WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 574 - Marty Allen

Episode Date: February 4, 2015

92-year-old comedian Marty Allen visits the garage to talk about performing for eight decades and witnessing the evolving landscape of entertainment. Marty tells Marc about his appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, including the night The Beatles were introduced to America. Plus, stories about Elvis, Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Don Rickles and the Hollywood Squares. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

all right let's do this how are you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fucking ears what the fucking delics what the fucksters what the fuckaholics what the fuck knuckles all right that was enjoyable for me thank you for for listening. I'm Mark Maron. Welcome to the show. This is my show, WTF. We've been on the air for quite a while now. We're a staple. It's been five years and counting, five years plus. We're in it.

What episode are we even on? I mean, this has got to be episode 574. Jesus. I've been doing, this is the thing man this is my thing this is it i'm a stand-up comedian and i host a podcast where i talk to people and i ramble on a bit some people listen to that i go do stand-up i'm doing a tv show am uh in the middle of filming the tv show and i the last i talked to you last time i talked to you i was ill i got ill and i got scared and i got freaked out you really want that magic shot i feel better i think you can still hear my voice a little bit but it but it leveled off like it settled in a bit where it kind of kind of some of it went away i got lucky man i got lucky because some people are going down with that flu shit.

That's fucking nasty. Sorry if you got it. But on some level, it kind of, you know, it forces you to relax, doesn't it? Forces you to relax and feel like you're dying. That's the flu. Okay, look. So the tour thing is happening. You know that it's thing is happening you know that it's happening i told you that it's happening marination the tour is happening i told you where the cities were going

now everything's going on sale tomorrow there's some pre-sales going on here and there and i know for a fact that tomorrow they will all be on sale now listen i know some of you are like you're not coming to my state you're not coming to my city i will add dates later in the year this is just the round i'm doing and obviously i have a lot of fans minneapolis chicago portland new york city which i was just in but some of you missed it apparently. I just did two shows there, but I'll make some dates. I'm going to be folding them in. This is the bulk of the tour, and then I'll do some weekends out, and I'll get to where you are.

We're within a few hundred miles of it, okay? You dig? So tomorrow, through the links that I have on my site, you can go to WTFpod.com slash calendar you can see all the dates and you can get your tickets tomorrow also I believe if I'm not mistaken

I added a date that I got to put up on there but it's not there yet so you're the first to know to warm up for my tour I'm going to Rochester Rochester, New York I'm going March 20 and, New York I'm going March 20 and 21 to the Comedy Club

in Rochester that's for four shows and I don't know who I got up there I don't know what I'm like up there I don't know who wants to see me in Rochester I'm feeling out the country a bit a lot of stuff that I don't know about what people want

or who wants to see me but uh it's all happening after i finished filming my show marin season three which as i said i'm having a good time tomorrow i'm working with elliot gould who will be playing elliot gould now for some reason man and this is a true about my guest as well, Marty Allen is my guest today. Marty Allen. The Marty Allen. Now, I know some of you are thinking, who the hell is Marty Allen? Yeah, I understand.

But look, I didn't grow up with Marty Allen other than knowing him from like the Hollywood Squares. The guy with the crazy hair on the Hollywood Squares. I remember him from when I was a kid. Marty Allen the block. Hello there. He was the hello there guy. But Marty Allen has been around in show business for many years.

He was in a comedy team called Rossi and Allen. Here's my point. I remember seeing him when I was a kid on TV, on game shows, and I didn't really have anywhere to place him other than that, but he was very recognizable. And I think that some of you, certainly people my age, or maybe a little younger, but certainly older,

would know who Marty Allen is because he was on a lot of game shows. And he was a weird-looking little guy. And he had weird hair. And he said, hello there. And he was kind of funny. And he'd talk weird. weird hair and he said hello there and he was kind of funny and he talked weird but uh but like i don't i didn't know that he was this huge comedy star in this huge comedy team for years and years and that he he was on the ed sullivan show so many times but uh but i got this opportunity

marty allen's 92 years old and i'm like all right you know that guy's he's got a story he's still working fascinating fascinating because i gotta tell you something folks and i don't want to disappoint anybody but lately all i've been thinking is like how much money will it take for me to just say i'm'm not going to do nothing no more. I'm just going to hang out. I'm going to just get off the grid. Because sometimes, you know, I enjoy talking to you and I know that I've had my ups and downs and, you know, some days are what they are. And, you know, I love doing the show and I love talking to people here on the show. I like doing standup, but I don't always know why I'm doing things. Sometimes I'm like, am I just doing it to do it, to keep up,

to keep up with what? Am I doing it to stay in the game to compete am i doing it because i love to do it you know these questions have been coming up i need maybe a month off or something but a lot of times when i hear these guys have been working you know non-stop and they're 92 i'm like holy shit why what isn't the goal to stop at some point? To say like, all right, I did it. I'm going to relax for a year or two. Or maybe for the rest of it. Maybe it isn't.

Maybe I'm giving myself. Maybe I'm misreading myself. And I would go nuts if I had nothing to do. When I came out to LA, when i got fucked up the first time after college in 80 i guess 87 88 when i first was when i was living in culver city i spent a lot of time alone and i was at factors deli there's factors delicatessen i think over in the santa monica pavilion having some soup at the counter and who comes in and sits a few chairs away from me? Marty Allen.

