Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - GGACP Classic: Peter Fonda

Episode Date: February 22, 2024

GGACP marks the birthday of director, producer and counterculture hero Peter Fonda (b. February 23) by revisiting this fascinating interview (one of GIlbert's favorites) from 2018. In this episode, Peter talks about the making of "Easy Rider," his complex relationship with his legendary dad and his encounters with Salvador Dali, Jean Cocteau, John Lennon and Ernest Hemingway (among others). Also, Dennis Hopper holds a grudge, Elvis straps on a helmet, Jack Nicholson steps in for Rip Torn and Victor Mature gives a bravura performance. PLUS: The genius of Terry Southern! In praise of Christopher Plummer! The Monkees foot the bill! The Beatles find inspiration! And Peter names his favorite Henry Fonda movie! 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. Here's another Gilbert and Franks. Colossal classic. Hi, I'm Gilbert Gottfried, and this is Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast.

I'm here with my co-host, Frank Santopadre, and we're once again recording at Nutmeg with our engineer, Frank Verderosa. Our guest this week is a writer, producer, director, activist, and one of the busiest and most popular actors of the last six decades. You know his work from movies such as The Trip, The Wild Angels, The Hired Hand, Race with the Devil, Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry, Wanda Nevada, The Limey, Escape from L.A., Ghost Rider, 310 to Yuma, and Uli's Golds, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actor. And, of course, as the star, producer, and co-writer of one of the most iconic and groundbreaking films in the history of American cinema, Easy Rider. His newest film is Boundaries, co-starring Christopher Plummer, and he'll be seen in the new Amazon action series,

Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan. Along his fascinating journey, he's met, worked with, and befriended a who's who of 20th century pop culture figures, including Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Pablo Picasso, Bob Dylan, Christopher Lee, Mick Jagger, Warren Beatty, Jacques Cousteau. Jean Cocteau. Jean Cocteau. Maybe he met Jacques Cousteau, too.

He came in, he was dripping wet, and he smelled like trout. and he smelled like trout. He had a little octopus hanging from his ear. And of course, his father, the late, great Henry Fonda. Please welcome to the podcast a man who's seen it all and done it all, including sharing a stage with Salvador Dali, dropping acid with the Beatles, and even playing touch football with Elvis Presley. A genuine counterculture icon, the legendary Peter Fonda. What a great, great opening that was, Gilbert. Thank you very much. I didn't know you knew that much about what I was going to say.

I didn't know anybody would be able to catch up. I'm out here alone, but let's just keep on dancing. be able to catch up. I'm out here alone but let's just keep on dancing. And before anything else, if we can play a little snippet from the Beatles' Revolver

album of She Said, She Said. Oh yeah. She said I know what it's like to be dead I know what it is to be sad And she's making me feel like I've never been born Okay, Peter. The story behind this Beatles song. Maybe this is the only crowd I can actually tell this story to.

Because other people will think, no, he's got to be kidding. I got a call from Crosby and then from Derek Taylor. David Crosby. David Crosby and then from Derek Taylor. David Crosby. David Crosby. And so, Cros called me and then Derek Taylor, the Beatles kind of

road manager thing, and the lads would love to see you and meet you. I said, well, that's terrific. And,

you know, I love musicians. I love, I've known some of the best in the world. This would be great to meet them. I drove over there. They were living in a house up Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles.

Staying there, I should say, in 1965. And in this particular house, I mean, we go up Benedict Canyon. And in a moment, Benedict Canyon takes this big horseshoe turn and starts climbing up to the right. this big horseshoe turn and starts climbing up to the right. And that back canyon in the back of that turn was just filled with young people. There wasn't a sycamore or a succotash or whatever they had up there left. There was nothing living. It was just the hills were alive with children, and it was really frightening.

They were all in there screaming. I came in my XKE. It's my XKSS. Get that right. The SKSS, which is a beautiful Jaguar, right-hand drive, and it was British Racing Green. I thought, what better to drive? First of all, I had to shift it,

and unfortunately, you're just a microphone. You can't really see what I'm doing. But I arrived, and I'm meeting the guys, and they to shift it. And unfortunately, you're just a microphone. You can't really see what I'm doing. But I arrived, and I'm meeting the guys, and they're really cool. And, you know, Paul's the ambassador of the group, and everything's groovy. And there's Crosby and then McGuinn. And so, you know, we're cool. Everything's fine. And then I found out we're going to take LSD.

Whoa. Oh, all right. I'm up for that. Why not? And so we did. Crosby, of course, brought in the LSD. That was primo quality. And they all sat at this huge table for lunch. I mean, this banquet of stuff on the table. And of course, unfortunately, I said, you know, if you really want to have this trip, right, don't eat all this food. And they just acted like, oh, fuck you. And they did it. Anyway, we all got on the trip and it was wonderful. I mean, it was strange too in its own way. And Crosby came up to me during this thing and he said, you got to talk to George. I'm like, why? Because he's freaking out. What's wrong? He thinks he's dying. I said, Cros, that's what this drug does. You think you're dying. Your brain's going to try to hold on,

but you're supposed to let it go. Yeah. You go tell that to George. I said, why me? Well, because you know. I said, no me? Well, because you know. I said, no, that's not right. It's because I'm the oldest guy here, right? This is why I'm going to go tell. I'm the one to bring this news to George. Yeah, go ahead. Please do it, Fonda.

Okay, this is me. I went down. There's George and John sitting at a table. We've all moved outside so we can know that we can overcome all the screaming. That's not going to interrupt our gig of taking LSD. So I'm talking to George and I said, you know what, George? I know what it's like to be dead.

And let me tell you, it's not a problem. In fact, it's probably the most relaxing moment you're going to have. Because I die. I've died three times. Three times? I've died three times on an operating table, lost too much blood. My heart had stopped, you know, three times.

So basically I died. But the thing is, I can tell you it's okay because it's really smooth. It's really calm. I know what it's like to be dead, you know. I'm telling you, don't worry. This drug is making your brain worry about it. But your point is to say, fuck the brain, let it go, and get involved in the whole thing. And Len is listening to me, and George is looking at me,

and I don't know if I look like a cucumber to these guys. I have no idea. But I continue on saying, because I'm serious, George, I know what it's like to be dead. I've died. It was a shooting accident when I was a little boy. My parents thought, or my family thought that I was trying to kill myself because my mother had that year, but that's not really what was happening.

It was a stupid accident by a little boy. You know, so, and everything was all right, but I wasn't, I was, I died, but I lived, obviously, I'm here telling you the story, and so don't worry, relax, take it easy, take the trip, just flow with it, and Lennon looked at me, he said, man, who put all that shit in your head, man, you know what, you're making me feel like I've never been born. And his eyes made a little peek at it. And I thought, that was pretty far out. And let it go, because I'm not going to sit there

with any longer trying to explain to George to relax. Let it go. I want to go have my trip myself. And I just thought, that's that. Little did I know, the next year, out would come Revolver, and she said, she said, I know what it's like to be dead. I know what it's like to be sad, and you're making me feel like I've never been more.

And when I was a boy, everything was right. How did you hear it? How did it come to your attention that it was a song? I played the bloody song. You bought the album, put it on, and what the hell? And I thought far out, well, you know what? No one will cover that tune, and we'll just keep quiet about that. Well, of course, all the Beatle maniacs over the years want to know,

what the hell is She Said, She Said all about? What kind of sense is that? This is before Sgt. Pepper's. And, you know, I didn't say anything until Lennon said something in a Rolling Stone article, and then I said, well, if he's going to talk about it, I'll talk about it. And I said, yeah, that happened, and this is the way it happened.

