WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:01.040 Life not easy. 2 00:00:01.120 --> 00:00:03.160 That easy. You can't trust doc disease that every all 3 00:00:03.240 --> 00:00:05.839 mixed up. You can think my proctologist used to be 4 00:00:05.879 --> 00:00:10.119 a photographer. Hey, he took X ray told me to 5 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:26.559 bend over and say cheese. 6 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:31.239 Welcome to Amusing Jews, where we celebrate Jewish contributors and 7 00:00:31.239 --> 00:00:35.240 contributions to American popular culture. I'm Jonathan Friedman. 8 00:00:35.159 --> 00:00:36.399 And I'm Joey Angelfield. 9 00:00:36.600 --> 00:00:40.000 Producer engineer Mike Tomrn is working somewhere behind the scenes. 10 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:43.280 Amusing Jews is a project of a Dot Javareem Congregation 11 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:46.840 for Humanistic Judaism, the Jewish Museum of the American West, 12 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:50.799 and Atheist United Studios. Hey, Joey. If there was ever 13 00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:53.960 a comedian who surpassed the one liner prowess of Henny 14 00:00:54.039 --> 00:00:58.439 young Man, it was Rodney Dangerfield, the disheveled, bug eyed 15 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:00.600 curmudgeon who got no respect. 16 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:03.359 We're happy to talk again with Michael Seth Starr, a 17 00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:07.239 prolific biographer whose books include Nothing Comes Easy The Life 18 00:01:07.239 --> 00:01:11.560 of Rodney Dangerfield. Michael, welcome back to Amusing Jews. 19 00:01:11.879 --> 00:01:13.599 Great to be back, Thanks for having me on. 20 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:16.640 How did you first become aware of Rodney Dangerfield and 21 00:01:16.680 --> 00:01:19.159 what were your first impressions, it was the Tonight Show, 22 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:19.599 tell you. 23 00:01:19.519 --> 00:01:21.159 The Truth on my wife, what I would never have 24 00:01:21.239 --> 00:01:23.280 secon now we got undressed. We can't stop laughing. 25 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:27.040 I was probably, you know, in my early teens at 26 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:31.640 that point and saw him with Johnny Carson and was 27 00:01:31.799 --> 00:01:36.000 just amazed at I thought Rickles, with his rapid fire 28 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:38.480 delivery was was was, you know, one of a kind. 29 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:41.000 But the dangerfield was right up there with him. I mean, 30 00:01:41.159 --> 00:01:44.400 just one after another one liners. One liner is very 31 00:01:44.439 --> 00:01:50.159 self deprecating, unlike Don Rickles, and and always his humor 32 00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:54.439 was was directed at himself sexual situation sometimes, but it 33 00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:56.239 was always with him as the loser. 34 00:01:56.560 --> 00:02:00.480 I got no sex life. Ten years ago, my put 35 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:01.359 me on hold. 36 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:05.239 And I was just amazed at how quick quickly his 37 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:08.759 mind were and any anything that Carson brought up with him, 38 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:12.080 he had a he had a joke for and and 39 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:14.439 if it didn't hit, he had, you know, he would 40 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:16.919 come up with something else. You know, five seconds later. 41 00:02:17.599 --> 00:02:20.199 His whole demeanor was you know, as you mentioned, bug eyed, 42 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:22.719 and he was like moving around and he was mopping 43 00:02:22.759 --> 00:02:25.759 his brow and you know, I'll tell you know, it 44 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:28.319 was fixing his tie. It was just something I'd never 45 00:02:28.360 --> 00:02:34.319 seen before, and he wasn't your typical stand up comedian 46 00:02:34.360 --> 00:02:36.000 at that time. It would just, you know, even on 47 00:02:36.039 --> 00:02:37.919 the Tonight Show, would come out, you know and just 48 00:02:37.960 --> 00:02:40.719 sort of stand stock still and look around. He was 49 00:02:40.759 --> 00:02:46.599 always in motion, herky, jerky and just obviously loving what 50 00:02:46.680 --> 00:02:49.479 he was doing. And Carson also was was you know, 51 00:02:49.479 --> 00:02:52.599 would fall off his chair laughing and again, like like 52 00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:55.520 Don Rickles, he was one of Carson's favorite guests on 53 00:02:55.639 --> 00:02:56.280 the Tonight Show. 54 00:02:56.680 --> 00:02:58.639 I was watching a lot of clips of him in 55 00:02:58.680 --> 00:03:02.439 preparation for this Inner You and You're right like rapid fire. 56 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:05.919 He memorized so many of his jokes. It's kind of amazing. 