January 10, 2026 • 35 mins
Five-time Emmy Award–winning stand-up comedian and former NBC weathercaster Fritz Coleman @RealFritzColeman joins Andy Reismeyer for a wide-ranging conversation on comedy, California weather, retirement, and life as a senior finding humor in getting older. Fritz shares behind-the-scenes stories from his weathercasting days and reveals the simple template he uses to keep his comedy sharp. Plus, Andy recounts how he rang in the New Year by getting sick—right in the middle of the Oregon vs. Indiana game!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand for life.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
I'm Andy Reesmeyer, be with you all the way till
ten o'clock tonight, alongside Mark Ronner, the Fouche Richie as well.
I'm so happy to be back here with you guys,
and I'm going to try not to be distracted. But
as you heard Conway talking earlier, Oregon, I you Indiana,
Hoosier's number one team in the country. I You football
(00:28):
is something that nobody ever talked about. Forty two to
fifteen right now leading the Oregon Ducks, who of course
are dominating franchise, a legacy team. It's still there's still
a lot of game to play here, still got a
lot of time here, four minutes left in the third quarter.
I you, like I said, forty two Oregon fifteen. But
(00:49):
a little bit of a momentum shift there from the Ducks.
They've made a lot of mistakes. The night is not
over yet. We've got lots coming up tonight on KFI.
As always, you can say on the internet at Andy KTLA,
or you can find us on the iHeartRadio app. Leave
a message there for us. It's a little talkback button
and we will play it on the show. And coming
(01:09):
up on the show tonight. Lots going on after years
of being a punching bag for the right. An example
of California policies run a muck things have changed in
San Francisco is the Bay Back. I was up there
last week. I was blown away by what I saw.
Plus why aren't gen Z men approaching women? Do they
(01:30):
have no game? We'll get into it. Plus she's a
live laugh love in the streets, but she's calling the
hoa in the sheets. There's a new Karen in town,
and one KTLA anchor is not happy about it. But
first you know him from his nearly forty years forecasting
highs Low's Winds and Sunshine on NBC four. He's also
very funny, made a career as a comic opening for Ray,
(01:52):
Charles w Reynolds, many more. Now has a regular residency
at the l Portal Theater in North Hollywood. Cod called
unassisted living.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
To say that his.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Trademark style personality, wit and humor has influenced a generation
of dudes like me is an understatement. Joining us now
live in studio, the Honorary Mayor of Teluca Lake, Fritz Coleman.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Good evening to you, sir.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Please donok it up. I'm so happy to be here
with the any my first time on your show. Congratulations,
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
The last time we talked, I was going to try
to have you come in because we had a lot
of weather going on. And even though I have done
weather on TV, as you know, people saytily seventy two sunny,
it's it's what is how hard is it to do weather?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Nell?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
That's right, There's a lot to talk about, but I
think that I always like to have real uh experts
like yourself. I want to get into so much stuff
that I wanted to talk to you about. But we
do have with Santa Ana Winnevet that's fairly significant all
the way up until Sunday when wind warning it's cold
(02:59):
in Los Angele.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Right now it's a cold Santa Anna. You can have
a warm Santa Anna, and you can have a cold
and a Santa Anna just makes a note of the
direction of the wind, not necessarily the temperature of the wind.
But right now it's a very chilly Santa and a wind.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
And we'll have this all the way up until Sunday.
At least from a wind watch perspective. But one of
the things I know is that this year, or this
time last year, we also had a very serious Santa
An event, very different than what we're talking about today.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
I live in Treluca Lake and we had ninety mile
an hour winds at the beginning of the Pacific Palisades Fire.
It was really I've said this to my friends, it
was one of the scariest weather events I've ever experienced.
I wasn't on the air. I've been retired for a
few years, but that was the scariest I've ever been through.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
When a weather person says they're scared, that's not how
it's supposed to go. You're supposed to make us all
feel better and think like everything's going to be fun.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
That's all a superficial front when we're on the air,
because you know, you have other people's But when I'm
sitting there quaking in my own apartment, uh huh. But
it was, it was bad, and it was it was
just ugly, and this is a chilly one today. But
the good news today is that the National Weather Service
has decided that we, for the first time in twenty
five years, are without a drought love it, which is huge.
(04:18):
Now we can't get too excited about that though, because
with climate change being the way it is, we're going
to vacillate between very dry and very wet, and so
it remains to be seen what happens.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
You don't want to vacillate. No, it's vacillating to do
it on the radio because we can see. Well, you're
you know, as far as I know, one of the
only local news mere mortals to ever be on the
Tonight Show, at least out of everybody that I know,
or at least in the capacity that you were performing.
(04:50):
Not like a lot of us have been on late
night shows because they're making fun of something stupid that
we've done. But you did eight appearances on The Tonight
Show with Carson and then Leno.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
I did Carson Leno, Gary Shanley, and Joan Rivers no way,
And the reason for that was I worked right upstairs
at NBC News.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Which and correct me if I'm wrong. I know that
this is a theater of the mind here, but rights
right across the street, right, I'm pointing out the window here.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Right across the parking lot three thousand West. Style of meta.
It was like a museum of broadcasting in that place,
and so if they got short of a guest or
somebody fell out, they would call me up. Jim McCauley,
who was the talent coordinator of the comedians, would call
me and say, do I have a hip six ready?
Can you come down and join us for the show?
(05:40):
And I'd say I would love to. And it was
always the best way to get booked because you didn't
have time to get nervous.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Oh, I see what you're saying. But it's incredible you
were the ringer because you were just in the building.
I was in the building, which is how I've kind
of done my whole career at KTLA as well.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
I know you did that over there and you've made
this great transition.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Well, thank you.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Well, I'm happy to you a great success story. Well, listen,
Indiana football team is the best in the country. I mean,
they love that quarterback. That kid is a class amazing.
Somebody told a story. I'm just yeah, somebody told a
story that before he I guess he played it another
college first and he moved up to call Yeah give
cal So when he when he was moving over to Indiana,
(06:21):
he had the coach send him pictures of all the players,
and he memorized their names, and so when he came
to town, he knew everybody. He conversed with him like
they were old friends. And I thought, what a great
pr move. This is a smart young man.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
He's super smart.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
Then he got the Heightsman, which was awesome.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I mean, his speech is great, you know, in the
story with his mom. I mean it is a storybook
story for IU. And I'm just okay, Like I didn't
graduate from IU. I didn't go to IU except to
maybe like party a lot when I was in my
early twenties.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Did you go to college?
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I went to Santa Monica College. I heard I moved
out before I really, you know, I was like, I
gotta be in LA. I know it was going to
be an, but to be able to see that jersey
that says Indiana. As much as I left, I love
seeing US represented on a national on an almost international
stage doing so well. And even if they don't end
(07:14):
up making it all the way, hopefully that they pull
it out. Tonight they're still up forty two to fifteen
against the Ducks. I let's you know, like I said,
undefeated for the season. And it's just so great to
see a good story. Mendoz as incredible character. As you said,
just a stand up guy, and I think he's also
just so serious and personal and but also just just
(07:37):
you don't think that that guy is too cool for school.
He obviously works really hard. He tries very hard, and
he's proud of that. And I think that that's a
really cool thing to see from young.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Patees trust him and love him, and he really endeared
himself to everybody before he even put his uniform on,
which I thought was very impressive.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Amen, sir, Well, let's uh, let's keep going here. I
want to I want to go back to your time
as early nineteen eighties.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
You started at NBC.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Christmas Eve nineteen eighty two was my first day on
the air. They tried to find a day of the
year when there was the least viewers. Yeah, yeah, I
get it. So if I screwed up, I would be
you know, nobody would see it.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
And I think of you as somebody who.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Especially at that time, there weren't a lot of big personalities.
