wow
you're you're very good oh no oh that's
what you do
well i couldn't do what you do we
haven't figured out what i do yet
but thank you that means you know
this is uh it's it's a real thrill to
have you here i'm a huge fan
of of so many of your movies i wanted to
start with i have an 18 month old
daughter
and she's not old enough yet to watch
movies or anything i can't wait to show
her willy wonka in the chocolate factory
for my money it's the best children's
movie for children and adults
to watch at the same time
and with the new technology dvd so many
kids are seeing that film
now and i've seen it over the years
since the film was first made how do
kids respond to you when they see you
now their eyes light up
yeah they don't say anything right i can
tell every four and a half years i get a
new crop
right right because the mamas won't let
them see it until they're about four and
a half years old
five years old and then i walk down the
street and i
i see the eyes light up like that and um
they don't they're too nervous to say
anything most of the time
right those who aren't come will want to
sit on my lap
but right right which could get you in
trouble yeah
you don't need that do do people try and
sing the oompa loompa song to you too
difficult
good because they forget the words they
don't know
but then they get lost right but if
you've had a few drinks that wouldn't
stop one you know
you'd be like please shut up you know
one of the things i i
love so much about that movie that makes
it work for me which is unlike a lot of
a lot of children's movies are afraid to
have any menace and willie
willy wonka there's some there's a hint
there's some darkness
in that role that you that you added to
the character and i think that probably
scared some moms away when the movie
first came out it did because it wasn't
a commercial success
no which always surprised me when the
movie came out you know people the movie
didn't do that well and i think it was
because there's some scariness to it a
little bit
the kids weren't scared right the
mothers were scared right
right on behalf of the kids on behalf of
the kids but the kids knew it was a
morality play
right right and where where do you draw
the line and they wanted the line drawn
right right the mothers were afraid of
it right and it's interesting as the
kids get older
i think they the parents feel okay with
them seeing it and then they realize
there's nothing
scary about this movie at all when going
through the tunnel the psychedelic
tunnel
a little bit scary yeah well you that's
where when i saw that movie for the
first time and you're taking the kids
through the tunnel and willy wonka
starts to seem
insane to me in a scary way and i
you know i was afraid but then you you
learn later on there's a purpose to all
of it
uh i i want to ask you about young
frankenstein which is easily uh
one of the funniest movies ever made and
you co-wrote
you co-wrote this you co-wrote this film
uh and and mel brooks directed the movie
and uh i only found out much later on
that my favorite scene in the whole
movie and i think for many people their
favorite scene is when dr frankenstein
you
do the number the tap the tap dance
number putting on the ritz
with the monster and it's so insane and
so absurd and i only realized later on i
guess that that was your
idea and mel brooks didn't want to do it
is that right no
uh i would write all day and then he'd
come over after dinner and look at yeah
yeah yeah yeah yeah
okay now we need a villain the burger
meister isn't a good enough villain we
need a real villain or something
and one night he came over and he looks
at the pages and he says
you tap dance to irving berlin
right right in top hat and tales with
the monster right
right he said are you crazy it's
frivolous
right right and uh i started to argue
and then i argued for about 20 minutes
until i was at least red in the face i
think it may have been blue
and all of a sudden he says okay it's in
and i said well why did you put me
through this right
he said because i wasn't sure if it was
right or not and if you didn't argue for
it
i knew it would be wrong but if you
really argued i knew it was right
that's actually an interesting technique
so if you hadn't you know if you'd just
been like oh okay whatever i i
maybe it is a stupid idea but i but i
knew him well and and
that is the only argument that we've
ever had yeah
when i think also it was one of the for
you know one of the earliest movies i
saw that was a comedy
where the acting was so straight and so
sincere
do you know what i mean you're believing
in everything a thousand percent and
that's what makes it so funny
18 years of study right right in order
to
to learn finally right that the more
real
you can make a comedy the funnier it's
going to be right instead of making
faces and doing funny sounds and all of
that
right it's why i've been barred from the
movies i think for the most part
you did so many so many great uh so much
great work with
with richard pryor uh and you guys seem
to have this
chemistry that doesn't come along that
often uh in movies did you feel the same
way with richard pryor did you feel it
while you were working with him from the
first day
and i'll tell you something i i don't
want to be
shocking you but it's a little bit like
a
like a sexual chemistry yeah i mean look
it's true right i mean right you see
someone
and you say um i really am attracted to
that
woman right and someone says but why her
that
this girl is much prettier right she's
taller she's shorter she's fatter she's
slimmer
why that one i don't know i am right i'm
just and when richard and i
did our first scene some magic happened
what they call
chemistry right and he improvised i
i used to improvise in class but not in
front of the movie camera
and i would answer him back and forth
back and forth and
we were on such a similar wavelength not
in private life so much
that's interesting it didn't translate
off camera oh he had his own world that
he
he his friends and everything right i
wanted to
more right anyway um i'm telling you
that there was something going on
we when we did that first big scene in
stir crazy
and tore the place apart the prison
right at the same moment we both started
to hum to sing
laurel and hardy right and when the
sydney gl sydney party
said cut i said did you know you were
going to do that and he said no did you
know i said
no i didn't but we both did it on beat
at the same time that's just there's
something in the air that's just magic
yeah
no one can explain that that's very cool
you know i i was reading through your
book and one of the things that made me
so happy because i've been such a fan of
you and
your work is that you've been through so
much
you've you've had incredible career
success you've had high highs you've had
tragedy in your life and and when you
get to the end of the book you seem like
you're in a really good place now you're
happy and that made me feel really
you know that made me feel good because
i just i want you to be happy so
that was nice that's true right you feel
good i'm happier than i've ever been in
my life
that's fantastic well that's that makes
you know i wish we had i wish we had
more
time but the biggest kick for me in
having a show like this is that i get to
meet
people who influence me and meant a lot
to me the way that the way you have so
thank you so much for being here
go out and buy this book it's an
incredible story gene wilder
kiss me like a stranger uh check it out
thank you so much real honor to have you
here all right
take it brian crowley when we come back