Name: George Frayne (Commander Cody) Collection on Letterman, 1982-83
Uploaded: 2021-09-29T18:02:49.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'George Frayne (Commander Cody) Collection on Letterman, 1982-83' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2021-09-29. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'George Frayne (Commander Cody) Collection on Letterman, 1982-83' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2021-09-29. Transcript available.

George Frayne (Commander Cody) Collection on Letterman, 1982-83

Now we're going to bring out...
Does this mean I don't get a birthday present?
We're going to go ahead and introduce Commander Cody, is that correct?
Commander Cody's bio says that his music will lift you up, wear you out,
and eventually lay you down with blood-curdling boogie-woogie bar music
and the spirit of old-time rock and roll.
Here to prove it now, the one, the only, Commander Cody.
Kids, it's midnight. Do you know where your parents' stash is?
Where every daddy's body is marked with a line
Get to high testing before get to wine
Get a little from everyone
Get ready for a night of fun
Now refill with water to every level
Get it right or you'll catch the devil
Put that stuff in a mason jar
Or got yourself one traveling bar
We're drinking, we're nuts
We're drinking, we're nuts
We're drinking, we're nuts
We're drinking, and we're nuts
Give stuff from Christmas Day
They never miss it anyway
Just remember when you're down that scope
Make sure that the bottle is already open
Give me that bourbon and give me that gin
Everything that you're putting in
Show us that you ain't uncouth
Uncork that sweet vermouth
We're drinking, we're nuts
We're drinking, we're nuts
We're drinking, we're nuts
We're drinking, we're nuts
Keep me later down in the alley
You bring Betty, and I'll bring Sally
And we'll toast
To this garbage that's stinking
Ain't nothing compared to what I'm drinking
Give me that bourbon
Give me that gin
All the things you're putting in
Tonight I'm gonna take you to the end
I stole a bottle of cream
We're drinking, and we're nuts
We're drinking, and we're nuts
We're drinking, and we're nuts
We're drinking, and we're nuts
Oh, I'm a little nervous here
I got a cigarette or something back there
We're drinking, and we're nuts
Commander Cody, whenever I say the two names
Commander Cody, I want to supply the rest of the
There was a group before that I guess you're no longer affiliated with
The Lost Planet Airmen
I thought that was one of the great names for a band in the 20th century
Well, that's exactly what I thought
I was sitting in a bar
It was a Jones Beach lifeguard, 1967
I was drunk, I was watching this guy on the TV
Wait a minute, you were a lifeguard, and you were drunk?
Yeah, after
Oh, afterwards, sure
Another time, you know, it was another time
And we were knocking him back
I was watching the TV in the bar, and it's this B-rated science fiction thing
This guy's flying along, rocket pack on his back
Bullet-shaped headgear
With two controls
Up, down, and fast, slow
Yeah
I said, all right
The movie was called The Lost Planet Airmen
And he was Commander Cody with K's, so I just changed it to C's
Uh-huh, yeah
And now those were your, uh
Was that country, western, country rock sort of days?
Well, I always did rock and roll
But at that time, we just
I had a real hot fiddle player named Andy Stein
And Bobby Black, our steel player
That's the best in the world
So we got into ensemble, western swing
With the kind of blues-oriented rock and roll background
And we made, uh
Hey, come on
Give me a break
It was, trust me, it was great
And, yeah, it was great
Now, but now you're more to
Well, I'm by myself
See, I just played the piano in that band
Yeah, now why are you by yourself now?
