Norm Macdonald Live 3x11

1. - That was a big show for me, Jenny.

2. - You excited? - I am excited.

3. Rich Little, my hero as a child.

4. I saw him at the National Arts Center in Ottawa, Ontario.

5. Well, we'll get that when the great man gets here.

6. Speaking of getting here,

7. where's my trusty sidekick, Adam Eget?

8. He's always late lately.

9. He's lately late.

10. He's taking liberties with this program is what I think.

11. - Tsk tsk. - Yes, tsk tsk

12. is correct.

13. Oh.

14. It's my phone.

15. Adam Eget.

16. Speak of the devil.

17. I'm gonna put him on speaker

18. so as not to exclude you. - Thank you.

19. - Adam Eget, you're on speaker

20. with Jenny and Norm. - Hi, Adam.

21. - Oh, hi guys, how's it going?

22. - You don't sound good.

23. - I'm not good.

24. - You got to come in do the show.

25. - There's no way I can make it.

26. I'm just incredibly ill.

27. - Oh.

28. Well, listen, listen. - Sorry.

29. That's bad news, but don't worry because

30. I have the solution.

31. Now I'm gonna get a little ribald here.

32. But what I do whenever I get sick,

33. I make love with my wife.

34. You should try that.

35. - All right, I'll try it.

36. - OK.

37. Good, good.

38. Hope he finds somebody, he doesn't have a significant other.

39. You know what that means.

40. We all know what that means.

41. Well, it's been two hours, Jenny.

42. How's the left side of my head looking.

43. - Right about done.

44. - Oh, excellent.

45. I'm still kind of worried though because still no sign

46. of Adam Eget.

47. It's Adam Eget.

48. I'm gonna just not put it on speaker

49. because he might say something.

50. Adam Eget, how are you?

51. Are you feeling any better?

52. Oh.

53. He says he's feeling better and also,

54. "And I have a lovely bedroom."

55. That Adam Eget.

56. What an operator this guy is, huh?

57. My wife's a slatternly woman.

58. - Sorry to hear that. - Is that the word?

59. - It's a word. - Slatternly.

60. She's a dishwater...

61. Ah, whatever.

62. Well, I guess Adam Eget's feeling better.

63. Tonight, for the full hour,

64. Rich Little, and it's gonna be a great show for me 'cause

65. Rich was the first entertainer I ever saw in my life.

66. - Really?

67. You don't get around much.

68. - Well, I was only a boy.

69. Now, my mother, who I talked to this morning,

70. was very excited about the interview.

71. Asked me

72. if you would do an impression.

73. Her favorite impression that you do,

74. Charlotte Whitton.

75. - Oh my gosh.

76. - She's Canadian. - The mayor of Ottawa.

77. - She lives in Ottawa.

78. - She lives in Ottawa, in my hometown.

79. Wow.

80. - Now, when was the last time you did Charlotte Whitton?

81. - You know, people come up to me from Canada

82. and remember me from years and years ago

83. and ask me to do Charlotte Whitton, John Diefenbaker,

84. Lester Pearson.

85. And it's just such a long time ago,

86. and, of course, none of the American audience

87. know any of these people.

88. - But could you do it for my mom?

89. - Charlotte Whitton, I could do it.

90. Well, Charlotte whitton talked like this.

91. Richard, you're useless.

92. I want to chop down this tree.

93. Grab an ax and we'll chop it down together.

94. She was the mayor of Ottawa.

95. - There you go, ma.

96. I done right asked that, your good Canadian son.

97. - And you know what?

98. My friend and I did chop this tree down,

99. it was at her summer place,

100. and we did chop this tree down,

101. and as we're chopping, my friend says,

102. "My dad is working for her opponent.

103. "Let's have it fall on the house."

104. And we didn't but we thought about it.

105. What the hell are you boys doing?

106. - When I was young boy, this is what we would do.

107. We all idolized Rich Little.

108. And so we would run around doing impressions

109. of people we didn't know,

110. you know, that you had done.

111. So we would do John Diefenbaker,

112. and I remember the line you did was,

113. "Some people say I look like an owl."

114. But...

115. - But I don't care,

116. frankly, I don't give a hoot.

117. That was my big joke at age 17, you know.

118. He did look like an owl, didn't he?

119. - Absolutely looked like an owl.

120. Now you worked on the Judy Garland Show

121. at what age?

122. - In my early 20s.

123. - So this must have been incredibly intimidating.

124. - Well, it was a big step for me.

125. You know, I'd been on television in Canada

126. and done a lot of clubs in Canada.

127. - What television was there in Canda?

128. Elwood Glover's Luncheon Dates?

129. - There was a lot of variety shows in Toronto, you know?

130. My gosh, Tommy Ambrose and Joan Fairfax.

131. And a lot of shows in Canada.

132. - Don Messer's Jubilee.

133. - Yes, Don Messer's Jubilee.

134. Gosh, I did a lot of those shows in Canada,

135. but Mel Torme came to Toronto.

136. - The Golden Fog,

137. no, the Velvet Fog. - The Velvet Fog.

138. And I did a television show with him.

139. He was a huge movie buff.

140. I mean, he knew everything about movies,

141. and so he loved me because I was doing impressions

142. of Glenn Ford and

143. people who had never been done before.

144. William Holden and Dana Andrews.

145. - William Holden, what would he sound like?

146. - William Holden?

147. - One of the greatest voices ever.

148. - William Holden.

149. We have not missed, you and I.

150. We have not missed that many-splendored thing.

151. - Yeah, that's a hard voice.

152. - Anyway, he loved all these character actors

153. I was impersonating.

154. - We were talking to you right before the show.

155. You also are an incredible movie buff yourself.

156. - Well, yeah, I watched a lot of movies in the buff.

157. I've always been,

158. I mean, I have a collection of movies at home.

159. I must have a couple of thousand movies in my house.

160. I've always loved movies. - Me and my trusty sidekick,

161. Adam Eget, we love film noirs.

162. - Oh, I love film noir.

163. - We watch all the old movies.

164. - And The Asphalt Jungle is probably our favorite.

165. - Absolutely.

166. - And Sterling Hayden.

167. Did you ever do Sterling Hayden?

168. - Oh yeah, I did Sterling Hayden.

