1 00:00:32,157 --> 00:00:35,160 reflective music 2 00:00:37,495 --> 00:00:38,705 [laughter] 3 00:00:38,747 --> 00:00:40,540 [Robin] They do these things before you have a child. 4 00:00:40,582 --> 00:00:42,125 They have a thing called amniocentesis, 5 00:00:42,167 --> 00:00:43,668 where they scan down, and, actually, 6 00:00:43,710 --> 00:00:45,253 you get to the point where you go... 7 00:00:45,295 --> 00:00:46,671 [gasps] "My God, it's a boy, 8 00:00:46,713 --> 00:00:48,506 and he's hung like a bear!" 9 00:00:48,548 --> 00:00:50,258 The doctor drew me aside-- "Mr. Williams, 10 00:00:50,300 --> 00:00:51,885 that's the umbilical." "Shit!" 11 00:00:51,926 --> 00:00:54,345 [laughter] 12 00:00:54,387 --> 00:00:55,889 "No. 13 00:00:55,930 --> 00:00:58,641 Don't cut it. Let him dream for a day!" 14 00:00:58,683 --> 00:01:00,351 Every time a man goes for a complete 15 00:01:00,393 --> 00:01:01,686 physical examination, for some reason, 16 00:01:01,728 --> 00:01:06,524 the doctor grabs him by the balls and says, "Cough." 17 00:01:06,566 --> 00:01:08,234 I want to know why. 18 00:01:08,276 --> 00:01:09,903 What's he looking for? 19 00:01:09,944 --> 00:01:12,697 "Oh, you got night blindness, huh?" 20 00:01:15,325 --> 00:01:17,702 "Got a tennis elbow, huh?" 21 00:01:17,744 --> 00:01:19,996 "What do you got? A trick knee?" 22 00:01:20,038 --> 00:01:22,582 Doc, get your hands off my balls, okay? 23 00:01:22,624 --> 00:01:23,666 Thank you. 24 00:01:23,708 --> 00:01:26,961 - [crowd cheering] - [woman shrieking] 25 00:01:27,003 --> 00:01:29,547 upbeat music 26 00:01:29,589 --> 00:01:31,591 Pull this lady off of me! 27 00:01:31,633 --> 00:01:33,551 - I'm off the mat. - [man] Sorry. 28 00:01:33,593 --> 00:01:35,011 [Binder] For nearly five decades, 29 00:01:35,053 --> 00:01:36,638 the Main Room of The Comedy Store 30 00:01:36,679 --> 00:01:38,348 has been the favorite laboratory 31 00:01:38,389 --> 00:01:40,600 in stand-up's constant quest to find out 32 00:01:40,642 --> 00:01:44,104 what would and wouldn't send torches and pitchforks 33 00:01:44,145 --> 00:01:45,396 streaming up the hill. 34 00:01:45,438 --> 00:01:47,232 Men are obsessed with women's nipples. 35 00:01:47,273 --> 00:01:48,483 They'll just play with them for hours. 36 00:01:48,525 --> 00:01:49,859 You can be asleep, and they'll still be at it. 37 00:01:49,901 --> 00:01:53,279 - You know... - [laughter, applause] 38 00:01:55,406 --> 00:01:57,742 [cheering] 39 00:01:57,784 --> 00:02:00,537 They don't understand that there's a very fine line 40 00:02:00,578 --> 00:02:03,123 between eroticism and nausea. 41 00:02:05,458 --> 00:02:07,627 It's like, "If you don't stop playing with my nipples, 42 00:02:07,669 --> 00:02:10,296 I'm going to throw up. Please." 43 00:02:11,965 --> 00:02:15,844 "Touch them briefly, fuck me, and go home." 44 00:02:16,386 --> 00:02:18,054 [Binder] In this era, Whitney Cummings 45 00:02:18,096 --> 00:02:20,598 is the reigning queen of American stand-up-- 46 00:02:20,640 --> 00:02:23,393 clever, unique, and irascibly charming, 47 00:02:23,434 --> 00:02:25,603 with incandescent stage presence. 48 00:02:25,645 --> 00:02:27,564 She has all the tools to be on top, 49 00:02:27,605 --> 00:02:30,567 but what's really put her there is her work ethic. 50 00:02:30,608 --> 00:02:33,153 She takes the job of being funny deadly serious. 51 00:02:33,194 --> 00:02:36,656 One thing Whitney puts a lot of time into these days 52 00:02:36,698 --> 00:02:38,408 is her podcast, Good For You, 53 00:02:38,449 --> 00:02:40,702 a mix of comedy and confession 54 00:02:40,743 --> 00:02:43,538 with stand-up and people from all walks of life. 55 00:02:43,580 --> 00:02:45,999 A big part of her life is the Store. 56 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:48,710 She's deeply embedded in the Store family. 57 00:02:48,751 --> 00:02:50,962 Not only is she universally loved there, 58 00:02:51,004 --> 00:02:54,632 but her love for the place and the people shines 59 00:02:54,674 --> 00:02:57,135 the minute she arrives backstage. 60 00:02:57,177 --> 00:02:58,928 When did you first come to The Comedy Store? 61 00:02:58,970 --> 00:03:00,722 I first came to the Comedy Store-- 62 00:03:00,763 --> 00:03:02,390 I wanna say 2002. 63 00:03:02,432 --> 00:03:04,309 I would ask people, like, 64 00:03:04,350 --> 00:03:05,852 "What's this bloodstain on the wall?" 65 00:03:05,894 --> 00:03:08,938 I would see, you know, like, razor cuts on the tables 66 00:03:08,980 --> 00:03:11,441 from doing cocaine and stuff, you know, so-- 67 00:03:11,482 --> 00:03:12,775 [Binder] "What's that bullet hole?" 68 00:03:12,817 --> 00:03:13,985 [Cummings laughing] Totally. 69 00:03:14,027 --> 00:03:15,737 You just hear these stories, where you're just like, 70 00:03:15,778 --> 00:03:17,864 - "What was going on here?" - It was crazy. 71 00:03:17,906 --> 00:03:19,365 Our generation was taught, 72 00:03:19,407 --> 00:03:21,659 "Just be clean so you can get on TV. 73 00:03:21,701 --> 00:03:23,912 Get a clean five. Get a clean ten." 74 00:03:23,953 --> 00:03:25,538 No one wanted you doing dirty jokes. 75 00:03:25,580 --> 00:03:26,831 No one wanted you ripping curtains down. 76 00:03:26,873 --> 00:03:28,583 No one wanted you breaking the rules. 77 00:03:28,625 --> 00:03:31,836 You had to abide by the rules so you could get that TV set. 78 00:03:31,878 --> 00:03:33,922 You know, The Comedy Store is really where you went 79 00:03:33,963 --> 00:03:35,882 when you were ready to, like, go to war 80 00:03:35,924 --> 00:03:38,384 and find out who you are and break open. 81 00:03:38,426 --> 00:03:41,304 I mean, that's where I got good as a comedian. 82 00:03:41,346 --> 00:03:43,598 That's where my bar was set. 83 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:46,643 pensive music 84 00:05:17,734 --> 00:05:19,652 rock music 85 00:05:19,694 --> 00:05:21,779 I always heard, like, "Oh, there's a different kind 86 00:05:21,821 --> 00:05:23,573 of comedian at The Comedy Store." 87 00:05:23,614 --> 00:05:25,825 Every comic I ever looked up to, 88 00:05:25,867 --> 00:05:28,870 any comic that ever inspired me, all worked here-- 89 00:05:28,911 --> 00:05:31,414 Dice, Kinison, Roseanne, 90 00:05:31,456 --> 00:05:33,583 Jim Carrey, Damon Wayans. 91 00:05:33,624 --> 00:05:36,419 I was just afraid of The Comedy Store. 92 00:05:36,461 --> 00:05:38,421 exciting music 93 00:05:38,463 --> 00:05:40,840 [laughter] 94 00:05:40,882 --> 00:05:43,551 [cheers and applause] 95 00:05:43,593 --> 00:05:45,553 [whining] Don't you think we should talk 96 00:05:45,595 --> 00:05:47,555 about our sexual problem? 97 00:05:47,597 --> 00:05:50,892 [laughter] 98 00:05:50,933 --> 00:05:53,978 I was married for two [...] years! 99 00:05:54,020 --> 00:05:56,147 Hell would be like Club Med! 100 00:05:56,189 --> 00:05:57,899 I mean, who wouldn't want to be here 101 00:05:57,940 --> 00:06:00,109 with Kinison and Rudy Sarzo and Billy Idol 102 00:06:00,151 --> 00:06:02,820 and people snorting coke and going around the corner 103 00:06:02,862 --> 00:06:05,656 and eating pussy and ass till six in the morning? 104 00:06:05,698 --> 00:06:06,783 Like, where do I sign up? 105 00:06:06,824 --> 00:06:10,244 The sex, the drugs-- it was phenomenal. 106 00:06:10,286 --> 00:06:11,454 I remember times, you and I, 107 00:06:11,496 --> 00:06:13,164 we'd be up at Mitzi's living room 108 00:06:13,206 --> 00:06:16,000 with Richard Pryor and Robin, and we were just young guys. 109 00:06:16,042 --> 00:06:17,919 Just awe. Total awe. 110 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:19,754 There were awesome people coming through here 111 00:06:19,796 --> 00:06:20,713 all the time. 112 00:06:20,755 --> 00:06:22,382 It was like being on Mount Olympus, 113 00:06:22,423 --> 00:06:24,384 and we were like, "Ah, Zeus is coming in tonight. 114 00:06:24,425 --> 00:06:26,677 He's gonna throw some lightning bolts and shit." 115 00:06:26,719 --> 00:06:28,346 I call it... 116 00:06:28,388 --> 00:06:31,974 the angry Saint Bernard. 117 00:06:32,016 --> 00:06:34,060 - [growls] - [laughter] 118 00:06:34,102 --> 00:06:36,145 It was like a sexual circus here. 119 00:06:36,187 --> 00:06:37,939 You know, you'd go upstairs, and you'd open a door, 120 00:06:37,980 --> 00:06:40,441 and somebody's getting a blowjob--"Oh, I'm sorry." 121 00:06:40,483 --> 00:06:43,820 There was a guy, Lenny Schultz, who would bring out a pig-- 122 00:06:43,861 --> 00:06:45,405 a live pig-- and the pig got loose, 123 00:06:45,446 --> 00:06:49,700 and it was kind of like pre-Howard Stern going insane. 124 00:06:49,742 --> 00:06:51,077 - [Binder] Right. - [Felicia] For a person 125 00:06:51,119 --> 00:06:52,328 that never fit in anywhere, 126 00:06:52,370 --> 00:06:54,956 it was like, "Fuck. I have found Misfit Island." 127 00:06:54,997 --> 00:06:56,958 rock music 128 00:06:56,999 --> 00:06:59,043 [man] How does it feel to be the mother of comedy? 129 00:06:59,085 --> 00:07:01,921 Oh, stop that! I don't want that. 130 00:07:02,463 --> 00:07:04,882 [Cummings] I remember the first time I saw Mitzi. 131 00:07:04,924 --> 00:07:07,093 All of these super macho comedians 132 00:07:07,135 --> 00:07:08,970 were lining the hallway, you know, 133 00:07:09,011 --> 00:07:11,431 roasting each other, like, "Fuck you. Fuck you"-- 134 00:07:11,472 --> 00:07:12,807 everybody yelling at each other. 135 00:07:12,849 --> 00:07:13,891 super masculine energy. 136 00:07:13,933 --> 00:07:15,226 And then as soon as Mitzi came in, 137 00:07:15,268 --> 00:07:18,187 they all got really small and really obsequious to her. 138 00:07:18,229 --> 00:07:19,897 And they're like, "Mitzi, do you need anything?" 139 00:07:19,939 --> 00:07:21,441 I mean, they would literally bow. 140 00:07:21,482 --> 00:07:22,608 They would bend over. 141 00:07:22,650 --> 00:07:24,819 [Marc] She was sort of the queen of the situation-- 142 00:07:24,861 --> 00:07:26,863 in some ways, some sort of, like, dark, 143 00:07:26,904 --> 00:07:28,072 weird mother figure. 144 00:07:28,114 --> 00:07:29,740 Mitzi would ask you to do something. 145 00:07:29,782 --> 00:07:31,576 You'd go, "Really? Yeah, of course. 146 00:07:31,617 --> 00:07:32,910 I'll kill him." 147 00:07:32,952 --> 00:07:35,538 It was the childishness of it. 148 00:07:35,580 --> 00:07:38,124 It's a very steady way 149 00:07:38,166 --> 00:07:41,627 of giving the children-- 150 00:07:41,669 --> 00:07:45,006 children a place to grow and work out. 151 00:07:45,047 --> 00:07:46,632 Where she was the mama bear, 152 00:07:46,674 --> 00:07:49,844 and that had its... pluses and minuses. 153 00:07:49,886 --> 00:07:52,930 She could do things that were so wonderful for you 154 00:07:52,972 --> 00:07:55,600 and then turn around and do something that was un-- 155 00:07:55,641 --> 00:07:56,934 you had no explanation for. 156 00:07:56,976 --> 00:07:59,228 The comedians that she thought she founded 157 00:07:59,270 --> 00:08:02,023 were, you know, her special people. 158 00:08:02,064 --> 00:08:03,900 She was heartless on some people. 159 00:08:03,941 --> 00:08:05,693 She was just heartless. 160 00:08:05,735 --> 00:08:07,612 You're not ready for the Store yet. 161 00:08:07,653 --> 00:08:08,738 - No? - I remember one time 162 00:08:08,779 --> 00:08:10,990 in her office, and Barry Diamond calls up. 163 00:08:11,032 --> 00:08:13,659 And she puts him on speakerphone and goes, 164 00:08:13,701 --> 00:08:15,077 "Shh." 165 00:08:15,119 --> 00:08:17,830 And he starts crying, literally. 166 00:08:17,872 --> 00:08:21,042 "I didn't get any spots. I didn't get any spots. 167 00:08:21,083 --> 00:08:23,628 I didn't--" "Oh, well, call later. 168 00:08:23,669 --> 00:08:24,837 I'll see what I can do." 169 00:08:24,879 --> 00:08:26,547 And I just looked at her, and I go, 170 00:08:26,589 --> 00:08:29,133 "Boy, do you enjoy that." 171 00:08:29,175 --> 00:08:30,927 But she said, "Yeah, I do." 172 00:08:30,968 --> 00:08:33,971 I would go over to the house and I would give her massages, 173 00:08:34,013 --> 00:08:36,682 like everybody else, and, you know, I would, uh-- 174 00:08:36,724 --> 00:08:37,850 - [Binder] Bobby. - Yeah? 175 00:08:37,892 --> 00:08:39,143 [Binder] You're the only one I've ever heard 176 00:08:39,185 --> 00:08:40,228 that had to give her a massage. 177 00:08:40,269 --> 00:08:41,646 [laughs] That's not true at all. 178 00:08:41,687 --> 00:08:43,356 - [Binder] No, I swear to God. - That is absolutely not true. 179 00:08:43,397 --> 00:08:44,899 - [Binder] No one ever gave-- - That is absolutely 180 00:08:44,941 --> 00:08:46,359 - not fucking true, Mike. - [Binder] I swear to God. 181 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:49,111 I've never heard anybody ever gave her a massage. 182 00:08:49,153 --> 00:08:50,780 I would massage her sometimes. 183 00:08:50,821 --> 00:08:52,782 I remember Mitzi used to always get mad. 184 00:08:52,823 --> 00:08:56,619 She'd go, "You guys can't mess around with the waitresses." 185 00:08:56,661 --> 00:08:58,287 I'd go, "Well, why not, Mitzi? 186 00:08:58,329 --> 00:09:00,665 You mess around with the comics." 187 00:09:00,706 --> 00:09:01,749 [both laugh] 188 00:09:01,791 --> 00:09:04,335 I can name you the comics that ate her pussy. 189 00:09:04,377 --> 00:09:06,462 - [Binder] Okay, I--I-- - I mean, she's probably here-- 190 00:09:06,504 --> 00:09:08,256 - I mean, her soul. - [Binder] Yeah, yeah, I know. 191 00:09:08,297 --> 00:09:10,716 - I mean, her vagina-- - [Binder] No--okay, vagina. 