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"Tom Bergeron: From Hollywood Squares to Dancing with the Stars: How Comedy and Quick With Built a legendary TV Career-Comedy Saved Me"
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- [00:00]
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- [02:51]
Lynn Hoffman
Comedy Saved Me.
- [02:52]
Tom Bergeron
Unless you're really full of yourself, you never lose that young, you know, I mean, there's still in me whenever those things were happening with Steve or Tim or, you know, car Whoopi, it's so much of me is still that kid from Haverhill, Massachusetts, who's pinching himself.
- [03:12]
Lynn Hoffman
Welcome back to Comedy Saved Me, the podcast where we explore how laughter lifts us up, helps us heal, and connects us in the toughest of times. I'm your host, Lynn Hoffman, and today's guest is someone whose quick wit and contagious charm has made him the beloved fixture in American television for decades. You know him as the iconic host of America's funniest home videos, the ever gracious master of ceremonies on Dancing with the Stars, and the man who kept the laughs rolling on the Hollywood Squares. But behind the bright lights and the live broadcast, Tom Bergeron is also a lifelong comedy fan who understands the power of humor and how it gets us through those bumps and bruises in life. In this episode, Tom shares stories from his early days as a radio DJ obsessed with comedy records, the lessons he's learned from working with legendary comedians, and how laughter has helped him stay grounded even when the cameras are rolling and the chaos is just a heartbeat away. Oh, boy, do I know that. Well, whether you're a longtime fan or just discovering Tom Bergeron's work. Where have you been? You will love his insights on why comedy matters, how it brings us together, and why sometimes the best way to get through life is to laugh at ourselves. So settle in, get ready to smile, and let's dive into a great conversation with the one and only Tom Bergeron. Tom, welcome to comedy. Save me.
- [04:41]
Tom Bergeron
Oh, my pleasure, Lynn. My pleasure. I feel like the bar has been set high now. That was a great introduction. I want to live up to it.
- [04:48]
Lynn Hoffman
Oh, my gosh. You lived up to it 10 times over. Are you kidding me? I mean, I literally grew up you in Boston, and, you know, this is how it went in order. And I'm not making this up. It went. I want it to be Cher. A mixture of Cher, Carol Burnett, pretty much everyone on Saturday night Live, and Tom Bergeron.
- [05:11]
Tom Bergeron
Oh, I'm honored to be. That's a. That's a pretty lofty list.
- [05:16]
Lynn Hoffman
Well, you. You had this magic about you when you get in front of the camera and you could tell that you weren't reading lines like you. You were ad libbing and you got thrown things live.
- [05:28]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah.
- [05:29]
Lynn Hoffman
And the way you handled yourself, I mean, I, I started with you with People Are Talking in Boston and that.
- [05:34]
Tom Bergeron
That show, which was for those who don't know, it was on the then Westinghouse stations. Each Westinghouse station had a People Are Talking show. It was in most cases a midday one hour live show in Baltimore. Oprah Winfrey was the host. I don' know whatever happened to her. But anyway.
- [05:56]
Here she's, she's probably doing okay, but yeah, so that was like cramming for an exam every night. Because we ran the gamut on that show from serious topics of regional issues or national issues to pure frivolous stuff, celebrity interviews and offbeat topics. So every night it was like cramming for a different kind of exam the next day, you know, with no opportunity for a second take, which I kind of love.
- [06:26]
Lynn Hoffman
I think that's the best. I mean, live to tape or live is the only way to go. But it's scary.
- [06:33]
Tom Bergeron
It's funny. For me, it's never been scary. I get more nervous in like a neighborhood association party or something that's not work related. I'll get all sweaty and looking for the exits and all that kind of stuff. But, you know, being on live TV in front of 20, 30 million people in our heyday, on the dancing show, it was like I had bedroom slippers on. I mean, it was just. I meditate in my dressing room between the dress rehearsal and the live show. And I was ready to go. I just was, you know, eager to find out what shit would go down. We can use all that kind of language, can't we, on this?
- [07:11]
Lynn Hoffman
Oh, absolutely. And we will in a few minutes when I get to a question that I'll remind you of the answer you gave me very many years ago.
- [07:19]
Tom Bergeron
Okay, fair enough.
- [07:20]
Lynn Hoffman
But you started your career out as a DJ in the radio business. And I personally think that's one of the reasons why you are as kind and giving and wonderful as you are. Because I feel like everyone from radio is really down to earth. They understand the grassroots of it all and hard working, and you worked your way, all the way to the top. So when you started, I always wanted to know what drew you to comedy in the early days. And do you remember a moment when you realized how powerful humor was and how healing it can be?
- [07:57]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah, Well, I think what drew me to it, I think it was just in the DNA. Interestingly, nobody else in my family, either the immediate or extended family, are performers or were performers in any fashion.
- [08:15]
Lynn Hoffman
I thought you were gonna say no. One in my family was funny.
- [08:19]
Tom Bergeron
Some were not intentionally.
- [08:24]
Lynn Hoffman
I know those.
- [08:25]
Tom Bergeron
They weren't in on the joke. But some were very funn.
- [08:30]
No. My mom had a fairly acerbic sense of humor. My dad had the eyebrow, so I got that from him. But the.
- [08:42]
Lynn Hoffman
That killed me every time.
- [08:43]
Tom Bergeron
You know, I've gotten more mileage out of that thing. I think, oh, look, I even have.
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Lynn Hoffman
Do you have a picture of yourself doing it?
- [08:49]
Tom Bergeron
No, I have a bobblehead with my eyebrow.
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Lynn Hoffman
With the eyebrow?
- [08:52]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah. Yeah. Get out of here. That's one of the America's Funniest videos. Bobbleheads with the eyebrow. Matter of fact, and I'll get back to your original question. There'll be a lot of this going off on tangents, but when I did an episode of Sesame Street, I played a character called Johnny Gotcha who had a hidden camera show and he was looking for people with bad behavior. And of course, the premise for everybody but Oscar the Grouch was, well, you're not gonna find bad behavior on Sesame Street. Oscar was very excited. But as I'm playing this character, I suggested to friends, you could turn this every time my eyebrow up into a drinking game, and you would not get through Sesame street sober.
- [09:38]
Lynn Hoffman
That's hilarious. Yeah, it's like a board game.
- [09:42]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah, Like Johnny Gotcha, you know, and the eyebrow would go up and. All right, okay.
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But so comedy has always been sort of a natural thing for me.
- [09:56]
I remember, like, in high school. Well, in grade school. I was in a Catholic grade school for eight years. And when you're surrounded by nuns, you gotta either get a sense of humor or an escape plan. And so, you know, it was always. I kind of wrote the school play and did, you know, based on Laugh in, which was big at the time, late 60s. And then in high school, I remember my freshman high school history class. I won the Boob of the Year award for being.
- [10:30]
Lynn Hoffman
They had that award.
- [10:32]
Tom Bergeron
Simon Cohen, my history teacher, would give that to the funniest person in the class at the end of a school year. And it was between me and Michael Lorigan, and I beat the bastard out.
- [10:46]
Lynn Hoffman
You remember his name?
- [10:47]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah, yeah. He was a little less funny than me, thankfully.
- [10:53]
Lynn Hoffman
Well, you've been doing this a long time, being goofy like that. I read that at 17 you interviewed Larry Fine and Mo Howard of the Three Stooges, which is incredible to me only because I grew up with them, obviously, watching them. But, I mean, I still watch them every Saturday night before Svengoolie on MeTV.
- [11:13]
Tom Bergeron
Lynn, you are one of Those rare women. Who likes. Who loves the Three Stooges?
- [11:18]
Lynn Hoffman
I love them. I showed him to my nephew, who's 13, and he was cracking up. And it was like the Hitler episode, like they're doing something crazy. It was so funny. He didn't know why he was laughing. I think it's just the physical comedy of it all.
- [11:32]
Tom Bergeron
It's all slapstick. Yeah.
