Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - 245. In Memoriam 2018

Episode Date: February 4, 2019

Gilbert and Frank (aided by guest co-host Michael Weber) pay loving tribute to some of the artists and performers we lost in 2018, including John Mahoney, Barbara Harris, Tab Hunter, Margot Kidder and Bill Daily as well as former GGACP guests Ken Berry, Will Jordan, Charlotte Rae and Chuck McCann. Also in this episode: Laverne DeFazio makes good, Jerry Van Dyke breaks through, Burt Reynolds turns down 007 and Connie Sawyer opens for Sophie Tucker! PLUS: Marty Allen, war hero! The last surviving Munchkin! The magic of Ricky Jay! The villainy of Hal 9000! And Gilbert remembers his dear friend James Karen! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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You know, this is John Astin. Capital idea. Hello, this is John Astin. And you are listening to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal, creepy, kooky, mysterious, spooky, altogether ooky podcast. Fantastic. Perfect. Perfect. Couldn't ask for better.

Thank you. It was worth the wait. For me. We're going to pay a call on the Addams Family. Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and this is Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast with my co-host, Frank Santopadre, and our engineer, Frank Ferdarosa, and our special guest, Moishe Wibblewobble. That's a new one. Moishe Wibblewobble. That's a new one. Moishe Wibblewobble.

I didn't know where he was going to go this time. He didn't use Moishe last time. That's actually Moishe's my billing on my next three films. Michael Weber is here. Thank you. Thanks for having me back. Michael Weber is back. The man who wore an orange wedge pin to the Oscars.

Guys, I had to. There was a lot of confusion on the red carpet. Because I went to Syracuse University, some people thought I was representing Syracuse Orange. Oh, wow. I said no. I did not want them mistaken. It had nothing to do with Syracuse. You were honoring Cesar Romero's asshole.

It had to be done. Yes. Frankly, I'm not sure why the Oscars hadn't done that sooner. Why did it take so long? Will you wear a coffee table pin if you're nominated again? You know what? If you guys make that pin, I will definitely wear that if I'm somehow nominated. Actually, one person stopped

me and thought that it was part of the citrus pickers union because everyone wears political pins. Cesar Romero, not Cesar Chavez. Exactly. that it was part of like the citrus pickers union because everyone wears political yes right no cesar romero not cesar chavez right exactly exactly uh so tell us what you've been up to since we last saw you my friend oh uh you know just uh getting back to work uh my writing partner scott neustadter and i we just adapted this novel salt to the Sea for Universal. That's a beautiful World War II story. Great.

We also are creating a limited series for Amazon called Daisy Jones and the Six, which is based on a novel that's coming out this year very soon. And it's kind of got an almost famous vibe. Oh, exciting. Imagine sort of men and women both in the band and the messy relationships that come out of that. And we're doing that for Amazon. Sort of a Fleetwood Mac kind of dynamic. Actually, the book is very loosely based on that dynamic.

Interesting. And there was too much there for a movie. And we thought, oh, cool. This is a great time to be doing these sort of longer form stories. And Amazon's been an amazing place to work. Is there a part for Gilbert as a weird groupie? Hmm. We should talk.

A creepy road manager? We definitely have those, actually. Oh, yes, yes. How creepy can you get? It's set in the 70s, so we need you to be 70s creepy. Oh, yes. So a feature and a limited series. Yeah, we have a few other things in the works as well,

and, yeah, just keeping busy. Thanks. You're still indulging us? You're still listening to the show? I have never missed an episode. That is... How about that, Gilbert? I told you guys.

A man with a career. I'm one of the seven. Now, you haven't listened to a bunch of them, but you never missed them. Yeah. He never hears it, so he never misses them. I put them on for my dog to listen to when I go out. Oh, yes.

Later on, he tells me the highlights. That's sweet. We have some we haven't put up yet that you're going to love, including Gomez Adams, John Aston. Oh, that's awesome. And some other good ones. So, Michael, you know, it's time for our annual In Memoriam episode. Yes.

And Michael and I got to talking on email. I figured you guys invited me because I'm the only possible return guest who won't die in between the state action. Well, you could have gotten hit by a truck on the way over. You're also morbid like us, which we appreciate. See, this show, looking at the people

who died, it was, I mean, I felt horrible about the people who died that we didn't interview. I do too., I felt horrible about the people who died that we didn't interview. I do, too. And I felt great about the ones we did. And every one of them that you missed, I felt bad that you had me on because you really could have waited. Yes, yes.

I mean, it's, yeah. Right now we're kicking ourselves over James Frawley, who was the director of the Muppet movie and the Big Bus, and also the Monkees' original director of the TV show. And Tab Hunter would have been a great one. He would have been incredible. We'll kick ourselves as we go through the list, and we'll point out all the people that we missed out on. Who's reaching out to Kirk Douglas now?

I mean, guys, that's really... But Mike and I got to talking about William Goldman over email. And then I thought, well, he's the perfect guy to have in and sit in as a guest host on In Memoriam. So we're going to talk about some of these people. Gil, where do you want to start? I thought we'd start with character actors. Okay, yes. Those are the most important people to this show.

And John Mahoney. Oh, my oh my god yeah a good place to start i grew up on fraser really uh just an incredible actor john mahoney every so many of our actors go back to world war ii and and they had to leave there's his family left this section of he was born in england that's right and they left there because they got so bombed out by the Nazis. What I thought was so interesting was he didn't try acting until he was 37. I love that. A late bloomer. Which is amazing.

It goes to show you can really have a very long, full career and start at any time. You know, and though people know him from Frasier, I mean, he's terrific in those Coen Brothers movies. He's in Hudsucker Proxy. And he's in... Barton Fink. Barton Fink, yeah. He's playing like a Faulkner type character. A little Faulkner type.

Yeah. He was very funny in that. But also Tin Men in Say Anything, and Eight Men Out, and he won a Tony for House of Blue Leaves, and a heartbreaking scene in Moonstruck. Oh, yeah. That really stays with you.

Just a terrific actor. And apparently he was discovered by John Malkovich. Yes. Steppenwolf guy. They promoted him, John Malkovich and Sinise. Kelsey Grammer tweeted something very nice about him. He said, he was my father and I loved him. Which I thought was very, very sweet.

Gilbert, will you be saying things like that about me? Will you say he was like a son to me? I'm going to say, he was a father to me. Here's a guy we like. Lee Ermey. R. Lee Ermey. Known, of course, from Full Metal Jacket. Who actually was

a drill sergeant. Yes, he was. That performance still gives me nightmares. He was a staff sergeant and a gunnery sergeant. A real ex-marine who served in Vietnam. He had all those great... Well, I remember one of them. He goes,

You look like the type of guy who fuck goes, you look like the type of guy who fucks someone up the ass and doesn't have the common decency to give him a reach around. That's it. Apparently, and somebody, if our listeners know better than I do, apparently he wrote much of that dialogue. I read that too. Kubrick trusted him to do that. Yeah, that's a wonderful part. I mean, he jumped off the screen in that movie and he got

himself an acting career. I mean, he, he turned up in, uh, in lots of stuff, Toy Story, Saving Silverman, Mississippi, Burning, uh, Seven. Um, he, he was also a technical advisor on Apocalypse Now. Right. He was a consultant on a bunch of movies. Yeah. Yeah. He was a military consultant and he even did a movie. I love this. He did a Filipino production.

He spoke in Tagalog. Gilbert, do you speak a little Tagalog? That's the only thing I can speak. So his breakthrough role, yes, was Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket. I'm bummed you guys didn't have him on the podcast because he might have known where Papillon Susu is. Oh! God damn it! What a connection.

Hey, Vince D'Onofrio lives in New York. Maybe he knows where Papillon Susu is. Oh, or Matthew Modine. Let's try them. Okay, we've got to put those on the list. Dara, we're on the Papillon hunt. Here's one, Philip Bosco, New York-based actor. You know Philip Bosco?co he was like everything and this connects with someone else he was in a few of the neil simon broadway

shows absolutely yeah one of tony for lend me a tenor uh born here born in new jersey he was one of those actors like for the most, people don't know him. And he was well-respected on stage. He was one of the top stage actors. Absolutely. I think he was in 50 Broadway productions. Yeah. And he was in 12 Angry Men and did live television.

Yeah. In the 50s and the 60s. Wonder Boys, The Money Pit pit children of a lesser god working girl my best friend's wedding he's a bus driver he has a short but memorable scene in a movie that i love called quick change you know this amazing movie it's a great little dark comedy yep the kind of you and i always talk about the kind of comedies that hollywood doesn't make anymore small weird dark comedies well they don't work anymore. Small, weird, dark comedies. Well, they don't work. The problem is, you know, Hollywood makes fewer comedies now, but especially the dark ones, they don't play overseas.

