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YTS.MX

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<i>I read a quote
the other day. Somebody like</i>

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<i>can't remember if it was
p.T. Barnum</i>

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<i>or Henry David Thoreau that</i>

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<i>said that democracy is based
on the notion</i>

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<i>that ordinary people
can do extraordinary things.</i>

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<i>Societal pressures tend to keep
our abilities quashed down.</i>

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<i>We don't sing. We don't dance</i>

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<i>because the professionals
do it for us.</i>

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<i>But in order to do improvisation</i>

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<i>you have to have
some respect for</i>

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the possibilities of
human abilities.

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Like

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you have to assume that people
can do extraordinary things

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we've got a real special treat
for you right now

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it's my pleasure
to introduce to you

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ladies and gentlemen,
Mr. Del close.

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<i>If you've never
heard of del close</i>

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<i>well, congratulations</i>

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<i>that means you're not a comedian</i>

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<i>which all in all, is probably
good news for you.</i>

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<i>If you are a comedian,</i>

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<i>then you know this actor
turned comedy guru</i>

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<i>trained pretty much
everyone in the business.</i>

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<i>He was like a living legend.</i>

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<i>If you don't know del close,
Google him.</i>

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<i>He's done everything interesting
in comedy, in my opinion.</i>

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What do you want to see
a show about?

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- Yeah, I'm talking to you!
<i>- Um...</i>

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Um, crime!

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An excellent suggestion!

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<i>Del close showed me
the connection between</i>

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comedy and bigger ideas.

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We're not worthy!

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<i>Oh yeah, the cult of del</i>

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it should be the church of del.

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<i>Del taught me
the whole concept of just</i>

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being bold in your life
and being fearless.

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I'm just trying
to put you to bed.

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No! Me baby!

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Baby no go night night!

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<i>It was the first time I was</i>

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<i>part of a bohemian culture</i>

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I was around gay people.
I was around white people

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that... I was around white people

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<i>a whole lot of white people</i>

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<i>del, thanks for
teaching me everything I know.</i>

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<i>Being present in the moment.
In a scene.</i>

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And not going for a cheap gag
or a cheap joke.

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Thanks honey.

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<i>And that's just
a smattering of comedians</i>

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<i>who studied with del close.</i>

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<i>Dozens of those comics started
their own del-inspired theaters</i>

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<i>passing down the wisedom to a
whole new crop of comedy nerds.</i>

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<i>Del has created now</i>

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multiple generations of people

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<i>who seek even more freedom</i>

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<i>like the free jazz of the 60s
and 70s.</i>

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This is a very pretentious
comparison, I know

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- I like it.
- See!

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But I'm an eccentric.

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<i>That's three
generations of comedians</i>

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<i>if you're keeping track.</i>

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<i>All of them chasing this myth</i>

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<i>of the guru who discovered
a new art form...</i>

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<i>Improvised comedy.</i>

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<i>Which, for some reason,
he called Harold.</i>

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<i>And a friend of mine said</i>

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<i>they're doing this pure
improvised show.</i>

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It's called Harold.

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<i>I went down and I watched it
and I thought, this is for me!</i>

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<i>I have to improvise.</i>

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<i>A lot of the
comedy everyone is used to</i>

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they improvise like crazy.

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<i>I mean, look at
judd apatow's films.</i>

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<i>There's so much improvisation.</i>

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I've never been in one... judd.

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<i>When we did "anchorman"</i>

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<i>and "Talladega nights"</i>

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we improvised for hours.

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The skeleton took a shower

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the skeleton ran out of shampoo
in the shower.

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<i>Which was heavily
inspired by del close.</i>

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The human torch could not
get a bank loan.

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The human torch

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<i>so one cameraman
if you look at his dailies,</i>

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you can see the camera
move a little bit.

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<i>Sure, laugh it up</i>

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<i>but del's path of destruction
has cut through almost every</i>

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<i>seminal comedy moment
of the last sixty years.</i>

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<i>Which is all the more amazing
when you realize he was</i>

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I bite myself,
I bite myself, I bite myself

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<i>literally nuts.</i>

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<i>There was a period where del</i>

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<i>was doing shows at second city</i>

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where he was
in the mental hospital.

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They had to go pick him up

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bring him back to do a show

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<i>and then take him back
to the mental hospital.</i>

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He was a fucking crazy person.

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He was crazy.

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Undecided!

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<i>I think with that crazyness</i>

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he's kind of a genius.

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<i>So how did a mad man
manage to change</i>

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<i>the face of comedy
as we know it?</i>

108
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<i>And end up with roughly the same
name recognition</i>

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<i>as a third tier fast food chain?</i>

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<i>Well, you can't ask him
because frankly, he's dead.</i>

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<i>But he did leave behind
one clue.</i>

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<i>The burn of the...</i>

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<i>Uh, nickel, dimed, and quartered</i>

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<i>uh yeah</i>

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<i>the goddamn fog</i>

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<i>ooh! Matin' with Satan.</i>

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No! The creamin' demon

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which one?

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The creamin' demon

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<i>what am I looking at?</i>

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<i>Is maybe what you're asking
yourself right now.</i>

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<i>Well, del close has just
been hired to write</i>

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<i>a comic book about his life.</i>

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<i>For DC comics, no less.</i>

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<i>Emergency room service?</i>

126
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<i>No, no... emergency...</i>

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- Rumors!
<i>- Rumors!</i>

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Great minds.

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<i>And this is his team.</i>

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Smell... of the mega brain.

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<i>Here's del. Full of ideas.</i>

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Sniff and crawl.

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<i>Only problem is
they're all batshit.</i>

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Done.

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<i>That's Mike gold, del's editor,</i>

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<i>trying to turn batshit
into comic books.</i>

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<i>Well, he was insane.</i>

138
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Now, I like that.

139
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Insane people come up
with great stories.

140
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They go places nobody's ever
been before.

141
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What happened to Merlin?

142
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Feed us... the fetus

143
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<i>here's John ostrander,</i>

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<i>del's trusty writing partner.</i>

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<i>He's just happy to be
in the room,</i>

146
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<i>even if it smells like an
ashtray full of farts.</i>

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<i>Many times, I go,
how did del and I ever</i>

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<i>together?</i>

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Del is... hip.

150
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<i>I'm a square.</i>

151
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<i>I'm so square, I'm almost cute.</i>

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But I knew comics,

153
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but he was del.

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He had this imagination.

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Probably there's androids.

156
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Probably..

157
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- Probably there's androids.
- There might be...

158
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You know what?

159
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<i>Oh, and all del's
lines here are direct quotes</i>

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<i>taken from tape recordings
he made throughout his life.</i>

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Starting with the
audition process...

162
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<i>Anyway, back to 1987.</i>

163
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Witches in Toronto.

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I love that.

165
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<i>Witches...</i>

166
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Toronto freaks me the fuck out.

167
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Right?

168
00:07:03.182 --> 00:07:04.592
<i>That is great.
Can I get an outline on that?</i>

169
00:07:04.616 --> 00:07:05.417
- Witches in Toronto, Thursday?
- Yeah, yeah, you bet.

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<i>Beautiful</i>

171
00:07:06.685 --> 00:07:08.454
- did you write that?
<i>- Good.</i>

172
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<i>I got it.</i>

173
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<i>Witches in Toronto.</i>

174
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I got it.

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Thank you, John.

176
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<i>I was the outside-the-box guy</i>

177
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<i>over at DC.</i>

178
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<i>They had just started
"the dark knight"</i>

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<i>and "watchmen" and, you know,
they were feeling pretty good.</i>

180
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And they figured this is
a good time to sort of

181
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<i>push the boundaries of comics
and enjoy the surreal.</i>

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That's del.

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<i>Anybody who ventures
into the land of del close</i>

184
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<i>hears all of these
del close stories.</i>

185
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And they're phenomenal.

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<i>We famously
dine out on del's stories.</i>

187
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We feast on del's stories.

188
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I wanted to get some of those
in print.

189
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<i>Del volunteered for some tests</i>

190
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<i>for the U.S. air force.</i>

191
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<i>They would give people acid</i>

192
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and they monitor their dreams.

193
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<i>He left the experiment</i>

194
00:08:00.973 --> 00:08:02.653
<i>and he ended up
getting a letter that said:</i>

195
00:08:02.708 --> 00:08:06.078
<i>"Mr. Close, you owe
the United States air force</i>

196
00:08:06.145 --> 00:08:07.179
one more dream."

197
00:08:08.814 --> 00:08:09.648
<i>So I'm driving
through the streets</i>

198
00:08:09.715 --> 00:08:10.616
<i>of San Francisco,</i>

199
00:08:10.682 --> 00:08:12.985
<i>and del is going to eat fire.</i>

200
00:08:13.051 --> 00:08:14.286
<i>He pulled it out,</i>

201
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and that thing of flame
shoots out

202
00:08:16.388 --> 00:08:18.457
<i>and my car caught fire.</i>

203
00:08:19.525 --> 00:08:20.826
<i>He met Tennessee Williams.</i>

204
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<i>And he reaches out,
and he shakes</i>

205
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Tennessee Williams' hand,

206
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and a cockroach crawls out

207
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<i>from his sleeve onto
tennesee Williams.</i>

208
00:08:28.400 --> 00:08:29.468
<i>And del goes</i>

209
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"excuse me, I believe
that's mine."

210
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And sticks it in his pocket.

211
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<i>Del's whole movie-acting career</i>

212
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is just so bizarre.

213
00:08:39.311 --> 00:08:40.112
<i>I know he did
a lot of weird films</i>

214
00:08:40.179 --> 00:08:41.356
and stuff earlier in his career.

215
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He had two parts in
"the untouchables".

216
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- That's right.
- Two parts.

217
00:08:45.551 --> 00:08:48.086
You fellas are untouchable,
is that the thing?

218
00:08:48.153 --> 00:08:50.088
<i>There's a story
of him with I. Ron Hubbard.</i>

219
00:08:50.155 --> 00:08:52.224
<i>He was a science fiction writer
that del loved,</i>

220
00:08:52.291 --> 00:08:54.226
and I. Ron was complaining
about the fact that

221
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he was getting taxed so heavily,

222
00:08:56.628 --> 00:08:58.430
and he said,
"well, form a church."

223
00:09:00.065 --> 00:09:01.745
<i>And he said,
"alright, maybe I'll do that."</i>

224
00:09:03.368 --> 00:09:04.879
<i>He was a natural.
These stories are so unusual.</i>

225
00:09:04.903 --> 00:09:07.506
<i>And, in comics,
you have free reign.</i>

226
00:09:09.174 --> 00:09:10.852
<i>For "wasteland",
del would be given full freedom</i>

227
00:09:10.876 --> 00:09:12.444
<i>with the comic book form.</i>

228
00:09:12.511 --> 00:09:14.246
<i>Using a variety of artists,
del could go</i>

229
00:09:14.313 --> 00:09:14.948
<i>literal,</i>

230
00:09:15.013 --> 00:09:15.647
<i>metaphorical,</i>

231
00:09:15.714 --> 00:09:16.448
<i>hallucinatory,</i>

232
00:09:16.515 --> 00:09:17.015
<i>conceptual,</i>

233
00:09:17.082 --> 00:09:17.951
<i>meta,</i>

234
00:09:18.016 --> 00:09:20.686
<i>whatever... this is.</i>

235
00:09:20.752 --> 00:09:23.188
<i>All in service of excavating
his own life story.</i>

236
00:09:23.455 --> 00:09:26.325
<i>Which also happens to be
the story of an entire</i>

237
00:09:26.391 --> 00:09:28.193
<i>comedy movement.</i>

238
00:09:28.260 --> 00:09:29.995
<i>You know,
I'm writing my autobiography.</i>

239
00:09:31.797 --> 00:09:32.564
<i>- You are?
- In a comic book, yeah.</i>

240
00:09:32.631 --> 00:09:35.467
<i>Great!</i>

241
00:09:35.534 --> 00:09:36.912
<i>It's in a comic book called
"wasteland". It's, uh, for DC.</i>

242
00:09:36.936 --> 00:09:39.171
<i>- Really?
- Yeah.</i>

243
00:09:39.238 --> 00:09:40.706
<i>But what, why?</i>

244
00:09:40.772 --> 00:09:42.450
<i>But I wanted to
leave behind the great lessons</i>

245
00:09:42.474 --> 00:09:43.675
<i>really?</i>

246
00:09:43.742 --> 00:09:45.611
<i>Indeed, the secrets of comedy.</i>

247
00:09:46.378 --> 00:09:47.412
Okey, doke.

248
00:09:49.047 --> 00:09:49.748
<i>That's, I think,
part of the reason why</i>

249
00:09:49.815 --> 00:09:50.883
he liked "wasteland".

250
00:09:50.950 --> 00:09:53.118
Because he had a chance
to do more,

251
00:09:54.386 --> 00:09:56.130
and even with some of the
autobiography pieces,

252
00:09:56.154 --> 00:09:57.222
to show more.

253
00:09:58.958 --> 00:09:59.591
<i>He wanted to reveal what
he'd learned in the past</i>

254
00:09:59.658 --> 00:10:01.226
<i>about comedy.</i>

255
00:10:02.861 --> 00:10:04.305
<i>The concept was
the first issue would be of</i>

256
00:10:04.329 --> 00:10:08.467
del's origin, or as close to
an origin story as possible.

257
00:10:23.482 --> 00:10:24.349
<i>Yeah, I worked for Dr. Dracula.</i>

258
00:10:24.416 --> 00:10:27.452
<i>I was his assistant.</i>

259
00:10:27.519 --> 00:10:29.719
<i>I carried out a flaming bowl
while Dr. Dracula ate fire.</i>

260
00:10:30.689 --> 00:10:32.166
<i>Del used to tell
everybody that studied with him</i>

261
00:10:32.190 --> 00:10:35.294
about running away from home,
and going and traveling with

262
00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:37.429
Dr. Dracula's tomb of terror.

263
00:10:38.263 --> 00:10:41.266
<i>There was this old guy
who played Dr. Dracula.</i>

264
00:10:41.333 --> 00:10:44.069
<i>He would get up, and he would do
a magic act.</i>

265
00:10:44.469 --> 00:10:46.371
<i>And you learned how to
eat fire from him?</i>

266
00:10:46.438 --> 00:10:48.238
<i>No, he wouldn't teach me.
I learned on my own.</i>

267
00:10:48.473 --> 00:10:51.209
<i>And my entrance music was.</i>

268
00:10:57.449 --> 00:10:59.209
<i>Dr. Dracula would come down
to the footlights</i>

269
00:10:59.251 --> 00:11:00.552
<i>and he would say,</i>

270
00:11:00.619 --> 00:11:02.421
<i>"a plague of worms will descend
upon you",</i>

271
00:11:02.487 --> 00:11:04.991
<i>and the lights would go out,
and I would run up the aisle</i>

272
00:11:05.058 --> 00:11:06.498
<i>throwing cooked spaghetti
everywhere.</i>

273
00:11:07.626 --> 00:11:09.595
<i>And the audience would literally
go "wah!"</i>

274
00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:23.909
<i>My first show business
experience</i>

275
00:11:23.977 --> 00:11:26.478
<i>you know, and I cause people
to shit their pants.</i>

276
00:11:26.545 --> 00:11:28.222
You know, man, and it's been
downhill ever since.

277
00:11:28.246 --> 00:11:29.314
<i>I know what del means.</i>

278
00:11:29.381 --> 00:11:31.583
If I was onstage and something
I did

279
00:11:31.650 --> 00:11:35.120
led someone in the audience
to say, "I just shit my pants!"

280
00:11:35.420 --> 00:11:36.521
Oh my god!

281
00:11:37.322 --> 00:11:38.857
<i>It's an amazing thing.</i>

282
00:11:38.924 --> 00:11:40.525
<i>This line between, kind of,
is it great?</i>

283
00:11:40.592 --> 00:11:44.463
<i>Or is it wrong? Should I be
scared or should I be laughing?</i>

284
00:11:44.696 --> 00:11:47.265
<i>What journey can you take
an audience on?</i>

285
00:11:47.466 --> 00:11:48.968
<i>It was like performance art</i>

286
00:11:49.035 --> 00:11:52.304
meets improv, which I think is
what del was kind of all about.

287
00:11:52.771 --> 00:11:56.308
<i>He just loved that weird,
subversive world.</i>

288
00:11:56.508 --> 00:11:57.743
<i>Even if the audience hated it</i>

289
00:11:58.377 --> 00:11:59.377
he was like

290
00:11:59.411 --> 00:12:00.411
killed it!

291
00:12:02.048 --> 00:12:03.524
<i>Freaking people out
as a teenage carnie runaway</i>

292
00:12:03.548 --> 00:12:04.908
<i>was a perfect origin story
for del.</i>

293
00:12:06.284 --> 00:12:08.353
<i>But what was he running from?</i>

294
00:12:24.703 --> 00:12:27.372
<i>Del's life as a child
was really ordinary</i>

295
00:12:27.439 --> 00:12:28.540
<i>growing up in Kansas</i>

296
00:12:30.409 --> 00:12:32.569
<i>he was much smarter than most
of the kids in his class.</i>

297
00:12:33.378 --> 00:12:35.523
<i>You know, by all conventional
standards, he was brilliant.</i>

298
00:12:35.547 --> 00:12:38.750
<i>But his father didn't see that.</i>

299
00:12:39.384 --> 00:12:43.588
<i>Del loved his mother.
He wanted to love his father.</i>

300
00:12:44.090 --> 00:12:45.090
<i>And then...</i>

301
00:12:48.326 --> 00:12:50.029
John, can I talk
to del for a minute?

302
00:12:50.096 --> 00:12:51.096
<i>Yeah.</i>

303
00:12:51.530 --> 00:12:53.498
Enjoy... this.

304
00:12:53.565 --> 00:12:55.300
<i>Del,</i>

305
00:12:55.367 --> 00:12:57.769
<i>I just want to say, I love
all the Dr. Dracula stuff</i>

306
00:12:57.836 --> 00:12:59.671
it's great.
The guy pooping his pants.

307
00:13:01.473 --> 00:13:02.583
<i>But I was also wondering,
maybe there's something...</i>

308
00:13:02.607 --> 00:13:05.510
A little darker
from your childhood?

309
00:13:06.112 --> 00:13:09.781
More appropriate for our little
grotesque booklet here?

310
00:13:11.117 --> 00:13:12.217
Nah.

311
00:13:13.285 --> 00:13:15.420
Anything from before
you left Kansas?

312
00:13:15.487 --> 00:13:17.756
Something rotten
in the little apple?

313
00:13:19.125 --> 00:13:21.626
Daddy drinks the dark dram.

314
00:13:22.894 --> 00:13:25.363
Sometimes it's hard to deal
with the thing

315
00:13:26.765 --> 00:13:28.600
in terms of the thing itself.

316
00:13:29.768 --> 00:13:30.768
You know?

317
00:13:37.043 --> 00:13:39.845
<i>The thing itself,
an incendiary thing.</i>

318
00:13:41.880 --> 00:13:44.449
<i>Del told a story
throughout his life</i>

319
00:13:44.516 --> 00:13:46.585
<i>"the big story", some thought
of it as</i>

320
00:13:47.153 --> 00:13:49.788
<i>when del was eight, his father
called him over.</i>

321
00:13:49.989 --> 00:13:52.591
<i>He asked his son to bring him
a glass of water he left</i>

322
00:13:52.657 --> 00:13:53.658
<i>on the counter.</i>

323
00:13:55.094 --> 00:13:56.795
<i>Eager to please,
del does as he's told.</i>

324
00:13:56.862 --> 00:14:00.265
<i>And watches as his father
drains the entire glass.</i>

325
00:14:00.465 --> 00:14:01.833
<i>First come the convulsions,</i>

326
00:14:03.502 --> 00:14:05.670
<i>then the glass smashes
as del's father goes limp.</i>

327
00:14:07.539 --> 00:14:09.875
<i>As it turned out, the glass
didn't contain water at all.</i>

328
00:14:10.575 --> 00:14:13.411
<i>It was battery acid
del learned later.</i>

329
00:14:27.994 --> 00:14:30.295
<i>There's at the
heart of that a betrayal.</i>

330
00:14:30.796 --> 00:14:32.430
<i>A father's betrayal of the son.</i>

331
00:14:32.831 --> 00:14:33.966
<i>Okay...</i>

332
00:14:34.033 --> 00:14:35.801
Commiting suicide,
I'm not judging that,

333
00:14:37.203 --> 00:14:39.771
but to do it, in that manner,
in front of your son,

334
00:14:40.206 --> 00:14:43.675
that's a betrayal, that's...
By my likes.

