Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - GGACP Classic: Burt Ward

Episode Date: July 6, 2023

GGACP celebrates the birthday of TV's original Boy Wonder, Burt Ward (b. July 6) by revisiting this 2016 interview to mark the 50th anniversary of ABC's "Batman" series. In this episode, Burt shares fond memories of co-star/mentor Adam West, Frank Gorshin, Vincent Price (and yes, Cesar Romero). Also, Burt spars with Bruce Lee, Adam makes like Moses, Shelley Winters plies her charms and Ol' Blue Eyes lobbies for the role of The Joker. PLUS: Remembering Lesley Gore! The genius of Lorenzo Semple Jr! Hanna-Barbera's "Legends of the Superheroes"! Batman meets "The Ghost of Frankenstein"! And Burt and Adam go to a nudist colony!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Trivia and dirty jokes, an evening with the boys. Once is never good enough For something so fantastic So here's another Gilbert and Franks Here's another Gilbert and Franks Here's another Gilbert and Franks Colossal Classic Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried and this is Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast.

And I'm here with my faithful sidekick and young ward, Frank Santopadre. And we're once again recording at Nutmeg with our engineer, the evil Frank Furtarosa. Meg with our engineer, the evil Frank Furtarosa. Our guest this week is a well-known actor and, watch me fuck this word up, philanthropist. I know how to say piss, so that, it's kind of a bladder problem he has. And a genuine pop culture icon. Notable TV appearances include The Simpsons, Clueless, SpongeBob SquarePants, Futurama, Robot Chicken, The New Hollywood Squares, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien, among others.

But to millions of fans and TV viewers, he'll forever be known for defining the role of Robin, the boy wonder on the original and much-beloved Batman television series. Fifty years after first donning the tights. More about that later. He's returned to the role that made him famous in the newly released animated feature, Batman Return of the Caped Crusaders. He's one of the people we've wanted to talk to. Also one of our most requested guests ever since we started this podcast almost three years ago. And we're pleased to say he's finally here.

Holy anticipation. Please welcome to the show the boy wonder himself and quite a philanthropist, Burt Ward. Hello, citizens. Now, can you, Bert, as Gilbert Gottfried, say, I'm Gilbert Gottfried, and we're going to speak to our guest today, Bert Vohr. Well, your handler, Roger, told us you'd do a Gilbert impression. Yes. Well, I'm accused of a lot of things uh but let me see what i can do uh well hello i'm gilbert godfrey and our guest today is burt ward That'll do. Now, we have to, I have to start off the interview in a way no one can ever follow it.

Uh-oh. You're going right in for it, huh? Yeah, I'm going right in for it. Bert, consider yourself warned. Okay. And I believe you talk about it in the book. Yeah. yourself warned okay and i believe you talk about it in the book yeah when batman was the number one show on the air how much pussy were you and adam west getting well i don't know you know cat woman had a lot of cats on the show and uh you know i we had uh, all those statuettes of cats,

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

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

Let's just say that Adam and I have great love and respect for our fans, and we will go to great lengths to please them. And I heard, and I asked Adam about this, that he and the Riddler, Frank Gautian, attended an orgy together, and they were kicked out because they weren't taking it too seriously. the Riddler, Frank Gautian, attended an orgy together. And they were kicked out because they weren't taking it too seriously. Well,

I wouldn't doubt it. Adam and I together accidentally wandered into this nudist colony one time, but we couldn't understand. we thought they were all in the process of changing to other clothes but they never did oh sandstone in malibu yes that's in the book oh that's right that's right yeah now was there one person out of the entire

nudist colony who was in any way attractive? Oh, actually, yes. Really? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. A lot of very young people. Very. I mean, I guess there were there was all all ages, but mostly young, you know, mid 20s, early 30s, you know, a lot of and very open minded, so to speak. Because whenever I see photos or footage of a nude beach, you always go, oh, these aren't the kind of people I want to see naked. Always a guy looks like Vic Tabak. Oh, well, that gave me a hard time. So you can neither confirm nor deny, Bert, the story about Adam and Gorshin at the... Yeah, I don't know that. You know, the only stories I know are the ones where I was there myself, you know. Can you tell us one of those stories, please, Bert?

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

Was that ever true? A lot of people said that. Yeah. But what happened was one time, one time we were both supposed to come out and I came out of my dressing room ready to go on set and he wasn't ready and it was very hot on set so I went back into the room then he came out and I was thinking that somebody would let me know when he came out and it was a mix-up but they made a they made a big to-do of that as though you know we were out trying to outlast each other. We really just wanted to film the scene, but it's so hot in those costumes. And, you know, in those days, they didn't have the cooler lights like they have now.

We had these giant arc lamps, and I'm telling you, you could fry eggs under those from 20 feet away. It was so hot and so uncomfortable. So we really tried to stay cool as much as possible i i you had a story where you were in the batmobile with who you thought was adam west and then when this car was speeding down the road you looked and it was not adam west driving well actually quickly it was not Adam West driving. Well, actually, quickly, it was my very first day of filming, the very first shot, 1965, and I came out of makeup and in my Robin costume at about 7 in the morning,

and they said, we're going to film this scene coming out of the Batcave, and we're going to use Bronson Canyon in Hollywood to film it here. And so we want you to go inside the cave, get in the Batmobile and we're going to drive it out and we're going to photograph it. I said, great. So I went and got in the Batmobile. I looked over, it took a moment to adjust to the darkness, but I could see it wasn't Adam. And I said, well, who are you? He said, my name is Hubie. I said, oh, well, what do you do?

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

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

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

Wait a minute. Why would you hire a stuntman for to be my stuntman if he doesn't look like me well we couldn't find anybody else I said oh my god so we came out of the cave at 55 miles an hour we went straight for the camera he made the turn perfectly but but unexpectedly, my door flew open, and the centrifugal force was throwing me out of the door. I reached behind me, and I grabbed the gear shift knob with my little finger, and it kept me from falling out, but it pulled my little finger completely out of joint, so it was not in the joint. It was incredibly painful. It knocked the camera guy off the camera truck. It knocked a big arc lamp over. They stopped. Everybody rushed over. They picked me up because like now I was just bent over in pain. And they looked at my hand. They said, my God, even through

the glove, your hand is like twice the size. I said, I know, but I don't know what it is, but it's killing me. They said, we got to get you to the hospital. I said, great, thank you. And they said, we'll do that just as soon as we get the shot. I said, what do you mean, the shot? I'm not going now? No, no, we got 80 guys on the crew. This is costing us $35,000 an hour. We got to get the shot first.

