"Back in the Laughs" (Unlimited) New Year Nostalgia #2 Show #189

Second in the series, the Host Scott Edwards teams up with two old Friends who were there from the beginning. Bob Stobener & Lynn Stobener join Scott in a kind'a Round Table discussion all about the stories and fun of working at our chain of Comedy Clubs...Laughs Unlimited.

Hosted by: R. Scott Edwards

Transcript

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SPEAKER_02 0:04

This is another episode of Stand Up Comedy, your host and MC, celebrating 40 plus years on the fringe of show business. Stories, interviews, and comedy sets from the famous and not so famous. Here's your host and MC, Scott Edwards.

Scott Edwards 0:22

Hey everybody, welcome to the show. Hey, we're in the middle of kind of a special uh podcast series. Uh my ex-partner Bob Stobener, his little sister uh Lynn Stobener, who was also one of my key employees back in the 80s with uh my chain of comedy clubs, and I had gotten together uh with a box of nostalgia, and we were sharing stories and going through stuff. And uh last week we heard the first uh 45 minutes or so of the conversation. Again, it's a little self-serving and uh nostalgic, lots of memories, but I think it's also interesting. So uh bear with us, enjoy it. And uh here we go. Oh, and by the way, Bob's supposed to be the host of the show. So here's your host, Bob Stobener.

SPEAKER_02 1:06

How about Tom Hanks? Can we talk about the Tom Hanks story?

Scott Edwards 1:09

Oh, that's uh one of my favorites.

SPEAKER_03 1:11

I I really love that story because uh when you told him he should start like think of thinking of acting.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

Yeah, well, yeah, there's that. Everybody knows that story.

Scott Edwards 1:21

So I'll I'll lay the groundwork and then you can tell your side. So, ladies and gentlemen, picture uh again, real early uh 1980. 1980 Bob Sagitt was the headliner.

SPEAKER_03 1:32

He was everything goes back to Bob Sagitt.

Scott Edwards 1:34

He was really a great connection for us, uh special man, and he was so helpful in helping me get the club going and teaching me everything I needed to do. Him, Dave Couillet.

SPEAKER_03 1:45

And what did you do? You walked on stage during his set and said, We have someone much fun. That's right.

Scott Edwards 1:50

That's the thanks I get. All right. So Sagitt's working, and uh, but he's booked as a headliner, and he calls me up and he goes, Hey, I've got this young actor that has to do some uh comedy on a show. Can I bring him up to the club for the weekend? And I was like, Well, sure, anything for you, Bob. You know, Bob and I were very tight back then. I said, anything you want. So I didn't know who it was, and I wasn't even that aware of the show at the time. But he shows up on like a Thursday night with Tom Hanks, and Tom Hanks was on the TV show Bosom Buddies, which it had just started, and Tom explains that he has to do a comedy set on the show.

SPEAKER_03 2:31

I thought it was for the movie.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

No, it was it's actually an episode of the series, and I think in their first season. Yeah, it's very early on. And Bob is in the in the episode.

SPEAKER_03 2:40

Yeah, I remember Bob being on the show.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

And that's the connection. So Bob was actually a warm-up comic for the show. When, you know, obviously not in the show, but he's a warm-up comic for the studio audience.

Scott Edwards 2:51

Well, anyway, everybody go to the googler. Bozom Buddies was Tom Hanks' first appearance in in TV and movies, and it was his sitcom. He was co-starring with a couple other people, and it was a fairly popular show. I wish. It wasn't huge, but still, it wasn't the Tom Hanks we all know and respect now. It was this young actor and that happened to have a sitcom. It was still very cool. So I'm showing Tom how to use the mic, where to look so he didn't get blinded by the lights, just some of the technical stuff. But Bob was actually writing material for him and helping him put together this like three-minute set for the TV show. And Tom worked uh for free, by the way, uh that whole weekend and went on stage like one of the acts. And uh it was a really uh interesting and special moment looking back at the time.

SPEAKER_03 3:43

I wonder how many people, audience members, remembered that as they saw him.

SPEAKER_02 3:47

They probably think it was just another comic to them, right? You know, those people that didn't know the show.

Scott Edwards 3:52

But well, I would introduce him as you know one of the stars of Bosom Buddies, but as again, the show wasn't you know huge. It wasn't like Seinfeld or Big Bang Theory. It was just a sit guy.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

We didn't advertise it or anything, it was just an extra.

Scott Edwards 4:03

Oh, yeah, we didn't know he wasn't in any of the advertising or promotion. But he and Sagitt did some great improv.

SPEAKER_02 4:10

Yeah, they did some great improv. And we remember I do remember that we have some pictures of that actually. We do? Yeah, we found some pictures. I would like to see this. Or are they on the street?

Scott Edwards 4:18

Somewhere they found a dummy, and they were yeah the the three of uh Tom, Bob, and this dummy were did this whole skit. It was weird.

