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A Centennial Salute To Johnny Mercer

Johnny Mercer is the man behind the lyrics of some of the most popular American songs of the century. Mercer wrote or co-wrote over 1,000 songs, ranging from classics like "Skylark" and "That Old Black Magic" to the impish fanfare of "Hooray For Hollywood." Pianist and composer David Frishberg and singer Rebecca Kilgore are generally jazz musicians by trade, but they have a soft spot for Mercer.

14:12

Other segments from the episode on January 1, 2010

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, January 1, 2010: Interview with Ted Danson; Commentary on Johnny Mercer.

Transcript

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A 'Cheers' To The Career Of Ted Danson

DAVID BIANCULLI, host:

This is FRESH AIR. I'm David Bianculli of TVworthwatching.com, sitting
in for Terry Gross. Happy New Year.

This week, we've been listening back to some of our memorable interviews
from 2009. Today, we feature our conversation with actor Ted Danson,
recorded in September.

In case you haven't noticed, he's been doing some really interesting
work on television lately, playing characters very different from the
shallow and vain bartender Sam Malone on the sitcom "Cheers."

On the FX series "Damages," he's played a corrupt billionaire CEO. On
Larry David's HBO series "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Ted Danson and his wife
Mary Steenburgen play versions of themselves, friends of Larry David.
And Danson co-stars in the new series "Bored to Death," which just
concluded its first season on HBO. It was created by writer Jonathan
Ames. The series stars Jason Schwartzman as a writer named Jonathan Ames
who's stuck.

He's not getting anywhere with his writing, and his girlfriend has just
walked out on him, accusing him of drinking too much and smoking too
much marijuana. So he tries to emulate the life of the hard-broiled
detectives in his favorite novels. He puts an ad on Craigslist, offering
his services as an unlicensed private detective, and he starts getting
responses.

Ted Danson plays his boss, a powerful magazine editor named George
Christopher. In this scene from the first episode, they're at a gallery
opening when George asks Jonathan if he has any pot. He does, and so
they go into the men's room. George is surprised to see that Jonathan is
carrying his marijuana in a prescription pill bottle.

(Soundbite of TV show, "Bored to Death")

Mr. TED DANSON (Actor): (As George Christopher) This is my Viagra
bottle. What are you doing with marijuana in my Viagra bottle?

Mr. JASON SCHWARTZMAN (Actor): (As Jonathan Ames) You gave me that
bottle months ago. There were two pills left in it. You told me I should
try them. Now I'm putting my pot in it.

Mr. DANSON: (As George) Are you insane? What if you got arrested for
marijuana possession? Page 6 would have a field day. I can't have -
hello? Hello? I can't have the world knowing that I use Viagra.

Mr. SCHWARTZMAN: (As Jonathan) Do you really need to take so much?

Mr. DANSON: (As George) Yes, as a matter of fact I do. My heart medicine
and heavy drinking have taken a toll. I'm not what I once was, but I
accept that. It's called humility.

Mr. SCHWARTZMAN: (As Jonathan) Then why are you back on pot?

Mr. DANSON: (As George) Because I'm bored. God, I'm bored. Death by a
thousand dull conversations. I don't know what's going on, but almost
everybody has bad wine breath tonight. It's like Chernobyl out there.

Mr. SCHWARTZMAN: (As Jonathan) Do you think we drink too much?

Mr. DANSON: (As George) No, no, we don't drink too much. Men face
reality, women don't. That's why men need to drink.

Mr. SCHWARTZMAN: (As Jonathan) That's a line from my novel.

Mr. DANSON: (As George) Yeah, well, you stole it from me.

Mr. SCHWARTZMAN: (As Jonathan) No, I didn't.

Mr. DANSON: (As George) Yeah, actually, you did.

Mr. SCHWARTZMAN: (As Jonathan) Actually, no, I didn't.

Mr. DANSON: (As George) Fine, Jonathan.

Mr. SCHWARTZMAN: (As Jonathan) Anyway, Suzanne moved out today because
she says I drink too much.

Mr. DANSON: (As George) Oh, I'm not surprised.

Mr. SCHWARTZMAN: (As Jonathan) Why do you say that?

Mr. DANSON: (As George) Because you're like me, Jonathan. We enthrall,
and then we disappoint.

TERRY GROSS, host:

Ted Danson, welcome to FRESH AIR.

Mr. DANSON: That's a great line. I love that. We enthrall, and then we
disappoint.

GROSS: Yeah. So Jonathan Ames created this series, "Bored to Death."
What did he tell you about who he based your character on?

Mr. DANSON: I don't know that he said that he based it on anyone
specific. It was a very small character in the beginning, and then when
I came on board, they decided to make it bigger.

For me, it's - I kind of drew on my father's day, if not directly my
father, that old-world gentleman - you know, very bright, well-spoken,
kind of old-world-style person who always wears a tie.

GROSS: It's funny that you say you wanted to base a character on your
father's kind of old-school ways, old-world ways, but this is a
character who, like, smokes marijuana and, you know, drinks too much,
and I mean, that's - your father wouldn't have been doing that, I don't
think?

Mr. DANSON: No.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. DANSON: No, no, he wasn't, but you know, there's the one side of him
that is - he's very bright, very intelligent. He's the editor and
publisher of a, you know, well-respected magazine. He rubs shoulders
with, you know, very intelligent, bright, literary people in New York.
So he is - he can play that game.

