Latest / The iHeart SoCal Show / Fritz Coleman

Transcript

Fritz Coleman · The iHeart SoCal Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Lisa Fox hear this is the iHeart So Cal Show,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: our show that puts a spotlight on charitable organizations, nonprofits
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: and people giving back. And boy does he give back
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: with every setup comedy show that he does. Fritz Coleman
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: is a five time Emmy Award winning stand up comedian
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: and former NBC weathercaster. He's opened up for huge names
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: all over the country with us stand up, our beloved
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: weather man from the MBC Channel four for so many
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: years and then now doing comedy full time. He recently
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: celebrated two years of sold out performances of his hit
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: show Unassisted residency at the l Partel in North Hollywood,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: and he's got a special benefits show Happy this Thursday,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: January fifteenth at the Wilshire Ebill Theater that also gives back,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: always finding ways to give back and making people smile.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Hello Fritz Coleman.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: Fritz, I love you lovely ladies, of.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: Course, and can I say Happy New Years? It's too
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: late to say Happy New Year.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: I think it's cool all year long. We need it
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: every day we do.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: And we need comedy, you know, with all this going
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: on the world and the stresses and pressures of real
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: life and all that we see on the news.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: We need comedy. We need people to make us laugh
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: and smile.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: And when you perform, you also get back to so
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: many charities, which we'll dive into that part in a second.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: But what have you been doing since you left us
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: in the weather World on NBC four? You were there
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  Speaker 1: for gosh, how many decades?
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  Speaker 3: You're there for a while, they're two weeks shy in
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  Speaker 3: my fortieth anniversary, have retire four well, and you know
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: in broadcasting is mind blowing, crazy amount of good.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Look that's forever And I can't remember the story there first?
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: So did you move here to La to do comedy first?
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Was it the weather weatherman stuff?
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  Speaker 3: First? No? I came out here in nineteen eighty to
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  Speaker 3: do comedy. And in those days you had to work
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: at the comedy store that was the mecca. Sure you
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: had to be there to be discovered. So I came
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: out here in nineteen eighty to do that's been In
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: nineteen eighty two, my very good friend John Beard, who
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: was an anchor managed Channel four, brought his boss, being
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: the news director of Channel four, and his boss's wife
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: to see me do a show at the comedy store.
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: One Friday night, and in that show I had talked
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: about having done the weather in the Navy. I worked
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: for Armed Forces Radio and Television in the Navy, and
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: I did the weather, but I didn't know anything about it.
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: And I made some jokes about being forced by the
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: Defense Department to do the weather but not knowing anything
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  Speaker 3: about it. Probably, but you know, the safety of the
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: world at risk. But anyway, after I got off my
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: show at the Comedy Store, I went backstage to meet
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: these people and this man, his name was Steve Antonetti,
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: God rest his soul. He said, this is a very
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: odd question, but do you have that he desire to
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: come to Channel four and do some vacation relief for me.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: I need help on weekends. I need help on vacations.
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: I just need a guide to help out part of me.
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  Speaker 3: And I said, wow, you did hear me say I
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: don't know anything about weather? Correct? And he said, they're
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: hired no weather in California. This so worked out threat.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: That's always Sunday and nights for the most part.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, morning clouds and five hazy afternoon sun. What was
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  Speaker 3: the question? Yeah, anyway, Yeah, anyway, So I auditioned, I
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: got the job. I did weekends for two years. Then
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  Speaker 3: I was bumped up to the main weekday weather job
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  Speaker 3: and I retired two weeks shy of my fortieth anniversary.
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  Speaker 2: Wow, I'm just going to clap because what a great story.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, a lot of people we know come to
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  Speaker 1: Los Angeles to be discovered. That pretty much happened for you.
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  Speaker 1: So you got a stable gig, you got to entertain viewers, and.
