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Ian Bagg
This is pro linebacker TJ Watt and I'm back with YPB by Abercrombie for another activewear drop. My second co design collection has new shorts and tanks that keep up with.
Greg Fitzsimmons
All my in season workouts.
Ian Bagg
And their new Restore collection is a game changer off the field too, because even pro athletes like me need rest days.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Shop YPB by Abercrombie in the app.
Ian Bagg
Online and in stores because your personal best is greater than anything.
Greg Fitzsimmons
How do you make chicken nuggets like 7,000% better? Short answer, you let Taco Bell make them long. Start with all white meat chicken nuggets, bread them in crunchy tortilla chips and.
Ian Bagg
Serve them with Hidden Valley Diablo Ranch. Yep, that's Hidden Valley Ranch mixed with Taco Bell Diablo Sauce.
Greg Fitzsimmons
It's exactly what it sounds like and somehow even better. Simple math Spicy results Crispy Chicken Nuggets.
Ian Bagg
From Taco Bell, a brand new classic at participating US Taco Bell locations for a limited time only while supplies last.
Greg Fitzsimmons
This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Checking off the boxes on your to do list is a great feeling. And when it comes to checking off coverage, a State Farm agent can help you choose an option that's right for you. Whether you prefer talking in person on the phone or using the award winning app, it's nice knowing you have help finding coverage that best fits your needs. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Hey folks, Greg Fitzsimmons here, host of Fitz Dog Radio, coming to you no matter what is going on in the world. The LA Rams, they're out of it. I thought they were going to win the super bowl this year. I think I might have predicted that a couple times. I was wrong. It's now going to be the New England Patriots. I've say that I got some good Patriots friends. Dave Rath, Dickie Egan, Ted Fine. So good luck to you guys. Dudley Shotwell. I'm cheering for the, for you. Anyway, I'm, I guess let's cut to it. What are people talking about today? Obviously, what's going on with ICE or the federal agents? They're not always ICE agents, but I think it's very difficult to train these people. Once they're in, once they've got their little vests and their little face masks, they're, they're off and running. There's no retraining these guys. You got to get the next generation of ICE agents. We got to identify where they're coming from and train those people so by the time they enter, they know the Rules of engagement. They understand what civil rights are. So where do we find them? That's the question. Here's a couple areas we may want to start looking. Identifying first men who are sending out for penis enlargers. That's a big group. Get that mailing list. We got anyone who played Stanley Kowalski and Streetcar Named Desire. Could have been a high school production, could have been college. Find them straight bouncers at gay clubs. Question mark. Any guy with a nickname, including me. Fitz Dog. If you're over the age of 24 and you got a nickname, you're probably headed for ice. Lets talk to these people. Let's counsel them. Men whose fathers later became their mothers. Big red flag. Anybody who still wears their varsity jacket and their high school ring. They should not go into ICE without some training. Women named Terry who sell steroids at the locker room at your gym. Guys that went out for JV wrestling and were cut because they popped a boner during a match. How about the guys who criticized the show? Heated rivalry to a highly suspicious level. Let's get some classes going for them. Guys from the Navy who weren't asked and didn't tell. All right, that'll do it. Let's look for those people. Let's get them. Let's get them right. Let's get their heads right. I'm coming to you, Austin. I'll be there. God. I leave tomorrow. I'm going to be doing the Joe Rogan Experience on Friday. That comes out next week. And then I'll be on Kill Tony on Monday. That comes out in a few weeks. And I will be at the Comedy Mothership Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. Now that's a lot of Austin. That's a lot of voices that may not always be be the same as mine. So it's going to be, I think, an opportunity to engage and discuss ideas with people. And I think that should be the goal for everybody right now. I'm also coming to Sacramento at the Punchline, February 5 through 7. Philadelphia Helium, February 13 through 15. Happy Valentine's Day. Lexington, Kentucky, Houston, Fort Worth, La, will be doing the St. Patrick's Day show March 17 at the Improv, Janesville, Wisconsin, Bakersfield. Go to Fitzdog.com get yourself some tickets, come out and see some live comedy. Also wanna talk about with this podcast? One of the upsides of this podcast, and there's many, is I get ads and they send me free samples. And the one I just got, I'm very excited about. This is miracle made sheets. You wake up like freezing or you wake up and you're sweaty, it's hard to regulate your temperature, especially when you got two people in the bed. I always feel cold. My wife always gets too hot. So the sheets have this thing, it's called like a silver infused temperature relating fabric. Literally, it's inspired by NASA technology. Not Nassau, not from the Bahamas, like the space, the space people, NASA. And it just, it adjusts and it makes everything right. Also, you know there's a lot of bacteria in your sheets, which you wouldn't really think about, but they hold more bacteria than a toilet seat. And I sleep on the toilet sometimes, so it doesn't bother me that much. But if it bothers you, then the silver infused fabrics actually Prevent up to 99.7% of bacterial growth. Now is that gonna work for Joey Diaz? Probably not. I think he's the.03% that that bacteria is here to stay. So stay cleaner longer, stay comfortable longer. Fewer odors, fewer wash cycles. And it's just. And the price is great. These, she telling you these sheets I sleep sometimes. If I'm on the road with some big acts doing the arenas, sometimes we stay in four seasons. These feel like four season sheets. So soft and smooth, breathable, but at a very, very nice price tag. So here's what I'll tell you. Upgrade your sleep or give the gift of better rest. Go to trymiracle.com fitzdog to try Miracle made sheets today you'll save over 40% and when you use promo code fitzdog, you'll get an extra 20% off plus a three piece towel set for free. Jesus, they're really throwing it at you here. It's a lot. They make an amazing gift and with a 30 day money back guarantee, there's no risk. That's trymiracle.com fitzdog code fitzdog@ checkout. Thanks to Miracle made for sponsoring this episode. Okay, My guest is a dear old friend of mine. We came up in the trenches in New York together 30 years ago and we've played ice hockey on the same teams, won a championship in New York once and just an all around great guy. He's a guy that's been slugging it out in the clubs all these years, always killing, headlining great clubs and then just in the last few years thanks to the intranet. He's really kind of blown up. He's, he's very in the moment, very quick, just very special act. Anyway, you know him from the Tonight Show, Colbert specials on Comedy Central, hbo, Showtime. Please sit back and enjoy my conversation with the great Ian Baggage. Thanks for coming, man.
Ian Bagg
But it was good to be here.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Put the mic near your face as if you're somebody.
Ian Bagg
Are we actually recording now before.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yes.
Ian Bagg
Oh, my God.
Greg Fitzsimmons
You hear the echo. You can tell?
Ian Bagg
Yeah, that's how I know because somebody else is wearing headphones. Wow. Classy, Greg, with all your cameras and your one maker, one headphone set over there.
Greg Fitzsimmons
It's the Greenland studio.
Ian Bagg
You guys got a lot of things, but not a lot of things.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Well, the green screen. We could put anything we want behind us. Remember that because I can put a huge going into your ear. Yeah, there it is.
Ian Bagg
Not my ear. And I'm a merle.
Greg Fitzsimmons
If you had a choice of cock.
Ian Bagg
To the mouth or cocked of the year, which would you take?
Greg Fitzsimmons
No, I think if the choice was making love to a gentleman in his rectum or receiving oral from a gentleman. Now performing oral on a gentleman.
Ian Bagg
They're both gentlemen, right?
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yes, they're British. Hmm.
Ian Bagg
Would you rather blow a gentleman?
Greg Fitzsimmons
This is not hypothetical, by the way.
