an entertainment medium. so, how do you present this material to an audience and make it entertaining? and that really, uh -- a big credit goes to hal ashby, because he has the kind of non-sequitur sense of humor and he lays back on certain issues. paraplegics could be very grim. guys returning from the war in the state i was in could be very grim. a wife having to go through both sides of the triangle could be very grim. but ashby's got a great way of handling that. >> a sarcastic touch in there, from time to time. the humor is there, but at the same time, it's real. >> it's really the only way to approach subject matter for the thing we were trying to say like that. what the movie really is about is the war at home. it was a war that we all saw on television. every night for ten years, we saw what was going on. but you never saw what went on with these guys when they came home -- if they came home. >> yes. hundreds and thousands in this country. >> the thing i'm proudest of is it's the most collaborative effort i've been in on in a picture from beginning to end. jane and john, and jerry hillman, and hal and myself. i was like the third leg of the triangle. john and jane were actively involved in the anti-war stuff in the late sixties and early seventies and i wasn't. my whole representation in the picture is like -- what i said to them when i started working, like the rocky bleier syndrome of vietnam. what about the guys that did go over there, and didn't go to canada and didn't go to sweden? what about the guys that felt they did have to fight it? whether right or wrong, that was their duty and they went and fought it and eventually, they had to come home. and at the end of this movie, you just sit there, and you really don't know quite how to react. that's exactly what happened when the war was over. unfortunately, because of vietnam, the way it ended, there was no vj day. there was nothing to celebrate. >> i mean, the only celebration was when each family -- if they were lucky enough to have a member of it come home from there -- and that was their celebration. and that was it. >> we have a small film clip. i think this is the piece where you're coming off the plane -- actually returning, is that what we're going to see? it kind of shows you your attitude, and the relationship you have with your wife at that time. so why don't we roll that -- i don't think it needs any more explanation than that. >> does your leg hurt? >> no. >> what do you think? >> about what? >> our new car. >> a speedster? it's outstanding. absolutely outstanding. >> i'm glad you're back. >> 1,2,3,4, we don't want your rotten war. >> peace, brother >> peace on you too, brother. [ engine revving ] [ applause ] >> good picture. "coming home." it's a good picture. when you're in a picture like that, how much does it change your career from the standpoint of being able to choose scripts, of being offered scripts all of a sudden. >> are the phones suddenly ringing? >> hey bruce, wanna -- yeah. >> it changed a lot. >> does it really? >> a lot. it's funny, but if you could add a couple of zeros to the end of the pictures i'd been in a lot better shape than i was when i went to work on "coming home". if the numbers had changed on "black sunday", or "king of marvin gardens" a lot of pictures like that. or "smile" it would have been a lot easier. i've had to turn a certain type of a corner, in that i've never been considered a that's an area i'm trying to get to. i've always felt that i could do it. it's been very difficult to ---- >> turn the corner, as you say >> i'm the fringe guy. i'm on the edge of movies. >> and now people are calling saying, "are you available for this and that?" >> yes, they'd like me to kiss the girl every now and then, instead of grab her and hurt her. [ laughter ] >> yes, you had a good run of that grabbing and hurting, and screaming and kicking and gouging. for a long time. >> poor mom passed away before she ever saw me hug a girl nicely. [ laughter ] >> looking at you on the screen thinking, "what have i done? this is my little boy doing those terrible things." >> you wanted to go be an actor, now why aren't you playing those jimmy stewart and henry fonda roles now? why are you playing somebody who's never gotten above the mason dixon line, when you've never been below it? [ laughter ] >> didn't quite understand the business. >> it's a whole psychology that i've never. >> did they think when you were becoming an actor the devils workshop? >> i was going to make easy, quick money and it'd be over in a few years. i was in theater, and when i came to hollywood, how people from my section of illinois and hollywood, they were far, far apart. you just didn't