Episode 456 - Billy Braver

Episode 456 • Released December 25, 2013 • Speakers detected

00:00:00Marc:are we doing this really wait for it are we doing this wait for it pow what the fuck and it's also what the fuck what's wrong with me it's time for wtf what the fuck with mark maron

00:00:24Marc:Alright, let's do this.

00:00:25Marc:How are you, what the fuckers?

00:00:26Marc:What the fuck, buddies?

00:00:27Marc:What the fuck in ears?

00:00:28Marc:What the fuck, nicks?

00:00:29Marc:What the fucksters?

00:00:30Marc:What the fuck is sugarna's?

00:00:33Marc:Happy holidays.

00:00:34Marc:Happy New Year coming up.

00:00:36Marc:Hope you had a good X-mas yesterday.

00:00:37Marc:I don't know what the hell to say.

00:00:39Marc:God, I hope you got some good presents, man.

00:00:41Marc:I at least hope some of you, like, you know, open that thing up.

00:00:44Marc:Because there's nothing more exciting than getting a good present.

00:00:48Marc:That's the best fucking thing in the world.

00:00:50Marc:Something you didn't know you were getting or something you really wanted to get.

00:00:54Marc:Yeah, I just hope it worked out.

00:00:55Marc:I hope you're happy.

00:00:57Marc:New Year's coming up.

00:00:58Marc:Don't make yourself crazy.

00:01:00Marc:No big changes.

00:01:01Marc:Unless you have to.

00:01:03Marc:But don't set yourself up for disappointment in the new year.

00:01:07Marc:Ultimately, it's just another day.

00:01:10Marc:Right?

00:01:12Marc:I just don't know.

00:01:12Marc:I don't exactly know what to do for the holidays because I've really avoided them.

00:01:16Marc:And I was going through the files.

00:01:20Marc:And I remember I was trying to think of like, you know, Christmases I've spent in the past.

00:01:25Marc:But, you know, obviously Christmas not being that incredibly important to me as a Jew and Hanukkah has become less important to me, too.

00:01:32Marc:But the season is what it is.

00:01:35Marc:I remember I'm just trying to think back on what I did for Christmas, where'd I end up for Christmas.

00:01:40Marc:I remember one time I ended up in Maine, my buddy Bob's house, or his mother's house, who he called the pig-killing astrologist.

00:01:48Marc:She was an astrologist, she lived up in Maine.

00:01:51Marc:I guess she had pigs that she owned.

00:01:53Marc:I remember she pickled things.

00:01:55Marc:I remember it was a little eerie, the whole thing was a little eerie.

00:01:58Marc:I remember one Christmas I decided to stay in Boston.

00:02:01Marc:I think I was still in college.

00:02:04Marc:And I stayed in Boston.

00:02:05Marc:I sat in this dark apartment that I had in Boston.

00:02:10Marc:It was actually Brookline on Carlton Street.

00:02:12Marc:Thing was like a fucking cave.

00:02:15Marc:And I sat there, recently heartbroken, because my girlfriend Sarah had ditched me.

00:02:19Marc:She had gone off.

00:02:21Marc:I know, I know.

00:02:22Marc:There's somewhat of a recurring theme there, but it cuts both ways, man.

00:02:26Marc:But she was the first love of my life, and she had run off to France in order to get away from me.

00:02:31Marc:She had to go to another country.

00:02:34Marc:Then I found out she was fucking some guy I knew.

00:02:36Marc:Whatever, man.

00:02:38Marc:So I was like, I'm going to Bukowski it.

00:02:40Marc:I'm going to Bukowski this Christmas.

00:02:43Marc:I'm going to shut in.

00:02:45Marc:I'm going to buy a half gallon of fucking Robert Mondavi table red.

00:02:51Marc:And I'm going to sit down.

00:02:52Marc:I'm going to watch old movies randomly on television and write, man, because I'm a fucking poet.

00:03:02Marc:That was the plan.

00:03:03Marc:And I did write a poem.

00:03:06Marc:And it did end up in the Ex Libris Literary Journal of Boston University.

00:03:12Marc:What year would this be?

00:03:13Marc:Do they put years in these things?

00:03:14Marc:1986.

00:03:22Marc:So I'll read that poem for you now.

00:03:24Marc:This was written, I guess, maybe it would have been Christmas of 1985.

00:03:28Marc:A heartbroken Mark Maron on Christmas Eve sits alone in a dark apartment with a bottle of red table wine.

00:03:37Marc:Rendering the thoughts and feelings, doing the work of a poet.

00:03:44Marc:So this is the poem I wrote, Heartbroken Mark, 1985, that would make me 63, 73, 83, 21, 22 years old.

00:03:53Marc:This is my Christmas pump, coming in for landing.

00:03:58Marc:Watching Robert Mitchum toss around some double-crossing dame on the TV after she killed some gumshoe for nothing, he ditched the body and let her go.

00:04:09Marc:He still had to have her.

00:04:11Marc:He followed her around the world.

00:04:13Marc:He died and she died too.

00:04:15Marc:She put a slug in his gut while he had his foot on the gas.

00:04:18Marc:And there was something delicate in the way he was hunched over the wheel and the way she had her head tilted back over the seat and the way the gun in a white hand rested on his leg.

00:04:34Marc:There you go.

00:04:34Marc:22-year-old Marc Maron poetry.

00:04:38Marc:Living on the edge.

00:04:39Marc:Hard, man.

00:04:40Marc:Hard heart.

00:04:41Marc:Taking it in.

00:04:42Marc:Watching Out of the Past with Robert Mitchum.

00:04:46Marc:Heartbreak is rough.

00:04:47Marc:The things we do for women.

00:04:48Marc:Am I right, 22-year-old Marc?

00:04:51Marc:Huh?

00:04:52Marc:Shit is weighing heavy for you there in the apartment.

00:04:56Marc:Your folks are...

00:04:57Marc:Paying for while you waste an extra year at college to figure out how to be a more effective alcoholic.

00:05:05Marc:Merry Christmas.

00:05:07Marc:Huh, man?

00:05:09Marc:Living the life.

00:05:13Marc:Let me give you a little backstory on this.

00:05:16Marc:Because there's a tone to this interview that is not quite like anything that I've really had on here necessarily.

00:05:26Marc:Because I used to see Billy Braver's headshot at the comedy store back when I was a kid and I was working the door and it's still there.

00:05:33Marc:And it was this weirdly compelling headshot.

00:05:37Marc:He had a sort of a Beatles haircut and he wore overalls and he clearly had a shtick.

00:05:41Marc:It was clearly from the 70s.

00:05:44Marc:But I never knew who he was.

00:05:44Marc:He was never a guy that came around and never knew anything about him.

00:05:47Marc:I knew his name.

00:05:47Marc:I saw his name on the wall, saw his picture on the wall, among many other pictures.

00:05:51Marc:I'm like, who the hell is that Billy Braver guy?

00:05:53Marc:What's his story?

00:05:54Marc:This Billy Braver guy.

00:05:56Marc:He's an old store guy.

00:05:57Marc:Maybe I should talk to this guy.

00:05:58Marc:And then I got it in my head that at some point I wanted to talk to somebody who kind of effectively got out of show business.

00:06:07Marc:Because I can't tell you, man, this is a tough, stupid business.

00:06:12Marc:There's no justice.

00:06:14Marc:There's no meritocracy.

00:06:16Marc:There's no system.

00:06:19Marc:And it can be very heartbreaking.

00:06:21Marc:I guess that's not unlike a lot of things, but sometimes you surrender to heartbreak.

00:06:25Marc:Sometimes you make compromises in life for security or for other things that are more important.

00:06:31Marc:Some people just see work as work.

00:06:34Marc:Sometimes I envy those people.

00:06:35Marc:It's like their job is just a means to an end to live the life that they are comfortable living.

00:06:40Marc:That's it.

00:06:41Marc:It's just a job.

00:06:42Marc:Just a job.

00:06:42Marc:I know in some ways that sounds sort of heartbreaking, but in other ways it sounds incredibly practical.

00:06:48Marc:Yeah, I love my job.

00:06:50Marc:It's okay.

00:06:51Marc:It's not too soul-sucking.

00:06:53Marc:But it enables me to have the life I want to live.

00:06:54Marc:I get health coverage.

00:06:55Marc:I'm doing all right.

00:06:56Marc:Making a good nut.

00:06:57Marc:Whatever it is.

00:06:58Marc:But then you got your dream.

00:07:01Marc:And then you ultimately want, like, well, it would be nice if I could live my dream.

00:07:05Marc:And that could be my job.

00:07:06Marc:My job is living my dream.

00:07:11Marc:And that takes a little more risk.

00:07:14Marc:And when I see people in show business that keep struggling, like I struggled, I hope the best for them, but it can be heartbreaking.

00:07:23Marc:But I'd never really talked to somebody who had quit show business.

00:07:27Marc:And I saw this story.

00:07:30Marc:This is a documentary called Sob Story, S-A-A-B, Sob Story, about this guy, Billy Braver.

00:07:36Marc:And I'm like, that's the guy.

00:07:37Marc:That's the guy from the picture in the hallway.

00:07:39Marc:That's the guy whose name I saw on the wall.

00:07:40Marc:That's a guy from back in the day at the comedy store.

00:07:44Marc:And he quit show business.

00:07:46Marc:I'm like, I want to talk to a guy that quit show business.

00:07:50Marc:to see how he did it and what kind of feelings came from that.

00:07:56Marc:So I reached out to Braver, and we did this interview a little while ago.

00:07:59Marc:And frankly, I wasn't sure whether to air it or whether it made either of us look good.

00:08:06Marc:It is what it is.

00:08:07Marc:This guy, he quit show business and was out for decades selling cars.

00:08:16Marc:It's a guy who's on the Mike Douglas show, the Dinah Shore show.

00:08:18Marc:He opened for rock bands, did all the TV tonight show.

00:08:23Marc:I figured, well, this will frame this right.

00:08:25Marc:You know, maybe we'll figure this shit out and see how somebody lets that go.

00:08:29Marc:See how somebody kind of wrangles in their heart and puts things into perspective and says, I'm done with it.

00:08:38Marc:So as the conversation unfolded, I realized that, you know, he'd been out for a long time and, you know, he had a sort of history in the business and it was a different business.

00:08:46Marc:He started before there were really comedy clubs and was out for years.

00:08:51Marc:But now he wants back in.

00:08:53Marc:That was the curveball at the end.

00:08:56Marc:He wants back in.

00:08:57Marc:And I get it.

00:09:00Marc:But it was a little more heavy-hearted in an interview for me.

00:09:02Marc:And so I bring it to you now.

00:09:05Marc:This is the post-Christmas interview leading into the new year.

00:09:11Marc:Next week, we'll have Father John Misty on Monday.

00:09:14Marc:And January 2nd, the incomparable Artie Lang will be on the show.

00:09:22Marc:And I hope he had a good Christmas.

00:09:24Marc:And gratitude.

00:09:28Marc:Even if it ain't within you, find it.

00:09:32Marc:It'll save your fucking heart.

00:09:35Marc:Let's talk to Billy Braver.

00:09:43Guest:Is it loud in your head or are you all right?

00:09:44Guest:No, I'm right in the head.

00:09:45Guest:I never had this on before.

00:09:47Guest:No?

00:09:47Guest:This is a great thrill for me.

00:09:49Guest:Where have you gone?

00:09:50Guest:I've been living in a one room, oh God, in a snake pit.

00:09:57Guest:No, but I'm okay now.

00:09:58Guest:Yeah?

00:09:59Guest:Yeah.

00:09:59Guest:I had a rough life.

00:10:02Marc:Well, I mean, it's sort of interesting because my awareness of you really, my guess is Billy Braver.

00:10:08Marc:And I don't know.

00:10:12Marc:It's an interesting thing.

00:10:13Marc:I was a doorman at the comedy store in the mid 80s.

00:10:16Marc:Right.

00:10:16Marc:So when I was in that place and I was there every night and there are all those pictures there.

00:10:21Marc:And I used to see your picture with your overalls on.

00:10:24Marc:And it was so this was the mid 80s.

00:10:26Marc:I'm like, well, who the fuck is that guy?

00:10:28Marc:What happened to that guy?

00:10:30Marc:I want to know what that guy's story is.

00:10:31Marc:I became mildly obsessed with your headshot.

00:10:35Marc:I'm like, that guy must have been somebody.

00:10:36Marc:There's two pictures of him up here.

00:10:38Marc:And he's wearing overalls.

00:10:39Marc:Yeah.

00:10:40Marc:So, like, I've had Jimmy Walker in here.

00:10:43Marc:I've had Richard Lewis in here.

00:10:44Marc:Richard, yeah.

00:10:46Marc:You know, I've had people that come from that era and who were at the comedy store.

00:10:51Marc:And it must have been a very interesting time.

00:10:53Marc:I mean, when did you start doing stand-up?

00:10:55Guest:Well, late 70s.

00:10:57Guest:I started in New York.

00:10:58Guest:Yeah.

00:10:58Guest:And then I was at a place called Folk City.

00:11:01Guest:Yeah, in the village.

00:11:02Guest:In the village.

00:11:02Guest:Yeah.

00:11:03Guest:And then- Who was around then?

00:11:06Guest:You know, I was working, I was doing improvs with Fred Willard.

00:11:10Guest:Oh, right.

00:11:10Guest:We started doing improvs and Richard Lewis was around.

00:11:13Guest:Actually, I started the same time like Richard Lewis, David Brenner, Steve Landisberg.

00:11:18Guest:Yeah?

00:11:19Guest:Yeah.