And I'm looking at him, and I'm like, holy shit, that's Marty Allen. Look at that hair. Look at him sitting there eating soup. This is a sad moment for everyone. Why would I think that? Why would I think that? And then I realized that I've always been compelled

by the weird, tragic humanity of comedians and comedy and Hollywood and actors and all of it. The first show I ever saw, Jackie Vernon sitting right up front, 11 years old. I saw his sweat and his fat and his miserable kind of disposition and his clown face. And I was like, that's the life for me. I'm still very odd about it. I still have this weird kind of unexplicable respect and awe for anybody that I can identify from the television or from movies. Certainly from when I was a kid, you know, and Marty Allen comes from that generation of guys that would used to do the roasts these were men that wear suits and did singing and dancing on camera and and they they did jokes with each other and there was camaraderie and they all looked their age i don't know man i just there's just something just in my head i was watching watching old Don Rickles pieces the other night.

There was such a glory to it. There was such an intimacy to the relationship of these celebrities that I grew up watching. I watched It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World the other night just to watch these comedians do their little bits in there. I mean, it was unbelievable. Rosemary Clooney was unbelievable. Buddy Hackett's in it. Milton Berle, Jimmy Durante, Spencer Tracy was fucking a genius. And he was almost dead by that point.

And who else? Buster Keaton had a cameo. The Three Stooges were in it and they didn't even say anything. The movie's not even that good, but Jonathan Winters. Jonathan winters mickey rooney and and like oh my god i just can't and these aren't even the people that i really grew up with these are the people that my grandparents like these are the people that i knew from watching television at my grandparents house and these were monumental people to me and i still can't i still can't i can't shake that you know i'm just i'm thrilled i'm thrilled and then i watch broadway danny rose milton burles and there it's just it's my in my brain part of me lives there it was always just they were the most important people

i just don't it's unbelievable to me so So what am I, just having some reverie about old comedians and actors? I'm working with Elliot Gould tomorrow and I'm excited. I'm working with, you know,

the original Trapper John, man. I'm working with the guy who was in The Long Goodbye. I'm working with the guy who was in Harry and Walter Go to New York. I mean, I don't see him

as this TV actor. Elliot Gould is a Capricorn One. He's in my mind from when I was a little kid. They're like my parents. All these people are like my family. That's how I look at them when I'm very familiar with an entertainer. I hope I'm entertaining. You know?

Marty Allen is here and he's going to be 93 next month. Unbelievable. Now, I want to tell you, when he came, this is a 92-year-old man. I went outside. I saw him. I walked over to the car across the street when they parked. A man and a woman got out. He got out, too.

And he's a little guy. He's got his hair. He's got the thing. Hello there, he said. And I got a steep driveway. And we all said, do you want help? He's like, no, I'm going to do it. I'm doing it.

He's a tough old guy. And apparently he was quite a dancer. So here we go. I'm learning how to talk to older people too by the way i'm not as not as freaked out as i usually am i don't think okay let's talk to marty allen Marty Allen. Hello there. Hello there. I remember you. So I remember seeing you on the Hollywood Squares.

You were the guy. Oh, I was. That was my first introduction to you because I'm like a little younger than you. I'm about half your age. But I remember that like, who's that guy with the voice and the hair? That was you. But it made an impression on me to the point where I moved to, I first lived in L.A. briefly in 88. So I go to Junior's and I see you sitting at the counter by yourself eating soup.

And I'm like, I'm in Hollywood. I made it. I'm in Los Angeles. There's Marty Allen eating soup. This is the life I'm going to live. Did you used to go there a lot? Yeah, well, at that time, I lived in Beverly Hills. Yeah, yeah.

But I used to go to Junior's Delicatessen. Good one, right? A great deli. Yeah. There's not many of them anymore, is there? Yeah, it's gone. Oh, no, it's open. New owner.

Oh, yeah? Yeah. But delis, they're a dying thing, the deli. There's not that many anymore. No. You have to go to Africa. To Africa for deli? Tell me in the Belgian Congo there's one.

Really? Someone said that to you? I don't know. I thought that was a real tip. I hear the best corned beef is in Africa. How do you like that cover? Love the cover. Is that you in a clown outfit?

That's me crying, yeah. Crying in a clown outfit. Whose idea was that? That's me. I do a pantomime. You do? You actually do a clown act at pantomime? But a different kind of clown who's gone through all kind of problems.

Yeah. And in the moment of his knowing that he's getting older, he suddenly realized he's out there to make the people laugh. Right. He puts his smile back on and goes out. Yeah. It's very, very laugh. Right. He puts his smile back on. Yeah. And goes out. Yeah. It's very, very human. Sure.

It's Marty Allen. Yeah. Because that's the way I am. Mark, to be honest, I'm the kind of guy, I love people. Yeah. I enjoy people. Yeah. And I am very sentimental.

When the football game comes on and they play the national anthem i stand up in the living room do you and salute well i mean it's like we've made it a long time i mean you've been performing in front of audiences for a very long time time and uh you know and your character has always been like a very, you know, it's a big, broad character. Marty Allen, you know, you had a hell of a shtick for a long time. And I don't think that very many people would assume that who knows what's in there. You know what I mean? And clearly this, you know, what you're telling me sort of illustrates that, that, you know, you got a big heart.

But you've made it. No, they say, you know, some entertainers go out. They do their job. Right. I do it in all sincerity, in all warmth. Three days ago, I get a letter talking about fan mail from the Ukraine. Really? I says, oh, my God. they just got hollywood squares there i don't know the girl says we saw you we laughed and i'd like to have an autograph photo

it's amazing from the ukraine yet i wonder why it's so interesting i said don't give them my home address i don't want to get in trouble well it's weird that you can watch now we live in this time where you like i sat down this morning i'm watching uh you know alan and rossi clips you know from the whole time i can watch you on the roast i can watch you on hollywood somebody asked me how many ed sullivan shows i've done yeah i. I did more than Ed Sullivan. What was it? Like 45, 46? Somewhere along there. How old are you now?