Ian Bagg
This has to happen right afterwards. And you gotta change your accent. I think I'd be. I think I'd be a top. Yeah, I think. I think. I think I'd have to go in the rectum. Just because he'd be polite about it. Cause he's a gentleman.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah, he'd have douched. What do you call it?
Ian Bagg
Douche dried.
Greg Fitzsimmons
No, when you do your rectum, it's anima enema.
Ian Bagg
Yeah, there we go. I like us both pretending that we don't know what it is.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Meanwhile, my number one Internet search is Enema of the State, My favorite movie.
Ian Bagg
That was good. When we're done.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Good night. So let's talk about the woman shot in the head in Minnesota.
Ian Bagg
All right.
Greg Fitzsimmons
No, I don't want to talk about.
Ian Bagg
We don't want to talk about that.
Greg Fitzsimmons
I mean, we could. It's pretty crazy.
Ian Bagg
What do you think? Do you think the car is worth anything? Like, do you think it's up for sale?
Greg Fitzsimmons
Because they'd have to change the brakes.
Ian Bagg
Because it picked up speed afterwards. Like you wouldn't believe. Who would. Who would buy it? Left wing or righty wing? Who would buy that?
Greg Fitzsimmons
Mel Gibson.
Ian Bagg
Mel Gibson.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
Oh, my God.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
Somebody like that would.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
I think those guys have fun. Like to do fun stuff.
Ian Bagg
I gotta get a car that someone's.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Been murdered and not replaced the window.
Ian Bagg
Get in there, sweet tits. We're going for a ride. He's always. Do you remember. Do you remember a girl, she had blonde hair when we all first kind of moved to la. There was the Glitter Gulch. Had a comedy show. Remember that?
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
And a girl ran it and she had crazy boobs and blonde hair and I can't remember her name. She used to date Mel Gibson.
Greg Fitzsimmons
No kidding?
Ian Bagg
Yeah. And she had stories of him hanging on the front of her car when she was trying to leave after they had a fight.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Really?
Ian Bagg
Yeah. And I was just like. I was like. I'd go do shows there just to hear the stories about Mel Gibson. Yeah, yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
I mean, sometimes I hear stories like that and I think to myself, I've lived a good life, you know, And I had some crazy times when I was younger, right. But you look at a guy like that, man, I'm not even trying.
Ian Bagg
She was in that magazine, Star talking about him. Star magazine.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Really?
Ian Bagg
Yeah. Yeah, I remember. That's what I. That's how I found out. I was just like, hey, that's that girl. DeLuise. Alana DeLuise. Or something like that. Something like. I can't remember.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Dom DeLuise.
Ian Bagg
No, it wasn't. That's her. No.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Oh, by the way, guess what I did last night?
Ian Bagg
What'd you do?
Greg Fitzsimmons
Speaking of Dom deluise, I went to Judd Apitab, made a new documentary about Mel Brooks.
Ian Bagg
No way.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And it's a two parter, of course. And this was the first half, and it was the. The premiere of it. So it was very nice of Judd to invite me.
Ian Bagg
Yeah, very nice.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And so I brought my wife and it had a red carpet where, you know, you go up there and.
Ian Bagg
Nice.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And so there was a bunch of comics I'm friends with that went. And. And Mel Brooks showed up like nobody expected him to show up. He's 99 years old.
Ian Bagg
No way.
Greg Fitzsimmons
100 in June.
Ian Bagg
Of all the things he shows up to.
Greg Fitzsimmons
I know, yeah. And so he shows up and he's tiny, you know, he's like bent over and like, you know, he's 99.
Ian Bagg
Yeah, yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
But he came out. And the documentary, first of all, is just. I mean, I don't think there is a comedian, comedic director, comedic writer who does not consider Mel Brooks to be one of the fundamental influences. I mean, it's pervasive.
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And. And when I was growing up, my dad. My dad was a fanatic. And the Producers was his favorite movie of all time. And he.
Ian Bagg
You're lucky.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Play the movies for me. And then we had the 2000 year old man albums and we used to. He used to play them for me when I was a kid. We listened to over and over Again. And then when I had my son, we used to play backgammon when he was like 7 or 8 years old, we play backgammon. And I would play the 2000 Year Old man albums because I collect comedy albums, play them all. And he would be dying. So anyway, so we go out on Halloween night and. And Mel's son lives right around the corner from us, Max. He's a famous novelist. He writes graphic novels. Like Gen Z. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Generation, whatever. Anyway, so I go to Owen, we're trick or treating. He's eight years old. I go, owen, it's Mel Brooks. He goes, somebody's dressed as Mel Brooks. I go, no, it's Mel Brooks. And so I point and we walk over and I said, hi, Mr. Brooks, I'm a big fan. And Owen is a big fan as well. He goes, you're a fan? He goes. And so my son said, that's.
Ian Bagg
So you're a fan. It just works right there.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah, I'd rather have a. I'd rather have a spoiled nectarine than a fresh peach or whatever. There's a line from 2000 year old man. And so Mel Brooks died laughing. He's like, who's this fucking kid?
Ian Bagg
Who knows? No way.
Greg Fitzsimmons
So he took a picture and it's on our mantel. It's been there since he was a little kid. So anyway, like he comes out and the movie is amazing. And it's like you realize that he's a very. And by the time this podcast comes out, it will be on hbo, Max. So you can go watch it. But you see what a troubled guy. He was so insecure. I mean, he grew up, he felt like he was unattractive. I mean, you know, he's not the worst looking guy, but I guess, you know, he. I think it was very difficult. He grew up in Brooklyn and everybody was Jewish. And then once he moved to Manhattan, he felt very out of place. And I think he went to war at 17 years old. He went over to World War II.
Ian Bagg
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And he used to poke around with a stick for unexploded mines. That was his job for two years. And.
Ian Bagg
And we can't believe he takes life serious.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah, right. But I mean, you wonder why he made, you know, springtime for Hitler and all this parroting the Nazis. And Judd asked me, goes, did you do that with the intention of making a statement about. He goes, I made that because I thought that would make people laugh and that's why I do things. He goes, I'm not here too I love that.
Ian Bagg
Yeah, I love that.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
It's funny that you. So I was a huge Jonathan Winters guy growing up, right? So years ago, I went to pay my SAG bill. This is years ago at the SAG office on Wilshire. And there was a sign up tonight. Jonathan Winters doing a question and answer because of some documentary he was doing. And I was like, I gotta go see it. I gotta go see it. And he was the same way. Went to war, right. Came back, his parents had sold all his stuff because they didn't think he was gonna make it home, right? So he comes back and they're like, oh. They're like, why are you here? Right. So he talks about committing himself into loony bins is what they call. That's what he called it.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Is he Canadian?
Ian Bagg
No, no, no, he's not. I can't remember. He's Midwest guy. I think Minnesota. I think he's Minnesota.
Greg Fitzsimmons
I think he's out of Minnesota.
Ian Bagg
Yeah. Just talks. You just. You hear the sadness in him, too, right?
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
But just the funniest guy ever and just. Just all about funny. That's. It Wasn't trying to change the world.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right.
Ian Bagg
Just wanted you to escape and let him escape. Right. Do you think Mel Brooks is the same way? Just him escaping by making you laugh?
Greg Fitzsimmons
No, it was about acceptance for him because he was a smaller kid in the neighborhood. And the one thing he could do, right. The one thing he could do was he goes, everybody loved me. Everybody liked me. I made everybody laugh, and I was accepted.
Ian Bagg
That's awesome.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And so, you know, the problem with that is when his career, as he starts off and he was doing stand up from when he was 14 years old up in the Catskills, you know, and so he comes back, goes into the army at 17, comes back at 20, and now he's 20 years old, and he's been a comedian and fought in a war, you know what I mean? And so then he starts writing for Sid Caesar. He meets Sid Caesar and he's writing on, you know, your show of shows, famous writing staff of. It was Neil Simon. It was the other Neil. Woody Allen and Neil.
