Name: Gary Busey Collection on Letterman, 1983-92
Uploaded: 2019-04-10T05:48:59.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Gary Busey Collection on Letterman, 1983-92' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2019-04-10. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Gary Busey Collection on Letterman, 1983-92' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2019-04-10. Transcript available.

Gary Busey Collection on Letterman, 1983-92

Thank you very much, Paul.
My next guest is a fine actor.
There's no getting around that.
He was in the Buddy Holly story, a terrific movie,
and he was great in that.
He's been in many other motion pictures,
and recently he filmed a movie entitled DC Cab,
which will be released shortly,
and has been hired now.
I'll tell you what he's been hired to do.
This is another interesting thing that he's involved in.
And now, ladies and gentlemen,
to explain why he hangs around the Trankus Market,
Gary Busey.
Gary.
The folks know you and love you.
Hello, New York.
Yes, sir.
This is my dog, Chili.
He's a very sensitive dog.
One of her favorite things is sitting in front of the television
when Bob shows his films.
That's a handsome-looking dog.
This dog has never been loved.
It's a young lady dog that adopted us from the beach,
and she sent this picture to Bob.
To Bob dog, love chili dog.
Oh, that's very nice.
Maybe we could get them together when you come back to the market.
Well, Bob's missing some of the original factory equipment,
so it wouldn't...
Really?
Yeah, it wouldn't...
She'd never know that.
No, that's a great-looking doggie.
How old is she?
That dog, I don't know.
She just showed up one day and said,
what are you all doing?
Can I live with you?
Uh-huh.
You've been there ever since?
Yeah, it's just the prototype of Pluto.
Yeah.
It's the funniest dog I've ever had.
Can we keep this here?
That's for you and Bob.
All right.
Thank you very much, Gary.
That's nice of you.
Now, I mentioned this a couple of times.
I keep running into you at the various supermarkets
in the neighborhood in California.
Isn't it fun?
That's the only place to go to have fun.
Social activity.
That's where the bus stops doesn't go any farther.
Uh-huh.
I love the supermarket.
And...
The smells in there,
back where they package those little,
you know,
those little chicken packages and things.
They smell better than they taste.
And so you just go down there in the afternoon and...
Well, I haven't been going down there much lately
because I've been eating fish.
I've been training Franco Clumbo.
Yeah, all right.
Mr. Olympia.
Now, tell the folks about that.
I mentioned this is a really phenomenal undertaking
for anybody to be doing.
Well, gosh...
This is another American legend, isn't it?
Yeah, it is.
But, boy, when we talk about it in those terms,
it's like you're going to play Mount Rushmore,
you know, in 20 minutes,
which is kind of like that.
Yeah.
But I was, you know,
like a potato in a leotard.
I weighed about 220 pounds.
And had to get back down to weight.
And I hadn't worked in a while.
I just sat around and played the guitar.
So, Franco Clumbo, Mr. Olympia there,
a doctor of chiropractic and nutrition.
I feel funny sitting here.
I feel, you know...
Well, don't know what's...
Do whatever you want.
Oh, Gary.
That's better.
He's the best trainer in the world.
Former Mr. Universe, Mr. World, or Mr....
Olympia.
Yeah.
And he came, did it when he was...
He could probably be all of those.
Yeah.
But he's training me,
and I've got about 15, 20 more pounds to lose.
This is really fun.
This is the first late-night thing I've done.
I mean, no,
it's not the first late-night thing I've done.
Now, tell the folks the part.
You didn't mention the part.
You're going to be playing.
Well, we're going to go down to Tuscaloosa, Alabama,
and come out of the tunnel with the Crimson Tide,
and talk about Bear Bryant.
Yeah.
Now, you're playing him from the time he was...
I'm working on the voice.
What do you think?
It's a great voice, although I...
Oh, if the takes are short, it still hurts.
I've got four weeks or four or five.
You're playing his entire life from, what, age 18?
19 to 68.
Now, how can that possibly be?
You're a young man.
You can't...