They don't play, you know, it's so hard nowadays to make a movie like that and somehow turn it into an event. Yeah, even in the 80s you were getting movies like Ruthless People and you just don't see this. Throw Mama from the Train, you don't see this anymore. And it goes back to the other thing that kills me and that is the fact that movies are like vaudeville they're on their way out move going to movie theaters certainly right certainly certainly watching a movie with other people

yes that that experience in some ways is dying uh you know as netflix and amazon and a lot of these streaming services roll out so many films every week which by the way it's great they're making films no one else would finance right now the problem is those tend to not be shared audience experiences you're watching home by yourself or i mean some people watch them on their phone which is crazy to me but i don't get that either but you're not no longer are you watching in a theater full of people and everyone's laughing at the same time. It's sad. Or cheering when

a hero does something. You heard Leonard Maltin on the show. We were talking about the death of movie theaters. And in L.A., and you spend a significant amount of time in L.A., you've still got the Cinerama. You've still got the Chinese theater. You've still got the Egyptian. The Arclight, I assume, is still. So there's they're protecting it as best they can, which is more than I can say about New York City.

Well, no. You know what? New York, okay, we've lost some big theaters. Lost to Ziegfeld. Right. That's a major loss. But something like the Metrograph, which is downtown and out of the way for a lot of people. But if you live in New York and haven't been to the Metrograph yet, It's great. It's all older films, foreign films.

Everything's on 35 millimeter. It's beautiful. It's like it's as if people who love movies designed a movie theater. Yeah. I should thank you for turning me on to the Metrograph because I took my wife to see Grease and it looked great. Yeah. And they frequently they invite back a lot of filmmakers to come and speak at their screenings.

It's really just go check out their website. It's it's we need website. We need more theaters like that all over the country. Now it seems like it's either Star Wars, Jurassic Park, or if it's not, it's like in a little art house theater.

Or it goes to Netflix. Or it's made for television. No, it has to be an event for everyone. the Avengers or whatever, and it's going to travel and all these things, and it'll sell a lot of popcorn. Otherwise... Well, the olden days of, hey, you know, I'm just sitting around.

Let's see a movie. That's gone. Gone. No, there's not enough stuff coming out anymore. It also feels like increasingly a huge percentage of the the better movies are crammed right into the last three months of the year oh yeah to get the award right so they want that sort of awards traction that like oh it's nominated for this and people are talking about it for that to sort of create a little buzz but it feels like you know then then

you look at january through august it's always been a dump and there's maybe like four movies you want to see yes there's four movies you want to see for eight months and then four movies a week for the other four months yeah but january to march has always been the dumping ground right especially yeah well you know what it's interesting now i think a lot of um the smaller distributors like a24 and sony pictures classics and fox searchlight they've gotten smart now and started to go, you know what, people who do love movies, let's put some things people will really want to see

in those first few months and not worry about the award stuff because people will go. That's encouraging. Here's somebody, Gilbert, that you were talking about before we turned the mic on, or maybe you just mentioned him, Tab Hunter. Yes.

Great character actor. Died at 86. Half Jewish. He was? Yes. Whoa. actor. Died at 86. Half Jewish. He was? Yes. Whoa. Oh. That's our tribe. And Tamp Hunter is such a goyim looking actor. Yes.

Had a long career. Wow. Yeah. He was up in Santa Barbara and we were trying to make it happen and get it engineered to him and for whatever reason it didn't come together and he died suddenly. He was not ill. The documentary about his life that came out a few years ago. Oh yeah, Tab Hunter Confidential. It's great.

It's great. Yeah, I was going to recommend it. He was one of the last three actors to have a studio contract at Warner Brothers. Can you think of the other two? It wasn't Lancaster or Kirk Douglas. Were they also matinee idol types like him?

I don't want to. Like Troy Donahue types? No. Rock Hudson? No. And that's another funny thing. There was a period of time of Troy and Tab and Rock where it was these names that no human being had. Dash Riprock.

Yes. What's the answer? James Dean and Natalie Wood. Very good. And Tab Hunter were the last three contract actors at Warner Brothers. And was Tab Hunter having an affair with James Dean? Well, with Anthony Perkins. Yes.

Anthony Perkins. Yes, Anthony Perkins was a lover. He was living a secret life. I mean, it's all in the documentary and the book. And he was also a musician. Yes, he was a lover. He was living a secret life. I mean, it's all in the documentary and the book. And he was also a musician. Yes, he was a musician. And Jack Warner started Warner Brothers Records because of Tab Hunter. I didn't know that.

Oh, that's right. Because Tab Hunter recorded a song for Dot Records. Young Love? Yes. Yeah. And Jack Warner was furious. Right, that's right. And Tab said, well, you don't even have a music division.

That's correct. So they started Warner Brothers Records for Tab Hunter. Wink Martindale also recorded on Dot Records. Oh my God. A little extra trivia. He kind of faded away, and then John Waters sort of brought him back in polyester. And the most amount of money John Waters paid an actor to be in a movie is to Tab Hunter. I love that.

He would have been so perfect for us, Gilbert. Oh, that's one of those. That's a kick. Major. Yeah, major kick yourself. How about John Gavin, who was sort of a leading man in the Rock Hudson movie? From Psycho. Yeah.

Yeah. But also in Spartacus. And John Gavin, I mean, the two actors who look like twins were Gig Young and Richard Long. Oh, yes. But John Gavin definitely fits in. They could have been triplets. And he was a little bit of a Rock Hudson type. Did you find this,

Mike, in your notes that he was signed to play James Bond twice, but Connery came back to do You Only Live Twice. Do I have this right or was it Diamonds Are Forever? I think it's Diamonds Are Forever. Maybe Sean Connery just hated

Sean Gavin so much. And then before Roger Moore was brought on, the producers looked to him again but then insisted on an English actor. Well, you know, in a little bit we're going to get to an actor who passed away last year who turned down the role of James Bond. Interesting.

Yeah. Well, I'll wait. Wait, I know one. I wonder if I have that on my cards. Yeah, someone who passed away last year. In 2018? Yeah, not that long ago. Was it this year?

Okay, let's see if we can get to it. But I think I know. Can I say it? Sure. Was it Adam West? No, he died in 2017. No, he died in 27. 2027. We'll get to it. We'll get say it? Sure. Was it Adam West? No, he died in 2017. No, he died in 27. 2027.

We'll get to it. We'll get to it. Okay. Was it Marty Allen? You're jumping ahead. Here's two other names, two other sort of square-jawed kind of actors. Clint Walker. Yes.

Clint Walker from the TV series Cheyenne and also The Dirty Dozen. And Killdozer, which has come up on this show. Do you know about Killdozer? I feel like I've heard you guys talk about it. It's about a bulldozer that's possessed by a demon that comes to life and kills people. It was an ABC movie of the week. I can't believe I missed it. One of my favorites.

He's also in this classically bad all-star cast movie called The Finks. P-H-Y-N-X. That one is scary. You'll have to look that up. If you take nothing else away from this evening. Leo Gorsi's in it. Everybody. Yeah.

Johnny Weissmuller. Everybody's in The Finks. They all look like they died 10 years before the movie was made. I wouldn't, you know, if you said you dug each one of them up and brought them in a chair, I'd believe it. When you get home tonight, you're going to watch The Finks. I will find it. I bet it's on YouTube. I'll bet it is.

It's like a scary, nightmarish version of The Monkees. Yeah, and you won't believe who's in it. I think George Raft turns up. Yes, yes. Pat O'Brien. Pat O'Brien. Every actor that hadn't worked in 25 years, they threw them all into this movie. And you look at them and you want to kill yourself.

How about Bradford Dillman, Gilbert? Oh, a great actor. Actor's studio guy. He was in Compulsion, the thrill killers movie. About Leopold and Loeb, right? Yes. With Orson Welles. Correct. He was a Fox contract player. Escape from the Planet of the Apes.

Oh, yes. The Swarm. Wow. Enforcer. He played Dirty Harry's antagonist. Oh, okay. In the Enforcer, The Way We Were. And he did a million movies. If you guys don't know Bradford Dillman, he was actually included in the SAG tribute the other night, the SAG in memoriam. Where James Caron came up first, by the way.

I saw that. Yeah, it was a really nice honor. You know, if you look up Bradford Dillman, he's one of those, when this picture pops up, you go, oh, him. Yeah, he was on the list like, maybe we should call Bradford Dillman. Yes! This ongoing podcast list, guest list, 300 names. But you don't know who's in bad health. Yeah. You can't close your eyes

and poke a pin in the list. I mean, you're just trying to, you know, you call the last person you thought of. No, that's not listed on their IMDb page, like their recent cholesterol and their blood work. No, you don't know. Some of them die suddenly. A million movies and series, The Big Valley, Mod Squad, Mission Impossible, Columbo, Naked City.

Look them up. You guys will recognize him. Who else do I have here for character actors? How about the great Barbara Harris? Gilbert? Yes. What about Barbara Harris? She will not be booked on this show anytime soon.