And then there's part of him that hasn't quite grown up and has had too
many marriages, too many parties, and what he - I think what he really
wants in life is to not be left out by youth. Let me do whatever Jason
Schwartzman's character is doing. Let me - please don't leave me out.
Are you smoking marijuana? Then I want some. Are you having a colonic?
Oh, I want a colonic.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. DANSON: You know, it's whatever Jason is doing, please don't leave
me out. I want to still be excited by life. So take me with you.

GROSS: You're getting to play much more varied characters than you did
when you were younger and famous, originally, because people got so used
to you as Sam Malone, the bartender on "Cheers," who was the opposite of
intellectual, and the power that he had was, like, the power in the bar,
but now you're playing people who have, like, you know, real power, who
are kind of successful and also often, like, self-delusional and
sometimes with a little bit of an evil streak.

And it's been really fun for me as a viewer to discover that side of you
as an actor.

Mr. DANSON: Fun for me, too. I have to admit, I think part of me thought
I'd stayed at the half-hour-comedy dance a bit too long, and I think
part of me was going, wow, I'm not as funny as these other people who
are coming up, and I was kind of boring myself in a way. Then "Damages"
came along and really kind of turned things around for me.

GROSS: Well, you mentioned "Damages," so this is a perfect opportunity
to play a scene from it, and "Damages" is an FX series starring Glenn
Close as a lawyer, and in this you play Arthur Frobisher, a billionaire
CEO who cashed in his stocks, and then the company went under, leaving
the employees without jobs or pensions.

So they hired a lawyer, the Glenn Close character, to file a class
action suit against you. You really want to save your reputation. So one
of the things you have done is get a writer to write a book about you,
but the writer has his own idea, and you know, he wants to do some
investigation, find out who you really are, what you've really done in
your life, some of the bad things you've done in your life.

You see this book as an opportunity to just, like, burnish your
reputation and talk about, like, your ladder to success and overcoming
the odds. So you show up, very inappropriately, at midnight,
unannounced, at the writer's house.

Mr. DANSON: And slightly drunk.

GROSS: Slightly drunk, with a whole box of, like, your trophies and your
ribbons and memorabilia that's designed to show him what each of these
things represent in your life and what you had to go through to achieve
the success that each of these objects represent. So here's the scene.

(Soundbite of TV show, "Damages")

Mr. DANSON: (As Arthur Frobisher) Now see, look. This stuff, all - this
is my integrity. Here, look, look. Oh, yeah.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. DANSON: (As Frobisher) Third prize, middle school spelling bee.

Mr. PETER RIEGERT (Actor): (As George Moore) Great.

Mr. DANSON: (As Frobisher) No, I'm dyslexic. Remember I told you that?
So that's determination. Here, look, look. Yeah, all right, varsity.
This is interesting. Varsity. That's the first time I realized that I
was a natural leader.

Mr. RIEGERT: (As Moore) Yeah, you know, all the stuff that you're giving
me is great, but this book…

Mr. DANSON: (As Frobisher) All right, look, look, look. Here, come here.
This shirt, right? The shirt you're wearing, you own other shirts,
right? So you know, if I come along and say, you know, define you as the
guy who wears this shirt, I'd be wrong, right? Because you're not just
one thing. See, that's what I'm trying to say. You're not just one
thing. Hey, I told you, right, that I started off dirt poor?

Mr. RIEGERT: (As Moore) You told me yesterday about that.

Mr. DANSON: (As Frobisher) Well, why don't you write - hey, listen, 17.
I came this close to joining the Army.

Mr. RIEGERT: (As Moore) Look, look, Mr. Frobisher. I haven't seen Indira
for two weeks. She's just been traveling, understand, and this is our
night together. So we'll just cut it short.

Mr. DANSON: (As Frobisher) All right, let's back up here. Tell me about
your book.

Mr. RIEGERT: (As Moore) My novel?

Mr. DANSON: (As Frobisher) Sorry, your novel.

Mr. RIEGERT: (As Moore) It's hard to describe.

Mr. DANSON: (As Frobisher) Just tell me what it's about, will you?

Mr. RIEGERT: (As Moore) On the face of it, it's a love story. It's about
nostalgia and how that affects our core relationships.

Mr. DANSON: (As Frobisher) Jesus, George, I mean, that sounds like crap.
Are you kidding me? Look what you're doing here. I mean, you're living
on - you're sleeping on a futon. Come on, you know, of course you're
writing about my life. You don't have one, you know? And you're (bleep)
immigrant because, what, you appreciate their culture?

Mr. RIEGERT: (As Moore) Excuse me?

Mr. DANSON: (As Frobisher) The truth is, you're just trying to feel
superior. Try running a $40 billion industry. See how that makes you
feel.

Mr. RIEGERT: (As Moore) Get out.

Mr. DANSON: (As Frobisher) Yeah, try managing 11,000 employees.

Mr. RIEGERT: (As Moore) Just leave.

Mr. DANSON: (As Frobisher) You want to know why they're suing me, you
invisible piece of (bleep)? Because I'm worth it.

Mr. RIEGERT: (As Moore) I hope that you lose everything.