I guess they were, but they weren't in the way
that I know you to be a personality where you're
a comic and your fun and you're funny, and I
think that especially now the other stations in the city,
and I won't speak ill of them, but I don't
think that there's a lot of that kind of representation
(08:38):
of people who are real people having fun. There's a
lot of people who've gone through the system, but I
think other than KTLA, I don't know that there's a
lot of other people who were doing stuff like you
were doing.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
I think it was a different time in broadcasting. First
of all, when I started nineteen eighty two, there were
basically three stations doing news two, seven, and four, and
then we had the Independence five right, nine eleven, and
then even thirteen, and then five, nine, eleven and thirteen
started doing news all day long. So the competition increased exponentially.
(09:11):
And when I started the evening news was almost like
the KTLA morning news, which continues to dominate the marketplace,
in that it was familial. Everybody, Hey, what did you
do over the weekend? You're talking? Oh, yes, here's a
little news for you. And I was hired as a personality.
I was hired from the comedy store, right, and so
(09:34):
I was hired just to be I always said that
my job was to be the palette cleanser between the
tragedy and the sports.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Absolutely, they were to open the show with all the
bad news and then I would give people a breather
and then bring out Fred Rogan, who was also amusing.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yes, oh, very amusing.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Indeed.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Okay, we're going to take a quick break. We're still
here with Fritz Coleman. You could stick around through the
commercial break, yes, because we've got lots to talk about.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
You're listening to KFI AMC on demand.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Any reason we're here with you joining us in studio
once again, the one and only Fritz Coleman. So when
when you became the mayor of Teluca Lake, what kind
of benefits came along with that? Or when did that
happen for you? I mean, I know it's a it's
honorary mayor, but as far as I'm concerned, you're the
mayor of Toluca A.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
Well, it's an honorary position. Therefore you can't be impeached
and you just go until you've embarrassed the community and
they decided, listen, we're gonna make some change, right my own,
I only have one responsibility a year okay. That is
on the first Friday of December, I officiate at a
celebration where we light the five foot Christmas Treuth on
(10:43):
Riverside Drive. And that's all I do.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Do you have to change the light bulbs when they
go out of the.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
Team of volunteer housewives.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
I love that and I and I'm thinking about you know,
your your your history as a comic, and then you
become this weather person, this weather caster, and then you
have this really storied career for a really long time
as a as a weather person, but also someone who's
who's familial and fun and funny. I had a boss
one time who asked me what I wanted to do,
(11:16):
why I wanted to be on TV, which is a
trick question. I didn't realize this at the time, but
he was like, why do you want to be on TV?
Why should I let you be on TV? He doesn't work,
by the way, at the place anymore anymore, and I couldn't.
The thing that I came up with was I want
to make people laugh. And that was the wrong answer,
by the way, for him. He was very much and
(11:38):
why would you? But I think about you and I.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Get to sneaking in under the radar, right.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Right, I guess I just should have.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Because when you do the weather, as you will know,
people say, well, you know, some days you're funny, in
some days you're not. You always have to be conscious
of either the story you're coming out of or the
story you're going into. Of course, because after a drive by,
you can't go hey, so listen, you know, you know
you're really.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
You got those buicks, right, I mean, wow, crazy for
a drive by, So you go with the buick. Then
when you when you've gone to comedy too as well,
you know we're doing this show it's called Unassisted Living,
and it's at the El Portal Theater and you're doing
a residency, so you got to show every month, right,
next one is January twenty fifth, correct, So these are
(12:23):
shows that are how do you approach your comedy in
these shows?
Speaker 4 (12:27):
Well? I came up with a format for myself about
thirty years ago called the single topic monologue, where I
have something I want to talk about and I build
the whole show around it. My first one was called
It's Me Dad. It was about being a divorced father,
and I was doing it at the Actor's Forum Theater
(12:49):
on Magnolia Boulevard in North Hollywood for a year and
k CET Public Television saw it and said, we want
to put this on our TV station. That's awesome, So
they got me to do it. They built a set,
they invested all this morning, and they did it as
a fundraising you know, like a pledge, yeah, function, and
it aired every Father's Day for several Fathers' days. After
(13:12):
a years, it was unbelievable. So the next one was
called The Reception, which was me discussing divorce for an
hour and a half. And then the third one I
did was called Tonight at eleven, which was about the
news business. Then the fourth one I did was called
Defying Gravity, which was the first show I did where
I said, oh my god, I'm old. What's this experience
(13:35):
going to be like? Now I've done an unassisted living
where I am old, there's no escape, I'm a senior citizen,
I'm carrying a Medicare card, and I'm just discussing the
joys and the quirkiness of being a person in his seventies.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
In studio with Fritz Coleman. We're talking about his career
as an NBC media, a weather person and also a
comedian doing shows like the one you can see Assisted
Living at the l Portal Theater. So let's go back
to NBC for a second. Over the course of the
time that you've been there, or that you were there,
(14:10):
I think about what else is going on in local
TV at the same time, right, Like I think you're
synonymous with Channel four in the early nineties, the KTLA
morning news comes around there. They just changed the way. Yeah, yeah,
and and I'll tell Frank you said that. And is
there any point, you know, we get in trouble still,
(14:30):
Like I got in trouble recently for saying a hole.
I didn't even say the word, I said the letter
a hole. And I called myself one in something and
I got.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Called into the you know, in the office.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Did you ever do you have any memories of anything
that ever happened that you were that you pushed it
too far, or that you they said, Fritz, come on
in here, let's check the tape on this.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
Well, they didn't have to check the tape. The viewers
were calling them by the thousand oh No. In the
old days, they used to send the entire news team
to the Olympics, like one hundred people would go over
there for three weeks and we would do all the
broadcasts from the various venues. In nineteen eighty eight, we
(15:12):
went to the sol Olympics, which was a spectacular experience,
and then we ninety two, we went to Atlanta and
I was doing the weather forecast on the same location
where the Olympic Park bomb went off, oh Man, five
minutes before the bomb went off, because we were doing
live news. So for the eleven o'clock news, it was
(15:32):
two o'clock in the morning Atlanta town and the bomb
went off shortly before that, and it was unbelievable. So anyway,
getting back to the Korea Olympics, it was fun. It
was a cultural stretch because it's very different over there.
So I was I'm embarrassed to say this now. I
(15:58):
was doing the five o'clock news with a Japanese anchor,
lady of Japanese extraction nameda Toyota. Came from the Bay
Area and I came back and like the first day
I'm on the air, I don't know who the male
anchor was at the time. Jess Marlow said, so, how's
(16:19):
it feel to be back? And I said, Jess, it
was so great to get off that plane and see
these beautiful American women. And as soon as I said it,
I said, I was trying to decide is this a
career ender? And I apologize, you know what I mean.
And I just wasn't thinking about it. I didn't think
of her in terms of not.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Being which which I feel like, is that that's just
an I accidentally put my foot in my mouth cut
it exactly. Wow, But you survived it though I did.
Was there any ever desire?
Speaker 4 (16:49):
I never said a whole one.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
No, that's right, No, you could. I know, it's crazy.
I can't believe I still have a job. Did you
ever want to go to kt LA? Did you ever
want to go to Fox eleven? Or was it forty
years at NBC? You are synonymous in my mind with
Channel four.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Well, you're very nice to say that. I'll tell you
know what it is. It's all about the chemistry. Yeah.
We had wonderful anchors there, Chuck and Colleen and Fred
Rogan and I got along great. Fred and I were
the beneficiaries of an astonishing amount of money spent on promotion.
They did the Fritz and Fred commercials where we had
these faux athletic events. And I would always win.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Because unbelievable production.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Oh my god, it was a week off to shoot
these things, and there was craft services and beautiful women
in this bating suits. It was unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Glenn Walker always says that he's in the ten years
too Late club, and I feel like I'm in the
twenty years two late club, because that's the kind of
stuff that I just like, I cannot even imagine.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Well, in those days, they used to spend you know,
it was all about promotion. I've got to tell you.
I never realized the power of advertising, yeah, and the
power of promotion until I benefited from this. Because people
to this day they had afraid. They invented a phrase
for me called Fritz said it would be like this, yeah,
and so they'd put it on a billboard. There was
nothing on there but a blue background of white front.
