Greetings from an altitude of 36,900 feet.

No, I'm not in the "press seats" I got for The 39 Steps (yes, I'm still holding a grudge), I'm on a flight home from Utah. I came out to Ogden for the Utah Theater Association convention, which is for all the high school theatre students in Utah. I know that sounds like it's for five to six people, but turns out Utah is a state that invests very heavily in theatre. There were 1,600 students there! I did my show (DECONSTRUCTING: The Good, The Bad and the Headache-y) as the kick-off for the weekend, and it went great. Unfortunately, kick-off also meant 9 AM! And, I was only able to tech it that morning…at 7:30 AM! I was there with Andrea McArdle, and she said she hadn't had to perform that early since the "Milliken Breakfast Show" (that was a show that was put together for business conventions in the 1970's that paid a crazy amount of money).

Andrea is so fun to be with because she has so many amazing references from the seventies. We were talking about old talk shows, and she said that Johnny Carson would never speak to you before you did the show. That was how he kept his interviews on the show so spontaneous. However, Merv Griffin would come into her dressing room prior to taping, and they'd have an amazing conversation …and then have nothing to talk about on camera.

Standing backstage before I kicked off the weekend, I got the worst headache. The stage manager told me that Utah is in the Rocky Mountains, so the elevation can give you a headache. Paul Castree was with me also, and he said when he did the Bye Bye Birdie tour in the nineties starring Tommy Tune, they performed in Denver and there was oxygen off stage. I didn't know if it was because Colorado has a high elevation or because Tommy Tune always does. Regardless, it was so much fun doing the show because the kids were so responsive. Then I did some workshops with them and had a great time. I told one of them to stop being in the habit of automatically saying, "Hi, I'm ____ and I'll be singing ____". My friend Scott Kanoff is a director in Austin, TX. One day he was auditioning some students and a teenaged boy came in. Scott saw from his picture that his name was Johnny Fabry (as Ann Landers columns used to say, Not His Real Name). Scott was like, "Hi, Johnny. How are you?" and they chatted for a while. Scott finally said, "Well, Johnny, are you ready to sing?" Johnny nodded, took a breath and said stood center and said, "Hi, my name is Johnny…". What's happening!?!? Stop saying the name Johnny repeatedly unless you're in this video with me and Jack Plotnick. (http://sethrudetsky.com/blog/?s=Johnny&submit=Search)

Rip wound up in the army, and while he was on the ship going overseas, he entertained the troops by lip-synching to Mario Lanza (it was called record pantomime). Because he was a hit, he got into special services and wound up entertaining the troops overseas instead of fighting. He then spent a few years in Tokyo (!) performing, and when he came back to the U.S., he found an agent…in the Yellow Pages! Would that it were so easy now. I can't even use the Yellow Pages to find something simple. Everything I look for always has another name. For doctors see physicians, for restaurants see eatery, for a headache read the Yellow Pages. Anyhoo, his agent got him a gig in Atlantic City doing record pantomime between acts in a strip joint. Since he was not officially in show business, the first thing he decided was that he had to change his name. So Charlie Taylor became…Pearson Thall. What the-?!?!?! Why was he pretending to be a WASP in a smoking jacket? Regardless, he was doing fine until one night the record player broke and he had to come up with jokes. He now started doing shtick between records by literally buying jokes at the local magic store and using them at night. That's when he changed his name to Rip. He started to explain that it had something to do with the fact that his last name, Taylor, is like tailor and that something ripped needs a tailor and tailors keep people in stitches and halfway through his explanation he waved his hand at the Chatterbox audience and said, "Figure it out, I got a show to do."

Atlantic City led to a gig in the Catskills and after he was there a while, he found out that a scout from the "Ed Sullivan Show" was coming to see him. Uh-oh! What if he bombed that night? He made an announcement in the dining room to all the patrons that he could get a gig on the "Sullivan Show" if they came to his performance that night and laughed up a storm. And, to sweeten the deal, he'd buy them all champagne. The scout showed up, Rip walked out onstage and before he opened his mouth, the audience was "laughing" up a storm. He finally shut them up so he could actually tell his jokes and got asked to be on the Sullivan show! Turns out, "The Ed Sullivan Show" would film an afternoon performance and a night performance, and then they'd air whichever performance was better. Rip was great in the afternoon but when he came back that night, he noticed Ed had perhaps had a bit of a liquid lunch, as we say. Sullivan stood in front of the camera and started to introduce him…but forgot his name. Rip was panicking backstage and (for some reason not fully explained to me) ripped out a nose hair! This brought tears to his eyes and he ran out onstage and said, through tears, "I'm Rip Taylor" to which Ed Sullivan covered up by replying, "Of course you are." Rip did the same act he had done that afternoon but kept up the tears. The audience loved it. Suddenly, he became known as the "Crying Comedian." His weeping made anything funnier. He demonstrated it for us. He told us a funny joke ("I bought a suit today with two pair of pants. I burnt a hole in the coat!") and then told it again while crying. Sixty percent increase of funniness! He was on "The Ed Sullivan Show" many times, and eventually Eleanor Powell asked him to do an act with her in Las Vegas. He was supposed to perform there for four weeks, and at this point it's been 32 years. He worked with the Kingston Trio, Frankie Laine, Judy Garland etc… I asked him what Milton Berle was like, and he said, "He was nice…in the end." Ouch. But he's still friends with Phyllis Diller whose series he did…and turns out, they both listen to my radio show! I hope I make Phyllis laugh while she's holding a long, cigarette holder.

Rip said Sammy Davis Jr. was a great guy. Sammy would have all of his lyrics on a teleprompter screen on the foot of the stage. Rip was opening for him, and while Sammy was backstage, he decided to play a prank on Rip and made the teleprompter play a porno movie! Rip started laughing, the band started laughing and the audience sat…confused and staring. Rip said that Sammy was in the wings singing "That's some b*tch, dying tonight!"

The other signature he became known for also happened by accident. He was on "The Merv Griffin Show," and he had jokes written out on cards. He started to bomb, so he ripped up his jokes, threw them in the air and walked off the set, toppling over some of it as he did. The next day Merv called, and Rip offered to pay for the damages. Turns out, Merv asked him back because he thought it was hilarious, and that started Rip's signature of throwing confetti into the air. Continued...