Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - 240. Sandy Hackett

Episode Date: December 31, 2018

Producer, actor and comedian Sandy Hackett reminisces about his legendary dad Buddy Hackett, shares his memories of mob-run Las Vegas and looks back on personal experiences with Joey Bishop, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra (to name a few). Also, Sandy guests on "Laugh-In," Bert Lahr pitches potato chips, Jimmy Durante "kicks the bucket" and Buddy and Hugh O'Brian fill in for Abbott and Costello. PLUS: Spike Jones! Spencer Tracy's last stand! Pat Morita bends the elbow! Albert Anastasia buys the farm! And Buddy and Jack Paar go to Tokyo! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Call Connex Ontario. 1-866-531-2600. 19 and over and physically present in Ontario. Eligibility restrictions apply. See casino.draftkings.com for details. Please play responsibly. Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and this is Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast. I'm here once again with my co-host, Frank Santopadre, and our engineer, Frank Furtarosa. Frank Santopadre, and our engineer, Frank Furtarosa.

And we have the son of the legendary Buddy Hackett, his son, Sandy Hackett. Sandy, and a writer, producer, and comedian in his own right, I might add. How are you, man? Oh, is it my turn? Yes, you get to speak. Yeah, you don't have to wait. I'm sorry I i couldn't be here but i've been dead for a while so i told my kid if you could fill in it it would help that's pretty good impression and and i gotta start off this show because i've done this

imitation five billion times but at the end of bud and lou when your father buddy hackett is there as lucas stello and in his deathbed and arty johnson brings sneaks in a strawberry malty sherman and Buddy Hackett says, as Buddy Hackett says, as Lou Costello, you know, I've had a lot of straw beverage in my day, but this one's the best. And then he dies. It never gets old. And I thought that I love those great death scenes. and then he dies. It never gets old. And I thought, I love those great death scenes. I remember I was home one day, and my dad walked in with Harvey Korman, and they were going to shoot Who's on First the next day.

And they asked me, they gave me the script and said, can you help us? And I said, sure, what do you want me to do? They said, just make sure we're doing it right. So they started off, they got the first two lines right each, and then they just started ad-libbing. And I went, well, what the fuck am I doing here? You don't need me. You got everything perfect. They were hysterically funny. And Harvey was a great straight man. And they became good friends from that. But boy, it was fun to watch him do that. It's so bizarre to see it though, because your dad had such an outsized personality that to buy him as Luke Costello was very difficult because you can't take your eyes off the fact that you can't stop thinking

that you're watching Buddy Hackett. Well, I don't know if you know this, but years ago, many, many years ago, Abbott and Costello, they got sick doing Fireman Saved My Child. Yeah, we were just talking about it. Wait, yeah. Oh, then why am I here? No, tell the story. It's interesting.

You guys know these stories. Yeah, tell it. But it's a great story anyway. But our listeners do not. No, no. I'm sure you know it as well as I do. You're film connoisseurs, and I know you love all this old stuff, but they had shot a lot of the stuff with Bud and Lou, all the long shots.

And so now they hired my dad, and why can't I remember his name? You know. Hugh O'Brien. Yeah, Hugh O'Brien and your father. Hugh O'Brien was Bud, and your father was Lou. I don't think of Hugh O O'Brien, as a comedian. But got big laughs. But, yeah, that was a Spike Jonze movie too, right?

He was in that. And that's where they went with the movie. They leaned a lot more on the Spike Jonze stuff than they did on the Bud and Lou stuff. Fireman saved my child. And one connection I sort of have with your father is that when they were filming, when Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza were filming The Aristocrats, they were all talking about how your father did a great version of The aristocrats but uh during the movie he said he was you know he was feeling weak and he didn't feel he could do it justice what year was that that they shot that movie oh god oh god i want to say it was the early 2000s yeah yeah so the last year of my dad's life he was weak and uh amazingly after my dad passed my dad passed, I'm hoping to get this book out soon. I've been working on a book about my father for quite some time.

But I had sent out to my email list to anybody that I knew in show business, send me your best buddy Hackett stories. And the editor from that film, and no disrespect at all to you because your version of that story was funny as shit. Oh, thank you. But his name was, he's got the same name twice. Trying to remember his name. Oh, Emery Emery? Emery Emery.

Yeah. He sent me an email that said, of all the versions, he said, and I'm the editor of the film, he said, your dad told that show one time during a break on The Tonight Show. He said, and we had to stop because everybody was laughing so hard. And he said, that was my favorite. And no disrespect to you, Gilbert, because yours was brilliant. But my dad was, he told that one during a commercial break. And Johnny said, we have to stop.

Well, Dara just came in and said it was 2003 was the year of the aristocrats. Yeah, which is the same year my dad passed away. He died June 30th of 2003. And the last year of his life, I was doing a show in Las Vegas called The Tribute to Frank Sambi, Joey and Dean about the Rat Pack, where I played Joey Bishop. And he was going to come up and see the show and come up and see the show. And he just never got in the car. He just didn't feel well enough. He said, I can't come. I don't feel so good. I can't make the drive. And he used to drive cross country. If you just said said, hey, want to meet in Miami for coffee? Okay, I'll get in the car. Well, tell us about the book that you're working on.

It's really an anthology of stories. You know, I mean, the life and times of Buddy Hackett, it's not, it doesn't tell about his beginnings. It's not really a bio book. It's just a lot of great stories of things that, you know, I experienced with him. I toured with him for 10 years as his opening act. And, of course, I grew up with him as his son. And he was my best friend. He was a great dad.

And one of my favorite things, and I think you guys being show business folks will understand, when my phone would ring, he would never say hello. He would just start, a guy goes into a forest. It was never, hi, son, how are you? It was always wherever he was. And it could be in the middle of a joke. It could be the end of a joke. It could be, he just was, if he wrote something and he wanted to share it with you, you know, he had a list of people that he would call if he was working on something and he would just start off with a story. How will the book be different from – because our listeners, tell our listeners too, you did a one-man show called My Buddy. You're still doing it.

I still do the one-man show. So some of the same stories that are in the show will be in the book? Well, that's how the show started. It started as a book. Oh, I see. The book was too long, but I said, I want to put this on stage and tell these stories. And the first time I ever did it, it was three hours. And I said, we need a shorter show. This is way too long. And we cut it down to where we think it should be. And it runs anywhere from 75 minutes to about maybe two hours. Kind of depends if we're doing a venue where you go

straight through or if you do intermissions and stuff like that. I know this is way in advance, but I do want to know we will be at the Bristol Riverside Theater outside of Philadelphia in June, next June. So it's a long ways off, but we're adding dates to that. And did your father ever have stories about it's a mad, mad world? You know, he did have some stories, and I was young at the time, so I don't remember a lot of them. But I do remember, if you remember the opening scene where Jimmy Durante kicks the bucket. Yeah, literally kicks the bucket. Literally kicks the bucket. Literally kicks the bucket. So in order to do that shot, they had to dig a hole, like an eight-foot hole, and put the camera in the bottom looking up at everybody, bent in, if you remember the shot.