(18:04):
Fritz said it would be like this, And to this day,
women in their nineties on Walkers will come up doing
in ron Hey, Rich, that's right, it's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Conway just said it to you when he was walking out.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
It's a it's a thing, you know that Henry de Carlo,
who's the meteorologist in the morning they have. They did
a version of that on the broadcast. Uh, on the
on the tower outside in front of KTLA. Henry predicted this,
and he's pointing up to the sky of course, at
which you know, like everything we've we've sure ripped it
off from from you.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
And there was a I don't know if you remember,
a couple of years ago, somebody broke into the lot,
the Netflix, the KTLA lot, some crazy person and scaled
the tower, climbed up into it. So all the photos
that went out across across the world or a guy
standing on top of the tower with like a free
Billie Eilish crazy sign, and right below it is a
(18:55):
picture of Henry de Carlo's smiling face pointing up saying
Henry predicted this.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
So so you know, but well, i'll tell you. I'll
tell you one of the great cosmic accidents that happened
with the Fritz said it would be like this campaign.
So this is at the time when Jimmy Carter was
running for president and his vice presidential candidate was Fritz Mondale.
(19:19):
So the right wing media in Orange County started to
see five hundred billboards pop up over the place. Fritz
said it would be like this, and some conservative columnists
in the Orange County Register wrote, finally the media has
that guts to admit their left wing bank. They've got
this Fritz set it would be like this. And somebody
(19:40):
sent me the article and I almost died. So I
sent the guy an autograph picture and great shirt, perfect,
and I said, thank you for the promotions.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
This is obviously before you could just google stuff. Oh,
I know, and so well, we got to take a
break here. I wonder if you just stick around through
the break. When you come back, let's just talk about
the show's do Let's talk about when people can see
you next, and then what they can expect in unassisted living,
which I think is genius.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Great title.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
In studio with Fritz Coleman. Now, if you were still
at KNBC, would you still come and do this show
even though I work at the Enemy or did you
not think of it that way?
Speaker 2 (20:22):
You're no, this is.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Not the Enemy. This is a different medium altogether. No,
are you kidding me? I'd mean nuts not to come
on here. KFI is an iconic stage.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Well, we're really lucky to have you.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
I know you used to do did Channel four have
a partnership with kN X for a long time, and
you would do a radio or was it KFI that
you would do a weather?
Speaker 4 (20:43):
I did K BIG. I did the weather for Charlie
Toona when he was on K BIG. And I did
for Rick Dy's for a little while for an ISDN
line in my home and I did it.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
And that's the best.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
Yeah. And but you know I was in radio for
fifteen years. I was the top forty distri jockey.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
I didn't know that. Where are you from?
Speaker 4 (21:03):
Originally Philadelphia, Phi Okay?
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Are you an Eagles fan?
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Well? I guess so.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Yeah, by nature, if they were winning, you would be.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
I've been out here longer than I was in my hometown.
But I still don't feel like a resident. Isn't that
weird that.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
That is fifty years you're the honorary mayor of to
Look Lake.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
But I you know, I can only afford to live there.
Like three years ago, I moved. I finally moved there.
It's not one of those things where he had to
be in town.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
That's right, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Well, that's good because it's really just about you know,
forty five feet like one one one part of the
riverside to the other. Exactly did they got your picture
up at the Trader Joe's, I pray, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
They have it at Bob's Big Boy, which is more important.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
That's a huge that's the city hall, right, yeah, yeah,
how are the constituents.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
The constituents are great. Yeah, we have old people and
people below about sixty five have no idea who I am,
so it means nothing.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Now there's a great little wine bar over there next
to the foreman. I can't spin the bottle. It might
be called.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
I've never been in there. It's great.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
As the mayor, you got to you gotta meet your people.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
I happen to be a sober person, so I have
to avoid plays.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
You don't have a lot to do there though, not
unless they maybe have a health health code violation. So
we're sitting here watching an absolute domination of the Oregon Ducks.
Speaker 4 (22:23):
By the Chick fil A Peach Bowl.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
It's the peach Bowl.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
Now there's some of the branding lately is unbelievable. That
Tony the Tiger.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Insurance boy, right, the VRBO you're getting the neighbors called
on you for being too noisy bowl.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
You know, I don't get how that benefits either sponsor, but.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Hey, why not.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
So if you think about your comedy now, I know
you still really like the one story monologue. But are
you do you do you like the Carson Leno style,
like ten to fifteen jokes in ten minutes?
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Thing?
Speaker 4 (22:58):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Is it a good like setup punchline or do you
feel more.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
I'm a storyteller. Yeah, I spin tales, some of them
are true, and I like to tell stories. I was
drawn to the business by George Carlin, who was a
great practitioner of language. Yeah, and I like metaphor, and
I like exaggeration, and I.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
Like stories observational stuff, especially I think for unassisted living,
which obviously is all about reclaiming.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
Your senior years exactly, and I think doing that, the
truth is that we're the only ones with cash. People
over sixty five have all the savings. Kids below they
can't even get employed. Gen X and gen z.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
P, Well, yes, that's right, and I am reminded of
that every single time I look at my Pharaoh one K.
But you know, the kind of relatable stuff that you're
talking about in the shows, I think it's it's relatable
whether you are eating dinner in the Early Bird Special
Club or not.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
Now I say to people, uh, you know, this is
a great New Year's gift for your parents. Love it,
but don't feel that you can't come. Because people who
are not seniors that can use this show as a cautionary.
Speaker 5 (24:12):
Tale, well they all have fortunate enough.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
Yeah, but if you were fortunate enough to make it
the seniorhood, this is what your life is going to
be like.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
So the show is early, which is the same in.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
The afternoon because my audience likes to be home by dark.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Of course, what sort of stuff are you going to
be talking about? Is it a different show every single
time too?
Speaker 4 (24:32):
Not completely. I I do a new block of material
every time, but the basic template of the show remains
the same. Yeah. That way, I have a beginning and
an end that I know are strong. But if I
fail in between, I have another half hour to build
myself out of a hole before they go say good night.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
That is funny, and they've already paid So at that point,
you know exactly, It's like, well.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
Yeah, so we talk about everything. I talk about being
a grandparent, I talk about how I've changed as a senior,
don't particularly like who I've I've become a lot lazier.
I talk about, you know, cryptocurrency, I talk about my
friends that have changed. I talk about my best friend
who became a vegan, and I just make fun of
(25:14):
him for fifteen minutes. Love it, and just all the
stuff that common experiences of getting old. Because most of
my laughs that I get from my audience are laughs
of recognition. They say, you know, that's that's how I.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Can relate to that.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
Yeah, I mean, that's really how the Internet works, is
that when people think something is not necessarily even funny,
but they think it's relatable, they share it.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
You know.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
That's like really the driving and I.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Have found that these days people just want to be
taken out of their heads. We have so much in
our current events in our political world that separate us.
They love the fact that here's the common experience of
getting old in America.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Yes, sir, well, said Fritz Coleman. Thank you so much
for being.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
With I'm so honored to be here. Congratulations on the show.
Thank you. You've mastered every kind of media in this town.
You do a thing at KTLA, you do you're on
the Airy KTLA you have. I guess you could call
that a podcast that you the weekend and you're doing
this now and you've done the weather on TV.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
I'm just waiting for somebody to think, like, Okay, that's enough,
thank you.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
You could stop talking.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
And man di firstifications the key.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
I also I also make Frank Buckley's lunch. That's something
that's really yeah, and he's picky.
Speaker 4 (26:26):
There's such a great team over there. They really are.
I was really moved when Sam passed away. Yeah, at
all of their reactions, and you could tell the family
connections in the midst of the world.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
It's really weird, you know.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
And we're coming up on it'll be two years and
match unbelievable and you know, as as as you know,
I've told you, you know, I studied television in Los
Angeles and media in LA and getting to work with
him every day and see sort of how he created
the energy of that place.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
Yeah, and he represents and I might fall into the
same category, but not to the magnet dude. I never
realized how powerful he was. When I launched this show
at the Elportol Theater. He had me on as a
guest for three minutes and I sold out two shows
just on that little appearance. Yeah, he was very forceful
in this media. But I think I was of that
(27:14):
era where the personalities were big and that was important. Yes,
it's not so much anymore, especially in weather because with
climate change and everything, it's a different era. But he was.