Take a guess. I'm going to go a young 90. Not bad. What old are you? 92. Unbelievable. Yeah. And you got to, you know, you're still cranking.

Still going. Yeah. You know, I've talked to, who did I talk to? I talked to Shelly Berman. He's still sharp. When're still cranking. Still going. Yeah. You know, I've talked to, who did I talk to? I talked to Shelly Berman. He's still sharp. When they told me it's my birthday and I'm going to be on a Mark Maron show, I got so excited. Come on. My hair went almost straight.

Well, I'm glad it didn't. I don't want you to lose your edge. You know what I mean? Okay, Mark. So, all right. So, let's talk about where it started because, you know, like I actually began yeah i'm from pittsburgh yeah uh and i started out uh i always had the feel i was a state uh jitterbug champion dancer really so you were a dancer i won all kind of contests and i was the kid in school that made everybody laugh.

I don't even know what the jitterbug looks like. It's quick with the hands. So you were a dancer when you were a kid. I was a wild dancer. A showman. And the kind of guy in school that made everybody laugh. They would go to a party. I was the jester and whatever.

Couldn't help yourself. And I felt that's really what I want. I started out journalism. What did your father do? Did you grow up in a very Jewish family or what? My father had a bar and restaurant. Yeah, so you grew up in the food business. Well, his bar and restaurant was in the produce.

Yeah. Mark, you understand where the food and the vegetables came in on the train? Yeah, yeah. And there was a section, and he had a restaurant and bar there. Did you work in the restaurant? No. No? Who, me?

Yeah. Never? No. Never went down there? Never. You remember they used to have on the famous Kilroy was here? Yeah, was here, yeah. And I say in all truth, and not too many people know,

I think you're the first one to know. Okay, okay. My dad took chalk and wrote on the train, Marty is here. And guys would come in his restaurant and I said, somebody's riding all over the trains. Marty is here. guys would come in his restaurant i said somebody's riding all over the trains marty is here who's marty he he doing it for you huh he was doing it for me so yeah how many people in your family you got brothers two sisters uh-huh and they uh and did you like what what

year so nine years ago said so you were jitterbug champion in high school. Were you in the war? On our side. Well, that's good. I was in the Air Force. Oh, yeah? Did you go overseas? Yeah.

I was in the 15th Air Force. We were stationed in Foggia, Italy. We were the ones that bombed uh romania and all around what was your job in the war i had a mastoid mark yeah it in the beginning of my career what is it it's an ear ear problem and uh the doctor told my family, I don't think he's going to make it. And my grandmother said to the doctor, you're an idiot. He's not only going to make it, he's going to make his family very proud. That's a true story.

Tough grandmother. That's a great human. But when you were in the service, did that? So I was on the ground crew okay all right but how long were you in for a couple years yeah i can't even like and you enlisted right that's what people did then they were proud to go i want to be honest with you i wanted to be in the service i wanted to serve my country yep and and i felt in my heart i said i gotta and my mother says she's cooking and she says well you'll be home early they'll see your ear you'll be home early yeah

and i came home early ma dad i'm in the service yeah oh the soup fell over. But you were in for a while, though, right? So you didn't actually see any action. I saw. Well, we were involved in action, actually. Yeah. Did you stay in touch with a lot of the guys you were in the service with for your whole life? Oh, yeah.

Well, I had many friends. Yeah, yeah. So when you come back from Italy, you're on the service with for your whole life oh yeah well i had many friends yeah yeah so when you come back from italy yeah what you on the gi bill then and you what'd you go to school how'd that work well like i said uh uh i was very uh hot in journalism i like to write i still write short stories and oh yeah and you wrote a book. And I wrote a book. Yeah. The Marty Allen. Hello there. And this is a memoir.

Memoir of my times with Elvis, with Nat King Cole, with Sarah Vaughan, with you name it. Steve Rossi? Yeah, that was the name. I was trying to think of the name. Well, that guy. So when you come back, where did you end up going to college? Well, what happened is when I came back, like I said, I was going to go to school in journalism. But I fell to my heart, Mark. Comedy, comedy.

Really? my heart mark comedy comedy really so i became like the the kid in pittsburgh there was i played all kind of joints i played all kind of taverns doing stand-up played bars you know i would do a routine you know a crazy routine yeah and i do pantomime i do dancing and finally one day i became like uh one of the popular guys in pittsburgh and the agent said to me uh i got your books on a weekend with a girl singer so i said oh that's great. Do I know her? He says, I hope you do, because it's Sarah Vaughn. Wow. Well, I almost collapsed.

Sarah Vaughn. Yeah. And so I worked with her. Then she took a liking to me, and she made a phone call. Because in those days, Mark, all the singers had an opening act. The opening act was a comedian. Yeah. So they would book you to do 15 or 20 minutes to open the show

and then the singer would come on and take over. And she recommended me to nat king cole really and his manager finally uh i was coming to hollywood with my cousin who was going to school out there and i says well go to hollywood and then in the meantime i was doing dates and then she called nat yeah and i started traveling with Nat King Cole. Oh, my God. My grandfather loved him. Loved him.

Loved him. Loved him. I adored him. Yeah. What a man. Yeah. Next, I would say, in my mind, Sinatra, Elvis, and Nat King Cole stand out. Sure.

