Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - Larry Kenney Encore

Episode Date: August 5, 2024

GGACP celebrates the birthday of actor, radio personality and voice artist Larry Kenney (Lion-O, Count Chocula, Sonny the Cuckoo Bird) with this ENCORE of a memorable interview from 2017. In this episode, Larry trots out his array of impressions (Richard Nixon, Paul Lynde, George S. Patton) and remembers some of the industry’s legendary voice talents, including Mel Blanc, Paul Frees, Bob McFadden, June Foray and Paul Winchell. Also, Larry hosts “Bowling for Dollars,” Don Imus clashes with Howard Stern, William Conrad cleans up the Old West and Peter Lorre tries to sound like...Peter Lorre. PLUS: Jerry the Bellybutton Elf! The return of Vaughn Meader! “The Great American Dream Machine”! And Lauren Bacall praises Larry’s Bogie!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried and this is Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast. I'm here once again with my co-host Frank Santopadre and we're once again recording at Nutmeg with our engineer Frank Berterosa. Our guest this week is a disc jockey, radio personality, former game show host and one of the most active and recognized voice actors of the past 40 years. He started out his career at the ripe old age of 15, just like someone else we all know and love, as a DJ at WIRL in Peoria and would go on to host shows on Top 40 and country music stations everywhere, from Fort Wayne to New York City, developing a collection of character voices as he went from 1973 to 2007 he was the essential part of the popular I miss in the morning show

entertaining audiences with a vast repertoire of celebrity impersonations including Richard Nixon Andy Rooney Wayne, Howard Cosell, and General George Patton. In 1978, he replaced former podcast guest Chuck McCann as the voice of Cocoa Puffs mascot Sonny the Coco Bird. Cuckoo Bird. A Cuckoo Bird, yes. And a year later he was replaced, he replaced the original actor Jim Dukas.

Dukas. Dukas. You really should read these before. Jim Tukas. Jim Tuchas, as the voice of the Legosi-esque cereal pitchman Count Chocula, he's also lent his voice to dozens of commercials from everything from Skittles to Mighty Dog, to the games, the game operation, and hungry hungry hippos, but to millions of kids who came of age. In the 1980s and 90s, he'll forever be known as the voice of Lion-O, the leader of the humanoid alien super team. Thundercats voicing numerous characters for this show, as well as Rankin-Bass follow-up

companion series Silverhawks. And if all this wasn't enough to earn her admiration, he also served on the one-time host of the legendary TV game show bowling for dollars Please welcome to the show a man of a thousand voices our very own pin pal Larry Kenny. Oh my god. Thank you Gilbert. Yeah Some of those things were accurate. I'm listening to him do that and I'm thinking who is this guy? This is the guy I want to meet. He did all of that you know but when you think about it it's not that much. You know I my son Tanner. Tanner is here with us. He's

here in the other room. He's not allowed in the studio. With his wife, Katie, they're here. That's right. Lovely people. And he got me on, he's been listening for, since you started, I think. And he just always, you know, going on and on,

you gotta listen to Gilbert's podcast. So I listen and, and then I knew I was, you know, I was being invited to be on the show mm-hmm and as I'm listening to the shows I listened to just last night to Richard Benjamin uh-huh this great show yeah was one of our best Tony Orlando I listened to oh yeah quite a lot of that and as I'm listening to him I thought what the hell am I doing there because Because you know you would come out at the beginning of each one saying, our guest today is an actor who's won 14 Oscars and as a singer has been on the charts for 37 weeks in a row. He'll be opening later this week on Broadway in the title role

of Waiting for Godot and he invented oxygen. So why does he want me there? What am I gonna talk about? You know? well you got plenty to talk about well That's it. That's an accurate Gilbert impression except for the fact that you read the cut you did the copy straight and clean That's pretty good gil thank you we've had several people do you on the show he didn't miss read oxygen no Or waiting for good dough yes Now welcome to the show Larry, thank you Frank very much now since you were the voice of Count Chalkula, and then at the same time they had a Boris Karloff voice For Frank and Barry McFadden no no no Boris Karloff voice for Frankenberry.

Wasn't that McFadden? No, no. Bob McFadden did Frankenberry. There was three, they called them the monster cereals. And then there was a Pita Lori. It was a Boo Berry. That was Boo Berry. Oh yeah, yeah.

And I did Count Chocula. I'm still the voice of Count Chocula for that cereal. I mean, I'm still the voice of Coco Puffs and Count Chocula, although we haven't done any Count Chocula voice commercials for quite a while. See, because we had on Bela Gosi Jr. Really? We did. And he's a lawyer.

And one of his biggest cases that he's always after is people doing imitations of established actors. Especially Bill Lugosi, I would imagine. Yeah, yeah, Lugosi. Yeah, that used to be just every cartoon, every commercial. Well, I remember when I started doing it, it had been done for years by Jim Dukas. Yeah. And when I was a kid he was doing Count Chocula and and okay Chuck McCann was was doing Cocoa Puffs. Oh, Sonny. Yeah, we had Chuck here on the show. Sonny the Cocoa Puffs Bird. Yeah. So in 78 I think I got a chance to start doing

Sonny the Cocoa Puffs Bird, which if you haven't heard of him then you don't have children because he's all over the television, not usually on Saturday mornings and after school, cartoon shows and things like that. And he sounds like, up here I won't go Cocoa for my favorite cereal. Munchy, crunchy, chocolatey, Cocoa Puffs. Yahoo! I'm Cocoa for Cocoa Puffs. How do you get up that high? You were... Oh, I don't want to go into that. You obviously a deep voice fellow.

Because I remember as far as like doing known voices, years ago, you know, there was like Colombo yogurt. Yeah. And they had a guy doing a Peter Falk imitation for all the radio. I don't remember that. Yeah. I don't either. Yeah. I don't remember that. Yeah. Yeah, they were-

Colombo yogurt. Yeah. So they were ripping off two things, him and the Colombo series. The series, yeah. What did he said? He probably said, I don't want to bother you, but try Colombo yogic. Yeah, yeah, stuff like that. How did Count Chocula happen?

Well, Sonny happened first. For me, Sonny happened first. Because McCann was doing it for a long time. Yeah, yeah, Chuck McCann had been doing it, and then from what I understand, he moved to California from New York to do some television and some movies out there. And it became too difficult for him to fly back, you know, back and forth or too expensive

or whatever. It's funny in those days, you couldn't just do it on a computer and send it across the country. That's right. Yeah. Wow. Now you can. And so they auditioned, you know, again, I know probably a couple hundred actors, and it was actually pretty easy

because they wanted to maintain the same established voice of Sonny. They didn't wanna, you know, because the kids were used to it, and they didn't want it to be obvious that somebody knew it was doing Sonny. So all I had to do was listen to, of course I had grown up with it, you

know, the voice, and I just had to listen to it over and over until I got it well enough and I got the job. And then a year or two later, Jim Dukas retired and I won the audition for Count Chocula. So it's interesting, you said that Bela Lugosi Jr. Yeah. Yeah, he's cracking down on all those people who imitate established stars. The Stooges too. Yeah.

Yeah, I can understand that. With Count Chocula, I remember them telling me, even at the audition, we don't want it to sound just like Bela Lugosi, we want it to sound more cartoony. So that's what my Count Chocolat was more like, Count Chocolat cereal with chocolate flavored marshmallows, it's frighteningly delicious. So that wasn't really a Bella Lugosi. A happy Lugosi, like Lugosi on Prozac.

