WEBVTT - Selects: How Rodney Dangerfield Worked, Live From LA 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:05.080 Hi friends, Chuck here with your Saturday Selects episode. This 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:07.560 is a live when, Live from the l A Podcast 0:00:07.600 --> 0:00:12.440 Festival in This is from November eight when we talked 0:00:12.440 --> 0:00:16.720 about comedy legend Rodney Dangerfield. This episode, Everybody is notable 0:00:17.120 --> 0:00:20.160 because this is where we met Mr Kevin Pollock for 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:22.680 the first time, when he jumped up on stage in 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:25.080 the middle of our podcast to refill our water classes 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:28.520 that had become empty. And that's how we met Kevin. 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:31.639 And now he's become a real pal and he's a 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:35.600 great guy and a good industry friend, and uh I 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:38.199 just think the world of him. So support Kevin and 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:40.159 the stuff that he does. He's in a lot of 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:42.280 great movies and a lot of great TV shows right now, 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:45.720 including one of my favorite shows on television called Better Things, 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:50.120 where Kevin plays Pamela at Lan's brother, and the wonderful, 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:54.480 wonderful show Marvelous Mrs Mazel and check out both of 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:57.160 those if you haven't checked out Kevin's work before. And again, 0:00:57.280 --> 0:00:59.400 a long way of setting up the episode where we 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:02.600 met Kevin when we talked all about how Rodney Dangerfield 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:08.720 worked Live from the l A Podcast Welcome to Stuff 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:18.039 you Should know A production of I Heart Radio. Hey 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:20.360 and well, hey, I guess I want to say hey 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:22.160 and welcome to the podcast. But this is a little 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:24.600 different because this is a this is the intro to 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:27.720 the podcast. That's right. We recorded a live episode at 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:32.240 the l A Podcast Festival, and uh, this is it. Yeah, 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:35.880 this is it. We did one on Rodney Dangerfield. It 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:40.240 was September nineteen fifteen with the Sophie Tell and Beverly Hills. 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:43.560 Very chic, very chic, and it was a lot of fun. Greed. 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:45.880 We hope you guys have fun listening to it. How 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:49.120 are you guys doing? Thank you very much for coming 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:52.480 to our show. But we do this normally, but um, 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:54.800 it's usually just two of us and Jerry sitting here 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:59.600 on Facebook while we record like eating me so soup yea, 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:03.640 she loves me so souper um. And then you know, 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:05.720 we do live shows too, but normally there's like a 0:02:05.760 --> 0:02:08.360 gulf of a stage between us and like, you guys 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:13.200 are right here, so we're watching YouTube. I guess that's 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:16.280 what I'm saying. She's got one of our shirts. Nice 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:22.359 nice shirt, and she's the only one. Oh I like that. 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:26.240 I oh, there, of course they are he says I 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:32.760 listened to podcasts before Cereal burn. Yeah, and on the 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:37.480 back it says, but I love serially right we should. 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:40.560 We should also say hi to everybody in lives Oh yeah, 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:43.799 streaming folks, Hello, and of course thanks to Audible and 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:46.960 square Space and the rest of those people don't sponsor us, 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:51.440 so I don't feel n mention anything. Does that count 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:55.760 as a mid role land? Sure? Okay? Cool with a 0:02:55.800 --> 0:03:02.000 stack of money waiting outside, Mr Monopolies, just hanging out outside? Okay, 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:05.040 So um, what do you got anything to start with? 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:06.960 I've got nothing to start with. I usually don't drink 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:10.280 this early in the day, but coming the nerves and 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:13.720 is I felt it would be fitting as a tribute 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:16.080 to our our topic, which we're gonna get into. So 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:19.919 I decided to work up a heavy sweat because Rodney 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:22.799 Dangerfield is known for drinking and sweating. Yeah, you're basically 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:26.799 missing the tie. Got everything else covered? Thanks you guys 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:30.920 familiar with the one Mr Rodney Dangerfield. Yeah that's good. 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:35.520 I'm glad to hear that he's a an increasingly underappreciated comedian. 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:37.160 Like I've talked to it at least a couple of 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:42.000 people who have not seen back to school? I know boom. 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:46.040 And I was actually talking to someone who works here 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:50.920 at the festival who said, is he dead? And I said, yeah, 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:52.720 that happens a lot to that, because she said, why 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:57.160 don't I remember that? Alan? It's no respect? No respect. 