Name: Paul Simon on Letterman, May 20, 1982
Uploaded: 2017-06-18T16:09:47.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Paul Simon on Letterman, May 20, 1982' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2017-06-18. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Paul Simon on Letterman, May 20, 1982' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2017-06-18. Transcript available.

Paul Simon on Letterman, May 20, 1982

Thank you very much. Welcome back to the show. My first guest has written and
performed some of
the best American songs of the last 20 or so years. He's also moved into other
fields. We'll
talk about that with him tonight. We're very delighted to have him as a guest
on our program.
Please welcome, Paul Simon.
Very exciting to meet you and thank you very much for coming. You just got back
from the
Orient traveling with your partner? That's right. We began to do some
concerts. The first group of concerts since we've played in the park. And we
began in
Japan where we've never performed. We were always very popular and we started
in Japan and now
we're going to go and do some in Europe.
How long was the period of time where you were performing as a solo person and
working on the
movies? Can I move this chair back? Do anything you want, Paul. What's the
matter with the chair?
It was just a strange angle to look at you. Okay. I'm much, much more
comfortable. Let's move the desk
now, shall we? Let's just move furniture. Paul Simon and I will move furniture
for an hour.
So you worked by yourself for a period of time and roughly 10 or 11 years?
Yeah, after the first, after the breakup? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, if I, if I, if I
look like I'm dozing, it's because I, I lived
through that. Because you lived through? No, I, I, what I mean is like, do we
have to go through the history?
Do, we can do virtually anything you want to do. Let's talk about something
else. What would you, what would you like to talk about?
Oh, I see. Well, let's, uh, maybe we should go through the history. No, I.
Now, wait a minute. We'll be all right here. We got, um, how about this one?
Did Art Garfunkel ever get on your nerves?
Oh, he always gets on my nerves.
I shouldn't say always, but periodically we get on each other's nerves. When I
say periodically, I mean, if we're together, then every day, probably.
Like, it's, it's like any other relationship. There are bound to be things that
would...
No, it has, it has a, it has a flow to it. And, uh, in a performance situation,
uh, if you don't experience nerves in like the typical butterflies in your
and your stomach type of, uh, nervousness. It comes out in some way. And, uh,
it just, uh, you, you know, you get, you get, I guess you get on each other's
nerves because your nerves are heightened because you're going to put, you're
going to go in, out and perform in front of, uh, did you guys fight or bicker
or, uh, well, you know, I've known art since, uh, since I'm 10 years old. So,
uh, I think we've developed our own stuff.
It's like a style of disagreement, you know, it's, it's a, it's a, it's a very
subtle way of, uh, of irritating the other person.
I, I must also add that we, that we laugh a lot.
Yeah.
That, you know, and it's, it's a lot, it's, uh, it's, it's a very, very long
relationship. It's the longest relationship that I have in my life.
I don't know if you, if you still know anyone that you know since you're 10.
Um, not, no, you're right.
It's really odd. It's really odd to know somebody from that, for that long.
Yeah.
So, uh, it's generally, it's generally good and it's fun and he's, uh, he's, uh,
he's a, he's a very unusual guy.
He always was, even when he was 10.
He was, he was, you know, the first time I, the first time I really met him, he
was in, uh, this candy store,
which we used to go to after we would get out of school and I came, and he was
this kid and he was, he was shaking boxes of, uh, good and plenty.
And then finally, and I was watching him, you know, because I was going in to
buy my Captain Marvel comic and he was shaking these boxes of good and plenty.
And finally, the owner of the store kicked him out, said he had to get out.
And I said to the guy, why did you, why did you kick him out?
And he said, he comes in here all the time and he shakes these boxes to see
which has the most good and plenty.
And that's the one he buys, you know?
Yeah, that's it.
Now, when we played Japan, now here's, now here's skipping 30, 28 years later,
we played Japan and this is Art's second trip to Japan.
It was my second trip as well.
I had performed there, uh, in 1974.
But Art was there, uh, three years ago.
He took a steamer and he landed in, uh, Nagoya and he walked across Japan.
He didn't tell anybody.
I mean, he just, he walked for three weeks in Japan.
Just, that can be done, obviously.
Just, well, he did it.
Yeah, definitely.
But I mean, there's, it's, it's not like in Europe where you, you, you vaguely
can approximate the language.
You know, even if you're not familiar with, uh, you can find some language, but
in Japan, you, you know, there's no language.
And he did it.
He's just a, he's a very unusual guy who sings very well, as a matter of fact.
Yeah.
Walking across Japan is, uh, I don't know anyone who's done that.
No.
Yeah.
Um, this, uh, your music has, uh, become, uh, it's everywhere.
Omnipresent.
And then, and...
It's in elevators.
It's in supermarkets.
Now, how do you react when you hear it in an elevator?
And it's done by the, uh, Milwaukee strings or somebody.
What, uh...
I like it in the elevator.
I really do.
I'm not being facetious.
I like to hear it there.
The most fun of hearing your music is when you're walking down the street and
you hear somebody hum it walking in the opposite direction.
Yeah.
That's a tremendous thrill.
It's, it's actually a privilege, you know, to be, to be in a position where
people like what you do and accept what you do, uh, to such, to that degree.
It's, it's pri, it's a privilege.
Does it also, I want, I want to know if there, there's a burden with that.
I mean, do, do you feel like an overwhelming responsibility if somebody comes
up and says, uh, bridge over troubled waters changed my life and I'm moving in
or something like that.
Uh, hmm.