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  Speaker 3: It was unbelievable. It was you know. My joke about
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  Speaker 3: it is that it was the greatest bit of show
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  Speaker 3: business luck since that woman was discovering Schwab's pharmacy in
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  Speaker 3: the forties. I am forever grateful for this amazing opportunity.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: And the older I get, the more grateful I am
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  Speaker 3: for the astonishing amount of luck I've had in my life.
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  Speaker 1: So, when you were doing all those weather forecasts full
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  Speaker 1: time at an NBC four, were you also still doing
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  Speaker 1: stand up?
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  Speaker 3: Oh? Yeah, I was doing two or three shows a week.
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  Speaker 2: Oh it was great.
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  Speaker 3: I did a split shift. I would do the four, five, six,
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  Speaker 3: and eleven weather, so I would go in at noon,
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  Speaker 3: I would leave at six thirty, and if the weather
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  Speaker 3: was stable and tranquil, I didn't have to be back
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  Speaker 3: till nine thirty or ten o'clock to do the eleven.
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  Speaker 3: So I would go to the comedy store, the m
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  Speaker 3: property ice house in the lab to do a show
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: and then come back. So I was doing two or
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  Speaker 3: three shows a week, and so I really didn't miss
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: out on anything. The only thing I missed out on,
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  Speaker 3: which will be my regret for the mess of my life,
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  Speaker 3: was being be able to put my children a bed
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  Speaker 3: to bed at night, being there for all of their
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  Speaker 3: dinners and stuff because I'm scheduled. It was a bit
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: of a workaholic, sure, and I would I would re
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: guess my schedule now that I'm older and understand.
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  Speaker 1: But well, but look that the hustle does pay off.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: So I mean in a young person listening, or any
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  Speaker 1: person of really any age, that.
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  Speaker 2: Is the hustle. The hustle. The hustle pays off.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I hustled in my twenty thirties and forties
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  Speaker 1: and now still doing the hustle.
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  Speaker 2: So I think that the hustle doesn't work.
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  Speaker 3: First a great point. Yeah, that's a great point. You know,
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  Speaker 3: I get invited to speak at colleges and stuff, and
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: they just want to know how I got my career.
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  Speaker 3: So that takes thirty five seconds. And then I say,
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  Speaker 3: the only thing, the only advice I can give you
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  Speaker 3: is don't be afraid to try something that you hadn't
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  Speaker 3: planned on. I mean, this weather opportunity presented itself on
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: a Friday night in nineteen eighty two, and I never
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: wanted to be a weather man, but I was at
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  Speaker 3: least gutsy enough to say, well, let's give it a sean,
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  Speaker 3: it can't hurt. I'll be on TV in LA. How
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: bad could that be? Yeah, so I wasn't afraid to try.
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  Speaker 3: So I tell my own children and other young people,
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  Speaker 3: don't be afraid to experiment with something you hadn't countered on,
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  Speaker 3: because it may lead you down a very productive and
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  Speaker 3: advantageous street.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's like you were meant to do the job.
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  Speaker 1: You're such a natural and so sweet and viewers love
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  Speaker 1: you so much, so I can only matgine how that
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  Speaker 1: translates it in so much and to all this coledy
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  Speaker 1: that you do, which now comedy is your full time job.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: And I wanted to talk about the shows that you do.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: You always do, like these theme type of shows, right,
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  Speaker 1: talk about the themes you've done and the new show
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  Speaker 1: that's been so successful.
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: Well, I discovered a strength for me about thirty years ago,
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  Speaker 3: which was to do what was called a single topic monologue,
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: where my whole show would be about one topic. The
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: first one I did was called It's Me Dad, which
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: was about being a divorced father. And then my second
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: one a couple of years later was called The Reception,
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  Speaker 3: which was done with seven hundred high definition photographs where
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: I created sort of a still framed play about divorce.
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: And then my next one was about the news business,
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  Speaker 3: called Tonight at eleven. And then I did one called
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: Defying Gravity, which was my first realization that oh my god,
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: I'm getting old, what's going to happen to me? And
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: then this one, which is I'm full on into seniorhood.
