Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - Mini-Ep #44: Richard Dreyfuss and Skelton Knaggs

Episode Date: January 28, 2016

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: Lon Chaney grows a mustache! Jack Elam gets "Struck by Lightning"! And the youngest man to win Best Actor! Let Selfie Station be the Picture taker, Ice breaker AND your money maker. As a special introductory offer, get $500 off the professional package. Go to http://SelfieStationpodcast.com and enter promo code GILBERT. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I got my name wrong. That's how bad. It's getting worse. I need my name written on a cue card. Gilbert Roland. Yes. Hi, I'm Gilbert Gottfried, and this

is Gilbert and Frank's Amazing Colossal Obsessions with my co-host Frank Santopadre. It is indeed. Where do we go with this one? Okay, I'm going to start. And we're going to talk about an actor. I know you're going to talk about an actor. But this is an actor that we've been trying to get on the show.

And he's been in New York shooting a miniseries, which is actually how he just came to mind. I just saw a promo. He's playing Bernie Madoff in one of these TV movies. I thought, who am I going to talk about today? And I was wandering around the house and then I saw this promo for the Madoff story starring the great Richard Dreyfuss, who we have talked about on this show many, many times.

In fact, you recommended The Apprenticeship of Dodie Kravitz. Yes. And I talked about The Goodbye Girl. And there's a little film he did, Jaws. A little film called Jaws. But a very interesting man and a very interesting life. And, you know, he's a Brooklyn kid. Yes.

He's born in Brooklyn in 47, and his parents moved to L.A., and he enrolled in Beverly Hills High School where he befriended Joey Bishop's son, Larry Bishop. Oh, that's another one who's in my bid. Joey Bishop. Joey Bishop. Ted Bissell. It's a callback.

And Jacqueline Bissett. By the way, the only reason, and you corrected me last week, the only reason you knew how to pronounce Jacqueline Bissett is because of that bit. Yes. Dreyfus went to Beverly Hills High, but he's a Brooklyn kid, and he befriended Rob Reiner, and they were friends for life, which is why he's the narrator in Stand By Me.

Interesting actor. You know, he did a lot of TV in the 60s. You can see him on things like Peyton Place and Bewitched and Gidget and The Big Valley. The first time I ever saw him was in a movie we've talked about called Hello Down There. Oh, yes. Do you remember this picture? That they're like living in an underground survival. Well, I'm trying to remember the plot. It's Ken Berry, former podcast guest. Oh, yes. Ken Berry.

And Merv Griffin's in it. Wow. And I'm trying to remember. I think Roddy McDowell's in it. Oh, does he? trying to remember. I think Roddy McDowell's in it. Oh, does he? I think Richard Dreyfuss sings a love song to a goldfish. You got it. You're a sick man with a sick memory. I think it's the first time I ever saw him in this bad comedy called Hello Down There, which was kind of like those Disney comedies. Oh, yes. Sort of like the Boatniks or one of those

things, but it's not. I don't think it's a Disney comedy. I think Bacchus turns up in it. Oh, wow. I think Merv Griffin's in it. I'm probably getting the cast half wrong, but it's a stunt where he has to live,

the family has to live underwater. They have to be the first family to live underneath the ocean. Yeah. One of those plots where you go, didn't anybody hear that? And you go, that's the worst fucking idea ever.

But it's got this wonderful cast. Anyway, Dreyfuss is a young hippie rock singer who sings a love song to a goldfish. And after that, you know, he bounced around. He turns up in Valley of the Dolls. Oh, yeah. He turns up as Babyface Nelson in Dillinger. Yeah. Then came American Graffiti and Dud as Babyface Nelson in Dillinger. Yeah. Then came American Graffiti and Dodie Kravitz,

and then Jaws. And then the rest is history, because Jaws made him a superstar. And Jaws was 75, then he did Close Encounters. And I think he was the original choice to play Bob Fosse in All That Jazz. The Joe Gideon character. And he was friends with Roy Scheider.

And he used to complain to Roy Scheider every night, I'm not getting it wrong, with the director. We're just constantly arguing. And then Roy Scheider grabbed the part. That's right. We've talked about it on the show. There was a quote. It's in a book I read about Fosse.

And Dreyfus was having second thoughts about, quote, his fat Jew ass parading across the street. Across the street. And I quote, you know, he was the youngest man to win best actor for The Goodbye Girl. 29. 29. Wow. And then there was wow. 29. Wow. And then there was a bit of a fall, and he was making, he fell on hard times. You know, he got involved.

