 Joining us from San Francisco, legendary comedian Larry Bubbles Brown. Hello, Mr. Brown. And as funny as sourdough, yes, from San Fran. You lived here for a while. Yes, I did. I did comedy there for 12 years, met my ex-wife at children there, got everything I needed from that town, and then I moved out. You mined it like a 49er, flaked the gold and left. I said to San Francisco, you have nothing left to offer me. Fair well. I wish I would have followed you, gotten out of the whish-hole of the west. Oh my god. Bring an earthquake, have that guy from North Korea send us a little gift, just get it over with. I hate this place. Been taking over these tech people. The internet, which has given us free porn and in exchange we've gone over privacy and lost our newspapers. Been a wonderful trade. There's two heroes in America right now, Edward Snowden and Julian Assange. That's it. Everyone else is stuck. And they don't even live in America. I know, but we should make them honorary Americans. Right. How long have you lived in San Francisco? 40 years. 40 years. I'm trapped. I'm literally trapped here. I got this rent control apartment so I can't leave. I've been asking for a buyout. Oh, we don't do that. Everyone else does, not me. You know, you're staying here. I'm like a fucking bird man. I can't get out. I just stare out the window like a fog in the rain, that crappy climate. Oh yeah, global warming is minus four here. Isn't it great? So you're telling people to think of San Francisco when they're making their travel plans. Yes, if they want to break up their families, come here. No, Larry. Bring your shorts. It's always pleasant. Larry, San Francisco, it's come on now. It's a beautiful city. The people are tolerant. They're liberal. They're very respective of other views. They want to talk to you. Oh my god. No, you were so smart to leave. How did you end up in San Francisco? Actually, my parents retired and moved out here. I came out and I just wound up staying. And you started doing stand-up comedy in San Francisco? March 3rd, 1981, yes. March 3rd, 1981. You hold the record for largest amount of time between Letterman shots? Yes, 21 years. This is true. They wanted to make sure I was ready. Okay. I got even with them though. I did the same set. You did Letterman what year, the first time? 87 and then 2008. 87 and then 2008. And I remember driving you to the airport in 87. The first time. Yes, yes. And what was I thinking? You said, this is great. I'll be next. You put a very positive spin on it. I like that. Most comics would get jealous and you gave me a ride and said, I'll be next. And we're both going to get rich and famous. I think by then I had given up. By then I just was locked into stand-up. You know what I do remember? And I've never had the opportunity to tell Rob Schneider this. When he did Letterman for the first time, or maybe I did tell him that. I did tell him that. Yes, I did tell him this. When he did Letterman for the first time, they asked him if anybody's funny in San Francisco and he recommended me. And I get this call from the Letterman show. And you got to understand back then doing Letterman was all that mattered. When you did Letterman, it was all a comic wanted needed. You could stop after that. Very hip show then. Right. But it was what we were all working for. And you could literally say, okay, I did Letterman. I'm done. Now I'm going to retire and get a get a real job. But at least I got on Letterman. That's how big it was. And the phone rang. And at first I thought it was a put on. You know, hi, this is Barbara Stoltz from the David Letterman show. Rob Schneider says you're very who is this? Who are you? And it freaked me out because I knew I wasn't ready for Letterman. And I never sent them a tape. And I kind of changed my approach to stand up. I said, wait a second, you're jealous of all these people getting on Letterman, but you know you're not ready. How did you get Letterman? First time I got it from they had an audition in May 10th, 85. I was working the punchline, but they had the audition at Cobbs. I had to run over and I had a really good set. Got it all that primarily. 85. Yeah, that's early. That was you had been doing it for four years. You know, the year before it almost got, you remember, I almost got to the night show, which was would have been, I think, a bigger thing at the time. But then I got a little, yeah, so the little people saw me here and then I went back to New York and bombed horribly. That kind of, so I had to kind of stalled me for another year, but I eventually got it. So Jim McCauley, who used to book the tonight show. Who held the keys to the kingdom. Back then it was. Back then it was. Walked up to you and said what? Comedy day of 84. You were with me and he approached me and said, I thought you're pretty funny. I booked at a night show. Please call me if you ever get to LA. I think or I'd like to see you in LA and I think I pretty much had a heart attack at that point. And then I didn't happen, but it was a fun few months there. And I can tell you about the heat, but he kept calling you. I mean, there was some kind of romance going on, right? The old casting couch. No, I mean, he was interested in you. He was like, he was grooming you. He was grooming you for the tonight show. Okay, I went down there. Do you want to hear this? I'm sure it's so boring. I agree. So this is July. He told me comedy day or 84. And I went down for September and then he saw me. I did a set of the improv and he said, you're not quite ready. Can you come over to my office tomorrow? And I said, no, I've got a midnight flight back to Frisco. So I went over and told Kevin Pollack. Hey, that guy wanted to see me. He said, you idiot. Cancel that flight and get up. Okay. So I ran over. I can come over tomorrow. Great. So come to my office at NBC at two o'clock. So next day, Jeremy Kramer drove me over and we couldn't find Burbank. We were so nervous. We couldn't even read a map. He's got the 61 Falcon. I've got the map upside down. I can't see anything. Yeah. So you're going into finally get there. Going. So we have a lot of young people listening. And by young, I mean under the age of 120. You always had good demographic. Let me put it this way. A Letterman and Colbert at most in the past few years have got 3 million viewers. Carsten at the time is getting 17 million. So if he did his show, it was like going viral. So I'm over it. So we go get to NBC. Macaulay takes me into his office and Kramer waits in the lobby, which was a huge mistake. So I'm in there for a while. Why was that a mistake for Jeremy Kramer to wait in the lobby? Why could go wrong? What happened? When we came out, Kramer said to