Living legend Alex Bennett reflects on his broadcast adventures, shares incredible Letterman themed anecdotes and spend time remembering great friend Rick Scheckman

ready you're watching The Lettermen podcast with Mike chisen endorsed by the hello Deli yeah welcome once again to the Letterman podcast as always my name is Mike Chisholm I am very excited to talk to folks about Letterman and Company and all of the little uh rabbit trails that have happened as a result of that um again you know we call this show it's it's it's it's the greatest broadcasting work in history um you know unabashedly that's how how I feel that's how this show feels uh that's the the the the mission statement of this show is to is to talk about the stories and preserve some of the knowledge of of that have come out of the greatest body of broadcasting work in history uh today's guest is phenomenal in so many respects um I use the word phenomenal too much people say sometimes but this it absolutely is apt uh Alex Bennett's coming on the show here now Alex Bennett to me uh a Pioneer in broadcasting in so many ways he is um uh you know has gone across the country old school the way that old school radio guys would go across the country starting in San Francisco uh a lot of some Middle America stuff and then ending up of course in New York and and having um legendary runs at uh multiple stations in New York going back to San Francisco having a legendary run at one Live 105 to do with stand up and comedy and then moving back to New York and finishing up his career at Sirius and and since he finished up his career he still goes on and on and on um because he can't you can't scratch the itch when you're a broadcaster like that um I feel that a little bit with me of this show I I I don't really have an outcome for this show obviously I've got aspirations but the joy I think is going to be the same even if even if and when you know something might happen beyond what we're doing here right now I don't know that the joy is going to increase because the joy is so high right now and Alex Bennett is a guy who gets a lot of joy out of broadcasting um I panel with him on his show every week uh so you can go to gabnet.net look at the information uh towards that if ever you want to be a part you feel like he brings people on and if you're nice and uh um and just enjoy being on panel with this legendary broadcaster uh you can do that the reason that I got hooked up with him is because of Rick scheckman and we've been uh attributing Rick obviously since he passed um and we're going to continue to do that because he's my friend and and he's a huge part of of who I am when it comes to this show when it comes to being involved uh with those um in the in the Letterman Community uh Rick scheckman is kind of my guy and and he introduced me to Alex and and for a few years every Monday I would go on and panel with these guys and then you know Rick and I would talk from time to time in between the shows and things and that's where our friendship grew uh Alex has been Rick's best friend or one of Rick's very best friends for 45 years um and uh and he's a legendary broadcaster so of course we're gonna have him on here and he's going to tell all sorts of stories uh about his friendship with Rick about his life in broadcasting and it it gives me Goosebumps that I get to kind of mesh those things together and maybe bring that to a new audience that may not have known him as much or as well um and and also to talk about Rick at the same time because I wouldn't know Alex if it wasn't for Rick and um I just appreciate the fact that we get to have this show so uh without further Ado The Lettermen podcast would like to present uh brought to you by of course the hello daily we'll talk about them a little bit um in the outro uh as news of the sale of the hello Deli is starting to uh to get out there as well but the Letterman podcast brought to you by the hello Deli is proud to present my conversation with broadcast Legend Alex Bennett Alex Bennett broadcast Legend I am so excited to be able to talk to you here you know don't say the legend Legends are dead okay I don't know I don't know man I think uh I this is one of those things where I'm it's surreal talking to you here because the reason I got to know you was because of Rick I I wouldn't know you if it wasn't for Rick as his and my friendship was kind of blossoming a little bit I think he was trying to vet me to make sure I wasn't I don't know I wasn't uh one of the one of the craziest things to make sure you weren't a loony yeah I think so and one of the things he did was he said okay well you should start coming on this show that I do with with radio Legend Alex Bennett and Edo again with that radio Legend crap I know that's what hey his words man I went through it went through it our correspondence over the last week I've been going through all of our correspondence over the years and and uh um I I wouldn't have ever met you if it wasn't for him and I'm so grateful for that um I really appreciate you taking time to to to to do this here um and and talk a little bit about uh your connection I'm busy and I've got to get going here so you've got that huge schedule so much to do with my pathetic life you know oh man you know what here's the thing I love about you um you know on a huge personality in broadcasting on both coasts um and and and after you run your final run with Sirius ended it's like okay well the career part you know moving into the retirement time you know that might be there from a you know on a chronological standpoint on the clock but you you've still got the itch and you've been broadcasting ever since you left Sirius basically gabnet's been going for a long time now hasn't it that has been yeah you can't turn it off can you well I don't know I mean you know it's the one thing keeps me a living you know I think that if I almost feel that if I don't do it I will die yeah okay uh that that it gives me some reason for existence yeah I feel you yeah I uh well I'm grateful that you do because and it's very neat in the different incarnations of what you are doing right now how people who followed you over the years now have this kind of almost unbridled access to you it's really fun seeing some of these people who listen to you whether you were in New York or uh back in San Francisco and now they're able to you know they talk about these memories of your show from all these years that must does that feel good or are you one of those guys that doesn't really care about the past so much you just keep steamrolling forward I mean it it it it it it it always is a nice feeling I mean I'm not going to say that it doesn't make me feel good that I'm that I had some kind of impact on somebody's life yeah uh and and that uh yeah that I had an impact on their life and and so they go oh I remember I used to listen to you when I was a kid and I and I go yeah I could I could like Slough them off and just say go away right and say to myself you know actually I had an impact on their life in some way and that's what I did radio for was to have some kind of an impact no matter what it was I mean years ago when I first when I was younger and uh um in just getting out of high school yep uh I got my girlfriend pregnant and she went ahead and had the kid and the first night that I found that she wasn't going to have it with me and we weren't gonna get together and get married what was it what she did in those days yep and raised the kid and the kid was going to be put up for adoption uh I got very depressed I mean I was almost I I don't know that I've ever been suicidal because I'm too cowardly to commit suicide you know I mean I I really wish I had the ability to commit suicide because I wouldn't be here talking to you right now I get that a lot buddy and if I was gonna end it it would have been at that point in my life and I was driving around Marin County just depressed because it was finally determined I couldn't see her she was still pregnant but I couldn't see her and the parents didn't want me to see her and I was just really depressed and I was at my Wit's End and I passed by I was driving around Marin County because you know you live in California you drive you don't walk yep and I'm driving around Marin County and I'm in Sausalito and there's a theater and I used to get the movie wrong but I think the movie was the movie on the Marquee at the theater it was the tip around no wasn't the what's the temporal theater no what was the name of it was the Marin theater it was called yeah I think that was the name of the theater and um there was a uh uh they were playing Cinderfella oh yeah Jerry Lewis yeah I just figured I got nothing else to let me just go inside maybe it'll take my mind off of it or whatever and I went in I started watching this thing yeah and about halfway through the film I found I was really laughing at it and when it was over with I felt a lot better now I hate to think that I felt a lot better watching a Jerry Lewis film but in those days he was the best thing there was out there oh absolutely you know without a doubt for making people laugh and he made me laugh when otherwise I would have blown my brains out okay yep that point I said I suddenly get what I want to do which is broadcasting why it's so valuable because if there's somebody else out there and I'm doing a radio show and they feel terrible and they want to commit they want to end it all or you know whatever the circumstances are and somehow for a brief moment I take them away from that I've done my job if I do it just once in my lifetime a little done my job so that has always been my stated mission that my job is to make people feel happy you know I uh I appreciate what you're saying and how you just said it you you said it like it is a mission statement or a stated Mission I love how you put that because when you look at the different incarnations of your personality over the years the superseding statement is that you want to make people feel better now the way that you did that through some of the different incarnations of of your career um had a roundabout way of getting there because you were in many ways I I don't want to use the word provocateur I just can't think of a better word at this point here you love to kind of get into it with people at a time when that was rarer for broadcasters is that a fair statement I don't know if it was rarer I'm trying to think I'll tell you what happened uh a lot of people like to think that Limbaugh invented the medium of nasty ass radio yes and he didn't really it was a guy out in California by the name of Joe Pine and Joe Pine was again a talk show host and he was you know get out get off the phone again leave me alone I don't wanna you know that kind of thing hanging hangs up on people and so and I I briefly got to know Joe Pine uh through my ex-wife my first ex-wife whose name I can't even remember um and Jill Pine um uh I I suddenly I was walking down the street with him and this guy comes up to him and says you know he's a mendicant he says do you have uh you have can you spare a dollar you know and and uh uh job threw five dollars in his hand and then he looked at me and he said don't ever tell anybody yes okay so you know that to me was what was radio it was all about the character that you play on the air is not necessarily the character you are in real life yes and and so consequently um that has always been my position and I don't care for instance I when I was growing up as a kid my favorite radio show because yes folks they used to have radio with actual programs entertained and played music and people sang and some of them even danced you could hear them tapping you know but the thing is when I was growing up listening to radio my favorite was Jack Benny yes and the thing that I never I never really was able to understand what it was about Benny that made him different and why I loved him so but as the years went on it started becoming kind of apparent yeah and um that was that the Benny character and people like to think Benny was a comedian Benny wasn't a comedian Benny was a clown and the difference between a comedian and a clown is a comedian pulls jokes on people right has jokes pulled on him okay and everything that was funny about the Jack Benny show was at Benny's expense he was cheap you know he was this he was that you know he uh anybody who got a real laugh on that show Benny didn't get the laughs right people who were putting him down got the laughs right you know it was it was a beautiful trick of the hat and I always I didn't never realize how deep I mean I was really influenced by Benny yes okay in radio yeah probably major influence I had two major influences Benny and a guy who's a disc jockey in San Francisco named Don Sherwood but more on that later sure but but uh uh it was just that you know Jack Benny was had something going for him that I really really resonated with me so really as a broadcaster most of the time the jokes are pulled on me right they're not I don't pull it on them although I do sometimes now I mean I do more than than Benny ever did sure but but um you know people always make jokes about me and you know I'm a hypochondriac and I'm this and I'm that and and you you know Benny had all these faults that were very funny false you know I mean who who could possibly think the most beloved comedian in America or clown as I said in America was a guy who was known for being cheap right you know well okay so as you say that it it gets me going on to the you know kind of the the the Lettermen of it all uh which is where I go much of the time you know hence the show uh you know Carson loved Jack Benny and I think about Carson Carson you don't know this about Carson uh uh Benny would take the Summers off and then he would have a substitute host who would host the show and Carson was the host at one point there you go yes absolutely and all his timing and all his takes and so on were pure Bay yeah well and and here's where I'm gonna go with this because you've got Benny you know if we go want to go back into scripture uh presentation Betty got Carson Carson begat Letterman and and when you think about um you know Carson some of his favorite moments uh that I remember growing up my Dad loved Johnny Carson and and and he loved Johnny Carson kind of the way in many ways in the same respect that I Revere Dave and and and um I I remember Carson like I just remember moments where you know him and Julio Iglesias coming out and then you see Carson for the very first time revealing himself as Willie Nelson and they're singing to all