Funkhouser Q&A, part 2
The Curb star and golf lover dishes up some Funksgiving leftovers
Here’s part two of my wonderfully bizarre Thanksgiving-eve Q&A with Bob Einstein, aka Marty Funkhouser, Larry David’s golf buddy on Curb Your Enthusiasm. In part one, the 67-year-old actor (aka accident-prone daredevil Super Dave Osborne) took us behind the scenes of the HBO show. Now, Einstein talks Tiger, breaking 80, Larry David (who guest stars Tuesday on Einstein’s new show on Spike), and his days working with a young Steve Martin.
CONNELL BARRETT: You and Larry are golf buddies. What’s he like?
BOB EINSTEIN: He loves the game. He’s actually a good golfer. A great guy. When he’s not playing well, he hates himself. I’m a 14-handicap. I love golf, for a lot of reasons. It’s a great escape. But I don’t let it kill me, upset me too much. I’m not into betting, playing for money, getting pissed off. I just want to have laughs. And the beauty of golf is unparalleled. I've played Cypress Point. It’s one of the most beautiful places on earth. [Einstein’s new show, Super Dave's Spike-tacular, comes on the restaurant’s wall-mounted TV, minus sound.] It’s starting! This is a great episode, with golf in it. I’m thrilled with the show. When I did Super Dave in the ’70s and ’80s, and I would go on Carson and Letterman, the special effects were limited. But now, you can do almost anything. But it’s better with the g--d----- sound on.
CB: No, this is perfect. We’re watching Super Dave with closed-captioning by Super Dave. It's surreal. Before you came up with that character, back in the '60s, you wrote for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, which was a controversial show. You worked with Steve Martin before he was famous, right?
BE: I was the head writer on Smother Brothers at age 22. Steve was a writer. He was brilliant. But he wasn’t the wild and crazy guy. Not at all. When he first started performing, Vietnam was still going on. The comedy in those days was serious anti-war s---. Then all of a sudden his creative silliness exploded.
CB: The show's material took on Richard Nixon, the war, the establishment.
BE: We were canceled [by CBS in 1969]. And we were hot. We had just beaten Bonanza on Sunday night, and we had all the young people in the world watching. It became a ridiculous political hotbed, and they canceled us. I feel for [co-host] Tommy Smothers, because he gave us our start—Rob Reiner, Steve Martin, myself. And because the show was canceled before its time, three-and-a-half years in, Tommy lost millions. But he did it doing what he believed in: fighting the hierarchy. The censors told him to quiet down, and he didn’t. I think the order to cancel it came from, possibly, the White House. And you know, we were proved right. Vietnam was a fiasco. Today, the show looks so tepid, but we were the show, and we could have been for a long time. That taught me something: It doesn’t matter who are you or how big you are. You can be replaced in a minute. They’ll find someone else. And once you lose it, you can’t get it back.
[A middle-aged woman approaches our table. “Funkhouser! Can I get a picture?” He happily obliges.]
CB: Fans are constantly coming up to you. Does that make you feel good?
BE: [Laughing] Of course it does! What kind of a stupid question is that? What a f----ing question! Does it make me feel good when people tell me they like me? That they like what I do? What a question! No, I hate it! It’s the worst. It gives me testicular cancer. Of course I do!
CB: Well, some celebrities like their privacy.
BE: If anyone likes anything I do, I’m very happy. All I want to do is make people laugh. What a question!
CB: OK, OK. Back to golf. Who do you follow?
BE: I love Phil. Fred Couples. And Tiger! When he doesn’t play in a tournament, it’s missing something. He’s amazing. Everything is perfect in his game. There’s no weakness.
CB: Well…
BE: What? What weakness? Name one!
CB: He’s wild with his driver.
BE: I don’t care! It doesn’t matter. There’s no weakness.
CB: How many majors did he win this year? Zero.
BE: I don’t care. There’s no one like him. He won the U.S. Open by 15 strokes. He destroyed Pebble. I still can’t believe that. [On the TV, Super Dave takes a driver to the groin.] That’s so funny! But you need the sound. It's just not the same.
CB: We don't need sound. Charlie Chaplin. Buster Keaton. Super Dave.
BE: Now you’re being a smart-ass. I can't believe I agreed to this.
CB: We're almost done. What's your best round ever?
BE: Eighty-two. Breaking 80 is so hard. Anyone who breaks 80 is doing something wrong—giving themselves 4-footers, or something. When I shot 82, I get to the last hole, a par-5, and I need par for 79. I hit a good drive. I’m 270 yards out. I take a 5-wood to hit something close to the green, and I hit it into water right. What bull----!
CB: You're 270 out and you pull 5-wood? A club that can't reach the green but can reach the water? You should have hit an iron.
BE: Look, you weren’t there.
CB: I’m just saying if you’re playing it as a three-shot hole, 5-wood from the fairway is not the play.
BE: [Rolls eyes in mock frustration, much like Funkhouser] I don’t need your advice. I made a good swing! It just skirted into the water.
CB: Shoulda hit 7-iron.
BE: [Laughs] Let’s get the check. Golf Magazine’s paying for this, right?
CB: Yeah.
BE: Good. Because I’d hate to have wasted 90 minutes and bought dinner, too.
Posted by: DM3 | Nov 29, 2009 9:38:49 PM
Great interview! Always funny! He sounds like a cool guy to hit the links with!