Lock the gate. All right, let's do this, how are you? What the fuck is what the fuck buddies? What the fuck? Nix what's happening? I'm Marc Maron. This is my podcast, Rest in Peace. Larry King, one of the great interviewers, passed away a few days ago. We reposted my conversation with him, which was a little tense at the beginning, but then it eased into something kind of great. So if you're not familiar with Larry in that way.

As we're talking about, Larry, it's a it's a nice experience and we do that here at at the shop, we repost. The talks I had with people who passed away in memory of them, it's not something I like to do, but it's something I'm happy to do. And it also reminds me of my own life experience of where I was, what I was doing 2013, driving to Beverly Hills to talk to Larry King, who was upset with me because we had gotten the times crossed up.

I thought I was on time. He thought I was. Wait. But it's it's a moment in time and, you know, he will be missed, but no one can say he didn't live a full life.

It's always sad when people pass, but it's. A little more understandable when they're old as fuck.

But yeah, today on the show, I talked to George Wallace, the comedian, probably seen him doing standup somewhere, even if you don't watch a lot of stand, he's he's been doing it everywhere for decades now.

He's got a renewed popularity because of his Twitter feed. He's got a new book out called Bull Twit and whatnot. And yeah, I've talked to him. Sort of amazing. I haven't talked to him yet. He's a guy that started in New York. He's one of these guys. You know, when you come up as a comedian, one of the the things you deal with, depending on the club, if there's a club that's an old club that's been around for a long time, there are a few comedy clubs.

That come to mind, certainly the Comedy Store here in Los Angeles, but like Zanies. In Nashville, where. There's just hundreds of headshots of people from back in the day and as a young comic and when you work these clubs, there were more of them back in the day, road clubs that lasted through the 80s that have been there since the beginning.

And you just walk around looking at these pictures and you wonder, like, what the who's that guy? What happened to that guy?

I used to used to do a joke about that, about the about the Comedy Store when he walked into the Comedy Store.

It's just like hundreds of headshots. The gallery of sadness where you you play the game. Oh, yeah, whatever happened to that guy probably ended OK, maybe not, but whatever.

But I just remembered George Wallace, his picture at the comic strip in New York, another one of those places where it was just a strange black and white promotional shot of him as a preacher.

And I always wondered, like, what was that about? So that was interesting to talk to him about, about that. I don't know what's going to happen. None of us do. I know we feel better now that we've been released from this hostage situation, from this brain fucking that we've all had to go through this toxic brain fucking American fascistic swarm. But I do think I have to acknowledge I don't know about you, but because of what I've experienced over the last year with the the death of someone I loved and the general condition of plague and.

Donald Trump's presidency is, I believe that I am experiencing some PTSD and I think we all are and I think it's ongoing. I think we've adapted to this isolating life or to this walk down life and whoever you know, however many of you having to go to work every day and live in that, the sort of fear of that, hopefully many of you who needed who are vulnerable, who are older, are getting the vaccine and feeling a little bit more safety.

But there is a PTSD that we're going to have to get through, I think I don't know how I don't know where this goes, but I just hope you're taking care of yourself. I have begun a meditation practice.

That I've been told that I should do for years, but I've been doing it and I've added some yoga to it back in the day, not too far back, but in the last decade, I used to do yoga once a week, some hot yoga with Joe at the Hollywood YMCA, and I haven't done it in years, but I bought a nice mat and I've got it right next to my bed. I get out of bed, I do a few sun salutations, and then I sit cross-legged and I throw on the Headspace app and I don't know if that I it's weird because I listen to that guy.

OK, take a few deep breaths. Breathe in the nose, out through your mouth. OK, I'll give you a pep talk of some kind, creativity is something we all want to do, but I can't quite do his voice. But I'm finding that the guided meditation thing, you know, where you're supposed to like if you have a thought, you know, don't get mad, whatever.

Get back to your body. Get back in your breath. But, you know, he's talking I get to a point where guided meditation where, like, I was right there. And then you would tell me to catch my breath and count your breaths.

Up to 10 in and out. One, two. Three, just pay attention. It's like I was I was in it, I was right there. I do seem to get there after about 10 minutes of him when he says, time to open your eyes, I'm like, I just got in it and I've been staying in and a little longer. Again, I don't know what it does. I don't don't know what it's for.

I don't know why. But I'm doing it because it can't fucking hurt, and God knows I have the time and the yoga I need to stretch because I'm compulsively exercising to maintain my sanity.

And I'm 57 fucking years old and I wake up and I feel like I'm broken. I feel like the entire machine needs fucking oil. I feel like, oh, my God, is this the way it's going to be for the rest of it? So the yogas helping, the breathings, helping, it's all helping. But it's weird, isn't it, man, it's weird, there's a a creeping sadness still isn't there?

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Been watching some movies, have been reading this book, watching the movies that the book is about. Watched in the Heat of the Night. Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger, terrific Norman Jouissance movie watched I Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. The Stanley Kramer movie Will Difficult watched Bonnie and Clyde, but Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.

Wow. Spencer Tracy. Holy fuck. His last movie, Drop Dead before it came out. Just stunning. Just amazing. Bonnie and Clyde, I watched the other two movies that the book's about are The Graduate and Dr. Doolittle.

What does that book called? I am so fucking bad pictures at a Revolution. I don't know if I'm going to get to Dr. Doolittle. And God knows I've seen the graduate a lot. But I'm I'm nearing the end of the book, and it's sort of like he's bringing all this together. It's sort of, you know, kind of talking about the shift in the business. But it's such a great read and great to watch the movies. Also watch to watch that new movie Promising Young Woman.

Is that what it was promising? Young woman promising. Yeah, with Carey Mulligan and my former Globe co-stars are in it. Chris Lowell. Allison Aubrey. It was it was a heavy movie. It's a disturbing movie. It's a dark movie. It's a powerful movie.

It delivers a punch at the end. It's kind of sad but satisfying. But I do not know why you would take that story personally and sort of couch it in kind of an indie comedy framework or slight campiness to it.

You know, this is like because like sometimes if you if you make a film that is heavy, I mean, this is a real examination and revenge tale about toxic masculinity.

Is that what if what if you had played that straight in the way of like what if you're just approached it as a real a human story without kind of buffering it with this kind of indie campiness? I don't know. I'm not saying it's a bad movie.

And and I and I was satisfied at the end of it, but I don't know if I'll remember it in the way that I would remember. Like, there's a like there's an old Clint Eastwood movie that is similar in theme called Sudden Impact, which, you know, really delivered a message about female rage around helplessness in the face of abuse.

And the most toxic. Of the masculinity, you know, rape, murder. And like, I'll never forget it, and this new movie, Promising Young Woman is great, it's well performed, but there is a sheen to it because of the indie campiness that I wonder if it undermines the power of the story. You be the judge.

I'm just talking a little movie review and like a movie review.

I enjoyed it. I delivered. It was satisfying at the end. But those are my issues.

And it doesn't matter. Watch it, see for yourself. All right, listen. Quick cat update, Buster, Sneezy, he's a little sneezy, very talkative, we're bonding deeply. I always knew this would happen once the old guys passed, I knew Buster and I would have our time and we do. You can check out my Instagram live every day. If you want to check in with Buster and be part of the conversation. He's got a bit of a catnip problem right now.

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It's one of those right around the corner from me, George Wallace.

His new book is Bold Twit and Whatnot. It is available at George Wallace Dot Net. And this is me talking. To the comedian George Wallace. You see me, George. I see you very well, man, of course I do. Thank you so much. Were you at that at Wauconda? Oh, really? You're down in Tijuana? Yes, sir. Is that where you come from?

