Ed Asner Collection on Letterman, 1982-1995

[Music] thank you very much welcome back to the show and everybody who participated in our bad phone call segment receives one of these lovely handsome david letterman late night sponges ladies and gentlemen sure you can applaud that and we have a wonderful show for you folks a little bit later a report on the shame of the city and two gentlemen each of them representing uh the east one the east coast the other the west coast they both work for nbc we'll talk a little bit more about them later my first guest is one of the busiest [Music] [Applause] [Music] that's the stupidest thing i've ever been a part of it's just plain big settle down or i'll clear this dump um [Laughter] my first guest is one of he's probably not coming out after this and i don't blame him uh my first guest is one of the busiest people in hollywood as actor labor leader and political activist he's been appearing on television weekly since 1970 but right now happens to be between jobs please welcome mr ed asner sorry to subject you to that buffoonery i had no idea that was back there oh i was warned doesn't bother you well i've seen a lot of that stuff i worked with ted knight oh how are you how are things things are uh not dull not dull i sleep uh deeply at night and i uh i uh don't dream even anymore i uh i just sleep and when i get up the challenges are there they're just they hear you wow your name is jump so life is pretty much uh well you said to not dull i feel younger than ever yes that's i tell you what let's get right to it here there's a couple obvious things we had to talk about first of all your show of course uh lou grant is gone no it was cancelled ed when uh i read about it and a couple of weeks ago oh there's another new challenge [Laughter] uh now now uh of course i'm you've talked this over and over again but what are your feelings about that now oh i think we got robbed yeah i think that we had uh good enough uh ratings to uh be supported by the network for another year we had done faithful service and that um the wimps outside uh created enough uh pressure and uh fright and uh uh booga booga and uh they took us off the air the wimps yeah now who who would the wimps be well you have let's see this is new york right this is no wimps in new york wow there's a congressman here he's uh he's kind of shaky in his seat so they made him head of this organization sending your 5 10 and 25 dollars and we'll get this kami ed asner and we'll intimidate the sponsors unfortunately the show got cancelled about the same day his letter went out so i don't think he got a much money in on that letter and then there was kimberly clark they withdrew their advertising and people can't can't use their clinics anymore on the lou grand show and uh then there's another outfit in new york called the caucus of conservative consumers and they were going to boycott all of the advertisers on the lou grand show and then jerry falwell uh he falls into that category he took out ads against me uh saying i was anti-reagan and therefore must be a communist but uh he i read this after read this afternoon where he also said that he enjoyed the program he did he did i guess he wanted to watch what the enemy was doing uh-huh so so then generally but he also asked for the 5 10 25 and thirty five dollars more people were making more money off us peripherally than you can shake a stick at so uh the there were there was pressure brought on the network and the sponsors and you also say that people were somehow finding a way to make money at this well they wanted to continue these programs of uh of uh uh pointing out who the commies were le botelier and hey that's an all-american fellow right there now have people called you a communist because of this yeah well he called me everything but uh but the murderer of the four nuns in el salvador they were just short of that i think uh he uh he's written a book and it's sold and i guess he's he wanted to write again he wrote about four pages on this letter and i should have brought it to you because it uh it's it's harem scarum and uh it um it's really whipping it up all right we'll uh pause here we're going to ask mr asner a few other questions right after this [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] paul schafer and welcome back to the show uh ed asner is here and we're talking about among other things is the cancellation of the cbs series uh lou grant now did anybody from the network or the production company come to you when you started taking a more politically active role in things and saying gee lou we got 100 people employed here we're all making pretty good dough the network is getting a little nervous can you back off or at least wait till the series has its run uh nobody from network ever came to me uh somebody from the um uh after two days after the death threat uh somebody from the uh production uh department uh came to me and said um see you know it's uh with you spotting off like that the the show just doesn't seem quite the same as it was before and uh and i said well that's i guess i said that's too bad but that was about all what about the the folks uh if you're in television especially you fight and you fight and you fight for a job you get a job you still have no guarantee that it'll last more than a weekend you had a show uh that was on the air what four years going to its fifth or always five five going to six uh and so suddenly it looks like because of your politics now other people are out of work yeah that's the guilt you have