Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - Mini-Ep #22: The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and Paper Moon

Episode Date: August 13, 2015

Each week, comedian Gilbert Gottfried and comedy writer Frank Santopadre share their appreciation of lesser-known films, underrated TV shows and hopelessly obscure character actors -- discussing, dissecting and (occasionally) defending their handpicked guilty pleasures and buried treasures. This week: Exit Paul Newman, enter Ryan O'Neal! Richard Dreyfuss comes of age! And the enigma of Randy Quaid! If you've got a car and a license, put 'em both to work for you and start earning serious, life-changing money today. Sign up to drive with Uber. Visit http://www.DriveWithUber.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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+. That's the sound of unaged whiskey transforming into Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey in Lynchburg, Tennessee. Around 1860, Nearest Green taught Jack Daniel how to filter whiskey through charcoal for a smoother taste, one drop at a time. 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. Hey, you like making great money, right? You sound like Chico Marx. Yeah. Hey, you like great money. Hey, boss. Well, you got to get the book with horses in it. And then you get the book with the writers.

You're picking a subpar Marx Brothers movie. Yes. Yes, we all like making good money, Gil. What's your point? Oh, I have none. Okay. Okay. Here's a really cool opportunity i had to share

with you uh-huh driving with uber uber's that popular smartphone app that connects riders with drivers ah yes i take an uber a bunch i love them and in chatting with the different drivers, some of them have really interesting stories to say as to why they drive with Uber. Now, that's unusual because you usually don't like it when people talk to you. I usually go, shut up. I'm in show business, and I'm above you. No. They love being their own boss. Yeah, I love being my own boss.

Then I can make a joke that offends me and fire myself. Absolutely. And cut out the middleman. And that still may happen. Also, I hear they make great money. They do. They do. It's easy to start.

All you need is a car and a license. Now, you have one of those things. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It's one of them around here. I don't know what. And driving with Uber is great if you need flexibility. Or if you're a parent like you are. Yes. Yeah, because you're working around the family schedule and stuff. Or students. Right. That's right.

They can make money in between classes it's true now's the prime time to cash in driving with uber people you'll thank me you'll thank gilbert for telling you guys how to get paid every week and gilbert himself could be getting into your car in fact he probably will be because he doesn't have a license yes yes i could be getting in your car. I don't know if that's a drawback. Maybe I should say, hey, I promise I won't get into your car. That's even better. And then more people will sign up. That's even more appealing.

Now, you've got a car and you've got a license. Not you, Gil, but the people I'm talking to. Put them both to work for you and start earning serious, life-changing money today. You sign up to drive with Uber. Visit drivewithuber.com. That's drivewithuber.com. Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and it's... Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and I'm here with my co-host Frank Santopadre, and this is Gilbert and Frank's Amazing Obsessions. Or is it Amazing Colossal Obsessions?

Doesn't matter. Doesn't really matter. Doesn't matter. Although, for the theme song that we put out there, we put out the invitation for somebody to actually write some music for us. And a friend of mine sent in a theme song, which I'm going to play for you later. And maybe we'll actually get an MP3 and we'll work it into the show. Oh, okay. So somebody actually took us up on the insane offer to write us some music.

So we've got some music, but I'm still not sure what the title is. It doesn't matter. Is it Amazing Colossal? Amazing Colossal Obsessions. Yeah. Yeah, because we wanted to keep the branding. So then I should have said this is Gilbert and Frank's amazing colossal obsessions. Right. My standards have been lowered.

Even if you come close, I accept it. I don't care. I never cared from the beginning. Quality control. What quality control? So you got a movie this week? We're sitting in a 102-degree room at the Friars Club, by the way. I have one.

We've spoken about this one. It's come up on the show before. I'm intrigued. And this is The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. Oh, you're just saying that to get Richard Dreyfuss to do the show. Yes. Please do the show, Richard. Yeah.

And we just want to ask you about Jaws. Well, Joan and David said they were going to help us get Richard Dreyfuss. Oh, I'd love to have Richard Dreyfuss on. Me too. Because you know what Richard Dreyfuss is? A Jew. Yes. In fact, I believe this film is about the Jewish experience.

Yes, yes. It's all about Jews. I think it's from the book, All About Jews. And it was written by Mordecai Rickler. That's the guy. I'm not sure what his heritage is. I'm not sure you're pronouncing his name correctly anyway, but what the hell. I don't think I am.

But with – yeah, and it's like – well, of course Richard Dreyfuss. Yep, yep. When he was young and pretty much unknown at the time. And Randy Quaid. Oh, yes. Before he went batshit crazy. Oh, Randy Quaid's in my movie, too. Oh, great.

And Randy Quaid, at one point, the authorities were after him. Oh, yes. And he fled. He was going to hide out in Canada. So the first thing he did when he got to Canada was hold a press conference that I'm in Canada hiding out. Well, first he was squatting in someone's home for a while. And then he made a weird sex tape. Do you remember this?