335
00:14:47.479 --> 00:14:50.515
<i>He started swallowing fire</i>

336
00:14:50.582 --> 00:14:51.750
<i>at a very early age.</i>

337
00:14:53.618 --> 00:14:55.496
<i>To me, if you were going to
psychoanalyze a person whose</i>

338
00:14:55.520 --> 00:14:56.922
<i>father commited suicide,</i>

339
00:14:58.590 --> 00:15:01.726
<i>you might wonder why they're
swallowing fire.</i>

340
00:15:04.596 --> 00:15:05.697
Just asking.

341
00:15:24.716 --> 00:15:26.319
<i>After traveling with Dr. Dracula</i>

342
00:15:26.384 --> 00:15:30.755
<i>del was hired as a
"human torch" in Bermuda.</i>

343
00:15:32.891 --> 00:15:36.561
<i>And then del got another call,
not long after that,</i>

344
00:15:36.628 --> 00:15:38.164
<i>from his friend, severn darden</i>

345
00:15:38.231 --> 00:15:40.474
<i>"and he said," hey, there's this
theater action happening</i>

346
00:15:40.498 --> 00:15:42.068
<i>in St. Louis.</i>

347
00:15:42.134 --> 00:15:44.134
<i>"You really should come out,
and give this a shot."</i>

348
00:15:44.270 --> 00:15:46.705
As del says, "well, I'd only
dove three times.

349
00:15:46.771 --> 00:15:48.040
The wind kept shifting.

350
00:15:48.107 --> 00:15:50.009
So this sounded like
a pretty good alternative."

351
00:15:51.910 --> 00:15:53.712
<i>So del headed out
to join the newly formed,</i>

352
00:15:53.778 --> 00:15:54.846
<i>compass players.</i>

353
00:15:56.349 --> 00:15:57.358
<i>Not knowing that he was walking
into the one thing</i>

354
00:15:57.382 --> 00:15:59.651
<i>more dangerous than fire:</i>

355
00:16:01.419 --> 00:16:03.339
<i>The world's first fully
improvised comedy troupe.</i>

356
00:16:04.623 --> 00:16:06.068
<i>What I did over the last
couple of days was like</i>

357
00:16:06.092 --> 00:16:08.627
<i>put myself back into that
period of time</i>

358
00:16:08.693 --> 00:16:09.794
<i>and I was just amazed.</i>

359
00:16:11.264 --> 00:16:12.640
<i>It was definitely
a creative experience.</i>

360
00:16:12.664 --> 00:16:14.399
<i>It was like unmatched
perhaps on the planet.</i>

361
00:16:15.700 --> 00:16:19.537
The compass theater was
the first group of people

362
00:16:19.604 --> 00:16:23.842
dedicated to making theatre
out of improvised work.

363
00:16:24.310 --> 00:16:27.980
<i>Geniuses, and dropouts,
beatniks, weirdos.</i>

364
00:16:28.914 --> 00:16:31.683
<i>Highly evolved, very intelligent</i>

365
00:16:32.318 --> 00:16:35.620
<i>the task we were taking on
which nobody had ever done</i>

366
00:16:35.687 --> 00:16:38.590
<i>was to, somehow or another,
train ourselves to improvise</i>

367
00:16:38.790 --> 00:16:40.425
<i>whatever that was.</i>

368
00:16:40.625 --> 00:16:42.128
<i>There was no script.</i>

369
00:16:42.194 --> 00:16:43.714
<i>And we would do a new show
every night.</i>

370
00:16:45.097 --> 00:16:46.574
<i>We would open usually
with some kind of like</i>

371
00:16:46.598 --> 00:16:49.368
<i>some mad opening
that I would start</i>

372
00:16:49.434 --> 00:16:50.236
<i>like sometimes, I remember,
we would sometimes come in</i>

373
00:16:50.303 --> 00:16:51.583
<i>wearing helmets with flashlights</i>

374
00:16:52.470 --> 00:16:53.105
<i>examining the audience members
as though they were</i>

375
00:16:53.172 --> 00:16:54.172
<i>complex fungi.</i>

376
00:16:56.242 --> 00:16:57.776
<i>And then we would take
suggestions.</i>

377
00:16:57.842 --> 00:16:59.402
<i>We would do a scene
on every suggestion.</i>

378
00:17:00.545 --> 00:17:02.714
<i>I just remember the horror
that everybody felt</i>

379
00:17:02.781 --> 00:17:04.221
<i>before somebody spoke
the first word.</i>

380
00:17:11.456 --> 00:17:13.296
<i>We would just go out
and do literally anything.</i>

381
00:17:14.193 --> 00:17:14.826
<i>Sometimes the audience
was fucking bored.</i>

382
00:17:14.893 --> 00:17:15.893
<i>Right.</i>

383
00:17:18.397 --> 00:17:19.957
<i>But sometimes
we would be doing a scene,</i>

384
00:17:19.999 --> 00:17:22.199
<i>and we would just blurt
these amazing, wonderful things.</i>

385
00:17:31.743 --> 00:17:33.045
<i>We just didn't know why</i>

386
00:17:33.112 --> 00:17:34.447
<i>our successful work
was successful</i>

387
00:17:34.512 --> 00:17:36.015
<i>and why our failures
were failures,</i>

388
00:17:38.351 --> 00:17:40.618
<i>so we can chuckle now, but
this was quite serious</i>

389
00:17:40.685 --> 00:17:41.685
<i>right.</i>

390
00:17:44.756 --> 00:17:46.556
<i>In improvisation,
each performance was a risk.</i>

391
00:17:48.394 --> 00:17:49.870
<i>But del sensed that a little
danger could be just the thing</i>

392
00:17:49.894 --> 00:17:52.530
<i>for a genre that had become...</i>

393
00:17:52.897 --> 00:17:53.933
<i>How do I say this?</i>

394
00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:55.567
Ah, good evening,
ladies and gentlemen

395
00:17:56.534 --> 00:17:57.534
<i>shitty.</i>

396
00:17:58.437 --> 00:18:00.572
<i>A lot of the comedy on TV,</i>

397
00:18:00.638 --> 00:18:01.906
<i>the kind of Bob hope stuff</i>

398
00:18:01.974 --> 00:18:03.976
made me feel kind of gross.

399
00:18:04.043 --> 00:18:06.778
And I want to be sure, at all
times, to do the right thing.

400
00:18:09.714 --> 00:18:10.714
That's the right thing.

401
00:18:12.118 --> 00:18:12.952
<i>So that older
generation of comedy</i>

402
00:18:13.019 --> 00:18:14.987
<i>was a palliative.</i>

403
00:18:15.054 --> 00:18:16.088
<i>You know, it was meant to</i>

404
00:18:17.189 --> 00:18:18.400
make life okay,
and you can laugh,

405
00:18:18.424 --> 00:18:19.700
and we'll laugh,
and we'll all be nice people.

406
00:18:19.724 --> 00:18:22.727
Let's not do any jokes
we didn't plan on, huh?

407
00:18:24.662 --> 00:18:26.241
<i>As it turned out,
there were plenty of people</i>

408
00:18:26.265 --> 00:18:28.733
<i>who were tired of Bob hope's
dick jokes.</i>

409
00:18:30.802 --> 00:18:32.162
<i>So the compass was
packing them in.</i>

410
00:18:33.638 --> 00:18:36.541
<i>To fill the need, they brought
in two new cast members.</i>

411
00:18:36.841 --> 00:18:38.877
<i>Mike Nichols, and Elaine may</i>

412
00:18:41.913 --> 00:18:45.550
<i>yep, that Nichols and may,
but we'll get to that</i>

413
00:18:47.552 --> 00:18:49.131
<i>but like Mike was there
in order to work with Elaine</i>

414
00:18:49.155 --> 00:18:50.588
<i>uh huh.</i>

415
00:18:50.655 --> 00:18:52.191
<i>Elaine was there, to,
you know, work</i>

416
00:18:52.258 --> 00:18:54.893
<i>in improvisational theatre
right, right.</i>

417
00:18:54.960 --> 00:18:56.238
<i>And so Mike's reasons for
being there were</i>

418
00:18:56.262 --> 00:18:57.063
<i>- a little shaky.
- Right.</i>

419
00:18:57.129 --> 00:18:58.630
<i>And she was able to adapt to it?</i>

420
00:18:58.696 --> 00:19:00.732
<i>Yep, she was able to adapt
to real improvisation.</i>

421
00:19:02.168 --> 00:19:03.445
<i>Elaine was absolutely
fucking amazing.</i>

422
00:19:03.469 --> 00:19:04.937
<i>And fearless.</i>

423
00:19:05.004 --> 00:19:09.641
I have been going with the same
man for the last fourteen years.

424
00:19:10.875 --> 00:19:13.845
Last week, I got the shock
of my life.

425
00:19:14.046 --> 00:19:16.215
There, sitting at
a sidewalk cafe

426
00:19:16.282 --> 00:19:18.783
was my intended
with another woman.

427
00:19:19.051 --> 00:19:21.920
I asked him,
"what is the meaning of this?"

428
00:19:22.121 --> 00:19:24.156
In reply, they both stood up,

429
00:19:24.223 --> 00:19:26.858
and gave me such
a merciless beating.

430
00:19:28.693 --> 00:19:31.964
<i>Del and Elaine may
shared the same kind of</i>

431
00:19:32.031 --> 00:19:36.102
<i>dogged persistence to figure out
what could you do to make</i>

432
00:19:36.168 --> 00:19:38.003
<i>improvisation consistent.</i>

433
00:19:39.637 --> 00:19:40.848
<i>And this was Elaine may's line,</i>

434
00:19:40.872 --> 00:19:42.740
I love this - tell me
what I need to know

435
00:19:43.476 --> 00:19:45.710
to get off stage without dying.

436
00:19:46.312 --> 00:19:48.013
And they came up
with the kitchen rules.

437
00:19:49.482 --> 00:19:50.983
<i>He and Elaine apparently
constructed</i>

438
00:19:51.050 --> 00:19:53.685
<i>a whole set of rules.
I think they called it,</i>

439
00:19:53.751 --> 00:19:56.956
<i>"the Winchester kitchen table
rules of improvisation".</i>

440
00:20:00.226 --> 00:20:02.694
<i>Like, don't deny, respect
the other person's reality.</i>

441
00:20:02.760 --> 00:20:04.230
<i>Right.</i>

442
00:20:04.296 --> 00:20:04.930
<i>Remember where the objects were</i>

443
00:20:04.997 --> 00:20:05.931
<i>right.</i>

444
00:20:05.998 --> 00:20:06.764
<i>Uh, don't do mime.</i>

445
00:20:06.831 --> 00:20:09.401
<i>That's right.</i>

446
00:20:09.468 --> 00:20:10.845
<i>Always play
to popular intelligence.</i>

447
00:20:10.869 --> 00:20:13.606
<i>- And think the unlikely choice.
- Right.</i>

448
00:20:13.671 --> 00:20:14.306
<i>We're not locked into
this thing like an actor</i>

449
00:20:14.373 --> 00:20:15.373
<i>with a script.</i>

450
00:20:16.275 --> 00:20:17.576
<i>He met his match,</i>

451
00:20:17.642 --> 00:20:20.912
and I think they had
a romantic engagement as well.

452
00:20:22.581 --> 00:20:24.383
<i>Elaine, I was thinking
about this,</i>

453
00:20:24.450 --> 00:20:26.885
<i>I mean, of course, she was
frightening and intimidating,</i>

454
00:20:26.952 --> 00:20:27.819
<i>I mean, the goddess is more
evident in her</i>

455
00:20:27.886 --> 00:20:29.188
<i>than in most people.</i>

456
00:20:29.255 --> 00:20:31.656
<i>And you know, right</i>

457
00:20:31.723 --> 00:20:33.225
<i>in all of her phases right</i>

458
00:20:33.292 --> 00:20:33.925
<i>the wrathful one,
and the beautiful one.</i>

459
00:20:33.993 --> 00:20:34.792
<i>Right.</i>

460
00:20:34.859 --> 00:20:37.463
<i>It's, uh,</i>

461
00:20:37.530 --> 00:20:39.074
<i>it's like she was
a supernatural figure.</i>

462
00:20:39.098 --> 00:20:40.542
<i>I kept having all these,
what am I doing here?</i>

463
00:20:40.566 --> 00:20:42.901
<i>Why am I in the midst
of all this here?</i>

464
00:20:42.968 --> 00:20:43.835
<i>I was fairly
mentally unstable in those days</i>

465
00:20:43.902 --> 00:20:44.903
<i>cause I was still...</i>

466
00:20:44.970 --> 00:20:47.072
<i>In my father's killing zone.</i>

467
00:20:48.706 --> 00:20:52.011
<i>Everybody says you were
madly in love with Elaine.</i>

468
00:20:52.077 --> 00:20:54.280
<i>- I have her at...
- And vice versa.</i>

469
00:20:55.080 --> 00:20:58.783
<i>Actually, we never
officially broke up.</i>

470
00:20:58.984 --> 00:21:00.286
<i>And I still love her.</i>

471
00:21:01.886 --> 00:21:04.023
<i>Del had met
the two loves of his life.</i>

472
00:21:04.256 --> 00:21:06.791
<i>Improvisation and Elaine.</i>

473
00:21:06.858 --> 00:21:07.960
<i>He was in paradise.</i>

474
00:21:09.228 --> 00:21:10.628
<i>But there was
a snake in the garden.</i>

475
00:21:11.597 --> 00:21:13.074
<i>Mike Nichols used to say
"Elaine can work with anybody.</i>

476
00:21:13.098 --> 00:21:14.832
<i>I could only work with Elaine."</i>

477
00:21:18.237 --> 00:21:19.538
<i>Moving out of the Bob hope era,</i>

478
00:21:19.605 --> 00:21:21.806
<i>Mike Nichols checked
all the boxes</i>

479
00:21:21.873 --> 00:21:23.042
<i>of the modern comedic genius.</i>

480
00:21:23.242 --> 00:21:24.543
<i>Highly educated and refined,</i>

481
00:21:24.610 --> 00:21:27.046
<i>he was an auteur who
was interested</i>

482
00:21:27.112 --> 00:21:28.880
<i>in the Polish of social satire.</i>

483
00:21:29.081 --> 00:21:30.815
<i>Not the sloppiness of improv.</i>

484
00:21:32.518 --> 00:21:33.861
<i>And that had a good deal
to do with our inability</i>

485
00:21:33.885 --> 00:21:34.885
<i>to get along.</i>

486
00:21:36.155 --> 00:21:37.698
<i>Still somehow or other,
a plot was hatched</i>

487
00:21:37.722 --> 00:21:41.726
<i>to go to New York and audition
as a four-person night club act</i>

488
00:21:41.994 --> 00:21:44.029
<i>to become, maybe, okay, famous.</i>

489
00:21:44.263 --> 00:21:47.166
<i>We did not have plane fare
for the four of us</i>

490
00:21:47.233 --> 00:21:50.802
<i>so we all kicked in money
for Mike and Elaine to go.</i>

491
00:21:51.003 --> 00:21:56.175
<i>So the crucial period comes
when we leave St. Louis</i>

492
00:21:56.242 --> 00:21:57.875
<i>to go to New York.</i>

493
00:21:57.943 --> 00:21:59.354
<i>And I thought it was like,
a guaranteed thing.</i>

494
00:21:59.378 --> 00:22:01.813
<i>When we got to New York,
there was Mike</i>

495
00:22:01.879 --> 00:22:03.282
<i>with a contract
from Jack rollins</i>

496
00:22:04.383 --> 00:22:05.383
<i>for two.</i>

497
00:22:05.951 --> 00:22:07.019
<i>Not four.</i>

498
00:22:07.987 --> 00:22:09.355
<i>So I was left out in the cold.</i>

499
00:22:10.855 --> 00:22:11.789
<i>And at that point,
Mike and Elaine</i>

500
00:22:11.856 --> 00:22:12.856
<i>began working together.</i>

501
00:22:31.310 --> 00:22:34.246
<i>I was absolutely
completely cast adrift</i>

502
00:22:37.216 --> 00:22:39.318
<i>and I went temporarily nuts.</i>

503
00:22:52.197 --> 00:22:54.199
<i>Can you analyze this patient?</i>

504
00:22:55.934 --> 00:22:57.970
<i>He is an adult, white male.</i>

505
00:22:58.037 --> 00:22:59.972
<i>The only child
of well-to-do parents.</i>

506
00:23:01.307 --> 00:23:02.941
<i>Since the recent death
of his father,</i>

507
00:23:04.610 --> 00:23:06.930
<i>the patient has suffered from
severe attacks of depression,</i>

508
00:23:07.212 --> 00:23:08.580
<i>withdrawal,</i>

509
00:23:08.647 --> 00:23:11.083
<i>Apia, catatonic apathy,
and often toys</i>

510
00:23:11.150 --> 00:23:12.384
<i>with the notion of suicide.</i>

511
00:23:28.267 --> 00:23:29.277
Clean family show,
ladies and gentlemen.

512
00:23:29.301 --> 00:23:31.903
No geeks, no freaks, no romedy.

513
00:23:34.306 --> 00:23:36.546
Now, I would like to provide
a selection of danse macabre

514
00:23:36.975 --> 00:23:37.975
on my head.

515
00:23:40.679 --> 00:23:42.880
<i>After the breakdown,
del got back on his feet.</i>

516
00:23:43.382 --> 00:23:45.117
<i>But he wasn't quite the same.</i>

517
00:23:46.884 --> 00:23:47.720
<i>So he drifted to the place
where every dirty hippie</i>

518
00:23:47.786 --> 00:23:49.054
<i>lands eventually.</i>

519
00:23:55.494 --> 00:23:56.494
♪ Ow! ♪

520
00:23:57.763 --> 00:23:59.164
<i>There's a story in "wasteland"</i>

521
00:23:59.231 --> 00:24:02.067
<i>where del and his former
writing partner</i>

522
00:24:02.134 --> 00:24:03.778
<i>were sitting around writing,
getting stoned,</i>

523
00:24:03.802 --> 00:24:05.562
<i>trying to figure out
how to be funny onstage.</i>

524
00:24:06.138 --> 00:24:07.406
<i>And their idea was: Okay,</i>

525
00:24:08.173 --> 00:24:10.209
you take some Cole slaw,

526
00:24:10.275 --> 00:24:12.411
and you stick it
down your shorts.

527
00:24:15.114 --> 00:24:18.283
<i>Then as you interact with it,
you're doing interesting things</i>

528
00:24:18.350 --> 00:24:20.885
<i>even though you're too stoned
to really be reacting.</i>

529
00:24:21.120 --> 00:24:24.889
<i>And he said first it worked
just as they figured it would.</i>

530
00:24:25.090 --> 00:24:28.260
<i>It was irritating him,
and was giving his performance</i>

531
00:24:28.794 --> 00:24:29.794
and interesting level.

532
00:24:30.562 --> 00:24:32.498
He said, "Howard,
I've discovered the"

533
00:24:33.232 --> 00:24:35.000
the problems with it.

534
00:24:35.067 --> 00:24:37.369
<i>If you're wasted, you tend
to forget what you've done.</i>

535
00:24:41.006 --> 00:24:42.584
<i>So he said, after the show,
he was in the bar,</i>

536
00:24:42.608 --> 00:24:43.409
<i>and he picked up
this sweet young thing,</i>

537
00:24:43.475 --> 00:24:46.311
<i>and took her back to his place,</i>

538
00:24:47.112 --> 00:24:48.514
<i>and he got undressed,</i>

539
00:24:48.580 --> 00:24:50.249
<i>and out poured about
a half pound</i>

540
00:24:50.315 --> 00:24:52.117
of warm rancid cabbage.