Macaulay, you've met me a hundred times, but you never remember me. Well, you got to remind people who Jeremy Kramer is. Could he be the funniest man? Could he be the West Coast Gilbert Gottfried? Gilbert Gottfried and Andy Kaufman, of course. He was a he he took me under his wing when I started staying up. He was my idol before he started. So he was he was just like no one I've I've ever seen like him. I think he would just every time you saw him with like 20 minutes of new material. Just hilarious bizarre character. When I was living in LA and doing this show, he would come on and you never ever found him at a loss for words. Never. No, I know always something always something new. I went to the La Brea Tar Pits with him once I went to the museum. They're starting to show this film in the back. He's in the back and all of a sudden you're millions of years ago. The earth had a thin candy shell. I want to get back to you doing the tonight show or being, you know, meeting with Macaulay. But this is what I remember the first time I had Jeremy on the radio show in LA. It's a very liberal radio station. And I said, joining us is the author of Wars a Racket, General Smedley, General Smedley Butler. And he says, Yes, what can I do for you? What was the racket? He played him as this like a family. Fop. He played hilarious. He's a genius. Okay, I'm sorry. So go ahead. So the best, the best. The best. So where were we? Macaulay? So Macaulay calls you into the tonight show and now you're inside. You're in NBC. It's huge. And it's everything you want. It's all there. And it's everything I'd always do. I just wanted to do the like tonight show and quit. That's what I wanted to do. And I'm in his office and he's telling me this is a Friday said I'm going to London for the weekend. I'm like, Oh my God, showbiz people like they go to London for the weekend. And we're talking for two hours and he makes it set for me to practice this and call me next month and we'll look at it again. And so then we come out and this is this is this was a perfect day. So then Jeremy, I had to get the Holy City Zoo was reopening as a ha ha go go that weekend. Remember that? And when Tom Sawyer bought it, tell everybody what the Holy City Zoo was. That was a room, a little comedy club about the size of an apartment. And but it was legendary. The maids quarters of an apartment. Yeah, yeah, it's set 70 people. But and it was really weird woodwork and stuff. And because it was they got the furniture from a defunct zoo in a city called Holy City. Yeah, petting zoo for kids. If they went to church, they were treated by going to the goat. Yes. Which then this has been slaughtered. And yeah, the zoo, that was a great place. So the but then Tom Sawyer bought it and changed the decor to call it a ha ha go go. And Benny, I was so Kramer takes me to the airport and in Burbank and I I I walk in. Oh, there's a plane leaving for San Francisco in 10 minutes. No, it's pretty nine o'clock. You just walk on the plane. Get to San Francisco. I go up to the Holy City Zoo. Somebody comes running up to me. Oh, you were quoted in penthouse magazine about the 10 best things ever said about sex. So I ran down and got a copy of that. And there was I was quoted in this magazine, some pretty famous people. And then I went in and I did my set and people were laughing so hard. It was like annoying. But it was just this is like the perfect 24 hours. And then I went back a month later and bombed. And that was the end of that story. You went back to LA and bombed. Yeah. And then Macaulay lost interest. There was still some kind of flirtation going on after that. Would you say in in life, not just show business, but in stand up show business life in general, when you're on a hot streak, you should run the tables. Just you got to run the table. And I don't think I ever did. You got to I would take the winnings and leave and you got to roll. You got to run with it. You got when you're on a hot streak, ask for the moon and don't stop. And when then when things are going bad, I have discovered hide just hiding for 35 years. Yeah. But isn't that a general rule of thumb for survival? If you feel you're luck turns and know when you're lucky. No, when was your biggest hot streak? I always remember I'm just I'm doing this to make you laugh. Okay. Ask me that question again. What was your biggest hot streak? Well, there have been so many larynge. Which what decade? Now, I just remember hearing somebody compliment Tom Hanks, it might have been Paul Newman who complimented Tom Hanks for being able to catch luck, like know when you're being lucky and just grab it because all this luck is floating in front of you. But you have to be wise enough to know that you're lucky and then you just grab it. A lot of us, I'm not talking about showbiz. I'm talking about life in general. Don't know when the universe has thrown them fortune. Another human being like, you know, you there was a woman who I told you to marry and you didn't and looking back, you were probably right. At the time I was happily married and I thought everybody should be. But I had you know, I had 25 good years. So and don't mention her. Don't mention the name. Don't mention it. Please do not know. But I think I think you're absolutely right. I think the universe does present you opportunities and gifts and sometimes you don't see them or sometimes you don't take them. But you're right. You should when you see it, grab it. When you see it, grab it. I think Donald Trump said that to Billy Bush. Grab them good. This portion of the program is brought to you by tic-tacs. So yeah, so then you did Letterman what year? So you auditioned for Mordy? I did audition for my Mordy. I did it in 80. 