Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - Bill Macy Encore

Episode Date: September 12, 2022

GGACP celebrates the 50th anniversary of Norman Lear's "Maude" (premiered September 12, 1972) with this ENCORE of an unforgettable interview with veteran actor Bill Macy ("The Jerk," "My Favorite Year...," "The Producers"). In this episode, Bill looks back at his seven-decade career and his collaborations with everyone from Bea Arthur to Steve Martin to Peter O'Toole. Also, Bill praises Carl Reiner, understudies Walter Matthau, ticks off Tony Curtis and shares the big screen with Art Carney and Lily Tomlin. PLUS: "Oh! Calcutta!" Remembering Joe Bologna! Gilbert plays a Spaniard! William H. Macy changes his name! And Bill convicts Bialystock and Bloom!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Your teen requested a ride, but this time not from you. It's through their Uber teen account. It's an Uber account that allows your teen to request a ride under your supervision with live trip tracking and highly rated drivers. Add your teen to your Uber account today. Gifting dad can sometimes hit the wrong note. Oh. Oh, instead gift the Glenlivet, the single malt whiskey that started it all for a balanced flavor and smooth
Starting point is 00:00:34 finish. Just sit back and listen to the music. This single malt scotch whiskey is guaranteed to impress dad this father's day. The Glenlivet. Live original. Please enjoy our products 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 we're once again recording at Nutmeg with our engineer, Frank Ferdarosa. Our guest this week is a popular
Starting point is 00:01:27 and prolific actor with dozens of movie, theater, and television roles to his credit. Films include The Producers, The Late Show, Bad Medicine, Serial, Old Calcutta, The Jerk, Analyze This, The Holiday, and a movie we've discussed quite a bit on this show, My Favorite Year. You also know him from numerous TV appearances and shows like All in the Family, St. Elsewhere, like All in the Family, Saint Elsewhere, Chicago Hope, L.A. Law, The Love Boat, My Name is Earl, How I Met Your Mother, Norm, Seinfeld, and of course as Walter Finlay, the accommodating and long-suffering husband of Bea Arthur's title character on the iconic CBS series Maud. In a career spanning seven decades, he's worked with and shared the stage and the screen with artists such as Art Carney, Mel Brooks, Steve Martin, Gene Wilder, Lily Tomlin, Julie Harris, Peter O'Toole, Carl Reiner, Richard Benjamin, and Norman
Starting point is 00:03:09 Lear. Please welcome to the show one of our favorite performers and the man responsible for actor William H. Macy, going by the name William H. Macy going by the name William H. Macy. The very funny Bill Macy. By the way, Gil. Yes. He had to put an H in his name because when I became an actor in 1950, the union said, what's your name?
Starting point is 00:03:45 And I said, my name is William Garber. And they said, wait a minute. And they went to the file. They said, we already have a William Garber. You can't use the same name for another individual. So what's your middle name? I said, Macy. And so they said, well, use William Macy.
Starting point is 00:04:04 And so I finally made William into Bill, and I became Bill Macy. And so they said, well, use William Macy. And so I finally made William into Bill, and I became Bill Macy. Thirty years later, William Macy came along, and his name is William Macy. And I said to the union, he can't use my name. They told him about it, and he said, okay, I'll put an H in to differentiate the team. So he's known as William H. Macy, and I'm known as Velvel Moish Garber. Velvel Moish. I think there's already a Velvel Moish in the business. So you might have to change it.
Starting point is 00:04:47 By the way, the introduction that you just gave to the audience was only, I'm trying to think of like a superlative kind of a word, because I never heard that before in my life. I never knew that before in my life. I never knew that I worked with so many people. I mean. You did, Bill. And with the names that they all had, my God.
Starting point is 00:05:16 And then you said long-suffering. You used that when I was the husband of Bea Arthur. Listen, I want to correct that right now, especially not only to your audience but to you. Listen to this. I want to correct that right now, especially not only to your audience, but to you. Listen to this. There used to be a delicatessen on Fairfax near Olympic. Our studio was on Beverly and Fairfax.
Starting point is 00:05:41 And every week when we taped the show on Friday, I would jump into the bagel. It's a Jewish deli at the time. It doesn't exist there anymore. But I would get a hot pastrami to go. And then I would go to the studio, and there would be Bea in her makeup robe and all. And I'd say, here. Because she loved hot pastrami. And she would go, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. And give me a little taste here and there and so on.
Starting point is 00:06:08 That's how we got along. I would do anything for her because I loved her. Wow. So what kind of a person was she like? Like me. Yeah. But no, no, no, not like me. I'm flat chested.
Starting point is 00:06:24 She was a superb actress. Can you imagine doing 144 episodes and learning all the lines that she had to do? I know how difficult it was because I had to go home every night, study lines, then take it in the next day, and we would be on book for a day or two,
Starting point is 00:06:41 and eventually we'd be off book. But she had the brunt of those lines that all of these crazy writers wrote for her. And then not only the line, then she had to enact them, E-N-A-C-T, for the people who don't know what I'm talking about. And she was super. And my wife and I, Samantha,
Starting point is 00:07:03 who's sitting behind me, by the way, we watched the reruns of Maud every Friday night on Time Warner Cable, station number 1258 Antenna. And I'm amazed, continually amazed, how she carries the show. And I'm sort of backup. I'm happy that I had the job and so on and so forth. But the rest of the company also was dynamite. The only one I didn't like was Hal Cooper, our director, because he was the son of a gun. He once booted me in the ass because I wasn't able to do a piece of business
Starting point is 00:07:41 the way he wanted it to. Wow. a piece of business the way he wanted it to. Wow. I got to tell the audience a story that I thought would have made a great introduction. My wife was the one talking to you originally. And she said, okay, we're going to do it by Skype
Starting point is 00:08:02 and I'll email you the information. To which you said to her over the phone. I don't know about Skype. I don't know about email. I'm a 95 year old Jew in my car and I'm looking to buy her ring. That's true. Oh, and listen, here's what I promised Maggie who brought me here. To buy herring. That's true. Oh, and listen, here's what I promised Maggie who brought me here. I said I would sing my song for you about my age.
Starting point is 00:08:33 You ready? Okay. Hit it. I'll never be 94 again. Now I'm 95. Amen. Beautiful. now I'm 95 amen beautiful oh and one request I have at the end
Starting point is 00:08:52 of Mel Brooks classic The Producers you're the chairman of the jury the foreman of the jury and Gene Wilder and Zero Mustel are on trial for their crazy scheme. And at the end, the judge says to you, has the jury reached their verdict?
Starting point is 00:09:18 And you say, we have, Your Honor. And then he said, how do you find? And I said, we find the defendants incredibly guilty. That's a great moment. Every time I see that movie, your one line there cracks me up. That was my first movie. Now listen to this. Do you know how I got that part?
Starting point is 00:09:44 No, we were just going to ask. I was doing America Hurrah, written by Jean-Claude Van Itali at 12th Street and 3rd Avenue, a North Broadway play. play and Mel and his associate came to see the show. We had no curtain call on that show. It ran for quite a while and it was very good, very funny. And he came backstage and he said, Bill, I enjoyed what you did and all. I'm doing a movie called The Producers, but all the parts are cast, but maybe I can find something for you. Would you do something if I found something for you? I said, of course.