He was a party, he was a bit of a party boy. Made a couple of films nobody saw, The Competition, a movie called The Big Fix, which I actually like. Yes, and now is it The Big Fix where he composed, he wrote a song called I Want to Be Seduced. That's the one, which he sang on Saturday Night Live when he hosted it. But The Big Fix, I just finally caught up to it after all these years, and he plays a private eye

called Moses Wine, who was a former radical, a former 60s radical. It's very interesting. John Lithgow's in it. It has an interesting radical. It's very interesting. John Lithgow's in it. It has an interesting cast. It's very slow. Oh, yeah. But rewarding if you're a Dreyfus fan.

And then he bounced back with Stand By Me, Tin Men, which we talked about with Jackie Martling, with Danny DeVito and Jackie Gayle. And then Stakeout with Emilio Estevez. And a movie he's terrific in called Once Around. I don't know if you know that movie. No. See if you can find it.

And then What About Bob? Oh, yes. With Bill Murray, where he's the therapist. And, you know, even when he struggled, even in subpar films, he was never bad. He was always, always fun to watch. And then we had Joan and David on the show. Oh, yeah. he was always always fun to watch and then we had joan and david on the show oh yeah joan uh joan uh kramer and um and david healy who are friends of his and they were telling us that that he's also a savant kind of like we are he knows everything about old hollywood so i always thought he'd be

great for the show oh he'd be terrific and i i still would like to ask him how his friendship with Roy Scheider was. After Scheider got such good notices for all that jazz. Other films he's good in, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Paul Mazursky movie, Nightfalls on Manhattan with our buddy Dominic Chianese. He's really got a terrific body of work. He does comedy well. He's great in dramas. He's really got a terrific body of work. He does comedy well. He's great in dramas. He's terrific in everything. And read an interesting story about him doing research about John Gielgud. He was living in LA. He was a young actor. And he was saying that there was no chance

that he wasn't going to make it. People were saying that he was going to be a sure thing. He was already, people were saying that he was going to be a sure thing. And he went to see John Gielgud perform in L.A. with a bunch of his friends. And they said he really went there with the intention of making fun of Gielgud. Oh, yeah. Who, in his mind, was a has-been. And he said Gielgud walked out onto the stage and started to deliver his lines. And not only did he not want to make fun of him, but it was a life-changing moment for him. And that's when he knew that that's what he was going to do.

So I thought that was an interesting story. So if we can ever get him, he'd be a great guest to have. I think Richard Dreyfuss is living with Papillon Sousou. No, he is not. He's living in San Diego. Papillon Sousou. He's going, oh, Richard Misohohny. Everything comes back to Papillon Sousou and Whit Bissell.

Anyway, we'll work on him. It's a tall order, but hell, never thought we'd get Bruce Dern either. Oh, my God. Bruce Dern was great. Wasn't that wonderful? Yeah. I'm so gratified by him. Bruce Dern was one of those, and we noticed it,

and everybody who works with Bruce Stern notices this. They go, he remembers every single detail. Yeah, he was perfect. It's like a savant. He was the perfect guest. Yeah. I mean, you mention a movie that you barely remember seeing. Well, you brought up the incredible two-headed transplant.

He was right on it. Oh, yeah. He was on it. He remembered who wrote it, who did the makeup, the lighting. Yes. If you think you don't have the money to start your own business, then I have fantastic news. Now you can own a business that has proven to be a phenomenal success all around the country with very little

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Go to SelfieStationPodcast.com and support my show by entering promo code Gilbert. That's SelfieStationPodcast.com. Promo code Gilbert. So what do you got this week, sir? Here's one. I don't know if I'm a big fan of this guy or I just wanted to say his name.

Go for it. There was an actor, Skelton Kanags. Holy shit. Your colossal obsession is Skelton who? Skelton Canags? I'm going for an obvious one.

Oh, my. You're making this guy up. No, there was an actor named Skelton Canags. Wow. And he looked like his name sounded. Sort of like Arnold Stang. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly.

Right. And Skelton Kanags, he was like, his teeth were crooked and discolored and rotten, and his face was all pockmarked, and he would pop up in like horror films like he was in house of dracula don't have my phone on me i'm dying to know who this guy is he was one of the uh villagers the angry villager in which in house of dracula house of dracula that's the one where one of my other favorites, Onslow Stevens. Well, I know Onslow Stevens. Yeah. Onslow Stevens is a doctor who finds a cure for Dracula's vampirism and Lon Chaney Jr.'s lycanthropy, which was so, even as a little kid.

