Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - GGACP Classic: Chevy Chase
Episode Date: July 27, 2023GGACP celebrates the 40th anniversary of "National Lampoon's Vacation" (released July 29, 1983) by revisiting this memorable (and rare) interview with actor, comedian and original "Saturday Night Li...ve" cast member Chevy Chase. In this episode, Chevy reminisces about working with Dan Aykroyd, Randy Quaid and Rodney Dangerfield and reveals why he turned down roles in "Animal House," "Ghostbusters," "American Beauty" and "Forrest Gump." Also, Chevy reprimands Desi Arnaz, locks horns with Bill Murray, rides a roller coaster with Eddie Bracken and runs afoul of Cary Grant. PLUS: Sid Caesar's strange superstition! The Land Shark strikes again! "Planet of the Cheap Special Effects"! Gilbert "covers" Barry Manilow! And the mystery of the Munchkin suicide! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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TV comics, movie stars, hit singles and some toys.
Trivia and dirty jokes, an evening with the boys.
Once is never good enough
For something so fantastic
So here's another Gilbert and Franks
Here's another Gilbert and Franks
Here's another Gilbert and Franks
Colossal Classic Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried and this is Gilbert Gottfried, and this is Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast.
I'm here with my co-host, Frank Santopadre.
We're here once again at Nutmeg Post.
Our guest this week is a writer, an actor, and a genuine comedy icon. He really needs no
introduction, but it's my show and I feel like talking. You know him from classic comedies like
Foul Play, Caddyshack, National Lampoon's Vacation, Fletch, Funny Farm, Three Amigos, Hot Tub
Time Machine, and of course, from his co-starring role with me in 2009's Jack and the Beanstalk.
Jack and the Beanstalk. 40 years ago this month, he made television history as in the breakthrough new late night show called Saturday Night Live. Please welcome a man
far too famous and respected to make an appearance on this podcast, our pal Chevy Chase.
Oh, hey, thank you, Gil.
You know, I've often thought, what is a podcast?
Now I know.
No, I'm ready.
I can't wait to hear what you guys have to do
What I have to do
Okay, we'll just ask you questions
Let me just say this
Gilbert and I spent a little time together recently
With some friends
Very funny friends, by the way
Can I mention Tom Leopold?
Mr. Leopold, Tom's done this show.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I had a blast.
It was great to see him, and it's great to see him again.
And I'm awfully sorry about the left eye.
And, yeah, we did that thing where we were talking to comedy hopefuls.
Oh, Paul was with you, too. Paul Paul was with you too, Paul Schaefer
yeah, Paul Schaefer
and Jackie the Jokeman
yeah, that's right
Jackie, whatever his name was
but yeah, Jackie the Jokeman
and we
sat in four chairs in front of
people
about a hundred or two hundred
I'll say kids because, you know, I'm almost 50.
Anyway, who want to be and, you know, stand-up comics or comics or in comedy.
And so they wanted to learn a few things.
And they learned crap because none of us knew what to say.
None of us gave one barely intelligent answer.
That's right.
Yeah.
Why should we?
We don't want anybody coming up our backs.
And what I remember, too, is, oh, I had just had my teeth cleaned or something, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to drink red wine.
And you, of course, pushed me to make sure.
That you drank it.
Yeah.
But it didn't affect your teeth, did it?
No.
No.
But it did affect your breath.
Yeah.
I should say something about Chevy.
Yeah.
That the next day after we did that, I was sitting at home by myself, and the phone rings, and Chevy calls me just to tell me that he goes, I really thought you were funny last night.
I enjoyed being with you.
That's true.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so that was...
And then I got the right number for Leopold.
Tom's going to be thrilled that he's being name-checked so much.
Now, okay, let's ask one question.
You felt like you left Saturday Night Live too fast. Well, no, I didn't run.
Maybe too early is what you think you meant. Yes, too early. But I felt, I didn't feel it
immediately because there were so many other things happening. For one thing, there was a girl that I wanted to marry and was in love with who would not leave L.A.,
which was a good clue to Lauren and others that she was a nut.
And that, you know, I didn't take their word for it.
And I married her.
It lasts about eight months.
And that was it.
Me and SNL.
It was over.
But I was there really the first year and a month or something. And, you know, in retrospect, of course, and back back some time and up to now, I felt, yeah, why did I do that? I mean, you know, there was no way to know it having been the first year of Saturday Night Live where it was going or what was going to happen.
And I had a sense that what we had done that year was certainly partly what I wanted to do with it, which was make it political satire.
make it political satire.
This was a time when Jimmy Carter was running against Mondale,
against President Ford.
Right.
And I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat,
liberal, et cetera.
Let me just add that
on meeting President Ford
and spending time with him
and him driving me and
my wife around his city, he was a swell, really good guy, but not presidential, not as presidential
as Jimmy thought he was. So in any case, it was a good thing for me because I was a writer. I was hired as a head writer that first portion.
I mean it went back and forth every couple of weeks to Michael O'Donohue and others who are terrific writers.
But he put me on the air and I loved it.
I loved this acting and I felt no qualms about it because earlier on I had done underground television in New York City labeled Channel 1.
We were talking about that.
You did it here down in the village.
Yes.
Down at 62 East 4th Street.
You and Ken Shapiro.
That's right.
That's right.
And Lane Saracen.
Yeah, and Victor Langer and Richard Allen.
But, I mean, basically it was a Ken Shapiro thing.
Since he's an ass, that didn't last for me.
And when you were playing forward, you were always falling down.
Yes.
On this show.
Yes, yes.
And one time, what was the weird injury you had one time when you fell down oh well you know let's well just to step back i
mean ford tended to slip here and there yeah he fell down one of the great ones was coming out of
the plane yeah oh betty oh yeah and he and And they were walking down the steps, the president and his wife, and his head just disappeared from frame.
So that pretty much settled it.
But, you know, I had to make use of that and make use of the whole concept of him being clumsy, which I believe he was around, you know, like, what are these wires?
You know, we're going to the Oval Office, sir.
These are the wires because you're going to record us.
Well, I know he just was a little bit frightened of things.
So what was the question?
What was the injury?
The injury that happened to me was when Danny Aykroyd and I, Danny was playing a beautiful Jimmy Carter with that smile where he said, I'm going to smile at each and every one of you in the country.
You know, it just was wonderful.
The lust in my heart.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Something.
Right.
And we were having a debate, you know, the typical debates that we're coming up on as we speak now.
And I decided I should fall forward with my lectern or podium.
People say a podium for the wrong thing.
The podium is what the lectern stands on.
People say a podium for the wrong thing.
The podium is what the lectern stands on.
I was at the lectern, and it was just about, you know, chest high or so or maybe a little bit lower.
