Join us as we look back at the great TV personalities we lost in 2023
Join us as we look back at the great TV personalities we lost in 2023
Welcome to Don’t Touch That Dial, a classic TV podcast. Did you grow up in the 70s and 80s? Did you rush home from school to watch reruns of the Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family? On each episode of Don't Touch That Dial, three guys who love TV will look back on those days and talk about the shows and stars that made watching television before streaming, DVRs, and even VCRs so special.
ANTHONY: Hello TV fans and welcome to a very special episode of Don't Touch That Dial, a classic TV podcast. We hope you had a great holiday and that you are getting ready for what will be a wonderful 2024. We are going to spend this episode looking back at some people we lost in 2023 and the contributions they made to so many TV shows that we love and hold dear to our hearts. I'm Anthony Stoeckert.
JODY: I’m Jody Schwartz.
KEITH: And I’m Keith Loria.
ANTHONY: But first we have some exciting news because Fox is kicking off the new year on New Year's Day with a two-hour special called M*A*S*H, the Comedy That Changed Television. This will be a retrospective featuring interviews with the surviving cast members or maybe some creative people, behind-the-scenes, too. I'm not sure what else. What do you guys think? You gonna be watching?
JODY: Of course I'm going to be watching. There hasn't been a M*A*S*H thing yet that I've missed. Always exciting to see and always happy to see new stories about stuff behind the scenes, who knows, but even the footage of whatever they're going to show is going to be great to watch.
KEITH: Yeah, they say there's gonna be airing some new footage that's never been seen before. And like you said that whenever they get together – the last time was I believe for Alan Alda’s podcast– they just tell stories that you've never heard and they're all tremendous, and bring back so many great memories.
JODY: One of the things I love about when they're all talking is that sometimes because they're, you know, it's been a lot of years and they're older now, they'll talk about episodes and they'll get things wrong, and I'll be sitting there yelling at the screen. It's like, ‘No, it's not that one.’ I'll be correcting them. So I actually am curious to see how this one goes for that reason.
KEITH: But you yell at the screen regardless of what show you're watching.
JODY: That is very true. Sometimes when the TV's off I do that.
ANTHONY: Do you yell more during a M*A*S*H reunion or during a Met game?
JODY: Well, it depends on the season we're talking about. It’s pretty close.
KEITH: There's a lot more cursing in the Met games.
JODY: A lot more cursing. A lot more throwing stuff.
KEITH: Anthony, why don't you tell our viewers about what's going to be coming up in March?
ANTHONY: Oh, well, in March we are going to be hosting “M*A*S*H Madness.” So for all our listeners who love M*A*S*H – and if you listen to the show and you don't love M*A*S*H, I don't know what you're doing here – but we are going to have four episodes about M*A*S*H in March for M*A*S*H Madness. So we're all looking forward to that .
JODY: Very, very excited for this episode. We're gonna cover every single aspect of this incredibly classic show.
ANTHONY: Yeah, that'd be great. All right. Well, for this episode, we want to honor as many people as we can. Of course, we'll be talking about some famous people but also some people whose names we may not be too familiar with who deserve a little tribute. Also, we should note we're recording this in about early to mid December. So anybody who passes away this year after we record will be mentioned next year. We're pretty much gonna go in chronological order. But since we just mentioned M*A*S*H , let's talk about two people we want to make contributions to that great show, Judy Farrell she passed away April 2 At the age of 84. She is the ex-wife, or was the ex-wife of Mike Farrell and she played Nurse Able. She also wrote for Port Charles and here's a fun fact: DJ’s wife, Peg, was from Judy's real life hometown of Quapaw, Oklahoma. I remember her fondly and then…
JODY: Which I thought was fictitious when they brought it up.
ANTHONY: Yeah, I don't remember it. I just read that. It did not ring a bell. But yeah, I think all the towns were real that they mentioned. Was Crab Apple Cove real?
JODY: I don't know about that. But I know that Jamie Farr was from Toledo.
ANTHONY: Yes.
