Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - GGACP Rewind: Episode #37: Chuck McCann

Episode Date: May 11, 2026

As a young boy growing up in Queens, New York, Chuck McCann worshipped stars like Stan Laurel, Buster Keaton and Groucho Marx, and within a few years, he would find himself befriending (or working with) all of them. Gilbert and Frank phoned Chuck (one of THEIR childhood heroes) to talk about his unusual and unlikely journey from obsessed fan to celebrated screen, stage and voice performer and beloved kiddie show host. Also: Chuck hitches a ride on Hugh Hefner’s jet, inspires Billy Crystal, writes a part for John Carradine and co-stars in a legendary TV flop. Plus: Hal Roach! Tim Conway! Chuck and Groucho hawk deodorant! Mae West “works” the docks! And Chuck asks Gilbert for a lollipop!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is Gilbert Gottfried. Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast. I'm here with my co-host Frank Santopatra. You know, when I was a kid, I used to come home from school and watch the kid shows, like Soupy Sales, Sandy Becker, Officer Joe Bolton, and of course the wonderful Chuck McCann. Frank and I gave Chuck a call to talk about those old. his work and TV commercials and his friendships with legends like May West, Groucho Marx, Buster Keaton, and Stan Laurel. So enjoy our conversation with one of the people who shaped my childhood, the great Chuck McCann.

Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and this is Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast. I'm here with my co-host, Frank San Francisco. Pato-Padre, and this week's guest is a true Renaissance man. He's an actor, comedian, voiceover artist, puppeteer, and kid show host. In a career spanning seven decades, he's worked with Steve Allen, Dick Van Dyke, Alan Arkin, Bob Newhart, John Caradine, Hannah Barbera, and Rodney Dangerfield. And the list goes on. He's voiced iconic TV characters, starred in hundreds of commercials

and appeared in movies like foul play, Robin Hood, Men in Tights, and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Please welcome to the show, a man of many talents, the legendary Chuck McCann. Oh, boy. Gilbert.

My buddy. I were you in New York? Yes. We're in Chelsea. Oh, God. Went 3,000 miles away. I just want to give you a big hug. Oh, okay.

Here it comes, Gilbert. There you know. How are you, babe? Chuck, good to talk to you, buddy. Oh, it's good to talk to anybody. Tell us, you're from right here. You're from Brooklyn. and Queens area?

I was born in Brooklyn. What part? I was born, I was born at St. Bethany Deacon's Hospital. And wherever that was. Anyway, but I then moved to, my father moved to Masspef, Long Island, which was in Queens, but not far from Brooklyn. It was just over the, we were just over the, thing and my grandmother lived there.

And that was Ridgewood, Queens, NASPeth. Sure, I'm from Ozone Park. You know where that is, sir? Yes, I know it very well. I had lots of family there. Frank and I were talking when we were putting this together that both of us watched you,

grew up watching you on TV. Oh, that's so sweet, man. Well, I grew up on TV, you know, but I was at the same. studio. I started. My father was at the Roxy Theater, which was a big movie presentation house. A lot of people don't know what that is, a presentation house. But in those days, we had great theater. We had colossal movie theaters like the Radio City Music Hall, which still has their stage show. And that's the only one that survived.

And that only survived because there was a law that you couldn't tear it down. It was, first of all, if you'll notice Radio City Musical doesn't have a building over it. And the reason that the theaters were all torn down, I believe, was the fact that movie theaters had a flammable film in the original, you know, when they first were created. And they didn't want to have big office buildings over something that could catch fire. That's interesting. Yes. Never heard that theory. They weren't allowed to build over these theaters.

Theaters went down, like the Capitol and the Paramount and all those wonderful theaters in New York that had shows. Every one of them had big presentation shows. So you would go in there for a book. of a quarter or a dollar $1.20 that was the top of gold price kids would go in there for 50 cents and you would see a movie

first class movie a cartoon or newsreel and a stage show now the Paramount am I am I talking too much no no you're to you're this is good stuff no no I I fell asleep a while ago

Shake them every once in a while, will you, Frank? Oh, God. Oh, here well. So you were performing in those theaters at a very young age, didn't you? The age of seven. Yeah. Well, my dad was the arranger, a musical arranger at the Roxy. Your dad was Val McCann.

Right. And he was a musician. and an arranger, and he conducted a lot of music with different bands and stuff. And he also played violin and trombone and piano, and anything else he picked up. So he was a all-around music, professional musician. Do you remember the first time you got up on stage and what you did? Yes, I do. one of the first memories of getting up on stage in front of a full audience was in grammar school

and I was in around I was probably in the fifth grade or you know like mid midway and I got up and Arthur Godfrey was very popular at that time and I did an impression of Arthur Goddard at the age of six well you know we talked about Arthur Godfrey on other episodes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, you got to meet a bunch of your heroes. I mean, not only Arthur Godfrey, but you befriended Buster Keaton and, of course, the great Stan Laurel.

Absolutely, yeah. That Buster was, in fact, I'm looking, I'm sitting in my living room, looking at the chair that Buster sat in on many, many a movie, and it was his director's chair, you know, was and it's signed by him and it's got his name on the back and it's in my living room under a beautiful silent camera. I have a little homage to Buster. This is something that struck me odd with Buster Keaton films is everyone knows he directed them, but yet they have other directors listed.

Well, because a lot of times. he directed his his his he directed all of his business all of the this the tremendous falls and stuff like that had to be worked out and only worked out by him he would he would he would uh he would take these tremendous uh falls and leaps across things he was a very athletic guy but raised as a a boy performed by his family and he was called the human broom when he was a kid he had his suit had shown in the back by the collar a handle was shown into the suit so that his father could pick him up swing him around and throw him out into the audience now oftentimes he'd land in the in the in the orchestra pit and Some of those were pretty deep. But he would hang on to the railings and stuff like that.

But he was, he said to me one day, we were doing a show together. I think it was Gary Moore. And am I talking too much? Not at all, Chuck. Okay. When you say hello, it's talking to me. Oh, how well I know. Oh, God.

Gilded, my love. Oh, I miss you, man. Are you friendly at all with the actor James Caren? Chuck? Because he was a lifelong friend of Buster Keats. Oh, yeah. Yeah, Jimmy Cairn. We had him on the show.

