Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - "Airplane!" 40th Anniversary with Julie Hagerty and Robert Hays

Episode Date: June 8, 2020

"Airplane!" stars Julie Hagerty and Robert Hays join Gilbert and Frank to celebrate the film's 40th anniversary and to share backstage secrets and stories behind one of the most original and quotable movies of all time. Also, Lloyd Bridges goes for broke, Leslie Nielsen pranks the cast, Peter Graves frightens small children and Robert Stack does John Byner doing Robert Stack. PLUS: "Zero Hour!"! "Lost in America"! Remembering Art Carney! Miss Piggy directs! And Julie and Robert recall their favorite "Airplane!" gags! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Or maybe you're just perfecting the art of doing absolutely nothing. Whatever vacationer you are with Sunwing, you save more so you can do more. Book with your local travel agent or. The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried and this is Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast with my co-host Frank Santopadre and we're pleased to have not one but two terrific guests this week. Julie Haggerty is a gifted actress of stage and screen. You know her work from TV shows such as Murphy Brown, ER, Everybody Loves Raymond, King of the Hill, Grace and Frankie, and Family Guy, as well as the love interest of one of our most treasured podcast guests, the late, great

Adam West. She's also done memorable work in features like A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, Lost in America, Noises Off, What About Bob, U-Turn, Storyt storytelling, and the recently released Marriage Story? And of course, as my co-star in the cinematic classic, Bad Medicine. Robert Hayes is a funny and versatile actor who's appeared in dozens of TV programs, including the Larry Sanders show, That 70s Show, Touched by an Angel, and Spin City, and in featured roles in series like Angie, Starman, and the title role in the Iron Man animated series.

He's also hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live from a season I'd love to forget for strictly personal reasons. You've also seen his work in films like

Take This Job and Shove It, Cat's Eye, Trench Coat, Homeward Bound, The Incredible Journey, Mr. T and the Women, and the superhero movie. 40 years ago next month, these two performers co-starred in a little low-budget comedy feature that would go on to rank among one of the funniest and most beloved movies ever made by anyone anywhere. 1980s Airplane. 1980s airplane. Please welcome to the show Elaine Dickinson

and Ted Stryker, also known as the talented Julie Haggerty and Robert Hayes. Hello! Yes! Yes! What a big crowd we have. Robert's cheering.

Welcome, guys. It's so neat to be here. I melted my microphone. This is a genuine thrill. I worked with the two of you. Yes. Separately. Yeah, with Julie, we were in Madrid together.

We were, yes, we were in Spain and I was running from you most of the time. Here he comes, I've got to run. Because you would just torture me with laughter. I remember I used to mock the way you spoke. Yes. And I used to like when I when we'd be in a restaurant together, I'd say to the waiter, por favor, agua con gas. And then Julie got back at me. She did an imitation of me. And she put on a depressed face. And she said, I'm depressed.

They hate shoes here. And Robert, we worked together Saturday Night Live in one of the shittiest seasons. January 1981 episode, to be exact. Yes. What happened? Do you remember any of the horrible sketches? Luckily, I don't. I do.

I do. I was telling Frank the other day, I was doing a film in Toronto at the time, and it was a comedy I was doing with Brooke Adams and Ben Oh gosh I just went I'm getting old I just went blank Anyway sorry Ben His last name but he

Did stand up comedy and he was my Comic sidekick kind of In the movie and my Friend that helped me in my Our little shenanigans that we Did and I told him I I said, I'm going to be hosting Saturday Night Live. They want me to do that. And have you got any ideas? Can we kick around ideas? I have nothing. I don't know what to do. I want to be able to take something just

to contribute some ideas. Even if they throw them out, at least I could contribute some ideas. So we came up with a couple of things. And one of them was the, it was a blind date. It was a phone conversation and it was an inflatable doll. And it's the way the show opened. And they went for that. And the lousy thing was, they kept telling me, do you remember Joe Disco? Joe Dixo is his name.

He was the former famous stage manager. Yeah. Well, they call him Joe Disco. And I just had done this film called Take This Job and Shove It. And I had a hat and he loved that hat. So I gave it to him. So he was wearing that around all the time. And it starts out with me on a phone. The whole show does. And before you say live, New York, it's Saturday night, all of that, it starts out with this sketch. And so I'm doing it. And he kept telling me, don't worry, the audience is going to be awful. The, you know, the first audience, because they're not seeing the live show. And they're really going to be pissed off. They're going to be, it's just going to be awful. So don't

worry about it. Don't let it throw you. So we did it and they really liked it. I had a great time in the audience. It was terrific. So then we come to do the show and he says, ready and places. And I go over and I get my places. Where's the phone? I said, Joe, where's the phone? He says, what? The phone. There's no phone. He says, hey, anybody see Robert's phone? And they said, no, I didn't see the phone. And I said, I gotta have the phone! Whole thing is on the phone! And he says,

yeah, do it without it. And I said, do it without it! You're on. And I was standing there, and I was an egg on my face, and I didn't know what the hell they were supposed to do, and I thought, jeez,

I wonder why Frank doesn't call. Gee, what would he ask me if he was going to call I imagine he probably asked I'm just trying to come up with stuff and it was just miserable and that set the whole show off on a horrible for it for me and so it was terrible and the other thing that I did in the show that that I other idea that that Ben gave me was uh I guess it was a little idea floating around at the time that people were talking about. So I suggested the Elephant Man Thanksgiving, the family reunion. And so they went for that, and it had everybody sitting around the table,

grandpa and mom, dad and aunts and uncles and the kids, the grandchildren, everybody all had bags on their heads. And the great-grandfather, the portrait up on the wall, the guy had a bag on his head, and the little parrot was in the cage, had a parrot, a bag on its head. And that kind of went over, sort of, I guess. But the show was, it was awful.

Gil, do you remember the Elephant Man family sketch? No, I luckily blocked most of my season of Saturday Night Live out. Yeah. And thank you, Jesus, they never rerun them. Yes. Lauren buried those in the yard. I'll have to Google that. At the end of that show, they had me make an announcement and one of the supporting actors, they made a regular on the show. And so I made the announcement and

it says, before we go, I just want to make the announcement of taking one of the supporting actors and making them a regular on the show. So let's have a big hand for Eddie Murphy. I don't know if you remember that. Oh, yes. Yes, I do remember that. That's right. And he said that he never was a featured player, and I made the announcement that he was. But it was kind of odd. Oh, jeez.

Yeah, he did start out as a featured player. That's right. Yeah. Wowee. Wowee. It's been years since I saw Bad Medicine, Gil. If you did, then you're the only one. You played the Spaniard.

Famously, you played the Spaniard Tony Sandoval. Yes. Of course you would cast Gilbert as a Spaniard. Julie, who did you play? Yes. I played like a student going to medical school. And I wish I had played Gilbert's part. Did you have scenes together?

Yeah, we did. Because we were all sort of in the, I don't know. It was so strange, wasn't it? It was very strange. Very weird. Good cast. I was in there. Julie Kavner. Right, yeah. Oh, yeah. And Steve Guthrie's in there. Julie Kavner.

Right, right. Oh, geez. And an old podcast guest, Bill Macy. Oh, Bill Macy. Oh, gosh. I totally forgot he was in that. Right. Wow.

I think Bill Macy was in a Starman episode, too, Robert. He was. He was. And Julie Kavner was, we were at the Old Globe Theater together in San Diego. So we're in all these connections. Small. Yeah. She's talented.

All connected. She's a great talent. But Gilbert was brilliant. Of course. What I remember about Bad medicine, you know, all of us were struggling with our Spanish accents. Yes. And in one part, I'm supposed to reprimand how someone's dressed. And my line is, old shoes must be black.