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:00.120 That's the cool thing about the guy like he That 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:03.560 was his whole stick, that was his whole um hook. Right, Well, 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:08.440 we need to start in the traditional way. Okay, you're ready, 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:13.200 very nice, hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:16.800 There's Charles W. Chuckers Bryant, and we are here at 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:20.880 l A popfest and uh all you lovely people, give 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:29.719 yourselves a hand. Thank Is that better? You feel a 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:35.159 little more? You guys happy with that too? Okay, Um, well, 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:39.760 now we have to start over. How people, how many 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:44.960 people have seen back to school? Great start? So, as 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:47.960 we were saying, um, the weird thing about Rodney Dangerfield 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:52.960 is that, um, he was his whole his whole stick 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:57.000 about um no respect was actually really really close to 0:04:57.040 --> 0:04:59.560 accurate as a matter of fact, and and not just 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:01.560 while he was growing up he had a really tragic, 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:04.760 terrible childhood, but also as he got older and older 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:08.320 and even after he blew up. Um he's still people 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:10.640 just kind of took what he was saying and ran 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:13.200 with it. Like he he had this one story where, um, 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:16.279 he opened a club which we'll talk about called danger Fields, 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:20.080 so it's very obviously his club, and he was on 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:22.400 his way up to the stage. He'd just been like 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:25.440 called up there, and on his way some guy stops 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:28.080 him and says, Rodney, can I have your autograph? And 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:31.640 can you also give me some more butter? And like 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:34.280 this this happened to this guy quite a bit. Actually, Yeah, 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:37.520 so it does turn out that you will see even 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:41.240 after death, the guy got no respect. But um, as 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:45.440 Chuck will assert later, I predict um he he is. 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:49.080 He's a comedians comedian and very actually well respected by 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:52.080 the ones that count. And uh, I don't know if 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:54.800 you guys know this, but a lot of comedians have 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:59.520 in her pain, uh, which is the reason a lot 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:02.000 of them get into comedy and a reason that many 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:06.320 of them drink until they black out on many nights. Uh. 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:08.960 Inter pain is no secret to the comedy world. But 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:12.480 you'd be hard pressed to find someone who was as 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:17.560 legitimately depressed and sad as Rodney Dangerfield. He was like 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:20.200 a crying clown for real, he was. He often talked 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:22.760 about the heaviness he felt every day when he woke up. 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:24.640 He said he would wake up and every day and 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:29.200 there it was lingering above him, was his heaviness. Yeah. 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:31.320 And if you've ever if you ever want to go 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:34.280 down a YouTube rat hole, just look up some interviews 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:36.720 with the guy on YouTube from like the eighties, and 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:38.479 you know, he does a lot of interviews that just 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:41.960 like local TV stations promoting movies and stuff. And when 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:45.120 he's out of his stick element, it's one of the 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:49.200 saddest things you've ever seen. Man, it's really depressing. Uh. 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:51.240 He's he just had this air about him. You could 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:53.360 tell he had the weight of life on his shoulders. 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:57.440 And it all pretty much stems from his awful, awful, 0:06:57.520 --> 0:07:03.120 awful childhood. Child It is Hilary us so far, everybody. Uh, 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:05.800 so we should start at the beginning with him. Um. 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:10.360 He was born in n on Long Island, Not in 0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:13.800 Long Island, Chuck tells me. Um, And uh, he was 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:17.280 born to a vaudevillian father who took off with one 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:21.680 of Rodney's brothers to go hit the circuit. And that 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:23.360 was that, Like he I think he saw him like 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:25.480 once or twice a year for a half hour, an 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:27.160 hour or something like that. Yeah, he said he saw 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:29.840 his dad literally like twice a year growing up. And 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:33.760 uh he was born Jacob Cohen. Uh, and his dad 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:37.600 was a juggler and a comic who um apparently hit 0:07:37.640 --> 0:07:41.840 the road because of his wife, Um, who was. You know, 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:43.600 we were talking about what an awful person she was, 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:46.280 and we were going over this stuff and that she was. 