Name: Billy Idol on Letterman, July 24, 1984
Uploaded: 2016-06-16T02:15:15.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Billy Idol on Letterman, July 24, 1984' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2016-06-16. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Billy Idol on Letterman, July 24, 1984' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2016-06-16. Transcript available.

Thank you very much, Paul.
From his early days with the band Generation X to his present solo career,
my first guest has been one of the most original and controversial figures in
rock music.
This is his latest album right here.
I have a copy of it. It's called Rebel Yell.
And now let's take a look at some of him in his video, Dancing With Myself.
This is Billy Idol at work.
I hope you're dancing with myself.
I hope you're dancing with myself.
When we started to do, we said there's nothing to do.
When we're dancing with myself.
Okay, please welcome Billy Idol.
Yeah, nice to see you. Come on over here, Paul.
Thanks for being here. Nice to see you.
You know, people at home looking at us right now are saying to themselves,
those two guys don't hang around together.
That's not really what I heard, David.
Tell us about a little bit of the video we saw.
Is there any way you can explain that to us in a short time, or what were we
looking at?
Well, one of the things that, the reasons it's like that is because we had Toby
Hooper directing it,
and he did Texas Chainsaw.
That's why I'm credited with so much violence.
Is it now, do you consider that to be violent, that particular video?
I think it's sort of a cartoon, really.
I don't understand all these people who think things are violent like that.
I mean, they're crazy.
What in that do you think people would consider violence?
Well, probably the love in it or something.
Yeah, well, that's too bad.
I don't...
Because I don't know.
All these people who complain about me being violent are usually, you know...
You're not a violent person, right?
In your own life, you're not violent.
Well, not really.
Where were you born?
You were born in Great Britain, is that right?
Yeah, North Statenmore.
North London.
And you spent some time in the United States, so I was a young person, right?
Yeah, about five years.
My sister was born here.
And your folks, why did they come to the United States?
Well, I think they were trying to find the American dream, you know.
Yeah?
Did it work out for them?
Well, they went back.
And do you have any...
How old were you when they moved back?
I was about eight or nine or something.
I was only here for a few years.
Did you enjoy those early years here?
Yeah, it was wild.
Yeah?
Where did you live?
All I can remember is massive cars, aeroplanes, cartoons, TV in the morning.
Uh-huh.
And, yeah.
And whereabouts did you live?
I lived on Long Island for a long time.
Yeah, yeah.
And now you're...
You're Rockville.
Rockville, so I came to America and immediately learned about rock and roll.
Yeah.
When I went back to England, that's what everybody was into.
It was like Gene Vincent was huge.
He's a massive rock and roll star.
He's like one of the biggest people ever in England.
So it was great.
When I got back to England, it was all rock and roll, just like in the States.
Yeah.
So how old were you when you moved back now?
I don't know.
I was only about nine, but I was already buying records and had a guitar and
things like that.
No, but I mean when you came back for now.
Oh, I don't know, 25 or so.
Is there anything about the London that you miss, Great Britain that you miss
at all?
Well, you know, I guess it's a bit like school days, right?
You know?
But sometimes you've got to leave school.
I don't want to stay there.
It's a nice place.
It's really great.
It's just as exciting as New York.
But I did live there for 23 years of my life.
I don't think you have to stay in one place all your life.
It's boring to do that.
No, sure.
But it's a great place, London.
It's just London and New York are one of a kind, I think.
Similar.
Two of a kind.
Billy, we have to do station identification.
You can stick with us for a few minutes.
We'll be right back, folks, with Billy Idol and all kinds of other wonderful
things.
They pelted us with rocks and garbage.
Thanks, Paul.
Tomorrow on this program, Glenn Frey, formerly with the Eagles, will be joining
us.
Comedian Jim Carrey and do-it-yourself demonstration with Johnny Blackwell.
What exactly is the nature of the do-it-yourself demonstration with things
around the house that you can do and fix yourself?
Wow.
They're different kind of things.
Unusual?
Yeah.
Heretofore not seen on American television.
That'll be Johnny Blackwell tomorrow night, ladies and gentlemen, and fabulous
do-it-yourself segment.
So join us for that.
Also, the Cuban will be playing the chicken in an international tic-tac-toe
championship.
We talked to this very nice gentleman in Cuba.
It was not long ago, and he'll be playing tic-tac-toe on the show tomorrow.
Billy Idol is with us now, and Rick Overton will be joining us.
You just had a vacation?
Yeah, first one in about four years, you know.
What did you do?
I sort of went swimming and had sex.
Yeah?
Yeah, interesting things.
Where did you go for the vacation?
Well, they got rid of me to the Virgin Islands, you know.
That's exactly where I belong.
Which one were you on?
I can't remember, really.
Yeah?
How long were you there?
Not long enough.
You had a good time?
Yeah, but I miss New York.