192 00:09:10,758 --> 00:09:11,842 - Yeah, yeah. - [Binder] I know comics 193 00:09:11,884 --> 00:09:13,135 - ate her vagina. - Yeah, yeah. 194 00:09:13,177 --> 00:09:14,428 [Binder] But I never knew one guy 195 00:09:14,470 --> 00:09:16,764 that went over and gave her a massage. 196 00:09:16,806 --> 00:09:17,974 You bastard. 197 00:09:18,015 --> 00:09:20,393 The one who broke her heart, that was the love of her life 198 00:09:20,434 --> 00:09:21,394 was Steve Landesberg. 199 00:09:21,435 --> 00:09:23,187 When she broke up with Landesberg, 200 00:09:23,229 --> 00:09:25,648 she started screwing around with all the comics. 201 00:09:25,690 --> 00:09:27,316 You made it pretty fast, though, it seems. 202 00:09:27,358 --> 00:09:29,068 One week, I was in the Main Room. 203 00:09:29,110 --> 00:09:31,487 Pryor used to fuck with me. "You fucked Mitzi, didn't you? 204 00:09:31,529 --> 00:09:33,698 Well, nobody get in that motherfucking room that fast. 205 00:09:33,739 --> 00:09:35,157 You fucked her, didn't you?" 206 00:09:35,199 --> 00:09:37,118 She said it to me several times, 207 00:09:37,159 --> 00:09:38,953 that her life started at 40. 208 00:09:38,995 --> 00:09:41,205 The life before that didn't exist to her. 209 00:09:41,247 --> 00:09:42,873 So when she got the Store, you know, 210 00:09:42,915 --> 00:09:45,876 she got to live the college girl that she was 211 00:09:45,918 --> 00:09:48,879 when she was, you know, young--the Bohemian Mitzi. 212 00:09:48,921 --> 00:09:51,674 My mom was very trusting to you guys. 213 00:09:51,716 --> 00:09:53,718 "This is my home. This your home. 214 00:09:53,759 --> 00:09:55,469 Come on in. Drink whatever you want. 215 00:09:55,511 --> 00:09:57,847 Eat whatever you want. Fuck whoever you want." 216 00:09:57,888 --> 00:09:59,307 That ecosystem at the time, 217 00:09:59,348 --> 00:10:01,976 I can only imagine how incestuous that would get 218 00:10:02,018 --> 00:10:03,811 with all the trauma bonding and... 219 00:10:03,853 --> 00:10:04,937 - [Binder] Yes, yes. - ...the alcohol 220 00:10:04,979 --> 00:10:05,980 and the addiction and... 221 00:10:06,022 --> 00:10:07,273 [Binder] And we were so close to her. 222 00:10:07,315 --> 00:10:09,775 - Mitzi loved comedians. - Yeah. 223 00:10:09,817 --> 00:10:12,194 You add that to her broken heart. 224 00:10:12,236 --> 00:10:15,072 We were partying till late at night every night. 225 00:10:15,114 --> 00:10:17,241 I have never really dated a comedian, 226 00:10:17,283 --> 00:10:18,951 but I'm in love with every comedian. 227 00:10:18,993 --> 00:10:21,120 Like, all my friends are successful, 228 00:10:21,162 --> 00:10:22,955 hilarious, famous comedians, and I have to go on dates 229 00:10:22,997 --> 00:10:24,415 with normal people, and I'm like, 230 00:10:24,457 --> 00:10:25,416 "Ugh, you're bombing." 231 00:10:25,458 --> 00:10:27,251 - Yeah. "You're bombing." - You know what I mean? 232 00:10:27,293 --> 00:10:29,003 "You're bombing. Killing me," you know? 233 00:10:29,045 --> 00:10:30,755 - Yeah, yeah. - So I get it. 234 00:10:30,796 --> 00:10:32,173 Were you aware of Tim Thomerson? 235 00:10:32,214 --> 00:10:33,382 I didn't know him well. 236 00:10:33,424 --> 00:10:34,634 Like, I've seen his name on things. 237 00:10:34,675 --> 00:10:37,678 When I got out there, Tim Thomerson was the guy. 238 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:39,055 - The guy. - If I had any money 239 00:10:39,096 --> 00:10:40,931 and you could buy stock in somebody, 240 00:10:40,973 --> 00:10:42,642 I just would have gone all-in. 241 00:10:42,683 --> 00:10:45,645 funky music 242 00:10:45,686 --> 00:10:47,021 You came out in '75, 243 00:10:47,063 --> 00:10:48,356 and who were the big guys here? 244 00:10:48,397 --> 00:10:51,067 Well, Tim Thomerson was enormous. 245 00:10:51,108 --> 00:10:52,735 I never saw anybody like him-- 246 00:10:52,777 --> 00:10:54,945 blond hair, masculine, 247 00:10:54,987 --> 00:10:56,697 good-looking, kind of a surfer. 248 00:10:56,739 --> 00:10:58,949 [Letterman] He was the guy you couldn't follow. 249 00:10:58,991 --> 00:11:00,534 He was just terrific to watch 250 00:11:00,576 --> 00:11:02,620 because he was completely uninhibited. 251 00:11:02,662 --> 00:11:04,246 Oh, the way things is going, 252 00:11:04,288 --> 00:11:07,458 I'm so damn horny, the crack of dawn ain't safe. 253 00:11:07,500 --> 00:11:08,542 You know? 254 00:11:08,584 --> 00:11:09,502 [laughter] 255 00:11:09,543 --> 00:11:13,714 He had just won something called the Lenny Bruce Award 256 00:11:13,756 --> 00:11:17,218 and, of course, knew of Lenny Bruce, 257 00:11:17,259 --> 00:11:19,095 never heard of the Lenny Bruce Award, 258 00:11:19,136 --> 00:11:20,513 and I think it was only bestowed... 259 00:11:20,554 --> 00:11:21,931 - [Binder] One year. - One year. 260 00:11:21,972 --> 00:11:23,891 - [Binder] That's right. - And then it was retired. 261 00:11:23,933 --> 00:11:26,977 Your style was so unique and so different. 262 00:11:27,019 --> 00:11:28,312 Where did it come from? 263 00:11:28,354 --> 00:11:30,356 Certainly, uh, Jonathan Winters 264 00:11:30,398 --> 00:11:32,149 was probably the biggest influence. 265 00:11:32,191 --> 00:11:33,859 I like all kinds of movies-- 266 00:11:33,901 --> 00:11:35,653 the Western with the guy: "All right. 267 00:11:35,695 --> 00:11:36,570 Move 'em out there." 268 00:11:36,612 --> 00:11:38,739 [imitates whip cracking] "I'm sorry, Ralph." 269 00:11:38,781 --> 00:11:39,824 [laughter] 270 00:11:39,865 --> 00:11:41,492 I didn't really have an act. I just had-- 271 00:11:41,534 --> 00:11:43,536 Charles Bronson, I could do, and... 272 00:11:43,577 --> 00:11:47,206 "Remember, I dug 17 tunnels with my face." 273 00:11:47,248 --> 00:11:49,291 I kind of yelled at people and... [chuckles] 274 00:11:49,333 --> 00:11:51,419 ...sort of, you know, gave 'em a bunch of guff. 275 00:11:51,460 --> 00:11:53,629 By the way, are you people all on Valiums or something? 276 00:11:53,671 --> 00:11:56,006 Are you people from Encino? Let's lighten it up, okay? 277 00:11:56,048 --> 00:11:58,175 Really funny. Had that Stagecoach bit. 278 00:11:58,217 --> 00:11:59,844 Talk about a guy who never really had an act. 279 00:11:59,885 --> 00:12:00,970 He never had an act. 280 00:12:01,011 --> 00:12:02,471 There was no-- that I could see, really-- 281 00:12:02,513 --> 00:12:03,848 - He had Stagecoach. - [Binder] Stagecoach. 282 00:12:03,889 --> 00:12:04,932 [imitates whip cracking] 283 00:12:04,974 --> 00:12:06,767 [imitates hooves clomping] 284 00:12:06,809 --> 00:12:09,937 [imitating air whooshing, arrow thwacking] 285 00:12:09,979 --> 00:12:11,981 And then the tagline with the Peckinpah thing 286 00:12:12,022 --> 00:12:14,734 came from, you know, The Wild Bunch. 287 00:12:14,775 --> 00:12:17,903 [continuous gunfire] 288 00:12:18,988 --> 00:12:20,489 [laughter] 289 00:12:20,531 --> 00:12:23,868 [imitating slow-motion gunfire] 290 00:12:25,995 --> 00:12:27,788 He was kind of dangerous, remember? 291 00:12:27,830 --> 00:12:29,331 - [Binder] Yeah. - You thought, 292 00:12:29,373 --> 00:12:31,167 "He's really funny, but... 293 00:12:31,208 --> 00:12:33,586 he might do something crazy tonight." 294 00:12:34,795 --> 00:12:35,755 [laughter] 295 00:12:35,796 --> 00:12:38,758 But I think his mindset was primarily on being an actor. 296 00:12:38,799 --> 00:12:41,218 - [Binder] Yeah. - Hi, I'm Kenny. 297 00:12:41,260 --> 00:12:44,096 - Hi. - soft music 298 00:12:44,138 --> 00:12:45,765 Orbit program is locked in. 299 00:12:45,806 --> 00:12:47,099 - Good. - And guess what. 300 00:12:47,141 --> 00:12:48,434 What? 301 00:12:49,435 --> 00:12:51,312 I've almost finished my needlepoint. 302 00:12:51,353 --> 00:12:52,605 [audience laughs] 303 00:12:52,646 --> 00:12:53,647 It's lovely. 304 00:12:53,689 --> 00:12:55,733 [Binder] Now, over here, this is what I wanted to show you-- 305 00:12:55,775 --> 00:12:56,650 this picture of you. 306 00:12:56,692 --> 00:12:58,402 You were the cover of LA Weekly here. 307 00:12:58,444 --> 00:13:00,780 LA Weekly, 1970--what is that? 308 00:13:00,821 --> 00:13:02,239 '72 or '3 or something. 309 00:13:02,281 --> 00:13:04,325 - I always wanted that. - [Binder] You want this? 310 00:13:04,366 --> 00:13:06,494 - I always wanted that picture. - [Binder] Here. 311 00:13:06,535 --> 00:13:08,996 - Here. - [Tim] Oh, bitchin'. Really? 312 00:13:09,038 --> 00:13:09,997 Yeah, Mitzi's gone. 313 00:13:10,039 --> 00:13:11,290 You can take whatever you want now, 314 00:13:11,332 --> 00:13:12,958 and that's the great thing about The Comedy Store. 315 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:14,460 If you haven't seen him before, 316 00:13:14,502 --> 00:13:17,797 you're gonna get a kick out of Bad Sam, okay? 317 00:13:17,838 --> 00:13:19,799 Sammy? Where are you, Sam? 318 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:21,717 [cheers and applause] 319 00:13:21,759 --> 00:13:24,303 Before I was your little son, 320 00:13:24,345 --> 00:13:26,055 before I was your baby, 321 00:13:26,096 --> 00:13:29,099 your dependent... 322 00:13:29,141 --> 00:13:32,311 I was a free spirit in the next stage of life. 323 00:13:32,353 --> 00:13:33,979 I walked in the cosmos 324 00:13:34,021 --> 00:13:35,940 not imprisoned by a body of flesh 325 00:13:35,981 --> 00:13:38,234 but free in a body of light. 326 00:13:38,275 --> 00:13:39,443 I knew all things. 327 00:13:39,485 --> 00:13:41,362 There were no questions, only answers. 328 00:13:41,403 --> 00:13:42,988 No weaknesses, only strength! 329 00:13:43,030 --> 00:13:44,865 I was light! I was truth! 330 00:13:44,907 --> 00:13:47,535 I was a spiritual being! I was a God! 331 00:13:47,576 --> 00:13:52,164 But you had to fuck and bring my ass down here! 332 00:13:52,206 --> 00:13:53,541 I didn't ask to be born! 333 00:13:53,582 --> 00:13:55,960 I didn't call you up, say, "Please have me! 334 00:13:56,001 --> 00:13:58,087 Can I work at Winchell's someday?" 335 00:13:58,128 --> 00:13:59,296 I don't have shit! 336 00:13:59,338 --> 00:14:00,923 You fucked! You had me! 337 00:14:00,965 --> 00:14:03,676 Now you want me to pay my own way? 338 00:14:03,717 --> 00:14:05,845 [shrieking] Fuck you! 339 00:14:05,886 --> 00:14:08,848 rock music 340 00:14:08,889 --> 00:14:11,350 It's a very evangelistic style. 341 00:14:11,392 --> 00:14:14,687 It's not really that different from the way I used to preach. 342 00:14:14,728 --> 00:14:16,480 [Binder] He's from a family of preachers. 343 00:14:16,522 --> 00:14:19,441 His father was a preacher. His brothers were preachers. 344 00:14:19,483 --> 00:14:21,527 Comedians right now, they're really good 345 00:14:21,569 --> 00:14:23,737 and polished and smart and thoughtful, 346 00:14:23,779 --> 00:14:28,284 and they go deep, but he just, like, ripped into your chest, 347 00:14:28,325 --> 00:14:30,703 almost like going to see Iggy Pop or something. 348 00:14:30,744 --> 00:14:31,996 - [Binder] Yeah. - Like, "Something might 349 00:14:32,037 --> 00:14:33,038 happen right now." 350 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:34,331 To see him do what he did, 351 00:14:34,373 --> 00:14:36,625 where he didn't give a fuck about the audience-- 352 00:14:36,667 --> 00:14:39,837 like, he'd get onstage, and the air would change 353 00:14:39,879 --> 00:14:41,213 because it was menacing. 354 00:14:41,255 --> 00:14:43,048 He was there to shock you 355 00:14:43,090 --> 00:14:45,259 and to change your belief system. 356 00:14:45,301 --> 00:14:47,428 The hair on your back of your neck stood up 357 00:14:47,469 --> 00:14:49,930 when he came in 'cause you didn't know 358 00:14:49,972 --> 00:14:51,891 how dark he was gonna go. 359 00:14:51,932 --> 00:14:52,975 It wasn't just funny. 360 00:14:53,017 --> 00:14:54,602 It was attached to emotion, 361 00:14:54,643 --> 00:14:57,187 which most comics divorce themselves from. 362 00:14:57,229 --> 00:14:59,064 [Sam] I buy it every time. I got to tell you. 363 00:14:59,106 --> 00:15:01,150 I buy it every fucking time. I do, man. 364 00:15:01,191 --> 00:15:02,651 Love comes from behind and goes... 365 00:15:02,693 --> 00:15:04,445 [high-pitched voice] "Come on, come on! 366 00:15:04,486 --> 00:15:06,572 Come on, this is love. 367 00:15:06,614 --> 00:15:08,282 This is love. Come on." 368 00:15:08,324 --> 00:15:09,950 [squeals] "Come on." 369 00:15:09,992 --> 00:15:12,286 [laughter] 370 00:15:12,328 --> 00:15:13,996 "I'm not like the others. No. 371 00:15:14,038 --> 00:15:16,415 This is new love. 372 00:15:16,457 --> 00:15:17,791 Come on, trust me. Trust me. 373 00:15:17,833 --> 00:15:20,252 I wouldn't lie to you ten times in a row, fuckhead. 374 00:15:20,294 --> 00:15:21,462 Come on! 375 00:15:21,503 --> 00:15:23,631 Come on, open the door. Let's see what she's like." 376 00:15:23,672 --> 00:15:25,799 [imitates door creaking open, roaring] 377 00:15:25,841 --> 00:15:28,344 [imitates door slamming] Oh! Oh! Oh! 378 00:15:28,385 --> 00:15:30,137 I thought it was the door to love! 379 00:15:30,179 --> 00:15:32,473 It was the door to hell! 380 00:15:32,514 --> 00:15:34,433 He came out here with Carl LaBove. 381 00:15:34,475 --> 00:15:36,518 - These two guys were so close. - Mm-hmm. 382 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:39,980 They lived in Hollywood, and they walked back and forth 383 00:15:40,022 --> 00:15:42,399 to Westwood to help Sam be in shape. 384 00:15:42,441 --> 00:15:44,944 They were like brothers. 385 00:15:44,985 --> 00:15:48,572 When Carl and Sam came out from Texas, 386 00:15:48,614 --> 00:15:51,742 Carl LaBove was the funnier of the two. 387 00:15:51,784 --> 00:15:53,410 Carl should have went out on his own. 388 00:15:53,452 --> 00:15:56,455 Carl was always brilliant, like, physically-- 389 00:15:56,497 --> 00:15:58,207 he was a great physical comedian. 