the girls I Loved Before and the joke was how much Willie Nelson and Johnny Carson kind of resembled each other at that point and how Carson could do the spot on impression but the laughs were coming again that self-deprecation you could see that going down and then Letterman made an art form out of it where self-deprecation was kind of his calling card and isn't that interesting how these people who influenced each other and and that clown aspect that you're talking about resonated in and influenced entire generations of of broadcasters or performers yeah absolutely and and uh you know when you look at Carson I mean uh one night I was I was out of work in San Francisco it was one of the times today not for the first time either probably for the first time uh although people over play how you know how many times I got fired it wasn't that often you know but no and you got rehired instantly like you were cachet in the radio business um in many respects and we'll get to that I don't think as much as I should have been considered yeah but anyway I'm glad you know that because there's a lot of people who feel that way about you Alex I'm glad you at least feel that way too because because many times guys like you including Letterman downplay themselves and whatnot I'm glad I know that look look what influence have I had in this business probably very little unless you want to start saying there probably wouldn't have been uh Howard Stern if there hadn't been an Alex Bennett I say it all the time Howard Stern drove on the highway that Alex Bennett paved I say that all and he also drove on the highways listening to Alex Bennett when he was growing up you know there we go I'm very glad you said that I didn't know if I'd ever be able to hear you say that on camera I'm glad that you said that that's awesome I I you know I say it and I do in a way resent it but yeah that's another story down the line too about my relationship with Howard yeah yeah uh but uh I thought this wasn't going to be about me this was going to be about it it is but we're setting the table and and I just I I love this because we're gonna get to I want to go back to you know your your time at uh you know with uh uh wmca in New York and then and then that led to you know you leaving the East going back West and when you went back West to live and and and and your live show uh back in San Francisco was all about Comics there's lots of stand-ups that would be on there and I want to like I mean I know we've talked about it Ad nauseam on your show but a lot of our audience don't necessarily know for example the Bill Hicks story well shecky of course you and shecky's relationship really some some very cool behind the scenes with Hicks on that I want to get to that but before we do I want to start um I want to get to the place where where you and Chucky connected to each other um I uh God I miss him I miss him so much and and I you know I've released you know when I miss them I I you know I I it's only been a week you know I know more than a week uh what I miss him is like I was watching Superman and Lois this week and they changed one of the sons on the show and I wanted to call shecky and ask first thing you want to do yep and I went check he's not there I mean it it happened one other time this week too where there was just something that I that I saw that I I you know that had to do actually with another DC show or something yeah Gotham Knights yeah uh which is a very good show by the way uh and I'm just asking what he thought of it you know that's what we would do on Saturdays because for for about maybe 30 years yeah maybe longer than that we talk to each other every Saturday or Sunday usually Saturday and when I was out in California it was always Saturday at one o'clock California attack yeah and I would call them and then we would talk for like an hour and then next week we talked for another hour so and here's the other part I want to I want to let the viewers and the listeners know um you also an Enthusiast of David Letterman you love that and and many of those talks of course you know as you're talking he sums up the week that happened at at late night or late show you know and and and I mean the the stories that Rick had yeah we didn't talk much about the show no no no there was there was no need to that was his job yeah when I'm calling him it's in non-job time right you know and occasionally I would ask him a question about Dave or something like that yeah sure um you know and the Hicks part is the my relationship with Rick started before okay so this is where I want to go because I I know that you're an Enthusiast of the show but at the end of the day uh before the show happened you started uh creating ties to the show without even knowing it like years beforehand like um The Legend has it that Robert Morton that Morty sold you a cable package and when he did he was a gigantic fan of yours uh at the time this is when you were in New York this is after the you know the John Lennon Abby Hoffman years back out yet door-to-door selling cable Robert Morton shows up at your door to sell you cable did he know that you were the the person behind the door you know something it's strange um no and I don't think when I bought it from him he you know knew it or I may I may have already bought it I may have already had cable I don't know and he was there with I'm trying to remember the other guy's name he became the head of programming comedy programming at Showtime and and they were Pals and they would go door to door selling cable yeah and the the reason I found out that he had sold me cable is I met up with Morty once you know shecky went to work there and so on yeah and he said you know we've met before and I said when and he said I sold you cable and he told me he said I really want to thank you because you were running a show called midnight blue which was kind of the adult fare on cable yep we were running midnight blue and you made us more money than any other single Factor except for Chinese broadcasting well the sheer numbers I mean we go into Chinatown and everybody would buy Chinese food exactly but he said we sold more cable boxes because of you than than anybody else and he said that was that he kept me alive for women he said I made good money too you know he said you kept me alive you know and then went on from there um I I love that connection I loved hearing that because I've heard it from both ends I've heard it from your end and from Morty's end before and and I I I I love you tell you about this uh yes absolutely because okay so the way that that happened was um we were going he and I were going back and forth I feel like he's kind of playing with me like a cat with a with a with a mouse a little bit that's that's what's happening and and I mentioned something about Alex Bennett he goes oh yeah did you know I sold him cable once and I actually I did because you and Chucky and I had talked about it on the show Once or something and and he was surprised by that every once in a while I kind of surprise so so yes he does absolutely uh I I wouldn't want to put words in his mouth but but he certainly certainly was was uh proud to to talk about that because he was a fan of yours Morty was a good guy I like Morty yeah um everybody everybody love Morty yeah you know I I don't know why he left the show or why the show left him actually but uh I can't imagine it was because they didn't like him you know no no absolutely not um and and we'll explore that another another time when we when we go here but um do you remember the first time you met Rick okay I was his birthday present here we go yeah um um I had a friend Steve Weiner yeah my friend too loves Steve this program yep and he eventually wound up he and his partner uh comedy writing Carl Yeah Carl Tiedeman wound up uh being the first set of writers on The Late Night version of the Letterman show yeah the Smashing of the glass that's that Steve winer's uh I didn't know that yeah yeah and then of course Calvert DeForest introducing of course what happened he were all over the place with us no no that's okay Steve was responsible for those people in a linear uh fashion that's okay yeah but uh uh the thing with Weiner and Tiedeman is they made a student film at NYU called King of the Z's yep which was a documentary about a mythical the lowest poverty row movie studio called though what was it called is it this party what was it is it gaspari is that what it is I forget I forget the name of it off the top of my head we're going to be releasing King of the Z's actually on this channel here coming up Steve's given us a pristine copy of it that we're going to be putting out so it's a very funny verducci for ducci is that what it is I think it's verducci yeah yeah but anyway uh and Calvert was in that yes you know uh and uh uh so when they hired Winer they and tied him and they they hired them based on the film and then they said who's that guy in the film they said oh that's Calvert the forest and they said you got his number you know and that's how you know the first film for the first frame of late night was Calvert coming out there saying here's what we're gonna like it's the first thing we ever saw on late night was Calvert yeah yeah well in in the movie King of the Z's he he comes out at the beginning of the film with the logo of the horrible logo of this beauty film yeah Vespucci films and he says this is a Vespucci film you know and so I think that's where they got the idea to do the same thing on the Letterman show yep but all these things you know all these things fall into each other but anyway you asked how I met shecky yeah so anyway it was check his birthday so I was invited to come visit meet them at a restaurant and uh um um for this guy's birthday party because uh weiner who said to me he he loves your show he loves your radio show uh it would just be fun to have you walk in and join us right and so I did that and I walked in and I was introduced and that was shecky and shecky I was checking's birthday present you know um and from then on I can't remember a time that we didn't know each other you know these with friendships maybe some guy talked to the other day I haven't talked to in 25 years yeah okay that happens people disappear from definitely you know and then they reappear and then maybe they become very good friends yep I mean one of my best friends Bruce David who was the editor of Hustler magazine at one time he and I had a had a falling out but we couldn't ever figure out what for we didn't talk to each other for 20 years but once we started talking to each other again we were fast and furious with each other as friends so that happens but with Rick there has never been a cessation in the time that I have known Rick or talk with Rick or had a contact with Rick I'll tell you this I've been thinking about him a lot and and random thoughts coming to my head and things that um you know I want to say about him and whatnot and the thing about your two friendship that I love um I love that you two as best friends found each other kind of in midlife and it's it's it's fascinating to me you know you talk about this on the phone every week for 25 years you know without or or seeing each other or whatever taking trips together I love I love this uh aspect but for 25 years but you guys didn't meet each other this isn't a childhood friend thing that goes into adulthood this is we met each other as adults having gone through some of the scars of Life the lessons of life you know successes and failures and you figure out who you are and and and you start kind of doing life's work and then you find each other with this amazing uh complimentary compatibility what it is is that the only time that I have realized what check he was in my life I mean how consistently he was a part of my life is when he died and I started saying gee I remember when and I remember this and I remember that whereas I'll give you a good example I mean I think you've heard me talk about this um Marjorie my wife and I we weren't married at the time went out to California because we went out because shecky and I had agreed to go out to California to see the showing of Napoleon with a full Symphony Orchestra run by Carl Davis who is writes Beautiful scores to silent films and your dad was uh that was what he did as a career musician that was in this sort of Realm of things right so this is a huge influence to you he didn't do movies no no no no but I'm saying Symphonies and in the musical scores and things like that like this is something that appealed to you the thing that was the bound us together was this five and a half hour film imagine sitting there watching a five and a half hour silent film and so at the last minute Marjorie said I'll go with you so I bought another ticket for the movie and another ticket on the plane yep and we were going to meet shecky out there because he had something he had to do and we decided to go out early because we I'm from San Francisco I want to go see friends and I want to you know enjoy myself and so we went out ahead of him and I I said to Marjorie I said let's go let's go up to Lake Tahoe you know because I used to when I was a kid I used to do these little late night runs up to Lake Tahoe yep and then gamble for a couple hours and then drive back I mean it's a it's a three and a half hour drive each way but it was it was something you did yeah in the middle of the night so I said why don't we go up to Lake Tahoe and we can you know and then I said as long as we're going to Lake Tahoe uh why don't we just get a marriage license and get married so I go down on the annuals of the most romantic proposal of all time well done sir well no actually she proposed to me on even better on leap year so anyways I said Okay so let's let's do it now and you know we can get married now so she found this woman up there who marries people and and so on and we we've got went up there and we got married well we now come back we got to meet Chucky he's just got in from the plane we met him at the Walt Disney Museum in the Presidio and I walk up to him we walk up to him and we go guess what and he said you got married ah he said I figured you would he's just too close to Lake Tahoe he's too close to Nevada you know he had that mind too he had a very perceptive very kind of sharp logical mind that would that would do that the first person that I told there was a person at my business manager knew we were going up there to get married but that's that the first person that I told that we were married after we got married was Rick yeah you know and this is in 2012.