Ian Bagg
Yeah, I know I'm not gonna be able to name any of those names, but I know exactly what you're talking about.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And so anyway, they.
Ian Bagg
But wasn't it weird back then that all those writers were just on any of those shows, were just massive stars?
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yes.
Ian Bagg
Right.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
It's just like.
Greg Fitzsimmons
No. The writers room for Blazing Saddles.
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Richard Pryor. Yeah. Who's in the writers Room.
Ian Bagg
Yeah, yeah, Push him in there.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. So. So anyway, so he has success with that. He comes out of the gate hot, where the show stays on the air for five, six years and it's the number one show and it's one of the first shows on tv. You know, this is when TV was starting to broadcast is.
Ian Bagg
You know, this is when TV was good.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Late 40s. Right. And so he goes from that and he. I think he went out and he did. He made a movie and it tanked. And then his career just free fall. He couldn't get hired, really. Meanwhile, he had married Anne Bancroft, who. I don't know if you know who she is, but she was a huge.
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Way and movie star. And so out of his league. Everybody would meet them, be like, what. What is the deal here? How does this make sense? And so she supported him. And it was very. You know, in those days, being supported by your wife was a very difficult.
Ian Bagg
Thing looked down on.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. So he had. They had a few kids and he was very angry. He was very difficult to be around. His kids talked about it. Really everybody he talks about, he goes, I was really an asshole. I was a bad guy. Because he wasn't getting acceptance for being funny, you know. And so they. She kicked him out. And then she. He ended up meeting. No, this is. This is from. I'm sorry. This is his first wife, who was a hottie. She was a dance girl. She was like a Ziegfeld folly. And so he. He marries her, they have a bad relationship. Then he meets Anne Bancroft. She's supporting him, and then he hits it big with.
Ian Bagg
She calms him down.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Well, she encouraged him, you know. Right. He was going to give up, and she slapped him in the face and said, no, get back in there. Because, you know, one of his movies, even when he did the Producers, like, he won the Oscar for the Producers and didn't get work after that. And then he did Blaze, Blazing Saddles. It took a while back then.
Ian Bagg
She'd get canceled for today.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Oh, my God.
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
That movie be made today.
Ian Bagg
No, no. Yes. No.
Greg Fitzsimmons
I mean, look at Tropic Thunder.
Ian Bagg
Yeah. But they used the word that is nuclear now, the R word. They use the N word a lot.
Greg Fitzsimmons
In Blazing Saddles.
Ian Bagg
In Blazing Saddles.
Greg Fitzsimmons
I know my kids saw it and they were a little troubled by it.
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And they used it a lot. The movie actually showed about seven instances of somebody saying it.
Ian Bagg
Yeah. So I don't. That irreverence made that movie. Right. So can you make that movie without.
Greg Fitzsimmons
That irreverence they also punched a horse in the face and knocked it out. They also had the German singer, you know, fucking the black.
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Sheriff. And talk about how big his is. Oh, my God, she was so great. What was her name?
Ian Bagg
She was. She's a blonde girl, right? Yeah. Little. Little voice. Yeah, man. She. She was one of my first crushes.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yes.
Ian Bagg
You're just like, oh, my God, she's funny and she's gorgeous and she's like. Like that voice.
Greg Fitzsimmons
You're just like, yeah, right.
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And then, you know. And then originally, the sheriff in Blazing Saddles was this famous old Western guy. And the first day shooting, he threw up on the set a couple times because he was so drunk. He was an alcoholic, and he. I guess Mel knew he was an alcoholic, but he didn't know it was that bad.
Ian Bagg
Right.
Greg Fitzsimmons
So he gets shit canned. He's talking to Gene Wilder on the phone that day because they were friends, and Gene goes, I'll be there tomorrow. He's like, what are you talking about? He goes, I can do that role in my sleep. He goes, I can. I can make this good.
Ian Bagg
No way.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Flies out the next day and starts shooting, and that was it for him. I mean, think about it. They did Blazing Saddles together. They did Young Frankenstein together.
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
They did the Producers together.
Ian Bagg
There's also. When he starts working with Richard Pryor. Right, Gene.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right before. Stir crazy.
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
So that. That's. That sends all of that. Does he end up working with Richard Pryor if he doesn't do Blazing Saddles?
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right. And Richard Pryor was supposed to be the sheriff in Blazing Saddles.
Ian Bagg
Really?
Greg Fitzsimmons
The studio wouldn't sign off on, but.
Ian Bagg
He wrote racism works for once.
Greg Fitzsimmons
I gotta say, Richard Pryor is great. The guy who did the role was perfect.
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Because he just was so. Toothpick in the mouth, feet up on the desk, you know?
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Cool. Confident.
Ian Bagg
Yeah. So good.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
He's a. Yeah. What other movies was that guy in?
Greg Fitzsimmons
I don't know. That's a good question. Like, if I had producers that weren't playing video games on their phones right.
Ian Bagg
Now, I don't even think they're in. I don't even think they're in the building. They checked out. As soon as we started talking about black and white movies, as soon as.
Greg Fitzsimmons
We made fun of the studio.
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
They were like, fuck them. Let them do it on their own.
Ian Bagg
Why didn't they sign. Why didn't I say racism? But why didn't they sign off on Richard Pryor? Because he was Just crazy. That's.
Greg Fitzsimmons
That was the reason they thought he was too crazy. Yeah. So.
Ian Bagg
But that's. That's the first time him and. And, And, And. And Gene Wilder are working on things together.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right.
Ian Bagg
Yeah, yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And then. And then. So. So we watched the movie. It's like an hour and 45 minutes for the first part of this series. And then they bring Mel Brooks out and. And Judd chats with them for.
Ian Bagg
Does he take questions from the audience?
Greg Fitzsimmons
No, no. But he was pretty sharp for 99.
Ian Bagg
And for how long did he talk?
Greg Fitzsimmons
Good. 20 minutes.
Ian Bagg
That's insane. Yeah, that's insane.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
There are certain old guys that you see and you just like, oh, man, they are the luckiest because they're. They're still sharp.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
They still have something they love.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
And they. I'm trying to think who the hockey guy is. It's like around that age. Scotty Bowman. Scotty Bowman's the same way. I was just like. I did a roast with him.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Oh, here we go. It's up on the screen. Look how fancy we are now. We've on little leave on little. He only lived to be 53 years old. Born in. All right, do we have his other movies? Okay, zero credits. Okay. Tales from the Crypt, True Colors. In the nick of time. MacGyver. He was in MacGyver.
Ian Bagg
Who wasn't?
Greg Fitzsimmons
I know. That's like Coach.
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Everybody has coach in their credits.
Ian Bagg
Fletch lives.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Alf.
Ian Bagg
No way.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. 1987. He was an Alf. That's his last credit. Would you do it if you knew it was going to be your last credit credit?
Ian Bagg
Absolutely. Just for this? Just knowing this is going to happen later on in life when you weren't there.
Greg Fitzsimmons
No. And not only does he still enjoy it, he currently is producing part two of Young Frankenstein. Younger Frankenstein.
Ian Bagg
They're doing space balls as well.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Oh, I don't know.
Ian Bagg
I think they're doing Spaceballs.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Maybe that's what I'm thinking of. I thought it was Young Frankenstein too. Maybe both. And he's got a TV show on the air they're filming now with Zach Galifianakis in it.