And I also believe I had a needle in my arm because of the flu shot or something.
We were – the Asian flu, something that had come up.
But it just made Ford look at me. it was swine flu forward looking swine flu yeah yeah and um god we lost a lot of swine that year you used to do swine flu bits on
the show that's why i remember in any case i fell forward and um the the the prop guy um
is that the right word yeah that's good enough good enough. But his name was Willie Day,
and he was about 88. And he had forgotten to take out a middle portion of that
lectern so that when I did fall, I couldn't go into the back of it. I went right into, whoops, a board.
And it hit me right in the tonsils.
The ones below my belt.
So you were...
I was in the hospital for a week.
Yeah, you were whacking the bolts with this thing.
Yeah, yeah.
I was peeing blood.
Oh, God.
Yeah.
It was a great sketch, the next sketch.
A great sketch.
No, but I, yeah, I got to that where I had obviously done some damage and went away after a week.
That must have been indescribably painful.
You don't think about it.
You know, I mean, it's like when you're on the air there and it's a lot of people and this and that.
You don't think it wasn't that bad that I remember.
On the other hand, it wasn't great.
And I was used to taking falls and I did a lot of sports and soccer and all that.
What's interesting about those sketches too is that you never made up.
I mean Saturday Night Live would later become famous for the makeup and Jimmy – Dan Aykroyd would make himself up as Jimmy Carter, but you just played Ford pretty straight.
Thank you. That's true. But let me give Danny a heads up here because he didn't do anything.
He just had that smile and he had just the right look and he had the right voice. He was just,
the right look and he had the right voice.
He was the resident genius
on that show and
Danny had him down. Everybody knew
who he was and it was very good.
Now, can you tell us that
famous fight
between you and Bill Murray?
Sure. Yeah.
You go right for the tabloid stuff,
do you? You don't mess around.
Now, you have a child that went live.
It's funny that it's famous or infamous or anything because there really wasn't anything.
It was just that Billy came back to host it a couple of years later, I think, and Billy had taken my place.
And Billy likes to fight, clearly, and beat up people, particularly smaller people than him.
I could name them, but I won't because they're famous.
But – and he wanted to pick a fight with me and I told him I'd eat him.
But we didn't actually get earlier off-Broadway.
Lemmings.
Yeah, the Lemmings show.
And John was clearly the star.
We had gotten him from Chicago.
So John had this thing,
and it wasn't a big deal,
but it was sort of a middle finger at me
all the time kind of a thing.
And I never thought much about it,
but obviously he shared some thoughts with Bill,
and Bill came out of there swinging.
And John finally got between the door frame, Bill and me.
So like Bill rushed me.
John got to the door frame.
I was out in the hallway, my hands up ready to box.
And ultimately, Brian Delmarie, his brother, came and held my arms back while John – this was after I think both of us hit John in the head.
I don't remember it well.
But John Belushi was the instigator.
I think he was the initiator of it. I know that Bill was angry because he thought I'd come in to host the show and it was going to take over Weekend Update from the girl who had been doing it longer than me, Jane Curtin.
And that was a – he's like one of these, quote, loyal people who really just wants to fight.
He's like one of these, quote, loyal people who really just wants to fight.
But in any case, I wasn't going to.
I mean, it didn't.
That wasn't.
And it was just something that, yeah, Lauren and I discussed because when I came as the first time I was hosting, I said, I don't know what people are going to expect from me. All I know is we can update and falling, you know, basically.
And it must have come down
to that there. You know, in retrospect, I can't imagine what Bill would say about it at this
point. And I don't have much to say except that that's my memory of it, you know. Well,
fuck it. I'm glad Belushi's dead then. And by the way, I miss John and I wish Bill were dead.
And by the way, I miss John and I wish Bill were dead.
There's your scoop, Gilbert.
Because he just, you know, he's gotten too good.
We talked about the Louise Lasser story with Lorraine.
You want to ask about that one?
We were Louise Lasser was hosting and she would not come out of her dressing room.
I can't remember why. Yeah. But Lauren, I believe Lauren decided that we should try to coax her out by using me.
By then I had been doing the land shark that I enjoyed inventing where, you know, you knock and you go, Mrs. Coughlin.
One of my favorites.
Dr. Coughlin.
Whatever.
In any case.
Because it's a land shark.
You'd think Jaws was bad. In fact, the first sketch I wrote was called Jaws 2 that had anything to do with the land shark before the movie Jaws 2.
And it was about the most dangerous shark of all.
With Belushi doing his great Richard Dreyfuss.
The land shark, yes.
He did a great Richard going.
And describe what those bits were.
bits were.
Well, basically they were that the shark,
the way I wrote it and the way I
felt was that the
land shark wasn't that bright.
But on the other
hand, somehow
the people in the apartments that
he went to
were just a little less bright.
So, you know, it would
open with me, you know, you hear a knock on a door and it might be Jane Curtin's reading or something.
Yes.
And I'd say, Mr. Son, who?
And then I'd give a good pause.
Then I'd go, Dr. Carl?
Just a completely different name.
Just anything to get her.
And somehow she'd say, what?
Telegram.
And that would somehow coax this stupid person to go to the door.
And we had a great shark costume that I put over my head
and I enjoyed it every time I did it.
And she'd go to
the door, open it, and I'd reach in and
just grab her and pull her out.
And so we did it a few times.
And it was my favorite character
because she could always
you know, Dr. Howe.
That's the fact
that you couldn't tell by then that this wasn't the smartest guy.
So then Louise Lasser was there.
And at the time, it was a long time ago, but this was the 70s, and cocaine was pretty well-known, and so was pot and all that stuff.
And I don't know whether she used it or didn't use it.
It wasn't the issue so much as that he wanted to get her out of her room
because she wouldn't come out.
She was too frightened to do the show or something.
So I did the shark voice and I just went,
I mean, is this land?
This is Lazarus?
Lazarus? Yes. I mean, is this Latin? This is Lousers?
Yes.
Candy Graham.
And there'd be nothing.
She's like, what do you mean Candy Graham?
And I went, half a gram.
And somehow that got her out, I think.
I haven't seen the show.
Wasn't there a plan that if she didn't come out, that all of her parts would be played by you and pigtails?
Oh, yes.
Well, yes, and by everybody else.
Yes.
It wasn't just me.
But I believe that's true.
I think we were all going to – this is Lauren, of course.
She'd come up with – just have them ready just in case she didn't come out.
See, they all have the same hair that she had.
This happened early, like on our second or third show with Buck Henry.
Oh, where he got clipped by the sword.
Yeah, he got hurt.
It wasn't by a sword.
It was by going out the window.
But he cut his head.
Right.
