Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - GGACP Classic: Ed Begley Jr.

Episode Date: May 15, 2025

GGACP celebrates Bike to Work Week and National Bike Month by revisiting this memorable interview with veteran actor and environmentalist ED BEGLEY JR. In this episode, Ed talks about the glory days of the Troubadour, the timelessness of “The In-Laws,” the absurdity of Hollywood urban legends and the career of his Oscar-winning dad, Ed Begley. Also, Forrest Tucker takes a nip, Steve Allen checks into St. Eligius, Harry Belafonte shuts down Rodney Dangerfield and Ed hits the rink with Charlie’s Angels. PLUS: Wheeler & Woolsey! “Amazon Women on the Moon”! Mr. Warmth lowers the boom! Ed remembers his friend Peter Falk! And the unsolved death of John “Stumpy” Pepys!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new Mitsubishi Outlander brings out another side of you. Your regular side listens to classical music. Your adventurous side rocks out with the dynamic sound Yamaha. Regular U owns a library card. Adventurous U owns the road with super all-wheel control. Regular side, alone time. Adventurous side journeys together with third-row seating. The new Outlander. Bring out your adventurous side.

Mitsubishi Motors. Drive your ambition. FanDuel Casino's exclusive live dealer studio has your chance at the number one feeling. Winning. Which beats even the 27th best feeling saying I do. Who wants this last parachute? I do. Enjoy the number one feeling. Winning in an exciting live dealer studio. Exclusively on FanDuel Casino.

Where winning is undefeated. 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. Gambling problem? Call 1-866-531-2600. Or visit connectsontario.ca. Please play responsibly. TV comics, movie stars, hit singles and some toys. 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, I'm Gilbert Gottfried and this is Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast with my co-host Frank Santopadre and we're once again recording at Nutmeg with our engineer Frank Berderosa. Our guest this week is an author, director, producer, activist, environmentalist, and one of the most visible and versatile actors of his generation. You've seen him in dozens of popular movies including The In-Laws, Cat People, Eating Raul, This Is Spinal Tap, Transylvania 6 5000, The Accidental Tourist, She-Devil, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, Pineapple Express, and the recent Ghostbusters, just to name

a few. You also know his work from popular television shows such as Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Columbo, Mesh, The Larry Sanders Show, The Simpsons, Six Feet Under, The West Wing, Arrested Development, Better Call Saul, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. your enthusiasm for six memorable seasons he played dr. Victor Ehrlich on the acclaimed medical series Saint Elsewhere, honoring six Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe nomination in the process. In his lengthy and successful career, he shared the big and small screen with Alan Arkin, Peter Fulk, Richard Pryor, Meryl Streep,

Kirk Douglas, Jack Nicholson, and Jane Fonda, as well as former podcast guest Eliana Douglas, Michael McKinn, Henry Winkler, Ron Liebman, and even me, Gilbert Gottfried. It's our pleasure to welcome to the show a man who's done just about everything a person can do in show business. My old co-star from that cinematic classic Back by Midnight. from that cinematic classic back by midnight and

A man who was once pulled out of a bar by a notorious party animal John Baluchi the talented and Ubiquitous ubiquitous I know that would talented and you think you is ubiquitous Wow Do I sound important from that? That's really I'm even impressed myself

You were very kind to cut out all the the fat to cut out all this stuff that wasn't quite as exemplary But it sounds like I've had a hell of a career for what you just said I'm impressed quite a resume well by the resume adding fat to it of course we we were both in I think Rodney Dangerfield's last film that's correct back by midnight Randy Quaid was Randy in it Randy Quaid was in it, yes. Yes, yes. Have you seen him lately? I haven't seen him in a while. The last I heard of Randy Quaid, he was hiding out in Canada.

With Evie, his wife Evie, yes. And he said that there was this group of celebrity wackers after him. And I'd like to get in touch with those celebrity wackers, because they sound like a good time. I've got a list too. And so he was hiding out in Canada, and he held a press conference to announce that he's hiding out in camp.

Which kind of counteracts. Yeah, it kind of defeats the purpose. What the hell was back by midnight? It keeps coming up on this show, Ed. And I looked it up today. It was getting out of prison like on a hall pass kind of thing or something, or sneaking out of prison. I can't remember remember the details I don't remember my part even I remember the day I shot in a boardroom somewhere you played a character named Robert Wade and Gilbert played a security guard right do you remember the

plot other than getting out of jail no I've never seen it. And I didn't read the script. You know what? I don't think I did either. I think I just read my part. I don't do that often, but I think I did it for this one. I read my part and went, okay, when is it? Thursday? Fine.

And someone told me, because it was, you know, Rodney toward the end and he didn't have the energy he used to. They said for the most part, he was like a big part in the movie. He's allegedly starring in right. Like the other people were taking up the slack and he just popped in and out at times. He called me after that and he asked, he wanted a favor. Hey, I got to talk to you. I got to talk to you.

Oh my God. Your dad, Odds Against Tomorrow. What a movie. Odds Against Tomorrow. Robert Ryan. Oh, Harry Belafonte. I got to play that part. Your dad played. He was great in the part, but I want to play it. We're going to do a remake. So I said, that's a great idea. I encourage you to do it, Rodney. You need to get a hold of Harry Belafonte. See who has her. I said, well, I know who has the rights It's Harry Belafonte. It was a Harbel production. So contact Harry. You got to get a hold of him for me So I call up Harry Belafonte to see if he would release the rights to Rodney You can imagine his response He's a very nice man though, Harry Belafonte.

He was very nice to me. As he was on the set, I visit on the set. Very nice man. He was very kind and nice, but it was a no. I'm trying to wrap my mind around Rodney remaking Outs Against Tomorrow. Which is a great noir movie, by the way. Yes, it is. Robert Wise.

Robert Wise. And so you visited him on the set of the original. Well, it was only the original. Yeah, I visited him there in Hudson, New York, where they filmed it. Had a great time, met Robert Ryan, Harry Belafonte, and my dad. To be on the set with him was always a treat.

Whenever he brought me, I was very excited to be there. And this was a great state in some wonderful little hotel that had a bunch of art on the walls about Rip Van Winkle. You know, it was one of those kind of Hudson places, Hudson River places. It was very exciting for a kid. Then we went to the premiere there too. A car picked us up in Merrick, Long Island

and drove us all the way to Hudson, New York. A long trip, you can imagine. And we went to the premiere. And very exciting for a young boy if I think it was 10 or 11 Jesus and and now Robert Ryan he would always play like mean characters yes and and quite often you know bigoted racist and anti-semitic yeah characters But he wasn't like that. He was not, to my knowledge.

He was a very nice guy. My dad loved to torture him. He called him up one time that I remember. I was in the room. He called him up and did some crazy voice. Hello, is this Mr. Robert Ryan? Yes, this is he. My dad had his number obviously.

This is the mayor of Hudson, New York Phil Cutworth And I remember meeting you there in Hudson when we did rounds against tomorrow and I'm in the neighborhood I'd like to come by and see you and say hello Well, I don't know that now is a good well. I'm right there. I'm actually next door. I'm gonna. I'm gonna come on say hi And poor Bob Ryan is dying and trying to you know convince them the supposed mayor of Hudson, New York not to come by. My dad starts laughing his ass off and then Bob, Ryan, you son of a bitch. You cocksucker. You fucking asshole.

He's in another good one with your dad, Undangerous Ground. Oh, that's right. I forgot about Undangerous Ground. Yeah. Another good one. That's a good movie too. They teamed up. Your dad's in so many of those good noirs. He's in Dark City, Sorry Wrong Number.

Oh yeah, Sorry Wrong Number, another good one. Good in all of them. Sitting Pretty, Boomerang, Boomerang's another good movie. Boomerang, right, Kazan. Yeah. And what I always- Wolf Angry Men. Yeah, what I always remember-

We're talking about that. Is your father standing up going, well you can't believe them. You know the way those people are, they're all liars. You know what those people are like? Come on, you know the boy did it. Why's everybody looking at me like that? What are you looking at?

And it finally came down to the last two big of standing were him and Lee Cobb, I think. Oh yeah. And the bitter end. Yeah, it's great because E.G. Marshall shuts him down. He says, we've heard what you had to say, now sit down and don't open your mouth again. Oh that's right, that's a because E.G. Marshall shuts him down. He says, we've heard what you had to say. Now sit down and don't open your mouth again. Oh, that's great.

