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You guys, today is Joe Piscopo.
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Now people have asked us to have on different people, you know, we ve had so many people on, but Joe Piscopo is one of the OGs.
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And I hate to say, when you say his name, usually people say, oh, he was back in the Eddie Murphy days and he was Eddie Murphy s probably best friend.
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And I think they re still very close, but that was back in that era.
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So it was after the first five years, then there was a couple of grumbly years and getting on their feet.
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But he was there when he and Eddie were tearing it up and he was huge.
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He did a great job on the show.
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He has so many funny stories.
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He s just very good at telling stories.
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And he really brings it.
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He knows how to talk.
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He knows how to entertain you.
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He used to do impressions, we do a few of those.
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Of course, Dana jumps in on those and just a very, very likable guy and a very humble guy.
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And we had a great time talking to him.
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So without further ado, here we go, Joe Piscopo.
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Joe has left the Zoom.
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I m here.
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I m here.
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I m here.
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I got you.
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I said, I can t see.
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I got something saying record by staying in this meeting.
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OK, I consent.
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Got it.
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OK, there s my man.
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Yeah, that s right.
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Are we recording now?
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We re always recording.
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We don t have any intro.
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We re not like professional.
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We don t say here s our guests or anything.
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No, we just go.
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Where s David?
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Where did David go?
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I m right here.
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Do you see me?
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There you are, baby.
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How are you, man?
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At the bottom of the screen.
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I don t know.
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Look at his stuff.
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Look at his stuff.
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I got to tell you, David, can I start?
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Data crushed it at an event on Friday night.
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He was out there and it was like eight hundred close to a thousand baseball players who just wanted to talk like baseball.
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Right.
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Day to go.
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And a lot of folks have done the event and haven t done really
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Well, great.
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So then he goes, how s it going to be, Joe?
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And I go, it s going to be great.
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I gave him one of those.
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It s going to be great.
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And you nailed it.
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I was off.
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I lost my notes.
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Did you find them?
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I lost my notes.
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I didn t know where I was.
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I felt bad about that one for a while.
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But afterwards,
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Joe, being very nice, said, did you tell him to like our producer, Matt?
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It goes, everyone has a tough time here, even Seinfeld.
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So I didn t know the bar was low, but yeah, it was a little extremely nice people.
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But the room went way back and there was a lot of chatter because it s a cocktail party.
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You know, were you playing to a pre tape?
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You had a band.
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I was off to the side.
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So you come out and sing.
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A little of both.
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We had a live band there, but I cranked what you heard.
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What you heard was a pre-tape.
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We cranked it up to make it easier.
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But that s awesome.
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But I put the live girls on stage.
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David, I ve turned into the Wayne Newton of comedy.
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Thank you.
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That s fine.
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And so I just got the girls singing with me on stage.
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It was a whole thing.
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It was fun, though.
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Listen, I love it.
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I ve done those kind of corporate gig or a charity gig.
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I did one just up in Calgary.
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They wound up being very nice, but you know, it s always a crapshoot.
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You just don t know that they have other things in their mind.
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And if you re a surprise while they re eating their steak, they go, it s been an eight hour meeting.
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And now we re going to hold you hostage for one more hour while we re here.
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And they go, Stevie Nicks, David Spade.
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Oh, I heard it was Stevie.
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Yeah.
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I always say, when did they get up?
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6 a.m.
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for the breakfast meeting.
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When did the open bar start?
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At 4.
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When do I go on?
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11.
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Okay.
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All right.
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11 at night.
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So I got to tell you, David, so I always, when I MC, like back in the days when I started at the Improv 100 years ago, before you young people were born, you know?
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We want to know that.
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Yeah, yeah, no, but I was I would only be cognizant and responsible to who s on stage because it s your your job to get the crowd going and then hand it off, you know.
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So I felt that way with data particularly, you know, so I m going like, OK, so we start the whole thing and it s going great.
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The data comes out.
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It s really working.
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He s working with the crowd.
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It s great.
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And now he s going to close.
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And then we re going to start the night and the awards are going to close.
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And then he picks up his guitar, strums the guitar.
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It s dead as it goes.
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Dead.
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He can t get and I m going, oh man, so I m off stage.
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I m off stage and I m going, so I go to the guy with the headphones, my buddy Jordan, and I go, so I called the back of the room, man, his monitor s out.
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I m not getting anything.
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And they couldn t figure it out.
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And I said, give me the mic, give me the mic.
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So they gave me the mic.
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So I walked out on stage and I held my microphone.
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That s the day to start.
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And I was just smart.
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Well, you know, you helped out.
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Then you had you had a great one liner at that point because you re kind of bending down.
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Actually, you place the mic perfectly.
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I don t know if you d know that to get some volume because it was a short what I do.
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And then what Joe said was this is a career highlight for me.
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Good job.
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Big, big laugh from Uncle Joe.
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I like that.
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It was great.
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It was great.
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You know, and it was fun.
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Thanks.
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Yeah.
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Well, thank you, Frank.
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I mean, Joe, Joe, sometimes those gigs are contractually like 60 minutes and
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They and that s why I like if Dana s short five minutes, you sometimes have to go do something extra, even if you re killing, because you might get off.
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Ninety nine percent of the time they said, great, we didn t even need that long.
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You did great.
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But sometimes they go, we paid you for an hour.
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You did 54.
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And you go, oh, my God, it s all it s all flip.
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They said they said 45.
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And then they sent me a text the day of the show and said, really apologizing, saying, could you do just 30?
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Because when I when Joe was backstage, he goes, what are you going to do?
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Twenty twenty five.
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You know, because like I said, we re we re an aperitif.
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We re not the show.
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But then later they said, well, if you feel it go longer.
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I don t know how long I did.
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But anyway, Joe was there.
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We got to hang out.
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Yeah.
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Did you look at your phone while you were on stage?
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You glanced at it to make sure you had the time, right?
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Did I see you do that?
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I saw you had a phone on stage.
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I must have lost a sense of time.
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I don t remember.
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Because my guitar thing is like, I m going all over the stage.
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I m in the zone.
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It s really loud.
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For a room that s a little unsettled, it s a big closer.
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And then when it s like, oh, it happens about every one, every 20 shows like, oh, there s a short it s not going to be amplified.
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So I just sort of froze until you rescued me, folks with the Joe Pesco has been our guest today.
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And this is about an event we did.
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So can we go back just for a second to the how you.
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Just a little out of bog, we know that your time on SNL at 80, but you re very young when you get on the show.
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How did that happen so quick, right?
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Tell us that little journey.
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I think I was about 26, 27 when we hit, man.
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I went to the improv, and tell me if I talk too long, man.
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Love you guys.
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By the way, with great respect to you, Dana, to you, David.
0
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You held a great legacy of SNL, and just so proud to be with you here.
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And it s really cool to be with you.
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But what I did, I just wanted to be a working stiff.
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But I went to the improvisation, because I heard that they had comedy nights, just like all of us did.
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This was in New York.
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It was 44th and 9th.
0
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It was Hell s Kitchen.
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It was back in the 70s, when New York was a million times even worse than now.
0
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It was terrible.
0
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I remember distinctly walking from the parking lot, where I parked the car, and then I walked down 44th Street, and there were bodies and police lines, you know what I mean?
0
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And I go, that s because somebody got whacked, you know?
0
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But it was like that.
0
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No, it was like that.
0
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So then I said, well, let me at least try it.
0
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I remember I went in the first night, it was audition night.
0
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And you know, God, you guys are young, young.
0
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And it was like when back then that is when comedy was rock and roll.
0
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It was I tell you, all of a sudden comedy just came into its own.
0
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And I went, I got to try that.
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I just wanted to get on stage and then be a work in step.
1
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So somebody hire me to do the third, fourth lead in an hour, you know, episodic.
1
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That s all I wanted to do.
1
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You know, get on a fucking matwalk.
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Great reference.
