CELEBRITY JOURNAL
CELEBRITY PICTURES CONTACT
In Jack's words...
CELEBRITY JOURNAL
CELEBRITY PICTURES CONTACT
In Jack's words...
A short time later, at the same Atlanta nightclub, I opened a couple of concerts for Canada's greatest singer-songwriter, BRUCE COCKBURN. Bruce has been around for many years, never quite reaching huge stardom in the United States. I guess he's considered a Christian/ Environmental/Political singer and his biggest hit song a couple of years after I worked with him was "If I Had a Rocket Launcher" which took a cynical look at war-torn Central America. When I worked with him he was touring to promote his new album "Inner City Front". I met Bruce backstage before the show and he was a friendly guy. He was very concerned that I work clean and I obliged him. His show was terrific and I recall that my show went very well also
I got to know comedian and magician HARRY ANDERSON
who, a number of years later, went on to star in the television situation comedy
"Night Court" for a decade and after that, "Dave's World". I worked with him March 10-14, 1982 in Atlanta, Georgia at one of the
country's premier comedy nightclubs named The Punch Line. By 1982 he was already
making strides towards his stardom by having appeared on "The Tonight Show
with Johnny Carson" and "The Merv Griffin Show", among many other
well known television talk shows. The week that I worked with him he was polishing his hilariously bizarre ‘needle through the arm’ routine for his upcoming
performance on N.B.C.'s Saturday Night
Live.
What a class act this guy was. A polished
performer. He had wit, charm, character and everything else needed to become a
huge success in show business. And he was real down to earth. No
pretensions. He was just a regular guy. I spent some time with him, driving him to and from the club and
hanging out with him before and after our shows. It was enough time spent
together for him to remember me some years later when we ran
into each other in Pittsburgh.
He was having a drink at the hotel bar following a show he did
at the hotel I happened to be staying at. I had done a couple of shows at a
comedy club
somewhere nearby. When I saw him he said, "Hey, Jugglin' Jack!".
(That was my stage name early in my career.) We spoke for a
while, mostly about our careers. He was pretty excited that his show was #1 in the ratings.
I was ho-hum about having worked another crummy comedy club but happy that I was
making a living doing what I enjoyed. I mentioned to him that I had seen the
episode of "Tales From The Dark Side" that he had recently
starred in and that I thought he was terrific in it. He seemed especially proud
of that show.
I was pretty excited that a guy, who’s television show was #1 in the ratings, would
remember me by name and was spending time talking to me!
It was around the time I worked with Harry Anderson (1982, give or take a year) that I had the chance to see
JERRY SEINFELD at The Punch Line in Atlanta. I did not get to meet him but I watched his show and he was smooth. He was only on his way to stardom at that time. He didn't get his television show until years later. But, he had made numerous Tonight Show appearances by then and was building a terrific reputation and a large following. He's the first comedian I ever saw who made me realize the importance of "polishing your act". His act was so well polished. Smooth as silk. He was a master showman, even back then! There was
another comedy club in Atlanta during the early 1980's and I believe it was
called The Comedy Spot. It was in Buckhead, an affluent suburb of Atlanta. It
opened a year or so after The Punch Line and never achieved the success of the
premier Atlanta comedy club. I worked there a couple of times before it's
doors closed for good, unable to compete against the best.
It was at The Comedy Spot that I watched SANDRA
BERNHARD work. (She was in Atlanta
filming scenes for that strange movie she made with Jerry
Lewis. Lewis played a
talk-show host who was kidnapped by Sandra's character. I don't remember the
name of the movie but I do remember it being a perfect vehicle for the wacky
Bernhard.) Sandra visited the club one night while I was performing there with two
other comedians and was asked, by management, to perform after our show ended.
She accepted and performed for about 20 minutes.
I got a
kick out of her. The audience didn't quite understand her humor or character
and was, I guess, a little stunned by her uniqueness. They were pretty quiet for
her, in fact they stared at her with that 'what the Hell is that?' look
on their faces. Us comedians were laughing our asses off backstage!
We thought she was hilarious. I didn't get a chance to meet her and I wish I
did. I think she's very talented. One of a kind.
"Who Wants To Marry A Multi-Millionaire" was probably the dumbest show that has ever been shown on television and I was a little surprised when I realized that the "Multi-Millionaire" who became somewhat of a national joke was none other than
RICK ROCKWELL who I had the pleasure of working with in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1985. It was at a comedy club called "Crackers". He was the headline act and I was the featured performer.EARTHA KITT has an interesting background. Not only is she a fine singer but she's an accomplished dramatic actress as well. Most of us remember her as Catwoman in the 1960's television series, Batman. She's also made many film and stage appearances. In the late1960's she offended Lady Bird Johnson, the wife of the President, regarding the Vietnam War and this got her blacklisted from show business for many years. In the 1970's her career got back on track after it was discovered that she had been the subject of U.S. Secret Service surveillance. Eartha presented her talents to about 200 people on the evening of February 2, 1984 in a Long Island high school auditorium. She was quite gracious to me and my parents, who I brought backstage to meet her after the show.
What nice can be said about JIMMY ‘J.J.’ WALKER from that horrible old television sitcom, "Good Times"? He was not a very friendly man. He stayed to himself. He was not a DY-NO-MITE act. In fact, he had a real hard time following me and Rosie O’Donnel at Chuckles Comedy Club in Mineola, N.Y. in 1984. Rosie was emcee and I was the middle-act. By the time we were done with our shows the audience was pretty laughed out and poor J.J. couldn't keep up the pace. At the end of his show he had a 'Question/Answer' period with the audience. Someone in the audience asked him about Marvin Gaye who was recently murdered by his own father. J.J. was acquainted with Marvin and had terrible things to say about him. About how nasty a man Marvin was. I got the feeling that J.J. felt that Marvin got what he deserved. It was strange listening to this. Anyway, getting back to the evening at Chuckles Comedy Club, as I recall, Rosie and I were pretty mad that J.J. wouldn't even say hello to us.
ROSIE O’DONNEL
was
a young girl
who knew she was going to be a big star and has surely proven herself correct.
In the early 1980's when she was in her late teens she use to meet me at my apartment in Elmont, N.Y. and we’d drive three hours
to these sleazy $50 nightclub gigs in upstate New York, New Jersey or Connecticut.
Back then there were hundreds and hundreds of nightclub owners who realized they
could make a few bucks without spending too much money simply by creating a "Comedy
Night". Place a microphone in the middle of the dance
floor, maybe put a light bulb above the stage area, fill the room with drunk
kids and call it a "Comedy Night". It was as simple as that! And
although a lot of those clubs were barely a step above a war-zone, it created a great
place for young comics like Rosie and myself to hone our craft. Hell, if we
could successfully perform there, we could work anywhere!
As I mentioned, Rosie always knew that she'd be a star someday. She'd tell me that she didn't care
if she got booked on the Tonight Show or David Letterman's show, that she'd do
those shows when she became a star. It's that kind of blind ambition that is necessary
to reach the height of show business that she has reached. I'm told by other
comics who knew Eddie Murphy in his early career that he was
that way also. Young. Ambitious. Determined. Ignorant of the
possibility of failure. That's what it takes. I wish I had that ignorance. I didn't.
I still don't.
When Rosie started seeing some
professional successes other
Long Island comics started bad-mouthing her. They said she stole her jokes from
other comics. Sour
grapes, if you ask me. She was a terrific stand-up comic with an honest and real
point of view and has become a great actress and
a wonderful personality,
starring in such movies as Sleepless in Seattle and the Flintstones and now
starring on her own talk show. Smart girl!
She knew what she wanted, worked hard at it, and got it. More power to her! I'm
proud of her and happy for her! She's a constant reminder to me that, in this tough business, there are those
who were meant to rise to the top of the industry and those who (like myself)
were meant to merely make a nice living doing what we love to do!
Jazz singer and recording artist MARGARET WHITING quite popular during the 1940's and 50's, was very endearing. I really had little contact with her the night I worked with her in a high school auditorium on Long Island during the middle 1980's but I do remember meeting her and she being very sweet. She filled the auditorium with about 200 devoted fans and her show was very well received.
SHIRLEY HEMPHILL was the star of her own television shows "What’s Happening" and, a couple of years later, "What’s Happening Now" (the remake of the sit-com, starring all the original cast members who couldn’t get work once the original series went off the air). Shirley was great fun to work with at the Laff Stop Comedy & Magic Club in Houston TX. July 2-7 1985. She did keep to herself when not at the club because, as she explained to me, she had a hard time feeling comfortable with fans approaching her in public. In the club she was very personable and quite funny. All of the employees just loved her. She was very easy to work with. Also, very sure of herself. When I asked her how long of a show I should do she told me to do as much as I wanted, that the more time I did, the less time she’d have to do. Totally unthreatened. I like that. Most comics I worked with on the Comedy Club circuit felt threatened having a guy who was funny (and juggled as well) opening the show for them. She was very secure with her talents and talent is just what she showed the audience that week keeping them laughing for 45 minutes each night. A classy lady! I really liked her.
In
1976 AL STEWART had an unqualified hit of an album, "Year of the Cat", which
sold over a million copies and spawned the Top Ten single of the same name. The
album "Time Passages" later duplicated this success. He was not at his career peak when I worked with him at the Bottom Line in
New York City in 1985 but this certainly wasn't indicative of his talent. He was great! I was a
huge fan of the song "Year of the Cat" so it was quite exciting to see
him perform it live.
I did learn an important lesson that
night...Until you know somebody really well, and they know you just as well, don’t try to be funny.
They may not understand your humor. When I first met Al, I said "Hi, I’m
Jack Swersie and I’m a real big fan of your music. I especially like Maggie
May." Well, as you may know, "Maggie May" was an early
1970's Rod Stewart song. At the time I didn’t think that
he realized I was kidding. He seemed insulted. But years later I decided that
he'd probably heard that comment over and over
again from jerks like me and was just sick and tired of it! I can't blame him. I never worked with
Al Stewart again.
I don't have any record of the date or year that I worked with
JUDY TENUTA but I believe it to be sometime during the mid-1980's. It was at a big rock club in (I believe) Buffalo, New York. I remember that it was primarily a concert room but they did an evening of comedy once a week. I can't remember the name of the club. Sorry.Internationally renowned big band leader, MAYNARD FERGUSON, made his musical debut with the Stan Kenton Orchestra in 1950 and was known to play higher notes than any other Jazz trumpeter of that era. In 1985 I worked with him in New York City at the legendary concert club, The Bottom Line. He was the first act who I worked with in concert who acknowledged my performance when he appeared on stage. A nice word about the opening act from the headliner to the audience is always a plus. It makes the opening act feel appreciated. It shows just how gracious the celebrity headliner is. And Maynard Ferguson was most gracious, on stage and off. His daughter stopped by that evening to see the show and he introduced her to me. She, too, was very nice. It was very interesting to see that he is a deeply spiritual man. He had a shrine of some sort set up in his dressing room, complete with incense.
"Grace Under Fire" star BRETT BUTLER
began her career as a stand-up comedienne in Atlanta, Georgia. She actually
began a year or so after I moved from Atlanta to New York and I never met her
until a few years later when we were both scheduled to perform on the same show at Emory
University in Atlanta. I believe the year was 1985. When I worked with her she had not yet experienced the
degree of success that she was to see a number of years later.
Right along side of her emerging success was her growing reputation as (to put it nicely)
someone who was extremely hard to work with. It's no secret that she had
"personal issues", threw temper tantrums on the set of her television
show and caused her show to be cancelled because of her unprofessional behavior. Many of us in the
business, who crossed paths with her over the years, were not surprised to see
her life and career fall apart as it did. I know that I certainly wasn't.
The agent who booked her and me on the same show at Emory University set the
show up so that Brett would perform first and I would close out the show. When I
got to the college and met Brett she rudely told me that there was "no
way in Hell that" she "would open a show for a f__ing
juggler"! (That was the term she used, except that she didn't omit the "uck".) I really didn't care whether I opened or closed the show and didn't feel as though it was worthy
of an argument
so I performed first and let her close out the show. That night I had a great
show. She had a rough show. Poetic justice!
Years
later, when her television show was #1 in the ratings, I read an Associated
Press interview with her and she made some disparaging remark about
"jugglers" that sounded very much like she was referring to that night
at Emory University. Now that's flattering!.
BUDDY RICH is known as having been "the world's greatest drummer." He began playing drums in vaudeville as "Traps, the Drum Wonder" at the age of 18 months and had a career that lasted for over 50 years. He was known to be quite the perfectionist when it came to his craft and he always expected the same from the people he performed with. As a result he developed a show business reputation among fellow musicians as being a tyrant. There are stories about the existence of an audio tape of him screaming at his band and firing some band members on his tour bus. Knowing all of this as I did at the time I worked with him, I expected a real nasty person, but the Buddy Rich I met at the Bottom Line in New York City in 1985 was a real gentleman. Friendly and respectful. I didn’t talk a whole lot to him, but I do remember him telling me "good show". He was one hell of a drummer and surrounded himself with great musicians. He put on a great show!
It was after his shows at The Bottom Line in
August of 1985 that JAY LENO
skyrocketed to the
top of the business. Never again was he to perform in another small 400-seat concert room
like this New York City club. I like to think that his
rise in the business had something to do with appearing in concert with me but
that would be an exaggeration. Well...it would be a lie actually. A huge
lie! He was well on his way
to stardom when I worked with him. He
had done several appearances on the Tonight Show and was now making regular
appearances on his friend David Letterman’s show.