I said, oh, my God. Well, long story short, that was 7.30 in the morning, and I got to the hospital at noon. Wow. And they fixed it, and I came back. But that was day one of four days in a row that I ended up going to the emergency hospital from third-degree burns, explosions,

every horrible thing you can imagine. I mean, for example, one of the days I'm tied on a table in a subway and Batman's supposed to break through the subway wall. Oh, yeah, that's the pilot. Yes, this is all the pilot, the first episode. So what happens is Batman is supposed to break through this wall by setting a charge. Well, they were supposed to build a breakaway wall.

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

And you fell on my nose and broke my nose. But let me tell you something, Gilbert, just a piece of advice. If you're tied down on a table and you can't move your arms and the special effects guys shooting us getting ready for the shot walk past you and in my case you smell liquor on their breath you know that's a bad sign liquor and dynamite a bad combo bird and very bad especially at 7 30 in the morning yeah that could have easily have killed a few people or worse yeah well and you were you were burned in the uh is it the mr freeze episode where you know no wait i i listen i don't know there's a lot more in this episode so that was the next day then the

next day after that we're supposed to climb out of a burning car in this case they made a death mask of me and as Jill St. John was supposed to dress up as Robin that was really me and and so they have this car turned over on the side and it was supposed to burn and out comes the Riddler he climbs up and jumps down and then I'm underneath him you know in a burning car and I'm supposed to climb up and jump down too but when I got up there and just before I started to jump the car unexpectedly blew up and all I remember was that ground was coming at my face like unbelievably fast and oh that was a second degree burns in the back of my neck and my arms back to the hospital again that was the second day then the next day or third day then the next day I'm in the I swear I didn't think I was going to survive the first episode

the next day they're shooting this quarter of a million dollar shot this is a one-time shot and believe me in 1965 a quarter of a million dollar shot is like a two and a half million dollar shot today so there's no second takes and what this was is that Batman had just been drugged in the Whiskey-A-Go-Go and and I'm supposed to be coming out of the car to rescue him and the Riddler shoots me with a dart in the arm and I fall back into the passenger seat and then Frank Gorshin as a Riddler comes and tries to start the Batmobile and all the fireworks go off. And they said, Bert, no matter what you do, no matter what, don't you dare move. This will ruin the shot. There's no way to fix it. You've got to do this. So what happens? I didn't move. Fireworks go up. But guess what? They also come down. And now they're burning

through my cape. They're burning into my arm where it wasn't protected by the glove they're burning into my undershorts and you know I nearly went nuts over that so this was a very painful experience and all kinds of burns and I'm back at the hospital this doctor keeps saying to me you're you must be very accident prone you know this is the fourth day in a row you've been here I swear I didn't think I was going to survive the first episode but you know what the what the studio did they were very smart what they did after that was take out a very large life insurance policy and I'm telling you by the last couple of episodes I swear they were trying to collect on

that policy. It's one of the funny runners in the book that Adam's stuntman is doing everything, UB Kearns, and they're saying with you, just use Bert. That's right. If it's ever really dangerous. But if it wasn't dangerous, they could use my stuntman. Yeah. So did they ever use your stuntman? They used him.

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

where they could use him they would but really because he didn't look like me yeah what a great guy was a dear friend but I had to do the majority of my stunts incredible you got hurt a lot oh my so much I couldn't believe it and there's so many dangerous things that they don't do now like for example I was on top of a sound stage if you've ever been up a sound stage I mean just going up to the top in these creaky old wooden stairs that you can see through them and you're going up 65 feet and you get up there you know I mean only a monkey would feel comfortable up there and you get up there and you get out on this thing and they say, now, look, Bert, there's a fight scene. We've got some good stuntmen here.

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

Tell me you're not dangling over a pit with the actual tigers in there. That is real. And let me tell you something. Three wild Bengal tigers. No, there's a real backstory to that oh and you have to understand the camera crew were 15 feet above me in a steel cage right they're in a steel cage 15 feet above me the cats can jump 25 feet and i was 12 feet above them and what happened was they were like snarling and they would tap around me to get him to.

And the director said, oh, no, this is not working. You know, can you hang meat over his head? And they hung meat over my head and they're jumping up at my face and I'm turning and twisting against the bonds. And they afterwards, they said, Bert, that was so realistic. Well, yeah. I mean, like I nearly got killed. Very realistic. It was a very dangerous show.

You are a gutsy man, my friend. Either that or not very smart or both. So do you have a lot of lifelong injuries now from the show? No, just my ego. But I was very lucky. I was very resilient. I've been very athletic my whole life as a black belt in karate. In fact, a piece of trivia for you. I used to live in the same complex of condominiums as Bruce Lee. Yeah, we were going to ask you about Bruce. Yeah, he and I used to spar together and I mean he was an incredible martial artist but a piece of trivia is that Bruce Lee's first filmed

fight scene of his career was fighting me oh and the piece of the action that's great and and you know that was uh uh it was it was terrific It was great. And I remember when Brandon, his son, was only six months of age, and he and Brandon and his wife, Linda, we all went down into Chinatown because Bruce had lived in Hong Kong for a number of years. He knew all the most authentic foods to order and custom-made and stuff like that. He was really an amazing martial artist and he was a very nice man and we just since you brought up bruce we just lost van williams i know obviously that said he was an incredibly nice man too yeah and uh god you know it's it's hard i mean it's

it's it's hard to see people and look today we lost jsa Gabor. I was just telling everybody. She was on our show, too. Interesting anniversary. December 20th, 67, was the last day to production for you guys, the last day of filming. No, I think it was June of 68. Was it really? Yeah, because remember, we had three seasons. We did 120 episodes, and the last season was 26 episodes that were finished in June of 68 okay I got bad information I'm going off of that new Batman coffee table book that

just came out oh well you know but Zsa Zsa was yeah was the last villain yeah she she could have been you know and but we had some great stars I mean gosh you know and I know you've talked to Adam and and Julie and we've had some of the greatest actors of all time yeah I mean for history buffs of course like in one of the episodes where we had Tallulah Bankhead as Black Widow yeah I mean one of the one of the actors in in the scene with her was George Raff. I remember. I mean, oh, my gosh. I mean, you know. Oh, Edward G. Robinson. Yeah, exactly.