169. - Oh I'd love to hear Sterling Hayden.

170. - It was one of my favorites.

171. - Sterling Hayden.

172. That kind of a voice that sounded on one plane.

173. He sounded like this.

174. He hardly ever got excited.

175. I'm gonna do my impression of Sterling Hayden laughing.

176. Want to see it again?

177. But I loved all those character actors.

178. And Mel knew them all.

179. So he put all these voices.

180. I think he put about 30 on a tape

181. and he played it for Judy Garland

182. to get me on the Garland show.

183. - Well, wasn't that generous?

184. - Yeah, he was gonna be doing special music material

185. for Judy on her show.

186. So he was going right from the show he did in Toronto

187. to work on the Garland Show,

188. and he took this tape with him

189. and played Judy this tape of me doing all these impressions,

190. and she was not impressed.

191. - Really? - No.

192. She said, "I don't like impersonators."

193. Actually, she said it stronger than that,

194. but I won't tell you what she really said.

195. But she did not like impersonators,

196. and Mel thought, "But listen, he's doing Dennis Weaver,

197. "he's doing Alfred Hitchcock, Fred MacMurray.

198. "My gosh, this guy's different."

199. And she said, "I'm not impressed."

200. Now, all of a sudden the tape is still going.

201. She heard my James Mason and she went, "Wow.

202. "Play that again."

203. And so he did.

204. And she loved James Mason because she made that movie

205. A Star is Born with him.

206. And that's how I got on the Garland Show.

207. She said, "Book him." - From the Mason impression.

208. - Because of the James Mason impression.

209. Listen to me, Asta.

210. A career is a curious thing.

211. Talent isn't enough, you know.

212. You always need a sense of timing,

213. an eye for seeing the turning points

214. or recognizing the big chance when it comes along

215. and grabbing it.

216. That was the speech I did from A Star is Born.

217. Then, a few years after that,

218. I saw James Mason at American Film Institute Tribute in LA

219. and I was invited, I think they were honoring John Huston,

220. and there was James Mason.

221. So I went up to James Mason and I said,

222. "Mr. Mason, I'm Rich Little and I do an impression of you."

223. And he went, "What on earth for?"

224. And he walked away.

225. "Anyway, so I just wanted to thank you for getting me on the

226. "Judy Garland Show."

227. He was like, "I don't know what you're talking about.

228. "Move away from this idiot."

229. And that was it.

230. - Did John Huston have anything to say?

231. - John Huston.

232. I made a film with John Huston and Orson Welles.

233. - Whoa. - What?

234. - Back in the '70s.

235. And I got to know John Huston quite well.

236. And Orson was terrific. - Boy, he had a great voice.

237. - This movie was never released.

238. - Orson had one of the best voices there was, huh?

239. - Well, it's so funny because

240. I made this movie called The Other Side of the Wind

241. with Orson Welles, it was never finished,

242. And it's still sitting in a can somewhere.

243. But anyway, we filmed it in Phoenix,

244. and there I was suddenly in my late '20s

245. working with John Huston and Orson Welles

246. and I was thrilled.

247. - Who directed this film? - Orson did.

248. - Oh, he directed it.

249. - And John played a part and I played his assistant.

250. And anyway, I remember one day we went to Denny's for lunch.

251. First of all, Orson said,

252. "I don't think we can go to Denny's because

253. "I don't think I can fit into one of the booths."

254. John said, "We'll wedge you in."

255. So anyway, we went to Denny's

256. and we wedged Orson into this booth.

257. And we were having lunch at Denny's.

258. A lady recognized me because I had done a lot of television.

259. - What have you done? Carson.

260. - And she didn't know who these two guys were.

261. - You'd done Carson by that time.

262. - Yeah, oh I'd done a lot of TV.

263. Well, they were just two elderly gentlemen.

264. They didn't know one of the great directors of all time,

265. one of the great actor-directors of all time.

266. - He was forgotten.

267. - And so she comes up,

268. just says, "Mr. Little, can I have your autograph."

269. And I'm sitting there with these two icons and I'm going,

270. "Of course you can, what's your name?

271. "Oh, yes, oh, to Pat."

272. And I'm writing a big thing on here.

273. And they're watching.

274. And then she's kneeling down,

275. and as I'm signing, she says in a kind of loud voice,

276. "Who's your fat friend?"

277. Meaning Orson, right?

278. "Who's your fat friend?"

279. And John Huston, without missing a beat, says,

280. "Well, we found him on the highway

281. "and he looked undernourished

282. "and we brought him in here for a cherry coke and some fries

283. "and we're gonna fatten him up and send him on his way."

284. And Orson went, "Well, thank you, kind sir."

285. And that's true.

286. Who is Your Fat Friend

287. would be a great title for your book, but

288. it's called Little By Little.

289. And I was just perusing it,

290. and it's fascinating because, by God, you met everybody.

291. - Well, I've been very fortunate to have worked

292. with a lot of the greats.

293. - Let me ask you about that movie.

294. What was it called? - Which one?

295. - That was never released.

296. - The Other Side of the Wind.

297. - The Other Side of the Wind.

298. Now, do you feel that if you had not been an impersonator,

299. you would have tried to be an actor full time?

300. - Well, I did try to be an actor.

301. I started out in Ottawa at the Little Theater

302. in a lot of plays. - I know the Little Theater.

303. - A lot of plays.

304. And I really wanted to be an actor

305. 'cause I was such a movie buff.

306. Then I started doing impressions,

307. and that sort of caught on.

308. And then I said to myself, "Wait a minute,

309. "there's only about 10 impersonators in the world,

310. "and there's about 50,000 actors.

311. "So I think I'll be an impersonator."

312. - Oh, good.

313. Did you see the Joan Rivers documentary?

314. - I saw it.

315. - And she was so frustrated that she couldn't be an actress,

316. and I felt the same way, I'm like,

317. you're so funny, why would you want to

318. compete with all these people, you know?

319. When you're so hilarious.

320. - But she did, she wanted to become a serious actress.

321. - She seemed very...

322. - She made a couple of movies.

323. - In the documentary, she's putting on a play

324. and she really wanted to be taken seriously.

