Welcome the Counter Culture, a talk show

normally in a diner.

On tonight's show,

I welcome the man

I call the singing comic,

Dennis Blair.

- ♪ I wish I didn't have that sauerkraut ♪

♪ I did a one cheek sneak

♪ And they all passed out.

- The founder of History Making Productions,

Mr Sam Katz.

- When I went deep and did

a dive through the history

of the city, much of what I thought I knew

was not the truth.

- And the comic storyteller, actor and writer

Mark Riccadonna.

Any time something happens to you

and you just go, "Oh, my God, this is horrible.

"I bet there's a joke in there."

All right here on Counter Culture.

Hi, folks, I'm your host,

Grover Silcox, coming to you

from Lehigh Valley Public Media Studio B

while we wait for the go-ahead

to return to our original home at

Daddypops Diner in little old Hatboro, PA.

♪

- ♪ I hate everybody

♪ And it's so much fun.

- One of the first comics I ever met

outside of Philadelphia

happens to be my first guest.

Just thinking about him, as I've said, makes me laugh.

He opened for the late, great comedian George Carlin

for 18 years.

He's a headline performer in his own right,

bringing laughter and merriment

with his song parodies

and comic shenanigans

across the country.

Please welcome hysterically funny Dennis Blair!

Dennis!

- Oh, funny. You got the wrong guy.

I'm so sorry.

Hi, how are you doing? How's everything?

- I'm good.

Are you a song parodist, are you Episcopalian?

I mean, how do you define yourself?

- I'm a song...

I'm a song Lutheran. Let's put it at that.

I don't even know what that means.

Song parodist. Yes. Let's go with that.

That was how I started in the business.

Taking songs that you love,

taking songs that you love the words to

and the lyrics to

and ruining their memories forever by changing them

and making them stupid.

- You actually started out as a serious singer, right?

- Yes, I did.

I was going to be a rock star,

cos look at me.

- I was wondering.

- Rock star and a famous singer songwriter,

kind of like James Taylor,

but without the, back then, heroin addiction,

hopefully.

And that didn't go well.

That didn't come out.

So I got so (BLEEP)

I decided to take people's songs and make fun of them

because I'm mature.

- This is back in your hometown of New York, correct?

- Yes. Back in the... I lived in Manhattan

and auditioned at Dangerfield's,

which I don't know if you've heard, but it's closing.

- I did. A little sad. A little sad note there.

- And I went to an open mic night and auditioned.

And they hired me to be the opening act

for all of their headliners.

And the first week was Jackie Mason.

And the week after that was Rodney Dangerfield.

And it went on from there.

I think the beginning of 1980...

And Rodney's in Caddyshack...

I think made him huge.

And we got along really well. And he liked my show.

And yeah, within three months he was touring the country

with like theaters

and he said, "Hey, you want to come with me?"

I said, "Let me think about it. Yeah.

So, yeah. So, within three months,

I mean, I went from being a guy

playing bars in Long Island

to like opening for the biggest comic in America.

- He was very fatherly.

- Yes, he did.

Yes. He really was.

And he took me under his wing.

And, you know, he... I mean, all the people that I opened,

all the big people that I opened for,

I got huge benefits from

because Rodney's big thing was just get to the joke,

you know, don't...

"Get to the meat, cut away the fat, OK, kid?"

And then later it was Joan Rivers

and Carlin, of course.

How could you watch that guy for one night

and not get something out of...

..not get a lesson in comedy from that guy?

So, yes, all of these people were mentors in a way.

- Was it after Caddyshack that Rodney said,

"Hey, have you got an idea for another movie?"

And you wrote...?

- Yes. - Easy Money, right?

- Yes. Easy Money. We were in his dressing room.

I believe he was putting his pants back on

because he had just gotten... just done a second show.

And I seem to remember he was like bent over,

and went, "Hey, they want to do a movie starring me.

