Mga Subtitle (274)
0:01-Our next guest
is Academy Award nominated
0:02and Tony, Grammy,
and Emmy winning
0:04composer, lyricist,
arranger, and producer
0:07whose work you know
from "Saturday Night Live,"
0:09beloved movies like
"When Harry Met Sally,"
0:11"Sister Act,"
and "Sleepless in Seattle,"
0:13and the Broadway musicals
"Hairspray,"
0:15"Smash," and "Some Like It Hot."
0:17His memoir,
"Never Mind the Happy: Showbiz
Stories from a Sore Winner,"
0:22Please welcome to the show,
Marc Shaiman, everybody!
0:24[ Cheers and applause ]
0:35I'm so happy you're here!
0:36-I'm so happy to be here.
Thank you for having me.
0:38-Congratulations on the book.
I want to ask --
0:40"Never Mind the Happy"
is a very unique title.
0:43Where does it come from?
0:44-It comes from my Jewish mother.
[ Laughter ]
0:47My sister called my mom
one New Year's Day and said,
0:50"Ma, I want to be
the first to wish you
0:52a happy and healthy New Year."
0:53And my mother said,
"Never mind the happy!"
0:57So, it sort of defines me
and it's...
1:00and I -- I titled the book that
1:02because it's sort of about
all these wonderful things
1:04that have happened for me
in my life.
1:06I mean, endless amount of iconic
projects I've gotten to work on,
1:09and yet,
I'm always sort of Eeyore.
1:12I'm always seeing the glass
is half empty.
1:16-I mean, I would imagine, like,
1:17as you revisit everything
for the book,
1:19you couldn't even sort of
non-Eeyore that in the process?
1:22-Yeah. You know, I think
I actually wrote the book,
1:24I think I was going through
a little depressing moment
1:27and I thought, "You know what?
1:29If I write and remember
all these things,
1:32maybe I'll cheer up," you know?
1:34I mean, I guess
I'm tooting my own horn also,
1:36but yeah, it was
for me to remember
1:38all these wonderful things
that I've gotten to do.
1:41And it also is a, you know,
1:43to maybe inspire
other people to see
1:45that I've had endless amount
of dreams come true.
1:48I mean, true dreams-come-true.
1:50[ Cheers and applause ]
-We shared a stage once.
1:53And it was sort of
a dream come true for me,
1:55which is you worked
with Martin Short
1:57on his wonderful Broadway show,
1:59and he would, as Jimmy Glick --
Jiminy Glick, excuse me,
2:03he would bring an audience
member up every night.
2:05You know, somebody
that obviously
2:06had been arranged ahead of time.
2:08So, I was on stage
with you on Broadway.
2:09-Yes.
-And that was really special.
2:12-In the in the show,
Marty's character, Marty Short,
2:15got hit by lightning
for telling a lie,
2:18and I played him
settling in the hospital bed
2:20so that Jiminy Glick
could come on and visit Marty
2:24and then invite
a guest from the audience.
2:26So, yes,
I was in the hospital bed
2:28as you did your interview.
2:30And then, I don't know
if you remember this,
2:32but at the end of that scene,
2:33I got up and I walked
towards the white light
2:37and turned my back with
a hospital gown open in the back
2:41and showed a Broadway audience,
eight shows a week, my ass.
2:47So many dreams coming true!
2:49-I found out that if you don't
have to look people in the eye
2:52while you're doing it,
2:53I didn't mind it at all.
2:56-Don't worry.
I have no plans tonight.
2:57-The good news is
it's almost impossible
3:00to show people your ass
3:01and look them in the eye
at the same time.
3:06-Oh, you're right, you're right.
You could probably do it.
3:10-I did.
-For a bit of time.
3:12And "The Sweeney Sisters,"
which was a favorite of mine,
3:14uh, Nora Dunn...
-Thank you for remembering.
3:17[ Laughter ]
See, this is the problem.
3:18This is why I wrote the book.
3:20I almost called it "Google Me"
because...
3:23whenever I work
on a new project, and like,
3:26and there are younger people
working on it,
3:27and then, eventually,
they come up to me and they say,
3:30"Did you work on 'Sister Act'?