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And that s exactly what I was thinking.
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The bar wasn t too high.
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What am I going to tell you?
1
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So not to take anything away from that.
1
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So I go in, I came in Lincoln Tunnel, came around, going down 9th Avenue.
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I looked down at the improv.
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There had to be 400 people.
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Jam.
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Like it was like Times Square in Hell s Kitchen.
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Jam.
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And I looked and I panicked and I went,
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right back into the Lincoln tunnel, went right back home, totally chickened out.
1
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Then I came back.
1
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And when people say, how did you start out?
1
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We used to have to get there because everybody wanted to do comedy at the time, 12 noon, 12 noon.
1
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And at eight o clock, roughly 8.30, the improv would come out, Judy Horvath would come out and she would hand out numbers to see when you would be on.
1
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So if you got there earlier,
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Like at noon, you could kind of go, all right, I m on third, and then each week, me, Gilbert Gottfried, Alan Combs was there, Larry David was there, Jerry came later, but we would jockey numbers around, you know, to see when you would go on, and you would get your five minutes, man, your five minutes, and it was the most petrifying thing in the world.
1
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And I did that for about six weeks, and then I finally got, for some reason, they put me up and it worked, you know, and Chris Albrecht,
1
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you know, gave me this, he got this, you know, he got me this, you know.
1
SPEAKER_02
HBO, was he the HBO?
1
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Just an agent.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
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One of the greatest television executives ever, club manager and owner with Bud Friedman and Silver Friedman back in the late 70s.
1
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I didn t know that.
1
SPEAKER_02
I didn t know that.
1
SPEAKER_01
And he was my agent in the 80s, Chris Albrecht.
1
SPEAKER_02
Chris Albrecht was?
1
SPEAKER_02
Oh, I didn t know that.
1
SPEAKER_00
Before HBO.
1
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Yeah.
1
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We used to call him the General because we used to play, guys, we used to play, there s got to be a film or documentary about it.
1
SPEAKER_00
We used to play softball.
1
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We re all Yankee fans.
1
SPEAKER_00
We d go to Central Park.
1
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And then Larry was there.
1
SPEAKER_00
Larry David was there.
1
SPEAKER_00
And Larry was then just the way he is now, you know, completely neurotic, you know.
1
SPEAKER_00
And he would just be there and he would say the most brilliant things.
1
SPEAKER_00
And when Larry went on stage, when finally I became a regular, and we used to have to work out, and you d get up at one, two in the morning.
1
SPEAKER_00
When Larry went on stage, everybody would just rush to the little opening that led to the showroom, which was about a couple hundred people.
1
SPEAKER_00
And we would watch Larry.
1
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And he would get into fights with the audience, like you hear about.
1
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It was true.
1
SPEAKER_00
So he would get in with his attitude and start fighting back and forth.
1
SPEAKER_00
But it was genius.
1
SPEAKER_00
And everybody knew, Larry is a genius.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then, I can remember distinctly, we would play softball.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then I was playing third base.
1
SPEAKER_00
Larry is playing shortstop.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then I can hear Larry.
1
SPEAKER_00
And we re waiting.
1
SPEAKER_00
And the game is on.
1
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I hear Larry going, oh, oh.
1
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He s like miserable.
1
SPEAKER_00
He s miserable.
1
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In the middle of the game.
1
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And I got to keep my eye on the batter because I m in the hot quarter.
1
SPEAKER_00
I go, Larry, what happened?
1
SPEAKER_00
I stepped, I stepped in dog shit.
1
SPEAKER_00
I stepped in dog shit.
1
SPEAKER_00
I stepped in dog shit.
1
SPEAKER_00
What did you do?
1
SPEAKER_00
I threw away my shoes.
1
SPEAKER_00
I have no shoes.
1
SPEAKER_00
This was a legitimate conversation with Larry David.
1
SPEAKER_00
The time.
1
SPEAKER_02
An episode of Curb, yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
Exactly.
1
SPEAKER_00
Exactly.
1
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It was exactly right.
1
SPEAKER_00
So it was it was bizarre.
1
SPEAKER_00
But then then we got we heard that SNL was leaving and John Belushi and Danny would come hang out at the clubs, particularly Catch Rising star.
1
SPEAKER_00
The comedy clubs were it was Hell s Kitchen and then it was the Upper East Side was catch even before the comic strip.
1
SPEAKER_02
But they had blown up, Joe.
1
SPEAKER_02
So those are two monster stars coming in.
1
SPEAKER_00
You know, exactly right.
1
SPEAKER_00
But we didn t know.
1
SPEAKER_00
When they first went on the air, we were all working Saturday night live.
1
SPEAKER_00
We were working on Saturday nights, and we didn t even know.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I remember being at the bar at Catch a Rising Star, and I go, how you doing?
1
SPEAKER_00
And nice as ever, it was John Belushi.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, John Belushi, hey, I m on a new show Saturday night live.
1
SPEAKER_00
And Danny Aykroyd right there.
1
SPEAKER_00
The times were nuts, man.
1
SPEAKER_00
Patti Benatar down by the bar, you know?
1
SPEAKER_00
It was crazy.
1
SPEAKER_00
But then we heard they left, and they were leaving, and they needed a new cast.
1
SPEAKER_00
You just couldn t.
1
SPEAKER_00
I mean, it was Gilda and Danny Ackerman.
1
SPEAKER_00
And it was Chubby and John, and you couldn t do it, and I didn t want to do it.
1
SPEAKER_00
So, long story short, even longer than this... Take your time.
1
SPEAKER_00
Take your time.
1
SPEAKER_00
No, there was a writer named John DeBellis.
1
SPEAKER_00
And John was hired by Gene Domanian, who was the new producer, Lauren s former right hand.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I don t know what happened politically there, but Gene was running the show.
1
SPEAKER_00
And Gene said, I need a utility guy.
1
SPEAKER_00
And John said, I know Joe Piscopo s at the clubs.
1
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He does characters and voices.
1
SPEAKER_00
She goes, bring him up.
1
SPEAKER_00
So I went right up to the 17th floor.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I auditioned for Jean.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I heard she used Woody Allen as a reference, because she and Woody were very close.
1
SPEAKER_00
So I did the audition, and they go, OK, you can now do the big audition.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I go, what?
1
SPEAKER_00
And they did a sweep of that town.
1
SPEAKER_00
NBC came in and they swept the town and the big buzz data, the big buzz was like, who s going on SNL?
1
SPEAKER_00
Who s going to replace the original cast?
1
SPEAKER_00
So, and everybody was scared and they want to do it.
1
SPEAKER_00
I said, I don t know, but I don t want to do it.
1
SPEAKER_00
I want to just keep doing what I m doing.
1
SPEAKER_00
I was doing commercials.
1
SPEAKER_00
I was doing, you know, like, like
1
SPEAKER_00
comedy clubs, and I was doing great.
1
SPEAKER_00
That was my career high, David, for real, you know?
1
SPEAKER_00
I got it.
1
SPEAKER_00
So then they go, okay, now you got to go to the regular audition.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I go to the regular audition, and it was me, and there were some great talented people there.
1
SPEAKER_00
Gilbert was there.
1
SPEAKER_00
Paul Rubens was there.
1
SPEAKER_00
He was there when I was there.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yep, yep.
1
SPEAKER_01
So can I ask you one question, Joe?
1
SPEAKER_01
How many years were you doing stand up before 1980?
1
SPEAKER_01
Was it five years, six years?
1
SPEAKER_01
And you at one point knew you could do impressions and voices.
1
SPEAKER_01
You had that kind of style.
1
SPEAKER_01
So then you got noticed.
1
SPEAKER_01
Now you don t want the show, but you re going to do it.
1
SPEAKER_02
It s perfect for the show, but you don t want it.
1
SPEAKER_01
So then what happened?
1
SPEAKER_00
So we do the audition, and then they go, OK, we want to hire you.