She was in The Compass Players. Well, she was married to Paul Sills. Very good. Look at you. Somebody doing homework. Yeah. Although Gilbert impressed me. He knew John Mahoney was born in England.

Yeah. Was that where you stopped? That's it. Was that where you cut it off? Yeah, now I'm going home. Went to watch Matilda May. She was in The Compass Players and Second City. Even though she was invited to Second City,

and at that point they had divorced, which is interesting. That's correct. With Shelly Berman and Paul Sand, who's around. All right, Paul Sand. We've got to call Paul Sand. See, if we get Paul Sand, that would be two members of the Hot Rock. That's right, because we ron liebman yeah very very good and and was the hot rock written by we'll get to him okay okay yes it was yes it was

oh so interesting thing about barbara harris yes tell me about barbara she has the distinction of being in the last scene the last shot shot of the last Hitchcock film. Oh, she's in Family Plot. Oh, wow. With former podcast guest. She is the last thing you see on screen in Family Plot. You could say she ended Hitchcock's career. With former podcast guest Bruce Dern.

Barbara Harris. Great in Nashville. Great in Nashville. Wonderful in Nashville. Fun and Freaky Friday. She didn't make that many movies. No. Yeah, she's terrific in Nashville. She worked with a lot of our podcast guests.

Keith Carradine in Nashville. Bruce Dern in Family Plot. But apparently her and Altman, there was a lot of conflict on set between them. She would have been a good guest. There would have been a good guest. There would have been some good stories there. She also, we just had Austin Pendleton on the show. We haven't put him up yet.

And he credits Barbara Harris with helping him launch his career. So there you go. She also, this is fun, she has the distinction. Remember we did an episode with Paul about long, goofy movie titles? Oh, yes. She has the distinction of being in both Who is Harry Kellerman and Why is he saying those terrible things about me? Which she was

nominated for, I think. Correct. With Dustin Hoffman. And she's in Oh, Dad, Poor Dad, Mom's Hung You in the Closet, and I'm Feeling Sensitive. So there you go. Also great in A Thousand Clowns. You seen that movie? I have it on DVD. I love that movie.

Yes. That's one of those movies where you watch that and so much of the New York in that movie is gone now. Oh, my God. That's one thing we always talk about. There are certain movies where you go, oh, God, that's just like watching, like looking at old photos. Almost like a documentary because you're just so much of what's in there is gone. She retired. She became an acting teacher.

Now, there's someone. Retired early. That I don't know if we've ever asked. And I forget his name. Is it Newman or something? The guy that plays his son in A Thousand Clowns? I'll have to look. Oh, the kid.

I'll have to go look that up. Yeah, he was in a bunch of movies. I think he. I'll have to look. Oh, the kid. I'll have to go look that up. Yeah, he was in a bunch of movies. I think he played like a young Bobby Darin in some movie. She's also in the Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery. Or the Manchu Eagle Caper Murder Mystery, which I bring up because it's also a goofy title. But because it played last night at the Film Forum. Ouch. And it's a film that hasn't been seen in ages.

It co-stars Gabriel Dell, Hunts Hall, Vincent Gardenia, former podcast guest Joyce Van Patten, Dick Gaudier, and Sorrel Book. Oh, wow. And it's considered sort of a lost film, and they trotted it out at Film Forum. Speaking of good places to see movies in New York. Yes?

No. Yes? No. Yes, Mr. Gottfried? Who was the other person in, who was Harry Kellerman? I think it was Dustin Hoffman. No, Dustin Hoffman was the star. Right. But the guy who played like his agent or his brother. We'll have Paul look it up.

Oh, Christ. We'll have Weber look it up. Someone fucking kill me. We'll have Paul look it up. Oh, Christ. We'll have Weber look it up. Someone fucking kill me. We'll have Weber look it up while I talk about Nanette Fabre, who went back to Vaudeville. Went back to it? She made her debut at the age of three. She was one of those, growing up, she was on TV, whatever channel you turn to. All the time.

She died at the ripe old age of 97. Jack Warden. No, not Jack Warden. Oh, he's in it. Yeah, but he's not the one Gilbert's thinking of. Gabriel Dell? Gabriel Dell. That's it.

That's it. Yeah, from the Dead End Kids. Because when you said that, I thought, wait a minute. He was in Harry Keller. You see how it all connects up? Directed by Ulu Grossbard. Correct, who made Straight Time. Yes.

Yes, I love Straight Time. Me too. Very underrated. Me too. Nanette Fabre debuted at the age of three. She had a big career. She graduated the Broadway stage. She won a Tony.

She was with Sid Caesar on Caesar's Hour, as Gilbert remembers. I did not know this. Her whole life, she suffered from hearing loss. No. She suffered from a significant hearing loss. Yeah, I did not know this her whole life. She suffered from hearing loss. No. She suffered from a significant hearing loss. Yeah, she did. And she went out of her way to raise money for that cause. She made some films, Harper Valley PTA, The Bandwagon, which is a great musical, Private Lives of Elizabeth in Essex.

But she wasn't really known for feature films. Yeah, Harper Valley PTA had Barbara Eaton John Fiedler. Yeah, Fiedler. Fiedler. Very good. Yes. Terrible, terrible movie, by the way. She played Anne Romano's mother on One Day at a Time, and she played Mary Richards' mother on the Mary Tyler

Moore show. And because I remember with her, whenever I think of Nanette Fabre, I always think of Sid Caesar. Yeah. She's Shelley Fabre's aunt. But they spell it differently. Why? Because she changed.

I love this story. She was introduced by Ed Sullivan at some event, and he pronounced it Nanette Faberis. And she said that's because that's how Shelly Fabre spells it. F-A-B-A-R-E-S. And she said, that's never going to happen to me. I'm going to spell it phonetically so nobody can get it wrong. She would have had a busier career. So F-A-B-R-A-Y.

Nobody could screw up. So the great Nanette Fabre. Let me see what else I've got. Okay, quickly, these are some oddball character actors. Off the beaten path character actors. Quickly, Douglas Raine. Douglas Raine, the voice of Hal 3000. Oh my God.

In 2001. Wow. A space odyssey. What else did he do? He was born in Winnipeg. He, my God. In 2001. Wow. A space odyssey. What else did he do? He was born in Winnipeg. He was a Shakespearean stage actor, and Kubrick heard his voice in a documentary called Universe and said, that's the voice. God, he must have freaked people out on the phone. Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, please.

I think he was one of those guys where people came up to him and said, oh, could you please record my outgoing phone message? He would have made a fortune if he just said it. Also a computer voice in Woody Allen's Sleeper. That makes sense. Yes, and he was voted the 13th greatest villain of all time. Greatest screen villain of all time by AFI. Douglas Rain passed at 90. Connie Sawyer passed.

Does that name mean anything to you? It does, and I'm now... She was the oldest living, working actress. She passed at 105. She was still working. Talk about a late bloomer. She didn't start. Her first role was at the age of 50

in Capra's Hole in the Head. Oh! Opposite Sinatra and Edward G. Robinson. Although Sidney Greenstreet has her beat, his first movie was at 60. I love that. Yeah. Five-ish Finkel, I think, started late.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. You would know herkel, I think, started late. Oh, yeah. You would know her as one of the Fucking Fivish Finkel would have been amazing. He's gone. He's gone. Should we make a list of all the people we're not going to get on the show? You would know her as one of the couples,

the older couples in When Harry Met Sally. She was the wife. I don't know who the actor that was cast opposite of her. But she started at age 50 and she did a ton of movies. She did Injustice for All and Oh God and True Grit and Bob and Carol. She worked with your buddy James Franco.

She was his grandma in Pineapple Express. Oh yeah, okay. She was in Something's Gotta Give and she'd been around so long, Gilbert, that she once opened for Sophie Tucker. Oh, my God. As did Gilbert. Yeah, Connie Sawyer.

And I just saw her in an episode of The Office playing Michael Scott's Nana, who refuses to give her money for his business when he starts his own business. Last one on this card is a friend of Geno Salamone's We Lost the Last Surviving Munchkin at 98, Jerry Marron. Oh, yes. Passed away. Now he went back, not only because he's in The Wizard of Oz, as a

member of the Lollipop Guild, he was in Superman and the Mole Men. Oh, yes! yes spooky super the black and white superman they were the little the little men that lived underground and they had the same basic makeup design and what was that uh oh it was the oompa loompas yeah but but then another there was a science fiction that had a similar that That was a scary. You ever see Superman in the moment? Yes, I have. Yeah, he was one of the.

Scary episode. Yeah, he worked a lot. He got 50 bucks a week to be in the lollipop guild. Toto, it always bugged him that Toto got 125. Does that mean he didn't get residuals? I don't know. Probably not. I seriously doubt it.