And a Band-Aid had to be put over it before the next sketch.
So Lauren immediately thought the whole cast should have the same Band-Aid.
And we did the whole – all of us did the rest of the show with Band-Aids in the same place he had one.
So nobody was really sure why or who.
And you worked with and were friends with Pat McCormick.
Oh, yes.
Long before.
When I met my wife.
Yes.
Yeah.
We've had a lot of Pat McCormick stories on the show.
Oh, my God.
What a funny guy.
Are you familiar with the helicopter story?
I don't know.
Help me.
Okay.
That all of, he and all of his cronies, all the writers and people, would get together
and try to outdo each other at their once a year dinner.
And everyone would try to be a more expensive restaurant,
a more fancy.
Is this bringing back anything?
Well, I can see it in my head.
Okay.
So one day, it was Pat McCormick's turn
and they were all wondering, you know, how he'd outdo the other.
And they were all driven like by a bus to like a heliport.
And they were all given like a paper bag with a tuna fish sandwich and an apple.
And they were going, you know, what the fuck is this?
And then one by one, they were put on a helicopter
with a hooker.
Well, this is a lie. And the helicopter would circle
their house while their wives were at home.
Circle the house while the hooker blew them.
Well, we don't know if she blew them.
Yeah.
Well, that was the essential concept.
Yeah.
Yeah.
She would blow them.
I don't see why they turn her down.
No, but it's very difficult to be blown in a helicopter.
I pray.
Yeah.
But I think one of the writers, he said the next day he got home and his wife said, so how was your evening?
And he goes, all right.
How was yours?
And she goes, it was OK, but a helicopter kept circling the house.
I don't know this.
But you know who I asked?
I went up.
I was doing like a commercial with Tim Conway and I went up to him and I said, Tim, I heard a story about Pat and without even saying McCormick.
Yeah.
Tim Conway looks up straight face goes helicopter.
And I said, yeah.
And he goes, yeah.
I said, yeah.
And he goes, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Well, there were only, you know, if you think about it, the two funniest guys around at that time were Tim Conway and Fat McCormick and Harvey Korman from Carol's show.
Yes. Carol Burnett, who are well-known.
And Tim was still funnier than hell because the first special I did, I had Tim on.
He was just too funny to not have.
But, yeah, I believe he would know.
If anybody would have known, Tim would have known, yeah.
You worked with Pat on Under the Rainbow.
Yes, that's right.
That's where I met Janie.
Yeah.
Oh, okay.
Your wife, who's here.
We're both big fans of Billy Barty here. These are the kind of things that come up on the show, okay. Your wife, who's here. We're both big fans of Billy Barty here.
These are the kind of things that come up on the show, Jeff.
Even a mouse is a big fan of Billy Barty.
All I guess I'm saying is that Billy was a midget.
You know, Gilbert once lost a part to Billy Barty.
Yes.
There's some good trivia.
How's that part? He was just too big?
This is the trivia.
How's that park? You were just too big?
I auditioned.
I auditioned for one of the, shall we say, lesser Mel Brooks films called Life Stinks.
Yeah.
And I auditioned and lost out to Billy Barty.
Well, that's Mel's fault.
And Mel screwed up a lot, you know?
Mel is one of the funniest men who ever lived.
Yeah.
Is he still alive?
Yeah.
Anyway, he really is.
I mean, there's no getting around it.
But, you know, as a director or, you know, a guy who would produce or something,
I think he really only should live as Mel
and just forget the rest of that stuff.
You know, just be Mel Brooks.
It's just too funny.
When you listen to the 2,000-year-old man
with the eminent and great Carl Reiner as the interviewer,
that's one of the great, great, funny, funny albums of all time.
Still holds up beautifully.
Yeah.
And you were sued by a Hollywood legend.
Back to the tabloid.
Yes, I have to.
Carrie, well, here's what happened.
Here's what happened.
I was pretty hot from SNL and I was on that late night show with Tom Snyder as the host.
Oh, the Tomorrow Show, yeah.
Okay.
Well, that's even better than knowing who Tom Snyder is.
That's right.
We assume our listeners know all these people. Well, he was the host of that show and a lot of people went on it because it was a well-known show after Carson.
And I had already been touted as the next Johnny Carson, the next this, the next that.
And at one point, he just said, you know, a lot of people think you're the next Cary Grant.
And it took me a little bit by surprise.
And I just said, well, nobody is ever going to be the next Cary Grant.
And they understand he was a homo.
Well, Cary heard this, of course.
Somebody played it for him.
And I'd actually heard that he might be gay or not gay.
He famously lived with Randolph Scott and there were rumors.
But so did I.
Of course.
Only because of the gums.
But in any case, no.
I mean, no.
I don't know whether he did.
I suppose it is true, but I didn't even know it then.
All I knew was there were rumors to that effect.
Whatever it was, it was just the wrong thing to say if the guy had happened to be litigious. It turned out that Kerry was the most litigious
actor in Hollywood. And he sued me for a hundred grand. And, you know, for I don't know, whatever.
I don't know, whatever.
But so once we were in a deposition for Cary with my lawyer doing the talking and me sitting there and I'm just looking at him thinking, God, what is the most handsome thing I've ever seen?
He was just he was one.
He was just, you know, and just to be around Cary Grant was a big thing. But there I was and my attorney said, Mr. Grant, how did you feel when you heard Mr. Chase make that remark?
And he said, I felt I wanted to sue.
Talk about litigious.
But that was so funny.
I fell off the couch practically and you know what ultimately
because i laughed at him and sort of with him uh you know he got uh a tenth he got 10 grand you
know he accepted 10 grand which i didn't have 100 grand i mean what the hell was i gonna do
and i gave him 10 grand and didn't you say, when they were trying to get you to back off and not say it,
and you said, well, she's a girl, isn't she?
Who? When?
Yeah, I think you said it.
About Carrie?
Yeah, yeah.
I don't know.
Yeah.
I might have.
But do you?
No, I do not.
I think Snyder said, well, we'll edit that.
Yeah.
I said, oh, don't be silly.
He'll laugh.
But I don't remember saying she's a girl. Do you remember those photos that the studio sent out to show what he meant,
Cary Grant and Randolph Scott were?
They sent out these photos where they're both in swim trunks.
By the lounging by the pool.
I guess in retrospect I can envision it.
Yeah.
And they sent out these shots where they're both in swim trunks. I guess in retrospect I can envision it. Yeah.
And they sent out these shots where they're both in swim trunks and they're wrestling and massaging each other's shoulders.
Yeah, yeah. And it's supposed to show these are men.
Well, they hold a medicine ball.
Oh, yes, yes.
And they each have a baby and they're suckling them.
Yeah, right.
I don't know.
