Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - Fictional Bands of 1960s TV (with John Fotiadis) Encore

Episode Date: December 4, 2023

GGACP celebrates December's Art and Architecture Month with this ENCORE of a 2019 mini-episode with podcast friend, musician (and professional architect!) John "Yanni" Fotiadis, featuring a look back at fictional rock 'n' roll groups of 1960s television. This week: the Fab Four inspire dozens of (fake) knockoffs, the Mosquitoes infest Gilligan's Island, Corporal Agarn manages the Bedbugs and Gilbert reprises his classic Bob Dylan-Floyd the Barber routine. PLUS: Boyce and Hart! The Groovy Guru! Opie Taylor goes electric! Bob Hope sports a hippie wig! And the musical stylings of Bingo, Bango, Bongo...and Irving! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried and I'm here with my co-host Frank Santopadre and this is Gilbert and Frank's amazing colossal obsession. You had to think about it. And we're here with John Flogiavo. Who? Who? Johnny Flogenbach. Johnny Flogiavo.

Hey, Flogiavo. Johnny Flogiavo. Hi, Flogiavo. So I'm making my return back from the dead. It is our friend. I'll do... John Fotiatis. Oh, thank you.

For me, I go. Such elocution. If you have more than a four-syllable name, it's over on this show. You know how many weeks it took him to get Santo Padre? At least 12. You have to take a beginner's course in that. Dara wrote it out. Dara took the kids' old blocks that she'd saved

and spelled it out phonetically. Gil, what do we got here? We got John Fodiatis, and we're going to do a mini episode, but quickly, a little housecleaning, as I like to say. Housekeeping, excuse me. We could use some housecleaning, too. Alan Alda's show ran our episode today in their rerun slot. Oh!

Yes, and they're off week, so they ran our episode. And I think we got 35,000 downloads in one day. Fantastic. This means they're listening to Alan's show. So we want to thank Alan and our friend Sarah Chase. I wanted to mention you on Colbert, which everybody saw. Oh, yeah. Doing Redacted.

Redacted! Redacted! Redacted! Don't you just go in with these things and they just hand you the sides and they feed you? My favorite thing there is I'm sitting in the makeup chair and one of the producers comes over and he goes, Oh, here's your script. And the script, of course, is one word. With you. Yeah, where I just had to keep screaming redacted.

Yeah, and you did Seth Meyers too, but that hasn't aired yet. No, that hasn't aired yet. Okay. I want to wish some good thoughts and well wishes to one of our listeners, David Stevens, who is going through a difficult period.

So, David, we love you. Get better. And Hervey's birthday, we have to mention. It sure is. We would be remiss if we didn't mention. I get a lot of pussy on my birthday. More than Tom Selyuk. Tom Selyuk.

Far fuck Tom Selyuk. I heard Hervey was juggling hand grenades on his birthday. Fire, fuck, Dom Selyuk. I heard Herve was juggling hand grenades on his first thing. Oh, yeah. Hey, uh. Poor Herve. Oh, your name's Daphne. Because I can smell the perfume. This is going downhill real fast.

Yeah. That's it. It's an icebreaker. You can get good roads outside of New York.. It's an icebreaker. You can't get good roads outside of New York. The world is too acclim. Are you loosened up now, John? Oh, yeah.

Okay. That's it for housekeeping. Oh, and well, some guy sent me, I think it was Rick C. or something. Yes. A commercial of Nancy Allen for...

Oh, yeah. Clairol. Clairol. I got a bunch of those, too. There are a bunch of them on YouTube. Yeah. She was adorable. She was.

She still is. Yeah. We love Nancy. It was a good episode. Very nice. She was lovely. She had a good time. John has a concept.