"So if you come up with an idea, let me know."

Now, understand, I'm doing comedy at this point, maybe

- three, four months. - Right.

- And Rodney Dangerfield says,

"If you come up with a movie idea for my next film,

"let me know."

Yeah, I ran home and came up with the idea.

An hour later I ran back to the club, and after his show

I said, "I got an idea for a movie," and came up

with the basic premise for Easy Money.

That's how that happened.

- Joan Rivers...

I've always heard good things about Joan,

like comics really enjoyed playing with her.

but she was kind of a practical joker.

- Here's the thing about Joan that was interesting.

She always used for some reason two opening acts,

not one, but two.

She always had to have two.

But, you know, you get a call in the morning

from Joan, like at 10:00 in the morning waking you up,

going, "We're all going on the boat.

"We're going to Lake Tahoe, we're going on the boat.

"Be downstairs in ten minutes."

And you'd have to get dressed.

So she was that kind of a person,

sort of like an organizer, you know,

like a Scout leader.

She was fun. Those were fun days.

- It sounds like fun.

Then, of course, George Carlin.

- 18 years with Mr Carlin.

It started as a three-month gig and apparently it went

well enough for George at the end of that to say,

"so you wanna stay?"

And I said, "I have nothing planned."

I was visiting you in your dressing room

at one of the casinos down there.

You were opening for George.

And as I was sitting there, George stuck his head in,

I think, two seconds, and said,

"Hi. Don't eat too much on the dessert tray. Bye."

I don't know if he said to you.

- Yeah, George is a man of many words

except in the dressing room, you know.

He saved it all for the stage.

It was an hour and 15 minutes show

and, you know, he was reserving his energy, I guess.

That was George. That's how we met -

in the dressing room for the first time in Omaha, Nebraska.

He comes down, he steals half of my deli tray

from my backstage allotment and says,

"OK, well, nice to meet you. Don't screw up.

"I'm going to be watching you."

And apparently it went well enough.

So they kept me.

- You know, your calling card

has been your song parodies

and people, you know, beg to hear them.

I love your James Taylor.

Could you do a little James Taylor for us?

- Well, the one the big thing I used to do on James Taylor

is I would combine that with radio DJs who would always

talk over the beginning,

and Fire And Rain

had a really long intro.

And the DJ on the radio would talk

all the way through that intro

right up until where James started singing.

So it'd be like...

This is WKBC.

It's going to be 79 degrees today.

And watch out for the traffic.

There's a tie-up on exit 17.

Enjoy your day.

Here's James Taylor. Fire And Rain.

♪ Hope you enjoy it.

♪ Just yesterday morning

♪ They let me know you were gone. ♪

That was the James Taylor bit, that was the big one.

- You do any Springsteen?

- Let's see. Springsteen?

I'm trying to remember.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's weird.

I've haven't worked in, like,

eight months, obviously,

so I'm a little rusty.

Please forgive me.

- You seem...

♪

- ♪ Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack ♪

♪ Well, I rented a car and they got in the back ♪

♪ Wish I didn't have that sauerkraut ♪

♪ I did a one cheek sneak

♪ And they all passed out

♪ Everybody sneaks a silent fart... ♪

Come on!

It's really... My act is

really sophisticated,

just in case you didn't realize that.

Nothing but the most high-brow,

top-of-the-intellect humor.

- I see. Yes.

You know, you're from New York,

but I can now hear,

you know, the one-armed bandits going,

because you live in Nevada now.

- I am a Las Vegas native as of seven years, I believe.

I think it's almost exactly seven years ago we moved here.

Yes. Because I was living in California at the time.

And as soon as my kids grew up and left the nest,

we looked at our property tax bill and said,

"Let's move to Vegas."

And we sold our house in California and moved here.

And before the pandemic, everything was going great.

I was doing... I was still doing the clubs and opening

for people occasionally.

And they would call me in to do, you know,

to fill in for people at the comedy clubs

and to headline there.

