Nichols and May - Telephone Company Information Operators
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- Опубликовано: 19 июн 2020
- Mike Nichols and Elaine May perform their routine about a frustrated man in a telephone booth "interacting" with a Bell Telephone Information operator and her management. For those whose only experience with a telephone is a cell phone; in days gone by, thousands of coin-operated phone booths ("pay stations" in telephone company jargon) were available in conspicuous places for the public to make local and long-distance telephone calls while away from home. Generally, each booth or station had a telephone directory within reach so that a caller could look up the number of the person he/she was trying to reach on a local call. Sometimes these directories ("telephone books" in the vernacular) would disappear from their assigned locations. Such is the case with this caller (Nichols). He, instead drops a dime in the 10-cent slot and dials the Information Operator. So long as he is talking with the Information Operator, his dime is held in the phone but not actually collected in the coinbox. Normally, the coin would be returned once the call to the Information Operator is terminated. The dime (for decades before, only a nickel would have been required) comes out of a slot and back to the caller. Somehow, this caller's dime gets deposited in the coinbox inside the phone before his session with the operator ended; and, he has no more dimes with him. The audio for this post was recorded on my reel-to-reel tape recorder on July 9, 1965 from Jack Paar's Friday night program on NBC-TV. (Home video recorders were another ten years away.) This broadcast was a summer re-run--the original having been aired during the regular broadcast season. The video in this post is a kinescope recording taken from a special program called "Jack Paar is Alive and Well", aired December 19, 1987. The audio on that program, as is the case with many kinescopes (which were filmed from a TV monitor) is inferior to what was originally broadcast over the air. I synchronized the separate video and audio (not perfectly, but "close enough for telephone work", as some of us used to say in the company). By the way, on the original telecast, Jack Paar, in his introduction of the duo, indicated that, out of all of their many routines, he had asked them to perform this particular routine. He then went on to say, "Here then--two people who have more talent than you could shake a wand at." Also in the original telecast, at the end of the routine, the audience's applause lasted fifteen full seconds before it was abruptly faded out as the program cut to a commercial.
![What's My Line? - Elaine May & Mike Nichols; Eamonn Andrews [panel] (Jun 26, 1960)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/lYHMp3iuwdw/mqdefault.jpg)
It just occurred to me while watching this that Lily Tomlin's hilarious Ernestine character may have been inspired by Elaine May in this wonderful sketch. They sound very much alike.
I love how every person May "becomes" in this sketch has a little different look to her.
when my mom was dying of cancer she said the only good thing about it was that she'd never have to call AT&T customer service again
That resonates !
Elaine May is brilliant.
I've only just discovered her after a review of A New Leaf. Utterly brilliant writer and comedian with world-class comedy timing. Superb with Mike Nichols too.
They BOTH are. Their chemistry is perfect.
@@michaelaskew6025Check out her 1973-1976 film "Mikey and Nicky".... Cassavetes and Falk. Also brilliant.
The real genius captured is the fact that when one gets escalated to a Manager often its only the tone of conversation that changes.
They were truly absolutely brilliant together.
Mike Nichols went on to win an Academy Award in 1967 for directing The Graduate, and he also directed the HBO miniseries Angels In America, based off the popular play by Tony Kushner.
This skit is great. Elaine May is so gifted.
Love when she breaks at 3:28
So funny!
They were the best. We need comedians like this today
Kate Berlant and John Early channel some of this to me
I’ve listened to this bit from their 1960 comedy album since I was a kid and I never had any idea there was a video recording of it out there. Seeing them do this after so many decades of just imagining what they looked like was like finding an unexpected gift - THANK YOU for posting this!
Elaine May not only directed 2 of the most underrated films of all time, The Heartbreak Kid (1972) and Mikey and Nicky (1976), she's also absolutely GORGEOUS! It's insane how rarely people mention that.
True!
In the 50s in my Family home, if our far flung Relatives called us, when we picked up the phone the Operator said “We have a Long Distance Call”, and our Family got all excited & yelled to each other around the house, “LONG DISTANCE”, because we all knew the call cost a lot of money & we shouldn’t talk too long!
Same thing into the sixties in Canada.
Thanks for posting this. No matter how many times I watch this clip, I still laugh out loud. It might be an old classic comedy bit about pay phones and live information operators that don't really exist anymore but it reminds me of similar experiences I've had in recent years trying to talk to customer service about a problem.
Often the same with govt depts. I worked in the US long enough to earn a social security old age pension but it could be hellish arranging it since I'm in Canada. Some of the people were great and some were idiots and impossible to reason with or get an explanation from-they often got things wrong. It all worked out, luckily. .
After they ended the act, Mike Nichols become an award winning film director.
And Elaine wrote brilliant scripts and also directed movies!😊
No sh.t.
"...K as in knight, P as in pneumonia..."
Sublime.
And 0
As in possum
Dimes and pay phones. Love it!