John and I were talking. John is obviously a friend of this show, as everybody knows. It is his wonderful listener mail theme that you listen to, and also the producer of the month theme that we've started circulating in. Gilbert listens to them nightly, I'm sure. He does. There's nothing that happens

with this show that escapes his gaze. The all-knowing, all-seeing Gilbert Gottfried. He is the oracle of podcasting. He opens his third eye when he hears my music. But John and I were talking and I said,

we like it when you're there and why don't you come up with a premise? And he did. And that premise is fictional bands on 60s television shows. I remember,

like, because the Beatles were major. Big time. I remember, like, because the Beatles were major. Big time. And so, like, there were all these bands written into sitcoms that were like

thinly disguised Beatles. They were all mop top bands. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. It kind of happened in one very quick wave, right?

Yeah. Yeah. Well, what is it? I mean, you put the dates on these. Thank you, by the way, for doing all this wonderful research. So I did a little bit of research, and it's a bit of pop culture stuff that's going on. So February 9th, 1964, the Beatles go on Sullivan. 73 million people watch.

And what I didn't realize is that they had two more appearances, like in the week after and then two weeks after that. Sure. So their essence was seared into the American consciousness. had two more appearances like in the week after and then two weeks after that sure so their their essence was seared into the american consciousness and this is like three or four months after the kennedy assassination you know and within two years every major sitcom on tv has like a beetle mop top pretty much uh musical episodes and you broke them all down for us i sure did it's nice to have somebody doing research they all had about the same plot. Precisely.

Like, oh, we can't stay at this hotel because there are mobs of girls. They have to stay with you in your home. That's exactly what happened. There are a few of those. Exactly. So what was the first one? And we don't have to go chronologically, but the first one you wrote down. Well, the first one that came to mind is Gill gilligan's island and this is really a funny one it's called

don't bug the mosquitoes that's the name of the episode not not too many insect references right right right right and uh the premise of this show is that this band is dropped on the island because they need a place to rehearse to regroup and. And, of course, the castaways are there, and they're trying to figure out a way to convince these guys to take them off the island when they go back. And what happens is they go through these ridiculous premises of forming their own groups to impress the mosquitoes. And the whole thing is a big...

That was Bingo, Bango, Bongo. And Irving. And Irving. Irving. The four mosquitoes. Which was a reverse, if you think, John, Paul, George, and Ringo, so they did like the backwards. Well, now, who was in the mosquitoes? I mean, did they use, because sometimes they used actors, and sometimes they used actual singers,

and sometimes they would use somebody that actually had a career. In most cases, what I found is that these were either working musicians, session players. And in some cases, this was a group called the Wellingtons that actually sang the Gilligan's Island theme. And then they were co-opted into a plane. I see. So they repurposed the Wellingtons as the Mosquitoes. Exactly. And what happened here is that the men of Gilligan's Island decided to form their own band called The Nats.

Do you remember this? And they're wearing these really weird straw mop tops. And of course, all the guitars and the drums are made out of bamboo. It's like the professor came up with all of that. And that goes terribly. And then the women form The Honeybees, and it was this Capri pants girl group thing. Wow.

Who wound up being too good to go back because the mosquitoes thought they would be outshone by them, so they figure, you know, we're not taking anyone, we're going. Do they ever explain how the mosquitoes also got stranded and ended up on the island? Well, they were actually dropped there by a helicopter. I see. I think their management dropped them there. Okay, great. Yeah.

Frank, can we hear a little bit of the Mosquitoes from Gilligan's Island? There you go. You've got a little satisfaction. Don't bug me. Yeah.

They just let me be Fantastic. Nice, Andy. By the way, the helicopter footage was from When Worlds Collide. It was stock footage from that movie. Are you serious? Yeah, 1951. Not Pat McCormick's whole movies?

No, yeah. I think he was flying the helicopter. Let's talk about... I mean, I remember clearly the one where the Beatles, or whoever they call themselves, have to stay in New Rochelle. Right. He's jumping around. Oh, he jumps around.

Yeah. We'll get to that one. Yeah. We'll get to that one. What about F Troop? So, F Troop. That's He jumps around. Yeah. We'll get to that one. Yeah. We'll get to that one. What about F Troop? So F Troop, that's showbiz. And your former guest. Our pal Larry Storch.

