 somewhere in storage in Los Angeles is a couch and on that couch is a framed calendar from October of 1982 from the Holy City Zoo and it has always been prominently displayed on my desk until I got thrown out of my house and had a move to New York but on that calendar it says Stephen Pearl presents so Wednesday night in October of 1982 and it was my first paid gig as a stand-up comedian Rebecca Irwin was running the zoo and she gave me a Wednesday night Stephen Pearl presents I was on the bill with Kurt Weldon and I have looked at that calendar until I had to put it into storage Stephen Pearl when I was starting out and you're gonna have to take this like a man Steve before you get to talk like a men's like they go like a men's when I moved to San Francisco to do comedy in 1982 Stephen Pearl and Jeremy Kramer and Robin Williams Stephen Pearl Jeremy Kramer and Robin Williams you made a decision when you were starting out you realize you were never gonna be as funny as these three guys should I keep doing it I'm never gonna be as funny as Jeremy Kramer Stephen Pearl and Robin Williams so what do I do you move to LA and you make it there they've done it to a lot of other people why can't they do it to me oh but before LA now we have to go there first let's see they make million there's out of mediocre people there that's the golden land I'll go to LA hair plugs yes that's what a ball headed poison in Hollywood it's all about a look let's see the 99 cent stores doing them in specialist I'll go there wow them I'll impress another two one with a desk and power and he'll do something with me and they did look keep laughing you dirty mock me come on make sure to care for the high schools talking about what they had for a watch today you will always have a job as long as there's someone else with talent I know let you continue I'll let you continue where well I know having fun here I know but you're right I mean it was one of these things where I thought well what else can I do I'm miserable I'm desperate I'm talking about San Francisco where you didn't get on stage unless you were respected by the high priests of comedy and I knew though and I and I knew I was never gonna be as funny as you guys and most of us decided to keep doing it but we had to put up with our own mediocrity well I think I thought when I started you know I spoke I came out here I like maybe five minutes and I don't know what what I was doing I watched guys like Robin and Bob so a lot and then we'll there's came right here in the same time and I saw him do 40 minutes I go whoa this guy's got 40 minutes though you know you just got to go through that sucky period before you get to that good period if you get to it all right so I I've never really talked to you about this stuff because I didn't like you I know you didn't why would you know how I feel about you people always changing money and lending and don't forget Franklin Graham's father that's right Franklin Graham Billy Graham's son and Billy had some choice words for the chosen people you know how those know it's one time it's the best I know every day I want to leave my bloody mark will be worse than me but in the meantime I want that this is gonna be years though this is gonna be interesting because we're not in the same room this is gonna be interesting because I feel like I can ask you some questions there's anything you want there's a 3000 mile barrier between us and I feel I know that's fucking Wyoming I feel like I can talk to you safely and ask you questions because we're not in the same room there there is there's no there's some there's some virtue to not having to make eye contact with you I give you that Johnny paycheck Charles man clean that has repelled so many no I think I feel very confident I was nervous about this because I have so much respect for you and I am I have to compliment you you're gonna have to take it like a man and I was nervous about this and I remember something about Ted Koppel speaking of care I remind a lot of people of Ted Koppel nightline if you were gonna guest on nightline he didn't want you in the studio with him so there would be people who'd come to his offices in New York and he would put them in another studio he didn't want them in the same room with him because he felt it was too intimate so I'm feeling good about this I'm feeling I can ask you some some questions that I've been wondering about for I don't know 30 some odd years okay sure and I and if you were in studio with me I don't think I'd be able to ask these questions so first of all here's the God's honest truth so I was drinking and smoking dope when I first started doing stand-up at the holy city zoo and I saw lightning bolts from God and I've mentioned this many times on the show I saw lightning bolts from God when you were on stage I could not believe what was coming out of your mouth and granted I was drunk and stoned but I was an impressionable young man who was not jaded by comedy so I was saying what regular audience member I was an audience member I was trying to do stand-up but I saw you the way anybody else saw you who wasn't a comedian I thought well there are he is I swear to God and I've said this on the show and Larry and I Larry Brown and I have talked about I always believe your comedy you were a conduit from a higher power there was oh my