All language subtitles for the comedy store.en

gentle music

[Attell] I love this club.
It's The Comedy Store, guys.

Legendary.

[cheers and applause]

Some of you don't know it,

but I'll say it right now.

Jeff, you know this place
is haunted, right?

I've heard that, actually.

Yeah, my career died here

about ten years ago, so...

[Binder] It was 40 years ago

that I spent
almost every night of my life

on these stages.

- Hello.
- [piano riff plays]

Wait, start it up.
[chuckles]

Sorry about that.
I was late

'cause, uh, I had to kill
a guy.

[laughter]

I left Detroit
right after high school

and came out here,
got a job as a doorman,

fought for stage time,
and worked my way up.

I had lied and told my parents

I was going
to LA Community College,

but this was my college,

my springboard into a career
as a comic,

then an actor,

then a writer and a director.

Like hundreds and hundreds
of others

before me and after me,

these rooms and these hallways

were a magical gateway
to show business

to anyone with a comic bent.

This building was
what I called home

for many, many years.

I'm going through a breakup
next week.

- [laughter]
- Yeah.

My boyfriend tried to talk shit
on that joke.

He came up to me.
He's like,

"I don't like that joke."

I was like,
"Well, a little awkward.

It's not about you."
Like...

[Jeselnik]
Like a lot of guys,

I'll always remember

the one time I saw
my dad's penis.

I said, "Dad, don't text me
shit like that."

[Binder] It's amazing
to be back

at The Comedy Store
all these years later,

to see it so hot again,

to see a new generation
of comedians

with the same passion
that I and all my friends had.

contemplative music

Marc Maron was a comic
at the Store

a few years after I was there.

When his career
was going nowhere,

he started a podcast
in his garage that became

one of the most successful
podcasts in the world.

My being a guest
on WTF with Marc Maron

is the thing that reunited me

with The Comedy Store
in the first place.

But did you get here
when it first opened?

No.
Uh, the Store first opened

in '72.

- Sammy Shore opened it.
- [Maron] Sammy, okay.

- Mitzi's husband, right.
- [Binder] Yes.

And he's
a big Vegas opening act.

He opened for Elvis,
Barbra Streisand,

- people like that.
- [Maron] Right, right, right.

- Sammy Shore is...
- [Binder] Sammy Shore.

And they were married
at the time.

[Binder] They had four kids.

[Maron] Sandy, Scotty,
Pauly, and Peter.

[Binder] Peter.
And they live up

in Dorothy Lamour's
old house up on Doheny.

[Maron]
She kept that house forever.

[Binder] He opens it
with his buddy, Rudy De Luca,

who's a big feature writer.

He opens the Store in '72.

- Yeah, they rent a room...
- [Maron] Right.

[Binder] ...in what was--
used to be Ciro's nightclub,

where Humphrey Bogart

and George Raft
and Peter Lorre...

[Maron] And Danny Thomas.

[Binder] ...and
Sammy Davis Jr.,

It was so big
that Warner Brothers

used to do cartoons

based on all their stars
going there.

- [Maron] Yeah.
- [Binder] And it was now

just, like,
a Mexican discotheque

run by Art Laboe, and he--

he rented out
the front room to Sammy.

And it was just
a hangout club for comedians

who--there was no lineup.

He would just throw
whoever was there

up on stage.

He would go to Vegas,
and Mitzi would run the club.

Mitzi actually was the one

that came up with the name
The Comedy Store.

[Maron] I heard that, like,
you know, he was

away on the road,
and she wanted to leave him,

and she just took it over.

[Binder] Yeah. They end up
having a bad divorce.

- [Maron] Right.
- [Binder] She didn't want

alimony; she said,
"Just give me the club."

He's laughing about it!
He--really?

- [Maron] Yeah.
- [Binder] And she says yeah,

'cause she loves
the comedians.

- [Maron] Yeah.
- [Binder] And the comedians

love her, and she has
this affinity for them.

- [Maron] Yeah.
- [Binder] And she turned it

into something huge.

- [Maron] Mecca.
- [Binder] Mecca for comedians.

[Maron] You have to go
through--you have to jump

through the hurdles;
you gotta enter the system.

- You gotta be a doorman.
- [Binder] Y-yeah.

[Maron] You gotta listen
to what she says

to you and about you
and take her advice...

- [Binder] Right.
- And work for no money.

[Binder] Yeah,
but the system worked.

She changed the way
comedy was presented.

Before her, stand-up comics

didn't follow each other
on a show.

It was always a singer
or a juggler

in between the comics.

No one thought
you could just throw

one comic after another
up on stage,

but Mitzi did it, and soon,

other clubs and then
TV shows did it.

She went through hell, though.

The old owners threw her
out of her building.

She had to figure out
a way to buy it,

even though she didn't have
the money.

She passed away
a couple years ago,

but the Store is her legacy.

It's the epicenter

of stand-up comedy
in the world.

Ask any working comedian
anywhere

which club means the most
in terms of bragging rights

to say you're a regular in.

Hands down,
it's The Comedy Store.

spacey music

First time I ever heard
of The Comedy Store,

I think I watched a special.

When I saw it, I go,
"This is where I gotta be.

The Comedy Store."

I drove by it in '94,

and I was on a vacation

just to see where it was, and
I'd already been doing comedy

for, like, two years,
and I remember thinking,

"Someday,
I'm gonna play there."

If I actually could just not

have a temper,

like, I don't even know
what my wife

would be able
to complain about,

'cause that's really
all she has on me.

I work my ass off,
I make a great living,

I'm a great dad,
I do the dishes,

I like cleaning up,

I fucking handle shit,
you know?

All she has on me
is who I am as a person.

That's it.

[Letterman] Within two weeks
of coming out here,

I showed up on a Monday night

and went on stage,

petrified,
blinded by the light,

and did okay, not--not great.

I had no material.

It was at that point
that Mitzi said,

[accented] "Oh, you should--
you're from Indiana.

I'm from Wisconsin."

I said, "Yeah, I recognize
the Lower Great Lakes accent."

She said,
"You should come back,"

and so I said, "Great!"

I drove home,
and I thought, "Wow,

this is
a personal breakthrough."

The next week, I came back,
there was a list of people,

and my name wasn't on it,
and I'm thinking,

"I think she said
I should come back,"

and then finally,
my friend George said,

"Dumbass, you have to call in,

and they'll give you a time."

I spent one entire week
kind of...

[meekly] "Oh, I guess
they don't want me."

[Cummings] I wanted to be
a part of this place so badly

that I looked
for apartments

that were close
to The Comedy Store

that I could walk to.

Today was kind of humiliating.

I, uh--I ran
into my ex-boyfriend

in the self-help section
of the bookstore.

And, like, it's just--
I should've known

he was gonna be
at the bookstore,

you know,
'cause I followed him there.

[Rock] I had a good set.
Mitzi automatically liked me.

I think part of it,
she liked me,

and part of it is she wanted
someone in the club

that was Pauly's age.

This did not endear me
to the comedians.

[laughs]
Comedians like,

"Who the fuck is this guy?"

[Binder] What was so special
about the Store?

This was a beam.

This--this was a beam
from the center of the Earth

to infinite space.

Many dared step in the beam,

and only a few could handle it,

but when you--it--
you know, when it--

when it worked, man,

there was just nothing
like this place.

One of the main things I wanted
when I came out here was

to get my name on The Comedy
Store on the outside,

'cause that would make me feel
like I was a comic.