Larry Storch playing Corporal Agarn, you know, that great Shakespearean tragic figure, decides to leave the army to manage a rock band called the Bedbugs. I love these plots. So actually, this is an example of a real band playing a fictional one because the Bedbugs were also known as a band called The Factory. And probably the most famous member of The Factory was a guy named Lowell George who went on to create Little Feet. Great guitarist, great composer.

Of course, yeah. And yeah, he went on to record with Frank Zappa after that as well. Do you remember this, Gilbert? Do you remember Agorn managing the bedbugs? No, but what gets me about it is it's like the Beatles' great-grandparents weren't born when that trooper was taking place that time period. It was 60s garage rock, 1860s. Yeah, right. That's what was going on there.

You're going to be a literalist about it, Gilbert. So, and who do we know? Lowell George was the only musician in the actual bedbugs? There were a couple of other guys. Richie Hayward, who would also co-found Little Feet. And then Guy Williams, one of the other members that appeared on the episode, actually went on to join Iggy Pop and the Stooges in 1973. I love it.

So everything is interconnected. Frank, do we have any little bit of clip of the bedbugs? They show up in a covered wagon. One of them looks like Hervé Vichy. A stagecoach. You must be Sergeant O'Rourke. Oh, that's right, yeah. We're the group you hired to play for your military ball.

You're kidding. You're the group? That's right, Captain. We call ourselves the Bed Buds. Former podcast guest Ken Berry. Yeah, that's right. We'll give you a little demonstration of our music. Of course, you can't see their facial expressions

before they're gassed. Hit it. Three, four. It's great. With a tax man bass. Yeah. They've all got the names of the bands on the drum. Right.

On the drum kit. The bed bugs, Gil. The bed bugs. And they didn't have recording equipment back in the time, so how was that amplified? But who's asking? So Agarn, that's the cold open. So that Agarn decides he's going to quit the cavalry.

And then, actually, there's a point where Wrangler Jane appears with Captain Parminder. And somehow Agarn and Sergeant O'Rourke and Sergeant O'Rourke's member. Yeah. The general, please. The general. The general, if you will. Part of this new group. In honor of Ron Friedman.

And of course they're doing the mop top thing. And they do a version of Mr. Tambourine Man. Fantastic. Isn't that crazy? You know what gets me here is it's kind of like when Bob Hope and Lucille Ball would go, Hey, we're hippies. Hey, let's have a loving. We're hippies.

But I watch the clips, and every joke is the same because it's at that period where it was still comedic fodder to have a terrible reaction to this kind of music. Right, right, right. The adults are all aghast. All the adults are aghast. Agarn and O'Rourke look at each other horrified. Captain Parmenter's eyes are crossing.

It was that time, like I said, with Bob Hope. It's like you saw how incredibly unhip Hollywood was. They actually couldn't figure it out. They couldn't understand the phenomenon. It took them like two or three years for it to be absorbed. In the interest of time, let's jump the next one and go to Get Smart. Oh, Get Smart is great. We're on a Larry Storch role here. Yeah, Get Smart is great. There was an episode on Get Smart is great. We're on a Larry Storch role here. Yeah, Get Smart is great. There was an episode on Get Smart called The Groovy Guru. Yes, it's famous.

Where Larry Storch plays this crazy, it's almost like an Austin Powers character. Oh, I remember. You know, he just put on the Groovy Guru costume at his party. Oh, wow. At his 96th birthday party. That's crazy. A couple of months ago. to him at his party. Oh, wow. At his 96th birthday party. That's crazy. A couple of months ago.

So there are these guys that are chaos agents that are posing as a band and they're called the sacred cows and they're dressed in cow outfits. And the funny thing is they use the Groovy Guru's electric sound control and their music becomes hypnotizing, allowing the guru to control anyone who hears it. And there were also studio musicians. And the music is actually really great. It's like this wild, strange, psychedelic. This is deep research. You found out the names of these studio guys that were basically dragged into this. Jerry Sheff, a guy named John Greek.