57 00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:08.479 He had a joke for everything. As you're saying, I 58 00:03:08.599 --> 00:03:11.919 started to think that maybe that herky jerkiness between jokes 59 00:03:11.960 --> 00:03:15.120 that's ever so subtle might have been like him thinking 60 00:03:15.159 --> 00:03:16.800 about the next joke. 61 00:03:16.919 --> 00:03:19.759 He was ready for any situation, and he would sort 62 00:03:19.800 --> 00:03:23.719 of map them out on a board as to when 63 00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:26.960 he would tell what joke jokes he would tell when 64 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:29.240 he when he came out to do a stand up 65 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:31.479 jokes he would tell when he sat down on the 66 00:03:31.520 --> 00:03:34.919 couch before Johnny spoke to him, and then jokes he 67 00:03:34.919 --> 00:03:38.719 would tell as Johnny as the conversation began, So he did. 68 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:42.280 So I can see that, as you say, Jonathan, that 69 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:44.520 he he could could have been thinking about the next thing, 70 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:47.879 but he did have it in his own mind, sort 71 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:50.199 of worked out how he was going to come across, 72 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:53.599 and he took it. He took it very seriously, particularly 73 00:03:53.639 --> 00:03:55.039 the Tonight Show. Yeah. 74 00:03:55.080 --> 00:03:58.039 I think even to this day that's really the highlight 75 00:03:58.120 --> 00:04:00.000 reel is primarily from the Tonight Show. 76 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:04.159 Yeah, I'm not surprising that surprising. 77 00:04:04.479 --> 00:04:07.520 Dangerfield's perseverance stood out to you while you were researching 78 00:04:07.560 --> 00:04:10.840 the book. How did he finally break out in his forties? 79 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:14.520 I think perseverance is the perfect way to describe him. 80 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:18.920 We can get into this a little bit more in depth, 81 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:21.560 but you know, he started out as a sort of 82 00:04:21.560 --> 00:04:24.560 a stand up comics Slash MC and the Cat Skills, 83 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:27.439 and then he came to New York, he had changed 84 00:04:27.480 --> 00:04:31.360 his name. He basically was a stand up comic from 85 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:37.720 roughly nineteen forty to nineteen fifty and it never quite 86 00:04:37.800 --> 00:04:40.399 worked out for him in that phase of his career. 87 00:04:41.240 --> 00:04:45.240 And he had gotten married around nineteen fifty to a 88 00:04:45.279 --> 00:04:47.920 singer named Joyce Indig, who he met in the clubs, 89 00:04:48.319 --> 00:04:53.079 and I think he realized at that point his career 90 00:04:53.199 --> 00:04:55.399 was sort of he was sort of in neutral as 91 00:04:55.439 --> 00:04:58.399 a comic in an MC. He got some write ups, 92 00:04:58.439 --> 00:05:00.560 but not many. He maybe made a couple of hundred 93 00:05:00.600 --> 00:05:05.480 bucks on the weekend, always writing jokes. But he decided 94 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:10.199 to completely shift gears, drop out of show business and 95 00:05:10.279 --> 00:05:12.720 for the next decade, from the ninth from about ran 96 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:15.839 nineteen fifty to fifty one to the early sixties, he 97 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:19.680 became a paint and the luminium siding salesman a year 98 00:05:19.720 --> 00:05:22.360 in northern New Jersey and not far from where I 99 00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:28.160 live actually. And but he so perseverance in the sense 100 00:05:28.199 --> 00:05:32.800 that he oh, he even when he was selling paint, 101 00:05:33.079 --> 00:05:35.600 which he called the color his his quot was, you know, 102 00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:38.439 it's very was a very colorless business, and and we 103 00:05:38.439 --> 00:05:40.839 was selling aluminum siding. He was a He was a 104 00:05:40.839 --> 00:05:45.079 funny salesman, but he was he kept on writing jokes. 