hey folks next up on dennis miller plus one what a treat for me he's 90 years old now still sharp as a tack still a little crotchety still a lot funny ed asner and he's going to new book up about coming up in the tough streets of kansas city it's called son of a junk man ed aster lou grant right after this on dennis miller plus one. day folks welcome to dennis miller plus one and still coming to you from home hope you're all doing well out there in a small tourist world we're joined by certainly one of the most on are certainly

one of my favorite t.v. actors ever ed asner is on the show today it's known for his role obviously as mr brand on the mary tyler moore show spinoff series lou grant he is literally the most honored male performer i think in the history of the primetime emmy awards 8 for 16 anytime you hit and 500 was 16 noms you're killin it he's got a new book out son of a junk man and add up from the bottoms in kansas city and we'll talk to him about his long trek from there through broadway out to l.a. and he still acting currently appears on the usa network show briarpatch opposite rosario dawson the estimable ed asner how are you my friend i'm for her good interaction well senator mary. i will have to i will have it etched into tablets and presented through your i'm a person i would tell everybody that they're there for directions suck compared to

theirs numbers. thank you have been flattered hi all not all it's like a nice day down there where yet i don't even know you an l a person yeah would you give those teeth these moves your teeth lose your teeth i stop i yes they are. then. i kid you guys don't know now i stalled us off carly simon it hey i want to talk about you but i saw the paul rudd wrote the intro to this book john mann son of a john mann and i'm wondering what is it about kansas city guys what's in your d.n.a. i'm from pittsburgh and i know i'll always stay a pittsburgh boy i assume they're somewhat of a similar vibration and a hard working class time like ac what would you take away from it the stages through life kid can city were just a plain city it's it's not play it is the end of the players because it's

a very hilly city they're very cincinnati right sure is new york i guess it's san francisco it's got these hero and i love hero it's mountings out of to be at the top of the mountain close to the doubles and down here center. what what about it topographically it sounds appealing but what about the the ethos there what did you take away from it it's about hard work it's about not being fully what's tell me about kansas city no no nobody from there and here it is it's as we said yet ish. if you always say. yes. to this of a fish oh on the table doesn't soften. on the

table and that's the way we deal in kansas city if you can put up the shirt. i see that the the title son of a gent bed tell me your remembrances of your father was. no b.s. guy. well we know no he was very just a jerk it's taciturn it's. yanna we could step mother he was chopping shingles it's him it's him better rouche at the age of 12. and he was soon got to the united states you were late teens and he served here cares a city where he had lunch money lines people and he. took a few bucks and he got a horse in the wagon and he went around collecting junk isn't that

funny that kirk douglas his father also to some degree the rag picker son and kurt hart just left us at 103 there some something about the indefatigability the patriarch in that scenario that i think holds you guys in good stead for long lives here here we we took rags to their the filthiest thing the world to deal with because a so much dust but we could hear we even bought bones you know like coming from such a proletariat back rat out i'm trying to think at what point does a young man who's collecting dusty rags and buns with his father in the middle of the country think that he wants to become an actor and a business and go to new york what was the light bulb. the light bulb was getting on stage having one of the lead role in

a college production and finding out what magic there is. where there's magic there you'll find. i assume everybody when they talk about the stage they talk about finding a place that literally changed their life you can sense that the sense of fellowship the sense of magic as you refer to it the sense of camaraderie whenever i talk to people it no matter how famous they have got when they go back and start referencing their early days on the stage they get a beautiful smile compline their face i guess it was the same with you are at their yes or near me girls who are there you got that's why one of the books was with mark lawrence and he joined the communist party to. have redheads as they say in the communist party and as an old newspaper man i don't have to tell you that we might have buried the lead there by not saying girls

because that's always the be story even with spencer tracy that select that the best of our actor has included you always say and i got to meet girls so there's that too you go to new york and i'm fascinated by this credit face of the hero in 1060 was one of my favorites i'm wondering what it was like as a lad tell me about jack lemmon and that production at he was a dream road. jack and i came across he said or 2 or 3 times during the course of our careers and he charm he was never a disappointment he's a good guy your new york academe stories invariably you hear the name little haagen or sandy miserly strausberg i'm wondering to jeff a guru back then or were you just learning it as you went a lot i want to study was my was there but they weren't taking anybody pseudo arreola. i staggered into some armor and tried out

