Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - Mini #160: Remembering Mister Kelly's with David Marienthal and Adam Carston

Episode Date: April 19, 2018

This week: Bob Newhart vs. the mob! Lenny Bruce takes on the church! The radicalization of Richard Pryor! Gilbert channels Jackie Vernon! And Shelley Berman shares the bill with Maya Angelou! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Refreshingly simple. Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried and this is Gilbert Gottfried's amazing Colossal Podcast with my co-host Frank Santopadre. And we're once again recording at Nutmeg with our engineer Frank Verderosa. We are. Colossal Obsessions. You got through all of that, see? Yeah. You give yourself enough credit. And we have two guests here for this mini episode.

enough credit and we have two guests here for this mini episode we have adam karsten who is a uh an historian and obsessed gilbert godfrey podcast fan and we have david marionthal who is what shall we call you david uh are you you are a serial entrepreneur you're a serial i like that you're a serial entrepreneur and the uh you are an an, really, to the legacy of Mr. Kelly's. The kings of Rush Street in Chicago. Right, the kings of Rush Street in Chicago. The two gentlemen are working on a documentary about the legendary Mr. Kelly's Supper Club in Chicago, which is great history. We did an episode about the Playboy Clubs with Patti Farmer. Have you talked to Patti by the way?

We really should. She's interesting. I know there's a Hefner connection with you guys. There was a big effort. Hefner collection. Everybody from Mr. Kelly's and Happy Medium and their other company went right after the show right to the mansion.

Could you give us a quick list of just some of the people who've worked there? Well, I know you guys are interested in comedy. So every night of the week and twice every night and three times on the weekend, they'd have a comic and a jazz singer. So we just interviewed you could have gone in there and seen uh robert klein open for sarah vaughn in 1966 you could have gone in to see woody allen and nancy wilson as a double bill and they couldn't decide who was going to be on the top so on one side of the sign it said n Wilson on top you went down rush to the other way it said oh it's like Paul Newman and Steve McQueen just because it's towering in front of credits well the wild one is Shelly Berman and Maya Angelou oh wow the club in the late 50s

when Maya Angelou was a Calypso singer. That's right. She was a singer. And so, you know, that's part of the fun is doing the research and finding these wild bills of, you know, people before they were famous or rising. You know, like Jackie Vernon and Barbara Streisand were together. I found a few since you brought that up. You got that. Well, this was something I had on the card, but since you guys brought it up earlier,

these are some of my favorites. Mel Torme and Dick Cavett. Yes. B.B. King and David Brenner. That's a good one. Of course, Erwin Corey and Billy Daniels. Erwin Corey was the first ever guest on this show. Richard Pryor and Kenny Rogers, which we'll talk about because that's a historic moment.

And my personal favorite, Don Adams and the Turtles. Yes. Now, I should say it's not the rock band, the Turtles. Oh, it wasn't the rock band, the Turtles. I actually got really excited, but it turned out it was like a folk satirical duo. Interesting. Still good. Still good.

And for those out there who don't know Jackie Vernon, his main thing, he'd have a clicker. That would he be talking like he's showing slides. And he'd go, here's some slides from my vacation. Here's Manuel leading us around the quickssand here we are from the waist up here's a bunch of ropes and picks and things woody allen who you just interviewed for the documentary this is this is a partial list lenny bruce mart saul stop me uh dick greg Red Fox, Moms Mabley played the club? Yeah, well, it looks like she had to cut it short, but she was, yes, scheduled to play there.

No shit. That's cool. Joan Rivers, Bill Cosby, George Carlin we'll talk about. The Smothers Brothers, Dickie's in the documentary. Buddy Hackett, LaWanda Page. Oh, my God. Gilbert Loves, Mike Nichols, and Elaine May. David Steinberg, who was on this show.

