Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - Mini #214: REAL Bands of 1960s TV (with John Fotiadis)

Episode Date: May 2, 2019

This week: "Far Out Munsters"! Paul Revere & the Raiders! The Peppermint Trolley Company! Mannix meets the Buffalo Springfield! And Chad & Jeremy tangle with Catwoman! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Spring is here, and you can now get almost anything you need for your sunny days delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by almost? Well, you can't get a well-groomed lawn delivered, but you can get a chicken parmesan delivered. A cabana? That's a no. But a banana? That's a yes. A nice tan? Sorry, nope.

But a box fan? Happily, yes. A day of sunshine? No. A box of fine wines? Yes. Uber Eats can definitely get you that. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol in select markets. Product availability may vary by Regency app for details.

I am future. I wait in the world of Echo. Discover Echo from Cirque du Soleil. Now playing under the big top at Toronto Lakeshore Boulevard West. Tickets at cirquetusoleil.com. Echo. Thanks for presenting partner Sun Life. The world is yours to create. I'm Gilbert Gottfried and I'm here with my co-host Frank Santopadre

and this is Gilbert and Frank's amazing colossal obsessions with our special guest John Viven Vivenvital. He gets honorary Paul Music. He gets the Raybone music. But he's not disabled in any way. Yet. Raybone disintegrated. That's why I'm here.

Our musician in residence, John Fotiatis. Wyman! At least your name isn't Cliff Nesteroff. Yeah, correct. John is back for part two. John has very generously done all this wonderful research and come up with his own premise,

which I host, this co-host appreciates greatly. Last week we did, you know, people seem to like the music episodes. People like One Hit Wonders. We love them. Oh, and the death one. We did the death songs of the 70s, which really took off. People liked them. Terry Jacks.

Terry Jacks, Seasons in the Sun. So John is an architect by day, a very talented musician by night. You know his tunes for this podcast. Listener mail theme. Many others. Producer of the month theme. I don't want to leave any out. No.

And John called me and he said, hey, I got a premise. Let's do all the Beatles-inspired bands that turned up on 60s TV shows. And there were many, and we did that last week. So now we're going to do part two, which is basically the same premise, but these are actual bands. Right. I think somewhere along the line, these bands said, hey, this premise worked. We should just appear as ourselves. Yes, because they were fictional bands pretty much.

Or in the case of Gilligan's Island, the people who sang the theme song. People were drafted into the cause to play these bedbugs and mosquitoes. And I also think that given the fact that they started touring and they were in California and in L.A., it was easier for them to actually get on these shows. Right. Yeah. So the first one you have here is from a Batman episode from season two, my favorite show. Right.

Season two, His Honor, The Penguin. Yes. The Penguin runs for mayor. That's right. The Penguin appears to have gone straight. Later used in the plot of Batman Returns. Right. Strangely enough.

Right, right. What I find funny about this episode is that there's some kind of some kind of provision in the charter of Gotham City that permits felons to run for elective office. Where have I heard that one before? And the mayor the mayor who's facing certain defeat

his name in this episode is Mayor Lynn Seed. He's in every episode. Mayor Lindsay. He's in a bunch of episodes. I think it's very funny. So Paul Revere and the Raiders make an appearance

as themselves and in this case they don't even sing anything they're at the Penguins fundraiser I don't know what kind of fundraiser this is with a belly dancer with a belly dancer

and they're playing some trippy Middle Eastern music it's weird it's wild it's certifiably weird yeah so I guess that was must have been around

the time the Beatles were getting with the Maharishi. Maybe. Quite possibly. It's getting trippier. The music is definitely getting trippier. Yeah, yeah.

We have another Batman episode coming, so we'll do a clip of that one. But Gilbert liked to talk about Chad and Jeremy on the Dick Van Dyke Show. This is one of the classics, right? And this is that classic premise where the mop top English guys come over. They're known as the Redcoats. that's the name of the band okay a british rock doer that's all the craze uh performing on on alan's show alan brady right so which causes issues for the show's staff uh they can't keep screaming female fans at bay so um they need to hide them out somewhere and of course the petri home is the natural place for them to go.

So they show up and they do a number of musical performances, which are actually quite fun. And their banter back and forth is very funny too. Right. And Chad and Jeremy were a British Invasion act. They are. And their banter is very much hard day's night banter. You know, that kind of quick-witted repartee when they're speaking to Alan Brady's staff. So it's quite entertaining.

Yeah. You remember that one, don't you? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Do you remember when Harry Twizzle came on the Dick Van Dyke show and introduced the new dance craze, the Twizzle? I remember. Does anyone remember that?

