For those who complain that I am underselling what Milton Berel’s comedic talents, keep in mind that I love his comedy. He just sucked here. Also, if you doubt what I say in this video, look it up, and you’ll find tons of articles and cast member accounts (some of which are displayed here) that back this video up.
His cameo in "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" kinda makes more sense now. He's walking into the Warner Brothers lot surrounded by what look like "yes people". He says a joke and everyone laughs for a second and go back to their normal stares and Pee Wee just keeps laughing.
I agree about 99.5% with everything in this video. The only quibble I have is that I think the tragedy was not that people didn't care about HIM anymore - clearly they did, otherwise Lorne would never have had him on the show- but, rather, that he didn't care about THEM anymore. His act wasn't about making people laugh anymore, it was about feeding his ego and, from what I've read, had been for some time. He was convinced he was the funniest man alive and didn't need to change, and so was left behind. Meanwhile, with varying degrees of success, other vaudevillians, like George Burns and Bob Hope, managed to stay relevant by going with the flow (or, in the case of Hope, at least trying to). I do agree with others in this thread who thought he was good on The Muppet Show, though. The difference there is that he didn't NEED to change to succeed on it. It was, for all intents and purposes, a vaudeville show, a nostalgia act, and his genuine vaudeville cred gave the show the legitimacy it needed to also incorporate the artistic and counter cultural elements it was adding in for the less traditional bits.
That’s because Betty was always a class act and went along with whatever would help make her popular, she did a photo shoot with Ryan Reynolds in his full Deadpool outfit for crying out loud, she was willing to do anything
Berle had his glory days in television from 1948 to 1953 as star of the Texaco Star Theatre. He didn't change with the times and quickly became redundant. That's show biz.
But then it’s a mad mad mad mad world came out in the sixties and he was the star. So he stayed relevant in his own way. Al made appearances on major tv shows of the 50s and 60s
I’ve never heard about this episode, but I agree that it’s pretty personally tragic. At the very least, his episode probably wasn’t as bad as Steven Segal’s
@@jenneacubero1036The details could make a MM video on its own, but basically, Seagal basically had no idea what comedy even was. He had no ideas for anything other than going onstage and beating people up. He absolutely refused to tell jokes or make fun of himself. You can find clips online…it is PAINFUL to watch…the cast and audience is SO uncomfortable. Milton Berle was tragic…he at least was trying on SOME level and knew what a joke is, but realized his style of humor just doesn’t work anymore. Seagal’s hosting just makes you angry. Like, you’re almost upset that someone on the planet thinks this is funny. And don’t think the cast didn’t know. Lorne and the cast were considering firing him and having the first-ever hostless episode, but they backed out of that at the last minute for whatever reason. If you ask the cast at the time about it, they’ll talk your ear off about what a painful disaster it was.
@@jenneacubero1036 Nerdstalgic has a good video on the subject of you want the details, but yeah like people here said, Segal’s hosting was akin to if the Terminator was asked to host SNL. Every joke ties back to assault (mostly physical assault, but they cut one sketch involving sexual assault) and he refused to be made fun of. It was just a bad hosting idea
I have the episode on dvd, it's a real bad one. And I don't feel too sorry for him, he's always been a creep with a temper for whenever he's not the center of attention.
There is a brief scene in the new movie SATURDAY NIGHT showing Chevy Chase and Milton Berle that is very insightful into both their characters. Cory Michael Smith played Chevy Chase while J. K. Simmons played Milton Berle in that movie.
I might agree. Who wants to invite some perverted Uncle if he thinks flashing his penis is a million laughs. Can't tell me he didnt make people uncomfortable back then especially women.
I heard that the obnoxious titular character Mickey Rooney portrayed in The Comedian was based on Berle. I highly recommend it for those who haven't seen it.
@@masonhorsley1505 I think that film would have been better if Bill Crystal played it like Mickey Rooney in the teleplay. Playing a highly obnoxious, insufferable, even physically violent narcissist.
The backstage story from writer Alan Zweibel about Berle actually whipping out his privates to show that the rumors about how well-endowed he was were true is one of my favorite SNL anecdotes of all time.
It seems to me based on this analysis, that the most tragic part about this is the entire thing could have been avoided if he had listened, actually set his pride aside for a night and changed his act. Doesn't make the whole story any less tragic overall
I can sympathize with Berle about everything else, but the dick flashing. I'm sure the people on his show in the 50s considered that highly inappropriate too and were just as uncomfortable with it, but they were just afraid to say it because he was the boss (well, technically, I guess the sponsor was the boss, but since his name was on the show and it was successful, he got his way). I remember he guest starred on the TV series, Fame after this SNL episode. Not a highlight for me; very forgettable. But I wonder if the Fame cast also had trouble working with him or if he had learned his lesson from the SNL debacle. I do remember another storyline from another episode from that show where one of the students has his comedy routine stolen by a pro comedian and I wonder if that was a thinly veiled reference to Berle.
@@AndrewVOdom The Coneheads was the original cast with Dan Ackroyd, Jane Curtin, and Lorraine Newman. If you think it wasn't funny then, that would mean you thought it was never funny. And it never struck me as being PC (though I don't think that expression even existed back then in the 1970s). Although, I suppose one might interpret some of it as being a commentary about illegal immigrants. But most of it was just straight comedy about them not understanding life and customs on Earth, while trying to keep their true identities secret ("We are from France") and the absurdity of it since no one could possibly miss their very unearthly, huge cone shaped heads. The comedy was actually similar to Mork and Mindy, Third Rock From the Sun, Alf, and the original alien sitcom, My Favorite Martian. Maybe just stop trying to find politics wherever you look and just relax and enjoy comedy without your rage porn.
My only real familiarity with this guy was his guest episode on "The Muppet Show". To be fair, the back and forth with him and Waldorf and Statler was pretty great.
I think the reason he was able to come off so well on The Muppet Show was because that show was, essentially, a vaudeville show. It's what he was already used to, how he got famous. He didn't need to modernize, he just had to avoid working too blue. Word is he was still really difficult behind the scenes, though.
Come on, Milton Berle wasn't just some vaudeville guy. He was one of the towering figures of early American TV, every bit as famous as Jackie Gleason in the 50s. He was TV and comedy royalty for a long time and still is among people in the know. Having him as a host was a huge score for SNL, but this meeting of the generations went really badly.
Gleason was way more talented than Berle. I won't say all his comic sketches have stood the test of time but he demonstrated an ability to perform comedy and drama.
It means back in 1950 some stations and sponsors didn't want black performers on TV. He signed a group for his show and there was some grumbling and demands that they not be allowed on the air. Berle just said that if they don't perform he won't perform and that put an end to that bullshit. After that he had whoever he wanted on his show. He was king back then, one of the first guys to get a million dollar contract, so one of the few who could make a stand like that and not have to deal with corporate pushback.