And I thought, well, nobody will cover that song. Wrong. Right. I was down in Charleston, South Carolina, shooting a show in 98, and I was driving in my red car, and on the radio it goes, government mule. And they do a cover of She Said She Said.

Oh, shit. That is totally cool. But I just had to pull over. I was flat-footed. So many years later in Charleston, right, thinking, I can't believe this. You're part of Beatles lore. Yeah. It's kind of cool.

It's an amazing thing that I've had this incredible life. But to be part of a Beatles song? Yeah. Yes, playing touch football with Elvis was pretty far out. Also strange. He wore a helmet with a, it was touch football. He had a helmet with a face guard on it, you know? And he's absolutely beautiful, I'll tell you that.

But it's Jeepers. Because when we were looking for this song, we found about 70 covers before we found the Beatles. I had no idea. The Beatles were the hardest one to find. I should tell people, too, that's in your book. This book is 20 years old, Peter, but it's great. Your memoir, Don't Tell Dad, which I read cover to cover. And the Elvis stuff is in there.

The Beatles stuff is in there. The stuff that Gilbert alluded to about Salvador Dali. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Which is all fascinating. How did you wind up on stage in a performance with Salvador Dali? And how he learned to scuba dive. Don't forget the Jacques Cousteau. Jacques Cousteau.

We'll go with that one too, Gilbert. No sweat. But yeah, I had met Dolly in Europe, and I was at this fellow's really wildly painted apartment in New York City. He was a real mover and shaker, so he had a lot of people in there. And Dolly was there with his witchy girlfriend and her little friend who was kind of cute and all kinds of other things were happening and i was very interested in dolly and wondering what the hell he was doing here

this is new york city in 65 and his witchy girlfriend who really thought she was a witch, you know, and could go do extra things that the rest of us couldn't. And I thought, well, you know, I'm just going to fuck around with this one. So I said, you see that man over there sitting at the edge of that table, sitting on the floor there? That man is a very good friend of mine. His name is Robert Walker. And his mother is Jennifer Jones.

His father was the actor Robert Walker Sr. Now, Bobby, he doesn't smoke. But watch this. I'm going to make him go for that pack of cigarettes and take a cigarette. I had no idea, of course, that this would play out. But, I thought, why not? So I'm looking at Bobby, course, if this would play out, but then why not? So I'm looking at Bobby, thinking, you need to smoke.

Dude, just quietly, you know, not moving my lips. And son of a bitch, he reaches for the pack of cigarettes, takes out the cigarette, and fires it up. I said, what more do you need to know? And that freak. They bought it. She thought, whoa, I'm

going to withdraw my entry into this race. And yeah, so that was Dali. And Cocteau,

I met. Not Cousteau. Not Cousteau. I got to know Cousteau's kids really well. But Cocteau,

I met with my father and my second stepmother and my sister Jane in Antibes, in France. And we had driven, we were on our way to Pamplona from Cap-Ferrat, where Picasso had a villa. I met him too. And I'd seen Cocteau's drawings inside this, in Ville-Franche-sur-Mer, there's a little chapel, fisherman's chapel. Inside, he's drawing all these angels flying around. You know, they're really far out.

They had hair under their arms. I thought that was really cool. And so there he is. I'm 17, but I know who he is. He's an icon. Because I know Bunuel. Sure. And he's talking to my father, and he's talking about film,

and he's being very gracious, except he says that film couldn't be considered a fine art because of its nature. It could not be considered a fine art. It could not be considered a fine art because of its nature. Mind you, he, Picasso, Bunuel, and Dali made The Unillusioned Dog, Chandeliers, The Golden Age, all these wacky, bloody fucking movies. So crazy and wonderful.

So, yeah, and they were works of art. Beauty and the Beast is a work of art. Beauty and the Beast at La Verdiana? Yeah, they're great films. That was freaky. They're great films. Absolutely great films. That was freaky. They're great films. Absolutely great films. So he said something to my father, which was either really denigrating to my father or not. I didn't care

because I was most interested myself. And that was that art, all art, is 98% accident, 1% logic, and 1% intellect. The idea is not a mistake. You can't make it happen. That's not an accident. It's manufactured. And I

kind of studied on that for a while. We went over the hill on the back way. Going over the hill means going over the Pyrenees into northern Spain. We went the back road because my second stepmother, who is this Italian stronza,

so my Italian listeners will know what I mean and what I think about the stronza. I know that word. And she was having a passport lift. And so she didn't have a passport, so we had to go in the back road, and I had to go in with my father and talk to these guys in Spanish and say, you know, we've brought them a carton of cigarettes,

and we did all this stuff, and, oh, sure, go on through. So my sister and the strons never had to go in. And we went down to Pamplona, where I met a friend of mine and Jane's boyfriend at the time, Goy Franciscus, James Franciscus. Oh, James Franciscus. Remember him? Oh, yes.

Sure. And so James stayed with me and my friend, Jimmy Gibson, at this little pensione. Whilst everybody else stayed in this big hotel, I got shuttled off. But Goy was pretty cool.

That was his nickname, Goy Franciscus. And, I mean, we were so wrecked that first night. We had all the white shirt, the white pants, the red sash, and drinking wine. So there's just wine all over us. We were totally crazed in this little square, the main square of the town. totally crazed in this little square, the main square of the town. And the next day, after carpet bombing the inside of this Pansioni courtyard with puke, literally carpet bombing it terribly. It felt awful. Got up in the morning, went out,

started with the bulls. Every step I took, I would hear what I would later know as the chimes of freedom. Ka-boing, ka-boing, you know, and running like mad. You see, you have to start with the bulls when you run with the bulls. You don't get to jump in partway through. And thank God I made it into the big arena. So we did that, and then I'm still reeling and rocking from the night before. did that and then when we're i'm still reeling and rocking from the night before but we know to meet my father the stranza and my sister and and and you know doing the niceties and there's

ernest hemingway wow and he hears that my friend jimmy and i had just run in front of the bulls and he was much impressed so we were very impressed that Ernest Hemingway was impressed with us. We were covered with purple and these white. He was just wild looking. And my father was very, absolutely having nothing to do with it. He made a book.

He did a book called Fonda, My Life. Warts and all. He didn't even get near the warts, I promise you. Interesting. And the all was hardly full. And at that book, he said how he was there the first day and the bulls run in and then he could see me there running and he was so proud of me.

It took that many years later and him wanting to be proud of me i don't think he really was i think he thought i was an idiot and in a way i was but i made it and there was there was hemingway saying all these groovy things about how god you did it you're a true man so you met hemingway and dolly and cocteau and Picasso. That same summer. Wow. I met Cocteau and Picasso. We have to amend the intro. And now your father, the great Henry Fonda, you know, great and highly respected actor. But as growing up, what was he like as a father?

He wasn't. As growing up, what was he like as a father? He wasn't. And I had all this angst for a long time in my life. But from my perspective now, and it has been for a while, I look back and realize what I learned from him. He never had a lesson. He had lots of arguments, and he had lots of, you don't do that,

you don't do that. A lot of don't dos and very little let's do. So it was interesting for me to know that he would make that bend to say he was so proud of me looking back on it, but at the moment disgusted with me. And I would realize, yes, okay, that's probably like most parents and the offsprings. Only the thing is my parent was the fucking circus. Every light was on him. My father was a brilliant actor, stage and screen. And I can say that meaningfully because I am a writer, producer, director.