I'm born and raised in Atlanta and I'm right now. My condo was one mile from where I was born.

So you. Oh, so you're living down there? What? I live in New York City and I live in Las Vegas. And I live in Los Angeles. Do you actually have you own places and all those places? I do.

I own 17 properties. I told myself I didn't do drugs. But, you know, I came to an area where I was making a lot of money in 2008, 2009 in Las Vegas. Yeah. And I just found myself buying cheap properties and I really screwed up this time. When the market is down, make sure you buy, man.

You can buy a lot. You haven't been buying any new properties.

No, I have enough. I'm trying to get rid of them now. I'm trying to get rid of the property, especially my New York City, because maintenance is a bitch. And, you know, if you know New York is not your primary address, they add another two and a half percent to your mortgage, to your maintenance. Oh, really? Yes. Maintenance and maintenance is know that's what I'm going to sell my place.

How do they know when you're not living there? Primarily just because the doorman rat you out. How do they know?

Because when you file your taxes, you have to you know, you get a new tax.

So you found in two places. Yes. So you can't do that. So, Atlanta, how long you have down there? I don't live here.

I'm just here. According to him, I came down in March 14. You got all month that most my my time is all over the world. But I got a lot of family here in Atlanta. And so I'm here and I'm pretty strict about quarantining. Yeah. In the house since March 14th. Very seldom I go out, all my food is delivered to the door, my really groceries and our deliveries, whatever. I go to the doctor and I'm really scared to go to the doctor.

I got a shot man. Yeah, we got the conviction. Yes, sir. Congratulations. Thank you so much. My I call my doctor, I call them all and lied to them, told us I need a shot A.S.A.P.. Yeah. And the first one, nobody could get it. And one guy says, I got a dosage. If you'd like to come in tomorrow morning at nine fifteen, we'll bring you in. So I'm not interrupting.

I was there and I'm glad I got it. I'm in Atlanta, home of the CDC. So they're saying, get it.

And a lot of African-American people are still a little shaky about getting it because the experiment we went through many years ago with the simplest drug, the trip to Tuskegee, the Tuskegee trials, not good, you know, and there could be another trial.

Now, I don't know. I just know I'm old and I've got the shot. I want to be in the no, but we're all in on it now.

If it's a trial, it's on all of us. George, this time we're all going down. Did you get the shot? No, I'm not old enough, you old fucker.

You're sixty fifty seven fifty point fifty seven men.

God bless you and God bless you and God bless you. So I did it and Santo got it on Saturday where he gets so he got it in New York City. Why is he able too. How old she is. Sixty six. Oh so he's, he's in the age group huh. Yeah.

You know it was amazing. George was like No fifty on the list with worse conditions. Just couldn't get it. It wasn't distributed properly but it was around.

Right. I mean it was around. So you called a few guys and you're like, you know, a guy's got some. Well, I called my doctor and I said, if you know anything, let me know, and through some way, somehow he got dosages. I went there. I'm so you know, my job is to try to write jokes. And so I'm sitting there and I'm very cautious about my mask and my shield, our Moscow, where she'll last as our everything.

Yeah. And but I didn't I shouldn't even say this, but I did. I cut a fart in the doctor's office and none of his patients have kollwitz. Yeah. Tell me about it. Smeltzer They got up and walked the fuck.

So that's that was their test for the day. If they were, if they were there for a covid test they got one from your ass the got one.

So I think you know, because I'd be lying if I said, you know what, I'm going to open up my own testing sites, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I shouldn't be doing fart jokes, but but it did work.

Hey, you know, I talked to another comedian in England about fart jokes. Fart jokes have been around since the beginning of time. George, fart jokes always work, no matter how cheap they are. Everybody enjoys a fart joke.

Would you say that again? It's just the fact that I don't do fart jokes. Why not? People laugh at you that you grew up. But jokes have always, always, always been there.

And they I think it just as you get older, people expect more out of you and that's all.

But you always go with what works the most simplicity where you want to be the fart guy.

Do you want to be the first guy?

I'll talk about so much shit out of them. I mean I mean, I don't play by the rules and we don't talk about anything and everything. I really don't have a show. I'm quite nervous talking to you because I have absolutely nothing to talk about. And I'm going to be with you like an hour. I'm going, what the hell am I going to sleep on hour?

Well, no, I mean, it's interesting because like I've known of you and about you and I've seen you around since, you know, since I started doing comedy, you know, so there's like it's one of those areas where you're a guy that I don't really know how you started, but, you know, you were around in New York with that whole second wave of guys.

Yeah, but like you, so you're born in Atlanta. And what happened was how would you end up in New York? Let me tell you something.

I really I wanted to be a comedian since I was six years old. Why would you see Red Skelton? Oh, yeah, Red Skelton. Also Red Skelton. I saw a red box. I saw Richard Pryor. I saw Johnny Carson on TV, on TV.

And Milton Berle was a kid in high school. What I would do, I would hear these guys on TV on Thursday night. Oh, yeah. I think Thursday night was like Monday night on Carson. Right. So I'm going to the next one. I go to school and I'll do the jokes and people would laugh. Well, I don't know. You know, I listen to the party records with a red fox and Judge Pigmeat Markham and Momma's Maybelline.

People like you parents have them.

Yes, they have them. And, you know, when they went away, Liberal Party records. Right, because they were dirty. I got some of those. You have them. I've got some old red Fox Party records. Yeah, I guess I got pigmeat records.

You got pigment. I do. Yeah, I've got to do that, man. I got one of my favorite photos. I got all of my comedians down in my community I grew up with. I got Richard Pryor, big executive moms, maybe I got Red Fox, even Jay Walker on there. I got a lot of people are with you. Pictures with, you know.

No, with me. I've been a little older than even George Walker had I come along in comedy. And three years earlier, Jay Jay, Jay Walker would not have had a job. I'm not going to beat him out of that damn job.

So you started doing comedy in high school or.

No, no, I'm with George and I went to Ohio. I needed a degree in transportation.

How did you decide on transportation?

Because I always looked like my father travel and we went all over the country and I just loved traveling and what he can't get on it. My dad was a butcher, the traveling butcher.

It's to work. And I work for Swift and Company. So I know that that's the Butterball turkey in those people. So but we always travel and I think. I learned that. To this day, people that travel are smarter than most people when you travel alone, what's going on in the world? It's so important and I hope you do travel. I hope you travel. But do you travel?

Well, you know, when we go to work, when we're able to work around the world. No, no, no, no, no. I mean, do you sometimes, like, take off from what we do? Because when we work, we work. We don't understand a lot about us. So we go on to we go I'm going to Cleveland. I'm going to Chicago. And you call your family. They don't understand you were here, you know, but I'm working.

I'm not here to bullshit.

I guess so. But I try to get around. Don't you get around when you go to work? I if I try to see the city sometimes like I I've worked in Europe, I'll travel around a little bit. I travel a bit. Probably not as much as I should. Do you.

Oh I do. I was doing two hundred fifty thousand a year. I just got a call last week to do Hong Kong and go back to Hong Kong and do more shows there.

But do you travel without working? Yes, I do. I like I said, I get two hundred fifty thousand easily. I decided, oh man, I love that airplane to get up in that seat. And you just asked me where do I live? Normally my little crazy answer is I live at United and Delta. I love flying. I'm not flying. I love learning. People that travel, you learn of the cultures. And where do you like to go?

Where have you been? You name it.

I've been from Shanghai to to to Singapore to Dubai to Johannesburg.

Where do you go back to. Where do you like. I've been there many times.

Spain. I used to go to Spain six times Spain because that's where the nude beaches and the freaks were. Oh I couldn't be a freak in America but I used to be a freak in Spain.