He told us some great. And James Caren, we talked about, but if you can mention it, too, where he got the name Buster from? You know, you know, I don't know that. story. Joe, I've just forgotten him momentarily. Harry Houdini.

Oh, okay. He said you should call that kid buster. Oh, that's great. Now, I didn't,

I didn't know that, you know, Gilbert. Now, why did they call a busser? Because he threw him around a lot of them. Yeah, he got busted up.

Oh, I see. Yeah. Now, he told me one day, we're on a show. Can I tell you this little story?

No. Okay. I should never ask Gilbert anything. Hey Gilbert, can I have a lollipop? No, I'm sorry. Did you eat them all again? Anyway, so I looked at Buster and we were doing this sketch on the,

I think it was Gary Marshall. And he was supposed to go with a pizza. he was making pizza and he was going to fly through the oven he had this oven cut out. During rehearsal he would do it several times and sliding

onto a table and he had a ribbon that was being held to represent the oven door and so it was he would do the sketch to bake the pizza

and all of the bits that went before and then he would take it and put it on the pizza tray and run from one end of the stage and the other end and fly through this little teeny pizza oven door. And there was a table on the other side that he would slide through with it. Well, one day on the dress rehearsal, he misses it. and he got so upset. And what happened when he hit the table wrong, I know he did because I could see it vibrate, and it never did that before.

So I went out into the audience, and he was bending over, and I looked down, and the skin on his leg, on both legs, were actually folded down. over the bone and he was putting a ace bandage wrapping it around to keep the skin up. Wow.

And I mean, it was really horrendous looking and I said, let me get the nurse and he grabbed me and I could still feel the, I mean, his hand, his grip was like unbelievable and he said, Hey Chuck, sit down, sit down. He said, if you go back there and tell them that I've hurt myself doing that, he said, the producers will take this right out of the sketch right out of the show. And he said, don't you dare. He said, just remember that. They do that. So I said, okay.

And he said, don't worry. Next time, I'll clear it. And I know what I did wrong. and he got up and on the air I was watching it and I was standing backstage and he comes flying across

through the opening and I'm at the other end of the table and he comes through sliding turns around and he jumps off the table and he said now that's how you do it I mean he was just unbelievable it's just one of the great

performance of all time when I get a comedy wise and sidewise you know When I get a cold, I cancel all my jobs. I know. You look at those old films and you look at it. It was the one where the house falls on him, and he's standing, is it one week?

Yeah. And it's just, it's miraculous. I mean, Harold Lloyd was impressive doing those kinds of stunts in his own right. But the things that Keaton worked out, when you watch Sherlock Jr. in some of those films, you can't believe the choreography and the planning that went into. them. He really was a genius. He was. And he, you know, they were all worked out. I mean, they weren't just accidental. I mean, he would, he would rehearse for days on, on different things, you know.

Was Buster Keaton angry till the last years of his life or bitter? Well, what? I don't think so. People have said that. I'd never seen any angry anger in him. I saw a disappointment. and I saw when comedy kind of went to hell of a handbasket and when television came in

that they didn't use it more I saw a lot of disappointment in his wife was so wonderful I mean she kept everything going I have his hat

you know she Melanor Eleanor his wife used to make all of his hats and so she would take a pador and then cut it down, and that's how he flatten the brim and flat the pork pie. That's great.

You know, you're our second guest to own one of Buster Keaton's hats. James Cairn is the other. I am quite sure, Gilbert, your next guest will be Buster with a hat for you. Now, what was his feelings about everyone,

always compares and has arguments, oh, Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin, which is a crazy argument. Two totally different animals. Yeah, absolutely. But they feel like if they like Buster Keaton, they're supposed to hate Chaplin, you know, it's... No, no, no.

It's totally different. And like Stan, you know, was Charlie's... Stan Laurel was Charlie's best friend over in England, and they came over together. with Fred Carno. There was a producer named Fred Carno that brought a lot of them over here. Buster, of course, was here.

But Laurel and Charlie Chaplin and all of the foreign comedians that came over to work in films, I mean, they came over together, and they worked together. And it was hard, for them because they were in a you know they've been comedians

didn't make a lot of money in burlesque and their theater or musical what they called musical and so when they came over here it was very difficult for them uh in fact

uh Charlie chaplain uh they they they when they came over they took their their um uh

The shoes, you took. Shoes and left them outside. Oh, you know the story. Oh, I heard that story. It's a great story. It's a great story. In England, what you did was you took your shoes and left them outside if you were at a hotel. And then at night, the people come down and collect the shoes and shine them for you.

So when you get up in the morning, you had a shine pair of shoes. That was a hotel courtesy. And, of course, when they first moved here and they didn't do it. that here, of course. And they were in this Jeep hotel, and they went outside to get their shoes, and they were gone, of course, stolen. So they had to walk around town, Manhattan, in his bedroom slippers all the time. And he said, my bedroom slippers had a little turned-up thing with a bell on it, like a little,

you know, you know. Oh, yes, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like a Sultan's shoe, you know? Like a genie. He said people kept staring at me, you know. He looked like a lead. Yeah, yeah.

Better than wear my bare feet, you know. But they stayed on 14th Street, which was the old Luchouse was down there. I used to go there all the time. And we've lost so many treasures. in New York and Manhattan. It's a shame. Oh, so many. How did you first get to know Stan Laurel, Chuck?

I mean, it's a great story. Wasn't he in the phone book, Stan Laurel, famously? That's what happened. See, so I just picked up the information operator, and I said, I was about 11 years old, and I said, in California, do you ever miss a Stan Laurel? Now, I asked my mother, permission if I could find out. and the operator said, No, we have, where, what part of California is she in?

So finally I said, Hollywood. So she looked all through Hollywood and there was no Stan Laurel. But she said, let me look further for you because she heard that I was young and she wanted to help me. And she was the kindest lady. So she finally found Stan Laurel. She said, there's a Stan Laurel in Santa Monica, California. So I said, well, could you get that for me?

And then she put me through and Stan picked up the phone. And he said, first it was the hotel operator that picked up the phone. And I said, do you have a Stan Laurel? She said, Mr. Laurel, wait one moment, please. and then she put me through because it was an apartment hotel and they had a main operator down in the lobby. So, Stan picks up the phone

and goes, hello. I said, hi, Mr. Laurel. You said, yes, hello. I said, my name is Chuck McCann. I'm in New York. And I just wanted, he says, great to be there. Is your mother there? I said, yes.