for a couple of months and care for it. and then i began study with mirror stover . and she was wonderful she was wonderful while i was studying with her i had applied for lease rosberg. and then nobody came into his regular classes so while i was studying with mira i decided to give them is really at the same time he never measured up to mirror mirror was my stand on teacher and go to hell you know when i whenever i read about stella adler it's usually in the guise of being you know obviously brando's teacher and she seemed to stress using all aspects of your imagination the lady who you settled on is your favorite teacher what was her method was she more to hear

into the method or what did she preach what was the swing thought that struck with you they're doing. what every state every utterance has a special doing how you wish to affect the listener's doings. you have the to inform whether to question whether to find out whether to to tell. miriam form so it was. i think i am neatly did that method. and was able to coast in the mirrors method. as mine were talking to ed asner and ed is 90 years old now he's still working as i said he's out there doing a show with rosario dawson it appears on the usa network it's called briar patch you know i'm interested as you became known obviously you're in everybody psyche

the hard drive take on ed asner is gruff i'm wondering when you were young were you seeking out or talent agents deeming you to be gruff in new york or were you playing a myriad of roles that mary or mary are never settled in. or. were never you could use a frat boy to me. i'm looking at printers you my friend you weren't exactly frank corson but i wouldn't call you fat guy actor you did have a therapist and you had sort of a lawyer in bendix 30 bork died sort of stuff that could touch you but i would say that. now. i work that in of jobs on i learn how to apply the fact. what. you're in new york you've met mira you obviously have your guru you knock it out of

the park i think you'd get a big score with 3 petty opera at some point a lot of guys were saying i'm staying in new york i don't want to go out to hollywood it's it's the devil's candy but 7 drew drew yat they're what took out to hollywood at. well i got tired or new york i got tired of the unions not really being good unions i got tired of the stagehands who did not put the play 1st but put their next paycheck 1st and i wanted to be in a place where there was good unionism and good support systems all from top to bottom and i found it in california. i have to tell you to interesting story really quickly ed i met were i meant karl malden one night and you must know karl i'm sure your brother's friends over the years but i said to karl i said you know karl i find it amazing that elite has an

a but shellbark 2 of the 2 of the leading spokespeople of the proletariat would name names that always blew my mind that they would be the ones you watch not or for anything but what a stranglehold on the human condition they have how could they be the ones who tarred and i've ever called wild look to me he said dennis you should lecture you don't know how brave you are until they change you to the radiator which was 7 or well ian notion it set still hurt my spine that's scary yeah it was a great image and i look to karl and then later it made sense to me when carl was pushing for the honorary oscar for his that i think he disagreed with what he did but he obviously understood that not everybody was brave enough to lift up their career and just go over to you know to london like carl foreman some guys some guys did the deed and at least he had an insight into that that i hadn't thought of prior we're talking to ed asner he i want to i haven't even got to the ed asner is

his. sanctum sanctorum the the greatest sitcom in my mind that ever was and he one of the one of the premier players in the premier cast will talk a little mary tyler moore graph right after the break with our guest ed asner. the people's republic of china isn't a non-conformist utopia horribly bickley correct i'll take your pick nonetheless the experiment being played out in seattle is no laughing matter the ideas of law and order and illegitimate use of force are at stake a piece of advice go visit jobs before chaps visit you. if the epidemic continues as a disease the economies will not recover we will not have trade

tourism. investments we will have continuing very deep economic crisis. welcome back to dennis miller plus one where you see you are dig through. we're just talking about heads nickname in the community being the post-hole digger and how he got that he assures me 5 minutes after this interview is over he'll be out on his verdant lawn sons' robe. making an impression on the community you know that when you get out to california i assume you go out with the ultimate you know it's great to go out models go and photo shoots with their catalog you go out with a couple naked cities under your belt i watch those old shows and boggles my mind

