Speaker 1: It's nice size.
Speaker 2: Boston's news radio. Welcome back Tangwae filling it for Ray Tonight.
Speaker 2: Thanks a lot, we appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Six seven two thirty is a telephone number joining us
Speaker 3: right now is one of the great guys. Uh Tony
Speaker 3: V is our guest. He's hot off a huge gig.
Speaker 2: What did you do? Just take the private plane back
Speaker 2: back from Vegas.
Speaker 4: Yes, that's exactly what happened. I'm on the ninety three
Speaker 4: noise coming from the Sons of Italy and Quincy one
Speaker 4: of the others, you know.
Speaker 3: The Sons of Italy, Hall and Rumford, Maine where I
Speaker 3: grew up, which you've probably played at one point.
Speaker 4: Gary, you know, I know he said we weren't going
Speaker 4: to do bits or anything, but I actually have a
Speaker 4: bit about the Rumford, Maine Sons of Italy. We're here.
Speaker 4: I get a call and someone says to me, don't
Speaker 4: want to work the Sons of Italy and Rumford.
Speaker 2: May you're kidding me?
Speaker 4: And I go, no, no, And this is nearly a
Speaker 4: true story. I mean it's ninety eight percent true, okay,
Speaker 4: And and I go, no, that that'd be fine. I've
Speaker 4: you know, those people need to be entertained, and so
Speaker 4: that's not the weird price. Then they go, do you
Speaker 4: need the address? And I go, no, I've been there
Speaker 4: a bunch.
Speaker 3: The Sons of Italy Hall, which I think my uncle,
Speaker 3: my uncle Frank Geronda belonged to. Yeah, the son of it,
Speaker 3: across the across the doorway, it was Sons of Italy.
Speaker 3: It was like all one word. They didn't have any
Speaker 3: spaces in between the words. That's what I just remember.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and let's be honest, how many Sons of Italy
Speaker 4: are there in and maybe your uncle and his buddies.
Speaker 3: Well, no, here's the thing Tony is. It's not like
Speaker 3: the North End. Okay, I'm not going to tell you that,
Speaker 3: but I will say this. Rumford was a milltown where
Speaker 3: a lot of immigrants came to work. So you had
Speaker 3: an Italian section which was Smith Crossing, and of course
Speaker 3: the baseball field at the time was called the Spaghetti Bowl.
Speaker 3: And I was right across from the Suns of Italy.
Speaker 3: And then so you had the I mean, it's crazy,
Speaker 3: but my mother was Irish. The Irish lived in one section,
Speaker 3: the Italians lived in another section, the French lived in
Speaker 3: another section.
Speaker 2: Hell Tony, I assume you're Catholic. Rumford was so get
Speaker 2: a load of this.
Speaker 3: Rumford had a French Catholic church on one side of
Speaker 3: the street, and right across the other stride of the street,
Speaker 3: I swear to God was an Irish Catholic church.
Speaker 4: Sure of course we can't be mixing those two Catholics.
Speaker 3: And when my uncle married who was Irish, married my
Speaker 3: aunt who was French, his father said, oh my god,
Speaker 3: it was blasphemy. Why don't you marry one of your own?
Speaker 4: That's how crazy it was, aren't you glad we lived
Speaker 4: through that?
Speaker 2: Oh my god? I mean it was crazy.
Speaker 3: Nuts Tony, I want to I want to talk about,
Speaker 3: like why all you guys are great, Like, you know,
Speaker 3: you're funny as hell, Lenny's funny as hell, Sweeney Rogerson,
Speaker 3: you know, Donnie Gavin, and then of course Dennis Leary
Speaker 3: he's Worcester, but will include him, Uh, we'll let him slide,
Speaker 3: like Burr Leno, Stephen Wright. What is it about Boston
Speaker 3: or this area that generates great comics?
Speaker 4: Well, I think you know, for the very reasons we've
Speaker 4: been hinting at. Is you know this Boston's like a
Speaker 4: microcosm of the whole world. In a very condensed area,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, Like, like everything you just
Speaker 4: said about Rumford, Maine is exactly the same as here
Speaker 4: in Boston, where we have you know, and we're separated geographically,
Speaker 4: so you can dump on any other part of the
Speaker 4: city and have somebody laugh about it, you know. And
Speaker 4: everyone you just mentioned, we all came from similar backgrounds,
Speaker 4: you know, working class, probably the first generation of you know,
Speaker 4: my mother was born in Italy, my dad was from Portugal,
Speaker 4: and uh, you know, so I think we all grew
Speaker 4: up with a crip on our shoulders.
Speaker 5: What I'm trying to say, Gary, Yeah, but you but
Speaker 5: it's but like, okay, it's very do you think let
Speaker 5: me ask you this then, do you think you can
Speaker 5: teach somebody to be funny.
Speaker 3: Or do you just have to have the gene in
Speaker 3: order to to move on and do what you did?
Speaker 4: You know? It's it's a you know, I've I have
Speaker 4: uh done stand up classes before, and I am uh
Speaker 4: I say right up front, like, look, I can't make
Speaker 4: you funny, but if it's in there, I can drag it.
Speaker 2: Out of you, right, you know.
Speaker 4: You know, so I think you just I think it
Speaker 4: comes from you know, uh have an a skewed view
Speaker 4: of the world and not taking it off too seriously.