understand the whole vernacular. hollywood was almost like a dirty word. like that kenneth anger book, "hollywood babylon". that's all they'd read about. untrue. partially. [ laughter ] >> there's always a little of that in there. >> although, winnetka, we had a few too, in winnetka. >> of course. small towns, don't let them fool ya. >> ann margaret. she's got a history. [ laughter ] >> what do you mean, a small town? >> no, we were on the show one night, together, and she's from the same town as i am. >> oh, that's right. >> she went to the same high school. [ applause ] [ cheers ] >> all these people from the same high school? can't be. >> hey, hey, not only them. hugh o'brien, ralph bellamy, ann margaret, myself -- all from a town of 10,000 people, with no drama school. no drama program. just a lot of unhappy kids. [ laughter ] >> they said, "i want to get out of here". i wanna hear laugh, i wanna -- i wanna be love. >> i want a bigger piece of pie, mom. [ laughter ] >> we'll take a break, we'll be right back. oh, you've got to leave, do you? wait a sec. i didn't know. you have to run and go kiss the girl tonight. >> i'm speaking to about 1100 catholic boys. >> yeah, i am. >> well, congratulations on the picture. the good picture. and i hope you come back soon. >> thank you, johnny. >> thank you, bruce. [ cheers ] [ music ] [ applause ] robert klein. bob's a most inventive and talented comedian. he's currently filming hollywood stuntman, which i believe stars burt reynolds. will you welcome please, robert klein. [ applause ] [ music ] [ applause ] >> oh! [ laughter ] >> they're doing your strange sounds. >> did they take a break recently? >> yes, umm huh. that's kind of a trademark, right? >> ohhhh! [ laughter ] >> wasn't that the theremin? >> that's my theremin impression. i can only do two, fred capossela and the theremin. >> fred capossela, in case you don't know, is the racetrack caller, right? >> good afternoon, racing fans, this is fred capossela. [ laughter ] the track is fast, the day is clear, and i talk funny. [ laughter ] >> remember, old fred. >> good old fred. yes, bless him. now, fred. >> still talking funny. >> his wife brings dinner and calls, "here comes mary with the dinner, i'll want the fruit cocktail first, split pea soup second. roast beef third, mashed potatoes are fourth, apple pie fifth. [ laughter ] >> you can't get out of that. [ laughter ] >> what is that about -- if you listen to race track announcers, generally, when i'm on my way home after a show at night, they always play their results of the race. and they have the guy doing the finish. but the races are over. people have been paid. they've won, or lost, or whatever. i've always wondered why they'd put that on television. on radio? and they call it too. >> it gives a certain excitement. >> they all have a certain tone or inflection. >> that's right. they put a device around their lower abdomen. >> like a fight announcer. who is it? jimmy lemmon? no, jimmy lemmon, the guy who does the announces the fight. "from, wearing the --" and they're always a pugilist, never a fighter. >> pugilist? >> a pugilist, yes. a ten round exhibition >> i guess i do know what a pugilist is. that's an odd word for it. >> how have you been? >> i'm fine. i've been doing this film for five or six weeks and having a wonderful time. >> yeah. >> burt is terrific guy. doesn't take that macho image too seriously. he is a woman, you know. >> i didn't -- you see it's a -- >> i wasn't aware of that. another hollywood revelation, right here. >> you wouldn't know it. the thing about it is these stuntmen are doing this things i don't believe. i was brought up with my parents saying, "be careful, that lamp cord. you know, that kind of thing. where white when you go out at night so the cars can see you." >> don't go swimming half hour after you eat. >> gotta wait an hour. >> that's right. >> although my father told me later that you didn't have to wait an hour. it depended on what you had. he was the arbiter on the beach. "what did you have? tuna salad sandwich? 