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  Speaker 3: I'm in my seventh decade. And it's called unassisted living.
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: It's just the joys and realizations and the fun of
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  Speaker 3: being a person of a certain age. It's for people
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  Speaker 3: that carry Medicare cards in their wallet. They need to
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: come and see this shows.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, we know those people. We're related to those people.
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  Speaker 1: It's our moms and dads, our grandparents. Yeah, so it's
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: unassisted living, but it's also the Unassisted Residency.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, well it's all Unassisted residency at the Elportel. Just
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  Speaker 3: to play on words, but the name of the show
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  Speaker 3: is actually Unassisted Living. But it's a residency at the Elportel.
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  Speaker 3: We just finished two years of sold out shows and
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  Speaker 3: maybe send to me for another year. I love you
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  Speaker 3: there once a month through twenty twenty six, and I
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: couldn't be happier. It's my home.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so many great shows happing there and that's in
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  Speaker 1: North Hollywood. And then you have a special show on
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  Speaker 1: January fifteenth at the Wilshire Ebail Theater.
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  Speaker 3: Exactly.
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  Speaker 1: You've done shows with them before as well, right, I'm
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: sure over the years, Yes I have.
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  Speaker 3: I've done, you know, shows independent of myself just being
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  Speaker 3: a guest. But you know the email if anybody's lived
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  Speaker 3: in Southern California for a long time to understand that's
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  Speaker 3: a that's an iconic theater in Southern California. Great events
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  Speaker 3: have taking place there. The last thing I remember was
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  Speaker 3: Gary Shandling's memorial service was held there. And it's it's
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  Speaker 3: a great place and it's also a nonprofit place. So
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  Speaker 3: Wendy Leibman and I one person that opens for me
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  Speaker 3: and my d she's great to go down and oh
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  Speaker 3: she's amazing, and we're going to do it on this
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  Speaker 3: Thursday night at the Ebail and give all the money
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  Speaker 3: to the theater just to help them keep their programs alive.
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  Speaker 2: We love I love it, I love it, you know, Fritz.
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  Speaker 1: I did a little googling about the Wilshore Ebail Theater
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: and so great to see some many of these older
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: iconic theaters that are still alive, still around because somebody
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: have shut down, certainly since the pandemic has been such
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: a tough time after so many venues and businesses and
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: restaurants and all that.
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  Speaker 2: But the Wilchrire Ebel. How cool is this?
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  Speaker 1: The Wilster Ebil named after Adrian on Ebel, a German
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  Speaker 1: educator and proponent of women's education in late eighteen hundreds.
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  Speaker 1: This guy from whom the founding women's club the Ebel
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  Speaker 1: of La was named in eighteen ninety four, honoring his
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  Speaker 1: pioneering work and creating educational opportunities for women when they
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: were excluded from.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: Universities back in the day.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: The Grand Clubhouse in Theater, built in nineteen twenty seven,
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  Speaker 1: share his name as part of the larger email organization
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  Speaker 1: which promotes culture, art and science for women.
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  Speaker 2: How great is that? Love the ebail theater even more now, Well.
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  Speaker 3: He's done my public relations for me, and I appreciate
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: and you and I agree with you, not just I mean,
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: I've always been worried about streaming killing live performance, so
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: we have to support live performance. Yeah, there's no more
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: intimate and fulfilling experience than going out and watching somebody
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: relate to you on a stage and then you leave
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: feeling connected to that person. It's a real intimacy and
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: I hope that never goes away. So we're just doing
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: our party, keep it alive.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: So you say your current show is about, you know,
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: thriving in your older years.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: Am I bringing my mom? Am I bringing my auntie?
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: Who am I bringing?
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: No? Exactly? You know, I say it's for my demographic,
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: but I also say that, you know, it's funny, so
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: people who are younger than that forties and fifties who
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: want to bring their parents. The people in the forties
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: and fifties will relate to it too. I always say,
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: use the show as a cautionary tale. This is what
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: it's like when you get older.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: AH bit of a foreshadowing of what's to come for
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  Speaker 1: us all. Thanks, Fritz, Uh.