Yes. Looking into the hole, you know, from Jimmy Durante's point of view. So Spencer Tracy used to do a thing, and we're not on television. I can see you guys at the computer. But he used to do a thing where he put his tongue in his cheek and pressed on it. And my dad started doing it. And Stanley kept going, cut. He goes, buddy, you're doing Spencer Tracy's tongue in his cheek thing.

My dad was doing it on purpose. He kept trying to mess it up. But that was Spencer's last film when he was very sick. And he had cancer. He was fighting. He was doing, I think he was under treatment or chemo or pills last film when he was very sick and uh he had cancer he was fighting he was doing i don't i think he was in under treatment or chemo or pills or whatever he was very weak but he went to the set every day he says because he they said my dad said the day started with jonathan winters doing an hour of improv wow before before they ever went to work

and he said it was just spencer went there and there, and it actually probably prolonged his life. I always thought Mad, Mad World should have been made into the making of Mad, Mad World. Just to see all those people behind the scenes. Because it must have been crazy. It must have been crazy. And they're doing, for those listening, you guys are in New York, I'm guessing? Yeah. So I'm in LA.

They're doing the, and I'm on Sunset, so at Earwolf, but they're doing the 55th anniversary celebration of it, and they'll be showing it at the Cinerama Dome in November. And I've been invited with Karen, oh my goodness, Kramer, Stanley Kramer's wife. Oh, Stanley Kramer's, right, yeah. And I think they got one other person who's still around. Well, Carl Reiner, there's not so many people still around. Barry Chase, Dick Shawn's girlfriend's still around, and Carl Reiner, and that's about it. Yeah.

But it's still a film that holds up. And when I read reviews of people going, I go, you go back 50 years and someone writes a review. And I go, really? We're going to, you know, take the film now and disassemble it 50 years later based on today's technology? It doesn't make sense to me. Was he proud of it, Sandy? Because he's one of the funniest things in the movie. He had reason to be proud of it.

He was. I think he was proud of it. But I think, and Gilbert, you know, you've worked around a lot of comedians, especially, and I don't know what it was like on the aristocrats because they shot comic by comic. Everybody didn't get to hang out together really. But when you get to do a friar's function and all the comics are sitting around and we're telling stories and we're doing things, you know, there's a lot of good times to be had when all of us are sitting around telling stories and quipping on one another and stuff like that.

So I think my dad had it was one of those films that was just fun to make with everybody. Yeah. He was friends with all those guys. Now, did you get to know the people that your father was friends with, like, you know, Sinatra and Dean Martin, all those guys? I knew some of them. Others I didn't know. Joey Bishop was Uncle Joey. Yeah. And now I play Joey Bishop in our show, Sandy Hackett's Rat Pack show, and I play Joey Bishop. And it started with Joey calling me when HBO had announced they were going to do a movie about the Rat Pack called The Rat Pack. And it really, you thought it was going to be about the Rat Pack.

What it turned out to be after they made it was a biopic about how Frank Sinatra helped to get JFK elected president because they didn't really do much in the way of performance and tell the story of the Rat Pack. But Joey called me and my phone rang one day and I said, hello. And the voice says, hello, Neff. I said, Uncle Joey. He says, yeah. I said, to what do I owe the pleasure? He says, HBO was doing a movie about the Rat Pack. I think you would be perfect to play me. I said, wow. I said, I would be so honored. Who do I talk to? Who do I call? What do I do? He says, I don't know. Nobody called me.

The only surviving member of the Rat Pack, nobody did call him. The role went to, I had my agent call. It had already been cast. Bobby Slayton got the role. Oh, Bobby Slayton, yeah. And Bobby did a really nice job, and unfortunately,

the movie was not about the Rat Pack, and Bobby didn't get a big role. It was mostly about how Sinatra, like I said, got JFK. So he didn't get to really play, do a big Joey in that. But he was wonderful, and he's a talented guy. But that set me on a course to, I said, you know what?

If Uncle Joey thinks I should play him, I'm going to put together something. And I worked on a script. We mounted it in Las Vegas, and I've been doing that. That's great. And wasn't it Ray Liotta as Frank Sinatra? He tears apart the pool house at the end. Oh, yes, yes. Because he has the tantrum.

He did the scene from Jonathan Winters in Mad World when he tore about the guard. All you need is Marvin Kaplan. And what's his name? It was Joe Mantegna playing Joe Mantegna. Joe Mantegna, Dean Martin. And Don Cheadle. Yeah, Don Cheadle as Sammy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But the voice of Sammy singing in the movie is that of Louis Velez, who works in my show as Sammy. Oh, very good. Oh. You know, doing research, I never knew this, Sandy, and doing research for this interview, I discovered that Joey Bishop did most of the writing for those Rat Pack appearances. He would do the writing, then he'd come out and add, I mean, writing, ad-libbing. Then they would like it when it got a laugh. They would steal it, and he had to go write more stuff.

Fantastic. Now, wasn't Martin Scorsese going to be doing a version of the Rat Pack? If he, I don't know. Oh, he was going to do Nick Tosh's book, Dino. He was going to do the Dino book. I think he was going to have Nick Tosh's book, Dino. He was going to do the Dino book. I think he was going to have Tom Hanks as Dino. Yeah, play Dino. Yeah, that was rumored years ago.

Yeah, it probably wouldn't work. Tell us about your childhood. Wait, wait. Tom's awfully talented. I don't know why it wouldn't work. Can he play Dean Martin? Yeah. They said that.

I haven't seen him do anything yet where he failed miserably at it. That's true. In fact, he did, on the Letterman show, he came out and told my dad's jokes. They did a segment with him with Tom Hanks telling Buddy Hackett jokes. Wow. I don't remember that. That's great. And then I think they were going to have, like, Jim Carrey do, like, an appearance as Jerry Lewis.

That would have been ridiculous. Now, did you know Jerry? Yes, I did know Jerry. How was he like? I worked on the, I grew up in Los, and when I say I grew up, I grew up in Los Angeles. And then eventually when I was 15, my dad was working in Las Vegas at the Sahara Hotel. He'd become friends with Del Webb who owned the hotel in the earlier years

and Del Webb loved my dad and he made him a vice president because he didn't know how to give him, you know, take care of him in any way and show his love for him. So he made him a vice president and then my dad used to tell a joke. He said, I was a vice president

and they gave me a secretary with a 52-inch bust. He said, and I said, take a letter. She said, take a crap. It's all I can do to sit up. So I worked. I went to UNLV, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, studied hotel management, was in the Del Webb Management Training Program at the Sahara Hotel where my dad was vice president. And the two were not a coincidence. I went to – I got placed by the school.

You could look and I said if you could get me into the Sahara. And they said, okay. Went to work for a guy named John Romero, who was the marketing and advertising guy. And then I ended up working on the Jerry Lewis Telethon, which emanated from the Sahara for many, many years. And, you know, in that world, they would have the affiliates meetings at the hotel and meetings all year long. And Jerry would come in several times a year or they'd plan them when he was appearing at the hotel. And it was amazing to be around that and see how they put the telethon together and put the cadre of all the stations that they would air on Labor.