He was a star of the past.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Yeah, you know, we miss him. We miss him a lot.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
I don't blame him.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Fritz Coleman, thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
We'll see your congratulations. Keep up the good work.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
January twenty fifth at Elportel Theater in North Hollywood. Tickets
at Fritzkoleman dot com.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Fritz Colemancomedy dot Com, Elportoltheater, Elport Okay, perfect, Just google it. Yeah,
that exactly. Just google it. You'll figure out.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Friday, January ninth. This is my first show of the year.
I was off a little bit, got out of town.
I was up in San Francisco for New Years and uh,
do you call it's new Can you call it New
Year's or is it New Year? It's New Year's Eve?
Speaker 4 (28:12):
But is it?
Speaker 5 (28:13):
I was up for New Year, But that sounds weird.
I was up for New Years, right. I don't think
the New Year police are going to bust you either way.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
You know, it's.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
It's that And also people who say at M machines.
Speaker 5 (28:24):
Or driver licensed driver's license.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
That's a tough one.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Did you did you work on New Year's Eve? In
fact I did, and and you held it down in
a manner of speaking.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Yes, that's good. I'm glad to hear that.
Speaker 5 (28:38):
I'm I'm glad you're back. I felt we were growing apart.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
I know it was kind of sad, well because I
missed that whole week ahead because I was doing Conway
before before New Year's.
Speaker 5 (28:45):
Eve, which I kind of made me think you were
a little bit of a trader.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
You think I was a trader because I did Conway.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
I guess. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Well, I had fun. I had fun with I had
fun with uh you rub you don't have to rub
it in. I had fun with Foosh. But I have
fun with was here too as well. You know, I
I don't know that. It's it's so interesting how I'm so.
I was talking to our program director Brian Long earlier
today because like I said, I had to, I had.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
To miss Monday. I was not back.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
I was going to be back on Monday, but I
got sick in San Francisco, and I was reflecting with
him just how wonderful it has been and how surprising
it has been that I've been able to come and
do this, because I had originally signed up to just
do the Sunday show from two to four, and I
was so stoked on that, and then they called me
up and said, hey, do you want to come do
some Mondays and Fridays from seven to ten? And I
(29:37):
was like, I don't know, because three hours is a
long time and it's a long time to do when
you also got a full time job. But I just,
you know, had a little bit of a break and
I really got to reflect about how how great it's been,
how great it's been to meet you Runner, to meet Fuje,
to meet Croje Bellio. It's like you got a whole
new family, a kind of and I was really excited
(29:58):
to come back. And then you know, in the Bay,
like I said, and I know where it happened. I
was at the cal Academy of Arts and Sciences. It's
like a science museum in the Golden Gate Park and
I was in the basement where the aquarium is and
I'm there with my girlfriend and I'm talking and I
was just like, it's hot. There's one hundred and fifty
(30:21):
kids there. It's a couple of days after the holidays.
It's muggy. I'm like, we're getting sick and lo and behold.
Two days later, I'm drinking a lot of water, but
I still feel thirsty. My eyes are doing that thing
where they feel like they're just like, oh, I can't
wake up.
Speaker 5 (30:38):
Was it COVID.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
I don't think it was. No, it wasn't COVID. It's
just some kind of head cold. I had had COVID
in July, June, June, so I think that I probably still,
hopefully still have some community to that.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
But it really it really knocked me out.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
And I didn't really feel that bad, but I sounded
bad and I was sneezing a lot, and I thought,
you know, I would hate to come back in here
sound gross and then get everybody sick. So I was
not here on Monday, but happy to be back here,
even though I am missing the last four minutes of
this unbelievable football game.
Speaker 5 (31:11):
If you want to just watch the game, Foush and
I can say you guys can just rest of the hour.
Do you see what's happening here? No, I don't care
about that stuff.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
I don't know how to not as an Indiana a
person who grew up in Indiana, and again I couldn't
have got out of there faster, but just to see it,
to see that name Indiana, those letters on a jersey
be represented in this huge, huge scale, and to have
them do so well, it just makes me feel so proud.
I'm a bandwagoner, I admit it, but I watched this
(31:41):
season and I just think it's it's a remarkable thing.
And I know that Oregon is such a powerhouse football franchise.
You know, they win, they just win. And Indiana for
them to come this far and to do this well
and apparently what now will look like hopefully you know,
only three minutes left, fifty six to fifteen. I don't
think that there's a chance now for Indiana to not
(32:03):
come away with this, but to beat Oregon twice in
the same season, win the semi finals, move on to
the championship, have a shot at the championship against Miami.
Speaker 5 (32:16):
That's a that's very very cool. None of those words
that you just said mean anything to me. But you
do know that I lived in Indiana for a while,
I know, while I was going to grad school at Purdue,
and having been there, I can say I kind of
hope they lose. Okay, I'm really rooting for Portland. No, no,
even though I don't care about sports. Well it's not Portland,
(32:38):
it's Eugene whatever, and whoever it is, I hope they
beat Indiana.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
Well, sorry, bucko, you got yeah, yeah, I don't think.
I mean, you know, I guess anything is possible. Fifteen
to fifty six on you can pull it out. Those
are blasphemous words. I just said some really nice stuff
and then you came in here.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
I wasn't a.
Speaker 5 (32:57):
Personal attack against you. I was an attack on your
home state, right.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Right right, right right, Well listen, and if they had
not been doing well, then I wouldn't have cared at all.
Speaker 5 (33:04):
But in fact, let me just compliment you on the
that really butch haircut, thinking.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
I'm so mad, not you, I'm so mad.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
I went and got a haircut and then they were like,
I was like, please don't cut very much of it,
which they never They always cut a lot of it,
you know, they always cut it whenever you. I showed
her a picture of myself. I didn't even take a
reference photo. That was like a you know, some people
show up and they got like a book and it's
like there's bread Pitta with that haircut, and it's like,
good luck, bucko, that's not gonna happen. But I go
(33:36):
to the haircut routine the barbershop, and I showed her
a video of myself, like I'm like, that is me
just cut my hair like that.
Speaker 5 (33:44):
That is a level of narcissism that I've never encountered.
I mean, showing somebody a picture of yourself and saying,
make me look like that.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Well, I mean I thought that's a pretty good blueprint.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
Is that Is that any worse than showing a picture
of a famous person who clearly I will not look like, No,
you're good because I always show like when I have
a good photo with a goo good fade, and I
want them to replicate the same like I share the
same photo.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
So I get you.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
And I said, I don't think it's I didn't like
player my reel or anything. You know, I didn't say,
like me, sit and watch this part I I where
I interviewed Shatner I just like showed her a photo
from my you know, like selfie, and I was like,
this is what my hair. I liked my hair. When
it was like this, can you do that again? She said, yeah,
sure of course I got that. I like the Shatner
Circle nineteen sixty six. Look, that's that's what I always
(34:32):
ask for, and they do quite a good job.
Speaker 5 (34:35):
Except mine's real. Oh that's true for the time being.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Are you trying to tell me that you think that
William Shatner didn't have real hair.
Speaker 5 (34:42):
I would never say anything to disparage that god like man.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
Because if he's not blocked you on Twitter yet, you know,
there's still there's still time.
Speaker 5 (34:49):
I love that man, like you love Fritz Coleman.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
I love Fritz. I was so happy to have Fritz.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
Fritz is such a good dude, and and I've interviewed
him a couple of times at KTLA, and I I
just was like, I wanted to have him come in
when there was a big storm, but he was actually
out of town and and so then I was like, no,
let's come on, let's do.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
This so very good.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
We got lots coming up in the next hour. San Francisco.
It may have got me sick? But is it back?
We're getting into why the city feels a little bit
different even than it did a year ago. Plus, a
monkey was captured after breaking into a guitar shop. It's
the kind of local news that you can't look away from.
(35:32):
And after all this time, there's a new Karen in town.