Berle's broad Borscht Belt humour of the 1930s wasn't playing with the hip, youthful, satirical sketch comedy in New York City at the turn of the 1980s.
It was a symbiotic relationship between performer and the audience. Boomers violently rejected everything of their parents’ generations and before, good or bad. He could sense that it wasn’t his night and that it just kept going on like this until it finally stopped.
@@Attmay Also, Lorne and the original cast were coming from Toronto and Chicago. So their Midwest modern humour clashed with Berle's Catskills Yiddish humor of yesteryear.
Berle being banned was entirely due to his actions behind the scenes and not his terrible performance…Lorne is lenient with flopping hosts, but strict with actions. being a huge diva earns you a ban, alongside going off-script(Adrian Brody) and going way too raunchy(Martin Lawrence). Berle was a diva, had he not been that way he might have come back to try again but with a better understanding of the way live scripted tv comedy worked vs. his taped or ad-lib stuff
A better understanding of live TV? Most of TV was live in its early days because videotape hadn’t been invented yet! They had to point a movie camera at a TV screen to archive live broadcasts so they could be seen on the West Coast.
When it comes to Milton Berle NBC was afraid to lose him to CBS that they gave him a contract for $1M a year for life. So once a year he would appear on some show on NBC to fulfill his contract
By 1966 Berle had ceased to matter, so NBC released him from his exclusivity deal. This allowed Berle to star in his own variety show on ABC. It tanked after only a few months. ABC clearly didn't have much hope for it, as they scheduled it for Friday nights, next to The Time Tunnel.
The best way to start relevant is to be willing to team up with younger creators and step out of your comfort zone. Look at the success that Steven Martin and Martin Short have had with Only Murders or Danny Devito on It's Always Sunny. It is possible to work into older age, you just can't rely on the same shtick for your entire life.
Then in comparison look at Chevy Chase who fought young creatures and performers every step of the way when Community threw his dying career a lifeline
I was born in 1970, so Saturday NightLive was something that was extra special to me when I got to stay up late and see it. Those days were amazing, especially as a kid. I almost feel like I remember this episode, but it’s hard to be sure. Loved your take on it; thanks.
An SNL host is only as good as the writers behind them. Yes, Milton Berle was partially responsible for this debacle but the writing staff and the crew didn´t help him either.
@@mrcritical6751and if they’re prevented from doing that, you get his episode…and it’s a trend among shows with bad hosts, they don’t work well with the writers
I'm sure this SNL episode was intended to be an homage to Berle, arguably television's first superstar during its infancy (at one point in the late '40s, his show had a 95% audience share.). As Berle's appeal inevitably began to wear off (how many more times can you get laughs by relying on slapstick and cross-dressing?), ratings declined, leading to changes to the show's format with less emphasis on Berle, which led to even further drops in ratings. By 1955, Berle was fired from the show. So, his appeal as a TV entertainer was over almost a quarter century before he appeared on SNL. I'll add that SNL itself was in decline at that time. Many of the cast had their eyes on bigger and better things, and it showed. By the '78-'79 season, the show only rarely reached the comedic heights it had achieved during its first two seasons. The cast stuck it out for one more season, but it had become a tired affair. Put the two together--a host well past his shelf life and a tired show, and it's no surprise this episode was a disaster.
Poor Uncle Miltie. I read a lot of Golden Era Hollywood biographies and such, and the endings are always heartwrenching. Showbiz really does a number on the psyche.
@@mediamementosofficialand yet the ratings ebbs and flows show otherwise…there’s a reason the originals, late 80s, mid 90s, and early 00s casts are fondly remembered while the early 80s, late 00s, and today casts aren’t
They always say the SNL cast you think is the best cast is whatever cast was there when you were 12 years old, but I defy you to find anyone whose favorite cast in the Jean Doumanian years.
Another key factor is SNL's audience was primarily made up of the young generation who mostly were not born when Berle was a household name. By the time he made his SNL guest host appearance he was mostly a relic of an era that was that was long gone. His actual fan base, the people who knew him from 1940's and '50s were not the majority of SNL's viewers. Also, many of them likely had passed on. Berle's act did not evolve with the times; therefore, he never was able to connect with new generations of people he needed to carry him through the 1970s and beyond. Celebrities who successfully transcend generations enjoy long and fruitful careers. George Burns, Betty White, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra and Don Rickles are examples of people whose fame lasted well beyond their prime years. It also didn't help that Berle turned off a lot of people with his unsavory reputation.
That Charmin Bear bit you clipped for your video here was lifted right off of a Joel Haver animation. SNL "writers" aren't only completely unfunny, but they troll RUclips for joke ideas from actual talented people because they don't have a creative bone in their body.
And it’s honestly kind of racist since they are pushing the idea that “oh he’s black, so let’s have him do something with hip-hop.“ Black people had a hand in creating so many different musical performance styles, yet that’s the only one str8 yt shitlibs want to push!
Timing of this video was very interesting! I actually JUST watched an episode of Sister Sister (from the mid 90s) and that he guest starred in. He was a lot older, but did a good job.
Oh and his playing of "September Song" and his prearranged standing ovation was icing on the cake that amongst other offenses that he did, got him shown the door by Lorne Michaels and was told to never come back again.
There is a difference between Milton Berle and Betty White. Betty White (RIP) adapted to the times accordingly, and Milton Berle couldn't digest the idea that change is constant.
If I recall correctly, the featured musical act on the Berle SNL show was Ornette Coleman. At that time Ornette was leading the electric version of his band Prime Time; their sound was pretty abrasive anyway, but it definitely sounded to me as if Ornette was pretty pissed off and wanted to deliver music that sounded that way. At the time, I thought it probably had to do with those racist jokes in his monologue, but it was probably about that and a lot more.
My favorite was his Deus Ex Machina cameo on the finale of The Critic when pops up out of nowhere and singlehandedly beats up the terrorists who were holding Jay's 10th Anniversary Special hostage. I know it was a cartoon, but it was definitely the kind of ego trip Uncle Miltie lived for at the time.
I was born in 1976 and like so many of my generation we just knew Milton Berle from his various guest appearances in 80's and 90's TV shows and his cameo in Pee Wee's Big Adventure and of course his controversial bit with RuPaul on an MTV award show.
I wonder if this episode of SNL inspire the simpsons episode where Krusty the clown is invited to perform with popular comediens and bombs due to outdated and/or offensive jokes..
It's a reoccurring thing comedy goes through every 20 years or so. Comedians that used to be huge are now irrelevant or outdated to where the comedy scene is at in modern days. One of the best examples of this I can think of is Andrew Dice Clay who is tragically unfunny and basically rode for years on a misogynistic ranting style.
Lol, i was just watching "mad mad mad...." The other day and thinking how unlikeable Berle is. Something tells me a lot of those Catskills -circuit-type guys were kind of jerks.
