TRANSCRIPT
- Well, I met David in the mid '60s, I would say, at the Troubadour probably.
I don't remember the exact moment, but that's where everyone gathered.
That's where the Longbranch Pennywhistle was.
(chuckles) It was going to turn into The Eagles, and, sorry, who was going to turn into Eagles.
I found out their name is not The Eagles.
It's Eagles.
And David had an eye for talent, and he had, I don't know the chronology of when he started picking up artists, whether it was the Eagles first or Laura Nyro, Jackson Browne, all these sort of legendary people.
I don't know how he did it but he certainly had the ears for it.
And I was nobody.
I was just a comedian who was working around, and then I got a job on the Smothers Brothers being a writer so I had a little more prestige when I'd go into the Troubadour.
The Troubadour was run by Doug Weston, and when you signed up, you signed up for five weeks.
So the first week you would make maybe $250 a week.
Then the second week, not continuous weeks, it would be spread out over a year or two, he would have an option on you.
You would make 500, and then you'd make 750, then you'd make 1,000, then you'd make 1250 or something.
And I think he had that option on Elton John, and literally one minute later, Elton John went from nobody to a huge act.
I think Elton John had to buy out the contract from Doug Weston.
I was the only one who profited from the five-week Doug Weston contract because at the end of this year or something, I was still nowhere, and I couldn't believe I was making $1,000 a week.
I was a bit of an outsider.
I was in the TV world and they were in the music world, and there was Joni Mitchell and all kinds of people.
I can't remember all their names, but you could probably remind me of them.
And I was desperate to meet Joni Mitchell, but I never could.
And, of course, David had a big influence on Joni Mitchell or vice versa.
I opened for Linda Ronstadt, and I think David was managing her at that time, right?
Yeah.
- [Interviewer] She ended up on Asylum.
- Right, and she was one of the most potent live talents you ever saw.
She wore a silver lamé dress that was cut so short, you couldn't believe it.
She wore no shoes and had that great, great voice, and David had an eye for her.
I met Glenn Frey there.
I'm sure David was hovering nearby (chuckling), but I remember when Glenn Frey was trying out the name on me, and he'd say, "What do you think of this name: Eagles?"
And I'd say, "Yeah, The Eagles, that sounds great."
He goes, "No, Eagles."
And I'd say, "Yeah, The Eagles, that really sounds good."
"No, Eagles."
I went, "Eagles?"
(chuckling) So many incidents happened there.
The famous John Lennon insulting the Smothers Brothers.
It was a great, it was a great place.
And it's typical terrible dressing rooms for the performers.
And I guess there was drugs.
I wasn't into drugs, but I guess there was.
And the Troubadour bar was just, I would stay there till 2:00 a.m. and drag myself home.
I really didn't know that David even liked me.
I mean, I don't know if he even remembered me.
We would talk occasionally, but, one, we would talk about paintings.
Another thing, I was in "Little Shop of Horrors," and it was interesting.
So we have the film and now they're going to screen it, and the original "Little Shop of Horrors" has this tragic end where everybody dies.
And there was a screening, and I called him up.
I say, "How did it go?"
And he said, "It went fantastic.
It went absolutely great."
And then I heard later that they're reshooting the ending so people live.
And I talked to him about it, and he said, "I believe it's perfectly okay to lie in defense of your product."
(chuckles) Especially in Hollywood, where a rumor can kill you off and people will jump on it in two seconds.
A film like that is an entertainment, so whatever works, in my opinion.
I have no problem with them changing the ending.
It's a little different when it's a little off-Broadway production, but when it's a big expensive film, I think you, especially, I wouldn't call it an art film I would call it an artistic film, but it's meant to entertain, so I have no problem with fixing it any way you can.
- And David- - And it was a surprise.
The result was a surprise to the filmmakers, that the audience just dropped off, right?
(chuckles) At the end when everybody dies.
So they had to reshoot it.
But David, I actually learned something from David at that time, in that vein.
In the mid '70s, I would talk to him, and he would tell you negative things about himself first.
And this was very rare because there was a lot of gossip and rumors and who's gay and this and that and who's got a good movie, who's got a bad movie.
He always told the story about himself first, and it aborted all kinds of gossip.
It was the first time I ever heard anybody do that, and it's a great style.
I mean, he tells me, "I told Joni Mitchell not to go to Woodstock," (chuckling) and he laughs.
He laughs, you know?
He says, "I told her it was gonna be," you probably heard this.
"I told her it was gonna be mud there.
Why do you wanna go?"
(chuckling) When he talks to you, he looks right in your face.
It's fascinating to hear him talk.
It's like you wanna wind him up and say, "Start," and there's a few people like that in the world.
Mike Nichols, of course, and, of course, me.
But (chuckling) David is very charming.
He has an ability to talk to artists and businessmen alike, and most people are one side or the other.
