Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - Mini #147: In Memoriam 2017: Music

Episode Date: January 18, 2018

This week: The White Knight of Soul! "The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour"! The Wrecking Crew meets The Partridge Family! Gilbert sings "Centerfold"! And Frank's mom dances with Louis Prima! Learn more ab...out your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:01:23 19 and over and physically present in Ontario. Eligibility restrictions apply. See casino.draftkings.com for details. Please play responsibly. I'm walking, yes indeed I'm talking About you and me, I'm hoping That you come back to me
Starting point is 00:01:42 I'm lonely as I can be I'm waiting that you come back to me. I'm lonely as I can be. I'm waiting for your company. I'm hoping that you come back to me. What you gonna do when the whale runs dry? You gonna run away and hide. I'm gonna run right by your side. When you're pretty, baby, I'll even die. I'm walking, yes, indeed, I'm talking.
Starting point is 00:02:04 But you and me, I'm hoping that you come back to me. Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and this is Gilbert and Frank's amazing, colossal obsessions. We're once again recording at Nutmeg with our engineer, Frank Verderosa. And we once again have someone who I don't know what the fuck he ever did for this show. And his name is? Who would you be talking about? I love that you have so much contempt for him, you don't even add his name.
Starting point is 00:02:40 Paul Rayburn. Could be Fritz Feld, for all people to know. name. Paul Rayburn. Could be Fritz Feld for all people to know. Paul Rayburn is the trivia question that if I asked him, can you tell me your name? He would look it up on his
Starting point is 00:02:54 phone, and if we're lucky in a year from now, he would tell us. He's better than that. You don't give him enough credit. I could have it in six months. You don't give him enough credit. I could have it in six months. You don't give them enough credit. Well, this is going to be part two of 2017
Starting point is 00:03:11 in memoriam, not to bring the room down. Why should this week be any different? It's like a Jewish holiday. Why should this be different from all other days? It's our sitting Shiva episode. One thing I did want
Starting point is 00:03:28 to mention under the subject of house cleaning, quick house cleaning, is watching the Golden Globes last night, and we got tweets about this, is that Guillermo del Toro, the director of The Shape of Water, is that what it's called? The Shape of Water, was
Starting point is 00:03:43 one of the best director and said monsters. He made a speech about monsters. Monsters are our patron saints. They are the patron saints of our brilliant imperfections. And then he said somewhere Lon Chaney is looking down on all of us. Yeah. And and somebody tweeted me. I wish I I'm not going to try to look for it now. tweeted me. I wish I, uh, I'm not going to try to look for it now, but someone tweeted me and said, and, uh, without your podcast, I wouldn't have known who Lon Chaney was. I saw that tweet. Yeah. Yeah. Not a, not a Warren Zevon fan, apparently. But I thought of you, you were the first person I thought of Gil, when I heard him do that. Seen the movie, by the way? No. You get screeners.
Starting point is 00:04:26 I have a copy of it. You get SAG screeners, don't you? Yeah. These are, and people look forward every year to our in memoriam, so we're going to go through these as quickly as we can, not to be disrespectful to all these great artists. It's just a matter of trying to get to them all in a short amount of time, and Paul, your favorite whipping boy, did some research.
Starting point is 00:04:48 You know, I've got one name here that was not on our original list. Oh. And that is Johnny Halliday. Yeah, Johnny Halliday. The great French rocker. The French rocker. For many years. You know who that is, Gil?
Starting point is 00:04:58 If you're wondering why it's appropriate to mention him here, it's because, as all our listeners know, in France, Gilbert is considered a genius. Really? Yes. That's right. That was only in French Polynesia. They see me as the current Charlie Chaplin. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:05:16 Charlie Callas. So that's all I wanted to say. You're the Charlie Callas of your generation. Yeah, I knew about him because my wife is a Francophile. Yeah, he looks like a kind of half-asleep Troy Donahue. Was he the French Elvis? The French Elvis, right. But the pictures of him online
Starting point is 00:05:32 is like either he's made of wax and he's melting or I don't know. Did you know him? Johnny Holiday? Not personally. Gilbert's the American Hervé. He is. Are you lonesome tonight? Are you lonely tonight? Are you sorry we drifted apart?
Starting point is 00:06:05 Does that hurt your throat? I meant to ask you that impression. A trooper that you are. Professional that you are. You do it anyway. Here's a name you might know a little better, Gilbert. Chuck Berry. Oh, yes.
Starting point is 00:06:17 Chuck Berry died at 90. And I was just saying a couple of months ago, I was saying I can't believe Chuck Berry and Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis are still with us. And I said, don't rush on this. Don't rush on Chuck Berry. One of the fathers of rock and roll. And tributes came in. I was doing a little research online. I was reading tributes from the Stones, from McCartney, Brian Wilson.