00:11:20Guest:Steven, close friend.

00:11:22Guest:Is he all right?

00:11:23Marc:He passed away.

00:11:23Marc:Well, that's no good.

00:11:24Marc:No.

00:11:25Guest:He's not all right.

00:11:26Marc:My friends, in Jewish, they say gestorben, they died, they died.

00:11:30Marc:I think I knew that.

00:11:32Marc:So you knew Landisberg as a stand-up, and Fred Willard, what was the group's name?

00:11:36Marc:He had a group in San Francisco too, right?

00:11:38Marc:The Ace Trucking Company.

00:11:39Marc:Ace Trucking Company.

00:11:40Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:11:41Guest:But I worked with him, he says, let's do some improv.

00:11:43Guest:So we worked at Folk City for about six months.

00:11:46Guest:And I was doing improvs.

00:11:47Guest:And then I met a girl that kept coming in every single night with a gorgeous guy.

00:11:52Guest:Yeah.

00:11:52Guest:And she says, I like you.

00:11:53Guest:Yeah.

00:11:54Guest:And that was it.

00:11:54Guest:Six months later, I was married to her.

00:11:56Guest:To her?

00:11:56Guest:To her, yeah.

00:11:57Guest:She was with some other guy.

00:11:58Marc:Yeah.

00:11:59Marc:That's an awkward situation for a comic where the girl who's standing with the guy is giving you juice.

00:12:04Marc:And so she lost the other guy.

00:12:06Guest:She kept coming in every night, Mark.

00:12:08Guest:Oh, yeah?

00:12:08Guest:And I said, you could get in for nothing.

00:12:10Guest:You know, I love you and Fred.

00:12:12Guest:I said, do you love Fred more?

00:12:13Guest:She said, I like you.

00:12:14Guest:So I said, the only way I'll go with you, if I could try on your shoes.

00:12:18Guest:I loved her shoes.

00:12:19Guest:So I used to walk on stage with high heel shoes.

00:12:23Guest:Really?

00:12:23Guest:I swear to God.

00:12:24Guest:I'm weird.

00:12:25Marc:I'm weird.

00:12:27Marc:That eventually became a lunchbox for some reason.

00:12:29Guest:That's right.

00:12:30Guest:Thank you, Mark.

00:12:32Guest:Oh, I go on with the lunchbox.

00:12:34Guest:I have so many stories about that lunchbox.

00:12:36Marc:So here you are.

00:12:37Marc:You're in the late 70s.

00:12:38Marc:You're in New York.

00:12:38Marc:You're at Folk City.

00:12:39Marc:You marry this girl, Jewish girl?

00:12:41Marc:I hope so, yeah.

00:12:42Marc:My mother would kill me.

00:12:44Marc:So you marry her, and then what happens?

00:12:47Marc:I divorced her.

00:12:49Yeah.

00:12:49Guest:Three days later, she was in primal therapy.

00:12:53Guest:You know what that is where they yell at you?

00:12:55Guest:Yeah.

00:12:55Guest:She yelled and yelled and yelled.

00:12:57Guest:In a therapeutic way?

00:12:59Guest:In the therapeutic way.

00:13:00Guest:Not an abusive way.

00:13:01Guest:No, not with a knife.

00:13:03Guest:Just, just, just.

00:13:04Guest:So did you grow up very religious?

00:13:06Guest:I know.

00:13:06Guest:I grew up with parents that were unbelievably, they were tough.

00:13:10Guest:They were German Jews.

00:13:12Guest:Oh, they're the worst.

00:13:13Guest:And nobody, you know what?

00:13:14Guest:Nobody liked them, Mark.

00:13:15Guest:And

00:13:15Marc:My mother's dating a German Jew and sort of the arrogance of the German Jew is baffling.

00:13:20Marc:Terrible.

00:13:21Marc:It's baffling.

00:13:22Guest:What happened during World War II, they were the only two Jews asked to leave a concentration camp.

00:13:29Guest:No.

00:13:30Guest:They were that annoying.

00:13:31Guest:They were that annoying.

00:13:33Guest:And my mother, you know, when I was seven, she used to come and she would breastfeed me with an extension tube.

00:13:43Guest:That's a joke.

00:13:43Guest:That was stupid.

00:13:44Guest:I'm sorry.

00:13:45Guest:You can do that.

00:13:46Guest:I can do a joke.

00:13:46Guest:Were they really in concentration?

00:13:48Guest:No, no.

00:13:49Guest:Thank God.

00:13:50Guest:They were just annoying.

00:13:52Guest:Yeah.

00:13:52Guest:But they spoke Yiddish in the house?

00:13:53Guest:My grandfather used to speak Yiddish, yeah.

00:13:56Guest:They were cute.

00:13:57Guest:I stayed in a room with my grandfather, my grandmother, and a person I didn't know, my Uncle Marty.

00:14:03Guest:He was some dude.

00:14:05Guest:I came in from out of nowhere.

00:14:09Guest:Who's that guy?

00:14:09Guest:Don't mind him.

00:14:10Guest:You know what's funny?

00:14:11Guest:You know what a bar mitzvah is?

00:14:13Guest:I was bar mitzvahing.

00:14:14Guest:Oh, you were bar mitzvahing.

00:14:15Guest:Oh, Mark, okay.

00:14:16Guest:Yeah.

00:14:16Guest:I thought you were Goyim, but you're a Jewish boy?

00:14:18Guest:I am a Jewish boy.

00:14:19Guest:Oh, good.

00:14:22Guest:Well, anyway, my uncle, I always wanted to get laid.

00:14:24Guest:I was 13.

00:14:25Guest:Can I say that?

00:14:26Guest:Sure.

00:14:26Guest:I wanted to get laid.

00:14:27Guest:I was such a horny kid.

00:14:29Guest:I used to masturbate over my mother's friend, Mrs. Brust, out the window.

00:14:32Guest:She had her stockings up there.

00:14:34Guest:Oh, yeah?

00:14:35Guest:In a tenement building?

00:14:36Guest:In a tenement building.

00:14:36Guest:You look down the Venetian block.

00:14:38Guest:My mother said, this pants, your underwear, so stained.

00:14:41Guest:What do you do?

00:14:41Guest:She didn't know what I did.

00:14:42Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:14:43Guest:But Uncle Marty says, I'm going to fix you up with Cock Eye Jenny.

00:14:47Guest:Oh, Cock Eye Jenny.

00:14:47Guest:You remember Cock Eye Jenny?

00:14:48Guest:Sure, there's always a Cock Eye Jenny.

00:14:50Guest:Some version of Cock Eye Jenny.

00:14:51Guest:Everywhere there's a Cock Eye Jenny.

00:14:53Guest:Sure.

00:14:53Guest:So he takes me, he says, but you got to get dressed as a jockey.

00:14:56Guest:I said, why?

00:14:57Guest:She only fucks jockeys.

00:14:58Guest:Jockeys.

00:14:59Guest:So I get dressed, Mark, with an outfit.

00:15:02Guest:I hope you're telling the truth.

00:15:03Guest:I swear to God, I'm telling you the truth.

00:15:06Guest:I wear these silks with a hat and a whip, and I get in and she falls in love with me.

00:15:11Guest:I was with her for six months until I brought my friends.

00:15:14Guest:Walter Bruss, Lenny Burch, they didn't believe me.

00:15:16Guest:I knocked on the door.

00:15:17Guest:I said, here, my friend.

00:15:18Guest:She said, get the hell out of here.

00:15:20Guest:But she was my first.

00:15:21Guest:I was 13 years old.

00:15:23Guest:You wanted your friends to watch?

00:15:24Guest:I wanted them together.

00:15:25Marc:get laid you know you brought them all over help us out was she older than you no she was you know she worked she was a dancer at the latin quarter the latin quarter where did i just hear that oh barbara walter's father used to know latin quarter right did you know that you know who told me that dick van dyke told me that yes last week really yeah

00:15:40Guest:Yeah.

00:15:41Guest:Is that true?

00:15:41Guest:That's right.

00:15:42Guest:That is true.

00:15:42Guest:Barbara Walters.

00:15:43Guest:Yeah.

00:15:44Guest:In fact, Norm Crosby used to work a lot.

00:15:45Guest:Who's a friend of mine worked a lot at that.

00:15:47Guest:He's still around?

00:15:48Guest:He's still around.

00:15:49Guest:Really?

00:15:49Guest:He's still deaf.

00:15:50Guest:Can't hear a fucking word.

00:15:52Marc:How was his words?

00:15:52Marc:Is he getting the words right yet?

00:15:55Marc:Is that how his act died?

00:15:56Marc:He just finally figured out the right words to say?

00:15:59Marc:Yeah, this is fun.

00:16:02Marc:I'm having fun.

00:16:03Marc:Well, that's good.

00:16:04Marc:All right, so there you are.

00:16:05Marc:You're divorced in three days because a woman yells at you.

00:16:07Marc:You're doing Folk City.

00:16:09Marc:You were just doing improv.

00:16:10Marc:Did you have a stand-up act yet or no?

00:16:11Guest:Yeah, then Paul Colby saw me.

00:16:14Guest:Who was he?

00:16:14Guest:He brought me into The Bitter End, which was a top club.

00:16:18Guest:He only brought in like four other comics.

00:16:20Guest:He had Woody Allen and somebody.

00:16:22Guest:This is a little after Woody, no?

00:16:23Guest:Yeah.

00:16:24Guest:Oh, much afterward.

00:16:25Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:16:25Guest:So he brings me in.

00:16:27Guest:Yeah.

00:16:27Guest:And one night, Mark, I had the greatest laughs I've ever had in my life, and I couldn't understand it.

00:16:32Guest:They were laughing at the word the.

00:16:34Guest:Yeah.

00:16:35Guest:Good audience.

00:16:36Guest:Great audience.

00:16:36Guest:So I come out.

00:16:38Guest:I see a bus stand.

00:16:39Guest:Paul Colby is laughing.

00:16:40Guest:He's hysterical.

00:16:41Guest:I said, Paul, is this a fixed order?

00:16:44Guest:I've never had laughs like that.

00:16:45Guest:He says, wait till you see the audience.

00:16:47Guest:Yeah.

00:16:48Guest:And they came out.

00:16:48Guest:They were all Down syndrome kids.

00:16:50Guest:Yeah.

00:16:50Guest:Come on.

00:16:51Guest:Swear to God.

00:16:52Guest:And they loved me.

00:16:54Guest:They became my fan club.

00:16:55Marc:Well, you did a good thing then.

00:16:57Marc:You know what I mean?

00:17:00Marc:They were great.

00:17:00Marc:They would have laughed at anything, but you know what I mean.

00:17:02Marc:I know, yeah.

00:17:03Marc:So how long were you in New York doing the stand-up?

00:17:05Marc:Did you do the improv?

00:17:06Marc:Did you do Bud's Place?

00:17:07Guest:No, I did a little bit, and then I was called out.

00:17:11Guest:What's his name?

00:17:11Guest:Greg Garrison saw me.

00:17:12Guest:Who's he?

00:17:13Guest:He was the producer of the Dean Martin Show.

00:17:16Guest:Really?

00:17:16Guest:And he brought me out to California to do a Dean Martin replacement show, summer replacement.

00:17:22Guest:He brought out four comics.

00:17:23Guest:I think it was Leno, myself.

00:17:25Guest:What's his name who died?

00:17:26Guest:Hoffman.

00:17:28Guest:He used to work the improv all the time.

00:17:31Guest:The bongo player.

00:17:31Guest:Kaufman.

00:17:32Guest:Andy Kaufman.

00:17:33Guest:Yeah.

00:17:33Guest:myself and i think it was uh somebody else out of 110 comics he picked me to come out so you got you were at the top of your game there i was doing well what was the shtick then though was it the overalls and the lunch pail yeah but i got in trouble with the overalls when i did the tonight show they loved me and all of a sudden i couldn't get back on because the court of it didn't like my overalls uh-huh so i said i could have worn something else a swimsuit anything that you know anything i could have

00:17:58Guest:put on.

00:17:59Guest:I didn't like the, so they kept me off, but Dinah liked me, and I was doing Dinah, Mer, Dinah Shore.

00:18:05Marc:Well, tell me about this thing that you were brought out for the Dean Martin Replacement Show.

00:18:08Marc:It was a variety show.

00:18:09Marc:Correct.

00:18:09Guest:And he wasn't hosting.

00:18:11Guest:No, he wasn't hosting.

00:18:12Guest:He had a lot of different comics, but he would edit in places.

00:18:15Guest:So you say you're doing your act.

00:18:16Guest:I said, I have a lot of problems.

00:18:17Guest:I'm not as happy as I look, and I'm doing a couple of lines.

00:18:20Guest:He would go from one thing to another thing that didn't make sense.

00:18:23Guest:Who's this?

00:18:24Guest:The Garrison.

00:18:25Guest:Garrison, yeah.

00:18:26Guest:So when I had The Tonight Show look at it, they didn't hire me.

00:18:29Guest:If Freddie Prinze got me the job, I auditioned and Freddie tells you the best comic at the comedy store is Billy Braven.

00:18:36Guest:Craig Tennis came down, saw me, and I got the show.

00:18:38Marc:No kidding.

00:18:39Marc:Yeah.

00:18:39Marc:So let's fill in the gap though.

00:18:41Marc:So after you come out for this gig to do the, was it a pilot or did they air that thing?

00:18:47Marc:Yeah.

00:18:47Marc:No, they aired it.

00:18:48Marc:They aired about seven shows.

00:18:49Marc:And this is like what, 77?

00:18:51Marc:About 78.

00:18:51Marc:78.

