wow. Wow. So I go down, I said, Jay, how you doing? Because I went through the whole, I was really close with Jay on the auditions

because he was the musical director for the show. So he's the one that we work with the most. And so I said, hey, Donnie. Just said, hey, how you doing? But I don't think he remembers that I came in for the, he says, yeah, you know what happened? We lost the guy. He didn't work out at all.

I said, he's going crazy trying to find something. So I said, so he walks up and I he said, well, you're an actor, right? He said, so Donnie comes back. I said, yeah, yeah, I'm a singer, actor. I almost said it again. You know, I don't. And Jay says, Greg, wouldn't you be good, Donnie, for the part? I mean, and he goes, yeah, he would be.

Let me take your number. So it was one of these classic things where you write down your number on pretty much a bubble gum wrapper and say, yeah, right, he's going to call me. Yeah. So next morning he called me and he shipped me out to New York and said, I'm going to be running to L.A. to meet Norman Lear. Wow. He stayed at the Farmer's Daughter. The Farmer's Daughter is still there. I've stayed there.

The one on Fairfax? Yes. Oh, God. I went out there to do a pilot, and I stayed in that hotel. I'm heartened to know it still exists. Oh, and speakers have contracts there now. That's great. The Farmer's Daughter. Oh, and speakers have contracts there. That's great. The farmer's daughter.

And speaking of John Travolta, you were offered the role of Vinnie Barbarino in Welcome Back Carter. Who said that? Yeah. Not true? I don't know. I mean, if I was offered that role, I can't imagine me turning it down. Well, the Internet lied to us because it says that you were under contract for a year at the top and you had to turn down Welcome Back, Cotter.

That could be true. But only my agent would know. I mean, she probably would have never said anything to me. Wow. Just for the record, because the internet's never wrong you're right yeah of course what would i think how could i deny that i mean i i look at stuff about me i go i wasn't in that i wasn't in that one i was well you turned down the role of Horschak, didn't you, Bill? Yes.

I turned down the role of the son in Sanford and Son. And it went to DeMond Wilson. You'd have been so great. Yeah. Yeah, Gilbert, where is he now, huh? Yeah. I think he's a preacher now. Demond Wilson?

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episode is brought to you by FX's The Bear on Disney+. In Season 3, Carmi and his crew are aiming for the ultimate restaurant accolade, a Michelin star. With Golden Globe and Emmy wins, the show starring Jeremy Allen White, Io Debrey and Maddie Matheson is ready to heat up screens.

Once again, all new episodes of FX is the bear are streaming June 27 only on Disney plus. Okay. Okay. For the record, can you just audition now and say, Hey,

Mr. Carter. Hey, Mr. Carter? Hey, Mr. Carter, come on. I mean, come on. I'm after her, just like he's after her. I mean, there's no need to send me to the principal. Okay, whatever. Pretty good. Pretty good.

You should have gotten it. All right, wait a minute. This one might be right, Greg. I would have given you that part. This one might be right, Greg. I would have given you that part. This one might be right. Did you turn down or were you stopped from appearing on a Dinah Shore show because You're at the Top had been canceled the same day? That's right.

That was probably one of the worst days I can remember. Oh, finally we got one thing right. See, that's what I pride myself on this podcast of getting at least one thing right during the entire show. You're right. I did turn down that car thing. You did?

No. No. Oh, damn it. Fuck you. You had me feeling really good and you had to stop. Well, what about the Dinah Shore thing? You had me feeling really good, and you had to stop. Well, what about the Dinah Shore thing? That was one of those mornings where you just go,

let me just go back to bed and not wake up for another month. It was, you know, we had the show that was going to air that night, and I was going to do the Dinah Shore show and do one of my songs and talk and all that. And then somebody called me and said, Look, Greg, don't even bother. Don't get up. Your show's canceled, and there's nothing for you to talk about on the Dive Ashore show.

Oh, God. That was it. Everybody got to sing on that show. Yeah, that's right. And now both of us have had experience with monkeys. You're not talking about me, are you? I don't mean who you dated. Okay.

No, I mean you were in BJ and the Bear. I was. Yeah. Oh, thank God I got that right. He was BJ McKay that's right I was in a movie with a chimp that was eventually

I think released to video called Funky Monkey you're making that up no Funky Monkey it's an ice cream flavor. Yeah. Yes.

And with me and a chimp. And I auditioned for and didn't get the part in one of also a famously bad show that I think was also Fred Silverman. And that was Mr. Smith. Wow. And it was about a talking orangutan. Wow. Mr. Smith, I auditioned

for it, didn't get it. It was the worst show ever. Lucky you didn't get it. You're actually our third guest to have worked with a chimp. Lee Merriweather was on the show, Greg. Yeah, I love her. She's a nice lady.

She threatened to spank Gilbert on the show, which is a whole other story. But she famously worked with J. Fred Muggs on the Today Show. Danny Bonaduce was on, and he told us he worked with a chimp that bit him. In case it was on Hazel or something, or Bewitched. I think it was Bewitched. And, of course, you worked with, was it Sam, the chimp that you worked with? Yeah, Sam the chimp.