And it came out as, old shoes must be black. And it came out as old shoes must be black. Oh, my God. Oh, dear. Have you not seen her since Bad Medicine, Gilbert? Julie? We used to see each other in New York sometimes. You came up to my old apartment with Curtis. Curtis Armstrong.

Yeah. I went up to your old apartment. You made dinner, and you had just fallen off a horse, I think. Oh, dear. And maybe that was the last time I saw you because I cooked. No, the last time I saw you, there was some TV show I was doing a guest spot on. Oh. And I don't know if you were a regular on it or what, but I remember on the set, we ran into each other.

Well, this is truly neat. This is just so marvelous to see you. And Bob and I see each other. And to meet you, this is really cool. Well, tell us about you and Bob meeting for the first time, Julie. Oh, well, the first time I met Bob was we tested together, which was back in the day where you still, like, did a screen test together. And he was just the nicest, kindest, funniest, most supportive,

because I hadn't been in a film and i didn't know what i was doing and i just come from doing off off off off off broadway so he um just uh he he's like the most generous actor ever well it was really it was fun it was 1979 that's when we tested and we did all that. And then that's when we filmed it. It was 79 and then it came out in 80. But I think we were lucky that we got to have each other to test with because it was so fun for both of us. It was so great. And I think the chemistry was there and they could see that. And it was modern day Myrna myrna myrna loy and

william powell oh how nice what a nice comparison he said i was just i was watching the other night um uh gina and i were watching a film that they did the other night and they were so magical and and a quote that he had was that Myrna was absolute gold she was just so wonderful to work with because so many actresses are so concerned with themselves sometimes it's like working with someone who has a plate glass window you can't feel anything but she was such a giving actress and so concerned with listening to what you had to say in the scene that everything was thrown out, all the technique, all of this and that, and they just had fun. And that's kind of the way it was with Julie and me.

We just had this great time. And just let the guys do their magic with all the great script. And all the people they cast around us, all the, you know, I mean, Peter Graves and Robert Stack and Beaver, Cleaver's mom. Barbara Billingsley. Barbara, yes. She'll always be the Beaver's mom to me.

But just this amazing cast that I, is everybody that I grew up watching on television. And Bob knew I was pretty nervous and he just, you know, we're going to be okay kid. And, and it was just, I've, it had so much fun. It was the best fun ever. Your first feature, but also Bob's first feature. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, but you were, you know, you were, he was shooting the television show, Angie, and then running over and shooting the movie.

So he was going back and forth and back and forth. And I could always tell when Bob was coming on the set because there was just, I could hear laughter. He stopped and talked to everybody and brought joy to everybody. And I thought, well, Bob's here. And as closer he got the laughter came and came and then just plopped down and we started to work now 40 years 40 years later and he's still a loud mouth what so airplane came out monster hit and then Naked Gun, also Monster Hit. And then there were a billion movies

all trying to recreate that. And they all failed miserably. So do you know what was the difference between like Airplane and all the awful knockoffs. I think it was the boys. I think it was Jerry and David Zecker and Jim Abrams. I think they were the magic of it because they knew just what they wanted. It was their sense of comedy, their sense of timing, their sense of a joke, what worked and what didn't. And I don't know, Julie, I imagine it was the same with you,

but I had people come up to me all the time. I have producers or directors, whatever, usually, you know, producer types, and they come up and they say, I got another airplane for you. You know, just as funny as airplane. And I knew immediately, well, that's a piece of junk. So neither one of you said yes

to any of those knockoff satire films that were an airplane. And it seems like Leslie Nielsen said yes to everything. Well, he did the Naked Gun and then Naked Gun 2 and, you know, all those Naked Gun things. Because he had a new career in comedy. They turned him into a comedian. But he was also in these films like 2001 A Space Travesty

and Repossessed and oh, there was a fugitive spoof too. Yes, yes. Yeah. The man had to work. He was a working actor.

And a James Bond spoof, too. Oh, my gosh. And also, he had a fart machine. Oh, yeah. He was obsessed. With that, wherever he went, he took this machine. I think he discovered it, didn't he, Bob? Somebody gave him to it during the airplane because it was funny.

It was a doctor friend of his, I think, in Phoenix or Tucson. And he brought a box full of them to the set and sold them. He sold them for $7 each. And people on the set bought them. And, of course, with me, I looked at it and I thought, I can make one of those. I couldn't see. Julie and I weren't being paid that much. So I didn't want to spend $7 on something I could make.

So I made my own and I brought it to the set. But yeah, he sold them. The hardest thing for, that was the hardest thing on the whole show. The scene where Lorna Patterson comes and gets me. And that's where Jesse was uh pouring gas on his head from the Kentucky Fried Theater that actor yeah yeah and and and uh we kept doing it take after take and the match was getting lower and lower burning his fingers because it took that much time to really think about it and look at him like gee i know you want to hear the rest

of this story and him please just go go and so so i finally went up there and and uh you know both pilots and that was the first time that leslie and i had the uh can you fly this plane surely you can't be serious i am serious don't call me surely that was our first time we said that and then he said mr striker can you but uh we're all counting on can you fly this plane and i said i flew singles of fighters in the war that this plane has four engines that's an entirely different kind of line all together and then all together they said it's an entirely different kind of flying well that was a two shot of lorna and leslie on me, it was a single. So the entire scene, it was, Mr. Stryker, can you land this plane?

That was the hardest thing in the entire film, was trying to keep a straight face during that scene. He just loved that. I remember when the two guys from Paramount came over to visit, and they were like the studio heads. And Leslie and I were saying hello. And then he went, and then he said, Julie, I just wanted to die.

And you know just i will never forget that as long as i live and this day they think to this day it was me him one time i met him and he he explained to me all the different brands of fart machines and how some are so much better than the others. And I said, I had one that didn't work. And he says, was this the one with the red top and the black butt? And I said, yeah. And he goes, oh, toss that one away. Those are never any good. And he gave me like the brand and exact specifications to look for in these fart makers.

I knew he was famous for toting that thing around, but I didn't know it went all the way back to the 70s. Well, this is when it this is. Yeah. Seventy nine is when he people didn't know about it around town. Like later, it just became legendary. Everybody knew about it. But he'd been using it for a little while. I don't know how many years, but just for a while.

But on the set, he told me about, I said, Leslie, don't you, didn't you ever get embarrassed by that? And he said, no. He says, I figure at this age, I don't you ever get embarrassed by that? And he said, no. He says, I figure at this age, I don't give a shit. Which was his line. That was his line. And he told me about a golf tournament in Little Rock, Arkansas. And the mayor of Little Rock had a big dinner at the mayor's mansion for all of the people and the celebrities in the golf tournament and he went over and said oh Mr. Nielsen my mother is such a big fan of yours would you

please come and say hello he says certainly so he goes over and I said you didn't and he goes yeah he walks up and says man this is Mr. Leslie Nielsen well it's nice to meet you. And the mayor and everybody were floored. They were like, what? What? Oy. Oy. What a character. Julie, tell us about your audition.