I seriously doubt it. He worked with the Marx Brothers and at the circus he was Professor Adam when we first started this show we inquired about Jerry Maron and his health had been failing when did he stop working? years ago Steve Cox knew him

Gino knew him but he wasn't in good shape Lidsville, he was the little guy in the gong show that used to run out throwing the confetti. He was even Mayor McCheese and the Hamburglar. So there's a career in show

business. Versatility. That is versatility. I'm going to really quickly mention four beloved TV stars. And I think Gino said to me that Marin once said to him, he goes,

You're not going to tell that, are you? Yeah. I haven't taken a shit in a week. This is why I hate traveling. That's beautiful. What a beautiful thing to remember him by. That wasn't in any of the tributes.

I didn't see that on his Wikipedia page. It's on his tombstone. While Gilbert tries to remember who our guest is. And what's your name? A few words from our sponsor this ad was expressly recorded to create a sense of simplicity

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Tennessee sounds perfect. Gil and Frank went out to pee. Now they're back so they can be on their amazing Colossal Podcast. Kids, time to get back to Gilbert and Frank's amazing Colossal Podcast. So let's go. Quick, quickly, four fixtures on television. Jerry Van Dyke. Oh, my God.

Great Jerry Van Dyke. Started as a stand-up comic, bit parts in films. And My Mother the Car, most importantly. My Mother the Car was a turning point because he turned down the part of Gilligan and Gilligan's Island to do My Mother the Car. The road not taken. That was a much more respectable show. because he turned down the part of Gilligan and Gilligan's Island to do My Mother the Car, The Road Not Taken. That was a much more respectable show because his mother dies and becomes a car.

Yeah, she becomes a porter. Yeah. I think it was a 1928 porter. I'm trying to remember the song. Of course, he was the sleepwalking brother on the Dick Van Dyke show. Stacy, he was Dick Van Dyke's brother. He was on Coach. He was on Coach.

Well, you know, Coach was like a big career comeback. Right. And didn't someone turn that role down? And then he, am I misremembering that? That's interesting. I'll have to look at that. Now, I heard that he and Craig T. Nelson didn't get along. Really? Yeah. That's unfortunate. Interesting. I prefer that he and Craig T. Nelson didn't get along. Really?

Yeah. That's unfortunate. Interesting. I prefer that to the Jerry Mariner anecdote. Craig T. Nelson would be a good guest. Craig T. Nelson is a good idea. Yeah. Giacchino knows him from The Incredibles.

We'll try that. He also, Craig T. Nelson, he was in that comedy group, that Lohman and Barkley thing with John Amos. As a matter of fact. And Barry Levinson. He worked with Barry Levinson. As a matter of fact, I worked with all three of them. You did? Yeah.

Toast of Manhattan, a failed pilot. The head writer was Rudy DeLuca. Right. And doing a guest appearance was Craig T. Nelson. And it was being directed by Barry Levinson. There needs to be a cable channel of just these pilots that were never picked up. Oh, actually. All the time. We're going to do a future mini episode about forgotten, about lost pilots.

Every once in a while there'll be like a TV special where they'll show clips. I know. But there should be a channel and just show these lost pilots. They used to do a thing in L.A. in Largo. They used to do this thing. Oh, God. What was the name of that? Uncabaret.

Beth Lapidus' Uncabaret. And they used to bring people on. They'd bring Robert Smigel on. He'd talk about Lookwell. Right. Which was that Adam West pilot. Yes. And they would show them.

The one with Stiller. The one that Stiller and Jack Black did. Yeah. Heat Vision and Jack. Oh, yeah. You ever see that thing? I have. Jerry Van Dyke, you know, after My Mother the Car and then he failed in a second sitcom called Accidental Family, which nobody remembers.

I mean, this guy grinded out a living in show business. Yeah. He did Playboy clubs. He went back to stand-up. He did Vegas. He did game shows. And Coach was a resurgence for him. I love this quote.

He said, listen, God knows I tried to make it earlier in life, but with all due respect to myself, nothing I was in was any good. At least he knew. I love that. David Ogden Stiers from MASH, Major Winchester. Yes. We had Alan here a couple of weeks ago. Nine Broadway shows. A lot of movies.

I mean, people know him really from Winchester, but he was in The Accidental Tourist, Doc Hollywood. here a couple of weeks ago. Nine Broadway shows. A lot of movies. I mean, people know him really from Winchester, but he was in The Accidental Tourist, Doc Hollywood. Woody Allen used him a lot. And my connection with him was a horrible Rodney Dangerfield that we both- Is he in Meet Wally Sparks? Yep. Oh my God. Yep.

Oh my God. He did a lot of voiceovers. He did a lot of PBS stuff and Ken Burns stuff. Right. He played Martian Manhunter in a bad Justice League series. Speaking of lost pilots and lost series, he didn't drive. He rode a scooter all around Los Angeles. He didn't have a driver's license.

And our friend Ken Levine, who was the showrunner at MASH, described him as a wonderful, gentle soul. Did you work with him? No, I never had any scenes with him. How about Bill Daley from I Dream of Jeannie and the Bob Newhart Show? I heard his license plate was Hi Bob. Was it? Yeah. That's amazing.

He was supposedly a very happy guy. From Des Moines, Iowa, started as a stand-up. Became an NBC announcer. He met Bob Newhart very young. And he became a writer-director on The Mike Douglas Show. Oh, did you know this? No. Yeah, yeah. And Sidney Sheldon saw him and hired him for I Dream of Genie. And that started his career. And two years after that went off the air newhart brought him back as howard borden yes the goofy uh navigator on the bob newhart show and he appeared in six episodes of a series called small and fry and i bring that up because it was written by our friend ron friedman oh now now wait unless you already mentioned it, he was in I Dream of Jeannie.

Yes, he was Roger Healy. Yes, as a matter of fact. Doing Bob Hope. Yes, yes. He admitted years later that he was doing, oh, Tony, he was basically doing young Bob Hope. Mannerisms. I remember there's one ending where he's there and he says something and Larry Hagman starts laughing. And Daly says, well, you know, I always wanted to be the funniest guy in the world.

And then Jeannie, you know, tilts her head and he turns into Groucho Marx. There you go. Yeah. There you go. His son said of him, his son Patrick, he said he loved every sunset, every meal. He just made a decision in his life that he was going to be happy about everything. Oh, wow. That's sweet.

You don't meet a lot of people in our business with that attitude. No, no, no. I really thought that was rather sweet. Last on the TV star list is Harry Anderson, who left us too young at 65. I remember it was shortly before he died i was walking up eighth avenue and some guy yells out my name and i turn around it's harry anderson oh kidding because you were on night court yeah i did about three times and he was you know just one of these quiet easygoing guys guys, a lot of fun.

Yeah. And just like a fun person, nice person. He sort of stumbled into acting. He was a magician. Right. And he really had no designs on acting. He was a magician in his youth from Rhode Island. He moved to California.

He was making money as a street magician. He got booked on SNL years later just to do magic. And Les Charles, one of the creators of Cheers, saw him and booked him on Cheers. And that led to – He was on Cheers a few times. Yes. And that led to Night Court. And he was not an actor by his own admission.

He was good on Night Court. He was good. He made them call his character Harry so he would actually turn around when another actor said his name. And I heard the part of the judge on Night Court was originally offered to Robert Klein. Oh, interesting. Yeah, and he turned it down. Probably kicking himself. That's a very different show.

That's a very, very different show. Yeah, he was a it down. Probably kicking himself up. That's a very different show. That's a very, very different show. Yeah, he was a very, very likable performer. That's what I've got for character actors. So Ricky Jay doing a natural segue from One Magician. Always popped up in the David Mamet films. Yeah, Mamet also directed all of his one-man shows. Sort of gave him a career as a... I saw two of those one-man shows. They were incredible. I career a career as a i saw two of those one-man shows they were incredible i'll bet i can't believe i never got to see it wasn't just

magic it was there there were stories and history and wordplay and um you know it he he he told stories about uh con men and he did this one thing um he taught everyone in the audience how to forge a check that's great and to this day i still know how to forge a check. That's great. And to this day, I still know how to do the trick, which I do not practice. But like how to forge someone's signature. Like it was sort of, you know, it wasn't just watching him do card tricks, which he was amazing at. But he also, it would involve the audience and history, the history of Times Square. Oh, we would have loved that.

He was, these one man shows were phenomenal. Didn't he throw a playing card at 90 miles an hour? He did. He broke a record. He had this dexterity with playing cards? He held the record for a long time at the distance thrown of a playing card. He also somehow threw a playing card, and it would wedge into a watermelon, which makes no sense. It's a little Gallagher.

A little touch of Gallagher. By the way, a pretty good character actor, too. A good character actor. You think of House of Games. Spanish Prison way, a pretty good character actor, too. A good character actor. You think of House of Games. Spanish Prisoner. Spanish Prisoner is so underrated. I love that movie. He was on the first season of Deadwood.

That's right. He has maybe my favorite line in Boogie Nights. He's the one who turns to Burt Reynolds and says, it's a real film, Jack. Which is, you know, anyway, he's... And that was in Staten, Maine. Staten, Maine. Yeah, yeah. Magnolia. Oh, yeah. He was... Oh, so it was State and Maine. State and Maine. State and Maine.