541
00:24:56.255 --> 00:24:57.689
<i>Cole slaw.</i>

542
00:24:57.756 --> 00:24:59.992
<i>That was the kind of experiment
one came to expect</i>

543
00:25:00.058 --> 00:25:01.126
<i>of the committee.</i>

544
00:25:02.761 --> 00:25:04.681
<i>Where del had managed
to get hired as a director.</i>

545
00:25:06.298 --> 00:25:08.333
<i>Wow! The committee!</i>

546
00:25:08.534 --> 00:25:11.003
<i>It was basically sketch comedy</i>

547
00:25:11.069 --> 00:25:15.340
that was hilarious,
and had a voice that was both

548
00:25:15.541 --> 00:25:20.212
political, and socially,
interpersonally relevant.

549
00:25:20.479 --> 00:25:26.285
♪ Oh, say can you see,
by the dawn's early light ♪

550
00:25:26.351 --> 00:25:32.491
♪ what so proudly we hailed at
the twilight's last gleaming ♪♪

551
00:25:32.558 --> 00:25:36.061
♪ who put stripes
and bright stars ♪

552
00:25:36.128 --> 00:25:38.530
♪ through the perilous night ♪

553
00:25:38.597 --> 00:25:42.100
♪ for the ramparts we watched ♪

554
00:25:42.167 --> 00:25:45.137
♪ were so gallantly streaming♪♪

555
00:25:45.204 --> 00:25:48.140
♪ and the rocket's red glare ♪

556
00:25:48.207 --> 00:25:51.109
♪ the bombs bursting in air ♪

557
00:25:51.176 --> 00:25:55.180
♪ gave proof through the night ♪

558
00:25:58.383 --> 00:25:59.551
<i>Summer of love.</i>

559
00:26:00.919 --> 00:26:02.621
<i>Everybody
was sharing everything.</i>

560
00:26:02.688 --> 00:26:04.648
<i>Everything that was done
was done in large groups.</i>

561
00:26:05.924 --> 00:26:08.126
<i>Now, sex, theatre, politics,
the whole thing.</i>

562
00:26:08.193 --> 00:26:09.194
<i>Big bunch of people.</i>

563
00:26:11.897 --> 00:26:13.365
<i>The drug culture
at the committee</i>

564
00:26:13.432 --> 00:26:17.236
<i>was pot, alcohol,
and psychedelics.</i>

565
00:26:17.603 --> 00:26:20.339
<i>But del said, let's push this
a little bit further.</i>

566
00:26:20.405 --> 00:26:23.308
<i>Anything that was ingestable
del would ingest.</i>

567
00:26:23.609 --> 00:26:25.344
<i>I came in once with eight or ten</i>

568
00:26:25.410 --> 00:26:26.545
different pills.

569
00:26:26.612 --> 00:26:29.114
I had no idea what
any of them even were,

570
00:26:30.148 --> 00:26:33.252
<i>and went to del, saying,
"do you have any idea</i>

571
00:26:33.318 --> 00:26:35.153
what these are,
and what they might do?"

572
00:26:35.220 --> 00:26:36.522
And he said, "let's see!"

573
00:26:38.924 --> 00:26:40.592
<i>He was fueled by the drug</i>

574
00:26:40.659 --> 00:26:43.462
<i>to go further than he might
have gone otherwise</i>

575
00:26:43.529 --> 00:26:46.131
<i>in his work and his curiosity</i>

576
00:26:46.331 --> 00:26:49.134
<i>about life and human experience.</i>

577
00:26:50.669 --> 00:26:53.238
<i>Quaaludes, Cole slaw comedy.</i>

578
00:26:53.438 --> 00:26:55.073
<i>Hey, an experiment
is an experiment</i>

579
00:26:55.140 --> 00:26:58.043
<i>when you're spirtually dead
in the year 1967.</i>

580
00:26:58.243 --> 00:27:01.380
<i>So the committee turned their
addled brains to improv.</i>

581
00:27:01.446 --> 00:27:02.992
<i>If you could take
a drawer full of drugs,</i>

582
00:27:03.016 --> 00:27:06.151
<i>and still stand for your bows,
could, you say...</i>

583
00:27:06.351 --> 00:27:07.586
<i>Improvise a whole play?</i>

584
00:27:12.190 --> 00:27:15.193
<i>So we're doing these
long-form improvisation</i>

585
00:27:15.260 --> 00:27:16.260
<i>experiments.</i>

586
00:27:18.630 --> 00:27:22.301
<i>And I remember, one night,
the longest one we ever did,</i>

587
00:27:22.367 --> 00:27:26.538
<i>it was like maybe twenty people
on this stage for just like</i>

588
00:27:26.605 --> 00:27:28.674
two hours, I remember.

589
00:27:32.244 --> 00:27:36.081
<i>Were those good?
A two hour, twenty people...</i>

590
00:27:36.481 --> 00:27:39.184
Well, I mean it was, um

591
00:27:43.789 --> 00:27:46.658
<i>so we improvised through
the whole workshop,</i>

592
00:27:47.626 --> 00:27:49.227
<i>and then, at the end
of the piece,</i>

593
00:27:49.294 --> 00:27:53.498
<i>everybody fell on the ground,
exhausted from the experience.</i>

594
00:27:54.666 --> 00:27:56.101
<i>It was like...</i>

595
00:27:57.003 --> 00:27:58.003
<i>Okay...</i>

596
00:27:58.770 --> 00:28:00.940
Can we do some more
funny stuff now?

597
00:28:05.577 --> 00:28:08.280
<i>But del was just, you know,</i>

598
00:28:08.347 --> 00:28:09.481
bouncing off the walls,

599
00:28:11.050 --> 00:28:13.218
<i>saying, "we've created
a new form of theatre!"</i>

600
00:28:18.357 --> 00:28:20.325
And everybody was saying,
"right, del.

601
00:28:20.392 --> 00:28:21.593
"Take it easy." You know?

602
00:28:23.195 --> 00:28:23.963
<i>Yeah, well, it's a new form
of theatre.</i>

603
00:28:24.030 --> 00:28:25.764
<i>We need a name for it,</i>

604
00:28:25.831 --> 00:28:27.871
<i>and somebody to, kind of,
undercut del's enthusiasm.</i>

605
00:28:29.434 --> 00:28:31.536
<i>A kind of satiric comment on it.</i>

606
00:28:31.737 --> 00:28:34.539
Said, "well, Harold's
a nice name."

607
00:28:38.744 --> 00:28:42.147
<i>And it became del's holy grail.</i>

608
00:28:43.582 --> 00:28:45.350
<i>Del had found his purpose,</i>

609
00:28:45.417 --> 00:28:47.185
<i>and its name was Harold.</i>

610
00:28:47.386 --> 00:28:48.620
<i>But what was it, exactly?</i>

611
00:28:50.322 --> 00:28:52.290
<i>Well, what del had glimpsed
was just an idea.</i>

612
00:28:53.825 --> 00:28:55.594
<i>The idea that people
could improvise</i>

613
00:28:55.661 --> 00:28:57.781
<i>for long enough to achieve
some greater comic meaning.</i>

614
00:28:59.098 --> 00:29:00.541
<i>And if betting it all
on a half-baked idea</i>

615
00:29:00.565 --> 00:29:01.565
<i>sounds scary</i>

616
00:29:03.802 --> 00:29:05.303
<i>so much the better.</i>

617
00:29:14.813 --> 00:29:16.314
<i>Del was forever wanting</i>

618
00:29:17.816 --> 00:29:19.176
<i>to follow what he wanted
to follow.</i>

619
00:29:19.685 --> 00:29:21.845
He had this imagination,
you know, he had this outlook.

620
00:29:23.022 --> 00:29:24.582
<i>In the summer of love,
in San Francisco,</i>

621
00:29:24.623 --> 00:29:26.725
<i>his new idea wound up
being called "the Harold."</i>

622
00:29:28.094 --> 00:29:30.174
That's what he called it,
at the time, then it stuck.

623
00:29:30.362 --> 00:29:32.464
<i>And del really believed in it.</i>

624
00:29:32.864 --> 00:29:35.634
<i>But somedays, it was hard
to follow del</i>

625
00:29:35.701 --> 00:29:38.203
<i>out to those reaches,
that he went to.</i>

626
00:29:38.603 --> 00:29:39.771
I have a bad feeling.

627
00:29:39.838 --> 00:29:41.807
I think we should cut
this coo-coo-bird story.

628
00:29:42.507 --> 00:29:43.642
No, no, let's not.

629
00:29:44.810 --> 00:29:46.187
Let's criticize
the obviously stupid.

630
00:29:46.211 --> 00:29:50.049
I'm just not sure a story
titled "retroactive abortion"

631
00:29:50.116 --> 00:29:53.218
is going to sit well with the
people who publish Superman

632
00:29:53.485 --> 00:29:54.485
and aquaman.

633
00:29:54.519 --> 00:29:55.287
Relax!

634
00:29:55.353 --> 00:29:56.922
This is art!

635
00:29:56.989 --> 00:29:58.523
<i>A function of art
is not to assuage.</i>

636
00:29:58.590 --> 00:30:00.292
For crying out loud!

637
00:30:00.358 --> 00:30:02.661
<i>This is one
of my first jobs with DC!</i>

638
00:30:03.361 --> 00:30:04.529
I can't spoil it!

639
00:30:05.664 --> 00:30:06.664
Oh god, I've spoiled it.

640
00:30:06.898 --> 00:30:08.366
- Oh no.
- Right.

641
00:30:08.433 --> 00:30:09.433
Oh...

642
00:30:10.235 --> 00:30:11.235
Oh man.

643
00:30:11.703 --> 00:30:13.438
Are gonna blow
her little brains over...

644
00:30:13.505 --> 00:30:14.539
No, who ya callin'?

645
00:30:14.606 --> 00:30:16.675
No, don't...

646
00:30:20.612 --> 00:30:21.313
<i>Lynn?</i>

647
00:30:21.379 --> 00:30:22.714
I have these edits here.

648
00:30:22.781 --> 00:30:23.891
Will you get them to the author?

649
00:30:23.915 --> 00:30:25.218
- Oh.
- Thank you.

650
00:30:25.283 --> 00:30:27.719
Arabella, sorry, I just
can't get rid of this guy.

651
00:30:27.786 --> 00:30:29.521
He keeps talking about
how he writes

652
00:30:29.588 --> 00:30:30.698
something called "wasteland"?

653
00:30:30.722 --> 00:30:33.092
He says we need to stop
making him slice

654
00:30:33.159 --> 00:30:34.659
the comedy sausage?

655
00:30:34.726 --> 00:30:35.737
<i>There's a thin line between</i>

656
00:30:35.761 --> 00:30:37.041
genius and nutbag
in this company

657
00:30:38.830 --> 00:30:40.532
<i>go for Arabella.</i>

658
00:30:40.599 --> 00:30:41.910
<i>Well alright,
DC's got commercial success.</i>

659
00:30:41.934 --> 00:30:44.269
<i>Fine, great, there it is.</i>

660
00:30:44.336 --> 00:30:45.780
<i>However, I'll tell you a couple
of cautionary tales.</i>

661
00:30:45.804 --> 00:30:48.740
<i>One time, I was in Los Angeles,
I was at all these restaurants,</i>

662
00:30:48.807 --> 00:30:49.908
<i>the kind where they...</i>

663
00:30:49.976 --> 00:30:51.019
- Has this been happening for.
- Yeah.

664
00:30:51.043 --> 00:30:51.743
- This whole time?
- The whole time.

665
00:30:51.810 --> 00:30:54.513
Okay.

666
00:30:54.579 --> 00:30:56.024
<i>More often, some sort
of mystical journey</i>

667
00:30:56.048 --> 00:30:57.415
<i>inside the washing Mac...</i>

668
00:30:57.482 --> 00:30:59.818
Hey, have you seen that
new movie "fatal attraction"?

669
00:30:59.885 --> 00:31:00.719
- I saw it.
<i>- Was it good?</i>

670
00:31:00.786 --> 00:31:01.986
Oh no, I think you'll hate it.

671
00:31:02.021 --> 00:31:03.822
Unless you hate women,
then you'll love it.

672
00:31:03.889 --> 00:31:04.689
You know?

673
00:31:04.756 --> 00:31:06.358
Oh, well, I love women, so...

674
00:31:06.424 --> 00:31:07.659
- You won't love it.
- Right.

675
00:31:07.726 --> 00:31:09.427
<i>Forming a secret society</i>

676
00:31:09.494 --> 00:31:10.930
<i>which using secret names.</i>

677
00:31:10.997 --> 00:31:12.430
<i>Now I'd like to tell you
about my...</i>

678
00:31:12.497 --> 00:31:13.166
<i>Okay.
I don't want to go to this.</i>

679
00:31:13.232 --> 00:31:15.333
I think you should.

680
00:31:15.400 --> 00:31:16.611
- Feather on the invite?
- You're right.

681
00:31:16.635 --> 00:31:17.678
What kind of classy event
is that going to be?

682
00:31:17.702 --> 00:31:20.239
<i>I'm old now, you know?</i>

683
00:31:20.305 --> 00:31:21.865
<i>Chicks don't hold my hand
when I'm sad..</i>

684
00:31:23.276 --> 00:31:23.943
<i>Hey, what happened
on your date last night?</i>

685
00:31:24.010 --> 00:31:25.544
Oh, um,

686
00:31:25.610 --> 00:31:26.645
didn't go great.

687
00:31:26.711 --> 00:31:27.813
<i>What?</i>

688
00:31:27.879 --> 00:31:29.057
- How is that possible?
- I don't know!

689
00:31:29.081 --> 00:31:31.383
He doesn't want a woman
with attitude?

690
00:31:31.449 --> 00:31:32.727
Yeah, well, that's...
What I would have said.

691
00:31:32.751 --> 00:31:33.685
What did you say?

692
00:31:33.752 --> 00:31:35.320
I just said thank you.

693
00:31:35.754 --> 00:31:37.290
Okay.

694
00:31:37.355 --> 00:31:38.824
<i>The praying mantis
can't get it up</i>

695
00:31:38.890 --> 00:31:41.027
<i>until his head has been
gnawed off...</i>

696
00:31:41.093 --> 00:31:42.128
<i>Okay!</i> hello dear.

697
00:31:42.195 --> 00:31:43.296
<i>Yes?</i> here's the deal.

698
00:31:43.361 --> 00:31:44.297
I'm not paying a lot of
attention to your

699
00:31:44.362 --> 00:31:46.731
<i>"waste-lords" right now.</i>

700
00:31:46.798 --> 00:31:48.267
- Oh, "wasteland".
<i>- "Wasteland".</i>

701
00:31:48.333 --> 00:31:49.202
<i>Yeah, and that's a benefit</i>

702
00:31:49.268 --> 00:31:50.444
for both of us, I think, right?

703
00:31:50.468 --> 00:31:52.871
I don't have to read
your gross stories.

704
00:31:52.939 --> 00:31:53.738
Mike gold sent me the outline...

705
00:31:53.805 --> 00:31:54.816
For "retroactive abortion".

706
00:31:54.840 --> 00:31:57.210
It was disgusting, to be frank.

707
00:31:57.276 --> 00:31:58.319
And then you don't have to
deal with me breathing down

708
00:31:58.343 --> 00:31:59.778
your neck. Does that make sense?

709
00:31:59.845 --> 00:32:01.080
<i>- Yes, but...
- Great.</i>

710
00:32:01.147 --> 00:32:02.991
So why don't we instate a policy
of benign neglect?

711
00:32:03.015 --> 00:32:04.783
Leave us alone.

712
00:32:04.850 --> 00:32:05.650
<i>And don't make us
take you anymore seriously</i>

713
00:32:05.717 --> 00:32:06.418
<i>than we want to,</i>

714
00:32:06.484 --> 00:32:08.854
and we'll get alone fine.

715
00:32:08.920 --> 00:32:09.921
<i>Okay, if I can play de...</i>

716
00:32:09.989 --> 00:32:11.690
You know what?
I will go to that.

717
00:32:11.756 --> 00:32:12.557
That's what I thought

718
00:32:12.624 --> 00:32:13.624
okay?

719
00:32:17.129 --> 00:32:18.173
<i>Oh, del loved to push
the boundaries</i>

720
00:32:18.197 --> 00:32:19.598
<i>in a corporate environment.</i>

721
00:32:20.866 --> 00:32:22.510
"Wasteland" is, there's
a sort of, special thing

722
00:32:22.534 --> 00:32:25.804
that's like, yes!
We've invaded...

723
00:32:27.539 --> 00:32:28.440
<i>DC was the majors.</i>

724
00:32:28.506 --> 00:32:30.876
<i>It was one of the two biggies.</i>

725
00:32:30.943 --> 00:32:31.944
DC and marvel.

726
00:32:33.012 --> 00:32:34.512
<i>Del loved the idea of that.</i>

727
00:32:35.948 --> 00:32:37.428
<i>He wanted his influence
to spread out.</i>

728
00:32:37.816 --> 00:32:39.517
<i>He wanted the recognition</i>

729
00:32:39.584 --> 00:32:40.886
that he knows his stuff.

730
00:32:42.355 --> 00:32:44.456
<i>I think there's something
that continues</i>

731
00:32:46.292 --> 00:32:48.493
<i>when he went to second city.</i>

732
00:32:53.065 --> 00:32:55.767
<i>This is one of
Chicago's cultural institutions:</i>

733
00:32:55.834 --> 00:32:57.602
<i>The second city theatre.</i>

734
00:32:57.937 --> 00:33:01.473
The inside of this place
is familiar to a lot of people

735
00:33:01.539 --> 00:33:03.441
who enjoy an evening of comedy.

736
00:33:03.808 --> 00:33:05.978
This bare stage
with its familiar chairs

737
00:33:06.045 --> 00:33:07.545
is a landmark
of American theatre.

738
00:33:09.081 --> 00:33:11.126
And through the years, it has
served as a training ground

739
00:33:11.150 --> 00:33:13.485
for many young, talented
performers

740
00:33:13.551 --> 00:33:14.551
on their way up.

741
00:33:16.956 --> 00:33:19.758
<i>In 1973, second city
was the country's most</i>

742
00:33:19.824 --> 00:33:21.394
<i>famous comedy theater.</i>

743
00:33:21.459 --> 00:33:24.763
<i>And any fanboy can breathlessly
list the legendary comics</i>

744
00:33:24.829 --> 00:33:25.630
<i>that filled that stage.</i>

745
00:33:25.697 --> 00:33:27.266
Ah! That's derry the honky!

746
00:33:27.333 --> 00:33:28.700
<i>Harry the donkey?</i>

747
00:33:30.269 --> 00:33:31.203
<i>But a lesser known fact</i>

748
00:33:31.270 --> 00:33:33.872
<i>was that their director,</i>

749
00:33:33.940 --> 00:33:35.050
<i>like the goddamn
zelig of comedy,</i>

750
00:33:35.074 --> 00:33:36.275
<i>was del close.</i>

751
00:33:36.342 --> 00:33:37.176
Where are we gonna take it...

752
00:33:37.243 --> 00:33:38.710
Yes, we're at the top, right?

753
00:33:38.777 --> 00:33:40.246
<i>Lured by the possibility</i>

754
00:33:40.313 --> 00:33:43.615
<i>of finding a stage for his newly
discovered art form, Harold.</i>

755
00:33:43.682 --> 00:33:46.551
<i>Del agreed to direct the
theatre's scripted sketch shows</i>

756
00:33:46.751 --> 00:33:48.553
but by night, he'd use
the theatre

757
00:33:48.620 --> 00:33:49.821
as his personal laboratory,

758
00:33:49.888 --> 00:33:52.857
developing the Harold
in underground workshops.

759
00:33:57.762 --> 00:33:58.863
<i>Remember, we got style.</i>

760
00:34:03.035 --> 00:34:04.569
<i>Del spends his evenings</i>

761
00:34:04.636 --> 00:34:06.604
<i>at the Wells street
second city theater.</i>

762
00:34:08.174 --> 00:34:09.614
<i>He's doing what some call
impossible.</i>

763
00:34:09.641 --> 00:34:11.609
<i>Close runs a workshop
in improvisation.</i>

764
00:34:23.189 --> 00:34:24.723
<i>Del was the one voice</i>

765
00:34:24.789 --> 00:34:26.029
<i>in the wilderness which is like</i>

766
00:34:26.058 --> 00:34:29.095
improv is a performance medium
in its own right.