How about that? John Greek, that's you. My uncle Spiro posing as a session guitarist. And Ben Binet. Yeah, Ben Binet. Yeah. I remember this episode very well. And we actually talked to Larry about it when we had him on the podcast.

And as I said, he just dressed up. Somehow he has the costume. Or somebody made him a groovy guru costume. Can we hear a little bit of The Sacred Cows, Frank? Go, babies! Storch is great. The rest is cows. Listen to that guitar.

You guys can find these clips on YouTube. They all make the same look at each other. Sacred cows. Of course. The sacred cows. Of course. The Sacred Cows. Of course it's the Sacred Cows. It has to be the Sacred Cows. Who else could it be but the Sacred Cows?

One question, 99. Who are the Sacred Cows? They're the hottest rock and roll group in the country, Max. Of course, the Sacred Cows. This is 68. This is a while later. Yeah, that overdrive. Drill, drill, drill.

Oh, there's lyrics, too. Kill, kill, kill. Look at Gilbert. He's transfixed. 99's getting down. Look at Barbara dancing. Well, she can't control herself. That's just it.

They love Barbara. They love mind control. Okay, okay. We'll take down the sacred cows. Fantastic. Very funny. I love this. It's wild, right?

Yeah, yeah. So not a real band. Barbara's very sexy, Dan. She's wearing a plaid miniskirt. You bet your ass she is the next one. So this gag, this premise is going on for years. It's not just an immediate reaction to Beatlemania in 64. That's right.

It's actually, I mean, this is 68. The next one coming up is 68. Yeah, and the music gets progressively harder and more psychedelic. It begins with this kind of Liverpool-y sound, but then it goes into, like, heavy acid rock. And this episode of The Mothers-in-Law is really funny because this was a real band called The Seeds, and they were a garage band out of California. Pushing too hard.

Pushing too hard. Sure. Playing the warts. Sure. Playing the warts, Gil, on The Mothers-in-Law. If there are any shows where you see, like, the generation gap, which is, like, the theme of the show, this one is it. One of my favorite aspects of this episode is that Joe Besser makes an appearance as a Salvation Army band leader.

He brings everybody together, the mothers-in-law, the sacred cows, and the Salvation Army band at the end of the episode. Fantastic. Oh, it's too good. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast after this. Yeah. I jumped one here. Let's do the I Dream of Jeannie one too. Sure.

From 67. Yeah, this is... Do you want to jump into that or do you want to finish this? I'm going to jump back to I Dream of Jeannie and then... Oh, were you done talking about the Mothers of the Lost? I'm going to jump back to I Dream of Jeannie, and then... Oh, were you done talking about the Mothers of the Lost? Well, I was going to say, the name of the song was Pushing Too Hard,

so what do you think Joe Besser said, right? What did Joe Besser say, Frank? Not so hard! There you go. Sorry. I stepped on a bit. Wow. My apologies.

It took me two weeks to prepare that bit. I apologize. I stepped on comedy, too. I stepped on John's setup. Let's talk about I Dream of Jeannie and the episode Jeannie the Hip Hippie from 67. So here's the premise. Tony's vacation is canceled

because Mrs. Bellows wants to create a charity event. She needs music. Somehow Tony is summoned to find a group, so Jeannie steps in and creates a group by going around Cocoa Beach cafes and music stores and just seeing guys that look cool and blinking them into Tony's living room. Fantastic. It's great. Genie does this? Yeah, yeah.

Now, okay, with all of her magical powers, couldn't she just snap her fingers? Yeah, you would think. And bring the Beatles. Yeah, exactly. Or the Stones or the Animals or whoever. Tough booking. Right. So she blinks them all into the living room.