god I believe that I think the same thing with Robin and Jeremy you with you you could hear the crack of the thunder abstract or really good at something so I had a lot of fun up there and still still having fun all right yeah yeah so you modest man too modest you you okay so you grew up in New York City did you more long island but around the city I was in the city many plenty times here's these are questions that I've always wanted to ask you and try to answer them I saw lightning bolts coming out of Ethel's head when they were being executed they got the chair right that's right people would look at the Sun for a second when they pull that switch and happy break before it so they were innocent I'm gonna burn well they burned so they burned let me I would assume you were raised in a household like mine that petitioned to save the Rosenbergs right they did they did if I weren't about that later since they tried them you know before you were on earth but if they did they petitioned to save the Rosenbergs they were leftist Jewish progressive whatever everything the world you were raised by lefties you were a red diaper baby because you had irritable bowel syndrome now you are there you go sure you were red you were a red diaper baby and red diaper baby doctor spot baby yeah one of them left-wing commie hippie beatnik babies there is this phenomenon of Trotskyites raising conservatives there are guys like Norman Podoritz and Bill Crystal these horrible homunculi who got us into the war in Iraq their Jewish intellectuals whose parents were Trotskyites and they rejected everything their parents stood for although they're in the case of Podoritz and Bill Crystal their parents became Reagan Democrats were you did something happen where your parents were so left-wing so touchy so touchy feely that you made them laugh by defending Nixon by defending is that how is that how you got to them at dinner by oh god first I never made them laugh my family was a train wreck I had to get 3,000 miles away from like pursue my comedy dream which was so long ago I don't even remember what the dream is you never never made your mother laugh no that wasn't a while wasn't a while by saying I thought I sang so hello yeah did you did you make her laugh by saying horrible things no she didn't have much of a sense that you were she thought she did what she didn't what do you mean she thought I made I made everyone else laugh but I you know but it was no the parents I just I tried to get away from them okay and you came out to San Francisco and the first club you played was the holy city zoo I actually did comedy in New York I started as I got in May May of this year will be 40 years that's like did stand up for the very first time I did in New York a few times and I really enjoyed it even though I kill a few times and I go down the total tubes a few times what I knew I could do well cuz they had so but I wanted to live in San Francisco because I visited here in the summer of 1976 and I was 20 and I fell in love with the place and I just I want to live there I want to live there and I want to get the hell out of New York I couldn't take New York anymore so three years late 79 I came out here and I got a San Francisco paper in New York before I came out here because there was no internet then young kids there was no WSW and W look at me and showing my anus off to get my best friend by my favorite aunt and I found his one called a holy city it was just a little girl you notice there was a little bitty urine-smelling place it was packed and everyone who was going on was killing and except for one guy a guy called the berserk clerk had a hard time and started the pricing everything in the club the wall that was like the good old berserk clerk he had troubles anyway what would what would his religion be if he was pricing everything at the holy cities oh yeah to be one of that chosen try well yeah that's what here badden will take care of you people in the day of the great rope come thank you the comedy of shaggy metzger shaggy metzger come on out here he's got hot hot hot hot I got six million of them hot hot hot hot by the way Kurt Metzger is a great comedians been on the show I brought up the name Metzger nobody remembers Metzger that was whenever you said the name Metzger I always thought of the Nazi metzger now that took Tom Metzger the right supremacy guy yeah see you came at you saw the holy city zoo was always I went there and then I went on like the next week or something Tony de Paul's running and I can I kidding people I'm in my picture and I'll clean then I think the first night I was there and I was when Mike went on it would tell a joke and drink a picture of beer and tell another joke and drink a picture of tears and there was the other cafe and I just immersed myself in any place that would have me on and people for you know it Dana was going Dana Gould not Dana Gould Dana Carvey was going up then and right yeah I saw him so he was he was starting to make the transition people they roll over the place crazy people and I was one I was proud of me one of them and I remember coming at being very jealous not jealous but envious that I wasn't there at the beginning of the holy city zoo when it went from a folk club to a comedy club yeah that's that's before my time that was around 76 77 something like that