[Williams] You could come
out here

and talk about stuff

that was so bleak,

but yet so funny.

Maybe it's 'cause
the room is black.

I don't know.
You can get away with it.

I don't even know what
the idea is

behind the black.
Never questioned it.

Didn't care.
I just thought maybe it makes

the writing stand out
in the front.

I always liken The Comedy Store

to, like, an abusive boyfriend.

You're like, "Oh, my God,
this hurts so much.

Why do I stay?"

And then when you leave,
you're like,

"Oh, my God, I miss him
so much.

Like, I need him."

I've been doing stand-up

for about seven years,

and I came
to The Comedy Store,

and it was scary.

Guys that are legit headliners,

legit successful
at this business,

nervous as shit
in that hallway.

I think they would murder
anyone in the world

to put that OR,
that jewel, in your crown.

I started washing dishes
back there,

and then one night,
I was working

on open mic night,

and I thought,

"I think I can do it."

I had walked on stage
last night, and I go,

"Do you guys realize what--
the show you're getting?

Just take a moment
to, like, be grateful,

because this lineup is nuts!"

It's nuts.

I mean, if you added up
the ticket price

of each of these people
on the road,

this is thousands of dollars

for this ticket
that you're seeing tonight.

So I've been addicted
to this game on my phone.

It's this game where you,
like, set up--

everyone that sets up, like,
their avatar,

and then they set up,
like a profile,

and then they just try
to kill each other.

It's called Twitter.

I don't think that there's
a single building in America

that has affected culture more
than the Store.

The list of people...

Richard Pryor,

arguably
the greatest comedian ever,

home base.

Kinison, home base.

Dice, home base.

Comedy culture writ large.

Letterman, home base.

Leno, home base.

So I fly to LA, and I've got
some money in my pocket,

and I--I land, and I say
to the cab driver,

"Take me to the Sunset Strip."

And he said,
"How much money you got?"

and I said, "I got 50 bucks."

So he drops me at Western
and Sunset,

which is, like, nine miles
from here, you know?

Now I have, like,
20 bucks left,

so I walk, like, nine miles,

and I get here.
I don't know anybody.

I mean, I knew some comics,
kind of, a little bit.

And for the first week,
I slept on the back stairs

here at The Comedy Store.

I'd just go back there
and lie down,

roll up my jacket...
[snores]

...you know, wake up
in the morning.

But I was in show business!

[Anderson] I think
that we had a fraternity.

We were completely absorbed
by comedy.

I didn't think
about anything else,

except maybe
the Popeye's chicken

or other chicken.

[Binder] When we got out here,
Mitzi was basically a mom

with three kids at home...

- Yeah.
- ...and a son

that had graduated college,

and she was running
a nightclub,

and she loved comedians.

And she was funny as hell,
and she loved to laugh.

How does it feel to be
the lady who's responsible

for Jimmie Walker,
David Letterman,

Robin Williams--I mean,
you give these guys

a gym to work out in.

How does it feel to see
these guys come through?

They're... come on, Arsenio.

Give me a better question.

[laughs]
Okay, okay.

What kind of coat
is that you're wearing?

[laughs]

She would look at you
on open mic night,

and all she would do
is just look at you

for your charisma on stage.

She didn't care a bit
about your jokes.

She was honest
about what she felt.

That's the one thing
that I appreciate.

If she didn't like you,
she just told you

she didn't like you.
You know?

There was no beating
around the bush.

It was
[nasally] "I don't like him.

I like her.
She's weird."

- [Binder] Yeah.
- And you have to be.

This doesn't happen
without honesty.

I wanna take you
to Mitzi's office.

No one has been in there
since about 2008.

She walked in there

the last time
she set her pen down,

and they locked the door,
and no one goes in there.

[Maron]
It's like Capone's vault.

We don't know what's in there.

And with--those were never up.

No, they were never up.

It was always dark
and red in here.

Oh, look at her.

That's me, Argus, Mitzi,

and Lotus Weinstock.

[Maron] Oh, Lotus!

[Binder] Look at this.
Pryor Offenses.

It's a pilot
that Richard Pryor wrote.

Look, this is the crystal ball
she used to curse all of us.

"Maron will never become
a big comic

unless he completely loses
everything."

She'd come up here on Mondays,
and she'd write the...

- Schedule, yeah.
- ...the schedule.

- For the week.
- And she took it so serious.

Let's start
Karen Snow.

9:10, Dave Duggan.

and have Sparky
the last up, see?

[Maron] Why did it become
such a big deal?

What makes the Store such a--

a big deal in--you know,
initially?

Was it just being on Sunset?

Well, no, actually,
what really made the Store huge

was--was a guy in New York.

- [Maron] Yeah.
- Kind of a middle-aged guy.

Had a--had a midlife crisis,

and he wanted to move
to California,

sit on the beach,
and go to parties,

so he moved his talk show
to California, to Burbank,

and his name was Johnny Carson.

[fanfare playing]

[announcer] From New York,
the world's fair city,

The Tonight Show
Starring Johnny Carson.

[Mandel] The litmus test
for being a comedian,

a professional comedian
in our day and age

was The Tonight Show.

You can't describe

what it was like in 1975.

Wherever you went in America,

people say,
"What do you do for a living?"

Say, "I'm a stand-up comedian."

The next question
out of their mouth...

They go,
"Were you on Johnny Carson ?"

There were a lot of people
who lived in New York

because that's how you got on,
uh, The Tonight Show.

In 1972, it moved out here
to the West Coast.

The Comedy Store opened up

right around that same time.

Wasn't long after when Mitzi
took over this place.

All the coordinators came here.

This next gentleman
has been the, uh--

the emcee or the host comedian
for the past couple of years

at a place
called The Comedy Store.

And they would hear that.
You know.

"Ah, the Carson show,
Comedy Store in Los Angeles.

I gotta go there."

[Carson] You're in a good mood
for comedy tonight.

Would you welcome, please,
Argus Hamilton?

- Argus?
- [applause]

[Hamilton] I'm sitting there
in Norman, Oklahoma,

and it dawns on me
like the light

hitting Saul
on the road to Damascus.

I'm not gonna have
to go to New York.

As I drove out here
to California,

I knew I was here to stay.

I saw it on the state border.

The sign said,
"Welcome to California.

Do not back up.
Severe tire damage."

You know, why most of us
came out here

was because Carson moved
out here.

So I said, "Let me get
in the car

and drive out to California
and go to The Comedy Store.

I heard about it on TV."

I didn't even have an image

of what a store of comedy
would look like.

I came out here
almost on a whim.

I didn't think I'd stay.

But I knew
about The Comedy Store.

And I knew, also,
if you were successful,

the next stop
was The Tonight Show.

There had been this sort
of invisible migration

of class clowns.

[Letterman] The Comedy Store
became

like AAA baseball.

You know,
the Indianapolis Indians

used to be affiliated
with the Cleveland Indians,

and it was like
The Comedy Store

and The Tonight Show.

We have a new young comedian
with us tonight,

and this gentleman--
his name is Freddie Prinze.

He's just 19 years old.

Would you welcome
Freddie Prinze?

[Dark] When Freddie Prinze
came out

and he did
that first Tonight Show,

it just shocked us all,
because it--

it just stamped him
as being a star.

I come from two backgrounds,
Hungarian and Puerto Rican.

- [audience member cheers]
- [cheers]

I'm a Hunga-rican.