JODY: And McLean Stevenson was from Bloomington, Illinois. I believe Larry Linville was from a town in Indiana that Frank Burns was from. A lot of them were real.
ANTHONY: And then also from M*A*S*H on May 1, Eileen Saki passed away. She was 79. She was the third Rosie, played her the longest. She also was in a prior episode when Potter, Burns, Hawkeye, and some others find themselves outside a brothel and Potter tells Burns, “There's tarts in there,” and Burns says, “A bakery?!”
JODY: And he’s like, “Raspberry, peach?”
ANTHONY: So we pay tribute to them.
JODY: Funnier than that was that he mentions a general had given them the orders to bug out, that was why they were there, and the woman knows the general’s, like, nickname.
ANTHONY: That's right. Yeah. Yeah.
JODY: Oh, Binkey.
ANTHONY: So after those two M*A*S*H people, we’re pretty much gonna go in chronological order. On January 5, Earl Boen died. He was 81 years old. He played a minister on lots of shows, oddly enough, but for our purpose probably most famous as the father on the family of four in the Keaton Manor episode of Family Ties, tall guy, bald with a crown, kind of a hangdog face, you know, character actor.
JODY: Type of guy everyone would know if they saw him.
ANTHONY: Yes, yes. Yeah. Keith, do the, come on, I know you want to talk about Family Ties later on, but do your favorite line from that episode of Family Ties.
KEITH: “There was a kangaroo in my living room.”
JODY: Can I do the follow up?
KEITH: His face was like this. I wish we do video for our listeners.
JODY: Can I do the follow-up line?
ANTHONY: Sure.
JODY: Alex goes, “He was only here for the part, dad.”
ANTHONY: Great, great episode and one day we will talk about that in depth. Annette McCarthy passed away on January 6. She was 64. She did lots of TV and movies. She played the lesbian character on an episode of Night Court, which I'm guessing was kind of a big deal back then. And then she did sort of a spoof on Cybil Shepherd's character on an episode of Moonlighting. I know you guys watched that; I didn't. Is that like a famous thing?
KEITH: Wow, I don’t remember this at all, to be honest.
ANTHONY: Oh, all right. I guess there was like an episode of Moonlighting where they did some kind of spoof of it. And I really don't know the premise behind it. And she played the Cybil Shepherd-type character.
KEITH: They did a lot of fourth wall type stuff in the last season.
JODY: A lot of spoof of things.
ANTHONY: Adam Rich passed away sadly enough on January 7. He was only 54. He was of course Nicholas on Eight is Enough, made appearances on The Love Boat, CHiPS, Fantasy Island, the Six Million Dollar Man and then later he did voice work on the cartoon Dungeons & Dragons with his Eight Is Enough co-star Willie Aames. We don't want to get too down. He had a tough life, right?
KEITH: Yeah, he did. Especially early on after the show was canceled.
ANTHONY: Yeah, too bad. Melinda Dillon passed away on January 9 best known – she was 83 – best known for movies, especially the mother on A Christmas Story, but she showed up on some TV including The Jeffersons and CHiPS. This is a biggie Cindy Williams passed away on January 25. Only 75 and most famous, of course, for playing Shirley first on Happy Days and then on Laverne & Shirley – one of the greats for us, I think. You guys have a favorite Laverne & Shirley moment?
JODY: You know what? One of my favorite Laverne & Shirley moments was actually their first appearance on Happy Days. Cindy Williams obviously playing Shirley – character was played a little bit differently on Happy Days and she would end up being on Laverne & Shirley – but just her whole demeanor in that episode in the way she's like coming on to Ron Howard when were in a house together. She was really very funny and pretty memorable in that episode. Yeah.
KEITH: My favorite episode is when Laverne and Shirley win the supermarket sweep thing and have to go to the grocery store, and they're fighting over what they should be getting throughout the episode and they agreed to let them both do it. I guess they both wanted to do it themselves. Only one could win, but it's great physical comedy by both her and Penny.
ANTHONY: My favorite is when they needed the dresses for the party. So they become the guinea pigs and then they go to the party and one hasn't slept and one hasn't eaten.
