Name: Muhammad Ali on Letterman, July 9, 1984
Uploaded: 2016-04-06T02:10:28.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Muhammad Ali on Letterman, July 9, 1984' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2016-04-06. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Muhammad Ali on Letterman, July 9, 1984' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2016-04-06. Transcript available.

Thank you, Paul. Thank you very much, folks.
Before we introduce our first guest tonight, we need to, we want to
congratulate KOB TV in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
They have celebrated their 35th anniversary with NBC last week, and it's, oh,
that's it.
Congratulations to you folks there in Albuquerque.
Albuquerque is a beautiful, beautiful city. Ever been there, Paul?
Beautiful city. Very nice.
It's truly an honor and a pleasure tonight to welcome my first guest.
It has often been said that he is the most famous man in the world.
Please welcome Muhammad Ali.
Muhammad Ali, nice to see you. Come over here.
First of all, thank you very much for being here. You look terrific, and I'm
happy that you could spend some time with us.
Is that, is that true? Do you think that that could actually be the case, that
you're the most famous man in the world?
I've heard it said, but I can't say for sure. I wouldn't bet on it.
Yeah. Would you be in the top three, you think?
I think the most famous man is the president.
You think so? Reagan would be a little more famous than you?
Next, you.
See, you have a TV show, I know.
Yeah, but you, I think that, uh, anything outside of the United States, uh,
well, no, that's not true for the president, but, uh, you're known globally.
Then you got the Pope.
Yeah.
All right, well, you're in some pretty good company. Anyway, uh, now, what are
you doing with yourself these days? What, how do you spend your time?
Mainly resting. I've worked, I've been boxing since I was 12.
Yeah.
And I haven't retired long enough. I'm still tired.
Still a little tired from all of those years. Now, what is the day like for you
when you get up, say, when you're at home in, in Los Angeles? What do you do?
What time do you get up in the morning now?
I get up about 5.30 in the morning.
Mm-hmm.
And then what do you do?
Then, first thing is the prayer.
Being in the zombie, we make five prayers a day.
Mm-hmm.
First prayer is about 5.30.
After that, um, behind my desk, answer mail. I see two, three hundred letters a
day, which some I try to answer.
Mm-hmm.
Now, how do you do on that? Do you get around answering at all? Do you have a
stamp? Do you just pound them out, or do you actually sit down and...
I like to read them, and I like to take the pictures that they send me and sign
them.
What, what, what do they say in the letters? What kind of things, uh, do you
hear?
Everything.
Yeah? Are they nice to you?
Some.
Uh, what about the ones that aren't so nice? Do you answer those as well?
Yeah.
Yeah? And, uh, do they, they send in pictures of themselves, or pictures of you,
or both?
I make pictures of myself.
Mm-hmm.
And you sign them and send them back?
And those who have some money send their picture.
Mm-hmm.
Now, do you, when folks ask you for dough, do you send it out?
Money?
Okay, so you answer your mail, and what do you do?
Yeah, um, for some time I have a few visitors.
Mm-hmm.
And I'm arm traveling, like now.
Yeah.
But it's difficult to tell you exactly what I've done.
Do you, do you work out? Do you play, uh, any sports? Do you, do you run?
Do you, do you, do you run? Do you, do you, do you...
I go to the gymnasium about, um, five days a month.
Mm-hmm.
And just, what, skip ropes, spar, lift weights? What do you do?
Watch the...
So you work up a pretty good sweat just watching that.
Uh...
I do a little work on that.
Yeah.
Now, what about magic? I've seen you, uh, places doing magic.
For kids.
Yeah.
What kind of, how did you get interested in...
They put me out in the musician union, because I always tell her I do it.
Yeah, I read about that.
You're not supposed to do that.
I hate to, uh, it's a sin for me to do that.
To deceive and make them think I have the power.
Yeah. Uh, and now, when did you get interested in magic?
About 16 years ago.
Yeah. Do you have any with you tonight that you can do?
Just one.
Oh, can we see it?
See that cup?
Yeah.
I'm gonna levitate that cup one foot.
Okay, uh, uh, watch it.
Yeah.
I got your cameras on.
Um, some of y'all might run out of here.
Now watch.
Watch the cup.
Oh, I'm sorry.
April Fool.
Did you believe, uh...
Well, you're, you're the champ.
I was, I was ready.
Uh, okay, we gotta do a commercial, uh, Muhammad.
We'll be, we'll be back after that.
We got, uh, plenty of other stuff to talk with Muhammad Ali about.
Hi there.
Muhammad Ali is, uh, with us tonight.
And tell me, you have, uh, uh, another business venture, or you're now managing
fighters, is that correct?