00:18:53Guest:And then you decide to move out here?

00:18:55Marc:Yeah, I moved out here.

00:18:56Marc:And you auditioned for Mitzi.

00:18:58Guest:I auditioned for Mitzi.

00:18:59Guest:Oh, this was so great.

00:19:01Guest:This is the thing.

00:19:01Guest:Mitzi loved me.

00:19:03Guest:And she liked four or five.

00:19:04Guest:I was on every Saturday night with Charlie Fleisch at Lannisberg.

00:19:08Guest:Jeff Altman.

00:19:10Guest:You were one of the sweet Jewish guys.

00:19:11Guest:She either liked the sweet Jewish guys or the complete fucking lunatics.

00:19:15Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:19:16Guest:I was sweet, but I was crazy.

00:19:18Guest:All the comments, I could stay out there for a minute or two without saying a word, Mark, and just get laughs.

00:19:23Guest:Not by making faces, just by looking at them.

00:19:27Marc:Exuding your sad, lonely disposition.

00:19:30Marc:Yeah, I had no life, and they just looked at me.

00:19:32Marc:That was sort of your angle.

00:19:34Marc:But you had that hook.

00:19:35Marc:You came out here.

00:19:35Marc:I had a hook, yeah.

00:19:36Marc:Your hook was like, you know, I'm a- Vulnerable.

00:19:40Marc:Vulnerable, but like, you know, I'm a loser, kind of.

00:19:42Guest:Not so because women like me.

00:19:44Guest:Yeah.

00:19:45Guest:Well, you're a cute loser.

00:19:46Guest:Yeah, cute.

00:19:47Guest:I had beautiful women.

00:19:49Guest:Beautiful women that really liked me.

00:19:53Guest:My ex-girlfriend, Janie.

00:19:54Guest:Yeah.

00:19:55Guest:I was living with a French actress, which I can't... She just passed away.

00:19:58Guest:I can't mention her.

00:19:59Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:20:00Guest:And now I like this beautiful... I'm working with this Italian actress, Alizia Petriani.

00:20:09Marc:Well, good for you.

00:20:10Marc:You're a Swiss.

00:20:12Marc:sensitive jewish guy yeah but i was thinking a suicide that she was going to leave me one of my girlfriends yeah and i was going to hang myself but i was allergic to hemp i had to do one i had to do the comic shit that's all right but uh all right so let's let's talk about the evolution of this thing so you you what was the experience with mitzi i mean because this is really within three years or so of it you know really being a place right the place opened like 75 right right for something like that like that

00:20:40Marc:And so you're in the first crew.

00:20:42Marc:So who's hanging around?

00:20:43Marc:Because I had Jimmy Walker in here.

00:20:44Marc:He brought you up.

00:20:45Marc:Jimmy.

00:20:45Marc:Jimmy Walker.

00:20:47Marc:David.

00:20:48Guest:David Brenner.

00:20:49Guest:Steve.

00:20:49Guest:Yeah, Lannisberg.

00:20:50Guest:Letterman.

00:20:51Guest:Letterman.

00:20:52Guest:Leno.

00:20:54Guest:Lewis.

00:20:55Guest:Lewis.

00:20:55Guest:LeBitkin.

00:20:56Guest:LeBitkin, yeah.

00:20:57Guest:Was LeBitkin there?

00:20:58Guest:Steve LeBitkin.

00:20:59Guest:Yeah.

00:21:00Guest:I was so... He was such a... You know what happened.

00:21:02Marc:Yeah.

00:21:02Marc:Sure.

00:21:02Marc:Yeah.

00:21:03Marc:You knew him now?

00:21:04Marc:He was there?

00:21:04Guest:Very well.

00:21:05Marc:So that happened when you were here?

00:21:06Guest:Yeah, he said he was going to... They thought he was kidding.

00:21:10Marc:And he went up... And jumped off the hotel?

00:21:11Guest:And jumped off the hotel.

00:21:13Guest:You knew that guy?

00:21:14Guest:Very well.

00:21:14Guest:Good guy?

00:21:15Guest:Great guy.

00:21:16Guest:In fact, we both came out to... He was working Folk City when I was working Folk City.

00:21:20Guest:And we came out about the same time.

00:21:22Guest:And then he worked in a burlesque theater during the afternoon.

00:21:25Guest:And I used to visit him.

00:21:27Guest:I never thought that would happen.

00:21:29Guest:So you were there for the strike?

00:21:31Guest:I was there for the strike.

00:21:32Marc:Right.

00:21:32Marc:Yeah, and what side did you fall on at the Comedy Store?

00:21:34Guest:I eliminated that.

00:21:36Guest:I went back to New York for a while, so I wasn't there.

00:21:39Guest:I was there when it started, but I wasn't there as a striker or on her side or anything.

00:21:45Guest:I just had to go back to New York, had some problems.

00:21:47Marc:Yeah.

00:21:48Marc:So the thing about the Lubitkin thing, you know, we talked about that a little bit with Jimmy Walker, was, you know, if people don't know, this was, you know, shortly after the strike was resolved at the Comedy Store, and it's sort of a mythic story that revolves around the Comedy Store.

00:22:01Marc:It's a comic, supposedly because he wasn't getting spots, because of the position he took in the strike, he committed suicide.

00:22:09Marc:He jumped off the top of the Hyatt next to the Comedy Store.

00:22:12Guest:He tried to land on the Comedy Store.

00:22:14Guest:Actually, on Mitzi.

00:22:17Marc:No, I'm kidding.

00:22:19Marc:It's so sad.

00:22:20Marc:Well, there were jokes about it.

00:22:22Marc:I mean, I imagine.

00:22:22Marc:But as a guy, you know, you've been a comic a long time, and I'm a comic a long time.

00:22:26Marc:You know, there are guys that you meet in the game that are a little too fragile.

00:22:30Marc:Yeah, was he that kind of guy?

00:22:31Marc:I mean, did he have mental problems?

00:22:33Guest:He must have had mental, because I heard that he did a movie, too.

00:22:36Guest:His parents invested in a movie.

00:22:38Guest:Oh, that's right.

00:22:38Guest:Yeah, he was a big project that didn't go anywhere.

00:22:41Guest:It didn't go anywhere.

00:22:41Guest:You know, it's not just... It just crumbled.

00:22:44Guest:Yeah, look at this.

00:22:45Guest:You're a fighter, and I'm proud of you.

00:22:47Guest:I read your bio.

00:22:48Guest:Yeah.

00:22:48Guest:And I'm coming back at 30 years later.

00:22:52Guest:That's a loud truck.

00:22:53Guest:That's a truck that knows I'm here.

00:22:56Guest:Like an ambulance follows me all the time.

00:22:58Marc:Everywhere I go, I see an ambulance.

00:22:59Marc:So now when did you start?

00:23:01Marc:Because like you said, you were making the rounds.

00:23:04Marc:You were on Merv.

00:23:05Marc:You were on Dinah.

00:23:05Marc:You did Johnny Carson, what, a couple times?

00:23:08Marc:Yeah.

00:23:08Marc:What else did you do?

00:23:09Marc:Well, I'll tell you what happened.

00:23:10Guest:He'll go away in a second.

00:23:11Guest:I'll tell you what happened.

00:23:12Guest:All of a sudden, I created shows.

00:23:15Guest:I created a show called Billy's Bus.

00:23:17Guest:Yeah.

00:23:18Guest:Which was a live animated kid show about me and kids.

00:23:21Guest:Yeah.

00:23:21Guest:Where we take kids to different places.

00:23:23Guest:And we become different heroes each time.

00:23:25Guest:Oh, that's nice.

00:23:27Guest:And it was, I can't say stolen.

00:23:29Guest:All of a sudden, NBC buys it.

00:23:31Guest:And they give us a call, William Morris, that they saw it on PBS.

00:23:35Guest:So someone.

00:23:36Guest:That's gone.

00:23:37Guest:That's gone.

00:23:38Guest:And then Steve Gordon found me.

00:23:40Guest:You know, Steve, he wrote the first author.

00:23:42Guest:No.

00:23:42Guest:Terrific writer.

00:23:44Guest:And I was going to do author on television.

00:23:47Guest:And he signed me to Warner Brothers to do the pilot and everything.

00:23:50Guest:And he died.

00:23:51Guest:And then I came up.

00:23:55Guest:You're going to kill me.

00:23:56Guest:Can I continue this?

00:23:57Guest:It's really sad.

00:23:58Guest:And then I came up with another project with the Kyoto Brothers called Spindley Arms, which is a home for displaced puppets.

00:24:05Guest:Yeah.

00:24:05Guest:And they wrecked show business puppets and they're handled by, it's like a Broadway Danny Rose, an agent that couldn't get live people so he handled puppets.

00:24:14Guest:See, he bought the show, Brandon, and he died.

00:24:19Guest:So you have great timing.

00:24:23Guest:Your cosmic timing's a little off.

00:24:25Guest:So now we're working on the show and working on a, oh, I can't tell you this, but I'm coming out with a cologne.

00:24:34Guest:Really?

00:24:34Guest:I can't give you the name yet.

00:24:35Guest:This has got to be a setup.

00:24:36Guest:No, no.

00:24:37Guest:I'll tell you afterwards off the mic.

00:24:40Guest:It has to do with my features, and everybody loves the way I smell.

00:24:44Guest:Oh, okay.

00:24:45Guest:So, girls, what are you wearing?

00:24:46Guest:And I tell them, and they laugh.

00:24:47Guest:So, we're putting out a cologne.

00:24:49Guest:We're getting backing, and it's going to be adorable.

00:24:52Guest:You're the first one that'll...

00:24:53Marc:That'll smell me.

00:24:55Marc:You heard it here.

00:24:56Marc:It's an exclusive.

00:24:57Marc:Billy Braver's cologne will be on the market soon.

00:25:00Marc:But when did you decide, what is the evolution?

00:25:02Marc:Because what I found interesting, and we'll get into the demise of the first wave of your career in a minute, but

00:25:10Marc:You go on stage, you don't say much, and the old footage, you always carried the lunchbox.

00:25:15Marc:Correct.

00:25:16Marc:You had the overalls, the lunchbox, you had sort of a kind of a sad but sweet demeanor.

00:25:21Marc:Right.

00:25:21Marc:Where'd the lunchbox come from?

00:25:25Guest:I used to watch a lot of Chaplin and a lot of Keaton.

00:25:27Guest:Yeah.

00:25:28Guest:So, I took a couple of things when Chaplin ate the shoe.

00:25:30Guest:Yeah.

00:25:31Guest:I needed a prop.

00:25:32Guest:Yeah.

00:25:32Guest:And I wanted to carry my vitamins and something because I take a lot of vitamins.

00:25:36Guest:Yeah.

00:25:36Guest:So, my high blood pressure pills.

00:25:38Guest:I would carry it around.

00:25:40Guest:And Merv said it was a great idea.

00:25:41Guest:So, when I did the Merv, I collect toys, by the way, Mark, antique toys.

00:25:46Guest:I got a million antique toys.

00:25:47Guest:Uh-huh.

00:25:47Guest:So I always carried it around.

00:25:49Guest:The lunchbox.

00:25:50Marc:Was it one lunchbox or did you have several?

00:25:52Marc:I had two lunchbox.

00:25:53Marc:Which ones were they?

00:25:54Guest:I had an early Abbott and Costello.

00:25:57Guest:Uh-huh.

00:25:57Guest:And I had peanuts.

00:26:00Marc:Uh-huh.

00:26:00Marc:So it was just sort of a device to make you almost more sympathetic in a way.

00:26:04Guest:Yeah.

00:26:05Guest:In other words, I put it on the stand.

00:26:06Guest:Yeah.

00:26:07Guest:And then I take it.

00:26:08Guest:Sometimes I open it up and eat a sandwich.

00:26:11Guest:Uh-huh.

00:26:12Guest:On Hollywood Squares, I'd eat a sandwich.

00:26:14Guest:They went, what the hell is he doing?

00:26:15Guest:You did Hollywood Squares?

00:26:16Guest:Yeah, I did Hollywood Squares.

00:26:18Guest:A lot?

00:26:18Guest:I did it four times.

00:26:20Guest:Well, I did things where people would say, they'd ask me a question.

00:26:24Guest:They'd say, Billy Beaver.

00:26:25Guest:And I'd look at him and say, I don't want to answer him.

00:26:28Guest:I'll give him the wrong answer.

00:26:29Guest:Do you remember who the other squares were?

00:26:31Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:26:32Guest:It was Shecky Green.

00:26:35Guest:What's her name?

00:26:36Guest:Oh, Academy Award.

00:26:38Guest:Shelly Winters.

00:26:39Guest:Oh, I'll tell you what, Buddy Hackett.

00:26:40Guest:Buddy Hackett would interrupt.

00:26:41Guest:me all the time.

00:26:43Guest:Somebody said, who wrote the Star Spangled Banner?

00:26:46Guest:I said, Steve Condreva.

00:26:48Guest:So they said, who's he?

00:26:49Guest:I said, he's a friend of mine.

00:26:50Guest:He told me he wrote it.

00:26:51Guest:He wouldn't lie to me.

00:26:53Guest:I'm working with Helen Reddy in Chicago.

00:26:55Guest:People are coming over.

00:26:56Guest:Did your friend really write the Star Spangled Banner?

00:26:58Guest:Come on.

00:26:58Guest:I swear.

00:26:59Guest:I'm not kidding you.

00:27:00Guest:So I worked that.

00:27:01Guest:I had a lot of fun on that.

00:27:02Guest:I would do my own thing.

00:27:03Guest:I'd eat a sandwich.