and by the way I always called for the most part called him Rick and he called me Ben because when I mean there was no shecky when I knew him he got something yeah he got that from Dave that's right uh and when I talked publicly about him I always refer to a machete because it's it's it's a known fact that in comedy you have to have at least one friend named shecky everybody knew Chuckie green for a long time but yeah having another one um I I love that about well and and he called okay coincidentally you know Alex Bennett you know Wonderful radio name and whatnot and there's a there's a history as to how Alex Bennett showed up but he called you Bennett he referred to me to me it always is Bennett name Ben that's Ben yeah yeah he used to refer to me as Ben when we're talking together yeah back when he was in the hospital a lot he comatose out in order to try and maybe wake him up or whatever I said Rick it's it's been you know because that way I thought maybe it would ReSound with him or something but yeah apparently I meant nothing to him he wouldn't wake up out of a coma she's Almighty Rick oh uh well actually I I had one in there too uh you know all of us and I mean this is a little bit of I think this is inside baseball we can talk about we don't want to get too too personal about the details of things but but one of the things that happened was a bunch of people who love Rick uh put a bunch of messages together and and in the form of emails and whatnot they were put into a book and I know they were being read to him and and whatnot and in mine uh I did a PS again I couldn't put it I couldn't put anything in there yeah well you were in that you were in the room I think this was more for people who couldn't get in the room and things like that and the reason I couldn't is you know there's pardon me I didn't want him to die absolutely okay I didn't want him to die um and I felt that by putting a book together with pictures and stuff like that was a little premature because that's what you do after people die so it was a in your mind that was a resignation and and we don't want to have that it was a resignation and it was uh it was kind of like uh there's a thing in the Jews called kanahura you know you say something and it might come true you know I feel you well you know it's funny mine was a get well message and at the end of mine I even put listen you got to pull out of this soon because I can go on the show every Monday and hold Bennett at Bay for a little while but I'm only going to last a week or two so we need you back on the show that was my that was my little shot at you for him well I'll tell you I mean uh I um yeah yeah you know I just I just uh it it was I was going through a whole bunch of different uh things and uh you know now I'm willing to probably put some pictures into something or whatever because he's gone and it'll be a testament to him yes but uh it it it I just felt it was I I couldn't do it I just couldn't do it you know I that was too much resignation I'll tell you what I did do and what I was doing my own way of dealing with it was I started writing uh emails to him uh uh every day uh during the during the process and just saying what was going on while he was out you know hoping that once he came around I would just mail these things to his email and the first emails he would get when he woke up would be these emails but I never get to got to send them you know you're giving me goosebumps it's beautiful that you did that um you still have them here I still have a file yeah that's beautiful um here so I I you know I I you you say that a lot of these things impacted you after he died and you started thinking about these things but I'm gonna just throw out there I'm a different point of view to this because I only came into Rick's life in 2020 and as uh he invited me to be on the show with you guys every week which again I'm just blown away by and I love it I treasure I like I I try whatever I'm doing at one o'clock Pacific time on Mondays I try and take anything what's going on in my life and just go nope this is Mike time because I get to go on with you guys and I love that um but as uh that was happening he said hey look Alex has a uh he didn't write a book Alex Bennett didn't write a book because he's a broadcaster and so he put out his life in a in a series called life in the passing Lane and it's available on podcast platforms it's on gabnet and all these places and and so I grabbed it and I started listening to it and and it was I would recommend this to anybody who it's an entertaining life that you've had it's it's fantastic anybody who likes autobiographies but particularly who likes broadcasting and Story the stories of broadcasting life in the passing Lane I cannot endorse it or recommend it enough and and you talk about your life early on and I'll tell you where Rick comes into that as a case I'd have to call up Rick and say what year did this happen there are two people I would call one was Rick and I'll say when did this happen because you know when you start going back you go hey did that happen in 73 and then 75 and Rick had that mind he had that encyclopedia mind but the another guy who has that same encyclopedic mind of knowing everything I did when I did it was my friend the comedian Larry Bubbles Brown who has this weird memory and he could tell me the day really and sometimes the time of day that the event took place yeah that's like the gal on Taxi there's a there's a condition that you have yeah he he claims she's the king of the okay so but it's like that yeah but yeah so I would I would call it Bubbles and say hey bubbles when do we do this when was this you know because I forgot you know and and quite frankly I don't know if I could do life in the passing lane today because my memory is starting to falter sure you know and uh I wanted to get that thing done before I couldn't do it and so if people want it it's over gabnet.net and it's you know it's it's it's uh 70 half hour episode so if you want to waste 35 hours of your life go ahead and listen to my history I did it I wouldn't call it a waste I would call it an investment in edutainment it's educational and entertaining at the same time so uh but about halfway through that's when your relationship with Rick started and I mean you know you in my mind talk about him with all of the sentimentality that you were talking about him now do I mentioned him in there uh many times and okay that's it's the kind of thing I don't remember I mean I did those things and then I haven't listened to them since oh man but if I did if I mentioned him a lot then it was because he was that pervasive in my life see here's exactly Rick had a lot of friends a lot of friends I if I hold If I Die Tomorrow there's one person coming to the funeral no wait a minute there's nobody coming to the funeral except my wife I was going to say one person and then shacky but unfortunately he won't be able to attend um uh and but he had he had a different categories of friends okay he had his work friends at Letterman okay uh that made up a lot of his friendships yep you know his best friend is is Randy yeah you know uh and he said that to me once she's my best friend you're my second best friend I said that's fine I'll take second best friend you know yeah because she's been wonderful for you you know she's been a good friend to you absolutely and he said uh you know so but but anyway she uh but but he he his friends at work were one kind of friends you know we get together with them every now and then have lunch or dinner they'd have to get a gathering because they you know they miss each other because they saw each other every day and now they don't you know uh and so there was that that group of people then they were then they were his movie Pals his movie Freak Pals who were like collectors of movies and things like that yep in fact going back to the beginning of Rick and my relationship I remember him taking me down to Seventh Avenue or maybe it was no 9th Avenue and like 43rd or something and all these film freaks trading reels of film out of the trunks of their cars to each with each other and then after it was through they would go to this little screening room that they had created in this old dilapidated building and then they would sit there for the next 10 hours and watch movies and they were always on film in those days the tape forget it that wasn't part of the deal yeah I remember going to this once and I remember the the the uh the cops raiding the place because they saw these guys going in there every Saturday and then coming out and they figured it was a gay club there was just a bunch of guys with movies you know some movie nerds yeah but I mean that but that was before Rick was even you know uh doing the Letterman show okay but that being said um the cops invading it wasn't like like copyright law and things like that you know we always saw the the warnings at the beginning of every videotape about copying things and distribution and unlawful distribution back then these guys and gals who would trade these films they actually were kind of walking a real one they were walking it they were doing something highly illegal there we go because you the movie companies said we own those movies if you have a copy of it no matter whatever you're violating our copyright you're violating our ownership of that film you had to own the film in order to have the rights to it right so partially what they were dealing in was something that Rick became a very good resource for me on was films that were in public domain after so many years in those days films would go into public domain which meant they had no copyright anyway yep something like 26 years or the 13-year you could renew it for another 13 you know and so there and then there were some things for instance that and I learned all this from Rick that weren't copywritten because somebody at the movie company made a screwed up right good example the first 19 episodes of Star Trek oh man all in public domain but you say how come they can sue you still and the reason they can sue you is because there's music in that show and that music was copy written you're kidding me yes but the the if you ran it without music it was first 19 ever I knew guys who were selling the first 19 episodes you could buy them online you know this is the kind of stuff that Rick like what you just said there was is the kind of tidbits that Rick could tell you five of them in one conversation just but I don't always go to him for like can I run this is it you know is in public domain and then he and I and Weiner started a show um you're gonna uh on cable because I was running blue on midnight blue and Rick I and Weiner did a show that only lasted about three or four episodes called cinemania and what we did is we took all this stuff that was in public domain and ran them on the show you know you're kidding old TV shows old movies things like that and they'd all have a theme you know like one was like here's TV and then we'd run those and then here's like uh you know this movie that kind of movie you know so and and and and Rick would make copies of some of these things and then I would edit them into the show and we'd have this whole show called cinemania were the three of you on the show s or outros or anything like that or was it was it just the films themselves I'm trying to remember I may have done a narration I don't know wow you know if I knew that information it had Spilled Out so it's really nice hearing that again and actually having it recorded for I love them somewhere maybe in his tons of junk there at his house yeah maybe there is a copy of cinemania somewhere there oh man that would be I certainly don't have a copy of it yeah uh so I want to get back to early on Letterman there's a there's a rick told me this story right as we were getting to know each other it might have been actually the night that he told me about you uh because again western Canada so I'm removed enough that my Curiosities are all natural and I'm hearing these things for the first time but also uh I know things too and I think Rick I think Rick appreciated that I I think and and so as he's telling me about you um uh he's telling me uh a few stories about and I and I said after I knew kind of who you were I said okay well did Alex ever make his way to 30 Rock clearly he was already kind of a New York fixture um you know people knew who he was and and that sort of thing did he ever make his way to 30 Rock and see you uh in the Letterman offices and there's one story that he told me that is like kind of eclipses all others go ahead and tell it I know well it's for I don't know what you two were doing that would cause this but you were visiting Rick in his office and it was either language or stories or anecdotes that were being tossed back and forth but apparently Dave poked his head in for whatever reason ascertained something completely different that was going on completely misread the relationship or the conversation and then he went and called security thinking that Rick was in danger is that something because I was the guy he saw on cable TV on that sex show okay so he knew who you were yeah well he knew somehow that he I was the guy and he said isn't that that guy from cable and not knowing that I saw a radio show at the time as well right right yeah but isn't that the guy from cable and he he I think he uh asked Rick do you need help here you know are you uh and he said no no yeah I'm fine I always took that as a badge of honor that Dave thought I was like you know dangerous or something well Rick delighted in it too because it's one of the very first things he told me um and I really I liked that very very I went up there a couple of times actually yeah I remember one time standing out in the hallway not going into the show but standing out in the hallway and I think Rick was with me and then after the show was over Dave coming out just looking miserable sure you know because he he's so every time he I understand every time he ended a show he would just walk out of there miserable he would go upstairs and throw things and everything that you know he he didn't believe in his own Talent you know and uh Merrill I had Merrell on my show years ago and I said uh what happened with you and Dave she says Ah that's old boyfriend stuff that's what she that's how she put it and she said I was producing a show and he was never happy with it and there was only so much of that I could take yeah you know I mean eventually I had to get out of the mix because I I couldn't stand the fact that there's nothing I could do for that show that would make him happy yeah you know um and Maryland was a great gal man the best you know uh she is she is our one of our Dream guests and and I love I love hearing stories about her and I love uh one of the things I loved about Merrell um and this is something that that got Dave knocked it off early on but one of the things that she loved we were talking about the self-deprecation and things like that that had kind of made their way into the fabric of the show one of the things that made its way into the fabric of the show but it it went from spontaneous to more planned looking like it was spontaneous was the idea of pranks on the host like where