No, no, Lugosi on Cocoa Puff. I heard that one of the greatest stories I. Oh yeah, sure. No, no, Legosi on Cocoa Ball. Uh-huh. I heard that one of the greatest stories I've ever heard, Richard Dawson told it, many years ago, many, many years ago. I remember the interview for two reasons, and I forget who was interviewing him, maybe Dick Cavett, and I'm watching on television, and the first reason that I remember it so

well was I was amazed. I was only probably a high school kid at the time. I was amazed. I had never heard anybody, a foreigner, a British actor, for example, do an American accent. And he did an American accent very, very well well and I sat there and I thought well of course they can do it too but I never before thought it went both ways yeah yeah we do accents of French accents and German and Spanish and all that but to have them do us freaked me out and the second part was it was such a funny

story that Richard Dawson told and He swore at the time it was true. I can't I don't think it really was but it's one of those stories that you wish it You hope it is. I hope it's a true story. This whole show is based on If you go back into the archives and listen Say if it sounds good then it's true the hell with it Yeah, print the legend good enough for me if it sounds good, then it's true. What the hell with it? Print the legend. Good enough for me if it sounds true. So Dawson tells this story,

and I haven't told this in 50 years, so I hope I get it right, but it's, Bela Lugosi has died. And as you probably know, he died penniless, really. He had had a severe heroin problem and lingered for many years and did some movies he wouldn't have done otherwise, you know. Yeah, he got tied in with the Ed Woods. Ed Woods stuff. The only guy who would hire him. That's right. Yeah. That's right. Well,

he died penniless and Boris Karloff, the story goes, was a dear friend of his. Oh, I know this one. Oh, you know this story? And you want to tell him? I don't know it. No, no. This has to do with Boris Karloff and Peter Laurie. Well, no. No? A different one. This is maybe a different one.

OK. I'll tell mine, then you tell yours, and we'll see how they react. So he died. And Boris Karloff is just devastated, his friend has passed away, and he's more devastated that he's probably gonna, if he doesn't do something,

he's going to have just a funeral with three people there, you know, in a wooden box or something. So Karloff gets on the phone and calls every major star in Hollywood and says, you owe it to Bela to be there you know he was dear friend of all of us well it turns out that Legosi had at that time the biggest funeral Hollywood had ever seen all because of of Karloff who also the story goes bought hundreds of maybe probably thousands of dollars worth of

flowers they had like 20 cars of flowers in the funeral line up handing out to the cemetery. So they're at the cemetery now and Carlos or Lugosi's religion, whatever it was, or from his culture over in Romania, wherever he was from, provided that the casket be left open at the cemetery. And that's where you would file by and say your final goodbyes, and then they would, you know, lower him down on the ground. So the story goes, according to Dawson,

that Karloff stood there for hours while this eternal line of stars walked by and paid their last respects to Bela Lugosi. And when the last person had gone, and the only people there were the gravediggers and Karloff, Karloff walks over to the casket, and they had Lugosi with a cape on, his cape. Oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah.

I don't think they had the teeth, but that would be a little tacky. But Karloff walks over, looks down in the coffin and says, Bela, if you're putting me on. That's the story. I heard it with Laurie where Karloff was standing with Peter Laurie. Uh-huh. And depending on who tells the story, either Boris Karloff was standing with Peter Laurie. Uh-huh. And depending on who tells the story, either Boris Karloff says that line, or Peter Laurie says that line.

Uh-huh. And I don't think Karloff and Lugosi were ever friends. Well, and Ed Wood, he calls him a cocksucker. Oh, yes. Ha ha ha. But we asked Bela Jr. and he said, my father never used that kind of language. He was actually very upset when he saw the film.

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Live passionately, drink responsibly. Copyright 2024. Bacardi, its trade dress and the bat device are trademarks of Bacardi and Company Limited. Rum 40% alcohol by volume. Boom. trademarks of Picardian Company Limited. Rum 40% alcohol by volume. Now unfortunately, we return to our show. As long as we're on the subject of Count Chocula.

Well, thanks a lot. You've just destroyed a story that I've been dear to me for most of my life. Maybe maybe Karloff walked over and said good. Don't get used to the stories on this show being factual. Here Gil. Now this, we're gonna just try something fun. Alright. What the hell is this? Famous life swords.

Now Gilbert, you were known for doing Dracula Gottfried on the Howard Show. Yes, I'm Howard Stern. And you do a pretty mean legosi and we know what Larry does. Now the only person missing would, I guess, be Joe Flattery. Oh, oh, oh, oh, you mean Count Floyd. Yes. But what we have here is Count Chocula and Dracula Gottfried, so I thought we'd give this a try. All right.

And your parts are clearly marked. Okay. You are too late, Van Helsing. My blood now flows through her veins. She will live through the centuries to come as I have lived. Kids love watching the hidden marshmallow ghosts appear in my delicious... I'm doing the wrong damn book! You're doing Coke of theos, Sonny Cocoa.

I thought... We were supposed to be dueling Dracula. I don't remember at what point in Legosi's career he ever actually sounded like that. That's a lot of morphine. I don't remember in any part of Dracula him going, oh I'm come Dracula. You mean you don't remember that famous line? Listen to the children of the night. What music you gonna make?

I'm sorry. Take two. Take two. I'm cuckoo for lunch. All right, you're doing the real Dracula, and I'm doing the Count Chocolat Dracula. Yes, yes, now I've got it. Set him up again. Okay.

Harry, we can edit this later. Yeah. It's too good, we'll keep it. Alright. Give him the last line, Gil. Okay. As I have lived. Kids love watching the hidden marshmallow ghost appear in my delicious Count Chocula cereal.

The spider... The spider spinning his web for an unwary fly. The blood is the life, Mr. Renfield. Now you can let Igor guard your Count Chocula cereal and get a pack of fun gummy spiders inside my shiny spider box. A shiny spider box? Yeah, I wouldn't touch that line with a tape-book. That is actual Count Chocula copy.

I'll have you know. That's when Legosi was doing porn later in his career. The girl with the shiny spider box. Yes! What music she makes. Go ahead, Gil, you're up. You're on. Today, to be really dead, must be glorious.

There are far worse things awaiting man than death. Cal Chocola now offers even more chocolatey marshmallows for a chocolatey fright in every bite. Listen to them, children of the night what music they made that's a great legosi oh that's great it worked I just got a compliment on my legosi from Count Chocula. I have to admit you're scarier than me. But you see I come and I love to be scary. I frighten the children. Were you also almost lucky the leprechaun?

Almost lucky the leprechaun. The story of my lifeun? Almost lucky. The Leprechaun, the story of my life. I was almost lucky. Oh yeah. Well, I had been doing Count Chocula and Cocoa Puffs for a number of years. And the guy who had been doing Lucky the Lucky Charms, Leprechaun, I forget his name now, Arthur, Arthur, Arthur something, got very old

and could no longer perform as well as they wanted them to. So they again held auditions, 200 people went in and I didn't think anything about it but the next couple of days later I had a recording session for either Count Jocula or Coco Pops and I walked in the studio and the director was the same guy, Deid Meyer, from the agency, the ad agency, who directed all of these, they called them the monster cereals, Coco Puffs. Well, Count Chocula,

Frankenberry, and Boo Berry. Don't forget Yummy Mummy. Yummy Mummies for about six weeks, that last. And Fruit Brut. Fruit Brut, that's right. Yeah, the werewolf. So those were called the General Mills Monster Serials. But they also made and still do Lucky Charms

and a couple of other. So I walk into this recording session for one of the other two serials. And Deidmeyer says to me, Larry, dear boy, you won the audition as Lucky the leprechaun. I said, oh really? Good, yes, but I poo-pooed that idea because I told him he's already doing the count and Sonny,

if something happens to him, we're out three mascots. And I said, well, okay, I understand. He's been in the back of my mind and thinking, oh, thanks, you just cost me like 50 grand a year. You know, but you know, that's the way it goes. Let's hear a little bit of what your lucky would have been. Always after me lucky charms. The little Barry Fitzgerald, right?