Yes. Secret freak. Your secret Spanish freak. Oh, yeah.

Everybody's got their little. Yeah, secrecy's, I just never looked at another one. No, I never went nude on the beach, but I used to love going to the nude beaches.

So you were the freak that looked at the nude people wearing your trunks. I swear to God, I was freaking out. These beaches are freaky. People were having sex up in the woods. You know, I used to go watch business. I use I'm telling home and love. But, you know, it's all about fun.

Nobody's getting hurt and they're OK with it. It was OK to watch. They didn't mind. I don't know whether they might not, but people like to do that, people would like to do that in the but all over the world, like going to Dubai. I love all of the like. Dubai is an interesting city. I don't know whether you've been there or not.

I haven't. But you must have done stand up there, right?

I just said I've done stand up everywhere I go. South Africa to most interesting places would be China and Hong Kong.

I did stand up in Beijing and I was in Hong Kong. Yeah, Beijing.

I did an expatriate expat gig and it was weird to be there, man. It's intense to be in China.

Beijing is intense because it's a regal city, kind of like Washington, D.C. But when you get to Shanghai, you know, Shanghai is my favorite part of the world. Shanghai is three times larger than New York City, three times more modern in New York City. So it's amazing. And you start thinking because we grew up, that America has everything. Well, other countries are doing well, too, even though that being a communist city is a well, what the hell is going on there?

Selling shit on the street like they do in New York City, in Hong Kong. Just beautiful, man.

Beijing is crazy. I've never seen so many different types of bicycle vehicles. Yeah.

And people are just like getting haircuts on the street and they're selling kittens.

I don't know if that's what I was going to take the same puppies and kittens on the street, right? Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. So you think this would not be a problem communism at all when you think that's not communist, that's commercial to the mainland? No.

I mean, I don't think there's any straight up definition of communism anymore. It's so, it's so dug in there. It doesn't mean you can't sell kittens on the street.

There's other reasons you probably shouldn't sell kittens, you know, also to sell kittens and chickens and snakes, all kinds of shit.

That's my problem is like, are these for food or pets? That's what I had a problem with understanding. What are these kittens for?

Man, I never thought about it like that. That's no, wait a second, too. It's crazy. You could do it. Couldn't do.

Yeah, of course you could be today. Sorry buddy.

I can't imagine. But you know what is good. You know what is good in China? McDonald's, we have double and KFC. I think they use the old formula with the French fries and the grease.

You know, I did. You know what I did notice when I was in Beijing, those were the only two logos I understood. Like, I like everything, all the other signs. I didn't know what they said, but I'm like, oh, there's the bucket, there's the arches.

Now, you would be surprised when you leave Beijing and you go down to Shanghai. Yeah. Then you would see, you know, you got your Haagen-Dazs ice cream, you got your Starbucks coffee. I don't know why it's so different. And Hong Kong is just like America, to be honest, because, you know, Hong Kong was a British colony. So the first language was English.

Yeah. I don't know if it is anymore.

They took to nineteen ninety, not nineteen ninety nine and it's causing a lot of problems. And that's why I just told you I was summoned to come back to Hong Kong to do a show. I don't know what I can do, what I used to do.

I don't know what it's like there anymore. It sounds like shit went down. It does. And I thought they were going to really they still fight, but they're locking people up and sending them to jail in China mainland. So it's getting pretty tough, scary stuff. But trouble is the best thing you could ever do. Make sure you continue to travel. Do you work all the time? Do you? I do.

I work, but I don't work out of the country enough, you know? I mean, I did. Do I? I went to Ireland recently, which I love.

I never. You never been I never been to Ireland or Scotland because I don't like London, not Scotland and Ireland are beautiful.

Are right. But I mean if you like that kind of stuff green and damp and you know, I like that.

Even though I want to move to Vancouver, British Columbia, I don't like green in Denmark, even though I think Seattle, Washington and Portland, they're green in town. And that's the most beautiful part of America that.

Yeah, it's great. You want to go to Vancouver, that's where you're going to run. Let me tell you, I want to go to Vancouver because of covid. Yeah. And I'm just going across the line. I think they've got like 7000 deaths in Canada because of leadership.

No, it's like, you know, like but I mean, you got the vaccine.

Oh, I've got to get another shot the other way. I've still got to wait another three weeks. I'm not playing with this man. I'm not ready to go into the clubs yet. And I thank God for the young comics that are going on to the cause. But if there's any germ material, that's where it is in the clubs.

Yeah, ain't going out. I'm not going out to the clubs.

Oh, my God. You make you see these guys going out and see a few of them coming up sick lately. Yeah. You see droplets coming out of your mouth, let alone the audience with the laugh at your jobs if be really funny. Yeah, yeah. That's always going on. And the nastiest thing in the world is being on stage.

I mean the people going on the mic backstage covid, it's like a perfect storm of covid.

Yeah I can what we've done and you've done, we've done fifteen hundred thousand shows we can wait.

So in Ohio you're getting your transportation degree. How did that work out. Where were you working. Thank you for going back there. I've got a degree I went to Pakistan to honorable company because they have the tuition assistance program, so I got a degree and and transportation. And I knew, you know, with my outgoing personality, I got the degree. It was only an associate degree at the time, but I did walk out of the library.

So this allows them to take a test anywhere. And they illuminate libraries as well as get out of here. And the next week there was some more scholarship money. So I'm about to get my other degrees in marketing and transportation.

So you're all set for comedy with transportation and marketing. You ready to go? It's time to be honest.

I had degrees and then I moved to New York City to become a comedian, but I needed a financial cushion. When you were working at Firestone, what were you doing making computer, computer and computer technologies? Are you learning you weren't on the same computer? No. Hey, I know the computers back in the day. Remember when one computer to take up a whole room in the corridor?

IBM, yeah. Yeah, I did that. Yeah. So you did what? I ran the machine. I ran the cards that you would punch the cards. Data entry. Data processing. I was punching the buttons like like are you operating your board right now. That's the most amazing job I think of. When I go to a radio station, I see a guy punching those buttons and making them go back and forth. I just want to do that.

But I just operate a computer. Yeah, I used to do the printing and doing the punch and buttons, just reading the instructions. So I did that. But that was to get a financial cushion to get me just to get a degree. I was bad. I'm not I'm not a good student man. I need to go back to school now.

It's not going to happen. Giorgio's days are behind you. I don't want to go back to school. My head my head is fucked up, man, because, like, I don't use a lot of I'm kind of embarrassed. I don't use a lot of big words like Dennis Miller.

You don't need to. Well, I had a I had an instructor, which is Misko, and he said one profound statement. Never speak what people understand. You always speak where they never misunderstand. You be as simple as possible. And that struck a chord in my head. And to this day, I don't use a lot of big words. I don't know a lot of big words, said I just two weeks ago. I just got into insurrection and you had to look it up.

Insurrection was a new one and the other one too.

Seditious. Seditious. Yeah.

Look that one up every every five years when there's a new court, something big happening. You know, we had the O.J. the O.J. trial. We had a defendant not knew about the defendant, but the defendant. And they all of a sudden somebody said sequestering and well, oh, God, I've got to look that up.

Just so so every year I learn some new words so you can do it.

You can do it every day, George. You could just I think they have something on the computer. We learn a new word every day vocabulary.

But you don't get to the right place where you want to use it at the right time. So you learn it, then you forget it. But I do. I would like to go back to school and learn more. I like to learn more history. I like to learn more of everything.

But can't you do that on your own? What do you need a school for? I'm lazy now. It's right. You're right. You're on the computer. You can go in the computer every morning and you need someone to tell you.