00:27:04Guest:Shelly would rub my face.

00:27:06Guest:Shelly Winters and Shecky Green.

00:27:08Marc:I tried to contact him.

00:27:09Marc:Are you friends with him?

00:27:10Marc:Yeah.

00:27:11Marc:I could get his number.

00:27:11Marc:No, I haven't, but he doesn't seem to want to do any interviews.

00:27:14Marc:Some guy wrote about him and got mad about it.

00:27:15Guest:Really?

00:27:16Marc:Well, that's sad.

00:27:17Marc:Yeah.

00:27:17Marc:Is he all right?

00:27:18Marc:Yeah, he's okay.

00:27:19Marc:You never know.

00:27:20Marc:Who else are you in contact with from the old days?

00:27:23Marc:Jeff Altman.

00:27:24Marc:Yeah, I see Jeff around.

00:27:25Guest:Yeah, Jeff, I'm working on a project now.

00:27:27Guest:I'm trying to do sob story as a reality show.

00:27:30Guest:Oh, yeah, right.

00:27:31Guest:The documentary.

00:27:32Marc:Yeah.

00:27:32Marc:But like, okay, so here you are.

00:27:33Marc:You're doing Hollywood Squares.

00:27:34Marc:Did you do the dating game?

00:27:36Marc:I did the dating game.

00:27:37Marc:Yeah.

00:27:37Marc:How'd you know that?

00:27:38Marc:How many times did you do that?

00:27:39Marc:I did that once.

00:27:40Marc:The dating game.

00:27:40Marc:I had a lot of fun.

00:27:42Marc:Well, there was these shows that are now sort of like long gone.

00:27:45Guest:Yeah.

00:27:46Marc:That people I don't think realize were showcases for young comics.

00:27:49Marc:Yes.

00:27:50Marc:Steve Martin did it too.

00:27:51Marc:Sure.

00:27:51Marc:I mean, there was Robert Wool, I remember.

00:27:54Marc:Yeah, Robert Wool did it right.

00:27:55Marc:Right.

00:27:55Marc:And then Hollywood Squares, I mean, that was sort of a bigger break, wasn't it?

00:28:00Guest:Oh, it's great.

00:28:01Guest:Hollywood Squares.

00:28:02Guest:People knew me more from Hollywood Squares and what's his name?

00:28:05Guest:The Dick Clark Show than anything that I did.

00:28:07Guest:What was Dick Clark's show?

00:28:09Guest:I did the American Bandstand.

00:28:10Guest:Oh, really?

00:28:11Guest:He'd have comics?

00:28:12Guest:One of the few.

00:28:13Guest:Very seldom had a comic, but he liked me.

00:28:15Guest:He saw me on Griffin, they called, and they said, we'd like to have Billy.

00:28:19Guest:Oh, wow.

00:28:20Guest:So how many times did you do Murph Griffin?

00:28:21Guest:About four or five.

00:28:22Guest:Yeah.

00:28:23Guest:It was towards the end of the show.

00:28:24Guest:Nice guy?

00:28:25Guest:Very nice.

00:28:26Guest:Mike Douglas?

00:28:26Guest:Did you Mike Douglas?

00:28:27Guest:The best of all was Mike Douglas.

00:28:29Guest:You did Mike Douglas too?

00:28:30Guest:He fell on the forfeit.

00:28:31Guest:Yeah, he liked me.

00:28:32Guest:Yeah?

00:28:33Guest:Yeah, more than my parents.

00:28:34Guest:He really cared for me.

00:28:36Guest:Okay, so now at the peak of your career, what were you doing?

00:28:38Guest:Were you headlining?

00:28:39Guest:What was your career?

00:28:40Guest:I was on tour with Glenn Campbell, Helen Reddy.

00:28:45Guest:My great acts were Harry Chapin.

00:28:49Guest:Remember him?

00:28:49Guest:He was terrific.

00:28:50Guest:The Cats in the Cradle.

00:28:51Guest:Right.

00:28:51Guest:Seals and Croft.

00:28:52Guest:Sure.

00:28:53Guest:I was going with the good cerebral acts.

00:28:56Guest:And then I played the, what was it?

00:28:59Guest:Not the forearm.

00:29:00Guest:I played the Greek.

00:29:03Guest:I played the Greek with the Moody Blues.

00:29:06Guest:Wow.

00:29:06Guest:What do you do when you open for a band?

00:29:08Guest:20?

00:29:08Guest:I do 20 minutes until I got them quiet.

00:29:11Guest:People would come in and I said, look, one time I had an audience that was so difficult and they were coming up for me on the stage.

00:29:17Guest:And I said, look, it'll take 20 minutes to get in the ambulance.

00:29:20Guest:So if I die, just let me talk to you.

00:29:23Guest:I'll tell you a little about, you know, you probably had a similar life to mine, you know, and they would laugh.

00:29:28Marc:I can't imagine what that must be like for a subtle act to get up on stage and do 20 minutes for a concert crowd.

00:29:34Marc:But those people, they seem like a polite audience.

00:29:37Guest:I got to them.

00:29:37Guest:The people you named.

00:29:38Guest:I got to them.

00:29:39Guest:Yeah.

00:29:39Guest:I played the White House with Helen Reddy for the president.

00:29:43Guest:Which president?

00:29:44Guest:Grant.

00:29:45Guest:No.

00:29:46Guest:Carter.

00:29:47Guest:Carter, Carter, Carter.

00:29:51Guest:And I worked with Helen's husband, oh God, Jeff Wall.

00:29:56Guest:And it was fun.

00:29:58Guest:But like you mentioned the dating game, they'd ask you questions, what do you like in a woman?

00:30:02Guest:I said, not a big woman, I don't want to get hurt.

00:30:05Guest:I usually like a woman that smells with stretch marks.

00:30:09Guest:They didn't know what to do with me.

00:30:12Guest:I imagine you didn't get the date.

00:30:14Guest:No, I did get the date.

00:30:15Guest:I was the one that picked.

00:30:17Guest:Really?

00:30:18Guest:I picked a beautiful girl and we went to Vegas.

00:30:20Guest:I said, I play Vegas.

00:30:21Guest:I don't want to go to Vegas.

00:30:22Guest:Send me somewhere else.

00:30:23Guest:But they sent us to Vegas with a chaperone.

00:30:26Guest:I was the host, the guest.

00:30:29Guest:Oh, you were the guest.

00:30:30Guest:You weren't part of the panel.

00:30:31Guest:No.

00:30:31Marc:So it was women.

00:30:32Marc:Yeah.

00:30:33Marc:You got to pick a girl.

00:30:34Marc:I got to pick a girl.

00:30:35Marc:How'd that date go?

00:30:36Guest:Very nice.

00:30:37Guest:Did you get laid?

00:30:38Guest:Excuse me?

00:30:39Guest:Did you get laid?

00:30:40Guest:No, but she... Not... No, but I smelt her a lot.

00:30:44Guest:I did a lot.

00:30:44Guest:I always wondered about the dating.

00:30:46Guest:So they send a chaperone.

00:30:47Guest:They send a chaperone.

00:30:47Guest:But you get rid of the chaperone.

00:30:48Guest:She liked me.

00:30:49Guest:I was a good dancer.

00:30:50Guest:Cha-cha mumbo.

00:30:51Guest:You know, she shook my ass a lot.

00:30:52Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:30:53Guest:So we were dancing a lot and I took her up to the room and I touched her.

00:30:57Guest:You did all right.

00:30:57Guest:I said, can I at least smell you?

00:30:59Guest:So that's it.

00:31:00Guest:I had my nose.

00:31:01Guest:Come on.

00:31:02Guest:I swear I smelled that.

00:31:03Guest:That's it?

00:31:04Guest:That's it.

00:31:04Guest:I didn't know.

00:31:05Guest:I swear I could lie to you.

00:31:07Guest:Yeah, I know.

00:31:08Marc:Should I lie to you?

00:31:09Guest:No.

00:31:09Guest:I fucked up.

00:31:10Marc:No, if you want to go with ice melter.

00:31:14Guest:Ice melter, yeah.

00:31:15Guest:Okay.

00:31:16Guest:That's what I'm using for my cologne.

00:31:17Guest:I'm bottling that stuff.

00:31:19Guest:Okay.

00:31:20Marc:So, all right.

00:31:20Marc:So, now this is like, what, the late 70s?

00:31:23Marc:Can I say I'm enjoying this?

00:31:24Marc:Yeah.

00:31:25Marc:Thank you.

00:31:25Marc:I'm enjoying it, too.

00:31:26Marc:Thank you.

00:31:27Marc:So now we're in all this sort of time that you were in Hollywood that time at the Comedy Store and doing the Johnny Show and whatever, are there moments where, like, were you close?

00:31:37Marc:Who were your guys at the Comedy Store?

00:31:39Marc:Who'd you hang out with?

00:31:40Guest:Well, I hung out with Steve Lannisberg, Jimmy Walker.

00:31:42Guest:He's a very brilliant guy, right?

00:31:44Guest:He used to crack me up more than anybody.

00:31:47Guest:I mean, he would do a thing on Jolson.

00:31:49Guest:Yeah.

00:31:49Guest:where his jolson's father and jolson and jolson wanted to become an entertainer what his father said to him yeah and with his voices i would be on first time i heard him yeah he was on i think sullivan and when i came out here he saw me at the bitter end we became friends that day yeah and from that moment on i i miss him you didn't do sullivan no i was too young yeah that was it the other guy with the david brenner did sullivan

00:32:13Guest:Yeah, yeah, you look a little like him.

00:32:15Guest:Yeah, a little bit.

00:32:16Guest:Did you guys get along?

00:32:17Guest:Yes, we did a lot.

00:32:18Guest:In fact, one time he was dating Miss Israel, and when he left her, I went out with her.

00:32:23Marc:So you both dated Miss Israel.

00:32:25Marc:He didn't know that, yeah.

00:32:26Marc:So what, does that make you a special Jew?

00:32:28Marc:A special Jew.

00:32:29Marc:So now you don't have to go to Israel?

00:32:31Guest:No, I don't have to go.

00:32:31Marc:If you sleep with Miss Israel, you're off the hook?

00:32:33Marc:Right.

00:32:34Marc:You can stay here, you've done your bit?

00:32:35Marc:I've done my bit.

00:32:37Marc:Mark.

00:32:38Marc:Yeah.

00:32:39Marc:Billy.

00:32:40Marc:And then what happened?

00:32:41Guest:So you're doing all right in show business.

00:32:42Guest:Yeah, I was doing okay.

00:32:44Guest:And then my shows were stolen.

00:32:45Guest:I had a heartbreak.

00:32:47Guest:The heartbreak on the industry side.

00:32:49Guest:Yeah, Billy's bus was stolen.

00:32:51Guest:And then I pitched a couple other shows.

00:32:53Guest:And then I saw what I can't mention and I don't want to get sued on television.

00:32:57Guest:And I was heartbroken.

00:32:58Guest:You had proof that these were your shows?

00:33:00Marc:Yeah, I had proof.

00:33:01Marc:Registered proof.

00:33:02Marc:And they were like, fuck you.

00:33:04Marc:Yeah.

00:33:05Marc:Uh-huh.

00:33:05Marc:And then what?

00:33:06Marc:That sent you into depression?

00:33:07Marc:What happened?

00:33:07Guest:Well, all of a sudden, I was walking on Ventura Boulevard, you know, in the valley.

00:33:14Guest:The guy yells out in Englishman, Billy Braver, Billy Braver.

00:33:17Guest:I go over and it's a dealership, car dealership.

00:33:20Guest:And he said, I'm a fan of yours.

00:33:22Guest:What are you doing?

00:33:23Guest:I said, I'm lonely.

00:33:23Guest:I'm just walking the streets doing nothing.

00:33:25Guest:And you know what I was doing?

00:33:26Guest:I was selling phony Rolexes on the street.

00:33:29Guest:And people would come over to me and say, I just saw you on Hollywood Squares.

00:33:32Marc:But why were you doing that?

00:33:33Marc:I mean, was there a choice made?

00:33:35Marc:I mean, at some point, were you not making money in show business?

00:33:37Marc:Was there a moment where you were like, I'm finished?

00:33:42Guest:Yeah.

00:33:42Guest:When did that?

00:33:44Guest:Well, I lost my mom and my dad, and I just had enough.

00:33:49Guest:In fact, the last show I did for money was with the Moody Blues, and I said, this is my last show, and they were laughing.

00:33:55Guest:They thought it was my act.

00:33:57Guest:I said, I know you love me, but I have no life.

00:33:59Guest:I come home to my toys.

00:34:00Guest:I have none.

00:34:01Guest:My wife laughed.

00:34:01Guest:This happened.

00:34:03Guest:The first wife?

00:34:03Guest:Yeah.

00:34:04Guest:No, that was a long time ago.

00:34:05Guest:How many wives you had?

00:34:06Guest:Well, no, I was living with a couple of ladies.

00:34:09Guest:A couple of ladies.

00:34:10Guest:Not at the same time.

00:34:11Guest:So I quit, and this man saw me on the street.

00:34:15Guest:I told him what I was doing.

00:34:16Guest:He said, how would you like to sell cars?

00:34:17Guest:I said, no, nothing about it.

00:34:19Guest:How would you like to sell sobs?

00:34:21Guest:So I got into selling sobs.

00:34:23Marc:So here you were, your business now, you quit comedy, you're depressed, and you're wandering the streets?

00:34:30Guest:Not wandering, but in good clothes.

00:34:31Guest:I took showers, you know, I was... So you had a place to live still.