Speaker 3: Well, it also comes from as it also comes from pain.
Speaker 3: I mean, we understand that, you know, Oh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: So why.
Speaker 2: Do you do it?
Speaker 4: I listen when when I was on a completely different path.
Speaker 4: I you know, I am college into the comedy connection
Speaker 4: many many years ago, and I met the guys who
Speaker 4: would you know started you know, I thought eons before me.
Speaker 4: It was actually about six or eight months, you know,
Speaker 4: I found I found my tribe. I said to myself,
Speaker 4: I can't believe that I've met a bunch of people
Speaker 4: who think like me. Because in the in the other
Speaker 4: in my other world, it was like people would look
Speaker 4: at me and go, what why would you joke about that?
Speaker 4: And I go, because that's how I cope, you know,
Speaker 4: And I think that a lot of it became a
Speaker 4: coping mechanism.
Speaker 2: That's how I's how that's how I.
Speaker 4: Come, that's how I cope, That's how I try to
Speaker 4: make sense of it by making fun of it. And
Speaker 4: oftentimes we end up making fun of stuff that's very
Speaker 4: data to us, you know, and people don't understand that.
Speaker 4: That's why I get mad when people you know, try
Speaker 4: to uh, you know, cancel people or whatever for saying
Speaker 4: the wrong things. It's just our coping method. That's really
Speaker 4: all it is.
Speaker 3: You You sometimes you joke about the things that can
Speaker 3: hurt you the.
Speaker 4: Most, that can hurt you the most, therefore you take
Speaker 4: the power away from it.
Speaker 2: Wow, exactly, that's yeah.
Speaker 3: Do you talk about that in your class or is
Speaker 3: that just something that happens Yeah?
Speaker 4: Yeah, No, I mean I try to point that out,
Speaker 4: like it's funny. I've taught or mentored a couple of
Speaker 4: people who are on the spectrum.
Speaker 2: You know, yeah and yeah the man Yeah, And.
Speaker 4: They come in and it's like, well, I'm doing this
Speaker 4: you know too, you know, to try to show people that,
Speaker 4: you know that I'm I'm regular, I'm normal, whatever phrase
Speaker 4: they use. And I always say to them, no, no, no,
Speaker 4: lean into it. That's what makes you unique, that's what
Speaker 4: that's what colors your world. That's what your point of
Speaker 4: view is, and it's and it's needed and necessary from
Speaker 4: people that understand it.
Speaker 2: Well, Amy Schumer, have you met her?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I did a movie with Amy Schumer.
Speaker 2: Oh which one did you do?
Speaker 4: I did? I feel pretty oh right?
Speaker 2: Okay?
Speaker 3: With Oh God, was what the guy from SNL and
Speaker 3: at Bill who did Barry?
Speaker 2: I can't remember anyways, I digressed, but but.
Speaker 4: But but I played, I was I was the uh
Speaker 4: dry cleaner in that.
Speaker 2: Her husband is. She's talked about this.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's part of the reality show, right, Her
Speaker 3: husband is on the spectrum and.
Speaker 4: Or on the spectrum. And he's a chef.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's a chef. He's a great chef. And she
Speaker 2: says he's hilarious.
Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, And I don't know why people want to
Speaker 4: deny that. I don't understand, you know, coming from my perspective,
Speaker 4: Why would you want to deny the thing that makes
Speaker 4: you funny? Why?
Speaker 2: Right? Right?
Speaker 3: Because she says he because he speaks the truth and
Speaker 3: there's no filter and there's no filter and she goes
Speaker 3: and he is just simply hilarious. So that's an interesting take. Tony,
Speaker 3: we're just getting started. We got a lot of we
Speaker 3: got a lot more to do. Tony v is with us.
Speaker 3: We're talking about just comedy in general, talking about his life, economy.
Speaker 3: I got a ton of stuff to talk to him about,
Speaker 3: including his big appearance on Seinfeld when he looked like
Speaker 3: he was like seventeen years old. That's all coming up
Speaker 3: on wbz's night Side. Now back to Dan Ray live
Speaker 3: from the Window World Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio,
Speaker 3: Gary Tangway for Danton and I talking about his life
Speaker 3: in comedy. Tony v is joining us, and I want
Speaker 3: to tell you my brief experience with stand up.
Speaker 4: You get it.
Speaker 3: I tried it because I did two open mics. Okay,
Speaker 3: I did two open mics, and this is god. I
Speaker 3: was in my twenties. I was doing some sports radio.
Speaker 3: And what a lot of people don't know is when
Speaker 3: I got out of college, I was doing sports. And
Speaker 3: I love acting, as you know, because we've been actually
Speaker 3: you've seen each other on the sets and stuff. I
Speaker 3: love acting, but sports was always I got opportunities to
Speaker 3: do it, and I made money and I was able
Speaker 3: to live.
Speaker 2: A very good life and it was easy. You know,
Speaker 2: it was fun. Yeah, it was good at it. You know,
Speaker 2: you came out, you did the show with us and stuff.
Speaker 3: But you know, I've always written I love acting, and
Speaker 3: so when I was trying to figure it out, I
Speaker 3: bounced back and forth through New York. I went down
Speaker 3: and took some classes in New York at HB Studios
Speaker 3: and stuff in my twenties, you know, when they said
Speaker 3: find your inner animal. Ever done that Tony in an
Speaker 3: acting class?
