The Improv
Praise for The Improv
“The Improv was a cauldron of talent. Whetsell writes about it wonderfully and with respect for its importance to comedy.”
—ROBERT KLEIN
“They used to say that if you made it in New York you could make it anywhere. Maybe so, but if you didn’t make it at the Improv, it was time to pack your bags and move to ‘anywhere.’”
—RICHARD LEWIS
“This book is a great walk down memory lane for me. All hail the Improv and all the laugh-filled times and wonderful nights that happened in front of those brick walls.”
—BILL MAHER
“The Improv played a vital part in my early stand-up days as it did in the careers of the dazzling array of stars, eccentrics, and colorful characters whose stories adorn this bright and greatly entertaining book. Get at least two copies, in case you lose one.”
—DICK CAVETT
“Here’s a book I’ll probably never finish, because for years to come I’ll be picking it up again and again and rereading parts over and over, whenever I need perking up. It’s the history of an art form, though that sounds way too stuffy, and of an institution—the great American comedy club, especially the Improvs of New York and LA.”
—TOM SHALES, Pulitzer Prize–winning former television critic of the Washington Post and #1 bestselling co-author of Live from New York and These Guys Have All the Fun
“An entertaining ride through the glory years—the people, the stories, the feuds, the laughs—of the club that started the stand-up comedy boom in America.”
—RICHARD ZOGLIN, author of Hope: Entertainer of the Century and Comedy at the Edge: How Comedy in the 1970s Changed America
“The Godfather of the comedy club is finally called to testify . . . and he sings like a canary.”
—WILLAIM KNOEDELSEDER, author of I’m Dying Up Here: Heartbreak and High-Times in Stand-Up Comedy’s Golden Era
Copyright © 2017 by Budd Friedman with Tripp Whetsell
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
All photos, unless otherwise stated, are courtesy of the author’s personal collection.
BenBella Books, Inc. | 10440 N. Central Expressway, Suite 800 | Dallas, TX 75231 www.benbellabooks.com | Send feedback to feedback@benbellabooks.com
“First E-Book Edition: September 2017”.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Friedman, Budd, 1932- author. | Whetsell, Tripp, author.
Title: The Improv : an oral history of the world-famous comedy club that revolutionized stand-up / Budd Friedman with Tripp Whetsell ; foreword by Jay Leno.
Description: Dallas, TX : BenBella Books, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017012336 (print) | LCCN 2017028364 (ebook) | ISBN 9781942952442 (electronic) | ISBN 9781942952435 (hardback)
Subjects: LCSH: Improvisation (Organization : New York, N.Y.)—History. | Stand-up comedy—New York (State)—New York—History. | Friedman, Budd, 1932- | Theatrical producers—United States—Biography. | Businessmen—United States—Biography. | Comedians—United States—Anecdotes. | BISAC: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Entertainment & Performing Arts. | PERFORMING ARTS / Comedy.
Classification: LCC PN3166.N4 (ebook) | LCC PN3166.N4 I47 2017 (print) | DDC 792.7/6097471—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017012336
Editing by Vy Tran
Copyediting by Scott Calamar
Proofreading by James Fraleigh and Michael Fedison
Indexing by Amy Murphy Indexing & Editorial
Text design and composition by Silver Feather Design
Cover design by Jason Gabbert
Jacket design by Ivy Koval
Printed by Lake Book Manufacturing
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To my wife, Alix, for changing my life and giving me everlasting love and happiness.
—BUDD FRIEDMAN
To my mother, Anne Whetsell, for always being the rock that grounds me and the rudder that pushes me forward. Also, to my agent, Peter Rubie, for never losing faith.
