Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - GGACP Rewind: Episode #39: Ken Berry

Episode Date: May 18, 2026

Actor, dancer and singer Ken Berry grew up in a small Midwestern town, admiring the musicals of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. After winning several local talent contests, he found his way into show business and was soon pulling down an impressive (for the time) $90 a week! Gilbert and Frank caught up with Ken at his Hollywood home to ask about his “two years of recess” on the classic sitcom “F-Troop” and his memories of working alongside comedy greats George Burns, Don Rickles, Carol Burnett and a then (mostly) unknown Steve Martin. Also, Ken reminisces about life as a “day player” and tells us why he had the worst stage act in the history of Vegas. PLUS: “My Mother the Car”! “The Ken Berry ‘Wow’ Show”! Helen Hayes eats a cheeseburger! Richard Dreyfuss serenades a goldfish! And Leonard Nimoy covers Harry Belafonte! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. This is Gilbert Godfrey's amazing colossal podcast. I'm here with my co-host, Frank Santopatra. And if you listen to this podcast, you know that Frank and I are huge fans of like Harvey Corman, Hans Conry, Hunt's Hall, Wally Cox, and Jim Backus. And our guest this week worked with all of them. We grew up watching him on shows like F. Troop and Mayberry. RFD and of course the Ken Berry Wow show.

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Wear your good tie every day. I'm Gilbert Gottfried, and this is Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast, and I'm here with my co-host, Frank Santo Padre. Our guest today is a TV legend, an actor, dancer, and singer, who's performed on stage in feature films, and of course, in hit television shows like Mayberry, R.I.R. FD and Mama's family. He worked with icons like Carol Burnett, Dick Van Dyke, Lucille Ball, Helen Hayes, Abbott and Costello, Vincent Price, and Steve Martin.

But to us and many of our listeners, he'll always be the charming and bumbling Captain Wilton Parmenta on F-Droop. Please welcome to the show, the multi-talented Ken Berry. Hi there. Hi. I was still cold? Oh, freezing. Where are you, Ken, in the Valley? Yeah, I live up in the North Valley now.

Very nice. I've been up here for years. Well, it's not a great day today, but this is cool for me. It's about 70. Oh, wow. Way to rub it in, Ken. I like to rub it in. I see that.

Now, Ken, first let's start with how you started out in the business. Well, when I was a kid, I went to my grade school where they had a fall carnival there every year. And, you know, you did bob for apples or show off hobbies and stuff. and there was a little auditorium, and I went in there just for the heck of it. And there were a bunch of singer-dancers, or mostly tap dancers, from a dance studio in Rock Island, Illinois. I'm from Moline, Illinois. And I looked, I watched it for a few minutes, and I said, that's it.

That's what I want to do. You know, you used to drive me crazy out. You know how, well, at least it happened to me. my adult friends and my parents would always ask you, a kid, you know, what do you want to be when you grow up? You know, and I really felt pressured by that. I got to decide now. Me, you know, firemen or whatever.

And finally, I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and I've never changed my mind. You know, the business changed its mind. I wanted to be in motion picture musicals. That's what I wanted to do. And motion picture musicals died. And you idolized Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly and all those movies. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. And, you know, I never gave it a thought. But, you know, you talk about nearly impossible. You know, you think about all of the people who are great. artists in other fields, you know, and the field of athletics, how many great baseball players or basketball players or great singers or whatever. But most people can't name, you know, three great dancers from the movies, especially, you know.

But, and they stop, you know, I always think of Fred Astaire and Gene Keller and Donald O'Connor in that order, and then I know a few of them, but then that was. the business I was interested in. You know, Dan Daly and Gene Nelson. Oh, sure, Dan Daly. Yeah. Sure, sure. So you're a kid growing up in Illinois. You don't have any family in show business. There's no connections to the business at all. You basically fall in love with movie musicals and you decide that's it. That's where I want to be. Yeah. Yeah, that's it. And I didn't know anything about how to go about it. And today, young people really have a leg up.

because they've got computers and they can access all sorts of information. Like, for instance, the TV Academy has archives. Sure. And they do interviews with a lot of people who had been successful in the business, and they talk about how it started out. And so you don't have to look around for those people, you know, and hope someday you'll work with them so you can sit and talk to them for an hour and if they would sit there that long and find out exactly how they did it and what can they

recommend. You know, none of that was available back then. Now, when you told your parents you were interested in following the footsteps of like Fred Astaire. Literally. Did your parents think you were nuts? No, I was just talking about that just a minute ago. I was so lucky to have the parents that I had.

They were totally supportive for my sister and myself, but they were a little cautious because I had started guitar lessons once. I started piano lessons once because there was a piano in the house. And I just gave them up because there was. too hard. I had to learn more than four chords on guitar. So how does a kid make it all the way from Moline, Illinois, to Hollywood? Your first break was winning a local talent competition? Do I have that right? There was a guy named Horace Hight who started out in a big band business.

Later on, he had a big giveaway show on the radio called Bada Gold. They made a movie about it with Jimmy. stewarded and i got a job on the road and i went on the road for like a year wow with horace heights youth opportunity program that's how that all started what kind of things did you do what kind of things did you do on the road was it was it was it was it was it was a singing and dancing you were you were you doing i did i did i did a uh featured uh number with a girl the song and dance and we did sketches as well, you know. And the band would come down and do sketches.

You know, some of the guys got a kick out of doing that. I don't suppose you could do that today. I don't know what the union would say about that. But that's what we did, and we did it for a long time. And I was actually in the show business, and I was actually making more money than my father was making. Unbelievable. Yeah, I was making $90 a week.

Do we have the timing right on this? You went into the Army? Yeah, I went home and I finished high school, and then I went back to California to try to make it a show business and didn't know where to start, of course. I went back to Moline to wait to get drafted. And so I finally found out that you could volunteer for induction and get it over with faster, you know.