3:32Did I see your name
on this and that?"
3:34And I'm always saying, "Google
me and we'll talk tomorrow."
3:36So, yeah, I worked
on "SNL" in the '80s
3:39and the Sweeney sisters
were two lounge singers...
3:43-Jan Hooks and Nora Dunn.
-They did medleys, yeah.
3:45Nora Dunn
and the late, great Jan Hooks.
3:47We did a Christmas medley once,
3:49and that's the only one
that seems to end up on YouTube.
3:52And it has become
an endless thing with people.
3:55When they look at it,
they insist...
3:59-Oh, because you actually were
the accompanist in the sketches.
4:01-Yes, I was on screen
4:03as a whatever my name
was in the sketches, so...
4:06I insist, I wasn't trying
to have a mullet!
4:09I want the audience to decide.
4:11-Hold on. Let me find
your mullet photo here.
4:13-It wasn't a mullet!
-It's a mullet.
4:17Alright, there you are.
That's a mullet.
4:21-What do you think it is?
4:22-Maybe an unintentional mullet?
4:24[ Laughter ]
I don't know.
4:26Now, I got nothing.
-No.
4:28Uh, I want to ask about...
4:34Uh, you worked with --
to speak of the late, great --
4:36you worked
with the late, great Rob Reiner.
4:39-Yes.
-And obviously, a...
4:41[ Applause ]
...tremendous loss.
4:44Condolences on your friend.
4:45What were your memories
of working with Rob?
4:48-Well, working at "SNL,"
when I met Marty,
4:50and then I met Billy Crystal,
4:52and Billy Crystal
is such a mensch
4:53that when he was working on
"When Harry Met Sally" with Rob,
4:56he asked Rob, "What are you
gonna do for the music?"
4:58And Rob said, "I want a guy
who knows, like,
5:00every song
in the American songbook."
5:02And Billy was like,
"Have I got a guy for you!"
5:04Billy used to call me Rain-Jew
5:06because he said
I just knew every song!
5:09I don't even know
how it happened, but I did!
5:12And so ,he introduced me to Rob,
5:14and I did
"When Harry Met Sally."
5:16And then, every movie
Rob did after that,
5:19almost, like, 16 movies.
5:21He literally gave me
my film career.
5:23My film career
just fell on my lap
5:25by Rob Reiner throwing it there.
5:29you know,
more than even the music
5:31I got to write
for all of Rob's movies,
5:33my memory of him is just,
as you would know,
5:36in showbiz, the hang.
5:38-Yeah.
-It's all about the hang.
5:39Once you know that
you're working with people
5:41who can do
what needs to get done,
5:44it really just
becomes about the people
5:45you want to be hanging out with.
5:47And so, Rob would come over
and listen to what I was doing,
5:49and maybe we'd spend
half an hour listening to music
5:52and two hours kibitzing,
you know, just...
5:54-Yeah. And he was great at it.
5:55-Shooting the [bleep].
Can I say?
5:57-Yeah, you can.
-So, uh...
5:58-You should ask
before you say it.
6:02You mentioned your film career
because it's...
6:05it really was --
the collaborations you have
6:07are something else, including...
6:10There you go, Matt and Trey,
6:12"South Park," this iconic photo.
6:13There you are in the background.
6:16Well, I got to work
on the "South Park" movie,
6:18which was just the greatest gig
you could imagine.
6:21To get to...
-Nominated for an Academy Award.
6:24-Yes.
[ Cheers and applause ]
6:26-Wait, that is, you know...
-And...
6:30But it was an honor
just to be animated.
6:32-Yeah. There you go.
[ Laughter ]
6:34That was a very special, I mean,
6:36I think,
when that movie came out,
6:37nobody would expect
that it would have
6:39an Oscar-nominated song in it.
6:40But then, of course,
once you saw the movie,
6:42it made
all the sense in the world.
6:43Did you know,
as you were working on it,
6:45like, this is going to be
a special thing?