Jason Cristobal remember him the candle maker of course I remember it's a bashing cabin of the zoo this was a simple man who won this simple club and bad Jason big bad Jason big beard and I and he was almost a magical creature he made candles and had a big laugh smoked a lot of and he said he's he said welcome welcome you're home you're home and it felt and Rebecca was running the place and I was so damaged and so broken and the holy city zoo was just this inviting loving place the audiences weren't always easy they weren't always easy but well you did no no but you did and the other thing I learned from the holy city zoo was how to work the entire room there were like training ground was incredible training ground there were like 12 pockets that you had to play to you could never get the right you could never get the balcony at the back corner at the other corner at the back at the front there's a little place but it was long and so you know it was almost impossible to get the entire room going right because there were so many different both that's yeah so you're living you're back you went down to LA you hung out with kennison and why would you have to why would you have to I can imagine you doing pot I know you liked pot oh I love marijuana yes but Thomas be down yeah but I can't imagine you doing cocaine what what would the point be yeah it was actually it was I wouldn't do it in public that much like take some home and just do it for a day or two and just like try to sleep it was stupid I don't know why I did it it was there that's why the same reason people climb Mount Everest there and you can't do what we you came back we go ahead okay there you go ahead now you go ahead I'll come on up smash this fucking lamp over here you go I fucking cunt I've been in this game sir you bastard you're trying to kill me you move back to the Bay Area the Bay Area is it as inviting to comedy as it used to be the impression oh god no oh god no we had you know there was we had Alex Bennett back then and the times are just right for it it's like two generations behind us they weren't even born when we started doing this doing it and there's some fun people would know it's nothing like it was and there's places to go on but I just I just didn't take LA anymore and we connected with an old girlfriend in the worst way and it's everything worked out and I'm up here so you know I can go on when I have to but much happier up you're being happy in the big red bridge yeah you can be happy in the Bay Area but I found that it turned its back on comedy it's become more of a road stop now right it's been that way for quite a while actually so it is a lot of LA it's just a road stop now you know who's looking for comedians to make it look at reality stars stuff looks like one or two comics usually some mid-act mid-level act and they give them a big break and that's it but I don't know I'm the things to do list I don't know I just I just don't well maybe for writers and stuff I don't see any stars being made my and well here's the thing the thing with San Francisco is I have family there so whenever I go back I'm visiting family and not really exploring the comedy scene I look at Los Angeles in New York there's a thriving comedy scene even the you know even the flag the non-flagship comedy clubs their little rooms that the kids start and their support of one another I would assume the same goes for San Francisco their little rooms that are popping there are there's lots of them there's lots of little rooms I go on Facebook and say you know so-and-so comedian I'll be playing here at so-and-so room on Mission Street or there's rooms you go on seven nights a week if you want it just right now I don't follow it myself I really maybe I don't know what I'm talking about because I'm just you know I'm one of the old guys now so I go on now and I mean Bob's a lot sitting in wheelchairs going well you say we show him what it's all about oh man that's a good idea we still have our hair it's a fucking miracle isn't it Bob you have more than you did you know on the old day my god I was a star in three area codes it was insane you know especially with Alex Bennett making stars and everything on the radio local stars so it's nothing like that you know especially with the internet and everything everybody can get on the air now so you know it's no powerful in New York in LA I'm just not really following because of like two generations behind me and I just rather stay home you were at one time you were enormous in San Francisco did you like that did you like being as popular and famous as yeah sure it was it wasn't like Robin where you go I'm getting off wherever you go you know but I get recognized and stuff but it was you much smaller scale and it was I guess and I was making a really good living at it and just you know it was cheap as hell to live in the city then so yeah I was thinking man it was you know what what could be wrong with this and where did you think it was gonna go because when I was starting out and I assume it the same goes for you we didn't think of an end game we just thought of trying to be funny exactly exactly want to be as funny as possible and you know see we get out funny the next guy so I I was alright get somewhere or I die trying but for most of us try as long as possible that I saw an 87 the