Live From New York - James H. Miller [152]
The weird thing is that the show goes by so quick when you do it. They pull you from one spot to the next. You’re putting a wig on or a mustache and going, “Oh, this is the skit we’re doing, oh, I remember this is what we’re doing.” They’re in tune to it. They lead you around by the nose, basically. And it’s over before it seems like you started it. You have to go with the flow. And you can’t sit there and think about it too much, you have to just accept a lot of things in trust and go for it.
MARGARET OBERMAN:
There were scenes. There were definitely scenes. One was particularly nasty. It involved Michael Keaton, who was a friend of mine who had come to do the show and who was very hot off Night Shift. And between the Monday when Michael came in and the read-through, Dick decided he didn’t like him and brought in Michael Palin, who was a real friend of the show and would come in occasionally to do things and who everybody loved. And Dick sort of inched Keaton out and moved Palin in. And it was pretty nasty.
Keaton was really hurt and angry and never really understood it. It was aberrant behavior on Dick’s part. Keaton was one of those guys who as an actor in read-through was very laid-back and wouldn’t really give you too much, and Dick was convinced he was just bad and just lost all confidence in him. Palin didn’t know what was going on. He was oblivious. It was really awkward, one of those yucky, strange things that leaves a really bad taste in your mouth.
HARRY SHEARER:
I had been writing this series of Reagan sketches called “Hellcats in the White House,” none of which got on the air. And the last one, they had me in Reagan makeup from dress straight through air. So I spent eight straight hours in Reagan makeup, and I think Bob Tischler finally told me at twelve fifty-three the sketch was cut, and I said to him, “I kind of figured that out.” So for three straight weeks, I wasn’t on the air, and I just at that point decided I had better things to do with my time. I’m not the tantrum type, although I think I’m better at hiding my feelings than I am. I’m told that when I’m unhappy in a situation, people know it just by the cloud that gathers over me. So on January 13 at one forty-three A.M., Dick said, “You know, we should stop this.” And I said, “Well, I do too, but I think you have to pay me for the rest of the year.” He said okay and then I left. I had said to Bob Tischler early on, “Why is Billy Crystal getting all this exposure on the show?” And he said, “Billy’s stuff is more commercial than yours.” And I said, “But this is a late-night show. Why is that the calculation?”
When I left, Dick issued a press release saying “creative differences.” And the first person who called me for a comment on it read that to me and I blurted out, “Yeah, I was creative and they were different.”
DICK EBERSOL:
There weren’t many ego problems to deal with there — none at all, other than with Harry Shearer, who just got out of control. So by the end of January, I let him go. I had talked to each cast member before I did, and for the most part they were okay with it. A couple of them, who should go nameless, were sad, but they had to admit that the problem had gotten out of hand.
MARTIN SHORT:
Harry wanted to be creative and Dick wanted something else. Harry’s very smart and very prolific, and I think that he felt his voice should be represented on the show. When he wouldn’t get a chance, it made him very upset. If someone had said, “Harry, here’s eight minutes of show, do whatever you want, and the rest of the show will be what it is,” I think he felt there was an audience out there that would be interested to hear what he had to say. So that was a source of huge frustration between the two of them.
JAMES DOWNEY:
I used to walk down the street with Bill Murray and have to stand there patiently for twenty minutes of like drooling and ass-kissing by people who would