Chuck Shute Podcast

Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling

July 10, 2023 Jackie Martling Season 4 Episode 358
Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling
Chuck Shute Podcast
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Chuck Shute Podcast
Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling
Jul 10, 2023 Season 4 Episode 358
Jackie Martling

Jackie “The Joke Man” Martling is a comedian, writer, actor, musician and podcaster. He is best known as the former writer and in-studio comedian for The Howard Stern Show from 1983-2001.  He has a new documentary about his life coming out on July 18th called “Joke Man.”  We discuss the new movie, his autobiography, why he left the Stern Show, and so much more!!

0:00:00 - Intro
0:00:50 - Long Island Comedy Scene
0:06:28 - Self-Producing & Selling Albums
0:13:05 - Getting the Call From Howard
0:13:45 - Early 80s Comedians
0:15:26 - Jackie's Tenacity & Work Ethic
0:19:40 - Jackie's Book - From Bow to Stern
0:21:10 - Leaving The Stern Show
0:28:42 - Artie Lange
0:30:01 - Stern Interviews & Writing Jokes 
0:35:35 - Les Paul
0:35:48 - Private Parts Movie
0:42:13 - Busting Balls Going Too Far?
0:43:45 - Howard's Brilliance
0:45:46 - Why Howard Didn't Keep Jackie
0:47:20 - The Jackie Chair & Benjy Bronk
0:50:00 - The Ebb And Flow of Life
0:55:10 - Making People Laugh
0:57:15 - Politically Incorrect Comedy
1:00:10 - Doing a Q & A for New Movie
1:04:15 - Jokes on TikTok
1:07:30 - Movie & Aftermath
1:09:08 - Baymen's Heritage
1:10:25 - Outro

Joke Man Movie site:
https://www.jokemanmovie.com/

Jackie Martling website:
https://www.jokeland.com/

Baymen's Heritage website:
https://baymensheritage.org/

Chuck Shute website:
https://www.chuckshute.com/

Support the Show.

Thanks for Listening & Shute for the Moon!

Show Notes Transcript

Jackie “The Joke Man” Martling is a comedian, writer, actor, musician and podcaster. He is best known as the former writer and in-studio comedian for The Howard Stern Show from 1983-2001.  He has a new documentary about his life coming out on July 18th called “Joke Man.”  We discuss the new movie, his autobiography, why he left the Stern Show, and so much more!!

0:00:00 - Intro
0:00:50 - Long Island Comedy Scene
0:06:28 - Self-Producing & Selling Albums
0:13:05 - Getting the Call From Howard
0:13:45 - Early 80s Comedians
0:15:26 - Jackie's Tenacity & Work Ethic
0:19:40 - Jackie's Book - From Bow to Stern
0:21:10 - Leaving The Stern Show
0:28:42 - Artie Lange
0:30:01 - Stern Interviews & Writing Jokes 
0:35:35 - Les Paul
0:35:48 - Private Parts Movie
0:42:13 - Busting Balls Going Too Far?
0:43:45 - Howard's Brilliance
0:45:46 - Why Howard Didn't Keep Jackie
0:47:20 - The Jackie Chair & Benjy Bronk
0:50:00 - The Ebb And Flow of Life
0:55:10 - Making People Laugh
0:57:15 - Politically Incorrect Comedy
1:00:10 - Doing a Q & A for New Movie
1:04:15 - Jokes on TikTok
1:07:30 - Movie & Aftermath
1:09:08 - Baymen's Heritage
1:10:25 - Outro

Joke Man Movie site:
https://www.jokemanmovie.com/

Jackie Martling website:
https://www.jokeland.com/

Baymen's Heritage website:
https://baymensheritage.org/

Chuck Shute website:
https://www.chuckshute.com/

Support the Show.

Thanks for Listening & Shute for the Moon!

Chuck Shute:

Well, it's an honor to have on comedy legend Jackie the joke man martling on my show today. For those that don't know, Jackie, he was a head writer on The Howard Stern Show for 18 years, and has also released several comedy albums and appeared on many movies, TV shows and other podcasts. He has a new documentary coming out on July 18, about his life titled joke, man, and it's really good. I think it'd be interesting for stern fans, but also just fans of comedy and entertainment, and even just Americans living out their dreams. So we're gonna discuss that movie, his autobiography, and many things that were not in either of those. So this was an absolute blast having Jackie on the show, enjoy.

Jackie Martling:

It moved for years, but now it's been here for 20 years. So

Chuck Shute:

yeah, where is that house? Exactly.

Unknown:

I am on the North Shore of Long Island in Nassau County on the Gold Coast. Right on Long Island Sound looking across at Stamford, Connecticut.

Chuck Shute:

Oh, nice. And that's where you grew up. Right. That's where you're born and raised in Long Island.

Jackie Martling:

Oh, well, I grew up. I went to high school two miles south to here. And I grew up four miles south to here. But my father's sister lived here forever. So we were on the beach in Bayville. My entire life. But yeah, right. And then, you know, the North Shore, North Shore here, right? And among the wealthiest people in the world, and my grandfather was a blacksmith. So you tell me. Wow, that's cool.

Chuck Shute:

Well, yeah, tell me about like the New York Comedy scene in the 70s. Because I'm really fat. I'm always fascinated by comedy or music scenes. Like, you got to be around that scene. I mean, I'm assuming the comedy cellar was there. What else what other clubs were there? And what

Unknown:

No, no, no, I, I, I have a very strange path. I was a musician in the 70s. And my band told that we told jokes and played original songs. And by the end of the 70s, I realized if I want to eat, I better do something melts. And I knew all these millions of jokes, and there was no comedy scene on Long Island. At the time, I had heard about catch rising star read about it and actually went in and saw it online a couple times for no apparent reason. And after a year of being in comedy, I actually passed the audition at the comic strip. But for the most part, I was a Long Island guy, and there was no places out here. There was one variety show and the guy. I don't know if you ever heard about this, but the guy's name was Richard M. Dixon, and he had his face surgically altered to look like Richard Nixon true story. And and the variety show was at Richard M. Dixon's White House in on route 107 In Hicksville. And that's where I met Bob Nelson and Eddie Murphy and Dave Werth one, Rob bar lead Bob woods, which has been really all the guys all the starting Long Island guys, but Dixon wouldn't pay us. So me and Minervini found a restaurant in Huntington and said, Listen, you know, we'll tell jokes on Tuesday night, and we'll charge people to get in and we'll keep the money and you get the drinks. And we'll have fun and they said, Okay, so the first comedy show on Long Island, was at a place called cinnamon in Huntington. And I recorded my first album, my first actual LP on cassette at that club, at that restaurant, and it grew into the East Side Comedy Club, that Richie and his brothers started, which was the first full time comedy venue on Long Island. Now, of course, the improv and catch rising star and the comic strip were in there, but that they were, you know lightyears away from us. But then we started to mix and match because the guys would come out from the city. Because I was putting on shows, in addition to the one we started cinnamon and Huntington, I was putting on shows any place I could find I had an amplifier, and I had speakers and a microphone. And I knew how to do that, because I had been a musician. And I put on so many shows in so many places, and that everybody was thrilled to come out and work. Because it was the work and these people working in the city, they're making $5 and a hamburger. And they come out and work for me. And they get like 40 or $50 and they get stoned and they get drunk and they chase broads and other time in their life. And that's that's how the whole thing got started. And it's funny when the guy that actually brought me into the comic strip in Manhattan and introduced me around that was right in the days of science. You know, Jerry Seinfeld? polariser Larry Miller, Dennis wolfberg, Carol Leafa they were all appears of my friend Peter bales who here it is 45 years later and me and Peter. We do We have a podcast called stand up memories. And we have all the people from the new people, the old people, the wives, the girlfriends, the comedy Booker's. And it's really a hoot because the time just flies, man, you know? It's like, wow, it was yesterday. And it was really interesting, but I was never a guy. I mean, I did the comedy cellar podcasts about three or four times I know. But on the stage there, I only was on the stage at the comic strip a couple times, because I was money making money on Long Island, I, I tell dirty jokes. I'm not really a comedian. I tell dirty jokes. So I did not have my sights set on getting the Johnny Carson because that's you don't do that on Johnny Carson. So I was making lots of money out of Long Island. Let me correct myself. What I considered a lot of money compared to playing in the band. And I was just a happy camper. But then I made my albums. And I never was in the city and never did the whole thing of running around auditioning. What I sent my three albums around and they got the Howard Stern. So I leapfrog over the whole club circuit. Right on to, you know, am radio. And then the next thing you know, we're on K rock and all sudden, we're on morning drive radio, and you know, we went to the moon, you know, so I kind of skipped that whole thing. It's It's very odd, odd path.