390 00:15:58,248 --> 00:15:59,500 He would do a bug--butterflies. 391 00:15:59,541 --> 00:16:01,418 - He would do the fly--a fly. - [Binder] Yeah. 392 00:16:01,460 --> 00:16:03,128 - That's what I mean. - I'm telling you, man. 393 00:16:03,170 --> 00:16:05,839 You give a woman coke, she's gonna tell you 394 00:16:05,881 --> 00:16:08,384 her whole life story. 395 00:16:08,425 --> 00:16:11,929 [speaking gibberish rapidly, sniffing] 396 00:16:13,055 --> 00:16:14,348 "And then when I was two"... 397 00:16:14,390 --> 00:16:16,308 [speaking rapid gibberish] 398 00:16:16,350 --> 00:16:17,893 "Are we gonna fuck?" "Uh-uh." 399 00:16:17,935 --> 00:16:19,436 [speaking rapid gibberish] 400 00:16:19,478 --> 00:16:21,438 It's like hanging out with a human fly, man. 401 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:23,273 Like... [continues speaking gibberish] 402 00:16:23,315 --> 00:16:25,901 [imitates buzzing] 403 00:16:25,943 --> 00:16:27,444 [buzzing stops] 404 00:16:27,486 --> 00:16:30,823 [buzzing continues] 405 00:16:33,659 --> 00:16:34,868 [cheers and applause] 406 00:16:34,910 --> 00:16:37,746 There were a couple of nights when we were in Rascals 407 00:16:37,788 --> 00:16:40,374 that Carl did so well that Sam couldn't follow him. 408 00:16:40,416 --> 00:16:42,126 He was likable. You know what I mean? 409 00:16:42,167 --> 00:16:43,335 He wasn't dark. 410 00:16:43,377 --> 00:16:47,297 I just feel like a hairy guy trapped in a bald man's body. 411 00:16:47,339 --> 00:16:51,218 He got sucked into the Sam Kinison vortex, 412 00:16:51,260 --> 00:16:53,512 and he just took on this dark vibe. 413 00:16:53,554 --> 00:16:57,307 And he started becoming, you know, "Sam's friend." 414 00:16:57,349 --> 00:16:59,601 They were partners in crime, you know. 415 00:16:59,643 --> 00:17:01,520 They went everywhere together. 416 00:17:01,562 --> 00:17:04,314 Sam Kinison was like 417 00:17:04,356 --> 00:17:06,692 the Mike Tyson of comedy 418 00:17:06,734 --> 00:17:08,235 'cause he talked about religion. 419 00:17:08,277 --> 00:17:09,611 He talked about relationships 420 00:17:09,653 --> 00:17:14,158 like no one else has talked about it before or since. 421 00:17:19,872 --> 00:17:21,165 "Jesus." 422 00:17:27,629 --> 00:17:30,382 "Yeah. Yeah." 423 00:17:30,424 --> 00:17:33,719 [laughter] 424 00:17:38,724 --> 00:17:41,351 [laughter, applause] 425 00:17:45,022 --> 00:17:48,192 [whistling] 426 00:17:48,233 --> 00:17:50,903 jazzy music 427 00:17:50,944 --> 00:17:54,615 I came here when I was 17 on a bus, basically. 428 00:17:54,656 --> 00:17:56,575 - [Carrey] That's probably 19. - [Binder] Really? 429 00:17:56,617 --> 00:17:58,202 - [Carrey] Yeah, I think so. - [Binder] Wow. 430 00:17:58,243 --> 00:17:59,411 I think I was-- 431 00:17:59,453 --> 00:18:01,288 I had hair on my balls, but it was a comb-over. 432 00:18:01,330 --> 00:18:02,498 [laughs] 433 00:18:02,539 --> 00:18:04,750 When Carrey came out here, it was the first guy I ever saw 434 00:18:04,792 --> 00:18:06,668 get a standing ovation every single night. 435 00:18:06,710 --> 00:18:09,171 And he did impressions. It was all impressions. 436 00:18:09,213 --> 00:18:10,756 He could just say "Clint Eastwood" 437 00:18:10,798 --> 00:18:12,549 and make his face look like Clint Eastwood. 438 00:18:12,591 --> 00:18:14,009 He would do, like, Bruce Dern. 439 00:18:14,051 --> 00:18:16,762 [Carrey] I was going to be the man of a thousand faces, 440 00:18:16,804 --> 00:18:18,597 and I could do James Dean. 441 00:18:18,639 --> 00:18:21,100 [laughter] 442 00:18:21,141 --> 00:18:22,476 [applause] 443 00:18:22,518 --> 00:18:24,895 Henry Fonda was my big closer. 444 00:18:24,937 --> 00:18:27,523 I'm not sure I know how to pick strawberries. 445 00:18:27,564 --> 00:18:30,651 The comics would watch you and get jealous 446 00:18:30,692 --> 00:18:32,319 because you were getting standing ovations... 447 00:18:32,361 --> 00:18:33,403 - Yeah. - ...and they'd go, 448 00:18:33,445 --> 00:18:34,738 "He's not earning it." It's like, 449 00:18:34,780 --> 00:18:35,864 "Dude, they're standing." 450 00:18:35,906 --> 00:18:38,617 I guess Jim thought of it as a very traditional 451 00:18:38,659 --> 00:18:40,452 Rich Little-type act. It wasn't. 452 00:18:40,494 --> 00:18:41,829 It was still super weird. 453 00:18:41,870 --> 00:18:44,331 It was a total crowd-pleaser, 454 00:18:44,373 --> 00:18:46,333 and I thought I was gonna go and die in Vegas. 455 00:18:46,375 --> 00:18:49,044 [Judd] He had done a TV series called The Duck Factory. 456 00:18:49,086 --> 00:18:51,380 It was his big break. He had made a movie, 457 00:18:51,421 --> 00:18:52,798 Once Bitten, where he was the lead, 458 00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:54,133 and it didn't work. 459 00:18:54,174 --> 00:18:55,467 [hisses] 460 00:18:55,509 --> 00:18:57,678 - Holy shit! - Let's get out of here! 461 00:18:57,719 --> 00:19:00,222 [Apatow] And then he started doing parts in movies, 462 00:19:00,264 --> 00:19:01,473 like Peggy Sue Got Married, 463 00:19:01,515 --> 00:19:03,559 but things weren't really happening. 464 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:06,311 I think all that stuff that started to go downhill, 465 00:19:06,353 --> 00:19:07,563 at that time for Jim, 466 00:19:07,604 --> 00:19:09,606 he just made a decision to be a comic. 467 00:19:09,648 --> 00:19:11,859 "I'm just gonna be a comic from now on." 468 00:19:11,900 --> 00:19:13,443 That's how I work, you know. 469 00:19:13,485 --> 00:19:15,612 I fail the first time out really miserably, 470 00:19:15,654 --> 00:19:19,575 and then I go, "Okay, don't give up, here." 471 00:19:19,616 --> 00:19:22,077 And he decided, "I'm gonna do no impressions." 472 00:19:22,119 --> 00:19:24,663 And he would kind of die in the middle of a show 473 00:19:24,705 --> 00:19:25,747 that was just packed. 474 00:19:25,789 --> 00:19:28,333 Instead of writing jokes and writing an act, 475 00:19:28,375 --> 00:19:32,546 he would come onstage and just improvise all of it. 476 00:19:32,588 --> 00:19:34,715 How was Mitzi? What was Mitzi's point of view? 477 00:19:34,756 --> 00:19:36,675 She was a little resistant to that, 478 00:19:36,717 --> 00:19:37,843 but she didn't stop me. 479 00:19:37,885 --> 00:19:39,136 One time, she said... 480 00:19:39,178 --> 00:19:40,429 [in Wisconsin accent] "What are you doing? 481 00:19:40,470 --> 00:19:43,056 You're the king of impressions. 482 00:19:43,098 --> 00:19:46,977 What are you doing? You don't get a second chance." 483 00:19:47,019 --> 00:19:49,062 [normal voice] I said, "Well, you know, 484 00:19:49,104 --> 00:19:50,063 they got mad at Bob Dylan 485 00:19:50,105 --> 00:19:51,315 when he went electric," you know. 486 00:19:51,356 --> 00:19:53,984 "I'm going electric," you know, "and I'm gonna experiment. 487 00:19:54,026 --> 00:19:56,570 And if I blow the whole thing, I blow the whole thing." 488 00:19:56,612 --> 00:19:58,655 Mitzi believed in him, 489 00:19:58,697 --> 00:20:00,616 gave him the time to fail 490 00:20:00,657 --> 00:20:02,618 because another act, if she didn't like him-- 491 00:20:02,659 --> 00:20:05,245 okay, you go on and bomb like he was bombing at first, 492 00:20:05,287 --> 00:20:06,288 he's out of here. 493 00:20:06,330 --> 00:20:07,831 [Carrey] And I would sweat in the back here, 494 00:20:07,873 --> 00:20:09,458 in the hallway, waiting to go on. 495 00:20:09,499 --> 00:20:11,001 Like, literally bleeding with sweat 496 00:20:11,043 --> 00:20:13,587 'cause I told myself I wasn't gonna repeat 497 00:20:13,629 --> 00:20:15,672 one thing that I had said the night before. 498 00:20:15,714 --> 00:20:17,841 It would all be created in front of people. 499 00:20:17,883 --> 00:20:18,926 As luck would have it, 500 00:20:18,967 --> 00:20:21,470 Mitzi put him onstage every night 501 00:20:21,511 --> 00:20:22,638 right next to Damon Wayans. 502 00:20:22,679 --> 00:20:24,473 [Carrey] He'd wait till I got offstage... 503 00:20:24,514 --> 00:20:25,807 - [laughs] - ...and he'd come up to me, 504 00:20:25,849 --> 00:20:28,018 laughing like that and going like, 505 00:20:28,060 --> 00:20:30,270 "You are the fucking angriest person 506 00:20:30,312 --> 00:20:31,772 I've ever seen in my life." 507 00:20:31,813 --> 00:20:34,399 Jim and I were kind of like brothers in war. 508 00:20:34,441 --> 00:20:36,068 We'd hang out, just talking about 509 00:20:36,109 --> 00:20:40,697 the power we felt of not being afraid to bomb. 510 00:20:40,739 --> 00:20:42,950 I remember one night, that table back there, 511 00:20:42,991 --> 00:20:46,328 there were six guys that were drinking heavily, 512 00:20:46,370 --> 00:20:47,704 and they were heckling me. 513 00:20:47,746 --> 00:20:50,457 I came off the stage, 514 00:20:50,499 --> 00:20:55,379 and I walked up over this and onto the table. 515 00:20:55,420 --> 00:20:57,589 And I grabbed a beer bottle. 516 00:20:57,631 --> 00:20:59,341 Then I smashed it on the side of the table 517 00:20:59,383 --> 00:21:03,220 and I did a whole From Here to Eternity on 'em. 518 00:21:03,262 --> 00:21:04,721 I went "Come on!" 519 00:21:04,763 --> 00:21:06,306 [glass shatters] 520 00:21:06,348 --> 00:21:07,641 Okay, fatso. 521 00:21:07,683 --> 00:21:10,269 If it's killing you want... come on. 522 00:21:10,310 --> 00:21:12,604 And they just recoiled. 523 00:21:12,646 --> 00:21:14,564 And I said, "I didn't think so," 524 00:21:14,606 --> 00:21:16,066 and I dropped the beer bottle. 525 00:21:16,108 --> 00:21:18,068 Once I started bombing, I always felt, 526 00:21:18,110 --> 00:21:22,155 "Well, at least I'm going to be remembered 527 00:21:22,197 --> 00:21:23,365 for being the worst thing 528 00:21:23,407 --> 00:21:24,658 they've ever seen in their lives." 529 00:21:24,700 --> 00:21:26,660 I remember coming here one night, and he goes, 530 00:21:26,702 --> 00:21:27,869 "This is the worst show I've ever had, 531 00:21:27,911 --> 00:21:29,371 and to punish myself tonight, 532 00:21:29,413 --> 00:21:30,831 I'm gonna go lay in this piano." 533 00:21:30,872 --> 00:21:32,124 I got in the piano, 534 00:21:32,165 --> 00:21:34,876 and I closed the piano on top of myself. 535 00:21:34,918 --> 00:21:37,754 And everybody had to deal with the fact 536 00:21:37,796 --> 00:21:38,964 that there was this-- 537 00:21:39,006 --> 00:21:41,383 you know, one of the acts had crawled into the piano. 538 00:21:41,425 --> 00:21:45,679 And between, of course, there would be music, you know. 539 00:21:45,721 --> 00:21:47,639 They played piano music 540 00:21:47,681 --> 00:21:50,142 to get the next act up onstage, 541 00:21:50,183 --> 00:21:53,562 and it would be this muted, muffled piano... 542 00:21:53,603 --> 00:21:55,605 [imitates dissonant notes] 543 00:21:55,647 --> 00:21:56,815 And it's 1:45. 544 00:21:56,857 --> 00:21:58,150 "Our last act tonight"... 545 00:21:58,191 --> 00:22:00,235 and then you hear... boom, boom, boom, boom. 546 00:22:00,277 --> 00:22:01,403 And the piano lid opens up, 547 00:22:01,445 --> 00:22:04,072 and the 20 people that are still here from nine o'clock 548 00:22:04,114 --> 00:22:06,658 when it was a hundred people in this room-- 549 00:22:06,700 --> 00:22:09,661 Jim would get out and go, "I've got to go home. 550 00:22:09,703 --> 00:22:11,997 I've punished myself enough," and would get out 551 00:22:12,039 --> 00:22:13,665 and end the joke and walk across the room 552 00:22:13,707 --> 00:22:14,916 and walk out the door. 553 00:22:14,958 --> 00:22:17,169 Then he goes into this very long improvisation. 554 00:22:17,210 --> 00:22:21,214 He starts doing this character that is a burn victim. 555 00:22:21,256 --> 00:22:22,591 It turns into... 556 00:22:22,632 --> 00:22:24,634 Fire Marshal Bill here. 557 00:22:24,676 --> 00:22:25,844 [whistle blows] 558 00:22:25,886 --> 00:22:28,764 Is that a wood-shingle roof you got there? 559 00:22:28,805 --> 00:22:30,766 Keenen was looking for a white guy. 560 00:22:30,807 --> 00:22:31,975 [chuckles] 561 00:22:32,017 --> 00:22:35,187 You know, he was trying to reverse Saturday Night Live, 562 00:22:35,228 --> 00:22:36,605 which is, they had Garrett Morris 563 00:22:36,646 --> 00:22:38,482 and they had, you know, Eddie Murphy. 564 00:22:38,523 --> 00:22:39,900 So he wanted the white guy. 565 00:22:39,941 --> 00:22:42,694 He did this nationwide search, and they couldn't find-- 566 00:22:42,736 --> 00:22:44,196 and I said, "Keenen, I know the guy." 567 00:22:44,237 --> 00:22:45,947 They brought Jim in. He auditioned. 568 00:22:45,989 --> 00:22:48,408 And he just-- he blew everybody away 569 00:22:48,450 --> 00:22:49,409 'cause he was fearless, 570 00:22:49,451 --> 00:22:51,703 but he got that fearlessness from, you know, 571 00:22:51,745 --> 00:22:53,955 the way we used to experiment in comedy. 572 00:22:53,997 --> 00:22:55,624 "I know how to make you laugh. 573 00:22:55,665 --> 00:22:56,625 That's fine. 574 00:22:56,666 --> 00:22:58,168 Now I'm gonna show you who I am." 575 00:22:58,210 --> 00:23:00,712 And that's the difference between that lounge act 576 00:23:00,754 --> 00:23:02,589 and superstar Jim Carrey. 577 00:23:02,631 --> 00:23:04,216 The Comedy Store is very special to me. 578 00:23:04,257 --> 00:23:06,593 When I was a teenager, I used to watch people 579 00:23:06,635 --> 00:23:08,887 like Richard Pryor and Robin Williams 580 00:23:08,929 --> 00:23:11,598 on television and think... 