Well, they left
They quit
That's it, Cody
We've had it
We're out of here
So they're just history
Packed it in and they're gone
In 1975, we broke up
We made one live album in Europe in 76
And then came back
And I took a respite for a while
And kind of laid low
And I started
Now I'm all by myself
I wasn't the lead vocalist
I had to learn how to sing
So I tried to take singing lessons
That didn't work
I remember one time
Walking in Berkeley
To this vocalist coach's house
Coming up to the house
And having the blinds drawn
She's hiding, you know
Because I had the worst
Absolutely worst singing voice
In the world at the time
Things have changed since then
Elvis Costello
And all these other guys
Were coming along
Now it just seems
That I have a really good singing voice
This is interesting
I get the feeling that
Because of the references
You've made
And because of what I know about you
That you've had
A colorful
Life in music
Yeah
I've had a good
I've had a real great time
You've pushed it to the limit
A couple of times
Yeah
Well good
Just to give you an example
I'm 37 years old now
My best friend in high school
Bet me 500 bucks
I wouldn't live to be 21
So yeah
So I'm doing real good
Right now
You've had some bad experience
With automobiles
Yeah
Alpha males do not fly
I proved that
I proved that
And if you weren't in music
Would you be doing this anyway?
I mean
What do you mean doing this?
Talking to you on national TV?
No I don't think so
Well
With that in mind
We're going to pause
We'll be right back
To talk some more
Welcome back
Nice to have you back
Commander Cody is with us
And you mentioned
You were a lifeguard
You mentioned that you were a lifeguard
You had made some saves occasionally
I was a lifeguard
At Jones Beach
Robert Moses State Park
Part of Jones Beach
And Robert Moses has set up
That the Fire Island Inlet
Sucks the water around
Like this
It's okay
It's water
You know
And it's
When the sandbar broke down
The stuff would just race out
And any little kids
Or anything caught in there
Would just be
Go floating by
I made 25 rescues
On one Wednesday
25 in one day
Yeah
I had about 500
In the eight years
I was there
It was approximately 500
Good heavens
Now you've
I lost a couple
Well you don't want to
I mean 502 ain't bad
That'll get you in the playoffs
I'm batting about 900
People felt safe with me
You're a musician
A lifeguard
You're also an artist
We're going to take a look
At some of your work
Tell us what we're looking at
Primarily speaking
I was an artist before
As a musician
I started off
Doing rock and roll
To pay my way through college
Okay
And then
When I got music
It was just so much fun
I couldn't stop it
Especially because I was teaching
At Wisconsin State University
Hold it
Wait back to that other one
Okay
Back to that first
There you go
This is called
Working for Warner Brothers
And it's actually a chest
It's also backwards
It's a
Ad from the 1940s
No it's not backwards
And what is that done in
Is that
I do acrylics
But I paint it like oil
Real thick and gloppy
And I just kind of
Punch the canvas
Okay
And the next one
Which we saw a little
This is the next one
Gay Night Life
Uh-huh
Gentleman enjoying himself
And his accordion
There's not a lot to say
About accordion players
These are very
Now do you sell these?
I do sell these
Yes
Lots of money
Come see me later
That's Cooking Out in America
And we have Howdy and Bob
Yeah
Kind of Andy Warhol
Kind of stuff
You wanted to mention
You're a record company
It's interesting
It's not
Well maybe it is
Is it a major label?