You need someone to give you an assignment.

I'm old school. I need to sit in a chair with a desk desk. I think I would do better. What would be going to school? The actual being in class then?

I don't know how these young kids are getting away with online online learning. Yeah, that's got to be pretty tough. It's terrible.

It's tough for everybody. Their parents are going crazy. Everyone's going crazy. No one's everyone's in the house.

They're going, yeah, but I did that. I wanted to go to school to get a financial cushion. And then I sold drugs when I got to college.

So where does it. Nineteen to. What do you mean.

So, Rags, let me tell you something, young man, I, I am. Oh you have a new income and assets like eighteen fifty three. Oh.

What is selling rags mean. It was a joke man.

You'd be surprised how much money people make selling rags on rags like rags that you wipe things with.

Yes sir. I used to rags to riches.

I think I did that. I don't like your legs to my mechanics. You know, the mechanic has a drag and.

But you just. Where'd you get the rags to sell? Did you work for a rag selling company or is there a place where how does it work?

I know this is a guy. So. Right. So I like that was when I got to New York. I needed to make some money to get a financial cushion. I realized that this is how old I am. When I was young, we had you had to go to the newspaper to read that one ads. Remember that? Uh huh, no. You're too young to remember.

Of course, they had the one in the back. In the back. Yes, yes, yes, yes. And so it said one hundred fifty to three hundred dollars a day. Check this out. And I checked it out and it was still in rags. And the name of the company was Cleveland Cotton Products. I went to school in Akron, Ohio, which is thirty miles down the road. I went back to Cleveland to learn how to sell rags and processing of rags, you'd be surprised how many people need rags, restaurant need rags, car dealership, meat rags, doctor's office.

And he drives everybody into schools, need rags to clean.

So you are deep into the rag racket, man.

Let me tell you something. I sold Shimao in 1970 to Wow, man. I sell well in things. I didn't have a name for it then. It was just full of disposable cloth.

Yeah, I got the rag.

Yeah, it was the new rag that was a disposable reusable cloth. Oh, I think that's the first day I will make thirty five hundred dollars in my life selling those selling rags. I sold it to Earl Scheib and I used to have a pen just like this little pencil would stick in my pocket. It was a scale until we arrived and I get the biggest read that happiness is about the way the rug. How much is this. How much are you paying for pound for at twenty three cents.

I got it right here. Weighs eight ounces. Oh man. That's 12 ounces. Just for one round. I can sell you brand new universal cloth every day just and you can reuse it. Reusable a brand new cloth. Wow. What. I had to change their way of thinking around the racks.

And that's how you made your fortune in rags.

I'm one of the first people to sell a disposable cloth at the dentist's office. Used to be a white napkin. They were put on your at the dental office. But as you know, now they put a hand to white with a plastic bag. I sold that many years ago.

So you're a pioneer. You're a rag pioneer. Well, I didn't make it all. Just do sell the shit, you know. Yeah. I saw a lot of PPY equipment way back then. So before ASML came out, I was selling that and I made a lot of money doing that. And then I wanted to sell advertising and I sell everything at Times Square. Yeah. Five thousand buses in New York City. I was vice president of that outdoor advertising company.

What do you think on the bus? All the five thousand buses in New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland. How'd you get that job?

I was sitting on Omonia Square in Athens, Greece, with a friend of mine was just talking about some our careers and that there was a friend that he knew that we were in Greece.

You were in Greece, Athens, Greece, and this is before you started doing comedy. You were just in Greece.

You took what the subway there was doing in Greece, Greyhound. I drove the back way. A lot of people don't know you can drive a Europe if you go to Berkeley.

But we were sitting talking about the young young men talking about careers. And that was a guy that he knew that that made like seventy thousand dollars a year selling advertising space.

You know, so you you learned how to you learned how to hustle, so you learned how to sell. I you had to sell this stuff. So that then got you involved with people.

Still wanted to be a comedian. Let's make one thing perfectly clear. Yes. Learning how to sell a product is the same thing is learning how to sell a joke. You got to go on stage and present the package. Right. I sold to I had big accounts, let's put it like this when I was in New York City. Catch a rising star. Nineteen seventy six I was. I was making seventy five thousand dollars then as a young kid, and that was and people said, you're going to quit that to become a comedian.

I never care at all. All I ever wanted to do was become a comedian. Never wanted to do any television. Never want to do any movies or anything like that. I just wanted to tell jokes because I knew a red box and all of the guys.

Patrick Henry Gratifies was so fucking funny, man. Yeah, I see.

I knew them and they would work in Las Vegas and we were told that Patrick Henry and Don Rickles, they would make it three hundred thousand dollars a year. That's all I need to make. What the fuck I need to do. That's all I wanted to make. And so.

So, so when you decided to start doing it, did you have an act?

Yes, because I had studied that in New York City. I studied Seinfeld and I started together in nineteen seventy six at Catch. A rising star was cast. That's what we're still best friend for five years. Right now we started together. Catch a rising star.

So do you remember your what was it, an open mic night or what you Monday night. Did you do that?

Yeah, I never I didn't have the pride. I couldn't sit there and wait for Lewis to decide when I was going to fucking go on. So I, I stayed downtown. I went to the old improv. I just couldn't I could not tolerate Louis Ferrando having any control over my life.

I'm talking I'm looking for my phone. I wanted to call Lewis and tell you how he fucked up your life.

He knows and he's still doing an account in that.

Amazing.

If we I think we've I think I think we're OK. Him and I. I've addressed that.

So I'm sure. So who was on there? Who was around when you guys first went up?

So where'd you meet Seinfeld at catch a catch he was sitting on, you know, I was my first down little black kid at the end of the bar. He was a little long haired Jewish kid at the other end of the bar. And we start talking, wanting to go on. And the next thing you know, that we started to bond and hang together.

And who was in charge of putting you on? Was it Rick Warren?

It was the boss. Of course you have Belzer and you had Bill Maher and you had Adrian agents.

So. But Belzer who? Brando, who ran the Monday night. One of the three of those. One of the three.

And so you're just this guy and you you had an idea because I remember seeing where do I see that? The picture I used to look at and when I was a kid, I did what I was doing.

I was a preacher. That's what you're get me to say, right? I was on the road.

Yeah. That picture at that comic strip in the robe and the preacher robe, you know, when you start and you don't know what you're doing.

So you decided on a preacher?

I went to a comedy school, a little comedy class, Urban Dalven and then Rick Overachievement, quite a few guys. We were in the class and only you have recovered and do what you do. And all I did, you know, I'm a country boy from Atlanta, Georgia, coming out of the church. And I would always mock the preacher. And he thought that was a great character. And I had a put on the road when the Jewish high is high and I had the yellow page telephone book, you know, you remember the Yellow Pages, I think.

Yeah, that was my Bible. The good book of Bill. Whatever you want. Look it up in the book. I was known as a Reverend George Wallace back in the day. Look at him in the book.

And that was your that was your hook. Yeah. And I was good at it, too, until I got to the hotel up in the mountains.

Wait, so you're doing that preacher shtick and the phone book and it was all improvised. He just kind of what you go with the jokes.

They were everything, you know, it was they they they want I didn't know shit. I don't know what I was doing, but I was having fun. I do have the personality to go up and sell myself. That's what I think most people that's one of my formula.

Sell yourself, catch a rising star. At that time, everybody was hanging out there. That was a big place. I mean, just kidding me. That's what David Brenner was, man. That's where Johnny Carson would come in and Brantner. Yeah. And Pat Benneton. Yeah, man. The big Steve Bloustein. Yeah. Boosler. Jay Leno. Oh my God. And I got to go on stage and you know, your pay was a meal if you wanted a hamburger or a steak when you made it go on and being just being able to make people laugh, you know, as a young person.

