The Adam and Dr. Drew Show - #1716 The Murder of Bob Crane

Episode Date: May 8, 2023

Adam and Drew take a deep dive into the life and murder of Bob Crane. Next they get into a Love Boat episode where Isaac tries to stop his mother from having sex and the sex tape of Jayne Kennedy. Please Support Our Sponsors: TrustAdamDrew.com or call 844-790-9191

Recorded live at Corolla One Studios with Adam Corolla and board-certified physician and addiction medicine specialist, Dr. Drew Pinsky. You're listening to The Adam and Dr. Drew Show. Yeah, get it on. Dr. Drew's foot, a foot, a foot, a foot. Foot doctor? No, foot doctor. A foot, a foot.

Yeah. I'm a foot, man. Are we watching Love Boat? I have not seen. Well, maybe I have. I saw some last week. I haven't seen anything this week. I have to think about what I saw because I was seeing some new stuff, earlier stuff,

and thus more bizarre stuff. Yeah. More bizarre. I'm trying to remember. You know, Julie and what's his name? Gopher end up being more cartoon characters. I know what I saw. I saw a thing with Ken Crane.

Is that his name? Bob Crane. Bob Crane. Bob Crane, who was Hogan in Hogan's Heroes, who died under very mysterious circumstances. I actually had to look it up again to remind myself what it was. Essentially, he and some other dude would go around and record their sexual escapades and then watch them, and then they died under mysterious circumstances with all that recording material somehow sort of – there was a movie about it.

I remember they made a big deal about the recording material being all around him when he was killed. You're saying material. You mean equipment? Equipment and the VHS tape stacked all over the place. Yeah. So Bob Crane was a local radio guy. I didn't know that. I found that out too.

He did radio out in Los Angeles. Weird. I don't know, KRLA or something like that. But think about it. That was the AM radio days, really. Like, American top 40. Yeah, yeah. AM was king.

And so he did radio. He was a successful radio guy. Good looking. Got into Hogan's Heroes. And he was kind of the darling of Disney. He was doing those... Remember when Disney cranked out all those like My Dad the Nurse or The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs or the – oh, God, the head – like the computer

with the hairy feet or something. Would it be accurate to say that Don Knotts did a bunch of those too? The astronaut that was afraid of heights. Yeah, it was the mule that kicked field goals, the apple dumpling gang. They would crank out these really Disney, of all people, cranked out these really kind of schlocky live action comedies that were great for me when I was nine. Yeah, of course. But that's who they were for, really like six-year-olds. But people forget that the term Mickey Mouse was around that time meant to mean crappy. Right. Everything shitty was mickey mouse yeah right right so they uh so guys like um

they had a revolving cast yeah and that that you know bob crane would play the dad yeah the dad i don't know with the swinging teenage daughter something like that you know yeah find out some of those disney bob crane movies i mean let's see Didn't the guy from the Patty Duke show, Dad, also, was he in a bunch of those? So there was a few guys. Kurt Russell would be like the teenager in those things. And they had the world's greatest athlete, Jan Michael Vincent. I mean, they just kept them coming, right? Jan Michael Vincent.

You know what I mean? They just kept them coming, right? And there were guys who were in that. For instance, Superdad was – oh, Kurt Russell was the son-in-law, I guess, in Superdad. Who is the girl? I can't see. I don't know. But the point is there was also another guy, Gus the Mule, who kicked the field goals. Don Knotts.

Right. They just all kept coming from 1972 to 1977. They just cranked out 1,000 of them. I would have put those a little earlier. But yeah, OK. Maybe 68 to 75 or something. But, you know, and there were even, there was a guy, I mean, there's an actor named Tony.

He would be in the Woody Allen movies. He was in, he was in like Manhattan. Was he the groovy friend? Yeah, he'd be like Manhattan and maybe Annie Hall. Tony Roberts. He was the groovy friend. He'd be the Woody Allen's friend going, you got to come out to L.A., man. That's where things are popping. You come out here and you make the scene, man.

He was the guy that in Annie Hall uttered the word VPL for the first time I'd ever heard that word. Visible panty line. Oh, really? And it came out of his mouth. I'm 90% sure. But it would also be like in the goose that lays golden eggs or the hairy computer or something. I believe you, but I don't remember. He's the only guy who went right from doing sort of Disney schlock to hanging out with Woody Allen in these like iconic Woody Allen arthouse kind of films.