scene was starting to die off here and Kenison Sam Kenison got me into the comedy story he forced me to watch we had a great so that's another club now there's people going on and things are happening there a little bit but it's not like it was at all back then the place that we count that you could see and I was really enjoying it for first three years and and then it just kind of filled by the way you saw it and soured up and I didn't want to be here anymore yeah the idea of getting a movie or a TV show seemed depressing and I could remember dividing the comics in San Francisco up into those who wanted something else and those who had to do stand-up I was one of those guys I know you don't believe this because I ended up becoming a writer mostly but I was one of those guys who had to do stand-up even though I wasn't good at it you know I had to do it yeah then I have to do it it's part of the exercise you know and there were 12 straight years were every night if I wasn't in a comedy club I was falling behind it was 12 years of that non-stop well in San Francisco 12 years night after night searching for that audience I'm trying to get that laugh that never came and then there were the guys and then there were the guys who were just passing through the guys who were using it for other means yeah hi my name's biff scott and I'm just doing this so I can get a job on one of those tv shows like the Brackens world and Brackens world hang on for one second well again they're remaking Brackens world and I'm up for the part of biff lifestyle Brackens world I was just thinking about that show I had dinner I'm gonna maybe we have a connection here well you know what I here's I'm gonna name drop I had dinner with Nathan Lane about a year ago and I made a reference to Brackens world and I said to him do you remember Brackens world and there's this like 10-hour pause with him staring at me he said I was a gay man in the 60s in the closet of course I know what Brackens world is featuring the late great immortal never to be forgotten forever well how do you blonde hair he was in patent yeah that's right he was a handsome pretty boy from Hollywood who ended up selling you in the state really yeah I didn't see a sign of talking to each other now I see Dennis Cole I want to talk to you Dennis Cole he was he was blonde good-looking he was one of the stars of Brackens world Brackens world also they brought in Leslie Leslie Nielsen came in at the that's right at the end and the serious actor as a serious actor and he was Bracken we never it was kind of like Charlie's Angels you never saw Charlie and you never saw Bracken until the until the ratings started to climb and it was a studio Brackens world took place it was when the it was when the studio system had died out so NBC put a show on that perpetuated the myth that there was a studio system that took young actors and actresses and trained them and dancing and sword fighting and groomed them but that period had long passed but that was the premise of Brackens world following young aspiring actors on this fictitious lot it was great it was great there's a there's a little of it on YouTube but they've never put out a DVD of it I wonder why this is the part of the interview everyone's going to speed ahead on oh yeah back to back all right best uh best piece of ass you ever got Dennis Dennis Cole former under male's underwear model and uh later pretty boy hollywood tv and uh fine citizen do you still have the largest collection of men's muscle magazines in san francisco oh well I never get rid of things that are near to my heart I remember man doesn't need to when you move to LA our biggest concern was you and your men's muscle magazines they had to go into storage we all had a haven't seen him since you borrowed him from me you said he'd have him back in a week and then then you said this page and you have to work it off in my barn we'll find your bottle of scotch with dark days in a world gone batshit crazy and I want to watch hot I want to be here when it blows into pieces how bad how badly do you hate Trump or do you are you amused I don't I don't hate him I'm just more when I when I'm listening I kind of get a little nervous and I just giggle I'm then controlled it took me like three years just going to this really happened it's like a hallucination so did this really happen no this he just kind of okay well I'll wake up tomorrow and he won't be present that'll be it but he's still it all I can say where do you get your news from he's super brie bar baby it's super right way it makes brie bar look like the left wing actually a chew it's a must bound but man how none that's right my news I you know a little we don't we're really off tv we only watch tv I just go on the internet those times I believe it sometimes I don't so you think the audience should know the truth about jews controlling the weather because of course and I'm here to tell them and I'm one of them so well why would I lie yeah I always felt that was something we weren't supposed to talk about but the judge that's right if that's true if you go to client's department store they sell controlling the right people go in there ask for slo-mo on the third floor the password is halibut halibut they'll take you in the back and you can control the weather in your county this is true I'm probably