Uh, I think that there's a, there's a pressure when I write that, that has made
it more difficult to write in, in recent years, uh, because of, uh, the fact
that, uh, because some of my earlier work and even my mid, mid work was so, so
successful, uh, if I do work now that is, uh, of equal quality or even superior,
uh,
when it's not as successful, it's confusing and it takes a while for, even for
me to sort it out.
Case in point is, uh, I wrote, uh, and performed and starred in a movie called
One Trick Pony.
And, uh, I derived tremendous satisfaction from writing the screenplay to this
and writing the music to it and performing in it.
And, uh, the movie came out and it got, uh, some good reviews and some bad
reviews.
Let me, let me, at this point, let me interrupt so you can complete this when
we come back, which we will do in a minute or two with Paul Simon, folks.
Thank you, Paul.
Paul Schaefer, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the extravaganza.
Jersey Kosinski will be joining us.
Paul Simon is here.
And before we, uh, departed for several weeks there, you were talking about, uh,
when, uh, One Trick Pony, the tremendous, the world's most dangerous band.
So the, the movie came out and it was something you spent a great deal of time
writing, producing, and, uh, doing the music for and so on.
Oh, oh, One Trick Pony.
Yeah, well, my point was, uh, that was a long break, wasn't it?
It was, it was, we had hot soup brought in during that break.
My point about that was that, uh, uh, sometimes, uh, an artist, uh, does a
piece of work and the work is, uh, makes you stretch as an artist, which you,
you, you must do.
And, uh, the work might not be, uh, uh, a popular success.
In, in the case of One Trick Pony, it was not the popular success that I had
been accustomed to up until that point.
It came out and, uh, uh, some favorable reviews, some negative reviews, and, uh,
had a run of, uh, maybe, uh, three weeks or a month.
And then it went away.
And, uh, for a long time, I felt very, very guilty about it, very bad, as if I,
as if I had done something wrong, you know?
Is there a sense of embarrassment, almost?
Do you think, what, what have I done here to myself?
Uh, not to myself, I felt that I had let a lot of people down, because, uh, in
my mind, uh, I was so accustomed to doing, uh, doing my work and having it be,
uh, not only, uh, accepted critically, but also, uh, to be accepted, uh, in a,
in a popular sense, in a, uh, in a commercial sense, that when it didn't happen,
I thought, I must have made some terrible error.
What could I, what could I have done?
Uh, what happened was that, uh, I, I had tried to stretch, and, uh, I, during
the process of the work, I was very happy, as happy as I, as I ever get when I'm,
when I'm working, which is probably the happiest I ever am, is when I'm in the
midst of, of writing.
And, uh, and, uh, and so, the, the, the, uh, process of the work was, uh, very
enriching for me, and the after effect of it produced the opposite effect.
So, uh, I, I guess my point was, uh, if I can think back to what the question
was before the break, was, uh, how do I feel about, uh, these, uh, songs being
so, uh, so well accepted?
I have a mixed feeling about that, because some of the work that I do, that I
love, and that I feel is superior, is not the most popular, uh, work that I do,
and, uh, you have to separate, a popular artist, a serious popular artist, has
to separate, uh, the quality work that you know you've achieved from the
acceptance or relative rejection.
Uh, uh, anyway, that's, that was my, that was my point about that.
Uh, let me ask, you mentioned, um, we talked about your, uh, touring, uh, uh,
Japan and so forth, and, uh, you mentioned your concert in the park, a half a
million people, they said, uh, roughly, uh, or more, and at one point, someone
jumped up on the stage, uh, and, and moved toward you, uh, even without that
occurrence, is, it, it's got to be terribly frightening, especially in the
heart of New York City.
These people did not pay to get in, they certainly were not frisked, and come
to think of it, it's just like our audience.
Um, does, uh, does, uh, do you ever worry, uh, worry for your own safety on
stage, or is that an element you don't consider?
No, I consider it, I consider it, I always considered it, and of course, uh,
after John Lennon's, uh, murder, uh, the ones, uh, you have a heightened, uh,
heightened awareness of it.
Uh, uh, my reaction when the, that, the guy came up on stage was, uh, I said,
oh, he's, he's messed up the song.
Yeah, that's, that's what's happened.
It's a new song, I thought, oh, it's hard enough to, for anybody to grasp a new
song, uh, especially if I'm just singing it with a guitar, and, uh, now this
guy's coming, he's messed up the song.
And my, my reaction was, was not, at the time, one of fear, and either was, uh,
Art's reaction, he was sitting on the stage, although it's very possible that,
nah, he must have, he must have, he couldn't possibly, but wanted to.
Uh, I think what happened was that, when we used to perform together, uh,
people would come up on stage all the time, but they were always bringing
flowers or things.
It was really a different time.
Yeah.
And we didn't have a sense of fear.
You, you thought people could be a little bit crazy, but, but generally crazy
in a, in a benign way.
And as it happens, this, this guy was also, I think, just, uh, stoned, and, uh,
he, he kept saying, Paul, I gotta, I gotta talk to you, I gotta talk to you,
yeah.
He wasn't, he wasn't threatening, although it might have looked that way.
I, I need to ask you if you will, uh, uh, uh, do a song for us.
Well, I want to go through a few disclaimers first.
This is not my guitar.
Uh, what can I do?
Can I help you with anything?
Where did art usually stand?
If, uh, he stood to my right.
I wonder if I should maybe stand.
Would, would a stool be better?
You want to?
Uh, let's just not make a fuss of it.
We'll just do it.
Uh.
No, you know, sitting would be better.
Here's what I would like to do if I could.
Just move the stool over a little.
Okay, that, that'd be great.
Um, I, uh, I guess I'll sing the song, that song, uh,