I think it's lycanthropy. Lycanthropy, yeah. I would watch this as a little kid going, wait, wait a minute. There's a scientific reason why he changes into the wolf man. he changes into the wolf man. And it had something to do with this thing that put pressure on his cranium. And they found some kind of mud underground by accident that they applied to Chaney's head to loosen up the pressure on his cranium, thus curing him. Of course.

Or turning into the wolf man. And in House of Dracula, Chaney has a mustache. Now, why would a guy who changes into a werewolf every night decide, hey, I think I'll grow a mustache. That's a good look. Yeah. You'd think he was traumat a mustache. That's a good look. Yeah. You'd think he was traumatized and would want to be hair free. Yes.

And Skelton Canags turns up in this. Yeah, Skelton Canags. Frankie, could you look up Skelton Canags for me and tell me. The invisible man returns. I think Gilbert's having a seizure. What does this guy look like? Of course I'm going to recognize him as soon as Frankie comes in here. Ugly as all hell.

Really? Yeah. Are we talking like Harry Dean Stanton ugly? Rondo Hatton ugly? Oh, my God. Harry Dean Stanton's Tyrone Power. Really? Yeah.

Yeah. I think Verderosa is going to be coming in with a skeleton connection. Here he comes. Here comes Frankie. What do you got? Here comes the great Frank Verderosa, our engineer at Nutmeg Post. Yes. Does he have his name right?

Skelton Knaggs? I would pronounce it Knaggs, but what do I know? Naggs. Is it K-N? They called him a male 40s answer to Papillon Sousa. A non-Asian 40s male. Well, Onslow Stevens, wasn't that a name that played a significant role in your childhood? Yes, in my childhood. I have never seen this actor in my life.

You've never seen Skelton? Oh, now I know who he is. in my life. You've never seen Skeleton? Oh, now I know who he is. Oh, Lordy. Not an attractive man. Wow. That's, yes, I know who he is. I know who he is. Wow.

He was one of those. Skeleton, I would imagine it's Nags. Nags. Yeah, you wouldn't say the K. I would imagine it's nags. Nags. Yeah, you wouldn't say the K. I like knags better. Skelton knags. It sounds more like he looks. Knags.

That's him. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's him. Wow. Not a good looking man. Wow. He makes Ernest Thesiger. Oh, my God.

Like Dirk Bogart. He makes Ernest Thesiger Oh my god Like Dirk Bogart But what was the Onslow Stevens story? Oh When I was a little kid Thank you Frankie In

Cause I was like You know This freak Who would watch old movies On TV Hard to believe Yeah And be obsessed.

And so I was a little kid in elementary school, and it was either, it could have been kindergarten, and the teacher was playing a game with us where she would say two letters, like initials, and we'd have to come up with you know who it was like you know if you'd say like you know jk john kennedy or uh uh you know uh uh bh bob hope and and she at one point She goes, OS. And me, a little kid, I'm like four years old or something, I jump up excited and scream out, Onslow Stevens. Let me guess.

It wasn't Onslow Stevens. No. Yeah. Absolutely no one. Oscar Schindler? Yeah. That would have sufficed. That would have been a more popular name to kindergarten kids.

Olivier Sarkozy, if he had been born yet. Is that his name? Wow. Onslow Stevens. I have never heard, I mean, I've seen his face. Skelton Kneggs. Yes. Do you have a big career?

Do you make a lot of films? He seemed to have made a bunch. I think he had the kind of career that Rondo Hatton had. I see. Just someone who looked scary. And had to be cast in these kind of horror roles. Yeah. Like without, oh, like this, a guy, I wonder if he's still around.

Michael Berryman. Oh, sure. Sure, from the Hills Have Eyes. Yeah, and he's one of those guys. Right. He had some kind of disorder or something, and he looks just weird. He didn't have the agramegaly? Michael Berryman?

He could. Or as they called it in Tarantula, acromegaly. Acromegaly. Like, acromegalia. Acromegalia. Like an acromegaly party. They were having an acromegalia. Well, Jack Elam was an actor that was always cast. Yeah, he had a lazy eye that was off to the side. Right.