Mr. DANSON: (As Frobisher) Now, you be careful.

Mr. RIEGERT: (As Moore) Because you are an arrogant (bleep).

(Soundbite of scream)

Mr. DANSON: (As Frobisher) Hey, guess what? You're fired.

GROSS: And that punch was the sound of the Ted Danson character hitting
the ghost writer really hard, maybe breaking his nose. That's such a
great scene…

Mr. DANSON: With my little toy car.

(Soundbite of laughter)

GROSS: That's right. I love the way you play that scene. There's a lot
of words that you only, like, half-say, and it's almost like - it was
partly because you're drunk, but it's partly because like time is -
you're so important, and you have so little time, you don't even have to
say the whole word, you know…

(Soundbite of laughter)

GROSS: You've said that you worked with an acting coach before doing
"Damages," and I guess I'm wondering why. You've acted for decades. Why
did you feel the need to do that?

Mr. DANSON: I did work with an acting coach right beforehand. His name's
Harold Guskin(ph), and he's worked with a lot of people. Glenn Close
actually has worked with him, James Gandolfini, and the producers, Glenn
and the writers, Glenn and Todd Kessler, knew him for years and actually
pulled me aside about two days before we started shooting the pilot and
said we'd love you to go see our acting coach, and it was like, uh-oh,
you know, they hate my work. They want me to do some, you know,
something that they don't think I'm capable of.

But it was fantastic because what he told me was - we just talked, you
know, read the scene once and kind of talked about it, and what he said
to me was actually kind of exciting for me just as an actor because I
had been doing comedy, half-hour, for so long, which has this rhythm to
it.

It's almost like doing a musical. There is a rhythm you need to adhere
to. It was very nice to come and do this drama, and what he said to me
was, you know, don't - you have four lines you're about to do. You have
a paragraph in the script. Well, maybe you're going to say one line.
Maybe you'll say two. Maybe you won't feel like saying the other lines,
and maybe you won't.

You're Arthur Frobisher. You'll do what you want when you want, and if
you don't feel like, you know, don't be the nice actor. Don't give them
what you want. Do whatever you want. And he instilled this kind of
creative arrogance in me that was the same arrogance of the character,
the billionaire who doesn't really have to answer to anyone and can do
whatever he wants because people love him because he's a billionaire.

BIANCULLI: Ted Danson, speaking to Terry Gross last September. More
after a break; this is FRESH AIR.

(Soundbite of music)

BIANCULLI: Let's get back to Terry's interview, recorded in September,
with actor Ted Danson, whose TV career was launched with the hit sitcom
"Cheers."

GROSS: On HBO, on the Larry David series, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," you've
played yourself, Ted Danson. And your wife, Mary Steenburgen, plays your
wife and plays herself. So when you started on "Curb Your Enthusiasm,"
how did you figure out who the "Curb" version of Ted Danson was going to
be?

Mr. DANSON: You know, it's probably the same way that I figure out all
parts. I'm very bad at doing homework. I have to - I can't look at a
suit on a rack and go ooh, I'd like that suit. I have to try it on. So I
try on words. I read the board. If it's a well-thought-out, very
creative writer, you know, that you respect, then you try on the words,
and you go, you know, when I say these words, it makes me feel this way,
or I feel like doing this.

I think it's the same thing, even though you're playing yourself, you
go, all right, what is my function here? My function is to be a foil for
Larry David. My function is to set up road blocks or do something that
heighten what he's really funny - you know, funny at. So it becomes -
you shape yourself. Even though you're name's Ted Danson, and you're
married to Mary Steenburgen, but the truth is you are trying to do
what's best in each scene to highlight Larry, which is why I hate Larry.
I don't really like him. I'm tired of highlighting Larry.

(Soundbite of laughter)

GROSS: Are you…?

Mr. DANSON: I'm glad you laughed because he's one of our best friends,
and we, you know, see him all the time socially, and he's lived in our
guest house for two summers in a row. Mary calls him Larry the Lodger.
He just won't leave.

(Soundbite of laughter)

GROSS: So is this why you're in the series, because you're already
friends?

Mr. DANSON: Yeah, probably.

GROSS: So are there scenes in episodes of "Curb" that actually came out
of your life or came out of your real relationship with Larry David?

Mr. DANSON: Not necessarily, although when you go out to dinner with
him, it's way scarier than acting with him because he's always pulling
out his notebook; or you don't know whether or not he's doing a scene in
a restaurant and being a little louder than he should be because he's
practicing something for next week or whether this is truly Larry. It's
a very scary kind of proposition, hanging out with Larry David.

GROSS: I can imagine it would be a little embarrassing when he's talking
too loud or doing something inappropriate, and you don't know whether
he's testing a performance or just being weird.

Mr. DANSON: Oh yeah, we've sat in a restaurant, a very sweet, quiet inn,
you know, New England inn with a lot of people with kind of blue-gray
hair. And he came in late, and his back was to the entire restaurant,
but we were looking at the entire restaurant over his shoulder, and he
was whispering this story in a kind of stage whisper that had the F-word
in it a lot. And he basically cleared the restaurant. And then as he's
walking out, he went: Nice restaurant. A little too quiet for a Jew, but
it's a nice restaurant - and he walked out.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. DANSON: And it was like - you kind of had to walk in his wake, going
sorry, sorry, sorry, you know, it's Larry, sorry.