1
SPEAKER_00
So Chris calls me, Albrecht calls me, you ve got to part.
1
SPEAKER_00
You re going to be the utility guy, you know.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I m going, I never argued with him because I was making good money.
1
SPEAKER_00
You know, I joined SAG and AFTRA.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I said, you can t replace Belushi and Aykroyd.
1
SPEAKER_00
Please don t make me do it.
1
SPEAKER_00
And Chris was, he was the boss back then to all of us young guys.
1
SPEAKER_00
And he, listen, he was our age too, but I said to him, all right, man, I ll go in, but I don t feel good about this.
1
SPEAKER_02
You feel like it s no win, right?
1
SPEAKER_00
You know what?
1
SPEAKER_00
And you know what, David?
1
SPEAKER_00
I don t want to say nothing, but I was right, kind of.
1
SPEAKER_00
We did 10 shows.
1
SPEAKER_00
Nobody s fault.
1
SPEAKER_00
You just couldn t replace America s favorite television show.
1
SPEAKER_00
One of the greatest television shows of all time.
1
SPEAKER_00
The writing of Alan Zweibel, the writing of Burt Sargent, you know, Franken and Davis.
1
SPEAKER_00
You couldn t replace that, and we didn t.
1
SPEAKER_00
But Jean Domania was great.
1
SPEAKER_00
I remember I went up.
1
SPEAKER_00
She said, you re in.
1
SPEAKER_00
She hired Gilbert.
1
SPEAKER_00
She hired a couple other people.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then there was a kid.
1
SPEAKER_00
And he s up there on 17th floor in the back, you know, off of Lauren s office, there was a little sitting area.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I said, they said, Joe, this is Eddie Murphy.
1
SPEAKER_00
I said, hey, Eddie, how you doing?
1
SPEAKER_00
We re from Long Island, never heard of him, never knew him.
1
SPEAKER_00
We hit it off immediately.
1
SPEAKER_00
And they said, yeah, they want me to audition.
1
SPEAKER_00
So I go, all right, what do you want to do, man?
1
SPEAKER_00
This is exactly the way it happened.
1
SPEAKER_00
And he goes, let s do the word association sketch that Chevy and Richard Pryor did.
1
SPEAKER_00
Let s do that.
1
SPEAKER_00
You do Pryor, I ll do Chevy, and we ll do it.
1
SPEAKER_00
So we went, we re in an office, we re upstairs on the 17th floor.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then we had the script, and we did the word association, you know, all as inappropriate as it was.
1
SPEAKER_01
A famous sketch where it was incredibly, could not do it today, but it was Chevy Chase and Richard Pryor.
1
SPEAKER_01
So you guys duplicated that, just met, got the script from people there, and then, okay, so then what happened?
1
SPEAKER_01
Fascinating.
1
SPEAKER_00
Well, then Eddie just, like, crushed it, man.
1
SPEAKER_00
I mean, he was like, I mean, he crushed, and I m next to him going like,
1
SPEAKER_00
Oh man.
1
SPEAKER_00
So now, now they went, okay, we ll let you know, like to Eddie.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I, and if I remember correctly, and I went into Jean, I said, this kid s the next prior.
1
SPEAKER_00
This kid is the next prior.
1
SPEAKER_00
I said, that was unbelievable.
1
SPEAKER_00
Well, we don t know.
1
SPEAKER_00
NBC thought he was too edgy.
1
SPEAKER_00
It was too edgy.
1
SPEAKER_00
We said, no.
1
SPEAKER_00
So they made them.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yep.
1
SPEAKER_00
They made him a featured player.
1
SPEAKER_00
He s 19, right?
1
SPEAKER_01
18, 19, which makes sense.
1
SPEAKER_01
Which makes sense.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, you know, so they brought him in, and little by little, we did 10 shows, Gilbert was on it, and it just, nobody s fault.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I got a big shout out to Billy Murray, the genius of Billy Murray, the heart of Billy Murray, one of the great guys ever.
1
SPEAKER_00
He came in, and he came in on that new cast, and he guest hosted, and that meant a lot.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then he took us out, and we all kind of brought us together.
1
SPEAKER_00
But it just didn t work, so cut to this.
1
SPEAKER_00
Now tell me if I m talking too much, because I want to lay this out for you.
2
SPEAKER_00
We want you to talk.
2
SPEAKER_00
This is great.
2
SPEAKER_02
I knew you d be a great guest, and you are, so go ahead.
2
SPEAKER_02
Then we go like this.
2
SPEAKER_02
We go, uh-oh, NBC pulled the plug.
2
SPEAKER_02
What happened?
2
SPEAKER_02
It s off.
2
SPEAKER_02
We were off the air.
2
SPEAKER_02
We touched shows.
2
SPEAKER_02
I said, I knew this would happen.
2
SPEAKER_02
Say, Chris, I told you.
2
SPEAKER_02
So, so now, now they re calling everybody up to the 17th floor.
2
SPEAKER_02
Now they replaced Gene Dominion.
2
SPEAKER_02
And by the way, Gene gets credit.
2
SPEAKER_02
She hired me, but she hired even more importantly, Eddie Murphy.
2
SPEAKER_02
She hired Eddie Murphy.
2
SPEAKER_02
You got to give Gene Dominion credit for that.
2
SPEAKER_02
Right.
2
SPEAKER_02
So, so now, so now they re bringing Dick Ebersole.
2
SPEAKER_02
Dick Ebersole is legendary.
2
SPEAKER_00
So Dick Ebersole, we don t know, like he was sort of there with Lauren a little bit in the beginning.
2
SPEAKER_00
He s an NBC executive.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
How do you guys know the history, man?
2
SPEAKER_02
Listen, Nick Ebersole was the executive at NBC that was with Brandon Tarticoff, rest his soul.
2
SPEAKER_02
Another great executive, as Mr. Ebersole was.
2
SPEAKER_02
And then I think
2
SPEAKER_02
Dick and Lauren were very close, I think so.
2
SPEAKER_02
That s the way it happened.
2
SPEAKER_02
So I guess they went to Lauren and said, look, sorry, what do we do now?
2
SPEAKER_02
And I get, I don t know, this is conjecture.
2
SPEAKER_02
And they brought in Dick.
2
SPEAKER_02
So Dick, we went into Lauren s office, but Ebersole s there, and he s bringing, and I m sitting out there in the writer s wing, and everybody s coming out, and they re all getting whacked, guys.
2
SPEAKER_02
Everyone s getting whacked.
2
SPEAKER_02
They re firing the entire cast.
2
SPEAKER_02
They bring you in to fire you.
2
SPEAKER_02
They brought everybody in, whacked one by one.
2
SPEAKER_02
So then I remember Ann Risley, great talent, whacked.
2
SPEAKER_02
Denny Dillon, great talent, whacked.
2
SPEAKER_02
Charlie Rocket, rest his soul.
2
SPEAKER_02
Rocket used the F, dropped the F bomb, done, done.
2
SPEAKER_00
Tim Krasinski, was he whacked or kept?
2
SPEAKER_02
No, no tip tip later.
2
SPEAKER_02
This was like, yeah, this was this was a preliminary.
2
SPEAKER_02
So now Gilbert to me was one of my best friends.
2
SPEAKER_02
And we came up together at the clubs.
2
SPEAKER_02
He walked out and he goes, I
2
SPEAKER_02
and he got fired.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I said, you got fired?
2
SPEAKER_02
So now they go, all right, Mr. Paul Murphy, come on in.
2
SPEAKER_02
So me and Eddie go in, and me and Eddie had, we had sets to do at the comic strip or wherever we were going.
2
SPEAKER_02
We were in our heads, that s where we were.
2
SPEAKER_02
So, and we didn t care.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I fed off of the reckless abandon of Eddie Murph because he just didn t care about anything.
2
SPEAKER_02
It was a beautiful thing to be a part of.
2
SPEAKER_02
So now we re going into the Lawrence Beautiful office.