325. But I agree with you, why?

326. There's what I wanted to ask you.

327. When you began,

328. I loved you when I was a kid, but who did you love?

329. There were no impersonators, were there?

330. - Well, yes, there were impersonators ahead of me.

331. Frank Gorshin was a little ahead of me.

332. - A little bit. - Little bit.

333. And George Kirby.

334. - A little bit.

335. - He was ahead of me.

336. - Nobody when you were a kid.

337. - Will Jordan, who did Ed Sullivan, looked like him.

338. He was ahead of me.

339. - Nobody when you were a kid though.

340. - When I was a kid, I'm trying to think.

341. Larry Storch from F Troop.

342. He was an impersonator. - Still alive, perhaps.

343. - I think he is still alive, yeah.

344. I'm trying to think.

345. A lot of people did impressions that you don't think about,

346. like Debbie Reynolds does impressions.

347. Sheila MacRae, remember her?

348. She did impressions.

349. But you're right, when I was a little kid,

350. I'm not sure I remember really any impressionists.

351. - And when you were at the top, doing Carson,

352. the most famous impressionist in the world,

353. the most famous impressionist that ever lived.

354. - Who? - Don't you think?

355. - Me? - You.

356. - Oh, I don't know about that.

357. - Who would be?

358. - Who would I pick?

359. - I mean, not the best.

360. The most famous.

361. - Oh, most famous.

362. - Well, the answer is Rich Little.

363. Who do you think is the best other than you?

364. Gorshin?

365. - Well, I think Gorshin was pretty good.

366. He had his voices, I had mine.

367. - Now, did you feel Gorshin was sort of a physical actor?

368. - Yeah, Gorshin was an actor.

369. - He would move, he had that body.

370. - Yeah, Frank Gorshin was the first impersonator I ever saw

371. who did an act where he did serious things.

372. He did a scene from Camelot

373. and he did a serious speech from the movie.

374. Most impersonators before that were just comics

375. that did one-liners.

376. - Did you ever try that?

377. After you saw Frank Gorshin, did you ever?

378. - Yes.

379. Yes, that had a big influence on me,

380. and then I started to do speeches from movies

381. and more serious things.

382. He would do Camelot and do Richard Burton and do

383. a whole speech and then a song by Burton.

384. That was very impressive.

385. I had never seen that before.

386. - Right, because when you think about impressions,

387. let's say me and my trusty sidekick, Adam Eget,

388. are talking about movies,

389. we'll memorize big bits from Godfather

390. or from Asphalt Jungle

391. and do them to each other and it's very funny.

392. We don't put any jokes in, but it's just fun.

393. - Yeah, it is. - It's fun to do.

394. And we were talking earlier about how

395. in your day,

396. or before your day, actually,

397. because you were a young man, they were older,

398. the actors who nowadays would probably be character actors

399. were stars.

400. Humphrey Bogart, Edward G Robinson.

401. - James Cagney, John Wayne.

402. - Outlandish voices that didn't fit.

403. - Larger than life.

404. Easy to impersonate.

405. - Easier, huh? - Because today,

406. it's harder because the actors today are not as exaggerated,

407. and you've got George Clooney and you've got Matt Damon

408. and Brad Pitt.

409. I mean, how would you imitate Brad Pitt?

410. I wouldn't know where to begin.

411. - Just be handsome.

412. - Frankly, I'd rather do Angelina Jolie

413. to tell you the truth.

414. I'd end up jumping myself.

415. I wouldn't be lonely, would I?

416. But Brad Pitt would be hard to do, very hard to do.

417. - What about the first days in Hollywood?

418. I don't really know the history of it.

419. You're in your 20s.

420. You move to Los Angeles, California.

421. - Right, I came down to do the Garland Show in my Rambler.

422. I drove down. - Wow, you have a Rambler.

423. - Took me six days.

424. - Holy lord.

425. Is that Sunset, the Strip, or Route 66?

426. - Probably.

427. Yeah, well, this was 1964.

428. - A Rambler from Ottawa, Ontario to Los Angeles, California.

429. Wow.

430. - I had my little green card.

431. I came down to do the Garland Show and never went back.

432. - And so the Garland Show ran for how long?

433. - Well, I did one show.

434. - You did one show.

435. - It ran for, what, three seasons?

436. - Oh, I'm sorry, you just did one show.

437. - I did one show, yeah.

438. - You moved to Los Angeles knowing that—

439. - Well, no, right after I did the Garland Show,

440. that went over so well that I

441. suddenly got offers to appear in a lot of clubs

442. and other television shows.

443. Right after the Garland show, I did,

444. oh my gosh, I did The Steve Allen Show,

445. I did The Donald O'Connor Show,

446. I did Jack Benny.

447. I did a lot of shows right after that.

448. - We would love to hear an anecdote

449. about Mr. Jack Benny.

450. - Well, I love Jack Benny.

451. He was a sweet man, gentleman, kind man,

452. and he was not stingy.

453. He was a little finicky, though, in his ways.

454. Everything he did was typical Jack Benny.

455. And he'd say to me,

456. "Rich, did you play The Palmer House in Chicago?"

457. I said, "Yes, I did, Jack."

458. "You know, I love working there.

459. "I love to play The Palmer House."

460. I said, "Why, Jack?"

461. "Well, the towels are so fluffy.

462. "And I could hardly get them in my suitcase."

463. But that's the way Jack was, you know?

464. The towels were so fluffy.

465. I mean, little things meant a lot to him.

466. I remember, one time, he went on The Tonight Show,

467. and then he said to me after,

468. "Rich, are you gonna join us at the commissary for dinner?"

469. And I said, "The commissary at NBC?"

470. He said, "Yeah."

471. I said, "Why the commissary?"

472. "Well, they've got the greatest chicken soup.

473. "I mean it's fabulous.

474. "That's the only reason I did the show tonight,

475. "was to get a cup of that famous soup."

476. And so we all went down to the commissary

477. to get this soup that Jack's raving about.

478. It's in my book.

479. And we all file down there, right?

480. The commissary was closed.

481. And Jack's like, "I want the chicken soup.

482. "It's closed, keep banging."

483. We're banging on the door and there's nobody there,

484. and finally, this lady that was cleaning up let us in

485. and we raided the ice box and found the soup,

486. and then they heated it up and gave us cups of this soup.