Yeah, curly big hair and stuff, right? Yeah, yeah, that was him. Show us a picture of him. He was a likable guy. He was always sort of a little sleazy, a little in the Woody Allen films. He was a little sort of like formy. Okay, so all these things are sort of like forming. Okay.

So all these things are these archetype characters. Yes. You know, every story. I'll circle back to Love Boat in this regard. Every guy who was a humble, nice, non-assuming guy, especially if he was a bachelor. Hold on. In the courtship of Eddie's father, Bill Bixby was like the heart of gold dad who was trying to raise the son. Yeah.

And he had the swinging dude with the turtleneck and the medallion. It was his friend. He said, hey, man, girls are in town. We've got to go out. Even Bob Newhart, his neighbor across the hall. Right. We've got to have some drinks, you know. Their airline pilot. Right, right.

And I've got some stewardesses coming over and they want to party. And he'd be like, no, Eddie, it's a school night. I've got to stay home with Eddie tonight. Good kid misses Livingston to watch her. You know, there's the weird, bad influence, cool, 60s kind of swinging bachelor, you know, been divorced twice, you know, just wanted to swing now with the young chicks. What I'm reacting on Tony Robbins, was that his name? Roberts.

Roberts. Tony Roberts. He looks like, do you know Dave, that series Dave? He looks like Dave. You look at him. Look at him. Dave? I know the movie Dave.

Am I right? These guys are like, hell yeah, he does. All right. So. It's a series worth your time. He didn't always have a beard, but he did Disney like the barefoot computer. And then three years later,

he's doing Annie Hall. And so, right. So Bob Crane, Bob Crane becomes the darling of, of Disney. Yeah. Or one of those Disney guys guys that you know is constantly

picking up work you know disney had their little you know like i said the kurt russell and these guys they had you know then on the comedy side that don knots and tim conway you know and um but disney started hearing inklings about this guy's extracurricular activity. You know what I mean? Yeah. Sort of. He had some specific guy that was his partner in crime. Well, hold on.

Yeah. So Bob Crane, air quotes, and take pictures of nude models and stuff like that. Almost like nude modeling art school or something almost. Yeah, but these weren't – it wasn't that. It was a sort of one-on-one. And I guess it started to come out that Bob had this little fixation over here. And so Disney was like, that's not good for our brand.

You know what I mean? So we're just going to kind of cut you loose. And then Hogan's Heroes came about, and he ended up marrying. Hogan's Heroes was after the Disney run. It was during it, maybe a little after. disney run uh it was during it yeah maybe a little after he ended up marrying like frowline you know anga the blonde like like who would show up periodically and yeah yeah yeah and marrying her and then hogan's heroes went away and then he got kind of toxic you know he was had a little bit of the gill syndrome. Oh, there she is.

Yeah. Yeah. There was this thing, though, that if you were known as this one character, it was hard to shake it. Yeah. Well, that was kind of. But Hogan's heroes, he just played a kind of charismatic leading guy. Gilligan played a character, and we needed him to put the outfit on or whatever so i don't i don't think it's so much that he got boxed in yeah it because he was doing

movies yeah too it was that word sort of spread around town that this guy was into some weird stuff am i right that it was in Palm Springs or something? No. No. So now Hogan's Heroes is over. He's got bills to pay and an ex-wife and alimony and stuff. She's quickly an ex-wife. No, his wife's an ex-wife. Oh, this is the next one. Yeah.

And it becomes he has to work, but he's not really employable here in Los Angeles and Hollywood. So he has to start doing regional theater. Right. And he can go to New Brunswick or he can go to Muncie, Indiana or something. It's like Bob Crane. Colonel Hogan is coming in. He's doing Death of a Salesman or something. Or fucking Music Man or something. Right, right they they do

dinner theater you know and so he basically made his life on the road yeah and so he would go to these towns and i think he ended up dying in phoenix or tucson or something like that i remember desert yeah yeah go to the town phoenix pho And have a seven-week run there, you know? Yeah. And he'd be hanging out in his motel, you know, after the show, bored, looking for some action. No internet porn. No nothing to do. No iPhone or anything, you know? Yeah.

And, you know, it was dinner theater, so it was probably over at 9.30 at night, you know? And Bob Crane wanted to go out and have some pops and have a good time. And, you know, the call time was probably 530 or 6 the next day. So the devil will make work for those idle hands. I can tell you from some experience, like when you're out on the road and you just don't have to be anywhere the next day until 6. And you're sort of – you're not in the world. You're in the planet. You're not in your world.