37 minutes." [ laughter ] 15 minutes. i thought if i went in early, i drowned. there was a fellow, buddy jo hooker, who rappelled down the c & a building, a 20 story glass skyscraper the other day, on a rope. let himself down. there are a lot of stunts in this, and burt and jan michael vincent actually do some dangerous things themselves. i, myself, do all my own stunts. i breathe -- [ laughter ] i walked out of rolls royce, all by myself. >> that's very difficult. >> they have done things that i really -- some of these people have done some things i don't believe. the thing about a stunt man -- they call it a gag. you tell them what you want, "i want you to go at 40 miles per hour on a motorcycle and skid under a moving trailer truck". "alright, that's $750". i don't know how he comes up with the price. [ laughter ] >> do you suppose he figures in bandages, medicine, doctors, and comes up with some figure. >> the guy gets up, he limps, definitely die a natural death. have you ever had that feeling about yourself? i know it's not going to be "comedian robert klein was killed trying to rappel down" -- >> a 20 floor building. >> with me, it'll be measles, something acute. [ laughter ] >> we've had some of the guys on here from time to time, and done some sketches. we had dar robinson on one night. he was one of the guys who was the high fall expert, who goes up on top of a 12, 15 story building, which is -- how many feet to a story? 12? >> yeah, something like that. >> so, you know 150 feet, 140 feet, and does a header into the airbag. on fire. >> we have the guy -- >> while whistling, "that's what i like about the south." i don't understand it. >> we have the guy who holds the world's record. i'm sorry that i don't remember his name. he's a lovely guy. his name is aj something, and he holds the record at 220 feet, i think, at the top of the astrodome. but now, he was about to try it with wind factors, outdoors, from the helicopter. when you land on the bag. [ laughter ] the problem is when you miss the bag". they require some first aid. everybody in the movie said they're going to look the other way. it would be awful, if -- >> there injuries, but -- you think the guys are foolhardy, but they're not. they program these things. >> they're very sensible types. >> yeah, they program them almost scientifically, if the car is going to roll, how many times, and they figure out the charge, and all of the variables. very often, they pull it off. >> it's affected everyone in the movie, though. the drivers, who drive the actors various places -- [ laughter ] hal needham is the director. he's one of the foremost stuntmen. i think he did earn the reputation as the foremost stunt man. he took me to see the daily rushes, what we had shot the day before, at warner brothers, where there's a ten mile speed limit and a lot of speed bumps. and he had one foot on the gas, and one foot going -- and we're going just to see the dailies. goes on in the film itself. plus, there's a new thing. a lot of the stuntmen have kind of image, you know, real masculine. they substitute the expression s.o.b. -- can't say, you know what i'm talking about -- for every noun. so it's, "well, that's a good looking s.o.b. there," [ laughter ] "i did one back there, it was a hard s.o.b." you know. he gave me an actor's direction. in how he wanted me to not be so angry so fast. he said, "can you take the s.o.b. down, just a little bit?" >> i mean, everything -- >> and i understood what he meant. [ laughter ] >> you did no stunts whatsoever? >> i -- no. i -- in the first part, i had to go up in a helicopter, and come down, and the pilot said, "robert, watch my tail, there." there were people running around. it wasn't like an airport. >> but you weren't hanging from the helicopter, or anything? >> no, but my pilot was dressed in shoulder-length hair it's not the way i envision my pilot. i like them kind of square and "hello, this is --" [ laughter ] >> we're going flying, we're going flying -- >> he was chewing gun and -- >> we've got to do a commercial here. we'll be right back after [ applause ] [ applause ] [ music ] >> we're back with robert klein. we have susan sullivan and dr. carl sagan. if i remember correctly, was it the time before last you were here, you burned yourself? you hurt your arm or something. >> yeah. >> and the time before you -- >> a pack of matches -- >> went off in your trousers. yeah. >> on my behind. my butt. and it burned me. i have a couple of very difficult to explain scars. >> there's no way you can move fast enough when something like that happens. it has to be close to the speed of light. >> i did the incineration boogie. ah! [ laughter ] my friends jumping. my arm, i fractured on christmas day, playing tennis. i fell on it and had a radial head fracture here. we were on location for this movie in tuscaloosa, alabama for four days. we blew up 72 acres of buildings. it's the climax of this film, you don't believe. >> they constructed buildings to blow up? >> no, the government owns these buildings. they're used as army barracks and other things. they want to destroy them. it's going to be a shopping center. this film was looking for just that amount of buildings to blow up. with cars, just missing, tremendous smokestacks exploding on them -- that sort of thing. the fascination -- >> it's like george