2
SPEAKER_02
And Dick Ebersole s back there like this, you know, and I sit down and he sits down, and Dick goes like this, well Eddie, Joe, we ve decided to keep you.
2
SPEAKER_02
And we went, I ll never forget, great Dick, look, we got a couple sets, and we gotta make our set if you mind.
2
SPEAKER_02
We could care less.
2
SPEAKER_02
I think the cockiness helped, guys, you know what I m saying?
2
SPEAKER_02
Oh, definitely.
2
SPEAKER_02
But it was like, I mean, so that was it.
2
SPEAKER_01
Well, were you, Joe, were you relieved, or were you sort of like, oh no, I m stuck on the Titanic?
2
SPEAKER_02
Oh no, I m stuck in Titanic.
2
SPEAKER_01
It wasn t really helping you at that point.
2
SPEAKER_01
You re like, God, we re just going to sink further in this.
2
SPEAKER_02
Exactly.
2
SPEAKER_02
Exactly.
2
SPEAKER_02
But, but I gotta, but again, a shout out to, I m sure he leaned on Lauren, but, uh, Dick Ebersole knew what he was, he said, you couldn t match fellas, the, um, writing of, of
2
SPEAKER_02
100%.
2
SPEAKER_02
It was a perfect storm politically, with the way Lorne put everything together.
2
SPEAKER_02
It was genius.
2
SPEAKER_00
And whoever was going to follow that original, because they re the original rock stars of comedy, they were, you know, and then it was impossible to follow.
2
SPEAKER_00
I had a buttress of years, but to follow that.
2
SPEAKER_00
hard.
2
SPEAKER_01
And proof is Eddie Murphy.
2
SPEAKER_01
You couldn t scout in the whole country a better guy to that does well on SNL.
2
SPEAKER_01
And was he blowing up at all or was it still just people just turn the TV off?
2
SPEAKER_02
No, no.
2
SPEAKER_02
We started to catch on a little bit.
2
SPEAKER_02
You know why?
2
SPEAKER_02
You have to give Dick Ebersole credit because he bought in entertainment.
2
SPEAKER_02
He said, we can t match the hipness of Lawrence
2
SPEAKER_02
let s just be funny.
2
SPEAKER_02
So we took that was a great lesson that was that I don t want told you know Mister ever saw that whatever it was we went on and then any and I out of I guess fear and survival.
2
SPEAKER_02
We kind of just joined together and started writing for ourselves of reaching out to great to
2
SPEAKER_02
great writers, Barry Blaustein, David Sheffield, and they were the key writers for Eddie and I. Tim Kazerinsky came in, and Timmy really was the captain of that cast.
2
SPEAKER_02
He was great.
2
SPEAKER_02
And Mary Gross came in.
2
SPEAKER_02
And we had, you know what, we started to gel a little bit, started having some fun a little bit.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I gotta tell you, I think what maybe probably made it work when Eddie and I were doing the in ones, you know, David, I said to Dana the other night, I said, the great thing that Dana always did, and you as well, is that the in ones is what really I thought sold it.
2
SPEAKER_02
You wanted to see the church lady, you wanted to see whether for me- Direct to camera, right?
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, right directly to the camera.
2
SPEAKER_01
Single shot.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_02
Crazy Eddie sketches, you know, whatever it was.
2
SPEAKER_02
And Eddie and I would do the in ones together or I would do it.
2
SPEAKER_02
And that seemed to gain, you know, some steam.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I go, my people, we go like this by the grace of God at work.
2
SPEAKER_00
You know, it s just I couldn t just for a second because I just my brain gets curious about this stuff.
2
SPEAKER_00
So how many episodes did you do with Gene Domanian before it was sourced?
2
SPEAKER_00
just 10 just 10 and then there s a purge and then the show starts again in the fall was there a gap of it not being on the air
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, there was a gap in the not being able to really cancel.
2
SPEAKER_00
I did not.
2
SPEAKER_00
I did not know.
2
SPEAKER_01
It was almost like a funeral and a wake for the first season.
2
SPEAKER_01
You know, the great people.
2
SPEAKER_01
And then it s like, OK, they took the hit the first 10 shows.
2
SPEAKER_01
Now it s almost like it can t be that bad.
2
SPEAKER_01
You know what I mean?
2
SPEAKER_01
Some something about it.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
And then you and Eddie started for me being in clubs and being aware of this whole situation.
2
SPEAKER_00
You know, I felt that you and Eddie kind of were, you know, becoming stars.
2
SPEAKER_00
Obviously, you know, the two of you, you know, the famous Sinatra and Eddie doing Stevie Wonder almost as a dramatic actor, almost like it was very it shocked the audience when he started singing.
2
SPEAKER_00
And then your Sinatra, I think is I mean, there s I got my Phil Hartman, you, but I think it s right up there with anybody.
2
SPEAKER_00
Who s ever done it?
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
You know, you re you re you re Frank, you know, when they they asked me to do the Frank Sinatra early on.
2
SPEAKER_02
I mean, we were now we were searching.
2
SPEAKER_02
We were searching.
2
SPEAKER_02
What are we doing?
2
SPEAKER_02
How do we how do we keep going?
2
SPEAKER_02
And we had pretty good guests would come on.
2
SPEAKER_02
And then he brought on like like Jerry Lewis came on, which was great.
2
SPEAKER_02
And then he would he would book Rickles and then.
2
SPEAKER_01
That s big.
2
SPEAKER_02
It was like, it was like, let s just get guys that can do this.
2
SPEAKER_02
And then but early on, they said, Joe, we need the Frank Sinatra character.
2
SPEAKER_02
This was early on.
2
SPEAKER_02
And even during G s time, I said, I can t do it, because it s a respectful thing.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I don t want to make fun of I did it in the clubs.
2
SPEAKER_02
I did it for my SNL audition.
2
SPEAKER_02
I can t do it.
2
SPEAKER_02
And so I bought it.
2
SPEAKER_02
Then and the way go.
2
SPEAKER_02
I wrote Mr. S a letter because I wanted to be a team player.
2
SPEAKER_02
This is the whole Italian New Jersey thing, guys.
2
SPEAKER_02
That s what this is about.
2
SPEAKER_00
That s what I want to hear about, because I m from California.
2
SPEAKER_00
So this is like, it s not dangerous, but you don t want to hurt Frank, because for someone from New Jersey at that time, it s Frank Sinatra.
2
SPEAKER_00
You know, you don t mess with Frank and you love Frank.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, it s exactly respect.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, it s respected.
2
SPEAKER_02
And my father said, my father s an attorney, rest his soul.
2
SPEAKER_02
He said, if you re not, you re not gonna be a lawyer that you want to do entertainment, then look to Frank Sinatra, because that s your role model.
2
SPEAKER_02
So here I am doing them.
2
SPEAKER_02
And then they asked me to do
2
SPEAKER_02
And because it s a, I m telling you, it s hard to describe, but people, you know, would understand.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s a North Jersey Italian-American thing, and it s all about respect.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I told that to Mr. S. So, I sent it to Mickey Rudin, his lawyer at the time, and I didn t hear anything back.
2
SPEAKER_02
I said, okay, let s do it.
2
SPEAKER_02
And we did it, but I always couched it.
2
SPEAKER_02
I was respectful.
2
SPEAKER_02
Matter of fact, that Ebony and Ivory sketch was a Barry, Barry and David, Blouse, Cedar, Sheffield,
2
SPEAKER_02
Eddie and I came up with the idea.
2
SPEAKER_02
We ripped it, they wrote it, and it was really kind of vicious and edgy.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I had to soften it just a little bit, even more, you know what I m saying?
2
SPEAKER_02
So, and the old man I heard, Mr. S, was watching that from the Waldorf and saw the sketch with his daughter.
2
SPEAKER_02
He met Nancy and they said, and his daughter said, Joe, why don t you go in and surprise Joe on the air, which I would have had a coronary.
