Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - GGACP Classic: Election and Save the Tiger

Episode Date: April 25, 2024

GGACP celebrates the 25th anniversary of Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor's dark comedy "Election" (released April 23, 1999) by revisiting this "Colossal Obsessions" mini-ep from 2015. In this episode: "Lord Love a Duck"! Appreciating Matthew Broderick! The genius of Bruce Jay Friedman! Jerry Stiller and Jack Gilford eat a sandwich! And the not-so-guilty pleasure of “cringe comedies”! PLUS: Gilbert praises "Save the Tiger"! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Here's another Gilbert and Franks. Colossal classic. Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried,

and this is Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal... Nah. No, it isn't. It's not. It's not. One day I'll realize what the title of this show is. Oh, don't go to any special trouble. And boy, oh boy, will that change everything. Hi, I'm Gilbert Gottfried for a second time.

You sure? Yes, and this is Gilbert and Frank's Amazing, colossal obsessions. The Frank I'm talking about is, of course, my co-host, Frank Santopadre. I'm glad you were talking about Frank Gorshin again. And our last thing you wanted to say, you recommended... Well, I was recommending The Heartbreak Kid, but also I gave short shrift to the great Bruce J. Friedman. I just didn't... I wanted to list some of his other credits.

I mean, he wrote screenplays, Splash, the movie Stir Crazy, a great play called Steam Bath, lots of novels. Look up his stuff if you're not already a fan. And also, he knew Groucho. When we had Drew on the show, he was telling us how they used to go to Groucho's house.

And I remember, oh, yeah. Yeah, Drew said that they one time went over there, and Groucho said, come back next week. Mae West is coming over. And Drew, you know, he's a kid. And he goes, and now we've already been to Groucho's. We used to say, ah, do we have to go to Groucho's again? Yeah, that's like, you know, going to George Washington's house and having him say, you know, me and Abraham Lincoln are going to be singing karaoke at our next party. You might have your errors a little separated there.

Yeah, yeah. But, yeah. You know, we talk about Pete Best a lot on the show. We got to get Pete Best on the show. But there was a guy when the Beatles, I think when they were playing in Australia, and Ringo had tonsillitis, he played drums for the Beatles. And that's your new Papillon Susu. Yes, that's my new Papillon Sousou. Yes, that's my new Papillon Sousou.

So really, you want to do a separate podcast called Famous for 12 Minutes. Yes, yes. Of course, we already have had Janet Ann Gallo, the little girl who's bullied by the little boys. And it turns out one of those little boys now is in his 80s. Oh, William Smith. Yes. Still alive.

We got to get William Smith. We have to. And Pete Best. Yes. For sure. Because I don't think Pete Best is all that busy. He might turn us down. Yes.

You want to start us off this week, or you want me to start off? Oh, I think I started off yesterday, the last one. I will go first. I've talked about black comedies on the show. In fact, Heartbreak Kid. Yes, well, I was in House Party 3. Not that kind of black comedy.

Cut that out. I recommended After Hours, Martin Scorsese black comedy that I love. And Dr. Fibes certainly qualifies as a black comedy. And I tried hard to recommend, too, for this show, Lord Love a Duck and The Loved One, which are black comedies that I remembered liking as a kid that just absolutely. There's a lot of those movies. Yeah.

Why is that? You fall in love with a movie when you're 12 or 13, and you just have fond memories of it, and then you see it and you go, what the hell? Somehow stuff gets corrected in your mind. Yes. There's any kind of nostalgias like that. Yeah, I admire both of those movies.

I really admire what the directors George Axelrod and Tony Richardson were going for, but they just don't work. And if people disagree with me, feel free to write or tweet. This is a black comedy that I think works beautifully from 1999. Mantan's Moreland. Yes. It stars Sinbad.

Yes. This is a movie called Election, and I don't know if you've seen it, with Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon. Yes. I picked a movie from the 90s you've seen. Okay. This is interesting. I'm just saying it's interesting because I'm about something I'm saying. No one else says it's interesting when I Okay, Matthew Broderick, and I know this is a very strange, like, bitter comedy. Oh, yeah, very dark. Very disturbing comedy.

Why I like it. Very down. Yes. Yeah, and the funny part about it is I do think Matthew Broderick's a good actor. He too. Yeah, he gets a lot of flack. But I've hated most of the things that Matthew Broderick has done. Well, that's a way to get him to do the show.

Yes. Well, no, we're naming this one. And I do say he's a good actor. Yeah, he's great in this one. And I've met him, and he's a very nice guy. But I hated Ferris Bueller's Dale. Oh, well. I thought that was terrible.

Terrible. You're in the minority there, I think. Yeah, I am. But I hated that movie. And one movie I'm in the majority as far as hating was Godzilla. Yeah, I didn't see that movie. And one movie I'm in the majority of as far as hating was Godzilla. Yeah, I didn't see that one. Yeah. Oh, you owe it to yourself.

I think he was cashing a check there. Oh, yes. If I may say. Yes. He's good in comedies. He's good in a movie called The Freshman with Brando. No, he's a very good actor. Yeah.