Of course, all of my Irish accents are Barry Fitzgerald. Toot toot my boy! Now, are there, I mean, I remember it used to be, like for cartoon, I mean major animated Disney cartoons and commercials, there were the voiceover guys. And now it's like voiceover guys are like, you know, Gene Hackman, Sean Connery. Gilbert Gottfried. Yes. John Hamm.

They used to be those voiceover guys. You mean the cartoon guys like Mel Blanc and Dawes Butler? Yeah. Or they were like, there was this actor Norman Rose. With the deepest voice in the world. Norman Rose. Norman Rose. We called him the voice of God.

Yes. I thought John Fisenda was the voice of God. Well, later, after Norman. Norman died about 15 years ago. But Norman had a very, very deep voice. There was one commercial, some commercial he did in New York that were indicative of that. There was one commercial, some commercial he did in New York that were indicative of that, I'm the Hemlock Farms deer.

Remember that? So I'm at an audition one time with Norman Rose for, I don't know what product, it was a radio commercial. And so it says on the script, voice of God, and then other guy, you know, well obviously Norman's gonna do the voice Yeah, so he does we go one take with him as the voice of God and me as other guy and The director Says what was her name Nancy field? She says, okay good good guys Switching around Larry you be voice of God. No, no, what?

She says, okay, good, good guys. Switch it around. Larry, you be voice of God. And I thought, what? I'm in the studio with Norman Rose, you know, the voice of God. But we do it. A few days go by, I get a call from my agent, Larry, you're booked on this commercial. Good. I go in there and I grab my copy and I start rehearsing the other guy role.

And Nancy says, no, no, Larry, you're doing the voice of God I said what Norman was busy and she said I said how can I Norman Rose is the voice of God yeah she said yes Larry but you were the God of voices you know it's funny I remember going to a voiceover session and there was a guy in ahead of me and and it was Norman Rose and and You hear that voice and it's so funny with voice of these voiceover guys where you go Holy shit, there's an actual person That's not a machine doing that yeah, yeah cuz his voice would rattle the walls oh yeah he could only be God you know he wore a

codpiece shows we brought up a codpiece you I swear most people probably don't know what it is. You explain it. Ian Anderson and the lead singer of Jethro Tull famously wore a codpiece. Oh yes, that's right. It's an external, how do you describe it? It's an external piece of clothing that goes over your member. Your thing.

Your thing. And there was another voiceover guy I knew. Oh God, watch me forget his name now. Lenny Maxwell. Lenny Maxwell. Oh I knew. Oh God watch me forget his name now. Lenny Maxwell. Oh I knew Len Maxwell. He did great voices. Sure and he was, I remember him telling me and it's a funny thing about voiceover guys is aside from like crazy voices that they'll do they'll'll have like, like he said, I've got about five or six normal voices. And it's funny, like they'll have these voices

where you'd say, oh no, that's just the guy talking. But they'll have like variations. They'll have just a guy talking happy, just a guy talking serious, you know, it's very incredible. It really is the same as being a dialectician in a way, you know, it's doing different voices and different, like as you just described. You reminded me of something when you mentioned, oh, you mentioned that it used to be just voiceover guys who did the cartoons and things like that. The reason for that was up until 20 or 25 years ago,

big actors wouldn't be caught dead doing commercials. Oh, that's what you told me on the phone. Yeah, they would change because it considered beneath them. Yeah. And, you know, there wasn't that much money available back then, too, because they didn't have to pay us, union people, that much money. It's funny. Like now, you see, like Academy Award winners in commercials.

Yeah. But then what started happening, all these people who were too big of artists to do a commercial would go to Japan. Yes, Frank Sinatra did commercials for some car in Japan for years, for years. And the stipulation was hard and fast that nobody outside of Japan could ever see these, you know.

Can't be put on television anywhere else or whatever. But yeah, they didn't, I think they felt most of them that it would seem to the public that they needed the money. You know? Oh yeah. Yeah. And there was also, oh, this is a question I always wondered. With the exception of one episode of Family Guy,

where they did a takeoff on Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, and they had Noah, Noah Blank do the voices, but he never did any of the Warner Brothers. I think Mel was trying, you know, getting him ready. He was trying to brush him up, but he they never hired him to do those. I remember, pardon me, when Mel Black died I remember hearing that his son, I didn't know his name was Noah, I think it's Noel. Noel. I remember hearing that his son was going didn't know his name was Noah. I think it's Noel. Noel. Noel. I remember hearing that his son was going to take over Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam and

all those things. And then the next thing you hear is that somebody else has been hired. In fact, we started auditioning for all those voices. And I just assumed that the guy didn't do them well enough. They wanted somebody else to do them. Yeah, I always wondered what Noel was doing all those years. I can't believe you brought up Len Maxwell, who I believe, and I hope I'm right on this,

was on the Milton the Monster show with your friend McFadden. Probably. Bob McFadden, who we should also talk about now that we're on the subject of these guys, because you worked with Bob on ThunderCats. I worked with Bob. He's a legend.

Bob and I worked. His name's come up on this show. Has it? Well, we were talking about a show called Cool McCool. Yeah. With Bob Kane's show from the 60s. Cool McCool. And that was Bob McFadden.

I think he was also. He was Milton the Monster. Some dog, there was a dog. And there, Milton the Monster, that was a Jim Nabors imitation. Pretty much. He was also Frankenberry. Yeah, he was Frankenberry for many, many years.

Yeah. And here's one after your own heart, Gil. He was the voice of the parrot in the famous whisk ring around the collar commercial. Oh my God! Ring around the collar! That's Bob McFadden. Yeah, he was a great guy too. I worked with him closely for years because, like I said, we worked on the General Mills cereal commercials.

And when I first started doing Cocoa Puffs and Count Chocula, they were doing commercials with all three cereals, all three Monster cereals in the same commercial. We wouldn't do individual commercials for Count Chocula or Cocoa Puffs or... Boo Berry. Boo Berry, thank you. They would all appear in the same commercial. So Bob and I worked for years on those and then Thundercats came along and that took us a year to record that

and then we did Silverhawks, the same company, Rankin' Bass. He was on that, he was on another one we did called Tiger Sharks. And then he and I and most of the same cast of those cartoon series did a series of holiday specials for Rankin' Bass. Some of them still get aired every year. Yeah, I found some of them on YouTube. Yeah, one of them is called A Star for Jeremy.

They're out there. The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. I remember working with Sir Albert Drake, Alfred Drake on that one. Oh, wow, Sir Alfred Drake. Speaking of deep voices. That's cool. Yeah.

Since you said Alfred, I wanna throw this because I wrote it on a card. Apparently Count Chocula has a first name. Oh! And it's Alfred. I didn't know that. Did you know that? I did.

Okay. I did not know that. Show is educational. Because you know why? Because most people just call me the count. You know? It's... Who's gonna say, hey Alfred! I love your studio! You know? McFadden was also in Von Mieter. He was on Von Mieter's First Family album.

Oh wow! Yeah, he did a lot of cool stuff. Produced by Earl Dowd, who hired me years later to do a Richard Nixon album. Oh! Yeah. Because I was doing a Nixon on Imus' show. Right, sure. This was back in 73, I think.