GROSS: That sounds so much like it should be on "Curb" and maybe will
be.

Mr. DANSON: It is, yeah, and will be, right.

GROSS: I want to play a scene from "Curb Your Enthusiasm," and this is
an episode in which you and your wife, Mary Steenburgen, have invited
Larry David and his wife to a party, and he doesn't like parties. He
doesn't want to go, so…

Mr. DANSON: This is real.

GROSS: This is real? Oh great, great, great.

Mr. DANSON: This is totally real. This summer, he would not go to
people's homes for dinner. I'll go to a restaurant because then I can
leave when I want, but at a home, I'm stuck. I don't want to come. And
he made this a rule of thumb. Anyway, please go on.

GROSS: Okay, okay, so in this scene, he doesn't want to go to your
party. So he comes up with his scheme. He'll pretend he thought your
party was really the next day. So the day after the party, he shows up
at your door, and you know, saying okay, we're here for the party. And
he expects that you'll say oh, it was last night, and then he can just
go home, but that's not what happens. So here's the scene.

(Soundbite of television program, "Curb Your Enthusiasm")

Mr. DANSON: (As himself) Hey.

Ms. CHERYL HINES: (As Cheryl David) Hey.

Mr. DANSON: (As himself) What you guys doing?

Mr. LARRY DAVID: (As himself) What's going on?

Mr. DANSON: (As himself) What do you mean?

Mr. DAVID: (As himself) Where's everybody?

Ms. HINES: (As Cheryl) We thought there was a party.

Mr. DANSON: (As himself) Oh my God, you thought the party was tonight?

Ms. HINES: (As Cheryl) Yeah.

Mr. DANSON: (As himself) Last night. The party was last night.

Mr. DAVID: (As himself) Are you kidding me?

Mr. DANSON: (As himself) No, man. I can't believe it.

Mr. DAVID: (As himself) It's unbelievable. What? We got the wrong night?

Mr. DANSON: (As himself) Yeah, you did. I'm actually glad to hear this.
I was a little pissed off that you didn't call.

Mr. DAVID: (As himself) Well, now you know why we didn't call.

Mr. DANSON: (As himself) Mary.

Mr. DAVID: (As himself) Of course we didn't call because we're coming
tonight.

Mr. DANSON: (As himself) Come on in.

Mr. DAVID: (As himself) Oh no, no, no, we're not going to come in.

Ms. HINES: (As Cheryl) No, we got the wrong night. It's our fault.

Mr. DANSON: (As himself) It doesn't matter.

Ms. HINES: (As Cheryl) Hey, Mary.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Ms. MARY STEENBURGEN: (As herself) You're kidding.

Mr. DAVID: (As himself) Can you believe how stupid we are?

Ms. HINES: (As Cheryl) All right. It's good to see you guys. We'll call
you later.

Ms. STEENBURGEN: (As herself) No way you're leaving. This is fantastic.
We have so much leftover food. You're going to come in and help us eat
it.

Mr. DAVID: (As himself) No, you know what? I'll call you tomorrow. We'll
get together. We'll do…

Ms. STEENBURGEN: (As herself) Why?

Mr. DAVID: (As himself) I'll take you out to dinner. I'm paying, I'm
paying.

Mr. DANSON: (As himself) Hey, Larry, you don't have any plans. You're
supposed to be here, you're here. Come on in. Come on, Cheryl. It'll be
fun.

(Soundbite of music)

Mr. DANSON: (As himself) This'll be fun. Hey, we've got leftovers. I'll
make you an omelet or something.

Ms. HINES: (As Cheryl) You guys, we can't, we can't.

Ms. STEENBURGEN: (As herself) It'll be great. Come on.

Mr. DANSON: (As himself) This is like pulling teeth.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. DANSON: (As himself) Come on in, you guys.

GROSS: That's a scene from "Curb Your Enthusiasm," with my guest Ted
Danson. So let's look at the scene that we just heard. Did you get a
script for that scene? Did Larry David tell you what it was about and
then ask you to just improv your lines? How did it work?

Mr. DANSON: Yeah, that's something everybody should know about Larry
David. He's the laziest writer on the planet. You know, if he ever wins
a writing award, I'll picket - I'm semi-joking. He - what he does is he
works for months on setting up the season, the arc of the season. Then
each show is broken down into scenes, and this is pretty typical of a
writing room for comedies.

You break everything down, beat by beat, so that the last thing you do
is you send a writer off to write the actual dialogue. He takes it right
up to the dialogue part. So it's very intricate. It's been worked out.
You know what he needs, but the words that come out of your mouth have
not been written.

GROSS: Now, you got your start on the TV series "Cheers," which is one
of the more famous TV series in TV history. How did you get the audition
for that?

Mr. DANSON: You know, I think several things that I heard later, you
know, came out later. Jimmy Burrows, who along with Glen and Les Charles
created "Cheers." He was the director, they were the two writers, and
they had been teamed up for a few years.

And I had auditioned for Jimmy Burrows maybe a year or two beforehand,
for a show that I did not get, and he remembered me. And then when we
actually auditioned for it in front of the network and everything, they
had three actors and three actresses to play Sam and Diane and they had
a little stage set up, and it was this little act-off, you know, where
each couple would come out and do a scene and then leave, then the other
couple would come out, and that - I think I got the part because Shelley
and I were good together. Shelley was remarkable, and I think I got the
part because Shelley was so good, and I worked well with Shelley, to be
honest. I think that's how that happened.