Sam Downey. Yep. That was his name. Sam had a last name. He was great. He was great. He even went to my wedding. I wanted him to be the ring bearer, but, you know, not a chance for giving the ring to that chimp. See, now, chimps scare me because, I mean, I think I would rather be in a cage with lions than chimps. Because I've heard about at least two people, one man and one woman, ripped to shreds by chimps yeah they can be

tough and i i was bitten by the chimp you know but but you know he he was really young when we got him so i knew him from a young age so he but but there's so much there's so much like us and having the intelligence is is phenomenal with these animals. And he was really close. On the show, I got to work with him, train him every day. We got to work together. So it wasn't like a – but they have this thing that they do when it comes to dominance, and this is where it comes in, is at a certain point, they make a play for the dominance. They kind of feel you out for the entire time that you're with them pretty much.

And then one time they make the move, and that's when you can either knock them out or keep them in their place or have them get the upper hand. When they're bigger, they literally rip an arm off. Yeah, chimps are like 20 times stronger than people, I heard. They're like something. Yes, they're really powerful, you know. You know, I'll tell you a funny, this is the funniest thing. And it didn't happen with that chimp.

I mean, that chimp, we had some funny things happen with Sam. But I went to Caracas, you know, to Venezuela. It was one of those things where they're going to give you a bunch of money. You're going to come down there. You're going to do a song. And when the show was hot, all these kind of opportunities would come up, you know. And it's hard to turn down, you know, to turn down that money. So he said, okay, well, I'll go down there.

So I go down there. He said, don't worry, we're going to have a truck for you and the whole thing. Okay. I said, oh, okay, well, I'll go down there. So I go down there. They said, don't worry, we're going to have a truck for you and the whole thing. I said, oh, okay, well, that'll be great. We're going to drive up to the venue and the place people are going to be at can be mobbed, and we're going to walk you through the crowd, and you can go up on the stage.

Well, the first part, I'll tell you, I had this rehearsal, and of course, we were going to do one of my songs, and I'm going to sing, and they have this thing there that goes on for six hours. It's a show that just goes on for six hours. But the thing that they don't tell you, well, I'll tell you the first part. So when I get there, they've got this truck that looks like it was built in the 40s,

but they painted a red stripe on the side, and red and white you know the colors of the truck that I drove and they've got this big chimp a full-grown chimp that is so angry that is he's like pretty looks like he's on cocaine and the guy who's a guy in the backseat his job and he has one of those metal chains, you know, with a metal leash, you know, like a big metal leash with a big chain coming in. And the guy in the backseat has got him pulling his chimp back, and he's got him sitting, you know, so that he sits in the front seat and he can't move. So that's his job. And I walk up to his truck, and we're at the bottom of this hill and he says alright look here's what you gotta do you gotta drive the truck up the hill

and when you get to this spot and we're a year and you get out and then we're gonna usher you through the crowd and I said okay sounds good and all I'm doing is looking at this champ and I'm like if this guy lets go of his chain I'm dead and everybody else in the place is dead.

You know, it's like, you know, the bottom of this thing, and this chimp, I mean, he's angry, you know, and he's, and so we start, you know, I drive the truck up the hill. Of course, the air brakes aren't working. Nothing's working on this truck except for the, you can go forward. That's about it. And so I get to, I just about get to the top of the hill. I can't wait to get to the top. So I get to the top and the chip is like, you know, and then, and I, I get out of the truck and the truck starts going backwards.

So I, I'm already out of the truck. I'm already out of the truck. And I look back and I see about, I don't know, nine or 10 guys running after a truck with a screaming chip in it going back down the hill. I don't know how they stopped it, but then I walked into the building. I went through this crowd. I get on the top. And the one thing they don't tell you out there is everybody gets women in bathing suits next to them.

No matter what your number is, no matter what you're going to do, I would imagine even if you're doing comic stand-up work, there's going to be two or three women in bathing suits standing next to you, kind of rubbing up against you. I wish that's never happened to me in my entire career. No, you're young yet. Yes. All right. We're going to book you on the show okay now i i heard that the chimp attacked you and you went into intensive care and that's why you turned down the part of vinnie bocorino in welcome back carter that's true that

is absolutely true thank you well take us back a second greg you if i have this right let me see if i can get actually one thing right here you you were an enamored of L.A., and you were kind of planning to head back east when you got B.J. and the Bear? Yes, that's exactly right. See, Frank, you're doing way better than Gilbert's doing on his show. Hey, I sang a David Pomerantz song. He gets nothing for David Pomerantz? You know, that forever, that lives on.

I mean, that's it. I've got to go. Now, Greg, you were in show business, aren't you? I do a lot of deep research, Greg. Greg, I heard you were on TV once. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're reading the right ones now. So what happened? You're living out there. You bought a car.

I know the whole story. You bought an expensive cool car. You bought a car. I know the whole story. You bought an expensive cool car. Grand Prix Pontiac. That's what you drive in Jersey. You were going to come back, but then what happened? Glenn Larson called and you got the offer to do a series?

No. I got an audition. My agent called me and said, I know you're taking off, but you've got to go in for this thing. There's a guy out there looking for a trucker. I said, oh, okay, trucker. Great. But there's one thing.

He has a chip. Oh, crap. It was sort of like every which way but loose meets Smokey and the Bandit. Do I have that right? Yeah, definitely. Frank, you're on, man. Don't question it. And I remember with Every Which Way You Loose,

then they did a sequel called Any Which Way You Can. Right. And I think the music to that was... Uh-oh. I forget who sang it. It might have been B.J. Thomas or something. Any which way you can, I'll love you any which way you can. Why do you know that?