Eh, yeah, Id say so. Especially considering that he liked to introduce himself with an erect penis. He'd fit right in with modern feminism if he'd just say, "stop sexualizing me" after doing it.
I think this shows to me the complaints about "woke humor", it's people not understanding that humor changes and what was funny 30 years ago isn't funny now. We don't have to stop doing jokes, just be smarter about them and get input about how to do jokes concerning black people, gays, latinos, asians, etc.
Nothing was woke at this point, he just wasn't funny and he thought he was more of an icon than he actually was. Woke does not have anything to do with this. Pay attention and do better.
*F(r)iends* wasn’t funny 30 years ago and it is toxic now. They ripped off *Living Single.* They didn’t just rip off Blacks, but the LGB community as well.
Milton Berle was truly great. However, his style of comedy was completely different from SNL's. I agree with most of the analysis here of why the show was bad, but I'd hate to compare him to Segal who was genuinely terrible.
Steven Seagal had no business being the host of a comedy show, not even this one. He just doesn’t think funny. It sounds like when Rainier Wolfcastle tried stand up.
I find this to be very sad. I still love Uncle Miltie. Always will. The guy was an absolute legend. It's just that by the 70s, especially the late-70s, times had changed, and he found-out the HARD way.
It’s a shame you can’t find this episode anywhere because Ornette Coleman, the musical guest, does a really good version of his song “Times Square” that you can’t really find anywhere on the internet anymore.
Yeah, I thought I remembered Ornette! I will say, though, that I also thought he added an especially caustic edge to his sound that night, as if he was pretty pissed off and wanted the world to know it. I thought it was probably Berle's racist jokes during his monologue that bothered Ornette, but now I'm guessing it was that and a lot more.
I watched this episode the night it originally aired on NBC. I was 12 y/o and somewhat knew who Berle was from the movie "It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World" my parents explained to me that he was a star from the beginning of television. I was left confused by his "humor"! I recently watched it again on Peacock and I just felt sad for all involved especially Berle!
There were a couple of times they had stars from the Early/Golden age of TV like Desi Arnaz and Ricky Nelson and they did pretty well. Remember the time, Milton appeared with RuPaul on VMAs?
As non-american, I had no clue who Milton Berle is, but I remembered this name from one "Life with Louie" episode where Jensen and Andy Anderson comlain about who's funnier comic, Milton Berle or Bob Hope
Oh, he was smart enough to see it, he just didn’t see it until it was too late. He didn’t see it until he actually went out on that stage and bombed. For someone with a multi-decade track record of success to fail so spectacularly on a show that was to the current generation as his show was to his generation was the ultimate embarrassment.
I haven't seen much of his work, but I remember my dad telling me about watching him when he was a kid and not finding him funny.He told me was that Berle would just tell the same jokes over and over until people stopped laughing. I mainly know him from Gilbert Gottfried's podcast, where the legends of Berle being "well endowed" is frequently brought up. Whenever Gottfried would have a guest that met Berle, he would ask them if they'd seen it. I think I saw his Muppet Show episode that people have mentioned in the comments. I also remember he did a cameo in Kung Fu: The Legend Continues.
With all respect, I'm not sure you quite have it right. By most reports, the cast and writers were excited to have TV legend Milton Berle as host, until they met him. He was acting like he still ran NBC and was condescending to everyone and ordering them around. I'm pretty sure they deliberately wrote sketches to make him look like a schmuck and humiliate him. The big ass sketch was one and the bit where they talk about his bowel movements and where Jane Curtin keeps shoveling baby food into his mouth was another. If you notice, no one embraces him at the show's closing. You can usually tell how much the cast likes the host by how they embrace him or her, or avoid the person at the end. Belushi being the gracious exception, they all stood in the back and no one seemed to want to hug Milton or shake his hand. Lorne Michaels not only banned Milton from the show for life, for many years, the episode wasn't even allowed to be shown in reruns. Like the Louise Lasser show, it resurfaced when the complete first five seasons were released on DVD.
This is why I'm glad i never became famous, because this would have been me. I don't know how to be trendy or get with the times...I don't have what it takes. I just exist in my own way and somehow I get by. Besides, fame seems to be a very temporary thing, unless you know exact how the system works, which friends to make and have the energy of the sun...otherwise, once your novelty runs out, that's it.
guest host was Albert Brooks Idea, he was invited to be the ongoing host, but he said it would work better with rotating hosts, talked himself out of the job, for comedy - what a guy!
Fun fact: Milton Berle appeared on an episode of Beverly Hills 90210 and was nominated for an Emmy that emmy nomination is the only nomination that Beverly Hills 90210 received during its whole run
SNL represented a massive change in sketch comedy at the time. Carol Burnett has admitted she saw this happening in the 70's when she still had a variety show on CBS. So having a former A-List vaudevillian comedian hosting SNL was never going to end well. You have to know when to quit and move to Miami.
it kind of sad becouse when you think about it every famous person either turns into a monster or this guy someone who past there prime trying to hide the fact deep down they arent who they used to be there also a third which are poeple who accept the fact they arent who they used to be try to live a good life without it
“…it was mentioning a taboo subject at the time and expecting the audience to laugh…” So similar to a lot of today’s writers? Seriously, a lot of writers the past five-ten years just rely way too much on referring to current events, trends, etc. and expecting everyone to get the reference & have the intended reaction. I don’t blame writers for wanting to talk about current events, but A) it has to be done well and B) you can’t just go, “Hey, this news story happened/this thing exists! That’s it!” or the work will become very dated very quickly. I find myself catching reruns of Law & Order: SVU and thinking, “This may be referencing something, but I sure don’t know what it is!”
Very disappointing video. There was a only 22 second clip of Berle actually doing a skit. The other 12:26 seconds of this video was the narrator SAYING how bad Berle was. That 22 second part wasn't that bad actually IMO. If Berle was SO BAD why didn't you have at least half the video, maybe more of Berle doing the lousy job you describe. (The 22 second clip starts at 6:01)
I believe this episode aired in 1979. Berle would later star in Ratt videos in the 1980s. Uncle Milty was a notorious old Hollywood prick much like Mickey Rooney and Jerry Lewis. Used to be on Howard stern too. Howard couldn't stand him. I think the worst host ever myself was Louise Lasser. I don't know if she was high on something but she was terrible.
He was a victim of his own hubris.....Not easy to work with was an understatement......This SNL episode has never been seen since it was 1st aired ....
I remember that he must hav3 felt like the owner of the NBC building, since he was a huge guest for late night show, but as you said, he never could handled times changing. Milton crashed a live taping of Late Night with Conan O'Brien and no one could stop him from crashing in, shocking the audience, play with Conan's hair and pretend to knuckle him until he left the studio. Conan tells the story. The producer (I assume Jeff Ross) had to talk to him after the fact to tell him they were during a commercial and couldn't record it. He was so angry he never returned to the show.
