Reflecting on Comedy and Closing Remarks

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Spend two hundred fifty dollars on your first campaign to get a hundred fifty dollars credit go to LinkedIn. com slash campaign turns the condition supply Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast. I'm here with my co host Frank Santo Padre . You know, when I was a kid, I used to come home from school and watch the kids shows like Supie Sales, Sandy Becker, Officer Joe Bolton, and of course the wonderful Chuck McCann. Frank and I gave Chuck a call to talk about those old days, his work in TV commercials , and his friendships with legends like ay Wes, Groucho Marx, Buster Keaton, and Stan Laurel , so enjoy our conversation with one of the people who shaped my childhood , the great Chuck McCann . Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried and this is Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast. I'm here with my co host Frank Santo Padre and this week's guest is a true Renaissance man. He's an actor, comedian, voiceover artist, puppeteer, and kid show host in a career span ning seven decades , he's worked with Steve Allen, Dick Van Dyke, Allen Arkin, Bob Newhart, John Carradine, Hannah Barbera, and Rodney Tanger field and the list goes on. He's voiced iconic TV characters, starred in hundreds of commercials and appeared in movies like Foul Play, Robin Hood , men tight , and the hardest a lonely hunter. Please welcome to the show , a man of many talents, the legendary Chuck McCann . Oh boy . He never got bad. My buddy, are we in New York? Yes. We're in Trans y of God three thousand miles away . I just want to give you a big hugg.ed Here it comes, Gilbert. Man , I love you. Frank. How are you baby? Juck, good to talk to you, buddy. It's good to talk to anybody . Tell us you're from right here. You're from Brooklyn and Queens area. I was born in Brooklyn. What part ? I was born, I was born man at St. Bethany Deckers Hospital and wherever that was anyway, but I then moved to my father moved to Maspeth , Long Island , which was in Queens, but not far from Brooklyn . It was just over the we were just over the thing. And my grandmother lived there . Now that was Ridgewood, Queens, Maspeth. Sure. I'm from Ozone Park. You know where that is very Yes, I know very well. Sure. Now I had lots of family there. Frank and I were talking when we were putting this that both of us watched you grew up watching you on TV . Aw , that's so sweet, man . Well , I grew up on TV, you know , but I was at the studio . I started. My father was at the Roxy Theater, which was a big movie presentation house . A lot of people don't know what that is a presentation house . But in those days we had great theater We had colossal movie theaters like the Radio City Music hall, which still has their stage show . And that's the only one that survived . And that only survived because there was a law that you couldn't tear it down. It was first of all , if you'll notice Radio City Music Hall doesn't have a building over it . And the reason that the theaters were all torn down, I believe , was the fact that mov theieaters flammable film in the original when they first were created. And they didn't want to have big office buildings over something that could catch firelight. That's interesting . Yeah, I've heard that theory. They weren't allowed to build over these theaters. Theaters went down like the Capitol and the Param ount and all those wonderful theaters in New York that had shows . Every one of them had big presentation shows. So you would go in there for a bucket and a quarter or a dollar twenty , that was the top adult price. Kids would go in there for fifty cents . Wow. And you would see a movie, first class movie , a cartoon, a newsreel , and a stage show . Now the paramount , am I am I talking too much? No, no, you're to this is good stuff. No, no, I fell asleep a while ago . Shake him every once in a while. Wake up friend s Oh God . Oh yeah So you let it you were performing you performed in those theaters at a very young age, didn't you? The age of seven. Yeah, well my dad was the was the arranger , a musical arranger at the Rock Search. Your dad was Val McCann. Right . And he was a musician and an arranger and he conducted a lot of music with different bands and stuff. And he also played violin and trumbone and piano and anything else he picked up. So he was he was an all around music professional musician. Do you remember the first time you got up on stage and what you did ? Yes, I do. One of the first memories of getting up on stage in front of a full audience was in grammar school and I was in around I was probably in the fifth grade or you know like mid midway in the and I got up and Arthur Godfrey was very popular at that time . And I did an impression of Arthur Godfrey at the age of six . Well, you know, we talked about Arthur Godfrey on other episodes. Yeah, yeah, actually. You got to meet a bunch of your heroes. I mean, not only Arthur Godfrey but you both befriended Buster Keaton and of course the great Stan Laurel Absolutely . Yeah . That Buster was in fact I'm looking I'm sitting in my living room looking at the chair that Buster sat in on many, many a movie and it was his director's chair, you know, and it's signed by him and it's got his name on the back and it's in my living room under a beautiful silent camera , I have a little homage to Buster. This is something that struck me odd with Buster Keaton films is everyone knows he directed them , but yet they have other directors listed . Well , because a lot of times he directed his he directed all of his business , all of the the tremendous falls and stuff like that had to be worked out and only worked out by him . He would he would he would take these tremendous falls and leaps across things. He was a very athletic guy , but raised as a vaudeville performer by his family . And he was called the human broom when he was a kid . He had his suit had sewn in the back by the collar. A handle was sewn into the suit so his father could pick him up, swing him around and throw him out into the audience . Now oftentimes he'd land in the in the orchestra pit and some of those were pretty deep , but he would he would hang on to the railings and stuff like that. But he was he said to me one day we were doing a show together. I think it was Gary Moore . And And am I talking too much? Not at all, Chuck. Okay . When you say hello, it's talking too much. Oh , how well I know . Oh , fill it by love. Oh, I miss you . Are you friendly at all with the actor, James Karen, Chuck, 'cause he was a lifelong friend of Buster Keith. Oh yeah, Jimmy Karen. We had him on the show. He told us great. Yeah. Yeah. And James Karen, we talked about, but if you can mention it too , where he got the name Buster from you know, you know, I don't know that story. Joe was gotten it momentarily Harry Houdini okay . And he said you should call that kid buster . Oh, that's great . Now I didn't know that. You know, Gilbert, now why did they call a buster because he threw him around a lot . He got busted up . Oh, I see. Yeah. Now was told me one day we're on a show. Can I tell you this little story? No , okay , I should never ask Gilbert anything at all . Hey Gilbert, can I have a lollipop? No, I'm sorry . Did you eat them all again? Oh , anyway , so I looked at Buster and we were doing a sketch on the I think it was Gary Moore and he was supposed to go with a pizza. He was