Ian Bagg
Oh, my God, that's awesome.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. At 99. And then he talked. Oh, my God, I was so sad. He talked about Carl Reiner, his best friend for his whole life, and somehow Rob Reiner came up and he. And he just. His head just went down and he said, I'm just so glad that Carl was not alive to see what happened. And. And I mean, somehow within 30 seconds, he got a laugh. He got out of it and was. Had the audience. Because the audience is laughing really hard.
Ian Bagg
Right, right. But that's his. That's his talent. Like you. Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
That.
Ian Bagg
That kind of pain causes that kind of humor. Right, right, right. It is, yeah. Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
I mean, that's one that I can't. I still can't process that Rob Reiner thing.
Ian Bagg
Like. Like, you know what I can't process is, is process. I say process because I'm Canadian, is how great of a kid Rob Reiner and was to his father and. And how kind of if from what you hear, there was nothing like that with him and that kid.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
Like, that just blows my. I'm just like.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Well.
Ian Bagg
And he gave him every opportunity. But.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
I mean, he still wasn't.
Greg Fitzsimmons
I think it was just a mental illness. It was an extreme mental illness with the. Started medicating with drugs.
Ian Bagg
Right. Self medicating.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
So I don't know what you do with that. You know, I don't know. I don't think there's anything.
Ian Bagg
You don't take him to Conan's party, I'll tell you that much.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right. Jesus. Yeah, I know Conan feels about that because, you know, they were trying to call the police.
Ian Bagg
Really?
Greg Fitzsimmons
And Conan talked him out of it. He told him to not call the police.
Ian Bagg
Oh, my God. I'm back to being a Leno fan.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Is that our clip for the week?
Ian Bagg
Cheers. Did you go to that party?
Greg Fitzsimmons
Conan's party?
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
No.
Ian Bagg
Really? I would think you'd be running with those people.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
Are you serious? You looked at me like, what, are you kidding?
Greg Fitzsimmons
No, I go to some parties. No, I don't go to a lot of parties.
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
I mean, Jud.
Ian Bagg
Not murder parties.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Judd's very good to me. You go to all of his parties?
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Openings, premieres, all that stuff.
Ian Bagg
I find him fascinating. I find him. His documentaries. His Shandling documentary was fantastic.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. Yeah.
Ian Bagg
I find. Do I think he's the funniest comic? No, I think he's horrible. Right. But what he does with film and stuff like those documentaries, I don't think he can be touched.
Greg Fitzsimmons
No. And it's such a service when you think about the fact that first of all, he came up as a writer. He wrote for Gary Shanley. He was a very successful writer.
Ian Bagg
Right.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Then he becomes a director who puts out like, seminal period of filmmaking where R rated comedies came back hard, like, can't be touched.
Ian Bagg
Right, right.
Greg Fitzsimmons
It's.
Ian Bagg
It's insane when like, that's. That's talent. I Don't know. I don't. And don't take it as his stand up, because I don't. I don't think. I think he's one of those guys that loves stand up so much. He wants to be part of it.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yes.
Ian Bagg
But he has this incredible talent, and he's like, but if I could just have that.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Everybody wants stand. I mean, how many.
Ian Bagg
Right.
Greg Fitzsimmons
How many actors do you know that like, started in stand up, then they.
Ian Bagg
Went into musicians, they all rappers.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah, everybody. But then Judd transitions into documentary filmmaking, and you realize what a gift it is to the world that Norm MacDonald, Bob Newhart, Mel Brooks, Garry Shandling, that he is. He is putting forever documentation of their talent in a way that is presented where it's honest. It's not a fluff piece. I mean, they really got very much into Mel's dark side this, and he did with Shandling. I felt like Shandling, maybe it could have been more. I feel like Shandling had a little bit more of an attitude of being not such a nice guy.
Ian Bagg
Shandling was. One day he liked you, one day he didn't.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah, right.
Ian Bagg
And that was my relationship with. And I think a lot of guys would, like.
Greg Fitzsimmons
From the comedy magic.
Ian Bagg
From the comedy magic. One day he thought I was the most brilliant thing he'd ever seen. Next day, pretend he didn't even recognize me. Right.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
And I would push it back to him. And I think that's why I got the other side a little bit more than the dark side.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah, right, right. Oh, he liked that you were pushing back. Yeah, yeah.
Ian Bagg
I'll beat the fuck out of you.
Greg Fitzsimmons
But, yeah, but I mean, in terms of that, he's really. He's a huge service for the comedy world and for the history of comedy to document these great performers.
Ian Bagg
Well, his. He knows comedy. Like, he knows. He knows funny with what he can do with film and documentary and writing. It's like, if this comes across, like, I'm lacking respect on him. No, it's just we have this other thing called stand up that I know not every funny person can do. Like, the funniest people I know in the world don't do Stan.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right, right, right. Feral.
Ian Bagg
Yeah. Yeah. Just guys that I grew up with. Right. So.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. All right. I have questions for you.
Ian Bagg
Oh, shit. I hate this.
Greg Fitzsimmons
You don't. You love this. I love questions. Last time I asked you who your best Asian friend was.
Ian Bagg
Shabby Lee. No.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Did I ask you it last?
Ian Bagg
No.
Greg Fitzsimmons
It's one of the. Is it. Is it Bobby Lee?
Ian Bagg
No.
Greg Fitzsimmons
I love should have an asterisk. When I ask this question, you're not.
Ian Bagg
Allowed to say, that's really funny. It's, it's my wife's friend Candace. I think she's fantastic and she's the most interesting person I've ever met. She's got, she's got a doctorate in, and a bunch of things and, and just, just fascinating to me. 50 year old single woman, good looking woman, really has never been able to find love and attractive. Attractive.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Nice feet.
Ian Bagg
Jesus would have loved them, right? Jesus would have been watching those motherfuckers. Oh, he would have been all over them.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Pedicure.
Ian Bagg
Just, just, just fascinating to me. And I, we call her canned ass.
Greg Fitzsimmons
So that would be funny if, if you had a nail salon and you called it Jesus pedicures.
Ian Bagg
That's really funny.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And it's just a picture of him on his knees. Little sits bath.
Ian Bagg
Nails for nails for Jesus. Jesus nailed it. Oh my God.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And when he washes your feet, the water he uses is actually wine at the end.
Ian Bagg
At the end.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Gives skin a glow.
Ian Bagg
And you get a glass. They don't bring it. They always talk about them washing feet, but they don't say it might have been a fetish.
Greg Fitzsimmons
It's true, you know, and there was a reason why he demanded the women wear open toed sandals on those walks.
Ian Bagg
Oh, absolutely.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
So he had something to wash afterwards, right?
Greg Fitzsimmons
You want him dirty?
Ian Bagg
Sand on his feet dirty? Oh, yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Mmm.
Ian Bagg
Proverb.
Greg Fitzsimmons
I'm, I'm not a, I don't have a foot fetish, but I appreciate a good set of feet on a woman.
Ian Bagg
I'm not, I'm not a foot fetish guy, but you, you, every so often you'll go, oh, yeah, right, right, yeah. Oh, wow.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Sure.
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And then once in a while you.
Ian Bagg
Look and you go, whoa, Jesus, those are some dogs there. God damn.
Greg Fitzsimmons
They're all different lengths she goes.
Ian Bagg
She'd go to Iraq for a couple years and then I didn't give her boots during the war. What the hell happened?
Greg Fitzsimmons
She have a Fred Flintstone car?
Ian Bagg
Ooh, this is some bricks, baby.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Well, dancers sometimes have those mangled feet being on their toes all those years.
Ian Bagg
Basketball guys. I'm not, I'm not. Every so often they'll show like LeBron's feet and you're like, what?
Greg Fitzsimmons
The Dennis Rodmans are a disaster.