Chuck Shute:

Well, yeah. And it's interesting to like, you talked about this in the book in the movie about how you made your own album. And to me that's so fascinating, because now anybody can upload an album to Spotify. But back then to know how to like physically produce, I'm still confused how you knew that? Like you couldn't Google it or YouTube it? How Oh,

Unknown:

no, no, no, it's, you know, I tell everybody, if you take my life story and connect the dots backwards, it's just like backing out of a maze. It all makes perfect sense because everything lead to the next thing. Okay, I work at a club. And my band played at the same club. Twice a week, the guy had two different locations. And he loved us. And they thought this is I might as well go into some detail. I think they thought I was gonna kill myself because I was so crazed over this girl. And we had the song we played all the time, called the pot song that had a reprise at the end, roll up the river, we'll have some illegal fun, and the whole crowd would go back crazy. Okay, so the only gets a bright idea that he's going to take us let us go into the studio and record that song that maybe it'll perk me up and feel better. And meanwhile, one of the other bands that worked same two clubs. The guy had just started his own recording studio. So we recorded the song at his recording studio. And by the time we were done, him and his partner said, you know, Jackie is so much fun, and you're smart. Because, believe it or not, we recorded the song. But then they get the insanity of the crowd. They brought the song to the club and hooked up microphones and played it back so they could get the crowd reaction to roll up the refresh at the end. And when they show I actually had a microphone on my foot tambourine you want you it's so funny. That's my foot tambourine that me right this Wow. And, and so they saw I had a microphone on the foot tambourine and we're like, I guess he gets the concept of recording. And they asked me a want you to come work for us. So I started working at a recording studio. I was just like the janitor. They call me the studio manager. I was the janitor. But I met everybody and I learned that any moron can have a record. All you have to do is have a tape and a few dollars and what you want to write on the back, and a few pictures and you're like making a cake and you send it I send it to Nashville. I'm telling you when I went to pick up my first 1000 albums and in the Port Authority in Manhattan, I thought I had cured cancer. I couldn't believe it. Here I had my own comedy LP I had been. I had been a comedian for six months. I recorded that thing at Cinnamon, cinnamon, which was a bar restaurant. I had a Nakamichi cassette player. Okay. When I worked at the recording studio, one of the guys put a an input in the side of my guitar amplifier with the transformer. So you could play plug the microphone directly in. So I had my microphone and my guitar into this amplifier with the two extension speakers that went into one channel. And I hung two microphones in the crowd. But it wasn't stereo because so the left side of a cassette player was me and my guitar. And the right side of the cassette player, the right channel, was the crowd. And I record and then I'd come home and transfer the cassette on to reel to reel. And with a razor blade, just chopped out the bad crap, I would ride the crowd up a little bit after the joke. And I was very, I got so good at editing, we're done talking about a razor blade, and splicing tape. And you know, and it was crazy. I mean, I would love to have a picture of me sitting there with the pieces of tape hang in, and then you drop them and you don't know what she's backwards. Oh, God. It seems like a billion years ago. But Olson, I had an album, and I'm doing gigs. And we're doing gigs. And I'm standing at the door. I mean, this is 10 or 15 years before anybody else because who else would know? The only people that have albums were like Bill Cosby because they were signed to a record company. And here I have my own record. And I'm selling records at the door and the other comics, I swear to you, they're breaking my balls. Like, look at that idiot with his stupid records. What are you gonna do stand there and hockey, right? You want to jerk? So I'm standing at the door. I'm autographing records I'm selling for $5 apiece. And all of a sudden, the other comics are like, wait a minute, we made 40 bucks apiece tonight. He made an extra 75 bucks selling those stupid records. Maybe he's not that dumb. And for years, I sold my stuff. And nobody was there was no leg up. Nobody knew how to do it. I did a second album. And I did a third. I mean, as I was putting these out, I was setting them everywhere. If I saw you on the street, and you said, Hey, I saw you at a comedy club. You're funny. They had taken out, let me send you now. Not knowing just just doing whatever you could to scratch and claw. And then I heard about Howard Stern, who I'd never heard of, they told me this a disc jockey coming to NBC. In New York City. I didn't listen to the radio. I was a hippie. You know, as I grew up in the late 60s, you know, I was a hippie, I listened to the Eagles. And James Taylor said in my car, I didn't listen to radio. And I just sent my three records. With everything. I'm telling you, my future ex wife. She really was my future ex wife, Nancy, and he sent out I'm talking three or 400 sets of three LPs, and the matching cassettes and all the promo. And I'm telling you that the records cost money that cassettes cost money. The promo costs money, the postage costs money. And by this time, thanks to my dirty dial joke. We were hosting the shows at a place called governor's comedy shop on Long Island, which we actually started. And I was making enough money and we're spending a fortune sending out all this promotion, no idea what's going to happen. And I you know, I still have a list of a few responses that got and one afternoon she says, Hey, that guy Howard Stern's on the phone, he wants you to come into Manhattan. And I called him back and how we got right on the phone, say, hey, we listened to your records. Everything's so funny. I want you to join us on the air. And here I am working at Governor's comedy shop in Levittown. And that's Manhattan, you know, 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Not too bad. So I drove into Manhattan and walked in and there was Howard and it was Robin, and there was Fred. And we laughed our asses off for four hours. At the end of the day, Howard said, You know what you really funny wants to come back next week. And as they say, you know, you know the rest. Yeah, well, yeah.

Chuck Shute:

But before that, though, when you had that first album, tell me this, because I think he just took touched on this briefly how Eddie Murphy asked you to help him make a record and you told them you were too busy. So were you really too busy? Or is that something that you would say? Because I heard that DICE talk about the scene back then how comedians weren't friendly to each other like they are now it was very cutthroat and competitive. Oh,

Unknown:

no, no, that dice, dice work that pips and Brooklyn, the guy is on Long Island, we were all so good to each other. There was nothing personal about it with Eddie. I mean, I was working my ass off. And I had my hands full doing my gigs. I was promoting shows, taking my stuff out. And it was everything I could do to record my own album. And I was at the side Comedy Club, which is the club that had grown out of the little show. And I had the microphones hanging and I was recording my second album called Going Ape. And and he saw us doing he said, Jack, you have out I want to have out. I said, Sorry, I'm too busy and I wasn't being a dick. I mean, I wasn't a producer. I was I was trying to get ahead as a comedian. You know, I wasn't looking to produce other guys, you know. So it's that simple, you know? Yeah. And, and he was so funny, but then Nobody had any inkling. It was funny when he was like 17. And we're at this Richard M. Dixon's White House in, and we're hanging out, like, he'd be like, you know, you guys, I'm gonna be bigger than the Beatles. I'm gonna be bigger than the Beatles were like, shut up, Eddie. And next thing you know, we're like Jesus Christ that he's making that he was so confident that any other town could back it up, you know?