Who I worked with and who I knew and who I felt such great admiration for. Yeah, he was a great, real star. And that was unbelievable. And you toured with him a lot? Toured with him and toured with him and then i i was in chicago uh at the chaperie yeah famous nightclub in chicago with edie gourmet yeah steve rossi was a production singer at the sands hotel in vegas what's that mean a production singer he was the guy that when the girls came out he sang okay okay so like the intro guy yeah yeah yeah a pretty girl yeah right right sure and uh he he said to nat he says i don't want to be a

singer anymore i want to do something else and that says well uh martin and le and Lewis are a hot comedy team, and I have a young man who is really funny, and maybe if the two of you got together, it would work out as a good comedy team. So Steve called me, and I said, I don't know if I want to do that. Yeah. I'm making a couple bucks. I'm happy. You got an act? Yeah, I don't know if I want to do that. Yeah. I'm making a couple bucks. I'm happy.

You got an act? Yeah, I got an act. I'm working with Igor May. I said, you know, I'm happy. I don't know. He said, well, if I flew in and talked to you, maybe we could work something out. So I says, well, come on, fly in. So he's flying in from Vegas?

He flew in from Las Vegas. Well, I see this guy that looked like Rock Hudson. Oh, he was so handsome. And then I heard him sing. He knocked me out. He was a great singer, and he had a nice personality, an attitude. And I said, well, I'll tell you what, let's give it a shot. So I wrote some material.

Yeah. And we wrote a couple routines, and I worked with him. and we wrote a couple routines and I worked with him and we started playing little places where little joints marked. Let me ask you something about that, about the nightclub circuit at that time. These were usually dinner clubs, right? Well, they were like private clubs. Like mob-owned clubs? Yeah, there were all kinds of private clubs. Like mob-owned clubs? Yeah, there were like all kind of private clubs.

There were little nightclubs in those days. So we played all what you might say joints. Yeah, sure. And I felt in my ear that the audience was reacting you knew right off the bat they were hysterical i said oh it's working it's really better than it was as a solo act you felt a better response when you were with well not a better response i felt that they reacted right to what we were doing to the dynamic you know and i said oh okay yeah let's give it a shot we called nat we said we were ready yeah and then he took us and took us on tour and eventually we ended up playing with Nat King Cole at the Sands in Las Vegas.

Isn't that something? And after Nat, we were held over with Sinatra. After that, we were held over with Lena Horne. Wow. After that, we were held over with that fantastic singer from London, Shirley Bassey. And then we ended up after that with Paul Anka. One after the other. So you were in Vegas all year round.

For years. I should have bought a hotel. Or a motel. What was Vegas like then? Because there was only a handful of hotels then, right? It was terrific. Yeah, it was classy, right? It's always been terrific.

Vegas, there's no place like Las Vegas. But back then, like, did you because I've talked to guys, you know, who do I talk to recently? I talked to Bob Newhart and it just seemed that there was a camaraderie to Vegas that, you know, that everybody sort of knew who was in town. Well, we knew who was in town. And did you? And if

I'm working with Nat King king cole i would go see maybe go see don rickles right oh in fact that's it i had a an agent who said who was a good friend of mine yeah he said listen i just booked an act for two weeks i want you to go down and see them there at the sahara yeah and he says if you if you like him just tell me what you think of them yeah when we were done with our show mark we would go see whoever we could see did you go see shecky still playing at that time did you ever see Shecky Green? Oh, yeah. Yeah, funny guy, right? No, great funny guy and a good friend of mine. Yeah? Oh, yeah, Shecky. I'm fascinated with that guy.

We're very classy. Yeah? How long were you in Vegas? Well, when we played with Nat, and then, like I said, we do... You used to stay over. You do 10 days with Nat. Stay over 10 days with Sinatra.

10 days with Lena. What was it like working with Frank? I mean, was he a sweet guy? He was unbelievable. Yeah? He is Las Vegas. Sinatra, in my estimation, was a classy, phenomenal singer, classy man, and a nice guy. I really adored him.

Yeah, and at that time, people would dress up for Vegas. Everybody looked nice. Shirt and tie, the women in cocktail dresses, and looking beautiful like that and uh and the guys were shirt and ties yeah yeah and did you like uh when when like after the shows like i got like was dean martin hanging around with joey bishop hanging around with everybody you know sam well then uh Well, then I saw the Rat Pack together, and they were a class act, you know. And they were real nice guys. Dean Martin would come in the casino, and he'd start to deal blackjack. Well, he used to be a blackjack dealer.

Yeah. In Steubenville, Ohio. That's right. You're right, Mark. Yeah, it's a fascinating's fascinating story man he was the real deal yeah yeah so okay so now how do you get from vegas now so you and rossi are you're making waves now we're alan and rossi right we start doing uh shows we did hollywood squares at the beginning together we did together yeah we did password yeah together what's my line you name it we did so you were out there you everyone knew who you were we did everybody now and then you moved to a headlining spot at that point now we then we

became a headline end up at the copacabana in New York, which was the mecca of all show business. What was that like? I mean, my only point of reference for that is watching something like Goodfellas. That's how I know it, that there was this. Well, you worked and you worked and you say someday if you could make it, where would you like to be? Well, the pinnacle of all success for all singers and professional comics and so forth was the Copacabana. And we ended up at the Copacabana. And you knew you had arrived.

That was it. And that's it. Yeah. And was it and that's it yeah and was it great oh yeah what made it so ecstasy ecstasy what made it so good really i mean we just the room that's when my hair went well that's what started the hair i had the wild hair i was the first one that's why with the beatles uh-huh you know and they took that picture yeah they kept looking at me in fact the reason it was a photo of me with john lennon i walked over john lennon he had no idea who i was and i said john he said yes said, a lot of people mistake me for you. And he got hysterical.