I met Jay and his wife,
Maven, backstage and after the show I met Paul Shaffer, the humble band leader for
"The Late Show with David Letterman", who was in the audience that
night. Paul was very nice. I told him how funny I thought he was but, in his
publicly shy manner, he turned the compliment around to me and praised my work.
Jay was very personable
also and he and I talked about my attempts to get on
Letterman’s show. I told him that the talent coordinator at the time, Bob Morton, wouldn’t
take a look at my show unless I did straight stand-up comedy as opposed to the
comedy/juggling. Jay asked me why I didn’t do a straight stand-up act and I told him
that what I did was what I did best and that I would stick with it. It was years
later that I found out that Jay doesn’t like juggling acts either. He’s been quoted
as saying (about jugglers in Comedy Clubs), "hey’ I don’t go to the circus and ask to do 10
minutes!" I really think that's a funny joke but I don't appreciate
that line of thinking. Novelty comedy acts like myself (magicians, ventriloquists,
jugglers, etc.) had to deal with that mind-set quite frequently in the comedy club world.
We were looked upon as second-class acts. It's as if the extra talent that we
presented on stage was threatening to the straight stand-up comic. It's bad
enough to them that we were funny, but we juggled too. Or did magic. Or whatever. In
my mind anyone can stand up on stage and tell jokes. That's easy. But just try
talking and juggling! Go on, Jay! Try it! Now that Jay has the Tonight Show it is my understanding that he
won’t even showcase jugglers.
Getting back to the night at the Bottom Line, Jay was
hot. Sold out. Both shows. Great audiences. I also did great.
His audiences were perfect for me. Jay told me "good show". He did over an hour and a half of solid
kick-ass material. He had the crowd laughing non-stop through his entire show! It was no wonder that he would soon be a major star.
A quick word about
the late-magician HARRY BLACKSTONE,
Jr.
who I worked with at the Valley Forge Music Fair on October 23 and
24, 1987:
"See the box! See the woman get into the box! See the woman disappear!
See another woman! See her get into a different box! See her disappear again! See yet another
woman get into yet another box and, yes, see her disappear yet again! See another
woman get into another box! This time let’s cut her in half! Wow! Now lets
make both parts of her disappear! YAWN!"
(Remember one thing...my opinion
doesn't mean a damn thing! He's the guy who was making the big bucks those two
nights that I worked with him, not I. The people came there to see him, not me.
So, he's the one who must have been doing something right, not me! Just who in
the hell do I think I am?)
Four-time Grammy Award nominee LAURA BRANIGAN is mostly known for her chart-topping platinum hit, "Gloria". It stayed on the Billboard's Top Ten chart for 22 weeks! She's also had three other top ten hits; "Self Control", "How Am I Suppose To Live Without You" and "Solitaire". On July 31, 1987 I worked with her for the first time, at the Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. She packed the theater and her audience was great. A year or so later I worked with her again at Trump Regency in Atlantic City when she was filming an episode of the S.R.O. concert series for television. She’s a powerhouse of a performer, a great rock 'n roller and an awfully sweet person.
Italian vocalist SERGIO FRANCHI
died a few years after I worked with him at the Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He was a pleasant man, but I did not feel as though I did all that well with his audience. He was nice to me and did compliment me on my show, however.In September of 1988 I worked with one of New Jersey's finest rock 'n roll bands, SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY AND THE ASBURY JUKES. Southside started his career about the same time in the early 1970's as Bruce Springsteen but never enjoyed the huge popular appeal that Bruce did. From what I've read, he never sought out that kind of world-wide success but, rather, played music for the simple love of it. Whenever Southside's name is mentioned the inevitable career comparison to Springsteen is made and I would imagine that would be an annoyance after a while. In fact, during his concert in a New England rock club when I worked with him he even made a joking comment about Bruce. I don't remember exactly what he said but I remember thinking that at least he had a good sense of humor about that comparison. Southside rocked the club that night and his audience was absolutely crazy for him. He's a Hell of a good rock 'n roller!
I worked with THE DRIFTERS at the Fernwood Resort in the run-down Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. I’m not sure they were the original group because they spelled their name D-R-I-P-H-T-E-R-S. (That's a joke to underscore the fact that there are actually several groups touring as the Drifters. It's my understanding that there are not any original band members left.)
I also worked with the LETTERMEN. Definitely not the original group. Most of them were not old enough to remember the original group.
TONY ORLANDO AND DAWN will forever be remembered by the hit song "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Around an Old Oak Tree". There were, of course, many other hit songs as well as their 1970's television variety show. On September 7, 1991 I worked them at the Westbury Music Fair on Long Island. The original Dawn included Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent. When I performed with them Telma was not there because she was working on her television show. Her spot was filled in by a young lady who, I believe, was Joyce's sister. Despite the replacement of Telma, Dawn sounded as good as they did back in the 1970's. The audience size was less than capacity in this 2000-seat theatre. But even though the crowd size was smaller than anticipated, Tony put his heart and sole into his performance. This man is one hell of an entertainer. In fact, there are very few performers who work as hard as he does. He really connects with his audience. There is a lot of love coming from him on stage, that’s for sure. You can tell he loves entertaining and he loves his audience. Tony, Joyce and her sister were all very pleasant to be with.
I have never worked with, and will
probably never again work with, anyone as terrific as PERRY COMO
. When I
was told that I was being submitted for the opening act spot on his annual Christmas tour I
never thought I would get it. I didn't think that the age difference between his
audiences and me would be conducive to successful shows. In short, I didn't
think that his audience would understand my off-beat humor. And I figured that Perry
would come to the same conclusion after seeing my video tape. I couldn't have
been more wrong! As the story goes, Perry looked at ten different
video tapes of performers and when he saw mine he pointed to the television
screen and said "He’s the
one!" So for the next three years (1990-1992) I was Perry Como’s favorite
Comedian/Juggler. And it turned out that his audiences were great for me. I've
performed for many senior citizen groups over the years and Perry's audiences
were, no doubt, the finest!
My association with Perry did more to boost my career
than anything else I had done up to that point. To have been touring with a star
of his stature gave more
credibility to me as an artist than any other successes that had yet come my
way. For that
reason, and because he is probably the nicest man to walk this earth, I love the
guy. Perry is so down to earth. A real person. Not someone caught up in the
trappings of fame and fortune. I remember talking to him on the tour bus regarding his
success and asking him how it felt to be a" living legend". His response
was humble. He acknowledged this fact but with an attitude that showed he was not
overwhelmed or self-impressed by the immensity of his accomplishments.
He treated everyone on the tour with warmth and respect. He joked around a lot.
No one felt any personal distance from the man. He was one of us. When we would
arrive in a new city by way of airplane he would, many times, make one or two of
us get into his limousine while he would jump onto our shuttle bus and travel to
the hotel with the rest of the tour group. One time, on an airplane, he made me
move into his first-class seat while he sat in my coach-class seat joking with the
passengers. Another time he convinced the flight attendant to allow him to speak
over the intercom on the plane. He introduced himself as "this is your
Captain Perry speaking" and proceeded to wish everyone a Merry
Christmas. He was great fun on those tours.
Perry
and I had a couple of slightly off-colored inside jokes that we enjoyed. At the
end of each of his shows he would bring me back out on stage for a curtain call.
At that time we would give each other a nice hug. Each time, one of us would
then whisper the punch line of the joke into the others ear. Inevitably one, or
both, of us would laugh. That was fun. It's like when you would see Johnny
Carson whispering something in a guests ear as the show went to a commercial
break. The audience always wondered what they were talking about. Well,
this was my personal, inside moment with Perry and, to me, it was special.
Perry has brought so much
love to his fans. He showed it on stage and off. I never saw him refuse to
talk to a fan offstage. Whether it was backstage or while we'd be walking around
a shopping center in one of the cities we were working, he was always most accessible
and accommodating
to those who would approach him. His warmth and sincerity touched everyone he
talked to. On our way to a show in Pittsburgh our tour bus broke down on the
highway in the middle of no-where. The local police shuttled us to a small
restaurant off of the nearest exit while arrangements were being made to get us
to our show. We spent about two hours drinking coffee while the employees of the
restaurant were phoning all of their friends to let them know that Perry Como
had made an unscheduled appearance there. Before you knew it the restaurant started
to fill up with friends of the employees, all hoping to meet Perry and, perhaps,
get an autograph. It was fun to watch Perry selflessly oblige them. He really
seemed to enjoy it.
Perry really gave more of himself than anyone I’ve ever worked
with. It takes a very special person to keep his kind of success and popularity
in perspective and to give back to the public as much love as the public has
given him. He was quite successful at that. His love of people and his warmth
towards them was always sincere. It always seemed to come from his heart.
When I worked with Perry, he lived up to his reputation as being a true
gentleman. He’s the greatest and I love him.
On May 18, 1991,
after my first tour with him, Perry had me involved
in a show benefiting Duke University’s Children’s Hospital in North
Carolina. This is a yearly Celebrity Golf Tournament and Show that Perry was
very much involved in and it was an honor to have been asked
on board.
Legendary guitarist
CHET ATKINS
was one of the celebrities on the star-studded show. It was a treat to watch him work.
The late singing star
HELEN O’CONNELL
was there also. She was an elegant,
sweet, and warm woman who was quite the star in her day. I spent some time
talking to her at the party in Perry's hotel suite following the show and she
was one really classy woman.
Big band era recording artist
DON CORNELL was
on the show as well and I spent a lot of time talking to him and his lovely
wife, Iris.
One of the top Jazz pianists and vocalists of our time, BUDDY GRECO was also there. He
was a very nice man. He said he enjoyed my show and
asked for my business card saying he'd like to work with me sometime. Then I never heard from him again.
Comedian FOSTER BROOKS
was pretty nice although he kept to himself. He does that drunk character which, to me,
doesn’t play out that well in this day and age and I really don't think the
audience appreciated him.
BILLY DAVIS Jr.
use to be part of the 5th Dimension. He did a couple of songs and sounded great.
WOODY WOODBURY
emceed the show. Years ago Woody was popular in radio and I know he had
at least one comedy album in his day. He was one of the nicest guys at this
event.
There were a number of other celebrities at the event who were there to
partake in the golf tournament and a highpoint for me was meeting television
and movie actor
DENNIS
FARINA. He's always
been one of my favorite actors and I had no idea that he was going to be at the
event. After my performance, as I was leaving the stage and walking up the aisle
through the audience, a hand reached out to shake mine. Dennis warmly shook my
hand and told me that he enjoyed my show. That made my night! Later at the party
at Perry's, my wife and I got a chance to talk to him and have some photo's taken with him.
Also present at this event, but not performing, were JERRY VAN DYKE
and
PAT HARRINGTON My wife and I had the
pleasure of meeting them at breakfast the morning after the show. They were very
funny. We joked around with them for a few minutes and both seemed very nice. They were eating
breakfast so I didn't want to overstay my introduction. Jerry didn't see the
show the night before but Pat Harrington (from the television show "One Day
At A Time") did and told me he enjoyed my show. I mentioned to Pat that we
had recently run into his former co-star, MACKENZIE
PHILLIPS, who lived
in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania about 15 minutes from
where we live.
Touring with Perry Como was a real
event for me because I got to meet and socialize with famous people who I,
otherwise, would never had gotten to meet. Another case in point was the opportunity to meet
REGIS PHILBIN
and KATHIE LEE GIFFORD in December of
1991.
It was on my second tour with Perry Como and we had two of nights of
concerts at the
Westbury Music Fair on Long Island. We got to our hotel the day before our first
performance because Perry was scheduled to appear on the "Live With
Regis and Kathie Lee" television show the next morning.
We all awoke very early and a limo
picked us up at the hotel. Making the trip into New York City was Perry, Mickey
Glass (his manager), Carl Marlow (his personal assistant), music director Nick
Perito, tour manager Jason Stone and me. Typical of Long Island is the
backed up traffic on the Long Island Expressway and it was no surprise to me (a
native New Yorker) that we would get stuck in traffic. And, we did. In fact we
were stuck in traffic for so long that we were unable to make it to ABC studio's
for his appearance. But Regis and his television audience were in contact with
Perry throughout the whole ordeal by way of cell phone.
Regis is a huge fan of
Perry and for a couple of years was quite obsessed with getting Perry on the
show. In fact, one year Regis did the craziest thing. He went to Florida,
chartered a boat and, with a camera crew, went out looking for Perry by traveling
to Perry's home on the inter-coastal waterway. Plans got confused and Perry was not home
at the time so the bit didn't work out as Regis had wanted it to. But, true
to anything that Regis does, it was funny as all Hell! Regis is really the
funniest of ALL talk-show hosts! He's naturally funny. Not phony. Not dependant on the written joke. His humor stems from his
personality. He's really sharp!
Anyway, getting back to our traffic jam,
we finally made it to the studio but it was too late for that days show. So
Regis and his people kept the studio audience late and Perry shot his segment
that day for the
next day's show.
I was lucky to get introduced to both Regis and Kathie Lee.
Both were extremely nice. I told Regis that I thought he was very funny. He
seemed very warm and somewhat humble. Kathy Lee was real sweet and (it's no
secret) extremely attractive. Quite often I hear people poking fun at Kathie Lee
and I really don't understand it. She seemed so sincere and down to earth. She
was very nice to me and I really like her!