Chuck Shute:

Yeah. But, but for your own story, with your tenacity, you talk about that. It's in the book and the movie, just how you throw a bunch of stuff against the wall. So you really were busy. So explain to me like, just like, how do you have that tenacity? What do you like? What advice would you have for other people like for myself, as a podcaster? I want to get guests on, I feel like I'm always reaching out, like, what advice would you have for me to know why?

Unknown:

Scrape and scrape and I still see you just never stopped. Like, I did fine. And I had some money. And, you know, I tell people, I never changed. You know, for all I had millions for a while. And it never altered me. I was never a cocaine guy, a drug guy, a fancy sport, sports car guy and Country Club guy. Me and my wife. We live the same in 1995, when we're making a boatload of money as we lived in 1982, when we had nothing, you know, and we just both was so such hard workers, we really didn't know how to not work. And you have to have that work ethic. And I don't know if that's something you can teach somebody, all you can do is encourage somebody. And, and you just don't give up. You know, there's a great story that I've been trying to get on to, I really haven't tried, but I always thought it was going to happen. Because Jimmy Fallon became kind of a friend. And I don't know if you read this in the book. But after a while, when you even before I was even known when you do when you decide to be a comedian. People come up, guys, girls come up and say, I want to be a comedian. Yeah, yeah. What should I do? Yeah, I love and I finally came up with my stock answer. Because when people ask the same thing, you know that to be a deck, but you don't want to sit around and try and think of something witty? And I just say give up and they said, What do you mean, give up? Is it don't even bother? You haven't got a chance. Yeah, how hard it is the odds. And the truth of it is I wasn't being mean. The truth of it was if you want to be a comic, and you say to a lowlife comic like me, I want to be a comic. And I tell you to give up. If that stops you even an iota. You are not cut out to do this because you're gonna hit so many brick walls so many times. So just Jackie martling. Tanya, you shouldn't do it. You know, should have no and I read Matt Damon says this The people and Sean Young says said, Matt Damon says people tell me they want to be an actor. I say, you know, there's no health plan. There's no, it's a ridiculous thing. And, and he said the same thing, if that's enough to deter them. They're not made out made for this. So Jimmy Fallon calls the Stern show after us in almost famous he said, Hey, Howard, I never met you guys. Oh, Jimmy, thanks for calling in. He's almost met you guys in Albany when you were running for governor. I found out what hotel you were in. I went to the bar. And sure enough, there was Jack Stan at the bar. And I went up to him. And I said, I want to be a comedian. And Jackie told me to quit. Yeah, I love. Fallon loves that story. And every time I've ever run into his Jackie, you got to come on a show and tell that story. And then you call and you hit 15 brick walls. And I know he said, See, I got something to promote. So you know what? I came up with how I'm gonna put it in. You can be the first this is your exclusive. I'm gonna put in Twitter as something that somebody went up to Jimmy Fallon and said that listen, Jackie martling has a documentary out. And they just did a monument that building a monument to the clam diggers from the shamans Association in Oyster Bay. And you have two choices. You can either put Jackie on your show where you can donate $25,000 to the shamans Association, and Fallon says, What do I make the money? Yeah. So get back to me now. I'm actually something to sit there and talk about besides the fact I left the Stern show, you know, actually got something to promote and people seem to like it. So we'll see what Oh, yeah. I

Chuck Shute:

love it. Like I watched the movie. And I was like, Oh, and you talk about the book and the movie. And then I was like, Wait, I didn't see the book. So I then I chucked through the book last night and today I just did on Audible double speed. I listen to the whole book because if people want more after they see the movie, then they should check out the book as the book has little more detail.

Unknown:

Thanks. Now listen, I don't know if I got your email. Make sure I get your email when we're done because I wrote two books. They miss. They miss Plitt. They missed quoted me how much they needed. And I had enough for two books. So I have a whole second book. And there's so much stuff in there, that if you're a fan at all, you'll love. You know, so many people found out about my book. So left handedly. Yeah, because of course, Howard never mentioned it on the show. So anybody that was a fan, unless you were, for whatever reason found out for me. It basically was under the radar. And then all of a sudden, the publisher called me and said, Jackie, man, did you get a huge bump in sales? What what show did you go on? What do you do? And I said, I didn't do anything. What happened was Howard put out another book a couple of years ago. And you know, if you buy a book on Amazon, when you just about the click recommendations, there's people who bought this book also bought things like Jack, he has a book and they already have the mouse, one click, they get mine, both my book tours, like 15 bucks. And so a lot of people, even people that don't like me, you know, read it, you know, that's what I hope that people that don't like me or comment come away from this movie said, you know, he ain't so bad, you know, is is using

Chuck Shute:

kind of a love hate relationship with stern fans do some like they hate you. Because, Howard? Are you guys on good terms? Or?

Unknown:

Yeah, not? We're on five times, you know, we're not really, I can't call him a friend, because I haven't seen him in 20 years, you know, but we exchanged Happy Birthday emails, and you know, and we're fine. There's just nothing going on. And, you know, everybody wanted to make such a monstrous thing about that. I asked my boss for a raise. And the boss said, No, and I left my job. That really is the the nuts and bolts of the situation. Of course, you know, a lot more goes into it. But that's basically what happened. But people, people aren't happy with that.

Chuck Shute:

I'm so it's, I will say with the book and the movie, like, you have to believe it's honest. Because one of the things you put in there that I'm curious, like, if anyone tried to talk you out of putting in was the thing about how you offer to come back two months later and said, No, you know what, I was wrong. I'll take that the original offer, because I was like, That makes you kind of look bad, but you

Unknown:

don't care because I have a perfectly legitimate explanation. I don't know if I'm not even sure. Was that clear to me right then. But it's such an odd thing. Okay, that show was not like any other radio show. It was just so much fun day in and day out. And after, after being I figured I'm on this radio show and having time my life. But if I'm not on the show, I'll go sit around with other people and laugh my ass off and have so much fun. And you don't realize what a special special room that was and forget about even compared to other radio rooms that that was better than a writers room because people were listening. You know, I mean, it was an incredible situation. And that was the withdrawals. I felt not any kind of fame, not money. Not, you know, like, wow, you know, I really miss sitting there and land for my ass off for five hours. So that, you know, and I knew it too much time had passed. You know, it was a very weird decision. It really was. And I I still don't, I still don't hold myself up as as being really wrong, because that's the amount of money we're making. And I really did help build the fort. You know, and, but that's arguable. You know, people can say why you will make it five times more money than you should have, you know, like, so it's everybody's opinion.

Chuck Shute:

Well, and also the part about how it wasn't just the money was also you were fried, you were fried because you were not a morning person, which I understand I'm not a morning person either. So to wake up at four in the morning or fourth or whatever it was, like that would definitely wear you out.