Speaker 2: Find your inner animal? Like roll around on a floor
Speaker 2: like a wolf.
Speaker 3: So I, oh, there you go, Okay, same deal. So
Speaker 3: I said, you know, I'm going to just try to
Speaker 3: stand up because I just wanted to try it. And I,
Speaker 3: as they say, I did something at Remington's an open
Speaker 3: mic at Remington's by the Alleys.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, did Darty's room, the Comedy Vault.
Speaker 3: And I did like ten minutes and I killed Tony.
Speaker 3: I killed, really I did. But and then I did
Speaker 3: another one at the Conquered Inn in Conquered Mass, different
Speaker 3: different crowd. I crashed and burned, hard bombed. And it
Speaker 3: was one of those nights where you know they had
Speaker 3: a guy playing the guitar. It was like it was
Speaker 3: like it was like not just comedy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they were doing poetry, you know, any right of it.
Speaker 3: But what it did teach me though, was I didn't
Speaker 3: I didn't. I didn't want to put into work like
Speaker 3: I was like, okay. Because I talked to some guys
Speaker 3: that night. It was very I mean guys would like notebooks,
Speaker 3: notebooks of material.
Speaker 2: I mean just So how did you start?
Speaker 4: It's listen, you you hit on a very important topic there,
Speaker 4: which is its work. And that's where we usually lose people.
Speaker 4: It's not just getting up and talking. It's getting up
Speaker 4: and tugging with the desired effect, which is laughter. And
Speaker 4: once people realize it's work, and you've got to sit
Speaker 4: in clubs, and you got to hang around, and you've
Speaker 4: got to be ready at a moment's notice in case
Speaker 4: somebody candles and you get five minutes to while they
Speaker 4: you know, they can find somebody else to do it.
Speaker 4: You know, it's a dedication to stupidity that most people
Speaker 4: don't want to deal with.
Speaker 2: How did.
Speaker 4: Once they find out it's worked? That's where we lose people,
Speaker 4: because it's it's not it's not just I get I
Speaker 4: get up there and talking people laugh at me. It's
Speaker 4: not I wish it were that easy, you know. And
Speaker 4: you're all as good as your last set. Nobody cools
Speaker 4: about what you did the night before.
Speaker 3: Nobody, Well, uh, Norm McDonald's book. Did you ever work
Speaker 3: with Norm?
Speaker 4: I worked when I worked with Nor McDonald a lot
Speaker 4: and had the utmost respect for him.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Well, my buddy and I we were close to put
Speaker 3: as you know, we were trying to put together a
Speaker 3: movie and it was about a TV It involved a
Speaker 3: TV anchorman. It's not anchor man, folks, but it was
Speaker 3: a TV sportscaster.
Speaker 2: Who loses his job. Uh.
Speaker 3: And anyway, so I met We met with Norm at
Speaker 3: the at the casino up in Hampton, you know, and
Speaker 3: we talked for like an hour and a half after
Speaker 3: a show and he had like three red bulls at
Speaker 3: like eleven.
Speaker 2: O'clock at night.
Speaker 3: I'm like Jesus, say you're gonna sleep, and you know,
Speaker 3: and we were talking and I also read his book
Speaker 3: and he and he said sometimes it would take six
Speaker 3: months to figure out the best way to tell a joke.
Speaker 4: Oh, easily, it can take that easily.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 2: What's the process? What do you do? Tony?
Speaker 4: Well, you know I tell people this all the time.
Speaker 4: There's an old saying about someone was tigging to a sculptor. Yes,
Speaker 4: And they say, how do you sculpt an elephant? And
Speaker 4: he says, well, I look at a block of stone
Speaker 4: and I take away everything that's not an elephant.
Speaker 2: Okay, that makes sense, yes, And it's.
Speaker 4: The same with with jokes or a bit. You start
Speaker 4: out with like you know the thought, and you start
Speaker 4: out with a story about that thought, and then as
Speaker 4: you find the wording to it, you find out the
Speaker 4: points that hit that get the laugh, that that make
Speaker 4: the joke and the smallest amount of time so you
Speaker 4: condense everything. And sometimes it takes work and work and
Speaker 4: work to find the right wording. And sometimes a joke
Speaker 4: can hinge on a you know, a word or a
Speaker 4: phrase or a pause. You know, one thing I tell
Speaker 4: my students all the time is, you know how you say.
Speaker 4: What you say is important as what you say.
Speaker 2: Have you ever given up on a joke?
Speaker 4: Sometimes? I you know, I'm pretty stubborn. If I think
Speaker 4: it's funny, I will work it until I uh find
Speaker 4: a way to make it palatable for the audience. And uh,
Speaker 4: it can it can be painful because you can be
Speaker 4: having a good set then you go, I'll throw something
Speaker 4: out and then it give high flat and you go,
Speaker 4: oh boy, now I got to go try something else.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 4: I did a brand new piece tonight and it went
Speaker 4: fairly well, you know, so so I'm now I'm jazzed
Speaker 4: about that piece and I'll find it. I'll find a
Speaker 4: way to make that work, you know.
Speaker 2: Uh, how do you deal with bombing.
Speaker 4: You gotta you know, uh, you gotta just realize it's
Speaker 4: not it's not you. They're rejecting. It was this that
Speaker 4: set that night. You know, you can't take it too
Speaker 4: persons only.