105 00:05:45.360 --> 00:05:49.199 He was contented. Even when he wasn't on stage performing, 106 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:53.439 he was writing jokes. So I think he always had 107 00:05:53.480 --> 00:05:56.519 it in the back of his mind that if the 108 00:05:56.639 --> 00:06:01.240 businessman life did not work out, he would return to 109 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:04.480 the clubs. And that is exactly what he did in 110 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:09.959 nineteen sixty sixty one, still working his day job, but 111 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:17.120 east himself back before live audiences in small to medium 112 00:06:17.160 --> 00:06:22.399 sized clubs in the New York area for the most part, 113 00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:24.879 in that early second phase of his career. 114 00:06:25.160 --> 00:06:27.600 You have some great pictures of him as a younger, 115 00:06:28.120 --> 00:06:30.600 kind of failed comic in the book as well, where 116 00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:34.240 he looks pretty conventional, almost dapper. And then maybe it 117 00:06:34.279 --> 00:06:37.079 took the aluminum siding and the you know, being a 118 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:39.600 working man to sort of reinvent himself as the working 119 00:06:39.639 --> 00:06:42.399 man's comic, because he's very authentic in the way that 120 00:06:42.439 --> 00:06:46.959 he presents himself as a disheveled every man who's you know, 121 00:06:47.079 --> 00:06:47.959 kind of miserable. 122 00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:50.800 There was sort of the early shots of him when 123 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:54.639 he was known as Jack Roy, which we'll talk about. 124 00:06:54.680 --> 00:06:56.040 You know, yeah, there was sort of like you know, 125 00:06:56.480 --> 00:06:59.600 posed glamour shots. You know, his hair was slicked back, 126 00:06:59.680 --> 00:07:01.720 and you know, you know, he was a handsome guy, 127 00:07:01.800 --> 00:07:03.560 and you know he was, you know, the one of 128 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:07.800 those looking like that and the typical glossies that you 129 00:07:07.839 --> 00:07:12.839 had that that entertainers, singers, dancers, comics at that point 130 00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:19.040 had to hitch themselves around and and and his his 131 00:07:19.160 --> 00:07:23.480 image certainly changed when he when he when he came 132 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:26.199 back the second time around, when he went from Jack 133 00:07:26.319 --> 00:07:30.519 Roy to Rodney Dangerfield, his mode of dress changed, and 134 00:07:30.720 --> 00:07:35.480 his whole his whole physical milieu, I guess is what 135 00:07:35.959 --> 00:07:41.319 you could call it, was adapted to that persona uh 136 00:07:41.560 --> 00:07:44.480 you know, and and that on stage personality. 137 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:48.959 Enjoying the show click like and subscribe. Dangerfield was chronically 138 00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:53.199 miserable adding authenticity to his self deprecating jokes. Was that 139 00:07:53.279 --> 00:07:54.399 a secret to a success? 140 00:07:54.600 --> 00:07:58.319 I think so. He had a very very unhappy childhood. 141 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:05.319 His fire was a vaudevillian Phil Cohen, but he took 142 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:09.879 the stage name of Phil Roy and he he toured 143 00:08:10.040 --> 00:08:13.800 the vaudeville circuit with his brother, Rodney's uncle, and they 144 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:16.560 called themselves Roy and Arthur, and they were they were 145 00:08:16.600 --> 00:08:20.920 actually fair to middlingly successful as a vaudeville team. They 146 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:24.399 met Charlie Chaplin and they performed some big names. But 147 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:29.600 that being said, Rodney never he was Rodney was born 148 00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:32.759 Jacob Cohen. Jacob never saw his father, He saw him 149 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:35.159 maybe twice a year. That his father was always on 150 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:38.960 the road. Didn't have the greatest marriage with Rodney's mother, 151 00:08:39.840 --> 00:08:43.279 who was a very very cold woman didn't show Rodney 152 00:08:43.720 --> 00:08:47.919 really any love or attention, so he really was on 153 00:08:47.960 --> 00:08:50.639 his own. I mean, he he, he. There's some quotes 154 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:52.360 from him in the book where he talks about seeing 155 00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:55.799 his father for maybe two hours, you know, for a 156 00:08:55.879 --> 00:08:57.919 visit once a year or twice a year, and they 157 00:08:57.960 --> 00:09:00.960 did go to maybe to Coney Island or into Manhattan. 