He didn't fit in with that show. But I heard a funny joke he told in Bham, AL years ago. A tornado passed through an adjoining town that afternoon and he started his stand up routine by saying the storm had done $1 million in improvements. You have to know the town I guess.
I'd argue that this wasn't when Milton Berle's career hit rock bottom. That honor goes to his senior exercise tape, the dying gasp of any elderly celebrity's relevance.
Angela Lansbury did one and her career survived it. That wasn’t her career low. That “honor“ would go to that crappy Disney sequel to an original she turned down after they cut up the much better movie she made for them that they restored.
Excellent video. Information is presented in a nicely balanced format. The speaker is realistic concerning this situation, without being overly cruel or vindictive. I would just add that if you read and watch enough biographies of famous comedians, you can see that many have arrived at this same point of being more tragic than comic. Abbott and Costello, as an example of a comedy team, were wildly popular as Vaudeville/Burlesque/Radio performers. Through the last three years of the 1940s they made 28 films. They made huge amounts of money for themselves and others...then lost almost their entire fan base, as people started noticing the contrast between the scenes of these two older guys standing and talking, and their "characters" leaping and jumping and prat falling and running at top speed. These two were way too old for the physical comedy which was part of their former popularity. In place of making jokes, they became the joke. Their film studio dumped them and would not even let them back into the producer's office. There are many like this, with Lucille Ball and Milton Berle being two of the best known, for this descent from comedy to tragedy. Robin Williams was getting close to this. In his later years, his manic stand-up style was looking stale and not funny. How Rodney Dangerfield avoided this trajectory is worth thinking about. He was funny and he was popular to the very end of his life. Jack Benny (not too well known now) maintained an enormous fan base, into an advanced age. Don Rickles continued to the end of his life to make fun of "ethnic groups" but pulled it off because he was genuinely funny. Milton Berle tried the same old vaudevillian ethnic jokes in his later years, and came across as an older guy just sounding stupid and mean and small-minded. Thank you for this short documentary.
For those who complain that I am underselling what Milton Berel’s comedic talents, keep in mind that I love his comedy. He just sucked here.
Also, if you doubt what I say in this video, look it up, and you’ll find tons of articles and cast member accounts (some of which are displayed here) that back this video up.
He was never funny. He was always an arrogant pig.
And by the way. . . it’s Berle.
Well said. I’ve heard and read about his attitude on the snl set (and the planted standing ovation, etc) when he hosted and man, what a nightmare. 😖
Ikr? WHY did Lorne Michaels let him be on this show! Berle was a relic by then.
I remember laughing my ass off at his opening monologue.
His cameo in "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" kinda makes more sense now. He's walking into the Warner Brothers lot surrounded by what look like "yes people". He says a joke and everyone laughs for a second and go back to their normal stares and Pee Wee just keeps laughing.
I agree about 99.5% with everything in this video. The only quibble I have is that I think the tragedy was not that people didn't care about HIM anymore - clearly they did, otherwise Lorne would never have had him on the show- but, rather, that he didn't care about THEM anymore. His act wasn't about making people laugh anymore, it was about feeding his ego and, from what I've read, had been for some time. He was convinced he was the funniest man alive and didn't need to change, and so was left behind. Meanwhile, with varying degrees of success, other vaudevillians, like George Burns and Bob Hope, managed to stay relevant by going with the flow (or, in the case of Hope, at least trying to).
I do agree with others in this thread who thought he was good on The Muppet Show, though. The difference there is that he didn't NEED to change to succeed on it. It was, for all intents and purposes, a vaudeville show, a nostalgia act, and his genuine vaudeville cred gave the show the legitimacy it needed to also incorporate the artistic and counter cultural elements it was adding in for the less traditional bits.
The Muppet Show had editors. And one tough pig...
Times changed. Uncle Milty did not.
Excellently written. I concur.
@@princesscandlewax5170 Thank you.
Very well stated. Completely agree with you.
Then you have Betty White who guest starred on SNL and it was a triumph winning her an Emmy.
That’s because Betty was always a class act and went along with whatever would help make her popular, she did a photo shoot with Ryan Reynolds in his full Deadpool outfit for crying out loud, she was willing to do anything
@@mrcritical6751She was also a fan of those movies
Betty White was an absolute legend
Betty white is too likeable that people don't care even if she flubs her lines. She just has that charm.
God I miss Betty so much 😢
Berle had his glory days in television from 1948 to 1953 as star of the Texaco Star Theatre. He didn't change with the times and quickly became redundant. That's show biz.
Sounds similar to actors trying to transition from silent to sound movies. I had never heard of any of this before-I’m 47.
But then it’s a mad mad mad mad world came out in the sixties and he was the star. So he stayed relevant in his own way. Al made appearances on major tv shows of the 50s and 60s
I’ve never heard about this episode, but I agree that it’s pretty personally tragic. At the very least, his episode probably wasn’t as bad as Steven Segal’s
What happened with Segal?
@@jenneacubero1036 it's probably on RUclips
@@jenneacubero1036The details could make a MM video on its own, but basically, Seagal basically had no idea what comedy even was. He had no ideas for anything other than going onstage and beating people up. He absolutely refused to tell jokes or make fun of himself. You can find clips online…it is PAINFUL to watch…the cast and audience is SO uncomfortable.
Milton Berle was tragic…he at least was trying on SOME level and knew what a joke is, but realized his style of humor just doesn’t work anymore. Seagal’s hosting just makes you angry. Like, you’re almost upset that someone on the planet thinks this is funny. And don’t think the cast didn’t know. Lorne and the cast were considering firing him and having the first-ever hostless episode, but they backed out of that at the last minute for whatever reason.
If you ask the cast at the time about it, they’ll talk your ear off about what a painful disaster it was.
@@jenneacubero1036 Nerdstalgic has a good video on the subject of you want the details, but yeah like people here said, Segal’s hosting was akin to if the Terminator was asked to host SNL. Every joke ties back to assault (mostly physical assault, but they cut one sketch involving sexual assault) and he refused to be made fun of. It was just a bad hosting idea
@@jenneacubero1036 imagine a rocket scientist trying to explain the intricacies of why rocket fuel is funny using only martial arts pantomime.
I have the episode on dvd, it's a real bad one. And I don't feel too sorry for him, he's always been a creep with a temper for whenever he's not the center of attention.
Yeah I agree... did he not know what is acceptable...
I MEAN HE WHIPPED OUT HIS PENIS ON TV.... THAT HAD TO BE NOT OK, EVEN BACK THEN...
So true..foul tempered, has been. This guy was obsolete in the late 1960's.
From the show that gave Chevy Chase pass after pass to do some shady shit?
There is a brief scene in the new movie SATURDAY NIGHT showing Chevy Chase and Milton Berle that is very insightful into both their characters. Cory Michael Smith played Chevy Chase while J. K. Simmons played Milton Berle in that movie.