I'm going to get a number 40 grocery sack
and put it over my head and just draw a picture.
No, we're going to get the best makeup man we can find
because that's what's going to do it, you know.
I mean, I've got to look in the mirror
and be able to, you know.
It's four different looks.
We open up with a little boy wearing...
He wears pleats to church.
And dedication.
And then we see me when we go in to wrestle a bear.
I can't wait.
And then we have...
Then he's at Texas A&M, gets a little older.
And then he goes to Alabama and gets a little older.
And then later in life, he...
You see, you mentioned wrestling a bear.
Is that literally wrestling a bear?
Yeah, that's how I got his name.
See, the days there when they didn't have much money,
these guys would bring these bears around to town.
And for every minute you stayed in the cage of that bear,
you got a dollar.
Well, Mr. Bryant made four dollars.
Wow.
But before he got his money, that damn bear skipped town.
And there's a scene where Paul's running after the bear.
Never got his money, but he got the name.
In fact, in Alabama, when you come into Alabama,
there are signs that say, you're now entering bear country.
Well, this man is seriously a legend.
He could run for God in Alabama.
And the closer I get down south, the more my head gets bowed.
You know, I've got to get...
I can't...
You know, it's not...
It's like Steve Ash, the guy that directed Buddy Holly,
said, no, we can't take this serious.
You just have to go out and do it.
I said, okay.
Now, what was that like, getting ready?
Did you talk to people that Buddy Holly knew?
No, I didn't talk to anybody.
Did you talk to his family at all?
No, I didn't have time.
I was in the water surfing there, that big Wednesday deal.
The big Wednesday surfing movie.
And I got out of the water and came home.
They dyed my hair, curled it, and gave me those glasses and said, hit it.
So you didn't have any research at all?
You didn't...
Oh, well, I was in the fifth grade when rock and roll started, David.
Back in Oklahoma and Texas.
I got back in the mirror and pantomimed those Buddy Holly records.
Larry Williams and Elvis and Roy Orbison.
My mother would run me out of the house, but I stuck with it.
And then all of a sudden, the movie came around, you know.
And it was a...
We did it live.
Did it for about $800,000 in six weeks.
It turned out very nicely, of course, as you know.
What about Buddy Holly's family?
Did they like the film?
Did you talk to them?
Yeah, well, they, you know, they're the family, so...
And it's impossible in 114 minutes' time to tell the utter truth.
So we had to take into account...
Well, the idea was to show the energy and essence of what he was, what Buddy
was.
Yeah, yeah.
And I think looking at that, they sure do.
What are you doing musically now?
I know they're...
Well, I have a plan that I'd like to...
I'd like to come back in October when it's a little cooler.
And I'd like to play some music on this show.
And I haven't shown any music of mine since Buddy Holly.
I'm none.
Yeah.
And I'm ready to do that.
All right.
What could we look forward to?
Just high-dollar bop.
And you work alone now?
Oh, no, no, no.
I don't...
Well, no.
It's...
Every time, it's different.
I've got 65th grade tap-dancing girls in black and pink hot pants for one show.
And then there's Jim Keltner, and then there's Billy Burnett, and there's
George Hawkins.
Those are the human rockets.
Now, will they be here with you when you come back?
Well, for this special thing here, I've got two boys out there.
They're doing a picture now in town with Catherine Hepburn.
And I'm not going to say their names, but we have a situation that we want to
talk about later.
Okay.
So we'll look forward to that.
Let the folks circle their TV guide.
Heck, yeah.
And again, this is not the kind of thing folks are going to get on cable.
That's right.
It's only going to happen for the first time once...
Right here.
That's right.
Here.
Free American...
Now, um...
I'm having fun.
You also...
You look like...
That's pretty cheesy.
Oh, nice to see my back.
Who made that?
Did you make that?
No, I didn't make that.
We have a staff of high-paid designers and...
Well, it's darn good looking.
Well, no, it's...
Sure, it's...
No, I...
Now, look, Gary.
You're looking at...
See, on the monitor, it looks great.