Starting point is 00:06:42 What can you say about Chuck Berry? You know, one thing people have often talked about is lyrics and how well they fit the music. And I'd like to just give a brief dramatic reading of a lyric I pulled out for Gilbert. Go ahead. My ding-a-ling, my ding-a-ling. When I was a little bitty boy, my grandmother bought me a cute little toy, two silver bells on a string. She told me it was my ding-a-ling. And the chorus, of course, is my ding-a-ling, my ding-a-ling. Won't you play with my ding-a-ling?
Starting point is 00:07:04 Do you remember that song? Oh, yes. That was a big novelty hit. I could see you covering that. Yeah. I actually, go ahead. It was a very subtle message. Harvey Weinstein has that playing in his office.
Starting point is 00:07:17 I'm sure. He does. I saw him, actually, when I was in college in Cambridge, Massachusetts. You saw Chuck Berry. Saw Chuck Berry. And he did Reelin' and a Rockin' with a whole set of lyrics you will never hear anywhere else. And the one that sticks in my mind is, I looked at my watch, it was quarter to six, I was
Starting point is 00:07:32 standing there firm as a cement mix, and we're off Reelin' and a Rockin'. Wow. In a whole series of these. It is whole live performance only obscene lyrics. How about that? And isn't it Chuck Berry who started one of his songs, Here come old Flat Top, he come moving up slowly?
Starting point is 00:07:50 That was... I think that's Come Together. That's Come Together by the Beatles. No, but before... Oh, that's good trivia. If I had a researcher here, I would have him look that up. That was from Chuck Berry. I was going to say Chuck Norris.
Starting point is 00:08:05 Chuck Norris. Chuck Woolery. I'm sorry I don't know that. I'm ashamed to not know that. How about that? Okay, well, we've lost Paul for the show. Well, I know. So let's carry on.
Starting point is 00:08:18 I found it interesting that Keith Richards said he stole every guitar lick from Chuck Berry, which I didn't know. There's that funny bit in Back to the Future. Yes, of course. What is it, his brother Marvin Berry? Yeah. I found the sound you're looking for. Yeah. I mean, started with Maybelline in 55, and the rest is history.
Starting point is 00:08:37 This is fun, Gilbert. The signature duck move, Chuck Berry's famous duck move, was to conceal the fact that he had wrinkles in his only suit. Wow. That he was embarrassed that he only had one suit. Wow. And that it was all, of course, you would be pressing it in your hotel room at 3 o'clock in the morning. He was an interesting guy with a couple of run-ins, more than a few run-ins with the law. Isn't there some weird disturbing tape where he's pissing in a bathtub with some girl? I was wondering how long it was going to take to get to that.
Starting point is 00:09:14 You know, we have the only In Memoriam episode in popular culture where every person that we're paying tribute to winds up maligned. Yeah. And in the first. There's some film. to winds up maligned. Yeah. And in the first. There's some film. Yes, it's true. Yeah. Yes. She's lying in a bathtub and Chuck Berry is pissing in it.
Starting point is 00:09:34 And Chuck Berry planted a camera. Yes. In the toilet bowl. Yes. I know about. It wasn't in the toilet bowl. I believe it was in a. Oh, my God. it was in a man.
Starting point is 00:09:51 It was a waterproof concludes our Chuck Berry tribute. Yeah. Gilbert, one more thing. Great musician. Yeah. And we miss him horribly. Gilbert, I hate to have to concede, but Gilbert was right again. Yes. Research shows that we're talking about music lawsuits, very common. And John Lennon, according to a suit, plagiarized Come Together from a Chuck Berry song that was recorded in 1955, the song You Can't Catch Me. How about that? How about that? Gilbert, excellent.
Starting point is 00:10:22 He's his own researcher. Yes. And that was fast. that? Godfrey. He's his own researcher. Yes. Yes. And that was fast. Yeah. Came right up with that. And another thing he stole, he used to piss on Yoko Ono. All right. Am I regretting that I started with Chuck Berry?
Starting point is 00:10:42 This is how he gets engaged in the show. See? We're on two completely different planes. That's right. Let me see who's on my cards that I can move to safely. Glenn Campbell. Glenn Campbell. I didn't have Glenn Campbell.
Starting point is 00:10:58 Yeah, well, that's... But that's a sad one. That's why I'm a pro. Glenn Campbell, who wrote, who sang some of the Jimmy Webb songs. Well, they had, yeah, I mean, they had a long-lasting professional partnership. Despite very different political views and so forth. From Billstown, Arkansas, Glenn Campbell. Yeah, he was, this is fascinating.
Starting point is 00:11:16 I mean, the old cliche about being a poor sharecropper, he was a poor sharecropper. A member of the Wrecking Crew early in his career. Did you know that? And a great, yes, that's a great studio musician. Yes, he was. Played a lot of great guitar breaks. Played on things like Mr. Tambourine Man by the Byrds, Viva Las Vegas, You've Lost That Love and Feeling, which Gilbert favored us with
Starting point is 00:11:36 a couple of months back on Gilbert Sings. There's a great YouTube clip of him playing By the Time I Get to Phoenix and taking a guitar break in the middle. It's terrific. A great guitar player. I mean, guitar players were a guitar break in the middle. It's terrific. A great guitar player. I mean, guitar players were in awe of his guitar playing. That's right. And he replaced Brian Wilson during Wilson's breakdown in 1964.