That's a great moment. He shows so much range because he goes from being rageful to just being defeated. Yeah. And meek. And it's, it's a wonderful piece. And it's, it is. And it's what's so amazing about it is he's, he's acting like racist like he's like a villainous character at that point and then when he's defeated you feel bad for him

exactly yeah it's a wonderful turn wonderful job by Sidney Lumet great script great everything about it a remarkable movie really we love that one you know I got a kick at doing the research on you and you're talking about your dad. Your dad won of course won the Oscar for Sweet Bird of Youth. By the way, the him winning, the footage of him winning of Rita Moreno giving him the award is still on YouTube. I finally found it. I hadn't seen it my whole life because I was in military school and they wouldn't let me stay up to see it. So I had never seen it until

like five years ago, three years ago, I can't remember. Somebody said, you know, there's a clip on YouTube. They sent me a link and I saw it. I just loved it. It was so great. He thanked his agent. He does, he thanks Richard Brooks and his agent,

but he really goes out of his way to thank his agent. But I was telling Gilbert, he used, where did he carry his Oscar? Cause this is fun. He carried it around with him in the car. He had it in the trunk for a while, then he had it under the driver's seat in this little velvet. It comes with like, they give you a little velvet sleeve for it with a little tie at the bottom. Wonderful. And he carried around and he was very generous with tourists and people. You're Ed Begley, I've seen you. I saw you in 12 Angry Men. I saw you in Sweet Bird of Youth. Oh my God, can we get a picture? Yeah. You want a picture with an Oscar? Oh my god are you serious? Ed Begley's gonna take a picture with us in the Oscar. He'd pull the Oscar out of the car and

he'd hold it with him and they'd touch the Oscar and hold it with him and I went this bastard. When am I gonna hold the Oscar? I'm his own son. I never, you know, I kind of grabbed it just to feel it myself but he never mentioned, Ed you want to hold the Oscar? And he's giving these people, he doesn't even know their names from Oshkosh, he's letting them hold the Oscar. And we're flying back to New York from LAX, and he goes, okay, I got to go get some seats for us, I'll get you on a dial seat, right, okay.

Here, hold this. And he gives me the Oscar, I was so petrified that he finally handed it to me. Oh, oh Christ, oh shit, oh shit! I dropped the Oscar and broke it. I broke daddy's Oscar. Is there any symbolism there? Wow. Wow.

What happens in a case like that? Does the Academy repair it for him? What happens immediately is my dad comes back, okay, I got you an aisle seat, like, what the hell have you done, boys? What have you done? You broke Oscar! Jesus Christ, what the fuck is the matter with you? I thought he was literally gonna kill me. There's more than one time in my life I thought he's actually, he was taking me for a drive once. He was just upset about something.

He was furious with me about something. Then as it turns out, he had gotten over that. He said, come on, let's go for a drive. And I thought he was actually gonna kill me. He drove me out to this remote thing. I thought, should I look in the back? Is there a bag of lye and a shovel? What's gonna happen next? And he would just, no, what in the back? Is there a bag of lye and a shovel? What's going to happen next?

And he would just, no, what's the matter? You look funny, okay? I love you, boy. What? Okay. I think one of my favorite stories is- The voice. You're talking about how you used to love to go to the set, and this is fun.

Gilbert will get such a kick out of this that he would take you to visit his famous friends, and you were so young that sometimes you didn't quite appreciate it quite appreciate it or you weren't you didn't even know who they were. Oh yes. I had no idea who they were. We would go whenever we drove up to San Francisco we'd stop in Montecito there Santa Barbara area we'd stay at a hotel the Miramar I think was a hotel it might still be there very nice hotel we'd stay there and then we'd continue on and the next day we'd get to San Francisco but he'd also visit this elderly couple that I just I was always bored to tears and he'd stop and see

this couple they would talk about things I didn't understand and you know then we get in the car and we'd go and there's like please wake me up when you're done and then I realized years later it was Paul Muni Paul and Bella unbelievable two people named Paul and Bella said, who are those people we'd stop? That was Paul Muni, Eddie. One of the legendary great actors. One of the best actors ever. Fugitive Scarface, fugitive from a chain gang. Fugitive from a chain gang.

They both won Tony's for Inherit the Wind on Broadway, Paul and my dad both. Then Paul left the play and my dad went over the weekend, went up doing for the next after the Sunday matinee, then he wound up doing the Tuesday he did Paul's party, switched parts, did the other part which was kind of a hat trick. I couldn't believe he did that. Didn't he also take you to a comedy club that's no longer in Hollywood? Couple of times? It was called the Hollywood Comedy Club. It was on Highland.

The building is still there, I believe. It's the American Legion Hall there on Hollywood, on Highland, right near the Hollywood Bowl. And you would go in there and there'd be sometimes Milton would be there and this one and that. Some people, you know, that I knew and

some people that I just can't believe I got to meet. Some of the Keystone cops were still alive, one or more of them were still alive. Unbelievable. Wow. Wheeler and Woolsey, one of them was still alive. Burt Wheeler. Yeah. Burt Wheeler I think was still alive. Yeah, incredible. Incredible comics from vaudeville days. Great comics, silent film, classic comics, the Keystone cops and I got to meet them so I'm a very lucky young man. Now, were Wheeler and Woolsey the ones where one of them drew the glasses on his face?

I believe so. Yeah. That sounds right. Woolsey died in the 40s. Very good. That's, wow. Yeah. That's very good.

This is the kind of stuff we talk about on this show, Ed. Good. It's good stuff. These are our obsessions. And you said you were in military school and you actually liked it. I loved it. I don't know if the intention was to punish me. It was definitely to park me somewhere because he got married. He was married to this woman. He met briefly and he needed to park his two kids somewhere. So my daughter, my sister went,

his daughter, my sister went to one school out in Long Island and I went to school up in Niagara Falls and there was a Catholic military boarding school, the Triple Crown of Repression. So I thought this is going to be terrible. Triple Crown of Repression. But it was fantastic. It was, these nuns, different than the nuns kindergarten through seventh grade out in Long Island. They were like batting kids around every day, just blood, literally blood, bloody lip, bloody knuckles, bloody nose, regularly. And I went there and these nuns, the Franciscan nuns didn't hit anybody.

And they had a science class unheard of at the other school. They didn't want to teach science because it didn't really fit with the Catholic doctrine. Science didn't fit into well. But this other thing, this great school called Stella Niagara, they had a science class. The nuns were very nice. And I, you're a kid. You're, I was 12 years old marching around in a uniform with a wooden gun. I was in heaven. Wow. I loved it. If it was punishment, it didn't work. I really liked it.

And we also acted, if you could call it acting, in a serial commercial together. Yes, we did. Quaker Natural. Something, something. Oh, no, there was something not. Yeah, yeah, I think it was a Quaker natural commercial. I think. I think that's correct. This get on the air.

This commercial. Yeah. I must find it. Yeah. And I'm pretty sure it did. Now, and I remember to show your professionalism. You didn't eat lunch on the set. So you'd be able to actually eat the cereal.

Wow, what a memory have I think that's correct. That's ringing a distant bell. Yes. And now I ate lunch, of course, because it was free. And I'm as far from professional as you could be. And and what I went in for instead was they have these spit bucket because if you've got to eat food you're usually eating the food like a Thousand times a day right there hot lights

So I'd eat it smile and, and they yelled, cut, and I'd spit into the bucket. That's what most people, most sane people, I can't believe I kept eating it. And you're such a pro. Well, I've been there with models that don't want to have too much food anyway, and they would have a three finger salad after having too much of this stuff, and they'd be like, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh.

Oh, yeah. Bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh. OK, I'm fine. Let's do another... Hahahaha! So you guys worked together twice? Twice! Back by midnight and a... And a serial.

I think we did one or more of those George Slaughter American Comedy Awards. You were at that more than once. Yes, yes. Oh, yes. I was at a few of those. Yeah, one of those was him. Do you remember the time?

Were you there? Oh, sorry. Go ahead. No, go ahead, Ed. Do you remember the time when Professor Irwin Corey got up at the American Comedy Awards, George Slaughter's thing, and he got up and he did that unbelievable bit that I want to get a clip of and just look, just to study for the genius of it. He came up on stage and ladies and gentlemen,

welcome please, Professor Erwin Corey. And he comes out, nods to the audience and he has like these five by seven index cards and he stands there. He shuffles the cards around. He moves, he shuffles them again. He does this for three of the most brilliant minutes and it's a podcast so I can't do any justice to what he did.

But he then goes on for three minutes at which point after a minute or less you're pounding the table. Whatever he's doing, you're laughing so hard he's saying nothing. He's clearing his throat at the three minute mark, three minutes of that, of saying nothing other than clearing his throat and other sounds. He then goes, furthermore... He was brilliant. Just brilliant. Just brilliant. George might have a copy of that if you check with him. We had George here. I will check with him. Wow. I would love to see that. Somebody send me a link about that if you check with him. We had George here. I will check with him. Yeah. Wow. I would love to see that. Yeah. Somebody sent me a link about that. He saves everything. I'm sure he has. And you worked on one of the great comedy films,

The In-laws. Oh, thank you. I agree. That was a classic. Wonderful. Thank you. And tell us about Alan Arkin and Peter Falk. Let me say first of all, Paul Reiser is a friend and he had an occasion to do the Malibu Film Society thing where normally you come and you do a movie that you're in. He certainly could have done the movie he was in with Peter Falk. He did a movie with him that was that was good and he was very good and Peter was as always great. He chose to show instead a movie he was not in, Paul Reiser did, called The In-Laws. And I hadn't seen it since maybe I saw it a second time in the 80s. It came out in 79. We did it in 78. Came out in 79. And I loved it then, of course, in 79. I saw it again maybe in the 80s loved it still and this was a

Year ago or so and it held up so well I couldn't believe it and as to these two guys to Peter and Alan I still talked to Alan from time to time I talked to Peter throughout his life He was born in September 16th as I am as I was and a few years apart of course But we would have our birthday together regularly with his wife, Sharon, and my wife, and Ingrid, and then later my second wife, Rochelle, we would get together and have times with him.

