Speaker 1: Let's say good morning too, Fritz Coleman. Good morning, mister Coleman.
Speaker 2: How were you amy doing?
Speaker 1: Fabulous? Thanks for getting up early with us today.
Speaker 2: I wanted to be here.
Speaker 1: So, Friz, you did TV weather for years and now
Speaker 1: you just make people laugh while.
Speaker 2: I'm trying to That's true. I started my career in
Speaker 2: stand up and I got my job doing the weather
Speaker 2: from doing stand up at the Comedy Store, So it's
Speaker 2: full circle for me.
Speaker 1: Wait, that's how you got discovered?
Speaker 2: Yes, I was working at the Comedy Store in nineteen
Speaker 2: eighty two and the news director from NBC was in the.
Speaker 3: Was in the audience, and then I had mentioned during
Speaker 3: my show that I had done the weather when I
Speaker 3: worked for Armed Forces Radio and Television in the Navy,
Speaker 3: but I didn't know anything about it, and I had
Speaker 3: some many notes to tell about not.
Speaker 2: Knowing anything about the weather and doing it, and this
Speaker 2: is an absolutely true story. When my show was over,
Speaker 2: I went backstage to meet these people, and this man's
Speaker 2: Steven Tonedy God rest his soul, said to me, this
Speaker 2: is a weird question, but do you have any desire
Speaker 2: to come to Channel four and do some vacation relief
Speaker 2: fill in weather? For me, and I said, you did
Speaker 2: hear me say on stage that I don't know anything
Speaker 2: about the weather? He said, perfect, there's no weather in California.
Speaker 2: This will work out great. So I auditioned. I got
Speaker 2: the job doing fill in for a couple of years.
Speaker 2: Then my predecessor left and I got bumped up to
Speaker 2: the main job and I was there for forty years.
Speaker 2: It's an honest to God miracle.
Speaker 1: Isn't that fun? So now, did you said that the
Speaker 1: stand up gig gave you some fodder for the weather gig?
Speaker 1: Did it work in reverse? Two?
Speaker 2: Yes, it is. It was. They were mutually beneficial experiences
Speaker 2: from playing to drunks at one o'clock in the morning
Speaker 2: and comedy clubs. There was no emergency situation on TV
Speaker 2: that I couldn't react well and not lose my cool,
Speaker 2: And the reverse of that was true. Being on television
Speaker 2: doing the weather helped me to get booked around in
Speaker 2: shows in southern California. So it was a mutually beneficial experience.
Speaker 1: And now you're just doing this. This is your job.
Speaker 1: Now you've left my job. The weather is gone. And
Speaker 1: I know we've talked before and you said you don't
Speaker 1: miss it at or lick.
Speaker 2: Well, no, I mean I tell people, even if you
Speaker 2: love what you do, forty years is long enough, and
Speaker 2: I'm glad to be retired. I get to do this
Speaker 2: show at the alports Ole Theater, which has been going
Speaker 2: on for a year and a half. It's called Unassisted Living.
Speaker 2: It's a show for people of a certain age. So
Speaker 2: I get to go on stage in wine for an
Speaker 2: hour and twenty minutes about the joys the euphoria of
Speaker 2: being old and people who are in that similar circumstance
Speaker 2: have a good time. I say, if you have a
Speaker 2: Medicare card and you appreciate being home by dark, you
Speaker 2: need to come and see this show because it was
Speaker 2: built for you.
Speaker 1: Okay, So then let me ask you this, Fris because
Speaker 1: I remember I used to have a friend who was
Speaker 1: several years older than me, and I'd go, oh, I
Speaker 1: don't feel that way yet, or and she kept saying,
Speaker 1: just you wait, just you wait, You'll get there soon enough.
Speaker 1: Is there some of that in your show? Because there
Speaker 1: are certain things.
Speaker 2: That's the whole thing. That's the whole thing. It's the
Speaker 2: common experience. Some of the topics we talk about are
Speaker 2: having grandchildren during the pandemic, what happens to your body,
Speaker 2: men and women, how you perceive the world, your lack
Speaker 2: of energy, how you assess how you were as a parent,
Speaker 2: all the common experiences of being old, and not all
Speaker 2: of it is bad. I closed the show out with
Speaker 2: a whole block on being grateful. The one thing this
Speaker 2: happened to me since I got older is I find
Speaker 2: myself being more grateful for everything I have and everything
Speaker 2: I've experienced, and I sort of close out on a
Speaker 2: positive note. And it's fun. I have found that a
Speaker 2: comedy these days, with the darkness and the division in
Speaker 2: the world, is really very therapeutic. I don't do any politics.
Speaker 2: It's a relatively clean show. So my job is to
Speaker 2: just take people's heads out of the rest of the
Speaker 2: weirdness in the world and allow them to understand what's
Speaker 2: common among us instead of what divides us. It's what's
Speaker 2: common among us. And if you're given the gift of
Speaker 2: being able to get to a certain age, then these
Speaker 2: are all the typical experiences. And there are people who
Speaker 2: have been back two and three times to see this show,
Speaker 2: and so I think it's working okay.
Speaker 1: And then Fritz all of your shows at the El
Speaker 1: Portal theater are matinees.
Speaker 2: How come well because people in my particular demographic, which
Speaker 2: is old people and their parents, like to be home
Speaker 2: by dark. So we start to show at three in
Speaker 2: the afternoon on a Sunday. It's usually the last Sunday
Speaker 2: of every month, and we just find that that's a
Speaker 2: good fit for the people that come to see this show.
Speaker 1: I love it. And then there's a special for the summer.
Speaker 1: It's a two for one, that's.
Speaker 2: True, and we're really excited to announce this. If you
Speaker 2: buy a ticket at Elportaltheater dot com anytime between June
Speaker 2: first and June fifteenth, it's two for one. You'll buy
Speaker 2: one ticket, you'll get one free, and those tickets are
Speaker 2: good for any show in the summer all the way
Speaker 2: through September. So we'd love to see you. It's the
Speaker 2: Marilyn Monroe Farm is part of the Elportal Theater and
Speaker 2: it's just small enough for me to come and hug
Speaker 2: everybody after the show. I would love to meet you,
Speaker 2: come on out and see us.
Speaker 1: I love that. And it's so we've got when's your next?
Speaker 1: Is the next one?
Speaker 2: This Sunday? Were this Sunday? If you want to come
Speaker 2: to Sunday. I'm not sure where there are any tickets left,
Speaker 2: but you can try Sunday the twenty fifth at three
Speaker 2: o'clock Elportsoltheater dot com. And it's a Memorial Day weekend,
Speaker 2: so you may may not be able to fit us
Speaker 2: into your schedule, but if not, come and get a
Speaker 2: two for one deal and come and see you sometime
Speaker 2: this summer.
Speaker 1: I love that Fritz Coleman Unassisted Living. It's such a
Speaker 1: fun show. I actually I got to watch the special
Speaker 1: that you recorded. It's a lot of fun. And in fact, Fritz,
Speaker 1: we're going to make it fun for a couple of
Speaker 1: week out call listeners because we have two pair of
Speaker 1: tickets to give away, so we're gonna do that right now.
Speaker 1: Fritz Coleman, thank you so much, and we look forward
Speaker 1: to seeing the show. It sounds like a lot a
Speaker 1: great time.
Speaker 2: Thank you enough, Amy, Thanks for having me, all right,
Speaker 2: take care,