Giving Him Some ‘Respect’: The Story of Rodney Dangerfield

Bizarre Audition

For his Caddyshack audition, Rodney Dangerfield arrived in a long, black stretch limo. The comedian was sent to the office of producer Jon Peters. Wearing a black trench coat over his cheap suit, he did the unthinkable as he entered. Dangerfield strolled in, took off his pants and exclaimed, “Let’s eat!” Needless to say, he nailed it.

Bizarre Audition

Caddyshack Was A Loss

Despite how much of a fan favorite it became, Caddyshack actually lost this star money. Well, at the time it was a loss. That’s because he was paid $35,000 for the film, but Dangerfield claimed taking the time for the movie meant he lost about $150,000 in Las Vegas bookings. Though, we think in the end Dangerfield made out okay.

Caddyshack Was A Loss

Legal Name

Dangerfield began writing jokes when he was only 15 years old. By age 19, he started to try out stand-up. Under the stage name “Jack Roy,” he performed for a decade. Even though he became famous under the stage name Rodney Dangerfield, his legal name stayed Jack Roy for his entire life.

Legal Name

Numerous Jobs

By the time he gave up stand-up in the 50’s, he was in heavy debt. Just before leaving show business, he got fired from his job as a singing waiter. Next, Rodney tried his hand as a performing acrobatic diver, but those gigs failed as well. Finally, he worked in New Jersey as an aluminum siding salesman. Later on when he spoke about the first time he left stand-up he said, “at the time I quit, I was the only one who knew I quit!”

Numerous Jobs

Back In Business

In addition to working as a salesman, he was a truck driver until deciding to try his hand in show business again during the 60’s. Then, he became Rodney Dangerfield. The name came from a Jack Benny radio show, which had a cowboy character with the name. In addition, Ricky Nelson used ‘Rodney Dangerfield’ on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. A nightclub owner suggested the name to Dangerfield, who was then Jack Roy.

Back In Business

Supporting The Family

Growing up, life was not easy for Rodney Dangerfield. His father was rarely home and then ended up leaving his mother. Thus, Rodney Dangerfield took on all kinds of jobs to be able to support the family. He did everything from selling newspapers and ice cream on the beach to delivering groceries.

Supporting The Family

Inspiration to Fans

Unfortunately, Rodney Dangerfield spent years battling his inner demons. Although he suffered from depression, he found a way to help himself cope. He was very open about this and many fans found inspiration from his honesty. He even opened up about his mental illness in his memoir, It’s Not Easy Bein’ Me: A Lifetime Of No Respect But Plenty Of Sex And Drugs. For Rodney Dangerfield, smoking marijuana helped him deal with his anguish. In fact, he smoked for about 60 years.

Inspiration to Fans

Laughing All The Way To The Grave

Oh, Dangerfield, he just couldn’t help himself. Even his tombstone had to be witty. In Los Angeles’ Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, you can find his grave. On the headstone it reads, “Rodney Dangerfield… There goes the neighborhood.”

Laughing All The Way To The Grave

Film Debut

Even though he wasn’t active in the entertainment industry in the 50’s, Dangerfield did have his film debut then. He was uncredited, but played an “onlooker” for Stanley Kubrick movie, The Killing (1956). You have to start somewhere in show biz.

Film Debut

Marriage To Joan Child

Rodney Dangerfield married his second wife in 1993, and they were together until his death in 2004. Back when they first met in a flower shop in the late 70’s, Dangerfield approached her and asked, “What kind of drugs do you like?” To which she replied, “Antibiotics, I guess.” He found her response endearing, and they dated over the years until marrying in Vegas. She was 30 years his junior.

Marriage To Joan Child

Selling Sweat

Child has his sweat in a vial in her fridge. The couple wanted to sell it at MGM Grand in Vegas, but they didn’t want in due to insurance concerns. During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Child explained he was inspired when seeing a sweat stained handkerchief of Elvis’ sold for a ton of money. She said, “Rodney had a eureka moment. He said, ‘I sweat more than anybody. My sweat has to be as good as Elvis’ sweat, right?’ and he would sweat a lot up there on stage. So my job became the sweat collector.’

Selling Sweat

Playing Both Sides

The very talented comedian was never just a typecast guy. No, he is actually one of the very few actors we imagine in the world to ever play the devil and God in a movie. For Adam Sandler’s Little Nicky, he was the devil. Then in Angels with Angels (2005), Dangerfield played the role of God.

Playing Both Sides

White House Visit

After hearing how much Rodney Dangerfield smoked, maybe this will not really surprise you. Back in 1983, Rodney was visiting the White House. While there to see Ronald Reagan, the comedian lit up and smoked marijuana in the White House. Now, that’s not something many can say they’ve done.

White House Visit

Another Vial

Remember the sweat we mentioned? Well, that’s not even the strangest thing of Rodney’s Joan Child still has. During his final years, Rodney wanted to clone himself so his wife Joan Child still has a vial of his blood just in case. So if human cloning is ever a thing, we get to have the amazing Rodney Dangerfield! Hopefully, his clone has the same incredible sense of humor.