In April of 1992
Perry asked me to appear at another charity event. This time it was a
telethon in St. Louis which raised money for an organization benefiting handicap
children. It was run by ‘Bucky’ Bush former President George Bush’s brother. I met him and
thought that was pretty cool since I once met Jimmy Carter’s brother, Billy.
Now, I can say that I've met the brothers of two United States Presidents! (And
you can say "Big Deal!")
There were many celebrities participating in the show
including singer DIONNE WARWICK who in recent years
had been hawking all that psychic nonsense on television infomercials. She's
a terrific talent and great singer and pretty much carried the show. She was great
to watch up close. (It's always been a mystery to me why, with her talent and
success, she choose to partake in those psychic infomercials.) A couple of years later I was
scheduled to work with her in concert somewhere in the mid-west, but the concert got canceled due to bad ticket sales. I feel that if
she was truly a good psychic she would have known she wouldn’t sell tickets
and not accepted the gig!
ANGIE DICKENSON
hosted the telethon. She
was a great woman to be around. So sweet. Always saying nice things about everyone.
It's like she didn't have a bad bone in her body. She was very uplifting. She’s
also like ‘one of the guys’, telling off-color jokes
to Perry Como and anyone else who would listen. In fact, she told me a funny joke
that I occasionally tell on stage to this day.
JOHN FORSYTHE
was
also one of the hosts. His new situation comedy show on television made its debut that night and I caught
the first episode in my hotel room prior to meeting him. (The short-lived show
also starred the actor who plays the hilarious Niles on Frazier.) I told John
that I thought his new show was pretty good,
but that what it really needed was a part written for a comedian/juggler. He
smiled and looked at me funny as if he didn't know whether I was being serious or
not. Whether I was or not, he should have taken my advice because the show
didn’t last more than one season.
ARTE JOHNSON
of Laugh-In fame ("very
interesting...but stupid!") seemed
a bit full of himself. Not knowing that he had a supporting role on a
television soap opera for the past couple of years, I
asked him if he was working on any show business projects. He seemed offended, like I should
have known he was on a soap opera. Whenever he spoke to me he would refer to me as
"kid" in that
condescending way people talk down to you. I hated that!
THE DALLAS COWBOY CHEERLEADERS
were also there and they were not so bad on the eyes! Smart girls also. All of
them were in college or employed in professional careers aside from jumping
around and looking sexy.
JIM BYRNES
appeared
on the show as well. He's starred in such television shows as "Wiseguys", and
"Highlander, The
Series". He's also a fine singer and he performed several times over the
course of the evening. He was a very nice man.
"His voice is a national treasure", Ronald Reagan once said about ANDY WILLIAMS If you have problems taking the word of a politician then listen to me! I say that Andy Williams voice most certainly is a national treasure. (A comedian's word is certainly more worthy than a politician's!) I worked with Andy at the State Theater in Easton, PA. on February 15, 1992 and he sounded terrific!. Andy appeared very tanned and physically fit. A short man with a tall stature. His demeanor exudes the kind of self-confidence I wish I could always feel within myself. I spoke to him before the show and he seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. We spoke about my association with Perry Como and he had much to say as he knows Perry from years gone by. I really liked Andy and hoped that I would get some more work with him, but that seems unlikely, as he usually uses another act like mine who happens to also be very good. He told me he enjoyed my show That is always nice to hear from a man of his immense talent and success.
; On May 7, 1992 I worked with THE FOUR TOPS for the second time. The prior year I worked with them in Easton, Pennsylvania and now I was with them at the Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre. When I worked with them they were one of the only, if not the only, 1960's groups that still had all of their original members. And what a show they put on! Great sound, lots of energy, and plenty of enthusiasm. Man, they worked hard! And, they didn't disappoint. It's amazing to me just how many great songs these guys sang during their career. You really don't realize it until you watch their whole show. Every time they started a new song I thought, "Oh yea, I remember that one"! It just didn't stop for the entire hour. One great song after another! Hot stuff.MANHATTAN TRANSFER, the most popular jazz vocal group of their era, sing real well but they really didn’t seem to give a hoot about me when I worked with them at a Pennsylvania theater in the early 1990's. They stayed to themselves and I did not meet any of them.
I did two Florida dates with LOU RAWLS in November of 1992, one in Clearwater and the other in Sarasota. I thought he was great and he told me that he liked my show also. He indicated that he would like to work with me again but, unfortunately, that has yet to happen. He was really a terrific guy and, although I didn't spend a whole lot of time talking with him, I felt that he'd be a great guy to work with on a steady basis. Everything I've heard about him from other entertainers supports that notion.
In February of 1993 I worked with Grammy award winning singer/songwriter MELISSA MANCHESTER, at the Scranton Cultural Center in Pennsylvania. She packed the room with a very appreciative audience. I met her prior to my show and when I came off stage after my set she warmly congratulated me. She sincerely and enthusiastically told me that she thought I was great. After she performed I spoke with her some more, thanking her for a terrific evening. She gave me a hug good-bye and thanked me. I got great vibes from her. A very nice woman! Did you ever meet someone who just makes you feel good by being in the same room with them? She's that kind of person. There was a warmth that came from deep within her that you could feel just by being near her. I've only met a few people like that in my life. People like that are precious.I would like to have met CHUBBY CHECKER when I worked with him September 10, 1993, but I had to get to a friends bachelor party right after my show at the State Theater in Easton, Pennsylvania. I was able to see about 20 minutes of his show and I must say that guy really works hard! He was 52 years old when I worked with him and he was dancing around on stage like a teenager! Man, was he good. I wish I could have stayed for his entire show. He’s a true show business legend and the king of the rock & roll dance craze.
One of the most successful female vocalists of the late
1950's & 1960's was CONNIE FRANCIS
I worked with her in 1993 at the trashy Concord Resort in the Catskill Mountains of New York.
Once a thriving resort area, the Catskill Mountains was (in 1993 and now) home
to a dozen or so run-down resort hotels suffering from poor management and
struggling to stay alive. The Concord was one of those hotels well on the way to
it's own demise. Still, those hotels provided a place to perform for people
with legendary names, like Connie Francis, and no-name acts like myself. And, if
you enjoyed performing for audiences of miserable, old people with nasty
attitudes, then the Catskills was, and is, a performers dream. I hated it and no
longer work in the Catskill Mountains.
I met Connie backstage and she was very nice to me. We spoke for a few minutes
and I couldn't help wonder how she felt about performing at this run down venue.
It was difficult enough for me and I have not seen, in my career, the smallest
percentage of Connie's success. She's been everywhere and done everything there
is to do in show business; movies, television, stage and more. She's headlined
the biggest and best theaters in the world. She's a living legend! And now she
was performing at this hell-hole of a resort in the Catskills and I was talking
to her backstage in a filthy dirty dressing room. I always felt demoralized
working there and could only imagine how she must have felt. I should have asked
her. I didn't.>
A couple of months later I was back at the Concord Hotel with crooning 1950's teen idol EDDIE FISHER. No longer a teen idol but still very much the talent, the then 65-year old Eddie seemed displeased with his time backstage at the Concord. And I couldn't blame him. The dressing rooms were a mess. The toilets were backed up. There was no hot water. The stage crew was having technical problems. The show was running late. Business as usual at the Concord Hotel!
On December 4, 1993 I had the gig of a
lifetime. To work with such comedy legends as
MILTON BERLE
and
SID CAESAR
is an opportunity any comedian would kill for. And I didn’t even have to hurt
anyone for it. It was a gift from Jason Stone, the entertainment
director at the Westbury Music Fair on Long Island and a man who has done more for me,
professionally, than anyone else in the business! He's the man who connected me
with Perry Como and made it possible for me to tour with Perry for three years!
He's also booked me on many other concerts with many great stars. This concert
was one of the most exciting!
The event was the
MILTON BERLE 80th ANNIVERSARY ROAST,
celebrating Berles 80th year in show business. Also
on the show were comediansNORM CROSBY,
JACK CARTER
and JESSE WHITE.
You probably remember Jesse White as the
original Maytag repairman.
Milton Berle has a backstage reputation,
among stage hands and technical crews, as being tough to work with. He is known
to yell and complain quite a bit and, that night, he did have all the technical people irritated. My
first contact with him was when I was doing my sound and light rehearsal. When I was introduced
to him he asked me if I used taped music in my show. I told him that I have
music that I use when I exit the stage at the end of my show. He asked me what I use
when I enter the stage. I told him
that I just walk out with no music. He started complaining about that to me but
then just said, "I won’t get into that now!"
As the other comedians
entered the theater I introduced myself to them. They were all pretty cordial. Sid
Caesar seemed nervous. Norm Crosby was very warm. Jack Carter and Jesse White
really didn’t seem to care one way or another about me. Among themselves they
were a rather cranky, bickering bunch. In fact there was a
shoving match between Carter and the guy who was emceeing the event, who's name
I do not recall. Lots of
old, fragile ego’s, I guess.
My show went well enough although I don’t feel as though I
brought the house down that night. Norm Crosby did compliment my show. Jack and
Jesse still didn't seem to care and said nothing. Other people backstage were
quite complimentary. When Berle was about to walk out on the
stage I shook his hand and wished him well. He said "I’m sorry I didn’t
get to see your show." Then he started to walk away and turned around kidding,
adding "on purpose!" What a comedian.
The roast was not really a roast in the traditional sense.
Sure, they spent some time putting each other down but it had to be very tame
because there was a public audience. I'm sure that if the roast was held at
their own private function there would have been a lot more risqué things said and done.
They
spent most of the time doing their usual shtick. Jesse White told old jokes. Sid
Caesar did a hilarious Yiddish routine that the audience loved. Crosby stole the
show with the word substitution bit that he does so well. Jack Carter did whatever
it his that he
does. It was a very long night and when Berle got up to do his show the audience was tired and really
didn’t respond to him like as they would have had they not already seen two
hours of comedy. In fact about 150 people left while
he was on stage. That was embarrassing to watch, but Milton Berle is a true professional and he just
kept going.
After the show, Jill and I
were invited into Berle's dressing room where he sat relaxing in his bathrobe. He beckoned
me over to him so he could see the tin windup Milton Berle toy car from my antique
toy collection. I brought it with me with the hopes that he might autograph it. He was thrilled that I had the toy and impressed that I spent
$500 on it. He said it was worth at least
$1000! I didn’t argue about that although I knew that it has a book value of
right around $500. He was kind enough to sign the
plastic hat on this tin toy. He told everyone
that the toy came out in 1949 and sold for a nickel. He seemed rather proud of
it. He said he had one at one time but didn’t know where it was. He asked me
where I got mine and if I could get him another. He gave me his address in L.A.
and asked me to let him know when I found one. I told him I would start looking
around. He posed for some pictures with Jill and I, then we left. He was very
gracious to us in his dressing room. A complete flip-flop from his attitude in
the theater. He was like a different person. Real warm. Very conversational.
Before we left we got pictures of us with the other
comedians on the show. This was a real
evening to remember. How many people get to rub elbows with such legends as
Milton Berle and Sid Caesar?. I’m
so lucky to have had these experiences. If I never find my own fame in the
business, and it doesn't look as though I will, at least I’ve had the opportunity to be near it. It's invigorating.
Incidentally, I did find the toy for Berle and I did write him at his office. I
got a call from Berle's secretary who told me that Berle was sick with the flu
but said he would make a decision as to whether I should buy it for him when he
was feeling better. He said I’d hear from them next week. I never did!
The next night I appeared at Westbury
again this time with
DONNA SOMMER. I never got to meet Donna and I
must tell you that I was really disappointed. One of the perks of being hired as
an opening act is the opportunity to meet the talented people that you get to
work with. An introduction seems to be a courtesy extended to the opener by the
headliner. It's just a nice thing for them to do. Take a few minutes, say hello
and thank the entertainer for their work. After all, the opener is the person
who's job it is to warm-up the headliners audience. Get them ready for the main
attraction. It's not an easy job and, quite frankly, it takes a special talent.
Not every entertainer can do it. Walking out on stage to a room full of thousands of
strangers, all of whom paid big ticket prices to see the headline star and many
of whom have no idea that there is even an opening act, is a huge challenge. The theater lights
dim. The crowd quiets in anticipation of the introduction of the star. The
introduction begins, "Welcome to an evening with Donna Sommer.....and your
opening act tonight is..." The collective sigh that is heard at this
time is enough to put butterflies in the stomachs of the most experienced of opening acts! It's
a credit to an entertainer who can, night after night, face this situation and a
little recognition from the headliner is not too much to expect. Almost all of
the celebrities that I've worked with have been kind enough to extend this
courtesy.
I don’t know if it was because of
her tour manager or her but she was so insulated from everything around her.
So protected. She was constantly surrounded by three or four of her people. There was a mood of urgency
surrounding her that seemed to me to be quite unnecessary. Granted, she is one
heck of an
entertainer (one of the best!) and put on one hell of a show, but I doubt that
she needs three people
escorting her from her dressing room to the stage entrance 30 feet away! And
there didn't appear to be any reason for someone to be waiting with her coat to drape
around her as soon as she left the stage so she could leave the theater immediately, and I mean immediately,
after her performance. The
whole evening was very puzzling to me. The night before I had worked at
the same theater with Milton Berle and Sid Caesar, two of the 20th century's
biggest legendary stars, and there was no where near the amount of intensity
that I felt backstage that night.