JODY: I think Laverne was one who hadn't slept..
ANTHONY: I think you’re right.
JODY: And Shirley hadn't eaten and there's a part where she's holding Laverne up to be more involved, but she's like starving and someone drops a cracker on the floor and she acts. She goes to grab the cracker and then Laverne tumbles over and lands on her back and she goes like, “Ta-dah!” like it was planned.
KEITH: I have another favorite episode where they're on the train. Scatman Crothers is in the episode and there's murder. That's a great episode. Well, we should talk about that more during some type of Laverne & Shirley special.
ANTHONY: Definitely. Definitely. And then many years later, my daughter was watching Sam & Cat which was a Nickelodeon show, I think Nickelodeon, Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams showed up on an episode so that was kind of cool for me. “Oh, it’s Laverne & Shirley.”
KEITH: You know, just because you went from Adam rich to Melinda really quick, I want to give a favorite Adam Rich memory if I can because Nicholas was kind of my age. He was a character that I really enjoyed on Eight Is Enough and one of my favorite episodes of this show, and probably one of my favorite episodes of that time period was when Nicholas runs away from home during Christmas time .
JODY: That's a good episode.
KEITH: It was so good. You know, I think I may have cried. It may have been one of the first times I cried because of a television show. I don't know if we'll ever do an Eight Is Enough retrospect but I want to give the props to Adam where, this was really, it was at least a two-parter and focused around him, and a great, great thing, and I don't remember who played, like, the Santa Claus character that, like, he ran to and he was the man that was, like, he was kind of staying with. I want to say Jack Jack Elam, but I don't think it was him; someone like him.
ANTHONY: I don't remember that episode. Was that streaming anywhere? Or I know you're gonna…
JODY: I remember that episode. It's really really touching.
ANTHONY: I have to look for that.
JODY: Yeah, it was great.
ANTHONY: I remember liking the show. I don't remember details of it at all. But I remember loving it. Lisa Loring was the original Wednesday on The Addams Family. She died January 28 at the age of 64. She later did some soap opera stuff. She played a character named Cricket Montgomery, the great Cricket Montgomery on As the World Turns. Not really much of a TV guy, but I want to mention quick Burt Bacharach passed away at the age of 94 on February 8. He was a great musician, but he did show up on an episode of The Nanny – and I'm stretching things– but there is a Happy Days connection because he wrote the music for Night Shift, directed by Ron Howard and starring Henry Winkler. A guy named …
JODY: Did he do any TV themes? I feel like he was involved in something like that.
ANTHONY: I looked. I didn't see anything. Nothing stood out to me. I was wondering the same thing. A guy named Len Birman, not the sportscaster, he passed away February 10 at the age of 90. He showed up on episodes of Dallas, The Six Million Dollar Man. the great B.J. and the Bear and Knots Landing. One of the all-time great beauties Raquel Welch passed away February 15 at the age of …
JODY: Quite sad.
ANTHONY: Yeah, she was 82 and she played the appropriately named Captain Nirvana on Mork & Mindy. Was there a Ben Cooper Captain Nirvana costume? Anybody have that one?
KEITH: I don't know if my form would have fit that one very well.
JODY: She was – that's funny – but she looked so great in that episode.
KEITH: Yes, very memorable episode.
JODY: It's extremely memorable. It's one of the more memorable Mork & Mindy episodes and yes, she looked incredible. We're having our crack staff to check and see if we can find a Ben Cooper costume.
KEITH: I don't know if she could get away with having that custom on TV today.
ANTHONY: I agree. It was...
KEITH: On network anyway.
ANTHONY: It defied physics.
JODY: It defied physics and you see, if you watch the episode, you can even see Robin William’s reaction. It's, it's you know…
ANTHONY: Yeah, she also hosted a Muppet Show. She was on Evening Shade. She was on Spin City. I don't remember that. I don't know if you guys do. She was famously on an episode of Seinfeld. And she had a primetime special she did with the Kroffts called Really Raquel. We miss her already.
KEITH: What did she do on Seinfeld? I don't remember that.