Being scared of these people, watching them on television and in movies, and here all of a sudden I'm working with them, and then Vincent Price, oh, my gosh, when he came on the set, I was like, oh, you know, and yet he was the nicest man in the world. But, oh, man we we had a heck of a fight scene uh that that he and I had on uh on on that egghead show where Adam and he Adam and Vincent played a trick on me I don't know if you know about that where I had a scene where Vincent had me around the neck kind of a neck hold and he was taking an egg and break it

on my head and then he would have a line and break it on my head, and then he would have a line, and then Adam was supposed to answer, and then he'd break another egg on my head. It was like three or four eggs during their dialogue, and the two of them messed up like 11 takes. I mean, I had like 40 eggs going down my underwear, I mean, down my neck. Talk about an egg shampoo. Anyway, I was so angry. I was because I saw them goofing up and I really believed that it was not an accident. So I was supposed to pick

up a box of eggs and throw it at Vincent once I got loose. Well, what I did, I was so angry. I picked up that dozen eggs and I hit him on his egg head so hard it moved his egg so his egg was tilted for the rest of that scene yeah now you know I have to ask you you're talking about all these legends what were you 1920 at the time yeah I was 20 going on 21 I actually had to go to court to get my contract approved and you're sharing the screen with vincent price and and and george raft and liberace and caesar romero and all of these virgin the great shakespearean actors yeah morris evans and and then there were so many stars that wanted to be on the show that they couldn't get them all on the show so that's why they created the scene

of going up the side of the building when someone opened a window, whether it was Sammy Davis Jr. or Dick Clark or Don Ho or Betty White. Jerry Lewis. I mean, you know, it was like the thing. And even then they couldn't get all the stars on the show that wanted to be on. Is it true the rumor that Frank Sinatra was trying to get on? I heard Dozier tell that story.

He wanted to be the Joker, but they'd already cast Cesar Romero, who was fantastic. And, you know, Cesar with that mustache of his, you know, which they put the white face paint over. I mean, it was hilarious. Because he refused to shed it. And every one of these guys loved it. They loved being on Batman. loved it they loved being on batman and and i assure all of our listeners i will be telling the caesar romero story again during this show we will return to gilbert godfrey's amazing colossal podcast but first a word from our sponsor fand FanDuel Casino's exclusive live dealer studio has your chance

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19 plus and physically located in Ontario. Gambling problem? Call 1-866-531-2600 or visit connectsontario.ca. Please play responsibly. And now back to the show. You're in for a treat, Bert. Okay.

Go do it now. All right, we'll get it out of the way. Frank Verderosa, I need a drumroll, please. Bert, I'm going to warn you for the second time. The Cesar Romero story. Now, Cesar Romero, if I don't know if I've ever told this on this show. Never once. No.

He, you know, he was like, played always like the Latin lover. Absolutely. But he himself was gay in real life. What's that? Yeah, but, and to quote Jerry Seinfeld, not that there's anything wrong with that. But Cesar Romero, it is by legend, used to gather a bunch of boy toys together, and he'd pull down his pants and underwear, and some claim he'd just stand on the floor like that. Others said he would stand ankle deep in warm water. Really? He would instruct these boy toys

to fling orange wedges at his naked ass. Really? Now, I wish this was a visual podcast and the world could see the look on Burt Ward's face right now. Yeah, I'm trying to get a grip on myself. So are you asking Burt to deny this or confirm it yes well i i would never i i never saw anything like that all i saw was him dressed in that uh joker outfit and uh he was every bit of gentleman on set i mean you would never know what whatever he did in his private life did did did he smell like orange juice when you

no no no no but i i did notice him drinking that at the uh at the craft services table so we have proof you know what's funny bert the comic books now the 66 comic books the artists have actually gone to the trouble of drawing of of illustrating Caesar with a mustache. You can see the traces of the mustache under the makeup. Oh, absolutely. It's become part of the lore. Listen, this Batman 66 comic book series is a huge hit. I mean, it is, you know, they've drawn Adam and I to look like us instead of the comic book characters traditionally. They've got so much great stuff. And, you know, there is so much merchandise out there. There are these caricatures of us that I swear look totally real.

And then, of course, like in Las Vegas and, well, in other places, gambling casinos now have an 11 and a half foot tall Batman and Robin one-armed bandit with our photos on there. That's great. Now, just coming out this month is a fantastic pinball machine from Stern Pinball that is a Batman pinball machine like you can't even imagine. Adam and I recorded over 300 lines of dialogue that is actually in the machine. Plus, that machine has got an HD television built into it. So while you're playing the pinball, you're watching our series and you're watching our movie.

And in addition to that, it has a projector that projects the bat signal on the wall behind the pinball machine. Somebody really was creative. I would kill to behind the pinball machine. Somebody really was creative. I would kill to own that pinball machine. Also, the DVDs, they look terrific, I have to say. Oh, I got to tell you, Warner Brothers did the most. Warner Brothers did an amazing job because that footage, they went and they reprinted all of those 35-millimeter prints, but they cleaned them up.

And the sound is so fabulous. I can't believe what a great job Warner Brothers did. It was fantastic. It's a beautiful-looking show, too, to go back and look at the production design and the costumes and the color. Because, of course, in those days, the little tease was Batman in color. Exactly. And it was a show that took advantage of color. And I tell you, Gil, I bought the box set,

and they look absolutely wonderful. You find yourself wanting to go back and look at some of them? Well, I do look at them. I do see them. And you know something? It brings back great memories. I actually see things that I had forgotten. Because, you know, you do 120 episodes at six days per episode.