Yes, we have a company called Champion Sports Management.
We're gonna start training and managing upcoming boxers.
Uh-huh.
How many do you have, uh, under your company?
We have about 19 unknowns.
Uh-huh.
And we have a job to make them known.
Now, do you help in that?
Do you go into the ring and work with these guys?
I'm gonna start.
We just, we're gonna open up my Deer Lake training camp.
Uh-huh.
In Pennsylvania?
Just left there today.
Yeah.
Got a couple of things to remodel.
And then we're gonna hire our staff.
And great champions like Tim Witherspoon.
He's here, but he's there.
Tim out there.
Tim Witherspoon is here tonight?
And the world hero team.
Tim, how are you?
Nice to see you.
Right beside Tim is my attorney, Richard Hurstville.
And my daughter, Stan.
See, I got a big daughter.
Stand up.
How do you get it?
What is that name?
Mariam.
Mariam.
Nice to meet you.
And then the former World Light Heavyweight Champion, Mustafa Mohan.
He's amazing.
I'm now managing and training him.
Were you expecting trouble here tonight?
You bring me...
Uh, well, congratulations.
I hope that works out very well for you.
Now, uh, do you...
Do you have any kind of ongoing relationship with, uh, Larry Holmes?
No, Larry, Larry...
Larry's a good friend of mine.
Uh-huh.
And, uh, how do you feel about him as, uh, heavyweight champion?
He's the champion.
He beat me.
Yeah.
Do you, do you, uh, spend any time with him?
You said that you're friends, but do you ever see one another?
Well, uh, I've seen him since we fought last about four times.
Yeah.
Uh, what about...
Now, he's got a fight that keeps coming and going.
Now, what is that one?
The one with Coetzee?
That's a long story.
Well, what's the deal there?
Uh, he signed with my company.
Larry has signed with your company.
My lawyer's in the audience.
Can we do something hard and make him run down here?
Do you want your lawyer to come down here?
Uh, do you want...
All right.
Come quick, Richard.
Come quick.
This is your lawyer, Richard Hirschfield.
Come quick.
Richard, how are you?
Nice to see you, Richard.
First of all, I got a feeling this is going to cost you money.
It's going to cost him money.
No, no, no, no.
And what did you ask about Larry?
Now, what's the deal with the Holmes-Cotezee fight?
Do you guys have any relationship to that, uh, function at all?
Well, we're in litigation right now.
Uh-huh.
With, uh, with Larry.
Uh, Larry signed a right of first refusal contract to promote a fight between
himself
and Cotezee and Cotezee and, uh, then he signed with another organization, JPD
Sports.
Right.
And, uh, that particular fight did not materialize and we sought to enjoy the
fight in Philadelphia.
And now Larry has agreed not to, uh, sign or, uh, schedule any fight with Cotezee
until our particular matter is resolved.
Now, I read that he had signed, uh, turned the whole thing back over to Don
King.
You know.
I mean, we understand that.
And so, now, what does that mean to you guys?
Well, in court last week, uh, it was disclosed by Larry's counsel that he did
not sign with Don King.
Oh, I see.
That, uh, he said he signed with Don King, but nothing was signed.
Uh-huh.
Did you know that?
Did I tell you that?
Have you ever saw yourself on television?
All the people of Virginia Beach are watching.
Yeah, you guys, you make a good team.
So, this is a messy litigation, big lawsuits, a lot of money involved here.
We really, we really don't want to comment on this right now.
Well, Richard, it was nice meeting you.
Thank you very much for coming down.
Muhammad Ali's attorney.
You sure, you sure get him off.
Well, the, he, he, he, I get the feeling he didn't, really couldn't say too
much without
maybe jeopardizing the situation.
Did you get that feeling?
Uh, now, tell me how you feel about the, the Olympics.
The fact that there has been, uh, you know, the Russians pulled out, the United
States didn't
go.
I don't understand the Russians.
Uh-huh.
We did something when they tried to hold over it.
Right.
So, they're calling themselves, paying us back.
Yeah.
Uh, is, is the competition, did the Russians have a good boxing team for the
Olympics?
They usually do.
Yeah.
So, we're not going to see, uh, a representational, uh, a group of world-class
fighters.
The Russians, the Olympics, can't really say, I feel that he's the truth of the
champion.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, that's too bad.
So, what are you going to do now?
What, how are you going to spend your night?
You going to go out?
Big dinner?
Party?
It was a pleasure meeting you.
I'm glad you could, uh, I'm glad you could drop in with your attorney.
Nice meeting you.
Muhammad Ali, ladies and gentlemen.
Uh, we'll be right back.
We have to pause here for station identification.
Thank you.