SPEAKER_03 4:28

Talk about yourself that way.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Be more positive, Scott. Yeah, um, so Tom went to college up in Sacks State. So he's a very and his and his and his wife, I think, is at the time, his first wife is from the area. I remember going back to the comedy condo that weekend as well. We had an after hours little gathering, and uh his baby, I think it was Colin. Colin Hanks was was his son, and he's just crawling around, or he's like one or two.

SPEAKER_03 4:56

Sacramento and Tower Records was born in Sacramento, and Colin Hanks did the uh documentary.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

Isn't that weird? Oh, it's a small world, people. It is a small world. Well, anyway, that was a fun weekend, though.

Scott Edwards 5:07

Yeah, and and to be able to say that Tom Hanks worked our stage and actually uh learned about stand-up comedy uh with Bob Sagitt on our little club. And this was the very first room when it was a banquet room at the Delta Queen restaurant that we had converted into a comedy club, and only sat maybe a hundred people, uh uh something like that. And and of course, when he was there, we were still brand, brand new. So it was rarely a sold-out audience in in those days. It was uh all a learning experience. But speaking of those after hour parties, which you've alluded to a couple times, which was really one of the great things we want to share with the audience, is that it was so much fun owning a chain of comedy clubs and working with these people. But remember, it was a job. So a lot of what we were doing was business, but then we would be able to have fun, and a lot of that was the after-hour events. And one of the ones I love to share, it was like a Thursday night. You guys may have a different memory, but this is the way I tell the story. It was after the show, and we're uh all having cocktails in a hot tub at the condo and with Dana Carvey.

SPEAKER_03 6:14

See, I swear that that was at Jill and myself, our apartment. My my on uh in the Thomas.

Scott Edwards 6:20

So as it's my podcast, well, Lynn could tell her side. But I tell the story that we're sitting having drinks in in this hot tub. This is the way I remember it, and Dana's kind of excited and nervous at the same time and says, uh, you know, guys, Scott, and he was real new. Uh, I mean, he'd been working for us for a couple of years, but he wasn't known. And he goes, I just had a call from Lauren Michaels, and they want me in New York on Monday to try out for the Saturday Night Live. And I go, Wow, that's exciting! And he goes, Yeah, but you know, am I ready? And I don't know what I'm gonna do. And, you know, so it was kind of one of those moments to share with who ended up being a huge star doing The Church Lady and I remember he discussed that in the thinking of doing The Church Lady, yeah, and and um in his he shared his conversation with Lauren Michaels, and it was just a cool moment at one of those post-show deals. Now, for me, it's always been an apartment hot tub having cocktails. How do you remember it, Lynn?

SPEAKER_03 7:21

Uh exactly the same, except for it was at uh Jill and mine apartment. That's not growing up.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

Other than the rest of the buttons about that story is Well, and I slept with him. Oh yeah, left that part up. It's a great story because you get to see the actual moment when they go to the next level. And and because Dana had everything he needed. He was already very skilled, he had a lot of great routines, he had the mind for comedy, he's a great performer.

Scott Edwards 7:50

Oh, impressions, he didn't use stand-up, he did it all.

SPEAKER_02 7:53

Dana didn't really even need Saturday Night Live to make him a better comic than what he was. But um, yes, I mean just led to Wayne's World and so many other things. Well, so many other things. I had a similar, uh not similar story with Dana, but I do remember them? No. I don't let me get back to you on that. Okay. Um You just cuddled spoon. Um I remember I I think I I was picked him up from or I brought him from the condo to the club or something, and and uh it was a Sunday night, or it was a closing night or something like that. We were just talking, and he said, he said, um Bob, I didn't tell you. I knew I know you're gonna appreciate this, but I I got a chance to hang out with Paul McCartney. Oh Paul McCartney? You say Dana? Yes, yeah. I mean he he was uh I got to go to his to his place or wherever he was staying and stuff, and you know, and pulls Paul McCartney and he's hello Dana, how you doing? Dana, let me play this song for you, tell you. And he said, Dana said that Paul asked him what he thought of the song he was writing. It's like, okay, I'm a Beatles fan, number one anyway. But you know, to hear here's me talking to a friend of mine, Dana Carvey who's a performer who had uh dinner or something with Paul McCartney, who's talking to him about you know a song he's writing. It's like, wow, this is cool.

SPEAKER_03 9:17

Didn't he say that Dana said that when he was there, he thought of you?

SPEAKER_02 9:23

He did say that. He said, I thought of Bob. That was so cool.

Scott Edwards 9:27

So for the audience, we should explain that Bob Stobener has to be one of the biggest uh Beatles fans ever. He has a huge collection and some great memorabilia. Um, but Dana and Bob often talked about um the Beatles, and Dana was uh a lot of people don't know, is a terrific musician, got started off doing uh music with his brother's band, and went branched into comedy and then had comedy music and then impressions and then a stand-up. Very, very talented guy. But to just we were just talking about seven stages of separation. That's like two from Paul McCartney.