So I did that. That was in for two years. years. And I kept asking people about getting into special services because I actually was a professional entertainer. Right. That's right. And nobody believed me, of course. And nobody, nobody could help me there either. You didn't have any video in those days or film that you could show people to prove you

were in show business. And to take your word for it. You know, I heard when Don Rickles was in the Army, he also spoke. spent his whole tour of duty there telling them, look, I'm a comedian, I can entertain. They didn't believe him. No. Yeah, well, it was a problem.

And then I came out of the field when I was, when I was in the Army, I was in, I had artillery training. and then I went to I went out on Bivouac in this artillery outfit and I did that pretty regularly and we came back into the post

and made pardon me I'm choking and the first sergeant was talking it was just before retreat and he said oh, yeah, I was supposed to read this last week, but I didn't think anybody'd be interested.

There's a talent contest at the main post tonight, and it turns out to be like 7 o'clock, and now it's 5.30, and I'm dirty. You know, I've been in a convoy, the dust's all over. So I ran into the barracks, and I kept my tap shoes just in case. and I threw a number together. In an hour.

Yeah, down. Wow. The only place where I could do it without scratching the floor and was down in the latrina. So I put together in a latrine, and I ran over to the main post and won. And so the winner got to go to New York and be on the Arlene Francis Soldier Parade Show.

Wonderful. And you got a week in New York, you know, and that alone was gift enough. I didn't need any more than that. But then they called and they wanted me to come and join them in special services in Atlanta, which was Third Army headquarters. So that's how I got into special services. And from then on, no more KP, no more card. That's great. With an act that you put together in an hour and tap dancing in the latrines.

to practice. Yes. Fantastic. I kept doing that same number forever. That's great. But you had an Army Sergeant that helped you write letters. Oh, yes. That was Sergeant Leonard Nebula.

Wow, that's great. So Mr. Spock was your Army Sergeant. Yes. When I got into special services, it was Leonard who contacted me. I think he pretty much ran. that office, you know, on that level. I think there was a lieutenant above him and then a captain and then a colonel who came in once in a while.

But I think Lenny pretty much ran it. And he was a real doer. He put together a whole show which he directed and wrote a lot of, and we did this big production thing for the... not just for army personnel, but for the citizens of Atlanta, anybody could come. So here's a young Mr. Spock and a young Captain Parmiter doing a show business review in the Army. Yes, yes. We did some Harry Belafonte tunes.

Wow. So Leonard Nimoy would sing Harry Belafonte tunes? Yes, I can't remember what he did on the show, but he was, he emceited to begin with. and then introduced people to do their numbers. You know, the wife of one, one of the guys in the outfit came in, and she was a beautiful singer, and she sang. It was fun. Now, when...

I'm telling you, I'm telling you that, that was, that was not like being in the Army at all. I bet not. No. Now, when you were both making your livings in Joe Biz, did you and Leonard Nimoy ever worked together then? No, no. Our paths did cross. You know, when I got out of the service,

I knew his wife as well, and they had one child at that time. And so I would go, I'd be invited to dinner, which was nice, and I'd go out there and have dinner with him once in a great while. And then our career is just two. Took us in different directions. Right. Although you both wound up working for Desi Lou in one way or another since they produced Star Trek.

That's right. And I was under contract to Desi Lou. I went, Lucy came to see a musical review I was doing in Hollywood called the Billy Barnes Review. And she came backstage and asked if I would like to join them. she was putting together a talent program like the major studios used to have when she was young. And so I got into that. And it was great because now I'm up to $100 a week. I was making $50 a week at night.

I'd make $50 a week in the daytime. And anyway, several of the people who were, in that group at that time, had some connection to Star Trek. I'm trying to remember the name. Oh, Gracely Whitney was one of them. Oh, Graceley Whitney, sure.

Yeah. And Major Barrett, she married Gene Roddenberry. That's right. That's right. Now, you're our third guest to be involved, to be discovered by Lucille Ball. we had one year co-star mr storch yeah Larry Storch from F droop and I've heard of him yes and Turner classic movie host uh Robert Osborne oh yeah Bob yeah yeah he was in that group too isn't that funny now so you were you acted with Robert Osborne well what happened is that it

It didn't, it was brand new. And Lucy really didn't have time to personally oversee it because she was now running the studio. It was her studio. And she and Desi had divorced and she got the studio. And so she hired people to do it. And they were still kind of feeling their way. You know, we'd go in and we'd work on scenes or we'd work on a number, a musical number, with no particular aim inside, except just doing it.

I guess that's what they did. Like at Metro when they were doing all those wonderful musicals, you know, I've seen clips from movies that somebody singing and dancing that you wouldn't even suspect knew how to do that. Clark Gable was one of them. And now, and you said you had a lot of rejection in your early years in showbiz, as most people do. Well, you had to make a shift, too, Ken, right? I mean, we should point out that you said at the very beginning of the interview that musicals, the big musicals were dying.

So didn't you have to make a shift, say, I think I'm going to be an actor now as opposed to a song and danceman? Yes, no, you'd think that anybody would have a brain would know that you have to act if you're going to be a song and danceman. move, but I didn't even think about that. I just thought, oh, well, that's something that you do between dance numbers, you know? And I never took it seriously at all, and then

I got this job. I was going to school, I was going to school, I was year I built learning, you know, stuff that I didn't know, including acting, and also, I wanted to take ballet class. I wanted some solid background

as a dancer. I wanted to improve. But then I got a job offer to go to Las Vegas and be in this review with Abbott and Costello. Oh, tell us about that. And, well, we did some familiar... Well, I was involved in doing one sketch I remember that was from their movie Buck Privates.