80. Well, he saw me in 85. I did it in 87. And I was the I was the I went back and got bumped. I think you give me another ride to the airport then. I got great. You get bumped. You get paid. And then I remember Barry Sand was a producer of Letterman then. And then between when I went back, he got fired, I think. And Mordy was actually became so I was I was actually the first show that Mordy produced. I remember he was quite nervous. But I did okay. And then he's really happy. Barry Sand was this great cautionary show business story because he was a line producer on SCTV. He was a perfectly harmless fella, perfectly harmless. He was a line producer on SCTV. And David Letterman was just starting out and he was a big fan of SCTV. And he didn't know what a line producer meant. A line producer, somebody who just make sure the lights are there and people are getting paid. But it's not a particularly creative individual. They watch the budget more than they watch the budget. And Letterman hired him. And then after a couple of years, it slowly dawned on him that this guy was a CPA. He was an accountant. I've got an accountant booking my show and telling me what's funny. So he fired him. Now this guy has SCTV behind him, Second City Television, which is probably the greatest comedy series. I mean, it's right better than SNL if you go back. Oh yeah, the early SCTVs were really, really great. And a lot of the young kids I know, hard to believe, are unfamiliar with Monty Python and SCTV. Anyway, so this guy had Letterman and SCTV on his resume. He ran both shows and he came out to Hollywood and they gave him the Wilton North report. Do you remember this? No Wilton. It lasted two weeks. And now he was finally going to be the accountant he always wanted to be. Is that what happened? Yes. So somehow an accountant had these amazing credentials and they gave him Wilton North and it just flopped and no fault of his own. Because people will tell you, they always want to tell you to do something that you're not good at and sure business. If you're a good stand-up, they say, you know what you should do? You should be an actor. I'm an accountant. You know what? You should tell people you know what's funny. I remember when I first went back there, I had to, I remember I did a run-through of my set the night before and it didn't go great. And I think Morty was starting to get antsy. And the day of the show I had to go and bury Sam's office and do my set in front of him and Morty in the office. Like my awkward. And after I do my set. How do you do your set? It's two guys in an office and then Sam, I had a joke about a clown that blew his brains out. Popo. I just remember, you popo the clown. Nothing in my sleeve. Nothing in my life. I got to go kids. And he blows his brains out. Yeah. I remember that bit. And then Sam looks over at Morton and goes, I really don't like the thing about the clown blowing his brain. Oh, we can scratch that. So then I got bumped that night. And that's all I remember. That was the most awkward moment in my life. Being in that office with the imagine doing a set in front of two guys in an office. You know what is so maddening about doing this is you're in Valhalla. You're in the office where everything you need is there. Everything you've wanted in life is in this office. Everything is going to change your life. And your dreams come true. And everybody's so clean and smiling and friendly. And there's the clackity-clack of the computers and the smell of coffee. And it's just an office. And it's just a nine to five thing. Hi, can I get you anything? We're so happy here. And it's just another business day here. And you're thinking, I'm just going to smile and let them convince everybody that I'm not the world's biggest creep. And it it's maddening. Everybody's so nonchalant and casual in the place that you have to be. It's a great description. Yeah. It used to just I went, how is this, how are you so calm? Don't you know that this is the kingdom of heaven? Yeah. And you're not really allowed in the kingdom of heaven if you think it's the kingdom of heaven. Because you will go nuts, right? Yeah. How nervous were you when you the first time you did, Letterman? I could not fall. I remember I got there. I couldn't fall asleep. So I'd been up for about the time I got to the show to the tape and I'd been up for 36 hours. And I had dark rings under my eyes. And I was with Rich Lieber. Steve Trilling. And I don't think Steve Trilling and Henriette Mantel were there. And I remember I kept trying to, I was doing in the green room. I'm doing my set in front of Trilling. And I'm going two minutes because they changed stuff, right? I'm going two minutes into it and drawing a blank. And I'm on in like 15 minutes. And then the show ran, I think they ran it over late on purpose and like I bumped some. So I might have had the first on air freeze had I gone on that day. The thing about having to memorize your act the first time you do one of these shows is the sporting event for the producers and the host, but not for the comedian. It's really unfair to ask somebody who's really funny to go on TV for the first time and have to remember because that's all you're thinking about is what do I say next? What do I say next? Yeah. The bullet points. I can never give you a cue card. Well, they do now. I mean, certain people do in the minute you got the minute I got bullet points, it changed everything. Once I no longer had to worry about what I was going to say next, once I had to dump the mnemonic devices to remember the bit that follows that bit. I could focus on my timing. I could listen to the audience. But if you don't have bullet points, you're not in the moment. No, and it's just absolutely terrifying. I remember I was, you know, I'm going to go out there and draw blank. I was so scared. Different generation. It was a time when we were growing up when the feeling was, well, it's got to be hard for you. If you want to make it, why should we give you, why should we give you a crutch? You got a letterman. You got on the Tonight Show. No bullet points. We don't give bullet points out. You go up there, you remember your act. If you can't remember your act, you shouldn't be doing this. Life is tough. You shouldn't be here. Yeah. And today's love, bro. Tough love. I would say the number of nervous break. I had Dana Gould on about a month ago. The number of nervous breakdowns we both had on these make or break moments were so devastating. And I look back and I partly think, well, everybody should experience what I went through. It was tough. Then you have kids and you say, why, why would you put anybody through this? But what we suffered through, why should anybody have to suffer through it? But I don't know. Maybe you should. Maybe. I don't know. What do you think? Well, I'll tell you a story about the same weekend I auditioned for Letterman out here the first time. There was another comic who auditioned and he got the show and he got so freaked out. He packed up his apartment the next day and moved and got out of the business. Later, you'll tell me who that is. But I'll tell you who it is later. Yes. Was he from San Francisco? Yeah. And he got Letterman. He got Letterman. You were actually in Sacramento that weekend. They did an audition at Cobbs on the Friday night and then they did one at Tommy Tees on Saturday and they saw him there. Very likable guy. They gave him a show. He got out of the business, packed up and literally moved. He said the next week. So he freaked out. He freaked out. He didn't go to New York. He thought they could track him down. It's really a funny story. But he got out of the business and has