Because you, I read an interview with you, and you said that you believe that comedy, and we've talked about this on the podcast many times, Gilbert, that comedy has to be played straight. Yes. Robert said it before, you know, you don't want to look like you're playing for the laugh, that you're playing for comedy. They say such flattering things about you that they knew they had something when they found you. In fact, I think you rode up in the elevator with, was it David or Jerry? I rode up in the

elevator at the old Paramount Golf and Western building. And I didn't know it was them. And they were going up to audition people. And so we rode up in the elevator together. And then I went in and there they were. And so then they invited me to test with Bob. But no, I think in you know comedy isn't i don't ever consider it funny you do you know i mean it has to be from your heart you know it's just you can't

go oh here comes the funny bit because um otherwise it's not funny you're laughing it's kind of like what what we used to figure was that it was when you see a lot of films that are slapsticky or the comedies and they're doing their schmucky, you know, kind of laugh and laugh line. And they're laughing for the audience. The audience doesn't laugh as much because the person telling the joke is laughing about it so much. Right. It's like their little their their astral projection is standing next to him looking at the audience saying hey here it comes watch this one isn't that funny and with us our little astral projections we're looking at the audience

and saying what this is serious stuff what are you guys laughing at you know and i i heard with airplane the studio originally wanted them to hire comedians and but instead they got you know peter graves lloyd bridges and leslie nielsen all playing it straight so that's what was so funny these ridiculous lines coming out of like totally straight guys. Yes. Their line about the casting. I think it was the casting person, whoever, I don't know if it was Joel Thurman or whoever,

cause there were several casting people involved, but, but the boys say that when they said, and we want Leslie Nielsen for this. And they said, Leslie Nielsen, that's who you cast the night before when you can't get anybody else. No, that's who we want. Right. That's on the director's commentary. Yeah, and then he becomes

legendary for what he did. Well, we just had the director Barry Sonnenfeld here on the podcast, the director of the Men in Black movies and the Adam Schilling movies. Remember Gilbert, he said, if the actors know they're in a comedy, you're dead. Yes. Yes. Right. In fact, that's what I noticed with Leslie Nielsen later on.

He started to realize he was funny and then he started to play for the laughs. If you don't have a director to hold you back, like the boys wouldn't let you do that. And that's why we were so lucky to have them, you know. But if you do another show with other kinds of directors that want that and they pretty soon you're everyone on the sets laughing and you're all having a great time laughing together. And then you realize, oh, wait a second. This is just awful. this is not funny yeah robert tell me what you tell tell gilbert and and julie what you said to me on the phone that that uh stack was the one early on that that probably the guy that grasped it the early you mean oh you've got seen that one day julie maybe

remembers this maybe that he was the first guy in their mind when they started writing this as a script and they thought bob stack as yeah as k Well, they had a John Biner bit in mind from this that they said in the director's commentary that John Biner used to do a bit as Robert Stack. And when they tried to get Robert Stack to do it the way John Biner did it, he couldn't do it. The speech where he says, top dog, head honcho. Yeah. I'm paraphrasing, but it was from a binder who we had on the podcast. That it was from a binder bit, and Robert Stack didn't know what the hell they were talking about.

But you told me on the phone he got it early and he had to explain to Bridges. Well, Julie, maybe you remember this. There was a day that we rehearsed. It was in one of the little rehearsal spaces over there on Paramount with the hardwood floors, like a dance studio with the mirrors and the bar and the windows out there. And they had the tape on the floor and it was just Lloyd and Bob and Julie and me.

And it was in the tower when we were in the cockpit. And so we were running that so we could get the feeling and the flow of the scene and lloyd was just just you could see something bothered him and and he said well what are we doing here and and bob bob said oh come on ll Lloyd. They just want us to be us. And Lloyd kind of scowled a little like, oh. And then I think he just sort of took that and chewed on it for a while. And then they kind of started getting into it.

And then he really did get it. He got into it. He really understood what it was. Did he have those guys watch Zero Hour? Because I heard that even Leslie didn't have the exact cadence that the boys wanted right away. And they sent him home with a copy of Zero Hour. Oh, they did. Yeah, I don't know.

We'd watch a little bit of it, Julie. Yeah, yeah. But what they would do is they would also, because they asked, do you think we're going to have to get the rights to this? And the director or the agent or the studio, whoever it was, they looked at the script, they looked at that, and they went, ah, yes.

It's so much alike. Yes. But it was so, so they got the rights for it, and they got half the rights. And they went all over town trying to find who has the other rights to this. And it was really getting down to the wire and they thought, God, who has the rights? And then somebody either said, oh, yeah, I know where those are.

Or they said, oh, here, look what I discovered. But they were right there at Paramount. The other half of the rights were there at Paramount. That's right. So they would set it up and we would go in. Remember, we'd go in the little booth in the trailer or the little booth on the set and we'd watch the angles. And so we'd get the, you know, with Joe, our cinematographer. Joe Byrock, yeah.

Yeah. And we would watch the angle and he'd see the lighting on it and the angle. And so we'd set those just so that was one more little in joke inside thing that the angle of that was the angle of zero hour it it's funny because when you watch zero hour uh airplane looks like a remake it does it's so close down to this um fish or chicken or steak or chicken, they had the same meal. You know, we had David Zucker here on the podcast and he was 10. I told you this on the phone, Robert, that he, the one guy they were worried about, and you just mentioned it, was Lloyd. That if you watch it again, I watched it again last night, probably the 70th time I've seen it. Stack is playing it, you know, as serious as a heart attack. So is Peter Graves, who threw the script across the room when he first read it and didn't even know why they asked him to do it. Worst piece of trash.

Right. Oh, I know he was embarrassed about, with his kids. He was so embarrassed. And his daughters said, you've got to look at this again, Dad. This is funny. And his agent said, Peter, there's talk about this. You've got to look at this. So finally he said, well, okay, I'll take a look at it.

It's so funny because they make Peter Graves like out to be a child. A pedophile. Yeah. He told me about being in a supermarket one day, and there was a woman and her son, and he looked down and said, well, hey, young man, how are you doing? And the woman looked up at him and went,

don't you talk to that man and turn him off. and went, don't you talk to that man and turn him off. David told us in looking back at the movie that Bridges is the only one that they think is a little bit, playing it a little bit for laughs.

As opposed to Stack and Leslie and Peter Graves. Yeah. Who got it. Yeah. Quickly. And also, what Gilbert's talking about in terms of the studio wanting comedians,

and I learned this from the director's commentary, they also wanted cameos from sitcom stars. Oh, my. Which was shot down. They wound up accepting Jimmy J.J. Walker. Yeah. But that was pretty delicious.J. Walker. Yeah. But that was pretty delicious. That was great.

Yeah. It cleans the windshield. But there's a story that Howard Koch would call these comedians agents and say, listen, and try to talk them out of being in the movie by saying, look, you don't want to be in this. It's not going to be any good. You don't want to be in this thing. Tell us about that. Leslie, there was a, there was a,

just on that last little bit there with Lloyd, there was a scene at the end that was written in the script, but we never did film it because Lloyd didn't want to do it because sea hunt meant so much to him. But there was a scene after he, he went, he jumps out the window and crashes out the window. And then he's at the end, they cut to him at the end of the runway in full Mike Nelson's get up. Oh, my God. You know, with everything.

And the double hose regulator, the old double hose regulator, everything. And he's going like this at the end of the runway with the under uh you know the the narration underneath i didn't know the moray eel was hidden in the rocks and then it cuts back to us again but he didn't want to do that but it was in the script oh that's great one little bit in the script i read they approached george kennedy too uh gilbert it's interesting too on listening to the the zuckers on the commentary that they approached jack Webb, Ephraim Zimbalist Jr. Lots of people. And George Kennedy did not want to spoof his role in the airport films. Yeah.

He liked, he loved what Universal had done for him and he didn't want to offend them by making fun of the role. And I think that was in Airplane 2. And that was where Lucas McCain, that's where Chuck Connors played that instead. That's right. And George Kennedy would later be in all the Naked Gun movies. Right, he finally got with the program.