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: Huh, exactly exactly, hope in a way.
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  Speaker 1: That makes us smile because again that's us so much
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  Speaker 1: as to what's needed in the world today to go out,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: have a good time and you know, have some laughs
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: because you know, getting older, there's a lot of seriousness
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: to that as well, but you're taking like the lighter
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: side and there's plenty to make fun of as well, right, No, that's.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: One hundred percent true. We don't do any politics in
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: this show. We're not here to remind people of the
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: darkness in the world outside to see it. We're just
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: there to express the common experiences of getting old and
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: people laugh. They're laughters of recognition. People see themselves in
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: what I talk about and there's a sort of a
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: release in that. There's a Catharsis in that, and you know,
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: you feel closer at the end of the show. I
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: think people will really like it.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: I love that.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: And before we let you go, Fritz, touch on a
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: few of the other charities. You know, every time I've
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: talked to you over the years, you do so much
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: for charities, local charities to give back.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: Mention a few that you're very passionate about.
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: Well, thank you. I'm on the I'm the vice chairman
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: of the board of the Children's Burn Foundation, which pays
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: for children to come to the United States from countries
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: all over the world get surgery at say Shriner's Hospital
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: burn surgery, and then usually these serious burn injuries to
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: children require anywhere from five to fifteen follow up surgeries.
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: So we help them get acquainted in the United States,
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: find a place to survive, and get after care for them.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: It's very satisfying. And then I'm also on the Metro
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: Advisory Board for the Salvation Army, and their main mandate
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: is homelessness. And you know there's no bigger quality of
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: life issue in Southern California right now than our homeless
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: pipet so and I do and then I do one off.
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: So I do a lot of one off hosting jobs
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: for Shelter Partnership and all those things.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: Giving back is important, making people smile is super important.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: So thank you for all that you do, and for
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: being the honorary mayor of Tuluca Lake right next door
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: to us here in Burbank.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: We love Tuluca Lake.
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: Let me tell you something been the honorary mayor for
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: Teluca Lake for twenty eight years. You just go and
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: I think they forgot on the honorary mayor. You go,
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: and so you embarrass the community and then they find
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: somebody else to fill in yourself. The job is every
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: December fifth with the first Friday in December. I like
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: the five foot Chris the Street. That's my only job.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: That's nice though, And hopefully maybe some free chips at
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: don Kuco's are the best table at don Kucos.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: I mean you deserve these, do I love Donkos.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: We love don Kukas.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: So to find out more about Fritz Coleman's upcoming comedy shows,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: how do I say the el Portal Elport el Portalinrth, Hollywood, Yes,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: Elport tallinorth Holloway dot com.
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and you can go to the wilshare ebail website
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: ebel of l a website. It's a nonprofit. I think
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: it's a dot net if I'm not mistaken, And I
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: hope to see you there. We'll do a little meet
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: and greet afterwards, and I'll shake your hand and give
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: you thank you for being there.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's special, extra special benefit with our friend Wendy
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Leeman is a Thursday, January fifteenth at the Wilshore Ebail Theater.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: And of course you're going to keep up with all
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: of Fritz's endeavors and the shows and everything on his schedule,
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: and maybe you can probably even email them if you
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: you know, if you have a single mom, are you
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: single Fritz?
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: If somebody wants a little yes, I am right now.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: Oh single moms our crushing as we hear this.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: I love this news to keep up with Fritz. It's
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: Fritz Coleman Comedy dot com. Fritz Coleman Comedy dot com
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: for all the info to keep up with their Fritz.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: And we love your Fritz. Thank you for the joy
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: that you bring to so many and.
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: We'll see you. You've been so nice over the years, Lisa,
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: and thank you so much for helping me out.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: Happy New Year, and we'll see at the email on
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: the fifteenth, Okay, dear