Rudy Ray Moore. Wow. Freddie Prinze, Rickles, Phyllis Diller, Rodney Dangerfield, Jackie Mason. Wow. Incredible. And, Nick, did I say Nichols and May? You said Nichols and May. Toadie Fields. Toadie Fields. wow incredible and and nick did i say nickels in may i you said nickels man and you ever get toady fields toady fields i mean fat jack leonard i mean you know it's like we could almost do a subcategory of people who became sitcom stars in the 60s like you know uh joey ross played

joey ross played the club yeah i knew you. And so, you know, you'd probably appreciate this. I think it came out midway through the first season of Car 54. And so we'll have to show you before we leave, but they advertised every ad was him in character, you know, from Car 54. And they had him in the police uniform. And we actually have a picture of him and Mayor Daly at the time together. Mayor Daly and Joey Ross. I think they might have had some common interest. Famous degenerate Joey Ross.

Well, let's do a little quick backstory. I wanted to ask because Nat Hyken grew to hate Joey Ross. I think a lot of people did. Yeah. So what was he like? Was he? You know, I'm desperately digging for something wild about him, but all the reviews were very positive. They were.

It seemed like it was very, you know, clean act from what I could tell. Nothing wild. But, you know, he dated strippers, too, and married them. He married, married yes yes ladies of the night hookers yes uh but uh yeah we uh he's somebody i just wish i could find something crazier about him well i i gotta i've told this story before i don't want to take up your time no but they were like paul molliv or whoever, or Johnson & Johnson, were the sponsors of Car 54. And the top execs came to the Car 54 set.

Every one of the cast shook their hands. Nice meeting you, sir or ma'am. And then they were taken to Joey Ross. And the door to his dressing room was open and Joey Ross was sitting there jerking off. Adam knows where that story is going because he's because I'm not going to spoil it. I'm proud to say that he's listened to every episode of this show. This man. We have to give you props.

Yeah. No, I'm still mentally stable and functioning. Yeah, Adam reached out to me. He's a fan of the podcast. He reached out to me. He was telling me about the Mr. Kelly's project, and obviously that's why they're here.

But give us a little back story, David. Your uncle and your dad opened the club. My uncle and my dad opened a coffee shop, Greasy Spoon, across the river from the Tribune and Sun Times Tower after the war. They came back. Right, right. My uncle had inherited this Greasy Spoon from another family member, and they turned it into the London House, which was a very elegant restaurant, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, catering to then the really center of the madman crowd,

which was in Chicago much more than New York. Sure. With the martini lunches and dinner catering to then the really center of the Mad Men crowd, which was in Chicago much more than New York. Sure. With the martini lunches and so on. In 1953, they came over to the Embers Club here in New York and decided they were going to open a piano jazz bar with the likes of Oscar Peterson, Errol Garner, all the jazz. Bobby Short played there and all those people. Bobby Short played there and McCoy Tyner, all the great instrumental jazz clubs. So they had the London

House going strong with Make a Date with the Steak was their byline. The bar would fill up at noon and then just keep going to the hours when all the jazz came on. So in 1953, they went further north and changed a donut shop into the Mr. Kelly's. On Rush Street. Which Rush Street and Rush Street was a really eclectic mix, to say the least, of strip clubs, jazz joints, coffee shops, adult bookstores. And they opened this club that had a small piano bar uh in 1953 it burned down right or it burned out and they remodeled it with a full stage twice as big and uh that's when people like audrey morris started their audrey morris who we just lost a couple of weeks ago we were

lucky to interview her yes we interviewed her She was still playing the piano with a cigarette between her lips. And, uh, and they started this policy of, uh, you know, one singer and one comic every single night. Whose idea was that? Now you're, I heard you say your, your, your father handled the food and your uncle was kind of the schoozer. My uncle Oscar was really the empresario. He had backed a couple of shows on Broadway and loved entertainer. I just last year met with Barbara Carroll, who was here at the Carlisle for many years. She was the piano. Oscar would have the entertainers out to his home in Flossmoor. Ella Fitzgerald was there, cut an album in 1958? There were the pearls that, uh, Oscar gave her every day. Uh, over 30 albums were cut at, uh, Mr. Kelly's and London house. Uh, well, I heard that your uncle and your dad had an, had an eye for talent.