been out ever since. Never dipped his toe back in? Nope. Interesting. I can remember doing a show, flying in New York to do a show, and like a schmuck, I flew in a day early and I had two days to kill in New York before I had to do the show. And I was young and I had a 24-hour panic attack, because my name was in TV Guide. And I made the mistake of visiting friends, not to brag, just, you know, hey, I'm in New York. And then realizing they were all going to watch me, I was on and I was, it felt like I was walking when I finally, you know, walked to the studio, I felt like I was walking to my execution. I kept thinking this is, this is what an execution feels like. It is very similar to an execution, yeah. Exactly. Total humiliation. I mean, this was back when these shows meant something. And yeah, this is back when people actually used to watch TV. I mean, TV means, I think, nothing now. But yeah, it was kind of a big deal then. And it's meaning less and less. It's kind of interesting with, it's probably better. But to go through that, I remember learning to be relaxed and then thinking right before being introduced in a high-pressure situation, getting a little stage fright. And I thought, I don't know who this comic is who gave up. I have a feeling I know who it is. But I remember thinking, waiting in the wings to go on during a high-pressure situation and being terrified, I thought, I get it. I get why people self-destruct. This is terrifying. I understand why people do certain things so they never have to put themselves in this situation again. And they'll do things subconsciously to avoid being put in this specific spot, because they never want to admit that they're afraid to do this. But they'll do things subconsciously to make sure this never happens again. Never happens again, yeah. I just remember the last letterman I did. I just, when the music's, you know, you're getting ready to go on, they're brushing your coat down, they're touching up the makeup, and they're in a commercial. And you tape yourself down, right? Because you're looking out at lettermen and the band's playing and you know you're going to be on like in 30 seconds and you just, you really feel like you're at your own execution. Yeah. And then what happens is you were great. Now get the F out of here. Yes, and then nothing happens. And it's over. You were great. You know, come back, maybe we'll have to see five more minutes on tape, but really it would really be great right now if you didn't hang out and you just left and we only see you when we have to. That was the thing that just shocked me is you're just part of an assembly line. You're throwing, it's like being thrown out of a room by a hooker. Okay, we're done. Yeah. Yeah. The thing that then you realize is if God forbid somebody gives you a sitcom pilot, you have this, oh my God, this is, then you realize now you're part of the assembly line. And then you're given a show and you're part of the assembly line. And it's the number one show in America and it dawns on you. You're still part of this assembly line. This is going to come to an end. You know, it never was going to be nice to you while it's on and then it's over and you're forgotten. It is a business not for everybody because it's more about stamina and strength than it is about being talented or funny, right? The funniest people you know, right? Arden, yeah, the funniest ones never make it. Dana Carvey was telling me he was so nervous when he started out. Dana Carvey is one of the funniest. He is the funniest person in the world. Yeah. And even like when I go in these drives with him to gigs, it's like 10 times funnier than anything he does on TV. And he goes, yeah, he said every comic, he said we're much funnier offstage, even at that level, which I found astounding, but he was telling me how nervous he was. He goes, God, why did I put myself through this? I was just nervous. I was throwing up. I couldn't take it. And he told me the first time he ever went to do stand-up, he'd been funny at SF stays. He got to do an open mic. He went up to the Holy City Zoo and he walks in and some guys on stage just destroying the room, right? Killing. And he goes, I don't know if I can be that funny. It turns out the first person he saw on stage was Robin Williams. Yeah, just kicking the lights out the rooms on fire. He goes home dejected. I don't want to do that. When we were starting out, can you hear me? Yeah, yeah. Didn't we honestly believe that the only reason anybody came to the clubs was on the off chance that Robin would show up? That may have been true, too. Yeah, didn't you and I would be like, we'd be on a show. Why would anybody come out to see us? No one knows who we are. And we're not good. They must be waiting. They have to be waiting for Robin. Yeah, makes no sense. I thought Letterman's tribute to Robin was the most perfect spot on accurate representation of how every comedian felt whenever they saw Robin perform. Did you see what Letterman said? It's why bother doing your little bag of jokes when there's this guy who is taking it to a level never before seen before. He's in the stratosphere. And then, this is what Letterman said, then Robin got Mork and Mindy so we didn't see him. So we could go back to the comedy store and pretend we were still funny. But then Robin took care of his friends and gave us big parts on Mork and Mindy so we would go onto the set and have to be reminded that there's this guy who's operating at a whole other level of comedy. It was one of those. We're going to go out and do two hours of high energy and we're out there peeling off our little one liner. Do you hope you like me? I guess it was a valuable lesson for me to see somebody like Dana Carvey or Robin or Kramer or Pearl. There were a lot of people who were just off the charts and you make this decision. You say, okay, I'm never going to be as good as this person is. There's no way I will ever be as funny. So now what? Now what? Yeah, that's exactly when I started out. Steven Pearl was supposed to be the next Robin Williams and I've been doing comedy for a short time and he was some Wednesday night. He's in there just killing. Remember how the lab she was about? I worshipped Steven Pearl. I thought he was talking directly to me and I swear to God I was drinking at the time and smoking a lot of dope. But I used to say, I see lightning bolts from God. Yeah. He's like doing God. God is speaking through him. So I was actually trying to put a positive spin on it. I just saw him that one night. It goes, I can never be that funny, but maybe I can still make a living doing this, but I just realized I can't be that funny. You're a naturally funny person. You're