00:34:34Guest:I had a place to live.

00:34:35Guest:I had a beautiful place.

00:34:36Guest:I keep looking at my friend.

00:34:38Guest:And you were selling Rolexes, fake Rolexes?

00:34:41Guest:They knew it was fake, you know.

00:34:42Guest:Yeah.

00:34:42Guest:To producers that I knew.

00:34:44Guest:Ricardo Montalban was my biggest.

00:34:46Guest:He bought a lot of watches from me.

00:34:48Guest:So you're selling fake Rolexes to Ricardo Montalban.

00:34:51Guest:Ricardo Montalban.

00:34:52Guest:They all knew it was fake.

00:34:53Guest:Do you have any other clients?

00:34:55Guest:I can mention a couple of producers.

00:34:58Guest:Billy, what are you doing?

00:35:00Guest:This is what I was doing.

00:35:01Guest:I just had no heart to get up there.

00:35:02Guest:Did people feel bad for you?

00:35:04Guest:Yes, they'd call me up.

00:35:05Guest:Louie Anderson.

00:35:06Guest:All the guys would call me.

00:35:07Guest:Billy, there's nobody like you.

00:35:09Guest:So they brought me back to the 40th anniversary.

00:35:12Guest:They said, you have to come.

00:35:13Guest:Mitzi's calling you.

00:35:14Guest:So I got up.

00:35:15Guest:Mitzi's not well either.

00:35:16Marc:I work over there sometimes.

00:35:18Marc:So you're on the street.

00:35:21Marc:You're going to sell cars.

00:35:23Marc:So the guy says, I know nothing about it.

00:35:25Guest:So then what happens?

00:35:26Guest:I started selling Sarps, and I became the best salesman.

00:35:29Guest:It was hysterical what went on.

00:35:31Guest:Everybody would shut the door when I sold the car because I didn't know what I was doing.

00:35:35Guest:People would come in.

00:35:37Guest:And this is all true.

00:35:38Guest:Mm-hmm.

00:35:38Guest:What do you do?

00:35:40Guest:I said, what do you think I do?

00:35:41Guest:I'm standing here.

00:35:41Guest:I'm a salesman.

00:35:43Guest:He says, is the car safe?

00:35:44Guest:I said, I don't know.

00:35:46Guest:He said, but you sell Saabs.

00:35:48Guest:I said, what does that have to do with me if you like the car?

00:35:51Guest:Do you own a Saab?

00:35:52Guest:I said, no.

00:35:54Guest:What do you own?

00:35:54Guest:I walk here.

00:35:56Guest:I'm doing this whole shtick.

00:35:58Guest:Don't you think I sold them a car at the end?

00:36:00Guest:Yeah, did you?

00:36:01Guest:I did.

00:36:01Guest:And you know what I get for prizes?

00:36:03Guest:When they find out they like me.

00:36:05Guest:Where's my keychain?

00:36:06Guest:You know you buy a car market.

00:36:08Guest:Is it keychain?

00:36:09Guest:I said, come to my car.

00:36:11Guest:I open up the trunk and I'd give them a porno.

00:36:15Guest:I bought 150 pornos for $2 a tape and I'd give them out to good customers.

00:36:20Guest:They would never tell the boss.

00:36:22Guest:The time I had in there, they would be hysterical.

00:36:26Guest:The owner would close the door.

00:36:28Guest:He didn't know what I'd ever do.

00:36:29Guest:I had a heavyset guy get into a small Saab.

00:36:33Guest:He couldn't get out.

00:36:34Guest:I said, this car's meant for you.

00:36:35Guest:Don't ever get out.

00:36:37Guest:We'll open up the windows.

00:36:38Guest:You'll fly.

00:36:38Guest:And he bought the car.

00:36:40Guest:Come on.

00:36:41Guest:Gay guys would come in and say, can I have a different color?

00:36:44Guest:I said, I don't have.

00:36:45Guest:This is the only color.

00:36:46Guest:But I love this car.

00:36:47Guest:Can you change the color?

00:36:49Guest:Yeah.

00:36:49Guest:i go across the street from the paint store i buy a can of paint and i'm ready to open it you want a different color i'll give you a different color i had so much fun and then and you were the top salesman i was the top now uh robert thompson was the top but i was one of the best salesmen because sometimes i wouldn't want to wait on him i said you don't you know yeah i won't deal with that no i won't deal and it's they sent all the jews

00:37:12Marc:to me by the way they were difficult it's a commission record right commission you get 250 dollars a car and salary it was terrible but but but like i've never talked to somebody that had because this is a different a question i have because i've been in my you know in my own career like where i kind of bottomed out and i didn't think it was going to go but i couldn't see a way out of it

00:37:36Marc:Like I could not like I cannot sort of fathom or understand the heartbreak of stopping comedy or giving up on show business.

00:37:47Marc:Now, I mean, did you experience that?

00:37:49Marc:Well, I didn't exactly give up.

00:37:52Guest:What I did do, I should have told you this early, I did free shows.

00:37:55Guest:I went on tour to do shows for diabetes, for arthritis.

00:37:59Guest:I went to New Orleans with a lot of, what's his name, the comedian, a lot of comedians and a couple of singers, named singers, and we would do shows.

00:38:10Guest:So I performed for nothing.

00:38:11Guest:I would prefer that.

00:38:12Guest:I just went out and performed for nothing.

00:38:14Guest:Why?

00:38:14Guest:The pressure or what?

00:38:15Guest:It wasn't pressure.

00:38:16Guest:I just felt that I wasn't stronger.

00:38:18Guest:Maybe I wasn't that fighter like a Muhammad Ali to continue.

00:38:21Guest:I just felt that.

00:38:22Guest:But every time I got on stage, they would scream.

00:38:25Guest:It was something that I had like a Streisand would have.

00:38:28Guest:People come over, we love you.

00:38:30Guest:When I do a television show, they cook for me.

00:38:32Guest:People call up the station.

00:38:34Guest:They want to cook for me.

00:38:35Guest:They want to dress me.

00:38:36Guest:I'm not, this is, you know, they want to take, that was the type of thing with character where they take, like Jack Benny.

00:38:42Guest:I was like a combination of Woody and Jack.

00:38:45Guest:I would do takes for a minute.

00:38:47Guest:I would eat a sandwich on stage and people would say, what the fuck is he doing?

00:38:51Guest:But they would laugh.

00:38:52Guest:And then when I started working, I saw a place, a guy comes in, he said, I was a junior agent when you were with creative artists.

00:38:59Guest:with Tony Krantz because he was going to sell one of my shows with the Kyoto Brothers.

00:39:05Guest:And that's him, the Kyoto Brothers.

00:39:07Guest:That's one of the other two.

00:39:09Guest:They fight each other.

00:39:10Guest:They're going to die too because they kill each other.

00:39:12Guest:So I know them too.

00:39:13Guest:Eventually they're going to kill each other.

00:39:14Guest:So the guy who worked at the place?

00:39:16Guest:No, he came in as a customer.

00:39:19Guest:He said, are you Billy Breville with the lunchbox?

00:39:21Guest:I said, yeah.

00:39:22Guest:He said, I love Billy's bus, whatever happened.

00:39:24Guest:I said, Billy's bus was stolen.

00:39:26Guest:You guys, nobody did anything.

00:39:28Guest:It was taken away from me and NBC saw it on another channel.

00:39:31Guest:He said, I came to buy a car.

00:39:34Guest:I said, I hate agents.

00:39:36Guest:You can't buy a car from me.

00:39:37Guest:Go fuck yourself.

00:39:39Guest:He leaves.

00:39:41Guest:Next day, they were watching me.

00:39:42Guest:He and someone else with me and customers.

00:39:45Guest:He came in.

00:39:45Guest:Who, the agent?

00:39:46Guest:Yeah.

00:39:47Guest:He said, you know what?

00:39:48Guest:I'd like to do a documentary on you.

00:39:51Guest:He says, you're something.

00:39:53Guest:The people would love it.

00:39:54Guest:And I want to call it sob story.

00:39:56Guest:I said, terrific.

00:39:57Guest:Wow.

00:39:57Guest:So he made up for it.

00:39:59Guest:He made up for it.

00:40:00Guest:So we shot this sob story.

00:40:02Guest:And you know what?

00:40:02Guest:I won in Sonoma Film Festival Best Short.

00:40:06Guest:I won in New York.

00:40:07Guest:And we won Best Director here in California.

00:40:12Guest:And that was Max Joseph who did it, who was the director.

00:40:15Guest:Max Joseph of sob story.

00:40:17Guest:Terrific kid.

00:40:17Guest:Really knew what he was doing.

00:40:19Guest:Uh-huh.

00:40:19Guest:And now we're trying to do it as a reality show where I'm working as a comic, but I'm still going out.

00:40:27Guest:You're working as a car salesman.

00:40:28Guest:But I get a call in the middle of a customer for an agent.

00:40:31Guest:I go for an audition, give it to another salesman.

00:40:33Guest:And all the funny things that happened to me, I want to do it as a reality show or a sitcom.

00:40:38Guest:So I'm trying to get the right writers for that.

00:40:40Guest:But what really happened?

00:40:42Guest:Oh, what really happened?

00:40:46Guest:Saab went out of business last year, I swear.

00:40:50Guest:We were going to be reps for Saab.

00:40:53Guest:They sort of taped, they thought I'd be great, you know, like that girl who does the progressive, was it?

00:40:58Marc:Yeah, the redhead, yeah.

00:41:00Guest:I was going to be the spokesman and they went out of business.

00:41:03Guest:So I had to leave.

00:41:04Guest:So now I'm on the floor, and that's when they called me to do the anniversary, so I did that last show.

00:41:10Guest:And now I go home, look at my toys, and... You're back.

00:41:14Marc:I'm back.

00:41:15Marc:Well, like, I saw the film, and...

00:41:19Marc:You went on stage before the 40th anniversary.

00:41:24Guest:Yes, I did.

00:41:26Marc:You decided you wanted to go back.

00:41:29Marc:Go back a little bit.

00:41:30Marc:You went back to the laugh factor.

00:41:31Guest:Correct.

00:41:32Guest:He was a fan of mine years ago.

00:41:34Guest:Back when it was just a hallway of a club.

00:41:36Marc:Less than a hallway.

00:41:37Guest:I felt like you go in there, you get killed.

00:41:39Guest:They didn't know if somebody's going to kill you from each angle.

00:41:41Guest:There was just nothing there.

00:41:42Guest:There was nothing there.

00:41:42Marc:There was just like this long room with a stage at the back with Frasier Smith on it.

00:41:48Marc:Frasier Smith, right, right.

00:41:51Marc:I'm sorry about my laugh.

00:41:52Marc:It's all right.

00:41:53Marc:But that's what it was.

00:41:55Marc:You'd walk in there and go, what the fuck is this?

00:41:57Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:41:58Marc:And there was no backstage.

00:41:59Marc:You just stood over there by that door.

00:42:00Marc:Right, right.

00:42:01Guest:Until somebody just touches you.

00:42:03Marc:Brings you up.

00:42:04Marc:Brings you up.

00:42:05Marc:But when you went back on...

00:42:07Marc:Yeah, it was very interesting, because how old are you, if you don't mind me asking?

00:42:11Marc:In my 60s.

00:42:11Marc:Yeah, so you go on.

00:42:12Marc:How old do you think I am?

00:42:14Marc:Much younger.

00:42:15Guest:Oh, sweet.

00:42:16Guest:They say 58.

00:42:18Guest:The girls, I'm lying to my Italian friends.

00:42:22Guest:She's a friend.

00:42:22Guest:She's married.

00:42:23Guest:I don't know.

00:42:24Marc:Okay, so I watched this, and being a comic and knowing what it's like, and you're going to go on stage again at a legitimate club for the first time, and you're in your 60s, and you're wearing a- Stupid overalls.

00:42:40Marc:No, you weren't.

00:42:41Marc:Oh, come on.

00:42:42Marc:You were wearing a sweater or something.

00:42:43Marc:Oh, I was wearing a sweater.

00:42:44Marc:Good, good.

00:42:45Marc:Yeah, you're wearing a sweater, and I'm like, well, there he's back, and then he's like, he's got his fucking lunchbox.

00:42:50Marc:Yeah, that was stupid.

00:42:50Guest:Yeah.

00:42:51Guest:that was idiotic you know but you felt safe with it I guess yeah well you know who mentors me you know Marty Ehrlichman he's Barbra Streisand's manager yeah I've been on and off with him for 30 years yeah he's done nothing for me gives me money he's a great guy I love him and concerts I see all the concerts yeah if you have a next one if you want to go I'll get your ticket you like Barbra Streisand yeah she's I love her do you know her

00:43:18Guest:Very little.

00:43:19Guest:But anyway, we went to eat at the, what's that steak place?

00:43:22Guest:Madeo?

00:43:23Guest:Yeah.

00:43:24Guest:Madeo's?

00:43:25Guest:And Marty said, invited me, invited Barbara, and we sat there.

00:43:29Guest:And, you know, I started asking, doing some funny stuff, and just, he started kicking me under the table.

00:43:37Guest:I said, Barbara, he's kicking me.

00:43:38Guest:I said, you know, Barbara, I belong to a bowling team.

00:43:41Guest:I'm the captain.

00:43:42Guest:Uh-huh.

00:43:42Guest:And I need somebody, you know, to be co-captain.

00:43:45Guest:Would you think of doing it?

00:43:47Guest:And she's looking, they look at me like, he's kicking me.

00:43:50Guest:I said, he's kicking me, you know, like my little boy.

00:43:52Guest:So she said, I can't.