I just feel blessed to have known him and to still know Alan Arkin, too. The nicest, funniest guys, and you look at that movie, The In-Laws, and just take one scene, that scene scene we're in that diner that New York diner. Wonderful. It's one of the best scenes. Why? They play it like it's like it's Strenberg. They do not play it like it's a comedy. They play it like the two wonderful actors that they are and it's hysterically brilliant because it's real. You know it's just there's a reality to that movie with all the absurdity that's going on they keep it 100% you know Udhagan real or whatever way you want to look at it just it's shocking how well

it held up you committed a federal crime the Treasury Department is on the case so what happens if you get caught we We won't get caught. Not if he's... Stop the week! If you get caught, is the agency going to come forward and say it's okay? He works for us? No. No. No. I'm out in the cold on this one shell. If I get caught, they shred my records, they say they never heard of me, and it's 20 years in the slammer.

What about me? I was the one running through the streets with that guy damn thing. I was the one in the gutter. And you were tremendous, shell you, that's the way to play comedy, like it's Chekhov, like it's Strindberg. I think so when you look at the people that you really, and again, there's stuff that happens that's absurd. Harold Lloyd is hanging from the hands of a clock, but he makes it real and Buster Keaton made it real, and these great actors, they make it real, and there's a time to spike out from that carpet of reality you lay down, like even in the in-laws.

Serpentine, Shelley, serpentine. You know, and they're running in zigzag angles, and that's wonderful. But that level of reality, you take the great comic actors also, like Dabney Coleman, always plays it totally, 100% real, and it's brilliantly funny. Buffalo Bill was brilliant, because he never played it for laughs.

And they didn't write it for laughs they wrote it for reality and it's one of the great in my opinion comic half hours in history Buffalo Bill he's a genius and I think George Burns said yes Burns and Allen he liked hiring actors because the actors believe it yes Yes. That's interesting. That's always compelling to watch and it's really a great rule to abide by. A funny thing happened though when we saw The In-Laws, because it's a re-release now on DVD, I only had it on VHS when I saw it again in the 80s. I had a tape copy and it looked, you know, rather poor quality, of course,

but it looked like it did the original film version. But then I saw the DVD re-release and the movie was very good, but my hair was blonde in the movie, which it shouldn't have been. My hair was actually red in the movie, but somebody turned to dial somewhere when they did the re-, they went, this is not Ed Begley's hair color You gave us a little glimpse of of your fall compression Ed so we have to put you on the spot because it's just that good Could you could you? Could I ask you something?

That guy the guy that was in the movie with me that played Barry Lutz. What the fuck is his name? The big albino guy What the fuck is his name? No, the big albino guy. What the fuck is his name? Ed Begley. That's right. Ed Begley Jr. What a pain in the ass he was. What a five star pain in the fucking ass. Perfect. Thank you. Now, Peter Fulk, and it's sadly the time period we're living in, like the public got to witness him after he was suffering Alzheimer's. Like it made it all over the internet. I didn't see any of that. I didn't know until this moment that that footage was out there and that's unfortunate.

But where was he in this footage? Where did they capture him? He was out in the street, you know, I think in LA. Oh yes, he was looking for his car. I've heard about this now that you mention it. Yeah. And he looked really like out of shape and his clothes were rumpled up and he's yelling at people to get away from him.

And it was, you know, it's a horrible thing because that's the time period we live in. I know. It's a shame that that's out there, but it is. But fortunately, it's so greatly outweighed by the incredible things of crisis tomatoes and of laws and All those call the great the great race the Blake Edwards picture. He's just everything wonderful did this guy Robin in the seven hoods. Yeah, you know even that little pit and it's a mad mad mad mad world He matches he makes it his own. He makes it his own minutes of screen time if he jumps off the screen own. He makes it his own. It's a few minutes of screen time and he jumps off the screen.

Dabney and I were very good friends with Peter and we went to visit him after we had heard of his condition. But he went in and he didn't seem to know us at all. And after Shera was there for a while, his wife Shera after a few minutes, it seemed to me that he didn't know it was her. And we were watching, we were just talking to him and just trying to engage with him and what have you. And then we kind of gave up after a while. We talked amongst ourselves. And then we talked to Shera and talked to his caregiver, who was very nice. And then he looked over and went, oh yeah, oh yes, yes, yes. He would point to Dabney and me and he knew us. And it was such a gift.

That's great. It felt so good that we had come. That's great. It felt so good that we had come. That's great. Okay, just when the show was starting to get good, we're gonna throw a monkey wrench into the works with this commercial word. The Hot Honey McRispy is so back at McDonald's. With juicy 100% Canadian-raised seasoned chicken, shredded lettuce, crispy jalapenos,

and that completely craveable hot honey sauce, it's a sweet heat repeat you don't want to miss. Get your Hot Honey McRispy today. Available for a limited time only at McDonald's. Spring is here, and you can now get almost anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by almost? You can't get a well-groomed lawn delivered, but you can get chicken parmesan delivered.

Sunshine? No. Some wine? Yes. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol in select markets. See app for details.

What's better than a well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue? A well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue that was carefully selected by an Instacart shopper and delivered to your door. A well marbled rib eye you ordered without even leaving the kiddie pool. Whatever groceries your summer calls for, Instacart has you covered. Download the Instacart app and enjoy zero dollar delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over deliver.

I don't know his fucking name. Gilbert Godfried? Is that it? Godfried? That's it. Okay, am I supposed to do this now? If you wouldn't mind. Hello. My name is M. Emmett Walsh, one T in the Emmett. And I want to thank you for watching and listening to Gilbert Godfrey's, whatever it is he does, and they pay him money for it. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Gilbert and Frank, what's your game now? Can anybody play?

He now back to the show. Was that set crazy, Ed, with Dick Libertini doing the Signor Wences thing and Arkin and Falk? I mean, was it? Another great actor, Richard Libertini. Love him. We're sorry we didn't get him on this show, yeah. I know, everything that he did, you know,

the one with Peter Falk and with Lily, that wonderful, what was the one where? Oh, all of me. They trade spirits or something. Yeah, the Carl Reiner movie, all of me. Yeah, very fun, very good, all of me, very, very good. He was so wonderful in that, everything that Dick did was wonderful,

and he brought so much to this character, and he played it big but real again you know it was very large what Dick did in that movie but I found it to be totally believable because he came from that place of he was an actor he was a comic actor but he just always impressed me we were very good friends Dick and I and I'm just proud to know him. Was Arkin improvising a lot? I've heard you say it was it was a little bit like jazz, like what he would do. There was a wonderful script there, this brilliant script by Andrew Bergman of course, and you know they did the original takes with that but I seem to remember there were some times when they would certainly in

front of the firing squad there was some scripted stuff that was great, but Alan and Peter added some stuff when they were there in front of the firing squads and Alan is you know weeping and kind of the blindfold on. It's just so goddamn funny. He's talking about how few women he's had in his life. Exactly. He's regretting that he didn't have that he didn't get laid more. And I heard that it was Arkin who came up with the idea. Just that he was watching Peter Falk on a talk show and he called up his agent or manager and said I want to work with Peter Falk on a movie and he goes well what kind of movie would you like

it to be and I go well it's me and Peter Falk and Falk annoys me. And that's what they had to write a script on. It was a great idea. Alan's a very smart man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What a two great guys to work with and so early in your career. I'm so lucky. I'm so blessed to have worked with them and to still be in touch with Alan. He just sent me an email the other day and we talk on the phone occasionally.

I'm very good friends with his brilliant son Adam Arkin. Oh yes. Son Adam is a great great actor. A fan of his too. And now a great director too. And tell Arkin to do this podcast right away. Oh we're dying to get him. Yeah he's the best of the best.

Your pal William Daniels has also been elusive. Two people we want to get on this show. Well I'll help. I'll talk to both of them. I just saw Bill the other day. I saw him not 48 hours ago. Bill and Bonnie are great friends. We love, Gilbert and I, we talk about the graduate, the parallax view, even Captain Nice. Captain Nice, he was great.

Buck Henry. Look, it's the man who flies around like an eagle. Look, it's the man who hates all that's illegal. Who is this man with arms built just like hammers? It's just a nut who flies around in pajamas. That's no nut, son. That's Captain Ice. How the hell did you just do that, Gilbert? I'm now more impressed than ever with your career. That's really very impressive young man.

He sang it for Buck Henry who was also impressed. I just saw Buck the other night too. Buck's a dear friend. Another genius. So great. What a comic. Ed, do you have any memories of being in Buddy Buddy with Billy Wilder's last movie? I do.