158 00:09:01.080 --> 00:09:03.440 His father would buy him an ice cream, but they 159 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:06.039 didn't talk much. So he didn't really have a father. 160 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:12.480 And his mother was not the stereotypical Jewish mother doating 161 00:09:12.519 --> 00:09:14.960 on him and smothering him and both during his career. 162 00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:15.440 She was. 163 00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:20.919 The complete opposite of that very very cold woman. They 164 00:09:20.919 --> 00:09:25.879 had a very icy relationship. So he was on his own, 165 00:09:26.519 --> 00:09:29.519 and I think he used comedy just as sort of 166 00:09:29.519 --> 00:09:36.759 an escape outlet for his pretty miserable childhood. I mean, 167 00:09:36.759 --> 00:09:41.120 it wasn't it wasn't miserable in the fact that they 168 00:09:41.159 --> 00:09:43.720 were dirt poor or he didn't have a roofover said 169 00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:50.320 he did, but there was no love there, and I 170 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:52.559 think he was sort of always looking for that love 171 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:56.559 through his life. Throughout his life, and I think he 172 00:09:56.679 --> 00:10:02.279 found the love that he needed from an audience and 173 00:10:02.279 --> 00:10:05.200 from performing in front of people and a live audience 174 00:10:05.799 --> 00:10:08.799 when they gave him the love that he didn't get 175 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:12.000 from his parents. And he was an only child, so 176 00:10:12.039 --> 00:10:14.919 he didn't have any siblings, and yeah, I'm sorry, I 177 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:18.120 take that back. You had an older sister. I'm sorry. 178 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:20.000 I had an older sister who he was not close to, 179 00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:24.320 so even that he didn't really have a relationship. She 180 00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:26.919 was four or five years older than he was. So 181 00:10:27.639 --> 00:10:33.759 I think he found his true calling on stage and 182 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:38.480 the love that he needed he found by getting laughs 183 00:10:39.159 --> 00:10:41.440 through with an audience. I mean, the fact that we're 184 00:10:41.480 --> 00:10:46.519 talking about Rodney Yingelfield today just a testament to how 185 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:49.200 popular he remains to this day, and how popular he 186 00:10:49.320 --> 00:10:55.039 was in his time, and how he even though he 187 00:10:55.200 --> 00:10:59.759 was an older comic, he appealed to it's funny, it's interesting, 188 00:10:59.840 --> 00:11:02.919 interesting dynamic. We appealed to a young audience as well 189 00:11:02.960 --> 00:11:05.639 as people his own age was. He came up in 190 00:11:05.679 --> 00:11:09.480 a time of rebelliousness, and his comedy was sort of 191 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:11.440 he was sort of a comedy somebody wanted. Somebody in 192 00:11:11.480 --> 00:11:14.360 the book I don't forget who it was, labeled him 193 00:11:14.360 --> 00:11:17.200 as a rock and roll comic. Like the first he was. 194 00:11:17.240 --> 00:11:21.799 He was a rebel in his own way, and Uh 195 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:25.720 sort of an icon to a generation at a time 196 00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:30.120 when you would think an older man, UH, an older 197 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:32.440 white guy coming up as a stand up comic who 198 00:11:32.480 --> 00:11:38.279 was nearing fifty, would be considered an anachronism, but he was. 199 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:40.440 It was the exact opposite. He was like a breath 200 00:11:40.480 --> 00:11:44.679 of fresh air. And because he was doing things on 201 00:11:44.840 --> 00:11:49.440 stage and talking about things, and his delivery and his 202 00:11:49.799 --> 00:11:53.320 one liners were just so brilliant that it was just 203 00:11:53.399 --> 00:11:56.440 like wow, Like where did this guy come from? You know? 204 00:11:56.759 --> 00:11:58.799 And that's kind of like it was almost like where 205 00:11:58.919 --> 00:12:02.000 this guy come from? Because he wasn't well known before 206 00:12:02.159 --> 00:12:04.519 what he really did hit big on the Ed Sullivan Show. 207 00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:08.559 He really was almost you know, that overnight success story. 