There's a word. It was a spoof of Chubby Checker and the twist, the peppermint twist. Do the Twizzle. Did I dream this or is it an actual Dick Van Dyke episode? Yeah. February 10th of 65,

the Redcoats are coming. Did you find that that premise was used repeatedly of the band that needs to hide out? Not only that, but the other half of the premise

is that the hosts can't tell anybody. I see. So they have this great moral dilemma that they have to deal with. This is fantastic. Yeah, it's very anybody. I see. So they have this great moral dilemma that they have to deal with. This is fantastic. Yeah, it's very funny.

I miss 60s television so much. Speaking of Chad and Jeremy, they also turn up on a December 66 episode of Batman. Yeah. The Bats Kowtow with the lovely Julie Newmar who was on this very show. Right.

I might add. What was the premise of this one? As if I didn't know? Well, this is the most outlandish one I've heard, where somehow Catwoman, who's involved here, steals the voices of Chad and Jeremy, forcing a blackmail on the British government, who somehow can't collect tax revenues on their performances, so she wants a million pounds from the British government who somehow can't collect tax revenues on their performances.

So she wants a million pounds from the British government and somehow Batman and Robin. To return their voices. Eventually capture them. But what's cool about this episode is that they actually perform in a theatrical setting. And for a gear geek like myself, they're using all this great 60s gear and guitars. So you enjoyed doing this research. I really did. I got a chubby on this one.

A little bit of trivia from that episode. They appear on the Alan Stevens show, who was played by Steve Allen. How funny. Oh! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And they played Teenage Failure, which was one of their songs. It's a pretty good song, actually. Let's hear a little bit of this Batman episode, Frank.

They got the screaming girls. Went up to my boss today. I said, hey man, can I have more pay? I said, will ya? Please, sir. He took one look at me and then he said, if you ask me that again, I'll kill ya. Aren't they great, Alfred?

Well, they certainly do sway. Very hip, Alfred. It's. There he has Alfred. It's hip and hurried. They changed it. Former podcast guest Bert Warwick. Oh, God, I want that guitar. Same sort of thing with the birds in this town.

I pick them up, they put me down Still you can't complain Much if I had a fancy car Here comes Commissioner Gordon. Well, Bruce Wayne! Commissioner Gordon, how nice to hear your voice again. Former podcast guest Adam West. Everybody's been on this podcast.

That's the show. Former podcast guest Adam West. Everybody's been on this podcast. It's a fucking show. Do you remember this episode, Gil, where Catwoman steals their voices? I remember a voice stealing thing that happened with the monkeys. Really? Yeah. That one I don't know. That's a whole other world to drill into. That's another world.

Actually, The Monkees is kind of the culmination of all of this. Yes. Where at some point, somebody finally decides, you know what? Let's just make a show about a band. Let's go for it. Let's go for it. Next one up, The Beverly Hillbillies. I did not know this one.

You didn't know it because it's so weird and bizarre. Robin Hood and the Sheriff was the name of the episode. I did not know this one. You didn't know it because it's so weird and bizarre. Robin Hood and the Sheriff was the name of the episode. I tried watching this, at least clips of this episode, three or four times. It was a total shit show. I couldn't understand what was going on. Jethro was in a Robin Hood outfit. He's in a public park. Played by former podcast guest Max Beardry.

Former podcast guest George Washington. Yeah, so these guys, the peppermint trolley company that were actually an american kind of sunshiny pop they were real the peppermint trolley company gilbert they had a single called baby you come and roll and cross my mind also performed on manix love it and um they did an arrangement of performance of the brady bunch theme. So there you go. Like this weird intertwining stuff. The Peppermint Trolley Company. Exactly. On the Beverly Hillbillies.

And here they're just playing in this public park in the background while Jethro is doing his weird Robin Hood stuff. How about a little of this, Frankie? This man needs peace and quiet. Here they are. Here they go. These are all on YouTube. That almost sounds like Bo Diddley. Sounds like Magic Bus.

Yeah. Yeah. What was that Bo Diddley beat? The laugh track is so obtrusive. I just want to get the laugh track. Who looks good and moves so fine? Oh, Mary. There's Ellie Mae.

She's as sweet as cherry wine. Oh, Mary. Oh, Robin Hood. There's Ellie Mae. That little break with the guitar, it seems like that was played no matter what kind of music. No matter what. You always had that structure. Whether it was jazz or anything, it always had that beat. This band showed up on Mannix, too? That's right.

Yeah. The Peppermint Trolley Company. And speaking of Mannix. Yes. So this is where... Take it, John. This is where things get a little dark. Because, you know, Mannix is a detective show. Yes, sure.