@@axr7149 That scene is complete fiction. Made up out of thin air.
I’m pretty sure snl stole the blue bear idea from a RUclipsr animator
That's true.
My boy Joel Haver, actually
Stole it and made it much worse.
@Raye 💖 At least I learned about Joel from it.
it’s a parody of the Charmin commercials, Joel is the one stealing the idea from the commercials
Nope. Don't feel the slightest bit sorry for him, this is karma as far as I'm concerned.
Yeah... he seems full of himself... also he showed his penis... that's not ok
Karma for what? You probably didn't even know who it was before the video.
@@Yourmomgoestocolledgefor being a complete scumbag…in case you didn’t hear, he was a scumbag behind the scenes along with being unfunny on camera
I might agree. Who wants to invite some perverted Uncle if he thinks flashing his penis is a million laughs. Can't tell me he didnt make people uncomfortable back then especially women.
I heard that the obnoxious titular character Mickey Rooney portrayed in The Comedian was based on Berle. I highly recommend it for those who haven't seen it.
Berle reminded me more of another film, 'Mr Saturday Night' with Billy Crystal
Ironic because Mickey Rooney was just like Milton Berlin in this respect, except even more sad and actually pathetic.
@@masonhorsley1505 I think that film would have been better if Bill Crystal played it like Mickey Rooney in the teleplay. Playing a highly obnoxious, insufferable, even physically violent narcissist.
@@bobthebear1246 He had his demons but he was enormously talented little SOB.
The backstage story from writer Alan Zweibel about Berle actually whipping out his privates to show that the rumors about how well-endowed he was were true is one of my favorite SNL anecdotes of all time.
I would have loved to have seen it.
@@bobthebear1246 I would have loved to have seen the moment when Gilda Radner supposedly walked in on them, then immediately walked out
It seems to me based on this analysis, that the most tragic part about this is the entire thing could have been avoided if he had listened, actually set his pride aside for a night and changed his act.
Doesn't make the whole story any less tragic overall
He had done *The Brady Bunch Variety Hour* first. This was supposed to be a step up.
I can sympathize with Berle about everything else, but the dick flashing. I'm sure the people on his show in the 50s considered that highly inappropriate too and were just as uncomfortable with it, but they were just afraid to say it because he was the boss (well, technically, I guess the sponsor was the boss, but since his name was on the show and it was successful, he got his way).
I remember he guest starred on the TV series, Fame after this SNL episode. Not a highlight for me; very forgettable. But I wonder if the Fame cast also had trouble working with him or if he had learned his lesson from the SNL debacle. I do remember another storyline from another episode from that show where one of the students has his comedy routine stolen by a pro comedian and I wonder if that was a thinly veiled reference to Berle.
I'm sure if it had gotten out in the Hollywood press, Buick and/or Texaco would've dropped him like a hot potato.
Its said LBJ would also do that. Literal dickwagging to flaunt power.
SNL today supports emasculation of Gay youth.
Sounds like a lot of PC reactions. SNL has been horrible for decades.
@@AndrewVOdom The Coneheads was the original cast with Dan Ackroyd, Jane Curtin, and Lorraine Newman. If you think it wasn't funny then, that would mean you thought it was never funny. And it never struck me as being PC (though I don't think that expression even existed back then in the 1970s). Although, I suppose one might interpret some of it as being a commentary about illegal immigrants. But most of it was just straight comedy about them not understanding life and customs on Earth, while trying to keep their true identities secret ("We are from France") and the absurdity of it since no one could possibly miss their very unearthly, huge cone shaped heads. The comedy was actually similar to Mork and Mindy, Third Rock From the Sun, Alf, and the original alien sitcom, My Favorite Martian. Maybe just stop trying to find politics wherever you look and just relax and enjoy comedy without your rage porn.
My only real familiarity with this guy was his guest episode on "The Muppet Show". To be fair, the back and forth with him and Waldorf and Statler was pretty great.
I think the reason he was able to come off so well on The Muppet Show was because that show was, essentially, a vaudeville show. It's what he was already used to, how he got famous. He didn't need to modernize, he just had to avoid working too blue.
Word is he was still really difficult behind the scenes, though.
@@stevenvaleriojr1177 snl or the muppet show
@@eliaspoulos9908 Both
I wonder if he flashed Gonzo.
Check out “It’s a Mad Mad Mad World”. Cast of vaudeville stars including Berle.
Come on, Milton Berle wasn't just some vaudeville guy. He was one of the towering figures of early American TV, every bit as famous as Jackie Gleason in the 50s. He was TV and comedy royalty for a long time and still is among people in the know. Having him as a host was a huge score for SNL, but this meeting of the generations went really badly.
Jackie Gleason spent the last decade of his life making films of varying quality after *Smokey and the Bandit* gave his career a second wind.
He had a huge crank, allegedly
@@michaelhunziker7287 Yeah, I've heard that too!
@@Attmay Yep, like The Toy. Big hit when it came out.
Gleason was way more talented than Berle. I won't say all his comic sketches have stood the test of time but he demonstrated an ability to perform comedy and drama.
The worst thing is that he was one of the few performers to break the color bar on TV.
wha
what does that mean?
I think it means he's one of the few notable people who was big on black and white TV, and also was around when Color TV came around
It means back in 1950 some stations and sponsors didn't want black performers on TV. He signed a group for his show and there was some grumbling and demands that they not be allowed on the air. Berle just said that if they don't perform he won't perform and that put an end to that bullshit. After that he had whoever he wanted on his show. He was king back then, one of the first guys to get a million dollar contract, so one of the few who could make a stand like that and not have to deal with corporate pushback.
SO good! HAHAHAHAHA@@canislupus3655
HE SAID IT! He didn’t introduce John K as John “Should Be In Jail” Kricfaluci
This is because this was recorded in April 2022.
@@mediamementosofficial Then build a time machine!
Not until the patent clears!
@@mediamementosofficial Go back in time and destroy the patent office!
@@mediamementosofficial…that was the bret clap back i have read, i legitimately LOLed at it. nicely done, sir!
Berle's broad Borscht Belt humour of the 1930s wasn't playing with the hip, youthful, satirical sketch comedy in New York City at the turn of the 1980s.
It was a symbiotic relationship between performer and the audience. Boomers violently rejected everything of their parents’ generations and before, good or bad. He could sense that it wasn’t his night and that it just kept going on like this until it finally stopped.
@@Attmay Also, Lorne and the original cast were coming from Toronto and Chicago. So their Midwest modern humour clashed with Berle's Catskills Yiddish humor of yesteryear.
Berle being banned was entirely due to his actions behind the scenes and not his terrible performance…Lorne is lenient with flopping hosts, but strict with actions. being a huge diva earns you a ban, alongside going off-script(Adrian Brody) and going way too raunchy(Martin Lawrence).