6:47-I knew it was just
the greatest gig
6:48I ever had in the movies,
6:50and then I was lucky enough
to be nominated
6:53for the movie, "Patch Adams,"
with Robin Williams,
6:55and I was
at the nominee luncheon.
6:57You know, they have a lovely,
tasteful nominee luncheon,
7:00and a woman in pearls,
a very tasteful woman said,
7:04"So, Mr. Shaiman,
what are you working on now?"
7:06And I didn't have
the heart to say to her,
7:08"Well, this whole weekend,
7:09I had the 'South Park'
sound library
7:11send me
all their fart sound effects."
7:15Because Trey wrote this song.
7:16And this is one song
that Trey wrote all by himself.
7:20I'm gonna say a bad word now.
-Yeah, yeah, please.
7:22-"Uncle [bleep]."
-Yeah.
7:26that the characters singing
the song, Terrance and Phillip,
7:28they loved to laugh
about farting.
7:30-Yeah.
-I can say "farting," right?
7:32-Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-So far --
7:33Wow, I'm hitting them all.
7:34-Certainly, if you could
say the first two,
7:35you could say "farting."
[ Laughter ]
7:37-It was my idea that they would
have a fart tap-dance break.
7:40And so, even in the morning
of the nominee luncheon,
7:43I was sitting at the computer
7:44with all the digital
fart sound effects,
7:46figuring out how to go,
[makes rhythmic fart sounds].
7:49So, go home, Google it,
watch it, and you'll hear it.
7:52It's my tap dance extravaganza
with farts.
7:54-It's your "Mr. Holland's Opus."
-Yes.
7:57But I didn't tell her that.
I didn't have the heart.
7:59And then, a year later,
we were nominated
8:01and at that nominee luncheon.
-There you go.
8:03And by the way,
a song that holds up.
8:07Bette Midler, you dedicate
the book to her.
8:10And this is really
an incredible story.
8:12I mean, I, personally,
kind of can't believe I...
8:15have met Bette Midler.
8:17Like, she was deeply
important to me growing up,
8:19but way more to you.
-Really?
8:21-And she -- Yeah, my parents
loved Bette Midler albums,
8:23and we listened to them
all the time,
8:25and she's just a dynamo.
8:26But you were
a young person who...
8:28-Yeah, I mean, I was like 13
8:30when "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy"
hit the radio
8:32and she became a big star
on "Johnny Carson,"
8:35and all I wanted to do
was work with Bette Midler.
8:37And I stole money
from my father's wallet once
8:39and cut school and went to
New York to see her in concert,
8:42and had this fantasy that I was
going to run down the aisle
8:44and say, "Oh, Miss Midler,
8:46I know every note
of every song on every album.
8:48Please let me play for you."
8:49And then, just by sheer luck,
8:51the first people I met when I
moved to New York when I was 16,
8:55one of them, Scott Whitman,
who became my co-lyricist
8:58and my lover,
as we used to say, for 25 years,
9:02he lived across the hall
9:03from one of Bette Midler's
backup singers.
9:05So, you know, who could have
dreamed that that would happen?
9:09And they were
starting their own group
9:10when they weren't
on the road with Bette Midler.
9:12And because I was right there,
9:14and I knew the harmonies
they wanted to do
9:15because of my love
for Bette Midler,
9:17I became their musical director.
9:19Then, Bette said,
"Girls, come back on the road,"
9:21and to make a long story short,
I was flown to L.A.,
9:24I got to watch
Bette Midler rehearse,
9:26and then she called
the song out to her band,
9:28and the band didn't know it,
and one of the Harlettes said,
9:31"See him back there?
He does whatever."
9:33And so, Bette Midler said, "You!
9:34Do you know how to play
'No Jestering'?"
9:37And I actually got
to walk to a stage and say,
9:40I know every note
of every album and every song!"
9:43It's an absolute true story!
[ Cheers and applause ]
9:47Congratulations on the book.
9:48-Thank you.
-And incredible career.
9:50[ Cheers and applause ]
Marc Shaiman, everybody!
9:51His memoir,
"Never Mind the Happy,"
9:53is available now.
We'll be right back.
