Bill Murray on Gilda Radner

December 4, 2013 8:48 PM

I’ll always remember it. It was the last time I saw her "The whole Monty Python group was there, most of us from the show, a lot of other funny people, and Gilda."
posted by GrapeApiary (35 comments total)

Comedians are weird. And pretty awesome.
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 9:08 PM on December 4, 2013 [2 favorites]

Sweet. I miss Gilda. Thanks for posting.
posted by cairnoflore at 9:27 PM on December 4, 2013 [3 favorites]

I've always identified with her, for some reason (I suspect it's the hair.) This was the perfect anecdote length, and heartbreaking.
posted by Mizu at 9:34 PM on December 4, 2013

Poor, poor, Gilda. I felt so very sorry for her. I'm not one who keeps up with the private lives of celebrities, but for some reason, I always felt very warm toward Gilda (never met her, of course). It was shocking and painful to learn about her cancer and that whole ordeal. She was so very scared. And that horror of going into the hospital "for a checkup", and her having such strong feelings that she'll never come out, and begging Gene to take her home, and she dies in the hospital never having regained consciousness. Some lives just stick with you, and Gilda is one like that. That was a touching story by Bill Murray.

RIP, Gilda.
posted by VikingSword at 9:52 PM on December 4, 2013 [7 favorites]

Well, damn.
posted by thebrokedown at 9:56 PM on December 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

The book this is from, Live From New York, is a great oral history of Saturday Night Live and well worth reading if you are interested. I couldn't put it down. This is one of the most memorable stories but there are other great ones too.
posted by Joey Michaels at 10:02 PM on December 4, 2013 [21 favorites]

I still miss her.

.
posted by trip and a half at 10:40 PM on December 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

That was surprisingly sweet and moving.

.
posted by happyroach at 11:02 PM on December 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

I loved Gilda Radner. There was a golden age of comedy around about then and she was part of it. She left us too soon.
posted by Anitanola at 12:29 AM on December 5, 2013 [2 favorites]

She kept me up nights.
posted by pracowity at 12:40 AM on December 5, 2013

Sounds like a great book also Bill Murray = god.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 12:54 AM on December 5, 2013

This story made me remember how much I miss seeing Gilda Radner on TV and also miss the early days of SNL, which are also never coming back.
posted by mecran01 at 1:35 AM on December 5, 2013 [1 favorite]

Nevermind.

I'm struggling here. Some people who seek the stage are fun to watch because they portray characters that you hate. Some people who seek the stage are fun to watch because they portray characters you like.

A scarce few [it's a difficult task] manage to portray people like the ones you actually know.

I think Gilda Radner comes as close as I've seen to being a real person as I've ever seen on stage.

Here she is singing about being in High School.
posted by vapidave at 2:21 AM on December 5, 2013 [2 favorites]

And devestatingly sly.
posted by vapidave at 2:26 AM on December 5, 2013 [1 favorite]

Nevermind.
posted by mikelieman at 3:42 AM on December 5, 2013

Live From New York is a truly amazing book. It's so in-depth that you come away from it practically feeling like you were part of the cast. You'll never see SNL the same way again. You watch a sub-par episode, and think, "Oh, but they all must have tried so hard..."

One of the things I do really miss about the original SNL is how the show could get so arty and sad sometimes. (La Dolce Gilda being one famous example.) They did some sketches that haunted you. It wasn't always just about the jokes. Oh God, remember the perpetually dying little shopping center, with the scotch tape store?
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:42 AM on December 5, 2013 [12 favorites]

The book this is from, Live From New York, is a great oral history of Saturday Night Live and well worth reading if you are interested. I couldn't put it down. This is one of the most memorable stories but there are other great ones too.

Live From New York is a truly amazing book. It's so in-depth that you come away from it practically feeling like you were part of the cast. You'll never see SNL the same way again. You watch a sub-par episode, and think, "Oh, but they all must have tried so hard..."

Agreed. That book is amazing. The section dealing with the loss of Chris Farley is also particularly touching.
posted by GrapeApiary at 5:25 AM on December 5, 2013 [1 favorite]

They're all great, but John Belushi and Chris Farley went.

Gilda Radner was taken.
posted by R. Schlock at 5:30 AM on December 5, 2013 [13 favorites]

Thirding Live from New York. That book set the standard for the "oral history" book format. Very little narration, just letting the players speak for themselves.