You know, I can't believe that I got to work with a great Billy Wilder. You know, I just played a cop. I had like a line or two. Very simple scene. We shot it in Riverside, California. No, it was Santa Ana now that I think about it. It doesn't matter. Please tell me the difference between Riverside and Santa Ana.

I know that I can remember neither city. Are you sure we're there? But the Inland Empire. But it was so much fun to be on that set. I didn't have any scenes with Walter Mathau or Jack Lemmon, but I'd met them both and just loved them both. I.L. Diamond, I.A.L. Diamond was on the set as well. Izzy Diamond.

As director's chair. And advising Billy about this line or that, you know, kind of working things out. And it was just, you know, pinch me kind of moment. It was fairly early in my career. It was 1980, I believe. And that we shot it. I can't remember when it came out. Maybe 81. 81, yeah.

And yeah, and working on a set with Billy Wilder and to be there in the same movie. And Paul Apprentice, who I see all the time, was in it as well. Yes. We had Paul was in it. We had Richard Benjamin here. Yeah, Richard's a dear friend of mine.

I see Paul and Richard often. And Dana Elcar was in it, I think. Oh, sure, Dana Elcar. You know him, Gilbert. He was on MacGyver. Oh sure Dana Elcar you know him Gilbert from I think was the the on MacGyver. Oh okay. Dana Elcar he did a million things. Million things. Yeah. And this surprised me you used to be in a comedy team with Michael Richards. This is correct we went to college together and everybody at Valley College in the San Fernando Valley was trying to do and failing to do a Michael Richards impression. He was just so incredibly funny and somehow he took to me and we had a comedy act.

We went to the troubadour and did a Monday night hoot night thing and then Doug Weston wanted to manage us and we started to have some momentum. We went to the Ice House and played the Ice House. We went to the Comedy Store the week they opened. It was still Sammy Shore that was running at that point. It was not yet... Mitzy. Mitzy's property, well, it was community property, was always our property and his, but he was

running at Sammy was and Rudy DeLuca was there, very funny Rudy DeLuca was there too was part of that and we went on stage me and Michael in Greek male dancers outfits with little like balls hanging from these skirts like Where we got those cut we got the guy do remember now where we got the costumes from the costume department of out of the college We borrowed them went on stage with roller skates and these Greek dancers outfits. We had no routine at this point, we'd just get up there and wing it. I mean the balls, but Michael was so funny.

There was a huge problem with the act, huge problem. The problem was Michael was so goddamn funny, I'd regularly have to turn up stage and kind of rock and not let the audience see, come back, what do you mean by that, sir? I challenge you, I shall not abide by this. You know, and come back and try to participate in the scene, whatever Michael was coming up with.

But he was so brilliant back then. It was every bit as brilliant as Kramer and you know, Marber Ludmaner and all the other many things that he'd done Fridays. He was brilliant back in the 60s, 1968 when I met him and is still brilliant to this day. What did you guys call yourselves? Vladimir and Estragon. Vladimir and Estragon.

So of course, yeah, of course. And you said your father really didn't, uh, push you in to show business or open any doors for you. And it was, you're correct. That's right, Gilbert. And it's one of the best gifts he gave me to not help me. Cause I had the entirely wrong attitude growing up. I literally didn't understand why he wouldn't just get me an episode at the minimum or even better yet a series.

You know, get me a Gunsmoke. Yeah. Get me a Perry Mason, a regular job. Lassie, I would be very good as Lassie. Johnny Provost, wonderful kid, but I think it should be me. And I had no training. Imagine the son of a plumber going, that looks easy what you do.

You kind of fit the pipes together, right? I'm ready. I'll ride in the truck today and do, you know, you guys stay in the truck. I'll just do it. I'll do some plumbing. Had no idea. And I went out on interviews starting at age 10,

got nothing ever, because I didn't know what I was doing. Then finally took some classes, what a concept, studied a bit and got a job like right away on a my three sons and but I still was resentful because I had that wake me when I'm famous attitude that some people have you know I didn't want to put in the work and and I so I wasn't getting enough work as an actor so I became a camera assistant because I just wanted to make money obviously and I wanted to work in the business so I was an assistant for a while and then Jim Brooks from room 222 at that point

he was a head writer and Gene Reynolds gave me a job on room 222 I did one then I did another and another and that built a little momentum and I started to work as an actor back around 1970 and sadly didn't really start to work until my dad passed away he didn't get to see me work much as an actor. That's too bad. I've heard you say, it's just kind of sweet Ed, I've heard you say he helped you in ways that you didn't realize. Exactly he would have me run lines with him which was a favor to him I was helping him too I'm running lines but during the course of that it you know this one look at the stage direction Eddie this guy

He's very still and he says you know Scared you know just you just it'll help me if you played a little more skit You know and he was giving me an acting lesson without calling it that and it was so wonderful That he did that. I'm just I love my old man, and I miss him still I Love going through these old credits. Adam 12, room 222, The Immortal with Christopher George. Oh yes. One of those fugitive knockoffs.

Wow. That's right. The FBI, Maude, Nanny and the Professor, Manix, Ironside. Charlie's Angels. On roller skates, I skated my way through that one. Ha ha ha! Okay, explain that plot to me. Roller disco was popular. This is 1979, okay? It's a big time for roller disco.

So I'm at a roller disco place, I was at Flippers, or I was at that place we used to skate with Helena. This woman Helena had a club called Helena's in the 80s, and actress Helena Caliñotes. And she and I actually together had this Monday night skating thing at the Sherman Square Roller Rink. And I think they might have even come there, these producers of Charlie's Angels, to find people who skated. They heard there was actors there.

And I skated pretty good at that point. I still skate a little bit, but I sk okay they went and they had seen me in a few things I said you want to would you be interested in doing a Charlie's Angels I went absolutely and skated on Charlie's Angels it was if you've seen the episode you got to see a few scenes of it just look at the clips at some point it's really beyond ridiculous you're all one of the flimsiest plots you've got to see a few scenes of it, just look at the clips at some point. It's really beyond ridiculous. One of the flimsiest plots you've ever seen. You've got to write an episode about roller skating,

so we'll have a girl get kidnapped at the roller rink. They're in a competition. She and her boyfriend, played by me, and she'll be kidnapped and what's that about? Just, I mean, people were clearly very high writing these scripts. There's so much fun stuff here, Ed here at this particular point of your career. You remember being an evil Roy Slade? Dividely.

Gary Marshall, Jerry Belson script? Correct. It was such a funny script by Gary and Jerry. Such funny people. Oh, everyone's in it. Everybody's in it. Mickey Rooney. My scenes were with Mickey Rooney. Scenes. I had one scene, it was with Mickey Rooney. But the script was hysterical. I thought, this is going to be a winner. This is the funniest thing I've ever read in my life.

It was a pilot only and never saw the light of day again. They just didn't get it. They went, what? What is this? It's too hip for the room. Jerry Bells is one of the funniest guys I've ever met. When the wonderful writer and his dear friend Harvey Miller died. Harvey Miller passed away years and years ago now, 20 years ago or more. And Jerry was still very much alive himself then.

And he kicked in with I think Jim Brooks, let's say, and Gary Marshall, the three of them picked up the tab for the memorial, you know, for the food and what have you in the hall or whatever they did. There was some food and what have you. And they all, they split it three ways and on the memo line of Jerry's check he wrote business death I love Jerry Belson's movie the end the Burt Reynolds picture. Oh right Yeah, everything Jerry did was great like Gary another funny guy too

Very very funny and Jerry Paris who directed evil Royce late. That's right. Yeah, everything Jerry did was great like Gary another funny guy too Very very funny and Jerry Paris who directed evil Royce late. That's right. That's right. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, and you knew Don Rickles I Was so proud to know Don Rickles. I I Gotta think how I met him now. I met him at some function It doesn't matter what now that I think about it But he had worked with my dad and he was so kind about my dad and I love hearing about my dad as I still do. And he just decided he liked me because he just tore me apart right away. I can't remember what he said.

You know, you're probably not going to win an Oscar, Ed. There's no probably not. There's no probably about it, you know. You're not going to the podium, okay? You understand? You don't have it in you. You're not going to the podium, okay? Do you understand? You don't have it in you. You're lucky your dad fed you, for Christ's sake. Look at yourself.

He just came out and did something. And it's like, what? I mean, it's a great moment when Rickles comes after you. I mean, there's no higher praise. What an honor. He cares enough to attack you. So funny. So great.

I saw him as recently as, when did he pass? Is it a year ago now? Maybe a little less. A little less. I saw him maybe a year and a half ago. There's a thing for a wonderful artist, Ed Ruscha, and he was friendly with Ed as I am. And he went there and we talked at length on that night.

I loved him. Barbara is a wonderful lady. His dear widow Barbara is fantastic. We send her a lot of love. There's these these credits from this period and I've heard you be interviewed about some of these things. I mean, Cockfighter. Is that where you befriended Harry Dean? That was a gay bondage movie. Oh no, that's another movie. I'm sorry. That was with Harry Dean Stan. Actually, we now that I think about it, that was the first time Harry and I worked together. We didn't work together much.