That's a lot of your life that you have there yeah as a kid when I would watch it I was always looking forward to the Frank Ocean as the Riddler it's wonderful oh with his rubber face I mean Frank was fantastic he he was such a funny guy he came to my house years later and and you know he met all our dogs he was deathly afraid of dogs but he he was such a nice man oh my god you and so innocent in the way he thinks you know what I mean and so I mean that's what made him such a great comedian because he had a natural naivete that you know he would look at things and and it wasn't from any filtered position it was just like open and discovering things he was such a nice man I I really adored him and you know everybody on our show Adam and I got along with and Adam and I were

best friends we've always been great friends you know it it's got a lot of wonderful memories it really does Gorshin was also you know we talk about it on this show we had Rich Little on here and Will Jordan and some of the great impressions that used to do the copycats with Frank I don't remember that show yes I heard yeah and he was also a master impressionist the best Burt Lancaster oh yeah the best Kirk Douglas yeah uh oh and um and the guy he looks just like. Oh, Richard Widmark. Yes.

Yeah. And he was nominated for an Emmy for The Riddler. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. And he did it, and his laugh was fantastic. I mean, I don't even know where it came from, but it was fabulous. Yeah. And one bit of trivia here that appeals to me is that one of the directors who used to direct a lot of Batman was George Wagner.

Yes. And he also directed The Wolfman, the original Wolfman. He sure did. And produced Ghost of Frankenstein. Wow. Did you know that he worked with Lon Chaney Jr.? Wow. That's fantastic. Yeah. Did you know that he worked with Lon Chaney Jr.? Wow, that's fantastic. Yeah, that's legendary director. Oh, we had some great directors. I mean, everybody, the crews, the

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

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

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

When you read that, did you think this is going to be a novelty thing and it's going to burn out or this is going to be something big? Nobody had an idea what it was. You have to understand, this was a mid-season replacement for ABC. And in fact, none of us had seen or heard anything. none of us had seen or heard anything. So when January 12th, 1966, I had gone home after filming and, and sat there waiting for the show to come on. I,

you know, I really didn't know what to expect, but from the minute I saw the, the graphics, the opening, and the, you hear the Batman theme music. I am telling you,

I knew this was going to be something really special. You did. Really special. Yeah, that was Neil Hefty. Neil Hefty's theme. And what about the Pows and the Zaps? Very clever. I mean, it was so ahead of its time. We used to say that we put on our tights to put on the world and that we were the only superheroes that wore our underwear on the outside of our clothes. Right. And what's funny now, superheroes are getting beyond serious to pretentious. You know, everything's. And back then it was like just having fun with it. was like just having fun with it. Exactly. You know, there are a lot of a lot of shows have copied us, but it they have never had, in my opinion, the appeal that we had. And, you know, I got to be honest with you, in my opinion as well, there was a chemistry that Adam and I have together that through the years, honestly,

we could just show up someplace and not even be talking. And people see us together and they start laughing. And it's like, oh, my God, is my zipper open? What's going on? Why are people laughing? I'm not even saying anything. But it's because he has this amazing stoic you know I mean he thinks of himself like Winston Churchill I mean he's a funny man I mean oh you know and and everything is so big and so

grand and I'm like the the kid that you know just come right out and say this and say that and and you know what I mean and and he he's like it's kind of like a comedy duo. You know, it's almost like a Laurel and Hardy or one of the great comic duos. And it was a natural thing. And the more stoic and stiff he was, the more flexible and unexpected I was. And we really played off that, and it worked. I mean, people loved our characters. Did they ever tell you Robert Butler directed the pilot or any of the other directors in the early going?

Did they say to you guys, look, this is a comedy, but we want to play it straight? Or did Dozier give you guys any specific direction about the way he wanted the show to be played? Or did you guys find it? No. I'll tell you what it was. In my case, because I don't know what they said to Adam but in my case when they hired me they came to me and they said would you like to know why we hired you and I said sure because they said we've interviewed more than 1100 young

actors for this role but the reason we picked you Bert is because in our minds if there really was a Batman and Robin I mean really not not a television show but a real Robin that you personally would be it so we don't want you to quote act we want you to be yourself and be enthusiastic and that's all we want so that's what I did and I was not limited you know the things that I did like jumping over the door into the Batmobile or jumping out of the Batmobile or taking my fist and hitting it into my palm all of those mannerisms were mine nobody said oh do this you know they were so concerned with so many visual and and special effects to this timing and that timing and getting this thing to work that that they never got nobody ever discussed my character with me okay and and that's interesting they just seemed to

like it that whatever it was they liked it and And of all the seasons, well, that was another thing. Batman, extremely successful show, but it didn't run that long. Well, it ran for three years, prime time, twice a week for the first two years. And you have to understand, this was a decision based on money, not on ratings. Batman was losing about $300,000 a week. And in 1966, 67, and 68, that's like $3 million a week now. And it was a business decision.

They made enough that they could show reruns for the next hundred years and recoup their money and that was a business decision but also there was another problem because the cost was so high we had a situation where we had a unit direct a unit production manager who really is like a bean counter to keep things going and stuff and he begged the studio that if if they would just let him direct the shows he would bring everything in on budget and for the last season he did but the sacrifice was the creativity and the quality and the charm that made Batman so loving to so many people. And, you know, so as a result of that, you pay a price. You know, if you do things right,

ultimately I believe you're going to get the best results. But if you try to cut corners, you know, you end up with something that isn't what you thought you were making. Well, as a lover of the show, and I defy anyone to find a bigger fan of the original show than I am, the last season, it's tough to watch in certain respects because you can see the budget cuts. Exactly. The villain's lairs have been cut down to a staircase over a black backdrop.

And all the wonderful sets and the production design and the costumes and the effects. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And the jokes. I mean, the only one laughing at the jokes was the director who thought what he did was so great what about it wasn't what about this rumor Bert that that and I hear it a lot that was it NBC that supposedly was going to pick up the show but sets had been destroyed is that exactly yes yeah but the set on Batman was over eight hundred

thousand dollars and uh NBC was going to pick it up and wanted it. But when they heard that the Batcave had been destroyed, they said, you know, it's too much risk to recreate that and try to start off fresh. And do you have any idea how many times and how many variations you did on holy something? Well, I had 387 holies. See, he's kept track.

Holy barracuda. Holy ashtray. Holy smoke. Holy showcase. Holy haberdashery. Holy popcorn. Holy lod tray. Holy smoke. Holy showcase. Holy haberdashery. Holy popcorn. Holy lodestone. Holy flypaper.

Holy kofax. Holy jack-in-the-box. Holy red herring. Holy stuffy. Holy ravioli. Holy serpentine. Holy grammar. Holy safari.

