00:00:00
let me just say something about Allen W Bell he is like a famous writer from Saturday Night Live and he was a huge
00:00:08
part of the First cast and the First cast is always going to be the First cast that'll always be the greatest
00:00:14
right and what happened and he really breaks it down another thing I like to say stay in your lane break it down he
00:00:21
breaks down that when they got on the show it was kind of innocent no one knew they weren't rock stars they that's why
00:00:26
they call them not ready for Prime Time Players and then again given point I think it was John baloy did Animal House
00:00:33
and became a movie star and so the entire culture of the show changes because of this which is a fascinating
00:00:40
thing he goes in detail about that you picture he come back to the set and there in those little tiny he's on SNL
00:00:45
now he's like so much bigger than everyone MH and now he's back to doing
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sketches and there had to be attitudes and this and you know yeah some people were on drugs some people weren't but I
00:00:55
think that once that hit he said it changed the dynamic yeah and it's also uh Allan worked very closely with Gilda
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rner and that's fun to hear because she's somewhat America sweetheart she's
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great maybe the most likable I don't know she's just brilliant and he he
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really talks fondly about her in great detail he also he did a movie that he wrote which was such a hyped movie with
00:01:17
a hyped cast called North and it [ __ ] bombed and uh was John Lovitz in it it's
00:01:23
so brutal because I'm kidding you could the interesting thing about showz out
00:01:28
here is that no one knows Jack [ __ ] you can't there's almost no for sure hits
00:01:33
and so smartest people directors writers cast and you just can't say this movie
00:01:38
would be great and people just say pass and it's unbelievable I can't believe
00:01:41
they don't have cracked the code yet I actually started a movie right after that 1995 nobody knows jack [ __ ] and
00:01:48
that even bombed that movie didn't do well nobody knows jack [ __ ] it even bombed no can you play Jack [ __ ] Show
00:01:54
Business yeah I was Jack [ __ ] I look kind of like Joe Dirt I was kind of like hey jack [ __ ] man and jack [ __ ] are you
00:02:04
Clueless yeah I don't know even jack [ __ ] I don't know myself that was the
00:02:08
cold open of the movie it was on a mountain Retreat there were Cowboys anyway doesn't matter it's on live
00:02:14
streaming I think it's on Pluto maybe Pluto is that a planet or a channel it
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doesn't even know it's a network that's how obscure it doesn't even qualify to
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be stream it's like the real Pluto which is called a dwarf planet because it's so
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tiny Pluto doesn't count as even a streaming cuz there only 3,200 people watch it 3,200 that's the latest
00:02:33
globally all right most of them in Czechoslovakia I digress more on that later um here's Alan
00:02:40
[Music] Zell it's like the moon landing usually but no I've been blessed Dana I've been
00:02:51
really blessed fresh yeah not too much sun light on the booze healthy diet oh yeah and you know I get my basic
00:03:00
um six hours of sleep a week so it's working out nicely so you're not sleeping as well that's a yeah that's
00:03:10
that's pretty common don't you anybody uh well I take a little bit of a sleep
00:03:18
aid oh I see in the form of a pill yeah teeny bits bits of it it's David Spain
00:03:25
Everybody by the way Al Franken asked me to ask you a question question okay he asked why Bell a question he said are
00:03:33
you are you Jewish well that's all that's that's from Al Franken that's not a yes or no
00:03:42
answer I know my answer I ask him ask him if he's Jewish have what you think this is
00:03:52
Nordic no no no no no Nordic oh yeah look on your Square it's ISS David sper yeah I don't know what happened
00:04:03
okay but you can figure it out his nickname is spudley that's my code name nickname is spudley your nickname is
00:04:11
swies okay I don't really I don't have a nickname and all right by the end of
00:04:17
this Dana you were gonna have a nickname oh okay my wife would like that so you've been married a long time right or
00:04:24
no oh God for um oh God oh God help us God help us all it's it's 40 42 years uh
00:04:35
for those of you who bet the under I'm sorry funny hey man I'm looking right at
00:04:41
40 I think really married in 83 2023 pretty much yeah yeah you're on the cusa 40 yeah yeah how's it how's it
00:04:52
working out uh I've been married 40 years to six different women you know I mean it's
00:04:59
well yeah well you know it's cumulative how this stuff works you know you don't
00:05:03
get any points for just one you know what I mean it's just how long you've
00:05:08
been but like I don't write jokes but this joke always kills I have two jokes
00:05:13
about my wife and that's it because I can't write a joke and you're brilliant
00:05:16
at it yeah I met my wife when she was 19 I raised her as one of my own gets a nice little laugh right I've been
00:05:24
married 38 years plause to seven different women those are but they they kill so much it
00:05:33
makes me mad because I I don't even like them I'm just makes here's mine Dan I
00:05:38
say my longest relationship is three table dances in a row that was my old one Jesus but I'm not like that anymore
00:05:45
Danny you know that so Allan yeah um you have so much I've been reading your book
00:05:52
no no this is we should have allowed a lot more time this one hour thing you know I don't know how that's going going
00:05:59
to work the career is a 7-hour career and we're trying to cram it into 1 hour we
00:06:04
could get several people off I mean it was it was Grim 205 finally Jim down he said
00:06:11
okay no we love Jim he came on and said nice things about you don't you love
00:06:16
when people say that to you hey I ran into someone Alan they said nice things about you yeah like like it's an unusual
00:06:23
thing that um wow somebody actually doesn't think you're an [ __ ] you uh you uh seem very popular
00:06:32
so far for what I've read and heard and seen you seem very popular are you are
00:06:37
are you a a bad guy pretending to be a nice guy or a nice guy good one yeah well okay people say I'm nice but they
00:06:45
go I'm kind of a dick inside and maybe Dennis Miller is sort of opposite or whatever
00:06:50
I he's really nice a dick with a nice guy inside well he plays that character
00:06:55
but he's incredibly sentimental and loyal to his friends so what about you I'm also a part-time therapist I'm full
00:07:02
disclosure I I I I think that I'm generally nice I mean I've got uh three
00:07:07
kids five grandchildren so they automatically make you nice as far as doing what we do is concerned um you
00:07:16
know something I remember all the people who were nice to me when I started and I
00:07:20
also remember all the dicks and I'm going well I don't want to be remembered
00:07:24
that way you know right and and also you know um all the collaboration that I've
00:07:30
done you know whether it would be chandling or Gilda or Billy Crystal or I learned to take my ego and put it over
00:07:39
here and make it just work for the work and so that avoids CL if I believe in something that I'm writing and the other
00:07:47
person doesn't uh then we have a different kind of talk but it's about the work you know you know you said your
00:07:55
your kids like you let's look at a clip oh oh they say they don't like we
00:08:00
have a clip I'm kidding I find just try to get in there see if this relates to
00:08:05