Yeah, yeah. Magnolia. Oh, yeah. He was the narrator in Magnolia. Yeah, yeah. I love all that opening stuff. So I read, supposedly he was... With Patton Oswalt. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. So supposedly he was the youngest magician to perform a full magic act on TV. That's great. He was the first magician to play comedy clubs regularly. He was the first magician to open uh to play comedy clubs regularly he was the first magician to open for uh rock and roll bands all of these are to his distinction oh yeah he because he played the electric circus in new york with tyke and ike and tina turner and those people yeah he had a

fascinating life and a fascinating career and he was secretive about his personal life very nobody knew anything about his there's a um you know i'll post it on Twitter after this goes up, but in the early to mid-90s, the New Yorker wrote an incredible profile of his life and just he was performing magic at seven and I'll post it again because if you're a fan of Ricky Jay's work, it's

like one of those rare celebrity profiles that just goes so deep and so smart and so interesting. We reached out to him and I don't know what happened. He told us to go fuck ourselves. And then threw cards at us. With a playing card. Yeah.

He said, go throw a playing card into a watermelon. He also was the co-founder of a Hollywood consulting firm. Deceptive Practices. Yes, and if you remember in Forrest Gump, when Gary Sinise is a double amputee, Ricky Jay was behind that figuring out how to make that look realistic in the film. They did a great job. And his partner in that company is named Michael Weber. Really?

Yes. Extra deep research. He would have been perfect for this show. Yeah. We reached out and I don't know what happened. He is someone you would not have had to ask any questions to. No, a mutual friend who knew him

contacted me after we reached out and said Ricky was aware of the show and probably would have done it, but something happened and his health took a turn for the worse. That would have been wonderful. Here's a couple more odds and ends,

people, or off the beaten path. Carol Shelley. Does that name mean anything to the english actress yes but why am i bringing her up she was one of the pigeon sisters oh my god that's it he was the original gwendoline pigeon not only with lemon and mathau in the film in the odd couple film but on stage with mathau and art carney oh? Yeah. Wow. She had a lovely career. She did a lot of stuff.

She was in Wicked. Yeah. She was in a lot of Broadway. We're distilling her down to one role that our listeners- Everybody gets 30 seconds. Extra excited about. I'll mention from the world of comic books and comic strips quickly, Steve Ditko, who was-

Yeah, the legendary Steve Ditko, who co-created Spider-Man with Stan Lee. And by the way, if you haven't seen the new Spider-Man that's out now, Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse. Oh, haven't seen it yet. It is... I better go see it on a big screen, right? See it on a big screen. It is so good and so funny and so smart. It is everything Spider-Man

should be in a movie. And there's a Jewish Spider-Man in it. That's all I'll say. Gilbert? Okay. You have to see it. There's a Jewish Spider-Man in it. That's all I'll say. Gilbert? Okay. You have to see it. There's a Jewish Spider-Man and he's really into bagels. Murray Spider-Man. His name is Murray Spider-Man. He pronounces it differently. Also,

Mort Walker died at 94. The creator of Beetle Bailey. Oh my God. And Haya Lois. Okay. Anybody that remembers. He's the military hero of the nation, but he doesn't always follow regulations. That makes sense. At the sound of Reveille, he is here for you to see. And we know you'll laugh with Private Beagle Bailey.

Beagle Bailey. Ask the General, Colonel, Major, and the Captain. The Lieutenant and the Sergeant and the Corporal. They will tell you with a shout They would gladly live without a certain private by the name of Beetle Bailey Beetle Bailey Very good. How about, can you give us a little bit of Barney Google with the

Google, Google-y eyes? Barney Google with the Google, Google-y eyes Barney Google. With the googly eyes. Apropos of nothing. Barney Google and his wife got a divorce. Now he sleeps with his horse. Barney Google.

With the googly eyes. Delightful. delightful this last one is for our listeners and people and this is a cult name Don Bostany or Don Bostany he was a relative of Danny Duraney

our friend Danny Duraney famous because he was the creator with Casey Kasem of American Top 40 but he was the Don from Is Don on the Phone? Oh, my God! You know the infamous Casey Kasem? Yeah, oh, I'll have to play that.

We're up to our long-distance dedication, and this one is about kids and pets and a situation that we can all understand, whether we have kids or pets or neither. It's from a man in Cincinnati, Ohio, and here's what he writes. Dear Casey, this may seem to be a strange dedication request, but I'm quite sincere, and it'll mean a lot if you play it.

Recently, there was a death in our family. He was a little dog named Snuggles, but he was most certainly a part of... Let's start again. I'm coming out of the record. Play the record, okay? Please. See, when you come out of those up-tempo goddamn numbers, man, it's impossible to make those transitions.

And then you got to go into somebody dying. You know, they do this to me all the time. I don't know what the hell they do it for, but goddamn it, if we can't come out of a slow record i don't understand it is down on the phone okay i want a goddamn concerted effort to come out of a record that isn't a up-tempo record every time i do a goddamn death dedication now make it and i also want to know what happened to the pictures i was supposed to see this week it's a god last goddamn time I want somebody to use his fucking brain to not come out of a goddamn record that's

up-tempo, and I gotta talk about a fucking dog dying. That is the best clip ever. Is Don on the phone? Don actually, but when Danny pitched him to me, he didn't tell me that he was the Don from the Casey. Wow! I would have booked him for another episode. You guys could have reenacted it.

Yeah. You want to do some big name actors here? Yes. We'll go fast. Burt Reynolds. Yes. What do you got? That was the man who turned down James Bond. There you go.

He also turned down Terms of Endearment. He did. And one of the leads in MASH. Right. And then Jack Nicholson took it and won an Academy Award. Yep. And by the way, when he turned down MASH, he turned down MASH for? Oh, wait.

Stroke Race. No, no. No, no. I think he turned down Terms of Endearment for Stroke Race. Yeah, that's what I meant. He took Stroker Ace because he felt he owed it to his pal. Hal Needham. Yeah, Hal Needham.

But when he turned down MASH, it was to do Skullduggery. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Which isn't a bad movie. He said afterwards, after such a wonderful, forgettable picture, I suddenly realized I was as hot as Leo Gorsi. That's great. Yeah. And then he always regretted because he posed nude for Playgirl magazine.

He did. Cosmo. Cosmopolitan. for Playgirl magazine. Cosmo. And he always regretted, because when he started out, like you see in movies like Deliverance, where he looked like he was going to be the next respected actor, he became the biggest actor in the world.

Yeah, he was one of the top of the box office star from 73 to 84. Yeah. He was on the top 10. I think no one's done that since five years straight. Top 10. Five years straight, he was the top box office star, and I don't think anyone's ever done that since.

And he desperately wanted to be in The Godfather, and I think Brando himself said, I don't want Bart Brando. I didn't know that. That wasn't in my notes. So, by the way. He turned down everything. According to him, he turned down Han Solo and John McClane in Die Hard.

He turned down the Alan Alda part in California Suite. Right, right. That I knew. And then after Boogie Nights, which kind of rejuvenated his more serious acting career. He fired all of his agents. Yeah, he fired his handlers. But he turned down Magnolia. Right.

What was the part that he was offering? It was, I guess it would have been Tom Cruise's father. It would have been. Oh, the Jason Robards part. The Jason Robards part. Yeah, boy, I love that movie. And he turned that down because he said he hated working with Paul Thomas Anderson. I don't get that at all.

Which is crazy. I mean, it was a career resurgence. Crazy. He thought when he finished that movie, he thought this is going to be the one that buries him altogether and that his agents made a major mistake putting him in there i'll tell you two burt reynolds movies for our listeners to see breaking in directed by bill forsyth of local hero fame where he plays a safe cracker an aging thief and starting over love starting over yeah written by jim brooks directed by alan pakula uh with candy bergen and austin pendleton yeah oh wow by the way i i kind of i i

kind of like uh paternity directed by a podcast guest david steinberg and he didn't tell him to run less jewy like he told you and by the way i think you know he could be very funny i don't oh yeah all these turning up in bit parts like uh and everything you always wanted to know about Like he told you. And by the way, I think he could be very funny. Oh, yeah. All these turning up in bit parts, like in everything you always wanted to know about sex. Silent movie. Silent movie in the shower.

Remember, they're all showering him. It's amazing. Well, he credits talk shows like Carson as a turning point for him. He was cast in Deliverance because John Borman saw him on Carson. Right, but he became like a funny talk show guest. Yes. And people realized that he could do comedy and they didn't take himself seriously.

When he passed away, I went on, you can go on YouTube now, and there are dozens of his Carson appearances. Yeah. And you could sit there for hours and watch them. He is amazing. He's funny and self-deprecating and charming. He's prickly. He brings himself. And there's this weird self-awareness about it charming. He's prickly. He brings himself.

