1 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:07,960 Speaker 1: Muhammad Ali and Joe Frasier for the first time. 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:12,039 Speaker 2: In Heavyweight Champions Tip Fiftray, we have two undefeated. 3 00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:15,200 Speaker 1: Fighters and they are Jimmy Connors and Bjorn boor Or. 4 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:18,319 Speaker 3: Gets broken serve once again and leads four to two 5 00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:19,680 Speaker 3: in the final set. 6 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:29,040 Speaker 1: The Steelers versus the Raiders, good love It. The nineteen 7 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:33,400 Speaker 1: seventies saw some ferocious rivalries. But I know what I'd 8 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:35,680 Speaker 1: pick as the fiercest of them all. 9 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:39,839 Speaker 4: Oh, Fred, please help us. My church is raising monify 10 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:42,840 Speaker 4: our youth program. We want to buy ween. 11 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:49,280 Speaker 5: We'll let him have one of yours. Bet what it's something. 12 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:57,680 Speaker 1: The show was sandford AND's son, and when junkyard dealer 13 00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:01,920 Speaker 1: Fred Sandford played by Red Fox and aunt Esther, his 14 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:06,160 Speaker 1: Bible toting sister in law, began trash talking, it got 15 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:08,400 Speaker 1: ugly and hilarious. 16 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:13,760 Speaker 4: If we were alone on a raft in the middle 17 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:14,080 Speaker 4: of the. 18 00:01:13,959 --> 00:01:16,759 Speaker 6: Ocean, I'd rather kiss the octopus in the knock. 19 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:22,480 Speaker 4: I wouldn't want you to kiss me. I'd rather be 20 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:24,319 Speaker 4: kissed by Snaggertude Jagga. 21 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:29,280 Speaker 1: The character of aunt Esther joined the series at the 22 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:31,960 Speaker 1: end of season two, and for many in the audience, 23 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:36,199 Speaker 1: the actress playing her Lawanda Page was a new face, 24 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:43,240 Speaker 1: an overnight sensation, but both Red Fox and Lawanda Page 25 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:45,959 Speaker 1: were veteran comics with big followings. 26 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:48,480 Speaker 3: We'd bring to the floor the young lady that recalled 27 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:49,760 Speaker 3: the record that was so dirty. 28 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:53,360 Speaker 1: So rough, built in black nightclubs and through adults only 29 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:54,560 Speaker 1: party records. 30 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:56,240 Speaker 2: This record is so rough that you wouldn't even let 31 00:01:56,280 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 2: your own mother in law listen to it. 32 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 1: And let's just say aunt esther would not have approved 33 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:02,960 Speaker 1: of this material. 34 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:05,680 Speaker 6: You know what he said to Adam in the gardener 35 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:06,440 Speaker 6: eaton one day. 36 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:09,000 Speaker 4: She looked at all his in his hand. She said, 37 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:13,280 Speaker 4: you got the whole world in yon. 38 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:24,080 Speaker 3: Man saying things that weren't said would be even more 39 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:27,800 Speaker 3: shocked than coming from a woman. Lewanda Page wasn't seen 40 00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:30,360 Speaker 3: as a woman comet. You know, she was a star. 41 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:31,320 Speaker 3: She was funny. 42 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:34,480 Speaker 1: In her fifties, she became one of the most popular 43 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 1: people on TV. 44 00:02:35,919 --> 00:02:37,200 Speaker 6: I've come a long ways. 45 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:39,600 Speaker 7: If it hadn't been for Red, I wouldn't be in 46 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:42,480 Speaker 7: position that I'm in now. I wouldn't have a maid, 47 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:45,919 Speaker 7: I wouldn't have a chauffeur, I wouldn't have a gardener 48 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:48,000 Speaker 7: because I couldn't afford it. 49 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:49,240 Speaker 6: I thought the still he. 50 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:53,400 Speaker 1: Wasn't in a nightclub, a celebrity roasting other celebrities. 51 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:55,640 Speaker 4: Now, let's see which one is. 52 00:02:55,720 --> 00:03:02,079 Speaker 6: Betty White. Get a bunch of you albinos on one 53 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:03,640 Speaker 6: days and you all look alike. 54 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 8: She was funny as hell. 55 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 9: And black women, they will tear you up. They will 56 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 9: tear you up, they will tell you about yourself. 57 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:15,880 Speaker 6: But I had one confirmation. I finally got. 58 00:03:15,639 --> 00:03:18,720 Speaker 4: That sucker to go to church within and child. It 59 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:20,360 Speaker 4: was a beautiful tu. 60 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:27,000 Speaker 1: But if Lawanda Page's life is a book, mainstream America 61 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:29,320 Speaker 1: only knows the last chapter. 62 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:32,840 Speaker 9: If you went to clubs, you would know who she was. 63 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 9: And let's just call it what it was. 64 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 6: If you weren't black, you didn't know who she was. 65 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:38,280 Speaker 8: I can't test. 66 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:43,600 Speaker 1: I can attest from CBS Sunday Morning and iHeart. I'm 67 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:54,960 Speaker 1: Morocca and this is mobituaries, This mobid Lwanda Page. 68 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:57,840 Speaker 6: Ladies and gentlemen. Here she is the Queen of comedy. 69 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 1: Lorwanda September fourteenth, two thousand and two. Death of a 70 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:07,040 Speaker 1: comedy queen. 71 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:09,400 Speaker 6: Thank you, thank you. 72 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:32,359 Speaker 1: I noticed on the platform formerly known as Twitter, a 73 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:36,920 Speaker 1: picture of this beautiful woman in a swimsuit and somebody said, 74 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:39,080 Speaker 1: does anybody know who this is? And I scrolled down 75 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:41,640 Speaker 1: because I thought she looked familiar, and somebody said, it's 76 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:45,120 Speaker 1: it's an estor from Sanford, and so I went Hodie smoked. 77 00:04:44,839 --> 00:04:49,760 Speaker 9: Oh yeah, no, that listen. Lwanda Page is stunningly beautiful. 78 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:55,920 Speaker 9: And what ends up happening often, particularly with women of color, 79 00:04:56,960 --> 00:04:59,839 Speaker 9: no one knows anything about us because we weren't really 80 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:03,880 Speaker 9: part of the regular world because unless you knew about 81 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:05,839 Speaker 9: black performers, you didn't know about. 82 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:09,120 Speaker 1: A lot of folks. I'm talking with comedian and actress 83 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 1: and Egot winner Whoopy Goldberg, and it's true Lawanda Page 84 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:18,560 Speaker 1: had a long and surprising career in showbiz before Sandford 85 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:21,400 Speaker 1: and Son that white audiences knew little about. 