Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - Mac Davis Encore

Episode Date: September 26, 2022

GGACP marks the 50th anniversary of the hit single "Baby, Don't Get Hooked On Me" reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (September 23, 1972) with this ENCORE of a memorable interview with Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and actor MAC DAVIS. In this episode, Mac talks about 70s-era variety shows, sharing the screen with Jackie Gleason, sharing a bill with George Burns and Henny Youngman and penning hits for Elvis Presley (“Memories,” “In the Ghetto,” “A Little Less Conversation”). Also, Buddy Hackett pulls out a piece, Buddy Holly plays a roller rink, Richard Nixon guest stars on “Laugh-In” and Mac crashes Sam Elliott’s screen test. PLUS: Solomon Burke! The Memphis Mafia! “North Dallas Forty”! Remembering Kenny Rogers! Appreciating James Garner! And Colonel Parker “gifts” Mac with a velvet Elvis! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Peloton has everything you need to help you get going. Get a head start on summer with Peloton and choose a flexible payment plan that works for you at onepeloton.ca financing. Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and this is Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast with my co-host, Frank Santopadre. Our guest this week is a Grammy-nominated musician and recording artist, a record producer, an actor and TV personality, and one of the most versatile and successful singer-songwriters of his generation. As an actor, you've seen him in films like Cheaper to Keep Her, The Sting 2, and North Dallas 40, as well as popular TV programs, The Muppet Show, Lois and Clark, That 70s Show, and King of the Hill. He's also starred on Broadway, in the long-running Will Rogers Follies, and made memorable appearances on dozens of talk shows,

TV specials, and variety shows, and even starred in a good one called The Mac Davis Show, which ran from 1974 to 1976 and featured dozens of showbiz icons, including Bob Hope, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and Dean Martin. Incidentally, that show also featured several of our podcast guests, show also featured several of our podcast guests, including John Beiner, Kenny Rogers, Jimmy Webb, and Paul Williams. But it's as a singer-songwriter that this man has made his most lasting mark, composing hit songs for everyone, from Bobby Goldsboro to Kenny Rogers to Dolly Parton, and penning the iconic tunes, Memories, A Little Less Conversation, Don't Cry Daddy, and In the Ghetto for the king of rock and roll, Elvis Presley. for the king of rock and roll, Elvis Presley.

He would later embark on a hugely successful solo career, selling millions of records and recording the hits Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me, One Hell of a Woman, It's Hard to Be Humble, Stop and Smell the Roses, and his signature tune, I Believe in Music. He's also a Beard Eye BMI icon, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and he's been voted the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Hell, he even has a street named after him in his hometown of Lubbock, Texas. Now, please welcome to the show an artist of many talents and a man who once had his head rubbed

by the legendary Colonel Parker, the great Mac Davis. Oh man, how do I follow that? I'm ready to go now. That's your life story, Mac. Oh wow. In one introduction. Gilbert, I'm only going to correct you because Kenny Rogers life story, Mac. Oh, wow. In one introduction. Gilbert, I'm only going to correct you because Kenny Rogers never did this show. It was Kenny Loggins.

Oh, Kenny. Kenny Rogers did it in his heart, I'm sure. He did it in his heart. And that's a perfect segue, Mac. Since we just lost the wonderful Kenny Rogers, who was a friend of yours and a collaborator of yours, tell us something about him. Kenny was one of the nicest guys you'd ever want to meet. We all miss him.

He was an entrepreneur. He wanted everything that he saw that was shiny and gold and he worked hard to get it and uh you know he had to have he had the best planes and uh he helicopters office buildings whatever he could get that was shiny and he would uh lose money on stuff and turn right around get another hit record and come back. His career went back and forth. And I was just glad to know him. He lived right down the street from me.

Oh, really? In Bel Air in California. A beloved guy. I worked on a talk show and I worked with him twice. And I never met or encountered a celebrity that was more liked and more likable? He was a good guy. We both, when we were getting started out, we played golf together. We were learning how to play golf together at the old par three courses out in California.

And I was struggling and writing songs. And one day I had been trying to write a song called Something's Burning for years and I actually I wrote it in the beginning for Elvis Presley of course but this was I was only 16 17 years old and Elvis never heard it but it would have been a great hit for Elvis but I changed it over and over through the years because I knew that Symptoms Burning was a title. It was a hook of a title. And eventually I played it for a guy named Mike Post. And Mike was producing a record on Kenny and they jumped on it. And it was really a big boost to my career right in the beginning.

It really was. He was very instrumental in my career. And how did you get started? What made you interested in music and performing? You know, it's just a collection of growing up and loving music. My daddy would always ask me, have you learned to whistle yet? And I'd say, no.

And he'd say, you've got to learn to whistle, boy. People, you know, it shows that you're a happy person and people like you. So I can remember when I first learned to whistle, there was a guy that worked for my daddy, and I hung around a lot. He was a small-time building contractor and carpenter. And I'd go, he'd take me out on a job with him. And there was a guy there named Alan Smith.

Everybody called him Smitty. Smitty could whistle the blues. And that was my first, you know, I'd heard church music and that. And we had three records at home, one of which was Old Ship by Red Foley, an old country song, and the other one was Delicato by some orchestra, and the other one was Blue Danube Waltz,

and that was just, you know, I listened to them over and over. I wore out that old 78 RPM disc on that record player. And then I heard this fellow whistling. You know, doing the blues licks and stuff. That's what I really fell in love with was the blues. licks and stuff. That's what I really fell in love with was the blues. And I found me a 50,000 watt station down near Del Rio, Texas or someplace. And I'd fall asleep listening to rhythm and blues music. And that really, you know, if I'd had the pipes for it, that's probably what I'd be doing today. I'd still be singing rhythm and blues music. It was in your heart, this music, from the very beginning.

Yeah, it still is. I just had one of my bucket list things. I just got a song recorded by Buddy Guy, who's a famous blues guy from way back. And that was a big thrill to me to get a cut on a Buddy Guy album. It's called Bad Day. So you described the first time you saw Elvis like it was practically a religious experience watching Elvis. Well, I was a teenager and he came to Lubbock and performed, I believe it was in the parking lot of the Ford company there on the back of a flatbed truck. It's either in Lubbock or one of those little towns around there.

And I, you know, the first time I'd heard him, I got very excited because the guy sounded kind of like I wanted to sound like when I was a kid, you know, it was sort of rhythm and blues, but sung by a Caucasian feller. And I thought, man, this guy's amazing. And I remember hearing That's All Right, Mama. It was on New Year's Eve. I was about 14. And my buddy and I spent the next day trying to find a record by Elman Parsley.

We thought his name was Elman Parsley when we heard the disc jockey say it. And we were going all over town the next day saying, you got any record by Elman Parsley? And no. And finally somebody found it and said, you know, you mean That's All Right Mama. We wore it out and it got chased out.

Back in those days, you could sit and listen to a record and see if you wanted to buy it. And we wore it out, and we got chased out. Back in those days, you could sit and listen to a record and see if you wanted to buy it. And we would stand there, and we stood there and played it over and over and over until late because we didn't have a dollar to buy it. So we got run out of the store the next day. A buddy of mine named Billy Akins. And then saw him later there in Lubbock

and saw the girls going nuts and totally going crazy, and this was in the very beginning. And all the guys were pissed off, and the girls were going nuts. And I believe I went out the next day and bought me a shirt that kind of like his I could turn the collar up on and started letting my hair grow into duck tails. I really, I had the bug. I loved Elvis Presley and he was all right with me, but I didn't meet him until many, many years later. But before we get to meeting Elvis, we should also point out that another rock and roll God was from your hometown, was from Lubbock, Texas. A local boy made good and he was a local celebrity.

You guys, he would leave and come back to the town? Didn't he come back to town one day driving a big fancy car? Yeah, he did. He was a local yokel when I knew him back in the days. He played at the skating rink there, which was right down the street from my house. My daddy had bought a motel there called a college courts we were right across the street from texas tech on college avenue and which is now right that that area now is is mac davis lane it's called in lubbock that's great yeah but buddy holly at that time, you know, he wasn't Buddy Holly yet. He was just a local guy.

We loved him, and he'd go to the skating rink, and for 50 cents, you could dance the last two hours of a Friday night and get your butt whipped all for the same 50 cents. When they show it on the movies and stuff, you know, the girls are out there on their roller skates with their little poodle skirts on and everybody's got their skates. Well, they didn't do that. You took your skates off at 10 o'clock when Buddy's show started because it's not a good idea to try to fight with roller skates on. So that was a pretty rough, pretty rough start. And it was years, years later that he came back to town. He left there and went to New York, and suddenly that'll be the day he came out and became a huge hit.