Unknown:

I still wonder if if they had said alright, we're on coming in because I had left three or four times other times and, and they had come across with the money. And I remember one weekend, I had left the show. And it was very funny because we used to always argue whether or not Columbus Columbus Day was the holiday. Do we come in do we not come in you know, we haven't no and and one that Monday was not a holiday. And the guys came in on Columbus Day. And the whole weekend like this, he was so happy because she was getting me back. You know, she's getting her husband back. I'm not going to be this monster that's up at four o'clock in the morning. You know, the people that suffer the people around you, you know, I I sit down with my pen and I pump coffee and for five hours I am the life of the party. But on my way home all of a sudden the caffeine in this monster comes through the door. So sudden money. Gao had called me on that Monday night said Hey, we gotta have you and I can't do the show without you. You know, we negotiated which was very funny. And I said hey, Nancy I got my job back. And I we actually had a fight. Because she was disappointed. They said to you that much money on what you know, but she knew she was gonna have that piece of crap husband for another two years, three years fight whatever it was, you know, but it was it the whole thing was, it was such a unique situation. It really was and, and I really was fraud. You know, it's funny because I, I commuted from Bayville. Every morning for 15 years, and the white people tell Jackie was never you can count on one hand how many times I actually missed the show. A couple of times I was late, because I was in a hotel that didn't wake me up, you know, but it was so, so rare. And I was always there. And it I have no idea. You know, at one point I wanted to I just said I gotta get off the show, I gotta go for the show nothing against the show. And my lawyer who was going to be my lawyer, his wife said, Why don't you get an apartment in Manhattan. And, you know, you can get rid of the commute. And that'll solve your problem. I said, You know what? And I went and looked and I found the perfect place. And I actually was going to see a therapist at the time, which I never do. I think it was my third visit. I set one and said, You know what, you son of a bitch. I'm going to rent that apartment. That's going to change my life. Because my show was kill kill my marriage, it already had killed my marriage. Nobody told me that if you rent them in a Manhattan apartment, okay, I'm not in Babel anymore. I don't have to commute anymore. But you're in Manhattan. You got this huge, fun city with all that neon saying, Come play? Cuz I think I slept less. In Manhattan. Yeah, right. And then a year later, I was off the show, you know, I kept that I kept the Manhattan apartment for 22 years. I just, I just loved it. But I was so fried. And you know, the show saved my life. Because you know, I was a drunk, and you really can't. You can't be a drunk and get up at 420 in the morning, I'm sure people think I was out. You're not You're not out swinging from the chandeliers when you have to get up at 420. And more, you just not. Of course, I found plenty of places between the cracks to get way too drunk. And so I had a problem. But I wonder what it was me and Nancy, who was out she left you because you left the show had nothing to do with it. We were already done for years. But in my spare time, which I didn't have any of I wasn't gonna go looking for a bachelor pad. You know, I'm working five days a week and then weekends that dangling money in front of you. That's obscene compared to what you weren't for before that. And so I'm working all week and then working a weekend work in a week. And then when I had a weekend off, the last thing I was gonna do is go look for a bachelor apartment. So we kind of, you know, we love we love each other, we still love each other. She's my best friend, we coexisted. Because I knew her before we worked together before we had an affair before we live that together before we got married, we had a whole build up. So you know, it was easy for us to be friends. But I can't even envision what we're that, you know, sometimes I look at my house and say, Wow, if I had all those millions, what would I have done to this house? And probably not much more than I did you know, but you'll never know. You know? No, you know?

Chuck Shute:

Well, yeah. And already is he does the foreword in your book, and he's in the movie as well. And it was interesting. He talked about how you texted him when he was struggling and offered to talk to him. Did he take you up on that offer? I never got the follow up on that. Like, do you guys Oh,

Unknown:

no, but he was you know, because when, when you're in that situation, there's really nothing, you know, it just somebody reaching out to you. Does 90% of the good. You know, just you know, somebody, if he gets on the phone, I say yeah, I know how it is. I already said I know how it is, you know what I mean? So, but I had no idea that that had moved him like that. So that was that was great. You know, he was very, he was very generous. You know, it took so long to make this documentary that in the producer was supposed to interview already. And then he got in trouble and wound up in jail and wound up in the hospital and wound up in rehab. And I got we didn't get already in it. But the thing took so long that eventually already he's out of the hospital, he's out of jail. He's fine. And we even went and interviewed him and he's in the film which is just you know, which is just wonderful. You know, I'm thrilled that he's in it to me that he's the highlight because he's so he's so generous, you know, which is which really nice You know,

Chuck Shute:

yeah, he's great. Well, what do you have that seat on The Howard Stern Show? You got to see him interview? I think that's one underrated thing about the Howard Stern Show is such how what, you know, what makes him such a great interviewer? Because it must know you guys were passing him notes and things. And does he also have Gary in his ear? And does he have a questions and research that other people did? No, he did himself.

Unknown:

They would do some research on who was coming in. But me and Fred would write questions for him to ask the guests. But for the most part, you know, he hardly stuck to those questions. Because every we did every, I always say we forgive me how I did everything in the moment. So whichever way it was going, so me and Fred are whipping questions down a mile a minute. So he's using them a lot more than looking down and one of the pre the pre prepared questions that maybe didn't fit what was going on. You know, I don't know if I said it in the book. But this people liked this. I don't know if you ever noticed. But after we went on to the show, instead of me flipping notes, where Howard could see him, they put a lipstick camera on a little, little love thing, where I write a note and put it in the basket or whatever you call it, with the camera on it. And Howard had a computer monitor here and a computer monitor here. So wherever he was looking, he could, you know, just like a politician delivering his speech, he's got one of those, you know, teleprompters on either side, you know, looking, and whenever a guest came in, Howard would always put on his dark glasses. And that never seemed weird to anybody, because he's mysterious Howard. And he's groovy. So he's gonna put on his, his dark glasses to look cool for his guest. But meanwhile, he's got a computer monitor right there with the notes that I'm writing, and Fred specimen notes, that Fred's notes too. So he's got on the glasses. So he's looking over with his eyes, he's looking over reading what we're writing, but the guest has no idea that he's looking and that people like, wow, I never thought of that. It's kind of funny. You know? No, that

Chuck Shute:

is really interesting. It's really smart. Because when you hear, you know, there's always heard like, Oh, these people are writers on The Howard Stern Show. I was like, Oh, they write the skits and things. And maybe some of the prepared questions. I didn't realize that you were writing stuff like on the fly. Like that's so cool.

Unknown:

Yeah. And, and you and right, that's another thing that I'm glad that hopefully people see that and because it's people is so weird. Like, I'll run into somebody who sent me Oh, boy, that was so great. I can always tell I was no one you were writing a joke, because it'd be a pause. And then Howard would say it. And then you would laugh. And I can always tell what's your joke. And there was so many myths people say only like Jackie left hardest that his own stuff. And it wasn't true. I left the hardest that what was the funniest. So I would put up a note of mine, or Fred's or how would say something on his own. And I'd laugh and I'd come home sometimes. And he say, you know, the funniest thing you wrote today is when you said, James Taylor is bold. And the No, I didn't say that. I would said that on his own. But you laughed so hard. I laughed that hard because it was that funny and nothing to do with who writes it? We're doing a show here. You know, and I laugh in conjunction with how much humor is generated by what he said, not like Rob Robin, every you know, he can say somebody fell off a cliff. Are you doing Robin? Bah, bah, bah. Not again. So that was just his timing of device. But, but it was fun doing that. But then I would run into people. I was at a show. And I was sitting by myself and I was sitting across from the guys as you check in the choke man, he's I've been working at NBC for 30 years on the cameraman, we start talking. And I start explaining to him about passing notes to Howard. This is a guy in show business for 30 years. And he had no idea what he he didn't almost didn't believe me. And like how the hell you think you know, and you know what it is? People don't care. They're entertained who who gives a when Carson's talking? You're not You're not thinking I wonder who wrote that show? You live in a Johnny you're enjoying yourself, you know? Yeah. And that was a very well kept secret for a long time. And and Howard will say, it wasn't a secret, but trust me it was. You know, it's slowly eked out over you know,

Chuck Shute:

yeah. Especially with the before the I guess before the channel because people would eventually see it right. Didn't you say some of the guests would ask like, what was it Bruce Jenner asked like, Hey, what's that note you're passing? Like, I'm just writing down the time. He's, Oh, that makes sense.