You should have found David Pomerantz. This is David Pomerantz. I do the research. He provides the entertainment. But it was sort of, I mean, the show was kind of inspired by the success of those movies. And we're still living in the CB era. You had Convoy. Right.

Well, Glenn Larson, you know, Glenn, he always had a knack for taking what was happening and, you know, turning it into a television show. You know, in some ways, I think that's where he was so successful, you know, with all these shows he had. And he was always right on time with them. You know, it seemed to be what the, you know, now the thing has switched around so that, you know, it's the other way around.

It seems like television is stronger than the film. But then it was, whatever the films were, you know, the TV shows seemed to emulate the films, you know. So, but that show, yeah, it was definitely from that. But I went to, I went on the audition. I finally went on the audition. And it was a different audition than I've ever been on because they actually had the truck there in the room.

They had a truck on a stage in the studio. I love it. Not in the room. That would be a whole different. It was a soundstage. They had the truck. I mean, Glenn, they were pretty much, I guess, Glenn wanted to get everybody that was going to audition in the truck and see how that looked. And I just, you know, I had this attitude of I really didn't care because I knew I was leaving that afternoon.

I had everything packed. And that's it. So I just did the audition with this kind of carefree nonchalant didn't give a damn about the whole thing uh and then i was on the way out he runs up to me and he says uh you know hey you know you're really you're really perfect for this part and uh and uh he questioned my age how old are you though you know i said old enough that I could have been in a, you know, Vietnam, Vietnam,

Huey. And, and that was his only real concern was that I was just a little, really young to the part, but he, but by the time I got home, I had,

I got 12 calls from my agent and about, about getting the role. So it was, it was quick. It was really quick how it happened now i've been lucky yeah you know now can i tell you something if i can interject something we a few shows back interviewed uh actor steve beshemi so this makes you the second guest to say to me basically do you have any idea who the fuck i am

oh it's funny greg do you think the fact that you kind of had one foot out the door and i mean you're you just alluded to this and that you didn't really care, you weren't that emotionally invested in it, in a way helped you get the part? Yeah, I think that for actors out there, younger actors that are getting into it, I think sometimes you put a little too much weight on things. You kind of bog yourself down.

You try too hard. Yeah, you try too hard. What might happen, the truth of the matter is we never know what's going to happen from moment to moment, no matter how much you try to plan anything. And so I think just having, not to say that you don't want to be prepared and you don't want to do the work because there is work involved. Yeah, you do have to do some work. But once you get the work, just drop it and go.

You know you know it let's and i'll just go do it see what happens here and that's uh and that was truly one of the first times i probably ever did that you know and uh ended up getting that show from it which was you know it ended up really putting me on the map we had incredible with fred silverman i mean i mean fred a funny thing about Fred, you were talking about Fred before, he didn't want to show with a monkey on it on his network.

Interesting. He did not want that. So he put us up against network. You know the first run of network? Oh, the movie network. Yeah. So he put us up against the first run of network, and we got a 47 share. And then he said, okay, well, I'll do something. And he did something like that again, and we got a 42 share.

So our share was just kind of undeniable, the shares we were getting. So he said, all right, well, then I'll put seven lady truckers on, and I'll really screw it up. He said, all right, well, then I'll put seven lady truckers on and I'll really screw it up. Now, this is another thing we have in common in that I worked on a show produced by Fred Silverman. And you talk about bad television. This was thick of the night. Alan Thicke's attempt at taking over the Carson reign. I think you were talking about this with Paul, too, weren't you?

Yes, yes. And Alan Thicke not only hosted the show, but of course sang the theme song. Remember, don't leave the late end. I'm in the road tonight. Everyone needs a dream to hold on. I'm going to make it on my own. Running in the thick of the night. Under the city lights.

Running in the thick of the night. You mean the lyrics are really that unaudible? Yes. And his wife was getting angry at me, saying, oh, that doesn't sound anything like him. And then she watched an early recording of him singing and said, oh, shit, that sounds exactly like him. Every time we get together with Paul, he wants Gilbert to sing The Thick of the Night.

He's kind of obsessed. Well, I can see why. Don't you want to record with Gilbert now, Greg? You've recorded with the Royal Philharmonic. Yes, yes, yes. Definitely. Do you play any orchestral instruments, Gilbert? I fiddle with... I can see you with the cymbals in the background.

You could play a fiddle as well as Josh Mostel, couldn't you? I fiddle with my organ. Now, you worked with Claude Akins. I did. Sheriff Lobo. Yeah. I remember, there's another guy you talk about working with a classic. You know, somebody you never thought when you were in Saraville you'd be working with. Because all those old westerns, remember all the old westerns you did?

Sure, sure. And Inherit the Wind. That's right. He was in as a preacher. Right. Wasn't he in a classic Twilight Zone episode, too? Yes. Isn't he in the monsters on the one with the, you know the one I'm talking about? Is that the one that the Simpsons always make fun of?

Yes, yes. And the title is escaping me. Yes. Like something like, yeah, monsters on Main Street. Yeah, something like that. We'll look it up. Where it's also that very, all the neighbors turn on each other. Yeah, he was a very recognizable actor who worked a ton.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. And you worked with a favorite of ours, Murray Hamilton. Ah, Murray. I love Murray. He's a great guy, man. He's Jaws, right? Oh, sure.