Sure. Yeah, where I had to do the military drill and hit Lou on the head. Of course, he had a helmet on, but he really wanted me to hit him. What was the sketch? I don't remember now. But I remember doing that, and I did a number that was written special material for the opener. and I did a song and dance and then I worked in sketches

and some musical things here and there Abbott and Costello I heard didn't get along with each other Well I don't know how they did earlier in life But they were really at the end of their Association

Because this was the last time they ever appeared together. This was 1956. How long were you in the act, Ken? How long were you in the act with Abin and Costello? I think it ran for about three weeks, maybe four weeks, in December of 1956. You did a lot of TV in the 60s, Ken, after this.

I mean, you were in things like Dr. Kildare and the Dick Van Dyke Show and no time for sergeants, the spinoff of the movie, and Raw Hyde and Combat and Hazel, and you were doing a lot of television. Yeah, I was a day player, though. You know, I was not doing any big parts. Sure. Now, that one, Hazel, that was the biggest job I'd ever had,

and that was four days long. So I was on a weekly. That was a big deal for me. And a very pleasant place to work. And I've never, I've rarely had a bad experience in my life on, you know, sets. It was such a nice time that I had. I was, you know, if I knew that I could keep that going, I could have been a day player all my life. Not complained. Now, it's funny because I was talking to this actor, friend of mine, James Karen, an old character actor. And he said he

never understood these contract players who complained. Because he thought being under contract and just being told, okay, you're doing this show or this movie this week, was the greatest thing in the world for an actor. Oh, yeah. I know, and a lot of people did fight that. I wanted to get out of those contracts. What? And what it really did for actors is that it made stars out of character actors. people wouldn't even know the names

if it hadn't been for that those talent programs and those contract players you know you've I don't know if you've ever seen that those famous photos there was some motion picture made of it two of all of the stars or most of the stars that they could get together

for a luncheon at MGM Oh yeah yeah Oh God it's really amazing how many really fun character actors there were. And they had security. They had financial security. It was great. I was telling Gilbert, and I hope I have this right, Ken, because we do a lot of internet research, and we know we're both savants about this stuff, so we know a lot of stuff anyway. But did you just... Idiot Savants of

is the key word. Did you do, did you do song and dance numbers on stage with Andy Griffith and Jerry Van Dyke? And were they a comedy team at one point? No, they weren't. They weren't. but they were friends, and I think that they had worked together before. I see. And they just added me to the act. And I went to Las Vegas, and I'm telling you, I was the worst act that ever played Las Vegas. How do you mean that?

I really am. What What Wally Cox Told me about playing Las Vegas You know, he just Or playing nightclubs, for that matter You know, he got, He made his big splash with Mr. Peepers.

Sure. Do you, are you familiar? Oh, yes, of course, And he told me about the places that he had worked And one of them, he, he stood on the bar Well, the people were drinking, you know. and they would make comments about his shoes. Why do you say you had a bad act?

Oh, I was terrible. I couldn't do, I couldn't afford to fix it. I couldn't hire anybody. I'd always spent the money and thought it was a nightmare. But Jerry Van Dyke, I sat and watched him every night, and he just, he was terrific. I really liked him. Yeah.

And Andy was a good friend, and we were good friends for quite a few years there. And then he moved back to North Carolina. And Jerry Van Dyke, for those who don't know, is Dick Van Dyke's brother. And he started The Immortal show, My Mother of the Car. Yes. The car was voiced by Anne Southern, who you also worked with. Yes, I did. Yeah, yeah.

I was on the last year of her show. The Ann Southern show. And we should let the audience know, for those who don't remember it, that my mother, the car, was a show where a guy's mother dies and is reincarnated as a car. Yeah, she can't. It was a studerbanger or something. I know I'm miss speaking. And he would talk to his mother, the car.

Yes, I know. Yeah, and they actually got that past somebody. Well, you know, for years, that was the infamous punchline, you know, for years, Ken, that show. Yeah, well, Jerry told me that when they premiered, he was very happy to get a series, of course. Sure. And on the night that they went on the air for the first time, It was the first night that they premiered this, I think was called The Movie of the Week or something, on an opposite channel. And they ran a movie that had been a blockbuster called The Bridge on the River Kwai.

Sure. And Jerry said, hell, I was watching that. He wasn't watching his own show. So when you were doing all that television in the 60s, and I didn't. know this either. You work with George Burns on a show called Wendy and Me? Yeah, George Burns and Connie Stevens. Yeah, we're fans. And that was at Warner Brothers, and that was another really decent job. I got four days on that one, too. And at that time, Warner's was thinking about getting back into the television business. They had been very big

and the television business in really early days, you know, a few years back before that. And Connie Stevens was one of the contract players. You know, they paid their people a very little money, but that's the idea. You know, you hope that you make an investment in somebody, and they become a star, and they make big bucks. And what was George Burns like to work with? Oh, it's just great. he was a very good gentle soul. He was kind of on the quiet side.

And I ran into him quite a few times over the years after that. And he was always funny. And these are the guys that I idolized growing up. You know, people I heard on the radio, you know, when I was a kid. And met people like him and Jack Benny. And, you know, it was Benny like? Another favorite. Oh, no, he was terrific.

I don't know. I've never heard a bad word about him. No, everybody that's done our show just talks about what a saint he was. Uh-huh. Yeah, and, oh, Miltonville, lots of marks. Yeah, you must have had these pinch me moments, Ken. You as a small kid from a small town in Illinois, and now you're working with, you know, George Burns and Milton Burrell.

And what was sprout, Joe? Groucho Marx-like. Oh, he was great. And he was, I'm really, pardon me, I'm going to take another swing. What are you drinking, Ken? I wish. I wish, no, there are juices. And anyway, I was married back then in the early 60s, and my wife was always looking for work,

and she was on a couple of different game shows. And one of them was, you bet your life. We should just say, not to interrupt you, but that you were married to the actress Jackie Joseph, who was very popular in the 60s. Yeah, correct. Worked a lot. Yeah, and she was on the Doris Day Show.