And he started laughing. He had no idea. And when I hit him with that line, he went crazy. And that was at the Sullivan Show. That was in 1964. Were you the other guest on the show on their first American appearance? On the first Sullivan? We were on that big show in 1964. The first time the Beatles were on American television, you were the other act.

Alan and Rossi. How many acts on the Sullivan Show General? There were other acts on also. So I'm assuming that it didn't go well for you that night. It didn't go well. What did you have? A bunch of screaming teenage girls well for the beatles yes but when i came out and said hello there i'm ringo's mother boom the kids

went ah then they knew right off the bat you adapted got them on your team and they paid attention huh they paid attention that must have been, instead of singing you an up-tempo, did more of an up-tempo song. For the kids. And I was dancing. You were dancing. And we did a routine, and they reacted. So you did it with the Beatles, and you got to hang out with the Beatles. But I got to assume, like, show business has never been any different in the sense that

you two must have been backstage thinking, like gotta how we gonna make this work no well we knew right off the bat it's gonna be is there had to be a hundred police because there were a thousand little girls uh-huh and they were yelling john ringo ringo Ringo. Ringo. Paul. Paul. And I yelled, Marty. And they went, who? Me. Oh, my God. See, like, I don't have any point of reference. I imagine a lot of people who listen to my show don't really know that, you know, the power of Ed Sullivan and just what that meant to an actor. Oh, it was the biggest show.

Yeah. Well, before the Tonight Show. Yeah. And it was a variety. Oh, it was the biggest show. Yeah. Well, before the Tonight Show. Yeah. And it was a variety show. And it was a variety show. So you had the greatest variety show and you knew that every time Sullivan was on, the people were mobbed.

Yeah, and also it wouldn't be unusual to be there with a plate spinner or a dog act or... Anything. Jugglers,lers, things on fire. Well, and a good friend of mine who was a big comic on the show. Who? Myron Cohn. See, no one knows who that guy is now. And he was one of the biggest comics.

He was the guy that did Italian and Jewish and Polish. He did all kind of accents. And a lot of Yiddish. Italian and Jewish and Polish. He did all kind of accents. And a lot of Yiddish. And a lot of all his humor was humor regarding the group. Right. Sure. But like originally, I think when he was playing the hotels in the Borscht Belt, he almost performed exclusively in Yiddish, didn't he? No. No? No. He did really in english oh yeah but he was a brilliant brilliant man and a brilliant uh

storyteller right right yeah did you spend time up there in the mountains well i knew my i knew all those guys who Who were the guys? You name them, and I'll say yes. Mousy Lawrence. Mousy Lawrence. Well, Mousy came later. Later. I don't even know who the original guys were. There was Myron Cohen, and who else were the original guys?

Well, then Jackie Mason came along. Yeah. And all the big comics, Jerry Lewis. Sure. Everybody played the Catskills. Was that a good gig? Oh, the Catskills was phenomenal. Yeah? Oh, fabulous.

Why, because they took care of you? Or the good audiences? Well, when you say took care of you, I'll give you an idea what happened. Okay. The guy that ran, name was phil greenwald he he booked all the shows big shows he had sammy davis he had every everybody big you know all the tony ben everybody played the cat the concord hotel right And at the Concord Hotel, he said to me, they really like you, don't they? I says, well, it's a great compliment. He says, I want you to have lunch with me. And I'm saying,

I'll have lunch with you. And there, having lunch, was a woman who was the head of the Rani Hotel. She was more or less the general manager of booking all the guests. Her name was Lorraine Tridel. She was from Paris, France, originally. And she was sitting there, and she was from paris france originally and she was sitting there and she was laughing and i said to her where are you from she said paris i says france yes and i said well i i'm not only a comedian but i collect art i have photos of the various artists from Paris and famous photos of different things in Paris, and they're in my room.

She says, I've heard every kind of a remark from a comedian, but this is the first time I've ever heard anyone say this to me. Yeah. They're in my room. Meaning what? Yeah. I said, well, I was going to say, yeah they're in my room meaning what yeah i said well i was gonna say if you came to my room it was just oh marty come on you gotta be kidding yeah is this routine and i says no i'm not i'm not doing this on a make yeah i said i'll tell you what you stand outside the door of my room i'll bring the pictures out so she started laughing stood out i brought the pictures out not only

brought the pictures out mark but we were married for a long long time, for over 15, 17 years. And then she passed away. But we were very happily married. And we lived in, we had a penthouse. And people used to say, where do you live, Marty? I says, I live in the Concord Hotel. No, no, where do you live? I says, I live in the Concord Hotel. And the guy says, how can you live in a Concord Hotel. No, no, where do you live? I says, I live in the Concord Hotel.

And the guy says, how can you live in a Concord Hotel? I said, you think it's easy? I can't get help. And then we lived. You did live there though? And now. Where was the penthouse? You actually lived there or no?

Oh yeah. I lived in the, we lived in a penthouse in the concord in the concord which was one of the it was it was out of mind one of the greatest hotels so and then eventually after she passed away uh uh steve and i were together and then uh we got to a point, Mark, where we had played everything. And we'd been at the Copa three, four times. And they started to ask me, would you do an acting job? We'd like you to be a semi-regular on Hollywood Squares. We'd like you to do this show.

And I said to Steve, well, you know, we played everything. We've done everything. Could we part very amicably? As I sit here in front of you, in all honesty, we were the only team, I think, that ever parted friendly. And we remained friends all through life. That's amazing. Until he just passed away.

Recently, yeah. Sorry to hear that. And then I became a semi-regular on Hollywood Squares with Paul Leonard. That's what I remember. And Charlie Weaver. And then I did Big Valley with Barbara Stanwyck. Oh, wow. I played the Jonah, and I was nominated for all kind of awards for my acting.