Now everything's cable and digital, you know, but in those days, they cobbled together, youled together 200 stations around the country, UHF, VHF, small stations, big stations, to get the Jerry Lewis Telethon. Then every local market had their local telethon for 20 minutes and then go back to the national telethon. I was there the night Sinatra came and brought Dean Martin backstage to reunite with Jerry after 20 years. And I knew it was happening and you had to keep it a secret. Don't tell anybody, but I had found out and knew that was amazing. But, you know, Jerry had, look, Jerry raised millions, tens of millions of dollars for charity.

He never told the reason why, but he was a funny guy. He was a nice man, but he also had a reputation of not being a nice person, which I'm sure you guys are aware of. But I will tell you one story that tells you, to me, what Jerry was. I was 21 years old, I think, and I got a job opening for Jim Bailey, a female impersonator. I remember Jim Bailey, sure. Jim Bailey at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. Not the nicest, most friendly room in the world. So my dad says to me, you're not ready for this job, kid. I said, but they hired me, dad.

I must be ready. He said, I'm telling you. He said, that's a very tough room. It's a tough city. You should turn it down. But dad, they want me. Yeah, but you're just, that's a very tough room. It's a tough city. You should turn it down. But, Dad, they want me. Yeah, but you're just not ready yet. I love you.

I want it to be right for you, but this isn't it. Well, I didn't listen. Now, that week that I opened, my dad was filming The Love Boat, but it was the opening episode of the season, so they were out at sea on the real boat. No cell phones, so I can't get a hold of them. I fly to San Francisco. It's opening night in the Fairmont room.

Jim Bailey, for those of you listening, female impersonator, he would come out as either Barbra Streisand and or Liza Minnelli, and I think he did one other, maybe Peggy Lee, and he would do 35 or 40 minutes as that person in full makeup and full outfit and everything like that. Then he would leave the stage and the comedian would come out and do 20, 30 minutes. And then he would come back as himself. So I did the show. It was the quietest 20 to 30 minutes you've ever heard in your life.

It was kind of like you guys listening now. It was not a laugh to be had. And then I had to do a second show. And I remember that I was very proud of the second show because I got a laugh, which was way more than I got in the first show, which was none. And next morning, six o'clock in the morning, there's a bang on my hotel room door. I'm staying at the Fairmont Hotel. I go to the door. And as I'm about to go to the door, an envelope comes shooting underneath. I open up the door. There's an envelope. I open the door. There's nobody there. I open up the envelope and it's the morning paper with the review circled in red and it is

lambasting me. And then the phone rings a few minutes later. It says, Mr. Haggart? Yes. Did you get the envelope underneath your door? Yes, I did. You don't have to do the show tonight. I said, no, no, it's okay. I'll be better. You don't have to do the show tonight. No, no, I got the envelope, but I saw what they wrote, and I'll be better. You don't have to do the show tonight.

No, no, I'm going to be better. I promise you. I'm going to work all day long. I'm just going to sit in the room and write, and I'll be better. He says, you're fired. And I said, oh, he says, checkouts at 11. So I'm devastated. I get on the phone, I make an airplane reservation to get to the airport and go home early. And as I'm walking out the hotel room door, I have my hand on that door handle and the phone rings and I go, let me just

answer that before I leave. I said, hello, and the voice, Mr. Hackett, no, I can't get a replacement for you until Thursday night. You can do two more nights. I think, thank you. Thank you. You won't be sorry. You won't be sorry. So I worked the next two nights and I got marginally better. I was certainly not prepared or ready. My dad was right. I couldn't get ahold of him. Now I fly back to Las Vegas on Thursday. I walk into the Sahara Hotel. And if you remember Las Vegas in those days, they would page people. So you'd hear your name at a paging Mr. Hackett telephone, please, Mr. Sandy Hackett. Isn't that a good operator impression? And I said, hello. And the operator said, Sandy, we have Jerry Lewis on the phone for you.

and the operator said, Sandy, we have Jerry Lewis on the phone for you. And I said, okay. And he said, I said, yeah. He said, it's Jerry. I said, hi, Jerry. He said, I heard what happened. I said, yeah.

He said, you don't feel good, do you? I said, no. He said, I just want you to know, Dean and I were the hottest act going across the country from New York to Philadelphia to Cleveland to Cincinnati to Chicago. He says, can't get in to see. It's the hottest act in the country from New York to Philadelphia to Cleveland to Cincinnati to Chicago. He says, can't get in disease. The hottest act in the country. We got to the Fairmont room in San Francisco and the critics destroyed us. They destroyed us. We died. He said, and you know, who else died there? Barbara Streisand. So you know what? Someday you'll look back at this and laugh,

but you're in pretty good company. Oh, nice. Now, I don't know if that's true, but that's what Jerry called to tell me and to make me feel better. So that's the kind of guy he really was deep inside. Oh, that's a great story. Great story.

Well, he liked Gilbert. And he should. Yeah. I think he liked funny. I think he liked creative. He liked inventive. I mean, look, Jerry is one of those guys that invented so many things that they use in film today that today's filmmakers, a lot of them are oblivious to the fact that that was a Jerry Lewis creation, but the guy was a genius. At what point, Sandy, and I'm interested too in

your laughing appearance when you were 11 and how that came about. Oh, that was fun. It was after school. Go ahead. Did you want to ask something else? No, it's just, well, that's part one of the question. And part two is at what point, I mean, that was an early taste of show business. At what point did you decide this is for me? I used to hang out with my dad a lot.

And I went to a lot of Tonight Show tapings. I went to tapings of other shows he was on. I could go over a list of a lot of them. But one day he said, and my dad was very close with Dick Martin. And Dick had a son, Kerry, who I was friends with. And when we were little living back east in New Jersey, my dad and Dick built a treehouse on the land. And Kerry and I used to play there all the time. And then we moved out to California.

And my dad one day said, I'm doing Rona Martin's Laughing. Do you want to come hang out? I said, sure. So I went there and they're sitting there talking about this joke, you know, and I'm just a kid hanging out on and sitting somewhere. And I don't know if it's funny. Don't do it. It's not going to work. It'll work. I'm telling you, trust me, it'll work. I don't know. What do you, what do you think? I think you just shoot it. What's the difference? You know, it's not going to work. That don't know. What do you think? I think just shoot it. What's the difference? You know, it's not going to work. That's what the difference is. Why waste the film? And I'm 11 years old and I go, I'm just a kid, but I thought it was funny. And it was like a scene in a movie. All hate, all the heads turned and looked at me and went perfect. And the next thing my dad walks

over and says, you want to be on television? I said, okay, what do I have to do? He said, okay. So he told them yes. They put a table. They had me sit on the table. My dad put an apple in my hand. And he said, when the camera, they say rolling, you just say that same line. So I say the same line. I'm just a kid, but I thought it was funny.

He says, and bite into the apple. I did that. Juice from the apple dripping down. They go, cut, print, and that was it. Then they took that and put it in between. They told the joke that they didn't know was funny or not. Then John Wayne goes, was that funny? I'm just a kid, but I thought it was funny.