00:43:54Guest:I said, just call me if you can make it, you know.

00:43:57Guest:I said, the only problem is if you come, you have to bring your own pins.

00:44:01Guest:They cracked up.

00:44:02Guest:That was it?

00:44:04Guest:You have to bring your own bowling pins.

00:44:05Guest:Right.

00:44:06Guest:Because it's automatic.

00:44:07Guest:It's a joke.

00:44:09Guest:I'm just kidding.

00:44:09Guest:Forget about Barbara.

00:44:11Guest:It's a joke.

00:44:11Guest:I do that between Marty and I. And he's been very good to me.

00:44:15Guest:And then I met the Kyoto Brothers, the true people that believe in me.

00:44:19Guest:So we became partners.

00:44:21Guest:did you ever get to the point do you have an hour of material i got 30 minutes yeah 30 like that's about it i did 30 and i was able to do when i was on the row 20 and then they bring me back for a bow you know i would talk to them and i could i'd live for another 20 minutes i'd sit on the steps and anybody asked me questions about my life or anything and i would just make them laugh

00:44:43Marc:And at the 40th anniversary, who was there?

00:44:45Marc:Oh, everybody was there.

00:44:46Marc:Louis was there.

00:44:47Guest:Louis Anderson.

00:44:48Marc:Jeff Baldwin was there.

00:44:49Marc:Tim Robertson.

00:44:51Marc:Tim.

00:44:52Marc:Oh, Tim Thomason.

00:44:53Marc:Yeah, Tim Thomason.

00:44:54Guest:Tim.

00:44:55Guest:Oh, you see, you make me feel good.

00:44:56Guest:I'm getting a chill.

00:44:57Guest:You bring back all the guys.

00:44:59Guest:See, I thought we were funny at that time.

00:45:01Guest:Yeah.

00:45:01Guest:And I go back now and look, I shouldn't say this, but some of these guys are not funny.

00:45:06Yeah.

00:45:06Guest:The new guys.

00:45:08Guest:Oh, I thought you meant you went back and looked at your own tapes.

00:45:12Guest:Oh, no.

00:45:12Guest:No, we were special, I think.

00:45:14Guest:Yeah.

00:45:14Guest:I think we were.

00:45:15Guest:I think we made people happy.

00:45:17Guest:Mm-hmm.

00:45:17Guest:But Tim Thomerson was there.

00:45:19Guest:They had film on Letterman and Leno.

00:45:23Guest:Mm-hmm.

00:45:23Guest:That film on that.

00:45:24Guest:Mm-hmm.

00:45:25Guest:And, you know, I was supposed to, Leno, I was one of his favorite comics.

00:45:28Guest:Blake Clark.

00:45:29Guest:Blake Clark, yeah, yeah.

00:45:31Guest:Blake Clark.

00:45:31Guest:With the voice.

00:45:33Guest:Uh-huh.

00:45:33Guest:Yeah, he's a great guy.

00:45:34Guest:He was a nice guy, too.

00:45:35Guest:I think he was a doorman, he started.

00:45:36Guest:Sure.

00:45:36Guest:Something like that, right?

00:45:37Guest:Harris Pete.

00:45:38Guest:Harris Pete.

00:45:39Guest:Yeah, shit, you go for, so how come you didn't know me?

00:45:42Marc:I wasn't there.

00:45:43Marc:I was a guy, you know, the thing about the comedy store is that when you enter that world, you enter the mythological world of the comedy store as well.

00:45:50Marc:Like the comedy store is a very unique place.

00:45:51Marc:I think when you were there, it was a thriving, you know, very important club.

00:45:57Marc:But by the time I got there to be a doorman in the late 80s, you know, the last guy to really come out of there, I was there when Kennison became big.

00:46:05Marc:And he might have been, you were probably already gone by the time he was a doorman.

00:46:10Marc:Yeah, he was great.

00:46:11Marc:right but but you know what you get is you sit there every night you live at that place you don't go anywhere else i lived in crest hill uh that mitzi owned behind the place oh behind that you oh were you there when uh dice clay was no i was in his old room oh did it smell no no they cleaned it i was i was at crest hill uh tamayo lived there when i was there um uh todd lemish who you probably don't know i don't know todd

00:46:35Marc:but uh and then there's a couple other people and people would come and go but you know you you just sort of absorb the mythology of the place so when i was there you know harris pete was sort of around he had been gone and then he'd come back and you know he was this guy that was one of the you know you didn't know who he was uh his act was what it was but you know he was part of the history of the place it was history

00:46:57Marc:Right.

00:46:57Marc:So you would just glean stories about people that may have been true.

00:47:03Marc:They might not have been true.

00:47:04Marc:And you're just walking around all these pictures all the time.

00:47:06Marc:And it starts to play with your head.

00:47:08Marc:And it's got its own world.

00:47:10Marc:It's its own world.

00:47:11Guest:I know.

00:47:11Guest:You know the picture of me up there with my over standing there with the microphone?

00:47:15Guest:Yeah.

00:47:15Guest:They took it down.

00:47:16Guest:Somebody, I think it was a comic that keeps calling me.

00:47:20Guest:Oh, really?

00:47:20Guest:He wants to be on my Facebook, or I don't want him on my Facebook.

00:47:25Guest:I think he took my picture down.

00:47:26Guest:He's got your picture?

00:47:27Guest:I think he's got my picture.

00:47:28Marc:But what was some of the, I mean, I always try to get a sense of

00:47:32Marc:What fascinates me is at that time there was a camaraderie between guys that are huge stars now.

00:47:39Marc:And I don't know if what you say is necessarily true.

00:47:42Marc:We can talk about that in a minute about the current crop of comics or whatever you experience.

00:47:45Marc:But it's interesting to me to picture you, Letterman, Leno, as guys in their 20s who were just trying to get a break.

00:47:55Marc:And, you know, I mean, when I talk to you guys, I mean, it's like I can't even imagine what the memories must be like.

00:48:03Guest:Oh, it's, you know, the first time I lived in the same place that Letterman lived, I think it was 60, right on Sunset.

00:48:09Guest:I forgot the address.

00:48:10Guest:It's now a hotel.

00:48:12Guest:So we all lived there.

00:48:13Guest:And then Jay came and Jay stayed with me for a couple of days until he got his own place, too.

00:48:19Marc:He was in Boston.

00:48:20Guest:Yeah, and he was coming in.

00:48:21Guest:And then...

00:48:22Marc:every time i'd leave i was doing i was doing at that time dinah dinah sure now this is another thing like i remember that like i'm 49 so oh my my memories of of her like i'm a very young kid and i remember if i was you know homesick from school i remember she was very pretty and i remember that burt reynolds was fucking her that's all i remember yeah like i don't know what her place in the world was i guess she was a singer she was a singer yeah

00:48:47Guest:But she liked comics.

00:48:48Guest:She loved comics.

00:48:49Guest:And she had these heavy arms.

00:48:51Guest:I used to love her polkis.

00:48:52Guest:Yeah?

00:48:52Guest:I used to squeeze an arm.

00:48:54Guest:Oh, really?

00:48:54Guest:I love these, especially with hair under the arm.

00:48:57Guest:Oh, yeah, yeah.

00:48:57Guest:I'm into that shit.

00:48:58Guest:Yeah.

00:48:59Guest:I love that.

00:48:59Guest:All right, all right.

00:49:00Guest:And she liked me.

00:49:01Guest:She invited me to her club, her private club.

00:49:03Guest:Oh, yeah?

00:49:04Guest:So I had a lot of fun with her.

00:49:06Guest:She would do things with me that were very funny.

00:49:08Guest:And she said, you crack up the band.

00:49:10Guest:I would do some wild stuff with her.

00:49:12Guest:Like what?

00:49:13Guest:well i i would do uh she said what do you see in a woman i thought i said not a big woman i don't want to get hurt very heavy sweats a lot smells you know she loved that yeah and all the thing then we talk about my nose you notice my nose and i tell you we're not on camera she said would you ever have it fixed i said i did but the swelling never went down now when you like so you lived what across the hall from letterman

00:49:35Guest:Yeah, I think he was on the second floor.

00:49:38Guest:I was on the first floor.

00:49:38Marc:How many other comics were there?

00:49:40Marc:Just you guys?

00:49:40Guest:I think just Letterman was there for a while, myself.

00:49:43Marc:And this was before anything really happened for him, huh?

00:49:46Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:49:48Guest:And what kind of guy was he like?

00:49:49Guest:Nice guy?

00:49:50Guest:Well, he's nice.

00:49:50Guest:He always said to me, I love your character.

00:49:52Guest:You're like Jack Benny, but now I'm trying to get on a show and it's difficult.

00:49:56Guest:Well, he has a couple.

00:49:57Marc:for the old guys on there yeah i'd like a my biggest fan over there is jeff altman keeps and uh what's his name and tom dreeson who's a fan of mine so he said i'm trying to get john and dreeson used to does dreeson he does letterman that's right does he do no as well i don't know i don't know i think it's just letterman sure there's still that tension right altman just does letterman i tell you it's very interesting to me you know like i had jimmy walker in here for two hours that guy's got a mind he's got a memory oh yeah

00:50:24Marc:It was interesting because he said that Bud Friedman will never forgive me for choosing the comedy store.

00:50:31Marc:And I'm like, what do you mean never forgive you?

00:50:33Marc:I mean, what is that?

00:50:34Marc:It's like 30 years ago, 40 years ago already.

00:50:36Marc:He's like, yeah, come on.

00:50:37Marc:And I had Bud Friedman in here.

00:50:38Marc:And I said, so you got any resentments?

00:50:40Marc:He's like, Jimmy Walker can fuck Jimmy.

00:50:43Marc:It was true.

00:50:44Marc:After all is said and done, this many years later, the one guy...

00:50:49Marc:Bud Freeman comes up with his Jimmy Walker.

00:50:51Guest:Wow, that's so sad.

00:50:52Guest:It shows you so sad.

00:50:55Guest:He asked me, too, and I used to play at the comedy.

00:50:57Guest:She said, please stay here, and I did.

00:50:59Guest:I stayed with her.

00:51:00Guest:With Mitzi?

00:51:01Guest:With Mitzi, all those years.

00:51:03Guest:I remember we'd have a party over her house.

00:51:06Marc:So were you over there?

00:51:07Marc:Oh, go ahead.

00:51:08Marc:No, I'm sorry.

00:51:09Marc:You had a party at her house?

00:51:10Marc:That story sounds better than me.

00:51:12Guest:No.

00:51:12Guest:No, we'd have parties at her house, just swim parties.

00:51:14Guest:A bongoni?

00:51:15Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:51:16Guest:And one time all the comics were there and they were all doing jokes.

00:51:19Guest:And when they came to me, all I did was eat a cake and had it all over my face.

00:51:23Guest:Yeah.

00:51:23Guest:I got the biggest laugh.

00:51:24Guest:Oh, really?

00:51:24Guest:Yeah.

00:51:25Guest:So I did a lot of silent stuff.

00:51:26Guest:You guys would go over there and swim at Mitzi's?

00:51:29Guest:Yeah.

00:51:29Guest:No, I was there just one time for this party, yeah.

00:51:32Guest:Oh, I get it.

00:51:32Guest:But I remember a time with David Brenner in Vegas.

00:51:36Guest:We were sitting by the pool and a woman came over to us.

00:51:40Guest:You're David Brenner, you're Billy Braver.

00:51:42Guest:My husband's playing cards.

00:51:43Guest:She wanted to get away.

00:51:45Guest:So I took her up to the room.

00:51:47Guest:I don't know if he ever did too.

00:51:48Guest:So I never asked him.

00:51:50Guest:But it was a fun day.

00:51:52Guest:It was a fun day.

00:51:53Guest:I've had a lot of, you know, my father walking down the aisle, he said to my wife, what do you see in him?

00:51:59Guest:I swear.

00:52:00Marc:Yeah, well, they see something, huh?

00:52:01Marc:Yeah, it was something.

00:52:03Marc:Now, okay, so let's talk about this feeling that you have.

00:52:06Marc:I mean, you know, you mentioned Tim Thomerson, you mentioned Louis Anderson.

00:52:09Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:52:09Marc:You know, Jeff Altman, you know, it was very funny.

00:52:12Marc:He's still very funny.

00:52:13Marc:Good.

00:52:14Marc:I have not talked to him.

00:52:16Marc:But in retrospect, do you have some sort of, are you disappointed?

00:52:23Guest:Well, I'm disappointed that I let it go.

00:52:25Guest:Even Billy Crystal said to me one time, why did you let it go?

00:52:28Guest:I'm disappointed because I wasn't a fighter.

00:52:32Guest:Yeah.

00:52:32Guest:I took things to heart.

00:52:34Guest:Yeah.

00:52:34Guest:And it hurt me.

00:52:36Guest:Yeah.

00:52:36Guest:And at that time, I was taking care of some people that were ill, and I went another route.

00:52:41Guest:Yeah.

00:52:41Guest:yeah and i felt maybe i should be a doctor freelance gynecologist or something get away from all that shit but you just you ended up selling cars and then just sort of like you know having a life outside of that yeah but you're never destitute right no no no i'd always made a buck though i always did well now i'm trying to get back into commercials and stuff no i'm going i'm going back uh

00:53:03Guest:And in fact, as Thomas said, Billy, anytime you want to come back, I'm trying to get the film from that night of what I did because it was a great shot.

00:53:11Guest:Where's this?

00:53:12Guest:At the Comedy Store, the 40th anniversary.

00:53:14Guest:I'm trying to get the film, so it's difficult.

00:53:15Guest:I think they're trying to sell it for TV.