It didn't occur to me, any of that.
I was glad it was over when it was.
And by the way, once it was over and he got his 10 grand, I ended up going to the 84 Olympics.
And Kerry was there.
And he saw there and he saw
me and he said, Chevy, come
up and see with us.
Wow. I think, you know, that
once he got paid off
everything was fine. We're friends.
You know, it wasn't like it really bothered
him at all.
And even though Johnny was tweaked by those
comparisons, you guys became friends too
later. You and Johnny Carson.
Yeah, good friends.
Good friends, Carson, yeah.
But what was the – it was a funny insult.
The one insult Carson said about you.
Oh.
I think he was talking about the whole cast.
I think he said – no.
Was he? I think this was when I was being written about in one of the magazines and somebody said they're grooming him to be Johnny Carson.
New York magazine.
New York, yeah.
And – which I had never heard of anybody grooming me to be anything.
But it was a New York magazine article by this guy who's still on the air now.
Carl Bernstein, I believe, at the time.
And anyway,
it said
that I was being groomed to be,
to take over Johnny. Anyway, somehow
it got to Johnny. Whatever. He did make
the remark that I couldn't...
It's funny that I can't remember the word.
I remember it. I don't remember the word. I remember it.
I don't know if you...
Phil knows it, right?
Yeah.
He can't improvise himself.
He wouldn't be able to improvise himself out of a paper bag or something like that?
No, no.
Can I tell you?
And then you'll tell it.
That he couldn't ad-lib a fart in a beanie contest.
He did?
Yeah.
What's the paper bag thing then? I don't know. Yeah, he couldn't add a fart in a bean eating contest. Is that it? Yes. Here's another audition I had that I didn't
get. I auditioned for the part that Sam Kinison wasn't coming back for in Caddyshack 2.
And I didn't get that.
Wait.
Wait a minute.
Sam Kinison's in Caddyshack 2?
No, no.
No.
He was replaced by.
It was not Caddyshack 2.
Oh, wait.
It was The Three Amigos.
Back to school. The Three Amigos. No, no, no, wait. It was the Three Amigos. Back to school.
The Three Amigos.
No, no, no, no.
Well, he was supposed to.
Well, he was in the Three Amigos and we had a scene with him, but it was cut.
I think what they had, I think they had Sam Kinison written in for a part in Caddyshack 2.
It may well have been.
Yeah.
And when Rodney refused to do it,
then he didn't want to do it either.
And they had me audition for that part.
There's a couple of real actors, huh?
Yeah.
Jesus Christ.
Rodney.
I got things to tell you about Rodney, but yeah.
And they replaced him with the very odd Randy Quaid.
So what recollections?
How dare you call Randy very odd?
I love him so much, Randy.
I don't know what the—I'll tell you what's odd.
The wife.
That's what's odd.
But, yeah, Randy's kind of going through a bad period right now with a beard down to his cock.
I loved how he went into hiding in Canada.
And the first thing he did was hold a press conference in Canada to say, I'm hiding out in Canada.
Yeah.
He called me.
He wanted money.
He wanted to borrow some money. And that's all I'm going to say.. Yeah. He called me. He wanted money. He wanted to borrow some money.
And that's all I'm going to say.
It was a lot of money.
And then, apparently, every so often he would say, I know Chevy Chase.
Like, that's going to help him.
But you know what?
This is a delightful, delightful, funny, funny actor who seems to have taken drugs or something.
I don't know what's happened to him.
He never was a druggie of any kind or a drinker. But he seems like it now, doesn't he?
I mean, it's a little weird when you do Rupert Murdoch getting fucked in the ass by Randy Quaid with a beard, again, down to his cock.
You know, whatever has happened there, I can't answer for.
I don't know.
another vacation movie which is called
Swiss Family Griswold
and which we
meet Randy after thinking
the ship we're on on a cruise
is on fire. We jump
ship. But anyway,
we have to swim to an island, me
and Beverly and maybe a couple of kids.
Doesn't matter really, any of the kids
because they're all different.
They're all 50.
So long as they're younger than me,
everything's okay.
And we find
Randy. He's been left on the island.
We run into him. He's left
there from an old survivor.
That show on television.
That's funny.
And it goes on from there.
But I mean, Randy is a gem and I hope to heck he pulls himself out of all this.
It's not going to help a lot by getting Rupert angry.
But on the other hand, I think Rupert just decided to retire or resign.
I think he passed away.
Or he passed away?
He's dead.
No, no.
Let's be honest.
He's dead.
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we've talked a lot about Randy Quaid's good great performances the last detail
oh yes talk about what great what great work Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, The Last Detail.
So much stuff.
Oh, he, and most.
Well, The Last Detail, I agree.
Yeah.
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz.
Wasn't that with Richard Dreyfuss?
With Richard, yeah.
Yeah, he was good, yeah.
And I worked with Randy Quaid in another classic film.
I did like one scene with him in a horrible, I never even saw the thing.
I just read the reviews.
A horrible Rodney Dangerfield film called Back by Midnight.
Well, I forgot.
Yeah, no, I was...
I don't remember it.
I never saw it released to any theaters.
Look, since we're talking about Randy Quaid,
he deserves our love and respect.
He deserves everybody's,
and he should be allowed to come back into this country,
pay off whatever he owes them,
as if he had any money,
and work again because he's – you can't even make a good vacation movie among many others that he's been in. But without Randy, I mean people love him.
By the way, it behooves the studios to say, look what he's been through.
Look how much he's been on television doing this and that and the other.
This is a guy.
He's going to bring people to a theater much more now than he ever did.
So I'd like to see that happen.
Great comic actor.
So long as I have, like, bodyguards.
Hey, can we talk about some movies you've turned down?
Absolutely.
This is like...
Because it's the worst.
Oh, God.
It's an impressive list.
All the movies that made, you know, like, oh, 100 million, you know, that kind of thing.
Turn them down for what reason?
I can't remember.
Well, let's see.
Okay.
Forrest Gump.
Right. I got the book from Well, let's see. Okay. Forrest Gump. Right.
I got the book from Mark Canton at Warner's.
Read it.
And maybe part of the actual first script.
And by the way, you know, scripts with movie actors, movie stars, they change according to that.
You know, that's the way it is.
So I don't remember if the script was that good or that bad.
All I know is I turned it down.
That made, what, 500 million?
Yes.
Swell.
Thanks, Tommy.
American Beauty.
That's true.
Yeah.
But where did that ever go?
I don't remember who was in it, even.
Oh, Kevin Spacey.
Right. Now, I also
heard American Gigolo. Is that
correct? That's the one. I don't know where
that one went. Yeah. Yeah. American
Gigolo. Okay.