SPEAKER_03 10:01

Six and it's bacon.

Scott Edwards 10:04

Sorry, audience. Six stages of bacon, and in this case, yeah, you were just two bacons away from Paul McCartney. I guess you could put it that way. That's true.

SPEAKER_03 10:13

Anyway, it was more of a pork sausage, yeah.

Scott Edwards 10:16

Well, but that's still exciting that that we've had a chance to interact with those people. In fact, um, speaking of knowing somebody that knows somebody and having a special moment, yeah. So we had um one of my father's favorite comics was Pat Paulson.

SPEAKER_03 10:32

Can I say something real quick? Because I'm gonna lose it, and this is nothing, this is just nothing. But I think you should write a book, and the title should be Everything Happens on Sundays.

SPEAKER_02 10:41

Oh, our students. Ladies and gentlemen, you heard it here first. Be on Amazon's number one list before you know it. So uh back to the story. Chat GPT.

Scott Edwards 10:51

Write me a book. Um, so my father's favorite comic was Pat Paulson, who was a regular on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and he always ran for president, was uh in movies, and a really talented stand-up comic. He was older at this point, and uh really to for my father, I booked Pat Paulson, got a chance to introduce him, and they got to hang out, which was really special for me to see. But Pat and I somehow connected and became very good friends. I spent time at his ranch and and he was a regular at the club. And one of these times he was actually opening for the Smothers Brothers up in Tahoe Reno, I think it was Reno, and he invited us up. And so we loaded up the car, and Lynn was there, Joe was there, and we went to see the show. We were a guest at the show, and then we were invited backstage. And so this is this is kind of the sidebar of being comedy club producers and owners, is that we got a few perks, and this would be one of those perks that you just can't ever count on. It just happened. And so we're backstage with Pat Paulson, and a famous pianist was at the piano.

SPEAKER_03 12:04

The classical gas guy. Yeah, Mason Williams.

Scott Edwards 12:06

Mason Williams was in their room, so he was already famous and kind of cool. So Mason Williams, Pat Paulson.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

And writer on the Mutzers Brothers show, too.

Scott Edwards 12:15

Oh, was he?

SPEAKER_02 12:16

Yeah, him and Steve Martin and a bunch of other guys. Oh, I know.

SPEAKER_03 12:19

I didn't know he was, I thought he was just a musician, not just multi-talented.

Scott Edwards 12:23

Interesting. Uh so you're learning something here, folks. You don't even have to go to the Googler. So we're we're just hanging out, we're uh talking with Pat and being introduced to uh Mason Williams, who was a famous pianist. And in walks Tommy Smothers, and uh Lynn was sitting on the couch, and uh I this now Tommy's had to have been in his 50s or 60s, and Lynn, you were probably 20 something, 23 at the time. Maybe 22. Tommy sits right next to Lynn, starts telling jokes, starts laughing. We're all introducing to him, and he's a celebrity, so we're we're kind of in awe. We're we're invited back. All of a sudden, he grabs Lynn's shoulders, pushes her down on the couch, and gets on top of her and starts yelling, you know. He was making some rude comments.

SPEAKER_03 13:19

And we're all getting sexually assaulted.

Scott Edwards 13:23

Yeah. I'm like nervous going, this is like my little sister. She's being sexually assaulted, and yet it's Tommy Smothers. I'm like, I'm like hesitating. You didn't know what to do with it. What was Pep Paulson doing?

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Uh Tommy's got a boner. Tommy's got a boner.

Scott Edwards 13:39

Pep Paulson was no help at all. He's loving it. And so I finally, I mean, it took me longer than it should have, so I apologize, Lynn. But seconds later, I went over and I said, Hey, Tommy, you know, let's that's enough of that. Get off of her.

SPEAKER_03 13:53

Put that roll of quarters away in here.

Scott Edwards 13:56

It was an awkward moment, but now instead of just hearing the story from me, Lynn is here. Lynn, what was that like for you?

SPEAKER_03 14:04

Oh, gee, that was just the best. No, uh, it was uncomfortable, but for some reason, I don't know why.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

I was thinking You thought it was Dickie?

SPEAKER_03 14:17

No. Too many jokes with that one.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:20

Uh no, for some reason I thought, God, my dad liked this guy, which is so wrong on so many levels. My dad would not have liked him. And why and my dad would have been long time past.

Scott Edwards 14:33

So at the moment, you didn't actually feel sexually assaulted. It would seem like a joke.

SPEAKER_03 14:38

No, right. It was just like he's trying to be a big thing.