how great they were when you get to new york how are you received does it matter to them that you've been back in new york and theater and live television was your reception when you get up there. well i always felt that i could've. left chicago taken a plane to new york changed planes to l.a. and then proceeded to launch my career here. they didn't care whether how much time i'd spend in new york as long as i was from really york. it geared t. that i i must have talent and i could see them that way but i had spent 6 years in new york and i are now for what tell me when you hit the ground before we get to the m.t.m. shell when you hit the ground in l.a. what do you do in procedural surrey would tell me some of the shows and tell me some of the players you worked with him made

a dent on you when you 1st get out there. i fortunately he's had spent one of those naked cities filming in l.a. and we threw a few people and came up with my agent very good agent named jack feels he. has special deal was trying to get blacklisted actors jobs in the industry that were still suffering from the blacklist. and he got to work immediately and he got me jobs. what did he get me i carry member of the 1st jobs. mr novak time to suffer. yeah the game's franciscus yeah another route 66 here there. there was a calvin lockhart he got me. a movie with. who's

like room 222 who. but he uses for her covering her car was his words so he's never been heard from since. you know what'd you get him can i can i take a 2nd and ask you when you talk about route 66 i obviously know maris and milner when you talk about mr novak james franciscus when you say calvin lockhart i have a complete gap there can you explain who is who is calvin lockhart and why that i have here anymore he was a little black jesus he was a good looking like rebel who. it's did not have good. it's good conduct it's. his out here who are and exhibited bad habits when we made this film and. they

cared it's well you know it's some point you can push it way far down the road in hollywood but when they start saying life's too short you're gone i've heard out of nowhere people who thought they were indispensable you get to the point where they go life's too short you're out back yeah yeah. so. what tell me about that was it the same agent that you were talking about who sent yacht for for the mary tyler moore thing tell me about who was there who'd you read with tell me about your 1st memories of that great well like i said the greatest sitcom ever. i read for ellen burns and jim brooks 2 creators as it's. read and after i finished reading jim brooks said son i was a very intelligent reading and i muttered yabber wasn't funny. and this is all we have in fact a reader of mary read it all we got wigged out wiki out and i know what the hell

he's talking about so i said i said leave as you know we go way beyond angry this isn't funny turn around is that what did you have me read it that way now and if i don't do it well don't have me back i never told my dance before since but it worked it well we do have another appointment for our go ahead so i wrote it i went like i'm a sugar. crazy crazy crazy and they left their governors are leaving just like that when you come back to read with mary well i said what did i do whatever i do it because comedy is frightening when you don't know how to do it and you only learn lured by practice practice so i began to practice i began and repeat whatever i thought i had done came back in 2 weeks

read with mary they laughed again. they said thank you i said early years later i found out that when i was out of the room mary turned to them and said are you sure. that your little grant. so that standards 7 years of bliss he's a slow on chat at look i just called zulu because i'm trying to think of a guy who i can less separate his character from obviously i've enjoyed in so many things over the year but boy you talk about somebody hit in the mother lode you were so him and he was so you i i just look back on it like i said and i have i hear that song i get such pleasant memories i know it's not going to be a simply show i know it's going to be hip i know it's going to be witty i know it's

going to be brusque at some points but at the end of the day it's warm it was just perfect for me. good i'm good this is nice were telling her to. send me back you know some shows or some shows get asked to see a pot down there they're special ness and i never got that off that show i would always show up but i think at any given moment any one of these 5 to 6 people will be sacrificed to a hip story line and yet the fighter laid back maybe the next week they're in on the group and somebody else is the out there and obviously ted obviously ted plays the sort of vapid greek or christian but boy brooks i don't know burns as well but i think about brooks as movies and boy nobody knows nobody knows the whimsy and the the seriousness of being a human being simultaneously like that guy unbelievable. you know it's he kept his eye he he worked as

a reporter. in the media. oh i didn't know that at and that's why i started out i did not know that. it's terrorism vicki who i think wrote restore to me it's 6 when you guys were hitting the ball and i can imagine was it a what a schwab to v.v. must to have to go to work or maybe i'd like to think that sometimes you peel stories back and people got no i was heavy lifting when i watched you 5 sing together i'd think boy they get to that that writer's table each week they must laugh their of i'd like to there that was it was it that was an issue you know it was 7 years then during those 7 years in the beginning i feel jealousy because they were concentrating on the women so march she she had new clothes leishman and sheer roder and i thought god did have a god damn it and then firmly each one got a spin off off the show so graham left mary with the borys if you use them