Berle was a diva, had he not been that way he might have come back to try again but with a better understanding of the way live scripted tv comedy worked vs. his taped or ad-lib stuff
A better understanding of live TV? Most of TV was live in its early days because videotape hadn’t been invented yet! They had to point a movie camera at a TV screen to archive live broadcasts so they could be seen on the West Coast.
When it comes to Milton Berle NBC was afraid to lose him to CBS that they gave him a contract for $1M a year for life. So once a year he would appear on some show on NBC to fulfill his contract
By 1966 Berle had ceased to matter, so NBC released him from his exclusivity deal. This allowed Berle to star in his own variety show on ABC. It tanked after only a few months. ABC clearly didn't have much hope for it, as they scheduled it for Friday nights, next to The Time Tunnel.
I recall his guest appearance on I Dream Of Jeannie (seen in reruns during the 1970s).
He was still doing sitcom cameos when I was a small boy.
The best way to start relevant is to be willing to team up with younger creators and step out of your comfort zone. Look at the success that Steven Martin and Martin Short have had with Only Murders or Danny Devito on It's Always Sunny. It is possible to work into older age, you just can't rely on the same shtick for your entire life.
Then in comparison look at Chevy Chase who fought young creatures and performers every step of the way when Community threw his dying career a lifeline
Show more clips of the sketeches the next time you do this - without commentary - so we can kinda experience some of it first hand
I was born in 1970, so Saturday NightLive was something that was extra special to me when I got to stay up late and see it. Those days were amazing, especially as a kid. I almost feel like I remember this episode, but it’s hard to be sure. Loved your take on it; thanks.
Current SNL episodes are very hit or miss. They tend to range from decent at best to Elon Musk at worst
I hope you make more of these videos, SNL has a massive history and not enough good "video essays" documenting the best stories from behind the scenes
An SNL host is only as good as the writers behind them. Yes, Milton Berle was partially responsible for this debacle but the writing staff and the crew didn´t help him either.
A good writer will play to the strengths of the performer and write something that works for them
@@mrcritical6751and if they’re prevented from doing that, you get his episode…and it’s a trend among shows with bad hosts, they don’t work well with the writers
They used to call him “The Thief of Badgags.”
I'm sure this SNL episode was intended to be an homage to Berle, arguably television's first superstar during its infancy (at one point in the late '40s, his show had a 95% audience share.). As Berle's appeal inevitably began to wear off (how many more times can you get laughs by relying on slapstick and cross-dressing?), ratings declined, leading to changes to the show's format with less emphasis on Berle, which led to even further drops in ratings. By 1955, Berle was fired from the show. So, his appeal as a TV entertainer was over almost a quarter century before he appeared on SNL.
I'll add that SNL itself was in decline at that time. Many of the cast had their eyes on bigger and better things, and it showed. By the '78-'79 season, the show only rarely reached the comedic heights it had achieved during its first two seasons. The cast stuck it out for one more season, but it had become a tired affair. Put the two together--a host well past his shelf life and a tired show, and it's no surprise this episode was a disaster.
“ how many more times can you get laughs by relying on slapstick and cross-dressing?”
After what Don Cheadle promoted when he was on the show?
It’s so hard getting old, trust me.
Not when the alternative is being dead.
Poor Uncle Miltie. I read a lot of Golden Era Hollywood biographies and such, and the endings are always heartwrenching. Showbiz really does a number on the psyche.
SNL never got stale it was always and still is hit and miss.
Agree to disagree.
Naw the recent era is so bad and one sided far as political humor it's unbearable
@@bigdoinks69 Well the other side is pure evil so of course it should be one sided. Also not all the sketches are political.
@@mediamementosofficialand yet the ratings ebbs and flows show otherwise…there’s a reason the originals, late 80s, mid 90s, and early 00s casts are fondly remembered while the early 80s, late 00s, and today casts aren’t
They always say the SNL cast you think is the best cast is whatever cast was there when you were 12 years old, but I defy you to find anyone whose favorite cast in the Jean Doumanian years.
At least his guest spot on the Muppet Show was successful (and good enough to bring him back for the first movie)
Another key factor is SNL's audience was primarily made up of the young generation who mostly were not born when Berle was a household name. By the time he made his SNL guest host appearance he was mostly a relic of an era that was that was long gone. His actual fan base, the people who knew him from 1940's and '50s were not the majority of SNL's viewers. Also, many of them likely had passed on. Berle's act did not evolve with the times; therefore, he never was able to connect with new generations of people he needed to carry him through the 1970s and beyond. Celebrities who successfully transcend generations enjoy long and fruitful careers. George Burns, Betty White, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra and Don Rickles are examples of people whose fame lasted well beyond their prime years.
It also didn't help that Berle turned off a lot of people with his unsavory reputation.
Still funnier and more entertaining than SNL has been for the past 20-30 years. He would be perfect today.
That Charmin Bear bit you clipped for your video here was lifted right off of a Joel Haver animation. SNL "writers" aren't only completely unfunny, but they troll RUclips for joke ideas from actual talented people because they don't have a creative bone in their body.
And it’s honestly kind of racist since they are pushing the idea that “oh he’s black, so let’s have him do something with hip-hop.“ Black people had a hand in creating so many different musical performance styles, yet that’s the only one str8 yt shitlibs want to push!
Timing of this video was very interesting! I actually JUST watched an episode of Sister Sister (from the mid 90s) and that he guest starred in. He was a lot older, but did a good job.
Jesus, you look at the other shows he did, and it seems like his agent was a soft touch.
Fascinating bit of comedy history, just wish you showed more clips
Oh and his playing of "September Song" and his prearranged standing ovation was icing on the cake that amongst other offenses that he did, got him shown the door by Lorne Michaels and was told to never come back again.
Milton Berle is an icon. I like him in Mad Mad Mad Mad World (63) A better host then Steven Segal 😆 I do think he does not fit on SNL.
There is a difference between Milton Berle and Betty White. Betty White (RIP) adapted to the times accordingly, and Milton Berle couldn't digest the idea that change is constant.
There is change and there is change.
If I recall correctly, the featured musical act on the Berle SNL show was Ornette Coleman. At that time Ornette was leading the electric version of his band Prime Time; their sound was pretty abrasive anyway, but it definitely sounded to me as if Ornette was pretty pissed off and wanted to deliver music that sounded that way. At the time, I thought it probably had to do with those racist jokes in his monologue, but it was probably about that and a lot more.
You have a lot of the qualities you seem to see in Milton. But he has an unmatched resume.
Subbed! Can’t wait to go through your back catalogue!
I loved his appearances on sitcoms in the 90’s
My favorite was his Deus Ex Machina cameo on the finale of The Critic when pops up out of nowhere and singlehandedly beats up the terrorists who were holding Jay's 10th Anniversary Special hostage. I know it was a cartoon, but it was definitely the kind of ego trip Uncle Miltie lived for at the time.