Unknown:

That was well that was that. That's my favorite one of my favorite chapters in a book because Delaware's was on and I passed a few notes to Howard went to commercial. He said, Jackie, that's amazing. You guys are sharing a brain here in real time. You're synthesizing jokes. That's unbelievable. And he said, and I was like, you know, I said, Dom, you know, that's very flattering coming from a major celebrity like you. And then 10 minutes later, Bruce Jenner was in the same chair with that, and that was the A B situation, you know, and then we go to commercials and what are you doing? I gotta tell Howard, what time it is. And he actually said, That's what I thought. I was like, Oh, you moron.

Chuck Shute:

Was there other what other guests like really stood out for you? I know, like Les Paul to meet him. Is there other ones that because y'all, let's

Unknown:

face it, if every guest on the show, let's go became my pal. Off the show. Okay, just speak just about before I left the show, but Les Paul was a huge fans of the show. Because old people don't sleep. I remember my father never slept. He listened to Barry gay all night. They sleep and snatches not to make a bad joke. And so he put on search, Oh, sweet. He knew. And when Adam says the publicist said, less, Jackie the joke, man. And so he got excited. And I couldn't believe that he knew who I was. It was it was his 85th birthday. And Keith Richards was there. And I went up stage and went on stage. And at the point I quit drinking yet. And I had a couple beers in me. He said, I get it. Give us what you got. I said, Are you sure? And he said, Yeah, I told the filthiest joke in the world and the place went batshit. And he you know, and we're best friends ever since until the day he died. We would deer deer pals. Just like What's the odds of that? But it was, you know, had nothing to do with the fact that was like a top layer everything to do with he loved jokes. And I knew what the jokes you know. Yeah. Great fun.

Chuck Shute:

Well, tell me about I love the private parts movie, I think that made fans have heard in the show for people who had never seen it or whatever. Because they didn't have it. They didn't get the Stern show in Seattle, where I lived a long time. But it's interesting. You talk about like, the bathtub scene. That was actually that wasn't Fred that was you in real life in the I

Unknown:

can't wait to send you the unpublished chapters. Okay, I have no idea. I'd have no idea what I was thinking of. But what was probably the best chapter I wrote, I didn't put in the book. And I have no idea how I came to that decision. What it's called very private parts. The whole story of how I almost wasn't in the movie, and the whole tale and you'll, you'll get such a major kick out of it. It's like, I began touched on everything, like how cheap they were, and and how they tried to leave me out. And how I didn't get credit. And you know, all the little, all the little checkmarks that and I people didn't have any idea what was going on in the show. Because the things that bothered me was such little things. You would people who didn't know, would think like, that's nitpicking. But it's not nitpicking, you know, dropping water on, you know, like, the Germans drop water on people's foreheads. So they gave up, you know, that kind of thing. And, and it was really interesting. Yeah. And you know, it's so funny, because all sudden, we're making the movie and I'm like, Howard, how could you put Fred in the bathtub? I was the one about them. And he said, Yeah, but your wife would kill you. And I was like, Yeah, okay. And then because that she almost didn't kill me overnight. Yeah, life. But I'm, like, reenacting it in a feature film. I'm not sure that would have gotten me in trouble. But you know,

Chuck Shute:

was there was there more of the movie that was I thought I heard one time there was a three or four hour cut of the movie that they cut it down to two and a half hours or whatever,

Unknown:

I would not be privy to that. Okay, I know,

Chuck Shute:

there wasn't scenes that you were in that were cut, because like, there was

Unknown:

one scene I did that wasn't that good. And I don't even know if we've finished it. But the stuff I wasn't in that much. But what I did what I did was in there. Your

Chuck Shute:

introduction is not like one day, you're just you're, I think your first introduction. They don't show you how you join the show. They just show you doing the Match Game, which was a brilliant scene, by the way.

Unknown:

I you know, what happened was, I wasn't going to be in the movie, and I don't think Fred was either. That's how they I guess they came up with the first script or whatever. And Howard always say, someday we're gonna be more bright a movie, and somebody's gonna write it and Fred, you and Jack, he'll punch it up. It'll be great. And all sudden, he's doing the movie and all sudden, he's talking on the air, but it's the greatest movie and it's the funniest movie and every scene is fantastic. Bah, bah, bah, blah. And all of a sudden, the guys are coming in. Each day. There's a different guy wearing a hat with an H on it. Like what the hell's going on? They'd opened up production studio, and one by one they would take people down and put them on camera and interviewing them. About the Stern show. And I was never asked. And I like what's going on at some point is stuttering John, what's going on? He said, Yeah, he said that I had to sign my rights away. And they said, don't. Don't Don't mention this because everybody's not included. In retrospect, I think it might have been both me and Fred. Because there was no way that you could have me in the movie, and not show what I was doing. I was making him funny. And there's no way they're going to show that. So what they did was they threw out that whole thing started over with Ivan Reitman, and how it said, I didn't like the movie the way they were writing it. So we're starting over, and we'd like you to be in it. And I'd said, Fine. And what they did was, they made the movie. So it ended. At W NBC. We went on to K rock we went on in mornings, I say we again, I'm sorry. So it looks like they went to the moon. And I stepped on the ship, just as it was taken off, or just as it was landing, whatever. If if he had said Robin Lukas on the show today, Jackie, Jackie martling I wasn't jacking the joke bed yet. But that, you know, whatever. Jackie martling. And he had a held up my three comedy LPs and said he sent us these Forget it, those things would be collector's items, you know, but I was just some guy, you know, I would just the guest on the show. And I happened to be there. You know, I was thrilled to be in the movie. But it didn't really depict a lot. And you'll love the story, the whole story of of my line in the movie, which by most accounts is the funniest line in the movie. You know, how I wrote it? And how I wrote it and how it came about. It's just so interesting and why it's not my it should have been the first chapter in my book, you know, but yeah, as you know, I'm not the best at making decisions, I'm sure. Now, that's funny self deprecating humor, that's always the best. You can laugh at some of this stuff now. Oh, please, always, always.

Chuck Shute:

But is that is that today ever? Like, when you were on the show, or when you left the show? Like the busting balls? Does it ever just go? Did it ever hit like hit home? Or like, oh, that crossed the line?