And they had a band that didn't have Italian food there. Oh, yes. That's what I was going to say. A shrimp scampi. Oh, my God. Was that good? Yeah. And I think it was run by the Italians. Yeah.

Yeah, I remember. Yeah. But that was before my time. So you started doing it and and. And who's your crew? It's you and Seinfeld and who else.

Well what happened was they were also building the comic strip two blocks away. So we were not regulars there. Kelly Rogers and like I said, Boosler and all of those guys, they were just open micas. Everybody was. But they all that was their club. So, yeah, the comic strip opened. So we went over there. I went over there to sell them advertising. We have them on the buses in New York City. What was that guy's name?

Richie Richard taken. Yeah, it's the chicken.

And Bob Wex, who also went on to Eddie Murphy. Right. So I said I'd do a little after. You need to put your business on the street and the back, all of these buses and put you on one hundred buses going up and down. Second Third Avenue. Eat, drink. Be married to comic strip and, you know, you can get into the clubs, they were just packed, they were packed and so was like a new thing.

Yeah, it was a new thing. And I said, I do a little company myself. Said, well, come in tomorrow night, Thursday night and audition. I went in and my robe and my telephone book and my briefcase here, just the right Reverend Dr. Joy. And they bring it up with music. So I would go up on or when the Saints go marching in and the whole audience would get into having fun and they brought it.

And I've been on stage every night since then. And I learned as I grew, I grew out of the you know, you can't do stock jokes. You got to learn how to be you, as they say. You don't even know who you are. Well, what was that?

What happened in the mountains, man? What was it what was the how did the good reverend end?

Let me tell you something. I went up to the mountains. That was an article yesterday. David Letterman just did an article. Just did a show with a little forgotten. Neal's named Brennan. Brennan. Yeah. And they talked about a guy that never bombs George Wallace. That's another guy he never bombs or they never met me before this. I was up in the mountains.

Man, I don't know whether you've ever bombed. I like to have a good time on stage, but I was in the mountains. I had to do forty five minutes. Who the fuck told me that I could go to the mountains in front of all of the Jewish people that know all of the Jewish jokes in the world? And I has stock jokes. Somebody thought I could go up there and make a hundred dollars a night of fifty dollars a night for forty five minutes with no real act.

Right. I went on that stage and I did my jokes. I got no laughs, no laughs for forty five minutes after last, after all from doing team clean going, going, going. Oh no, no this didn't hurt. This was worse than my mother's funeral. Oh and driving from New York.

Yeah. Yeah. Your, your heart died.

And John from New York to back to New York, I really, really wanted to drive up the Tappan Zee Bridge. No, you don't understand what that is. It was Batmen.

Oh, believe me, I've been doing this, you know, more than half my life. I definitely know what bad is.

Not not this, but this. I'm crying bad and and I got a little better.

And three years later, I went back up to the Mevoli and I didn't know and I did it. I did a better job. And there was old Jewish lady. She was a waitress there. She kept me on the shoulder. She says much better this time.

And so yeah. So I did that with the reverend and then I learned.

And so the reverend the reverend died with the Jews is that I continue to do the reverend.

I got better. And then I was so good at selling advertising. I went out to Los Angeles to sell advertising. So I did that. I had balls, man. I went to Universal. I put Diana Ross up on the doorstep at Elton John's on the buses in New York City. I was good.

So you never you're not one of these guys, sir. Do I only stand up? You kind of have one foot in the regular world, too.

Well, I do have a financial cushion to do what I wanted to do, had a brand new leg and have to make that money and selling advertising and ratings. So I had a little money to do it. And when I started, I had a car. If you had a car in New York City, all the other comedians where he got a car, he got a car, you know, I'm driving him around. Drive me insane. Take a drive around.

And did you guys were you doing road gigs here, too? I mean, we do the little things around New Jersey out here and out on the island, you and Jerry and Jerry and Paul Reiser and Larry Miller.

Yeah, but I didn't stand long enough. I was only there for six months because of my personality. I had the people going crazy and standing ovation. So, you know, once you get to be that good, it's kind of like killing it to sell overnight. Once you start killing at maybe I should move to the bottom of another level. So that's what took me out to Los Angeles.

How's Larry Miller? You talked to him? I haven't talked to him in a while.

Last time we went down to the comedy Magic Club, he was doing OK after his accident, you know? OK, good.

So so you move out to do comedy and to sell advertising.

I moved you to do advertising and then I got really to come in at the Comedy Store. They let you in now me tell you something.

What happened? I went off to I'm doing I'm like Mr. Big Shit in New York at comic strip or catch around star AM Improv and good times. I'm doing it for the average of Revenant. Yeah, I was doing the I don't know what you did but I was on up to seven sets a night. Sure. Yeah.

Running around that. We doing three clubs. You do that. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Running up and down. Up and down. Yes.

And you can become good with shooting material.

Once you get your timing down you can become good and you only have to do fifteen minutes and keep repeating. It should get better. Right.

And then sometimes you're doing so much that you not do that already with my, with my fucked up and I'm going to let you go read it as a yes, but I don't give a shit, I'm doing it again because I didn't do it three times.

You so. But when I got to California, I went to the comics comedy store. Yeah, and what year is 78? 77, OK. Seventy seven. I want them to come as a comedy show was close to the Comedy Store in Westwood. Robin Williams, everybody, you, David Letterman, we're all on stage together. And I went on an audition on a Monday night and I killed. Yeah. And I walked off stage and I went up the message trying to get a little approval.

Right. That you're not writing for my club. Oh, boy, boy. That was like bam, right in my heart. I'm like, damn, I am, I am doing well. And did I just killed it? Now you can't work for my club. So I said fuck. The next day I called in for spots. Yeah. Five spots for the week and I knew she was crazy. She just told me last that I could not work a club.

Right. Yeah. And I called in on Tuesday and I get five spots for the rest of the week and worked forever. And I'm one of the guys that worked at the Comedy Store and worked for the Improv back in the day. They didn't want you to work both.

So in seventy seven, the roster's was like you and Letterman and Leno. They were bigger than me.

Maypo, Paul Mooney, Paul Mooney, Elaine Boosler. Only so many good, good. Billy Crystal. All of those guys are out there, you know. Yeah, really cool. But but watching Richard Pryor work out there was awesome, right.

Did you get to talk to him? Do you get to man?

Yeah, I come off stage one. He's I really like what you do. I really like what you do. But he was awesome. I saw him. Good thing I learned about him. I saw him bomb so bad for three weeks.

Yeah. I saw him bomb two. It's wild. Yeah. He wouldn't even he wouldn't give in like me. Like I've got to do something funny. He bombed so badly. So this was the last album I think Sunset Live on Sunset. Right. I would not do much. No, no I can't do much about moments and it was so bad for three weeks was well this wasn't going to work the fourth week at least it's a little better than last week.

So let's go let's get this coming together. And after four months, you go like this motherfucker got a show live on Sunset doing it. So that was a great learning process to watch him. He saw him, built it from nothing. Just nothing.

Yeah, but Sam Kinison used to bomb every people, didn't know what the hell he was doing.

Yeah. They used to clear the room. Yeah. I got I got an old tape of his I when I was I was a doorman at the store in eighty seven so I spent a lot of time. Yeah. I spent a lot of time doing Sam's Coke. Eighty seven.

Only back then you didn't get to know me that well because by the time I did The Tonight Show. Yeah. You work on Saturday night so I was gone. I did just like shit at nineteen seventy nine and the next night I was opening for Natalie Cole in front of seventeen thousand people. That was when you kind of did The Tonight Show. You're gone. You have people behind you.