2
SPEAKER_02
But I have to tell you, the old man, when I got an invitation while I was at SNL,
2
SPEAKER_02
to to go to a road to attend and be at the podium of a rose of the martin the master ceremonies was frank sinatra that was.
2
SPEAKER_02
When i met him he could not have been nicer from the whole time i ve been with him a few times i was never on the inside of the rack you know you know but always so thankful always did he say maybe don t call me.
3
SPEAKER_00
The old man, maybe that s more offensive than the sketch.
3
SPEAKER_00
He was 52 at the time.
3
SPEAKER_00
He was 52.
3
SPEAKER_00
Like, it s nice to meet an old person like yourself.
3
SPEAKER_00
He s like, hey.
3
SPEAKER_03
No, no.
3
SPEAKER_03
But you know what?
3
SPEAKER_03
Everybody who was around Mr. S, all the guys would call him the old man, the old man, like the captain.
3
SPEAKER_03
That s like the admiral ship.
3
SPEAKER_03
And this is this is the story.
3
SPEAKER_03
So when when he first saw me doing him, you know, you guys, you know,
3
SPEAKER_02
uh charlie callas remember charlie of course yeah he was like jerry lewis s sidekick on his talk show he was jerry lewis like another extended version a crazy guy yeah yeah yeah just come on maybe you gotta put that up someone told him to play it bigger and he never looked back
3
SPEAKER_03
I think so callous.
3
SPEAKER_03
Mister it was Atlantic City, you know 1980 something and that they re in the dressing room, it seizes Mister S about the second show and they re in the dressing about to step up to the state.
3
SPEAKER_03
And I in the dressing room on the TV somebody has Saturday Night Live on and I came on doing him as the first time Mister Sinatra some be doing him in the room.
3
SPEAKER_03
grows silence.
3
SPEAKER_03
Everybody goes, gosh, who s crazy?
3
SPEAKER_03
So Charlie Callis breaks the silence.
3
SPEAKER_03
He goes, what do you think, Captain?
3
SPEAKER_03
And Mr. S. looks at me doing him and he goes, hey, he s pretty good.
3
SPEAKER_03
The little prick.
3
SPEAKER_03
Best answer.
3
SPEAKER_03
a great life, but he didn t like it.
3
SPEAKER_03
He got that.
3
SPEAKER_03
It was respectful.
3
SPEAKER_02
And it was and it was all there was needed to this day at that ebony and ivory thing.
3
SPEAKER_02
It was kind of edgy because it was based on Paul McCartney and it was about black and white getting together, all that stuff.
3
SPEAKER_02
And it was pretty it was pretty edgy with Frank being the clueless, you know, but like the old Italian guy, the way they
3
SPEAKER_00
could be at that time.
3
SPEAKER_02
You re black, I m white, you re singing, but the very last thing you had Frank say, which I wonder if you kind of was sort of sweet and landed it completely different.
3
SPEAKER_02
Who cares?
3
SPEAKER_02
Or what did Frank say at the end of that sketch?
3
SPEAKER_03
You know, I gotta tell you, and if folks watch, everybody s watching your podcast now, guys, I gotta tell you, that means so much to me what you just said, Dana, what you just said.
3
SPEAKER_03
Because you do things on the air, you do things on the air, and sometimes someone picks it up.
3
SPEAKER_03
Thank you for that.
3
SPEAKER_03
I said, who cares, baby?
3
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, that changed the whole sketch and it changed the whole vibe of Sinatra.
3
SPEAKER_02
He can do this and that.
3
SPEAKER_02
And we all know that he was a champion for Sammy and he wouldn t, you know, he was completely not that character.
3
SPEAKER_02
So that was nice.
3
SPEAKER_02
At the end, it really made a great point.
3
SPEAKER_03
Thank you for thinking of that.
3
SPEAKER_03
Social justice warrior he was.
3
SPEAKER_03
I mean, just as folks don t understand, when Mr. F went to Vegas,
3
SPEAKER_03
And he was playing the main room, and he was playing with the Count Basie Orchestra, which was an all-black orchestra.
3
SPEAKER_03
He had Quincy Jones arranging for him and conducting for him.
3
SPEAKER_03
And Sammy would come on, and they were staying on the other side of town.
3
SPEAKER_03
And Mr. S. said, what is that?
3
SPEAKER_03
Where are you going?
3
SPEAKER_03
He had lunch with Sammy.
3
SPEAKER_03
Where are you guys staying?
3
SPEAKER_03
Where are you guys?
3
SPEAKER_03
He goes, they re putting us, they re not, they wouldn t allow the performer to walk in the front.
3
SPEAKER_03
People forget.
3
SPEAKER_03
And Mr. S. said, baldly, he goes, look, they don t go, they don t come in, and you treat them exactly
3
SPEAKER_03
I d like you to treat me that I m not going on.
3
SPEAKER_03
And he really don t know.
3
SPEAKER_02
Anyway, yeah, there s a brilliant documentary on Sammy Davis Jr.
3
SPEAKER_02
It speaks a lot to how Frank was like, if you don t treat him like you treat me, I m out of here.
3
SPEAKER_02
I m doing you doing him doing him whatever.
3
SPEAKER_02
But that s a fascinating person.
3
SPEAKER_02
Curious about that cast.
3
SPEAKER_02
Now, you and Eddie and then who what was the cast that came in with you?
3
SPEAKER_02
I just because it was Brad Hall and Julie Louise Dreyfus.
3
SPEAKER_03
When we first went in, it was mostly Timmy Kazerinsky and Mary Groves.
3
SPEAKER_03
And then we had a guy, I think Tony Rosato joined us for a little while.
3
SPEAKER_03
There was some other folks from Toronto.
3
SPEAKER_03
Robin Duke is brilliant.
3
SPEAKER_03
Robin Duke is brilliant.
3
SPEAKER_03
just brilliant and wonderful.
3
SPEAKER_03
And Mary as well.
3
SPEAKER_03
But Robin and I, we did The Winers together.
3
SPEAKER_03
We did Riff and Toronto Toronto second.
3
SPEAKER_02
She s great.
3
SPEAKER_02
She s great.
3
SPEAKER_02
And The Winers was one of your reoccurring characters that the audience would start to applaud when you guys appear.
3
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
3
SPEAKER_03
Well, I always said if Warren was producing, it would have been a movie, you know, I think.
3
SPEAKER_01
It ll be called The Winers.
3
SPEAKER_01
We ll do it at Paramount.
3
SPEAKER_01
It ll be a 40 day shoot.
3
SPEAKER_00
Three sketches into one movie.
3
SPEAKER_01
Eddie will do a cameo and we go in June.
3
SPEAKER_01
Really?
3
SPEAKER_01
Now let s eat.
3
SPEAKER_02
But you also had Jim Belushi as well, was in that era.
3
SPEAKER_03
Jimmy came in later, and it was great, and a great, great, great actor, and it was just great.
3
SPEAKER_03
But then they say, we re bringing in Brad Hall, Gary Croker, and we re bringing in Julie Louis-Dreyfus.
3
SPEAKER_03
Now they were three young kids, and they could not have been more pleasant, more fun, more talented.
3
SPEAKER_03
They were great, but to this day, I feel guilty because it really was Eddie and I kind of hunkered down to write for ourselves.
3
SPEAKER_03
And if you didn t write for yourself back in the day, I guess it was pretty much with you guys.
3
SPEAKER_03
You just didn t get out.
3
SPEAKER_00
You figured it out pretty quick.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_03
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_03
Right.
3
SPEAKER_03
Right.
3
SPEAKER_00
No one s really looking out for you.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_03
That s right.
3
SPEAKER_03
It s just like that.
3
SPEAKER_03
And I always felt bad that I didn t help.
3
SPEAKER_03
You know, I mean,
3
SPEAKER_03
You know, it doesn t make any difference now, but like Julia was so sweet and nice.