487. We left, we're walking back to our cars,

488. and we passed where they were shooting the

489. Lucille Ball show, and the red light was on.

490. And Jack went right in

491. and walked right on stage while she was doing a scene,

492. and he said, "Lucy, you've got to try this soup.

493. "I mean, it's just fantastic.

494. "Have you ever tried it at the commissary."

495. She said, "Jack, we're trying to do a show here."

496. "I know, but listen."

497. And he started to pass the soup around to the audience.

498. And the audience were drinking this soup,

499. and then they finished it, and then Jack said,

500. "We got to go back, I'm now out of soup."

501. This is all in my book.

502. This is a funny, funny story.

503. - Now, when you tell that story,

504. Jack Benny is so funny and your impression of him,

505. but he's saying nothing funny.

506. You know, I mean if it was anyone else...

507. - No, there's no jokes.

508. - But he's just such an incredibly funny...

509. - Yes.

510. - You know, I'm reading this thing,

511. it's a thing about your life that somebody gave me,

512. but I did not know this.

513. My favorite performer of all time is Dean Martin,

514. and you performed on the Dean Martin show.

515. - 24 times. - 24 times?

516. - On The Dean Martin Roast, yeah.

517. - On the roasts. - On the roasts, yeah.

518. - The roasts were incredible, weren't they?

519. - They were great.

520. - I don't like today's roasts.

521. - No today's roasts are very, very blue

522. and a lot of people, you don't know who they are.

523. - They don't know who each other are.

524. - And they think they're funny.

525. - They're not. - They're not.

526. - You look at those old ones,

527. and I remember when I was young.

528. - Oh, those old roasts are great.

529. - About the biggest stars you've ever seen in your life.

530. - Biggest stars ever.

531. - Was that nerve racking?

532. - Oh my gosh.

533. - Go up and do an impression.

534. - I can't tell you how nerve racking that was.

535. That and hosting the Tonight Shows

536. was the most pressure I've ever had on me in my life.

537. But you know, those roasts

538. were terrifying to do because, I mean,

539. a lot of people are watching a high-rated show like that.

540. But it's not only that, you were standing up there

541. in front of the giants of show business.

542. I mean, you couldn't look down to your right

543. or to your left.

544. You might get panicky because you'd see Lucille Ball,

545. and John Wayne, and Orson Welles, and Jack Benny,

546. and George Burns, it just went on and on.

547. I mean, the best of the best, and I'm thinking to myself,

548. I'm just a kid from Ottawa, what do I know?

549. - And was this due to the great

550. friendship of Dean Martin?

551. - What, for me?

552. - No, how Dean Martin can attract these incredible stars.

553. - Oh yeah, Dean was very popular, and the show was popular.

554. So he had the best of the best on.

555. And I think one of the reasons I did the show was,

556. the main reason was,

557. if I could imitate three or more people sitting on the dais,

558. then they'd book me on because, you know,

559. if you watch those, as soon as I start to imitate

560. Johnny Carson or John Wayne,

561. they'd cut to them to see their reaction, you know?

562. And they always did that.

563. So I ended up doing, I think, 24.

564. - There was a thing with impersonators

565. where nobody can do a guy

566. and then somebody cracks the code,

567. and then everybody can do them.

568. Do you know what I mean by that?

569. - Yeah, because they listen to the impression.

570. - I don't think anyone had done Bob Hope before Dave Thomas.

571. And now that seems like sort of an easy impression to do.

572. - Bob Hope.

573. I want to tell you,

574. Wayne loved to do a command performance

575. for Queen Elizabeth and the royal family.

576. They ran out of ushers, but I want to tell you.

577. Everything was sort of speed with Bob, and then

578. he would pause, right? - The rhythm, huh?

579. But I want to tell you.

580. - I shook hands with so many blue bloods,

581. my fingers looked like my toes

582. during the great Prussian season.

583. I mean, stupid stuff, really, but we all laughed at it.

584. - When you did impressions of comedians, did you then,

585. because you just said he had this rhythm and so forth,

586. and then did you pick up on that and use it in your own

587. comedy in between the impressions?

588. - Well, yeah, you know, as a comedian, it's timing.

589. Timing is something that, if you don't have,

590. you know, I mean.

591. - Did you ever find yourself slipping into a guy maybe

592. by accident? - By accident?

593. - Yeah, that kind of thing?

594. - One time I did a show, I can't remember where,

595. years and years ago, and I went to do Spiro Agnew,

596. do you remember him? Vice president.

597. - What do you call it? The nabobs?

598. - I wasn't thinking and I set it all up, Spiro Agnew,

599. and I did Gerald Ford's voice.

600. And the audience didn't know the difference.

601. Nobody said anything.

602. - What was it?

603. The nattering nabobs of negativism?

604. - The nattering nabobs of negatism.

605. - Even the politicians were outsized.

606. - Let me clarify the discrepancies promulgated

607. by those who close their eyes

608. to the pernicious influence of the steward of masochism

609. encouraged by an effete corps of impudent snobs.

610. - Holy Mackerel.

611. He was a wordsmith.

612. - Do it like Howie Cosell was.

613. Howard West too.

614. Loved words.

615. - So even now any actors, but the politicians,

616. Cosell's a sportcaster.

617. They were outsized characters.

618. - Oh yeah.

619. - Howard Cosell.

620. - Howard Cosell.

621. Could speak in my voice 24 hours a day.

622. There's no degree to greatness you could not obtain

623. in the world of show business.

624. - I love that.

625. It trails off at the end, right?

626. - That's what I love about the subtleties.

627. I notice that, and then the James Mason,

628. where there's little subtleties in your version of James.

629. We hear a bunch of James Mason and we've done it,

630. and you get the little subtleties that you don't pick up on.

631. I love that.

632. - Well, we do James Mason off of The Verdict.

633. - Yeah, we do the original Mason from The Verdict.

634. - Howard was larger than life.

635. I remember one time we did a show in Rochester, New York,

636. and he did it somewhere else,

637. I was doing my show at a theater,

638. and we met at the airport the next day,

639. and he offered to give me a ride back to New York

640. in his super jet plane,

641. and they sent him a prop plane, and he went bananas.