So I put my mother on the phone. and Stan said, is it all right that I talked to him? Because it's a very expensive call. And she said, oh, no, I said he could call you. And he said, oh, well, that's all right, then. He said, put the lad on. And we talked for about five minutes, three minutes, you know. And he said, well, you know, you're going to get charged again.

So he said, let me speak to your mother. He wound up speaking to my mother more than he did me, first of all. You know, she said, oh, no, no, he can talk, you know. So I didn't want to bother him, you know, but I was so young. I didn't matter. I had no idea. But we talked, we talked, and then he said, you know, you can call again.

And I called, called him all throughout my youth. And we're very, very friendly with him. And then we started writing together and so forth and so on. And then I met this guy down the block. This is much later, he married this, this Pruch. And I'm putting together my shows. I've done shows on NBC and CBS and everything. And now I'm putting together this Laurel and Hardy show for P-I-X.

And I walked down, and this guy I've been talking to all my life. You know, not really, but just hello and goodbye. This guy down the block, I walked into his house, and he's got the same photographs on his wall that I have. All the Laurel and Hardy film pictures. And I said, you like Laurel and Hardy? He says, well, I speak to him. I said, are you kidding? here was three doors down for me.

Al Kilgore was on the phone probably after I hung up people. So you had three doors away. You talk about coincidence. That's great. Now, I also heard that Stan Laurel was like one of the nicest people. You have no idea. You have no idea. You know, when you hear about your actor,

friends you say you know you almost hate to meet them because you never know what they're like you know they can be terrorists and that was a lesson that I learned very early that's why I'm sorry I

met you oh oh god oh my God but that's so true I'm a rotten person.

I really am. I, yeah, I nail all my young people to the cross, actually. And I do, I do juvenile executions. I strap them in chairs with batteries up the back. Yeah. I like to see kids levitate, you know what I mean? Hey, you work with kids all your life after a while. No, they're wonderful, man.

I tell you, it's so much. They know more than we do at that age because they're wide open. Their minds are wide open. What was Stan Laurel's relationship with Oliver Hardy? Stan Laurel's relationship with Oliver Hardy were, good night, Mr. Laurel. Good night, Mr. Hardy. they will put together by actually by

the studio Roach who didn't give a damn about anything really he he just wanted the studio to work and everything to work but he he couldn't care if they were together or not

in fact after Stan's contract ran out uh uh... Stan Stan Stan right you know left the studio

and a team Hardy up with Oh God He did a movie called Zenobia And he did He teamed him up with another Character actor

Thinking that he created another Laurel and Hardy And it was awful And Finally Stan came back Under his own banner And they did Flying Deuces

Which was a film that was produced by actually by Stan and the gang. But he was not he was a businessman Roach and a wonderful man. I know him well.

I was practically at his deathbed and a great guy. But he was a businessman and he would put these comedians together. He was a producer. He made movies. So Stan and Ali, aside from their working relationship, they didn't have, they weren't close pals.

No, not in the beginning. Did they become? Not at all. It was, hello, Mr. Laure, hello, Mr. Hardy, and that was the end of it. Did they ever become friends? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, sure. You know when?

World War II. When they went on the Bond Drive tours, and then they really became close. I mean, their wives were close Eda and Lois were very close because they were, you know how women are

and you're on the tour and so they got close actually they got closer than the guys got, you know because there was a little Jimmy with a buddy of theirs and he used to tour with them too. He was their

dresser and he would manage all the costumes and clothes on the tour. And so they got to, you know, be friendly, but they weren't like, you know, it was a business. And it's like Jim McGeorge and I. I mean, I love Jim. Jim and I do a lot of work together. I have been doing it. But I don't see him from job to job, you know.

In fact, I haven't seen Jim now. over a year, you know, a year and a half. People, you know, people have the idea that when you do a team with somebody, you're with each other all the time. You're not. We should explain that Jim plays Stan Laurel to your Oliver Hardy. Yes, correct. Now, jumping.

He's a wonderful, wonderful human being and a very talented guy. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast, but first a word from our sponsor. Rhesas knows a thing or two about great combinations. Chocolate and peanut butter, obviously, but there's more than one way to Rises. From indulgent Riesces Big Cups with caramel to crunchy Riesces pieces and Riesce's miniatures, there's a delicious Rhes for every mood.

It's the same combo you love, just with more ways to enjoy it. So whether you're snacking, sharing, or just treating yourself, nothing else is Rieces. Jumping from Laurel and Hardy very comfortably in a segue, to the Playboy Mansion. That's a... You're the segway. You know,

you are the best segue guy I know. You are a good segue person. Now, Oh, God. Now, you are a regular, or I guess maybe still are, at the Playboy Mansion. Yes.

Now, that... For 40, for 40 freaking years. Now, I'd be up there. To every guy listening to this is probably going, oh, man, that lucky bastard. Yeah. So what's the Playboy Mansion like to hang out? No, no, it's wonderful. You got to understand.

how I wound up there. I mean, I was performing doing my one-act show with the puppets with Paul at a place called the Popatique. And in comes this guy. And he's sitting there and people say, don't you know that?

It's a Jew Heftor. He owns Playboy magazine. I said, oh, great. So I said, maybe you like to watch the show from behind the... They said, oh, God, he loved it. so they sat them behind me and they watched me puppeteer from behind

you know how to do it after they saw the show the second show they saw from behind backstage and he loved that and he said hey listen I'm opening up a nightclub a new hotel in New Jersey would you would you like to come to the opening so I said I'd be happy to when is it? He said this week.

