Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - 136. 2016 in Review

Episode Date: January 2, 2017

Gilbert and Frank take a look back at some of the best moments of an unforgettable year, featuring a lineup of memorable guests, including Dick Van Dyke, Michael McKean, Lee Grant, Bob "Super Dave" Einstein and Matthew Broderick, to name a few. Also, Pat Cooper rants, Bruce Dern praises Gilbert, Peter Bogdanovich classes up the joint and George Takei spanks William Shatner. PLUS: Dueling Paul Williams! Uncle Junior sings! Dick Cavett strips! The wonder of Bob Hope's "Joys"! And the fascinating journey of Al Jaffee! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing TD Insurance for Business, with customized coverage options for your business. Because at TD Insurance, we understand that your business is unique, so your business insurance should be too. Contact a licensed TD Insurance advisor to learn more. Want visibly glowing skin in 14 days? With new Olay Indulgent Moisture Body Wash, you can lather and glow. The 24-hour moisturizing body wash is infused with vitamin B3 complex and has notes of rose and cherry creme for a rich indulgent experience. Treat your senses with new Olay Indulgent Moisture Body Wash. Buy it today at major retailers.

at major retailers. Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried and this is Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast. I'm here with my co-host, Frank Santopadre. And once again, we're recording at Nutmeg with our engineer,

Frank Ferdarosa. And our trusty researcher, Paul Rayburn. Now, Paul, I forget. Is that what he does? Is that what he does? He also likes to keep us company. Yes. He's a buffer between you and me.

Yeah. Yeah. Michael Corleone had a lot of buffers. Had a lot of buffers, Senator. So, Paul, at the end of every episode I keep forgetting your plug You've been here You're faithful You're loyal

And you have a book And this time I'm going to open the episode With your plug We've mentioned your book Right Before But tell us again So it's called

The Game Theorist's Guide to Parenting Yes, sir And it's a way to do a better job Of negotiating with your children so that they don't always win and you don't always lose. Right. And it's been tested in the home of a certain Gilbert Gottfried. You don't say. I do say. And how does that work?

Both of my kids are in prison now. Well, there's the testimonial. Fantastic. How was it test-driven in the Godfreedom? Well, we talked about the book, and Gilbert said that he had negotiated

with his children over M&Ms. Oh, I remember. Oh, yes. Because Lily was playing him. That's right. Okay. And where can people get this book, Paul? At bookstores everywhere, Amazon, Barnes & Noble. What's a bookstore?

Oh, yes. I'm so moved by this that I'm choking up. That's okay. I thought you were dying. I was getting really excited. The time has finally come. So here is an interesting theme. It's not really a theme.

It's a premise. If it was a theme, I'd sing it. And by the way, your rendition of You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch, made us all very, very happy. Yes, it's what Christmas is all about. I think so. This is our last episode of 2016. Wow.

And I don't know how we did it. When we started this show, Gilbert thought we were going to do four of these and go to the movies and call it a day. Yeah, I remember we did our first one. We did. I won't say with who. People know now. Yeah. You still don't have to say it with us. But I remember we were all sitting in a pizzeria afterwards.

I won't say pizza store, which I always say. It was a pizza store. And I was basically saying, all right, well, you know, we tried that. Darren and I were profoundly depressed. Yeah. But we tried a second one with Dick Cavett. The rest is history. And we have done, counting the many episodes, the Whoopi Oldberg episode, which went up today, 132 of these puppies.

Oh, yeah. How have we done it? Yeah. How have you maintained your energy? Oh, I don't know. And your breath. And your lung capacity. Well, I'm going to do 2016 in review.

We started, our first episode of 2016 was Bobbyby slayton the pitbull of comedy ah who was sitting here telling us about his horror film collection uh then we did of course a george zucco gene hackman tribute because everybody has to have oh yes yes and then episode 85 which we put up in january was one of your favorites and mine you You managed to wrangle the legendary Bruce Dern. Yes, yes, I had met him, I think, on the Opie show. On the Opie and Jim. And it turns out he was a fan of mine. He said something like, you know, if you're describing one word, it's courage.

Really? Yes, something like that. Interesting. Great, great complimenting from Bruce Stern. Yeah, it was one of those calls, Daris, saying, I think we got Bruce Stern, and I couldn't believe that we got such a name on this show. And Bruce Stern, he was talking about how he's not a big druggie. Not at all.

He was clean. He was a runner. And Nicholson was trying to force a joint into Bruce Dern's mouth correct he goes you know come on you'll feel but oh he says he goes take a puff you'll feel good and he goes I do feel good and he goes feel better and we learned what a Dernsy was. A Dernsy, yeah. On that episode. And he was a champ.

And his memory is better than any computer. Yeah. He could tell you what the key grip on a movie is, name and address. You bet. And what he ate for lunch. You were present for that one, Paul. I was. It was in Gil's apartment.

You know, what was funny about that, that's just what I was going to say. You know, not only do we have a guy of his stature, but we're doing it on the Gottfried dinner table. Correct. Dara Gottfried as the engineer before we hooked up with Frank. Right. That's why we still have that one. Yeah, that's why we're not going around saying, hey, we interviewed Bruce Stern. They go, no, you didn't.