So sorry, I guess all those other Karens can buy
gold and move to the villages. You can retire. I
am six forty. I'm Andy Reesemeyer. We're live everywhere on
the iHeartRadio
Speaker 1 (35:49):
App KFI AM six on demand
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand for life.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
I'm Andy Reesmeyer, be with you all the way till
ten o'clock tonight, alongside Mark Ronner, the Fouche Richie as well.
I'm so happy to be back here with you guys,
and I'm going to try not to be distracted. But
as you heard Conway talking earlier, Oregon, I you Indiana,
Hoosier's number one team in the country. I You football
(00:28):
is something that nobody ever talked about. Forty two to
fifteen right now leading the Oregon Ducks, who of course
are dominating franchise, a legacy team. It's still there's still
a lot of game to play here, still got a
lot of time here, four minutes left in the third quarter.
I you, like I said, forty two Oregon fifteen. But
(00:49):
a little bit of a momentum shift there from the Ducks.
They've made a lot of mistakes. The night is not
over yet. We've got lots coming up tonight on KFI.
As always, you can say on the internet at Andy KTLA,
or you can find us on the iHeartRadio app. Leave
a message there for us. It's a little talkback button
and we will play it on the show. And coming
(01:09):
up on the show tonight. Lots going on after years
of being a punching bag for the right. An example
of California policies run a muck things have changed in
San Francisco is the Bay Back. I was up there
last week. I was blown away by what I saw.
Plus why aren't gen Z men approaching women? Do they
(01:30):
have no game? We'll get into it. Plus she's a
live laugh love in the streets, but she's calling the
hoa in the sheets. There's a new Karen in town,
and one KTLA anchor is not happy about it. But
first you know him from his nearly forty years forecasting
highs Low's Winds and Sunshine on NBC four. He's also
very funny, made a career as a comic opening for Ray,
(01:52):
Charles w Reynolds, many more. Now has a regular residency
at the l Portal Theater in North Hollywood. Cod called
unassisted living.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
To say that his.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Trademark style personality, wit and humor has influenced a generation
of dudes like me is an understatement. Joining us now
live in studio, the Honorary Mayor of Teluca Lake, Fritz Coleman.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Good evening to you, sir.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Please donok it up. I'm so happy to be here
with the any my first time on your show. Congratulations,
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
The last time we talked, I was going to try
to have you come in because we had a lot
of weather going on. And even though I have done
weather on TV, as you know, people saytily seventy two sunny,
it's it's what is how hard is it to do weather?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Nell?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
That's right, There's a lot to talk about, but I
think that I always like to have real uh experts
like yourself. I want to get into so much stuff
that I wanted to talk to you about. But we
do have with Santa Ana Winnevet that's fairly significant all
the way up until Sunday when wind warning it's cold
(02:59):
in Los Angele.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Right now it's a cold Santa Anna. You can have
a warm Santa Anna, and you can have a cold
and a Santa Anna just makes a note of the
direction of the wind, not necessarily the temperature of the wind.
But right now it's a very chilly Santa and a wind.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
And we'll have this all the way up until Sunday.
At least from a wind watch perspective. But one of
the things I know is that this year, or this
time last year, we also had a very serious Santa
An event, very different than what we're talking about today.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
I live in Treluca Lake and we had ninety mile
an hour winds at the beginning of the Pacific Palisades Fire.
It was really I've said this to my friends, it
was one of the scariest weather events I've ever experienced.
I wasn't on the air. I've been retired for a
few years, but that was the scariest I've ever been through.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
When a weather person says they're scared, that's not how
it's supposed to go. You're supposed to make us all
feel better and think like everything's going to be fun.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
That's all a superficial front when we're on the air,
because you know, you have other people's But when I'm
sitting there quaking in my own apartment, uh huh. But
it was, it was bad, and it was it was
just ugly, and this is a chilly one today. But
the good news today is that the National Weather Service
has decided that we, for the first time in twenty
five years, are without a drought love it, which is huge.
(04:18):
Now we can't get too excited about that though, because
with climate change being the way it is, we're going
to vacillate between very dry and very wet, and so
it remains to be seen what happens.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
You don't want to vacillate. No, it's vacillating to do
it on the radio because we can see. Well, you're
you know, as far as I know, one of the
only local news mere mortals to ever be on the
Tonight Show, at least out of everybody that I know,
or at least in the capacity that you were performing.
(04:50):
Not like a lot of us have been on late
night shows because they're making fun of something stupid that
we've done. But you did eight appearances on The Tonight
Show with Carson and then Leno.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
I did Carson Leno, Gary Shanley, and Joan Rivers no way,
And the reason for that was I worked right upstairs
at NBC News.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Which and correct me if I'm wrong. I know that
this is a theater of the mind here, but rights
right across the street, right, I'm pointing out the window here.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Right across the parking lot three thousand West. Style of meta.
It was like a museum of broadcasting in that place,
and so if they got short of a guest or
somebody fell out, they would call me up. Jim McCauley,
who was the talent coordinator of the comedians, would call
me and say, do I have a hip six ready?
Can you come down and join us for the show?
(05:40):
And I'd say I would love to. And it was
always the best way to get booked because you didn't
have time to get nervous.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Oh, I see what you're saying. But it's incredible you
were the ringer because you were just in the building.
I was in the building, which is how I've kind
of done my whole career at KTLA as well.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
I know you did that over there and you've made
this great transition.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Well, thank you.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Well, I'm happy to you a great success story. Well, listen,
Indiana football team is the best in the country. I mean,
they love that quarterback. That kid is a class amazing.
Somebody told a story. I'm just yeah, somebody told a
story that before he I guess he played it another
college first and he moved up to call Yeah give
cal So when he when he was moving over to Indiana,
(06:21):
he had the coach send him pictures of all the players,
and he memorized their names, and so when he came
to town, he knew everybody. He conversed with him like
they were old friends. And I thought, what a great
pr move. This is a smart young man.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
He's super smart.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
Then he got the Heightsman, which was awesome.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I mean, his speech is great, you know, in the
story with his mom. I mean it is a storybook
story for IU. And I'm just okay, Like I didn't
graduate from IU. I didn't go to IU except to
maybe like party a lot when I was in my
early twenties.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Did you go to college?
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I went to Santa Monica College. I heard I moved
out before I really, you know, I was like, I
gotta be in LA. I know it was going to
be an, but to be able to see that jersey
that says Indiana. As much as I left, I love
seeing US represented on a national on an almost international
stage doing so well. And even if they don't end
(07:14):
up making it all the way, hopefully that they pull
it out. Tonight they're still up forty two to fifteen
against the Ducks. I let's you know, like I said,
undefeated for the season. And it's just so great to
see a good story. Mendoz as incredible character. As you said,
just a stand up guy, and I think he's also
just so serious and personal and but also just just
(07:37):
you don't think that that guy is too cool for school.
He obviously works really hard. He tries very hard, and
he's proud of that. And I think that that's a
really cool thing to see from young.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Patees trust him and love him, and he really endeared
himself to everybody before he even put his uniform on,
which I thought was very impressive.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Amen, sir, Well, let's uh, let's keep going here. I
want to I want to go back to your time
as early nineteen eighties.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
You started at NBC.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Christmas Eve nineteen eighty two was my first day on
the air. They tried to find a day of the
year when there was the least viewers. Yeah, yeah, I
get it. So if I screwed up, I would be
you know, nobody would see it.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
And I think of you as somebody who.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Especially at that time, there weren't a lot of big personalities.
I guess they were, but they weren't in the way
that I know you to be a personality where you're
a comic and your fun and you're funny, and I
think that especially now the other stations in the city,
and I won't speak ill of them, but I don't
think that there's a lot of that kind of representation
(08:38):
of people who are real people having fun. There's a
lot of people who've gone through the system, but I
think other than KTLA, I don't know that there's a
lot of other people who were doing stuff like you
were doing.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
I think it was a different time in broadcasting. First
of all, when I started nineteen eighty two, there were
basically three stations doing news two, seven, and four, and
then we had the Independence five right, nine eleven, and
then even thirteen, and then five, nine, eleven and thirteen
started doing news all day long. So the competition increased exponentially.