not like a student. You're just innately funny. You don't realize it, but you are. That's why I've made so much money. Well, I'm not talking about money here, but you are an innately funny person. You see Mort Saul all the time. Tell me who Mort Saul is. Mort Saul has been doing comedy for since 1953. Would you call him a political sadist or just a sadist? I guess I would call him the father of modern stand-up comedy, right? I think Woody Allen calls him that too. He said, Woody Allen said everything he got from comedy. He owes to Mort, which is pretty amazing quote. Mort is the, there is no, he's the ur text of comedy, post-World War II comedy. It all changed because of Mort. He went up. Yeah. Probably the first guy that didn't do jokes. He talked about real things and made it funny, but without being in no kind of a one-line fashion. I had Alonzo Bodin on the show last week. He plays jazz clubs when he's not working comedy clubs. And I asked him about what's that, what's that's like. And he said, oh, it's fantastic. It's the best. And we're talking because comedy has its roots in jazz because Mort started in jazz clubs. Yeah. Mort always brings that up about how jazz and comedy are very similar. But when we were starting out, it was rock. It used to drive me crazy when they would put on rock and roll to start a show, get the audience in the mood. And I always thought, what are you doing? You're killing all their reasoning ability. It's just like, get them to listen to the music. No, no, we want to juice them up. We want to get high energy. No, no, no. Comedy. I'll give them high energy. When I go on stage, I'll jumpstart them. I don't need the who jumpstarting. Yeah, you can't follow highway to hell. And now here's a guy with no music behind him. The comedy is just like, I don't know, America's business has been run like comedy. No wonder we're in the dumper of it. The dumbest people in the world run comedy clubs. It is the easiest thing to do. And I am amazed by how people who call themselves comedy fans, they want to surround themselves with comedians and make people laugh, how they cannot figure out the way a stage and a room should be set up. It confounds me. You're right. It's a stupid country. I mean, I'm not going to name names, but I remember a very successful comedy chain setting up a club when we were growing with the boom. I remember walking in and saying, you really think this is a good setup. You really think you set it up properly. You think a balcony all the way in the back. That's got brass railings that completely separates the balcony from the people in the pit and the performer. You think that's a good setup. How could you be that stupid? It's incredible though. From top to bottom, just bad decisions. So comedy in San Francisco, I was talking to somebody yesterday. Now there is a phenomenon of two things. One is if you live in San Francisco and you're a comedian, you wrestle with this idea of moving down to Los Angeles. Some move down, some don't. The ones who stay up in San Francisco kind of delude themselves into thinking, you know, I really should bite the bullet and finally give them this. I know LA, you know, they're going to, they want what I have. I'm just not ready to give it to them. And then there are the people who say, you know, I'm going to go down to LA and LA goes big deal. Oh really, you were a local hero. Good. Get to the back of a line. Can I make money off you? And what happens to the guys who move to Los Angeles is they begin to resent San Francisco. Do you know this? No. It's a phenomenon that I've noticed. They resent San Francisco because it's so beautiful. It's so calm and the people are so nice. And every time they come back to San Francisco, they resent the lifestyle because they're in LA and it's hell and everybody's happy in San Francisco. Well, does everybody happy in San Francisco, Larry? I don't think so. I wish I would have left here, but is San Francisco being kind to its comedy right now? Or what I'm hearing is that it's become a road stop. I think it's been a road stop for some time now. It's just it's got two main clubs that are owned by the same corporation. What's the corporation? Live Nation. Yeah. There was a time when San Francisco nurtured comedy. And I was talking to a young comic yesterday here in New York City and he says he moved to San Francisco because of the reputation. He says there's no stage time in San Francisco for guys starting out. No, you have to get out at the punchline on Sunday night. You have to go down there for at least nine months. You have to do what? You have to go down there and wait. But you have to come there. You're not going to get on, but they make you come in and we have to watch for nine months to prove it. There's so many people want to get on stage now. So then after nine months, coming down there, you get to go up and do a few minutes. So you have to hang out? Yeah, you have to hang out on a Sunday night to... Do you have to pay? No, but you do have to hang out, I guess. And what is the value to hanging out? I have no idea to prove that you're serious, I guess. I just heard there's like so many people... There's no money in comedy anymore, but so many people want to get into it. I don't get it. I think that might change now that Obama is no longer president. Well, the boom started when Reagan came in. Maybe you're right. Well, the boom started when Reagan came in and it died when... Reagan came in. No, yeah, right. It died right after Iraq invaded Kuwait. Yeah, 91. It was... And then there was another boom and the Obama... There was an Obama boom, and I think it's because everybody had no work. The economy had crashed. People had nothing... Yeah, and when Reagan came in, we were coming off a huge recession then. Mm-hmm. So there was no work available and people figured I might as well pursue my dream. And I don't care about money because there's no money to be had. And under Obama, you had a generation of millennials who were very forgiving of themselves and others. They were very non-judgmental. They would go up on stage, usually in front of other comedians who would support each other and it was a beautiful thing. Everybody got a trophy. We're all gonna... It was. I ran with them in New York City. I still do. I run with the young 20 something. You're hanging with the kids. I hang with the kids. You're a brilliant analyst. And I love them. They don't bomb. I've never heard a 20-year-old, a 20-something say, man, I sucked. And I went, well, okay, I know the generation. Everybody gets a trophy. God, that's brilliant. You're right. I have... You know, I say... I thought of that being turned economy, but that's... You're absolutely