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Lenny Interviews Comedian David Brenner

Celebrating his 40th year in comedy, funny man David Brenner is back on the road with a new national comedy tour, Leave ‘em Laughing (A life’s journey from birth up to about five minutes ago), which comes to the Suncoast Showroom June 5, 6 and 7.
Brenner developed the Leave ‘em Laughing tour on the notion that laughter is recession-proof and one of the strongest forces to fight it. The new show is a mural of Brenner’s life, a journey from the poverty-stricken slums of his childhood in Philadelphia to the pinnacle of success. Brenner paints his life story with a “best of the best” of his comedy – jokes and routines that have brought sidesplitting laughter to audiences around the country over the past four decades.
#I sat down with Brenner recently, and as always, it was both lively and enlightening. We started off with his type of comedy. “I had been an observational comedian for many years and finally got tired of doing it, so in the early ‘90s decided to concentrate on news and current events. I’m interested in what’s happening in the world and it gives me fresh material every day.
“When I perform, I draw my diehard fans, who are intelligent and cerebral. Where I can run into trouble is if I’m doing a gig with a very mixed audience, of whom many may not follow the news that closely. If that’s the case, some of my material will go right over their heads and not draw a laugh. Many Americans, according to statistics, can’t even read today, so the cerebral comedian finds himself standing in a farm where the crop area is becoming less and less.”
Are any subjects off limits to Brenner?
“There are quite a few,” he says. “I think anything that’s injurious to someone is off limits. I don’t make fun of abortion, or people with deformities for instance. You have to be in good taste. I may make fun of someone overweight, but that’s because that person can control that condition. But a person who is blind, or old, they can’t do anything about that and I’m not going to make jokes about it.”
When Brenner played Vegas for more than 25 years, much of that period was considered ‘Old Vegas” and many of the casinos were run by the Mob who were only interested in the gambling aspect and wanted entertainers who could bring in gamblers. Today, our hotel-casinos are run by corporations and Brenner says have a completely different mindset.
“I’ll give an example. “I got a call from one of the main Strip hotels last a while back who said they had a high roller there, was a major fan of mine and wanted to see my show. I said okay, let me work it out. I told the people at the hotel that he was a major player and to take real good care of him.
“I found out later that they gave him a booth, a few drinks. Never invited him to come back stage to see me even though I had told them to invite him back. Never escorted him to valet or arranged for a limo for him. I found out the next day, this same guy had dropped more than $9 million so far that year at the casino he was staying in.”
This is a sore point with Brenner. He brings up the fact that when Elvis played the Hilton, “he packed the 1200-seat theater every night for eight years, and at the end of his shows, fans bought Elvis memorabilia and went home. Dean Martin, who played at the MGM Grand, in a 900-seat theater, saw his audience leave the show and drop more than $3 million. So who was worth more to this town when it came to gambling?
“Today, if the showroom doesn’t make money, you, the entertainer, are done, where it never mattered before if the showroom did or didn’t show a profit. All they cared about was what the drop (money won by the casino) was following your show and if it spiked, they would then look at the drop after the late show — you remember, there were always two shows in the old days. And if it spiked again, you were treated like a king.
“Now no-one cares. Other than the locals casinos like the Coast Casinos and Station Casinos and those few hotels individually-owned by some of the oldtimers. That’s why I love playing the Suncoast. They still treat you with a degree of respect.”
Tickets are now available from $19.95, plus tax. Showtime is 8 p.m. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Box Office at 702-636-7075 or visiting www.suncoastcasino.com.

Lenny Interviews Dennis Miller

When you think of comedians, you usually think of a funny guy or gal who makes you laugh — and you’d be right. But when it comes to Dennis Miller, who will be appearing at The Orleans May 15-17, the reaction to him ranges from laughter to downright anger. The reason for the anger is his political views that have changed over the years from liberal to conservative, although he clarifies that by saying, “Not on every issue.”

