Episode 411 - Don Barris

Episode 411 • Released July 31, 2013 • Speakers detected

00:00:00Marc:Lock the gates!

00:00:09Marc:All right, let's do this.

00:00:10Marc:How are you?

00:00:10Marc:What the fuckers?

00:00:11Marc:What the fuck buddies?

00:00:12Marc:What the fucking ears?

00:00:13Marc:What the fuckstables?

00:00:14Marc:What the fucks?

00:00:16Marc:What the fucks?

00:00:16Marc:Just an S. Sure.

00:00:18Marc:There's more.

00:00:19Marc:There's always more.

00:00:20Marc:I am Mark Maron.

00:00:21Marc:This is WTF.

00:00:22Marc:I'm happy you're here.

00:00:23Marc:Thank you for coming.

00:00:24Marc:Can I just say this at the beginning of the show?

00:00:26Marc:If you live in Chicago, I'm there tonight, which I believe is sold out at the Main Stage Theater.

00:00:31Marc:I'm also there Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

00:00:34Marc:So I'm doing a total of six shows.

00:00:36Marc:I believe there's still tickets left for the weekend shows and the Sunday show, but I know Thursday is sold out.

00:00:41Marc:So if you're in Chicago, come on, come on down and see me.

00:00:44Marc:Let's make something happen.

00:00:46Marc:I promise all the shows will be at least a little different.

00:00:49Marc:I got to work out some stuff.

00:00:50Marc:What have I got to tell you about today's show?

00:00:52Marc:Don Barris is on the show.

00:00:53Marc:Don Barris is a very important guy in my life because when I met Don Barris, the period I knew Don Barris, I almost died.

00:01:02Marc:I definitely almost died.

00:01:05Marc:Now, some of you know the stories.

00:01:06Marc:Some of you have heard the tales of Sam Kennison, the comedy store and what an impact it had on my drug addled mind.

00:01:15Marc:But when I came to L.A., let me just paint a picture.

00:01:18Marc:All I know is I did five years undergrad in Boston.

00:01:22Marc:And that last year was primarily I'd fucked up my real senior year and I just couldn't handle the workload because I don't know, because I couldn't.

00:01:31Marc:And I was fortunate enough to have parents that were compliant, had some money to sort of let me stretch it out another year.

00:01:40Marc:Thank you, mom.

00:01:41Marc:Thank you, dad.

00:01:42Marc:I was happy you enabled me to waste your money on that extra year that was necessary for me to truly get involved in a deeper way with cocaine and drinking.

00:01:52Marc:But the point I'm making is that by the time I left college, I think I had some sort of persona.

00:01:58Marc:My heart had already been broken once.

00:02:00Marc:I had committed to alcohol as sort of a way of life.

00:02:03Marc:I committed to sort of a rock and roll disposition.

00:02:07Marc:I thought I was the shit.

00:02:09Marc:When I left college, what did I do?

00:02:11Marc:I took a train cross country because I thought that would be the beatnik thing to do.

00:02:14Marc:Why not get a sleeper car, take a train, drink your way across country, read some books.

00:02:19Marc:I remember I had legs.

00:02:21Marc:uh by kennedy by uh what's his first name the albany writer william kennedy so i had that book i had uh i think i had bright lights big city i had i think i had less than zero i was just gonna drink in my sleeper car and take that train across country down through the south i went from new york or boston to chicago got a shoeshine in union station beautiful station i went from chicago all the way down to memphis and

00:02:46Marc:where I got drunk and watched the Peabody Ducks.

00:02:49Marc:And then I went from Memphis to Austin, Texas.

00:02:53Marc:That's where I hit the wall and had to fly southwest from Austin to Albuquerque.

00:02:57Marc:I'd had enough of the train.

00:03:00Marc:But I thought I was the shit.

00:03:02Marc:I was drinking, doing a little blow, heading home, had a chip on my shoulder.

00:03:07Marc:I knew something was happening inside of me that was going to come out one way or the other.

00:03:11Marc:I was going to be a stand-up comic.

00:03:13Marc:I remember the train.

00:03:15Marc:The sleeper car, it's sort of a romantic notion.

00:03:17Marc:But to do it by yourself, basically a sleeper car, the least expensive sleeper car is like sleeping in a bathroom.

00:03:22Marc:You pull down the bed over your toilet, in my recollection.

00:03:26Oh.

00:03:27Marc:pow look out just shit my pants just coffee.coop hadn't done one of those in a while so i get back to albuquerque i hook up with some woman i fucking party all summer doing blow having sex with a woman whose ex was a cia agent or something it was crazy it was all crazy but then i just loaded up my car and i went to california

00:03:47Marc:Had a little bit of a monkey on my back.

00:03:49Marc:Thought I was the king of cocaine, the king of rock and roll.

00:03:52Marc:You know, an alcoholic wizard.

00:03:55Marc:Thought I had it all together, man.

00:03:57Marc:Within a few months, I end up at the comedy store.

00:03:59Marc:I'm getting around to Don Barris.

00:04:00Marc:Now, I went to the comedy store.

00:04:02Marc:I got a job as a head doorman.

00:04:03Marc:And Don Barris was one of the first guys I met.

00:04:06Marc:And we went out to lunch, and he told me this tale of woe that you would not believe.

00:04:11Marc:He wanted to be a comic.

00:04:12Marc:He was kind of living out of his car.

00:04:14Marc:He was sort of sleeping in the main room.

00:04:15Marc:He was definitely at the store.

00:04:17Marc:He exuded a sort of weird kind of – it wasn't nervous, but he was very intense and very driven.

00:04:24Marc:I had no idea who he was, but he was one of the first guys I met at the comedy store.

00:04:28Marc:And I always – he was one of those guys.

00:04:31Marc:He was around.

00:04:32Marc:He watched my entire –

00:04:34Marc:what would you call it demoralization and and uh descent into cocaine psychosis he was fucking there for all of it and i hadn't seen him in years and when i first saw him when i came back to la i was like holy fuck don barris is still alive and he's doing good doing the opening for uh for kimball show making movies doing all kinds of weird shit at the comedy store in my mind

00:04:58Marc:don barris is one of the few people that are still there that really understand the guts of the comedy store i mean whatever went on before us in the 80s what we were walking into but he was there during the sam thing during the dicing but he never left he was always there he's one of the only guys i know that was always there from when i got there to now and he's got it in his heart he's got it in his soul that comedy story he knows it inside and out and i want you know we're gonna fill in some gaps and

00:05:25Marc:We're going to talk about Sam.

00:05:27Marc:We're going to talk about the store.

00:05:28Marc:We're going to talk about Don's crazy fucking story as to how he got out here.

00:05:32Marc:Because a lot of you may not know Don Barris, but this was one of the best episodes I ever had because we had this common history.

00:05:39Marc:And I don't know if some of you remember the Schubert episode or the Carla Bow episode.

00:05:43Marc:You know, I know the comedy story.

00:05:45Marc:Maybe some of you are tired of hearing it, but...

00:05:47Marc:There's very few of us that really understand the darkness of that place and definitely become an appendage of that place where it gets into our hearts and our minds.

00:05:55Marc:I obviously lost my mind and it took me really after the cocaine psychosis wore off, took almost, you know, over a decade for that shit to settle down and not walk into that place and have this weird, chaotic, dark, mystical paranoia at the edge of my experience and being there.

00:06:16Marc:Hanging out with the abuser.

00:06:18Marc:That was what it was like going back to the comedy store.

00:06:21Marc:So when we're on stage there, I am transcending trauma.

00:06:24Marc:But maybe that's the only reason I do comedy.

00:06:26Marc:It's hard to know sometimes.

00:06:30Marc:Is it not, comedians?

00:06:31Marc:Is it not?

00:06:33Marc:So saddle up, folks.

00:06:34Marc:Strap in.

00:06:36Marc:This is a comedy store specific episode.

00:06:38Marc:This is the dark magical castle of comedy based episode.

00:06:43Marc:This is the structure that is built over an existing gate to hell episode.

00:06:48Marc:This has to do with my personal history, with the history of comedy, with the relationship with Don Barris.

00:06:55Marc:So lock in.

00:06:57Marc:Don Barris is in here.

00:07:03Guest:Oh, hey.

00:07:03Marc:Don Barris, how are you?

00:07:04Guest:Very well.

00:07:05Marc:I don't really intro, you know, because I'll do it before.

00:07:07Guest:Yeah, I know exactly what you're saying.

00:07:09Guest:Don.

00:07:10Guest:Yeah.

00:07:11Guest:Are you all right?

00:07:12Guest:Yeah, I'm doing fine.

00:07:13Guest:I'll tell you something.

00:07:14Guest:It is tough, and it's so funny because, in a way, when I moved out here, I moved from Michigan.

00:07:22Marc:Let's wait.

00:07:22Marc:Let's talk about this.

00:07:23Guest:Yeah.

00:07:24Yeah.

00:07:24Marc:You were really the first person that I sat down and talked to when I came to the Comedy Store in 1987?

00:07:33Marc:No, I would say probably you, maybe 86.

00:07:37Marc:I got here in the fall of 85.

00:07:39Marc:It was 87, I think.

00:07:41Marc:I graduated college.

00:07:43Marc:I came out here.

00:07:44Marc:It was probably like August of 87.

00:07:46Guest:So I was an experienced comic when you got here.

00:07:49Marc:Yeah, but do you remember we went to, I don't know, I think I'd just gotten the job as a doorman at the store, and then you and I went to the Burger Hamlet or someplace that's not there anymore.

00:07:59Marc:I can't remember.

00:08:00Marc:Do you remember us sitting down and talking?

00:08:03Guest:I remember this.

00:08:03Guest:This is what I remember about you.

00:08:05Guest:I would have to say that you're one of the cooler people of that class, of the people that came around there at the time.

00:08:14Guest:And I remember you always had a sense of humor.

00:08:16Guest:You were always, your political stuff was different than what I was doing, that's for sure.

00:08:22Guest:i don't even remember doing political i remember well according to me anything that like whoa hey he's talking with real language like like school stuff i remember that in school so that's where that came from but to me it's like it was such an important part of my life all right so you come from michigan but what the hell where did you come from what town a place called saginaw

00:08:43Marc:Saginaw, Michigan.

00:08:44Marc:Yeah.

00:08:45Marc:And did you just grow out of the ground, or do you have family there?

00:08:51Guest:Yeah, of course I have family there.

00:08:52Guest:That's where I came from.

00:08:53Guest:I lived there.

00:08:56Guest:I was trying to go to school.

00:08:57Guest:I don't think that school was the best thing for me, and it just killed me.

00:09:04Guest:Any of it?

00:09:05Guest:High school?

00:09:05Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:09:06Guest:No, I went to college.

00:09:07Guest:I went to college for a long time, just never graduated.

00:09:10Yeah.

00:09:10Guest:You know who Mike August is?

00:09:12Marc:Yeah, sure.

00:09:13Guest:Yeah, he's an agent.

00:09:16Guest:He's Adam's guy now.

00:09:17Guest:Yeah, absolutely.

00:09:19Guest:He was an agent.

00:09:20Guest:He was.

00:09:21Guest:Well, I was starting there and then I was going to go on.

00:09:23Guest:Go ahead.

00:09:24Guest:He said one of the best things because I was always like, where I came from, it was always like one of those things, man, I am not doing what everybody else does.

00:09:32Guest:And he was the first guy to say, you know what?

00:09:35Guest:You're always a guy that's outside the box.

00:09:39Guest:Yeah.

00:09:39Guest:Because I'm not normal.

00:09:41Marc:No, you're not, man.

00:09:42Guest:I've known that.

00:09:43Marc:Yeah, but what was your childhood in terms of what did your dad do and stuff?

00:09:49Marc:I don't really know who my dad was.

00:09:52Guest:Really?

00:09:52Guest:Is that true?

00:09:52Guest:In a way, it was kind of screwy.

00:09:54Guest:Like he wasn't there or you just don't know?

00:09:56Guest:When and this is like to this day, it's one of these things that probably one of the reasons the way I am is my stepdad, my dad divorced my mother.

00:10:07Guest:And I remember as a kid, my mother remarried.

00:10:09Guest:Yeah.

00:10:09Guest:I remember my dad coming over and not knowing him that well.

00:10:12Guest:Yeah.

00:10:13Guest:But I remember they were bitching at him.

00:10:14Guest:His name was Don, too.

00:10:15Guest:Yeah.

00:10:16Guest:Don, we told you, you can't come by here.

00:10:19Guest:Yeah.

00:10:19Guest:And I remember hearing that and I had no idea what was going on.

00:10:23Guest:Then they told me he was dead.

00:10:25Guest:Yeah.

00:10:27Guest:After you had seen him.

00:10:28Guest:After I'd seen him, like I was in high school and they said that he had died.

00:10:31Guest:Yeah.

00:10:32Guest:And then people, he had supposedly married, well, he did.

00:10:36Guest:He married a local weather girl.

00:10:38Guest:So she was on the air all the time.

00:10:41Guest:And so she was kind of popular in Saginaw, Michigan.

00:10:44Guest:Her name was Barris?

00:10:45Guest:No, no, no.

00:10:45Guest:Oh, she didn't take the name.

00:10:46Guest:No, no, no.

00:10:47Guest:This is your real dad?

00:10:47Guest:No, my real dad was O'Connor.

00:10:50Marc:Okay.

00:10:50Marc:Yeah.

00:10:51Marc:So he married the local weather girl.

00:10:53Guest:Yes.

00:10:54Guest:After they told you that he was dead.

00:10:55Guest:No, this is before they said he was dead.

00:10:57Guest:Then they said he was dead.

00:10:59Guest:Yeah.

00:10:59Guest:But people that I knew that went to my high school, no, he's not dead.