Yep, that's the best part. And some movies and stuff. Yeah, she worked a lot. Now, we met up doing the Billy Barnes Review when we were youngsters. Anyway. She was working with Groucho, you said, on You Bet Your Life. Yeah, yeah. Well, she was a contestant on the show, and he just was crazy about her.

She looked really good. And he was crazy about her. And she was funny, Jackie's funny. So then somehow another, they decided to bring her back with her husband. And so I got to go on the show myself. And that's how we met. Now, I've run in, I ran into him several times after that. Proucho.

Yeah, parties and stuff, you know, and, and he just was kind of soft-spoken, and he didn't necessarily try to be funding, you know. But I was, I was starstruck. I can imagine. Yeah. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast after this. And the Burns Show, and I don't know if I have my information right, did the Burns show somehow lead to F-Troop? Well, yes, yeah, Wendy and me.

And anyway, Connie went to the heads of the TV department. And at Warner's. Yeah, at Warner's. She knew them well from before. and went to bat for me and said, you ought to take a look at this guy. You're casting, they were doing about five or so pilots at that time.

And one of them was Encinol tool. And that's the one I was interested in because I'm a big fan of Jack Lemons. And I always thought that I could do that kind of work. and so but they weren't interested in me for that and so they

tested me and I got the job for F-trup and not knowing really anything about it until I picked up the script and it was really funny and I don't know that I've ever seen at that point if I had ever seen

a comedy Western I mean just totally you know a broad And comedy was good. It was just such fun. And it actually, everything worked out. You know, I was the first person cast. So I was reading and doing screen tests with the people who came in reading for parts, you know.

And I was on camera. So I heard that Larry Storch was coming in, and I was a big fan of Larry's. as are we yeah we we had him on the podcast oh yes yeah I mentioned that to you when we first called you Ken I think he was our third our third or fourth

guest and we love the man yeah oh me too yeah I just became good friends and socialized together anyway I was I was thrilled because Larry was going to be coming in and I was hoping

that he would get the part of Sergeant O'Rourke because that was the only character the part of Corporal Agarne, which Larry played, was not yet written. They just created that for Larry because they couldn't, you know, they didn't want to lose Larry and hire Forrest Tucker, who just was Sergeant O'Rourke, you know, on the page who envisioned that guy. And here's this guy, he came in on the set when he was testing, and he's like six, six five or six four or something like that and he's a big burly irishman he's just exactly well as the uh the writers had depicted him on the page and i was afraid that tuck was going to get

the job i knew he was going to get the job and then then i wouldn't get a chance to work with larry but uh they worked it out and uh you know the rest is history tell him out i've never had a better time of my life. Now, you on that show were like a very klutzy guy, constantly tripping over things and falling. And that's where, I guess, your song and dance experience came in handy. Yeah, I think that had a lot to do with it because I didn't know I could do that. and so it's something that I kind of added when we were doing the series of screen tests testing the other actors and I added as an actor you know you're constantly going out on you know to read and you've got to find a way to get a hook when you go in that room and

you're going to do a cold reading and if you can just find something to to pick up something that's available in the office and do something with it so that they remember it, you know. And so I got to be an actor who liked working with props and stuff. And so I added that to that character. And then they got so that they would write, they wouldn't physically describe in detail the physical comedy that they wanted. would just say a business to be worked out with Ken on the set. That's great. And that's what, you know, Buster Keaton called this physical comedies, these bits,

gags. I didn't know that. And that's where the gag writers came in, but it just occupies a lot of space on the page and people kind of lose interest. Now, wait. Their eyes glaze over. When you were doing this and it was always funny because it was very graceful. There's that one episode I want to interrupt with it opens where you're reading a letter and you're walking across the grounds of the fort.

And there's five or six physical gags because your eyes are on the letter. You remember this? And you just about, you managed to avoid five or six mishaps. There's a horse that doesn't hit you and there's a water bucket and there's a. Yeah, that was the first time I ever got a lot of advanced notice. I think it was when we, there was the opening of the second season. Yeah. And the first color episode.

And so I think at some point, pardon me, they had given me this notice of something that they wanted. They wanted to do a tracking shot. and they wanted to be it in the town on the loading dock, and they described the scene to me. And so I got together with the prompt guy and asked him if I could get these things out of the property department. You know, the major studios that are that old, they had all kinds of wonderful stuff, you know,

as far as pops were concerned, and wardrobe. and anyway and I put that together and yeah it did it worked out very well Harvey Corman was the guest star

on that episode I think oh how was Harvey to work with oh he was great you know he he got a little testy once in a while but then he'd make fun of him

he wasn't he the Prussian the guy with a balloon and the dachshund, the name Schnitzel? Yeah, and it's by Kilman. That's right, right. Yeah, that's right. Be careful of it, my schnitzel. He hands Agar and the dog at one point. Now, was this the famous episode of It Is Balloon?

It Is Balloon, yes. Every kid, I used to say that back back back. I'm trying to remember who it is. Is it Agar or you that winds up in the hot air balloon? Yeah, that was a little. Larry. It's Larry. Right.

What happened? The guy who owned the balloon was a stunt pilot, and he owned his balloon, and it was tethered so that it wouldn't just keep going up, you know. And they had to exit the shot. And the pilot had to be down in the gondola controlling the gas. flame. It was out of air balloon. And so it actually rose out of the picture, out of frame, but it was tethered, and the place

it was tethered, the eye that was attached to the bottom of the gondola, was right in the middle. And when that thing reached the end of its travel, and the line went taught, the floor in the gondola buckled. And it was like V-shunders. shaped. And Larry, and I thought everybody was going to fall out to their deaths. Wow.

