Gilbert Gottfried Remembered, with his "Amazing Colossal Podcast" co-host Frank Santopadre

Phil and David remember the late great comedian Gilbert Gottfried -- who passed away in 2022 -- in a very special episode with Frank Santopadre, Gilbert's brilliant co-host on "Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast." Phil and David discuss their shared deep love for Gilbert's comedy and Gilbert and Frank's podcast which influenced "Naked Lunch" more than any other with its loving celebration of conversational, fun-filled storytelling about show business. To follow "Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing, Colossal Podcast with Frank Santopadre," click here! To learn more about building community through food and "Somebody Feed the People," visit the Philanthropy page at philrosenthalworld.com.

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Hello, David, Hey Phil,I am coming to you live from Massachusetts
today and I'm here in LA whichis our first long distance episode ever.
We're long distance lovers today. Well, we're not gonna be loving David.
We're not gonna be loving it.Yeah, Okay, I confess we have

(00:27):
someone great today that maybe this nameis not familiar to you, but if
any of you ever listened to theGilbert Godfrey podcast, no we don't have
Gilbert, but we have Frank SentelPadrick. Tell the people, David.
Frank Santa Padre is a great writerwho I've worked with and a friend and
did a beautiful job bringing Gilbert's geniusto the world on Gilbert Godfried's amazing,

(00:53):
colossal podcast. And we wanted topay tribute to maybe the biggest influence on
this podcast that only in time werealized, you know, this is like
this was a great storytelling podcast.You can still enjoy it and these episodes
are a treasure trove. And Ithink we tried to a little bit walk

(01:15):
in some of their footsteps and weare happy to talk about Gilbert, pay
tribute to him, find out moreabout the how that podcast happened, and
really celebrate Gilbert's legacy, his unlikelyyou know, legacy of love from a
guy who couldn't look an audience inthe eye and yet connected with their hearts.

(01:36):
Very very powerful. Say hello toGilbert's of the half frank centcil Padre.
Let's build the means to the fatfood for thought, jokes on tap,

(01:56):
talking with a mouthsful, having fun, piece of cake, humble pie,
serving up slush, lovely the dressingall the side, It's naked lunch
clothing option. Boys, Can Ican? I? I hate to do
this, but my parents are intown very They're very, very old,

(02:23):
and if I don't go home fordinner, they I may I may not
see them again. Okay, let'slet's plug. Let's can I Can I
come back another time? Absolutely?Let's it was my fault because I was
late with the traffic. So Ilove you guys so much. I can
sit with you all night. Myparents, we have never had a brush
off like that in all the show. Sweet it was very loving in my

(02:46):
life. I'm sorry. My parentsare in town that I know. Hold
it might be home by seven.I'm already gonna be late. Let's let's
plus, it's very late for youguys, don't your families care about you?
It's very late. We're sorry wedidn't catch you when you were in
town. So let's plug the let'splug the new back. Do you want?

(03:08):
Can I come back? And?Absolutely? Okay, of course we
we We barely gotta understand if younever want to see me, well,
this is a very special episode,because uh, I will. From my
point of view, Phil can disagree. There aren't many podcasts that really influenced

(03:30):
our show in any way, butfor me, I have always been a
tremendous fan of Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossalpodcast with Frank Santo Padre and Uh,
Phil and I were together. Idon't know if Phil, if you remember
this. We were together having lunchwhen we found out Gilbert had passed.

(03:52):
And ever since that time, I'vereally thought, how can we honor uh,
this great comedian and his great cohost on this great podcast. And
so we're finally getting around to itnow, and Phil, I spent the
morning listening to you on Gilbert's podcast, which was, Oh my god,

(04:13):
was that great? He was great? Three times? So it might add
yes, So our today we areremembering Gilbert Gottfried with Frank Santo Padre.
Well, this is an honor,gentleman, and thank you so much for
that lovely introduction. It touches me. The two artists that I admire liked
our show, my intro would bevery different, let's hear it. Well,

(04:42):
I haven't talked about what a douchebagFrank was in the writer's room when
we were doing a few in theword. I was saving that till after
he was all buttered up and readyfor I loved being in that writer's room.
Yes, no, Phil did theshow three times. I'm counting the
mini episode that you did with ourmutual friend Mark Malkoff. Oh yes,
okay, and you and you weredelightful and funny and you you know,
and you know fill this like likeyou, David, and like me.

(05:05):
You know, he's a historian.He loves this stuff. He loves he
is in fact history. He loveshis Broadway Danny Rose references and love its
glee. In fact, we hadthree people who were in Broadway Danny Rose
on the podcast, which I'm proudof because the show was in some small

(05:25):
way inspired by that movie. Yeah, we talked about that. Tell tell
the people. Uh, if yougot any insights about the making of that
movie, just because I love that. That's my favorite Woody Allen movie.
From the guys who were in Who'dYou Have On? Did You Have Had?
The two survive the only two survivingmembers of the of the Delhi wraparound

(05:46):
scenes when he started the show,which was in twenty fourteen, the only
two people alive were Will Jordan,right like the late Greade impressionist and a
comic name Howard Storm that's right,and Jack Rawlins and Sandy Barron and Jackie
and Corporate Monica. They're all gone. So Morty Gut, Morty Gunty too.
So we got we were getting intosome hot podcast youth references. The

(06:08):
kids, kids are going to bekids, Gilbert would say, they love
the Morty Gunty references. I amnot ashamed. I think those guys are
great, and I think the movieis great. And for younger listeners or
even older listeners who have not checkedout that movie, I think it's a
classic. And what I love aboutit is it takes on the tone of

(06:33):
comedians telling a story. Yeah,that's it, which is how it opens
and closes. Yeah, And itis as perfect comedy as you're ever gonna
see agreed. Well, by theway, Phil, I'm sorry it may
be significant. The Diner and probablyDanny Rose are two shows that maybe have

(06:55):
sort of ended up with you sittingaround on a podcast talking to people over
food and telling stories. Listen thatthat's that's where all you know, so
many funny stories come from lunch.That's why we're doing this. Isn't that
the only isn't that the only reasonwe went into show business for the story
to have one to eat? BroadwayDanny Rose, when Gilbert's wife approached me

(07:17):
and said, let's you know,she wanted to kind of take the late
night phone calls, which again wasjust like the two of us, like
now, the two of us gettingon the phone and talking about Sandy Barron
and Morty Gunty till one o'clock inthe morning. And dare it was Gilbert's
wife, Dara, who said,can you do something with these conversations?
Can you broaden this out? Canyou for massive people? And I said,