I'd like to reiterate that Frank Verderosa was not the man responsible for the lost audio in the lost episodes. That's what you say. Yes. Then we did episode 86, which we put up in January january 21st was and he was right here in this room the great dominic chianese oh my god and he serenaded us from the chair paul was sitting in right now that was one of the great believe it or not there were actually some tender moments in this there were that was the tenderest right there that brought a tear to my eye that episode uh but brother can you spare a dime? What's that? Oh, man.

Once I built a railroad I made it run I made it race against time Once I built a railroad Now it's done Brother, can you spare a dime? Once I built a tower to the sun, brick and rivet and lime. Once I built a tower Now it's done Brother, can you spare a dime? With the Italian song,

you know how some of these great moments get lost after the show has stopped recording. We were out in just like the regular sitting area and that's playing him singing the Italian song and he's going, he's narrating it in English. And that was amazing. It was wonderful. That was, that may have been one of my favorite episodes because it had everything in it. I mean, he got, he got poignant when he was talking about Gandolfini and the two songs, the Yip Harburg song, The Brother Can You Spare a Dime, was a highlight in the history of this show. Yeah.

It was a great moment. That was followed by maybe my favorite mini episode. Hey, that was my idea for him to sing Brother Can You Spare a Dime. Very good. Because I knew, I knew this guy could really do it. It's like he lived that thing. Yeah, that was just a special episode. Oh, he was great.

The mini episode that we broke out after that one, mini episode 43, I was talking about Richard Lester. I didn't know where you were going to go, and you started just out of the blue talking about Bob Hope specials, and that was the episode where we introduced Jack Frost. Oh, yeah! Which became a runner. Yes. That is the...

Jack Frost is one of the most unintentionally frightening TV shows you'll ever see. It's become a staple of this show. In fact, if you go to YouTube and you look it up, under the comments it says, Gilbert sent me here. Yeah.

It's just by the dozen. Jack Frost awoke one morn from a long, long sleep and he said with a yawn, Ho hum, the time has come to freeze the trees and roses, and when that's done I'll have some fun nipping little toes and noses. Jack Frost made a dish of ice that goes to Jack Frost made a glacier pie or two Jack Frost topped it off with an igloo grip. He's cold and tight, but he's so nice. After that, we had our pal George Takei at the Friars Club. Oh, my God, yes.

Episode 87. That was a great one. And he had just come from a visit to the throat doctor. He was on stage, and he was doing his Broadway show about internment camps. And you made him do something from... Oh, I had him do Shylock going, Hath not a Jew hies? The poor man could barely speak. He spoke warmly about his deep friendship with William Shatner.

That was fun. Oh, God, yes. We love George to death. The following mini-episode, you introduced the world to your love of skeleton nags. You like to call him Skelton Canags. Yeah, I still call him Skelton Canags. He looks like a Canags. Right.

We had Joe Dante after that, who was terrific. And we had that whole discussion about whether or not you could order monkeys in the mail. Oh, yes, yes. And he disputed that that was a thing. Yeah, and it's true. But we found it. And they would send you either diseased or dead monkeys. Oh, my God.

It traumatized children. This show is nothing but educational. The following mini-ep was, once again, Bob Hope's Joys. Oh, God! You pulled that out of mothballs, and that became an obsession for a while. And people found it. People sent it to me.

Everybody was in that. Oh, yes. A couple of podcast guests turned up in that one. Oh, yeah! Like Storch and Marty Allen. Look for that episode. Episode number 90, which we put up on February 15th maybe Gilbert's favorite episode

you were certainly the most touched or the most excited to do this episode and that was you paying a visit to the legendary Dick Van Dyke at his house in Malibu yeah and at first they

weren't answering us. It seemed like they. Yeah, it wasn't looking good for a while. No. Well, Dick was in New York and we missed him. And then you were crushed. Yeah. And then they.

And I was doing jokes about it. You know, his wife being a quarter of his age and all that. And then they not only invited us, but invited us to come into his house. Yeah, he was a sport. And we sang two duets together. Yep. It's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious.

If you say it loud enough, you always sound precocious. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Then you gotta go um-di-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da- Sorrell. Sure. And he said to me, he goes, you know, you would have made a good buddy on this show. That's nice. So you were told by Dick Van Dyke that you would make a good buddy, Sorrell. You were told by Adam West that you would have made a good penguin. Yes. See, aren't you glad you started this show? Yeah, yes. Aren't you glad we made it out of the pizza store? If only producers thought the same thing. If only our audio was preserved. Episode 94 was our pal Belzer. Oh, yes, yes. Richard Belzer.

Yes, a lot of fun. He told that great story. Any Jews in there? Oh, yeah. Liza Minnelli wants some Jews, some orange juice. You don't know what I'm talking about. Episode 94.

That was a very funny episode. Cliff Nesterman made his first visit on Thrun. Cliff Navavival. March 24th. Episode 96, which we put up in March, the legendary Pat Cooper was here. Pat Cooper, out of his mind, and is the best kind of guest to have. Yeah, he was right here in this room. I mean, there was nothing.

It took no work. Did we say anything? We didn't say a fucking word. We just kind of sat there and let him scream. Paul, were you here for that one? I was not here. No, I was not here. That was legendary.