making pizza . And he was going to fly through the oven . He had this oven cut out. And during rehearsal , he would do it several times, you know, and it's sliding onto a table . And he had a ribbon that was being held in to represent the oven door . And so it was he would go do the sketch, bake the pizza and all the bits that went before it. And then he would take it and put it on the pizza tray and run from one end of the stage or the other and then fly through this little teeny pizza oven door . And there was a table on the other side that he would slide through with it. Well , one day on dress rehearsal , he misses and he got so upset and what happened when he hit the table wrong, I know he did because I could see it vibrate and it never did that before. So I went out into the audience and he was bending over and I looked down and the skin on his leg on both legs were were actually folded down over the bone and he was putting an ace band age wrapping it around to keep the skin up. Wow . And I mean, when it was really horrendous looking , and I said, let me get the nurse and he grabbed me and I could still feel I mean his hand, his grip was like unbelievable and he said, Hey, Chuck, sit down, sit down . He said, If you go back there and tell them that I've hurt myself doing that , he said the producers will take this right out of a sketch right out of the show . And he said, Don't you dare? He said, just remember that. They do that . So I said, Okay . And he said, Don't worry. Next time, I'll clear it. And I know what I did wrong . And he got up and on the air, I was watching it and I was standing backstage and he comes flying across through the opening and I'm at the other end of the t able and he comes through sliding, turns around, and he jumps off the table and he said, Now that's how you do it . I mean, he was just unbelievable . It's just one of the great perform ers of all time. When I get a comedy wise and sidewise, you know ? When I get a cold, I cancel all my jobs When you look at you look at you look at those old films and you look at it was the one where the house falls on him the and he's standing is it one week and it's just it's miraculous. I mean Harold Lloyd was impressive doing those kinds of stunts in his own right, but the things that Keaton worked out, you watch Sherlock Jr. in some of those films, you can't believe the choreography and the planning that went into them. Yeah. He really was a genius. He was . And he, you know, they were all worked out. I mean, they weren't just accidental. I mean, he would he would rehearse for days on different things, you know . Was Buster Keaton angry to the last years of his life or bitter ? Well , what I don't think so. People have said that . I've never seen any angry anger in him. I saw a disappointment in him . I saw when comedy kind of went to hell in a handbasket and when television came in that they didn't use it more , I saw a lot of disappointment in and his wife was so wonderful. I mean she kept everything going. I have his hat, you know, she llanor, Eleanor, his wife used to make all of his hats . And so she would take a Pedora and then cut it down and that's how flatten the brim and flatten and make the pork pie. That's great. You know, yeah, you're you're our second guest to own one of Buster Keaton's hats . James Karen is the other . I am quite sure Gilbert. Your next guest will be Buster with a hat for you . Now was what was his feelings about everyone always compares and has arguments . Ohust,er B Keaton or Charlie Chaplin , which is a crazy argument. Two totally different animals. Yeah . Absolutely. But they feel like if they like Buster Keaton, they're supposed to hate Chaplin, you know , it's no, no, no, that's totally different . And like Stan , you know, was Charlie Stan Laurel was Charlie's best friend over in England and they came over with Fred Carnell. There was a producer named Fred Carnell that brought a lot of them over here . Buster, of course, was here, but Laurel and Charlie Chaplin and all of the foreign comedians that came over to work in films . I mean they came over together and they they they worked together, you know, and they and it was hard for them because they were in a , you know, they were coming comedians didn't make a lot of money and and burlesque and and their in theater or music hall, what they called music hall . And so when they came over here it was very difficult for them In fact Charlie Chaplin , they when they came over , they took their shoes shoes and left them out so you know the story it's a great story. It's a great every in England what you did was you took a few shoes and left them outside if you were in a at a hotel and then the at night the, people come down and collect the shoes and shine them for you. So when you get up in the morning, you had a shine pair of shoes . That was a hotel courtesy. And of course, when they first moved here, they didn't do that here, of course . And they were in this cheap hotel and they went outside to get their shoes and they were gone of course stolen . So they had a walk Stan said he had to walk around town, Manhattan in his bedroom slippers all the time. And he said, My bedroom slippers had a little turned up thing with a bell on it or like a little you know, you know ? Oh yes, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It looked like a sultan shoe, you know? Like a genius shoe . He said people kept staring at me, you know? He looked like a line of the , yeah , but wear my bare feet, you know , but it was they they stayed on fourteenth street , which was which was the old Lu Chows was down there. I used to go there all the time and we've lost so many treasures in New York and in Manhattan and it's a shame. Oh so many. Well, how did you first get to know Stan Laurel? Chuck? I mean, it's a great story. Wasn't he in the wasn't he in the phone book? Stan Laurel famously That's what happened. So I just picked up the information operator and I said , I was about eleven years old . And I said , in California, do you have a Mr. Stan Laurel? Now I asked my mother permission if I could find out and the operator said no, we have what part of California is he in? So finally, I said, Hollywood . So she looked all through Hollywood and there was no Stan Laurel . But she said, let me look further for you because she heard that I was young and she wanted to help me and she was the kindest lady . So she finally found Stan Laurel. She said, There's a Stan Laurel in Santa Monica , California . So I said , Well, could you get that for me? And then put it put me through and Stan picked up the phone . And he said, First, it was the hotel operator that picked up the phone . And I said, Do you have a Stan Laure?l She said , Mr. Laurel, wait one moment please. And she put me through it was an apartment hotel and they had a main operator down in the lobby . So Stan picks up the phone and he goes, Hello I said, Hi, Mr. Laurel . He said, Yes , hello . I said, My name is Chuck Bcan. I'm in New York and I just wanted he says, Break to . Is your mother there ? I said yes . So I put my mother on the phone and stan said, Is it all right that I talk to him? Because it's very a expensive call . And she said, Oh no, I said he could call you . And he said, Oh, well, that's all right, then she said, put the lad out . So we talked for about five minutes, three minutes, you know? And he said, Well, you know, you know, you're going to get charged again . So he said, Let