As you said, Gilroy, I do all that stuff because I like to. I love to do it. And my father's always said, how can you do this? How can you act and direct at the same time? It's a snap. I know what the scene should be like. So I'm in it. I just have to trust the cameraman.

My first cameraman was vilmo shigman yes when i was producing the heart and directing the hired hand good flick boy was i lucky man to have vilmos but before that for easy rider i had laszlo kovacs so when we first hired laszlo he was larry kovacs then he being leslie and then in the filming, he became Laszlo as far out. I wanted to use Laszlo when I made The Hired Hand, because I had such a great experience with him in producing Easy Rider.

And he was a wonderfully creative person. I wanted him. But unfortunately, he was making Paul Mazurski's Alex in Wonderland. So he said, I can't. But you remember Peter, that fellow that would come in with a little beer and watch some of the dailies? Yeah.

Well, he's my mentor. Guys, I know what mentor means. And if Larry Leslie Laszlo had 19 films in his pocket before he films Easy Rider, his mentor's got to have 20 or 30 or 40 films in his pocket. I know what mentoring means. We should tell our listeners to check out Hired Hand, which is a very good film and a good-looking film.

Well, thank you very much. Yeah, it's very good. Good performances, too, yourself and Warren Oates and Verna Bloom. Verna Bloom. Really good. And Bruce Langhorne. This is music. Yeah.

With Warren Oates, Verna Bloom, some other great character actors. Yeah, Severn Darden. Severn Darden. Remember him, Gilbert, from Second City? Was he a Chicago Second City guy? And he plays a great heavy. I used to see him here in New York wearing shawls and wild things. Yeah.

Severn was really good. Gilbert, you'd know him if you saw him. Oh, yeah. He was really known for being a comedian. His family comes from New Orleans. His father was either the mayor or one of the top government officials in Louisiana, especially in New Orleans. I think he was in the Compass Players, too, the original Second City with John Rivers

and those people and Alan Arkin. Alan Arkin. But he's very good. He plays a great heavy. Alan Arkin? He's very good. He plays a great heavy. And you were introduced to Smoking Grass by someone who wouldn't surprise anyone.

Oh, you know everything. The son of Robert Mitchum. Who went to jail years ago. The Smoking Grass. Yes, that's true. We were in London. We were making a film. Carl Foreman was directing the film.

And I can tell you the theme of the film is war is hell, war is hell, war is hell, war is hell, war is hell, war is hell. But there were a lot of us in it. George Bapardi. Was that the victors? The victors. Yeah. George Bapardi, Eli Wallach, Jim Mitchum, myself, George Hamilton. some really fine actors were in there too. And I remember

hearing from Mitchum, he found it. What? I got some bong. I had no idea. What the fuck is bong? You do? Oh, yeah, it's really good.

You want some? Oh, you bet. Yeah, sure want some? Oh, you bet. Yeah, sure. Bong? Yeah, you know, that's African for grass. Oh, yeah, I just never heard it called bong before. I'd never heard it called anything before. I knew these jokes that my first stepmother had told me

that were active jokes of people going, all right, man, this and this. So I knew that this is something, but I had no idea what pot was. I wished that maybe I'd learned about it when I was 15, but I'm probably glad that I didn't. Now, I've stopped on my way back from Shepparton Studios into the center of London, and I went to a little curio shop and bought this small corn cob pipe. That's what I'll smoke it in. bought this small corn cob pipe.

That's what I'll smoke it in. So Mitchum has told me, when you get to the hotel in your room, give me a call. I said, okay. So I did. Mitchum's fine. Come down to this floor and knock twice on the door.

This is getting weird and wonderful. So I did. I went down there and knocked twice on the door and then he opens it up. I can see Papard's in the back there and some other people and he comes out into the hall, looks around and he has hooded eyes just like his father, Big Bob.

He says, okay, Fonda. He had this long, this envelope folded over and it had something in it. I did not know what. He said, now, you have to clean this. Whoa, clean something. Far out. I have no idea. What the fuck does that mean?

To myself, I'm saying, what the fuck does he mean, clean it? So I said, clean it? Well, you know, it's got the seeds and stems. Oh, right, I'm sorry. It's always been clean before. I never had a puff of this shit in my life. And I'm trying to tell big hooded eye Jim

that, oh yeah, I just never heard it called bong and I've never had to clean it before. I had no idea. I went back up to my room where I cleaned this shit. Seeds and stems out of there. I packed it in the pipe and my first wife is there wondering what I'm up to and I start puffing it.

And I say, here, now you try it, and she tried it, and we both had smoked cigarettes, so she tried it, but she coughed, coughed, coughed, and I started to cough, but she was coughing much more. So I said, no, no, like this, go ahead, and so four or five times like this, and later, and I'm starting to go, whoa, this is kind of cool.

She's pissed off, but I don't, I'm just, this is not bad. Whoa, am I hungry? Son of a bitch. I am really hungry. So I grabbed the menu from a service.

I ordered just about everything on the bloody menu. And by the time the food came in the room, I'm in the bed with the covers pulled up just below my eyelids, right? Laughing my fucking ass off. I ate everything on the plate, on the table, everything. I ate it all. I just vacuumed it. And I had been such a skinny kid for so long and such a disappointment to my father.

I thought, God, this is fucking great. I'm going to put on some weight. My father will like me. I can't fucking believe this. Why didn't this happen to me earlier? And my first wife, she was so pissed off that I was absolutely ripping off.

That's funny. And that's the first time I smoked the kind. And it gave me a whole new way of looking at the day which is the line i gave to jack when i said how's your joint george well uh it went out i i i got talking so much it went out save it we'll do it first thing in the morning. Gives you a whole new way of looking at the day. An easy rider. Save it. Save it.

Where do I put it? I put it in your helmet. And Hopper says, yeah, stick it in your helmet. That's what he does. It's all ad lib shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you really were smoking an easy rider. I know.

The cocaine with sugar. Do I have that right? He promised me. Fucking Hopper promised me that was going to be real coke. Uh-huh. Don't ever snort sugar. I wasn't planning to. Oh, man.

The side of your head will absolutely blow away. It is so painful. You shouldn't be eating sugar anyway, but it's so fucking painful to snort. Oh, man. Powders are, oh, well, one dreams and one doesn't get the dream coming true. Yeah. Thank you, Dennis, you son of a bitch. Nevertheless, yeah, that was it. Yeah. And the way you got the idea to shoot Easy Rider was from Jack Valenti? Well, I was in Toronto promoting a film, The Trip, which Jack Nicholson had written. Right, the Corman movie.

And Roger was directing. I'd made Roger promise he was going to take LSC. He did not. He did not direct Jack's script either. It's okay, Roger. I love Roger. He came on this show and claimed that he dropped acid when he shot the trip. He said so.

He was bullshitting us. Yeah, and me too. Okay. The truth is out. Hopefully he won't hear about this and hear the show and call me out. But I was putting on the edge of a pin little things of hash you start burning them with a lighter than it's here roger you can't see what i'm doing but everybody else can you take the smoke off of the hash printing the end of the pin this is the old way of doing

it old school style so i got roger rather cracked that way but I don't know if he ever took LST. He said he did with the writer, Chuck Goddaman. But anyway, I'm up in Toronto to promote this film. And one of the things that I've learned in promoting film is you'll sit in this room and people will come in. There'll be print people coming in. There'll be radio people coming in. They do all this, do that. And some people actually come in and film you for television. So I thought, okay, how can I control this?