00:11:03Guest:I've seen him.

00:11:04Guest:So for the long... I mean, I didn't even...

00:11:06Guest:I have brothers and sisters that are half brothers and sisters that I've never met in my life.

00:11:10Guest:From his family.

00:11:11Guest:From his family, right.

00:11:12Guest:Did you ever meet him?

00:11:13Guest:I must have met him at one point.

00:11:17Guest:No, but I mean like- I have very little recollection of the guy.

00:11:20Guest:But he was right in town.

00:11:22Guest:I don't know that.

00:11:23Guest:They never told me anything.

00:11:24Guest:But you said people at school were like, yeah, we saw him.

00:11:26Guest:Right.

00:11:27Guest:Exactly.

00:11:28Guest:Because they saw the woman that was the local weather girl-

00:11:32Guest:and who's supposedly him uh-huh i if does that make sense at all it does but it doesn't make sense to me that well maybe it does you didn't never want to pursue i never did because i wasn't told to and then i remember when i was in college i said you know i'd like to see my grandparents my real grandparents yeah and my mother the minute i said that oh they're dead dead yeah so i had no idea what was going on there

00:12:01Guest:but you're so your mother probably lied to you as a as a as a man who was old enough to make his own decisions you're in college right she could have just said oh they're right yeah i think it's okay for you to go exactly and she had encouraged me to go see them before they passed away then when i wanted to do it oh no they're dead everybody's dead everybody's dead a lot of and from what i understand it happens the older you get

00:12:25Marc:So when you grew up, it was with a stepdad and this guy that wasn't around or alive or vague.

00:12:33Guest:Well, my stepdad wasn't around that long either.

00:12:36Guest:I kind of grew up just with my mother, my brother and sister.

00:12:40Guest:Was she all right?

00:12:41Guest:Yeah.

00:12:41Guest:She was all right.

00:12:43Guest:I mean, you know, you look back in life, and if you had the information you have later when you're a kid, you can understand.

00:12:51Guest:But boy, she was never around, but she was a very attractive lady and divorced.

00:12:55Guest:Yeah.

00:12:56Guest:So she dated, and why would you want to bring some guy to stay at your place when you've got three fucking monsters there?

00:13:07Guest:Yeah.

00:13:07Marc:because believe it or not i was probably a pretty wild kid were you the oldest yep man so your mom's just out partying i don't know if she was partying she always had a boyfriend right yeah so isn't it weird when you get older and you realize like of course of course you look at it when you're a kid you have no idea right but when you get older and you go out with a woman with three kids yeah who doesn't want to go to her house

00:13:33Marc:I don't want to go over there.

00:13:35Marc:Exactly.

00:13:36Marc:I know who you are.

00:13:37Marc:You're my mom.

00:13:38Marc:Yep.

00:13:40Marc:So when you went to college, what was that about?

00:13:41Marc:Did you have any idea what you were doing?

00:13:43Marc:No, I had no idea whatsoever.

00:13:44Guest:Was it state school or what?

00:13:46Guest:Pardon me?

00:13:47Guest:State school or what?

00:13:48Guest:Yeah.

00:13:48Guest:I went to Michigan State and got kicked out after two semesters.

00:13:51Guest:For doing what?

00:13:52Guest:Just terrible grades.

00:13:53Guest:Yeah?

00:13:54Guest:Yeah.

00:13:54Guest:You didn't have any fun?

00:13:57Guest:It was a totally different social scene than I'd ever been involved in in my life.

00:14:02Guest:And I had a hard time.

00:14:03Guest:What were you used to?

00:14:04Guest:What kind of kid were you?

00:14:05Guest:Were you a jock?

00:14:06Guest:I was a jock.

00:14:07Marc:You were, right?

00:14:08Guest:Yeah.

00:14:08Guest:Football player?

00:14:09Guest:Football, basketball, baseball.

00:14:11Guest:Really?

00:14:11Guest:All of it?

00:14:12Guest:Yeah.

00:14:12Guest:And you were good at it?

00:14:15Guest:Because I went to a boarding school when I was a sophomore.

00:14:19Guest:I played varsity football there, so I lettered three times.

00:14:22Guest:Our team went to the state championship.

00:14:24Guest:I was a starter, so I wasn't bad.

00:14:28Guest:Yeah.

00:14:28Guest:You were a fucking football jock.

00:14:30Guest:What happened to you?

00:14:31Guest:What do you mean?

00:14:32Guest:I'm still a football jock.

00:14:37Marc:What did you do?

00:14:38Marc:Nothing.

00:14:39Marc:I was the guy that you made fun of in the hall.

00:14:42Marc:No, I never made fun of anybody.

00:14:43Marc:You know what?

00:14:44Guest:I was a class clown.

00:14:45Marc:You were?

00:14:46Guest:Yeah.

00:14:46Marc:So you were a big, goofy football guy.

00:14:48Guest:Yeah.

00:14:49Guest:I'm sorry, I didn't mean to judge you.

00:14:50Guest:No, I wasn't.

00:14:51Guest:But I was voted Mr. Irresistible my senior year.

00:14:53Guest:So you were a very attractive man.

00:14:56Guest:I don't know if it was that or it was just that, you see, every week I'd get up.

00:15:00Guest:Like I said, our football team in high school went to the state championship my senior year.

00:15:04Guest:So every week there was, you know, we'd have pep assemblies.

00:15:08Guest:They'd always want me to do something on stage.

00:15:10Guest:Because you're like a goofball?

00:15:12Guest:Yeah, I guess so.

00:15:13Marc:Wow, you're a big... It's so weird because my memory... When I was at the Comedy Store, and I've talked about this on the podcast before, that year of my life was so insane.

00:15:22Marc:Yes.

00:15:23Marc:And so it just seared into my memory.

00:15:27Marc:And you were always there.

00:15:29Marc:I mean, we were together a lot.

00:15:30Marc:And there was all this weirdness going on.

00:15:34Marc:But okay, so you go to high school.

00:15:37Marc:You did all this sports.

00:15:38Marc:You're a pretty popular guy.

00:15:39Marc:You can still throw a ball.

00:15:41Marc:Did you play in college?

00:15:42Marc:No.

00:15:43Marc:No.

00:15:43Marc:So you went to college, you got kicked out after two semesters.

00:15:45Guest:Came back, just went to junior college, tried to get back in.

00:15:49Guest:Doing what?

00:15:50Guest:What were you looking to do?

00:15:51Guest:I got a business management degree, an associate's degree, and I thought, oh, I'll transfer all this back and get into business.

00:15:58Guest:Yeah.

00:15:59Guest:Because I always wanted to give show business a shot, but I said, everybody, oh, you got to wait until you get an education, wait until you have something to fall back on.

00:16:06Guest:And it just became just, I mean, I would go through trying to study for tests and I would just spend literally hours reading the same book over and over again.

00:16:19Guest:Couldn't process it?

00:16:20Guest:No, absolutely not.

00:16:21Marc:How long were you in school for?

00:16:22Guest:Six years.

00:16:24Guest:So you stayed there.

00:16:25Guest:Yeah.

00:16:26Marc:So you read that book a lot.

00:16:27Marc:A hell of a lot.

00:16:29Marc:Regret it, man.

00:16:30Marc:Yeah.

00:16:30Marc:So wait, so you, okay, so you get your business degree, your business management degree.

00:16:34Marc:Yeah.

00:16:34Marc:And you were like, all right.

00:16:35Guest:I'm going to go back to school.

00:16:37Guest:When I went back to school, none of those credits transferred.

00:16:40Guest:So they were all general.

00:16:42Guest:And I'm like, oh, geez, all this work that I put in.

00:16:45Guest:Now it means nothing at this school.

00:16:47Marc:So you went to community college for like six years?

00:16:49Guest:No, no, no, no, no.

00:16:50Guest:Oh, for two years.

00:16:50Guest:Yeah, and then I went back.

00:16:51Guest:And they wouldn't take any of them.

00:16:53Guest:They were all general credits.

00:16:54Guest:So did you eventually get your degree?

00:16:55Guest:Never.

00:16:56Never.

00:16:57Guest:I finally said, this is it.

00:16:58Guest:The final straw was my family had a little money.

00:17:03Guest:And one of the things I owned when my grandfather died, he left me the property of a bank.

00:17:09Guest:And this is kind of crazy because I said, all right, here's what I'm going to do.

00:17:14Guest:I'm going to try to do something.

00:17:15Guest:I was DJing, and that's the way I was making money.

00:17:17Guest:I would DJ frat parties and sorority parties and weddings.

00:17:20Guest:Yeah.

00:17:21Guest:Yeah.

00:17:21Guest:And it was pretty good.

00:17:22Guest:Just spinning records and talking.

00:17:24Guest:Well, I would talk, and it was a great way to get into comedy because if something didn't work... So it was easy.

00:17:33Guest:But I went to... I finally had this saying, all right, I'm going to try and get some business, some extra money, finish school, and then get out of here.

00:17:44Guest:If I don't get this loan... Now, here was the loan I was going to get.

00:17:47Guest:I was going to borrow money from a bank.

00:17:48Guest:Now, the bank...

00:17:50Guest:was a bank that was in my name.

00:17:53Guest:They paid me rent every month.

00:17:55Guest:Really?

00:17:55Guest:Yeah.

00:17:56Guest:Because I owned the bank.

00:17:57Guest:That was something my grandfather gave me.

00:17:59Guest:The property.

00:18:00Guest:Yeah.

00:18:00Guest:So they had to pay me rent.

00:18:02Guest:Yeah.

00:18:02Guest:They turned me down for that loan.

00:18:04Guest:And I was saying, wow.

00:18:07Guest:Couldn't use the property as collateral?

00:18:08Guest:That's what I did.

00:18:09Guest:But I believe to this day my grandmother said, no, don't let them have it.

00:18:13Guest:So...

00:18:14Guest:What happened to that property?

00:18:17Guest:They eventually sold it when I came out here, and that's how I kind of lived a little bit when I came out here.

00:18:23Marc:So when did you pack up?

00:18:24Marc:So you didn't get your loan.

00:18:26Marc:So how did you leave Michigan?

00:18:30Marc:You were like, fuck it, or you told your mom?

00:18:31Marc:No, no, no, no.

00:18:32Guest:I put everything that I owned in a U-Haul, drove out here, Baker, California.

00:18:39Guest:I had all my money in a camera bag.

00:18:41Guest:I had over $10,000 in a camera bag.

00:18:44Guest:freaking hillbilly if there ever was.

00:18:47Guest:You took out $10,000?

00:18:48Guest:No, I had more than that.

00:18:50Guest:In cash?

00:18:50Guest:In cash.

00:18:51Guest:Well, actually, I put in traveler's checks, but because I only had my driver's license, it was tough to cash these things.

00:18:57Guest:And so what I did when I was in Vegas, they'll cash anything.

00:19:00Guest:So I cashed all my traveler's checks.

00:19:02Guest:And in Baker, California, I stopped for gas.

00:19:05Guest:And we were going to the bathroom and then coming out.

00:19:08Guest:And the guy said, hey, you know what?

00:19:09Guest:I'll tell you something.

00:19:11Guest:There's gas a little cheaper down the road.

00:19:13Guest:We really charge a lot.

00:19:15Guest:Why don't you go down the road?

00:19:16Guest:Whoa, and I thought people in California weren't nice.

00:19:19Guest:But what they had done is gone in my bag and taken my camera bag with all my money, over $10,000.

00:19:26Guest:The people at the gas station.

00:19:28Guest:It must have been.

00:19:29Guest:But I went back there.

00:19:30Guest:I had a car that I was in tow.

00:19:32Guest:I got in that car.

00:19:32Guest:I drove back.

00:19:34Guest:I questioned them.

00:19:35Guest:Oh, no, we don't know anything about it.

00:19:36Guest:But they ripped me off for $10,000.

00:19:39Marc:Oh, my God.

00:19:40Marc:Yeah.

00:19:41Marc:So you didn't even make it to Los Angeles.

00:19:43Marc:No.

00:19:43Marc:And they stole $10,000 out of your car.

00:19:46Marc:So you unhooked your car from the tow and drove back there?

00:19:48Marc:Drove back.

00:19:49Marc:Absolutely.

00:19:49Marc:From where?

00:19:50Marc:How far had you gone?

00:19:51Guest:Maybe 10 miles.

00:19:52Guest:Oh, my God.

00:19:53Guest:And I was like, the entire time I'm weaving through traffic, I'm like, oh, those motherfuckers.

00:19:57Guest:And I'm like, oh.

00:19:59Guest:It was really, really intense because this was all the money.

00:20:02Guest:Thank goodness I put $3,000 that I didn't cash in traveler's checks.

00:20:07Guest:Where was that?

00:20:08Guest:Actually in the glove box.

00:20:10Guest:So I had that.

00:20:12Guest:Oh my God, what were you thinking with $10,000?

00:20:15Guest:I made a lot of mistakes.

00:20:21Guest:I made a lot of mistakes.

00:20:23Guest:All right, so now your attitude about going to L.A.

00:20:27Guest:has got to have changed.

00:20:29Guest:Yeah, but you see, my theory when I came out here, win or lose, I do not give a shit.

00:20:35Guest:This is my last chance.

00:20:36Guest:How old were you, like 22, 23?

00:20:38Guest:Yeah.

00:20:39Guest:I said I'd rather die.

00:20:40Guest:24, actually.

00:20:41Guest:So I said I'd rather die.

00:20:43Guest:Than do anything but this.

00:20:45Guest:This is, I'm putting every, I'm all in.

00:20:48Marc:Mm-hmm.

00:20:49Marc:So you get here with your $3,000 in carrier traveler's chest.

00:20:52Marc:Right.

00:20:52Marc:And your car in tow.