I did a movie with Connie Stevens, and we went to Malta and did a movie. And I did other movies. I did a lot of movies and television. And then one day my agent took me to a restaurant in Los Angeles. And it was next door to his route where he was. And walked in and I saw the maitre d' who was a beautiful girl by the name of Karen Blackwell. And he said, I have some pictures from Paris. She says, Mr. Allen, what would you like?

I says, a fruit cocktail, a plate of fruit. And when she went, I wrote on the menu, I like the way you look in that dress. I like that more than the fruit cocktail. And we got married. And we are married 30 years. That's unbelievable. Did you guys work together?

We worked together all the time. She became my straight lady, and we became a hot act. Oh, yeah? And it's Marty Allen and Karen Blackwell. So when you and Rossi split, that was like the late 60s, right? Yeah, after we split. When did you work with Elvis? Oh, well, what happened with Elvis is when he did his big show in Las Vegas.

In the 70s. Or earlier. The first time when he did that big show before Hawaii and all that, when he became like nobody could top him and the crowds were coming, I walk in the hotel. There was a photo of Elvis, and I see his two guards standing off to the side. Sunny red. And they spot me.

Yeah. guards standing off to the side and they read and they spot me yeah i go over to the picture and start kissing the photo and getting real close and doing all kind of yeah wild things to the photo yeah and they handcuffed me and took me backstage yeah and all of us, what's this? And they said, we found this pervert outside kissing your photo, making love to your photo. And he says, it's Marty. You're Marty Allen. And he took the handcuffs off me and he was hysterical laughing.

And then it was time for him to go out to do the show yeah and they said what what about marty's and he's laughing he says i'll tell you what handcuff him to the door so i thought they're kidding yeah they handcuffed me and i know elvis is to be out there for over two hours. Yeah. And finally a guard comes along. I keep hollering. And he says, what are you doing in the dry? He says, you're Marty Allen.

Yeah. What are you doing? I said, they did a joke and they forgot and they handcuffed me. Can you get me out of it? And he got the handcuff, took it, and I saw all the scarves lying on the bed. I put one on my head like a babushka, ran out, and there's thousands of girls. I go up to the ringside and get right close to the ring,

right up to the ring, and Elvis is coming by with his car. Love me, tender, love me. And I look up and I go, I love you, I love you. He almost collapsed, and that was the beginning of our relationship. And eventually he came to see me. One night when it was dark. He welcomed him with two of his guards.

I was doing an Elvis Presley. Impersonation? A takeoff on him. Doing the whole routine. And he got hysterical. In fact, he wrote me a fan letter saying you're 99 plus. And he signed the EP. did you end up opening for him no i never i never worked you just you were just buddies i was never one of those comics to

work uh that worked with him with but our relationship he would mention me. He would say something about my hair, or he'd be singing a song, and he says, and I love you, Marty, or something in which he... Was he a funny guy? He was a nice man. There's no way to describe. He was a terrific... How do you explain something like that?

Yeah. He was Elvis Presley. And you could feel it. He was, in my estimation, one of the greats of our business. You say Sinatra, number one, Nat King Cole, Elvis Presley. These are kind of stars. Yeah. And they were friendly.

And they were nice people and never you know none of that conceived or anything and real professionals real professional and elvis put on a hell of a show oh yeah there was no but he hypnotized the world yeah yeah it was like sinatra yeah you know the next generation yeah and wait there I was told that they they had on the Sullivan show there was a couple of interesting almost problems what was the the the Zulu bit oh we did a routine at the time when the Peace Corps was a big deal, and Steve played a member of the Peace Corps,

and I was a Zulu native that he was going to interview. Sullivan is sitting putting his makeup on, and he just asked, what routine are you doing said we're doing the Peace Corps and Marty placed a Zulu warrior he says no you're not and and that's and Steve started laughing he said what do you mean no we're not he says you're not doing that routine he says why he says because i have a hundred zulu dancers on the show tonight i have no conception and i'm in that outfit and i'm going down to put on makeup and i walk down the steps and i see all these natives wearing the same outfit and i can't pull and and and i i said what is that

and i run up and i said ed there are guys that look like zulus on on the show he says they are real zulus dancers so i said oh what are we gonna do now we had an hour before the show yeah we ran across the street i got a japanese helm uh cap and we played the uh manager of the world's fair the manager of the japanese pavilion i changed all the jokes steavilion. I changed all the jokes. Steve and I changed all the jokes, and we went out and did this. And it worked. And it worked.

And then about, we would eat at a famous restaurant called Danny's Hideaway, and Ed was having dinner there one night, and he said to me, when are you going to do your Zulu routine? And I said, if I had a pot, I'd hit you, Ed. It was hysterical. It's interesting because so many of the routines that used to be sort of commonplace at that time

would be considered insensitive now. You know what I mean? And back then i well the peace corps was a big thing yeah i was playing a regular zulu warrior and being interviewed i had no conception that he would have zulu dance right right right so when you grew up like knowing myron cone and knowing the you know the the cat skills and and having spent as much time as you spent up there was in how much was being you know jewish or being brought up jewish you know part i wasn't thinking that way no i mean were you uh because i mean i'm jewish

most of the comics were jewish well they weren't all they were regular comics. Nobody was doing Jewish, except there may have been a couple. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it wasn't like what you're thinking. All the acts would go every weekend. You'd meet at a drugstore in New York called Hanson's. Did you play the Catskill today in the famous hotels? Did you play the Catskill today in the famous hotels? Grossinger's, the Concord, Brown's, Nevilley.