Ah, well, I had a custom-made double-breasted suit. I had this custom-made Badastoni shirt. Mitchum had told me this is what I have to do with shirts. Get them made for me in Battistonia, in Rome. And this great Hermes tie, no shoes, no socks. What happens? In comes the next wave or the first wave, they come in, get set up, they walk in, what do they see?

No shoes, no socks, that's the end of their interview. They can't move to the next moment to start asking questions. I now control the interview. Hello. So I did this and five or six interviews before lunch and everybody comes in, looks at the feet, bear on the floor and loses their interview. And I take it and I promote the film. I do everything I'm supposed to do. I have fun with it. I joke with it. I do all that stuff, but I don't have to suffer their questions because they're so blown away by my no shoes and no socks.

So we break for lunch. We all go into this huge hall, I mean, absolutely huge, up in the exhibition park in Toronto. And there are probably 1,260 or 1,270 people in the room. Most of them are exhibitors and distributors in Canada. I'm at this big round table called AIP, American International Pictures, Sam Markoff and Jim Nicholson. And I'm there at the table, and this is great. I've got no shoes, no socks on. I'm listening.

Up comes this person, Jack Valenti, who was Lyndon Baines Johnson's man that he put in. He was a Texan, and he put him into the Motion Picture Association of America. The MPAA is all bullshit. It's a total bullshit group. It's the one that decides whether you get an R. In those days, it was

amateur. They didn't know. I didn't know. I was just listening to this short little guy with a Texas accent say, my friends, and you are my friends. Son of a bitch said it twice, I promise you. Like they didn't hear him the first time. My friends, and you are my friends.

It's time we stop making movies about motorcycles, sex, like a fucking TV evangelist, right? Sex and drugs, looking right down at me. And more movies like Dr. Doodle, which cost $27 million. Dr. Doodle did very little. Oh, it's intense. So that was my trip going home that night. That was my no more sex and motorcycles and drugs, right? Far out.

And I've got all these 8x10 photographs. I'm signing them, you know. This guy owns four theaters. He's got two of ours. I signed them. Up comes this photograph of me and Bruce Derns, me and Dernsy on a motorcycle, totally backlit. So we're total silhouettes. And it looks like we're riding in the sand.

We're riding on the cement paths in Venice, the start of the Wild Angels. And I'm looking at this thinking, who the fucking marketing pulled this photograph for me to get going? Because, you know, I'm going to say, you know, peace, best wishes, Peter Fonda, those of you aware. Because you can't see me.

It's just this strange image in full silhouette. As I'm thinking about that, I thought, whoa, that's it. It's not about 100 Hells Angels going on to a Hells Angels funeral. It's two guys alone riding across John For Ford's West. Perfect. That's great. And we're traveling east. A little homage to Herman Hesse's Journey to the East. I love this. This is great. What happens? They're down there. They've gone to Florida to retire. I hate retirement. It's a death sentence. But they've gone to Florida to retire and they get there and then they're killed by these guys who are poachers

in the back of their pickup truck. It's filled with ducks in the back, but they don't like the way these two guys look, so they shoot them. Now I backed up to make that happen. When I finally got to the beginning of the story and could tell it beginning to end, I picked up the phone and called Hopper. I said, listen to this man. And it was 1.30 in the morning in LA, 4.30 in the morning in TO. And I told him the story. He said, well, that's great. And what do you want to do with it?

Well, I figure both of us will act in it. You'll direct it, I'll produce it. We save some money that way. You want me to direct it? Yeah, man, of course. I mean, you already know about framing and stuff i don't know that yet i've been studying like mad but you're into it you know that and you want to direct i know we've already written one script together so you know

what do you say well i mean you really want me to direct yeah man i mean i really want you to direct oh i'm so glad you called me because I was never going to speak to you again. With that, he takes a sip of water. I can't go into what got him to that way. Just let me tell you that he stormed out of my house after he wanted to direct my album that I was cutting with Huey Masekela. He wanted to direct it.

I said, Dennis, you don't direct albums, you produce them. At any rate, he was never going to talk to me again. You're a fucking child, Fond. I'm never going to talk to you again. Man, man, can you dig it, man? Man, you dig it. So I hired him. I think he resented that.

Nevertheless, I kept on telling the story and i'm into detail i love the detail so i was into telling the story in detail yeah i've heard you say he told it poorly yeah well i'm getting there now we're going to take a little dino which will lead into gilbert's opening you did something sexual with your sister? This was September 27, 1967. And, you know, after I'd done that story, I couldn't go back to sleep. I hadn't gone to sleep at all. I was just like, wow, I just threw sevens. I could throw them on my shoulder, there'll be seven.

Throw them in the bathtub, there'll be seven. This is incredible. So with this high, I went into the next day where I didn't have to depress, I just showed up at the luncheon. But this time the luncheon, I'm up at the big table with the biggies up on the top

where the dais where I'd heard from Jack Valenti, no more sex drugs in motorcycles. I'm up there. And sitting to my right is the gorgeous, drop-dead beauty, Jacqueline Bessette. Jackie, I'd known.

She's a wonderful gal. And, of course, I have the no shoes, no socks on. And so she's smiling, her devastatingly beautiful smile. Here, oh, you don't have any socks

and shoes on. So I take my foot and I go, that's because I'm going to stick my foot up your dress. Yeah, he's trying to smile like she is, you know. And she's, stop that. She hits me on the shoulder. I said, no, Jackie, you know that's the way you want me to do, stick my foot up your dress.

And so I'm putting my foot further up her leg. She said, stop that. Well, everybody in the audience, this 1,275 people, are wondering, what the hell is she slapping that guy next to her for? Because they're looking at her. She's gorgeous. I'm not. And as I'm teasing her, going to go, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Peter Von, excuse me, Jackie, that's me.

And I got up, and they gave me a gold lighter, one of the long Zippo types. It had my initials, PF on it, and thank you. Toronto's show-a-rama, whatever it was. September 27, 1967. And I said, wow, a gold lighter, far out.

I don't smoke cigarettes. Just enough of a pause. Of course, the Canadians all laughed. But I'm sure I can find somebody to do with this. And I put it in my pocket and I said, you know, I'm here to find out what you can show. I'm like Picasso and his blue period. And I'm bringing my paintings into your galleries.

See, Picasso had his blue period. Most people don't understand. He had the blue period because it was the cheapest fucking paint. That's why he didn't. And so he brings his, me as Picasso, I bring my film in to you. And, well, I like it, Mr. Picasso, but frankly the wife would like a little more red in it. The Guineans are loving this. And so I'm not really Picasso,

but I need to know what kind of movies you can show in your theaters that will attract your people because that's the kind of movie I want to make for you. It only works when it works for you and me both

and we make money. That's what this is all about. And the only time $27 million should be mentioned is in the box office, never the budget 1,275 people jumped up is in the box office, never the budget $1,275 million. Jumped up and said, yeah! I threw sevens.

And now while Gilbert heads into the nutmeg kitchen to steal more Perrier, a word from our sponsor. Look at Franklin Gilbert. There was Peter Fonda. And now, sadly, we return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast.

You talked, too, about wanting to make films for young people because the kind of stuff that Hollywood was making at that time was stuff like The Last Bottom Boat and Dr. Doolittle. That's exactly what I did. They didn't know how to make films for young people, and you thought you did, and you were proven correct. Well, I was a young person. I was a a pothead and I knew that we had this whole audience out there. And so if you think this is 1967, when I've come up with this idea,

they had their own costuming, the hippies, the love people, West Coast. They had their own books, their own poetry, their own art, all those wonderful posters from that time, their own music. And they don't have their own movie, do they? This will be their own movie. Very egotistically of saying that, but nevertheless, I realized, I know this audience, and Hollywood doesn't. And they're there, and they want to see their film.