Yeah, 73. I was working in Chicago as a disc jockey and Earl Dowd called me. And I knew his name, you know, from, I I mean the first family album with for those who don't know was about John F. Kennedy and his family. Yeah, it's come up on this show. And at the time, back in that time, it became the largest selling album of all times. Not just comedy albums, the largest selling albums of all time. Oh, he was very big. He was very good too. And who on, in the old Warner Brothers cartoons,

the Bugs Bunny ones, who did the movie stars, like, you know, where they visit a restaurant. Clark Gable and people like that. Bogard and Gable. I don't know. We'll have to dig that out. We'll put that out to our listeners. Yeah. Somebody will come up with, Gable. I don't know. We'll have to dig that out. We'll put that out to our listeners. Yeah.

Somebody will come up with it. Yeah, I don't know who that was. I remember hearing a story that one time they hired Peter Laurie to do a Peter Laurie imitation and they said, okay, your first line is, hi, I'm Peter Laurie and he went, hi, I'm Peter Laurie. And the guy goes, no, no, no, hi, I'm Peter Laurie and he went, hi I'm Peter Laurie. And the guy goes, no, no, no, hi, I'm Peter Laurie. And he goes, hi, I'm Peter Laurie.

And he couldn't do a Peter Laurie imitation. Yeah, because people who do imitations, usually impressions, they exaggerate. That's how you get the, you know, like when I started doing Nixon, people who were doing Richard Nixon, most impressionists were doing Richard Nixon's, I'm going to be the president, you know.

My name is Richard Nixon. Well, he never talked like that. You know, he talked more like this, you know. People wonder if I'm a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I look like a crook. I act like a crook, but I'm'm a crook. Well, I am not a crook. I look like a crook. I act like a crook, but I am not a crook. So you did an album.

Yeah, Earl Dowd called me and he said, and I knew who he was, and he said, I'm doing this album called The Honest to God, We Really Mean It, very last Nixon album. And this was in maybe August of 73. So I fly to New York from Chicago. And by the time I get it, he's got the rest of the cast. Julie Newmar played Pat Nixon.

Wow. Wow, man. Yeah, Marshall Efron was- I remember Marshall Efron. He was David Eisenhower. Oh, Marshall Efron. Marshall Efron was... I remember Marshall Efron. He was David Eisenhower. Oh, Marshall Efron. Marshall Efron. There's a voice.

Oh, okay. He used to be... There was that show like Great American something. That was his... The kids' show. Yeah, I know what you're referring to. Yeah. And Marshall Efron was also in a movie I like very much, Bang the Drum Slowly.

Correct. Yeah. Yeah, he worked a lot. Was that about the I like very much, Bang the Drum Slowly. Correct. Yeah. Yeah, he worked a lot. Was that about the baseball player? Yeah, with De Niro. De Niro played the character, the lead character. And Michael Moriarty. Yeah, so we recorded it at Media Sound on 57th Street

over two nights, we did it four times with four different audiences. And it actually was a pretty good album. But by the time we finished it and got it out it was like April of 74 well by that time everybody knew he was a crook right you know I was ticking the clock was ticking me we knew he was gonna be gone so it was kind of a bad timing to come out but it was a pretty good album I'll look for that yeah it just for the, just so no one has to correct me, I think it was the great American dream machine.

That sounds right. Yeah. That's right, yeah. Nice, nice reference. Trying to remember one of the bits on the album. A couple of the bits on the Nixon album, of course, were like parodies. Like remember on the first family album,

where the little girl comes to the White House door and she knocks, somebody opens up and says, can I help you? And she says, can the president come out and play? And they say, well, I'm sorry, dear, he's very busy. Oh, well then, what's Lyndon doing? So we reprieve that on the Nixon album where the little girl knocks, can the president

come out and play? And I say, why, yes, yes I can. And she says, oh shit. What's the name of this album I gotta find? It's called, get your pencils out, the Honest to God, when you really mean it, very last Nixon album. By the producer of First Family. Yeah, I rolled out, it was on Brunswick Records, you know the bowling ball company?

Sure, sure. Brunswick Records. That was another bit where, I remember it was, David, with David Eisenhower, Marshall Efron. Marshall comes up to Nixon and he says, Mr. President, I really hesitate to bring this up. What is it, David? Just spit it out.

Well, sir, it's kind of embarrassing. He says, look, David, I don't have all day. All right? Got the Water at the Gate thing going on and all that. So what is it? Says well, sir, if you recall two weeks ago You didn't have any cash when we were out and I lent you $20 He says, oh, yes. Yes. Yes. I remember that. I'm so I'm so sorry here

I've only got singles. He said that's's okay, Mr. There you go, David. I'm sorry. And you hear David walking away going, one, two, three, four. And then you hear, it's all there, David. You know what else I thought as far as getting back to imitations? It's like, it's already accepted

that we all believe that John Travolta in every one of his movies or in real life sounds like Vinny Barbarino. And that was only once in his career. But people do a Vinny Barberino imitation. It sticks. And we just accept that in the same... You know, Mr. Conner. Yeah.

Yeah, Mr. Conner. Or another one like that is we all accept that Keanu Reeves sounds like Bill and Ted's excellent adventure no matter what. One role sticks to them forever. I want to ask you something about character voices Did you ever audition for anything like that like a character mascot? Well, obviously. Oh, yeah Apart from the duck yes, I'm in an anime. I just remembered that yeah. Yeah, I'm in an animated one Did you do a toaster? I yes, I was a toaster for a Pop-Tarts commercial.

Can anyone find that? Do you have that? I think you could find that on YouTube. You can find all those things on YouTube. You always do your own voice. Yes, I was an elf for something like Federal Express. Maybe Keebler Cookies. Was it Keebler Cookies? No, no, never got that account. But let's see, there was that and that.

Oh, one time, this is one of those things that I lost the job without being responsible for it. A fluke. Yes, exactly. being responsible for it. A fluke. Yes. Exactly. They were gonna make a full length animated Biddy Boop.

You never told me this. And I was looking, they had me come into audition for The Clown and while I was waiting I was flipping the pages and they go to a party where Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson and Clark Gable and Cary Grant are there.

And I said, can I audition for these? And they said, okay. And I did all these different celebrities. And they wanted me. But the movie never got me. Yeah. And I thought, boy, how much I never got made. Oh, damn. Yeah. And I thought, boy, how much I would have loved to have done that.

Sure, you probably hadn't done a movie before that, had you? That, yeah. Would that have been your first movie? Yeah. That's why you're probably so disappointed. Yeah. Yeah, sure. Boom Boom Burmese from Karate Cat sounded a little like Edward G. Robinson.

Am I mistaken? No, no. Boom Boom Burmese sounded... It sounds like he bailed the ghost. What I just did sounded like Mel Brooks. I don't know where that came from. No, no, no, no, wait. I think now I think that Boom Boom was he was this big fat cat. There was a show called... Was it Karate Kat? Karate Kat. Bob McFadden was Karate Kat. Boom Boom was, he was this big fat cat. There was a show called... Was it Karate Cat? Karate Cat.

Bob McFadden was Karate Cat. That's right, right. Karate Cat here. And I was one of his gang. He was nefarious. Big Mama ran the mob. So I remember lines like, oh Karate, here comes Big Mama and she's not

happy. There wasn't a character with you doing an Edward G Robinson impression? Yeah I don't think so. I'm mistaken. Okay. The frog on Courageous Cat was Edward G Robinson. Do you remember it, Gil? Oh yes, yes. And I was telling Larry on the phone that, what's his name? Simon Bar-Sinister on Underdog was Lionel Barrymore. Oh, yes, yes. Yeah. You do a great Barrymore in them.

Yeah, oh, thank you. I do it because there's a lot of kids in the audience. And... And... And... And... And... He said he does Barry Manilow.

