posted on October 5, 2004 11:03:34 PM
Comic Rodney Dangerfield Dies at Age 82
Tue Oct 5, 9:59 PM ET
LOS ANGELES - Rodney Dangerfield (news), the bug-eyed comic whose self-deprecating one-liners brought him stardom in clubs, television and movies and made his lament "I don't get no respect" a catchphrase, died Tuesday. He was 82.
Dangerfield, who fell into a coma after undergoing heart surgery, died at 1:20 p.m., said publicist Kevin Sasaki. Dangerfield had a heart valve replaced Aug. 25 at the University of California, Los Angeles, Medical Center.
Sasaki said in a statement that Dangerfield suffered a small stroke after the operation and developed infectious and abdominal complications. But in the past week he had emerged from the coma, the publicist said.
"When Rodney emerged, he kissed me, squeezed my hand and smiled for his doctors," Dangerfield's wife, Joan, said in the statement. The comic is also survived by two children from a previous marriage.
As a comic, Dangerfield — clad in a black suit, red tie and white shirt with collar that seemed too tight — convulsed audiences with lines such as: "When I was born, I was so ugly that the doctor slapped my mother"; "When I started in show business, I played one club that was so far out my act was reviewed in Field and Stream"; and "Every time I get in an elevator, the operator says the same thing to me: `Basement?'"
In a 1986 interview, he explained the origin of his "respect" trademark:
"I had this joke: `I played hide and seek; they wouldn't even look for me.' To make it work better, you look for something to put in front of it: I was so poor, I was so dumb, so this, so that. I thought, `Now what fits that joke?' Well, `No one liked me' was all right. But then I thought, a more profound thing would be, `I get no respect.'"
He tried it at a New York club, and the joke drew a bigger response than ever. He kept the phrase in the act, and it seemed to establish a bond with his audience. After hearing him perform years later, Jack Benny remarked: "Me, I get laughs because I'm cheap and 39. Your image goes into the soul of everyone."
Flowers were placed on his star on Hollywood Boulevard after word of his death, and the marquee of The Improv, a comedy club where Dangerfield often performed, read "Rest In Peace Rodney."
"When you saw Rodney on 'The Tonight Show' sitting on the couch with Johnny Carson, you didn't want it to go to commercial," comic Bernie Mac said in a statement. "He always left you wanting more and I'm going to miss him."
Dangerfield had a strange career in show business. At 19 he started as a standup comedian. He made only a fair living, traveling a great deal and appearing in rundown joints. Married at 27, he decided he couldn't support a family on his meager earnings.
He returned to comedy at 42 and began to attract notice. He appeared on the Ed Sullivan show seven times and on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson more than 70 times.
After his first major film role in "Caddyshack," he began starring in his own movies.
He was born Jacob Cohen on Nov. 22, 1921, on New York's Long Island. Growing up in the borough of Queens, his mother was uncaring and his father was absent. As Philip Roy, the father and his brother toured in vaudeville as a pantomime comedy-juggling act, Roy and Arthur. Young Jacob's parents divorced, and the mother struggled to support her daughter and son.
The boy helped bring in money by selling ice cream at the beach and working for a grocery store. "I found myself going to school with kids and then in the afternoon I'd be delivering groceries to their back door," he recalled. "I ended up feeling inferior to everybody."
He ingratiated himself to his schoolmates by being funny; at 15 he was writing down jokes and storing them in a duffel bag. When he was 19, he adopted the name Jack Roy and tried out the jokes at a resort in the Catskills, training ground for Danny Kaye, Jerry Lewis, Red Button, Sid Caesar and other comedians. The job paid $12 a week plus room and meals.
In New York, he drove a laundry and fish truck, taking time off to hunt for work as a comedian. The jobs came slowly, but in time he was averaging $300 a week.
He married Joyce Indig, a singer he met at a New York club. Both had wearied of the uncertainty of a performer's life.
"We wanted to lead a normal life," he remarked in a 1986 interview. "I wanted a house and a picket fence and kids, and the heck with show business. Love is more important, you see. When the show is over, you're alone."
The couple settled in Englewood, N.J., had two children, Brian and Melanie, and he worked selling paint and siding. But the idyllic suburban life soured as the pair battled. The couple divorced in 1962, remarried a year later and again divorced.
In 1993, Dangerfield married Joan Child, a flower importer.
At age 42, he returned to show business as Jack Roy. He remembered in 1986:
"It was like a need. I had to work. I had to tell jokes. I had to write them and tell them. It was like a fix. I had the habit."
Even during his domestic years, he continued filling the duffel bag with jokes. He didn't want to break in his new act with any notice, so he asked the owner of New York's Inwood Lounge, George McFadden, not to bill him as Jack Roy. McFadden came up with the absurd name Rodney Dangerfield. It stuck.