BIANCULLI: Ted Danson, speaking to Terry Gross in September. More about
the TV show "Cheers" and our interview with Ted Danson in the second
half of the show. I'm David Bianculli, and this is FRESH AIR.

(Soundbite of music)

BIANCULLI: This is FRESH AIR. I'm David Bianculli, in for Terry Gross.

We're back with Ted Danson. He co-stars in the HBO series "Bored to
Death." He plays himself on Larry David's HBO series "Curb Your
Enthusiasm." And on the FX series "Damages," he played a corrupt
billionaire CEO.

Terry Gross spoke with him in September. When we left off, they were
talking about Danson's work on the TV series "Cheers" in which he played
the shallow and vain bartender, Sam Malone.

GROSS: Did you feel like you knew this character?

Mr. DANSON: No. Lord no. I didn’t. I had no idea how unintelligent he
was. At first I thought he was making these - because Sam would come out
with these things that were funny, and I thought, well, maybe he's being
ironic. You know, maybe he's smart enough to know that he's saying
stupid things in the beginning. I think it took me about a year and a
half before, maybe a season and a half before I had an inkling on how to
play Sam Malone, because he was a relief pitcher, which comes with a
certain amount of arrogance.

You know, you only get called in when you’re in trouble and you’re there
to save the day, and that takes a special kind of arrogance, I think.
And Sam Malone had that arrogance. And I, Ted Danson, did not. I was
nervous, scared, excited about, you know, grateful about my new job.

GROSS: Well, let's hear a scene from season one and we’ll hear the kind
of arrogance that you’re talking about that your character...

Mr. DANSON: Or lack of.

GROSS: Or lack of, that your character Sam Malone had. So here's a scene
with you and Shelley Long.

(Soundbite of TV show, "Cheers")

Ms. SHELLEY LONG (Actress): (as Diane Chambers) Why are you so upset?

Mr. DANSON: (as Sam Malone) You know, this week I have gone out with all
the women I know. I mean all the women I really enjoy. And all of a
sudden, all I can think about is how stupid they are. I mean my life
isn’t fun anymore, and it's because of you.

Ms. LONG: (as Diane Chambers) Because of me?

Mr. DANSON: (as Sam Malone) Yeah. You’re a snob.

Ms. LONG: (as Diane Chambers) A snob?

Mr. DANSON: (as Sam Malone) Yeah. That's right.

Ms. LONG: (as Diane Chambers) Well, you’re a rapidly aging adolescent.

Mr. DANSON: (as Sam Malone) Well, I would rather be that than a snob.

Ms. LONG: (as Diane Chambers) And I would rather be a snob.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. DANSON: (as Sam Malone) Well, good, because you are.

Ms. LONG: (as Diane Chambers) Sam, do yourself a favor, go back to your
tootsies and your ramparts. I'd hate to see the bowling alleys close on
my account.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. DANSON: (as Sam Malone) Hey, hey, wait a minute, wait a minute. Are
you saying that I'm too dumb to date smart women?

Ms. LONG: (as Diane Chambers) I'm saying that it would be very difficult
for you. A really intelligent woman would see your line of BS a mile a
way.

Mr. DANSON: (as Sam Malone) You think so, huh?

Ms. LONG: (as Diane Chambers) Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

Mr. DANSON: (as Sam Malone) Yeah. Well, you know, I've never met an
intelligent woman that I'd want to date.

Ms. LONG: (as Diane Chambers) On behalf of the intelligent women around
the world...

(Soundbite of laughter)

Ms. LONG: (as Diane Chambers) ...may I just say, whew.

(Soundbite of laughter)

(Soundbite of applause)

GROSS: Ted Danson and Shelley Long. So Ted Danson, you said before you
felt like you could pull off the arrogance of your character?

Mr. DANSON: Yeah. Actually, it was. I can actually hear it my voice, you
know? I really, you know, I want to sing Shelley Long's praises. I think
the first couple of years, "Cheers" became the hit that it was because
I, I mean everyone was good in it and everyone went on to become
brilliant in it. But I think Shelley and that character hadn’t been seen
for a while on TV, and I think she just did an absolute brilliant,
brilliant job.

GROSS: You know, I remember when I, in one of my interviews with the
late actor Spalding Gray, he said he always had trouble acting on TV
because he's so interior and always so caught up in his thoughts, so
whenever he was on TV he said he'd look like really worried and
preoccupied and that you needed the certain kind of like Zen TV face.

(Soundbite of laughter)

GROSS: And I'm wondering, you know, I mean you went to Stanford, you
went to prep school, you’re obviously like very well educated. Was it
hard to get that kind of blankness or that lack of introspection that
Sam had?

Mr. DANSON: I just, once again, I think it was, Kelsey Grammer had this
great phrase. It probably has been said before, but I heard it from him,
that you need, an actor needs a requisite disrespect for the material.
Instead of holding it up as the Holy Grail, you know, you need to have a
kind of requisite disrespect for it, because then you’re not eager, too
eager. You’re not too leaning forward.