00:20:54Marc:And what's the first thing you do?

00:20:57Guest:My stuff in a storage area.

00:20:58Guest:Yeah.

00:20:59Guest:And when I took it to the top, I came down.

00:21:01Guest:When I came back, everything of value was stolen from my storage area.

00:21:05Yeah.

00:21:05Guest:stop it i swear to god it was the roughest thing i had no place to stay right before i left i was i had a friend yeah who had a girlfriend that was in the uh play cats at the schubert theater yeah and when i came out here i was supposed to stay with her the day before i left her mother had called and said she didn't like the idea and i couldn't stay there so i had no place to go my money was taken now even my belongings most of the good ones were stolen

00:21:33Guest:I don't understand.

00:21:34Guest:So you put it in the storage locker.

00:21:37Guest:I put it in the storage locker.

00:21:38Guest:Yeah.

00:21:39Guest:Didn't have... And I was just unloading it from the truck going up the elevator and put it in.

00:21:44Guest:Well, then somebody blocked the elevator for a long time.

00:21:46Guest:And I said, is there a way up there?

00:21:47Guest:Nope.

00:21:48Guest:This is downtown... Los Angeles.

00:21:52Guest:Yeah.

00:21:52Guest:So someone knew this scam.

00:21:54Guest:Somebody clearly... Yeah.

00:21:56Guest:Well, they got away with some... They got away with my TVs.

00:21:59Guest:They got away with anything of value because they just opened it up and just...

00:22:02Marc:How many days after the... Since when I got here?

00:22:07Marc:No, how many days after the $10,000 did this happen?

00:22:11Marc:Within two weeks.

00:22:13Guest:Oh, my God.

00:22:14Guest:All right, so... Probably less than that, actually.

00:22:17Guest:I'm trying to picture you just... Oh, yeah.

00:22:20Guest:Yelling, or what'd you do?

00:22:22Guest:I was like, you know, I actually think I tried to act tough, like I had connections or something like that.

00:22:28Guest:Didn't they have videos or anything that they...

00:22:31Guest:Nothing.

00:22:32Guest:No.

00:22:32Guest:It's very funny.

00:22:34Guest:I remember going to the police in Baker, California and talking to the guy.

00:22:39Guest:About the 10 grand?

00:22:40Guest:Yeah.

00:22:40Guest:And reporting it and just letting it know.

00:22:43Guest:Can you let these guys know that back in Michigan, you don't think I came out here stupid?

00:22:48Guest:Right.

00:22:49Guest:I've got connections back there.

00:22:50Guest:And I'm telling the cops this.

00:22:52Guest:And they were showing me a map.

00:22:54Guest:They were saying, this is our jurisdiction right here.

00:22:56Guest:This is what we cover.

00:22:57Guest:You know what we find in the desert all the time?

00:23:00Guest:Dead bodies.

00:23:01Guest:The cop said that.

00:23:02Guest:Yeah.

00:23:03Guest:Yeah.

00:23:04Guest:And I was like, I wonder if this is a message to me.

00:23:07Guest:So I just kind of, well, there goes $10,000.

00:23:10Guest:All right.

00:23:11Marc:So, okay.

00:23:11Marc:So you lose your shit.

00:23:12Marc:You're ripped off at the storage locker.

00:23:14Marc:You got no place to stay.

00:23:16Marc:Yeah.

00:23:16Marc:And you got where you got, you returned the trailer and you have a car.

00:23:20Marc:Right?

00:23:21Marc:Got a car.

00:23:22Guest:Returned the trailer.

00:23:23Guest:No, not yet.

00:23:24Guest:And I actually put a lock on the storage.

00:23:27Guest:What was left in there?

00:23:28Guest:Not a lot of stuff.

00:23:29Guest:And in hindsight, you know, to spend the money I did to ship everything across and drive across country, I should have planned a little bit better.

00:23:40Guest:so okay so now you paid for a storage locker so you're down to what two grand uh yeah uh-huh like that and so what i did real quick i got someplace way the fuck out of town there was a guy that had there was four people live in this house and it was really the cheapest rent i could find yeah

00:24:01Guest:Remember, he was big.

00:24:02Guest:The entire kitchen, he was playing some war game where he had maps and everything.

00:24:07Guest:And it was insane.

00:24:09Guest:How'd you find out about this place?

00:24:10Guest:Through the newspaper.

00:24:12Guest:Oh, no.

00:24:13Guest:Just a roommate thing?

00:24:14Guest:Yeah, it was a roommate thing.

00:24:15Guest:And there's three other guys.

00:24:16Guest:Yeah.

00:24:17Guest:And I remember I did the... Because I came from...

00:24:21Guest:Michigan and there wasn't a lot of let's say different people yeah I remember the guy said oh by the way the guy who's not here he's gonna be across the hall from you yeah I hope it's cool he's homosexual yeah and I must have just had a face that look like

00:24:36Guest:Whoa, whoa, what?

00:24:38Guest:Yeah.

00:24:38Guest:Because then the entire time, that guy, you hate fags, don't you?

00:24:44Guest:And he would pound on my door just to wake me up.

00:24:47Guest:Oh, it was torture.

00:24:49Guest:So you moved in there.

00:24:50Guest:Moved in there.

00:24:51Guest:And the guy came home, the gay guy.

00:24:52Guest:Right.

00:24:53Guest:And he had heard that, I guess my expression wasn't the best when they said, oh, because I had no idea.

00:24:59Guest:So let me get it straight.

00:25:00Guest:So there's a war games going on.

00:25:01Guest:War games in the kitchen.

00:25:02Guest:Yeah.

00:25:03Guest:And across from my bedroom.

00:25:04Guest:There's a gay guy very upset with me because he thinks I'm real homophobic.

00:25:09Guest:And how long did you live there?

00:25:11Guest:Three months.

00:25:13Guest:And was he drinking or something?

00:25:15Guest:He would drink sometimes.

00:25:17Guest:And he'd just start pounding on your door?

00:25:19Guest:No, it wouldn't be like five minutes.

00:25:21Guest:It would just like in the middle of the night, boom, boom.

00:25:23Guest:And then he'd go to his room just to fuck with me, just to wake me up.

00:25:27Guest:It was really, really scary, and I was like, what am I doing here?

00:25:32Guest:Do you even remember what part of town that was?

00:25:34Guest:I just remember driving because I had a job on Olympic working at a video store.

00:25:40Guest:I got that right away, and I drove an hour to get there every morning on the California freeways.

00:25:46Guest:Yeah.

00:25:47Guest:Yeah.

00:25:47Guest:So you're working at a video store.

00:25:49Guest:Yeah.

00:25:50Guest:And so, okay, so where do you go after the three months?

00:25:52Guest:Well, then after the three months, I decided I'm going to sleep in front of the video store.

00:25:58Guest:Just sleep in your car?

00:25:59Guest:Yeah.

00:26:00Guest:Okay.

00:26:00Guest:So I'd sleep in my car.

00:26:01Guest:And kind of a crazy thing that happened during that time.

00:26:04Guest:Do you know who Doc Ellis is?

00:26:06Guest:I do know that name.

00:26:08Guest:He probably became infamous because he was a pitcher, a Major League Baseball player.

00:26:13Guest:Right.

00:26:14Guest:And he pitched like a no-hitter when he was on LSD.

00:26:17Guest:Right.

00:26:17Guest:Okay.

00:26:18Guest:Okay.

00:26:19Guest:All right.

00:26:19Guest:Well, he was a regular customer there.

00:26:21Guest:And you knew who he was.

00:26:22Guest:And I knew who he was.

00:26:23Guest:Yeah.

00:26:24Guest:And there was another thing that he did, and it was like the coolest story.

00:26:30Guest:I was like, it made everything worth it when he told me this story about Reggie Jackson.

00:26:35Guest:Yeah.

00:26:35Guest:You've heard him.

00:26:36Guest:Yeah.

00:26:36Guest:Well, there was an all-star game in Detroit that he hit this home run that almost went out of the entire park.

00:26:42Guest:It was off Doc Ellis, his pitcher.

00:26:45Guest:So the next year in spring training, he told me how he hit him in the back of the head with a ball during the game.

00:26:51Guest:It was just like, what a bizarre thing.

00:26:54Guest:He confessed to you as a sports fan.

00:26:57Guest:No, as a guy that would give him free videos.

00:26:59Okay.

00:26:59Guest:He's a big star.

00:27:01Guest:I'm going to give you whatever the fuck you want if you talk to me.

00:27:05Marc:So that made your day.

00:27:06Marc:Yeah.

00:27:07Marc:That he popped fucking Reggie Jackson on purpose.

00:27:10Marc:Just the story that I'd never heard before.

00:27:12Marc:Yeah.

00:27:13Marc:All right, so you're sweeping in your car in front of the video store.

00:27:16Marc:Ugh.

00:27:16Marc:Hot?

00:27:18Marc:Was it hot?

00:27:18Marc:It was the worst.

00:27:20Guest:And I remember- What did the owners think?

00:27:21Guest:Anything?

00:27:24Guest:The main owner, the guy that hired me, was just into cocaine.

00:27:28Guest:Yeah.

00:27:29Guest:So I don't think he cared at all.

00:27:31Guest:Yeah.

00:27:31Guest:Did he ever try to get you to do blow?

00:27:32Marc:Because I remember you weren't really into blow.

00:27:34Marc:Oh, I gave it a shot.

00:27:36Marc:Well, I had never done it in my life.

00:27:39Marc:Right.

00:27:40Marc:But I didn't think I was around when he tried it for the first time.

00:27:42Guest:Oh, yeah, you were.

00:27:43Guest:Oh, yeah, you were.

00:27:46Marc:I remember the night, I think.

00:27:50Marc:You may have.

00:27:51Marc:I mean, okay, but let's get there slowly, because this is getting better.

00:27:54Marc:Okay.

00:27:55Marc:So you're sweeping in front of the video store, working for the blow monkey.

00:27:58Guest:And one of the worst things, I mean, it made me feel like...

00:28:02Guest:What am I doing?

00:28:03Guest:What am I doing?

00:28:04Guest:I mean, I'm asleep, and people would come like an hour early on their way to work to return videos, and they would knock on my window and wake me up.

00:28:12Guest:Hey, can I just leave this with you?

00:28:13Guest:And I'm like, oh, geez.

00:28:15Guest:Seriously?

00:28:16Guest:Yeah.

00:28:16Guest:So they knew you from the store?

00:28:17Guest:Yeah.

00:28:18Guest:And I mean, how humiliating.

00:28:20Guest:How fucking humiliating.

00:28:22Guest:Because I'm sure I'm drooling, like, ugh.

00:28:25Guest:So vulnerable.

00:28:26Guest:They just look into the window, and you didn't cover the windows or anything?

00:28:28Guest:Well, I couldn't, really.

00:28:30Guest:What kind of car was it?

00:28:31Guest:It was actually like a, I can't even remember.

00:28:35Guest:It was like the size of a Vega.

00:28:38Guest:And all your shirts and shit were in there?

00:28:39Guest:Yep.

00:28:39Guest:Where'd you shower?

00:28:41Guest:I'd go in the back in the bathroom and shower in there.

00:28:44Guest:So you did the homeless guy shower?

00:28:46Guest:Yep.

00:28:47Guest:There was a shower back there?

00:28:48Guest:No, there was just on the sink.

00:28:50Guest:I would just, I'd scrub up.

00:28:51Guest:Oh, my God, man.

00:28:52Guest:Oh, I know.

00:28:53Guest:So what changed, dude?

00:28:55Guest:I mean, when did you, what happened?

00:28:57Guest:Well, I started going, I mean, I started going to the comedy store.

00:29:02Guest:just that you're like fucking no i knew that that was the place i was gonna go and so when you were working at the video store when i was working the video store you drive your house i drive my house and my and everything i own yeah to the comedy store i remember the very first time trying to pull in the lot yeah and who do you think the very let's see if you can remember this it's a very popular person it'll make sense who was the very first person that i saw when i pulled in and said no you can't park here

00:29:29Guest:Who was very first person.

00:29:32Guest:Kind of at that time would represent the entrance level of the comedy store.

00:29:38Marc:The entrance level of the comedy store.

00:29:41Marc:Yeah.

00:29:41Marc:Harris Pete.

00:29:42Marc:Nope.

00:29:43Marc:Oh, shoot.

00:29:43Marc:The.

00:29:44Marc:The Todd.

00:29:45Marc:The Todd.

00:29:46Guest:Todd Wemish.

00:29:47Guest:Yeah.

00:29:48Guest:He was the first guy.

00:29:49Guest:First guy that I saw.

00:29:50Guest:Hit a little thing blinking.

00:29:52Guest:He can't park here.

00:29:54Guest:Was he working the lot then?

00:29:55Guest:He was working the lot.

00:29:56Marc:Oh, my God.

00:29:57Marc:Yeah.

00:29:59Marc:And then so you went and parked.

00:30:00Marc:Please tell me your car got towed.

00:30:02Marc:No.

00:30:03Guest:But I remember one of the first days going up there, I hit a median.

00:30:09Guest:Like, where's this comedy store?

00:30:10Guest:And I hit a median driving there.

00:30:12Guest:Yeah.

00:30:13Yeah.

00:30:13Guest:So what was your plan when you got there?

00:30:16Guest:I just wanted, because when I would DJ back at those college fraternity parties and all that, I could get a lot of people laughing.

00:30:25Guest:So I thought, okay, I'm going to try and do stand-up comedy.

00:30:27Guest:I had no idea how to do it.

00:30:30Guest:And so I had heard about the comedy store so much.

00:30:35Guest:And when I got there, I said, okay, this is where I'm going to stay.

00:30:40Guest:And you did.

00:30:41Guest:Yeah.

00:30:41Guest:For 20 years now.