And he showed up in town, and I was sitting on my front steps at this motel where I lived. And he came driving by slowly, doing probably 20 miles an hour in a brand new black and white Pontiac Catalina convertible. That's great. There was a couple of big nasty girls up there with him. And I thought, yeah, this could be me. I could do this. So between him and Elvis, I had a good start. I had a good start in the business.

You know, somebody to want to fashion myself after. Well, those were two good start. I had a good start in the business. You know, somebody to want to fashion myself after, well, those were two good starts. So it was mainly girls that got you into music. Absolutely. Absolutely. That story seems to be true for a lot of people who went into music, who went into music, who went into pop music or country music or rock and roll.

Well, that's... Seems to be a prime motivator. Yeah, they were there. They were absolutely there. But that wasn't my motivator, really. I just wanted to write songs, and I wanted to have people sing them, and I wanted to sing them myself. You know, my daddy made me sing in church. It really wasn't my thing.

When I was a kid, I was like a soprano, you know. I had to sit up there with the choir at church, and I refused to sit with the sopranos because they were all ladies. refused to sit with the sopranos because they were all ladies. And so I would sit in the bass section and sing the bass parts an octave up. So they didn't like me up there very much either. But singing their parts in the soprano. But, you know, that's where you learn.

You started writing songs at the tender age of 14, Mac? Well, actually... I know you say you were a late bloomer, that you didn't have a hit until 28, but how long were you at it before the breakthrough? Well, quite a long time, really. I was making up songs when I first learned how to whistle. I started making up melodies and stuff, first learned how to whistle. I started making up melodies and stuff.

Started putting words to them probably around 11 or 12. And I can remember the first song I ever put words to was I got my guitar here so I'll throw this at you. It's terrible, but it's what it is.

Can you hear that? Yeah. Yeah. Don't see. Please. No, that ain't right. Please. No way. You can come back again some other day.

If it ain't Leave me alone with my blues That was it. Anyway, I have a hard time. I can't hear my guitar with these headphones on. I know. I'm sorry about that. That's all right. We learned a lesson early in the show.

We were forced to record in the COVID era. Can I put you on the spot and we'll go back to your church days. Can you sing any of what you used to sing in church? Just a sample. Oh, man.

Right. I can sing in acapella. I love the musical there. I can sing it a cappella. I love the musical songs. I went to a Presbyterian church and really liked it because all the Catholics and Lutherans, they all sing these dirges. They're great gospel songs. They're not gospel they they're great gospel songs they're not gospel they're great religious songs i suppose but um i always liked um oh let's see love lifted me love lifted me when nothing else could help love lifted. Those had pretty melodies to them, and they were very singable.

I got a big kick out of singing in church. But most churches, you know, it's... It's like you're at a funeral or something. Gilbert, you didn't sing in temple, Gilbert? like you're at a funeral or something. Gilbert, you didn't sing in temple, Gilbert? Onward, Christian soldiers. That was a good one.

Onward, Christian soldiers. Yeah, that's a standard. Oh, can I hear some of that? Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war. That's about it. That's about it. That's about it. Mack, why was Nancy Sinatra pivotal in your early career?

Well, she was connected to one of the guys I met early on after I'd moved to California. At that point, I met Billy Strange, who was actually one of the original members

of the Wrecking Crew he was a great studio player and he was involved with Nancy Sinatra and with Lee Hazelwood and he was on her first hit it was his

his production idea he was the guy that went, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Oh, on these boots. Yeah. Oh. That was Billy Swank. That's great.

So Billy would come by the office once in a while looking for material for her, and I'd play him stuff that we had, but I also would sneak a song or two of mine in there every now and then. And he liked some of the things that I wrote. And at some point, he says, he came to the office one day and had a serious discussion. He said, Nancy is going to start a publishing company, and I have an opportunity to get a song in an Elvis Presley movie because Nancy had just finished doing a movie with Elvis.

She introduced Billy Strange to Elvis, and he hooked him up to score that first movie. And Trouble with Girls, I believe is the name of it, with a subtitle, and how to get into it. And I believe that was the movie. But at any rate, I said, man, I'd love to. He said, we can get a song in there, you know. Well, I had a song that I'd written in hopes that Aretha Franklin would record it,

and it was called A Little Less Conversation. Sure. And it was a perfect song for her. I still to this day wish that I had found some way to get it to her to record it. But I did okay with it anyway. It came out with the movie as one of the tracks from it. the movie as one of the tracks from it. And Elvis loved the song so much that he started asking me for songs for his next album.

And it got in the top 40 or something. It wasn't a real big hit, but he hadn't had a number one record in like eight or nine years. And so they asked me to send him he was going to go to memphis he was he was irritated that the that the beatles had become the number one artist in the world and he had dropped to you know somewhere just in the top 10 because they were just releasing nothing but movie music and i'm not going to knock it, but it just wasn't what was happening in pop music.

Sure. So at any rate, he was looking for new material, and I just happened to get on that bandwagon. I mean, it's without a doubt the luckiest break that you can imagine an old country boy from Lubbock, Texas, getting on that bandwagon and riding those coattails because that's when he decided that he was going to make it big again. And this was 1968, 69.

Sure. That record came out and did pretty good. He had Billy call me up. I think the movie was Live a Little, Love a Little, Mac. Yeah, Live a Little, Love a Little. Yeah, that's exactly what it was. A little less conversation, a little more action. All this aggravation ain't satisfaction in me

A little more bite, a little less bark A little less fight, a little more spark Close your mouth and open up your heart And maybe satisfy me, satisfy me, baby Baby, close your eyes and listen to the music Dig through the summer breeze It's a groovy night and I can show you how to use it Come along with me and put your mind at ease I'm going to go ahead and get started. He loved that kind of song. He decided they made a deal to go to Memphis with Chips Moorman

and cut an album, the Memphis album. And they asked me if I had anything. And at the same time, I was writing a song for his comeback special called Memories that I wrote in Billy Strange's garage, as a matter of fact. He had a little office out there in his garage out in the valley. And I spent the whole, I had to have a song written by the next morning. And I started about 6 o'clock in the evening, and about 8 o'clock the next morning, I had written have a song written by the next morning. And I started about 6 o'clock in the evening, and by 8 o'clock the next morning, I had written Memories.

How about that? Yeah, it was amazing. And Elvis and Steve Bender put it right into the special. Yep, yep. They kind of edited it a little bit. One of the verses got left out. It kind of irritated me. Actually of the verses got left out kind of irritated me but you know he actually two verses got left out he just cut the same as first verse over and over but

it still became a top 10 record it was a hit record and uh um back in the day of course i'm going by uh cash box instead of billboard because i was one. I'd get to number two on Billboard and number one on Cashbox. But it's neither here nor there. It was a pet peeve of me, that's all. A little less conversation was kind of the breakthrough. It was a breakthrough, and then memories really took off with the special. Right. And then they decided to do this album in memphis

and uh they called and asked if i had anything for it and uh i sent them a tape out there that had 19 songs on everything that i had written and the first two songs were in the ghetto and don't cry daddy so So we got lucky there. When you were working with Elvis, tell us a little about the Colonel. Yeah, we alluded to that story in the opening, Mac, about him calling you over. Well, I got invited to come and watch him when they did Little Less Conversation in the movie. And it sounded like a fun deal. It was a pool party and lots of extras and

good-looking girls and all this stuff. So I couldn't wait to get over there. And I went and had a pass to get on the lot. at any rate, I went in there and there was a row of old theater seats that had just been ripped up from the floor of some unfortunate theater. And right in the middle of it sat Colonel Parker,

and he had a little hassock there that he could put his feet up on because these things didn't have legs on them. They were just sitting on the floor of these chairs on the soundstage. of these chairs on the sound stage. And I was standing there watching the thing, you know, watching them do the thing. And every time, in those days, it took forever to loop something into a show. So they had already filmed it, but to loop the song part in there,

you know, you had to lip sync it. So he's walking around through the deal. And those days you didn't have digital equipment and in order to rewind a song you didn't even have double speed rewind which you did in the studio they had to fit the cogs into the little holes in the tape and i guess it was three inch tape or something like, or maybe bigger. I don't know, but he would get the giggles and mess up and they'd have to rewind it. Well, if he was two and a half minutes into the song,

it took two and a half minutes to run it back, to rewind it, to start over. So he would leave and walk over and start singing gospel with the guys, you know, ganged around the piano. And sometimes that would last 10 minutes or 15 minutes or whatever. So it just took forever is what I'm trying to say. At some point I was standing there and Colonel Parker says,

Hey, boy, are you the boy that wrote this song? And I said, yes, sir. He says, what's your name? I said, Mac Davis. He said, come over here and let the colonel rub your curly head. And I had a big old Afro back then. I was one of the first Caucasian guys to have an Afro in the business anyway. And I kind of looked over.