And there's violence. And so the Buffalo Springfield, a real band and a quite important band of the period, appear as the bar band in a Mannix episode called Warning Live Blueberries. I don't know if that's some kind of obtuse drug reference. I'm not really sure. But Mannix is hired by an old friend to find his college-aged daughter who's living in a commune. So, you know, it involves hippies and, you know, Charles Manson type stuff. And he penetrates this commune to try to find involves hippies and you know charles manson type stuff and uh he he

penetrates this commune to try to find out what happened to this person and there's this one scene where you see them playing in the background you see stephen stills and neil young with the fringe and the gretches and the whole yeah the whole i watched the the clip you sent me it was dark by the way there's a there's a monkey dancing in this beverly hillbillies episode in a robin hood outfit which will make Gilbert happy. And Abraham Lincoln is dancing next to a monkey. Well, you should be okay with that.

Yes, yeah. Excuse me, the monkeys. The Manix episode was disturbing. It really was. And dark, but it was nice to see the Buffalo Springfield on Manix. And they're singing for quite a while. So they're kind of doing a Yardbirds thing in Blow Up, you know, where the Yardbirds are in that film and they appear as the they're singing for quite a while so they're kind of doing a Yardbirds thing in Blow Up

you know where the Yardbirds are in that film and they appear as the house band that's what Buffalo Springfield is doing in this episode and what about this My Mother the Car episode

from 65 yeah this is just I was going really deep this is a deep cut this is why you know this show failed so miserably because the name

of the episode is My Son the Ventriloquist. That's the name of the episode. Oh, geez. Season one, episode 10, and the name of the band is called The Spats, which it turns out was a real garage band out of Garden Grove, California. How did you even find this stuff? Amazing. They performed on Shindig.

They released a couple of albums. That's the same one they're on Shindig. Including a single called Gator Tales and Monkey Ribs. Had you heard of the Spats, Gilbert? That sounds like Gilbert's next book. Yeah. Right. It could be.

The Sea Woke Up. The Sea Woke Up to Rubber Balls and Liquor? Yeah, exactly. I didn't have to mention bestiality. Gilbert woke up. But anyway, so yeah, so this is a horrible show, and I think like the show and the band, they're both relegated to the ash heap of history.

Did I send you a clip for this one, Frank? Or do I have a clip? There was a clip here. I don't know if you sent it to him. I don't know if I gave him that one. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing colossal podcast after this. That's the sound of fried chicken with a spicy history.

Thornton Prince was a ladies' man. To get revenge, his girlfriend hid spices in his fried chicken. He loved it so much, he opened Prince's Hot Chicken. Hot chicken in the window. This is one of many sounds in Tennessee with a story to tell. To hear them in person, plan your trip at tnvacation.com. Tennessee sounds perfect. This episode is brought to you by FX's The Bear on Disney+.

In Season 3, Carmi and his crew are aiming for the ultimate restaurant accolade, a Michelin star. With Golden Globe and Emmy wins, the show starring Jeremy Allen White, Io Debrey, and Maddie Matheson is ready to heat up screens once again. All new episodes of FX's The Bear

are streaming June 27, only on Disney+. So what's the next episode? Well, I've got a few more. Sometimes I didn't use the clips because it was an entire episode that you sent me. That's right. And I couldn't find any isolations. That's fine.

Talk about the flying nun. Flying nun. I'm just proud that Gilbert has said nothing of the chimp that was on the screen all that time. I know. I expected a big reaction. Bait waiting to be cut. Because he's normalized Simeon's in clothing. That's why.

It's no longer an issue for him. That was one of the cunnilingus chimps. You had to say it, didn't you? You couldn't help yourself. And one of the first ones we played, one of the guys' outfit in that Beatles-esque band with the hat and the glasses was like the outfit they wore for the

Nairobi Nairobi Trio Can you play the Cunnilingus Chimps music please? Throw the episode completely off the rails We'll add that in later Tell us about Song of Betrill from the Flying Nun

They're still pushing this thing Unbelievable and this one is the weirdest most psychedelic song out of them all from the Flying Nun. So this is very funny. They're still pushing this thing. Like 68. Unbelievable. And this one is the weirdest, most psychedelic song out of them all. It's a band called the Sundowners that I believe were also a real band. It turns out one of the guys in the band was a friend of Sister Betrill's

before she becomes a nun. Sister Betrill had a musical interest in trying to raise money somehow. So she writes a song. They decide to to perform it but of course it's performed in this very tripped out psychedelic way that nobody right appreciates and sunny and the sundowners were a real band and it's a very trippy uh trippy rock song what's funny about it is that the guy singing it sounds like the lead singer of stealer's wheel he He's doing like a really bad Dylan imitation. Wow.