208 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:11.559 That one appearance in nineteen sixty seven put him on 209 00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:13.039 the road to start him. 210 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:16.200 It's interesting that you're mentioning his rebelliousness because on the 211 00:12:16.200 --> 00:12:18.600 one hand, he was hip and rock and roll and 212 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:21.080 all this things you're saying. But also one of the 213 00:12:21.080 --> 00:12:23.720 reasons why I think other comics couldn't really imitate him 214 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:28.320 is that his format, his medium was actually very old fashioned. 215 00:12:28.360 --> 00:12:31.480 The one liner, which was not what comics were doing 216 00:12:31.519 --> 00:12:34.639 in the stream of consciousness, you know, seventies and eighties 217 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:36.879 and all that sort of thing. So he was kind 218 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:40.320 of like a throwback and a throw forward at the 219 00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:40.840 same time. 220 00:12:41.039 --> 00:12:43.799 Yeah, yeah, no, it's a good point. I mean, yes, 221 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:49.960 he was the sort of the penultimate stand up comic. 222 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:52.399 He was up there, you know, fire and off lines 223 00:12:52.519 --> 00:13:00.720 left and right. Unlike Rickles, who didn't tell joke but 224 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:02.639 just picked on, you know, picked on people in the 225 00:13:02.679 --> 00:13:05.519 audience and and and picked on Johnny Carson whoever he 226 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:09.120 was with, Ron didn't really do that. I mean, he 227 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:11.759 he he he. He was sort of like a Henny 228 00:13:11.799 --> 00:13:14.600 young Man on on on acid. You know. It's like 229 00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:17.759 with these one liners that you figure, wow, you know 230 00:13:17.799 --> 00:13:20.159 I was when I was born, I was so that 231 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:23.600 I was the doctors. The doctor slapped my mother, then 232 00:13:23.639 --> 00:13:25.360 he slapped the nurse a good measure. You know. I'm 233 00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:30.480 not in Rodney's voice, you know, but uh, just these 234 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:34.320 these he would paint these pictures. And I talked about 235 00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:37.440 this a little bit in the book, like he knew 236 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:41.440 he only had like a certain number of lines to 237 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:45.039 sort of make a little story out of something, and 238 00:13:45.039 --> 00:13:49.000 and you know, and he did that, and you know, 239 00:13:49.080 --> 00:13:51.799 maybe you know, three or four or five lines where 240 00:13:51.799 --> 00:13:54.399 he would it was it was it was the setup 241 00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:57.720 and then the payoff. But you have an image in 242 00:13:57.759 --> 00:14:00.440 your head, like when when he was talking about this, 243 00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:03.360 whether it was you know, talking making fun of his 244 00:14:03.399 --> 00:14:06.480 wife or or you know she writ you know, or 245 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:11.279 making fun of himself in a sexual situation, or making 246 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:15.360 fun of his own looks, making fun of him his 247 00:14:15.399 --> 00:14:20.039 relationship with this psychiatrist. So he sort of painted a 248 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:24.399 word picture in not so many words, which was a 249 00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:28.799 brilliant device and not easy to do. And I think 250 00:14:29.519 --> 00:14:34.679 he had such a quick silver mind and came up 251 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:38.519 with all you know, he had trunk several trunks worth 252 00:14:38.600 --> 00:14:40.159 of jokes that he would just come up with off 253 00:14:40.200 --> 00:14:44.080 the top of his head. And and you know, well 254 00:14:44.120 --> 00:14:47.600 they all great, know, I mean, who can be that 255 00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:51.559 great all the time, But the large portion of them 256 00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:52.720 were pretty good. 257 00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:56.080 And he started writing jokes obsessively in his youth, right. 