me speak to your mother. Wh wantile Ied to speaking to my mother more than he did the first . You know, she said, Oh no, no, he can talk, you know . So I didn't want to bother him, you know, but I was so young. It didn't matter. I had no idea . But we talked, we talked and then he said , you know, you can call again . And I called him all throughout my youth and we're very, very friendly with him. And then we started writing together and so forth and so on . And then I met this guy down the block. This is much later he married this Prusch . And I'm putting together my shows. I've done shows on NBC and CBS and everything and now I'm putting together this Laurel and Hardy show for PIX and I walked down and this guy I've been talking to all my life you know, not really, but just hello and goodbye this guy down the block I w,alk into his house and he's got the same photographs on his wall that I have , all the Laurel and Hardy film pictures . And I said you like Lauren Hardy. He says, Well, I speak to him . I said, Are you kidding? Here it was three doors down for me. Al Kilgore was on the phone probably hadn't went after I hung up equal . So you know two of me two of you was away talk about coincidence. That's great. Now I also heard that Stan Laurel was like one of the nicest people . You have no idea . You have no idea . You know, when you when you hear about your actor friends, you say , jeez, you know, you almost hate to meet them because you never know what they're like, you know, they can be terrorists . And that was a lesson that I learned very early. That's why I'm sorry I haven't met you Oh God oh my god God , but that's so true. I am a I'm a rotten person . I really am . I yeah, I nail I nail all my young people to the cross actually and I do I do I do juvenile executions . I strap them in chairs with batteries up the back, yeah . I like to see kids levitate, you know what I mean? Hey, you work with kids all your life after while know they're wonderful, man. I tell you, it's so much they know more than we do at that age because they're wide open. Their minds are wide open. What was Stan Laurel's relationship with Oliver Hardy . Stan Laurel's relationship with Oliver Hardy were good night, Mr. Laurel, good night, Mr. Hardy. They were put together actually by the stud io Roach, you know, who didn't give a damn about anything, really . He just wanted the studio to work and everything to work. But he couldn't care if they were together or not. In fact, after Stan's contract ran out Stan Stan R , you know, left the studio and he teamed hardy up with oh god , he did a movie called Shanobia and he did he teamed him up with another character actor thinking that he'd create another La andurel Hardy . And it was awful . And finally , Stan came back under his own banner and they did flyingu Dece , which was a film that was produced by actually by Stan and the gang . But he was not he was a businessman , roach and a wonderful man. I knew him well. I was at his practically at his deathbed and great guy, but he was a businessman . And would put these comedians together. He was a producer. He made movies . So Stan and Ollie did, aside from their working relationship, they didn't, they didn't have they weren't close pals. No, not in the beginning. Did they become Not at all? It was Hello Miss Lalore, Hello Mus ardi, and that was the end of it. Did they ever become friends? Oh yeah . Oh yeah, sure. You know what? World War two , when they went on the bonn drive tours , and then they really became close. I mean, their wives were close , Eda and and Lois were very close because you know how women are and you're on the tour and so they got close they they got cl oser than the guys got, you know , because there was there was little Jimmy with a buddy of theirs and he used to tour with them too . He would he was their dresser and he would manage all the costumes and clothes on the tour . And so yeah, they got to , you know, be friendly, but they weren't like , you know, it was a business . And it's like Jim McGeorge and I . I mean, I love Jim. Jim and I do a lot of work together, have been doing it, but I don't I don't see him from job to job , you know, in fact I haven't seen Jim now in over a year, you know, year and a half. And people , you know, people have the idea that when you do a team with somebody you 're with each other all the time. You're not. We should explain that Jim plays Stan Laurel to your Oliver Hardy. Yes, correct. Now Jumping is a wonderful, wonderful human being and a very talented guy. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast , but first a word from our sponsor What they did to your family? You're lucky to make it out alive. Streaming on Peacock. These men are going to come after me. Taking things about smite chance. Put a bullet in your head . I'm the co creator of Ozark. Looks like a family was running drugs. Execution style killing it's rare for the keys. It leads on who they might have been writing for. The cartel killed my family . I'm gonna kill them. All of them. MIA streaming now, only on peacock. This episode is brought to you by Redfin. You're listening to a podcast, which means you're probably multitasking , maybe even scrolling homelistings on Redfin, saving homes without expecting to get them. But Redfin isn't just built for endless browsing, it's built to help you find and own a home. With agents who close twice as many deals, when you find the one, you've got a real shot at getting it. Get started at redfin. com Own the dream . This episode is brought to you by Perfect Bistro cat food. Hey guys, today I'm interviewing my cat about his perfect Bistro food. Percy, you seem to be a big perfect bistro fan ? Here to comment? Totally. And what do you like about it? You love the high quality ingredients . And the delicious flavors, of course. Yeah, that makes a ton of sense. Listen to Percy, guys. Visit perfectbistro dot com to try it for your cat . Jumping from laurel and hardy very comfortably in a segue to the Playboy mansion That's a segue . That was smooth. You're the best segue guy I know . You are a good segue person No Oh God . Now you were a regular or I guess maybe still are at the Playboy Mansion. Yes. Now forty for forty freaking years . Now I'd be up there. Two every guy listening to this is probably going oh man that lucky bastard yeah So what's the playboy mansion like to hang out No, no, it's wonderful. You got to understand how I wound wound up there. I mean, I was I was performing doing my one act show with the puppets with Paul at a place called the Pope and in comes this guy and they 're sitting there with a button and people say, Don't you know that is Jew Efter . He owns Playboy Magazine. I said, Oh great. So I said, maybe you like to watch the show from behind the said, Oh God, he loved to. So they sat them behind me and they watched me puppeteer from behind, you know, and to how to do it after they saw the show, the second show they saw from behind back stage . And he loved that. And he said, Hey, listen, I'm opening up a nightclub new hotel in New Jersey . Would you like to come to the opening? So I said, I'd be happy to. When is it? He said this week. He said so I went and I was leaving to do the projectionists would just come out and I was leaving to do the projection interview with Cupsnet in Chicago . And he does a, you know, he did he's a columnist and did radio interviews and so forth. And I'm promoting the movie. So he said, How