We could do a whole show just on deformed character actors. In fact, Jack Elam, I believe, was in a terrible failed TV show called, I think it was called Me and Frankenstein. Was this about the kid who had the aging disease? No, no. This is about a young guy who, I guess, is a grandson of Dr. Frankenstein, and he inherits the castle. And I think Jack Elam is the Frankenstein monster.

Unbelievable. I either dreamt this, which is possible, or Jack Elam's in a movie, a TV movie about a kid who has a, God, forgive me. I can't think of the name of that. There is that disease. Yeah, I remember. That one where, like, babies look like hundred-year-old men.

Yes, and he befriends Jack Elam. Yes. Did I... Is this a fever dream I had? And I think it's not... Jack Elam's not playing

a character. It's about a guy with this disease who befriends actor Jack Elam. Oh, Lord. That may be true. Jack Elam may have played himself. Yeah. We're going to look this up.

We're going to look this up. Frankie, get the Google machine ready. So your obsession. And I'm deeply obsessed. And boy, is that an obsession. And I masturbate about it every night. To Skelton Knax. Skelton Knax.

I think he was also in one of the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes pictures. Really? Now I'm going to join the Skelton Canags fan club. Old Skelton Canags. What about the Skelton Canags wow show in the 70s? With Terry Garr. Oh, my Lord. Or the morning talk show, Waking Up with Skelton Canags.

Skelton Canags now, with an exclamation point. Skeltonnects AM. And then there was the new SkeletonConnects show with Hope Lang, where he moved to the desert. See, they could never accept him, though, with a new wife. Incredible. Because in his old show, his wife was Evelyn anchor not una o'connor uh i'm gonna go home and do some research on this fellow so boy that is that is an obsession that is living up to the title yes so your your obsession to some skeleton. But I went for the popular one. You did. You did. You're a frontrunner.

And mine was an obscure actor named Richard Dreyfuss. Richard who? Richard. Yes. Doesn't matter. Oh, hilarious. Well, this has been... Skelton Knax, Amazing Colossal.

Yes, I'm Gilbert Gottfried with my co-host Frank Santopadre, and this has been Gilbert's amazing colossal Skelton Knaggs. I'm doing Burt Mustin next week. Yes, the guy who was, talk about a guy born old. He looked like a chicken. Yes. He was one of those guys. He may have been 15 when he was doing those movies.

He's in the Egghead, Vincent Price episode of Batman. Oh, yes. And he's a chicken farmer because he looks like a chicken. Was he also in the Jack Benny show? Probably. Probably. You guys all know Burt Mustin if you're listening to this. Yeah.

I think on Andy Griffith. Everything. He was a regular on Andy Griffith. He was Mr. Quigley on All in the Family. Yes. And he was one of those guys who just always looked like he was 500 years old. That's it. So now I don't have to do Burt Mustin.

Well, we'll do it. We can still do it. I'll move to Dub Taylor. Who was definitely on the Andy Griffith show. Absolutely. I'm exhausted. He used to have that kind of New Orleans thing. Yeah, you guys know Dub Taylor. How great. And he popped up on Cosby.

With you? Yeah. Wow. Dub Taylor, he was supposed to be an old jazz buddy of that guy who played Bill Cosby's father. Right. The one who used to go, oh, Bill. Yes, I remember. Bill, now why would you say a thing like that?

Now, since we talked about Gene Autry, and I'm going to rap. Okay. Dub Taylor played a Gene Autry-like sports owner, because Gene Autry owned the California Angels baseball team, on the original, on the Odd Couple series. Okay. Dub Taylor. Oh, wow. When Renee Santoni was the Eskimo kid who was the quarterback.

Do you remember that episode in season one? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm going deep here. There was some strange odd couple. Yeah, Dub Taylor, who was in everything. Do you remember? No, I got to go. Oh.

Do I remember who? There was an episode, the one episode of The Odd Couple without a laugh track. Yes, it's the one where they get locked in the basement. Was that the one? Yeah. I thought it was the one with the Playboy mansion. Oh, it's that one too. Yeah.

Maybe it was those two. Yeah, they tried it. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Well, John Astin was playing the Hugh Hefner character. Yeah, yeah. You're right. That's all I got. Okay, that're right. John Astin was playing the Hugh Hefner character. Yeah, you're right. That's all I got.

Say goodnight, skeleton. Okay. Give me that frat. Colossal obsessions. Thank you. Colossal Obsessions