Right. But he wasn't spoofing his character in Airplane. Well, Universal didn't want us to have it be called airplane because they said that it sounded too much like airport. And they thought that people would mistake it. And they go in thinking they're going to see one of their great, you know, airport movies. And so Howard showed it to him and said, OK, guys, look, just take a look at it. And then if it's not funny, you guys don't like it. OK, then we'll talk about changing it. So they looked at it, they laughed their butts off,

and they said, okay, you can call it airport here, but in foreign countries, you've got to change the name. Oh, that's interesting. Yes. Yeah. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast. But first, a word from our sponsor. Baseball is finally back.

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BetMGM.com for T's and C all things baseball. BetMGM.com for Ts and Cs. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Gambling problem? Call Conax Ontario at 1-866-531-2600. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. The white chocolate macadamia cream cold brew is back for the summer at Starbucks. So bold and so dreamy.

It's the coolest co-pilot for wherever the sunshine takes you. Embrace the chill, the silky cold foam of that anticipated first sip, and join us on Summertime, only at Starbucks. What about Ethel Mervin? She was in the scene you were in, Robert. Oh, gosh. The one that Julie and I were in, yeah.

Oh, that's right. Julie's in the scene, too. Yeah. Yes, we were in the hospital. Oh, gosh. The one that Julie and I were in. Yeah. Oh, that's right. Julie's in the scene, too. Forget it. Yes, we were in the hospital. That's right. It was our spit take. The big building with windows. Any memories of her?

Specific memories? The boys said she was a great sport. Yeah, just the fact that we got to be in the same room. In the same room with her. Same scene with Ethel Merman was kind of historic for us. It was great. And she's a link to another great wild comedy. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, that's a great movie. What a great movie. Yeah. He did it. He kicked the bucket. Yep. That's it.

That's the part of the movie where they, I think, in the hospital, a guy has post-traumatic stress syndrome, and he believes he's Ethel Merman. Merman, that's exactly. And then they show him, and it really is Ethel Merman. With a guy with an STP sticker on the back of his doctor gown. Pulling a dipstick out. Robert, what's the deal with a vulture on your shoulder? How did that happen?

It's obviously a trained bird. Can you train a vulture? I guess. Yes. They told me it was trained. Yeah. And I also want to ask about the disco scene, which you guys actually rehearsed.

We did. You guys took it seriously. We had the guys. Remember now, there was Lester Wilson, remember? And Joe. Oh, gosh, I had his name. And he was a choreographer that did a lot of Disney films and things for Disney choreography. And Lester was one of the guys that was instrumental in giving that whole

sense of style and feel to Saturday Night Fever. So, so we had the guy that, you know, that created that style and he was great. And we rehearsed for two weeks, I think it wasn't it? Two weeks. We went to his studio after work and rehearsed and then uh yeah so then we go and we do this that's the thing that julie was talking about when i was doing um angie the tv series angie yeah and we'd come in at nine in the morning start rehearsal read-throughs rehearsal we cut for

lunch and i literally would run for the door, the stage door. And as I was running, someone would throw me. It's like I was going out for a long pass. They'd throw me a Ziploc baggie with a sandwich in it. And I'd jump in the car, eat this sandwich, wolf it down, as we drove just to the other side of the lot there at Paramount. And then I'd jump out, get into wardrobe, make up for airplane, and then we'd start shooting on into wardrobe makeup for uh airplane and then we'd start

shooting on the scene on the uh the dance scene and and uh and then they'd say okay they'd call and say okay uh we need him back yes but okay and then we keep going the whole juggling thing was your idea oh yeah that was your idea. Well, that was Jim's. He said, can you juggle? And I said, yeah. And he threw the things into me. But then you decided to go down real low and up real high. That was all, as I remember, you made that all up.

Being goofy. Yeah. Yeah. It was fun. Yeah, I had people saying, doing the Gazotsky and both legs were going out, you know, one, then the other. But then when I had both legs going out at once, I actually had people come up to me and say, how did you do that?

And I said, I really worked out. And they believed me. And they believed me. What about the scene on the beach? Because I understand it was a freezing day. And if I watch it closely, Julie, when that water hits you, you look genuinely shocked. I was right before they let the tank go. I remember we were all, we were lying there and

Bob knew what was coming. And Bob said to me, hang on, just hang on. How many thousands of gallons was that tank? 10,000. Gallons of water hit us. And then they pumped it up out of the, they pumped it. Yes. Freshwater catfish. And they had that in her hair. And I didn't know it was in my hair. They pumped the water up out of the ocean. It was down there leo correo beach on the north side of the point there and they pumped the water

up the slope into this portable canvas portable tank 10 000 gallon tank and then they just dropped the flap and let it rush down as the the wave supposedly was coming back out. So we had sand getting down into our eyelids and just everything. I mean, it was miserable. It was cold. I think I still have some sand in my hair. What's funny about that scene is it plays as a dead-on parody

of From Here to Eternity. Yes, indeed. But of course, they claim they had not seen the movie. Yeah. The boys. It's yeah yeah it's possible it's possible what's it like seeing with with an audience nowadays uh we just oh excuse me for interrupting i'm sorry we just got to experience that in san francisco and it was there were 600 people and it was a ball it was a ball people came dressed like it might have been more than that maybe 1200 Francisco right right right and what

was it what was it like it would been years right since you'd seen it with an audience years you did it in 17 with uh with David yeah it was so. And to hear 600 people who probably weren't born when we made the film laugh. I mean, just, you know. It was great. It was so fun. Yeah. It was one of the best. Now, David and I have

done this a bunch of times, and I've done it with Jerry and David and Jim, and then Jerry and I did it once. And we do little, you know, fundraisers or charity things or whatever. But this was maybe the best audience. It was one of the best for sure, but it's possible it was the best audience that we've had since it came out.

And part of it was every single drug reference was hilarious. But then, of course, this was the Castro Theater in San Francisco. Right. So. The old woman doing the line of Coke. Yes. Oh, man. Huge, huge. But it was like Julie said, the audience was just totally into it. They were just so I mean, it was like it was fresh, like brand new. It was really great. What about the three-headed director?

I mean, that's got to be an interesting experience, that David and Jerry and Jim directing a film, which, by the way, they had problems with the DGA letting them do that. Well, you know, maybe that was their way around it, because Jerry, I always found, was the one who would come and talk to us and tell us what to do and then the other two boys would watch it on a camera and then the all three of them would huddle together and discuss everything and then they go yeah and then Jerry would come and talk

to us that's kind of how I remember it I don't know how you remember yeah it was but they were so of such a like mind that that when they did talk to you all at once one would start a sentence the other would say the middle and the third one would end the sentence they're just brains were just right on the same wavelength yeah it was so great it was so great no problems at all it was just it was pure Yeah. And Robert, you were in that Stephen King movie. Oh, Cat's Eye. Cat's Eye. Yeah. And I heard you said you were injured in that?

He cracked a rib on that. And I landed in the scene and I just was all beat up. I cracked a rib. It was lunch. We wrote for lunch. I landed in the scene and I just was all beat up. I cracked a rib. It was lunch. We wrote for lunch. I went to the doc. They did an x-ray and they said, oh, it's just a real minor, tiny little, you know, just it's not that much. He didn't break anything.

It was just kind of cracked. And it's hard to breathe. So he said, here's some, here's some painkillers. And of course, I didn't want to take anything while i was acting but we came back after lunch in the very next scene because i had to go it was like 40 stories up supposedly it was this perspective set that was built by this spanish uh set designer amazing and so i was on a ledge that was probably about eight or ten inches wide. And I had to go all the way around this whole thing to win the bet with this mafia guy so I could live. And so the scene where they surprised me, blurring horns and everything, I go, oh, and I slide down and I land on the ledge down below.