They definitely had an eye for talent. They signed, uh, Barbra Streisand, the Smothers Brothers. How about that? Uh, in, in one week. And Woody Allen. They signed Barbra Streisand, the Smothers Brothers. How about that? In one week. And Woody Allen. Whose idea was it to pair up a comedian and a musician? Because that became the signature for a while. That became the thing.

And, you know, it is so much different than the comedy clubs of today where, you know, you had to be a purist and just listen to comedy all night. Sure, sure. And I think it was really, you know, a style of the old-time nightclubs like that. There were other clubs in town, the Chez Paris, the Empire Rome, and, you know, they always had an opening act. This was a full night of entertainment. Oscar Peterson, Errol Garner, Dave Brubeck bobby short cannonball adderley did neil hefty play the club yes do i have that right gilbert's obsessed with yes yeah yeah the batman theme yes the odd couple things a jazz guy yeah all the all the greats yeah he played i mean that

was one when i saw that i freaked out because i knew who he was instantly growing up a Batman fan. From obsessing about this show. And you guys, yeah. And even a lesser remembered film, How to Murder Your Wife. Sure. Jack Lemmon. Yeah. And that was a great theme.

Well, and then we have Barry Manilow. Wow. That's right. That's what we did with Barry Manilow opened was Bette Mid right. That's what we did with Barry Manilow. Opened was, was, uh, that was the name you forgot. I forgot Barry Manilow and Bette Midler.

And you got Bruce Valanche to, to, to, to take part in the documentary. Which yeah, would be great for you guys. We just booked him. Oh,

okay. Oh, we're honored to be here. We just locked him in. Oh, it's so exciting. He was, uh,

he was a Chicago Tribune beat writer. He covered the nightlife of Rush Street back then, and he actually was friends with the Marianthals, was always at the clubs, and he actually made his debut on stage at Mr. Kelly's as a stand-up, and that's where he first met Bette Midler. So, I mean, it was like a big meeting place and kind of stepping stone for, you know, Valanche. It seems like it was important for a lot of people's careers.

Well, that was really, I mean, that's the type of synergy, because that really, you know, as you know, Bette became his muse, or he was Bette's muse, or however you look at it. It was a lifelong association, but so many people. You worked with Valanche many times. Oh, yeah.

On Hollywood Squares. Yeah, on Hollywood Squares. Oh, yeah. He was like the top rider there. Truly hilarious guy. Yeah, very crazy guy. So this was your family business, and you were a kid in the club. Now, I heard you say you were 12 years old when you saw Streisand on stage.

Do I have that right? Usually, you know, because the London House was somewhat of a more family place. We used to go more for the Sunday show at the London House, and I used to get dressed up, and my mom would put us in sweaters and slick our hair back. Well, every once in a while, we got to go to Mr. Kelly's, and Barbra Streisand was one of those. I mean, when she came into town, and within, you know, minutes, Irv Kupson was writing, you know, fantastic show. Kup. Kup. Yes.

Wow. And so everybody had to get down there. And, you know, she just walked on stage and she was this little waif of a girl. I don't know if I should say it. And she opened her mouth and everybody, you know, everybody, you know, knew that you were in the presence of genius. About that. But my uncle looked at her headshot, at this talent booker that we booked in.

Arlene Rothberg brought to him and says, why am I going to hire this ugly-looking Jewish girl? Why would I hire her? It's funny, too, though, because it was literally she played the club right before she launched. Like, right before.

You know, I think she had released her first album and it had only been a few months when she played Kelly's. And so it was like, right.

Fortunate timing. Right. And they actually had her on a contract that she eventually would, you know, buy out because she skyrocketed

right after that she was one of the few that was my my father's uh modus operandi where he would he would sign these unknown talent with you know at five hundred dollars a week sure that's what woody allen i went five hundred dollars a week that's seven shows yeah uh and uh then he'd get them you know to sign for options and barbara streisand i guess was one of the few that uh ever bought out her option about yeah and it's because they were you know treated them so well you know they were gilbert would have loved it they fed you there for free good food too very famous about food yes. But, you know, they treated the – I mean, we haven't heard one bad story about the Marienthals, and especially in an era when, let's say, you know, club owners were less than scrupulous.