581 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:13,934 [scoffs] "I can do that." 582 00:23:13,975 --> 00:23:16,853 I remember Richard Pryor was in the crowd with Mitzi 583 00:23:16,895 --> 00:23:19,147 in one of the booths that were visible from the stage, 584 00:23:19,189 --> 00:23:21,983 and I just on a whim decided I would be naked, 585 00:23:22,025 --> 00:23:23,860 and I would put a sock on my dick. 586 00:23:23,902 --> 00:23:25,654 [Louie] And, you know, everybody went "What? 587 00:23:25,695 --> 00:23:27,280 Huh? What's going on here?" 588 00:23:27,322 --> 00:23:28,949 - It was funny as hell. - [Carrey] I was, like, 589 00:23:28,990 --> 00:23:30,450 friends for life with Richard. 590 00:23:30,492 --> 00:23:31,326 [Binder] Yeah, right. 591 00:23:31,368 --> 00:23:34,663 Where would I be without this place? 592 00:23:34,704 --> 00:23:37,791 There's just--there's no me without this place. 593 00:23:37,833 --> 00:23:39,501 poignant music 594 00:23:39,543 --> 00:23:42,838 I remember one night I was performing in the Belly Room, 595 00:23:42,879 --> 00:23:44,089 just bombing. 596 00:23:44,131 --> 00:23:46,550 I came offstage, and Mitzi was there, 597 00:23:46,591 --> 00:23:48,051 which was like, "Oh, God." 598 00:23:48,093 --> 00:23:50,053 She's like, "Come here." You know, she summons you. 599 00:23:50,095 --> 00:23:52,055 And then you have to bend over to her. 600 00:23:52,097 --> 00:23:54,850 And she grabbed my hand, and she said, 601 00:23:54,891 --> 00:23:58,019 "Honey, you remind me of Roseanne." 602 00:23:58,061 --> 00:24:02,023 And, um... that's all I needed to hear. 603 00:24:02,065 --> 00:24:04,359 - 'Cause she loved Roseanne. - Yeah, she loved Roseanne. 604 00:24:04,401 --> 00:24:06,445 Well, do you ever notice after people get married, 605 00:24:06,486 --> 00:24:07,404 they start going to church 606 00:24:07,446 --> 00:24:08,905 and getting real religious and stuff? 607 00:24:08,947 --> 00:24:10,240 Do you ever notice that? 608 00:24:10,282 --> 00:24:12,325 I guess it's not until marriage that the idea 609 00:24:12,367 --> 00:24:16,121 of eternal damnation becomes a reality. 610 00:24:16,163 --> 00:24:18,957 Mitzi had opened up a room, a little room upstairs 611 00:24:18,999 --> 00:24:21,042 that was strictly for ladies. 612 00:24:21,084 --> 00:24:22,127 She calls it the Belly Room, 613 00:24:22,169 --> 00:24:23,962 where they can incubate and grow. 614 00:24:24,004 --> 00:24:26,798 [Binder] I remember when Mitzi opened the Belly Room. 615 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:29,092 At first, people were-- women were really upset. 616 00:24:29,134 --> 00:24:30,927 I used to be in that goddamn Belly Room. 617 00:24:30,969 --> 00:24:32,095 I hated that place. 618 00:24:32,137 --> 00:24:34,306 [Byron] All of a sudden, these female comics 619 00:24:34,347 --> 00:24:37,142 were able to find themselves and find their voices. 620 00:24:37,184 --> 00:24:38,894 [Bernhard] I felt completely liberated. 621 00:24:38,935 --> 00:24:40,270 It was a place where people were coming 622 00:24:40,312 --> 00:24:42,814 specifically to see women do what they were doing, 623 00:24:42,856 --> 00:24:46,526 and then it really allowed me to fully realize 624 00:24:46,568 --> 00:24:49,613 my whole take on performing. 625 00:24:49,654 --> 00:24:52,491 What's your name? Ace? 626 00:24:52,532 --> 00:24:53,742 Hi, Ace. 627 00:24:53,783 --> 00:24:56,369 I like everything about you. 628 00:24:56,411 --> 00:24:59,039 I like the fashion risks you took tonight, Ace. 629 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:01,416 [laughter, applause] 630 00:25:01,458 --> 00:25:02,834 I like you. I like you a lot. 631 00:25:02,876 --> 00:25:05,045 I like you, and yet I'd like to hurt you. 632 00:25:05,086 --> 00:25:09,633 Like to smack your fucking beard off, mister. 633 00:25:09,674 --> 00:25:12,844 In that time, in 1985, '86, 634 00:25:12,886 --> 00:25:15,222 when you were here as a woman at The Comedy Store, 635 00:25:15,263 --> 00:25:16,848 there weren't that many women. 636 00:25:16,890 --> 00:25:20,060 Carol Leifer and Cathy Ladman... 637 00:25:20,101 --> 00:25:21,895 I was in Pennsylvania last week. 638 00:25:21,937 --> 00:25:24,064 I was in the Amish country. 639 00:25:25,148 --> 00:25:26,858 There's a group of people who don't have to think 640 00:25:26,900 --> 00:25:29,903 about what to wear in the morning. 641 00:25:29,945 --> 00:25:33,156 "Well, I guess I'll wear the black hat." 642 00:25:33,198 --> 00:25:36,868 I remember seeing Lois Bromfield drive in 643 00:25:36,910 --> 00:25:39,996 in a convertible-- the blonde, you know, gorgeous. 644 00:25:40,038 --> 00:25:42,666 I honestly believe that alcohol can totally destroy your life. 645 00:25:42,707 --> 00:25:43,708 I believe this. 646 00:25:43,750 --> 00:25:44,960 I had a date with this really neat guy 647 00:25:45,001 --> 00:25:46,461 about three weeks ago, and I was drinking champagne. 648 00:25:46,503 --> 00:25:50,298 And champagne will come up in the middle of a word. 649 00:25:50,340 --> 00:25:52,259 And we're sitting there-- right in the middle of a word. 650 00:25:52,300 --> 00:25:53,885 It was so embarrassing. It was just... 651 00:25:53,927 --> 00:25:56,721 "You know, I'm having a wonderful time." 652 00:25:56,763 --> 00:25:58,306 [laughs] 653 00:25:58,348 --> 00:26:00,350 "Mmm. This is delicious. 654 00:26:00,392 --> 00:26:02,644 You know, I really find you very... 655 00:26:02,686 --> 00:26:04,104 [speaking through belch] ...attractive." 656 00:26:04,145 --> 00:26:08,108 [laughter, cheers, applause] 657 00:26:16,241 --> 00:26:19,286 "That must be my beeper." 658 00:26:19,327 --> 00:26:21,329 [Binder] Did you only play the Belly Room, 659 00:26:21,371 --> 00:26:22,914 or did you play any of the other rooms? 660 00:26:22,956 --> 00:26:24,165 [Goldberg] No, just the Belly Room, 661 00:26:24,207 --> 00:26:25,458 'cause I wander. 662 00:26:25,500 --> 00:26:26,293 [laughter] 663 00:26:26,334 --> 00:26:28,712 Wander, like, telling a story, 664 00:26:28,753 --> 00:26:30,005 then maybe there's something funny, 665 00:26:30,046 --> 00:26:32,007 but then it takes me to something else, 666 00:26:32,048 --> 00:26:34,009 and, you know, takes me forever to get through anything. 667 00:26:34,050 --> 00:26:35,343 [Binder] And you would also get lost in your character. 668 00:26:35,385 --> 00:26:36,970 - Yes, yes. - [Binder] I remember. 669 00:26:37,012 --> 00:26:38,847 That's what I used to remember, watching you in the Belly Room. 670 00:26:38,888 --> 00:26:40,432 I noticed a small staircase 671 00:26:40,473 --> 00:26:43,018 leading up to a big bookcase, and I'm into books. 672 00:26:43,059 --> 00:26:45,979 You know, I got a PhD in literature from Columbia. 673 00:26:46,021 --> 00:26:47,814 - [laughter] - So I... 674 00:26:47,856 --> 00:26:49,441 [laughter] 675 00:26:49,482 --> 00:26:52,777 I know you don't think I was born a junkie. 676 00:26:52,819 --> 00:26:56,448 [Binder] There was one guy that broke right in that time 677 00:26:56,489 --> 00:26:58,742 who was completely different than all these guys. 678 00:26:58,783 --> 00:27:00,368 I would study Steven Wright 679 00:27:00,410 --> 00:27:03,163 and learn how jokes should be constructed. 680 00:27:03,204 --> 00:27:05,874 Like, that's how I learned that jokes are surprise. 681 00:27:05,915 --> 00:27:08,835 Steven Wright wrote one-liners, but he-- 682 00:27:08,877 --> 00:27:11,004 they were very much more surreal. 683 00:27:11,046 --> 00:27:13,214 Steven is a little bit more left field 684 00:27:13,256 --> 00:27:15,133 or even walking the foul-pole line. 685 00:27:15,175 --> 00:27:17,344 He invented a delivery style. 686 00:27:17,385 --> 00:27:19,137 Talk about the first Tonight Show shot-- 687 00:27:19,179 --> 00:27:20,597 how it went and everything. 688 00:27:20,639 --> 00:27:22,849 You--you got--oh. 689 00:27:22,891 --> 00:27:25,310 We're gonna not only blur that logo out, 690 00:27:25,352 --> 00:27:26,936 we're just gonna blur you out. 691 00:27:26,978 --> 00:27:29,022 - Blur me out completely. - Yeah, it's gonna be-- 692 00:27:29,064 --> 00:27:31,232 Just put a squirrel here and animate it. 693 00:27:31,274 --> 00:27:34,069 And don't even have it lined up to what I'm saying. 694 00:27:34,110 --> 00:27:35,945 Would you welcome Steven Wright? 695 00:27:35,987 --> 00:27:37,906 [cheers and applause] 696 00:27:37,947 --> 00:27:40,325 [band playing upbeat music] 697 00:27:42,952 --> 00:27:44,162 [in sullen voice] Thanks. 698 00:27:44,204 --> 00:27:47,499 [laughter] 699 00:27:47,540 --> 00:27:51,169 I had a dream that all the babies 700 00:27:51,211 --> 00:27:54,673 prevented by the pill showed up. 701 00:27:54,714 --> 00:27:56,925 [laughter] 702 00:27:56,966 --> 00:27:59,219 They were mad. 703 00:27:59,260 --> 00:28:03,139 That was my goal in my life, my fantasy--to go on that show. 704 00:28:03,181 --> 00:28:05,934 Tonight Show was why I started doing comedy. 705 00:28:05,975 --> 00:28:07,894 Seeing Johnny and all the comedians-- 706 00:28:07,936 --> 00:28:09,979 "Oh, look at these guys," coming out, 707 00:28:10,021 --> 00:28:12,273 five minutes of their funny version 708 00:28:12,315 --> 00:28:14,359 of what happened, then talked to Johnny. 709 00:28:14,401 --> 00:28:16,444 And Johnny Carson changed my life twice, 710 00:28:16,486 --> 00:28:19,239 because once, from watching him-- 711 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:21,032 16 years old, I started. 712 00:28:21,074 --> 00:28:22,242 So then when I went on the show, 713 00:28:22,283 --> 00:28:24,452 then he affected my life the second time. 714 00:28:24,494 --> 00:28:26,246 But so the phone rings in the afternoon, 715 00:28:26,287 --> 00:28:29,040 and Jim McCauley's saying, "Yeah, you wanna go on?" 716 00:28:29,082 --> 00:28:30,917 I said, "What do you mean? From that five minutes 717 00:28:30,959 --> 00:28:32,544 two weeks ago?" "Yeah, yeah." 718 00:28:32,585 --> 00:28:36,881 And, you know, was a quick ten-minute conversation 719 00:28:36,923 --> 00:28:39,968 and I hung up and it was completely surreal. 720 00:28:40,009 --> 00:28:42,554 I called people I knew. No one was home. 721 00:28:42,595 --> 00:28:43,596 And how old were you? 722 00:28:43,638 --> 00:28:45,473 - You were only about 25, 26... - I was 26. 723 00:28:45,515 --> 00:28:48,977 - [cheers and applause] - Good to see you, Steven. 724 00:28:49,018 --> 00:28:50,145 How's it going? 725 00:28:50,186 --> 00:28:51,271 Wonderful. 726 00:28:51,312 --> 00:28:53,815 Did they just let you out for this evening? 727 00:28:53,857 --> 00:28:54,983 [laughter] 728 00:28:55,024 --> 00:28:56,234 Yeah, I have an hour left. 729 00:28:56,276 --> 00:28:59,112 [Johnny] That's... [laughs] 730 00:28:59,154 --> 00:29:00,864 That's wonderfully inventive stuff. 731 00:29:00,905 --> 00:29:02,073 - Thanks. - Really. 732 00:29:02,115 --> 00:29:04,075 Is this your first time on national television? 733 00:29:04,117 --> 00:29:05,744 First time on national television, yes. 734 00:29:05,785 --> 00:29:06,828 Yeah. 735 00:29:06,870 --> 00:29:08,538 How do you feel about it? 736 00:29:08,580 --> 00:29:10,123 Uh... 737 00:29:10,165 --> 00:29:11,249 what? 738 00:29:11,291 --> 00:29:13,126 - [laughter] - I'm in shock. 739 00:29:13,168 --> 00:29:14,419 [Johnny] Did it do--did it go the way 740 00:29:14,461 --> 00:29:17,297 - you thought it would go? - Yeah, it's--it's, uh...yep. 741 00:29:17,338 --> 00:29:18,965 - Yeah. - [laughter] 742 00:29:19,007 --> 00:29:20,633 Yeah, this is the place that I performed in. 743 00:29:20,675 --> 00:29:23,178 [Binder] Yeah. This is a tough room. 744 00:29:23,219 --> 00:29:26,681 When we were working out here, this was the easier room. 745 00:29:26,723 --> 00:29:30,018 But these guys today say this is the harder room. 746 00:29:30,059 --> 00:29:31,352 Why? 747 00:29:31,394 --> 00:29:32,604 The Comedy Store Original Room 748 00:29:32,645 --> 00:29:35,440 is the toughest comedy room in America. 749 00:29:35,482 --> 00:29:38,860 That's my favorite place to do new stuff, 750 00:29:38,902 --> 00:29:40,945 but it's also the scariest place. 751 00:29:40,987 --> 00:29:42,864 Everybody has sweat on that stage. 752 00:29:42,906 --> 00:29:44,741 You literally can't see anything. 753 00:29:44,783 --> 00:29:45,950 It's almost disorienting. 754 00:29:45,992 --> 00:29:47,452 It's like an interrogation lamp. 755 00:29:47,494 --> 00:29:50,079 I like knowing that it can go sideways here 756 00:29:50,121 --> 00:29:53,625 and that I don't really understand why sometimes. 757 00:29:53,666 --> 00:29:55,752 bluesy music 758 00:29:55,794 --> 00:29:57,420 [Wright] Wow. Sam. 759 00:29:57,462 --> 00:30:00,298 [Binder] Were you around when Sam Kinison was around at all? 760 00:30:00,340 --> 00:30:02,926 Just a little bit. He was always very nice. 761 00:30:02,967 --> 00:30:05,011 Wasn't he amazing? 762 00:30:05,053 --> 00:30:06,346 - Were you friends with him? - Yeah. 763 00:30:06,387 --> 00:30:10,225 Sam always used to think that you took a lot of his stuff. 764 00:30:10,266 --> 00:30:11,559 I can see how. 765 00:30:11,601 --> 00:30:13,937 A lot of people have said that to me. 766 00:30:13,978 --> 00:30:15,355 Yeah. 767 00:30:16,189 --> 00:30:18,107 Do you know this guy? 768 00:30:19,067 --> 00:30:20,610 [Steven] Yes, that's the guy-- 769 00:30:20,652 --> 00:30:22,529 that's the only guy I ever slept with. 770 00:30:22,570 --> 00:30:25,114 [Cummings] One night--this must have been, like, 2006. 771 00:30:25,156 --> 00:30:27,700 Once every couple months, they'll be just a random panic 772 00:30:27,742 --> 00:30:29,911 at The Comedy Store in the hallway. 773 00:30:29,953 --> 00:30:31,287 And that means someone's there. 