767
00:34:29.161 --> 00:34:32.131
People will come just to see
comedy improvisation

768
00:34:32.198 --> 00:34:33.765
and it works by itself.

769
00:34:33.832 --> 00:34:36.701
<i>It's not a means to anything
other than the thing.</i>

770
00:34:37.003 --> 00:34:37.902
<i>Although improvisation</i>

771
00:34:37.970 --> 00:34:40.039
<i>has been established as comedy</i>

772
00:34:40.106 --> 00:34:42.540
<i>close has a greater vision
for it.</i>

773
00:34:55.054 --> 00:34:56.697
<i>That was always
the problem with improvisation.</i>

774
00:34:56.721 --> 00:34:57.990
<i>You can't depend on it.</i>

775
00:34:58.057 --> 00:35:00.592
You don't know if it's
going to be entertainment.

776
00:35:00.658 --> 00:35:01.793
It might just be

777
00:35:01.860 --> 00:35:05.064
oh, look at these people
shitting themselves.

778
00:35:05.131 --> 00:35:08.934
That's always
a distinct possibility.

779
00:35:09.201 --> 00:35:12.071
<i>One of del's
fundamental comic exercises</i>

780
00:35:12.138 --> 00:35:14.806
<i>was "what's the worst thing
that could happen?"</i>

781
00:35:15.007 --> 00:35:16.242
Now let's play with it.

782
00:35:16.308 --> 00:35:19.778
What's the impossibility?
Let's make it possible.

783
00:35:20.079 --> 00:35:22.680
<i>And that's what del used to do
in his workshops.</i>

784
00:35:39.999 --> 00:35:42.134
<i>As an actor the Harold workshop</i>

785
00:35:42.201 --> 00:35:43.735
<i>was really</i>

786
00:35:43.802 --> 00:35:45.938
this liberating force.

787
00:35:46.005 --> 00:35:48.840
<i>And you never know
if it's going to tank</i>

788
00:35:48.907 --> 00:35:50.742
<i>or if it's going to work.</i>

789
00:35:50.943 --> 00:35:52.777
<i>That's what makes it so exciting.</i>

790
00:36:00.119 --> 00:36:01.653
<i>I used to sort of
get by on winking</i>

791
00:36:01.719 --> 00:36:04.423
<i>at the audience kind of
in my behavior,</i>

792
00:36:04.490 --> 00:36:05.890
<i>making like smart jokes.</i>

793
00:36:07.493 --> 00:36:08.836
<i>And del pulled me aside one day
after a show, and said,</i>

794
00:36:08.860 --> 00:36:10.072
"some day you're going to
look in the mirror and say,

795
00:36:10.096 --> 00:36:12.897
'I'm so cute,
and I'm only 45 years old.'"

796
00:36:13.232 --> 00:36:15.733
and it sort of sobered me up,
you know?

797
00:36:15.800 --> 00:36:17.279
<i>It taught me that, you know,
that there was more</i>

798
00:36:17.303 --> 00:36:18.670
<i>to just scoring
with the audience.</i>

799
00:36:18.736 --> 00:36:20.973
<i>It wasn't about
just getting a laugh.</i>

800
00:36:28.514 --> 00:36:29.524
<i>It was putting human nature</i>

801
00:36:29.548 --> 00:36:30.983
<i>up onstage to study it.</i>

802
00:36:31.050 --> 00:36:32.690
<i>To see why people do the shit
that they do</i>

803
00:36:34.019 --> 00:36:35.297
to each other, to people
that you love,

804
00:36:35.321 --> 00:36:36.455
to people that you hate.

805
00:36:36.522 --> 00:36:38.190
Like why do we behave
the way that we do

806
00:36:38.257 --> 00:36:39.257
and exploring that.

807
00:36:53.172 --> 00:36:56.708
<i>He came up with the line
"you have a light within you"</i>

808
00:36:56.774 --> 00:36:57.775
"burn it out."

809
00:36:59.345 --> 00:37:00.745
<i>To me it means, go for it</i>

810
00:37:00.812 --> 00:37:05.717
<i>until you get to the meat
of your soul,</i>

811
00:37:05.783 --> 00:37:07.186
and the heart of your comedy,

812
00:37:07.253 --> 00:37:09.787
and if you fall off the stage,

813
00:37:11.823 --> 00:37:12.823
<i>too bad!</i>

814
00:37:20.499 --> 00:37:23.502
<i>But, unfortunately,
not everybody was so</i>

815
00:37:23.569 --> 00:37:26.172
<i>excited about doing
long-form improvisation</i>

816
00:37:26.238 --> 00:37:27.872
at second city.

817
00:37:29.542 --> 00:37:32.178
<i>This was the source of dispute
between del and Bernie sahlins</i>

818
00:37:32.244 --> 00:37:34.280
<i>who was the long time producer
at second city.</i>

819
00:37:34.947 --> 00:37:37.183
<i>They want you to meet
the man who gave this place</i>

820
00:37:37.249 --> 00:37:39.884
its start and who has been
the driving force

821
00:37:40.386 --> 00:37:41.786
behind it all the way.

822
00:37:44.889 --> 00:37:46.009
<i>His name is Bernard sahlins,</i>

823
00:37:47.792 --> 00:37:49.912
<i>and he's owner, producer,
and sometimes director here.</i>

824
00:37:51.363 --> 00:37:53.898
<i>He is truly second city's
first citizen.</i>

825
00:37:54.600 --> 00:37:57.069
<i>Bernie sahlins
was not at all interested</i>

826
00:37:57.136 --> 00:37:58.903
<i>in doing
long-form improvisation.</i>

827
00:37:59.104 --> 00:38:00.104
<i>Uh why?</i>

828
00:38:00.838 --> 00:38:02.078
They had a formula that worked.

829
00:38:03.309 --> 00:38:05.311
<i>Bernie's formula was as follows:</i>

830
00:38:05.377 --> 00:38:06.711
<i>Drunken audience suggestions</i>

831
00:38:06.778 --> 00:38:08.223
any fantasies at all,
whatever you would like to do.

832
00:38:08.247 --> 00:38:08.981
<i>A whipped cream party.</i>

833
00:38:09.048 --> 00:38:11.317
A whipped cream party.

834
00:38:12.884 --> 00:38:13.885
<i>Plus backstage planning</i>

835
00:38:13.953 --> 00:38:14.653
<i>three-mile island,</i>

836
00:38:14.719 --> 00:38:17.022
invasion of normandy,

837
00:38:17.089 --> 00:38:18.691
and Catherine the great,
hubba hubba.

838
00:38:18.756 --> 00:38:20.192
<i>Plus
weeks and weeks of rehearsal</i>

839
00:38:20.259 --> 00:38:21.193
rehearsal. Rehearsal.

840
00:38:21.260 --> 00:38:22.661
Rehearsal.

841
00:38:22.727 --> 00:38:24.129
<i>Until all the mistakes</i>

842
00:38:24.196 --> 00:38:26.966
<i>and failed experiments
were buffed away,</i>

843
00:38:27.032 --> 00:38:29.377
<i>revealing a show that even the
boys from marketing could love.</i>

844
00:38:29.401 --> 00:38:33.038
It was money,
we bring in regular audiences.

845
00:38:33.105 --> 00:38:34.273
What they did was very safe.

846
00:38:35.941 --> 00:38:36.575
<i>Improvisation, especially,
in the early days</i>

847
00:38:36.642 --> 00:38:37.642
<i>was not safe.</i>

848
00:38:42.780 --> 00:38:45.084
<i>I had a fundamental
disagreement about the uses</i>

849
00:38:45.150 --> 00:38:46.552
<i>of improvisation.</i>

850
00:38:46.619 --> 00:38:50.089
There are others, led by del,
that feel that the process

851
00:38:50.155 --> 00:38:52.091
itself had some
mysterious beauty.

852
00:38:52.424 --> 00:38:55.361
<i>I think if you're going to see
improvisers,</i>

853
00:38:55.427 --> 00:38:58.097
<i>often enough, you'll see that
half of their audience</i>

854
00:38:58.163 --> 00:39:00.099
<i>are other improvisers.</i>

855
00:39:00.165 --> 00:39:02.368
Sometimes it's brilliant,
and most of the time,

856
00:39:02.434 --> 00:39:05.371
by my lights,
it's not brilliant.

857
00:39:07.006 --> 00:39:08.149
<i>I remember Bernie allowed del</i>

858
00:39:08.173 --> 00:39:09.508
<i>to run his workshops,</i>

859
00:39:10.943 --> 00:39:13.023
but you're not going to
screw with the stage on that.

860
00:39:14.013 --> 00:39:16.093
<i>The notion of improvisation
as a performance art form</i>

861
00:39:17.016 --> 00:39:18.016
that's preposterous.

862
00:39:19.184 --> 00:39:20.918
<i>The big no.</i>

863
00:39:20.986 --> 00:39:23.989
<i>Ten years later, during
the writing of "wasteland",</i>

864
00:39:24.056 --> 00:39:25.056
<i>it still stung.</i>

865
00:39:26.392 --> 00:39:27.402
<i>So del took his anger
toward all the bosses</i>

866
00:39:27.426 --> 00:39:28.860
<i>who had ever shut him down</i>

867
00:39:28.926 --> 00:39:31.530
<i>turned them into one,
vaguely anti-semitic.</i>

868
00:39:31.597 --> 00:39:34.366
<i>Bernie look-a-like,
and named him lash larue</i>

869
00:39:34.433 --> 00:39:36.935
<i>after a cowboy he worked for
in his teens.</i>

870
00:39:39.371 --> 00:39:41.873
<i>But like all del's creations,</i>

871
00:39:41.940 --> 00:39:43.208
<i>once brought into existence,</i>

872
00:39:45.210 --> 00:39:47.112
<i>they tend not to stay put.</i>

873
00:39:47.513 --> 00:39:50.015
<i>Well, howdy, shithead.</i>

874
00:39:50.349 --> 00:39:51.626
<i>Hear you're having trouble
with your boss.</i>

875
00:39:51.650 --> 00:39:54.320
Lemme guess, he's a moron,
and you're a genius.

876
00:39:57.156 --> 00:39:58.657
He's not a bad guy.

877
00:39:58.724 --> 00:39:59.725
I like him.

878
00:39:59.792 --> 00:40:01.960
He's just, you know,

879
00:40:02.027 --> 00:40:04.196
greedy, and intrusive, and...

880
00:40:04.263 --> 00:40:05.731
It's his candy store.

881
00:40:05.798 --> 00:40:06.999
<i>Lemme ask you something.</i>

882
00:40:07.066 --> 00:40:09.401
And I know I'm just a big ol'
dumb fake cowboy,

883
00:40:09.468 --> 00:40:11.437
<i>but what is your beef
with Bernie?</i>

884
00:40:11.503 --> 00:40:14.173
I thought you guys just wanted
a couple of yuks.

885
00:40:14.239 --> 00:40:15.974
Well, to the general public

886
00:40:16.041 --> 00:40:17.676
it's a trivial little
disagreement.

887
00:40:17.743 --> 00:40:20.245
But to us, it's a great crisis
of artistic vision!

888
00:40:20.312 --> 00:40:23.315
<i>Bernie's conception
of improvisation? Oh boy!</i>

889
00:40:23.382 --> 00:40:25.951
True improvisation
demands your whole mind.

890
00:40:26.251 --> 00:40:27.986
We're not reproducing
human behavior!

891
00:40:28.053 --> 00:40:29.373
We're transforming it
so that it's

892
00:40:29.755 --> 00:40:31.123
meaning appears.

893
00:40:31.190 --> 00:40:32.691
<i>Well, shit, hell's mouse.</i>

894
00:40:32.758 --> 00:40:35.194
<i>Hey Trisha? Can you
get a babysitter?</i>

895
00:40:35.260 --> 00:40:37.696
Del close is putting on
one of his meaning shows.

896
00:40:37.763 --> 00:40:41.200
Uh, here we're going to see
human behavior transformed

897
00:40:41.266 --> 00:40:43.202
hey do we get a free diaper
with this show

898
00:40:43.268 --> 00:40:45.304
from when we shit our pants
cuz of all the meaning?

899
00:40:45.371 --> 00:40:49.274
Do me a favor? Just
pretend this isn't bullshit

900
00:40:52.010 --> 00:40:53.290
busting your chops,
buddy, rough.

901
00:40:53.579 --> 00:40:54.713
To del close.

902
00:40:55.447 --> 00:40:56.881
Worst employee.

903
00:40:56.949 --> 00:40:59.884
All that fancy talk, still can't
put on a show worth a shit.

904
00:41:01.453 --> 00:41:03.422
Goddammit!

905
00:41:05.923 --> 00:41:07.426
Tastes like
a lollipop's butthole.

906
00:41:12.897 --> 00:41:15.367
<i>Bernie always thought
that del was crazy.</i>

907
00:41:15.434 --> 00:41:18.737
To expect people to see shows
where wholly 100%

908
00:41:18.804 --> 00:41:19.705
improvised.

909
00:41:19.772 --> 00:41:21.206
<i>The actors, on the other end,</i>

910
00:41:21.273 --> 00:41:23.976
<i>you know, most of them
loved improvisation,</i>

911
00:41:24.042 --> 00:41:25.411
<i>and doing it in a long-form.</i>

912
00:41:25.477 --> 00:41:27.246
<i>They can see it all paying off.</i>

913
00:41:27.446 --> 00:41:28.814
Sister,
is this really necessary?

914
00:41:28.881 --> 00:41:31.483
I was told, I could just come in
and get some antibiotics.

915
00:41:31.550 --> 00:41:34.386
Oh really, you were just trying
to get some shots and pills?

916
00:41:34.453 --> 00:41:35.920
Oh really?
Well, who told you that?

917
00:41:37.322 --> 00:41:38.390
Just this guy...

918
00:41:38.457 --> 00:41:39.834
Just this guy?
I wanna know what guy.

919
00:41:39.858 --> 00:41:41.469
- You know, just a guy!
- No, I wanna know what guy

920
00:41:41.493 --> 00:41:42.493
told you that!

921
00:41:44.530 --> 00:41:47.132
This guy! He told me!

922
00:41:47.199 --> 00:41:49.368
<i>It's the greatest
job any young actor can have</i>

923
00:41:49.568 --> 00:41:51.346
<i>cause there's no place like that
where you get to improvise.</i>

924
00:41:51.370 --> 00:41:53.572
<i>There's something about that
technique that makes you</i>

925
00:41:53.639 --> 00:41:55.374
<i>really like a sponge.</i>

926
00:41:55.441 --> 00:41:57.561
<i>You really do... you try to
absorb everything you can.</i>

927
00:41:59.111 --> 00:42:00.622
<i>I'd like you to
take a look at this picture</i>

928
00:42:00.646 --> 00:42:01.646
and tell me...

929
00:42:02.448 --> 00:42:05.083
John belushi is a prime example

930
00:42:05.150 --> 00:42:06.150
of del's work.

931
00:42:07.152 --> 00:42:09.421
There was serious danger
on the stage.

932
00:42:10.856 --> 00:42:11.990
But it was hilarious.

933
00:42:12.057 --> 00:42:14.226
This fish comes from one
of the most polluted

934
00:42:14.293 --> 00:42:16.028
streams in the United States.

935
00:42:16.094 --> 00:42:18.130
That fish was actually
killed by pollution?

936
00:42:18.330 --> 00:42:20.466
Well, not directly, Tommy,
see the fish crawled out

937
00:42:20.532 --> 00:42:22.201
of the water and was hit
by a car.

938
00:42:23.869 --> 00:42:27.172
<i>He's a very good example
of the kind of approach</i>

939
00:42:27.239 --> 00:42:28.607
<i>that del would expect.</i>

940
00:42:28.674 --> 00:42:31.210
<i>That quality of walking
the tightrope.</i>

941
00:42:34.279 --> 00:42:35.547
And just when it seemed

942
00:42:35.614 --> 00:42:38.217
the power balance might be
tipping in del's favor

943
00:42:38.283 --> 00:42:41.453
live from New York,
it's Saturday night!

944
00:42:57.536 --> 00:42:59.137
<i>The director can</i>

945
00:43:00.239 --> 00:43:01.239
set the goals,

946
00:43:02.508 --> 00:43:05.477
work with the actors,
and train them to some extent

947
00:43:05.544 --> 00:43:06.544
okay?

948
00:43:07.379 --> 00:43:10.015
But then, when
push comes to shove.

949
00:43:11.216 --> 00:43:12.416
<i>I'm the one who stayed behind.</i>

950
00:43:14.219 --> 00:43:16.339
<i>And we're ready to go on to
make films and television.</i>

951
00:43:17.656 --> 00:43:20.292
<i>Without his most
prized cast members,</i>

952
00:43:20.359 --> 00:43:22.027
<i>uncertainty took hold.</i>

953
00:43:22.661 --> 00:43:24.196
<i>What if the excitement
of the Harold</i>

954
00:43:24.263 --> 00:43:26.265
<i>had been more about
the brilliant talent</i>

955
00:43:26.331 --> 00:43:27.599
<i>than the form itself?</i>

956
00:43:29.101 --> 00:43:31.603
<i>What if the form itself,
god forbid</i>

957
00:43:35.340 --> 00:43:36.575
<i>fucking sucked?</i>

958
00:43:41.747 --> 00:43:43.382
<i>Satchel</i>

959
00:43:44.483 --> 00:43:45.250
<i>damn!</i>

960
00:43:45.317 --> 00:43:46.986
<i>General.</i>

961
00:43:47.052 --> 00:43:48.492
<i>It was a very
frustrating experience.</i>

962
00:43:50.122 --> 00:43:51.842
<i>Those were really years
of struggle for del.</i>

963
00:43:55.360 --> 00:43:57.596
Well, he'd scream at people
or belittle them.

964
00:44:05.671 --> 00:44:07.306
<i>Del would self-destruct,</i>

965
00:44:07.372 --> 00:44:09.308
<i>or od or disappear...</i>

966
00:44:09.374 --> 00:44:10.374
<i>All the time.</i>

967
00:44:11.343 --> 00:44:13.211
I'm sorry, you know, like, uh...

968
00:44:14.379 --> 00:44:15.619
That's... am I ratting him out?

969
00:44:15.681 --> 00:44:17.115
<i>- No!</i>
- Is everyone...

970
00:44:17.182 --> 00:44:17.716
Everyone's ratting him out <i>yes!</i>

971
00:44:17.783 --> 00:44:18.783
Okay, good.

972
00:44:21.186 --> 00:44:22.430
<i>The wheels were
coming off del's rebel act,</i>

973
00:44:22.454 --> 00:44:24.856
<i>and Bernie's Patience
had worn thin.</i>

974
00:44:24.923 --> 00:44:28.427
<i>He needed del, but he no longer
wanted to see, hear,</i>

975
00:44:28.493 --> 00:44:29.661
<i>or smell him.</i>

976
00:44:33.565 --> 00:44:35.567
<i>So he decided to export him.</i>

977
00:44:36.635 --> 00:44:39.204
<i>Canada, the endless surprise.</i>

978
00:44:39.271 --> 00:44:43.508
<i>♪ Magical, we want to see,
come on up ♪</i>

979
00:44:44.743 --> 00:44:45.410
Come on up.

980
00:44:45.477 --> 00:44:47.512
♪ Come on up! ♪

981
00:44:55.253 --> 00:44:57.556
<i>And so, del found
himself banished</i>

982
00:44:57.623 --> 00:45:00.225
<i>to second city's new Canadian
outpost</i>

983
00:45:00.292 --> 00:45:01.627
<i>to direct a group of unknowns.</i>

984
00:45:01.693 --> 00:45:04.196
Okay, this is
the great white north

985
00:45:04.262 --> 00:45:05.564
okay, on the map.

986
00:45:05.631 --> 00:45:08.667
Now here is a different color
cuz it's like u.S.A.

987
00:45:08.734 --> 00:45:11.370
They got like a
pimple right here

988
00:45:11.436 --> 00:45:13.372
- it's Florida.
- It's Florida.