So I went. And I was leaving to do, the projectionist had just come out. And I was leaving to do the projectionist interview with Cupsnet in Chicago. And he does, you know, he's a columnist and did

radio interviews and so forth. And I'm promoting the movie. So he said, how are you going? I said, I'm going on the United Air. airline and said, no, no, no. He said, please. He said, take my plane. And we're leaving tomorrow at the same time you are. So I go out to LaGuardia Field and I said, what airplane is Mr. Heft? They're going back to Chicago on. He said, there's zone. I said, there's

own. And he said, yeah. He said, do you chuck McHan? I said, yeah. He said, it's right out there. And there's his black mammoth airplane. It was like a DC3. I know it was a jet, you know, but it was one of the latest jet planes, all black with a bunny with the bunny insignia on the tail. So he said, you know, they'll be along shortly. So why don't you just walk out on the tarmac and board it? so I go out and they make a phone call and down the stairway come these two gorgeous stewardesses in these short little mini skirts and with a bottle of champagne and a glass

and up I go and in the place and they're they're playing videos on the video they had a dance spot where people could dance on the airplane. It was incredible, and it was gorgeous inside. You know, all fixed up with the seats were just couches and seats. It was gorgeous. And so,

all of a sudden, I'm looking, I said, gee, we should be leaving. So I sat there for about an hour with the stewardess. She says, oh, here they come. And down comes two big helicopters. And they let, every everybody out, everybody gets out, and, uh, I didn't know, two, two big black limousines

come in from New York, and everybody gets out. They all jump on the plane. As soon as they're on the plane, they come over to me, it sits down across from me, and the doors closed, the thing that it turns and, and we're down the runway, and we're off. I mean, it was like the king has landed, you know, no one else. I mean, that's a busy air, Port LaGuardia, you know? Now, tell us, tell us, get right to the orgies that went on at the Playboy match. No, the org guys, they called them. So these were gay orgies?

No, they were the orgies. All the guys would show up, the girl said, are you kidding? You know, so, no, I actually, you know what? A lot of people think that that's what goes on. And I hate to disappoint everybody. but that's a private thing that he's always kept you know he's very discriminated now i'm not saying that you don't see a lot of nude people like if you're in the pool you know everybody swam naked in the pool but uh that was that was about the extent of

i'm hoping i'm hoping you didn't swim naked no are you kidding are you serious i wouldn't be caught dead naked I'm telling you, I've, my bathing suit was one of the ones they wore in 1812, you know? The old with the stripes. It covered my toes.

So, can you please tell us about a blowjob you got at the plate? Yeah, as soon as you would get out of the pool, this fan would drive. you see there's a big big motorized oh man I'm telling you

the girls were incredible man it's a strange journey isn't it Chuck from doing a puppet show in a club and suddenly you're on the playboy jet

oh yeah well it was wonderful I mean Hepner you Hapner is one of the sweetest guys in the world man he is so giving

and so loving he's really a wonderful wonderful person I love him a lot Now, another very comfortable segue. Okay. After the success of Ronan Martin's Laughan. Right.

Produced by George Slaughter. Right. You, George Slaughter, decided to make another revolutionary-style comedy. Oh, you rat. Oh, you, dirty rat. You know where he's going, don't you? The bomb of the century. Go ahead.

called turn on. Who could forget it? Tell us about the monumental turn on. Well, you know why that, you know why, don't you? It wasn't that the show. If you want to see that show, I believe you can go to the Museum of Broadcasting, and they have a copy there that they'll run for you.

We have to go. Oh, yes. I don't know if they have it in New York. I know they, I think they do. But they had a, it was called Turn On, and it was on one night and we were canceled in the middle of the show. It's the only show that got turned off in the middle of the show. So it was like a few minutes into the show. It was so bad that they canceled it.

In certain states, okay? Now, this is why it happened. We did things on that show that were never done before. Here Schlaugher has a show called Laugh-In, right? Yes. Which is on the edge anyway. It's got some really edgy kind of sketches, as you know, Goddly. Yes.

Now, when Turnon came on, he wanted. wanted to go a little further. Okay? So we had sketches like, I forget her name, she was dressed up as a nun trying to get her change out of a phone booth.

Teresa Graves? It wasn't Teresa Graves, no, but it was one that, Teresa was quite a, you know, beautiful blonde. No, this was a very funny comedian. But anyway, here's this nun, crawling all over the top of a

of a telephone booth in a nun's outfit, you know? I mean, the Catholic Church really frowned on a lot of the stuff that we did, and so did every other religion, you know. I mean, we, we, I mean, every, every, you know, from Catholic Church and the Jewish synagogues, I mean, we made fun of everything and everybody, Every woman, everything. You know, it was an incredible show.

And the guy that was on it was my friend, Tim Conley. So Tim did the original show, too, with me and a host of others. And it was... I believe Albert Brooks was a writer on this show. Yeah, Albert was the writer. And eventually wound up doing some of the bits as Albert would, you know. and we will actually Hamilton Camp

God bless Oh sure Remember Hamilton Camp Oh God what a What a sensational performer He was And I loved him Anyway he was in second city

In Chicago And So anyway We We wound up getting Cancelled right In the middle of the show And I mean

Cancelled It was like They turned us off In Chicago that this little old ladies got calling a little old lady in like Des Moines

or someplace watching the show was so offended by the nun crawling over the top of a phone booth she gets on her phone and she starts calling her fraternities and they all get on the phone

and call the next one and it was like wildfire going from the middle of the country across to New York and over to California. It was like, Swatter got so many phone calls and stations and networks, people, the local stations, of course, because the show was being syndicated, you know. Then they were turning it off as, you know, it all aired at the same time, but each station had their own, you know, each had their own tapes. So they turned everything off, and that was the end of it. Chuck, I heard a story that the show was on ABC in 1969, turned on. That's right.

aired one time. Now, I heard a story that ABC was so spooked by the experience and the angry calls and the angry mail that they got that they rejected a controversial, edgy pilot that wound up going to CBS. It turned out to be all in the family. That's true. That's true. I mean, in those days, you know, there was no, they were very careful in what they were doing.

But not so much with us. But after we finished, it was like, oh, boy, I mean, you know what hit the fan. Yeah. And that was the beginning of real criticism and real. But CBS has you guys to thank for all in the family. Indirectly, yes. That's right. That's right.

I never thought of it that way. Yeah. Damn it. I never did that show. Crap. Now, you were in the very popular right-garde deodorant commercials. Oh, now we're getting into commercials. Yeah.

Let's stay on. No, no. I jump back and forth. Oh, okay. He moves around, Chuck. I'm only kidding. And you would... Are you serious?

That commercial bought my house. Ha! Yeah, because the commercials... The commercials were a guy would open his medicine cabinet. Correct. And on the other side was a guy like sharing his medicine cabinet. Bill Fiori. Yeah, the L'Ill Fiori.

