Name: Norm Macdonald Live w/ Guest Rich Little (S03E11)
Uploaded: 2017-09-12T00:00:00.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Norm Macdonald Live w/ Guest Rich Little (S03E11)' from Norm Macdonald Live on Comedy Buff. Published 2017-09-12. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Norm Macdonald Live w/ Guest Rich Little (S03E11)' from Norm Macdonald Live on Comedy Buff. Published 2017-09-12. Transcript available.

Norm Macdonald Live w/ Guest Rich Little (S03E11)

Today's show is sponsored by Upside Travel and Stitch Fix Men.
Well, it's a big show for me, Jenny.
Are you excited?
I am excited. Rich Little, my hero as a child.
Wow.
I saw him at the National Arts Center in Ottawa, Ontario.
But we'll get that when the great man gets here.
Speaking of getting here, where's my trusty sidekick, Adam Egot?
He's always late lately. He's lately late.
He's taking liberties with this program, is what I think.
Tsk, tsk.
Yes, tsk, tsk is correct.
Oh, it's my phone.
Adam Egot, speak of the devil.
I'm going to put him on speaker so as not to exclude you.
Thank you.
Adam Egot, you're on speaker with Jenny and Norm.
Hi, Adam.
Oh, hi, guys.
How's it going?
Oh, you don't sound good.
I'm not good.
Well, you've got to come in and do the show.
There's no way I can make it.
I'm just incredibly ill.
Oh.
Well, listen, that's bad news, but don't worry because I have the solution.
I'm going to get a little reballed here.
But what I do whenever I get sick, I make love with my wife.
You should try that.
All right, I'll try it.
Okay.
Fine.
Good, good.
All right.
Bye.
He'll be fine, somebody.
He doesn't have a significant other.
You know what that means.
Oh, yeah.
We all know what that means.
Well, it's been two hours, Jenny.
How's the left side of my head looking?
Right about done.
Oh, excellent.
I'm still kind of worried, though, because still no sign of Adam Eagat.
It's Adam Eagat.
I'm going to, you know, just not put it on speaker because he might say
something.
Adam Eagat, how are you?
Are you feeling any better?
Oh.
Oh.
Huh.
He says he's feeling better, and also, that I have a lovely bedroom.
Hmm.
That Adam Eagat.
What an operator this guy is, huh?
My wife's a slatterny woman.
Hmm.
Sorry to hear that.
Is that the word?
It's a word.
Maternly.
She's a dishwater...
Ah, whatever.
As long as Adam Eagat's feeling better.
Tonight, for the full hour,
Rich Little, and it's going to be a great show for me because Rich was the
first entertainer I ever saw
in my life.
Really?
You don't get around much.
Well, I was only a boy.
Now, my mother, who I talked to this morning, who was very excited about the
interview,
asked me if you would do an impression, her favorite impression that you do.
Yeah.
Charlotte Whitten.
Oh, my gosh.
She's Canadian?
She lives in Ottawa.
She lives in Ottawa.
Yeah.
My hometown.
She loved Charlotte Whitten.
Yeah.
When was the last time you did Charlotte Whitten?
Probably a while.
Well, you know, people come up to me from Canada and remember me from years and
years ago and
asked me to do Charlotte Whitten, John Diefenbaker, Lester Pearson, and, you
know, and it's just
such a long time ago and, of course, none of the American audience know any of
these people.
Of course, but could you do it for my mom?
Charlotte Whitten, I could do it.
Well, Charlotte Whitten talked like this, Richard, you're useless.
I want to chop down this tree.
Grab an axe and we'll chop it down together.
She was the mayor of Ottawa.
There you go, mom.
I've done what you asked like a good Canadian son.
And you know what?
Diefenbaker, I remember.
My friend and I did chop this tree down.
It was at her summer place.
Yeah.
And we did chop this tree down.
And as we're chopping, my friend says, my dad is working for her opponent.
Let's have it fall on the house.
Oh, my gosh.
And we didn't, but we thought about it.
What the hell are you boys doing?
Now, when I was a young boy, this is what we would do.