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:48.720 But the more I thought about it, um, she she 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:51.520 had a serious problem. It was you know, back in 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:54.120 the nineteen twenties, you didn't diagnose things like they do today. 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:57.680 You just ran off to the vaudeville pretty much. But 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:03.200 she was clearly depressed, like foundly depressed and uh sadly 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:08.360 completely abandoned emotionally and neglected a little rot or I 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:13.600 guess little Jacob Uh he was. He was left on 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:16.320 his own from the time he could remember. His mom 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:19.480 literally never hugged him once, never kissed him once. He 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:23.600 swore up and down, Yeah, and never complimented him or 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:27.120 like tried to build him up. She Uh, she was 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:30.440 a bad lady. And um at starting probably around age 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:33.959 eight or something like that, he um realized that if 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:36.120 he was going to eat dinner on a regular basis, 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:37.720 he was going to have to go get a job 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:41.240 and go grocery shopping himself. Right, So he basically raised 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:44.800 himself storrying about age eight or so. Um and uh, 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:47.120 speaking of grocer's one of the one of the great 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:50.520 things that stuck out to him about his childhood. He was, um, 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:53.040 he had to get a job, and after after school job, 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:55.640 he was still in school. Um. And he lived in 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:58.160 a fairly wealthy neighborhood, but he was not wealthy, so 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:02.319 he used to deliver groceries to his classmates, um home, 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:07.400 which is kind of demoralizing when you're like ten, you know. Um. 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:10.520 And he also, while he was out there running around 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:13.000 on the streets, there's a he wrote an autobiography the 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:16.320 year he died in two thousand and four, and um 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:20.760 he called this chapter male Prostitute because he was like ten, 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:24.440 and he was so unsupervised that they were apparently at 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:27.280 least one or two local molesters that were like, hey, Rodney, 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:29.800 come on up, I got a nickel for you. Yeah. 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:31.920 And he swears up and down that it was just uh, 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:35.600 that it was it was just kissing everybody, don't worry. 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:38.520 The child was just kissed by the grown man for 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:41.400 a nickel um, but he and it happened a lot, 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:43.840 and he was doing it because he needed the money. 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:49.480 So anyway, Rodney danger feel, let's fast forward out of 0:09:49.559 --> 0:09:52.320 this horrible, horrible funk. And by the way, we're gonna 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:55.480 pepper in some of his best jokes here and there. Uh, 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.679 and debated on whether or not to try and do 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:02.200 it as him, because it's hard. I've already promised certain 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:04.679 people here there, it's hard to do that. It's hard 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:06.960 to tell a Rodney Dangerfield joke without kind of doing him. 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:08.960 And I took a little informal pole last night with 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:11.880 some folks and they're like, yeah, you sort of have to. Yeah, 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:13.920 I think that's not like it's a good impression. But 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:17.840 plus it makes me delivering it my flat weirdo affect 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:20.520 where I'm not even trying it all the weirder, So 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:23.600 prepare for that too. But one thing that he did, 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:25.200 and that of course a lot of comics do, is 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:27.440 they turned that pain into funny and he really relied 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:31.280 on his uh, his jokes is a way to I mean, 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:32.839 the only time he was happy was when he was 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:35.120 on stage performing and as soon as he left that 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:38.439 heaviness would come back. But he he often joked about 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:41.360 his mom. He would say, uh, my mom never breastfed me. 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:46.200 She told me she always thought of me as a friend, 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:48.040 which is a funny joke. But when you know the 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:50.800 real pain behind it, it's it's just like the saddest 0:10:50.800 --> 0:10:52.720 thing you've ever heard. It takes a dead bit of 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:55.840 the funniness away from it. I've got a good apparent one. 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:59.000 You're ready. Yeah, So I remember the time, and this 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:03.559 is my Rodney danger. I remember the time I was kidnapped. 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:05.360 They sent a piece of my finger to my father. 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:10.360 He said he wanted more proof that probably did not happen. 