Page 110 - MN

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Why Yes, I Had a TV Show
Did I tell you I was a TV star? Well, first we should define "TV star".
Some people think it means you were on national TV and you're a household name to millions of people. But even that has limits. I love Ellen Degeneres, but there are a billion people in China who have no clue who she is. Michael Jackson was famous in the jungles of the Amazon. So it's all relative.
I was famous in Spokane, Washington. When I did my PBS shows there, I was famous enough to fill a theater. If I'd done those shows in Los Angeles, we might've drawn 12 or 13 people. It's relative.
Also, time enters into it. Fifty years ago, all Americans knew who Dinah Shore was and knew about her TV shows. Now, you ask anyone under fifty and they will have no idea who she is. Well, I'll tell you. She was a famous singer, she was in love with Burt Reynolds (again, a meaningless name to people under fifty) and at one time she had a very popular daytime TV show. It was on that show that I learned you can use up ten years worth of material in four months. I was living in L.A. and got booked on her show. I did well, and got asked back. I kept getting asked back and in four months I'd used up all my A material, my B material, my on-a-good-night-this-might-work material, and was into my improv skills, which were nonexistent.
It was on this last-ditch, hang-by-my-fingernails mode that I got booked and her other guest was Richard Pryor. He was at the peak of his powers and he blew me out of the water. That was the end of that.
I also did a couple other network shows down there that you've never heard of. The Norm Cosby Show and Live at the Improv. I did well. When I could do my A material, I was a class act. But I couldn't come up with A material quick enough for TV. It sucked it up and spit me out.