Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - GGACP Classic: "Salute to Saturday Morning TV" with Jerry Beck and Bill Leff

Episode Date: July 14, 2022

GGACP celebrates the birthday of legendary animator William Hanna (born July 14) with this salute to Saturday morning cartoons featuring animation historian/author Jerry Beck (“The 50 Greatest Cartoons,” “The Hanna-Barbera Treasury”) and TV host/presenter Bill Leff (Me-TV’s “Toon In with Me”). In this episode, Jerry and Bill (along with Gilbert and Frank) look back on the kiddie show hosts of their youth and deconstruct beloved programs like “Looney Tunes,” “The Flintstones,” “Jonny Quest,” “The Jetsons,” “Underdog” and “Wacky Races." Also, Daffy Duck meets Jack Benny, Gomer Pyle “inspires” Milton the Monster, Jackie Gleason (almost) sues Hanna-Barbera and “Batmania” inspires a wave of super-knockoffs. PLUS: The genius of Jay Ward! The art of Dave and Max Fleischer! The Three Stooges go robonic! Jerry hangs with Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng! And the boys praise the talents of Mel Blanc, Daws Butler, Paul Frees and Paul Winchell! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Trivia and dirty jokes, an evening with the boys. Once is never good enough For something so fantastic So here's another Gilbert and Franks Here's another Gilbert and Franks Here's another Gilbert and Franks Colossal Podcast with my co-host, Frank Santopadre. Well, every now and then, Frank and I like to take a deep dive into one of our passions,

such as Boris Karloff, the Marx Brothers, the Twilight Zone, and this week, we're cranking the time machine way back to the 1960s and 70s and what many people consider the golden age of Saturday morning TV. Here to help us regress even further into our childhoods are two people who share our particular dysfunction. Jerry Beck is a historian, a producer, a prolific author and blogger, and one of the world's leading authorities on the history of animation. He's written, co-written, and edited over a dozen books on classic American animation and characters, including the 50 Greatest Cartoons, the Animated Movie Guide, the Hest Cat in Town, and Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies, a complete illustrated guide to the Warner Brothers cartoons. He's also co-produced and consulted on home entertainment compilations of Looney Tunes, MGM cartoons, and Disney home video.

He operates the widely read blogs, Cartoon Research and Animation Scoop, and is a founding member of the Cartoon Network's Adversary Board. As well as... A what? Adversary. Well, that's when they're against each other. They're an Adversary Board. See, this is all the people who are currently fighting.

And they're on an advisory board. I see. Because they're adversaries. I got it now. Yeah, okay. I stand corrected. Okay. Plow through it.

As well as a presenter and moderator of hundreds of panels and live events. of hundreds of panels and live events. Bill Lepp is a comedian, radio host, occasional actor, and pop culture and classic TV fanatic who studied improvisation at Chicago's Second City Theater, performed comedy nationwide in clubs and on TV, hosted a success foul radio shows, and appeared in films including Major League, Major League Two, and he's interviewed some of the most prominent names in Hollywood,

including yours truly, Gilbert Gottfried. He's also the host of MeTV's original morning show, Tune In With Me, where he performs in comedy sketches and introduces many of the greatest cartoons ever created featuring Warner Brothers, Superstars, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and the Roadrunner, and other fan favorites, as well as beloved cartoons featuring Tom and Jerry Droopy Dog as well as Popeye cartoons from Max Fleischer. He's

also a lifelong collector of memorabilia and has amassed thousands of vintage toys and figurines including a Joseph Wiseman action figure. Not another one.

Let's welcome to the show Jerry Beck and Bill Leff. Hey, I love you. How are you? Welcome, Bert. I love you. How are you? Welcome, Bill. So I would imagine, would that be from Dr. No? He did play Dr. No. Yeah. Yeah.

But the action figure. Well, yeah. It's from Dr. No. Yeah. No, it's the action figure from Bye Bye Braverman. Yeah. It was the first in a series, and that's as far as they went. They didn't do George Segal.

They didn't do anyone else. No, there's no Jessica Walter. No, it was horrible. No Sorrell book. No. What Gilbert is referring to, as we put it into the intro, which, by the way, took 78 minutes to read. You guys won't be hearing that. We're referring to Bill's extensive toy collection

and collectible collection. That's redundant. How long have you been doing it, Bill? Is it thousands of items, literally? I've got just over 30,000 items in the collection. Good God. It takes up two rooms in my house, and then there's a lot of other stuff in storage I've got just over 30,000 items in the collection. It takes up two rooms in my house. And then there's a lot of other stuff in storage. I just don't have space for.

And it started when I was a little kid. I just, I loved pop culture so much. I loved the memorabilia that would come out for any TV show or movie. And I would just buy it and sock it away. And then all of a sudden you got 30,000 pieces. And the thing that Gilbert, the item Gilbert is referring to is in your James Bond collection is a doctor. No. Yeah, I have a couple of them. And, you know, they're every every time I go in there and this is the hope I have for anybody that sees my collection. It serves as a time machine, you know, because you see all these figures and collectibles and it puts you back to when it was a simpler time. You were a little younger. You see all the James Bond figures and you remember all those movies so fondly.

And I just love that stuff. I love being in my office is just wall to wall glass cases filled with that stuff. Now, I believe the last time we spoke, I brought up a cartoon that it was an old Warner Brothers, I think it was Warner Brothers, and it was as a kid very disturbing and as an adult very disturbing, and I think

I sent a copy and I forgot the name and lost the copy. Oh. This was one where Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd become old men. Yes. Yes. And yes.

And Bugs Bunny is digging a grave for Elmer Fudd. And I'm going, wait a minute. This is just wrong. Jerry, you can certainly speak to this cartoon. I think it's the old gray hair, I think is the name of it. And yeah, that's one where they flash forward into the future. They also flash back to when they're babies. And it's a Bob Clampett cartoon.

Yeah, that's in pretty bad taste. But the thing is, people don't realize that these cartoons were never really aimed at kids in the first place. They were shown in movie theaters and they were aimed at the adult audience, believe it or not. So as dark as that sounds, you know, it's really not that, you know, it was intended for a certain adult audience, believe it or not. See, I think even though it was for adults, it's still disturbing. Yes, to have bugs digging Elmer's grave. Yes, that's horrible. It's Tarantino-esque.

Oh, and the other thing I brought up is there was that cartoon about a caveman and his pet dinosaur. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Where it's like they're doing a Jack Benny imitation. Yes, that's right. That's exactly what it is. It's here I am.

I'm just you just remember them and I'll give you the titles and what year they came out. You know, that was an early Chuck Jones. It was Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur. I know they show it on MeTV. And you're right. They are doing a Jack Benny parody in that cartoon because, well, Jack was the biggest radio star of that era and people knew who he was. And what happens is we, as kids growing up watching those cartoons, we had no idea who they were imitating or what they were doing. They were just funny anyway and it is

disturbing because there's this crazy there's like a a giant dinosaur that's being blown up i think it is or is it a duck yes giant duck or something that's being blown up uh and it's bigger and bigger and it looks mean and anyway that's again uh these things are nightmare fuel for our generation. And who was doing the voice of Jack Benny? Believe it or not, I believe it was Jack Lasculi, who was a NBC host. He was one of the Today hosts back in later in the 50s. But he was a radio performer back then. And that's what they use. They use a lot of people off of radio.

The Warner Brothers studio back then was on the Warner Brothers lot, and also on the lot next door to the cartoon studio was KFWB, which was one of the big radio stations in L.A., and so they had access to all of these radio people that came in and out of the studio there. That was an excellent Jack Benny imitation. Yeah. That cartoon.

I would like to see you at you tour with, with Jerry Gill, where you just say, what was the name of that cartoon? And you describe it. Jerry knocks him down. Who knew that that would come in handy someday in my life. Two hours of that in an amphitheater.

What were you going to say, Bill? I was just going to say, it was very commonplace back then to take matinee idols, comedy stars like the Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields, Frank Sinatra, and incorporate them into the storyline of cartoons. You saw that quite a bit back then, right, Jerry? Well, yeah.

There was a famous one, or maybe more than one, where they go into a Hollywood restaurant and Bogart and Bacola there and I think Clark Gable. Yeah, I mean, even as a kid, I sort of knew who some of those people were. But when you, you know, this generation today, I don't know if they'd have any idea what was going on.

The great thing is about the Warner Brothers cartoons, though, is as dated as some of them are, as we don't understand what's going on, The great thing is about the Warner Brothers cartoons, though, is as dated as some of them are, as we don't understand what's going on as some of them are, they still work. They're still funny. There's a cartoon, let me mention this, there's a cartoon I love, a Bob Clampett, a Looney Tune one called Book Review.

And it's one of those cartoons where they go into a bookstore and all the images on the covers come to life. And it's all Hollywoodllywood caricatures but the thing is if you really step back for a minute look at that cartoon it's all books from 1945 nobody would understand this cartoon today i didn't understand it uh when i first saw it as a teenager and yet it works it's just a complete you know work of bizarre, you know, filmmaking, you know, but it works. What's the bogey? What's the bogey thing? And then there's that one where Humphrey Bogart,

as his character in Treasure of Sierra Madre. I was just going to ask that question. Yes. He keeps bugging, begging for the coin. Can you stake out a fellow American to a male? Exactly. That was Eight Bowl Bunny. And by the way, I do think this is the beginning of a new radio show.

It's something that we can do. You know, the other one is, for some reason, animators love to parody of Mice and Men, the Steinbeck novel of Mice and Men. Where did it go, George? Where did it go? Sure. Well, people used to read.