I listened to it, but yeah. Well, after we lost Jack Carter and we realized we didn't have a venomous episode, I turned to Gil and I said said what about pat cooper and we called pat he had just come out of the from the doctor's office sure and he showed up and he sat down he's pushing he's got to be 90 oh my god close to it he's just filled with anger and everything but also the man brought it oh he did interview he absolutely did um And I mean, we didn't have a chance to say hello on that one. I was afraid of him, even at his age. The amazing thing is, you know, as dumb as I'm supposed to be growing up,

because we had no show business people in my house, and I spotted something. I said, why are the Jewish men funny? And I said, because there was nobody else, but the great ones, all Jewish comics. I fucking loved them. I said, and then I found out, simple. It's in the genes. And they have an automatic rhythm.

And when you learn from that, rhythm is so important as a comic to get that wave and that groove and that groove. It's like going to a scene, hearing a jazz artist and, you know, and I adored all of them. All of them. And I would go home and get my mother-in-law to beat the shit out of me. I would sit through, you know, six, seven shows of Red Buttons

or Jan Murray's, you know, and then they came to my house when I worked Vegas and I'm going, I fucking couldn't believe it. And they're looking up to me like, you know, I'm the new guy. I'm going, you know, I'm brawling, this kind of guy. I said, Pat, you know, you did something nobody did. I said, well, I didn't know what the

fuck I did. Michael McKean did episode 97. That was wonderful. He refused to sing with you. Oh, yes! Because he knew I sang better than him. Yeah, that must be it. We love Michael to death.

And you also reminded him on numerous occasions that you had never seen this, a spinal tap. Never saw it. That endeared him to you. Yes. You to him, I mean. Episode 98, we had the great Ileana Douglas. Yes.

Who said that she wanted to fuck Marlon Brando even when he was 500 pounds. She did. Yeah. Which you repeated to the audience at the film forum. Yes. We were introducing the game to comedy. So you're saying I have a chance. That's what I said.

Nice work, Frankie. We love Ileana. We've got to get her back. And I told Ileana when I was at a screening of Goodfellas. Oh, yes. And they were trying to kick me out of the Museum of Modern Art. Yeah, it's like, I don't know. For some reason, they didn't know who I was, or maybe they did.

She said Scorsese was a fan of yours. Oh, yeah, he is. And you could tell by all the Scorsese films. You were great as Maury. Yeah. The one Jew character in a Scorsese film. Well, we should ask Marty to come in. Marty, like I know the man.

Yeah. We should ask Martin Scorsese to come and do the show. He'd be such a fan of yours. Next time I talk to Bobby De Niro. Okay. We'll see what we can do. Maybe Dusty Hoffman can. Dusty.

Like he just came off the trail. And R.J. Wagner. Oh, yes, yes. The episode after that, one of my favorites, Mark Hudson. The Mark Hudson one, we were like in the kitchen area. Yeah, at Nutmeg. We didn't know what we were going to get out of Mark. And he walked in, and before we were anywhere near a mic,

he told us about 10 of the most insane, dirty stories. Unrepeatable stories. Oh, completely. Unfortunately. And we can't repeat the names of the people he was mentioning. Because we would spend a lot of time in court. Another lost segment there. I'll tell you.

Take Gilbert and I out and get us drunk. Mark walked in. Jackie Martling had recommended Mark Hudson. I was a big Hudson Brothers fan, and I knew he'd work with Ringo and get us drunk. Mark walked in. Jackie Martling had recommended Mark Hudson. I was a big Hudson Brothers fan, and I knew he'd work with Ringo and all these people. I said, that guy's got to be a storyteller. But we didn't know. He was an automatic. He was like the guest you would make in a lab.

Episode 102, another favorite of ours, and this was just a wonderful surprise, the great Peter Marshall. Peter Marshall, terrific. Also, great memory. Yeah. 90, another 90-year-old and sharp as hell.

Yes. And had stories at the ready and also settled the, got the Paul Lynn story about the Gold Diggers dressing room.

I still say, cunt. You still like your version? Yes. Episode 103, Orson Bean came and abused us. Oh, like your version. Yes. Episode 103, Orson Bean came and abused us. Oh, yeah. That was fun. Let's see.

Episode 105, and this was a great one. This had our favorite sing-along, Tony Orlando. Oh, my God. Tony Orlando was great. What a treat. Take your time.

Okay, baby. You're coming up any second now. Go for it, Gilbert. I'm coming home. I've done my time. Now I've got to know what is and isn't mine. If you receive my letter telling you I should be free, then you'll know just what to do if you still want me. Get to it!

If you still want me. Oh, I'm so impressed. Tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree. It's been three long years. Do you still want me? Let me sing for a minute. If I don't see a ribbon round the old oak tree, I'll stay on the bus, forget about us Put the blame on me If I don't see

I never rip it round The old oak tree Why am I sounding like you? We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast after this. Want visibly glowing skin in 14 days? With Nuole Indulgent Moisture Body Wash, you can lather and glow.

The 24-hour moisturizing body wash is infused with vitamin B3 complex and has notes of rose and cherry creme for a rich indulgent experience. Treat your senses with Nuole Indulgent Moisture Body Wash. Buy it today at major retailers. This ad was expressly recorded to create a sense of simplicity. Just a few simple sounds. No complexity.

Like Neutral. Made with just vodka, soda, and natural flavor. Neutral. Refreshingly simple. simple. 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. 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. And now back to the show. He's everything you want Tony Orlando to be. He is, again, like Mark Hudson.