And his wife was wearing a mask. Was it him and Dennis? No. His wife was wearing a strange mask. I don't know. It was some kind of political statement. Yes. But anyway, in the old days, when he had a legitimate acting career.

He was in this. Right. And he was actually good. Isn't Jack Warden in it? Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's interesting, too, because this is kind of, once again, it's Jack Warden and Joseph Wiseman. Oh, Dr. No.

Yes. Right. Yes. And they were in another film I recommended that was Bye Bye Braverman. They acted together in there. Correct. Weird. And this was one of those, it's like a smaller film, I think it was a Canadian production company. I think Ted Kochiff was the director.

Do I have that right? A Canadian director? Oh, yes. I'm going to look it up on my phone while you're talking. But go ahead. Yeah. No one pays attention while I'm talking. It's like, yeah, I'm going to go out and take a walk while you're talking. I'm going to check on my dry cleaning while you're talking. I think I got it right.

Yes. And Richard Dreyfuss is like, you know, a conniving character. Right. But you're fascinated by him. It's a coming-of-age film. Oh, yes. Yes. And so I recommend that one.

The apprenticeship of, isn't it, Doody Kravitz? Oh, yeah. Doody Kravitz? Oh, yeah. Doody Kravitz. And you know something? I think David Steinberg, a Canadian Jew, that people called him Doody. Oh, Doodoo is a nickname for David, I believe. Yeah.

So they all used to call him Doody. Right. I don't know why I know that, being a Gentile. Yeah. The Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast producer of the month for August is Kate Jones thank you Kate be just like Kate and get rewarded for supporting our podcast head over to patreon.com slash Gilbert Gottfried. For a small amount each month, you can get some colossal benefits, such as access to new podcast episodes before anyone else, exclusive video hangouts, shout-outs from me on Twitter. I will even read something that you send me,

and it'll sound just like this. Go to patreon.com slash Gilbert Gottfried. That's Patreon. P-A-T-R-E-O-N dot com slash Gilbert Gottfried. We thank you for your generosity. Randy Quaid also turns up in my movie, which is... By accident, he's hiding out. He wasn't cast in the movie.

He was hiding out on the set. He was in the balcony of a theater bootlegging. He thought it's a movie. No one will see me here. You remember when he had this big career, like The Last Detail? Yes. And what was he in? Was he in The Last Picture Show?

I think he's in that. Oh, yeah. Lots of stuff. The Long Riders. Anyway, this is Paper Moon. Oh, yes. Peter Bogdanovich's Paper Moon. And I want to sing the praises of an unsung talent or an unheralded lesser-known talent,

Polly Platt. You know Polly Platt, who was married to Bogdanovich. Oh, yes. And was a production designer and a screenwriter, and she brought him this material. It was a novel. And she brought him the... She was involved, actually, with a lot of his films.

She was involved with Targets. We've talked about Targets on the show. Oh, with Sarah Karloff. With Sarah Karloff. She was involved with The Last Picture Show. She was sort of the woman behind the man in Bogdanovich's life, and later she went on to work with James L. Brooks. But she's also interesting because there would not have been a Simpsons without Polly Platt

because she was the person that took Matt Groening's strip, one of the Life in Hell strips, and gave it to James L. Brooks. Oh! And that's when he hired Groening to do the shorts on the old Tracy Ullman show. Remember how The Simpsons started out as those shorts? So Polly Platt, the late Polly Platt, I wanted to give a shout out to because she's connected to a film I'm going to recommend now, Paper Moon. And I should say that I worked for two weeks on a Peter Bogdanovich film. Oh, there's a connection!

Yes! That's right! What waseter bogdanovich oh there's a connection that's right what was the what was the bogdanovich it was uh the last of the richard pryor uh gene wiley oh my god and it was called another you i know that picture it was horrible wasn't he replaced as a director on that? Yes. By somebody else? Arthur Hiller or somebody? Yeah, he was replaced as a director. Right. And then I knew already then that was the stamp on it. Who did you play? I was like one of the mental patients.

Right. And Pryor was really failing at that point. Oh, yeah. Because even in the previous one. Oh, yeah. Where he looked sick and out of the ear, he looked like a zombie. That's sad. But he was very nice to me.

That's nice. Very nice. And he acted like, he, Pryor acted to me like I was the big comedy star and he was this donning fan. Fascinating. Yeah, he was great. But he got fired. Bogdanovich. And then they decided to cut all previously shot footage.

Oh, God. To make it into the classic movie. You could have been in this really terrible film. Yes, I could have been. I made up for it in other pieces of shit. More than, I would say. So go back to Paper Moon. This is Paper Moon, which was, as I said, was a

novel. She found the novel, brought it to Bogdanovich, and interestingly, it was originally developed as a movie for Paul Newman. It was developed by John Huston, and Paul Newman was going to do the film with his actual daughter.