And... And... And... And... He said he does Barry Manilow. I heard a great story about Mel Blanc. Well this first part's not great. He almost died in a car accident. Really? Mel Blanc. Way to lighten the tone up. Oh yes.

But he was in a coma. They thought he was in a coma. They thought he was gonna die. He was in a coma for the longest time. And the doctor kept saying, you know, Mel, Mr. Blank, can you please talk to me? Can you please say hello? And then finally the doctor went over to him and he said, I'd like to talk to Bugs Bunny.

Oh wow. And he immediately, That's a great story. Lying there in his hospital bed, immediately Bugs Bunny's voice came out. That's amazing. And then he said, now I'd like to talk to Daffy Duck. And he started doing his Daffy voice.

I thought, I was certain you were gonna say say, they told him he wasn't going to make it and he said, that's all folks. I think that's on his headstone. Yes, that's right, that's all folks. Did you ever work with any of those guys? No, not at all. June 4A or Daws Butler or Don Messick or any of those? No, June 4A was one of the greatest.

She's still with us at like 99 or something. For those of you who remember Boris Bedinov and Rocky and Bullwinkle. Sure, Paul Freese. Paul Freese. Yeah, it was Boris Badbuck. Paul Freese was also for about 30 or 40 years the voice of the Pillsbury Doble.

That's correct. And I was just down at the Haunted Mansion in Florida in Disney World and I still have Paul Freese's voice when you walk in and he's been dead 20 years or something when you walk into the mansion. Paul Freese also was the voice of the Cyclops in the movie The Cyclops with Lon Chaney Jr. He had an unmistakable voice.

But his voice in this was like, it was ridiculous. He, for this, the Cyclops is too big and dumb to talk. So it was like, do it, do it, do it, do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it.

Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Yes! Yeah! As long as we're talking about some of these characters, I'm just going to run through Can I interject one thing first?

Yes, sure, of course you're the guest. Do you guys, this is a little bit of a trivia question, probably not to you guys, but do you know who was the announcer on most of the segments of Rocky and Bullwinkle? Was it William? Oh, that, William Conrad. William Conrad, that's right, from the Fat Man and... Cannon. Oh, Cannon. And Jake and the Fat Man.

Jake and the Fat Man, yeah. That voice, yeah. Oh, he had a great voice, yeah. I believe he was Marshall Dillon on the radio. On the radio he was, but for obvious reasons, he's not on television. Right. Yes, right, the Fat Marshall Dillon.

There wasn't a horse that big. But he was the guy who would say, and so, most and squirrel go to the bottom of Veronica Lake. Oh, that's pretty good. Thank you. I like that. And now, let me throw some of these characters at you.

I used that voice, it just occurred to me, I'm sorry, but I used that voice for years without realizing that's who I was doing on Mighty Dog commercials. Oh, that's right. Well, that was in your intro, so let's hear a little Mighty Dog. Carnation presents the adventures of Mighty Dog. That Oh that's right. Well that was in your intro so let's hear a little Mighty Dog. Carnation presents the adventures of Mighty Dog. That's all I remember. I love that. Recognize that one, Gil?

I've had more than one voiceover guy say to me, oh I was up for a voiceover gig and the director said, could you make it more Gilbert Gottfried? Oh really? Yeah and I thought thought I'm available. Well... Should we get that direction Larry? I bet not. No, no, but I have been to and probably a lot of voice actors have had the same experience.

I have more than one occasion showed up at an audition where it said, sometimes they give you an idea of the type they want, or even who they want to sound like. And they said, think of someone, and they said, like Larry Kenny. Oh! And I didn't get the job. It's like Peter Lorre.

Yeah, and to this day I wonder who in the hell sounded more like me than me. I took the liberty of writing out some of your characters, tracking down some of your characters. I have your list here too, Gilbert. A boom boom Bernese, we talked about. A lion oh of course. We'll have you do some lion oh before we sign off. You were Jackal Man. Yes. We must get the thunder cats, yes. What are you doing there? Is that just sort of like a sinister, it's almost a little Paul Winchell.

Well, you know, yes, Paul Winchell speaking of voices. You know what my inspiration for that was? I mean, it sounds to say my inspiration for this cartoon character. I brought deep from within me, the name of the character was Jackal Mann. Jackal Mann. And the show of the character was Jackal Man. Jackal Man. And the show was half cat and half human characters.

So I remember at the audition, I was thinking, what would the jackal sound like? What jackals are supposed to be like very wily, I think, and sneaky. And then I got this thought in my head, speaking of Rocky and Bullwinkle, of not Boris Badinoff, but the other villain, remember? Hello now.

Oh, Snidely Whiplash. Snidely Whiplash. Yes. So I combined the two and kind of made it, I kind of combined them and it came out, we must get the Thundercats, yes? No, very good. What about Safari Joe? Oh so well it's that's pretty obvious Safari Joe here he was Australian you know I don't

know why I'm not doing an Australian voice but I'm doing I'm doing Alfred Drake again East London right reason and snarf Egbert snarf Egbert? Snarf Egbert. Well, Snarf on ThunderCats was just, he didn't talk. It was just, meow. Oh, it was just a meow. Snarf, Snarf, Snarf. And Wizz-Raw? Oh, god. You know, I don't remember.

Well, we did, there were five of us in the cast of ThunderCats. And we did 130 episodes. And there were always new characters, you know, so each of us in the cast over the term of the series probably did 50, 60, maybe a hundred voices, you know. In fact, I recall a number of occasions where they would come up with a new voice and we would all try it. And it took us a while to get one

that didn't sound like a voice we had done before as one of the lunatacks or whatever. Right. One of the rover burbles, you know. And also there were characters who appeared, let's say early in the series, and then didn't appear for 30 episodes and came back, you know, in episode 125.

And who remembers then what you did for it? It was a minor character, maybe had two or three back, you know, an episode 125. And who remembers then what you did for it? It was a minor character, maybe had two or three lines, you know, but the kids remember. Of course. I go to these Comic-Cons all the time and people come up, who were kids then, now they're 35 years old. And they'll say, like, Mr. Kenny, remember in episode 126?

And I'm going, oh, Jesus, here we go. That's the one, you know, where Lionel jumps out of the tank, the thunder tank, you know, and he's got the Sword of Omens, you know, in his right hand, right? Okay, next shot, boom, sword's in his left hand. What's up with that? They're upset about continuity errors in Thundercats. I would answer something like, well you see, one of Lionel's other superpowers was that he could transform into a mirror image of himself. Figure it out.

What was that, I think we've discussed this cartoon, that there was a cartoon that took place in the jungle and there was a bird that sounded like Jack Lemmon. Jesus. Yeah. Well, Carl Reiner did an animated show that I think was jungle characters. Would that be the one maybe? Maybe, but the bird was a Jack Lemmon.

We'll throw it out to our listeners. Somebody will definitely. Or our crack researcher Paul Reburn. You did a bird in. In Aladdin. Aladdin, yeah. Sure. Yeah.

Sure. I remember that. I was a small child when it came out. Yeah, it came out. All right, Gil, here we go. Here's some of your repertoire of animation voices. Iago, of course, which Larry just brought up. Mr. Peabody in the problem child cartoons.

That cartoon was made in, I think in Spain or something. Wasn't that a part of Rocky and Bullwinkle? It was. Peabody here. Oh, no, that was the dog. Sherman and Peabody. Sherman, Sherman, set the way back Sherman and Pee-Bot. Yeah, Sherman, Sherman. Set the way back machine to 1847. Pretty good.

Thank you. Pretty good. Edward Everett Horton also did those voices for Fractured Fairy Tales. He was the announcer on Fractured Fairy Tales. How about this, Two Bits, you played on a show called Bonkers. Any of these have any memory for you?