- [11:33]
Lynn Hoffman
And he knew it wasn't real, but, yeah, it was amazing. But how did that shape your comedic sensibility, that. You know, that experience?
- [11:43]
Tom Bergeron
That came about even before I got my first professional radio job. I was in high school, and.
- [11:50]
As I remember it, it was a Saturday night. My folks were out, my sister was at a friend's house sleeping over, and I had no life. So I. Saturday night I watched Three Stooges.
- [12:02]
Lynn Hoffman
What does that say?
- [12:03]
Tom Bergeron
Just me and a phone and a cassette. T quarter. And I knew that two of the original Three Stooges were still alive, Mo and Larry. So I actually called Information in LA and asked for Mo Howard or Larry Fine. And she had a number. She had a couple of M. Howards, but she had a Larry Fine. So I called, and it wasn't Larry of the Stooges, but this was a household that got those calls periodically. So the woman who answered said, oh, I know where he is. He's at the Motion Picture Television campus in Woodland Hills. I can give you that number.
- [12:41]
Lynn Hoffman
Are you serious?
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Tom Bergeron
Yep. And so I called that number. I had my little cassette tape recorder with a suction cup microphone into the phone and called, got the operator at the Motion Picture Television campus, which is not far from where I am in California right now, and he said, well, Larry's playing poker. Can you call back in half an hour? And I did, and Larry came on. Now, Larry had suffered a stroke, so there was a little bit of that in his voice, but it was still him. You could still hear him. And about. I don't know, about 10 minutes in the conversation, he actually said to me, you want Mo's number?
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And he gave me Mo's home phone number, which Mo was not thrilled about initially.
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Lynn Hoffman
Oh, my God. Well, you did a good impression of Larry, so you could have pretended you were him.
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Tom Bergeron
But I think with. I think once I told him that Larry had given me the number, and it was clear to him that I was a fan and that I. That I was a legit fan, that I really knew their stuff and. And asked questions that he responded to, like 1. I don't know where in my research, at 16 or 17, I got this But I said, would you say what you do with slapstick or farce? And he went, you absolutely. You're absolutely right. What we did was farce. I don't know where the hell I pulled that out of my buttocks. But at 17, too. 16. 17. Yeah. But I think the next 18 months until they each passed away, we spoke about a half a dozen times. Sometimes I would just call to say hi. There was one time we were doing a fundraiser for charities in Haverhill, where I grew up in Massachusetts, and we were doing that in the high school auditorium showing Three Stooges shorts. And I thought, I should call Mo. He can address the audience. So I ran into the principal's office with my ever present cassette recorder called Mo. He was sweet about it. He gave a little address to the audience. I walked back into the theater, we stopped the film. I'm taking the stage, getting booed. And I went, just wait a minute, you're gonna like this. And then I start playing Mo addressing them, and the place went crazy.
- [15:04]
Lynn Hoffman
Did you know you were gonna do that?
- [15:05]
Tom Bergeron
I know. It just occurred to me, while everybody was there, we were showing the shorts. I just thought, you know, in that way, you could just. Yeah, I'll give my buddy Mo a call.
- [15:15]
Lynn Hoffman
Yeah.
- [15:17]
Tom Bergeron
And he was just lovely. He was just lovely about it.
- [15:20]
Malcolm Gladwell
Yeah.
- [15:20]
Lynn Hoffman
That's an incredible experience. And it just goes to show you that, you know, perseverance, the fact that you just picked up the phone, I mean, someone once told me that too. You know, I'm gonna go to New York and be a big television personality or whatever, host, and how am I gonna get that job? And someone said, why don't you just pick up the phone and call up an agency and say, hey, I moved to New York and I'd like to have some auditions? I'm like, well, that's an easy idea. No one ever thinks of that.
- [15:43]
Tom Bergeron
No, no. What's the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. So just go right towards it. Yeah.
- [15:49]
Lynn Hoffman
Common sense.
- [15:50]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah.
- [15:51]
Lynn Hoffman
The theme of our podcast, Comedy Saved Me, by the way, is how comedy can be sort of a lifeline.
- [15:57]
Tom Bergeron
Yes.
- [15:57]
Lynn Hoffman
Was there a time in your life, personally or professionally, when comedy you feel saved you or you get through maybe a tough time or moment?
- [16:05]
Tom Bergeron
Absolutely. And I actually wrote about this moment years ago. I have a book back in 2009. It's called I'm Hosting As Fast as I Can. Right. And I wrote about that exact moment. I was.
- [16:20]
Having a tough time. I was unemployed.
- [16:26]
Prone to dark moods occasionally. And. And. And was In a. You a dark place. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [16:35]
Lynn Hoffman
Never would know.
- [16:36]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah. Good. Well, that's good. The, you know, the meditation and medication work.
- [16:42]
Lynn Hoffman
That is true.
- [16:44]
Tom Bergeron
I. I didn't know, you know, I had done radio in my hometown, but. But I had left that job and I'd worked with a theater company and that had, you know, we had kind of disbanded and I just was at a. At a loss. And I went to the Ward Hill Industrial park in Haverhill, Massachusetts, to apply for any kind of job. Right. I didn't. I just needed money. I was bumming beer money off friends. I was behind in my rent and all that stuff. So I was filling out a job application form. I remember the moment so vividly. And. And you know, it's name, background. Da da da, da da. And then there was a little box for salary desired. And. And I guess they wanted you to basically negotiate by putting a figure down. And so next to salary desired, I just wrote yes.
- [17:40]
And I broke myself up. I started laughing.
- [17:44]
Just writing, yeah, no shit, I want a salary. Yeah. What the fuck do you think I'm here for? So I wrote yes. I started to laugh. I crumpled the paper up, tossed it in the wastebasket, walked out of there and thought, my sense of humor is my way back.
- [18:02]
Lynn Hoffman
Really?
- [18:03]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah.
- [18:03]
Lynn Hoffman
What year roughly?
- [18:05]
Tom Bergeron
That was like around 1980.
- [18:09]
Lynn Hoffman
Okay.
- [18:10]
Tom Bergeron
And I decided, you know what? If I'm going to go down in flames, I'm going to go down in flames with my instinct. I'll crash land with my own comedic instinct. So I devised a resume because I used to do editorial cartoons for local newspapers in my hometown. So I'm a cartoonist, too. And I drew and a mime. So I.
- [18:35]
Lynn Hoffman
You are an international man of mystery.
- [18:38]
Tom Bergeron
Well, I. I'm like a mile wide and an inch deep, so. So I've got.
- [18:44]
Lynn Hoffman
You're also a mime.
- [18:46]
Tom Bergeron
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [18:47]
Lynn Hoffman
Oh, my gosh.
- [18:48]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah. See, I don't know. Are we gonna have a video version of this? Is this.
- [18:51]
Lynn Hoffman
That's pretty good. Yeah. We might have to use this for the promo on TikTok or something, actually.
- [18:56]
Tom Bergeron
Lean on mid air and all that.
- [18:57]
Lynn Hoffman
Look at you.
- [18:59]
Tom Bergeron
So I did a cartoon illustration of me as a mime, right. Leaning on midair. And in my thought balloon, I put all my resume material right.
- [19:09]
Lynn Hoffman
Oh, my God, that's great.
- [19:10]
Tom Bergeron
And I went to radio stations in northern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire, and I'm distributing this resume.
- [19:19]
Lynn Hoffman
Would that be wllh? And we.
- [19:22]
Tom Bergeron
It was like WCCM and Lawrence and then W. And then the one that ultimately hired me. WHEB in Portsmouth.
- [19:31]
Lynn Hoffman
Yeah. You worked with my husband. My current husband, actually. He was up there years ago.
- [19:35]
Tom Bergeron
Your current husband?
- [19:36]
Lynn Hoffman
My current husband, yeah. My only husband.
- [19:40]
Tom Bergeron
Well, you know, you're leaving your options open. I think that's smart.
- [19:44]
Lynn Hoffman
I can't believe I said that. My.
- [19:46]
Tom Bergeron
My current husband. We're not sure. Warranty. Still old. Yeah.