And when I first started "Cheers," I think I was very eager, and if this
makes any sense, I was tilting too far forward, and it took me that year
and a half, that season and a half, to get that more relaxed, leaning
back, slightly arrogant, you know, let people vote, who cares, here I
am, I'm going to have fun.

GROSS: Was it hard to create a new life after "Cheers?"

Mr. DANSON: Well, I had this great solution. I blew my private life up
in such a, you know, a disastrous way that leaving "Cheers" became
secondary to kind of putting my private life back together. So to answer
your question, not really. Not really. I mean it was hard because I
missed my friends. But after 11 years - I think we all had been looking
for an ending.

GROSS: And let me just say, I think what you were alluding to before
when you said that after "Cheers" your life became public in a big way,
I think you were referring to the relationship with Whoopi Goldberg and
the whole Friars Club thing, where there was a roast of Whoopi Goldberg
and you worked out a sketch with her in which you appeared in blackface
and, like, boy, there were just like movie stars and politicians and
columnists who just were so upset and publicly spoke out against you for
having done that. It must've been a horrible...

(Soundbite of laughter)

GROSS: ...a horrible moment.

Mr. DANSON: It was. But I mean it was of my making so, you know, it was
all on my head. It was definitely a graceless moment in my life. But I
kept thinking, well, I have to go roast Whoopi Goldberg. We were no
longer actually going together at that moment and we had tried to back
out of, you know, of doing this, and they said no, no, no, you have to
contractually, you have to. And I thought, well, how am I going to roast
Whoopi when all the tapes and videos I see of people – a Jewish person
will be saying horrible things about the Jewish person they're roasting.
But it's okay because the Jewish person being roasted is being roasted
by Jewish people?

Or, you know, the African-American is being roasted by an African-
American. So how's, you know, the white kid going to be roasting and
doing a, you know, an outrageous job for this amazingly outrageous
woman? So I thought, I know, I'm not a standup comic but I’ll do, I am
an actor, so I'll do a little performance theater. So that was my
rationale and it was clearly a non-press event, we were told, and within
seconds I realized, ooh, wow. It was like sticking my finger in a light
socket. It was like - it went very still in my head and I went, okay, 50
percent of the people get this and think it's funny. By the way, Whoopi
knew about it and had kind of signed off on it and thought it was funny,
so I thought, okay, I'm going to go for it.

Fifty percent got it, liked it. Thirty percent got it, hated it. Twenty
percent didn’t get it and hated it.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. DANSON: So it was this very, you know, graceless and courageous
moment of, okay, here I go, and it did offend some people, and sometimes
I'd have to rightfully so, other times, it was theater and it was done
with love.

GROSS: Do you feel like you walked away learning anything either about
comedy or about race in America from that experience?

Mr. DANSON: Well, yeah, the stupidity on my part. The lack of thought,
to stand up and go, I'm now going to do race material and think that it
would not draw a lot of heat was stupid on my part. So what did I learn?
You know, I learned that I was at a very adolescent point in my life
where I thought, you know what, I can do whatever I want. It's okay, you
know. I did naively think, because I was told that there would be no
press, so I thought, okay, this is a room full of people who get this
kind of humor, I'll be all right, and that was stupid on my part.
Everything is open to the press now.

GROSS: You know what I found really interesting about what you just
said? You were saying that, you know, that you think you were arrogant
then, and you were telling us before that you didn’t' know how to be
arrogant. Like you were, you didn’t have that arrogance and you had to
learn it to play Sam on "Cheers" and you were telling us about the kind
of arrogance that you needed to have for the part that you play on
"Damages," is this like billionaire CEO who's like very arrogant.

And it's interesting. You’re talking about this moment in your life
where you were arrogant for real, you think, and you got really burned.

Mr. DANSON: Yeah. You know, actually what followed, a week later I had a
replay, because evidently I hadn’t learned my lesson, where I was
driving in a car up a hill and it was rainy and I was late and I was
driving a little faster than I should and I could feel my tires start to
skid a little bit and I almost had this literal thought, maybe not
quite, but it was like, Ted, you better slow down, the roads are wet.
And I went, no, I’m all right. I can handle this. And I spun out and got
hit by a pickup coming the other way and slammed into the side of a
cliff. Luckily didn’t go off the other end, you know, the other side,
which was a cliff. And I was taken out of my car on a board and it was
all very dramatic, and I was fine. The next day I had a stiff neck and
that was it. But it was - and that was like the moment where I went,
whoo. Wake up.

GROSS: So what did you do after that like wake up moment? What did you
change?

Mr. DANSON: Then it was kind of personal, so I won't go into that.

GROSS: No, it's fine.

GROSS: But it was ending things that I should've ended. It was, yeah, I
really did actually take care of business. And about a month later I met
Mary, and I don't think that I would’ve even seen her or she would’ve
even seen me if I hadn't, you know, woken up.

GROSS: Well, Ted Danson, it’s really been great to talk with you. Thank
you so much.

Mr. DANSON: Thank you.

DAVID BIANCULLI, host:

Ted Danson speaking to Terry Gross in September. His HBO series "Bored
to Death" just ended its first season.

We'll continue our series of memorable moments from 2009 with an excerpt
from our concert by singer Rebecca Kilgore and pianist Dave Frishberg.
It was in honor of the centennial of the birth of songwriter Johnny
Mercer.