you guys Dave's got a million of I I was sitting on that for about 45 seconds guys just do you ever even as a
00:08:14
non-confrontational confrontational nice guy there's ways to get what you want so
00:08:18
if you hear someone's idea you don't really agree with even if they're one of
00:08:21
the greats do you rope a doe a little bit like you don't push back at that moment and you go oh that could be good
00:08:27
and then you fight for it later there's a dance and one of them I learned from
00:08:32
chandling you know you can pitch a joke to him about a cow all right and then Gary would go well off of what you're
00:08:43
saying I think that Amish people and you go wait a second how did the cow get he includes you as if he would never
00:08:52
have had that thought had he not heard about the cow oh so he's very proprietary he makes sure that he's was
00:09:00
in there he was in there but it was inclusive and um nobody would be telling stories like this and you know after he
00:09:08
passed God the the writer Dynamic Dana of when I started SNL Allan I was a comedian Dana came on as a full cast
00:09:17
member but obviously he's a funny uh writer and thinker but he wasn't paid
00:09:21
you know as a writer he could write like as you know but for the people at home like I was a writer performer so I was
00:09:27
sort of when you're a featur player the word was you write for everyone else you
00:09:32
don't really need to be on you know like start writing and that's a hard thing a
00:09:35
to write for other people I think that's where you're good and it's hard to not
00:09:40
want to be on and I think you've had a career where you were okay just being a
00:09:45
good writer that's that's a that's a hard thing to pitch all that I I've been
00:09:49
lucky David in that you know Letterman would put me on as a guest and uh I go on talk shows I have speaking engagement
00:09:57
so that part part of me that has that need or that desire to have an audience respond to me is pretty much satisfied
00:10:08
that being said I just love the craft of writing too much to me it's I wake up
00:10:13
5:30 every morning I move my words around and try to make sense of it and so um I have the best of both worlds
00:10:20
that way yeah you know I I I mean Dan I was just going to say that when when there's so much pride even when I was
00:10:27
there when I'd get a sketch on that I started to feel so much pride in the word writer that when they were saying
00:10:33
at at other shows on comedies you could be a producer or something I go and they
00:10:36
stopped kind of using the word writer I go no no writer is like the coolest thing to be proud of like you were
00:10:41
saying like if you're a good writer you feel so much you get so much out of it
00:10:46
to be called a writer well you're absolutely right and there was an older school I don't know if it ex I don't
00:10:53
think it exists now but there was an older School uh where they uh was regarded by Executives and even uh
00:11:03
producers where you started off as a writer and you graduated to a producer or something like that whereas um you go
00:11:12
no no I write that's that that's what I do you know just pay me more to write
00:11:16
don't call me something else yeah yeah what the what's that well I would I
00:11:20
would just interject this um after reading a lot of stuff about you in the last couple days like it's really Val
00:11:26
valuable for a performer on Saturday Night Live to find a writer who gets them and will incorporate their rhythms
00:11:34
like you would I had that with Smigel and you had it with Gilda I guess where you would listen to her and then you
00:11:40
would add stuff on so the it came together the writing and the Performing were kind of created simultaneously as
00:11:47
opposed to handing Guild or something is that kind of how it worked or absolutely
00:11:52
you know before I got to SNL I was writing joke jokes for standup comedians and the cat skills and then Rodney
00:11:59
Dangerfield Morty gunty was his name Morty gunty was the first guy I remember that guy in TV yeah in the 60s when we
00:12:06
were growing up there was Morty gunty uh he had a show called the funny company and for you trivia Buffs out there uh
00:12:14
the Dick Van Dy show had two pilots and the first one that got rejected uh call Rina played what eventually was Dick Van
00:12:23
dijk's role Morty gunty originally played what became Mory Amsterdam's role
00:12:29
in that show but when I um when I learned how to write jokes uh I I that's why Lauren hired me and when I got to
00:12:40
SNL I had never seen I never I don't think I even heard of Second City at that point certainly not the Groundlings
00:12:47
or the proposition where Jane curtain came from and when I saw them assuming characters or you get somebody like Dan
00:12:55
akroy who all of a sudden creates this whole world in front of you I was I was running for guys with Tuxedos and bad
00:13:02
teeth you know and for the cing like joke jokes for people and then now it's
00:13:09
sketches which is very different absolutely the only time you know as you know that that joke jokes were maybe
00:13:16
appropriate was weekend updates yeah okay uh but when I was writing for those guys uh I I you know Rodney Dangerfield
00:13:26
um you know he had that thing don't get no respect even as an infant my mother
00:13:32
wouldn't breastfeed me she said she liked me as a friend okay that was so so
00:13:37
I I captured his rhythms and whatever but and and the joke that got me the job at SNL and Lauren is the first to uh to
00:13:45
admit it uh or to verify it I should say is I had written a joke saying that the
00:13:51
post office was about to issue a stamp commemorating prostitution the United States 10 cent stamp you want to lick it
00:13:58
if it's a quarter okay so so you know I learned how to write jokes but when I
00:14:04
got to S SNL aside from Weekend Update where I collaborated with herb Sergeant was he there when you guys were there
00:14:12
yes Herb was there the entire time running update when I was God you know he was the old guy in that big office
00:14:19
with map on the wall white hair was shocking the glasses that he wore up here for some reason when his eyes were
00:14:25
down here and uh so the jokes I with him but character writing like for Gilda or
00:14:33
the samurai for John balushi was something I had a feel my way around so and with Gilda it was we found each
00:14:42
other as people she um she was a little spooked out by uh the big city coming to
00:14:47
New York and living here this is where I'm from and we found each other and you're absolutely right not only did we
00:14:54
have this Synergy where we made each other laugh but it was like she wanted somebody to write for her and I wanted
00:15:02
somebody to speak through okay so it became a very convenient kind of uh marriage that way you when you you
00:15:12
started I I don't know this Dana but I think Alan you started originally with
00:15:16
the original so you met Gilda when everyone did everyone was like sort of merging together you were there day one
00:15:21
of I was there day one yeah yeah I mean we the first um meeting we had in LA 's
00:15:29
office uh July 7th 1975 I just remember that wow okay and I I uh walk into Lauren's office for our first meeting
00:15:40
nobody's there except for Michael oonu who was I don't know if you met him but
00:15:46
he founded the National Lampoon he was the darkest humor guy ever and he was by himself in Lauren's office and what how
00:15:57
did I find him I found him he took big bird a stuffed yellow Big Bird and he was wrapping the venetian blind cord
00:16:08
around Big Bird's neck and then he pulled it so big bird was hanging and he did that then he looked at me he goes do
00:16:17
you like The Muppets that's how he felt about the Muppets being on the show originally and I was and I like the
00:16:23
Muppets but I was too scared to admit it I go yeah I hate those [ __ ] things I would have said the same thing