- [19:50]
Lynn Hoffman
That's so funny.
- [19:51]
Tom Bergeron
Who is it?
- [19:52]
Lynn Hoffman
You and Billy Bush also, I believe, worked up there in Harry Jacobs. And Willie B. Was up there.
- [19:58]
Tom Bergeron
Oh, yeah. You know, a lot of. A lot of talent came from Bob Lobel from BZ Sports, came off WGIR in Manchester. So there was only one response to this crazy resume, and that was from the program director at wheb, a guy named Duncan Dewar. And he. He called me and said, can you come in? I just. I just want to meet you. And. And I got there, he said, I have to be honest, we don't have any openings. But I had to see who it was that devised a resume like this.
- [20:32]
Commercial Announcer
Wow.
- [20:32]
Lynn Hoffman
Wow.
- [20:33]
Tom Bergeron
So I figured at that point, I'm in the door and I'd always, yeah, see, again, if it's a drinking game, it'll just keep.
- [20:40]
Lynn Hoffman
Yeah, I have to take a shot. Hold on.
- [20:42]
Tom Bergeron
All right. Yeah, exactly. Right. I thought, well, you know what? Now I've kind of established a little bit of a connection with this radio station, maybe I should use this connection to do something I've always wanted to do, which is a. Because I loved, like, Thoreau and Emerson and Jack Kerouac and John Steinbeck's Travels with Charlie and all that stuff I wanted to do. And I proposed to them a five week, hitchhiking, plane hopping radio series where I would go across country. Just I had a backpack with my sleeping bag and a tent and all my, you know, change of clothes and all that stuff. And they paid me a stipend.
- [21:27]
Lynn Hoffman
They took it. They took you up on it?
- [21:29]
Tom Bergeron
They took me up on it and they gave me coach airfare back to Boston from San Francisco. That was the deal. They went out and sold the series to Coca Cola. So they were making money on it, of course. And I would do three reports a week from the. From whoever I met, wherever I was on the road. And literally it started with me just hitching by the side of the road and then led to me going to private pilot terminals and airports and getting rides on planes.
- [21:57]
And meeting people and just having this incredibly immersive experience. And that went so well that in the fall of 1980, when the night guy Decided to start his own production company and leave. They immediately offered me that shift. And that's where everything really kind of took off from there.
- [22:17]
Lynn Hoffman
Yeah, I'll say. Well, first you were ahead of your time with that pitch of the show. I mean, that's like, that's the Travel Channel in its original form, right?
- [22:25]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah. And I just had the great good fortune a close buddy, kind of a mentor of mine, who was a psychologist and this adventurer, and he would like, hop freight trains and go on mystery trips with his kids. And I thought, geez, yeah, that's the kind of thing I want to try.
- [22:44]
Lynn Hoffman
That'd be a great show.
- [22:46]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah. And so I did that for five weeks. We called it the month across America and it got me the full time gig.
- [22:54]
Lynn Hoffman
That is so cool. I'm so glad you shared that story because I feel like if there's anyone listening right now who's, you know, wants to get in to do something or is just starting out and they're interested in how. I mean, it doesn't get more basic than pick up the phone, come up with an idea. Don't be afraid to have someone close the door and say no.
- [23:16]
Tom Bergeron
Right. Absolutely right. And based on my prior dating experience, I was used to that. So.
- [23:26]
Oh, my gosh, I was battle hardened.
- [23:29]
Lynn Hoffman
Yeah, you were. Oh, my God. Well, you've hosted shows that spotlight humor sort of in everyday life. Hence America's Funniest Home Videos, which, funny enough, again, I feel like we're Kinnick kindred spirits, because that was on Friday nights and I was at home.
- [23:45]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah.
- [23:46]
Lynn Hoffman
When everyone else was out, I was watching Tom Bergeron because I was like, taking notes. How does he do it? You know, how does he do that? How does he have these quick comebacks to these crazy stories? And I wondered, like, did seeing so many people find laughter in all these mishaps and horrible accidents change your perspective or, like your resilience and humor?
- [24:07]
Tom Bergeron
It made me decide never to buy a trampoline, I can tell you that.
- [24:13]
Lynn Hoffman
Horrible.
- [24:14]
Tom Bergeron
I steer. I have a cup on now, as a matter of fact, just in case. Just in case. You never know.
- [24:23]
Just. I'm ready.
- [24:25]
Lynn Hoffman
I was gonna say, no, I can't. I don't want to go there. We could take this places.
- [24:31]
Tom Bergeron
Oh, oh. When I'm there in person, in the studio, we'll do the interview we couldn't do here.
- [24:36]
Lynn Hoffman
Okay, I like that.
- [24:37]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah, yeah. Okay. But yeah, it was interesting when that job was first offered to me.
- [24:44]
Commercial Announcer
Me.
- [24:45]
Tom Bergeron
And again, that experience, as I've said to a number of Aspiring broadcasters and entertainers never phone it in. I don't care how small you think the room is, how small the radio station or the stage is, show up. If you're going to do it, show up. And I came back to Boston from out here in California because I would host the New England Emmy Awards every so often, and it wasn't being televised. It was just sort of a grand dinner. And I was having a ball, reconnecting with old friends and getting an award. That night was Vin De Bona, who had come through WBZ like I had years before, and Emerson College, too. Emerson College. He's a great philanthropist for Emerson still. And he was getting an achievement award for all of his producing work. And I was just doing what. But you allude to. I'm ad libbing my way through this evening. We're all having a great time. And Vin's late mother Jean leaned over to him and said, you should hire that guy. So for like the 15 years that I hosted AFV, for all the years she was still with us, she'd go, where's my 10%?
- [26:00]
Lynn Hoffman
Yeah, she deserves that.
- [26:03]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah.
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Lynn Hoffman
Wow.
- [26:04]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah. And it really. There was a process, and Bob Saget, who later became a really good friend and helped me close out my last show, he was on my last afe. The two of us drove off on a golf cart together. But we had very different approaches. I can do those kind of character voices, that kind of thing, but that was Bob's thing. And the first show I did, I think I tried to do those, and it felt like fingernails on a chalkboard.
- [26:37]
Lynn Hoffman
Like you were trying too hard.
- [26:38]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah, trying too hard or trying to do what somebody else did naturally. It just didn't naturally flow for me. So we decided that a drier, sort of the verbal equivalent of an arched eyebrow would be the way I would do it. And so there was a process where I had to do a lot of rewriting because they were still writing for Bob and Daisy and John, who had followed Bob immediately. But we'd sit in a room before taping, and Todd Thicke, who was the head writer, would turn to the other writers and go, okay, this is where Tom kills your babies.
- [27:22]
Lynn Hoffman
Sorry.
- [27:23]
Tom Bergeron
And it was just a matter of getting, you know, us all kind of getting acclimated with what I thought was funny and what you know, and trying to also circle what they thought was funny based on the show. It was quite successful without me being on it. So it took a little while to get that marriage, if you will, but then it was just comedy gold Every Friday night. It was harder to do than Dancing with the Stars, because Dancing with the Stars being live, you know, when you're starting, you know, and you know, and it's all afv. Being, as you were saying about live to tape, that's how we did that one. And Vin was wonderfully gracious in making it as close to live as we possibly could. I remember one time there was a little lighting problem, but a joke had really scored and the audience had loved it. And Vin goes, oh, can we do that again? We just had a light flicker in the back. And so I went into the control room. I said, no, you can't get that back again. Naturally, I said, what's more important, the audience reaction or a little flickering light in the back? He goes, all right, you're right, fine. I love that. Yeah. So we would keep. There was, like, one time, and this speaks to my love of silent film comedy and where the mime thing came. There was a woman in the audience of AFE and she just thought everything I said was hilarious. She was probably stoned, but I didn't pursue it. She just thought everything was funny. So I sat down next to her and I said to Vin, I said, vin, I'm going to try something. I'm not actually going to introduce the video. You just go to them whenever you think is the right time. And I would sit next to her and she'd start laughing. And then if she started to slow down, I'd put my head on her shoulder and she'd start laughing again.
