| “… a lot of good ones gone…” - Peter Wolf (singer/songwriter J Geils Band)
Here’s the thing about comedy.
It bridges gaps. It binds us on a very basic - personal - human level.
It connects us.
For that brief moment when people are laughing and enjoying themselves (and one another’s company) it is definitively - and I love this - UNIVERSAL.
That I have enjoyed some six decades in the “business” of comedy. Please believe me when I tell you I am humbled by that fact – it’s mindboggling.
The great (and I mean ICONIC) Chicago comedian Emo Phillips (Google him, young people) recommended and got me a job in the mid-1980s emceeing at the night club/venue known as Catch A Rising Star in New York City. It’s one of the of the many, many debts I will never repay. Catch A Rising Star was a “showcase” club, and the acts who made the cut and got to perform there on a regular basis were also auditioning for the break they needed to move into television or film.
Before Amy Shumer or Taylor Tomlinson or Nikki Glaser - all of whom are very funny - there were trail-blazing women, some of whom I have mentioned before - who overcame stereotypes and derision and what was “accepted” institutionally.
I’ve written about Judy Tenuta. Diane Nichols is another. Marsha Warfield. Sue Kolinsky. Rita Rudner. Shirley Hemphill. I admired them all - and they taught me so much about comedy and performance and showbiz. |
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Another of these esteemed, well-liked and popular comediennes at the time was Anita Wise who transcended the genre and gender of the 1980s. She was blond and pretty. Not soft-spoken but not loud or mouthy or profane.
Anita Wise was, especially on stage, FUNNY. Offstage? Bitingly sarcastic and hilariously insightful.
I was the emcee at Catch A Rising Star on one of the many nights The Tonight Show casting person would fly from Los Angeles to New York to book stand-up comics who hoped to join Johnny Carson and perform on The Tonight Show which was THE defining moment in the world of comedy at the time.
The vibe and excitement in the bar outside the showroom at Catch A Rising Star on these big “showcase nights” was indescribably dramatic, intense and powerful.
Ten or more comedians waited for Cynthia Coe - the club’s casting/booking person - to post a list of the “running order” - identifying who was going on when - for the performers.
Just before introducing each one I’d briefly meet with the comic and ask what they wanted for an introduction. On this night, Chris Rock said to me, “Tell them I want to be the next black guy on Saturday Night Live.”
The NBC Tonight Show booking agent (for the life of me I cannot remember that man’s name!) came and sat in the last row behind the audience - an audience that did not know career-changing opportunities were taking place.
Audiences are, as a rule, tuned in and aware. They can feel the excitement. As this particular evening progressed, they fed off the energy, the anxiety and the magnitude of each performance, making every comic’s presentation stronger than ever. The tension and release of positivity engulfed the room. The laughs were big and booming. The comics were on fire. Everyone who went on stage that night exemplified stardom.
That included Anita Wise, who delivered a tour-de-force set of observational and perfectly-written humor. She had the entire room laughing, HARD, for 20 minutes.
Anita would go on to appear on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, not to mention an unforgettable turn on Seinfeld and lots of other impressive showbiz credits. I have worked with her many times over the past few years. Always classy, strikingly attractive, ever-precise and efficient in her delivery.
Anita was married and living in New Jersey when my wife and our kids relocated from Southern California to ‘The Garden State’ years ago. I worked a comedy club with Anita (she was the act who went on BEFORE me?!?!) and we talked briefly about the old days, the new days, the world we lived and worked in. We shared a number of stages together over the past few years. She had married someone I was familiar with but would never meet: TJ Tindall.
TJ is, to this day, a local legend in south Jersey and Philadelphia. He was a one-of-a-kind guitarist who had otherworldly talent and lent incredible depth and soul to all kinds of Rhythm & Blues recordings with groups like The O’Jays, MFSB (Mother Father Sister Brother) and The Salsoul Orchestra.
I discovered TJ’s unique sound while at The University of Illinois, where I DJ’d parties, playing the records of the above-named groups which Tindall backed and bolstered. I tried to mimic the sound while I played piano at The Sigma Chi Fraternity House in Champaign, Illinois.
The fact that he and Anita were married, that I was such a fan of both, that I LEARNED so much from them - dating back to the 1970s in TJ’s case - not to mention actually working with Anita so many nights, never struck me as ironic or coincidental. I just love show business…
Mr. Tindall died 8 years ago. Anita, sadly, passed away last week.
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Just a few days after her passing, Bob Uecker, the TV personality, movie star, major league baseball catcher, and all-around ‘good guy’ left this earth as well.
I didn’t know Bob Uecker, but I had his St. Louis Cardinals baseball card from the 1964 (or was it 1965?) season. He was one of those comedians who, as soon as you see him walk onto a talk show set or into a scene in a major motion picture, you start to laugh.
Uecker joined Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show over 100 times! Here is one of his best lines: "I knew when my career was over. In 1965 my baseball card came out with no picture."
His self-deprecating humor about his own limited baseball skills ironically made him one of baseball's most beloved personalities, earning him the nickname "Mr. Baseball." He was inducted into the Hall of Fame for his exceptional contributions to baseball broadcasting.
Later he would deadpan to Johnny Carson that he still wanted to be inducted as a player.
I have an additional degree of separation to Uecker, who was part of the 1989 motion picture “Major League” - a spoof of major league baseball where Mr. Uecker plays the role of a sardonic Cleveland Indians (since re-named Guardians) play-by-play announcer. Uecker’s partner in the radio booth, the ‘color analyst’ is played by comedian and musician extraordinaire Skip Griparis.
I have a showbiz CLASSIC for ya: Griparis doesn’t say a word during the entire flick! The joke being that Uecker does all the talking, ignoring his co-host and thereby making fun of the two-announcers-in-the-booth concept that is still prevalent in televised baseball to this day.
Here comes the curveball: Griparis has an AMAZING voice! I worked with him countless nights in Chicago before moving to New York, and he is absolutely gifted beyond human understanding as a singer and performer - to this day when I see even a clip of the movie I laugh. Because they cast this angelic-voiced actor (Griparis) in a role that had not one word of dialogue! It has always struck me as absolutely, categorically funny.
Which is why I write about Anita Wise and Bob Uecker this month. They always gave that brief moment of joy while connecting with millions of us. They are missed.
Sincere and heartfelt condolences to the many friends, fans and families of Anita Wise and Bob Uecker.
Thanks for reading!
Taylor |
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