Before we leave the subject of Nathan Lane in our video linkage, I want to send you to two more clips, neither of which are embeddable here. This one is from the TV series, Norm Crosby's Comedy Shop, which was syndicated in 1978. It's an appearance by Stack and Lane, a comedy team of the day. Before the lovely Shelly Goldstein sent me this link, I was wholly unware that Nathan was ever part of a comedy team. The performance, which runs a little under four minutes, will tell you why they were so obscure.
Then I shouldn't link to this because I don't want to give even tacit approval to the secret and illegal videotaping of live performances but it's just too good, and I have to make up for the previous clip. This is seven minutes from the recent Broadway production of The Odd Couple starring Mr. Lane and Matthew Broderick. It's shot poorly and unethically from the balcony but it's still funny. This is the top of Act Three, where Oscar and Felix aren't speaking because the latter refused to go with the former to the apartment of the Pigeon Sisters and…well, you know the storyline. You know how this goes. You even know that it's not spaghetti, it's linguini. The last line of this clip is the line that Neil Simon says consistently receives the longest laugh of anything he's ever written. Every time I've seen the show, it sure has.