(07:39):
who the hell's going to listen tothis? And then I thought about
Broadway Danny Rose. What if wegot a bunch of funny people in a
room and we just told war stories, we just had tell and pretty soon
it became apparent that we couldn't doa round table like that, We couldn't
have five or six people every week. But that but that was the conceit.
In fact, the show started atGilbert's kitchen table and Sagged and Judd

(08:01):
Apatow and Larry Storch and Dick Cavittand people like that would just come and
just tell stories, and that wasthe show. Somehow it turned into seven
years of that. Wow, sevenyears. Yes, we we we were
like a year and a half andwe're already like speaking legal account, you're
running our fumes already were already haverestrainings exactly. Uh no, But Frank,

(08:26):
let's go back and even a littlefurther. How did you meet Gilbert?
And let's just talk about Phil Howdid you become such a fan?
I know, I grew up,you know, in New York area going
to clubs, and he was oneof the first comedians I ever loved.
But uh, I guess first,Frank, how did you meet Gilbert?
Uh? I met Gilbert many manytimes over the years. The first time

(08:48):
I saw him was on stage atthe Comic Strip when I was a kid,
probably still in college, and Iwas. I just fell in love
with his act. Uh you know, I mean the guy. I mean,
it's it's it's the it's the yearat this point, what nineteen eighty
four, eighty three, and theguy is up there doing I'm Dickens.
He's Fenster references, which Marty Angels. By the way, there's a call

(09:13):
back because I know you talked abouthim on your Sewan Cassidy episode. Yes
yet angles action. He's doing bitsabout Baila Lagosi and uh Chicko, Marx
and Psycho and all of this stuffthat just rewarded people like us who cared
about this stuff and cared about thesenames, and half the audience was just
stupefied. But I fell in love. In fact, that was That was

(09:37):
a pivotal moment for me because Iwas in film school at art school and
kind of not knocking around, notsure what I wanted to do, and
I was so inspired by seeing himthat I really thought maybe I could make
some kind of a go of itin comedy and television, and the thought
of working the thought that you knowwhat, you guys talk about that kind
of stuff on your show, howodd things happen and happy accidents, the

(10:00):
thought that I would be working withhim years down the road was so alien
to me. But I would seehim repeatedly as I got into the business.
I ran into him over the years, many many times. And the
running joke is kind of like thegag on The Simpsons where mister Burns continues
to have no idea who Homer is. You know that that runner, Yes,
of course, even after his sonhas given Burns a blood transfusion and

(10:24):
his wife has painted him in thenude. Frank, you are talking to
a Simpsons character. Phil. I'vebeen there at the Simpsons when he does
his voice, his voice work forthem. There you go, that's right,
that's right, Simpson's royalty. SoI kept running into Gilbert at events,
at autograph shows, at rap parties. We had him on a show
called Caroline's Comedy Hour, which Iwrote for, which started the late rich

(10:46):
Richard Jenny. And each time Gilberthimself Latipus Man himself. Yes, each
time Gilbert would engage with me,and I would think we're establishing a relationship,
and then if I saw him sixmonths later, no idea who I
was. This went on for adecade more. I'd say, Gilbert,

(11:07):
you remember you remember me, andhe'd say, oh, yeah, you're
the guy in the in the multicolored shirt. Yes. So, like
so many of us, no matterthe age, an old Jewish man resides
inside. Absolutely absolutely he just whetherit was because he was on the spectrum,
which he was, or because hewas just so self involved in a

(11:31):
way as comics tend to be.He had no idea who I was.
We spent an entire day together atan autograph show in the Valley. David.
You remember they used to do thosenostalgia shows at the Beverly Garland Hotel.
I went there absolutely love love thatanymore. I don't know if they
still do them. I'm not inLa anymore. They may, but you
know you would. Ken Berry wouldshow up, and Howard Morris from your

(11:54):
Show of Shows, and Don Nottsand Norman Fell from Threees Company, and
Gilbert and I spent an entire daythere. But I drove him there.
I picked him up. I sawhim walking down Ventura Boulevard in La.
I did a U turn and Isaid, you know, get in the
car. He had no idea whoI was. We just worked together on
carolines about six months earlier. Anyway, I took him to the show.

(12:15):
We spent a day together, andI thought, now he knows who I
am. The very next time Isaw him, no idea, Oh boy,
let me ask you, Frank run. Is he a guy who until
he got married and perhaps got socializedand civilized and sort of put further down
the spectrum closer to h and youknow, uh, did he need to

(12:41):
get married and have a life tobecome more very humanized? Very much so.
I mean he was living in hismother's He was living in an apartment
with his mom, with lawn chairs, with lawn furniture in the living room,
patio furniture. I think when hegot paid for a gig, he
would basically ask to be paid cashand stuff it in bags. I mean,

(13:01):
it's like a little bit of CollierBrothers here. And I think Dara,
well, Dara humanized him in somany ways. I mean, she
they were able to start a family, They bought property, he got a
bank account. He was a guykind of living on the fringes of society
in spite of being a celebrity,which is an interesting dynamic. Is it

(13:24):
true that he would would need todo a gig in a town he would
bring take home, the hangers fromthe hotel. Yes, sir, that
is absolutely true. He would takeeverything. He would take the bathrobe,
he would take the slip, thecomplimentary slippers. Did you see the Gilbert
documentary? Yes, if you haven'tseen, it's actually available now you can.

(13:45):
You can see it for free onI think it's Hulu or one of
them. It's from twenty seventeen,and it is a great window into this
man. You're Frank, You're init. I love when they have the
podcast moment. But thank and JudyGold, who's been a past guest,
is in it. Phil Yeah,uh yeah, I recommend it highly Well,
if you remember the doc, Imean Dara was pulling out gigantic tupperware

(14:11):
cases of soaps, of hotel soapsand shampoos. He too, He took
everything. We had a party,maybe after the first or second year of
the podcast. We had a partyfor the few staffers that were working doing
audio and social media and whatnot inan Italian restaurant. He went around with
a bag and took whatever everybody lefton their plate. I'm not kidding.

(14:33):
God love him, and I don'teven think he had any intention of eating
it. He just couldn't couldn't livewith the waist. Yeah, pathological,
I understand. Listen. I takeif there is a shampoo I like in
the hotel, I take it too. Yeah, but you don't take you
don't take two hundred shampoos and threehundred bars and twenty robes, which is

(14:54):
what Dara eventually had to shed.Why the way, if the if the
hotels see is that you took therobe, you're getting charged for that.
I couldn't tell you. Listen,this is a guy who was walking around
with his bar miss from money stillin his pocket. So I don't know,
you know, I don't know thathe got charged, or maybe if

(15:15):
he did, he would have stopped. I don't think you can just take
the robe has a little tag onit that says Phil. I think that's
at your finer four seasons where youmight be staying. I think in some
of these other hotels it's just Ramadain Cincinnati. I don't know they even
have a robe in some of yourfiner more all right, more elite.