John went, I thought so. And that's how laughing went. And that's how I got the role. And that's how I did it. Now, the next year, they called my dad to be a guest star again. And they said, would Sandy like to be on the show? We'll write some stuff for him. And my dad asked me, and he said, sure.

So I came back, and they wrote a bunch of stuff for me. Your TV debut. My TV debut. Yeah. 11 years old. Number one show in the country. Yeah. Not bad.

The show that helped get Richard Nixon elected president. Correct. Not bad. Oh, yes. Yeah, we had George Slaughter on the show. Shock it to me. Shock it to me shock it to me we will return to gilbert godfrey's amazing colossal podcast but first a word from our sponsor hey ontario got any plans

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19 and over and physically present in Ontario. Eligibility restrictions apply. See casino.draftkings.com for details. Please play responsibly. This episode is brought to you by FX's The Bear on Disney+. In Season 3, Carmi and his crew are aiming for the ultimate restaurant accolade, a Michelin star. And I remember, it seems like a thousand years ago, your father doing a series of commercials, I think for a yogurt. Yes, Tuscan frozen yogurt on a stick. And one of them he did entirely in Yiddish.

Yes. Yeah, good memory, Gil. That was hysterical. One of them he did entirely in Yiddish. Yes. Yeah, good memory, Gil. That was hysterical. And not only did he do it in Yiddish, but they hired him to do, I think, three commercials. And they rented the studio for like two days. And so he said to them, you're not going to need the two days. And they said, well, we already paid for it.

He said, okay, so, and I want this cinematographer, and I want this person, and this person, and this person. They hired everybody else. He said, and then he hired a wardrobe person. He said, go get me all these costumes. So they went and got a bunch of costumes, and then the guy was Arthur Barinsky, I think, owned the company. And he said, I want to do one in Yiddish. And he said, Yiddish? He said, why would you, why would, I'd like to do a commercial in Yiddish.

And Arthur Breeson said, no one's going to understand it. He goes, I'll do it in Yiddish and you put subtitles. And he said, okay. So they shot the first three commercials in like the morning. And they spent the rest of the time shooting the commercials he wanted. And they did the one in Yiddish. And then they put subtitles. And the sales went, I think, up 2,000% from that commercial.

Wow. That's great. And that's a good memory, Gilbert. Pretty cool. Didn't he do the Lay's potato chips commercials too after Burma? He did. Same thing with that. They hired it for two days and he said, okay, I'll do the ones you want.

Can I do some of the ones I want? And he had them get props and wardrobe and he shot a bunch of stuff they were memorable i remember when he did the one in yiddish i was doubled over laughing in front of the tv it's a funny language anyway just to see someone doing you don't even know what they're saying but you're looking at buddy hackett going wow this is funny but at one point too and i've heard you tell the story sandy about how you told him you were going to do this and then he asked what name are you story, Sandy, about how you told him you were going to do this, and then he asked what name are you going to use. You hung out with him.

You went to the set. So obviously you had the bug. The laughing obviously helped. Well, you know, I think at 11, I don't know that I just went to hang out with him. Yeah, I was just having fun. I knew everybody. So, you know, it's kind of fun when you're a kid. And amazingly, the other day I went for coffee

and ran into Howie Mandel who I know but I'm not you know best friends with or anything but we took a picture together my wife said can we take a picture with you and he said sure so we took a picture together my wife posted online my daughter comes home and says oh my god I love Howie Mandel America's Got Talent's my favorite show. I can't believe you know him, Dad. Do you have his phone number? And I said, yeah. She says, can I see your phone? I said, what for?

She goes, I want to FaceTime him. I said, no, you may not FaceTime Howie Mandel. So she goes, you're so mean. So a couple of days later, I go for coffee again and run into Howie again. And I said to him, I said, the picture we took, my wife put online and my daughter saw it and she wanted to FaceTime you. And I told her she can't. He says, well, we're doing AGT this week. Why don't you come and bring her to a taping and I'll let her sit in my chair and take a picture with her and she can press the buzzer.

How nice. And so that's exactly what we did. And my daughter was so happy. And it really reminded me of when I was 11 hanging out with my dad, except that my dad was Howie Mandel in that story. But it was fun. Good guy, Howie. And without naming any names, you must have heard some weird and illegal stories going on in Vegas.

Illegal? Yeah. Like questionable things going on. What are you looking for,egal? Yeah. Like questionable things going on. What are you looking for, Gil? For his people buried in the desert? He's a legitimate businessman. I'm not saying you were involved. But you must have heard

stories. You know, you're not saying I was involved, but do you think I was involved in something you want to ask about? I don't think you were involved at all. Is there someone missing you want to know where they are? I'm just saying, there must have been some... I have a map. Scary stories that you've heard

over the years coming from there. I was, I went to Las Vegas really, I was 15 the first time I really started kind of hanging out there and working. So I was, I went to Las Vegas really, I was 15 the first time I really started kind of hanging out there and working. So I was at the very tail end of the quote unquote mafia. Yeah. There was a story my dad told, told, told, told, tells, I don't remember particularly well.

But he got asked to do something for, you know, someone from that side of the track and he turned them down and they came back and asked him again. And he said, I'm busy doing something or other. And they said, well, we'll get you out of that. We'd like you at this, whatever it was, dinner or show or whatever it was. So they did. And they didn't strong arm him. They just said it would really mean a lot to us. And so he went and did the event. So a couple days later, the truck pulls up to the house with a jukebox. Now, those guys used to run a lot of things, but they used to run jukeboxes. Vending machines.

Yeah, but they would put a jukebox in, and they would change out the records. And they made money that way as a legitimate business, but it got them into places. So I understand. So I'm told I have no personal knowledge of these things. And they would, my mother looked at it and said, there's no records. And they said, there'll be a guy here later. And they put us on the route and we lived in New Jersey and they came every week and changed the records for I don't know how many years. And then we finally moved to California and she said to the guy, well, we're moving.

And he said, we'll have the jukebox shipped and we'll change the records. Very cool. And in that East Coast house, tell Gilbert, since he wants you to throw him a mob bone, tell him the previous owner of that house, the Jersey house. You tell he wants you to throw him a mob bone. Oh, yeah. Tell him the previous owner of that house, the Jersey house.

You tell him. You tell him what you found out. Yeah, murder rink, Albert Anastasia. Wow. You know the scene in Godfather where they go

and they whack everybody and there's a guy in the barber's chair who gets shot in the barber's chair? Yes, yes, that was a famous murder. That was based on Albert Anastasia. That's where he left his house. He built a house,

an edifice, on the bluff of the Palisades overlooking the Hudson River. Allegedly, and I don't believe this to be true, it was made of two-foot-thick poured concrete walls. It was a big house, and he lived in that house. And the mafia, the mob, was mad at him for building, you know, for not just fitting into a neighborhood and building something so ostentatious. And eventually, in 1956, he went for a haircut in the city one day

and they took him at the barber. Yeah. But it is so funny. Every performer has said it's like they trusted the mobsters much more than the— The corporations. Yeah. Yeah. If they told you they were going to do

something, they did it. If they asked you to do something and you said no, maybe they'd re-ask, but they were honest. They were straight ahead. And you know, the old days of Las Vegas, they said, if you came down with a suitcase, your clothes or something like that, and you went to the bell desk and you said, I'm going to run and play a slot machine for an hour, you could leave your suitcase sitting out there in valet parking. It would still be there when you came back. Jeez. And tell us what I was alluding to before, Sandy. Tell Gilbert what your dad said when you told him, I'm going to be a comic.