PAM TILLIS
is the daughter of renowned country entertainer Mel Tillis
and a country music singer and recording artist in her own right.
She was also one of the first few stars I worked with who were younger than me. It
threw me for a loop that at 36 years old she had accomplished so much and I, 40
years old when I performed with her, was still the opening act. It made be stand
back and re-evaluate my career. It made me realize that the longer I knock
around on the concert circuit, the more I'm going to work with the younger
talented entertainers who
have achieved the success that, in my earlier show business days, I wanted to
achieve. This would really hit home a few years later when I opened two concerts
for Country Music's hottest young star of the times, 17 year old Leanne
Rimes. I'll write more about her later on in this journal.
Things went well. I didn’t have
a killer show, but I did well. Pam watched my act from backstage. She came over
to me after my show, complimented me and shook my hand. She joked with me about
the fire stick I juggle at the end of my show. She said she thought that
she should take it out on stage with
her. I told her it would be a great routine for her to open with. With a laugh
and her cute smile she agreed. She
asked me how to pronounce my name. She planned on acknowledging me when she went
on stage. Apparently she forgot my name when she got out there. She still
acknowledged my performance but referred to me as "that guy spinning the
fire". She said it got her all excited. Later she noticed a piece of
the apple that I juggled on the stage floor. She picked it up, turned to her band asking if anyone was hungry. That got a
nice laugh. I would have preferred if the stage crew wasn’t so careless as to
leave it there. All I would need is to have the headliner slip on remnants of my
show and break a leg! There's a real good career move for me, huh?
Prior to the show I met Pam's son who was about 13 years old at the time. He
expressed an interest in my props and I wound up teaching him how to juggle. I
never saw anyone learn so quickly. I’m either a brilliant teacher or he’s a
great student. All I know is that I can tell people that I taught the son of Pam
Tillis and the grandson of Mel Tillis how to juggle!
Pam’s show was great. She’s got a terrific voice and she's a heck of a
personality. Very likeable, on stage and off stage. Her
band was also great. The crowd loved her. It was a nice evening.
A couple of weeks later I opened
a couple of concerts for vocalist,
guitarist, songwriter and recording artist STEVE WARINER
While he is not become a huge star
he has become a respected name and talent in Country Music circles. We
worked an 800-seat theater at the Host Farms Resort Hotel in Lancaster,
Pennsylvania.
He sold out both shows. I thought he was very good. Not a real
energetic performer, but certainly endearing. Enjoyable music. I met Steve after my
performance and he said he really enjoyed my show, especially the off-color
"They call me half-nuts!" joke I do when I
pass my machete between my legs as I'm juggling. He
was friendly and said he hopes to see me again. (Yea right, that’s what they
all say. But do they ever call?) He and I both had terrific
shows that day.
On Friday, November 12, 1993 I worked with
THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS for
the first time. This was at the State Theater in Easton, Pennsylvania. The following Monday I got a
surprise call from the William
Morris Agency in Los Angeles saying "the boys liked you and want to do another
date with you in April!" What a thrill! I never had so much fun working with anyone
as I did with these two legendary comedians and the prospect of working with
them again paralleled the excitement I felt when I landed the Perry Como
Christmas tour three years earlier. The Smothers Brothers comedy record albums
were in my house when I was a young boy and I always thought that they were
hilarious. And I always watched their 1960's television show. Now I was
their opening act. Life was good!
Both Tom and Dick Smothers were real down to
earth guys. When I met Dick
backstage he asked me
what kind of show I did. When I told him I did a comedy and juggling show he said that that
was one of their favorite kinds of acts when they had their own television shows. What
better way to make me feel welcome as their opening act. When I met Tom it was great to see that
funny smirk that made him popular. My wife Jill and I spent a lot of time talking to the
guys. We swapped dirty jokes, talked about racing cars (Dick raced cars for a
number of years), and talked about
their families. I had a good conversation with Dick about some of the great theaters
we’ve both played over the years. Tom was very concerned
that I got a proper light and sound check, and told me he would be introducing
me from backstage in his announcer voice. I had left a copy of a
I worked with comedian
ALAN KING on
May 7, 1994 in Rockville, Maryland. The show was part of a fund raising
event for a Temple. I introduced
myself to Alan in his dressing room. He was furiously smoking a cigarette and
seemed quite nervous. He was nice enough and was easy to talk to. I mentioned to
him that we had a mutual friend, Jason Stone (entertainment director at the
Westbury Music Fair on Long Island). Alan then spoke very highly of Jason.
About two weeks before this show I had seen Alan's television talk show that he
had for a year or so on the Comedy Channel. On the show he was talking about an
agent in New York named Einhorn. He referred to him as an agent who never paid
any decent money. I was very familiar with the Einhorn Agency and had worked for
them many times. I told Alan that the comment he made about Einhorn was right on target!
He laughed.
Judging by the audience response during my
show and the terrific comments I received from audience members at the reception
afterwards, I had a great show. Personally I wasn't all that happy with my
performance and I've got a theory about that. After years of being on stage a
performer gets used to a certain high standard of excellence. When that level is
not met, regardless of whether the show went over with the audience or not, the
performer is disappointed. In other words the show could be "okay",
"good", "pretty good" or "very good" but if
it isn't "GREAT", the performer feels as though he or she didn't do
what they were capable of doing. In my case that night, I didn't feel as though
I "kicked-ass" (as we say in the business). Therefore I felt lousy. It
didn't matter that I did "pretty good" and the audience responded
well. I still felt tremendous disappointed in my performance. Perhaps I should
lower my standards!
At the end of the night Alan King
told me that I
did a good show and wished me well.
I did a show with country artist RICKY VAN SHELTON in York, Pennsylvania in early June 1994. I met him after his show and said a quick hello. He didn’t see my show but did say that he heard I was very good. His tour manager liked my show and asked for my
business card. He said he would talk to the agent about my doing some more work with them. Nothing ever became of that but a couple of years later I would have the opportunity to work with Ricky again, this time on a T.N.N. television program called "Prime Time Country".
On August 2,3,&4 of 1994 I had the pleasure of
working with the music group
CHICAGO. The band then consisted of four
of the original members. They were Jimmy, Walt, and Lee who made up the brass
section and Robert who was on keyboards and vocals. There were four newer
musicians as well including Duane (a spirited guitar player), Bill
(keyboards and vocals), Tress (drums) and Jason (guitar and vocals). There are no stars in
Chicago, they function as an ensemble group.
The first night in
concert there were problems with the sound system and they didn't sound great. The second and third night the sound was
better and they were absolutely out of this world. They played all their old
hits as well as some new music. At the time I worked with them they had a new album coming out
soon and
were
working on a big band album.
What really
amazed me was that they had held on to all their old fans, people my age, and
had also attracted a newer audience, evidenced by the amount of high school
kids I saw in the audience.
Everyone in the group was very nice. It’s hard to
really get to know every one in just three days, but I did get
to know them by name and they were all very complimentary to me. Their
production manager, Mark, told me that they hadn’t had such a good laugh in a
long time. Harvey, the tour manager, was complimentary after my first show. He
was hard to read. I felt that he knew I was good, but had other things to worry about
rather than me. Hence, I never got the feeling that I could approach him about doing
more dates with them. All the band expressed a desire to work with me again.
I did have a negative
incident happen. I had some
friends backstage, not thinking that I should have gotten permission from Chicago’s
tour manager. I had worked at this theater so many times in the past that I felt at home
there and didn't think twice about asking my friends to come backstage. Harvey,
the tour
manager, was upset with me about this and told me that it was "Chicago’s party" and not mine! I
apologized and it was all forgotten by the next day. I guess they, rightfully, liked to have
complete control of the backstage environment and I was oblivious to this. I
realized then that I had to be more considerate of the acts I worked with in the
future. Much to my dismay, I learned that things just don't revolve around Jack
Swersie.
I had pretty good shows
with Chicago’s audience but not the best shows that I predicted I would have.
That was more a result of the age mix of the audience than anything else. There
were a lot
of rowdy teenagers and a bit more heckling than I was accustomed to while in
concert. It was nothing I couldn’t handle but distracting enough to take away
from the smooth and steady pace that I like to create with my show. I still did very well
and had a lot of people telling me so afterwards.
The late song-writer and
country singer,
EDDIE RABBIT,
made 17 albums and had 26 Number 1 Country Music hits as well as 8 Top-40 Pop
hits. I met him in 1992
as
I came off stage after my show and he was going on stage to perform his. This was in
Altoona, Pennsylvania at the Jaffe Mosque. It was a benefit show for the Fraternal Order of Police. I shook his hand and introduced myself. I had to get
home because I was flying out of town early the next morning for another gig. I
couldn't stay for his show. He seemed like a nice enough guy.
I
worked with him again a few years later
on October 15, 1994 at the Paramount Theater in Middletown, New York. This time I didn’t
even get to say hello to him. I couldn't stay to the end of the show because I
had to fly to Florida very early the next morning for another concert.
I'm really sorry that I
didn't get to know him. This show was the last that I would work with him on and
he, sadly, passed away a couple of years later.
On October 16 of 1994 I flew down to
West Palm Beach Florida to work the single most beautiful new
theater that I had ever had the privilege of working, the Kravis Center.
Sixty million dollars went into building this facility two years prior to my performance there! It was really an
unbelievable venue.
There I worked with
GREGORY HINES
again. I had worked with the charming and
charismatic actor, singer and dancer less than a year before in November of 1993
at the Strand Capitol Theater in York, Pennsylvania. When I introduced myself to him
onstage during our sound and light rehearsal before the 1993 show he said he
didn’t recognize me from my video tape, that he saw the tape and thought I was
very funny. This meant a lot to me because it meant that the ultimate decision
to have me on the show was with him and he felt that I was good enough to share the
stage with him. When movie stars tell me I’m good enough for their own show, that means something to me.
After my show and just a few
seconds before Gregory went on stage he told me that he heard my show from his dressing
room and that I was very funny. This was later confirmed by his road manager who
told me Gregory was listening to my show on the dressing room intercom and was
really laughing.
At the end of the night he said that he hoped to see me again.
I did see him
again, soon than I expected. When I got home at 1:30 A.M. I was flipping through the channels on
television and there he was in his movie "White Nights"! I never expected to see him again
that soon. A year or so later I worked with him again at the Kravis
Center.
In Florida he didn’t remember me, right off the bat, from the concert
in York but when I
re-introduced myself he remembered. I spoke to him on several occasions during the evening. I went to
him after my show and wished him well with his show. I told him the audience was
great. He said it sounded like I did well. I told him there were a lot of people
out there and that they were all great. Then, kidding around, I told him in a
serious tone that I just got the feeling that most of the people in the audience were there to see
him and not me (as if anyone would have actually been there to see the opening act). He kind of looked at me strange. I’ve got to watch out with my dead pan
sense of humor. People don’t know what to make of me sometimes.
The evening went real well. I had a great show. All of Hine’s support people
seemed to enjoy my work. The theater loved me. Also, as usual, Gregory was great!
My first national television appearance
was on
THE STATLER BROTHERS SHOW
on T.N.N. (the Nashville Network). This
filmed on November 17, 1994 and was scheduled to be aired on February 25, 1995. I had the
luxury of seeing the filming of their show the night before so I felt fairly comfortable when I got to the studio on Thursday. The first thing I did
when I got there was a rehearsal of my segment. I had to run through my five minute
routine for the
director and all the technical people. It was very encouraging that the few people
in the studio were laughing during my rehearsal. When I was done, the Statler
Brothers were very supportive, telling me they watched the rehearsal and that
they thought it was very funny. Don even joked that we didn’t need to shoot
the segment again,
that we’d just use the rehearsal tape.
Following the
rehearsal, the director of the show asked me not to do
one of my jokes. I told them that it
was no problem. The forbidden joke was during a routine where I juggle a
machete, an onion and a can of Spam. As I'm juggling I would say, "A
lot of people wonder just how dangerous this is. Well let me say right now,
it's no more dangerous than eating Spam!" I guess I can
understand their concern. After all, Hormel, the makers of Spam, was one of
their sponsors. What I couldn't understand is why they would still allow me to
say, "Do you know what Spam stands for? Something Posing As
Meat!"
The Statler Brothers are not all
brothers.
Don Reed and
Harold Reed
are. They also are the most comical of the four.
Jimmy
and
Phil
are the other two members. All of them were extremely nice and
made me feel very comfortable in an otherwise stressful situation. As I said
this was my first national television appearance and I felt that a lot would be
riding on the success or failure of my performance.
I worked
with some great people on this show.
MERLE HAGGARD, was passing
through Nashville and stopped by the studio to film a spot for a different episode of the
show than the one I was to appear on. During the filming of his segment he was unable to remember
the lines to his songs. They actually had to shoot one of his songs three
times and another song twice. This made the evening run especially long. I did
meet the Country legend,
who recently got inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, briefly before
his segment, said hello and wished him well.
Country
singer and 1994 CMA "Album Of The Year" award winner JOHN
ANDERSON also appeared on the show. He did a couple of songs. He did them well
and he did them in one take. Two years later he was a Grammy Award
winner.
CRYSTAL GAYLE
was a regular talent on the Statler
Brothers Show for a number of years and she was there that night to sing a couple of songs. She was real sweet.
Very unpretentious. Accessible. Warm. Easy to talk to. And she looked beautiful.