Was that Richard? Richard
Gere, yeah. Richard Gere, yeah.
I'm glad I turned it down. The voice of
Buzz Lightyear in
Toy Story.
I don't remember that. Okay. It might be Story. I don't remember that.
Okay.
It might be, but I don't remember.
Okay, here.
Ghostbusters.
Yeah.
Real smart.
I had a choice of...
I had a choice of...
I think it was Ghostbusters or meeting Goldie and doing foul play.
If it was the same...
Oh, that was Animal House.
Oh, it was Animal House. Okay. That same. Oh, that was Animal House. Oh, it was Animal House.
Okay.
That's right when you turned down Animal House.
Yeah.
So I decided, you know what, I've got to meet Cody and do a movie with her, which made, you know, $70 million.
And that one made enough to buy Hungary.
And just to clarify for the listeners, you were – the part of Otter, Tim Matheson's part was written for you.
Right, right. And he later was, in facteson's part was written for you. Right, right.
And he later was, in fact, the bad guy in Fletch.
Right.
I heard you say, why would I want to work with Belushi again when I could work with Goldie Hawn when you turned down.
That might have been what I said, yeah.
Yeah.
And who wouldn't say that?
What else do you have in your scrolls, Bill?
Yes.
Those are the notes, Jimmy.
That's it?
That's it.
I can answer anything without it being asked. Well, you're starting to talk about Rodney. You said you had some – notes, Jimmy. That's it? That's it. I can answer anything without it being asked.
Well, you're starting to talk about Rodney.
You said you had some fun Rodney stuff.
I don't know.
Rodney's gone, right?
Yes.
I spoke to Rodney, actually.
He called me from the hospital two days before he died.
Wow.
Isn't that something?
Yeah.
He said, I had two operations, you know, one in my head and one in my – I don't know what.
But we did talk and he died.
But I just remember that – so I can – it's fair to do this, I guess, since it's your show.
I have nothing to do with.
I have nothing to do with that.
As we shot the very first scene I did in Caddyshack and I had just come off another movie.
So I was about two weeks into the it was about two weeks into the Caddyshack shooting.
The other movie, by the way, was with a dog.
What's this? What was that? Oh, heavenly dog. Oh, heavenly dog.
Yeah, that's a good move. Anyway, I came out of that and I got there. And the first scene that I shot with him was actually the last scene in the movie on the 18th Tee. And then Rodney and I were driving in my golf cart back to wardrobe or whatever at the end of the day. And he said, so where's all the little boys?
Where's the blowjobs?
And to this day, I don't know.
I don't know what to think.
I don't know.
I'll never know.
I didn't answer it.
I kind of laughed.
He thought, wait a minute.
And I mean, that was right.
Oh, then there was another time.
And we were all at this one place. It was just basically a golf course that was also a motel.
That's where we shot it.
that was also a motel.
That's where we shot it.
And actually Harold Ramis, who was directing it,
had a roof put over the motel that made it look like it was over the house there
to make it look like it was a big clubhouse.
Anyway, so, and Ted Knight, who was brilliant in that
and is really, to me, the great one.
But Rodney, where is yeah, it was late at night,
and you can imagine that not much would go on with Bill Murray and me
and Brian Doyle Murray and others, you know, at night.
Anyway, I happened to be actually in bed when they
knocked on my door and it was
a, hey, Chevy. That's
Brian.
And Bill.
You have
any Coke?
No.
And I'm from my bed. No, I don't.
You have any pot?
Nope. Nope. Sleeping. Try Rodney. He's next
door. And so they went next door and knocked on his door. Hey, Rodney. What, what? Yeah,
yeah. What? Can we come in? We're looking for some...
You have any Coke?
No, I don't.
You have any pot?
Yeah, yeah.
I'm sure.
See that bag in front of you?
And there was a big paper bag that was fairly heavy.
Not a big one.
I mean, it was, you know, big enough to carry, let's say, a baby's head.
Anyway, about that big.
And
he said,
take that.
It's all my pot. Take it.
Enjoy. So they took it
and they left. And it turned
out that that bag contained nothing
but seeds. It was just all
pot seeds. There wasn't even
a smidgen of actual smokable pot in it. It was just filled with pot seeds, as if he'd
been waiting for somebody to ask him. He wasn't going to give his away, that's for sure. Oh,
my. Strange man.
Oh, my.
Strange man.
And you worked with another legend in the Las Vegas vacation movie.
Sid.
Sid, yes.
Sid Caesar.
Yeah.
Sid.
I had to visit with Sid in his room at the Steve Wynn's Mirage Hotel.
I think that's where we were shooting.
The Mirage Hotel.
I had a meeting with him.
I think he was a little nervous about dying, actually, in the film.
Oh, yeah.
You know, that playing, a guy who died.
He tried to explain to me that Jews don't die in movies because it can come true, you know.
For some reason, Sid really believed that.
I mean, when you think of all the incredible things that Sid Caesar has done in your life, you wonder what happened to him that they would think something so idiotic.
He believed Jews, didn't I? He believed that all Jews knew this.
I, not having been a Jew yet,
I didn't realize, but I took his word.
You know, so he said,
you know, I mean, I'm supposed to have a heart attack and the thing and then die.
I said, okay, okay, okay.
But you've got to have the heart attack.
We have to put you in a
box, you know, drag you out.
He said, well,
you know, Jews don't, we don't die. Keep your eyes open, you know, drag you out. He said, well, you know, we don't
die. Keep your eyes
open, you know, whatever.
I said, well, okay, we don't
die. And so we
got to that shot
in the movie, and he had his
heart attack, which he did
quite well, as I remember.
I mean, it is a seizure.
And he's put in a box.
I can't even remember this.
I haven't seen it since he shot it.
But in any case, as he died, he was actually sitting in a chair next to me.
And he died and his head went down.
His eyes closed.
And before the camera left him, he opened his eyes and and before the camera
left him
he opened his eyes
and looked around
just to let everybody know
he didn't really die
you couldn't get away from it
even as he was dragged out
I believe in the movie
in the box
he opened his one eye
or something
just to keep
making sure
he didn't die
since we're talking about Sid, what about
you worked with Imogene too in the
first Vacation movie. Oh, Imogene, yes. She's a lovely
lady. And by then it was not
the same one who had worked with Sid. Sure.
But, I mean, you could see why
they had. I mean,
you could do anything to her.
She was the Gilda of her time.
And just as John
was able to just slap Gilda in the face.
Gilda would take it as, oh, okay, I understand.
You know.
Anything for comedy.
Imogene would take anything from Sid or, you know, whatever.