00:16:30
yeah yeah so he he murdered a man in Vegas right was that the rumor no I'm kidding made that up it's always like
00:16:37
killed a man and Reno is always that other go-to thing um I was kind of interested in that joke for just a
00:16:44
second the posty stamp joke because I realized that the the language the syllables of a a writer of jokes like it
00:16:51
had to be what was the the punch line the way you teased it out if you want to lick it it's a quarter not 25 not 25
00:16:59
cents quarters better Rhythm yeah but in in in I have this book that I that recently came out called laugh lines my
00:17:05
life helping funny people be funnier that's I devote a bunch of pages to how
00:17:11
I wrote that joke uh it was it was 19775 when I got the job on SNL but the next year was going to be the bicentennial so
00:17:20
they were gonna have commemorative stamps about things in history and say okay what's a funny thing in that you
00:17:27
can have a stamp about oh maybe prostitution I can't even begin to tell you how many different
00:17:34
punchlines I had you know if you lick it it goes ah I had one where you took the stamp
00:17:41
out to dinner first it it was ridiculous and um then it was if you want to lick it it's a lot more and then it ended up
00:17:50
on quarter but you're right not 25 cents but that one took a long time to quarter's got a K in it I mean not not
00:17:57
really when you write it out sometimes yeah it's got that abely funny it's
00:18:03
going to be a quarter yeah anyway so that's process so Gilda uh as a person I
00:18:09
mean I was someone in college when you guys all came on and had never done standup when you started so you were
00:18:16
Superstars the whole show was ridiculous it was uh just mustsee television for everyone in the dorm you know and Gilder
00:18:25
rner always bounced off the screen I know it's been talked about so much her level of likability and
00:18:32
vulnerability I don't know if I've ever seen a more likable person Spade also was my next person
00:18:40
super and I would say it's a dead heat it's a dead he real toss up yeah and her
00:18:47
name being Gilda was cute too everything about it was cute she um yes great she had that intangible quality that you
00:18:55
felt you know you knew her even if you never met her and and um Lauren it may have been the first year
00:19:03
of the show what he would do is he would put Gilda on stage just sitting there and she would talk about what she ate
00:19:11
that week and then she would do the same thing with he would do the same thing with Belushi where he let the people
00:19:17
know who they were for two minutes as people so when she would do rosan Rosanna Dana you felt you knew that
00:19:25
person who was now wearing a funny wig and a different person cuz sometimes as a
00:19:30
kid I'm too stupid and you don't even know really their characters the first
00:19:35
time you see someone you go that's who she is yes you know what I mean and that's kind of smart to differentiate it
00:19:40
and say hey audience you don't know her yet but here's who she is normally
00:19:44
that's absolutely right so you it's like you know if a friend of yours is doing
00:19:49
something funny it feels doubly good because you know who that person is you know so that's what's happening in the
00:19:55
podcast world people do a podcast people get to know them and then they tour the
00:20:00
podcast and the same laugh they're doing gets double the laugh because the audience is it's their friend and they
00:20:06
know them it's very interesting new art absolutely yeah no there's a familiarity
00:20:11
as opposed to uh a reintroduction or uh having to Define yourself it's a head
00:20:17
start it's really e it's really good if if Sinatra was around today he'd come
00:20:22
out he'd take off his hairpiece he would go hey ladies authentic yeah the summer
00:20:28
want I don't do Sinatra but I will do Sinatra before this podcast is over I vow yeah Allan was was uh uh was Gilda
00:20:36
she seems a little fragile to me too was she or was she very tough oh well that's
00:20:42
a great question there was a fragility there look she had vices um she's it was
00:20:48
publicly known that she was a bulimic and uh she had trouble with guys never probably got over the fact that her dad
00:20:55
died when she was 15 when she was 15 yeah and she was this fat kid and all of that stuff so but the um I think that
00:21:05
her greatest I don't know if it was talent but what she did was she didn't
00:21:11
hide that vulnerability okay she didn't try to be something she wasn't and once
00:21:17
again that made her somewhat embraceable you know but she was strong enough to uh
00:21:24
to get through it you know when we did the show and I'm sure was the same for
00:21:27
you guys it It ultimately became a Battleground you know uh within the offices oh it's tough yeah
00:21:35
yeah it's you got to be strong and no one I don't think anyone's ready for it
00:21:38
you think we're all in this team we're all going to have this great fun time
00:21:41
and then there are great great fun highs and then there's some tough times when
00:21:46
you're in nothing or you're walking through the halls and people are ignoring you because you had a bad readr
00:21:50
or something you're just like oh this is so weird we there it's a weird thing oh
00:21:54
go ahead Dan I was just curious about what you what you just said and the alliance that get made and it is a Game
00:21:59
of Thrones or something there's a whole sube you put all these Comedians and
00:22:03
clowns and writers in a room and you say if this guy gets on I'm a clown Phil
00:22:09
Harman used to go I'm a clown I'm a clown yeah it's hilarious this guy my
00:22:13
friend sketch gets on then mine won't get on and all that psychology that went
00:22:17
on at least when I was there but we were all very friendly with each other but it
00:22:21
was was weird that put it stomach turning yeah oh you know something um I can this is my own
00:22:30
personal uh sort of observation when that started okay I could be wrong and other people could dispute it but look
00:22:39
when we first started the Only Rule that we had Lauren said let's just make each
00:22:43
other laugh and if we do we'll put it on television good idea okay so we had this
00:22:48
show hey we're gonna do a show and it was sort of egalitarian and it was uh the show was the thing but when when
00:22:58
Belushi came back after doing Animal House it's my theory that the that the culture changed because now John was on
00:23:07
the cover of I think it was Newsweek by himself with the toga you know and the law yeah and and none of the other casts
00:23:16
were on either side of him so now it was almost subliminal but wait a second this
00:23:22
show can get us that okay and it was not the but I do believe that that that was a
00:23:31
turning point it was a line of demarcation there where for us the show was the end now it became an end a means
00:23:37
to an end right yeah interesting because Chevy left early right and then and then
00:23:43
Chevy blew up and Belushi was [ __ ] huge a like one at a time it started blowing up and I'm sure everyone's like
00:23:51
what's when it's my time in the sun like when do I get to that level I'm already
00:23:54
at a huge level but it's not enough and then what happened you're absolutely
00:23:58
right Dave because what um after Chevy left Bill Murray yeah reped yeah yeah and and Bill not only became a hit on
00:24:08
the show but he did meatballs he did Stripes okay oh my God he did catty Shack you know and then he's had this
00:24:16
huge career glor childhood yeah this career you know and so there was some people um the order of succession was
00:24:25
sort of leapt over you know what I mean some people felt that wait a second it's
00:24:30
my turn all right you know hey I've been here longer you know and like I said I
00:24:36