3
SPEAKER_03
She was she was 19 at the time and she was great.
3
SPEAKER_03
And I always felt we should have probably got her into the sketches more, you know, but I don t think she needed our help.
3
SPEAKER_02
I know.
3
SPEAKER_02
What did she what did she do after SNL?
3
SPEAKER_02
I mean, what is she really done?
3
SPEAKER_02
No, we hopefully we ll have her on as a guest, too.
3
SPEAKER_00
And, you know, but it s also a luck factor, like some sketch falls in your lap or someone writes you something good or you blow up on something.
3
SPEAKER_00
You know, Dana got is Wayne s World and that thing blows up.
3
SPEAKER_00
He doesn t know for sure that s going to blow, you know.
3
SPEAKER_00
And so you re in different things.
3
SPEAKER_00
Some things you really think are going to work.
3
SPEAKER_00
They don t.
3
SPEAKER_00
Something else blows up.
3
SPEAKER_00
I think it s hard, though, if you don t write for yourself, for your own moves.
3
SPEAKER_00
Like that s you have to show them like I go, I m funny.
3
SPEAKER_00
And they go, they don t know.
3
SPEAKER_00
Oh, yeah, they re busy.
3
SPEAKER_00
You show them you can do something even around the office and you do an impression or anything.
3
SPEAKER_00
And they go, we should put that in something.
3
SPEAKER_00
And then you go, OK, good.
3
SPEAKER_00
You know, that s yeah, they need you need to help them.
3
SPEAKER_02
It s like so you and Eddie integrated with writers.
3
SPEAKER_02
So you would instigate this stuff.
3
SPEAKER_02
I do at the club, Eddie.
3
SPEAKER_02
And then you had a couple of writers who were like hungry for that, because when it works that way, your rhythms, your sensibility is already
3
SPEAKER_02
and enveloped into the sketch, and then they hopefully improve it.
3
SPEAKER_02
You know, so yeah, I get it.
3
SPEAKER_03
Eddie is, I mean, he s a force of nature, but he s a comic genius and it s effortless and it s instinctive.
3
SPEAKER_03
So we would be there, we d be in the producer s office, one of the producers office, and he d
3
SPEAKER_03
He was watching Mister Rogers, you know, and he goes, no, I m going to do a street version of this.
3
SPEAKER_03
And I look at him, he goes, I m going to be Mister Robinson.
3
SPEAKER_03
And I m going to be, and he would come up with the concept.
3
SPEAKER_03
And he would just, and I remember one writer going, I don t know if that s going to work.
3
SPEAKER_03
And he would say, I m doing it.
3
SPEAKER_03
Then he would say to me, he would say to me, I m going to do Buckwheat.
3
SPEAKER_03
And I go, I m sorry, eh?
3
SPEAKER_03
He goes, no, I ll do Buckwheat.
3
SPEAKER_03
Remember Buckwheat for the Little Rascals?
3
SPEAKER_03
And I would go, and I was like his older brother, because I had him by almost about 10 years.
3
SPEAKER_03
And I would say, eh, it might work.
3
SPEAKER_03
be a little racist, you might wanna just maybe not do that, you know?
3
SPEAKER_03
Bang, he didn t care.
3
SPEAKER_03
He went for it, and it was, I have to tell you, the joy of it, to be next to it, to experience it, especially to be live.
3
SPEAKER_03
I don t believe we had a delay back then.
3
SPEAKER_03
And to be next to Eddie, whether we were doing Ebony and Ivory, whether I was watching him doing Buckwheat, or whether we would do, my favorite thing, we would do a Solomon and Pudge, the two old guys in the bar, which was kind of a bittersweet thing that was just a fill.
3
SPEAKER_03
It was meant to do a fill because they needed time right before one o clock.
3
SPEAKER_03
And they would say, Eddie, Joe, just go up and do something.
3
SPEAKER_03
And Eddie and I just riffed.
3
SPEAKER_03
It was magic moments that I cherish forever.
3
SPEAKER_03
And I told Eddie this when they gave him the Mark Twain Prize down there in Washington.
3
SPEAKER_03
And Chappelle was there, and Arsenio was there, and Georgie Lopez was there.
3
SPEAKER_03
And it was like the, you know, except for me, it was like the Mount Rushmore of comedy, you know?
3
SPEAKER_03
And everybody s going, we re supposed to speak, you know, to Eddie.
3
SPEAKER_03
the night before the events, what did we just say?
3
SPEAKER_03
And I remember Chappelle going, how can you be funny?
3
SPEAKER_03
What can I do?
3
SPEAKER_03
I said, guys, just speak from the heart, man.
3
SPEAKER_03
Just speak from the heart.
3
SPEAKER_03
And that s when I got up and said, Eddie, thank you for a great ride.
3
SPEAKER_03
Thank you for a ride of a lifetime.
3
SPEAKER_03
And it resonated, and we all had tears in our eyes.
3
SPEAKER_03
It was a beautiful thing, and a comedy, you know?
3
SPEAKER_03
It was a lot of heart.
3
SPEAKER_03
People may see us trying to be funny or silly or, you know, or outrageous, but I think we got a lot of heart and probably feel more than most, you know, guys?
3
SPEAKER_02
Well, I d also say the state the obvious, and it comes up a lot in this podcast, just Rockefeller Center, 8-8, 17th floor, live television in New York City.
3
SPEAKER_02
Me being from California, there s no more viscerally
4
SPEAKER_01
intense thing you can do in show business and everyone even moves on to movies or whatever they do there still is just that and we were talking to Eric Andre the other day and he was like.
4
SPEAKER_01
How did you deal with the pressure.
4
SPEAKER_01
The pressure.
4
SPEAKER_01
Did you get more comfortable or do you just feel good when you re out there with any like we re going to kick.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yes, because you ve got it great great great up to base it is exactly right.
4
SPEAKER_00
I was petrified all time and I
4
SPEAKER_00
Petrified.
4
SPEAKER_00
And I just was always worried.
4
SPEAKER_00
And a matter of fact, the writers would always bust my chops because I was always so uptight.
4
SPEAKER_00
That s got to be perfect.
4
SPEAKER_00
Before the show, before the show, I would say everybody be getting ready.
4
SPEAKER_00
But after the rehearsal, you know, after shooting, you know, rehearsing, it s like 930 and it s over and we go over the notes.
4
SPEAKER_00
I d run down under the bleachers and I would go to Al, the cue card guy.
4
SPEAKER_00
Uh, I would go, I would go to Kevin, the cue card guy, and I would just go, let me see the cards, which was real.
4
SPEAKER_00
I m going to paint it in the neck.
4
SPEAKER_00
Piscopo.
4
SPEAKER_00
I mean, really, but they, they did, they ran, you know what I m saying, David practice.
4
SPEAKER_02
Cause you don t know where the sentence ends and you re like, I want to get ready for exactly what it will be.
4
SPEAKER_02
So if that looks a little weird, I want to say that now.
4
SPEAKER_02
And then maybe they can tweak it.
4
SPEAKER_02
And then you go, Ooh, could you go a little faster?
4
SPEAKER_02
Anything where you just go, it ll help whatever.
4
SPEAKER_02
It s so scary.
4
SPEAKER_02
Do anything you can.
4
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_02
I agree with you.
4
SPEAKER_00
We were live.
4
SPEAKER_00
We were live.
4
SPEAKER_00
No safety net.
4
SPEAKER_00
It was no safety net.
4
SPEAKER_00
I wanted to be perfect every single time.
4
SPEAKER_00
But I think working with Eddie, and Timmy Kazuristi as well, that they were loose.
4
SPEAKER_00
When you re loose and you can have fun like that on stage, it was gold.
4
SPEAKER_00
It was just gold like that.
4
SPEAKER_00
That s where I relaxed.
4
SPEAKER_00
In the arena, right in the belly of the beast, right live.