And Rip Torn was originally supposed to be... Oh, George Hansen. Yeah, the Jack Nicholson part. Absolutely right. You know, Rip was a friend of mine and Hopper's. And I knew Rip, and he was from Texas. And Dennis thought, this is a Texas lawyer, so he's perfect. And Rip was all for it. He was on board.

We were doing it. And, you know, when I tell the story, I would say that Rip's part of it and all. And when we'd already shot the first week in New Orleans, we'd come back to write the script with Terry Southern, whom I had run into whilst filming, that filmed the sex film with my sister. Thank you for allowing me to have that opening. And I was up in this castle.

We were all living in this bloody castle, getting ready. We didn't live there. We lived in living in this bloody castle, or getting ready. We didn't live there. We lived in hotels in Roscoff. But I hear this cough and snort kind of in the scuffling up. Everything was stone. It's a bloody castle. And in comes Terry, whom I had known, Terry Southern. And he had been in Rome viewing a cut of Barbarella, which he had written for Jane and Vadim. Vadim was the French director, Roger Vadim, and my father, my sister's husband at the moment.

And he comes coughing in there with a cigarette dangling out of his mouth, and he's like, you got any grass? Well, because, you know, I'll trade you some Coke for some grass. You know what? I'm really not into the Coke. I already talked too much.

But I have some hash. You want some? Yeah. So we smoked some hash. And then he had not been able to see Jane and Vadim yet. So we went down for lunch. And in French films, they have the grandest lunches. They have great food and wine.

Everybody has as much time as they need to have lunch. So even though everybody else was off shooting, I thought I would shoot that day. I was in costume. I went down and had lunch with Terry. And, of course, we had some wine and we were laughing. And we'd already smoked some hash. And it was fun and he said what are you doing what what's what's up with you you can't be just doing this film with

jane i said oh no terry and i told him the story and he said wow that's the most amazing story i have ever heard what are you and den, that's how he referred to Dennis, what are you and Den Den going to do? I said, well, you know what? We need to find a writer who can put it in script form for us because we don't have time to do that because we need a script

in order to break it down so we can produce in the movie. And Terry said, well, I'm your man. I said, Terry, your price is the budget of the fucking movie what was the budget of the movie three hundred and seventy five thousand dollars okay i brought it in shooting budget uh you know principal photography 252 000 thanks to paul lewis who was my uh production manager and the first assistant to Dennis. And he was an amazing man. And he and Larry Leslie Laszlo and all that, they made it work.

I was saying, and in part, thanks to your credit cards, too. Yes, we made it on my credit cards. I paid for all the gas, all the food, all the hotels, everything. I built up such a credit in Diners Club and American Express. It was unbelievable. I still have these credits. I don't use Diners Club and American Express. It was unbelievable. I still have these credits. I don't use Diners Club anymore. And what got Rick Dorn out of the movie was a...

Dennis and I were staying up at my family's brownstone on 74th Street in Lexington, a five-story brownstone. on 74th Street in Lexington, a five-story brownstone. And I got a call from Rip at the house. And I happened to be there, fortunately. He says, you know what, Fonda, I can't do this for scale. I can't let Hollywood know I would do something for scale. I said, well, Rip, everybody's doing it for scale except me. And he said, well,

I'll take your deal. I said, I don't think you want my deal, Rip. I don't think you want it. Why? Well, because everybody else is getting scale, but I'm not going to get anything. Why on earth? Because all this is going to come unsnapped down the line and I'll be able to stand up and say, there's no flies on my shit because I did it for free. I paid for it. I credit carded it. I did it all. So he said, well, I think you're nuts.

I said, well, I understand, Rip, that you can't do it. I'm sorry. But it's going to be moving right along because we're on this and we're going to do it. He says, as long as you're not mad at me. No, Rip, I'm not mad at you. You're a pal. I know, you know, I love you, Rip, but I appreciate you telling me that now. And I called up Bert Schneider, the man who said, I'll give you the money. And Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson, who did the monkeys. So they had all this bloody cash. They could afford to give me this cash.

And I said, Bert, we just lost Rip, and this is why. And he said, okay, what do you want? I said, I want Jack. And he said, yeah, yeah, so that's who I want. Well, I haven't told Haber yet that we've lost Rip. And so eventually I told Dennis we lost Rip. And then, of course, Martin Luther King got killed, and Dennis was in the middle of talking about flying saucers in this motorcycle movie.

I'm thinking, flying saucers? I've got to get out of here. No, this is not working for me. And I called Bert up, and I said, you know, I'm coming home, Bert. It was too much for me with Martin Luther King getting shot. And I'm going to let Harper and Southern talk about flying saucers. I'm coming home. And tell you the truth, I'm very glad that these flying saucer things were being talked about. I found out later that Dennis had taken everything

that he had written about the flying saucer scene and had it from a book. And he showed it to me and Bert Schneider where he had taken it. In other words, he plagiarized this whole fucking piece. This whole thing about me and Eric Heisman down in Mexico, we've seen 40 of them flying in formation. That was

all from this bloody book. So there was going to be flying saucer scenes. I didn't know that. In Easy Rider. Yeah. I wasn't quite ready for that, you know what I mean? Right. I was just not, well, it's...

I think Gilbert was alluding, you were alluding to the supposed fight between Rip and Hopper. And this would evolve into later years of being this tremendous lawsuit. Right. He sued him for defamation, right? Well, it's because Dennis said on television there was a knife fight with Rip.

And I said to Dennis, you can't do that. You got to go back on the show. It was Jay Leno. And see, you were just joking. I said, no, I'm not going to do that. Entrancing as hell. Typical of Hopper. So I said, well, I'm not going to do that. Entrancing as hell. Typical of Hopper. So I said, well, you're going to get sued, Hoppy.

And sure enough, Rip sued him and won. So Dennis and I, Michael McClure, and Jack, we were all pitching a story to Bob Ravelson called The Queen. It was for $65,000. We're going to make a story about the assassination of Kennedy. And we're going to be at a table. And we'll all be wearing beaded off-the-shoulder evening gowns with little purses. And we could take anything out of the purses we wanted.

And beside each of us, there's four of us, we would have the script and we'd be talking about it. And it was all about planning this. It was Dean Rusk, McNamara, the gang. It's in the book, it's fascinating reading. And Bob wasn't really interested. I wonder why. Jack and Dennis and Michael McClure got up and went to Jack's office.

I know they're going to get loaded. And I'm sitting there with Bob, feeling egg on my face. And whilst talking to Bob, this man comes in, very tall, really good-looking guy, blue eyes, piercing blue eyes. And he's got a cast on his leg. So he sat down in the back of where we are. And Bob turned to him and, oh, this is Bert. This is my partner, Bert Schneider. And Bert's going to get up. I said, you know, no, don't get up, Bert. It's okay. Now, it don't matter. And he comes over, he sits down and he said, And he comes over and he sits down, and he said, what's going on? And I said, well, I was just pitching this story

to Bob about this, and Bob said, how's that motorcycle movie you got going? I said, oh, you know what AIP is saying, well, if Hopper finds false three-day behind, we won't take it away, we'll take it away from him and all this shit. And so, and Bert says to Bob, is that a good story? And Bob said, oh, it's the best story I've ever heard.