Oh, you were friends before? I really think about it. Huh? You were friends before that movie. We were friends from meeting at the Troubadour and then Tana's. I see. You know, you would go back and forth between the Troubadour and Tana's in the early seventies to see where the attractive young ladies were

and where the fun was. And there was a lot of fun there. The Eagles were hanging out there at the Troubadour, and not just hanging out, being on stage there, and great people. Irving Azoff, the manager, was there too. And David Geffen was there. And Joni Mitchell would be there at the Troubadour.

And Bette Midler played there. And Elton John played there. And they'd go back and forth. The people would go to Taunus at the Troubadour and Bette Midler played there and Elton John played there and they'd go back and forth the people go to Taunus and the Troubadour and I'd seen Harry Dean in different you know wonderful movies that he did starting with Paul Newman what's the movie Cool Hand Luke and Cisco Pike I think had come out already by then and so I befriended Harry and he started inviting me by his place after last call

to watch something called the Z Channel. There was a, you'd have this big box, a big plastic tuner box. It was like the, before there was Showtime and HBO and all that, there was something called the Z Channel. It was an early form of cable in LA. And so Harry had that. We watched these movies on the Z Channel

after we had gotten drunk at Tana's. And I used to get really drunk in those days. So I'd pass out on his couch, wake up the next morning and walk back to my place. And, and we finally got a movie together called cockfighters. So we go to, to Georgia, we were in Macon, Georgia, I think. And right away, I walked into the lobby of the hotel and Harry was there. I said, thank God there's another homosexual on this movie. I feel comfortable now. Harry laughed his ass off. And from that moment on, we were really great friends. But we're there like, we're there like four or five days. And I

finally said to Harry, I said, Harry, we got to call up Tana's, because it's been like the Troubadour, nobody would miss you. But at Tana's, we were there every single night at the bar. There's a guy, Guido, from Italy, and this Italian, Mater Di Guido. I said, we better call Guido or Michael at the bar, the Yugoslav bartender. We better call them and tell them where we are.

They may be worried about us, gone for five days. It's unheard of for us not to be there for five days. So I call up and Guido answers, good evening, Thomas. I said, Guido, it's Ed Begley. I'm here with Harry Dean. We're out of town. Oh, thank God. We're going to call the police.

We were going to call the police tonight. I swear to God, we're going to call the police. So why were you going to call the police? We thought you fall asleep watching the Z Channel with the gas on by accident. We thought you were dead. I mean, they literally thought we had died. There was no other possible explanation for not being there for five days. The two of us, not just one or the other, occasionally he'd get a job or I'd get a job, but the two of us gone together. They thought we had died together on the couch.

As long as we're talking about the partying days and we put it in the intro, who were you trying to out drink when Belushi yanked you out of the bar two times I tried to out drink a real champion one time I tried to try to out drink the brilliant musician and songwriter Harry nelson oh boy and so well either but then I tried it out drink Jack Nicholson's kind of father figure Shorty George Smith, this wonderful guy that was married to what Jack thought was his aunt, it was in fact his, right, no what in fact was his aunt, he thought it was his sister Lorraine. Shorty was married to Lorraine and so Shorty came to work, he had a part in the movie and he would drink, he was, he worked on

the railroad, he was a brakeman or something on the railroad and he would still, you know, stay well-oiled under any conditions and certainly waiting around to act in a bar in Durango, Mexico, he just, he would drink a lot of vodka. So I challenged him to a drinking contest. And at some point I, you know, woke up, you know, with Shorty George gone and, you know, pool of, you know, bodily fluids, you know, on the seat next to me. I was just like a wreck. It didn't work well.

And then finally, Judy Belushi and John grabbed me by the collar one day when I was trying to out drink shorty again and said, you've got to see some of the town. You're going to kill yourself. I was too far gone for John Belushi is the point. Wow. Too much parting for John. So I know I was in quite a state. Oh my God. John Belushi thought you were like something to worry about.

Something to worry about. I'm concerned about Ed. He's too wild. Wow. One night we drove this car into a ditch. We were driving to or from Jack's house in some rented car, a car we had borrowed from the Teamsters. And I was driving, I'm pretty sure. And we went down, it was a muddy road, what have you, went off the road and into a ditch

and couldn't get it out. Teamsters had to tow us out. We got a lot of shit for that, rightly so. Those were the days. You spent some time with Neilson? Harry Neilson? He was a very good friend. Harry was a great friend of mine and I was proud to know him. And a brilliant, brilliant singer-songwriter. One time in New York, though, we had been drinking all day and then he said, do you want to get together for dinner? I said, sure. He said, meet me back here in an hour. I'm gonna go freshen up. We're gonna go have dinner with some friends that live in Manhattan.

I said, okay. Beat him back there. We get in a cab. We go to the Dakota. We start to go up the elevator. I started to think and I went, no, it can't be. Going up to this floor of the Dakota, open the door. Hello, how are you? Here's Yoko. I'm John. What's your name, lad? Hi, it's Ed Begley. Oh my God, Yoko. It's the bloke from Eddie Hartman, Eddie Hartman. Look at it. And they were all like, John Lennon is asking me like fan questions about Louise Lasser and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, I'm trying to keep my face from cracking so wow that's the kind of pal that Harry Nilsson was he introduced me

to Ringo and to John and so many people he was a great friend and what a talent what more people should know about his music and about his wonderful singing voice whenever the Beatles were asked, who's your favorite artist, they all said Harry Nielsen. Harry Nielsen. Yeah. Yeah. And they all loved him personally because he was one of those guys, some people when they get drunk, they get nasty, they get whatever they get. The drunker he got, the nicer he got. He was the sweetest guy that ever lived. And I remember Harry Nielsen had that cartoon, The Point. The Point, yeah.

That I think both Ringo did a narration on one of them, and then I think Dustin Hoffman. That sounds right. Both of those sound right, actually. Both of those sound right actually. Tell us this Ed, about one of your heroes played your father on St. Elsewhere. Oh you talk about Steve Allen? Yeah, tell us about Steve. And by the way, looking at those St. Elsewhere episodes,

somebody loved the old Steve Allen show, because Louis Nye turns up and Tom Poston... Everybody. And just. Who else did they have? They had nearly everybody. I think. Bill Dana turns up. They had Tom Poston, they had Bill Dana. Yeah. I think they had every single person. I don't think they had Don Knotts. Don Knotts, they

kept trying to get and he was busy with other shows. Right. And he couldn't do it. But every single other person and I, like the writers and producers like Mark Taker, Bruce Paltrow,row all of them John Mace's Tom Fontana We're all huge Steve Allen fans. I had this treasure My dad had gotten for me had a signed picture of Steve Allen and one day they announced to me that my father is gonna be In an episode they're gonna have a character of my father actually be in the s's episode It was gonna be Steve Allen and Jane Meadows. We're gonna be my parents. I couldn't believe it. It was a huge moment.

They were so nice to me. I became friends with them. I remained friends with them. We'd talk on the phone a lot and what a treat to know them. Whoever was, I don't know if it was Fontana or who was it, but you know, Shelley Berman turns up, Chuck McCann turns up, Dick Shawn. They, these guys were fans of guys were fans of older comedians. They were, big time. They had very good taste. And one thing that I always think about,

because you were talking about the drinking going on, and that's that Hollywood years ago, and show business in general, it was like, there was no such a thing as alcoholism everybody was just drunk seem like it would be a regular occurrence where you would say the prop guy you know listen in this scene coming up we're at the bar make sure you put some real whiskey and I need to just calm down okay and the director not the director the producer nobody or even forget about just alcohol.

Alcohol was ubiquitous. People would regularly drink in a scene or drink had nothing, there wasn't a bar scene at all. They'd just be nipping, you know, before the take and people would regularly do Coke on the set. I mean, it wasn't like, you know, the way it started to be in the 80s. If you're wired, you're fired, you know,

just say no to drugs. That started in the 80s. Before that, it was you know just say no to drugs that started in the 80s before that it was like if you don't do blow with the director what's the matter are you a narc we got a narc here on the set what's wrong with you you don't want to do blow with the director people would worry about you if you wouldn't do drugs with somebody who never offered drugs on a movie set Gilbert all your? No and it's like... Interesting. I heard like I mean I was on Hollywood Squares for a while but I remember they said with the original Hollywood Squares like so many of those game shows they would have

someone with a cart wheeling around like alcoholic beverages. Yes. They wanted you relaxed. Just relax. Let me get somebody, get somebody to get you a drink. That's the way it was back in the old days too, with, you know, like Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, you know, you need some pep pills. Get them some pep pills. They got a scene to do. You need to relax. Go get some sleep.