[laughter]

It's like a very heavy title,
'cause I could never figure out

how my parents met,
a Gypsy and a Puerto Rican.

I asked my mother.

She said
they were on the subway,

trying to pick
each other's pocket.

Most people think all we do
is stand on street corners,

going [makes kissing noise]
"Hey, baby!

[heavily accented]
What, you can't talk with me?

I don't need you
if you conceited."

You know.

[Leno] Sammy Davis
was on the panel,

and Sammy was like
the greatest audience member.

I mean, literally--
I mean, pounding the table,

"Call that brother over."
You know, and he sits down,

and he literally became
an overnight sensation.

[Carson] You're gonna do
fine, really.

A lot of people started
on this show,

and you can always sense
when there's something there

that the audience likes them
right away.

Johnny Carson was like
the law of comedy.

He said, "This is the way
it is,

this is the way it's gonna be,"

and everybody--Carlin, Richard,

Steve Martin,
Albert Brooks--

they all got in line.

Time for the news.
I'm Gary Mule Deer.

These are some of the stories
making tonight's headlines.

Elizabeth Taylor went off
her diet today

and devoured the centerpiece

at a Democratic fundraiser
in Cleveland.

And Chrysler blows
the whole check in Las Vegas.

Those stories in a moment.

Hi.

You guys are great.

I don't ever want
to forget this show.

Incredible.

David Brenner always said
to me,

"When you go on and do
that 5 1/2 minutes,

it'll be like selling out
The Comedy Store

three shows a night
for 50 years.

That's how many people
are gonna be watching you,

so you better fucking take
every shot seriously."

This became the hottest place
in the world in the '70s.

Comedy was the rock and roll
of the '70s.

Every night, somebody
was getting discovered.

Would you welcome him, please,
on his first appearance?

Tom Dreesen.

[upbeat music playing]

Would you welcome
Mr. David Brenner?

When I first did television,

which was this show...

Every comedian

remembers their birthday

and the first time they did
The Tonight Show.

Now I'm sitting on a subway,
and I'm all excited.

The night before, I was
on The Tonight Show.

You know, I'm real excited.
I'm sitting there.

And a man seated across from me
looks at me,

and he goes like this.
He looks at me.

He goes, "Ooh.

You're funny."

And I said, "Thank you,"
you know, real loud

so everyone in the car
could hear me

because come on, I was proud.

The man saw me the night before

on The Tonight Show,

and he recognized me.

And then, about a minute later,
he turned

to the woman next to me,
and he said to her,

"Ooh, you're funny."

[laughter]

[applause]

I swear, he said it
to everyone in the train,

and I was, like, the only idiot

who stood up and said,
"Thank you very much."

[Dreesen] You told your
whole family, all the papers

back home are writing
about you, you're gonna make

your first appearance
on The Tonight Show.

I was so scared, I didn't
even look over at him.

Everybody said, "Oh,
you should've looked at him,

'cause he would've called you
over to sit on the panel,"

but, uh, I looked the other way

and got out of there
as fast as I could.

My grandfather was
an aviation pioneer.

He was the first luggage clerk.

He was the guy in Paris
who lost Lindbergh's luggage.

[laughter]

Tried to tell Lindbergh
it was on a different flight.

[upbeat music playing]

The point to remember here is,
though I love to drive,

I just hate to stop,

especially for pedestrians.

But I do have a great solution.

I find that if you just tie
some torn clothing

to your front bumper...

- [chuckles]
- [laughter, applause]

You can fairly breeze
through town.

We'll be back.

I couldn't believe

that I didn't stumble
or fall down or...

people just have no idea,
the pressure.

And I can't tell you
how many times

Jim McCawley,
who was the booker,

showed up here, saw me,

not only told me
I wouldn't get the show--

he said,
"You will never get the show.

What you do, Howie,
is not Johnny's cup of tea."

I love the comics
on The Tonight Show.

I love The Tonight Show.

I did everything
I was supposed to do,

and I got said no to...

you can't get said no to
more times.

Jim McCawley didn't like me.

He said to me
a really hurtful thing.

"You know, you're not
Tonight Show material."

[Binder] And he was so wrong.

Would you welcome, please,

Louie Anderson.
Louie?

[band music playing]

Thank you, everyone.
Thank you, everyone.

I can't stay long.
I'm in between meals,

so bear with me.

People say, "Louie,
why do you do those fat jokes?"

'Cause if I didn't,
you guys would sit out there

and go, "You think
he knows he's that big?"

[laughter]

Like I woke up one morning...
"Oh, no."

That's a funny young kid.

Louie, come on out here
and take another bow.

Thank you very much.

[cheers and applause]

[Carson] Now, we originally
offered Byron

a shot on The Tonight Show
last February,

and he turned it down.

He said he couldn't make it
that night

'cause he had to do
his homework.

True story.

So make him feel welcome,
would you?

Byron Allen.

[upbeat music playing]

[Walker]
I always hire writers.

They were all--not struggling,

but they needed cash.

The first show
that I sold him was, uh,

the difference
between white people

and black people
when they go to a movie.

If white people don't like it,
they're very polite.

"I'm not gonna recommend this
to my friends."

Black people are like...

"This movie was a bunch
of jive!"

You know. "Give me
everybody's money back!"

[Walker] He gets
to Tonight Show,

and he calls me,
and he says,

"I need my joke back."
[laughs]

I got out here, and I talked
George Miller

into buying a joke off me.

What was the joke?

I went to a really
drug-oriented high school,

High High.

- [laughs]
- Okay?

It's just an awful joke,
but he gave me 25 bucks.

Yeah.
It's not an awful joke,

because that's
where George lived.

You know.
A cow on speed.

Can you imagine a cow on speed?

That'd be neat, huh?
A cow on speed.

Moo-moo-moo-moo-
moo-moo-moo.

- I was two weeks out here.
- Yeah.

And he did it on Johnny Carson,

and I was able to call my dad
and say,

"Dad, the fourth joke in
is my joke."

For you, that--
that must have been huge.

Yeah, it was.

In those days,
it was make-or-break.

If you didn't do well
on the first Tonight Show,

you could go back to Indiana.

You could go back
to Birmingham, Michigan.

You could just, uh, live
in the cement river

that runs through LA.
That would be it for you.

The kind of thing
I'll always remember

as long as I live
growing up in Indiana

is when Dad used to tease me
with the power tools.

How many of you...

did you have that?

- What a guy.
- What a guy.

- Sense of humor, huh?
- Yeah.

I have a feeling from your shot
on your show tonight,

you're gonna be working a lot
outside of The Comedy Store.

Dave loved Johnny.

We'd stand in the back
and watch

Dreesen's first Tonight Show,
then Dreesen and I watched

his first Tonight Show
in the kitchen.

Show business is a tough life,

as some of you know.

So if you liked me
and you're Protestant,

do me a favor
and say a prayer for me.

If you're Catholic,
light a candle.

If you're Jewish,

somebody in your family
owns a nightclub.

Tell them about me, will you?

[Binder] I remember watching
George Miller

on The Tonight Show
in the back.

I remember watching
Argus's first Tonight Show.

- Oh, 'cause we all--
- [Binder] It was, like,

a black-and-white TV,
wasn't it?

Yeah, absolutely, in the back.

It was a celebration

when one of our guys
was on The Tonight Show.

And everyone would crowd around

and count all the laughter

and the applause breaks.