Starting point is 00:11:52 Oh, I didn't know that. He replaced Wilson on tour with the Beach Boys. And, of course, you talked about his long professional relationship with our pal and former guest Jimmy Webb. Galveston uh by the time i get to phoenix wichita lineman and on and on and he was a tv variety star oh yeah the star of the glenn campbell good time hour right glenn campbell good time something you don't see anymore oh no those kind of variety there are no good times anymore. You know, what's really fascinating about this, the research that I did on these guys,
Starting point is 00:12:26 is how often I found, and I'll go through these names, but how often I found substance abuse and troubles with the law. Yeah. And Glen Campbell, too. A couple of run-ins with the law. But this is interesting. His final tour, when he did the farewell tour, he did 151 shows and he was honest with his audience. He was forthcoming.
Starting point is 00:12:48 He told them what was going on and that he was losing his memory. So, brave of him to go out and do that. Here's another giant that we lost, Tom Petty. And that was sudden. 66 from sudden cardiac arrest.
Starting point is 00:13:04 Charlie Wilbury, Jr. He had just finished a 40th anniversary tour and was doing his last trip around the country. From Gainesville, Florida. Now, this is interesting. Had a difficult childhood. Met Elvis in 1961 on a film set and changed his life. And decided to pick up a guitar and take up the guitar. And changed his life.
Starting point is 00:13:21 Wow. And decided to pick up a guitar and take up the guitar. He was also one of many people who signed a horrible deal with a record company. Yes. He spent his career battling record companies. Yeah, that's right. And it was through most of the 70s he was fighting these guys. Yep, yep, yep. Eventually got free.
Starting point is 00:13:40 A lot of hits. Yeah. Tom Petty. Don't do me like that. Refugee. Oh, a million. Stop dragging my heart around with Stevie Nicks. Free ballin'.
Starting point is 00:13:47 Oh, no, free fallin'. Free fallin'. And he was one of the Wilburys. He was Charlie T. Wilbury Jr. Yeah. Yeah, joined the Wilburys in the, well, helped form the Wilburys in the 80s. Yeah, with George Harrison and, what's his name? Dylan.
Starting point is 00:14:03 Oh, yeah. Wasn't Roy Orbison that?. Wasn't it Roy Orbison? Roy Orbison. Roy Orbison, who I believe was Lefty Wilbury. The other guy from the Electric Light Orchestra. And then Jeff Lynn went on to produce two albums for Petty, which are great. Full Moon Fever and Into the Great Wide Open. I recommend them. And, yes, fought record companies, fought to keep ticket prices down, record prices down, had integrity,
Starting point is 00:14:25 and did a little acting. He's in The Postman, that apocalyptic Kevin Costner movie. Yeah. And he apparently did some voices on King of the Hill, a recurring role on King of the Hill. But his first couple of albums completely tanked and went nowhere. Yeah, I was reading about his career, a lot of ups and downs. But really a great artist. And that was sudden and sad. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:14:52 Here's a person that we've talked about on the show, and Gilbert loves to talk about the story that I know he's going to reference. We lost David Cassidy at 67. Okay, this is a very hard story for me to talk about. Don't feel that you have to put yourself through this.
Starting point is 00:15:09 I'm going to be brave. Tell a friend. And I promise myself I won't cry. David Cassidy, when he was at the peak of his teen idol craze, he would get up in the morning, leave his house, and he had a big fence around the house, and there would be mobs of girls there. And David Cassidy would walk over and unzip
Starting point is 00:15:42 and stick his dick through the fence, and these girls like rabid dogs, they would be leaping. They were foaming at the mouth, actually, like rabid dogs. Yes. They wanted his dick so badly. Yeah. But, you know, there's a sensitive touching side to this story. Did this happen to you early in your career?
Starting point is 00:16:05 Yes. You always lived in apartments. That was the problem. Yeah. When I did After Problem Child 3. Yeah. Ah, that's when it really. That's what led to the first restraining order.
Starting point is 00:16:18 When I did How to Be a Player. Ah, it happened. You got to be. The only thing is if somebody comes after you foaming at the mouth, maybe you want to have a blood test first. This is Danny Bonaduce's story, which he's embellishing. I don't remember the foaming. I don't remember the rabid women.
Starting point is 00:16:34 Rabid dogs. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast after this. FanDuel Casino's exclusive live dealer studio has your chance at the number one feeling, winning. Which beats even the 27th best
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Starting point is 00:18:11 Please play responsibly. And now back to the show. You know, we pay tribute to fallen stars in our own way on this show. David Cassidy was a part of my childhood, and I know a part of the childhood of a lot of people who listen to this show from what I read on Facebook. Well, you know, there was that difficult relationship with his dad, who we talk about a lot on this show, Jack Cassidy, who we were told was envious of his son's success, his teen idol success. And I heard, what's his name, Dave Madden.