Here's some sleeping pills. They were, they both got addicted to medications because they would the studio would give them medications to get through another day They do whatever it took to get the shot to get the day to make their schedule and they were little kids They were kids at the time that they were giving speed to and oh, yeah, oh, yeah. It was very common. I Remember I'm working with Forrest Tucker on this pilot we did a pilot together. Forrest Tucker had a cane. I gotta have my cane in the scene but there's not we don't really need the character. I need to have my cane. Okay so characters got a cane like a walking stick not really a cane a walking stick and he had it with him at all time. Then I realized why it had a cap on the top and then the walking

stick, he had these vials so he could poke a drink just before the take or the middle of the take. If he was off camera for a second, if he walked camera off camera for a moment, he would take a poke from the, uh, you know, from this cane that this walking stick that he had, it was a walking stick with a hollow middle wow and it had like a generous amount like two flasks worth of liquor in the walking stick and he was actually great the whole time he was drinking never flubbed a line nothing ever went wrong and then for the last half of the shooting he had to go do this he claimed this was a reason i

don't know if it was true he said i've got to do an Iditarod race in Alaska you're kidding you're gonna do an idea yeah and you can't be drunk for that you got to be sober to do something like that with the dogs and the ice and the snow so he got sober for the last few days of the shoot and he was a wreck as you can imagine Wow cuz he had been drunk for the past 30 years. And now he's got three days of not drinking. Poor Forrest was not in good shape. Old Hollywood. Gilbert, you're very well behaved.

It brings up Forrest Tucker and a walking stick. And you didn't say anything. Okay, Forrest Tucker is also famous among the classic, well, Milton Burrell's The King. Oh I know where you're headed with this. Okay go ahead. I think it has to do with being well endowed, correct? Yes. Well Tucker was legendary.

He was apparently. Was apparently they said one time on the golf course he He got down on his knees and hit the golf ball with the stick The gimme right I hadn't heard that I Hadn't heard that I Kind of hope that's true Richard kind told us that story. We're gonna we going to assume it's true just because we want to. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast after this. Your business doesn't move in a straight line.

Some days bring growth, others bring challenges. But what if you or a partner needs to step away? When the unexpected happens, count on Canada Life's flexible life and health insurance to help your business keep working, even when you can't. Don't let life's challenges stand in the way of your success. Protect what you've built today. Visit CanadaLife.com slash business protection to learn more. Canada Life. Insurance. business protection to learn more. Canada Life, insurance, investments, advice.

Samsung Vision AI televisions transform screens into intelligent solutions from the shows that make us laugh to those that make us cry. Now your TV knows you more than ever, whether it's reviving old memories with AI upscaling or seamless hands-free control with universal gestures. This isn't just television, it's a whole new vision because it isn't just about what's on, it's about who's watching.

Learn more about Samsung Vision AI televisions at Samsung.com. What about this Ed? What about, this is an odd, forgive me for bringing this up, early in your career in 1978, you have any recollections of making a movie called Record City? Vividly the cast because the great cast tell me the cat. I remember it pretty well myself Well, you tell me Frank for starters. You got Frank Gorshin playing a rabbi you could end there Oh my exactly Jack Jack Carter kinky Friedman Harold Cicada who was odd job Oh, yes in Goldfinger Gallagher one ofada who was odd job. Oh yes. In Goldfinger, Gallagher, one of

your favorites, Sorelle Book. Oh yes. Ruth Buzzi, Sorelle Book, Dean Martin's Uncle Leonard Bar, and last but not least our friend Larry Storch. Oh Larry Storch, what a cast. We shot it in Eagle Rock, California and I found a bar nearby since I was still drinking at that time. So I was able to make it through the day there because of a bar nearby at Eagle Rock. But we shot it at an abandoned record store, maybe an out of, I can't remember what happened.

It was some storefront there on Colorado Boulevard. We shot there for a while and it was shot on video tape and not like three inch, you know, good quality video tape like they shot at that time. The old days they would shoot, you know, the Hollywood squares or what have you on big three inch tape. It was shot on like three quarter inch tape. So the quality of it was not good. This is a motion picture they're going to release in the theaters. They actually premiered it in some theaters and people were like, asking for the money back going what I can watch TV at home. Then TV was it wasn't HD. Obviously it had 525 lines. You know, it just looked like some

bad old footage and it was footage was shot like a few months before and it looked like hell. So it didn't it came and went very quick. But what a cast any memory of any of those characters of Jack Carter or Gorshin or Leonard Barr? I remember being on the set with them. I remember, you know, being well-oiled and trying to get through my lines and not get fired. I remember one day I was... I'd forgotten that it was videotape and that there was a booth and people were watching in the booth. I was in front of the cameras, they're getting the final setup and tweaking a light or the focus or something. I started going, talking some fake Swedish voice, I went, and the record city piece of fuming dog shit.

And then finally I feel behind me some hands, move a little bit to the left, Ed, and somebody was angrily moving me around. It was Jim Aubrey, the guy who was producing and directing it who had was watching in the booth I forgot that there was a booth because it was electronic I'm clear to make some Disparaging remarks in front of the crew because everybody else you know felt that way he was a guy that was an executive at CBS and he Decided he was gonna make a movie and this was a less than stellar

production to say the least and everybody thought it was going to be a complete joke and I guess it was but I didn't know that he was watching from a remote that's how well oiled I was I forgot what format that's hilarious what the Jim Aubrey I think was the legendary guy who was who was in bed with a mob. You know that story? I didn't know that part. I know he was a guy that when it was changing from the golden age of television to something else, he was a guy that approved all those shows like Green Acres and Beverly Hillbillies.

He was the head of TV. The Bailey's of Balboa. Bailey's of Balboa with Paul Ford. That's right. Oh my God, who remembers that show? I'm more than a little impressed Frank. Well he was, it's the kind of stuff we talk about on this show so don't be. But at Cliff Nesterhoff came and told us a story about Jim Aubrey which I will go back and double-check and I'll send you

to yet it's interesting but I think it's a mob story. You look back on your career, I mean obviously the people, the giants you've worked with, we read on the list, but you got to work with these fun oddballs, these oddball characters. This is a question that we actually got from one of our listeners, Big Daddy. He says, this is one of the things I wanted to ask Ed. He worked on those Dexter Riley Disney movies with Kurt Russell, but he got to work with iconic character actors like Joe Flynn, Pat Harrington, Jim Backus, and Fritz Feld. Wow. All true.

What great actors. And I was like, you guys are a huge fan of each and every one of them, so to work with them and get to know Joe Flynn. Joe Flynn was fantastic, of course. McHale's Navy and a million other things. He was just great to be on the set with him was extraordinary. I just loved him. And I still see Kurt on occasion.

I know Kurt and Goldie a bit, so I get to see them. You were in all of those. You were in the computer, wore tennis shoes and. Yep. Nanny and the oh wait, no, is called Charlie and the Angel. Charlie and the Angel with Fred McMurray. And. Oh wait, no, it's called Charlie and the Angel. Charlie and the Angel with Fred McMurray.

And you, here's another story that's popped up maybe once or twice on the podcast. You worked with Cesar Romero. Oh, he's in the computer wore tennis shoes. He's in the computer wore tennis shoes. That's correct. Right. Now, do you know anything about Cesar Romero? He was a gay gentleman, I believe. Yes. As was Joe Flynn.

And according to legend, Caesar Romero, I'm going to study Ed's face as you tell us, would gather up a bunch of boy toys and they'd surround him and he... Some people claim he'd be standing ankle-deep in warm water when he did this. I don't know. But he would be, at least from the waist down, naked. He'd pull down his pants and underwear. And the boys in the crowd would throw orange wedges at his ass.

And this is what a Caesar Romero was turned on by. It sounds too far out. Sounds like way too much work for Caesar. Or was my dad called him Butch Romero? Butch! You're working with Butch Romero, huh? Yep. Butch? Who's it? Caesar Romero? No, yeah, Butch Romero. You're working with him. Good luck. I'll have you know it. One time, I lived near Vineland Inventor at that time and there was a place there called the Valley House. It was a gay bar. They also had laundry machines, and I lived nearby and I didn't

have laundry machines, so I would regularly do my laundry there. One day I went, I'm going to go into a gay bar, I've never been in a gay bar, so I'm going to go in and get a beer, and I got a beer, and everybody was very nice to me, it wasn't, nobody bothered me, what have you, I was about 21 years old at that time, finished up my laundry and home. The next day I went to work and Joe Flynn was in the scene. So Ed, hey, how you doing, Joe? I saw you yesterday at the Valley House. What were you doing there? I'm doing it, yeah, sure, you're doing laundry, yeah.