Oh yes, yes, I did do a voice on bonkers my usual. Mike McNasty? Mike McNasty, it sounds familiar. You played Mr. Beatle? Mr. Beatle that was in Thumbelina. Okay how about Jerry the Belly Button Elf? That was in what's what's what's what's the name of those? Ren and Stimpy. Brandon Stimpy. I have it on the card. I was Jerry the belly button elf. And so what the hell is a belly button elf? Yeah, he sees himself that lives in a belly button.

He's made out of lint. And they originally they wanted Jerry Lewis and he wouldn't do it. So I came in and I would do my regular voice and then I'd go, and I'm gonna go in the belly button and live and eat my lint loaves. Dinner! Dinner! Hurry up, boy! I want my dinner! Right away, your majesty, sir. Stimpy, before I eat, a toast to you, my houseboy.

My man Friday. You came into the emptiness that was your belly button, and you filled it with the love and the joy and the thing. And as we all know, an elf without the love and the joy and the thing is no health at all. And so, a toast to you, Stimpy, and his lovely meal of lint loaf.

Lint loaf. I once did a, Jerry Lewis was on Broadway in Damn Yankees yes for a while and and I at that time was doing a lot of Broadway show commercials for a Nancy coin Serena coin and nappy and we we finished one thing you know got the tape they liked on it so call telecharge to and telecharge to see Jerry Lewis on Broadway in Damn Yankees. Call now. So they said, okay Larry, we got it. And I said, okay good, but could we just keep rolling? Because I have an idea. In case he ever comes back, you know, so Nancy knew me and she went, Larry wants to play. Okay, go ahead So I went so see Jerry Lewis on Broadway in my fair lady

You couldn't resist You were art to salvo in duck man. Yes. Okay, you were alfalfa This may be my favorite of your credits the high fructose adventures of annoying orange Yes, yes as a Cesar Romero yeah motif of course Horace the rat your crank subprime on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Digit on cyber cyberchase and this was this may be my favorite well of course mr. how do you say it the Superman's enemy Yes, pickling miss says pick a lick you were and last but not least Odiferous stench on a show called bump in the night. Oh, yes I think I was a stink bug

Gilbert you should be that you should be a guest. you should be a guest on this. And I could do the, if you would, I could do the announcer thing. You've served him as the elf with the belly button elf. He was in the bump in the night thing. This Gilbert means Sherry there. It's like a hybrid. And now he's here! Alright, you guys want to try something crazy?

What? This hasn't been crazy enough? Let's see. Gilbert, you can do Grandpa Joe. This is a scene from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. But we're going to change it. We're going to recast it. Uh oh. So Gil, you can either do I guess Jerry you could do Jerry you could do James Mason Or you could do Jerry Seinfeld whatever you're feeling. Oh, okay. I'll do site But our guest of honor would do his his wonderful George C Scott. Oh

Okay. Well my George C Scott that I did on IMAs for 35 years was actually an impression of George C. Scott. Yeah, yeah. Pat and doing. George C. Scott. Oh no! It'll work here. I said I'd do Seinfeld. You're going to change it? But I had a couple of people say they were very angry because on a on a recent episode we mentioned James Mason yeah and I didn't do my James Mason imitation that person was mistaken he just didn't listen to enough of the episode it was the Benjamin episode oh I got the same tweet oh okay so which would you prefer Mason or Seinfeld? I think I'd like to hear you do Jerry Seinfeld there. Okay.

And I'm Grandpa? You're Grandpa Joe, which was I think Jack Albertson. Yes. Oh, and I'm Willy Wonka. And Larry is Willy Wonka. As George C. Scott. Yeah. Okay.

All right. You'll indulge me. Of course. Mr. Wonka. I am extraordinarily busy, sir. I just want to ask about the chocolate, the lifetime supply of chocolate for Charlie, when does he get it? He doesn't.

Why not? Because he broke the rules. What rules? We didn't see any rules, did we, Charlie? Wrong, sir! Wrong! Under Section 3-7B of the contract signed by him, it states quite clearly that all offers shall become null and void, if, and you can read it for yourself in this photostatic copy, rights privileges and licenses herein and herein contained etc etc facts metis incendium gloria cultum etc etc memo buys punitor delicatum it's all there black and white clears crystal you stole lifting drinks you bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and sterilized so you get nothing you lose that is all good day sir you're a crook! You're a cheat! And a swindler! That's what you are!

How could you do something like this? Build up a little boy's hopes and then smash all his dreams to pieces. You're an inhuman monster. I said, good day! Hahahaha! Hahahaha! That's here for the writers. Hahahaha! I didn't write it, I just pulled it off the internet.

And I looked for a movie scene that I thought would work. We had some success with Gilbert and Mario Cantone doing Carol Channing. and I just pulled it off the internet and I looked for a movie scene that I thought would work. We had some success with Gilbert and Mario Cantone doing Carol Channing and Irvy Velasquez and when Harry met Sally. So just talk a little bit about Imus as we wind down how you got there. And you had been developing these voices in radio

over the years, impressions before you ever got to Imus. Yeah, yeah, as a matter of fact. As you were a DJ forever before you got to ImusMAs. Yeah, yeah, as a matter of fact. Because you were a DJ forever before you got to IMAs. Seems like it, yeah, yeah. As you mentioned, as Gilbert mentioned, I started in radio when I was 15, and very soon thereafter began using character voices and cartoon voices on my disc jockey show.

And, you know, I worked at Peoria at Fort Wayne and then I went to Cleveland, Ohio on WKYC. An NBC owned and operated 50,000 watt station. I was there for three years and for the first year or first two years I was there, Don Imus was at an opposing station doing the morning show. I was doing afternoons on KYC. He was on WGAR, I think, doing the morning show. And so then he left to come to New York to WNBC and I left to go to Chicago to do a morning show. A couple weeks after I'm there in Chicago I get a call from Imus's engineer who had been my engineer in Cleveland,

because it was NBC. Oh, that's fun. Walt Ryan. And he said, hey, I was talking to Don during the show at the end, and Don said to me, you were at KYC, right? He said, yeah. He said, Larry Kenny was there. I used to listen to Larry Kenny all the time.

And his voices were fantastic. Where is he now? And Walt said, I think he's in New York. And I said, why don't you call him and see if he'd wanna do bits on my show on the telephone. So Walt called me. And for a year, right, almost to the day, Don would call me every morning during the newscast, we both had a newscast

on here at the same time. And he would call me and he'd say, let's do a Nixon today. Do something, we'd add liberties. He'd say, do Nixon, this was during the Watergate thing. This was in the 73. He said, okay, let's do a bit, something, improvise something about what happened yesterday,

you know, when they found you do have tapes or something like that. So we would do that for, it paid me 50 bucks a day, I remember. So I did that for a whole year and then I got a job in New York on the radio, WHN. Sure, I remember when you were on there. Yeah. So I came out and was on WHN while he was on WNBC. And then after a while, he hired me to, you know, start doing bits on a regular basis on his show.

So had you brought all those characters with you? I mean had the General Patton and Nixon and Andy Rooney? No, no Charles McCord who was the newsman on the show wrote all my every script I ever did on IMS. And we would just come up with new characters whenever they popped into our minds you know who can we do this guy right right right you know Cocell or how would Cocell yes did him for years there right there look at that little monkey run he got trouble Which was really a shame because that's what Howard Cosell called his grandkids, the little monkeys. And he was anything but a racist.

He wasn't thinking about the ethnicity of the... Times as they were, he got probably ruined his career. You didn't do IMAH, you never did the IMAH show because you were a Howard guy? Oh, yeah. No, it was different camps. How long were you there? You were there. Good run. With IMAH because you were a Howard guy? Oh yeah. No, it was different camps. Yeah, how long were you there? You were there, good run. With IMAs?