It made everybody wanna...

"Gotta get on it!
Gotta get on Johnny !"

[Mandel] Joan Rivers

was filling in
for Johnny Carson,

and before she did
The Tonight Show every week,

she would come here
to The Comedy Store

like everybody did,
including Johnny himself.

Before he was playing,
he would work out his act

in this room to go to Vegas.

And I said, "Mitzi,
when's Joan coming in?

and she goes, "She's gonna go
on at nine."

And I said to Mitzi,

"Is there any way
that you can put me on,

like, at 8:45 or 8:50?"

And she said, "Yeah,
I'll do that for you."

I'm walking back,
and Joan passes me,

and she says,
"Very funny, young man."

So I did
my very first Tonight Show

with Joan Rivers.

[laughter]

Okay, how many--
how many fingers

am I holding up?

The next day, I got a call
from McCawley.

Johnny Carson
had been watching the show,

and he loved me,

and he asked me to come on
two weeks later.

Guess who this is.
Guess who this is.

Take one guess.

Ricardo Montalbán.

No.
It's me.

It's Howie.

[laughter]

upbeat music

And I did it 22 times
with Johnny Carson,

and that made my career,

and that would not
have happened

without Mitzi, without Joan,

and without this room.

[Binder] There were two things

that made The Comedy Store
blow up:

The Tonight Show
and Jimmie Walker.

[Walker] She has a figure
that makes the number eight

look like the number one,

and a smile
that lights up the night,

and it all belongs to Kid...
[claps] Dyn-o-mite!

[laughter, applause]

[Baum] Jimmie Walker was
the first one

that allowed Mitzi to put
his name up on the marquee.

Freddie Prinze
would never let her

put his name on the marquee
'cause he said,

"Well, if people could see me
here for five bucks,

why are they gonna pay 50
to see me in Las Vegas?"

When they put his name
out there on that marquee,

people would line up.

The place was packed
all the time.

The place went crazy.

And he'd come in
with his writers,

which were David Letterman
and, you know, Jay Leno

- and Gino...
- [Binder] Byron?

[Dark] ...and Byron Allen.

[Allen] I'd get a phone call,

and on the other end
of the phone, this--

all of a sudden,
I hear this guy.

He goes, "Is this Byron?

I go, "Yeah, this is Byron."

He goes,

"This is Jimmie JJ Walker."

[Binder] This is after you--
one time on stage?

- One time on stage.
- [Binder] That's amazing.

Right?
One time.

The place is magical.

Right?
The place is magical.

So he goes, "My man Wayne Kline
says you're funny,

and if my man Wayne Kline
says you're funny,

then you're funny.

Do you want to come
and hang out with us?"

I said, "Yeah, let me ask
my mother."

[laughs]

The reason I got guys
to write for me

is because I did see
a lot of good guys

that I felt maybe were
a little more talented than me,

and I needed to get
a little better.

We have what we call
writer's meetings

or just skull sessions
where we sit around,

like, five of us,
and go over ideas.

But now, for instance,
you can

occasionally get them jobs.

Oh, yes!
Oh, definitely!

Definitely, yeah.

That's what I see
on the plateau that I'm at.

I'm at a more job-getting level
than they are right now.

Had a cat outside the club
walk up to me.

He said, "Jim, I only got
three dollars to my name.

What should I do?"

I said, "Change your name."

[Goldberg] Every star
you can imagine

walked through that door.

Writers and actors and comics.

[Walker] One night,
I'm on stage,

and there's this table
that's just going insane.

This guy was so loud.

I finally had to go
after this guy.

I love you too!

So I'm hitting him
and hitting him,

doing jokes, attacking the guy.

I found out
it's Stephen Stills,

from Crosby, Stills,
Nash, and Young.

So I'm doing all sorts
of Stephen Stills jokes,

and I'm burying him,
and people are looking like,

"Oh, wow,
Stephen Stills, yay."

So he's still going on
and on and on.

Finally, like a dagger,
I hit him with a good line,

and the audience just applauds.

So I figure, "Okay, I'll just
go on and do my little jokes."

At the Store in those days,

we had
these big, heavy ashtrays

that people would steal,

and they had
"Comedy Store" on them.

Out of the corner of my eye,

I spot an object

hurled at me
at 90 miles an hour.

I put my hand up,
and I barely caught it

right before it hit me
in the face.

You know, Jimmie used
to sell peanuts

at Yankee Stadium,

so he had that ability
to catch and throw.

I finish my show, and I go,

"Where the fuck is this
Stephen Stills guy at, man?"

So Stephen Stills,
I'm looking for you, brother.

What do you know
about Freddie Prinze

and Alan Bursky?

All I knew is that
the rumor was that

Freddie Prinze killed himself
with Alan Bursky's gun,

and it wasn't that simple,

and they were best friends,

and it was a complicated story.
I remember that.

[Prinze] Would you welcome
my good friend and roommate,

Alan Bursky?

[applause]

I'm not knocking old people.

I'm not.
In fact, we need old people.

We do, because without them,
who would feed the pigeons?

Freddie Prinze was, like,
a year older than me,

and one day, he calls me.

I don't even know
how he got my number.

And we start talking

to each other
regularly on the phone.

[Binder] And he'd already done
The Tonight Show?

No, he hasn't done it yet.
He's gonna do it a month later.

[Binder] And you--but you've
done it.

I've done it a couple times.

He came out here,
and I'm excited.

I'm gonna meet
my new best friend,

Freddie Prinze.

And I'm at the bar.

You know, I'm 18 years old.

This guy comes in.

He literally has
two women on his arm.

He's 6'2", and I'm 5'5".

I'm 18.
I look 14.

This guy's 19.
He looks 35.

He's all dressed up, he's got
the women on his arm,

he's got a cigarette
in his mouth,

and he's pushing people
away from the bar,

and he goes, "Alan!"

And I went, "Who are you?"

"Freddie!"
I thought he was Clark Gable.

I expected a kid.

It's like, you ever notice

how ethnic groups
react to tragedy?

It's like, English people
are so blasé,

they kill me, because, like,

nothing bothers them.
You know, you go over to them.

[English accent]
"Y--Jeffrey, Mother died."

"Oh, really?

I suppose we'll have
to bury her, then, won't we?"

[Dark] We were all enamored
with Freddie,

and Alan was amazed
with Freddie.

But he also was a kid
like Freddie,

so he could talk to him
on that level.

Would you welcome, please,
Alan Bursky?

[upbeat band music playing]

Are you guys really roommates?

- [sighs]
- When I first moved out to LA.

- My little partner.
- You know, you want to know

what's really
the most annoying thing

about him is?
He talks in his sleep.

I mean, he doesn't t--
I take that back.

He doesn't talk in his sleep.
He screams.

[laughter]

The first night
Freddie moved in,

he says to me,
"You have a mirror

and a razor blade?"

So I show him
my electric razor.

I said, "No, use this."

He goes, "No, not for that."

I took my Woody Allen,

framed Woody Allen picture,
off the wall

and an X-Acto knife.

And I said, "What is that?"
He goes, "It's cocaine,"

and he starts scooping this
and chopping it.

He goes, "You've never done
cocaine?"

I said, "I've never seen it."

He gave me a couple of bumps,

I cleaned the apartment,

I tried to polish
the air conditioner.

I take care of my uncle's
'64 Chevy.

Beautiful condition.

Pom-poms
on all the antennas.