ANTHONY: You know what? I'm getting confused. She was on a Seinfeld I think but that she's not – I was thinking she was part of Raquel, Raquel (Rochelle Rochelle) but she's not.
JODY: No, no, that was Bette Midler.
ANTHONY: Who was she on Seinfeld? Jody, do you remember?
JODY: I'm trying to remember on Seinfeld. I do remember her showing up on Seinfeld, but the Raquel, Raquel one was definitely Bette Midler.
ANTHONY: So maybe it's not as famous as I thought. I think I was confusing…
JODY: I'm trying to remember…
KEITH: She is in the “Summer of George” episode.
JODY: Oh, that's what it was.
KEITH: She appears as herself.
JODY: Yes. Yes. Okay.
ANTHONY: I wonder if George went on a date with her or something. Who knows.
JODY: She's not Marisa Tomei…
ANTHONY: (grunts and laughs)
JODY: … who George actually tried to go out with.
ANTHONY: Actually went out with her. George went on a date with Marisa Tomei. Another beauty Stella Stevens. This is like one of those names I always knew but I don't know what she was really famous for, but she showed up on some Love Boats, Fantasy Island, Hart to Hart. She played on an episode of Newhart. She was like a famous sex symbol that he wrote, he wrote a book with her, like a memoir with her. Barbara Bosson – am I saying that name right?
KEITH: Yeah. I think so.
ANTHONY: She was Fay on Hill Street Blues. She was married to Steven Bochco, and she showed up on several of his shows, including Cop Rock and the show that I really liked that but that I don't remember well is Hooperman.
JODY: Yeah, the John Ritter show.
ANTHONY: Yes, yes, yes. And again, I remember liking it but I don't remember it well at all, but I'd like to see that, see if it holds up and she was nominated for six Emmys. We paid tribute to her. Richard Belzer passed away on February 19 at the age of 78. He was a stand-up comic in the 70s. He was the emcee at Catch a Rising Star in New York and then he went into acting and he played Detective John Munch on Homicide: Life on the Street and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and he ended up breaking some kind of record for playing a character on the most shows kind of a gimmicky thing, but…
JODY: I also – didn't he have a talk show at one time, a daytime talk show?
ANTHONY: I believe he had a talk show on the Lifetime Network.
JODY: Yeah…
ANTHONY: Before it was like, you know, clearly, you know, all TV movies, and I think he got injured by Hulk Hogan on that show.
JODY: Yeah, I think so. That's what I remember.
ANTHONY: He was also on a Sesame Street film with Brian Doyle Murray where they have a picnic and a dog eats their sandwiches.
KEITH: A puppet dog or a real dog?
ANTHONY: That was a real dog. Yeah, these two guys are like in Central Park and they're having a picnic and then while they're in a canoe, a dog comes along and he eats their sandwich.
KEITH: Not “Barkley?” Was that his name?
ANTHONY: It's like a golden retriever.
JODY: That's happened to us more than once. Last time Anthony and I were in Central Park, a dog ate our sandwich on a boat.
ANTHONY: Robert Blake passed away on March 9 at the age of 89, Baretta of course, a show called Hell Town; something I remember he played Jimmy Hoffa in a miniseries called Blood Feud about Hoffa and RFK Jr.
JODY: Not RFK Jr. RFK.
ANTHONY: Did I say RFK Jr.? I’m sorry.
JODY: Bobby, obviously. It aired in ‘83, from April to May in 83. And I'm gonna say about that, about that TV movie: I really think his portrayal of Jimmy Hoffa was better than any of the later ones that came better than Nicholson's in that movie, better than Pacino’s in the recent Scorsese movie.
ANTHONY: Yeah, really.
JODY: He really nailed it playing Jimmy Hoffa.
ANTHONY: Yeah, yeah, he was a good actor. Is there anything else interesting about this guy? (laughter)
JODY: Nothing comes to mind. I will say with Baretta and Hell Town, a couple things to know about is that Sammy Davis Jr. sang the theme song to both and…
ANTHONY: Oh I didn’t know Sammy Davis sang the Hell Town song.