86 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:25,240 Speaker 9: We're a lot better now about it, but in the fifties, 87 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:31,040 Speaker 9: unless you were in the know, you were not hanging 88 00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:33,080 Speaker 9: out in the clubs where Lewanda was. 89 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:34,600 Speaker 8: People didn't know. 90 00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:38,600 Speaker 1: You know, she's like blackfire or something. It's just you know, 91 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:39,680 Speaker 1: and she was hot. 92 00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:43,440 Speaker 7: Once upon a time, there was a little black girl 93 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:50,440 Speaker 7: in the Brewster projects of Detroit, Michigan. At fifteen, she 94 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:54,440 Speaker 7: was spighted by an ebony fashion fair talent scout, and 95 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:58,160 Speaker 7: her modeling career took on You Better work. 96 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:03,760 Speaker 1: That's Luwanda Page in the intro to Rue Paul's nineteen 97 00:06:03,839 --> 00:06:08,440 Speaker 1: ninety three seminal dance hit Supermodel turns out Rue Paul 98 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:12,560 Speaker 1: is a Lawanda Page super fan. Now, Lawanda was not 99 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:16,200 Speaker 1: born in the Brewster projects of Detroit. In fact, she 100 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:22,000 Speaker 1: wasn't even born Lawanda Page. Her name was Alberta Richmond 101 00:06:22,279 --> 00:06:25,279 Speaker 1: when she came into the world in Cleveland, Ohio, in 102 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty. As a kid during the Great Depression, she'd 103 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:33,080 Speaker 1: dance on street corners for spare change. I would dream 104 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:36,240 Speaker 1: about being in show business, Lawanda would later tell the 105 00:06:36,279 --> 00:06:41,040 Speaker 1: Black Entertainment magazine Roots, like I was Cinderella in a storybook. 106 00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:45,679 Speaker 1: I thought I'd reach it through dancing. When her family 107 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:50,080 Speaker 1: moved to Saint Louis, Lawanda went to Banneker Elementary School, 108 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:53,839 Speaker 1: where she became friends with her future co star, Red Fox. 109 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:59,200 Speaker 1: He was two grades below her. Lawanda grew up fast, pregnant, 110 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:02,720 Speaker 1: and married at fourteen. Her son died in infancy. 111 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:04,040 Speaker 8: At sixteen. 112 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:08,760 Speaker 1: She had a daughter. By nineteen Lawanda was widowed. By then, 113 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:12,360 Speaker 1: she was already working the clubs as she later told 114 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:15,760 Speaker 1: one reporter she made thirty six dollars a week as 115 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:18,760 Speaker 1: a shake dancer. The shaking part had to do with 116 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:22,360 Speaker 1: the fringe she wore. I shook the fringe, she said, 117 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:26,400 Speaker 1: My did I shake that fringe. By this time, she'd 118 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:29,800 Speaker 1: taken the name Lawanda, perhaps to keep her religious mother 119 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:35,880 Speaker 1: from finding out what she was doing. When the club 120 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:39,160 Speaker 1: owner decided that Lawanda needed to shake up her act, 121 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:42,800 Speaker 1: she had a flash, so to speak. I was sitting 122 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:45,920 Speaker 1: in the dressing room and my lighter fluid spilled on 123 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:49,920 Speaker 1: my hand, she recalled. When she proceeded to light a cigarette, 124 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:55,400 Speaker 1: her hand caught fire, so did her imagination. Lawanda was 125 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:58,240 Speaker 1: going to do a fire act at a club in 126 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:02,640 Speaker 1: East Saint Louis called the Blue Flame. Yes, the Blue Flame. 127 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:07,000 Speaker 1: A drag queen named Taboo showed her the ropes. It's 128 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:10,720 Speaker 1: in the breathing. Lawanda remembered being taught, when you put 129 00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:13,920 Speaker 1: the torch in your mouth, breathe out. If you don't, 130 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:17,840 Speaker 1: you're done like a roast. And always keep moving. As 131 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:20,680 Speaker 1: long as you keep moving, the flames don't burn you. 132 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:27,000 Speaker 1: That's how I became the Bronze Goddess of fire, swallowing 133 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 1: flames walking on hot coals. She even brought a snake 134 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:34,760 Speaker 1: into her act. It was perilous work. She burned herself 135 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:38,160 Speaker 1: and merely burned down a few clubs, but the act 136 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:40,800 Speaker 1: was good enough to take on the road. There's this 137 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:43,440 Speaker 1: quote from a drummer who worked with her at the 138 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:47,160 Speaker 1: New Deli Cabaret in Vancouver. She'd light her finger and 139 00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:49,880 Speaker 1: go around lighting guy cigarettes in the club. Then the 140 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:52,480 Speaker 1: lights would go off and she'd light up the tassels 141 00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:56,840 Speaker 1: on her pasties and spin them like propellers in opposite directions. 142 00:08:56,960 --> 00:08:58,400 Speaker 8: It was wonderful. 143 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:00,080 Speaker 6: You gotta have a give. 144 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:03,720 Speaker 1: It got ave a gammick. 145 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:05,040 Speaker 10: Now. 146 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:08,280 Speaker 1: Lawanda never wrote a memoir, but in her later stand 147 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:11,600 Speaker 1: up work she talked about her early days. Here she 148 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:16,000 Speaker 1: is from her nineteen seventy nine album Sane Advice, talking 149 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:19,720 Speaker 1: about the first time she saw a certain pioneering black 150 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:21,640 Speaker 1: star of the silver screen. 151 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:25,640 Speaker 4: All the pretty women in the movies in magazine were white, 152 00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:28,840 Speaker 4: and when a pretty girl came on the screen, the 153 00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:32,280 Speaker 4: white men they were allowed to pap and whistle, but 154 00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:34,720 Speaker 4: the black food sat tight and kept quiet. 155 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:35,880 Speaker 6: Had to hunt it. 156 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:40,160 Speaker 4: They had to do it. Then came nineteen forty three, 157 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:45,200 Speaker 4: nineteen forty three. Baby, I remember the day the movie 158 00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:49,000 Speaker 4: was Kevin in the Sky and the pretty woman was 159 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:55,160 Speaker 4: Lena Home and Honey, when Lena came on the screen, 160 00:09:55,720 --> 00:09:59,280 Speaker 4: all them black southerns Honda they screen, they whistle. How 161 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:02,240 Speaker 4: they taught tell the buffet the popcorn machine. 162 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:04,640 Speaker 1: Oh man, they throw down to ricks. 163 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:07,839 Speaker 4: The theater in Saint Louis. They say, we don't want 164 00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:16,479 Speaker 4: to sit down, we want to get down. 165 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:19,720 Speaker 11: And I don't blame him, honey, because Leedom was bright 166 00:10:20,080 --> 00:10:28,199 Speaker 11: light and damn near white. 167 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:29,600 Speaker 5: She was a black beauty. 168 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:32,760 Speaker 4: And right then I made up my mind I was 169 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:35,959 Speaker 4: going into show business. I went straight down town and 170 00:10:36,040 --> 00:10:40,000 Speaker 4: got me a job dancing. Yes did. 171 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:45,840 Speaker 1: Born in Cleveland, growing up in Saint Louis. And she 172 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:47,920 Speaker 1: wants to be a star. She wanted to be a 173 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:51,920 Speaker 1: Hollywood star. Can you just even relate or imagine like 174 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:55,760 Speaker 1: what that burning desire is or yeah. 175 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:58,560 Speaker 9: Because you're watching these movies and it doesn't occur to 176 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:01,679 Speaker 9: you that that's not going to be you. 177 00:11:02,679 --> 00:11:03,719 Speaker 6: It doesn't occur. 