(15:37):
Well, I'm learning. I'm learninga lot. I know where to go
to get called Dara. She stillhas some I mean there were there were
he'd do a radio gig on theroad, he'd do a morning show and
he'd ask for swag and they'd goand they'd find him a T shirt.
So he had something like three hundredT shirts from from radio stations around the

(15:58):
country from gig, so we'd havea wardrobe. Yeah. He never drove.
He never got a license. Soas soon as he got into a
town to do a gig and thecar would pick him up, he would
ask the driver to take him tothe to the ninety nine cents store wherever,
wherever it was, whether he wasin a Boston or Minneapolis or Miami,

(16:21):
had to go to the ninety ninecents store. He loved. He
loved just buying things that were discounted. If he could get a toothpaste for
eighty seven cents, he had tohave it. This is Jack Benny level.
Yeah, except that was a character, That's right, But this is
That's what I'm saying, This isfor real. Yeah. So it all

(16:41):
ties in to go back to David'squestion about how did we meet. It
all ties into his idiosyncratic behavior.Uh, you know, he never threw
anything away. He reused dental flossover and over. Jeff Ross said at
his service. You know, Gilbert'sthe first millionaire to ever be bury with
a strand of dental floss in hispocket. And it's true. I mean

(17:04):
so so he was a very hardguy to get to know. And though
I, again I had worked withhim, I had written for him,
I had spent days with him,I had had meals with him, he
really didn't know me. We gotto the eventually I got I was a
writer on the Joy Behart Show.You were a guest on that show,
Philip. I loved Joy alright.She was great and we even I think,

(17:30):
tried to develop a sitcom for her, did you years and years ago
when we first got to town.Yeah, yeah, I know she had
something like going. Was that thething with Lewis Black? No, it
was about I think, because shecorrect me if I'm wrong, she used
to be a teacher. She wasa teacher. Yeah, so it was
about you know, her being ateacher. That was going to be the
sitcom. But then she got theview and we know what happened, right,

(17:53):
and the rest is history. ButI was on the Beheart Show and
Gilbert became our Tony Randall. Hebecame our last minute phil in guest,
right, if somebody canceled and youhad a slot. You knew Gilbert was
a subway right away, and hewould come just he would come for craft
services. And I finally got toknow Dara, his wife, so I
developed a relationship with her while stillnot developing a relationship with him. She

(18:17):
remembered you, though, she rememberedme. She remembered me. She had
met me at parties, she'd metme at meals. So I got a
phone call one day from Dara andshe said, William Morris is desperate for
Gilbert to update his act. He'sstill doing references to the Ropers. It's
two thousand, it's it's the yeartwo thousand and twelve. His closer is,

(18:40):
you know, an art carny bitand and he can't do the same
act. We have nothing. Wehave nothing. We can't book him,
and we can't get him new gigs. We can't book him on talk shows.
By the way, sorry Broadway DannyRose discussion. Yes, So Dara
said, he needs a writer.Will you work with him on freshening up
his act? And I knew immediatelythat was a fool's Errand because one nobody

(19:03):
could write for him, you know, nobody could write here's Jerry Lewis singing,
singing you know, uh uh andPinball Wizard right or singing you know,
feel me that's me, you know, or Chicko Marks and Psycho my
favorite bit. Sure, lady,we got plenty of rooms. You can't

(19:27):
write that, you know, thatis him, That is so uniquely him
and uniquely his sensibility. And Ialso knew he'd never pay me, so
she said, I'll pay you,don't worry. But it never happened.
We got on the phone and hewas reluctant, and he didn't like the
idea of collaborating with anybody for hisstand up act, which I can appreciate.

(19:47):
What these late night calls, youknow, twenty minute calls led to
our calls led to two hour calls, and we found ourselves on the phone
every night talking about Ted Bessel asone as one does, and and Corbett
Monica and uh, you know,and Buddy Epson and and we would laugh

(20:08):
just till all hours of the nightand and uh, the phone calls were
really something. And Dara was listeningin and and she said, I've never
seen him laugh like that, notconsistently. We must do something with this,
and then I thought, well,what if we did a nostalgia show
where we talked about these people wherewe've found people that were still around.

(20:29):
We found the Larry Storches and theBarbara Feldons and uh, and we interviewed
them and we we kind of didthis nostalgia show, kind of like the
Joe Franklin Show, but with actualcelebrities. By the way, you when
Phil was on your podcast, oneof the times, uh, you talked
about a the Joe Franklin transsition,you know in conversation where Joe just go

(20:51):
and it's so it's so hysterical.Great. On our recent episode with Wendy
Malick, I literally did talking aboutHunter Thompson. What was it like with
David Hasselhoff. I'm baywatching, youknow, I'm like, wow, that
is my joke. That's a JoeFranklin moment. I finally achieved Franklin past.

(21:11):
You don't need, you don't needsegways. Speaking of no segways,
you mentioned this amazing woman who marriesGilbert. Yes, she is an amazing

(21:32):
woman, and and any theories on, Like, I know they met at
a Grammy related event. So theymet at a Grammy event. When she
saw him, she saw him eatingfood that somebody had dropped on the table.
That's what that worked for her.At the banquet table, somebody dropped
or she saw him taking food outof someone else's plate. I think he

(21:52):
took something out of her plate.And I don't know. Dara, God
love her, she has this kindof uh she was attracted to something about
him, you know, like littlelost boy. I suppose. Yeah.
And she went on a lot ofdates in those days, but Gilbert was
the one that she focused on.And and he didn't want any kind of

(22:18):
ties, you know, he didn't, he didn't. You know, Gilbert
was singing, baby, don't gethooked on me. And it took her
a long time. Uh, theircourtship took a long time. And it
took it. It took a longtime for him to get serious and to
him, for for him to evenconsider things like starting a family and and
and this this is all amazing becauseif you really a rescue job, come

(22:41):
down to it. Well, ifyou look at you know, if you
look at the documentary, Gilbert wasnot just like a man child. He
was like an old man child.Yes, yes, yes, And darres
very attractive woman. Very together.She is uh and uh. I just
think she seems like a saint andthe mirror saint, the miracle of the
movie. And I don't know her, but the miracle of the movie the

(23:03):
documentary. I got to meet Gilberta few times. But the miracle is
that that this guy got maybe hislast shot, as it would turn out,
to have a family, to seeminglybe a loving, beautiful child and
yeah, you know, to twothese two children and to be a it's
kind of an amazing story. Andit's I'm glad it happened. How are