- [29:14]
Lynn Hoffman
Oh, my God.
- [29:15]
Tom Bergeron
And there were about three or four going to videos coming back still silently, me sitting next to this woman, just, you know.
- [29:24]
But that was. That was all in the moment. We hadn't planned that because we just didn't know somebody would think I was that funny.
- [29:32]
Lynn Hoffman
Oh, my gosh, Tom, that eyebrow, now that you bring it back up again, too. But it was physical comedy. You're like a Jim Carrey meets, like, the world's best television host of any topic. Name it. I mean, it didn't even have to be America's Funniest Home Videos. Like you said, Dancing with the Stars.
- [29:49]
Tom Bergeron
You were just as, well, so much of. Yeah, so much of, like, I grew up loving Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy, and, you know, there's so much you can do with a look. There'd be times on the dancing show if the judges were going off on a couple or something, and I knew, you know, where my camera was and everything. And rather than go on a Long harangue. All I'd have to do is go.
- [30:15]
Lynn Hoffman
And they'd cut to you.
- [30:16]
Tom Bergeron
You know, that says volumes, you know, and my connection was always in that lens with the. As I said, the one person who's watching on the other side, not 20 million, but 1 person, but that's it. So it was like a connection with that person, you know, but that's a.
- [30:32]
Lynn Hoffman
That's a skill. That's really. I think that was the hardest thing to learn is, like, when. When you're talking, you have to include the people listening or watching, I mean, because that's who you're talking to, really. I mean, you want them to enjoy it as much and feel like you really are communicating with them.
- [30:50]
Tom Bergeron
Absolutely.
- [30:51]
Lynn Hoffman
Because you want to.
- [30:52]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah, yeah. I'd have friends come to the show because that show had, like, 700 people in the audience. And, you know, it's just a whole production with an orchestra and all that. And during a commercial break, a friend of mine said, hey, Tom, you know, we can't hear you, what you're saying. I said, well, that's okay, because I'm not talking to you.
- [31:11]
Lynn Hoffman
Yes. Do you ever notice how many people who go to shows will say that to you? And you're like, well, you go to a big show, like the Grammys, for example, and they do it at the. At a stadium, and you can't hear a thing. You can see everything, but you can't hear. And you can't even really see anyone on stage because there's cameras in front of everyone.
- [31:31]
Tom Bergeron
Right.
- [31:31]
Lynn Hoffman
And I would always try to explain to people that you're there to be a part of the experience, but it's not a show for you. It's a show for the people back home watching.
- [31:38]
Tom Bergeron
Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.
- [31:41]
Lynn Hoffman
Crazy. Crazy. Speaking of hosting, you've said that as a host, and I quote, you always imagine speaking to one person through the camera. Like you just said, how has that approach helped you connect with audiences? And do you. Do you see a link between that sort of connecting and the intimacy and the healing power of comedy? Like, is that the healing part of it?
- [32:03]
Tom Bergeron
I think so. I think comedy is most effective when there is some acknowledgment of commonality that, you know, we laugh most at the things that we've kind of thought of ourselves or somebody's touched something that we never thought of it in that way in our lives.
- [32:21]
Lynn Hoffman
But.
- [32:21]
Tom Bergeron
But, oh, man, I wish I had thought to say that at that time, you know, but that. That. For example, in. In when I started in radio when I was just out of high school to kind of focus my attention on that one person idea. I had an album, like, right, like here's the microphone. I had the album cover there. I don't remember the band or it was an attractive woman's face on the album cover. And I would talk, talk to her. So I, my theory is that for the first couple years of my career, I just sounded horny.
- [32:59]
Lynn Hoffman
Was it like Blondie?
- [33:02]
Tom Bergeron
No, it wasn't Blondie. I remember she was a brunette. I remember that. I couldn't tell you who the, who the group was or why it was only her face. I don't even think she was the singer. But it was just, it was just a face. I thought, thought, oh, if I'm going to look at a face, I'll, I'll take this one. And yeah, so I would kind of, you know, all right, let's check the weather.
- [33:23]
Lynn Hoffman
You know, sultry weather forecast.
- [33:26]
Tom Bergeron
Come on over. I'll show you what the precipitation chances from our, that kind of thing.
- [33:35]
We'll be right back with more of the comedy Save Me podcast.
- [33:40]
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- [34:41]
Malcolm Gladwell
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- [36:00]
Hey, audiobook lovers. This week on the podcast I'm sitting down with musician, producer, and walking encyclopedia Questlove. We're talking about Mark Ronson's memoir, Night how to Be a DJ in 90s New York City. All right, like we talked about before, Mark Ronson found sanctuary in the DJ booth. What's a tool or piece of equipment in the studio or on stage that gives you the most quality?
- [36:23]
Tom Bergeron
So I have two microphones on stage. We have the microphone that you hear as the audience. Then we have a second microphone in which we communicate with each other. I feel like that second microphone kind of saved all of our friendships. No band likes each other after 20 years or 25 years. The Beatles broke up in seven and a half years and we're going on 35.
- [36:48]
Malcolm Gladwell
Listen to Other each Hearsay, the Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [37:01]
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- [37:37]
Tom Bergeron
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- [38:11]
Tom Bergeron
Welcome back to the Comedy Saved Me podcast.
- [38:16]
Lynn Hoffman
Oh, my gosh. Live television is famously unpredictable, as you know. Can you share with us maybe a time when something went hilariously off script? You know, whether it was on Dancing with the Stars or any of the other shows that you've been on, and how your sense of humor sort of helped you handle it?
- [38:36]
Tom Bergeron
Well, there was one time, and it's not my proudest moment, and it's.
- [38:44]
Was an example of take an extra moment, just take an extra beat. Because things don't move as fast as you think they are in your brain, Right?
- [38:53]
Lynn Hoffman
Yes.
- [38:54]
Tom Bergeron
So on the dancing show, Simone Biles, the, you know, incredible Olympic gymnast and. And her partner had just finished a dance and they came over and Simone is to my immediate left and her partner off beyond there. And the judges are being. Two of the judges were being kind of, kind of really kind of hard on her, I thought. And then Carrie Anaba, the third judge, was being much more complimentary. Now, you know what an IFB is. The folks watching or listening might not, but it's a little earpiece so that you can hear from the director and producers in the control room if something. If they need to move something along or something. And the showrunner at the time, Ashley, whom I absolutely adored, said something in my ear when the other judges had finished and Carrie Ann was being complimentary and I wasn't looking at Simone, I was looking at Carrie Ann. And Ashley went, gee, Kerrianne is being really complimentary, but Simone's not even smiling.
- [40:00]
So instead of saying it, like, my way, which would be, I notice, Simone, you had some different reactions to the judges. How did you feel about that? That's where I would. For some reason, Ashley's last phrase stuck in my head. And I said, so, Simone, I noticed you weren't smiling when carried on. And what woman wants to hear a guy say, hey, babe, come on, smile. That's so bad is smiling, you know? Yeah, exactly, exactly. And the moment it came out of my mouth, I went, oh, shit. Oh, damn it. And she was brilliant. Without missing a beat, she said, smiling doesn't win gold medals.
- [40:47]
And the audience went nuts. And I knew I had, you know, a major omelette just dripping down my face. So. So just to show the humor Part, though, Simone had a shirt made, and it said, smiling doesn't win gold medals. And a few days later, the two of us posed. She's wearing the shirt, looking at me, and I'm looking very sheepish. I'm like, you know, oh, my God. Yeah. But it was kind of making lemonade out of lemons. But it was one of those moments that also.
- [41:21]
Was. Just make sure before you open your mouth that your brain has engaged at least a little so that you put it in your own words. Because, you know, I'm a dad of two daughters. I know how much fun it is when a guy yells, hey, baby, smile.
- [41:40]
Lynn Hoffman
But, you know, also, you're doing a live television show. She was gracious.
