Name: Peter O'Toole and Richard Harris Collection on Letterman, 1983-2007
Uploaded: 2019-11-14T16:51:16.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Peter O'Toole and Richard Harris Collection on Letterman, 1983-2007' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2019-11-14. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Peter O'Toole and Richard Harris Collection on Letterman, 1983-2007' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2019-11-14. Transcript available.

Peter O'Toole and Richard Harris Collection on Letterman, 1983-2007

My first guest tonight is one of the leading actors in the entire world.
He has been nominated for his seventh Best Actor Oscar for his work in My
Favorite Year,
and his 1972 film The Ruling Class is just about to be re-released.
Please welcome Mr. Peter O'Toole.
It's quite an entrance. Very nice. How are you?
Interesting.
Now let me explain something to folks who are now watching this a week after
the fact.
This is actually being taped the night of the Academy Awards presentation in
Los Angeles.
Oh, that's de-confusing.
Yes. And with that in mind, quite obviously you are not there.
Now I am here.
Yeah.
Never here, isn't it?
Yes.
Now, is there a reason that you are not, uh...
There.
Yeah.
Because I am here.
There is.
Uh-huh.
I was in Toronto until...
What day is it?
Today is Monday.
Monday.
April 11th.
April 11th.
Uh, till Saturday.
Mm-hmm.
A tape recording, um, uh, um, uh, uh, uh, television of, um, uh, uh, excuse me,
Pygmalion.
And, um, I...
A good gift for you would be a lighter if anybody is interested, I guess.
Oddly enough...
Oh, there you go.
I think.
All right.
Now, you were...
It's a simple sense of frugality.
Yeah.
Um, um, well, yes, uh, tape recording, uh, taping Pygmalion.
And I came to New York to catch an airplane, which I will be catching in
another hour and a quarter,
um, to Ireland and the reason I will not be at the, uh, wards, though it's no
discourtesy to the academy,
far from it, um, is that I, uh, had a great blessing on March the 17th, on St.
Patrick's Day, a son was born.
On St. Patrick's Day, that's great.
Thank you.
And, um, his, um, his, um, his mother,
a very clever mother to have a baby on St. Patrick is, uh, United, from the
United States,
from a family from the East Coast that's been here for years and years, so we
have a Irish-American son.
Yes.
But I've only seen him for about five hours, and her, and I had to leave
Ireland to go to Toronto to record the thing.
And I'm on my way back to Ireland, that's why.
Well, I, I can respect that.
Now, let me ask you, if you win tonight the Academy Awards,
have you already selected somebody to accept the award for you?
You know how they always say, accepting for Mr. O'Toole?
How does that work?
Well, I shan't win.
You don't think you'll win?
No.
Hmm.
So then I guess you didn't select somebody to pick it up for you.
No, I thought that would be unimportant, really, if I wasn't going to win.
Now, uh, uh, well, this is interesting.
Why don't you think you'll, uh, win?
Um, uh, the, the odds in Las Vegas are nine to one against.
And I'm a bookie's son.
Enough said on that.
Now, uh, we, we have to, uh, Peter, we have to go away for station
identification.
Uh, but when we return, uh, perhaps you can tell us, although this will be,
when people see it, a week after the fact,
what you feel, uh, who you think the winner might be if you're taking yourself
out of the race.
Uh-huh.
Okay.
All right.
We'll be right back with Peter O'Toole.
Thank you very much.
Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen.
Uh, Peter O'Toole is here tomorrow night.
Uh, George Miller will be here also, the author of How Life Imitates the World
Series, Tom Boswell,
and, uh, Zippy the Chimp.
Also, later on tonight, uh, Phoebe Snow will be here.
Peter, uh, again, I want to thank you for being here because I...
Phoebe Snow?
Phoebe Snow is here tonight.
She really?
Yes, sir.
Oh, I think she's wonderful.
You enjoy, you enjoy her work?
Very much.
Oh, that's nice.
And I enjoy that guitarist.
You're brilliant.
Iron Bullock.
Uh, and I know you're on a tight travel arrangement, so I'm very grateful that
you could spend some time here tonight.