That's why we have to get more musicians on the show. Everything you want in a podcast guest. Oh, he was. Walk him in, sit him down, bang. The stories, the songs. And although Tony Orlando is not in fact a Jew, he's kind of an honorary Jew because his father worked in the garment center.

And I think they used to call either him or his father Ladle. Something. Yeah, Ladle. Yeah. Oh, Label. Label yeah label label it was labeled he was in the garment district and uh yeah and he's buried his father is buried in a jewish cemetery yep well tony is a treat and he was great and uh check out episode 105 with tony orlando uh you won't be sorry 106 we brought back our pal dick Cavett for a live show at the New York Podfest.

Dick's another one that you could leave and go to the movies, and he'll just have stories to fill up. A sweet guy who paid me a great compliment that night that I will never forget, which was lovely of him. And he patiently waited in sweltering heat in the back room that we were in, in the green room, for two hours. You were there that night, Paul. Yeah, I was there. And he was a champ, and he got so warm at one point he took his shirt off and he did the podcast in his t-shirt. Yes!

And some people on Facebook said, why is Dick Cavett in his undershirt? He just auditioned for Streetcar. He felt right at home, apparently. What a lovely man. Two episodes he's done this show. We just call him. He's an automatic.

I love that guy to death. Episode 107, Gilbert and I were treated to the great Peter Bogdanovich. Oh, yes. Who had stories and stories about Hitchcock, about Ford. That was great. Oh, yeah. That's when I realized we had a guest who was actually too classy for the show. I know.

And one who I was in a movie that he directed, and I never made it to the final cut, but it was the terrible last of the Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor films. That's it. Well, we were thrilled that Peter agreed to do this. And a great storyteller. Episode 109, The Late Great Marvin Kaplan. Oh, terrific.

Yeah. We lost Marvin. He was wonderful. We called him up. He was an automatic. You had talked to him beforehand. Yes. And what got me, that was so great i wish i had recorded my off off mic uh phone calls with him because

he was that's who he was he was that kind of character yeah and um remember we called him he had everything set up we were here at nutmeg and frankie got everything set up and we called and we got his answering machine oh yes it was terrific fantastic i still have i still have that recording it didn't we didn't throw it out. Oh, we'll have to throw that in. We'll have to add that in post. That's a wonderful thing to have. And he was asking us stuff like, well, do I have to dress up for it?

Yeah. He was terrific. Frisbee from The Great Race. Oh, yes. And the gas station attendant whose name escapes me, Arnold Stang's colleague. Yes, and they get chased, terrorized by Jonathan Winters. Oh, yes. And the gas station attendant whose name escapes me, Arnold Stang's colleague. Yes, and they get chased, terrorized by Jonathan Winters. What a wonderful guy.

He was terrific, just lovable guy. Yeah. And he was discovered by Katharine Hepburn. He was. Yeah. He was. He was not a household name, Marvin, but he did so much work in Top Cat, of course, and he was in the Chicago Teddy Bears. Oh, yeah. Just a wonderful

career. And I heard from, I have some friends at Brillstein Gray that just called me up and said, we just love the Marvin Kaplan episode. Yeah. They fell madly in love with it. Oh, yeah. Because he kept reminiscing about people and then he would say, I loved him. Yes!

Yes. I loved him yes yes i loved him we loved marvin and we miss him uh amy heckerling episode oh yes and the baby and the return of amy heckerling's babysitter uh yes that's the one i abused to no end i would make uh i would tell her how much I wanted to have sex with Amy Heckling's daughter, who at the time I think was three. She was a sick, sick individual. And I started doing Nazi jokes to her. It was, yeah. That was a Howard Stern staple. Yeah, they always played that yeah me abusing uh uh amy heckling's german jewish

uh baby she was a good sport she came here anyway uh we're fans of amy um john beiner episode 111 terrific uh maybe in the running from my top three episodes. That was a flawless episode. We did that here, and John was on Skype. And he just came on ready to perform. Just brought it. Yeah. And then the highlight of that episode for me was dueling Paul Williams. Oh, yes!

Yes! Rainy days and Mondays always get me down. Talking to myself and feeling old. I'm feeling old. Sometimes I'd like to quit. I'd like to quit. Nothing ever seems to fit. And I don't give a shit.

Up and around. Nothing to do but frown. When it is Monday, always get me down. We did Dueling Paul Williams, me and John Beiner. And we sent it, or i called paul williams and he left a message on my machine oh you didn't tell me this yeah paul williams then called me back and i got a message you know like and he he loved it he was crack He couldn't even speak. He was laughing, remembering it. Wow, that's nice.

We love Paul. We've got to get Paul back at some point. Oh, he's a terrific guest. The Biner episode 111 is just perfect, and he hasn't lost a step. And with Paul Williams, on that episode, I sang both Rainbow Connection and a duet with him. And Nice to Be Around. You did. That was a great one.

That was just, you love this guy as a kid. You haven't heard from him in a while. You wonder if it's all still there. And just, hey, come on, a little of the Ant and the Aardvark, and he's doing it. Oh, yes, yes. And he told that great Cagney story, visiting Jimmy Cagney. With a great Cagney invitation. The best Cagney. With a great Cagney invitation. The best Cagney. John Beiner, for me,

is just flawless, peerless. Episode 112, and this was a fun one, Dick DiBartolo and Al Jaffe. Oh, yes. And we got to hear about Dick's game show experiences

and his experiences at MADD, but also Al's fascinating life and sad life yeah that's a that's a poignant one they they were escaping for was it lithuania yeah i think so i think well his mother his mother didn't make it to the train in time and the train pulled away and he went he was going back to america to live with his father and as it turns out he never saw his mother again and and i think he said out of out of the window he saw his mother show up. This is a man who's 90 plus.