you going? I said, Well, I'm going on the United Airlines. And I said, No, no, no. He said, Please, he said, take my plane . And we're leaving tomorrow. At the same time you are. So I go out to La Guardia Field and I said where what airplane is Mr. Hafta going back to Chicago ? He said, This own . I said, his own . And he said, Yeah. He said, He said, Do you Chuck McCann? I said, Yeah, he said, It's right out there . And there's this black mammoth airplane. It was like a DC three. I don't know, it was a jet, you know, but it was one of the latest jet planes, all black with a bunny with the bunny insignia on the tail . So he said said , you know, they'll be along shortly. So why don't you just walk out to the car on the tarmac and board it ? So I go out and they make a phone call and down the stairway come these two gorgeous stewardesses in these short little miniskirts and with a bottle of champagne and a glass and up I go and in the place and they're they're they're playing videos on the video . They had a dance spot spot where people could dance on the airplane. It was incredible and it was gorgeous inside. You know, all fixed up with the seats were just couches and seats was gorgeous . And so all of a sudden I'm looking, I said, Gee , we should be leaving. So I sat there for about an hour with the stewardess. She says, Oh, here they come and down comes two big hellic opters and they let everybody out, everybody gets out . And I mean, no, two big black limousines come in from New York and everybody gets out and they all jump on the plane. As soon as they're on the plane, Hefta comes over to me and sits down across from me . And the doors close, the thing it turns and we're down going down the runway and we're off. I mean, it was like the King has landed, you know, no one else. I mean, that's a busy airport, Lacaudia, you know. Now tell us tell us get right to the orgies that went on at the Playboy match. No, the or guys . So these were gay orgies? No, they would be or guys. All the guys would show up. The girls said, Are you kidding? You know no actually , you know what ? A lot of people think that that's what goes on . And I hate to disappoint everybody , but that's a private thing that is he's always kept , you know, he's very discriminate. Now I'm not saying that you don't see a lot of nude people . Like if you're in the pool, you know, everybody swim naked in the pool, but that was about the extent of it. I'm hoping I'm hoping you didn't swim naked now. Oh, are you kidding ? Are you serious? I wouldn't be caught dead naked I'm telling you, my baby suit was one of the ones they wore in eighteen twelve. Well you all with the stripes. It covered it covered my toes . Selton. Can you please tell us about a blow job you got at the playtime ? Yeah , as soon as you would get out of the pool, this man Man this fan would dry you, see . There's a big motorized Oh man, no it is. The girls were incredible, man. It's a strange journey, isn't it? Chuck from doing a puppet show in a club and suddenly you're on the playboy jet. Oh yeah, well it was wonderful. I mean Heftner you Hefner is one of the sweetest guys in the world man. He is so giving and so loving . He's really a wonderful, wonderful person. I love him a lot. Now another , another very comfortable segue . Okay . After the success onan Martin's laughin'. Right. Produced by George Slaughter . Right. You George Slaughter decided to make another revolutionary style comedy. you ran Cool turn you ran. You know where he's going, don't you? The bomb of the century, go ahead . Call turn on . Who could forget it ? Tell us about the monumental story . Well, you know what , you know why, don't you? It wasn't that the show. If you want to see that show , I believe you can go to the Museum of Broadcasting and they have a copy there that they'll run for you. We have to go. Oh yeah. , I don't know if I don't know if they have it in New York. I know they I think they do , but they had it was called Turn on and it was on one night and we were cancelled in the middle of the show . It's the only show that got turned off in the middle of the show. So it was like a few minutes into the show , it was so bad that they cancelled it in certain in in certain states , okay? Now this is why it happened . We did things on that show that were never done before . Here Schlauder has a show called Laughin, right? Which is which is on the edge anyway. It's got really edgy kind of sketches as you know, Go Gilbert. Yes. Now, when Turn on came on , he wanted to go a little further , okay ? So we had sketches like I forget her name. She was dressed up as a nun trying to get her changed out of a phone book. Teresa Graves . It wasn't Teresa Graves. No, but it was one of it Theresa was quite a beautiful blonde. Now this was a very funny comedian. But anyway, here's this nun crawling all over the top of a telephone boot in a nun's outfit, you know ? I mean the Catholic Church really crowned on a lot of the stuff that we did and so did every other religion, you know ? I mean, we I mean every you know, from Catholic church and prophet church and the Jewish synagogues. I mean, we made we made fun of everything and everybody, every woman , everything, you know, it's just it was an incredible show . And the guy that was on it my friend, Tim Conway . So Tim did the original show too with me and a host of others . And it was it was I believe Albert Brooks was the writer under that show. Albert Albert was the writer and eventually wound up doing some of the bits as Albert would, you know , and we will actually Hamilton camp , God bless. Oh, sure. Remember Hamilton camp, didn't you? Oh God, what a what a sensational perform er he was. And I loved him. Anyway, he was in second city in Chicago. And so anyway, we wound up getting canceled right in the middle of the show. And I mean cancelled. It was like they turned us off in Chicago. This little old lady calling I swear to God . A little old lady in like Des Moines or someplace watching the show was so offended by the nun crawling over the top of a phone booth . She gets on her phone and she starts calling her fraternities and they all get on the phone and call the next one and it was like wildfire going from the middle of the country across to New York and over to California. It was like Schwarz got so many phone calls, the stations, the networks, people the local stations, of course, because the show was being syndicated, you know , then they were turning it off as , you know, it all air at the same time , but each station had their own, you know, their each had their own tapes they so they turned they turned everything over off and that was the end of it. Chuck, I heard a story that the show was on ABC in nineteen sixty nine turn on aired one time. Now I heard a story that ABC was so spooked by the experience and the angry calls and the angry mail that they got that they rejected a controversial edgy pilot that wound up going to CBS. It turned out to be all in the family . That's true that's true. I mean in those days You know, there was no they they were very careful in what they were doing , but not so much with us but after we finished it's like, oh boy , I mean you know what? Hit the fan. Yeah . And that was that was that was the beginning of real criticism and real ises but CBS has you guys to thank for all in the family indirectly ? Yeah , yes , that's right . That's right . I never thought of it that way. Yeah. Yeah. , I never did