(09:11):
And when I started the evening news was almost like
the KTLA morning news, which continues to dominate the marketplace,
in that it was familial. Everybody, Hey, what did you
do over the weekend? You're talking? Oh, yes, here's a
little news for you. And I was hired as a personality.
I was hired from the comedy store, right, and so
(09:34):
I was hired just to be I always said that
my job was to be the palette cleanser between the
tragedy and the sports.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Absolutely, they were to open the show with all the
bad news and then I would give people a breather
and then bring out Fred Rogan, who was also amusing.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yes, oh, very amusing.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Indeed.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Okay, we're going to take a quick break. We're still
here with Fritz Coleman. You could stick around through the
commercial break, yes, because we've got lots to talk about.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
You're listening to KFI AMC on demand.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Any reason we're here with you joining us in studio
once again, the one and only Fritz Coleman. So when
when you became the mayor of Teluca Lake, what kind
of benefits came along with that? Or when did that
happen for you? I mean, I know it's a it's
honorary mayor, but as far as I'm concerned, you're the
mayor of Toluca A.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
Well, it's an honorary position. Therefore you can't be impeached
and you just go until you've embarrassed the community and
they decided, listen, we're gonna make some change, right my own,
I only have one responsibility a year okay. That is
on the first Friday of December, I officiate at a
celebration where we light the five foot Christmas Treuth on
(10:43):
Riverside Drive. And that's all I do.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Do you have to change the light bulbs when they
go out of the.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
Team of volunteer housewives.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
I love that and I and I'm thinking about you know,
your your your history as a comic, and then you
become this weather person, this weather caster, and then you
have this really storied career for a really long time
as a as a weather person, but also someone who's
who's familial and fun and funny. I had a boss
one time who asked me what I wanted to do,
(11:16):
why I wanted to be on TV, which is a
trick question. I didn't realize this at the time, but
he was like, why do you want to be on TV?
Why should I let you be on TV? He doesn't work,
by the way, at the place anymore anymore, and I couldn't.
The thing that I came up with was I want
to make people laugh. And that was the wrong answer,
by the way, for him. He was very much and
(11:38):
why would you? But I think about you and I.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Get to sneaking in under the radar, right.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Right, I guess I just should have.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Because when you do the weather, as you will know,
people say, well, you know, some days you're funny, in
some days you're not. You always have to be conscious
of either the story you're coming out of or the
story you're going into. Of course, because after a drive by,
you can't go hey, so listen, you know, you know
you're really.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
You got those buicks, right, I mean, wow, crazy for
a drive by, So you go with the buick. Then
when you when you've gone to comedy too as well,
you know we're doing this show it's called Unassisted Living,
and it's at the El Portal Theater and you're doing
a residency, so you got to show every month, right,
next one is January twenty fifth, correct, So these are
(12:23):
shows that are how do you approach your comedy in
these shows?
Speaker 4 (12:27):
Well? I came up with a format for myself about
thirty years ago called the single topic monologue, where I
have something I want to talk about and I build
the whole show around it. My first one was called
It's Me Dad. It was about being a divorced father,
and I was doing it at the Actor's Forum Theater
(12:49):
on Magnolia Boulevard in North Hollywood for a year and
k CET Public Television saw it and said, we want
to put this on our TV station. That's awesome, So
they got me to do it. They built a set,
they invested all this morning, and they did it as
a fundraising you know, like a pledge, yeah, function, and
it aired every Father's Day for several Fathers' days. After
(13:12):
a years, it was unbelievable. So the next one was
called The Reception, which was me discussing divorce for an
hour and a half. And then the third one I
did was called Tonight at eleven, which was about the
news business. Then the fourth one I did was called
Defying Gravity, which was the first show I did where
I said, oh my god, I'm old. What's this experience
(13:35):
going to be like? Now I've done an unassisted living
where I am old, there's no escape, I'm a senior citizen,
I'm carrying a Medicare card, and I'm just discussing the
joys and the quirkiness of being a person in his seventies.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
In studio with Fritz Coleman. We're talking about his career
as an NBC media, a weather person and also a
comedian doing shows like the one you can see Assisted
Living at the l Portal Theater. So let's go back
to NBC for a second. Over the course of the
time that you've been there, or that you were there,
(14:10):
I think about what else is going on in local
TV at the same time, right, Like I think you're
synonymous with Channel four in the early nineties, the KTLA
morning news comes around there. They just changed the way. Yeah, yeah,
and and I'll tell Frank you said that. And is
there any point, you know, we get in trouble still,
(14:30):
Like I got in trouble recently for saying a hole.
I didn't even say the word, I said the letter
a hole. And I called myself one in something and
I got.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Called into the you know, in the office.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Did you ever do you have any memories of anything
that ever happened that you were that you pushed it
too far, or that you they said, Fritz, come on
in here, let's check the tape on this.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
Well, they didn't have to check the tape. The viewers
were calling them by the thousand oh No. In the
old days, they used to send the entire news team
to the Olympics, like one hundred people would go over
there for three weeks and we would do all the
broadcasts from the various venues. In nineteen eighty eight, we
(15:12):
went to the sol Olympics, which was a spectacular experience,
and then we ninety two, we went to Atlanta and
I was doing the weather forecast on the same location
where the Olympic Park bomb went off, oh Man, five
minutes before the bomb went off, because we were doing
live news. So for the eleven o'clock news, it was
(15:32):
two o'clock in the morning Atlanta town and the bomb
went off shortly before that, and it was unbelievable. So anyway,
getting back to the Korea Olympics, it was fun. It
was a cultural stretch because it's very different over there.
So I was I'm embarrassed to say this now. I
(15:58):
was doing the five o'clock news with a Japanese anchor,
lady of Japanese extraction nameda Toyota. Came from the Bay
Area and I came back and like the first day
I'm on the air, I don't know who the male
anchor was at the time. Jess Marlow said, so, how's
(16:19):
it feel to be back? And I said, Jess, it
was so great to get off that plane and see
these beautiful American women. And as soon as I said it,
I said, I was trying to decide is this a
career ender? And I apologize, you know what I mean.
And I just wasn't thinking about it. I didn't think
of her in terms of not.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Being which which I feel like, is that that's just
an I accidentally put my foot in my mouth cut
it exactly. Wow, But you survived it though I did.
Was there any ever desire?
Speaker 4 (16:49):
I never said a whole one.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
No, that's right, No, you could. I know, it's crazy.
I can't believe I still have a job. Did you
ever want to go to kt LA? Did you ever
want to go to Fox eleven? Or was it forty
years at NBC? You are synonymous in my mind with
Channel four.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Well, you're very nice to say that. I'll tell you
know what it is. It's all about the chemistry. Yeah.
We had wonderful anchors there, Chuck and Colleen and Fred
Rogan and I got along great. Fred and I were
the beneficiaries of an astonishing amount of money spent on promotion.
They did the Fritz and Fred commercials where we had
these faux athletic events. And I would always win.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Because unbelievable production.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Oh my god, it was a week off to shoot
these things, and there was craft services and beautiful women
in this bating suits. It was unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Glenn Walker always says that he's in the ten years
too Late club, and I feel like I'm in the
twenty years two late club, because that's the kind of
stuff that I just like, I cannot even imagine.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Well, in those days, they used to spend you know,
it was all about promotion. I've got to tell you.
I never realized the power of advertising, yeah, and the
power of promotion until I benefited from this. Because people
to this day they had afraid. They invented a phrase
for me called Fritz said it would be like this, yeah,
and so they'd put it on a billboard. There was
nothing on there but a blue background of white front.