going to be a sassan and an American flag made in Korea stuck in my ass but it's worth it I want you to know the truth this is super Brevard news who is George Lincoln Rockwell you don't know I know but I want my audience to know George Lincoln World War II and Korean American and the founder of the American Nazi party in 1959 I thought that was Norman Rockwell no he painted pictures of Jewish kids stealing presents from the Christmas tree from the Christian kids they were in cahoots with each other but you said George Lincoln Rockwell was an artist is that true or I thought you were making a yes he was a very talented artist he was in fact is one of his paintings won a grand prize and some charity thing before he got into this craziness you should you should make a movie about him because he was a fascinating person he was he was like sick he was insane and the thing is he was his father was a guy named George Lovejoy Rockwell or Doc Rockwell who's a famous vaudevillian comedian who's friends and had over here's the here's the ironic part his father and shine boys at the doctor thing and uh yeah that was his bit he came out without he was the guy he invented the doctor bit and he had he was friends with like people like Jack Benny and the Marx lots of Jewish entertainers that he had his guests in his house and young George said he liked these people but somewhere along the line he became a Nazi so go figure I figure that'll do it you grow up and show this probably because Jack Benny gave him a wooden nickel and he figured all choose to and that warped the young boy's mind sure that's the ironic thing about it his father like was friends with a lot of Jewish entertainers and uh he wasn't an entertainer himself so and somewhere George kind of took this really where you go and what did he become he became a Nazi or a KKK guy no American Nazi American Nazi they did they out demonstrations and when Martin Luther King would have a march like everyone in Chicago and 66 Rockwell was there to counter demonstrate he was a not man and he was like a really good speaker too if he was a salesman he could have been a multi-millionaire if he was a so he could figure if you put that away you can have a beer with the guy no watch me get but he's a Nazi one little thing yeah did he did he fight in world war two yes he fought he was up he was a fighter pilot he was a commander he was like a war hero and then later he said I didn't know I was fighting the Nazis I realized I should have been on their side oh my god but there's a whole bunch of his speech on youtube and they're chilling because he was really good you know even I'm listening out of the man maybe he's right about the why this guy's good I understand he was scared I'm glad he got whacked he might have he might have really risen to something he was a really good speaker just listen to his speeches on youtube really even you were put on you will join the cause of the blot wow I didn't you know I knew the name I didn't know that oh he was fat he's a full scary man very scary man but was it performance art you know we're finding out that alex jones's performance art of course yeah but was he doing it just for shits and giggles or was it did he really mean it he I think he really meant it that he had he would have like so-called documentation to back up what he was saying and just listen to his speeches there's millions of them on youtube they just think he all that can't say well you know yeah his outlook was just because he's having to convince that maybe I should throw myself on the other when this guy's really good holy shit I didn't put the other one on both for two so Anton LeVay he was a scary man he was a very scary man Anton LeVay from San Francisco originally Levy right yep Levy that's right did you ever meet him did he ever come into a comedy club and who was Anton no I never met him at all I'm glad I was surprised I expected him to like walk into one of Sam Kansans parties that would have been a perfect backdrop for him but no I never met him and I don't think I'd want it and he he was what a Satanist he was a Satanist yeah the church he founded the church of Satan I believe he was also a police homicide photographer back in the 40s and 50s I once saw a videotape of some of his work and it was some gruesome shit there oh oh and he was a Jew from where I don't know where he was from I don't know much about him but he lived in San Francisco I did he I don't know I don't know I don't know I'm not I'm not an Anton LeVay expert but if you kids want to go on Wikipedia and let us know it's just it's just it's a w-w-w-dot away San Francisco I don't know I don't know why you think I would know much about a Jewish Satanist are you applying something did you know Bill Graham oh yeah well I remember I used to go to the film or East and see the shows or so I just I would talk to him very briefly there and then the film or than I did in San Francisco when I see him out here I would sell a couple of times out here I remember one night I he was one of the judges in the comedy competition then 85 or something and it was it was yeah I had a really horrendous set and yet I came in the top five because I found out later he gave me a really good score so thank you Bill wherever you are wow I never got thank you for letting me see Johnny winter in