35 years. Yeah. 73 to 2008. Yeah. Yeah, now Howard, I remember the day that Howard started at WNBC doing afternoons. There was some, they were oil and water, those two. Yeah, well, what happened was,

I was sitting in the office when it happened. And this was at a time, those two. Yeah, well, what happened was I was sitting in the office when it happened. And this was at a time, this was in probably, I don't know, 82, 82, something like that. I forget when Howard came. But we were sitting in Don's office at 30 Rock. And at that time, Don was having some issues with drinking and drugs and things like that.

And it was not pleasant to be around. And one day, Howard, this new kid, strolled into the office and said, "'Hi guys, how you doing?' Well, Imus went ballistic and he said, "'Get the F out of my office. Who the hell do you think you are? Get out of here.'

And we were all shocked that he would do it. So Howard left and to this day, from what I understand, has not forgiven Don Imus. Oh no. He hates him with passion, yeah. And Don over the years has expressed sympathy, regret for what he said. Says, you know, because he doesn't drink anymore

and do drugs. But how it really hurt Howard, badly. I don't think that's a piece that's gonna be easily brokered. No, I think so think that's a piece that's gonna be easily brokered. Yeah Yeah, why bother? I've got a question this comes from one of our listeners This is error We have a new feature on our patreon page where people get to

Donate a little bit of money and ask the guest a question. We call it grill the guest. So Eric Ryan HRH EIN wants to know from Larry, where do you rank Gilbert among celebrity impressionists? Number one. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha I would say top 50. I don't know. You know, Gilbert does one of the best James Masons in the business. I heard that. Have him do it a little bit.

And he did it for Rich Little. Oh yeah? And Rich Little actually said, Gilbert, don't quit your day job. Really? Which was really unfair. Yeah. Considering your James Mason is stellar. A few people.

Yeah, and our fans were in uproar. Tanner, my son, has told me about your James Mason. Tanner is, yeah, do a touch of James Mason for... Hey. Dr. Mangler, your plan has been canceled. Isn't that great? That is great. I think I heard you doing that on the Benjamin thing, Richard Benjamin thing. Oh yeah. Because you did two different

things and he said he said well now you're doing the later one. Oh yes the early one. Oh well the later ones was James Mason with, it's your destiny Joe, you can't be Joe Fonsworth anymore. That's good, that is good. Oh, so before we get the hell out of here, we gotta ask you about Bowling for Dollars, because you and I talked about it over the television.

Well, and it's a legendary show here in New York. You told me it was a regional show. Before we turned the mics on, you were saying that there are hosts all around the country. I didn't know Wink Martindale hosted it. I'm pretty sure you did. And Jim Lang of The Dating Game. Yeah, I know Jim Lang did. In San Francisco, I believe.

You filled the shoes of the legendary New York Mets sportscaster Bob Murphy, who I grew up on. Literally. The day I walked in, the first time I walked into the, we filmed at Madison Square Garden bowling center, which is not there anymore. And my dressing room was the manager's office. So the first day we're taping, I go in there and he shows me to the little room and I opened the closet door to hang my, you know, I go in there, and he shows me to the little room, and I open the closet door to hang my, you know, I had to have five suits and sport coats with me.

We taped five shows in one day, every Friday, because the show was on every night, Monday through Friday. I remember. And so I open this closet door, and I put my hanger up, and I look down, and there's this little tiny pair of men's shoes, loafers, with enormously high heels. I don't mean high heels like a woman's high, lifts. Oh yeah.

He was a diminutive fellow. He was a small guy. Yes he was. Yeah, so I literally followed in his footsteps. You were probably just in the Bob Murphy Memorial Record, well Gilbert was at a game, Gilbert was at a Met Game and they brought him into the booth. You were probably in the Bob Murphy Memorial Record. Well, Gilbert was at a game. Gilbert was at a Met game and they brought him into the booth. You were probably in the Bob Murphy Memorial Broadcast Booth

and you didn't even know it. But he was the first host and then Larry came along and Gilbert was asking Larry before we turned the mics on if the contestants were ever boozed up. No, but we got, I mean, the thing is, unlike the big game shows on television where you have to audition, you know, sometimes three or four times you have to audition and they want people that are just right for their show. They want enthusiasm.

I auditioned for Jeopardy twice and they never called me. I passed the test both times. No kidding. Never put me on the show. Did you ever find out why? Because of the, because white males in their thirties, which I was at the time. They have a lot of those So they're trying they're trying to they're trying to create diversity in their contestants paybacks paybacks a bitch. Yeah, I was too typical This show

All you had to do to get on the show is send in a postcard. And if your postcard was picked out of the pin pal barrel, you would be on the show. And we never saw the guests until the day they arrived at the taping. I mean, there was no pre-checking of them or any background checks, you know, so we got, you can imagine, all kinds of people. We got one kid I remember, he was only about 19 years old, and he was scared to death. I always, before the show, I would sit down individually

with each contestant for a couple of minutes, asking him the questions, you know, so that I could ask him questions when they came out on the show. And I had cue cards, and I would questions, you know, so that I could ask him questions when they came out on the show. And I had cue cards and I would write, you know, he's from Brooklyn, wife's name is, okay. So this kid, I could tell he was nervous at the pre-interview, but not terribly, you know.

So he's the first contestant on the show. Show opens and I do my little spiel and I say, okay, so let's meet our first contestant on the show. The show opens and I do my little spiel and I say, okay, so let's meet our first contestant tonight. I'm bowling for dollars. Paul Martin from Brooklyn, New York. At that point, the door would open behind me. There was a guy back there actually who opened the door and closed it. Somebody's job. A union job.

And then the guest was supposed to walk out. So the door opens and he's standing there like. So I walk back and I reach out to shake his hand so that I could pull him out. You know, I had to drag him out. It's like Ralph on the ship of the future. Yeah, yeah. Hummin, hummin, hummin, hummin.

Oh, it can't call the future. Yeah, yeah. Humbna, humbna, humbna. Humbna, humbna, humbna. Oh, it can curry apple. Yeah. So I pull him out there and I said, Paul, welcome to the show. What kind of work you do? And he goes, you know, different kinds. Two questions I realized, I'm not going to get anything out of this, kid.

So the last thing we did with each contestant is say, who did you bring with you today to cheer you on. And then the camera would go on, there are people in the audience. He said, well Larry, I brought my mother and my father. I said, all right, let's meet them. The camera goes on these lovely old couples and this waving, you know. I said, introduce them to us Paul and he goes, okay, that's my mother. It's time to hit the jackpot on Polling for Dollars, New York's big money and big prize game show where everyone is a winner. And now for all the fun and excitement, here's the man with all the dollars and all the prices,

the kingpin himself, your host, Larry Kinney. Hi, everybody. How you doing? Oh, we got a loud crowd here tonight. And a good crowd at the American Playwrights Bowling Center. We're gonna go bowling for dollars again. A lot of them. $760 for jackpot already. We'll keep climbing until somebody breaks it by rolling two straight strikes. That's of them. $760 for Jackpond already.