And he's the go-to person for advice, whether it's financial or career.
I've called him many times, and he has never been wrong.
One time he asked me, this was, my career was sort of medium.
It was like the '80s and had a couple movies that didn't work.
And he said, "You ought to go back on the road with your comedy act."
And I said to him, "Yeah, but I don't have anything to say," which is the truth, and I never did go back on the road, but I got his point.
It's a great feeling when he, I mean, he called me up one time and he said, "We just watched 'Bowfinger' on the plane.
It was killer.
It was so funny."
I just get a real thrill because, gee, that's the idea, is to make people laugh, and I don't think he does that routinely.
He doesn't lie.
He really doesn't lie.
That I'm aware of.
(chuckling) - [Interviewer] So people have a problem with that a bit in Hollywood, it seems.
- Oh.
- He might be a little too candid.
(chuckling) - Well, Hollywood is a place where you say, you can say to somebody, "Hey, what'd you think of," after a screening, "What'd you think of the movie?"
They say, "Oh, I loved it."
And then you say, "And what'd you really think?"
And they say, "Oh well, blah, blah, blah," because artists are quite sensitive, and you might not want to know the truth about something, so you have to ask twice because everybody's trying to be kind, because an unkind word can really destroy an artist at work.
So you have to wait for the artist to ask what they want to know, how much they want to know it.
I think he really got to a point where he did not care what people thought of him.
I think when he, I sort have a feeling like after the MCA sale, he was invulnerable, and all his enemies, he could not harm him, in his mind, and I think it's absolutely true 'cause if you don't care, they can't get to you.
I'm not his shrink, but I do believe he feels insulated by his position, by his money.
I mean, he's a guy who really benefits from having money.
He's not one of the lottery winners who's ends up depressed on Prozac and having lost everything in three years.
I do believe it, something psychological for him.
And he does spread it around.
He's very generous.
And I think he's done his accomplishments.
He's not trying to accomplish anymore.
He love to read.
He loves to laugh, loves to talk to friends, loves to get on the phone, loves to email, loves to check things out.
It's a funny thing.
Here's a guy who's so successful, but he still enjoys gifts.
Like I say, "David, we would love to thank you for having us on the boat.
What if I got you this new computer?"
He'd go, "Oh, that would be great."
And I would think is, "Steve, don't bother," but here's a little computer, and he getting very excited to get it, you know?
And one time we bought him a little desk set.
"Oh yes, I'd love to have this thing," and he is genuinely excited.
(chuckling) David was the first person I met where everything mattered in the decor around him, meaning he liked to live among beautiful things, in the best way.
A Tiffany lamp here or a Galle vase, or paintings and well-crafted houses.
That's catching.
(chuckling) - [Interviewer] And you had said earlier when we were talking the boat.
- Yes, the boat is this huge (chuckling) 450-foot yacht.
I describe it as like being in a five-star hotel and having different towns brought to you every morning.
It's big enough that people can be isolated, and yet there'll be group lunches and group dinners with, except for me, the most fascinating people (chuckling) that he knows.
It goes, guests range from business people to show business people, to funny people, to musicians, and they're actually quite interesting.
People aren't invited because of their position, I don't believe.
They're actually invited because they're interesting.
And I've had some of the most fun nights I've ever had sitting around that dinner table listening to Nora Ephron and Tom Hanks and Marty Short.
That's where you go, "Oh, this is like one of the great nights of my life."
David is really loved by his friends.
He really is.
There's never an unkind word in the circle of people who know him that I ever hear, and I think that is a result of his personality now.
I never saw any negative behavior from David, but I wasn't involved with him in business except a couple of times, but I never, you know, I'd hear stories, but who knows?
I didn't know.
I didn't know it.
I would be invited out to his (chuckling) his house in Malibu for lunch, and there would be Elizabeth Taylor and her little puppy.
And it was just a very nice life.
He became social, I think.
I don't know how social he was in the '70s or '60s, I really don't know, but now he has a lot of friends, and yet he's still a private kind of person, but I think he's on the phone a lot.
That's what I guess.
And there's one thing David has.
I would call him up, like maybe some painting sold at auction and say, "Hey, did you see what the so-and-so brought?"
He would talk to you for a half hour, and I'm going, "How does he have a half hour to talk to me?"
Especially at a leisurely pace and this and that, and he seems to be never in a hurry.
It's the strangest characteristic 'cause I know there's 10 people waiting to talk to him.
He just mellowed, and I really think he's a guy who finished his work and finished his work well, and then said, "Okay, it's really time to relax and enjoy life."
And it's a very hard thing to say what enjoying life is because for most of us to stop work would be to stop enjoying life.
But he hasn't stopped work 'cause he hasn't stopped talking to everyone, advising, listening to what's going on.
He tried to buy the "L.A. Times" a while ago, and so he does put his hand in things, but I think he's really untouchable.