Small and cute with her lovely hair down to the floor. (I couldn't keep my eyes off of
her hair. The thought of walking in back of her and teasing
her by stepping on her hair as she walked went through my comedy mind many times
that evening but I didn’t think that that kind of behavior would help my
career.) She sounded great that night, as always!
I finally got to do my
segment well after 10 PM. Because it took Merle Haggard over an hour and a half
to film his segment and it was then so late at night, I was very nervous that
the studio audience would be too tired when I finally got on stage. Thankfully I
was wrong. The audience was very responsive I had a great set. I surprised
myself by being amazingly relaxed out in front
of the cameras. My only problem was that I forgot to delete the line about Spam
and when I realized I said the line I lost my concentration and dropped my
machete while juggling.
Knowing that the mistake could be edited I just picked up the machete and
continued to juggle.
When I got off stage I was so upset with myself that I
was swearing. Harold heard me and told me not to worry, that it could all be edited. I
apologized to just about everyone, but everyone assured me that there was no
problem, it could all be edited. (Thank goodness it wasn’t live television.) I
did exceptionally well. My manager said everyone in the control room was
laughing. Jill saw Phil laughing. All the Statler Brothers complimented me and all said they’d like me back on the show! The director assured me that we would not see the line I shouldn’t have uttered
or the
machete I shouldn’t have dropped. He alsosaid he’d like me back on the
show. So did the
Statlers agent, Marshall Grant, who hired me to do the show.
I went to Nashville
to do a job, and I did it well. My gut feeling, at the time was that I was going to get a lot
of work in Nashville, more work on television, and a lot more money everywhere else! It
felt like the beginning of my climb to somewhere near the top and I was very
excited.
On March 22, 1995 I made a guest appearance on another T.N.N. show,
MUSIC CITY TONIGHT
starring
LORIANNE CROOK
&
CHARLIE CHASE.
Also on the show with me was
well known Grand Ole Opry singer
Jeanne Seely, a new
country band called Dallas
County Line, gospel
singers Jeff and Sheri
Easter and British television personality,
Clive James.
The show was, in my opinion, too long at an hour and
a half. I did not get to perform until about and hour and five minutes into the
show. I felt as though the audience was tired. I remember thinking, as I was
doing my five minute routine, that I was doing good but not "killing"
as I had done on The Statler Brothers Show.
By the time I left the studio I
neurotically convinced myself that I didn’t do very well at all. However,
when I watched the show in my hotel room that night when it aired, I was pleasantly pleased. It
looked great! In fact when it was over I actually stood up and cheered with
relief. I had been so anxiety ridden for the two days prior to filming. I slept
only four hours each night, my stomach was in tight knots, and I was just a
mass of frayed nerves. I couldn't have been more pleased with the results of my
efforts.
Charlie Chase and I talked
for a while before the show, but I didn’t meet Lorianne until the curtain
call at the end of the show. We shook hands, gave each other a hug and talked
for a minute or so. She said that she was worried for me when I juggled my
machete. She seemed so sweet and sincere. Charlie was exceptionally nice also.
They both told me that they loved my show. I heard them laughing as I performed
my stuff and that was encouraging as I worked.
After
seeing how well my spot actually went I felt certain
that they would have me back on the show. In fact, after my set the talent
coordinator apologized to me because there wasn't enough time to have me chat
with Charlie and Lorianne. I said I was disappointed, but they said that next
time they would be sure there was enough time for me. Those were the key
words..."next time"’.
This was another successful television experience for me. I felt like I was
finally starting to get what I’ve wanted for so long in this business.
Respect and recognition for my talents. And there was something remarkable
about appearing on television. It was the top of the business. Yea, "Music City Tonight" wasn’t
the "Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" but it was a national
television program and still a huge show business accomplishment. My ability to
do this well made me feel great. The idea that I could walk
out on a stage in front of half-a-dozen cameras and that millions of people
could enjoy (or not) my work was a thrill. Nerve racking beyond compare
beforehand but an absolute thrill when it was all said and done.
The success on the show in March
earned me a return engagement on October 26. Lorianne
was sick that night so Charlie was hosting the show by himself. Other
guests on the show were
Holly Dunn, CeCe Winans
and Kim
Richey,
On March 23, 24, & 26 of 1995 I did a Florida tour
with
THE EVERLY BROTHERS. We appeared in Sarasota, Clearwater, and
Melbourne, Florida. The great thing about this tour was that it immediately
followed my television appearance on Music City Tonight with Crook & Chase.
After my performance on the television show, Crook & Chase announced that I
would be working in these particular Florida cities with The Everly Brothers the
following three nights. That taught me, first hand, about the power of
television. I actually had people approach me to tell me that they had seen me
on television. I even had a young kid request my autograph. That was
embarrassing but I pretended that I was actually a celebrity myself and signed
his piece of paper. I'm sure that, today, that piece of paper has long since
been incinerated by the local sanitation department!
Don and
Phil Everly
were friendly enough to work with, but
I never really felt like they gave a darn about me, the opening act. I am
getting use to that. Sometimes the stars really don’t care to take the time to get to
know their openers and I guess I can’t blame them. They’ve got more than
their fair share of performance pressures. It would be nice if they all warmly
welcomed guys like me and made us feel like part of their tour. Many of them do.
Some don't. I don’t
mean to sound negative because they were, like I said, friendly. I would have
liked to talk to them more than I did but that was just not to be.
I can honestly say that I have never worked with a more
talented group of musicians and performers than the guys that backed up the Everly
Brothers that week. Powerhouse musicians, all of
them! From England there was Albert Lee
on the guitar. Albert is a talent in his own right. He’s got his
own albums and is known as one of the finest guitarists in the world. Also from
England was Pete Wingfield
on the keyboards. He's got the fastest hands I’ve
ever seen and put quite a bit of theatrics and showmanship into his playing. He
was the most fun to watch. Pete worked with the Hollies and Van Morrison years
ago. Tony Newman, another English chap, use to play drums with David
Bowie. He’s also very talented as was Phil Cranham, the bass
player who use to work with the band, Hot Chocolate. On Slide Guitar was the
inventor of the Pedal Steel Guitar, Buddy Emmons. He use to be a
regular on the Grand Ole Opry back in the days of Little Jimmy Dickens.
Individually these guys are masters. Together they were brilliant.
The
Everly Brothers played all of their old hits and a lot of
other music. They still have great voices and still know how to rock’n’roll. My shows went
well, and even though I didn’t get any feedback from Don and Phil Everly, I
know the band loved my show. Several comments were made about how my show works
well with theirs.
On June 16 & 17, 1995 I worked with
FRANKIE VALLI
at the Paramount Art Center in Aurora, IL., just outside
of Chicago. Two concerts, one with an audience of 1200 and the other with 1500,
in a theater that seats 1800. The first night I had an all right show, not a
great one. The second night I had a fantastic kick-ass show! I met Frankie for a
moment after the show on the first night. He was very nice and asked me if I wanted a
beer. He said he didn’t get a chance to see my show. The next night he did see
the show, told me that he loved it and indicated that he would like to have me on
his show again sometime. He
asked me if I had a video with me, which I didn’t. He had his tour manager
give me his personal agents name at I.C.M. and told me to send him a video tape. That
was encouraging but it turned out to be another show business effort in
futility. He seemed sincere about it but nothing ever materialized from his
interest and my efforts.
Frankie’s show was great. He played all his old hits, including
"Sherry" and "Rag Doll". There were dozens of other familiar
songs. You’d know them if
you heard them. He’s a hell of an entertainer with a long list of
legendary hits. It’s a tribute to him that his music still remains so popular
35-40 years later.
I guess it was about
three years later that I got another booking in concert with Frankie Valli.
Also scheduled to be on the show was Jay Black and The
Americans. Whenever I get booked on a concert date with a name act I do a little bit of
career promoting. If I didn't do this my career would never have gone as far as
it did and would probably go no further. It's common sense to promote yourself
and it would be foolish not to let other people in the world of show business
know what and how well you were doing.
One of my methods of promoting is to
send out postcards to all of the agents, producers and promoters on my mailing
list. At this particular point in time there were a little over 100 people on
my mailing list. My postcard simply said "JACK SWERSIE in concert with
JAY BLACK AND THE AMERICANS and FRANKIE VALLI" I also included the
date of the show as well as my personal contact information. In designing the
card my name was slightly bigger and bolder than the names of the other two
talents. After all, this was my personal mail going to people on my personal
mailing list.
A week or so after I mailed these postcards
I got a phone call from the theater director who booked me on the concert.
Frankie Valli's agent at I.C.M. (one of the larger talent agencies) had called
him. Somehow Frankie Valli had seen a copy of my postcard and was livid that my
name was bigger than his and that his name was mentioned last on my postcard.
This is what Frankie's agent told the theater director and the theater director
passed on to me. Furthermore, the agent said that Frankie wanted me fired from
the show and never to be booked with him again! And so, I was fired by Frankie
Valli!
I've always had a hard time believing that Frankie
was actually the person behind my being fired. I sometimes wonder if it
was the agent who was angry and passed the blame on to him. It's just that
Frankie seemed so nice when I worked with him in 1995. I can't imagine that he
could be that insecure. It's not as if my name being one font-size larger than
his could possibly threaten his sparkling 40 year career. I shouldn't have been
fired because of something so trite and insignificant. But, you know what? I
actually hope it was Frankie Valli who fired me! Because, if I'm going to be
fired from a gig, I may as well be fired by the best!
I didn’t know who country legend
GEORGE
JONES
was before I worked with him on July 7, 1995. I'm more
familiar with the younger country talent and his name was unknown to me until I
got booked with him a month before the concert. The night of the concert he kept to himself,
holing up in his plush tour bus until it was time for him to walk out on stage. When I did introduce myself
to him, as he was walking from his bus to the stage entrance, he seemed very
much focused on his show. He seemed like a nice man but, unfortunately, I didn't
get to talk to him other than the quick introduction.
I had a great show at the Valley Forge Music Fair that
night, but nobody from his organization seemed to pay attention to my show. It's
funny, sometimes the headliner and their people are very much concerned that
things go well for the opening act. Other times they just don't care. This
particular night no one seemed to care.
Every once in a while I get to
work with someone who is just the nicest, most gentlemanly person that I could possibly meet.
Perry Como was one of those people. So was
ROGER WILLIAMS.
People
my age and younger may not know who Roger Williams is, but people one generation above mine
should know him well. He was a renowned pianist in his
day and I can tell you that his talent has not diminished. When I worked
with him he played those keys like no other 71 year old man could possibly play
them. Absolutely incredible! And he was exceptionally charming, very witty, and
quite endearing to his fans. Offstage he was delightful.
I had the pleasure of opening four concert shows for Roger on an outdoor stage at
the New York State Fair in Syracuse on August 28 & 29, 1995. I met him before I
went on stage and he wished me well. After my show he warmly complimented me, as
he did for the next few shows. By the end of my third show, he told me "Boy, you just keep going out there and pleasing those
people. You make it so easy for me!"
At the end
of the last concert he was kind enough to sign the cover of an old record album of his that I brought with me.
Then he told me he wanted to give me
something. He dug into his suitcase, pulled out his new C.D. and gave it to me. He
told me, and I quote, "Hey, let’s do this again!" I said, "Hey,
you know I’d love to!"
My shows were terrific. 8000 people in the first
audience. The other audiences had anywhere from 3000 to 6000 people. They were
an older audience but very enthusiastic. It was a
blast.
On Saturday, October 7, 1995 I worked with soul, jazz and pop singer
FREDA PAYNE. The gig was
in Columbus, Ohio at a CompuServe corporate function. Freda is known mostly for
her big hit song in 1970 called "Band of Gold" and it was this song
that made her a pop star. She followed that with "Deeper & Deeper"
and, later, the R&B song "Bring the Boys Home".
Since
the days of making hit songs she'd been doing a lot of theater work and, at the
time I worked with her, was appearing in a show at the Pasadena Playhouse in Los
Angeles.
I spent some time with her and her music director. We did a lot of
talking about show business and about life. Freda is a real down to earth
person, very open and honest. I enjoyed the time I spent working and chatting
with her.
Monday, November 27, 1995 I had the privilege of working with
THE TEMPTATIONS. I was scheduled to work with the
Four Tops again but a last minute illness kept them from appearing and the Temptations filled
in for them. This was at the Strand Theater in York, Pennsylvania.
There was only one original Temptation remaining with the group when I worked with
them and he was Otis Williams. He was in his 50’s at the time and had more energy
than people half his age. Earlier that year, Melvin Franklin died after suffering a brain seizure.
He was another original member and
quite the driving force behind the group. They chose not to replace him and so
there were only four Temptations when I worked with them.
They were great. It’s amazing how many songs you recognize as theirs once they start their show.
I had another great show for the 1000 or so people in the audience. I didn’t get to speak
with any of the guys. It was very chaotic backstage. One Temptation did
compliment me. That was Ali-Ollie Woodson. The other guys were Ron Tyson and
Theo Peoples.
On December 7 and 8 I opened a couple of concerts for BARBARA MANDRELL
at the Westbury and Valley Forge Music Fair. I had very good shows, but enough about me.
On December 15th, 1995 I almost didn’t
work with
THE SPINNERS. Fog kept their plane from
landing at the local airport and they didn't arrive at the State
Theater in Easton, Pennsylvania until about 8:35 p.m. That was 35 minutes after the
show should have started. The show was held and I didn’t go on stage until all
of the Spinners were in the theater. I was told to do as much time as I could to give them time
to get ready for the show.