It's not Warner Brothers anymore
No no
It's kind of a
Fly by night organization
Peter Pan Records
Peter Pan Records
Yes well
They do children's stuff
And rock and roll's for kids
And I figured
You know
Maybe they'd make a comic book
About me or something
Uh-huh
And I went with them
And I produced this album myself
It's the first album
I've produced since
The very first album
Let's hype it
Hey come on guys
Buy it
Get down to your record store
And order this
Son of a gun
Now I
So you're also going to be on tour
People who want to come
And see you in person
We're going to be in the east coast
Next month
At every sleazy rock and roll place
On the turnpike
That means all of it
My father's place
The Lone Star
You name it
We'll be there
So come out and see us
Come out and see us
I'll be happy
Do you enjoy this kind of work
Are you having a good time
I wouldn't be doing it
If I didn't love it
Yeah
I mean because there's no money in it
Uh-huh
I can pay the rent
And eat and that's about it
Uh-huh
And how long will you be out on the road
Once that begins
Six weeks
Then I'll take a couple weeks off
Then I'll go out for another four weeks
A couple weeks off
I don't work as much as I used to
When I had Hot Rod Lincoln
It was a hit
In the top ten
I was on the road
That was 1974
I was on the road for
300 days
Hmm
That's uh
That's working too hard
I quit that
That's you know
I mean work
But don't kill yourself
I enjoy working
I enjoy playing rock and roll
It's a really good time
There's nothing really quite as
Much fun
Now where do you go
When you go home
Where would that be now
Beautiful Stinson Beach, California
Mm-hmm
Which is uh
I sit there and smoke pot
And watch the whales go by all the time
But I'm not playing frisbee
Or entertaining myself
At the Sand Dollar bar
Knocking them back
So there's
And there's good money in that too
There's good money in the Sand Dollar
But my calendar
I'll tell you that
Yeah
Sign this George Scher
Round for everybody
Uh now
What became of the
Lost Planet Airman
What happened
Well they're all over the map
Andy Stein the fiddle player
Is doing soundtracks for movies
Bobby Black the steel player
Is playing steel in a country western bar
Billy C the lead singer
Has got his own band
The drummer Lance
Was playing David Bromberg
Last time I checked
Bruce plays with Hoyt Axton
Bruce Barlow the bass player
Who have I forgotten
Bill Kirchin
Bill Kirchin
Good old
Oh sorry Bill
The Moonliners
He's got an album
He's trying to play
So everyone's gone off
On their own direction
Since then
It was
The breakup was good for everybody
Because after eight years together
We were getting a little sick
Of each other's faces
Uh tell me
Well maybe they were just
Getting sick of my face
I woke up one morning
In the hotel in London
And then the band was gone
Uh tell me about your
You won an Emmy
I didn't win an Emmy
Video West won the Emmy
For two triple cheese
Side order fries
Yeah now what
Tell us about that
Well it's a song that I wrote
Called two triple cheese
Side order fries
And what we did was
We just went to a drive-in
A satellite drive-in
In San Francisco
And did every funky thing
We could think of
To cheeseburgers
And that's
Just use your imagination kids
And they
Yeah
And that was
Banned in London
Or England
It was banned in England
The RSPCA
The Royal Society
No why
The one thing
It's interesting
That it would win an Emmy
Here and then be banned
In uh
Right okay
There's a scene
There's one scene
The only disgusting scene
For animal lovers
Is as
One of the
The lyrics say
That about
I won't get into it
On TV
But about
What is inside
These hamburgers anyway
Which you don't really
Know what it is
And the guy opens up
A big steel refrigerator
And there's this
Black little poodle
And they're wagging its tail
They didn't
They didn't like that
Do you
Now
You used to
Hurt yourself on stage
Didn't you
Or
I hurt myself on stage
All the time
Not on purpose
I'm not Iggy Stooge
Or anything
Uh
Do you still do that
No
I've got a lead guitar player
That hurts himself
Oh that's good
You're coming up in the world
Why would you pay a guy
To hurt himself for you
Well I don't pay him
Very much
But when people
Would come to see you
In one of these
Fine establishments
That you have labeled
A sleazy bar
Fine drinking establishment
Could they
Would they expect
Could they expect
As much physical activity
From you
From me
No not anymore
I don't
What I used to do
Is climb all over the piano
Jump up and down
On the keys
Now people won't rent
Me pianos anymore
So I have to stop
Doing that
One time
In Dayton, Ohio
A lovely place
I was going to decide
I'd be really cool man
If I ended this song
By jumping up in the air
And I'd come down
And the band would stop
I didn't see
The ceiling was like
This high above me
I was painted black
Oh nice
Okay it was one of those
Those bars that they put across
And they dropped
The soundproofing on
So I went right up
Through that
Hit my ceiling
My ceiling on my head
Okay
My feet came up like this
And I landed flat
On my back
In the middle of the piano
Yeah
You ought to leave that in
My chiropractor
Doesn't want me
To leave that in
I'm glad you're here tonight
Commander Cody
Will be back folks
Thank you
Hi folks
W