So you think it'll make money? Oh, yeah, it'll make money. And so how much do you want for that, Fonda? $365,000. Because I'd seen the top sheet of Corman's The Wild Angels for 360,000 I said I can do the same thing I won't be paying me and that's not 30,000 bucks

a piece we'll just do it I knew I could do it for 360,000 bucks and he said well he'd heard the original pitch of the queen and he said it's easier to raise 360 than it is 60. Is it really a good story, Bob? He said, Bert, it's the best story I've ever heard.

Would you come over to my house tonight and tell me the story? I said, you bet. I told it to him four times. Each time he brought in more people. The last time he had people in, and he had it being sent to this guy in New York who was listening to the story on the end of a phone,

who was one of his brain trusters from Westchester. And so I got the money, and we shot the film. It's one of the great pieces of trivia, too, that monkey money paid for Easy Rider. That's it. I love that. I love that. And also, as good an actor as Torn is, and I watched Easy Rider again last night. I've seen it many, many times.

But now I can't imagine anybody but Nicholson playing George Hansen. Dennis didn't want Nicholson. He said, you know, he's not from Texas. I thought, fuck. I said, Dennis, it's called acting. He's from New Jersey. Dennis, it's called acting. But he stopped acting. He's given up. Dennis, I want Jack. I said, Dennis, it's called acting. He's from New Jersey. Dennis, it's called acting.

But he stopped acting. He's given up. Dennis, I want Jack. I don't. Because he had Jack Sterrett next to him, who was a director, writer, who was also from Texas. So I called Bert up and I said, Bert, I want Jack. You know that.

Dennis doesn't want him because he's born in New Jersey. He's not from Texas. I think Jack's an actor, and I know he's given up acting. I know all this stuff, but I think he's perfect in New Jersey. He's not from Texas. I think Jack's an actor, and I know he's given up acting. I know all this stuff, but I think he's perfect for this role. That's $392 you ever spent. Is that what you said in his AFI tribute? Exactly. Exactly.

What the hell's wrong with freedom, man? That's what it's all about. Oh, yeah, that's right. That's what it's all about, all right. But talking about it and being it, that's two different things. I mean, it's real hard to be free when you are bought and sold in the marketplace.

Of course, don't ever tell anybody that they're not free because then they're gonna get real busy killing and maiming to prove to you that they are. Oh yeah, they're gonna talk to you and talk to you and talk to you about individual freedom. What they see of free individual, it's going to scare them. No, it don't make them running scared. No, it makes them dangerous. Nicholson, you said he knew from the beginning that was going to be a hit.

Yeah. Johnny Hott, or Hollywood Jack. I have different names I call Nicholson. But I love him. Well, he'd seen how well Corman had done, too, with biker movies. Oh, yeah. I mean, Roger is amazing. He has never lost a dime on any movie he's ever made.

And I'm saying, yeah. Yeah. He titled his book that. Yeah. Yeah. And I really love Roger. And he was originally going to produce the film. He was going to be the executive producer of the film for AIP.

But Sam Arcoff and Jim Nicholson were saying, we can't do a movie where you've got these hard narcotics at the beginning and it's too much of a moral mountain to climb. I said, no, that's just the thing. And we do that, and then we do this other thing. And at the end, we do the Hollywood thing about having to pay the price

for having done this bad thing up front. We get killed. It's just the way we're killed has nothing to do with what's killed up front. And so Jim Nicholson and Sam Markoff are trying to digest that descriptive. And Sam, God bless him, says, well, can you do it with grass? I said, yeah, with four triple tractor trailers. Peter Biltz, yeah, you bet we can do it, but they'll take four triple tractor trailers. And Jim Nicholson, ever the sharpie, says, how about hash?

Well, that would cut it down to just two trailers. I said, you know what? We want to do this because we want to create this moral dilemma for the audience. Well, not really the audience, for the critics, for the people from the MPAA, Jack Valenti types. We want to have them to think this is awful, this is terrible. We never say that it's cocaine. It's just a white powder. We just do it.

So you can say it's China white, it's heroin, it's the worst, whatever is the worst in your mind. That's what I want. I want that to happen. And you will have forgotten that by the end of the first song. Cause I already knew this, what we were going to do with these songs on the rise. So we shot the film. We did everything we had to do. Uh, we forgot to shoot the ending. We shot that two weeks after. We had wrapped the film and great producer I was, right? But unfortunately, the motorcycles,

the two Billy bikes and the one Captain America that were left because we blew one up on film had been stolen along with 11 other motorcycles from this guy's shop out in Simi Valley.

Wouldn't you know Simi Valley? And so that was the only campfire where you don't see any part of the bike. Right, right. I read that in the book. I think you were in production 50 years ago this week, you guys, according to the book, if I'm tracking it right. Because Robert Kennedy's assassinated, and you guys were either in Louisiana or on your way to Wichita, Texas.

Wichita Falls. Wichita Falls, excuse me. So you were still in production. Well. It's going to be 50 years old next year. As we were writing it, Martin Luther gets knocked off. Right. Which knocked me back, too, a lot.

It was this year. No, let me back it up right to the beginning. I was born at 61st and Park at the Leroy Sanitarium. And I was born Friday the 23rd of February, 1940, at the Leroy Sanitarium at seven minutes after 12 noon. I started the film, Easy Rider, running film through its gates in New Orleans on Friday the 23rd of February, 1968,

at seven minutes after 11. In New Orleans, seven minutes after 11 is seven minutes after 12 in New York City. This year, Friday the 23rd of February, 2018, at seven minutes after nine in the morning, it was the time I was born and the time I started shooting Easy Rider and my birthday this year when I turned 78. Interesting. You into numerology and stuff like that? Everybody else is for me. I hear lots about it from other people.

Do you know who you are? Yeah, I think I do. Tell us what your dad thought of Easy Rider. I brought him down to show it. Of course, he's told the story different ways since that moment, but it was a rough cut, and I went back to see him at his house afterwards. He didn't watch the four-hour Hopper cut, did he?

He watched, it was, we had it down to, no, actually, we had it down to 96 minutes. Okay. We kicked Hopper out of the editing room. Oh, that's a fun story. After 22 weeks, man, I mean, give me a break. I know. I mean, after all, 22 weeks, we gave him some Coke, a fur coat for his girlfriend, and sent him off to the house.

And then Nicholson came in to cut his shit. And Nicholson, myself, and my partner, Bill Hayward, we all went in with Don Cameron, the editor, who had been a music editor fortunately before. And we cut the film down to 96 minutes because you can't show a four minute a four hour film and that's what hopper had there's so many there's so many great stories in the book about the production and about hopper kicking crosby stills and nash out of the out of the studio by saying you guys right in limos you couldn't possibly understand my movie but but but get back his movie right yeah get back get back to your dad's reaction because it's interesting he said you know context of your relationship I think it's really thin.