But also, that movie, the used to read, but also that movie. The movie came out, you know, with Lone Chaney Jr. Yeah. And Burgess Meredith. And that was a big hit. And so, you know, they went with those broad characters, you know, that that movie had and many other movies had. I mean, that's what's great about the Warner Brothers cartoons, again, is that they're really a reflection of the pop culture of that time. You know,

I mean, a archeologist can just go right to social archeologists can just go right to those Warner cartoons and, you know, they can see what was, what was popular in the day and what was on people's minds. You know, what's interesting about that though,

is if you look at the, the content of that novel and the movie, it's not particularly fodder for for a cartoon and yet they jumped on it we got to make this into a cartoon what's the one go ahead i was gonna say there's a there's a screwball squirrel cartoon screwy squirrel cartoon that uh mgm made tech savory where uh there's this dumb dog who's very much like lenny you know like the big dumb Lenny character. And he's, through the whole cartoon,

he's got like a dead rat in his pocket, you know? Wow. That's in this cartoon, which I think they show on MeTV. Yes, we do. Yeah, because in the movie, he has like a dead bird he's carrying with him. Bill, what's the one, speaking of celebrity voices, what's the one you showed on TuneIn

with me? Is it a mouse doing Jimmy Durante? Boy, I'm trying to remember. I think Hippity Hop. Hippity Hoppity. What's that character's name? What is it? It's not Hoppity Hooper

because that was a different cartoon but it's a different cartoon but but it's it's because i always thought augie doggie was doing duranty yeah yeah but this this a character doing duranty oh yeah there's a couple of cards there's one called the hep cat with uh two cats or uh trying to uh impress a bird or something and uh one of them is totally a duranty uh one for the money, two for the show. You know, that kind of thing. And then there was what, Babbitt and Cat Stello? Yes.

Remember that one, Gilbert? Yeah, and then there was the famous rooster that was... Foghorn? Jimmy Durante. Well, Foghorn Lycorn was sent to Claghorn. Yes. Right, right, right. I think there was another cartoon that it was Jimmy Durante. Well, Far Corn Lycorn was sent to Claghorn. Yes. Right, right, right. I think there was another cartoon that it was Jimmy Durante.

Oh, there's this one cartoon that they run. Here we go. With Bugs Bunny, with Beaky Buzzard. And I believe at the end of the cartoon, just at the end, Beaky Buzzard does a Jimmy Durante, you know, kind of thing at the very end of it. Maybe I'm wrong about that. And you were talking about like how they would take current topics and and throw them into the movies. And when they try to do new versions of the Warner Brothers cartoons and they'll throw in like a new or allegedly hip thing. It seems like being forced down your throat.

Like you're supposed to go, oh, that's so hip. I get that one. But it's not landing. The punch is not landing, right? No, no. No. Of their time. There was one where he's on the phone like with a producer.

And he goes, someone says Sid Sheinberg on line three. And I'm thinking, okay, if you're a kid, you don't know who Sid Sheinberg is. If you're an adult, you have to be in show business. It's a Spielberg homage. And if you're in show business, you don't think it's funny anyway. You just go, oh, I know who that is. How come they can't, like with the Space Jam and all those kind of things, it feels like the characters are totally off.

things, it feels like the characters are totally off. Well, my personal belief is that the Warner Brothers, the great, the classic Warner cartoons from the 1940s and 50s, and I'll even give the 60s in there, I think that was like the Beatles. It was like something that the right people at the right time and the right place created the cartoons, those cartoons that we love. And it's really hard to recreate that magic. That's my personal feeling. I also feel that way about like the old Marvel comics from the 60s and things like that. It's certain people, certain place, certain time period. I mean even just recording of Mel Blanc.

I found out in some interviews he did that they didn't actually have a recording booth. They actually just took him out to a stage and had him record, you know, on the same stages that they're filming Casablanca, like they're all off to lunch. And they have the boom mic. And that's how they get this great sound in those cartoons, a little bit of an echo in there that you just don't hear anywhere else. It doesn't sound like it was recorded in a booth. echo in there that you just don't hear anywhere else. Doesn't sound like it was recorded in a booth. And it's things like that, little things like that. Carl Stalling and the Warner Brothers Orchestra. A friend of mine who's a musicologist, historian, he came out here one day to LA, went to I forgot what it was, ASCAP, BMI, their archives on Vine Street. He's digging through the stuff.

And one day I come down with him, meet him for lunch. And he said, what are you doing? He goes, oh, look, I'm digging through. They've got like, he shows me, they've got like the complete list of the musicians who worked at Warner Brothers on like, you know, July 10th, 1943. And then he goes, look, and this is for this movie. And then at the bottom, it says, we stayed to do cartoon. You know, and it tells you.

So we know, we actually have a list. We have the list now of who the musicians were in the cartoons. But that's the thing. They did the cartoons, you know, like at the end of the day for the last half hour, Carl Stalling would take the podium and relieve, you know, Michael Curtiz or no, who would be the, you know, Steiner or somebody like that who was a great musician. And they would then just go right into the Looney Tunes. And the story is, is that the musicians loved it.

It was like goofing off for 10 minutes or a half hour. I can imagine. I can imagine. And now when I watch the current ones, I always think like Bugs Bunny wouldn't say that. And Daffy Duck would not react that way. Well, you know, it's just a different take. It's kind of like Spielberg doing West Side Story or you know what I mean? It's it's a different take on a classic, the, the, the latest batch that they made recently, you know, for HBO max, uh, I give them a lot of points for trying their best to try to recreate that feel.

And I think they did a pretty good job. Oh, that's my opinion. You have to check those out, Bill. Let's talk about, uh, tune in with me, a show that Gilbert, a show that Gilbert was on and Jerry both. So far, you're the only one, Frank, who's not appeared on the show. That will change. I'm holding out.

Gilbert's performance and appearance on that show was so memorable, even he doesn't remember it. But it earned him an Emmy nomination. Let me tell you. The show, which I've heard you describe at one point as a cross between as Pee Wee's Playhouse meets Sea Hunt. Yes.

Which I love. Thank you. It's a throwback. And you're really a man after our own hearts and the heart of this show. Because it is a throwback to what Gilbert and I and Jerry, all three of us being New Yorkers and you being from Chicago, we grew up we grew up on these kiddie show hosts presenting classic material, whether they were cartoons of the day, whether they were stooges. And in our case was Officer Joe Bolton. Yeah. Yeah. What what was the what's the genesis is based on what you just said in that we all have this, this growing up period where on a daily basis, a lot of times before school, a city would have a show that

would show cartoons and you had a personality with some puppets or sidekicks. And then after school, you certainly had that. And then on the weekends you had the networks providing you with, you know, cartoons, but there was something so magical for anyone who remembers those times. It was just the most carefree, perfect thing before school, after school, and on Saturday mornings to just sit back and let the world fly by and just have such a good time watching these characters. And here in Chicago, we had some that were just so inspirational. And for years, people said, why can't that work anymore? That should still be around today. And the bosses here at MeTV said, yeah, let's make

that work again. And a little over a year ago, we put it up. And from day one, the response was, I thought I was 58 years old. I thought I was 62 years old, but suddenly I'm 11 again. I feel so good watching these shows. And we're trying to capture the essence of what the hosts did, but we're updating it. You know, I've had this theory all along about how attention spans have changed and maybe that's for the good and maybe it's not for the good, but you really have to pack more punch into everything you do now just to keep people's attention. So we're trying to make it a throwback show, but with today's sensibilities, it's a mixture of the two. we're trying to make it a throwback show, but with today's sensibilities,

it's a mixture of the two. And I remember there was a captain Jack McCarthy. Yeah. Three bells and all as well. Zachary. Yeah. Well, he did,

he did a horror show like Sven Gulli, right? Yeah. Yes, absolutely. Yeah. Well, we all,

we had officer Joe Bolton, Gil. Oh yes. Yes. And we had, and two people we had on this show, uh, they were different kinds of kiddie hosts, but we had Chuck McCann here and we had and two people we had on this show uh they were different kinds of kiddie hosts but we had chuck mccann here and we had uh the late great sonny fox sonny fox sure

who we just lost who was an institution and you just lost a chicago institution yeah bill jackson who was bj on cartoon town just passed away about a week or so ago and he i can't tell you how many people i've met in my life who said i was was so inspired by that guy. I didn't want to be a cartoonist. I didn't want to be in show business, but he just said, whatever you want to be, you can be, there's a way to be whatever your dream is. And that stuck with us forever. And I remember the host every now and then would like stop in the middle of the show and, and I show you how to comb your hair.

Sure. And brush your teeth. Sure. Bill does that. Yeah. Not even on the show. I just walk up to strangers. You walk the kids through a light flossing, don't you, Bill?

I've done that, yeah. What kind of mail are you getting? I mean, is it mostly, is it people like us, you know, throwback people, people, retro people? Are you getting, are you turning new us? Throwback people? Retro people? Are you turning kids onto a new product? I play this game with myself, Frank.

I look at the envelope and I try to figure out what the letter inside will be. Will this be somebody our age? Somebody younger? Somebody older? A combination? Yeah. It's been such a nice cross section of people. And the one that I love the most is it's adults who say, I watched the show because it transforms me into a kid again.

I see these cartoons that I grew up with. I feel like I know you guys from watching every day. I feel like it's a, it's a, it's a bridge to what I used to watch as a kid. And then the kids watch it because they're discovering these cartoons for the very first time. And they're so used to one kind of show or animated program, and they're really seeing the classics. They're seeing the Looney Tunes classics and the Popeye classics and the Betty Boop. It's shocking for a kid to see that much animation because they don't do it that way anymore. Of course.

It's shocking to me that someone's sending you physical mail. that way anymore. Of course. It's shocking to me that someone's sending you physical mail. We'll come back to tune in with me because we all have

a fondness for that kind of show. And Gilbert was a, he was a presenter on Up All Night. Oh, is that right? On USA, yeah. I mean, he wasn't

a monster host and he wasn't a kiddie host, but he was a, and I wrote for a show called Commander USA's Groovy Movies that only Jerry remembers. Yes, I remember it. Wait, what took place on that show?

Because the name is familiar. It was a show. It was on USA Network. It was a guy named Jim Hendricks who was like a—he was a low-rent superhero who drew on his own mask and smoked a stogie. Yeah. And we would show grades. We'd show the same stuff that was in rotation that Gilbert showed. Yeah. Right. Yeah, because it was the same—we We'd show the same stuff that was in rotation that Gilbert showed. Yeah.