We all idolized Rich Little.
Oh, gosh.
And so we would run around doing impressions of people we didn't know, you know,
that you had done.
And so we would do John Diefenbaker.
And I remember the line you did was, some people say, I look like an owl.
That's right.
But I don't care.
Frankly, I don't give a hoot.
That was my big joke at age 17, you know.
He did look like an owl, didn't he?
Absolutely looked like an owl.
Now, you worked on the Judy Garland Show.
Yes.
At what age?
In my early 20s.
So this must have been incredibly intimidating.
Well, it was a big step for me, you know.
I mean, I've been on television in Canada and done a lot of clubs in Canada.
What television was there in Canada?
Well, there was...
Wood Glover's Luncheon Days?
No, no, there was a lot of variety shows in Toronto, you know.
My gosh, Tommy Ambrose and Joan Fairfax and, you know, a lot of shows in Canada.
Don Messer's Jubilee.
Yes, Don Messer's Jubilee.
And gosh, I did a lot of those shows in Canada.
But Mel Torme came to Toronto and...
The Golden Fog.
No, The Velvet Fog.
The Velvet Fog.
And I did a television show with him and he was a huge movie buff.
I mean, he knew everything about movies.
And so he loved me because I was doing impressions of Glenn Ford and, you know,
people that had never been done before, you know.
William Holden and Dana Andrews.
William Holden.
What would he sound like?
One of the greatest voices ever.
William Holden.
We have not missed you and I.
We have not missed that many-splendored thing.
Yeah, that's a hard voice.
My lord.
Anyway, he loved all these character actors.
And we were talking to you right before the show.
You also are an incredible movie buff yourself.
Well, yeah, I watch a lot of movies on the buff.
I've always been, I mean, I have a collection of movies at home.
I must have a couple of thousand movies.
Wow.
Me and my trusty sidekick, Adam Egot, we love film noirs.
Yeah.
Oh, I love film noirs.
We watch all the old.
And the Asphalt Jungle is probably our favorite.
Absolutely.
And Sterling Hayden.
Did you ever do Sterling Hayden?
Oh, yeah.
I did Sterling Hayden.
Oh, I'd love to hear Sterling Hayden.
Sterling Hayden.
That kind of a voice that sounded on one plane.
You know, he sounded like this.
He hardly ever got excited.
I'm going to do my impression of Sterling Hayden laughing.
Want to see it again?
But I loved all those characters.
Yeah, sure.
And Mel knew them all.
And so he put all these voices.
I think he put about 30 on a tape.
And he played it for Judy Garland to get me on the Garland Show.
Well, it wasn't that generous.
Yeah, well, he was going to be doing special musical material for Judy on her
show.
So he was going right from the show we did in Toronto to work on the Garland
Show.
And he took this tape with him and played Judy this tape of me doing all these
impressions.
And she was not impressed.
Really?
No.
She said, I don't like impersonators.
Oh.
And actually, she said it stronger than that.
But I won't tell you what she really said.
But she did not like impersonators.
And Mel thought, but listen, he's doing Dennis Weaver.
He's doing Alfred Hitchcock, Fred McMurray.
My gosh, this guy's different.
And she said, I'm not impressed.
Now, all of a sudden, the tape is still going.
She heard my James Mason.
And she went, wow, play that again.
And so he did.
And she loved James Mason.
Because she made that movie, A Star is Born, with him.
And that's how I got on the Garland Show.
She said, book on it.
From the Mason impression.
Because of the James Mason impression.
Listen to me, Esther.
A career is a curious thing.
Talent isn't enough.
You always need a sense of timing.
And I foreseeing the turning point or recognizing the big chance when it comes
along and grabbing it.
That was the speech I did from A Star is Born.
And then a few years after that, I saw James Mason at American Film Institute
Tribute in L.A.
And I was invited.
I think they were honoring John Houston.
And there was James Mason.
So I went up to James Mason and I said, Mr. Mason, I'm Rich Slittle and I do an
impression of you.
And he went, what on earth for?
And he walked away.
So anyway, I just wanted to thank you for getting me on the Judy Garland Show.