774 00:30:31,329 --> 00:30:34,457 And, like, a white Cadillac pulled up, 775 00:30:34,499 --> 00:30:36,167 and then, like, a bunch of other cars pulled up. 776 00:30:36,209 --> 00:30:39,128 And then people were just, like, sprinting around. 777 00:30:39,170 --> 00:30:41,214 Like, the waitresses are sprinting, like-- 778 00:30:41,256 --> 00:30:42,757 just--there's chaos. 779 00:30:42,799 --> 00:30:44,050 And it was Dice. 780 00:30:44,092 --> 00:30:47,428 rock music 781 00:30:47,470 --> 00:30:49,097 [Binder] Remember how big he got? 782 00:30:49,138 --> 00:30:51,057 Yeah, he was filling 20,000 seats. 783 00:30:51,099 --> 00:30:53,476 Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet... 784 00:30:53,518 --> 00:30:55,395 [cheers and applause] 785 00:30:55,436 --> 00:30:57,480 ...eating her curds and whey. 786 00:30:57,522 --> 00:31:00,149 Along came a spider. He sat down beside her. 787 00:31:00,191 --> 00:31:01,943 - He said... - [all] "Hey. 788 00:31:01,985 --> 00:31:04,028 What's in the bowl, bitch?" 789 00:31:04,070 --> 00:31:05,154 Oh! 790 00:31:05,196 --> 00:31:07,198 You know, today anybody becoming big, it's-- 791 00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:09,701 "I got 400,000 followers. 792 00:31:09,742 --> 00:31:11,744 I got 300,000 f"-- 793 00:31:11,786 --> 00:31:13,162 I didn't follow nobody. 794 00:31:13,204 --> 00:31:16,082 Everybody just followed me into those arenas. 795 00:31:16,124 --> 00:31:17,417 There was no social media. 796 00:31:17,458 --> 00:31:19,502 [Bob] When he started, it was all tapes. 797 00:31:19,544 --> 00:31:22,046 It was systematic, hydromatic, and he'd go around 798 00:31:22,088 --> 00:31:23,214 and smoke the cigarette. 799 00:31:23,256 --> 00:31:24,465 [laughter] 800 00:31:24,507 --> 00:31:26,342 I saw him at Pips in Brooklyn. 801 00:31:26,384 --> 00:31:28,303 His material was all clean. 802 00:31:28,344 --> 00:31:31,806 He was doing impressions of Sylvester Stallone. 803 00:31:31,848 --> 00:31:33,558 [as Stallone] "Hey, yo, Dice." 804 00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:36,519 He would do an impression of John Travolta. 805 00:31:36,561 --> 00:31:37,896 [as Travolta] "What?" 806 00:31:37,937 --> 00:31:39,230 [laughter] 807 00:31:39,272 --> 00:31:41,274 - "Who am I supposed to be?" - [Smirnoff] Elvis. 808 00:31:41,316 --> 00:31:45,028 [as Elvis] Would make my dreams come true 809 00:31:45,069 --> 00:31:46,446 Take it home, man. 810 00:31:46,487 --> 00:31:49,282 [band plays rock music] 811 00:31:49,324 --> 00:31:51,743 [cheers and applause] 812 00:31:51,784 --> 00:31:53,578 I went over to the house, and I said to his father, 813 00:31:53,620 --> 00:31:55,580 "Listen, I think Andrew has a real good shot." 814 00:31:55,622 --> 00:31:59,626 Mitchell Walters saw me playing a little club in Brooklyn 815 00:31:59,667 --> 00:32:01,669 called Pips, and my father, like, 816 00:32:01,711 --> 00:32:03,338 half hung up on the guy all the time 817 00:32:03,379 --> 00:32:06,299 because, like, "Who is he? Who's The Comedy Store?" 818 00:32:06,341 --> 00:32:08,301 Came out to The Comedy Store. 819 00:32:08,343 --> 00:32:10,428 He auditioned. The place went crazy. 820 00:32:10,470 --> 00:32:11,763 [Dice] I was doing the act 821 00:32:11,804 --> 00:32:14,474 where I would turn from Jerry Lewis' Nutty Professor 822 00:32:14,515 --> 00:32:15,850 into John Travolta. 823 00:32:15,892 --> 00:32:18,353 [as Lewis] Actually, ladies and gentlemen, 824 00:32:18,394 --> 00:32:19,646 I'm a human pity. 825 00:32:19,687 --> 00:32:21,314 [normal voice] Take the magic formula, 826 00:32:21,356 --> 00:32:22,440 turn around... 827 00:32:22,482 --> 00:32:25,485 you're John Travolta from Grease. 828 00:32:25,526 --> 00:32:27,111 [Binder] He was just Andrew Silverstein, 829 00:32:27,153 --> 00:32:28,529 and he did all these characters. 830 00:32:28,571 --> 00:32:30,782 And then Dice was just one thing he did. 831 00:32:30,823 --> 00:32:33,743 To his credit, took away the tapes--didn't do 'em. 832 00:32:33,785 --> 00:32:36,329 - So you like impressions, huh? - [audience member] Yeah. 833 00:32:36,371 --> 00:32:37,497 Who gives a shit? 834 00:32:37,538 --> 00:32:40,083 I go, "I'll just become the Elvis of comedy." 835 00:32:40,124 --> 00:32:42,543 And I said it like it was just nothing-- 836 00:32:42,585 --> 00:32:44,379 like, just something I gotta get done. 837 00:32:44,420 --> 00:32:46,923 Like, "Next week, I'll become the Elvis of comedy. 838 00:32:46,965 --> 00:32:47,882 It'll be terrific." 839 00:32:47,924 --> 00:32:49,634 [Saget] He found those dirty limericks 840 00:32:49,676 --> 00:32:52,553 and poems and a real "fuck you" to the audience 841 00:32:52,595 --> 00:32:55,515 kind of attitude, like he's a badass guy 842 00:32:55,556 --> 00:32:57,100 who's chauvinistic to women. 843 00:32:57,141 --> 00:32:59,268 But you got a feeling that he wasn't. 844 00:32:59,310 --> 00:33:02,772 When I did that onstage, I'm going, "It's fake." 845 00:33:02,814 --> 00:33:04,983 The reason it's a character is because 846 00:33:05,024 --> 00:33:06,776 I give him zero brains-- 847 00:33:06,818 --> 00:33:09,362 not that I'm the smartest guy in reality. 848 00:33:09,404 --> 00:33:11,489 But the reason Dice is still a character 849 00:33:11,531 --> 00:33:13,992 is because, you know, the thinking pattern. 850 00:33:14,033 --> 00:33:16,327 Like, I'd be up there, going, "Are you kidding? 851 00:33:16,369 --> 00:33:18,454 Are they going that crazy for this?" 852 00:33:18,496 --> 00:33:21,416 It was filthy, but it was-- you weren't afraid of him. 853 00:33:21,457 --> 00:33:23,251 All right. Cute girl. How long you dating her? 854 00:33:23,292 --> 00:33:24,419 Almost two years. 855 00:33:24,460 --> 00:33:26,504 Mm, look at those fucking tits. 856 00:33:26,546 --> 00:33:28,589 [laughter, applause] 857 00:33:28,631 --> 00:33:30,258 Now, you can't make like you're embarrassed, 858 00:33:30,299 --> 00:33:32,218 not in that outfit-- no fucking way. 859 00:33:32,260 --> 00:33:34,470 Let me guess what you do for a living. 860 00:33:34,512 --> 00:33:36,848 I don't know. Uh, nothing. 861 00:33:36,889 --> 00:33:37,807 [laughter] 862 00:33:37,849 --> 00:33:40,226 But he was, like, the sweetest guy. 863 00:33:40,268 --> 00:33:41,644 To everybody else, he was Dice, 864 00:33:41,686 --> 00:33:43,980 but if you were on the road with him, he was Andrew. 865 00:33:44,022 --> 00:33:48,401 When he did Ford Fairlane-- what became his first movie-- 866 00:33:48,443 --> 00:33:50,445 that was just Dice being Dice. 867 00:33:50,486 --> 00:33:51,487 He never changed. 868 00:33:51,529 --> 00:33:53,322 So even in interviews, he was that guy. 869 00:33:53,364 --> 00:33:55,867 I've got something serious to discuss. 870 00:33:55,908 --> 00:33:58,995 Yeah, what is it? Premature ejaculation? 871 00:33:59,037 --> 00:33:59,912 Ah! 872 00:33:59,954 --> 00:34:02,957 They set up what was supposed to be 873 00:34:02,999 --> 00:34:06,419 the biggest premiere in Hollywood history 874 00:34:06,461 --> 00:34:08,171 at the LA Forum. 875 00:34:08,212 --> 00:34:10,381 They canceled the premiere. 876 00:34:10,423 --> 00:34:12,467 All I remember is, it was a fast drop-off. 877 00:34:12,508 --> 00:34:14,552 He makes all these gay jokes. 878 00:34:14,594 --> 00:34:15,970 I don't see how any man can look 879 00:34:16,012 --> 00:34:19,599 at another guy's hairy ass and want to bang it, you know? 880 00:34:19,640 --> 00:34:21,434 And they're always on parade. 881 00:34:21,476 --> 00:34:23,352 They march up and down the street 882 00:34:23,394 --> 00:34:24,395 with T-shirts and flags. 883 00:34:24,437 --> 00:34:26,314 "I want money for AIDS disease." 884 00:34:26,355 --> 00:34:27,315 Beautiful. 885 00:34:27,356 --> 00:34:28,524 I want money for a new fucking car. 886 00:34:28,566 --> 00:34:30,443 I ain't marching up and down the street. 887 00:34:30,485 --> 00:34:31,986 Get a job, butt-slammer. 888 00:34:32,028 --> 00:34:33,362 And he goes on Arsenio... 889 00:34:33,404 --> 00:34:35,740 You said you're not doing any more AIDS jokes 890 00:34:35,782 --> 00:34:37,909 and there are no gay jokes in this recent project. 891 00:34:37,950 --> 00:34:39,327 Are you maybe admitting that some 892 00:34:39,368 --> 00:34:40,578 of the things in the past are wrong? 893 00:34:40,620 --> 00:34:42,663 No, I'm a comedian, you know, 894 00:34:42,705 --> 00:34:44,624 and I love what I do. 895 00:34:44,665 --> 00:34:47,585 And I think what I do is funny, and there's no reason 896 00:34:47,627 --> 00:34:49,045 people shouldn't be allowed to see that. 897 00:34:49,087 --> 00:34:52,507 It just happened to be at a point in history 898 00:34:52,548 --> 00:34:55,384 where the gays were coming out of the closet. 899 00:34:55,426 --> 00:34:57,929 And the whole gay movement shut Andrew down. 900 00:34:57,970 --> 00:35:01,557 I had to go see Ford Fairlane up on Hollywood Boulevard, 901 00:35:01,599 --> 00:35:03,017 wearing a hood, you know. 902 00:35:03,059 --> 00:35:05,645 Even when it got to Saturday Night Live, 903 00:35:05,686 --> 00:35:06,854 it was like, "Wait a minute. 904 00:35:06,896 --> 00:35:09,482 All these people do character comedy." 905 00:35:09,524 --> 00:35:11,526 Dice is a character onstage. 906 00:35:11,567 --> 00:35:13,528 All this fuss over one stinking show. 907 00:35:13,569 --> 00:35:16,072 I never meant to hurt nobody. 908 00:35:16,114 --> 00:35:17,907 [whimpering] 909 00:35:17,949 --> 00:35:20,952 Look at me. I'm crying like a chick. 910 00:35:20,993 --> 00:35:23,121 [laughter] 911 00:35:23,162 --> 00:35:23,996 That's it. 912 00:35:24,038 --> 00:35:25,665 There's no point in going on anymore. 913 00:35:25,706 --> 00:35:27,458 The Diceman's checking out. 914 00:35:27,500 --> 00:35:29,669 I wouldn't do that if I were you. 915 00:35:29,710 --> 00:35:31,504 [laughs menacingly] 916 00:35:31,546 --> 00:35:34,340 I had to wait, like, an hour and a half to see Lorne. 917 00:35:34,382 --> 00:35:37,510 I was booked to host the show. 918 00:35:37,552 --> 00:35:39,345 I come into his office, and I-- 919 00:35:39,387 --> 00:35:41,514 honestly, I couldn't give a fuck who he was. 920 00:35:41,556 --> 00:35:43,307 I sit down, and Lorne goes, 921 00:35:43,349 --> 00:35:47,436 "Ah, it's been a rough day here," you know. 922 00:35:47,478 --> 00:35:50,356 And I go, "Oh," you know. 923 00:35:50,398 --> 00:35:51,440 I feel--I felt awkward. 924 00:35:51,482 --> 00:35:53,526 Like, I lit a cigarette, you know. 925 00:35:53,568 --> 00:35:58,948 And he's, uh--"Yeah, Nora Dunn walked of the show." 926 00:35:59,699 --> 00:36:01,951 And I go, "Oh, I'm sorry." 927 00:36:03,161 --> 00:36:06,622 "I don't know who it is." He goes, "'Cause of you." 928 00:36:06,664 --> 00:36:08,749 I go, "I don't know who she is. 929 00:36:08,791 --> 00:36:10,877 Did I do anything to her?" You know. 930 00:36:10,918 --> 00:36:13,838 He goes, "No, she's a castmate. Don't you watch the"-- 931 00:36:13,880 --> 00:36:16,382 I go, "I really don't wa-- I love the show, 932 00:36:16,424 --> 00:36:18,217 but I don't watch it often, so I don't know 933 00:36:18,259 --> 00:36:19,635 who all the castmates are." 934 00:36:19,677 --> 00:36:21,387 OJ is charged with the crime 935 00:36:21,429 --> 00:36:23,556 of maybe cutting people's fucking heads off. 936 00:36:23,598 --> 00:36:25,474 People are outside the courtroom-- 937 00:36:25,516 --> 00:36:27,727 "Oh, we love you. We pray for you. 938 00:36:27,768 --> 00:36:29,103 We wanna see you get out." 939 00:36:29,145 --> 00:36:32,481 Andrew Dice Clay tells a fucking dick joke, 940 00:36:32,523 --> 00:36:34,859 people wanna give me the electric chair. 941 00:36:34,901 --> 00:36:36,694 But what about my film? 942 00:36:36,736 --> 00:36:40,031 It did open and was a smash hit, 943 00:36:40,072 --> 00:36:41,824 launching the career 944 00:36:41,866 --> 00:36:44,202 of the most brilliant comedic actor 945 00:36:44,243 --> 00:36:44,994 of his generation... 946 00:36:45,036 --> 00:36:47,330 - Mm-hmm. - Jon Lovitz! 947 00:36:47,371 --> 00:36:50,750 [laughing menacingly] 948 00:36:50,791 --> 00:36:52,168 Jon Lovitz? 949 00:36:52,210 --> 00:36:54,295 - Yes. - You mean that liar guy? 950 00:36:54,337 --> 00:36:57,465 [mumbles] It wasn't his only character. 951 00:36:57,506 --> 00:36:59,550 To get rid of me, they would always say, 952 00:36:59,592 --> 00:37:02,929 "Andrew Dice Clay, AKA Andrew Silverstein," 953 00:37:02,970 --> 00:37:05,514 and that's the one thing that got me angry, 954 00:37:05,556 --> 00:37:08,184 'cause they might as well say, "Oh, the Jew." 955 00:37:08,226 --> 00:37:11,103 You know, 'cause it was always the Jewish guy acting Italian. 956 00:37:11,145 --> 00:37:14,482 God forbid you're from Brooklyn and you have a badass attitude. 957 00:37:14,523 --> 00:37:16,692 Rodney Dangerfield was Rodney Dangerfield. 958 00:37:16,734 --> 00:37:18,653 They didn't put his real last name. 959 00:37:18,694 --> 00:37:20,279 People said his career was over. 960 00:37:20,321 --> 00:37:24,825 I was just living off of those first ten years of fame, 961 00:37:24,867 --> 00:37:27,536 and then Doug Ellin with Entourage, 962 00:37:27,578 --> 00:37:28,788 he goes, "Listen, 963 00:37:28,829 --> 00:37:31,832 I look at you as the biggest comic that ever lived." 964 00:37:31,874 --> 00:37:34,835 He goes, "I'm giving you this season of Entourage." 965 00:37:34,877 --> 00:37:36,295 All of a sudden, it's Dice mania again. 966 00:37:36,337 --> 00:37:38,547 All of a sudden, there's a special on Showtime. 967 00:37:38,589 --> 00:37:40,424 All of a sudden, here comes Woody Allen, 968 00:37:40,466 --> 00:37:41,759 which I couldn't fucking believe. 