And The Graduate. Yeah, the Graduate. My dog is there. You know Murray? The dog likes Murray Hamilton. Yeah, you... Yeah, I think it's like you say

Barracuda, people look around, say, what, huh? But you say Shark and we've got a panic oh yeah he's larry vaughn yeah the mayor but also he's funny in the in the spielberg comedy 1941 oh excellent much maligned movie but he's funny in it and he was great in the hustler all right he's in the hustler he's an anatomy of a murder he's like this effeminate southern pool player. So what happened, Greg, after the first season? I'm trying to remember the chronology.

Oh, and he was also in A Great Twilight Zone. That's right. With Ed Wynn. That's right. Oh, I'm sorry, Greg. Are you still there? Oh, Ed Wynn. Yeah. Ed Wynn comes up on every show, Greg.

They were the rivals on our show. You know, they had... He was... I'm trying to think. The character name was Captain Kane, right? That's what it was, right? He was Captain Kane. You know, Sheriff Orbeau was the one,

and then there was Captain Kane, and Ed Lauder was... Oh, Ed Lauder. Oh, wow. Another actor we love. Death Wish 3. Oh, Sheriff was in everything. Now, so if I'm remembering it right, was Ed Lauder. Another actor we love. Death Wish 3. He was in everything.

If I'm remembering it right, Sheriff Lobo was the antagonist. Then he got a series. He got a spin-off, The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo. And then Murray Hamilton came in. Right. Then we needed a new antagonist. So Murray Hamilton was fun to work with. Great. Great guy to work with.

Both of them. I mean, they're just classic, you know, they respected the business and the people around them while they were working, and they're just those kind of people, you know, both of them. And then they added some jiggle. They added some jiggle to the show after the first season. You were alluding to Silverman. Well, they added the women truckers.

Remember the term jiggle TV in the 70s? You know what's so weird about jiggle TV is I remember when Charlie's Angels was on. They call it jiggle TV. And I was at my horniest back then. And I didn't find anything remotely of a turn on with Charlie's Angels. Not even Farrah Fawcett did it for you? No, no. They made it sound like this was real porn.

Like they were running around naked in each thing. And it was nothing. Well, that's as around naked in each thing, and it was nothing. Well, that's as far as they could go then. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the other way. Go ahead, Greg. No, no.

I say now it's more than G-Dragon. You know, when I hear the term, I think about the old network battle of the stars because they would take somebody like a Charlene Tilton or a Linda Carter, and they would put them in a skimpy. In fact, there's video of you participating in one of the old Battle of the Network Star shows. Where it was like basically a dunk a clown. Where Charlene Tilton dunking you. Oh, you got to see my best moment on the tug of war.

Oh, really? Is that on there? You've got to find it, yeah. I think it was at NBC. It's great to see all those faces. Oh, it's great. With Coach Sell. Howard Coach Sell, right?

That guy was so classic, man. I mean, you can't really have a conversation with a guy like Howard. You know, just the north. You know, so, Greg, how's the wife? It's like everything sounds like you're being interviewed. Well, good, Howard. They're all doing great. I sent Gilbert the clip, and all the stars at the time are lined up.

And it's Billy Crystal. Yeah, they show up like face-by-face, and you're going, lined up and it's billy crystal yeah they show up like face by face and you're going wow not one of them matches with the other one behind it right robert yorick it's yeah it's a bunch of you guys competing and i guess you were i guess there was a relay race there was what you said tug of war yeah they have all different like that the kayak race that they had the relay races. The tug of war. The dunk. That was all just kind of fun stuff. You were competing with Todd Bridges in one of the events. Right.

And who was the guy? Richard Hatch. Oh, Richard Hatch from the original Battlestar Galactica. Right. You have to watch out for him because he was fast, let me tell you. You knew if you were next to Richard, you were going to not look good that day. Those things like... And then, well, there's Robert Conrad, too, right?

Robert Conrad, he's still around. Those things were like the original reality TV because they... That's true. Yeah. That's true. Yeah. I always wondered, Greg, were you guys contractually obligated by the network to participate in those? Did you want to do them? I always wondered, Greg, were you guys contractually obligated by the network to participate in those?

Did you want to do them? Well, you know, they paid you some really good money to do it. Oh, I see. I see. And then also, you know, they really wanted you to, if you didn't do it, I think you'd be sliding a little bit. You know, I mean, it wasn't, if you really physically didn't feel you should be there at all, they really wanted people that had some, you know, physical ability. They just didn't want anybody. So they wanted people that could, you know, that could compete and seriously compete because they really did want one network to win over the other, you know.

Right, right. I remember them. And I remember Saturday Night Live's brilliant parody, which was the network battle of the Ts and As. Yeah. And I remember Saturday Night Live's brilliant parody, which was the network battle of the T's and A's. Yeah. Which was nothing but close-ups of breasts running through finish line. Didn't they have, like, celebrity bowling?

Oh, yeah. That was a... Oh, yeah, celebrity bowling. Yeah, I don't remember. Yeah, did they televise that? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I don't remember that.