And also I started my music career again.

I'm playing with a band on Fridays.

- Right, full circle.

- Back to where I once belonged.

- Is it country music?

- I just finished recording my album.

- Which is?

- Songs From Captivity, appropriately enough.

- Oh, very appropriate. Very appropriate.

Wow. Well, you're a triple threat.

I'm not sure what the third thing is, but I'm sure

you'll come up with it.

- I'm like a... I'm like a half single threat,

I think, is what I am.

- Take care of yourself.

Stay safe, stay funny.

And we'll see you on the road, buddy.

- I'll try. - All right.

- Thank you. Good to see you.

- Yeah, same here. - Bye-bye.

- Dennis Blair.

When you close your eyes and you hear him sing

like Mick Jagger, you'll say,

"Wow, who's that guy singing like Mick Jagger?"

I kid, but I kid you not.

If you get a chance to see him go for it.

You'll thank me later.

My next guest didn't put Philadelphia on the map,

but rather he celebrates its place in history.

He and his talented film-makers have produced

award-winning historical documentaries

on topics such as William Penn's Great Experiment

to the heroism of 19th-century civil rights leader

Octavius Catto.

These stories inspire, inform

and reassure us as Americans

that the Great Experiment started by William Penn

continues even now,

Please welcome Sam Katz to the counter.

Sam, welcome. Good to see you.

- I wish I could crack jokes like your previous guest,

like Dennis, but it's great to be with you, Grover.

Thank you for having me.

- Well, it really is.

And you have really played

such an important role

in your hometown of Philadelphia. Mine as well.

I know you're a Central High School graduate.

I should have one of your old campaign buttons.

You ran for mayor in 1999 and 2003.

- I have several thousand of them in the basement.

I can send you one. I'd be happy to.

- That's great.

Well, you obviously take pride in your native city, as I do.

Part of that, of course, is the history.

I mean, it is called the Cradle of Liberty for a reason.

- (WOMAN) Ideas can get a foothold here.

They can flower.

- (MAN) Philadelphia was

the workshop of the world.

- GLOVER: Your documentaries,

I mean, the team you have are so talented

and you see it, you know, right on the screen.

- SAM: I wanted to acquire an audience

and recognized that entertaining the audience

was as important as informing them.

- Tell me how you started History Making Productions

in 2008, I believe.

- Well, after accomplishing my perfect record in politics

over four,

I decided that perhaps

taking on a job

in which no-one was going

to produce 30-second advertisements to stop me

might be a good new strategy.

And I had long made comments

or speeches or whatever

about the history of Philadelphia

or Philadelphia things

only to discover that when I went deep

and did a dive through the history of the city,

much of what I thought I knew was not, in fact, the truth.

And of course, that's what history is - an opportunity

for all of us to take a look at, to find out

what really happened.

History is more fun

when it's the truth as opposed

to when it's mythology.

There's a lot of wonderful things about William Penn,

and we've put him on a pedestal and stuck him

on the top of City Hall.

- Literally.

- No city in America has done that.

And... But there's more to it.

He owned slaves. Quakers owned slaves.

He set aside thousands of acres of property

for himself and his family.

He needed to sell land

in order to monetize the debt

the King of England had to his father.

And after his stay, Pennsylvania, Quakers

and his children turned very vicious and violent

against the Native American Lenape who were here.

Those are not stories I learned in high school

and grade school.

And I think telling people

the true stories or at least

the interpretation that we've made

really gives people

some balance and perspective

and also entertains them.

- The re-enactors

and the way you film them,

again, setting the scene,

showing what life was like

is really artfully done.

- Our director is a guy named Andrew Ferrett,

Bucks County born,

and has been with me for eight years.

So he's 35 years old today.

When he first started, he was probably not the same director

he is today, and on a set or location,

his ability to get out of re-enactors...