- [41:47]
Podcast Promo Host
Yes.
- [41:47]
Lynn Hoffman
So everyone was very kind to one another, which is, you know, when you're with professionals.
- [41:54]
Tom Bergeron
But that was sort of like one of those moments where you realize, okay, it is a high wire, and I'm doing okay on a percentage basis. But every so often, shit's gonna go down. You know, you're gonna say something the wrong way, or it'll be perceived the wrong. You know, it's just minor stuff, but.
- [42:13]
Lynn Hoffman
It also goes to show you that, you know, what you said is really good advice that I need to take, because I tend to. To fill the dead air. That's the problem of people from radio, is right? You can't have dead air. That's like suicide on air. You know, you have to keep it moving along. But a lot of times, you just open mouth, insert foot unintentionally because you're filling the dead air.
- [42:34]
Tom Bergeron
I did. I did a mime performance on the radio show in New Hampshire.
- [42:37]
Lynn Hoffman
What?
- [42:38]
Tom Bergeron
And. And I would all. It would just. It was like, subtle sound effects. I would say, all right, now I'm going to against the Wind. And you'd. And I would go silent, and you'd just hear.
- [42:55]
Lynn Hoffman
Tom, I was just gonna say, you did a mime show on the radio. How does that work?
- [43:02]
Tom Bergeron
Well, you know, back in the old days of radio, Edgar Bergen was a famous ventriloquist on the radio. And then when he got to tell it, that was Candace Bergen's dad. And, yeah, when he got to tv, you could see his lips move, and you realize he wasn't really very good.
- [43:18]
Lynn Hoffman
It was better on the radio.
- [43:19]
Tom Bergeron
Better on the radio.
- [43:20]
Lynn Hoffman
It was so funny. You've worked with legendary comedians and personalities in Hollywood Squares. Also. The last time I interviewed you was when you and Whoopi were on the Hollywood Squares, and you just won your first Emmy. I want to Say, what's the best piece of comedic advice? And I think I may have even asked you this on the stage there. Or, you know, wisdom that you've picked up from your guests or any of your co hosts or even things that were handed down to you through sage advice from people in your travels.
- [43:51]
Tom Bergeron
Well, you know, I don't. This was Hollywood Squares. It triggered that the first couple days we were shooting, because we would do. If you remember, we would do five in a day, right?
- [44:02]
Lynn Hoffman
Yeah. Saturday, Sunday, you do 10 shows.
- [44:04]
Tom Bergeron
Saturday, Sunday, right. We do five shows each day. And when I think the first couple days we started back in 1998, I just. I was like a kid in a candy store. Because I've got nine celebrities, you know, many of whom I'm a fan of. Like Carol. You mentioned Carol Burnett. Carol was there. Harvey Corman and Tim, you know, of course, Whoopi and Gilbert Gottfried and all these wonderful talent. And I was having a ball. And during the meal break, Michael King. Cause the King brothers produced that. Michael and Roger King, they're both gone now, I believe. But King World. Yeah, King World. Yeah.
- [44:47]
Lynn Hoffman
King World.
- [44:47]
Tom Bergeron
Which then CBS bought and all that. But Michael came up to me and said, tom, we're loving what you're doing. It's going great. But I just need to remind you, it's not a talk show. It's the contestants want to win stuff. And I realized I was getting so. I was enjoying the back and forth so much with the stars that I was kind of neglecting the contestants. And so once I kind of made that little shift and made it about them and taking care of them in the same way on the dancing show years later, I would make my focus taking care of the couples. So if the judges were too hard or the dance didn't go well, or, you know, I try to lighten the burden a bit. But once I got into that mindset, oh, right, I want to help them win stuff, then I kept my patter quicker and the tempo changed. But. And that was a case of, you know, especially a show like that, the comedy's best when it's moving fast. You know, it's moving a little quicker. Because it was interesting when Robin Williams was on Hollywood Squares with us. Us, he didn't get called on a lot, which I thought was, how can you not want to call on Robin Williams? And the producer said to me after, because they want to win things, and they think Robin's going to go off on a tangent.
- [46:14]
Lynn Hoffman
But that's the best part.
- [46:15]
Tom Bergeron
It's like, well, it's the best part for us. Not if you want to go home with a new car. Right, right.
- [46:23]
If you want to go home with a new car, you don't want to see Nanu Nanu for five minutes, you.
- [46:28]
Lynn Hoffman
Know, I'm telling you.
- [46:29]
Tom Bergeron
But, yeah, it was. It was just fascinating to get into that kind of rhythm of but. And again, another tangential story. But when. But it speaks to having a sense of humor, certainly in this business. Whoopi and I were at natby, the convention for syndicated television shows, just prior to Hollywood Square's launching in 98. And I had never experienced anything at that level. You know, just a mass of photographers and reporters and flashbulbs going off. And Whoopi was always so. So protective of me, really. So at one point, Robert Townsend, the actor, producer, director, who's a friend of Whoopi's, came over to say hi, and. And I knew that they'd want pictures of the two of them, Whoopi and Robert Townsend together. So I start to get up, and Whoopi grabs my arm, and she goes, where are you going? And I said, well, they want pictures of you. And she goes, sit your ass down. So I'm sitting there, and the photographer, probably no more than five feet away from me to my right, turns to the other photographers, and to be honest, I love this. The moment it happened, he went, don't worry, I can cut out the white guy.
- [47:55]
Commercial Announcer
No.
- [47:56]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah.
- [47:57]
Lynn Hoffman
Oh, my God.
- [47:59]
Tom Bergeron
And I thought. And for me, for my sense of humor, I thought that was hilarious, because it is.
- [48:05]
Lynn Hoffman
What did Whoopi say? Did she hear it, too?
- [48:08]
Tom Bergeron
I think she was talking to Robert at that point. They were catching up. So I didn't. She didn't really respond to it, and it's only because I saw him turn and I heard him say it, and he wasn't really. I mean, he wasn't being careful about volume. Don't worry, I can cut out the white guy.
- [48:25]
Lynn Hoffman
Oh, my.
- [48:25]
Tom Bergeron
But I love stuff. One of my favorite headlines, I spoke at my niece's senior chapel when she was graduating from high school, and the local paper in my hometown covered it. And the headline was based on what one of the students had said to the reporter. The headline was that I have this in the book, too. Bergeron. Not as boring as expected.
- [48:51]
Lynn Hoffman
I love that.
- [48:52]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah, that's great. Not as boring as expected. Wow.
- [48:57]
Lynn Hoffman
I have two things that just popped into my head, and I'm not like, we had just talked about. I don't want to make. This show isn't about Me. But we're so connected.
- [49:05]
Tom Bergeron
I have to share this with you. Yes, please.
- [49:07]
Lynn Hoffman
First of all, my first experience on a red carpet was with Whoopi Goldberg. And I had a crazy experience with Tony Danza went out before me. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to stand or anything. And I went over to. They wanted me to take a picture with him. And he was like, no, I can't take a picture with you. And he ran off. And I was just standing there in front of all the cameras, snapping, and I didn't know how to hold my. I didn't know what to do. And I just sort of walked off, like, shocked. And I remember Whoopi was like, what happened? I said, I don't know. And I found out later, I guess he and his wife were having a thing, and he didn't want to be pictured with other women.
- [49:46]
Tom Bergeron
Oh, okay.
- [49:48]
Lynn Hoffman
So I had no idea, but it was crazy. That was one weird thing. And, well, you're so gracious because you wanted to move and let Whoopi have that spotlight.
- [49:59]
Tom Bergeron
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [50:00]
Lynn Hoffman
And I want to explain another gracious side of Tom Bergeron. So this technically is not about me, but. It is. But it's really about you. When I came to interview you at the Hollywood squares, it was 1999, and the radio station in Boston that I worked for was having a huge two day concert. We had it every year was called Mix Fest.
- [50:18]
Tom Bergeron
Yep.