Scott Edwards 14:40

And by the way, everybody was fully clothed and he was trying to be funny. He's more just clowning around, but you had no idea who it was.

SPEAKER_03 14:46

It was no big deal. I mean, it I'm not, it was not a remotely a sexual.

Scott Edwards 14:50

Right. But it was more icky, but um, you know, it was uh But it was one of those moments where you're like in awe of somebody that you look up to as an entertainer, and at the same time, uh uh a little repulsed by the crudeness. Right. Even though it was meant to be funny and he was not doing he didn't try to grab your breast or anything, it was just him thinking he was being funny, but at the same time, there's always that kind of underlining crudeness that this old man basically was hopping on top of this young woman, and it was uh I it's something I'll never forget forget because it was so awkward for all of us, right? It it's like if this happened with and it wasn't a celebrity and it wasn't a guy three times your age, you know, you would have I would have reacted immediately and maybe beat the shit out of him. But under the circumstances, it was cool. Even you weren't really sure how to react.

SPEAKER_03 15:51

Yeah, I just wanted to hear classical gas.

Scott Edwards 15:55

Well, and then Tommy yelling, you know. I mean, uh Pat Paulson yelling, Tommy's got a boner dominant. I mean, it was such a surreal moment. Right. But anyway, so that's the uh Tommy Smothers of uh the Smothers Brothers comedy fame.

SPEAKER_03 16:08

It was smothered by Tommy Smithers.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

Smother certainly a story from its time. I don't think it yes.

Scott Edwards 16:16

Oh, yeah, you wouldn't get away with that shit in these days. This remember, folks, this is like in the early 80s.

SPEAKER_02 16:20

We're back in the other countries. Yeah, well, I'm I'm glad we're not doing those things anymore. Anyway. Let's see what else we got in here. Yeah, what other that magic hat is deep. Well, we're kinda yeah, it is deep, and we've got to probably close this out because we have other episodes too.

SPEAKER_03 16:35

How do we just keep it working? Keep going. Yeah, what else?

Scott Edwards 16:38

It's just it's just fun conversation, and it's only it's if they're still listening, it's it's on them. Yeah, yeah, that's right. You know, hopefully the audience is having as much fun as we are. It's just memories uh and sharing stories of a really special fun time that we had, but all the weird things that you just don't expect, you know, and in what what what does the hat have?

SPEAKER_02 17:03

Well, uh, I was just gonna drop one more thing about Pat Paulson. And I know that nobody knows. I don't I know nobody certainly no contemporary people know who Pat Paulson was, is, was, but he's passed in in the late 60s on the Smunders Brothers show, which was in and of itself a huge it was like a Saturday Night Lives combined with whatever laugh in Laugh in, but it was it was it was a kind of edgy, it was very edgy at a huge show at the time. For its time, more edgy than Saturday Night Live. Yeah. Um, because it was the first real uh show that took on cultural and political subjects.

Scott Edwards 17:46

And Tommy was always throwing out stuff, anti-kind of government political stuff that you know normally you wouldn't get away with. And and because it was a comedy variety show, they pushed that envelope and got away with stuff. They got censored a lot.

SPEAKER_03 18:00

I got censored a lot, and and they then I was two uh degrees of bacon away from John Lennon.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

That's right, because Tommy Smothers played on Give Peace a Chance, play guitar. But my point that's a lot of bacon. Um anyway, it is a it was a big show to watch those shows now. It seems what was all the fuss about, but yeah, I mean it was a big deal. And and Pat, they ran him for president on the show, which was hilarious, and you can see a lot of great stuff on YouTube from the day. But Pat became a real cultural icon, he was absolutely huge at that era, and then by the time he was working for us, the pet he had been knocked down the pedestal a lot by the time he got to us, but a lot of people still knew him. We did a he ran for a governor.

SPEAKER_03 18:49

What was the thing that like you guys went and acted like well, we would go and as security people, but didn't you guys go to the Capitol of Sacramento?

Scott Edwards 18:58

So I was pretty good at marketing and we did a big press promotion kind of uh there's a title for it, press event, and told all the press that uh Pat Paulson was gonna run for governor and he'd be at the Capitol at a certain time. And what happened?

SPEAKER_02 19:14

Yeah, well, and not so much that it happened, but the fact that it happened at all, and it was just such a fun memory. We got limousines, we got in, you know, Mac and I, I believe we had got in our suits as Secret Service, and there's a have a we even had placards made up and given out in the audience.

Scott Edwards 19:31

We had an audience of state workers came out to watch. There's maybe a couple hundred of them, and we gave out placards that said, Why not Paulson?

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Why not Pat or something? Yeah, you're right, you're right. And it was a it was a very successful event. It made a made made the news, it was a lot of fun.

Scott Edwards 19:45

Huge press event.