Dangerfield's bookings improved, and he landed television gigs. After his ex-wife died, he took over the responsibility of raising his two children. He decided to quit touring and open a New York nightclub, Dangerfield's, so he could stay close to home. A beer commercial and the Carson shows brought him national attention.
His film debut came in 1971 with "The Projectionist," which he described as "the kind of a movie that you went to the location on the subway." He did better in 1980 with "Caddyshack," in which he held his own with such comics as Chevy Chase, Ted Knight and Bill Murray.
Despite his good reviews, Dangerfield claimed he didn't like movies or TV series: "Too much waiting around, too much memorizing; I need that immediate feedback of people laughing."
Still, he continued starring in and sometimes writing films such as "Easy Money," "Back to School," "Moving," "The Scout," "Ladybugs" and "Meet Wally Sparks." He turned dramatic as a sadistic father in Oliver Stone's 1994 "Natural Born Killers."
In 1995, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences rejected Dangerfield's application for membership. A letter from Roddy McDowall of the actors branch explained that the comedian had failed to execute "enough of the kinds of roles that allow a performer to demonstrate the mastery of his craft."
The ultimate rejection, and Dangerfield played it to the hilt. He had established his own Web site ("I went out and bought an Apple Computer; it had a worm in it" ), and his fans used it to express their indignation. The public reaction prompted the academy to reverse itself and offer membership. Dangerfield declined.
"They don't even apologize or nothing," he said. "They give no respect at all — pardon the pun — to comedy."
[ edited by Twelvepole on Oct 5, 2004 11:04 PM ]
posted on October 6, 2004 08:32:35 AM Rodney
*
* Good crowd..good crowd. I'm telling
* you I could use a good crowd. I'm ok
* now but last week I was in rough
* shape.. you know.
*
* Why? I looked up my family tree and
* found out I was the sap.
*
* I come from a stupid family. During
* the civil war my great uncle fought
* for the west!
*
* My father was stupid. He worked in a
* bank and they caught him stealing
* pens.
*
* When I was born..the doctor came out
* to the waiting room and said to my
* father.. "I'm very sorry. We did
* everything we could..but he pulled
* through."
*
* My mother had morning sickness after
* I was born.
*
* My mother never breast fed me. She
* told me that she only liked me as a
* friend.
*
* My father carries around the picture
* of the kid who came with his wallet.
*
* When I played in the sandbox the cat
* kept covering me up.
*
* I could tell that my parents hated
* me. My bath toys were a toaster and
* a radio.
*
* Some dog I got too. We call him
* Egypt because he leaves a pyramid in
* every room.
*
* What a dog I got. His favorite bone
* is in my arm!
*
* I worked in pet store and people
* kept asking how big I'd get.
*
* One year they wanted to make me
* poster boy.. for birth control.
*
* My uncle's dying wish was to have me
* sitting on his lap. He was in the
* electric chair.
*
* I went to a phreak show and they let
* me in for nothing.
*
* I stuck my head out the window and
* got arrested for mooning!
*
* Once when I was lost.. I saw a
* policeman and asked him to help me
* find my parents. I said to him.."Do
* you think we'll ever find them." He
* said.."I don't know kid.. there are
* so many places they can hide."
*
* I remember I was so depressed I was
* going to jump out a window on the
* tenth floor.. so they sent a priest
* up to talk to me. He said.."On your
* mark..."
*
* On Halloween..the parents send their
* kids out looking like me.
*
* Last year.. one kid tried to rip my
* face off!
*
* Now it's different.. when I answer
* the door the kids hand me candy.
*
* When my old man wanted sex.. my
* mother would show him a picture of
* me.
*
* I had a lot of pimples too. One day
* I fell asleep in a library. I woke
* up and a blind man was reading my
* face.
*
* My wife made me join a bridge club.
* I jump off next tuesday.
*
* One time I went to a hotel. I asked
* the bellhop to handle my bag. He
* felt up my wife!
*
* It's tough to stay married. My wife
* kisses the dog on the lips..yet she
* won't drink from my glass!
*
* Last week my tie caught on fire.
* Some guy tried to put it out with an
* axe!
*
* For two hours..some guy followed me
* around with a pooper scooper.
*
* I met the surgeon general. He
* offered me a cigarette!
*
* This morning when I put on my under
* wear I could hear the Fruit of the
* Loom guys laughing at me.
*
* A travel agent offered me a 21 day
* special. He told me I would fly
* from New York to London. Then from
* Tokyo back to New York.I asked him..
* "How am I supposed to get from
* London to Tokyo?" He told me.."That
* is why we give you 21 days."
*
* Another travel agent told me I could
* spend 7 nights in Hawaii. No days..
* just nights.
*
* My problem is that I appeal to
* everyone that can do me absolutly no
* good.
*
* They say.."Love thy neighbor as thy
* self." What am I supposed to do?