I said, I don't know what you're talking about.
Move away from this idiot.
And that was it.
Did John Houston have anything to say?
John Houston.
You know, I made a film with John Houston and Orson Welles.
Whoa!
What?
And back in the 70s.
And I got to know John Houston quite well.
And Orson was terrific.
Boy, he had a great voice too.
Orson had one of the best voices there was.
Well, it's so funny because I made this movie called The Other Side of the Wind
with Orson
Welles.
It was never finished.
Wow.
And still sitting in a can somewhere.
But anyway, we filmed it in Phoenix.
And there I was suddenly in my late 20s working with John Houston and Orson
Welles.
And I was thrilled.
Who directed this film?
Orson directed it.
And John played a part and I played his assistant.
And anyway, I remember one day we went to Denny's for lunch, you know.
And first of all, Orson said, I don't think we can go to Denny's because I don't
think
I can fit into one of the booths.
And he said, John said, we'll wedge you in.
So anyway, we went to Denny's and we wedged Orson into this booth.
And we were having lunch at Denny's.
And a lady recognized me because I'd done a lot of television.
And she didn't know who these two guys were.
You'd done Carson by that time.
Yeah.
Oh, I'd done a lot of TV.
Well, they were just two elderly gentlemen.
They didn't know one of the great directors of all time, one of the great actor
directors
of all time.
Yeah, just forgot.
And so she comes up and she says, Mr. Little, can I have your autograph?
You know, and I'm sitting there with these two icons.
And I'm going, of course you can.
What's your name?
Oh, yes.
So to Pat.
And I'm writing a big thing on here.
And they're watching.
And then she's kneeling down.
And as I'm signing, she says in a kind of loud voice, who's your fat friend?
Meaning Orson, right?
Who's your fat friend?
Who's your fat friend?
And John Huston, without missing a beat, says, well, we found him on the
highway.
And he looked undernourished.
And we brought him in here for a cherry Coke and some fries.
And we're going to fatten him up and send him on his way.
And Orson went, well, thank you, kind sir.
And that's true.
Who's your fat friend would be a great title for your book.
But it's called Little by Little.
And I was just perusing it.
And it's fascinating because, by God, you've met everybody.
Well, I've been very fortunate to have worked with a lot of the greats.
Let me ask you about that movie.
What was it called?
Which one?
That was never released?
The Other Side of the Wind.
The Other Side of the Wind.
Yeah.
Now, do you feel that if you had not been an impersonator, you would have tried
to be an actor full-time?
Well, I did try to be an actor.
I started out in Ottawa, you know, at the Little Theater.
I know the Little Theater.
A lot of plays.
And I really wanted to be an actor because I was such a movie buff.
Then I started doing impressions.
And that sort of caught on.
And then I said to myself, wait a minute.
There's only about 10 impersonators in the world.
And there's about 50,000 actors.
So I think I'll be an impersonator.
Oh, good.
You know, did you see the Joan Rivers documentary?
I saw it.
And she was so frustrated that she couldn't be an actress.
And I felt the same way.
I'm like, well, you're so funny.
Why would you want to compete with all these people, you know, when you're so
hilarious?
But she did.
She wanted to become an actress, a serious actress?
Yeah, she seemed very, yeah.
She made a couple of movies, didn't she?
Because she was in the documentary, she was putting on a play.
And she really wanted to be taken seriously.
But I agree with you.
Why when you're...
That is what I wanted to ask you.
When you began, I loved you when I was a kid.
But who did you love?
There were no impersonators, were there?
Well, yes, there were impersonators ahead of me.
Frank Gorshin was a little ahead of me.
A little bit.
A little bit.
And George Kirby.
Sure, a little bit.
He was ahead of me.
Nobody when you were a kid.
Will Jordan, who did Ed Sullivan, looked like him.
He was ahead of me.
Nobody when you were a kid, though.
When I was a kid, I'm trying to think.
Larry Starch from F Troop.
Yeah.
He was an impersonator.
Still alive, perhaps.
I think.
I think he is still alive, yeah.
I'm trying to think.
Well, a lot of