642. He went absolutely bananas when he saw this plane land.

643. "You mean to tell me a superstar like me,

644. "a man that has brought millions to the networks,

645. "and I am greeted by a prop plane.

646. "Disgusting and I will not take it."

647. So he drove.

648. - Trails off, drove the hell off.

649. - He drove to New York and he wouldn't take the prop plane.

650. And I did.

651. - You took the plane.

652. - Oh yeah, I got there a lot quicker than he did.

653. - Did you ever ruffle any feather?

654. Did anybody get very upset with you

655. over a particular impression?

656. - Well, I don't think so.

657. No, even Nixon.

658. A friend of his said that he used to watch.

659. Nixon used to watch me on television

660. and thought it was quite funny.

661. Maybe he didn't know I was doing him, I don't know.

662. But that surprises me because I was pretty tough on him.

663. - What is the inside story

664. with the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson?

665. What happened there?

666. You were there forever, what happened?

667. - Well, I don't know what happened, really.

668. I tried to find out many times.

669. I would go down there and find out

670. why I was a no book on the show after—

671. - Because if you don't know—

672. - Appearing on it 20 times and hosting it about 20 times.

673. And then all of a sudden I was a no book.

674. - 'Cause he's a sensitive man.

675. - Well, I don't know whether it was him

676. or whether it was Freddie De Cordova.

677. But somebody took something I said the wrong way

678. and then I was put on a list

679. of people not booked on the Tonight Show.

680. And I found out later

681. that that list was about 200 names on it,

682. of people that were no books.

683. And that hurt a lot because that show really helped me.

684. But I don't think it was Johnny because

685. even though I wasn't booked on the show,

686. I ended up doing a charity event with Johnny

687. and he was very nice to me and very friendly.

688. And then the last time I saw him after he retired,

689. I saw him in a restaurant in Malibu and he came up to me,

690. this was about six or seven years after he retired,

691. and he said, "Rich, are you still doing me in your act?"

692. And I said, "Of course, John, I'm doing you

693. "every night in my act."

694. "Really?

695. "Do people remember me?"

696. I said, "Of course they do."

697. "I thought you'd...

698. "I haven't been on television for about seven years,

699. "and I thought maybe you weren't doing me."

700. - Isn't that interesting. - "You should know, John.

701. "You're still popular, you'll always be popular.

702. "People love you."

703. "Honest?

704. "You're not just trying to make me feel good?

705. "You really are doing me in the act?"

706. He was so insecure. - That's very interesting.

707. You know what else is interesting?

708. I noticed this on the tonight show with Johnny Carson.

709. Everybody called him Johnny

710. except guys that were closer to him, who call him John,

711. which you just did.

712. Which is interesting

713. because he debuted the other way around.

714. - Really?

715. - Yeah, I noticed people that knew him called him John,

716. and I just heard you

717. refer to him as John. - Well, that's like Sinatra.

718. If he called me, which he did, Richie, or it's Bobby,

719. then he liked you. - He liked you.

720. - But I never noticed that, that's interesting.

721. John, yeah.

722. - When you began, did you open for?

723. - What?

724. - When you began, did you open for big singers and so forth?

725. - Well, I opened in Las Vegas at the Sands Hotel in 1965

726. with Jack Jones, who I just saw

727. at the Smith Center two nights ago.

728. And sounding great, oh my gosh, he's still great.

729. But I opened for Jack Jones at the Sands in 1965.

730. That was my first appearance here in Las Vegas.

731. Right after the Garland Show.

732. - Wives and Lover? Is that him?

733. - Yeah, Wives and Lovers.

734. - That was a great song, you ever heard that song?

735. - Lollipops and Roses, and The Love Boat.

736. - That's what I know him from.

737. - I love that song, don't you?

738. - Oh, I love it.

739. He must have made a lot of money from that.

740. A lot of these guys.

741. Well, Anka made a lot of money from The Tonight Show.

742. - Well, yeah, yeah, yeah.

743. Boy, he must have, huh?

744. Composing that song.

745. He composed the theme in case you don't know.

746. - When I started doing comedy, it was in Ottawa,

747. probably close to where maybe you lived.

748. - Where did you perform in Ottawa?

749. - It was called Yuk Yuk's.

750. What was it? The Beacon Arms Hotel.

751. - The Beacon Arms, oh my god.

752. - Tough old bad hotel.

753. But anyways, we were underneath,

754. then we got good crowds, you know, it was pretty easy work.

755. Upstairs on the first floor there was a big conference room,

756. and a young man had booked it out for himself,

757. and he performed, but only for four or five people.

758. We'd go up and watch him.

759. We thought he was crazy, we thought he was like

760. Rupert Pupkin or something.

761. But he was very talented, and it was only his family.

762. And the next time I saw him was in Los Angeles.

763. He said, "Rich Little likes me."

764. And he brought me to Las Vegas.

765. - Really? - Gordie Brown.

766. - Gordie Brown, yeah.

767. - And now I see his name.

768. - Gordie is terrific.

769. What a great impersonator he is.

770. I put him on a show called Kopykats.

771. - You must have been happy that he was from Ottawa.

772. - And he was from Ottawa.

773. And apparently, he came to see me at the Arts Center

774. when he was about 15,

775. and he sat in the front row, and half way through my act,

776. he turned to his father and said,

777. "That's what I'm going to be."

778. - Very cool.

779. - Wait, I went to see you at the Arts Center,

780. and I pointed and I said, "Nah.

781. "I'll just be a bum."

782. I said, "I'll be a bum."

783. - Did you pay?

784. Did you see me at the Arts Center?

785. - Yes sir. - I've played there

786. a couple of times.

787. - First time I ever saw you.

788. These are just questions from the internet,

789. but a lot of them are bad.

790. - What?

791. - Oh, this is a question, here's a question.

792. You got questions.

793. You were told there'd be questions on this program.

794. I'm sure I inferred that there would be.

795. You did a speech

796. from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,

797. one of our favorite films,

798. of the great Humphrey Bogart

799. in one of his greatest roles ever.

800. - That's right, Fred C Dobbs.

801. - Fred C Dobbs.

802. - Ah, Fred C Dobbs don't say nothing he don't mean.