We came back from lunch and I came back from the doctor and that's the scene that we had to film. So I lay down on the ledge and the edge of it is right where the crack in my rib is so they said okay ready now let's show a lot of stuff here action and I'm groaning away and they said great oh that's great excellent acting excellent acting yeah it looked like a very physical part. And the pigeon, too. You seem to be sharing the screen with birds. Yes, yes. The trained pigeon pecking at your ankle? I kept looking around for Alfred Hitchcock. That guy's got to be Hitchcock.

I like that movie. We were just talking, Gilbert, about how they don't do horror anthologies anymore. But that's a good one. Yeah, that was really fun. It was while Louis Teague did that and Jimmy Woods and Drew Barrymore and Alan King.

Ooh, we're going to watch that tonight. Yeah, oh, it was... Julie's firing that one up. Yeah, I sure am. You know how when you're working, you know, Julie, you're doing something and you've got to be careful about your hair and careful about the makeup.

And they say, ready, come back. And oh, let's get touched up now. It was so hot down there in North Carolina. It was, we walk out of the set, Dino De Laurentiis' new soundstage and everything that they built down there and the studios. And it was rainy. And know in the southeast rainy and windy

and I just stand out there in the rain and go oh and then we come back in and say okay get back on the set and I'd stand there and they turn the Ritter fan on about 70 miles an hour so it didn't matter I could do anything I wanted. I'd just stand there. Julie, can I ask you a question from a listener? Sure. Sam Weisberg. We like to, we field questions from listeners on our Patreon, on a thing we call Grill the Guest.

I want to know, I'm a big fan of Julie's, and I want to know which scene was it harder to get through without cracking up and breaking the scene? Any of Leslie Nielsen's moments in Airplane or Albert Brooks' famous nest egg rant in Lost in America? Well, that was pretty hard to get through. But once again, you know, it's, well, I think it was harder with Leslie because he made that machine go. And, you know, you just couldn't stop.

But, you know, but once again, when you're with Albert doing that scene, it was terrifying for me. You know, he's playing his wife who just spent the nest egg. So he was, you know, that was, I was, you know, in the character and being terrified. And so losing everything. And so, um, of losing everything, but, uh,

Leslie, Leslie was just, you couldn't get through his thing. And, and, uh, with his machine. And I remember in lost in America,

it turns out that on top of everything you, you find out you have a gambling problem. Yes, yes. I didn't know. He went to sleep, so I went downstairs, you know. I was up. I was up. Do people yell 22 at you, Julie?

I'm sorry? Do people yell 22? Come on back to me. Yes, they do, and people get mad at me, too. Like, how could you have done that? Because you wouldn't have had a movie otherwise. Very funny movie, Lost in America. Very, very, very, very funny.

I love when you're at the table and he says, he drags you into the cafe. Yes, yes. And you start to reach out with your fingers. And he says, if you pick up a Kino card I will kill you and then when he goes to there is no Santy Claus oh Gary

Gary Marshall that's one of my favorite scenes where he just tries to say, I will give you free advertising that, you know, this is the casino with heart. Oh, yeah. The desert in has heart. Desert in has heart. Yes. The desert in has heart.

And Gary says, there is no Santy Claus. It's just, I love that. And I remember he says in that scene too uh he well you don't give the money back to everyone you separate us from the usual wayne newton i like wayne newton I like Wayne Dirk you know Albert was cast as a gangster in a movie called Drive this is a little trivia I found because the director was so impressed by his anger

the anger and the rage that he directed at you in that movie he got a part 30 years later oh a funny gangster that was a brilliant film he wrote and I loved working with him

and real proud to have been in it oh it's a wonderful movie here's one for you Ed Marcus Robert in Airplane 2 the sequel are you of the opinion that Gilbert should have been given the role of the mad bomber instead of Sonny Bono? That would have been a different film,

wouldn't it? Gilbert, would you have been able to play straight? Yeah. See, he, he was Sonny Bono was like a perfect choice. Cause he started late in his career.

He started popping up in movies like that. You know, like the straight versions of movies like that. Right. Yeah. And by the way, Robert, we were talking about character actors on the phone. Gilbert, Robert knew Dub Taylor and Jack Elam. Oh, yeah. And Royal Dano.

And Royal Dano. Yeah. I was watching Cat's Eye. How about Ken McMillan? Kenny McMillan was great. Really good character actor. Yeah. Ragtime.

There's that scene when I make it back in, and they say, so you win the bet. Here's the $1,000, and you get my wife. And they kick over the horrible scene where it's the ice chest and her head rolls out because he's beheaded her. And I just go screaming and I go after him and his hitman is going to shoot me. But the cat runs in front of him, trips him. So I get him and anyway, I wind up with the gun, knock off the hit man. And there's Kenny. He's on the couch, slithering down between the coffee table and the

couch. And in the scene, he just started, I'm threatening him. And I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do. And I am just insane, right? And I've got a gun. And in the scene, he takes this, I think it was a penthouse magazine and he just starts thumbing through the penthouse looking oh yeah it's weird and it just happened right in the scene and I'm thinking what the hell are you doing what are you doing I mean inside my character was thinking that and I was thinking that and it made an interesting kind of a moment and that was Kenny Julie what about two legends you worked with? Ernest Borgnine and Michael Caine.

Oh, boy. Any specific memories of either man? Two favorites of this podcast. True gentlemen. Just true, true gentlemen. And, you know, if Ernest was going to tell a joke and it was dirty, he would wait for the ladies to leave the room. Oh, that's nice.

He just, you know, Gilbert. Yeah. And, and Michael Caine just, you know, a true gentleman as well. Is it true that Michael Caine had stories, just millions of stories about the business and about all the stuff? I heard that he would just regale people with stories. Oh, yes. Yeah. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful stories. And then I just worked a little while ago with Shirley McClain and it was

so fun to sit around with her because boy did she have great stories you know I just sort of like in between takes it was very cold we were up in Canada and we bundle up and I just listened to all of her stories about the bratat Pack and, you know, going off to England for three months. And I said, oh, were you doing a play? And she said, no, we were playing. You know, just like take off for three months with the guys. And, you know, just, and, you know, she worked with everybody.

Everyone. You know, everybody, Peter Sellers and, you know, she worked with everybody. Everyone. You know, everybody. Peter Sellers and, you know, just from soup to nuts. Yeah, Billy Wilder. Yes, yes. Her brother was kind of successful too. Yes, yeah. He did okay.

He did okay. When you work with our friend Adam West, who did this podcast, so Gilbert Watt, the second year we were doing this, maybe the first. Yeah. We started this show way back in 2014. That's so cool. Now you were Adam's love interest on Family Guy. Yes.

Did you record together? No. That was like a very big regret. How unfortunate. That was like a very big regret. They just call you in. But I was so excited that he was my husband. But I never got to meet him. He was very funny on the podcast. Very funny.

We'll send you that episode. Oh, that'd be fun. A charming guy. Yeah. He didn't take himself seriously. And I still didn't get the one with Gilbert singing with Dick Van Dyke.

Oh, she wants to hear you sing with Dick Van Dyke. We'll get it to you. Yes! Can we have a little taste? Dick Van Dyke said to me before the song, he goes,

okay, now this part is like a D and then he looks and he goes, oh, however you want to do it. He gave up. There should be a video of that, Gilbert. I think Neil Berkley has

that on video. Yeah. And Julie, you studied with another hero of Gilbert's and a co-star of gilbert's right the great bill hickey oh yes oh it was great i loved it uh hb studios and he would come in and you know the most wonderful thing that he taught me and i think his class was, there was no wrong. You know, like if you wanted to do something, he didn't challenge you. Or however you did it was right. So if you wanted to do a cartwheel during a scene that was, it was just, if it was in your heart, you know, not to.