And he's terrific in this. But the movie is the real standout performance is Reese Witherspoon as Tracy Flick. Oh, yes. Who is this blindly ambitious high school student. The whole movie's a satire.

It's based on a book, actually, by a guy named Tom Parada. And directed by Alexander Payne, who I talked about before because I recommended Sideways on this show, another movie I love, which is a more romantic film. It's a dark film, but a sweeter film than this one.

I did, as a matter of fact, one time I told Matthew Broderick that I like this film. You did? Yes. How did he respond? No, he was happy about that. He'd tell you to go fuck yourself you didn't like a godzilla

he lives in the hood maybe we should call him yo yo yo for the show he lives in the hood yo yo this this uh i i she gives such a great performance in this Reese Witherspoon. She's my hizzy. The hizzy? Here's a segue. I'm told it's Barack Obama's favorite political film. Oh, gee. Election. It's a satire about high school, about high school cliques, about ambition. As you said, it's nice and nasty. It really does not.

It's one of those comedies that you groan as much as you laugh. Which I love. Just like the Heartbreak Kid. Yeah, because you feel awful. I showed it to my wife. We were on vacation. I said, you'll love this because she loves Reese Witherspoon. And I put it in and she was just horrified at how dark it was and Broderick's

character gets stung on the eyelid by a bee. I won't give away too much of the plot. But it's a black comedy about people making bad choices and the price they pay for it. The actor Chris Klein from American Pie, who kind of disappeared, is great in the film. It's so smart. The novel's great, too, if you can find it by Tom Parada.

And Tracy Flick, Reese Witherspoon, she really should have gotten more credit for the film. But comedies are criminally undervalued by the Academy. She was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and a Golden Globe, but it's a great comedic performance. And a terrific movie, yes, cringeworthy, which is a word I used about Heartbreak Kid. Well worth seeing and the right way to do a black comedy. And the one I just remembered also from the last one.

I'm glad you saw this one, too. Yeah, this is the last one we did where we were recommending something, and I was trying to think of the two words to describe my last film. Mr. Klein. Which was Mr. Klein, a French film. And these are cliche words, but they were a haunting psychological drama. I like it. Yes. Okay, I'm going to like it. Yes. Okay, I'm going to see Mr. Klein.

Now watch. I'll see it now after all these years and go, wow, this really sucks. That's a terrible thing about movies. Right. Yeah. Well, you've recommended certain films with reservations. Oh, yes. But you're not doing that with Mr. Klein. Yes. Okay. Not to be

confused with Bob Hope's Cancel My Reservation. Cancel My Reservation. Cancel My Reservation. They could not allow that title nowadays. Why's that? It's that whole, there would be a Native American. Oh, it's a Native American joke. Yes.

Right. I was going to recommend Cancel My Reservation next week. Oh, it would definitely be worth it. And with Six You Get Egg Roll. Oh, my God. It's going to be the next week. Oh, it would definitely be worth it. And with six, you get Egg Roll. Oh, my God. It's going to be the following week. That weird time period when Bob Hope went from actually being funny and being Crosby stuff and being this wild, eye-rolling comic

to where he became the later TV Bob. There's a lot of those bad ones. Yeah, in movie situations. And he'd always wear a hat, because every man wore a hat in the 60s. And he would talk like that. Yeah. You know, wasn't that wild, crazy? Well, let's blame him for With Six You Get Egg Roll, even though he's not in it.

Oh, yes. It's definitely of that. It probably sounds like he turned that one down brian keith yeah and doris day i think okay my choice now this is a choice i like the film all except for one part of it okay yeah uh which keeps it in my mind from being a four-star picture to a three-star picture. It was also from a novel. Okay. I think the author's name was Steve Shagan. Oh, I know where you're going with this one.

Wait a minute. Is this a Brando picture? Nope. I got the wrong writer. It's got two Jacks in it. Two Jacks. One of them Nicholson? Jack Nicholson and Jack Benny.

No, Jack Palance. I should stop trying to guess and let you just tell me what the hell it is. No, Jack Lemon and Jack Guilford.ford oh this is save the tiger yes i know this movie yeah yeah well he won the oscar for it oh yeah yeah yeah uh lemon won for best actor right and um it's it's uh very much in uh the tradition of like death of a salesman. This is a very depressing film, and it's a typical Gilbert Gottfried pick. It's a downer. Yeah, it's very much like death of a salesman.

Because he is like a salesman, but he works in a factory, like I think a clothes factory. And he realizes, he's now looking back on his life and realize he hasn't accomplished any of the things. He doesn't feel the same things. And it's like getting to the point where he's planning on burning his factory down for the money.

Right. planning on burning his factory down for the money. Right. And interestingly enough, this movie, when it came out, Dark Shadows was still on the air. Wow. And in the movie is Thayer David, who Thayer David was kind of like a more modern-day Sydney Green Street. Okay. Yeah.