never had those discussions with people but I would bet anything that there was a degree of hey wait a second why is
00:24:46
soand so getting this not me I've been here longer you know or haven't I proved
00:24:51
my Worth or that it look Laur threw everybody into the deep end of the pool yeah you know whether you could swim or
00:24:58
not and you either drowned or somehow you made it to to the side of the pool you okay oh yeah Lauren was Lauren was
00:25:05
amazing and everybody in the pool when you get you get used to it you know Dana is it is this sketch ever going to work
00:25:13
you know he was tough love and then you know if you I felt like I had to levitate the room I had to just kill on
00:25:22
the show and then you just pass Lauren on the way to the next sketch and get that little
00:25:26
nod you know but so he was great that way that to earn that compliment and then in I we
00:25:34
he'd review the show on Monday very briefly and he'd always pick out something very obscure rather than the
00:25:41
sketches that killed he said I I thought Jan's exit off from that sketch was
00:25:46
breathtaking you know from attitudes so Lauren kept you off balance but he had a
00:25:50
method to it you know to keep us off it's so hilarious you know something uh when I went out to
00:26:01
LA to do the chandling show and Dana that I remember meeting you through Gary I think the first year we did the show
00:26:09
was ABC Prospect and I don't know if you came to see Gary but I remember first
00:26:14
hearing through Gary right I I remember and just just to intersect for a second when I went there that night to watch
00:26:21
the taping first of all I love the show it always it was and and and the show was Gary's brilliant but and you but
00:26:28
then Gilda came out I guess she was doing kind of okay and she came out behind the curtain and I it was so the
00:26:36
audience reaction to seeing her well it was just a incredibly emotional moment you were there you know she she was they
00:26:45
was in remission at that time and she said um ask me if I can help her make cancer funny she she said that her humor
00:26:55
was the only uh weapon she had against this [ __ ] you know she personalized the cancer and when she came out and she
00:27:02
was afraid that nobody would recognize her her hair was shorter my God and she hadn't been on TV in many years um when
00:27:10
she came out the audience not only erupted okay sure when I went to edit the show and I wanted to use the angle
00:27:19
of her entrance I saw that the picture was just bouncing just a little bit and I
00:27:27
couldn't fig out why and then I remember the night that we taped the show the
00:27:32
cameraman that on that angle he was crying and his hands were shaking okay so if you ever see it on TV you look for
00:27:39
it it's subtle but it's there but um and and and David I remember having a dinner
00:27:45
or a meeting with you somebody named Ry at the brillstein company because I wanted you to be Ray Rio Ray Rio R Rio
00:27:54
manager and I wanted you to be on the show I thought you could be Gary's friend or something I know it didn't
00:27:59
work out yeah we talked about maybe a pizza guy or I talked about dating or whatever like a guy that comes in and I
00:28:07
remember that yeah because Bernie uh Brad geretz everyone we talked about and then and then it but the show went away
00:28:13
it was too after that and it didn't work out but I I love just the idea of that
00:28:18
would have been so fun because I watched that show it was so cool it's um uh oh so this is just back
00:28:24
to Laur for give a very quick second so we were doing the chandling show and I guess it was around 1989 or 90 whenever
00:28:33
the the 15th anniversary show of SNL the reunion show was and you know it's just
00:28:39
like going to your high school reunion and you go all right what have I done since I was in high school oh yeah I got
00:28:45
a car I got married I got a house I got a thing all right we're gonna be okay
00:28:50
so we fly back for the reunion and the door is open on the eighth floor and we run into and beats who was one of the
00:29:00
writers when I was there she W she was writing the anniversary show she was you know okay and and I hadn't seen her in
00:29:10
many years and I go hi an what's doing and she just shakes her head goes [ __ ]
00:29:18
Lauren so I go not a lot not a lot has changed here yeah oh yeah it was always on the 40th um I I was the most fly by
00:29:28
the cedar pants show I ever been on I mean we didn't get any of the Run throughs or practice shows Mike and I
00:29:34
were back in a little room going I don't know look for Kanye we'll see if we can
00:29:38
make something out of it you know but yeah that was uh it's it's a very melancholy or weird thing when you go
00:29:45
back there right when you go back to 17th floor 8h yeah just that it always gets something comes over me a little
00:29:53
bit when I see the pictures I'll see Phil on a picture and Jan and for the obvious reasons but how do you feel when
00:29:58
you go back there there's a lot of ghosts there for me it's John it's gild
00:30:02
I knew Jan I knew Phil but obviously I I knew the other guys uh uh uh better I work with him for five years uh Dave
00:30:10
Wilson who is our director our director too you want to do what direct what the show's in a half hour many changes no he
00:30:20
we love Davey he was like wait wait a minute you want to put a camera on a tomato am I going to get the angle yeah
00:30:29
SM would make changes he goes Robert it was that after dress meeting when it was so tense yeah up in Lauren's
00:30:37
office on reading all the Chang okay on Sweeney sisters we're going to change
00:30:41
this he's like I can't it's a job that should not exist directing s life it
00:30:48
shouldn't exist but it does by the way not only didn't exist you know what
00:30:53
wouldn't have existed without Dave Wilson was Dunkin Donuts as he ate them like they were going out of style jelly
00:31:00
donut yeah such a nice guy too the greatest guy in the world and um he he lived in parcion New Jersey he he
00:31:09
commuted every wife uh night he had a wife and kids and um and as I remember it Lauren hired him very much because he
00:31:19
didn't have an ego okay that was stated that okay it would be yeah there might
00:31:25
be an initial panic attack But ultimately he would figure it out because of the show you know yeah and he
00:31:32
was really good for it he was great that way he was great and I I found that super useful because I was in a couple
00:31:39
movies here and there and I was so bad because I was being so directed and doing hundreds of takes and on SNL it
00:31:46
was great it was just sort of get the shot you and when I did church lady with Rosie Schuster you know who was great
00:31:54
and she thought of the name Church chat so we worked on it for like a month but you there wasn't classic Direction like
00:32:00
I knew the character for my standup so it was very liberating as a performer no a character like that I imagine that uh
00:32:08
you were given all the leeway and he followed you you know or he gave you this much space on Rosie Schuster by the
00:32:14
way I insist and I know that Franken you mentioned him earlier feels the same way
00:32:22
wrote when I was there what I believe to be the best joke of the five and it never saw wow this is this is Juicy okay
00:32:32
Rosie Rosie pitched a sketch of the 10 worst Hanukkah gifts ever okay and number
00:32:45
one was the Hanukkah that they gave an Frank a set of drums no as a writer I'm going wow I
00:32:57
live to be a thousand you know look there's always this little bit of a competition you go to read through go oh
00:33:03
man I should have thought of that oh I could have done that but there were certain people like when I was there
00:33:08
Michael oonu or akroy okay Acro I could never do bassomatic you know where you would drink a fish so I would just sit
00:33:17