4
SPEAKER_00
We had, I mean, look, think of the numbers when we were on.
4
SPEAKER_00
Guys, I mean, you know, was it 8 million?
4
SPEAKER_00
Was it 20 million?
4
SPEAKER_00
It wasn t the 30 million they had, you know, originally, but they were still very, very big.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_02
OK, Dana, I worked with I knew Tim Kassarinsky a little bit because, yeah, we did something after that.
4
SPEAKER_02
He s a Chicago guy.
4
SPEAKER_02
And I worked them after that.
4
SPEAKER_02
He was super cool, dude.
4
SPEAKER_02
I remember a great time with him.
4
SPEAKER_02
And we didn t even talk that much about SNL.
4
SPEAKER_02
Oh, I wasn t I wasn t on it yet.
4
SPEAKER_02
That s why I did it before that.
4
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
4
SPEAKER_00
But Timmy brought us all together.
4
SPEAKER_00
Timmy was like, he was the liaison between the producer because they would say things and we would
4
SPEAKER_00
you know, through animosity comes creativity.
4
SPEAKER_00
So, you know, so so it s what do you mean?
4
SPEAKER_00
And then and then the worst was for me when they said, OK, all right, you got it.
4
SPEAKER_00
We want you to do this sketch and you didn t want to do the sketch, man.
4
SPEAKER_00
You just knew it wasn t going to work, but you had to do the sketch and then you re waiting and then and then you do your dress rehearsal, you know, and then you wait and you re in that.
4
SPEAKER_00
I just remember being crammed in.
4
SPEAKER_00
you know, nine thirties come to 10 o clock.
4
SPEAKER_00
Oh my gosh, we re live in an hour and a half.
4
SPEAKER_00
And somebody said, Oh, the sketch is in that bad sketch that you re hitting.
4
SPEAKER_02
That was tough.
4
SPEAKER_02
You gotta go.
4
SPEAKER_02
You know, but we get a question, Joe, did you have, let s say you write the whiners or you write a first draft that gets through read through.
4
SPEAKER_02
Do you have a, do you have a Thursday read through?
4
SPEAKER_02
Uh, I mean a rewrite debt.
4
SPEAKER_02
We had a 16 hour rewrite day.
4
SPEAKER_02
You go through every sketch or did you just go off?
4
SPEAKER_02
Whoever wrote it, rewrites it.
4
SPEAKER_00
Whoever wrote it, rewrites it.
4
SPEAKER_00
That s great.
4
SPEAKER_00
There were notes.
4
SPEAKER_00
There were notes.
4
SPEAKER_00
Whoever wrote it, if they had a rewrite, it was that.
4
SPEAKER_00
It was their piece.
4
SPEAKER_02
Because sometimes when you gangbang it like that on a Thursday, it gets a little better because you ve got everyone around the table giving you their best joke for that and you pick.
4
SPEAKER_02
And then you do it.
4
SPEAKER_02
That s the way we did it when I was there.
4
SPEAKER_01
Right.
4
SPEAKER_01
They work on the on it with.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_01
It s Conan O Brien and Bob Odenkirk around a table.
4
SPEAKER_02
Everyone s trying to play each other.
4
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_02
Great writers.
4
SPEAKER_00
You know what?
4
SPEAKER_00
I love that.
4
SPEAKER_00
I wish we had it.
4
SPEAKER_00
So we, cause we didn t know what to do when we first went in and now, and now we re all there and the new cast is together.
4
SPEAKER_00
And we went in the back that, that, that, that back writing area.
4
SPEAKER_00
And then Dick Eberlestal said, all right, I m bringing back Michael O Donoghue.
4
SPEAKER_00
And he was like a legend to us.
4
SPEAKER_01
Famous writer in the original cast.
4
SPEAKER_00
and a
4
SPEAKER_00
he s coming in, oh my gosh, so now, and he was so theatrical and great.
4
SPEAKER_00
So we re all waiting there, he makes an entrance, and he s got a spray paint can in his hand, and he walks, he doesn t say a word, and he shakes it, and you can hear it shaking, and on the wall of the writer s wing, he wrote D-A-N-G-E, or danger, and he went, shoo!
4
SPEAKER_00
Anyway, that that s what the show lacks.
4
SPEAKER_00
And that s what we re gonna do.
4
SPEAKER_00
Like that.
4
SPEAKER_00
I m like, Whoa, man.
4
SPEAKER_00
So then he would call us in.
4
SPEAKER_00
And he would I ll tell you, these guys from that era were I mean, this in the most respectful way.
4
SPEAKER_00
They were like, off the charts crazy like that, you know, and Michael was like, so listen, listen, guys, he sits me in the office now new and I and I don t even want to be there.
4
SPEAKER_00
Because I don t I ve ruined the show so far.
4
SPEAKER_00
I don t want to continue.
4
It s
4
SPEAKER_00
O Donoghue goes like this, listen, he s there, he s there, and he goes like this, Piscopo, just he and I, in the office, one-on-one, in one of those little producer s office, he goes, I don t get you, I don t think you re funny, I don t get it, like that, like that, and I m going like, okay, well, I ll leave now, if you want me to go now, like that, and then I didn t, like, confront him,
4
SPEAKER_00
I said, you know, Michael, I agree with you.
4
SPEAKER_00
I don t think I belong here either.
4
SPEAKER_00
And I m honored to see you, man.
4
SPEAKER_00
And he goes like, then he softens up, and he goes like this, well, that Sinatra thing s pretty good.
4
SPEAKER_00
I like that Sinatra thing that you do.
4
SPEAKER_00
He goes like that.
4
SPEAKER_00
And after all that adversity, that angst, that blood, sweat, and tears, it all worked out.
4
SPEAKER_00
By the way, and again, if I can, I guess stop me, but John Belushi was,
4
SPEAKER_00
I mean, he was like, people don t understand.
4
SPEAKER_00
He was a comedy guy.
4
SPEAKER_00
He was a god, man.
4
SPEAKER_00
It was like, and to me, Ackroyd was my guy.
4
SPEAKER_00
Danny, to this day, I have such immense love and respect for him, because Danny really was, he was the captain of that ship, I thought.
4
SPEAKER_00
But John was so great.
4
SPEAKER_00
So we did the shows.
4
SPEAKER_00
We started to catch on a little bit.
4
SPEAKER_00
And then John would come back and hang a little bit.
4
SPEAKER_00
And Danny Ackroyd came in.
4
SPEAKER_00
man.
4
SPEAKER_00
I was in the top.
4
SPEAKER_00
It was, it was, it was accurate and pollution and the blues, blues brothers.
4
SPEAKER_00
You know, just, just every, just Kissinger and Nixon, you know, pray for me, Henry.
4
SPEAKER_01
He played Nixon with a mustache.
4
SPEAKER_00
Exactly.
4
SPEAKER_00
And Danny was the epitome of, of, of how to execute a character.
4
SPEAKER_00
So then they go,
4
SPEAKER_00
They go, okay, we re going to an after party at Piscopo.
4
SPEAKER_00
They go, Piscopo, you re going to an after party.
4
SPEAKER_00
We want you to go with us.
4
SPEAKER_00
So we went down to what was the precursor to the House of Blues.
4
SPEAKER_00
It was a hole in the wall.
4
SPEAKER_00
I don t know if you got, I don t think it was there when you guys went in, but it was like in the village and it was just a dive and everybody was there.
4
SPEAKER_00
Gilda was there.
4
SPEAKER_00
Alan Zweibel was there.
4
SPEAKER_00
It was everybody.
4
SPEAKER_02
And I was like, yeah.
4
SPEAKER_00
And I m going like, oh my gosh.
4
SPEAKER_00
And then Belushi comes over to me at just 101 and he goes, Piscopo,
4
SPEAKER_00
And he goes, come here.
4
SPEAKER_00
So he walks me over to the jukebox, and there s a big jukebox there.