Another Vial

Discovered Bob Saget

While Rodney Dangerfield was at the Comedy Store in Hollywood, he discovered a 21 year old Bob Saget! Yes, Danny Tanner from Full House first got his start in comedy thanks to the legendary Dangerfield. Saget credits him for his big break in comedy and getting to perform the Young Comedians Special. The two actually became close friends.

Discovered Bob Saget

Broken Home

As we touched on earlier, Rodney Dangerfield came from a broken home of sorts. The comedian was born in Deer Park, Long Island to Jewish parents. His mother Dotty Teitelbaum was overbearing, and his father, a vaudevillian performer, left the family early on. Thus, his mother moved him and his sister to Queens. Growing up, he often faced anti-Semitic remarks from teachers and turned to comedy for some relief.

Broken Home

First Marriage

When Rodney was in his late twenties he married the singer Joyce Indig. The two met at a NYC club and settled down in New Jersey. They had two kids, Brian and Melanie. During this time, Rodney worked on siding and selling paint, but the couple often fought. Finally, they divorced in 1962, only to remarry the following year, but divorce again.

First Marriage

Separation And Return To Stage

When he first divorced Joyce, he made a return to the stage. Dangerfield began performing mainly at hotels in the Catskills, but didn’t find much success. He even joked that, “I played one club—it was so far out, my act was reviewed in Field & Stream.” (Field & Stream is an outdoors magazine.)

Separation And Return To Stage

Persona

One of Rodney’s big epiphanies came when he realized his act lacked an “image.” Thus, he wanted to create some type of on-stage persona that audience members could connect with, while distinguishing him from other comics. When he attempted to make it on the West Coast, premier comedy venues shunned him, so he returned to the East Coast and formed this character for whom nothing could ever go right.

Persona

Big Break

Alas, Rodney Dangerfield truly got his break on March 5th in 1967. Fatefully, that very night, The Ed Sullivan Show happened to need someone to replace an act last minute. Dangerfield stepped in and stole the show! He was the surprise hit of the night, and that’s what helped launch his career.

Big Break

Becoming A Regular

After this big break, he started headline shows in Las Vegas, Nevada. In addition, he was making encore appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, of course. One classic Dangerfield line during his stand-up became, “I walked into a bar the other day and ordered a drink.”

Becoming A Regular

Change Of Pace

Besides The Ed Sullivan Show, he also appeared on The Tonight Show with the famous Johnny Carson over 70 times! Sadly, his ex-wife passed away and that changed his lifestyle a bit. Instead of touring, he opened up his own nightclub in New York, called Dangerfield’s, in order to stay close to home and raise his son and daughter.

Change Of Pace

Grammy Winner

Not only was Rodney well known for his films, but this comedian also won a Grammy for his comedy album, No Respect, in 1981. That album is a huge part of his legacy today and still a fan favorite. So is his musical number on the 1983 album, Rappin’ Rodney, but we’ll get to that.

Grammy Winner

Back To School

Did you know Back to School was one of the first movies to ever gross more than $100 million? Now, something to note is that Rodney Dangerfield’s characters in movies were a bit different than his stand up persona. The film characters were popular and generally successful but a bit too loud and usually hated by the upper class. For Dangerfield’s role as Thornton, he was nominated for an American Comedy Award as funniest lead actor.

Back To School

Caddyshack Launched Film Career

Of course, his role in Caddyshack is probably his best remember role. He played that obnoxious property developer who was a guest in an uptight country club but trying to buy it and clashed with Judge Elihu (Ted Knight). At first, his role was small, but then Dangerfield, Bill Murray and Chevy Chase all proved their skills at improve, and their roles were expanded. This role led to lead parts in both Back To School and Easy Money for Dangerfield.

Caddyshack Launched Film Career

Caddyshack Confusion

Now, this one is pretty funny…Apparently, before Dangerfield starred in Caddyshack, he did not have much film experience. Thus, while they filmed he thought he was completely bombing because no one was laughing at his jokes. Eventually, someone told him that they weren’t supposed to laugh or they would completely ruin the take.

Caddyshack Confusion

Inspired By Joan

Later in his life, he actually wrote and starred in the film My 5 Wives (2000). This movie was about a Mormon polygamist, which Dangerfield explained he was inspired to write from his second wife. Yes, Joan is Mormon and Dangerfield said, “I was inspired to write the story because my wife is a Mormon and I became fascinated with the whole polygamy thing. I thought, what a great idea for a film…One of the advantages of having five wives is they can’t all have a headache at the same time.” Dangerfield also said, “Brigham Young was said to have 27 wives. I used to have this joke, I don’t care how you bring ’em, just bring ’em young.”

Inspired By Joan

Launched An Ad Campaign

One scene in Caddyshack launched a gold campaign! Well, it was one of Dangerfield’s lines actually. When Dangerfield’s character yells to Elihu Smalls (Ted Knight), “Let’s go – while we’re young!” people got a kick out of it. The golfing community loves the film so much that the United States Golf Association used the line, “While We’re Young” as their 2013 campaign theme to get people golfing.