to overcome if you're gonna open your mouth and i guess in my second or third year i might have thought of that or of myself i don't know uh and kept my mouth shut when i may have wanted to speak a little louder but finally in the fifth year i felt that uh i didn't want to keep my mouth shut anymore and uh uh that's one of the things that uh tends to intimidate you the other thing is that uh i just think it's a crying shame we were number 17 last year uh in shows and this year we took a five-point drop and nobody got upset seemed alarmed seemed excited and you would think that they would have said hey let's pump it up let's do a little something before the wimps can claim they drove it off the air and nobody did anything and they canceled it and they can say that politics had nothing to do with it but if politics had nothing to do with it then they should be ashamed anyway for not making some kind of stand for a show that was so critically acclaimed yeah um let me ask you another question about being in television and so forth you uh again you work all your life to attain uh recognition as being a talented person and success that comes with it and so on and so forth and you were lovable as uh lou grant on the mary tyler moore show and uh maybe not so much lovable but revered as the uh the city editor on uh this program are the average viewer still behind you or has that beginning to shift oh that's bound to have affected some viewers who wanted good old uh fuddy-duddy uncle lou uh and he disappointed them by getting a little sharp uh in in private uh well publicly private and uh i guess that's created some disaffected fans who wanted me to be good old sweet fuddy duddy lou i suppose in my childhood and in my youth i disowned actors that i had come to accept as a certain type of person and then they switched roles on me to show they were a good actor and i thought they stunk and i suppose a lot of people may view me in that same light do you have any uh any fears that you may never work on american television again no no i'll work i may not be offered another series because of sponsor pressure but it's still feasible and difficult to blacklist me i would say if i was just doing tv movies uh it's hard to drum up a whole uh 5 10 25 campaign if you're only going to be on the air one night yeah can't get that money in that way yeah so uh i'm sure i'll still be doing tv movies uh hopefully features i would want to do a series i think because you're in touch with a certain part of america that nobody touches in any other form yeah and again i it sounds like we're talking about a man who barely has a couple of dimes to rub together but you've had a long enviable successful career in uh television and acting uh fine how much do you want uh i want to thank you for taking the time to stop by here tonight sir and you're a gentleman and a scholar and well i don't know about the latter or the uh either way and above all you didn't razz me will you get razzle out oh yeah well no i wouldn't i wouldn't razz a guy like you treated me thank you very much it was a pleasure meeting you here's a man who gets ragged we'll be back with all kind of stuff [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] all right we're taking this show to chicago we'll be there may 2nd through may 5th and if you don't have a ticket come anyway no no if you don't have a ticket don't come is that right you have to have a ticket to get in there are no tickets and i'm not sure why i mentioned this but we'll be in chicago may 2nd through the 5th i hope the weather is lovely don't you paul i think it'll be very nice there based on what i don't know just based on your desire to play along i appreciate that anything i can do because we were off to such a great start uh our first guest tonight a talented actor who is lodged in the hearts and minds of many americans in his roles of mr grant and also lou grant he is currently on broadway in in the comedy born yesterday ladies and gentlemen here is ed asner hi haven't seen you in quite a while i stand here no no how you doing you're just spilling money everywhere look at all this dough that's what they said i had to do to get back on there oh now stop no no no no but we'll just we'll see that you get this after the program yeah uh how you been yeah fine they're fine david tell the folks which road do you take home no no no tell us uh tell the folks about the play about the play it's wonderful well you had madeleine kahn on here she was very nice you always liked her better than me no that's not true i think you did you guys get along all right in the playoffs oh wonderfully wonderfully i uh i slap her around every night she keeps coming back for more every other performance are you enjoying this now you do a show every night i know monday you're dark right it's hard but because we don't get a lot of celebrities a lot like you haven't been there yet yeah well i'm coming it's on my list of things to do when when do you think you'll be there well you know now that we we decided to start rehearsing so my schedule is going to be completely you mean you're going to have to learn lines yeah completely jammed up you know they can plant electrodes uh that happened i heard once i mean the technique you did about the uh the thing here right i heard that that uh i don't know if it's true but there's a story that when brando was doing the formula with george c scott that he used a hearing aid and somebody would feed him the lines that way yeah and uh his first speech and he took a hearing aid out and said damn