(23:26):
they doing. They're doing well.You know. I think I think Lily
is uh the older the older child. I think Lily's fourteen now and Max's
twelve, unless I'm getting those ageswrong. But they're beautiful kids. It's
a it's a wonderful family. Hewas great with them, you know,
Dara said, I have three childrennow. He was much more a playmate

(23:47):
with them than he was a parent. Yeah, which was which was interesting
to observe. And I have darreto thank because there would have been no
show without her urging us on.And as I said, seven years and
six hundred and thirty seven shows andit was honor of my life. And
yeah, and frank A, you'regreat on the show, Gilbert. It's

(24:08):
almost like when he would be whenhe would screw something up, it made
the show better because of course clearlyyou were doing research something, you know,
you were doing preparation. He wouldread intros that I'm going to assume
you were writing for him, yes, and with varioussumption, with various levels
of like they were not all great, uh like Stanislavski preparation, by the

(24:32):
way, the world's longest intros,thank you. Yes, that that was
just that was just a gag.That was just a runner that developed.
It was hilarious. Well, andthe more he would screw them up,
the more the more fun we wouldhave with them. And then I couldn't
Then I just couldn't take them outof the show because they were just too
good. Phil The intros were solong that on the first time you did
the show, you actually cut itoff. I've almost never heard this on

(24:55):
a podcast. You were like,I have to go to dinner with my
parents. That's right, that's right. He was trying to get the hell
out of there. You actually youended it and then you came back.
They're great appearances. Phil, youwere just great. I love it you.
You brought out the the hidden storiesin people, certainly not just me.
I loved going on the show becausethat was the place where you could

(25:21):
tell the arcane show business stories thatyes nobody you can't go on Stephen Colbert
and tell these stories that you butbut you know, wonderful, hilarious meetings
of of uh celebrities that that onlythree people knew about. But the stories

(25:45):
were always tell us a couple.I'm sure you've had hundreds of standout moments,
but are there any highlights for you? So many? Yeah, tell
us so many because I'm such afan and I've probably heard thank you vis
But but tell the listeners. Iwant them to know what And you know,

(26:06):
the podcast is still available. Youcan still yes, these interviews and
shows. We're still getting one hundredthousand downloads a week, to my shock
and delight that people are still discoveringthe show. Now, that's great.
And we put up two episodes aweek. We put up an encore show

(26:26):
on Monday and a classic show onThursday. And it's a like I said,
it's almost seven hundred shows, soit's a deep archive that's right.
It's it's you've gone into syndication.Yes, so to speak, really and
so many stories. I mean TonyOrlando singing ty a Yellow Ribbon and pulling
Dara into the booth, all ofus singing ty a yellow ribbon with Tony

(26:48):
Tony Orlando. That's nice. Uh, just you know, it's not much
to describe it. You have tohear it. Just see Gilbert delight in
those things. Uh. That thatwas That was something that gave me extra
pleasure. Was was was watching thesheer joy on his face when he got

(27:11):
to meet his heroes and in manycases heroes that would come on the show
like Norman Leary, your friend Philwould come on the show and say,
I'm a lifelong Gilbert fan. Yeah, he didn't know that. He had
no access to that, no wayof knowing that had we not had Norman
on the show. So it wasa second life for him. It was
a it was a we we kindof designed it as a victory lap for

(27:34):
the guests and when it wound upbeing one for him. When when a
Keith Carradine would come on, ora Treat Williams would come on and start
doing Gilbert impressions and no bits fromhis act Yeah, and the world take
who does the best Gilbert imitation you'veever heard? You must have heard quite
a few. Well, a noncelebrity, a guy like somewhat of a

(27:57):
celebrity is a voiceover artist of agentleman named Barrett Letty. But off the
celebrities on the show, you'll laugh, but Amy Ryan Ass doesn't, doesn't.
Absolutely wonderful Gilbert, please please welcometo this show an actress, nothing

(28:23):
like what's doing? Great range?Oh god, there were a few people,
so many people tried to do it, and then we would do it.
We would do sing alongs with thelikes of Jimmy Webb and Stephen Bishop
and Kenny Loggins, and they wouldthey couldn't resist breaking into a Gilbert impression

(28:45):
for a couple of bars. There'ssomebody, what were some of your biggest
laughs? Oh, let's go tolet's go to your buddy, let's go
to Brad Garrett. I Well,listen both the story about Sinatra stick around
for Frank, Yeah, which whichwe all know, which is gold,

(29:07):
but also the story about Peter Boyle'sflatulence, which which, to hear Brad
tell it is art. It's purecan't turn anything into comedy. He's really
brilliantly funny. Brilliantly funny, andyou would get rack. And we,
you know, we were always onthe lookout for rack and tours, you

(29:27):
know, people like Richard Kind.Yeah, people who would be great with
you guys, people who know howto come on and tell a showbiz story
and tell an old showbiz story,maybe when they weren't even personally involved.
Yes. And as far as you'resaying, booking obscure people, the deeper
you got into the show, andyou weren't fortunate enough to book a Dick

(29:49):
van Dyke every week or an AlanArkin every week, even though those were
both turning points for us, Irealized we were doing an oral history of
show business, right, So Isaid to Gilbert, what if we started
reaching out to people who were alittle bit off the beaten path. Yes,
And one of those people was BillySaluga. That you could call me

(30:10):
Ray, guy who made a careerbasically out of playing this ridiculous character in
a zoot suit with a stogie.It doesn't have to call me Johnson,
Yes, Yuke, and I foundhim in the phone book, had called
him up and he was very humble. He just passed away. Actually,
he was very humble. And whenI told him some of the names we

(30:32):
had on the show, he said, you sure you want me? And
I said, Billy, you're abrick in the wall. Frank, That's
that's what I said when Phil askedme to do the podcast with him,
exactly, you got the wrong guy. But guys like are Matrano remember that.
Yes, of course, guys likethat, you know, guys like

(30:52):
John Binner, people who had beenforgotten for the for the most part,
we realized my wife was right.My wife said, it doesn't matter they're
level of fame. Everybody has astory to tell. That's true, and
that became that that kind of becameone of the themes of the show.
Come and tell us your your stories. And it gave us pleasure to tell
a Billy Saluga and an Art Metranothat they mattered. Yeah, they were,

(31:15):
that they were part of this.And Frank, just so you know,
on our podcast, you know,I don't think we ever discussed really
you know, it was a processstarting a podcast, you know, making
you know, but we never discussedwhat should it be other than it was
based on the fact that we wouldhave lunches with friends and and and and
tell stories. But the first twowere Ray and Brad Right and Brad we