Right. Yeah, because it was the same. We were pulling from the same library. It was usually the ones USA Up All Night showed were like these really bad tits and ass teen comedies with all the tits and ass cut out of them. Oh, all right. So you could concentrate on the dialogue. Well-written dialogue yeah by the way jerry on the subject of uh politically incorrect cartoons we had al roker here another new yorker oh yes he was here about four months ago we were talking about those dick tracy cartoons oh yeah

which are practically unshowable now because his whole police department was stereotypes including including hippo calorie who's like fat shaming you know you can't do it you know i mean it's you know what do we have uh gogo gomez and joe jitsu that's joe jitsu and gogo gomez and uh it was a chinese one there was a there was a spanish one i think and uh uh i mean and there was of course think. And there was, of course, a beatnik. There was Nick, the beatnik. You remember that? I think Officer Joe Bolton presented those, Gil. Yes.

And he did it. You know what? He did a tag. He would go, Dick Tracy. And then it would cut to the cartoon like Dick was talking to him. Does anybody remember that? On the wrist radio. And the voice of Dick Tracy was Everett Sloan. That's right. Very good, Gilbert. How the radio. And that, the voice of Dick Tracy was Everett Sloan.

That's right. Very good, Gilbert. How the mighty had fallen. Yeah, from Citizen Kane to racist Dick Tracy. What's really funny is you got to find this. There's a Soki toys commercial that you can find on YouTube. And they used to mix up and make, you know, cartoon characters as a Soki toys and they would mix up different studios and make commercials with them together. So there's a Dick

Tracy one with Everett Sloan's voice. And he's talking to Muskie from the Deputy Dog Show. I don't know if you remember that one, but Muskie's like this, you know, kind of a redneck character from the Deep South. The whole thing is weird. You got to check it out. Now, Deputy Dog, was that the one imitating Andy Griffith? Oh, no. You're thinking of Huckleberry Hound, maybe? Yeah.

Huckleberry Hound. But I think the idea of Deputy Dog is definitely, there's an influence from the Andy Griffith show. I definitely remember. Now, also, because I was always a Monster fan, I used to watch Milton the Monster. Oh, yeah, that was great. I warned Jerry about this, yes.

Milton the Monster. And without further ado, five drops of Essence of Terror, six drops of Sinister Sauce. Six drops of sinister sauce. When the stirring's done, can I lick the spoon? Ha ha, of course. Better hold your breath. It's starting to tick.

Better hold my head. I'm feeling sick. What have I done? It's Milton, your brand new son. Oh, that was beautiful. Very strange. That was stunning. Oh, Gilbert, I'm crying.

Bill, do we remember Milton the Monster? I sure do. Most people cry when I sing. Bill, he also can sing the theme song to Roger Ramjet, which will come later in the show. Oh, I can't wait to hear that. Yes. I'll do it now

go ahead where roger ramjet and his eagles fighting for our freedom we fly with him throughout a space not to help but to feed him roger ramjet he's our man hero of our nation for more adventures just make sure to stay tuned to this station. Aw. Gilbert, here's an idea. It's you at Madison Square Garden just singing cartoon themes for two hours. People would love that. I would go.

To an empty arena. Bill, you can tackle this one. Why the hell? Milton the Monster from Hal Seeger Studios, right, Cherry? Why on earth was the decision made that Milton the Monster should sound like Homer Pyle? On top of Old Horror Hill, in a secret laboratory, Professor Weirdo and Count Cook were in their monstrous glory. Six drops of the essence of terror, five drops of sinister sauce.

When the stirring's done, may I lick the spoon? Of course, ha-ha, of course. Now for the tincture of tenderness. But I must use only a touch. For without a touch of tenderness, it might destroy me. Looks too much. Better hold your breath. It's starting to tick.

Better hold my hand. I'm feeling sick. Hello, Daddy. What have I done? I'm Milton, your brand new son. I don't know. You know, they tried so hard. There have been so many Saturday morning shows

that have tried to capture the essence of scary movies. And Groovy Ghoulies is a great example of that. Yeah, Groovy Ghoulies. King Kong is a great example of that. King, Groovy Ghoulies. King Kong is a great example of that. King Kong, you know the name of King Kong. You know the fame of King Kong. Ten times the size of a man. You guys are touring.

Forget Jerry. Forget me. We're the new Sonny Hinch here. Without the skis. Yeah. I just think, you know that that's a good target you know you go after something people already know remember the monster squad was on for a while sure certainly all the scooby-doo yeah right the drag pack oh the drag pack absolutely yeah there was a oh right right right i like that hannah barBarbera hit gold with Scooby-Doo

and then kept ripping themselves off with Goober and the Ghost Chasers and Funky Phantom. Funky Phantom. Exactly. Gilbert gets a kick out of the fact that you had real celebrities playing themselves. Right, yeah. Next to a talking dog.

Yes. Here's a talking dog, and here's Mama Cass. Right. Right, yeah. He was really quick with improv. And he'd be there talking and goes, oh, hi, welcome to my house. Yes, yes, I will help you on your plan. Oh, my God. That's the second half of your act at Madison Square Garden is doing the voices of the celebrities in Scooby-Doo. One of the characters, I think Hebe, the ghoul, the monster, was a Peter Lorre. I think it was Bob McFadden, actually.

Gilbert, give the boys a little bit of your Peter Lorre because that's what they came for. No, it's you who ruined it. It's you with your stupid attempt to buy it. Kevin found out how valuable it was. No wonder we had such an easy time getting it. You idiot! You bloated fathead!

Do Chuck Lorre. Oh, that's so good, Gilbert. That's so good. That's so good, Gilbert. That's so good. That's so good. One former guest we had on was Bela Lugosi Jr. Oh, what was that like? Bela Lugosi Jr. is a lawyer, and he cracked down on, you know, just using celebrity voices without paying them.

Yeah. He's part of the Three Stooges thing, right? Isn't he the Three Stooges lawyer? Yeah, he got them. He got the heirs and the family some money, some residuals. You know, who's going to say no to the son of a vampire? Yeah. On the subject of voices, another one now we're we're segueing to

saturday morning here another one that uh that gilbert is obsessed with gilbert if i may speak for you are the are the voices on the 1960s beatles cartoons oh yeah really yeah yes it's like freeze right paul freeze doing it felt like not even an effort was made to make it. It was like one of them was like Ronald Coleman. And it was like, I'm Ringo Starr. And I'm your drummer. It was in the contract. They can't sound at all like the beatles but you know what's weird about

that is if you watch yellow submarine the beatles weren't doing their own voices i know so you could certainly have found those actors or similar actors yeah i think you don't want to pay them no that was yellow submarine most people don realize, was actually made by the same studio that made the Beatles TV cartoons. It was an attempt to keep the cartoons going. And I believe it was one of those things where the Beatles had a deal with United Artists for three pictures and they didn't want to do the third one because now they were visiting the Maharishi a lot and all that. And so somebody got the brainstorm to fulfill the contract and also keep the Beatles cartoon studio going. And apparently, the story is they knew when they started making a feature, it was a feature, and they upped their game. They hired some really top directors and designers.

And apparently, the Beatles couldn't care less about this. They contractually obligated to check it out at one point way deep into production they saw it and they were like this is good you know we want to be in it and that little that thing of them at the end was added on their insistence they wanted to be in the movie they they didn't realize it was going to be actually a good film that's why the other story on that film is that they gave the producers they were under contract to give them four new songs. So they gave them four B-sides that they had no intention of putting on disc at all. Like, Hey Bulldog and All Together Now were not meant, they were like cast-off recordings.

And they just, those, of course, have become classic tracks for the Beatles. Sure. Let's point out some more trivia. I remember when I found out years ago that that wasn't the Beatles. Sure. Let's point out some more trivia. I remember when I found out years ago that that wasn't the Beatles. Yeah. I think everybody, everyone assumed that was. They were really good. It's the same year everybody was shocked that the Monkees didn't play their own music.

And the Beatles aren't the Beatles. Gil, were you also shocked to find out that the Ronald Coleman guy wasn't really John Lennon? Yes. I think it's Paul Freese doing a weird Ronald Coleman thing as John, which I really cannot explain at all. Frank, that's strange because Paul Freese is a very talented voiceover artist. And yet with the Beatles, he just didn't make any sense. Plus, almost everything else about those cartoons was done in England

except Paul Freeze. I don't understand that either. And our friend Jack Mendelsohn, our late friend Jack Mendelsohn, somebody that Jerry and I both knew was a writer on those cartoons and a writer on Yellow Submarine. Well, you know, I can give you some backstory on it. Just that the

King Features Syndicate, the people who own Popeye, they bought quickly in like 1962, 63, the cartoon rights to the Beatles, the animated and that King Features put on that show and the infamous Al Brodax. And then we all know from the quickly made Popeye cartoons of the 60s. And he made Beetle Bailey cartoons and things like that. And Paul Freese was part of the voice cast of all of those things as well. So I kind of think there was a connection between, you know, Paul Freese, Al Brodax,

and he was the producer, Al Brodax, of the feature Yellow Submarine. So there's a connection there. And I think Paul Freese, Al Brodax, and he was the producer, Al Brodax, of the feature Yellow Submarine. So there's a connection there. And I think Paul Freese did the voice of the Cyclops in the Cyclops. Oh, did he? With Lon Chaney Jr. The voice was just basically. It basically sounded like the dogs in the soupy sail show. Right.

White Fang. Yeah. Gilbert, what if he would have nailed John Lennon's voice for the Cyclops movie, but he couldn't get anywhere near it for the Beatles? I wonder if they're still using Paul Freese. The last time I was in the Haunted Mansion in Disney World, Paul Freese's voice is still being used all these years later. Sure. And another cartoon that I would watch, and that was Top Cat, which was basically like... Bilko.

Sergeant Bilko. Bilko with Arnold Stang as Phil Silvers. Now, once again, why didn't they get Phil Silvers? Well, they were ripping it off. Yes, I guess that's... Why didn't they get Jackie Gleason to play Fred? I was going to say that. And I heard with that,

Gleason was going to sue the Honeymooners. No, sue the Flintstones. Gleason was going to sue the Honeymooners. No, sue the Flintstones. Gleason was going to sue the Flintstones. And somebody said to Jackie, do you want to be known as the man who killed Fred Flintstone? We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast. But first, a word from our sponsor. FanDuel Casino's exclusive live dealer studio has your chance at the number one feeling, winning.