00:30:43Guest:More than that.

00:30:44Marc:Has it been that long?

00:30:45Guest:Yeah.

00:30:46Marc:It has been.

00:30:47Guest:Yeah.

00:30:49Marc:You were like part of that place.

00:30:51Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:30:51Marc:You probably have more tenure there.

00:30:53Marc:There's only just a couple of old comics that have been there longer than you.

00:30:56Guest:The only person that I ever see, I see Barry Diamond, Argus.

00:31:01Guest:Argus.

00:31:02Guest:Jeff Altman.

00:31:03Guest:Never see him.

00:31:04Guest:Does he still get spots there?

00:31:05Guest:Occasionally.

00:31:06Guest:I've seen him there a couple of times.

00:31:07Guest:I never see those guys, but I close the show every single night.

00:31:12Marc:You took that spot on purpose, though.

00:31:14Guest:Yeah.

00:31:15Guest:Because you know what?

00:31:17Guest:There's a spot that nobody gives a shit and you can do anything you want.

00:31:20Marc:I guess I got to frame some of this stuff.

00:31:22Marc:So, okay, Todd Lemish was a guy that went by the name The Todd.

00:31:26Marc:The Todd.

00:31:26Marc:And he became a comedy store regular.

00:31:28Marc:He did not really surface as a big comic, though he thought he would.

00:31:34Marc:Yes.

00:31:34Marc:And then, I guess over time, after I had gone, he became increasingly more bitter and something exploded in his head.

00:31:41Marc:I think a couple things about that.

00:31:44Guest:Do you remember Sparky, a little guy?

00:31:46Guest:Randy Chervitz.

00:31:47Guest:Randy Chervitz.

00:31:48Guest:Okay.

00:31:48Guest:One of the things that supposedly it was from crack cocaine.

00:31:53Guest:Okay.

00:31:54Guest:I believe that.

00:31:54Guest:He had an aneurysm.

00:31:56Guest:Right.

00:31:56Guest:And he had an aneurysm.

00:31:58Guest:But Sparky always believed that he was faking it because he got to the point where he said, you know what?

00:32:05Guest:Realistically, I ain't going to make it.

00:32:08Guest:And this is a chance for my mother to take care of me the rest of my life.

00:32:13Guest:Really?

00:32:14Guest:That's what he said.

00:32:14Guest:And I try to look at it from that angle.

00:32:17Marc:and there were some things that he did that might make me believe that that was real when did you start living in the main room uh wow because you got how okay let's get back to your life so you go you meet todd you and then you what happens after that

00:32:35Guest:Boy, that might be coming close to the time I lived in the main.

00:32:38Guest:I remember what Todd was kind of like.

00:32:41Guest:He kind of ran things at the entry level.

00:32:44Guest:Like I said, he was the guy that you became that guy.

00:32:47Guest:I became that guy.

00:32:48Guest:But it was after Todd.

00:32:50Guest:Aren't you that guy now?

00:32:51Guest:Hopefully I'm not where Todd was.

00:32:55Marc:No, no, no, no.

00:32:55Marc:But I mean, like he was a comic, but what people should realize is at the comedy store at that time, all you wanted to do was stay out of Mitzi's line of fire.

00:33:06Marc:Right.

00:33:06Marc:And then you just ran your own business there.

00:33:09Marc:The lunatics were running the asylum.

00:33:11Guest:Right.

00:33:11Guest:Absolutely.

00:33:12Guest:And it's why it's the greatest place in the world for some reason.

00:33:14Guest:I mean, there's no organization.

00:33:16Guest:Every person in management that I've ever talked of say it's a zoo and they should get the help.

00:33:22Guest:Nobody's going to go there to see you.

00:33:23Guest:But it's like a creative place.

00:33:25Guest:Oh, absolutely.

00:33:27Guest:It's like back.

00:33:28Guest:Oh, and I'll tell you.

00:33:29Guest:But, you know, you must have been there at the time that they were doing, like, three shows in the main room on Friday and Saturday and two upstairs.

00:33:38Guest:Right.

00:33:38Guest:It was like, that's when it was just like, my God, the money tree.

00:33:42Guest:But apparently in the 70s, it was pretty big, too.

00:33:45Marc:Bigger than that?

00:33:46Marc:Well, I remember, I think there were two, maybe two shows in the main room, maybe three, and then...

00:33:52Marc:I just remember that Monday nights were the fucking... At that time, when Sam was coming up, and it was fucking nuts.

00:34:00Guest:It was an insane asylum, for sure.

00:34:04Marc:Like, everyone in Hollywood, all the drug freaks and the porn stars, and everyone was fucking converging on that place.

00:34:10Guest:Every single night, Ron Jeremy would be there with two other porn stars.

00:34:13Guest:It was a trip, man.

00:34:14Guest:Coke dealers everywhere.

00:34:16Guest:Everywhere.

00:34:17Marc:I could name them all.

00:34:18I...

00:34:19Marc:But okay, so you get there.

00:34:21Marc:When did you audition?

00:34:22Marc:When did you get the job?

00:34:24Guest:What I did, I was scared to death of Mitzi.

00:34:28Guest:So anytime she'd come in the room, I wouldn't go on.

00:34:31Guest:Yeah.

00:34:31Guest:And if I was in the middle of my act, I'd do something else.

00:34:34Guest:The thing that she had done is she gave me the MC of the potluck.

00:34:39Guest:So I would just bring and, you know, in a way, because that place got to the point where it was just so crazy.

00:34:46Guest:And then gunshots happened because it was the back hallway.

00:34:50Guest:You couldn't walk through it.

00:34:51Guest:And then the rooms were packed.

00:34:53Guest:It was a zoo.

00:34:54Guest:And there was nobody stopping people from coming in.

00:34:57Guest:It was just everywhere you looked.

00:34:58Guest:And there was problems.

00:34:59Guest:There were fights, cocaine.

00:35:01Guest:And then somebody fired a gunshot in the main room.

00:35:05Guest:And everybody left.

00:35:06Guest:And Mitzi said, no, we're canceling Monday nights.

00:35:08Guest:And they tried to do it Sunday nights.

00:35:10Guest:And they'd have me emcee from 7 o'clock till 2.30 in the morning every Sunday.

00:35:15Guest:Yeah.

00:35:17Guest:But it was a marathon.

00:35:18Guest:But that was after Sam.

00:35:19Guest:Yeah.

00:35:20Guest:Yeah.

00:35:20Marc:Because I left.

00:35:22Marc:Because I was gone.

00:35:22Marc:You left.

00:35:23Marc:But wait, let's go back.

00:35:23Marc:I left at the same time you did.

00:35:25Marc:You did?

00:35:25Marc:Yeah.

00:35:26Marc:Okay.

00:35:26Marc:So wait, let's go back.

00:35:27Marc:So when did you audition and when did you end up living there?

00:35:31Guest:when did you audition i never auditioned for she just one day said you're a paid regular why were you already like hanging out i when i came there i started hanging out and actually the todd he was emceeing upstairs and i went upstairs and he would always want to do blow through through the potluck nights on monday nights yeah well i said i'll take over emceeing so i did and i remember were you ever afraid of mitzi

00:35:55Guest:Yeah.

00:35:56Guest:Yeah.

00:35:56Guest:I mean, people to this day, I think Bobby Lee, like Bobby Lee's done numerous movies.

00:36:00Guest:He's on TV shows.

00:36:02Guest:And yet she would come in the room even at this state like a couple of years ago.

00:36:06Guest:He wouldn't go on.

00:36:07Guest:And I mean, that's the way I was.

00:36:09Guest:And I think a lot of people.

00:36:10Guest:And so one day I was after emceeing.

00:36:13Guest:She came up to me the next day.

00:36:15Guest:And she had that office right near the belly room.

00:36:17Guest:Yeah.

00:36:17Guest:Have you ever been in there?

00:36:18Marc:Yeah.

00:36:18Guest:Weird.

00:36:18Marc:A couple times.

00:36:19Marc:Really weird.

00:36:20Marc:Like all this weird artifacts from Ciro's and pictures of random comics like Craig T. Nelson with a beard.

00:36:26Guest:And you just, that's where the supposed suicide note from Lebecken was put in.

00:36:33Guest:Yeah.

00:36:33Guest:And you always wondered how anybody got in there.

00:36:35Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:36:36Marc:Because it's like a door.

00:36:37Marc:It's like this weird Art Nouveau door at the end of that dark hallway.

00:36:41Marc:Because I was on the phones.

00:36:42Marc:I was on the door.

00:36:43Marc:You were just sort of terrified of her.

00:36:47Marc:And God forbid if you were seating a room, someone was sitting in her fucking booth.

00:36:51Marc:I think one time, I remember it.

00:36:54Marc:It was like Bruce Willis and fucking Rodney Dangerfield.

00:36:58Marc:Who was it?

00:36:58Marc:It was a celebrity.

00:37:00Marc:Right.

00:37:00Marc:And she walks in.

00:37:01Marc:She's like, what the hell is he doing sitting there?

00:37:03Marc:Yeah.

00:37:03Marc:And I'm like, what was I supposed to do?

00:37:05Marc:Where's the cutoff?

00:37:07Marc:How am I supposed to fucking know?

00:37:09Marc:And then you never knew when you were going to be kicked out or banned.

00:37:11Marc:And I was living in fucking Cresthill.

00:37:13Marc:And whatever.

00:37:14Marc:People have heard this story.

00:37:15Marc:But she just had.

00:37:17Marc:You were just terrified of her for some reason.

00:37:19Marc:I don't know what we thought she was going to do.

00:37:21Marc:We all just wanted her to love us.

00:37:23Marc:And she was so nuts.

00:37:24Guest:Oh, but the crazy thing.

00:37:26Guest:she would drive into the parking lot and it was like i've never seen a woman this powerful and i remember she'd never go spider in that convertible exactly she'd pull in that parking space and she'd have a line of like 15 people that would just want to go up and kiss her ass as she walked into the club and most of them get away from me yeah oh she was heartless sometimes and she with her feather boa right some weird fucking outfit on

00:37:49Guest:But she was so fucking powerful.

00:37:51Guest:And you heard these rumors of like she'd go to Vegas once a week and bring back over $100,000 from the take.

00:37:57Guest:I never heard that.

00:37:58Guest:Oh, they drive cash.

00:38:00Guest:Yeah.

00:38:00Guest:Oh, she was making money handed.

00:38:03Guest:What a lucky damn person.

00:38:06Guest:So what did you when did you start living at the club?

00:38:09Guest:I know that I lived there for about seven months.

00:38:12Guest:And what I would do, I wouldn't live in there because I never asked.

00:38:15Guest:And I think Mitzi's attitude, because I think somebody told me once that she said, just don't bother him.

00:38:25Guest:She'd see me sleeping in my car.

00:38:29Guest:And what I would do normally is I would sleep in my car.

00:38:32Guest:And when the janitors came in to open the place up, and I should have reported some because they were always late.

00:38:38Guest:And so then I'd just sleep in there.

00:38:41Guest:You're sleeping in the lot.

00:38:43Guest:I'd sleep in the lot.

00:38:43Guest:And then during the day, I'd sleep backstage in the main room.

00:38:47Guest:That must have been good.

00:38:48Guest:uh it's it's like a lot of things of that time i'm glad i experienced it but i could never do it again it was you wouldn't want to right but even though it's nicer back there a lot nicer but boy oh boy what a time because back then it was just it was that row of horrible mirrors in that one shitty room right there was no shower no shower there was a toilet and

00:39:12Guest:And that's where I actually think that I came in my only contact in the 20-some years I've been around there with a ghost.

00:39:19Guest:Did you?

00:39:20Guest:Yeah.

00:39:21Guest:And it was one of those things.

00:39:22Guest:You remember Angel Sal, is that right?

00:39:24Guest:Of course.

00:39:25Guest:Check it out, man.

00:39:26Marc:Here we go.

00:39:27Marc:Remember when he had that huge black guy he hired to make him not do blow?

00:39:31Marc:And it was almost like, there's like this seven foot black dude who wore a pimp hat and little angel.

00:39:39Guest:Check it out, my non-blower doer.

00:39:42Guest:But he would always, like on the weekends, he would have all his props and he'd just leave him there because he'd always close the show.

00:39:47Guest:So the next day he'd come back and pick him up.

00:39:50Guest:So one day I hear walking down the hall, I hear all this walking.

00:39:53Guest:And I'm sleeping on the floor in that little bathroom area.

00:39:57Guest:And I think, oh, I bet you that's Angel.

00:39:59Guest:And I keep hearing it.

00:40:00Guest:Now the door opens.

00:40:01Guest:Well, I don't want to look like I'm sleeping at the comedy store.

00:40:04Guest:I mean, I have some pride.

00:40:06Guest:But I feel something walk over me, go into the bathroom, shut the door.

00:40:11Guest:Now I'm waiting for them to leave.

00:40:13Guest:nobody ever leaves i finally get up i knock on the door and i open it nobody was in there oh my god so i may have fallen asleep but that may be my only confrontation but there was always a rumor that there was a ghost there right harris p used to talk about it a lot of people but i i sometimes wonder if those are just tales who the hell knows what that place yeah i mean you it's i guess it's relative to whether you believe that shit or not yeah i remember roseanne one night the

00:40:38Guest:crying in a booth and she came up to me and was like just crying yeah because she had gotten heckled and kinnison was up there and she was saying things like why do they do that he's a flat slob like me why do they do that to me and i was like wow and then she had already been on the tonight show and then shortly before i got there that was like 86 87 yeah probably

00:41:03Marc:Yeah, like right before I got there, because she didn't come around at all when I was there.

00:41:07Guest:Oh, she was there.

00:41:08Guest:It was just like Damon and Keenan Ivory Wayans.