(18:04):
Fritz said it would be like this, And to this day,
women in their nineties on Walkers will come up doing
in ron Hey, Rich, that's right, it's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Conway just said it to you when he was walking out.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
It's a it's a thing, you know that Henry de Carlo,
who's the meteorologist in the morning they have. They did
a version of that on the broadcast. Uh, on the
on the tower outside in front of KTLA. Henry predicted this,
and he's pointing up to the sky of course, at
which you know, like everything we've we've sure ripped it
off from from you.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
And there was a I don't know if you remember,
a couple of years ago, somebody broke into the lot,
the Netflix, the KTLA lot, some crazy person and scaled
the tower, climbed up into it. So all the photos
that went out across across the world or a guy
standing on top of the tower with like a free
Billie Eilish crazy sign, and right below it is a
(18:55):
picture of Henry de Carlo's smiling face pointing up saying
Henry predicted this.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
So so you know, but well, i'll tell you. I'll
tell you one of the great cosmic accidents that happened
with the Fritz said it would be like this campaign.
So this is at the time when Jimmy Carter was
running for president and his vice presidential candidate was Fritz Mondale.
(19:19):
So the right wing media in Orange County started to
see five hundred billboards pop up over the place. Fritz
said it would be like this, and some conservative columnists
in the Orange County Register wrote, finally the media has
that guts to admit their left wing bank. They've got
this Fritz set it would be like this. And somebody
(19:40):
sent me the article and I almost died. So I
sent the guy an autograph picture and great shirt, perfect,
and I said, thank you for the promotions.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
This is obviously before you could just google stuff. Oh,
I know, and so well, we got to take a
break here. I wonder if you just stick around through
the break. When you come back, let's just talk about
the show's do Let's talk about when people can see
you next, and then what they can expect in unassisted living,
which I think is genius.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Great title.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
In studio with Fritz Coleman. Now, if you were still
at KNBC, would you still come and do this show
even though I work at the Enemy or did you
not think of it that way?
Speaker 2 (20:22):
You're no, this is.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Not the Enemy. This is a different medium altogether. No,
are you kidding me? I'd mean nuts not to come
on here. KFI is an iconic stage.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Well, we're really lucky to have you.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
I know you used to do did Channel four have
a partnership with kN X for a long time, and
you would do a radio or was it KFI that
you would do a weather?
Speaker 4 (20:43):
I did K BIG. I did the weather for Charlie
Toona when he was on K BIG. And I did
for Rick Dy's for a little while for an ISDN
line in my home and I did it.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
And that's the best.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
Yeah. And but you know I was in radio for
fifteen years. I was the top forty distri jockey.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
I didn't know that. Where are you from?
Speaker 4 (21:03):
Originally Philadelphia, Phi Okay?
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Are you an Eagles fan?
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Well? I guess so.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Yeah, by nature, if they were winning, you would be.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
I've been out here longer than I was in my hometown.
But I still don't feel like a resident. Isn't that
weird that.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
That is fifty years you're the honorary mayor of to
Look Lake.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
But I you know, I can only afford to live there.
Like three years ago, I moved. I finally moved there.
It's not one of those things where he had to
be in town.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
That's right, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Well, that's good because it's really just about you know,
forty five feet like one one one part of the
riverside to the other. Exactly did they got your picture
up at the Trader Joe's, I pray, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
They have it at Bob's Big Boy, which is more important.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
That's a huge that's the city hall, right, yeah, yeah,
how are the constituents.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
The constituents are great. Yeah, we have old people and
people below about sixty five have no idea who I am,
so it means nothing.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Now there's a great little wine bar over there next
to the foreman. I can't spin the bottle. It might
be called.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
I've never been in there. It's great.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
As the mayor, you got to you gotta meet your people.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
I happen to be a sober person, so I have
to avoid plays.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
You don't have a lot to do there though, not
unless they maybe have a health health code violation. So
we're sitting here watching an absolute domination of the Oregon Ducks.
Speaker 4 (22:23):
By the Chick fil A Peach Bowl.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
It's the peach Bowl.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
Now there's some of the branding lately is unbelievable. That
Tony the Tiger.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Insurance boy, right, the VRBO you're getting the neighbors called
on you for being too noisy bowl.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
You know, I don't get how that benefits either sponsor, but.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Hey, why not.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
So if you think about your comedy now, I know
you still really like the one story monologue. But are
you do you do you like the Carson Leno style,
like ten to fifteen jokes in ten minutes?
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Thing?
Speaker 4 (22:58):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Is it a good like setup punchline or do you
feel more.
Speaker 4 (23:01):
I'm a storyteller. Yeah, I spin tales, some of them
are true, and I like to tell stories. I was
drawn to the business by George Carlin, who was a
great practitioner of language. Yeah, and I like metaphor, and
I like exaggeration, and I.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
Like stories observational stuff, especially I think for unassisted living,
which obviously is all about reclaiming.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
Your senior years exactly, and I think doing that, the
truth is that we're the only ones with cash. People
over sixty five have all the savings. Kids below they
can't even get employed. Gen X and gen z.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
P, Well, yes, that's right, and I am reminded of
that every single time I look at my Pharaoh one K.
But you know, the kind of relatable stuff that you're
talking about in the shows, I think it's it's relatable
whether you are eating dinner in the Early Bird Special
Club or not.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
Now I say to people, uh, you know, this is
a great New Year's gift for your parents. Love it,
but don't feel that you can't come. Because people who
are not seniors that can use this show as a cautionary.
Speaker 5 (24:12):
Tale, well they all have fortunate enough.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
Yeah, but if you were fortunate enough to make it
the seniorhood, this is what your life is going to
be like.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
So the show is early, which is the same in.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
The afternoon because my audience likes to be home by dark.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Of course, what sort of stuff are you going to
be talking about? Is it a different show every single
time too?
Speaker 4 (24:32):
Not completely. I I do a new block of material
every time, but the basic template of the show remains
the same. Yeah. That way, I have a beginning and
an end that I know are strong. But if I
fail in between, I have another half hour to build
myself out of a hole before they go say good night.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
That is funny, and they've already paid So at that point,
you know exactly, It's like, well.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
Yeah, so we talk about everything. I talk about being
a grandparent, I talk about how I've changed as a senior,
don't particularly like who I've I've become a lot lazier.
I talk about, you know, cryptocurrency, I talk about my
friends that have changed. I talk about my best friend
who became a vegan, and I just make fun of
(25:14):
him for fifteen minutes. Love it, and just all the
stuff that common experiences of getting old. Because most of
my laughs that I get from my audience are laughs
of recognition. They say, you know, that's that's how I.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Can relate to that.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
Yeah, I mean, that's really how the Internet works, is
that when people think something is not necessarily even funny,
but they think it's relatable, they share it.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
You know.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
That's like really the driving and I.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Have found that these days people just want to be
taken out of their heads. We have so much in
our current events in our political world that separate us.
They love the fact that here's the common experience of
getting old in America.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Yes, sir, well, said Fritz Coleman. Thank you so much
for being.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
With I'm so honored to be here. Congratulations on the show.
Thank you. You've mastered every kind of media in this town.
You do a thing at KTLA, you do you're on
the Airy KTLA you have. I guess you could call
that a podcast that you the weekend and you're doing
this now and you've done the weather on TV.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
I'm just waiting for somebody to think, like, Okay, that's enough,
thank you.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
You could stop talking.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
And man di firstifications the key.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
I also I also make Frank Buckley's lunch. That's something
that's really yeah, and he's picky.
Speaker 4 (26:26):
There's such a great team over there. They really are.
I was really moved when Sam passed away. Yeah, at
all of their reactions, and you could tell the family
connections in the midst of the world.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
It's really weird, you know.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
And we're coming up on it'll be two years and
match unbelievable and you know, as as as you know,
I've told you, you know, I studied television in Los
Angeles and media in LA and getting to work with
him every day and see sort of how he created
the energy of that place.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
Yeah, and he represents and I might fall into the
same category, but not to the magnet dude. I never
realized how powerful he was. When I launched this show
at the Elportol Theater. He had me on as a
guest for three minutes and I sold out two shows
just on that little appearance. Yeah, he was very forceful
in this media. But I think I was of that
(27:14):
era where the personalities were big and that was important. Yes,
it's not so much anymore, especially in weather because with
climate change and everything, it's a different era. But he was.