—TRIPP WHETSELL
Contents
Foreword by Jay Leno
Prologue
Introduction
PART ONE
Chapter 1
Growing Up Fatherless and Struggling to Find My Way
Chapter 2
Broadway Bound and the Unexpected Detour
Chapter 3
Building the House That Built Hilarity
Chapter 4
Flying by the Seat of My Pants
Chapter 5
The Improv Gets Hot
Chapter 6
A Future Film Legend Wanders into West 44th Street and I Nearly Produce My First Show
Chapter 7
The Singing Waitresses
Chapter 8
Liza Minnelli and Judy Garland . . . Onstage at the Improv
Chapter 9
Not So Blown Away by Bette Midler . . . at First
Chapter 10
Comedians Start Coming to the Improv
Chapter 11
The Anointment of King Richard
PART TWO
Chapter 12
Revelry and Rivalry
Chapter 13
Stiller and Meara
Chapter 14
More Momentum, My Monocle—and Lily Tomlin’s Grand Entrance
Chapter 15
The One and Only Rodney Dangerfield
Chapter 16
Robert Klein Elevates Stand-Up—and the Improv—to a New Level
Chapter 17
Locking Horns with David Brenner
Chapter 18
Richard Lewis
Chapter 19
The Hippest Room in America
Chapter 20
The Improv’s Gentle Giant
Chapter 21
The Improv and The Tonight Show
Chapter 22
A Tale of Two Comedy Clubs
Chapter 23
Meeting Jay
Chapter 24
Producing My First Show
PART THREE
Chapter 25
Expansion
Chapter 26
My Early California Adventures
Chapter 27
Andy Kaufman Turns Stand-Up Upside Down
Chapter 28
Dissing Larry David
Chapter 29
A Tsunami Named Robin
Chapter 30
Comedy’s Tragic Prinze
Chapter 31
A Troubling Nemesis Named Mitzi Shore
Chapter 32
Going Up in Flames
Chapter 33
Old Enemies and New Beginnings
PART FOUR
Chapter 34
An Evening at the Improv
Chapter 35
The Improv Explodes . . . and the Stakes Get Even Higher
Chapter 36
The Comedy Boom Busts and Finding Fallon
Chapter 37
Passing the Baton and Looking Ahead: The Early 2000s to the Present
Acknowledgments
Index
About the Authors
Foreword
More than four decades have passed since I drove round-trip from Bos
ton three nights in a row every week to go onstage at a dingy little club in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen called “the Improv.” A lot has happened since then, but the Improv—then known as the Improvisation—was where I received my comedy education, and my long association with both the club and its founder, Budd Friedman, who was also my first manager, remains one of the most important of my career.
Though I had already been doing stand-up for several years at the time, the Improv was the first place where I truly felt like I had found a home, especially since I didn’t know any other professional comedians in Boston, and when I told people this was what I wanted to do for a living, they didn’t exactly take me seriously. Instead, they just assumed it was a phase I was going through, so I rarely mentioned it. Whenever I did, the response was almost always the same—they’d shrug their shoulders and roll their eyes, as if to say, “This guy’s delusional.”
This never happened to me at the Improv. All of the sudden, I fit in because I was finally surrounded by people who were like me, in a place where we could sit around until two in the morning, critiquing each other’s sets and discussing who was good on The Tonight Show—conversations I never could have had in Boston. In fact, I’ve often compared my early days at the Improv to being in college. Budd was a wonderful professor, too, and I’ll forever be grateful for the fact that he always put me on and gave me the freedom to experiment.
I didn’t quite know what to expect that first time, and I’m not exactly sure how I heard about it, although the Improv already had a magical name by that point and hosted a mixture of comics and singers like Bette Midler, whom Budd also managed, and Barry Manilow, who was the house piano player.
The one thing I did know for sure from the moment I walked in, however, was that this was where I was supposed to be, especially after meeting other young comics like Richard Lewis and Billy Crystal, who quickly became my friends. Then there were the more established performers like Robert Klein, Lily Tomlin, Stiller and Meara, and Dustin Hoffman, who used to occasionally drop in to play the piano, as well as a then-unknown Danny Aiello, who was the bouncer.
Being in their presence was the “brush with greatness thing,” as my old friend David Letterman used to say. You didn’t necessarily hang out with them, depending on how famous they were, but what amazed me the most was that you’d get to see all these people you had just seen on television, in person. The other truly amazing part was that we were all practically one and the same at the Improv, no matter how well known we were or weren’t yet. It was as if all seniorities and superficialities were left at the door, and being at the Improv was like being at a big party every night where you never knew who might show up.
Then there was Budd with the monocle and goatee he wore then, who prided himself on being pretentious—and still does. At the time, my day job was delivering cars to New York for a place called Foreign Motors in Boston, which meant I showed up at the Improv in a different Rolls-Royce or Mercedes every night, and one of my favorite stories is how much this impressed Budd because he thought I was some rich kid, which, of course, I wasn’t.
He could also be very gruff at times, but underneath that exterior is one of the most genuine and big-hearted people you will ever meet. Many a night he would even let me sleep on his couch when I had no place to stay. Budd is all of this and more; he’s loyal to the people he loves and he’s the first guy you can count on for a favor if you need it. Moreover, he was the first person to elevate stand-up to an art form by giving comedians a stage they could call their own in front of a willing audience.
In that sense, he’s the father of the comedy club, and to this day, one of my greatest pleasures is going to the Hollywood Improv on Melrose Avenue, even though the original New York club is long gone. It just feels like coming home.
I think that almost anyone else who has ever performed at the Improv for any length of time over the years and knows Budd feels the same way. After hearing him tell the Improv’s story, complemented, and in some cases contradicted, straight from the mouths of the people who also lived it, perhaps you’ll understand why our bond remains so strong.