And he asked you about the name you were going to use? Well, he was the second act to work at Resorts International in Atlantic City. Steve and Edie opened it. My dad wasn't available, but then he went in for the second run. And if you remember back in those days, Atlantic City, only one casino and the tables were, I mean, six, eight, 10 deep. You couldn't walk through the casino because the lines at the blackjack tables would go until they met each other in the aisle. That's how many people and people would pass chips forward and they go, what do we have? And stuff like that. And my dad couldn't walk around without being mobbed, so he would stay

in the room, and I'd go out and get him food, or we'd order room service or whatever. And we were there for three weeks, and about the middle of the second week, I said, I got to go. And he goes, where are you going? I said, I got a job. What kind of job did you get? I said, it's a comic. And he just, the tears, his tears just like a burst. He just started crying, weeping down his face. And he goes, where did you get a job as a comic? And I said, Omaha, Nebraska. He goes, what? Omaha, Nebraska. What name are you going to use? I said, what? What name are you going to use? I said, Sandy. No, no, last name. I said, Hackett.

Why? I said, all these years I spent building up the name, I hate to see you fuck it up in one outing. Love that story. And I went there, and I told him where I was going. I flew there, no cell phones. I get to the hotel. He calls me at the hotel, and he told him where I was going. I flew there. No cell phones. I get to the hotel. He calls me at the hotel, and he's giving me jokes.

He's giving me jokes from—and he keeps calling me every few minutes. Oh, here's another joke. Here's another joke. Here's another joke. And it was a place called Anthony Fucinero, and he had a steakhouse, and he opened another place on the other side of town, and I walk on stage, and there's a band that I'm opening for them. And there's a stage underneath the stage that rolls out. And I walk out on that stage, and I say, good evening.

And someone hits the wrong button, and the stage starts to retract with me on it. This isn't good. Can I ask you a couple of questions, Sandy, from listeners? Yeah. These are fun. Brian Dressel, what was your dad most proud of in his career? I don't, well, his family, his kids. I think his marriage and to my, to his wife and his kids. He always said he loved being a dad and he was a great dad and he was my best friend. And from late in life until he passed, I mean, from my 30s, maybe even my late 20s,

I think I talked to him every day. The phone would ring. And you go back before cell phones. I actually, when I was in college, he made me put in his own phone in my house, in my apartment for just him. Nobody else could call. Nobody else had the number. My mother didn't have it. My sisters didn't have it. Only he had it. He hated if he called and my line was busy, couldn't get through. And his instructions were, if that phone rings, you hang up the other phone and talk to me. He was a hands-on dad.

He was a hands-on dad. That's nice. Here's another one. Stephen McGill, is it true your dad held the record for Tonight Show appearances with Johnny? I think that's true. He does. Yeah, it is true. It's a trivial pursuit question. It's also in a couple of places I found.

It's over 125 performances. Some of those are on YouTube, by the way, and I was watching them. A couple of places I found. It's over 125 performances. Oh, some of those are on YouTube, by the way, and I was watching them. A lot of them are YouTube. They're wonderful. I keep finding more and more stuff up there. The headache joke, the guy that goes to the haberdasher, just wonderful. I mean, he's knocking them out of the park one after the other. Johnny would pull out that piece of paper, and they'd just cross him off.

And I forgot who I was telling this story to. Great stuff. Actually, I was telling it to Howie, had asked a question about my dad and my dad would go to the Tonight Show and he would show up early in the afternoon and then they'd load in the audience and they never wanted the guests to come out there before. And Gilbert, this is the kind of stuff you would do. And he would wait until it was quiet and nobody was looking and he would go out and tell the audience the dirtiest jokes, you know, like the aristocrats joke, which he actually, that particular one he told during the TV timeout, but he would tell them a joke and then he'd come

out with Johnny and, you know, what are you doing? And then he would somehow snake his way back into one of these jokes that the audience knew he can't possibly tell that, but he would clean it up. Yeah. But he would find a way to do that, and they loved him for it. Johnny loved him for it, and Johnny used to love to play, you know, Johnny would start collecting his stuff on his desk, you know, his cigarette cup and his cup, his coffee cup and his cigarette box. And he goes, well, this will be the end of me. This will be the last time I work and do stuff like that. But, of course, Johnny knew that he trusted my dad to either clean it up,

or even if he didn't, Johnny didn't care. Well, often he didn't. I mean, the dentist joke, the woman who's a fairy to the dentist, and he got that one. He was bleeped more than a few times. And a lot of times he bleeped himself. Go ahead, Gilbert. What were you going to say?

No, I was just going to say when he was on, the show, Johnny, and the whole audience would always be a little on edge. Yeah. Because they go, oh, wait a second. Is he going to tell that one? You know. edge because they go, oh, wait a second. Is he going to tell that one? Well, I found some research in the book and I don't remember now where I got it from, but at some point I think in the heyday

of Johnny, when my dad was on, Johnny's ratings were up 10%. Jeez. That's great. But you're right. They didn't know what he was going to do, so they're all sitting there going, what is he going to do? There'd be like nervous laughs coming from the audience when he would start to tell the joke. Those appearances were appointment viewing in those days.

When he was on the Carson show, it was a big deal. Well, Gilbert's a great storyteller, and I'm sure he knows a lot of the same jokes that my dad told. But he would, you know, and he got to where, you know, I remember he'd get called. They'd call last minute. Someone can't do it. We'll get Buddy Hackett. And then he'd go and tell, and he'd say, I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know what I'm going to do.

I don't know what I'm doing. I said, just tell a joke. And then he'd go tell a joke, and he goes, oh, I forgot. I know it, but the audience never heard it before. And I said, and they never heard the way you tell it. So, you know, it's just a matter of your presentation. Did he really go to Tokyo with you Downs and Jack Parr? Is that a true story?

Where he was naked in the elevator? Oh, yeah, absolutely. That's a great story. And my favorite part about that is, you know, Jack, he would tell the story on stage. He'd say, Jack Parr said to him, want to have some fun? You know, Jack, he would tell the story on stage. He'd say, Jack Parr said to him, want to have some fun? Why don't you dress up as a sumo and we'll film it with the camera?

And my dad said, let's hear the part about the fun. You know, my dad said, I'm a big guy. I'm a fat guy. He said, but them sumo wrestlers are six, seven, 800 pounds. I weigh 250. And then he would do the routine where he says, we got in the ring. And he says, and he started to tell the whole story about sumo wrestling. It's just great.