989
00:45:16.775 --> 00:45:18.310
<i>Martin short was in that cast.</i>

990
00:45:18.377 --> 00:45:22.280
<i>Catherine O'Hara, Andrea Martin,
Dave Thomas, John candy.</i>

991
00:45:23.515 --> 00:45:25.384
<i>It was interesting...
The Toronto group</i>

992
00:45:25.450 --> 00:45:26.685
<i>versus second city in Chicago</i>

993
00:45:26.752 --> 00:45:29.221
the behavior issues were
quite different, you know?

994
00:45:29.287 --> 00:45:30.567
Our cast started
having families.

995
00:45:30.622 --> 00:45:32.257
<i>They were settled down.</i>

996
00:45:32.324 --> 00:45:35.160
<i>There wasn't outrageous issues
with drinking or drugs.</i>

997
00:45:35.527 --> 00:45:37.763
<i>And del, he was going through
a lot of stuff,</i>

998
00:45:37.829 --> 00:45:39.297
<i>you know, personally.</i>

999
00:45:39.364 --> 00:45:42.467
<i>I mean, he was well-documented
about his addictions.</i>

1000
00:45:42.534 --> 00:45:44.569
<i>So you never knew
which del was going to show up.</i>

1001
00:45:46.405 --> 00:45:47.815
<i>Had you heard
about del before Toronto?</i>

1002
00:45:47.839 --> 00:45:48.839
Oh yeah!

1003
00:45:48.874 --> 00:45:50.085
He was infamous
before we saw him

1004
00:45:50.109 --> 00:45:52.210
they said, you know,
he's out of his mind.

1005
00:45:52.711 --> 00:45:55.014
<i>He was a delicate basket of eggs</i>

1006
00:45:55.081 --> 00:45:57.516
<i>that were ready to break
at any moment.</i>

1007
00:45:59.217 --> 00:46:01.520
<i>He was definitely going through
his crazy period,</i>

1008
00:46:01.586 --> 00:46:02.586
<i>you know what I mean?</i>

1009
00:46:54.873 --> 00:46:56.541
<i>Del, del! Whoa, whoa!</i>

1010
00:46:56.608 --> 00:46:58.577
<i>Hey! Put that thing down, man!</i>

1011
00:47:02.547 --> 00:47:04.449
Get a hold of yourself, dude!

1012
00:47:05.517 --> 00:47:07.619
Where ya going with this
comic book thing?

1013
00:47:07.686 --> 00:47:08.796
I mean, what happened to those

1014
00:47:08.820 --> 00:47:11.456
secrets of comedy
you were writing, huh?

1015
00:47:11.523 --> 00:47:13.759
Did ya drop them while you
were reaching for your bong?

1016
00:47:14.160 --> 00:47:15.160
Well...

1017
00:47:15.694 --> 00:47:17.796
It became decadent right away...

1018
00:47:23.668 --> 00:47:25.904
You gotta channel your follies
and stupidity

1019
00:47:25.972 --> 00:47:27.439
and use it for comedy.

1020
00:47:29.108 --> 00:47:31.610
<i>A short time ago, the manager
was having trouble</i>

1021
00:47:31.676 --> 00:47:32.911
<i>with the same limousine.</i>

1022
00:47:32.979 --> 00:47:34.080
<i>He had a...</i>

1023
00:47:34.147 --> 00:47:36.615
I have a hard time
being a person too.

1024
00:47:37.482 --> 00:47:38.483
No shit, del!

1025
00:47:39.185 --> 00:47:41.620
No shit...

1026
00:47:46.591 --> 00:47:48.161
<i>So one of the early nights,</i>

1027
00:47:48.227 --> 00:47:51.363
<i>when del had come,
we were doing workshops</i>

1028
00:47:51.429 --> 00:47:52.429
<i>he said,</i>

1029
00:47:53.365 --> 00:47:54.866
and he gets up on stage,
takes over.

1030
00:48:01.207 --> 00:48:02.507
<i>Now this was a story del had</i>

1031
00:48:02.574 --> 00:48:06.411
had already told us that this
was how his father died.

1032
00:48:18.557 --> 00:48:19.758
<i>So...</i>

1033
00:48:19.825 --> 00:48:21.536
Okay, we're going
to do a scene now, Dave, where

1034
00:48:21.560 --> 00:48:25.664
<i>you will play the doctor
that comes and tells me</i>

1035
00:48:25.864 --> 00:48:28.900
<i>that my father died
from drinking sulfuric acid.</i>

1036
00:48:29.734 --> 00:48:31.503
<i>I looked at him, and said,</i>

1037
00:48:31.570 --> 00:48:32.838
I'm not doing that.

1038
00:48:34.706 --> 00:48:36.741
<i>That's not a good joke.</i>

1039
00:48:38.244 --> 00:48:40.745
<i>I think del was always
interested in making</i>

1040
00:48:40.812 --> 00:48:42.347
<i>the audience gasp,</i>

1041
00:48:42.414 --> 00:48:44.449
<i>and that would be equivalent
to a laugh.</i>

1042
00:48:44.649 --> 00:48:45.917
Which I never believed.

1043
00:48:46.751 --> 00:48:48.353
<i>They wanted to laugh.</i>

1044
00:48:48.420 --> 00:48:49.597
<i>You have a responsibility
to that audience.</i>

1045
00:48:49.621 --> 00:48:52.624
And without them,
you got nothing, you know?

1046
00:48:52.824 --> 00:48:55.493
You're a... you're a madman
on a street corner,

1047
00:48:55.760 --> 00:48:58.496
you know, raving at passers-by.

1048
00:48:58.763 --> 00:49:01.366
<i>And he was a madman,
there's no denying that.</i>

1049
00:49:12.577 --> 00:49:13.577
It got worse.

1050
00:49:17.016 --> 00:49:19.551
<i>Iconic actor,
John belushi, died today</i>

1051
00:49:19.618 --> 00:49:22.487
<i>at the rented hotel bungalow
in Hollywood Hills.</i>

1052
00:49:22.554 --> 00:49:23.966
<i>Authorities say that
cause of death is believed</i>

1053
00:49:23.990 --> 00:49:25.790
<i>to have been a heart attack.</i>

1054
00:49:25.857 --> 00:49:28.827
<i>Fire department medics say
they were called to the hotel</i>

1055
00:49:29.028 --> 00:49:30.762
<i>where they found belushi
unconscious...</i>

1056
00:49:40.672 --> 00:49:43.708
<i>One evening, we heard
del's booming voice</i>

1057
00:49:43.909 --> 00:49:45.710
and he had a real booming voice,

1058
00:49:45.777 --> 00:49:48.480
<i>screaming,
in the little alleyway</i>

1059
00:49:48.546 --> 00:49:50.283
<i>behind the theater.</i>

1060
00:49:50.349 --> 00:49:51.883
<i>It was probably
ten degrees above zero.</i>

1061
00:49:51.951 --> 00:49:55.553
<i>He walks in his stocking feet,
all the way down Jarvis street.</i>

1062
00:49:55.620 --> 00:49:56.755
And he came backstage

1063
00:49:56.821 --> 00:49:59.457
by this time, we see Andrew
backing up.

1064
00:50:00.326 --> 00:50:02.962
And del moving at him,
trying to punch him.

1065
00:50:03.162 --> 00:50:05.630
And he started
throwing punches at me,

1066
00:50:05.965 --> 00:50:08.433
and then John candy
got inbetween us.

1067
00:50:10.602 --> 00:50:11.404
<i>And he's so big
that del can't reach over him</i>

1068
00:50:11.469 --> 00:50:13.973
<i>punching Andrew,</i>

1069
00:50:14.040 --> 00:50:15.520
<i>and Marty gets up
'cause he hated del,</i>

1070
00:50:15.573 --> 00:50:16.375
<i>and sanctimoniously
closes the door</i>

1071
00:50:16.441 --> 00:50:18.443
<i>like we don't need to see this.</i>

1072
00:50:20.246 --> 00:50:21.957
<i>Del was screaming about how
Andrew had betrayed him.</i>

1073
00:50:21.981 --> 00:50:23.015
"You demon!"

1074
00:50:23.082 --> 00:50:24.649
"You Judas!"

1075
00:50:24.716 --> 00:50:25.994
And then there was
a bit of a pause,

1076
00:50:26.018 --> 00:50:27.018
"you cheeser!"

1077
00:50:27.886 --> 00:50:29.788
He yelled out, "you cheeser!"

1078
00:50:29.854 --> 00:50:31.157
He ran out of ammo

1079
00:50:31.223 --> 00:50:34.060
at sort of the demonic level
of things to describe

1080
00:50:34.126 --> 00:50:35.660
Andrew as, and

1081
00:50:35.860 --> 00:50:37.595
tripled out with "cheeser".

1082
00:50:37.662 --> 00:50:38.998
So that's our show for today.

1083
00:50:39.764 --> 00:50:40.832
So good day.

1084
00:50:42.467 --> 00:50:44.146
<i>To me, it was just like,
he's fucking nuts.</i>

1085
00:50:44.170 --> 00:50:46.638
<i>We gotta get him on a plane
as fast as we can,</i>

1086
00:50:48.140 --> 00:50:49.684
<i>so that he's no longer
our responsibility.</i>

1087
00:50:49.708 --> 00:50:52.544
<i>Bernie and Joyce Sloan
met him at the airport,</i>

1088
00:50:52.610 --> 00:50:53.980
took him straight to

1089
00:50:54.879 --> 00:50:57.582
some psychiatric ward,
and he was

1090
00:50:57.782 --> 00:50:59.584
an inpatient there for awhile.

1091
00:51:26.878 --> 00:51:28.981
<i>He checked himself
into cook county</i>

1092
00:51:29.048 --> 00:51:30.349
<i>a psychiatric wing.</i>

1093
00:51:33.685 --> 00:51:35.563
<i>You know, he was sort of still
being very active,</i>

1094
00:51:35.587 --> 00:51:38.857
<i>as if he was still directing
the show from the psych ward.</i>

1095
00:51:39.091 --> 00:51:41.793
<i>And he would call in,
and he'd throw out ideas.</i>

1096
00:51:41.860 --> 00:51:43.728
<i>With the hope that he was going
to come back</i>

1097
00:51:43.795 --> 00:51:46.132
and finish the show off,
which he didn't.

1098
00:51:48.067 --> 00:51:50.869
<i>Bernie kept del
around for the next few years</i>

1099
00:51:51.070 --> 00:51:53.738
<i>but his addictions and combative
nature eventually</i>

1100
00:51:53.805 --> 00:51:55.540
<i>got him fired for good.</i>

1101
00:51:57.143 --> 00:51:58.810
<i>So without a stage,
or coherent creator,</i>

1102
00:51:58.877 --> 00:52:01.147
<i>the art form called "Harold"
reached a dead end.</i>

1103
00:52:25.104 --> 00:52:26.704
<i>People like to talk
about the beauty</i>

1104
00:52:26.771 --> 00:52:28.340
<i>of the creative process.</i>

1105
00:52:28.407 --> 00:52:30.842
<i>They compare it to
the depths of the ocean,</i>

1106
00:52:31.043 --> 00:52:32.844
<i>or a gently flowing river.</i>

1107
00:52:35.548 --> 00:52:37.049
<i>But if you really
need a metaphor</i>

1108
00:52:37.116 --> 00:52:38.636
<i>here's the one del
kept coming back to:</i>

1109
00:52:41.253 --> 00:52:42.253
<i>It's a sewer.</i>

1110
00:52:46.724 --> 00:52:48.127
<i>The thing about horror stories</i>

1111
00:52:48.194 --> 00:52:51.997
<i>they usually take you into
a dark place,</i>

1112
00:52:52.730 --> 00:52:54.699
<i>and then they would take you
back out again.</i>

1113
00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:56.035
We didn't do that.

1114
00:52:57.303 --> 00:52:59.604
We'd take you to a dark place,
and then say bye,

1115
00:52:59.804 --> 00:53:00.872
<i>and leave you there.</i>

1116
00:53:03.875 --> 00:53:05.195
<i>We wouldn't tell you
how something</i>

1117
00:53:06.678 --> 00:53:08.078
<i>ended somtimes.
We wouldn't tell you</i>

1118
00:53:08.414 --> 00:53:09.414
how to feel about it.

1119
00:53:10.715 --> 00:53:11.850
<i>And so...</i>

1120
00:53:13.352 --> 00:53:15.032
<i>Most of our readership
didn't quite get it.</i>

1121
00:53:17.156 --> 00:53:19.158
<i>Oh, this is the one,
this letter.</i>

1122
00:53:19.858 --> 00:53:20.960
Dear Mr. Close,

1123
00:53:21.026 --> 00:53:22.228
what is the point?

1124
00:53:22.294 --> 00:53:24.230
Am I interested in what
del close puts down

1125
00:53:24.296 --> 00:53:25.663
his underwear?

1126
00:53:25.730 --> 00:53:27.170
<i>To be honest,
I couldn't give a toss.</i>

1127
00:53:27.199 --> 00:53:31.103
You are a boring old hippie,
and I claim my five pounds.

1128
00:53:33.005 --> 00:53:34.249
He didn't say anything about me.

1129
00:53:34.273 --> 00:53:36.808
Exposes a middle-age neurotic
with no ideas.

1130
00:53:38.611 --> 00:53:40.745
<i>Trying to reinvent everything</i>

1131
00:53:40.812 --> 00:53:41.812
<i>every eight pages,</i>

1132
00:53:42.982 --> 00:53:44.542
every twelve issues
gets a little tough.

1133
00:53:45.451 --> 00:53:46.794
<i>At that point,
it was a question of</i>

1134
00:53:46.818 --> 00:53:48.187
<i>do we keep on
writing the stories?</i>

1135
00:53:49.588 --> 00:53:50.722
<i>The question is this...</i>

1136
00:53:50.788 --> 00:53:52.508
How do we achieve the goals
we have in mind?

1137
00:53:53.058 --> 00:53:55.927
<i>Huh? I have to toss a few coins,</i>

1138
00:53:56.195 --> 00:53:58.964
and write a bunch of lines
on a blackboard.

1139
00:53:59.031 --> 00:54:00.065
<i>Okay, I, uh,</i>

1140
00:54:00.132 --> 00:54:01.866
I think I'm going to
excuse myself

1141
00:54:01.934 --> 00:54:03.768
hold that.

1142
00:54:12.677 --> 00:54:14.313
<i>What is it?</i>

1143
00:54:14.380 --> 00:54:15.557
<i>This hexagram
looks like a breakthrough.</i>

1144
00:54:15.581 --> 00:54:17.782
As a swollen river
breaks through its dykes,

1145
00:54:17.849 --> 00:54:20.252
this refers to a time when
inferior people

1146
00:54:20.885 --> 00:54:22.521
will gradually
begin to disappear.

1147
00:54:22.588 --> 00:54:23.422
Oh.

1148
00:54:23.489 --> 00:54:24.649
Your influence is on the way.

1149
00:54:26.091 --> 00:54:29.061
Won't be easy.

1150
00:54:29.128 --> 00:54:30.895
I think we're
on the right track.

1151
00:54:36.402 --> 00:54:37.869
<i>One thing about del was</i>

1152
00:54:37.937 --> 00:54:41.873
<i>he found rock bottom an oldly
inspiring place to be.</i>

1153
00:54:43.042 --> 00:54:44.210
<i>And he wasn't alone.</i>

1154
00:54:45.910 --> 00:54:47.779
<i>They'd been doing
comedy at college,</i>

1155
00:54:49.248 --> 00:54:50.528
<i>on the radio
and some live shows.</i>

1156
00:54:51.250 --> 00:54:52.961
And I thought, maybe,
I can do this for a living.

1157
00:54:52.985 --> 00:54:55.853
<i>The only place I knew where
people were doing it</i>

1158
00:54:55.920 --> 00:54:57.456
<i>was second city, and I thought,</i>

1159
00:54:57.523 --> 00:54:58.934
<i>I would go, just see
what happens there,</i>

1160
00:54:58.958 --> 00:55:01.926
<i>under the guise of doing
a news report</i>

1161
00:55:01.994 --> 00:55:04.029
<i>for my college radio station.</i>

1162
00:55:05.698 --> 00:55:08.000
<i>I called and got an interview
with Joyce Sloane,</i>

1163
00:55:08.067 --> 00:55:10.135
<i>the denmother of second city.</i>

1164
00:55:10.336 --> 00:55:13.339
She told me a lot of, sort of,
magical, legend stories

1165
00:55:13.405 --> 00:55:16.141
about the actors who
had been on the stage there.

1166
00:55:16.408 --> 00:55:19.178
<i>John belushi, he came
to our door and he knocked,</i>

1167
00:55:19.245 --> 00:55:21.313
<i>and he said, "I want to get
on that stage", and we</i>

1168
00:55:21.879 --> 00:55:24.749
looked at him, and said,
"you get up there, mister!"

1169
00:55:25.284 --> 00:55:28.786
<i>I think Joyce wanted to tell me
the legend, you know?</i>

1170
00:55:29.121 --> 00:55:30.922
<i>But I think, what
she didn't realize</i>

1171
00:55:30.990 --> 00:55:32.924
<i>was what I wanted to hear was,</i>

1172
00:55:32.992 --> 00:55:33.993
you know,

1173
00:55:34.059 --> 00:55:35.594
"they sucked
when we first saw them",

1174
00:55:35.661 --> 00:55:38.397
"they were terrible", and then,
"they worked really really hard

1175
00:55:38.464 --> 00:55:39.464
for a long time,

1176
00:55:40.232 --> 00:55:41.392
and they slowly got better...

1177
00:55:43.135 --> 00:55:44.655
You know? That's what I wanted
to hear.

1178
00:55:45.938 --> 00:55:48.040
<i>And I walked out thinking,
I can't do this</i>

1179
00:55:48.107 --> 00:55:50.309
<i>'cause I'm just not that great.</i>

1180
00:55:58.684 --> 00:56:00.462
<i>I walked down the street
to Barbara's bookstore,</i>

1181
00:56:00.486 --> 00:56:02.154
<i>and this guy walks in,</i>

1182
00:56:02.221 --> 00:56:04.856
and he's talking to the girl
at the, um,

1183
00:56:05.057 --> 00:56:07.026
desk, and she's calling him del.

1184
00:56:07.326 --> 00:56:08.836
<i>I didn't know
what del close looked like,</i>

1185
00:56:08.860 --> 00:56:12.864
<i>but I'd seen his name
in the program of second city.</i>

1186
00:56:13.432 --> 00:56:14.600
I walk over, I go,

1187
00:56:14.667 --> 00:56:17.069
"are you del close?",
and he goes, "yeah."

1188
00:56:17.136 --> 00:56:19.804
And I go, "well, I just
interviewed Joyce Sloan,

1189
00:56:20.072 --> 00:56:24.176
I'm here, can I interview you
about second city and stuff?"

1190
00:56:24.443 --> 00:56:26.911
And he said, "that's great!
I'd love to."

1191
00:56:27.313 --> 00:56:29.881
<i>And he explained that he had
just quit second city</i>

1192
00:56:29.948 --> 00:56:31.116
<i>the day before,</i>

1193
00:56:32.884 --> 00:56:33.686
<i>and he had just quit cocaine,
I think, a few weeks before,</i>

1194
00:56:33.752 --> 00:56:37.222
<i>and he's changing his life now,</i>

1195
00:56:37.423 --> 00:56:40.025
<i>and he would love
to talk about that.</i>

1196
00:56:40.459 --> 00:56:42.127
<i>One, two, test, test.</i>

1197
00:56:42.361 --> 00:56:43.861
<i>Okay, um, Bob odenkirk here.</i>

1198
00:56:45.964 --> 00:56:47.666
<i>Got some really
important questions here.</i>

1199
00:56:47.733 --> 00:56:50.369
<i>So we walk over
to his little apartment</i>

1200
00:56:50.436 --> 00:56:51.980
<i>across from second city,
and at the time,</i>

1201
00:56:52.004 --> 00:56:53.972
<i>they had a window
that was busted out.</i>

1202
00:57:02.081 --> 00:57:03.949
And this is February,
in Chicago.

1203
00:57:04.149 --> 00:57:06.952
So, the fucking, freezing

1204
00:57:07.152 --> 00:57:11.123
cold wind blowing
in that little... that window

1205
00:57:11.190 --> 00:57:12.857
the whole time
we're sitting there.