But whether you like him or not, he’s a very funny guy who makes you think. I caught up with him last week after his radio show, a three-hour nationally syndicated talk show that just celebrated its second anniversary and which is now heard on 224 stations in the U.S.  Miller says, “I didn’t know quite what to make of it at first, but I love it and I find it cathartic. It’s the same stuff I used to tell a shrink for $200 an hour. I hope it’s the last job I’ll ever have. I’ve certainly had my ups and downs, sideways and diagonal in show business. I never know, but I’m enjoying it immensely.”

You would think doing a daily show would restrict him from pursuing other things, like his gig at The Orleans, but Miller says it really has no effect.

“There’s a studio in every city in America and I can go there in the morning and do the show, then I do an hour at night. Listen, I’ve had two gigs that took 12 hours a day at times in my life when I was in the real world, so when people ask me what it’s like to talk for three hours, then go on stage for an hour at night, I look at it as just four hours total.”

With his appearances on FOX News’ Bill O’Reilly show, Miller has become known as much for his political commentary as his comedy. He says that came about over time.

“I started out as a comedian who told more of a general nature of jokes, but then I got onto Saturday Night Live and that moved me into the topical joke forum. Then I guess the political stuff really came into prominence after 9/11 and people saw that my politics had changed on a couple of things, mainly the need to preemptively croak radical terrorists,” who he says, are the greatest threat to the world today.

“When it comes down to it, at the end of the road, if you ask people are they more afraid of global warming than radical Islamic terrorists, I think I know what the answer will be. Global warming is like a hurricane coming. You at least get a warning, where as radical Islamic terrorism is like an earthquake. It happens — like that. You never know when it’s coming. I’ve always been more afraid of earthquakes than I have of hurricanes.”

Miller also is known for his vocabulary and his obscure references. I asked him where his love and knowledge of language came from. “When I was young, my mom told me to look up a word a day and that stuck with me. You know, it’s funny how things so basic can help you through life. I remember at the time, thinking, ‘what’s that gonna do?’ But it allowed me to make a living.”

Another path in life saw Miller signed to be an NFL commentator on ABC’s Monday Night Football, co-anchoring with football great Dan Fouts. “We lasted two seasons. It seemed like half the country hated my guts and half liked me and I was fine with that. I’ve never been an across-the-board purchase for mainstream America. I tried my best. I had fun.

“But I remember when Madden left FOX, I said to Dan, ‘I bet we get fired today,’ even though we had just signed for a third year. I knew that if Madden wanted the job, he’d get it. Sure enough, eight hours later, we were gone. But I’m a fatalist about show business. I’m kind of like G. Gordon Liddy” he says laughing. “Just tell me what corner you want me on if you’re gonna whack me. I don’t want any innocents getting hit in the crossfire.”

Miller has never let any grass grow under his feet. Along with the above-mentioned achievements, he was also the Weekend Update correspondent on Saturday Night Live for six years, before exiting in 1991. He has also been cast in films, usually in dramatic roles, most notably in 1994’s Disclosure, 1995’s The Net, and 1996’s Murder at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

He is a five-time Emmy-award winner for his critically acclaimed half-hour, live talk show, Dennis Miller Live, which had a nine year run on HBO and was the host and executive producer of CNBC’s Dennis Miller, a topical interview talk show.

Miller also distinguished himself as an author, publishing the four editions of his popular rants — The Rant Zone, now out in paperback and  I Rant Therefore I Am; Ranting Again and The Rants, all making The New York Times best sellers list.

Despite how busy he is, Miller has taken the time to become the spokesman for USACares, an organization that is involved in the quality of life issues of military personnel.

“Say a veteran or soldier is going to lose his house, for instance, they step in. USACares looks at specific needs of our military men and women, to see who needs help. I don’t get involved with that process. I’m just the front man for them. They do a great job and 90 cents out of each dollar goes directly to a veteran to help him/her in a specific situation at that point in their lives. It’s a great organization and I’m proud to be part of it. And everyone can help by going to USACares.org.