969 00:37:41,801 --> 00:37:44,679 And the last movie I did with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. 970 00:37:44,720 --> 00:37:45,763 Does he know you sing at all? 971 00:37:45,805 --> 00:37:47,390 Did he--did he hear anything from you? 972 00:37:47,431 --> 00:37:48,349 Dad, I gotta go to work. 973 00:37:48,391 --> 00:37:49,350 This could be the opportunity 974 00:37:49,392 --> 00:37:50,393 - of a lifetime. - I don't have 975 00:37:50,434 --> 00:37:52,311 the same disease that you have, Dad. 976 00:37:52,353 --> 00:37:53,771 And I'm going, "This is nuts." 977 00:37:53,813 --> 00:37:55,481 A different career, 978 00:37:55,523 --> 00:37:58,693 but I never quit fighting for myself. 979 00:37:58,734 --> 00:37:59,735 That's the key. 980 00:37:59,777 --> 00:38:03,572 soft acoustic music 981 00:38:03,614 --> 00:38:07,410 I got very lucky because a really special woman 982 00:38:07,451 --> 00:38:08,411 took me under her wing 983 00:38:08,452 --> 00:38:10,079 at a really special time in her life, 984 00:38:10,121 --> 00:38:13,833 when she had all the power, and she used some of it on me. 985 00:38:13,874 --> 00:38:15,960 [imitating Mitzi] Mike, you're just so great, 986 00:38:16,002 --> 00:38:18,462 and I can really see your potential. 987 00:38:18,504 --> 00:38:19,714 You're so fantastic. 988 00:38:19,755 --> 00:38:21,632 Now, go down and get me some gumballs. 989 00:38:21,674 --> 00:38:22,925 But there was one catch. 990 00:38:22,967 --> 00:38:24,969 - [normal voice] What? - I had to babysit you. 991 00:38:25,011 --> 00:38:26,345 - [Pauly] Yeah, exactly. - And let me 992 00:38:26,387 --> 00:38:27,805 tell you something. 993 00:38:27,847 --> 00:38:29,473 That was a long day. 994 00:38:29,515 --> 00:38:32,435 I had to change your diapers, and you were 14. 995 00:38:32,476 --> 00:38:34,729 Yeah, I remember that. 996 00:38:35,187 --> 00:38:36,522 [Cummings] I can't imagine what it's like 997 00:38:36,564 --> 00:38:38,482 to see someone go from being someone 998 00:38:38,524 --> 00:38:40,151 you babysat to being a movie star. 999 00:38:40,192 --> 00:38:42,445 I mean, I saw him first-- was on my television. 1000 00:38:42,486 --> 00:38:44,363 When he was a little boy, we used to all 1001 00:38:44,405 --> 00:38:45,614 party at their house. 1002 00:38:45,656 --> 00:38:47,533 [Pauly] And I used to be upstairs in my room, 1003 00:38:47,575 --> 00:38:48,951 and I'd go downstairs and open up 1004 00:38:48,993 --> 00:38:50,453 to a smoked-filled room. 1005 00:38:50,494 --> 00:38:53,581 And I'd be like, "Mom, can you please... 1006 00:38:53,622 --> 00:38:54,707 keep it down? 1007 00:38:54,749 --> 00:38:55,958 I gotta wake up for school." 1008 00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:58,419 And we'd be doing blow right in front of him 1009 00:38:58,461 --> 00:38:59,837 and smoking pot, and Richard Pryor 1010 00:38:59,879 --> 00:39:01,380 and Robin Williams and Chevy Chase 1011 00:39:01,422 --> 00:39:02,965 would be in the living room, and he'd listen 1012 00:39:03,007 --> 00:39:04,759 to the conversations about comedy. 1013 00:39:04,800 --> 00:39:06,469 And I didn't know who these guys were. 1014 00:39:06,510 --> 00:39:07,762 They were just my mom's friends. 1015 00:39:07,803 --> 00:39:09,638 He was right in the middle of the mix. 1016 00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:11,640 But let's be honest. That's not good parenting. 1017 00:39:11,682 --> 00:39:13,976 No, it's not good parenting at all. 1018 00:39:14,018 --> 00:39:15,853 My whole life, I grew up here. My whole life-- 1019 00:39:15,895 --> 00:39:17,938 is this the coolest place? Think about it, man. 1020 00:39:17,980 --> 00:39:19,690 Look how I turned out, man. 1021 00:39:19,732 --> 00:39:21,192 [laughter] 1022 00:39:21,233 --> 00:39:22,693 [Apatow] I moved here, and day one, 1023 00:39:22,735 --> 00:39:24,320 I go to the Laugh Factory, and who's there? 1024 00:39:24,362 --> 00:39:27,573 Pauly was working all the clubs but The Comedy Store. 1025 00:39:27,615 --> 00:39:30,076 When I first started doing stand-up, you know, 1026 00:39:30,117 --> 00:39:32,787 I knew I would be labeled "Mitzi's kid." 1027 00:39:32,828 --> 00:39:34,038 And then when I became known, 1028 00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:36,040 she reluctantly made me a paid regular. 1029 00:39:36,082 --> 00:39:38,334 Like, she never really made me a paid regular. 1030 00:39:38,376 --> 00:39:40,711 I come from, like, a wealthy, divorced family. 1031 00:39:40,753 --> 00:39:43,047 Yeah, my mom's wealthy. My dad's divorced. 1032 00:39:43,089 --> 00:39:46,217 [Apatow] "And my mom runs it, so I need to please my mom." 1033 00:39:46,258 --> 00:39:49,678 Like, every possible Oedipal or terrifying 1034 00:39:49,720 --> 00:39:53,849 psychological reason to be too intimidated to do it, 1035 00:39:53,891 --> 00:39:56,018 he had to push through. 1036 00:39:56,060 --> 00:39:57,228 So you guys can probably tell 1037 00:39:57,269 --> 00:39:59,313 I didn't take the college route. 1038 00:39:59,355 --> 00:40:00,689 - [laughter] - Yeah. 1039 00:40:00,731 --> 00:40:02,608 [Walters] U2, the group from Ireland, 1040 00:40:02,650 --> 00:40:05,403 Bono and Edge came into the club here, 1041 00:40:05,444 --> 00:40:06,821 and Edge says to me, 1042 00:40:06,862 --> 00:40:08,656 "The young kid that went on after you, 1043 00:40:08,697 --> 00:40:10,449 the real strange little boy, 1044 00:40:10,491 --> 00:40:12,743 is something wrong with him?" 1045 00:40:12,785 --> 00:40:15,329 I said, "No. He's the owner's son." 1046 00:40:15,371 --> 00:40:16,956 He goes, "Oh, that explains it 1047 00:40:16,997 --> 00:40:19,583 'cause I didn't get anything he said." 1048 00:40:19,625 --> 00:40:22,753 And then when MTV was looking for people to be on air, 1049 00:40:22,795 --> 00:40:24,839 every once in a while, someone would get a shot. 1050 00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:27,216 Sandler got a little VJ'ing opportunity, 1051 00:40:27,258 --> 00:40:29,343 and he would be on, but they didn't embrace him 1052 00:40:29,385 --> 00:40:30,386 in a giant way. 1053 00:40:30,428 --> 00:40:32,930 And then Pauly was invited to do some stuff, 1054 00:40:32,972 --> 00:40:34,557 and it just exploded. 1055 00:40:34,598 --> 00:40:35,766 People went crazy for it, 1056 00:40:35,808 --> 00:40:37,518 and suddenly he had his own show. 1057 00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:39,145 [Pauly] Totally Pauly. 1058 00:40:39,186 --> 00:40:42,106 And then he just broke big and fast. 1059 00:40:42,148 --> 00:40:43,524 He was perfect for MTV. 1060 00:40:43,566 --> 00:40:45,776 [laughs] I'm back! 1061 00:40:45,818 --> 00:40:48,779 The MTV thing obviously really helped me out a lot. 1062 00:40:48,821 --> 00:40:50,531 Like, if you watch a guy like Dice and Sam, 1063 00:40:50,573 --> 00:40:52,450 they were like human cartoons. 1064 00:40:52,491 --> 00:40:54,577 And Pauly, I thought, kind of definitely 1065 00:40:54,618 --> 00:40:56,203 tore a page out of that playbook. 1066 00:40:56,245 --> 00:40:58,080 - [cheers and applause] - Whoa! 1067 00:40:58,122 --> 00:40:59,748 [Allen] It was great watching Pauly. 1068 00:40:59,790 --> 00:41:00,916 It was like, "What? That little kid 1069 00:41:00,958 --> 00:41:02,126 standing in the hallway?" 1070 00:41:02,168 --> 00:41:04,295 And, you know, became a movie star. 1071 00:41:04,336 --> 00:41:05,171 What was that like? 1072 00:41:05,212 --> 00:41:07,006 It was the best time of my life. 1073 00:41:07,047 --> 00:41:10,009 - Oh! [laughs] - Hey! 1074 00:41:10,050 --> 00:41:12,386 - [grunts] - Oh, you a funny boy, huh? 1075 00:41:12,428 --> 00:41:14,305 [both laughing] 1076 00:41:15,556 --> 00:41:17,308 - [grunts] - [tires squealing] 1077 00:41:17,349 --> 00:41:18,517 Ah! Oh. 1078 00:41:18,559 --> 00:41:19,685 [glass squeaking] 1079 00:41:19,727 --> 00:41:21,187 Some of my favorite movies are Pauly Shore movies. 1080 00:41:21,228 --> 00:41:23,647 Like, I loved Bio-Dome. I loved In the Army Now. 1081 00:41:23,689 --> 00:41:25,107 The Weasel. What are you talking about? 1082 00:41:25,149 --> 00:41:26,775 I don't care what anybody says. 1083 00:41:26,817 --> 00:41:28,903 If you don't think he's funny, you're crazy. 1084 00:41:28,944 --> 00:41:31,238 When the ride kind of ended about being a movie star, 1085 00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:33,365 that must have been hard as hell, huh? 1086 00:41:33,407 --> 00:41:35,743 No, it was very easy. No, I'm just kidding. 1087 00:41:35,784 --> 00:41:36,952 [both laugh] 1088 00:41:36,994 --> 00:41:40,372 No, it was only because I-- it was interesting because... 1089 00:41:40,414 --> 00:41:42,541 [breathes deeply] 1090 00:41:42,583 --> 00:41:44,376 soulful music 1091 00:41:44,418 --> 00:41:49,298 You know, most people that have a run like I had... 1092 00:41:50,257 --> 00:41:54,136 ...after they knew it was over or it was, like, time to chill, 1093 00:41:54,178 --> 00:41:56,722 they would pat themself on the back and say, 1094 00:41:56,764 --> 00:41:59,642 "Fuck. What an awesome run I had. 1095 00:41:59,683 --> 00:42:01,018 That was fucking amazing. 1096 00:42:01,060 --> 00:42:04,271 I'm gonna chill, and I'm gonna go to Bali and surf. 1097 00:42:04,313 --> 00:42:07,775 I'm gonna go to Europe and, like"-- 1098 00:42:07,816 --> 00:42:09,276 but I was the opposite for me. 1099 00:42:09,318 --> 00:42:11,946 I took it very personal. You know what I mean? 1100 00:42:11,987 --> 00:42:14,532 And that was because I just missed 1101 00:42:14,573 --> 00:42:15,908 making people happy. 1102 00:42:15,950 --> 00:42:17,159 I missed working. I missed-- 1103 00:42:17,201 --> 00:42:18,911 I mean, that's why when I go out on the streets, 1104 00:42:18,953 --> 00:42:22,122 I'm always like this to people because that's who I am. 1105 00:42:22,164 --> 00:42:24,083 So they took that away from me. 1106 00:42:24,124 --> 00:42:25,876 Hollywood took that away from me. 1107 00:42:25,918 --> 00:42:27,920 I think most people that grew up in that scenario 1108 00:42:27,962 --> 00:42:30,005 would have just bottomed out. 1109 00:42:30,047 --> 00:42:31,549 You know what he said once? [chuckles] 1110 00:42:31,590 --> 00:42:32,758 "In the '70s, it was Pryor. 1111 00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:34,009 In the '80s, it was Kinison. 1112 00:42:34,051 --> 00:42:35,844 In the '90s, it was me." 1113 00:42:35,886 --> 00:42:38,806 I look at the stuff you're doing now, and I'm thinking, 1114 00:42:38,847 --> 00:42:40,808 "You made it because you were so brave." 1115 00:42:40,849 --> 00:42:41,850 [Pauly] Mm. 1116 00:42:41,892 --> 00:42:43,852 You were brave right from the get-go. 1117 00:42:43,894 --> 00:42:45,354 - And that's what I think... - I love it. I love it. 1118 00:42:45,396 --> 00:42:47,314 ...the new stuff you're doing feels like-- 1119 00:42:47,356 --> 00:42:49,108 - [Pauly] Yeah. - Someone who has 1120 00:42:49,149 --> 00:42:51,402 cleared the deck to do anything they want to do. 1121 00:42:51,443 --> 00:42:53,153 - And your new movie... - Yeah. 1122 00:42:53,195 --> 00:42:55,739 - [Pauly] Oh, this backyard. - Shut up and take our money. 1123 00:42:55,781 --> 00:42:56,824 What's the catch? 1124 00:42:56,865 --> 00:42:58,576 Are you guys here for the party? 1125 00:42:58,617 --> 00:42:59,952 rap music 1126 00:42:59,994 --> 00:43:02,121 - [all cheering] - [laughs] 1127 00:43:02,162 --> 00:43:05,082 Ah! Oopsies! 1128 00:43:05,124 --> 00:43:06,208 [Pauly] I want to be happy. 1129 00:43:06,250 --> 00:43:08,043 I want to bring happiness to people. 1130 00:43:08,085 --> 00:43:11,130 I want to do my projects, and I want to look back 1131 00:43:11,171 --> 00:43:13,757 on the good times that I had with both my parents 1132 00:43:13,799 --> 00:43:15,217 and smile, you know what I mean? 1133 00:43:15,259 --> 00:43:17,136 And be like, "That was fucking awesome." 1134 00:43:17,177 --> 00:43:20,389 mellow music 1135 00:43:20,431 --> 00:43:21,974 So what do you think of my apartment? 1136 00:43:22,016 --> 00:43:24,810 I know that you could be living-- 1137 00:43:24,852 --> 00:43:27,146 'cause you have a couple of other properties. 1138 00:43:27,187 --> 00:43:28,355 But it's cool 1139 00:43:28,397 --> 00:43:31,025 that you live in this apartment here in Silver Lake. 1140 00:43:31,066 --> 00:43:32,151 It's amazing. 1141 00:43:32,192 --> 00:43:33,819 And I'm proud of you, man. You're growing up. 1142 00:43:33,861 --> 00:43:34,945 - Thank you, thank you. - Yeah, yeah. 1143 00:43:34,987 --> 00:43:36,405 - And, Ku--Ku, question. - [Ku] Yeah? 1144 00:43:36,447 --> 00:43:38,324 What do you think of my fanny pack, dude? 1145 00:43:38,365 --> 00:43:40,200 It's creepier than you, dude. 1146 00:43:40,242 --> 00:43:41,869 [Pauly] Not cool. 1147 00:43:41,910 --> 00:43:42,953 [laughter] 1148 00:43:42,995 --> 00:43:46,040 smooth music 1149 00:43:53,297 --> 00:43:56,383 [Cummings] Do you think, as you look at the great comedians, 1150 00:43:56,425 --> 00:44:00,971 do you see a connection between comedians' behavior 1151 00:44:01,013 --> 00:44:05,142 and risk taking and outlandish behavior and their talent? 1152 00:44:05,184 --> 00:44:07,102 I would argue that this next generation, 1153 00:44:07,144 --> 00:44:09,855 we're working our asses off on being mentally healthy 1154 00:44:09,897 --> 00:44:11,273 and hopefully are not compromising, 1155 00:44:11,315 --> 00:44:13,984 but I do have this little voice in the back of my head 1156 00:44:14,026 --> 00:44:15,736 that's like, "Don't get too healthy. 1157 00:44:15,778 --> 00:44:16,945 You're gonna stop being funny." 