And there's this weird self-awareness about it, too, that he sort of knows he's kind of playing to the crowd a little bit. And Johnny is so delighted to have him on the show. It's really, they're fun to watch. And let's not forget The End, written by Jerry Belson. We're talking about black comedies that people don't make anymore. And Dom DeLuise. So I read one crazy thing about Burt Reynolds. When he was coming up in New York City, years and years and years before he was a star, he was in an acting class in New York,

and this was who was in the acting class with him. So try to picture this acting class. So Burt Reynolds, Frank Gifford, Carol Lawrence, Red Buttons, and Jan Murray. My head hurts. Imagine that class. Wow. Wow. Burt Reynolds and Red Buttons. Yes.

The same acting class. Oh, my God. So, yeah. So see the end if you've never seen it starting over and breaking in for sure. The jury's out on Skullduggery. Margot Kidder. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Now, Margot Kidder was in a movie that, you know, you're always asking me to find movies to suggest. Okay. You're about three years too late. Yeah. But go ahead. But she was in a nice little romantic comedy. Is that Quacks Her Fortune has a cousin in the Bronx? That's right.

I like that movie. I've never seen it. I have to see it. One of those when they used to make nice little movies like that. Is that even on DVD? Is that even available? Boy, I wonder. That's one of those things that might show up on YouTube as a freebie, but

worth seeing. That's, yeah. That's a charming picture. And she's fun in The Great Waldo Pepper, which is a movie I like that not a lot of a lot of people, William, written by. William Gold. Yes. She had a problem, a well-publicized problem with bipolar disorder. Yes, she did.

Poor thing. And yeah. But they said after that, after those crazy episodes, she went back and was doing guest spots on TV and was busy. She worked, obviously, with podcast guest Richard Donner. She passed away on the day that we put the Richard Donner episode up, which was spooky for us. And I guess the legend is when she went to audition for Superman, she tripped on her way in the door, which is not really what the Lois Lane character who has it together is all about, but apparently Donner was so charmed by her

and just like the poise she had to recover from that moment that he was like, he knew right away that was Lois Lane. She stood up for him too. She went to bat for him when he had well-publicized problems with the filmmakers. And then like got punished, right? That's why she's in Superman 3 for like four minutes. Yes.

She said, Richard said of her, the only true Lois Lane, an overused statement, but she touched everyone she met. And he said, these are difficult words to write. You will,

you are so very missed, my dear Margot, which is very nice. I read something, Gilbert, you're going to love this. She lived in Montana a lot of her life and she was there

in her final years. She's married to Thomas McGuane, the novelist. She was, loved, you're going to love this. She lived in Montana a lot of her life, and she was there in her final years. She's married to Thomas McGuane, the novelist. She loved the outdoors and nature, and she was very fond of the wolves that lived in Montana. And these are pretty scary animals. You don't mess with these wolves. But she would feed them and try to get up close to them and really felt connected with them. So she had told her neighbors before she passed away. Uh,

and one of her neighbors told the story after she passed, uh, that if anyone were to find her passed away in, in her home, um, that what she wanted her closest friends to do was to tell no one, uh, closest friends to do was to tell no one,

place her naked body in a bed sheet, and drag it up the canyon and leave it for the wolves. Unbelievable. That's what we're going to do when you go. Yes. I'm going to leave you. I have it in my will. Yeah.

Some stray cats on 13th Street. That's the kind of thing, like, when she was making those demands, someone should have leaned in and go, Marco, maybe we shouldn't talk about this. Well, they were probably underfed. She's great in De Palma's Sisters and Bob Clark's Black Christmas. Sad end. Yeah. Funny lady.

Let's talk about one of mine, Carol Mascarelli. Does that mean anything to you? No. From the Bronx, you would know her better as Penny Marshall. Whoa. Yes. Named after Carol Lombard because her mother was a movie buff. Jeez.

Yeah, but that was her real name. I don't know where Penny came from. Maybe it was a middle name. Found some very interesting stuff about Penny Marshall. Big is the first movie directed by a woman to gross

$100 million in the United States. That's cool. Yeah, she opened doors. She really did. Big's a good movie. Awakenings is great. Awakenings with your old boss. I know, with my old boss Robert De Niro. You know, she got screwed on Awakenings because Awakenings was great. Awakenings with your old boss. I know, with my old boss, Robert De Niro. You know, she got screwed on Awakenings because Awakenings was nominated for Best Picture. It was nominated for Best Actor, De Niro.

It was nominated for Best Screenplay. It was not nominated for Best Director. I never understand that. And when you go back and look at the list, you know, sometimes you'll be like, oh, wow, it's a strong field. There's five strong directors there. The one that stands out of the

five francis ford coppola the godfather 3 how he got nominated for godfather 3 over her for awakenings is a travesty awakenings isn't the greatest movie ever made but it belongs in that field well done movie then really well done the. The Godfather 3 for Best Director. You could argue, I mean, the direction is one of the worst things about it. Yeah. He never should have come back. We should do a whole segment devoted to Godfather 3. We'll do a mini episode about The Godfather 3.

We'll see if we can get Artie back. She auditioned for Witchy Poo. Oh, God. On Puffin Stuff. Didn't get it. She auditioned for Gloria Stivoo. Oh, God. On Puffin Stuff. Didn't get it. She auditioned for Gloria Stivic on All in the Family. She would have been playing the wife of her real-life husband. Oh, yes.

Rob Reiner. You mentioned the Bronx. Where she grew up, the building on Grand Concourse is famous because it's the same building Neil Simon grew up in, Patty Chayefsky, Calvin Klein, and Ralph Lauren, and Penny Marshall, who all grew up in the same building in the Bronx. And Gary Marshall, assumedly. And Gary Marshall. And Gary Marshall said that Ralph Lauren,

his real name was Ralph Lipschitz. Correct. And Gary Marshall said, but he had to change it because you don't buy polo from a guy named there's some great stuff league of their own is a terrific movie yes and she's gonna have another movie coming out later this year actually i didn't know that she was in post on a movie on a a documentary when she passed away she had been um doing doing a doc about the life of Dennis Rodman, the former basketball player, now international diplomat to North Korea or whatever.

But she'd been working on a documentary. Because Penny was a huge sports fan her whole life. Yes, I knew that. And she found Rodman, I guess, to be a fascinating figure. So I've heard September of this year, but they're finishing up the doc now. So she'll have one more movie coming out. Very interesting.

And keeping with our recurring theme, I mentioned that Jerry Marron played a jockey on The Odd Couple. I brought up Gwendolyn Pidgeon. Well, of course. She was Myrna. Yeah, yeah, she showed up. Myrna Turner.

She really did the voice there. Terrific comedian. Yeah. I think we asked Penny Marshall to do this show Yeah, she really did the voice there. Terrific comedian. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think, Dara, I think we asked Penny Marshall to do this show, and she what? She told us to go fuck herself. She did not.

Dara's nodding that she had agreed to do it for whatever reason. That's a bummer. She said, no, I spoke to Ricky Jay. He said, don't do it. Let's talk about some of our people who actually did the show. Oh. Who we lost this year. And we'll start with Marty Allen.

Okay, play the song. This makes Gilbert happy. This song. Hello there, hello there, hello there. Everywhere we go we say hello there. Hello there, hello there, hello there. Everywhere we go we say hello there. Hello there, hello there, hello there. Hello there. Yeah, see, that song to me is what show business means.

I'll play it at your service. Yeah. And then we'll let the wolves. We'll let the wolves get to it. We'll leave you out for some armadillos. Morton Alpern from Pittsburgh. Did you know that was his real name? No. Did you know he saved lives in the Army?

No. And was given a full dress parade in his honor. He put out a fire, a plane that was on fire, and drove a burning fuel truck away from the scene, saving the lives of his fellow servicemen. Wow, so he was a war hero. He was a war hero, and it never came up on the episode gilbert was just so mad that he wouldn't tell a dirty joke yes because in real life he would tell you dirty jokes great ones yeah yeah one i've told ever since and what i remember about him i saw him in new york with his wife performing somewhere and With Karen. And then I was performing a club in Vegas,

and he came in to see my show, and he said, well, you know, Gilbert Shaw, my show, so I wanted to return the favor. He was a very nice person. Yes. From what I understand. 44 Ed Sullivan shows, including with the Beatles. There's some great pictures online of him with John Lennon.

And I think he says, I'm Paul McCartney's son. Yes, like that. The audience went nuts. He had a career. I mean, he wasn't just Alan and Rossi. I mean, they had comedy albums. He was on the Broadway stage. They did that movie, The Last of the Secret Agents.

Oh, yes, yes. And he was good to servicemen. He toured military hospitals and bases with his first wife, Frenchie. They were an act together. no matter what, he passed away the night Gino was on with us too, which was also kind of surreal.