JODY: … the Hell Town theme. Because it was on for four minutes. It was on in 85 for like a couple of months basically. And one of the memories of – one of my memories of Hell Town: NBC had a preview of the upcoming shows and all the stars of the shows would do things ahead of the 85-86 season, they had one and they had Robert Blake, who was – he wasn't there with them and he was on video because he couldn't make it to the actual performances. And he's on TV. He's in full character in Hell Town – by the way, he plays a priest who was once a criminal and now he's taking care of the hard neighborhood in East LA that he grew up in – and he's an old police garb and he says, “God bless Hell Town.”
ANTHONY: Do they still do –do they don't still do those?
JODY: They don't do those anymore. Not only did they have all the stars there, but they would sing ; it was like a variety show. There’d be skits. It was phenomenal.
ANTHONY: I love those. Robert Blake, he really, he was a very good actor. He obviously had some troubles, to say the least, but usually was a good actor and a TV legend. John Mengatti passed away on March 26 at the age of 68. He played Salami's cousin Nick on The White Shadow.
JODY: In the later seasons. He wasn't there in the beginning, he came later.
ANTHONY: And if this was a video podcast, I could have Keith do his Salami impression.
KEITH: I do a great Salami impression,
ANTHONY: But it's, yes, it's all visual. Yeah. Unfortunately. So when we start doing our live shows, we’ll have Keith do his Salami impressions.
JODY: Can I be Goldstein?
ANTHONY: Sure. Mangatti also showed up in episodes of Taxi, Facts of Life, the TV series 9 to 5 and he was in Meatballs, Part Two. Quite a career.
JODY: Sally Kellerman.
ANTHONY: Yes. Here's a name everyone should know. Philip Balsam. He passed away March 31 at the age of 79. And he wrote, I think all the music for Fraggle Rock, almost 200 songs for that show. And I'm sure we all hold Fraggle Rock near and dear to our hearts.
JODY: I’m hearing the theme song in my head now. Yeah, but that's every day.
ANTHONY: Great, great show and great music. I mean, when you think about it, just, you know, really, really terrific music for that show. Someone named Garn Stephens passed away on April 2 at the age of 78. She played Harriet on the sitcom Phyllis that was a Mary Tyler Moore spinoff starring Cloris Leachman. She also showed up on an episode of All in the Family, Barney Miller, and Family Ties. Michael Lerner passed away on April 8 at the age of 81. A great character actor.
JODY: Some of my favorite ones. I have three favorite things from Michael Lerner.
ANTHONY: Okay, let's hear it.
JODY: All right in M*A*S*H in 1974 Captain Bernie Futterman who was a dentist who was obsessed with being in Tokyo. There was an episode where Hawkeye I needed a boot and it was a whole series of things he had to do to get someone the boot and one of them was to get Captain Futterman a pass to Tokyo, and he had to go to Henry Blake to do that. And Blake said, if he could help him with his thing, he'll give Futterman a week – he goes, “And he can run for emperor,” which that line always, always made me laugh. He was also in the 1970 – 74 was a big year for him – He was in the 74 episode of The Odd Couple…
ANTHONY: Yes.
JODY: … where he played Sergeant Chumly, Chomsky, excuse me, Sgt. Chomsky who was a cop who trains Felix and Oscar who are joining the auxiliary police.
ANTHONY: It was actually Felix and Miriam joined the …
JODY: Well, Oscar was with him. He dragged Oscar on it, too.
ANTHONY: I think Oscar shows up, like later on, because Oscar got…
JODY: No, Oscar in this class with him, with Michael Lerner.
ANTHONY: Did he quit and then there's another scene? Because didn't Oscar get mugged and then he shows up at the …
JODY: Felix gets mugged. Eventually Oscar quits, but Oscar's with him for a while and then he quits and then Felix is there alone and then he gets mugged and tied up in the thing. But Oscar’s with him in this – so is Miriam – in this training with Sergeant Chomsky and he’s naturally quiet annoyed by Felix, who has nonstop questions during the day. And then he was in an episode of The Brady Bunch where he was Johnny the bike salesman when Mike and Carol are afraid that Bobby's gonna run away because he's upset. They're gonna get him a bike, and he's the one who tells them, “Whoever gives him this bike will win his love forever.”