where something would happen uh that the host was not ready for at all and and of course the genius of Merrell understanding that the genius of Dave is his reactions his spontaneous reactions were many times the most entertaining part of any bit or segment or interview whatever what have you and so she would play pranks on him that he wouldn't expect and and um even though he was so good at it you know he said okay let's let's knock that off because he didn't like the surprise um and this is getting back to Rick here one day there's a sketch planned and you know Carson was part of the sketch Dave was The Observer and the reactor to the sketch that was the difference between the two but there was a sketch plan where uh some sort of device of some sort the shower copier the shower fax machine whatever it was you know there's a shower there and Dave opens up the curtain and there's somebody showering and there's a copier in there well they got Rick naked and he didn't know Rick was going to be naked and it's very obvious when you see it when you see him pull the the curtain and he sees um I love I love that bit and that's that's pure Merrell to me right there is is getting Dave he's investing in Maryland ever did though she was working for I believe she was on a show produced by uh uh who's who's the documentary filmmaker uh you know my mind is just such on the show itself well no she was on another show moved on okay and she did a bit on this show she said I've never considered myself particularly glamorous woman right and I want to be so I decided I would go to people who knew how to do it best and she had a bunch of drag queens do a makeover on her and when it was all over with she looked just like a drag queen it was I thought it was one of the most brilliant pieces I had ever seen on television all right after this ends I'm going to find that that's that's awesome that's something I don't think that's hit my radar uh and I always delighted when that happened the guy did uh he did uh he did that rogered me and are you talking about Michael Moore Michael Moore yeah okay I can remember Michael and me I can't remember Roger Moore Michael Roger um I want to talk about you a little bit more here um I you know what I want to bring up the radio personality and forgive me for forgetting the name and forgetting where it was I feel like it might have been in Texas in Houston there was an incarnation of your show where you were the guy who was like the the toughest host in the entire world and would take calls at a rapid fire rate and if the person on the other end wasn't as sharp as attack they would get kind of a one-word answer from them you'd hang up the phone and and this was the thing I did called quickies yes and I would what I would do is it was I did at the end of a show you know okay so this is okay at the end of a show and I would they would everybody would call up and they I could only say something that was one sentence yes no more yes less was this in Houston I started it here in New York it was in New York okay and I did it and uh you know I would go quickies and then guy would go you know like I I don't know I can't even give you a good example you know you know I'm with him okay down to the next guy you know and we did this uh I did this as a regular thing and then what was it I guess I decided to stop doing it because other people were starting to do it there you go and I just didn't like the fact that it had when once had been stolen it was like a girlfriend who had cheated on me you know and I never stopped doing it I didn't start doing it again until I got to San Francisco and later on in my incarnation in San Francisco I I started back up again and I did it when I was at SiriusXM too right I may not have started back up in San Francisco no I started up at Sirius XM well and probably people who were tuning in to you at Sirius were nostalgic for the wmca days or whatever and the fact that I just one day I said why did I you know people uh Hannity had stolen it yep my good friend Alan Combs had stolen it in fact whenever we would get together he'd always say sorry about stealing quickies you know but I'm kind of doing it a little different I changed the name of it yeah yeah oh yeah and uh I go look Alan I love you you can steal it you know it's yours it do it all you want you know yeah um but uh there were people who stole this I think um Hannity did it I I seem to remember Rush Limbaugh tried doing it once and well the problem is is that his personality is basically that throughout the entire show rather than just this one kind of segment at the end like he kind of was that antagonistic guy I was always looking for a perfect way to end a show and that was a perfect way to end to show yeah oh yeah well okay and so for those who listen to life in the passing lane somewhere along the way uh probably early on maybe in the New York run uh you had a clip in there like an extended clip of it where it's like two minutes of just examples of it where people would call you up and then you'd have the you know it wasn't good that you had the insult hung up next next next next next next and every once in a while somebody would say something clever enough where you would actually give them the time of day and you'd have a little bit of a you'd give them a little bit of leash but the moment that they got to the end of it you know and I loved that um I love how you talk about the idea this is how you are as a broadcaster Dave the same way you know Jay took headlines and then Dave immediately stopped doing things like that on the show you know this um you you have a tendency to not want to keep doing it because my my thought was well you want to steal it go ahead I can come up with something else faster than you could think of one there you go and that's something that I appreciate both about you and and about Dave um you know again not surprising to me that I would uh and I came to it late again introduced to you by Rick um you know your sensibility in many ways very similar to Dave's I want to go back to 30 Rock for a second because I can imagine the first time you went into 30 Rock it had a different like I think of 30 Rock and how I feel about it and for me I associate it probably with Saturday Night Live I think the images of of it go back to that I think that's where my mind as a gen xer goes but you must have walked in there as a broadcaster saying and I don't know how big their range is but say it's a 100 000 watt Tower at the top of you know the old uh is it the old RCA building is that what it is um but there was never an antenna I don't think of this no okay but it's a broadcasting Mecca right to say the to say the least 30 Rock was RCA RCA yes it was RCA and and that's all it was I mean it wasn't just it was partially it was NBC but NBC was part of RCA absolutely you know uh but the whole building was the RCA buildings the 30 Rock it was just a nickname that people started giving it you know the address is 30 Rockefellers centered uh and um uh so you know that it was it was a it was basically it was the RCA building RCA logo at the top then it became the GE Building and now it's the Comcast Building 30 Rock is kind of the iconic name that will never change no matter who the owners uh who have the keys have the building the building if you go into the lobby there and anybody can actually yep is just extraordinary absolutely just the artwork on the walls and everything it's just it you know it's awesome just awesome uh your your journey took you to New York um and and you talk about that and oh no in Houston you were James Bond that's who you were in Houston right yeah yeah James Bond with a British accent talking to the Texans I love I love that that's that to me is old old radio yeah I woke I was working for a guy named Gordon McClendon there come his company hired me got them at Don Keys who was the program director actually hired me and I got the job by sending them an audition tape as Percy McGuire the Liverpool lip and and I did it with the British accent and everything and Jewish kid from San Francisco folks yeah and I gave my father's address as the return address okay because I didn't want them to nail Me by having it come to Sacramento to a radio station and um my father calls me up and he says do you know somebody named Percy McGuire and I said no and actually I wanted to maybe should have been Percy McGuire but I just didn't know what I was doing and and I said well why do you ask and he said because there's a guy's been calling me named Don keys for McLendon broadcasting who wants to talk to him I said do you have a number and he said yeah he left me his number I said okay thanks Dad yeah that was me and then I I call up donkeys and uh I he said I I said do you know where I can find Percy McGuire I said why do you ask he says well we'd like to hire him down here in Houston Texas yeah and I said uh well what if I told you I was Percy and he said can you do a couple of bars of it and I did the British accent he says you're hired if you if you want the job and whose idea was it to tell you actually James Bond that's a little on the nose what was what was the worst part about it was is that they said well you know you're really good at this you know but you can't tell anybody you're not British you can't talk about a character so I anybody anybody in other words people became my friends in Houston thought I was British I couldn't I the deal was I couldn't let anybody know and and you know as time went on I started losing the accent on the air and by the time I completely stopped using it people would come up to me on the street and say you know you've lost your accent a little because they're all Texans and then you think that isn't you know how y'all doing you know it sounds British to them so did you pick up any texting while you were down there did you pick up any of the any of the colloquialisms or the or the accent no but my wife did my wife left Texas with a Texas accent you know it's very it's very easy to to have him because it's it's I don't want to say It's a lazy way of speaking it's a relaxed way of speaking sure and so it becomes kind of you know it's kind of nice to just be able to talk like this you know you know and there are terms that are very good terms because they're useful like y'all yep you know y'all's a very good care means everybody the the most interesting word that I got out of Texas and I asked somebody why they used it because they said why are you when you meet a woman you go you refer to them as Miz and he said am i z yeah and I said and he said well it's because you don't know whether they're married or not and so that's an easy way of of not mistakingly calling them misses or Miss yeah it's a catch-all yeah a couple of years later after this Gloria Steinem starts a magazine called Ms Ms and the reason was exactly that yep you know so uh I often thought you know people underestimate Southerners they think they're stupid and everything else but really they're very smart in a lot of ways absolutely yeah so I uh there's a couple places I want to go with this um for sure uh I love I love the the asides that we're doing here and I appreciate your time I appreciate all of this um I want to talk about you know your first run in New York um I think many people who remember if they were to put things at the top to kind of sum up some of the things John Lennon I think would be one of them Abby Hoffman I think would be another um but at the end of the day you go back to San Francisco and comedy is a huge part in comedians is a huge part um when you were at New York the first time and by the way folks when he left um his his New York radio job when he was fired from it again you think about Howard Stern and some of these other people who create controversies the next day and we've had people who have written into this show that realize I have a a connection to you I've had people who write into me telling me they were in the crowd the day after you were fired it's a little there's a little bit of a time okay okay that was wmca they let me go they let me go not because they didn't like the show they didn't understand the show and they had no and and and um they had just taken on the New York Yankees and they said you're not going to be on that much during the year so we're firing you yeah and I left and then I the next day I heard there was going to be a little demonstration um a little so yeah I took the subway down as I was living up in uh where was I living at the time trying to remember I no I was living up Uptown yep uh in Riverdale and uh I so I take the subway down and I get off and then I go down the street and then I look around the corner to see what if anything's happening and I see a thousand people there yeah demonstrating you know yeah yeah it's uh you know it was it was it it brought a little tear to my eye you know again I had had an influence on people that I made I I meant something yeah they there have been people who were in that program then I went to wplj and you know that lasted for about five years and then I you know wandered around finally I came went out to California okay so PLJ was after that thank you for that for that correction now again John Lennon Abby Hoffman that kind of stuff were Comedians and the comedy scene at all a part of new your New York um the New York show was defined by the fact that I was it began with the Press referred to me as the youth Guru okay uh the youth Guru and still are look at that oh yeah oh yeah all right you know everything that used to go up goes down now anyway um uh and and uh I used to have on a combination of uh what we call social Heroes like Abby Hoffman and right you know and John Lennon I think would be also in that category absolutely had John on once won a lot but her he was on once uh and then I would also have I was the first person to interview music people uh you know rock and roll performers and uh to show you how difficult it was to get them I would call up a record company and say do you have anybody that would like to come on my shows like a one of your performers and they go you want to talk to a performer because nobody was interviewing them they were considered like really dumb to interview they didn't have anything to say or whatever so I started making a giant component of my show uh rock and roll people people in the music business and I had everybody Elton John was on the show and you know he he was maybe the biggest well the all the Grateful Dead I had all but one and then they started smoking pot in the studio and I got high as a kite but anyway that's another story contact high with the Grateful Dead are you kidding me that's a memory of like that's a legendary well I I had a lawyer once I said you know I'm running the show and I got a lot of Counter Culture people and so on and music people coming in what if one of them pulls out a joint and starts smoking and the lawyer said it's not incumbent upon you to tell them to stop oh I love that just legalese let's do this don't don't do it yourself yeah yeah yeah so I said okay so when they all they all pulled out a joint we had the studio that had tables there were like about seven tables and they were all one of them on each of the tables they all pulled out a joint at the same time