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The Glenlivet. Live original. Please enjoy our products responsibly. Here's a question for you, Bill. I'm going to give you your choice. All right. Do you want a question about a bizarre cartoon called Colonel Bleep? I don't know Colonel Bleep. Okay. How about this one? This is from Marty Richardson. What about the superhero cartoon from the 60s called Super Six?

Oh, yeah. Where did it go? Jerry, help me out on that one. Where did it go? Super Six. Well, the Super Six is a cartoon MeTV should grab because it's from MGM. It was a parody of superheroes in 1966. And it was done by DePattie Freeling.

It was the first TV cartoon done by the same people who did the Pink Panther. And it was super boring. Anybody remember this? Granite Man. I do. I'm trying to remember the names of the characters. There was super boing. Anybody remember this? Granite Man. I do. I'm trying to remember the names of the characters. There was Granite Man. There was, oh God.

There was the... Super boing. Elevator Man. Elevator Man, Granite Man. Yeah. And Captain Zamo. It was originally in the first episode of the show that was aired. It was called Captain Wham-O

and then the Wham-O toy company sued them immediately, and they had to change it to Captain Zamo. But again, nobody remembers this cartoon anymore, but it's actually pretty funny. Paul Freese is all over it. Of course. And, you know, it's good. The other cartoon,

I don't know if somebody mentions it or not. I have to mention it here. My favorite, the second Patty Freeling cartoon for Saturday morning, Super President. Oh, yes. Somebody here, one of our listeners brought it up. Wow.

Super President needs to be revived. That's the flip side. Super 6 was intentionally funny. This one was unintentionally funny. It's about the president of the United States is a superhero. He puts on a mask and his chief of staff is his sidekick. And they start and they infiltrate other countries and, you know, blow people up, you know, and he's the president. It's like they know who he is.

He says it's in his name. Just go to the White House to pick up this psychopath. By the way, Super 6 had a bitchin' theme song by Gary Lewis and the Playboys. Yep. Really? Yes, Bill. Wow. We want you to check that out.

And I'll make a segue here because I brought up Gary Lewis. And we were talking before we turned the mics on about his daddy and the cartoon. Will the real Jerry Lewis please sit down? Please sit down. Yeah. Right. And Bill, you were starting to tell us a story about that one? Jerry was very fond of that show.

I was fortunate enough to interview him several years ago. And we talked about that cartoon. I said, it was a favorite of mine. And he got very angry. And he said, the network pulled it too soon. He was very upset. And I said, yeah, that could have. And I was kidding.

And I go, that could have gone 10 or 12 years easily. He goes, maybe longer. You know, he was very upset that they pulled that cartoon. But I have a similar story. You know, when they did St that they pulled that cartoon. But I have a similar story. You know, when they did Stoney Curtis on the Flintstones, a parody of Tony Curtis, Tony Curtis found out about it and called them and said, I want to play myself.

I want to be Stoney Curtis. And he was. He did his own voice on that show. Yeah. It was Stoney Curtis and Ann Margroves. Ann Margroves. Yes. Yep. Yep.

Yep. And do you remember who the Jetsons had? They had a similar star that was parodied. Gina Lola Jupiter. Oh, my God. Bless your heart, Bill. Yeah. And now I remember a cartoon, vaguely,

and I want to see if either one of you know the title of this. I think it took place either probably in the jungle and there was a bird that sounded, it was a Jack lemon imitation. Wow. Wow. What would that have been? I think that might be Linus the lion hearted as the show.

I could be wrong. I'd have to,'d have to research it. Wow, Gilbert, that is a stumper. Yeah, that is a stumper. If these guys don't know it, it can't be known. I have my books behind me, but I don't have any. I have to look everything up. You mentioned 66, Jerry, all the superheroes.

Batman was the big thing in popular culture that year. So many superhero shows. I mean, not just the Super 6, which we talked about, and Super President. The New Adventures of Superman, using Bud Collier's voice, the old Superman from the radio. Right. And the Mighty Heroes. Oh, yeah. That was Ralph Bakshi.

Ralph Bakshi. One of his first creations sold out to CBS. He was part of the Terry Toons studio. That was also the end of the line of the Terry Toons studio. Terry Toons was the studio most famous for Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jekyll, Deputy Dog we mentioned before, and dozens of other characters that are forgotten today, unfortunately. Do you remember they tried to make the Harlem Globetrotters into superheroes?

Yes. Of course. Another one where they didn't fight guest stars on. Sure. They did a strange thing. They had a superhero show in the 60s, and one that was called the impossibles like frankenstein jr and the impossibles right those two separate cartoons on one half hour yeah and

the impossibles were like multi-man coil man coil man right fluid man fluid man and so when they decided to do the harlem globetrotters i love them well they they reused the animation so one of them was fluid man and one of them was coil it didn't make any sense and then i could be wrong about this somebody else out there will refresh my memory but i they also did like the three robotic stooges later on you remember that gilbert they also reused the animation from the impossibles for that yeah presenting frankenstein j. at the Impossibles. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, go. Impossibles, Coil Man.

He makes the scene when things look mean Impossibles Fluid Man Stays on the spot, the spot that's hot Impossibles Multiman Makes like a crowd, no crooks allowed. Impossibles, impossibles, impossibles.

I would assume there were no real stooges providing their voices. They were robotic stooges. And I remember, this is before Lugosi Jr. cracked down on it. There were those two there was Count Chocula and Frankenberry that had like Karloff and Lugosi imitations.

Frankenberry voiced by Bob McFadden. And Boo-Berry and Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy. And Boo-Berry was Peter Lorre imitation. And there wasBerry was Peter Lorre. Yeah. Imitation. And there was Quisp and Quake. And Quake, I think, was John Wayne imitation.

And Quisp was Jerry Lewis. Oh, there it is. Oh, shit. Frank is wearing a Quisp T-shirt. I'm jealous. I'll send you one. I put it on for this special episode. Here are some more superheroes, guys,

from 66, and it carried over to 67. Jerry, we were talking about Batfink and Karate. Oh, yeah. Al Seeger, Spider-Man debuted in 67 and the Fantastic Four. And from Hanna-Barbera, Birdman and the Galaxy Trio. M Hanna-Barbera, Birdman, and the Galaxy Trio,

My Tor, the Herculoids, and of course, Space Ghost. Right, which have all been immortalized by being parodied on Cartoon Network. You know, the Hanna-Barbera superheroes are pretty cool in a way. They're cool to me now. Yeah, Space Ghost was very original.

That's right, Gary Owens. And then both Abbott and Costello and the Three Stooges had cartoons made. The real Abbott was in the Abbott and Costello one. And Abbott was like,

Hey, Lou. Yeah, well, I was on first. Hey, Gilbert, I saw you on first. Hey, Gilbert, Beatrice Arthur did the voice for Ebbett and Costello? Come on. Who was it, Stu Irwin doing Lou Costello, Jerry? Yes, yes. Yeah, those are funny.

I mean, the Three Stooges ones were actually produced by that same studio that did Clutch Cargo, but they spared us the live action lips. And they had the real Moe and Larry were in it, I think. The real Moe. I think you're right. Yeah. And Curly Joe. I did not know that.

And Curly Joe, this is what drives me crazy. Yeah. Curly Joe, in one of the lawsuits, Curly Joe wound up with all the Three Stooges money. Really? I'm saying Curly Joe, I keep hearing stories like, oh, you know, on his own, he made films. He was hysterical. And I go, well, how come he didn't show any of that in the Three Stooges movie? It just looked like, oh, this

guy's fat, he's bald. All you need. If Curly Joe's middle name was Shemp, you know, think about it. Curly Shemp Moe. Yeah, everything's there. Joe Besser, you know. Here's a weird twist on the

Three Stooges. There was a cartoon in the 60s called Genie, about a young genie and her genie family, and the voices were provided by Joe Besser of the Three Stooges and Mark Hamill, who I think went on to play Luke Skywalker. Yes, he did. Yes, he did. Bill, that is good stuff. And when was this on?

In the early 60s, 64, 65. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. More like the early 70s. Oh, was it that late? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was before Star Wars. Was Mark Hamill born? Yes. No, no, no, no, no. More like the early 70s. Oh, was it that way? It was before Star Wars. Was Mark Hamill born? No, not yet.

It was the idea of Mark Hamill doing the voice. Mark Hamill is major big in voiceovers. Now he really is. He does the Joker. A wonderful job as the Joker in the animated Batman. Really good in that. Yeah. Bill, were you a Johnny Quest guy? Very much. One of my all-time Joker, a wonderful job as the Joker in the animated Batman. Really good in that.

Bill, were you a Johnny Quest guy? Very much. One of my all-time favorites. We had Tim Matheson here on the podcast. Oh, wow. Yeah. I would argue that that theme song, that jazzy riff they play at the beginning, is one of the best theme songs of all time.

Yeah. I agree. I agree. Yeah, I think Tim, if you talk to him and check out our episode with him, I mean, he has very fond memories of working. Was it Don Messick, Jerry, and all of those people? Yeah. People forget that was also a primetime series. Yeah.

That one season that it was on, it was not, again, it wasn't really aimed entirely at children. And it was not, again, it wasn't really aimed entirely at children. But it was there. Jerry, that's the strangest thing, though, is that show, and there's other shows like it that only last a season or maybe two, and yet they're just, they're in your head forever. Yeah. Part of it's because they immediately went to Saturday morning with the Jetsons and Johnny Quest and literally ran them forever

for like 10, 15 years on Saturday morning. So people grew up with those shows. You know, it's pretty incredible. Was it one season of the Jetsons recycled over and over and over again? Yes. Somewhere around 1985 or something, they wanted to syndicate them and you needed 65 episodes to syndicate. And they realized they only had like 26 episodes of the Jetsons.