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:13.600 But it gets the point across, you know, And plus 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:17.040 it's funny. And so if you're a one more parent joke, Okay, 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:19.560 so I tell you my parents hated me. My bath 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:26.080 toys were a toaster in a radio funny. All right, 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:29.600 that's going over better than I thought it wouldn't. So, 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:32.520 so starting about age fifteen, he starts, he realizes he's 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:35.000 actually kind of hilarious and that he has a talent 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:37.800 for taking all of this horrible, tragic stuff and turning 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:41.640 into funny stuff. Um and uh, he started writing jokes 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:44.080 and he got good pretty quick. He started selling jokes 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:48.120 age fifteen or sixteen to establish comedians, right, yeah, and 0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:50.000 he kept him He had this stuffel bag. He would 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:51.960 write jokes by hand his entire career and put him 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:54.400 in this stuffel bag. So he literally had a duffel 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:57.720 bag full of like thousands and thousands of jokes. And 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:00.680 apparently I think, uh you said that during a typical 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:03.520 performance later, like once he hit the big time, he 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:06.360 would tell like over three d jokes in a set, 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:09.800 like three fifty yeah, yeah, in an hour. He ran 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:13.360 at their quick jokes, but still, but he remembered them 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:15.360 all and he knew which one's fit best. Like the 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:19.240 guy was a comic genius. Hopefully that's coming across here 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:21.600 or will by the end of this, right. So he 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:24.040 gets this big break at age nineteen. He's written jokes 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:26.640 for a few years and he's gonna try this out, 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:29.280 and he gets a job at a cat skills resort 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:34.000 for twelve bucks a week ten weeks, including room and board, 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:37.319 like dirty dancing that kind of scene very much. So yeah, 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:40.800 but he's like the up and coming comic on stage. Right, 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:43.959 have you guys ever seen Iron Man meets Dirty Dancing 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:47.440 that mash up? Now go check it out. Actually, it's 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:50.600 so bizarre. It's one of the better things you'll ever see. 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:53.680 That has nothing to do with the Rodney Dangerfield. That 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:57.160 was just an ad on basically. But um, so he's working. 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:00.880 He's working hard, um the stint of cats skills. Like, 0:13:01.000 --> 0:13:02.800 I don't think he gets ree up, but he he 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:04.640 keeps going back to the cat skills. It's one of 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:07.040 his regular gigs. But on the on the side, while 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:11.160 he's working, he's a singing waiter at the Polish Falcons 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:15.280 nightclub where, yeah, where Lenny Bruce's mom was the m C. 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:19.560 He was an acrobatic diver, right, Um, but I don't 0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:23.559 know what you're all thinking, triple indy. No, he did 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:26.439 not do the triple indy in the movie obviously. Uh 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:28.520 for those of you who have not seen Back to School, 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:32.440 that was an in joke. He was a diver in 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:34.760 the movie, a competitive diver. Yeah. Well, I was going 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:38.840 to punish them for not having seen it. Okay, sorry, 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:41.640 I was trying to drive him a point. Uh. So 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:44.959 in nineteen fifty one, he gets married for the first 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:48.679 time to a jazz singer name Joyce Indig, and he 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:51.520 had a couple of kids and moved to New Jersey, 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:53.400 which we all know is the death knell for any 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:56.240 comedian trying to work in New York. Kind of means 0:13:56.280 --> 0:14:00.520 you've given up, um. But he didn't give up just yet. 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:03.360 He did for a minute for sure. Yeah, not not 0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:05.360 at that point though. He was still trying to work. 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:08.880 But when he turned twenty seven, he quit comedy and 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:12.920 literally did not perform from the age of forty one. 