Cellophane seat covers, right?

Little dog in the back window

with the head keeps rolling
up and down.

[Bursky] Freddie got
a TV pilot

September '74.

I got a TV pilot late '74,

How to Succeed in Business
Without Really Trying.

Where's the meeting today?

- What meeting?
- The big meeting!

- In the big meeting room?
- Thanks.

[Bursky] One of the biggest
pilots of the year.

It didn't get picked up,
obviously.

My life would be very different
if it did.

He lived through Freddie
for that period of time.

[Bursky] There are people
whose energy and personality

are so big, they will just
suck it out of you,

and that's what made him
a star.

At this time, it gives me
great joy and pleasure

- to introduce this next...
- [crowd roars]

smooth music

Ooh-la-la!

Looking good!

Freddie Prinze, ladies
and gentlemen, Freddie Prinze!

[Walker] Freddie Prinze
was on every cover

of all these little
teen beat magazines.

What Freddie would do
is go over to Cahuenga,

and they had
that big newspaper stand,

and they have all
these teenybopper magazines,

Teen Beat and Tiger Beat

and Teens on Parade--
whatever they would have,

and he'd stand in front
of a magazine

where his picture's
on the magazine,

and people would come in there
and go,

"Hey, aren't you...

Freddie Prinze?"

"Yeah, I'm here reading,
uh, British Weekly. "

"Freddie, could you sign
my--my thing?"

"Well, all right, yeah,
whatever"

So we'd sign all these things,

and he'd be there,
and he'd do a stand-up.

Ba-ba-ba
ba-ba-barino

[Walker] The next year,
Freddie is off the covers

of every magazine.

Now it is all
about John Travolta.

He used to tell me--
he says, "God, Travolta.

My God, Tim," and he'd get
really hot about it, you know.

I said, "What's the matter
with you, man?"

I said, "The guy--
he's just another actor guy.

Once you get your show,
you're a big hit,

you know, you're doubling
for Carson.

I mean, you're hanging
with Dean Martin and Sammy Man.

I mean, you're--
you know, you're in the club."

But he had this, you know,
obsession with Travolta.

[Walker] And he calls me.

"Going to
the sporting goods store."

"Sporting goods store?
You never work out.

What the hell are you doing
at a sporting goods store?"

"You'll see."

Freddie goes in.
He buys

a high-powered bow and arrow.

- [Binder] Like a crossbow?
- Yes.

He says, "We gotta kill
John Travolta."

- [Binder laughs]
- I go,

"What are you talking about?"

He says, "I'm gonna kill
this guy, man."

So we drive down.

Travolta lived
on Santa Monica Boulevard.

And I said, "Freddie,
what are we doing?"

He says, "I'm gonna go
shoot him in his apartment."

"Freddie, we are not shooting

any John Travolta
in his apartment.

Not happening!"

So I'm wrestling with the guy.

I say, "Give me
the bow and arrow.

Give me the thing."

He says, "I'm killing
this guy, man.

I'm the biggest star on TV
No one's bi--"

I said, "Well, Freddie,
a lot of people are on TV.

I'm on TV."
He said,

"You're not bigger than me,
man!

I'm the biggest guy!

I'm the best guy!
Everybody knows me!

I'm the funniest guy!"

"All right,
you're the funniest guy."

Bangs on the door.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

Nobody answers.

I'm relieved.
I look back.

There's Freddie
with the bow and arrow.

He fires three shots

into Travolta's door.

And I'm sure, to this day,

John Travolta is thinking,

"I wonder what happened
in Los Angeles

when a guy fired those shots
into my door.

What was that about?"

deep jazz music

[Letterman] We're under
a flash flood warning,

but all of that seems
of little importance

once you take a look
at the cloud cover photograph

made earlier
of the United States today.

And I think you'll see
that once again, we've fallen

to the prey
of political dirty dealings.

The higher-ups have removed
the border

between Indiana and Ohio,

making it one giant state.

Personally, I am against it.

We were all standing back here
in this area,

and when a new guy came in,
all the regulars

kind of stood back
in kind of, like,

"Okay, show us what you got"
kind of thing,

not really ignoring the guy,

but not paying much attention.

I'll never forget.
I'm standing about in this area,

and I hear the guy on stage.

The National Enquirer.
That's right.

You folks read the Enquirer?

[scattered cheers and applause]

Last week in the Enquirer,
a big story:

how to lose weight
without diet or exercise.

Pretty much leaves disease,
doesn't it?

When I saw Letterman here,
I said,

"This guy
is lightning quick, man."

He--he was just lightning fast.

Just boom.
And sarcastic.

I came out here.

I told my family
that I was gonna be a writer

because you don't want
to tell people,

"Oh, you know, I've decided
I'm gonna be a comedian."

Letterman is sleeping
across the street here

from The Comedy Store
in a--

an apartment the size
of a small closet

with a bed and a hot plate.

It was a dump.
It was an apartment house

that was just deteriorating.

And then when he wanted
to type, he--

he was--I guess didn't--

either didn't have enough money
or enough energy

to go buy a light bulb,

and he would take
his typewriter,

and he would put it on the sink
in the bathroom

and sit on the toilet and type.

And they were
like little boxes, right?

It was just one room
and a bathroom.

So you and Letterman...

Letterman,
George Miller...

I could've done
all the big shows.

It's just that I've been
real busy in my room

the past few years.

I loved to watch
George Miller on stage

just because he was, um--

boy, he was unique.

But all George wanted to do

was sit in his room all day,

take illegal drugs,

write his jokes,

come out at night,
do his jokes,

and then continue taking
illegal drugs.

And this place was
such a drug den, you know.

- Yeah.
- But you didn't do

a lot of drugs.

- No, no.
- You drank a lot.

Drank a lot.
Yeah, I was a drunk.

I used to drink vodka

and Rose's Lime Juice.

And then--but to get drunk,

I would always leave
and go home and get drunk.

- [Binder] Oh, really?
- Because I didn't want

anybody to see me shitfaced.

'Cause I remember,
you didn't hang late here.

No.
I tried that once or twice,

and I just kept thinking,

"I'm sleepy,"

and so I just went home

and drank myself to sleep.

It was always apparent
he was gonna do well

as a talk show host,
'cause he was so damn host-y.

He just looked host-ian...

David walks behind the stage
to get ready

for his next show,
and he's got his notes

for his open,

and my prop person

is putting my props together.

Well, I was living
with that person.

It was Debra Winger.

And David and Debra met
behind this curtain.

He says, "Well, who are you?"

I like the everyday guy thing.
He was really cute.

You know, he had a split
in his teeth,

and he had a wife,

and he was, like, normal.

You had some great bits,
you know, that--

that--I remember the bit--

Please don't quote material...

- No.
- ...I used to do.

- No, I won't.
- Just describe it.

- I'm not gonna.
- Just describe it, Mike.

Well, isn't quoting
describing it?

It's more tolerable to me

if you just describe it,
and then I'll...

- And then you'll do it?
- ...I'll determine

whether it's going to be done
or not.

Okay, the weatherman that
had to do one of the murders.

Yeah, no, we don't want
to discuss that.

- That was a great one.
- No, no.

I loved that one, and--

I'll describe it.
It was the idea of--

this was the advent
of where everybody

on the local newscast--

friendly, happy,
we're all funny,

we're all buddies,
we love one another--

and something about, uh,
a guy doing the ball scores.

The Cubs beat the Cardinals.