I thought you were going for Jonathan Frid. Yes. And the other actress was Lara Parker. Okay. Who we should try to get her on the show. Lara Parker? Yes. She played a beautiful, sexy witch named Angelique. I remember her on Dark Shadows. Sure. Yeah, she played a beautiful, sexy witch named Angelique. I remember her on Dark Shadows, sure.

Yeah. And so they're both in it. I didn't know her name. Right. And I say David is a gangster in it. And Guilford does great work in the movie, as I remember. I haven't seen it since the 70s. Yeah, Jack Guilford.

Blacklisted. Oh, yeah. Jack Guilford. I think we talked about with Josh Mustel when he was here. And I remember growing up when I did, the way we all knew him best. Cracker Jack commercials? Yes, all the Cracker Jack commercials. He was hysterical.

Yep, yep, funny man. And then later on he'd do the Cocoon movies. Oh, yeah. He's in a lot of things. He's in a lot of things, Jack Guilford. Well, funny thing happened on the way to the forum. Yes. Yeah, lots of stuff.

And Jack Guilford, I was once talking to Jerry Stiller, and Jerry Stiller told him when he was a struggling actor, he was working on a Jack Guilford thing, a play or something. And he said Jack Guilford was very nice. He said, oh, I'm a fan. I wanted to ask you some questions, but you're eating now. He was in a luncheonette. And Guilford said, no, no, no. You sit down at the table and you order a sandwich. I like that.

Yeah. And Guilford is the one who said, you know, pre, uh, Stiller and Mira, he said to Jerry Stiller, you know, I could see you, what would be good to match yourself up with like an attractive female. Are you serious? Yes. Wow. And, and you could do an act together. How about that? And, and then a couple of years later, when they were writing High Stiller and Mirror, Jerry Stiller ran into Jack Guilford and he said to him,

he goes, you know, I took your advice and I married, I have a partner, this girl partner, and I'm married to her. And Jack Guilford said, I didn't say marry her. I said you should fuck her. That's heartwarming. Wow.

I like that story very much. Yeah. So Jack Guilford played a role. Oh, yes. Possibly in the formation of Stiller and Mirror. That's good stuff. We have to get Jerry Stiller on the show. Oh, yeah.

And you've picked, I think, our third Jack Lemmon movie. Oh, yeah. How to Murder Your Wife. You picked How to Murder Your Wife, and I picked The Great Race. Oh, that's right. So there we go. And we didn't do any other Jack Lemmon movies? I don't think so.

We didn't get to them yet? There's got to be a bunch that are coming up. Okay. So a typically depressing Gilbert Gottfried choice. Yes. Save the Tiger. Save the Tiger. Good film.

And I think they don't say that the character's a Jew, but I think Jack Lemmon's supposed to be because his name's Harry Stoner. Why, just because he works in a schmata factory? He has to be Jewish? Hey, there's an old Jewish actor. Look this up. Save the Tiger. I can't remember his name.

I get those horrible mental blocks. Harold Gould? No, no, no. Even older. I'm just going to throw names of huge character actors out. This is... Let's see. Crack Research Team.

Jack Guilford. Norman Burton. Harvey Jason. Ned Glass! Ned Glass! We've talked about Ned Glass on the show. The great Ned Glass is in Save the Tiger. Paul Rayburn, who's sitting here, is laughing hysterically at the fact that we both jumped out of our chairs over the name Ned Glass.

Ned Glass and Charade, we talked about them. The only part I don't like in Save the Tiger is where he meets up with this hippie girl. That doesn't ring. That part kind of rings false. Okay. But the rest of the movie is wonderfully depressing. Okay, perfect. A man whose life there's no redemption.

It is a little Arthur Miller. Oh, yes. Now that you mention it. Very much so. So you've picked a depressing film, and I've picked a film that makes your skin crawl when you watch it. And that would be Save the Tiger and Election. Yes. Yes.

And a last shout-out to the great Ned Glass. Oh, that's right. Quick story. When I first moved to L.A., I met a woman who was assisting a writer, a producer that I was working for, and we were just chatting. And she said, yeah, she said, my uncle was in the business. He was an actor. You'd never know who he was. And I said, oh, she said, my uncle was in the business. He was an actor. You'd never know who he was. And I said, oh, tell me.

There's a chance I might. She said, oh, his name was Ned Glass. Oh, wow. And I leapt off the sofa I was sitting in as if she said her uncle was Elvis. Yes. So she was shocked that anyone would know who Ned Glass was or get so excited. Oh, and here's Look him up! Here's another announcement I should make. The

death of Leatherface himself. Oh, yes! I think his name was Gunner Hunter or something? Gunner Hanson. Gunner Hanson. Yeah, passed away. And Leatherface. Yeah, he was Leatherface in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Yes. So, R.I.P.

Gunner Hansen. There we go. And so we named a dead person. And RIP Al Molinaro from a couple of weeks ago. Oh, that's right. Murray the Cop. We'll see you next week. Okay. Here we go boys. Colossal Obsessions Colossal Obsessions