I just always pictured it like for some reason, I guess I romanticized it because I'm a Jewish kid. I grew up in New Mexico. It wasn't. It didn't feel that way? It was a Jewish population that came up there on the weekend. Yeah. It wasn't that you played it that way. No, no, no.

Because in the nightclub at the Concord was like playing the Copacabana. Right, right. Because they had Tony Bennett. Right.

You had Sammy Davis. Right. You had you named the guy. Everybody who were the guys there's so many comics that like that i you know that that people don't that don't know because like you know you know now there's like hundreds and hundreds of comics but it was like that when you were starting out too wasn't it yeah there were a lot of guys that never made it that you know that were really funny and no one knows who they are yeah did you know a lot of guys that were really funny and no one knows who they are? Yeah. Did you know a lot of guys that were hilarious

that no one would know? Well, you know, you have that same thing today where there are a lot of guys that are working, but they never become as well-known as the ones that I knew at the time. Yeah. And I take pride in the fact that I knew at the time. Yeah, yeah. And I take pride in the fact that I know great comedians.

Shecky, you mentioned Shecky. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who's not only a great comedian, but a good friend. Jackie Mason. Yeah, yeah. You know, these kind of guys. And I worked with them growing up

during their time, their period of when they were entertaining. When you were in Vegas, you know, Shecky gets sort of credited with sort of creating the lounge act. Like he would play the small room and just, you know. Oh, yeah. But you would go in and know how great he was. All the lounges were fantastic.

Yeah. Because you would go in and say, like, a singer like Jerry Vale would be in the lounge. Right, right, right. Or some other famous singer. Yeah, before they got big. Eventually, they became big names. So that was the way it worked. You'd do the lounge.

That was it. A lot of them worked in lounges and then from the lounges when i went down to see uh louis prima yeah and and keely rickles was also in the lounge yeah and boom yeah he became a big star it must have been amazing to see him in the lounge it's a smaller room right yeah and then just to see him work with that crowd but he worked he worked so good yeah that eventually the the people took to him yeah and he became a big star so quick and deservedly so so quick in fact when i'm in vega i live in ve. Do you? And they say, who do you go to see? Like, who do you go to as a comedian? Who do you like? Oh, I like Tony Bennett.

But if I go to see a comedian, it's either Shecky or Rickles. Those are my two favorites. They hit me hard. I just saw Rickles in Canada. He's like, what is he, almost 90? And he sits down, but he's sharp. Oh, yeah, he's so sharp. We just saw Karen, and I just went to see him.

Did you win some sort of... I saw something on YouTube where they were presenting you with like a Tropicana Award, or did someone give you... Oh, no, the Louis Primo Award was presented by his daughter. Oh, yeah. But right now on YouTube, there are two DVDs of Karen Blackwell singing by the time I go to Phoenix. Yeah.

And I Pray Before. Two songs that are phenomenal and i did a quickie that you gotta take a look it's called marty allen's secret oh i saw that i want you to know just go watch it i saw that you'll fall down you'll fall down do you still perform still perform is he kidding me i love that that's a great line of course yeah that's with a cane and everything yeah you know we just came back we were in michigan and milwaukee and milwaukee we played a famous uh casino pot of water mate yeah. That's where I met this wonderful... Uh-huh. And how do you find the audience now?

Who comes out? They're hysterical. Yeah, yeah. They're good audiences and just great. Do you play Vegas still? We play Vegas. Do you feel like Vegas has changed? Is it a different place now?

Is there... No. play Vegas. Do you feel like Vegas has changed? Is it a different place now? No. I can't say that it's any different. Because I get great reactions. I enjoy, and we're still working, and Karen

opens the show, sings. She sings like you can't believe she plays the piano like Jerry Lee Laws and she's a straight lady like you can't believe so she does the Rossi lines and we have many

routines that we haven't done but she does we have taken some of the old routines and rewritten them and made them to fit us. Do you do married couple stuff? Do you do that? Married?

Well, I mean, do you talk about? Well, once in a while we kid around, but we don't do married. But you're married, aren't you? 30 years. And you never thought to go on stage and bicker and play a married couple? Oh, no, we don't do that. Why? We never bicker.

Well, that's why I say that would be funny. You make it up. No. Yeah. No, we really enjoy each other on stage. And when you get off stage, as it was with Steve and as it is with her, when you get off, you don't discuss it. You don't say, well, why didn't you do that joke? Or why didn't you say so-and-so at that time? You don't do it. You don't say, well, why didn't you do that joke? Or why didn't you say so-and-so at that time? You don't do it.

You just forget it. You walk out. When you look back at the whole career, I mean, what do you got? Now you got, what, almost 80 years in show business. What was the biggest thrill? The biggest thrill? Yeah. The fact that I was going to be on a mark marone show yeah

good answer this is it 45 sullivans he met the beatles frank sinatra frank sinatra elvis presley but this is it this is a high point because we're both still at it. Well, when I heard that you asked for me, I couldn't believe it. I cried for a half hour. I'm so glad you... I said, oh my, the mark wants me on the show. I'm so glad you pulled it together to make the appearance.

It sounds like you were overwhelmed with emotion. Hey, we drove all the way down, and tonight, you know, I'm doing the autograph section. So, yeah, he's telling me it was the most exciting day of his life today. You're driving up here. He's like, where the hell is this place, right? No. Okay.

The further up we were going, I said, we're getting close. What the hell happened to show business? This is a guy's garage. No. This is it. It doesn't matter no sir you got the talent yeah i'm all right and you got the place and i got the microphones you got the microphone and you got the the people listening to you yeah and then and and saying that your show is good who are your favorite comics, looking back, outside of Shecky and Don? I mean, guys I'm admiring.