258 00:14:56.279 --> 00:14:57.960 I think he said he started writing jokes when he 259 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:00.600 was about fifteen, which would have put him in you know, 260 00:15:00.679 --> 00:15:04.639 high school or you know, the nineteen tenth grade, and 261 00:15:04.759 --> 00:15:07.399 just kept at it all the time. And even when 262 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:10.799 he in that decade of him as a salesman, he 263 00:15:10.919 --> 00:15:13.480 was selling jokes every once in a while, and he 264 00:15:13.559 --> 00:15:16.039 sold few jokes to Joey Bishop and some other Phil 265 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:20.759 Foster and some other comics. So he always sort of 266 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:25.600 kept his yep, he kept his toe in the comedy waters, 267 00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:28.440 even when he was off the ship, off the beach 268 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:30.440 and you know, doing something different, But he always kept 269 00:15:30.440 --> 00:15:33.000 his his toe in the water and it served him 270 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:36.159 in good stead when he decided to to make a 271 00:15:36.200 --> 00:15:40.159 second stab at a career in comedy, and you know 272 00:15:40.279 --> 00:15:46.360 that in turn, he had the persona which led to many, 273 00:15:46.440 --> 00:15:52.759 many more television appearances. You know, Mike Douglas, MERV Griffin, 274 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:56.039 the Joe and Joey Bishop had a talk show. He 275 00:15:56.159 --> 00:16:00.519 was on Carson of course Byana Shore. I mean, everybody 276 00:16:00.559 --> 00:16:02.679 who had a talk show wanted to have Rodney on. 277 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:09.000 And he did make one a movie that not many 278 00:16:09.039 --> 00:16:11.679 people know about. It was really his first movie called 279 00:16:11.720 --> 00:16:16.279 The Projectionist, which came out in nineteen seventy. It was 280 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:20.879 a very very low budget sort of dramaedy drama slash 281 00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:25.080 comedy that was shot on a shoe string in Manhattan 282 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:29.120 about a projectionist played by Chuck McCann, who was a 283 00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:33.000 very good comic. He played the projectionist in a movie. 284 00:16:33.039 --> 00:16:37.519 Theater projected all his thoughts. He became different characters in 285 00:16:37.559 --> 00:16:41.080 different movies, saving you know, the girl in distress and 286 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:44.639 that sort of thing, and Rodney in the movie played 287 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:47.480 the really abrasive theater manager. 288 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:52.720 I'm happy with your attitudes and your appearances. Coppets are 289 00:16:52.759 --> 00:16:57.240 constantly a mess. I find numerous candy represents, cigarette butts 290 00:16:57.279 --> 00:16:57.799 on the floor. 291 00:16:59.559 --> 00:17:03.879 Remember, dirt is our enemy. Also, there's a lack of 292 00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:08.359 pride in your uniform. Shoes and are polished. Were a face? 293 00:17:09.119 --> 00:17:10.319 What are you afraid of a razor? 