I remember the host always looked like he was bombed out of his skull. Our friend Gino Salamone, a mutual friend of ours, called me and said he's recording Celebrity Bowling for us. He's putting it on DVD. Billy Barty. I have to ask you just about Glenn Larson quickly, Greg, because the creator of BJ and the Baron, we just talked about him. Gilbert and I were talking about him. He created so many shows. I mean, Alias Smith and Jones,

which I remember with the late Pete Duhl. That was like the ripoff of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. And Peter Duhl shot himself. On Christmas Eve. Yeah. He did. But also Quincy in Battlestar Galactica

and Knight Rider and Magnum and one of Gilbert and mine favorites is Manimal with Simon McCorkendale. Talk about... Yeah, well, I got caught up in the Manimal. You know, he had a... Well, Glenn moved from Universal over to 20th Century.

And I think it to 20th Century. I think it was 20th Century. So he had the Manimal deal, Auto Man. Auto Man with Desi Arnaz Jr. Right, right. And he had the show I Have a Curse of the Alley. That was called Masquerade. Oh, yeah, Masquerade, sure. Are you, Dave, a claims-free hybrid-driving university grad who signed up online?

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I was not in there. But I got a feeling the man was part animal. Yeah. He was a shapeshifter. Yeah. He could turn into any animal he wanted. Okay.

And Auto Man with Desi Arnaz Jr. was about a hologram who came out of a computer at night to fight crime. Okay. And surprisingly, it didn't do well. Well, you know, he didn't get much of, I think, I think what happened with a lot of those shows was that they didn't get the support because I think when Glenn left, there was, there was,

I know that every, for every show to fail because he was there, yeah, something was wrong. Something was, something, something,

something was against him. And I remember talking to him about, you know, networks. And he and I, we were pretty close. He gave me three shows,

you know, so, he gave me PS I Love You, Masquerade, andade and DJ in the pair so we would talk a lot about uh you know the way what was what he was up against with the business let's put it that way okay and uh and I think that was a period where everybody wanted to just fail you know and and he had no support i don't think he got the support you know and you worked with an oncoming guest of ours uh paul williams ah paul god i'm glad to hear he's he's doing okay he's such a good i saw him on something he's uh recently it was like a it was a talk show i just saw him on maybe three months ago four months ago so. So I can't remember what he was talking about.

But, yeah, we did a show. Well, we did. I think he said that he's on DJ and the Bear, right? Oh, yeah, he was on DJ and the Bear. Yeah, we were just doing research, and we stumbled upon a couple of our podcast guests that you worked with. I think Paul Williams was offered the part of vinnie barberino and welcome back terrible casting yes oh mr good he he did a great i mean we did this

show i i mentioned it before with uh it was uh called uh california coast and i think it's called yeah and we and we this is where I got to know him better. The show, I think it took about a week to film it, but we filmed up the coast of California, and they had different guests on, and we sang and did songs, and they had, I'm trying to think of what he told me, which I thought was really hopeful.

He gave a lot of hope to any writer, was that he had all these songs years before anything happened. So I think he was around 40 years old or something like that when some, I think either a lawyer or an agent or a manager, somebody like that came along and said, what are you doing with these songs? And you ask him about this. But I remember him saying that this person was pretty much solely responsible for getting his music out there.

And then once everyone heard the music, it was just everybody wanted to do a Paul Williams song. And did you hear anything to the contrary of that? No. No. No. But we're so impressed by his songs. Can we spit? I mean, what a writer.

I mean, he wrote incredible music. Well, and even stuff, I mean, the things that people don't talk about, like the Rainbow Connection and Love Boat theme. I mean, the guy could do anything. Yeah. Well, he's a good writer. And can we spit out some names at you for just a quick reaction? A favorite of both of us, Ben Gazzara. Ah, Ben. Ben, I remember Ben from New York.

We did Jesus Christ Superstar together. Wow. Yeah, that's how I met Ben. And he was playing judas and uh and then my friend of mine david foster i know hit him with a truck i ran into i ran into i saw a pen after that and uh and i hadn't seen it since but uh my my recollection of ben i always used to run into him along the way. But that's how we first met was on Superstar.

And you know what happened with the truck with Ben. Oh, wait, wait, wait. You're talking about Ben Vereen. Oh, wait. Who did you say? Ben Gazzara. Oh, Ben Gazzara. Actually, he got hit by the truck too.

Really? And I heard. Ben Gazzara. Actually, he got hit with a shot, too. Really? Really? And I heard that Ben Gazzara turned down the role of Vinnie Barbarino on Welcome Back to Carter. Now, wait a minute. That could have worked. He could have been Vinnie. Let's get our Ben straight, because Ben Gazzara was always a fixture in Gilbert's stand-up act, Greg. Okay.

But Ben Vereen, we're also big fans of. Ben Vereen was, yeah, he was walking on an L.A. road at night, and he was hit by David Foster, the musician. And I think he, and Ben Vereen wasn't exactly, had all his faculties at that time, I heard. I can remember one story with, you said... Ben Gazzara. Ben Gazzara is, he's a guy, I saw him in Huey. I saw that! Are you kidding?

Holy Christ! Holy Christ! I saw that on Broadway. It was two one-man plays. Exactly. Christ! Holy Christ! I saw that on Broadway. It was two one-man plays. Exactly. I think it was called Huey and Night Shift. He played Huey Long, the kingfish?

No, I forget what it was about. Wow. He was in a hotel. He was in a hotel lobby. Something like Huey and Night Clerk. Yeah. Wow. And he just did this entire, like an hour and a half of just.

Just himself on stage. He was great. Just Ben Gazzara for 90 minutes on stage. Yeah, and it was incredible. It was great. And then I got a chance to work with him on this movie a week we did with one of the Charlie's Angels. We'll guess Jacqueline Smith. Jacqueline Smith.