4
SPEAKER_00
And he takes a quarter out of his pocket back in the day.
4
SPEAKER_00
He puts it in the jukebox, and he punches up Frank Sinatra, New York, New York.
4
SPEAKER_00
And he starts to sing it.
4
SPEAKER_00
And I m doing dueling Sinatras with John Belushi at a bar in Greenwich Village.
4
SPEAKER_00
And it was, those are the things that happened.
4
SPEAKER_00
And we re singing, brand new.
4
SPEAKER_00
And then, to note,
4
SPEAKER_00
It became a moment at the party, and everybody came around.
4
SPEAKER_00
Wow, look at John s with Piscopo, look at his head.
4
SPEAKER_00
And as soon as that happened, it became a moment.
4
SPEAKER_00
I saw John, and he just shied away.
4
SPEAKER_00
He shrunk away and got out of it.
4
SPEAKER_00
All he wanted was a moment.
4
SPEAKER_00
And I felt bad, and I understood that when you think people want to be famous, I want to be famous.
4
SPEAKER_00
it was not easy.
4
SPEAKER_00
And I saw a lot in Eddie, you know, too, when you got that big, it just wasn t easy.
4
SPEAKER_00
But I always appreciated that again.
4
SPEAKER_00
And it was the greatness, the humor of John Belushi, the boldness of John Belushi.
4
SPEAKER_00
But I tell you, he had a big heart.
4
SPEAKER_00
He had a big heart.
4
SPEAKER_00
And I saw it right there at that moment.
4
SPEAKER_02
How lucky.
4
SPEAKER_02
What a great.
4
SPEAKER_02
You got Eddie, you got Belushi, Ackroyd s out there, the fucking heyday of it all.
4
SPEAKER_02
Jesus.
4
SPEAKER_00
Hey, can I can I ask?
4
SPEAKER_00
Can I ask you a question?
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, we have we have no structure.
4
SPEAKER_00
We don t know what we re doing.
4
SPEAKER_00
David, tell me about, if I may, I went to St.
4
SPEAKER_00
Malachy s when I was on Broadway, and I was across the street from St.
4
SPEAKER_00
Malachy s, and then they were telling me Chris Farley was always there at St.
4
SPEAKER_00
Malachy s.
4
SPEAKER_00
And then I m in Beverly Hills,
4
SPEAKER_00
And I m out there and I m at church, and more than once, and I forget if it was a Saturday Night Mass, and there s Chris Farley, taking communion, walking like he just had partied all night.
4
SPEAKER_00
And we saw each other and went, whoa.
4
SPEAKER_00
I said, hey, how you doing?
5
SPEAKER_01
to talk to him, I didn t even call him.
5
SPEAKER_02
I know.
5
SPEAKER_02
He would have loved it.
5
SPEAKER_02
He would have loved it.
5
SPEAKER_02
Oh, old SNL to talk about SNL code.
5
SPEAKER_01
He was completely a full-on Catholic.
5
SPEAKER_01
I mean, David knows so much better than I did, but yeah, he went to church all the time, right, David?
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, it was all night, Saturday, rap party, straight to church, and then back to zero.
5
SPEAKER_02
He says, I m back to zero.
5
SPEAKER_02
Like he go in there and confess and do all the things he did.
5
SPEAKER_02
And he goes, five Hail Marys later, I m back to zero.
5
SPEAKER_02
I m all good.
5
SPEAKER_02
Going to heaven again.
5
SPEAKER_02
I go, all right, well, let s ruin it again this week.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_02
He was very into it.
5
SPEAKER_02
And I think he would have really respected and loved to see anyone mess.
5
SPEAKER_02
Now, especially you did so much.
5
SPEAKER_01
Oh, yeah.
5
SPEAKER_01
He was at his young age.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_01
He would have been.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_01
All up in your cast for sure.
5
SPEAKER_01
And you and Eddie.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_02
And listen, it s fun for me and Dana because having you on and just hearing this stuff, it brings it all back.
5
SPEAKER_02
And we re lucky to work with who we worked with.
5
SPEAKER_02
And then you got to work with people and you re part of it all.
5
SPEAKER_02
So we heard your names while we were there.
5
SPEAKER_02
It s the same thing.
5
SPEAKER_01
Absolutely.
5
SPEAKER_02
The cast before.
5
SPEAKER_01
And I m seeing you killing on SNL, doing characters and doing what I want to do.
5
SPEAKER_01
You know, before I was lucky enough to get there.
5
SPEAKER_00
Well, you know what, David, I remember we were at we were in
5
SPEAKER_00
Hollywood somewhere or Los Angeles somewhere and I was with my son years ago and it was a sushi place, great sushi place, right from the Beverly Center.
5
SPEAKER_00
And you walked in, I said hi, and you were very nice and very respectful.
5
SPEAKER_00
You know, you appreciate that.
5
SPEAKER_00
And my son was, of course, great to see, you know, the great David Spade.
5
SPEAKER_00
No, it was great.
5
SPEAKER_00
And then I remember this, I don t know why I remember this, but I told Dana this the other night,
5
SPEAKER_00
When I was in the makeup chair, it had to be rehearsal or we were doing a pre-shoot or something, and I looked in the mirror and a kid stuck his head in and went, Joe, Joe, hey, I m a big fan.
5
SPEAKER_00
Hi, my name s Dana Carvey.
5
SPEAKER_00
Well, I don t know why I remember that.
5
SPEAKER_00
So that was before.
5
SPEAKER_00
Dana, you were doing a series, you said?
5
SPEAKER_00
You were doing a sitcom at that time?
5
SPEAKER_01
I had a little deal with NBC.
5
SPEAKER_01
I got cast on a show called One of the Boys.
5
SPEAKER_01
Mickey Rooney was the star.
5
SPEAKER_01
Nathan Lane was the co-star.
5
SPEAKER_01
All of a sudden, I m living in New York in 1981, and I m shooting this sitcom on the sixth floor.
5
SPEAKER_01
Of course, I was possessed by SNL, and I did go up on Thursday a couple times in bleachers to watch you guys running stuff.
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and then we had the same makeup artist he would do your makeup on Saturday night or was in the at least working Saturday nights and I would do my Andy Rooney and do certain impressions he goes you gotta tell Joe but I thought I did Andy Rooney did it better or something but I remember finding you somewhere Joe Piscopo s down this hallway you know it s like a big labyrinth
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Yeah, I noticed.
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Hi, I m Dana Carvey.
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I can t.
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I must have been really nervous because I was a ballsy day.
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I was on this sitcom.
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It was it was a death.
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No, I mean, talk about it.
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We re driving this Scatman Carothers stoned all day.
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Mickey with a thirty eight throwing it around the room.
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A revolver.
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They re not going to get me.
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So I was in a madhouse.
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And 72 months later, I got here like, hey, Joe, we re both in SAG.
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I wanted to say hi.
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But anyone who does this or anyone who s been to Saturday Night Live, you have Tracy Morgan call, he says, hey alum, we re all alums because what is there 160 of us and it s almost 50 years that experienced the pressure and whatever the fleeny ass madness of this.
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There s a horse, there s people juggling.
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throw a wig on me and push me out there.
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So, um, well, we, we appreciate it, Joe.
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Thanks for taking some time out for us and, uh, love chatting with you.
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Yeah.
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It was with great respect and great love guys.
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Joe, you tell me how you paint great pictures.
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You re a great storyteller.
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This was really fun.
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Yes.
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And thanks for filling out.
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We ll see you out there around campus.
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Okay, buddy.
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God bless.
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This has been a presentation of Odyssey.
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Please follow, subscribe, leave a like, a review, all this stuff.
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Smash that button, whatever it is, wherever you get your podcasts.
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Fly on the Wall is executive produced by Dana Carvey and David Spade, Jenna Weiss, Berman of Odyssey, Charlie Finan of Brillstein Entertainment, and Heather Santoro.
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The show s lead producer is Greg Holtzman.