The thick, coarse rope they wrap around your waist, and then they take it through your legs, and then they tighten it up. And, you know, you're going, I don't want to fight this guy. And then they put that thick, coarse rope through your legs, and they tighten it up. Tighten up that rope. I'll fight up. I'll tighten up that rope. I'll fight anybody. I'll rip his ass off, he says. And I think I'm going to win,

but then they notice they're tightening his rope too. Yeah, he tells the whole story. It's on YouTube. There's a Carson appearance. He tells the whole story of the elevator and the trip to Tokyo and the sumo wrestlers. It's just great stuff. And it's so nice to hear what you were getting back to what you were saying before

because you hear so many horror stories about famous people as fathers and husbands. You know, you just hear bad stuff. I have no horror stories about him. He was really my best friend. I tell you, I was 18 years old. I graduated high school. I drove to Las Vegas and my dad said, don't speed. Okay, I won't speed.

Whatever you do, don't speed. I won't speed. I take off. I'm doing in those days, and I think the speed limit in those days was 55 for a while. And I was doing 91. And I got pulled over over I get to Las Vegas and my dad calls he said how was your drive I said I got a ticket I told you not to speed so I was living with a friend of his and he says I want you to take the keys and give them to Walter

he was the stage manager at the Sahara I said how do I get around he said I don't give a shit you're not speeding you're not driving he says 18, 18 days, no car. He said, you could hitch. You could walk with Walter. You can walk, take a bike, take a bus. I don't give a fuck. He says, you are not to drive. Am I clear? I said, yes, sir. So I didn't drive. Now at the end of the summer, I got to go to court in LA, LA Superior Court downtown. And my dad goes with me and we go in my car and we there, and the judge isn't even looking up. He's just calling off the cases. Hackett, Sandy Hackett.

Yes, sir. He says, a 91 and a 50. He says, what do we do for that? 30 days. And my dad says, excuse me. It would be all right if I addressed the court. And the judge, you know, did that thing where he peers over his glasses. And he goes, that sounds like Buddy Hackett.

And he looks up. He says, that is Buddy Hackett. He says, what are you doing here. He goes, that sounds like Buddy Hackett. And he looks up and he says, that is Buddy Hackett. He says, what are you doing here? He says, that's my son. He says, and you want me to give him a break? He says, no, sure, I don't. He says, I just want you to know that I took away his license for 18 days. The judge took off his glasses.

He says, really? He says, yes, sir. How'd you do that? He said, I made him give the keys to a friend that told him he couldn't drive. The judge looked at me and says, how'd you get around? I said, I walked, I drove, I hitchhiked, I took the bus, I took bicycles, I caught a ride with my friend. He said, did you drive a car? No. Anybody's car? No, sir, I did not. How many days? Eighteen.

He said, boy, I wish we had more parents like you, buddy. He said, you're very lucky. He said, normally I'd give you 30 days. I'd suspend your license. He said, because your father punished you, you're just going to have to pay the fine. He said, buddy, I wish we had more parents like you. Thanks for coming down. So I paid whatever the fine was. We leave. My dad says, I'll drive. We leave the courthouse. He goes down Olympic Boulevard and he turns into, we drive a couple of miles. He turns into a tire place. And I said, what are we doing here? He says, if you're going to drive that fast, you're going to need much better tires.

You know, speaking of YouTube, Sandy, there's also that great clip, you're warming up the audience, and he comes out on stage without pants. Well, you know, the great thing about the audience is they only showed the last couple of seconds of me singing because I used to open for them as a singer because in those days, that's what acts, that's the comedians would have a singer open or singers would have comedians open. I was not a very good singer. My wife's an incredible singer, and you guys might think to have her on the song. Her father was Ron Miller.

He wrote for once in my life, Touch Me in the Morning, If I Could, Yesterday, Me, Yesterday, Yesterday, Someday, Christmas, Heaven Help Us All. Great songs. Yeah, she's an amazing singer. But, yes, I was singing, and my dad, you know, he came out in his underwear. That's a great clip. And I was on the National Network, and they said, sometimes your father comes out on your network.

How does that make you feel? And I said, I'm happy if he's wearing underwear. Sometimes, you know, he opened King's Castle, and he came out with nothing. Yeah. Do you know that story? No. Tell it. King's Castle, which is now the Hyatt up at North Shore Lake Tahoe. But the guy, Nate Jacobson, who opened Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, then took his – sold it to, I think, Lowe's and opened it and went to – took his money and went to Lake Tahoe and opened a place called King's Castle.

And he wanted to have something that would be big and wonderful. And he wanted to get in every paper. And he said, who's the hottest comic? And he hired my father. And he said, buddy, I got everything wrapped up into this place. I got to make every paper. You got to be great tonight. My dad said, I got an idea.

And Nate said, go ahead and do it. And they were giving away these like silver dollar on a big chain to all their VIPs, the invited guests, and that got you into everything. And my dad took two of them, strung them together with one silver dollar, and wore it around his waist with a medallion that said King's Castle hanging over his privates. And he walked out on stage naked, only wearing that. That was it. No shoes, naked, completely naked.

He made every media outlet in the country, UPI and API, or UP and API. And the next day they said, last night, Buddy Hackett opened at King's Castle in North Shore Lake Tahoe wearing nothing but a medallion the size of a quarter. Truth be told, all he needed was a dime. Fantastic. You know, the other couplets, you told a very funny Shecky Green story. There's the story of you going to accept the Disney Legend Award. I hope those are in the My Buddy show. Yeah, absolutely.

And is there any chance of that show traveling? Do you have to go to Vegas to see the My Buddy show? No, no, it's not in Las Vegas. I live in Los Angeles now. It tours. I've been down in Florida. I've been in Arizona. Oh, will you come here?

Will you come East Coast? We're going to be at the Bristol Riverside Theater, which is outside of Philadelphia, right on the Delaware River. We're going to be there June 27, 28, 29 next year. I'm adding dates to that. I just was talking to a guy in Chicago today who keeps telling me he wants to bring the show there. And if someone's listening and you want my buddy, you can go on our website, sandyhackett.com

and contact me. We'll come perform for you and make you laugh and make you cry and have a swell time. Yeah, we want to hear those stories. You knew some other great characters. I know you knew Pat Morita,

the hip nip. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. He ended up retiring in Las Vegas, and you always wanted to meet him in the morning because by noon, he was totaled.

I saw an interview with you and him. It was great online. Did you know Jack Carter too? I did. I did know Jack Carter. I didn't know him particularly well.

But my dad threw a party one time and he had a cake that said, fuck Jack Carter. And I don't... I still have the picture. It's a waste of a cake.

And Jack Carter, I heard, was one of those people, he didn't care about insulting anybody. No. He wasn't going out of his way to be nice to anyone. What about Rickles, Sandy? Wow, you know. Spend time with him or get to know him? I didn't know him particularly well. I remember I might have been 14, 13 years old.

The first time I really – I'd seen him in Las Vegas. I saw how vitriolic he could be from the stage. Didn't realize that was an act at that age. And my dad said, Don Rickles is coming by. And I'm sitting at the table just cutting my meat like a maniac waiting for him to come and go, how you doing kid? And I'm going to attack him. At 14 years old, I'm going to get Rickles. And the doorbell rings and we walked to the door and my dad's there and Don looks down and says, oh, you must be Sandy. So nice to meet you. The nicest guy in the world.