Starting point is 00:18:45 Yeah. Who was the play. Yeah, Reuben Kincaid. I heard Dave Madden used to invite, yeah, oh, no, this has to do with. Bonaduce. Bonaduce. He used to invite Bonaduce. He also had a difficult relationship.
Starting point is 00:19:02 He had a horrible. Yeah, that was an abusive relationship. He also had a difficult relationship. He had a horrible relationship. That was an abusive relationship. So he would invite him over to his house to spend the weekend there because he had such a terrible relationship. And I heard that date man used to piss on him. All right now. Is the whole immemorial going to be coming?
Starting point is 00:19:23 Well, we got to be brave like like Gilbert is showing the way here. Yeah. Were you a Partridge family fan, Gil? No, never a Partridge fan. Did you like the songs? Did you like I Think I Love You? Oh, I Think I Love You is good. I Woke Up in Love This Morning and 24 Hours a Day.
Starting point is 00:19:39 Here's a trivia question. The Partridge family was based, a fictionalized version of what group? Oh, on the uh the rain the park and other things you bet and yeah yeah yeah gotta get one of the cow sills on this show yeah there's a couple of them still still with us uh those are great songs written by some of the best songwriters of the day the wrecking crew paid played on those songs yeah by the way because shirley jones uh Jones and David Cassidy were the only two people in the Partridge family allowed to perform on those records.
Starting point is 00:20:10 In fact, Rupert, our own Rupert Holmes wrote one of those songs. So the idea was they would keep the rights to the songs, just the two of them? Was that the reason? I think it was that they were the only ones that were legit performers. The other ones were actors. Danny was never playing that bass. Right. He was faking it. He was an actor he did what yeah shocking i know what
Starting point is 00:20:30 yeah now you're gonna tell me the kid wasn't playing the drums uh-huh i'm gonna tell you that you're gonna ruin christmas neither kid was playing the drums and jack cassidy was the magician on that episode of colombo correct Correct. Yes. Yes, he was. I think he did two episodes of Columbo. Yeah, one, he's a writer, I think. Yeah, yeah. So the story goes that David Cassidy wanted to be an actor, like a lot of people saw The Beatles on Sullivan, and was transformed, or transfixed, if you will, and he later became
Starting point is 00:21:00 friends with John Lennon. And don't do that Yoko. I'm trying to pay my respects to these people. I'm sitting next to a Bulgarian. A man who respects nothing. Frank, if you want to move your chair a few steps to the right, I don't think anybody... But, you know, then Cassidy, like, declined into drinking. Well, he did.
Starting point is 00:21:27 Well, again, I'm sad to say that this was a recurring theme when I was researching these people. I mean, Barry had troubles with the law and Glenn Campbell had a substance problem and Tom Petty at one point had a heroin problem and Cassidy was a drinking problem
Starting point is 00:21:44 and DUIs. I mean, it just keeps coming up. I don't know if it's just musicians or what it is, but Walter Becker, we lost Walter Becker from Steely Dan. And I read that he had some heroin battles too, which I had no idea. And Greg Allman's on the list. I don't have to say anything about Greg Allman. So it was really, it's something that just comes up. Yeah. I don't know what that is about the rock and roll life.
Starting point is 00:22:09 There's a story that the jazz people talk about, like when Charlie Parker played and he was bad, strung out on heroin and everything. And people thought that must be the reason he plays so well, because of the heroin and whatever it does. And a lot of people got you know hooked just because they thought that was that it would help their creativity did you ever i've asked you this did you ever you you smoked a little weed in your day did it did it help or enhance because carlin used to fire up when he would do a punch up on his comedy i i kind of found that uh the bad part about it was you would say, you know, the bad part about it, you know, smoking weed was like you could say, oh, I had lunch yesterday. You get it?
Starting point is 00:22:57 I had lunch. Oh, so everything was funny. Yeah. That's interesting. Everything was hysterical. So it didn't help. It did not aid your, not that you ever sat down and wrote out a bit. Yeah. But it didn't help. It did not aid your, not that you ever sat down and wrote out a bit. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:23:06 But it didn't help. Yeah, because you'd think everything was funny. Yeah. I know George Carlin would do it to do a polish, which I always found. Okay, here's somebody that led for the most part a clean life. Fats Domino. Fats Domino. Antoine.
Starting point is 00:23:21 Yeah, what is his? Antoine Dominique Domino Jr. You bet. Left us at 89 among the first Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. And grew up in the Ninth Ward, which was the part of New Orleans that was completely devastated. Yes, he did. And spent the rest of his life there.