back and enjoy the ride you know yeah that's so great so let for a second because John blushi is an overarching
00:33:25
person in the history of SNL so you you wrote a lot of the Samurai so you hooked
00:33:30
up with them and then wrote the final nine of them I me how many were there and what was that relationship like with
00:33:34
John there there was like 10 or 11 the first one was John auditioned for the show with that character he brought that
00:33:43
character to the show okay the very first one was written by Tom Schiller and it was Samurai hotel with with
00:33:52
Belushi and I want to say uh Richard prior okay which is the seventh show of the first season yeah from the first
00:34:01
season oo juicy now the 11th show the 11th show Buck Henry was coming in Lauren came up to me and said before you
00:34:11
got the job here you worked in a delicate Tes and didn't you and I did so he says you think you can write Samurai
00:34:17
Deli and I went oh yeah the piece of cake no problem he walked away I go what the hell am I gonna do now I WR I wrote
00:34:25
Samurai Deli and then every all the other Samurai the eight or nine that came afterwards Samurai Night Fever yeah
00:34:32
Samurai Night Fever I wrote that's that's what I remember because it was so
00:34:35
hilarious and the movie is such a huge hit and it sounds funny Samurai night it sounds very close you you know who the
00:34:41
host was for that show and was in B Henry nope uh OJ Simpson oh whatever happened
00:34:50
to him where is you know something I just sort of lost track he retired from football he did
00:34:58
Naked Gun and I I don't know what happened to him now do you think Samurai I mean this probably obvious question
00:35:04
could not be done in 2022 you you guys probably had the most leeway maybe maybe my cast I don't know
00:35:14
but it definitely changed at a certain point I mean obviously did an Asian character who didn't you know but uh no
00:35:21
more right can't could do I would think you're absolutely right I mean certainly
00:35:26
from my ear Rosanne rosan Dana I don't think could see the light of day oh really why because some of her jokes
00:35:31
because it was sort of Puerto Rican is oh okay oh that's right okay and and the
00:35:37
Samurai and she was in Puerto Rican yeah no those days are over yeah so I think that I don't know when it started but it
00:35:47
may have happened after you guys were there it may have been within the last 10ish years or so you know I don't have
00:35:54
an exact you know when the woke thing and canc culture and all politically correct really started what's that what
00:36:00
are you talking about no go ahead yeah yeah I mean it must get tough for every year because it seems to get but the
00:36:07
show you know still has funny stuff it's just must it's such a landmine to get
00:36:12
through and go well this could rub people wrong and the whole idea of the show was to rub people wrong and to get
00:36:17
laughs and to shock people and that's that's really where it's hard because if
00:36:22
that's the point of it and that's the point of being good and then you can't
00:36:25
do that I you know what's left just so tough yeah for me I I I just didn't I
00:36:32
the idea that I was going to hurt someone never occurred to me or the idea I would decimate somebody uh sitting in
00:36:40
the dark crying you know I never even thought of that so now I just do Western Europe I can do France I do Western
00:36:46
Europe I do Ireland I'll do Britain you know but I don't go east I can't do
00:36:50
Indian I don't so I just stay I could do Putin Russian is not the problem I can
00:36:56
do all those cultures and that's where I'm but I'm fine with that I can still
00:36:59
do a beetle I can still do a Paul McCartney so I I I I long for the days where we all made fun of each other and
00:37:06
then went for lunch you know what do you mean we we we were F that's what you did
00:37:10
you know and and you know uh the people who object are usually not the people who you make the jokes about it some
00:37:18
other group who is telling everyone no you can't do that you go wait a second
00:37:24
and the show was you're absolutely right it it that's what made it the hit that
00:37:29
it was it it it um expanded all parameters and if you go back and if these rule applied well Lenny Bruce
00:37:38
wouldn't have been around you know what I mean I don't know if Chico Marx could
00:37:42
do the Italian accent that he did no no he's out Bruce is out Chico out car done Carlin stays in the suit he
00:37:52
he he doesn't go hippie dippy he doesn't go seven words you can't stay he does
00:37:56
the weather the hi be weatherman maybe so yeah it's an interesting idea I even
00:38:02
in movies you see that the bad guys are only uh vague Russian you know what I mean it's somewhere over there know
00:38:10
where we take you Mr Bond to this place and from nowhere you don't need to know
00:38:17
where I'm from I am from nowhere and I from everywhere I Spit on Your Grave I'm
00:38:24
just bad that's all you need to know that's fine but so I I'm cool with it I
00:38:27
got a lot of tools I'm fine with it but even talking about it now on this podcast flying the wall available
00:38:34
wherever podcaster uh it makes me a little nervous you know because uh I don't know aren't we the ultimate too
00:38:41
much yeah scared we scared we're we're too much we're so white that it's not
00:38:45
even we're Al yeah it's um and some of us have very nice skin considering our
00:38:51
age as you pointed out earlier I I don't know what you've done and I don't judge
00:38:56
uh fillers I don't judge I've seen you at a lot of clinics and it it's working
00:39:00
I don't judge wrestlin I don't know you've done dermabrasion I don't know
00:39:04
how you've done it or why you've done it but you've done it and you look ter I
00:39:09
germ abrasion on my wiener just and now though just you're good now no more good
00:39:14
you look great so any tighter it would be like it would really be off the chart and then people would start to notice
00:39:20
it's like Madonna who I love is wearing a mask I think it actually she actually
00:39:23
just wears a mask what about James Khan oh is he tighter now Jimmy KH oh yeah yeah he's back to sunny
00:39:34
corleon sunny sunny Corleone is is yeah his eyes are bulging and um are we allowed to say bulging in this my sister
00:39:42
again I'll [ __ ] kill you that's all I remember his bulging eyebrow well I
00:39:47
don't know I mean um I just put on glasses fluff it up cop an attitude is the big part of life you know act
00:39:55
Young [Music] hey Allan you know uh Steve Martin who is my probably one of my all-time
00:40:04
favorite especially growing up but still to this day he's he's very very good
00:40:08
you're tight with him because I saw you wrote on his best show ever that was
00:40:10
right in his [ __ ] Heyday like back then right oh that was a live show that we did the night
00:40:18
before Thanksgiving okay so it was the Wednesday night it was a live show live okay it was live and um boy that was fun
00:40:28
that you know it was because we had been away from the show oh a year and a half close to two
00:40:36
years so to get that Rush yeah way you can write something in a half hour later it's on television was really exciting
00:40:45
yeah it's hard it's hard to do jokes where you do them in a movie and they
00:40:47
sit for a year and you go [ __ ] I gotta wait because someone could step on it comedy does not sit well on a shelf it's
00:40:53
like you just want to get it out right then right then right absolutely and now I write books and plays and and uh and
00:41:00
movies and if I'm lucky if I'm lucky it sees the light of day two years from now
00:41:07
yeah yeah Al Franken asked me to ask you another one he said you wouldn't mind
00:41:13
talking about your experience with the movie North Rob Reiner's movie you can
00:41:17
pass I had questions about that too okay here we go and the sequel South remind me to thank Franken by the way okay so