Now, about the Academy Awards, since, uh, you feel that nine to one, you don't
really stand a good chance,
who do you think will, uh, win the, uh, award for best actor tonight?
I hope, um, that it will be Paul Newman.
And you have been nominated for this award, this will be your seventh time?
It will.
And, and the, and the fact that, uh, if you do not win, does, is this discouraging
to be nominated seven times?
Oh, no, it's very encouraging.
I mean, it means, you know, somebody's thinking of me.
Yeah.
Uh, uh, go right ahead.
Uh, now you were in the, in the, in the film, my favorite year, you played Alan
Swan, obviously, a man, a hell raiser, a guy who drank and enjoyed a good time.
Is there, is there anything like that in your background that, that, that would
help you execute that role?
Um, oh, I had a little rehearsal.
For a few years, yeah.
Any, any episode come to mind that you could share with us at this time?
Um, um, um, if you've seen the film.
Yes, sir, I have seen it and enjoyed it.
Well, there's a, a scene of climbing a building.
Oh, yes, yes.
Well, many years ago, uh, Richard Harris and myself, we were students together.
And at about three in the morning, he thought it would be a very good idea to
pay a visit to some ladies who lived on the top of a very high building.
Um, and the only way of getting up there was to climb.
And it was huge.
A bit.
Huge.
And we both had a drainpipe each.
And up we got.
And I did manage to get to this window, which happened to be open.
And I walked in.
There's some very alarmed ladies for a little romantic encounter.
Now, uh...
And I looked below, and Richard's drainpipe had broken.
And he could neither go up nor down.
Yeah.
So I suggested to the ladies that we should telephone the police and say there
was an Irish hooligan trying to enter the building.
Yeah, have him arrested, sure, doing time.
Um, uh, when you, uh, now, are you, is, you're wearing green socks tonight,
aren't you?
I am.
Yeah.
Do you always wear green socks?
I do.
Uh, why is that?
Um.
They're, they're dark green in, uh, on this particular occasion, aren't they?
Uh, it, it is, it was, it probably still is, considered unlucky to wear green
at a race meeting.
That's right.
Um, and this was pointed out to me with considerable severity by my father.
Um, but I, uh, have a talent for disobedience.
And, um, I thought, how on earth can I wear green without that old bugger
knowing?
Socks.
Socks.
Now, now tell, you, you mentioned your father was a bookie and you guys
traveled around together, didn't you?
All over, yeah.
From, from what time, how old were you when you first started going out on
trips with your dad?
Five weeks.
And, and he would visit the, the various, uh, race tracks or meets?
Tracks in Ireland and England and France.
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
And, uh, so you were born in Ireland but ended up, uh, being raised in England?
I spent the war years in England, that was all.
Yeah.
Tell me about the, uh, I was reading an interesting article this afternoon
about, uh, the first time you met,
uh, Catherine Hepburn.
He's a bad man.
No, is it, is that a, uh, a true story?
If it's the one that we're thinking of?
It is.
All right.
Uh, tell the folks that.
What is your name?
Dave.
I'm Dave.
I'm, I'm Dave.
Your surname?
Uh, Letterman.
Dave Letterman.
Letterman.
Yes, sir.
It's not, it's not.
It's not O, Letterman, by any time.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Although it, it could be if it would help, if it would.
Oh, dear.
Um, if Kate's watching this, uh, um, I was in a play in London, uh, called The
Long, The Short,
about, um, young soldiers, and, um, the, the dressing rooms, which is invariably
the case,
were pretty primitive, and they weren't supplied with bathrooms, and I was pissing
in the sink.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But, I mean.
And the voice said, good evening, my name is Kate Hepburn.
So, I did a lot of pretending hand-washing acting.
An attempt to replace.
There's no chance that the great lady was there for the same purpose, is there?
That's.
Awful, awful.
Awful notion.
Um, Peter, if you can hang around a, a moment longer, we have to go away for a
commercial,
but we'll be right back, sir.
More with, uh, Peter O'Toole.
Thank you very much.
Peter O'Toole is here, uh, on his way to Ireland, and, uh, you have two watches
on, I believe, don't you?