Oh, yes. And then the funny thing was I remember we were doing a photo session. We were all standing there, and he whispers to the – he sees us standing there next to him. he whispers to the, he sees me standing there next to him, he whispers to the agent, give me an apple box. You know,

and so I'm thinking, hmm, so all of a sudden he slips in this apple box under Ben Gazzara's feet so he's a little taller next to me. And then he goes,

then they go to take, they go to take, they go to take the shot and I just, I slowly just go up on my toes, you know. He goes, you son of a bitch. He's a good guy. I really liked him, man.

He's a prince. And what about Ernest Borgnine? Ernest Borgnine. I think Masquerade. We did Masquerade, which I didn't get a chance to really know him well on that, but then we did another movie for Joey Travolta. He's called Mel. Joey's directing it.

We went up and we went to Idaho. Yeah, it was up in Idaho for a month on a lake. It was Idaho, yeah. I was up in Idaho for a month on a lake, and Ernest Borden and I had the lead role in that. So I got a chance to really hang out with him. He's a good guy. He's a really, really nice guy.

Boy, he's got some stories, you know. A lifetime of... Oh, yeah, we wish he was still around. Yeah, I know. And what about Rod Taylor? Yeah, he's not around either, is he? No, we just lost him. Yeah, right. And Lauder, too, by the way.

Yeah, and Lauder, too. Yeah, he was terrific. We loved him. But, yeah, who did you just? Rod Taylor you worked in with. Wasn't it Masquerade with Rod Taylor? Yeah. Yeah, we worked on Masquerade together, yeah.

Boxer from Australia. And what about Shatner? What about one of Gilbert's and my favorite actors, William Shatner? You did Tech War. Yeah, Bill. We did four two-hour movies, and we did 18 shows up there in Toronto on that show. And it was funny because, you know, Bill, here's what I remember. The way I met Bill was great because I went into the, you know, for the audition and I

walk in and it's kind of, Bill's got the room lit, you know, kind of dark, you know. Usually rooms are lit brighter so you can see the words, you know. But Bill's got it down like, and I'm sitting in the hot seat, and he says, he says, Greg, look, I just, I want to, I don't want you to read. I really don't want you to read. I don't want you to have to read. I've always loved your work, and I just don't think you should read. So I said, oh, well, we talk a little bit, you know.

And then he goes, all right, so you want to read? Let's read a little bit. So we do the read, you know. So we do read, and then I get done with it, and Bill says, as far as I'm concerned, you're Jake. You're Jake. You're Jake Hartigan. And I mean, that's it. You're Jake.

I said, okay. All right. And then I leave, and of course, my agent's on the phone, you know, 12 times by the time I get home, and I'm going to Canada. Right. the phone you know 12 times by the time i get home and i'm going to canada right we had some funny like there's another thing i gotta tell you that that it was really hilarious because in hindsight when you think of actors and you think of being on the set there bill was directing one of the um one of the shows one of the you know one of our one of the movies that we did and we and the last scene was was a um was a scene where the entire cast is going to be in the scene. So we got an oil refinery that they rented for the night.

We got the full cast, the whole thing. And I said, and in the show, because I had this chip in my head, these tech chips right there, and there's technology in my head. And I said, so I said, well, look, I'm supposed to go through a tech burnout on this. So I really want to have my eyes really, really bloodshot, look like I'm exploding internally. And so the makeup girl says, oh, it's okay. I've done it so many times.

Don't worry. I'll just put something in your eyes. I said, okay. So I said, are you going to use the Vicks, you know, where you blow the Vicks? Oh, yes, I have other things, too. I said, oh, okay, okay. So she was from Quebec, and so I go in. I'm ready.

I said, okay, I think we should do the eyes. Let's get the eyes going. So she comes up with this thing, and she blows this thing in my eye, and it felt like glass going about right so i go oh my god jeez that hurts all right hurry up to the other one like an idiot so so she does the other one and my daughter was up there with me on the set and uh and so luckily she was about 14 at the time and uh and so i now my eyes are just starting to just, they're going to get redder, right?

They're getting redder and redder and redder and redder, and to the point where I can't see anything. So now I've got my, I'm literally, I'm going blind here. So all I see is white, just completely, everything's starting to turn completely white, and I said, I've got to go to the doctor. I've got to go to the hospital. I got to go to the hospital. I got to get this washed out. And so then the makeup girl, well, what about Bill?

I said, well, what about Bill? She said, well, what's Bill going to say? I said, I don't know. I got to go to the doctor now. We have to wash my eyes out, and I got to go. So I went to the, they had a medic, you know, they had the ambulance on us. They had the ambulance there, so I did the eyes wash, and we did the whole thing. That didn't work. So they take me out. I go to the, they had a medic, you know, they had the ambulance on us. They had the ambulance there, so I did the eyes wash, and he did the whole thing. That didn't work.

So they take me out. I go to the hospital. A guy looks at my eyes. I'm making the story quicker. But he looks at my eyes. He goes, he says, oh, my God, what the hell did they do to you? I said, I don't know. What did they do to me?

He says, well, they burnt the corneas off your eyes. I said, well, am I going to be able to see again? He says, maybe not the way you do, but hopefully. I'm like, holy crap. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. So they peep out my eyes. I go back to the set.