So that was it. So that was the gig. The right because you didn't have the comedy clubs yet but you had to open for four musical acts.

Yes. So open for Natalie Cole. I work for Diana Ross, George Benson, Smokey Robinson, Helen Reddy, Paul Anka. I was with Tom Jones the five years of the nine years with Tom Jones. I loved it. I loved it because then I didn't know I was working with Diana Ross doing the disco era. Yeah. And that was really something because she had like fifty percent was gay. One thing about the best audience in the world, black audience, Jewish audience, gay audience.

So so that was a mix of all three. So every night I go out, I get like a standing ovation and I got fired. Why? Because of ego, ego and our attitudes. Even me and you today. If there's a guy out in front of you, especially we're headlining, if they get a standing ovation, you should get the fuck off.

Yeah, I mean, it's kind of like, you know. But she's a singer. Yeah, but when you get a standing ovation in Las Vegas, that's an extra minute in a minute and a half off the clock. So they're like, come on, get out of the way.

So she she she fired you the the hotel fire? She did. She did smoke around. So she didn't fire you yet. Got fired last week. And two weeks later she had me back and I was working with for another year.

Did she fire you to your face. No, they call it they go through the agent, they go through the agents and see something. And then Tom Jones saw me with Diana Ross is coming with me and I Ohayon. I am seventeen thousand people and I will Miss Ross and I shows were amazing. Reach out and touch somebody's hand. And he didn't get a chance to work an audience like that. Yeah, I loved it. And so one week Diana Ross was off and they asked me to come in with Tom Jones and this just do.

I did not. I know it was big Shea Stadium. We're working very hard. But the next night, Tom Jones. Sixteen, seventeen thousand people. What the hell? International audience of all ladies down front on the way up to the stage. Right. And so I got in with him and opened up for him at Caesar's Palace. And they told me, Mr. Wallace, it's going to be pretty bad because the same five hundred ladies come to see Tom Jones every night down front.

So, you know, you'll have no audience down front, man. But, you know, those ladies were there every night to me and we did two shows a night. They're doing the same now. And, you know, that's what Lauren taught me. I've got to do some more material wrapping up a little ideas like the chandelier. You saw all those beautiful chandeliers out there. You know, I paid for those little simple shit like that.

And people knew what you're talking about in the gambling.

Tom Jones ladies taught you how to write new material.

Well. Well, I knew how to write. I knew I had to do it. Was it was fun to write new material because you had new people coming in every night. Yeah. Is, you know, you had to change it up, right, ladies? And I learned from that and I had to do forty five minutes to I did not have the regular twenty minutes of everybody else at forty five before Jones.

Yes. And he would be backstage sometime. I mean we became very close friends and he would sometime he said get your black ass off the stage you know.

So but what fun.

I was just learning process meant all I ever wanted to do was learn and work Las Vegas week.

You know, looking back on all those people that you work with who were the hoodie, who are the best people like who do you really like? I mean, Diana seems like she sounds a little difficult.

Tom seems fine, but it was difficult at first because she was having her divorce with Berry Gordy. She was having her and it was pretty big. That disco era was pretty, pretty big. And she ran the show.

And this is all in Vegas. You go on the road to know on the road all over America. All over America. And that's quite a life, huh? Then I start with Tom Jones, and he just turned out to be when I got to Tom Jones, he paid me more money than Diana Ross. Plus, I couldn't I was not allowed to touch my luggage. I was not allowed to do anything of the airplane. And I sat right across from him on the plane.

It was really good service. And then sometimes they make a mistake and and pay me and the hotel would pay me also. And I never said a damn word, you know. So Tom Jones, Donna Summer was great to work with. Smokey Robinson, George Benson, great. Everybody I worked with were great to work because I demand that.

So that was sort of I guess that's why it's interesting, because guys your age, like, you know who I talked to to Brad Garrett, who is younger than you.

But but there is there's a world of comics that, you know, the goal was to get to Vegas. Yes. At that time. Yes.

Because, like, there wasn't you know, when you started working, there wasn't some comedy club circuit you open for musicians. And then if you could get to Vegas and get, you know, 50 dates a year, whatever, that was the gig.

50 days a year excuse me, my friend, you're talking to me, OK, I know, I'm sorry.

Three hundred, three hundred and fifty dates a year, I was doing at least three hundred dates because I was working for everybody. Like I said, we were doing two shows a night. Yeah. And every night. And Tom Jones sometimes did thirty four weeks a year just on the road all over. You go to Vegas, you go through town, Lake Tahoe, Atlantic City, Radio City Music Hall, racetracks outdoors. Seventy thousand people. Yes.

Everywhere, all of the local venues.

But see like the I guess the thing is like so you know, by the time comedy clubs came around you were already dug in to making a lot of money in the then the old school way. But you never wanted to do TV, never wrote TV or nothing.

Could you say that again? By the time comedy clubs came around, enough people knew me from the tour that I would bring those people into the comedy clubs. And I wanted the first guy to say, give me 90 percent of the door.

Oh, so that's how you did it?

That's why I made a lot of money, because I had the Tom Jones people and also the people from The Tonight Show had to be from Arsenio, had audience coming from everywhere, always a mixed audience, black, white, young, old, and sold out at shows, sometimes five shows a day. Give me 85, 90 percent of the door.

You did the door deals. You invented the door. Do you get the drinks? I'll take the I'll take the cash.

Yes, yes, yes. And so. And there were only. The big clubs, Birmingham, Alabama, Atlanta, Georgia, San Francisco, that were never going to be full either way, but for sure, we were going to add shows one night when I came to town.

So that's when the comedy club explosion happened. You already had a built in audience because you built.

Yes, yes. Yes, I had to a plus. I was the one that could promote. I'm an advertising entrepreneur. I know how to go to the local radio station. I don't mind getting up at six o'clock in the morning and doing the radios I had to learn to do. If you had a chance to do radio or television in the mornings to attract an audience, always do radio. People watching on TV at home. They don't have jobs and everyone's listening to radio.

Yes.

So I learned how to do that. And I enjoy I love working. I just look what we do, man. Come on. I know. Do my thing right now when I go on stage. I just love the people. I'm blessed. I got the greatest job in the world and all I do is lie. I just I just love and I got to point out, just make up.

She could be president. That's that's the inside joke.

I want to be the greatest person in the world. But Trump is kicking my ass right now. Well, he's got now got to retire that joke.

Yeah. Did you work? How much TV did you do? Did you care about TV?

No, I wasn't in that at all. I just want to do is it's like today I'm not into television, even though I have two television shows I just turned on a TV show with not turned out. I was writing, I had a show with Jamie Fox. I was a second leader after him, a lead role called Daddy's Stop Embarrassing Me. Yeah. And we shut down on March 13 because of Kopans. And I wouldn't go back with Netflix.

I wouldn't go back because I'm black. It wasn't a good time to fly. Yeah. All of the preexisting conditions I made, my blood pressure was borderline. Yeah. And I decided I don't want to go back because you have to live in a hotel going back and forth. I made the right decision and I was making tons of money and paying me tons of money, but I decided not to go back. So that was a good TV show.

No, I have a new deal with a guy by the name of Norman Lear. You probably never heard of this guy. He's an older guy, did a couple of shows. He's ninety seven years old. Yeah, I have a deal with him on the on the shelf right now. So I'm slowly transferring into television and movies because I bought you know, I'm a resident in Las Vegas. I work when I want to work. I own my show in Las Vegas.

We'll talk about that later.