Starting point is 00:23:38 I'm walking Blue Monday. Ain't that a shame? Blueberry Hill. Such a body of work. And McCartney called him a major influence. Born in 28, nicknamed Fats by a local band leader. This was something depressing in the research, the fact that Pat Boone's cover of Ain't That a Shame did better than the original
Starting point is 00:24:01 in those days when they were doing these. Here's a short anecdote. I'll stick this in real quickly. From Elvis Presley. Go. Said, a lot of people seem to think I started this business, but rock and roll was here a long time before I came along. Nobody can sing that music like colored people.
Starting point is 00:24:16 He said, let's face it, I can't sing it like Fats Domino can. I know that. Yeah. How great was this? That's great. That's a great quote. I've never heard that. Yeah. How great was this? That's great. That's a great quote. I've never heard that. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:24:25 How great was Fats Domino? I think that McCartney, and you could research this if you have a moment or you want to fire up the phone, I think McCartney wrote Lady Madonna with Fats Domino in mind. Oh. I don't know if that meant to give it to him. It is a boogie-woogie kind of tune. Or that he was just, I think at some point he covered it. Oh, yeah, or that he was just, I think at some point he covered it.
Starting point is 00:24:55 Anyway, a true great, it's interesting that Fats and Chuck Berry died within a couple of months of each other. Two original Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. And boring trivia, Chubby Checker. Still with us. Yeah, he, you know, instead of Fats, he called himself Chubby. Oh, that's right. And instead of Domino's, Checkers. That's right. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:25:13 That's great. You know, I never put that together. I never did either. How embarrassing. But you are full of good information tonight. And I heard Houston pissed on women in the bathtub. Really? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:25:28 In the Ninth Ward? Yeah. All right. Well, we've lost Paul. Yeah, I'm going to. He's looking for something on his phone. While you're doing that. Just give me 20 minutes.
Starting point is 00:25:39 I'm going to talk about Walter Becker from one of my favorite bands, and that's Steely Dan. Gilbert, you're a Steely Dan fan? Oh, yeah. they were Jews. Yes. Well, Donald Fagan still is. 67. That one hit hard. His new album is still a Jew.
Starting point is 00:25:56 Really? Yes. I didn't realize that. Go ahead. Before we lose the thread, I'm watching the clock. Go ahead. McCartney said. Before we lose the thread. I'm watching the clock. Go ahead. So McCartney said of writing Lady Madonna, he says, it was me sitting at the piano trying to write a bluesy boogie-woogie thing. It reminded me of Fats Domino, so I started singing a Fats Domino impression.
Starting point is 00:26:16 There you go. Gilbert, what is your name? Gilbert Gordon, this person sitting next to you, was right again. Yeah. Man knows stuff. That Chubby Checker, how did I not know that? Fats Domino, Chubby Checker, son of a bitch. This is a very educational show.
Starting point is 00:26:33 There's a nice tribute by Walter Becker's wife, Delia, on Rollingstone.com, a message to the fans, which I would urge. If you like Steely Dan, take a look at it. I mean, to me, a giant. I love Steely Dan. I've seen them a hundred times. Katie Light, Age You Can't Buy a Thrill, Two Against Nature. I could go on and on and on. They worked with Chevy. They worked with one of our podcast guests at Bard College.
Starting point is 00:26:56 Chevy played keyboards with those guys. William and Mary won't do. That's right. Not officially Steely Dan at that time. But boy, that is music that makes me happy. You Steely Dan fan? I love Steely Dan. I'm a jazz guy and they had a lot of jazzy stuff in their tunes. I used to see them at the Beacon Theater. I love the lyrics, whatever they were about. I love Kid Charlemagne. I love Everyone's Gone to the Movies. I mean, I could sit here talking for hours about Celie Dannem. They call Alabama the Crimson Tide. Sure. Deacon Blues. Greg Allman.
Starting point is 00:27:34 Gilbert. Founder, co-founder of the Allman Brothers Band, another rock and roll hall of famer. Soldiered on after his brother Dwayne Allman died in a motorcycle accident in 1971. There's another guy who did some hard living. Do you know anything about the Allman brothers? I remember. Who was the one who was dating Cher? He married Cher.
Starting point is 00:27:57 Yeah. The one that we're remembering right now, Greg Allman. He also campaigned for Jimmy Carter. He did a lot of interesting things with his life. And I was reading tributes to him, and they said he was really a purist. He was a true artist, that it was never about the money or the trappings for him, that it was about making music. He cited one of his prime influences, somebody named Little Milton Campbell. I do not know that name.
Starting point is 00:28:20 But he said he had the strongest set of pipes I ever heard on a human being. Gilbert, anything on little Milton Campbell? Okay. He used to pee. I think it was Glen Campbell's nickname for his little Milton Campbell. Now look what you've done. You've rubbed off on me. He lived in a house with a fence around it.
Starting point is 00:28:44 Yes. Gilbert, you really blew it by living in apartments all these years. I know. If you stick anything out from the second floor, it doesn't do you any good. Here's a couple of other names as we go through these musicians we lost in 2017 on this very bizarre tribute show. Keely Smith, Gil. Oh. Louis Prima, Gil. Oh. Louis Prima's ex.