And he was never critical. Never, ever critical. And so it was very freeing. I always look forward to going to his class because he never judged. Did, did, did you, you know, really spent, and I love, you know, he was always smoking and, you know, just sort of hair all askew. He was awesome. Yeah, I remember I worked with him on Wings. Oh, wow.

He was Uncle Carlton, and I was his nephew, Lewis. And I remember he had one line where he's talking about my character, and he goes, he's a young man, but he's got such an annoying voice. A legend. Here's another legend, Gil. Robert worked with a new Jimmy Caron. Oh, my God. Another guest on the show, and I worked with him, too.

Another lovely man. Wonderful, wonderful guy. Yeah. A sweetheart. Yeah. Yeah, he was in Take This Job and Shove It with Art Carney and Royal Dano. Royal Dano.

Gosh, there were a couple of good guys, too. Oh, the hilarious Tim Thomerson. Oh, and Eddie Albert. Eddie Albert and Tim Thomerson. Yeah. Tell us about Carney. Yes, yes. There's somebody we're curious.

We're all curious. Oh, God. He was, jeez. I mean, a legend to me. But we were in Dubuque, Iowa, and we were staying at whatever the nice hotel there was, which was, was that a Motel 6? No, I don't know.

But it was, it had a little dining room downstairs. So he and I went down and had dinner one night and he was telling me different stories about, like, you know, the shooting the cuffs. You know how he would do that on the honeymooners? Oh, yeah. Every time he'd start, he'd move things around and and then he'd kind of do this, and then... Oh, yes.

He got that from his dad, and his dad used to do this. Wow. And then he'd pick up, but he wasn't... He was all very precise, his dad, and he'd get the paper set up just right, and then he'd kind of do this, and then he'd move the inkwell over just a half an inch. And then he'd kind of do that a little bit. And then he'd move the inkwell right back where it had been. And all of this just to get ready to sign the paper.

That's all he was doing. But he would go through this whole thing, and that's where Art got all that. Yeah. And I noticed there was a – go ahead. No, I think he said he would show him his report card, which he was always failing in school. And the father would like torture him by doing that, you know, waving his hand and not saying anything. Yeah, and taking forever. There was a woman I noticed out of the corner of my eye because I had started to develop this little radar.

You kind of get that after a while. And Julie, I'm sure you have it where you can tell when someone's coming up to you and they got that look in their eye. They got a feeling about them. There's just you can just sense it. And they're coming up to get an autograph or to give whatever. And she was coming up here. We're having dinner and they're coming up right get an autograph or to give whatever. And she was coming up here. We're having dinner. And they're coming up right in the middle of our dinner.

And I kind of was pushing food around. And I filled up my fork. And right when she came up and said, I don't mean to bother you, I had it right like that, like I was about to put a mouthful. And I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Art was doing exactly the same thing. And she said, I don't mean to bother you and he dropped the fork and said but you're going to anyway aren't you and she said well I just put and I just thought oh and so could I get your autograph and said yes and then she said to me can I get your autograph and I said certainly and so I did it and then afterwards I, I noticed that you did that with the fork. We were both doing this.

He says, yeah, I noticed that too. We both did that at the same time. It's just timing. You just want them to kind of get a little accentuation, you know, a little accent mark on the fact that you know what you're doing. It's right in the middle of dinner. We're about to. Carney's one of those actors like bill hickey i wasn't aware of bill hickey until pritzy's honor as as a screen presence i mean

he'd been working as a as an acting teacher for a very long time uh and and carney everybody thought of him as ed norton but he had a resurgence on the big screen late in his career with with harry and terry and tanto yeah and going in style which is a terrific movie with Strasberg, and your movie. Yeah, it's interesting how some of these guys, you know, get a late career breakthrough. Yeah, oh yeah. Yeah, I had that, I told you about that picture that was a treasure. Yeah, you did. We were between shots, and I just had my coat and tie off,

and I just had a T-shirt on. And he had the same thing, just had some tissue here to keep the makeup off the wardrobe. And we were leaning on the railing, just leaning, looking over down at the brewery. And we were shooting in the Star Brewery, a real brewery in Dubuque. And we were looking down there,

and we were just talking to each other. And the photographer took a picture of it. And then he, in the mail, after the film was over, we were back home and they were going through post on it and whatever else. But I get this package in the mail. The photographer had taken that picture of us, sent it to Art, had him autograph it to me, and then sent it to me, which was so nice. And Art was really sweet on it. He was really nice. Yeah. Here's another question about two legends that you both, well, in Julie's case, someone you worked with, Julie, tell us something about the late, great Robert Altman. Oh, he was great. It was during his Paris time where he decided to go live in Paris.

He was mad. So he and his wife, and he's just a lot of fun, like the Mad Hatter. he's just a lot of fun. Like the Mad Hatter. He demanded that everybody go see dailies after work. Oh, really? And you had to go. And then sometimes, you know, you'd have dinner and go off with, you know, he and his wife

and pack everybody in the car and you'd drive around all over Paris. Oh, my God was and you never knew if he if he was shooting your foot or your elbow or a close-up I mean he just you know and also he could he could do sound he could run a camera he could do he could have he could do he could have complete he could do it all and uh just a very you know um i think he loved i don't think i know he loved making movies and he felt very you know they were you know i guess if a movie was held up or didn't come out for i think it was a couple of years before a couple of his films came out.

Yeah, Mad Hatter. Working with Mad Hatter. What a body of work. Yes, indeed. Robert, tell Gilbert and Julie the story you told me about Brando at the party. Oh, but before that, I was going to say, I worked with Altman also.

You did? Yeah, but it was not... You said, well, but before that, I was going to say I worked with Altman also. You did. But yeah, but it was not. You said, Gilbert, you said it in the opening things. It wasn't Mr. T and the women. It was Dr. T and the women. Mr. T and the women was another film. Did he say Mr. T and the women? I'd like to see that movie.

Yeah, yeah. And that was the movie where he goes, yeah. Get those legs up, you fool. Get those legs up. I'm going to check you out, fool. Mr. T is a gynecologist. Yes. Don't give me that jibber jabber.

Forgive me, Robert. I should have asked you about Altman as well. Well, he was wonderful, but it's different getting into a car and driving around Paris. Or like for me, it was getting in a car and driving around Dallas. That's not quite the same. Yeah, we go to barbecue. We go to barbecue out there. And they rented a place that was beautiful, a big, big, beautiful home in a very nice section of Dallas and he and his wife she was so sweet really nice lady dancer yeah yeah beautiful and really really

sweet and and uh so I it was Thanksgiving and I stuck around rather than flying back and then flying back and forth i just stayed there and so he had me over i'd go over and have dinner with them all the time and yeah and we'd talk about we talked about filmmaking we talked about editing talk about i just would sit and listen to him get him going that's great you both got to know him yeah Yeah. And they were great. They were really both great. He really embraced his actors. And he wanted to have dinners and, you know, groups. He wanted their input, too. He'd like to get the actors' input.