A lot of them are in Washington. Yeah, always. There's a new batch of comedians every few years in Washington. Yeah, they keep changing. But who were the guys that you watched when you were a kid that influenced the way you sort of did shtick? Well, I thought the Marx Brothers were phenomenal right yeah yeah lauren harvey did you meet groucho oh i knew groucho very well yeah he must have been something he was quick huh yeah

oh great mind yeah yeah great physical mind yeah i would say uh groucho and uh abedin costello How funny was he? You know. That must be like that. I thought they were the kind of people that I enjoyed. Yeah, yeah. Laughed at. Well, that was sort of a classic team thing, too.

The thing that you and Rossi had, there's not a lot of teams that do it anymore, but that was a classic straight man, and you were just over the top. Yeah. And that was the way Abbott and Costello were. But I saw Laurel and that was the way i've been constantly i saw laurel and hardy and abin gets all on the march brothers uh-huh in my beginning yeah yeah these were the ones yeah that i thought of so many so much of did you i you know i interviewed dick van dyke and he when he got to hollywood he actually

looked up stan laurel in the phone book book and went to his house to meet him. Well, by the way, Dick Van Dyke did a terrific job. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Yeah, he's still good. He's clear. He's good. Yeah.

Yeah, he's got a wife that keeps him going. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, it was a thrill to talk to you. And I'm happy you're alive and still working. Yeah, we enjoy working, and I enjoy doing these autograph sessions. What is that exactly? Well, a lot of celebrities, you go in a room, and one sits next to each other. Like last time was Dan Haggerty, Hasselhoff, Marty Allen, you know.

Yeah, yeah. Bo Derek. Uh-huh. And one sits next to each other. People come in and buy your photo. Uh-huh. And they buy the photos. Okay.

And tonight I brought a stack because everybody called me up you got to come with the beetle photo yeah so i got the photo with the beetles and uh marty allen whatever and the book is on kindle hello dad book you are the first one to know it just went on about a half hour ago we went do you remember and the guy that called my wife yeah and said karen yeah the book has been accepted you can tell him he can tell you on the mark maron show you're like oh my god everything's working out for me when do you remember the first time you said hello there hello there yeah that became my famous thing i i i you try to get a catchphrase yeah you know i'm a bad boy boy i'm a bad boy yeah. And different sayings like that.

Yeah. So I try to think of something, and I always knew the expression, hello there. Yeah. It's a great, warm feeling. Yeah. So I changed it to, hello there, D-E-R-E. Yeah. In fact, kids would go to school, they'd write D-E-R-E.

Teachers say, that is not the way. Oh, yeah, Marty Allen. Hello there. Yeah. Who was the other guy who was on that? to school they write d yari teachers say that is not the way oh yeah marty allen hello there yeah who's the other guy who's on that did you know bill dana bill dana yeah jose amenas yeah is he still around he did the uh going to the moon yeah yeah yeah yeah how about senior winces did you know that senior winces oh yeah the old man yeah, the old man. Yeah. We did a show. Yeah. I think he was 100 years old on a radio show. Mm-hmm.

And it was in Atlantic City. Okay. And I did it with him. Oh, good. And he was very nice. Yeah. I go with the attitude, Mark. I'm not jealous of anybody I believe anybody

anybody just got a chance to make it make it yeah you know that's a good luck yeah yeah to be in the business is a warm feeling yeah and like I say if you get a chance to make it make it well you did it and i i never took jokes from anybody i just try to have my own routines and have the attitude hey you you're funny you're funny yeah like i say like what you said yeah you go sit and watch Rickles. Yeah. And you laugh. Yeah. You get, oh, no, you really laugh at the guy. Yeah, oh, yeah.

Or you see Shecky and you're laughing. Kills me. Yeah, that's it. Yep. I was sitting there watching Rickles the other night. I don't sit there and say, why is he doing this? Yeah. Or would this routine fit in with mine?

Yeah. No. I just love the man or the person and and like i say uh there are many girls yeah that are terrific comedians yeah and uh did you know joan joan joan was terrific the greatest she rest in peace yeah she was a terrific entertainer. Yeah. Terrific comedian. Yeah. And when I was on the Gary Moore show, the number one girl, Carol Burnett.

Yeah. She's still around, huh? We did, Alan and Rossi and I, we did a show with Carol Burnett. Oh, well, Carol was, there's no way to explain Carol Burnett. Yeah. She would be the top of all. Yeah, because she could do anything. There's nothing she could do. She could do routines.

She could sing, dance. She would be like a female Sinatra. Wow. That's how I see Carolol burnett do you are is she still around do you talk to her yeah she i think she just wrote another book if i recall that's great man you've had a great career it's going on stage yeah and she does routines yeah routines and i'm happy for her i'm happy for anybody that makes it and does good in the business. I'm happy for you.

Oh, thank you. It was great to see you. It was a pleasure to talk to you. It was a pleasure to be here. Thanks for coming. Thank you. Okay, that's Marty Allen, who's going to be 93, still working. Still working.

God bless him, if you believe in that kind of stuff. I don't know if I got it in me to do that. Oh, boy. I guess that's, you know, I guess that's how you feel like you're in it, in the life. All right, well, look, go to WTFpod.com. Go to the calendar there and see if I'm coming near you on my marination tour. And if not, I'll be near you soon. All right, I'm going to add dates.

Just relax. Don't freak out. Also, you can check who's been on the show. You can get the app free. Upgrade to premium. Do what you got to do. Get some just coffee.coop. All right. Okay.

All right. Okay. All right. I go to sleep. Got to shoot tomorrow. Early. All right. Thanks for being here.

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