Isn't that interesting? And then Huston fell out, so Newman fell out. And Polly Platt, who was a fan of the book, brought it to Bogdanovich. And it was called, I believe it was called Addie Prey, after Addie, the character played by Tatum O'Neill. And they changed the title to Paper Moon. And Orson Welles, who Bogdanovich was spending a lot of time with at that time,

said, that's a great title. You don't even have to make the movie. You could just release the title. And you've seen the movie. It's a Depression-era drama comedy. And this was before Ryan O'Neill was kicking the shit. Yeah, well before. Yeah.

Well before. Again, speaking of, well, we're talking about Randy Quaid, when Ryan O'Neill had a real acting career. Oh, my God. This was after Bogdanovich made Last Picture Show and then What's Up, Doc? with Ryan O'Neill and Barbra Streisand. This is shot in black and white. It's shot by the great Laszlo Kovacs, who shot Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces and Shampoo

and The Last Waltz. And it's a sweet film. It's a simple film about a con man who sells Bibles to grieving widows. He looks them up in the obituaries and says, your husband ordered this Bible for you before he died. And this little girl comes into

his life, played by his actual real-life daughter, Tatum O'Neill, who will wind up winning an Oscar for this part. I think she was at 10. Which I'm sure had to have added to why he kicked the shit out of her years later. The story is, I saw I was watching some of the extras on the DVD, that because Ryan O'Neill and Bogdanovich were not nominated, supposedly they didn't show up.

Oh, my God. I can only assume that she was there to accept her Oscar, that she either came with her mother or some kind of guardian, or the nanny or someone. It's a terrific film. It's a sweet movie. Madeline Kahn shows up as Trixie Delight,

the love interest for Ryan O'Neill's character. Randy Quaid, who we were just talking about, shows up playing a hillbilly. He wrestles him for his car. And of course, the voice of the car

in David Hasselhoff's John Hillerman. John Hillerman, the voice. John Hillerman was also in Magnum P.I. Oh, yes, yes. John Hillerman plays two parts. He plays a bootlegger and his sheriff brother who busts O'Neill, busts him up physically. It's a beautiful-looking film, lots of long takes,

and Wells was kind of hanging around as an advisor to Bogdanovich when he made the film. So see it. It's terrific. I just watched it again with my wife this morning. Paper Moon.

And then look up Polly Platt, who had a fascinating career. They actually made a comedy about Bogdanovich and Polly Platt's marriage ending, which was a movie called The Reconcilable Differences. Oh, my God, with Ryan O'Neill. With Ryan O'Neill, of all people. And Sharon Stone. And Shelley Long. Right, with Sharon Stone playing the Sybil Shepard character.

Oh, my God, yes. The beautiful woman that comes between. And Polly Platt, rather wryly, said that they got more right about the film than they got wrong. But she would later go on to work with James L. Brooks, and she did a lot of cool stuff in her career. And she was a production designer and a writer and a producer. Anyway. So your recommend—oh, what was the Paul Newman movie that he directed starring his daughter?

Oh, gosh. It had a girl's name in it. Oh, I know the one you mean. Something, something. Was it Rachel Rachel? I think it was. Which was then maybe parodied on Seinfeld as Rochelle Rochelle. Oh, yes, yes. Or at least the title was. Yeah, he directed a couple of movies, Newman.

He directed, I think he directed sometimes A Great Notion, which was the movie about the... Oh, Sherlock Holmes. No, no, it was a movie about loggers. Oh. And I think he directed that one. He definitely directed a movie called Harry and Son with Robbie Benson.

Oh, okay. About a father and son having a difficult relationship. But I think that's the one you're talking about with Joanne Woodward in the lead. Yeah, Rachel Rachel. Rachel Rachel, which I have never seen. So I'm recommending Paper Moon. It's a lot of fun. If you get your hands on the DVD, the extras are a lot of fun.

And I'm recommending Richard Dreyfuss and, of course, once again, Jack Warden and Joseph Wiseman working together. Love Joseph Wiseman. In The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. Does Jack Guilford show up in that one? He might. I don't seem to remember him in the trailer. He certainly fits the ethnic background. And I could be crazy wrong, but I think the director was Ted Kotcheff.

Yes, I think you're right. It's 106 degrees in this room and I'm delirious. So we'll see you next week. If you like listening to comedy, try watching it on the internet. The folks behind the S sideshow network have launched a new youtube channel called wait for it it's got interviews with comedians like reggie watts todd glass liza slicinger slicing driving friends with her for 10 years one of the funniest people out there and i still have a hard time with the last name liza our very own owen benjamin that's

me takes you on a musical journey down internet rabbit holes and much more you don't have to wait I still have a hard time with the last name, Liza. Our very own Owen Benjamin, that's me, takes you on a musical journey down internet rabbit holes and much more. You don't have to wait any longer. Just go to youtube.com slash wait for it comedy. There's no need to wait for it anymore. Because it's here. And it's funny. And I love you.

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