He's 95, I believe. So he's remembering something that was 90 years ago. I have to say for this show, you know, we've been fortunate. You know, the 90-year-olds and the 80-somethings. Amazing memories. And just Peter Marshall and Dick Van Dyke and Roger Corman. Oh, yes. And Al and just automatics and boom, there it is.

You know, it's really, I'm not kidding. It might sound like it, but some of these things should be like in the Smithsonian. I mean, these people are talking about things that's a huge part of our cultural history that they haven't said anywhere else. Yes, yes. cultural history that they haven't said anywhere else yes yes and when he was talking about like escaping from lithuania and his mother's not making it to the train and i thought and this is a guy famous for making people laugh yeah yeah that was the parallel that you drew yeah he's a wonderful guy al i'm so i'm so blessed i've for MADD on and off for about 20 years. And to meet those guys, to meet Drucker and Aragones.

And I never met Jack Davis, but Paul Coker, the great Paul Coker, illustrated a piece I did. And to know Al, to get to know him has been a thrill. Really an honor. And speaking of poignant episodes, episode 114, and this one blew Gilbert away, Sonny Fox. Unbelievable. Yeah.

When he was coming on, I remember Wonderama, and I thought he was going to have some fun stories about kids saying the darndest things or maybe a kid wetting their pants during the show. And he was a prisoner of war yes indeed held by like the nazis and they were held in a train car that's right like shoved in together i think for weeks a 30 something i can't remember if it would go back and it was it was a car made for like 10 people yeah and he survived a lot of hardships. Yeah.

And those stories were riveting. Oh, my God. And he's the only guest, I think, that has teared up on the show. Unless you want to count Steve Buscemi's tears of regret. Oh, yeah. But I remember he told a story about how the German officers said they have to come out of the train and the Jews have to fall out. Yeah. And their sergeant, who was not a Jew, said to them, we all fall out.

Yeah. And the sergeant stood up to the German officer and said, all of us are Jews. It was a Spartacus moment. Yes. Yeah. And so there were chilling and tearful moments. He was great. A terrific guest. That was followed by legendary character actor Dick Miller.

Oh, yes. Who was colorful and fun. Yes. And his wife Elaine at his side. And we love Dick, yes. Who was colorful and fun. Yes. And his wife, Elaine, at his side. And we love Dick, and he told a great monkey story. We like monkey stories on this show. Oh, yes. And he was like one of those.

He was in a documentary called That Guy. That Guy, Dick Miller. And he's one of those That Guy actors. Episode 116, Matthew Broderick was kind enough to come over here. Bless his heart. He came across town. He had a show that night. He was doing a play. He had a show that afternoon and at night. Yeah.

And with that brief space, he sped up in a cab over here. And the first thing I said to him is how much I hated Ferris Bueller. Because you really know how to warm up a guest and welcome a guest. But he was a terrific guest. A wonderful guest.

And I kept trying to mitigate it as fast as I could. We loved the legend. We loved it. Yes. But it did show, I did say what a good actor he really is. In that every time Ferris Bueller's on i hate him because i believe that's him yep but then i hear him in these other movies where he's playing like this nebbish yeah and he both are convincing he's good in a lot of films in films that have flown under the

radar to a movie called the night we never met um uh you can count on me a handful of films he's really he really does you can count on me was the banker love that film yeah it was made by his buddy kenneth lonergan but uh even in pictures that don't work very well like the road to wellville he's always solid yeah you know um anyway we were thrilled that we got matthew project to come over here between gigs. So thank you, Matthew. You're a sport. Episode 117, maybe our most bizarro episode, and that's our friend Jonathan Katz. Oh.

Dr. Katz, Frankie V's favorite. What can you say? Yeah. I love that man. He was like, with Jonathan Katz, he'll tell these stories that are just totally mixed up and dragged out, and they end completely flat. Yep. That's part of his appeal. Yeah.

And after a while of hearing these stories, I just totally lost it and could not stop laughing. I know. He was trying to tell stories and I was just screaming. What's great is he called me like 12 times during the week before that episode to run those stories behind me. He kept saying, John, anything you want.

I assume they had endings. And I'm not the only fan. I was listening to another podcast recently and they had Michael Shannon. Oh, sure, sure, from Zod. And he starts the episode by talking about he doesn't watch a lot of TV, but the only thing he really likes is Dr. Katz. Yeah. Particularly Dr. Katz and John Benjamin.

With Dr. Katz, it's at the end where I completely lose it, and he continues trying to tell the story. Tell the Conan O'Brien story. Yeah, this sounds good. Okay, so I show up early. I go into Be Made Up, and I see there's a woman there. There's a woman sitting there. There's a woman sitting there and I say... I sit around...

I sit... I say to her anytime So I go in to have my makeup done. And there's a woman sitting there. Yes! I go way back with John, and he is the sweetest man. He is the nicest person I've ever met in show business. He's very funny in such an offbeat way. And I tell you, it was almost like he was prunking us.