He was a star of the past.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Yeah, you know, we miss him. We miss him a lot.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
I don't blame him.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Fritz Coleman, thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
We'll see your congratulations. Keep up the good work.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
January twenty fifth at Elportel Theater in North Hollywood. Tickets
at Fritzkoleman dot com.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Fritz Colemancomedy dot Com, Elportoltheater, Elport Okay, perfect, Just google it. Yeah,
that exactly. Just google it. You'll figure out.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Friday, January ninth. This is my first show of the year.
I was off a little bit, got out of town.
I was up in San Francisco for New Years and uh,
do you call it's new Can you call it New
Year's or is it New Year? It's New Year's Eve?
Speaker 4 (28:12):
But is it?
Speaker 5 (28:13):
I was up for New Year, But that sounds weird.
I was up for New Years, right. I don't think
the New Year police are going to bust you either way.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
You know, it's.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
It's that And also people who say at M machines.
Speaker 5 (28:24):
Or driver licensed driver's license.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
That's a tough one.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Did you did you work on New Year's Eve? In
fact I did, and and you held it down in
a manner of speaking.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Yes, that's good. I'm glad to hear that.
Speaker 5 (28:38):
I'm I'm glad you're back. I felt we were growing apart.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
I know it was kind of sad, well because I
missed that whole week ahead because I was doing Conway
before before New Year's.
Speaker 5 (28:45):
Eve, which I kind of made me think you were
a little bit of a trader.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
You think I was a trader because I did Conway.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
I guess. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Well, I had fun. I had fun with I had
fun with uh you rub you don't have to rub
it in. I had fun with Foosh. But I have
fun with was here too as well. You know, I
I don't know that. It's it's so interesting how I'm so.
I was talking to our program director Brian Long earlier
today because like I said, I had to, I had.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
To miss Monday. I was not back.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
I was going to be back on Monday, but I
got sick in San Francisco, and I was reflecting with
him just how wonderful it has been and how surprising
it has been that I've been able to come and
do this, because I had originally signed up to just
do the Sunday show from two to four, and I
was so stoked on that, and then they called me
up and said, hey, do you want to come do
some Mondays and Fridays from seven to ten? And I
(29:37):
was like, I don't know, because three hours is a
long time and it's a long time to do when
you also got a full time job. But I just,
you know, had a little bit of a break and
I really got to reflect about how how great it's been,
how great it's been to meet you Runner, to meet Fuje,
to meet Croje Bellio. It's like you got a whole
new family, a kind of and I was really excited
(29:58):
to come back. And then you know, in the Bay,
like I said, and I know where it happened. I
was at the cal Academy of Arts and Sciences. It's
like a science museum in the Golden Gate Park and
I was in the basement where the aquarium is and
I'm there with my girlfriend and I'm talking and I
was just like, it's hot. There's one hundred and fifty
(30:21):
kids there. It's a couple of days after the holidays.
It's muggy. I'm like, we're getting sick and lo and behold.
Two days later, I'm drinking a lot of water, but
I still feel thirsty. My eyes are doing that thing
where they feel like they're just like, oh, I can't
wake up.
Speaker 5 (30:38):
Was it COVID.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
I don't think it was. No, it wasn't COVID. It's
just some kind of head cold. I had had COVID
in July, June, June, so I think that I probably still,
hopefully still have some community to that.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
But it really it really knocked me out.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
And I didn't really feel that bad, but I sounded
bad and I was sneezing a lot, and I thought,
you know, I would hate to come back in here
sound gross and then get everybody sick. So I was
not here on Monday, but happy to be back here,
even though I am missing the last four minutes of
this unbelievable football game.
Speaker 5 (31:11):
If you want to just watch the game, Foush and
I can say you guys can just rest of the hour.
Do you see what's happening here? No, I don't care
about that stuff.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
I don't know how to not as an Indiana a
person who grew up in Indiana, and again I couldn't
have got out of there faster, but just to see it,
to see that name Indiana, those letters on a jersey
be represented in this huge, huge scale, and to have
them do so well, it just makes me feel so proud.
I'm a bandwagoner, I admit it, but I watched this
(31:41):
season and I just think it's it's a remarkable thing.
And I know that Oregon is such a powerhouse football franchise.
You know, they win, they just win. And Indiana for
them to come this far and to do this well
and apparently what now will look like hopefully you know,
only three minutes left, fifty six to fifteen. I don't
think that there's a chance now for Indiana to not
(32:03):
come away with this, but to beat Oregon twice in
the same season, win the semi finals, move on to
the championship, have a shot at the championship against Miami.
Speaker 5 (32:16):
That's a that's very very cool. None of those words
that you just said mean anything to me. But you
do know that I lived in Indiana for a while,
I know, while I was going to grad school at Purdue,
and having been there, I can say I kind of
hope they lose. Okay, I'm really rooting for Portland. No, no,
even though I don't care about sports. Well it's not Portland,
(32:38):
it's Eugene whatever, and whoever it is, I hope they
beat Indiana.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
Well, sorry, bucko, you got yeah, yeah, I don't think.
I mean, you know, I guess anything is possible. Fifteen
to fifty six on you can pull it out. Those
are blasphemous words. I just said some really nice stuff
and then you came in here.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
I wasn't a.
Speaker 5 (32:57):
Personal attack against you. I was an attack on your
home state, right.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Right right, right right, Well listen, and if they had
not been doing well, then I wouldn't have cared at all.
Speaker 5 (33:04):
But in fact, let me just compliment you on the
that really butch haircut, thinking.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
I'm so mad, not you, I'm so mad.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
I went and got a haircut and then they were like,
I was like, please don't cut very much of it,
which they never They always cut a lot of it,
you know, they always cut it whenever you. I showed
her a picture of myself. I didn't even take a
reference photo. That was like a you know, some people
show up and they got like a book and it's
like there's bread Pitta with that haircut, and it's like,
good luck, bucko, that's not gonna happen. But I go
(33:36):
to the haircut routine the barbershop, and I showed her
a video of myself, like I'm like, that is me
just cut my hair like that.
Speaker 5 (33:44):
That is a level of narcissism that I've never encountered.
I mean, showing somebody a picture of yourself and saying,
make me look like that.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Well, I mean I thought that's a pretty good blueprint.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
Is that Is that any worse than showing a picture
of a famous person who clearly I will not look like, No,
you're good because I always show like when I have
a good photo with a goo good fade, and I
want them to replicate the same like I share the
same photo.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
So I get you.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
And I said, I don't think it's I didn't like
player my reel or anything. You know, I didn't say,
like me, sit and watch this part I I where
I interviewed Shatner I just like showed her a photo
from my you know, like selfie, and I was like,
this is what my hair. I liked my hair. When
it was like this, can you do that again? She said, yeah,
sure of course I got that. I like the Shatner
Circle nineteen sixty six. Look, that's that's what I always
(34:32):
ask for, and they do quite a good job.
Speaker 5 (34:35):
Except mine's real. Oh that's true for the time being.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Are you trying to tell me that you think that
William Shatner didn't have real hair.
Speaker 5 (34:42):
I would never say anything to disparage that god like man.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
Because if he's not blocked you on Twitter yet, you know,
there's still there's still time.
Speaker 5 (34:49):
I love that man, like you love Fritz Coleman.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
I love Fritz. I was so happy to have Fritz.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
Fritz is such a good dude, and and I've interviewed
him a couple of times at KTLA, and I I
just was like, I wanted to have him come in
when there was a big storm, but he was actually
out of town and and so then I was like, no,
let's come on, let's do.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
This so very good.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
We got lots coming up in the next hour. San Francisco.
It may have got me sick? But is it back?
We're getting into why the city feels a little bit
different even than it did a year ago. Plus, a
monkey was captured after breaking into a guitar shop. It's
the kind of local news that you can't look away from.
(35:32):
And after all this time, there's a new Karen in town.
So sorry, I guess all those other Karens can buy
gold and move to the villages. You can retire. I
am six forty. I'm Andy Reesemeyer. We're live everywhere on
the iHeartRadio
Speaker 1 (35:49):
App KFI AM six on demand
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