Jerry Rafferty. Wow. Gilbert, was The Flying Nun a show you watched? No. No, huh? No. Never watched The Flying Nun. I would think that would be one of your favorites.

Yeah. How could I have gotten that so wrong? He was big into Alejandro Rey. Yes. She's a matril. She's a matril. She's a matril. Okay.

But you never heard an Alejandro Rey. What about this other Beverly Hillbillies episode? So the other Beverly Hillbillies is featuring a band called The Enemies. You talk about a proto-punk garage band. I've never heard of these bands. And in this case, hoping that a party will help Jethro and Ellie Mae meet people their own age, the Clampets want to hold an old-fashioned hoedown. So they enlist the help of Miss Hathaway to go out and find a band.

Somehow they wind up in this club, and they hire this band that probably sounded more at home playing on the docks of Hamburg than they did in Southern California. I almost feel guilty forcing you to sit through every one of these episodes. It was oddly fascinating because they do a couple of songs. They do a version of Pretty Woman, which is okay.

Really? And then they do a version of I Got My Mojo Working, you know, the old blues standard, which is actually, you know, it's got some- I laugh thinking about how the writers would, you know, submit scripts for that season.

Yeah. And everybody had their rock and roll episode. You know, everybody had to submit an episode with, oh, the band's hiding out. In the case of the Munsters, they rent the house out to the fucking standouts. Hey, let's hear it from the Jolly Green Giant. We'll get to that one.

But it's like, it was almost mandatory to have your rock episode. And these guys, what's interesting also is that they were mostly garage bands, too. I mean, they were out doing like on B-record labels. Nobody wanted to put out the money to get Voice of Heart. I'm sure they were available for like $20 or whatever. So these guys were a garage band from Buffalo, New York,

and then they went on to do different things. I think one of them wound up in the Three Dog Night, one of the members of the Enemies. Oh, was it Corey Wells? Yes, Corey Wells. Bravo, Frank. Would have been a great podcast guest. We're going to try to get Chuck Negron for Three Dog Night.

Never heard of these bands. I love that you did all this research. What about Ben Casey? So Ben Casey features the Standells, which is a band that turns out appeared on many episodes. They kind of get my award for having the most exposure. There's an episode called Three Little Lambs, which actually also features Marlo Thomas. There you go, Gil. And Carol O'Connor's in that episode.

That's right. So he's trying to lasso in three neurosurgeons that he's responsible for. And he needs to give them all a talking to about how they're living their lives and of course he does it in a bar listening to a garage of course did you watch ben casey gilbert uh yeah and with with sam chaffee yeah yeah dr zorba yeah yeah so uh so yeah they're playing in the background and and i always found you know the black and white shows kind of weird you know because this should have playing in the background and I always found you know the black and white shows kind of weird

you know because this should have been in the color era but this was still a black and white show what's fascinating is that you wonder if the Standells

representation were on top of this like how many shows can we put you guys on because it was three shows in a year

that's right they did Ben Casey they did they did the Ben did the ben crosby show in january ben casey in march right and the monsters in march months was in march and the other thing i found out about them you know how they kind of have this 50s clean cut look with the suits and and the pompadours but it turns out they were much more of a hippie band kind of coming out on the scene and their management forced them to look a bit cleaner almost what what brian epstein did with the beatles because they were

trying to book them on all these shows and they want to be too outlandish it's amazing how many shows got mileage out of this idea and the sandals as we said turned up on the bing crosby show which is a clip you sent me that i couldn't really watch because it was yeah this was the only out of all of these episodes out of all the series was the only one i couldn't really find any premise for there's not a lot written on i think it was a very short-lived sitcom do you remember the bing crosby show no i mean he had done like three or four of these types of shows there were there were a few weird shows like i remember they had the henry fonda show the smith family. Yeah, and the Jimmy Stewart show.

Yep. Ron Howard was on that Henry Fonda show. Yeah. He was the son. That was a weird time when they had these movie stars. Yeah. Well, and they were the twilight of their careers. Yes, yeah.

And they would give them a TV show to front. I mean, Fred McMurray, too. Yeah. Right? Yeah, my three sons. And we saved the best for last. My absolute favorite. Mine, too. Oh, yeah. Yeah. My Three Sons. And we saved the best for last. My absolute favorite. Mine too. Oh. Yeah. Far

Out Monsters. Oh! Okay. Okay. Eddie comes up with a new musical taste rock music. Okay. After putting a record in the phonograph, Herman and Grandpa get very angry about the noisy music. Later, a rock group manager sees in the paper that the Munsters' house is

a perfect shelter for the Standells. So they rent the house. Of course. The Munsters go away. The Munsters come back. And it turns into this whole beat generation, Allen Ginsberg poetic party thing. It's great with Zalman King. With Zalman King doing some great spoken word poetry.