You know, they treated them well. They paid them well. They were just a very safe, you know – they created a very safe working environment. So I think that's why they kept these people and they just stayed for multiple engagements like a Woody Allen, who was already a star by 67, was already in movies and stuff, but was still playing this 300-seat theater in Chicago. I think you just missed out, Gilbert,

because the club closed in 75. Wow. Had you guys, had the club stayed open another four or five years, I bet Gilbert would have played it. Yeah. Well, we would have loved to have you. That would have been another star that was launched.

We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast after this. Fences with BetMGM, the king of sportsbooks. Log in or sign up to play along as BetMGM brings the real-time action. Embrace a season's worth of swings with BetMGM, your one-stop shop for all things baseball. BetMGM.com for Ts and Cs. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Gambling problem? Call Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600.

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at a giant outdoor music festival. Ah! Adventure awaits in Ottawa. From O to Ah. Plan your Ottawa adventure. From O to Ah. Plan your Ottawa adventure at ottawatourism.ca. And now back to the show. Now, what about, were there any stories about performers who were more difficult? Should we tell this story, Sand?

I mean, I don't think it's, you know, it's a bad story necessarily. The one Clark Weber, who is a famous DJ on WLS, we interviewed. Supposedly, I think it was it was a rainy night. It was bad weather and they were worried that there wasn't going to be a full house. And she what was it? She didn't want it. Well, she said she's not going out unless you can get seats. So they went out. Yeah, they went out with vouchers. So my father literally was going out on the street and his PR agent with free drink tickets to get people in. To see you strut out. You couldn't do that now. No, you couldn't do that. She was a prima donna before she was even a prima donna. Everybody starts somewhere.

That's right. How about that? No, it sounds like, though, for the most part, you know, we heard some stories about maybe Stan Getz when he played London House, kind of wandering out, maybe in a stupor of some sort. We interviewed one of the jazz musicians. Right. Of course. You know, there, you know, well, there were, you know, certainly cause the crowd was a real mix, uh, you know, several say, Oh, it was a hip crowd, but it was also a lot of

businessmen, loud conventioneers that had been drinking. And so you really had to have a, uh, a repee with, you know, ways to your audience. And then, you know, and then there were some occasional mobsters that would come in. Oh, tell us about that. Because that's Gilbert. That's catnip to Gilbert. Well, you know, believe it or not, they were maybe one of the few clubs that we can find no mob ties to anything. They were clean, independent businessmen in a world where it was mostly mob run, as we all know.

But there was definitely some mobsters that we've heard stories about showing up with their gumas and the crime. There was one that was in the front row, and I think they were giving, was it Bob Newhart, a hard time. I believe so, yeah. And so Bob Newhart started to, you know, heckle back to this customer. And then as he was going out, you know, the maitre d', Max, said, you do not heckle back to that crowd. Wow.

How about that? How about that? Yeah. Because it's interesting. We've had so many guests on the show. Willie Tyler was just here talking about mob-owned clubs, and they insisted on clean material, which we kind of find strangely ironic. They would kill people, but dirty words.

Yeah. Keep it clean. Yeah. Well, we've heard that the Marienthal brothers were able to keep it clean, number one, because they didn't borrow money from the mob to get into it, but you always had to do business. The linens, meat suppliers, liquor suppliers,

the performers unions, the unions that supplied the hat check girls and the restroom attendants. My father, in fact, testified in front of Bobby Kennedy in 1958 in the House Committee on Organized Crime and Labor. Good stuff, David.

And talked about how the union pressured him to sign up members. How about that? But they didn't take any role. They didn't interfere with the content of the comedians. I mean, you probably had a couple of comics in there that worked a little bit blue. Oh, well, this was the comedians. I mean, you probably had a couple of comics in there that worked a little bit blue. Oh, well, this was the whole transition. I mean,

Lenny Bruce was there. Right. That's what I'm saying. Certainly at that time when he got... Red Fox too? Red Fox. Yeah, Red Fox.