My mom always loaded my penny loafers with dimes so I could call her in case of an emergency.
"If you're not satisfied with Bell Telephone then why don't you use some service?" LOL They were the only telephone company!!
It is better to see them do it. One of their masterpieces.
This is a classic!
Lordy, but they were brilliant.
That was a hilarious skit. They were a great comedy team.
Two Brilliants Creating Amazing Humor!!! - Steve Mussman
Sometimes we have to delve into the past. I forgot how good they were as a team.
I remember this very well from back in the day. I think they did it on more than one show.
I believe they first did this routine on Jack Paar's NBC-TV show during the 1964-1965 season; and, it was on a summer rerun on July 9, 1965. The same performance was run again in a special show that Paar hosted called "Jack Paar is Alive and Well", which aired December 19, 1987.
@@pianopappy I was in high school. I probably saw it both times that it was on Parr. The only station we could receive was NBC.
Thank you so much for taking the time to synchronize the audio and video. I love this so much!
It was a fun project, Angelina; and, I appreciate your comment. I, too, love this routine--one of their best. Thanks again.
@@pianopappy I second that thanks! Glad you recorded this and preserved it. Also appreciate the explanation for posterity. Just watched their water cooler sketch and had to look up the quiz show scandal, cause I had never heard of it. Did you work for the phone company?
@@profquad 33 years with AT&T.
It's still relevant today, esp. with Bell !!!
Brilliant.
I remember getting dimes back in the mail. If I complained. That they dropped my dime. I never heard of stamps.
I am only 49 and I only understood part of these references. I didn't know Bell sent dimes back in the mail and by the time I remember it was a quarter a call, not a dime
This sounds like me trying to talk to my credit card representative.
Exactly! Just spent two hours dealing with mine and thought of this skit.
My favorite line: Bell telephone does not need your diyam.
This true improv at its finest
It's very similar to calling Verizon customer service.
Correct.
I have to agree. Verizon is really probkematic. I am thankful for these skits too.😅
Classic 😂 I needed this today.
Wow, thanx 4 posting. I’ve never heard of these 2 b4 & will now seek out all their stuff.
Thanks, Jan, for your comment. You'll find plenty more of this team on RUclips. BTW, after their breakup as a team, Mike Nichols went on to direct 20 films and 23 plays; and, May became a prolific playwright and acted and/ or wrote screenplays in 20 films.
@@pianopappy oh wow, he’s THAT Mike Nichols. Cool
They did some hilarious beer commercials. In Texas the ads were for Jax Beer. I discovered only a few years ago that they did the same ads for other regional beers.
@@JiveDadson Wow! I never knew that, Jive. Thanks for that information. That reminds me: Another comedy team, Bob & Ray, did voice-overs as brothers "Bert" and "Harry" Piel in commercials for Peil's Beer, another regional brand, in the northeast.
@@pianopappy I found a playlist. ruclips.net/p/PLHgdkw-p5dofa_aFC14_SAe9Kf_h_klL9
Thank you for that. I do remember watching that special. I think Debbie Reynolds was on that as well
Lots of ignorant trolling crap in the Comments about Lily Tomlin, also a gifted and brilliant performer-- telephone bits, and operators are kind of ubiquitous gags for comics (Shelley Berman, Bob Newhart). whether "Ernestine" was influenced or not by Nichols & May, her bit was in no way a rip-off.
"I can connect you with the managing supervisor Miss Jones but she isnt going to be able to help you either".
"But if you want to give it a whirl...."😁
Little doubt that Tomlin's operator was , ahem, "based" on this far funnier skit
She stole the whole shtick and has been a complete fraud her whole life.
Tomlin ripped this off and was far less funny than Elaine May, who was brilliant. Btw, saw Tomlin at a comedy club in Manhatten Beach, CA. She was foul-mouthed and not funny.
@@KJ-xc6qsooh. Foul mouthed. My word.
Back when a dime was a lot of money!
Back when you could call information, talk to a human, and get the number.
When this came out, I think pay phones in my area still took a nickel for local calls (first three minutes). That's about $.75 in 2021 debased funny money.
Brilliant!! They were the best!
Brilliant!
they were brilliant.
Do people on this thread realize they had no script, it was improv'd, they knew the scene i.e calling operator, but that was it
Actually, Martin, It probably had been begun as an improvisation; but, by the time they took it to television, it had been well crafted into this brilliant routine. No cue cards were used, nor were they needed.
Thank you! It was hilarious)))
Thank you for doing this!
"A as in Aardvark once again". 😄
It's a classic!
I used to get checks for $0.25 from Southern Bell all the time. Lol.
Here in hipster Somerville, Massachusetts, a bunch of artists have augmented the abandoned pay phone shelves and wires into mini sculptures.
It still happens !!!!! This poor man reminds me of myself !
7:17 She blows the punch line, which she does correctly in other recordings: "Just tell me the number you're calling." But she does cover her error pretty well.