All went well with my 45 minutes. I had a wild
audience. At one point a girl yelled out "I love your ponytail, Jack!"
Another girl, after I referred to my wife, yelled with disappointment, "Oh,
he’s married!" Then a guy yelled out, "We didn’t think you’d be
this good!" Then there was the girl who wouldn’t stop laughing really
loud throughout the show. I had fun with her. At the end of the show, when
the sound man failed to start up my taped music and there was total silence, some guy in
the crowd started singing
'Way down upon the Sewanee River...’" I broke out
laughing and then yelled to him, "Don’t you ever be funnier than
me!" It was a great time.
The Spinners were
terrific. Those old Motown groups work harder than anyone else in the business. These guys were in their 50’s and
they sing and dance like they’re in their 20’s.(If you could bottle the
sweat these guys drip and sell it, you'd be a multi-millionaire!) They were also
very nice. I went to their dressing room before their show and introduced
myself. They were very warm. Their back-up band was hot. Great musicians.
I was introduced to RITA
RUDNER
twice at Catch A Rising Star Comedy Club in New York City in the mid 1980’s
when she was working very hard to become the success that she ultimately
became. She was always focused on her work so I never really had a conversation
with her. But when I worked with her in 1992 at the Kirby Center she was very
relaxed, quite personable and very sweet.
We talked for ten minutes or so
before the show. I mentioned that I had been touring with Perry Como, because
she too had done so. We talked a little about that, and that I had met her at
Catch A Rising Star years before. Of course she didn’t remember me from those
days and I certainly didn't expect her to.
Rita is quite funny (more of a
"woman's comic") and has cultivated a large following. Her audiences
adore her. I was to work with her again about three years later in Stamford, Connecticut at the Palace Theater
where she packed the theater just as she had done in Wilkes-Barre.
I was re-introduced to her when I got to Stamford and, once again, she didn't remember me from
prior introductions. She
apologized for not remembering me from Wilkes-Barre and said she was probably in her own
little world getting ready for her show. I can certainly understand that. I know
the pressure I feel when I have a show to do. It's got to be ten times more
stressful when the theater is filled with people who specifically came to see
your performance. Hell, if I screw up my performance...well, I'm just the
opening act. Audiences expect the opening act to stink. But they paid big ticket
prices to see the headliner and the headliner had better give them their monies
worth!
The first thing Rita said to me when
we met again is that she saw my tape and thought that I was very funny. She
really is a sweet person and it was
a great evening. I had a killer show and Rita gave her audience more than their
monies worth!
I made
B.B. KING laugh several times during my 3 night stint with him at
Trump Plaza in Atlantic City. After my
first night's performance and prior to him going on stage to perform his, he posed for pictures with several
people back stage. He was wearing a real beautiful and glittery dinner styled
jacket. As he was being rushed away to start his show I called to him and told him that I hoped it
wasn’t a problem, but I had worn the exact same jacket on stage that night.
Everyone, including B.B. laughed. (Is it any wonder why I make the big bucks?)
Before the next show he wanted me to write my
name down so he could remember to acknowledge and thank me when he went on stage. I handed
him the piece of paper with my name on it, he looked at it and tried to pronounce it. He
told me he hoped he would
be able to pronounce it right. I told him, "Ah, don’t worry, just make up
any name!" Once again, everyone laughed. (You really had to be
there for that one.)
Then after my final show, as he was heading for the
stage I told him that there was a big problem, that I had tried a new routine that
night during my show. "I juggled your guitar, a bowling ball, and a machete", I told
him. He smiled. Then I asked, "Can you play a four string guitar?"
He laughed again and replied by asking me if I had Allstate Insurance. I laughed.
(I hate when people are funnier than me!)
He was
really a great guy. 70 years old when I worked with him. He seemed real happy.
He was friendly and respectful to everyone backstage. He
thanked me after every one of my shows. He also referred to me as his
"co-star" when he acknowledged me during his show. That was very gracious.
What a kick I got watching him play his guitar (named Lucille). This guitar was given
to him by Gibson Guitar Company for his 70th birthday. Each fret had a
gold plate with the name of one of his songs engraved in it. There was also a
picture of him on the guitar. Nice looking guitar, that’s for sure. And, boy
can he play it!
My shows
were not the norm. They were okay but not great. Atlantic City crowds were never
that much fun to perform for and I figured I
batted 50/50 with my four shows. I was happy with two and unhappy with two. B.B.
and his band members enjoyed my show and that’s always a plus.
My first appearance
on T.N.N.'s PRIME TIME COUNTRY
talk
show was on December 17th, 1996. At that time I presented an idea to them for me to appear
on the show again with a funny presentation of some of my more interesting
antique toys from my growing collection. Everyone associated with the show liked the idea. On April 9th of
1997 I was back on the show with my toys.
Host GARY
CHAPMAN is very professional
and easy to work with. At the time, he was married to
Country singer Amy Grant. They've since divorced. Gary is a talented singer in
his own right and does a great job hosting his show. He's got lots of
personality, a great sense of humor, terrific comedy timing and comes across on
camera as very endearing. This particular episode of the show
was star studded and I was excited that I had the opportunity to meet some of these people.
First and foremost was my chance to meet living legend
and Executive Producer of the show, DICK CLARK.
His production company (Dick Clark Productions) produces
Prime Time Country and he happened to be at the filming of the show the day I was on. His
son is the on-the-site Producer of the program. I spoke with Dick for about 5 minutes
after the hour long show ended and he was very friendly and easy to talk to. We
naturally talked about antiques, since I had presented antique toys during my
five minute segment. I told him about a 1950's vinyl Dick Clark Record Box I bid on at a
recent auction but didn't win. It sold for over $60! (I hope he wasn't offended
that I didn't want to pay more than $60 for a piece of his Rock 'n Roll
memorabilia. If truth be known, I personally didn't bid higher than $20. Let's
keep that between us. Please don't tell Mr. Clark.)
Dick was nice enough to pose for a couple of pictures with me.
RICKY VAN
SHELTON was on the show and I spoke with him for a short time.
I had worked with him three years earlier at the Strand Theatre in York, Pennsylvania. He was on the show to sing a
song or two as well as to promote a children's book that he just published.
Legendary country singer CHARLIE
DANIELSmade an appearance on the show also and he couldn’t have been nicer. He was
a very warm and personable man
Five year old
HUNTER HAYES played the accordion on the show and got a standing
ovation. And I had to follow him. There's nothing quite like following a kid act.
In the show business world it is often said that "you should never
follow a child act or an animal act!". I had no choice. Onstage he was
a dynamic performer but backstage Hunter was just being a kid. He had his two cowboy guns and
holsters and he posed for a picture with me, each of us pointing a gun at each
other. He was cute. I told him that I wanted to be his opening act someday and
he said that was okay. He also told me that I was "a good
actor".
And then there was FLORENCE HENDERSON
who was the "T.V.
MOM" for the week, as it was family and children's weekon T.N.N. She was real sweet
and very friendly. We talked about the Brady Bunch a little. I didn't have a
whole lot to say about the show that made her famous as I was never a big fan.
But I knew enough about it to sound somewhat intelligent.
When I was ready
for my segment of the show she told me that I "cleaned up well". Nothing like being
told you look good by the ultimate legendary television mommy.
During my segment something very funny happened that was given a lot of publicity by a
show called
"Talk Soup" on the E-Entertainment Network. "Talk
Soup" liked to get laughs with all of the silly things that are said and
done on the many talk shows that aired on television. They covered my first
appearance on Prime Time Country when I juggled three chunks of Spam out of
their cans. I contacted them regarding my second appearance on the show and
they watched. They also picked up on
something that no one else did and had fun with it the whole next week.
When I presented my antique toys, Gary Chapman and Florence were at my side to
join in the fun. Apparently Florence was chewing on a stick of gum and during
my five minute spot she decided to remove the gum from her mouth and stick it
on the bottom of the table we were standing at. She did it subtlety enough that
no one in the studio audience noticed. But, leave it to the producers of
"Talk Soup" to notice! They did and they played that clip over and
over again the following week,
"WEIRD AL"
YANKOVIC parodies pop
culture through his music and videos. Some of his most popular hits include "Eat
It" (a parody of Michael Jackson's "Beat It"), "Like A
Surgeon" (Madonna's "Like A Virgin") and "Yoda" (his Star Wars
parody).
The first time I
worked with Al was at the Westbury Music Fair on Long Island on July 21,
1997. I got a last minute phone call from Entertainment Director Jason Stone asking me to appear
as Al's opening act that night.
I was asked to perform a 20 minute show in front of, what could have been, a tough crowd of
1800 New York kids between the age of 8 and 18, and some of their parents. I
have to admit that I was nervous as all Hell! I had heard horror stories about
other comedians who tried to warm up Al's audiences. In fact, that night at the
Westbury Music Fair, everyone backstage was telling me about another comic I
know (who happens to be very talented) who opened for Al the last time he was at
Westbury. The guy lasted about five minutes. The kids hated him and kept yelling
at him during his show. He freaked out and walked off stage, out the side door
of the theater and into his car. He drove off without even asking to be paid.
That was certainly a warm and fuzzy story to hear before I had to perform.
I decided to approach the audience as if they were all
adults. I felt that if I talked down to the kids in the crowd they would turn on
me. I also copped a hard-edged New York attitude and I had a great show.
There were some people yelling things out occasionally during my set but I was
able to put them in their place and the audience loved it. My strategy worked
and I couldn't have been more relieved.
I worked two more dates with Al in 1999, one at Westbury (again) in August and
another at the Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania a couple of weeks
later. I remembered well how to perform for his audiences and had two more
terrific shows. As usual, the audiences got a bit rowdy but i handled them with
absolute ease!
I have an
incredible respect for Al and his work. I have never seen an entertainer get from
an audience what Al gets from his. His audiences range in age from 8 years old
to 40 or so, mostly the younger M.T.V. age. He is a master showman and his concerts are more than just
concerts, they are events! During Al's frequent costume changes, hilarious video
tapes of him are shown on the one or more large screens set up around the
theater. There's always something high-energy going on during his show and the
people get swept up into the excitement of it.
"Weird Al" surrounded himself with four talented musicians who were rather theatrical during the entire show.
When I worked with him in 1999, Ruben ws the keyboard player and Steve was one of the two
guitarists. Rich, I think, is the name of the other
guitarist and John is the drummer. Nice guys. I never really got to converse with Al other than saying "hello" and "good show". He
seemed like a pleasant enough guy.
I worked with THE BEACH BOYS
once in September and then again in November of 1993 at the Valley Forge Music Theater in Pennsylvania. About four years later I appeared with them again in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and it is there that I actually sang a song with them on stage. More on that later.On October 16th, 1997 I worked with the country band ALABAMA at the Westbury Music Fair on Long Island. Nothing too exciting to report on this gig. They were good. I was good. The audience was good. Everyone was good. I did not get to meet any of the guys in the group except for the back-up musicians and they were all very nice.
The first time I worked with
NEIL SEDAKA
was at the Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on December 13, 1986. In
fact this was my first of many appearances at the Kirby Center where I would
perform with dozens of other celebrity stars over the years.
I met the
legendary singer and song writer backstage
after the show and he autographed his promotional picture for me. I don’t think he saw my show
that night but his wife, Leba, must have because seven years later when I sent her my
promotional
items
she fondly remembered me and had the William Morris
Agency in Los Angeles book me on five concert dates in Michigan and Indiana
during January of
1994.
When I next saw Neil, I joked
to him that I had done so well in 1987 when I worked with him the first time
that he asked me to work with him again in 1994. And after my four extremely
powerful performances in the mid-west, I joked with him that I’d see him again in 2001!
As it turns out I was to work with him, not seven years, but three years
later.
On October 22, 1997 I went Battle Creek,
Michigan to work with him again. As usual,
his audiences were terrific and I had great shows. Neil kept to himself. He
would get to the theater while I was finishing up my show and I would go to his
dressing room to say hello and wish him well when I got off stage. By 1997 he was familiar with me
and was always very nice and polite. He always gave me a warm and cheerful hello with a friendly touch of my arm.
He usually asked me how the show went or how the audience was. He would
thank me for my performance. He was always really delightful.
Neil is quite the
legend and you can never be fully aware of how many great early hit songs he was responsible for
writing and singing until you sit through one of his
uplifting and enthusiastic performances. Such songs include "Oh
Carol", "The Diary", "Stairway to Heaven", "Calendar Girl", "Next Door to an
Angel", "Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen" and "Breaking Up Is Hard to
Do". Wonderful music from a great period in music history!
January 16-18, 1998 I appeared at Trump
Plaza in Atlantic City with jazz, pop, rock, soul and gospel singer
PHOEBE SNOW. I got the
royal treatment from Trump again, including a limousine to and from my home, complimentary food and
a complete wet bar in my up-scale ocean-view hotel room. Whenever a comedian
opens a concert at Trump Plaza, Donald treats them like the star they wish they
were but will probably never be! (I am grateful for the fantasy weekends he had
provided me and, quite frankly, he's got my vote for President!)
I felt much better about my performances this
time around. When I was at Trump Plaza two years before with B.B. King I was unhappy with
the response I received from the audiences during a couple of my shows. This time
I felt that the audiences were much more responsive and I had four very good
shows. (I’m still convinced, however, that Atlantic City audiences are not the best audiences to perform for.)