Unknown:

Of course it did. If if, if the bully is on top of you, and punching you and punching you, he's going to keep punching you till you say out. So you eventually learn to you know, to let it get to you. Or like he'd be going off on my wife. And it'd be brutal. And you had to be very walk a fine line, how you defended, like the most the best way to defend against any of that stuff? Would be Yeah, but what about and in, turn to Fred or turn to Gary turned out Robert James, I try and twist it and walk people off the subject. And, you know, he would sometimes he'd be going off on Nancy and I would write something insulting but funny, and put it up there. And he'd say something really funny, even though it was insulting and be a big laugh. And so he got to commercial, which was like, you know, taking one for the team, you know, but for the most part it the reason it didn't hurt is because if it wasn't me, it was Fred of one Fred, it was Gary wouldn't go, you know, I'm writing these notes a million miles an hour, and I'm writing an insult about Gary and Howard might turn it make it about me or turn it make it about Fred or, you know, I always say that thought the whole show was such a team effort. Because as funny as what we wrote was, there was no way it could have been pulled off. Unless the person we were hitting the notes there was as brilliant as Howard. I mean, he would swallow what was in front of him and spit it back. So seamlessly. That's why people couldn't believe that we're writers, because everybody thought it was totally on the fly. And sometimes Aline was so good. And we were going so fast. He'd circle around and switch the topic to come back so we can use the line. I mean, it was it was such a study. It's a shame that what what the actual guts of that operation was, that should be studied. Because it was phenomenal. You know, like the whole thing. I don't know if you ever want to listen to the show, but when he did, Ted Kennedy, the timing, everybody say is comedic timing was unbelievable. This Teddy was like era, era era, and he do it way longer than any comic ever would. He was doing that because me and Fred was scrambling to write the next thing that Teddy's gonna say. So we're scrambling, right era era. Era. Oh my god, Jonah, you're gonna float away. You're so drunk. You know what I mean? It was like I was just It was just a wonder to behold and then when you threw Billy Weston into, you know, into the works with, and Billy's got eight or nine pieces of paper on the floor in front of them. I mean, we were just cooking, we were cooking, he had

Chuck Shute:

such an eye for talent that he could find all these people find yourself and all these other writers in the wack packers, and he would make them all funny. I mean, he was the director, like he said, he was a brilliant genius mind behind all this. He was,

Unknown:

he was nice. He was not 100%. And he wasn't 99.9%. But he was 99%. You know, he, you know, he was Dorothy, he went to Oz, he picked up the people that he should have picked up. And it was I never I've never taken a thing away from how it's incredible brilliance. Yeah, I will never know why he didn't keep me on the show. And I am so sure that money was the least of the reasons. So

Chuck Shute:

I really don't know, the real reason as to what happened. I mean, just from what the people told you.

Unknown:

It was, I didn't ask for so much money, that it was a deal breaker. I what I asked what was absolutely reasonable, within the bounds of what was being made, et cetera.

Chuck Shute:

So did Robin and Fred make that.

Unknown:

And, you know, I'm not going into the whole thing. Robin made a lot more than I did. And I won't discuss Fred because I just, I really do love him so much. But, you know, he was a good soldier, you know, he, he took what they gave him, you know, and I here I am a loudmouth saying, you know, I'm sorry, it's not enough, you know, so. But he once again, it was it made the whole thing so interesting. You know, I love it. I look back at it say so fondly. And you know, it's so incredible because I get, I get fan mail from, like a kid that says, I'm 24 years old. And I started listening to Howard Stern. And then I found the old shows from the 90s. And you're my favorite character on the show. He wasn't even born when I love the show. Yeah, it's like, it's very flattering. You know, it's very flattered. You know, I don't get, you know, 5000 those a day, I get one every month, you know, but that's still, you know, whatever. No,

Chuck Shute:

it seems like because when, I don't know if I think I might have just caught the tail end of when you were on because in Seattle, I don't think it came on to either your last year or like after you left, and then already came on. And I was like, Oh, this show so great. And then already left, was there ever talk of bringing you back because they never filled that spot really after already? Well,

Unknown:

after I left, they tried a bunch of different people, they call it the jaggy chair and they'd put in people for a week at a time. And it's funny because rd didn't come on until after 911. And that was months and months after I left and people like Wow, is that really tense was already coming in. You guys pass in each other and blah, blah, blah. I'm like, No, it was there was no crossover at all. I was long gone before RT came on. Never been a problem between me and RT ever. You know, we're good pals. So but that, you know, it's it's a weird situation, what I was doing was really weird. You know, people, the reason people probably had a hard time believing that I was writing so much is because I was a guy who drank too much the smoke pot that would sit there I had a good laugh. And I was easy, that was easy to break my balls. So all that the combination of all that almost was enough to justify me being there in the room. I you know, then, you know, I'm the guy that breaking his balls, and he's a drunk. And he's, he's a comedian. And that was a character on the show. So they didn't necessarily have to make the, you know, the leap to Oh, and he's writing to which was, you know, 90% of my importance to the show. Just nobody knew it, you know, but I don't know what the people did that came in I don't know if they wrote jokes, or if they just sat there. You know?

Chuck Shute:

Well, Benji Rojo jokes are so though he was kind of like, the intern kind of learned from you a little bit.

Unknown:

Yeah. You know, that that was a whole annoying thing. Yeah. And I actually at some point, I had actually went through my mind that you know what, he's such a pain. Yes. Maybe I should just say, Yeah, I'll take, I'll take, I'll take the deal. But I don't want Benji you know, with his thumb up my ass next to me for the whole show anymore. And I said, You know what, you can't do that. You know, the guys scrape and claw and trying to get ahead and the last thing I'm going to do is fault somebody who's trying to get ahead, you know, especially how crazy in this business owner was it his idea to come sit in there? Well Gary's but you know, he's trying to get somewhere so you know, that's his deal. So that had to be fine. Yeah. So when

Chuck Shute:

you When you left Stern, did you you talked about, oh, maybe I could just join another radio team did you have ever do that up,

Unknown:

I never, it never crossed my mind. It never crossed my mind that I wasn't going to still be on the show. I didn't make any plans. After I left the show, Nancy and I finally had time to get divorce. We had bought a beautiful home right here on the water, which is where I live now. And I quit drinking. Because after a month or two, I realized I, you know, I can't spend the rest of my life waiting for it to be five o'clock every day. And so that the only solution was to have it never be five o'clock. So between breaking up with my wife and losing my job, and moving into a home all by myself and quitting drinking, people say if you do any one of those four things, you shouldn't change anything else in your life, because you're going to have to adjust and I did well for at the same time. So it was it was a little rocky, a little rocky. But, you know, then one day I woke up and said, Wait a minute, you live in a beautiful house on the water and the most gorgeous place in the entire world Shut up. Just shut up and enjoy.

Chuck Shute:

How did you get through those rocky times without your the crutch of booze basically is like, I mean, that's probably how you were getting through some of the other tough times.

Unknown:

Know, what it was, is after I left the show, you know, I would get drunk. But I wouldn't wake up at 420 in the morning and be off to work and not have and not have an opportunity to be hung over. So I would drink too much. And I would wake up so depressed. Because you know the situation, you know, there's no wife, there's no job. And I said, You know what, I can't deal with this. It was I was unhappy. And for years for years and years, I way back in the early 70s. I remember having a conversation with myself that, you know, one of these days, we got to stop drinking. And I wrote a song about it. 1971 I wrote a song called three days rest. Because I try and quit drinking. And after three days, I'd be freaking out. So I wrote a song about it, you know? So it was a problem for a long time. But you know, even that, I don't know how full of crap I am. Just people say oh, you quit drinking? What was the DTS like, so I'd never had the DTS, well, then you weren't a drunk? And I say, yeah, well tell my family and friends that you know, and who cares? I'm not looking for labels. I'm just looking to try and make things happen, you know, make things better for myself. Make it work, you know?

Chuck Shute:

Yeah. 16 years sobriety, I think congratulations on that. It's gotta be tough to do.

Unknown:

22 but who's counting? 22? Oh, maybe

Chuck Shute:

it's 16. And you said the book and the book is a few years old? Yeah. So yeah.

