The late George Plimpton was a writer who became famous by going out and doing things other than writing — like scrimmaging with the Detroit Lions or trying to play golf on the PGA tour — and then writing about his experiences. He was something of a celebrity and often appeared in movies and on TV shows or was depicted in movies or TV shows. Alan Alda played him in the 1968 movie Paper Lion, which was about his brief football career.
He did some specials for television like this one which aired March 31, 1971. For this, he did something far more dangerous than suiting up with the Lions or being an ice hockey goalie for the Boston Bruins. For this special, he tried to become — for just one night on a Las Vegas stage — a stand-up comic. In the film, you'll see him get advice from some top comics of the day including Steve Allen, Woody Allen, Phyllis Diller, Bob Hope, Jonathan Winters and Buddy Hackett. On some of their faces, you can see a brave expression masking a certainty that his mission was hopeless.
I remember seeing this when it aired and thinking I'd never seen a man less suited to being a comedian and I also thought that most of the advice they dispensed to him — at least what was included in the documentary — was pretty useless and not necessarily true. Now that I'm older and have had experience writing comedy and working with comics, I see that I was right.
But I also see a fun little piece of film that reminds us what that world was like in 1971. The whole world of stand-up comedy was about to undergo a major revolution. George Carlin put out his transformative album Class Clown the following year, which was also when The Comedy Store opened in Los Angeles. Things changed a lot after that.
I enjoyed watching this again for a couple of reasons, one being that one of the writers engaged to write Mr. Plimpton's act was my old friend David Panich. David was a strange man, easily the most paranoid human to ever walk this planet. I'd write about him here but you'd never believe half of it. Unless you knew him, in which case you'd believe everything. It was also nice to see some of 1971 Los Angeles and to see some of those comedians again. Plimpton standing alongside Jonathan Winters presented a nice contrast: The man least qualified to stand on a stage and make people laugh next to the man most qualified.
One other memory: Plimpton made his Vegas debut on the stage of the Circus Maximus at Caesars Palace, an awesome performing space which was knocked down to make room for The Colosseum, an even more awesome room. In the doc when Plimpton walks out onto the empty stage of the Circus Maximus, I had a flashback to a moment when I did that. This was around 1985 or so and I went there with my pal Jeff Altman, who was working as the opening act for Kool and the Gang. During rehearsals, I strolled out there just as Mr. Plimpton did…and even though there was zero chance of me ever appearing there with people in the seats, it was a terrifying place to be. I immediately walked — no, I ran for the wings.
I have never had any yearning to be a performer and I can think of about twenty moments in my life when the absence of any such fantasies was starkly reinforced. That was just such a moment. So here's George Plimpton being a lot braver than I could ever be…