178 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:07,800 Speaker 9: To you because I mean, I loved all those movies 179 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:09,880 Speaker 9: that they made in the thirties and the forties and 180 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:12,640 Speaker 9: the fifties. I had no idea you know. I'm thinking 181 00:11:12,679 --> 00:11:13,560 Speaker 9: of the letter in. 182 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:15,320 Speaker 1: Particularly Danny Davis. 183 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:23,160 Speaker 9: Where she comes down and says, shooting the guy. 184 00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:25,000 Speaker 6: But all I hut, I still love the lad I killed. 185 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:27,679 Speaker 9: And I'm thinking that's what I want to do. And 186 00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:30,480 Speaker 9: no one ever said, no, You're never going to be 187 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:34,840 Speaker 9: Benny Davis. My mother said, yes, of course, sure, just 188 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:35,920 Speaker 9: don't shoot anybody. 189 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:36,760 Speaker 1: But you could do that. 190 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:38,000 Speaker 8: God bless your mother. 191 00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:41,160 Speaker 1: But that's such an interesting point because that's what dreaming is, right, 192 00:11:41,160 --> 00:11:43,600 Speaker 1: a suspension of disbelief, right, Yes. 193 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:48,160 Speaker 9: And so I'm sure it never occurred to Lawanda that 194 00:11:48,320 --> 00:11:51,640 Speaker 9: she wasn't going to be one of those women. Never 195 00:11:51,679 --> 00:11:54,839 Speaker 9: ocurred to her, and never occurred to me either, till 196 00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:56,040 Speaker 9: someone said. 197 00:11:56,559 --> 00:11:58,760 Speaker 1: Oh, you know you're black, don't you. 198 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:01,520 Speaker 6: It's like, yeah, of course, I know. 199 00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:04,800 Speaker 9: Was that I have to do with this, with wanting 200 00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:06,920 Speaker 9: to be the starter And what my mother would say 201 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:09,600 Speaker 9: is it has nothing to do with it. They might 202 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:12,920 Speaker 9: not understand everything, but they'll get it. Somebody will get 203 00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:14,640 Speaker 9: it if you're good enough. 204 00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:21,560 Speaker 1: Of course, Lawanda's path was limited by legalized segregation. She 205 00:12:21,679 --> 00:12:25,000 Speaker 1: worked at the informal network of black nightclubs and theaters 206 00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:28,560 Speaker 1: known as the Chitlin Circuit. Here she is again from 207 00:12:28,640 --> 00:12:29,400 Speaker 1: Saint Advice. 208 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:33,480 Speaker 4: I was one and excited girl, but I had no 209 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:37,240 Speaker 4: idea what was ahead of me. It was August child 210 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:42,920 Speaker 4: and hot hot hop hop hop, hunted forty people, best costumes. 211 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:45,400 Speaker 4: All it was riding and living in the same booth. 212 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:50,120 Speaker 4: Before we got out of Saint Louis, my sixth day, daughter, 213 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:51,280 Speaker 4: my pet had died. 214 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:01,760 Speaker 6: Time traveling on a show is like no trip you 215 00:13:01,840 --> 00:13:02,680 Speaker 6: ever took the cover. 216 00:13:03,559 --> 00:13:05,959 Speaker 4: Maybe if you hear loud noise in the back, it's 217 00:13:05,960 --> 00:13:07,160 Speaker 4: the luggage trying to get. 218 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:11,120 Speaker 5: Out and child. 219 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:14,240 Speaker 4: I open my window and the fumes from that bus 220 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:16,160 Speaker 4: till the whole proper meat in camp. 221 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:21,559 Speaker 9: You know, visually, in my mind, I could see her 222 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:26,000 Speaker 9: on the bus with you know, nine thousand people, all performers, 223 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:30,000 Speaker 9: playing cards, smoking cigarettes, just because they could only stop 224 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:34,199 Speaker 9: at specific places and they could only stay in specific places. 225 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:37,600 Speaker 1: That's of a time. That's of a time. 226 00:13:38,360 --> 00:13:39,920 Speaker 8: You of course know what this is like. 227 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:43,160 Speaker 1: It's not easy to get up there and hold an 228 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:46,160 Speaker 1: audience like that and not rush it. 229 00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:50,040 Speaker 9: Yeah, well, you know, she is breathing, do you know 230 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:53,120 Speaker 9: what I mean? She's up there and she's breathing. She's 231 00:13:53,160 --> 00:13:55,800 Speaker 9: like and then this habit. Can you believe it? 232 00:13:56,760 --> 00:13:56,920 Speaker 6: Oh? 233 00:13:56,960 --> 00:13:58,720 Speaker 1: Wait a minute, and then this happened. 234 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:03,760 Speaker 9: It's a stop of patter that you don't hear often, 235 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:12,360 Speaker 9: but you hear with black comics, particularly female black comics. 236 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:15,120 Speaker 9: You have a little bit of the South, and you 237 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:16,720 Speaker 9: just telling what happened. 238 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:19,680 Speaker 1: And I love that you said just breathing, because that's 239 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:22,120 Speaker 1: a big deal because people who don't know what they're doing, 240 00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:24,240 Speaker 1: they're not breathing, they're just going right through. 241 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:24,920 Speaker 8: They're nervous. 242 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:26,720 Speaker 1: She's in no rush. 243 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:30,280 Speaker 9: She'd tell the story the stage of hers who she is, 244 00:14:30,320 --> 00:14:32,400 Speaker 9: and it's kind of fabulous. 245 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:37,920 Speaker 1: But Lawanda hadn't even tried to stand up comedy until 246 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:40,880 Speaker 1: the mid nineteen fifties, when she was in her mid 247 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:44,640 Speaker 1: thirties and had settled in South Los Angeles. She was 248 00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:47,920 Speaker 1: still the Bronze Goddess of fire dancing at a club 249 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:51,479 Speaker 1: called the Brass Rail when some of her fellow performers 250 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:55,600 Speaker 1: noticed how funny she was. As she later told Jet Magazine, 251 00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:58,920 Speaker 1: when I got too old to dance, I turned to comedy. 252 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:04,200 Speaker 1: She started working with comedic duo Skillett and Leroy Records. 253 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:09,040 Speaker 3: But that's the very fabulous Lerii skillet and Lwanda. 254 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:13,640 Speaker 1: Many of Lawanda's bits were drawn from her own life. 255 00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:18,120 Speaker 1: She'd been widowed three times before she even started doing comedy. 256 00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:20,280 Speaker 4: I should have known it never work out for old 257 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:23,040 Speaker 4: John and me honey, because it was written in the stones. 258 00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:26,880 Speaker 4: I was a Burgo and that sucker was a line 259 00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:30,760 Speaker 4: of honey, can take no kind of John. That's the 260 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:33,320 Speaker 4: only man I know that ever went to the unemployment 261 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:34,920 Speaker 4: office and lost his place in land. 262 00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:42,400 Speaker 1: Lawanda would work black comedy clubs for the next two decades. 263 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:46,280 Speaker 1: Her humor was as fiery as her dancing had been. 264 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:51,280 Speaker 1: Coming up after the break Lwanda Page Red Fox and 265 00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:55,160 Speaker 1: The Age of the Party Record. Well, now, some of 266 00:15:55,200 --> 00:16:00,120 Speaker 1: those albums, especially Lawanda's earlier ones, they're really blue. I 267 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:02,600 Speaker 1: don't think I'm a shrinking violet, but they're blue even 268 00:16:02,640 --> 00:16:03,200 Speaker 1: for today. 