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:17.280 And at forty one he was like, let's try this again, right, Well, 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:19.440 he and his wife divorced, so he's like, I've got 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:21.600 a little more time. I think I'm gonna go try 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:24.560 comedy again. And they actually got back together like the 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:27.400 next year and stayed married for another ten years or 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:30.360 something like that. But this time around, um, he was like, 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:31.720 let me see if I can figure out how to 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:34.200 how to balance home life with this. I'm trying to 0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:36.480 break into comedy, right yeah, and let me try and 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:38.760 develop an act. I think the first time he flounder 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:40.720 because he didn't he didn't know what kind of comedian 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:43.400 he wanted to be. He tried singing, he tried impressions, 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:45.880 he even tried prop comedy for a little while. But 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:47.680 he also I mean, and he had these jokes about 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:49.680 how much his life sucked. Like he used some of 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:52.240 these same jokes his whole life, um, but they just 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:54.920 didn't hang on him quite right, because he had his 0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:56.800 whole life ahead of him and he was young and 0:14:56.800 --> 0:14:59.320 full of promise. That second time around, he was right 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:01.480 there in the sweet spot, like age forty one is 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:05.920 a little desperate, kind of sweaty, and uh, these jokes 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:09.080 about how bad is light, these jokes about how bad 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:12.880 is life where it was going, um like really just 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:15.840 kind of hit a lot more. He adopted a persona basically, 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:20.200 and uh that definitely helped. Yeah, I mean it was 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:22.840 it was sort of him, but it was also a character. 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:25.600 And when I was researching this, I was like, I 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:28.000 was kind of thinking about the you don't see a 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:31.640 lot of character comedians anymore, Like that was the sort 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:35.480 of the Heyday with like Andrew Dice Clay and uh 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:39.080 well Rodney Dangerfield and Emo Phillips, and it seemed like 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:41.040 there were a lot of characters, but now no one. 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:44.280 Now it's just like, look at this thing that happened 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:46.680 in my life and how funny it is look at 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:52.040 all these witty observations about my life. I'd like to 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:55.080 see some good character comedians. I can't think of it. 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:58.000 There any out there. I guess Brent Windbag. That's kind 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:00.280 of wait, wait, what about like Larry the Cave Guy. 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:04.200 He's total I assume that is a character because he 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:06.640 started out as as a completely different kind of comedian 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:09.560 and then adopted that persona. But I don't count him 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:15.360 as a comedian. So yeah, he's not watching. Don't worry, 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:22.880 he's not. He's writing bad jokes to start a flame 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:26.400 war with Larry the I'll totally take him up on 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:30.000 that flame war. Uh, although kids squashed me with his 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:34.920 sacks of money. Um. So he adopts his character. Uh. 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:38.760 He changes his name legally at this point to Jack Roy, 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:42.760 which was that his father's name. His father's stage name 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:44.920 was Phil Roy. Yeah, and so he changed his name 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:47.240 legally to Jack Roy, and that was his real name 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:49.720 till the day he died. Uh. And he was performing 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:52.920 under that name for a while until he tried this 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:56.520 second go and decided I don't want anyone to remember 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:59.200 Jack Roy. So um, he told this guy that was 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:01.240 booking him at a up in Manhattan. Could you just 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:02.800 make up a name for me and put that on 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:04.919 the on the I guess it would a marquee on 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:07.399 the play, yeah, or you know in any ad they 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:10.560 took out. So the guy who ran this place, the 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:14.320 Inwood Lounge, I think um came up the Rodney Dangerfield, right. 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:18.400 But the weird thing is, um he had actually lifted 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:20.680 the name from a Jack Benny character, Like there was 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:24.000 an original Rodney Dangerfield and it wasn't Rodney Dangerfield, right, 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:27.920 were the giant twist of of the podcast It's all 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:32.480 downhill from here. So the the Jack Benny came up 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:34.439 with his character and I think the forties maybe or 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:38.920 something like that, UM of this grade Z Western hero 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:44.120 named Rodney Dangerfield, and UM, I guess the the lounge 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:46.840 owner remembered it and came up with that Rodney Dangerfield 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:49.520 had no idea about this. So he's walking around like 0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:53.040 using this name for years. And apparently he met Johnny 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:55.520 Carson once that one of his shows, and Johnny Carson 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:57.360 was like, you know where your name came from? Right? 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:00.960 And he said, what are you talking talking about? Yeah? 