Oh, yes. But that's part of his mystique and part of his act. He's a comic genius and the work that he and John Benjamin did on Dr. Katz is wonderful. Truly wonderful. This episode surprised and delighted Gilbert.

118. And this was, we ran this on September 1st. Hank Garrett. Yes. Hank Garrett. I mean, we both remember from Car 54. Yep. And I had forgotten all the character work he did in movies.

A lot of character work. Yeah. And he had Sophia Lorenz stories, and he had Robert Redford stories. O.J. Simpson? Right, he did that movie with O.J. Simpson that Dominic Chianese is also in. Oh, yes!

And also Three Days of the Condor. And a great storyteller. And who knew he was a professional wrestler? Oh, yeah, he was terrific. He had all of his stories. They were like, would talk about old movies he did, and they were so funny. And he was a story, though. The witch was this.

Oh, with Al Lewis. The sandwich story. Yeah, we should play that. We walk into an Italian deli. We're on break. Got walk into an Italian deli. We're on break. Got two hours before our next shot. We walk in, and a little Italian gentleman sees us, and he's, can I help you, officer?

Said, yeah, we want to get a couple of sandwiches. And he said, and he said, he said, my father's going to say, hey, don't go for it. And he said, he says, anything else you'd like to have with this sandwich? Al says, yeah, I'll have a soda. I said, no. And I look at this poor guy. And Al says, what do we owe you?

Oh, nothing. I like to give my food away. And he kisses the sandwiches. And it's June or July. As we hit the door, he says, Officer, Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. I come back and I put a couple of bucks on the counter and we ran.

That was great. Yeah. That Hank Garrett episode. He told a story about how OJ Simpson smashed his head into a car. Yep, yep, yep. And he was unconscious. And Sophia Loren was cradling it with his arms. His wife showed up in hysterics, worried about her beloved husband.

showed up in hysterics, worried about her beloved husband, and there he is lying on the ground with his head cradled in Sophia Lorenz's lap and her stroking his head. Wonderful stuff. And she stormed off the set. I don't think a guest was ever so happy, too, with the result of the show and the social media feedback I sent Hank, I sent his manager. He was so gracious. He was so grateful for having done the show and the social media feedback I sent Hank, I sent his manager. He was so gracious.

He was so grateful for having done the show. It was a great experience for all of us. Orson Bean got in touch with us and said, this is the most fan messages he's gotten in the longest time. That was flattering. It's rewarding when that happens. I try to share the social media responses. Our fans are so generous and write so many great things that I feel it's a shame that we're not actually sharing them.

In fact, Bob Einstein called me and just was so grateful that we'd been bringing up all this stuff. And fans were posting clips of Officer Judy and clips that he hadn't seen in years. And he was another one just shot out of a cannon. Shot out of a cannon. And he was another one just shot out of a cannon. Shot out of a cannon. Please welcome a man responsible for some of the best comedy of the last 50 years and one of the funniest human beings on the planet, Officer Judy himself, Bob Einstein.

What an introduction. I know, that was phenomenal. I mean that. That was just a God that gave me shit chills. And you know, I know you're, is that your sidekick or your producer? No, who is that sitting next to you? I'm both, Bob.

I'm both of those things. Because you have nothing to do with that. It's all comes out of Gilbert. that's sitting next to you. On both, Bob. On both of those things. Because you have nothing to do with that. Because when I first met him... It all comes out of Gilbert. Yeah, when I first met him, he said, oh, yes, I remember you did

the Honeymooners and you did the... Didn't you do wrestling and some other show, the bisexuals meet the transgenders? He didn't know shit. He didn't know shit. He didn't know shit.

And he was reading off a piece of paper. It's all Gilbert, Bob. He does know Gilbert was brilliant. But you did no work. You did no work at all. You come in, you took your coat off and read some fucking thing that I guessed you had a year ago.

and read some fucking thing that I guessed you out a year ago. Episode 119 was The Impractical Jokers, our friend's Q&A. Oh, yes. And I'll tell you what stays with me from that one was, can I possibly do less time? Yes, I said that to them. They invited me to do their cruise. And I went there, and he was imitating me, and it was true. I said, can I do less time?

You asked his mother. Yeah, yes. If you could do less time, which made no sense. Is there any way I could do? They're great guys. Episode 121, one of my top five episodes, I think. Ron Liebman and Jessica Walter were here. I never had a better time in my life.

Loads of fun. Yep. They were like if Stiller and Mirror were on. They were like that funny. They had that great interplay back and forth. I heard the other day for Archer. Oh, you did? And she rounded the corner, arms up, telling me how thrilled she was with the

episode. Oh, really? Well, we have to give you credit because you booked them. Well, you booked them. I just gave you the contact. Yeah. And they were happy. They were wonderful. And when I sang the theme to Bye Bye Braverman, she was touched by that. She was. She was. Well, we went pretty deep in the research. them and i think and and of all the guests we've had they seem they seemed uh really to get the show oh yeah what it was we were doing and ron took me aside as we were walking in the elevator and he said never stop doing this oh yeah and that was he said we were providing a service and uh which made me feel good he's got that wonderfully bitter sense he's wonderful yeah he's wonderful and then they sang

the breakfast club song oh yes yeah and then at the end of the show and after we shut the mics off and everything he leans over and kisses me on the cheek i know that whole episode was a grand experience and thank you frankie for for uh for bringing them into our orbit. My pleasure. Here we are, episode 123, Bob Super Dave Einstein. Oh, terrific. Probably never laughed so much in my life at just him abusing us. Yeah. And shot out of a cannon, just like. Yeah.