I didn't know what he was talking about first and i looked over in sunny west and red west we're sitting there these are a couple of the memphis mafia guys and they gave me this nod like not a bad idea better better come on over so i walked over and he said bend over and i bent over he rubbed my head and he said now you go tell everybody that Colonel Parker rubbed your curly head you're going to be a star I love that true and that was my first meeting

with him and they were bringing him food and drinks and you know whatever he was the boss he was obvious that he was the man many years, after Elvis passed away, I'd been working at the MGM Grand for 12 years. Not solid. I mean, when I went to Vegas, I played the MGM Grand. I wasn't in residence. It sounded like I was saying I was in residence,

but I worked there four to eight weeks a year. And after 12 years, I moved over to the Hilton, which was where he worked. And on opening night, the guys came in, the entertainment director came in and says, Colonel Parker's here and wants to see you. And I said, what? And he said, yeah. It's the first time he's been in a hotel since Elvis passed away.

And he wants to bring you something. So I was like, oh, my God. He brought in a great big package that was about four by four, something like that, four by six, maybe. Huge, wrapped in brown paper and very clumsily done because it had bulges in it and everything. He tore the thing open. He says, this is, Mac, this is my favorite painting of Elvis. I've had it hanging in my office for years and years and years. And I said, wow. And we get all the brown paper off of it. The bulge was a, it was around the frame. The frame was plastic, but they painted to look like wood, sort of. The lamp was connected to,

it was all part of the frame, still had a cord hanging off of it to plug it in. And it was a copy of a velvet Elvis painted on plywood. And it's kind of warped and all that stuff. And he had taken, Colonel Parker had taken a felt-tip pen and wrote to Mac Davis whose curly head I once rubbed and told was going to be a star but I knew he was going to be anyway

love the colonel and it was like I don't know how to put it you got on one hand a wonderful thing to do, and on the other hand, a real piece of crap. You know, that was awful. You know, even if it had been an art piece, a nice art piece,

he would have ruined it with a felt-tip pen, you know, writing on it. But at any rate, it's a great, it's a true story. And all the guys in the band thought that was the funniest thing they'd ever seen. Because they all, I had them backstage. That is wild. Yeah. So, but at any rate.

When you wrote In the Ghetto, Mac, did you pitch that? Is there a story about you pitching that to Sammy Davis Jr. originally? I did at one point, but we were trying to figure out what to do with it. Because Elvis had already done it and recorded it. But we thought that it would be a good idea to get a person of color to record it because it was a very meaningful song and it was very important to me that I got acceptance for having written that song.

And it was a tough sell. So we thought we would find somebody that can do it and took it to Sammy and he recorded it. But it was a Sammy Davis record by the time we got done with it. And nothing really happened with it. But later, I was bemoaning the fact to, oh, my gosh, Atlantic Records. I'm having a blank. The guy that ran Atlantic Records for all those years.

Oh, Jerry Wexler? Jerry Wexler. Gosh, I'm sorry. Senior moment. No worries. But anyway, I was at a party, and I was talking to him about this song, and I said, I sure would like to get an R&B record on this. He says, well, I've got somebody you can do it with.

And now I'm having another senior moment. It was the king of R&B, the huge, huge, obese guy. That was Solomon Burke? Solomon Burke. Why I could not think of his name is beyond me. I'm guessing lucky today, Mac. Well, you are.

Well, I hope you've read it someplace. At any rate, he says, we've got a record we need to cut on him, and how would you like to produce it? Out of nowhere. And I've never produced a record in my life. I kind of helped produce my stuff, but I've never really sat down and produced one. And he said he's coming up just in a couple of weeks, life. I kind of helped produce my stuff, but I'd never really sat down and produced one. And, um,

he, he said, he's coming up just in a couple of weeks and that'd be a great idea. The company, we'd really get behind that. So, uh, I said, yeah, I got all the information and, uh, called, uh, they gave me the numbers and all this stuff. And I called, uh, Solomon Burke up and went over to his house and played the song for him and got in the studio with him and, uh, cut a great track. But Solomon just walked, I bet walked all over me. He was,

he was definitely too much for me to handle. Solomon. And he, he, uh, he took the song, which as you know, it's

sensitive. It takes kind of some sensitivity. He put that Solomon Burke preacher thing on it and was singing you know, a poor little baby child is born in the ghetto.

And I was like, can we maybe tone that down just a little bit? And he says, I am Solomon Burke. And he said, so I'll be honest with you, it didn't become a hit. But you know what? It's still one of my favorite experiences getting to work with him. And when I went to his house, this is a true story. I forget who it was. Somebody worked for him, answered the door. And I went in and he says, you can wait over here. This is where he takes visitors. And there was a

room off to the side that had church pews on either side of the room that had been taken, just big, long pews. No seats in the center or anything. It had a stage about two feet high in the back end of it and a throne with red velvet upholstery. And it was gold. Gold throne, seriously. And when he came out, he walked out and sat down on that throne

and says, let's talk. And I was like, oh man, I am totally outclassed here. This is for sure. That was the way he lived, I guess. But he was... I'm embarrassed that I couldn't think

of his name, but i am having trying to remember a lot of years you know that's a song that you had been nursing along for years the vicious circle and people our listeners can read about the history of that song and that it's also it that it was also inspired by it by a childhood friend yeah it's a sweet story i talked about smitty the blues whistler it was his son. Smitty Jr., everybody called him. I don't even remember his name. He just called him Junior or Smitty Jr. there on the job site or whatever. And at the end of the day, he had to go live in a ghetto, which we didn't call them ghettos back then. It had other terms for them, but it was a dirt street ghetto is what it was. There wasn't a square foot of yard out there that didn't have a broken Coke bottle or something

in it. And I could never figure out why I got to at least have a sidewalk and I could sit out on the front porch and watch the cars go by and watch the crowds at the Jones Stadium at Texas Tech that was right across

the street from my house. And he had to live a different way. I always felt like it was not fair. So at any rate, it's neither here nor there. I don't know. We lost touch. Beautiful song that still holds up all these years later. And sadly, it never ceases to be topical or timely.

Yeah, that's unfortunate. Yeah, that's unfortunate. I know there's spots on YouTube called First Hearings or something like that. I don't know what it is, but it's very interesting. And somebody directed me to it the other day, and it's people hearing songs for the first time. They were old classic stuff or whatever. for the first time. They were old classic stuff or whatever. And they were giving it to people of color who had their little blogs

and their own little shows and stuff. And I went and watched it, watched people hearing Elvis Presley sing in the ghetto. And this is recently. And literally some of them broke into tears. Wow. So it was a different time and what have you,

but it was very moving for me to see that. That's nice. I'm glad you saw that. It's a timeless piece of work. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast after this. What happens when 20 extremely athletic Canadians who thrive on competition

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That silence is two friends enjoying the new creamy parmesan and bacon Quarter Pounder at McDonald's. Because adding crispy bacon and creamy parmesan sauce to our 100% Canadian beef makes it impossible to have a conversation. Try the new creamy parmesan and bacon Quarter Pounder today and discover how words are so unnecessary. For a limited time only at participating McDonald's restaurants in Canada. Gilbert, I'm going to read something from our friend Steve Bender. You remember having Steve on the show? Oh, absolutely. We had Steve on here about two years ago, Mac.