We'll keep climbing until somebody breaks it by rolling two straight strikes. That's all it takes. Then they go back to the lane and try for that third consecutive strike. They get the Jackpond money they've already won and get a place to spend it to. A fantastic vacation for two for an entire week

in Monte Carlo on the famous French Riviera. The prize includes round-trip jet transportation and accommodations at a four-star hotel and our contestant will tour Monaco the jewel of the Côte d'Azur and so will the pin pal because when that happens three straight strikes the bowler and the pin pal at home win the same prize. That happens all the way through the show. And one more if I can. There was a guy there was a guy who I recall that I didn't have much time to speak with

him because we were on the last show of the day and we were running late, you know, so I only had time to ask him a couple of questions. And he comes out, this and this, what kind of work to do, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I always ask in the pre-interview, are you married? But I didn't have a chance to ask this guy so big mistake I said so Tyrone are you married he said well yeah and I said what's your wife doing he says I don't know I ain't seen a bitch in three years good thing it wasn't live oh yeah oh two things did you ever know Paul Winchell no no never met him and oh and I don't think you told your Bogart story on the air. Yeah, tell it.

Uh, no, we had the mic off. You told us before. Yeah, we weren't on. OK, so we're selling. Well, it's not a great story. It just it's Bob Fosse was doing a movie with Dustin Hoffman. And I forget. It seems like it was Bette Midler. But I don't know. I don't think the movie ever came out because I've tried to find it. And I don't know, it seems like it was Bette Midler, but I don't know.

I don't think the movie ever came out because I've tried to find it and I don't know what the name of it was, but apparently Dustin Hoffman was supposed to, he had a line in the movie that he was supposed to do as Bogart. And the line was, stick with me, sweetheart, and I'll have your titian cement

in front of Rowan's Chinese Theater. So I do the audition, you know, and Bob Fosse likes it. And so a couple of days later, I get a call, go back. He's going to, so I go back and record again. And he says, I want to use this layer, but I have to, I have to get Lauren's approval, Lauren Bacall. So I said, okay, so I went to lunch and come back and I see her leaving the building, Lauren Bacall.

Okay, I go up there and he says, I said, did she like it? He says, Larry, I played it for her. She turned around and there was a tear in her eye and she said, my God, Bogie's back. Wow. Yeah, well, that's what I thought. Wow, how can you get much better than that, Right? I'm going to put this out to our listeners to find this movie that's Bob Fosse. I've looked at wasn't Lenny.

It wasn't Lenny, which which came out with Dustin Hoffman, something in development, something that kind of died on the vine. That's right. It was Hoffman and Lenny, but it wasn't that one. It was after that. Interesting. Yeah. All right. Now we're going to go out on a song. You guys up for one more? Sure. All right, Frankie, this is gonna be a Paul Lynn duet. Oh, Frank.

Oh, wonderful. That's how to be good. We'll try to keep it to the karaoke track, but if you go off of it, don't worry about it. Yeah, I don't know if I remember how the music goes, but I will try. We got a little accompaniment. Gil, you wanna start us off?

So this will be very anti-Semitic. This is what I heard. Paul Lin, he used to get drunk on Hollywood Squares. And as Katie and Tad are toasting us outside the window. And like everyone else would drink too, but they'd be lovable drunks joking back and forth. Paul Lin was extremely anti-Semitic. And he would get drunk and he'd be sitting there at the table with the nice celebrities and he'd be going, oh those fucking Jews, they're the reason I don't have a career.

We've had that confirmed. Oh my god. I remember my favorite line he ever said when he was the center square is Paul for the win, why do cowboys wear leather chaps? He goes, oh because taffeta wrinkles I Think there was a great line one time they had Don Knotts in the original Hollywood Squares and the question was You can't you have trouble sleeping nights. Are you a man or a woman and he goes? That's why I have trouble sleeping nights

fantastic he was incredible oh you guys want to give this a whirl so I'm oh you're the G and he's the L. Oh is that how it goes? You'll retreat a section. Mine's gonna sound like L anyway no matter how I do it so So, okay You want to write you what? Maybe he's a You can do the cuckoo See, okay now, okay. Okay. We go to pull it. Okay, okay Kids I don't know what's wrong with these kids today. Kids, who can understand anything they say? Kids, they're disobedient, disrespectful oats, noisy, crazy, sloppy, lazy loafers.

While we're on the subject. Kids, you can talk and talk till your face is blue. Kids! But they still do just what they want to do. Why can't they be like we were? Perfect in every way. Watson Hutter with kids today. Now don't get me started. Kids, I've tried to raise them the best I could. Kids, laughing, where's the music? Laughing, singing, dancing, grinning morons! And while we're on the subject, kids, they're just impossible to control. Kids, with their awful clothes's a rock and roll Why can't they dance like we did? What's wrong with Sammy K?

What's the matter with kids today? That's a hit. That's a hit. It was so far removed from the music. It doesn't even matter. Frank, if you can sew that together, you're a genius. Oh my god. This was fun. It was great.

Larry, good time. Thank you. We want to acknowledge too that your son, your talented son Tanner is here. Who's also a great impressionist. And your daughter-in-law Katie, talented people. And your daughter-in-law, Katie, talented people. And your daughter is a comedian. She was on the stage. She was on Viva Variety, Carrie.

Currently on Two Broke Girls occasionally. A talented family. Yeah, yeah, we think so. And I wanna thank Frank Verderosa for suggesting Larry as a guest. Larry said he'd give me a 50, so I... Do they still make those? Did you do Lionel on Family Guy?

Yeah, one episode I did. It was kind of a funny line. The idea was, the star of the show, what's his name, the old man, the guy. Seth, Seth McFarland no no no no I mean no I know he's the oh well Peter Griffin Peter Peter and and I think the one of the other guys is in San Francisco and they're in the car and Peter says yeah but you find a lot of weird couples living together in this

town huh huh he flashed to an apartment where Lionel and Chitara and Snarf were living. So Lionel is standing there deep in thought and oh and Chitara walks through the room and she says what's what's going on Lionel? He says I don't know but I have a feeling that mum-rah is up to something whatever it is it can't be good she says I'm going to the John so she goes in the bathroom Lionel takes out the sword of omens which gives him a sight beyond sight and he points it toward the bathroom door and says sight beyond sight. Sort of a laugh. And Snarf comes through and says, what you doing, Lion-O?

Lion-O says, oh nothing, just, you wanna get stoned? So you were a horse on Family Guy. Yes. So you both did Family Guy. Yeah, I remember like the horse shows, like the horse saves Peter from being lynched down south and then he goes horsey you saved my life and I go no problem Peter and and then he goes wow Gilbert Gottfried.

Wow, Gilbert Gottfried. Oh, that's great. I love it. We could go on, Larry, but... Well, it was great. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. I'm exhausted from laughing. Did you have fun? I had a great time. I really did. Thank you both and thanks, Frank, out there. Thank you, Frank. Thank you, Tanner. Thank you you Andrea. So I'm Gilbert Gottfried this has been Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast with

my co-host Frank Santopadre and we've had one of the greatest voiceover guys in the business Larry Kenny. The God of Voices. Now that's funny. Thanks Larry. This was a kick for us. This is Gilbert Gottfried on Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast with my co-host Frank Santapadre. And Frank Verderosa is our engineer on the control board.

And our special guest today, the wonderful, incredible, well, he's not bad. Ha ha ha ha! Voice over artist extraordinaire and all around the nice guy Larry Kenny. Thank you and good night. Thanks Larry. That ought to hold a little bastard.

You know where that's from right? Yes, like? Yes. What was that? Like Uncle Don. Yes. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don.

Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don.

Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don.

Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don.

Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don.

Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Uncle Don. Santa Padre with audio production by Frank Fertorosa. Our researchers are Paul Rayburn and Andrea Simmons. Web and social media is handled by Mike McAdden, Greg Pair, Manasi Chinchar, and John Bradley Seals. Photography by Charles Eschelman. Special audio contributions by John Beach. Special thanks to John Murray, John Fodiatis, and Nutmeg Creative, especially Sam Giovancho and Daniel Farrell

for their assistance.