803. Don't be such a sap.

804. When did you ever grow up?

805. All right, I'll make it clear to a dumb hat like you.

806. We took all the old man's goods and

807. head up North and leave the old jackass flat.

808. Fred C Dobbs don't say nothing he don't mean.

809. And then I love the laugh.

810. - Oh, the laugh. - That's great.

811. - What a great movie that is.

812. - After he's killed, and the laugh, insane laugh.

813. - Yeah, that insane.

814. Well, Bogey was great.

815. - When the Mexicans were down and they looked,

816. they were looking.

817. - Well, Bogey was great when he

818. played somebody a little paranoid.

819. The Caine Mutiny, he was the same character,

820. The Caine Mutiny, yeah. - You're right.

821. They both were incredibly paranoid.

822. - Yeah, paranoid.

823. One was finding the gold and the other was strawberries.

824. Great movies, huh?

825. They don't make movies like that anymore.

826. - No sir, no sir, they don't.

827. - You know, it's so funny.

828. - He would have seen movies,

829. he would not even care about the movie, he'd just go,

830. "That's a John Wayne movie, I'm gonna see it.

831. "I'm gonna watch that movie no matter what."

832. - It didn't matter what he was seeing.

833. Even Genghis Khan, we went to see him, right?

834. But you're right.

835. You know, it's so funny, kids today

836. like the movies of today, and I don't think they're as good.

837. And I say to them, you should see some of the great

838. black and white movies of all time.

839. - I try and get my kid to watch a black and white movie.

840. - No, you know what?

841. There was some kid I met here who was going to UNLV

842. taking a course in film,

843. and I said, "Have you seen the classics?"

844. You know, Treasure of Sierra Madre,

845. Citizen Kane, Casablanca.

846. "Oh no, I never watch a black and white movie."

847. I said, "What?

848. "You're taking a course in movies

849. "and you've never seen a black and white movie?"

850. And you know what this kid said to me?

851. "Well, I don't like them because life's in color."

852. So then I thought for a second, I said, "Really?

853. "What if you live in Seattle?

854. "What if it's night time?"

855. - That's true, what if it's night time?

856. - Life is in color.

857. Life is not necessarily in color, is it?

858. - That's true, in night it's not, no.

859. There's shadows.

860. - Oh yeah, the shadow.

861. Well, you know what?

862. I asked Claire Trevor about that.

863. You remember her from the '40s?

864. - Very barely, from the Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

865. - Anyway, and she said, film noir

866. was all shadows and light and darkness.

867. She said that happened because

868. they didn't spend money on light.

869. They didn't have any lights.

870. So they just shot it in the dark.

871. Now it's a classic movie.

872. - That's art and symbolism. - That's the reason

873. why it came about, they didn't have the money for lights.

874. - I never knew that.

875. - We both watch film noir,

876. but I like film noir that they have their own star system.

877. Sometimes a big guy would show up.

878. Out of the Past, you'd have Mitchum.

879. But Robert Ryan. - Oh, I love Robert Ryan.

880. - Big star.

881. So more real guys, you know?

882. Or seemingly real, authentic.

883. - Robert Mitchum. - Mitchum.

884. - Yeah, Mitchum was my favorite.

885. - There's a sleepy giant.

886. - Robert Mitchum was a little bit like

887. Dean Martin in a way, wasn't he?

888. - That he didn't care.

889. - Didn't care.

890. - I'd put Sterling Hayden there too.

891. - See, Dean's attitude was,

892. "I get the job done and I go play golf or

893. "like to watch old westerns."

894. He didn't take anything seriously, Dean.

895. - When I would watch Lewis and Martin,

896. I liked Dean Martin,

897. I did not care for Jerry Lewis much.

898. - One of my favorite stories of Dean, it's in the book, is,

899. and this is true,

900. we were going to do a roast at the MGM Grand, right?

901. And we're all in the green room,

902. and that's where the fun was,

903. in the green room before the show.

904. - Oh my god, I bet. - Because you're having coffee

905. with Orson Welles and John Wayne

906. and Lucille Ball and Jack Benny.

907. - Can you imagine such a thing?

908. - And then Greg Garrison, the producer, would say,

909. "OK, guys, we're gonna start shooting in two minutes,

910. "so let's make our way to the dais."

911. So we walked towards the dais.

912. Audience is there. - This is in Los Angeles?

913. - Yeah, right here.

914. - Oh, it's in Vegas. - Yeah.

915. So we walked towards the dais,

916. gonna be two minutes and we're on the air,

917. and as we're walking there, Dean is right next to me,

918. and Dean says to me, "Rich, who are we honoring tonight?"

919. I said, "What?"

920. He said, "Yeah, who's the guest of honor tonight?"

921. I said, "It's Michael Landon."

922. "Oh, that's a good choice.

923. "We're gonna have some fun."

924. In other words, here we were two minutes from taping

925. and Dean didn't know who the honoree was,

926. and could care less, right?

927. He probably would have found out when the show started and

928. the cards were there and he went,

929. "We're here tonight to honor Michael Landon.

930. "Oh yeah, gee, that's a good choice."

931. I mean, Dean would not care.

932. - I loved on the roast that they had Dean Martin,

933. a famous drinker,

934. but then they would have Foster Brooks.

935. He'd go for a name, right?

936. - "I was so drunk, she couldn't see me."

937. He was funny, wasn't he?

938. - What was that thing he'd do where he'd go,

939. he'd try for a name and he couldn't get it,

940. so he'd go for another name, then another name

941. 'cause he just couldn't get it.

942. - Well, the ones on the Martin roast

943. that played characters were Foster Brooks,

944. Jonathan Winters and Charlie Callas,

945. were always playing like Sinatra's drill instructor.

946. Jonathan Winters was Frank's teacher at school.

947. They always played somebody, you know?

948. - And they were good-natured.

949. - I remember Mickey Mantle, and Foster Brooks was an

950. umpire from his little league.

951. So he came up in an actual mask.

952. - He was funny, that Foster Brooks.

953. - Damn, stars.

954. - Dean would fall down with Foster Brooks, oh my gosh.

955. - And that's the other funny thing,

956. is that Dean Martin would be sitting there laughing.

957. I mean, you must have loved when he broke up.

958. - Oh, he broke up a lot.