Scottsdale. Yeah, and there's no – no one's going to judge you for drinking on a Wednesday night. You don't have anywhere to go. It's not like you're going to wake up the next day with the kids and the wife hungover, can't go to work or whatever. You just kind of sleep it off and read the newspaper the next day and going to work at six o'clock for dinner theater. Let me ask you this. I'm guessing this is the episode you wanted to talk about that I happen to have seen.

No, it wasn't. Did you go look up Bob Crane recently or did you just know this? No, no. I always knew the story. I had to go look it up. And then I watched a movie too. The movie that there was a movie the week about. Willem Dafoe played that guy.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he had this kind of creepy tech guy. I thought it was a tech guy. And the tech guy would be like, I got my hands on this Sony equipment. It's called a Betamax. You know what I mean? And it's like, what does that mean? And it's like,

so far, you know, Elvis and Richard Nixon are only two guys who got their hands on this stuff. You know what I mean? And it's, you know, it's big and it's bulking. It comes in a big hard case and stuff like that,

but we can tape ourselves and watch it back, you know, that night, you know, which is unthinkable because in the past I could shoot it, get it developed, you know, bring it back, put on a projector. You know, this is weeks, you know. So he started following him out to these places, you know, like, I'll come I'll come out to you and keep you company and we'll have some kicks, you know. So he would show up with all his equipment, you know, and like set it up back in Bob's, you know, he had, you know, long-term condo apartment or whatever.

They'd rent him for seven weeks while he was doing the run. And he'd set up all the stuff. And then, you know, after the show, they go to the local bar. And, of course, hey, man, it's Hogan. You know what I mean? This guy was trading on Hogan. You know what I mean? This guy was trading on Hogan. You know what I mean? And he's good looking and charismatic.

And again, three networks, big deal. Oh, yeah. Everyone knew who he was. When he walked into a bar in Phoenix at 10 o'clock at night, the ladies knew who that guy was. And so they would hang around, and they'd buy him drinks and stuff like that. And then the creepy guy would kind of corral him. You know, like, how about we take the party back to the apartment? You know, we're going to hang out and party a little bit.

And they'd go, oh, yeah, sounds like fun. You know, and then they'd go back to the apartment and, you know, the equipment was all set up and everything. And they'd be like, there's no Internet. Yeah. So who cared? I guess for them, like, where they'd be like, there's no internet. Yeah. So who cared? I guess for them, like where is this stuff going to end up? Right. Who's going to see it other than these two dudes?

Yes. You know what I mean? Yes. I always wondered of that piece. Was it – they weren't hiding the equipment really. Mm-mm. Did they start it running like the moment everyone walked in? Like, hey, we're just recording the party, man.

We're just – you know what I mean? How did they pull it off? It's weird. I know a lot, but not everything. Okay, okay. But so then they would tape themselves all having sex and start collecting these tapes and, you know, Tucson, 1974, you know, Betty, Veronica, you know. And I think this guy would follow him around yeah and um maybe at some point

maybe at some point bob told him something he didn't want to hear like listen i i got my wife and kids back in la like i gotta sober up and you know i gotta i gotta go back to la and see if i can reinvent myself maybe get another radio gig or you know, I got to go back to L.A. and see if I can reinvent myself, maybe get another radio gig or, you know. Oh, Bob said this. Yeah, Bob. I mean, I'm not a thousand percent sure on this, but I think Bob started telling the creepy A.V. guy kind of at the end of the road here. I can't see myself just you and me traveling around the country for the next 10 years setting up video equipment. Like, we're going to take a break.

And the guy was like, come on, Bob. You know, we got a good thing going. And he got into it with him and sort of kicked him out, you know, and told him that enough was enough. And then a day or so later, they found Bob Crane basically choked out with one of the cords. And like on the, I don't know if he was stabbed, but he was definitely choked out by one of the AV cords or lamp cord or something like that, just dead. And they always suspected this guy did it, but they didn't have DNA and they didn't really have anything. And they found some blood in the carpet of the guy's car or something, but they just never, they're never, never able to make it stick.