I was born in 1976 and like so many of my generation we just knew Milton Berle from his various guest appearances in 80's and 90's TV shows and his cameo in Pee Wee's Big Adventure and of course his controversial bit with RuPaul on an MTV award show.
I wonder if this episode of SNL inspire the simpsons episode where Krusty the clown is invited to perform with popular comediens and bombs due to outdated and/or offensive jokes..
It's a reoccurring thing comedy goes through every 20 years or so. Comedians that used to be huge are now irrelevant or outdated to where the comedy scene is at in modern days. One of the best examples of this I can think of is Andrew Dice Clay who is tragically unfunny and basically rode for years on a misogynistic ranting style.
@@kyonkochan *recurring
Yes
That clip you showed was confusing because people did laugh at his joke, and to me he didn’t seem angry
It seems like he was reacting to the material bombing with the audience.
Lol, i was just watching "mad mad mad...." The other day and thinking how unlikeable Berle is. Something tells me a lot of those Catskills -circuit-type guys were kind of jerks.
Eh, yeah, Id say so. Especially considering that he liked to introduce himself with an erect penis. He'd fit right in with modern feminism if he'd just say, "stop sexualizing me" after doing it.
Great. Was wondering when video essay would come out about this legendary moment
Milton was a great comedian. But his time had gone, makes me respect Johnny Carson even more.
Even Johnny changed with the times more than this.
It's kind of like Howard Stern the last 8 years or so.
I think this shows to me the complaints about "woke humor", it's people not understanding that humor changes and what was funny 30 years ago isn't funny now.
We don't have to stop doing jokes, just be smarter about them and get input about how to do jokes concerning black people, gays, latinos, asians, etc.
But even if you do that, you'll still get conservatives complaining about it being "woke".
Nothing was woke at this point, he just wasn't funny and he thought he was more of an icon than he actually was. Woke does not have anything to do with this. Pay attention and do better.
@@davidmitchell6873 op was making a comparison. Not actually calling it woke. Pay attention. Do better.
*F(r)iends* wasn’t funny 30 years ago and it is toxic now. They ripped off *Living Single.* They didn’t just rip off Blacks, but the LGB community as well.
I'll be honest, my only knowledge about Milton Burle was his reference in Life with Louie and his appearance in The Critic series finale
I only heard about him from a friends reference
More than me. I only knew him for being in the music video for Ratt’s “Round and Round".
Milton Berle was truly great. However, his style of comedy was completely different from SNL's. I agree with most of the analysis here of why the show was bad, but I'd hate to compare him to Segal who was genuinely terrible.
Steven Seagal had no business being the host of a comedy show, not even this one. He just doesn’t think funny. It sounds like when Rainier Wolfcastle tried stand up.
I find this to be very sad. I still love Uncle Miltie. Always will. The guy was an absolute legend. It's just that by the 70s, especially the late-70s, times had changed, and he found-out the HARD way.
These days audiences stand up to every guest on every show like they’ve cured cancer.
It’s a shame you can’t find this episode anywhere because Ornette Coleman, the musical guest, does a really good version of his song “Times Square” that you can’t really find anywhere on the internet anymore.
It's on Peacock
@@mizztery2994I prefer Piracy, hey-yo!
Yeah, I thought I remembered Ornette! I will say, though, that I also thought he added an especially caustic edge to his sound that night, as if he was pretty pissed off and wanted the world to know it. I thought it was probably Berle's racist jokes during his monologue that bothered Ornette, but now I'm guessing it was that and a lot more.
It’s a shame they never put Ornette Coleman and Gary Coleman on the same stage.
The whole damn show was rarely funny, so Milton fit right in.
I guess all of those emmys mean nothing.
I watched this episode the night it originally aired on NBC. I was 12 y/o and somewhat knew who Berle was from the movie "It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World" my parents explained to me that he was a star from the beginning of television. I was left confused by his "humor"! I recently watched it again on Peacock and I just felt sad for all involved especially Berle!
There were a couple of times they had stars from the Early/Golden age of TV like Desi Arnaz and Ricky Nelson and they did pretty well.
Remember the time, Milton appeared with RuPaul on VMAs?
Times and tastes just changed too much. Milton Berle was literally called Mr. Television. This had to sting badly.
Television by 1979 was known as the medium that gave the world *Hello, Larry.*
They once taped the audience of a Milton Berle Show & used it as the laughtrack in many shows for decades.
the vid is only narration and does not show any live spots.
SNL has become a giant infomercial.
What’s funny is that SNL stole that Huggies bears skit from Joel Havier. And made it way less amusing and funny.
And even more racist. At least Milton Berle had the excuse that he was around back when that sort of thing was common.
At this Point you could make a Drinking Game out of Trevor shit talking the third Season of Drawn Together
As non-american, I had no clue who Milton Berle is, but I remembered this name from one "Life with Louie" episode where Jensen and Andy Anderson comlain about who's funnier comic, Milton Berle or Bob Hope
Nothing tragic about it, Milt was well past his time and wasn't smart enough to see it. And his attitude behind stage was pretty poor.
Oh, he was smart enough to see it, he just didn’t see it until it was too late. He didn’t see it until he actually went out on that stage and bombed. For someone with a multi-decade track record of success to fail so spectacularly on a show that was to the current generation as his show was to his generation was the ultimate embarrassment.
I haven't seen much of his work, but I remember my dad telling me about watching him when he was a kid and not finding him funny.He told me was that Berle would just tell the same jokes over and over until people stopped laughing.
I mainly know him from Gilbert Gottfried's podcast, where the legends of Berle being "well endowed" is frequently brought up. Whenever Gottfried would have a guest that met Berle, he would ask them if they'd seen it.
I think I saw his Muppet Show episode that people have mentioned in the comments. I also remember he did a cameo in Kung Fu: The Legend Continues.
With all respect, I'm not sure you quite have it right. By most reports, the cast and writers were excited to have TV legend Milton Berle as host, until they met him. He was acting like he still ran NBC and was condescending to everyone and ordering them around. I'm pretty sure they deliberately wrote sketches to make him look like a schmuck and humiliate him. The big ass sketch was one and the bit where they talk about his bowel movements and where Jane Curtin keeps shoveling baby food into his mouth was another. If you notice, no one embraces him at the show's closing. You can usually tell how much the cast likes the host by how they embrace him or her, or avoid the person at the end. Belushi being the gracious exception, they all stood in the back and no one seemed to want to hug Milton or shake his hand. Lorne Michaels not only banned Milton from the show for life, for many years, the episode wasn't even allowed to be shown in reruns. Like the Louise Lasser show, it resurfaced when the complete first five seasons were released on DVD.
Something weirdly funny about using a scene of Amity (A character gay as springtime) for that particular bit of the video.
She was likely grossed out because it reminded her of Hooty.