Phoebe
was very nice but seemed consumed with her own upcoming performances. So, I
didn't really get a chance to chat with her, other than a little small talk
backstage. She was kind enough to a stagehand to take some photographs of the
three of us together.
I had one of my best concert shows ever on
January 24, 1998 at the State Theatre in Easton,
Pennsylvania. I was in concert with country band
DIAMOND RIO. This group made its recording debut in 1991 with the platinum-selling album, titled "Diamond Rio". They followed
that album with "Close To The Edge" in 1992 and "Love A Little Stronger" in 1994.This
talented group of six young guys pulled in 1400 fans of all ages. Together
these fans made up one heck of a great audience.
All the guys in the band, lead singer
Marty Roe,
lead guitarist
Jimmy Olander,
mandolinist and vocalist Gene Johnson,
drummer
Brian Prout,
bassist and vocalist Dana Williams and keyboardist
Dan Truman.
watched my show and really
enjoyed it. In fact Marty Roe referred back to me a couple of times during
their show. I had made some really funny references to President Clinton
regarding the Monica Lewinski affair and when the band was on stage Marty
acknowledged my show and mentioned the jokes I had done about Clinton. He said,
something to the effect that, he didn't see what the big deal was about Clinton
wanting to score with the ladies all the time. He said "That's why I got
into show business!" That got a huge laugh and a round of applause from
the audience.
There's nothing like a 44 year old man opening a
concert for a 15 year old girl!
LEANNE RIMES was
a superstar at 15 years old! I Opened two concerts for her at the Star Plaza Theatre in
Merrillville, Indiana in March of 1998 in front of 3400 people
each night and it was an absolute thrill. To watch
her work was even more of a thrill. Man, could that little girl sing! What a
powerful voice!
I was backstage during the afternoon of
the first show and there was a young girl walking around and talking to people.
I had no idea that it was her as I'd never seen her work. The Leanne Rimes that
I saw walking around gave no indication that she was the superstar that she was.
She just seemed like a normal 15 year old kid. However, the more I saw her interact
with other people backstage, the more I saw a
15 year old girl with the experience of a 30 year old. When I was speaking with
her, what I heard was the voice of a 15 year old but what I saw was the charm
and poise of an adult. An adult with lots of class.
She was very nice to me.
She shook my hand when I introduced myself to her. Later on, after the show, she thanked me for opening her concert
for her. That was the behavior of an adult, not a 15 year old girl! She was very
thoughtful. Very professional.
I do a gag in my show with
three black balloons filled with helium. They look like bowling balls. Before my
first show I teased her with them by asking her to hold on to one of them. When she went to take it from my hands I
let it go and it floated to the ceiling floated to the ceiling. She thought that was pretty
cool. She said "Hey, they look like bowling balls!". I then told her what I
did with them in my show and she thought that was "neat".
One of my favorite things to do backstage is to watch the star prepare to go out
on stage and to see the audience reaction when they appear on stage. Leanne seemed cool and calm as she
was about to walk out in front of the 3400 audience members. She seemed very confident.
The audience went absolutely nuts when she walked out to do her show.
Likewise,
Leanne was real calm when she finished her
show. It was almost like it was just another days work for her. She walked off
stage and into her dressing room looking as if she wasn't even fazed that she
had just brought 3400 people to their feet with applause. It was like it was
just part of her job and it didn't seem like it was a
big deal to her. She really amazed me with her style and grace and impressed me
with her humility.
I, on the other hand, jumped for
joy and walked around backstage like I was some kind of big-shot after each of
my kick-ass performances!
At the Flagler Auditorium in Bunnell,
Florida on March 13, 1998 I worked with
legendary singer and song writer
BURT BACHARACH. Burt is known
for popular songs like "Walk on By", "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" and "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head".
He's also written stage and film scores including "Promises, Promises" and
"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid".
I was able to meet him backstage before the show and he seemed like a nice man.
In 1989 I worked with
THE OAK RIDGE BOYS
at the Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. This was
to be the first of many appearances I had with the legendary Country Music group over the next decade. I was introduced to the guys but really didn’t get to talk to any of
them.
On January 26
and 27 in 1995 I worked with them again, this time in Melbourne and Clearwater, Florida.
They didn't remember me from six years earlier and I was re-introduced to each of them. I was able to
talk with them for only a short period of time.
They pretty much stayed to themselves. They would leave the theater immediately after
their show, so there was never much time afterwards to chat.
From my brief contact with them I did
learn that they are very nice guys.
Duane Allen
was certainly the most conversational.
He came up to me after each show to let me know he thought I did great. He even
sat down next to my wife and I backstage during dinner and talked to us for a while.
Joe Bonsall
was friendly and complimentary but, once again, I really didn’t get much time to speak with him. Soprano
Richard Sterban
was the least talkative of the Oaks. At first I though he was unfriendly, but the more
I watched him, the more I realized that
he was just shy. This was confirmed to me later by a friend of the band who said
that Richard was, indeed, shy. I also met
Steve Sanders
but never got to talk to him. Baritone singer Steve had replaced William Lee
Golden in 1987 and stayed with the band until late in 1995.
Just about a year to the day later I had another couple of concerts with
The Oaks. This time the show was at the Macomb Center in Clinton
Township, Michigan.
It was a historic weekend for the Oak Ridge Boys because for the first time in eight or
nine years William Lee Golden
was back with the group. (Steve Sanders had just resigned.
Sadly, two years later, in 1998, Steve committed suicide.) It was only their second night
in concert together with William, and Duane told me that they were still working out the kinks. They sounded great
to me and the fans were glad to have William back. It was fun for me to be with them all again.
They all remembered me from the two concert dates I did with them in Florida
the year before. Richard, who is normally very shy, was much more talkative this time. Joe
was friendly and Duane was, as I remember him to be, the most conversational. It
was hard to talk to William. He seemed very quiet.
I
had two great shows that day and I felt certain there would be other concert dates with
them in the future. And I was correct.
On February 7, 1999 I did a couple of more shows in Michigan with The Oak Ridge Boys This
was the forth time that I was on the road with them and it was nice because I was
finally starting to be a familiar face backstage. I spoke a bit with Duanne,
Richard and Joe. I had only met William Lee once before and he still seemed hard
to get to know.
The Oak Ridge Boys had a new television
show that they were doing on T.N.N. They had already filmed a season of shows
and were on hiatus until next season. They did not yet know whether T.N.N. would
renew the show. I was up front in letting them know that I would love to make a
guest appearance if the show continued. (I had already done all of the other
talk shows on that network, so it was likely that I would do theirs as well.) Joe and Duanne told me that they would
love to have me on the show. I believed I had a good shot at it but,
unfortunately, the show was cancelled before I got the opportunity.
My
two shows that night were good but I didn’t feel as though I tore the room up as I am
accustomed to do at concert halls. The Oak
Ridge Boys did compliment me and that meant a lot. Once again, I left the
theater feeling as though I'd work with them again in the near future.
November 21, 1999 was the third time that
I worked with
B.J. THOMAS
and the first time that I got a chance to meet and speak with him.
The
first time I shared the stage with him was in 1994 at a resort hotel in New Jersey.
A year or so later I performed a benefit concert with him for the Fraternal Order of Police at the Jaffe Mosque in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
Each time there was one reason or another that I had to drive home right after
my show and so I didn't get acquainted with him until 1999.
He was an absolute pleasure to work with on the wintry night in Mentor, Ohio
(outside of Cleveland.) So were the musicians who accompanied him. Daryl (bass), John (guitar), Carl (keyboards) and Larry
(drums) were fun to hang out with backstage. B.J. made a big
effort to remember my name and mention it when he was on stage and I always
appreciated that in a headline act. It shows a lot of consideration. His show was
great, mixing in his old hits with some new songs and a number of gospel tunes. My show went very well.
December 3 & 4, 1999 will go down in
my personal show-biz history as one of the most disappointing opening act
experiences that I ever had to endure. It was during this warm December
weekend that I worked at the Estes Arena at Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City
with Superstar Country Artist
TIM McGRAW.
The approximately 6000-seat Estes Arena,
home to many a boxing match, was turned into a concert hall for Tim and filled
to the brim with screaming, obsessed fans who could not give a damn about an opening
act and could give even less of a damn for a guy trying to make them laugh by joking
and juggling. It was awfully lonely on stage both of these nights. From the
minute I got up on stage I knew that I had an uphill battle. I’d say that only
about 2/3 of the seats were filled when I went out there and the commotion was
great as the rest of the people filled in the seats.
After walking out
on stage to
a pathetic introduction by a couple of cocky disk-jockeys, I worked harder than ever and had only a small core of
people laughing as well as a number of drunk cowboys yelling out "WE WANT
TIM!" It was tough but I pretended as though I was doing well, knowing
clearly that this situation had nothing to do with me or my talent and everything to do with the
set up in the arena and the overall environment. The next night was equally tough and the response I got
then confirmed my believe that I was doing the best I could and that the situation
was out of my hands.
I met Tim backstage and he was a gentleman, very
friendly and complimentary to me. In fact, his road manager and the tour
manager were complimentary to me as well. I guess that they don't know what I'm capable
of and were satisfied with my performance. I, however, know what I'm able to get
out of an audience and was deeply disappointed.
Tim's show was powerful and his
fans truly loved the guy. He played them well, connecting with them on a
personal level as they filled the arena with tumultuous screaming. It was a rock
‘n roll crowd, perfect for Tim and devastating for me. Tim was kind enough to
pose for a picture with Jill and I. I figured that if I was going to be
depressed about these two concerts, I may as well get a picture for my website
out of the experience!
I worked with
COLLIN RAYE
on October 16, 1999 at the Keswick Theater in Glenside, Pennsylvania. I didn't get
to meet him and I couldn't stay for his show. I met the guys in his band and
they were very nice. My show was terrific and I got an
immediate re-booking with him for December 16th.
Unfortunately, the second concert date didn't happen. I drove three hours out to the beautiful EISENHOWER AUDITORIUM on
the Penn State University campus in State College, Pennsylvania. When I got
there I had a sneaking suspicion that something was wrong when I saw the stage crew tearing down all of the band equipment.
"Hmm, this ain't right!", I thought. It turned out Collin was sick,
had lost his voice and cancelled the concert at the last minute. I
got in my car and drove three hours home. Bummer!
This
concert date was rescheduled for March 26, 2000 and it went very
smoothly. Once again, I had an extremely strong show and left the
theater scratching my head, wondering why I was not on tour with a guy like
Collin Raye. There have been dozens of talented musicians, many of them country
artists, who I've shared the stage with. I do so well as their support act
The Three Little Bakers Dinner Theater in Wilmington, Delaware seats between
900 and 1000 people and JERRY
VALE had absolutely no trouble
filling every seat for the entire six day engagement there in late April of
2000.
Popular since the 1950's, Jerry sings romantic love songs and he sings
them well. His warmth, charm and humor (along with his wonderful
songs) brought the audiences to their feet at the end of each of his 90-minute performances.
His audiences were absolutely terrific and my shows went very well, despite
the age difference between them and me. Senior citizen audiences can be tough
at times but his fans were full of energy, very smart and ready to have a good time. They
were as good as the older audiences I performed for when I toured with Perry
Como back in the early 1990's and my shows were just as
strong. I really had a good time!
Off stage, Jerry is
just as nice as
he comes across while on stage. Very down to earth. In many ways, he reminds me
of Perry Como, especially when it comes to his accessibility to his fans. Every
day, Jerry would go out to the lobby of the theater at the end of his show to
autograph his C.D.'s for anyone who asked. He was very warm and friendly to
everyone. I enjoyed talking with him and his musical
director, Paul Mann, each day and hope to see them again soon.
Rock star PAT
BENETAR played the Westbury Music
Fair on Long Island, New York on August 3, 2000 and I was her opening act in
front of her sold-out audience of close to 3000 people. This was the first time
that I appeared in concert with her, the first time I saw her work live and the
first time I met her.
When I introduced myself to the
attractive and petite singer backstage, even though she was busy getting ready
for the concert, she took the time to meet my wife and I and she couldn't have
been more delightful. A very classy lady!
One thing that
I've noticed over the years, having worked with so many major stars, is that
when the
headliner
is a pleasant person (as Pat most certainly is), everyone
else associated with their tour is just as nice. I'm not sure if it's because
nice people tend to surround themselves with other nice people or that the other
people are nice because the person they work with is nice and the attitude sort of rubs
off on them. In any case, my point is that everyone who Pat surrounded herself
with was terrific and the backstage environment was relaxed and upbeat. Her
entire group seemed to have a good time with each other and seemed as though
they truly loved being there.
Unfortunately, I couldn't
stay for her entire show (I had to head for Western New York, eight hours away,
for a concert with Ray Charles the next night.) but I did get to watch about 40
minutes of her show. I was struck by how powerful a singer she is. If you didn't
know that she was Pat Benetar you would have no idea, looking at her approximately
5'2", maybe 100 pound stature, that she could sing as powerfully as she
does. She belts out her songs and sounds great!
I had a very good show that night. It's different for me, as
an opening act, when I work a Rock 'n Roll crowd as opposed to a Country Music
crowd or a Pop Music crowd. Even though at this concert the audience was
primarily in the 30 to 45 year old range, you still get those Rock 'n Roll fans
who feel that it's necessary to yell things out during the opening act's show. I
don't really mind it so much because I'm usually able to turn the situation
around and get a few laughs out of it but it still strikes me as strange that
people feel that it's okay to scream out while someone is performing on stage.