The premise is that none of them know how to play any instruments. They just look cool. Of course, she blinks talent into them. And two of the people are Boyce and Hart. I love it. The great songwriters who wrote all of the monkey stuff. And in fact, when she's going around blinking people in, they're playing a kind of a psychedelic version of Last Train to Clarksville in the background. It's pretty fun.

I love it. And the episode ends with them somehow getting in front of Phil Spector to do a record audition. This is the pre-murder Rap, pre-Crazy Hair Phil Spector. Oh, yeah. And they do a song called Out and About, which is a great track, actually. It's a really good song. So Boyce and Hart, and there were two other guys, Steve O'Reilly and William Lewis. That's right. And they appeared as the real names in the episode.

They were all part of the Boyce and Hart band, but I don't know how long that band lasted. I tell you, I know the Bedbugs. I know the Gilligan's Island episode. I did not know about these guys. They didn't even give them a name. No, no. Okay, let's hear a little clip

of Boyce and Hart from I Dream of Jeannie. Frank's got it queued up. Thanks, Frank. Oh, this is where Jeannie sits in on the drums because the drummer isn't there. Now. Who's more adorable, Gilbert, Barbara Eden or Barbara Felden?

How cute she is. Nothing going on around here That hasn't gone on all year Staying in, day out And day in Cashing, I was outside Playing Out and about

I got everything going for me Out and about We've got all the things to fall Out and about Driving all the time I see Out and about All the girls See, Phil? See, Spectre is spooky. Yeah, he really is weird. You know, what I couldn't find out is if they actually released this song,

because I think the song is quite good. It sounds like it could have been a monkey song. Yeah, yeah. Probably part of their broader catalog. Thank you, Frank. It's very spooky seeing Phil Spector sitting there. Oh, my God. Like, nodding in silent approval.

Years later, Batman, well, not years later, probably around the same time, Batman did a Phil Spector parody, a character called Little Louie Groovy. I did not know that. Yes. I did not know that. I don't remember this Genie episode, and I don't know that song,

but you're right, it's catchy as hell. Let's quickly go to Gidget. Oh, Gidget, this is a funny one. It's called Ring-A-Ding Dingbat. That's the name of the episode airs February of 66 but I I just gotta say I was watching

the clip was still on and it's so funny to see a weird I can't believe what's happening from Phil Spector yeah

right it's genius oh my god this is shocking the puffy shirt yeah with the cuffs yeah from Phil Spector. Yeah, right. It's genius. Oh, my God. This is shocking. The puffy shirt with the cuffs. Yeah. These are all on YouTube,

by the way, guys. You can find these. Back in the days where executives still wore suits and ties. Yeah. He's sitting there with a wall

full of gold records. That's right. I'll make you stars. Grooving out. This is fantastic. Let's talk about... We did the mothers-in-law. Let's talk about Gidget. So you quickly mentioned Gidget.

Now, this is very funny because there's actually no band that appears. They're just two English guys that show up. They come to the town, the premise that you said. They're being chased by fans and girls. And somehow Gidget and her friend LaRue, I guess is how you pronounce her name. I'm not familiar with the show, but they somehow sneak in, get these guys and reel them in somehow. But in the meantime, the only performance they have is a TV interview that they give. And the name of the band is called the Dingbats.

And you're right, they are getting a little more psychedelic as they go. Yeah, as things progress. It gets a bit darker, too. You know, like as the 60s progress, these shows kind of get a darker theme. Yeah. Gilbert's happy that Joe Besser showed up. Yes. And the mother's-in-law.

That's so hot. We jumped it, but we've got time for it. Let's go back to the Andy Griffith Show episode from 67. The Andy Griffith Show. I like how you wrote, She was married to David Cassidy. From 67. The Andy Griffith Show. I like how you wrote Kay Lenz, va-va-va-voom. Va-va-va-voom. She was married to David Cassidy.

Oh, my God. Yeah, she actually appears in that episode. Remember Kay Lenz? Remember her? Yes. How about that? There's her name. So this episode is really funny because Opie. Does Aunt B get eaten by cats?