ANTHONY: Oh, that’s right (laughs). Yes, and he was also famous for movies. It can go on and on.
JODY: Oh he’s in so many movies, but we’re not talking about that. By the way, The Brady Bunch episode was in 1969 so that is how far back his career spans. Apparently he was a child. Apparently he was on a quiz show or something.
ANTHONY: Oh really? Yes, we pay tribute to Michael Lerner, the great Michael Lerner.
JODY: Probably more than anyone ever wanted to know.
ANTHONY: I don't think so. Listen, we could go on and on about him. Carol Locatell passed away on April 11 at the age of 82. Another M*A*S*H character; she played Nurse Gaynor. She was also on a couple of episodes of Brothers, that Showtime show.
KEITH: Wow.
ANTHONY: Do you guys remember that?
JODY: Oh, yeah, with that guy from Lou Grant.
KEITH: That was a great show.
ANTHONY: It was a really, really good show. I don't think that's being shown anywhere. I wish it was.
KEITH: That was one of the first, probably, cable shows that I watched.
ANTHONY: Absolutely.
JODY: Yeah, that's when they first started doing that too – when they started having, like, actual shows on a cable channel. That was one of the firsts. Showtime?
ANTHONY: I think it was on Showtime. I think it was supposed to be like a regular show, but maybe the content was just too, uh, too much
JODY: Because they had a gay, they had a gay character, which was still…
ANTHONY: Oh it was still a big deal.
KEITH: Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was meant for cable, from the beginning.
ANTHONY: Yeah, and unlike cable shows today, it had like full seasons like 22, 23 episodes.
JODY: Yeah.
ANTHONY: A long season.
JODY: It was a very good show.
ANTHONY: Jerry Springer passed away on April 27 at the age of 79, famous talk show host and a wacky talk show. He was also on America's Got Talent. He was the mayor of Cincinnati and he was arrested for paying prostitutes with a check. Smart move. When you pay your prostitute, you want to leave a paper trail, so…
JODY: They should have arrested him for being stupid.
ANTHONY: I think that was why he lost the election, not for the crime.
JODY: I think the charge should’ve been being an idiot.
ANTHONY: Yeah, Gerald Castillo passed away on March 4 at the age of 90. He played Major Slater on Saved by the Bell.
KEITH: Slater's dad.
JODY: Yeah, Slater’s dad.
ANTHONY: Yeah. OK. I didn't watch.
KEITH: Blasphemy, Anthony.
ANTHONY: He was also on episodes of All in the Family, Jeffersons, M*A*S*H, The White Shadow, lots lots more. Do you guys know – well, you might know the name because you've seen this list – Hugh Maguire? He passed away on May 18. He played Hugh on early episodes of Cheers. He was just kind of one of the semi regulars, kind of a tall bald guy, like an Earl Boen kind of guy, actually. You would know him if you saw him. He was, they had more regulars that first season who…
JODY: And they gave them lines; they would throw them lines here and there.
ANTHONY: Yeah. And then Paul became the sort of all-purpose other guy. Ed Ames passed away on May 21 at the age of 95. He was on Daniel Boone and he actually owns a bit of TV history. On April 27, 1965, on The Tonight Show, he had this talent for throwing hatchets. He threw the hatchet at the drawing of a cowboy and the hatchet landed in the drawing’s crotch area, and that led to what is…
JODY: That was his talent.
ANTHONY: Yes, that led to what has been called the longest laugh in TV history. After he threw it, Johnny Carson said, “I didn't know you were Jewish,” and “Welcome to frontier bris.” And I insist that was totally staged.
JODY: I agree with that. I've seen the tape so many times. There's no way it wasn't staged.
KEITH: Now what's the laugh longer than the Jim Taxi episode when he's getting the driver's license? Because that was a long laugh.