00:41:25
this was a film done by Rob Riner and well well it started out as a book that I wrote okay was your first M okay I
00:41:34
came uh ended I left SNL in 1980 Robin my wife and I started having a family and at one point our son who was around
00:41:45
seven I was able to tell at the dinner table by the way he looked at me and Robin that the kid was thinking I could
00:41:54
do better than these all right so parents I I wrote a book about a little boy named North who
00:42:04
didn't feel appreciated by his parents de declared himself a free agent and went all over the world offering his
00:42:12
Services as a son to the highest bidding set of parents okay so I write the book
00:42:17
for random house and I got the manuscript now Rob Rina had hosted the third SNL ever I sent him the manuscript
00:42:27
um just for a blurb for the book jacket and I remember the blurb he sent he was if you read only one book this
00:42:35
year I wouldn't call you an Avid Reader okay that was the blur okay but he said you know something I
00:42:44
really like this book he said you know I'm a director now and I'm going no
00:42:49
kidding he did uh Harry with s When Harry Met Sally uh Few Good Men few said I'd like to do this as a movie
00:42:59
so it's music to my ears I moved the family out to LA okay and two years I'm spent writing this
00:43:10
script adapting my own thing now it's a $50 million movie and Julia Lou driers
00:43:18
Jason alexand Bruce Willis my old friend Dan akroy a little eight-year-old actress uh her first job
00:43:26
her name was scholar Johansson all right Elijah Wood Elijah Wood Rea McIntyre it just went on and on
00:43:37
now it's too big fail well let's discuss that well I think people are interested
00:43:45
with a guy a career where have so many things work this is just interesting because I've had movies that I don't I
00:43:52
read and and just somewhere along the way it's not what I thought and I think
00:43:57
it's interesting to hear from you as you're saying along the way something
00:44:02
that is working something happens and you something got derailed okay did you ever figure that out no because um I it
00:44:12
may have been episodic he went to about eight different countries and it might have read like a series of sketches okay
00:44:19
with each set of parents but it was the night of the Premier and I flew my parents out from Florida Bo had two Les
00:44:27
Jews that night they were in LA and uh the movie and greatest night of my life they I adapted my own book it's a 50
00:44:37
then the reviews come out the next day for those of you who don't remember Rie EB's review of North and I
00:44:44
think this is what he's got in his hand folks it's in his hand the review of
00:44:48
North took paper not even online which I took out of a wallet okay I you keep it
00:44:55
with you at all times Roger Ebert was a big big reviewer back then oh well he and um Jean cisc had that show huge show
00:45:04
so let's hear it okay here's his review oh boy I hated this movie hated hated hated hated this
00:45:16
movie hated it hated every simpering stupid vacant audience insulting moment of it hated the sensibility that thought
00:45:25
anyone would like it hated the implied insult to the Audience by its belief that anyone would actually be
00:45:32
entertained by it oh now on the surface this may seem like an unfavorable review
00:45:40
but if you read it again you know I was devastated boy I'm gonna how long did it
00:45:48
take you acutely to get past that two months I would say I I would say about six months um we lived in La uh where as
00:45:59
you know a lot of people rude for other people restaurants our son Adam went to Crossroads uh that was a private school
00:46:08
that we sent them to S and he would not only he would get taunted by the other kids who were Show Business kids he
00:46:14
would he came home and said dad is it okay if we change our last name to sorin you know so it was um it was it was it
00:46:23
became difficult but it took about took four to six months to get up off the couch because I had given the guy the
00:46:30
power to um you know boy you know and it's always some somebody who's related
00:46:38
to you they mean well but my father would say don't read Time Magazine page 79 column three I Doge
00:46:48
eared it J passive aggressive friends that would say something like I don't I don't know
00:46:54
if I should tell you this but there's this review I I don't know if you want
00:46:58
to hear this as if they didn't want to just rub your face in it so what was your I know you did Cur your enthusias
00:47:04
what was your after North what was your next project or success or you wrote a book well I had written a book that was
00:47:11
a bestseller called bunny bunny it it was about me and Gilda yeah and it was my uh way of dealing with her death and
00:47:19
it became a a successful Off Broadway play and uh that is even talk about doing it as a movie um but but God
00:47:27
knows but but cerb um cerb was great fun because Larry's my old friend and I also
00:47:34
uh there was a big success I collaborated with Billy Crystal on a Broadway show that won of Tony called
00:47:40
700 Sunday know all about it yes for sure yeah and it was yeah so Billy and you did a lot together as well go ahead
00:47:47
oh yeah we did that and then we recently did a movie with Tiffany hadish and him
00:47:52
called uh here today I saw it I thought it was great yeah thank you enjoyed it Billy was awesome in that really really
00:47:58
and he directed it as well so you know so there's been Peaks but you know look
00:48:03
the valleys are um you know I I did when I was promoting the book um I did uh CBS
00:48:10
Sunday Morning you know that guy Dr John lauk who is their medical guy on it he's
00:48:16
Norman lear's son-in-law greatest guy in the world and he had uh one of these
00:48:23
kind of uh podcasts it was for CBS This Morning it was called and I was in the middle of pandemic and the theme of it
00:48:32
was failures okay and I'm going gee I'm on with Norman Lear and all you think about
00:48:39
is All in the Family and M and all that he he named 13 shows AKA Pablo all these
00:48:47
other shows I never heard of before so you look at your Idols you know you look at the Paul Simons if you're going to go
00:48:52
into music you look at go not every body was a hit you know 100% never Allan when
00:49:00
you did North do you is there one point and we'll let it go but is there a point
00:49:04
during uh you see a rough cut an assembly or just Clips or dailies where you go I don't know if it's clicking CU
00:49:11
sometimes you're too close to it and you go and people are like oh it's hilarious
00:49:15
and you're like okay good because I you can't really tell along the way until
00:49:19
you see it all together yeah and then is there one point where people started getting nervous or you started getting a
00:49:24
Vibe like uhoh well I you're absolutely right like there's this old adage that no movie is
00:49:31
as good as as its dailies and not no movies as bad as the first cut okay so uh our dailies were great because like I
00:49:41
said it was episodic they were almost like sketches that we did so so you judged it that way um strung together
00:49:50
with a narrative you go oh boy all right what's go what's wrong here then we played it
00:49:56
in front of some audiences and Rob was used to 95% yeah 97% the top two boxes with all
00:50:05
of his hits and you know I don't know if we were in the single digits but we
00:50:10
weren't in the high double digits by any means I have sorry I just would because about
00:50:16
daes I have a theory about that because you know modern Woody Allen I know he has his issues privately I'm a
00:50:23
fan he started using moving Master shots so a lot of threes and fours and people
00:50:28
moving in the frame so when I some of the shitty movies I did that I wasn't in
00:50:34