When, you know, of course, Lenny Bruce got arrested for making a joke about nuns. Right. Which today would have been, you know,

regular fare. The gate of Horn in 62. Right. Yes, yes, yes, yes. But your uncle and your dad didn't, they didn't insist on any particular kind of. was much more a Bill Cosby type of family act. Right. And then 1968 happened, which Adam will tell you the event about it, but he totally changed into the Richard Pryor that we knew of. That's in the blog. And at that point, my father did have, you know, he did not know if his customers were going to, you know, accept this type of thing.

Oh, yeah. Tell Gilbert where he was, what night Pryor was playing the club. His arc at Mr. Kelly's is fascinating in general. And we can get more into the Marienthal story. But we should probably start with, you know, it was April 4th, 1968 was the night MLK was assassinated. And that's the night Richard Pryor was playing Mr. Kelly's with Kenny Rogers and the first edition were his openers. And I believe...

Did you know that? That Pryor was playing Mr. Kelly's the night that Martin Luther King was shot. Wow. Yes. And, you know, it's in Furious Cool, which is a great book about him and Nestor Hoff's great book, The Comedians.

Cliff talks about it. Yeah. It's covered fairly widely, but we did some more research and it seems the gist of it is he was on stage when word came in that MLK was assassinated. And what happened then, Jeff Wald, who was also working at the club, the two of them just drove around Chicago all night as it burned down smoking weed, just kind of ruminating on where their lives were, where the nation was going, and kind of like this come-to-Jesus moment. And by all accounts, it seems like everybody points to that assassination

as being the moment where Richard Pryor became radicalized, became a new man. I mean, there was, you know, he was reading, you know, a lot of political, you know, works and, you know, somewhat involved more, you know, but not really. And his act was naturally clean. But then that's where after, know after that engagement happened he started to change over the next interesting year and you know became more political and there was that notorious i think it was a hollywood bowl show where he you know started you know cursing and you know you don't give a shit if a cop kills your kid or it was something to that matter and it shocked people yep but then he would come to ke's again. I think it was New Year's.

He played New Year's Eve almost like through the late 60s into 1970. I think it was 69, 70, if I'm not mistaken, was he was scheduled to appear or 70, 71. No, I think it was 69, 70. And he shows up or he's going to show up and David's father, George, calls and says, well, you know, I've heard you kind of have some, you know, new material. And we just, you know, maybe hope that you would play the way you played before, which is, you know, it's, you know, we don't know what happened. You know, we weren't there. But between newspaper reports and other interviews from Richard, even himself, there was just a disagreement on what each entity wanted. I see.

Because, you know, while I think the Marianthals, I mean, I'm sure Dave would agree, they really brought cutting-edge comedy to these clubs, but there was just maybe something about it. Both Lenny Bruce and Mort Sahl and all those people would be considered cutting-edge. Yeah, I mean, you guys probably can add more light than I do. I'm still trying to figure out how, you know, a Mort S Saul, who, you know, really cut his teeth at Mr. Kelly's and would come back once or twice a year with his, you know, the start of political humor. Right, right, right.

That was very critical of our society, would play to a house of businessmen and conventioneers along with this hip audience. I mean, at that point, how did that all fit together? And as you guys are peeling the layers of the onion and getting deeper and deeper into making the documentary, you're discovering more of these things. You're discovering more about 20th century comedy. Yeah. Not just what happened at Mr. Kelly's, but how these people changed.

Right. And really how Mr. Kelly's was like a pipeline from, it was almost like the middle point between the bitter end on the East Coast and let's say the hungry eye on the West Coast. It was that same circuit. They were traveling that – so it was like that same ebb and flow and kind of tracking of all these – maybe the Vegas acts and stuff. They were all the same acts. They were all the same acts and stuff. They were all the same acts. And so you get this kind of, you know, the giants of this era were just all passing through here. And so is right before him and Carlin, you figure, really broke out. Both of them went through those changes. Yeah, which Carlin also played the club.