- [50:18]
Lynn Hoffman
And it. That was the year they sent. I was working for BZ, Channel 4. I was filling in for Joyce Kulhaywick, and they sent me to cover you, my idol in television. So I was like, hell, yeah, I'm gonna go out there and do that. So I brought my two best friends with me, and.
- [50:35]
I went out to interview you, and I also had to play the show. So now I know why I lost. Because you were more interested in the comedians and helping me win.
- [50:44]
Most of the time I was like this. I went home, and my boyfriend at the time, he said, you know, I saw your neck a lot because I kept losing.
- [50:54]
But then I had to interview you, and then I had to do the whole piece for Channel four. And you allowed me to, on the Carol Burnett stage, of course, go up into the Squares. But you didn't release the audience or anything, so I had to do the whole thing in between you taping your shows.
- [51:11]
Podcast Promo Host
Yeah.
- [51:12]
Lynn Hoffman
And you're just. You were so gracious when I was there. You were just wonderful and gracious and kind, and you gave me some Amazing advice. Because all I wanted to do was show you my demo tape for hosting television and get your advice. And. And you look. And you did. After the show, you watched it and you gave me advice on something that I will never forget. And it was like, this is the best piece of advice I could give you is, Lynn, when you go off to work and do what you do, just remember, you always want to have the fuck you fund.
- [51:47]
Tom Bergeron
Yes, yes, yes.
- [51:49]
Lynn Hoffman
And that's. I've. I've told. I've passed that story along to so many people. You know, you seek to do and be successful, but then what do you do when you are successful at something? You have to manage yourself and take and protect it so that if you get a job and you hate the guy that you're producing the show, you could say fuck you and walk because you've saved your money.
- [52:11]
Tom Bergeron
That's right.
- [52:11]
Lynn Hoffman
And you were smart with it. And I thought that was such amazing advice. So thank you for that.
- [52:17]
Tom Bergeron
You're very welcome. I remember, actually, we, Willard Scott and I, having a conversation about that backstage. He was on People are Talking with Me. And he was, for those of you who don't know the name, he was the weatherman on the Today show for years. And he had this thing where he would honor people at their hundredth birthday with Smuckers as the sponsor. Smuckers, Smuckers. With a name like Smuckers, it damn well better be good. Yeah.
- [52:48]
Lynn Hoffman
Oh, my God, we're such geeks.
- [52:49]
Podcast Promo Host
Okay.
- [52:50]
Tom Bergeron
I know. Seriously. But Willard and I were talking about that off camera. The, the, you know, I don't know how he got on it, but he was going, oh, yeah, you gotta have a fuck you fund. Yeah. Because inevitably it happens in any career in entertainment. You know, if you're writing code for computer whatever, you're gonna run up against people that you're gonna have to look in the mirror and go, okay. Do I just keep owning this every day? This misery, this, this knot in my stomach that's growing into a potential tumor or looking at my. I've got some money to float myself for six months or whatever. My little you fund. That's when you go, you. Yeah, no, you know, I haven't been.
- [53:36]
Lynn Hoffman
Able to do that yet, though, by the way, Tom, I haven't been able. I haven't been able to say that to anyone because I've been fortunate to love all my jobs that I've had.
- [53:43]
Tom Bergeron
Well, that's the goal is not, you know, it's like anything. It's like I'm sure every, every law enforcement person who has a gun in their holster would prefer not to have to use it.
- [53:54]
Lynn Hoffman
Right.
- [53:54]
Tom Bergeron
But they, you know, they know it's there and. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So I think there have only been a couple of occasions where.
- [54:05]
I had to use it. And not always in sort of an adversarial way sometimes like when people are talking was canceled and.
- [54:16]
They asked me to do interviews during the noon news hour. And we had two young kids. The girls were both really young at that point. Point. And suddenly I went from making this kind of money to making that kind of money. And they offered me the morning anchor job on the morning News at Channel 4.
- [54:39]
And I remember we were visiting Lois's parents parents in Florida with the, with the girls who were probably, I don't know, maybe three and one at that point. And I turned it down. And I remember my late mother in law whom I adored saying, really? You're not gonna. I said, you know what, Todd, we've put money aside for just this kind of situation.
- [55:07]
I don't have the kind of work I want. What's being offered could take care of the money problem, but it wouldn't take care of the me problem.
- [55:16]
Lynn Hoffman
Yeah, to sleep at night, you're gonna.
- [55:18]
Tom Bergeron
Feel good about yourself. Not only that. Cause I'm used to getting up for early morning radio shows and T and would go on to do a show on FX that was on in the morning and fill in on Good Morning America and the early show and get up at 3:30 and 4. That wasn't the issue. It was do I want to become a news anchor?
- [55:36]
Lynn Hoffman
Yes, that's what I.
- [55:37]
Tom Bergeron
And I, I knew it was wrong for me. I just knew it was. It would be a creative death, you know, and, and so that was, that was sort of a genteel fuck you. I wasn't.
- [55:50]
Lynn Hoffman
Well, you didn't have to yell.
- [55:52]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah, there was no anger. I was gracious and appreciative that they made the offer, but I just knew it wasn't the right thing. And we had enough of a buttress that I could kind of go out and ended up filling in for a week on another FM station in town. And that led to me being hired by Magic to do the morning show.
- [56:14]
Lynn Hoffman
That's right.
- [56:15]
Tom Bergeron
For about nine months before I ended up going to New York for fx.
- [56:20]
Lynn Hoffman
Yeah, before you're like, I have to get out of this town because this girl named Lynn is stalking me.
- [56:24]
Tom Bergeron
No sir. No, seriously, that'd be a reason to stick around, frankly.
- [56:29]
Lynn Hoffman
No, seriously, I really, I Remember one time, I should probably tell you after the show, but I did. I did wait in a lobby of a hotel to ask you questions about hosting. I was that person. I went to, like, clubs where the DJs were playing that I wasn't even old enough to go in. And I would sneak in, and in between something, I would be like, how did you get this job? Where do I need to go to school?
- [56:51]
Tom Bergeron
That's no different than me calling Larry and Mo.
- [56:54]
Lynn Hoffman
That's true.
- [56:54]
Tom Bergeron
It's the same thing. It's the same thing. It's like, who's going to advocate for me if I don't?
- [57:02]
Lynn Hoffman
Nobody.
- [57:03]
Tom Bergeron
Nobody. Exactly. So we have to be our best advocate.
- [57:07]
Lynn Hoffman
That's true.
- [57:08]
Tom Bergeron
And like you were saying, what's the worst that can happen? Somebody says no, or Tony Danza runs away. There are worse things that can happen than Tony Danza running away from you.
- [57:18]
Lynn Hoffman
Yes. I mean, as much as I was embarrassed with egg on my face, like, you. I. You know, you.
- [57:22]
Tom Bergeron
Well, like this. We got him back for you.
- [57:26]
Lynn Hoffman
Oh, you did?
- [57:26]
Tom Bergeron
He was scheduled to appear on the morning show that I co hosted on FX called Breakfast Time. Right. And we find. And that was a live show. We find out that morning, and we have a good chunk of the show format designated for tonight. Tony, he. We got a call. He's not coming.
- [57:45]
Malcolm Gladwell
What?
- [57:45]
Tom Bergeron
He won't be there. He cancels.
- [57:48]
Lynn Hoffman
How much time before the taping?
- [57:49]
Tom Bergeron
Well, it's live. He was like, you know, 15 minutes, 20 minutes. We get a call. So we had a couple of sisters on, Joan and Lydia Weiland, who did herbal and home health cares cures and things. So being the kind of show that it was where we wouldn't take shit like that lightly, we hired an Ambulet. An Ambulet. A small ambulance, put Joan and Lydia and a cameraman in the ambulet drove. Had them drive to Tony's hotel, and they found him working out in the gym.
- [58:30]
Lynn Hoffman
No.
- [58:32]
Tom Bergeron
And Joe. So just a little payback for Tony. Thank you. Joan and Lydia confront Tony with the cameraman. We're from Breakfast Time on fx, and you canceled. And we find you here in the gym. And he's like, oh, shit. He's saying, well, to be honest, I had the cocktail flu.
