"John Morressy - Last Jerry Fagin Show" - читать интересную книгу автора (Morressy John)

assaulting a whoopee cushion. The audience went wild, applauding and cheering,
drowning Jerry out completely. When Twelve climbed to his feet, his nose doing
a back-andforth crawl like a slow pendulum, he had to signal for quiet before
he could be heard.
"The producer said, `I hate to eat and run, but the way I tip, it's
absolutely necessary,' " he said, spinning both forearms around like
propellers.
The material was lousy, sure, but I could see that Twelve had a great
natural delivery. With a good writer, he could go, places. A show of his own,
maybe.
What happened next, I will never believe was an accident. The camera cut
to Jerry, purplefaced, restrained by four elderly security guards and a
weeping producer. It held on the group. One hundred ninety-two million viewers
heard Jerry scream, "Get that mush-faced intersteller son of a bitch off my
stage! Shoot him! Drop a light on him! He's killing us!"
Which was an exaggeration. Twelve was doing wonders for the show. He was
only killing Jerry.

We call the show Twelve at Twelve now,
even though it still comes on half an hour before midnight. The producer felt
that Twelve at Eleven-thirty would only confuse people.
But Twelve is a great guy to work for. It's a nostalgia trip just
talking to him. During those years he was monitoring, he heard all the great
ones-Berle, - Gleason, Caesar, Groucho, Carson, you name them-and memorized
every gag, every shtick, every bit of business. He just didn't know what the
hell to do with his material until he saw Jerry putting it all together. Now
Twelve is like a guy who's found his true calling. I think he's going to stay
right here on Earth, and in the business, for good.
Twelve is also a very hard worker. He drops in every afternoon to run
through the monologue for that night's show. We've already come up with some
lines that everyone in the world recognizes. I've seen "Well, wink my weiox"
on everything from kids' lunch boxes to bikinis, and a day doesn't pass
without my hearing someone say, "Please take my wife," and then seeing him
collapse in hysterics. Even Henny Youngman used it when Twelve had him on the
show as a guest.
We have a good running gag going on Twelve's dumb friend from home. Old
Thirtyone. And if a line goes flat, all he has to do is jiggle his features
and the audience breaks up.
He's even developing into a good impressionist. Some of his impressions
are weird-he's the only one I know who does all the members of the Politburo
while simultaneously trying to get a stuffed elk into a Honda-but his Jack
Benny is nearly perfect.

What convinces me that Twelve is in the business to stay is that he's learned
to be sincere. Two nights ago he graciously had Jerry back as a special guest
to celebrate Jerry's new afternoon quiz show. They were hugging like a couple
of high-school sweethearts.

Twelve was beautiful. A real pro. He ended the show by wiping his eyes,
putting an arm around Jerry, and saying. "This crazy guy is my dearest friend