1206
00:57:19.965 --> 00:57:22.000
<i>He had stopped hard drugs.</i>

1207
00:57:22.067 --> 00:57:23.868
He had stopped coke and heroine.

1208
00:57:24.536 --> 00:57:28.340
<i>He went to this coven,
this witch gathering.</i>

1209
00:57:29.174 --> 00:57:30.875
'Cause he was a witch, you know?

1210
00:57:32.778 --> 00:57:35.059
<i>And he did a ceremony to get
rid of his cocaine addiction,</i>

1211
00:57:35.547 --> 00:57:36.881
which he said worked.

1212
00:57:38.550 --> 00:57:40.870
<i>I mean, I don't know that stuff,
I'm a kid from naperville.</i>

1213
00:57:41.520 --> 00:57:44.523
But if he says he quite coke,
and he did it by going to

1214
00:57:44.590 --> 00:57:46.091
a witch ceremony

1215
00:57:46.158 --> 00:57:47.892
<i>then I believe him.</i>

1216
00:57:55.134 --> 00:57:57.102
<i>The crazy thing is that</i>

1217
00:57:57.169 --> 00:57:59.037
<i>I walked out of del's place</i>

1218
00:58:00.038 --> 00:58:04.243
so excited about doing comedy

1219
00:58:04.309 --> 00:58:07.279
and being in show business.

1220
00:58:08.180 --> 00:58:11.083
<i>And it was not through
any overt effort</i>

1221
00:58:11.150 --> 00:58:12.818
though, I promise you.

1222
00:58:12.885 --> 00:58:14.529
<i>He didn't sit around and go,
you should do this!</i>

1223
00:58:14.553 --> 00:58:17.022
<i>I mean, he was just talking
about his life.</i>

1224
00:58:18.791 --> 00:58:20.502
<i>Talking about all these
things he was dealing with</i>

1225
00:58:20.526 --> 00:58:23.295
<i>personally and professionally,
and it made it seem real.</i>

1226
00:58:23.362 --> 00:58:27.065
<i>It made it seem possible,
and it made it seem amazing.</i>

1227
00:58:27.132 --> 00:58:32.004
<i>But also I wouldn't put it
past myself for thinking,</i>

1228
00:58:32.070 --> 00:58:34.339
if he can do all he did

1229
00:58:34.540 --> 00:58:38.076
and still have his brain intact,

1230
00:58:38.610 --> 00:58:42.548
imagine what I could do if I'm
not doing cocaine or heroin.

1231
00:58:43.582 --> 00:58:47.052
You know, I might even
have some money left over

1232
00:58:47.119 --> 00:58:48.320
to fix the window.

1233
00:58:50.322 --> 00:58:51.523
<i>Well, I'll end this for you.</i>

1234
00:58:51.590 --> 00:58:54.126
<i>No, no, no I wanna...</i>

1235
00:58:55.494 --> 00:58:58.297
<i>Window or no window,
del was ready to get back</i>

1236
00:58:58.363 --> 00:58:59.531
<i>to work on the "Harold".</i>

1237
00:59:00.265 --> 00:59:02.301
<i>But where to begin?</i>

1238
00:59:03.235 --> 00:59:04.235
Hello!

1239
00:59:05.404 --> 00:59:06.672
<i>I was an improviser</i>

1240
00:59:06.738 --> 00:59:09.308
<i>that was desperate
to learn more.</i>

1241
00:59:09.541 --> 00:59:12.244
I was bored. I felt like it
was the same old jokes.

1242
00:59:12.311 --> 00:59:13.345
The same old tricks.

1243
00:59:14.813 --> 00:59:17.382
And so I sought out del, because
I wanted to see if there was

1244
00:59:17.449 --> 00:59:18.729
something I could steal
from him.

1245
00:59:21.119 --> 00:59:24.056
<i>My first meeting with del
was a disaster.</i>

1246
00:59:24.456 --> 00:59:27.125
<i>It was Halloween. I saw him
at an art gallery,</i>

1247
00:59:27.192 --> 00:59:29.261
<i>and I went with the plan
that I would talk to him</i>

1248
00:59:29.328 --> 00:59:30.872
<i>and see if I could get
him to teach a class.</i>

1249
00:59:30.896 --> 00:59:32.631
And he was wearing
these witches' robes,

1250
00:59:32.698 --> 00:59:36.235
and he was invoking demons,
and doing this very scary

1251
00:59:36.301 --> 00:59:37.836
invocation of gods.

1252
00:59:39.404 --> 00:59:41.044
<i>And I went up to him
afterwards, and said,</i>

1253
00:59:41.073 --> 00:59:43.475
<i>"you have a lot of nerve
for invoking demons</i>

1254
00:59:43.542 --> 00:59:45.344
<i>with all these people
in the room."</i>

1255
00:59:45.410 --> 00:59:47.422
<i>And he said, "I protected the
building", and I was like,</i>

1256
00:59:47.446 --> 00:59:51.149
and I just walked out in a huff,
and then I was like "oh god."

1257
00:59:51.350 --> 00:59:54.419
There was your meeting with
del close and look what you did

1258
00:59:54.653 --> 00:59:58.590
<i>then a couple weeks later there
was del, sitting in the theater.</i>

1259
00:59:59.358 --> 01:00:00.960
<i>And I thought, well,
I had heard rumors</i>

1260
01:00:01.026 --> 01:00:01.827
<i>that he was always high,
and that he doesn't</i>

1261
01:00:01.894 --> 01:00:03.428
<i>remember people.</i>

1262
01:00:05.030 --> 01:00:06.441
<i>I figured, he's not going to
remember me.</i>

1263
01:00:06.465 --> 01:00:08.176
So I said, "hey, how'd you like
to make two hundred bucks

1264
01:00:08.200 --> 01:00:09.200
in pot?"

1265
01:00:10.369 --> 01:00:12.037
And he was like, "hm,
what do I gotta do?"

1266
01:00:13.338 --> 01:00:15.173
And I said, "just teach one
three hour class",

1267
01:00:15.240 --> 01:00:16.240
and he was like,

1268
01:00:16.842 --> 01:00:18.143
"can I do anything I want?"

1269
01:00:18.210 --> 01:00:21.213
And I said, "yeah," and he said,
"can I invoke demons?"

1270
01:00:22.915 --> 01:00:24.692
<i>So he taught a class,
and he revealed the secrets</i>

1271
01:00:24.716 --> 01:00:26.485
<i>of the universe to us.</i>

1272
01:00:26.552 --> 01:00:28.029
<i>And we talked, and I said,
"I just feel like there's</i>

1273
01:00:28.053 --> 01:00:30.222
<i>something more for
improvisation."</i>

1274
01:00:30.289 --> 01:00:31.289
<i>And he said, "well,</i>

1275
01:00:32.257 --> 01:00:33.668
perhaps you're not a twit
after all."

1276
01:00:33.692 --> 01:00:34.970
And then he told me, he had
been working on this thing

1277
01:00:34.994 --> 01:00:37.162
since the 60s when he was
directing the committee

1278
01:00:37.229 --> 01:00:38.497
called Harold.

1279
01:00:38.564 --> 01:00:39.909
Which was basically unteachable
and unplayable,

1280
01:00:39.933 --> 01:00:42.634
but if I would like to shut down
my little game theater

1281
01:00:42.701 --> 01:00:44.636
perhaps we could find a way
to make it work

1282
01:00:44.836 --> 01:00:47.472
and change the face
of improvisational comedy,

1283
01:00:47.539 --> 01:00:48.907
and I said, "yes please!"

1284
01:00:58.750 --> 01:01:00.152
<i>Here's the funny thing
about del.</i>

1285
01:01:00.218 --> 01:01:04.423
I mean, he was like this legend,
he was definitely brilliant.

1286
01:01:05.691 --> 01:01:08.627
<i>But he could also be a little
bit of a baby sometimes.</i>

1287
01:01:08.694 --> 01:01:11.697
<i>And after the end of his run
at second city,</i>

1288
01:01:11.763 --> 01:01:14.433
there was still a serious
argument going on

1289
01:01:14.499 --> 01:01:17.669
about... is improv
even a performance

1290
01:01:17.736 --> 01:01:18.736
uh, form?

1291
01:01:20.272 --> 01:01:22.112
<i>It wasn't a polished,
regular second city show.</i>

1292
01:01:22.507 --> 01:01:24.309
It was a road to nowhere.

1293
01:01:24.810 --> 01:01:27.512
The only thing you could get
out of improv at that time

1294
01:01:27.579 --> 01:01:30.115
was to get better
at doing improv.

1295
01:01:31.017 --> 01:01:32.517
<i>I think he worried
that he was wrong,</i>

1296
01:01:32.584 --> 01:01:37.222
<i>and maybe a big group of people
onstage just making stuff up</i>

1297
01:01:37.656 --> 01:01:39.725
<i>really is a trainwreck.</i>

1298
01:01:40.659 --> 01:01:44.196
<i>Like, the thing is that
second city worked for awhile.</i>

1299
01:01:44.396 --> 01:01:45.664
<i>Was it an accident, you know?</i>

1300
01:01:46.431 --> 01:01:47.599
<i>Did it just happen?</i>

1301
01:01:49.167 --> 01:01:51.737
<i>It's easy to question
the validity of your art form.</i>

1302
01:01:51.803 --> 01:01:54.573
<i>If it only works when
bill Murray and gilda radner</i>

1303
01:01:54.640 --> 01:01:55.640
<i>do it.</i>

1304
01:01:56.943 --> 01:01:58.586
<i>Charna saw that the real proof
of the Harold would be</i>

1305
01:01:58.610 --> 01:01:59.610
<i>if it was teachable.</i>

1306
01:02:00.612 --> 01:02:02.081
<i>We thought, okay,</i>

1307
01:02:02.147 --> 01:02:03.049
<i>we really have to find a way
to train anyone</i>

1308
01:02:03.116 --> 01:02:04.416
<i>that comes through the doors.</i>

1309
01:02:06.052 --> 01:02:08.292
<i>You know, I said to him,
"I'm asking you to just listen,</i>"

1310
01:02:08.453 --> 01:02:10.489
<i>and collaborate,
and work together,</i>

1311
01:02:10.555 --> 01:02:11.857
<i>and I'm going to take you idea,</i>

1312
01:02:11.923 --> 01:02:13.525
<i>"and I'm gonna
make it brilliant."</i>

1313
01:02:14.493 --> 01:02:15.761
<i>He just trusted me, and</i>

1314
01:02:16.495 --> 01:02:17.729
opened up and let it in.

1315
01:02:22.601 --> 01:02:24.703
<i>Charna really believed in del,</i>

1316
01:02:25.570 --> 01:02:28.173
<i>but she saw that you need a form</i>

1317
01:02:28.540 --> 01:02:32.577
for groups of people to use
as a guide rail onstage,

1318
01:02:32.844 --> 01:02:35.514
so it doesn't turn
into a giant mess.

1319
01:02:37.649 --> 01:02:39.317
<i>And that was when it hooked.</i>

1320
01:02:41.020 --> 01:02:43.388
<i>That was when they cracked
this form called</i>

1321
01:02:43.455 --> 01:02:44.623
<i>"the teaching Harold".</i>

1322
01:02:44.690 --> 01:02:46.101
Yeah, you could probably
use graphics if you need,

1323
01:02:46.125 --> 01:02:46.725
<i>- we are going to...</i>
- You could show... yeah, yeah,

1324
01:02:46.792 --> 01:02:47.792
perfect!

1325
01:02:50.295 --> 01:02:52.597
<i>All of this starts
with a one-word suggestion.</i>

1326
01:02:52.664 --> 01:02:54.633
Okay, we need a theme

1327
01:02:54.700 --> 01:02:56.601
<i>something meaty
we can tear apart.</i>

1328
01:02:58.270 --> 01:02:58.870
<i>We get one
suggestion from the audience</i>

1329
01:02:58.938 --> 01:02:59.504
<i>like</i>

1330
01:02:59.571 --> 01:03:01.707
god or cardboard.

1331
01:03:03.408 --> 01:03:04.920
<i>We're not going to do a full,
long improvisation about</i>

1332
01:03:04.944 --> 01:03:05.777
<i>god or cardboard; We're going
to use this suggestion</i>

1333
01:03:05.844 --> 01:03:08.246
<i>to be inspired by.</i>

1334
01:03:08.313 --> 01:03:09.781
<i>You sort of toss around ideas</i>

1335
01:03:09.848 --> 01:03:13.418
whether it's in monologue, or
word association, or whatever.

1336
01:03:13.485 --> 01:03:16.288
And now those were our blocks
from which we could build.

1337
01:03:16.488 --> 01:03:19.058
<i>That is going to give
information for the first scene</i>

1338
01:03:19.125 --> 01:03:20.292
<i>that you go into.</i>

1339
01:03:20.358 --> 01:03:21.937
Then you'd break off
and do two-person scenes.

1340
01:03:21.961 --> 01:03:22.761
<i>Scene one, scene two,
scene three.</i>

1341
01:03:22.828 --> 01:03:25.297
<i>Then what you do is you</i>

1342
01:03:25.363 --> 01:03:27.265
bring each of these scenes back.

1343
01:03:27.499 --> 01:03:29.068
<i>And the scenes can progress.</i>

1344
01:03:29.135 --> 01:03:31.403
<i>Same characters, different time.</i>

1345
01:03:31.470 --> 01:03:32.904
In the past or in the future.

1346
01:03:32.972 --> 01:03:34.412
<i>And the next step of the
three scenes</i>

1347
01:03:34.473 --> 01:03:36.908
<i>that we invented
first time around.</i>

1348
01:03:36.976 --> 01:03:37.843
<i>And then you have a third beat,</i>

1349
01:03:37.909 --> 01:03:39.411
<i>third set of scenes.</i>

1350
01:03:39.478 --> 01:03:41.913
<i>And it all harkens
back to the original suggestion</i>

1351
01:03:41.981 --> 01:03:43.448
<i>and by this time, the scenes</i>

1352
01:03:43.515 --> 01:03:45.393
are beginning to interrelate,
to be affected by each other,

1353
01:03:45.417 --> 01:03:46.685
to mirror each other, to rhyme

1354
01:03:48.087 --> 01:03:49.263
with each other in some sort
of mad, conceptual way.

1355
01:03:49.287 --> 01:03:51.690
And the goal was not to tie
it up all neatly

1356
01:03:51.757 --> 01:03:54.326
but just to see how
some of these things

1357
01:03:54.392 --> 01:03:56.528
<i>all along had been related.</i>

1358
01:03:56.762 --> 01:03:58.563
<i>You see amazing moments
of discovery,</i>

1359
01:03:58.630 --> 01:04:01.433
<i>moments of connection where
the group brain really does</i>

1360
01:04:01.500 --> 01:04:02.534
<i>start functioning.</i>

1361
01:04:04.203 --> 01:04:05.071
<i>Yeah, you're looking
for discoveries.</i>

1362
01:04:05.138 --> 01:04:06.471
That's the juice of the Harold.

1363
01:04:06.538 --> 01:04:10.475
And that's why our audience
is so much on our side.

1364
01:04:10.542 --> 01:04:11.743
The audience is with you.

1365
01:04:11.810 --> 01:04:13.188
They're seeing that you don't
have a script.

1366
01:04:13.212 --> 01:04:16.381
They're seeing that you're
looking for the discovery,

1367
01:04:16.448 --> 01:04:17.649
so when you find it,

1368
01:04:17.849 --> 01:04:19.618
and it's really good,
they cheer.

1369
01:04:22.387 --> 01:04:23.722
<i>There was a distinction made</i>

1370
01:04:23.789 --> 01:04:25.829
at the very beginning:
We're not looking for laughs.

1371
01:04:27.260 --> 01:04:28.620
<i>We're looking for cheers
and roars.</i>

1372
01:04:29.828 --> 01:04:31.630
<i>With the teaching Harold
suddenly the</i>

1373
01:04:31.696 --> 01:04:34.733
idealistic dream
became a reality.

1374
01:04:36.902 --> 01:04:39.604
<i>And finally, almost twenty years</i>

1375
01:04:39.671 --> 01:04:41.439
<i>after del first glimpsed it,</i>

1376
01:04:41.673 --> 01:04:43.675
<i>Harold actually worked.</i>

1377
01:05:13.306 --> 01:05:15.707
Wowee, Harriet, wowee!

1378
01:05:15.774 --> 01:05:17.876
I'm the happiest
fellow on campus!

1379
01:05:18.610 --> 01:05:20.579
♪ Howie ♪

1380
01:05:20.645 --> 01:05:22.114
I loved him.
He was just the best.

1381
01:05:22.181 --> 01:05:24.349
<i>He was always doing
something cute.</i>

1382
01:05:24.649 --> 01:05:25.717
<i>He was in "the blob".</i>

1383
01:05:25.784 --> 01:05:27.119
When we were
at the movie theater,

1384
01:05:27.186 --> 01:05:28.496
I guess the director had given
him some of the tentacles

1385
01:05:28.520 --> 01:05:30.655
from the movie when it was done
being shooting,

1386
01:05:30.722 --> 01:05:31.722
and he never told me.

1387
01:05:33.059 --> 01:05:34.826
<i>There was this one scene
where she was</i>

1388
01:05:34.893 --> 01:05:35.794
<i>climbing down the man hole,
and the blob reaches down</i>

1389
01:05:35.861 --> 01:05:37.021
<i>and starts touching her head.</i>

1390
01:05:38.430 --> 01:05:39.640
<i>As it's happening,
he slowly starts</i>

1391
01:05:39.664 --> 01:05:41.076
sliding the tentacles
down my face, and I

1392
01:05:41.100 --> 01:05:44.971
scream so loud, you know,
and I'm seeing the tentacles

1393
01:05:45.503 --> 01:05:47.539
um, so, oh he was so romantic.

1394
01:05:48.707 --> 01:05:50.408
♪ And when we dance ♪

1395
01:05:51.810 --> 01:05:53.645
<i>We knew that
we couldn't be lovers</i>

1396
01:05:53.712 --> 01:05:56.481
<i>because he felt that I would be
grossed out</i>

1397
01:05:56.815 --> 01:05:57.916
or he would kill me,

1398
01:05:59.318 --> 01:06:01.620
one or the other, so we decided
just to be family.

1399
01:06:01.686 --> 01:06:03.956
♪ We'll do the sock hop ♪

1400
01:06:04.023 --> 01:06:05.958
<i>And that's when the
art form spread</i>

1401
01:06:06.025 --> 01:06:07.226
like wildfire.

1402
01:06:11.931 --> 01:06:14.633
Charna was his anchor,
was his rock, you know,

1403
01:06:14.699 --> 01:06:16.401
she permitted him to

1404
01:06:17.970 --> 01:06:20.370
to live, and made sure he could
live the life that he wanted.

1405
01:06:21.274 --> 01:06:23.474
<i>She convinced him to go back
to the first rule of improv</i>

1406
01:06:23.608 --> 01:06:24.709
<i>and say yes.</i>

1407
01:06:25.945 --> 01:06:27.705
You know, open your eyes,
and open your mind.

1408
01:06:29.181 --> 01:06:30.491
<i>I think that's what
happened to him.</i>

1409
01:06:30.515 --> 01:06:31.750
Hm?

1410
01:06:38.690 --> 01:06:39.824
What the heck is this?

1411
01:06:39.891 --> 01:06:42.761
- You made me a voodoo priestess?
- Uh...

1412
01:06:42.827 --> 01:06:44.997
How did you not think
I wasn't find out about this?

1413
01:06:45.064 --> 01:06:47.967
<i>I mean, I'm the grand summoner
of your coven, del.</i>

1414
01:06:48.633 --> 01:06:50.669
<i>- I know shit.
- Blessed be.</i>

1415
01:06:50.735 --> 01:06:52.671
You know, not only is this
offensive to me

1416
01:06:52.737 --> 01:06:56.275
as a druid, it's definitely
a little racist.

1417
01:06:56.342 --> 01:06:57.542
Well, it's an archetype.

1418
01:06:57.609 --> 01:06:58.609
It's lazy.

1419
01:07:00.179 --> 01:07:01.113
<i>You know what?
You might be right.</i>

1420
01:07:01.180 --> 01:07:01.846
<i>I won't argue with you.</i>

1421
01:07:01.913 --> 01:07:03.548
My mood has changed.