SPEAKER_02 19:46

But anyway, Pat, 20 years after his big heyday, was still drawing a good crowd. Uh and that was good to see because you know he was a good guy. He was a he was a he was a nice guy.

Scott Edwards 19:57

Yeah, so we set up the podium on the steps of the uh state of California's Capitol, and he did uh this whole political speech because he was supposed to be running for governor, but he kind of slipped into, you know, back to the 60s running for president thing. It was really hilarious. The audience loved it, the press loved it. We had so much fun, and you got a picture of people that were, you know, we had it all staged, but we pull in in limousines. You have these guys dressed up like Secret Service, and they rush him, you know, to the podium, and he does this big political speech, and people are rallying and holding placards. I mean, just envision that moment. It was so amazing. And then we rushed him away in the limos, like, you know, you you the press couldn't talk to him. He was way too important. And it was all a facade, and it was so much fun. It was so successful as a press junket thing. And uh, I know Pat really, really had fun doing that because for just that moment he was reliving what he went through in the 60s. Oh, that's funny.

SPEAKER_03 21:02

I went how this is kind of off topic a little bit, but like how what was the relationship between him and the Smothers Brothers brothers that they decided to have him run?

SPEAKER_02 21:11

Well, they had, you know, Pat Paulson started out in the Bay Area nightclubs, Hungry Eye. Um was a night, very famous nightclub in the Bay Area. And the Smothers Brothers started there, or was it the Purple Onion? I don't know. It's not like I these all are coming back to me, but they all started from the same uh, you know, geographical entertainment center. And so, you know, they just called him up when they had got the show going, I believe.

SPEAKER_03 21:38

Was he a regular on the show? Oh, yeah.

Scott Edwards 21:40

He was they were both comics, but they were comic musicians and they had their buddy, you know, their brothers, they had their kind of buddy act. And Pat was the one of the many writers slash performers that was a regular on the show. And I don't know why they picked him to run for president, but it was perfect. Oh, you definitely had some thought.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

Everybody go to the Googler.

SPEAKER_03 22:04

Are those shows on YouTube?

SPEAKER_02 22:06

Oh yeah. I've got a few too. Okay. Anyway. So great story. Thanks for bringing that up. I I've got another thing. You might have to edit this out because I'm not sure 100% on the memory, but I think you brought it up to me recently. It was a comic had a memory of being on our stage and was recording it and heard some sort of negative criticisms on the he heard us say. Is this recalling anything?

SPEAKER_03 22:33

Oh, is this the joke that you guys were? Yeah, do you remember?

SPEAKER_02 22:36

I have a blank look on my face.

SPEAKER_03 22:38

I just who's the comic? Yeah, I totally I do remember it, but I can't think of the comic.

SPEAKER_02 22:41

Shit. Okay, so there's so but you do remember part of it. So there was a comic on stage. This is at the birdcage room.

SPEAKER_03 22:48

So like Andy Kindler?

SPEAKER_02 22:50

It might have been Kindler, but he's on the stage and he was relatively new.

SPEAKER_03 22:54

I think it was Andy.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

Might have been Kindler. He was relatively new to us. It was like his first night. And Richie, our partner, uh Richie Nikini, and I are at the back of the room and he's recording his set. He's got his little Walkman recorder and he's recording his set. And Richie and I kind of wink at each other and we start going, Boy, this guy isn't gonna make it. This guy.

Scott Edwards 23:17

Into his recorder, right?

SPEAKER_02 23:18

Into his recorder, and he knows our voices, so he knows we're saying it. Oh, this guy just sucks. Oh, that was a terrible joke. We're gonna have to tell Scott. And and and we just I'd forgotten about it. And then four decades later, you brought it up and you said something about Andy. I guess let's call it Andy because I'm not 100% who it was. But you said Andy always got a bad vibe about our club because of that.

SPEAKER_03 23:42

Oh no, that's not no, he loves us.

SPEAKER_02 23:44

No, I know he loves us, but but um you do love us, right, Andy? I've um I think you guys told him.

Scott Edwards 23:50

I not that wouldn't he have known it was a joke. I thought we told him it was a joke that same week.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

The the memory I have is that very recently, like within the last couple years, that one of you two mentioned to me that he had uh he was had that bad feeling about us. Did you okay?

SPEAKER_03 24:08

I told you he might have to edit it out. When you interviewed him, did he bring that up?

Scott Edwards 24:11

He may have, and I mentioned it too. But I've never we should let the audience know Andy Kindler uh was a comic that worked for us a lot. He went on to uh some fame and fortune. He was a regular on the Letterman show some 45 times. He was a regular um extra act on uh Everybody Loves Raymond. He's done a lot of stuff, and he has been interviewed on this podcast, so go look for it. And uh thanks for bringing up such a uh vague story.

SPEAKER_02 24:36

That's a very vague story, but maybe that's where I heard it on this fabulous podcast.