Speaker 3: Well, that's what I think makes you decide whether you
Speaker 3: want to go on out like I Okay, so I
Speaker 3: bombed at the Conquered In.
Speaker 2: Like, so if we go back and we analyze that.
Speaker 3: Okay, So I I was funny at Remington's for ten minutes,
Speaker 3: for ten minutes, which how long is you're set?
Speaker 2: An hour?
Speaker 4: I did? I just did about fifty minutes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, so.
Speaker 3: Like I'm doing ten minutes like to write, and I'll
Speaker 3: ask you, I'll get to how long it takes to
Speaker 3: do to come up with fifty minutes. But like so,
Speaker 3: and then I go to the Conquered In and I bomb,
Speaker 3: and I say, you know, I don't want to do this.
Speaker 2: I just don't. I don't want to put in the work.
Speaker 3: But if I was a comedian, I would go, well, okay,
Speaker 3: it's the concored in. You know, they're drinking, they're you know,
Speaker 3: it's a different crowd. It's them, not me.
Speaker 4: Different crowd, right, right, so I would.
Speaker 2: Go like Larry Miller, like, Larry, did you ever work
Speaker 2: with Larry Miller?
Speaker 4: I did work as Larry Miller. Yeah, yes, with him
Speaker 4: as well.
Speaker 2: So Miller.
Speaker 3: So he tells his story, right, he flies into some
Speaker 3: place like des Moines, Iowa. And and I say this
Speaker 3: with all respect, this is the story that he's dealing with.
Speaker 3: But and it was a state police convention. So he
Speaker 3: goes in and just before the police, just before they
Speaker 3: announce him, they do a moment of silence for a
Speaker 3: trooper who's for a trooper who's passed away. All due respect,
Speaker 3: all due respect to law enforcement. I mean, that's not
Speaker 3: that's not funny. But his point was, Okay, we just
Speaker 3: did a moment of silence about a guy who passed
Speaker 3: away that these guys know. Now I got to go.
Speaker 2: Out and be funny.
Speaker 4: Oh sure.
Speaker 2: And he's like I'm screwed, like I got no shot,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. It's like, oh yeah, so
Speaker 2: you know, to me, if.
Speaker 3: You come back from that, you want to do it
Speaker 3: like you you you know, you just that's that's that's
Speaker 3: that's that's the test.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you don't want we're hinting at here, Garry it's
Speaker 4: a sickness more than anything else.
Speaker 3: Yeah well no, yeahsted, Well you gotta be a little twisted.
Speaker 2: But it's a lifestyle, not a job.
Speaker 4: Yeah no, no, you have to buy into the lifestyle.
Speaker 4: And if you if you can't, I won't a don't,
Speaker 4: then your road's going to be long and windy.
Speaker 1: Like.
Speaker 2: But I also think go ahead to interrupted.
Speaker 4: I was gonna say, I've had those moments. I've done
Speaker 4: charity events for like you know, uh, I won't say
Speaker 4: which children's hospital, but eight Children's hospital where I would
Speaker 4: I would say, like, whatever you do, please don't bring
Speaker 4: me up after the sick Kid video, right, you know,
Speaker 4: I know there's going to be a sick kid video
Speaker 4: because we had to raise buddy. But if we could
Speaker 4: just do something after that, And sure enough they show
Speaker 4: the video. The screen's going up. Everybody's crying, including me, right,
Speaker 4: and they go and now the comedy stylings of Tony
Speaker 4: V and you know where you know what, And I
Speaker 4: just remember getting up on stage and going, hey, anybody
Speaker 4: want to strangle a puppy before I get started?
Speaker 3: Oh my god, Oh yeah, you got it, Yeah, you
Speaker 3: got it.
Speaker 2: You gotta run with it.
Speaker 4: You gotta do something. Yeah, you gotta do something, you know,
Speaker 4: to let them know that, you know that you have
Speaker 4: to you know, you have to break that spell because
Speaker 4: it could be got awful. And I can't tell you
Speaker 4: how many times that's happened. It happens more times than
Speaker 4: I care to think.
Speaker 2: About, you know.
Speaker 3: And and the thing that people don't understand is everybody
Speaker 3: bombs leto everybody.
Speaker 4: Yeah, everybody.
Speaker 3: Everybody bombs at Sweeney's movie when Sweeney did it. You
Speaker 3: were funny as hell in that movie, by the.
Speaker 4: Way, Sweeney killing Sweeney.
Speaker 3: Yes funny. You guys are hilarious, you guys. And you
Speaker 3: had a lot of ad libs in that movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: you were funny as hell. So after there was like
Speaker 3: a I don't know, I mean, but like I talked
Speaker 3: to you and you you just I mean, you got
Speaker 3: the line You're just funny.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: I did a movie like I'm gonna really name drop here,
Speaker 3: but this past spring, uh Ella McKay.
Speaker 2: Which is coming out next spring.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 2: James L.
Speaker 3: Brooks directed I Get to play a Senator. So for
Speaker 3: a week, Yeah, for a week, I'm on the set
Speaker 3: with Jamie Lee Curtis and Albert Brooks.
Speaker 4: Oh Oh my god.
Speaker 3: Dude, I got and this she's gonna be a star.