269 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:05,480 Speaker 9: They are dirty as hell. 270 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:21,720 Speaker 2: Yes, yes, our next guest is dubbed the King of 271 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:25,120 Speaker 2: the Party Records. Basically that means they're intended for laughs 272 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:28,000 Speaker 2: in the living room. He's made thirty four albums and 273 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:30,760 Speaker 2: they have sold in the millions. He's kind of a 274 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:33,920 Speaker 2: stranger to television and a stranger to me, frankly, but 275 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:36,640 Speaker 2: I'm very anxious to meet him. He's got an enormous 276 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:39,480 Speaker 2: cult of admirers. Here is Red Fox. 277 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:46,320 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty six, talk show host MERV Griffin. Welcome 278 00:16:46,400 --> 00:16:49,640 Speaker 1: to comedian Red Fox. We're all party records. 279 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:51,720 Speaker 5: You're playing in a party. You have never been a party. 280 00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:54,080 Speaker 10: Put the records on when it's kind of dull, and 281 00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:58,080 Speaker 10: then wait, yeah, are the body starts naughty? 282 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:00,160 Speaker 8: Yes. 283 00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:04,840 Speaker 1: In this act, we're going to talk about party records 284 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:08,720 Speaker 1: and the role they played, not just in Lawanda Page's career, 285 00:17:09,119 --> 00:17:13,040 Speaker 1: but in the careers of many major black comics. Now, 286 00:17:13,080 --> 00:17:16,439 Speaker 1: these records were not for kids, as Red Box all 287 00:17:16,480 --> 00:17:19,119 Speaker 1: but said in that clip we just heard. In fact, 288 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:22,479 Speaker 1: many of the albums came wrapped in brown paper. 289 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:25,679 Speaker 3: It's so funny now to look back, because we're not 290 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:28,600 Speaker 3: talking that long ago. But America has always had this 291 00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:31,680 Speaker 3: kind of false morality, like, oh, we don't do that. 292 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:34,080 Speaker 3: You know, it's like porn. It's like, oh, there's a 293 00:17:34,119 --> 00:17:40,239 Speaker 3: fifty billion dollar business that no one buys. That's what 294 00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:41,240 Speaker 3: these records were. 295 00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:45,280 Speaker 1: I'm talking to my friend, comedian Alonso Boden. 296 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:48,920 Speaker 3: Got a new iPhone. Got a new iPhone costs somewhere 297 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:54,840 Speaker 3: between twelve hundred and fifteen thousand dollars. I don't know 298 00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:57,080 Speaker 3: how much it costs because Siri body. 299 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:04,000 Speaker 1: Alonso broke through after winning NBC's Last Comic Standing. I've 300 00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:07,359 Speaker 1: had the great pleasure of being a panelist on NPR's 301 00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:10,879 Speaker 1: comedy quiz show Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me with Alonso 302 00:18:11,200 --> 00:18:15,560 Speaker 1: for over a decade. Alonzo has faint but fond memories 303 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:17,040 Speaker 1: of the Party record era. 304 00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:20,520 Speaker 3: Everybody knew about them, and people loved them, and it 305 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:23,480 Speaker 3: was really the only way you heard these comics. Right, 306 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:27,000 Speaker 3: we didn't have the internet. Someone got the record. They 307 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:29,840 Speaker 3: told you about the record, You told someone else about 308 00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:30,320 Speaker 3: the record. 309 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:34,800 Speaker 1: As the name would suggest, these records became big at parties. 310 00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:38,200 Speaker 3: My father had a bar in the basement, and this 311 00:18:38,240 --> 00:18:41,080 Speaker 3: is how they socialized, you know. They had bars in 312 00:18:41,119 --> 00:18:43,639 Speaker 3: the house or pool table or something like that, and 313 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:45,760 Speaker 3: they put the kids to bed, and this. 314 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:49,439 Speaker 5: Is part of what came out at that later night party. 315 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:52,080 Speaker 1: Okay, I need you now, of course, to set the scene. 316 00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:56,200 Speaker 1: This is the Alonso Boden biopic. You're a kid. I mean, 317 00:18:56,640 --> 00:19:01,000 Speaker 1: set the scene. Your dad's bar is downstairs. What's going on? 318 00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:09,120 Speaker 3: So my dad's bar is downstairs. He has friends over. 319 00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:12,000 Speaker 3: They might be a couple from the neighborhood, and then 320 00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:15,040 Speaker 3: some probably from work. We had to go to bed. 321 00:19:15,119 --> 00:19:18,200 Speaker 3: Of course, the funny thing about me and my brother's room. 322 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:21,160 Speaker 3: It was also in the basement, so we weren't too 323 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:25,879 Speaker 3: far away. You could hear the laughter, you could hear 324 00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:32,320 Speaker 3: the glasses tinkling. You know, you know it was a party, really, 325 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:32,920 Speaker 3: I know. 326 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:34,760 Speaker 1: I said, you ought to be careful at night time 327 00:19:35,119 --> 00:19:37,159 Speaker 1: and pull your shades down. I said, because last night 328 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:38,680 Speaker 1: I saw you and your wife making love. 329 00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:41,040 Speaker 6: He said, you kidding all I went to You'm home. 330 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:47,480 Speaker 1: How important is Red Fox to this whole party record scene? 331 00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:50,840 Speaker 3: He was the man. He was probably the biggest star 332 00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:56,280 Speaker 3: in that genre. Red Fox's stand up was almost all 333 00:19:56,600 --> 00:19:58,280 Speaker 3: on these party records. 334 00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:02,320 Speaker 1: The party started in eighteen fifty five when Los Angeles 335 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:07,640 Speaker 1: doo wop producer Dootsey Williams visited the Oasis nightclub and 336 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:12,040 Speaker 1: saw Red Fox's set. Williams ran a tiny label called 337 00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:17,280 Speaker 1: Duto Records, known for recording Earth Angel by the Penguins. 338 00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:22,639 Speaker 6: Earthing Joo, Earthingjoo. 339 00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:24,040 Speaker 5: Will You Be Minde? 340 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:30,280 Speaker 1: But the label had recently started releasing novelty records. About 341 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:34,840 Speaker 1: Red Fox. Williams said he was so outrageous in such 342 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:37,200 Speaker 1: a way that nobody would ever think of putting him 343 00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:40,119 Speaker 1: on a record. But I thought this guy can sell. 344 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:45,439 Speaker 1: There was no doubt that Fox was funny. In his 345 00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:47,840 Speaker 1: late teens, he had worked in a New York City 346 00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:52,639 Speaker 1: restaurant alongside a future civil rights leader. Years later, in 347 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:58,000 Speaker 1: his autobiography, Malcolm X would refer to Fox as Chicago Red, 348 00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:02,479 Speaker 1: the funniest dishwasher on Earth. Red Fox would go on 349 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:06,560 Speaker 1: to become one of the first black comedians to headline Vegas. 350 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:09,800 Speaker 1: He would open his own La nightclub. But back in 351 00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:14,000 Speaker 1: fifty five, Red was skeptical about this whole party record idea. 352 00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:17,639 Speaker 1: He later recalled it was a black thing in a sense. 353 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:20,439 Speaker 1: So I said I'd go ahead and record for my 354 00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:25,520 Speaker 1: black brother because nobody else had offered me anything. For 355 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:28,959 Speaker 1: the first album, Dootsey Williams sat in the club with 356 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:33,200 Speaker 1: a tape recorder and recorded Red's raunchy act. In nineteen 357 00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:36,800 Speaker 1: fifty six, Laugh of the Party Volume one came out. 358 00:21:37,119 --> 00:21:40,760 Speaker 10: The Good Housekeeping Bureau has just released some vital statistics 359 00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:44,240 Speaker 10: very important to all smokers. Do you know that out 360 00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:46,920 Speaker 10: of four hundred and forty six doctors that switched to 361 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:49,200 Speaker 10: camels only two of them went back to women. 