But you didn't do any writing early on. You just this is all new. All this one I started on. Let me put this. I did when I got in nineteen seventy seven, I got to the Communists too. I was on stage and the producers were inside for the Red Fox show. And then at the time they said, we think you should, we would like for you to come right on the Red Fox show. And I said, Oh no, I don't want it.

I don't know anything about being a job as a writer. They said, we know you can do it. You've got to do this. I don't think so. And this song is kind of crazy at the time. But they did tell me, well, it's thirty five hundred dollars a week.

And I said, well, maybe I can come up with a little song, you know, so but I did that so I did write.

The show was only on for one year. It was not Sanford and Son, it was a show that was on after.

So what was it like working. Went read. No idea. The show I was on Dave Ausborn Sergeant, what was his name, Officer Dunn office or something like that? He was my producer, Dave Osborne. He's the guy who produced the The Smothers Brothers show. We were sitting right. The Red Fox Show in. Somewhere in California, we'd like to show the show was shot at 8:00 at CBS, and it was it was on ABC in the day to do this.

It issued at one studio and then it airs on ABC.

But was it Bob Einstein? Bob Stein? Yeah, that's Albert Brooks, his brother. Yeah. All of a sudden. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He died last year. Yeah. Fantastic guy. And I wish I could have worked longer in writing. Writing is a good idea right now, but I was not a good writer back.

So you never got to work with Red. You wrote at one place and then they just do it. We go over and see him. Yeah we go, we go boom. We shot the show and then he knew me as a comic and so we did it that way. But I met a lot of people, nice guy. And when he was a very nice guy, but man did he do a lot of drugs. Yeah, he did a lot of drugs.

That's where I first met Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali came to CBS and he walked straight and he said, You walked straight to me because I'm his size. Yeah. And he says, I'm the greatest of all time. I said, come on, I'm good to it. So we go back and forth and it was good working for I had a lot of fun.

So how did how does how does Vegas work? So now because I know you like you had your own show there for a long time. You still got it. Obviously. I know I don't like Vegas, so I don't go there. But any time I go there, I see you on a billboard.

Yeah, I have more billboards in Las Vegas than any hotel because I went into Las Vegas because you're you're in advertising because I knew how I knew how to buy for boards and make them give me six.

I said, you got all these boards out on the street that are closed. There's nothing on them. Put me on them. And trust me, other people in Las Vegas will follow my run. Guess what? I did a lot of things. I was very creative in Las Vegas. People had one truck in all. The advertising truck goes up and down. Last week I put five up with your face on their back to back to back to back to back.

And everybody else was going, that's so stupid. Why would you put a fire trucks back to back to back to back to back to back at all? I can say is you're talking about it. Yeah, I remember you're talking about.

And so what happened when I got to Las Vegas, I bought the show. I own the show. I never worked for the hotels.

Who has that? What does that mean? What do you mean? You bought the show? It's called Falling.

I rent the room right at the Flamingo. Eight hundred seats every night. I rent the room and it was tough. I didn't take any money for the first year. I put my money back out onto the streets. I walked every day to every hotel and took every consideration and let them know you got a new show in town. Really? When you. What year was this? Nineteen twenty four to twenty fourteen.

So you work in the streets. You're going up to the guys, the concierge. I'm George Wallace.

I got the show and yeah it is different. Come over and said here's two tickets for you. Come over. I don't give a damn what they sold tickets as long as they were happy. That's why I have worked Las Vegas more shows than most people, but definitely more shows than any African-American. That includes Redbox. Sammy Davis Jr., Lena Horne, Diana Ross. I've done more shows in Las Vegas than any other African American African American entertainer.

So this show was so it wasn't the hotel didn't pay for it. You rented the space, but you had to abide by their time, right?

Yeah, I took a 10:00 spot because I thought people I thought more people like to laugh at ten times and that work had gone at eight.

I would have to compete against all of the other shows, Cirque du Soleil and all of those bigger shows then and also decreased amount of shows at 10:00. And people wanted to come out and people came from everywhere and also had a backing and radio.

So I forgot to tell you that I was doing radio nationwide radio with Tom Joyner. So it was a hundred markets across America. So I had that following to to bring in my my my audience and my market and people. So I built it up after the first year.

It was just a gravy train. Huh. And after the first year was pretty hard.

It takes that long to catch on. You've got to get your niche right and you do just straight stand up, just stand up and then after that start to grow.

And I brought in other entertainers with me to have fun with. And I was kind a crazy guy. I'm running. You're not going to believe this. I didn't jump a holiday and we saw these people were opening for me. I had so many other people. I'm the first guy to bring in Sly and the Family Stone after twenty five years of being on stage is after that night.

He did like the Grammys and walked off with the weird Mohawk. The blond Mohawk. Yeah. You remember. Yeah, I said I want him because he was my favorite entertainer when I was in college. How do you know I got him to come to Las Vegas. They had odds for the one that the sky would not show up for that one. And he was late, scared the shit out of me. And I was smart enough to know Mark.

I was smart enough to know, like. This guy is working for me, but I'm not going to open he's not going to open for me, right? That's his show. I open for him. I don't give a shit. I'm the one making the money, you know. Yeah. So so we did that and I brought in entertainers that long. How do you do.

How do I do. Fucked up the place, man. It was people were crying. He had been on stage in 20, 25 years. His kids were going, see daddy. It was it was so big that it was on the on the billboards that are sold in New York, Sly and the Family Stone, Las Vegas. It's all documented. You can go online and pick it up. Right now. You get George Wallace with Sly the Family Stone in Las Vegas.

He came out on stage and he sang those old songs. Like I said, it was 20 minutes late. Some people walk and I know this is bullshit. I know because he never showed up on time when when he was back in the day in college, he had people walking. I know as a bull, you get the fuck out of there walking out. But the few people that the people that did stay out of the eight hundred. Yeah.

Only so off on a Tuesday night because I knew I had to promote, give out the tickets away, but he come out and he starts singing and they had to get into it and he starts singing if you want me to stay. And then they got into the other song and dance and higher and all of a sudden people were crying on top of the tables. It was stupid. He was only out there for twenty five minutes and they loved it.

And that was fine with me. That was fine with me. And I was on stage. I saw the slot and this guy was so good. He went around from the back of the house to the front of the house and he came down from the front of the house and came back on stage again. And it was amazing. So I love that. And I have all of this stuff documented. Maybe I should put it on some of the things I've done in Las Vegas.

Who else? Jennifer Holliday, like I said, war. And a group called a young group called Mosaic, probably the most. And it's one of those new groups, the kids things without music, but they make their own music, a soccer group. And the place became a talent show and they will come out of it. They would be my opening act and would have music on stage and I'll start giving away shit. I wanted to be the black Oprah.

I thought I was a rich black lady. Yeah, she had given away diamond. I gave away a car.

So you did this for ten years? Yeah, I did it for ten years.

Until one night a friend of mine came on stage like we've been here long enough and we're going to close down this year. So that was my best friend of forty five years whosay. So we tend to listen to each other. That's s.L. Oh yeah. Yeah.

So you if you really look into it like George on s.L, that's actually pretty much me. I'm the one, I'm the one that was his real roommate for 13 years.

Yeah. You lived with him for 13 years. Oh yeah. We shared apartment for 13 years. One twenty nine West Eighty First Street right there in New York City. Why for so long.

Well, helping to make money at home. What do you mean? Well, what I mean, but you were both like you were traveling around the right.

You weren't always there traveling around. He wasn't always making money. They were broke. Yeah. So you just put the apartment.

You both you used it when you were in New York.

Yeah, we were there quite a bit, but not a lot, you know. Yeah. I was best man at his wedding. I was I was joking too. And I'm the father, his kids, you know, so we're pretty close, you know.