00:41:11Guest:They both were there all the time.

00:41:12Guest:And I mean, it was like when you look at it, it's like, wow, what a lamp.

00:41:16Guest:And you and Sam were like, you know, you did not get along.

00:41:20Guest:Well, here was the thing.

00:41:22Guest:Sam thought that I did something.

00:41:24Guest:Because I think Sam was kind of like, why do you guys hang out with this guy?

00:41:28Guest:To you.

00:41:29Guest:No, to all the guys.

00:41:30Guest:About you.

00:41:30Marc:About me.

00:41:31Marc:Yeah, I was privy to that because I was living up there and I'd been sucked in by Carl and I'm already hanging out with Sam, doing the blow, losing my mind up there.

00:41:38Marc:For a while there was like, Sam was like, you know, Don Paris is a bully.

00:41:42Marc:That guy calling you a bully.

00:41:43Marc:Right.

00:41:44Marc:That was the funniest thing.

00:41:45Marc:It's like, is he really calling anybody a bully?

00:41:47Marc:Oh, it was the craziest thing.

00:41:50Guest:And I remember eventually you got scared because he was like, I got scared because he, he had a big thing.

00:41:55Guest:I don't know if you remember this during the, uh, let's say the, the meetings at the table, because at one point so many people said nice things about me when he was like controlling the Coke and people were listening to everything he say.

00:42:09Guest:Yeah.

00:42:09Guest:And they were still like, people were saying, no, he's a funny guy.

00:42:13Guest:I remember this.

00:42:14Guest:So he would come up and he would, he had to see what I was about.

00:42:17Guest:Yeah.

00:42:18Guest:So for about a three month period.

00:42:19Guest:Yeah.

00:42:20Guest:I just fell right into that.

00:42:23Guest:Oh, wait a minute.

00:42:24Guest:Why is all this cheese?

00:42:25Guest:What an opportunity.

00:42:27Guest:I didn't see the mousetrap, but boy, what a head fuck.

00:42:29Guest:What, for a three-month punter?

00:42:31Guest:Three months.

00:42:32Guest:It was like he'd bring everybody up there after the club closed.

00:42:35Guest:He'd go up there and spend a little time around that table just talking.

00:42:39Guest:I don't know.

00:42:39Marc:I was living there.

00:42:40Guest:I know.

00:42:40Guest:Oh, no, no.

00:42:41Guest:I know.

00:42:42Guest:It was...

00:42:44Marc:the scariest time i still am why are you still haunted by that at all no i when i got i'll tell you about that in a minute but what was what do you think you did

00:42:54Marc:I think he thinks.

00:42:57Guest:Oh, that you fucked Tamayo.

00:42:58Guest:Yeah.

00:43:00Guest:Yeah.

00:43:01Guest:You know, it was very funny.

00:43:03Marc:He did something, the funniest thing, because then at that point.

00:43:06Marc:Let me set this up.

00:43:07Marc:Tamayo Tsuki was a Japanese comedian who lived in Crest Hill, where I lived, and had gone out with Sam.

00:43:12Marc:I don't even know how long they went out, but it was before I even got there.

00:43:15Marc:Right.

00:43:16Marc:And he would come over.

00:43:17Marc:I thought it was because of my company, but it was really just because he could fucking use that house, and he'd get all fucked up and go pound on her door and say, hey,

00:43:24Marc:I don't know how she put up with that.

00:43:28Marc:So he had somehow got into his head that you had swept with him.

00:43:32Marc:Yeah.

00:43:32Guest:Okay.

00:43:34Guest:But what was the trap for three months?

00:43:37Guest:Well, I think that he wanted to see what I was about and why anybody would go up against him and say, no, this guy's cool.

00:43:44Guest:And I think the main guy was John Nicker Forrest because he kind of had known Sam for a long time and he had been really cool with him.

00:43:50Guest:So I think that it was just, I just remember he had this thing like during those little sessions when everyone's a little paranoid, they'd start whispering May 24th or something like that.

00:44:02Guest:It was like, well, what the hell is May 24th?

00:44:07Guest:But it was like his day of reckoning.

00:44:09Guest:And that was when he was supposed to get even with everybody because Sam put that date in there, but he didn't even keep that date proper.

00:44:18Guest:But he just came down on a lot of fucking people.

00:44:20Marc:Yeah, no, he, I didn't realize like what the first thing he did, like I had the falling out, but then I kept hanging around, but then they were all icing me.

00:44:27Marc:But then he was calling people like Johnny Zapp and stuff to not book me because like, yeah, so I got spit out and Mitzi didn't support me at all.

00:44:36Marc:She was like, oh, what happened?

00:44:37Marc:He peed on your bed.

00:44:39Marc:Like she was making fun of me.

00:44:41Marc:Right.

00:44:42Marc:And I was losing my mind.

00:44:44Marc:I was like, I was psychotic from drug use.

00:44:46Marc:And like, you know, even Magid, the drug dealer, didn't want to talk to me.

00:44:50Marc:He was like, you should go.

00:44:51Marc:The drug dealer telling me to go.

00:44:53Marc:In UF2?

00:44:54Guest:I went back to Michigan for four months.

00:44:56Guest:Thank God.

00:44:57Guest:And what I did is this, because people, what I didn't want to be is one of those guys that owed people money.

00:45:03Guest:Because a lot of people were like, hey, like Todd, he didn't care.

00:45:07Guest:He'd stay in somebody's house and they'd have to literally go to court to get rid of him.

00:45:12Guest:And I just, I didn't want to be that person.

00:45:14Guest:So I slept in my car and then I realized, and the last guy, Rick Wright, you remember Rick Wright, don't you?

00:45:22Guest:The guitar, yeah.

00:45:23Guest:Yeah.

00:45:23Marc:Is he alive still?

00:45:24Guest:He's alive and he's working in England, I believe.

00:45:26Guest:And he was like his big claim to fame.

00:45:28Guest:He was on the Pee Wee Herman HBO special.

00:45:31Guest:Right.

00:45:32Guest:Rick and Ruby.

00:45:33Guest:They were part of that.

00:45:34Guest:But I always like Rick.

00:45:35Guest:And he let me stay at his place.

00:45:38Guest:And he said, yeah, I'm going to charge you this amount.

00:45:39Guest:I said, well, I don't have money now, but I will get it to you.

00:45:41Guest:And I went back to Michigan.

00:45:44Guest:I worked.

00:45:46Guest:Doing what?

00:45:47Guest:Actually, a buddy of mine got me a job working in a warehouse at a grocery place.

00:45:52Guest:It was the worst thing.

00:45:52Marc:And this is after you and I, like we used to do, Todd used to do his illusions.

00:45:57Marc:You were doing your Bob Hope impression.

00:45:59Marc:You never really got an act, but you did Bob Hope and you had a good time.

00:46:02Marc:Right.

00:46:03Marc:You get up there, you got a lot of energy, and you were laughing.

00:46:05Marc:Right.

00:46:05Marc:And we were all, you know, we were just hanging out and fucking off.

00:46:08Guest:It was a crazy time, and it's a time that I don't think I'd ever want to take away from my memory.

00:46:13Guest:Yeah.

00:46:13Guest:Just because I still look at Sam as one of the great comics of all time.

00:46:17Marc:It took you a while, it took all of us a while to sort of, like, once you got stuck in the mire of his fucking horrendous ego.

00:46:23Marc:Right.

00:46:24Marc:There was really no getting out of it, but there was no denying that, like, to watch him on those Monday nights, it was fucking...

00:46:29Marc:Fucking crazy.

00:46:31Guest:I just remember if they didn't get him immediate, looks like I'm going to have to work tonight.

00:46:35Guest:And it was just, and then he would take it from there.

00:46:37Guest:I remember one of the greatest shows I ever saw was like, he was like, they did a, he was with Tommy Chong, Pauly, and they did something in Vegas on a New Year's Eve.

00:46:48Guest:And the night before on the New Year's Eve Eve, he was at the comedy store and it was a packed place and they sold it out.

00:46:55Guest:And I just remember it was a night that he couldn't, they didn't buy him at first.

00:47:00Guest:So he went on and he did an hour, all new material, all just killer stuff, spur of the moment stuff.

00:47:07Guest:And I thought, wow.

00:47:07Guest:Wow.

00:47:08Guest:Did you respect him as a comic?

00:47:10Guest:Absolutely.

00:47:11Guest:Yeah.

00:47:11Guest:It's just, I don't think there's anybody like him.

00:47:13Guest:And it's so funny because people that never saw him live.

00:47:16Guest:You didn't like him initially though.

00:47:17Guest:Oh, when I came out here, I loved him.

00:47:20Guest:In 1985, that's when he had just done the Rodney Dangerfield special.

00:47:24Guest:And it was like, here's a guy from a different planet.

00:47:27Guest:He's doing comedy that's never been done before.

00:47:29Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:47:30Guest:And so I didn't like the fact that he was telling people to get rid of me.

00:47:36Guest:That was a part of him that I didn't think was great.

00:47:38Guest:I remember one time he confronted me.

00:47:41Guest:He started screaming at me.

00:47:43Guest:He took me in the back.

00:47:44Guest:And I, hey, Sam, why are you yelling at me?

00:47:48Guest:And I think he kind of respected me standing up to him.

00:47:50Guest:I go, I'm not going to take that.

00:47:53Guest:And then I realized, gosh.

00:47:54Marc:I should have never said that.

00:47:56Marc:Well, he didn't have a lot of guys around.

00:47:57Marc:I mean, it wasn't.

00:47:58Guest:Oh, no.

00:47:59Marc:He was about five, six, five, seven.

00:48:01Marc:He's a little guy.

00:48:02Marc:Yeah.

00:48:03Marc:So it was.

00:48:05Marc:But where was I was?

00:48:06Marc:Oh, you were working in a grocery warehouse.

00:48:08Marc:And you owed Rick Wright money.

00:48:09Guest:And so I just paid them all back.

00:48:11Guest:And I came back here.

00:48:12Guest:And I said.

00:48:12Guest:You went and worked for the money to pay Rick Wright back?

00:48:14Guest:Yeah.

00:48:14Guest:And that's why you left?

00:48:15Guest:That's why I left.

00:48:16Guest:Because I couldn't get a job here.

00:48:17Guest:And somebody offered me a place to stay there for a few months.

00:48:21Guest:So I just went there.

00:48:22Guest:I just wanted to have a clean record here.

00:48:24Guest:I didn't want to use anybody.

00:48:26Marc:Dude, I packed up my car.

00:48:29Marc:When I left, I was hearing voices in my head.

00:48:31Marc:I had a mental breakdown in the parking lot.

00:48:34Guest:Of the comedy store?

00:48:35Guest:Yeah.

00:48:35Guest:I remember one night, you came up to me begging for me to save your life.

00:48:40Guest:Really?

00:48:40Guest:Yeah.

00:48:40Guest:You were, Carl's going to fucking kill me, man.

00:48:43Marc:i know it's gonna be okay trust me they're just they're just fucking with you man that and i tried telling you that's what they do they're just fucking with your head because i remember what happened do you really yeah what was that about that was about fucking i'm just hanging around you know what i live in crestville and i walk down the comedy store to have coffee and fucking you know during the day and listen to my cds in the or and

00:49:08Marc:and I'm just in the parking lot in the middle of the day, and fucking Christy, Carl's wife, drives up in this new car,

00:49:16Marc:The RX-7, the red RX-7.

00:49:19Marc:I actually remember that.

00:49:20Marc:Yeah.

00:49:21Marc:And she's like, you want to go for a ride in the new car?

00:49:23Marc:And I'm like, yeah, that sounds fun.

00:49:25Marc:So we're smoking a joint, driving up around Mulholland.

00:49:28Marc:We're just cruising around.

00:49:30Marc:And then she drops me back off.

00:49:32Marc:And that night, I'm like, Carl, I took a ride in your car.

00:49:35Marc:It's great.

00:49:36Marc:And he goes, yeah, really?

00:49:38Marc:I haven't driven in that fucking car yet.

00:49:40Marc:and i'm like okay it's like what were you doing in my car what christy came out oh really so you're up you're driving around christy what's happening you know and then like then he fucking loses it on me and then like so i'm all freaked out because i'm they'd fucking stripped me down i spent hours and hours at these motherfuckers i you know they owned me right you know what i mean oh i know mentally and and then like and then all of a sudden like you know carl's not talking to me and i'm like what's happening

00:50:06Marc:And then, like, you know, Sam, like, I don't remember the timeline of it.

00:50:09Marc:You know, he shows up and I'm like, what's going on, man?

00:50:12Marc:You know, I don't understand what's going on.

00:50:14Marc:You know, and then he takes me out in the parking lot, puts his arm around me.

00:50:17Marc:Sam or Carl?

00:50:18Marc:Sam.

00:50:19Marc:He goes, you know, you never want to put a man in a position where he has to trust you.

00:50:23Marc:I'm like, what?

00:50:25Marc:What's happening?

00:50:26Marc:And I didn't do anything.

00:50:27Marc:I know.

00:50:27Marc:So then it just got worse.

00:50:30Marc:It was like peck and paw shit.

00:50:31Marc:It was like mental mafia shit.

00:50:34Marc:And so I'm freaking out.

00:50:36Marc:And Sam's like, don't worry.

00:50:37Marc:I'll smooth it out.

00:50:38Marc:So now I'm going to owe my life to Sam.

00:50:40Marc:So it must have been around that time where I'm like, I think Carl's going to kill me.

00:50:45Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:50:45Guest:And I mean, you were definitely afraid.

00:50:47Guest:You were just out of your mind.

00:50:50Guest:Because you see, and I had just gone through that.

00:50:51Guest:Because I remember one night.

00:50:53Marc:I kind of remember that, because you sort of, despite everything else, you didn't let these guys get to you.