So she was the perfect Aunt Edna in that movie and I think she
overplayed it a little
with all that but that was the way
she was and whatever she did that was
fine with me and
yeah. Can we ask you about Eddie Bracken in that
movie too? Another great
screen legend. Eddie Bracken was a
great screen legend and the very first
ending
of the movie Vacation, the first vacation where we're all going to Wally World and it's closed.
Harold Ramis is directing it.
We are forced to sort of drive to – because I have a whole family, you know, filled, and we shot the thing driving cross-country from Chicago.
So the thing was, let's go over to Roy Wally from Wally World, his house, because I'm just
that angry, you know.
And we went over, and there was Eddie back on his porch.
And I think we shot it so that we forced him to dance for us.
Do a tap dance or something idiotic.
And the best of my recollection, Harold and I looked at that back
and thought, well, it really just isn't going to work.
We're going to have to go to Wally World.
We got John Candy and we went through the whole thing
and then Eddie Bracken came at the end.
But he was a marvelous man.
And one of the things that had happened
was that by the last couple of days of shooting,
there was that huge roller coaster
at, it wasn't Wally World,
it was the Four Seasons. What the fuck was it?
Six Flags? Six Flags, thank you, the Four Seasons.
Six Flags, that'd be it. I'll have the Marlin? No.
Six Flags. So we're there and
we're on this rollercoaster.
Me and John Candy next to me, which scared the shit out of me because we were in the first car.
And then in front of that was a camera weighing as much as John shooting us.
And I'm thinking, well, I'm dead.
I mean, how is it ever going to get up?
But it worked and it was OK.
And then we shot it. How is it ever going to get up there? But it worked and it was okay.
And then we shot it.
We had to shoot it with John behind me and this and that.
And Eddie's turn, because he was Roy Wally, I explained to him that I want to make sure you understand that it looks like it's a 90-degree drop.
And it can be frightening.
And I want you to understand that.
I don't want anything to – oh, are you kidding?
I've done so many – I mean, this is nothing to me. And we – okay, just so you know because I don't want to – why should we do it three or four times until you get used to it?
I mean, just – nah.
Anyway, we get up there.
As we get to the top and now look down and start the plummet, he goes, oh, fuck!
And so you can see it in the wide shot.
I don't think we did it again.
But you can see it in the wide shot.
When you wanted the close-up, you could see it in a wide shot of us. I don't know, but you can just see him go, oh, fuck!
Whatever.
Oh, my goodness. He's so great in those wide shot of us. I don't know, but you can just see him go, oh, fuck! Whatever. Oh, my goodness.
Oh.
He's so great in those Sturgis movies, too.
He's so great, Eddie Bracken,
in those Preston Sturgis movies. He did such great stuff. Yeah, sure he is.
Who's Preston Sturgis?
Okay.
Sergeant
Preston Sturgis!
One more.
I've got to ask you about Gilbert's favorite that you were in foul play with, Burgess Meredith.
Burgess.
Gilbert loves Burgess Meredith.
You know what?
I do too.
And I don't know anybody who didn't.
He's a close friend of my closest friend because of his love of wines, different French wines, et cetera, et cetera.
But he's just a sweet man and good.
And, you know, he's one of the forgotten in a sense, you know.
It's like it's not an easy name to remember.
I mean, Meredith you can remember.
Unfortunately, you've got Vieira at the end of it. But, you know, Burgess, you know, Burgess Bumblebee, Burgess Bambo, you know, you don't.
So he's kind of forgotten.
But if you look back and think of him in, wasn't he in Batman or whatever?
Yeah.
And one of my favorite films of Mice and Men.
Yes. Where I, with him and Lon Chaney Jr Mice and Men. Yes.
With him and Lon Chaney Jr.
He was George.
Yeah.
And Lenny.
But he never gave a quote about Lon Chaney Jr. to Ron Chaney,
so I've lost some of my love for Burgess.
Well, he was old at the time.
I hope he died painfully then.
It's like Michael O'Donoghue.
May you all die screaming from painful rectal cancer.
And Frank and I were discussing how you worked with the Munchkins.
Well, that's where I met my wife.
Who was shacked up with the Munchkins. Well, that's where I met my wife. Who was sacked up with the Munchkins.
All of them.
No, it was called Under the Rainbow.
And therefore, it was not a good movie.
But it required 150 little people, as they like to be called.
And insist on it.
And they are.
And we had, I mean, about 100-something of them.
And they were living in a hotel right next to the stage where we shot.
Out there they call them stages.
And apparently they were just dead drunk every night, you know, snorting coke.
And, you know, they don't have long to live.
Their livers are getting as big as they are.
So, you know, this is the way this is the way
they are they were they were funny but when when i had to be in a hole in this hotel lobby with them
with eve arden which is enough already um you know they would fart on me. They'd spit.
They'd goose me.
A lot of them goose me.
Wow.
Hey, Jeremy.
Yeah.
You know.
Yeah.
They were just a motley group of people.
There's only one of them still living.
I don't know who it is.
Jerry Marin.
He's the last surviving.
I don't think he's alive anymore.
Oh, I think he is.
In the original Wizard of Oz,
according to legend...
We had a few of the original munchkins, yeah.
Yeah. In the original
Wizard of Oz, according to Hollywood
legend, at least,
you could see in the
background that one of
the munchkins hung
himself in the tree.
That's a lesson.
Yeah.
That's a Hollywood myth.
Yeah.
But – and they –
That's outrageous.
Oh, God.
And they say in one scene you could see his little body hanging from a noose from the
tree.
This isn't right.
Thank you. This isn't right. They do carry weapons.
You better be careful.
Since you mentioned Michael O'Donoghue, can you just tell us a little something about – we've talked about him a little bit on the show.
He was the most anal, retentive Irish Catholic I've ever known.
I loved him deeply and we
worked together and we actually went and saw
the opening of Star Trek together.
I mean of
Star Wars. Oh, Star Wars.
The movie, yeah.
And other things.
He lived down on
23 East 16th Street.
I'll never forget that because I used to hang around with him all the time.
Later on, Buck Henry wrote some article in The New Yorker claiming, quote, we all know how much Michael loved Lauren and Chevy.
And boy, I was upset by that because I know how much I loved Michael and he liked me.
So there you have it.
But the fact of the matter is Buck will get over it and so will I,
and that's the end of that.
But Michael,
he gave me,
as a Christmas present,
the first year of SNL,
the Fist Fuckers manual.
I never heard of it or seen it.
I never heard,
didn't know people did that.
Of course, they were homosexual.
They were gay guys.
But I didn't realize that that was a comfortable way of replacing a woman.
I didn't know what the hell that was about.
But that was what he gave me.
So, I mean, he was just so goddamn funny all the time. But being so anal retentive, he had in his little office, which we all had a little office at SNL, he had a chalkboard.