it started puffing away and blowing the smoke towards me yeah and by the end of the hour I couldn't even remember where I was but you know that was what I did in San Francisco now if you say well what you did excuse me in New York yeah well when you got to San Francisco you did a whole different thing and I said not really I just specialized that's all same specialization I went from music to Comedy yes you know and then I became the king of comedy I became the guy the go-to guy who would I did the first radio show in America that had comedians on on a regular basis including having an audience in this you know they read about the studios they built a chamber that would include an audience for you and there were people who were diehards who would be dying to get into that audience every day and you'd be having the top comedians of the day sitting across from you having that that that that witty uh banter that repartee back and forth and I know how to and I also knew how to work with Comics yes you know because I had a sense of timing myself and I knew how to be the straight man I didn't mind being the straight man uh and that was the problem with anybody else who tried to imitate my show they tried to be funny yes you know and all I tried to do was I I played straight man to these people I would set their jokes up for them okay Alex I gotta make the comparison again um see this is okay so a month before Dave retired that's where you know this picture came from that's where my relationship with Chucky came from I I went to the show uh April 20th 15 and Amy Schumer was one of the guests on the show now two nights before my wife and I are at the Comedy Cellar unbeknownst to us Amy Schumer walks out she does her she does 15 minutes unannounced she did a walk-on it was fantastic she left two nights later we're on the Lettermen show she sits down as a panelist and suddenly her set at the comedy store or at the comedy seller I apologize at the comedy seller two nights before starts coming out in the form of Dave just asking her straight man questions Dave was just asking her questions being a straight man and she was just just punchline it was like set up uh you know set Spike set Spike yeah did you do when the comedians came on the show did they give you it was there any prep or was it just here we go let's have some fun I I I never believed in prep okay because I'm lazy as hell and the other is because I want to be surprised oh yeah I wanna I wanna if if somebody's being funny I want them to be funny naturally right I didn't want anything unnatural to happen but if you tell them well okay now I'll say this and then you say that and then we'll say this and then you'll say that this doesn't come off the same way I mean mine right based entirely on spontaneity right I wasn't afraid of it either you know uh so yeah well Dave's uh Dave's charm I think was was making things like you never knew what was spontaneous with Dave and what wasn't and I and I I because I would never have known that so and don't get me wrong some of the uh some of the routine if you want to call it that was definitely interrupted by spontaneity I don't want to I don't want to diminish what he did there but but the idea of of having these people where they could relax a little bit and not worry about their routines and just go back and forth with you and and there would be entertainment there you did this for years can you name just to kind of show the time period to some of our a lot of people who watch or listen to the show are stand-up fans can you name some of the comedians that you built a relationship with or had on the show uh at live back in the day well the people that I that I that I that I had on as on a regular basis were local San Francisco Comics which a lot of the people out there wouldn't even know Larry Bubbles Brown good example yeah I think one of the funniest guy is alive you know I mean the opening line of his act is uh you know I uh somebody who stole my identity good for them now they don't have a life you know I mean it's that kind of stuff um Bobby Slayton another great comic just I think one of the best stand-ups of our age yeah but most people won't know of them because he didn't make it huge he was he was always there yeah he didn't make it huge uh uh you know so there were a lot of people from San Francisco yeah I had Robin Williams on once yep because I didn't like Robin that much because he stole jokes yeah and I felt these comedians were too hard getting material to have him go on The Tonight Show yeah do the joke and then they can never do it again because people go oh you heard Robin Williams do that on The Tonight Show so he always knew I was a little down on him for that yeah I never quite forgave him work to be honest with him there are stories of him who who would who would he talked about how he was and things would just come out so rapid fire there are stories of him finding out after the fact that he did that and realized it and said money to the comedians who who did their their stories well there was a guy by the name of Tim tomerson down at the uh oh Comedy Store in L.A thomerson great comic absolutely who uh Robin went up and uh started doing his act and he was using some of thomerson's lines yep and when he got off uh Thompson grabbed him pushed him against the wall and said do not ever steal another joke from me and his Robin's wife was right next to him yeah with her checkbook out saying how much do you want wow you know I mean he he you know they um what was it they had a name form at one point I can't remember that there was a joke about you know a fake name room referring to his comedy theft you know uh Tim Thomas I'm trying to remember the cowboy routine that he had uh yeah I know the routine yeah yeah one of the greatest things we had Altman on the show and I mean thomerson is again one of the guys I think it was just his parody of a western it was it was this parody of a western and it was uh uh not Rawhide but it was something like that you know where he was just doing the horse noise the whole time and would have these amazing you know the horror he had a beautiful imitation of horses going in these lines that would just be put into it and another one of the another another one of the great comedians most people don't even know existed you know absolutely well we want to get Tim on this show very I'm just gonna say this get well soon Tim hope everything is going well healing and all that kind of stuff not well no I think he had uh I think he had an injury that was being kind of rehabbed and fixed and all that but uh at his age that could be threatening yeah well there you go um yeah but we've had Altman on and he's talked about him and I think I think Tom Dreesen talked about him as well when he came on man oh man I love Tom oh yeah okay when I met Tom and I mean this is a great example for me to say this I say this anytime someone mentions Tom driesen to me it's like and no offense Uncle Gary sorry buddy but it's like discovering when you meet uh Tom reason it's like discovering your favorite uncle in the entire world and you'd never known him up to this point and you just met your favorite uncle I love Tom I had reason on my show yep and he said why don't you come on down the circle star tonight I'll copy a ticket get your good seats right in the front yeah and you can see Frank you know well it's funny I'd never seen Frank perform live even though my father played with him I was gonna say that astounds me because you were connected there with by your dad I was a Cal Neva with my father sitting in the bar and he just had gotten off doing the show with the with the Rat Pack and then they all went into a little side room and they were there but I never saw I'm there I saw Frank Sinatra but I never saw Frank Sinatra performance right I gotcha so I went down to see Frank Sinatra perform that night courtesy of driesen and he said now I'll take you backstage and introduce you to Frank and I'm going to Jesus this is you know this is this is nirvana right yes and he comes to see me I'm sitting in the in my chair and he says uh I take you back to meet uh Frank but unfortunately he isn't seeing anybody tonight because uh what's his name he um uh God my mind's a blank now this happens to me a lot lately yeah uh because um um what was his best friend's name Jilly he said uh Jilly died today and he doesn't want to really see anybody oh my gosh I didn't get to meet Frank but I got to see Frank and Tom opened for him yeah and it was the saddest show I've ever been to he referenced it and talked about it during the show what no no he didn't it was status because he didn't get a chance to see him though no it was so sad as to this great one of the greatest pop singers that ever lived yeah okay yep no longer could do it he was just you know hitting clams like crazy occasionally the light would be just right you know and he hit the note just right and you go I just saw Frank you know the right by the time it was it was pathetic his son was was running the orchestra okay yeah yes yeah Frank Jr and and uh that night and uh he uh at one point Frank is singing make it one for my baby one more for the road you know yeah and then at the end of it very dramatically he takes a cigarette he's been holding in his hand and throws it down on the rug which at the Circle Star Theater uh was a rug rather than a thing it was a rug and he puts his foot there and is it doesn't even put it out it's for his foot is to the right of it and all of a sudden as he's talking to the audience the stage starts to catch fire and Frank Jr is yelling over dad the stage is on fire so Franklin took his foot and put it out but I mean that was the nature of the show that night it wasn't like seeing Frank it was like seeing Frank Sauer I don't yeah you know little glimpses uh well okay so um you know argue well not even arguably from the numbers perspective the the the the highest uh uh the biggest broadcaster in the world right now is a guy by the name of Joe Rogan Joe Rogan talks about his days at The Comedy Store and he talks about when he got to see Pryor but when he got to see Pryor he had come so far that it was Pryor who had just gone under the wheelchair yeah and and Richard still performed and he still he talks about that the way that you talk about this with Frank there there even at that point there were glimpses where you could see it but it was so sad because you know what was by the way here's another here's another link to shacky yes at one point check he said here and he handed me on four CDs uh files of every song ever recorded by Frank Sinatra including stuff that was completely bootleg so there's the archivist that is our friendship yeah I have every song Frank Sinatra ever recorded Tom know that I don't know okay well I'm gonna tell Tom that it's illegal I mean well I mean I feel like statues and limitations now might be at a place where I'm gonna tell Tom that and and uh because uh Tom show I want to get this app I want to make this happen somehow I want to get to the point where I can kind of bring comedians here to Kelowna because cologne is such a beautiful place and we do have standards that do come here like Bert Kreischer was just here uh and we have we have a we have a really nice theater I want Tom to come up here and do his one-man show about Frank and I don't know if you've seen this or heard about this but Tom because Tom in many ways is the last Vestige of this and he comes in and and they have a little setup where there's a bar and a screening behind him Frank comes up and sings a song and and then Tom goes and does a bunch of material and tells stories about Frank Sinatra all night and it's it's it's an entertaining show I want to see it live um I love that we're talking about this and I love that you made that shacky connection because he is one of the greatest archivists uh ever you know like when you have a guy like Don Giller tip his hat to Rick scheckman you you understand um yeah I mean shaky was a great archivist but more than that he was a great historian I think that's a better place to put him yes uh you know and and the fact is though he never you know the thing that bothers me is that all his life he had gained this infinite amount of knowledge about movies right he really wasn't very good at movies or modern movies like you know right yeah totally but but the old movies he was an expert at silent films and films in the 40s and 30s and you know that sort of thing yeah uh but he never ever wrote a book put it down on paper you know or anything like that so here's his whole life of filling your brain with this infinite amount of knowledge yeah and then you die and what did it matter you know it's funny you just basically we talk about transfer of knowledge a lot on this show because whereas his friend Leonard Mountain put out yes very knowledgeable in much the same way shecky is in fact Moulton was one of his closest friends yes and uh and um uh you know uh Shaggy never wrote a book you know Turkey never did anything like that all he had were a bunch of DVDs and films in his basement and you know things like that well he built a company around it he did do that and that company is in my understanding of things going to continue on correct well the company is was he wasn't the only owner of the company my trust his close friend right his business associate for years yes runs the company um you know they they it's one of these if you need a film clip or something you get a hold of these guys and they'll find it for you yes but um you know I I just uh I it's just you say so you get all that knowledge yeah like me I get all this whatever skill that I had and then as I get older it either Fades away or I die before it fades away and then the question is what was that like Marlon Brando said on his deathbed what was that all about you know I mean what did all that gaining that knowledge you know he never check he never shared it with anybody else I mean on a wide scale no anecdotally though he did and that's one one of the things that many people who love him loved were all of the tidbits or the things that he would share with people but you're right he didn't do it corporately he didn't do it in a way where um he didn't do it in a way where it could be you know a museum somewhere yes exactly his mind is a museum like yeah and that that's the thing that bothers me the most because I go what did his life become it became a bunch of DVDs that are likely to wind up in a dumpster oh let's hope hope let's hope not well I mean they're not worth anything yeah okay you know there are some in there if you knew how to pick them correctly I mean I could go there and probably say hey this is you can throw this away the 800 800 000 people have this one yeah and there's some that he was he got that were like one of a kind or whatever those uh but you have to separate them out you know yeah but I mean the question is what what happened all that what happened to his films were uh he sold them to the Library of Congress yes so at least there is a rich checkman in the Library of Congress which I love that and I'm glad you brought that up well I think you did it not so much because he wanted to give the Library of Congress good films but he wanted to make 250 000.