Like they forgot to put a wall in between the two. Yes, yes, between the apartments. Yeah. Now, you did one with the great Groucho Marx. That's correct. And did you get to know Groucho at all? Very well. Very well.

I'll tell you all about that. Actually, the commercials ran for three years, that one particular commercial. It was for Wright Guard, right? Yes, with Bill Fiore. Bill Fiore was the other guy on the other side. I remember him. He was a great actor. very, very nice guy, very talented kid, and good friend.

Anyway, so after that ended, then they said, well, you know, the commercial ran for 12 years. So off and on, with different people in it and everything else, but there was always me on the other side. We went to Canada, became very big in Canada, so we went in those days, we would shoot the Canadian. separate. So I'd be flying around doing every different commercial, you know. It'd be like that I was like that girl that does these

the car commercials now, where she's in the white outfit. Oh, the insurance. Yeah. Oh, yeah, flow insurance. Right, flow insurance. Yeah. Right. I was the flow of the day, you know, of that time. And so

it has a good, it's good in one way and terrible. the other because it wrecks your movie career everything else you know because you're now now the guy in the medicine cabinet and i i'll never forget i i went into a movie theater to sit in the back to see uh it might have been hard as a lonely hunter and out i come in that first scene and out out from the audience but as soon as i appear, the whole audience and said,

Hi, guy! And the heart of the lonely hunter is it... That's always good when you're putting a knife in someone's chest, you know? What do you say? Here comes the villain now, you know? Hi, guys! So tell us about Groucho. Okay.

All right. I get my buddy. is producing and by this time he's now my friend we've done a whole bunch of these things and they want to put somebody on the other

side that's kind of a star so I get to the studio and who the hell did they get but Groucho Marx and I mean that's like Oliver Hardy that's like

Stan Laurel that's like Charlie chaplain, you know, it's a groucho marks, man. And I opened up the Madison County, and he does a high guy and all of this. And there he is in his undershirt. You know, and he was so funny, and we just ad-libbed, and we finished the commercial by about, we started at like eight, and maybe nine. And we were through by 10.30.

It's like unbelievable. I mean, we just, boom. We did it like bang, bang, bang. And each one of them was great. So Grouchos, they released this for lunch. You know, they said, okay, that's a wrap. And the next thing, Groucho said, where are you going for lunch, McGahn? I said, wherever you want to go.

So he said, great. I said, I know a great place called Christos, and it was right across the street from my office. So it was a great, great restaurant, and they had great food. They had chicken Kiev and stuff that he loved. And so we went over there, and we sat there, and we were just talking. All I did was talk with him. I mean, over and over, Zepo and Harpo and all these stories. and I mean, just

incredible, incredible for me. And I'm with him, and I said, I said, day at the races. And I says, oh, he says, that's a great, let me tell you about that. He says, you know, Grimbede Day at the Radio? I said, are you kidding? I said, I live across the street, and I have a,

I don't live across, I said, my office across the street, and I have a screening room there. And I have a print of Day of the Races. He says, what? I said, I have a print of a lot of your work. So I had 16mm prints of just about everything they did. Al Kilgore and I, and then I just yelled. He said, come on, we're going over to watch Day of the Rays.

And then we watched that. And then we watched, you know, at the circuit. It went on and on and on and on until about the phone was ringing off the hook. Now we started about 2 o'clock, I guess, watching his films. It was now like quarter to 10. It's his nurse on the phone, cursing me out. Where the hell is he? What is he?

So I give the phone to him and he goes, now what the hell are you want? you know, I'm enjoying myself for the first time in a long time so she said, well she said, where are you? You've got to get up and do Carnegie Hall tomorrow. Oh, screw Hardy Hall. You know, we're having a ball

because every 10 minutes, she'd say, let me tell you about this scene. And I'd stop the projector. I'd have to pull the film out of the gate so it didn't burn. Incredible. He would go into these tremendous stories

about how he and the boys and his brothers did this and what happened that day and that was a day the kitchen caught fire and my brother came

and it would go on and on and on with these stories it was just incredible and I mean by the time I got finished with I mean we became the best of friends

you know so I later saw him out here when he was was that we invited him up to the mansion and he came up to the after us and uh he was the best man there was no one better than groucho now now this gets to my next question did groucho ever get blown at the mansion it got blown up at the mansion can i read some names to you because we spoke to we spoke about the great groucho And, okay, May West.

May West was like my wife's client. Let me explain something with you. My wife was a William Morris agent, and she was in charge of, or not in charge, but she was an agent. Who later was made vice president of the commercial department of William Morris. Now, that's a pretty hefty big job. and so she had a lot of clients. And people I knew, and those said I didn't. And we always socialized together.

So Mae West was one of her clients. And so she wanted to meet me. So Benny had her out to the house, and she said, one night I had to go out, I had an appointment. and I wasn't there and when I came back she went oh my God and that's me Chuck

I missed you and I said I said you didn't leave yet so Betty grabs me aside and she said you know she's in love with you because you are

an exact replica I mean an image spitting image of her late boyfriend who raised her she was She was 16 when she met this performer.

She was a performer, and she was a child performer. And he brought her up, and he taught her everything. And he brought her down to the docks on the west side of Manhattan and watched the ladies of the evening working there. and she developed her walk and everything she told me from this one prostitute that used to walk down there and she would follow her around and one day the prostitute caught, you know, her eye again and said, turned on her and she said, hey, what are you doing? You keep following me around.

and what do you think you are? Are you clear or something like that? And she said, no, no, I'm not, I'm just, you know, she's all right. She said, but just be careful. And she walked hoiterly away, as she said. And she said, that was my walk ever since. So, May West's entire personality of companies. Come up and see me sometime.

That was based on a hooker. That's right. Wow. Who never got any credit. No, she was a strange lady who was walking around the east. Amazing. Westside of Manhattan and the docks. Now, working the sailors and stuff, you know.

What about the great actor John Caradine? Oh, Johnny. Oh, my God. Caradine was the greatest. And of course, his kids were great, too. But, you know, I met Caradine at a restaurant I used to come into. I'm going to not remember the name of the restaurant. That's right.

Huh? No, that's okay. Oh, okay. No, I thought you knew it. But it was every time I came to New York, I flew in New York, I went to this restaurant for my breakfast. And Pat McCormick would meet me there and all the guys, Bob Ridgely and all of my friends. Okay.