Oh, heck.
Yeah, it's very nice.
Yeah, that works there.
Now, you look like...
I've got to lose my weight.
Gary.
You look like...
You know, I've lost 20 pounds, and the thinner I get, the fatter I feel.
No, no, no.
What's in the back of your jacket?
Let me see the back of your jacket.
This belongs to...
This is not my jacket.
I know what you're going to do.
Well, it belongs to a bigger guy.
No, actually, this is my jacket.
There can't be a bigger guy.
I wanted to dress up, you know?
But, you know, you look like...
Oh, come on.
No, no, no, no.
You look like you'd like to turn the dump over.
What does that mean?
That's what it means.
Oh, you know what it means.
You turn the dump over.
Sure, you know.
I mean, a guy who says, high dollar bop...
High dollar bop, turn the dump over.
Yeah.
Do you want to write a song?
Maybe we could a little later.
We could.
We call EF Hutton.
Now, you're also...
Turn the dump over.
Turn the dump over.
Boy, that's good.
Falling the way to thank you.
Now, do you...
Tell me about working with Jerry Lee Lewis.
Oh, boy.
Well, that was...
Nick Fleetwood.
Yeah.
Keith Richards.
That's correct.
Now, what is this?
This is a show...
Now, there are some guys who could turn the dump over.
Now, they have turned the dump over several times.
And it's a show called Salute.
It's going to be on, I think, September 25th syndicated.
And we put on pink and black tuxedos
and got out there and sang High School Confidential.
A lot of fun.
Little Richard and Ruth Buzzi and Emmylou Harris
and Fleetwood and Keith, myself,
Rear Staufferson, Dick Clark,
ask us some funny questions.
He'll do that.
Yeah.
He's good.
Now, you're coming back for sure, right?
Yeah.
All right.
You come back.
Yeah, but listen, I'm going to...
You told me I was going to fly out here this time.
Well, I got enough money, and you told...
I came in my Jeep.
I blew out three tires.
We'll take care of the tires.
Well, I would like to be able to fly, you know.
We'll take care of the tires.
Good luck with the movie.
Gary Busey, folks.
We'll be right back with Carol Leather.
Thanks, Paul.
Welcome back to the show, ladies and gentlemen.
My first guest tonight, he's a very exciting actor,
and if you get a chance to go see the new movie that he's in,
he's terrific.
It's a lot of fun to watch this man.
He is starring in a new film.
It'll open September 28th
across this fine country of ours called The Bear.
He's a very talented actor.
A pleasure to welcome back Gary Busey.
Hi, Gary.
How are you doing?
Good to see you, buddy.
Good to see you.
Nice to see you.
You look terrific.
Thank you very much.
What are you doing?
You do, too.
Thank you.
What are you...
You're waving it.
Who are you waving it?
I was waving it, Will.
Oh, our bass player, Paul Schaeber.
One of my favorite drummers in the world up there.
Steve Gadd.
Yeah, and here we are in the same position.
You know that guy's from Oklahoma, Sam Harris?
Oh, really?
Do you know Sam?
I don't know him, but I know he's from a...
He does look like he's struck by a blunt object.
Looks like somebody just maybe tapped him on the head with a 2x6.
A 2x6 or a 12x12, but he's from Sand Springs.
He just won that star switch.
Yeah, oh, yeah.
It's a big deal.
He's got a hit record and everything,
and we're giving this away as the prize tonight.
That's a good prize.
I'm in the same position I was the last time I was here,
where I feel like I should be facing you a little more.
You're fine.
I can't.
You're fine.
You know, we hear this a lot.
People come out and they say,
I'm uncomfortable in the chair, and you're fine.
I'm fine?
Yeah, you look good.
I look good?
Yeah.
I feel pretty good.
Good.
Did you have a good trip in?
Yeah.
Next.
I feel better looking at who I'm talking to.
You feel better.
You feel a little better now.
All right.
I think it's better to look at who you're talking to.
Yeah.
All right.
Congratulations on you.
Oh, tha