I was gonna say they made it worth his while to do that as well yeah also also the fact that he had Acts assisted them anytime he wanted them yep and SEC and and the last part of that is that uh he also had copies of all of them yeah uh you know as as digital files so it didn't matter you know okay you want to pay me 250 000 bucks for this great I'll take it I love anytime because I'm a collector and uh and Rick and I this is what part of the somebody said Don actually was Don Giller who said this on your show a couple weeks ago how Rick had many orbits and you you referred to that but he used the term orbits I love that Rick and I we uh got together uh in our friendship um through a light loving of uh professional wrestling a loving of comic books sports memorabilia we were just different eras and and I loved listening to him yeah tell his stories and whatnot I was a receptacle for that I I loved the transfer of knowledge there and then he would ask me about things happening currently in comic books or things but I'll tell you this as a collector I love hearing any story of a collector actually getting paid off for something because so many times we collect stuff and then it doesn't mean anything these were films that he owned illegally yeah totally okay you know so good one it's wonderful but many times he became the only resource I mean I'm trying to remember what show that NBC did uh and um they didn't have the first hour with some yeah uh and I'm trying to remember what the show was oh it was a big it was someone big too like I wasn't Sinatra but it was someone I thought it was something really big or like it was like a Bob Hope something or it was a it was a it was a big it was a big deal whatever it was I remember now I know what you're talking about yeah it might have been our town with Frank Sinatra but I don't know if it was that but anyway they didn't have this they only had the second hour of it yeah the second reel of it and Jackie said uh too bad they didn't call me I've got the first reel with sound downstairs yeah so yeah um I want to go back to comics for a second oh here there's a hungry random it might have been Humphrey Bogart in the television version of the Petrified Forest oh wow yeah and he he had like the first hour with Sam I I think something like that Bogart yeah it was something really big like that yeah but anyway I was gonna say you would yeah in these orbits yes then he had his Letterman orbit film friends orbit then he had his family orbit is yep you know his brother out in Steamboat Springs his nieces yeah his nieces who adore him yeah is that and then there's a small little group that nobody a lot of these people don't even know exist I'm one of them at winer's another one you know Steve yeah we were just friends that's it yeah we're just friends not Associates we not friends that he got through film you know yeah there are a lot of those or through Letterman or through his family just friends and I think I can only name two of us myself and our friendship has been extraordinary over the years yeah um and and it it just never it never ceased it never went away there wasn't a time when Rick wasn't in my life for the last 45 years yeah yeah what a beautiful statement and and it becomes like Stephen King says there are no Happy Endings it's only when the author decides to stop the story um because the ending of course is is is is death for all of us and and but but it is beautiful for you to say that 45 years um I want to finish with the uh I want to finish you know I mean we could say we can talk about whatever we want still but I want to finish with Bill Hicks because I think it sums up much of the connection with all of these things together uh talking about the Bill Hicks story but before I do I want to ask this um do you have any memories of Andy Kaufman did Andy Kaufman ever cross paths with you at all no no okay the only story I have about Andy Kaufman is it was a guy by the name of Monty Hoffman that I knew who told me that the day before he had been walking past a club in uh in hate Ashbury called the other Cafe God yeah remembering more things than I'm forgetting and uh he said he saw Andy walking down the street and he walked over and he said hi Andy how are you and he says I'm dying he said really and he said you know the worst part about it is didn't believe him nobody believes me yeah and that's all there's otherwise I never met Andy Cobb uh Rick and I um Rick and I bonded over professional wrestling as well um and and you talk about you as a broadcaster um professional wrestlers as what they did especially back then what they did because it was so uh the character was so important Andy Kaufman same thing you talk about him as a comedian the performance artist how he in wrestling they call it live the gimmick and and you talk about a guy like Andy Kaufman that guy lived the gimmick when it came to what he did and and and uh I just appreciated that about him check he had lots of Andy stories and and boy did I love hearing those I would get him to retell the stories yeah um speaking of which I want to talk about Hicks um you know you you did such a I appreciate the fact that you were a little bit modest about the people who were on your show when you were in San Fran but you had the biggest comics of the day basically I there are very few Comics that didn't make it to my yes okay I'm glad you said that because like some of them only one time and they didn't want to come back again you know but yeah well you know you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen um because some Comics are really canned when it comes to this stuff they're very scripted and and and what you were describing the loose feeling where wit and charm uh certainly comes to the Forefront but also I would imagine a lack of wit and charm we try to keep the show only positive but but but I'm certain that there was more than one person who was more than one way where they came on as a guest and you're like what a what a dud they may be funny on stage but maybe not well the worst on my show in San Francisco the worst kind of comedian I could have was a comedian who came on my show and did material there you go yes in other words he was looking for uh like uh is this nice sunny day well the funny thing about sunny days is you know I mean uh I always hated those I like people who could work off the top of their head and be funny yes or realize they didn't have to be funny all the time you know I mean that's one of the rules you don't have to be funny all the time all you have to do is be fun okay and that's easier than being funny I think about oh you know what I gotta ask you about this then because okay you talk about that by the way I didn't I didn't invent that line I got it from Steve Allen I thought it was great advice you know oh absolutely oh that's cool that you would reference that too however the worst guest I ever had on my show was Steve Allen is that Mickey Rooney was the other one Mickey Rooney was the other one oh my God Mickey Rooney what a mess that was God and and you know if if Judy just called me she'd be alive today thank you very much you know I'll tell you a quick story about about bees oh God please Alex so we're doing our show from La yeah okay and a few the night before I've been watching TV in my hotel room and it was the Joan Rivers show you remember the Joan Rivers absolutely oh yeah legendary in comedy her guest her guest was Mickey Rooney yeah and Mickey Rooney comes out and completely hijacks the show and I said it's the only time I've ever felt sorry for Joan Rivers I said he's the worst guest you could possibly have on any show now I'm doing the show from the ABC Studios in L.A the week in La of shows yep and uh I'm I'm I'm doing my show and I got some comics and stuff there and we're talking about this we're talking about that and I look in the control room and there's my producer Christy Frazier now and then Andrade and I don't know what her name is now but uh Christy and who's who's she talking to in the control room but Mickey Rooney oh boy and I'm thinking myself please God please don't let her make the worst mistake ever and bring him in here hide your progress right there next thing I know Mickey Rooney is sitting in front of me okay the door's open he walks in sits down and now he starts and it's the same stuff I heard on the on the river show right yeah and if if if Judy had just listened to me she'd still be alive and whatever and you know he's not being funny he's just an absolute pain in the ass completely has hijacked the show and over his shoulder I could see the face of a comedian was a good friend of mine Bob Rubin very funny comic and he's just looking at me doing this and I'm starting to laugh and what do you think Rudy thinks it's because I'm laughing because of what he's saying encouraging him yeah but it was it was just you know it was god-awful and I you know it's it's very hard to get rid of a guest sometimes uh because you realize suddenly that guest is terrible right in your case you can do an interview with them and if it isn't any good you just don't run it right I've been blessed to not have that experience on this show but on my other show I certainly have so I know what you're talking about I had what's his name on my Dinner with Andre uh uh oh Princess Bride what's his name yeah Chris guest no no no not Chris uh sorry Rob Reiner no no it's despicable you know oh huh the guy played fascini on Princess Bride yeah yeah inconceivable um yeah I know you're talking about yeah I'm sorry it's it's anyway anyway and I was looking forward to him because I loved his work yeah he's very funny I think very funny it's a funny voice is what it is definitely uh and he comes on and he is just deadly dull now he's a great actor I love his work I've always felt uh his work was terrific what's his name God damn it I'll find it while you go you keep going yeah you keep going anyway so he is just God awful boring so you kind of then say well Hey listen thanks for dropping by and he looks at me and says I wasn't good enough he says this on the air oh no oh no no you were fine now let's keep going so he kept going and it was the most boring half hour I ever did on radio wallashon wallashon there we go what a great sweet guy God he didn't want to break his heart you know when he and when he was I not good I wasn't good enough oh my God that's the worst thing that can happen going back to Mickey Rooney for a second the worst thing that can happen yeah to a host on a show is when somebody whether it's a guest or call or somebody like that and you do something and they start crying oh yeah I think you said you can't look good you just have to cringing go under the table yeah and that's what happened with Wally I just you know I wasn't good enough oh geez um back to Mickey Rooney for a second just to show the generational thing my whenever somebody says anything to Mickey Rooney to me well I guess now it's kind of it used to be uh my my wife loves Breakfast at Tiffany's and so now every time we watch it every Christmas and a couple times a year because I love doing that of course nothing like Mickey Rooney playing a Japanese guy that is there you go at all is it there you go it was a different time but where my mind used to go before we started watching this every year was Dana carvey's impersonation of him on Saturday Night Live which was I was the biggest star in the world he would do it oh my God that growing up with that person if people watching us remember Mickey Rooney yeah Mickey Rooney at one point in his career was for five years running I think the biggest star in the world yes the biggest star in the world yep it's pretty hard to come down from that yes and what you saw in the end with Mickey Rooney was him coming down from that very much so I think I'll I'm glad you put it that way um so let's go to Bill Hicks because Bill Hicks was at the time I mean I don't know which comic it is now but you think about guys along the way prior is definitely won Carlin is definitely one here is the best way I describe Hicks to people okay all my life people have gone ever since uh uh his death yeah saying oh this guy's an excellent he Brews and I saw Lenny perform live in San Francisco on at least one occasion and I knew what Lenny was like and I was a fan of Lenny's and I knew what Lenny did and I'm sorry just because a guy you know Sam Kinison comes along oh he's the next Lenny Bruce no he's not no he's not you don't understand what Lenny did you have to you have to have a certain outrage at the world around you and then you have to report it on stage and when I met up with Hicks I said my God this is the closest we've come to a new Lenny Bruce what a compliment coming from you who is you know not by you know at the very minimum and expert level because you're in it you're in it you're in it broadcasting about it you're interacting with it so for you to say that that's a powerful powerful statement and Hicks was that yeah and the the last time I ever saw Hicks alive was at the punch line in San Francisco in the in the back room where the performers waited to go on yep and I went back and to say hello to him I said how you doing what bill I hadn't seen him in a couple of months yeah and he said oh I don't know he says I'm I'm quit this this is like one of my last performances I'm quitting comedy well what it was he knew he was dying you know and he had already gotten the verdict but he wasn't about ready to say it to anybody yeah and he just said I'm quitting I'm just getting out of business and I said what so how could you get out of the business I said you're one of the best that ever was yeah you know and and you're not even that good now compared to what you're gonna be in another 10 15 years yes practicing your craft you're just incredible yeah and he went yeah but I'm quitting and I didn't know then that the reason he was quitting was because he had bought six months to live and then I was in New York this is how the story comes full circle yeah I'm in New York summaries I guess I was at Caroline's going to see a friend of mine who was going there to look at the place because they were performing there that yeah and somebody at Caroline said did you hear Bill Hicks died I said really he died he said what up he says it was pancreatic cancer and he's had it for a long time and just and knew he had it and he went back to Texas and hung out with his mom and then he died and the first person I thought to call was sheky shacky so I call shaky and I go did you hear about Bill Hicks and shecky's first words out of shecky's mouth was what did he do now and I said he died and shecky just what I said yes Bill Hicks is dead and then he went and told Dave yeah yeah um so every time I think you know maybe shecky and I didn't know each other that well there's just another shecky story you know of some place that has impacted my life whether it's that story or my wife and I saying hey we got married or you know this thing or that thing or the fact that Ed Hall slept on my couch while he was you know doing uh some what happens is over in the Presidio this place called the Letterman Hospital so he was taking photographs I think he was just in San Francisco on a vacation but he was taking photographs of that so they could use him on the Letterman show yeah and um uh you know I but I remember shecky was with him and you know I just all these things in my life where shecky was always there yeah and I know that I meant a lot to shecky absolutely because the stories that get back to me is that oh yeah I mean Randy was saying as she was taking him in the ambulance to the hospital this last time he went I've got to get back by Monday to do the show you know um and I kind of was stunned by that you know I mean here you are you're you're at death's door in many ways and you're all you can think about is getting back in time to do the show you know so I what I meant to him was far more I think he never expressed what I meant to him he wasn't that sentimental person you know but I did it to other people though because I all I know is how he like my initial within two or three interactions with him he told me about what you meant to him like you were you were one of the brightest shining stars in his whole life he loved it I never had that feeling because you guys just interacted like it was all like you said it was just my friend yeah yes and I didn't realize you know you only