right. I never wanted to say this on the show because it makes me sound like I'm an old, bitter comic. I'm just very... I love... I have kids who are that age and I have... I love them. And I think they're better than we are. I think they're more evolved. I think they're more accepting. They have less prejudice. They're more adventurous. They know more. They're better comedians because they're... they're telling stories. They're making it personal. They don't have to get to the joke. They're much more inventive because when I was starting out, you had to have bits. You had to have comedy. You know, this is a different generation. They're okay with bombing. And maybe my definition of bombing is anti-diluvian. Maybe, you know, I'm pre-Cambrian in my thinking. I'm just going to keep bringing up obscure words to make it look like I'm actually intelligent. You all sound very smart. And so you're going to see... When do you see more? He turns 90? Turns 90? I think May 11th. Wow. I would go out. I would love to just sit in it. I'd love to see you. I'd love to sit at his feet. Okay. One of the things that listeners of this show know about Larry Brown is he has a photographic memory, especially when... I don't have a photographic memory. Well, you pretty much do. I do? Yeah. For example, Flight 718. You got to give me a date. I'm not good at flight numbers. Well, let me give you TWA Flight 718. I need a date. Flight... TWA Flight... Oh, you know what? I'm wrong. It's Flight 2 for TWA and United Airlines Flight 718. This is midair? Yes. Was it 1960? I have to check the date. I don't know the date. Was it over in New York? We'll fix this in post. No, it was... Oh, you got this wrong. Oh, this is... No, you're talking Grand Canyon. Yeah. Yeah. Tell me what that was. That was... It was a midair collision over the Grand Canyon. I think it was a little before my time. That might have been 1956. That's right. And the crash triggered the creation in 1958 of the Federal Aviation Agency. Okay. Let's see. I'm going to give you a hard one. You went way back there for that one, bro. Yeah. United Flight 173. I got to have the dates. I don't have the dates. God. 1989, maybe. That was the United, the DC-10 over Iowa? No, but I may have given you the wrong date. I'm giving you the wrong... I have to give you the dates. All right. So I'm giving you... All right. Let me look up. Photographic memory. Well, no. You told me what you need. So let me look this up. Here we go. All right. What years are you good? From 60 to early 90s. Okay. February 4th, 1970. February 4th, 1970. And again, it's got to be... It's got to be local. Oh. All right. United States. I don't do... I don't do international. Oh, all right. All right. Like I said, folks, the man has a... It's a steel trap. I'm like Criswell. All right. June 7th, 1971. And no matter what you say, I'm going to go, amazing. How does he do it? Most people are in their cars. They're not looking this up, so... I have no idea what that one... June 7th. Wait a second. June 7th, 1971. Alaskan Airlines. Flight 485. Christ neared you now. Allegheny Airlines. Okay. I don't have that one. Right. Because last time we did this, you got... I did well. It was incredible. Give me some more. Give me some more dates. All right. I know I can do it. You can do it. It's like Kreskin when he couldn't bend the spoon. All right. Let me look. All right. 1973, September... September 27th. I got nothing. Let me give you a hint. It was a Texas International Airlines Flight 655. It was a Convair 600 crashed into Black Fork Mountain. 11 passengers and the crew were killed. Does that help in any... Yeah, that doesn't... Don't recall that at all. Okay. Why not? What happened to you? You were... This is our last one. Give me three more. I got to get one right. Okay. 1976, April 27th. That was... Was that a Southern Airlines? Southern Airlines. Oh, no. It's not domestic. All right. Hang on. It was American Airlines, but it wasn't. All right. Hang on. This is great radio. This is tight. This is tight. All right. This is... Okay. 1977, December 17th. 1977, December 17th. December 17th. Nothing. Really? Yeah. United Airlines Flight 2860. Where'd it crash? Wasatch Range in Utah. That must have been a really small one. Oh, you only go for the big ones now. I got to have at least 100 dead. Oh, I didn't know that. You didn't tell me that. Was it? That sounds like a... That was probably a cargo plane. All right. Sorry. We'll do it again next time you're on the show. Okay. Meanwhile, I better bone up. Remember you used to read the transcripts from the black boxes? I had a book called The Black Box that had all the... Or many crashes, the final moments, yeah. Used to read those in the Alex Benes show. The last word was always sound of impact. Yeah. You got it all, mother. Wasn't that one of them? You got it all, dad. You got it all, dad. That's what a pilot screamed. You got it all, dad. Remember we flew in Colorado with that continental airlines upside down to the left of us? November of 1987, a plane that crashed on the runway the day before we took off, crashed on a Sunday. Right. And we left on a Monday. And this plane was still on the runway on its turn over. Yeah. And we were this... Wasn't... Then we run into... Hunter Thompson. Hunter Thompson in the airport. Yeah. And we were so... I was talking to Johnny Steele, he said, you remember, we were so freaked out we were thinking about taking a train back. Right. It was you, me, and Johnny Steele, and everybody was in the wrong slot on the show. Yeah. It was a horrible show. You were headlining and you shouldn't have been. I was middling and I shouldn't have been. And Johnny Steele was opening and he shouldn't have been. It should have been completely moved around. Yeah. I should have been opening, you should have been middling, and Johnny should have been headlining. Total debacle. It was a debacle. And then there was this... The human fly used to come over. Remember that guy? Yeah, yeah. He scaled skyscrapers with his bare hands and would come over, sit in the condo and trash Jeff Valdez. Who owned the club? This guy Jeff Valdez owned the club. And this guy would come over and when he wasn't climbing skyscrapers, he would crap on the owner of the comedy club saying he can't get any bookings. And I would say that's because they can't fit a skyscraper in the club for you to climb. Otherwise, you'd be headlined otherwise. Tell everybody why they should move to San Francisco before you go. Oh, the wonderful climate, the friendly, tolerant people. Well, they are tolerant. They're all liberal, Larry. Yes. And if you're not, they will beat the hell out of you. Isn't there room for conversation in San