The opening act knows that the people are at the theater to see the headliner so
it really is quite unnecessary for a fan or two to constantly remind them of it.
Yelling out the headliners name during the opening act's performance is not
going to make the opening act leave any faster or get the headliner out on stage
any quicker. It can only serve to annoy those sitting around them and possibly
embarrass themselves. I did a my full 30 minute show that night, got a good
number of laughs at the expense of these hecklers and left the audience warmed
up for Pat Benetar who, incidentally, came out on stage as scheduled and no
sooner.
I've
worked with over 70 major stars in my twenty year career and never have I been
so touched as I was the night I got to meet the legendary RAY
CHARLES!
I
don't know why that is. I've always enjoyed his music but would not consider
myself to be a huge fan. I've never even purchased one of his albums. Maybe it's
because he is Ray Charles and that name has been in my vocabulary since I was a
little boy and has always been associated with greatness. Whatever the reason, I
have never been so moved as I was during the few minutes I spent with him in his
dressing room at then end of the August 4, 2000 concert at the Chautauqua
Institution in Chautauqua, New York.
Close to 6000 people
packed the standing-room-only amphitheater, my show could not have been any
better and I enjoyed every minute of my short relationship with this fine
audience. Unlike the audience the night before (when I opened a concert for the
talented Pat Benetar in New York) there were no crazed fans yelling out the
headliner's name to remind me that they were there to see the headliner and not
the intrusive opening act. This audience was perfect and with
reason.
The Chautauqua Institution is a community
renowned as a center for the performing arts and the people who frequent the
shows at the center are very open minded to, and focused on, so
many different aspects of the performing arts. In short, the Chautauqua
Institution attracts the most sophisticated audiences that I've ever had the
pleasure of entertaining! (My first experience there was three years prior when
I successfully opened a concert for the charming Rosemary Clooney.)
It was a thrill to watch Ray Charles backstage being escorted by a few members
of his entourage to the stage prior to his show but nothing could compare to the
few minutes I got to spend with him after his performance.
His tour manager invited my wife and I into Ray's dressing room to meet him
after everyone has left the amphitheater. I was introduced to him, shook his
hand and told him that I thought he was sensational and that I was flattered to
have had an opportunity to work with him. My wife, Jill, was introduced next and
Ray was quick to pick up on the "Jack and Jill" thing. As he shook her
hand,
he laughingly said "How'd
you guys make that happen?" Jill and I laughed and I told him
that it was a cross we had to bear through our lives. He laughed. I then told
him that Jill's Dad's name was Jack as was her first husband, that she had been "jacked
around" her whole life. He laughed heartily again. I then asked if we
could be honored with a picture of us with him and he was more than happy to
allow us this opportunity.
It was only a few minutes that
we spent with him but, during that time, I felt as though I was around pure
greatness. There was something about him, a charm and charisma that just felt
incredible and made those few minutes so special to me. It's very hard to
explain but this living legend of a man, who has accomplished so much in his 69
years, was just so relaxed, friendly, personable, accessible and accommodating
that it made the moment feel great. I wish I could explain my feelings better
but the bottom line is that I've met many, many legendary performers in my show
business years and no meeting has affected me more than the meeting with
Mr. Ray Charles.
The PNC
Bank Arts Center, once known as the Garden State Arts Center, provided a free
concert for senior citizens on the 28th of August in the year 2000. I understand
that they do this every year and this particular year AL
MARTINO was the headliner, filling
this beautiful amphitheater with well over 7000 adoring fans.
I was the opening act for Al and performed a terrific 25-minute show, warming up
the more than friendly crowd for Al's sensational hour and a half performance.
Al sounded absolutely terrific and got several standing ovations during the
coarse of his show!
I met Al and his wife, Judi,
backstage prior to the show and both were very friendly. After my show Al took
the time to tell me how well he thought I did and, then again after spending a
half hour signing autographs following his performance, told me that his fans
enjoyed both he and I. Apparently some of his fans praised my performance and he
was kind enough to pass that sentiment on to me. That's class!
RICHARD LEWIS
was lots of fun to work with. I had the opportunity to open the concert for him
at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City on September 16, 2000.
I'm not a huge fan of
Atlantic City audiences. Generally they have a real "Fuck you, make me
laugh!" attitude but the 600 or so people who came to see Richard that
night made up a terrific and sophisticated crowd and I felt comfortable
performing for them. I also had a great show.
Never having met Richard before I
was curious as to whether he acted the same way off stage as he does onstage.
His stage persona has always been one of perpetual neurosis and misery.
I can
sat that, while his energy and physical mannerisms are very much the same
offstage and he is just as funny off stage as he is onstage, he was not running
around backstage talking about his personal problems or doing his act. He
seemed to me to be a rather friendly guy with lots of warmth and sincerity. He
kept everyone backstage laughing and made everyone around
him feel comfortable. He was a very likeable guy.
THE VILLAGE PEOPLE consist of six of the nicest people that I've had the pleasure of working with. Each of them were down-to-earth, friendly guys. I worked with them on the evening of January 16, 2001, my first concert of the new year. It was at the Palace Theater in Stamford, Connecticut, and even though the crowd size was not huge (only about 700 people showed up in this 1500-seat theater) their performance was more than inspired and the audience was wild! I had a pretty good opening spot of about 35-minutes. They did about an hour and had the audience standing at the end of their performance.
It was on October 23, 2002 that I had the opportunity to work with one of the most gracious entertainers of our time, the hilarious JOAN RIVERS. Joan appeared at the Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre, PA. that day and did what she does best. Looking younger than her years and standing shorter than her stature, she kept the crowd laughing for over an hour with her unique style of humor, shocking those older Wilkes-Barre folks who came expecting to see the television-clean comedienne they've learned to love and not knowing that she can get pretty crazy in front of a live concert audience. Backstage, Joan couldn't have been any nicer. Warning me not to pet the little dog that she had in tow with her, because she might bite me, (the dog, not Joan), she took the time to kid around with me and pose for a couple of pictures.
From September 25, 1964 until September 19, 1969 JIM NABORS played the title role in 150 episodes of the CBS situation comedy "Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C." Thirty-five years later (July 10, 2004) I worked with this talented and personable singer and entertainer at the American Music Theatre in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Looking significantly younger than his 74-years, Jim put on quite an entertaining show; singing, joking, telling stories, and showing out-takes from his legendary television show to the sold-out audience in this 1600-seat theatre. He also spent time talking to people backstage and no one would deny that he was just about as warm, friendly, and down-to-earth as a person could be. Jim had not done a stage show in years, but came out of retirement to play this well-known theatre because several of his friends who had worked there raved about the place. He claimed that this was to be his last live show, but my guess is that we will see him on stage again. No entertainer could walk away from the true love and affection his audience gave him this night in Lancaster, and not want to get back in front of an audience filled with adoring fans! Mark my word, this wasn't his last show!
It was
sometime in mid-August of 2004 that I got a call from a man named MICKEY
FREEMAN. Mickey, many years ago,
played Private Zimmerman on the Phil Silvers television show and was putting
together a show at the FRIARS CLUB
in New York City to honor legendary comedian PROFESSOR
IRWIN COREY. Corey, at age 91, was
being honored for starring in a Broadway play called Sly Fox (Sadly, the
play was unexpectedly cancelled and was to close that weekend.) Mickey
Freeman asked me if I would like to do a short spot in the show. It was to be a
star-studded show held at the Friars on Monday night, August 23rd. On the show
would be LARRY STORCH
(from the classic television sit-com, F-Troop) and
comedian ROBERT KLEIN,
along with Freeman, Corey, and some other
lesser-known talent like myself. I was actually hesitant about accepting this
gig because, quite frankly the idea of working at the Friars Club scared me. But
I accepted the invitation and would be glad that I did.
The night of the show, my wife and I had dinner in
the Milton Berle room at the Friars Club
with everyone else who was on the show. We sat at a table with Larry Storch and
a lady friend of his. Sitting at the table next to us was Robert Klein and, none
other than, SOUPY SALES.
Soupy was there as part of the show, but was not to perform do to health
reasons. I don't know what his health issues were at the time, but he was
dependant on a walker to get around. I was lucky enough to meet this living
legend. It was actually pretty sad to see him in this condition. After all,
anyone my age grew up watching him on television. He was part of our childhood.
It's always sad to see great legends getting old, especially when their health
seemed to be failing them. After dinner, the entire cast of the evenings show
posed for pictures for the Friars Club. I'm assuming that means that this
group photo (with me in it) is now gracing a wall at the historic and esteemed
club.
The show went well. There were probably about
ten people in the show and I believe I was scheduled to do my thing about half
way through the show. The audience was filled with club members and invited
guests. Mickey Freeman emceed the show. There were a couple of lady singers and
another stand-up comic besides Freeman, Storch, and Klein. I followed
Larry Storch. I did well. Everyone did well. It was a nice evening.
I must not have stayed for their show because I don't remember working with JAY BLACK AND THE AMERICANS at the run-down (and now out-of-business) Mount Airy Lodge in the Pocono’s back in 1985, but I do remember the exciting evening at the North Fork Theatre at Westbury (formerly the Westbury Music Fair) working with them twenty years later on March 19th, 2005. I have to say, I don't think I've seen a better performer than Jay Black in my 25 year show business career. This mid-60-year-old entertainer really knows how to play his crowd and he had the audience standing time after time during his hour-and-a-half show. He's not just a terrific singer, but he's funnier than most comedians I have seen. The audience spent more time roaring with laughter than most audiences I've performed for. I hate to say it, but Jay is funnier than me and I can't say that about any other singer I've worked with. And you never know what this man is going to say next on stage. He's a nut! Absolutely hilarious! Full of surprises. I loved him!
How much more of a legend can an entertainer be than JERRY LEE LEWIS? What an opportunity it was for me to work with him on May 6, 2005 at the American Music Theatre in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and hear him singing all of his old classic rock 'n roll songs! The man still has it and he's got to be getting up there in years. (He's got to be in his early 70's.) Sure, he didn't jump up on his piano stool while he was playing, but boy could he still play. Fast hands, that's for sure! One hell of a piano player, still! When I first saw him that evening I would not have recognized him as Jerry Lee Lewis except that someone told me that it was him. I just expected a guy who looked more like he did when he was young, and he didn't. If you saw him out in public and didn't know what he looks like now, you'd think he was just an average everyday older guy. No glitz. No phony show business pretensions. A very nice man he was, taking the time to pose for pictures with my wife and I and talking small talk with us for a few minutes.
I've been a fan of BILL O'REILLY for a couple of years and it was fun meeting him backstage at the North Forks Theatre in Westbury, New York in August, 2005. I was opening the concert for THE BEACH BOYS again and he was there to enjoy their show. He's a very smart man and a great debater and even though he's a lot more conservative than I am and I don't always agree with his opinions, I still have the utmost respect for him. It turns out that he's also a very nice man. He came backstage to meet the Beach Boys and to say hello to all the folk who work at the theatre. He allowed us to pose for pictures with him and was very complimentary to me.
LEON REDBONE is quite a guy. "Unique" to say the least. Very genuine. Fun to work with. Talented. Entertaining. I worked with him at an amphitheatre in the exclusive community of Mount Gretna in Pennsylvania on June 9, 2006. He packed the place and kept the audience enthralled for 70 minutes.
If you've spent much time reading this journal, you probably noticed that I've had very few negative things to say about any of the celebrities I have worked with. And it's not just that I'm trying to be diplomatic. Most of the people that I have met along the way in this wacky business we call "show" are terrific people who work hard trying to maintain their success. They are considerate, warm, and friendly people who really don't act as though they are better than others. Well, every once in while there is someone I meet who doesn't quite fit that mold. American Idol winner and Grammy-Nominee RUBIN STUDDARD is one of those people. I worked with him at a private event, a large convention for the International Society of Poets at the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on July 21, 2007. I will not take away from Rubin's talent, because he is accomplished at what he does. However, a little "humble-pie" might do him some good. I don't think I've ever worked with someone whose ego was as large as his physical stature, but Rubin behaved in a most pompous and arrogant manner. Very demanding. Very unfriendly. Little personality. Quite condescending to his audience. Personally, I had no use for him. Usually when I work with a name- act I like to ask for a photo opportunity, but I did not feel that Rubin was worthy of the "wall of fame" in my home office. This is a man who won an amateur contest, not the Nobel Peace Prize! His appearances and subsequent win on American Idol boosted him to a level in the business that most people work a life-time for. Now he tours medium-size theatres throughout the country, making a lot of money. But, he's not an "A-List" entertainer. His fame can slip away as fast as it came upon him and my prediction is that, if he doesn't work on his overblown ego, within a couple of years people will be saying "whatever happened to that fat guy who won that silly singing contest on TV a few years ago?"
At the same Poet Convention that I met Rubin Studdard (but a day earlier) I had the opportunity to work with comedian LOUIE ANDERSON. Now you are not going to meet a nicer guy than him! I was the Master of Ceremonies for this 4-day convention and on Friday, August 20th I had the privilege of bringing Louie on stage to perform for the 2000 poets in the audience. Backstage he was a total gentleman and on stage, a total professional. Great show. After the show he took the time (almost an hour) to converse and take pictures with the staff of the International Society of Poets. He was kind, humble, personable, patient, funny, sensitive, and endearing. Just a great guy!
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