294 00:17:10.839 --> 00:17:13.640 The movie opened and closed very quickly. It was you know, 295 00:17:13.720 --> 00:17:16.759 showed in drive in theaters and became a little bit 296 00:17:16.759 --> 00:17:20.000 of a cult movie. Once Rodney became a very big 297 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:24.920 star and was re released on television several times. But 298 00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:26.559 that was his entree into movies, and then he did 299 00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:30.000 to make another movie. For about a decade, he was 300 00:17:30.039 --> 00:17:35.000 busy doing a stand up comedy. He opened his own club, Dangerfields, 301 00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:39.480 and he's sixty first Street in Manhattan because he wanted to. 302 00:17:39.559 --> 00:17:41.480 He was living in New York and he wanted He 303 00:17:41.559 --> 00:17:45.319 had been divorced by this time, divorced, remarried, and then 304 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:48.319 divorced the same woman. So he opened his club because 305 00:17:48.319 --> 00:17:50.799 he wanted to be close to his two children and 306 00:17:50.839 --> 00:17:54.279 you didn't want to travel all that much. And the 307 00:17:54.319 --> 00:17:58.319 comedy club, which became a really big success. 308 00:17:58.000 --> 00:17:58.559 And was. 309 00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:03.759 Its lifespan was great. I mean it they closed it. 310 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:05.960 It closed it in COVID. I mean it was from 311 00:18:06.039 --> 00:18:12.200 nineteen sixty nine through two thousand, sorry, through twenty twenty. 312 00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:13.720 It was. 313 00:18:13.880 --> 00:18:17.880 It was a functioning, very popular comedy club. So you know, 314 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:19.920 kudos to him for doing that. He opened He opened 315 00:18:19.960 --> 00:18:22.839 it at a time where there weren't that many comedy 316 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:26.079 clubs in Manhattan, you know, the big comedy boom with 317 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:28.559 the big comedy in front of the brick wall with 318 00:18:28.559 --> 00:18:32.160 the microphone. That hadn't happened yet. It did shortly thereafter 319 00:18:33.599 --> 00:18:37.559 catch Rising Star and those sorts of clubs the Comedy Store. 320 00:18:38.359 --> 00:18:40.880 But Rodney was one of the first to do that, 321 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:44.720 and he performed at his own club in the beginning 322 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:47.880 six seven times a week, and then he cut back 323 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:51.319 once he became too popular. But the club itself stayed 324 00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:54.599 open and fostered a lot of careers and was a 325 00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:59.000 very well known place to see and be seen, which 326 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:01.960 is a long winded way of saying that he had 327 00:19:01.960 --> 00:19:05.519 the he had this, he had the TV appearances, he 328 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:11.559 had the comedy Club. Then he had the movies Caddy Shack, 329 00:19:11.640 --> 00:19:15.400 which which you know was was a box office bonanza 330 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:18.880 and uh, such a classic for for a lot of people. 331 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.720 What is really it was really his first co starring role. 332 00:19:25.960 --> 00:19:28.319 We we discount the Projectionist and we we look at 333 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:32.319 Caddy Shack and he didn't even know how to when 334 00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:34.079 he when he first got there and he was shooting 335 00:19:34.119 --> 00:19:37.119 his scenes. And this is in the book too, He 336 00:19:37.160 --> 00:19:38.960 didn't really know how to act in front of a 337 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:42.440 movie camera. And and he didn't he expected like he 338 00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:45.119 would do his lines and nobody would laugh, and he would, 339 00:19:45.400 --> 00:19:46.759 you know, say well, well what's going on? 340 00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:46.960 You know? 341 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:49.960 And Harold Ramis, the director, had to pull him aside 342 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:53.359 and say, you know, there's no laughing on a movie set, 343 00:19:53.680 --> 00:19:57.759 you know where he just just be you save the 344 00:19:57.799 --> 00:20:01.200 lines and you'll be great. And he was. And he 345 00:20:01.240 --> 00:20:07.599 adapted very quickly as stands of the of the movie. Now, Yeah, 346 00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:12.880 so that was that was a biggie in his career. Yeah, 347 00:20:12.920 --> 00:20:16.160 and I would say that he was he was sixty 348 00:20:16.359 --> 00:20:22.960 already when Caddyshack hit, and that opened up a lot 349 00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:26.759 of doors for him in Hollywood that hadn't closed previously. 