the almond brothers for five dollars low and Johnny winter how much time did you get this how much time did you get to spend with him and why is Johnny winter so important you ever hear of music yeah but I know that well there you go well from the time I knew you you were obsessed with Johnny winter he's amazing he's amazing and then we became very good friends and we hung out a lot so even the last time we had three months before he passed away I got to open a couple of shows for him and kick ass and that wasn't very nice and trying that was great Steven having an all-time hero of mine tell me that he enjoyed what I did that felt really good he was a good man he was a unique person incredible musician you told me a lot about blues and good music and we had a lot of fun a lot of laughs together so there you go you worshiped him for decades before you got to meet yeah no I I uh well I would say worshiped I dug what he did I really love what he did I used to see him all the time and in concert and then we met and he saw the videotape with me so he wanted to meet me which was cool so he was a Steven Pearl fan and I was Johnny winter fans so it was a mutual thing and for our younger listeners what is some essential listening for Johnny winter oh just go on YouTube just go on YouTube look up Johnny winter or his brother Edgar winter or he's looking both together and then you just just I'd say look at this look at a song called stranger blues that's really good from Barcelona there's a good video of that kick attack that's another good one or just write anything he did you just hear a lot of good stuff good stuff good stuff now my my imagination of your life is that you do exactly what you want to do and you get up and you consume the information and music and culture that you want to that you're just constantly taking in culture is that a fair assessment a typical Steven Pearl day is turn on the TV wake up at four in the afternoon in the dumpster somewhere swillin the rest of this cherry key off I found in the sewer there I gotta go in front of the 7-11 looking for my and pretty much I'm sorry I consider it a similar word anymore I'm too old for that I've been around the world a million and one times in Japan like five times but I like being up here I like being with my lady and my cats and my internet and a little bowl full of greenery and the internet and have fun and just you know I'll do a show and I want to do it but uh yeah how do you stay so f-ing funny I just I don't well I try not to worry about stuff and uh it's about the clunky clubbing from clutzville but it's pretty amazing how you haven't how did you haven't robin stay funny how did jimmy hendrix play guitar like I just I don't know just it's my makeup jack well people stop being funny they get bitter I try not to get bitter you know I think I just look at it number one I could have been better but the show could have been the hell of a lot worse I know people who got where they wanted to go and were miserable ended up blowing their brains out and I still got my help and even though I'm getting to see a lot of my friends die which sucks I gotta get you on with kramer let's do it have you spoken to kramer not in a long time but I'll talk to him anytime let's do it three-way darling I I've been you know uh yeah yeah he was doing my radio show in LA all the time uh yeah I know all the time it was unbelievable it was the thing and the thing with you and kramer is you guys have not aged a bit and the the speed it's you're better now than you were when I first saw you in 82 you're better now bring bring them out I'll be like the 80s with arthritis hurting joints wow Steven but no it's just it's just I don't know I am I am uh I don't mean to embarrass you I'm uh I'm I think what I'm saying right now tells you what I what I'm thinking and feeling hey how do people get in touch with you I'm on Facebook and uh I'm not gonna give you my number but uh let's uh let's say I'm on Facebook Steven Pearl of course even with a V pearl like Pearl Harbor and uh let's there you go just find me on Facebook okay is there no website I have nothing I have nothing I got zero zilch nada okay uh I'm on Facebook and uh well they can call you and you can convey the message to me I'll be like a button man yeah be a button yeah buffer a buffer I got all the fuckers here cheats the dog that was cheats right cheats how many times have you seen the godfather uh 7652 a lot of times I've seen the first number three doesn't really count number three it's like those those overdubbed beetle songs they're they're part of the anthology but they don't really count so uh give us an give us a cultural assignment tell us what we should be watching and listening to and then I'll let you go you mean godfather wise or just to whatever just in general what are you watching in general good comedians good musicians most of them are dead now but go back in the past you got many of the wealthy but he's really good uh just just check out the best of everything whether it's from the president or the past most of it's in the past and uh listen to uh let's do a lot of blues it'll keep you honest then rock a billy and uh today we're interviewing husband comedians three area codes for two weeks in the 80s he's now bitter he's at the he's at the pat cooper home for pissed off old guys