Yeah. But I love Herman's poetry the best. I watched the whole episode because I had to see Grandpa hanging in the closet. Me too. I did it. This is the only one I watched from start to finish. We lead sad lives, Frank. We really do.

Well, you know, we share an Al Lewis obsession. I'm going to get you back here at some point to do some kind of All Munsters episode. I don't know what it is yet, but we'll come up with some kind of premise. You need to get Billy West for that. Yeah, we'll get Billy West. When he comments on the room tone.

Frankie, let's see a little of this wonderful clip of the Standells on the Munsters. We'll all wing it. We'll all sing it. Kyle Lombardo's back in town. That's the poet known as the hermit. The jokes are so hip. Kyle Lombardo joke.

He sure cuts away the hermit. So hip. The hip jokes are so hip. My Lombardo joke. He sure cuts away the tinsel, don't he? He sure cuts away the tinsel. Isn't this a fun party? Yes. I haven't seen so many good-looking people in one place since we closed down the mausoleum back home. Let's hear from the Jolly Green Giant. Are you going to hear this? Oh, no, not me.

Bibbidi-bibbidi. I wrote it down. This is great. It's Harman's poetry? Yeah. I think he's going to recite. Ibbidi-bity Sibbity sab Ibbity bibbity canal boat

Dictionary Down the ferry Mary Mary quite contrary Fuzzy wuzzy was a bear Fuzzy Wuzzy lost his hair Scuba do and scuba die That chicken's not too young to fry Remember the scuba?

That's great Life is real, life is earnest If you're cold, turn up the furnace Fantastic I thank you Real life is earnest. If you're cold, turn up the furnace. Fantastic. I thank you. That's great. Can we go back and hear a little of the Standells? Are they before this or after?

It's so weird that it's supposed to be Beatles, but they're still thinking in terms of the beat generation. So it's kind of straddling you know go back a little bit frank we'll see if we've marked 11 43 but that was what we just yeah i marked it i marked it wrong do the ring go and they also do a beetle truck i want to hold you no we don't want to hear lily singing with the harp go back to the standells yeah the Standells. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. Right here.

There we go. It's a little bit after this. Yeah. It's coming. Did you dig that crazy getup? Man is that way out. You see the hairdo on the tall one? It's the greatest thing since Carl Sandburg. It's references. Carl Sandburg. Guy L references. Carl Sandburg.

Guy Lombardo. Here's the Stan Bells. Yeah. Any memories of this, Gil? I vague. Do I remember smoke coming out of Grandpa's ears at some point? That's when they do, I want to hold your hand. I see.

Fantastic. John, this was a great premise. A lot of fun. Yeah. And fun to do the research? Yeah, yeah, it was a great premise. A lot of fun. Yeah. And fun to do the research? Yeah, yeah. It was great. I mean, it kind of rekindled my interest in garage rock.

There's a whole, it's a deep mine to go down. Are there any you missed? I think probably there was a My Three Sons. Okay. Because I remember still images of them holding guitars. Okay. And like I said, Flintstones and I'm sure some other cartoons covered as well. I think they were covered in every

form of the medium. This man loves Al Lewis, Gilbert, and we have to come up with a Munsters premise. We'll come back and bring him back. Here's one that's not a band that I remembered but a 60s artist on Batman. Does this ring a bell?

Jim Windhoff. I recognize this. Jim is here. Maybe he knows. This is from a Catwoman episode. Gilbert? Oh. It's Leslie Gore.

Oh, wow. Gymnos. It almost sounds like a Brian Wilson type of track. Little Beach Boys kind of thing. California Nights. Sunshine Pop. Yeah. It's great.

I remember this song. Leslie Gore playing Pussycat on Batman. So I had to find one and throw it at you. Not a band. Fantastic. Gil? Ah. Okay.

I'm Gilbert Gottfried. I'm my co-host, Frank Santopadre. And this has been Gilbert and Frank's amazing Colossal Obsessions with our special guest, John Feivenweibel John, this was fun Thank you, thank you guys

Let's do more, absolutely Monster, go home sky above just you and me and we will whisper words of love while the firelight softly flickers in the sun Oh California love

with the breeze blowing in it's not the love to begin, I would live. California night, if I went a mile away, thinking I would stay. Thinking now that I've stayed