Unknown:

You know, it's, you know, when I was poor, when I was in high school, when I was in, in college, when I was in the band in the 70s, when I was rich, when I was poor, runs happy. And the sad, nice girlfriend got broke up with, I was really happy some of the time and really miserable some of the time. And then I got on the stove and shoulders really happy. So that, you know, my whole life, I'm really happy summertime and really miserable summertime. And that's, that's the ebb and flow of my life and probably most people's lives. And that's, you just try and learn to live with it. And it's easy to live with it except for the parts where you don't feel good. Yeah, that's full of crap. You only talk long enough, I'll lie to you all day.

Chuck Shute:

Well, I think that's life. I think that there's, there's a lot of people that have a lot more money than both of us that are miserable. There's millionaires and billionaires that are as

Unknown:

five, I see him every five minutes. But you know, he used to make me nuts as I'd be so exhausted. And I'd come out of the Stern show, and I knew that we had just signed on to another year at Channel Nine, and my salary is gonna be double that my gigs tripled in price, and I'm kicking ass. And I'm so miserable. And I see two guys leaning on, leaning on the shovels, filling in a pothole. And these guys are laughing all the time in their life. I'm like, What am I doing wrong? I mean, it's a million degrees and they're working with tar and they're slapping each other and laughing and so it's all your head, man. It's all It's all how you how you rate things, I guess. I don't know.

Chuck Shute:

So have you figured out how to be happier than or maybe more grateful is that kind of the key I've heard that's the key to happiness is just being grateful.

Unknown:

Yeah, you know and that and that's absolutely true. And I'm so old man. I just I get up and I look out from my bedroom and I look at the Long Island Sound and I look across at Connecticut I'm like you know even my my podcast partner Peter bales who says you know when I met you, and you just started comedy you said Peter well I want in life is the habit House on the watering Bayville. You said and you did it, you said, you know, put your feet up and say, Thank God. And I saw I put my feet up and say thank God and then go what is the phone gonna ring? You know, people say, did you retire from comedy? I said, Yeah, I'm retired until the phone rings. And then they call and I go into the game. You know, sometimes I drive too far for too little. Sometimes they pay me more than they should. But you just do it, you know. And, you know, somebody said that it was really weird. I was surprised that they left it in because stuttering John said Jackie should have stayed around for five more years, you could have made enough money, you wouldn't have to do these gigs anymore. And somebody said, they said, if you had a billion dollars, you'd probably still do these gigs. And I said, Absolutely. You know, you can't replace, you know, going up there and doing it. You wonder whether it's good or bad. It's just something. It started really explainable. You know, I went to therapy for a couple of years with this woman because she was like an alcohol counselor, but she was a therapist. And the only reason I agreed to Sears because I don't want to ask her. What is it? That makes me feel so good? After a good show? When I get laughs What? Why is that? so fulfilling? What is that stupid hole? Because you can never fill up that hole? And we we never got to that. Never got to them?

Chuck Shute:

No, I think it makes sense. I mean, that's what everyone's put on this earth for a purpose. Your purpose is literally I mean, you're the joke, man, your your purpose to make people laugh. So if you're not fulfilling that, you're going to feel like a waste of space. You know, I

Unknown:

tell people I go down to see Larry at the post office. And if I follow him around him and make him laugh, you know, I'm good for a half hour, you know, I'm not shallow. But you know, I? Yeah, my whole life. You know, I just stood at the bar and told jokes or stood at the party and told jokes. I want to make somebody laugh so hard. It was like, I punched him in the stomach. Because I you tell dirty jokes. I said, Man, those are the jokes that get the wild reactions. You know, I'm not looking to be Superman will be president, I just want to make somebody laugh the balls off. And that's what I've been trying to do for forever. You know, I

Chuck Shute:

think you've definitely done it. Do you think? I mean, you're sure the show was obviously so revolutionary, and a huge part of that. Do you think that the world needs something like that now? Because it seems like I mean, people say you use the word woke or PC or whatever, but it seems like we need somebody to come in and shake things up again, and be like, and politically correct. Do you think that's, there's gonna be

Unknown:

like that? That clip? I think it's Led Zeppelin. Does anybody remember? Laughter? No, like, I have never changed my stripes. And I'm sure if you listened my early CDs, they'll lock me up, you know, because they were and politically correct. But yeah, you know, everybody gotta just take a chill pill. You know, when I'm doing the show, I got a Jewish guy here and a black guy there, you know, an Italian guy here, and I'm hitting everybody in the black guy's lip and the Jews and the Jews are laughing at the Italians. You know, it's, it's just jokes, and it's just fun. And these people get so carried away, whether it's the women with you know, this whole thing with the pronouns and you know, it's it's all it's all ridiculous. You know, everybody is wants to be loved. And if you want to be loved, make somebody laugh. You know, not decide what label you know, I'm not a politician. I don't I don't want to go on and on for Yeah, and you know, what, people are loving my jokes, more and more and more, you know, people say, Oh, you must have such a rough time on stages. And nowadays, more people showing up than ever, you know, I track that I attract an old audience, but that's because I'm old. There's old people out there and I say Yeah, well I did find one is hold his mate, you know? Yeah. And yeah, just left I go on. You know, I go on the mark Simone show and I'll tell you know, 12 minutes of jokes that are almost way too dirty for his shown then he coughs and chokes. And then I get 100 phone call Jackie was so great on Samoan because they just want to laugh. Now, people used to laugh at that, you know, ask people about the Stern show. Yeah, it was interesting. And, and it was, you know, found things out hurts this about this and your interview this guy. But the main takeaway was how hard people laugh. I love when people say, you know, I listened to that show. And I used to have to pull over because I was laughing so hard. That is such music. They say Oh, Jackie, you must get sick of hearing that. I will never get sick of hearing that. That is the finest compliment. You know, you know, let's say that I got a fish that I got in an accident because I laughed so hard. Maybe that would be the PS there was this

Chuck Shute:

one. I think for me it was I remember always because this before podcasts, you couldn't pause a radio show. So I remember listening to stern and I did in my car and have to go to work or something. I'm like, I don't want to get out of my car like because you get like hooked. You're like, I gotta hear what's going on next. Like

Unknown:

you want to find out where it goes. was and and there's no way to chase it down, you know? Yeah, people say they pull over because they know that come into the tunnel. You know all that stuff is great, great, great fun. Yeah. So

Chuck Shute:

with this new movie, it's great. Like I said, I love it so much I went and bought your book to to learn more what is

Unknown:

that? That is such a kind of I'm so thrilled that you like the movie, but I'm hoping people want to go. And because I got that whole second book ready to go and people that want you to self publish it. And you know, I think I'm going to self publish it and, and sell it and give the money to like the Bayman of this new statue and I say I'm old, you know, I am taking my money with me. So let's, let's have a little fun. My dream about this. And I don't know how it can happen. Because there's so much garbage in this. I can't look at anything in this room. Without an incredible story popping up. You know whether you know there's Keith Richards and Les Paul and Willie Nelson and Eddie Murphy and the rascals Comedy Hour, you know, everything. My dream is to take this documentary and show it at the the film festivals are small theaters, and do a q&a afterwards, because the devil is in the details. And people have so many questions about the Stern show, even the people, the people that liked it that hated it. So I want to show it, and then do a q&a after each showing. But videotape the q&a, because the q&a is going to be a whole nother film. Because there's so many stories, they just go on and on and they trip into other stories. But the great thing about the stories is people will listen. There's so many people that go I actually remember that. Whoa. I remember that. You know, certainly we did a podcast the other night. And our old friend Bill McCarty is a great comic from 1979. I knew him. And I said and we had the next guest but Bill was still there. And I said we would Kelly Rogers wedding. And he said No, I said, you know, and we were often done with the podcast, I said it was we're talking about chips, Cooney and we're talking about politically incorrect, whatever. And Kelly Rogers was a kid that was born when his father was way too old. So all of his relatives, is it not not his grandparents, but his aunts and uncles were all very, very old, and they were wealthy and had a really fancy wedding somewhere in Jersey. And all the comics went invited everybody so it's all these very wealthy rich old codgers and their wives dripping in jewels, and his little comics. He's like, Guys, we'd really like you to do a little bit. So one by one, we're going up, and I'm biting my lip to try and make it nice and everybody's making I was the dirtiest slide to work on. And then they put up Chips, Cooney and this guy got up. He said, Fuck 200 times, in five minutes, the comics would like a guest and it was like the most uncomfortable thing in the world and nobody remembers it and we get done talking. And McCarty is going to diner with us. He comes on he says, you know, Jackie, I was at Kelly's wedding. He said that was the biggest douche chills. minute that I ever experienced. Like we were all fresh. And thank God I got a witness. He said, Yeah, it was unbelievable. Donna Pulido is that they aren't playing fuck fuck and what like. So great. So,