Starting point is 00:29:07 Wow. Keely Smith from Norfolk, Virginia, who joined Louis Prima's big band. I'd like to add that my mother danced with Louis Prima when she was a teenager. And she was on Cloud Nine. I think we've got to make one film plug here. Go. That Louis Prima was the subject in the plot of the great movie Big Night. I love that movie.
Starting point is 00:29:27 Stanley Tucci. Yeah. Yeah. She was a great talent. Her name was Dorothy Jacqueline Keeley. Yep. And she was part Irish and part Cherokee. She sure was.
Starting point is 00:29:37 Part Native American. Another one of those Irish Cherokee singers. Yes. There's so many of them. Wasn't Anthony Quinn Irish and part Native American? I could never figure out. Or was he Mexican? He could be Mexican and Native American.
Starting point is 00:29:51 Part Mexican and part Irish. I don't know about the Native. Of course, people thought he was Greek, but he wasn't. Keely Smith, one of my favorites. I mean, she was on the list of people I thought, oh, do we call Keely Smith? Is that a show? I mean, there's just so many names and so many people that we try to get to, and we can't get to all these people, and people abuse us on social media.
Starting point is 00:30:11 Every time somebody dies, they're just, you assholes! She did some shows in New York in 2008 that were very, very well reviewed. I'm sorry I didn't get to see her, and I'm sorrier still that we didn't get her on the show. Some of her work was featured in the soundtracks for Raging Bull and Casino. Yes, yes. De Niro was a fan, or Scorsese at least. I think she would have been good for us. Here's one
Starting point is 00:30:36 for you, Gil. Mel Tillis. Yes? Mel Tillis passed away, the country legend. Oh, okay. You know Mel Tillis? I, I, if you give me a song, I know the name. He was the stutterer. He was the country star that showed up in a lot of movies. He's in the Cannonball Run movies.
Starting point is 00:30:55 He's in Smokey and the Bandit 2. You don't know Mel Tillis? I don't know him that well. I remember the name. I remember. His memoir was called Stutterin' Boy. He had a stutter, a stammer, and he made it a thing. He made it part of his brand.
Starting point is 00:31:10 Country legend and country music hall of famer. And he was given a National Medal of Arts award by none other than President Obama. We have any Mel Tillis fans in the room? He was the brother of Joey and Tommy Tillis. You're pulling that out of your ass. How about Wayne Cochran, the White Knight of Soul? This guy I was not familiar with at all. Oh, with his pompadour.
Starting point is 00:31:34 The pompadour is the whole thing. You've got to go check this guy out. Wayne Cochran. Does that mean anything to you, Gilbert? No. How about Cuba Gooding Sr.? Why am I turning into Art Fern? Cuba Gooding's father passed away.
Starting point is 00:31:48 And what did he sing? Oh, wait. He was the lead singer of The Main Ingredient. And their hit song was, their big hit, they had two. Oh, we were talking about this on the show. We sure were. Everybody Plays the Fool. Oh, wow.
Starting point is 00:32:03 Everybody Plays the Fool. A wonderful song. Pop-a-doo-pop. I love that song more than life itself. They had another hit called I Just Don't Want to Be Lonely that I love. Boy, that is the music of my childhood. Did you know that Cuba Gooding's father was a – Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:32:18 I chatted – Cuba Gooding Jr. was on The View once, and I grabbed him, and I said I just want to talk about the main ingredient. And he was more than happy to talk about his dad's music. Cuba or Cuba Gooding left us, senior. How about Jay Giles? Of the Jay Giles band.
Starting point is 00:32:36 The actual Jay Giles. The lead guitarist. Love Stinks. Centerfold. Freeze Frame. People should go look at the original on YouTube. You can see the original video for Centerfold, Freeze Frame. People should go look at the original on YouTube. You can see the original video for Centerfold, which is fabulous. Oh, is there an original video? It's like a time capsule.
Starting point is 00:32:51 Yeah. Yeah. It's like it says on an original video from the 70s. Oh, the same video. Yeah, that's a sexy video. It's a great video. You remember that song? Yeah, my blood runs cold.
Starting point is 00:33:02 That's the one. My memory has just been sold. Angel in the centerfold. My angel is the centerfold. Oh, my angel is the centerfold. His beloved girlfriend becomes the centerfold. Perhaps the proudest moment of J. Giles' career was appearing on the Joe Franklin Show. With the rest of the band.
Starting point is 00:33:21 Right. And, of course, Gilbert will love this. For years, he played with a member of the J-Gals band, Magic Dick. Magic Dick? Magic Dick. My favorite name in rock and roll. There are a lot of choices. I think he was related to little Milton Campbell.