And I wrote him and I said, hey, Mac Davis is coming on with us. And I know you directed Elvis' Comeback Special, but he also worked on the Mac Davis show. Yes, he did. One season. And he says, when it comes to Mac, I can only think back when we worked together at NBC, and those were some of the greatest memories of my career. I always thought that as successful as Mac was, and he was very successful, the public never realized just how talented he was. He could do it all. We used to watch him literally take, the audience

would throw three or four words at him on the spot and asked him to use all the words in a song, and literally in a minute or less, the man would come up with a complete song using all the words, genius. Well, I wouldn't call me a genius. It's just what I did. But yeah, that was fun. It was one of the toughest things I ever did but at the same time it was fun I always looked forward to it because we'd get some crazy song titles and uh you know somebody always jump up with something that was a real challenge I know the very first one I did they asked me did, my manager asked me, he was really responsible for putting it in my show.

And it's the first thing people ask about that are old enough to remember the show. And they say, did you really write those songs? And I say, yeah. And I do some of them. I remember a lot of them that I did. The very first one I did was a little girl,

13 years old, red-headed, freckle-faced, and she says, I want you to write a song called Pink Polka Dots on My Nose. And that was typical, too, of the songs, the titles I was getting.

I said, Pink Polka Dots on my nose, on my chin, a great big freckle. It would not make my daddy mad, but a hickey on my nickel. It took them a while to catch on, too, when I first did it. I love it. What about Cross-Eyed Cowgirl? Oh, that's my favorite, really. Probably all-time favorite. The gal that stood up, she was obviously, at that time, the women's lib movement was heavy duty. And I always had

several of these people in the audience. And you could spot them, you know. The combat boots and uh you know all kinds of uh uh uh wear like that camouflage wear whatever but she was out there and uh she stood up and militantly says uh i want you to write a song about burning your bra. And is this the song you were thinking about by any chance? At any rate, I said, oh, you wanted Cross-Eyed Cowgirl. Cross-Eyed Cowgirl, yeah. Yeah, that's different.

That's okay. Well, that one was a song called My Girlfriend Burned Her Bra Today. It really was a shame because she ain't exactly Dolly Parton. That sucker hardly made a flame. I love it. So the cross-eyed cowgirl thing was a little bitty lady, sweet looking gal stood up and she had, she was a character, obviously. She had on a red plastic cowboy hat.

You know, one of those cowboy hats they used to made that's supposed to look like a straw, but it wasn't really. And she had on big thick glasses. and she had on big thick glasses. She had on skin tight pants and white pants and a white cowboy shirt with red piping on it. I can remember like she's standing here and she stood up and says,

I want you to write a song called I'm in Love with a Cross-Eyed Cowgirl. And I won't describe her any further to you, but I don't think I have to. She fit the part so I I wrote I wrote

I'm in love with a cross-eyed cowgirl but I guess I'm gonna have to say goodbye cause I'm just an old cock-eyed cowboy and lately we ain't seeing eye to eye. I know the punchline ahead of time, Mac, and I still love it. Thank you. Should we ask Mac to write a song for us?

I think he'd be putting him on the spot. Can you come up with a spot on a song on the fly about Gilbert, Mac? Oh, Gilbert. Gilbert. What rhymes with Gilbert? I think orange. I think orange rhymes with Gilbert. The Nut Filbert rhymes with Gilbert. Oh, the Nut Filbert. No, I wrote one the other night. What did I write? Oh, we were having dinner. One of the people I work with, her niece was with us, and we were trying to explain about writing songs,

and I would tell her she couldn't figure out what I was talking about, really. And I said, well, somebody would give me a funny title, and I like to play with words, and I would put another meaning. I'd use them in a way that you wouldn't expect and put them kind of like a limerick. Sure. And at that time, the waitress walked up to us, and it was like a godsend. She says, y'all need to try our peanut butter pie for dessert. And I went, now there's something I could write a song about, peanut butter pie.

And by the time the waitress got back with our dessert, I had written, I call my girlfriend peanut. She's the apple of my eye. She's real good looking, but she ain't good cooking. Ain't nothing wrong with peanut butter pie. She's real good looking, but she ain't good cooking. Ain't nothing wrong with peanut butter pie. Another one you have to think about for a minute.

It's a great talent to have. Mac, before we jump off the Mac Davis show, do you have any memories, even if it's just one? I mean, you did a bicentennial medley with the great Dean Martin. Any memories of any of those people? Ray Charles was on there, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Red Fox. And one of my favorites, Henny Youngman. You worked with Henny Youngman, too, Buddy Hackett? Oh, yes. Henny opened for me.

He was one of my all-time favorites to work with. I loved, I loved, and Gottfried, this is why I like you. I loved, I loved, and Godfrey, this is why I like you. I love those old comedians from, what's that up there in New York? What's it called? Oh, the Borscht Belt? Yeah, the Borscht Belt. I loved that kind of humor. And Henry Youngman, he just was so corny and so hilarious with one line.

I loved him. he actually opened for me Henny opened for me who else opened for me great Sammy Shore opened for me lost him recently

I know God love him he used to uh open his show with playing the trumpet he would come out and play some kind of stuff on his trumpet and i'd go out and watch him uh before i went on and somebody had given me a uh a uh gift backstage. It was a whole bunch of picnic stuff, cheeses and sausages and all kinds of things like that. And it had some anchovy paste

in a tube, which I couldn't even imagine eating some of that stuff. Anchovy paste. And then I thought this will be fun. So I went out and got his trumpet backstage, and I took the mouthpiece off of it because he would always hold that mouthpiece up just before he went on.

He would beat his mouthpiece out and he'd go spit through it, you know, kind of loosen his lips up. So I just filled that mouthpiece full of anchovy paste and then put it back in. It's an awful thing to do, but, you know, you get bored when you're out on the road doing stuff. You do things like that. God love me. How about Buddy Hackett? Wasn't he somebody that you worked with?

Yeah, he was one of the first people I worked Vegas with. I opened for Buddy Hackett. Wasn't he somebody that you worked with? Yeah, he was one of the first people I worked Vegas with. I opened for Buddy Hackett. Buddy was the funniest, probably the funniest guy I ever saw in my life. I mean, he would start off the evening being funny, and he ended up being funny. And I would watch him from the sides. Every night I'd stand out there, and I'd finish my little 40. Back then I was only doing like 30 minutes or something, 35 minutes. And I've got a story about that too.

But anyway, I would watch his show and I learned so much about comedy and timing and working on the fly when something would happen. You had to, you know, come up with something, make people laugh. Well, I learned a lot of that from him. My first show with him, this is true. I went out on stage and it was cold. It was like 50 degrees out there. You could see your breath almost.

And people that knew him showed up with fur coats on sitting in the audience. And of course this is a long time ago when people dressed up to go to Las Vegas. But at any rate, I walked out on stage and did my opening number and then when I started to talk to the audience I said man, you can hang meat in here.

It's cold. And you know, I got a few little laughs and everything. And went on and did the show. Between shows, a guy from the casino comes in. And it's one of these guys with three necks, you know what I mean? Like a stack

of pancakes. And big, neat, big catcher's mitts for hands. He says, I need to talk to you about something. As you know, Buddy is a little bit on the obese side. He tends to perspire profusely. He says, so let's don't make any funny remarks about the temperature on stage

because he keeps it cold like that so that he doesn't perspire. You get what I mean? I said, oh, yeah. He says, and another thing, you're doing 27 minutes. You did 30. You're contracted to do 27. That's about $20,000 a minute in the casino. So do your 27 minutes.

There's a clock right there in the floor you get it capisce whatever i said yes yes sir this is your good boy so later i went into buddies i went into hackett's dressing room between shows uh he asked me to come over and i went in and sat and i didn't mention it in the thing. He didn't mention it. He actually pulled a, what do you call the little baby pistols that they used to use? Oh, yeah. He carried a piece, sure. 22?

No, it was a 38, but it was tiny. A Derringer. A Derringer. Yeah. And he pulled that thing out, and he says, I'll show you something. He had a holster on his calf and he wore these big old calf tans you remember that he was to relax he wore calf tans and he pulled his skirt up there and he took that derringer out and he says watch this and it

was an alf landon for president button on the wall of his dressing room. He shot that thing, bam, like that. And my ears are still ringing. Literally, my ears are still ringing. I can still smell that gunpowder smoke. He says, you know, he says, when I was your age, I would have hit that thing right dead center. And I said, well, cool. I didn't know what to think.

And later on, I just didn't say anything at all. So later on, I did my show. I watched that floor and I saw 27 minutes come up. I was out of there. So I went back. I go back. I get in the wings to watch him do his show.