They're not actors, they're not being voice recorded,

not engaging in script.

They may look like they're talking,

and they are, but we're not recording it.

But his ability to capture the mood and to make you feel

as an audience that you're there,

I think has really added a lot to the watchability

and digestibility of these stories.

- Right.

And touching on so many important issues

that continue

to resonate, continue to be challenging,

like Sisters In Freedom.

- This is our home.

We're not leaving.

- Sisters In Freedom is a very, very important story

for Philadelphia,

because a group of women,

Lucretia Mott being the name

most people might recognize,

but the Grimke sisters from South Carolina

and the Forten sisters.

It was an amalgamation of African-American

and white women denied access to the Anti Slavery Society

because they were women, and they formed

the Philadelphia Female Anti Slavery Society,

built their own building,

and within three days of opening,

it was burned down by a mob, angry not just because

they were against slavery,

which would surprise people in Philadelphia,

but also because they were comingling black and white.

And this was considered to be just off the charts

in terms of socially unacceptable.

And the violence perpetrated against these women

was rather startling.

So, you know, we think about the City of brotherly love...

We've had moments of less than brotherly love.

So the nature of our films is pretty fast paced,

very character driven.

We tell some wonderful stories.

We only have a limited amount of time to do it.

We make decisions about whose stories we want to tell,

and we want to make sure that we diversify those stories

so we can acquire an audience across a broad cross-section.

One way we could acquire an audience was to train

teachers and provide them with the educational resources

to make this material usable in a classroom

and to let kids see the wonder of discovery of history.

- Right.

- And we've tried to make sure

that we tell stories in a way

that people can digest them and appreciate them.

And based on the audience reaction, the Nielsen ratings

and all the awards, it certainly has been fulfilling.

- Right. They have been...

They have been shown on broadcast television

and also, of course, are always available online.

- They have been on 6 ABC in Philadelphia,

which is the dominant station in our market.

They take Wheel Of Fortune off, which oftentimes causes

the operator at the station

to get a lot of angry phone calls.

"Where is Wheel?"

And we think that

we have about 90 seconds

before we would lose an audience

if the first 90 seconds of each episode didn't grab them.

We got a lot of philanthropic support

in Greater Philadelphia to produce these films.

But the history of Philadelphia is not

the history of America.

It's its own history.

The 19th century is so fascinating

and so much of what Philadelphia is today

was laid out in the 19th century.

And, you know, even the story of Society Hill...

- Right.

- A source of great pride

for Philadelphians

about what it looks like and how beautiful it is

and how livable it is.

But it was once a neighborhood that other people lived in

and they were pushed out in order to make room

for the residents of Society Hill.

Good thing - yes. Bad thing - also.

And so there's a lot to... There are two sides

to every story and we try to cover both.

- And the other thing that I think

sets your documentaries apart -

there are quite a few things -

but the music.

That music is powerful.

- Music and sound mixing help to create and support

the emotion and the storytelling.

And may I tell you, we're about to have an event

on December 16th,

a virtual event to which everyone in your audience

is invited,

where we will be presenting our latest film,

Beethoven In Beijing,

which is also a musical story,

about the rise of classical music in China

and the role that the Philadelphia Orchestra

has played in that rise,

commencing in 1973,

when many in your audience will remember

that Richard Nixon reopened diplomatic relations

and sent the Philadelphia Orchestra

to China, led by Eugene Ormandy.

2020 is the year in which Ludwig van Beethoven's birth

will celebrate its 255th anniversary.

And December 16th is his birthday.

- Wow, perfect timing.

- Ludwig250.com.

- Well, you know, we could go on for hours talking

about your documentaries

and how important they are,

not only to Philadelphians,

but to the whole nation,

because what happened in Philadelphia

and in some of the other areas

that you cover

affected everybody and continues to impact all of us.

And thanks for joining us, Sam.

We really appreciate it.

- Grover, thank you for having me.