Not a chalkboard.
A – what do you – where you put pins in it.
Oh, yeah, a bullet board.
Yeah, a board.
Anyway, and he would put ideas up there and they would be in uppercase perfectly written by him and just line about an inch or so from the edge just go straight down.
And I would go in there when he wasn't around and move them about a half an inch to the right. Still straight down. But just enough so that
when he walked in the room
or sat and looked up,
something wasn't right, you know.
Until it got about two inches away
and then he knew the jig's up.
Something's going on here.
I didn't move.
I didn't.
I put him an inch away.
That's the way it is.
So I loved playing little
sort of tricks on Michael. um he was just a delight
you know he could hate you with great love and um a genius really comedy absolute yeah absolutely
a genius a great writer i have some stuff of his that's prose writing. I have a letter from him to the Los Angeles Herald, which was a response to a bad review of the first Saturday Night Live, like second year or third year or fourth year, which had apparently included his name as a writer.
And he hadn't been writing for it for a couple of years.
And I just can tell you that at the beginning of the letter, it began, listen, Dick Wadd,
instead of, you know, dear sirs, listen, Dick Wadd.
He made two mistakes.
I know somewhere down in the end of the letter, your second mistake before you pulled the donkey prick out of your mouth or something.
I don't know.
It's just unbelievable.
And then he ended the letter with, blow me, Michael O'Donohue.
And that was his letter to the Herald Examiner.
And it was just brilliant writing.
And I have it framed.
And I show it when I can.
That's great.
There's a copy of the screenplay you guys wrote together, the Planet of the Cheap Special Effects.
Oh, Planet of the Cheap Special Effects.
Does that exist?
There is a copy.
It's about 300 pages.
We never quite finished. And I owed a couple of sketches or things to it because, in fact, it was going to – we had a long previews of coming attractions in there.
Blind Bikers was one of mine in which you see – you know, it's a preview of these – and these bikers are going – so it's like shot from a helicopter so there's about 20 bikers on a
highway that's in the desert that and then the highway sort of veers to the right and they just
keep going into the sand because they're blind you know it's just blind bikers coming to a theater
you know just shit like that just funny funny outrageous, yeah, but we just never really finished it.
He was involved in so many intriguing projects that never saw the light of day.
I don't know.
I guess he was.
I don't know.
That's one of them.
Yeah.
He's the guy who came up with, we'll shoot this dog if you don't buy this magazine.
That was for the National Lampoon.
Yes.
Nice dog on the cover. Yeah, classic cover. We'll shoot this dog if you don't buy this magazine. That was for the National Lampoon. Yes. That was a classic.
We'll shoot this dog if you don't buy
this magazine. I was always fond of
Mike Douglas sticking
12-foot knitting needles
in his eyes. That was the guy.
He finally came up with it. And we had talked
about it. But he
felt that there's the guy.
That's the guy you want to take
12-inch
knitting needles and stick plummet them into his eyes.
I think it might go something like this.
Oh, yes.
He's an impressionist.
Yeah, like Rich Littler.
And so he then falls to the ground and screams like just exactly what you would expect.
Terrible, awful screams, banging around.
And he cut his hands up.
He cut his head up.
Everything.
I mean, he was really bleeding from this.
But he got it as good as you can get it.
He did variations, too.
I think it might go something like this.
You know, he turns his back and then suddenly, brilliant.
Jesus Christ.
So, yeah, he was brilliant.
And one with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
He would recycle it with different people getting the needles.
We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast.
But first, a word from our sponsor.
Now, I'm supposed to ask you.
Yeah.
That you actually, in the movie, The Aristocrats, they came to you and you actually recorded an aristocrat, you telling the aristocrats.
I don't know if I recorded that.
All I know is that nobody told it better than me.
I told it in college.
Yeah.
I don't know why I wasn't in it or was in it or anything else.
All I know is I told that.
I can still tell the aristocrats.
The whole point of the aristocrat joke is, A, it's got to be around five minutes.
B, it's got to end with we call ourselves the aristocrats.
And C, you can't repeat yourself.
Yeah.
You know, so this guy goes up to a booking agent
and he says, I got a great act for you.
He says, oh yeah, tell me about it.
He says, well, it's a family act.
Well, it's great. We love family acts.
So what happens?
Well, I come out on the stage and I take my clothes off
and I come all over the audience.
It just starts just like that.
And then you've got to keep going as fast as you can.
You know, I'm jerking off.
And my daughter comes out.
She's nine years old.
And she comes out and I fuck her in the ass.
It just gets so outrageously over the top, you know.
And you've got to keep going and you can't stop for five minutes.
And you've got to do the most offensive stuff you can come up with.
But it's a family act.
Don't forget.
And then our dog, Tuffy, comes out.
You know, whatever.
And also fucks my daughter in the ass.
It's just hideous.
My wife,
gorgeous. She comes out with our baby
and I blow the baby.
It's just stuff.
I can't remember. It's been so long.
But it's just, how offensive can you get with a joke?
Yeah.
That's what it is.
And you could tell a busload of nuns that joke.
And I swear to God they'd be in the stairs.
They'd be wet in their pants.
If you do it well.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I told that joke at the UF roast.
Oh, you did?
Yeah.
When I had gotten in trouble making a September 11th joke. Oh. I figured, why not lose them all you did? Yeah. When I had gotten in trouble making a September 11th
joke, I figured
why not lose them all the way?
That reminds me of
one thing that happened when
oh,
was Mike Eisner, remember, the head
of all the studios
at Disney? There was a
huge luncheon for Mike.
And there was also a dais where a certain like 10 people would speak on his behalf.
And the rest of the place was like thousands around tables.
And it was a whole thing.
Before I was to speak, Johnny Carson came out and spoke.
He got off his seat and came up and spoke.
He did five minutes just clean without any writing, with nothing.
And I'm thinking, oh, my God, this guy's – I mean, when he wants to be funny.
And I knew – we became great friends.
I mean, he just was very funny.
And then I was called up
and I remember this
clearly because it got Johnny
off his seat.
Eisner's just sitting
right there next to the lectern
that I'm speaking from.
And I go up and I said, well,
I got shit.
And there's a little sort of chuckling in the audience.
And I turned to Michael.
I go, can I piss in your mouth?
I got Johnny so bad.
I got the whole fucking place.
Can I piss in your mouth?
That would be my speech, you know.
Can I piss in your mouth?
That's my kind of place.
I'm out of stuff.
You want a rap?
Yeah.
I'm under arrest.
Do you want a rap?
Well, no.
I know that I almost forgot one thing.
Go for it, brother.
Because he's starting foul play.
Yes.
Who's?
You starting foul play.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
And I got to sing on every show.