Ian Bagg
Yeah, the rest of his body looks fine compared to his feet.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Jesus, fine how?
Ian Bagg
I'm talking like alcoholism.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Good thing he plays defense if he's around.
Ian Bagg
You try to keep those hands down. There, buddy.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Traveling towards him.
Ian Bagg
Three throw, free throw.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Elastic shorts, belt to deal with.
Ian Bagg
Short them. I'm surprised guys don't do that on the court more, right? I'm like. It just seems like the most obvious way to get this guy. You're gonna get fouled. Just massive black guy with a tiny weenie.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. I imagine the Harlem Globetrotters must pull that move, right?
Ian Bagg
I've never seen them, but you never.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Saw the Harlem Globetrotters? No, dude. When I was a kid, you talk about. It's so funny when you think about comedy influence. Mel Brooks, Steve Martin, people name the pillars, right? But when I go deeper and I really think about my influences, like, Harlem Globetrotters were huge.
Ian Bagg
That's funny.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And because they. They all had different Personas, and it was this Marx Brothers dynamic where the New Jersey Generals was the team. They played every game, right? And they, they. They made fools of them, but they were the status quo guys. They were the good looking white guys. These are the black guys from Harlem, and they were mocking them. They were making fools out of them. And it was like the Marx Brothers, you know?
Ian Bagg
Yeah, yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
I love that energy. And then the other weird comedy influence that I would say I had, well, that obviously certain cartoons, like Bugs Bunny was huge.
Ian Bagg
Absolutely bugs.
Greg Fitzsimmons
So long, Screwy. See you in St. Louis.
Ian Bagg
Love it.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And then the Jerky Boys, the Prank Calls. Remember the Jerky Boys?
Ian Bagg
I never got to know them until I came to New York. That was the first time I'd ever heard it. I'm like. I'm like, what is this? And that. I had no idea that influenced the Simpsons, you know what I mean, with the Prank Call. So I was like, those. If those. The Jerky Boys, did they ever. Were they ever standups or anything?
Greg Fitzsimmons
No. They tried to do a couple movies that were really bad, and there was maybe. I think the first two volumes did extremely well. And I don't. I don't know how well it went after that.
Ian Bagg
Do you. Do you think if it came out now, they would be monstrous stars? Just because the Internet. Right.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah, because what they did was. I mean, so many people have done prank calls since then. Jim Florentine's very good at it. Obviously. Crank Yankers is. Had like a ton of great ones, but they did it in a way that was like. You felt like there was like three idiots from Queens. Right. Who were really funny. It's almost like how impractical jokers is so much funnier because you know that they're friends, right? Grew up together.
Ian Bagg
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And I feel like that with those guys. You know, me and my friend, still to this day, every time he answers the phone, we do the. I don't see so good. God damn it. I'll bring all my shoes. And we talk to each other like that. Maybe 10 to 15 minutes at the beginning of every call.
Ian Bagg
That's awesome. Yeah, yeah, that's good friends right there. That'll do. Fifteen minutes.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Who were your offbeat comedy influences that most people wouldn't think of.
Ian Bagg
Really?
Greg Fitzsimmons
I mean, Jonathan Winter is, obviously, but.
Ian Bagg
It was those early, like, when I was a kid, those crazy movies like Cannonball Run and stuff like that.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Yeah.
Ian Bagg
But also some Bill Murray movies that never became huge. Like Meatballs. Meatballs was great. Just so good. Up the Creek. Remember that one?
Greg Fitzsimmons
No.
Ian Bagg
There was one night when they go paddling. I just. Those though that era of movies shaped me. Yeah. Just. Yeah, yeah. I'm also Bob and Doug McKenzie. Strange brew.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Ian Bagg
Which is just the funniest part about Bob and Doug McKenzie, from what I've heard. And by the way, that's another great documentary, is the John Candy documentary.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Oh, I heard that. Yeah.
Ian Bagg
And it's a. It's a two parter because you. It's really dark for you.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
You're like. I just, like. I had to stop watching and come back to it because I was just like, this is taking me down a road. I don't know if I can do. But that. That Bob and Doug McKenzie, apparently, because SCTV was filmed in Canada, they needed Canadian content. Right. So they just came up with that stupid thing and just like to fill. Fill their Canadian content and then became a huge thing. Right. So that's what I like about that story.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. Yeah. That was huge. That was like Cheech and Chong and Bob and Doug were. Were the sort of like real underground feeling.
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
You know, they were the less commercial Wayne's World.
Ian Bagg
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
MAD Magazine was huge for me.
Ian Bagg
Cracked.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Oh, were you crack?
Ian Bagg
Cracked Guy. Wow. Yeah. And I don't. I don't know why I was a crack guy. I don't know if I couldn't get Mad Magazine or. But I was. But that can't be true because everybody else read MAD and I read Cracked.
Greg Fitzsimmons
I read Cracked as well.
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. We had a really cool librarian at my school, and they used to stock MAD and Cracked. Really? And National Lampoon in high school.
Ian Bagg
I never got National Lampoon.
Greg Fitzsimmons
That was really great. That was very smart. It was very satirical. It had Like a point of view.
Ian Bagg
Have you seen the Chevy Chase documentary?
Greg Fitzsimmons
Did you say Chevy Chase?
Ian Bagg
Chevy.
Greg Fitzsimmons
You said Chevy.
Ian Bagg
I say Chevy. Yeah, what'd you say?
Greg Fitzsimmons
Well, it's Chevy Chase.
Ian Bagg
I say Chevy.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Well, you shouldn't.
Ian Bagg
I call him the Levy.
Greg Fitzsimmons
What if the Levy breaks?
Ian Bagg
Say it again.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Chevy Chase.
Ian Bagg
What'd I say?
Greg Fitzsimmons
Chevy Chase, like the car.
Ian Bagg
Okay. I never thought of. I never thought I was saying it. I didn't think I was saying it like the car, but I didn't. I never realized I said the car like that. Huh. I'm only 50.
Greg Fitzsimmons
So the documentary is good.
Ian Bagg
The documentary is interesting. And I wanted to know what your feeling about him was, because people think he's an asshole, Right?
Greg Fitzsimmons
Well, I can tell you very firsthand on that.
Ian Bagg
Okay.
Greg Fitzsimmons
His daughter, who were both friends, fantastic comedy story, is just the sweetest. She's so great, so fun.
Ian Bagg
I want to know, because I can't. I'll tell you my first. I can't tell if he had something. Because that worked. And now it no longer works, but he keeps trying it, which turns him into an. Because it doesn't work. He goes. He just keeps getting deeper, deeper into it. But you have something different.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Well, I mean, obviously, growing up, I've loved Fletch and what was the movie he did with Fletch, too? He did a bunch of grab. Well, obviously the family Vacation and anyway, so I get asked to do the Comedy Central roast of Chevy Chase, and, you know, I'm like, I had no.
Ian Bagg
Idea they did that for him, because that must not have been good.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Oh, it was not good at all.
Ian Bagg
Oh, my God.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Because we all get there, and. And first of all, the lineup. Why am I on the lineup? Like, I don't know. Chevy Chase, Right? That was an immediate red flag. Because usually it's like, you know, guys you've done films with. He was on snl. How many people can you pick from on that alone?
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And so it's me, it's Al Franken, it's Stephen Colbert, Jeffrey Ross, Lisa Lampanelli, Kevin Meaney, Todd Barry, Mark Marin. I forget who else.
Ian Bagg
So nobody he knows.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Nobody he knows. And so he shows up with an attitude. He's like, I don't know any of these people. They're like, yeah, they went out to Diane Cannon. They went out.