Speaker 3: Her name is Emma Mackie. She was one of the barbies,
Speaker 3: but she's a star of this. So and you know,
Speaker 3: with with James L. Brooks, he shoots everything. I mean,
Speaker 3: he takes forever. He takes for ever, but he can
Speaker 3: because he's James L. Brooks. And and then of course
Speaker 3: you know I have I have like two lines and
Speaker 3: so but I'm there for the week because he just
Speaker 3: you don't know what he's gonna do. So I we
Speaker 3: get in the van and I got you gotta say,
Speaker 3: and Albert Brooks jumps in with us, and I'm like,
Speaker 3: oh my god, this is Albert Brooks. Like, I mean, dude,
Speaker 3: legend right and like you and like all these guys
Speaker 3: like Lenny or whatever. We're driving and he's just he's
Speaker 3: commenting on on different people along the way. And I
Speaker 3: could have said the same thing he's saying and no
Speaker 3: one would laugh. But he says it, and and and
Speaker 3: I don't think it's like, oh it's Albert Brooks.
Speaker 2: I gotta laugh. I mean he was.
Speaker 3: Like like when we went through securities, all he goes,
Speaker 3: oh my god, security, He goes if he goes, you know,
Speaker 3: he said something like, if we were a bunch of terrorists,
Speaker 3: would be screwed. You know, it's just funny. So the
Speaker 3: point about Albert Brooks I want to make is I
Speaker 3: saw it. Did you see a special with rob Ryiner?
Speaker 2: Oh? You got to watch it, Tony, you gonna It's
Speaker 2: on Netflix.
Speaker 3: You got to watch it. You got to watch it.
Speaker 3: So he just like, you know, because he wasn't everybody's
Speaker 3: cup of tea.
Speaker 4: And you know, he was a very strange cat, a very.
Speaker 2: Strange cat, you know.
Speaker 3: And and so Rhiner goes, you know, how did you
Speaker 3: handle it when people didn't laugh at you? Because he
Speaker 3: would keep going, and he said, I just believed that
Speaker 3: they were wrong and I was right, and eventually they
Speaker 3: would come around.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's the smartest thing I've ever heard.
Speaker 3: It's arrogant as hell, but that's what, you know, because
Speaker 3: he was a little avant guard.
Speaker 2: You know, he did different. He wasn't the mainstream.
Speaker 4: No, No, I just I've seen old clips. I mean
Speaker 4: I remember seeing them in real time, but just recently
Speaker 4: seeing some old clips. And he was out there.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, like he does the talking the talking mind,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, which he also did a ventriloquista where you know,
Speaker 4: his mouth was you know, he didn't pretend at all, right,
Speaker 4: he was a right right, Yeah, it was a little
Speaker 4: bit Andy.
Speaker 3: Kaufman, Andy Kaufman another one. I never got him. I
Speaker 3: didn't get it. I didn't get it.
Speaker 4: Not everyone does.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 3: He was great on taxi, but the whole Tony whatever
Speaker 3: thing and the whole wrestling, Yeah, I didn't get it.
Speaker 2: I was like, this isn't funny to me. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: don't know.
Speaker 4: And I think that's what made it funny to him.
Speaker 2: Right, you know Norman, Yeah, Norm was kind of like yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4: And you know who else Larry David.
Speaker 2: Larry David do you did you do you?
Speaker 4: David would? I worked with him a characterizing star in
Speaker 4: the early days, and he would go up and sometimes
Speaker 4: purposely eat it just to see if we can get
Speaker 4: himself out of a hole.
Speaker 2: Jezus, he's nuts. Yeah, if you wouldn't laugh, and he'd say,
Speaker 2: screw you, I'm leaving.
Speaker 4: I'm leaving. Yeah, it walked all right.
Speaker 2: I we got more, Tony, can.
Speaker 6: You hang on?
Speaker 4: Yes, I can do one more?
Speaker 1: Break?
Speaker 2: You got it all right, Tony V's we got more
Speaker 2: stuff coming up. Tony V.
Speaker 3: Joining us talking about comedy. I have more questions for
Speaker 3: him on trying to be a comedian in today's day.
Speaker 2: Na. That's next on WBZ.
Speaker 3: You're on night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's
Speaker 3: news Radio. Thanks a lot, Al Gary tangling for Dan
Speaker 3: tonight up until midnight, Tony V. The Life of a Comedian,
Speaker 3: Joining us right now, Tony, how do you stay politically
Speaker 3: correct and don't get canceled?
Speaker 4: Uh? You know, I try to stay away from the
Speaker 4: whole politics thing. H You know, I have my opinions,
Speaker 4: but you know, unless something is like a major story
Speaker 4: and I can find my spin on it, I don't.
Speaker 4: I don't. I leave it to people who know what
Speaker 4: they're doing. And you know, political stuff is uh for
Speaker 4: a love comic especially, it's rough because you know, most
Speaker 4: of that stuff is tackled every night by people who
Speaker 4: really know if they do it, you know, like like
Speaker 4: Kim O and Colbert and Bill Maher and stuff like that.
Speaker 4: So I, I you know, sometimes you can you know
Speaker 4: something you're passionate about something, it'll it'll bleed through. But
Speaker 4: you know, well I'll tell you, let me tell you
Speaker 4: My only one political sort of thing right. This second
Speaker 4: is that I find odd and worth mentioning, is that
Speaker 4: the Department of Government Efficiency. Yeah, has two heads.
Speaker 3: All you have to say is Department of Government Efficiency.