- God, you're botching it up.
- The Cincinnati Reds...

- Look at you.
- ...beat the Giants.

How old are you?

The, uh--the Yankees

beat the Red Sox,

and the Dodgers murdered
the Padres.

Speaking of murders...

and then I would go on
to describe some grisly...

- You just ruined a...
- ...unpleasant murder.

...beautiful piece of art.

[laughs]

You should be ashamed
of yourself.

Yeah, you had some great beats.

- No, I'll de--
- Well, I'm not gonna do it.

- I'll defer to you.
- Let me just say.

I'll defer to you.
It's no "High High."

It's no "High High."
It sure is not.

One day in Indianapolis,
there were three murders

and the news director
didn't think

it would be too amusing to have
the anchorman

report all three murders
back to back,

so they gave one
to the sportscaster to do.

The guy was reading
baseball scores at the time.

"Well, first,
in the National League,

it was the Mets
over the Braves, 3-2.

Reds got passed
at the Cards, 5-4,

and the Dodgers murdered
the Giants, 9-0.

Speaking of murders...

Looks like
45-year-old Eddie Pasteur

won't be going out
to the old ballpark anymore.

[laughter, applause]

He was gunned down last night
during a liquor store holdup.

Once again, final score:
liquor store 1, Eddie nothing.

Now on to golf."

What did you come out to do?

[laughs]

Since I never
really understood that.

Nobody's--nobody's ever
asked me that question.

I--really, uh, was looking
to get into insurance.

- Is that what it was?
- Yes.

Yes, and my car broke down
right out in front...

Yeah, right in front
of the Store.

- Uh-huh.
- A lot of comedians,

to this day,

never really knew
what they wanted to do.

If they didn't know
what they wanted to do,

why were they here?
What was it?

Well, I'll give you
a really good example.

One of the funniest guys
I knew, Jeff Altman.

[big band music playing]

Jeff Altman just came here
one night after college,

and he was sitting
in this room,

and Mitzi Shore--
he heard Mitzi going,

"What do you mean
there's no comedian?"

I walked over to Mitzi.
I said,

"Miss Shore, can I go up
on stage?"

She said,
[nasally] "What do you do?"

I said, "Well, I can do
a few impressions."

"What's your name?"
I said, "Altman."

"All right, Altman,
go up on stage and try it."

And I went up on stage
and did

most of David Frye's act.

I miss Muhammad Ali.

It's just not the same
without him around.

I mean, all the chatter.
[as Muhammad Ali] Hello, Pam.

Some said Frazier was
the greatest of all time.

I beat George Foreman,
some says it was good.

I prove--[as Cosell]
Slow down, Muhammad,

you're absolutely the...
[as Ali] Shut up, Cosell,

asshole-breath,
I don't have--ba-bam.

I got a few laughs,
and she said,

"Well, that wasn't bad,
Altman.

You can come back."

[imitates Doppler effect]

And that's how I started.

We spent two weeks together
doing a television show.

And you'll also see
the Starland Vocal Band

hard at work...

[band]
Country roads

Take me home

Jeff and I were hired

to be the stooges on the show,

and before the six-week run
of that show,

the Starland Vocal Band
was out of business, gone,

but for two weeks,
honest to God,

my sternum was sore
from laughing.

Nobody really cares
about your stupid cars.

We're actually interested
in the Starland Vocal Band.

You'd be the first guy
to come to me

with a gummed-up carburetor,

and, uh, all you had to fix it

was some kind of guitar pick
or something.

You know, Billy,
your eyes really twinkle

when you say
something moronic like that.

Well, I'd sure like
to twinkle you.

Okay, you want to put Billy
back up on the lift?

On the lift?
Hey.

Thank you so much, Billy.

Okay, there we go.

In 1980, I was lucky enough

to have garnered

the wonderful
Pink Lady and Jeff show.

Pink Lady and Jeff, when--
ooh, when that was announced,

man, Jeff's got a show,
a variety show!

Probably the biggest mistake
I ever made in show business

was doing that show.

Somebody dangled
a lot of money

in front of me.

You're going to star
on your own show,

and it's with
these two Japanese girls

that are like the Beatles
in Japan.

How do you meet people
in your country?

We have a thing that's
a lot easier in this country.

It's called computer dating.

Oh, you date a computer?

I told you he was strange.

And they spoke phonetically,
and they managed to get

through five shows
that we taped.

Can't believe I'm standing
on the stage

with Jerry Lewis!

What do you think
I'm going through?

I don't know!

My friends out there know
I'm gonna be with, uh...

Jeff Altman.

[laughter]

Hey, lady!
Whoa, whoa, whoa.

I remember my manager

sitting there with the heads
of NBC sitting there,

going, "Yeah, this sounds
like a good idea.

This was a great...
Okay, yeah, we should do this."

And had I not done that show,
in my mind,

and waited to do, like,
an ensemble piece

in a nice sitcom,

I think I would've had
a very different career.

[Binder] What do you regret
about your time

at The Comedy Store?

Stayed too long.

I had developed a little act

that I would do in Vegas
or something

that was about 20 minutes long,
25 minutes long,

and I would come here
and do that every night

at The Comedy Store,

and it started getting
a little lame.

I never worked hard enough

on creating new material
for my act.

That makes me look
inside myself,

and what do I see?
I see somebody who's kind of,

at least in the last 15 years,
lazy,

just fucking lazy.

It was always a job,
and the comedians,

successful, are the ones
that worked at it.

There are a lot
of really funny comedians

who would come here,
and they'd--

they'd have a Comedy Store act.

They'd have ten minutes
on this piece of plastic

and five minutes on--

and then they go
somewhere else,

and the act didn't work.

You know, my attitude
was always,

if you're any good,
if you get good someplace,

get out of there
and go to the next place.

- Yeah.
- You know?

Just so many acts would have

"Comedy Store" ma--
and they were funny,

as long as they were
at The Comedy Store.

This was like a college.

You know, I came here
to go to school,

to learn, and I did learn.

It was the greatest place
in the world.

smooth music

[Letterman] Without question,

Jay was the funniest
of all of us.

I never saw him--
I never saw him bomb.

All the comedians
would do our set,

we'd go outside,
and we'd talk.

Someone'd say, "Jay's on,"
and we'd all run inside,

and we'd all stand in the back.

I don't know how women

talk about sex
with other women,

but guys are real silly.

Like, you know, a guy--
no guy gets laid once.

You know what I'm saying?

It's always like, "Hey, Bob,
how'd your date go

with Susan last night?"
"Eh, not bad.

Went back to my place.

Guess we balled
about 52 times."

[laughter]

Then you talk to Susan.

[feminine voice] "Well, Bob had
a little problem...

guess he'd been working hard
at the office."

Plus, the more guys are around,
the more macho the story.

That's the big thing,
you know?

A guy will never really say
what happened,

even if he had a good time.

You know, a guy could've gone
to the girl's house,

he might've taken
a bubble bath,

had a few laughs,

hugged, went to bed.
Happens a lot.

But you never hear a guy
tell that story.

A guy will always say,
"Yeah, I took her

back to my house,

hung her by her heels,

hit her with a gun butt
a few times.

Yeah.

Fired a dumdum bullet
in her brother's forehead.

Yeah, I had a good time."

Well. Mm. Mm.

What else did this guy say?
Well, you know what?

You know what else
this guy said?

And I thought
this was fascinating.