Holy headlines. Holy iceberg. Holy blizzard. Holy schizophrenia. All of those Holy blizzard. Holy schizophrenia. All of those were I was allowed to do it the way I wanted. I mean, I honestly I didn't have the only restriction I had was, OK, when when when Adam says this line, you need to be over there. And then you guys need to go do this at the end of the scene. I mean, that's the kind of restriction. I didn't have any characterization restrictions.

I could do what I want. And I did. And it's so funny because after the show, when I meet people and I'd just be talking, they say, oh, my God, you sound like yourself. Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? And, oh, the mannerisms you have. It's exactly like Robin.

Well, yeah, you know know because it was really me and you auditioned with not just Adam West but also Lyle Wagner oh yeah that's good trivia yeah yeah well there was there I guess it came down to a point where um Lyle Wagner and a young actor named Peter Dyle were were auditioning you could actually see it on the internet. Yeah, it's on YouTube. And Adam and I auditioned together. And if you really watch the difference in our performances, one was played very straight,

which would have made it like another television show. And the other one was played with this subtlety and the innuendo and all of the things that made people love batman and i honestly i telling you it was the relationship that we created that actually we didn't plan it i mean adam is a wild man you gotta understand what you're dealing with there okay and and and he but oh and it what made he made him like Peter Sellers in the sense that you know Peter Sellers was so great because everything he said was so funny and yet he played it so sincere like he was just you know in being

there and these other movies he did and Adam is kind of like that in the real life. You know what I mean? He thinks of himself in such grand terms. He talks about the three Bs, okay? Batman, the Beatles, you know what I mean? And I mean, it just, you know. Oh, and Bond. And Bond, you know. He told us he was offered Bond. Yeah.

I mean, one time it really got me, okay? I mean, I really, really got it. I had enough when he was telling me that he really understood what it felt like to play Batman when he watched Charleston Heston play Moses, you know, coming down from the Sermon on the Mount with the with the word of God. you know yeah oh you know i mean he said you know i i really understand it you know he says now especially when he parted the red sea okay and i said adam let me tell you something the closest you ever came to parting the red sea was parting some redheads legs you know i mean wow see now that's what i wanted at the beginning of this show. Now you're playing into his hands, Bert. You know, Adam's a very funny comic. But I heard Gilbert was very conservative and shy and retiring.

I remember what really let me know what type of show Batman was back then. It always stuck with me. There was a scene where Batman and Robin run into a bank and they have to do really important business with the teller, you know, to help capture the criminal. And, and the teller goes,

Oh, Batman, come ahead of all these people. And, and Adam was goes, Oh no, I'll wait on line with these other good citizens yes exactly but we did that all the time even in our new batman movie where you know we're supposed to

chase after the villains and i and he says no no robin we can't go there we have to use the crosswalk you're in a hot pursuit of heinous villains going to destroy the earth, but we got to go through the crosswalk. Well, there was always that stuff. Put your seatbelt on. Oh, yes. A couple of times,

I think there's one where you're talking about Catwoman and he commends you because she's asleep in the Batmobile the time you brought her into the Batcave.

Oh, no, that's Batgirl. Oh, is it Batgirl? That's right. It's Batgirl. Let me tell you that story. You're noticing women for the Batcave? Oh, no, that's Batgirl. Oh, is it Batgirl? That's right. It's Batgirl. Let me tell you that story. You're noticing women for the first time. Oh, yeah, that's true. We had brought in Batgirl, and, you know, we had to give her this knockout Batgas

so she wouldn't know where the Batcave was. That's right. And then on the way out, we gave her some more knockout gas, and we're in the Batmobile. Batman, of course, you know, in the driver's seat. I'm in the passenger's seat, and Yvonne Craig, who played Batgirl, was in between us,, of course, you know, in the driver's seat. I'm in the passenger seat. And Yvonne Craig, who played Batgirl, was in between us. And she was, you know, knocked out.

And I had a simple line like, gosh, Batman, you know, Batgirl is very pretty. And his original line was something like, well, I'm glad you noticed, Robin. It shows that you're growing up or something mundane like that. Well, what did Adam do? OK, he is so shrewd. Don't don't be kidding. Let me tell you, this guy is really shrewd. it shows that you're growing up or something mundane like that well what did Adam do okay he is so shrewd don't don't be kidding this let me tell you this guy is really shrewd he messed up 13 takes and you know the great thing about Adam he'd been around doing stuff so long that he knew how long he could stretch the elastic you know he knew that he could get him at the point where

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

yeah that's what you got away with oh not too long about a week and then the censors had us in and they're yelling at us in the at the production studio I mean we were in so much trouble with the censors every week for something that we did or we allegedly did or it looked improper I mean you know it was a lot of a lot of craziness didn't the Stanley Ralph Ross try to sneak curse words and other languages into oh he did he did he did I love him oh I love I listen he had a great great um show that he wrote for Catwoman okay where he introduced um a new character uh played by Leslie Gore oh Pussycat famous singer sure Pussycat. The famous singer. Sure. Pussycat. And he had the greatest line for her where she meets me and she says, Hi, Robin.

I said, Who are you? She says, I'm Pussycat, but you can call me Cat. Shall I steal your voice or end your life? Whichever you decide, I'm sure it'll be the wrong choice. You have a pretty sharp tongue for a man about to say goodbye to this world, Batman. And can't you see how I feel about you Batman how I want you and Stanley was the editor of my book that I wrote okay and I love Stanley oh my I mean this man had a mind oh he could see humor and things that were just so far out there and he just did a you know I just love being in his presence. He was one of the great friends that I had. He owned that burger place in L.A., Hampton's, for years.

Oh, I know. I would go in there. Me too. Made the best burgers. Yep, yep, yep. The great Stanley Ralph Ross. Is it true you were offered or considered for the graduate? you were offered uh or considered for uh the graduate well let me explain what happened was um during the hiatus of my right after the batman movie it was the second season that larry turman

a producer was producing a small movie at fox wanted me to be in it i thought wow what a great chance for me to be in a film this is the same studio they're not going to say no it's during our hiatus it doesn't conflict with anything but they wouldn't let me do it because they didn't want to dilute the success of Batman and of course that little film turned out to be the graduate so when they couldn't get me they got a guy named Dustin Hoffman and the rest is history. Burt Ward could have been Benjamin Braddock. And I have to get back

to one of those other topics that interests me. Uh-oh. Since you were both wearing rather tight shorts, there was a problem with how much the audience would be able to decently look at.