And Bill, you know, I'm in terrible pain. You know, you ever scratch, you know, you scraped your cornea before. You know, I'm in terrible pain. you know, you ever scratch, you know, you scraped your cornea before, you know, one little scrape. Now,

just imagine both eyes, you know, and I'm sitting there. I'm not, trying not to move, you know, and I hear a knock on my door and it's Bill.

So, I said, yeah, he goes, great. I said, yeah, yeah,

Bill, Bill, come on in, come on in. He goes, what happened? What happened? I said, yeah. Greg. I said, yeah. Yeah, Bill. Bill, come on in. Come on in. He goes, what happened? What happened? I said, well, I hate to tell you, but Cherie didn't put the stocking in front of the crystals, and she blew them in my eyes. And I got the red crystals, and they burnt the corneas off my eyes.

He goes, oh, my God. Can I see it? I said, Bill the corneas off my eyes. He goes, oh, my God. Can I see it? I said, Bill, I'm all packed in here. I said, one peek. I said, come on. Really? He goes, just one peek. I said, all right.

So I lift up the thing. And, you know, he looks at me and he sees my eyes are like blind red. You know, he goes, oh, oh my god that's perfect for the scene okay i said no i can't he says one take we're actors come on all right i'll do it let's go man one man. One take. I said, let's go. And then I'm going back to L.A. He goes, okay. And so we did the one take.

I went back to L.A. And it took me a couple weeks for my eyes to come back. But luckily, they came back. Oh, thank God. So you're a boss. But we had some good times. I mean, you know, he's – him and I, we always got along great.

And I knew what he was trying to do with the show. You know, he's – him and I, we always got along great. And I knew what he was trying to do with the show. And I'm hopeful it didn't run longer than we did. He'd have a lot of compassion for you in the moment. Well, you know, I don't think he realized the extent of the damage completely. But I think, you know, he had to get it done. It was one of those things where you've got a

hundred and some thousand dollar day. Incredible story. Yeah, it's pretty funny. Now, has he been on the show? We haven't had Shatner. Do you think we got a shot at getting him? Maybe, you never know. Tell him about the Has he been on the show? We haven't had Shatner. Do you think we got a shot at getting him? Maybe.

You never know. Tell him about the eye story. He's going to want to tell you how he saw it. Now, I want to show you how Frank doesn't trust my research. When I was starting to get your attention, he wrote down on a piece of paper and slipped it to me. Greg. Because he looked like he was going to say Glenn. See, the only reason I have Frank here is to tell me who the name of the person is who

I'm talking to oh god now now before we close up um you're you're uh in honor of your friend david pomerantz oh no this is you're gonna close it with a song Yes, yes. You do realize the man is a professional musician. Yes, yes. I wish we could have rehearsed beforehand. But this is when Scott Pail shows up at the prom that Heather Thomas. Heather Thomas, remember her? And Willie Ames.

Oh, yeah. And, okay. We're the king and queen of hearts. Hold me when the music starts. All my dreams come true when I dance with you. Promise me you're mine tonight. I will wait in line tonight with the lights down low. I'll never let you go.

you go did you dream that we'd dance forever in a world that we'd stay together in a dream that you'd pray would never end and it's not my imagination i'm praying that this ends. Or a part of the orchestration. All right. Wow. Are you going to send this to David Pomerantz, Greg? Yeah, I think he's going to. I'm going to have to give him the link for sure. We'll let you know when we put it up. We'll let you know when we put it up.

Well, I set up an email address for anyone who... It's gilbertcottfried at evigan.com. I'm serious, Al. Anybody out there who wants to comment on any of the singing, the show, anything. Oh, that's great. If you want to get, you know, like a pre-order for Gilbert playing the violin on my Royal Philharmonic music, you can go to gilbertgothrie.com. Don't forget it, folks. That's hilarious.

Can I sing some of those David Pomerantz songs with the Philharmonic? Can I sing some of those David Pomerantz songs with the Philharmonic? Yeah, we can do a nice wash in the background. So real quick, Greg, tell us about what's happening with your music. You recorded with the Royal Philharmonic at the famous Abbey Road Studios. That's right. I found out you performed a duet with Sheryl Crow, which is very cool. Yeah, that was for PSLW.

That was for Glenn Larson. And musically, the music success that I had was I co-wrote with my partner Lenny on Mighty Dads. We wrote the theme song for Mighty Dads. And then I sang the theme songs for the show that I've done. A few of them them not all of them and then I've got I had an album that was out called Slow Down

did that album then I but the Royal Philharmonic is that music you know that's that's kind of

my passion project really finally I've got it done and I'm taking pre-orders so anybody who might be interested out there in hearing it it's a 65 done and I'm taking pre-orders so anybody who might be interested out there in hearing it it's a 55 piece orchestra I'm playing the piano on it and uh and it's uh I

really did set up that page I set up to anyone who hears this show here's this uh this uh podcast uh it's uh I just made a Gilbert Gottfried at Evagant.com. I love it. I love it. Okay. Anything pertaining to music, including the incredible music that we heard today, the incredible singing that we heard on the podcast. Well, you know, he sings almost every episode, Greg. We had Henry Winkler on, and Gilbert sang the Lords of Flatbush theme.

You remember that movie? We had Henry Winkler on, and Gilbert sang the Lords of Flatbush theme. Really? Remember that movie? I was hoping that you were going to sing You Can Count on Me from My Two Dads. I mean, I was really hoping that. You know Paul Reiser. Yeah, I know Paul Reiser. The My Two Dads theme. I don't remember the My Two Dads theme, sadly. Can you favor us with a couple of bars before we jump, Greg?