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:03.600 He explained that the whole Jack Benny thing and later 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:06.760 on he uh saw Jack Benny, and Jack Benny wasn't 0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:09.320 like Matt or anything, actually said I really love what 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:11.959 you did with the character, and you really, you know, 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:14.320 you did it just right, So no harm, no felt, 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:39.000 and they hugged it out from that very famously. So 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:41.320 uh on the second go round, he was he was 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:45.000 making a living doing okay, but he got his real 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:49.760 big break in nine seven with Ed Sullivan. He was, um, 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:52.520 he couldn't get booked on Ed Sullivan, but at the 0:18:52.560 --> 0:18:55.800 time they would book other comedians for the run throughs 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:59.800 as like just placeholders for dress rehearsal basically, and so 0:18:59.840 --> 0:19:02.880 he got a spot booked on that and apparently did 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:05.480 so well and dress rehearsal that Ed Sullivan, you know, 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:07.440 took note on the side of the stage, which means 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:12.359 he went like this, you know you're funny. That's how 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:14.239 you knew Ed Sullivan thought you were funny, because if 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:23.080 it works for Nixon to do that, Nixon And actually 0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:25.119 that was the result of a huge long shot. He 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:28.520 told his agent like, just get me on Ed Sullivan, 0:19:28.800 --> 0:19:31.119 and it it played out, panned out very well. He 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:34.119 ended up being on Ed Sullivan like seventeen times or 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:35.680 something like that, and it led to all these other 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:39.440 late night appearances. He was on Carson, like I think 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:41.679 a record, he holds the record for being on Carson 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:46.200 the most seventy times something like that. Merv Griffin, Dino, 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:48.399 like all the dudes who are running late night and 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:51.280 basically where the tastemakers for all of the comedians were 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:58.159 suddenly promoting the sweaty, weird, coked up uh pothead, booze hound, 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:02.320 huge pothead the way Rodney Dangerfield right, and he took 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:04.560 it and ran with it, like right when he hit 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:08.680 in nineteen seven he got to work. He was such 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:11.840 a big pothead. Actually, the original name of his biography 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:15.359 was going to be My Love Affair with Marijuana, And 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:17.320 he was serious. He wanted to call it that because 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:21.760 he smoked potty, said for you know, sixty something years. Uh, 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:24.359 but well up until the day he died. Really, I 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:27.000 think from like one on, like he was smoking pot 0:20:27.080 --> 0:20:30.119 in I see you in the hospital, because he had 0:20:30.160 --> 0:20:34.240 an early medical marijuana exemption long before anyone even knew 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:37.200 it that way, he just wrote his own I don't 0:20:37.200 --> 0:20:39.359 even knew what that was, but if he flashed it 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:43.720 in your face, you didn't ask questions. So, uh, he 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:46.480 got his big break. Actually, Carson had blackballed him for 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:49.639 a while because he accused Carson in a letter of 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:51.720 stealing or one of his writers of stealing one of 0:20:51.720 --> 0:20:54.359 his jokes. So Carson famously wouldn't have him on the 0:20:54.400 --> 0:20:57.520 show for a long time until they eventually right, until 0:20:57.560 --> 0:21:00.240 they eventually met um and worked it out out, and 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:03.320 then Johnny became like the biggest fan ever. And if 0:21:03.400 --> 0:21:06.480 you want to enjoy yourself at home on the YouTube's 0:21:06.760 --> 0:21:09.240 just go look up Johnny Carson on Rodney or Rodney 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:12.480 Dangerfield on Carson. There's a lot of clips where I mean, 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:16.280 Carson was just like the ultimate set up dude. Just 0:21:16.400 --> 0:21:18.240 let him do his thing. Yeah, and he would laugh 0:21:18.320 --> 0:21:21.120 until he was crying because he couldn't believe that danger 0:21:21.160 --> 0:21:23.000 Fields getting away was saying most of the stuff he 0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:26.119 was saying on TV on Carson's own show, it was good. 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:29.920 So he's he's married, he's working a lot, and uh, 0:21:29.960 --> 0:21:33.280 he decides that he doesn't want to happen to his 0:21:33.320 --> 0:21:35.639 own kids what happened to him, which was to be neglected. 0:21:36.160 --> 0:21:38.400 So he said, you know what I'm gonna do. Um, 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:41.200 even though no one's ever done this. I'm gonna borrow 0:21:41.240 --> 0:21:44.320 a bunch of money dollars and I'm gonna open my 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:46.520 own comedy club in New York City so i can 0:21:46.560 --> 0:21:50.399 stay home with my children, Brian and Melanie, I think, right. 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:52.200 And it's not like he had any money, right then, 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:54.440 you know, like this is a huge, huge risk and 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:56.639 he's doing okay, but he had to borrow all not 0:21:56.720 --> 0:21:59.640 that okay, right, so um, everybody tries to talk him 0:21:59.640 --> 0:22:01.880 out of it. He goes ahead with it, and it's 0:22:01.880 --> 0:22:03.679