00:50:59Marc:Oh, but they did.

00:51:00Guest:They fucked with my head to the point where, I mean, the one night they had me, and this was the biggest head fuck of my life, I just kept hearing, like Christy LeBeau would say it, Carl would say it, every time I turned my head, you shouldn't have done it, man.

00:51:19Guest:And I turned my head and I'm coked up.

00:51:22Marc:Shouldn't have done it, man.

00:51:24Marc:Did you know what they were talking about?

00:51:25Guest:Yeah.

00:51:25Marc:The Tamayo thing.

00:51:26Marc:Yeah.

00:51:26Guest:Yeah.

00:51:27Guest:Did you do it?

00:51:29Guest:Well, first of all- What difference does it make now?

00:51:32Guest:It just is.

00:51:33Guest:We were very good friends.

00:51:35Guest:Uh-huh.

00:51:35Guest:We're very good friends.

00:51:37Guest:And so he walked.

00:51:38Guest:So I said, Sam, can I talk to you?

00:51:40Guest:And we're going out on the... So they were really saying that too, weren't they?

00:51:44Guest:Yeah, they really were.

00:51:45Guest:Oh, fuck yeah.

00:51:46Guest:They just walked by and... No, no, no.

00:51:47Guest:We were all at the table.

00:51:49Guest:You shouldn't have done it.

00:51:50Guest:You shouldn't have done it, man.

00:51:51Guest:And I'd look because I know I heard it.

00:51:53Guest:And then they would act like nothing was going on.

00:51:56Guest:And I remember this is after I left.

00:51:58Guest:No, you were still there.

00:51:59Guest:Oh, my God.

00:52:00Guest:And I remember I remember saying to Sam, Sam, can I talk to you?

00:52:04Guest:And I want we went on the the porch of Crest Hill and where everybody came and I go, hey, I'm not going to do anything.

00:52:11Guest:Please let me just talk to fucking Sam because I'm now I'm hyperventilating.

00:52:15Guest:I think I'm I said, listen, I just don't want to die.

00:52:18Guest:I'll just whatever you want me to do.

00:52:20Guest:I go, I'll get out of here.

00:52:22Guest:And you know what he said?

00:52:23Guest:What?

00:52:23Guest:He goes, he put his arm around you.

00:52:26Guest:The only thing I can say is this.

00:52:28Guest:Sometimes you got to pay for things you did, but never quit comedy.

00:52:32Guest:I've watched you.

00:52:34Guest:And when he said that, never quit comedy.

00:52:37Guest:Yeah.

00:52:37Guest:He said it in something that Mitzi said.

00:52:40Guest:Yeah.

00:52:40Guest:And I said, I'm never going to quit.

00:52:41Guest:Yeah.

00:52:42Guest:Don't kill me.

00:52:43Guest:Yeah.

00:52:43Guest:And I was dead serious.

00:52:45Guest:I really thought they were going to kill me.

00:52:46Guest:And right there, I said, I got to get out of here.

00:52:49Marc:But so that was the end of it.

00:52:50Marc:But see, that's what they like.

00:52:52Marc:Oh, man.

00:52:54Guest:They ran us out of there, dude.

00:52:55Guest:Oh, absolutely.

00:52:56Guest:And in hindsight, I see exactly what was going on.

00:52:59Guest:What was it?

00:53:00Guest:Sam... You see, I think Sam came from a position that he had to work his ass off to get where he got.

00:53:09Guest:Yeah.

00:53:10Guest:And I think he had to fight through the comedy store.

00:53:12Guest:He was a doorman.

00:53:13Guest:Yeah.

00:53:13Marc:And I remember him saying things like... And he was also a lunatic, and he was doing something no one else was doing, and he was screaming at people.

00:53:20Guest:But I think the coke made it even worse, and I think the worship, because he had guys that were licking his ball sack.

00:53:26Guest:Yeah.

00:53:26Guest:I mean... Yeah.

00:53:28Guest:And it was just...

00:53:29Guest:One of those things that when you start getting there, and I think the coke made him just like this crazed guy.

00:53:35Guest:He was a great comic.

00:53:36Guest:I remember many times he'd pull in the parking lot unconscious and they'd wake him up and he'd go on stage and he'd kill.

00:53:43Marc:Well, the thing was, is like, I never let myself be completely on board.

00:53:47Marc:I didn't know what was happening, but, you know, I did things.

00:53:51Marc:He didn't trust me.

00:53:52Marc:You know, like I couldn't, you know, I couldn't just.

00:53:54Marc:But you kind of you try to do everything to get him to trust you, though, didn't you?

00:53:58Marc:No, because I was fundamentally a different kind of guy.

00:54:01Marc:I'm not really a follower guy.

00:54:03Marc:Right.

00:54:03Marc:And, like, you know, I remember there were times, because I was living at the house, so I had no fucking choice.

00:54:08Marc:Do you know what I mean?

00:54:08Marc:I like to do blow and drink, but, like, ultimately, well, they're coming over.

00:54:13Marc:You know, what, am I going to go sleep in the other room?

00:54:15Marc:That wasn't going to happen.

00:54:16Marc:No, they wouldn't let you.

00:54:17Marc:No, but that's true.

00:54:19Marc:Like, if I, God forbid, I need to sleep because I've been up for three days, you're like...

00:54:22Marc:maren i'm like oh no god so but there were things i would do that i knew like there were times where like i knew like when about two or three days in he'd be fucking wouldn't be able to stop himself from doing shit like the valves were all gone like i remember he was going out with that weird fucking you know that sweaty blonde oh the one that had gone out with the guy from uh def leopard i think so like this weird half a hooker you

00:54:45Guest:And I'll never forget one time she's sitting there and he's getting on everybody.

00:54:51Guest:Fucking Tamayo.

00:54:53Guest:He's going to all these people.

00:54:55Guest:And then she says, just coked out of her mind, well, maybe if you were nicer, they'd treat you with more respect.

00:55:02Guest:And I just remember him like, yeah, yeah, nicer.

00:55:07Guest:It was just like...

00:55:08Guest:Because at that point, I'm on pins and needles knowing that any second there could be a gun in my throat and I'm dead.

00:55:15Guest:That's what I was really thinking was going to happen.

00:55:17Guest:Yeah.

00:55:18Marc:Well, I remember he was all fucking jacked for three days and I put on an ACDC record and there's all these people sitting around the table and he just goes...

00:55:24Marc:And he throws her up on the table and starts dry balling her and shit's flying all over the place.

00:55:29Marc:And everybody bolted.

00:55:30Guest:Well, here is here is the thing that at least one Sam thing that I mean, to this day, send shivers.

00:55:37Guest:So one night, Nick of Forrest said, yes, Sam wants us to come up to his place.

00:55:42Guest:I don't know.

00:55:43Guest:I don't know.

00:55:44Guest:Now he's with Malika.

00:55:46Guest:And now Malika's relationship, when she was dating Angel, I was like, whoa, look at you.

00:55:53Guest:Look at those little panties.

00:55:54Guest:And I would talk dirty to her and all that.

00:55:56Guest:And I'd always hug her and she'd always kiss me and all that.

00:55:59Guest:So now she's with Sam and we're walking in and she came up to hug me and kiss me.

00:56:05Guest:And I'm like,

00:56:05Guest:And I became a board.

00:56:07Guest:Nope.

00:56:08Guest:Not anymore.

00:56:08Guest:Not even in women anymore.

00:56:11Guest:I remember sitting down, and she's bringing out Jack Daniels or whatever he was drinking.

00:56:15Guest:Was it Jack?

00:56:16Marc:Yeah, most of it.

00:56:17Marc:Jack or vodka, yeah.

00:56:18Guest:Yeah, and bringing that out for him and going back and getting the Coke and the actual cocaine.

00:56:23Guest:Where was this?

00:56:24Guest:This was at his house.

00:56:25Guest:Yeah.

00:56:26Guest:I remember Sam found the opportunity that night to start cleaning his guns.

00:56:32Guest:Uh-huh.

00:56:33Guest:Hold on.

00:56:33Guest:It's just Nick of Forrest, myself, Malika, and Sam and his guns.

00:56:40Guest:What a head fuck.

00:56:40Guest:And I remember Sam would say shit like, you know what?

00:56:43Guest:The way you control people is you control their minds.

00:56:47Guest:And he had, he controlled a lot of people's fucking minds.

00:56:52Guest:Wow.

00:56:52Marc:Unbelievable.

00:56:54Marc:Oh my God.

00:56:55Marc:Yeah.

00:56:55Marc:So like when, well, for me, he asked me if that, I don't have any residue from that.

00:56:59Marc:Like it took a long time for it to go away though.

00:57:02Marc:I was so paranoid about everything.

00:57:05Marc:My paranoia went to mystical proportions.

00:57:08Marc:It wasn't just Sam.

00:57:09Marc:It was some sort of cosmic thing going on in Hollywood.

00:57:14Marc:When you went to dry out, did you ever do anything after that?

00:57:17Marc:What do you mean, in drugs?

00:57:18Marc:You said you went to New Mexico.

00:57:19Marc:Yeah, did you ever go?

00:57:20Marc:No, I cleaned up for a month, and then I got about a year here and there.

00:57:25Marc:I got 13 now, but it took me a long time to get that.

00:57:31Marc:But whenever I'd go back to L.A.

00:57:33Marc:for any reason, I'd go by the store and it would all sort of come back, like that vibration.

00:57:37Marc:Right.

00:57:38Marc:I actually went back to the comedy store and Sam was on after he'd sort of arced, when he'd gotten sort of bloated and frightening looking.

00:57:48Marc:And Madge was there.

00:57:49Marc:And I went back to the store and went in the main room and I saw Sam on stage.

00:57:53Marc:And there was this moment, because he was such a scary guy to me, but now he was sort of becoming irrelevant.

00:57:58Marc:Right.

00:57:58Marc:And I just saw him on stage and I had this moment where I'm like,

00:58:01Marc:He's just a fucking comic.

00:58:02Marc:Right.

00:58:03Marc:And then I saw Magid.

00:58:04Marc:I'm like, can I go?

00:58:05Marc:I feel like we got some bad blood.

00:58:06Marc:I'd like to fucking get some closure.

00:58:08Marc:And he's like, you know what, man?

00:58:10Marc:Do your people know who Magid is?

00:58:12Marc:Magid was the drug dealer.

00:58:13Marc:He was a drug dealer, but he had been like the Iranian army.

00:58:17Marc:No, I think the story was that he had fought against the Israelis in the Palestinian war.

00:58:22Marc:Right.

00:58:22Marc:And then he came here and he was drafted into Vietnam, right?

00:58:26Marc:And there was that story where I think the mythology was...

00:58:30Marc:You know, he was down on the ground with some other dudes and they were in trouble in Nam.

00:58:35Marc:And a copter came and the copter, you know, radioed down and said, you know, it's too hot down there.

00:58:41Marc:We got to leave you.

00:58:42Marc:And Majid said, well, I got you in my sights.

00:58:44Marc:So it's your call.

00:58:45Guest:really that was i just heard but the thing about that guy he had no color in his eyes yeah it was all black and the the craziest day i i thought oh my god i'm now in hell yeah was when he drove in yeah to the comedy store parking lot in mitzi's car mitzi was in the passenger seat and i'm thinking oh my god there's no protection at all anymore

00:59:07Marc:Right.

00:59:08Marc:No, I had those same feelings too.

00:59:09Marc:Alan Stevens was driving Madge's car around, or Madge was driving Alan Stevens' car around.

00:59:14Marc:I don't fucking know, dude.

00:59:15Marc:But yeah, but then it's like Satan is here.

00:59:19Marc:Right.

00:59:20Guest:I really started thinking that he had something to do with it.

00:59:23Guest:And they played that.

00:59:24Guest:So you were on the cosmic level too.

00:59:26Guest:Oh, well, what Sam had done that was the freakiest thing ever.

00:59:30Guest:Yeah.

00:59:30Guest:You know, I understand the Holy Bible and the devil's Bible backwards and forward.

00:59:34Guest:I didn't quote anything.

00:59:35Yeah.

00:59:35Guest:Oh, that's a cool hobby to have.

00:59:37Guest:I mean, it was like, holy shit.

00:59:40Guest:If you believed in God at all, that was piercing.

00:59:43Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:59:45Guest:Yeah, he fucks with the people that you fuck with.

00:59:48Marc:But so I go back and that happened.

00:59:51Marc:You imagine he didn't take me backstage and I was fine.

00:59:53Marc:And then when he died...

00:59:55Marc:I was in San Francisco.

00:59:57Marc:It was like 92, 93 probably.

00:59:59Marc:Like, is that when he died?

01:00:00Guest:Yeah, 92.

01:00:01Guest:April of 92, I believe.

01:00:02Marc:Yeah, I was in San Francisco and I heard it.

01:00:04Marc:You know, Stu Kamens or somebody called me.

01:00:07Marc:And I was like, and still in my mind, it was like, I just want to someday go to his grave and pee on it.

01:00:13Marc:Really?

01:00:14Marc:Yeah, I want to videotape it.

01:00:15Marc:I had this agenda.

01:00:16Marc:Like, for years, I'm just like, I'm going to videotape myself peeing on his grave for peeing on my bed.

01:00:22Marc:Like, I'd had this thing in my head.

01:00:23Marc:Wow, man.

01:00:24Marc:And then at some point, as I got more sober and I went back to the store, it just went away.

01:00:30Marc:But it was a vibe that this whole city had, and it went away.

01:00:34Marc:Thank fucking God.

01:00:36Guest:Oh, boy.

01:00:36Guest:You know, the one thing I wanted to ask you, when you...

01:00:42Guest:Talk about Sam with other comics or anything.