(31:41):
all ended up telling uh rickles stories, as you know, it's just it's
just great, great stories. Andthen my friend Brad Paisley who was now
Phil's friend, Brad Brad Paisley,and he was talking about Andy Griffith and
all these great countries buck you know, buck Owens and all these and it
and this respect for your elders.It's so great. And I think we
got some of our love of itfrom listening to your podcast. Thank you

(32:05):
and we And what's funny is we'veended up trying to, you know,
do that as well. And it'sfunny because when you start a podcast,
you know, inevitably someone in thepodcast business will tell you, U do
we really need It's so and soa little old for this, like literally,
you know, we were told PaulRiiser doesn't need to be in the
first fifty and we were like,I mean, Paul Riiser, who's stranger

(32:28):
things, Paul Riiser, who's youknow, uh, you know, unbelievably
great storyteller. And then you dothe podcast and those are the most popular
episodes. You know it doesn't.Of course, people don't listen to young
and hip, they listen to greatstories. Yes, do you think we
were the only people, Frank you, me, David Gilbert who sat in
our rooms and watched too much televisionin the sixties and seventies and read the

(32:52):
credits totally ones, and read thecredits and knew the names of the behind
the see that and laughed at thesepeople who became very important to us because
they made us laugh and because theywould influence what we would choose to do
with our lives. They're not justnameless faces. And this is what I

(33:14):
loved about you and Gilbert's show isyou. You not only celebrated these great
people, there was a type ofhonor in it, giving them this nice
platform. That was the idea.Well, you did a beautiful It became

(33:34):
a tribute show. You know whenyou you guys know this. You when
you start a show, you're kindof finding the show, you know.
I was. I was happy tobe kind of in the George Phenoman role.
There's a there's a reference of listeners. The kids love that one.
I knew I was the second bananacoming in and I was content to be
that guy and to to add thingson occasion. If you listen to the

(33:55):
very very early shows, I'm nottalking that much. But it also became
apparent to me early on that Gilbertwas too shy to really take the reins
of his own show. Yes,he wasn't going to do the research,
and he didn't have enough knowledge.He had a little bit of curiosity,
but he didn't have enough knowledge,and he didn't have notes, and he
didn't have he didn't have anything tosustain him once we got past the twenty

(34:19):
minute mark with someone like Lee Grant, you know, but think I would,
at least when I was on,I noticed that he would suddenly take
an interest and ask his own stuff. Yes, but the point is he
kind of he kind of became thecolor, the color commentator on his own
show, and I shifted into theI shifted into the Vince Gully seat,

(34:40):
into the into the play by playseat by default, not because of not
because of ego, but but somebodykind of had to run the thing.
But it worked because he's a funnysprintzer and he could always he could always
get a laugh, not just becauseof what he was saying, but because
of how he says, yes,Frank, can we talk about how the

(35:15):
irony or the beauty? I thinkboth. It's both beautiful and ironic that
this guy who would get in troublefor saying things you know that at least
even then they said you can't andnow you definitely couldn't certain things that and
a guy with not only got introuble but lost lost a multimillion dollar gig.

(35:36):
Exactly. I've had aflack. Yes, no, I remember that well.
That he My sense is I nevermet anyone who didn't love the guy
like he is. He you know, his inability to maybe even bond with
you for it took him And Idon't know, maybe even by the way,
I'm one of Phil's episodes, yousay, you know, Gilbert,

(35:57):
what kind of food do you like? I don't really know? And I'm
like, how do you not knowwhat kind of food he likes? And
it's like he must have been auniquely difficult guy to He was a man
of mystery and in a way aman of mystery to the very end.
But I no, I mean wehad we spent thousands of hours together and
I and when he passed, Iknew so little about him. I know
that sounds strange. You know,we didn't we didn't pal around like,

(36:21):
we didn't go to the movies,and you know we we were and we
became business partners, you know it. It kind of became a business.
I mean every now and then we'dhave a meal, but that he wouldn't
pay for what. But you neverreally he was inscrutable to the end.
You really never got inside the guyor or or got to know the guy.

(36:43):
And it was strange because I lovedhim and and uh, and yet
he remained mysterious and kind of andkind of inaccessible to the end. Does
that make sense? It does.I mean one of the last things he
did, correct me if I'm wronghere is is I think he did the
joke for max On on Somebody feedPhil He and he, yeah, didn't.

(37:06):
I was shocked to learn that hehated to travel. He didn't.
His favorite thing, he said,was when I get a gig and it
gets canceled. Yes, he usedto. He used to pray, and
he wasn't a religious person. Heused to pray that there was there was
a fire and the and the sprinklersystem would go off in the club and
the place would flood if he gota if he got a call saying the

(37:28):
gig, the whole weekend is canceled. He was euphoric. He didn't like
to perform. I mean he washe was a strange cat. I mean,
he'd been on stage since he wasfifteen. And I heard Sean Cassidy
telling you guys that, you know, he didn't he didn't feel comfortably.
He didn't feel like himself being onstage, being a performer. I don't
think Gilbert. Look the first fifteenyears, twenty years of his act.

(37:49):
I mean he's clutching the mic andclosing his eyes. Imagine imagine a performer
who's not making eye contact with theaudience. You know who did that.
I think we talked about this.It was Woody Allen when he started Rollins
Jack. I talked to Jack Rollins. He said that when he and Joffey
discovered him in a nightclub, theysaid it was the bravest thing they'd ever

(38:12):
seen, because this skinny little guywas so nervous up there. He would
strangle himself, wrapping himself in themicrophone board, and you could barely hear
him, and the audience was barelypaying attention when Woody Allen was on stage
and but if you listen, youheard the most brilliant you're writing, the

(38:34):
most brilliant stand up ever. Andthey said, the bravest thing they've ever
seen was that that guy got onstage every single night for five years until
he honed the act and got alittle less nervous. There you go.
I think there were maybe there weremaybe similarities there. I think so.