I mean, you know, we don't know where you're going and why you're going there. I said, well, sure we do. No, you know, I said, yeah. Dennis says, I'm going down to Mardi Gras. I'm going to miss Mardi Gras, queen. Oh, that's, no, that's not enough. That's too thin. I said, well, dad, why don't you take the journey as we take it

and see what we see and discover the America that we're discovering? Um, nah, it's too thin, son. I'm sorry to tell you that. It's just not enough in there. And I realized it just went over his head because for everybody I'm going to be talking to, they know. They know exactly what we're doing and what we're talking about, and they're going to be with us on they know. They know exactly what we're doing and what we're talking about, and they're going to be with us on the roll. And when millions of dollars started to pour in, and it also changed cinema,

it changed the studio system. I mean, it's a groundbreaking film in so many ways. Did he... I never heard about it from him. He never had second thoughts or a second opinion about it. I never heard about it, but I heard about it from others whom he would tell about it. And when it was this huge success, he then started describing 12 Angry Men,

which is a brilliant film that he had read as this teleplay by Reginald Rose that Sidney Lumet was going to direct as a television show? He said, no, we're going to do this as a motion picture. My father hated the idea that he was a leading man. Oh, I forgot he produced it. Yeah, 12 Angry Men. He hated being a leading man. The phrase leading man made him cringe.

He wanted to be, he always thought of himself as a character actor. He called himself, I'm a journeyman actor. We love that term here. Well, how about this? There he is making 12 Angry Men with 11 of the top character actors in the business. Yeah.

He was in hog heaven. He was wild. And then later he said, well, I guess 12 Angry Men was my easy rider. That's the way he talked about it. Yeah, that's really far out. Now I know why you have your Homer because you've got my book right there.

Well, I was saying, before we turn the mics on, and I'll say this to our listeners, it's not only a great read, but it's a production guide for the making of Easy Rider. It takes you through the entire movie, step-by-step,

shooting day by shooting day, including all of Hopper's meltdowns. Oh, man, they were meltdowns. Oh, you have no idea. You know, that whole fight in Tony and Karen's room. Oh, it's... We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast after this.

There needs to be a making of Easy Rider movie. Well, unfortunately, I don't know. Now, talk about a movie that didn't need one, but Easy Rider, there was a sequel. Ill-advised. Talk about an unnecessary sequel. Oh, wait.

I do a little Twitter every now and then, and I'll from time to time say, I'll probably say tonight, I had a wonderful time. I talked to, and I'll from time to time say, I'll probably say tonight, I had a wonderful time. I talked to such and such. I was in this show. I was Gilbert,

and we were doing this radio thing, and oh, wait. Hashtag Trump Russia. Hashtag Trump Russia. And yeah. It's been quite an interesting career. I mean, Bob Mitchum's son to turn me on a pot, why not? And Terry Southern to come along and give us this great panache written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Harper, and Terry Southern.

Now we'll take a little pause and say, came time for shooting credits. This is a whole, it's called shooting credits, but to put credits on the film. I got a call from Schneider and he said, I think you should come down to my office and talk to me. So I padded down the halls to his office and he said, have a seat.

And he had not been like that at all. So I expect, whoa, what's coming? Dennis wants to take your name off the writing credits. What? Yes, he wants to take your name off the writing credits. I said, Fonda, I know. You told me the story four times and that's why I gave you the money.

The movie we're looking now on screen, the movie we're looking at is the same thing you told me. I'm a happy man. I invested in this film. It looks great. But he wants your name off the writing credits. Jesus Christ, on a crutch. Okay, let me think about that.

He said, I don't think you should, but go ahead. I came back a little later and I said, okay, based on an original story by Peter Fonda, just trying to keep things calm with Hopper. And Schneider said, you know what, I think you're making a mistake, but I'll tell him that. Great. The next day, I went back to Columbia Studios, and Schneider gave me a call. Hey, come on down to my office, Fonda.

So I went down. We had a few tokes, and we're talking. And he said, Hopper won't go for it. Hopper won't go for what? An original story by Peter Fonda. I said, you're fucking kidding me. No, he says that he can't get nominated for an original screenplay if it's based on somebody else's story. I said, fuck.

Okay, we go back to the contract that he signed. We're in alphabetical order, Fonda, Hopper, and Southern. That's how it'll be. Shoot the titles. Hopper never forgave me. Tried to get my name off that over and over and over again. Went to his grave saying that he and he alone wrote Easy Rider. Seymour Cassell is still alive.

And he lives in New York. So you guys can get a hold of him. Oh, you can. Because he's going to tell you this story. Love him. That we flew down to New Orleans. And the first day of shooting happened to be Friday the 23rd of February, 1968. And we had having had, which is a phrase in movies mean having had the meal, whatever the meal is.

Having had breakfast in this case, 6.30 in the morning at the Airport Hilton Hotel in New Orleans. We're out in the parking lot, and there's Dennis. We're surrounding him like a huddle of an NFL game, and he's wagging his finger at us, telling each of us,

at the top of his lungs, which I won't do now, but you can get it, at the top of his lungs which i won't do now but you can get it at the top of his lung this is my fucking movie and nobody's taking my fucking movie away from me over and over and over again for almost two hours didn't add any more words than that seymour cassell will tell you that's what happened. He ran out of voice, so I could stuff him. I mean, here's the producer. I threw away my wristwatch in the movie, but the producer is looking at my wristwatch. Well, we blew the opening of the parades because just like in Pamplona, you have to start where the parades start. We had all the permits. I'd done all my business as a producer,

but I didn't expect two hours of the first part of the day to be burned up by, this is my fucking movie, and no one's taking my fucking movie away from me. Well, did you guys ever make the piece over the years, Peter? I tried the best I could. Yeah, I know you say in the book you followed his work, you saw his movies, you reached out. I did, many times. Yeah.

I wrote more stories for us to do. Mm-hmm. But he just... No. And, well, he was suing me whilst I was making The Hired Hand. So he comes through. He comes through Santa Fe on his way up to Taos, and he wants to stop, and he wants me to give him some joints, right? Fuck, what am I doing this for, this asshole?

Oh, yeah, sure, here's some joints. Oh, man. Oh, that's cool. Thanks very much, man. He's suing me while he's doing it. Well, I'm suing Gilbert. We show up at court with his contract, and the judge throws it out in summary, because you can see by the contract and the judge throws it out in summary because you can see by the contract and the spreadsheets i have given hopper more than i was contractually obliged to give him my contract with him was he got so much money as a as a director and actor and then he got one third of my company's gross profits now gross profits was defined as those monies that the Pano Company earned from the distribution of the movie, Motion Picture Easy Rider,

minus standard industry accounting and legal. Well, when you want to audit Columbia Pictures, it's a very expensive deal. I never nicked Hopper for a dime or a penny out of that stuff. I gave him actually basically one-third of my gross profits, one-third of my gross, my company's gross. So I gave him much more than I had to. In that case, the judge threw it out and kept throwing it out, and he kept suing me. And I remember I was talking to you this off mic. Naturally, what stuck in my head, in your career, you did a movie where you did something that I've masturbated about several times.

You fucked Jane Fonda. Well, actually, I had another film called Gemini, which was a brother and sister film, and they have sex. And I showed it to Jane, and she thought Vadim could direct it. And that was great, but it didn't go anywhere, unfortunately. So I actually wrote a screenplay about doing uh doing triple x movies and my father would be in it and we have this house it's like a long house typical california long house and my father would be in the front of the house and in the back of the house jane and I were making pornographic films. And somehow Jane comes up

with Vadim to direct it. And Vadim is going to come in and take it from what we have as this arty film and put it into a big film and he's going to make a film with Doris Day and Tony Randall. And, you know,

what we're going to do, it's too long for me to tell the story. I've already talked too much story to you guys. But nevertheless, let me tell you, it was really far out because Jane and I were just background extras in the film that I had Vadim directing. This X-rated, this pornographic film.

It was really a good story, too. This Gemini was an excellent story. Could have been, what, like Boogie Nights ahead of its time? Way ahead of its time. Yeah. And you, years later, you'd be working with your father, Wanda Nevada. Oh, yeah. And he wrote you a letter after it was over.