So I would go there and I would see Caradine sitting there at the bar. So I wound up getting a show called Far Out Space Nuts. Oh, sure, we're Bob Denver. Right. So I'm there in the bar, and there's parody. And we know, we know each other by our names now. You know, he was so sweet to me. So he said, what's here doing my cat?

So I said, I'm doing this show, this kid show. Ah, a kid show. I said, yeah. He said, uh, what's it about? I said, it's a half hour show. He says, oh, is that a role in it for me? I said, John, it's a kid show. I know that.

What does it pay and where do I start? Great. So I said, are you kidding? He says, I want to do it. So I get to the studio and I said, John Carradine wants to do my show. So the Crofts, you know, Sid and Marty go, are you kidding?

I said, no, he wants to do the show. He wants to play a villain in it. So he said, write something for him. And we brought him in. And he was freaking marvelous, man. So I wrote this thing called the Crystallites. So the Crystallites are governed by this. this crystal, right?

So I walk into the studio, and John is already there getting made up in costume and everything, and I walk and I said, where's John? I said, you're sitting there on the throne. And I look at the throne, and there's this big diamond thing,

all plastic and everything, you know, and I see a figure inside. I said, it's Carradine in that thing? They said, yeah. I said, it's goddamn John Carradine. Get that crap off of them. So we unwrapped John, you know, and we did the episode.

But he was so sweet, man. He was so great. Now, we're doing one scene, you know, where they have a wall that opens up, you know. And somebody marches from another hall, and you hear, shim, and the wall goes, so like that you know but there's no behind the door it's about a foot and a half to the back wall

so there's so caradine has to stand behind this door and wait for the thing to go so then he steps into the room you know but he's actually against this flat it's about a foot away from the wall and he's standing behind this

freaking door waiting for Bob Denver to give his... Bob forgot all of his lines, and all of a sudden, booming from behind the door, it said, Denver, either get this straight or throw me a magazine. That's great.

That's the best John Caradine impression I've ever heard, Chuck. Oh, God. Well, I do others, you know. Now, let's, we haven't talked at all about your kid show. Uh-huh. Your many kid shows. Yeah. Oh, God.

Can you sing the Dick Tracy theme? Oh, Dick Tracy, he had a bulldog jaw. Dick Tracy, why is he on the law? Did Tracy? You know, that was a basic. Great. Yeah, better do what he say. crime doesn't never pay.

Oh my God, you know it. Oh, my God. That's great. Oh, God. Then there was also a Little Offanani song. Oh, man. Little off a nanny. Didn't have a family.

Yeah. She was. I got to send, I'll get copies of that, Gilbert. Oh, great. Oh, we'd love that. Do you? Now, now, I remember you were talking. about, I mean, that was popular back then.

There was you, Sandy Becker, Super Sales, Captain Jack. Officer Joe Bolton. Oh, yes, right, right. Yeah, Paul Winchell was in New York we used to watch. Yeah. Well, Paul came in later on, but he was out of California and Detroit, I think.

And I, and you talked about when they stopped doing kid shows like that. with the host. Right. And what changed? What, what, what kid shows supplied to little kids? Well, what we had was kids shows were, they, that what kids got out of school, they would run home like I would run home to hear radio shows. Because in my day, after school, you need a respite. You need a break.

So you would go home and you would listen to Jack Armstrong. You would listen to radio shows, a little 15-minute radio shows with a suspenseful landing that you would pick up the next day. And so it was a continued show and a continued story. And Captain Midnight, these are just some of the little 15-minute shows. I used to listen to. and so I always felt that

television should have the same kind of a thing you know so that's that's what I want anyway these these were magnificent the magnificent shows for me and you would listen to these shows

and you would you couldn't wait to get home to hear the conclusion of them And you said like the host, because they did away with kiddie show hosts. Yeah, well, that's what happens. See, so when they let go of kitty shows in general by eliminating the host, that there was no one there to say, hello, good morning, how are you? Is everything okay?

Did you brush your teeth this morning? Hey, do you wash your face? Hey, kids. Be careful walking the school. Remember, those people out there, cars can be pretty crazy. And brush your teeth, and when you go to bed,

you know, say your prayers. And be kind to each other. Be especially good to each other, you know. Is your pal down the street, you know, and I'd read letters and stuff like this. And there was nobody there to do that anymore. and so guys like

Supe would do this I would do this uh there was Zachalie John Zachley Oh sure He would do this I mean we all did it in our own way

but we were we were the brothers there that these kids didn't have we were the fathers that a lot of these kids didn't have or, you know, the uncles, I mean, we were everything to these kids. A lot of these kids didn't have family. We were their family. And I knew this because of the letters that we get. You know, we get these tremendous letters and written by kids that, you know, even though it was in crayon, it would break your heart, man.

How many shows were there, Chuck? There was the Chuck McCann show. Well, there was fun stuff. Yeah, well, I mean, that's just in New York. Let's have fun. You know, these shows were all over the country. But in New York City, there was me, soupy, Joe Bolton, Jack McCarthy. Right.

There were a whole bunch. Wonderrama was on then. Wondorama, that's Sunny Fox. Sonny Fox, sure. Sonny and I had a lot of things together. Didn't you famous. He was on five. That was Wonderama.

Right. Picks had the cream of the crop for the afternoon. But Wonderama on Sunday was like, I went opposite Wonderama with a show called Let's Have Fun. So I was opposite myself, actually, when I moved over to WNAW, because when I wound up taking over what Sonny had with Sunny, I was opposite my own show that I created. It was really strange.

Was there a story about a lion getting loose, Chuck? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We had all kinds of wacky animals and people. We had the craziest guests, you know. And the producers would book these guests. We didn't need guests. We did one-man shows.

We could stand there and do two hours without any problem. I used to write my show walking from 40s. 39th Street to 42nd Street. You did it in the old Daily News Building, didn't you? The P-I-X show? And as I walked along the street, 3rd Avenue, going to 42nd Street, I would come up with the whole show. And I had a little no-pad. Yep.