Oh, he memorizes theme songs from movies.
Well, see, this one is like was a hit.
So it's not as...
Oh, give me a break.
Yeah.
It was?
What was it?
Yeah.
And I'm ready to take a chance again.
Ready to put my love on the line with you.
Oh, boy.
You're living with nothing to show for it.
Oh, don't do it no more.
You get what you get when you go for it.
Oh, Jesus.
And you're right.
And I'm ready to take
You still know it?
You fool.
A chance again.
She does it every week.
Ready to take a chance again
with you.
We never found out
what she was taking
a chance again of.
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
It didn't really fit.
Her former lover or husband or whatever never came up.
So we don't know what the hell that was about.
But, yeah.
Next time we do, I'm going to ask you about George Roy Hill and Michael Ritchie and some of the other great legends.
I'd love to talk to you about George Roy Hill because I think he was an absolute genius and made the best movie I made, which was funny for him.
Yeah, it's a good movie.
Yeah, he was wonderful.
And Michael Ritchie gave me the chance to just wing the Fletches.
I mean, just wing it.
You know, just go.
Okay, go.
You're going from there to a door.
Two of the great directors of the 70s.
And one thing we had on our show, the creator of this show, and I liked what he said.
I mean, it was in the news.
There was trouble between you and Dan Harmon with that show Community.
Yeah.
That was not much of anything, really.
Dan and I became friends immediately after that. But Dan did say that, like, you were getting a lot of flack,
and Dan said that he was a bit of an asshole himself at that time.
Yeah, yeah.
And so he defended you as far as—
I suppose.
I can't even remember what it was about, frankly.
I just don't remember.
Yeah.
But there weren't any fisticuffs or anything.
I don't remember exactly what it was about in retrospect.
And so I guess now we can...
So I'm Gilbert Gottfried.
This has been Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast.
I'm here with my co-host Frank Santopadre
at Nutmeg Post.
And we've been
talking to someone who
you're not, Chevy
Chase. Oh, that's what I wanted to ask you. Did that come
from Roger Grimsby, a local...
Was that a bit of a take-off on a local
anchor? I guess we're
starting again then.
No, it was just the last...
It was a coda. No, it was just the last one. All right. It was the last one.
It was a coda.
No, let's start.
I'm ready.
We got an hour.
Well, that other thing was a warm-up.
Yeah, it actually did because Roger Grimsby was a Channel 5 news guy.
But he'd always say, I'm Roger Grimsby and here now the news.
That's right.
First of all, and here now the news is one of the oddest.
It's odd.
But I said and and had nowhere to go.
So I just said and you're not.
I think I may have done it maybe twice the whole goddamn time.
People remember that as, you know, well, that's the way he opened it all the time.
But that's just not true.
I had many things, different things I did.
But the fact is I didn't know what else to say.
So I'm Chevy Chase and you're not. I didn't know. And didn't you at one time, they would always do
those things on the news where it would be you were on the phone. Yes. That's why I had a phone
on my desk. I said to Lauren, I got to have a phone because nobody ever on any news broadcast with the exception of Walter Cronkite when Kennedy was killed is on a phone.
But it's always on a desk next to a – you know.
And I have to have one and I like to be on the phone when they say in Now Weekend Update.
So I had the phone and, you know and I'd pretend I was talking to
some girlfriend or something.
And I love it when you
say, oh, hello, I'm Chevy Chase.
You know, whatever. I remember
there was one line I remember
you saying where you
said, no, you're the one
who pulls the pearls out.
It sounds to me like
O'Donnie who gave me that.
It probably was Michael.
We asked Alan Zweibel
about that great joke
when Professor Backwards
was murdered.
The neighbors ignored the cries.
Oh, yeah, pla, pla.
Pla, pla.
The update had so much bite then.
There was so much.
Idi Amin is pulling out of Angola.
Another one.
What?
Idi Amin has announced he's pulling out of Angola.
Oh, yeah.
Remember that one?
I sort of do.
Herb Sargent.
I do remember having,
we were right at the end of 1975 going into 1976 when we started.
And we were like doing our end of 1975 show, whatever.
I said, well, 1976 is upon us today.
But what about 1975?
Let's take a look back, shall we?
And I had on the blue screen behind me, it just said 1975, you know, because this can be a story about what?
Let's take a look back.
And I just turned around and look back at it briefly and then came back and didn't know the story.
I got huge laughs for that. Lass. It was that simple kind of physical humor that I loved and that I still love because I'm
not a jokester. I've never done stand-up comedy. I've never been in a Second City type thing or
any of that. But I come from a funny background. I'm a funny dad and whatnot. And I love physical comedy. I mean, Chaplin and Keaton and those guys.
But on and on, you know.
So that was.
Oh, I almost forgot to ask you about Milton Berle when he hosted the show.
I don't think.
Was it Milton?
You weren't on it?
I think Chevy was gone.
Oh, I was in the hospital.
Season two.
No, but you mean Desi Arnaz.
Oh, Desi Arnaz.
Desi Arnaz was on.
Yeah.
And, you know, he was doing Babaloo with our band.
Oh, yeah.
You know, and they were rehearsing.
It was like on a Thursday in the afternoon.
And I just happened to be sitting in the 8H watching this rehearsal.
And he would get angry at the band.
No, no, no.
That's not right.
No, no, no, no.
That's not what we do.
No, no, you do it.
You come in the second.
Next time when you, you know.
And he's yelling at Howard Shore, one of the sweetest men in the world.
He's screaming and yelling.
And I got up from my seat finally, and I went over,
and I took him by the upper arm, but a little tight, you know.
Yeah, it might hurt.
And took him aside.
Said, excuse me, Desi.
And took him aside, you know, like this.
Said, we don't talk to the band that way.
We don't?
No?
No, we don't.
Okay.
And he was nice of them after that.
We'll ask you about Miltie next time.
And now, this is the show that's going to have two endings.
Okay, I'm sorry.
It's already a two-parter.
Yeah, it is.
Can I put my clothes back on?
I'm sorry.
I'm Gilbert Gottfried.
This has once again been Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast with my co-host Frank Santopadre here at Nutmeg Post.
Thank you, Frank Verderosa.
And here with our friend and great comic actor.
Boy, thanks for having comic actor Chevy Chase.
Let me tell you about the...
You'll never get out of this.
Thank you very much.
Thanks, Chevy.
When she left me in all
my despair,
I just held on.
My thoughts were all
gone till I
found you there.
I'm ready to take a chance.
I'm ready to take a chance again.
Okay, I'll be back tomorrow night.
See you. We got to see you.
Bye.
Yeah, yeah, thanks.
You dork. Yeah, yeah, thanks.
You dork. You dork.