Starting point is 00:10:30 So a couple of days later, his associate called and said, Bill, we have a foreman, the jury, would you do it? It's only one line, you get $200 for it. I said, of course. I did it, and I just gave it to you for nothing. We're honored. Yeah, it's okay. And the herring part, let's talk about the herring part. Yes. Not everybody even knows what herring is. They don't even know how to spell it. H-E-R-R-I-N-G. And it's a fish. And it's a delicious fish when it's pickled or drunk, whatever you want to call it. And there's a restaurant, a Jewish restaurant here in Beverly Hills called Nate and Al.
Starting point is 00:11:15 Oh, sure. And I go there when I can get in and push my way through and say, two herrings to go, please, pickled herring, please, for Bill. And I give everybody the tips. And push my way through and say, two herrings to go, please. Pickled herring, please, for Bill. And I give everybody the tips. I get out of there and I park over on Maple. No music. Read the sports page and enjoy the herring in quiet privacy.
Starting point is 00:11:38 Gail, what about you? Are you a herring fan? No. You don't appreciate the joys of herring. I've never gotten of herring. I never got into herring. What was the story you were going to tell us about the neighborhood, about the 7th Avenue and before we were talking off mic? Now, Gilbert, I hope you don't mind that Frank just asked me that question because that's the opening question to my life. Oh, okay.
Starting point is 00:12:13 As it were, in terms of me being here in front of you, because this is the end of my life. I expect to die right after the show. Wait a minute. I may be dying during the show. I came out of the service in 1946, went in in 42, served in the New Guinea, Philippines, and Japan eventually. And after they dropped the bomb, he was sent home. So I was discharged in 46.
Starting point is 00:12:42 And I walked the streets of Manhattan not knowing what to do. I was 24 years old. I was born in 1922, and this is 1946. And I walked the streets of Manhattan not knowing what to do. I was 24 years old. I was born in 1922, and this was 1946. And my mother, if she had 50 cents, would give me it, and I would take a diamond of nickel on the bus, nickel on the subway, go to Manhattan, walk around, and find out. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. And on 47th, between 8th and 9th one day, I see a sign that said, act now, one flight up.
Starting point is 00:13:10 I went up. The lady there says, hello? I said, what is the sign? She said, this is an acting school. What's that? I said. A guy comes out of an office and he says, listen, are you a GI? I said, yes. You'll come to the school. The government will pay for you and you'll find out what it is. I said, I accept. Two months later, he kicked me out of the school because he said the government doesn't want to pay for you. You owe me $200. I didn't have a penny to my name, but I had a taste of what it had been, an acting school. So he said, you can't go to, because you don't have any prior experience as an actor, but you could go to a college or a university because you graduate high school. I said, thank you.
Starting point is 00:13:57 And he let me go. And I enrolled in New York University in the drama department. I enrolled in New York University in the drama department. Upon my entrance, the professor took one look at me and saw I was older than the average 17, 18-year-old coming into college, and he made me the stage manager. And I was a stage manager four years. I got $75 a month. I got all my books taken care of, my tuition taken care of,
Starting point is 00:14:23 and I did four years there. And the day after I graduated in 1954, I went up to 60th Street and 10th Avenue and got myself a job as a cab driver. Now, I'm driving a cab. I bump into different people here and there. And this black musician and I became buddies when we turned in our money at night. And one day in 1958, he says, Bill, somebody left the script of a Broadway show in the backseat of your cab, in the backseat of my cab.
Starting point is 00:14:56 And he gave it, maybe he couldn't use it. So I took it home and read it. Once more with feeling with Joseph Cotton, Arlene Francis, and Walter Matthau. And I said, I could play this small part. I took it to the producer, Martin Gable, and he wanted to throw me out of the office. I said, I'm not leaving.
Starting point is 00:15:13 I want to play that part. I said, be at the National Theater tomorrow. We have an audition. I was there. I auditioned. I didn't get the part. But he said, you can be the understudy to Walter Matthau. Wow.
Starting point is 00:15:27 1958. I did that for a year. Went on two or three times. Oh, yeah. He went on. He was sick one night. I went on. They gave me a couple of tickets for my mother and father.
Starting point is 00:15:40 I don't want to break the microphone. The next thing I'm going to do. My mother and father were sitting in row M, and the show was over, and Joseph Cotton's there, Arlene Francis here, and I'm over here. And my father stood up in row M yelling, Billy! Billy! And Arlene says to me, who's that? I said, that's my father.
Starting point is 00:16:04 He was so proud, you know. That's great. And then I left that show and I went to America Hurrah again. That's where Mel Brooks saw me. And each little time I did something, it led to the next thing. Look, Gilbert, you had me come out of here. And, you know, I appreciate that because just before I actually get into the coffin, my God. I mean, please bury me with some herring and some sour cream and some latkes and all kinds of Jewish stuff that I can eat while I'm there.
Starting point is 00:16:38 I read when you were doing the play with Joseph Cotton, you said you never saw anybody with such pale blue eyes as Joseph Cotton. Well, if you say that, I'm not going to argue with you. I just made it up. I just made it up. I make up my life. Don't you understand that? And can you imagine? I'm not even embarrassed, even though my wife is sitting right behind me.
Starting point is 00:17:01 Yes. And Maggie, who brought me here with the dog. The dog is that maybe he sort of doesn't enjoy what we want to thank maggie and samantha again now there you go what what's interesting about your father screaming out billy billy is that originally your parents were disappointed that you didn't want to go into business, I heard. Like, they weren't crazy about the idea of you becoming an actor. Who told you that nonsense?
Starting point is 00:17:35 Where'd you find that? Same place as the Joseph Cotton story. I think so. Listen, listen. Listen, Gil. Yeah. We were so poor that it didn't make any difference what you did. When I said my mother gave me 50 cents, I exaggerated.
Starting point is 00:17:54 She gave me a quarter. A nickel on the bus, nickel on the subway, walk around the town, and a dime back, and a nickel for a bagel. walk around the town, and a dime back, and a nickel for a bagel. And I did that for who knows how long until I got lucky. Every time I bump into people, I got lucky. Look what we're doing now. Now, I know that on this podcast that you have listeners. We do.
Starting point is 00:18:23 And I'm going to tell every listener that you have, I bless you. I'm only a vessel through the eyes of our creator. And all of you that are listening to this are being blessed. Well, first of all, to have the temerity to listen to my nonsense, you've got to be blessed for that. the temerity to listen to my nonsense, you're going to be blessed for that. But I mean, Gil read off a list of
Starting point is 00:18:49 200 names that I worked with. So, you know, so at least I made some contribution. What I try to do is the mantra that my wife gave me, Samantha, who's sitting right behind me, she said, you say every day to yourself or people that you meet, she says,
Starting point is 00:19:06 I'm happy, I'm strong, I'm confident, I'm friendly. Now, even before she told me that mantra, which I use daily, I was happy, I was sort of strong, I was confident, sort of confident, and I was always friendly, as you can hear me talking to you. I mean, this is a pleasure that somebody said, sit down and talk. But right out loud, God bless you. Speaking of your mom, Bill, I'm going to try another question. Did your mom, when you started to make it on Ma, did your mom sign her letters, mother of a star? No, that's ridiculous. Also not true.
Starting point is 00:19:51 So we don't have one bit of true information about you. Where did we get this information? Some idiot was trying to make himself likable. Anyway, listen to this. I'm doing a... You know, the funny thing is, one of my notes was to ask him that same question about the mother of the star.
Starting point is 00:20:15 Never happened, huh? Your mom didn't... What was the note? Gil, what was the note? Well, the same thing Frank just asked, that your mother would sign the letters mother of a star. That your mother was so proud of your success on Maud.