SPEAKER_03 24:40

I think that I mean, I'm pretty sure it didn't.

Scott Edwards 24:43

By the way, it was all a gag. We were just of course it was. We would mess with the comics. It's so funny because we're paying them, they're all professionals, we didn't use hacks, and yet we messed with them a lot. We didn't know. Like the magician, where we would tape down his like his closing bit, and we'd tape the tablecloth so everything went flying.

SPEAKER_03 25:02

I mean, that's everything happens on Sundays. Um well, I remember Dave Collier used to do the uh the thing where he'd drink a big giant glass of water and make like a sprinkler thing. Yeah, and the one time we filled it up with vodka.

SPEAKER_02 25:16

Oh, and he still did it, but he there was one thing.

Scott Edwards 25:20

I think he's spit, yeah. Big uh but we had fun.

SPEAKER_02 25:24

We did have fun, and you brought up you brought up the after-hours things, Bob got hurt.

Scott Edwards 25:30

The finger and the fan. No, we won't go there. So the after-hour parties.

SPEAKER_02 25:36

We had a lot of after-hour parties. Well, we went we took comics bowling. That's what I was gonna say. We hit you know the comics loved to come to the club because they could actually be normal people, and we did normal people things, so we weren't the Hollywood, you know, I think it was it might have been Bob Worley, but I remember it was Thanksgiving week.

SPEAKER_03 25:53

Yeah, and of course, we were closing on Thanksgiving. I'm pretty sure he came to mom's.

SPEAKER_02 25:56

He did. We have pictures of him coming to mom's Thanksgiving. But bowling was a lot of fun. I mean, some of the comics who went bowling, well, Dave went clear, went bowling with us. Oh, all of them.

Scott Edwards 26:04

I mean a lot of them did. We also uh took people in the boat uh on the river at night. We uh took a few people skiing. Paula Poundstone went out once with us on the boat.

SPEAKER_03 26:14

I almost killed Dana Carvey on that.

Scott Edwards 26:17

Yeah, I mean, we it was a fun interaction with the entertainers. Yeah, we're all working for a few hours each night, but you got all that daytime or after the show, we're all hyped up after a show. We don't go home and go to bed, we would go to Denny's.

SPEAKER_02 26:31

We were partyers, we were young. And speaking of Jerry Seinfeld, yeah, um, first of all, a couple things of Jerry. And and if he's happens to be listening to this, I have to apologize to him because the very first flyer that I did, and we have one here in the box, I spelled his last name as impossibly bad as you could get. And and I only say this because I think it's your fault because you wrote it on the the note you gave me. I'm a horrible spell.

SPEAKER_03 26:58

You also spelled Jerry Schandling.

SPEAKER_02 27:00

Yeah, I think I did, but Seinfeld was S-C I E N Schlitzens. Yeah, it was crazy bad. And I remember when he saw the flyer, you know, hey Bob, that's not how I spell my name. Those letters are not even in there. But I'm sure that anyway, that's a memory. The other memories talk about bowling is I have this uh memory of it's a Sunday night. I think um uh it was Jerry and oh shoot. Now this little pike Daily Pike. He worked uh a lot with uh Jerry, it was Jerry and Daily Pike, and I said, Hey, Jerry, uh, we're going bowling. You want to go? And Daily's in. Jerry says, No, I'm going back to the condo. I gotta write some material. So it's so that is so Jerry, so he didn't go bowling with us that day.

Scott Edwards 27:47

Well, um, I think the after-hour parties were something that were um extra special. We want to make it clear to my podcast listeners that this wasn't like a Hollywood, you know, there was naked women and drugs and binge drinking. We were Sacramento, uh pretty innocent people. It was bowling and and going to Denny's. We were, you know, or we just hang out in the bar or hang out in the condo. And, you know, uh, yeah, there was a bit of drugs going on at the time, but I had a rule that that couldn't be done in front of me, and I didn't want it in the club. And most people respected that. Uh, I mean, there was the time John Fox chased me around the green room with a spoonful of coke. Come on, you can do it, dude. Don't be a wussy, uh, you know. But uh, those were rare. Uh, but so the after hours parties were some of the most fun. But even for the club and the employees, uh, when we had a good uh weekend like Jazz Festival, I would rent some, charter some buses and take everybody to uh we had a houseboat for one week. We took everybody to the water park in um uh we took everybody to poor reds a couple times. We we used to have a lot of fun with not just the comics, but also our staff. I always felt we treated them well, and one of the um ways that that's proven is we had very low turnover. We had some employees stayed with us 10, 15 years. It was incredible.

SPEAKER_02 29:19

And we don't, you know, we tend to only talk about the dozen or so really famous people that came out of the circuit that we were on, and we have great stories about them, like we've been talking about today. But we we literally worked with, I'm gonna say thousands of comics.