Ian Bagg
Everybody said, no, nobody wants to do.
Greg Fitzsimmons
It except Lorraine Newman. She was the one person that showed up.
Ian Bagg
Okay?
Greg Fitzsimmons
So we get up there, and he puts on mirrored sunglasses and he faces away from the dais and does not crack a smile for Ian it was a four hour show because.
Ian Bagg
Oh, my God.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Because they. And it was at. Starting at one in the afternoon at the Hilton in New York. And it's all old people because it was the Friar's Club. It used to be the Friars Club Comedy Central roast. So it was all these old Jews from the Friars Club.
Ian Bagg
Oh, my God.
Greg Fitzsimmons
So everybody's bombing because they're looking at Chevy and they're looking at us. We make a joke, they look at Chevy. So it was killing the room. He didn't shake hands with anybody backstage before the show. And then I went up and I went second to last.
Ian Bagg
Oh, my God. On a roast.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. Fun of fun.
Ian Bagg
Can I interrupt? Did anybody try talking you out of it? Did you try talking yourself out of it?
Greg Fitzsimmons
I was 29 years old.
Ian Bagg
And you were just thrilled. Yeah, until that. Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
All right.
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
So I get jokes. I was like, I heard Chevy's answering machine. It says, I'll take it. I called Paul Schaefer, Dr. Phil with AIDS.
Ian Bagg
Oh, my God.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. And so anyway, like, I had good jokes. And like, the New York Post did a story about it, and they listed two of my jokes, and I got cut out of the spa. I never aired because it was four hours. It was a. You know, they aired 90 minutes. So a lot of people got cut.
Ian Bagg
But the New York Post picks two of your.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Well, they were there live. They were.
Ian Bagg
But they picked two of your jokes. You think they go, hey, maybe that those were some good jokes right there. Maybe we should put that in.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. But I think it's probably for the best. I don't know how good it would have looked, but. So I didn't have any love for him. But then I met him. He came in to see his daughter at the store, and I met him one night and he watched my set, and it was very complimentary, and we had a really nice long talk. And I told him about the roast. And he goes, you know, I only did that because my wife had a charity. And, you know, they donate like a million dollars to the charity or something.
Ian Bagg
Right.
Greg Fitzsimmons
He goes, but I didn't really want to do it. And I was like, you shouldn't have done it.
Ian Bagg
You shouldn't have done it. Should. Should have just gave the million dollars. But.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right.
Ian Bagg
I. I did a gig not too long ago that I shouldn't have done for a friend. I did this. Who's the old. My God of age. And I can't remember anybody.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Carlin Williams.
Ian Bagg
No. He's the manager for the Yankees when they won all The. All the pennants.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Lou Piniella.
Ian Bagg
No, just in the late 2000s. Mid 2000s. Joe Torre.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Joe Torrey. Two first names. I told you. Yeah, yeah. What's up, Tory?
Ian Bagg
That's really funny. Well, my buddy Joe Torrey apparently came from an abusive family.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Oh, Jesus.
Ian Bagg
Right. So they do a fundraiser for Joe Torrey every year because he has a foundation to make it safe at home for kids, right? And they want dark humor at it. I've heard a couple other comedians have done it. My friends like, will you do it for me? I'm on this board and I'm like, yeah, okay. I go, it's gonna suck, but I'll do it. Okay. It's in New York, it's in la. And go. It's no money. It's just me popping and doing right in front of a bunch of rich kids, right? But rich people. And I go, I need a light on me. Good sound. And they can't be eating when I'm up.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Okay, that's fair, right?
Ian Bagg
That's all I need. Well, guess. Guess who's getting salads. That's not eating. No light. Sounds horrible. Joe Tor goes up, mumbles. And now and introduces. Introduce me. Come on.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Which, by the way, mumbled. And what they could hear was him talking about abused children.
Ian Bagg
Yeah, yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Before you.
Ian Bagg
Yeah, yeah. A lot of kids are abused. Anyways, let's get on the stage right now. Comedian. And I go up there and it's just clink, clank, clank, clink. No lights on, rich people. All these old guys with young women. And I go, it's nice to be here at this father daughter dance, right? And it just goes downhill from there. Just, just, just. And there's a group of hot girls. And I go, it was when Katy Perry went to Space Girls. How was space? And they laughed and everybody else. And then this old guy chirped me and I go, I go, who's. Is that your grandson or your kidney donor, right? And it goes. All of a sudden, I see Joe Torrey walking towards me and I go, holy shit, I'm Andy Pettit in the World Series. I'm getting the ball taken away from.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right?
Ian Bagg
So I end it with. For a bunch of people that are supposed to make people feel safe, you suck. And I just walk off. I'm like, suck my dick. Baseball sucks. Just keep walking through it. Oh, it's horrible. It was horrible.
Greg Fitzsimmons
But. Oh, those, those. And it really does come down to that first joke on those gigs. If that. If your first joke on a private gig does not work. They decide as a group. As a group that they are going to shut down. And they. And because the dynamic is it's. It's social climate types.
Ian Bagg
Absolutely.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And so they don't want to laugh at stuff nobody else is laughing at. So there's never. Usually on a bad gig, there's at least a pocket. So it's like a.
Ian Bagg
It's like you find that pocket in.
Greg Fitzsimmons
A fire and you stoke that pocket, and maybe you can get it to start to spread.
Ian Bagg
Right.
Greg Fitzsimmons
But when you don't have.
Ian Bagg
Or you stay with that pocket, or.
Greg Fitzsimmons
You just stay with that pocket. Right, right.
Ian Bagg
But there's no pocket.
Greg Fitzsimmons
I did a gig like that at the Four Seasons, and it was for a famous music entertainment lawyer, like the biggest one in the business. I can't remember his name, but I went up and they introduced me as. Everybody is still standing. And there are. The photographer for the event is in front of the stage with the most famous people in music. And they're taking pictures.
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And I'm standing at a podium with one of those thin microphones, and I have to ask people to sit down for five minutes.
Ian Bagg
You're douche. And now you're a douche.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And everybody hates me. I'm the police. I'm the cops. And then they finally sit down.
Ian Bagg
They also don't think you're the comedian. They think you work for the hotel.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Exactly. Well, I was wearing a red.
Ian Bagg
Yeah. And had keys. Somebody forgot their Audi.
Greg Fitzsimmons
I should have done that. And then. So I get him to sit down, and now I am tanking. And meanwhile, my agent, who never comes to see.
Ian Bagg
Oh, my God, that's hilarious.
Greg Fitzsimmons
He comes out because he booked it and he knew there's gonna be a lot of famous people there. So he comes. He wants to hop front row, and he never sees me live, so I'm feeling the. The pressure. And so. But in the front row was a table with Cheryl Crow and her friends, and she threw me a lifeline. They really put their heads back and laughed and clapped. And it's like you said, I just played to that one table.
Ian Bagg
That's. I didn't. I would say those girls, those hot girls, they may have liked me, but.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Mary Fitzgerald, okay, She's from Boston. Accent, Fitzy Dorchester, tough chick. Her father was a bookie for Whitey Bulger.
Ian Bagg
Jesus Christ.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah, he was in jail a lot. Fitzy. It's the hotline. You are so good. Are you playing golf? No, I'm doing a podcast. You know Ian Bagg? Comedian Ian Bagg? Yeah.
Ian Bagg
Oh, shit. Hi.
Greg Fitzsimmons
He's sitting here. I thought there was more for that. Hi, Ian.
Ian Bagg
How are you? Hey. Good, thanks.