Starting point is 00:20:28 Yeah, but not what she would do. I'll tell you what my mother would. I'll tell you how my mother responded to the world. She was sitting and watching a play next to Ed Sullivan. I don't know how he got that seat, such a good seat next to her. She was in the second or the third row. And he found out that I was her son. And he said to Mrs. Garber, your son's a pretty good actor.
Starting point is 00:20:56 And my mother said back to him, he's a better son than an actor. Great. that was the name of that show that i did uh when she went through the you know the off-broadway show we were doing a show called the cannibals i was i just was asking samantha what the name i don't remember everything i've done the cannibals in the off-broadway and there was a which is a short for vomitoriumium, which I have no idea, between two sections of the audience. My mother was on the aisle, and I was going to my death, you know, as a Jew going to their death
Starting point is 00:21:34 in terms of this ridiculous play. And as I walk towards my death, I pass my mother, and she leans over, and she says, Excellent. I pass my mother and she leans over and she says, excellent. Great. See, the world is like that. Nobody cares about the literalness.
Starting point is 00:21:57 They care about you. They love you. And you love them. Like Gil. You love me, don't you? I love you. Frank, I don't know about. I don't blame you, Bill.
Starting point is 00:22:15 And now while Gilbert heads into the nutmeg kitchen to steal more Perrier, a word from our sponsor. You'll flip for $4 pancakes at A&W. Wake up to a stack of three light and fluffy pancakes topped with syrup. Only $4 on now. Dine-in only until 11 a.m. at A&W's in Ontario. What happens when 20 extremely athletic Canadians who thrive on competition and won't settle for less than number one find themselves on a team? Taking on jaw-dropping obstacles all across Canada is one thing.
Starting point is 00:22:55 Working together on a team with some pretty big personalities is another. It's a new season of Canada's Ultimate Challenge, and sparks are gonna fly. New episodes Sundays. Watch free on CBC Gem. It's Gilbert and Frank's Amazing Colossal Podcast! And now, back to the show. And now back to the show. Now you had a chance actually to work with William H. Macy. If this is correct.
Starting point is 00:23:38 Is that true? My wife says no. Wait a minute. What? They sent you a script for shameless for Macy's show? No, no, no, no, no. Impossible, wait a minute. Were they sent you a script for Shameless, for Macy's show? No, no, no, no, no. Impossible. Impossible.
Starting point is 00:23:51 There's a 30-year difference. I'm 95, he's 65. Right. He's got red hair, he's Irish, and he's an alcoholic. I'm a Jew, I got white hair, and I eat herring. You weren't offered the role of a bartender on his show? No.
Starting point is 00:24:09 I don't give a damn if I'm right or wrong. I'm saying no. His wife's correcting him. Insisting it didn't happen. Does your wife know about the other stories we have? Well, I'll tell you. I met my wife in the show called, Oh, Calcutta.
Starting point is 00:24:25 Yep. I have to spell it because a lot of people think I'm saying old. No, it's O-H apostrophe Calcutta, like the Indian city. But the story behind that is the producer was an Englishman, and he was in love with the behinds of women. And so he found a French expression called, Oh, quel couteau. But he knew that the American audience wouldn't understand it,
Starting point is 00:24:54 so he made it Calcutta. Nobody ever understood it, and it was okay. But here was his premise. And it meant, Oh, what a lovely ash? Yes. Something like that. A was a bad joke. But anyway, here was his premise, which you can judge whether you like it or not, but this was his premise.
Starting point is 00:25:14 When you were closed in the show, the show had 12 scenes. Eight scenes were closed and were sketches and so on, written by various famous authors of America. And the four scenes were unclosed, nude, with music behind and walking and so on and so forth. His premise was if you were closed and people spoke, they were profane. They were nasty. They were naughty, et cetera. Whereas if you were nude
Starting point is 00:25:50 and you didn't say anything, you were perfect in God's eyes, everybody's eyes, you know, except the Japanese used to come with binoculars. They wanted to see what kind of a pussy you had
Starting point is 00:26:00 in the front row. Japanese, Japanese tourists came to the show with binoculars? Yes. Make a note of that. I mean, they were so bizarre, they used to come backstage and say, I love your dick. I said, thank you for coming.
Starting point is 00:26:34 Did you ever see that show, Gil? I saw it in the 70s. Were you in it on Broadway? Yeah, I was in the first year. Oh, now that you're talking about that it ran for 20 25 years or different parts of the world in the country but let me tell you why i quit the show why uh i had a scene with leon russum we're still buddies where we were hayshakers in other words he sat in a chair and he was a young person at the time. I was 47. He was about 25.
Starting point is 00:27:07 And my opening 60 seconds were, I think the lawn needs a little grass around here, the edges and the paint on the wall. I spoke innocuously about keeping the place. And he opened his mouth 60 seconds or 20 seconds later, a long pause, and he said, When I come, it's like a river all over the bed, the sheets and everything. You know what I mean, Paul? And the audience would go bizarre, you know. And then later in the show, he would say in that same piece,
Starting point is 00:27:43 he would say, I learned how to use my thumb, at which point some woman in the back of the house would go screaming. Anyway, he left the show and Mitch McGuire replaced him. And Mitch McGuire wasn't getting a laugh on, I learned how to use my thumb. So Mitch McGuire once said, one night he said, I learned how to use my thumb. So Mitch McGuire once said, one night, he said, I learned how to use my thumb-ba. Afterwards, I went to him and I said, Mitch, what's that? What's that word? He says, get out of my face, Bill. I said, there is no such word in the language. Even if you're a hayshaker and you don't know how to read, Nobody ever in the world ever said Thumba. He refused to listen to me.
Starting point is 00:28:30 I walked to management. I said, I quit. I'm not going to work with a son of a gun like that. So I just thought of something. If you were in that Broadway production when I saw it, this means I've seen your penis. Did you have good eyesight then? What row were you in, Gil?
Starting point is 00:28:58 I was there with the Japanese tourists. You know what happened? That's how you met Samantha in that show. I was attracted by her smile. And I imagine other things too. And Samantha stayed in the show after you left or she came afterward? How did that work, honey? You left.
Starting point is 00:29:25 He wasn't on Broadway. I see. I was in the Broadway show. But he moved us uptown. So perhaps you didn't see Bill Schmeckle. I don't think you saw Bill. Wait a minute. Gil.
Starting point is 00:29:39 Yes. I'll drop my pants now that you can take a look at my dick. I'll drop my pants now so you can take a look at my dick. It's not the same size now because I'm 95. Bill, that show you were talking about, it was an American hurrah. That's the show where you're choking on the chicken bone? Yeah, who told you that, Frank? Well, we do a little research here.
Starting point is 00:30:05 Hey, we got one right, Gil. I know. Wait a minute. I think we should quit now. Let's just wrap it up. No, that chicken bone, that took a seven-minute piece on the floor when the people were yelling, help him, screaming, get a doctor, because they believed that I was actually going to get asphyxiated. I'm not going to try to spell that one. Because of that chicken bone in my throat.