Yeah, I think Aunt B gets hooked on smack, but that's the ending they didn't use. Wasn't that your theory that Frances Bavier was devoured by her cats? I heard that she died in the house and she was a cat lady. I don't like what got on me. And the cats were eating her corpse for about a year. Doing Aunt Bea is tiny, too. I don't know how that happened. You mentioned that to Clint Howard and it didn't ring true, but I wish it were.

I wish I had seen the expression on his face. Yeah, that was good. Anyway, so Opie gets asked to join a rock and roll band. Oh, jeez. And they start practicing in the Taylor's garage. And Andy's kind of excited that Opie is involved with a new activity until he starts staying out really late and his grades drop and he doesn't care anymore. It's like, uh-oh, rock and roll.

The band becomes all-consuming. He's staying out late in the evenings and finally Andy says, we've had enough. He needs a talking to. And somehow they get Clara Edwards, Anthony's friend, to speak to Opie.

This is very kind of serious, introspective moment. This is late in the run, season eight. Opie comes to his senses. Fantastic. And the name of the band is called The Sound Committee.

The Sound Committee. And they have that written on their drum head as they play the high school. Of course. All the band's names are on the drums. Unbelievable.

Unbelievable. It's fantastic. And didn't you tell me that there was another one that you found at the 11th hour that you found at Gomer Pyle one? you tell me that there was another one that you found at the 11th hour, that you found a Gomer Pyle one? Actually, yeah, there was a couple that I found at the 11th hour.

I think the same guys, I have to actually go back and see what that is. I found one with Jim. The Flintstones also had a parody episode too, a cartoon episode, of a group called the Gruesomes. Does that mean anything to you? They were very mop-toppy and they somehow played in this strange- Gilbert stuck on Kay Lenz. Yes.

Boy, oh boy. I haven't heard that name in a while. She was married to David Cassidy. Yeah, she was really hot. She was cutie. John, I can't thank you enough for doing all this research. Oh, but what was the one with the monsters? We're going to do that one in the next episode.

I'm going to save it because it's a different format. The only thing I regret about this Andy Griffith show is that Floyd the Barber didn't sing a Dylan song. You know his bit. What would that have sounded like, Gilbert? What would that have sounded like? Like a rolling stone. A complete unknown.

You still doing that in the act? Yeah. Good, man. Don't freshen anything up. Is that after the Georgie Jessel bit? Yes. Well, we have Gavin McCloud booked in a couple of weeks. Are you going to do Gavin and Tony for him?

Oh, you've got balls. Wow, that's funny. John, thank you for this. My pleasure, gentlemen. This was a ton of fun. We'll pick a piece of music and take us out. We don't know what that is right now, but we're going to get a second episode out of this idea. Fantastic.

Because next week, we're going to do real bands that turned up on 60s television shows. John, this was fun. Ooh, Andy. Ooh. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You want to take us out, Killy?

I want you so bad. The drunken undertaker crying the lonesome hog and grinder crying

and all the saxophone after the stroke Howard McNair could only could only do episodes in a chair and they would all

stand around him it's kind of like Captain Pike you know the little light goes on you want to say goodnight Gilbert oh goodnight Gilbert see Kind of like Captain Pike. Just a little light goes on. You want to say goodnight, Gilbert? Oh, goodnight, Gilbert.

See? Nice. Okay, this has been... I'm Gilbert Gottfried. Frank Santopadre. This has been Gilbert and Frank's amazing, colossal obsessions with John Flowy Pond. Thank you, John Ponyette. Hey, Lighting.

Out and about. I got everything going for me. Out and about. Free from all the things that bore me. Out and about. Riding all around the city. Out and about. All the girls that look so pretty.

I'm fine when I'm... When I'm out and about Things I want I can't afford Nothing in this house but the border Magazines are torn and tattered I'm running out of reading matter I gotta run outside and see what's happening. What a groovy time we're having We'll have a good time At the back. At the back. Outro Music