That's the problem.
I like New York.
Yeah.
Yeah, because it's wild.
Now, do people...
When you're out in public and in the streets and so forth, the people come up
to you?
Are you bothered?
Are you a security problem?
Well, the drug dealers in West Forth call their drugs by, and my names are my
songs.
Like, there's white wedding cocaine and rebel yell quaaludes and dancing with
myself, smoke
and stuff.
So, yeah, people recognize me everywhere, really.
You must be a very proud young man.
But, you know...
I'm definitely very much a part of New York.
Yeah, yeah.
But do people come up to you and bother you and stuff?
Oh, yeah, well, you know, but I think most people who actually live in New York
and places
like that, they're really cool.
It's usually people who are just, like, tourists and stuff.
Yeah.
They think you're a Disneyland cartoon character instead of something for real,
you know?
Do they ask you for things, autographs, unusual requests, any of that?
Well, they ask for a lot of unusual requests, but in the street, you can't
always really do that.
Now, what would be, uh...
To your way of thinking, what would be an unusual request?
Well...
Well, I always thought it was unusual, and people really just wanted to have
some sort of wild
time immediately without even talking to you very much.
They do that?
They want to do that, right?
Or they just...
Well, yeah, it just seems a real big disease in the United States in particular.
So I thought that's what was kind of good about sex and stuff.
And it's a shame that that Miss America girl got discriminated against just for
being natural.
Billy, I don't know if you've seen these photos, but there's...
There's no way in hell you can call this natural.
Well, what do you do when you have sex and stuff?
I'll just turn that question over to Bill Wendler, and now it's a bill.
You're out to the place one night.
Why don't you, uh...
Now, what happened in Chicago recently?
Was this recently a concert at the...
Is it the Aragon Ballroom?
Yeah, that was a couple of months ago.
Well, it was really quite on the spur of the moment, but I sort of...
The whole audience and myself, well, I was the only person in the nude, but...
Wait a minute.
Wait a minute, wait a minute.
Right there, you see.
The audience and...
You were on stage at this place?
No, it was really just the balcony of the dressing room looking onto the street,
really.
And it's just the audience came out singing Rebel Yell, so I was kind of just
changing and it became necessary to get out there on the balcony and spur them
on a bit.
But I kind of forgot I didn't have anything on.
You went out there in front of the crowd, naked, nude.
Yeah, but I was far enough away for no one to really be able to, you know,
figure out one thing or another.
Uh, you also...
That's when I hung my arm over the balcony of this thing, that's when I, that's
when I got an encore.
You got the encore then?
That's when I got the encore.
Very.
Um...
It should be interesting to watch this tonight at home and see just how much
they leave in, won't it?
And that was just...
This wasn't some weird place in England, this was Chicago.
This was Chicago, the heartland of this fine country of ours, yeah.
Uh, now you're interested in films?
I know that you would like to be in a Star Trek movie?
I'd really like to do something tacky like that, yeah, you know.
Have you seen the first two movies?
Yeah, I really liked the first, I liked Wrath of Khan a lot, I thought that was
great.
Yeah.
But, uh, this new one's a bit.
Is this the third one out now?
Star Trek the movie, The Wrath of Khan, and this is Search for Spock, right?
Yeah, it's just like...
Well, I think Leonard Nimoy let us down, personally, and I don't know.
Everyone in the cinema was, like, really upset.
What, what, what?
You didn't care for the, um, film?
No, I left.
I've never done that.
I like those dopey things like Star Trek and stuff.
Yeah.
What, what about it, uh, bothered you, Billy?
No, it's just boring.
Yeah.
Would you have done it differently, somehow?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
I'm gonna ask another question.
You want to go on to another question?
Yeah, but I wouldn't mind being in something like that.
I mean, Toby Hooper, he asked me to be in this film he's done called, uh, Space
Vampires.
Uh-huh.
And that would have been great to have been in something like that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, I'm sure, I, I would think that you, you have a, uh, a really, a nice, uh,
career
ahead of you.
You can do, want to do films?
That's great.
That'll be terrific for you.
Yeah, well, you know, the real thing is that I'm not really an actor.
I'm, I don't want to do something that really takes away from consummate actors,
you know?
And it, you know, it's just ridiculous for me to try and do anything that would
be above,
above what I know about myself, you know?
Sure.
So, I'm really cool with being silly cartoon things, it's good fun.
Yeah, well, at the same time.
Yeah, well, I think that's good that if you have that attitude.
Billy Idol is a real person, and, um, I am playing at the moment, and I do mean
it,
and you can't take that away from me.
My God, you can't.
Billy Idol, ladies and gentlemen.
Billy, nice to see you.
Thank you very much for being here.
Big applause for it for mostly.
We'll be back with, uh, Rick Overton.
We'll be back with, uh, Rick Overton.