Starting point is 00:30:28 And the lady in the second row, I'll never forget it, she was laughing her behind off and she went like this, he's dying, he's dying, he's dying. And he's laughing her ass off. And I got up, finally I got rid of the chicken bone and I stood up and I said fuck! and all my spittle went all over her wow
Starting point is 00:30:48 oh yeah she broke me up now here's a story that's probably not true either well go ahead it'll fit in with all our other stories perfect setup I read that there was a lot of bickering in your family like a lot of arguing and and bickering and you found the best way to quell things
Starting point is 00:31:17 was by making people laugh well listen i think everybody does that, but I don't know where you found the word bickering because that's not a Jewish word. Fetching. And in my family, we were so poor. The audience that you have in your podcast, you have young and middle class and old, because if I tell this story, I don't know how many people are going to understand that my mother would give me three pennies in 1927, 29, 31, and go to the store and get soup greens. And I would take the three pennies to the store and come back 10 minutes later with a carrot, one stalk of celery, a green, and she would make a soup for six people, my mother, my father, my brother,
Starting point is 00:32:16 my two sisters, and myself. That's how poor we were. We were so poor that I gave up religion when I was 11 when my father asked me to go to the synagogue with him on 53rd, and they wouldn't let him in because he didn't have $5. It was a Passover holiday, and they wanted to raise money for the synagogue or whatever to pay their bills. And I looked at my father, and I didn't understand what was happening, but I saw the embarrassment on his face that he didn't have five bucks. So I gave up being a Jew in that regard, you know, and look what's happening with religion all over the world. I don't want to get into that. This is supposed to be a humorous show.
Starting point is 00:32:54 So anyway, the bickering happens all over the world. And I guess, I don't know where you found that particular piece of information, but I've always tried to make people laugh because let me tell you this. I tell this every day, my polar bear story. Is it okay? Okay, yes. Yes. Your wife is cringing.
Starting point is 00:33:21 But go ahead. This baby polar bear goes over to the mommy polar bear and says, mommy, am I a pure polar bear? Like no black, no brown, no grizzly, no Kodak. The mommy polar bear says, son, you are a pure polar bear. I am a pure polar bear. Your daddy is a pure polar bear. Go ask him, he'll verify what we're talking about. I go to daddy polar bear. Your daddy is a pure polar bear. Go ask him. He'll verify what we're talking about. I go to daddy polar bear and I say, Daddy, am I a pure polar bear? No black, no brown, no grizzly, no Kodak.
Starting point is 00:33:54 Daddy polar bear says, Son, you are a pure polar bear. Your mother is a pure polar bear. I am a pure polar bear. I am a pure polar bear. Why do you ask? And the baby polar bear says, I'm fucking freezing. That's good. You want to ask something else that isn't true?
Starting point is 00:34:28 I'm afraid to ask. Wait a minute. I got one that is true. That show where you were choking on the chicken bone, is that where Norman Lear saw you? Possibly. He was doing a movie. Hey, I got a possibly.
Starting point is 00:34:42 Well, he was doing a movie, I think, on 12th or 13th Street. We were on 12th and 3rd. He was doing The Night They Raided Minsky. Oh, sure. And you may have seen me there. He's a son of a gun, by the way. Am I allowed to say that on TV? Of course.
Starting point is 00:34:59 We just had him here a couple of weeks ago. That son of a gun. You know, he's a billionaire. Is he? He's got some of my money, too too he doesn't give me any residuals wow interesting how about that and that's that's the deal he made you that he wouldn't give you any residuals in the country i was a rookie coming into TV in 1972. And he signed me and he said, by the way, I'll give you, if we go to syndication, I'll give you residuals for the first year. But thereafter, I'll take them.
Starting point is 00:35:36 I said, okay, go ahead. That's what happened. So now that was in 40, 72, we did it in 78. One year was 79. So since 1980 till now, I don't get residuals. For more, I mean, I get residuals for other things, Screen Actors Guild protect you in that regard. But I thought that was quite naughty of him. He's got so much money.
Starting point is 00:36:01 And my money, I did save quite a few bucks. I met a lawyer out here, Bruce Stiglitz, and he put me on a deferred tax plan. So I would pay very little money when I was making a lot of money, but when I reached the age 72, the government then wanted to defer tax. So from 72 to 92, they took $100,000 a year and busted me. And so now I live on my SAG pension.
Starting point is 00:36:41 And I think the government's pension. And I get something from Actors' Equity a little bit. So I'm happy. You can see that right here and so on and so forth. By the way, does your audience also able to see this show, or is it just us? No, it's just us for now. We record it, and then we put it up later on the Internet.
Starting point is 00:37:02 And they won't be able to see our imagery? They will not, unfortunately. My God, I dressed for the internet. And they won't be able to see our imagery? They will not, unfortunately. My God, I dressed for the show. Look at the shirt that I'm wearing. Did you change the part of Walter, Bill, when you got it? Was he more of an Irishman? And you told Norman that- You son of a gun.
Starting point is 00:37:21 You son of a gun. You really have done your homework. Well, I'll tell you what. Because I'm from Brooklyn and I couldn't understand their sophistication, when we had the first meeting of the first reading of the first show of Maud, which existed because the president of CBS had seen B kill Archie on All in the Family. Oh, sure. And they made him a show.
Starting point is 00:37:50 They wrote the part for Walter differently than what you've seen. Because after they showed us the first reading, Norman says, does anybody have anything to say? And I said, of course, I have something to say. He says, go ahead. I said, what the hell kind of writing did you do for me? I'm a Brooklyn Jew and you made me sound like an Irishman. They made me sound like Archie Bunker. Well, they didn't speak to me for months because I was so forthright. Wow. But that's okay.
Starting point is 00:38:27 I didn't like what they had to say anyway. And so naturally I became Walter Unmored, and I was happy to go to work every day, learn the lines and so on. And I was in love with Bea and in love with everybody else in the show. And then the show was over in 1978, and I went on to do the other thing with all the names that Gil had mentioned. I never knew that I worked with all those people. Go ahead, Gil.
Starting point is 00:38:56 What's interesting is the borough of Brooklyn, which I was also born in, how many of our guests come from Brooklyn? Now, you were born in Brooklyn. Actually, he was born in Massachusetts. Wait a minute. My father was a... Frank is right on it. My father was a tailor in Lynn, Massachusetts. Yes. And we lived in Revere, Massachusetts, which is 10 miles outside of Boston. And I was born there with my brother was born there. My older sister was born there. And then we moved to Brooklyn when I was about nine months to a year old.
Starting point is 00:39:40 There you go, Gil. Oh, okay. Raised in Brooklyn. Yeah, I was raised in Brooklyn. Oh, by the way, do you know how they teach the little kids in Brooklyn the alphabet? How? Fucking A. He's got a million of them.
Starting point is 00:39:58 I have one more question about Maude, Bill, that I just want to ask, because I saw a clip with you, and it was moving, that you're still moved to this day when you look back at the alcoholic episode, when you slapped Bea. That was brutal. It stays with you. You know what happened? When we knew what we were supposed to do, Bea and I would step aside in private and say, listen, Bill, she would say, don't hit me in the ear. Because I had to hit her in the smacker across the face in one of the scenes there towards
Starting point is 00:40:36 the end of the first episode. She says, I don't want you to hit my ear. So we would just make believe and I would bring my arm around so I would make sure that my hand was lower than her ear and on the cheek. And so we did that a couple of times and without hitting her. Then we had to do the show.
Starting point is 00:41:03 Now when we're doing the show, I forgot what I just said to you, and I was just redoing the show. I forget exactly what happened, what we were drinking, and I hauled off and hit her. I did not hit her ear, but as soon as I hit her, she kissed me. I was an alcoholic, and I broke down and cried.
Starting point is 00:41:30 And then she said, Walter, we'll take care of you. You have an alcoholic program. Every time I think of that moment, it gets to me. Because I wasn't acting. I was like being. And in fact, to change the subject a little, my wife is here behind me, and she's an actress also, and I had a scene in NYPD Blue in which I had to tell my son that his wife was just killed, his mother was just killed.