959. Everybody liked Dean.

960. But when you think of it, his whole character

961. was based on somebody who didn't know what they were doing.

962. And so when he screwed up, which he did a lot,

963. it was funnier than if he'd done it right.

964. I've got a bit in my show

965. if you come and see me at The Trop.

966. - Which I am.

967. Gonna be at The Tropicana. - I'm there.

968. - Is that where you are all the time?

969. - I've been there for a year, yeah.

970. - Tropicana, come and see him. - Last time I went home.

971. - Rich Little.

972. - But anyway, I would show clips.

973. In other words, my act now,

974. I'm doing sort of a history of my career, and I show

975. clips from various shows.

976. So I do George Burns and then I show me with George Burns,

977. then I do John Wayne and I show me with John Wayne,

978. and then I show Dean Martin, I show me with Dean Martin.

979. Now that's what I do in the show.

980. - That's amazing.

981. - And I show one clip of Dean trying to read

982. the words on a cue card and totally lost.

983. Everybody got up to try and save him

984. and the place is bedlam.

985. And I mean, you wouldn't believe the ad libbing

986. and the people that got up, you know?

987. And then it was all over, Dean looked in the camera, said,

988. "And all that was rehearsed."

989. - You're on this, I missed

990. that era in Vegas where those stars were Redd Foxx

991. and Buddy Hackett. - Red Skelton

992. and Johnny Thompson.

993. - And they had two there, the lounge and the room.

994. - Don Rickles in the lounge.

995. - Rickles in the lounge, amen.

996. - Jackie Leonard, Totie Fields.

997. - Fat Jackie Leonard,

998. is that Fat Jackie Leonard? - Yeah.

999. - Totie Fields. - Totie Fields.

1000. - So would you go and just wander around,

1001. go from show to show. - What we'd do in those days

1002. was we would go and see a show,

1003. and then after we'd all go to the lounge

1004. and see a lot of great performers in the lounge.

1005. And then about two o'clock in the morning,

1006. then we'd go get Chinese food at the

1007. Desert Inn or the Sands and then we'd go home,

1008. four in the morning.

1009. - So you have seen this city change dramatically

1010. in terms of entertainment, for the worse.

1011. - Now it seems to be chefs seem to be the fad now.

1012. They put up pictures of chefs.

1013. - They're everywhere.

1014. - And before that.

1015. - That's a show you can go see?

1016. - Over at The Tropicana where I am now,

1017. they have a chef on the side of the building

1018. for a restaurant that's not even built yet.

1019. - Oh I see, it's a restaurant.

1020. I thought you meant he did a show, I'm sorry.

1021. That's what draws them in, and clubs too.

1022. People go to clubs rather than see entertainers.

1023. - They go to clubs, yeah.

1024. The marquees now have things like roast beef 895 on

1025. instead of Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra and

1026. the great stars of the '40s and '50s.

1027. - Exactly.

1028. Now, as an impersonator,

1029. like I said, you, I guess,

1030. Gordie Brown was kind of a protege of yours.

1031. - Fred Travalena was. - Fred Travalena.

1032. - We lost him too soon. - We lost him.

1033. - Yeah, what a great guy.

1034. - I only met him a couple times,

1035. but he was so sweet. - The best.

1036. - He did a fantastic impression that I always loved,

1037. it was Charles Bronson doing a cat food commercial.

1038. - Oh yeah?

1039. - He said,

1040. "So you see a cat don't like the food you give it."

1041. But anyways, greatly written, you know?

1042. - Yeah, there was a guy named Johnny Dark who did—

1043. - Love Johnny Dark.

1044. - He did Charles Bronson too

1045. doing a commercial.

1046. He'd say, "Does your breath stink?

1047. "Does your breath stink? Try this toothpaste."

1048. - I can't believe I did an impression just now.

1049. - I sat with Charles Bronson

1050. near the end of his life when he had Alzheimer's

1051. and it was kind of sad.

1052. And I remember,

1053. the end was near because we were sitting there

1054. and he ate everybody's dessert.

1055. That's what I remember. - Oh my lord.

1056. A friend of mine told me,

1057. he was a writer in Hollywood, and they said,

1058. "We want George Burns to do a TV show."

1059. George Burns was very old.

1060. And he said, meet him at wherever he hung out,

1061. I don't know where rich people go.

1062. But he played bridge there every day.

1063. So my friend, this writer, he was just in his 20s

1064. and he went to pitch a show to,

1065. and everybody told him he's on the top of his game,

1066. still funny, he's still funny,

1067. and he had a lunch with him and he looked over and

1068. George Burns was buttering his own hand.

1069. We'll be back with the great Rich Little momentarily.

1070. We are back with the inimitable,

1071. which is a strange, I guess,

1072. kind of a strange thing to say.

1073. - What does it mean?

1074. - Unable to imitate,

1075. and yet you can imitate anybody.

1076. So the inimitable Rich Little.

1077. And what was I just about to ask?

1078. What were we just talking about, I forgot.

1079. - Reagan.

1080. - Yeah, Ronald Reagan.

1081. Do you find that you do impressions of people,

1082. and the people that are beloved, like Ronald Reagan,

1083. would get a better response? - Oh yeah.

1084. That's why Reagan and Johnny Carson

1085. and Dean Martin are so popular, because they like them.

1086. - And they love the voice. - And they love the voice.

1087. And Jack Benny, I mean they just love Jack

1088. and they love George too.

1089. When you just say the word George Burns,

1090. people start to laugh.

1091. - And Jack Benny,

1092. like when you were doing him, I watch the show,

1093. I always laugh, and he never says anything funny.

1094. It's funny, but it's not punchline, there's no joke.

1095. - No, no jokes.

1096. - It's exceptional that he can get laughs.

1097. - Situations.

1098. - But your Ronald Reagan is so amazing.

1099. - Well...

1100. - And you were saying you started with well.

1101. - That's what I started with,

1102. just nothing but well,

1103. and then I'd say, now what do I say?

1104. You know, when I first met Ronald Reagan,

1105. somebody had told me,

1106. if you're doing Reagan, start with well,

1107. he always starts every sentence with well,

1108. and make sure you look down before you speak

1109. and then raise your head and do Ronald Reagan.