01:00:45Guest:Yeah.

01:00:45Guest:Do you find that a lot of people didn't really get him?

01:00:48Marc:Well, they don't.

01:00:49Marc:He went on too long.

01:00:51Marc:Like, I think that ultimately, like, I still listen to hotter than hell.

01:00:55Marc:Right.

01:00:56Marc:Like, you know, a couple of times a year, because to me, that was that was that was the record.

01:01:00Marc:Right.

01:01:00Marc:I don't think he ever got back there.

01:01:02Marc:No, because then it became show business glitz on the next one.

01:01:05Marc:But yeah, but something went wrong.

01:01:07Marc:Like he really believed that he could do the music.

01:01:09Marc:And he was that guy.

01:01:09Marc:Remember, he's like, yeah, I play guitar, but I can never figure out how to work it into the act because it was always sort of a hacky thing.

01:01:15Marc:Right.

01:01:15Marc:And then somewhere that changed.

01:01:17Marc:You know, because now he had a bunch of rock and roll friends.

01:01:20Marc:And I just think that because of what he represented cocaine and a sort of, you know, like he was kind of wrong minded about some shit.

01:01:27Marc:And then the music thing.

01:01:28Marc:I just don't think people really appreciate what he did anymore.

01:01:33Marc:Well, it's not so much about not getting him.

01:01:35Guest:I've talked with Jimmy Kimmel, who really feels... He never really thought he was spectacular.

01:01:43Guest:Yeah.

01:01:44Guest:But what he did, and I really kind of analyzed this, he only saw him on his Letterman spots or his... Yeah, when he was basically harnessed.

01:01:53Guest:Right.

01:01:53Marc:Yeah.

01:01:54Marc:Exactly.

01:01:54Marc:He didn't see the real guy.

01:01:56Marc:Yeah.

01:01:56Marc:No, those spots are horrible.

01:01:58Marc:And remember, he used to tell you about it.

01:01:59Marc:Because he'd go out there, when you'd hear Sam talk about his veteran spots, he'd been up all fucking night.

01:02:05Marc:And he couldn't say fuck.

01:02:06Marc:And he tried to wedge a bit in there that he thought would be provocative.

01:02:10Marc:And he just never got his footing in regular television.

01:02:14Guest:I truly believe that.

01:02:16Marc:So Kimmel never saw the first HBO special?

01:02:19Guest:Well, I think that that was one of the great things.

01:02:22Guest:And that was a cool thing.

01:02:23Guest:I'll tell you this.

01:02:24Guest:The one thing, a couple times when I went to his place, he'd bring out tapes like that.

01:02:29Guest:And he'd say, hey, all right, what's different from the way I do this bit now and the way I did it then?

01:02:35Guest:And it was kind of interesting because here's a guy.

01:02:37Guest:He was very aware.

01:02:39Guest:Right.

01:02:39Guest:Absolutely.

01:02:39Guest:And he really loved the art of stand-up comedy.

01:02:43Marc:Well, I told Mel Brooks.

01:02:44Marc:I think it's the only time I ever told the story.

01:02:46Marc:I told it to Mel Brooks.

01:02:48Marc:For some reason, because I asked him like, you know, because he would always talk, you know, like you remember he did that great impression of Gene Hackman or the elephant.

01:02:55Marc:Remember he did the right and like weird ass shit.

01:02:57Marc:And I once asked him, I said, but what is the key?

01:03:00Marc:You know, how did you figure it out?

01:03:02Marc:You know, he's like Gene Wilder.

01:03:04Marc:And I'm like, what?

01:03:06Marc:And then if you watch Gene Wilder and when he starts to explode, you know, the build, I can't do the thing in the van.

01:03:14Marc:So he took that build and made it his own.

01:03:19Marc:Really?

01:03:19Marc:It makes sense, though, right?

01:03:21Marc:It really does.

01:03:22Marc:Well, let's talk about the success now that we've wallowed in and we're all sweaty.

01:03:26Marc:Oh, yeah.

01:03:27Guest:I really am kind of.

01:03:28Guest:I haven't gotten.

01:03:29Guest:You know what?

01:03:30Guest:I'll tell you something.

01:03:32Guest:You're probably the only person that I could talk to about this ever.

01:03:35Guest:Yeah.

01:03:35Guest:Because you were there.

01:03:37Guest:I knew you were there.

01:03:38Guest:And everyone else is kind of like I still don't trust.

01:03:43Guest:But let's talk.

01:03:43Guest:So you did Windy City Heat.

01:03:45Guest:I was very lucky.

01:03:46Guest:I started doing a project where I thought, you know what?

01:03:51Guest:This is kind of before reality shows, before anything.

01:03:53Guest:I thought, you know what?

01:03:54Guest:All I get at the comedy store really right now is I get to emcee.

01:03:59Marc:the potluck show and i started seeing how many crazy fucking people were there and describe that a little bit because people don't really realize and this has been going on since the beginning of the comedy store if you go by the comedy store what is it six o'clock is sign up i i it varies i mean but you would see people wearing chef's hats garbage bags you know like uh giants and there's people that are doing it from before i came to town

01:04:24Guest:that we're doing that, and they're still doing it.

01:04:26Guest:Like a guy comes to mind, a guy named Scotty Barron.

01:04:28Guest:Yeah.

01:04:29Guest:And it's like they just go to this place, and I look at them, because comedy's the only place where you can go somewhere and get on stage.

01:04:37Guest:If you're a singer, they're going to boo you off the stage.

01:04:39Guest:Right.

01:04:40Guest:And stand-up comedy, there's places all over town where you can go and get up on stage.

01:04:43Marc:But the Comedy Store Potluck was just, every week, a whole line of freaks and...

01:04:48Marc:But they're just people, but it's almost like- Trying their shot in comedy.

01:04:52Guest:Right, okay, so you're doing that.

01:04:54Guest:So I'm doing that, and I'm realizing there's some real characters here.

01:04:58Guest:And you know what?

01:04:58Guest:They're funny.

01:04:59Guest:What if I put a show of nothing but these characters on?

01:05:02Guest:Well, there was one guy that stood out above everybody else.

01:05:05Guest:His name was Perry Caravelle.

01:05:07Guest:He called himself Scary Perry.

01:05:08Guest:He's a nut job.

01:05:09Guest:and I started doing these shows with this group of crazy people.

01:05:15Guest:And Mitzi, I had this main room show booked, like over 400 people that were going to come.

01:05:21Guest:And she, at the last second, oh, I don't want insanity in my main room.

01:05:25Guest:So she gave me the original room, but I knew that that's all I could ever do.

01:05:29Guest:I mean, that was it.

01:05:30Guest:The comedy story isn't going to back me.

01:05:31Guest:I had the place packed.

01:05:33Guest:Yeah.

01:05:33Guest:People went crazy.

01:05:34Guest:Yeah.

01:05:36Guest:And so I just started doing public access shows with this Perry guy and a guy named mole who now is on your podcast.

01:05:45Guest:Right.

01:05:45Guest:Yeah.

01:05:46Guest:The three of us.

01:05:47Guest:And he's like he's an Emmy award winning writer.

01:05:49Guest:Really?

01:05:50Guest:Yeah.

01:05:51Guest:For what?

01:05:52Guest:Kimmel.

01:05:53Guest:Uh-huh.

01:05:54Guest:So anyway, so, and I always have a little hard time explaining everything behind the curtain, if you know what I mean.

01:06:00Guest:Yeah.

01:06:01Guest:Because it's still going on.

01:06:02Guest:Yeah.

01:06:03Guest:And so it's basically.

01:06:05Marc:So you were doing the public access.

01:06:06Marc:Doing the public access.

01:06:07Guest:It was called the Ding Dong Show.

01:06:09Guest:No, it was actually called, that's a whole different thing.

01:06:11Guest:It was called Simply Don, the public access show.

01:06:13Guest:Yeah.

01:06:14Guest:And it got to the point where Jimmy Kimmel became our announcer on it.

01:06:19Guest:how did that happen because after about six years of us doing this and public access show no well public access show the shows just and mainly what we did is i really thought i can make it a lot better phone conversations than the jerky boys yeah so that's what the whole thing was about basically you just wanted to do prank calls

01:06:41Guest:To this guy.

01:06:42Guest:Which guy?

01:06:43Guest:This Perry guy.

01:06:45Guest:Okay.

01:06:45Guest:So he set a whole make-believe world around him.

01:06:47Guest:Yeah.

01:06:47Guest:Like a real-life Truman show.

01:06:49Guest:Yeah.

01:06:50Marc:And when Kimmel saw it- Wait, so he didn't know?

01:06:53Marc:Perry didn't know?

01:06:54Marc:No.

01:06:55Marc:So who was in on the make-believe world?

01:06:57Marc:A lot of people.

01:06:58Yeah.

01:06:58Guest:a lot of people and it became this thing and we so I had all these tapes and like people were kind of going crazy about it but most people like I remember I was I had opened for dice clay a lot what did Perry think was happening

01:07:13Guest:exactly what we told him what that he was going to be a star well that this is in a movie that i said what we're going to do is i'm going to make a movie i promise you i'll make a movie yeah and i didn't give up and i kept pushing kept pushing then when kimmel came in he was the first person that looked at it as a piece of art yeah he said i love this thing i want to do something with it and i'll tell you and perry doesn't know

01:07:36Guest:No.

01:07:38Guest:Right.

01:07:39Guest:So Kimmel just caught wind of the buzz.

01:07:41Guest:He caught wind of the buzz.

01:07:42Marc:And you weren't working for him yet.

01:07:43Guest:No.

01:07:44Guest:Yeah.

01:07:45Guest:He didn't have anything yet.

01:07:45Guest:This is before the show.

01:07:47Guest:Right.

01:07:47Guest:This is before the man show.

01:07:49Guest:And he was just on Ben Stein's money.

01:07:51Guest:Right.

01:07:51Guest:He just got wind Ben Stein's money.

01:07:52Guest:Yeah.

01:07:53Guest:And he said, I want to do something with this if I can.

01:07:55Guest:Yeah.

01:07:56Guest:So we did that.

01:07:57Guest:He said he'd make a movie.

01:07:58Guest:A few years later, he made a movie, but he's been taking care of me ever since.

01:08:01Guest:I've been, you know.

01:08:02Guest:He made Windy City Heat.

01:08:03Marc:He made Windy City Heat.

01:08:04Marc:And by that time, did Perry know what was going on?

01:08:07Marc:No.

01:08:08Marc:So he thought it was a real- Well, it was a movie.

01:08:10Marc:Yeah, I know.

01:08:11Guest:But what did he think was going on?

01:08:12Guest:Well, during the movie, he thought that he was the star of an action movie where he played a sports private investigator.

01:08:20Marc:Right.

01:08:21Marc:Right.

01:08:21Marc:And it's got that feel like I've watched pieces of things that you're doing.

01:08:25Marc:It's really got it like a John Waters-y kind of Tim and Eric kind of fucking... There's that moment where the question becomes like, are you taking advantage of these people?

01:08:35Marc:And then you sort of realize like, I don't know.

01:08:37Marc:They're having a good time.

01:08:38Guest:Well, but it goes back and you can probably tell this more than anybody.

01:08:43Guest:These people...

01:08:44Guest:They just want to be part of something.

01:08:46Guest:It's like the extra, because that's what he did.

01:08:49Guest:He did extra work.

01:08:50Guest:That's how he made his money.

01:08:51Guest:Perry.

01:08:52Guest:Perry.

01:08:53Guest:And now he's like the king of extras.

01:08:56Guest:Or you were in the movie.

01:08:57Guest:You made it.

01:08:58Guest:Yeah.

01:08:58Guest:And so he really, that's, his goals were not that high.

01:09:01Guest:Yeah.

01:09:02Guest:He's far exceeded those goals because he's, he's loved.

01:09:06Guest:Yeah.

01:09:06Guest:I mean, people get intimidated by him.

01:09:08Guest:Yeah.

01:09:09Guest:Like we're doing a show.

01:09:11Guest:You know who Dominic Monaghan is?

01:09:13Guest:Uh-uh.

01:09:13Guest:He's from Lost.

01:09:14Guest:He was actually... Oh, no, I know who he is, yeah.

01:09:17Guest:Eminem video with Rihanna.

01:09:18Marc:He was one of the Hobbits.

01:09:19Guest:Yeah, absolutely.

01:09:20Guest:Yeah, I know that guy.

01:09:21Guest:Well, he supposedly, and as the story goes, Jimmy was kind of friendly with J.J.

01:09:26Guest:Abrams.

01:09:27Guest:Yeah.

01:09:27Guest:And J.J.

01:09:28Guest:Abrams, when they did Lost the first season, they kind of had nowhere to go, so the cast hung out together.

01:09:35Guest:And one of the things that they became obsessed with was Windy City Heat.

01:09:38Guest:Yeah.

01:09:39Guest:So it was it's a lot of people know about it.

01:09:42Guest:I mean, there's like Mike Judge told me, oh, you know, I've watched the movie 100 times.

01:09:50Guest:I mean, it's like it's such a nice compliment that these people love it.

01:09:55Guest:Yeah.

01:09:55Guest:And, you know, like, so it was one of those things.

01:10:00Guest:And, but the guy, Perry, like, for instance, we had a sequel set up with Spike Jonze, Johnny Knoxville, Jeff Tremaine.

01:10:09Guest:They were going to produce the next movie.

01:10:12Guest:For two and a half years, they chased it down.

01:10:14Guest:But Perry had some ambulance chasing lawyer that came in.

01:10:17Guest:and threatened to sue everybody so everybody kind of dropped out and it's like so he got he got do big for his britches hired a shitty lawyer not hired a shitty lawyer found him and saw names attached to him and said oh because this guy all he does is want to settle out of court anyway the predator what was he looking for any kind of money at all and he got he got a third of fifty thousand dollars because that's what they paid him just to shut up so we could do the second movie

01:10:46Guest:That's horrible.