—JAY LENO
Prologue
JERRY SEINFELD, comedian, actor, writer, and producer:
On a national level, I started out doing stand-up in New York, but you really had to go to LA to prove you could go onstage amidst those guys. They were the real killers, and the West Coast comics were honestly much stronger—especially in the mideighties. Back then, the Hollywood Improv on Melrose Avenue was the spot, and I can’t tell you what being welcomed and finding a home there still means to me. It’s where I was born.
JIMMY FALLON, comedian, writer, and current host of The Tonight Show:
Budd Friedman is one of the greatest influences in comedy ever, bar none. He changed pop culture forever. For every person he’s started, seen rise and fall, and then seen rise again, he’s been through it all. He’s like the Godfather. He’s the guy. I’m so lucky I got to work with him and have him involved with my career.
BILL MAHER, talk-show host, commentator, writer, comedian, and actor:
Of course he was—and still is—a true patron of the comedy arts, and Budd Friedman should be considered a giant because he is a giant. Before the Improv came along, comedy came out of the Catskills. That’s where comics were coming from and their acts reflected it. By moving it into the city, he changed everything, and it just made comedy so much more hip and so different.
BETTE MIDLER, singer, songwriter, actor, producer, and comedian:
The thing about the Improv was that if you were just starting out in show business, you were basically a student of professionals who were coming there to work in the way they worked. They taught you how it was done, and your reward for being in the audience was that you got to get up there and try and do it. It was like a master class every night.
PAUL REISER, comedian, actor, and writer:
Everyone got these introductions back then that sounded so impressive to me. They’d say stuff like, “You’ve seen this comedian on such and such talk show.” The fact that somebody could be in this club and then emerge the next week on national television was just staggering to me. I always said that if it wasn’t for the pipeline that the Improv created, I never would have figured out how to be a comedian.
ROBERT KLEIN, comedian, singer, actor, and writer:
It had a wonderful aura that was steeped inside the old Greenwich Village tradition. Anything could happen and people like Lily Tomlin would drop in even though Budd had a hierarchy and you couldn’t just walk in and go on. I had gone to the Yale School of Drama for three years, but they didn’t teach stand-up comedy, so the Improv kind of became my training ground.
LILY TOMLIN, actor, comedian, writer, singer, and producer:
A singer could just get up there and sing, but a comedian had to have someone vouch for them. You didn’t always know what Budd was thinking if you were new, but you knew he was the one who was going to say yes or no.
BILLY CRYSTAL, actor, writer, producer, comedian, and television host:
You really wanted to be ready to go on at the Improv because you really wanted to do well once you did. Then again, Budd’s one of those guys that you’d say to yourself, “He really was there in the beginning of the rise of stand-up comedy.” If the movie Boys Town was about comedians, then Budd would have been Father Flanagan because he gave you the chance to grow.
LESLIE MOONVES, president of CBS and former Hollywood Improv bartender:
What you always felt about Budd was that he was the best cheerleader for all these comedians. They were like his kids, or his kid brothers, and he was literally rooting for all of them.
ADAM SANDLER, comedian, actor, writer, producer, and musician:
The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve come to appreciate what Budd has done. His whole life has been about making comedians feel comfortable, making us feel valued, and giving us a place to work. He always made you want to work, too,
because whenever you were performing and he came into the club, you knew it wasn’t an average night. To this day, there’s not a time I don’t stop in at the Improv whenever I’m on Melrose Avenue. I still feel like I’m missing out on something if I don’t.
RICHARD LEWIS, comedian, actor, and writer:
I had a real love affair with Budd practically from day one. I was one of the few, perhaps, who got along with him, got what I wanted, and was supported. When things were happening and reviewers or producers would come in from the various shows, Budd would say to me, “Listen, the people from The Tonight Show are going to be here next Saturday night and you’re on at ten o’clock.” He was always there for me and he wanted me to succeed.
ALAN ZWEIBEL, writer, producer, Broadway playwright, and bestselling author:
Maybe it’s a little severe to say that Budd scared the living shit out of me, but I understood his power, and I didn’t want to be in his bad graces. I witnessed that on more than one occasion, and I can remember people who had been going on at ten o’clock being relegated to one in the morning because Budd was pissed at them for whatever reason. But I also wanted Budd’s respect, and when he started calling me “Rookie of the Year,” I knew I had been accepted. That being said, only a few people in my life have frightened me as much as Budd did.
JEFF FOXWORTHY, comedian, actor, writer, and voice-over artist:
Budd wasn’t intimidating physically, but the power of what he could do for you was daunting, even though I always felt he was rooting for you to do well. But if you want his respect and approval, you have to work for it before he acknowledges you. And make no mistake about it, Budd’s always watching—or at least he was when I was there. He knew who was there just trying to screw waitresses, who was really working at it, and who had arrived. As you were getting good, he’d kind of give you that arched eyebrow and smile. I used to call it the “Mr. Planters Peanuts” face because of the monocle he wore. Then he would actually speak to you and that’s when you knew you’d arrived.