Miller has been married for 20 years to a former model and they have two boys. He attributes the longevity of his marriage to “picking the most beautiful, sexy woman I’d ever seen in my life who turned out to the nicest too. So you can’t go wrong with that as a starting point.”

If you want to see more of Dennis Miller, all seven of his HBO Comedy Specials are available on DVD from Standing Room Only Entertainment, in this complete Collector’s Edition 3-DVD Set. Dennis Miller: The HBO Specials is now on sale for a suggested retail price of $29.99.

Lenny Interviews Danny Gans

(Danny Gans, one of Las Vegas’ most popular entertainers, died suddenly in his sleep Friday. This is an interview I did with him last year and is the first time it has been published as it was to be a chapter in a book I am writing. He will be sadly missed.
My condolences to the Gans family).

Danny Gans - AP Photo by Bob Brye

What are your fondest thoughts of your childhood/teen years?
My favorite memories are of playing baseball when I was a kid. All the years I spent practicing, from little league through high school with the games and the camaraderie, it made me feel like I was on the way to fulfilling my dream of becoming a great baseball player.

Were you outgoing or more of an introvert growing up?
My dad and I used to watch the Ed Sullivan Show, and when the show was over I would recreate the show for him. I would do my impression of Ed Sullivan introducing all the bands and acts that were on the show. So, here I am, this eight year old kid, doing Ed Sullivan, Jackie Mason, the Beatles, doing the guy with the spinning plates and all of that kind of stuff. I could really make my dad laugh. He had a great laugh. But outside of the house, I didn’t do any impressions. I was very shy, and if someone had asked me to get up and sing a song or something, I couldn’t do it, I was too scared.

What were your thoughts of school and were you a good student?
I didn’t really like school very much. I was a good student, I mean I got A’s and B’s in school, but it wasn’t because I loved the subjects, I would rather be outside playing baseball.

Was there a moment in your life that you knew exactly what you wanted to do with your life?
Yes, at a very early age, like maybe 8 or 9 I knew that I wanted to be a professional baseball player. I knew there would be a lot of sacrifice and dedication to do that and from that time on until my career ended, I practiced every day. I loved practicing. I loved the process of what it took, knowing it took hundreds of swings in the batting cage. I just loved knowing I was doing something to make myself better than the next guy, cause there were a lot of kids with that dream.

You began a career as a baseball player, which ended due to an injury. What effect did that have on your life as to “what do I do now?’
It had a huge effect, because I did not have a plan B. I had my injury at age 21 and that was it – I had no idea what I was going to do next and that was a very heavy time for me. As for show business, doing impressions, singing, telling jokes or being entertaining was something I did at parties or on a long bus ride when I was playing baseball. Some friends and I went to the comedy store in LA, just to laugh. We were there for a couple of hours and the comics weren’t that funny. My buddies said “Man, you’re funnier than these guys, why don’t you get up there?” They were kind of loud about it and the comic that was on stage was not doing well and over heard us and said “Yeah, you think your funnier than me? Why don’t you come up here?” The audience started applauding and I was like “Well Okay”. So I got up on stage and I told some jokes and did voices and people laughed and I went over big, so I thought “Wow – Maybe I can do this”

What made you decide on becoming an entertainer?
Being an entertainer seemed to be a close second to playing baseball. It is kind of the same thing, because if you want to be a good hitter, you have to take a lot of batting practice, so I told myself “Well, to be a good entertainer, you’re going to have to work at it a lot”. I like that process, so once I got on stage and got applause and laughs, I got hooked and knew that was what I wanted to do.

Who or what had the most effect on your life?
What has had the most effect on my life is the Bible. When it was introduced to me, those words became real to me and I decided to live my life as closely to what God laid out for us in that work book called the Bible.

How much of a role does religion play in your life, both personally and professionally?
I made a commitment to a Christian life style when I was 12 years old. I recommitted to it in college at the same time I met my wife. As teenagers we got involved in an organization called Campus Crusade for Christ. We had the same goals and desire to please God first and we believed everything would fall in place if we did that. We still have the same philosophy and have been married for 26 years. It is the first thing and has been the most important element of my life.