And Carlin also came in as a very straight. So you got both Carlins? You got the button-down George Carlin? Yeah, that was back when he was the hippy-dippy. Well, exactly. He didn't come. I don't think he came back once post-transition. Interesting.

But I can say that playing Mr. Kelly's was a very important night, was a very important thing happened there. He dropped acid for the first time while in Chicago during an engagement at Mr. Kelly's. Unbelievable. So, like, it's another comedian who was at kelly's during a very important crossroad uh in their life he he in his book i think it's last words he says you know he read in his diary just one word that day acid you know so the tone the book that tony hender put together uh yeah yeah yeah yeah he dropped acid at Mr. Kelly's for the first time. Yeah. Unbelievable. Now, what was that show like when he was on acid? Well, I don't think he did it during a show.

We'll never know. It was while in Chicago performing at Kelly's. It's interesting. So, you know what I mean? It was like he was there as the clean cut. We have ads where he looks like a businessman. Talk to Kelly Carlin and see what she knows. I sent her.

Yeah, we're reaching out. We connected these gentlemen to Kelly so they can find out what Kelly knows. We know that there were certainly things going on in the dressing room of Kelly's, whether it be pot smoking. I have a good one, actually. Gilbert will love this one. I have a good one, actually. Gilbert will love this one. We didn't tape this person, but we were working with Loyola University, and they did some oral histories with us. And one of the subjects, who was a musician at London House, told us a story about how Bob Crane and the cast of Hogan's Heroes showed up.

Oh, Gilbert, this is good. This is good. You don't even have to talk any further. This is already a great story. No, but so they all show up at London House, maybe, you know, three sheets to the wind, you know, kind of having the fun night. They go backstage with the musicians and are smoking pot in the back room at the London House in between shows. So this musician, I think think was like 17 at the time. And, you know, he grew up watching Hogan's heroes. Like I, it was, you know, early seventies

or the show was like on its last leg, maybe last season. So, I mean, could you imagine growing up with, you know, Hogan and all the guys showing up and smoking weed with you as a teenager? Unbelievable. We're going to stop and I'll tell you why, because this is so good, and I knew we weren't going to cover it in one episode. So we'll knock out two of these because we're just starting to get to the good stuff. Starting to scratch the surface. Do you remember the old prior, too, when he was doing Cosby? Oh, yeah.

He was like a Cosby clone? Yeah, he was like Cosby Jr. Before he went through that. And, yeah, George Carlin was in a suit, clean shaven. Both of them. Yes. Yeah. Well, we can talk Cosby, too.

Well, we may devote a whole episode. There's no way to squeeze this into 30 minutes, so we'll stop here, and we'll do another one next week. So sign us off, Mr. mr g why don't you okay this has been another episode of uh gilbert godfrey's amazing colossal podcast with my co-host frank santo padre and you know their names you have them written down do i dare hold them up and let you take a shot at it And you know their names you have them Here we go, okay, okay, okay, I'm gonna try this okay, here's a big finish, okay There's one on the left fuck. This is a whole not know just that oh, okay? Yeah, we've been talking to Adam Carlson. Adam Carlson, I told you. Very good.

I fucking told you I couldn't do this. Adam Carsten. I warned you. We've been talking to Take 57. Adam Carsten. You got it. Carsten with a T. We've been talking to-

This is why he gets the big bucks. We've been talking to Adam Karsten. Okay, now try this one. Impossible. Fucking impossible. David. Give it your best shot. Oh, Christ. David, my five in, Christ. David McFlyvin, Bob.

David McFlyvin. Nobody's going to forget these days. It's the biggest honor to have him break into Jerry Ross. David McFlyvin. All right, we've been talking to David Marienthal and Adam Karsten, and we're going to come back and do this next week and continue the hilarity. Thanks, guys. All right.

We'll see you next week. Don't. Come on back. Colossal Obsessions.