realize after 45 years that yeah he's been a friend how many people can I name that I knew 45 years ago that I'm still talking to or that even mattered to me but this guy did and I I always I you know I it's such a shame it's I wish he had taken better care of himself yeah you know there's a part of me there's a there's this kind of remorse you get when somebody dies and we should go God I'm feeling it too why didn't you take you get mad at them you know why didn't you take better care of yourself you know and there were extenuating circumstances to his death and it had to do with certain proclivities that he had um medicinally yeah that didn't help okay no uh he died I think from complications of a condition yes but it was it was so early and it was not what I expected you know none of us did we all thought he was going to pull through all of us there wasn't one person that thought this was like where I where my misplaced anger or rage it doesn't go to him for taking care of himself I can see that it was more the hospital visit three four months ago whatever it was you know why didn't we start being proactive at that point and instead of just discharging him and sending him home I get angry about that I tell the story and I the the only you know you don't see Clues when they're right in front of your face yeah okay shacky was never forthcoming about any condition no it was like pulling teeth asking him hey how you feeling today and to get him to actually he tried the last time I ever talked to him it was after after our show yeah I used to call him every time the show was over I love that and talking I love that you did a postmortem with shecky every Monday I love that after the show yeah I had to make sure I had my cell phone here so I could call immediately I tried yeah yes I could do it yeah but um um uh the last time the last thing I said to him so how you feeling he said I'm feeling pretty good you know I'm okay you know I'm a little tired most of the time but I'm I'm okay yeah so I I took that you know what are you gonna say you know you look like crap yeah no I mean the last time I saw him he was walking too well yeah he's walking like an old man uh but the thing is that that you know that I what I said to him was uh uh he had accumulated a pretty decent amount of money um a lot of it had to do with his brother made good Investments for him and the fact that he didn't spend it much anywhere you know on cruises occasionally but you know that was it yeah Latin DVDs yep so um uh I I said to him I said so I said you know you're well you're well to do I said you have a will don't you and he says no I don't and I said well I if I were you I would write one I said the reason being that you got this chunk of money that you say you have I didn't know how much he had or didn't have doesn't matter yeah I said but never mind the Collectibles too by the way if you don't if you don't if you don't have a will yeah I said all that stuff is going to the state you know it's going to lawyers it's going to everybody else but the people you would like to see get it yeah so you know it's be good for you to have a will so for I guess maybe a year I was bugging him about it every now and then going so he said well I'm thinking about seeing a lawyer every time he would bring it up you know and finally I I he said to me I went to a lawyer today and he said I made I we got together all the information and he's going to write the will and then I'll go in next week and sign it and he went in the next week and he told me the next time I talked to him I just got the will I signed it you know oh no kidding even tell me where he put it you know I can't remember now I have no idea where he put it sure because it passed by me like this and so yeah okay you made a will and I I think I said to him at the time yeah you made a will but uh uh you know I hope you live long enough that I'm never gonna have to find out what's in that will you know because I you're gonna I'm gonna be you're gonna be here long after I'm gone yeah but it's just good that you have it and then people are are going to get it to remember it and so on and so forth yeah and um I was I was happy that he had done it yeah just for him because I didn't want to see it was my only really decent advice to him well if I had looked at it in retrospect the fact that he did it all of a sudden yeah you know and they went and did it and went and saw the lawyer and all that should have said something to me yeah exactly about his health yeah that one of those doctors appointments some doctor might have said something to him like you aren't long for this world yeah you know but he would never share that with me no the only indication I had is he had a will made up finally after all that time of nudging him about it and not for any personal reasons I just I for benefit of him I I knew of all this stuff he and forget about the money the stuff he owned the Collectibles absolutely Collectibles and all of that and that all of that you know should be taken care of definitely it's not like he it's not like some people you know he got a little like me I got a bunch of crap around here okay what am I leaving behind it now he had a bunch of important crap around yeah yes do you want the DVDs in back of me hey they're yours when I go yeah but and and there was no personal reason why I wanted him to have a will no I wanted him to have a will because I didn't want to see all this stuff wind up as as he once put it in a dumpster outside the apartment outside the house exactly you know and uh so I'd bug him about it and when he did it I it didn't occur to me that there was a reason why he did it all of a sudden but I think there's something he knew we did not yes it's not that we didn't know it we weren't being made aware of it exactly I totally totally agree with that I think he downplayed it whenever people asked him about it um and I think that that helped give us that feeling that oh whatever it is he's gonna well they'll figure it out and they'll get past it I knew he was going to see doctors and things like that but they weren't doing much for him they thought he had anemia they were giving him blood transfusions yeah must have been one of those doctors who suddenly figured out what it was yeah you know but he wasn't sharing that with me he wasn't sharing that with anybody I don't know if he shared it with Randy I don't think he probably even shared it with Randy I mean Randy knew that he was ill I knew that he was Ill he was passing out a lot you know but we knew there was something wrong you could look at him and say Hey you know he's walking like an old man there's something there's something a little bit wrong here but she didn't think that would result in what it resulted in I mean that one week I've got him on my show in the next week he's dead exactly you know and and uh um so I mean it it was a I I just you know I I every day it doesn't get better it gets worse yeah actually because initially I said you know the wonderful thing about me is I'm stoic about this kind of stuff you and I talked about this yeah I think that's the broadcaster and somebody dies I get very stoic about it I think that's the broadcaster in you coming out man I think I think no I think it's the way I am I my father died I didn't cry but then I was told when I was asleep that night I did cry yes a year later when I wanted to talk to my father about something and realized he wasn't there anymore I broke down okay so the breaking down that I do is later on not there you know yeah I mean I was at the hospital and there he was on life support basically and I looked at it and I went it's a shame but that's not shacky you know that's not isn't it who is shecky shecky somebody I can talk to yeah you know and now shecky is a memory I mean a lot of good memories yeah you know I mean we we traveled across the United States together in a car yeah which by the way you talk about in life in the passing Lane a lot because I have memories of that because of of you sharing those memories and I'm really grateful that you did yeah he he is uh on one hand a great person to drive with because he plays Navigator he sits in the other seat and uh turn left here oh there's a traffic uh uh you know traffic jam up there here uh turn left here go here very good very good at that the other part that makes him a terrible person to travel across the country was sometimes he would completely shut down yeah and become uncommunicative for talk about a guy who is comfortable his own skin though he could be silent you know for yeah yeah just completely silent and the one thing shecky said he always liked about me is that actually he said you could move in with me he said because you understand when to leave me alone this was true I always knew that hey Now's the Time we don't talk to shecky and now's the time's not going to help to talk to Jackie right now you know other people go what's wrong what's wrong what's that yeah just so miles and miles and 100 miles and finally he would start talking to me yeah but that was you know those were the things I loved about them you know and we went to we went to Graceland together and we went to sudden records and all the Danny Thomas uh St Jude's Hospital yeah we wanted to see the glass coffee table if it was there uh that's a joke that I will not explain folks but it has to do with the peccadillo that Danny Thomas had the whole story was he used to like to have uh here here here here here talk about performance art this kind of comes full circle too uh he uh Danny Thomas had a certain pecadillo supposedly uh that he liked to have a glass coffee table and the higher hookers to come take a dump on the glass coffee table while he lied on laid under it that's the rumor I just say it's rumor because I want to get sued by Saint Jude's hospital he did a wonderful thing there by the way so yeah yep but uh uh so the big joke was when we went there was Sheck he said where's the glass coffee table but he wanted to go there because that's where Danny Thomas was buried not because it was Saint Jude's Hospital absolutely well my good friend Karen Babbitt whose father was Art Babbitt who was a animator for Disney was one of the originals nine or something they call them and I don't know if I had chick ever meet her but art Babbitt was he did the he did the evil queen in Snow White wow the dancing mushrooms was the exact Nation iconic occasion iconic and then he's the guy that uh led the strike against Disney and was ultimately pushed out after the strike was over because he was he was a troublemaker right uh but that's how how I come full circle with shacky because I knew Karen Babbitt and he liked that you know I'm just gonna just gonna miss him I'm gonna miss him for so many reasons and they're so simple you know and it's not like I mean if his film fans the friends got together they go oh I just love talking about movies with him and blah blah blah blah and the people led him oh he was great to work with but in my case it's just dismiss those little stupid conversations we had yeah me too yeah I I uh me too I I miss talking about he loved the show you're doing he said you're a very good interviewer man I that I said are you saying that to make me feel bad well and I mean I talked about this in my my true the tribute episode we put out where I just kind of talked to camera and it was out of therapy for me more than anything and like a lot of people don't know he was I had a conversation with him about a week or two before the first show came out I said look I said I'm really going to do this and he encouraged me the whole time um you know never doing anything for me he always made me do the work um but would would help along the way provide me with an email address or provide me with this and if I email the person and copied him on it he would then throw an endorsement out there or whatever and he would give me notes after every show but beforehand I like this show would not exist if it wasn't for Rick sheckman because I said to him and it was a Godfather reference and I I referenced this before but I said to him in all seriousness I didn't know a better way of of describing what I was looking for I said I need a Tom Hagen I need a conciliary and Rick in all seriousness came down to my level because I'm a goofy guy and I know we talk comics and and DC animated shows and stuff but he came down to my level and I said look I like I said it in all earnestness I needed Tom Hagen and he said Mike I'm there for you it's not a matter of doing the show or anything I'm there to help you do this and I will help counsel you and he gave me notes at the beginning and and and the last 10 or 15 episodes he didn't give me a note except for saying it's really good the first time I heard about you was Rick said to me he says I said I think you called the show or something and I said who is that guy and he says they'll take this wrong I'm not going to they said he's a fanboy yep yeah he's a fanboy he said but he's he's not a pain in the ass Fanboy that hits me right in the heart I I think I feel okay occasionally he can be but he's mostly he's not a pain in the ass I am I'm an annoying puppy dog is the way that I that I've been described yeah yeah that's that's very very very good well and and that's where you know when he invited me on your show and I don't know if he's ever invited other people onto your show or not but he invited me on there um and and and I think I think he was vetting me because I think there was a part where he was like okay is this guy for real or not and it was well over a year that I think yeah but I think I think I mean I I I think he really liked you sure and and and uh uh you know he's always a little I don't know how to describe me because Rick could be a real pain in the ass sometimes you know but that's that's why somebody's a friend of yours they can be a pain in the ass and you don't hold it against them yes you just ignore them for that for for a whole day while they're being grouchy he got very grouchy towards the end yeah yeah um so surely Rick was funny though Rick was very funny Surly Rick was really funny too though like when he was complaining against something like what DC Comics was doing now compared to what they used to do or whatever I would love to talk to him about that stuff I loved when he would you know kind of lament uh what you know and then talk about the old days and things like that and he was always really funny talking about it I'll make you I'll make you have an orgasm you know that I was the emcee at the comic book awards one year yes I did know that I was invited to do it by Stan Lee oh that was just and then I I was invited by Stan Lee to be a part of the cast of a show he did at Carnegie Hall where people would read the various characters and comic books and I was Dr Doom oh I didn't know that one yeah oh that is my mother was still alive I called her from backstage at Carnegie Hall and said guess where I am and she said where I said I'm about ready to go on stage at Carnegie Hall and she just went what you know that was a Big Thrill in her life I'm covered in Goosebumps right now um would okay I gotta ask about that show now okay did Stan narrate was that what Stan's role I can't remember you know so long ago I just okay huh like Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends growing it was Stan Lee but Stan Lee presents somewhere somebody I have it here sent me the uh the sign outside Carnegie Hall for that it was Stan Lee presents or a night with Stan Lee and Marvel Comics or something like that well here's the cool thing so he had one Monday yeah one Monday when I'm on your show you'll have found it and you're gonna show it to me on the show and that's one thing I I want to say how um and I mean we're almost two hours here I I I just um I love you and I'm so grateful for you I wouldn't know you if it wasn't for Rick sheckman I am really grateful that one of the legacies you know you throw a rock in the water in these pools uh you know continue on these ripples continue on one of the ripples is that I get to be on your show as long as you're gonna do it um and I get to know you one of the ripples is I get to be on yours oh you're a sweetheart for saying that um I can't wait till you find that on on a show on Monday you show it if people want to um find you is gabnet is the best way to do it because you're on well you can find me at 1925 7th Avenue Apartment 8.