- [58:54]
Lynn Hoffman
Oh, he was hungover.
- [58:55]
Tom Bergeron
He was hungover.
- [58:56]
Lynn Hoffman
Oh, that's funny.
- [58:58]
Tom Bergeron
And we ran. They come running back with the video, which he was cool with us running to his credit, but we completely outed Tony Danza on the show. But that was the way that show worked. Everything became potential for material.
- [59:13]
Lynn Hoffman
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But see this. That was the other thing I wanted to tell you when I was interviewed you at Hollywood Squares. I had to send that jumbotron thing back. Sorry. Getting back to that story, which I forgot because we have so many side notes. And I said, Tom, it's 7 o' clock in the morning. We're at the W Hotel in West Coast. I had to interview you, Gilbert Gottfried and one other lovely person who I. Oh, gosh, yeah. And I said, tom, I know you're from Boston. You know, can you. Will you help me out? I gotta do a video to send back for the jumbotron for Mixfest. Sorry. Now I'm connecting this story originally. Thank you. And you said, why, yes, I have an idea. And I said, what? And you said, let's grab the camera crew and let's grab. Gilbert. Gilbert, what are you doing? Come over. And I had my friends with me and it was you and me and Gilbert Gottfried at 7:30 in the morning at the W with a total. A full camera crew. And you. We went down to the pool after they struck the set and you. And I'm like, what are we gonna do? And you said, let's improvise. And remember, you were giving me a. Like a shoulder massage. Like, yes, Lynn, would you like some coffee? And. And I was on vacation with Gilbert and I had a mic on and he's like, it was the most incredible time. So again, I can't tell you how. How important it is to go for things and. And try things and not to be afraid of things, but also.
- [60:35]
Tom Bergeron
Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Do you still have that? I would love to see that if you.
- [60:39]
Lynn Hoffman
I do. That was actually in one of. My friend. Had one of the earliest digital cameras at that time, because this was 99, you know, at the turn of the century us old folks went through, so. But yeah, it was in my demo tape for quite a while. I went home and I was like, we're adding this right now to my demo tape.
- [60:57]
Tom Bergeron
Oh, I'd love to see that again. Gilbert was such a sweetheart. He was.
- [61:01]
Lynn Hoffman
Loved him.
- [61:02]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah, he. Because he. At that time, I was. We would stay at what was then the. What was became the Intercontinental Hotel in Century City. But the Park Hyatt. It was the Park Hyatt.
- [61:17]
Lynn Hoffman
Yeah.
- [61:17]
Tom Bergeron
And so all of us from the east coast would be put up at the Park Hyatt for the weekends that we'd shoot. And Gilbert was always there and like, I'd get back to my hotel room and we had agreed to meet for drinks or Dinner or whatever. And the phone rings in my room and I answer it and. Hello. Hey, Tom, it's Gilbert. Who? It's Gilbert. Because that voice, you know, he'd put it. He'd got. It's sort of like Bruno on the dancing show. That's his personality, but he amps it up.
- [61:49]
Lynn Hoffman
Yes, yes.
- [61:51]
Tom Bergeron
Well, Gilbert was like that, too. Gilbert was really just sort of almost a quiet soul with an acerbic sense of humor. But that voice he would, when he turned the voice on, it was amazing, you know, it was.
- [62:03]
Lynn Hoffman
You kind of look like him too, with that face you gotta.
- [62:07]
Tom Bergeron
Like you're trying to pass a stone.
- [62:09]
Lynn Hoffman
Yeah.
- [62:09]
Tom Bergeron
Yes. Oh, that's gonna hurt. Yeah, yeah.
- [62:14]
Lynn Hoffman
Thank you for that. That was one of my most, I'd say, probably highlights of my life.
- [62:20]
Tom Bergeron
But isn't it fun to do stuff like that? To say, okay, let's. Let's make something. Let's.
- [62:24]
Lynn Hoffman
Yes. No one believed me. Do you made him do that? It was all his idea. Tom was the one who's gonna say no to him. The camera crew's like, can I just go home and go to bed at 7 o' clock in the morning? You know? And you had to tape like five shows later that day. I had to come to this. Oh, my gosh. Well, I don't want to take up much more of your time, although I secretly do. I could talk to you for hours and maybe you'll come and we'll have a part due.
- [62:50]
Tom Bergeron
I would love to.
- [62:50]
Lynn Hoffman
Yeah, here. But I would love to know if, if, if you could host any show, real or imagined.
- [63:02]
With anyone from today or past.
- [63:04]
Tom Bergeron
Oh, that's such a good question.
- [63:06]
Lynn Hoffman
That would use comedy to help people. What, what would that look like?
- [63:10]
Tom Bergeron
It would be me interviewing Steve Allen, Jack Par and Johnny Carson.
- [63:18]
Lynn Hoffman
That sounds fabulous.
- [63:19]
Tom Bergeron
And it would be all about the genesis of the Tonight show and their own particular styles. Three very different comedic personalities. Steve Allen is sort of more analogous to Letterman. I think Parr was sort of his own breed. You never knew where, where he was, which, how he was going to be on any given night. He walked off the show at one point because NBC censored a joke and he absolutely, he, he had a fuck you fund that he walked off and they got him back, you know, finally. But. And then Carson, who was so influenced by Jack Benny and Oliver Hardy, and, you know, a lot of Carson's slow takes are really homages to the people that he grew up like. So to be able to, you know, those three people. Steve, I actually interviewed in Boston, so He was wonderful. And Carson I never met, but I was friends with Carl Reiner, who was friends with Johnny, and I also worked with Ed McMahon on the muscular dystrophy telethon and would pick his brain all the time about Carson. But to be able to sit, like one of my favorite lunchtimes at Hollywood Squares, and you're right, we could just keep going for another hour.
- [64:39]
Lynn Hoffman
Oh, I have so much more.
- [64:42]
Podcast Promo Host
To.
- [64:42]
Lynn Hoffman
Run out of batteries on my iPad.
- [64:45]
Tom Bergeron
There were four of us sitting, talking together, having lunch. It was me, Carol Burnett, Harvey Corman, and Tim Conway. Just the four of us.
- [64:55]
Lynn Hoffman
I wanted to marry Tim Conway and Harvey Corman, by the way, when I was a kid.
- [64:59]
Tom Bergeron
Oh, yeah. Well, I love them so much. I get it. And I said to Carol, I said, wasn't there half a season, Harvey? Right after you left the show, Dick Van Dyke came on for, like, half a season. And Carol said, yeah, you know, we're friends. We did a show on Broadway years ago, and it just didn't work. It just didn't work. And Harvey goes, you needed a Jew.
- [65:25]
Lynn Hoffman
That's it. Secret sauce.
- [65:27]
Tom Bergeron
Secret sauce. Done. Yeah. And the other. Another quick story. Tim Conway and his granddaughter. I'm getting ready to do Dancing with the Stars live show. Knock on my dressing room door, door. It's Tim.
- [65:39]
Lynn Hoffman
Oh, my God.
- [65:39]
Tom Bergeron
And his granddaughter. And he's brought her to the show. And we chat and catch up a little bit. And he's sitting in an aisle seat right where I walked. Like, during a commercial, I'd go up and just confer with the producers and everybody and make sure we're all on the same page. And then I'd get the. All right, Tom, we're 20 seconds away. Get back to my mark. Get ready. Live tv. But all I wanted to do was make Tim Conway laugh, right? So I get the word. All right. 20 seconds. And you know his old man walk, where he would do that kind of thing, right? The feet would barely move, but his arms are going. So I started doing that old man walk right by Tim while the stage manager's freaking out that we're about to go live in, like, now 10 seconds. And Tim breaks up laughing. And I went, good. I'm good. Now I'm good.
- [66:30]
Lynn Hoffman
You can retire if you made Tim Conway laugh. Forget it.
- [66:33]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah, done. That was it. Wow.
