Archive for the ‘Greg Fitzsimmons’ Category
Greg Fitzsimmons discusses afterlife, comedians with Howard Stern
Thursday, June 21st, 2007
Stand-up comedian Greg Fitzsimmons, who was raised in Tarrytown, stopped by Howard Stern’s studio this morning to discuss, among other things, Fitzsimmons’ Sirius satellite radio broadcast last night, the afterlife and fellow stand-ups.
Stern, who launched his professional radio career on 107.1 FM in Briarcliff Manor, commended Fitzsimmons for his recurring Sirius show, which Stern said has been getting rave reviews. The ability appears to be hereditary, as Fitzsimmons’ late father, Bob, was a famous deejay and TV host himself. (More about Bob Fitzsimmons’ connection to another Lower Hudson Valley comedian later.)
After Stern congratulated Fitzsimmons for his radio show, Stern sidekick Artie Lange teased the guest with some dark humor, saying “your father can complete the 180 (degree) turn in his grave.” Fitzsimmons laughed.
“God, I hope they don’t have satellite (radio) on the other (side),” Fitzsimmons said.
Stern asked Fitzsimmons if he believes in an afterlife. Replied Fitzsimmons:
I don’t disbelieve it any more than I believe it. I’m right in the middle. I can’t imagine that with the amount of thoughts that go on in of my head, that I can’t stop without medication, that it all just ends immediately.
Find out Fitzsimmons’ takes on Billy Crystal, Steve Martin and the greatest living stand-up—and which other local comedian’s early career was helped by the elder Fitzsimmons—after the break.
(more…)Tarrytown comedian on Jeni suicide: ‘His whole identity was as a stand-up comic’
Monday, March 19th, 2007Greg Fitzsimmons, a frequent sit-in guest on Howard Stern’s radio show and a Tarrytown product, talked Thursday about the apparent suicide of journeyman stand-up comic Richard Jeni. Fitzsimmons told the former Briarcliff Manor deejay he received a late-night phone call from fellow comic Dave Attell, then reflected on his own 17 years as a stand-up comedian and Jeni’s personal life.
You see somebody who you respect that much and who you think has got it all, and then it ends like that and you realize that they’re really unhappy and that’s my future. Luckily I’m married and I have kids and I love them. I have some more balance in my life that he didn’t have. … His whole identity was as a stand-up comic. One quote that I heard was (from) a friend of mine (who) talked to him the week before (Jeni died) and (Jeni) was freaking out because his 2007 calendar was not filled—the whole year had not been filled. There were holes in it.
When fellow stand-up comedian Artie Lange chimed in with “See, that’s a sickness. That’s, like, crazy,” Fitzsimmons agreed to an extent.
(more…)That made him crazy. And again, I don’t want to say why he did it. I have no idea. There were rumors that he had an illness; there’s obviously a possibility that he had chemical problems.
Where did the Howard Stern show first go to try to replace sidekick Jackie ‘The Jokeman’ Martling? Westchester County Airport.
Tuesday, March 13th, 2007
Today on the Howard Stern show, Jackie “The Jokeman� Martling returned as a sit-down guest for the first time since the show moved from terrestrial radio to Sirius satellite radio on Jan. 9, 2006. There were plenty of laughs and awkward exchanges between Martling and friend/rival Fred Norris, who both wrote jokes for the shock jock before Martling left the show after a drawn-out contract dispute.
In early 2001, Martling rejected a final contract offer from Infinity Broadcasting (now CBS Radio) to return to the show and laugh too hard at his own jokes. Stern—who launched his professional radio career at 107.1 FM in Briarcliff Manor—agonized over the transition to move on, but it was one he said he had to make, according to producer Gary Dell’Abate (a.k.a. “Bababooeyâ€?).
After today’s show, the producer explained to listeners how Stern made his first real step toward replacing Martling by authorizing Dell’Abate to pick up a prospective replacement at Westchester County Airport, which straddles North Castle and Harrison and borders Fairfield County, Conn.:
Howard called me that weekend and he was like, ‘Listen, it’s done. Jackie’s not coming back. I just got off the phone with (92.3 FM General Manager) Tom (Chiusano). The last offer was made. We’re moving forward.’ And for Howard to speak those words was very difficult. And I remember we talked about who would we get to sit in. … He goes, ‘Hey, you know, Ron Zimmerman? The comedian? He’d like to sit in.’ And I remember, it was a big deal. I had to go to Westchester Airport on a Saturday night and put on my credit card a first-class ticket for him to come in overnight. But I remember when Howard gave me the go-ahead—he was like, ‘Fly him in’—that was really the finality of it: that, like, we’re putting a different guy in that chair. And it was hard for him. It was hard for him to do that. He did not want to do that. It wasn’t what he wanted, but he was like, ‘I have to move ahead.’
In the months that followed, other comedians—including Tarrytown product Greg Fitzsimmons—would audition for the right to sit in Martling’s chair. Former “Mad TVâ€? star Artie Lange was awarded “The Jackie Chairâ€? later that year.
(Associated Press file photo/Louis Lanzano)