And thank you for the nice comments.

And I urge your audience to get to Ludwig250.com

and join us on December 16th

for Ludwig van Beethoven's 250th birthday party.

- You got it. You got it.

Sam Katz, a man who has made history

with his History Making Productions.

- We have dog people in the crowd,

dog people!

Yes.

Oh, I wanted a man dog,

the kind of dog I could take out to the park,

do man stuff with.

I got a shih-tzu.

Named Gizmo.

But he's from the Bronx, so he got street cred.

Right?

- If you're a veteran who served in the States

or overseas, you might recognize my next guest.

He's a stand-up comic and storyteller

who has entertained America's troops worldwide.

He's sort of the modern-day Bob Hope.

He left home in Youngstown, Ohio,

bound for New York City

and the chance to become a professional comedian.

Since then, he's been seen

on AXS TV's Live At Gotham Comedy Club.

He's a contributing writer for Weekend Update on SNL.

And he's got a new book coming out called Domestic Nomad.

It's a pleasure to welcome Mark Riccadonna to the counter.

Hi, Mark. How are you?

- How are you? - Good.

I was bummed that we didn't get to go to a diner

and have coffee, so I came to the only thing open,

which was a brewery.

And I'm having a coffee stout.

I am. And it's really good.

- I can imagine! Unfortunately, this isn't

quite as potent as what you're drinking.

Oh, boy. Well, I'm surprised we caught you,

although I don't know how much anyone is doing

at this particular time.

But I know you've been to

how many different

armed services entertainment shows?

- So I've done 22 tours overseas

with Armed Forces Entertainment in the US.

It changes your outlook on life

when you see people who give up so much, you know,

to help defend our country

and I have nothing but respect.

And you show up and they treat you so well

and they can't stop thanking you for coming.

And it's like, "I'm only going to be here for one night

"telling jokes. You're here for a year

"fighting in a war or, you know, defending

"our country, being attacked."

Like, you really realize

that we have a...

..I guess you call them a warrior class

that just is so amazing.

And I can't give enough.

I wish I could do it all year round.

And it's funny you had Sam on.

And he and he was talking about the re-enactors.

I actually saw re-enactors down south

re-enacting the Civil War.

And I saw... The comic and we wanted to come out

and run out and be like, "wait, I'm from the future.

"I know how this ends!"

Angie you and I are having our second child.

Thank you.

I got to be honest with you guys, I feel really weird

saying "our second child",

because I really didn't do that much.

- I saw a video of you at Gotham City Comedy Club

in New York City.

I guess it was hosted by Elayne Boosler,

a very funny comic.

- She's a complete legend.

We had such a great bond overseas.

We went over to the Middle East together.

I actually wasn't booked on the show

for the Live At Gotham.

And somebody canceled.

And Elayne was like, "Please give my friend Mark a shot."

And that's what got me on the show.

I feel like I'm so lucky.

I've had such great encounters with people

I've looked up to my whole life like, you know,

Elayne Boosler, Paul Provenza,

Rick Overton, these people that I looked up to

and thought, "Oh, my God, they're like gods."

And next thing I know, I'm hanging out.

I have always been like the kid. You know, they always...

I started so young.

Everybody referred to me as the kid.

But, you know, I'm in my late 30s and not the kid any more.

- It wasn't something you were thinking of

from the day you were born that you were going

to be a stand-up comic?

- No, I actually...

I love sports. I was a big jock.

I loved football and wrestling.

And when I graduated,

I really didn't have a plan.

I moved to New York.

- You were only 17, right?

- Yeah.

And I just fell in love

with New York, the theater.

I wasn't well versed in any kind of theater

or anything like that.

And I felt like I did a lot of catch-up, you know,

and it was a lot of work.

But I loved it...

- You went... - I started doing...

- American Academy of Performing Arts,

which is one of the primo schools for actors.

- I fell in love with theater

and I started waiting tables at a comedy club.