Starting point is 00:42:02 And I said to Samantha, I said, I don't know how I'm going to do that moment. And she says, well, go to the phone right now and tell my father that I'm dead. The next day I had to go to work, came to that moment. I just plugged into that moment that Samantha had helped me. And I told my son that his mother was dead. And so that's how we keep doing our thing. Good advice, Samantha. How about that? Well, Gil, what else you got for Bill? That's not true.
Starting point is 00:42:37 What other bullshit question do you have? Right now I'm scared. I have a feeling I'm going to ask you about more than you'll say you were never on that show. Tell Bill your Bea Arthur story. That's fun. Oh, one time I was at some event and I bumped into Bea Arthur and she said, you know, hi, Gilbert, how are you? And I said, hi, Bea. And she goes, are you still living in the same place? And I thought, she's never been at my place, but okay, yeah.
Starting point is 00:43:12 And how are things for you? And we're making small talk. And then there's a pause. And B looks at me and she goes, do we know each other or do we just know each other from television and i said i think we just know each other from television and beotha turns and walks away you know she she was a a champion at the kind of behavior that she exhibited. Can I tell you one thing that she said to me?
Starting point is 00:43:50 Sure. This happened, maybe we were into the show maybe a month, and we were doing the show over on Fairfax and Beverly, the CBS studios, and they had an elevator from the second floor to the ground floor, which was the slowest moving elevator extant, E-X-T-A-N-T. And one night, getting into the, because we were sort of strangers towards each other early on, because we were sort of strangers towards each other early on. And about the third week, we're both on the elevator alone,
Starting point is 00:44:34 and the elevator's on the second floor, and we're going to the first floor. She's on the elevator, I'm on the elevator. We're not saying anything to each other, because we just finished working and so on and so forth. And as the elevator is descending, she looks at me and she says, Bill,
Starting point is 00:44:53 you're like a rock. Despite your lack of humor, you're like a rock. I love that. Hey, Bill, can we talk a little bit about my favorite year? Of course. What happened on my favorite year? You were Cy Benson, right?
Starting point is 00:45:19 Jesus, you know more about me than I do. We had Richard Benjamin here here and we also had Norman Steinberg. So how did you wind up in that movie, which is just a favorite of Gilbert's and mine? How did I end up in that movie? Maybe Norman asked for my
Starting point is 00:45:37 services. Yeah, Norman Steinberg because we used to be neighbors. Norman, what do you think? Are you with us? Hello. There he is. Norman, where are you? Bill, I'm sitting in the B&H dairy with two orders of Perogin waiting for you.
Starting point is 00:45:58 Where the hell are you? I'm very good. I'm at Nate and Al's having herring. Oh, come on. That's, please. It's not the same. That was 1965 or 67, somewhere in there. Is that when you guys met, 65 or 67?
Starting point is 00:46:18 When he was doing Ocalcutta. What year was that, Bill? 69. Okay, 69. Kill me. What year was that, Bill? 69. Okay, 69.
Starting point is 00:46:24 Kill me. It was, and you were still driving a cab when we met. And then, like two months later, you had two BMWs. And I stayed in your house in the Palisades. Do you remember that? No. You know why? Because you're old.
Starting point is 00:46:53 But let's get to the bottom of this. Do you remember? Do you know who this is? No. Norman, how did Bill come to be cast in My Favorite Year? I said, we've got to get Bill. He was the best, and he had been in The Producers. Bill, do you remember that?
Starting point is 00:47:17 The Producers. That's with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder. Yeah, we covered that, Norman, before you got on. Wow. This sounds like I'm talking to Donald Trump. Norman, the most important thing is I'm looking at Gil, and he is the best audience I ever had. So you better come up with something that's going to make me laugh. So you better come up with something that's going to make me laugh.
Starting point is 00:47:50 He's the best audience anybody ever had. He is the best. Norman, was Cy Benson based on an actual writer, on a real person, Bill's character? Yeah, he was based on, who was the Russian writer who is on show of shows your show of shows I'm trying to think of his name but that's great scene with Bill and Joe Bologna
Starting point is 00:48:16 and he says if he doesn't like this I walk I walk and Joe said what's that? Something smells. Oh, it's the script. He said, pull.
Starting point is 00:48:36 And Jessica Harper threw the script up and he shot it. And of course, Bill said, hey, I'm not married to it. It was a tower of jello. Yep. Sorry to tell you this, but King threw out the monologue. Leo, that monologue was good. Check that.
Starting point is 00:48:58 Perfect. I wrote it. Here's where Cy Benson draws the line. Cy, don't do anything crazy. King's got to be taught. First the word, and the word was funny! The monologue stays or I go. Cy, maybe we can compromise. No compromise! Cy Benson has his integrity, his pride!
Starting point is 00:49:15 King does that monologue word for word or I walk. I walk! Monologue's in. Morning, King. Morning, King. Close down. There you go, morning script oh it's your monologue oh what a stink burger casey paul boom i hate it It's not funny. It's out. Hey, babe, we're not married to it. Monologue's out.
Starting point is 00:49:51 Cy Benson, a tower of jello. You listen, Norman's a writer, so he remembers that kind of stuff. He just brought back in my memory the behavior of that. All I remember is that I did a lot of yelling because that's why they hire me because a lot of people don't have their computers and they have to hear me in some other
Starting point is 00:50:16 manner. You're great in that part, Bill. Talk up, Bill. I can't hear you. There you go. You see what I'm saying? You know that I love you very much. And I called your house. I didn't know that you were a homosexual.
Starting point is 00:50:34 I'm a homosexual. What are you talking about? Give me a chance. I said, I have to talk to Bill. She said, he's playing cards. Is that true? You go every day and play cards somewhere? Yes, I do.
Starting point is 00:50:49 Why? What about it? Did you just suggest he was a homosexual because he said he loves you, Bill? That's right. Frank, you have the best ears of everybody. the best ears of everybody. You know, you didn't give me a chance to say I love Joe Bologna
Starting point is 00:51:09 and he's passed. Yeah. You can show some affection. Yeah, I'm showing it. How old are you, Norman? Me? I'm 78. Wow. I'm a kid. I'm a kid.
Starting point is 00:51:27 You knew me when I was in my late 20s. And one of my ex-wives, anyhow. Norman, do you remember you coming to the house to interview Bill when he was doing O Calcutta? Coming to the house to interview Bill when he was doing O Calcutta? No, my ex-wife interviewed him at the Eden Theater. And that's where I first met him. And then I said... You came to our apartment and you said, I just got married and now all the world is taking off their clothes.
Starting point is 00:52:04 That's exactly right. I was on St. Mark's Street place and you were where? You were in the East Village as well, weren't you? Yes, on 8th or something. We had moved up to 8th, I think.
Starting point is 00:52:19 Yeah, way uptown. Gil. I don't remember what these people are talking about. I told, I think I've told you Frank about the sketch that, uh, Bill, that you did with in Ocala,
Starting point is 00:52:34 I think it was the first one where you were sitting on the porch and the rocking chair. And Leon, I just told him about it. He just told us about it. What is it? What is your, what do you think? What's your knowledge about it. He just told us about it. What do you think?
Starting point is 00:52:45 What's your knowledge about it? Norman, I'm interested. My knowledge about it is that you had, I don't think you had a word, and you're just listening to your son, who had just come back from college. He was explaining in excruciating detail every single nuance and thrust of a particularly dirty encounter with a woman. Let me ask you a question, okay? Go ahead. Is this your show now? How do you pronounce the word T-H-U-M-B? Thumb.