Gino loved him. They were close. And he would not tell a dirty joke because he was one of these guys that was old school and just wouldn't work blue when the mics were close. And he would not tell a dirty joke because he was one of these guys that was old school and just wouldn't work blue when the mics were on. And I heard, I think Gino said, there was one photo they wanted to print somewhere, and he didn't want to print it because he said he looked bald in there. And it's like, you're 100. He was 95.

We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast after this. clinically proven odor protection free of aluminum parabens dyes talc and baking soda it's made with ph balancing minerals and crafted with skin conditioning oils so whether you're going for a run or just running late do what life throws your way and smell like you didn't find secret at your nearest walmart or shoppers drug mart today at this exact moment you're just five minutes away from mouth-watering golden french fries.

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Available right away. How about Ken Berry? The pride of Moline, Illinois. Ken Berry was on one of our first, probably our first 30 shows. Ken Berry was... A sweet man. Yeah, was that old-fashioned, original show business, song and dance and acting. He did it all.

He was great. I got his number from our friend Matt Beckhoff, who helps us book sometimes, and I called him at home. And he was just – he didn't know what a podcast was, didn't care. I'm sure he said, I'll come on and tell some stories. Let's be honest. That's half the guests. Yeah. You're being generous.

I don't know what a podcast is. And the host. I was just going to say, we got on the phone. We started talking about F Troop. He was chatty. He was fun. Was that when you guys were still doing the show at the kitchen table? We did that one at the kitchen table and called him on the telephone.

He was charming. Yes, yeah. He opened for Abbott and Costello. I mean, how many guests did we have that worked with Abbott and Costello? Not too many. He was a universal contract player. A singer-dancer. Really, he wanted to be a singer-dancer since the age of 12,

but it only came for him when he won a talent competition. And Leonard Nimoy was his sergeant or his lieutenant. I remember that. Yes. Who encouraged him to act, who encouraged him to perform. That's incredible. Isn't that spooky? And then that's why he became such a great physical comic because of his stance.

Good dancer. Yeah. If you look at F Troop, a lot of physical comedy. Also, I think back then everyone had more than one tool, it seemed like. He did. Well, that was the thing of those old performers. Maybe you weren't Frank Sinatra and you're singing, but you could carry a tune. Right, you had to be passable at everything.

Yeah, you had to be able to sing, dance, act, everything. How many of those things can you do? None. He can't do any. He can't do any. You could sing a little. Yeah, he's also in a movie that we love to talk about on this show called Hello Down There, which if you haven't seen it, I don't know if it's available.

That's with Richard Dreyfuss? And fellow podcast guest Charlotte Ray. And where Richard Dreyfuss, I think, sings a love song to a goldfish. A young Richard Dreyfuss. It's a song about an underwater family that volunteers to live in a home under the sea. And Ken Berry's in it and Tony Randall and Merv Griffin. You guys have mentioned it on the pod before. It's just great.

It's just so bad. It's wonderful. And movies they don't make anymore. And, of course, he was a victim of the famous rural purge. He was on Mayberry RFD. When Fred Silverman came to the network, they got rid of all of those corn pone shows. And then wasn't there like a headline like, you know, Nix Hicks Flicks? That might have preceded.

Yeah. You mean Hicks, Hicks, Nix, Chicks Flicks or something like that? Yeah, that's famous. And, of course, he was the star of another show we talk about on this show, the Kenberry Wow Show. Yes. With fellow podcast guests, Carl Gottlieb. Oh my God, yes.

And Bob Einstein. And a very young Steve Martin. And you can find that on YouTube. We demand that you go and look at that. Let's talk about our friend Will Jordan. Yeah. Oh, he was terrific. We lost

Will this fall at the age of 91 from right here in the Bronx. Local boy. Made good. And we loved him. What is there to say? Even though he wouldn't do impressions on the show. It drove us crazy. And I think he was

probably scared that they wouldn't live up to way maybe maybe that was the case i mean he was the living embodiment of ed sullivan and made a living impersonating ed sullivan yeah he was in about seven movies and a billy joe video and the tell her about yes yeah right he's in the doors sat mr saturday night i want to hold your hand. He said, Sullivan. I've talked about this before, but like, you know, toward the end, I visited him once at the nursing home and a friend of his said that he was so touched that I took out the time to visit him.

Sure he was. And I thought, and that was one of those also where i felt both very happy and very sad at the same time yeah i'm glad you went to see him i know i know i talked to mike fine too about it i know it meant a lot to him that you did that he did a james mason too he did a great james mason he does it in broadway danny rose And a great Sabu. He did a great Sabu. Patton and I were just emailing about Sabu. And I heard, I think he made more money of dressing up as General Patton. He did corporates and made a fortune doing them around the country.

He played Sullivan in Bye Bye Birdie on Broadway. Did he do the real Patton or did he do the movie Patton? The George C. Scott. I think he did the George C. Scott Patton. Right, because the real Patton had like a high pitch voice. Yeah, he had a squeaky voice. Yeah, he did the George C. Scott. Rumors say.

But he did Bye Bye Birdie, played Sullivan on Broadway, but he did not play Sullivan in the movie because they got Ed Sullivan. Oh. To play Ed Sullivan. And I remember when I visited him and he was lying in bed and his voice was weak, but I thought, you know, I should have come here with a tape recorder. Made him do Sullivan?

No. No, but he was lying there very weak and his voice was low, but he had these amazing stories he was telling while he was lying there yeah yeah he was he was something else uh so our love to mike fine and rose and uh we love the guy uh speaking of guys we loved and lost your friend your friend james caron oh yeah um we talked about him at length with leonaltin when we had him here. But a self-effacing man, unpretentious, really funny, one of the nicest people I've ever encountered in or out of show business. I had the good fortune to call him about two weeks before he passed.

And he said, tell Gilbert I still disrespect him. said tell gilbert i still disrespect him and i remember like i did some movie another one of these movies that no one ever saw jack and the beanstalk and the director knew i was an old showbiz freak and he says well the actor you're going to be working with tomorrow i think you two are going to hit it off. And like within a minute, it's like we knew each other for years, James Caron. Yeah. You had a lot in common,

you know, a love of Keaton and Laurel and Hardy. And I went to James Caron's house and he had a tradition when he had guests over to take their picture wearing Buster Keaton's hat. That's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. He was another episode we did at the kitchen table, Dara.

Yeah. That's an early one. With Dara recording it. And my gosh, he was sweet. And I remember when I'd call him up, he'd go, Gilbert, my boy. And, you know, people know him as the Pathmark guy. Yes. But he had quite a career on the silver screen.

You know, and he, I mean, he's in, we talked about Hercules in New York, which he's in with the two Arnolds. But also never sang from My Father, All the President's Men, Fist, Capricorn One, The Jazz Singer, The China Syndrome, Poltergeist, Jagged Edge, not bad. Wall Street, Nixon, Invaders from Mars. He had a big career and a lot of television oh yeah and a lot of and and he he almost got killed by a mob and banned from show business because on the jeffisons he was a white supremacist he was too convincing So the crowds were gathering outside, threatening to kill him. And then finally, what they did was they got James Caron and Sherman Helmsley and Weezy to pose together in a picture, you know, with their arms around each other. She said, oh, this white supremacist does get along with black people.

He's okay with Wheezy. He's okay with me. It was the original black Klansman. Yeah, yeah. And here's a story. Great actor. Here's a story James Caron told me, and he refused to say it on the air. And you're going to honor him in death.

Exactly. By telling a story he didn't want you to tell. He was, of course, in Any Given Sunday. That's right. He worked for Oliver Stone a lot. With Al Pacino and James Woods. And he said, you know, one of the other actresses in it was Cameron Diaz. And one time Cameron Diaz came in and she goes, my breasts feel really sore.

And she says, Jamesames would you rub my breast and he did and i thought he wouldn't talk about i thought if i rubbed cameron diaz breast i would be touring the world telling people be a one-man show yes that'll be an entire episode yes i feel like you owe it to the public and now that you bring it up i remember his reaction when you tried to get him to tell it on the podcast he said gilbert i don't want her name on your lips and what was funny about him is i talked to him he he'd get sick, you know, and be- Yeah, he bounced back a hundred times. And it's like one time he said, you know, he almost died.

And he said, well, I retired. And then by the next sentence he said, and I'm working on a documentary about Buster Keaton. He never retired. Yeah, so he never, yeah. And he's in the Bogdanovich documentary about Buster. And when I talk to him on the phone, when we get off the phone, he would always say, and tell your wife she has my sympathy. Well, I think we all share that sentiment, don't we?

Don't we? We loved him. We really did. Charlotte Ray passed at 92. We lost six podcast guests this year. Is that the most in a year? That's the most in a year. It's trending in the wrong direction.

I loved her most in, of course, Car 50. Sylvia Schnauzer. Yes. I believe she did not get along with Al Lewis. No. And I think she was disgusted by Joey Ross. Oh, well, Joey Ross. But she liked Fred Gwynn, if I have this right.