So they made like another 34 or something like that. And the difference is, you know, very noticeable, you know. And there's a famous story about the time that Mel Blanc got into a car accident that nearly killed him. And it was, you know, he was at the height of his career. Yeah. And he was in a coma. Yeah. And now do you could either one of you tell that story? It's a very touching story. Well, I think what you're going for is he was in a horrible car accident. He was bandaged from head to toe. He almost almost died uh he was in a coma right uh and um uh they uh tried to revive him at the hospital i mean talking like a month you know they kept

saying mel mel mr blank mr blank and finally i think the doctor said something to him as he said bugs bunny or something like that and uh he addressed him as Bugs Bunny. And Mel, I think, responded like saying, what's up, Doc? He started, he responded in the voice of his character. And that was the beginning of him. They also recorded him in the hospital in bandages, photographs of this, doing the Flintstones, doing Bugs Bunny cartoons and Kool-Aid commercials and things.

And eventually, obviously, he recovered. By the way, I want a postscript story to that. I thought you were going for this. We were talking about the Jetsons. But George O'Hanlon, who was the voice of George, he was the star of those Joe McDowell's comedies, if you know those. And he literally died in the booth, I believe. Now, again, probably somebody is listening to say that's not exactly right. Wow.

But basically they were doing these new Jetsons. I believe he worked also on that Jetsons the movie that came out, if you remember that. It was not a big – In the 80s maybe or early 90s? Yeah, I think it was. That was like the last thing he did. And he died like right at the end. And I think he recorded either all his lines or maybe he had one or two more lines to go.

And they got somebody in to match him. But, you know, that's a case where, I mean, you know, right up to the end doing a voice like that. It's funny. It's like I think with Jan and Dean, like one of them got brain damaged. Yeah. In a car accident. Jan Barry. What they said was he had a lot of trouble talking.

He couldn't speak, but he was able to sing the songs. God, I hope that never happens with you, Gilbert. He can still do his imitations i speak for america yeah and so i think it's kind of the way with mel blank like it like a separate part of his brain had those characters wow well there's a story and jerry you can confirm or deny this but i've heard the story for years is that when they're making feature-length films, they record the older actors and actresses first just in case. You know, they just want to make sure. They do that now.

Ever since the Jetsons movie, they definitely do that. That's true about this podcast. There are a lot of famous actors, and I don't have the list. One of the readers will. But there are a lot of famous actors, and I'm talking like Leonard Nimoy, Orson Welles. Their last movie was an animated feature of some sort. If you look on IMDb, you'll see.

Orson Welles, I think it was Transformers. Yeah, I think that might have been his last movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Talk about Everett Sloan, you know. No, I hope that's true. I heard like Humphrey Bogart toward the end. He was sick. And I guess he was having trouble, you know, with his pronunciation. And they wanted to find a Humphrey Bogart impersonator to fill in certain lines.

And according to what I heard, the Humphrey Bogart impersonator was Peter Sellers. Really? Yeah. That's amazing. Wow Sellers. Really? Yeah. That's amazing. Wow. Wow, that's interesting. I know Rich Little looped David Niven in the last Panther. Oh, yeah.

Yes, I think David Niven and then later on as Clouseau. Interesting. This is from Mike Herman. He says, you guys will love Bill Leff, a great Chicago radio personality. Oh, that's so nice. It's true. We do love him. And Richie Lomano, I love Bill and I love Tune In With Me.

Please have Bill tell us one dream cartoon he would like to present on the show one day, but has not had an opportunity to. One that you don't have the rights to, I think is what they're implying. Yeah. That's a tough one. You know, there was a cartoon that has been parodied before. Does anyone remember C-Lab 2020? Sure.

Yeah. So when I was a kid, to me, that's really what the year 2020 was going to look like. I 100% bought in. And we, of course, don't look anything like that. But I always thought, oh, man, the future is going to be so great. It's just like C-Lab 2020. So I would love to run an episode or two of that.

You know, I'm sure we wouldn't be able to, but that would make me smile really big. Imagine what you could do with TuneIn if you guys got some stuff from the Hanna-Barbera library. You thought that in 2020 the world would be submerged underwater? Yes. That could never happen, could it? Uh-uh.

Because both of you were saying, when's Gilbert going to sing again? Yes. Yes. When criminals in this world appear and break the laws that face us here and frighten those who see and hear. The cry goes out for far and near for underdog, underdog, underdog, underdog. Speed of lightning, roar of thunder, frighten those who rob or blunder underdog. Beautiful.

Gilbert, first of all, amazing. Second of all, would you agree that that was one of those cases where when you saw Wally Cox, because he used to be on Hollywood Squares all the time, your brain would not accept the fact that that human being was the underdog. Yes! Right? I was like that with Alan Reed. Your brain would not accept the fact that that human being is the underdog. I was like that with Alan Reed.

He was in some movies, and every time Alan Reed would show up in a movie, he's the voice of Fred Flintstone. You'd say, there's no way. That's a real guy. He can't be a prehistoric guy. I remember when I was a kid watching The Postman Rings Twice on TV. And I remember going, wait a minute, that's Fred Flintstone. Jerry, tell us about Underdog since he brought it up. My research, it was a show created basically because a New York ad agency got the General Mills account

and they created these characters really as an excuse to sell breakfast cereal? Of course. That's absolutely what happened. NBC got all behind. It's amazing that that cartoon had a balloon in the Thanksgiving Day Parade for decades it seemed. Yes. It was produced in New York.

Total Television was the name of that studio. Total Television. That's right. I don't even know what much word to say except that I enjoyed it at the time. I really liked that show. Jerry, the same thing happened with the Sugar Bear cartoon, right? That's right. They made a cartoon. This is all leading to the fact that a few years

later there was like a major government crackdown on that sort of cartoon. But yeah, Sugar Bear was part of the Lion. Oh gosh. Linus? part of the lion. Oh gosh. Linus? Linus the Lionhearted. Right. And the whole cast of that show, two things

about that. Every one of the characters fronted their own cereal. Including the racist Hilo, who is the Chinese character for Sugar Crinkles. Oh yeah. I, I remember those.

And there was a, there was the postman for alphabets. That's right. That's right. It was all sorts of things. And the sugar bear became a superstar from that, from that show. He was a bit player, but no.

And, but the other thing about that show, if you look into it, was that the, the voice cast is unbelievable. It was like Sheldon Leonard and Carl Reiner. It's like a who's who. Which show are you talking about? I'm talking about

Linus the Lionhearted. Oh, yeah. Sugar Bear was made to sound like Bing Crosby. That's right. Very good. Here comes that singing bear again to steal my post-Sugarcrisp cereal. I'll change my house into a haunted house and scare him away forever. Granny!

Ah, haunted house. Here you are, Lancelot. Hey, Spook, come back with that post-Sugarcrisp cereal. Sugar Bear, the Sugarcrisp is in the grandfather's drawer. Thanks, Spook, come back with that post-Sugarcrisp series. Sugar, dear, the Sugarcrisp is in the grandfather's crib. Thanks, Spook, whoever you are. Easy, Batboy, I got very little flying experience. Ah, safe landing. Granny, fancy meeting you here.

I'll take that. Sugarcrisp, honey of a snack, honey-flavored wheat. That's sugar, sugar, sugar, sugary sweet. Oh, I can't get enough of that Sugarcrisp. Sugar crisp. Honey of a snack. Honey-flavored wheat. That's sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugary sweet. Oh, I can't get enough of that sugar crisp. Sugar crisp. You've got a nice thing for sugar. You can get sugar crisp in post-10s, too. Post-cereals make breakfast a little bit better. And Simon Barr Sinister on Underdog was made to sound like Lionel Barrymore. Yes, he was. Yeah.

Even had Lionel Barrymore's bushy eyebrows. Let's talk a little bit about Jay Ward, which, you know, I labored under the misconception for years, Jerry, that that that Underdog was a Jay Ward production. Yeah, I don't think they shared any designers or maybe they did. But Jay Ward was in L.A. and I jay ward was in la and uh i think the connection was general mills and the cereal remember the original uh rocky and his friends was brought to you by cheerios uh and things like that and so there was some kind of a sponsor connection to those shows in fact one of the shows um uncle waldo or Hippity Hopper, they had a special show that was a combination of Total Television cartoons and Jay Ward cartoons. So people like us could be completely confused decades later.

They had Hippity Hopper and Hoppity Hooper. Those coexisted. They did. Well, one of them was Warner Brothers and the other one was Jay Ward of some sort. And let's talk about all the people who worked on the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons. Geniuses. Yeah. Bill Scott.

Yeah. Bill Scott. Yeah. The announcer. He was a detective in a series. Oh, William Conrad was the announcer. William Conrad, yes. Yeah.

And Paul Freese. Jake and the Fat Man. Paul Freese. Paul Freese and June Foray William Conrad, yes. Yeah, yeah. And Paul Freese. Chicken the Fat Man. Paul Freese. Paul Freese and June Foray and Dawes Butler, one of the main voices on there as well. And I believe Alan Burns, I believe, who went on to do like the Mary Tyler Moore show. Yes, in fact, we just lost Alan Burns last year.

Now, was Dawes Butler the voice of Troopy Dog? He might have done it once. mostly the voice was done by an actor named Bill Thompson who most people uh might remember his voice in many many Disney features like um uh he was the Cheshire Cat oh wait wait let me get maybe hold it hold it he was no he was the uh White Rabbit in uh Alice in Wonder Wonderland. And he was a great radio actor who did a lot of stuff. But Droopy is probably his most famous part. Well, on the subject of George of the Jungle, Tom Slick, which was one of the characters, I think, on the George of the Jungle show. Yeah.

If I have this right. Yeah. Was Dawes Butler doing a crazy Guggenheim impression, Gilbert? You're not going to sing the Tom Slick song? He doesn't know Tom Slick. Tom Slick. Tom Slick. And Super Chicken. Don't forget Super Chicken. I was going to say Super Chicken.

Look at this. Jerry just pulled out his Super Chicken doll. That's to say Super Chicken. Look at this. Jerry just pulled out his Super Chicken doll. That's right. And do you remember Big Daddy Ed Roth? Sure. Of course. He designed cars. Yeah.