(38:54):
But Gilbert crafted a character that's iconic. It was a character, and it
was all for him. He hisgoal was to go up and amuse himself
by making these obscure references, youknow, doing an impression of Jackie Gleason
and Casablanca hilarious, and and andyou know, ridiculous bits about Charles Manson

(39:15):
and Hitler, and and and andabsurdity. I mean, I used to
say to him, you're a surrealist. You know you're a surrealist. He
had a joke. He had ajoke. I wonder if in the Middle
Ages people walked around saying, wow, this is a really long time ago.
It's a it's brilliant. It's StephenWright esque. You know, years
before Stephen Wright and we would talkabout his act, and I don't think

(39:37):
even I don't think he even satdown and intellectually deconstructed his act. He
would go, yeah, just saywhat he wanted to say, you know,
obscure things that he wrote down,or bits that came to him,
and he would do it and maybemain eye contact with the audience a little
bit, mostly not, and andhe'd be done. And he didn't ever

(39:59):
think about it a lot. Didyou ever explain to you where the voice
came from? I think again,it was a character when he was fifteen
and he got on stage the firsttime. He couldn't remember the venue.
I think it was the Village Gateor the bottom Line, one of those
two. And he was doing impressionslike a young comic that didn't really have
an act. He'd get up andDuke Leeson and he'd do Baila, and

(40:19):
he'd do carl Off and he'd doBogey and that the act, the character,
I guess developed over time, andthe voice, the voice came with
it. So he felt as animpressionist, he was more comfortable than being
just Gilbert, and so when hehad to be Gilbert, he invented another
character for Gilbert correct so that whenwe started the show, I think what

(40:42):
was revelatory to people was they'd neverheard him. They'd never heard him talk
out of character, right, Maybea little bit in interviews on The Stern
Show over the years, but hewas really always performative on those shows.
For him to come on and sitdown and hold a microphone for an hour
and a half and talk to DickCavit and have a conversation was actually hard.
Yeah, talk like a person.And so I think that's one of

(41:05):
the things that gave the show instantnovelty is, oh my god, I've
been listening to this guy squawk onstage as this character all these years.
There's actually a person there that lovesyou the Universal horror movies. But he
would go into it at at thedrop of a hat. Also, sure,
and if you got if you ifyou talk to him, if you
approached him at a party and youtried to praise him, or you tried
to he would shut down. Ifyou approached him and you said, Gilbert,

(41:30):
I understand that you love Claude Rainsand that you love Abbot and Costello,
Mead Frankenstein, he would he wouldblossom and open up and you'd have
his attention for hours. So butit was, it was it was hard
to break through. There were therewere years of you know, you guys
talk about neurosis on the show.I heard you talking about neurotic people.

(41:52):
You know what I forgot and Rayyou were talking about how raised neurosis only
hurts himself. He's not one ofthose neurotic performers in Gilbert, I think
it. I think those neuro season, those inhibitions, I think kind of
ran the show. I forgot whathe passed from. What did he passed
away from? Uh? Well,really heart failure, which was brought about

(42:12):
by a condition called my atonic distrophe. Oh did you did you see any
of it coming? Oh? Yeah, he was in. He was in.
He was deteriorating for a good year, year and a half. I
mean, there were there were pointswhen we were going to stop the show
because I didn't think he was physicallyup to it, even though at that
point they were pandemic shows and hewas really We did them all over zoom
with him in his living room inFlorida, and I was trying not to

(42:36):
tax him, but Darra said,no, no, he needs to continue
to do the show because it's somethingthat he looks forward to every week,
so I think it was sixty seven. H Yeah, Well I wonder if
you've if you've thought about this.I thought about it last night because I
went to listen to some of myfavorite old episodes, and you know,
there's certain people who've passed who werevery old, and then there's people like

(43:00):
Treat Williams. I listened to thatepisode which was Phil right at sort of.
It's the first voice you hear onthat episode and one of my favorite
episodes Mike Nesmith from The Monkeys.It's a great episode, and that's an
example, right, That's like youran into him at a convention and he
was flipping out over getting to talkto Gilbert. It's like, yeah,

(43:20):
which happens with Phil on some ofour episodes. You get you get big
stars fanboying out to Phil. Butlike Mike Nesmith couldn't believe he was talking
to Gilbert. It sounded like thatwas a happy accident. We were at
the Chiller Fest in New Jersey,which is another one of these big nostalgia
and autograph shows. Gilbert had hisown table. New Jersey is arguably the
most chilling state. I'm from there. I yes, I know that we

(43:43):
found out who was going to bethere, And of course that was a
place for us to troll for guestsfor bookings. You know, there's Howard
Hesseman in the corner, and there'sRip Toren was sitting there, and Louise
last Hour and and and Gilbert hada and James Darren from the Time Tunnel.
And I said, well, let'ssee if we can book somebody these
people. And we focused on LeeMerriweather, who was a doll and very
sweet. And we didn't know Nesmithwas there. And when I saw Nesmith,

(44:08):
I saw, well we got tointerview Mike Nesmith. How are we
going to do this? And hewas up in his room. I told
David the story on the phone.We basically shamelessly used Gilbert's children as bait.
They were I think they were fourand six at the time. And
Derris said, go knock on hisdoor. Is not him in New Jersey
to do that? I guess wethought if you couldn't, he couldn't be

(44:29):
mean or or or rude to afour year old. It was knocking on
his door, not that they knewwho Mike Nesmith was. We wound up
going into his room, max outon his lap and we did this impromptu
interview which I didn't really prepare for. I managed to write some cards,
you know, to I knew enoughabout the monkeys to get by. But
if you listen to that interview,I'm kind of winging it. And that

(44:50):
was not Mike, That was notmy preferred way of working. But that
was a blessing, you know.And then he told us some great tales
out of school and we had Dolan'stoo. I know you guys had you
know, it's meeting your heroes,yeah, you know, and and and
David. I hear you talk alot about this stuff about getting to meet
Neil, Diamond and and Phil,you know, you befriending Carl and Norman

(45:12):
and and and and people like this. We're blessed, we're released because you
embrace your childhood. Really, yeah, you meet these people, Yeah,
that's what it is. It's areturn to what you loved as a kid,
and to find that you know,they're still great, which is ninety
nine percent of the time. Ifind right us too. And that was

(45:32):
the that was the I remember Gilberttelling me when we first started the show
that he would watch Love Boat rerunsand a lot of these people were considered
passe at that point, a lotyou know, a Van Johnson or a
uh, you know, Caesar Romero. Dare I throw that name out?
Our listeners will know what that means. Oh boy, yes, to have

(45:53):
those people on the show. AndGilbert would insist, you know, I
watched them and they're as good asthey ever were. So we had we
had this resentment for this idea ofputting people out to pasture and and and
the agesm in the business. AndI thought, if we get John Byner
on here, uh or or oror some of these people, I bet,

(46:14):
I bet there is Malcolm McDowell oryou know an anybody who's you know,
in their eighties at this point,and they would deliver. They were
they were fantastic interviews. They werefunny, they had stories, they knew
how to tell those stories, theyknew how to pay off those stories.
And then you realize you can't,you can't write these people off. That

(46:36):
was that was a point of pridewith me and the show to introduce those
people to younger generations. We getmail from people in their twenties or their
thirties saying I didn't know who BarbaraFeldon was I didn't who ken Berry was
or John Byner until I listened tothe show, and that meant a lot
to us, and I hope tothem, you know, I would share
the social media with them, Dave. I would. I would make sure