well. we're talking to ed asner and as i said your lead goes on to do lou grant that's how indelible that character is folks that's how firmly entrenched it is with people that even go from the preeminent sitcom like i said ever certainly of that generation they take it over and they put it in an hour format as essentially i guess the term now is dramedies i just remember it being really well written almost bochco like written what are your memories of the next permutation of look at over on the serious side well that was interesting and. i used to think i based my comedic movie grant on my 2 older brothers. full of bombast and slippery. and some tea and then when i got into the our show which didn't have barfs or supposedly good merit

labs i said i can't do the same character with this character i've got to find somebody else so i did i dived into myself and came up with the character and you saw as lou grant. and it worked it word. say but it must been it must been weird to figure out how much of that comedic look at the light fades out and how much of the more potter familias luke phase in very much of it a delicate tightrope walk like it was interesting because i was in therapy of the time the show opened the view there are night t.v. and i went in for my session of therapy and a 40 and said to me i said would you think he said what he grimaced so much and i

realized. then it's a serious show but there laughs within it so the crew could laugh nobody good laugh but i wanted the audience at home to know they could laugh so i could stumble down the grimace i mean really stop grimacing once he made that 100. around him. if you're married then i am he wearing yes i always felt. i've always felt the best shrink safe had in my life have looked across the room and be found the coat that i was hanging whatever my personality was at that given moment found the hook that i was saying it all out told me about it and then immediately. it fell away so i understand that projection and i could parse this and there were times i'd think my

god of course i had to know this but until they pointed out there is that transference i never noticed certain things about myself then they fell away like you said just like that or their gerd going on what was that young actors name on there i was a robert walton i'm trying to remember not that kid's name is now because he has your neck your i caught that but i thought he was a hell of an actor that kid beards he is and he he. he knows how to get to the heart of a point. nice and easy as a university it's easier the university of texas oh ok that's cool yeah well listen he knows of what he speak because i thought he hit the hell out of that part you know close it out i just want to ask you i'm always intrigued i'm 66 now i'll play get 90 i'd be god bless me if i get 90 what do you see out of your head on the top gave your like your good you know one of them has been way in in here in

your head what age do you feel or do you feel 90 i don't know i don't know why i don't know i had 4 similar years we all were. the youngest darter 94 so i got in here to 94 and he's yeah yeah you got to keep up the family brand ed asner yeah well listen the junk band raise some good boys there and this is something you do john but. my life in the west bottoms of kansas city is a bright lights of hollywood i assume that's the the man there who was the jumping off point for all these lads and where it's been a hell of a life i don't know you that well but i can tell you this from afar i've always admired your intelligence and like i said that's the greatest sitcom ever and you and mary right at the top of it so i thank you for all the laughs and all the insights over my life god who are your dads are pretty sure to take care yourself

brother get new norad on that lawn. this is been dennis miller on his own or didn't have. very few. but back. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world the olympics sports business i'm show business i'll see you then. let's say. the guy down the block for more you. is counterfeiting mining and he's buying and stumpy he he created an extension on his house he caught a new boat people on a new car for 5 new cars he brought another new he brought a lot of jewelry he's live in

a large would you say the wealth on that street is this force minutely heading into that guy's house because he's able to counterfeit money and spend that money would you say that i mean that's not hard to comprehend right. some control for a middle class to move in the muslim are very hardworking people who want to get ahead that is either have some some health issues or have some of it out of strict about luck a full time jewel moon tollways pay for a place to live and missing just a month's rent can get you a victim to gunpoint if anything bad happens to any thing that just throws your budget off slightly. you better catch up real quick or you're going to have a judgment of possession against you and get addicted to anyone that's homeless is history like garbage people look at you like a monster or someone bad or you chose to be there most of the time it's not the

case see how it is to be pull in the world's richest country. hello and welcome across town where all things are considered you know about the people's republic of china a non-conformist utopia or a politically correct well take your pick nonetheless the experiment being played out in seattle is no laughing matter the ideas of law and order and the legitimate use of force are at stake a piece of advice go visit chas before chasse visits you.