Good catch!
Two geniuses!
"Oh, Miss Jones!"😆
I still quote this from time to time when I go from robots and bitches in customer service finally to a supervisor who speaks English and sounds as if she genuinely cares. I gush, " Oh Miss so-and-so!!"
I believe this was on the Tonight Show with Jack Paar
Actually, John, I recorded the audio three years after Paar left the Tonight Show on July 9, 1965 from his weekly prime-time program on NBC-TV. That broadcast was a summer re-run--the original having been aired during the regular broadcast season. The video was taken from a kinescope recording played on a special program called "Jack Paar is Alive and Well", which aired December 19, 1987. The audio in the kinescope was inferior to what I had captured in 1965 (long before there were home video recorders); so, for this posting, I used my audio recording instead.
Who’s still watching in 2020?!
I AM!!! Love them
Yes! I am!
Only the best :)
2021 here
Laughing in 2021!))))
Elaine May and Lily Tomlin. Two female humarists from the 60's with each a fresh take on 'ma bell' (known today as 'google')
Looooooooooooooooooove it !!!
Did a young Lily Tomlin use this to develop Earnestine? I love Lily and Elaine's work.
Thank you for posting this. Do you have -or anyone else reading this -and can you post Mysterioso from Improvisations to Music? Maybe the whole album. The Mike Nichols-Topic channel has pulled the album.
Someone else posted it at: ruclips.net/video/GXGnNYJNW7A/видео.html
Now I know who Lily Tomlin "borrowed" her Ernestine character from.
This was so funny
This is so good. Never saw it before.
Before Lily Tomlin
Looks like Lily Tomlin ripped this off.
Tomlin had a writer, whom she considered to be an equal partner.
@@JiveDadson I don't understand the relevance of Tomlin having a writing partner.
She is very attractive.
I'm in love...
Was this Lilly Tomlin's inspiration for Ernestine?
no bout adoubt it
"Inspiration". How diplomatic.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
What's a pay phone?
Michael, it's a vernacular expression for what the telephone company called it's coin-operated "pay stations". See my description above for more information. And, thanks for your interest.
The strange thing about the status of pay phones in the year 2024....when the phone company or city or whoever decided to remove almost all of them, they took the actual telephone unit out, but left the stand, casing, and shell in place.
And now, 20 years later, just about every city has those little eyesores sticking up out of the sidewalks and parking lots where at one time you could use a regular old pay phone.
🤷🙄
😂
‘K as in knife’
Can totally understand Blank Check's Griffin Newman's crush on her...
There's got to have been an endless sea of guys crushing on her. I'm sitting here in 2021 watching all her old stuff and I'm just enamored.
Apparently Del Close was kind of in love with her as well?
It's at a point where it probably would have been a bit frustrating for her. So many dudes must have been fumbling and stumbling over their words meeting her. Maybe it's sexist or whatever but women that pretty, that funny, that quick witted - fuckin' intimidating.
Lilly Tomlin used this for her Ernestine
I use a dime to open my phone. Not sure what they are talking about. 😀
You are probably too young to remember sorry
Did Lily Tomlin copy her ?
I believe so
3:27
He's an incredible turn-on!!! Bet he was a great dancer ❤
I'm so in love with Elaine May...please call me Elaine- joby saad
*What's a 'Pay Phone?'* *And what is an 'Operator' for 'Assistance?'*
Hi Gerry. I realized when I posted this routine that young people who grew up in the world of cell phones would have some trouble to relating this. So, in my description above, I tried to explain what a coin-operated pay phone was, and also that there were telephone operators (mostly women) who provided information and assistance to customers, especially when they were making long-distance calls.
@@pianopappy *'Sarcasm' is not your forte'?*
(*I'm 67!*) *I remember ALL of the past because I've lived far too much of it*
@@gerrynightingale9045 Right, Gerry. I should have recognized the sarcasm by the bold print! I'm 80, but hope to accumulate more "past".
@@pianopappy *I can't bear to think of being '80'*
😂 look it up on the internet it's sad you don't know and people from your generation have no clue what life was like a few years ago
One of the lamest comedy duo's of all time, lasting under two years. Of course, Elaine May is also remembered for directing some of the worst movies in history as well!
As some one who LOVES comedy and was born 1987 this isn't funny. Maybe overtime you grow to love them but this clip is cringe.
Thanks for your comment, Kristine. Sorry you didn't like this routine; and, I understand why. I have long realized that satire is not for everyone.
😅
There is such a thing as dry comedy try the English for example this is an improvisation skit this is live comedy today it is rare to see it. Try the 60s shows called Carol Burnett and friends, the Andy Griffith show. Even the Dick Van Dyke Show is good to watch the amazing thing is that these actors and actresses do not use curse words today's comedy on Comedy Central and so on is very vulgar this is good clean comedy
Brilliant!