350 00:20:27.880 --> 00:20:30.279 And so he went on to make Easy Money, which 351 00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:34.839 did okay. It was it critically, It did okay at 352 00:20:34.839 --> 00:20:38.119 the box office. It was critically, it did okay too, 353 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:41.000 you know, and the sort of people liked it, some 354 00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:43.319 people didn't like it. That was with Joe Peshick. 355 00:20:43.799 --> 00:20:45.680 That's the greatest love in the world. Your kids. You 356 00:20:45.720 --> 00:20:47.880 can't beat it, all right. That's why you do things 357 00:20:47.880 --> 00:20:50.839 for your kids. That's love with your kid. Hey see 358 00:20:50.839 --> 00:20:53.680 what I mean? With his kid, that's love, you know 359 00:20:53.720 --> 00:20:55.240 what I mean? Look where he loves the kid there 360 00:20:55.240 --> 00:20:58.279 has bounced him on his knees. Look at that. That's love, baby, 361 00:20:58.319 --> 00:20:59.680 I look at that. 362 00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:02.880 Think a right, hear what's going on. 363 00:21:02.920 --> 00:21:04.200 I'm sitting here minding my business. 364 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:07.200 He jumped on my lackey. All right, everybody calmed down us. 365 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:10.440 Some identifications are And then he had Back to School, 366 00:21:10.480 --> 00:21:15.480 which was his biggest movie financially for him, critically and 367 00:21:15.559 --> 00:21:17.880 at the box office. That movie made a lot of 368 00:21:17.880 --> 00:21:21.799 money and really for a time put him near the 369 00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:26.319 top of the heap. It's his his his career in Hollywood. 370 00:21:27.240 --> 00:21:30.839 He was. He was hot as a pistol for a while, 371 00:21:31.480 --> 00:21:34.440 not a not a not a whole very long time, 372 00:21:34.480 --> 00:21:38.079 because once he started making a lot of money per movie, 373 00:21:38.680 --> 00:21:43.240 he became less picky, and eventually the movies you know, 374 00:21:43.319 --> 00:21:48.039 were like straight to video and Lady Bugs and five 375 00:21:48.119 --> 00:21:51.160 Tenors or four ten movies that people probably never even 376 00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:55.160 heard of for a good reason. But he was making 377 00:21:55.480 --> 00:21:58.279 money hand over fist and he was very interested in 378 00:21:58.319 --> 00:22:03.359 doing that at that point. And so his Starbardy. He 379 00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:05.960 met Natural Born Killers, which was another great movie he 380 00:22:06.079 --> 00:22:09.400 was in. It was an Oliver Stone movie, and there 381 00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:12.839 was Rodney had a cameo in that. It was very 382 00:22:12.920 --> 00:22:15.920 violent and gory and bloody, and he had a cameo 383 00:22:16.039 --> 00:22:20.839 in a scene with Julian Lewis and Woody Harrelson where 384 00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:24.839 he played sort of a father, the real loud who's 385 00:22:24.839 --> 00:22:28.240 like molesting who's molesting his daughter and beating his wife. 386 00:22:28.279 --> 00:22:30.599 And you have to see the movie to get the 387 00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:36.319 context of it, because Rodney scene was shot as a 388 00:22:36.359 --> 00:22:39.759 Oliverstone shot. Rodney seen a sort of a parody of 389 00:22:39.799 --> 00:22:43.359 an I Love Lucy episode smack in the middle of 390 00:22:43.400 --> 00:22:48.519 this horrifically glory, nasty movie. You know, there there was 391 00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:52.839 this homage to I Love Weird, homage to I Love 392 00:22:52.920 --> 00:22:57.680 Lucy twisted omarsh I Love Lucy with Rodney. But he 393 00:22:57.799 --> 00:22:59.640 was very good in that movie, and there was some 394 00:22:59.720 --> 00:23:02.480 talk early on he might get nominated for an Oscar 395 00:23:03.160 --> 00:23:07.119 as a as a supporting actor. He didn't, but there 396 00:23:07.160 --> 00:23:10.079 was some talk. So he could always look at that 397 00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:13.720 and be proud of that as far as his movie 398 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:17.759 resume was concerned. But but you know the good the 399 00:23:17.799 --> 00:23:20.680 interesting thing is they wouldn't let him in. He applied 400 00:23:20.680 --> 00:23:23.960 for membership because to be a member of the Academy 401 00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:28.559