- [66:36]
Lynn Hoffman
Oh, you got to work with such amazing legends. And, you know, time is. You know, things are so different now. And I wish the people today could have seen our world of television and comedy of the past.
- [66:49]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah.
- [66:50]
Commercial Announcer
Because it was special.
- [66:50]
Tom Bergeron
I got what?
- [66:51]
Lynn Hoffman
One more.
- [66:52]
Tom Bergeron
All right. One more story.
- [66:53]
Commercial Announcer
All right.
- [66:53]
Lynn Hoffman
I had 8% left. I just want to let you know. So if this goes.
- [66:58]
Tom Bergeron
It'S like Sherlock Holmes, the 7% solution. So I'm at a lunch with Carl Reiner and his daughter Annie, and Carl tells me Steve is coming to lunch for a little bit. He's shooting Steve Martin. Right. And my goal then is I gotta make Steve Martin laugh just once. So Steve sits next to me. We're all getting together. Annie, who's a lovely poet and therapist and all this, but she goes off on the. This monologue talking, and I think she's just trying to impress Steve. She's talking about Picasso and Nietzsche and Einstein and dropping all these names, this labyrinth of a monologue. And she finally takes a breath. And I said, and how do they know? Kevin Bacon, Six Degrees. And Steve broke up laughing and went, I'm good. I'm out.
- [67:50]
Lynn Hoffman
Steve Martin, too. Wow.
- [67:54]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah. Yeah.
- [67:54]
Lynn Hoffman
Wow. Well, do you know Carol. Carol Burnett? Because she is literally the reason for living for me. I just. Absolutely. I think I might have to call her, you know, because that's how it works, right? You just pick up the phone.
- [68:06]
Tom Bergeron
Absolutely. Just call her up and tell her I told you to.
- [68:09]
Malcolm Gladwell
Okay.
- [68:11]
Tom Bergeron
Because, as you know, we shot the show the same stage they did, the Carol Burnett Show.
- [68:15]
Lynn Hoffman
Oh, believe me, that didn't go over me.
- [68:18]
Tom Bergeron
Yeah, right. So during one of the tapings on air, I said, so, Carol, you like what we've done with the place? And she. She went, no.
- [68:27]
Lynn Hoffman
And where's the Bob Mackie drapes?
- [68:29]
Tom Bergeron
Yes. Yeah, exactly. Right. But, yeah, to be able to be. And I don't think unless you're really full of yourself, you never lose that young fan, you know? I mean, there's still in me. Whenever those things were happening with Steve or Tim or, you know, Whoopi, it's so much of me is still that kid from Haverhill, Massachusetts, who's pinching himself himself, you know, that I get to play in this playground with these people whom I admire so much. And. And that's. That's the real. Apart from, you know, any other you. Fun. That's. That's a pretty sizable one, too.
- [69:10]
Lynn Hoffman
It is. And then you get to get paid for having that much fun, which always blew me away. When I would get a check every couple of weeks. I'd be like, wait, oh, yeah, I get paid to do this? Yeah, it's so much fun, I never even thought about it. But that was another piece of advice, you know, do what you Love and the money will come. Don't follow the money. Don't chase money. Chase happiness and positivity and things that you enjoy.
- [69:32]
Tom Bergeron
Yep, Yep.
- [69:34]
Lynn Hoffman
So that's why you can't retire, Tom Bergeron. I will refuse to accept that.
- [69:37]
Tom Bergeron
I will say this. I can't talk about it yet. I might be able to tell you about it off mic, off camera.
- [69:46]
Lynn Hoffman
All right.
- [69:47]
Tom Bergeron
But I was lured back to hosting something thing. It's a one off.
- [69:52]
Lynn Hoffman
Okay. How exciting.
- [69:55]
Tom Bergeron
And it is hilarious.
- [69:57]
Lynn Hoffman
Oh, my God. Is it gonna be network streamer?
- [70:02]
Tom Bergeron
It's gonna be on a cable network.
- [70:04]
Lynn Hoffman
Okay.
- [70:06]
Tom Bergeron
And it'll air in July. And.
- [70:10]
I think when people hear what it is, they'll go, oh, oh, my God.
- [70:16]
Lynn Hoffman
I've got goosebumps.
- [70:20]
You still do that to me, Tom Bergeron.
- [70:22]
Tom Bergeron
No, I will when we're. When we're done with the podcast.
- [70:25]
Commercial Announcer
Okay.
- [70:26]
Tom Bergeron
And none of you can listen or watch anymore. I'm gonna let Lynn know what it is.
- [70:30]
Lynn Hoffman
Okay, well, then I guess we have to end it here. But how about to be continued? Because then you'll have to come back and talk about this new one off show.
- [70:36]
Tom Bergeron
Yes, yes.
- [70:38]
Lynn Hoffman
And some other things that we didn't get to that were hilarious like.
- [70:43]
Tom Bergeron
All right, so this is only part one. Okay. Part one.
- [70:46]
Lynn Hoffman
Tom Bergeron, thank you for being on Comedy saved me. It has been such a thrill and an honor and it just warms my heart to be able to talk to you again. It's gonna make me cry.
- [70:56]
Tom Bergeron
It's great to see you again. It really is.
- [71:02]
Ah, greetings from my bath festive friends. The holidays are overwhelming, but I'm tackling this season with paypal and making the most of my getting 5% cash back when I pay in 4. No fees, no interest. I used it to get this portable spa with jets. Now the bubbles can cling to my sculpted but pruny body. Make the most of your money this holiday with PayPal. Save the offer in the app ends 1231.
- [71:26]
Podcast Promo Host
See paypal.com promoter points can be redeemed for cash and more. Paying for subject to terms and approval.
- [71:30]
Tom Bergeron
PayPal Inc. And MLS 910457Amazon Five Star Theater presents real customer reviews perform. Formed by Ed Helms. Tonight's tactical jacket. I was living a simple life. Didn't get out much. Then I bought this jacket and everything changed. Women came flocking to me from lands domestic and foreign. On the 245 day sailboat voyage home, I was attacked by a shark. I knew it was the jacket he was at giving up the jacket in exchange for my life. 5 stars Amazon Customer 69 Shop the perfect gift this holiday on Amazon.
- [72:14]
Janice Torres here and I'm Austin Hankwitz.
- [72:17]
Podcast Promo Host
We host the podcast Mind the Business Small Business Success Stories produced by Ruby Studio in partnership with Intuit QuickBooks.
- [72:24]
Lynn Hoffman
We're back for season four to talk.
- [72:25]
Tom Bergeron
To some incredible small business owners.
- [72:28]
Podcast Promo Host
The big thing about working at tech is that it's ever evolving, ever changing everyone's business. That's how fast the industry is changing. So what I'm really excited about is to be part of that change. So listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [72:43]
Get ready for your next TV obsession. All's Fair Starring Kim Kardashian, Naomi Watts, Niecy Nash, Betts, Teyana Taylor. With Sarah Paulson and Glenn Close. A team of fierce female divorce attorneys leave a male dominated firm to start their own. Filled with scandalous secrets and shifting allegiances both in the courtroom and within their own ranks, these ladies know that lawyers are a girl's best friend. Don't miss the two part season finale of All's Fair on December 9th on Hulu and Hulu on Disney for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.
- [73:13]
Commercial Announcer
Stay cozy, stay home and save big online during Lowe's December deal drops. Because honestly, why go anywhere when the deals come to you? Check this out. Lowe's is going to give you two free select tools from dewalt, Craftsman or Cobalt when you buy a select battery or combo kit.
- [73:30]
Malcolm Gladwell
Kit.
- [73:30]
Commercial Announcer
Yep, two tools free. It's basically a holiday miracle. Plus rewards members get free standard shipping all month long. Yet another reason not to leave your couch. Kick back, click around, let the savings roll in. Shop new December deal drops on lowe's.com every week. This month, fresh deals, cozy vibes, zero effort.
- [73:49]
Tom Bergeron
This is an I heart podcast.
- [73:52]
Commercial Announcer
Guaranteed human.