SPEAKER_03 29:36

In your uh podcast connections and comedy, comic connections. I would like Frank Princey. I don't even know if it's still doing it. Good old Frank. I used to love Frank.

Scott Edwards 29:46

I've been I've been searching for Frank and I've not been able to connect with him. I hear he's still alive and well, long out of the comedy business.

SPEAKER_03 29:54

Did he get in the music?

Scott Edwards 29:55

He got very bitter about comedy in one of the. It was still funny, was very cute.

SPEAKER_03 29:59

And I always loved his joke about the seeing the big trucks that have the four by four, and he would spray equal 16.

Scott Edwards 30:09

Aw, yeah. So there's well, there's got to be something else on the hat.

SPEAKER_02 30:13

Yep, we only have a few more things in the hat, so go. Oh, but we've got your hats. Well, but stick around, folks. Uh Jay Johnson. Now, Jay Johnson was is one of the best ventriloquists in the business. And I would love to see his current set because he I I just love his stuff.

Scott Edwards 30:31

And for those of you that are in the listening audience, go to the googler. Jay Johnson was a regular on an early, early TV, very popular TV show called Soap, where he and his ventriloquical figure Chuck were the uh uh co-stars of the show. And then we were able to meet him through Harry Anderson, and he worked our club, including Laughs in the Park, yes, and a lot of things. But that's just to give a basis to the audience. So, what did you uh want to share about Jay Johnson?

SPEAKER_02 31:00

I just I have and we brought up Laughs in the Park. We had he was our headliner, I think, at our first one. Um, and we had, I think we probably had 5,000 people in the audience. And I just have this memory of here's a guy with a dummy on stage, and he's Stop talking about Scott like that again. Oh, that's right. Uh Chuck. He's with Chuck on stage, and he is just slaying the audience. They're just he's just killing, and they're, you know, they could be like quarter mile away. He's just killing, and with the dummy, you know, it's like you gotta it kind of helps to see the dummy, but this is like he's just absolutely destroying with these people 5,000, you know, 5,000 people a quarter mile away. Anyway, uh great act, great club comic, a lot of great memories of and you brought up a great thing when we were preparing for this.

SPEAKER_03 31:50

Well, there's two things. There's one um where he was very, very much interested in like the the JFK, the assassination, the conspiracies, and all that. And I he got me really interested in it. And then um, again, it always happens on Sundays. Uh it was we were sitting around the bar talking, and the the staff we had um decided to do this early in the week, and we so we presented him with an a new a new puppet, which consisted of uh Rayleigh's uh brown paper bag and JFK's big face stuck stuck to it. So um I'm not sure if he used it. But one of the coolest behind the scenes doing stuff with the comics kind of thing was when my mom was a huge lover of soap and really liked Jay Johnson. And she came to the show, which uh was she came to see Jay Johnson twice, which was the exact amount she came to see me. Seriously.

Scott Edwards 32:49

It was rare for her to go out, right? And she was elderly.

SPEAKER_03 32:52

Well, no, no, no, that's right. But uh, and again, um I love the story telling about mom when I she saw me do comedy for the first time and I came off stage and she said, You look pretty up there.

Scott Edwards 33:07

Well, she must have had an interesting interaction with Jay.

SPEAKER_03 33:10

Well, that yes, so she saw the show, but then we went after the show to the magic, no, to the pasta place you guys own. Um, and we sat there, and mom was just turned towards Jay and was just asking him all these questions, and Jay was just paying her all the attention in the world, and it was just like the coolest. That was one of my favorite, you know.

Scott Edwards 33:33

Yeah, that's like my dad with Pat Paulson. When you get to the ability to bring their heroes to them, uh, I didn't see that moment. I'm sorry I missed it. I loved your mom, and and Jay was such a good guy. I don't even remember that story, Lynn. That's wonderful. And what a great moment for your mom.

SPEAKER_03 33:52

Yes, no, it was great because she was a little starstruck, and it was, I think, you know, just yeah, it was very and my mom, your mom as well.

SPEAKER_02 33:59

Um funny thing about that. Um, she when we opened up the kitchen, and she jumped in and wanted to help.

SPEAKER_03 34:08

That's when she can um she basically uh um accused me of trying to kill someone because I put um I was putting mustard on a turkey sandwich.

SPEAKER_04 34:20

Oh, and she literally never did it.

SPEAKER_03 34:24

She said it. She said it so passionately, it was after I put cyanide like you you never put mustard on a turkey sandwich. I mean, I literally for years I thought you can't because you will die.

Scott Edwards 34:37

It's a law. I mean, she was very well very passionate about Bill Mustard. Yeah, well, I think it's uh great that you were able to share that moment with your mom. And we want to say that give credit, the reason we met Jay and we did some TV pilots with him, and we did Laughs in the Park. I mean, he worked for us a lot, but we met him through Harry Anderson. And for those that uh don't remember Harry, he was the star of Night Court, he was in Cheers as a regular uh hundreds of times on uh uh Letterman and The Tonight Show uh and all the other talk shows, and uh just a terrific magician that always played that kind of uh uh circus kind of con artist was his kind of claim to fame con artist.