They got some Speed Queen machines there and I understand now what you were doing. You're doing a spin cycle, huh? No, I was actually doing laundry. Sure you were. With a beer in your hand. No, no, I was waiting for the spin cycle to finish and I got a beer. I was trying to talk my way through with, explain my whereabouts to Joe. It was very funny. Now there's a pro, a man who can take your Cesar Romero story pivot on a dime and turn it into a just as good Joe Flynn story. Oh, but I don't need to not finish up with Cesar Romero. It just sounds too far out It's like the thing with the the gerbils and Richard Gere. It's doesn't sound right

Right, it sounds made up. Well, we've had we've had several people you're among them who work with Cesar Romero We had Frankie Avalon here here We had Adam West Julie Newmar None of them none of them would confirm the Cesar Romero story or had even heard of it the only argument I've gotten on on the Cesar Romero from other people was That some people believe it wasn't orange wedges, it was tangerine wedges. That's as far afield as they'll go. Just keep in mind, you know, there's crazy things that happen that might be true, but also there are people out there and that's what I think happened with the Richard Gere

fabrication. I believe it to be untrue myself. I have no verification that it's true or untrue, but I believe it to be untrue. It's like taggers. You have to tag your specific thing. Whoever started the, I believe, fictional account about Richard Gere, they know that they did, and they went, this is a story that's worldwide. I did that. I started that. It's like a graffiti artist. Yeah. And I think that might be true with the oranges and C's from Merit, too, but I have no

way to confirm or deny it. Which you may be the one that started it. I swear to everyone out there it is true. Okay. I can't deny it so. And you know the, I mean with all the rumors and the Richard Gere one is like that everybody has a best friend or a cousin who works in the emergency ward. Oh yeah but none of them have names nobody's like my name is such-and-such and I can now come nobody even with a muffled you know distorted camera and backlit I worked I was actually in the hospital there I was the one that had a helper. There's nobody that's come forth on some video anywhere in the world that actually was there. But they all know someone. They know somebody. Exactly. The ambulance driver, the doctor, the cop and but but I knew the fruit vendor

Get out of here! The greengrocer? Yes! Who lived across the street from Cesar O'Meara From Butch I knew the president of Tropicana He'll go on like this for hours, Ed, if you don't stop him. It might have been sun kissed though. Here's one of your...

The sun don't kiss. Here's one of your favorite, one of our favorite Ed Begley credits that Gilbert and I were talking about before you came over. Son of the Invisible Man from Amazon Women on the Moon. Oh, thank you. Which you and Carl Gottlieb directing you. So funny. before you came over, Son of the Invisible Man from Amazon, Women on the Moon. Oh, thank you. Which you and Carl Gottlieb directing you, so funny. I just watched it again last night.

You're very kind, but that is a funny, funny segment and it holds up just me taking my clothes off always provokes hilarity, so. Well, it's also so faithful looking to James Whale's Invisible Man. They went to great lengths. That's the part that really got me in that it looks like one of those old movies. It looks exactly like it.

Yeah, they did a good job. Carl Gottlieb and who's the producer? Robert? Oh, Robert Weiss. Very, very good. Robert G. Weiss. Yeah. Very good. Robert Wiese. Yeah. And you're the invisible man. Such a funny premise. And you're going, here, let me take my pants off. Yeah. And like... You ever see a shirt, make a phone call, and I think

I'm invisible because the chemicals that I think made me invisible have just made me crazy. And so I think I'm invisible. I'm 100% visible. I just take off my clothing and walk around like a total maniac. And you're there bare-ass going, look, my shirt is moving by itself. Gary Goodrow's in there too somewhere. Speaking of the committee. Gary Goodrow, what a talent he is.

Yep, yep, yep, yep. Is he still with us? Is Gary still with us? He passed. I think he did. He passed a while ago. I loved Gary. Yeah, very funny, the committee, very funny.

Carl Gottlieb, speaking of Carl Gottlieb, who we also have to get on this show, was Carl the one who wrote Christmas Carol 2 that you're in with Roddy McDowell and Paul Benedict and James Whitmore you have a memory of this he directed that I think he wrote it as well yes that was George Burns comedy yeah it was Steve Martin's comedy hour right and he and Steve might have written it together a Carl made a might have written it with the staff or alone there you go remember that important

detail but Carl directed it for sure, and I believe he wrote it as well. What a talent he is. Huge talent. Iron Balls McGinty from The Jerks. Oh yes. That's right. Carl Gottlieb.

And he wrote the screenplay for Jaws. Wrote Jaws. Wrote the Jaws script. But he wrote the screenplay, and it was a fine screenplay. Yeah. And he pops up in Jaws. Yes he does. Yeah.

A very, very funny guy. Could we ask you, quickly, Ed, just... You have your choice here. Huh, because there's so much. I have so many cards that we're not even going to get to this stuff. Do you want to talk about your relationship with Chris Guest and those guys? And by the way, the scene in Mighty Wind where you're doing the... Where you're the Swedish American who suddenly breaks into Yiddish.

Thank you so much. That's some of my favorites. Truly wonderful. I love those movies myself just as a viewer. I love being in them. I'm just lucky to know Chris Gast. I met his sister Alyssa years ago in the early 70s and through Alyssa I met Chris and we became good friends. And then he gave me an opportunity to direct something in his, he had to deal with Showtime or somebody. And I never was able to, it was my first time directing

and I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I never finished it, but it didn't stop him from being supportive of me. So when he started to do these improv movies, I was not in, well, I was in Spinal Tap, that one, the very small part playing the drummer, he thought of me for that, it was his idea and Rob's idea that I'd be in that, I was happy to be in that. Tell Ed you've never seen Spinal Tap, go ahead, tell him I dare you.

I never saw Spinal Tap. Which he told McKean when we had him here. It's a pretty funny movie, it still holds up very well. It's a you know another case of playing it seriously And that's why all the jokes land they don't play it for laughs They have some absurd things going on, but they play it very very straight, and it works well So after spinal tap he did a couple of movies And I wasn't in any of those but happy he was doing these great movies. And then he did Waiting for Guffman. I just couldn't believe how great that movie was.

Wonderful. And the next movie that he did, he had a meeting with me and he said, I'd love for you to be in and play the hotel manager. So I just was over the moon, happy to be in it. And I wound up being in, jeez, I think every movie that he's done since, I haven't missed one since Destin's show. So I'm a lucky guy to be his friend. Tell, tell us about that scene because I swear that Balaban is cracking up,

that he's, that he's breaking character when you're doing. He was shocked as I kind of was shocked cause I wasn't planning on it. I'm not sure if I did it to get a laugh out of Chris or why I did it. There was no reason I should be talking Yiddish. I'm just, I'm a Swedish American guy and I have some, a scene in which I do a little fake and a little real Swedish. But this is a scene where it's Bob Balaban, as you say, is in the scene. And I'm this guy who's a PBS kind of producer trying to ingratiate myself to this guy. And I figure what might be funny is the way many

Goyesha guys decide to ingratiate themselves through a Jewish gentleman. They start peppering, you know, the conversation with Yiddish. And I just kept throwing it out there one after another, one after step, bang, bang, boom, boom, like a batting cage. And he's running around like a Vildokhaya and the Spilkas that I felt at that time. It's a, it's a mahiya to sit here like that. You feel like Mishpoka. I just kept one after another.

He's Swedish. And, and Bob was not expecting that. So he was just sitting there trying not to crack up or trying not to react in any way. But the look on his face is great. What makes it, what I do is fine. But what Bob Balaban does makes the scene work. It's great.

And you said that other directors would have said, stop. What the hell are you doing? But Guess just knew to let you roll. You know, I just did it as kind of a surprise to me and everybody, to Bob for sure. And then Chris said, that's great. We're going to move in a little tighter. Let's do that again.

So I did it for the rest of the coverage and he, uh, he liked it. I thought for sure he's going to want an alternate version. He'd take off his headset and go, Ed, Ed, you're a Swedish American character. Why, why the hell are you spouting Yiddish? Stop it. Get back to the scene. Roll. Those Christopher Guest movies. It's like they're comedies, but it seems like they're so close to being tragedies. Yes. The characters are helpless. That's one of the keys to them.

I agree. Yeah. He gets great actors Jane Lynch and Parker Posey these and Michael Higgins. Oh all of them Fred Willard Michael McKean Katherine O'Hara on Lake Katherine O'Hara Eugene lovey he and Eugene used to do all the heavy lifting with best in show and with waiting for guffman and those movies and They would write these things together and for your consideration And now is Jim Piddick and Chris but they do all the work and then we all come in me and Jane Lynch and Parker Posey and everybody comes in and we just get to have a party because they've done all the work writing the outline and

Then we just come in and decide we're gonna be you know speaking Yiddish or whatever we think is gonna be funny or Chris will like and But they do all the work. It's really a treat Speaking of this is just one more question too from one of our Listeners and I want to get this in your dad. This is from Don Motley He said Ed your Dutch accent and Shelley Duvall's fairy tale theater where you played Rip Van Winkle's neighbor was excellent How did you learn that? What a kind thing to say Wow. I totally forgot I even did that

I didn't know that many people had seen that I knew a guy that was from Holland so I just kind of tried to do do it the way he spoke and and That's very kind of him. Wow, tell him. Thanks. See people are paying attention To this this is a massive body of work. I'm never gonna get to half these questions on the cards I'm never gonna get to half these questions on the cards I'm never gonna get to meet the Applegates or You know you go you want to layman I work with him still I just work with Michael layman a bunch of blunt talk episodes Work with him many times this show betas great director. Yeah, right or love heathers Yeah, heathers you'll you want to ask anything about transylvania six five thousand since you're a

You're a monster movie guy? Plus John Beiner who was here on our show. I love John. He turns up in there. And your pal Norman Fell. Oh my God. Playing my dad. It's like an Abbot and Costello movie.