Oh, yeah. Which was great. Wonderful. He made great films in, what, four different decades. I mean, the guy really had a, just, and in different genres, real impressive body of work. And his son son who i think was 16 at the time he'd have his sons and his daughters and son-in-laws and nieces everybody

if they worked on the set they all worked on this show but his his son was i think 16 one of his boys and when he was doing mash and he was saying gee i want to do something yeah i want to do something he says well why don't you just go write a song write a theme song MASH and he was saying, gee, I want to do something. Yeah, I want to do something. He says, well, why don't you just go write a song, write a theme song for it? And he came up with Suicide is Painless. He made more money on MASH because of the deal that Altman had than Altman ever made on it. And he didn't have, I mean, normally he directed the film,

but they had really screwed him out of that. So when they did the series normally you also did the original product and then you would get a residual through the dj or whatever and he never did get any of that which i thought was pretty crappy but yeah yeah that's a great film mccabe and mrs miller is one i could watch over and over again any time oh yeah a real genius but tell gilbert if you can what you're you're about you're running with brando because it's Oh, over and over again. Any time. Oh, yeah. A real genius. But tell Gilbert, if you can, what you're about. You're running with Brando because it's funny.

I was doing a film. Well, I was doing a film with a guy, Andrew McGlaglin, who is Victor McGlaglin's son. Oh, wow. Who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Informer, the John Ford. Yeah. And his daughter, he set me up with his daughter, Mary. And so one of our first dates that we went on was to go to the family that she lived with so much. She was almost like part of the family because she grew up with the daughters and, and when her folks would be having a little trouble, whatever, she'd be over there all the time with them. And it was a guy that had worked in the mailroom. And when Brando

came out from New York on the train, they sent him down and said, yeah, we got a new actor. You go down and meet him, this kid in the mailroom. And so when Brando meets him there, he says, so you're my agent. And he said, no, no, no, no, I just work in the mailroom. They sent me down here to meet you. And he says, no, they're the ones, you're the one that they said to come down and meet me. So you're my agent. So overnight, Jay Cantor went from a mailroom guy to one of the most powerful agents in Hollywood. Great Hollywood story.

And then later became a studio executive. So we go to Jay Cantor's house because Marlon is the godfather to his daughter. And so we go to his house in the backyard. They're having a big, you know, the wedding, the reception and everything. And we're sitting there. I'm sitting next to Brando at one of those big round tables that have about 10 people. And a photographer said, with this Hungarian sort of accent, he says, Marlon, let me get a picture. And he was the only paparazzi guy that Marlon would ever allow around. that Marlon would ever allow around. So Brando grabbed me by the shoulder, turned me around, and he took a picture of the two of us.

And I knew this guy. And later he told me, I knew if I asked him for a picture, he would do that. So that was the picture that I wound up with, me and Marlon Brando, him with his arm around me, holding me around. Wow. Didn't you start to tell a joke

and he cut off your punchline? Someone came up, someone came, now this is Marlo, Marlon when he was in the heavy period, which, you know, at the end of his life, he was very, very heavy. I mean, morbidly obese. Yeah, morbidly obese would be a safe description. Yeah.

And someone gave him a t-shirt, which might have maybe fit his thumb. But, so he had the t-shirt sitting right here between us. And we were just kind of telling jokes and just doing stuff around the table. And so I started telling a joke that I thought was a very funny joke. People really liked the joke a lot, and I was telling it. And it kind of sets it up.

And then you get to right where the punchline is and Marlon starts you know I remember there was a time where there was just something he was mumbling something and I picked up it was just an instinct I picked up the t-shirt and I threw it out of it I said not the punchline Marlon and then I thought to myself oh what have i just done and so then i went on and i finished and all the people are standing there with their mouths hanging open like ah and i'm thinking oh yeah oh jesus and then later on apparently marlon tells jay uh canter that uh you know this is really fun i think i'd like to have a Cantor that this is really fun. I'd like to have a party.

I really enjoyed this a lot. And I'd like to have that Bobby Hayes. I'd like to have him at the party. Apparently he liked me throwing the t-shirt. You won over Marlon Brando. Yeah, with a

t-shirt toss. All it, with a T-shirt toss. All it took was a T-shirt toss. Question for Julie from a listener from Stevie Thomas. Julie, how did you so accurately capture the wine-drunk L.A. mom from Marriage Story? Is she a wine drunk? She's a little ditzy. I just, you know, once again, I mean, Noah is word for word perfect.

You know, there's not one word that's off. So I said his words and I did what he told me to do. And I had a great time. He's amazing to work with. He's like, you can see when he's working, it's really when he's shooting, it's his playground. he's working it's really when he's shooting it's his playground and uh i mean i just was honored to be working with the beautiful scarlett johansson and merritt weaver and and uh no i just said my words it's a terrific movie thank you is scarlett johansson i can't i saw her around people. Is she small? She is. She can wear stripes going, you know, sideways.

Not many people can. She's so beautiful. And, no, she just comes in. You know, we had to sing this song in the movie. It was Sondheim. And I was just like, I don't sing. I don't dance. I was, like, literally singing and dancing and having people come work with me at my house and plus they were teaching us and uh we had practice time and

so and then Merritt and I were like just sweating and then Scarlett comes in and just does it in five minutes and was oh bye but she's so great, lovely gal. Not only is she just brilliant, but, um, we shot late at night and she would, and you know, she didn't brag about it or tell anybody. I found out from somebody else that she would have like a, uh, uh, tomato soup and grilled cheese truck come or a beignet truck come for the crew, you know, late at night. And just, you know, a great, great young lady.

I mean, she's early 30s, you know, she's still a baby. And look at her, you know, work. And just a joy to be around. Just a joy. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast after this. This message comes from TD. Getting mortgage advice should be fast and easy because when you want to buy a home, who has time to wait? TD Mortgage Direct makes it quick and easy to get when you want to buy a home, who has time to wait? TD Mortgage Direct makes

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Whatever goal you're working toward. New Balance has the running shoes, clothes, and accessories to push your run further and help you run your way. Find yours at newbalance.ca slash running. New Balance, run your way. Okay, I have to go from a joy to a negative experience, or at least a challenging experience. Can you say anything about shooting What About Bob?

Well, whatever you've heard, I can say it was all true. So Dreyfus says that Bill Murray threw a heavy ashtray at his head. Yes, he did. I'm not saying it. You know, Richard has said that. And I, you know, I was next to my, my house was next to the, the office house. And I know there was, it was not a happy, I had fun. Because I'm sort of like a happy idiot. But it got a little, Frank Oz, who directed it, was just wonderful, you know? And then sometimes he'd go, please direct us like Miss Piggy, you know?

So it just gets a little tense. But, no, everything you've heard is true. You're dealing with two mercurial characters there. But I think it worked great for the movie. Yeah, it's a fun film. You know, but it was... You never knew what was going to happen the day you went to work.

Gilbert, what's your favorite laugh in Airplane, Gilbert? A verbal joke or a visual joke? Oh, God, there are so many. I've decided I have mine after last night okay it's it's kenneth kenneth toby is on the phone you i think you used him in starman too by the way yes he's on the phone and he says he's the guy's a menace to everything in the air

yes birds too two that's my new favorite and i remember because we were talking about the chicken or fish thing. And they said, well, we serve chicken or fish. And Leslie Nielsen's. I remember I had the lasagna. I remember. I had the lasagna. Yeah. I'm also fond of when Jonathan Banks, who would become a big star on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, he sees, as you're flying, he's monitoring you. He says, 900 feet, 1300 feet. What an asshole.

He's all over the place. He's all over the Yeah. What an asshole. That's one of my favorites. That's one of my favorites. Also I loved, I loved, it's just, it's a, it's kind of like the boys. It's a real great example of the boys of their stuff. And that's, um, uh, Leslie and Peter, uh, when they're right behind the cockpit and he says, how long before you can land? I can't tell you that. You can tell me I'm a doctor. No, I mean, I just don't know.