that show . Now , you were in the very popular Reichgard deodorant commercials. Oh, now we're getting into commercials. Yeah, let's stay on No , I jump back and forth. Oh, okay. He moves around . Oh we're kidding. And you serious , that commercial bought my house . That was the commercial The commercials were a guy would open his medicine cabinet correct. And on the other side was a guy like sharing his medicine drug with Fiori. Yeah, the little Fiori got like they forgot to put a wall in between. Yes. Yes, between the apartments. Yeah. Now you did one with the great Groucho Marks . That's correct. And did you get to know Groucho at all . Very well very well. I'll tell you all about that . Actually the commercials ran for three years. That one particular commercial was for right guard, right guard, right? Yes. Yeah, with Bill Fiore. Bill Fiore was the other guy on the I remember him yeah , great actor. Very, very nice guy, very talented kid and a good friend anyway . So after that after that ended, then they said, well, you know, we the commercial ran for twelve years . So off and on with different people in it and everything else. But it was always me on the other side . We went to Canada, became very big in Canada. So we went in those days we would shoot the Canad ians separate so I'd be flying around doing every commercial, you know? It'd be like that I was like that girl that does these the car commercials now, the where she's in the White House at what they insure insurance right flow insurance. Well, yeah, right. I was the flow of the day, you know , of that time . And so it has a good it's good in one way and terrible in the other because it wrecks your movie career , everything else , you know, because you're now the guy in the medicine cabinet . And I'll never forget I went into a movie theater to sit in the back to see It might have been hard as a lonely hunter . And out I come in that first scene and out from the audience as soon as I appear , the whole audience got and said , Hi guys And the heart of a lonely hunter is it's so good when you're putting a hipe in someone's chest, you know ? What do you say? Yeah . So it comes the villain now, you know, hi guys . So tell us about Groucho . Okay , all right. I get I get my buddy is producing and by this time, he's now my friend. We've done a whole bunch of these things . And they want to put somebody on the other side that's kind of a star. So I get to the studio and who the hell is they get but groucho marks . And I mean that's like Oliver Hardy, that's like Stan Laurel. That's like Charlie Chaplin, you know? It's a grouchal marks, man . And I opened up the Madison Cabinet and he does a high guy in all of this and there he is in his undershirt . You know , you know , and he was so funny and we just ad libbed and we finished the commercial by about we started at like eight or maybe nine , and we were through by ten thirty It's like unbelievable. I mean, we just boom. We did it like bang, bang, bang. And each one of them was great . So Grouchos they released us for lunch, you know, they said, Okay, that's a wrap. And the next thing Groucher said, where you going for lunch McGann ? I said, wherever , wherever you want to go. So he said, great. I said, I know a great place called Christo's and it was right across the street from my office . So it was a great restaurant and they had great food , and they had chicken kiev and stuff that he loved. And so we went over there and we sat there and we were just talking. All I did was talk with him . I mean, over and over and Zeppo and Harpo and all these stories . And I mean, it just was incredible, incredible for me . And I'm with him and I said I said, Dave at the races. And s heays, Oh, he says, That's a great let me tell you about that . He says, you know Grim David Dura, I said, Are you kidding? I said, I live across the street and I have a, I don't live across my office across the street and I have a screening room there. And I have a print of Dan at the races . He says, What ? I said, I have a print of a lot of your work . So I had sixteen millimeter prints of just about everything I did. Al Kilgor and I and then I just yelled . He said, come on, we're going over the watched the I watched that and then we watched , you know, at the circuit it went on and on and on and on until about the phone was ringing off the hook . And now we started about two o'clock , I guess, watching his films . It was now like quarter to ten and it's his nurse on the phone cursing me out. Where the hell is he put it in ? So I give the phone to him and I go now, what the hell do you want? You know, pay what I'm enjoying myself for the first time in a long time . So she said, Well, she said where are you? You gotta get up and do Carnegie Hall tomorrow. I'll screw Harney Hall . You know, having a ball because every ten minutes he'd say , let me tell you about this scene . And I'd stop the projector. I'd had to pull the film out of the gate so it didn't burn . Incredible. He would go into these tremendous stories about how he and the boys and his brothers did this and what happened that day. And that was the day the kitchen caught fire and and my brother came by . It would go on and on and on with these stories. It was just incredible . And I mean by the time I got finished with I mean we, became the best of friends, you know . So I later saw him out here. And when he was at we invited him up to the mansion and he came up to the afternoon . And he was the best, man. There was no one better than Groucho. Now this gets to my next question . Did Groucho ever get blown at the mansion ? It got blowing up at the man . Can I read some names to you spoke to that we spoke about the Great Groucho okay, May West May May West like my wife's client . See , let me explain something to you. My wife was a William Morris agent and she was in charge or not in charge, but she was an agent who later was made vice president of the Commercial Department of William Morris. Now that's that's a pretty hefty big job . And so she had a lot of clients and people I knew and those that I didn't and we always socialize together . So Mae West was one of her clients . And so she wanted to meet me . So Benny had her out to the house and she said one night I had to go out, I had an appointment and I wasn't there. And when I came back , she went, Oh my God, miss me Chuck. I missed you and she said I said you didn't leave yet. So Betty grabbed me aside and she said, you know, she's in love with you because you are an exact replica, I mean an image , spinning image of her late boyfriend who raised her . She was she was sixteen when she met this performer. She was a performer and she was a child performer . And he brought her up and he taught her everything . And he brought her down to the docks on the west side of Manhattan and down and watched the ladies of the evening working there . And she developed her walk and everything, she told me from this one prostitute that used to walk down there . And she would follow her around . And one day the prostitute caught her eye again and said turned on her and she said , Hey , what are you doing ? You keep following me around and what do you think you are Are you clear or something like that ? And she said, No, no, I'm not. I'm just, you know, she's, well, . She said, But just be careful . And she walked heilily away, as she said . And she said, That was my walk ever since. So Mae West entire personality . Absolutely. Come up and see me sometime based on a hooker . That's right . Wow . Who never got any credit? Whoever got she was a strange lady who was walking around the east , you know, amazing west side of Manhattan in the docks . Now working the sailors and stuff, you know? What about the great act or John Carradine ? Oh, Johnny. Oh my god. Oh, Caradine was the greatest . And of course, his kids were great too. But No , I met Caradine at a restaurant I used to come into I'm going to not remember the name of the restaurant Hunta No, that's okay. Oh, okay. No, I thought you knew it. But it was it every time I came to New York, I flew to New York. I went to this restaurant for my breakfast . And Pat McCormick would meet me there and all the guys Bob Ridgeley and all of my friends , okay . So I would go there and I would see Caradine sitting there at the bar . So I wound up getting a show called Far Ork Space Nuts. Oh, sure with Bob Denver . Right . So I'm there in the bar and there's Caradine . I mean, we've known we know each other by our names now, you know, he was he was so sweet to me . So he said What's you doing my dad? So I said, I'm doing this show, this kid show . A kid show . I said, Yeah, he said, What's it about? I said, It's a half hour show . He says, Is that a roll in it for me ? I said, John, it's a kid show . I know that . What does it pay and where do I ? Great . So I said, Are you kidding? He says, I want to do it. So I get to the studio and I said , John Carradine wants to do my show . So the crofts, you know, sit and Marty go, are you kidding? I said, No, he wants to do the show. He wants to play a villain in it. So he said, Write something for him. And we brought him in and he was fricking marvelous, man. So I wrote this thing called the crystallites . So the crystallites they're governed by this crystal , right? So I walk into the studio and John is already there getting made up and costumed and everything. And I walk in and I said , Where's John? I said, He's sitting there on the throne . And I look at the throne and there's this big diamond all plastic and everything and all sitting. And I see a figure inside Cardine and that thing ? They said, Yeah, I said, It's God damn John Carradine, get that glue off . So we unwrapped John, you know, and we did we did the episode , but he was so sweet, man. He was so great . Now we're doing one scene. You know, where they have a wall that opens up your noise and somebody marches from another hall and you hear shing and the wall goes , Sim, feel like that, you know ? But there's no behind the door, it's about a foot and a half to the back wall . So there's so Caradine has to stand behind this door and wait for the thing to go soon. Then he steps into the room, you know , but he's actually against flat it's about a foot away from the wall and he's standing behind this frickin' door waiting for Bob Denver to give his Bob forgot all of lines and all of a sudden booming from behind the door it said Denmark , either get lines straight throw me a magazine . That's great. That's the best John Carradine impression I've ever heard, John . Oh God. Why do others in 'em ? Now let's we haven't talked at all about your kid show . Your many kids shows. Yeah . Oh God. Can you sing the Dick Tracy theme . Oh , Dick Tracy , he had a bulldog jaw . Dick Tracy , why he's the arm of the law. Dick Tracy , you know, that was the basic Yeah, better do what he say . Crime doesn't never pay my God . Oh my God . Oh God. Then there was also a little off and annie song . Oh man, little off and annie didn't have a family . Yeah she was I gotta say I'll get I'll get copies of that Gilbert. Oh girl. Oh, we love that. Do you ? Now , now remember you were talking about I mean that was popular back then. There was you, Sandy Becker Supp y Sales Officer Joe Bolton. Oh yeah, Jooges. Yeah, Paul Winchel was in New York. We used to watch. Yeah . Well, Paul came in later on because he was out he was out of California and Detroit, I think, someone . And you talked about when they stopped doing kids shows like that. Yeah, the host . And what changed ? What kid shows supplied a little kid? Well, what we had was kids shows were were that when kids got out of school , they would run home like I would run home to hear radio shows because in my day , after school , you need a respite, you need a break . So you would go home and you would listen to Jack Armstrong , you would listen to radio shows, little fifteen minute radio shows with a suspenseful ending that you would pick up the next day. And so it was a continued show and a continued story . And And captain midnight these are just some of the little fifteen minute shows I used to listen to . And so I always felt that television should have the same kind of a thing, you know so that's that's what I want anyway these were magnificent magnificent shows for me. And you would listen to these shows . And you would you couldn't wait to get home to hear the conclusion of them, you know ? And you said like the host because they did away with kitty show hosts. Yeah, well that's what happened. See, so when they when they when they let go of kitty shows in general by eliminating the host , that there was no one there to say hello , good morning. How are you? Is everything okay? Did you brush your teeth this morning? Hey, did you wash your face , hey kids , be careful walking to school. Remember those people out there cars can be pretty crazy . So and brush your teeth when you go to bed, you know, say your prayers and be kind to each other and be especially good to each other, you know. These you pow down the street, you know, and I'd read letters and stuff like this . And there was nobody there to do that anymore . And so guys like Supi would do this, I would do this Zachary, John Zacharyly. Oh sure . Sure . He would do this . I we all did it in our own way , but we were we were the brothers there that these kids didn't have . We were the fathers that a lot of these kids didn't have or you know, the uncles , I mean, we were everything to these kids . A lot of these kids didn't have family . We were their family . And I knew this because of the letters that we get . You know, we get these tremendous letters and written by kids that, you know, even though it was in crayon, it would break your heart, man. How many how many shows were there? Chuck? There was the Chuck McCann show . Well it was fun stuff. Yeah. Well, I mean, that's just in New York. Let's have fun . You know, these shows were all over the country , but in New York City, there was me, Supie , Joe Bolton Jack McCarthy . Right were a whole bunch. Wandurama was on then. Wandurama that's sunny. Sunny Foster Sure ny, Sonny and I had been a lot of things together. And didn't you famously he was on five. That was Wanderama . Picks had Pix had the cream of the crop for the afternoon . But Wanderama on Sunday was like I went opposite Wonder Ima with the show called Let's have fun . So I was opposite myself actually when I moved over to W NAW because what I wound up taking over what Sonny had with Sonny . I was opposite my own show that I created. It was really strange. Was there a story about a lion getting loose, Chuck? Oh yeah, oh yeah , we had we had all kinds of wacky animals and people. We had the craziest guests, you know , and the producers would book these guests. We didn't need guests. We did one man shows . We could stand there and do two hours without any problem . I used to