Starting point is 00:53:30 How? Thumb. There was a guy named Mitch McGuire who replaced Leon Russum. Because that was Leon's, when he was the original he said I learned how to use my thumb and the audience would go crazy at a certain time Mitch McGuire came in and started
Starting point is 00:53:53 to say I learned how to use my thumb you know Norman what I did I went to him and he refused to change it I quit the show you quit the show. You quit the show because of that?
Starting point is 00:54:08 There you go. Absolutely. I wouldn't work with a guy that was going to be so stupid. Norman, before we let you go, can you guys each say a little something about Joe Bologna, the great Joe Bologna, who just left us? He married a girl I wanted to screw. That's very heartfelt.
Starting point is 00:54:36 She's still around, Bill. Well, if Renee wants a small penis, she got one. Well, I think you did just as well. Your wife, I love your wife, too, and I miss you. And I have a bed for you up here, and I live in Red Hook, New York, in the Hudson Valley. Are there any card casinos there?
Starting point is 00:55:10 Yeah, you can go. Yeah, there are Indians. There are Indians here. You can go and mock them. I think Joe really genuinely intimidated you on that. Now, listen, let me tell you the Jewish, Norman, the Jewish term for a
Starting point is 00:55:29 wild Indian is Vildahaya. If you want me to mock an Indian, I gotta go, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, Vildahaya! Vildahaya! Now Bill, you are my friend and you are also legendary.
Starting point is 00:55:50 Norman, you have to understand. I'm going to call you at home and speak to you. Put it on the speaker so you can hear me. Listen to this. Gil. You have to understand about Gil. He invited me
Starting point is 00:56:04 to do the show. And I have such a feeling for his implicit permission. That's exactly how I'm behaving. Because he's the only one in the world, besides my wife, who sometimes says, talk to me dirty. And so I'm happy. I'm happy to speak to you, even though you're 78 and I don't hang out with young people anymore. Norman, thanks so much for calling in and surprising Bill.
Starting point is 00:56:45 Hey, Bill. I love you, Norman. Bill, I'm giving you a kiss, and I'll meet you at the B&H. Okay? You're welcome. He's very excited. I hope that happens before we both die. Me too.
Starting point is 00:57:00 Norman Steinberg, the legendary writer of Blazing Saddles and My Favorite Year. Norman, thanks. Thank you, Frank. Bye, in my favorite year. And, Norman, thanks. Thank you, Frank. Bye, buddy. Bye, Bill. Take care, Gilbert. Oh, bye-bye, Norman. Bye-bye.
Starting point is 00:57:11 We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast after this. Bill. Yes. Everything I said about you, I never met you in person. And you look strange on this little kind of a Skype thing that we're using. But that doesn't make any difference. I remember you when I used to see you on TV. Wow.
Starting point is 00:57:38 And you're such a crazy person that I said when I was invited to come on your show, I said yes immediately. Now, generally speaking, I don't behave as I've behaved on your show. I'm a perfect Jewish gentleman. I don't use profanity. If I do, they kick me out of the casino. They don't even want me to make any allusions towards the opposite sex and it's so fucking boring
Starting point is 00:58:10 that when I was asked to come on your show I said wow I finally made it I gotta ask you a question that ever since I heard you were in old Calcutta, it's the most important question. You being a guy there and a bunch of other guys and there's these attractive actresses around naked. Was there ever an embarrassing erection on stage?
Starting point is 00:58:45 Yes. There you go, Gil. Wait a minute. I'm going to answer the question specifically. Nancy Tribush, that's her name. You're laughing at her name. I hope she can see this podcast because it's the truth. She and the other four ladies, there's five ladies and five men in the show.
Starting point is 00:59:11 And in the part of the sequence I told you about it, there was eight scenes of words and profanity and four scenes of nudity and music. So in this particular scene, Nancy told me later that the girls got together and said, let's make the guys hard. So we were just lying down like this, and suddenly Nancy's hand creeps past my thigh,
Starting point is 00:59:44 grabs my dick, and I have no words, you know, just listening to the music. Jesus Christ, telling you the story, I'm getting hard right now. Well, it's an exaggeration. It's really semi-hard. I'm only 95. It's really semi-hard. I'm only 95.
Starting point is 01:00:10 And then when we stood up to leave, she held on to my member, and we walked off stage. Wow. There you go, Gil. I'm glad I asked that one. Yeah, that was fun. That was fun. Gilbert's looking to at being a revival.
Starting point is 01:00:27 They've got to be young people, though. Can you imagine about 10 95-year-old people on stage walking around naked? The Japanese wouldn't even come with their binoculars. Bill, let's talk a little bit about The Late Show, which I just rewatched yesterday, which is so much fun. You and Art Carney and Lily Tomlin. Yeah, it's one of my favorite shows. That show, you're really serious. You just watched it recently? I just watched it.
Starting point is 01:00:55 Well, I happen to own it because I have a big movie collection, and I just watched it again last night. It's so much fun. And you're such a perfect little sleazeball in the picture. Right. It's so much fun. And you're such a perfect little sleazeball in the picture. Late show with Art Carney, who was the partner to Jackie Gleason for so many years as a comedian, was brilliant. And that Frank Considine who hit me across the chest in that movie, he really hauled off and hurt me. Oh, he did?
Starting point is 01:01:31 I wasn't acting when I, I don't know if the rest of your audience could understand what we're talking about. When you're in the porno theater and he gives you the shiv with the elbow? Oh, boy, did he hit me. Woo! Yeah. I'll never forget it. Yeah. And Lily Tomlin, it was just a gorgeous, gorgeous show.
Starting point is 01:01:46 You know this movie? Oh, yes. Robert Benton and Robert Altman producing? Really terrific. To our listeners, if you guys haven't seen The Late Show, find it. And Benton gave me the part because he was one of the writers in Old Calcutta, you know. Oh, I didn't know that. That's a good connection.
Starting point is 01:02:02 I don't know what scene. Do you remember? Yeah. We'll answer all sincere replies. That's a good connection. I don't know what scene. Do you remember? Yeah, we'll answer all sincere replies. The wife swappings. The wife swapping scene, and we'll answer all sincere replies. By the way, Old Calcutta has been filmed. For any of your audience people that want to see Samantha's ass.
Starting point is 01:02:23 And my dick. and my dick. And we're real good in it and funny too. I watched some clips on YouTube today. Do you remember, Gilbert will like this, Bill, this is a wild stab,
Starting point is 01:02:38 do you remember working with John Carradine in a movie called Death at Love House? No. Okay. Was you, Sylvia Sidney, Dorothy L'Amour, Joan Blondel, and John Carradine? No.
Starting point is 01:02:53 So we're betting $1,000. No, wait a minute. How can I remember? You're going back to the 40s. Yeah, it was the 70s, but close enough. No, I wasn't an actor until... No, no, you did that, but it was a long time ago. It was the 70s.
Starting point is 01:03:12 Gilbert loves John Carradine, so I took a shot. How about something more recent? How about The Jerk? Damn these glasses. There you go. Oh! What was Steve Martin like? A pleasure.
Starting point is 01:03:28 Yeah. He did his work. He's a talented person. He's a fantastic banjo player from what I've seen. And it was his first movie. And he's done about 20, 30 movies since then. And my part of coming in to have some gasoline and listening to somebody hates these cans and stuff, you know, it was the director.