362 00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:56,280 Speaker 1: The Low Fi recording was a big fat hit. Box 363 00:21:56,440 --> 00:21:59,679 Speaker 1: was the first stand up comedian black or white to 364 00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:05,080 Speaker 1: release album, and according to comedy historian Cliff Nesteroff, after Fox, 365 00:22:05,400 --> 00:22:09,080 Speaker 1: it became abnormal if a comic didn't put out records. 366 00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:14,359 Speaker 1: Bob Newhart, Mort Sahl, Jonathan Winters, they all came after 367 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:19,440 Speaker 1: Red Fox. Over the next six years, Dudo released approximately 368 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:23,359 Speaker 1: twenty five Red Fox party records. In just the first 369 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:26,840 Speaker 1: two years they sold more than a million units. 370 00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:30,479 Speaker 3: They did a record with Red Fox and they sold 371 00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:33,320 Speaker 3: a ton of records, and they said, wait a minute, 372 00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:36,239 Speaker 3: we're on to something. Who else you got, you know? 373 00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:40,000 Speaker 3: And they started recording these other comedians. 374 00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:45,520 Speaker 1: Black comedians like George Kirby, Sloppy Daniels, even a ventriloquist 375 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:48,879 Speaker 1: and dummy act known as Richard and Willie. 376 00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:52,680 Speaker 4: Huggin Yeah, Peason, Yeah, Kiss in sixth All Candoise, Yeah, 377 00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:54,520 Speaker 4: good gouda man who are going to be there? 378 00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:55,320 Speaker 3: Yes, you and me? 379 00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:04,160 Speaker 1: And then in the late nineteen sixties, Laugh Records entered 380 00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:08,040 Speaker 1: and soon dominated the party record scene. One of the 381 00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:11,720 Speaker 1: biggest names in comedy ever would find his voice on 382 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:13,560 Speaker 1: the new label A lot. 383 00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:17,440 Speaker 3: Of people don't know this that Prior initially was a 384 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:21,639 Speaker 3: clean comic and he was following in Cosby's footsteps. 385 00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:27,159 Speaker 1: Yes, prior to the nineteen seventies, Richard Pryor was g rated. 386 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:30,159 Speaker 1: Here he is on the Murph Griffin Show in nineteen 387 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:30,840 Speaker 1: sixty six. 388 00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:33,320 Speaker 4: People worry about everything about offending with the breath. 389 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:34,359 Speaker 1: You worry about it, right. 390 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:36,600 Speaker 10: You can tell when somebody's worried about because they talked 391 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:37,240 Speaker 10: through their fingers. 392 00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:45,040 Speaker 1: But then Pryor had a kind of awakening. 393 00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:49,640 Speaker 3: And he basically had a breakdown. He basically kind of snapped, 394 00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:54,080 Speaker 3: and he came out talking and cussing and being who 395 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:59,080 Speaker 3: he really was, and the audience immediately grasped. The audience 396 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:04,280 Speaker 3: immediately loved the honesty and how raw he was and 397 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:08,000 Speaker 3: who he really was. And from there, you know, he 398 00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:10,600 Speaker 3: never looked back and he became Richard Pryor. 399 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:15,000 Speaker 1: It was on nineteen seventy one's Craps, a blockbuster for 400 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:19,160 Speaker 1: Prior and for laugh Records, that audiences heard the real 401 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:24,120 Speaker 1: raw Richard Pryor started starting Cocaine. 402 00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:26,480 Speaker 6: Had goodness too, because I. 403 00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:27,680 Speaker 4: Wake up in the middle of night state. 404 00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:33,960 Speaker 1: Whoy Is it fair to say then that his party 405 00:24:34,119 --> 00:24:38,240 Speaker 1: record phase helped Richard Pryor become Richard Pryor. 406 00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:40,879 Speaker 3: Well, yeah, because where else were you going to hear it. 407 00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:43,320 Speaker 3: The only place you were going to hear Richard Pryor 408 00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:47,560 Speaker 3: was on the records. But the records became so insanely 409 00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:52,080 Speaker 3: popular through word of mouth, one hundred percent word of mouth. 410 00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:55,399 Speaker 3: There was no there were no TV commercials for Richard 411 00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:56,240 Speaker 3: Pryor records. 412 00:24:56,359 --> 00:24:56,520 Speaker 5: You know. 413 00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:01,200 Speaker 1: Now, it wasn't just the content that raw. It was 414 00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:05,600 Speaker 1: also the sound quality. And some of these albums the 415 00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:07,760 Speaker 1: sound quality is not great. 416 00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:08,840 Speaker 8: Is that fair? 417 00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:11,119 Speaker 5: Yeah, sound quality was horrible, But. 418 00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:13,879 Speaker 1: I'm wondering if that added to the experience of listening 419 00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:15,680 Speaker 1: at home when you've got friends over. 420 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:21,000 Speaker 3: Absolutely, absolutely, there's a raw element to it. Also, it's 421 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:28,480 Speaker 3: the inside stuff, right. These records weren't Red Fox in 422 00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:32,040 Speaker 3: Las Vegas, you know what I mean? And these were 423 00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:36,119 Speaker 3: Lawanda Page before she was famous, when she was just 424 00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:40,280 Speaker 3: in the club. So the feel of being an insider 425 00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:42,600 Speaker 3: definitely added to it. 426 00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:47,920 Speaker 1: Lawanda Page recorded five solo albums with Laugh Records. The 427 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:53,840 Speaker 1: material is funny and especially on those early records, downright filthy. 428 00:25:54,240 --> 00:25:56,760 Speaker 1: We'd have to bleep so much of it for this podcast. 429 00:25:57,280 --> 00:26:00,320 Speaker 1: We can't do it justice. Let me put it this way. 430 00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:03,600 Speaker 1: Bands of the late Bob Sagett know how different his 431 00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:06,680 Speaker 1: stand up material was from the character he played on 432 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:10,479 Speaker 1: Full House. Well the Lawanda you hear on her nineteen 433 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:14,960 Speaker 1: seventy seven album Watch It Sucker is so blue it 434 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:18,320 Speaker 1: would turn aunt esther every shade of red. Do not 435 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:20,560 Speaker 1: miss her bit about the nurse and the woman in 436 00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:24,800 Speaker 1: the mental ward who demands a certain remedy. My goodness. 437 00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:28,879 Speaker 1: Here's one bit from her first album, nineteen seventy one's 438 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:32,080 Speaker 1: mother is half a word, where a their dwell husband 439 00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:35,840 Speaker 1: has tried to cover up his drinking by eating sardines. 440 00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:38,200 Speaker 1: And you can guess where this is headed. 441 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:40,680 Speaker 6: So she says, you've been dragging? 