write my show walking from forty ninth Street to forty second street. You did it in the old Daily News building, didn't you? The PIX show . And as I walked along the street, third avenue going to forty second street , I would come up with the whole show and I will no bad. Yep . And you would have to I heard like a lot of the host s back then if they came up with an idea they had to buy their own props for it. Oh yeah, I had to go shopping at night. And in fact, I wasn't allowed to bring my props into the studio. So I had to sneak in on Sunday when no one was there and bring my props in. I would find stuff on in the trash and I mean big props like chairs and stuff like this. And I had friends of mine that would come and help me get it upstairs and then we'd just put it on stage, you know , or backstage in the proper room . And one day I'm sitting out there out there and this other guy is in there on a Sunday and I'm putting together some wires and stuff and everything for the show for Monday. And he said, What are you doing? I said, I'm doing the prop thing for my show tomorrow . I said, Oh, I said , Yeah, I'm here. I'm putting for Glory's show, I'm put ting this on and I'm painting this. It looks tacky, so I'm painting it. I said, Oh, I said, What do you do? He says, I'm the new program manager . So I said, Oh , so he said, Yeah, I can't I can't put a show on with this and the union will, you know, it costs a it costs hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars to , you know , to have them come in and pay maybe a thousand . And in those days was a lot of money. So you came stuck in and you did it yourself. No budget and no days off, right? And I said, What's your name? He said, I'm Chuck McCann. He said, What's your name? He said, Fred Silverman . Oh my God, about . We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast after this . The Palm Beaches community will soon have access to a new destination for healthcare, the Allen B. Miller Medical Center, a brand new hospital designed for clinical excellence and amenities to meet the highest standards in patient experience. With compassionate care , concierge services, and private patient rooms, the Allen B Miller Medical Center is your new destination for health care . Visit ABM edicenter. com . USA knows dynamic duos can save the day like superheroes and sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With USA , you can bundle your auto and home and save up to ten percent. Tap the banner to learn more and get a quote at USA. com slash bundle, restriction supply . Now here's something you said in an interview. Now you got to tell the people who fret Silverbill. Well, they know he was a lot of people know, you know . He became a major television executive and programmed many successes. He ran he ran sure In fact, in fact , he produced Thick of the Night that I was on. Oh yeah, oh yeah, one of the great biggest failures . get super trained. What are you talking about Fritz Lev?ik Yeah , I was , Chuck, you said something that really gave me a chill in one of your interviews . Well, close the door and closer window footprints on. I like I like to draw. I always like to draw. So do I . And and when I was a kid, I used to make paper mache puppets . And you said in an interview that comedians, so many comedians like to draw and make things. That's right , everybody that I know of that's worth the salt knows how to sketch . It's just it's just funny that way. Who would some of the brand ? Well, all right, Van Dyke, Vick Van Dyke is a fantastic artist. If you see the caricatures of Dick Van Dyck , he did those . If you see , I mean God, I Jonathan Winters, didn't he draw the winners drew magnificently . I know Tony. Oh, Jonathan, yeah, Jonathan Winters, Tony . I used to go up to Johnny's house and he had a nayak . He had all of his all of his artwork on the wall. I mean, it was just incredible stuff. I should tell our listeners that in Gilbert's apartment, he has some wonderful caricatures on his wall.s Of stuff that I don't know that you've ever shown anybody. Oh no , in my book in Ruby it's in the book. Look, right. Some really great stuff. Great . Real fun . Yeah . I don't I put movie posters up in my living room. My wife , you know, she wanted to put up character trees, but I don't know. Can you do some of the vo ices that you've gotten famous for over the years in commercials and cartoons. Oh sure . Yes. Well Doss Butler was a dear friend of mine and he passed away, but when he did, I took over for a lot of people that did voices , you know ? Now let me just take a swig of coffee here, Goodbrey. Okay Okay the master prepares Yeah, because you know, yeah , it's earlier here than it is where you are , you know , so I got out of bed to do this. So thank you Chuck. You're motherwalk, mother well. I'm still in my pajamas. I'm amazed . I'm amazed that you can get out of bed. Yeah, it is well, I roll out of bed So you bed generally in the morning the bed generally on top of me. Yeah . So you did some great commercial voiceovers, I remember. Well, of course the hiki , you know, yeah. That was kind of that voice I did was my own . And but that was like the only one that I did that was my own. All the other voices I've done caricatures or invitations like I did a boys an album and I did the voice of Yogi Bear after daws passed. Cheer fall, Bubble . Garry, Yogi was happy . Nothing much . Hey, why don't we go into the forest and see the Rager? It's awfully good, Yogi . Come on, let's go . Okay , yeah and away I go . It's great. And I did a whole musical album with Yogi Singh, which was like, it's one thing doing the vo,ice but it's another thing singing, you know . So you did Sunny Cuckoo Bird too from Coco Puffs. Oh yeah. Yeah, that was that was a buddy of mine over Dan Fitzgerald. He said, We need a voice for this and he pulls out this cartoon, you know, the of sunny with this just the face, you know? And I went , yeah Cover Google pups, cosma google pups. Cozumber Google pups. You did gramps too, didn't you? Didn't you did the grandfather? Yeah, so I did Hey boy , what are you doing? Oh, nothing , grabs. Just sit around , watch up TV . Yeah . You don't let your cuckoo bird out to you . There's a little lion Barrymore in Grandpa. Yeah , that was a little liner in there. Yes. Hugly boy . Yes, a little liner Barrymore and that yes linel Barrymore . Mike Lino is a little more nasal Keep your hands off my wheelchair before I break an egg . The key Largo . Yeah, Key Largo. So you think you're on a Some island ? Well, let me tell you , nobody's going to get off this island alive if it's up to them . And what about in Oh and it's a wonderful life ? Oh yeah, you made Jim ? Yes. My job . Oh . Jim Jim Jim jump, jim yeah, Jim. Jim . Jimmy Stewart . Yeah, yeah, that's yeah, that's what immy Stewart yeah Oh mister Potter I saw Mr. Potter playay Down boy Claire down . You don't come in my office shelter and relate it . Oh yeah I'm so sorry mister Pottery but he dreamt I tell I all want Ied wanted to say , well I want ed to say Well for great sake Anyway there it is. Here's an obscure one Chuck, I saw commercial online for a breakfast cereal called I think it was Crinkles and it was it was you doing the voice. It was a little bit of Ed Wyn Do you remember this character? No. It was a little it was almost like a little Edwin meets Arnold St . You gotta understand I did thousands of commercials so I know by the way Can you do an Ed win for us? Sure . Yeah . Yes, it's wonderful, you think . Absolutely . You know, I have a basketball hoop , you know, that you know, this is serious now . I have a basketball hoop that I hang over my bed, you know ? That's it. But people who toss in their sleep There's that great scene in the projectionist, Chuck, which we talked about where you're where you're looking at the headshots on the walls. You're in the you're in the projection booth and there's John Wayne and Bogart and Sydney Green Street, you know this scene, of course. Yeah . And you're going picture by picture and you're doing voices. You can see this clip online folks and watch it. Your impressions are uncanny . Well, if you look at that scene , it's all done in one take Harry and I, we had one camera , a limited amount of film making the projectionist . And when we got up to that New Jersey projection booth and it was out in the oceanside or someplace out in New Jersey , there was a theater on a pier and we shot that in the booth there . And the theater, the interior of the theater was like it was a duplicate of the Paramount . So in the theater was like big , you know , so in the booth and Harry put up a bunch of pictures on the wall and we had lived everything. Yeah, it wasn't a word written of that picture. I mean, that movie. Everything was there was like a John Wayne . Oh yeah, yeah, I did I did. Well, I did voices of every do a little John Wayne . listen , I'll tell you what we're gonna do, man . Let's get on our horses and ride the hell out of here and when we when we leave the projection booth , you guys make a right hand turn but don't go in the toilet and Humphrey Bogart ? Why, of course . My Bogart will be very good right now because of an upper lip problem . Maybe you do a little Sydney Green Street, Gilbert will throw into Peter Laurie , give it over here, Peter . What are you doing, Peter? He should have to find the falcon No Fucking please no fucking out here You do that on your own You don't do that in my picture . You do that in one of your German crops . That's brilliant . And James Cagney You know, I never okay, but okay. You jerky rat . Whoa , I want to give it to you . I do gave it to my brother . Ooh , and I know how you gave it to my brother . My brother . Kagade was one of my loves, you know, but I never did him. I always wound up doing I never did like the ones everybody was doing. I never did even to this day. Not a lot of people did Sydney Green Street, yeah. Well , yeah, but it was strange , you know, I just I like Jack Benny, I did Jack Benny . I remember there was a cartoon where one of the characters you did the voice and it was a Jack Benny imitation. Right. And what I would do is I'd take voices and I'd make hybrids out of them. In other words, I'd take Edwin and Jack Benny. Now here , here's Edward, you see like this , you know, he talked like that . And Jack Penny of the T , you know , ladies and gentlemen , I just want to tell you that it's wonderful to be here . You know, so you get that and you mix it with that. And you know, ladies and gentlemen , it's wonderful to be here and you've got another character. It's great . You know, so you mix you make hybrids. And that's what I did with a lot of my cartoon characters, you know And you were in the aristocrats with me and that's the most important thing . Can you please tell me what you think of comics who rely on obsenity ? What do I think of Black Gilbert? Comics who use a lot of obsenity . Oh, well, that's why I don't use them . And I did that with you guys because I don't know. So you're you're engaged. You know where local comedians are? Today, it seems like you have to throw something in every once in a while, but I don't I never did. I never thought I had to. I felt I always felt that, you know, comedy is comedy and it's it's not shock value. obscenity is shock value. I think if you're doing obscenity , then you're some fucking cockshucker right who can't think of anything else No, you're you're fucking right on Well I think anybody who does a fucking thing like that is really shitty I mean , I think comedy is by itself is , you know, you're pure and you're clean, you're fucking right on . Now come back we're gonna wrap up because I got tired of to talking you when you first got on I could tell that I could have known that I told you that I could have told you that an hour ago . Chuck, before we run, you want to plug your book? Oh yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah Very important. I do have a book and nobody's gonna buy it. So I bought it. Oh, did you? I did. It's called the Let's Have Fun Book and it's what it is based on . It is a fun book. Billy Crystal did the whole beginning of it. He loved the book. Billy was a big fan of mine and back growing up, you know, Strike from Long Island, sure. Yeah, you know one of the guys that watched my show and I was amazed at how many people watched that show. I used to leave the studio thinking no one's watched that, you know, who would watch this, you know? And you influence entire generations, Chuck. I never knew it. Never knew it. Tell me Chuck , you never fucking knew it. No, I never fucking knew it. I mean I mean, I never could think that those little pricks out there that were watching Oh , now it's Uncle Don. Yeah, uncle Don. Yeah Don't. Oh man, an infinite story of stories. But anyway, it's called let's have fun here is the book and you can order it from Amazon . And you get a DVD with the book, right? You get a DVD with the book. Great. A lot of sketches for my show . And it's at amazon. com and it's around thirty bucks, I think my book is, you know, but it's worth it because you get it costs us just about that to manufacture it by the time we got the DVD and everything edited and stuff. So I just I just want to tell our listeners of the of the podcast to check out the projectionist , a movie that Chuck is wonderful in and a young Rodney Dangerfield. You'll get to see as well. Oh great . Hey, I love speaking to you Gilbert. And you, Frank, I just had a lot of fun you fucked up my Sunday . What is it? Sunday Tuesday. Could you watch? Tuesday already. I don't know who the fuck cares . Should I reach my age and just come on ? I don't go to bed anymore. They have me glued to a chair in the living room facing the television, you know ? And Chuck , would you watch your language on my show? I will . You know, I just wanted to say this one thing. Yes Every three hours my wife passes by with a mirror in front of my mouth to see if I'm still breathing God bless you, Chuck . Well , this is we're gonna start wrapping up I love you guys. I really do thank you Buddy Thanks for doing it. We haven't even touched upon. Oh so much. We didn't get to Bob Kane and we didn't get to von the von Meinner album. Hey, listen, if you want to do it again sometime, we'll do it again. I'm available. It's not that I want to . No, no, I know that. I know that . But before you before we have the interview, pass a mirror under my , so I'm Gilbert Gottfried. This has been Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast with my co host, Frank Santo Padre , and we have been talking to the great Chuck McCann. Thank you, Chuck. You're welcome. Could you take us out as Mr. Laure Okay , yeah . See, Ollie , I think they're saying goodnight . Well, I know what they're saying . Oh , and it isn't good night. wants to meet back then like it . Thank you . Thank you, John. You're brilliant. I love you, babies. I love you too