And totally diffused me. But I met him several times over the years, and then he worked at the Sahara, and I worked in the kitchen and would bring him food sometimes or cook for him. I went to see him, I think the last time I saw him he was at Westbury, and I went to visit him, and my dad was still alive, and he goes, you know, how's Pop? And we talked for a few minutes. But he was a funny bastard. Yeah, I heard Rickles was like, yeah, he was a complete opposite.

Oh, complete opposite. Like you. Yes. Gilbert shocks people when they find out he's actually rather sweet and civilized. They fear the worst. That's what's fun about the act. You get to do things and just be,

you know, somebody different and fun. And, you know, once in a while it creeps into real life when you need it, but it's a lot of good stuff. And did you know Sinatra at all? I met him a handful of times, and one time he called me to ask for a favor. Can you believe that? Oh, wow. He called me to ask for a favor. Can you believe that? Oh, wow. Sinatra called me to ask for a favor. I'd be scared.

We were doing the showcase at the Mint Hotel downtown, which was across the street from the Golden Nugget where Sinatra was appearing. So we used to have rehearsals in the afternoon on Mondays at 1 o'clock. I'd go down there and all the acts would come in. So this kid comes down and he puts his stuff down there and the phone rings and the operator says, I have Frank Sinatra on the phone for you. I go, yeah. So I said, hello. And the voice said, this is so-and-so.

I work for Mr. Sinatra. I said, okay. He said, there should be a kid there named, and I don't even remember the kid's name. He says he's a singer, and Frank wants to come over and see him. Can you put him on? I said, if Frank's here, that kid will be going on as soon as Frank walks in the door.

He says, no problem. He said, what time would that be? I said, what time do you want to go on? He said, we have two shows. He says, Frank can be finished, and we can walk over there probably a little after 10. I said, okay. I said, I'll hold them and I will change everything. As soon as Frank walks in, I will put them on. And he goes, hang on. Frank wants to say thank you.

Okay. So I'm waiting. And all of a sudden the voice says, Sam, you know, like we're friends forever. And I go, yes, sir. My voice changed about four octaves. You know, and he said, everything okay? I said, how's pops? I said, good. He says, any problem putting that kid on tonight? I said, no, sir, as soon as you come over.

He said, I don't have a lot of time. I said, he will go on the moment I see you. He said, great. I'll see you tonight. I said, okay. He said, can, sir, as soon as you come over. He said, I don't have a lot of time. I said, he will go on the moment I see you. He said, great. We'll see you tonight. I said, okay. He said, can I do anything? No, it was actually that night. He came over.

We put the kid on. We saw him. You could see in those days from the lounge stage, you could see Sinatra walking across the street, Fremont Street, into the hotel. They had those air curtains, the air conditioning curtains. And Frank walked in. There was five or six people with him

and I was on stage and I said halt everything and I had everybody ready whatever his name was you're on next and Frank was there

and then he notioned me over and I came over and he said thank you very much and the kid sang he's a friend of mine's son I wanted to make sure he got on

so he sang Frank watched him. He says, can I do anything for you? I said, I'd love to come see your show. There's no problem. He says, talk to so-and-so. We'll take care of you. And I went to see him.

Rubbing shoulders with greatness, Sandy. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast after this. Yeah. And since Gilbert brought up Sinatra, can you tell the story and I'm going to fuck it up? So was it your father that was introducing Frank? No. Shecky was closing night at the, you mean, is that the one? Yeah, that's the one.

Closing night at the Riviera Lounge. And everybody in town is there. Victor Mone's opening and all the singers in town, Tony Bennett and Jack Jones and Wayne Newton. I don't even remember. Every singer gets up, sings a song. Vic's introducing them. And now Shecky's on and he's killing it. And now he starts to introduce everybody in the room.

And there's only two people he hasn't introduced. Frank Sinatra, who's sitting almost ringside. You can see him in the stage lights. And my dad, who Shecky didn't know was coming over. And I'm in the back with my dad, and I'm 18 years old. And Shecky hears, well, there's only one person left to introduce. And I'm thinking, 18 years old, I want my dad to be introduced. It's my dad. All these entertainers up and down the strip have been introduced.

He's not going to mention my dad. He's looking right at Sinatra. He says, how do you introduce God himself? And my dad got up, ran right down to the stage and said, Shecky, forget about me. Frank's here. I knew you'd like that one, Gil. That's in the show, I assume. That is in the show.

One that's not in the show is one night Shecky got hired to fill in for Jerry Lewis, who was sick. And Jerry was meticulous about everything in his dressing room. And his suits are hanging, 20 suits for two shows a night, hanging in the dressing room in the closet. Equally spaced, two inches between them like they've been put there by a perfectionist, which he was. And Shecky opens the closet. He sees all the suits. And he looks at his suit, which is kind of wrinkled and hanging there.

They just called him in the last second to come down and do it. And he takes his suit and he jams it in between Jerry's suits and he goes, get some class.

Wow. Jeez. Shecky loves Gilbert, by the way. Oh, yes. It's a love affair. I got one last question from a fan, Sandy, and this one's impossible.

But what is Sandy's favorite Buddy Hackett joke? Oh, my goodness. I'm personally fond of the Chinese waiter bit. Well, the Chinese waiter bit, eventually my dad gave that to me as a present, so it became mine. Nice. I was in high school. And in those days, they did. Now my son did something called what festival. But in those days, we did forensics,

which I understand still exists in some places. And there was a debate, public speaking, impromptu, extemporaneous, original oratory, dramatic interpretation, and humorous interpretation. So I did humorous interpretation. And I was looking for a piece of material, and my dad said, why don't you do the Chinese waiter? And I said, okay. And I did the Chinese waiter and ended up winning the California State competition, which it was the only competition that didn't go on to nationals. Nice.

But that summer, I was with my dad. He was in Westbury, Long Island, appearing at Westbury. I'm sure you've worked there at Gilbert. Yeah. And so my dad's on stage, and someone yells out, Chinese waiter! And my dad goes, I don't do that anymore. It's my son's, but he's here tonight. He says, son, you feel like working?

I said, okay. And I'd never been in that big a, you know, let alone in the round, 15 years old. I'm on stage, and my dad gives me the mic and he says, just turn quarter step and do the routine. And I didn't. Boy, 15 years old, 3,000 people laughing at you. How about that? That's contagious. Generous.

That'll get you started. Now, did you know anything of the relationship, because you were there when they reunited, the relationship between Dean and Jerry? Only knew that they didn't talk and that the fact that Frank was coming over and only a handful of people knew and that I was one of the handful of people that knew that Frank was bringing him over. And all I could tell anybody was it's a surprise. It's a surprise. Everybody's going, oh, there's Sinatra's coming over and there's a surprise. And I didn't know anything, but, you know, Dean was genuinely moved.