Were there times as you sought to make it that you were ready to throw in the towel?
Yeah, there were many times, especially early on when I decided to pursue an acting career in addition to entertaining. There were so many great guys out there and sometimes it boiled down to getting a part if I looked like the role, like I might have been too tall, or too short, or too funny, or not funny enough. It was very tough to do and there was a stretch where I couldn’t get anything so I didn’t know if I wanted to do it anymore. But I didn’t have another dream to fall back on so I wanted to stick it out and make this dream of show business work.

Where was you first professional performance as an entertainer and what was the experience like?
The first professional job was at the Palm Springs Hilton in a little nightclub. I was the MC of a little review for $150.00 a week doing 2 shows a night. I would introduce 4 other acts and perform a 15 minute spot. I had to really work hard to get that 15 minutes. My first performance without my friends or family made me really nervous, but fortunately I went over really well and that gave me a huge boost of confidence to know that I could do it.

When fame finally came, how did it affect your life and were you prepared for the changes that came about because of it?
When I put Hollywood and an acting career aside to pursue being a variety performer I knew that I would not reach the masses like someone on television could. So my rise to fame would be a slow one. When I got to the point where I was a head liner on the Las Vegas strip, I had already been performing for 17 years, so it wasn’t an overnight thing. Even to this day, when I see a marquee, a billboard or a taxicab with my name on it I don’t look at it as “Hey, there I am – look how great I am”. I look at it as “Oh, there’s a Danny Gans cab”. It’s just part of the business.

Many young people can’t handle fame and get into a destructive lifestyle. What’s your advice to them?
Well, you know, there is a lot of pressure in this business, especially when you get the kind of fame like a Brittany Spears has, where the paparazzi is hiding in trees to get pictures of you. I have never experienced anything like that, but my advice to them would be – Fame is very fleeting and those people that are clamoring to get your autograph today, in 2 years could pass you on the street and not care about you at all, and be saying “Wasn’t that somebody?’’. So you’ve got to get a hold of what is important now, your faith and your family. Your self worth isn’t based on if they are writing about you in the papers or not. And if you get those priorities straight, you won’t be so devastated by either the highs or lows of success or failure.

What was the first extravagant thing you did with you first really big paycheck?
When I was a kid, my dream car was a 55 Chevy and when I got my first big paycheck which I think was something like $3,500.00, I went out and bought an old 55 Chevy and restored it. I still have that 55 Chevy today.

Other than the obvious, being able to buy more and better things, what are the good and bad things about having a lot of money?
Other than the obvious, having a nice house and money in the bank, knowing that if I decided to end my career, or people decided that I should end my career I have enough money in the bank to survive and my kids have money to start a career or go to college. My life hasn’t really changed that much from what is was 20 years ago since I’m not a very extravagant person. I’m a jeans and t-shirt guy and like to work on my old cars and go to the gym. The rest of my life is on stage with occasional days that I might get out and play golf. I’m not into buying a lot of bling and jewelry and that kind of thing. I never see most of my money because it is sent away to my uncle who is an investment broker. So for me, the benefit of having money is just the security of knowing that I’ve got it there and that my kids are going to have a good start in life.

They say that staying on top is harder than getting there. Do you agree with that?
All I know is my life in Las Vegas. Each year the shows here get bigger and more extravagant. The concept of a guy in front of a band with minimal lighting and sound is something you don’t see very much, so the pressure on me to have a great show is pretty intense, but I like that pressure. I have to go out there and hit a home run every night. Everybody around me is used to the bar being raised each year. It’s exciting to compete with 150 million dollar shows that have a cast of 120 people.

What is it about the business that you enjoy the most?
There are a lot of hours that go into the show that people never see, with rehearsing, preparing, the people behind the scenes, everything that happens in the office to the lighting person putting in a new light, tweaking something with the band or rewriting the joke. The best part is the 90 minutes I’m on stage. It’s the culmination of all those things and that’s what I enjoy the most.