And Harvey Corman, of course, became world famous from the Carol Burnett Show later on. But you, doing all these pratfalls and physical comedy got a very, very flattering fan. that's right I think I know what you mean yeah this was one of the first times I did a

a fairly complicated fall and I come out of the door to my office and I just I turn an ankle you know

kind of rolls under on me and and I bang into a pole and go around and I wind up stepping off the porch and then going over the guardrail. And I had talked to the wardrobe guy about putting a flesh color elastic band so nobody could see it.

So I could keep my hand on my hat on when I went over the guardrail and did a cart reel. And then when I went over and I was upside down. My hat still wanted to come off. So I used one hand to put the hat back on, and one hand on the ground, and I did a cartwheel, and I stood up and walked out of the scene and into the scene with Larry, and then I did a piece of business with his folded-up cavalry hat and my riding crop. I was a guy who had been away and had met General Custer. And he wanted to be a pattern, and Parmantir wanted to pattern his life after his hero.

And he was real, and it went to his head, he was pompous and everything. Anyway, the whole thing is much better on film than I'm describing it. It just happened. It's like the accident of my hat coming off, and then putting it back on with my other hand. well it all evolved so who was yeah go ahead

and I got a call one night from Buster Keaton and he Buster was very quiet he was very quiet I mean he he would talk with some of these old buddies

and and he loved my wife and he talked with her fine but he was kind of on the quiet side with me and he said that was a good gag you did last night.

I had more words than I'd ever heard. It came from Buster Keaton. And this is Buster Keaton. Yeah. The silent screen star who was known for a brilliant physical comedy. And Pratt Falls, yeah. Yeah, and yeah, he was a heck of a filmmaker. Boy, he was, I mean, he did some wonderful stuff.

And he was a fan of yours. What did that feel like? Yeah. What did that feel like? Well, it was the highest praise. It's like somebody like Fred Astaire saying, that was a good routine you did last time. Gilbert and I love F-Troop, Ken.

We were talking about some of the cameo, the smaller parts of the guest shots, I should say. Vincent Price, one of Gilbert's favorites. And Uncle Miltie was on the show playing a wise owl, I believe. He turned out to be a spy. What was Uncle Miltie like to work with? Well, now, he had a reputation of being difficult sometimes, but he was just fine. When I worked with him, I liked him very much, and I ran into him more often than any other of the old-timers I knew at parties,

because he just happened to like to get out and socialize, you know. so he was always out there and frank frank warned me not to say anything but milton burrell and forest tucker oh oh watch out ken you know where he's going we're both rumored to be

incredibly well endowed that's what i hear they were both kind of famous for that did you were you ever actually changing with either one of them I apologize for him, Ken. He's terrible.

He has Larry Storch the same question, and Larry wouldn't take the bait either. I don't think you can. I don't think you can say those things. Any medium. No. Which again. What about Rickles? Rickles played Bald Eagle on the show.

Oh, he tickles me to death. You know, yeah, I just, I loved his humor. and over the years, you know, back in the 60s, in the late 50s, I did a series of musical reviews

with the Billy Barnes that Billy Barnes had written, musical lyrics. And anyway, I was working at the Cornet Theater on La Ciena Boulevard in Los Angeles. And he used to be

across the street at the Slate Brothers. and that's the first thing I think it's one of the first things he said to me he said you know when I was at the Slate Brothers I'd look across the street and I'd see the marquee and say come in and see Ken Barry boy tap dancer that I was there for two years I never saw anybody go in there come out so he insulted you upon meeting him I heard I heard Rickolds like on stage and off would have these like hysterically funny insults. Oh, yeah, he was great.

Just as fast as could be, you know. Now, Gilbert didn't know this, and I found us out recently, Ken, that there was a live F-Troop review that your manager sold to Harris, sold them on the idea of you guys doing this? Yeah, we did. And we also did a rodeo. and in Phoenix. Wow.

And then we went ahead and put together a slightly improved act. You know, we're much better as individuals, I think, than we were as a group. But people loved that show a lot. What was the live F-Troop show? Was you, Forrest, Tucker, Larry, and what, Jim Hampton? Jim Hampton. James Hampton? Yeah. Yeah, and we had an opening number.

We hired a choreographer, and they hired a guy to do special material, and then each of us took some time. I didn't have any material to speak of, so I didn't take up too much time on an individual act. But Tuck was a good raconteur. I'll bet. And he sat and talked, and, you know, Larry's. brilliant as far as I'm concerned. I used to love him when he took over for Jackie Gleason that

oh well I don't know how long it lasted in the summertime but they used to have summer show that replaced the you know the stars and given a little rest and I don't know how many shows they were doing in those days but anyway I would seem to me I watched Larry for a long time I became a huge fan of his. Oh, he's the best. He's the best. And you guys got together recently in L.A. and did a little appearance in you. Yeah, it was to honor Larry's career. Yeah.

And he was going to close up in the shop. It was going to be his last performance on stage. And they did it at a place where, Well, the building was there when Larry got out of the service. He got out of the Navy, and he came to Los Angeles, and he ran into Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. And Desi was working at the Ceros. Oh, it's now the comedy story, yeah. Yeah.

Right. And so, and then that all happened just in a few minutes. she just said something about come by and do your act and we'll take a look at you and you know and he just it began his career yeah yeah Larry Larry was telling us about that that's so funny now years later your old pal Andy Griffith would be leaving his show the Andy Griffith show where he was Sheriff Taylor and how did you wind up to be on Mayberry RFD. I was going to be on a special with Carol Burnett.