Chuck Shute:

so many stories like that you're right, I think the q&a would be a movie in itself,

Unknown:

and be so much fun, because it'd be happening live from the people that are there, and the stories and be fresh. And, and we also got to place everything is Theodore Roosevelt in this town. So they got to a bookstore now called Teddy's. And like all of a sudden, they're like, Jackie, you gotta help raise money for the Bayman statue. And I said, You know what, the first chapter of my book is all about that Teddy Roosevelt, I'm gonna ask the guy. Can I come and sit there and do one of those things where people read from their books, but it's a chapter about Theodore Roosevelt. And then we'll sell the books and give all the money to, you know, to the Bayman thing. It's fun. I'm old now so I can do whatever on people. i Why did you take that gig? Because I can, you know, why would you drive three hours to work in a library? Because I can you know what I mean? Because my mother used to say go you might meet somebody, and every time he goes somewhere you meet somebody else. It's interesting. So it's that simple. Very cool.

Chuck Shute:

We if you ever get down to Phoenix or even Vegas, I could drive to Vegas. I'll come see you. I'd be really fun.

Unknown:

Now, are you in Phoenix? Yeah. Because that there was a guy there who had three radio stations and Yes, we need to do jokes for him. And they had to be clean enough for radio. And I did a couple of 100 jokes then he was paying me pretty good, but they will clean and then the pandemic and he will fell apart. I don't know I don't know where he is even now but I think it was Phoenix or one of those Arizona home.

Chuck Shute:

homers big down here in Phoenix, you know, I, you know,

Unknown:

I have to look, I gotta get your email address. But then one day, I woke up and said, You know what, those jokes are clean enough to put on tick tock salsa, and I started loading them under tick tock, one a day. And the response was incredible. Some better than others. But what am I stupid? It's funny. Because I don't know about now because I stopped doing it because I want to use Tiktok to promote joke man documentary. So I stopped doing it like six months or a year ago. But they don't. They don't delete you. If you if you do a joke that they don't like. They mute it. That's that. So they muted a joke because I said the word dildo. I was like, wow. And then. And then then you did a joke where I said, masturbate. And I'm like, This is crazy. I said, so you know what I gotta do? I gotta do the old thing where we do the Howard Stern, K rock dance. And I'm telling you the jokes that have been on there have been so filthy. But, you know, you could tell the filthiest joke in the world. But if not, somebody's not listening for the context, right? You know, a girl says to the guy behind the counter, and you're drunk, so I need a dozen condoms. And the guy behind the counter says, Oh, you won't have any kids? And she says, No, my boyfriend doesn't want to get any poop on his rocket. Pass them. And

Chuck Shute:

they just look for certain words. So there you go.

Unknown:

The dirtiest joke in the world that's on there. And I will send you the link.

Chuck Shute:

No, I thought you're taking one of them has like 2 million or something views or whatever.

Unknown:

One of one joke in particular got 1.1 million plays. This dirty as it can be, you know? Yeah. And people are flocking, people are flocking to it. Because you can go on you can spend the whole afternoon listen to every joke on there, you know? So? Absolutely.

Chuck Shute:

It's great stuff. So yeah, the movie comes out July 18, I believe?

Unknown:

Yep. On all the major streaming platforms that I don't know what that means. But I guess it means it will be pretty, pretty easy to find. And when it gets closer, all the details will be out there. But I'm very excited. It's been a long time coming. You know, it was it was ready before the pandemic. And then Netflix was on the verge of taking it and then Netflix went into the toilet. What are the odds of that? And then finally, finally, we got a distributor random media and, and I'm thrilled, and I just hope people love it. You know, I think that people that don't even like me again, just go just out of curiosity. They're gonna watch it. So yeah,

Chuck Shute:

well, it's interesting to hear your story. And I mean, I'm like a middle child. So I just, I want everyone to get along. I love to see you go on Howard Stern and promote it, and you guys hug and bury the hatchet? Because there's just too much too many great, great years there, too. You know,

Unknown:

I absolutely agree. And you know, when my book came out, so many people said by us, so, you know, why didn't you listen to Howard? Why don't you say I said, because everything that happened on that show, happened on that show, that was no secret that this trivial stuff that really annoyed me is, is not stuff that people are going to understand. It's way too subtle, you know, and just like, I don't think, the documentary, it's not mean, in any way, shape, or form, except it does. Show that I was writing a real lot of the stuff which the whole world supposedly knows. So we'll see. You know, I'm thinking of sending the trailer to him, and maybe I will just somebody sent it to him already. So for sure, let's see what happens.

Chuck Shute:

Thank you so much for doing my show. I'm always in promoting a charity is that that was the thing. You mentioned the Bayman is that something people could do?

Unknown:

It's the O Bayman. Damon statue.org I think it is, okay. statue to commemorate all the clam diggers and oyster diggers throughout the centuries here in Oyster Bay, it's gonna be right in the park. And you know, and then everybody's contributing. And it's a wonderful thing, and I'm gonna probably do a charity event for them, you know, the Bayville Fire Company in Teddy's bookstore and everything you know, it's it is a great it's, it's a it's a great thing, you know, and it's very hometown, you know, yeah, I mean, you're looking at you're looking at the statue and over the statues shoulder you see Billy Joel's house, etc island, so it's, you know, it's pretty fantastic. You know, there Record well, I'll

Chuck Shute:

send you my email hopefully can send me the second book. I'm dying to read it that sounds amazing

Unknown:

that you are so such a generous interviewer and I really, really appreciate it. And I'm going to tell our publicist Maggie Simpson that you were a delight. Oh, good. And, and then I'm gonna lie to the producer and say the guy hung up on me just the break. All right. Thanks so much, Jackie. I'll talk to you later. I appreciate it. Bye, bye.

Chuck Shute:

All right. I don't often say this. But I was really blown away in this interview with Jackie, he was so kind and funny and openly candid about his time and stern and how he dealt with leaving in his life since then. And I find his whole story to be very fascinating. Definitely check out that movie jump in on July 18. And if you want to dive deeper, like I did, I recommend getting his autobiography. It's called from bow to stern. And as always, you can support the guests by following them on social media and your likes, comments and shares are always appreciated. You can support the show in much the same way. Make sure to subscribe wherever you watch or listen, especially our YouTube channel. We have a lot of exclusive content on there that's only on YouTube. And right now it's all free. So thank you for your support of our show. And our guests. Have a great rest of your day and shoot for the moon.