(46:59):
that I would a screen capture ofall the Facebook posts and all the tweets,
and I would send it to thembecause a lot of these people were
not computer savvy, Yes, andI would send it to them and I
would say, look, you knowyou are, you are still remembered,
you are still appreciated. That thatgave great joy to be able to do
that. No, by the way, like there's I'm sorry, Phil,

(47:21):
go ahead. I was gonna say, there's this democracy in the podcast world
where you don't have to get giantnumbers, you don't have to get ratings
that executives care about. So sureenough, you put on someone that you
loved as a kid or loved formany, many years, and sure enough,
there's lots of people out there whofeel the same way and were are

(47:46):
so happy to see these folks absolutely, and executives are the only ones that
don't care absolutely, and they werehappy to come on and tell their stories
because, as you said, earlier, Phil, there are other than pot
casting. There is no forum.There's no television show. Charlie Rose is
gone, cost Us is gone,Cavet's gone. There's no hour. You

(48:07):
can't do an hour with Peter Bogdanovichor or Richard Donner or or Joel Gray
or any of the people that wehad on the show. There's no there's
no forum for that. Frank pastYeah, and Frank you, I guess
you said a nice thing to uson email about like the Jeff Bridges episode
and wonderful, The truth is noand the truth is Phil and I went
it was over, Phil, becausethat was the first one we did by

(48:29):
zoom, and this is the firstone we've ever done where Phil and I
are not in the same room everyBut at the end of that episode,
you said, well, that's thedefinition of what this show should be.
That's the secret of life being shared, and that's the absolute truth. Elaine
may only Phil would have another gradein his house. And he goes,

(48:49):
should I ask her to be onthe podcast? And I was like,
yes, please, and and shesaid yes, what's a podcast? And
you know, you go, wehave what is herst We knew it was
an exclusive yes, good for you. And she was a white whale for
us. I never got her.Yeah, she's in your in your neck
of the woods. I just mether for the first time. She she

(49:09):
came to one of joy writes playson the side and she said, come
to my reading and I went andElane May was there to give and to
give feedback. And I went upto her, and you know, I'm
fan boying out my god, ElaneMay. And I said, let me
tell you something. I said,Ishtar is my favorite Hope and Crosby Road
movie. Great, because that's whatshe was trying to do. And she

(49:32):
took my hand and she said,thank you for getting it. Oh.
We had a little five minute conversation. I don't have the good fortune to
befriend her as Phil did. Butthese are giants walking among us. That's
right. You couldn't put a microphonein front of them and get You know
who's got more wonderful stories to tellin Elane May? For God's sake or
wisdom and insight also valuable. Alsovaluable you realize that a show like this

(49:59):
my show or the show you're youguys are doing can take on another level.
It's also a master class because you'regetting you're you're getting the wisdom and
you're getting the the knowledge that ofcourse people should put a microphone in front
of them. And it's Kevin forpodcasting because it's actually, really, at

(50:19):
this point, the only medium wherewhere we're an interview like this and we're
in a ninety minute interview with ElaneMay is going to exist. I'm very
grateful. I'm very grateful, Ireally am. I'm grateful that that the
medium does exist. So you guyshave that. You guys are doing a
mitzvah, So don't forget that youare. What are you doing? Tell
the people what you're doing? Now? Well, I'm on strike, Nice,

(50:45):
I'm on strike from the view whereI work with Joy and oh certainly
I certainly will say hi for youand uh, and I do some other
fun things on that show. Whatdo you do? Yeah? I write,
you know, I write the littlethe little bumpers, the little coming
up next, Nice or whoever itis, Lionel Ritchie or Morgan Freeman or

(51:07):
who's you know, just just sothere's a little bit of thirty seconds of
something funny before going to a commercial. I also would very much like to
start another show, which I intendto do and then should I've been.
I've been off the mic since Gilbertpassed in April. You guys came on
the air right around the time hepassed, actually right around the time we
wrapped Yes I first show, andyeah, April spring spring of twenty two,

(51:30):
we were meeting about a podcast wewere talking about when we heard that
Gilbert passed, and you know,i'd met him April briefly a few times
and like, uh, I wason an episode of the Corolla podcast with
him. Huh. And so Ihave one picture where, you know,
which I'm glad to have because Iyou know, I loved him, but

(51:52):
I loved him as a guy goingto the comic strip in the like late
eighties, early nineties, I guesssure, And it was amazing interesting time
in New York because I the peopleI loved at that error were Ray Romano,
Uh, Chris Rock, who washad like four great minutes and was
about to become you know, Iremember seeing Chris Rock at the strip in

(52:12):
those days, Yeah, Jeff Ross, and Gilbert. I'd trying to think
where I saw Gilbert. Would itCould it have been at the comic strip?
Maybe a Caroline's at the Seaport Caroline. I went there a lot.
Yes, he would do an hourshow, an hour and a half show.
Then he he actually he actually hada work ethic in those days.
And you'd get to see if he'ddo a Springsteen show, you know,
a long show. Yeah, andthen you know, he just realized he

(52:34):
didn't. He didn't. He didn'twant to work that hard. But he
always crushed and he always, youknow, the star of every roast.
Really, and we haven't mentioned this, but the the juxtaposition of his old
Joys voice with the filthy is materialyou ever heard, was so hysterical.

(52:59):
He liked to show, Oh mygod, it was funny. Yeah,
there's there's material that's never seen thelight of day, which is him probably
can't well what we used to dothe Friars roasts in house when I was
I was writing on those roasts andthey were never televised. We did them
at the New York Hilton. Weroasted the Smothers brothers and Don King and

(53:21):
Matt Lower before the whole Meto thing. And Gilbert Gilbert was not only the
star of those roasts, but moreoutrageous and bluer than than you've ever seen,
and uh, I don't think that'sthat. I know they recorded them
for in house purposes, but Idon't think those things are ever going to
see the light of day. Andto be in that room was a gift.