Yes. He designed, and there were all those weird characters. Yeah, like the model, he did a lot of model kits. I'm not sure if he was, I remember the model kits you're talking about. You're talking about like, you know. Red Baron, Pennywagon. Yeah, that kind of thing. Leaky Boat Louie was the one that I remember buying when I was a kid.

Crazy things with big bloodshot eyes. You know, anyway, that kind of thing. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast after this. Here's a segue because you're talking about wacky cars. And this is a – Bill was saying certain shows stick in your head. Wacky races. Love it. Love it.

From 1960. That's actually a pretty good show. 68. And the brilliance of Paul Wenschel is really on display in that show. He was Dick Dastardly. Yes, and the Dastardly and Muttley spinoff. But what a clever show. You know what's funny about that is that's one of those shows,

and you could also put Scooby-Doo Laugh Olympics in the same category, and there's other shows, where it was basically the same premise every single week. If you were watching Wacky Races, they had the same race every week, and yet you were glued to your TV. There was something magical about it, even though it was so repetitive. Yeah. What happened with that show, it was actually a very expensive show

because most cartoon shows in that period were trying to be as cheap as possible. And so one way to do that is to have the same characters in the same locations, like Augie Doggies, in that house they live in, and that's all they really do. And in the case of Wacky Races, they kind of painted themselves, no pun intended, into a corner

because each episode is the same, but they were in a different location. They were always somewhere else. So they had to do new layouts, new paint jobs. So it actually cost them a lot of money. They must have been furious. I remember when they used to have the Marvel

comics. Oh yeah. And those, they would have like a still picture of Spider-Man and they'd shake it around and they'd zoom the camera in and out on it. There would be no actual animation. Zero.

Dr. Eric Z, MD, medical deviant, he's one of Gilbert's favorite listeners. He says, were there any cartoons more wretched and disappointing than those Marvel Comics 60 ones where they use still images and move the camera around? Was that Grant Ray Lawrence? Grant Ray Lawrence was a studio that did TV commercials, but they didn't do anything that looked like Marvel superheroes. That was obviously done at a very, very low, low, low budget. Strangely enough, Stan Lee was very much in charge of the,

uh, the dialogue. But then again, most of the show was taken right from the comic books. Exactly. There was a lyric in the Hulk series of that where they'd say, doc, Bruce Banner jolted by gamma rays changes into the Hulk.

And then they'd say, ain't he unglamorous. Yeah. I don't even think that's a word. It rhymes. It rhymeslamorous? Yeah. And I don't even think that's a word. It rhymes. It rhymes, sort of, yeah. One of the great things you can ever see, and I love, I actually, you know, I love those cartoons. Those theme songs are great, though.

Those theme songs are great. And the guy who wrote them, I think his name is Jack Airbon. Jack Airbon. That's right. And the only reason I know that is because he put out a video. It's fantastic. Yes. Of him singing each song.

Yes, on YouTube. And he sings them with such reverence. You know, like you say, Doc Bruce Banner. I mean, he loves every word. When Captain America throws his mighty shield. All those who chose to oppose his shield must yield. I wonder if Jack Urbant is still with us. I don't know.

I don't know. Yeah. Let me plow through some of these. 16, now we're moving through the year. 69 was the debut of the Pink Panther. On TV. Jerry. Yeah, on TV. Yeah. With our friend John Biner doing both the Ant and the Artvark. We had John here. It's also

the year Sid and Marty got into the act with Puffin Stuff. Oh, I love that show, actually. It's moving into live action stuff. We had them on this show as well, and boy, oh boy, are they fun. Can I tell you something really quick about John Beiner? The other night I watched on HBO, there's a documentary about Super Dave Osborne. Yeah, it was great. Bob Einstein.

Really good. So he's in that. John Beiner's in that because one of uh bob einstein's first jobs was working for uh uh for um john beiner bizarre yeah and for bizarre yeah yeah yeah so the thing i wanted to bring up was they're talking about where did bob einstein's genius come from and albert brooks says i think it's from looney tunes he goes if you watch dave uh super dave osborne a lot of his moves and cuts are exactly like Looney Tunes. That's fascinating.

Yeah. That's actually fascinating. I think there's something to it. It may very well be. Here's a couple other ones. Let's see. From 70. Now, Jerry, my research was that

parents groups were complaining about parents groups were complaining about violence by 1970, which led to a phasing out of superhero and action theme shows. And that year we got Sabrina the Teenage Witch and the Groovy Ghoulies.

The Bugaloos from Sid and Marty. Yeah, loved it. That was hot. Josie and the Pussycats. Yeah, I liked that one. One that Gilbert pleasured himself to. And a personal favorite of this show, Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp. Yes. And Mata Hari, his girlfriend. With Dayton Allen doing a Bogart impression.

Oh, yeah, right. Yeah. That's above my pay grade. So I can't comment on that. There was also one right around that era called Electro Woman and Dyna Girl. Oh, yeah. Sure, you bet. That was hot, too.

Yeah. You bet. 1970 brought, let's see, the debut of Will the Real Jerry Lewis Please Sit Down, which we talked about, with David Lander, Squiggy providing Jerry's voice. And then in 71, Bill brought up Funky Phantom, which had Mickey Dolenz in the cast. He did a lot of those. And Don Messick and Dawes Butler. The debut of the Jackson 5 cartoon, Gilbert.

Yes. Our friend Sally Struthers in the Pebbles and Bam Bam show. She was Pebbles. Yes. She told us she used to goose Jay North while they were doing the shows. And Butch Patrick in Lidsville with Charles Nelson Riley. And Jerry, Chuck Jones hosted a live-action education show that year called Curiosity Shop. Yeah.

Was he on screen? He was definitely the producer of that show. Maybe he's produced it. He was actually in charge of the whole Saturday morning lineup that year, believe it or not. Unbelievable. Very strange. And 72 gave us the Osmonds and the Brady Kids. Everybody was waiting for those.

Sure. And, Bill, you got it. Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan. Oh, yeah. There you go. How about that? That's when I started to lose interest. I hung in there for the Smurfs, you know, but that's about it.

Frank, what you just said reminded me of something. This is the funniest thing my brother Adam has ever said in his life. We would every Saturday morning, we would never miss Scooby-Doo. And you know how ridiculous Scooby-Doo is. And then when Scrappy-Doo was added to the cast, my brother stopped watching and I asked him why. And he goes, because now that Scrappy-Doo is on the show, it's kind of fakey. watching and I asked him why and he goes, because now that Scrappy-Doo is on the show,

it's kind of fakey. Jerry, talk a little bit about meeting Bill and Joe, because we both met them, Hannah and Barbera. I had the luxury and the pleasure of spending two days with them and I sang the Banana Splits theme in Joe's office. And that's what got you thrown out. Yes. After he wanted to throw me out. But is there a Jack Nicholson story?

Yes, after he wanted to throw me out. But is there a Jack Nicholson story? Yeah, well, most people don't know that Jack Nicholson's first job in the motion picture industry was as a gopher at the MGM studio for Bill and Joe and the cartoon unit in roughly 1955, 1956. That's great. 1956 is when the studio completely closed, and then Hanna-Barbera went into TV cartoons. 1956 is when the studio completely closed and then Hanna-Barbera went into TV cartoons. Nicholson went into AIP Westerns and movies and Bill and Joe built their TV career. So when I one time interviewed Bill and Joe, I was talking to them.

I said, do you have any, did you ever run in and all of this time, Jack Nicholson's become a big movie star. This was about 20 years ago or more that I talked to them. And I said, do you ever run into him at like an industry function or something? Do you guys communicate? I just wondered what, if any, relationship, you know, why didn't Jack Nicholson show up on Scooby-Doo? But he said that one day. Or at least Dennis Hopper. One day, so Joe said, one day he was sitting at the Director's Guild in LA

waiting for some screening of a movie to come on and coming in in the row right in front of him and sitting right in front of him was Jack Nicholson. And he tapped him on the shoulder and he said something like, you know, hey boy or something like that. And Nicholson literally turned around and said, can I get you a Coke, Mr. Barbera?

You know, and that's my story. That's great. Did you know Beverly D'Angelo was a storyboard artist at Hanna-Barbera? Really? I did not know that. Very early in her career? I did not know that. She told us on this show.

It's true. Hanna-Barbera, they worked in the same building, but they had separate flaws and wouldn't speak to each other. I don't think they hated each other. I think they just had different personalities. I mean, to be honest, I think they just they just were not people who are going to be best friends, you know, off camera, so to speak. But, yeah, there's there's a little bit of Fred Nethel there. Yeah. Joe's a wonderful character.

Gene Beretta, can you guys talk a little bit about old cartoon hosts that showed up in local markets? We did that before. I can't remember names, but Philly had one for the Three Stooges cartoons and they even threw in some Doodles Weaver shorts. Oh yeah. Bill, I heard you eulogizing on one of your shows

Tom Hatton out of L.A. Yeah. Who's another person worth mentioning? You know, there was a time where I don't know, you might have had 30, 40, 50 of these hosts from coast to coast. More times than not, it was a localized show. It didn't run nationally. So only people in that particular city would know them. But it was commonplace for every major city had one or two or sometimes three of them. Yeah, and Tom Hatton was an actor. He was an artist, and he apparently, I think most of these hosts, I could say the same thing,

based on the ones I've met, he really loved these cartoons. I mean, they loved these things, and they knew about them, and they knew a little bit of the history, and they would tell the kids, you know, about what they were and who they are. That reminds me of when you were saying before a lot of these older TV cartoons you couldn't pitch today.

But I keep thinking about Popeye. Imagine that, walking into Nickelodeon and trying to pitch, you know, a 40-year-old, you know, grizzled guy with one eye, punched clothes. He's got a pipe in his mouth because he's smoking. I mean, anyway, you'd never be able to get that on the air. Well, He's got a pipe in his mouth because he's smoking. I mean, anyway, you'd never be able to get that on the air. Well, he's got a tattoo. You wouldn't be able to get, you wouldn't be able to get any punches people. You know, you know, Bill, when I watch those cartoons and, and I know that one of the things you wanted to talk about was sort of the decline of the, of the quality and the decline of the quality of the art and the production. When you watch some of those Fleischer cartoons that you guys show on the show,

they're beautiful to look at. I am stunned. They're slices of heaven. Oh, they're just perfect. And there's so much going on in every part of the frame. There's no downtime in any of these cartoons. And, you know, it's little things. I'll use this as an example.