control of the dailies were pretty good because there'd be the the moving master
00:50:38
or a wide shot and you would see it all the Rhythm and then you'd see it just
00:50:41
[ __ ] cut to pieces and it doesn't it doesn't go from funny to to to pretty
00:50:48
funny it goes from funny to incredibly not at all funny and that's just a DOR
00:50:55
Dorial thing but uh that's what I admired about you know um uh Billy when we did U here today and also with Rob I
00:51:05
did a few movies with him I've been lucky to work I'm working with Barry uh
00:51:08
levenson now and Brant director yeah I'm writing something with him and what I um
00:51:15
what Billy Crystal did in that movie here today where he played a character like herb Sargeant like the senior
00:51:24
writer at SNL kind of show and but he had the onset of dementia and since you shoot movies out a
00:51:33
sequence where was he in the character's progression towards getting worse very
00:51:39
hard okay so but he would comment every day knowing okay so it's about the script okay I I was here now I'm gonna
00:51:48
be here so when it's cut together it doesn't you know it doesn't jump in
00:51:53
cognition or or or whatever whatever but that's what the great directors do you
00:51:59
know yeah they make sure stay on you and say where you are and where you're going
00:52:03
to from here yeah can I ask you some some basic questions because I think uh sure because you're a writer and you've
00:52:11
had this long long career and you're still you're you're writing a movie
00:52:15
Barry levenson you're 45 years in or whatever I what what was it about you you think do you ever analy do you ever
00:52:23
think like why me well how did I managed this and and uh what was the main characteristic you think you needed to
00:52:30
get through is it just keep going or what would you tell Young Writers who are listening to this podcast and
00:52:36
dreaming of having your career I I I I would tell them first of all there are a lot of naysayers out
00:52:44
there I don't know if you guys ran into them whether he was a manager an agent
00:52:48
sometimes your friends you know uh College friends when they all went to Med in law school and they came back
00:52:55
Thanksgiving they made fun of me because I was working in a deli and selling jokes to Mory gunty I I think that um I
00:53:03
think that look when this book starts I'm 21 uh at the end I'm now 71 so it's
00:53:09
50 years I think if you stay in your lane uh I I couldn't write for I don't
00:53:15
think I could write for SNL now I I I do miss the activity that I do I I that that adrenaline rush and all of that but
00:53:24
with the exception of Weekend Update which is Jokes which I think I would be a I don't think that it would sound like
00:53:30
an old man trying to predict what um what what the kids are laughing at okay yeah so the the movie here today uh I
00:53:40
could not have written 10 years ago until my father got dementia until Billy's aunt got dementia so we lived it
00:53:49
so I think it's like um I think there's an audience for everything that's honest
00:53:54
I I think an audience can smell fraudulence a mile away you know what I mean if we we put on a hat that really
00:54:02
doesn't fit you know and trying to stay the word is relevant that's sort of a
00:54:06
thing of like for an older performer trying to stay relevant it sounds so negative Well yeah if you try too hard
00:54:13
it can really backfire you're trying to say relevant it's like I think you are
00:54:16
your whole career you just want to be in the mix that's shouldn't be negative
00:54:19
it's well you guys have certainly proved that youve got longevity I mean how do
00:54:24
you how do you do you do tell me I mean you go up and you do what you do well I remember Lauren Michaels always used to
00:54:30
say he said you you just keep going you you you you never stop it's Sydney po
00:54:35
told me that you just keep going did and it's that thing of like you're you're just going or so two
00:54:43
nights ago love [Laughter] La Lord would do that you know there was an anecdote I have in my book and this
00:54:56
this literally happened when Shandling and I we came back East to look for actors for its Gary shaning show and we
00:55:05
went to catch a rising star and we're at the bar was David brener who I had not
00:55:11
seen remember him I I flew on uh MGM Graham with himm yeah Graham I flew I had a flight where I was
00:55:21
sat with David for the whole flight and he had a tank top on he was really tan and I go to is your life awesome he goes
00:55:28
yeah he goes on sailboats and he has lots of girlfriends anyway I remember him as being very likable he was a very
00:55:34
and he was always very nice to me we walked into catch I hadn't seen him in a
00:55:37
while and I go hi David and he goes come here all right so me and Shanley go up to him and he goes and now he I was
00:55:49
hoping he was kidding I would bet everything that he was not though because I was looking for for some sort
00:55:55
of a wink yeah he said I figured out what the funniest number is so so I like it already so I said really
00:56:11
what what number he goes guess and I guess I go David there's lots of numbers
00:56:17
I don't have this kind of time he goes Shanley goes what's the funniest number
00:56:22
this so David looks around to make sure that nobody's with an earshot yeah so
00:56:28
nobody would hear this secret and he whispers 267 and he goes you're kidding we go he
00:56:39
says I've tried them two 267 gets the best laugh okay so shandley and I are now
00:56:47
worried about David mental health we we say goodbye we leave and when when we were writing shows together Gary and I
00:56:56
yeah we need a joke here Gary going how about 267 okay now when I wrote this book
00:57:03
Steve Martin read it and gave me a very nice quote but Steve got couldn't believe that Brena had done that that
00:57:12
267 is the funniest number so to this day I'll send Steve an email that just says well I'm going to
00:57:24
make you laugh now Steve dot dot dot and then I just write 267 and he'll write back he says I
00:57:30
really appreciate it Allan because I was having a 366 kind of day okay Dana I'm gonna take a wild
00:57:39
guess and say that you're not in your kitchen okay I'm just I'm in a bedroom
00:57:44
Oh you mean David SP buler no no guys I'm in a bedroom guest guest office I do a lot of stuff here
00:57:53
wow yeah I don't really like to have grand things David has a gigantic Superstar alpacino and Scarface mansion
00:58:03
I have a humble town home but we don't know who has a greater net worth and that's a question the audience is
00:58:09
obsessed with I have cocaine stucco on my on the outside of my wall this guy let me tell you my think I got a house
00:58:16
man you'll never see I still do I still do you know how I'm able to do Scarface
00:58:21
when I feel like it I say I'm doing alucino Centric bizarre Cuban accent so I'm not saying this is I'm just you
00:58:30
removed yourself okay man look at you look at you man you got a face like a baby like
00:58:36
a little baby look at that man look at you man you don't know SE B guy so it's
00:58:41
a really fun accent to do woman baby yeah you put distance between you and that that's great and saying I'm
00:58:51
just doing that I'm not doing Cuban Amer I think you're still going to get canell
00:58:55
but good try so if you okay here's another one I like um your which you could never answer your favorite thing
00:59:03
you've ever worked on either a sketch movie a Broadway show oh oh you'll never
00:59:10
be able to answer this I'm just throwing it out no no but I mean I can throw out
00:59:13
some 700 Sundays was really great because it's about the process you know what I mean the product was successful
00:59:21
but the fact that my best friend trusted me with his family who I never met to put words in their mouths um was it was
00:59:31
something really honorable and glorious about it I think the book bunny bunny because was also from the heart it was