1158 00:44:16,987 --> 00:44:19,823 When I was a young guy, I always told myself 1159 00:44:19,865 --> 00:44:21,116 that all the great ones, you know, 1160 00:44:21,158 --> 00:44:23,827 you have to be out there on a limb. 1161 00:44:23,869 --> 00:44:25,079 - Yeah. - But it's a lie. 1162 00:44:25,120 --> 00:44:27,122 All it does is cut your work short. 1163 00:44:27,164 --> 00:44:28,415 Once I tell myself I shouldn't do it, 1164 00:44:28,457 --> 00:44:30,084 there's another thing that goes, "Yeah, you should. 1165 00:44:30,125 --> 00:44:31,335 Come on, come on, do it, do it. 1166 00:44:31,377 --> 00:44:33,212 It'll be fun. Watch their faces." 1167 00:44:33,253 --> 00:44:35,881 He went from doing real material 1168 00:44:35,923 --> 00:44:37,758 kind of toward the end 1169 00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:39,551 to more about the grandness 1170 00:44:39,593 --> 00:44:41,095 of the stardom and stuff. 1171 00:44:41,136 --> 00:44:43,055 And he got a little caught up in that. 1172 00:44:43,097 --> 00:44:45,349 [screaming] Someone broke your heart! 1173 00:44:45,391 --> 00:44:48,435 What was her name? 1174 00:44:48,477 --> 00:44:52,815 - Wild Thing - I'll never forgive you! 1175 00:44:52,856 --> 00:44:53,899 We were like a rock band. 1176 00:44:53,941 --> 00:44:55,192 We traveled like one. 1177 00:44:55,234 --> 00:44:56,276 We dressed like one. 1178 00:44:56,318 --> 00:44:59,947 We were doing 17,000, 50,000, stadiums. 1179 00:44:59,988 --> 00:45:02,116 We were living on a tour bus, traveling around, 1180 00:45:02,157 --> 00:45:05,077 and the guy who's in charge is completely out of control. 1181 00:45:05,119 --> 00:45:06,954 He couldn't just drink. 1182 00:45:06,995 --> 00:45:08,330 He had to drink till he passed out. 1183 00:45:08,372 --> 00:45:10,290 Nobody could leave. He was a party goalie. 1184 00:45:10,332 --> 00:45:13,377 If you did get to get a chance to escape, 1185 00:45:13,419 --> 00:45:15,087 he would call you on the phone and go, 1186 00:45:15,129 --> 00:45:16,213 "You're out. You're out. 1187 00:45:16,255 --> 00:45:17,589 Don't ever come back. You're out." 1188 00:45:17,631 --> 00:45:20,342 There was a lot of onus on who ruled the parking lot. 1189 00:45:20,384 --> 00:45:22,219 - Yeah. - Who was the funniest guy? 1190 00:45:22,261 --> 00:45:23,220 Who had the best line? 1191 00:45:23,262 --> 00:45:24,680 [Carrey] One time I was standing 1192 00:45:24,722 --> 00:45:28,559 in the parking lot with my soon-to-be wife, Melissa. 1193 00:45:28,600 --> 00:45:30,102 Kinison came up to me, and he said, 1194 00:45:30,144 --> 00:45:31,895 "Come on, man, let's hang. 1195 00:45:31,937 --> 00:45:34,022 I want to hang with you, man," like that. 1196 00:45:34,064 --> 00:45:38,235 And I looked at her, and she looked at me, 1197 00:45:38,277 --> 00:45:40,112 and she gave me kind of a look, 1198 00:45:40,154 --> 00:45:42,698 like, you know, "We were gonna be together." 1199 00:45:42,740 --> 00:45:44,742 And I... 1200 00:45:44,783 --> 00:45:48,996 I said, "I think I'm probably gonna go back home 1201 00:45:49,037 --> 00:45:50,998 and hang out with Melissa." 1202 00:45:51,039 --> 00:45:53,709 And he went, "Oh." 1203 00:45:54,585 --> 00:45:56,420 "Well, good luck with your compromise." 1204 00:45:56,462 --> 00:45:58,964 - [laughs] - And just walks away. 1205 00:45:59,006 --> 00:46:01,884 And, oh, my God, it was devastating. 1206 00:46:01,925 --> 00:46:04,470 Melissa and I drove home that night-- 1207 00:46:04,511 --> 00:46:07,306 literally silence in the car. 1208 00:46:07,347 --> 00:46:10,142 That is the cruelest shit ever to lay on somebody. 1209 00:46:10,184 --> 00:46:12,603 - Yeah. - But funny, man. 1210 00:46:12,644 --> 00:46:14,688 He's like, "I hear you're the new head door guy. 1211 00:46:14,730 --> 00:46:15,397 You're the guy." 1212 00:46:15,439 --> 00:46:17,149 And I'm like, "Yeah, I'm the guy." 1213 00:46:17,191 --> 00:46:19,151 He's like, "Well, let's talk. Let's do it." 1214 00:46:19,193 --> 00:46:21,570 So he comes up to Cresthill with, like, an eight ball, 1215 00:46:21,612 --> 00:46:23,614 you know, and we're just sitting there doing coke. 1216 00:46:23,655 --> 00:46:25,199 And he's, like, looking at me-- he's like, 1217 00:46:25,240 --> 00:46:26,533 "Look me in the eye, Maron. 1218 00:46:26,575 --> 00:46:28,327 Yeah, can't trust a man that doesn't look me in the eye." 1219 00:46:28,368 --> 00:46:31,330 Just doing the whole fucking preacher mind-fuck on me. 1220 00:46:31,371 --> 00:46:33,874 The scariest was the one day he came home and he said, 1221 00:46:33,916 --> 00:46:35,459 "I'm gonna study the devil. 1222 00:46:35,501 --> 00:46:37,377 I've studied God my whole life. 1223 00:46:37,419 --> 00:46:39,421 But I want to find out what the devil's about." 1224 00:46:39,463 --> 00:46:42,257 Then he started studying witchcraft. 1225 00:46:42,299 --> 00:46:44,051 And that, as a friend, 1226 00:46:44,092 --> 00:46:47,137 is the scariest fucking thing I ever heard in my life. 1227 00:46:47,179 --> 00:46:48,263 He explored everything. 1228 00:46:48,305 --> 00:46:50,098 He was exploring a bunch of different stuff. 1229 00:46:50,140 --> 00:46:52,726 I don't know how deeply he got into it 1230 00:46:52,768 --> 00:46:56,063 or that he just wanted to know what those things said. 1231 00:46:56,104 --> 00:47:00,108 Sam used to hold séances back here in this little room. 1232 00:47:00,150 --> 00:47:01,318 Alice in Chains' "Man in the Box" 1233 00:47:01,360 --> 00:47:03,403 Some agent didn't book him for some thing, 1234 00:47:03,445 --> 00:47:05,072 so he put a curse on the agent. 1235 00:47:05,113 --> 00:47:06,323 And the agent got in a car wreck 1236 00:47:06,365 --> 00:47:08,116 the following week or something like that. 1237 00:47:08,158 --> 00:47:09,993 And he was all like, "See, it works." 1238 00:47:10,035 --> 00:47:11,620 It's like, "Well, shit, I don't want it to work. 1239 00:47:11,662 --> 00:47:14,081 Why can't you pray?" [laughs] You know? 1240 00:47:14,122 --> 00:47:15,624 There was a house above The Comedy Store 1241 00:47:15,666 --> 00:47:17,668 where I'd lived at for a while called Cresthill 1242 00:47:17,709 --> 00:47:20,087 that came with the purchase of The Comedy Store 1243 00:47:20,128 --> 00:47:21,380 when Mitzi bought the Store. 1244 00:47:21,421 --> 00:47:23,131 My gig was, on Monday nights, 1245 00:47:23,173 --> 00:47:25,217 all the freaks would come out of the woodwork. 1246 00:47:25,259 --> 00:47:27,511 Sam would show up about 11:30. 1247 00:47:27,553 --> 00:47:29,304 He'd give me a few hundred bucks 1248 00:47:29,346 --> 00:47:31,265 to go set the house up for a party. 1249 00:47:31,306 --> 00:47:34,017 And we'd go till Wednesday or Thursday up there. 1250 00:47:34,059 --> 00:47:35,477 Certainly, if this was the college, 1251 00:47:35,519 --> 00:47:37,521 then that was the fraternity house. 1252 00:47:37,563 --> 00:47:39,690 And, you know, Maron's up there. 1253 00:47:39,731 --> 00:47:41,775 One night, for some reason, Sam brings all his guitars 1254 00:47:41,817 --> 00:47:43,819 and amps up to Cresthill, and we're gonna jam. 1255 00:47:43,861 --> 00:47:47,155 And then they all leave, and Sam leaves his equipment there, 1256 00:47:47,197 --> 00:47:48,407 and I put it in my room, 1257 00:47:48,448 --> 00:47:50,742 and Dave the Satanist comes. 1258 00:47:50,784 --> 00:47:52,953 And Sam doesn't like him. 1259 00:47:52,995 --> 00:47:54,371 Like, and there was this argument. 1260 00:47:54,413 --> 00:47:56,164 Sam throws a drink in the guy's face 1261 00:47:56,206 --> 00:47:58,917 and fucking clocks him, and, like, there's chaos. 1262 00:47:58,959 --> 00:48:00,210 And I'm like, "What the fuck?" 1263 00:48:00,252 --> 00:48:01,587 And, like, the guy wouldn't leave. 1264 00:48:01,628 --> 00:48:03,463 And I locked him in my room, and then I left. 1265 00:48:03,505 --> 00:48:06,174 - You locked Sam in your room? - No, the Satanist, yeah. 1266 00:48:06,216 --> 00:48:07,342 And then I got to go 1267 00:48:07,384 --> 00:48:10,053 because my buddy's coming in from out of town, right? 1268 00:48:10,095 --> 00:48:11,763 Got to go pick him up at the airport. 1269 00:48:11,805 --> 00:48:12,681 So I leave, and I'm like, 1270 00:48:12,723 --> 00:48:14,224 "I can't go back there tonight." 1271 00:48:14,266 --> 00:48:15,684 And I told him about Sam and everything. 1272 00:48:15,726 --> 00:48:18,228 So we go back over to the house the next day. 1273 00:48:18,270 --> 00:48:20,230 And I walk in, there's, like, five people at the table-- 1274 00:48:20,272 --> 00:48:21,732 Sam and a couple of random people. 1275 00:48:21,773 --> 00:48:24,651 And I go look at my room, and the door's been kicked out. 1276 00:48:24,693 --> 00:48:26,570 Like, it's broken off the hinges. 1277 00:48:26,612 --> 00:48:27,613 I'm like, "What's going on?" 1278 00:48:27,654 --> 00:48:30,490 And Sam goes, "I pissed on your bed, Maron. 1279 00:48:30,532 --> 00:48:31,992 You wanna know why?" 1280 00:48:32,034 --> 00:48:34,953 And I'm like, "Yeah, I do." 1281 00:48:34,995 --> 00:48:37,998 He goes, "'Cause you let that freak sleep with my guitars." 1282 00:48:38,040 --> 00:48:40,459 I turned to my friend at that moment, and I said, 1283 00:48:40,500 --> 00:48:42,210 "I told you I knew him." 1284 00:48:42,252 --> 00:48:44,338 [Carrey] When he tried to be healthy, 1285 00:48:44,379 --> 00:48:46,298 people were coming up and screaming in his face 1286 00:48:46,340 --> 00:48:48,216 and saying, "You're the fucking beast, man." 1287 00:48:48,258 --> 00:48:49,426 Once Sam Kinison came in 1288 00:48:49,468 --> 00:48:51,136 and I saw that gun on the table-- 1289 00:48:51,178 --> 00:48:53,096 like, you know, "I'm out of here, man. 1290 00:48:53,138 --> 00:48:55,182 What, is this gonna go off accidentally?" 1291 00:48:55,223 --> 00:48:57,225 His self-esteem was so low, 1292 00:48:57,267 --> 00:48:59,811 he wanted everything he shouldn't have had. 1293 00:48:59,853 --> 00:49:02,564 I asked myself, "How the fuck did I not become a drug addict, 1294 00:49:02,606 --> 00:49:04,441 an alcoholic, and all that shit?" 1295 00:49:04,483 --> 00:49:06,610 Because I watched all you guys do it. 1296 00:49:06,652 --> 00:49:09,363 I watched Sam do it. You know, we can go down the line. 1297 00:49:09,404 --> 00:49:10,572 You guys were a fucking mess. 1298 00:49:10,614 --> 00:49:13,408 So look at you guys-- what not to do. 1299 00:49:13,450 --> 00:49:17,412 And, fortunately, I don't have a gene in me 1300 00:49:17,454 --> 00:49:19,915 where I can go out and have a glass of wine. 1301 00:49:19,957 --> 00:49:22,542 I don't need ten glasses. I don't need to turn it up. 1302 00:49:22,584 --> 00:49:26,171 And I guess--I don't know. Can I say you're an alcoholic? 1303 00:49:26,213 --> 00:49:28,173 - Yeah. - So you couldn't do 1304 00:49:28,215 --> 00:49:30,217 - just one thing, right? - No. 1305 00:49:30,258 --> 00:49:31,259 I didn't have that thing in me. 1306 00:49:31,301 --> 00:49:33,136 So I have a saying that I came up with 1307 00:49:33,178 --> 00:49:35,180 from watching you guys, especially Sam-- 1308 00:49:35,222 --> 00:49:37,391 "Dance with the Devil. Don't become the Devil." 1309 00:49:37,432 --> 00:49:40,143 We were on our way to do Laughlin, Nevada, 1310 00:49:40,185 --> 00:49:42,604 and I remember we had a van and his sports car. 1311 00:49:42,646 --> 00:49:46,900 And he was driving with Malika, his wife, 1312 00:49:46,942 --> 00:49:49,695 and it was a two-lane highway on the road to Laughlin. 1313 00:49:49,736 --> 00:49:51,321 And the others followed in the van. 1314 00:49:51,363 --> 00:49:54,032 And the kid tried to go around the 18-wheeler 1315 00:49:54,074 --> 00:49:55,200 and thought he could make it. 1316 00:49:55,242 --> 00:49:57,577 And then our van stomped the brakes, 1317 00:49:57,619 --> 00:50:00,247 and then I heard-- like two trains hit. 1318 00:50:00,288 --> 00:50:01,456 That's what it sounded like. 1319 00:50:01,498 --> 00:50:04,960 And in slow motion, I fell onto the floorboard 1320 00:50:05,002 --> 00:50:09,589 of a skidding van that had stomped its brakes. 1321 00:50:09,631 --> 00:50:12,551 And when I got out of the right side of this van 1322 00:50:12,592 --> 00:50:13,760 and went toward the car, 1323 00:50:13,802 --> 00:50:16,471 I saw that the hood of his sports car was crushed up 1324 00:50:16,513 --> 00:50:18,849 and there was smoke coming up in the air. 1325 00:50:18,890 --> 00:50:20,434 And then there was a pickup truck 1326 00:50:20,475 --> 00:50:22,352 with three indentations in the window 1327 00:50:22,394 --> 00:50:24,104 where the three boys that were in that truck 1328 00:50:24,146 --> 00:50:28,525 had smashed their heads against the glass and left marks. 1329 00:50:28,567 --> 00:50:30,360 And when I got to the car, 1330 00:50:30,402 --> 00:50:33,488 Sam's body was laying across the middle. 1331 00:50:33,530 --> 00:50:35,782 That's when I noticed that just the steering column was there. 1332 00:50:35,824 --> 00:50:38,535 He had taken out the steering wheel with his chest, 1333 00:50:38,577 --> 00:50:40,704 and he had hit into the windshield. 1334 00:50:40,746 --> 00:50:42,706 So he had a little blood on his forehead, 1335 00:50:42,748 --> 00:50:44,416 a little blood out of his nose, 1336 00:50:44,458 --> 00:50:46,501 and he was just taking deep breaths. 