When you started out as an entertainer, did you ever dream of having your own theater in a Las Vegas Strip resort?
No, there is no way I could have ever though that would ever happen. I thought early on that ideally I’d be performing, do some movies or recordings and then I would play Las Vegas on the weekends occasionally because my name had come to mean something and people would come in based on my success in movies and television. But never did I dream that I would be in Las Vegas 11 years performing on the strip and selling out based on word of mouth about how good the show is. It truly is like a dream come true.

You had a role in Bull Durham that was cut, but there obviously was some interesting in acting. Is this something you would like to pursue at some time in the future?
Yes, definitely, but with my 48 week a year commitment to the Mirage, there is really no time to do a film. I would need to be available for several months at a time and I don’t have that time with doing my show at the Mirage, but you never know what might happen in the future.

There were rumors a few years ago that you were going to have your own show, a sitcom if I remember right. Was that true and if so, why didn’t it go forward?
Yes, Aaron Spelling was a fan who had seen my show many times and we sat down and talked about the possibility of doing a sitcom. I signed a contract that held me to his production company for a year while the show was in development. I collaborated with writers and creative people on a sitcom based on my life as an entertainer and a family man.
The show was going to be a modern day version of the Danny Thomas show years ago called “Make Room for Daddy” and we were thinking about naming the show “Make Room for Danny”. If you remember on the show, Danny Thomas was an entertainer performing at a club and a family guy dealing with family matters. We were very close to actually doing this and then we realized the schedule that it would take to do the sitcom, the 8 – 12 hours a day, 5 days a week. How would I possibly do my shows at the Mirage? We came to the conclusion that physically I couldn’t do it unless I could take some time off from the Mirage, but unfortunately shortly thereafter Aaron passed away and that was the end of that.

Many entertainers I’ve interviewed said that you have to be focused on your goal and can’t let anything sidetrack you, even at the expense of family and friends. Have you found that to be true?
No, I have not found that to be true. I think there is a balance – for me that is the case. Show business is very demanding but, I have been put into a wonderful situation with my show at the Mirage. I have a schedule that I follow so that my rehearsals with the band are allocated to late in the afternoon and the show is late in the evening and I have all day to do what I want to do. I’ve tried, since my kids were born, to make them a priority in my life, and I think because of the fact that I strive to put God first He’s worked it out for me to enjoy this life that I have.

What do you think it takes to make a good strong marriage?
My wife and I both made a commitment years ago to put God first, and we strive to do that everyday. I lucked out – she’s a great person and I just like being around her. I can’t imagine doing anything without her and I was very fortunate to find “the one”. She is really my best friend, so it makes for a great marriage. And she’s beautiful, so that doesn’t hurt either.

Do you have children of your own?
Yes, I have 3 kids. My daughter Amy goes to college, my son Andrew is a senior in high school and he has the same aspirations I did at his age. He wants to be a professional baseball player, my youngest daughter, Emily wants to be an actress. Her hero is Miley Cyrus and she wants to be the next Hannah Montana.

What makes a good father?
You gotta love your kids a lot and you gotta spend a lot of time with them. I think that’s what they want – time. They don’t want things as much as they want your time. And that is the most precious thing you can give someone, is your time.

What’s you greatest worry about your kid’s future?
Because I am blessed financially, I’m not worried about them money wise because I’ll always be there to help them. I try not to worry. That’s where my faith in God comes in. I give that over to him, but I pray my kids find someone like the woman I found in my wife, so they can spend the rest of their life happy with someone who cares about them as much as I care about her and she cares about me.

What is it about our city that you especially enjoy?
I love the fact that we have the Strip with the best entertainment in the world and suburbs with great schools, communities, shopping and parks. It is just a great place to live and I’m proud to say that Las Vegas is home.

Las Vegas has been very good to you and you in turn have been very good to it. Have you always felt it was important to contribute to the community?
All I can say is that I feel very blessed to be in this situation and I want to give back to the community. It doesn’t feel like an obligation that I have to do, it is something I want to do. I am very proud of the organizations that I do contribute to and it is something that I really look forward to doing each year.