00:59:37
about Gilda I had a children's book called our tree named Steve which was successful but it was also about our
00:59:44
family so it's a it's more of the personal things you know I could say any
00:59:50
of the SNL you know when we started when Gary and I started uh um I have the fondest of memories of when we started
00:59:59
because we discovered each other we became good friends made each other laugh and we were on for 72 shows then
01:00:06
it got it got a little hairy towards the end and why why why did it go off the rails a little bit in terms of your well
01:00:12
I think that relationship kind of with the relationship also is related to the work I was married with three kids I was
01:00:20
the commission of my son's Little League uh Little League busy dad yeah you know and I wanted to write
01:00:27
about that stuff G it's Gary Sharing Show didn't have room for that Gary
01:00:31
played that single guy still trying to get so he resented the time that I would think about something else and I
01:00:39
resented that I couldn't put this stuff into there and by the time we uh ended
01:00:45
the show we weren't really talking and it was uh he came back east and he was
01:00:52
at uh oh a hotel in Atlanta City like the borada one of those places my wife Robin saw that he was going to appear
01:00:59
there and she said I'm bringing Allan down I'm putting you both in a room and
01:01:04
you're not coming out until you're friends again you've been through too
01:01:07
much together and that's pretty much what happened but Gary did Larry sand did you know I did other things and so
01:01:15
we weren't on the same set every day or in the same offes so I had to be pursuant to him there was something
01:01:22
about him that I still wanted okay still needed I still wanted and um we got pretty close to getting back to it and
01:01:30
then he died you know so um I know grudges you know you get wounded in Show Business people people fall out all
01:01:37
kinds of drama I guess it's true in every business but show bus and working very closely is tough and especially
01:01:43
something that's very important to both of you and it just almost inevitably
01:01:48
you're going to go in some different directions writing and Performing you know yeah what you know what attracts
01:01:53
you is about to have a writing partner is okay I'm going to make up numbers now 36 what was
01:02:01
it 267 the uh 80% uh we think alike okay that's what draws you together but the other 20% you
01:02:13
each bring something to it yeah that you couldn't have done alone so the Alchemy
01:02:17
is one in1 equals 3 you know and I had that beautifully with uh Gary I had it when I wrote Mar short show I had it
01:02:25
with him I write with Dave Barry now if you're familiar with him he and I are so
01:02:31
there's an understanding but it's different when you're write with somebody for that person because if they
01:02:37
don't believe in it even you know uh they're not gonna say it with conviction
01:02:42
it's going to be false so I I love your pro I I love how much you just get up
01:02:47
you write every day I mean there's it seems like you're such a natural fit
01:02:51
because for me writing is the toughest part I find it really exhausting I have to take a nap after a two hour W it is
01:02:59
ex well that's what that's what made SNL so great or any TV show is osmosis and
01:03:04
the Synergy of all these people coming in and out of offices a and whatever you know I remember Lauren originally saying
01:03:12
that the more initials that are on top of the first page of any sketch the more he was happy with that means that had
01:03:19
the more sensibilities everyone puts there a couple you can always snag a good joke cuz everyone's good
01:03:25
yeah yeah and you know here's something that I'm pulling out of the same
01:03:30
wallet remember the playwright herb Gardner he wrote A Thousand Clowns he talks about a writer's life okay you
01:03:38
your days are spent making up things that no one ever said to be spoken by people who do not exist for an audience
01:03:45
that may not come okay so it's like total futility it seems like so it's
01:03:51
like a real force of will I find like if you know something's going or or if
01:03:56
you're going to be on a television appearance you're you're very you know
01:04:00
you're very stimulated and very focused but the idea of being in a room for so
01:04:04
long and not knowing if it'll ever be seen or get made that's the discipline
01:04:08
of a writer that's absolutely right it's absolutely right love it is this a waste
01:04:13
of time ultimately you know is this not gonna I see it but maybe it's not going
01:04:18
to touch somebody the way I do and all that yeah it's very lonely to go full
01:04:22
circle on this which's so cool about you now you're writing a movie with uh Barry
01:04:27
levenson yeah so pretty good shot that'll get made is it live streaming or is it a it's probably live I think we we
01:04:35
we see it as a feature you know but you know who knows now who knows now you know and there's another another one um
01:04:41
Rob Riner is now the head of Castle Rock again and uh the the the director Barry
01:04:48
sonnenfeld oh yeah wrote A Memoir which is hilarious called Barry sonnenfeld call your mother rob optioned it and
01:04:55
they're hiring me to adapt it so I'll be working with two barries you know all
01:04:59
three if you count Dave Barry but it the yes so in answer to your question if you
01:05:05
surround yourself or work with people like that where the odds are better that it will reach fruition you know will
01:05:13
materialize it it does uh give you a little bit more hope when you spend all these hours by yourself so 50 years in
01:05:21
and you're just really in demand it's just nice it's great ly and I've been
01:05:25
lucky you know and your book out that I've gotten halfway through cuz my Kindle was out of batteries but anyway
01:05:31
what's the name of it right now the one that's your current book about your life
01:05:34
writer it's called laugh lines and the subtitle is my life helping funny people
01:05:39
be funnier yes thank you for coming on Allan David this was great we really enjoyed it this is our our fans every
01:05:49
all of them uh my wife DAV I was just with Lorraine Newman who told me she was on your show oh yeah that's right she
01:05:56
said she had a great time she said she had a great time sweetheart we love having writers on and love hearing their
01:06:02
process you know so I I find it really really really interesting and and once again there you are you're you are Allan
01:06:09
s Bell just overarches the 50 years in Show Business your name is always kind of mentioned and it was always in The
01:06:15
Ether Alan swell is working on this or he's there so congrats on that it's
01:06:20
pretty cool thanks for having me I had asked to be on the when I heard guys were doing this even before um was was
01:06:28
Tom the first one was Hanks the first one yeah pretty much even before I knew about that I I said to um Lori Jonas the
01:06:36
publicist I said I want to be on those guys podcast so thank you for having me the only thing that a little weird
01:06:42
happen is Franken has I let him have a feed to hear this and he I'll just quote
01:06:46
it it texted me Allen's y Bell is a liar nothing he said anyway anyway Al to see you guys
01:06:57
okay take care we will see you we'll see you at some point we'll see you at the
01:07:00
50th we'll see you at the 50th if not before okay okay take care guys take care this has been a podcast
01:07:08
presentation of Kaden's 13 please listen then rate review and follow all episodes
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available now for free wherever you get your podcast no joke folks flying the wall has been a
01:07:21
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01:07:28
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