442 00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:43,760 Speaker 4: No, may I swear damn I ain't been dragging night, 443 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:46,960 Speaker 4: Blow your breath to the keyhole, blows the bread to 444 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:50,200 Speaker 4: the keyhole. First, thank she smells them sartines. She said, 445 00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:51,960 Speaker 4: you know good and asking mother fuck? 446 00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:54,920 Speaker 6: She says, though out breaking in one headed, you go 447 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:56,080 Speaker 6: and pick up a mother. 448 00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:04,760 Speaker 1: Sidebar. Laugh Records didn't only produce black comedy acts. In 449 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:09,399 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy eight, a young Allison Arngrem, best known as Nelly, 450 00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:13,240 Speaker 1: on Little House in the Prairie impersonated first daughter Amy 451 00:27:13,359 --> 00:27:16,879 Speaker 1: Carter on a Laugh Records album, Dad, Where did I 452 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:17,560 Speaker 1: come from? 453 00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:19,480 Speaker 5: Plains? Georgia Hunne? 454 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:22,880 Speaker 8: You know that, No, Daddy, I mean, where do babies 455 00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:25,399 Speaker 8: come from? I asked Uncle Billy. 456 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:28,520 Speaker 9: He said, babies come nine months after you've had too 457 00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:29,160 Speaker 9: much bear. 458 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:35,680 Speaker 1: Alison Armgrim's mother, voice actress Norma McMillan had played Caroline 459 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:39,119 Speaker 1: Kennedy on the hit First Family Comedy album back in 460 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:42,880 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty two. That's the album that starred von Meter 461 00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:47,120 Speaker 1: as JFK. Check out the von Meter obituary for more 462 00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:52,080 Speaker 1: on his story. One of Laugh's last records was a 463 00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:56,040 Speaker 1: song full of fish ponds called Wet Dream by white 464 00:27:56,080 --> 00:27:57,480 Speaker 1: comedian Kip Adatta. 465 00:27:57,800 --> 00:27:59,840 Speaker 4: I walked over to a place called the Oyster Bar 466 00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:03,680 Speaker 4: a real time, but I knew the owner who used 467 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:07,359 Speaker 4: to play for the Dolphins. I said, I Gil, you 468 00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:07,960 Speaker 4: have to yell. 469 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:08,800 Speaker 5: He's hard at herring. 470 00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:13,800 Speaker 1: But the label will always be best known for releasing 471 00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:18,680 Speaker 1: black and blue material. Any thought on the legacy of 472 00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:19,680 Speaker 1: these party records. 473 00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:23,760 Speaker 3: I think the legacy of these party records now is 474 00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:29,240 Speaker 3: I would say more YouTube than Netflix, because it's more 475 00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:33,920 Speaker 3: the self produced it's the clips from the comedy club 476 00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:39,200 Speaker 3: versus the polished production show. And we've seen comics get famous. 477 00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:43,600 Speaker 3: We've seen it happen where people go viral on YouTube 478 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:47,240 Speaker 3: or some other platform and become famous. I think that's 479 00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:49,959 Speaker 3: the legacy of the party record. 480 00:28:51,800 --> 00:28:55,720 Speaker 1: Coming up next, the King and Queen of underground party 481 00:28:55,800 --> 00:28:59,160 Speaker 1: records land squarely in the mainstream. 482 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:03,480 Speaker 6: Oh you call me the. 483 00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:05,360 Speaker 5: How did not call you? 484 00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:05,720 Speaker 10: Dear? 485 00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:07,440 Speaker 6: It is like Bambi's father. 486 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:12,600 Speaker 5: You Oh we the lad he the door. 487 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:31,320 Speaker 1: In the early nineteen seventies, Lawanda Page was caring for 488 00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:34,959 Speaker 1: her ailing mother in South Los Angeles when she got 489 00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:37,800 Speaker 1: an offer that would take her career to a whole 490 00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:42,840 Speaker 1: new level. NBC's Sanford and Son was the first network 491 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:46,920 Speaker 1: TV show with a predominantly black cast since Amos and 492 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:50,840 Speaker 1: Andy in the early nineteen fifties. In its second season, 493 00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:54,800 Speaker 1: the show was already a hit, starring Red Fox as 494 00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:59,040 Speaker 1: junk dealer and widower Fred Sandford. In real life, Red 495 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:04,200 Speaker 1: Fox's bo Thurs name was actually Fred Sandford. Lawanda was 496 00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:07,000 Speaker 1: being called in to read for the role of Fred's 497 00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:11,880 Speaker 1: Holier than Thou sister in law aunt esther. Here's Lawanda 498 00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:16,719 Speaker 1: herself explaining what happened to interviewer Bobby Wygant. 499 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:19,800 Speaker 7: Well, what actually happened. I was working in a nightclub 500 00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:23,440 Speaker 7: in Los Angeles with a comedy team Skirt and Leroy 501 00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:28,240 Speaker 7: that we've been together for twenty years, and Aaron Rubin, 502 00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:31,040 Speaker 7: the producer, he happened to be in the club that night. 503 00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:34,959 Speaker 1: The producer was impressed by Lawanda and unaware of her 504 00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:36,600 Speaker 1: shared history with Fox. 505 00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:38,800 Speaker 7: So he goes back and he tells Red. He says, 506 00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:43,120 Speaker 7: that girl that you know I saw with Skirterton Leroy. 507 00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:46,240 Speaker 8: He says, I think she'll be the girlfriend esther. 508 00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:48,640 Speaker 6: So radas, oh, that's Lawanda. 509 00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:51,080 Speaker 7: I know. Well, I know Redd all my life because 510 00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:52,160 Speaker 7: we went to school together. 511 00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:57,480 Speaker 1: Red Fox wasn't just bringing the comedy he'd honed on 512 00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:01,160 Speaker 1: the Chitlin circuit to network television. He brought many of 513 00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:04,840 Speaker 1: his fellow comics along with him too. Aaron Ruben, the 514 00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:09,120 Speaker 1: Sanford and Son producer who'd seen Lawanda in the club, said, quote, 515 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:13,800 Speaker 1: Fox comes up with names like Tangerine, Sublet and Leroy 516 00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:17,440 Speaker 1: and Skillett, consummate performers he worked with in the twenty 517 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:21,600 Speaker 1: five dollars a week nightclub days. The names befuddle the 518 00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:25,200 Speaker 1: NBC casting department where they are totally unknown. 519 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:25,840 Speaker 7: Yeah. 520 00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:32,600 Speaker 9: Yeah, that is somebody who understands that if he doesn't 521 00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:33,960 Speaker 9: do it, it's not going to get done. 522 00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:36,840 Speaker 1: I'm sure Red said I need this character. I know 523 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:40,040 Speaker 1: exactly who can do it. This is what be Goldberg again, 524 00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:41,240 Speaker 1: because he knew. 525 00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:43,000 Speaker 9: No one was going to call her unless he did. 526 00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:46,800 Speaker 9: And that's kind of how it's always been. You call 527 00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:49,920 Speaker 9: the folks, you know, and if somebody's having a hard time, 528 00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:52,440 Speaker 9: you do the best. That's sort of bring them along. 