Launched An Ad Campaign

Need For Stand Up

Part of Rodney’s return to do stand up earlier in his life was because he was debt-ridden and living in a trashy New York hotel. When speaking with the Washington Post he explained the compulsion, “It was like a need. I had to work. I had to tell jokes. I had to write them and tell them. It was like a fix. I had the habit.”

Need For Stand Up

Dangerfield’s Club

So, we mentioned his club, well since he was the regular headliner, it took no time for it to become a success. Also, Rodney Dangerfield was overwhelmingly generous in giving comedians a chance. As Carrot Top said to People, “Rodney didn’t care what kind of comedy you did. As long as you were a comic, you were a part of his fraternity.” Some of the comedians to perform at his club were Adam Sandler, Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Carrey and Roseanne Barr.

Dangerfield’s Club

Dramatic Role

Out of all his work, his only dramatic performance was as the abusive father in the film Natural Born Killers. Dangerfield starred in the film alongside Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis. Many thought Dangerfield’s performance was Oscar-worthy, but the Academy rejected his application, claiming he didn’t have enough similar roles to show mastery of this craft. He apparently said of this, “They give no respect at all—pardon the pun—to comedy.” He made a website and tons of people emailed the academy in protest, but when they did relent and offer him admission, Dangerfield declined.

Dramatic Role

Autobiography

Originally, his autobiography was to be called My Love Affair With Marijuana. However, they changed it to It’s Not Easy Bein’ Me: A Lifetime of No Respect but Plenty of Sex and Drugs. The book was released after Rodney’s death in 2004.

Autobiography

Jim Carrey

It wasn’t just Bob Saget who Dangerfield helped discover. He also played a significant part in Jim Carrey’s rise to fame. During the 80’s, he saw the young comedian perform at the Comedy Store in LA. After recognizing his talent, he signed Carrey to open for his Las Vegas show. Carrey and Dangerfield ended up touring for two additional years.

Jim Carrey

Lasting Tribute

People are still heartbroken that we lost this great comedian in 2004. Some people decided to pay a lasting tribute to this genius. Surprisingly, a Rodney Dangerfield tattoo become one of the most popular celeb tattoos in 2007 in the USA. And some were…well better than others!

Lasting Tribute

The Rodney Dangerfield Institute Of Comedy

Since June 2017, the LA City College Theathre Academy began hosting The Rodney Dangerfield Institute of Comedy. This stand-up class consists of four classes taught by comedian Joanie Coyote (Joanie Willgues). The Rodney Dangerfield Institute was founded in cooperation with his widow, Joan Dangerfield. She also serves as the honorary chair of the Advisory Board.

The Rodney Dangerfield Institute Of Comedy

Howard Stern Interview

Dangerfield interviewed with Howard Stern on May 25th of 2004. In this interview, the comedian who was raised Jewish, revealed that he’s a “logical” atheist. This came in response to Stern’s question if Dangerfield believed in any afterlife. He added to his answer, “We’re apes––do apes go anyplace?”

Howard Stern Interview

Health Concerns

Even when he was undergoing brain surgery and recovering, he maintained his sense of humor. In 2003, he came out of the California hospital after a 12 hour operation and still had a heart bypass in the near future. Despite this intense time, his publicist revealed told ABCNews Rodney said, “My wife thinks I’m dumb and that’s why I needed brain surgery. I made a deal with her. I said, ‘No more brain surgeries for me as long as you stay as dumb as you are.'”

Health Concerns

Favorite Show

After leaving the intensive care unit that year, he claimed he had one thing he wanted to do upon returning home. That was to watch his favorite show, The Jerry Springer Show. Who would have thought?!

Favorite Show

Final Surgery

In August of 2004, Rodney Dangerfield entered the hospital for another surgery. While entering, he responded to a question about how long he would be in hospital. Dangerfield said, “If all goes well, about a week. If not, about an hour and a half.” Sadly, in September, they told the public that the comedian had been in a coma for some weeks. He did begin breathing on his own and responding to visitors.

Final Surgery

Death

Unfortunately, he passed away on October 5, 2004, just a month and a half before he would have turned 83 years old. After his August heart operation, he suffered from a small stroke and other complications. He had emerged from his coma the week before he passed. His wife released a statement saying, “When Rodney emerged, he kissed me, squeezed my hand and smiled for his doctors.” His legend still lives on, not even just in his films or even stand up.

Death

Rappin’ Rodney

Not only was he a famous comedian, but he also became a hit recording artist. With his 1983 song, “Rappin’ Rodney,” Rodney Dangerfield became a celebrated artist too! Dangerfield’s song hit number 89 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart.

Rappin Rodney

Museum Piece

Although this picture is from the Grammys Museum in LA, we did need to tell you about his legacy in the Smithsonian Institution. There you can find one of his signature red ties and white shirts on permanent display! Apparently, when he passed over his shirt to the museum curator, he joked around saying, “I have a feeling you’re going to use this to clean Lindbergh’s plane.”

Museum Piece

First Of Its Kind

Apparently, Rodney Dangerfield claimed he was the one to tell the very first Viagra joke. If you’re not familiar it went like this…”I’m taking Viagra and drinking prune juice – I don’t know if I’m coming or going.”

First Of Its Kind

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