Well, can't you take a guess? Well, not for another three hours. You can't take a guess for three hours? No, I mean, you just can't land. I mean, to me, that was just, and the timing on everything, and that deadpan look of Leslie's.

I love when Leslie's lying and he's when he's lying and his nose is growing yeah it's a broomstick he says they're they're at the controls they're flying the plane free to pursue a life of religious freedom religious fulfillment oh and when the woman asked for like a really small a light reading and yes they go here's a pamphlet on on jewish athletes yeah famous jewish sports legends yeah yes that's that's one of those examples i think they were talking about, Julie, of you playing something exactly as straight as it could possibly be. Yeah. Also, when you say, is there anybody who knows how to fly a plane?

That was the genius of the boys. As we wind it down, we had Jason Alexander on the show, and he was telling us, and this happens to Gilbert too. Gilbert, we've talked about how people approach you and say a comedy bit or something from Aladdin meant so much to them. From Saturday Night Live. Yes. And that SNL season.

That episode you did with Robin Hayes. When you did that elephant man sketch jason told us that uh some uh some military men approached him while he was having dinner and told him that they well they were deployed and how much seinfeld had meant to them that it really it really became a part of their lives. So here's a movie 40 years ago. You guys read this script. You go in. It's a job. Could you have imagined looking back 40 years? And I'm sure you've even been asked this question.

40 years later, the impact that this thing has had, not only on your own careers, but on the lives of so many people. You must feel a sense of gratitude about it. people yeah you you must feel a you must feel a sense of gratitude about it absolute gratitude and joy and surprise and uh just it's super neat huh bob oh gosh it was like i always figure like we won the lottery yeah you know it was it was it's been so great yeah even when people run up and do the lines and you know oh i love I love it. 40 years. It hasn't bothered you. Not one iota. No, I just, people come up, they, they, they'll come up to me. I don't know if they do this with you, but they come up to me and they'll say, Oh, I know you're

probably sick of hearing this, but gosh, I just loved airplane. And I have to say, okay, now hold it right there. You're taking a chance and i'm going to be one of those jerks so that's kind of maybe a little scary who knows how i'm going to react but you take that chance you come up to me and you want to tell me that you love something that i did yeah why would i be sick of hearing that and they start laughing and they say oh good i'm glad oh and i and then they want me to sign something whatever but. But it's just been great. 40 years of bliss. 40 years. Yeah. It's amazing. Yeah, it is. I imagine. I know it's 40 years ago and it's jogging your memory, but at any point during the making or during the production,

did you even let yourself entertain the idea that, wow, this could really be something that endures or this could be something that, that endures, or this could be something, or are you just trying to get to the, I mean, you were running around working, working 20 hour days, but. I, I started thinking that, um, gosh, you know, this could be like, this could be like a cult classic on the college circuit. So it really have some legs, you know, it lasts for a while, while you know and then we all started thinking when the dailies would they were running dailies over and over four or five times in a row to get all the people in that wanted to see them at the studio and then the word started

coming back that it was like oh gosh it's really is there you know there's some talk about this there's a buzz that's starting so So then everybody just didn't speak. And we were standing around, about five of us standing around. And one kid came up and he was there doing a day, you know, just kind of in and out for a little quick thing or two days or something. And he came right up into the group and said, hey, I hear this thing is going to be a smash hit. And everybody turned and walked away because we didn't want to hex it. Wow. So we started feeling maybe.

What's it going to be? We don't know. But maybe a little something, maybe. And then people started coming up to me. Friends of mine had come up to me and said, hey, I just saw a trailer for your film. Because that's my film. That was my very first film. So, you know, it wasn't, oh, which film?

It was the only one. So they said, so trailers for the film. Those are all the jokes, right? And I said, nope. Both of you. And Julie, same question. I mean, did you, at any point during the process or, you know, when it first came out,

and I imagine you saw it with an audience. No, I had gone back to New York, and it was weird. I was babysitting for money. So I was living in my girlfriend's grandmother's alcove. So, you know, I was just kind of. Oh, so, you know, I was just kind of. Then when they had a screening on Broadway in a big theater and my brother and I went. I remember he bought me a new pair of shoes to wear with this dress.

Oh, nice. And then the phone started ringing. But I never thought about it until then. I mean, it was just sort of I was worried about, you know, trying to get an apartment, and then I got a sofa, and then got out of the alcove, and, you know, and then it was just joy that I think it never really dawned on me until later. And it's just such a joy now.

I mean, I was just, what I really mean from my heart, I was just grateful because it opened doors and got other work. And I got out of Susie Mara's grandmother's alcove. Your first movie, both of you. And it turns out to be a movie preserved by the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress. Isn't that cool? A film deemed culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. Your first movie, your first time. I got a great friend from it, Mr. Hayes.

Oh, how nice. Yeah. It's so fun. It's so fun because we get together. Well, we're not at the moment because of the certain little virus floating around. But we love getting together and having dinner. And it's just really great. She and Richard and Gina and I. I mean, it's just really fun really though it's a 40 years of friendship and

and whether you like it or, but you're going to be my friend. Gilbert, when the... Go ahead. No, I think back on those days in Spain. Where we'd hang out together. I know, we used to go to that little coffee shop and all squeeze into a booth. Yes. And you'd make fun of me and make me laugh.

That's why I can't run away from you. And you come running, you know, talking like me. And so then I'd have to talk like you. But I can't do it. Julie rides horses, Gil. Yeah, that's where you said I hate it here They all hate Jews here

Any memory of saying that, Julie? She's saying no I don't I think you might have changed it to make it Gilbertism Gilbert, Julie has a horse that she rides if you go to LA to visit her I think you might have changed it to make it the Gilbertism. Gilbert, Julie has a horse that she rides if you go to L.A. to visit her.

Julie, will you let him ride? Sure. And I, you know, before when we was trying to get everything working here, which always takes three hours. Yeah. And everyone uh pressing their cell phones i thought oh shit the last time i saw both of you there was no such a thing as a cell phone a cell phone no no i've known you all too long isn't that nutty yeah and i think that even the computers were like that in fact in airplane when jonathan banks and the guys are playing that was they thought they were being cool because that

was state of the art that little atari basketball or whatever that was those little computers stick figures oh my god that was that wasers was something you saw in science fiction movies or the villain of a James Bond film. Movie. Yes. Or the Jetsons. Yeah. We're grateful because the technology has allowed us to do this and to connect with you. Isn't this crazy?

This is a crazy time. Chaotic time. And we thank you both so so much and we thank you for for being such an important part of the culture oh well thank you and i it was nice to meet you frank and gilbert same here next time i come to new york watch out i'm gonna find you and i i want to share something i want to share something. I want to share something. My lovely wife walked into the room with us before we started. Can you see what this says?

Frank, I just want to tell you good luck. We're all counting on you. Leslie. Leslie lives. Yes, Leslie lives. Thank you guys so much. Thank you. Gilbert will always have SNL, Gilbert. We'll always have SNL.

Oh, yeah. I'm going to Google it and find it and watch it. This has been Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast with my co-host, Frank Santopadre. And we've been

talking to the man who co-starred with Mr. T. Robin Hayes. And the girl who has a more annoying voice than me. Julie Haggard. Julie Robert, this is a tremendous kick.

Thank you. This is great fun. Happy 40th anniversary. I love that you guys do these. I think it's wonderful. Thank you very much. Thank you, guys. This was really, really, really fun.

Thank you. God bless you both. Thank you. God bless you both. Thank you. ¶¶ Thank you.