And this is God's truth. Ladies and gentlemen, Buddy Hackett. Buddy comes walking out as the applause dies down a little. He says, you know something? You can hang meat in here. Wow. I swear to God. Wow. I am not lying to you. You know

something? You can hang meat in here. And everybody laughed. It was a big laugh for them. I think one of the thrills of my life is hearing Mac Davis do a pretty goddamn good buddy hack it, Gilbert. I was very... That totally surprised me. It was pretty good. I hung around with him a little bit. bit there was a group of group of guys that that i knew that uh you know they were uh

you know rowan and martin uh dickie martin was a good friend of mine played a lot of golf with him in the day funny man oh yeah now now now that you're talking about rowan and martin their show of course was the number one comedy show, Rowan and Martin's Laughing. Right. Absolutely. Now, Elvis, you said, was a fan of their show. Yes, he was. And I know the first time I ever went over to Elvis's house to play music for him. In fact, it was the night I played Don't Cry Daddy for him. Well, I don't know how we got into it. I'm having to build up for him. In fact, it was the night I played Don't Cry Daddy for him. Well, I don't know how we got into it.

I'm having to build up to it. But he was never alone. You were never alone with Elvis. It was just that kind of thing. But the closest I ever got to really being alone with him, well, one of the closest was the first time I went to his house and saw him on his ground, relaxed. And we got to talking, and I played a couple of songs

and this and that. He says, you know what I want to do? You know what I want to do? What my dream is right now? And I said, what? And he said, I want to be on Laugh-In. And I'm like, what? Really? And he says, yeah, I would love to go and laugh in. And here's what I want to do. He said, I want to be, I want to put on a yellow raincoat that's slick and get on, get on a tricycle and ride that tricycle around in a circle.

And you know how they speed it up? Like they used to do the old Benny Hill show, you know, speed up the camp. He said, I want to speed it up like that. And I have the hood up over it. so you won't see who it is. And I'll go around in a circle or figure eight or something,

come right up to the camera and throw my head up, throw that hood back and go, soccer to me, baby. With his lip all curled up. And it was like, it was so cute. I laughed. I said, man, why don't you do it? You should do it. They would love that. He said, oh said, man, why don't you do it? You should do it. They would love that.

He said, oh, man, the colonel won't let me. And I said, what do you mean the colonel won't let you? He just won't let me. He says it's beneath me. And I'm thinking to myself, man, you've done 50 movies, the movies you do, and you think this is beneath you to go and laugh at? It's the number one show.

Clapbait wasn't beneath him. I said it would, yeah, I said it would be on the front page of every paper. You know, like when Richard Nixon did it, remember that famous horrible delivery that he gave? Shock it to me. Oh my God.

But Elvis, he did it, you know know with his lips all curled up so I could turn my baby that would have been so big but anyway I remember feeling really sorry for him that that was when I first saw that side of him where I went you know this guy he could be so much more than he is as big as as he is. He could have been, you know, he never traveled overseas. He never performed anyplace. As far as he went away was Hawaii, and that was the United States. Yeah. And I'm told it was because Colonel Parker was wanted for something over there,

something unsavory. Oh, wow, I didn't know that. Yeah, And they were Interpol was after him. How about that? And wasn't Colonel Parker just like a total put-on? Like he wasn't some southern good old boy.

And even the nickname the Colonel was all made up, I heard. Well, he was a carny. He was a carny. And he was one of the all-time carnies. He told me, in fact, I remember the night that he brought me that painting,

he got to talking back there, and he was holding court, and everybody was just hanging on his every word. But he used to travel with these traveling Calican things, and they would sell snake oil and stuff.

That's how he got started. He would he carried chickens around. this is in the old days. He managed Eddie Arnold.

Was it Eddie Arnold? Yeah. Eddie Arnold. Was it Eddie Arnold? Yeah. Eddie Arnold. Wow. That was before. That was pre-Elvis. In fact, he dumped Eddie to take Elvis on at some point. But at any rate, they carried chickens around with them.

If Eddie got sick, Eddie would catch a lot of times. They worked so much doing these shows back in the South. He'd get sick and sore throat or whatever. They would put out Colonel Parker's dancing chickens. They had a hot plate that they'd put in a cage with the chickens, and they'd cover it with straw and stuff, and these chickens would get in there, and they'd have that hot plate on,

and they wouldn't be able to keep their feet down. And they would dance around, and they'd play turkey and the straw. Stuff like that. Unbelievable. He was a con artist. Animal abuse. He was a con artist from the get-go. He'd say, Colonel Parker can't have Eddie Arnold's ill tonight,

but we've got Colonel Parker's dancing chickens in his place. Come in here for half price and see the chickens dance. Dancing chickens, Gil. Yeah, Colonel Parker's dancing chickens. And whether the story's true or not, I don't know, but I certainly heard it from more than one person. I love trying to wrap my mind around the idea that Elvis envied Artie Johnson, Gilbert,

that he wanted to put on the rain slicker and ride around on the trike. He did. It's just something that... That would have been huge. But you know what? It would have been huge. That's the point.

It would have been, yeah. Elvis was smart in that way. It would have been huge. That's the point. It would have been. Elvis was smart in that way. It would have been nobody. Everybody would have thought, my God, he's human. This is great. He's funny. You know, yeah, would have been right. And I think I think Elvis was offered the part of Joe Buck in Midnight Cowboy. I've never heard that. And the colonel turned it down. That's interesting.

Well, it probably wasn't exactly it. Yeah, well, he was never going to let him play a hustler. Yeah, especially, you know, that kind of hustler. It was not a good idea for his fan base. Right, right, right. I don't think. On the subject of legends you worked with, Mac, you've got to tell us a little bit

a little memory of Jackie Gleason and doing the sting too with Jackie. Jackie was a character. He was a brilliant career that guy had. We're big fans here.

He wasn't going to let me get an edge on it. I know he loved to, you know, it was later on in his career and his life, and he was putting the booze away pretty good in those days. And he'd go to lunch. We'd have to do all his close-ups and everything in the morning because he went to lunch with the, oh, gosh. With Toots. in the morning because he went to lunch with the, oh gosh, I can't remember.

Well, in L.A., he went to lunch with the guy that wrote for the Hollywood reporter. Oh, Jim Bacon. Yes, Jim Bacon. Big buddies of his. And they'd have a few snorts before they came back. So they'd do Jackie's close-ups before. And when they'd do jackie's close-ups before and when they do mine in the afternoon a lot of times i would have to do them with his stand-in who would fall asleep he'd been standing

in for him for 20 something years and he would fall asleep and the director would give the lines and i'm sitting there doing a close-ups to this feller big heavy duty heavy set guy but when i did get to do it with Jack, he would look me right in the eye and wait. He was watching the camera and he knew the camera's coming over his shoulder on my close up and he's watching everybody.

So just before it would come time to say action, he'd say, you had mayonnaise with your burger at lunch didn't you and I of course I'd go straight to my mouth oh man

and then he'd say action and I'd go oh I wouldn't remember what I was supposed to say he'd say I don't know if I can use this language on a podcast but sure you can. Yes.

He'd look at me and he said, just before they'd go out, he said, I don't know why they're even doing close-up on you. They're not going to use any of your shit anyway, cowboy. Hey, they're not going to use any of your shit anyway, cowboy. But he was, and he was, I was, you know, I of your shit anyway, Calvin. But he was, and he was, I was, you know, I was in awe of the guy. I mean, he was. Of course, the great one.

Amazing, the great one. In fact, I had a, they had given me a white limousine to ride in for my daily ride in and out. This was a first class movie, the way they did it. And they had some big stars in it i was way in over my head with carl malden and jackie gleason terry gar i mean legitimate actors you know and uh i had gotten extremely lucky on my first movie north dallas 40 and got oh you're very good in that film very good well thank you but the point i'm making is i i got i started getting offered really good money to to to act and in this particular movie that was part of the deal they gave me a great salary and white limousine to ride in within less than a week they were asking me if I wouldn't let Jackie have that white limousine.

I said, he wanted the white one. He wanted the big white stretch. And I was thrilled with that because, honestly, I always felt funny in a big white stretch or any kind of stretch limousine. So I was happy with my little regular black Cadillac limousine. But that was him. He was just such a star. He could have whatever he wanted. And he was great to work with. Yeah. And can you tell us what it was like working with George Burns? George Burns was great. I'm trying to think of some of the things he pulled on me.

Well, no, I can't say that. He was a dirty old man, George. You know that? Not much I can use his, but I was totally impressed. You can. his, but I was totally impressed. Oh, you can. No, no.