From Milwaukee, she started acting at the ripe young age of 16. She went to Northwestern University with Charlton Heston, Paul Lynn, and Claude Akins, which is kind of fun. And she moved to New York in 48 and played clubs. She played the Blue Angel, the Village Vanguard. She told us all about it. She used to do impressions. And she did a great Zsa Zsa Gabor. She did it for us on the show. She released an album. She did

a lot of stuff. I mean, these people get known for one TV character. You know, like she was for Mrs. Garrett. She was a surprising guest in that way. Yeah. She'd done a lot of stuff and knew everyone. And I heard when she was Mrs. Schnauzer, she and Al Lewis found this rehearsal space where they would get into arguments with each other to get into character. Yeah.

And one thing she said, it actually sounded like a method actor because she said they were yelling back and forth. And at one point, Al Lewis calls her a retard. And I think she had an autistic son. She did. Yeah. So she used the anger of hearing the term retard and was yelling back at him. And it was played for laughs. Yeah, right, right, right.

The tour. She did. She struggled with her son's health issues her whole life, and she had her own health issues, many of them. She created a failed Norman Lear show called Hot El Baltimore. Oh, that should be on that channel. Yes, it should be, although it was more than a pilot. Oh, really?

Yeah, with another actor that we got to get on here richard macer oh my good i i once rode next to him on a plane there you go did you approach him well i don't think they there were no podcasts just say hello she's also in hello down there which we want people to watch uh chuck mccann yeah uh he died in in April at the age of 83 from right here in Brooklyn. Mike, it's a shame you weren't old enough. You were too young to remember what Gilbert and I remember, which was the Chuck McCann show. And he was one of those classic kiddie show hosts. Loved him. Where the show was made for 10 cents, and any odds and ends they found, they made a character out of it.

Yeah. He was great. He was great. One of the founders of Sons of the Desert. Yes. The Laurel and Hardy organization. Did a lot of stuff. And he was well known for the Right Guard commercial.

They showed the Right Guard commercial during the SAG Awards the other night. Really? When they did In Memoriam. Of all the things to show when you have chuck mccann in memoriam the right guard commercial because they had that actor famous yeah bill fiori would open up he was you know another actor he's gone yeah he was like one of those sad sack guys and everything and he would open up his medicine cabinet, and on the other end would be Chuck McCann. And he'd go, hello, guy.

Hi, guy. He has a show business family. His grandfather was in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. Oh. His dad, Val McCann, was a big band leader, which I think he told us about on the show. He grew up in the orchestra pit of the Roxy Theater and was bitten by the show business bug. He helped create Wonderama for his friend Sandy Becker.

We had Sonny Fox here. And he was in Turn On, the infamous George Slatter show that was canceled while it was traveling the country from New York to Los Angeles during its first broadcast. country from New York to Los Angeles during its first broadcast. And I heard there was like a party where they were celebrating and in the middle of the celebration, they found out they were taken off. Oh, God. Did they just turn off the lights? And what was the movie that Chuck McCann played a mute? Oh, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.

Yes. He's very good. Oh, yeah. Based on the book. He's very good in that picture. He's also good in a little movie called The Projectionist. Oh, it Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Yes. He's very good. Oh yeah, based on the book. He's very good in that picture. He's also good in a little movie called The Projectionist. Oh, it's Rodney Dangerfield. Yeah, which if people can find that.

He did a lot of stuff. He did animation. He was a great Oliver Hardy. He was in Far Out Space Nuts, a Sid and Marty show. And Coco for Coco Puffs. Correct. He's on the first Family album. Oh, and-

Vaughn Meader. He did everything in show business. On his show, he would come out wearing a hat and a phony chin, and they'd play, Dick Tracy, he is the arm of the law. Dick Tracy, he's got a bulldog jaw. Dick Tracy, better do what he say. Crime doesn't never pay. There you go.

There you go. Chuck McCann. So proud to have him on the show. Then he would come out dressed as Little Off and Annie. Yeah, he used to put saucers on his eyes. He was on PIX, local. Yeah. New York television.

I grew up around here. Yeah. He was a force of nature and somebody I was really proud for us to get. Yes. Yeah. You know, we're always beating ourselves up about the people we don't have, and we occasionally have to take a bow for some of the wonderful people that we did book, especially people from our childhood, like Sonny Fox and Chuck.

Yeah. That was a treat to have him. Let's quickly get to a couple of directors. And now he's still alive, thankfully, but it's so funny. Sonny Fox, after he did the show, he called up and he said, when's that show going to air? And we said, I don't know, a couple of months. And he goes, could you

air it sooner? I'm in my 90s. I think the Sunny Fox was my favorite episode until the Ron Friedman episode. Wasn't that funny? The Ron Friedman one is just gold. Yes. If anyone missed it, go back. The Ron Friedman one

from last year. It was definitely my favorite from last year. It's incredible. We're going to have him again. I remember he had more stories. Reading a list

of the stuff he's done and every one of those, I thought, oh, I want to talk about that. I want to talk. And he wrote the Charlie's Angels with Sammy Davis Jr. Yes, the roller skating episode.

Oh, my God. Well, no, this was the one. Oh, that's a different episode, yes. Sammy Davis Jr. gets kidnapped. Right, Ed Begley's in the roller skating episode. But it's not Sammy Davis. Right. episode but it's not sammy davis right it's sammy davis as herbert the supermarket owner and they have those wonderful terrible patty duke split screens uh you have to get him back just to

talk about that right you know what we're gonna stop and we're gonna do uh we'll do we'll do directors and writers uh on a mini episode great what do you think of that to do, we'll do directors and writers on a mini episode. Great. What do you think of that? Sounds good. Yeah. We'll make people pay for Stitcher to hear it. I'm one of the eight.

You know, as one of the eight people who pays for it, it's worth it. It's well over eight, buddy. Might be up to 10 now. Smart Alec. It's worth it though. It really is.

We'll do real quickly. We'll do writers and directors because I don't want to rush through them in the last 10 minutes of this. Sounds good. So we'll find some music to play at the end of this that's appropriate. Don't know what we'll pick. We'll surprise you guys. But that's a lot of people. That really is.

We just covered. And that's a lot of loss. But as I said, we're very proud. But guys, thank you for doing this show because really that, you know, we make jokes, but that's why I wore the pin

because these people and their stories and their work, it matters. And all of the stuff coming out now, there is nothing now without everything that came before. So that's really what, you know, why I wore the pin and was proud to represent what you guys do So that's really why I wore the band

and was proud to represent what you guys do because it's really special. I always remember I read in some magazine it was when X-Files was the biggest show on the air and some writer wrote, X-Files is so much better than Twilight Zone. Twilight Zone pales in comparison. And to his credit, the creator of X-Files said,

you know, I'm flattered by that, but without Twilight Zone, there wouldn't be an X-Files. It's the same way there wouldn't be the scene in The Favorite with the orange wedges if not for Cesar Romero Gilbert claims they ripped him off

fuck you Emma Stone I'm not even sure I saw it and by the way it's a wonderful movie I don't even think she's in that scene I know but

someone has to take the blame for it Mike that's very very sweet of you to say, and we appreciate it. Thank you. That's why we keep doing it. And I hope people enjoyed In Memoriam 2018. We're going to do a mini episode.

Mike's going to stick around, and we're going to do a Thursday episode where we pay tribute to some writers and directors and behind-the-scenes people that we lost, which we can relate to as writers. Yeah, sounds good. So, Gilly? So, this has been Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal obsession. Fuck me up the ass. This has been the fuck me up the ass show. We've changed the name and gotten a lot more listeners with the fuck me up the ass show.

You're listening uh and and we're getting a lot of old movie stars who have gotten fucked up the ass like uh clark cable and andy this has been gilbert godfrey's amazing colossal podcast with my co-host Frank Santopadre and our guest Mayor Wubbly. Mayor Wubbly? Mayor Wubbly. Thank you, Michael Weber. Thanks for having me, guys. Okay, pal.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Schlemiel, Schlemazel, Haas & Pfeffer Incorporated We're gonna do it Give us any chance We'll take it With any rule We'll break it We're gonna make our dreams come true

Do it our way Nothing's gonna turn us back now Straight ahead and on the track now We're gonna make our dreams come true Doing it our way, there is nothing we won't try Never heard the word impossible this time There's no stopping us We're gonna do it, on your mark, get set, and go now.

Got a dream and we just know now. We're gonna make that dream come true. And we'll do it our way. Yes, our way. Make all our dreams come true. And we'll do it our way. Yes, our way. Make all our dreams come true. And we'll do it our way, yes, our way.

Make our dreams come true for me and you. Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast is produced by Dara Gottfried and Frank Santapadre with audio production by Frank Verderosa. Web and social media is handled by Mike McPadden, Greg Pair, and John Bradley-Seals. Special audio contributions by John Beach. Special thanks to John Fodiatis, John Murray, and Paul Rayburn.