I could tell that my parents hated me. My bath toys were a toaster and a radio.
I haven't spoken to my wife in years. I didn't want to interrupt her.
I told my psychiatrist that everyone hates me. He said I was being ridiculous - everyone hasn't met me yet.
When I was a kid my parents moved a lot, but I always found them.
I found there was only one way to look thin: hang out with fat people.
& my personal favorite Rodney quote...
"If I hadn't been a boy?? I'd have had nothing to play with!!"
#RodneyDangerfield!! #whaddaguy!! #FUNNYasSHAT!! #NOrespectITellYah!! Got A BABY looking like Rodney?? Hey, heyy.. It could be your lucky day!!
As an entertainer.. There's really NO denying - Rodney was a KING!! A true definition of legend!! A literal walking, talking, breathing, one liner comedy act who billed himself as a fella who just DAMN PLAIN, "gets NO respect!!," he'd tell yah!!! That bill?? Made him millions!! No worries from his end! With the millions coming in?? Disrespect all you want! The last laugh was his, with a simple "one, two, screw-you" mantra! FoSho!! I always liked Rodney.. An entertainer, through and through!! Who could FORGET?!? And the PRICELESS sage advisory he dispensed from his youth!! #passiton! FoSho!! Remember CADDYSHACK?? I loved it!
He didn't come into the world as "Dangerfield!" He was born Jacob Rodney Cohen, on November 22, 1921, in Deer Park, New York..
You could say that the moment he was born.. He came out with the entertainment bug's teeth sunk firmly in his ass. Both of his parents were solid Vaudevillian acts!! Born to Jewish parents - mom.. Dorothy "Dotty" Teitelbaum, and dad.. Philip Cohen (stagename Phil Roy)..
Growing up.. FIRST here.. He would take to entertaining anyone around - and if no one was around?? He could always entertain himself! Ohhh, to be a fly on the wall with a camera for those sessions (I'm just sayin' 😉) After his dad abandoned the fam.. Mom moved Rodney & siblings to Kew Gardens, Queens.. here.. above what is 'now', Austin's Ale House.. (BTW - GREAT wings there!! Just sayin')
NOW?!? He gets respect out the wazoo-ole there..
Growing up??
Not so much!
Unfortunately - He endured anti-Semitism (by small teeny-weeny minded assholes.) Amongst his jobs were included delivering groceries to wealthy neighbors. "He played baseball for a shabbily outfitted team against a team from the more celebrated Forest Hills neighborhood next door," said Carl Ballenas, a local Kew Gardens historian.
So - that boy that "gat NO RESPECT," would eventually become the schtick for a comedian re-vamped & re-named, Rodney Dangerfield...🤩 At 15, he landed a job at a 'night-club type' resort & began to write for stand-up comedians.. while still writing and performing his own stand-up..
He attended high school, here, at Richmond Hill High School.. To support himself and his family, he continued to deliver groceries and sold newspapers and ice cream at Long Beach, (I am sure, with a few one-liners; with each ice cream sold.) Wouldn't you have JUST LOVED to have bought some ice cream from Rodney?? 😂👍 FoSho!
He (and fam), were living here..
He graduated Richmond Hill High in 1939.
At the age of 19 he legally changed his name to Jack Roy... & tried doing full-time stand up but struggled financially for nine years, at one point performing as a singing waiter (AGAIN.. Ohhh, to be a fly on the wall with a camera for those sessions (I'm just sayin' 😉) until he was fired 😂, before taking a job selling aluminum siding in the mid-1950s to support family. He later quipped that he was so little known when he gave up show business that "at the time I quit, I was the only one who knew I quit." 😂🤣 He found another job working as a salesman by day - and performing standup anywhere he could get a gig.. He once said looking back at that, "I played one club—it was so far out, my act was reviewed in Field & Stream." 😂🤣
On Sunday, March 5, 1967, The Ed Sullivan Show needed a last-minute replacement for another act, and Rodney became the surprise hit of the show. Rodney began headlining shows in Las Vegas... whilst continuing to make frequent appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. He also became a regular on The Dean Martin Show and appeared on The Tonight Show a total of 35 times. His resume is LONG and IMPRESSIVE (if you wanna gander it..)
I never could quite figure out his wife.. In pix - there is often a look of dread, or something! This one is my favorite.. It comes from my buddy Scott's FindADeath.com page on Rodney.. Seems wifey has surprised him with a new spa!! You can just TELL he is tickled SHATLESS!!! You just KNOW... she shoots a mean stink eye!!
Rodney was married twice to Joyce Indig. They married in 1949, divorced in 1962, remarried in 1963, and divorced again in 1970..
GREAT stuff.. According to wiki.. On November 22, 2001 (his 80th birthday), he suffered a mild heart attack while backstage at the Tonight Show. During Dangerfield's hospital stay, the staff were reportedly upset that he smoked marijuana in his room. But he was back at the Tonight Show a year later, performing on his 81st birthday..
He had a heart surgery take place on August 24, 2004. When he entered the hospital, he uttered a one-liner when asked how long he would be hospitalized: "If all goes well, about a week. If not, about an hour and a half."😂🤣
At the end of August, 2004, Dangerfield was checked into UCLA after not feeling well at home that morn.. Shortly after arrival at UCLA Medical Center - - he slipped into a coma. Things seemed to be improving as he began breathing on his own and showing great signs of alertness & awareness when visited by friends. However, he took a turn for the worse, & died on October 5, 2004 at the UCLA Medical Center, a month and a half shy of his 83rd birthday, from complications of the surgery he had undergone in August. Dangerfield was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. His headstone reads, "Rodney Dangerfield... There goes the neighborhood."
R.I.P. Rodney.. You TRUELY were amongst the great of greats!! Apparently the puns?? ARE OVER!! 😂🤣😂🤣
You can leave your non-wilting virtual flowers & cyber comments 'ere for Rodney!!
EVEN Fozzy was a fan of the man! 😉
One-liner break??😂🤣
TWO GREAT legends.. In one picture!! FoSho!!
Red Rover, Red Rover ~ REMEMBER?!?