Name: Clarence Clemons Wanted To Be An NFL Superstar | Letterman
Uploaded: 2022-03-30T15:01:42.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Clarence Clemons Wanted To Be An NFL Superstar | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-03-30. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Clarence Clemons Wanted To Be An NFL Superstar | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-03-30. Transcript available.

- Yeah!
- Welcome to Clarence, how you doing?
- Thank you.
- You sound terrific.
Have a seat.
- How you doing, how you doing?
- My, oh, my.
- Yes, sir.
- Yeah.
- Boy, oh, boy, that sounds terrific.
Now we're getting somewhere.
- You know it, baby.
- Could you be here every afternoon about this time?
- Well, I tell you, come with me.
- All right, what the hell?
- What the hell?
- That sounded great.
And Paul, you sounded terrific as well.
Nice job on the table.
- How about that big man?
- Very nice.
- How about this band?
How about that big man?
- Now, is it true that the best saxophone reeds
in the world come from Cuba?
- Yeah.
- Really?
- Yeah, I think it's the climate.
You know, since we broke the diplomatic relationships
with Cuba, you know, all woodwind players
have really suffered.
- Now, where do you get your reeds now?
- Well, they come from France,
where the climate isn't as stable.
- And what is the reed made of?
- Cain.
- Yeah.
- So it's made of a high quality cane,
and when we broke off the diplomatic relationships
with Cuba, we didn't get the good cane anymore.
- Yeah.
- But since then...
What kind of audience you got?
- I don't know.
- I love it.
I'm just a substitute.
I don't know.
- There are a bunch of musicians out there.
I can tell you.
- Have you tried to sneak some into the country?
- Well, we got some cigars, but no cane.
- No cigars.
- But we did find, since I made this note publicly once before,
and since then the Lavaz company has sent me some reeds
that are so fantastic.
- Oh, good.
- Really better than the Cuban cane.
- Well, that's good.
I'm glad to hear that.
- Yeah.
- Is this a tenor saxophone?
- This is a Selmer tenor saxophone.
This is my other woman, you know what I mean?
- Is that instrument used in any symphonic orchestras anywhere?
- Certainly, yes, yes.
The saxophone was invented for actually a marching band
that sat down, John Philip Sousa, during those days,
they sat down and conducted.
That's when the saxophone was really invented for,
the Marine Corps band.
But since then, we have taken it from the parades
to the different kind of parades.
- How long after you play it like you just did,
does it take for it to cool off?
- How about two of them?
It never cools off.
I always leave it on summer.
- It's Saturday.
Always with it.
We're gonna go to commercial, Clarence, and we'll come back.
We have plenty of time to talk with Clarence Clemens.
So come on back, folks.
Clarence Clemens, how's the tour going?
It's going amazingly well.
- It's going fantastic.
It's going fantastic.
And it's great to see the energy that's being transmitted,
that's sent out and is coming back from these wonderful,
audiences that we've been playing for.
- Now, are you right in the middle of the tour?
How much longer is it going?
- Forever.
We're gonna be out for, I think, another year and a half,
you know, with a few breaks and here and there.
- You're talking about going overseas as well?
- We want to go to Europe and then we're gonna go to the
South Pacific and go to Japan and Australia.
- Now, when you're traveling with Bruce Springsteen,
what becomes of your own group?
- Well, they're doing other things now.
As a matter of fact, Johnny and the Rockers are going to be
going out, so you guys watch for Johnny and the Rockers.
They're gonna be coming out, doing some gigs while I'm out
with Bruce.
- But not with you.
- Oh, no, without me, it'll be Johnny and the Rockers.
Johnny is my vocalist and so it'll be Johnny and the Rockers
and they'll be waiting for the return of the big man.
- Now, let me ask you this, you have your own group.
- Yes.
- Which is, that's got to be the ultimate desire for most
musicians, right?
- It is the ultimate desire, right.
- So, and now you're out with probably the greatest rock and
roll act of the 19, what are you, 70s and 80s.
- Yeah.
- So, which do you prefer?
- Well, you know, I look at it as like having your cake and
eating it too, you know what I mean?
I'm one of the luckiest people in the world to be able to
do this.
It's just a wonderful thing to be able to go out.
The responsibility that you have on your own is tremendous.
But then to be able to share all that responsibility and just go
out and have fun while Bruce worries about the other things,
you know, like, "What's this guy doing over here?
This guy over here, is this okay?"
You know, I don't have to worry about that.
Just go out and play my heart out and have a good time.
It's just wonderful, it's a wonderful release.
- Did you, uh, is it true that you played some
professional football?
- I played semi-pro football with a team called
the New Jersey Generals.
This is, this was before, before we built the
Meadowland and stuff, this was a long time ago.
We used to play at Wall Stadium, it was a little race car
track.
So in the middle of the races, there was a football game
won in the center of the group.
- What position did you play?
- So you don't go out for no long passes,
you might get run over or something.
- What position was it?
- I played the offensive line, I played offensive center.
- And did you entertain notions of making it to the NFL?
- I really did.
I was playing with, before I went to Jersey Generals,
the Cleveland Browns had a farm team in Newark,
called the Newark Bears, who moved to Orlando, Florida.
And instead of making a move, I stayed in New Jersey.
You know, I drank the water that I couldn't leave.
- It's a good thing to do.
And you also, you were a counselor.
- I worked as eight years as a counselor at a boys' home,
a reform school in New Jersey,
Janesburg Training School for Boys.
And it was a very rewarding job and I love it.
I love working with kids and showing them the shortcomings
and their downfalls and then doing the best you can to
create a human being that's gonna be able to function
in society.
But, you know, the red tape and your hands are tied,
you know, behind the bureaucratic society that we live in.
And it got too tough.
And after eight years, I just gave up.
And I said, I'm gonna go out and find another facet,
another way, another vehicle to talk to kids.
And rock 'n' roll is it for me.
- Yeah, somebody had to be the big man, Clarence.
- Somebody had to do it.
- Yeah.
- Will you come back frequently?
- I would love to come back.
- Come back every day or two.
- I would love to, I would love to.
You heard it.
- Nice job, Clarence.
- Thank you.
- Terrific job.
- Thank you very much.
- We'll be right back, Clarence.