SPEAKER_02 35:21

Harry the hat.

Scott Edwards 35:22

Yeah, Harry the Hat, uh con artist magician, and we became very good friends. He invited us up to uh see him at Tahoe, and uh, got to take my dad up and and spend some time with him after a show, and my dad was just over over the moon about it. But my favorite memory of Harry was he liked to antique. And so during the weekend before the show, I would take him out antiquing, and he found these old punch boards, which was a 20s, 30s kind of uh con man thing where the uh stores would sell these punch boards for like a nickel or a dime, a punch. And if you got the right one, you got a pack of cigarettes or something.

SPEAKER_03 36:05

What do you mean, you what do you punch?

Scott Edwards 36:08

I'll show you when we're done. I have them right up there. But anyway, he bought a couple for himself, and then I bought one, and then he bought one, a little one. And uh he goes, Scott, Scott, you gotta, you gotta do this. You know, you you get five punches for a dollar. And I said, Oh, okay. And he goes, No, where's the dollar? And he took the money from me. I gave him a dollar and I punched it, and on my third punch, just miracles and miracles, I got the winning prize, which was I think uh five dollars or something on this punch board. And I go, oh, wow. And he goes, Man, you're lucky, and I and started to walk away. And I go, uh uh Harry, you took my money. Where's my five bucks? And he grabs a pen and he autographs the back to the luckiest man I know, Harry Anderson, and gave me that. And he goes, That's worth five bucks.

SPEAKER_02 37:03

He never would give me the money back. That's funny. That is hilarious.

Scott Edwards 37:06

Yeah, he was a good guy.

SPEAKER_02 37:08

He was a funny guy. It was great. He um we had that one show, one of our desperation concerts we put together towards. We would have, we would every once in a while we'd come up a little short, you know, and you know, it's it's not an easy business. Let me just say that. Well, you're running a bar, a restaurant, and a club. And Scott, you're you're this is your entire life, and you're just trying to make hold everything together. And it wasn't always easy. And I appreciate you doing everything you did to keep it all together. But uh it happened to be one of those times, let's let's have a concert. Let's let's get a big uh let's get Harry will come up and he'll do it as a favor to us and and it'll help us uh keep things in order. So he came up and did a show, and I think that was one of the last times he worked for us because he was already on night court, and I know my in-laws, Cassie's, my lovely wife's parents, uh, were very big Harry Anderson fans too. And they uh they rode up in their bicycle, and uh um they got to meet him and hang out after the show. Like oh, cool.

SPEAKER_04 38:09

Who rode up on their bicycle?

SPEAKER_02 38:11

Cassie's parents, Bill and Lynn, mom and dad. Okay, keep stay with the group. Um anyway, yes, that was that same experience. It was very fun to be able to share that moment. Um, and uh that was a fun night.

Scott Edwards 38:24

Yeah, and and uh it's been said a couple times. And if you get a chance, go to the Googler, uh, look at Harry Anderson, you'll recognize him from all his he's did TV specials, he was uh hawking TVs on commercials, uh, he was on Cheers, uh Nightcourt. There's a new Nightcourt in there.

SPEAKER_02 38:41

And they reference Harry. He's loving it. Well, his the daughter is the is the new judge, yeah. So not his real daughter, not his real Melissa Rich. But uh anyway, yeah, so you can check that out too.

Scott Edwards 38:55

Oh man, we're just having so much fun. Hey, uh, this is uh Scott, the normal host of this podcast, along with uh Lynn Stobner and Bob Stobener, who's acting as the host. And uh we've just been going through and sharing stories and going through a box of uh memorabilia and kind of sharing with the audience. Uh, please bear with us. Uh, we think it's fun, we're having a blast, and we hope you're joining in. Uh, there may be one more segment, uh, but we'll uh try to keep it uh fun for you. And uh thanks for putting up with this one. But I'm cutting off the show here, and we'll be back next week with the last part of this uh crazy time. But uh uh anyway, we're having fun, and we hope you are too. Thanks for listening and hope you're enjoying the podcast. Uh, if you have any questions, comments, uh you can email me at ScottscomedyStuff at gmail.com, Scott's ComedyStuff at gmail.com. All right, we'll see you next week for the balance of this uh strange podcast. Bye.

SPEAKER_02 39:57

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Stand Up Comedy, your host and MC. For information on the show, merchandise, and our sponsors, or to send comments to Scott, visit our website at www.standupyourhost and mc dot com. Look for more episodes soon, and enjoy the world of stand up comedy. Visit a comedy showroom near you.