And you would have to, I heard like a lot of the hosts back then, if they came up with an idea, they had to buy their own props for it. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I had to go shopping at night. And in fact, I wasn't allowed to bring. my props into the studio. So I had to sneak in on Sunday

when no one was there and bring my props in. I would find stuff in the trash. And I mean, big props like chairs and stuff like this. And I had friends of mine that would come and help me

get it upstairs and then we'd just put it on stage, you know, or backstage in the proper room. And one day I'm sitting out there and this other guy is in there on a Sunday and I'm

putting together some wires and stuff and everything for the show for Monday and he said, what are you doing? I said, I'm doing this the prop thing for my show tomorrow. I said, oh, I said, yeah, I'm here. I'm putting

the Flore's show. I'm putting this and I'm painting this. It looks tacky, so I'm painting me. I said, oh, I said, what do you do? He says, I'm the new program manager. So I said, oh, so he said, yeah, I can't put a show on with this.

And the union won't, you know, it costs hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars to, you know, to have them come in and pay maybe a thousand. And in those days, it was a lot of money. So you came, stuck in, and you did it yourself. No budget and no days off, right, Chuck? And I said, what's your name? He said, I'm Chuck McCann. He said, what's your name?

He said, Fred Silverman. Oh, my God. How about that? We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast after this. Now, here's something you said in an interview. Now, you've got to tell the people Fred Silverman. Well, they know. Well, a lot of people don't know, you know.

He became a major television executive and programmed many successes. He ran television. In fact, in fact, he produced thick of the night that I was on. Oh, yeah. One of my biggest failures. Now, Chuck. Don't forget Super Train. What you're talking about, Fred Silver.

Oh, yeah. I was, oh, God. Now, Chuck, you said something that really gave me a chill in one of your interviews. Well, close the door and close the window. But, Christ. Put pants on. I like to draw. I always like to draw.

So do I. And when I was a kid, I used to make paper-mache puppets. Wow. And you said in an interview that comedians, so many comedians like to draw and make things. That's right, everybody, that I know of. That's worth the salt, knows how to sketch. It's just funny that way Who was some of the great?

All right. Van Dyke, Big Van Dyke is a fantastic artist. If you see the character that's yours of Dick Van Dyke, he did those. If you see, I mean, God, I- Was Jonathan Winters? Didn't he draw to? Jonathan Winters drew magnificently. I know, Tony.

Oh, Jonathan, yeah, Jonathan Winters. Tony Kirk. I used to go up to Johnny's house, and he had up in Nyack, he had all of his, all of his artwork on the wall. I mean, it was just incredible stuff. I should tell our listeners that in Gilbert's apartment, he has some wonderful caricatures on his walls of stuff that I don't know that you've ever shown anybody. Oh, no. No, in my book. In rubber balls and liquor, I put some.

Some really great stuff. Real fun. Yeah. I put movie posters up in my living room. My wife, you know, she wanted to put up character, but I don't know. Can you do some of the voices that you've gotten famous for over the years in commercials and cartoons?

Oh, sure. Yes. Well, Dawes Butler was a dear friend of mine, and he passed away, but when he did, I took over for a lot of people that did voices, you know. Now, let me just take a swig of coffee here, good me. Okay. The master prepares.

Yeah, because, you know, it's earlier here than it is where you are, you know. So I got out of bed to do this. Thank you, Chuck. No, you're more than welcome. I'm selling my pajamas. I'm amazed. I'm amazed that you can get out of bed. Yeah.

Well, I roll out of bed. So you did... In the morning, the bed's generally on top of me. Yeah. So you did some great commercial voiceovers, I remember. Well, of course, the... Hi, Kai. You know?

Yeah. That was kind of that... That voice I did was my own. And, but that was like the only one that I did that was my own. other voices I've done were caricatures or imitations. Like, I did a voice, an album

and I did the voice of Yogi Bear after Doors Pass. Here, how are you, phone, Boobo? Go, Yogi, what's happening? Yeah, not that much. Hey, why don't we go into the forest and see the

rager? That's awfully good, Yogi. Come on, let's go. Okay, and away I go! That's great. And I did a whole musical album with Yogi singing, which was like, it's one thing doing the voice, but it's another thing singing, you know?

You did Sunny the Cuckoo Bird, too, from Cocoa Puffs? Oh, yeah. Yeah, that was a buddy of mine over at Dance Fitzgerald. He said, we need a voice for this, and he pulls out this cartoon, you know, of Sunny with just the face, you know? And I went, Yahoo!

Go to go to gooo-pops! Go on the Google Pops! Go on the Google Pops! You did Gramps, too, didn't you? Didn't you did the grandfather? Yeah, so I did, Hey, boy, what are you doing? Oh, nothing, Gramps.

Just sit around. Watch the TV. Yeah? Oh, that's a cuckoo-bird, I'll tell you. A little Lionel Barrymore in Grandpa. Yeah, there was a little Lionel Barrymore. Howdy, boys? Yes, little Lionel Barrymore, not yes.

Here's Lionel Barremore. My, golly, Lionel was a little more nasal. Keep your hands off my wheelchair before I break your neck. Great. The Key Largo. Yeah, Key Largo. So you think you're on a some island? Well, let me tell you.

Nobody's going to get off this island alive if it's up to them. And what about in, oh, and it's a wonderful life? Oh, you mean, Jim? Yes. You might have a child? Oh, oh, oh, yeah. Yeah, Jim, Champ, Champ, Champ, Jim, Jim, Jim. Yeah, Jim, Jim.

Jimmy Stewart. Yeah, yeah, that's what, yeah, Jim, Jimmy Stewart, yeah. Yeah, Jim, Jimmy Stewart, yeah. Hello, Mr. Potter! I saw him. Quiet down, boy, quiet down. You don't come in my office yelling at me like that. Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Potty, but I'm, what the fucky you're trying to say, boy?

Speaking of all, all I want, all I wanted to say, all I wanted to say, well, for great sake, say it, shit. Anyway, there is. Here's an obscure one, Chuck. I saw a commercial online for a breakfast cereal called, I think it was Crinkles. And it was you doing the voice. It was a little bit of Ed Wynn. Do you remember this character? No.

It was almost like a little Ed Wynn meets Arnold Stang. You've got to understand. I did thousands of commercials. So I know. Can you do an Edwin for us? Sure. Yes, it's wonderful, you think. Fantastic.