00:53:17Guest:Tommy said he'd come back.

00:53:18Guest:Tommy at the Comedy Store yeah yeah he did they they loved me all those and Mitzi you know I did I did things that I I bent down my back I got a bad back so I says it's not the back it's the nose the gravity and I do a lot of sight you know no yeah you got you got good physical timing yeah it's all yeah do you like me so far

00:53:40Guest:I liked you before.

00:53:42Guest:Oh, good.

00:53:43Marc:But tell me about your impression of new comics and what you think the difference is.

00:53:47Guest:Well, it's a difference.

00:53:48Guest:I think timing has a lot to do with it.

00:53:50Guest:Go more for the joke.

00:53:51Guest:I haven't seen that many, but a lot of these guys are boom, boom, boom, boom.

00:53:55Marc:They were always there, though.

00:53:56Guest:Yeah, you had guys, but you had guys that did good character comedy, which I preferred.

00:54:02Guest:I saw the, what's his name, invited me, Billy Crystal to his one-man show.

00:54:06Guest:I flipped out.

00:54:07Guest:It was one of the best one-man shows I've ever seen.

00:54:09Guest:Yeah.

00:54:10Guest:His timing, he was terrific.

00:54:11Guest:He was good.

00:54:12Guest:Yeah.

00:54:12Guest:Nice guy to you.

00:54:13Guest:Not really.

00:54:14Guest:Yeah, I mean, he's okay.

00:54:16Guest:Yeah, he thinks the world of himself.

00:54:19Guest:Well, I'll tell you what happened.

00:54:19Guest:You want to hear what happened?

00:54:21Guest:I can't get sued for this, can I?

00:54:22Guest:I'm not going to get sued for anything.

00:54:23Guest:Okay.

00:54:24Guest:I brought the seagulls up to him.

00:54:26Marc:Oh, let's wait.

00:54:27Marc:We didn't set that up yet.

00:54:28Marc:You walked in here with a couple of, what do you call those, animation?

00:54:33Guest:Yeah, you're terrific.

00:54:35Guest:Thanks for setting things up.

00:54:36Marc:Well, no, you come in, you walk in, you got what looks to be pictures.

00:54:40Marc:I'm like, oh, you brought me stuff I can put on the wall.

00:54:42Marc:Yeah, I'll bring you pictures of it on the wall.

00:54:44Marc:And I go, what is that?

00:54:45Marc:So, you're walking around with their animation stills.

00:54:47Guest:Yeah.

00:54:48Marc:They're not- It's called- Storyboards as well.

00:54:50Guest:Storyboards, right.

00:54:51Guest:Okay, okay.

00:54:51Guest:Illustrations, and they're done by Disney artists, and they believed in this.

00:54:55Guest:It was called The Seagulls.

00:54:56Guest:When did you create this?

00:54:58Guest:About 10 years ago.

00:54:59Guest:Okay, so The Seagulls is back.

00:55:01Guest:It's back.

00:55:01Guest:Yeah.

00:55:02Guest:it's cool it's called the pigeons now i changed it from the jewish thing to the pigeons now it's called the seagulls yeah and billy crystal loved it 10 years ago 10 years ago maybe no maybe about six years ago on that i took it to him he said i want to do it i want you to meet my manager you know his manager uh which one his name is david steinberg david steinberg handles uh robin williams right yeah yeah

00:55:25Guest:So he says, I love it.

00:55:26Guest:Let's do it.

00:55:28Guest:Okay.

00:55:28Guest:So I said, call my lawyer.

00:55:30Guest:And all of a sudden, all of a sudden they wanted to give me $75,000 and I was out of it.

00:55:34Guest:Something like that.

00:55:35Guest:So I dismissed it.

00:55:36Guest:That's not a bad nut.

00:55:37Guest:Yeah, but something like that.

00:55:41Guest:I didn't want to do it.

00:55:41Guest:I felt this had something.

00:55:44Guest:You wanted to be part of it.

00:55:45Guest:I created it.

00:55:45Guest:You didn't want to just sell it outright.

00:55:47Guest:Right.

00:55:47Guest:Yeah.

00:55:47Guest:So that let go of that.

00:55:49Guest:Uh-huh.

00:55:50Guest:It went well, but they decided not to do it.

00:55:54Guest:They had another show called Birds of a Feather after they looked at my stuff.

00:55:58Guest:In other words, they were gonna steal my stuff and call it Birds of a Feather.

00:56:01Guest:I said, you can't do that.

00:56:02Guest:And Norm Crosby said to him, you can't do it.

00:56:04Guest:He said, I'm not gonna do either one.

00:56:06Guest:In other words, he showed it to his writers.

00:56:07Guest:He handled some writers from Saturday Night Live.

00:56:09Marc:Norm Crosby said, we don't have to penetrate this type of behavior.

00:56:15Guest:That's a great impression.

00:56:17Guest:I don't know if he hears anything anyway.

00:56:19Guest:He won't hear a word I'm saying.

00:56:22Guest:Fuck you, Noah.

00:56:24Guest:Oh, God.

00:56:25Guest:So wait, what is the pitch on the seagulls?

00:56:26Guest:What the hell is it?

00:56:28Guest:Well, it's about birds that migrate to New York and they live in Florida.

00:56:32Guest:They're snowbirds.

00:56:33Guest:And it's all ethnic birds.

00:56:37Guest:You've got Puerto Rican birds.

00:56:38Guest:You've got Jewish birds.

00:56:40Guest:You've got everybody.

00:56:40Guest:You've got a bird with a hair.

00:56:41Guest:You've got a bird with Tourette's syndrome.

00:56:43Guest:Oh, really?

00:56:43Guest:Then you never know when he's going to say, fuck you, you know, and all that stuff.

00:56:46Guest:Sure.

00:56:47Guest:So it could be very, very funny.

00:56:49Guest:Is this for children or people?

00:56:51Guest:No.

00:56:52Guest:This is not for children.

00:56:53Guest:It's for senile people.

00:56:54Guest:It's for the home people in Florida, you know, for the old Jews.

00:56:58Guest:We got an old Jew.

00:56:59Guest:She flies with a wheelchair.

00:57:00Guest:Okay.

00:57:01Guest:Not a wheelchair.

00:57:02Guest:What do you call the?

00:57:04Guest:I don't know.

00:57:04Guest:those uh you know what they walk with a walker she flies with a walker okay okay so it's funny it's it's it's someone would look you know see if i could get the right writers for this a couple of guys with my ideas and the Kyoto brothers will do the animation so it's great yeah do you ever do you ever uh why don't you tour the uh the old people places that's sorry they wouldn't understand i'm too you'd have to do you'd have to come on what do you mean they wouldn't do

00:57:28Guest:Of course, my friend does it.

00:57:30Guest:Lee Silverman, he does.

00:57:31Guest:They fall asleep on you.

00:57:32Guest:Some of them die.

00:57:33Guest:They have an ambulance waiting.

00:57:36Guest:They wouldn't get my... I'm hip.

00:57:38Guest:I'm not hip.

00:57:39Guest:I talk about... Give me a number.

00:57:42Guest:I'll go.

00:57:43Guest:I'll call.

00:57:47Guest:Have you done it?

00:57:47Guest:Have you gone to Florida?

00:57:48Guest:No.

00:57:49Marc:Why would you do that?

00:57:50Marc:Well, they definitely won't understand me.

00:57:52Marc:No, they wouldn't understand me.

00:57:53Marc:But you, they'd want to, you know, you'd remind me.

00:57:55Guest:Well, what can I talk about?

00:57:56Guest:The only thing they'd understand is my Jewish motorcycle gang.

00:57:59Guest:Oh, yeah, what does that mean?

00:58:00Guest:The leader was a rabbi.

00:58:02Guest:He wore a yarmulke.

00:58:03Guest:He had a tattoo on his arm that said, born to invest wisely.

00:58:06Guest:Yeah.

00:58:07Marc:Yeah, they'll get that.

00:58:09Guest:You just killed with the people that can hear.

00:58:11Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:58:13Guest:I'd have to give them eye drops for glaucoma.

00:58:16Guest:You know, in the middle of the act, you take out the eye drops, walk down, give them for glaucoma, ear drops.

00:58:20Guest:Yeah, yeah, whatever they need.

00:58:22Guest:Stethoscope.

00:58:23Guest:Wake some people up.

00:58:24Guest:You know, I used to walk on the stage when I first started.

00:58:26Guest:Yeah.

00:58:27Guest:And I worked, what is that, besides Folk City, I worked Catch a Rising Star.

00:58:31Guest:Yeah.

00:58:32Guest:That's where I auditioned.

00:58:33Guest:There were 110 comics auditioning for that show.

00:58:35Marc:Oh, that's right, for the Dean Martin replacement.

00:58:37Guest:I came out with an oxygen mask over my face.

00:58:40Guest:The place went wild.

00:58:42Guest:And that was it.

00:58:42Guest:That was the last of the oxygen.

00:58:45Marc:So Catch a Rising Star in the mid to late 70s, that was quite a scene.

00:58:49Marc:That was a great scene, yeah.

00:58:50Guest:I worked it a couple of times.

00:58:51Guest:From the Bitter End, I'd go to Catch a Rising Star.

00:58:54Guest:But the Bitter End was my home.

00:58:56Guest:He kept me there for six months.

00:58:57Guest:I was the only comic to be there for six months for Paul Colby.

00:59:01Guest:He's still around.

00:59:03Guest:He's a nice man.

00:59:03Marc:Do you remember that guy?

00:59:04Marc:Who was the guy that used to comedy manager?

00:59:08Marc:Manny Roth.

00:59:09Marc:I've heard of that name.

00:59:10Marc:They used to do comedy at the Village Gate.

00:59:12Marc:It was right across the street from the Bitter End.

00:59:16Marc:They did that.

00:59:17Marc:That had been around for a long time.

00:59:19Marc:Music venue.

00:59:21Marc:Manny Roth used to hang around.

00:59:22Marc:He was one of Pryor's first managers.

00:59:25Guest:I know the name.

00:59:26Marc:He was a character.

00:59:27Marc:He's David Lee Roth's uncle.

00:59:29Guest:David Lee, really?

00:59:30Guest:Yeah.

00:59:31Marc:David Lee Roth comes from a little bit of a show business family.

00:59:34Guest:Wow.

00:59:34Marc:Do you remember when Pryor used to come into the store?

00:59:37Guest:Yeah, genius.

00:59:37Guest:He used to do late Saturday nights.

00:59:39Guest:I would be on.

00:59:40Guest:Saturday?

00:59:40Guest:Saturday sometimes.

00:59:42Guest:And I would be on with Steve.

00:59:43Guest:She had four guys before him.

00:59:45Guest:It would be Steve, myself, and maybe a couple other people.

00:59:47Guest:And Landisberg dated her, correct?

00:59:49Guest:Correct.

00:59:49Guest:Like, for a while, right?

00:59:51Guest:Well, he was dating her.

00:59:52Guest:Yeah.

00:59:52Guest:I was dating an Italian actress at that time, and we would meet at Mitzi's place all the time.

00:59:57Guest:Uh-huh.

00:59:57Guest:And we were, like, very close, all of it, the four of us.

01:00:00Guest:Uh-huh.

01:00:01Guest:And then he met someone else.

01:00:02Guest:Yeah.

01:00:02Guest:Diana Canova.

01:00:04Guest:Uh-huh.

01:00:04Guest:Yeah.

01:00:05Marc:Yeah.

01:00:05Marc:Well, it's just, like, for me, by the time I...

01:00:08Marc:got to the store you know mitzi was just this terrifying force that would come occasionally and everybody would freak out when she was on her way down we'd have to you know clear out the booth you know tuck in our shirts and shit no i would always have such a great she'd call me billy boy and you know she kissed me on the cheek well i got a lot of loving from her she why clearly you know she provided some sort of uh maternal uh sensibility for the the rogues and gypsies that ended up at that place we were all that way but she was a frightening

01:00:37Guest:person to me yeah well you came later you know she wasn't frightening then never once did she scare you no not me a couple of comics that couldn't worry i felt bad for steve lebec and when he said he couldn't get a spot you know and we would talk to her he was funny why couldn't he get a spot yeah for some reason you know people are funny that way

01:00:58Marc:Now, like Pryor, what was it like seeing Pryor in the 70s?

01:01:01Marc:Genius.

01:01:02Marc:What did he do?

01:01:03Marc:Did he do like an hour or two hours?

01:01:04Guest:No, about 20 minutes.

01:01:06Guest:Oh, that's all?

01:01:06Guest:20, 20 minutes.

01:01:08Guest:He never pushed it?

01:01:09Guest:He never like... Sometimes he would push it, but you know who I enjoyed the most?

01:01:12Marc:Who?

01:01:13Marc:Freddie Prince.

01:01:14Marc:Yeah, tell me about him because I don't think he gets a... People know him from Chico and the Man.

01:01:18Marc:You hear about him, but I don't know that he's really contextualized properly as a comic.

01:01:22Guest:Well, let me... Can I tell you a little about him?

01:01:24Sure.

01:01:25Guest:when he got up on 20 minutes and he would do 20 we'd all do 10 20 minutes you felt you were watching a Milton Berle or a Sid Caesar or a Jack Benny yeah he had that like he was on stage for 40 years you wouldn't think he was 20 or 20 so comfortable

01:01:42Guest:So comfortable.

01:01:45Guest:He was the one that got me on The Tonight Show.

01:01:48Guest:He had Craig Tennis come down to catch me.

01:01:50Guest:He believed in me.

01:01:51Guest:He was my biggest.