If Popeye's driving a car and he hits a bump he pops up way in the air and then he lands back in the car and he keeps on driving there's just those little details that as animation has progressed i will use that word incorrectly right they wouldn't show that anymore it's a waste of time just get from point a to point b get them there that's it right and there was something kind of like nightmarish about the Fleischer ones. Yes. A little disturbing. There was.

They were the anti-Disney intentionally, I think, back then. They were produced in New York City, in Times Square, believe it or not, the Fleischer studio, whereas Disney was in sunny California. It was two different points of view. The Fleischers were very streetwise. And I remember hearing Betty Boop originally was a girl

dog. And then they changed her to a girl, but the boyfriend they kept as a dog. So this girl was going out with a dog. Sure.

What's more New York than that? I can't remember which one it was, Bill, but it's Popeye winds up underwater. He's trapped underwater. And the animation is just beautiful. Yeah. The bubbles. And the detail. And when you watch those old Fleischer Supermans,

you can't believe the amount of effort and craftsmanship. Well, they really, they were, Superman was a big fad, you know, in 1938, 39, 40, 41. It was one of the biggest things in the country. It had a radio show almost the next year, 39, for the next 10 or 15 years. They had a big radio show, which later became the movie serials and the TV shows. Superman was just a gigantic character that we don't even know, as big as Superman still is, we don't grasp how big of a character he was. He literally started the comic book business. So when there was a bidding war for the rights to Superman

in the movies, I wish they had made a live action movie back then, but they ended up with Paramount, a big studio, Paramount Pictures, bought at great expense, gave the Superman character to the Fleischer studio. The Fleishers were in the midst of doing Gulliver's Travels, their feature film. They were competing with Disney. When those cartoons came out in 41, the first one, to me, that's the golden age. They talk about 1939 for feature films. 1941, 42 for

animated cartoons. Every studio is at the top of their game. Amazing stuff. I'm very proud to say, as of yesterday, we at TuneIn with Me have the rights to the flasher superman cartoons and we'll be showing them on our show so that's one announcement very happy wonderful news you're making we're making news here and the funny thing getting back to betty boop

how sexual that cartoon was very much so yeah i mean it was amazing. I remember this one where she's doing like a striptease on stage or something. And the audience is made up of animals. Right. And they're all hooting and hollering. You know how animals are. That's very New York. I mean, those were pre-code. I mean, most of the hot Betty Boop cartoons,

Betty's reputation are from the ones from 1930 through 33 or 34. Then the production code came in. They had to clean up her act. They gave her a grampy and a little dog named Pudgy, and she became very domesticated. But before that, the cartoons are pretty hot. But look at in Popeye, Jerry, they've never really said where Sweepy's origin is.

We know that Owlboyle's his mom, but the father is a little, you know, bleary. I don't even know if I couldn't I couldn't confess to knowing that Olive Oil's his mom. I don't even know if that's been established. Maybe. Yeah. He's a foundling. There's a point in some tune in with me episodes, Bill, where you'll you'll you'll just stop and talk about things like memory, wonderful memories, things like Lincoln logs. Yes. You know, is is is that kind of an excuse for you to talk about things that you're in love with, things from your personal collection? You know, some of the writers said we do a thing on Friday called Fantastic Friday and Fridays are paced differently than the rest of the week. Because on Friday, we said we want the show to be more the decision of the viewers.

Like you pick the cartoons, you write us some letters, and we'll read you the letters. And one of the writers suggested, because of my collection, every Friday bring in something from the collection based on what the people want to see. So people write in and they say, do you have any monster collectibles? Or I used to watch this cartoon or this show. Do you have anything? Please bring it in. And people have loved it. You know, it's a lot of, again, it's a memory from your childhood. Oh, I had that as a kid, or I wanted that when I was a boy or a girl and he's got it. Let's take a look at it. So it's fun. That, that Aurora set, the Aurora monster set that, that, that I had, that of those really oh man really so i got the display

i used to see this when i was a kid and there was a shopping center near me called ford city and the the pennies the jc pennies had this in their toy department it was this dungeon and then all the monsters were set up in the dungeon you couldn't buy the dungeon it was just for a display but i looked for it and i looked for it and I looked for it, and I looked for it, and I finally got it. It's one of my favorite pieces. Next time you come back, we'll go through the collection. Oh, and remember when the Aurora monster models

made the monsters in cars? Yes. Yes. Boy, was that a ripoff. Yes, it was. Yes, it was. Yes, it was. Here's another question from a listener, David C. Smith. Can Jerry or Bill tell us about the wonder of Synchrovox?

Well, Synchrovox was the patented technique of that studio that did Clutch Cargo and Space Angel and Captain Fathom. They had actually several of these shows. That's the still picture drawing with live action lips. And that was their innovation. Every cartoon producer of the 1950s, when TV suddenly started paying for some animation, they were doing a big race to who can do the cheapest thing. The producers wanted to produce

the cheapest possible cartoons because the money wasn't really there. And so almost every studio had their own crazy, wacky idea of what to do. And that included things like, you know, just farming out animation to other countries and, you know, just all sorts of things. But Synchrovox, well, my good friend,

she's still alive. She's in her 90s, Margaret Carey. She's an actress. I can go on and on about her career. She's been on everything, including the Andy Griffith Show when she was younger. And she was on The Lone Ranger. She was in the original The Old Rascals in very small parts. And she was also the actress model for Peter Pan for the Disney studio and many other credits. And she married a guy who was in the TV business and he was interested in producing cartoons. And they came up with this crazy idea. And she was the one, she would sit in this chair,

bolted in like an electric chair, where they'd photograph her mouth for all the characters. So it's a it's a woman's mouth on Clutch Cargo, even if it was a male dubbing in the actor. And it's she's the voice of any female. She's the woman in those Three Stooges cartoons. Remember, they those start off and ended with live action action new footage of the Three Stooges? Yes, yeah. Remember that? Yeah. And if there's ever a scene where they're going out to eat or they're visiting the dentist, if there's ever a woman in any of those, and there's usually only one woman, it's Margaret Carey because she was the producer's wife.

And she told me all about doing that stuff and she's living still in Florida. People in animation seem to live forever. Ruthie Thompson, the Disney animator, just died at 111? Wow. Unbelievable. Do you guys remember on Clutch Cargo at the beginning they'd say, Clutch Cargo with his pal

Spinner and Paddlefoot. And I'd always say sure, that's believable. A grown man would pal around with a five-year-old boy and his dog. Why wouldn't he? Of course. I get it. Bill, before we get out of here, let's shout out some of your colleagues

on Tune In with me. And it's a show that's clearly a valentine to the past and a labor of love like this podcast. Kevin Fleming, Mr. Quizzer, and I love his extra long Jean Rayburn mic. Yes. Isn't that great? And Layla, Layla's, how should I say it? Layla Gorstein. Layla Gorstein and anybody else

deserving of kudos for bringing this show to life every week. It's such a fun little party. I have to say I've been blessed and given a couple of cast members and certainly all the people behind the scenes who are just so passionate about their work and so good at what they do. And it really it's one of those jobs that you pinch yourself and you go, I can't believe I'm doing this because this is just so much fun. And hopefully that carries over. But, yeah, the two people you just mentioned are certainly forces to be reckoned with in this business. They're both going to go on to very big things in their careers. I'm positive. It's a fun show.

And I also want to shout out Mike Schmiedler. Am I saying his name right? Yeah. Mike Schmiedler is the showrunner and our producer and director, and he does an amazing job. And Brenda Lowry, who pulled this whole thing together and was extreme and had the patience of a saint as she waited me out and waited out the holidays.

And, and I'm really glad we finally put this one together and Gilbert and I are suckers for anybody in a gorilla suit. Yes. By the way, what is, who is spent toony? I did not see the spent toony episode.

All right. So spent toony is our tribute to our friend Sven Gulli, who, who also taped a show here at me TV. So, uh, Sven, our toony,

our tuna fish on the show is an admirer of his and does his own horror show called spent MeTV. So, Tooney, our tuna fish on the show, is an admirer of his and does his own horror show called Sven Tooney. Makes perfect sense. Oh, and what can you tell us about Mae Questel? Mae Questel? Yeah, she was a great... What a great voice.

Fantastic. What a career. She was in Funny Girl, and wasn't she in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, I think? I think she was. What a great voice. Fantastic. What a career. She was in Funny Girl. Wasn't she in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, I think? I think she was. She was in New York Story. Lydia Allen's movie.

That's right. That's right. I mean, and she was Aunt Bluebell or whatever for the paper towels in the 60s. Anyway, she was great. She was a performer who did that act, you know, that same Helen Kane act and got the gig and it lasted her whole life. She was Betty Boop in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Yeah. You know that obviously the last thing she did. But she was also a little Audrey in all those cartoons. She was olive oil, obviously. Um, uh, and on and on and on. Um, uh, I met her once, a sweetheart, a wonderful person. And, uh, you know, uh, I, I love watching

for her or hearing her voice. She's in a lot of old commercials too. So, um, uh, Jerry, you met, you met everybody in this business and, and tell us before we get out of here, tell us one thing about the great Chuck Jones or Clampett or Bob Clampett. Two guys you knew. Two legends. They were real people. They were people whose names I knew and grew up with seeing their names on. And you knew Frizz Freeling, too. Yeah, yeah.

I got to meet Frizz in his condo in L.A. No, they were great. They were real. Clampett was one of us. That's the thing that I got. Not that the other guys weren't, but Clampett was a fan of animation, cartooning. He loved what he did himself, but he collected all the artwork at the studio and kept it. I love that he did that.