That said, I'm glad to see that Gilda's Club changed their name back from the frightfully generic "Cancer Support Centers".
posted by dr_dank at 5:45 AM on December 5, 2013 [1 favorite]

Thanks for this. Amazing story, and it must have been quite a party indeed. How do we make such moments?
posted by emmet at 5:56 AM on December 5, 2013

Thirding Live from New York. That book set the standard for the "oral history" book format.

* raises eyebrow * I think Studs Terkel may want to have a word with you on that.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:09 AM on December 5, 2013 [8 favorites]

I was always so touched by the relationship between Gilda & Gene. They seemed like a real good pair who loved each other very much. And seeing Gene Wilder's later interviews is beyond touching, what an example of a human being.

Also her performance on The Muppet Show when she gets crazy glue all over herself but is still trying to tap dance is one of my favorites.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 6:52 AM on December 5, 2013 [3 favorites]

Man, this is how I want to go out: carried around upside down by one of my friends, with all the best people trying hard to top each other in giving me little gifts of joy. And then retiring to seclusion with my family. *sigh*
posted by wenestvedt at 6:53 AM on December 5, 2013 [4 favorites]

Would you be referring to Working, EmpressCallipygos? Had it on my booklist for years, but couldn't get through it.

Get that Budweiser dog an editor!
posted by dr_dank at 7:29 AM on December 5, 2013

Sweet, moving and really depressing.

But thanks for that.
posted by freakazoid at 7:33 AM on December 5, 2013

Candy Slice and the Slicers, punks. Look on her works, ye mighty, and despair.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:53 AM on December 5, 2013 [4 favorites]

Would you be referring to Working, EmpressCallipygos? Had it on my booklist for years, but couldn't get through it.

He's done many more books than just Working, though. He's done oral histories and analyses of the Great Depression, of World War II, the class system, racial inequality, moviemaking, and religious issues. He actually got a Pulitzer for his efforts.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:56 AM on December 5, 2013 [2 favorites]

I bought her album. Best $8 I ever spent.

I related to her so much and she died of the thing that I was most scared of in my life.

Every time I see Gene Wilder I can't help but feel sad for him.

.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 10:20 AM on December 5, 2013

Every time I see Gene Wilder I can't help but feel sad for him.

He remarried in 1991, apparently happily. Which is not to disparage the loss of a loved one, but his life has gone on.
posted by IndigoJones at 10:37 AM on December 5, 2013

I've had this book sitting on my shelf for years without reading it. It just doesn't strike me as my style, being more of a sci-fi and horror guy, but that was a very sweet read. That may have turned the boat for me.
posted by zombieApoc at 11:49 AM on December 5, 2013

I recommend listening to the audio book version of her autobiography, It's Always Something, read by Gilda herself a month before she died.
posted by larrybob at 1:43 PM on December 5, 2013

I adored her. I taped Gilda Live off of a movie channel and watched it over and over as a kid. Nthing the recommendation of Live from New York, but for me the best Gilda book is Alan Zweibel's Bunny Bunny.

I can't find a link to Radner's appearance on It's Garry Shandling's Show, but if you can get your hands on it, it is close to perfect. She's on screen for maybe 5 minutes and steals the whole show out from under him.
posted by Mchelly at 3:49 PM on December 5, 2013

> One of the things I do really miss about the original SNL is how the show could get so arty and sad sometimes. (La Dolce Gilda being one famous example.)

Thanks very much for that; the last minute of the clip chokes me up every time. (I've got a decaying old VCR tape with it I've lugged around for years.) God damn, I miss Gilda. What a wonderful person. No one should have to go like that, but especially not Gilda.
posted by languagehat at 4:59 PM on December 5, 2013

The section dealing with the loss of Chris Farley is also particularly touching.

The Phil Hartman section is absolutely devastating. He was the rare kind of guy who was just so innately decent, he brought out decency in others, and it shines in every recollection of him in this book.

(Also, so long as we're talking oral histories that are standard-bearers for the genre, no love for Legs McNeil?)

I'm glad Gilda and Gene had each other, however cruelly truncated their life together was.
posted by sobell at 10:43 PM on December 5, 2013 [1 favorite]

Last night I tried to find a clip online of the bit Steve Martin did on SNL when he was hosting and they heard just that afternoon that Gilda had died. They scrapped his monologue and he introduced the show by announcing her death, saying a few words about her, and then they re-ran this bit he and she had done in the 70's where they were strangers-meeting-at-a-club who then did an elaborate dance routine. He was visibly choked up giving the news.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:15 AM on December 6, 2013 [3 favorites]