A couple of months before his death on June 28, 2015, comedian and entertainer, Jack Carter, talked to a few friends about his 60 year show business career, his many colorful friends and acquaintances, and his life in Beverly Hills
93 here.....and these guys represented a different time that was lost forever...a better time when comedy was used to make you laugh and to make you feel good...not like today...when it is all about trying to make fun of others and to divide people....clearly ill here that stomach says it all..hope he was not in pain
You talk about a guy who has been around, that was Jack Carter. If he didn’t know someone they probably weren’t worth knowing. Such stories and reminiscences from a guy that had such a long career in show business making people laugh. Taped shortly before he passed away.
This is very interesting, especially as he talks about old LA. He sure was a great repository of information and people and Ira, it's good that you did this.
Truly profound and very honest: @21:45 : *"Even real is UNreal. hardly anything is real anymore."* "everything is tough and hard and push..." "the movies have become filth and dirty..." he is speaking from his heart and for his generation that never PUBLICLY got gross or really out of line. "Monty Python" and "SNL" did something to comedy, and it was NOT good. gross, yes. but NOT good.
I remember Jack Carter guest starring in the Tales From The Darkside episode 'Barter' (from Season 4). He played an extraterrestrial salesman named Klaatzu who sells a harried 1950s housewife a contraption that freezes time (which she promptly uses to silence her obnoxious drummer son, Little Nicky) in exchange for ammonia......he really loved his smokin' ammonia cocktails!!! The entire eps was a rather ludicrous 'I Love Lucy' parody, but I definitely remember Carter's performance cracking me up! RIP Sir.......
I used to see Jack Carter every Sunday shopping at Kroger Supermarket in Culver City. I caught him yelling at his wife one time. This was about the year 2003
Say what you will about Jack but he made his bones and made a living as a comic and actor. Maybe had a mean streak but he was a tough cookie which is almost a necessity in that business. Some comics like Shandling were more Zen Like and Carlin with more top drawer material, but you always need a Jack Carter to go over the line of taste and not be afraid to tell the other comics who’s hot and who’s not. For that I loved him especially the older he got he got even more ruthless in dressing down the other comedians and calling them all opening acts when he was a headliner. He could sing and dance and tell jokes and tell stories so in some ways many older comics were jealous of him but I will agree that his negative attitude did make him some enemies over the years! He was old school and dats da name a dat tune!
I've watched him many times on The Match Game (showing on buzzr) and he was a total jerk. His wife Roxanne is sweet and he's always angry at her when they don't match answers. It doesn't matter which one of them is asked the question, he always blamed her and puts her down, saying she's stupid or dumb.. One question she was asked was which one of them gets angry easier. He was backstage & she said he does. Bert Convy asked her what he gets angry about. She said every little thing that doesn't go his way, and that he yells and uses terrible language. Bert said "at you"? Roxanne responded "at me and the children". That didn't surprise me since that was how he acted on stage. Another time he locked her out of their room, and it was cold and the door went to the outside. He admitted this and said he apologized later. When a Match Game show is on and they are one of the celebrities, I don't watch it.
He couldn't have been that bad. Yeah, he and Roxanne eventually divorced but something must have happened for them to remarry and remain together until his death. So even if he was a jerk, someone settled him down a wee bit. Also, are you talking about Tattletales where you saw both of them and Bert Convy?