I like the Red Fox story, but I really like the Joey Heatherton story. Oh, yeah. He said, Joey, we have three weeks to go. We have four episodes committed. We have no guests. And she said, don't worry about it. She said, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr.,

Tony Bennett, and Liberace. And he said, they're locked? They're locked. You sure? Locked. Our first guest was Gary Berghoff. And I had to give him a song. I love that story. He was wonderful.

And you were saying to me, don't start bringing up his father. Yes. Right. I was just hoping you'd save it until the end of the show. Yes. Not just hit him with it. And, of course, I hit him with it, and he told a great story. Yeah.

And he was terrific. Yeah. That episode probably got our biggest response out of 130-something episodes, and Bob called me, and he was thrilled, and he had the time of his life. And we'll have him back by popular demand. Episode 124, You Couldn't Go Farther Afield from Bob Einstein. We ran this on 10-10, October 10th. The wonderful Lee Grant.

Terrific. Yeah. Terrific. One of the few episodes you did research for, might I add. Ha, ha, ha, ha research for, might I add. I know. Whenever I bring up a fact about the guest, you always jump. Like, oh, my God.

Lee had us over to her home. She's adorable. And she answered us, the elevator opens into her apartment, and she was waiting for us. And Gilbert had spent some time at the library that day, which was most impressive. He cared to impress Lee Grant, which was sweet. And she just fell in love with you. Oh, she did. Yeah.

She wanted to adopt him. Yeah. She was telling me how adorable I am. And what a thrill. I mean, you know, I'm a kid who, you know, grew up in Long Island. I didn't have parents and show business. You know, to think that I'm walking into Lee Grant's apartment and she's showing me her Oscar. Pinch me moments.

She's telling us stories about how she was blacklisted. Yeah, that was also touching. Oh, an experience she had with some French girl. That was painful. And then you called bullshit on her not sleeping with Warren Beatty. Yes, yeah. She claimed she didn't fuck Warren Beatty. I say she did.

Yep. But she also had a nice kind of an artistic credo. You know, you do one for them and you do one for yourself. It was great. She talked about the swarm. She came clean about being in the swarm and yeah she was a lot of fun a perfect guest plug and play and we adore lee grant uh joe pantoliano numbered episode 125 what can you say joey joey boots according to joey boots as darren calls him

i just booked joeyots at least you got Boots right he was another one he could not be happier to get on the show you booked him well I didn't book him Dara booked him

but when I mentioned it to him when he was here recording for a project I probably can't say he lit up he was like yeah and he was so open

about all of his neuroses and his depression. We're still getting tweets about it. And Joe's following us on Twitter. He keeps retweeting them. Really touching. Yeah.

Perfect. Just the sweetest guy. Another one of those guys where you watch him on film, you think, this guy's a little dangerous. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like a Harvey Keitel. Oh, yes, yes. You know those guys who are a little hesitant about meeting them?

And he's a pussycat. And he's a doll. Yeah, yes, yes. You know, those guys who are a little hesitant about meeting them. And he's a pussycat, and he's a doll. Yeah. Yeah, loved him. And so open about every problem he's had, emotional, mental, and really, like, just a caring person. Loved him to death. We've got to thank you for that one, Frankie. Episode 126, one of our funniest, Dana Gould.

Oh, yeah. You guys doing Vincent Price, both duetting on something stupid. Dana is a truly funny man and may know as much, if not more, than we do. Oh, yeah. About old movies. Yeah, he's a great one to talk to because you don't have to think about anything. You just start talking about old movies and old TV, and he just keeps up and adds to it. Yep. Tom Savini, episode 127.

Great makeup artist. Another plug-and-play guest who gave us that fun video tour. Oh, yes. Of his home. Yes. Yeah. That was a great one. A guy we'd been wanting to get.

I'm winding this down. November 17th, 2016. What a year, huh, of guests we had. Oh, my God. Winding down a guy we were trying to get for the longest time, and that's John Amos. Oh, terrific. Yeah, another guy who came to play and was happy as hell to be here. But that's one of those I will spend the rest of my life dreading that I didn't have him go, damn, damn, damn.

Let's call him up. Yeah, we should. That's a great idea. He also sang along with his old McDonald's commercial. Oh, terrific. Which was just fantastic. Hal Linden, a really sweet guy, a terrific episode. And brought his clarinet with him.

What more can you ask from these guys? Hal Linden shows up with his clarinet, his serenade. He was terrific. It's like you can't believe it's happening. A doll of a guy. And I sent the listener reviews and raves to Hal. Episode 131, Norman Steinberg. Oh, yes. Who I ran into in the street.

And I said, Norman, come do the show. He was a fan. That was a thrill. Started reading episode, you know, reciting episode dialogue back to me. And you got to tell the helicopter story again. Oh, yes. Yes. By the way, somebody tweeted me that Buck Henry, they heard Buck Henry on another podcast,

and he alluded to the helicopter story, but did not tell it. Oh, we got to get Buck Henry on. So we got to get Buck Henry. Not right away. Well, again. And then a couple of mini episodes that went very well. Paul was here and helped. The James Bond episodes that we did, people loved.