Greg Fitzsimmons
We're recording now. So is there anything you want to promote on the podcast the Last OG Or Cougar Town? She's a writer. She writes on all these shows. Cougar Town, some other projects from 15 years ago. Sure. Well, what's. What's the most recent project? I don't have one, babe. I'm enjoying teaching at Asylum Improv in Boston. That's. That's my project.
Ian Bagg
That's awesome.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. Now Mary is. Mary is one of the. She was one of the top writers in Hollywood for many, many years. And then this thing called Covid happened.
Ian Bagg
Never heard of it.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And then Hollywood decided to shutter everything, and now I'm doing podcasts with Road Road Comics. Not even Jesus.
Ian Bagg
Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came at me hard. Road Comics.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Ian was a. He was a finalist in Laska comic standing in 2015. Right.
Ian Bagg
And then Covid, and then CO.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Five years later.
Ian Bagg
I know it. Me. It me hard.
Greg Fitzsimmons
You know what, Ian? My dad died of COVID And that wasn't the worst thing that happened.
Ian Bagg
Oh, okay. I had no idea.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Dad's dead. Yeah. But I. I can't get a job. Yeah, right.
Ian Bagg
That's really funny.
Greg Fitzsimmons
I was at Mary's father's funeral, and it was. Picture the most Irish pub and the most Irish part of Boston, and it was a bunch of guys that looked like they were all double parked.
Ian Bagg
They're all three hours.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Those kinds of guys.
Ian Bagg
And they're also. They're also checking the bottom of the car before they got in. Why does everybody have a mirror on a stick?
Greg Fitzsimmons
Do they all work at the airport? Yeah. I didn't know it. I didn't know an Adidas tracksuit was appropriate for us for awake. Oh, yeah, no, that's. That's dress wear.
Ian Bagg
My God, how many Celtics could be here? Oh, my God.
Greg Fitzsimmons
All right, Fitzy, we're gonna play paddle tennis this. This week.
Ian Bagg
All right. I gotta get over this.
Greg Fitzsimmons
This awful head cold. Oh, Jesus. Will you stop?
Ian Bagg
Great. We're just did too many covert jokes.
Greg Fitzsimmons
It. It's called menopause, Mary. It's called menopause.
Ian Bagg
Quit smoking.
Greg Fitzsimmons
All right. Okay. See ya.
Ian Bagg
Nice to meet you. Take care. Bye.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Bye. She's the best I've known her.
Ian Bagg
And her father was Whitey Bulger's bookie.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
My God.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And there's got to be things in that house she grew up with. She had three brothers and Two sisters and the brothers were Golden Globes champs. The toughest kids in Dorchester. And then.
Ian Bagg
That sounds terrifying.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
Why would you create your own death wish at home with those three kids? Oh, my God.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And so then she goes and she gets a scholarship to Phillips Academy, which is where, like, George Bush went. It's like the most blue blood Ivy League school, but she gets in. I don't know if it was academics or if she was really good at track, but she gets a full ride to this private school school. And then she gets a full scholarship to Wellesley, which is like one of the best women's colleges in the country. And then she gets a writing fellowship to nyu. So she goes there for free. Gets her masters.
Ian Bagg
My God.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And then. But I met her. I was at BU and she was at Wellesley, but she was. She was dating. There was an Irish guy from Belfast, Sean Burgoyne, and he was a Catholic kid from Belfast, and he came over to this country.
Ian Bagg
I think that might be one of the funniest terms I've ever heard. There was an Irish kid from Belfast.
Greg Fitzsimmons
I meant Catholic. I meant Catholic.
Ian Bagg
He started with Irish kid from Belfast. I'm like, okay.
Greg Fitzsimmons
So he sleeps on my couch. He comes out. In the fall, there's a regatta, which is a boat race on the Charles river in Boston called Head of the Charles. And my brother, who knew him, sends him up to Boston and says, stay with my brother for the weekend. You gotta go to this regatta. Stays for the weekend. This is in October. And he stayed until May on our couch. Four guys in an apartment and Sean on the couch. And he was the greatest dude. So he starts dating Mary, and I meet Mary through him, and we stayed friends. So it's been 35 years.
Ian Bagg
That's awesome.
Greg Fitzsimmons
My closest friends.
Ian Bagg
Sean put it all together.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yep. We lived in New York together. And out here, you live with her out there? I never lived with her, but we lived in New York at the same time. And LA at the same time in Venice Beach.
Ian Bagg
Hold on.
Greg Fitzsimmons
So is mine.
Ian Bagg
I've hit that age.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Jesus. Where orifices just.
Ian Bagg
Yeah, just. Just leaking for no apparent reason.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right.
Ian Bagg
Hopefully it's the top one, not the bottom one.
Greg Fitzsimmons
All right, let's get to it.
Ian Bagg
Was there music?
Greg Fitzsimmons
Have you. Did you hear it? You didn't hear?
Ian Bagg
I'm guessing we're pretending right now. Shabbat doo. Shabba dabba dooey.
Greg Fitzsimmons
No, it's like inside the Actor's Studio. It's just a long pause.
Ian Bagg
I love it.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah. Have you ever been arrested?
Ian Bagg
I have not.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Okay. Where did you lose Your virginity?
Ian Bagg
Australia 2.
Greg Fitzsimmons
A hooker at what age?
Ian Bagg
18.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Price?
Ian Bagg
150.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Was it just you or your friends jumped in on her as well?
Ian Bagg
Well, I didn't have much money at the time, so I had to barter with all five of us for 150. No, no, it was one guy. It was me. It wasn't. Wasn't a hooker. I was just a girl, but still cost me money.
Greg Fitzsimmons
How'd you meet her? Through.
Ian Bagg
Through my cousin.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Oh, so she was like a regular among him and his friends?
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Attractive.
Ian Bagg
Yeah, I thought so.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
Yeah. Who knows? Later on in life, girls look different. Right. So not saying she's age, but she may have not have been attractive. But I was so young and horny. She may have been attractive.
Greg Fitzsimmons
How old do you think she was?
Ian Bagg
I think she was probably three or four years old. She was from this island.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Have you ever won any awards?
Ian Bagg
No.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Trophies?
Ian Bagg
Yeah, yeah. Like hockey, you know, just stupid hockey.
Greg Fitzsimmons
What's the highest. What's the biggest trophy or the most important trophy to you that you won in hockey?
Ian Bagg
Just, you know. You know, we. We went to the Winter Games, the British Columbia winter games, northern B.C. winter games, and we won, I think, a bronze. So I think that's. That was my.
Greg Fitzsimmons
You would have thought, you would have said the Police and Fireman's League at the Chelsea Piers. We played on a team together and won the championship.
Ian Bagg
You got me. You got me. That is. That was. That was actually. That was actually the best team meal afterwards.
Greg Fitzsimmons
It was.
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Tim Robbins took us out to a steakhouse.
Ian Bagg
Yeah, we weren't. We weren't dealing with that steakhouse back then.
Greg Fitzsimmons
No, we were not.
Ian Bagg
We were very excited about it.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ian Bagg
This is fantastic.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Well, I think it was. He's won Oscars, and I think that was more important to him. He's such. He's such a hockey fanatic. Yeah, he really was, like. It was a huge deal to him that we won.
Ian Bagg
He was very serious about it and very excited when we won.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ian Bagg
And then all those guys taken out by 9. 11.
Greg Fitzsimmons
I know.
Ian Bagg
So we've got to win many, many times after that. First place. Again, the actors.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Oh, my God. All right. Did we in fact land on the moon?
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Okay.
Ian Bagg
Yeah. If we're gonna fake something, the moon doesn't seem that impressive. Right.
Greg Fitzsimmons
I think if we were gonna fake it, we should have had all women working in the control towers.
