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By Martin Chaddock
On one of my many Thursdays at the World Famous Comedy Store
in 2001 I had one of the oddest experiences in my life with a
well known comic who will remain anonymous. This comic however
is known for selling out arenas in his prime and remains a legend
in the world of comedy. Some love him, some like him, some are
fucking repulsed by him, me, I love him even know he is a first
class mystery.
The story goes like this...
I moved in a
building in the Hollywood Hills area of Los Angeles which
is nestled at the foothills of Runyon Canyon. I had moved
to Hollywood to pursue my dream of being a stand up comedian
and some wound up residing in a building that at one time
housed many legends of comedy including the well known
comic I speak of.
After being a patron at the Comedy Store
every Thursday night throughout 2000 and 2001 studying
every comedian to hit the stage I had finally met the legend
I speak of. Ironically he was very courteous to me which
was unusual being an outsider and after many long conversations,
I came to find out that he not only resided in the building
I resided in, but he resided there as fame approached him.
It turns out that he was also a patron of my father’s
old restaurant in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn
and remembered it vividly and we had also had similar connections
in Miami Beach. After awhile, I was one of the few non
paid performers of the Comedy Store that was allowed to
park in the back parking lot of the Comedy Store on some
nights and at that time I had a beautiful Chrysler Sebring
Convertible which I rarely put the top up. |
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One night when I was parked in the back
of the “Store” I
was hanging out with some friends near my car and legend I speak
comes up to me to shoot the shit and all of a sudden two middle
aged women who were heavily intoxicated and said they were in
town from Australia recognized him and were all over him. He
was like, Martin, take a picture. Now keep in mind back then
digital cameras weren’t around much and the camera the
ladies provided me to take the picture was not digital. The rule
was…when you take a picture, you take it from the neck
down! That way when they go back home to Australia and you brag
to your friends that you met this celebrity and when you get
the picture developed, it’s from the neck down! I am sorry,
but I loved doing this. In fact I did it to someone who was rude
to me at my 20 year high school reunion.
Anyway, back to my story...
After photos were taken with the ladies,
he asked them to dance on the pole that was in the back of
the “Store” that
held up the building. The women, literally climbed on a half
wall and started spinning on the pole. He than asked me to go
to my car and crank up the stereo to give it some atmosphere..
Than he kicked it up a notch….The barmaid at the store
came out pretending to be his wife and told him to stop the music
and to get back inside… He said to her…”I’ll
come in side when I am good and ready, don’t make me smack
you around again”. Now for all of us that know him and
were there, we were all cracking up. The ladies kept spinning
on the pole and dancing around and than he said… I’ll
be right back. He gets in his car, drives off and leaves me with
them.
I see him a week later and he says to
me…Man,
that was a lot of fun the other night!
Long Island born Martin Chaddock has been writing and performing
stand up comedy for over 16 years. He has performed in venues
from New York to Los Angeles and produced several successful
comedy & music events. He was most recently directed by actor
Frank Vincent in a comedy short that was based on Mr. Vincent’s
character “Billy Batts” from the Academy Award winning
film “Goodfellas”. He resides in New York City
where he performs on a regular basis
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