Speaker 3: And I laughed, Oh my god, it's oxy moron.
Speaker 1: Charge.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's see, did I do we lose Tony? He's
Speaker 2: still with us?
Speaker 4: Okay, I'm still here.
Speaker 2: Okay, cool kid. How did you end up on Seinfeld?
Speaker 4: That was a weird circum was out there in l
Speaker 4: a Uh. I did the nineties a fair number of
Speaker 4: guest spots on uh sitcoms, sink and you know, things
Speaker 4: that were popular at the time. Uh Unhappily, ever after
Speaker 4: I did a couple of episodes of that. And so
Speaker 4: I was reading for something and someone had seen me
Speaker 4: at the the Laugh Factory. The guy that was the
Speaker 4: talent coordinator for Seinfeld, just by coincidence, had seen me
Speaker 4: do a Tuesday night set at the Laugh Factory, and
Speaker 4: I was reading for something else. I think I was
Speaker 4: reading for Boston Legal or whatever that show. You know,
Speaker 4: it was a drama and it was quite right to
Speaker 4: me or whatever. But Simeon was in the same complex.
Speaker 4: They're in the same bungalow, you know, and I'm sitting
Speaker 4: there going over my line for Boston Legal and this,
Speaker 4: you know, the casting director comes by and he goes, hey,
Speaker 4: didn't I just see you on Tuesday night? I go,
Speaker 4: I was there, blah blah blah, and he goes, hey,
Speaker 4: when you're done here, come around the corner. We have
Speaker 4: something I think you might be right for. So I go, okay,
Speaker 4: you know, it was literally that quick. Then I finished
Speaker 4: up the audition there and realized that, you know, it
Speaker 4: went okay, and they go, you know, we'll call you
Speaker 4: blah blah blah. And then I go around the corner.
Speaker 4: They tell me to sit, They give me the lines.
Speaker 4: I go in. Everybody's eating lunch, you know, they you know,
Speaker 4: because they're working straight through, and you know, I do
Speaker 4: it and they go ahead, that was good. Could you
Speaker 4: wait outside? And I go yeah, And I'm sitting there,
Speaker 4: and then more guys go in and they come out
Speaker 4: and they leave, and then eventually I'm sitting there by myself,
Speaker 4: you know, and I go, this is either really good
Speaker 4: or really.
Speaker 2: Bad, right right right.
Speaker 4: There's something going on that's leaving me the only one
Speaker 4: in here. And then literally they came out and they go, go,
Speaker 4: move your can a lot. We're gonna start rehearsing.
Speaker 2: Fantastic. That's a thrill. That's a thrill.
Speaker 4: Yeah. It was great. It was great and one of
Speaker 4: the one of the happiest sets I've ever been on.
Speaker 4: I mean they were everybody was. I mean, they were
Speaker 4: on top of the world. You know, they were heaven.
Speaker 4: You know. They would have a Sunday wagon come on
Speaker 4: a Tuesday afternoon on a Sunday.
Speaker 2: Yeah, who doesn't, Oh no kidding. I was on an
Speaker 2: Adam Sandler set.
Speaker 3: I was on an Adam Sandler set once, and they
Speaker 3: literally they brought around banana splits or Sundays or something.
Speaker 2: I'm like, yeah, ok, god, what's going on?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Yeah, yeah, it was a whole Sunday cut. I
Speaker 4: remember it all right.
Speaker 3: Final question, Tony, and I know you gotta go. Who
Speaker 3: is the best stand up comic in your opinion ever.
Speaker 2: Ever, other than yourself? Is it Carlin? Is it Carlin?
Speaker 2: Is it Prior?
Speaker 4: I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say Prior. I love I
Speaker 4: loved Carlin too. I go back to Lenny Bruce as
Speaker 4: the like the five of what we end up doing, right,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean? Like without Lenny Bruce, I
Speaker 4: couldn't be doing what I'm doing right, There's no doubt
Speaker 4: about it. But for pure just enjoyment and moving the
Speaker 4: art form along. I gotta go.
Speaker 2: Pryor he was.
Speaker 3: Something else man. Yeah, I mean unbelievable, just unbelievable. Tony
Speaker 3: thanks for joining us. We know you work tonight, You're
Speaker 3: up late. I know you need, you need your sleep.
Speaker 4: I gotta I got it. You know you don't maintain
Speaker 4: beauty like this on six hours sleep.
Speaker 3: That's it, kid, you go, Tony C. Thanks for joining
Speaker 3: Tony V Ye Tony C played for the Red Sox.
Speaker 2: Tony V. Thanks buddy, by the way, any time.
Speaker 3: I appreciate it, Buddy, take care bye, Okay, we'll see
Speaker 3: you later. He's one of the great ones. He's just
Speaker 3: such a good guy, just a really good guy.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: Steven Aha jameson Rhode Island. You guys are gonna wrap
Speaker 3: up the show for me. Coming up next to you
Speaker 3: on WBZ.
Speaker 2: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 2: Nice Side.
Speaker 3: Studios on WBZ News Radio special.
Speaker 2: Thanks to Tony V for joining us.