Starting point is 01:04:05 Carl Reiner. Carl Reiner. He was a perfect gentleman to me. He was me in three movies. He must have liked my work and so on. But when I did my work, Gil, I don't think I was acting like a normal actor act, like with the res research and so on.
Starting point is 01:04:28 I just am myself in that situation. So when I said, damn these glasses, because they kept on falling off, I meant it. I wasn't acting, quote unquote. And when I do some of the other work that I do, And when I do some of the other work that I do, it's just like before when I was talking to you about the piece where I had to tell my son that his mother was dead, you know. It just came over me. When I hit B across the mouth, across the side of the face, I had no idea that my response would be what it was.
Starting point is 01:05:16 Even talking to you on this particular podcast, I had no idea that that was going to happen to me. I just have to live with it. I'm just a crybaby. We were talking about Bill Persky before we turned the mics on and I was talking to Bill about directing you in the movie Serial. He says, ask Bill if he remembers this moment.
Starting point is 01:05:34 He's looking at his wife, her breasts is exposed. He jumps up, runs into the bathroom, brushes his teeth, slaps on aftershave, washes his face, runs back into the room and in 30 seconds she's made the bed and she's gone. And he said you did it in such a funny way. And in one take.
Starting point is 01:05:54 I'm not going to say anything about it. I don't remember it. Okay. How about, do you remember the Broadway play, and this was a flop. Do you remember being in The Roast? Marshall and Belson wrote? Also directed by Carl? Oh, my God.
Starting point is 01:06:16 Who was the star of that? Peter Boyle, Barney Martin, Rob Reiner, David Huddleston, Doug McClure, and you. What did I do in that? You played, I'm trying to find it. I didn't see the actual play. I remember when that came out. Yeah, it was about comedians. I don't remember it.
Starting point is 01:06:36 Yeah. I found your bio in the playbill, which is interesting. You know, it's interesting to me, Frank, that you know more about me than I do. I'd like to point this out, and maybe Samantha will get a kick out of this. In the playbill for that show, everybody has an extensive bio that's paragraphs, multiple paragraphs long. Peter Boyle and Rob Reiner. And Bill's bio just says Bill Macy has acted before and likely will again. Now, what was the story to Bea Arthur leaving Maud?
Starting point is 01:07:22 Oh, I'll give you a response to that. Bea was married to Gene Sachs, a Broadway director. And they eventually moved out here because she had the show, Maude. You know, Bea was a personal friend of Norman Lear. That's how she got into All in the Family. Norman Lear. That's how she got into All in the Family. And then the CBS president called Norman after she saw her kill Archie in the show The Cousin Mort. And they wrote a series for B. Now, they had two adopted sons. And I don't know literally what happened, but her husband, Gene, met a younger woman and told Bea he was leaving her.
Starting point is 01:08:19 At that time, CBS wanted the show to go further. And Bea said, no, I can't go on at this moment. She had to recover from that kind of an experience. Wow. And three years later, she did recover by doing The Golden Girls. And like all people, her husband died. She died.
Starting point is 01:08:57 Rue McClanahan died. I shouldn't go into all of that now because you didn't ask me that question. You just asked me about what you did. I forgot what you just asked me about what you did. I forgot what you even asked me. Well, but you said the show could have gone on a couple of more years had she not, in your opinion, had she not pulled up stakes when she did. That's right. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:09:14 But, you know, it was what it was, you know, like this show that we're doing now. What do you want to call this show right now? Give it a name, This hour, whatever it is. Go ahead, Gil. I'll let you do that one. Starsky and Hutch. You know, the interesting thing, first of all, you have no idea because you're over there and I'm over here.
Starting point is 01:09:47 My wife is right behind me. Maggie, our darling chauffeur with a dog, is here with us. I'm in ecstasy now because you've invited me to talk to you. Really. And you've permitted me. We're honored, Bill. And you've permitted me to be profane and vulgar and so on and so forth. And once I leave here, I may commit suicide.
Starting point is 01:10:15 Before you go. I don't know who else is going to give me permission to behave the way I'm behaving on this show? It's all downhill from here, right? It's downhill like the fastest elevator extent. It's like terrible. Wait a minute. Samantha. Yes?
Starting point is 01:10:41 You won't kill me when we leave, will you? Absolutely won't. Okay, here's a question from one of our when we leave, will you? Absolutely won't. Okay, here's a question from one of our listeners, Bill, for you. This is from Scott Stewart. Did Bill get to keep any of the Opti-Grab props from the jerk because they'd probably be worth money now? Absolutely not. What do you mean worth money?
Starting point is 01:11:03 That's bullshit. Okay, Scott, there you go you know you know I'm cynical enough to know that there's money involved in the world and so on and so forth but that's not I told you they took 100,000 of me for 20 years
Starting point is 01:11:23 and so they busted me so I'm still going to be vul of me for 20 years, and so they busted me. So I'm still going to be vulgar and alive and so on and so forth. But money, money. You know, I'm happy to do the show just because you asked me to do it. Do you have any memories of working with Tony Curtis, Bill? That motherfucker? That motherfucker? with Tony Curtis, Bill?
Starting point is 01:11:42 That motherfucker? Hey, Frank, even though I don't know you, I love you because you come up with the research that's so perfect. That son of a bitch. Here's what Tony Curtis did. Okay, let's hear it.
Starting point is 01:12:00 We were doing, I forget the name of the show. The Scarlett O'Hara War. Okay. And he had a big bus that he came to work in, and they gave me, believe it or not, a big bus to go to work in. And my bus, for this strange reason, pulled into what was considered Tony
Starting point is 01:12:25 Curtis's spot on the way you park your cars. And his bus now was behind mine and didn't have his spot. He refused to go to work. Wow.
Starting point is 01:12:42 Because my bus was in his spot. Unbelievable. What a diva. So I told the driver to back up the bus, make the turn that's proper, just like where Maggie and I had to come in two or three different entrances to get to this interview. We should have stayed at the second one because there were a lot of naked ladies that one
Starting point is 01:13:05 and so that's the tony curtis story that son of a bitch yeah it had nothing to do with acting it had to do with being a person gil what else you got i don't know what else is true. Wait a minute. You're the one that has done the research. I don't even remember much of what we're talking about. For instance, every Friday night, we watch the reruns of Maud on Time Warner Cable, station 1258 Antenna.
Starting point is 01:13:45 And I look at Samantha. She's having a good time. And I said, what the hell is that? I don't remember. Is that me? I mean, it's a guy who's only 50. I'm 95 now. Right.
Starting point is 01:13:56 How am I supposed to recognize a 45-year-old schmuck? I don't remember what you even did that. Mm-hmm. But I guess it was me. Here's another. Go ahead. And she just killed me in the show. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:14:14 Every so often I'd get a chance to say, Moot! Sit! Ha, ha. Did you hear what you just said? Did you hear what you just...? Did you hear what you just... My money! Well, it is my money. I earned it.
Starting point is 01:14:28 Of course it is. That's my point. I'm totally dependent on you, Walter. I live off your income. I'm a parasite. Come on, Walter. You're not a parasite. You have your work just like I have mine. You get paid for what you do. Nobody gives me a dime, and that's the barometer, Walter. Money.
Starting point is 01:14:44 You know you're being productive when somebody pays you money to do something. I'll give you five bucks to put on your dress. God will get you for this. What was Alan Arkin like to work with? Oh, you did Bad Medicine with Alan Arkin. Wait a minute. Alan Arkin. I think I fell in love with Alan Arkin. Wait a minute. Alan Arkin. I think I fell in love with Alan Arkin.