And 20 years went by and they just got never, maybe he went in and beat it or something. And then when, then they found more, you know, they had samples and they found they got DNA technology, like kind of caught up and they found him and then he uh he died at that point or something the the vav guy yeah they never hooked him he was bludgeoned with the camera ipod and then choked with an electrical cord it's crazy that i don't remember hearing that there was speculation about it was somebody's husband or somebody's brother or some shit like that too well they always do yeah that always gets woven into the fabric yeah you know but uh yeah and the guy never i don't think the guy ever did

jail time i think they were going to retry him like 20 years later and then he had a heart attack and died. Or maybe he did get found, convicted, went to jail and then died shortly thereafter or something. But he never really did the time. One of the things I find interesting about this Bob Crane story is that it's at the tail end of the time when the movie industry and studios and producers and whatnot could control the image of people. I mean, Errol Flynn, I'm sure if there were a video camera around, he would have done the same shit. Right. You know what I mean? And there are plenty of other major film stars that were equally as depraved.

And they managed to kind of – they just glossed that all over and made a separate person that they presented to the public. Yeah, they made gay guys straight. Yeah, right. Rout straight. Yeah, right. Routinely. Routinely. He was acquitted and he continued to maintain his innocence until his death in 1998. But they did find some more stuff. Anyway.

But isn't it weird, though, that I think Bob Crane thought he could get away with this shit because he was a star and stars, you know, people don't find out about stars. I think in his head he was still coming out of that era maybe. Well, there was, I believe, there was like tab – there were still tabloids and stuff back then. Yeah, but they mostly carried the party line. Here he is out with his new wife. Here he is out with his new wife. There were some rumblings of Bob, tabloidian rumblings, I think, because that's ultimately Disney and whomever picked up on that.

But, yeah, so that's it. I'm just saying this when the press turned from being the instrument of maintaining an image versus tearing one down. They used to protect celebrities. Now they protect politicians. That's kind of what they shifted to. They went from protecting Bob Crane to protecting Joe Biden. Very interesting. Errol Flynn to Joe Biden. They're like 100 years off.

All right. So, yeah, the episode I was watching had a big time trope in it, which is Isaac's mom came on the ship. Okay. Pearl Bailey. Okay. And famous jazz singer and whatever. Very early interracial couple, by the way, married to a white man. Because I looked her up.

She came on. She did that. Of course, dad died. So, you know, she was single. And then she met somebody. And Isaac was outraged and spent the whole episode trying to break them apart. I've seen this one. Get your hands off my mom.

And I thought that is such another one of those TV trope things. I know many people whose parents were divorced and then dad start mom start dating. Dad said I couldn't find a kid that gave a shit. Either gave a shit or were just grateful that dad was taking care of himself. Yeah, yeah. Right, right. And Isaac at age 34 was incensed that his mom would begin dating again several years after his dad died. Did I tell you I spoke to him?

Yeah, I think you did. He's Fred Stoller's good friend, and he got him on the phone. And he sounded exactly the same. So delightful dude, too. Like super positive. Yeah. So Isaac's girlfriend came on the boat, too. So Isaac wanted to spend time with his girl, but he had to sort of split time with his breaking up his mom from slow dancing with this 60-year-old guy.

And I remember the girlfriend was sort of jealous of that or something. No, she wanted – yeah, I mean she wanted Isaac to the man to stop doing something, she would basically offer him sex. So he's a 70s thing. Yeah. So he'd go, look at him out there on the dance floor. Somebody's got to go out there and get between them and put that guy in his place. And she'd go, Isaac. And he'd go, what? And she'd like blow into his ear and go, why don't we go back to the cabin? Yeah.

I'm tired. And he'd go, well, okay. And he'd just get pulled away. You know what I mean like he was going to do this but he was promised intercourse so he'd stop doing whatever it is no matter how important whatever it is he was doing that's pretty realistic

yeah I guess but it was definitely the unrealistic part is when he wouldn't respond to it well it would always work they would do it all the time in every sitcom and every every whatever like if the guy was like playing cards with his buddies and smoking a cigar and drinking a beer and he's like honey come back come upstairs i got a hot hand here honey you go to bed without me

and then she'd come down and go maybe it's time for us to go to bed together. And he'd go, okay, boys, I got to cash out. They would do that every time, which is a little insane if you were, like, throwing a poker party at your house and then at some point you just split, just went upstairs to fuck, you know. Oh, we got the scene, Drew. All right, let's see it.

This is good. Yeah. These guys are good. They good they're all right room isaac you know you're a lucky guy yeah tell me about it i mean you're lucky to have such a super mom what is that guy trying to prove holding her like that i think he's trying to prove super mom. What? Is that a dancer? What is that guy trying to prove? Holding her like that. I think he's trying to prove that she's a beautiful, desirable woman.