(53:44):
And when he passed and you sawhow the reaction of people, what
what do you take from that moment? Because I, again, I was
overwhelmed by how there was not Therewas just love for the guy, you
know, and there was a lotof it and respect from like even in
that documentary you see like how EddieMurphy was a fan, you know how

(54:06):
you know, Uh, Gilbert wouldn'task him to do the show, of
course, Well I worked with Eddieand the good news is he wouldn't have
done it anyway. But I'm surenot but that that that became a runner.
You know, Gilbert wouldn't book Uhmy friend Norman Steinberg. Did you
know Norman Philip? Yeah, Yeah, a beautiful guy who wrote Blazing Saddles

(54:28):
with mel wonderful movie, my favoriteyear. Yeah. And Norman became a
kind of a friend of the podcastand did the show twice. And then
we had Andrew Bergman, another guyI think that would would love you too,
And I said, well, youknow, we're gonna do a whole
show about Blazing Saddles. Would wouldMel come on? And Norman said,

(54:49):
Mel is waiting for a personal invitationfrom Gilbert. M. Here's the phone
number. It's right here on mywall. But you can't see. We're
on a we're on a zoom here. But I've got can you put it
into the frame so I can getthe numbers? He does not come out
much. Mel. I know that. And and and in those days,
you know, ten years ago,Mel, to his credit, Mel was

(55:10):
getting paid to tell those stories.Yes, Mel was on tour or Mel
went open Blazing Saddles at Radio Suityand he tell he tell the Bill Colvin
story, and he tell his tengrade stories and getting paid. And I
didn't want to deny him that,but he but gil All Gilbert had to
do was pick up the phone andcall. And he never called. And
then he revealed to me that hewalked around for years with phone numbers in

(55:31):
his wallet of George Carlin and andNorman Fell and other people he met over
the years who said call me,we'll have lunch. Here's my number,
and he kept the number and henever made the calls that so so consequently,
we never got mel Brooks. Henever asked Eddie. I don't think
Eddie would have done it, althoughhe did Maron, so there you go.

(55:57):
There's there's another quirk. And whenhe did, I asked Dave to
answer your question, I mean,the the and we knew it was coming.
And the response was overwhelming. Andthe response that I got first of
all, it just it brought meto tears. And and I was,
I was, I was really unableto do anything for days. I'm still

(56:17):
get a little choked up talking aboutit. And h Ever since then,
I've been I've got so many callsand so many emails from people talking about
him, about how his comedy movedthem and and and changed their life.
And it's I it's an ironic twistin a way, because that's what our

(56:37):
show was about. And and yeah, you know, the ultimate tribute,
the ultimate final tribute was was hisand and I I'm overwhelmed with the mail
that I that I get from peopletelling me that they listened to the show
in the car, that they driveacross country listening to the show, that
the show got them through chemo oror or a surgery, and you don't

(57:02):
know that you're going to have thiswhen you when you start something you started,
it's modest, it's a humble littlething. It was really just us
at the kitchen table talking to DickCabot, and I thought, well,
we'll do ten of these. It'lllook good on my resume. You know,
I didn't think he'd had the patiencefor more than that. He's certainly
never learned what a podcast was,and he wasn't that interested. When you

(57:22):
and then you do you you youlook up and you've done six hundred of
them. And one day the Libraryof Congress called me somebody I gave a
number to a mutual friend, andthey said, this is a valuable archive.
What do you what do you intendto do with this? And I
said, I honestly don't know.I you know, I know that I'm

(57:42):
sitting on something of value to haveCarl Reiner talking for ninety minutes, and
Alan Arkin for ninety minutes, andDick Van Dyke for ninety minutes, and
all these people, and many peoplewho were gone now and in some cases
we did their last interviews. Soit's all been on emotionally overwhelming and and
and a great gift, something Inever saw coming. But I'm I'm I

(58:06):
live in the gratitude of it everyday. Frank, You're you're just terrific.
We we both love you and andyou know the way you pay tribute
you and Gilbert to the greats beforeyou. You are one of the greats
before us, and it's are honoredto paytriots to you and Gilbert. That's

(58:29):
what this is about. I'm sothrilled and touched that. You know,
when when you get feedback to fromother artists and other people you admire.
When I get fan mail from writersand showrunners and people, by the way
I could never get a meeting within la when if my life depended on
it. Now, write to meand tell me how much the show means
to them. You know, wewe did it for people like you,

(58:51):
guys who are historians, who arewho have great affection for these people who
are in show business, because wewere all inspired by these people. Otherwise
why would we have chosen this life, know, and Frank, you know
we've just had a little window intoit just this in the last few weeks.
You know, Uh, Phil andPaul Rubens were good friends and yeah,

(59:13):
you know, I thank Phil.I thank god that you know,
Phil asked him to come over forlunch and so we had that experience.
But that I think that might havebeen his last interview. And already a
few weeks ago, I was atmy in law's pool and made a list
of people I should reach out to, and on that list was Robbie Robertson,

(59:35):
who I knew pretty well and uh, and I wanted to ask Phil
about if William Friedkin could do thepodcast because they were sorry, I'm sorry
about Billy Friedkin too. And yourealize you've got to ask, and you've
got to ask, and you've gota treasure. And I know Phil has
these wonderful movie nights that are thatI'm sure each one of them is a
slice of heaven. You know,you've got a treasure. These people you've

(59:57):
got to You've got you hang ontothem as long as you have them.
You were you, you remember thosemoments and then you have memories of them.
It's not just these people, it'severyone in your life that you value.
Yes, it's your family, it'syour friends. Yes, you know,
this is just it's almost a metaphor. Let me take life, Let

(01:00:19):
me take a moment to uh topay tribute to you guys for the work
you've been doing for the Motion PictureFund, which is which is valuable and
important. And and again you're you're, you're you're not only paying tribute to
the you know, the people wholisten just what you're doing something about it.
I just want them to save mea room. Yeah, you got

(01:00:40):
you. That was Is that whatyou're talking about? Motion pictures? Yes?
Yeah, I'm saying what you guysare doing for them, not only
what you're doing on your show bybringing these people on, but bye bye,
by calling attention to this cause andand raising money for soil. By
the way, it's a good timefor me to say it right while you
have you can and say no,they want us to help with their telephone

(01:01:00):
again this year. So why don'tthey leave me alone? These people?
Well, they said, because Phil, they said, when we were filming
with you at the Emotion Picture Home, you fit in very well. Surprising
for sure. I am extremely comfortablein that situation. I have to say,
you guys, are you guys aredoing You're doing the you're doing the

(01:01:21):
Lord's work. We're just following inFrank Santo Padre's footsteps. Frank, everybody,
Frank, thank you for thank youfor for being here for guys are
the best. Thank you well,thank you. I love you, guys.
Okay, it's on you now.I know. Don't trees trod the
old tree, Tree t round theold tree. God say bring it about

(01:01:53):
us. I know she sings likeyou, Hello Rah the old Tree.
Yes, sir, this was afirst long show. Goos. Naked Lunch

(01:02:15):
is a podcast by Phil Rosenthal andDavid Wilde. Theme song and music by
Brad Paisley, Produced by Will Sterling. Executive produced by Phil Rosenthal, David
Wilde, and our consulting journalist isPamela Chellen. If you enjoyed the show,
share it with a friend. Butif you can't take my word for
it, take Phil's and don't forgetto leave a good rating and review we

(01:02:35):
like five stars. Thanks for listeningto Naked Lunch, a Lucky Bastard's production.