Oh, yeah, the James Bond. Oh, yeah. I want to end it on Whoopi, which was a great episode and is the current episode episodes that we did. People loved the James Bond. Oh, yeah. I want to end it on Whoopi, which was a great episode and is the current episode. A lot of fun. Yeah, at Caroline's. That was another one where Gilbert went exactly where he shouldn't have gone. I was saying how much I loved Amos. After a few awkward moments, she got into the most interesting and personal talk about race and yeah

yeah it was fascinating credible and only gilbert i think could have elicited that kind of thing by being so rude oh yes and and only and makes magic with his inappropriateness and in one of the moments that i wish we had been filming uh i was talking about how much I enjoy doing Hollywood Squares. And she just gives me a big hug. That was sweet. Yeah. I wish people could have seen that. Yeah.

So it was really a wonderful year, 2016. I mean, what a lineup of guests we had. I just want to thank everybody, too. Since this is our last episode of the year, I want to thank... I'm not going to thank you, Gilbert. Because we're all carrying you.

The great Frank Verderosa, who not only is a peerless engineer and editor, but also, as you can hear, booking guests. Grabbing people in the hallway here at Nutmeg. We have to thank Paul Rayburn, who does wonderful work, sits in here.

One day you'll have to explain to me what that work is. It's truly a pleasure to work with you guys, really, and made even more so by the fact that Gilbert so often expresses how happy he is for me to be here. We have to thank our new Twitter man,

Greg Pair, who's new on board. John Seals, our web designer and our web master, the great John Seals. Mike McBeardo McPadden, who runs our Facebook page and is indispensable. Who am I leaving out?

I'm leaving out somebody. Does Dara Gottfried do anything? Dara Gottfried, of course. We thank Dara. I know I'm going to leave people out and I'm going to end up kicking myself. I have to thank everybody at Sideshow because we're moving on. And we're going over to a

different company and we have to thank Rodney Swearengen who brought us into Sideshow a couple of years ago and held our hand and introduced us to podcasting and told Dara and I how it was done, and we're forever grateful. Heather Cooney, Maria Sperdolosi, Andrew Stephen, Andrew Byrne, Brian Sussman, Randy Haig, Heather Cavanaugh at Digital Media, who did wonderful work for us. And, oh, Brendan Bliss, our animator, who did those wonderful shorts. Oh, terrific. So much fun. Brendan's name just jumped out at me. We have to thank Brian Dillon and Mark Gale for doing the terrific Muppet.

Oh, yes. Not Muppet, excuse me, Puppet. Yes. Muppets is trademarked. That was wonderful. Last but not least at Sideshow, Sean Marek, our friend and our co-producer and editor and L.A. engineer. And Sean has been an integral part of this show from the beginning.

So can't thank Sean enough and Roddy enough and everybody at Sideshow. Of course, John Murray and John Fodiatis, our wonderful musicians. And speaking of musicians, the wonderful, terrific Joe McGinty. Our friend Alex Brazell, who helps so much and is a spiritual advisor podcast-wise. Pal Kevin Daugherty, who was in here quizzing us. Cliff Nesterman. Cliff Nesteroff. Drew Friedman, of course,

as always. Neil Berkley, making a wonderful documentary about Gilbert. Eddie Marino and Ryan. Eric Fusco and Rob Smentec, who started the Gilbert Gottfried Listener Society, which almost has, I think, a thousand people or some kind of crazy number on it in just a month's time. Our pal Andrea Simmons, who's such a support of the show.

Of course, a bigger and a more emotional thank you to Dara, who keeps this train on the track, in spite of her husband. So it was a great year. We're very grateful. We're grateful to all the listeners who make the show go. Danny Duraney and Bookers and who else am I? Jeff Abraham and the people who help us book the show, and Bill Porricelli, Jessica Wynn, our photographer, of course, Darren Foster, of course, our resourceful publicist, Glenn Schwartz, Jonathan Winchell, Scott and Lisa Land, Matt Beckhoff,

Bert Kearns, Lex Passeris, all the people who help us book guests, Harlan Boll and Roger Neal. Let's see, Lance Laurie, the people who've written so in such flattering terms about the show, Paul Brownfield and Donald Liebenson and Jerry Moran, Jeremy Moran and Nathan Rabin. And the list goes on and on. If I've forgotten anybody, I apologize. list goes on and on uh if i've forgotten anybody i apologize uh and lastly check out sean's podcast worst collection ever where sean and his wife jen uh talk about their terrible comics collection so you want to check that out so if there's anybody i forgot to thank shame on me but uh we'll thank you on social media and in the new year it's been a great year oh, pal. Because it's been a wonderful year, I think I've got

some music to take us out. You do? So I'll rap and then we'll... Because it's the 70th anniversary of It's a Wonderful Life. Oh, perfect, Frank. We'll end the year. You've crystallized my thoughts eloquently. This has been Gilbert Gottfried's

amazing, colossal podcast. And one more thing to all of our listeners, Happy New Year! To my big brother George, the richest man in town. Happy New Year! Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind? Should old acquaintance be forgot and days of old and time? What's that? That's a Christmas present from a very dear friend of mine.

That's a Christmas present from a very dear friend of mine. Look, Daddy, teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings. That's right. That's right. Thatta boy, Clarence. For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, We'll drink a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne. © BF-WATCH TV 2021