All I did all day, no matter what I was doing,

was thinking, "Could I do comedy while I do this?"

And I was getting in theater,

I was doing plays.

And I would think, like, "If I get cast in this,

"will I still be able to get up at night and do comedy?"

And it took over my life.

And I hit a point where

I realized I think I could actually make a run at this

and really do it for a living.

The rush of... This was stuff I wrote,

I then produced on stage and I acted it out

and now it's being in front of an audience that quickly...

It wasn't months of rehearsal,

and so I got this quick fix and I thought,

"Oh, my God, everything's amazing, I'm going to do this."

And then I bombed for like six months.

Because I didn't have the excitement

that I did my first time.

And I realized I actually have to write good stuff.

- Yeah.

- Energy and happy and excitement

isn't going to fly any more.

- Yeah. You have to work...

- Yeah. And it's a lot of work

and a lot of people think

the life of a comic is pretty easy.

You can wake up whenever you want and you can do

whatever and you just have to go up and be funny.

But they don't know the amount of time you sit

and have to write, the amount of time you have to call clubs

to get bookings.

So you're putting in hours and hours and hours

to make it look really easy and seamless and...

- Exactly. Yeah, exactly.

Now, how did you wend your way

into a gig with Saturday Night Live

writing for Weekend Update?

- So I was super fortunate.

I had a really good friend

who was asked to write for one of the news guys,

and he brought me on with him.

His name's Kevin Brennan.

He's an amazing comedian.

And he brought me and another guy, Stan Stankos, on.

And we got to what's called contributing.

You're not on staff, but you get the right.

And I had a couple of jokes make it there.

And that feeling is just amazing

to see something that you wrote

make it on television,

that it was good enough for the person,

the anchor, to read

and then for an audience to think it was funny enough

to make it to the show was just... It was as good

as being on stage and doing a joke.

- Can you give us a little taste of some of the things

that you cover and your routine?

- Yeah, I mean, so I am married

and I have two kids

and I absolutely adore my kids.

My older one, he's a spitting image of me,

like, you know, he's got the big poufy hair and a beard.

And then my younger one,

he's just like my wife, you know?

Mean.

And... - Make sure...

My wife's a Philly girl, She's tough.

- Yeah, she's from Philly.

- We moved down here when we had kids.

We wanted to be close to family.

- Right. - My family's in Ohio.

Hers is in Philly.

So Philly was the natural spot

because it's so close to New York

and it's busy in its own right.

It's a wonderful city for comedy.

Another thing is that the pandemic, you know,

we got out of New York in time.

We moved out before it got cool to move out of New York.

And...

The pandemic was a lot like Thanksgiving, you know,

because all I did is like eat, drink, watch TV

and fall asleep.

You know, it was just like...

Thanksgiving is my favorite time of year.

You know, Thanksgiving's that one time of year -

you get your whole family under one roof and realize

why you moved out.

- Yeah, right.

What we do with our family

and marriage and kids and parenting, I mean,

that gives us material.

That's the great thing about being a comedian.

- Any time something happens to you and you just go,

"Oh, my God, this is horrible.

"I bet there's a joke in it."

- Yeah. Yeah.

Well, Mark, I want to thank you for joining us tonight.

Thanks so much.

- Thanks so much.

And we'll have to be in touch,

if you're in Hatboro.

- There you go.

I'll be standing out in front of the diner.

Take care, my friend.

Mark Riccadonna, a comic who makes each person

in his audience feel like they've known him

their whole lives.

Well, that's it for this episode of Counter Culture.

I want to thank my guests...

Ty buddy the hilarious comic songster and parody master,

Dennis Blair.

The founder of the award-winning

History Making Productions, Sam Katz.

And the hilarious comic writer and performer Mark Riccadonna.

And thank you for joining us tonight.

Don't forget to stop by next week for more amazing guests

and terrific conversation

right here at the counter.