1422
01:07:04.150 --> 01:07:05.517
Really?

1423
01:07:05.717 --> 01:07:06.717
I learned a great lesson

1424
01:07:07.420 --> 01:07:09.554
which is: Conflict is boring,

1425
01:07:09.754 --> 01:07:11.656
and agreement is less boring.

1426
01:07:12.624 --> 01:07:13.625
We don't need that old

1427
01:07:14.893 --> 01:07:16.661
tacked-on, obligatory conflict,
"yeah, but"

1428
01:07:17.729 --> 01:07:19.932
- what about "yes, and"?
- Hm.

1429
01:07:19.999 --> 01:07:22.867
In these situations, "yes, and"
is a lot better.

1430
01:07:23.635 --> 01:07:25.470
Care, concern,

1431
01:07:26.072 --> 01:07:28.573
- let's take care of each other.
- Yep.

1432
01:07:28.640 --> 01:07:30.480
That doesn't sound like
the guy who wrote this.

1433
01:07:31.576 --> 01:07:33.587
I mean, it sort of looks like
you're dissecting someone here.

1434
01:07:33.611 --> 01:07:34.651
Ooh, hey, you gotta light?

1435
01:07:35.982 --> 01:07:38.683
Well, sometimes, you can develop
a picture of a person

1436
01:07:38.951 --> 01:07:41.954
and that can change
right under your nose.

1437
01:07:42.021 --> 01:07:43.021
Hm.

1438
01:07:45.091 --> 01:07:46.959
<i>I think he was interested in</i>

1439
01:07:47.026 --> 01:07:48.760
<i>exploring transformation.</i>

1440
01:07:49.028 --> 01:07:51.629
Improvisational work itself,
I think,

1441
01:07:51.696 --> 01:07:53.698
worked on his system, you know,

1442
01:07:53.933 --> 01:07:56.634
and made him... Open him up,

1443
01:07:57.403 --> 01:07:59.038
made him eager to open up more.

1444
01:08:00.572 --> 01:08:03.908
<i>And it was really when he began
working with charna halpern</i>

1445
01:08:03.976 --> 01:08:07.046
<i>at the improv Olympics, I think,
which was his stage,</i>

1446
01:08:07.712 --> 01:08:08.913
<i>and his joint,</i>

1447
01:08:10.249 --> 01:08:13.785
and his students, that he really
began to accept himself

1448
01:08:14.220 --> 01:08:16.055
and accept the work.

1449
01:08:17.789 --> 01:08:19.291
<i>With his very own
stage, at long last,</i>

1450
01:08:19.358 --> 01:08:21.726
<i>del could finally put whatever
he wanted on it.</i>

1451
01:08:21.793 --> 01:08:23.996
My name is del,
and charna's partner.

1452
01:08:24.063 --> 01:08:25.730
<i>And what he wanted was</i>

1453
01:08:26.165 --> 01:08:27.165
everyone.

1454
01:08:28.633 --> 01:08:29.402
<i>Before the improv Olympics
I think the general consensus</i>

1455
01:08:29.468 --> 01:08:30.769
<i>was that improvisation</i>

1456
01:08:30.835 --> 01:08:33.671
couldn't be studied,
and it couldn't be understood

1457
01:08:33.738 --> 01:08:34.773
and couldn't be taught.

1458
01:08:36.409 --> 01:08:38.077
<i>And we discovered
that this was not true.</i>

1459
01:08:38.144 --> 01:08:40.578
<i>It does not take an
enormous amount of training</i>

1460
01:08:40.645 --> 01:08:41.689
<i>for somebody of ordinary
abilities</i>

1461
01:08:41.713 --> 01:08:43.049
<i>and no theatrical experience</i>

1462
01:08:43.115 --> 01:08:44.126
<i>to participate in some degree
of credibility</i>

1463
01:08:44.150 --> 01:08:46.785
<i>in a public improvisation.</i>

1464
01:08:49.921 --> 01:08:51.890
<i>We were freaks, basically.</i>

1465
01:08:51.957 --> 01:08:54.126
<i>He took in a bunch of
really smart</i>

1466
01:08:54.193 --> 01:08:57.662
talented freaks
who were ostracized

1467
01:08:57.862 --> 01:09:00.565
by every fringe of society,

1468
01:09:00.832 --> 01:09:02.168
and we finally found each other.

1469
01:09:03.768 --> 01:09:05.204
<i>That becomes the
kind of Incubator</i>

1470
01:09:05.271 --> 01:09:08.907
<i>for a lot of people who don't
belong in a</i>

1471
01:09:08.974 --> 01:09:11.676
trad... they're not like
traditional actors.

1472
01:09:11.743 --> 01:09:13.279
They're not standups.

1473
01:09:13.345 --> 01:09:14.980
<i>It attracts a lot of smart,
nerdy people</i>

1474
01:09:15.047 --> 01:09:18.050
<i>who want to exercise that
in favor of comedy.</i>

1475
01:09:18.117 --> 01:09:20.785
It's always this or that!

1476
01:09:22.921 --> 01:09:24.123
<i>You empower</i>

1477
01:09:24.490 --> 01:09:25.558
creative voices

1478
01:09:25.623 --> 01:09:28.827
to express themselves
in the moment

1479
01:09:29.028 --> 01:09:31.729
<i>as only they want to.</i>

1480
01:09:32.298 --> 01:09:33.731
<i>He gave permission</i>

1481
01:09:34.233 --> 01:09:35.800
<i>for people to say</i>

1482
01:09:35.867 --> 01:09:38.736
<i>I have unusual connections.
I have eccentricities.</i>

1483
01:09:38.803 --> 01:09:39.803
<i>I belong onstage.</i>

1484
01:09:40.905 --> 01:09:42.250
Intellectuals
and anti-intellectuals,

1485
01:09:42.274 --> 01:09:43.908
<i>philosophers, and</i>

1486
01:09:45.544 --> 01:09:47.184
<i>dope-smokers, low status,
and high status,</i>

1487
01:09:48.247 --> 01:09:49.949
<i>most people existed
on that stage because</i>

1488
01:09:50.015 --> 01:09:52.084
del close said
we need people like that.

1489
01:09:52.151 --> 01:09:53.586
<i>I think he got to a point</i>

1490
01:09:53.651 --> 01:09:55.354
<i>where he probably
became more enamoured</i>

1491
01:09:55.421 --> 01:09:59.191
<i>with people who were
taking improv class to become</i>

1492
01:09:59.757 --> 01:10:00.917
you know, better salespeople,

1493
01:10:00.960 --> 01:10:02.394
because they weren't doing it

1494
01:10:02.461 --> 01:10:05.464
<i>for the purpose
of getting on snl</i>

1495
01:10:05.531 --> 01:10:06.966
<i>or getting a sitcom</i>

1496
01:10:07.032 --> 01:10:08.267
or a fucking beer commercial.

1497
01:10:08.334 --> 01:10:10.735
They just wanted to, like,
come out of their shell.

1498
01:10:11.036 --> 01:10:12.871
<i>One of del's
favorite students was a</i>

1499
01:10:12.938 --> 01:10:16.108
deaf prison electrician, um.

1500
01:10:17.042 --> 01:10:20.045
He was this older,
middle-aged guy

1501
01:10:20.112 --> 01:10:22.114
<i>he had actually done
some living,</i>

1502
01:10:22.314 --> 01:10:24.782
<i>and he had interesting
life experiences,</i>

1503
01:10:25.284 --> 01:10:28.120
<i>regretfully, we could
not locate the electrician.</i>

1504
01:10:28.354 --> 01:10:31.656
<i>But we did find a few tapes
with these guys on them.</i>

1505
01:10:38.197 --> 01:10:40.232
Ted Bundy was quite a character.

1506
01:10:40.299 --> 01:10:41.967
Let's edit that out.
That feels wrong.

1507
01:10:42.168 --> 01:10:43.735
My name is Amy poehler,

1508
01:10:43.801 --> 01:10:46.671
and my last name is: P-o-e-h.

1509
01:10:46.871 --> 01:10:48.040
I-e-r.

1510
01:10:49.508 --> 01:10:50.309
<i>And del totally opened my eyes</i>

1511
01:10:50.376 --> 01:10:52.011
<i>to the potential</i>

1512
01:10:52.077 --> 01:10:54.079
that I didn't know I had.

1513
01:10:54.146 --> 01:10:55.747
I didn't know what
I wanted to do,

1514
01:10:55.813 --> 01:10:56.915
<i>and he gave me a vision</i>

1515
01:10:56.982 --> 01:10:59.218
<i>to say yes onstage and in life.</i>

1516
01:10:59.985 --> 01:11:02.988
There's no wrong move.

1517
01:11:03.055 --> 01:11:05.857
<i>You're a poet onstage.
You're an artist.</i>

1518
01:11:05.924 --> 01:11:09.161
<i>Take what you have in your life,
and put it into your art.</i>

1519
01:11:09.361 --> 01:11:10.572
We were all so obsessed with it.

1520
01:11:10.596 --> 01:11:13.798
We would do harolds
in people's living rooms.

1521
01:11:13.865 --> 01:11:15.833
We would rehearse
in dining rooms.

1522
01:11:15.900 --> 01:11:16.901
<i>Anywhere we could.</i>

1523
01:11:18.404 --> 01:11:19.205
<i>When I improvise with someone,</i>

1524
01:11:19.271 --> 01:11:20.282
we can do something a lot better

1525
01:11:20.306 --> 01:11:22.774
than either of us
are capable of.

1526
01:11:22.975 --> 01:11:24.876
<i>A notion of "just pay attention"</i>

1527
01:11:24.944 --> 01:11:26.844
<i>just care about
this other person.</i>

1528
01:11:27.246 --> 01:11:28.647
Rather than get the laugh.

1529
01:11:28.713 --> 01:11:29.582
<i>You also have to remember</i>

1530
01:11:29.648 --> 01:11:31.716
<i>you're in the 1980s.</i>

1531
01:11:33.152 --> 01:11:35.063
There's actually the opposite
message is being told

1532
01:11:35.087 --> 01:11:36.121
in our society.

1533
01:11:37.489 --> 01:11:39.234
We're being told that the
individual is what rules now

1534
01:11:39.258 --> 01:11:41.026
I mean, if you need help,
you're weak.

1535
01:11:42.628 --> 01:11:44.105
<i>If you watch
"Ferris Bueller's day off",</i>

1536
01:11:44.129 --> 01:11:46.632
<i>you know, it's a very
entertaining movie,</i>

1537
01:11:46.699 --> 01:11:48.376
<i>but the message of that movie
is about one guy</i>

1538
01:11:48.400 --> 01:11:50.200
<i>who's in charge. One guy who
games the system.</i>

1539
01:11:51.769 --> 01:11:54.006
<i>Like Arnold Schwarzenegger
is the one guy,</i>

1540
01:11:54.240 --> 01:11:56.976
and meanwhile, del is teaching
the exact opposite,

1541
01:11:57.042 --> 01:11:58.310
and what you discover is

1542
01:11:58.377 --> 01:12:00.878
it's got a tremendous
amount of power.

1543
01:12:04.650 --> 01:12:06.252
<i>And the people who really
commit to it,</i>

1544
01:12:06.318 --> 01:12:09.121
<i>just right away start doing
special, unique work.</i>

1545
01:12:17.029 --> 01:12:18.197
<i>It's a true outsider art.</i>

1546
01:12:18.264 --> 01:12:20.898
It's just filled with people
who are funny

1547
01:12:20.966 --> 01:12:22.534
and that like you,
no matter what.

1548
01:12:22.601 --> 01:12:25.170
<i>You feel like, you're part of
a much bigger thing.</i>

1549
01:12:25.404 --> 01:12:26.884
My friends in
scarbrough, Ontario said

1550
01:12:26.939 --> 01:12:30.976
"so what do you do? Kinda like,
get drunk and crack jokes?"

1551
01:12:31.310 --> 01:12:34.346
And it's kind of, halfway
between that and

1552
01:12:35.414 --> 01:12:39.184
uh, truly getting in touch
with your higher self.

1553
01:12:50.195 --> 01:12:51.363
<i>Are you a comedy fan?</i>

1554
01:12:53.098 --> 01:12:54.609
<i>If so, you have this man
to thank for developing</i>

1555
01:12:54.633 --> 01:12:57.102
<i>countless comedians
and comic actors</i>

1556
01:12:57.169 --> 01:12:57.936
<i>over the years.</i>

1557
01:12:58.003 --> 01:13:00.005
<i>His name is del close.</i>

1558
01:13:01.674 --> 01:13:03.175
<i>In the 80s, more and more people</i>

1559
01:13:03.242 --> 01:13:05.644
<i>were moving to Chicago
to do long-form improv.</i>

1560
01:13:05.711 --> 01:13:08.314
And del was the selling point.

1561
01:13:08.714 --> 01:13:10.282
<i>And now I would like you to meet</i>

1562
01:13:10.349 --> 01:13:12.418
the best partner
a girl could have...

1563
01:13:12.484 --> 01:13:14.119
Mr. Del close!

1564
01:13:16.355 --> 01:13:18.390
<i>I think as he got older,</i>

1565
01:13:18.457 --> 01:13:21.660
<i>he carried himself
in that guru way,</i>

1566
01:13:21.727 --> 01:13:23.662
<i>and I think he enjoyed the role.</i>

1567
01:13:23.729 --> 01:13:25.664
There wasn't a modesty
of like "oh, no, no,

1568
01:13:25.731 --> 01:13:29.034
please, I'm just here
to run a few exercises".

1569
01:13:31.370 --> 01:13:34.139
<i>For charna,
as the businesswoman,</i>

1570
01:13:34.373 --> 01:13:37.076
<i>it's also a smart business
decision of just like,</i>

1571
01:13:37.142 --> 01:13:38.210
this is the guy!

1572
01:13:38.277 --> 01:13:40.312
Everybody has to study
with this guy.

1573
01:13:40.379 --> 01:13:41.913
<i>You've gotta come through here,</i>

1574
01:13:41.980 --> 01:13:44.483
<i>take all the levels
to get to this guy.</i>

1575
01:13:44.550 --> 01:13:45.117
<i>It is a cult.</i>

1576
01:13:45.184 --> 01:13:46.385
Uh, um, yeah.

1577
01:13:47.219 --> 01:13:48.853
Improv olympic is a cult,

1578
01:13:49.121 --> 01:13:50.855
and I got sucked into it, um...

1579
01:13:51.123 --> 01:13:52.424
<i>One night, out of nowhere,</i>

1580
01:13:52.491 --> 01:13:55.060
<i>these like eight guys
came at me,</i>

1581
01:13:55.127 --> 01:13:56.695
<i>and they were just these like,</i>

1582
01:13:56.762 --> 01:13:59.331
<i>doughy looking white guys
in khaki pants,</i>

1583
01:13:59.398 --> 01:14:01.400
and they told me,
I had to go with them,

1584
01:14:01.600 --> 01:14:05.137
and that I couldn't
deny anything they said,

1585
01:14:05.371 --> 01:14:08.073
and that I had to
heighten their initiation.

1586
01:14:08.407 --> 01:14:10.709
And, you know,
the next thing I know,

1587
01:14:10.776 --> 01:14:13.979
I'm writing out checks
to yes, and productions.

1588
01:14:14.380 --> 01:14:16.348
<i>A cult of personality
was forming,</i>

1589
01:14:16.415 --> 01:14:17.983
<i>distracting del
from other things.</i>

1590
01:14:18.250 --> 01:14:19.985
<i>Like say,</i>

1591
01:14:20.052 --> 01:14:21.629
<i>living up to the ideals
of his egaitarian art form</i>

1592
01:14:21.653 --> 01:14:24.223
<i>by putting someone other
than white guys</i>

1593
01:14:24.289 --> 01:14:25.890
<i>from schomberg onstage.</i>

1594
01:14:27.393 --> 01:14:28.713
<i>But alas,
his focus was elsewhere.</i>

1595
01:14:29.795 --> 01:14:31.096
I sometimes sit around
and wonder

1596
01:14:31.163 --> 01:14:33.298
would I like to have millions
and millions of dollars?

1597
01:14:34.266 --> 01:14:36.502
Direct movies?
Direct Broadway plays?

1598
01:14:38.404 --> 01:14:41.073
Raise arabian stallions?

1599
01:14:44.209 --> 01:14:47.146
Or work with charna here at...

1600
01:14:51.450 --> 01:14:54.019
I think there was a big part of
del that wanted to be famous.

1601
01:14:55.053 --> 01:14:57.156
<i>I think it was a conflict
within himself,</i>

1602
01:14:57.356 --> 01:15:01.126
<i>between his artistic aspirations
and wanting popular fame</i>

1603
01:15:01.193 --> 01:15:02.370
<i>like his contemporaries,
you know?</i>

1604
01:15:02.394 --> 01:15:03.994
Like Mike Nichols,
who couldn't have been

1605
01:15:04.196 --> 01:15:05.764
bigger.

1606
01:15:05.831 --> 01:15:07.232
<i>His Broadway directing debut</i>

1607
01:15:07.299 --> 01:15:09.401
<i>with Neil Simon's
"barefoot in the park"</i>

1608
01:15:09.468 --> 01:15:11.236
earned Nichols the first
of six Tony awards

1609
01:15:11.303 --> 01:15:14.006
and the reputation
for having the midas touch.

1610
01:15:14.239 --> 01:15:15.316
<i>If I'd gone
a different direction,</i>

1611
01:15:15.340 --> 01:15:16.620
maybe I'd have arabian stallions

1612
01:15:16.675 --> 01:15:19.445
and be married to Diana Sawyer
like Mike Nichols,

1613
01:15:19.511 --> 01:15:20.511
but here,

1614
01:15:21.346 --> 01:15:22.546
I'm in a basement with charna.

1615
01:15:23.949 --> 01:15:25.484
<i>And he had a sense
of humor about it,</i>

1616
01:15:25.551 --> 01:15:26.561
<i>but it's only natural to
compare yourself to your peers,</i>

1617
01:15:26.585 --> 01:15:29.054
<i>that he had come up with,</i>

1618
01:15:29.121 --> 01:15:30.789
<i>and to see his students
reap awards</i>

1619
01:15:30.856 --> 01:15:32.224
<i>that he never reaped himself.</i>

1620
01:15:33.826 --> 01:15:34.726
<i>You know, it's gotta be
hard sometimes.</i>

1621
01:15:34.793 --> 01:15:37.496
And he's like, "wait a minute!"

1622
01:15:38.163 --> 01:15:40.299
I taught that big guy
with the glasses

1623
01:15:40.365 --> 01:15:41.500
<i>everything he knows,</i>

1624
01:15:42.100 --> 01:15:43.402
<i>and he's using what I'm using,</i>

1625
01:15:43.469 --> 01:15:45.237
<i>and so is that Rachel dratch,</i>

1626
01:15:45.504 --> 01:15:47.239
<i>"and I feel like
they ripped me off!"</i>

1627
01:15:47.506 --> 01:15:48.874
We were like, "well, I thought,

1628
01:15:48.942 --> 01:15:51.276
the idea was that you teach us,
and we could use it."

1629
01:15:51.877 --> 01:15:53.312
<i>But we realized
he was just wounded.</i>

1630
01:15:53.378 --> 01:15:54.546
<i>He felt a little left out.</i>

1631
01:15:55.881 --> 01:15:57.161
<i>It bugged him.
It definitely did.</i>

1632
01:16:00.252 --> 01:16:01.887
<i>Alright,
we're rolling right now.</i>

1633
01:16:01.955 --> 01:16:03.795
<i>As comfortable as you are
talking about this...</i>

1634
01:16:05.824 --> 01:16:06.325
<i>You worked with
Saturday night live for awhile.</i>

1635
01:16:06.391 --> 01:16:07.391
Yeah, yes.