Ian Bagg
Oh, that's really funny. Or at least a woman there when we landed.
Greg Fitzsimmons
This is so great. This is amazing how you share her.
Ian Bagg
On the right side. Why would you pick this side?
Greg Fitzsimmons
This is the dark side.
Ian Bagg
Oh, my God. If you do one more U turn, I'm gonna puke on you. Why are you doing so many U turns? Because I have to. I don't care.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Come on, we gotta go. I'm not ready. We have to launch. Who would you want to play you in the biopic of Ian Bag? Oh.
Ian Bagg
Oh, Jonah Hill. At a bad time? Oh, yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Okay.
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
What do you mean, at a bad time?
Ian Bagg
Well, you know, he's been very different weights, so. Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
This weight go up and down.
Ian Bagg
Yeah. Because it fluctuates.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Oh, because I would have thought you.
Ian Bagg
Said, oh, that's what. In and out.
Greg Fitzsimmons
He doesn't get taller.
Ian Bagg
He does. He gains it all on his feet. Somebody with a giant head. I was. Let me see.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Jeff Garland.
Ian Bagg
That'd be good. Maybe Will Ferrell. Heavy Will Ferrell. That might be fun.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're much thinner than he used to be, though.
Ian Bagg
I'm up and down.
Greg Fitzsimmons
I'm like, are you up and down or are you side?
Ian Bagg
Side to side? I'm, I'm thick. This way. Not. Yeah, this way. Not this way.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Where would you say, where are you in your range right now? You seem like you're in a good. Good.
Ian Bagg
Yeah, I'm pretty good. Yeah, I'm pretty good. I think I, I, I think I should be down further down.
Greg Fitzsimmons
What was your maximum weight?
Ian Bagg
Oh, I think I was at three. Three bills.
Greg Fitzsimmons
No.
Ian Bagg
Yeah. Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Were you really?
Ian Bagg
Yeah. Surprised, because what was your maximum weight?
Greg Fitzsimmons
151.
Ian Bagg
Exactly. Yeah. But I've always been basically the double size size of you. If I stand next to you, I'd be the double size of you. Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Wow.
Ian Bagg
It's fun. Speaking of canned ass from earlier, we took her skating once in Carrie Ann was like, take her for a rip around the ice. Right. Because she can't skate. I just, I remember I felt like she was made of balsa wood. Ripping her around, I'm like, oh, my God. So light. I should have went with an Asian.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Should have gone Asian.
Ian Bagg
Oh, God, if I could only go back in time.
Greg Fitzsimmons
All right, last question. When's the last time you apologized?
Ian Bagg
I'm Canadian, so probably, probably earlier today I said sorry, but for no apparent reason. But really apologized.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah, deeply. Because you apologized to me for running late for the.
Ian Bagg
Yeah, I. Well, you asked me to be here at 11. It said I was supposed to be five minutes early, and then all of a sudden it was 11:03. And then I was stopped on the freeway, and I was just. I hate that because, you know.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Well, I was stuck in the same traffic, so we were fine.
Ian Bagg
Okay.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Got here late as well.
Ian Bagg
You didn't let me know. I would have been just hanging.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yes, I did.
Ian Bagg
After I texted you.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ian Bagg
You don't apologize.
Greg Fitzsimmons
I'm Irish.
Ian Bagg
We blame and take responsibility, but keep it inside Catholic guilt. I actually. I've re. My mother died last year, and my father and I had a really tough relationship for the last five to 10 years. And I apologize to my father for not understanding what he was going through and making our relationship worse because I hadn't. I didn't. I didn't get how sick my mom was. So.
Greg Fitzsimmons
So that sick for, like, five years.
Ian Bagg
About five years, yeah. Like, we. We dealt with, like, heart stuff and some other things happened and. And, you know, so I didn't get it. I didn't get it until afterwards when I could see the relief, you know, like her being out of pain and him not being worried the whole time.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Right, right.
Ian Bagg
And so I apologize for just being a piece of shit kid. So. Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And how did he accept it?
Ian Bagg
He did. He did pretty good with it, like. Yeah. Yeah, he did.
Greg Fitzsimmons
He.
Ian Bagg
He actually, you know, he said, oh, I thought I was being mean. I was like, no, it was me not getting it, you know? Yeah. I mean, just not understanding. So. Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
And this was all long distance.
Ian Bagg
It was that harder, but it was. Yeah. Yeah. So. But. But when I go home to visit them, it was really, really bad, like our relationship. So.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
And I always thought it was him, but it was actually me.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Ian Bagg
So. Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
All right. Good for you.
Ian Bagg
So it started to get deep on that.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Well, if you want to see him get a lot lighter than that, he will be in Edmonton, January 30th through February 1st. Then Vancouver on February 2nd, 6th and 7th. Omaha, February 13th and 14th. You're not going to be with your woman on Valentine's Day.
Ian Bagg
That's my promo shot. Hey, baby, you want to go to Omaha for Valentine's Day? No, Fuck off.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Did you say Hawaii? Oh, Omaha. No, I'm good.
Ian Bagg
I'm taking her Hawaii. February. February 8th.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Oh, so that'll be your 8th to 12th?
Ian Bagg
Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Yeah, yeah. London, Ontario, Toronto, Montreal, Vegas. Calgary. Stress factory in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Ian Bagg
Do you like it?
Greg Fitzsimmons
Love it.
Ian Bagg
Me too.
Greg Fitzsimmons
You shouldn't love it because they're rowdy. It's like a lot of Jersey. Italian Goombas. I love it. And they challenge you, but I. I love that I thrive off.
Ian Bagg
Yeah, it's a. And it's a. It's an oddly shaped room.
Greg Fitzsimmons
It is.
Ian Bagg
With an oddly placed bar.
Greg Fitzsimmons
It should not work.
Ian Bagg
It should not work. But it is fun.
Greg Fitzsimmons
It is.
Ian Bagg
Yeah. Yeah.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Orlando and Vinnie's deaf club owner who hosts the show is deaf and he brings in eggs for to put on the cheeseburgers that are from his chickens in his backyard.
Ian Bagg
And mad at the government because he's not supposed to.
Greg Fitzsimmons
Oh, my God, is he mad at the government. Nashville, Lexington, Winnipeg, go to Ian bag. Two GS. The second G is for good comedy.
Ian Bagg
Oh, my God. Thanks for having me, Greg. I always enjoy being around you.
Greg Fitzsimmons
This is great. Thank you, man. You too. I love having you in.
Ian Bagg
Thanks, buddy.
Greg Fitzsimmons
All right, we'll see you soon. You. Did you say you.
This episode of Fitzdog Radio brings together host Greg Fitzsimmons and his longtime friend and fellow comedian Ian Bagg for a loose, hilariously candid, and affectionate conversation. The duo reminisce about their roots in New York and their journeys through stand-up and life, moving easily between comedy history, showbiz war stories, personal confessions, and offbeat riffs. The episode brims with irreverence and wit, offering a warm insight into the world and minds of two veteran comics.
[13:06–24:51]
[29:06–32:19]
[36:02–41:16]
[41:44–50:33]
[63:39–65:13]
[32:22–63:39]
On Mel Brooks’ influence:
On Judd Apatow:
On brutal show gigs:
On apologies and family:
On why comics tour rough rooms:
The tone is lively, warm, irreverent, and always ready to nudge any subject—tragedy, showbiz, sex, family, or religion—into the absurd or the heartfelt. Fitzsimmons’s sharp, wry delivery pairs with Bagg’s spontaneous, irrepressible riffing for a conversation that feels both meaningful and recklessly fun. Even as the topics veer into dark or vulnerable territory, laughter and camaraderie are always the throughline.