Starting point is 00:33:40 And when he would pull out his magic dick, he would go... You have somehow worked an Art Matrano reference into memorializing Jay Giles. I'm in tears. This episode has got to be almost in tears. It's heartbreaking. It's a wonder more celebrities don't ask Gilbert to eulogize them. Let's see. Wrapping it up, Malcolm Young of ACDC, the co-founder of ACDC. You an ACDC guy?
Starting point is 00:34:18 Not so much, but I appreciate that they're an important band. Highway to hell. Highway to hell. Black, back in black. You shook me all night long. My wife will crank up some ACDC in the house. Well, that can't be bad. Nope.
Starting point is 00:34:32 Nope. There was another guy with demons. I mean, this keeps coming up. I mean, one after the other. Warren Pete Moore. Does that name mean anything to you, Gilbert? He was an original member of the Miracles. Smokey Robinson. He co-wrote Tears of a
Starting point is 00:34:49 Clown. Wow. I'm just a love machine and I won't work for nobody but you. Oh, geez. Know that song? Ooh Baby Baby. He co-wrote many of them. We gotta get Smokey Robinson on the show. Oh, yeah. There's a guy. Yeah. Boy.
Starting point is 00:35:06 You know, he's underappreciated. Underappreciated. He would just crank those things out, and they were so great. He's a genius. I throw that word around a lot on this show, but he is a genius. We should get him on the show. Backtracking quickly, Nancy Wilson of Heart called Malcolm Young the very embodiment of rock itself. How about that? How about that?
Starting point is 00:35:25 How about that? How could we miss that? Which they'll be saying about you when you're gone. The embodiment of comedy. Smokey Robinson at a party, he recognized me and hugged me. Do tell. Yeah. Tell me.
Starting point is 00:35:38 I was at a party of old things. It was the party of... things. It was the party of... Wayne Cochran. No. Wayne Cochran. Wayne Cochran. Oh, my Lord. Oh, God.
Starting point is 00:35:56 I'm forgetting everyone's name. Basketball player. Magic Johnson. No. Magic Dick. No, he was in Airplane. Oh, Kareem. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Starting point is 00:36:09 I got invited to perform at Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's birthday party. You never told me this. Yeah, yeah. And I'm your life partner. Yeah. You think you know a guy. Yeah. That's a great story.
Starting point is 00:36:26 Yeah. And Smokey Robinson made a beeline for you? Smokey Robinson came over and hugged me. Tears of a clown. How about that? Does the name Buddy... We're going to get Smokey on this show. Make a note of that, Paul. Smokey.
Starting point is 00:36:36 Smokey. Got it. Does the name Buddy Greco mean anything to you? Oh, Buddy Greco. We lost Buddy Greco at 90. You know Buddy Greco? Oh, yeah. He started out with the Benny Goodman Orchestra.
Starting point is 00:36:46 He was a sometime Rat Pack member. He had kind of a hipper version of Lady is a Tramp. He was a Sinatra kind of singer. Sinatra-ish. But hipper. If you could be hipper than Frank. And he co-starred in a – I can't speak. I'm thinking about where he's going next with this.
Starting point is 00:37:10 He co-starred in a show that was a replacement for the Jackie Gleason show called Away We Go with George Carlin. Wow. And Buddy Rich. So you can look up Buddy Rich. Buddy Greco was on Facebook. And I said, I got to get Buddy Greco on the podcast. And I looked him up. And he did everything.
Starting point is 00:37:28 And he worked with everybody. And he passed away that week. So there's more fodder for our fans to abuse us. Beware if Frank looks you up. Yeah. Kiss of death. Now, I'm sure we're going to leave people out. And we've left musicians out.
Starting point is 00:37:42 And people will yell at us. But in the interest of time, those were the people that um that we were able to get to uh and these were not musicians but i wanna um i just want to mention these names while we have a couple of minutes left in the show these are four guests who did our show uh one who was booked and never actually made it here and that was bill dana and bill d Dana I spoke to on the phone, and he would have made a great interview. That one is heartbreaking to me. I will not soon get over it. Bill died at 92.
Starting point is 00:38:15 We'd been working on that for a long time. He was so funny on the phone. Yeah. It was a thrill to talk to him. Yeah. He was the perfect guest for us. We tried for a long time. We couldn't pin him down. And three other people who did the show and were gracious enough to do our show who passed away this year were our pal Jay Thomas tributes to them, so I won't go into great detail. And then we re-ran Jay's episode when Jay died as a tribute.
Starting point is 00:38:49 But I'm looking over these and I'm listening to them. This was early in our show when we didn't have Verterosa in our lives. We weren't here. Oh, that's right. We didn't know what the hell we were doing. We didn't have a professional setup like this. Jay Thomas was at my apartment. And it was pouring rain and he had to borrow socks from Gilbert.
Starting point is 00:39:01 Thomas was at my apartment. And it was pouring rain and he had to borrow socks from Gilbert. And I just want to say they were a gray pair. And so if you're one of the people cleaning out his house after he died, just put them in a little bubble wrap and send it to me. I love Jay. That was a hot day. It was a hot summer day. And we had to close the windows because it was, you could hear the noise of the street.