Absolutely. You know, I have a basketball hoop, you know, that, you know, this is serious now. I have a basketball hoop that I hang over my bed, you know. Fantastic. It's for people who toss in their sleep. That's great. There's that great scene in the projectionist, Chuck, which we talked about, where you're looking at the headshots on the wall.

walls. You're in the projection booth and there's John Wayne and Bogart and Sydney Green Street. You know this scene, of course. And you're going picture by picture and you're doing voices. You can see this clip online, folks, and watch it. Your impressions are uncanny. Well, if you look at that scene, it's all done in one take. because Harry and I, we had one camera, a limited amount of film making the projectionist. And when we got up to that New Jersey projection booth, and it was out in the Oceanside or someplace out in New Jersey, there was a theater on a pier, and we shot that in the booth there.

And the theater, the interior of the theater was like, it was a duplicate of the Paramount. So everything in the theater was like big, you know. So I'm in the booth and Harry put up a bunch of pictures on the wall and we had lived everything. There was an award written of that picture, that movie. I think there was like a John Wayne. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I did.

Well, I did the voices of every... Yeah. Could you do a little John Wayne? Oh, well, listen. I'll tell you what we're going to do, man. Let's get on our horses and ride the hell out of here. When we leave the projection booth, you guys make a right-hand turn, but don't go in the toilet. And Humphrey Bogard?

Why, of course. My Bogart won't be very good right now because of an upper lip problem. Maybe you do a little Sydney Green Street. Gilbert will throw in some Peter Lorry. Give it, give it, Mike Frid. Come over here, Peter. What are you doing, Peter?

He should have to find the falcon. You're no falcon. Please. There'll be no broken around here. You do that on your own time. You don't do that in my picture, Peter. You do that in one of your German crowd films. That's brilliant.

And, um, uh, James Cagney. You know, I never, I, okay. Okay. You journey rat. oh, I want to give it to you like you gave it to my brother. Ooh, and I know how you gave it to my brother. That's it.

So, I tagging was one of my loves, you know. But I never did him. I always wound up doing, I never did like the ones everybody was doing. I never, even to this day. Not a lot of people did Sydney Green Street, yeah. Yeah, but it was strange. You know, I just, I like Jack Benny, I did Jack Benny a lot. I remember there was a cartoon where one of the characters you did the voice,

and it was a Jack Benny imitation. Right. And what I would do is I'd take voices and I'd make hybrids out of them. In other words, I'd take Edwin and Jack Benny. Now, here you hit Edwin, you see, like. you know, he talked like that. And Jack Penny would be, gee, you know,

ladies and gentlemen, I just want to tell you that is wonderful to be here. You know, so you get that and you mix it with that. And, you know, ladies and gentlemen, it's wonderful to be here. And you've got another character.

It's great. You know, so you mix, you make hybrids, And that's what I did with a lot of my cartoon characters, you know. And you were in the aristocrats with me, and that's the most important thing. Can you please tell me what you think of comics who rely on obscenity? What I think of what, Gilbert? Comics who use a lot of obscenity.

Oh, well, that's why I don't use them. and I I did there with you guys because I don't know So you're against You know we're low comedians Today it seems like you have to throw something in I remember once in a while

But I don't I never did I never thought I had to I felt I always felt that You know Comedy is comedy And it's

It's not shock value And obscenity is shock value I think if you're doing obscenity than you're some fucking cock sucker who can't think of anything else. No. You're fucking right on.

Well, now... I think anybody who does a fucking thing like that is really shitty. I mean it. I think comedy is by itself is, you know, if you're pure and you're

clean, you're fucking right on. You're scumbag. Now, we're going to wrap up because I got tired of talking to you when you first got on the phone. I could tell that. I could have told you that an hour ago. Chuck, before we run, you want to plug your book? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Very important. I do have a book, and nobody's going to buy it. So I plug it. I bought it. Oh, did you? I did. It's called The Let's Have Fun Book, and it's what it is is based on. It is a fun book.

Billy Crystal did the whole beginning of it. He loved the book. Billy was a big fan of mine back growing up, you know? Joyce from Long Island, sure. Yeah, he was one of the guys that watched my show. And I was amazed at how many people wanted. watch that show. I used to leave the studio thinking, no one's

watched that, you know, who would watch this? And you influenced entire generations, Chuck. I never knew it. Never freaking knew it. No, no, Chuck, you never fucking knew it. No, I never fucking knew it. I mean, I mean,

I never could think that those little pricks out there that were watching. Now it's Uncle Don. Yeah, Uncle Don. Yeah. Famous. Oh, man. It's an infamous story.

But anyway, it's called Let's Have Fun. It's the book. And you can order it from Amazon. And you get a DVD with the book, right? You get a DVD with the book. Great. A lot of sketches from my show. And it's at Amazon.com.

And it's around 30 books, I think my book is, you know. But it's worth it because you get, you know, It costs us just about that to manufacture it by the time we got the DVD and everything edited and stuff. I just want to tell our listeners of the podcast to check out the projectionist, a movie that Chuck is wonderful in, and a young Rodney Dangerfield you'll get to see as well. Oh, great. Hey, I love speaking to you, Gilbert, and you, Frank, I just had a lot of fun. cause you fucked up my Sunday

What is today Sunday No it's Tuesday Could you watch Tuesday already I know who the fuck cares Chuck When you reach my age You just slip from one to a month

I don't go to bed anymore They have me glued To a chair In the living room Facing the television You know And Chuck Would you watch your language

On my show I will You know I just wanted to say This one thing Yes Every three hours, my wife passes by with a mirror in front of my mouth to see if I'm still breathing. God bless you, Chuck.

Well, this is, we're going to start wrapping up. Oh, I love you guys. I really do. Thank you so much. We haven't even touched upon. Oh, so much. We didn't get to Bob Kane and we didn't get to the Vaughn-Maconor album. Hey, listen, if you want to do it again sometime, I'm available.

It's not that I want to. No, I know. I know that. I know that, Gilbert. But before we had the interview, pass a mirror under my face. Oh, okay. So I'm Gilbert Gottfried. This has been Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast with my co-host, Frank Santopatra.

And we have been talking to the great show. Chuck McCann. Thank you, Chuck. You're welcome. Could you take us out as Mr. Laurel? Okay, yeah. See, Ollie, I think they're saying good night. Well, I know what they're saying.

Oh, and it isn't good night. She, what do you mean by that? Thank you, Chuck. Thank you, Chuck. You're brilliant. I love you, babies. Thank you.