Respecting Rodney

Saturday November 22nd, 2008 - LaSalle/Peru, IL

My comedy hero Rodney Dangerfield was born on this day in 1921. Actually that’s not totally true. Jacob Cohen was born on this day and later changed his name legally to Jack Roy. Rodney Dangerfield was a stage name but that’s the one that everyone remembers.

Whatever the trivial details are Rodney is still my comedy hero today. What a style that guy had. He was and is my all time favorite comedian and his movies are still funny too. I laugh out loud when I watch him in ‘Caddyshack’ or my personal favorite ‘Easy Money’.

His standup is the best too. I was in high school when his record ‘No Respect’ came out and it just blew me away. It still does. His jokes are crisp and rapid fire and there is a fast paced rhythm there that I just love. It’s very much a style that works for him. It’s musical.

I am thrilled that I got to meet Rodney but I bet we would have gotten along very well if I had gotten to know him better. Guys I know that knew him better like John Fox or Larry Reeb and a few others have all said he and I would have hit it off. We are of the same ilk.

Rodney was the ultimate dented can. He struggled and overcame things his whole life to become a dazzling success. Who can’t respect that? The only place Rodney didn’t get the respect he deserved was in his act. Every comic with a clue knows Rodney was a master.

Numerology talks about the numbers 11 and 22 being ‘master numbers’. People with an influence often have a birthday on the 11th or the 22nd and Rodney is one of them. George Clinton is another hero of mine and his birthday is July 22nd. Coincidence? I don’t know.

I do know that I’m of the same comic pedigree as Rodney Dangerfield. People come up to me after shows and say ‘You remind me of a young Rodney Dangerfield. You don’t do his jokes but you just remind me of him.’ I know now it’s the best compliment I can get.

It happened tonight even. I worked a place called ‘The Super Bowl’ in Peru, IL. Or is it LaSalle? The town is billed as LaSalle/Peru and I don’t know exactly which one I played but I do know wherever it was the roof was blown off. I was on fire once again tonight.

I did about an hour tonight and didn’t even do my big closing bit. I ran out of time. I did some of my usual bits but I put them out of order just to see how I could recover. I also let my act breathe. I relaxed and ad libbed and riffed like a jazz musician and it all worked.

They got their money’s worth tonight. Sure enough after the show people lined up to tell me how funny I was when a couple said it again: ‘You remind us of a young Rodney up there.’ I informed them that today was Rodney’s birthday and thanked them for saying it.

I know in my heart I’ve got a talent and I’ve worked hard to develop it. I had fun tonight but I have to hope there’s more than just playing bowling alleys in LaSalle/Peru, IL. I like these people but I want to play the big rooms like Rodney did. Tonight was in his honor.