1636
01:16:08.494 --> 01:16:09.795
<i>And what do you think</i>

1637
01:16:09.862 --> 01:16:11.363
<i>when you see
all these improvisers</i>

1638
01:16:11.430 --> 01:16:13.298
<i>from Chicago going out,
and doing things like.</i>

1639
01:16:13.365 --> 01:16:14.700
<i>Saturday night live?</i>

1640
01:16:14.766 --> 01:16:16.846
I mean, you can't work
with all these terrific people

1641
01:16:17.135 --> 01:16:18.135
um,

1642
01:16:19.238 --> 01:16:20.606
you know, without... But then,

1643
01:16:23.509 --> 01:16:25.344
<i>a Harvard medical school study</i>

1644
01:16:25.410 --> 01:16:27.479
has determined that
rectal thermometers

1645
01:16:27.546 --> 01:16:30.015
are still the best ways
to take a baby's temperature.

1646
01:16:30.215 --> 01:16:33.218
Plus it really teaches the baby
who's boss.

1647
01:16:33.285 --> 01:16:34.662
I mean have you ever gone
on vacation,

1648
01:16:34.686 --> 01:16:35.854
and left your child home?

1649
01:16:39.224 --> 01:16:40.559
No.

1650
01:16:40.626 --> 01:16:42.261
- Old testament, Mr. Mayor.
<i>- Yes.</i>

1651
01:16:42.327 --> 01:16:43.862
Real wrath of god type stuff.

1652
01:16:43.929 --> 01:16:46.298
Forty years of darkness,
earthquakes, volcanoes!

1653
01:16:46.365 --> 01:16:47.432
<i>Human sacrifice!</i>

1654
01:16:47.499 --> 01:16:49.468
Dogs and cats, living together!

1655
01:16:49.535 --> 01:16:51.169
I can't believe what
an asshole you are!

1656
01:16:51.236 --> 01:16:52.304
No, maybe, she smiled.

1657
01:16:52.371 --> 01:16:53.748
She's smiling at
what an asshole you are

1658
01:16:53.772 --> 01:16:55.772
no, no, no, no, she was smiling
at how money I was.

1659
01:16:59.811 --> 01:17:01.422
Historically, syphillis
is right up there with Germans.

1660
01:17:01.446 --> 01:17:02.881
Morning, everybody!

1661
01:17:04.049 --> 01:17:05.159
Though you don't want
a fish sandwich?

1662
01:17:05.183 --> 01:17:07.886
Upright citizens bri...

1663
01:17:07.954 --> 01:17:08.954
Behave!

1664
01:17:09.956 --> 01:17:10.956
Hi!

1665
01:17:12.324 --> 01:17:14.159
Correct.

1666
01:17:19.431 --> 01:17:21.133
<i>Was he cool being the teacher,</i>

1667
01:17:21.199 --> 01:17:22.501
<i>the trainer,</i>

1668
01:17:22.568 --> 01:17:24.403
<i>the guy that
you've never heard of?</i>

1669
01:17:25.972 --> 01:17:27.172
Well,

1670
01:17:27.573 --> 01:17:29.174
I don't know, I mean...

1671
01:17:29.374 --> 01:17:30.654
I can't tell you
what he thought.

1672
01:17:32.177 --> 01:17:34.479
<i>But I can tell you that
the last conversation</i>

1673
01:17:34.546 --> 01:17:36.015
<i>that I had with him</i>

1674
01:17:36.081 --> 01:17:38.617
<i>I told him,
I hope I made you proud.</i>

1675
01:17:38.817 --> 01:17:41.286
<i>And he said, "yes."</i>

1676
01:17:41.353 --> 01:17:43.488
<i>That I, like,
never let him down.</i>

1677
01:17:45.390 --> 01:17:47.125
<i>And it was weird because he</i>

1678
01:17:47.326 --> 01:17:48.436
<i>how do you say goodbye
to somebody</i>

1679
01:17:48.460 --> 01:17:49.695
for the last time, you know?

1680
01:17:52.731 --> 01:17:54.199
<i>I saw that he was weaker</i>

1681
01:17:54.266 --> 01:17:55.167
<i>like when we'd walk somewhere</i>

1682
01:17:55.233 --> 01:17:56.535
<i>he'd have to stop and breathe.</i>

1683
01:17:58.270 --> 01:18:00.190
<i>He was now coughing so badly
that he would vomit.</i>

1684
01:18:00.872 --> 01:18:02.708
I was so angry
because he was still smoking

1685
01:18:02.774 --> 01:18:03.875
at the time.

1686
01:18:03.943 --> 01:18:05.353
I was like, "you can't
smoke anymore."

1687
01:18:05.377 --> 01:18:07.446
And I remember
<i>when we went to the doctor,</i>

1688
01:18:07.512 --> 01:18:08.982
<i>they did all these tests,</i>

1689
01:18:09.048 --> 01:18:09.881
<i>and the doctor came out,
and he said,</i>

1690
01:18:09.949 --> 01:18:11.149
<i>"it's emphysema."</i>

1691
01:18:12.117 --> 01:18:13.685
<i>So it's a pretty awful death.</i>

1692
01:18:16.321 --> 01:18:17.565
<i>But we had a great party for him</i>

1693
01:18:17.589 --> 01:18:20.192
<i>like he wanted
to die a special way.</i>

1694
01:18:20.392 --> 01:18:21.672
<i>Me and bill Murray
pulled it off.</i>

1695
01:18:34.840 --> 01:18:37.476
<i>The hospital gave me
this room in the basement,</i>

1696
01:18:37.676 --> 01:18:41.179
<i>and all these people came back,
I mean everyone came back.</i>

1697
01:18:41.780 --> 01:18:43.382
<i>Murrays there, and ramis.</i>

1698
01:18:43.448 --> 01:18:45.183
<i>Charna is obviously hosting, and</i>

1699
01:18:45.250 --> 01:18:48.620
<i>really guiding everybody
through the processes well.</i>

1700
01:18:48.687 --> 01:18:50.389
Well, she's the high priestess.

1701
01:18:51.823 --> 01:18:54.760
It was hard on Bernie.
Much harder than he let on.

1702
01:18:55.694 --> 01:18:57.529
<i>And he wanted to go talk to del.</i>

1703
01:18:59.297 --> 01:19:01.043
<i>Charna already knew that they
were going to have a moment,</i>

1704
01:19:01.067 --> 01:19:03.402
<i>so she kind of cleared out
this place for these two</i>

1705
01:19:03.602 --> 01:19:05.704
<i>giants to have their final chat.</i>

1706
01:19:07.372 --> 01:19:09.508
<i>And you could see at one point,
del kinda nodding,</i>

1707
01:19:09.708 --> 01:19:11.376
<i>nodding, and he was</i>

1708
01:19:11.443 --> 01:19:12.444
kind of leaning, and.

1709
01:19:13.512 --> 01:19:14.080
I thought he was
going to topple forward,

1710
01:19:14.147 --> 01:19:15.347
and for a moment,

1711
01:19:16.648 --> 01:19:17.549
I thought, and a bunch of people
around me thought,

1712
01:19:17.616 --> 01:19:18.183
maybe this... Maybe he's going,

1713
01:19:18.250 --> 01:19:19.518
maybe this is it?

1714
01:19:21.054 --> 01:19:22.797
And then somebody said to me,
in that typical second city

1715
01:19:22.821 --> 01:19:25.424
scene...-
stepping on his air tube!

1716
01:19:26.892 --> 01:19:27.893
And then, Bernie's like,

1717
01:19:27.960 --> 01:19:29.104
"what?" "you're on his oxygen!"

1718
01:19:29.128 --> 01:19:29.828
He goes like this,
and then del's like,

1719
01:19:29.895 --> 01:19:32.264
"whoa! Hey, I'm back!"

1720
01:19:32.497 --> 01:19:34.332
I gave him a hug,
and he said to me,

1721
01:19:34.833 --> 01:19:36.268
"here's an art form!"

1722
01:19:37.669 --> 01:19:40.672
And I said, "del, for tonight,
it's an art form."

1723
01:19:43.176 --> 01:19:44.010
<i>It's worth noting,
that on his last</i>

1724
01:19:44.077 --> 01:19:45.510
<i>full day on earth,</i>

1725
01:19:45.577 --> 01:19:47.512
<i>del didn't tell
the wild stories.</i>

1726
01:19:48.914 --> 01:19:51.416
<i>He didn't talk about the drugs,
the rage, the chaos,</i>

1727
01:19:51.483 --> 01:19:52.784
<i>the stunts, the myths.</i>

1728
01:19:54.553 --> 01:19:56.393
<i>He didn't even tell
his father's suicide story.</i>

1729
01:19:56.521 --> 01:19:57.622
<i>Hm.</i>

1730
01:19:57.823 --> 01:19:59.224
<i>Wonder why.</i>

1731
01:20:00.859 --> 01:20:02.379
<i>I found out
when I was writing my book,</i>

1732
01:20:02.427 --> 01:20:03.462
a few years later,

1733
01:20:05.031 --> 01:20:06.765
<i>it wasn't exactly
the way he told it.</i>

1734
01:20:08.201 --> 01:20:09.634
<i>Del was in New York, you know,</i>

1735
01:20:09.701 --> 01:20:12.437
<i>he was a thousand
more miles away,</i>

1736
01:20:12.504 --> 01:20:14.140
<i>when his father
actually killed himself.</i>

1737
01:20:14.207 --> 01:20:15.108
<i>He said he was ten years old
when it happened.</i>

1738
01:20:15.174 --> 01:20:15.975
<i>Well, he was twenty years old.</i>

1739
01:20:16.042 --> 01:20:18.243
<i>So he kept changing all of this.</i>

1740
01:20:20.012 --> 01:20:21.622
<i>And he would just sit back
and let the legend grow</i>

1741
01:20:21.646 --> 01:20:23.715
<i>because he knew that's
what was happening with it.</i>

1742
01:20:27.719 --> 01:20:30.722
Yeah, yeah,
I've heard that story.

1743
01:20:33.625 --> 01:20:35.660
Is it true? I don't know.

1744
01:20:37.964 --> 01:20:39.865
<i>But that's part
of the complexity</i>

1745
01:20:40.599 --> 01:20:41.800
<i>that made up del.</i>

1746
01:20:44.170 --> 01:20:45.904
<i>Del's telling that story</i>

1747
01:20:45.972 --> 01:20:48.340
<i>about his father, even if
it wasn't factually true,</i>

1748
01:20:48.807 --> 01:20:50.408
<i>that says something about del.</i>

1749
01:20:51.743 --> 01:20:53.879
<i>Stories are a wonderful tool</i>

1750
01:20:53.946 --> 01:20:56.815
<i>for getting at
what we're all about.</i>

1751
01:20:57.816 --> 01:21:00.253
<i>But all stories are lies.</i>

1752
01:21:00.786 --> 01:21:03.421
Lies in service of the truth.

1753
01:21:04.556 --> 01:21:06.391
Or maybe in search of the truth.

1754
01:21:08.161 --> 01:21:10.695
<i>You know, and that's what
"wasteland" was for del.</i>

1755
01:21:11.931 --> 01:21:12.931
<i>Del</i>

1756
01:21:14.267 --> 01:21:16.568
<i>wanted "wasteland"
to be a rulebook</i>

1757
01:21:16.835 --> 01:21:18.703
<i>of the nature of comedy.</i>

1758
01:21:19.638 --> 01:21:21.740
<i>But, at the end of the day,</i>

1759
01:21:21.807 --> 01:21:24.509
<i>it was a way to come to terms
with the world view</i>

1760
01:21:24.576 --> 01:21:25.710
<i>that he taught</i>

1761
01:21:26.711 --> 01:21:28.413
<i>that comedy's about</i>

1762
01:21:28.480 --> 01:21:29.648
everybody.

1763
01:21:29.714 --> 01:21:31.583
It's about the stage.

1764
01:21:31.883 --> 01:21:34.653
It's about the story
and the experience,

1765
01:21:34.719 --> 01:21:36.688
not about any one person.

1766
01:21:47.732 --> 01:21:49.367
<i>He was a young comedian.</i>

1767
01:21:50.635 --> 01:21:52.370
<i>He didn't know
what he was doing.</i>

1768
01:21:52.437 --> 01:21:54.477
<i>He got into show business
for all the wrong reasons.</i>

1769
01:21:55.841 --> 01:21:58.743
He got satisfaction in the fact
that it was too easy.

1770
01:21:59.644 --> 01:22:02.347
Very easy, very easy to impress.

1771
01:22:03.682 --> 01:22:05.550
<i>But then he began to learn.</i>

1772
01:22:06.551 --> 01:22:07.551
You!

1773
01:22:08.720 --> 01:22:10.856
You! You, you asshole!
You began to learn.

1774
01:22:11.958 --> 01:22:13.925
<i>And then you began to realize</i>

1775
01:22:14.593 --> 01:22:16.394
<i>what you've
gotten yourself into.</i>

1776
01:22:18.630 --> 01:22:20.799
<i>I am not what
he expected to become.</i>

1777
01:22:22.901 --> 01:22:24.436
<i>I am the messenger.</i>

1778
01:22:25.537 --> 01:22:26.771
<i>I am the channel.</i>

1779
01:22:28.274 --> 01:22:30.408
<i>I am the door through which</i>

1780
01:22:30.775 --> 01:22:31.978
you will pass,

1781
01:22:33.045 --> 01:22:34.713
but he may not.

1782
01:22:35.547 --> 01:22:36.581
<i>But he understands.</i>

1783
01:22:56.035 --> 01:22:58.403
<i>Some people have a simple story.</i>

1784
01:22:58.803 --> 01:23:00.872
<i>One the world eats up,</i>

1785
01:23:00.940 --> 01:23:03.508
<i>and success comes easily.</i>

1786
01:23:04.076 --> 01:23:05.644
<i>But fuck those people.</i>

1787
01:23:05.710 --> 01:23:07.545
<i>Because there's another group</i>

1788
01:23:07.746 --> 01:23:09.881
<i>who are a little louder,
weirder,</i>

1789
01:23:09.949 --> 01:23:12.617
<i>sloppier, little more honest.</i>

1790
01:23:13.319 --> 01:23:14.619
<i>And for them,</i>

1791
01:23:14.819 --> 01:23:16.956
<i>del kicked open a door.</i>

1792
01:23:18.324 --> 01:23:20.558
You know, as I leave it,

1793
01:23:21.726 --> 01:23:23.996
I began to realize that
we really haven't done

1794
01:23:24.063 --> 01:23:25.063
such a bad job

1795
01:23:25.097 --> 01:23:26.097
<i>for the world,</i>

1796
01:23:26.999 --> 01:23:29.434
<i>and I think that we need</i>

1797
01:23:29.868 --> 01:23:32.904
<i>all my fellow conspiratorians</i>

1798
01:23:33.738 --> 01:23:35.707
<i>to recognize this.</i>

1799
01:23:36.641 --> 01:23:39.844
You know, we're not doing as bad
as they claim we are.

1800
01:23:40.112 --> 01:23:43.082
And so let's hear it
for the fucking human race.

1801
01:24:00.099 --> 01:24:01.666
<i>Haven't I passed
this way before?</i>

1802
01:24:01.733 --> 01:24:03.735
<i>Same sewer, different ending.</i>

1803
01:24:03.936 --> 01:24:05.804
<i>Oh.</i>

1804
01:24:06.638 --> 01:24:08.473
I guess this is the end.

1805
01:24:26.158 --> 01:24:28.560
<i>It's kinda like fireworks,
the most ephemeral</i>

1806
01:24:28.626 --> 01:24:29.661
<i>of art forms.</i>

1807
01:24:29.728 --> 01:24:31.863
You know, once it's gone,
it's gone, baby.

1808
01:24:31.931 --> 01:24:33.898
There's the afterimage
for a few seconds,

1809
01:24:34.100 --> 01:24:36.668
but nobody will ever see
anything like it again.

1810
01:25:33.892 --> 01:25:36.028
<i>Del wanted to bequeath his skull</i>

1811
01:25:36.095 --> 01:25:38.064
<i>to the Goodman theater,
to Robert falls.</i>

1812
01:25:38.130 --> 01:25:39.898
So that he could keep working,
you know.

1813
01:25:39.965 --> 01:25:42.567
He wanted to be yorick, in uh,

1814
01:25:42.834 --> 01:25:43.701
in Hamlet.

1815
01:25:43.768 --> 01:25:46.638
So you accepted the gift of the

1816
01:25:46.871 --> 01:25:49.408
the skull. I think that's great.

1817
01:25:49.475 --> 01:25:50.909
<i>Yeah.</i>

1818
01:25:50.976 --> 01:25:52.644
<i>I guess I'm early though.</i>

1819
01:25:54.113 --> 01:25:55.548
<i>So on his death bed,
he said to me,</i>

1820
01:25:55.613 --> 01:25:57.083
<i>"make it happen,
any way you can."</i>

1821
01:25:57.283 --> 01:25:58.716
Well, it isn't that easy.

1822
01:25:59.751 --> 01:26:01.886
I called so many places,
and so many, um,

1823
01:26:02.488 --> 01:26:05.824
and associations, and said,
"you can have the body to study"

1824
01:26:05.890 --> 01:26:06.890
just...

1825
01:26:07.993 --> 01:26:09.761
"Decapitate him,
and prepare the skull."

1826
01:26:11.464 --> 01:26:13.264
<i>And most people would say,
"oh, no thank you."</i>

1827
01:26:13.665 --> 01:26:15.834
<i>So I went to this place where
they sell skulls, and</i>

1828
01:26:16.068 --> 01:26:19.604
human bones to hospitals,
and stuff like that.

1829
01:26:19.804 --> 01:26:21.840
And my sister and I,
we went shopping

1830
01:26:22.041 --> 01:26:23.641
<i>to go pick out skulls.</i>

1831
01:26:26.412 --> 01:26:28.012
<i>So then I was like,
"this looks like him.</i>

1832
01:26:28.047 --> 01:26:29.057
<i>And this doesn't.
This head's big enough!"</i>

1833
01:26:29.081 --> 01:26:31.450
<i>And so we bought a skull,</i>

1834
01:26:31.517 --> 01:26:32.693
and I'll never forget, because
I went back to my hou...

1835
01:26:32.717 --> 01:26:34.477
Sister's house with her,
and then I realized,

1836
01:26:34.786 --> 01:26:36.188
del didn't have teeth.

1837
01:26:37.822 --> 01:26:39.691
<i>She pulled the teeth for me.</i>

1838
01:26:39.757 --> 01:26:40.658
<i>I was too squeamish.</i>

1839
01:26:40.725 --> 01:26:42.394
<i>And um, I took the skull home,</i>

1840
01:26:42.461 --> 01:26:44.964
<i>and put it in my pantry,
and waited a few months</i>

1841
01:26:45.030 --> 01:26:46.640
<i>'cause I read that beetles have
eated... that there' this whole</i>

1842
01:26:46.664 --> 01:26:49.901
<i>process to preparing a skull,
so I had to pretend</i>

1843
01:26:49.969 --> 01:26:51.170
<i>that I was doing that.</i>

1844
01:26:53.771 --> 01:26:55.941
<i>I got away with it for years,
and years and years,</i>

1845
01:26:56.142 --> 01:26:57.842
'til some jerky reporter

1846
01:26:58.310 --> 01:27:00.879
brought some actor there,
and it turns out there was

1847
01:27:00.946 --> 01:27:02.524
a screw that showed
there was an autopsy,

1848
01:27:02.548 --> 01:27:04.849
and that the screw itself
was sixty years old,

1849
01:27:04.916 --> 01:27:05.916
and I was like,

1850
01:27:06.585 --> 01:27:07.865
aw, man,
why would you ruin that?

1851
01:27:08.720 --> 01:27:10.322
<i>So I did get caught,
in the long run.</i>

1852
01:27:10.389 --> 01:27:12.992
<i>But at least, he got
another story out of it.</i>

1853
01:27:13.259 --> 01:27:15.127
And I figured del would
like that, you know,

1854
01:27:15.194 --> 01:27:16.828
because del taught us

1855
01:27:17.062 --> 01:27:18.964
that we take care
of each other's ideas,

1856
01:27:19.031 --> 01:27:20.132
that we make them happen.

1857
01:27:20.199 --> 01:27:21.866
We don't say no
to each other's ideas.

1858
01:27:21.934 --> 01:27:23.169
We make them happen.

1859
01:27:23.235 --> 01:27:25.035
And that's what he wanted,
and that was my job

1860
01:27:25.070 --> 01:27:26.205
was to make it happen.

1861
01:27:26.838 --> 01:27:27.839
Any way I can.