And the Catholic League raised some objections. Yes, yes. They thought, well, you know, first of all, man was not built for tights, Gilbert. You know what I mean? And so, you know, although I'll tell you something, as bad as my problem was trying to make everything look smaller, Adam had the opposite problem. They told him that he was so flat in the front that they wanted to put Turkish towels in his undershorts. Unbelievable.

So did they have you wearing like two jock straps at one oh they tried everything and you know we had some uh some gentlemen at the time in the wardrobe department they were perhaps a little light in their loafers and that was the that was the big thing for them I mean they wanted every god-awful contraption but I'll tell you none of it worked until they found this quack doctor that gave me these pills. And that's for real. That's not a joke. And I took them for a couple of days. And then I thought, no, if I ever get married, I'll never be able to have children. So I stopped taking them and I used my cape to cover. I stopped taking them and I used my cape to cover. So they these pills were to shrink your penis. Yes.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And I'll tell you something. What made it harder is because everybody on the set knew about this. Right. It was like the big joke. And we were doing this three part episode called the Londinium Larson. Oh, sure.

In which they had all these beautiful girls that were the henchmen's nieces or whatever you want to go yeah and they were all purposely bumping against me there were scenes they're grabbing you know and they unfortunately grabbed the wrong play i mean they were really trying to get a rise out of me, so to speak. What happened? Was it the Catholic League? Do I have it right? That objected? Catholic Legion of Decency. The Catholic Legion of Decency.

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

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

You want to tell them about the Shelley Winters story from the book? Oh, well, actually, Shelley Winters was a great actress and, you know, very famous. But I had been forewarned about her that, oh, Bert, you better watch out. She's going to come after you. I said, I said come on you're not gonna come after me oh you don't know Shelly Winters and you know something she really was very nice however she did bring me a book that she gave to me at the end of the first day and asked me to read it it was called the del Delights of Older Women. See, there you go, Gil. There's one for you. I have to ask you too, Bert. You know, I've never seen a Batman blooper reel. I guess it doesn't exist, but did you guys laugh a lot? Was it hard to be straight-faced? And I'm

sure you've been asked this question. I mean, you're being consumed by a giant clam, and you're trapped in a snow cone. Oh, well, no, but there's other ones. And, you know, what happens is when you're under the hot lights, and, you know, towards the end of the day, and you've been shooting all day long, and, I mean, in between every shot, by the way, the makeup people come out, and the hairdressers come out more hairspray in the hair I mean I got to be where I like I thought I had a concrete mask

on my head but but and and the makeup people the makeup on top of makeup on top of makeup anyway there was a scene one time that Adam and I we really got ourselves into a mess where we couldn't stop laughing and what it was it was a cat woman it was a cat woman scene where cat woman had left these two gold cat woman statues and we were supposed to make a map out of them you know we're supposed to position them in a you know in in a way and and adam is trying to position them and I'm trying to figure out what to do and of course Adam with his very fertile mind came up with a numerical position one number less than 70 and and and I started crying and laughing he started crying and laughing and we couldn't stop because we were so hot in the

costume and sweating and and you get delirious you know what I'm saying and yeah and when he starts laughing his eyes cross in that mask you know what I mean and and you see him cross-eyed in the Batman cowl makes me laugh you know and every time I would laugh, he would laugh. And, and this director was hilarious. His name was Oscar Rudolph, such a nice man. He came up panicking. He says, you two guys are going to laugh me out of the business. He was in terror that we couldn't stop laughing. You and, you and Adam have very funny chemistry. And I said, even as you said, even then, but I urge people to look at some of the interviews of you guys on YouTube. Even now, you've got a great act that you've developed over the years.

Listen, we go out together and we make these big appearances at these convention centers. And purposely, when we go in to do the panels, we never in advance discuss anything. But I'll tell you what it's become. It's getting a little more risque each time because he knows that I'm going to tease him about something embarrassing and he's going to tease me about something embarrassing. And you know what happens? We're using double meaning language sometimes in front of people. And guess what? They love it. They know what's going on.

They know that even though they may not know all the facts, they know that I am taunting the hell out of him and that he's doing it back to me. But in love, I mean, and in great respect with each other. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I mean, he talks about the fact that one of the reasons is he's able to stay so virile at 88 is because he eats our gentle giant's dog food. OK, the dog food that you manufacture. That's right. Which, by the way, we have double the lifespan of dogs, which is pretty amazing. But he uses that because he and actually he uses our dog food for his dog, too.

But it's just that we both have a lot of fun together. I mean, you have to understand we genuinely love each other as human beings, you know, and so many great memories together. So many funny things. I can't tell you how many towns we've been asked never to come back to visit because of messes that we've gotten ourselves in oh it goes on and on yes yeah it's worth it's worth the read for those uh for those stories gil do you want to ask bird about the legends of the superheroes or the or the famous the infamous roast oh my god or the solomon grundy scene where they were, where they, uh, wow. Yeah. That was the legends of the superheroes. And then there was the,

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

Solomon Grundy is, uh, getting into a fight with you and, and Batman. And I, you're waiting for something to actually happen and Batman and Robin just kind of casually walk away. Yeah, yeah, that was not one of our biggies.

But it's fun to see you up there with Charlie Callis and Gorshin and Howard Morris and all these comedy icons. Oh, it was fun to do that. You know, another movie we did together was our CBS Sunday Night Movie of the Week. Oh, the Back to the Batcave. Yeah, you know, the misadventures of Adam and Bert that were based upon our books. You know what I mean? And that was fun, too.

A lot of people love that yeah because i remember in the uh roast one they invent this character ghetto man do you remember ghetto man yeah i i i try to forget those memories tell us about the uh tell us about the dogs tell us about your charity great well you know great day my wife and i thank you my my wife and i for the last 22 years have rescued more than 15,500 dogs every one of them would have been put to death oh good for you been there good for you and how we got started was because we when we moved to where we live, we had heard that Great Danes were the rescue. The lady who had been doing it had passed on and that all these beautiful, gentle giants were being put to sleep in animal shelters. And my wife and I, I mean, you got to understand, I the character I played on Batman.

