Maybe We'll Have You Back: The Life of a Perennial TV Guest Star by Fred Stoller

Author:Fred Stoller
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Nightmare
ISBN: 9781626362871
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2013-04-26T04:00:00+00:00

I decided to make a video of myself doing lots of those jokes in the context of a song. Even though I can’t sing, I fashioned it like Rodney Dangerfield’s song, “Rappin’ Rodney,” how Rodney told a lot of his “no respect” jokes to the beat of a song.

Gary, an old New York friend who always seemed to prefer messing around making music in his room by himself than hanging out at comedy clubs, was going to write the background lyrics and music to the song. Rudy, another misfit comedian I’d hung out with from my early days of stand-up, had the recording equipment.

The song was goofy and rather corny. I recorded lots of Thrill Seeker jokes while the other guys did a great job putting the music down. Someone, who was a fan of mine, got the song to the Dr. Demento Show, a long-running radio show that features novelty songs. Then, as a favor, he called up and requested it.

I wrote another video in which I played an inappropriate marriage counselor who had more problems than his clients. I counseled a couple who complained that they only had sex three times a month. I kicked them out exclaiming, “I wish I had sex three times a month!” I then asked another couple if they had anyone they could set me up with. I showed the video to some contacts I knew at Comedy Central. Nothing happened but it felt good to express myself. I needed that.

I then started to sneak out to some auditions again. I had called the producers from Murphy Brown and told them that I was available. It turned out that they had something for me. The “FYI” crew was down South covering a hurricane and I played an inept clerk at a motel who didn’t have any essential items they needed.

I didn’t tell Larry I was working, even though I’d miss a run-through and a tape night. I figured they didn’t care at that point. It felt very satisfying to act again. The bit went well. I even enjoyed doing that little curtain call at the end. I realized I had missed it a lot. During the curtain call, I bumped into George Shapiro, Jerry’s longtime manager and one of the executive producers of Seinfeld. He also managed Peter Bonerz, who directed that evening’s Murphy Brown episode.

“Great job, Fred!” he said, but he didn’t say anything about my moonlighting.

A few days later, during lunch at Seinfeld, they were discussing possible cliffhangers for their last episode. It was rare to talk about the show all together at lunch like that. Larry was thinking of a cliffhanger in which George gets engaged. I mentioned that they were doing something similar on Murphy Brown.

“You seem to know a lot about Murphy Brown,” Larry said, as he dumped his food into the wastebasket and headed back to his office.

I was busted. George Shapiro must have said something. But what did Larry expect of me? What was I to

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