She is not. She is my mother. Do you know what I mean? I mean, she has no idea what these cruise ships are like. What are they like, sweetie? Oh, the kiss on the dance floor. What is she doing? Same thing we were doing.

Charlene, I am not throwing myself at a dentist. I'm going to go put a stop to this. Now she's going to offer him sex. Lighten up and let them enjoy themselves. And besides, it's time for your break. Charlene has plans for her Isaac. Oh, she's literally blowing the ear. What kind of plans?

Interesting plans. You see, this hot blood runs in my family. I got a feeling that it runs in mine, too. Of course, if you'd rather not. Well, wait a minute now. I'm with you. I mean, who can fight all this hot blood? Yeah, just leave. Stop it. Leave the job I feel like if somebody

was courting my mom sexually I would intervene as well but on his behalf I'd be like are you sure you want to fucking do this listen I'm a dude I'm a son but I'm a dude first and I just gotta get in

I gotta intervene dude you don't wanna just got to get in. I got to intervene, dude. I'm saving you. You don't want to do this. Got to save you from yourself, man. What's her name? Jane Kennedy? Was that? It looked like Jane Kennedy, but I don't think that was Jane Kennedy.

She came up recently in a conversation. I was like, is she the one with the weird video and stuff? She's another video. She had a weird Tracy Reed. Is she the one with the weird video and stuff? She's another video. Yeah, she had a weird – Tracy Reed. Yes, Jane Kennedy was very early money on the weird bootleg sex video. Who was it with?

I can't remember. It was with Leon – Isaac Hayes or something. Something like that. There was an actor, a black actor. I think it was a musician, I think. No. No, he was an actor. Look up Jane.

Oh, are they in there? Jane Kennedy scandals, which you have to look up. But her life was ruined by it. She was destroyed. She was beautiful beyond description. She was an NFL commentator, an anchor sort of. She was everywhere. She was kind of the first black

female commentator on NFL Today. I think one of the first female, too. Yeah, one of the first female. And Leon Isaac... There it is. Sex tape. Leon Isaac Kennedy. Yeah, see, that's...

It was her husband, I guess. See, let me tell you what fucked me up. We're talking about Isaac. Oh, yeah. Yes. So when I say Leon Isaac, I'm like, am I just shoving Isaac in there? But I knew Leon Isaac. And then I wanted to say Washington. But it's Kennedy, which are stimp presidents. But his name is Isaac Washington, so it can't be Leon Isaac Washington. That's my mind grafting Isaac from the love boat onto the husband. But it was Leon Isaac Kennedy.

And so this was a tape of two – of a married couple doing their thing and it became career destructive i mean just complete meltdown for her right i think there was i think there was some fisting ass play specifically that's the word i remember so which is i guess i mean i couldn't take it i don't i don't even i don't even i mean look getting back it. They just could not take it. I don't even. I don't even. I mean, look, getting back to Bob Graham, you know what I mean? They're just like, come on.

We don't want this kind of liability or press or whatever. I think it's worthy of our audience to point out that this was the sort of fallout slash evolution of this thing called the sexual revolution at the time. People did not know what the fuck was going on. They had no idea young people were being exposed to all this or would engage in it. It was just kind of a shit show that came out of the 60s with no understanding of what it was going to do to relationships or children. Right. Well, we're reliving that now.

We absolutely are. Yeah. 100%. And you and I have spent 30 years going, well, at least we don't have to worry about the 70s. That is behind us. Oh, here we are again. I have found myself watching a lot of tapes of Ronald Reagan lately just to get some inspiration that when things are down, they can go back up. Forget whether you agree or disagree with his policies.

He was very positive at a time that was very negative. Yes. All right. You can go to Adam curl.com for all the live shows. Cause I'm coming to town near you. I mean, I'm coming to Vegas. I'm coming to Oklahoma city.

I'm coming to New York city. Drew's going to be there as well. We'll be there. May 26, 27th, my birthday, Sony hall. So come say hi.

And then Solana Beach, Nashville, Huntsville, Monterey. Let's go to adamcrowler.com for all the live shows. What do you got, Drew? Drdrew.tv for our streaming shows. Some interesting folks this week. Check them out. And pods at drdrew.com. So until next time, Adam Crowler for Dr. Drew saying.