This is FRESH AIR.
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A Centennial Salute To Johnny Mercer

DAVID BIANCULLI, host:

This is FRESH AIR. We're concluding our series of memorable programs
from 2009 with an excerpt from our concert celebrating the centennial of
the birth of songwriter Johnny Mercer featuring singer Rebecca Kilgore
and pianist, singer and songwriter Dave Frishberg.

Johnny Mercer wrote some melodies but mostly he wrote lyrics, lots of
them for a body of work that totaled over a thousand songs, including
"Blues in the Night," "Come Rain or Come Shine," "One for my Baby,"
"Skylark," "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby" and "Jeepers Creepers,"
"The Days of Wine and Roses," and "Moon River." Mercer also was a
professional singer and the cofounder of Capital Records.

Let's start with a song that was written in 1934 but became really
popular during World War II. The music is by Gordon Jenkins, the lyric
is by Johnny Mercer. This is "P.S. I Love You."

(Soundbite of song, "P.S. I Love You")

Ms. KILGORE: (Singing) What is there to write? What is there to say?
Same things happen every day. Not a thing to write, not a thing to say.
So I take my pen in hand and start the same old way.

Dear, I thought I'd drop a line. The weather's cool, the folks are fine.
I'm in bed each night at nine. P.S., I love you.

Yesterday, we had some rain, but all in all, I can't complain. Was it
dusty on the train? P.S., I love you.

Write to the Browns just as soon as you're able. They came around to
call. I burned a hole in the dining room table, and let me see, I guess
that's all.

Nothing more for me to say, and so I'll close, but by the way,
everybody's thinking of you. P.S., I love you.

GROSS: Oh, that was really beautiful, and I never heard the verse
before. Did you find it from sheet music?

Ms. KILGORE: Oh yes.

GROSS: Or had you heard other people sing it?

Ms. KILGORE: I had never heard anyone sing it.

GROSS: Lovely. I'm glad you added the verse. That was singer Becky
Kilgore with composer, singer and pianist Dave Frishberg at the piano,
and they're doing a centenary tribute to the great lyricist Johnny
Mercer.

Dave, you actually met Johnny Mercer. How did you meet him?

Mr. DAVE FRISHBERG (Composer, singer and pianist): Well, I met him
through my friend, Blossom Dearie. I was living in New York at the time,
and Blossom called me one night. She says, I'm playing at the Village
Gate, the Top of the Gate, and Johnny Mercer's coming to see me, and I
want him to meet you, and I want you to meet him. Come over. So I did. I
went over to the Top of the Gate, and I sat at their table.

GROSS: What happened? Did you get to talk with him?

Mr. FRISHBERG: Oh, a little bit, but we listened pretty carefully while
Blossom was on, but the part – I'll always remember this part. When
Blossom got off, she joined us at the table, and the other band got on,
and the other band was a group of Indian musicians who were playing
tablas, and they were playing ragas, they were playing sitars, stuff
like that, and they were just wailing away. But we were sitting at a
table pretty close by, and we couldn't talk easily, and Mercer was
getting very upset, and finally he just, he turned around and he yelled
at the band. He said, hey, don't you guys know about swing? One, two,
three, four?

(Soundbite of laughter)

GROSS: Not getting the music at all.

Mr. FRISHBERG: Right, and I thought to myself, wow, that's perfect.
That's like a James Thurber cartoon right there, you know.

GROSS: You also have a story about Mercer, where you met him and you
took him to hear another singer. Would you tell that one?

Mr. FRISHBERG: Oh, well, I was working at Eddie Condon's at the time,
when it was the Sutton Hotel on 56th and First Avenue. Mercer – this was
after Mercer had met me at the Village Gate. He came in. I told him I
was playing there, and he was interested too. That's his game. He went
to Condon's.

Afterwards, when the gig was over, he said take me to hear some good
singers. I said okay. I was thrilled to have him along, even though he
was half in the bag already, you know. We got in a cab, and we went over
to the Apartment, I think it was. I think it was that, on the East Side.
Charles DeForest(ph) was playing. He was playing piano and singing. I
wanted him to – I knew he'd be thrilled to meet or see Mercer in the
crowd, you know.

So we walked in there and oh, so somebody else was playing piano, a
substitute pianist, and it was a woman, and Mercer wasn't impressed, and
he says real loud, we were sitting right next to her: Is this who you
brought me in to hear?

And so Charles DeForest saw what was happening, and he came to the
rescue, and he came to the piano, and he said the great Johnny Mercer is
with us in the audience tonight, and I'm going to sing something now
that he probably just has forgotten that he's written. It's something
that's very seldom heard.

And he began to sing something. Mercer got up. He said: That's not my
song. That's Leo Robin's lyric, for God's sake. And he walked out, left
me with the bill.

(Soundbite of laughter)

GROSS: Very nice.

Mr. FRISHBERG: So, and later on, when he came into Condon's later on
that week, I referred to the experience that he had – he had barely
remembered it. He had a faint recollection of the whole thing. He was
great before he started drinking. After that, he was tough to – you
couldn't figure him out, really.

GROSS: Well, actually, I think, you know, stories are pretty legendary
of how unpleasant he was when he was drunk.