Oh, he did. He's fun, by the way, as the prospector. Isn't he? Yeah. Well, you know, up to that point, he really had thought that I was just a loose cannon on the deck. I'm the grenade with the pin pulled and the spoons dropped, and I'm going to blow at any moment. There he is. He's playing one day for me he's playing his old prospector Dutch Gravel actually it's Dutch Gravel but you know we call them Dutch Gravel for the hell of it sounded better and so he worked for me that day and it was that was that's a story that you don't need to hear though it's quite interesting about how that day starts it ends up with him writing

me a letter after he had finished, and it was about two weeks later. And he said in the letter, he's tried to do this. He'd started doing this so many days, but everything got in his way. I knew he was dying. And nevertheless, it's just five pages written on both sides of the paper. Each page was written on both sides. And he talks about all this stuff and how he's tried to do this and he's been doing that, but that's this and this, that. And at the end of the letter, he says,

in my 41 years of making motion pictures, I have never seen a crew so devoted to their director. And you're a really good director, son. Please remember me for your company. I understood what he meant. John Ford had a company, and he would have all these actors that would move with him, and that's what my father meant.

Please remember him for my company. And he wrote down on the letter, I love you very much. I never heard that from him. And if I didn't have this great company, this great team with me, I never would have gotten that letter. So I thanked everybody.

That's nice. A special moment for the two of you. Yeah, it was great. That's nice. A special moment for the two of you. Yeah, it was great. That's nice. It was really great. That is a nice story. Then it happened one more time right before he died. Actually, absolutely.

I was directing a commercial, and I got the call that he's going to the hospital, and it was probably the last time. So I went to see, I called it Cedars of Cyanide. But there he was in this room, and I walked in, and his fifth wife was there. I called her Mrs. Henry, fond of the fifth. And Jane, and the commie prevert, that'd be Tom Aiden, and myself.

And my father was wherever he was in his moment. He finally kind of came to. He opened up his beautiful blue eyes. He looked first at Mrs. Henry Fonda V, opening like this, opening, you can't see this, you piece of fucking shit. Opening and closing, looking at Shirleyley like this and then looking at his first born jane closing one eye and opening closing it like like a drunk trying to figure

what's the right path to take down this road you know so i don't get hit by shit and um he looked at the commie prevert and then he looked at me and both of his eyes opened up and he said, I want you to know, son, I love you very much. He laid his head down and he didn't come back. That's called closure. I'm a very

lucky man. Thanks for sharing that with us, Peter. You bet. We're being told by your people, does Peter have to run out of here before we can ask him another question? I may have to piss in his bottle. Before you run away, we're going to ask you, what's your favorite Henry Fonda performance?

Oh, My Darling Clementine. Yeah, mine too. Glad you said that. And followed closely by Oxbow Incident. Oh, yes. And then followed right up on heels by 12 Angry Men. Yeah. He's so vulnerable in My Darling Clementine.

He's so, there's so much range in that performance. It's a thing of beauty. It is. Best thing Victor Mature ever did. Victor Mature's daughter is on Facebook and and she'd have to connect you to her. He was great in that film. Really great. I was so happy to see him have that role.

Yeah. Yeah. And I didn't know he had witnessed a lynching as a kid. Dad did, yeah. Yeah. His father took him down to his printing office in Omaha. Speaking of Oxbow incident. Yeah, yeah, really.

Speaking of Oxbow incident. Yeah. And he watched a lynching of a black man. And he was just a kid. He was 14. Amazing. We always, we like to jokingly say on this show with guests that we didn't scratch the surface. But here it is really true.

There is so much. There is so much to your life story. There's so much in this book. There's a second one coming out. Really? Oh, yeah. There's been too much happening. What the hell?

We didn't ask you about knowing Raoul Walsh and all of these wonderful journeyman actors you work with, so we hope you come back and play with us again. It would be my pleasure. Absolutely my pleasure. Good. Meantime, I'm going to cast your voice in this thing called Liquid Skin. I'm not in that. Liquid Bandage. Liquid Band that. Liquid bandage.

Liquid bandage. Liquid bandage. Oh, you got a role for Gilbert? I thought it was Gilbert's voice. I thought for sure. I know that voice. It's so distinctive. And I thought, great.

Gilbert's making some cash. This is cool. I'm still happy. I really did. I also just wanted to tell our listeners that Peter, we met Peter a bunch of months ago. Gilbert and I were down at Tribeca interviewing Barry Levinson. And I said, Peter Fonda's in the hallway. Let's go grab him.

Yeah. And we pretty much grabbed you. It was like Jerry Lewis being accosted by De Niro in The King of Comedy. That's cool. I like that. That's great. You were so nice to us. That's cool.

I like that very much. Thanks so much for coming. to us. That's cool. I like that very much. Thanks so much for coming. Well, I've been here promoting Boundaries. Yeah, new film. Which is a very interesting film where we're smoking pot like we never did before. Yeah. And the interesting part for me is there's Christopher Plummer, who is the finest Shakespearean actor in the Americas on film or state, period.

I promise you. in the Americas on film or state, period. I promise you. And so the finest Shakespearean actor in the Americas is D. Lee Pott to Easy Rider. How fucking cool is that? Don't you love the movies? It's a great movie too, Boundaries. It's Vera Farmiga's film, she's fabulous.

She's such a great actor. And the writer, director, Shana Festy, she's fabulous her crew was fat her company was great made it all great for us and that's actually why i'm supposed to be here but we've talked to everything but that okay we promise gary springer we'll get this up right right away okay and also i want to tell our listeners to rent you lease gold which you were nominated for an oscar for and you are absolutely wonderful in that movie. Heartbreaking. Thank you very much. Gilbert? And I want you to know I was 100% honest when I said I jerked off about having sex with you.

Oh, you're so filthy, Gilbert. I think it actually is your name on the liquid band-aid thing. Do you think this would keep the dirt out? You don't know anything at all? Keep the dirt out. Until the rush goes over the mouth. I really thought it was you, man. I thought you were going to be so pleased when I said, I'd listen to that.

Every time, I think it's you. I will continue to listen to it. And I will continue to believe and tell everybody else, that's actually Gilbert Gottfried, my friend. Come back and play with us another time. We have much, much more to talk to you about. This has been Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast with my co-host, Frank Santopadre. And we've been talking to the man who knows what it's like to be dead.

Peter Fonda. The great Peter Fonda. Thank you very much. Peter, this was a thrill for us. No, Frank, it's a thrill. It was great to sit with you guys and talk a story like this. How cool is that? Thank you, buddy.

Thank you. I like smoking lightning. Every metal thunder. Racing with the wind. And the feeling that I'm under. Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast is produced by Dara Gottfried and Frank Santapadre, with audio production by Frank Bertarosa. Web and social media is handled by Mike McPadden, Greg Pair, and John Bradley-Seals.

Special audio contributions by John Beach. Special thanks to Paul Rayburn, John Murray, John Podiatis, and Nutmeg Creative. Especially Sam Giovonco and Daniel Farrell for their assistance. Born to be wild. Thank you, Daniel Farrell, for their assistance. We'll be right back. Get your motor running Head out on the highway Looking for adventure In whatever comes our way

Yeah, darlin we'll make it happen Take the world in a loving grace Fire all of your guns and guns And explode into space And like the true nature's child We will fall, gonna be wild We can climb so high I never wanna die

Born to be wild Born to be wild Wow. Bye.