You know, I like to say I was the Cape Crusader, and now I'm the Canine Crusader. It's saving lives. That's nice. It's really not all that different, except one is entertainingly done, and the other one is the real thing. So long story short, I said to my wife, Tracy, I said, look, we can't let these dogs die. Why don't we just for a couple of weeks, right? Just

a couple of weeks, we'll find somebody to take over this rescue. Let's save them. Well, by the end of the first month, not only had we not found anybody, but we had over a hundred at our house, including 62 puppies under seven weeks of age. And what has happened through the years, he's under seven weeks of age. And what has happened through the years, while still looking for somebody to take him over, we now have 45 breeds instead of one breed, all right, from tiny two-pound dogs all the way up to 300-pound giants. And what we found out was because of dealing with giant breeds that only live six to eight years or seven to nine years, depending on the breed, when we would lose a dog, we would literally cry. I mean that sincerely. And both of us said, we're going to find a way. We're going to do something to help these

magnificent, loving creatures live longer because people love their dogs. And you know, you got to admit, dog is man's best friend, whether you had the best day at work or the worst, that dog loves you unconditionally. So what we first discovered was by the way we feed and care for them, we added three years on average to a dog's life. That's actually pretty dramatic when you have a Great Dane that's only living seven to nine years. Now they're living 10 to 12. But then we said, we can't really go any further if we don't change the food. And when we went to make the food, we had no intention of selling it. This was just taking care of our own dogs. And we couldn't stand to see them dying so young. So we hired four of the top nutritionists we could find. We said,

we don't care what it costs. I mean, thank goodness we're able to afford whatever we want to do in life. And I said, make this great food for the dogs. Well, when they made the food, I thought, well, you know, if they do a great job, we can pull out another year, maybe a year and a half. We had no idea what we were going to find out. And I'll tell you what we found out that is so upsetting and it has changed our lives forever. And here's what we found out that all the dog food companies that make dog food, they're

for profit and there's nothing wrong with that. But they all know something the average person doesn't know, which is the more fat content you put in dog food, the hungrier it makes dogs. The hungrier the dogs are, the more likely people are to feed them more and have to go buy more dog food. And the coating on most dog foods is like lard. You know, the white stuff you see on a steak that you would never eat, okay, the next day. And I say to people all the time, would you ever consider pouring bacon grease down your garbage disposal? Of course not. It would clog it. It

would ruin it. I said, well, you go feel your dog food. And when you feel that greasy feel on the outside and you realize that every single kibble is encapsulated in grease, what do you think is happening to your dog's intestines you're killing them every time you're feeding them so you manufacture a healthy dog food and and uh yeah we don't add any fat okay and because ours is low fat at nine percent instead of 12 to 22 percent dogs like our food without us having to spray all that gook on the outside of it. If you felt our dog food, it's bone dry. It's not greasy. But here's how it works that's the most exciting thing.

When dogs eat Gentle Giants, which is the name of our dog food, okay, this dryness, when it goes into their intestines, actually absorbs the grease that's been accumulating from eating other dog foods. It absorbs it. And when your dog goes to the bathroom, it takes it out of the dog's body. In four to five weeks, everybody tells me, I don't recognize my dog. My dog is more alert than I've ever seen. My dog feels better. My dog's coat is so dramatic. I can't believe it. My dog at 12 years old that didn't play anymore now is running around like a puppy. Thank you for giving me my puppy back.

Tell us where people can get it and how they can support the charity. Thank you. By the way, we take nothing from our dog rescue. We take no salary from our dog food. This is all about loving life. People can order it. It's called Gentle Giants online at Walmart.com, Amazon.com, Chewy.com. And what's great in today's world, they send it to you without any shipping charge. So it's just like having it in your store.

Well, you and Tracy are doing wonderful work, Bert. You deserve congratulations. Well, I tell people. And a lot of credit. Thank you. And these dogs sound like they have a healthier diet than Gilbert does. Well, there's no telling what Gilbert eats. I won't go there. Do people support the charity as well, directly? Absolutely. And we're the only charity that the people who operate the charity have no salaries oh tell us no offices where they can go gentle giants rescue.com okay you know it's our charity we love dogs and you know something on the back of every bag of our dog food is our phone number and people call every day from all over the United

States they get free help where in today's world do you help people for free questions about care questions about feeding questions medical questions you know behavior questions we're helping them just because we love these animals and we want the people to have them many years longer for you well as a fellow animal lover you have my admiration Bert that's very very noble work I I do appreciate although I do tell people that I've gone to the dogs literally because I have more than 50 in my house people can't believe that they say oh you mean five I said oh no no I don't mean five I mean 50 okay and where where do they sleep well wherever they want they can go on our website and watch 27 we fill the

room with 27 in our bedroom on the bed all around the bed you know and and and people say oh what did you do get all the dogs and put them in one room I said oh no no you don't understand they're in all the rooms, everywhere you go. And we just love these animals, and we've lived with them. They're not outside in a yard. They're in our house with us, and the big ones and the little ones, everybody lives communally together. Good for you guys.

Good for you. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast after this. Well, will you have anything else for this, man? Yeah, I have one. You are like a young guy when you first started playing Robin, of course. And you were the biggest, one of the biggest stars in the world from that show. And I always wonder, like, when the show went off, what did you have to deal with? You know something? Unlike a lot of other actors that are, you know, just down in the

dumps for losing a show, you have to understand, I never looked at it like that. I looked at it like I had a lot of fun, and now I'm going to go do something else and have a lot of fun. When I was a young actor going to acting class, studying professionally, as well as at UCLA, I'll never forget after doing a scene, we were all leaving, going out and the instructor had said, wait a minute, Bert, I got to tell you something. And I said, what's that? He says, you know, you're different than every other

actor in this class. And I thought, oh, geez, what's wrong with me? And I said, is that bad? He says, no, it's good. He says, every other actor here wants to be an actor bad. And I know you do as well. But you're different. You have this attitude that if it doesn't work, so be it. And you'll find something else and you'll be happy. But every one of these others, I'm afraid if it doesn't work for them, they're going to be destroyed and end up going back to wherever they came from before they came to Hollywood. And, you know, maybe it's because Batman was the first thing I ever tried out for,

that I wasn't burnt out, I didn't have a bad attitude. I just went in and had the best time. And that's, that's the way I've lived my life. Good for you. Tell us about quickly, let's talk about the return of the Cape Crusaders. And I want to know how quickly it took you guys to get back into character after all these years, about three seconds? Yeah. For me? Let me explain something to you. It never really leaves you, okay? And my character was really me, okay? Now, Adam was a different.