thing doesn't work so anyway now back to the play yes now uh are you enjoying this is this going to be happily for her and sadly for me how so well she goes off with this creep and uh and i'm left alone with my millions uh and will this continue now for another uh another couple of years well no no no it's a limited run uh i only have so much juice in me and new york new york i don't even know what that means new york is a summer festival which i don't know if i want to have you done a lot of theater oh yeah i started out in theater yeah it's the only way to begin david you get to learn lines that way yeah um let's uh tell me about you uh you know we're going to chicago that's my wild oats towel yeah that's where i first began learning live are you from the midwest originally uh i'm from kansas city i went to the university of chicago dropped out because i began acting extracurricularly there and i love it it's uh it's a it's a real american city what kind of things did you do there to support yourself in chicago well i uh i had worked in a uh in a um an auto plant in kansas city and i didn't want to do that anymore that to me was i was chained to the to the line i didn't want what kind of cars were they making them uh we were making buicks osmobiles and pontiac and i tried to quit the first day in that kansas city job i couldn't find the foreman uh so i said well i'm it's hard on the other guys i'll go back to work because earlier i had jumped off the line to get a drink he said where are you going i should get water he said well you can't get water indeed get out of the hole so i i kept pushing the other guys in the hole and it was it was it was savage so if he if he was that nasty think how mad he would been if you had quit i know i know and i didn't want to face no he didn't want to go through that somehow i got to lunch and lunch restored it revivified me and i kept on but i was never good on that particular line you see it wasn't a union shop it was a tough open shop plant and i'm a union man and uh and then you spent then you went to chicago and spent some time there as a cab driver is that true oh i did a cab driver stint uh the amazing thing was that i'm still alive and uh as are my passengers really you were reckless uh i really wasn't a good driver then i'm i'm a cracker jack now i'm a gran turismo type now but then then i was still learning uh and i didn't i just did i'd rather pull into you know cab cab stops and read plays so i wasn't a hustler like a like a new york captain now when you say you sowed your wild oats in chicago what exactly are we talking about well this is a phrase david it goes back the phrase but i mean perhaps before your time no i i know the phrase but what does it mean actually in your case that that you discover the the world the world of uh women whine and song uh the the world of uh living in a four dollar room looking out over an air shaft collects rain water and wondering where will this all end you know that type of thing but isn't it interesting to think back on on things like a four dollar room and now take a look at what your life has brought you or what you've brought for yourself it's amazing isn't it i'm i'm at the salvation army tonight no no no you don't well we need to do a lucky man well we're all lucky don't you think yeah yeah uh we'll do a commercial here and continue with ed asner [Applause] [Music] so [Music] one of the uh stars of born yesterday what uh what theater do we find ourselves in 46th street big big house that's about 1600 1600 and an old place well it's a lot of uh fantastic it's got a tremendous record of great musicals there's primarily a musical house when did they put it up you know on the 27 29 something like that there used to be a in new york city in one point like 80 legitimate broadway theater houses well look at look at them even more maybe they took one of the one of their lead houses then for a million a year they're using it as a church right i bought one of them i'm living there yeah yeah um you tell me about the uh uh you worked with john wayne yeah what was the film phil that was el dorado yeah yeah it was a very big break that the howard hawks gave me and uh i was very nervous and uh uh the the first day of work was that was the most for instance i was going to to phoenix to a tucson to make the film and not until i got to paramount and i told the guys i was just going down there for uh maybe a week and then i was coming back when they came back to they said no no no when you're on a hawks film you go down there and they're staying you move in you bring your furniture uh so i i didn't i was a young punk and uh uh younger punk than i am now yeah and uh was this your first big role first big film yeah it was it was close i had done slender threat i did a small part in slender thread with sydney pollock directed that was a pretty big film for me and this was the next one so i got down there and uh uh because my wife and twins were coming to visit me i was right between john wayne on one side and howard hawks on the other and uh it was tough it was tough between the two biggies but the first day of work uh we're talking over the scene hawks and duke and me and i made a few suggestions about changing it and hawks loved that and um uh then they said okay ed you can get lost i was wearing a an outfit like uh marrying sam i look like very excited little abner i was bart jason was my name i was the foreman the the ranch uh owner so he said you can get lost be a while before they set up so i took a start taking a walk i'm