JODY: Well the thing about the Jim…
ANTHONY: You’d have to watch.
JODY: The thing about the Jim Taxi episode is that there are pauses. It’s because he does it and everyone's laughing and he does it again and the laughing starts. So there’s pauses with that one. With this one, it just continues, like, no one stops. It's a different kind of laugh. But the Jim Taxi thing is funnier, so.
ANTHONY: Absolutely. Absolutely. And Johnny showed that clip every year…
JODY: Every anniversary.
ANTHONY: Every reunion, every anniversary special, every …
JODY: That and Sis Boom Bah were the two ones.
ANTHONY: So yeah, and I say it's BS. I think they told Ames, “Throw it on the crotch; Johnny has got a couple of lines ready for it.”
JODY: Yeah, no doubt in my mind.
ANTHONY: I'm very skeptic. George Maharis died on May 24 at the age of 94. He was best known for his role on Route 66, which is a little before our time, but he showed up on things like Bionic Woman, Mission Impossible, Barnaby Jones, Murder She Wrote. Tina Turner died on May 24 at 83. A legendary singer of course, but she was a staple on 70s variety shows like The Brady Bunch Hour, Donnie and Marie, and Sonny and Cher. That was actually a time when her career was not going well. JODY: So that's how she was trying to get her career back.
KEITH: And it worked!
JODY: I think Private Dancer may have had more to do with it than The Brady Bunch show. But yeah.
ANTHONY: Pat Cooper, a famous comedian passed away on May 6 at 93. He showed up on episodes of Charlie's Angels, Vegas, It's A Living. played himself on an episode of Seinfeld at the Friars Club. He was Coach Corsini in an ABC Afternoon special called Class Act, A Teacher's Story.
JODY: If you’ve ever seen Pat Cooper, letting him near children might not have been the best idea.
ANTHONY: Well, later on, he really became famous for being himself and just being angry always. The thing I remember is he hated Lola Falana. He would froth at the mouth in interviews and, like, people like Tom Snyder would have him on because he was just so outspoken and speaking hatefully of people. Tony Orlando was another one of his targets. He was…
JODY: I remember Orando, too. It was weird.
ANTHONY: It ended up being kind of sad, but also funny, so. Paxton Whitehead passed away on June 16. He was 85. He played snobs, especially in Back To School, the movie where he was Rodney Dangerfield’s nemesis, but he was also on a Frasier Thanksgiving episode where Lilith and Frasier were trying to get Freddie into a fancy school and he showed up in lots of other things. You would know him if you saw him, looks like a Ichabod Crane, kind of. Wrestling legend the Iron Sheik passed away on June 7 at the age of 80.
KEITH: Long-time tag-team champion with Nikolai Volkoff and was the man who transitioned the championship belt to Hulk Hogan.
ANTHONY: History!
JODY: That is historic.
KEITH: That's one of the first wrestling matches I ever saw on television was Hulk Hogan beating the Iron Sheik. It was soon after the Rocky III film so it was such a big deal because you knew who Hulk Hogan was, you know, Thunderlips in action. So it was very exciting and it started my love affair with wrestling.
JODY: In the flesh baby.
ANTHONY: What? Like what was it like? Was it like a weekly wrestling show? Did they have, like, a huge event?
KEITH: Every Saturday morning it would be on.
JODY: Yeah, I remember those, every Saturday.
ANTHONY: And then what about, if they did like a WrestleMania, was it like a pay-per-view thing? Or would that be on like…
KEITH: Exactly, yes, pay-per-view.
JODY: WrestleMania was pay per view when it really took off in the 80s when when Hulk Hogan became – I think Mr. T was on the first one. Right?
KEITH: Yes, yes.
ANTHONY: Would you guys get the – pay-per-view can be expensive – you guys would get them?
KEITH: Yes.
JODY: I used to split it with friends.
ANTHONY: Gotcha. We’re under two minutes on this. So I think we have a lot more names to go through. So I think we're gonna make this a two-parter. And what better way to end the first part than with wrestling and the Iron Sheik? Thanks for listening everyone. And then you know, listen to part two.
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