This is why I'm glad i never became famous, because this would have been me. I don't know how to be trendy or get with the times...I don't have what it takes. I just exist in my own way and somehow I get by. Besides, fame seems to be a very temporary thing, unless you know exact how the system works, which friends to make and have the energy of the sun...otherwise, once your novelty runs out, that's it.
He was pretty damn funny as the roast victim of Statler and Waldorf on The Muppets
Can we see the skit ?? Uncut
In reality, he kept touring and performing until about two years before he died in 2002 . . . .
guest host was Albert Brooks Idea, he was invited to be the ongoing host, but he said it would work better with rotating hosts, talked himself out of the job, for comedy - what a guy!
I've heard of this infamous snl episode but I've never seen it and I was hoping to see more than just a short clip of it here
Fun fact: Milton Berle appeared on an episode of Beverly Hills 90210 and was nominated for an Emmy that emmy nomination is the only nomination that Beverly Hills 90210 received during its whole run
In a dramatic role.
SNL represented a massive change in sketch comedy at the time. Carol Burnett has admitted she saw this happening in the 70's when she still had a variety show on CBS. So having a former A-List vaudevillian comedian hosting SNL was never going to end well. You have to know when to quit and move to Miami.
Berle thought he was in the Catskills
5:44 reminds me of Jerry Seinfeld complaining modern audiences don’t like his jokes.
Its not Berles fault it was Lorne Micheals fault to CHOOSE him to host.
With out explaining their style of comedy. Lorne is 100% responsible. Maybe there was some back room pressure to have him on. We'll never know.
it kind of sad becouse when you think about it every famous person either turns into a monster or this guy someone who past there prime trying to hide the fact deep down they arent who they used to be there also a third which are poeple who accept the fact they arent who they used to be try to live a good life without it
Then there’s people who change with the times and mellow out
I only focused on Current SNL sketches but I can always watch old ones when I’m used to it.
Milton should've tried shifting to drama. He did a memorable performance on "Ironside." He may have had success.
Good point. There does seem to be an edge of anger in his performances.
Why is there no sound?
Turn the volume up.
Bob Hope was the same way.
To quote SEINFELD, "he took it out".
“…it was mentioning a taboo subject at the time and expecting the audience to laugh…” So similar to a lot of today’s writers? Seriously, a lot of writers the past five-ten years just rely way too much on referring to current events, trends, etc. and expecting everyone to get the reference & have the intended reaction. I don’t blame writers for wanting to talk about current events, but A) it has to be done well and B) you can’t just go, “Hey, this news story happened/this thing exists! That’s it!” or the work will become very dated very quickly. I find myself catching reruns of Law & Order: SVU and thinking, “This may be referencing something, but I sure don’t know what it is!”
Very disappointing video. There was a only 22 second clip of Berle actually doing a skit. The other 12:26 seconds of this video was the narrator SAYING how bad Berle was. That 22 second part wasn't that bad actually IMO. If Berle was SO BAD why didn't you have at least half the video, maybe more of Berle doing the lousy job you describe. (The 22 second clip starts at 6:01)
It’s almost like watching a video essay on a topic expecting it to be a clip show was a bad idea…
I believe this episode aired in 1979. Berle would later star in Ratt videos in the 1980s. Uncle Milty was a notorious old Hollywood prick much like Mickey Rooney and Jerry Lewis. Used to be on Howard stern too. Howard couldn't stand him. I think the worst host ever myself was Louise Lasser. I don't know if she was high on something but she was terrible.
At least Mickey Rooney testified to Congress about elder abuse.
@Attmay probably a bunch of leaches trying to get his money. He was still a prick. Not the lovable guy he appeared to be on tv.
He was a victim of his own hubris.....Not easy to work with was an understatement......This SNL episode has never been seen since it was 1st aired ....
Desi Arnez proved he still had it in 1976 when he hosted. Berle, not so much . . . .
I remember that he must hav3 felt like the owner of the NBC building, since he was a huge guest for late night show, but as you said, he never could handled times changing.
Milton crashed a live taping of Late Night with Conan O'Brien and no one could stop him from crashing in, shocking the audience, play with Conan's hair and pretend to knuckle him until he left the studio.
Conan tells the story. The producer (I assume Jeff Ross) had to talk to him after the fact to tell him they were during a commercial and couldn't record it.
He was so angry he never returned to the show.
What's crazy is that when he did the show, he really wasn't that old, in his mid/late 60's. He was born in 1908.
Nowadays if you aren't internet famous before your 30s, it's all over.
If he was born in 1908 he would have been in his mid '70's. This show aired in the early '80's.
The show aired in April, 1979. Berle was 70, and turned 71 a couple of months later...
He didn't fit in with that show. But I heard a funny joke he told in Bham, AL years ago. A tornado passed through an adjoining town that afternoon and he started his stand up routine by saying the storm had done $1 million in improvements. You have to know the town I guess.
I'd argue that this wasn't when Milton Berle's career hit rock bottom. That honor goes to his senior exercise tape, the dying gasp of any elderly celebrity's relevance.
Angela Lansbury did one and her career survived it. That wasn’t her career low. That “honor“ would go to that crappy Disney sequel to an original she turned down after they cut up the much better movie she made for them that they restored.
The thing I heard was that he also kept interrupting and hamming it up for the camera.
What year was this? The date of the episode should be included for historical reference.
Excellent video. Information is presented in a nicely balanced format. The speaker is realistic concerning this situation, without being overly cruel or vindictive. I would just add that if you read and watch enough biographies of famous comedians, you can see that many have arrived at this same point of being more tragic than comic. Abbott and Costello, as an example of a comedy team, were wildly popular as Vaudeville/Burlesque/Radio performers. Through the last three years of the 1940s they made 28 films. They made huge amounts of money for themselves and others...then lost almost their entire fan base, as people started noticing the contrast between the scenes of these two older guys standing and talking, and their "characters" leaping and jumping and prat falling and running at top speed. These two were way too old for the physical comedy which was part of their former popularity. In place of making jokes, they became the joke. Their film studio dumped them and would not even let them back into the producer's office.
There are many like this, with Lucille Ball and Milton Berle being two of the best known, for this descent from comedy to tragedy. Robin Williams was getting close to this. In his later years, his manic stand-up style was looking stale and not funny.
How Rodney Dangerfield avoided this trajectory is worth thinking about. He was funny and he was popular to the very end of his life. Jack Benny (not too well known now) maintained an enormous fan base, into an advanced age. Don Rickles continued to the end of his life to make fun of "ethnic groups" but pulled it off because he was genuinely funny.
Milton Berle tried the same old vaudevillian ethnic jokes in his later years, and came across as an older guy just sounding stupid and mean and small-minded.
Thank you for this short documentary.
Berle was a joke thief, but most comedians steal material from each other.
I can only say.... I agree with you... It was painful to watch... Thank you for sharing this..