Speaker 3: You worked tonight, uh and was kind enough to take
Speaker 3: some time and to talk to us about the life
Speaker 3: of comedy man. It's a special talent. I think it's
Speaker 3: the most difficult talent out there. It takes years months
Speaker 3: to write a set. I mean you you know you
Speaker 3: hear Mark Maron has talked about it. Nor McDonald's talked
Speaker 3: about it. Tony says, sometimes longer than six months to
Speaker 3: write a joke, to write a whole set fifty minutes,
Speaker 3: six months, seven months, eight months, that months a year,
Speaker 3: and you got to do it every day. And the
Speaker 3: great ones make it look easy. I think it's harder
Speaker 3: than singing. I think it's harder than acting. I think
Speaker 3: it's the toughest art for him. Before we say so long,
Speaker 3: let's grab some calls. Stephen theahot has been waiting. Steve,
Speaker 3: you're up on wbz's night.
Speaker 1: Side, Hey, or how are you doing?
Speaker 2: What's up? Steve? How you doing?
Speaker 1: Would it help you to know that I was driving
Speaker 1: home from the game when I heard.
Speaker 2: You, Steve in the hot Steve, what's up though? How
Speaker 2: you doing it?
Speaker 1: I'm doing great, great to hear you. But I was
Speaker 1: driving and I heard her I'm a button pusher. I
Speaker 1: heard Tony be on and I just want to say
Speaker 1: something about Tony V. Not only is he ridiculously talented,
Speaker 1: but he is an incredibly good guy, and I think
Speaker 1: when he's on stage that comes across. So I think
Speaker 1: that the audience is predisposed. Once you like the guy,
Speaker 1: you're predisposed to liking the material. You want to like
Speaker 1: the material, and then Tony he delivers the material as well.
Speaker 1: But I think, you know, you can't divorce the two.
Speaker 1: I think with him because he is such a good guy.
Speaker 1: When he talks about the charity things. I have friends
Speaker 1: that run charity stuff and they always want to get
Speaker 1: Tony v because he never mails it in and he
Speaker 1: gives you a performance every freaking time. I've seen him
Speaker 1: a billion times. I'm sure you have two.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, Steve, and I know you're a fan
Speaker 3: of comedy in writing too and so forth. And I
Speaker 3: just remember him when he used to, you know, do
Speaker 3: the big old thing. You know, I can't even remember
Speaker 3: what Glenn did. The whole banquet, oh god, oh the whinies.
Speaker 3: I mean, he was great, he hosted that. He was great,
Speaker 3: you know. And you're right, he is just a good guy.
Speaker 3: There's there's no doubt about it. He's he's a good dude.
Speaker 3: He's a good dude, so our Celtics tonight's game, Uh,
Speaker 3: give me your thoughts, because I had it on in
Speaker 3: here in the studio watching him, and I thought, Okay,
Speaker 3: the Bucks maybe you know, they had a slow start,
Speaker 3: but maybe they're going to make a statement tonight. So
Speaker 3: what'd you think of the end final six minutes Celtics
Speaker 3: took over.
Speaker 1: Huh you're telling me that you were watching the game
Speaker 1: while you were working. That was That's unprofessional.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's totally unprofessional. You know what. I've been brainwashed.
Speaker 2: It's just the way it is.
Speaker 1: Well, you're just a good multitasker.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, you have to be, kid, But boy, what
Speaker 2: a game tonight.
Speaker 1: Down the stretch there was the Celtics had started to
Speaker 1: go to isoball, which was hurting them, and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, the ball started moving. I just tweeted out
Speaker 1: about an hour and a half hour ago or so
Speaker 1: that people are going to look at Jason Tatum's fourteen
Speaker 1: points in the last quarter, but the three assists he
Speaker 1: had down the stretch were huge.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 1: And that's the point of stuff that, you know, that
Speaker 1: makes a team like the Celtics, with the depth and
Speaker 1: the talent they have, it makes a team like the
Speaker 1: Celtics unguardable.
Speaker 2: No, you're absolutely right.
Speaker 3: You know, people could talk about, you know, the Warriors
Speaker 3: in Minnesota and and and I felt bad for Tatum
Speaker 3: because for people who don't appreciate the game, the fact
Speaker 3: that he didn't shoot well in the finals last year,
Speaker 3: I was like, what are you talking about? The guy
Speaker 3: he got defensive rebounds. He was unbelievable. He was a
Speaker 3: complete team player, and that just I hope he's appreciated.
Speaker 1: He and Jason and sy Jalen Brown should have by
Speaker 1: all rights split the finals. MVP agreed because teams in
Speaker 1: the past had loaded up on Tatum and he didn't
Speaker 1: handle it well. But the fact he did handle it
Speaker 1: well in the finals and through all the playoffs and
Speaker 1: added that to his game made him. I think it
Speaker 1: took him to another level as a player. And trust me,
Speaker 1: the people inside the NBA know it. I mean, the
Speaker 1: Celtics lost to the Warriors two years prior because you know,
Speaker 1: they ganged up on him and they made him bring
Speaker 1: you loading up on him because he was bringing the
Speaker 1: ball to the floor and took him in the Celtics
Speaker 1: out of the game in a lot of ways, Celtics
Speaker 1: should have won that series, those finals. But the growth
Speaker 1: and his game is what you know, was huge in
Speaker 1: them winning the championship last year. But I wanted to
Speaker 1: talk about Tony Z.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know.
Speaker 3: Well come on, Steve, I had to. I just I
Speaker 3: had to grab your opinion.
Speaker 2: Dude. Thank you so much, have a great holiday and thanks.