And actually, Adam is really Adam. Batman is. That is Batman. He is. He is stoic, okay? All right? He is what he is, and so am I. And in the case of my recording at warner brothers

for the first of these two movies now second one's coming out oh yeah tell us about the one that's coming out i will but i want to first tell you that in the middle of the recording i had 177 pages of dialogue it's a lot of dialogue you know no matter how good you do it oh that was fantastic burke give us another take oh that was more even better give us another take but halfway through the vice president of animation at warner brothers came out from the group he says everybody in this room is roaring and laughing but most important he says we're all stunned and i thought oh my god did i do something wrong and I said what are you stunned about he said Bert you sound exactly exactly like you sounded 50 years ago it's almost scary all of

us here we're stunned and you know when you think about it here's you got Warner Brothers top people these guys do every show there's such pros and for me to see them all laughing when I'm doing my stuff, they knew the script. They knew what I was going to say. Why are they laughing and having so much fun? Because you know something? It reached them. It really reached them.

Yeah. It was fun to watch. It took me back. And now we have the new one coming out next year. You asked about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we have a fantastic villain. There's going to be a lot of villains even in the new one coming out next year. You asked about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we have a fantastic villain. There's going to be a lot of villains even in the second one.

But the main villain is Two-Face and played by none other than William Shatner. How cool is that? Now, let me ask you this. The two most iconic television shows in history, Star Trek and Batman, with the actors working together. Is that unbelievable is that based on a story yes on warner based on a story by my old friend harlan ellison yeah oh oh it's it's but let me tell you something what even with this movie we just did it has turned batman upside down on its head in many different ways the reviews have been so great

that it said this is the best Batman movie, including the major tentpole features. This is the best Batman movie of the entire year, and maybe one of the best movies ever made. So if you watch it, you'll get a kick out of it, and it's got so many references and double meanings and double intangibles. Oh my, the guys that wrote it are geniuses. I mean, I'm so proud of it. Our old podcast guest, Stephen Webber, is playing Alfred. Oh, wow.

Yeah. And I love the fact that it's Adam West and William Shatner, two actors totally in love with themselves. Oh, yes. Two famous upstagers. Yes. Well, let me tell you something. I've enjoyed when I've spoken to Bill Shatner and I see him out on the same events that I go to.

Always been very nice to me and a very funny sense of humor. That's one thing that I see as a greatly common thread between Adam and Bill Shatner. They both have this very satirical sense of humor, and they see things in the funniest ways. And just in talking with Shatner, I mean, you know, I just had, he did a television show where they came out to his house and they filmed it for HGTV, you know, where they fixed up his house or something. And and and I honestly, I just ask him about it. I thought, you know, you know, I said, hey, you know, hey, Bill, how did you like doing that HGTV special, you know, HGTV special? And he said, you know something, don't you?

You're not telling me what you know. You know something and you you're going to trick me into know you know something and you you're gonna trick me into talking about it aren't you I said no no honestly I just wanted to know how you enjoyed doing it you know and then he proceeded to tell me more than I ever wanted to hear about all the things that went wrong and this and this and that and he is just a delightful fantastic human being and I can see where he and Adam, they are competitive. There's no question about it. And they each have their own shtick, both of which are immensely successful. You're going to have fun in the booth with those two. Oh, exactly. No,

I have fun with them on the road. They're crazy guys in the nicest of ways. And I'll tell you something. This is even going to be a bigger movie than the one that just came out, the one that comes out next year. And the one that just came out is about as fantastic as I could have ever hoped for. Yeah, if you're a fan of the original series,

I strongly recommend that our listeners check it out. It's rewarding for somebody who loved the original show. That's for sure. Return of the Caped Crusaders. Yes. And the book? And the book by Burt Ward is

Boy Wonder My Life in Tights. Filled with stories that can't be told on this podcast. Exactly. All you have to do is read the chapter headings to get a feel for what the book is about.

It's a fun read. Oh, Bert, this was a thrill for us. Oh, thank you for coming on the podcast. Well, you two are delightful and highly intelligent and innately funny. I mean, you kind of remind me of Adam and I. You know, he's like Mutt and Jeff. Wow. That is quite a compliment.

Or Abbott and Costello. Or Laurel and Hardy. Listen, come on with us another time and we'll cover more ground. We didn't ask you about Otto Preminger and so much else. Oh, so many good things. I will tell you one thing about my book. Yeah. I didn't put everything in it because people said it might be too wild and crazy.

So I left a few things out. So do you have another one in you? Well, I might. I might, but I got to make sure I get approval from my wife because I rated my wife in my book. Okay. And everybody asked me about that. But let me tell you something.

She's about as hot as they come. So she got top stars, you know, in every category. Believe you me. Tell us again the website for the dog rescue. GentleGiantsRescue.com. And we also have a great facebook page called gentle giants dog food and products but it also shows some of our things that we're doing with the dogs and it shows a lot of the publicity and and hopefully after this comes out we could get a

little piece of the audio from your show absolutely and put it on because we want to promote you guys you guys are really terrific. And if you ever come to Gotham City, California or Norco, you got to look me up and I'll bring you in amongst 50 dogs. And I'll tell you, you'll get more loving than you ever thought you got. I would love to see Gilbert in a room with 50 great Danes. Tara? Oh, wow. Bert, we're going to take you up on that. Thank you. All right. Tara? Wow.

Bert, we're going to take you up on that. Thank you. All right. Thanks, buddy. Thank you, Bert Ward, ladies. This has been Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast with my co-host, Frank Santopadre.

To the Batcave! Yeah! That was Robin himself. Burt Ward. Burt, it's our last show of the year. We couldn't have asked for a better one. Well, thank you. I couldn't have asked for two better hosts and interviewers than you guys.

In fact, I am so thrilled I'm going to go jump in my Batmobile and take it for a spin around the block. Wear an extra pair of tights. Yes, I will. It's particularly chilly out there. And can I have some of those pills? Because my penis is way too big. Oh.

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