529 00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:56,720 Speaker 1: TV was a change of pace for Lwanda Page, who 530 00:31:56,840 --> 00:31:59,640 Speaker 1: was fifty two. Once she showed up on set. She 531 00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:02,280 Speaker 1: was nervous the first week on the job, as she 532 00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:05,240 Speaker 1: later told Sally Jesse Raphael, I. 533 00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:06,560 Speaker 6: Had never read a script before. 534 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:10,400 Speaker 7: That's my first parent and I was reading the directions 535 00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:11,400 Speaker 7: along with the lions. 536 00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:18,720 Speaker 4: Yeah, that's right for you to say. I say, watch it, Trucker, 537 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:20,040 Speaker 4: if you walk out the door. 538 00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:30,480 Speaker 1: The producers were planning to fire and replace Lawanda, but 539 00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:35,040 Speaker 1: Red intervened. He reportedly said, if she goes, I. 540 00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:39,320 Speaker 9: Go well, because he knew what she could do, and 541 00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:42,720 Speaker 9: it was meaningful if he said he was gonna leave you, 542 00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:43,760 Speaker 9: because he would. 543 00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:48,200 Speaker 1: Leave about Lawanda Page. Red Fox reportedly said, you never 544 00:32:48,320 --> 00:32:50,880 Speaker 1: heard of the lady, But the night that first show 545 00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:53,800 Speaker 1: goes on the air, there'll be dancing in the streets 546 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:56,280 Speaker 1: of every ghetto in the United States. 547 00:32:57,320 --> 00:33:00,640 Speaker 4: Down not again, Hufrey, you would I beat today. 548 00:33:00,760 --> 00:33:04,000 Speaker 6: My sister married you, and you still a dead beat today. 549 00:33:05,120 --> 00:33:07,240 Speaker 6: This nest now you know good and will today I 550 00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:10,120 Speaker 6: married your sister. I was loaded, Yeah, you was loaded, 551 00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:12,400 Speaker 6: all right. You were so drunk you fell on the preacher. 552 00:33:14,880 --> 00:33:19,160 Speaker 1: The sanctimonious aunt Estor quickly became a fan favorite at 553 00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:21,520 Speaker 1: the height of her fame on Sanford and Son, though 554 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:26,240 Speaker 1: Lawanda Page was still living in South LA. The money 555 00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:30,120 Speaker 1: is nice, she told reporters. It goes to mama, and. 556 00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:32,479 Speaker 7: I'm gonna take care of mama, and I don't care 557 00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:35,480 Speaker 7: what happens. I'm taking care of mama. And God just 558 00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:37,360 Speaker 7: fixed it. So he just opened the door for me 559 00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:39,920 Speaker 7: for Safin's son. You know how to walk right in, 560 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:41,720 Speaker 7: and Red put my feet in the door. So it's 561 00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:42,720 Speaker 7: up to me to keep it there. 562 00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:47,440 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy six, Lawanda's mother died. The next year, 563 00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:51,120 Speaker 1: the Sanford and Son series ended with the departure of 564 00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:55,080 Speaker 1: Red Fox, but by then, Lawanda Page was a regular 565 00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:56,240 Speaker 1: face on TV. 566 00:33:56,480 --> 00:34:00,520 Speaker 8: A lovely lady, one of them moms. 567 00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:08,600 Speaker 1: I loved her on the Dean Martin celebrity roasts. These 568 00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:12,960 Speaker 1: roasts were like the Variety pack of entertainment comedians like 569 00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:17,520 Speaker 1: Don Rickles, Ruth Buzzy and Nipsey Russell sharing a dais 570 00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:23,120 Speaker 1: with Frank Sinatra, Jaja Kahboorr, Senator Barry Goldwater. Here is 571 00:34:23,239 --> 00:34:25,280 Speaker 1: Lewanda roasting Red Fox. 572 00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:28,560 Speaker 6: Been after me since I was a kid, back in 573 00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:29,200 Speaker 6: Saint Louis. 574 00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:32,839 Speaker 4: Honey, he was there the night I want a beauty contest. 575 00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:36,239 Speaker 6: Remember that red They gave me a silver cup. 576 00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:39,799 Speaker 1: Yeah, they gave you a silver cup. All right, give 577 00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:40,400 Speaker 1: your teeth in. 578 00:34:51,640 --> 00:34:52,680 Speaker 4: You just keep quiet. 579 00:34:52,719 --> 00:34:56,560 Speaker 6: Your old fish had food. You ain't going to beauty. 580 00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:01,479 Speaker 6: You should have seen his first wife, hon That woman 581 00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:03,280 Speaker 6: was herdly. 582 00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:05,680 Speaker 5: Musy. 583 00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:10,800 Speaker 6: Honey. She was thought early if her picture was on 584 00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:12,080 Speaker 6: a stamp, nobody. 585 00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:12,360 Speaker 5: Would live her. 586 00:35:19,280 --> 00:35:24,040 Speaker 9: The thing that I think about those roasts, those roasts 587 00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:25,000 Speaker 9: were done with love. 588 00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:29,120 Speaker 6: You know, she was there roasting her buddy, her childhood friend. 589 00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:33,080 Speaker 1: But she also took shots at celebrities she didn't grow 590 00:35:33,239 --> 00:35:36,640 Speaker 1: up with, like George Burns and Milton Burrell. 591 00:35:37,239 --> 00:35:39,160 Speaker 5: Hey, what you say at Milton burh. 592 00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:44,120 Speaker 6: Yeah, you lift the television. If you can steal her 593 00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:47,000 Speaker 6: caps like you do jokes, you'd be a star in 594 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:47,799 Speaker 6: my neighborhood. 595 00:35:50,760 --> 00:35:53,960 Speaker 1: I asked Alonso Bowden if he thought Lawanda might have 596 00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:55,800 Speaker 1: been intimidated in that company. 597 00:35:56,320 --> 00:35:59,000 Speaker 3: She came from clubs where you had to talk smack 598 00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:01,600 Speaker 3: to the audience, where you had Heckler's, where you had 599 00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:06,480 Speaker 3: trust me. She was fine, She had no problem. 600 00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:08,880 Speaker 5: She let them have it. They weren't ready for her. 601 00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:11,719 Speaker 1: She was battle tested like nobody else. 602 00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:12,319 Speaker 11: Yeah. 603 00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:15,960 Speaker 3: Absolutely, you think she's going to be afraid of a 604 00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:17,440 Speaker 3: Beverly Hills ballroom. 605 00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:24,160 Speaker 1: This is a woman who had literally eaten fire for 606 00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:25,520 Speaker 1: a stretch of her career. 607 00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:26,960 Speaker 5: Exactly exactly. 608 00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:30,200 Speaker 3: And it wasn't just that, it was also, you know, 609 00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:33,920 Speaker 3: riding the bus from city to city and you can't 610 00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:38,680 Speaker 3: stay at this hotel and all of that. She lived 611 00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:41,520 Speaker 3: through and worked through and dealt with all of that. 612 00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:44,680 Speaker 3: And now she's in a ballroom in Beverly Hills and 613 00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:47,840 Speaker 3: she gets to make fun of Don Rickles and Milton 614 00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:50,839 Speaker 3: Burrel and you know, Sinatra. I don't know, I don't 615 00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:52,880 Speaker 3: know if anyone was brave enough. Other than Rickles, I 616 00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:54,640 Speaker 3: don't know if anyone was brave enough to make fun 617 00:36:54,680 --> 00:36:55,160 Speaker 3: of Sinatra. 618 00:36:55,280 --> 00:37:01,000 Speaker 1: But outside of that, in nineteen seventy nine, age fifty nine, 619 00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:06,120 Speaker 1: Lawanda released her final album, Sane Advice. It was the 620 00:37:06,239 --> 00:37:11,200 Speaker 1: cleanest of her party records and the most transparently autobiographical. 