1110. So, say, well and look down.

1111. So, Reagan asked me the first time I met him, he said,

1112. "How did you get me down?"

1113. I said, "Well"

1114. and then I said, "I look down."

1115. And I said, "Mr. President, why is it you always look down

1116. "before you speak?"

1117. And he said, "Very simple, I used to own a horse ranch."

1118. He was very quick, Reagan, was very funny.

1119. You know, he did impressions for me once?

1120. Reagan did at the White House.

1121. He did his impression of Jimmy Stewart,

1122. as everybody does who can't really do him.

1123. And I thought to myself,

1124. "Mr. President, don't give up your day job.

1125. "This is not that great."

1126. But anyway, then he did just John Wayne, which was fair.

1127. Now he did Truman Capote for me.

1128. President Reagan did Truman Capote, and it wasn't bad.

1129. - Now, can you do Ronald Reagan doing Truman Capote?

1130. - Yeah.

1131. He said to me, "Rich,

1132. "what do you think of my Truman Capote?"

1133. I said, "Well, Mr. President, I think it's your best.

1134. "I mean, of all the voices I've just heard, this is great."

1135. He said, "Yes, but I don't have a line.

1136. "I don't have a joke."

1137. And I said, "Well, I've got one, I'll give it to you."

1138. "You'll give me a line?"

1139. I said, "Of course."

1140. "Well, this is wonderful."

1141. And he got a Secret Service man, he got a piece of paper,

1142. and he started to write the joke out on his back.

1143. He said, "What's the joke?"

1144. And I said, "Well, the joke is this, Mr. President.

1145. "And this is Truman Capote, you know,

1146. "and a lot of people think

1147. "that I wrote In Cold Blood.

1148. "But that's not true.

1149. "Actually, I wrote in ink."

1150. Now, Reagan just thought that was hysterical, right?

1151. So he's writing this down, and the handwriting

1152. is getting jerky 'cause he's laughing.

1153. "What is it? I wrote in ink."

1154. And he wrote this down,

1155. and he took the paper and put it in his pocket and he said,

1156. "Rich, can I use that?"

1157. I said, "Of course."

1158. "That's hysterical."

1159. He said, "I can't wait to try that out on Gorbachev."

1160. That's what he said to me. - Unbelievable.

1161. - Then I'm thinking, later,

1162. try that out on Gorbachev? - My lord.

1163. - Doing Truman Capote for Gorbachev?

1164. I mean, I would have given any amount of money

1165. to see that, wouldn't you?

1166. - Yes.

1167. - "Well, Mr. General Secretary, all I have to say is,

1168. "Well, you know, a lot of people think that I wrote..."

1169. And Khrushchev's going "What?"

1170. Gorbachev's going,

1171. "Capote?"

1172. - I don't know if you understood what you just did.

1173. You did your Truman Capote impression, which was spot on,

1174. then you did Ronald Reagan doing Truman Capote.

1175. Did you understand you were doing that?

1176. Or do you just do it? - No.

1177. - Did you notice that? - Yeah, it was pretty unreal.

1178. - You mean I should have done it badly?

1179. - You weren't doing it bad.

1180. You weren't doing it badly,

1181. but you were doing it as Ronald Reagan would.

1182. - 'Cause you're asking to.

1183. Yeah, that was insane.

1184. - "A lot of people think that I wrote In Cold Blood,

1185. "but, actually, I wrote in ink."

1186. - See, now he's trying,

1187. but before it was subconscious, I think.

1188. - Well, I mean just recently, they did Killing Reagan.

1189. - I'm sorry, but did you?

1190. - Killing Reagan on TV, Bill O'Reilly's book.

1191. And I auditioned for it,

1192. I sent them a tape of me doing Reagan.

1193. - And you'd be a perfect age too.

1194. - Oh, I was about the right age.

1195. It's my best impression,

1196. and I sent them a tape of me doing

1197. his farewell speech to the nation,

1198. and the reply back was,

1199. "We enjoyed your speech but we're gonna hire an actor."

1200. - Oh my god.

1201. - How insulting is that? - Ridiculous.

1202. - So I didn't watch it.

1203. - They don't consider an impersonator an actor,

1204. which is ridiculous.

1205. - Well, I've done a lot of acting, I mean, you know.

1206. - Well, I feel when you do an impersonation, you're acting.

1207. My god, I mean, what is that if it's not acting?

1208. - Yeah, well, I didn't see the show.

1209. - Yeah, you're typecast.

1210. They say, we don't want it.

1211. - That would have been a great part for me.

1212. - Oh my god, that would be incredible.

1213. But did you meet John Wayne also?

1214. - Yes.

1215. - And was he a sort of remote figure?

1216. - I met John Wayne.

1217. The first time I met him, he was on Laugh-In

1218. in a rabbit's outfit.

1219. Imagine what he was doing.

1220. And it was a crazy show.

1221. But anyway, there he was in his rabbit outfit.

1222. And he had to get to the airport,

1223. so he took the rabbit outfit off,

1224. and they were saying goodbye to him,

1225. and I happened to be standing in the back of the hallway,

1226. and I'd never met him before and I was in awe of him.

1227. And he noticed me and recognized me.

1228. And he said, "Little, get the hell over here."

1229. So I went over and I said, "Yes, Mr. Wayne?"

1230. He said, "I hear you do an impression of me.

1231. "I hear you do my walk.

1232. "Let's see it, do it for me.

1233. "God dammit, I'm losing it."

1234. So I said, "What?"

1235. "Do my walk for me."

1236. So I did John Wayne's walk.

1237. They all got back and I went right across the set

1238. and did John Wayne's walk.

1239. And he's looking at me as I'm doing it, right?

1240. And he says, when I finished, he said,

1241. "Well, that's how I do it.

1242. "My god, I've been walking like Loretta Young for 30 years."

1243. - Now that you say it, he did have an effeminate,

1244. even though he's John Wayne.

1245. - His walk was very feminine.

1246. - A little bit, huh?

1247. All right, we're going to end this.

1248. Thank you so much for being with us.

1249. It was a joy, eh? - Oh, it was great fun.

1250. - When we edit this, it's gonna be a great show.

1251. - We're gonna take you out, but that's OK.

1252. - Yeah, I'm gonna be out.