It was her first special before she started her weekly show. And she, this was with Rock Hudson and Frank Gorson and myself. Wow. Wow. Yeah, I think it was called Carol and Company or something like that. And things were not going well with me. I finished, F-tube had been canceled, I was devastated. And I was trying to find out a way to light a fire under my representatives,

and it wasn't working. So I decided to try to get a personal manager. I thought maybe that would give me some more clout and get me up for some better things. And so my wife wrote to this, Sidic Link, who was the president of the personal Managers Association at that time and asked him to take a look at me doing this special with Carol Burnett. He did

and then he called it and he said that he wanted to represent me. And so that's how I met Andy because I met all the clients at one time, you know, at a party. I knew everybody. But Andy

was not, I think he was approached about maybe reading me for the park of Sam Jones and Mayberry RFT the lead but he knew me from F Troop and they didn't think

that was the right way to go and so they saw everybody else in town I think by the time they just he decided and he decided

to bring me in and read and we just hit it off we both felt the same way about acting and we had a lot in common and we got up and we did a scene that we just that went very well and you were the you were you were you were a widower right you were you were a farmer and a widower sam jones yes and the but in the pilot the uh the way it was uh structured there was there was also another family and the uh and we shot it that way there was an

Italian family, I was supposed to have been overseas in Italy while I was in the Army, my character. And then I had become friends with this Italian guy, and I offered him to come over and be my hired hand if he wanted to sometime. Or if I don't need one, maybe I could help him out. And so he takes me up on it. and he brings his whole family. And that's the pilot that we shot. But the network didn't like that. And so the network went with, you know,

the familiar things that happened in Mayberry, and the familiar characters, they kept a lot of the characters that were already on it. And I'm sure that helped, you know, keep the show going. And then Andy came back and he did guest shots for the first year. kept the ratings up, and it was doing, it did very well. Yeah, I think it was on for three years, Maybury RFT.

Yeah. And so the original cast, Aunt B.B.E. was there. Francis Bavier was there. George Lindsay, who played Goober, was still there. Yeah, and so, and a couple of other people. Paul Hartman was there. Paul Hartman and Jack Dodson. They didn't have to fix it, man. Right.

Howard Sprague, Jack Dodson. Oh, yeah, Jack was a good friend. yeah they well the familiarity of the town and and the way people like to visit Mayberry you know every week every Monday night you know that that was a habit that people

had gotten into and that helped a lot too so the ratings were really good I mean we were number four or something like that the first two years and then in the third year there was the first year that they had Monday night football Uh-huh. That hadn't been on before.

So we were on opposite that for part of the country. And so that that hurt our ratings. But still we were number 15 that year, and we still got canceled. Because as somebody pointed out, it was the year that CBS canceled everything with a tree in it. Oh, all the, right, the urban programming. Yeah. Yeah. Now, you did a strange.

show kind of like laughing and it was called wow the Kenberry wow show yes we're very fond of that show oh thank you I'm glad to hear somebody and they were two complete

unknowns on that show I don't know what ever happened to them Terry Gar and Steve Martin that's correct yes we had a we had done a special and I got that

because I had been on the last Andy Williams show that was on television and these producers liked what I had done when I did in my guest shot and they decided to do a special and so

from that the network picked up the show but only has a summer replacement shows. So we only did five shows. And we did five shows in three weeks. And right, Terry, Terry Gar was in it. And Steve Martin. And Carl, and Carl Gottlieb. Cheryl Ladd. Oh, yes. Cheryl Stoppelmore. She was known at that time, right? Soon to become Cheryl Ladd. And Frank and I, Frank and I were talking that one of the other people starring in it was Carl Gottlieb. Oh, I love Carl. Yeah. And he was, he was.

would later write Jaws. And the jerk. Yeah, the jerk with his old pal, Steve Martin. Yeah. Yeah, we discussed that. And I never knew that. Yeah, when I first called Ken, I told him that he had written Jaws, and it was a revelation to Ken.

Yeah, I didn't know that. Yeah, I got to know Carl a little bit in L.A. because he was very involved with the Writers Guild. By the way, he has that wonderful small part in the jerk, Carl Gottlieb, where he's Iron Balls McGinty. where Steve Martin Kinks tries to kick somebody in the crotch And there's this loud clang

And you know I was watching the Kenberry Wow show By the way we should tell our listeners That's it's available on YouTube And it's quite surreal Ken There's you in an orange jacket and tap shoes And you're singing about anime Wong and Faye Ray

and then Steve Martin stands up in the audience it does a comedy bit and it's wild I mean it's a little like it has that laughing and kind of hell's a poppin you know anything can happen

at any minute kind of quality and it's very Olson and Johnson Oh yes Helza popping Yeah It's also They were great admirers That's what they did

for Andy Williams on his last show The one that Andy did before that that was on for years was more of a traditional variety show like Perry Como had, you know, back in those days. And in one part of the show, that's kind of jaw-dropping, is Hitler singing, call me irresponsible? Pretty edgy for 1972, Ken. You can see it on YouTube, and I urge people to take a look at it because it's really sort of

the classic summer replacement show in a way. Yeah, Chris Beard and Alan Bly were the producers. The Sonny and Share guys. Oh, yeah. There's just a couple of, they're really nuts. And we have to get to Mama's family. Yeah, well, that's, you know, that's another case of getting by with a lot of help from my friends. The producer, the executive producer on that show was Joe Hamilton, who had been married to Carol Burnett.

And you and Carol went way back. Yeah, way back. And I appeared every year as a guest on the Carol Burnett show. And I did several specials. And they kept using me. And they used me when nobody else would. I mean, they put me on a variety show. I remember the Gary Moore show from New York?

Sure. Well, Carol was on that, and she was becoming a star from that. And she saw me in the Billy Barnes Review and talked them into using me as a guest star. You know, I'm making $50 a week in Hollywood. And I'm suddenly a guest star. It's nice to have friends in high places. Oh, she was so good to me. It was just great.