George Goble. I worked with all the Georges. George Goble. Georgie. Loads of George. Oh, yes. Loads of George and spooky old Alice. Yeah, George actually opened for me.

He opened for me in Las Vegas. I had several of those guys that I couldn't believe I actually had an opening act that was one of my heroes when I was a young guy. I love that. Yeah. George, I don't know, he did my TV show, too. I'm trying to think. I should know some George Gold stories.

How about your pal James Garner? Well, James and I were golf buddies, really. We never worked together except he had me come over and keep him company one day on TV. That last series that he did after John Ritter died. Right, Eight Simple Rules. Yeah. And I came over and did a little bit part, just a, what do you call it when you do a cameo? A cameo. Sang a little song in there and did a little bit part, just a, what do you call it when you do a cameo? A cameo.

Sang a little song in there and did a thing. He just wanted somebody to hang around with. But that's the only time I really worked with him. But we became very close. My wife and I and his family were very close. And he was just one of my favorite people. He was a gentle soul, a good soul. Yeah.

Not on a golf course. He beat through clubs. Beat through clubs. Oh, yeah. He was a loved guy, though. Everybody loved him. And Gilbert, everybody loved the guy. I can't think of a more effortless

and, in a way, a more underrated actor than James Garner. Absolutely. Oh, yeah. And he could do drama, and he could do comedy, and he was light on his feet, and he was funny. Great comic timing. He was so not full of himself. Give you an example. He had, I think, eight Emmys and uh he's in for hat racks

there you go when in his closet he had all his cowboy hats were just sitting up there hanging and you look around him oh my god is that thing sitting Emmy. So, yeah, that's the kind of guy he was. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast. But first, a word from our sponsor. I just got a question here from a fan, Mac, from Ray Garten. Can Mac talk just a little bit about North Dallas 40, his first experience in a major film? North Dallas 40, his first experience in a major film. Was that character, by the way, Seth, a little bit based on Dandy Don Meredith? Oh, it was totally based on Don Meredith. Absolutely.

In fact, after I did the movie, it had just come out, and I was doing the John Denver Ski Tournament, and I had never met Don. And I went up in the very first, you know, he wasn't made to look like a good guy in that movie. He was likable, but in the movie. Right, right, right. The book was written by an ex-teammate. Absolutely. And not all of it was true because Don Meredith was an absolute good guy. I ended up later playing a lot of golf with him.

But this one day, the movie had just come out. I take the lift up to the deal, and my first race is Don Meredith. It was the John Demerski charity thing on TV. And the guy that was skiing over there with me says, Mac, have you met Don Meredith? And he didn't even know about the movie. Don Meredith looked at me. I said, hi, Don.

How are you, man? Mac Davis. He said, I saw that movie. And what do you say? You know, I didn't say, you don't say oh great thank you you know i i said something like all right cool you know and he didn't say whether he liked it or not nothing and i just well yeah cool and i think oh my god so here's the long stage weight, stage weight, stage weight. And then he said, you were good. And that was it. That all, everything.

I said, thank you, man. Whoa, wow, thank you. And it was never brought up again after that. I met him later. He joined Bel Air Country Club. I don't know if it was later or if I was already a member, but at any rate, James and I started playing golf with him. When he was in town, when he wasn't on the road doing football, he was in L.A.

We played golf together a lot. He was a super guy, very funny. That's a good movie. You got good notices for that movie. I was watching Siskel and Ebert gave you good notices for that movie. Janet Maslin in the New York Times gave you a rave. You were named one of the best promising young actors of 1979. Yeah. It's a miracle the way

things have happened with me. I've just run into things that just worked. You know, just like I met Elvis when he needed somebody like that, you know, and I got in on that. Well, this is the same way with the movie thing. I had just read the book, North Dallas 40, and thought it was one of the best sports books I ever read, and maybe the best sports book I'd ever read.

It had so much humor in it. It had a lot of funny stuff in it as well as a real story to tell. And my manager asked me if I'd heard of the book. And I said, oh, yeah. asked me if I'd heard of the book and I says oh yeah and he says well how'd you like to play the part of Seth Maxwell in the movie who was the quarterback and I'm like oh my god are you kidding me I would die to do

that and so it just came out of the blue first movie I'd never acted before I'd played some football I could throw a pretty good spiral from 10 to 20 yards. It's kind of like riding a horse. I'm not really good, but I seat a horse well.

Anyway, I could wear those pads. They found some that were pretty small football pads for me. In fact, they were Pat Hayden's pads. Oh, Pat Hayden, the old Rams quarterback. Yeah, they were his collegiate pads. But at any rate, that's neither here nor there. It was something where I didn't have to clean up my accent. I had so many times I'd audition for something

or read for a commercial or whatever, and they'd say, well, can you do it a little less regional? That's a nice way of taking the hillbilly shit out of it. And I loved this character so much and I felt like I could be him because I was from West Texas, you know, grew up in Texas. And Don was that kind of guy. He was musical himself. He used to sing in the huddle.

And it just was a part that I felt good about. I tell you that part of the miracle was that after doing the first screen test that I even got asked back, they flew me down. First, I had a meeting with Ted Kochiff, who directed it. Sure, he's still with us. He's a Canadian guy. Isn't that amazing? A lot of people we're talking about are gone.

He's 90 years old, Ted Kochiff. Yeah. Well, I'm pushing 80 right now myself. So at any rate, I go in there and he let me, I wrote some of my own ad libs in the thing because I said, you know, if I was Don Meredith, this is probably what I would have said. And I threw those in and he got a kick out of that. He thought it was funny. And he says, I like that. I like actors doing that and coming up with ideas.

But don't expect me to accept them all. He says, I'm still a boss when I'm, well, I still didn't even have the part. And I just said, well, I know. I just thought it would be. I walked by that. When I went in that first meeting, Michael Parks was sitting there waiting to go in. went in that first meeting, Michael Parks was sitting there waiting to go in. And Michael Parks at the time was

kind of a TV star and had done, he had a series called Something Bronson. Then came Bronson. And then came Bronson. He was sitting in there, and I went past him, and I thought, oh my God, I'm never going to get this part, because he was an actor.

And anyway, they called me back for us for a this is the funny part here call me back for a screen test paramount wanted a screen test so i was working at in lake tahoe at harris club at the time and uh i charted a little plane and went came to la during the day. Went over to Paramount Studios and they sent me into makeup. And I go into makeup. In my little stupid head,

I thought that I would be the only guy doing a screen test that day. So I just didn't know better. I go in, I get made up, go walking out, walk right out in the middle of the set. We were doing the scene, we're going to do the scene where he pulls a jockstrap over my head and makes a bad joke about, you know,

Joe Bob loves you, which was really funny. Right. Yeah, I'm still laying there with a jockstrap over my head and uh joe bob was one of the characters in the movie at any rate the idea was we were supposed to wrestle and everything and i walk in there and nick is sitting on a on the gurney that we used for the screen test with another guy sort sort of a hippie looking guy, tall guy, got a mustache. I figured he was one of the grips or something.

I walk in, I go, ready for my close-up, CB? And I hear Kochiff go, cut! And I turned around, I said, cut? He says, we're doing Sam Elliott's screen test right now and i looked up and the guy with the mustache was sam elliott and he was doing this auditioning for the same part i was oh and they were sitting there on the gurney i just thought there's somebody that worked there and him and they were waiting on me to get out there to do my screen test so with that i still ended up getting the part which had also when we got down to the end of the scene the script

called for me to wrestle around we were going to wrestle with each other over this jock strap he pulled over my head well i turned around and grabbed him at that point in the script and shoved him so hard he went into a cleat light that was sitting there and it fell over and everybody went running. Nobody bothered to protect me, but everybody grabbed Nick and pulled him out of the way. And that thing fell.

I mean, I literally tore up the set. It was overacting. Anyway, I still ended up with the part. That's the point I'm trying to make. You and Nolte are good. I can't imagine a better tandem. You guys had a natural

chemistry. It's a tough movie in some ways. He was a generous actor. And I didn't know what a generous actor was until we did this. I'd heard the term used before. And what it was was, let me do my thing, whatever.

He would react to it. Nick is like a lot of movie stars. They have big heads. Do you ever notice Clark Gable had a huge head fill up the screen? Spencer Tracy, all head.