This guy said
that the average male

has 10,000 orgasms
in his lifetime.

Called my doctor Thursday.
I have nine left.

Now you start thinking
about all the ones you wasted.

Jesus.

You know, when I was a kid,
there used to be

a show called
The Danny Thomas Show,

and every night, Danny would
have dinner with his wife,

and he'd go, "Honey,
I'm going down to the club,"

and I thought, "Well,
what a cool life that is."

You know, you have your home,

and then you have the club
where you perform.

You know, in my mind,
this was that.

I mean, I could come
to "the club" every night,

and I could hang out
with other comedians.

You learn things
from watching Jay,

and you could imitate them
a little bit,

but because it was so of Jay
that it was impossible.

I was, uh, a big--"Hey,
you know, everybody cool?

Everybody all right?
Blah, blah, blah."

There was a lot
of physicality to it.

Like, Letterman said to me,

"How can you be
so confident up there?"

And I would say,

"How do you write
such great jokes?"

You know.
I'm a huge believer

in low self-esteem.

I think low self-esteem

is really what helps you
get ahead,

because you don't
automatically think

you're the smartest person
in the room.

You know, I'm dyslexic.
I can't spell.

I've never written anything
down.

I just try to keep it
all in my head.

And that works for me,
and if I assume,

you know, "I'm not as good
as these guys.

I'll just have to work
a little bit harder,"

that's what works for me.

I never flew Pittsburgh
to Los Angeles.

This was
the worst airline flight.

- I--anyway...
- But you enjoyed your flight.

Well, you know what it is?
It makes these stops,

and not e--it's not even
like regular stops.

It's so, like, the pilot

can show the plane
to his friends.

You know, that kind of...

[Letterman laughing]

gentle guitar music

[Letterman] Oh, man.
Michael Keaton.

I just--I love him,
loved him then...

Michael Keaton
was a great comic.

A joke he used to do--
he'd make me laugh all the time

about women,
the way they talk.

You almost never heard
a construction worker say,

"Cute top."

He was so likable on stage.

The average four-year-old,
ego-wise,

doesn't have that much
on the line.

You know?
The average four-year-old

doesn't have too many
furrowed brows

or a look of concern...

"Jeez, I was supposed to be
at the playground

at three o'clock.
I'm late!"

You used to have
this really funny thing.

It's funny how comedians
will always remember some...

one or two or three
really funny things

that maybe nobody else
laughed at

that you just found hysterical.

You said that thing
about your dad.

You said, "You know,
we're thinking

about putting my dad
in a rest home."

You go--do you remember this?

See, you probably just threw it
away one night,

and I found that
hysterically funny.

You said, "Thinking
about putting my dad

in a rest home,
and, you know,

doesn't wanna go,
and he's resisting,

and I said to him,
'Come on, Dad.

- You're 42.'"
- Oh, yeah, you're right.

I forgot about that.
I did.

Let me explain this to you.
You see, I want my dad

to go into a nursing home.

I'm going, "Dad,

you're 44 years old.

Let's wrap it up, Pop, okay?"

I was standing right here
one time.

I made the fatal mistake

of eating before I went
on stage.

I-I hadn't eaten all day.
I was starving.

Letterman walks by me
and says some smartass remark.

He was right.
He looks at me.

And I'm eating
a big cheeseburger,

and it was kind of like this.
I go...

All right.
You set it down,

and you wipe your mouth,
and you go on stage.

You're horrible.
You can never eat

just before you go on stage.

A lot of people go,
"Michael Keaton

did stand-up comedy?"
And they don't know.

- Yeah, I know.
- [Binder] And it bothers me.

You know?

And then they'll go,
"Yeah, no, that makes sense."

He's oh so funny
in "Beetlejuice."

That is why I won't do

two shows a night
anymore, babe.

I won't.
I won't do it.

He was one of those guys.

As soon as he made it big,
he quit stand-up.

I got hired out of here
by Robert Klein

to do a pilot.

I remember him
on that Mary Tyler Moore

variety show,
he and Letterman

both being humiliated

within an inch of their lives.

Think I should start dating?

Came as soon as I heard.

Get out, you swinging single.

Hey, you got me all wrong.

I'm a door-to-door salesman.

- Wanna buy an encyclopedia?
- No.

- Okay, wanna have sex?
- Get out!

He did Working Stiffs
with Jim Belushi.

All right.
[grunts]

Hey, you're not sweating.

Ah, I'm trying to quit.

And then, when he got--
was it Night Shift ?

I'm an idea man, Chuck.

I got ideas all day long.

I can't control them.
It's like,

they come charging in.

I can't even fight them
if I wanted to,

you know?
Ah!

Then Mr. Mom.

I mean, it kind of happened
quick.

That kind of took
his characterizations

that he was doing on stage

put it in a film,

and then boom, I'm Batman.

dramatic music

I don't know that I've ever
told anyone this.

I distinctly remember
the turning point,

and it was--I was in
a crummy little apartment

on Whitsett Avenue
in the Valley.

And I was not--
I was down, man.

I just wasn't doing anything
I thought was any good.

I don't think the audience
thought so, either.

I said, "This is it, man.
I don't know what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna freewheel it.

And I'm gonna improv,
and I'm just gonna go."

And I was so pumped,

and my energy was so high

when I got here,

and the sh--there was
an opening.

It was, like, a 9:30 spot
or something like that,

and she said, "Go--
if you get down here,"

or when I show up,
she says,

"Stick around.
I'll put you up in a minute."

Somebody didn't show
or something.

It was called fallouts
back then.

- Do you remember?
- Yeah, there was a fallout.

We had a fallout,
so I hit the ground running,

the stage,
and I just commandeered it.

I just took over.

And I said, "I don't know
how this is gonna go,"

and that was it,

and I started to get
consistently good spots.

And that was just me choosing
to say,

"I gotta turn this around,

'cause what I'm doing right now
is not making me very happy,

and I'm--and I'm really
mediocre."

You know.
Um, and then I started

writing like crazy,
and I was really energized.

Michael Keaton's stand-up--

it was all conceptual.

He would read a Bazooka Joe
bubble gum wrapper

that had a fortune in it.

Remember Bazooka Joe
bubble gum?

[crowd assents]

I'll just read it to you.
Now, you might not laugh,

but I think
this is very funny.

He says--Bazooka Joe

has a clock in his hand,
you know?

And Tubby says,

"What are you doing,
Bazooka Joe?"

And he says, "I'm throwing
a clock out the window."

And he says, "Why?"

And Bazooka Joe says,

"I wanted to see time fly."

Okay?

All right, now wait a minute.
Wait a minute.

Tubby says to him,

"Time, Bazooka Joe?

That's
a rather ethereal subject,

isn't it?"

And Bazooka Joe says, uh,

"Well, it depends on how
one views time.

I mean, if you see time
traveling in a horizontal line

to infinity,
well, then, yes, I guess it is,

but outside of that, people
see it broken up in segments,"

and then Tubby comes back

with, I think,
something pretty clever.

Tubby comes back and says,

"Yes, but wasn't it
Eugene O'Neill who said,

'Weary am I of the tumult

sick of the madding crowd,

longing for far sea places

where the soul may think
aloud?'"

And then Bazooka Joe
looks at him and goes,

"Hey, sorry I fucking asked,
okay?"

contemplative music

[Baum] I guess we all found out

at The Comedy Store, I think.

Everybody got
the wind knocked out of them.