I don't have any funny stories. I think they're just great, great guys. They all, you know, they all had different egos about what they were doing. I think one of the things that made the Warner cartoons great was they were kind of all competing with themselves. You know, they didn't get the feedback that we get, the instant feedback. Today we have, you know, Facebook and Twitter and all of that. They barely got fan mail back in those days. They were making these cartoons because they wanted to make

themselves or their companions laugh. Always a good place to start. Yeah. Yeah. When creating comedy. Okay. Last question before we go back to Gilbert. And let me, this is a bit of a cliched question, but one desert island cartoon for each of you. God. That you have to take with you and watch over and over and over. Gilbert, do you want to chime in as well? Oh. Would it be bugs trying to dig Elmer's grave?

Yeah, I guess. Well, I do like, and even though Bugs is the old Bugs Bunny, the freakish one, I like the one because I love the closing title, the closing line, because it's supposed to be that elmer fudd goes crazy or something and they keep telling him now repeat after me i am elmer j fudd millionaire i own a mansion and a yacht and then they do something where they switch them and the uh these guys go which one of you is elmer j fudd and bugs bunny goes i am elmer j fudd millionaire i own a mansion and a yacht and they say well we're putting you away for owing uh the tax department millions of dollars and elmer fudd at the end says i may be a screwy wabbit but i ain't

going to alcatraz what what cartoon is that jerry oh finally i'm getting stumped i know it's off top my head it's frizz freeling and directed it is freeling and it's great it's one of those cartoons that the title has nothing to do with the plot. Yeah. There's many of those. Try to tell me, like, a Roadrunner cartoon. None of the titles have anything to do with those. I'm going to jump in. Kind of like the titles of most Three Stooges. That's true.

I'm going to jump in, too, here and make a cliché choice. I'm all about clichés tonight. And pick One Froggy Evening. That's a good one. I'm a Chuck Jones guy and to me the timing, the deadpan, everything about that cartoon

clicks. It's a symphony. Yeah, I agree. Oh, by the way, I just found it really fast. It's Hairbrush. Hairbrush, Gil. He happens to have that at his fingertips. I happen to have it, yes. Jerry, you're a miracle man.

Here's something else. I heard the studio put all their money into Mr. Bugs Goes to Town. Okay. Mr. Hoppity Goes to Town or Mr. Bugs? Maybe it was Mr. Hoppity. All right. Allow me to straighten it out. Okay.

It's a Fleischer studio. It's the second animated feature they made after Gulliver's Travels. Paramount put a lot of money because Gulliver made a fortune. They put a lot of money in their next feature, which was a came out in America as Mr. Bug goes to town. It was supposed to be like a Frank Capra film. That was the idea of it. And it was released around the world as Hoppity goes to town.

And it's still in circulation that way. The film is great. It's actually a great Fleischer. If BTV ever runs features, you should definitely seek this film. Paramount owns it, and they restored it recently. And the thing about it was it's a very good film. It just happened to have the misfortune of being released, like, on December 6th, you know, 1941, like the day before Pearl Harbor. And so nobody cared anymore. You know, it's like Pearl Harbor Day, the world's going to war, and this movie tanked.

It was playing with, you know, Hopalong Cassidy movies. It was a double bill, you know, in about a month. playing with Hopalong Cassidy movies is a double bill in about a month. So, and it was kind of forgotten for years and decades later, but it was shown on TV a lot when we were kids. And it's pretty inspirational to a lot of people, actually. So movie worth seeking out.

There you go, Gil. Okay, you guys aren't getting off the hook. What's your single desert island cartoon? Jerry, go ahead. I know it's impossible, Jerry, but humor me. Yeah, I know. It is impossible. For me, I love so many of the cartoons.

Quite frankly, that first Superman cartoon, well, I think I was going to give you a Bugs Bunny, but you know what? I'm going to go with that first Superman cartoon, the one with him and a mad scientist and the electro-thunasia ray and has a big ray gun, a death ray, cartoon the one with him and a mad scientist and the like the electro thunasia ray and uh has a big ray gun a death ray and it's a little corny here and there there's a the building kind

of moves like butter it kind of falls and superman has to has to erect it up again but um the animation in it is fantastic the one of the best things in it is the musical score in that film when they play it on me tv just listen to the music on that film. I know the one you mean. It's just amazing. It's the first one. So they actually draw the character to look a little bit like the Siegel and Schuster comics of the day before they standardized his model and all that. And it's a little mini feature film.

By the way, here's a real ridiculous trivia question or answer. It's the only cartoon, short cartoon ever, at least back then, I don't think anybody's ever done it since, that they actually made a trailer. They made a trailer for the Superman cartoon for the first one. That's incredible. It played in movie theaters. It's online. Somebody found it. And it's – no, Disney never did that. That's pretty crazy. But that's how big Superman was. They wanted people to know.

You've got to see this. That's a great choice, by the way. It's a great answer to the question. Okay, William, William Leff. Yeah, that's me. All right. Did you know that William is his first name and his middle name? No.

All right. It isn't really. I was joking around on the show once, and I said. I bought it. We said that my mom got to pick my first name, and my dad got to pick my middle name, and they both like the same name. And I said it as a joke, and then it was all over the Internet. Can't trust that goddamn Internet. It's the worst.

All right. the internet. Can't trust that goddamn internet. Oh, it's the worst. All right. So for me, this is very, very obscure, but about 30 years ago, England, not everyone in England, but the animators of England made a movie called The Snowman, which is about 25 or 30 minutes. It's an animated short called The Snowman. And for the reasons that were just mentioned about the score, the music is stunning. It's just a beautiful piano playing throughout. There's little to no dialogue in the entire cartoon. It's just about a kid and a snowman. And it's so touching and moving.

And the music just makes you so emotional. It's flawless. I've seen it so many times and I just love it. Good answer. You're waving it. I know it. It's my wife's favorite cartoon. Good answer.

I believe it was made in England. Yeah. Raymond Briggs was made in England. Yeah. Raymond Briggs is the cartoonist and in animation circles, it's considered a classic too. Yeah. It's so good. And what did the two of you think of Fantasia? Well,

well, I love Fantasia. Now I think when I saw it, when I was like nine, I bored me out of my skull, you know, at the time, but I've grown to love it.

I actually show it in my animation history class that I teach, and I show it every year to my students. And it's a tour de force. It's an amazing thing. There's a big story behind Fantasia that we won't waste our time with here. But Disney had bigger plans. It wasn't just going to be the way you see it. It was going to be roadshowed in a very special way.

It was the first film to use stereo, stereophonic soundtrack. And it's a masterpiece of animation. It's not commercial. And it was a flop. It was Disney's first big flop in its day. But it made its money back in the psychedelic 60s when they, you know, they reissued it as a head picture, get stoned and watch this. And it made a fortune. And that's been, you know, considered one of the great Disney classics ever since.

But it's it's it's is there a specific question about it? Because the whole film is good. Gilbert likes to keep the show going seven times after I say. As we wind down, I just want to say one thing here, guys, and I think you'll agree with me on this. Let's all take a moment to praise and remember the work and the talents of these great

artists who gave us decades and decades of pleasure and happiness. Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, Fritz Freeling, Tex Avery, Paul Terry, Bill Hannett and Joe Barbera, Jay Ward, Max and Dave Fleischer, Bill Scott, June Foray, Doug Wildey, Jack Mercer, we'll throw Sid and Marty in there, Mel Blank, Dawes Butler, Don Messick, Paul Freese,

Carl Stalling, Hoyt Curtin, throw in Gary Owens and Paul Winchell, and the list could go on and on and on. But these are people that help make our lives so much more enjoyable as kids. I think we're really indebted to them for the gifts they gave us. Would you agree? No question.

Those are just giants among giants, every one of those names you mentioned. And a lot of times, you know, as a kid, maybe you don't pay special attention to the credits. They just kind of fly by. But take some moment to just enjoy the people who made them for you. Yeah, look them up. Do the research. It's rewarding. And final question, is Iago the greatest animated character in the history of Disney?

In the history. Yep, absolutely. Yes, no question. There you go, Gil. Nothing but honesty from these two. Yes. Now, if you had mentioned the character in Thumbelina, that would be different.

What about Jerry the belly button elf that he played on Ren and Stimpy? Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. And Digit the Bird and Cyber Chase. Okay. All amazing. Gil, you were

up here and now you're down here. The producers of the Beatles cartoons are calling. Guys, come back and we'll do more another time. Excellent. Anytime. Bill wanted to talk about the old Friday night primetime preview shows that they don't do anymore. The fall previews will do that next time. And we'll get into a lot of other stuff.

But this was a blast. And it's just fun to remember. It is. Thank you so much, guys. This was so much fun. Thank you. Thank you for all you've done. This has been Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast with my co-host, Frank Santopadre.

And we've joined Jerry Beck and Bill Lepp in our time machine back to the golden age of Saturday morning TV. Gilbert, that was a lovely closer. See? I'm not stupid. I'm smart. Not like what people say. I'm smart. A movie turning 50 in a couple of weeks, by the way.

Really? How about that? We're going to have to do a Godfather episode. Take us out with a little Roger Ramjet reprise. Where Roger Ramjet and his eagles fighting for our freedom. We fly with him through outer space not to join him but to feed him. Roger Ramjet, he's our man, hero of our nation. For more adventures, just make sure to stay tuned to this station.

Beautiful. Good night, everybody. La, la, la, la, la. Tra-la-la, la-la-la-la. Tra-la-la, la-la-la-la. Tra-la-la, la-la-la-la. One banana, two banana, three banana, four.

Four bananas make a bunch and so do many more. Over hill and highway, the banana bunnies go. Coming up to bring you the banana split show. Making up a mess of fun. Making up a mess of fun. Lots of fun for everyone. Tra la la, la la la la.

Tra la la, la la la la. Tra la la, la la la la Tra la la, la la la la Tra la la, la la la la Tra la la, la la la la Tra la la, la la la la Tra la la, la la la la Tra la la, la la la la Four banana, three banana, two banana, one Four banana, three banana, two banana, one All bananas playing in the bright warm sun

Flipping like a pancake, popping like a corn Flingle, bingo, to the right, snort Flingle, bingo, to the right, snort. Tra-la-la, la-la-la-la.