Nick Nolte, big head. And he could react. I'd be sitting there telling some funny story or whatever, and all he would do would be raise his eyebrows a little bit. He could almost wiggle his ears, and his scalp would go. And it showed on screen. It just was hilarious i mean he was the best part of of my acting was his reacting seriously and uh i've always looked

up then for that and always uh giving him credit for anything that i did right isn't isn't isn't show business an amazing it's it's been an amazing journey mac i'm watching you in the sting too you're on you're riding that roller coaster with carl malden. I'm watching you in The Sting, too. You're riding that roller coaster with Carl Malden. And I'm watching you, and I'm thinking to myself, this guy's a songwriter. He's a kid from Texas who wanted to whistle, whose dream was to hear somebody walking down the street whistling one of his songs.

Yeah, this is true. Now he's in a movie, a giant screen, a big release with Jackie Gleason and Carl Malden. Both Academy Award winners. Right, that's right. Academy Award winners. You've got to love the absurdity, in a way, of the journey, how far your dream took you. True, it's absolutely true. Country boy at home.

Well, true. It's absolutely true. Country boy. I'm trying to think of who was it that said, oh, man, I don't know why they put me in this commercial. What was that guy's name, Budweiser Commercial? The guy was a, he was just not a very well-known actor, a baseball player. Oh, Bob Euchre, you mean? No, not Euchre, but another guy that was even less known than him.

But he'd say, I don't know why they asked me to do this commercial. Well, that's kind of like the way I felt about the movies. Here I am working with all these big, huge stars and people that i've worked with in television god you know bob hope i did his his specials several specials did dean you know dean martin show dean did my show i mean i've got i've got all these i've got all my tapes because i actually end up owning my television show and we've got all the stuff and i've got i'm dancing with aretha franklin i'm dancing with tina turner yeah i'm doing singing with tom jones singing with tom jones dino parton donna summers all these people liza benelli and you sang benelli i actually opened for her when i was just getting

started i opened for her at the greek theater and uh i think i opened for her at the Greek Theater. And I think I opened for her in Tahoe, too, the first time I played in Lake Tahoe. So I ended up, of course, headlining there later for a lot of years. But, yeah, a lot of things fell in my lap. Yeah, well, come over to the house sometime. I'll have to come to the house. You work with Nancy. My daddy used to say, we'll tap keg of nails and cut a cantaloupe.

Gilbert, when the COVID is over, we can go see Mac, and he's in Tennessee. Oh, yeah. We'll come out to the house, Mac. Yeah, come out to the house, Mac. Yeah, come out to the house. There's clips of the Mac Davis show on YouTube, but few and far between. And I'd love to see them. Those great appearances on the Carson Show and stuff like that, that was all on what they call... Yeah, you did a million of those, too.

But it was kinescope, you know, and that stuff didn't last. So there's very little record of any of my Johnny Carson shows. And I give him credit for my career. I mean, Johnny, when I started doing the Carson show, it's amazing what happened with crowds and offers and this and that you know i just yeah that was at the right place the right time more than i deserved and doc gave you an idea for a song yes he did absolutely i was over there one day and yeah and uh i was doing sound check before the show, and Doc walked up to me and says, Mac, I got a great song title. And I said, well, what is it?

And Doc was a funny guy. He'd look over his shoulder. He was like a little bird sometimes talking to him. He said, only if we write it together. And I said, well, we'll write it together. I can do that. Let's write it together. He said, what is it? He said, okay, but we've we'll write it together. I can do that. Let's write it together. I said, what is it?

He said, okay, but we got to write this together. I said, you got it. You got it, Doc. He says, you got to stop and smell the roses. And when he did that, his eyebrows went up and I heard the drums go, bam. You got to stop and smell the roses. I had this song, the whole chorus written before I left that night, did the show, went back to my little cubbyhole. I had a little cubbyhole at Screen Gems Music over there where I had gotten away from Nancy Sinatra.

We had broken up, and she was suing me. And thank God for Screen Gems, Columbia Music. They settled it out of court and signed me. And at any rate, I went in that thing, and I wrote that song the next day. And I called Doc up, and I said, Doc, I think we wrote a hit. And he says, well, let me hear it. And I sang it to him over the phone. And he says, I think we wrote a hit. And he says, well, let me hear it. And I sang it to him over the phone. And he says, I think we did write a hit.

We did, didn't we? I said, yeah, we did. And he'll admit to that to this day. I'm not talking out of school. That's the truth. That's great. I would have sat here. Somebody would have come up with that title and had a hit with it,

and I would have been just biting my lip over it if he hadn't given me that title. That's one of my favorites. Yeah, and it's right there. There was an old saying about it that an old golfer used to say all the time. They'd accuse him of playing too slow, and he'd say, well, you've got to take

time to stop and smell the roses. We've got a lot of listeners on this show, Mac, and I'm going to recommend a lot of the Mac Davis deep cuts that I like, like Rock and Rogue, I Gave You the Best Years of My Life, and Hooked on Music, and Your Side of the Bed, and the hits just keep on coming. I urge our listeners to dive deep into the Mac Davis catalog, because there's so many wonderful, different kinds of songs they are all different aren't they with crossover appeal yeah with crossover appeal some of them i've done you know i've i was always

a little too country for pop radio and a little too pop for country radio but i i had hits in it in all kinds of genres over the years just lucky to be in the right place at the right time. It's just like watching Scotty grow. You know, that song, I was keeping him for a couple of days during the week because his mother was sick, and this was right after we split up. And I've got him in my little office that I had there with Nancy Sinatra in the 9000 building on Sunset Strip. And he was just five years old old and he's getting in my hair and I'm trying to concentrate. I finally, I gave him a legal pad, a brand new legal pad,

which I used to write all my songs and still do. And I said, draw daddy a picture. I gave him a felt tip pen and a few minutes go by and he hands me this picture and it's a rocket ship. And on the side of it was P-R-L-F-Q. And I said, hey, that's a cool rocket ship, Scotty. What does that spell? And he said, mom and dad. And this is right while we're going through a divorce. And I go, wow, P-R-L-F-Q spells mom and dad.

And I had that song written in 45 minutes, the quickest I ever wrote a song. It just poured out. There he sits with a pen and a yellow pad. He's a handsome lad. That's my boy. P-R-L-F-Q spells mom and dad. Well, that ain't too bad. That's my boy. P-R-L-F-Q spells mom and dad. Well, that ain't too bad. That's my boy.

At any rate, I happen to be a friend of mine, was big friends with Bobby Goldsboro. Bobby happened to be in town at the time, recording. He had the number one record in the world, almost. Honey. Oh, Honey. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

See the tree, how big it's grown friends that been so long sure it wasn't big you know and anyway i called my producer because i had just signed a contract with columbia records and uh i said i got to sing you this and i sang it over the phone to him i used to put the phone up to my ear, hold it with my shoulder, play the guitar and sing at the same time. And Jerry Fuller was the producer of it, who wrote Young Girl and produced all their hits. But at any rate, I get through with it. And he said, that's really a good song, Mac, but that's not the direction I want to go with you. He said, that sounds like a Bobby Goldsboro song or something like that. And I thought, okay.

You asked for it. So I gave it and went over to see Bobby Goldsboro at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. And went up to his room and played it for him. And it came out just in a couple of months, a few months.

He kept wanting to change it to Danny, watching Danny grow, because he had a son named Danny. But I stuck to my guns. And I knew he had the number one record, but that was one I had to hold on to. And sure enough, they put it out. And it didn't go to number one, but it went to number two with a bullet and then lost its bullet the next week or something else. I think a Beatles song beat us out or something.

Okay. It didn't matter. But like I said, right place at the right time. Just lucky. I'm just the luckiest guy that, you know, who would have known that Lisa, my wife, now of 36 years going on, and we've been together 40, who would have thought that she would be there that night, you know, that I would be there the one night that she decided to come to

the Playboy Mansion, and that Shel Silverstein would be there, too. I end up with a wife of a life, you know, a lifelong wife, and a hit song boat. said you know i i think you're i think you're too humble the author of the song the composer of the song it's hard to be humble is a little too humble yeah ironically there's a funny story on that i mean that was right after i had come up with the title while we were doing they had said something about how Don always sang in the huddle. And did I have anything that would fit in the huddle scene when we were right after we catch that touchdown pass? Because Don would sing in the huddle. So I thought, oh, think of something.