So but I wish everybody had a friend like Jerry. Like I said today, I'm surprised he hasn't interrupted this call. And it's just good to have a friend like that. You know, that's why I'm so blessed to have my best friend is the number one man making money in comedy. So I look at it like this, Mark. I took advantage of it. You know, he got a boat. We got a yacht, not a yacht.

You got to get us out of debt. So we're just that close and friendship.

So I'm glad you guys have the same toys.

OK, we've done some stupid stuff with the toys, you know, but. And life is good. Comedy is good, too. Yeah. I don't know about you. Are you like I can't wait to get back on stage but I can't wait.

Yeah. I'm ok. You know I've been you know, I do this, I do, I talk to a lot of people on this show and I've been doing the I, I the Braken hasn't been terrible.

It's been terrifying, but it hasn't been terrible. Right. Right. Now, what is what's this book? You put out a book of your tweets.

I can't believe I'm talking to you. You know, the Twitter world became so big. I'm like two or three years later I started like 2011. Yeah. And putting out jokes on those tweets, a little online ramblings from my Twitter and whatnot.

And I want to say bullshit, but I said, oh, let's change it to both Twitter and whatnot, whatnot become such an interesting part. What not is the biggest word in the world. That means I can do anything right and whatnot.

So it's not just not just tweets. Is that tweets at all? What the fuck. Yeah. Yeah. Online because they don't make sense to me. I've got to do this in 140 characters. Right. You know, my jokes are not even structured, let alone 140 characters. So it's of little things like what if the while, why should I do my jokes and give them away to people where it hit me that well, you know, there's five hundred million tweets per day.

And some of these people across the world, they're never going to get to see me. Yeah, well, I'm not sure some of these jokes and some of these people. And it became so successful and people like it and and it's like online ramblings on my hand. I do like stupid stuff like the top nine shout out to the top nine, shout out to the top five bells in the world sells little things like like Liberty Bell. Oh, yeah.

You know, saved by the bell. And I go on to how many other bells and. Yeah, but but little things in the book of the book is online and people are buying it like crazy. I'm already into my second printing.

Botwin, you and you self published it. Yes, I did.

Of course it's up to the quality of the book is so good and I'm doing stupid shit. Mark this book you got your eyes on here is the I hope I put it up right for the bathroom.

You put it in read in the bathroom. No, you don't read this in the bathroom. You can, but it's a great coffee table. People by the book sells for nineteen ninety five. But if you buy five books I will charge you one hundred twenty dollars. I do stupid shit like that.

Yeah. And people are falling for. I have a hard copy here which I should have sent you. Did you get a copy of the book for me. I did not. Oh my God. This hardcover. It's one hundred and forty dollars.

Yeah. What happened. Mr. Promotion. Where's my fucking book.

I guess that's your book.

You know, you got a book coming. I hope you get a chance to read. I know we're so busy. People send us so much books and shit.

We all get to read everything, you know. I know. I know. I know. That's true. That's true. But you should get one because this is a good book. I'm getting ready to go into my second book comparable to it. But what I really wanted to write a book about Mark was how Trump fucked up my life. That's the book I wanted to write. But yeah, I wanted to write a book and I should have done it six months ago.

How Trump fucked up my life. You know that guy. Let's let's talk about. Oh, my. I can't believe we have to talk about yesterday was like a relief. Like black people say I was born again and God, I don't know what happened. It's like the stress of my shoulder was just crazy for everybody. I felt so good. Yeah. I don't know what Biden has done today, but yesterday was so good. I'm a walking circus peanut, that orange fucker.

I just he messed up my life romantically. So financially, so mentally. So relationship wise, my family. I can't go visit my family. It really screwed up my life. And and I've been like confine here and in this condo in Atlanta since March.

And you never know that guy. Did you ever work at his hotel? Did you ever meet him?

I stayed in his hotel window until we got married. Everybody stayed at his hotel. I don't like it.

I had a chance to meet him one time with some friends of mine were. On his show, Apprentice, The Apprentice, yeah, and I just never liked them and I just because I because I'm from New York, I live in New York and I know we know bullshitters.

And I knew I didn't why I did Koenen once and he was on with me and in the segment producer asked me if I wanted to meet him and I said no, no, no, no, just friend's name out in Las Vegas.

The two guys, Penn and Teller, Penn and Teller.

So I went to support them in New York City at the finals and I said, Trump is coming and you want them. And I said, I thought, no, yeah, I you want to shake hands with me. And now Florida is the most fucked up state in America, right? Yeah. And now the city is down even more. Yeah.

Yeah. He's he's the king of he's the king of Florida.

They don't want him down there. So they've got to get rid of him. Yeah.

It's nice to have him off our back. It was good talking to George. Did we do anything? Did I say anything? Ma'am, we thank you for having me on the show. I love talking to you.

I want you to call Jerry Seinfeld and tell him what a good time we had.

He actually told me to tell you hello.

I know. Tell him hello. I'm serious. OK, OK.

Yeah, me and Jerry had we had a nice we had nice meeting of the minds, me and Jerry.

I know the meeting of the minds. I know everything comes down. Trust me, I need to thank you for having me. I don't know what I've ever been on with you before. And I know I heard so much about you and I know you're so great. And and I learn from guys like you. You don't know that I don't watch a lot of comedians and learning from younger comedians than myself. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Because you guys are you know, I'm old school, but you guys don't have to go on the show you.

That's I'm still kicking ass. I have to prove myself. Oh no. I watch you.

You got everything. Landsman you're punching away. You don't fuck around. It's all coming down.

That might be I'm trying to change because when I go on stage, I do go up there to work. I do go up there to kick ass. Yeah, I work, I talk too fast and I need to calm down and just do half the material. So what I'm going to do when I do go back, Mark, not so much new material time to slow down. Yeah. Cause I'm going to slow down. I'm going to be a new me.

I want to talk about some things I didn't get a chance to talk about last year and.

Well, I mean, it sounds like you'll be loaded.

You'll be you'll be ready to go when this shit lifts, I then so I'll keep saying I'm going to have to have a new show, but I'm going to be ready to go. And what I'm also going to do, Mark, some jokes I did thirty years ago, that the young kids I remember nobody remember. I'm going to bring them in as no jokes. They won't know the difference.

Yeah, why not. Time to recycle those fuckers. Recycle.

Yeah, because I did a joke. I got lots of jokes I could bring back, but I got so much new stuff I enjoy doing the new jokes.

I think about you like there is a lot of jokes that I did before anybody knew who I was that were great jokes and no one knows.

All you need to do is be funny.

You deliver that joke and that's what they're going to remember, you know, if they leave and that guy was hilarious, that's OK. And if they leave going, I hope that guy's OK. That's OK.

As long as they as long as they don't say he was pretty funny. Yeah. Oh yeah. Like, I don't remember anything he said. Yeah, he's pretty funny. He's pretty good. You're just me. You're one of the best buddy. It's great talking to you. I wish you the best. Stay healthy.

You got to do. I want to stay healthy. I want to stay at home and I'm going to stay black. How about that.

I OK, I believe you take it easy. Church. God bless you, man. See you. There you go. The book is Go Look at his Twitter feed, the book is Twitter and whatnot at George Wallace Dot Net. So, all right, take care of yourselves. Seriously. Try to understand that most of us are in some sort of fairly deep PTSD. And it's going to take a bit it's a little daunting. It's a little weird.

There's a space to it, to darkness, to it still and also a darkness to the reality we're living in, even though the monster's gone. All right. I'll play a little guitar here. Little dirty stuff, OK? And. Boomer, let. Monkey. The fond cat angels everywhere, right?