We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast, but first a word from our sponsor. We were going someplace. Oh, you were talking about how you'd done so many Carol Burnett shows that eventually it led to Joe Hamilton and Mama's family. Oh, and Mama's family. And, of course, Vicki Lawrence, who had been on the Carol Benet show for all those years, had this character from this skis. sketch called the family sketch on the Carol Benet Show. And it had these characters, Mama and Eunice. Eunice was played by Carol.

And anyway, they wanted to, there was a very popular character that, pardon me, that Vicky did, and the Mama character. And so they decided to try it as a series. And so they called me again, you know, lucky me. And we went on the air in about 82, 83, something like that,

on the network. And it didn't do that well on the network. But then Joe Hamilton just ran into somebody on the golf course one day and made a deal for syndication after we were canceled. And so we had a break there. But then we went back on the air

and almost from the day one, we were the number one new syndicated comedy in television. You know, it just, it was that popular. And didn't you play two parts? I mean, you were Vinton most of the time, but weren't you another character in the first pilot and the Eunice pilot? You were two, you played two different family members. Oh, no, that was a special that,

in which Vicki Lawrence's character, Mama, died. And there was a funeral scene. And then they brought her back to life for the television series. On the special,

on the special, she died. No, that was, the special was entitled, Eunice. Now, you,

on the, on, you knew, Aunt B, of course. Francis Bavier. Francis Bavier. Now,

She and Andy Griffith never got along. Oh, no, they were just from different worlds pretty much, you know. But they liked each other. Andy just, he was a nose to the grindstone kind of person on the set. And in the reading room, you know, because he got like to. get in on the writing end of it. You know, he liked to spend a lot of time around that table, usually, you know, as an actor and working for many years.

I was in and out of there. You know, we just read the script and then they'd figure out what they were going to change after the actors had left. But now I'm sitting in there with Andy and he's going over, you know, the script of the fine-tooth comb. I mean, he was serious about his work. very, very serious. Which I just want to go back to Ken Berry-WOW show just for one second, Ken.

We're working with Steve Martin, and this is, I guess, is the question you've been asked, so forgive me if it's a trite question. Did you have any sense that Steve Martin was going to become Steve Martin? Not a bit. I knew that he, as well as Carl, they both had jobs on the Smothers Brothers Show. Right. As writers. And so in my mind, I'm thinking,

Oh, these guys are just having a lark, you know, performing. And I thought Steve would go back to work as a writer, and he would stay a writer, and maybe he would perform here and there. Well, after that show went off, I mean, it seems like no time at all, he was playing the largest venues and packing him in. Oh, sure. He was the biggest, hottest comic going. He was like a rock star.

Within a couple of years, I mean, he was host. Saturday Night Live, maybe three, four years after the fact. Yeah, it's amazing. Can I just read off quickly a bunch of names? Some you already talked about. And you'll give us a quick opinion and experience. Tony Randall. Say that again, please.

Tony Randall from the odd couple. You did a movie with Tony called Hello Down There, which Gilbert and I love. Oh, God. I love Tony Randall. I just think he's really. wonderful. And I actually made him laugh one time. I can't tell a story here, though. You can tell it. You can tell it. Wait, wait. You can tell it. We're on on the radio. Yeah. I know, it's fine. I mean, we were in the dressing room, which was attached to the soundstage. We were on the outside, though. The makeup room was outside. And Tony laughed like nobody I ever saw a laugh. He got down on the floor and just bowled into the bassboard.

He got right down on his force, and suddenly the door to the sound stage open, and they ran out. They thought somebody was being killed. Now, and Ken, there's no story you can't tell on this. This is just recorded for the Internet, so it's not. It's not. Oh, no, I can't go. Oh, all right. But, you know, I've got to say that movie, that's another surreal piece of work.

Tony Randall plays a guy. I guess he's an architect or a scientist who's paid by, you know, I have this right, he's paid by an ad agency to live underwater to live in an underwater home and you were the rival. And Richard Dreyfus sings a love. Yeah. He sings a love song to a goldfish. Yeah, he was a young rock star, sings a song called Hey Goldfish. Yeah, and Arnold Stang was in that.

Yeah, the cast was incredible. Merv Griffin's in it and Janet Lee. It was like an acid dream, the whole thing. Now, what about, yeah, one of our, one of our favorite star Planet of the Apes, most of all, Roddy McDowell, who was also in a book. Oh, yeah, what a nice man he is. He's a good guy. I did another movie. Oh, no, I didn't.

No, I'm sorry. I'm mistaken. I know he was, that was, the cat from outer space was a, was a, um, a, um, a, um, a, um, movie that was done at Disney. Oh, yeah. Yeah, with Hans Conreed. And you would... A whole bunch of really fun people to be on the set with.

Tell us about Hans Conreed. He's a favorite. John Reed, I'm a great fan, and I knew him socially. You know, ran into him quite a few times. But I think that's the only time I ever worked with Hans. And Jesse White was also in that movie, too, who Gilbert and I love.

Say that again? Jesse White. Oh, yeah. Jesse. He was on. the Ann Southern Show. That's right. You did the cat from outer space with him, too. Uh-huh. Yeah.