Starting point is 00:39:32 This was on the Godfrey dining table. It was so goddamn hot in that apartment that the three of us were just sweating buckets, and he just sat there and abused the two of us for an hour. A funny, funny man and an underrated actor. Adam, we spoke to on the phone. I don't know if you remember this. Oh, of course. Where did we do it? I thought that was my apartment. We were in Adrienne's office.
Starting point is 00:39:52 Dara's friend, Adrienne. Oh, my God. We went to her office, and we were in a little room. We were trying to get better audio. We were trying to get isolated audio that wasn't in your apartment with all the traffic noise. And Adrienne said, come to our apartment. Come to my office. And we went in and we called Adam West on a little dinky phone.
Starting point is 00:40:09 And that's when he told Gilbert that he would have made a great penguin. Yes. Yes. That was one of those thrills. And lastly, Robert, we also did not record in the studio. We recorded Robert at the museum at the Society of Illustrators. But it was face to face. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:40:23 And it was just a great day. Yeah. At the Society of Illustrators. But it was face-to-face. Yeah, and it was just a great day. And Robert Osborne, another one of those people where, you know, turn on the mic and then you could go out to dinner and come back. He was a sweetheart. We loved him. He knew every movie reference. You know, movies I had stored in the back of my mind that I hadn't seen in 30 years.
Starting point is 00:40:43 And I'd say, what about this? And he'd say, oh, we showed it. And he'd tell you who the director was and he'd say, oh, we showed it. And he'd tell you who the director was and he'd tell you an anecdote about that movie. And he had me on TCM to pick and be a guest programmer and I did that. And then he came in and
Starting point is 00:40:57 did the podcast and he was every, I mean, when he would come on TCM, I would like what he said about the movies better than. Me too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Me too. Yeah, that's right.
Starting point is 00:41:10 Me too. Sometimes you'd watch a turkey and then stick around just to hear him. Yes. Afterward and say, okay, justify what I just watched. It would always be fun. Yeah. You know, he actually called, he wanted me to do research for him. Are you serious?
Starting point is 00:41:21 And I said. I said. I thought you were being sincere. I said Gilbert would never let me go. I had research for him. Are you serious? I thought you were being sincere. I said Gilbert would never let me go. Paul gets the button. I can't afford him. I just can't
Starting point is 00:41:34 let him go. He was a lovely guy. I think he was unwell for a while and the fact that he came down on his own power, got his own cab because we're cheap, and came to the Society of Illustrators to sit and play with two idiots for 90 minutes. And it was a hot day that day, too. Another hot day.
Starting point is 00:41:51 And anyway, they're not musicians. The show was mostly about music. But these three people and Bill Dana, who I didn't get to meet. Oh, Bill Dana would have been so great. We were honored to have them, and they will not soon be forgotten. And for our listeners, Adam Jay's episode and Robert Osborne's episode, find them in the queue and listen again because we're so proud of them. Robert Osborne was one of those people who really loved movies.
Starting point is 00:42:19 Yeah, and just a sweet guy that every single person that met him couldn't say enough nice things about him. So that is the blessing of doing this show, meeting these people and getting to spend time with them. It's true, though. The mitigating factors are to spend time next to this lunatic, this escaped lunatic. Shall we wrap? I guess so. Wait a minute.
Starting point is 00:42:41 I haven't finished my research. Oh, yes. Well, we'll get to you at the end of the decade. This has been Gilbert and Frank's amazing, colossal obsessions. And this has been one of our in memoriam. Even though you couldn't tell. Yeah. in memoriam.
Starting point is 00:43:02 Even though you couldn't tell. Yeah. Where we talked about, we talked sensitively about how these celebrities would pee on you. Only one. Don't exaggerate. That was fun.
Starting point is 00:43:23 And Paul was here to further let us know that Paul should never be here. In fact, six more musicians died while we were waiting for the evening to come across. I just like to say I never peed on anyone. You're young. Like a rhinestone cowboy Riding out on a horse in a star spangler rodeo Like a rhinestone
Starting point is 00:43:56 cowboy Getting cards and letters from people I don't even know And offers coming over the phone Getting cards and letters from people I don't even know. And offers coming over the phone. Well, I really don't mind the rain.
Starting point is 00:44:23 And a smile can hide all the pain. But you're down when you're riding the train. That's taking the long way. And I dream of the things I'll do. With a subway token and a dollar tucked inside my shoe. There'll be a load of compromising on the road to my horizon, but I'm going to be where the lights are shining on me. Like a rhinestone cowboy Riding out on a horse in a star-spangled rodeo Rhinestone cowboy Getting cards and letters from people I don't even know
Starting point is 00:45:23 And offers coming over the phone letters from people I don't even know and offers coming over the phone Like a rhinestone cowboy Riding out on a horse in a star-spangled rodeo Like a rhinestone cowboy Gettin' caught in letters from people I don't know

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