And if you follow the history, you know that those guys kept in touch later in years. I think Jerry was one of the first people to reach out to Dean when his son was killed in the airplane accident and they stayed in contact until the end. Wow. Yeah, that's what I had heard. That's what really brought them together after all those years

was Dean's son's death. You know, look, you're in show business, I'm in show business, and even though we may compete for jobs and laughs and jokes or whatever, when you're offstage and you're not doing what it is you love to do, but you're with the people that you love, your wife, your children, your family, those things trump everything. I didn't mean to use the word trump that prick. Please don't. Please don't. But you end up in a situation where you understand there's things so much bigger than show business, and the loss of a child for a parent is just the most terrible and devastating there is.

Of course. I mean, the silver lining, I suppose, is that they were able to, not that it's a silver lining he lost a child, but that they were able to scrape together some remnant of the old friendship, of the old relationship at the end. I don't even know if it was that. I just think Jerry was sympathetic. I think Dean was a shadow of himself from that point forward. That just wrecked him. That was, by all accounts, just destroyed him as as a man and a person and a father and he just never ever recovered from that i heard a story that

when the news came out that dean martin's son died that uh jerry lewis said to his wife my partner died today because he knew that that would kill Dean Martin. That wouldn't surprise me at all. You know, I'm a dad. Are you a dad, Gilbert? Yes. Are you a dad? So you know what it's like to have kids.

I mean, it's look when Howie invited me to bring my daughter and be his guest and sit at his chair and take pictures. I was so happy to see the smile on her face from ear to ear and how he would do that for me, for my daughter. That was better than anything. Look, we've been on stage with laughter and people laughing and standing ovations. But when I pick up my daughter at school and she wraps her arms around me and says, hi, daddy, it is just, you know, my son too. Those are the moments that are so much more important than what we do in this business. And I love telling these stories and I love being on stage, but it's all about them. Yeah. Give us your plug, Sandy. The show's going to be here in June in Philly? At the Bristol Riverside Theater in Bristol, Pennsylvania. I think it's that weekend, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Five shows. Bristol, Pennsylvania. Okay. Or three shows. I don't even remember how many shows. And we're looking to add dates now that we have that. That's the My Buddy Show, right? The My Buddy Show, yes.

And the Rat Pack Show? Rat Pack. Sandy's Hackett Rat Pack Show is touring regularly. We are all over the country. You can go to our website, sandysratpack.com. You can go to mybuddyhackett.com or sandyhackett.com and contact me, and we will get you booked, and we will come entertain your folks. Fantastic.

The Buddy Hackett stuff is fun. We've got a lot of clips, a lot of stories you haven't heard here, and even if you've heard them here, by then you won't remember them. What would you say, before we go, what would you say if I told you that a woman who lives in my apartment building,

a couple of doors down from me, who I recently got to know, surprised me one day by telling me out of the blue that she used to go out with Buddy Hackett? Obviously before he met your mom. No, I would just say mom. I'll tell you her name afterward. I should tell you, like, you know, it's a thousand years ago.

I did get a chance to run into your father at some event and tell him how much I enjoyed that yogurt commercial in Yiddish. I think I was with him and you obviously gravitated towards him. So you wouldn't remember me, which is absolutely fine. But because then and I hate to even say this, he goes, who was that? And because then, and I hate to even say this, he goes, who was that? You know, because, you know, he just doesn't know sometimes. Hilarious.

No, and that's how this world is. And especially with social media, we come up and, oh, I want to meet so-and-so. And they go, I want to meet so-and-so. And you meet them and they don't know who you are. And you think, but that's a big person. They should know you. But they don't because we're 30 years apart. We just don't travel in the same circles. One of my favorite interviews was with Alan Alda who he said, I got to this party and Walter Cronkite was going to be there.

And I was so excited to meet him. And that's all I wanted to do. The only reason I went to the party was to meet Walter Cronkite. I was such a fan. He says, and I finally got to myself in position. And I walked up to him and I it's all I wanted to do it the only reason I went to the party was to meet Walter Cronkite I was such a fan he says and I finally got to myself in position and I walked up to him and I said hi I'm and he goes you're Al and Alda he says I'm Walter Cronkite it's very nice to meet you and I said you're Walter I know you're Walter Cronkite I came to meet you I said why would you have to tell me he said I never know if somebody knows who I am or I don't so I always introduce myself so it takes the embarrassment away from them

in case they're going, you look familiar. Great. You know, who are you? So he says, I tell them right away who I am, and then they're off the cuff. Before we go, Gil, you must favor. Hi, I'm Gilbert Gottfried. You must favor Sandy with your Bing Crosby story. Oh!

Oh! I heard, well, now here's like horror stories about celebrity fathers. And Bing Crosby, you hear horror stories he would beat his kids yeah savagely and you know he'd play he would be smoking a pipe and doing the Christmas specials and beat his kids and someone once asked your father about that and your father said you want to know why Bing Crosby beat his kids it's because Bing Crosby couldn't get a hard on it's a good story it's not a very good buddy hack it but it's a good story It's not a very good

Buddy Hackett But it's a good story He doesn't like Your Buddy Hackett Well he's a little slow He talked He had more pace He did a great

Buddy Hackett Until you showed up But he did have More pace too Cause Bing Crosby Couldn't get a hard on That's right That's better He got a hard-on. That's right. That's better.

He got a hard-on one time, but he put it in a goat, and he's still pissed, so he beats his kids. Well, I'm Gilbert Gottfried. I'm here with my co-host, Frank. Thank you so much for having me on, guys. Of course, Andy. Thanks for doing it. I'm here with my co-host Frank. Thank you so much for having me on, guys. Of course, Sandy. Thanks for doing it. I'm here with my co-host Frank Santopadre, and we've been talking to the very funny

and informative Sandy Hackett, son of legendary Buddy Hackett. Who I must say does a better Buddy Hackett than you do, Gilbert. I think he's a little more familiar with him. It's in the genes. Sandy, this was a kick for us.

Thank you so much. Thanks, guys. Take care. Thanks a lot. Okay, man. Bye-bye. Welcome back. I got talking like him.

He's talking like me. We were talking about donating organs to science or to somebody after you pass away. Well, there's some people that don't have the same organs everybody has. For instance, a guy goes to the doctor. And he says, Hey, I've been talking this way all my life. I want to talk like a regular person.

The doctor said, I have your file here. And having examined you, the only difference between you and other people is that you have been more sexually endowed than most people in the sense that in some place where you should have two, you have four. In other words, you can get a free pass to first base, is what the doctor said. So now, the guy... And the guy says,

Mom, I really want to talk regular. The doctor said, we can perform an operation and reduce you to normalcy, and perhaps that will affect your voice. So the guy says, okay. So after the operation, a few weeks pass, and the patient comes back. He says, Doc, I'm talking normally, but things are not exactly the way they were, and I prefer to have things not exactly the way they were, and I prefer to have things put back the way they were.

And the doctor said, that's impossible. Those are going to spoil it. Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast is produced by Dara Gottfried and Frank Santapadre, Thank you. Special thanks to John Fodiatis, John Murray, and Paul Rayburn. Thank you.