go to Harlem folks hey folks uh yes I just gave out my address so what so what you want to steal stuff from here great come on I'll hand it to you out the door okay what do you want one of these DVDs in back of me be my guest you know so um gavnet.net right and you're on dot net yeah that's where I'm on every Monday is not political at all it's just a bunch of friends that get together and just panel and we just shoot the right and I do that at four o'clock and put it out over Facebook yeah okay because I can just do a direct thing to Facebook for that and then it goes on YouTube after the fact yes it goes we put on YouTube after the fact right so for people who want to see Rick scheckman you literally have a weekly Archive of of Rick coming on this show for years I don't know I don't have those shows those shows are only archived for a couple of weeks I mean I have them I have them uh but they aren't in you can't get a general you know idea of it you you managed to download a copy before I mean I could have just sent you a copy well don't we go onto YouTube though I like on YouTube I go back and the pop-ups are there you're right you are absolutely correct yeah that's how I've been accessing it I've been going on to YouTube and and after I post them there they're permanently on YouTube yeah but live is so fun it's fun whatever you see go go back about two weeks ago yeah go back a week ago because on Friday we did a show which was a tribute to Rick yeah and and just go down wherever you see pop-up just open that up in there Rick probably will be on that show yeah I I uh well the past and the past few when you talk about him liking the Letterman podcast the past few shows he actually would interrupt whoever was and actually give a shout out oh by the way here's my obligatory shout out to Mike and the and to me and again hindsight being 20 20.

I had I knew it was sick but you know he also had a trip plan like right now he was just supposed to be coming yeah I didn't know how thick he was because he was about right in fact the reason why he actually didn't go on that cruise because he passed out yeah Randy right and and he never got to the boat he never got to Florida he didn't get to Florida yeah uh and so when he was planning stuff like that his stuff planned for next year or for later this year exactly like to go to portonone in Italy for this Festival that was there and he had a lot of these various things he was planning so the fact that he was planning them that's what threw me off I was planning a trip let him you know how sick can he be me too exactly um and and so but we have him being him right up to the very the the very end and I just uh I've been watching a lot of that I've been watching a lot of the recent Monday shows the sad part is I was never able to say goodbye yeah you know I said it when he was in the lying there in the hospital room yeah and I said you know I'll be back Rick but get better please you know I love you and uh I did they said that sometimes people who are like that in the coma of that sort um really can hear you they can hear you absolutely so I said it in case he could hear me you know uh I may have even said I love you yeah I think I did as a matter of fact but you know I just sat there when a lot of good it's doing me you know I just wish you were I mean I wish you were kind of some people die in a hospital but they're going and they say hello goodbye to the family and I love you and you know see you on the other side or whatever but never got that opportunity no so the answer to that is folks everybody will love tell them how much you love them right now you know as Warren v as Warren zevonne said enjoy every sandwich and uh and and and really at the end of the day like I'm glad I have this opportunity on our show to say this to you I love you man and I'm so grateful that I'm in your orbit uh where I am I'm so grateful for the transfer of knowledge that I've gotten through you anytime you need me I'm here well I appreciate you um you're gonna be at checkmest I'm sure I will okay I I my plan is that I'm going to be out there as well for that and and I'm glad I get to see you guys what it is it's his memorial yeah statement you know because he was what cremated I don't know when he was crazy have you heard anything um we'll talk about it off off camera so okay but yeah I I uh I hope I hope that not only are you there I hope that you're speaking there because again um you know Rick there wasn't a conversation that he and I had and we had a lot of them uh that where your name didn't come up like like you just he were you were his best friend and and a huge part and maybe the second best friend because he talked a lot about Randy as well but well Ryan he was a really good friend to him I mean Randy Randy took care of him absolutely and we dedicated our tribute you were there are a few people that we dedicated our tribute to uh last week and and you and Randy were certainly uh two of those names because you just were a huge part of his life and and and and he meshed everything together and and and uh I just appreciate that about so so much about him um now that you spent two hours wasting what little time I have left here on Earth um you know it's been nice talking to you and as I say if you want to do this again I'm I've been more than happy absolutely anytime an anecdote of Rick comes up write it in point form or whatever because I I want to get as many uh stories as possible but thank you Alex for being Youth and and again I you know we're talking about our friend Rick our mutual friend Rick you and I would know each other without him but again you I thank you for your contribution to broadcasting I thank you for stretching the field and and the boundaries of broadcasting and all that you are I appreciate the hell out of you Alex Bennett thank you so much for being you man and I want to thank Howard Stern for everything I have and with that we're gonna stop here I'll do an outro separately and I'm gonna hit stop now thank you Alex I appreciate you thank you okay so uh there was my conversation with broadcast Legend uh I can say it now that he's gone broadcast Legend Alex Bennett I hope I hope throughout the show um not only that we did a we did a nice job saying a few anecdotes about Letterman if you had a lot of talk about checky um that's is that's one of his very best friends right there and and for him to open up with some of those stories um I'm just I'm really grateful that we can we can share a kinship in that um and talk about our friend Rick uh but not just the Letterman anecdote it's not just talking about Rick but I hope that um there are people out there who now know did maybe didn't know that Alex existed uh but now no and and get a flavor for the idea of how much uh he did influence broadcasting and and and uh um you know even when he was able to to talk about some of the things that he's done incredibly humble when you think about the actuality of things and what he did actually mean to broadcast how he did actually take the ball down a few yards that the ball had never been before and and talking about Lenny Bruce talking about Bill Hicks um you know Comics who did that when it came to the world of stand up uh Alex certainly did that when it came to broadcasting and um you know it's funny like I'm a huge Enthusiast of David Letterman I'm a huge Enthusiast of of Alex Bennett I just have a thing for broadcasters I really appreciate the fact that uh whenever I come across a legendary bro I have the same thing for Brian Williams I really like Brian Williams a lot of the newsman and his broadcaster as well um anyway so so grateful for that now uh for those who like the Bill Hicks story there is a Don Giller collection that focuses on Bill Hicks um and and it includes uh hicks's appearance that um was was stricken from the record on The Late Show early on there was an appearance of Bill Hicks that uh that didn't make the cut uh or they cut they they shot it and cut it and it didn't make the show afterwards and they put up uh footage of Bill shaft in one of the Test shows uh instead um years later when when they wanted to rectify that situation as is after they didn't know that that bill was dying at the time years after when they wanted to show the set uh that bill did that night and and had Bill's mother on the show as a guest to talk about it um they didn't know where that footage was and and Rick sheckman was the guy who had it incidentally just so you're aware um when Bill Hicks got cut that night the very next day he was on Alex Bennett's show and talked about it and talked about uh you know that so we're talking about broadcast history instead of History all meshed together uh Letterman involved Rick sheckman involved Alex Bennett involved Bill Hicks like it just it's a it's a really it's a historic story uh in the annuals of Santa been broadcasting and I just I'm glad we got to kind of talk about that today um on the Lettermen podcast um the Letterman podcast has one sponsor that is Rupert G Machin of the hello Deli uh By the time this comes out and we're going to shoot a separate video about this uh for them but hello Deli is being put up for sale right now and we've kind of alluded to that and you know if you want to get yourself some merchandise now it's official I can officially talk about hey if you want to get yourself some Late Show with David Letterman merchandise stop procrastinating go get it right now I'm gonna try and convince I don't know how long it's going to be if somebody's gonna come along and buy the place right now or not um but you know after 30 plus years they're getting ready to um to retire anybody interested who has a passion for the food business um you know the prime New York real estate obviously and legendary the legendary hello Deli is going up for sale you can call May Chin at 917-232-8348 and uh give her a call obviously if you're listening to the show years after 2023 don't do that because the hello Deli probably will have been sold by then it might happen quick quickly but I'm just saying I don't know if we have time to get another one last t-shirt out or something before they uh give their swan song somebody might come and buy it tomorrow I don't know but what I do know is that I appreciate Rupert I appreciate me I appreciate the hello Deli you have no idea how much Rupert had messaged me you know before the the announcement went out and he's like oh just so you know we're always going to support you no matter what thank you Rupert I love you I appreciate that but I mean man thinking about you uh right now you know you just we you just lost your mom um and I just appreciate you so much Rupert and it's funny how these last batch of shows with Rick passing have been a little bit of uh um a lot of reflection and a lot of circles completing themselves and hopefully new circles will start to be built uh we certainly want to be a part of that uh for people transferring the knowledge um you know of of all the the the the stories um from 30 Rock From The Ed Sullivan Theater everything to do with Letterman and Company and this is very much a letterman and Company um you know show is the Letterman podcast and and I hope that that um has been evident over the last few I hope you continue to join and share like subscribe all that crap uh we'd appreciate it very very much but uh a lot of sentimentality and hopefully entertainment a lot of cool things coming up with the show as well um so that has been uh Alex Bennett gabnet.net if you want to find Alex um his evening uh shows uh that he puts on are are definitely politically slanted the Monday show that I go on every week has on panel uh it's just a bunch of people shooting the bull and it's a lot of fun but regardless um Alex Bennett thank you so much for coming on The Lettermen podcast um that has been another edition of the Letterman podcast with Mike Chisholm coincidentally I am Mike Chisholm thank you and good night