It is. Really. You and Goldblum. Well, it's classic Rudy DeLuca stuff. Rudy DeLuca is a very funny guy. And he wrote this wonderfully slapstick movie and he wanted Jeff Goldblum and me to be in it. And so I dove in first, I wasn't being offered the lead in any movies at that point. So I signed up and agreed to do it and signed a contract and I called up Jeff and said, Jeff, you're going to do this? I'm going to do it.

Do you want to do it? Are you going to do it? Yeah, I did it. I just signed the contract. They want you to do it too. Come on in, buddy. So we did it. Then pretty soon Jeffrey Jones is doing it and Carol Kane's doing it and Joe Bologna is doing it and John Bynum is doing it. Michael Richards is in it. Gina Davis. What a cast. I wish you and Goldblum would make more movies together. You guys were a great duo. What a great friend, he's been so good to me. Had me on his TV series when he had that series when he was a reporter.

He regularly thinks of me for things. He's a dear friend. I just got honored by the LA City Council. They had an Ed Begley Junior Day at City Hall in the city of Los Angeles. They declared it Ed Begley junior day at city hall in the city of Los Angeles. They declared it Ed Begley day and he came down there. My dear friend Jeff came down for that. Bobby Kennedy came down. I love those guys. Ed, tell us about your podcast too. That came and went. It was fun to do. Is it done? It's done. We did it for a while and I enjoyed it. It was a

wonderful thing to do with my wife and it was her idea. She wanted to do a podcast to get more of this environmental message and design stuff and health and wellness stuff out there. It was her baby. And I was happy to do it with her, but we did it for about a year. I think it was about a year. And after a year, I just, I just didn't have the time, you know, guys, you guys know how much time it takes to set this up and you know and to do all the work to make it happen a lot of work and the people who helped us with it were

great they were doing all the heavy lifting themselves but I just felt bad because they're you know it was just time-consuming it was good it was eclectic a little bit of everything. Yeah. Here's the last thing I want to do. Gil, is there anything you want to ask Ed before I do these? It was funny because you mentioned him before. Who? And in my documentary, I mentioned him. Fritz Feld.

Fritz Feld. I can't do it. Yes. Can you do it? Yeah, see, I can't either. He would always be like the major D and he'd go, ah, I can't either. He would always be like the maitre d and he'd go, ah, your table is ready. And he'd smack his mouth and make a loud popping sound. A huge perfect popping sound.

Which I'm not capable of. I just made a little bit of sound, but it's hard to do as it turns out. Did he ever play anything other than a maitre d? Did you ever see him in another role? I don't know. was always a bellman maybe a bellman right yeah a hotel manager Yeah, and it was always me all right this way sir any pop his mouth Yeah, this is one last fun thing if you'll indulge us Ed because you are a trivia expert You you were you were a trivial pursuit guy in the day. Do you still play? I used to be good at it. My brains are not functioning the way they used to, but I'll

give it a go. Okay, these are easy. Gilbert can even help you out. These are just three quick ones. Who made the very first screen appearance, small screen or big screen, first James Bond was, um, the first James Bond. Oh, come on. Shaken, not stirred. Nope. This was on television. On television.

Yeah. Okay. I thought Sean Connery was the first, but obviously I'm wrong on TV. I don't know that. It was Barry Nelson. Yes. Barry Nelson. It was Casino Royale.

Correct. Done for television. Oh my God. Casino Royale. And I saw that movie. How could I forget that? That's right. Casino Royale. Correct. Done for television. Oh my God, Casino Royale. And I saw that movie. How could I forget that? That's right. Casino Royale. I forgot that.

Barry Nelson. Okay. Here's another one. This is President's Day or today is at least Lincoln's birthday. Five actors who played Abe Lincoln. Okay. Daniel Day-Lewis. Good.

Raymond Massey. Good. Um, Raymond Massey, Daniel Day-Lewis. Oh man, I'm running out of steam quick. Henry Fonda. Henry Fonda. Henry Fonda, very good. David Selby.

Yes. Walter Huston. Walter Huston. Walter Huston did that, I didn't know that. John Carradine. Yes. Sam Waterston. Sam Waterston, Sam Waterston.

Sam's a wonderful actor. And the man sitting next to me played Abe Lincoln. I didn't know that. What does it play? I played Abe Lincoln twice. The first time on The View, I came out as Abraham Lincoln. That's right. Yeah. And then I did the big movie version as Abraham Lincoln in

Seth MacFarlane's A Million Ways to Die in the West. That question was asked in your honor, Gilbert. Yes, I was Abraham Lincoln in that. I gotta see that. I love Seth MacFarlane. Oh yeah. I love you Gilbert. Oh thank you. Ed this is a lot of fun. You have anything you want to plug? You're gonna do another season of Future Man for Hulu? Maybe we don't know what's gonna happen with any of the characters so I can't talk about it. Okay. I hope we see me back there again and I'm also doing a show called Compliance with Courtney Vance and Mary Louise Parker.

Okay. And I just did some Portlandia that just came out. And I did, yeah, Curb Your Enthusiasm was just on. What else? I've been crazy busy, which I like. I like busy. You were in, speaking Larry David, you were in a rare Larry David authored SNL sketch.

That's right. It was a very funny sketch. It was as funny as any curb or any Seinfeld scene. It was brilliantly funny in the Larry David style, making a big thing out of something very small. Something very small escalates and escalates and becomes huge. And it was very, very funny, uh, uh,

seen with an architect and this, uh, design for a building in Manhattan. It was, it was great. One of the few sketches he got on the air. You guys missed each other because you hosted an 84 and Gilbert was a cast member in 80 or 81. Right. That's right. You didn't miss anything with my season I wish I'd work with you as well

Well Gill well, I'm almost that's all I've got Well unless unless you want to ask about Bob Crane. Oh my god Unless you want to ask about Bob Crane. Oh my god! Oh my god! To think we were going to end the show without asking you, you worked with Bob Crane. And he's in the Bob Crane Paul Schrader movie. Oh yeah, you played the reporter. The reporter in autofocus for Paul Schrader, who's given me more work than any other director. Yeah, you're in Blue collar, cat people. Now, did you know anything about what Crane was doing?

Nothing, we worked with him in, I think it was 72, me and Bruno Kirby and Kurt Russell and a bunch of other people worked with him in 72, had no idea, never heard any rumors, nothing. It was Bob Crane from Hogan's Heroes and how great to work with him. We didn't have many scenes with him, to be honest. We had scenes away from him for the most part,

but he was nice as can be and didn't hear any of that stuff till after he passed. I know his son a little bit and I started to hear some stuff about the fact that he might've been killed and hadn't just Yeah, I mean clearly he was killed. He didn't kill he didn't hit himself over the head, but It was all kinds of theories about who did it and I I didn't know any of that I didn't know any of that dark stuff at all

It's just one of the interesting things about a long career Is that you've been around so long, if you'll allow me to say, that you wind up appearing in a movie about a guy that you worked with 30 years earlier. I know. It's a strange journey. Yeah. To still be doing it after half a century. I can't believe how lucky I am. This is 50 years now I've been working as an actor and I just feel blessed as I did the first job I got. Well we want to thank, that's nice to hear, and we want to thank Mark Malkoff. You did a great show with him and that's where we got the idea to grab you and get you here and we're glad we did.

Thank you. Thank you guys. And the most important moment for me is when you said to me off the air that while working on the movie with Cesar Romero, you walked into his dressing room and there were a bunch of homosexuals throwing orange wedges at Cesar Romero's house. Wait a minute, I didn't say, oh my God. Now what? Or you said it was your husband. I know you're going to take that and run with it. We live in fear of being sued by the Romero estate, Ed.

Well, the Romero estate, the Danny Thomas estate. Forrest Tucker. Ed, this was a real treat for us. Likewise, Frank. Thank you. Likewise, Gilbert. So good to see you both. Thank you so much for having me on. Thanks for doing it. Oh, thank you. Our listeners will love this one.

This has been Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast with my co-host, Frank Santo Padre and the very entertaining and talented and of course most importantly my co-star in Back by Midnight. That's right. One of my finest jobs. Yes! Thank you Ed.

Thank you Ed very much. Thank you, a lot of fun. Likewise. But baby I don't intend to leave empty handed. Give me some money. Give me some money. Hilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast is produced by Dara Gottfried and Frank Santapadre with audio production by Frank Verderosa. Web and social media is handled by Mike Lipatin, Greg Pair, and John Bradley Seals.

Special audio contributions by John Beach. Special thanks to Paul Rayburn, John Murray, John Fotiades, and Nutmeg Creative. Especially Sam Giovancho and Daniel Farrell for their assistance. Give me some money, give me some money. Don't get me wrong Try getting me right Give me some money, your face is okay But your purse is too tight Give me some money, I'm looking for a pound of notes Loose change, bad checks anything