Francisco? Not really. You'll be hunted down and, you know, there's an environmental movement down here to take out every tree in San Francisco to return it to its, because San Francisco had no trees. These are all, all the trees are planted afterwards. Well, they want to remove the trees. They want to return it to its natural state. Yeah. So that's the big movement that's going on. To remove like the eucalyptus trees? Yeah, every, every tree actually, I think. This is all just sand dunes 150 years ago. Why would they want to do that? To return, they want it to its natural state. And it's like it's not windy enough now, you know. And how's that building that's tipping over? That is, you know, where the old bus station used to be downtown. Oh, of course. I met a lot of nice young men there. You welcome young comics coming in for the Midwest. Remember, I would always say, find the Nordic ones, Larry. Find the Nordic ones. The ones from Minnesota. Give them a Bible. Yump in Yemeni. Yump in Yemeni. That must have, that bus station. The worst gig where I, where I played a group of conservative Swedish people. Yump in Yemeni. Not another yoke about a blowjob. Oh my God, the bus station at San Francisco. That was... Well, they build, they're just finishing that. They build a 65-story tower. That's the bus station's gone. And, but apparently from building this, there's a luxury condo a block away. And that is, they're blaming that because this building is actually starting to tip over. It's a sky, it's like a condo skyscraper. Yeah, I think Joe Montana, they're really expensive. Odd that Joe Montana would live in a building that has bad knees. You still got it. I got it. But the building is actually, it's, I think it's leaning so much that it's really in danger. A bing. There's a doctor that, he put a golf ball on the floor and it just rolls the other end of the apartment. And people are still living there. Yeah, but I think there's going to be a huge loss there. Against the Leaning Tower of Pisa for copyright infringement? Well, I'm sure it'll be picked up by the, we'll pay for it. Well, it's... Leaning Tower of Montana. How do people... I mean, if there's an earthquake, what happens? Oh, it's going to go. The other thing is the $10 billion bay bridge, which was... They spent so much money on this and by the engineer's own words, they say that this thing cannot take an earthquake over 5.5. Well, that never happens in San Francisco. All the earthquakes in San Francisco are threes and twos, right? Yeah, they're very, very moderate. What is it in San Francisco? Nobody's judgmental. It's all about forgiveness. Come to San Francisco and wear a flower in your hair and you can do whatever you want. We're not going to judge you, but don't ask me for anything. Don't ask me for your time. I have my own lifestyle that I have to protect, but I won't judge you and don't ask for anything from me and I'll always see the best in other people because judging another person holds them accountable and holding somebody accountable means that I have to hold myself accountable. So build the bridge any way you want. You nailed it. Now the town is actually run by all the tech firms. The tech firms, what they've done, this is brilliant. They come across as very socially liberal, but they're the biggest carpet-bagging capitalist you've ever seen. They all crush you, but they're for gay marriage. So everything they do must be good. Right. San Francisco was always of two minds. There were the carpet-baggers and the carpet-munchers. You aren't putting you in it. No, there were of two minds in San Francisco. There were people like me who were just passing through and then there was the old guard. Right, the Gettys, there was always like a landed aristocracy, a Brahmin. Reminded me of Boston. There were the Brahmins of San Francisco and they viewed people like me. Yeah, you're passing through. You're not going to be, we're going to outlast you. Does that still- Yeah, they won't be, as long as you don't stay, I remember. Right. And the tech people probably like Zuckerberg lives in San Francisco, right? He built a, well he's got several home, but he built one in Noe Valley that I think he tore four houses down to put up his and it's just kind of annoyed the neighborhood. Right, but he's just passing through. That's the way San Francisco works is the earthquake is never far from your mind and one day everything will be wiped out again and something new will start. But where the Brahmins will still be here. Isn't that pretty much the thinking there? Hey, you've got such clarity in your thinking. Well, I love San Francisco. You know what happens to me when I go to San Francisco? I feel great for about 12 hours and then it's like somebody took a melon ball to my brain and I just can't think straight. It just completely, I get completely unplugged up there because it's not real. It's just too beautiful. Very intolerant town. Intolerant of intolerance, Larry. Yes, and they wouldn't, remember they tried to, 60s is not that long ago. I remember they, there was a, they kept Wilt Chamberlain from buying a house in San Francisco. Well, why would Wilt Chamberlain, an African American, have to live in San Francisco when there are some perfectly good houses in Oakland? Why? I mean, wouldn't he rather live in Oakland with his... Easy access to the bridge. Yeah. Oh, if you're thinking. But isn't that true about San Francisco? The liberal city is kind of racist. If you're black in the 60s and the 70s, you're expected to move to Oakland, right? Yeah, yeah. And I think it's even more so now there's black people pretty much left San Francisco. They've been driven out by the techies and... Do you remember Denny Johnston? Yeah. Now he said to me years ago that the gay people were the first ones to leave after the 1906 earthquake. Why was that? Sounds like a great setup. He told me, I remember he was at Tommy T's in San Leandro. This must have been 1988. And he said, do you know why the gay people were the first ones to leave San Francisco right after the earthquake? I have the answer. You know the answer? No. I can't tell you on the show. You don't remember? No. They already had their shit packed. That's a horrible joke. We'll fix it up in post. You don't remember? I was sitting next to you. No, I don't remember that at all. Oh my god. What's happening in your memory? I think that was the hardest I've ever seen you laugh. Really? I don't remember. I do not remember that joke. Do you see Denny at all? No. I think he's still around. Sweetest man in the world. He had, at the time, he had a great act when I started out. So funny. So funny. All right, my friend, are you going to run today? I am