01:10:48Guest:It's a crazy thing.

01:10:49Guest:But then I guess Jimmy set it up with Adam to do a podcast.

01:10:54Guest:Now, I had never done a podcast.

01:10:55Guest:I didn't know nothing about it.

01:10:57Guest:But we went over to Ace and we started doing podcasts from there and we started getting a little bit of a following.

01:11:02Guest:Then, when I realized we're never going to get a dime and they hate us over here, I started doing my own.

01:11:12Guest:And it's really, it's incredible because we're at an age, you could honestly, through YouTube videos, through a podcast, you can have a career.

01:11:22Marc:Right, but you've got this great gig doing warm-ups.

01:11:25Marc:So you've got health care.

01:11:27Marc:Right.

01:11:28Marc:You've got a nice wage.

01:11:30Marc:I work about eight hours a week.

01:11:32Marc:Yep.

01:11:33Marc:But Jimmy, did he audition you or did you... How did it work?

01:11:37Marc:For what?

01:11:37Marc:For the warm-up.

01:11:38Guest:Oh, I don't think he'd do that.

01:11:40Guest:I think that...

01:11:41Guest:He just said, do you want to do this?

01:11:42Guest:Well, he knew that that's what I had been doing because I had worked on Bless This House with Dice because I was opening on the road with Dice at the time.

01:11:50Guest:So I got that and I kind of learned how to do it a little bit.

01:11:53Guest:And I've always been kind of this high energy guy.

01:11:55Guest:And so I just kind of learned how to do it.

01:11:58Guest:And I worked on the man show for four years.

01:12:01Guest:And Jimmy's just he's just a good guy.

01:12:03Guest:He's very loyal to the people that are around him.

01:12:05Marc:I like him.

01:12:06Marc:I think he's the big winner.

01:12:07Marc:I interviewed him, and he had me on a show, and it was great.

01:12:10Marc:I saw you over there.

01:12:11Marc:Yeah.

01:12:11Marc:I did pretty good there.

01:12:12Marc:You did great.

01:12:13Marc:Yeah, and I had a good time, and hopefully I'll go back on there, but I have a lot of respect for that guy.

01:12:17Marc:Now, what is the Ding Dong Show?

01:12:21Guest:The Ding Dong Show is kind of like what I was doing with Perry before, but now I have a whole show that now is on Death Squad.

01:12:30Guest:Yeah.

01:12:30Guest:So we're getting some pretty good numbers there.

01:12:32Guest:as a video show or is a video show and then he puts it on there well i i'm kind of pushing that a little bit now i've got some guys that really i had some guy film it and we were going to make a movie of it but what i but what he missed out on you mentioned this guy earlier who if i can tell this story this is bob abervaya bob abervaya i got him in the show set him up though he's been going to the comedy store for how many years since the 70s okay

01:12:59Guest:yeah and he goes on he goes on last on all the potluck shows and i'll tell you the weirdest thing but what is he usually used to do carson monologues he does a little bit of a carson now he just he's a guy that you slowly saw his mind deteriorate when i first saw him very as a matter of fact the very first day that i walked into the club here's what i saw it was bob aprivia he's like

01:13:21Guest:he's like uh he looks like a middle eastern right and he back then he had this wiry weird hair but and he couldn't look at you and his his beard was meticulous yeah it was meticulous yeah well he's grown into crazy now the beard's all crazy oh really the very first day i walked in there i saw bob on stage and i saw sam and carl throwing chairs at him and i watched this for a little while and

01:13:46Guest:When the chairs were coming at him, he'd stop his act, and he'd put his finger under his nose, and then he would pick up on the next word that he had left off on his act.

01:13:56Guest:So if he was saying, I went down to the bathroom to go and get, come back, toilet paper, because I needed... It's like he stopped a tape?

01:14:05Guest:Yeah, exactly.

01:14:06Guest:It was amazing to me.

01:14:08Guest:So anyway, I wanted him, because everything I...

01:14:12Guest:I found him so interesting.

01:14:14Guest:Yeah.

01:14:15Guest:Like people never see this side of comedy.

01:14:18Guest:Yeah.

01:14:18Guest:And so I thought that's what I'd like to get in, involve like a guy like that.

01:14:21Guest:So Mitzi arranged it.

01:14:23Guest:So he was part of the Ding Dong show.

01:14:24Guest:Yeah.

01:14:26Guest:And I got him in and then he eventually quit.

01:14:29Guest:But the guys that I was doing the movie with, oh, we don't like him.

01:14:32Guest:I go, do you understand that this is the reason that I did this whole thing because of that guy right there?

01:14:37Guest:Everything else is kind of around it, but I did it because of him.

01:14:39Guest:He was like the portal into that world of potluck.

01:14:42Guest:Right.

01:14:43Guest:Yeah.

01:14:44Guest:And a side thing.

01:14:45Guest:One night, some people saw this guy, a comic over at the comedy store.

01:14:50Guest:So Robin Williams watching him from the back and just staring at him.

01:14:57Guest:And do you know who Bob is?

01:15:00Guest:And Robin really went berserk.

01:15:02Guest:And I really believe.

01:15:04Guest:What do you mean he went berserk?

01:15:04Guest:He went, oh, no, I've never seen him in my life.

01:15:07Guest:And I remember a long time ago, Robin only used to do impressions at Aprivia.

01:15:11Guest:He in the back.

01:15:12Guest:He'd do these impressions.

01:15:14Guest:And I really started thinking there.

01:15:16Guest:He's there every freaking week.

01:15:19Guest:He is like part of the comedy store.

01:15:22Guest:That's his dark secret.

01:15:23Guest:Not that it's the funniest thing ever, but he's been there forever.

01:15:27Guest:He's almost like the gatekeeper to the place.

01:15:29Guest:Yeah, right.

01:15:30Guest:No, I get that.

01:15:31Guest:And there's there's mystic things about this guy.

01:15:33Marc:Yeah.

01:15:34Marc:Like, he's always been there.

01:15:36Marc:Right.

01:15:37Marc:It's like Jack Nicholson in The Shining.

01:15:39Guest:You've always been here, Mr. Torrance.

01:15:40Marc:He's always been there.

01:15:41Marc:Yeah.

01:15:42Marc:Yeah.

01:15:44Marc:But he's not in anymore.

01:15:45Marc:But he was the inspiration.

01:15:46Guest:Well, he was in there, and that's what I kind of did.

01:15:48Guest:And I had all these other people.

01:15:50Guest:And it's like, so now it's getting kind of popular.

01:15:53Guest:I'm kind of liking it.

01:15:54Guest:And they can see it over on Death Squad?

01:15:56Guest:On Death Squad.

01:15:57Guest:On YouTube.

01:15:58Guest:Yeah, on YouTube.

01:15:59Guest:And I have my big three show every week.

01:16:02Guest:And have you heard of Josh?

01:16:04Guest:Yeah.

01:16:05Guest:Yeah.

01:16:05Guest:They also have a video podcast like with Adam Carolla's on that.

01:16:09Guest:They do live things.

01:16:10Guest:Yeah.

01:16:11Guest:We're on that.

01:16:12Guest:Norm McDonald's on there to doing a show.

01:16:14Guest:So we're doing that one, too.

01:16:17Guest:So it's but I'm just telling you, this this podcast world is insane.

01:16:21Guest:So is a ding dong show?

01:16:22Guest:It sketches, right?

01:16:23Guest:No, it's anything.

01:16:25Guest:It's like a reality show within a show.

01:16:27Guest:Okay.

01:16:28Guest:With these guys.

01:16:29Guest:And I'll tell you, one of the craziest things, and this is like I thought, oh, everything's going to happen now.

01:16:35Guest:One night, there's nobody in the room during my Ding Dong show.

01:16:38Guest:At the OR?

01:16:39Guest:In the original room?

01:16:40Guest:I always do it in the belly room Monday nights.

01:16:42Guest:Okay.

01:16:43Guest:And I see some black guy in the back.

01:16:46Guest:Yeah.

01:16:46Guest:Sits there.

01:16:47Guest:He's laughing the entire time.

01:16:48Guest:Yeah.

01:16:48Guest:He's the only person in the room.

01:16:50Guest:After the show, I go up.

01:16:51Guest:It's Dave Chappelle.

01:16:53Guest:Oh, yeah.

01:16:53Guest:And he comes up, and he's like, wow.

01:16:56Wow.

01:16:56Guest:I'm trying to wrap my head around this.

01:16:59Guest:I'm really having a hard time.

01:17:00Guest:And he goes, Neil Brennan was telling me he did some kind of movie, and I just happened to have it, and I gave it to him.

01:17:06Guest:Yeah, I got to check this out.

01:17:07Guest:I don't know what's going on here, but it's something else.

01:17:10Guest:I thought, holy fuck, Dave Chappelle.

01:17:12Guest:He's on my bandwagon.

01:17:14Guest:I had never heard from him again.

01:17:15Guest:I've never seen him since.

01:17:16Marc:But I'll tell you one thing.

01:17:18Marc:Do you know him at all?

01:17:19Marc:Yeah, a little bit.

01:17:20Marc:I mean, I remember when he started, and we've had conversations.

01:17:22Marc:And I love the guy, but I don't know.

01:17:25Guest:where he's at i think his show is one of the it was incredible it's a great comic yeah and uh when he one night he came by the comedy store and i don't know what made me say this because he kind of keeps to himself when he's there he doesn't talk to anybody and i just went up to him i said hey just so you know feel feel safe here people like you people leave you the fuck alone

01:17:46Guest:When you're around, you come here.

01:17:48Guest:And he kind of looked at me like, wow.

01:17:51Guest:And I really saw this sensitivity of the guy and thought, his life must be so fucked up in so many ways.

01:18:00Guest:Do you know anything about that?

01:18:02Marc:Well, I just think that the amount of success that he got and the precipice that he was on...

01:18:09Marc:Very few people get there.

01:18:11Marc:No.

01:18:12Marc:To where it's sort of like, all right, you're the guy, and here's a boatload of fucking money and a boatload of expectations.

01:18:20Marc:The deal is made.

01:18:22Marc:You're going to be the guy.

01:18:25Marc:How many people get to there?

01:18:26Marc:No, nobody.

01:18:28Marc:A few.

01:18:28Marc:And some people are like, great, I'm ready to be the guy.

01:18:31Marc:Other people are like, something else happens.

01:18:35Marc:You don't think it was drugs or anything, do you?

01:18:37Marc:I don't know.

01:18:38Marc:No, I don't think it was.

01:18:39Marc:I think it was just pressure and whatever was going on in his mind anyways.

01:18:44Marc:But no, I don't think it was drugs.

01:18:45Guest:Oh.

01:18:46Guest:Well, Don, it was great.

01:18:48Guest:No, it was very nice to see you, Mark.

01:18:50Guest:I mean, I'm telling you something.

01:18:52Guest:Yeah.

01:18:52Guest:That first few years was an incredible time.

01:18:55Guest:And, you know, you were a very big part of it.

01:18:58Guest:I was very happy for your success.

01:19:00Guest:Like, and I'll tell you, one of my favorite shows, I swear to God.

01:19:03Guest:Yeah.

01:19:03Guest:What was that show you did on Comedy Central with the clips?

01:19:06Guest:Short Attention Span Theater.

01:19:07Guest:I have numerous of them taped.

01:19:10Guest:Really?

01:19:10Guest:With me?

01:19:11Guest:Yeah.

01:19:11Guest:Well, it was just the whole thing because you had great clips in there.

01:19:15Guest:Yeah.

01:19:15Guest:I remember there.

01:19:16Guest:Did you pick a lot of those or do they have them all there?

01:19:18Guest:Because I noticed a lot of Kinnison stuff in there.

01:19:20Marc:No, I think some of those were, you know, people confuse the shows.

01:19:23Marc:There's stand-up, stand-up, and then there's my show.

01:19:26Marc:Most of the clips were promotional material.

01:19:28Marc:Like if somebody was releasing something, you know, the stand-up, stand-up was all the stand-up clips.

01:19:33Marc:This wasn't stand-up at all.

01:19:34Marc:This had been- Like Back to School or something?

01:19:36Marc:uh no it was uh it was like when he did spots on other shows like it was interviews of him on another show we did some of that yeah i mean like um we did uh but most of it was promotional like really we built shows around you know like if it was carson's they were releasing video the best carson moments or or movies were coming out because you'd have like bob hope clips and things like that i think so i think so i've got them on tape so okay well yeah tell yeah it's a little hazy

01:20:05Guest:You had a lot of success, so congratulations.

01:20:09Guest:But thank you, Mark.

01:20:10Guest:Thank you for letting me come in here.

01:20:11Marc:Oh, you too, man.

01:20:11Marc:It was great to see you.

01:20:12Marc:I mean, I have weird, fond memories of all that craziness, and I'm glad you landed on your feet as well.

01:20:17Guest:Yeah, well, thank you, and I'm glad you did too.

01:20:19Guest:All right, buddy.

01:20:25Marc:That's our show.

01:20:26Marc:I hope you enjoyed that jam session of thoughts and memories from the Comedy Store and Don's Crazy Story.

01:20:31Marc:I'm glad he's doing all right.

01:20:32Marc:I always love talking to the guys at the store.

01:20:35Marc:I always love going back.

01:20:37Marc:For all your WTF needs, go to WTFPod.com.

01:20:40Marc:Get on the mailing list.

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01:20:48Marc:Yes, I'm flying to Chicago.

01:20:49Marc:I love Chicago.

01:20:52Marc:I hope I don't die from pizza.

01:20:54Marc:Boomer lives!