And you worked with Helen Hayes. Yes. Yes, I couldn't believe it. I was out of my league. So you did our Herbie rides again with Helen Hayes. She was fun. My ex-wife came to the set, and they got friendly. and my kids were about the same age as her grandkids

and took everybody, including Helen, to Disneyland one day. And it was, and bought Helen her first McDonald's. Really? Hamburger, yeah. She never been to Disneyland. Wow. So you witnessed the great Helen Hayes eating her first McDonald's hamburger. It was the first lady of the American.

theater. That's right. That's what they called. She was introduced on one of the radio shows like Lux Radio Theater or something, and it stuck. The First Lady of the American Theater. And you also worked with Mr. Magoo himself, Jim Backus. Jim Backus. I love that guy. You talk about people who get out socially. Yeah, he and his wife Henny. I used to see them all the time, and I worked on his show.

and now they had a schedule. It was syndicated, I'm pretty sure. And an early syndicated show that was on, it wasn't a lot of that in those days. They would start on Monday, and they would shoot until like Wednesday at lunch, and the show was finished, and after lunch they would start the next show

and go through Friday. And everybody was tired. You know, it's kind of a grueling schedule, especially for a half-hour show. And I'll tell you how long ago it was, he got a huge laugh with this. He walked out of the dressing room one day, and he was just tired. Oh, and he said, oh, God, there must be an easier way to make a hundred grand a year. That's great. That's a great line.

How long ago that was? Great line. That puts it all in perspective. Oh. And what about Bert Convey? Bert, he was in the Billy Barnes Review. Sure. And we were social friends, and I thought the world of him.

When we went back to New York with the Billy Barnes Review, then Burke stayed on there. And he had quite a bit of success there. But I think most people know. know him from his game show. He was a good actor, too. He did a lot of sitcoms, and the poor man passed away at a young age. Yeah. He was talented.

People thought of him as a game show host. He was a good actor. Good with comedy. Very nice guy. And you worked with one of your idols, Donald O'Connor. Oh, yeah. Donald hadn't worked in a long time, and he was kind of getting his feet wet again. and we did a tour of sugar.

You know, it's a musical version of the movie, some like it hot. Oh, yeah, sure. Yeah, so you spend a lot of time in drag. Not my character, but I mean, I do. I appear in drag. And it was, you know, I didn't know what I was going to do. I had an idea to do it a number as the girl,

as dressed as the female. And I went and talked to the guy at Capizio used to do my tap shoes, you know. And I had to put together some shoes that looked like a heel on it, but it wasn't a real high heel because I was going to try to tap dance. But that never, that part of it never worked out.

It was just, it's funny how, well, both of you know. I mean, there was a time when you could walk on stage just a man obviously dressed as a woman, and that would get the hugest laugh that she heard. And that's the way that show works. And you worked with the very funny and very crazy Jonathan Winters.

I did, yes. As a matter of fact, I think I worked with him maybe more than once. I remember doing one show with him. I was going to say, is it the Aloha Paradise ring a bell. Oh. That's where you work with Jonathan Winters. I found an old TV guide that had you listed with Jonathan Winters.

I'll be darned. And Bill Daly. Yes, Bill Daly. Yeah, I recall that experience. It was over at Universal. Yeah, the... What was Winters like? What was Jonathan Winters like, Ken?

Oh, well, I've, again, I'm a huge fan of his. And he gave me, well, it was the first time I'd ever seen anybody work like that. And Jonathan had his own show for a while at ABC Studios in Hollywood. Oh, was that Jonathan's attic? Yeah, you're right. Hey, very good. That's a new one on me. Yeah.

Yeah. I walked in to there, and I remember Bert Reynolds was there, and Bert went on before I did. And then I went on, and as I recall, we just fed him lines, and he just went with it, you know? Yeah. And there's something wonderful and scary about that at the same time. You just wonder if he's ever going to come back, you know. I remember. Oh, God.

Go ahead. He was brilliant. He was just brilliant. He was like Robin Williams. Or Robin was like him. Well, yeah, Robin worship Jonathan Winters. Yeah. And I remember Jonathan's attic was a place made to look like his attic.

And he would just walk in and pick up a lamb shade or a lawnmower or a broom and make an entire. Yeah, that's great. Just do an entire comedy bit. Yeah, he was. Wonderful. You know, I'm old enough to have seen him on the Tonight Show, you know, back when Jack Parr was doing it. Because Jack Parr was a big fan of his, too. He just, well, he was in awe of him, as I recall. I believe I've got that chronologically placed right. I think it was Jack Carr. Anyway, he's, he just, I just marveled at that, how anybody could do that.

Ken, did you ever think about writing a book about your Hollywood experience? experiences and all the people you worked with? No. It would have made a... Nobody would buy it. Oh, come on. It would have made a great memoir. I mean, you worked with every legend.

Yeah. That's really the only reason anybody ever talks to me because I knew somebody. We're fans. Well, this... We're going to start wrapping up now. You've been great. This has been Gilbert. Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast with my co-host Frank Santo Padre.

And we've been talking to the great singer, dancer, actor, and star of TV, stage, and film, Ken Berry. And Ken Barry, I'm proud to say, said that Milton Burrell won in a contest against Forrest Tucker, where they both dropped their pants. Ken, before we go, we sang some of the F-Troop theme with Larry. Do you remember any of it? The end of the Civil War was near.

A hero who sneezed, abruptly seized, retreat, and reversed it to victory. That's great. That's rare. Indian fights are colorful sights, and nobody takes some licking. Their pale face and red skin both turn chicken. Okay, Ken, what's the rest?

When something in fighting get them down, they know... Their morale. Melvareal won't sink. Is that right? Troop, won't troop. No, you need to rhyme with troops. Yes. They know their morale won't sink.

Their morale won't troop. I didn't write that. Ken, you're a great sport. As long as they can all relax in town. Yeah, before they resume with a bang and a boom. Oh, I want to tell you, I'm not going to stretch this out. No, go ahead. About the best time in my adult life.

Oh, that's great. No contest. I've heard you referred to it as two years of recess. Yes, that's it. I couldn't believe all of the hours. And I heard Forrest Tucker had a temper tantrum when he lost to Milton Burrell. There's just no stopping him when he gets on a roll, Ken. Thanks for doing this.

This was a treat for us. Thank you. Thank you. Ken Barry, everybody. Thank you, Ken Barry, everybody. Thank you. Barry. Bye-bye, buddy.

Bye-bye, buddy.