What do you do to relax and give me an example of typical day in the life of Danny Gans?
A typical show day is different than a day off. A typical show day for me always starts the same, in that after I have a cup of coffee and read the paper, I go to the gym. I spend about 2 hours in the gym 5 days a week, and after the gym I come home and get cleaned up an go to the office, which is my office in my house and I take care of business that is in there or I have lots of notes from the show the night before and I go through those notes or write something. When I get to the theater it takes me about a half hour to set up my props on stage and then I work with the band on new material or notes from the show before, tweaking something or making it better. Then I start getting changed and ready for the show, warm up my voice for 15 minutes and then I meet with the band and we go over last minute notes and then, we all have a prayer about the show that night. After that, I spend a few minutes out on stage from about and just kind of go over everything before I start the show.

After the show it takes me about a half hour to put props away, make notes from what happened in the show for the next day. I take my shower, then sit down and have something light to eat that is usually 10 egg whites and a glass of non fat milk, or a chicken breast and brown rice and I will watch usually something that I taped from the night before, a Jay Leno monologue or one of my favorite television shows like Dog the Bounty Hunter.

I watch something like that for about a half hour and then I go home where go through my routine making sure the house is all locked up and so forth and so on. There is usually more mail and I spend a half an hour in my office at the house going through that and then I go from there into the den and watch Letterman and then I usually go to bed around 1:00.

On my days off, I will usually golf. One night a week is traditionally family night and we do something with the kids. We usually watch a movie or go out to dinner or something like that. The other night off is usually date night where I take my wife out to dinner and see a show and that is pretty much my week.

Is there anything you haven’t done yet that you’d still like to do?
Yes, I would like to make the cut at The Pebble Beach Pro Am. I’d also like to break par just once.

You’re still a young man. What do you hope to accomplish over the next 10 years?
It’s really exciting to see the success I’ve had in Las Vegas and I would like to play that out as long as possible, but I would also like to do something on television on a regular basis and make a few cameos in some films.

If you weren’t an entertainer what do you think you’d like to be doing?
If I hadn’t gotten hurt, I’d love to be coaching baseball right now after I’d had a 20 year successful career in the big leagues. But other than entertaining I really don’t know. I don’t have a plan B. Well, maybe a chef. My wife is dying laughing right now.

As you look back over your life to this point, any regrets?
I regret having the soup that I ordered for dinner last night, because my stomach hurts today. No, I have no regrets, I really don’t.

Some highlights?
Professional highlights would have to include performing on Broadway and being a head liner on the strip.

Last question, and I’m sure you are thinking, thank God. It has to deal with favorite things.
Meals — Something my wife makes – a salad of chopped chicken breast with cantaloupe and celery and grapes and almonds tossed in a chutney-curry dressing. It’s just one of those things that you keep eating way beyond being full. I walk away like a bloated cod fish. I mean I’m just so full. It is so amazingly good.

Book — This is going to sound corny, but it’s the Bible, because I read it everyday. I just read Billy Crystal’s book, 700 Sundays, about his family and his dad. He did a Broadway play about it. That’s the last book I read that was really good.

TV show – The Twilight Zone. It always has been, since I was a kid running home from school to watch it till now. I love the Twilight Zone marathons.

Movie — Best classic movie is It’s a Wonderful Life. Contemporary movie is Bruce Almighty.

Sport — To play is golf, to watch is baseball.

Color — Black

Athlete — Tiger Woods

Car — ‘55 Chevy

Entertainer — The most inspirational is Sammy Davis Jr., my favorite actor is Tom Hanks, Singer – male – Frank Sinatra, female – Barbara Streisand

Pet peeves — When people drive too slow or better than that – when you are driving and you want to change lanes and they won’t let you in. They see your signaling, they see you want to pull over, but they still won’t let you in. That and guys who are funnier than me. That really ticks me off.