What's that? Can you favor us with a few bars of the My Two Dads theme before we jump? And only if Gilbert would, you know, like kind of jump in whenever. Oh, okay. He's going to be a beat late. I'll fake it. Okay. All right.

Here we go. Ready? You can count on me. can't count on me. You can count on me. No matter what you do, you can't count on me. You can count on me. No matter where you go, I'm standing by your side. Wherever you go, I'll be by your side.

No one loves you more than I do. No one loves you more than I do. Put your hand in my hand. Put your hand in my hand. No one loves you more than I do. Here comes the big chorus. Okay. You can count on me. No matter what you do, you can count on me. No matter what you do, you can count on me. We've done it. We've done it.

We've done it. This is the scariest version of my two dads. I'm picturing the two of you doing a remake with Gilbert and the riser part. Hilarious. Greg, anything else you want to plug? Your children are also in the business. Your son, Jason, is a musician, and your daughters are actresses. That's right.

My son right now, he's got these, I'll tell you, he's got this incredible career going here with this. He's got Prince Royce. I'm looking at it right now because I want to make sure I get it. Where was it? Hold on one second. Here it is. I'll tell at it right now because I want to make sure I get it. Where was it? Hold on one second. Here it is. I'll

tell you what he got. He's got he's got, he did that song, you know, that's Talk Dirty to Me. Jason Derulo, Talk Dirty. He did that one. He did You Got a Maroon 5. It Was Always You. He's got Demi Lovato's Heart Attack. Wow.

David Guetta, Fifth Harmony, and this movement on. So Prince Royce stuck on a feeling. What else? He's got so many things going on. He went from having the band to saying, okay, well, we're not going anywhere with this right now. And just got into the writing, and the writing just took off for him. So he's really

doable. And then Brianna's doing, my youngest one, she's doing she did Step Up 2. That was that's how she got going in the dance world. And now she's got another one coming out. It's called Love Is All You Need. And

then Vanessa's got you know, she's been doing acting. She's 11 years old. If you see her on there, she had a couple series. She had, what was her name? What was her name in that series? She had three different series. She won social studies. She worked with Ben Affleck right in the beginning.

Oh, right, right. It was a show beginning. Very similar to Seventh Heaven. Unfortunately, they didn't get the coverage Seventh Heaven got. But she's still moving along with her career, too. And Brianna's kind of she's done some Scream Queen stuff.

I mean, she's worked with Danny Trejo and Rodriguez. Yeah, she's working with Robert Rodriguez right now on this Dust Till Dawn. Yeah, she's working with this. She's working with Robert Rodriguez right now on this Dust Till Dawn. Yeah, I saw that. I could have meant that first because that's really, really,

she's got a really good arc on that right now. So she's been working on that one. Have you seen that show? I have. I've never been a big vampire fan, but man, when it comes to this, this is really good. Well, I love Robert Rodriguez's work.

Yeah, his shots and just the way he moves the camera is amazing. And what was the other show you sang the theme song to? Well, that was BJ and the Bear. BJ and the Bear. Yeah, and the one I did with Sheryl Crow, that was PS I Love You. Okay, but the one we just did. That was My Two Dads. Okay, can you sing the BJ and the Bear one?

Making the guy work. I want to do it. Are you ready for this? I had the chance. Glenn said, Greg, give me a little more rasp. Give me some more rasp. Okay, let's sing the beachy and the bear theme. Yeah, so this is the way that

one went. Wait, let me think of the melody. Hold on. Hey, the way you're going, not exactly going. Hey, the way you're going, not exactly going. Too raspy.

Sounds to me like the bunny hop, doesn't it? I don't know. Yeah, it does. Okay. You're not sitting a foot away from him, Greg. Okay, let me look at this card that says Greg on it. You're a good sport. And we should, I just want to add one thing.

You are in a, for Hollywood and by show business standards, a very, very long-term and successful marriage. Yes. To your wife. Yeah. Yeah, we still talk. Yeah, great. Didn't she manage you for a while?

Which is probably, she started out managing me. Yeah. But, yeah, she, when we yeah, that was how we first met. And then she managed me ever since. How many years have you been married now? We've been married for, I think, 35 years this year. Congratulations. So, 35 years?

Yeah, 79 to now. Wow. 35 years and all your kids are successful. Yeah. We've been really lucky. I'm telling you, I look at, when you look back, you think, okay, you know, now I know why I came here. Now I know why I left New York. It's a nice life.

Yeah. Yeah. Congratulations. This has been Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast with my co-host, Frank Santopadre, and my beloved singing partner, Greg Hevigan. Gilbert Gottfried at Hevigan.com for all those sounds you heard today, folks. Gilbert Gottfried at Evigan.com for all those sounds you heard today, folks. Imagine, Greg, the thrill of being able to record with both Paul Schaefer and Gilbert Gottfried in one career. I can't even imagine it.

You're a good sport, buddy. Thank you for putting up with us. Oh, Frank, you guys are great, man. I really enjoyed it. Thank you, Greg. Thank you. Thank you, Greg. Take care. See you guys. If you like listening to comedy, try watching it on the internet. The folks behind the sideshow network have launched a new YouTube channel called wait for it.

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