nervous as hell and uh then i see duke on his appaloosa i mean he's busy jocking it around and this army of technicians is bringing the equipment up to the to the front of the ranch house and and he's looking i say oh hell i mean hey they're getting ready to shoot and they can't shoot without me i mean it's my scene sorry i started walking towards the ranch house and i hear duke saying he's looking right at me saying where's that new york actor is that new york he's backing his appaloosa up like this you know and and it's a horse right yeah yeah earlier i didn't know what it was exactly yeah and uh so i said you mean me and i said ah so uh we start the scene and uh i come out and what it is i've given him money to kill uh mitchum turns out he doesn't know who it is and he finds out mitchum is one of his oldest best friends so he's back there to throw back the 30 pieces of silver that i've given him and uh during rehearsal i missed it once so i go behind the flat and he says yeah and yeah you better um you better get him uh a catcher's mitt he's having trouble with that money so the next time i go on rehearsal again i throw the piece the money to him and it just is out of his reach i mean it just i mean perfect time just enough to make him look like a fumbler so so he and he then he throws it to me and without looking i i snug it like that i just look at him so i go back hey he says dodgers could use you yeah so we do the scene and uh hawks liked me and uh uh duke tested me and i passed the test and that's it that's that's the end of the story well yeah i guess yeah all right we can go on you know it's a good story we can go on about what hawks did when i had the card game going next to his room the ending needs a little work ed but the story itself is there i'm telling you essentially it's a great story does it match the greeks no no no uh but i would think that you you and john wayne would get along pretty well you seem like guys of the season well after that we did yeah all right uh so if you if you're in town although this thing is probably sold out isn't it born yesterday should be but it's not quite okay so it'll be running for a while yeah all right here's the rest of the money uh oh thank you very much uh i i i borrowed it from the crew that's darn nice of you thank you very much all right um uh we'll get your cookies later uh we have to pause again we'll be back here after uh stationed in [Music] [Applause] [Music] letter number two dear dave could you at least host the show one night wearing a suit covered with little xerox copies of ed asner's head your pal captain dave reneker and arbor michigan uh let's see uh he wants some copies of xerox copies of ed asner's head well you know darn it i'll give it a try [Applause] oh hello hi hi ed it's me dave listen i i can't explain it to you right now but but i need to have 200 xerox copies of your head if you could do that don't go away okay [Applause] no no you didn't wake me do i do i don't i sound awake yeah no sure top of the morning yeah all right here we go there we go thank you very much i don't know this for sure but i have a feeling because of that letter we're going to win a peabody [Laughter] uh last week did you know that last week was celebrity jeopardy week on jeopardy the alex trebek very popular we did some research and we have for you now compiled on videotape ed asner was one of the contestants we have now all of ed asner's incorrect answers celebrity jeopardy how roll the videotape ed hazard on celebrity jeopardy watch this ed uh what is uh uh uh gene autry nope sorry who is barbara starzan no sorry what is cream cheese sorry that is wrong what is a pig that is wrong chinese salad no what is the badlands sorry that is wrong what is the atlantic the pacific and the caribbean oh sorry incorrect chinese salad no i think my uh buzzer is not working on celebrity jeopardy [Applause] but you know if if you're gonna kiss a bowler better be a hall of famer uh by the way ed asner was the big winner he was the big celebrity champion on celebrity celebrity bowling last week whatever you know the head of the fda actually called up frito-lay and screamed what were you thinking after reviewing frito-lay permanently damp chips yes yes biff well ladies and gentlemen one of our stage managers beth henderson yes jeff what can i do for you we're right in the middle of a big show here biff i'm just wondering dave yeah are you done with those chips for the fritos here they're permanently damp fritos all right are you done with those yeah sure help yourself come and get them please what the hell is going on here [Music] [Applause] hi ed how are you enjoy those thank [Applause] [Applause] i don't know isn't that odd he wanted the yeah he wanted the damp chips on the show tonight steve young adam sandler hoodie and the blowfish now i'm told uh that when edward asner came out here that there was somebody like an intruder some kind of a sniper or a stalker appeared briefly behind me i'll roll the videotape and let's see if we can find what we're talking about this is a tv blooper there we are oh look at that right behind me there she goes who's that i don't know but you see you see she was not supposed to be on camera did you and did you see how when she realized that she was right in the middle of the show how embarrassed she was we thought you'd get a kick at a look at that and we were wrong [Applause]

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Id: DUYhCc--IVM

Length: 27min 36sec (1656 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 29 2021