Mr. FRISHBERG: Yeah, I'm afraid I was witness to that.

(Soundbite of laughter)

GROSS: Yeah, yeah, well, but at least you got to meet him.

Mr. FRISHBERG: Oh, but he was a sweetheart of a guy, really. Yeah, he
was wonderful.

DAVID BIANCULLI, host:

We're listening to the Johnny Mercer tribute concert featuring singer
Rebecca Kilgore and pianist and songwriter Dave Frishberg recorded last
fall.

More after a break.

This is FRESH AIR.

(Soundbite of music)

BIANCULLI: Let's get back to the FRESH AIR concert recorded last fall
featuring singer Rebecca Kilgore and pianist and songwriter Dave
Frishberg performing the music of Johnny Mercer. It’s part of our series
of memorable FRESH AIR shows from 2009.

TERRY GROSS, host:

You know, one of the things Mercer did was write a lot of songs for
movies, and let's hear a song that was written by Mercer for a film,
written with music by Jerome Kern. The song is "I'm Old Fashioned," and
it's from the 1942 film "You Were Never Lovelier" with Fred Astaire and
Rita Hayworth.

Ms. KILGORE: Right.

GROSS: Who I think was dubbed. I don't think she did her own singing.

Ms. KILGORE: Nan Wynn(ph).

Mr. FRISHBERG: Yeah, I've never heard of her, but she's the one who
dubbed her, Nan Wynn. So this is singer Becky Kilgore with songwriter,
pianist and singer Dave Frishberg at the piano.

(Soundbite of song, "I'm Old Fashioned")

Ms. KILGORE: (Singing) I am not such a clever one about the latest fads,
and I'll admit I was never one adored by local lads, not that I ever try
to be a saint. I'm the type that they classify as quaint.

I'm old fashioned. I love the moonlight. I love the old fashioned
things, the sound of rain upon a window pane, the starry song that April
sings.

This year's fancies are passing fancies, but sighing sighs holding
hands, these my heart understands.

I'm old fashioned, but I don't mind it. That's how I want to be as long
as you agree to stay old fashioned with me.

GROSS: That was really lovely. I'm so glad you chose to do that for us
in your concert, and performing the concert today, a centenary tribute
to lyricist Johnny Mercer, is singer Rebecca Kilgore and pianist,
songwriter and singer Dave Frishberg.

I think, we have time for one more song in our centenary tribute to
lyricist Johnny Mercer with singer Rebecca Kilgore and pianist, singer,
and songwriter Dave Frishberg. What song would you like close with?

Ms. KILGORE: Well, a song called, “Dream,” which is the most evocative
and irresistible of all.

GROSS: So, who wrote the music for “Dream?”

Mr. FRISHBERG: Johnny Mercer did himself. This is one of his music and
words works.

GROSS: You know, it’s amazing, you always think of him just a lyricist
but he really did write several great melodies too.

Mr. FRISHBERG: I’ll say.

GROSS: Mm-hmm, yeah. So – okay – so let’s hear “Dream.”

(Soundbite of song, “Dream”)

Ms. KILGORE: (Singing) Dream, when you're feeling blue. Dream, that's
the thing to do. Just watch the smoke rings rise in the air. You'll find
your share of memories there. So dream when the day is through. Dream,
and they might come true. Things never are as bad as they seem. So
dream, dream, dream.

GROSS: What a sweet way to end, and how fitting to end with a song with
music and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. And I regret to say that it’s more
than a thousand Johnny Mercer songs we didn’t have time for...

(Soundbite of laughter)

GROSS: ...in our concert today. But I’m so grateful for the songs that
you did do. Becky Kilgore is singing for us today. Dave Frishberg is
singing as well and also featured on piano - and Dave is also a great
songwriter. We didn’t get to hear any of his songs today, but we have
played them often on FRESH AIR.

I appreciate both of you coming to do the concert today. Thank you so
very much.

Ms. KILGORE: Thank you.

Mr. FRISHBERG: Thank you.

Ms. KILGORE: It’s a pleasure.

Mr. FRISHBERG: It was really nice, felt good to do this.

DAVID BIANCULLI, host:

Rebecca Kilgore and Dave Frishberg recorded in November. Their latest
album, “Why Fight the Feeling,” features songs by Frank Loesser.

Our centennial tribute to Johnny Mercer was recorded by Jim Zach with
Bill Moss at the Nola Recording Studios in Manhattan. The post
production work was done by our engineer Audrey Bentham.

(Soundbite of song, "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive")

Mr. BING CROSBY (Singer, actor): (Singing) You've got to accentuate the
positive, eliminate the negative, and latch on to the affirmative. Don't
mess with Mister In-Between. You’ve got to spread...

BIANCULLI: For Terry Gross, I'm David Bianculli. All of us at FRESH AIR
wish you a healthy and Happy New Year.

(Soundbite of song, "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive")

Mr. BING CROSBY: (Singing) ...just when everything looked so dark. Man,
they said we better accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, and
latch on to the affirmative. Don't mess with Mister In-Between. No.
Don't mess with Mister In-Between. You've got to spread joy up to the
maximum. Bring gloom down to the minimum and have faith...
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Transcripts are created on a rush deadline, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of Fresh Air interviews and reviews are the audio recordings of each segment.

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