RESPECT

Did you know that Rodney Dangerfield's real name was Jacob Cohen?

Did you know that Rodney started his comedy career at the age of 15, then quit and found a stable job... then re-entered the world of stand-up comedy at the age of 40?

Did you know that Rodney was the first celebrity to own a Website to promote his endeavors?

Don't let the schtick fool you-- Rodney was one of the most respected comics in the world. His career spanned six decades. Movies, albums, awards... Rodney was an industry unto himself.

I had the opportunity to see the man perform about seven years ago. I used to go to The Laugh Factory on Sunset and record the comics onto DAT tape. For a fee of $50 and a signature from a comedian, I would take the tapes back to the radio network and they would get edited down to one minute, which would be included in the weekly subscription packages that we provided for hundreds of radio stations nationwide.

Every time I went into The Laugh Factory, I saw Rodney's reserved table. If Rodney wasn't there, anyone could sit in it, which was funny enough to make one say "No respect" under their breath. However, when he was in the house, people had to move and give up the booth.

Rodney showed up unannounced one night, and he had been writing material. The club owner gave Rodney his moment to shine, to the simultaneous excitement and chagrin of all the comics on the bill who had to get pushed back half an hour for their sets.

Rodney was 75 at the time, wearing glasses and reading his jokes from a folded up piece of paper kept in his shirt pocket... and he was still funnier than all of the new talent slated to perform later on combined.

When he ran out of jokes, he took questions from the audience. Never have I seen such killer instincts, such impeccable timing, such a command of an audience.

I was driving in my car when a DJ for a classic-rock station told me the news. Then, oddly enough, the next song to play was "Break On Through (To The Other Side)" by The Doors.

I laughed. Was it intentional? Probably not, due to the pre-programmed, computer-automated playlists that rule today's mainstream radio stations. But it made me laugh, because one could say that here we go again-- even in death, Rodney gets "no respect".

Then I realized that Rodney would receive, in death, way more respect than he ever could've imagined in life.

As I thought about this, I noticed something very queer. You see, I'm a rabid Doors fan, and I know all the words to all the songs. I even know the words that were edited out of songs, such as the word "high" in "Break On Through".

"She get high!" was changed, back in the '60s, to the ineffectual "She get!" in order to secure radio play. But this version that was playing had the words reinstated. I was hearing the song the way it was intended to be heard after all of this time.

I was in slight awe. The new version sounded off, so familiar am I with the version that has played for almost four decades. I wondered why they did this-- I mean, in today's chilly FCC-clouded environment, songs like "Jet Airliner" by Steve Miller, "Money" by Pink Floyd, and "Who Are You" by The Who have all had their individual profanities edited out (in order, they are two "shits" and a couple of "fucks") despite years of being played on radio with no complaints.

And here's the late Jim Morrison, getting revenge from beyond the grave.

Gotta respect the dead guys. They were here before us, and they evidently seem to live on well after ordinary schnooks like me and you are long gone.

Times are changing, I suppose. All of my heroes are dead and dying. All the punk icons, the cool actors and hip musicians, the rebels and the poets... they're in short demand right now. When there's only one original Ramone remaining, and Poison still has all of its members... you figure the rest out. It doesn't take a rocket scientist.

The song that played next? Another Doors tune, "Twentieth Century Fox"-- it was a Two-For-Tuesday kind of deal. I laughed at the notion of a song with that title-- what's next, digitally altering the master tracks in order to get Jim Morrison to say "Twenty-first Century Fox"? I'll bet my bottom dollar that Ian Astbury, the singer for the Cult and the Morrison stand-in on the 21st Century Doors' reunion tour, sings it like that on stage.

Now that's disrespect.

R.I.P. Rodney Dangerfield.