621 00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:14,960 Speaker 1: On that album cover, she's wearing a gown, She's in 622 00:37:15,040 --> 00:37:16,160 Speaker 1: front of a fancy car. 623 00:37:16,880 --> 00:37:19,320 Speaker 8: She's made it. But now she's got even more to 624 00:37:19,440 --> 00:37:21,040 Speaker 8: say about that experience. 625 00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:25,120 Speaker 4: But Honey Page was alive today, he'd be sorry he 626 00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:30,840 Speaker 4: ever cheated on me, Because here I am, Honey, famous, famous, Honey, 627 00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:35,640 Speaker 4: a star. Honey, Honey got a wax figure of me 628 00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:37,920 Speaker 4: on the East Coast and the West. 629 00:37:37,719 --> 00:37:39,799 Speaker 6: Coat in the Stars Hall of Fame. 630 00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:46,040 Speaker 4: And I got my foot prints on Hollywood Boulevard. At 631 00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:49,239 Speaker 4: Grumman's Chinese Theater. I was sitting on the bus bench 632 00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:49,799 Speaker 4: in a park. 633 00:37:49,880 --> 00:37:51,240 Speaker 6: This truck ran over my feet. 634 00:38:02,600 --> 00:38:03,479 Speaker 5: Show did her. 635 00:38:08,239 --> 00:38:09,239 Speaker 6: How I made it? 636 00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:16,719 Speaker 4: Baby? A side last, A side last, Thank God, Almighty. 637 00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:18,960 Speaker 5: I'm a start lest. 638 00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:25,719 Speaker 1: She had become a big star. She was one of 639 00:38:25,719 --> 00:38:28,480 Speaker 1: the most popular people on television at that point. But 640 00:38:28,800 --> 00:38:31,120 Speaker 1: she's still making a joke at her own expense there. 641 00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:31,719 Speaker 10: Yeah. 642 00:38:32,320 --> 00:38:35,000 Speaker 9: Yeah, because you want people to know you haven't become 643 00:38:35,080 --> 00:38:36,240 Speaker 9: too big for your bridges. 644 00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:38,000 Speaker 8: And she wouldn't leave Watts. 645 00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:39,759 Speaker 1: She at one point she had a bit where she 646 00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:41,759 Speaker 1: said people thought it said I moved to Beverly Hill. 647 00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:43,359 Speaker 1: She said, I wasn't going to leave Watts and if 648 00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:46,280 Speaker 1: she made all sorts of jokes about. 649 00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:47,239 Speaker 8: Living in Watts, but she wasn't going to leave there. 650 00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:49,200 Speaker 6: No, I ain't even wanted time. 651 00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:52,239 Speaker 4: I know it's the Lost Asses ghetto, and I know 652 00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:55,560 Speaker 4: we got criming watch. Honey is so bad. If you 653 00:38:55,640 --> 00:38:58,839 Speaker 4: ain't home by nine o'clock, you can be declared legally dead. 654 00:39:02,920 --> 00:39:03,160 Speaker 3: Listen. 655 00:39:03,400 --> 00:39:06,759 Speaker 9: You stick with what you know and you make it work. 656 00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:10,200 Speaker 9: And nobody did that better than she did. I wish 657 00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:12,759 Speaker 9: I had known her, Do you know what I mean? 658 00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:14,040 Speaker 9: I wish I had known her. 659 00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:19,520 Speaker 1: In the nineteen nineties, Lawanda appeared on popular TV shows 660 00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:23,880 Speaker 1: like Family Matters in Living Color and Martin, I'm. 661 00:39:23,719 --> 00:39:27,160 Speaker 6: The fourth person that's been hit in the past two weeks. 662 00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:29,160 Speaker 8: Go dang, well, what did the police say? 663 00:39:29,760 --> 00:39:30,000 Speaker 10: Move. 664 00:39:31,600 --> 00:39:35,160 Speaker 1: She spoofed her church lady image in films like Friday, 665 00:39:35,280 --> 00:39:39,160 Speaker 1: where she played at Jehovah's witness. Meanwhile, lines from Lawanda's 666 00:39:39,200 --> 00:39:42,759 Speaker 1: party records began being sampled by hip hop legends like 667 00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:49,160 Speaker 1: Chupac Shakur and Wa and Two Live Crew. In nineteen 668 00:39:49,239 --> 00:39:54,879 Speaker 1: ninety one, Lawanda Page's childhood friend, Red Fox died. At 669 00:39:54,920 --> 00:39:58,800 Speaker 1: his funeral, Lawanda said, Red made me the star that 670 00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:02,080 Speaker 1: I am. If it hadn't been for him, I'd probably 671 00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:05,720 Speaker 1: be in the poorhouse. Read lived the life he loved, 672 00:40:06,239 --> 00:40:10,600 Speaker 1: and loved the life he lived. By this time, Lawanda 673 00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:13,839 Speaker 1: had been ordained as an evangelist in the Holiness Church. 674 00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:17,000 Speaker 1: She was following in the footsteps of her brother, a 675 00:40:17,120 --> 00:40:23,200 Speaker 1: Baptist minister, and her daughter, also a preacher. On September fourteenth, 676 00:40:23,560 --> 00:40:28,359 Speaker 1: twenty oh two, Lawanda Page died of complications from diabetes. 677 00:40:29,200 --> 00:40:38,080 Speaker 1: She was eighty one. Lawanda Page was many things. The 678 00:40:38,160 --> 00:40:42,000 Speaker 1: bronze goddess, a fire a queen of comedy, and let 679 00:40:42,080 --> 00:40:44,440 Speaker 1: me repeat, you must go listen to some of those 680 00:40:44,480 --> 00:40:48,399 Speaker 1: party records. She was a wife three times over, a mother, 681 00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:52,879 Speaker 1: a devoted daughter, a person of deep faith, and as 682 00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:56,200 Speaker 1: RuPaul knew, she was fabulous. 683 00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:01,160 Speaker 6: Naoma Christie. 684 00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:07,200 Speaker 1: But I want to end with another musical clip of Lawanda. 685 00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:11,880 Speaker 1: It's Fred Sandford and aunt esther enjoying a rare moment 686 00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:16,480 Speaker 1: of warmth. Sort of imagine us bringing together again after 687 00:41:16,560 --> 00:41:17,440 Speaker 1: all of these years. 688 00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:24,320 Speaker 6: Seems like only yesterday. Oh I remember, where was it? 689 00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:28,880 Speaker 8: Down by the old. 690 00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:32,440 Speaker 5: New stream. 691 00:41:33,239 --> 00:41:36,360 Speaker 6: It wasn't a stream, it was a lagoon goon. 692 00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:43,320 Speaker 1: Two legends of comedy who had come so far, enjoying 693 00:41:43,400 --> 00:41:44,960 Speaker 1: the spotlight together. 694 00:41:45,640 --> 00:41:46,040 Speaker 9: It was. 695 00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:49,440 Speaker 1: New. 696 00:41:50,600 --> 00:41:57,000 Speaker 8: You don't know nothing that I loved you true. 697 00:41:57,840 --> 00:42:02,400 Speaker 5: I got to throw it. I was sixteen. 698 00:42:03,800 --> 00:42:11,479 Speaker 6: Al your shoes, I your really is queen Queen cong 699 00:42:13,480 --> 00:42:21,640 Speaker 6: down bineyreat. 700 00:42:36,640 --> 00:42:40,520 Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Season four of Mobituaries. We're 701 00:42:40,600 --> 00:42:44,240 Speaker 1: a very small and dedicated team that puts this show together. 702 00:42:44,800 --> 00:42:48,520 Speaker 1: I am grateful to work with such smart, creative, hard 703 00:42:48,600 --> 00:42:52,120 Speaker 1: working people, and we're grateful to you for sticking with us. 704 00:42:52,880 --> 00:42:55,120 Speaker 1: It would be wonderful if you would spread the word 705 00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:58,640 Speaker 1: about Mobituaries to your friends and family, and reading and 706 00:42:58,760 --> 00:43:02,800 Speaker 1: reviewing our podcasts really does help. You can also follow 707 00:43:02,840 --> 00:43:06,279 Speaker 1: Mobituaries on Facebook and Instagram, and you can follow me 708 00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:10,080 Speaker 1: on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter at 709 00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:14,960 Speaker 1: morocca and check out Mobituaries. Great Lives Worth Reliving, the 710 00:43:15,040 --> 00:43:18,560 Speaker 1: New York Times best selling book now available in paperback 711 00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:22,600 Speaker 1: and audiobook. It includes plenty of stories not available on 712 00:43:22,680 --> 00:43:28,920 Speaker 1: the podcast. This episode of Mobituaries was produced by Aaron Schrank. 713 00:43:29,239 --> 00:43:34,000 Speaker 1: Our team of producers also includes Hazel Brian and me Moroka, 714 00:43:34,480 --> 00:43:37,960 Speaker 1: with engineering by Josh Han. Our theme music is written 715 00:43:38,120 --> 00:43:43,400 Speaker 1: by Daniel Hart. Our archival producer is Jamie Benson. Mobituary's 716 00:43:43,440 --> 00:43:49,240 Speaker 1: production company is Neon Hummedia. Indispensable support from Reginald Bazil 717 00:43:49,480 --> 00:43:53,720 Speaker 1: and everyone at CBS News Radio special thanks to Steve 718 00:43:53,840 --> 00:43:59,799 Speaker 1: Razi's Rand Morrison and Alberto Rabina. Executive producers for Mobituaries 719 00:44:00,040 --> 00:44:04,759 Speaker 1: include Megan Marcus, Jonathan Hirsch, and Morocca. The series is 720 00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:10,080 Speaker 1: created by Yours truly and again thank you for listening.