* Jerk him off too?
*
* At christmas time I sat on santa's
* lap. His fly was open. Boy..what a
* present he gave me!
*
* My sex life is terrible. My wife put
* a mirror over the dogs bed.
*
* Actually she did put the mirror over
* our bed. She says she likes to watch
* herself laugh.
*
* I'm a bad lover. Once I caught a
* peeping tom booing me.
*
* My wife only has sex with me for a
* purpose. Last night she used me to
* time an egg.
*
* I asked my wife if she would put out
* the garbage. She said.."Why should
* I.. you never put out for me."
*
* I asked her if she enjoys a
* cigarette after sex.She said.."No..
* one drag is enough."
*
* I got myself good this morning too.
* I did my push ups in the nude..but I
* didn't see the mouse trap.
*
* A girl phoned me and said.."Come on
* over there's nobody home." I went
* over. Nobody was home!
*
* A hooker once told me she had a
* headache.
*
* I went to message parlor. It was
* self service.
*
* My only thrill is self inflicted
* hickies.
*
* If it weren't for pick-pocketers i'd
* have no sex life at all.
*
* I was making love to this girl and
* she started crying. I said.."Are you
* going to hate yourself in the
* morning?" She said.. "No.. I hate
* myself now."
*
* She was no bargain either. She
* showed up with pigtails under her
* arms.
*
* She was fat and ugly. She was so fat
* that...
*
* - She got on the scale and a card
* came out saying.. "One at a time."
*
* - Her bath tub has stretch marks.
*
* - Her belly button makes an echo.
*
* - She has her own postal code.
*
* - She wears a "CROSS YOUR THIGHS"
* bra.
*
* - She has a dress with a sign on
* the back saying.. "Caution wide
* load."
*
* - Her clothes are made by Omar the
* tent maker.
*
* - When guys have sex with her they
* ask for directions.
*
* - One day I ran into her with my
* car. She asked me why I didn't
* ride around her. I told her that
* I didn't think I had enough gas.
*
* - Her bikini is made out of two bed
* sheets.
*
* - When guys eat her out they ask for
* provisions for the trip.
*
* - She uses a septic tank for a
* toilet.
*
* She was so ugly that...
*
* - She was known as a two bagger.
* That's when a girl is so ugly that
* you put a bag over your head in
* case the bag over her head breaks.
*
* - I bent down to pet her cat only
* to find that it was the hair on
* her legs.
*
* - I took her to a dog show and she
* won first prize.
*
* - They use her in prisons to cure
* sex offenders.
*
* - I took her to the top of the
* Empire State building and planes
* started to attack her.
*
* - She looks like she came second in
* a hatchet fight!
*
* - The last time I saw a mouth like
* hers it had a hook on the end of
* it.
*
* - She has a face like a saint. A
* saint bernard!
*
* I was tired one night and I went to
* the bar to have a few drinks. The
* bartender asked me.. "What'll you
* have?" I said.."surprise me." He
* showed me a naked picture of my
* wife.
*
* During sex my wife always wants to
* talk to me. Just the other night she
* called me from a hotel.
*
* My marriage is on the rocks again.
* Yeah..my wife just broke up with her
* boyfriend.
*
* One day..as I came home early from
* work..I saw a guy jogging naked. I
* said to the guy.."Hey buddy..why are
* you doing that for?" He said..
* "Because you came home early."
*
* I went to look for a used car. I
* found my wife's dress in the back
* seat!
*
* Once in a restuarant I made a toast
* to her.."The best woman a man ever
* had." The waiter joined me.
*
* Its been a rough day. I got up this
* morning..put on a shirt and a button
* fell off. I picked up my briefcase
* and the handle came off. I'm afraid
* to go to the bathroom!
*
* I had a problem. I tried group sex.
* Now I have a new problem...I don't
* know who to thank!
*
* I went to see my doctor.. you know
* him.. Doctor Vidi-boom-ba? Yeah..I
* told him once.. "Doctor.. every
* morning when I get up and look in
* the mirror..I feel like throwing up;
* what's wrong with me?" He said.."I
* don't know but your eyesight is
* perfect."
*
* I remember when I swallowed a bottle
* of sleeping pills. He told me to
* have a few drinks and get some rest.
*
* I told him I think my wife has VD.
* He gave himself a shot of
* penicillin.
*
* I told my dentist my teeth are going
* yellow. He told me to wear a brown
* necktie.
*
* My physchiatrist told me I'm going
* crazy. I told him.. "If you don't
* mind I'd like a second opion. "He
* said.."Alright..you're ugly too."
*
* I was so ugly..my mother used to
* feed me with a sling shot!
*
* When I was born the doctor took one
* look at my face...turned me over and
* said.. "Look...twins!"
*
* And we were poor too. Why if I
* wasn't born a boy..I'd have nothing
* to play with!