going to run five miles if I don't have a heart attack. Where do you run in San Francisco or Berkeley? I'm in the, it's so hard to get up to the bridge now I run here. Well, the traffic is just horrible, right? Uh, there's 30, they estimate 30 to 40,000 lift and Uber drivers in the city every day. So you cannot get anywhere now. And is there any mass transit to get to the Bay Area? To get to Berkeley from San Francisco? Uh, I could walk three miles to a barred station, which is filthy. So you love San Francisco? Love it. I love the open air urinals. You know, sir, public urination in San Francisco is almost as it's a tradition, much like public defecation. What is the worst bomb I ever had that you witnessed? The 1985 comedy competition. Yeah. Where you were looking for an opening joke right before you went on. I think Stephen Pearl said, all music sucks. And you open with doesn't all music suck. And you, you said people, you could just see these angry faces. Do you remember this? Yeah, I've blocked that out. I remember you telling Tom Sawyer, you and Milt Abel saying to Tom Sawyer, you've got to see this comedian, David Feldman, Tom Book College, political, he is gracious today's newspaper. He goes up on stage with a newspaper. And he is just talking about Reagan and holding the Republican party's feet to the fire. And you tell me Tom's coming out to see at the Holy City Zoo. Work smart. And what did I open with? Uh, don't you hate it when something about the litter box. You want to confuse your cat. Put one of your own in the cat's litter box. And he got like, you're just like the road runner. Oh, I just, me and Milt had recommended you. And then I remember Tom was looking at Milt and I like, like we just pranked him. I was one of those comics who people made fun of. Like for being so bad. Right? That's why I'm always, people used to make fun of me for being so unlikable and unfunny. That's why I always have a soft spot in my heart for the comics who are really bad on stage. Because if you're that bad for so long, eventually you can become incredible. The guys who figured out early on, I think are either destined to be Dana or Robin or just mediocrities. Right. Rickles, finally. Don Rickles, when did we go see Rickles? Who opened for my remember? April 17th, 1988. Jack Jones. You are correct. True. Then we had, they gave us some potato. Yeah. Yeah. It was like I know it tasted so good that we were trying to figure out what it was, because it had to be bad for it, because it tasted so good. You know, that's April 17th. So that's, that's what, 29 years ago today. Is today the 17th? Well, we're, yeah. Yeah. That's when we saw Rickles, April 17th, 1988. Really? Yeah. I have the postcard to prove it. Wow. You know what I remember about that? I was living with my soon to be wife. And that was like a normal thing that normal people do. I remember going with you up to see Rickles, paying to see. We rented a van from budget and drove up there. And I thought, this is what normal men do. They go see Rickles. I don't think I've ever done anything like that since. Like, you got to drag me. Like, I would go through the motions to take my kids to a baseball game. But to go out with the guys and do something like that, that was never my style. Well, here you are, if you liked Rickles. Yeah. I can count on my hand the number of times I did guy things once I was borderline married. Once I once I was in love and had a woman, I was, I disappeared, right? You disappeared. Yeah. All right. I remember we were, we were watching, I remember watching Jack Jones's on. I could see Rickles and the wings. And I just remembered, wow, that could be us in a couple of more delusional thinking. But I remember, I remember I said, God, even that word happened. It didn't seem like it was that special. It kind of depressed me. Well, Vegas kind of the where it was Reno, right? No, it's Tahoe. Like Tahoe. There is something about those casinos in Vegas and Tahoe and Reno that are so intimate, the illusion disappears. But there's didn't seem special. Yeah. Yeah. There is something that they, it breaks down. They're, they're, it is performers don't seem as special up in Lake Tahoe and Reno. Hey, Larry Brown, how do people get in touch with you? Larry Bubbles brown dot com. And you can, oh, if you want to plug something, you can, I still haven't seen it. The, oh, that's right. That's right. The documentary film, three still standing, which I think you're, I think there's some pictures of you're in it. So three still standing there. Covers the big comedy boom of the 80s in San Francisco. It focuses on you, Johnny Steele, Johnny Steele and myself. And it's directed by Tim Didion and Robert Campos. Right. And it's fantastic if it's what happened to. Have you seen it? Yeah. It's what happened to the middle class. I've heard it. I heard it's good. I can't look at myself. I haven't seen it. So I don't know. It tells the story of America through the prism of stand-up comedy. There was a time in the 80s and 90s when comedians could be journeymen and earn a living without being too famous. And now show business like everything else in America is. Yeah. You're either really famous and rich or an open miker. And that's what's saying. Yeah. And San Francisco now has turned its back on the open micers. And that's sinful. Are there any clubs? I mean, if I were to come up, if I was going to come to San Francisco and I just wanted to work out, try new material. Where would I go? What would I do? They're the kids have their own little room. So I think you can find them. They're scattered all over. You're probably going to go up in front of 12 people. But I mean, they keep these rooms alive. I don't know what they're like. And you're performing in front of other comedians. Pretty much. Yeah. They remember the brain wash. It's still going. Yeah. When we were starting out, we were performing in front of actual comedy fans. People loved. Yeah. The people were coming out to see comedy. They loved it. It was. And they were supportive. You know, they were very supportive. Yeah. And they knew we were in pain, which we were. They felt sorry for us. Yeah. And they healed us. I'm not so sure. Well, anyway, how much of is it still pain? Do people still turn to comedy out of pain? I think so. People want to laugh and forget their pains. And the people who do it? Both. Yeah. Seems like they're more rich college educated kids doing stand up than when we started. No, definitely. But they're kind of annoying. But maybe they've got pain. I don't know. Yeah. Lot of pain. Lot of pain. We'll fix this in post. I love you, Larry. I'm sorry about the airline. No, it was. My airline disasters were a disaster.