1337 00:50:46,543 --> 00:50:49,129 And I said, "Don't move, buddy. Don't move." 1338 00:50:49,171 --> 00:50:52,549 And then he forced himself out of the car and landed on me, 1339 00:50:52,591 --> 00:50:54,384 and I fell to protect him. 1340 00:50:54,426 --> 00:50:57,846 And I was on my butt and he was laid across my arms 1341 00:50:57,888 --> 00:51:00,557 and he was looking up and he started talking 1342 00:51:00,599 --> 00:51:03,268 to whoever was there that he saw. 1343 00:51:03,310 --> 00:51:06,146 And he was going, "I don't wanna die. 1344 00:51:06,188 --> 00:51:07,647 I don't wanna die now." 1345 00:51:07,689 --> 00:51:10,275 And I said, "You're not gonna die, man; I got you." 1346 00:51:10,317 --> 00:51:13,320 And then it dawned on me that he wasn't there, 1347 00:51:13,361 --> 00:51:14,946 that he was seeing somebody. 1348 00:51:14,988 --> 00:51:18,158 And he goes, "I don't wanna die now. 1349 00:51:18,200 --> 00:51:19,743 But why now?" 1350 00:51:19,785 --> 00:51:22,370 Guns N' Roses' "Patience" 1351 00:51:22,412 --> 00:51:23,997 "Oh." 1352 00:51:26,083 --> 00:51:28,210 "Okay. 1353 00:51:28,251 --> 00:51:29,377 Okay." 1354 00:51:29,419 --> 00:51:33,298 All we need is just a little patience 1355 00:51:33,340 --> 00:51:34,883 And he just took off. 1356 00:51:34,925 --> 00:51:39,096 And his eyes shut, and I felt him go right through my face. 1357 00:51:39,137 --> 00:51:41,807 And it wasn't until someone came up and shook me 1358 00:51:41,848 --> 00:51:42,849 and said, "How's he doing?" 1359 00:51:42,891 --> 00:51:45,310 And then I realized that he's gone. 1360 00:51:45,352 --> 00:51:46,561 He's gone. 1361 00:51:46,603 --> 00:51:49,189 And after that, then time turned back into time. 1362 00:51:49,231 --> 00:51:50,190 It was normal. 1363 00:51:50,232 --> 00:51:53,443 The car noises, everything...quit. 1364 00:51:53,485 --> 00:51:55,779 - [sirens wailing] - And I laid him down. 1365 00:51:55,821 --> 00:51:57,906 And just as I did, the ambulance pulled up. 1366 00:51:57,948 --> 00:52:00,450 And then I went around the car to get his wife, 1367 00:52:00,492 --> 00:52:02,953 and she woke up at that point, screaming, 1368 00:52:02,994 --> 00:52:04,579 "He's gone, isn't he? He's gone." 1369 00:52:04,621 --> 00:52:07,332 She wasn't even awake for any of that stuff. 1370 00:52:07,374 --> 00:52:09,459 I think in that moment, 1371 00:52:09,501 --> 00:52:11,878 even though I haven't admitted it in many years, 1372 00:52:11,920 --> 00:52:14,506 I think I forgave him of all the things he did to me. 1373 00:52:14,548 --> 00:52:16,716 You know, I found out he fathered my daughter 1374 00:52:16,758 --> 00:52:18,385 after he was dead. 1375 00:52:18,426 --> 00:52:21,096 So he was having an affair behind my back with my wife. 1376 00:52:21,138 --> 00:52:23,056 And I knew he was doing it with other people, 1377 00:52:23,098 --> 00:52:25,934 but I didn't think he was gonna fuck me over, and he did. 1378 00:52:25,976 --> 00:52:28,812 Not only did he fuck me over, he fucked my ex-wife over, 1379 00:52:28,854 --> 00:52:31,439 'cause I'm sure he had promises with her, 1380 00:52:31,481 --> 00:52:32,774 and he didn't keep them. 1381 00:52:32,816 --> 00:52:34,526 And he has a little girl out there in the world 1382 00:52:34,568 --> 00:52:35,944 that he never got to know. 1383 00:52:35,986 --> 00:52:38,488 He lost all that because of drugs and booze 1384 00:52:38,530 --> 00:52:41,199 and whatever else was in his head. 1385 00:52:41,241 --> 00:52:42,450 I'm lucky I got here. 1386 00:52:42,492 --> 00:52:44,870 I got to learn how to forgive myself, of all things. 1387 00:52:44,911 --> 00:52:46,872 I got to make things right. 1388 00:52:46,913 --> 00:52:49,791 [Binder] Yeah, it's an amazing story. 1389 00:52:49,833 --> 00:52:53,211 - That's 40 bucks. - It's an amazing--40 bucks. 1390 00:52:53,253 --> 00:52:55,839 [laughter] 1391 00:52:55,881 --> 00:52:57,841 [Kerrigan] One of my first nights, 1392 00:52:57,883 --> 00:52:59,092 Mitzi was in the Main Room 1393 00:52:59,134 --> 00:53:01,511 with a couple other comics, just sitting, late night. 1394 00:53:01,553 --> 00:53:03,138 We couldn't leave until she went home. 1395 00:53:03,180 --> 00:53:05,974 So she kept ordering stuff, and the club was closed. 1396 00:53:06,016 --> 00:53:07,434 It was, like, 3:30 in the morning. 1397 00:53:07,475 --> 00:53:09,477 And they were laughing and then crying and laugh-- 1398 00:53:09,519 --> 00:53:10,979 and I didn't know what the hell was happening. 1399 00:53:11,021 --> 00:53:12,731 I'm like, "What are they doing in there?" 1400 00:53:12,772 --> 00:53:13,899 And they're like, 1401 00:53:13,940 --> 00:53:15,567 "Hey, it's the year anniversary of Sam Kinison." 1402 00:53:15,609 --> 00:53:16,693 I'm like, "Oh, okay." 1403 00:53:19,613 --> 00:53:22,824 Said, "Woman, take it slow" 1404 00:53:22,866 --> 00:53:26,870 And things will be just fine 1405 00:53:26,912 --> 00:53:29,706 You and I'll just use 1406 00:53:29,748 --> 00:53:32,626 A little patience 1407 00:53:35,545 --> 00:53:38,465 Said, "Sugar, take the time" 1408 00:53:38,506 --> 00:53:43,053 'Cause the lights are shining bright 1409 00:53:43,094 --> 00:53:47,098 You and I've got what it takes 1410 00:53:47,140 --> 00:53:49,351 To make it 1411 00:54:05,158 --> 00:54:08,119 After Sam, the darkness overtook it. 1412 00:54:08,161 --> 00:54:09,788 I saw drug busts here. 1413 00:54:09,829 --> 00:54:12,457 It was just a scary place, 1414 00:54:12,499 --> 00:54:15,502 and that cocaine just adds to paranoia. 1415 00:54:15,543 --> 00:54:18,171 One of the door guys OD'd in the back on heroin. 1416 00:54:18,213 --> 00:54:19,005 And I heard 1417 00:54:19,047 --> 00:54:20,590 - that there was a period... - Yeah. 1418 00:54:20,632 --> 00:54:22,509 When, like, big-name guys would come in. 1419 00:54:22,550 --> 00:54:24,552 - And they would just go-- - Run the show. 1420 00:54:24,594 --> 00:54:25,637 It was just chaos. 1421 00:54:25,679 --> 00:54:27,639 It was the inmates running the asylum. 1422 00:54:27,681 --> 00:54:29,516 Paul Mooney, 1423 00:54:29,557 --> 00:54:30,934 Carlos Mencia, 1424 00:54:30,976 --> 00:54:33,561 Eddie Griffin, Dice Clay-- 1425 00:54:33,603 --> 00:54:34,813 they ran the room. 1426 00:54:34,854 --> 00:54:36,523 [Binder] What does that mean-- they ran the club? 1427 00:54:36,564 --> 00:54:39,484 I mean, you're about to go up, and then Dice pulls up. 1428 00:54:39,526 --> 00:54:42,362 They would do an hour, two hours. 1429 00:54:42,404 --> 00:54:43,989 Two hours? I wish it was two hours. 1430 00:54:44,030 --> 00:54:45,532 It was three to four hours. 1431 00:54:45,573 --> 00:54:47,575 I'm not gonna say I didn't do it, 1432 00:54:47,617 --> 00:54:49,744 but there was really no audiences back then. 1433 00:54:49,786 --> 00:54:51,830 One time Eddie got here before nine o'clock 1434 00:54:51,871 --> 00:54:53,873 and started and then just closed the place at two. 1435 00:54:53,915 --> 00:54:54,791 Didn't get off, 1436 00:54:54,833 --> 00:54:56,042 just bumped the whole lineup. 1437 00:54:56,084 --> 00:54:57,585 And they would try to get here earlier and earlier 1438 00:54:57,627 --> 00:54:59,296 to beat each other 'cause they didn't want to wait 1439 00:54:59,337 --> 00:55:00,630 the hour and a half for the other one. 1440 00:55:00,672 --> 00:55:02,757 They would go up there and just be famous 1441 00:55:02,799 --> 00:55:04,426 and just stand there leaning on the mic stand-- 1442 00:55:04,467 --> 00:55:05,552 "So what else is going on?" 1443 00:55:05,593 --> 00:55:07,721 And then all these younger comics learned, 1444 00:55:07,762 --> 00:55:09,806 and they were just, "Oh, someday I'm gonna get a show, 1445 00:55:09,848 --> 00:55:11,266 then I'm gonna bump everybody." 1446 00:55:11,308 --> 00:55:12,475 A lot of people mention, 1447 00:55:12,517 --> 00:55:14,769 "Eddie would go on for, like, three hours." 1448 00:55:14,811 --> 00:55:16,271 Sometimes five. 1449 00:55:16,313 --> 00:55:17,230 But why? 1450 00:55:17,272 --> 00:55:20,859 If you love, eat, shit, and bleed comedy, 1451 00:55:20,900 --> 00:55:24,446 like I said, I'm gonna get on that mic, and I'ma go 1452 00:55:24,487 --> 00:55:25,697 and I'ma go and I'ma go. 1453 00:55:25,739 --> 00:55:27,907 Would the other comics give you a hard time 1454 00:55:27,949 --> 00:55:29,242 for doing long sets? 1455 00:55:29,284 --> 00:55:30,076 Not really. 1456 00:55:30,118 --> 00:55:32,537 He used to be on a sitcom on, like, the CW, 1457 00:55:32,579 --> 00:55:34,456 and then he got to fucking ruin all our lives? 1458 00:55:34,497 --> 00:55:37,751 After I'd do, like, Philadelphia Spectrum, 1459 00:55:37,792 --> 00:55:40,128 all of a sudden, I'm in a comedy club the same night, 1460 00:55:40,170 --> 00:55:42,964 and I'd go on, and it would blow Eddie's mind. 1461 00:55:43,006 --> 00:55:46,885 He goes, "You just did an hour and a half 1462 00:55:46,926 --> 00:55:49,012 of new material." 1463 00:55:49,054 --> 00:55:51,431 And I go, "Yeah, 'cause I don't need to do 1464 00:55:51,473 --> 00:55:52,557 what I did at the Spectrum. 1465 00:55:52,599 --> 00:55:53,850 I'll just work on stuff." 1466 00:55:53,892 --> 00:55:55,769 As his career took off now 1467 00:55:55,810 --> 00:55:58,688 with the movies and his TV show, 1468 00:55:58,730 --> 00:56:02,025 he would start going up and doing hours at a clip. 1469 00:56:02,067 --> 00:56:04,402 I don't want to see a comic kill for two hours 1470 00:56:04,444 --> 00:56:05,695 in front of a full crowd. 1471 00:56:05,737 --> 00:56:07,822 That would just be gross, indulgent. 1472 00:56:07,864 --> 00:56:09,449 That'd be like eating too much chocolate. 1473 00:56:09,491 --> 00:56:10,784 Are you just-- are you riffing? 1474 00:56:10,825 --> 00:56:13,453 Mike, I don't know why you find it hard to believe. 1475 00:56:13,495 --> 00:56:14,537 'Cause I've never seen anyone-- 1476 00:56:14,579 --> 00:56:15,872 My entire career, I have been riffing. 1477 00:56:15,914 --> 00:56:17,624 I'd never seen anyone do four hours. 1478 00:56:17,665 --> 00:56:18,958 I haven't written a joke yet. 1479 00:56:19,000 --> 00:56:20,752 And it was like that for years, dude. 1480 00:56:20,794 --> 00:56:22,712 Comics with names didn't even want to come here. 1481 00:56:22,754 --> 00:56:25,340 They thought it was a dark energy here. 1482 00:56:25,382 --> 00:56:27,175 The '80s boom had ended, 1483 00:56:27,217 --> 00:56:30,762 and there was this unbelievably, like, toxic, 1484 00:56:30,804 --> 00:56:31,930 like, negative vibe. 1485 00:56:31,971 --> 00:56:35,809 The night that I was here, I did not feel welcome, 1486 00:56:35,850 --> 00:56:37,310 and I was surprised by that. 1487 00:56:37,352 --> 00:56:39,938 I mean, I saw one time-- I was working the door here, 1488 00:56:39,979 --> 00:56:41,231 and Steve Harvey walked in. 1489 00:56:41,272 --> 00:56:43,691 He goes, "Fuck this club," and he spit on the wall. 1490 00:56:43,733 --> 00:56:46,444 A lot of comics hated this place 1491 00:56:46,486 --> 00:56:51,616 because they couldn't get time, and Mitzi just didn't see it. 1492 00:56:51,658 --> 00:56:53,243 And was there talk that The Comedy Store 1493 00:56:53,284 --> 00:56:55,370 - was gonna go under? - Always. 1494 00:56:55,412 --> 00:56:57,831 The owner of the club was sick. 1495 00:56:57,872 --> 00:57:01,709 And my opinion is, if the owner of the club is sick, 1496 00:57:01,751 --> 00:57:03,002 the club's gonna be sick. 1497 00:57:03,044 --> 00:57:06,965 Her health started declining right around '98, '99-ish-- 1498 00:57:07,006 --> 00:57:09,134 beginning stages of dementia. 1499 00:57:09,175 --> 00:57:11,469 And when I would help her with her finances-- 1500 00:57:11,511 --> 00:57:12,720 which I'm like, "Don't ask me. 1501 00:57:12,762 --> 00:57:15,807 I'm negative in my account. Why would you-- 1502 00:57:15,849 --> 00:57:19,269 get a real person that knows how to fix businesses." 1503 00:57:19,310 --> 00:57:20,854 She's like, "No, they don't know 1504 00:57:20,895 --> 00:57:21,896 what they're doing either." 1505 00:57:21,938 --> 00:57:23,773 So I would just go through her paperwork, 1506 00:57:23,815 --> 00:57:25,859 and I'd be like, "Oh, my God, this is awful. 1507 00:57:25,900 --> 00:57:26,985 This is brutal." 1508 00:57:27,026 --> 00:57:28,778 Business was bad, 1509 00:57:28,820 --> 00:57:31,489 and it's, like, the comics were running the club. 1510 00:57:31,531 --> 00:57:32,615 Like, nobody even knew 1511 00:57:32,657 --> 00:57:35,118 who was really running The Comedy Store. 1512 00:57:35,160 --> 00:57:36,327 We were going out of business. 1513 00:57:36,369 --> 00:57:38,037 She took a second mortgage out on this place. 1514 00:57:38,079 --> 00:57:40,081 [Binder] Were you thinking, "Something's gotta come along 1515 00:57:40,123 --> 00:57:41,916 - to save this place"? - Yeah, money. 1516 00:57:41,958 --> 00:57:43,460 I mean, it seemed like it was gonna maybe 1517 00:57:43,501 --> 00:57:44,669 go out of business there for a minute. 1518 00:57:44,711 --> 00:57:46,546 What's going on? This is such a weird period. 1519 00:57:46,588 --> 00:57:47,797 Is comedy ending? 1520 00:57:47,839 --> 00:57:48,965 The Store had died, 1521 00:57:49,007 --> 00:57:52,010 and it was just kind of still barely flinching. 1522 00:57:52,051 --> 00:57:53,803 The muscles were still there, 1523 00:57:53,845 --> 00:57:55,889 but there was just no life in it. 1524 00:57:55,930 --> 00:57:58,933 Enjoy it while it lasts. This is the death rattle. 1525 00:57:58,975 --> 00:58:00,852 The one thing I used to know about this place 1526 00:58:00,894 --> 00:58:02,103 is that if you got a bunch 1527 00:58:02,145 --> 00:58:04,439 of hateful fucking monsters up onstage, 1528 00:58:04,481 --> 00:58:09,152 then the darkness in the building celebrates. 1529 00:58:09,194 --> 00:58:10,820 Still Rebel's "No Way Out" 1530 00:58:10,862 --> 00:58:14,908 Oh, been looking for a way out 1531 00:58:16,534 --> 00:58:18,786 But I don't give a fuck