Is there any reason for that?
See, I was asked this earlier today, so I daren't tell you the reason.
Oh, somebody else asked you this?
Mm.
Who asked you this?
Uh, uh, uh, uh, another journalist.
Oh, oh, a journalist.
Well, more of that was probably your first journalist of the day, then.
Uh, now, um, you can't tell us why?
Uh, it's the same answer.
That's all right.
Um, I don't wish to waste time looking at the wrong wrist.
I know.
I, that does, uh, that, that kind of delay can be costly sometimes.
You just, uh, tell us about, um, the, the movie that is now being re-released.
The ruling class?
Yes, sir.
Um, what would you like to know?
Tell us, uh, why is it being re-released?
It was originally released in the 70s, wasn't it?
It was.
Yeah.
Um, why, um, uh, embassy firms have decided to re-release it at the, uh, the
twin,
the lowest twin here in New York and in Los Angeles.
Um, I imagine the, the, the, the, um, fundamental reason is to earn some money.
Um, uh, but, uh, I, I, I think at the time, it's an extraordinarily funny film.
Um, uh, and it was, um, received a great deal of critical acclaim in Europe and
was chosen
as, um, oh, it became very posh, if you follow me.
And it became a, it was a, the, the British entry for the can jug or whatever
it is.
The, the can jug, huh?
And, um, it became over bloated and, and, uh, overblown and, and, uh, it was
made by a bunch
of friends who wanted to do this particular outrageous material, um, for we
felt it was a kind
of summation of summation of the sixties.
Yeah.
Um, it, uh, it, uh, a great whizzing fizz of words and images, um, and it gave
me the chance
to play Jesus Christ and Jack the Ripper.
Um, and also, uh, it was said of it that it was ahead of its time.
Um, maybe now is the time.
Okay.
Um, we, we have, uh, a couple of, uh, minutes from the film, Peter.
For the things that were considered to be, uh, outrageous in it, since the, the,
the, God
bless them, the Python boys and whatever, they punched a hole into, you know,
the accepted
mores of the time.
And this may just slide in nicely too.
All right.
Do you, do you know what, uh, what is on the film we're going to look at here?
Not the foggiest.
Okay.
Uh, it's pretty much, uh, self-explanatory then, I understand.
Uh, this is from The Ruling Class, the, uh, Peter O'Toole film, uh, currently
in re-release.
Yeah.
That's great.
Very interesting.
Very silly.
Looks like a lot of fun.
Um, again, I wanna, uh, I know things, uh, your schedule is very difficult and
I appreciate
you taking the time to come over.
It was a thrill to meet you and I've certainly enjoyed your work, uh, for a
long time and
thanks again.
Is there anything you'd like to leave us with before, uh, we whisk you to the
airport?
Um, it, it is so long ago, it's what, 12 years?
Um, that group of people were a real hunt, um, and we turned up, merely, and
didn't tell
them what was going to happen.
Mm-hmm.
There were two or three axes dotted around.
And I began that speech.
And people were saying, "Hur, hur."
"Hur, hur."
"Hur, hur."
"Bring back the rack."
"Hur, hur."
"Before we did The Seaman Will Come, tossing out of the, of the pub, in came
this lady
with a huge amount of, uh, document, which was a, a petition to bring back
capital punishment."
There you go.
Yeah.
And she's taken it to think, totally, and would I sign it?
I said, "Certainly."
I signed it.
"Mycroft Holmes."
Which is Sherlock Holmes' brother.
Uh-huh.
That's all.
Uh, have a nice trip.
Nice meeting you, sir.
Peter O'Toole, ladies and gentlemen.
We'll be right back with Phoebe Snow.
nice trip nice meeting you sir peter o'too ladies and gentlemen we'll be right
back with phoebe snow
thank you thank you very much welcome back to the program i think i think
tonight's show
ought to be a pretty good show don't you paul we have uh what more do you want
we have a gentleman
from the area of literature and sports uh we have a fine young very talented
comedian and of course
we have a legendary film star peter o'toole is he here no of course he's here
and let's bring him
out right now