Speaker 1: For calling Gary b Well, okay, bro, all right.
Speaker 3: You got it, Steve, take care of yourself. All right,
Speaker 3: let's go to James and Rhode Island. James, you're up
Speaker 3: on WBZ.
Speaker 6: How are you any buddy? Well, see from the Haunt.
Speaker 6: That's gotta be Steve Bullpatten.
Speaker 2: Well it is, and I didn't.
Speaker 3: I didn't want to out him, but he's the great pat,
Speaker 3: the legendary basketball writer for years with the Herald.
Speaker 6: I'll out him anytime. This is James Montgomery from the band,
Speaker 6: a good friend to Tony V's. I just want to
Speaker 6: agree with you that it is the most difficult job
Speaker 6: in show business. You know, I've had a band for
Speaker 6: fifty three years. I can't have a bad night because
Speaker 6: I've got four other musicians up there who are playing
Speaker 6: along with me. But stand up comedians up there all
Speaker 6: alone and I remember an episode of Johnny Carton where
Speaker 6: Rodney Dangerfield is going. You know, Johnny, Johnny, you know
Speaker 6: I bought a huge car. My wife's dress was in
Speaker 6: the back seat. But anyway, I remember him saying that
Speaker 6: even though people come to his nightclub to Dangerfields to
Speaker 6: see him, and he's told him the same material that
Speaker 6: goes over big one night and big the next night,
Speaker 6: but on a particular night, he bombs in his own
Speaker 6: nightclub with his own material and material that he knows
Speaker 6: that it works. It is the most difficult job and
Speaker 6: show business. And I love Tony V. He's a great guy.
Speaker 6: And congratulations for him for continuing to deliver night in
Speaker 6: and night out.
Speaker 3: James, I think I've talked to you before you did
Speaker 3: play in Roxbury, Maine, right, Yes.
Speaker 6: I did, and I got burned by the promoter and
Speaker 6: I got paid in Moose Steaks.
Speaker 3: I do remember the conversation Clytie Thomas, I played basketball
Speaker 3: with his son and Evelyn.
Speaker 2: This is small town stuff.
Speaker 3: Clytie Thomas and his wife Evelyn, which I think later
Speaker 3: became his ex wife. She was our high school. She
Speaker 3: ran the office at the high school. But James, I
Speaker 3: remember that, and I told you this before. I remember
Speaker 3: that concert you turn the whole area upside down.
Speaker 2: I mean it was crazy.
Speaker 3: It was like Woodstock for that small town. But anyways,
Speaker 3: it was crazy.
Speaker 6: Yeah. And like I say, whether or not, there were
Speaker 6: two promoters. One claimed, the other guy left and I
Speaker 6: got paid in Moose Steak.
Speaker 2: I remember that story. Just crazy. Hey, James, you have
Speaker 2: a nice holiday.
Speaker 6: Tony be unbelievable, and I thank you for having Tony Beyond.
Speaker 6: He's one of my favorite comedians ever. And thanks for
Speaker 6: having me. And you also have a wonderful holiday.
Speaker 2: Okay, you got it, James, We'll talk to you later.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, actually I remember that James Montgomery
Speaker 3: band played in Roxbury Main, which was on the other
Speaker 3: side of the mountain.
Speaker 2: From where I grew up.
Speaker 3: Now Roxbury Main probably has one hundred and twenty people
Speaker 3: in it, and I lived in a town called Fry,
Speaker 3: Maine at the time, which doesn't exist anymore, had eighty
Speaker 3: people in it. And Claudie Thomas's field was it's so
Speaker 3: crazy next to the Naps and the Naps. Richard Knapp
Speaker 3: was also our garbage man and I went to school
Speaker 3: with his. When the Montgomery Bank, everybody was like naked
Speaker 3: swimming in the Swift River. You swear to God like
Speaker 3: the growing up thought, like you know Satan was taking
Speaker 3: over the town. Hilarious, Hall hilarious. And the fact that
Speaker 3: Clytie Thomas paid him in mistakes not surprised. Boy, that's
Speaker 3: a memory. Well, it's been a great show. Thanks for
Speaker 3: having me in, folks, I really appreciate it. Marita Laros
Speaker 3: a great job. Rob Brooks outstanding job as always, taking
Speaker 3: care of business. Dan is going to be back on Monday,
Speaker 3: I assume. So it was a blast talking. We'd like
Speaker 3: to thank psychologist doctor Gregory Jance for joining us. Also,
Speaker 3: Boston Globe film critic Odie Henderson was a blast to
Speaker 3: talk to him about holiday movies and just hold in
Speaker 3: movies in general. Watch Conclave today, Man Ray fines unbelievable.
Speaker 3: And I didn't even get a chance to ask him
Speaker 3: what he thought about Wicked. I'm sure I can just
Speaker 3: google it and read his review. And thanks to the
Speaker 3: great Tony V for joining us right here on WBZ.
Speaker 3: So folks have a nice holiday, be safe, chill out,
Speaker 3: be kind to one another. Turn I just turn off
Speaker 3: the politics every once in a while because Bill Flaherty
Speaker 3: he doesn't want you to turn off the news because
Speaker 3: that's WBZ, but just chill out on the politics once
Speaker 3: in a while. Okay, dance back next time, Rob, thanks
Speaker 3: for helping out. Good night from WBZ Dan Ratio