washington slept here. >> oh boy. >> they go out to destroy something just for the -- >> the look on their faces. the satisfaction of the destruction. it's pretty unbelievable. shoot -- you know, there's a lot of -- >> a lot of "shoot" going on. >> a lot of tuscaloosa exuberance. "shoot, i never saw a [ laughter ] we went to the university of alabama, to answer some questions. the questions were like, "what made you choose that kind of car?" they wanna know all that. [ laughter ] the football season dies hard in tuscaloosa. we were there in early february, and they were showing reruns of bear bryant's tv show. [ laughter ] he shows pictures of the boys, and he tells their hometown, and he tells all about them. "he's looking forward to that auburn game, on december 2nd. it's gonna be a good game. here's a linebacker, he's a good ole boy. he's from layton, alabama. he's going to be back two more years. he's just a sophomore." [ laughter ] [ applause ] they have to keep on reminding him to drink the cola. you know, the sponsors. and he's drinking cola, and a couple quick -- [ laughter ] "here's another boy, he's a linebacker. he's a big boy from mobile, he's a junior". we had a company doctor there. his name was dr. bobo. that was his name. >> dr. bobo? >> hope he's listening now, dr. bonbon. good doctor. specializes in-- >> he sounds like a clown. >> he is a clown doctor, johnny. >> i wouldn't want to go to -- >> he caters exclusively to clowns. "let's see your red nose, here." his name is dr. bobo, it's an old french name. bonbon. >> bonbon. he gave me the good news about my radial head fracture. i've got a kind of gimp there. it's not like the other one, is what i'm trying to say. >> you mean, you can't reach as far with this one? >> no, i can't. and he gave me the prognosis. that way. you'll never gonna stay in that thing." [ laughter ] thank you, dr. bobo. live with that. >> maybe i should get a second opinion, dr. booboo, his assistant. he was a wonderful guy. also, this is the only industry that makes a picnic for itself every day. it was so cold in tuscaloosa and we were noses running, 26 degrees, but when lunch comes, five in the morning to shoot, the caterers are so good -- maybe they aren't good, but you don't know the difference. you've been up since 5:30 "nice rat tail, okay." [ laughter ] but we eat. it's one of those make your own lunch things. you know how the temptation is overwhelming, when you go to restaurants and make your own salad, "we'll need some greens. muah! [ laughter ] we'll need some of that, what are they, i don't know." i need some bacon bits. you get the bread". [ laughter ] >> it's like a spree. >> it seems like a spree, and of course, we have a lunch like that. want liver? want corned beef? want salads. every just awful, just eating too much. >> when does this movie come out? >> probably in the summer. i've had such a wonderful time making it. >> it sound like it. >> it's going to be the real thing. not one of those crummy little ones. >> sounds like fun. we're going to do this. susan sullivan will join us, [ applause ] [ music ] susan sullivan is with us tonight. she uh -- i think most people will remember her from her performance in "rich man, poor man", and tonight, she's going to be starring in a new television series called "having babies", which i imagine is fairly self--explanatory. we won't go into it too deeply, because it's still fairly early in the evening. will you please welcome susan sullivan? [ applause ] [ music ] did i tell you that before, when you were on the show? [ whistles ] >> god, that's awful nice. thank you. whoever did that. >> now, you're a women's libber. for women would say that is a male chauvinist put--down, when somebody whistles. i've never understood that. >> i must say, i've never understood it either, and i'm a great supporter of the womens' movement. >> so am i. >> i love to be whistled at. [ whistles ] >> thank you. god love you. you make my mother so happy. >> they wear such lovely clothes. television and womens magazines are full of wonderful clothes, undergarments, they make you more provocative, and they walk out and some guy says, "hey", and they say "what do you think i am?" i don't understand that double -- >> it's really that women want to be appreciated for their minds. when i was a playboy bunny, during that period of time -- talk about being appreciated for your mind -- the club had just opened in new york. they hired a wide variety of girls. they had girls who were there working on their doctorate from columbia. i was in college, and so on. it bothered me so much that people would think i was -- forgive me -- "the dumb bunny," that when i waited tables, anything.