Rodney Commands Respect

Rodney in Ladybugs

Occasionally, my publisher Al Colombo and I engage in brief conversations on the greatness of our favorite comedian, the incomparable Rodney Dangerfield. He came to prominence late in life and eventually enjoyed a long and lucrative career in the extremely competitive world of comedy.

An unmistakable persona, usually decked out in a black suit and red tie, bug-eyed and innocuously tugging at his collar and wiping sweat from his face with his handkerchief, Rodney is still remembered today by most over the age of 30 and his universally endearing “no respect” trademark led Johnny Carson to once declare him the greatest stand-up comic of all.

Rodney and the King

Born Jacob Cohen, the Long Island native began as a struggling stand-up performer with the stage name Jack Roy. After failing to find his niche, he notoriously left show business to sell aluminum siding. When he decided to take a second shot at stand-up, the rechristened Rodney Dangerfield worked his way through venues such as those in the famed Catskills.

Eventually earning headliner status, he developed a memorable act based around an endless string of catchy one-liners that defined his self-deprecating image as the ultimate loser who won’t ever get a break (“My father carries around the picture of the kid who came with his wallet.”) By 1969, he had opened Dangerfield’s, a first-class comedy club in Manhattan that still features top-rate comedy talent to this day.

Rodney as Miller Lite's spokesperson.

In the 1980s, Rodney became an iconic household name thanks to a series of best-selling records and a starring role in the hit comedy film Caddyshack as the brash, no-class cut-up Al Czervik who traveled with an Asian chauffeur named Wang who found everything to be photogenic. “Hey Wang, what’s with the pictures? It’s a parking lot!”

More movies and TV specials followed as well as a series of appearances in an all-star TV ad campaign for Miller Lite beer (he was even bestowed with the honor of having his own board game).

Milton Bradley's Rodney board game

Rodney in the act of bonding with Redd Foxx

Rodney died in 2004 at the age of 82. His grave marker in Los Angeles infamously reads- ‘Rodney Dangerfield, There goes the neighborhood.’ An obvious reference to his hard luck image, it carried a negative connotation and wasn’t something I ever felt was entirely appropriate. For me, It served the excessive side of his myth, much like some of his HBO specials where he often seemed to be attempting to outdo his younger protégés with uncharacteristic gags that were increasingly vulgar and abusively mean-spirited.

"What a crowd! What a crowd!" (above) Dangerfield's on First Ave. (right)

Rodney in his element

The ironic fact of the matter is that Rodney’s true reputation, much like his real-life personality, is in direct contrast to his celebrated characters that he honed so meticulously. He was and continues to be highly ‘respected’, particularly by the young comics he mentored and inspired.

Today’s contemporary comedy scene lacks the common range that legends like Rodney worked in. Most new comics seek to craft material relatable to like-minded pockets or groups with whom they can establish themselves as spokesmen or figureheads of irreverence. The days of instantly recognizable comedians with easily identifiable gimmicks cracking jokes that everyone gets, regardless of age, race, occupation or social class seem to be relegated to showbiz past.

Rodney in a casual mood

Rodney was always destined for stardom because he possessed the key to laughter with a style that was empathetic, whoever you happened to be.

Do you ever feel like you don’t get any respect? What about groups, communities and countries? Can they feel that way, collectively? Does America feel the way Rodney did? If so, can humor save it? Maybe Rodney had the answer. Many of us are undoubtedly invoking him without ever knowing it. How often do we seem to look around and say to ourselves in exasperation, “I tell ya, I can’t take it no more.”?

Chris

Mysteries Throughout Mankind

In a previous blog I commented on unexplained phenomenon which I only approached in a perfunctory paragraph. As such, I thought I’d elaborate a little on that fascinating topic.

I’ve always been drawn to historical mysteries and incidents or subjects that lack official explanations. Some that naturally come to mind are the subject of UFOs, Bigfoot, ghost sightings and unsolved crimes like the case of D.B. Cooper, the mystery man in a business suit who hijacked a Boeing 727 flight to Seattle and apparently jumped off with $200,000 ransom money, never to be seen again.

As a kid, I was intrigued by these kinds of stories and I even created my own scrapbook of photos and news clippings devoted to Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, the Bermuda Triangle and other subjects that spurred my imagination. My favorite was Bigfoot- he was always enduringly fascinating as a possible intermediate form between man and his simian ancestor that was still elusively roaming the dense wild.

One of my favorite shows back then was Leonard Nimoy’s ‘In Search Of...’ which sought to explore these phenomenal items through interviews and intensive research. The shows were brief and as a result only touched upon the topics with no real conclusive answers to the weekly mysteries but I still think the subtle and equivocal style they employed was far superior to those currently produced in similar-themed shows.

The contemporary versions on networks like Nat Geo, History and Investigation Discovery tend to overreach their analysis by exhausting dead-end hypotheses and showing off state-of-the-art technologies for sheer sensationalism. Sometimes it’s better and far more interesting from an entertainment aspect to simply let the subject matter speak for itself.

What fascinates you? What is it about the way it is presented in a book or show or movie that makes it even more fascinating?

Chris