And I came up with the title. It's hard to be humble. I thought, well, I'll write something for that. Well, they decided not to use it, not to use a song in the movie. There was too much going on to break the spell. So as soon as we wrapped, I had to open the next night at Harris in Lake Tahoe. And I go there, and I'm still on movie time. So I get up the next morning, 5 a.m., and I'm just wide awake

because we'd been doing night shoots and getting there, you know, all kinds of stuff. And just bad timing, you know, bad hours, tough hours doing movies. So at any rate, I walk around. I'm in the Star suite in that hotel. And I say that on the record. I actually put that part in there, the little talking part. But it's true.

I was walking around this great big huge room. I used to tell people it looked like it was decorated by Shelley Winters and Sammy Davis Jr. on a bad night. Anyway, it was huge, just big, beautiful by some terms, but everywhere was smoked mirrors and gold lame and all that kind of stuff, gilded gold furniture and all. And I had no clothes on. I remember this so well. I'm walking around in there and I caught myself

in the mirror standing there in the middle of this big old room and I just said, hard to be humble, ain't it boy? Hard to be humble. Well, that's what I'll do. There wasn't nobody I could call or talk to so I just sat down and wrote a song.

I wrote It's Hard to Be Humble. I had the first verse and chorus written, and that night on stage, I did it live. The band hadn't even heard it, and it's such an easy little song. They just kind of joined in with it, and literally, I saw people poking each other in the ribs like women poking their husbands

and pointing at their husband, and I was singing it and the guys were banging their beer bottles on the table and they were singing along with it before i had even finished writing it and i knew that it hit a nerve it did it is it i started singing it at concerts and i wish people could have we ended up uh we tried to cut it. You know, I was playing for state fairs where we'd have 30,000, 50,000 people at some of these places, huge audiences. And I'd have all 35,000 people singing along. It's hard to be humble. And it was something to hear.

It really was. I'd make all these state troopers sing along. They'd be down standing in front of the stage to protect you. I'd ask the audience, I'd go where I'm standing behind, and I'd say, is he singing? And they'd go, no. And I'd say, you better sing, boy. They'll be out here all day. And then I'd end up holding the mic down, and the state troopers would be singing that song. It was just one of those kind of songs that everybody's on. It's got a sing-along feel and it's something everybody can relate to. Everybody knows an egomaniac. And I'll tell you something even funnier. Way, way later, after the song was a hit, I realized that I'd stolen the song. I was out on

a hike and there's nothing that can be done about it because it's public domain. I was playing golf and I was whistling. It's hard to be humble. And I go So it was the Mexican hat dance. So we probably should stop on that right there because that's exactly what... Oh, that's hilarious. Mac, you've got to write a book. That you mentioned it, I'm in the process of doing it right now. Oh, good. You've got to write a memoir.

Well, there's a lot of funny stuff in my life and a lot of heavy-duty stuff. I really have. I've lived a charmed life, and I'm thankful for what I've got. Well, we thank you for sharing some of that with us today and our listeners, and we have to thank Lisa for getting you all set up on the tech, and we have to thank Kyle, Kyle Whitney, for making this possible. Don't know what I'd do without him because I have technical stuff, computers, because I have technical stuff, computers, you know, this kind of stuff. I just, you know, don't know nothing.

But Brother Dave Gardner, he's a comedian, used to say, get away from that wheelbarrow. Boy, you don't know nothing about machinery. Well, that's my life. You and Gilbert have that in common. Yeah, there you go. I don't know nothing about what I'm doing. I just do it. I've been lucky enough to find a way to make a living with it and support my family

and get on shows like this, which are a lot of fun. Well, we thank you. This was a good ride. Gil, do you have anything else for this man? What is it that makes some people songwriters? What kind of a talent is that? How is your brain? I cannot explain that.

I've been asked that question a million times, but I actually wrote a song, which is not out yet, because I've tried to answer the question so many times. Yeah. And I won't sing the song with you because my guitar is not picking up on the mic or anything, but oops, I just, Oh, I touched the keyboard. See, I don't know anything about this stuff. It's okay. Just don't turn that phone off. I've been asked the question so many times that one day I just said, well, you know what? I'm going to write a song about it. I'm going to answer that question. And I've slaved

over the thing for the longest time. I recorded it myself and I'm probably going to put it out here soon. I'm not happy with it right yet, but the chorus is the title is

about somebody's asking you what, you know, where songs come from, which is just what you just asked me. Well, here's the answer that this voice comes to me in the night and tells me this, because I went to bed thinking about that question. And I woke up and wrote, they come from poets and balladeers. And I woke up and wrote, they come from poets and balladeers. Age-old stories passed down through the years.

From a little baby's laughter, from a lover's tears. From good old boys and girls after one too many beers. And sometimes God just whispers in your ear. And that's where songs come from. Wow. That's beautiful. That is a great answer. Fantastic.

Thank you. Mac, this was a thrill for us. We had a blast. Well, it was fun for me, too. It really was. I hope you do great, because I listened, of course, knowing that I was going to come in and do this. I listened to some of the, what do you call it, the blogs?

The podcast. The podcast. I always say that's right. I get blogs and podcasts mixed up. We had your friend Jimmy Webb on here and your pal Paul Williams and some of those other people. And Bender was here. Yeah, Jim called me the other day. And it was so good to hear from him.

Yeah, he was thinking that maybe me and him ought to go on the road sometime together and do our thing, just him on a keyboard and me on a guitar. I can still believe it or not. You'd never know it by this interview, but I still can carry a tune pretty good when I get out of this.

No, you sounded great. Yeah, I get out from a hibernation here. Gilbert, how great would it be to go on to go see Jimmy Webb and Mac Davis live together? Oh, my God. Well, you know, we're telling the history of show business with this show, Mac, as I explained to Kyle, and you're a big part of it. It's almost impossible to get our arms around your career, even in 90 minutes. Well, thank you. You've entertained the hell out of us for decades. We do appreciate it. I think I'm going to title my book, The Truth, The Whole Truth, Nothing But The Truth, and Other Lies by Mac Davis.

That'll work. And by the way, Max Burnett sends his best. Oh my gosh. Your director on possums. That'll work. And by the way, Max Burnett sends his best. Oh, my gosh. Your director on Possums. Oh, bless his heart. How's he doing? Was he on the show? You know, he's a dear old friend of mine from sitcom days.

Possums was a cute little movie. It was what it was. It was kind of fun. Yeah, it's a sweet film. They made it fun. Yeah. Well, Gil, we have to say goodbye to this lovely man. We could spend hours with him.

Okay, so this has been Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast with my co-host Frank Santopadre. And we've been talking to one of the luckiest and most talented people in show business, Mac Davis. You know, Mac, you got off the hook because we've had on this show, Tommy James, Paul Williams, Richard Marks, Kenny Loggins, and a bunch of other people and Gilbert sang with all of them but because now we're doing it over Zoom and we don't have the connections

and we can't sync everything up you're off the hook so you have to come back so Gilbert can sing either Stop and Smell the Roses or Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me I want to hear him sing It's Hard to Be Humble because that's right up there. Okay, we'll do that one. It's all tongue in cheek.

We'll do that one next time. You dodged a bullet this time. Thank you, Mac. Thank you. A big kick. Thank you. Thank you. A kick. Thank you. Bye-bye. Hey, Mr.

Who, you're going in such a hurry. Don't you think it's time you realized there's a whole lot more to life than work and worry. All the sweetest

things in life are free and they're right before your eyes. But you've got to stop Thank you. You're gonna find your way to heaven. There's a rough and rocky road. If you don't stop and smell the roses along the way. Before you went to work this morning in the city. Did you spend some time with your family? Did you kiss your wife and tell her that she's pretty did you take your children to your breast

love them tenderly you've got to stop and smell the roses you've got to count your many blessings every day you're gonna find your way to heaven You've got to count your many blessings every day. You're going to find your way to heaven.

There's a rock that rocky wood. You don't stop smelling roses along the way. Did you ever take a walk through the forest? Stop and dream a while among the trees Well, you can look up through the leaves Right straight to heaven And you can almost hear the voice of God In each and every breeze But you've got to stop And smell the roses

You've got to count your Many blessings every day You're gonna find your way To heaven There's a rough and rocky road If you don't stop and smell the roses Along the way But you've got to stop and smell the roses along the way.

You got to stop and smell the roses. You got to count your necks and bear each other down. You're going to find your way to heaven. Here's a rock and a bloody wall. You don'll stop That's where the roses are on the way Said you got to stop That's where the roses are on the way