That was
the most devastating part.

He was the first...

of "The Comedy Store
generation"

to make it and then die.

[woman] Come on!
You're looking good!

Hey, hey, mama, so are you.

[Allen] He was something
special,

but he didn't realize
how special he was.

You ever think
a couple years ago,

when you first walked out here,
that two years,

or a little later than that,

you'd be, uh, on the top-rated
show in the country?

I didn't think
it would happen this quick.

- [Carson] Yeah.
- And I said,

"Well, I'll make it somehow.
Hey, I know people."

You know.

I was a little jealous

because he went on
The Tonight Show once

and became a millionaire.

He had attained what everybody
was trying to get,

so it was a warning.

[Thomerson] At that young age,

he really had the chops

to hang with Sinatra

and Dean Martin,

do those roasts
with all those guys.

I mean, he was
a 21-year-old kid

from the Bronx.

It was unbelievable that
he had that much talent.

You got the world
in the palm of your hand

but, you know,
he didn't realize it.

He would be the nicest guy

in the world.

You do have a baby now.
Congratulations.

Yeah, I have a son.

Did you have the baby
by a natural method?

Yeah, it was natural, uh--

In--in your home,
or in the hospital?

No, not in my home, no.

[host] Some people do.

We started out--
we worked on him at home,

and, uh...

But there was
a tremendous amount of times

he would just come in
and freak out.

[Winger] I would just
slowly feel

that there was a deep sadness.

You know, all comedians
like to feel

they have an open wound.

You just need to know that...

you're not alone.

Freddie Prinze loved drugs.

He was too much into them
Quaaludes and all that.

I said, "This is getting
weird."

You know, he thinks I'm a spy.

He thinks people
are listening on the phone

because he knows
who killed Kennedy.

And people would just say
to me,

"You know, the two
of you stupid fucks,"

or "you're just"--you know,
"you're just assholes,"

or "he's fucking with you."

Nobody knew
what cocaine psychosis was.

No, I've never been in here.

Everything's left
the way it was?

This is like a time capsule.

That's Alan Bursky right there,
on the far right.

Remember, he was
really tight with Freddie.

Yeah, he was with, uh--
he gave Freddie the gun.

[Binder] Well, that's
what they said,

but it turns out
that he didn't,

according to Jimmie Walker.

Yeah, I don't know.

I--there's several stories.

I mean, Alan used to brag

that he was with him
when he bought the gun.

I didn't give him the gun.
I never--

I never even owned my own gun

till after Freddie died.

[Binder] But you guys bought
a gun together, you told--

No, I went with him
to buy the gun.

He comes over to my house
one day, and he says,

"What kind of gun
did James Bond have?

I said, "A Walther PPK,"

and he says,
"Where can I buy that?"

And I say, "In this town,
anywhere.

Any sporting goods store."

[Binder] And who went
to buy it?

Well, I was there,

and Bursky, and Freddie.

He had an obsession
with Lenny Bruce,

and he had kind of a thing

about death and Bruce Lee.

Everybody tried to say,
you know,

"It isn't"--you know,
"Don't--don't do that

'be a star, you know,
young, you know,

live hard young
and then die.'

You know, don't do
this rock star thing.

Just live
a beautiful, full life.

- You deserve it."
- Freddie would call you

at, like, three o'clock
in the morning.

He'd say, "Man, I'm depressed.

I got a gun to my head.

I'm getting ready to kill
myself."

Freddie--you know, it's, like,
4:30 in the morning.

He says, "Oh, no, no, no.

If I'm dead, you know,

no big deal, you know.
Whatever."

"All right,

I'm coming over."

So you come over,

and there's, like,
eight people there.

You go, "Freddie, I thought
you didn't have..."

He says, "I just wanted to see
if you would come."

I thought he was fucking
with me!

I thought this was--

Freddie liked practical jokes
and shit.

It was a car wreck
in slow motion

that people saw coming
for quite some time.

You know what I said to him
the last time I spoke to him

on the phone?

It was, you know, that--

uh, a few hours
before he shot himself.

I said to him, "You know,
for the love of God,

you have everything

that me and Jay Leno
and Elayne Boosler

are killing ourselves for.

What is missing
from your life?

He says, "I don't know,"

he says, "But I end it.
I'm gonna end it now."

You know, I've heard this
from him a thousand times.

And the last thing
I said to him:

I said, "Look...

go in the bathroom
and do it neatly."

And then at four o'clock
in the morning,

my mother called me.
She was in New York.

And she said, "Did--did Freddie
have an accident?"

Freddie Prinze,
a big success

at the age of 22,

but depressed nevertheless,

shot himself
in the head today.

Tonight, the hospital says
his condition is critical.

[man] He has sustained
a single gunshot wound

with the bullet passing

completely through
the temporal region.

Mr. Prinze remains
in critical condition

in the intensive care unit.

And, uh--and he lasted

33 hours on life support.

Always be around

Jackson Browne's
"For a Dancer" playing

Now you're
nowhere to be found

I don't know what happens
when people die

Can't seem to grasp it,
as hard as I try

It's like a song

[Allen] The people
I've met here

and the people
who've become friends here

could only happen here,

and those personalities
are so unique,

but that was--that was one

that just, you know,
broke my heart, you know,

because he was, uh--
he was one of my heroes.

Crying as they
ease you down

Freddie was so good to me,
but Freddie was...

was kind of on a
self-destructive kind of thing,

Well, I was too.
I think that's kind of why I...

why, you know,
I related to him.

Right on dancing

No matter what fate chooses
to play

There's nothing you can do
about it anyway

[Leno] And there was
sort of that reflected glory.

"Yeah, I knew Freddie.
Yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah, we started
out together."

You know,
everybody at the Store

who had ever shared the stage

or been on a stage with him
at the same evening--

there's a kinship.

I had just turned 18.

I had just gotten out here

maybe the week
Freddie Prinze killed himself.

I didn't know any of them.

I had just been made
a regular.

They were all so close to him,
and he was--

you know, he was a big success,

and they looked up to him.

It changes the whole dynamic
of the place.

They were devastated.

Leno and Johnny Dark
and Boosler.

- [Maron] Mm.
- [Binder] Mule Deer.

Thomerson.

With Mitzi, crying.

And they'd go on stage.
You know, they'd do their job.

They'd make people laugh.

And it's the first time
I realized

what The Comedy Store was.

Wasn't just a nightclub.
It wasn't just a building.

It was home.

It's what unites a whole bunch
of us

who live
all throughout the world.

That's--that's the thing
that unites us all,

our time at The Comedy Store.

- [applause, whistling]
- Thank you.

My luck's gonna run out
sometime.

Freddie just said, "My luck's
gonna run out sometime."

No, it's not.
It's going good for you.

Those are funny--that's gonna
become a tagline of yours.

That's not my job, man.
That's not my job.

- Yeah.
- Going very well.

You have Mr. Kelly's.
Now, that's--

that's a step up, isn't it?

Yeah.
Last time I worked there,

I was in the kitchen.

[laughter, applause]

Keep a fire...

That's not your job, man.

- It's not my job.
- Not your job.

Let your prayers
go drifting into space

You never know
what will be coming down

Perhaps a better world
is drawing near

Along with
whatever meaning

You might have found

Don't let the uncertainty

Turn you around

The world keeps turning
around and around

Go on and make
a joyful sound

Into a dancer
you have grown

From a seed
somebody else has thrown