01:01:53Guest:One night someone came up with a lunchbox at the comedy store.

01:01:57Guest:Someone stole your lunchbox?

01:01:59Guest:And an outfit like me.

01:02:00Guest:And Mitzi said, you're doing Billy Braver.

01:02:02Guest:So he called me to come down.

01:02:03Guest:I said, I didn't make it yet.

01:02:04Guest:I'll do it in another year.

01:02:06Guest:Be me.

01:02:06Guest:Not now.

01:02:07Guest:I can't believe that.

01:02:09Guest:Are you telling me the truth?

01:02:10Marc:I swear to God.

01:02:11Marc:I swear.

01:02:11Marc:That something as defined and ridiculous as a lunchbox and a pair of overalls.

01:02:15Marc:Some guy got on that fucking stage and shamelessly.

01:02:18Marc:He called me.

01:02:19Guest:I should drop dead right now if I'm lying.

01:02:21Guest:Okay.

01:02:22Guest:Boom.

01:02:22Guest:He's dead.

01:02:23Guest:He's dead.

01:02:24Guest:No, that's true.

01:02:25Guest:No kidding.

01:02:26Guest:It's true.

01:02:27Guest:And Freddy calls you up and says, there's a guy with a lunchbox.

01:02:29Guest:There's a guy with a lunchbox and overalls too.

01:02:31Guest:Get your ass down here.

01:02:32Guest:I get my ass and I said, Mitzi, Mitzi says, you can't do that.

01:02:35Guest:That's Billy.

01:02:36Guest:Yeah.

01:02:37Guest:And he says, well, you know, I said, no, no, wait a minute.

01:02:40Guest:I swear.

01:02:41Guest:What was his defense?

01:02:42Guest:No, I came up with it.

01:02:43Guest:No, no.

01:02:44Guest:I just got off the stage.

01:02:46Guest:And I followed that night too.

01:02:47Guest:Oh, it's crazy.

01:02:49Guest:What?

01:02:49Guest:And the night I auditioned.

01:02:50Guest:Yeah.

01:02:51Guest:For The Tonight Show, there was a dirty comic.

01:02:53Guest:I'm really filthy.

01:02:54Guest:But he wasn't funny.

01:02:55Guest:Before you.

01:02:56Guest:So I said, how do I do this?

01:02:58Guest:How do you follow that?

01:02:59Guest:Craig Tennis picked me backstage.

01:03:01Guest:He says, you're on The Tonight Show next week.

01:03:03Marc:How'd you follow it?

01:03:04Marc:How'd you pull yourself together?

01:03:05Guest:I didn't say a word for a minute.

01:03:07Guest:They start laughing like I did.

01:03:09Guest:You just let it simmer down.

01:03:10Guest:Yeah, and I said, you know, I do look a little like Richard Gere.

01:03:14Marc:That was it?

01:03:15Marc:That was it.

01:03:15Marc:Got him.

01:03:16Marc:So tell me more about Freddie.

01:03:17Marc:He was a nice guy.

01:03:18Marc:Terrific guy.

01:03:19Marc:Because he died before he was 30, didn't he?

01:03:23Guest:Oh, yeah, young guy.

01:03:24Guest:He was very young.

01:03:25Guest:And his best friend was, it wasn't the singer.

01:03:30Guest:His best friend, I was trying to think of his, they were very close.

01:03:32Guest:What the hell was his name, the comic?

01:03:34Guest:Bursky.

01:03:34Guest:Bursky, Alan Bursky.

01:03:35Guest:Alan Bursky, they hung out together.

01:03:37Guest:Yeah.

01:03:37Guest:And then we used to go to his house, you know, and he was going with Kitty...

01:03:41Marc:We had Bruce.

01:03:42Guest:Kitty Bruce at that time.

01:03:45Marc:Who Freddie was.

01:03:46Guest:Freddie, Freddie.

01:03:47Guest:And he was great.

01:03:48Guest:I mean, you'd sit with him and he was brilliant.

01:03:50Guest:He was dating Lenny Bruce's daughter.

01:03:51Guest:He was dating Lenny, and they broke up.

01:03:53Guest:And from that point on.

01:03:54Marc:Well, you're hanging around a lot of guys who were doing a lot of drugs.

01:03:57Guest:Yeah, I never did.

01:03:57Guest:I didn't do any drugs.

01:03:58Guest:But you saw it?

01:03:59Guest:I saw the drugs.

01:04:00Guest:And when I worked with the Moody Blues, you know.

01:04:02Marc:But at that time, was Freddie fucked up?

01:04:06Guest:No, I don't think so.

01:04:07Guest:Not yet?

01:04:07Yeah.

01:04:08Guest:it was a sad ending to that sad ending when we got the call that and then we spent that night at the improv all the comics came down to the improv that night tim thomason i remember myself all the comics you know i guess he thought he i don't know it was i heard that the shrink gave him back the gun i don't know the story i don't know if you've heard it mark about what the gun the gun

01:04:32Marc:That gun, the only thing I heard was maybe it was Alan Bursky's gun.

01:04:38Guest:No, it wasn't Alan Bursky's gun.

01:04:40Marc:No, I don't know what happened.

01:04:43Marc:He had the gun before, is what you're saying.

01:04:45Marc:He liked guns.

01:04:46Marc:I guess so.

01:04:47Guest:But we had a lot of fun.

01:04:48Guest:We used to hang out by the Burskys, old man Bursky.

01:04:50Guest:It was Tom Dreesen.

01:04:52Guest:It was Bursky.

01:04:53Guest:It was, what's his name?

01:04:55Guest:Bursky, he's still around.

01:04:57Guest:Yeah, he's still around.

01:04:58Guest:You never recognize him.

01:04:59Guest:When I first met him, he jumped all over me at the comments.

01:05:02Guest:He said, I saw you on The Tonight Show.

01:05:03Guest:No, no, no, The Tonight Show.

01:05:04Guest:I saw you on something.

01:05:06Guest:And what's his name?

01:05:08Guest:David Brenner says, keep away from him.

01:05:10Guest:He's an asshole.

01:05:11Guest:Oh, yeah?

01:05:11Guest:Yeah.

01:05:12Guest:There were those guys.

01:05:13Guest:We had a lot of fun.

01:05:14Guest:We had a lot of fun.

01:05:15Marc:All right.

01:05:15Marc:So now, what's the big plan?

01:05:17Guest:You're going to pitch the seagulls around.

01:05:19Guest:We're going to pitch the seagulls.

01:05:19Guest:We're going to pitch Spindley Arms, the home for this place.

01:05:21Guest:But we're going to make it more mature.

01:05:23Guest:We're going to make it a little sexy.

01:05:25Guest:Give it a little edge.

01:05:26Guest:The puppets are going to be very funny.

01:05:28Guest:It's going to be in a certain house.

01:05:30Guest:Okay.

01:05:31Guest:And it's going to be very, very funny.

01:05:32Guest:You want to keep that hidden.

01:05:33Guest:Yeah.

01:05:33Guest:You don't want anyone to steal the house.

01:05:35Guest:No, no.

01:05:35Guest:The house.

01:05:37Guest:Can I call you when everything is done?

01:05:38Guest:Sure.

01:05:39Guest:You're terrific.

01:05:41Guest:Yeah, yeah.

01:05:41Guest:Thanks for talking to me.

01:05:42Guest:Are you doing stand-up?

01:05:43Guest:No, I'll do stand-up soon again.

01:05:45Guest:Don't rush me.

01:05:47Guest:I want to sell my cologne.

01:05:50Guest:I want to do this.

01:05:51Guest:And I want to do the reality show.

01:05:54Guest:I think we have a sitcom.

01:05:56Guest:Right.

01:05:56Guest:So Sob's not.

01:05:58Guest:Sob's not in the business anymore.

01:05:59Guest:I don't have to call, you know, I could do, it doesn't have to be called Sob Story, but it.

01:06:03Marc:Right.

01:06:04Marc:Right.

01:06:04Marc:So now that video is available on the YouTube.

01:06:08Guest:We just put it on YouTube.

01:06:09Guest:Yeah.

01:06:09Guest:The Sob Story.

01:06:10Guest:Yes.

01:06:11Yeah.

01:06:11Marc:It's very touching.

01:06:12Marc:It was very provocative to me, and I'm glad you shared your story.

01:06:15Marc:I appreciate it.

01:06:16Guest:I appreciate you having me.

01:06:18Guest:It's so nice to have somebody remember me because even back home, they don't even think about me.

01:06:24Guest:How does that feel?

01:06:26Guest:I have believers here like the Kyoto Brothers and Alexia and my new friend and a couple other friends, Mike Gaines, but it's lonely.

01:06:38Guest:And I didn't have kids, which really, but I'm great with kids.

01:06:42Guest:Did you see my children's show?

01:06:44Guest:Take a look.

01:06:45Guest:If you have a moment, Billy's bus, it was something really special.

01:06:49Guest:And I take these kids on an adventure every week, and they meet famous people in history, but they meet them as kids.

01:06:55Guest:So they would have the similar problem to them.

01:06:58Guest:And there's a moral ending.

01:06:59Guest:Let's say they met, this kid didn't know how to fly, so she met, what's her name, the flyer.

01:07:05Guest:And you'd see a reel of the personality at the end, the real life reel.

01:07:11Guest:So these kids would...

01:07:12Guest:and his immoral ending to it.

01:07:14Guest:It was a great show by Phil Roman.

01:07:15Guest:You know Phil Roman, the animator?

01:07:17Guest:Yeah, he was terrific.

01:07:18Marc:So the feeling of doing Merv and doing Johnny and doing Diana and all that stuff and the adoration of the audience and all that showbiz that brings the great void that it feeds in us.

01:07:32Marc:You just sort of detach from that and now you feel a little lonely about it.

01:07:37Guest:Well, you know what?

01:07:38Guest:I'd love to do that tonight.

01:07:39Guest:I think if he puts me on the panel,

01:07:42Guest:He owes me.

01:07:44Guest:Does he, why?

01:07:45Guest:He slept with me, not with me, in the same room.

01:07:47Guest:But in your house, you put him up.

01:07:48Guest:I put him up.

01:07:50Guest:And he used to come to me, he says, I hate to follow you.

01:07:53Guest:You know, a lot of comics said, I can't follow Brava.

01:07:55Guest:Really?

01:07:56Guest:Dreesen would say, how do I follow you?

01:07:58Guest:I said, it's easy.

01:07:59Guest:You walk on stage, you get a lunchbox, you drink some hot tea, and you're afraid of seven Jews and a mustache, whatever.

01:08:06Guest:Have you talked to Jay or no?

01:08:09Guest:No, I'm trying to get to him.

01:08:10Guest:We sent a sob story to his talent people.

01:08:13Guest:They liked it.

01:08:14Guest:They want to know what I'm doing now.

01:08:15Guest:But his, what do you call, PR person said, it's a great tape.

01:08:20Guest:Send it to him personally.

01:08:22Guest:So I'm going to try to set up a meeting where I can give him the tape.

01:08:24Guest:And I see some of the comics, not that I'm envious, some of the comics out there, I have something to offer.

01:08:31Guest:Yeah, yeah.

01:08:33Guest:Well, I hope it happens.

01:08:34Marc:I wish you the best of luck with everything.

01:08:35Marc:You are so sweet to have me.

01:08:37Marc:How'd you find me again?

01:08:38Marc:I saw your picture and then somebody, how did that happen?

01:08:43Marc:Somebody got me that sob story.

01:08:45Marc:Uh-huh.

01:08:45Guest:Oh, my partners, the Kyoto Brothers.

01:08:48Guest:They believe in me.

01:08:49Guest:It's Ed, Steve, and Charlie.

01:08:52Guest:Yeah, did they send it to me?

01:08:53Guest:Yeah, and I'm doing a pilot for them about Christmas where the aliens take over Christmas, and I'm doing all the voices.

01:09:02Guest:All right.

01:09:02Guest:Yeah, so that should be fun.

01:09:04Marc:Well, I'm glad you're back at it, Billy.

01:09:05Marc:I love it.

01:09:05Guest:Do you love me a little?

01:09:06Guest:I love you a lot.

01:09:07Guest:Okay, thanks, Mark.

01:09:09Guest:Thank you.

01:09:14Marc:That's it.

01:09:15Marc:Again, I hope you got something out of that.

01:09:20Marc:This is very interesting to me.

01:09:23Marc:Go to WTFPod.com for all your WTFPod needs.

01:09:26Marc:Thank you, Billy Braver, for taking the time, by the way.

01:09:29Marc:Get some merch if you want.

01:09:31Marc:Leave a comment kicking a few shekels.

01:09:33Marc:Get the app.

01:09:34Marc:Upgrade to the premium app.

01:09:36Marc:Father John Misty on Monday.

01:09:37Marc:Following Thursday, Artie.

01:09:39Marc:Artie Lang.

01:09:40Marc:Spectacular conversation.

01:09:42Marc:But that guy can't have anything but spectacular conversation.

01:09:46Marc:I'm going to be in Phoenix, hanging out, hopefully getting some R&R, spending some time with my family.

01:09:53Marc:Everyone here is okay at the Cat Ranch.

01:09:56Marc:Deaf Black Cat was here this morning.

01:09:58Marc:Scaredy Cat was out front this morning.

01:10:00Marc:Those are the two wild cats.

01:10:01Marc:Monkey and La Fonda are fine.

01:10:06Guest:Everything's okay.

01:10:09Guest:It's okay.

01:10:11Guest:Gotta stop eating.

01:10:13Guest:Entirely.

01:10:15Marc:Boomer lives!