Starting point is 01:15:28 You know why? That's right. He was a professional actor. Uh-huh. And we went to some southern place. Was it? Spain. We went to a foreign country to do it, right? To Spain.
Starting point is 01:15:39 Spain, says your wife. Right. You know better than I do. Hey! You know. We were in a movie together. You're in that movie? I'm in Bad Medicine.
Starting point is 01:15:49 Ah, wow. This is insane. It just popped into my head now. You're like, there's one part in the movie where Steve Guttenberg gets shot. Thank God. part in the movie where Steve Guttenberg gets shot thank god and you're and you wanna like pay money to you know
Starting point is 01:16:16 like how can we hush this up and you're riding in the limo and then you have like a heart attack and then they all jump to it when you're having a heart attack. If you say so. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:16:32 We were in that movie. You were in the scene with him? Yeah. He played Steve Guttenberg's father, and I was Tony Sandoval. Of course. This is so weird. You were a Spaniard? Yes, yes, a very convincing one.
Starting point is 01:16:53 Of course. All this time, I didn't even think about that. That's because you're getting older, too. We were in a movie together. One degree of separation. Gilbert Gottfried and Bill Macy. It was in Madrid. So you've actually met.
Starting point is 01:17:18 I don't know if we ever actually met though. Okay. Yeah, but... Bill, whatever happened to Steve Guttenberg? He's around. Frank, what's your last name?
Starting point is 01:17:34 Santo Padre. Holy Father. Come on, Frank. I asked you what's your last name. Yeah, Santo Padre. Are you Spanish? Italiano.
Starting point is 01:17:47 Do you speak, do you understand Spanish? No, not at all. I don't understand Italian either. Well, because I could tell you a story in Spanish, but I'm not going to because if you or Gil doesn't understand it, I don't want to tell the joke in English because it's not the same joke. No, I'm an Italian American kid from Brooklyn. Gil. Yes.
Starting point is 01:18:09 I told you the polar bear joke, right? Yes. Give me permission to tell you what I consider a joke, but I learned how to tell it in Spanish. Could I tell it to you in English? Oh, sure.
Starting point is 01:18:26 It takes place in an old age home. This old lady walks over to this old guy and she says, you know, I could guess your age. He says, please, lady. Give me a break. I could guess your age. He wants to get rid of her. He says, okay, okay, okay. What's my age? And she says, well,
Starting point is 01:18:41 first you have to drop your pants. He says, get away, you crazy. Drop your pants. He says, get away, you're crazy. Drop your pants, I'll guess you're right. He looks around. He drops his pants. What's my age? No, you also have to drop your shorts. He said, you're crazy.
Starting point is 01:18:54 Get away from me. Drop your shorts, I'll guess you're right. He looks around. There's nobody there. He drops his shorts. What's my age? She grabs his balls and she goes like this. 95.
Starting point is 01:19:08 He said, how the hell did you do that? She said, you told me yesterday. Do you know I tell that joke on my Dirty Joke DVD? He tells that joke in his act. Yeah. Oh, far out. I didn't know that. Yeah. He tells it a little differently, though. Yeah. Yours has a finger in. Yeah. Oh, far out. I didn't know that. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:19:25 He tells it a little differently, though. Yeah. Yours has a finger in the butt. Oh, yes. I learned how to tell that. Yeah, tell my journey joke DVD. In the Commerce Casino, where they have many Spanish people working, they taught me how to say some of the words in Spanish.
Starting point is 01:19:44 They taught me how to say some of the words in Spanish. Un dia una mujer vieja dice a un hombre viejo una casa con gente vieja también. Ella dice, señor, yo puedo adivinar tu edad. I'm able to guess your age in Espanol. And when I meet a Spanish person, like I walk along the street and I see somebody who looks Spanish, and I say, Mexicana, senor? He says, si. And I stand right there in front of him and tell him a joke.
Starting point is 01:20:16 And I get three laughs. I drop the pants, drop the shorts. And you told me yesterday. That's it in Spanish he also stops policemen and he says pull over and then when they do he says do you want the joke in Spanish or in English love it my wife is here and I got this joke with her and me in it, and it goes like this.
Starting point is 01:20:48 Sam, golf course or intercourse? She says, take a sweater. All right. Oh, gosh. This has been Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast with my co-host, Frank Santopadre. And we have been talking to my old co-star from Bad Medicine, a film that even we haven't seen. You didn't see it?
Starting point is 01:21:21 You didn't see the movie? No, that one I saw. There's a bunch of others. We got a plug here, too, before we go. Bill will be appearing at the Hollywood Autograph Show at the Westin Hotel in Los Angeles on October 21st. Signing autographs. So if you want to meet the great and very funny Bill Macy, you look surprised that I'm giving you this plug, Bill. He's nodding.
Starting point is 01:21:47 You'll be at the Hollywood Autograph Show. Do I have that right, I hope. And most importantly... His wife is nodding. I hope it's true. In Old Town, Qatar, an actress named Bush was playing with your penis. Nancy, try Bush. Yeah, try Bush. Yeah, try Bush.
Starting point is 01:22:08 Well, we want to thank Matt Beckhoff, and we want to thank, of course, Maggie Irwin for being a saint and for getting Bill to the interview. And the lovely and talented Samantha. And to Norman Steinberg for calling in. And next time we talk to you, we hope we have one question that's right. Bill, this has been vastly entertaining. I hope you had as much fun as we did. I'm sad now that it's over.
Starting point is 01:22:41 We could go on, but we ran out of questions. We pretty much gave up after the first six fails. How about this one? You were in a TV movie called Diary of a Young Comic with Richard Lewis, Dom DeLuise, and Georgie Jessel. I remember that one. Any memories of Jessel? Did you work with him? No.
Starting point is 01:23:03 Okay. Wait a minute. Mention some of the other guys. Dom DeLuise. No. And Richard Lewis. Yeah, Richard Lewis. His nickname was Dick.
Starting point is 01:23:22 We loved Richard. How about Esther Rolle? Tell us something about Esther Rolle. We had John Amos here. You worked with Esther for so many years on Maud. Yeah. We got along. John Amos was a personal, very good actor and so on and so forth.
Starting point is 01:23:41 Anyway, I don't want to talk about that. I want to leave because this is like the denouement, right? Anyway, I don't want to talk about that. I want to leave, because this is like the denouement, right? Yeah, this is it. Let me do one more thing, which I do out wherever I go, and I want to do it here with you. Do you know what a ghost
Starting point is 01:24:00 could possibly sing to another ghost? What? Here it goes. I ain't got nobody. You missed your calling, Bill. You should have been a crooner. This was fun.
Starting point is 01:24:31 I love you. We love you. Thank you for entertaining us within an inch of our lives. Thank you. Thank you guys so much. Okay. Once again, this has been Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast with my co-star. That's me.
Starting point is 01:24:51 Oh, him. No, my co-star, Bill Macy. Oh, gotcha. From Bad Medicine and my co-host, Frank Santopadre. But most importantly, my co-star. Bill, we'll tell you, we've done 166 of these with some pretty funny people.
Starting point is 01:25:10 We've had Stephen Wright, and we had Dick Van Dyke, and who else did we have here? Oh, Marty Allen. Marty Allen, and I don't think we've laughed this hard on any show. Wow. So, that's a very nice compliment.
Starting point is 01:25:25 So thanks, buddy. Thank you, Bill.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.