Memories from the Fringe: Inside "Laughs Unlimited" Story Part lll- Show #290

Long-time friends Scott Edwards, Bob Stobiner, and Lynn go through a treasure box of memorabilia from their decades running Laughs Unlimited comedy club, sharing stories and fond memories from the 1980s and 1990s comedy scene.

• Soupy Sales, famous for throwing pies at celebrities, visited the club and participated in a radio promotion where he hit Scott and local personalities with pies
• The owners reminisce about celebrity encounters with music stars Boss Skaggs and John Sebastian
• Graham Chapman of Monty Python performed at the club shortly before he passed away, doing a storytelling show rather than traditional stand-up
• Examining old tickets, flyers and promotional materials reveals 1980s pricing ($12 for Jay Leno tickets, 50¢ draft beers)
• Famous comedians who performed at Laughs include Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen DeGeneres, Bob Saget, Dave Coulier, Dana Carvey, and Robin Williams
• The club opened August 7, 1980 and continues operating today, making it one of Sacramento's longest-running live entertainment venues

We'll be back to our regular format of stand-up comedy sets and interviews with professional entertainers next week.

Short intro to TTTP

Transcript

Intro to Comedy Club Memories

Bob Stobener 0:29

This is another episode of Stand-Up Comedy, your host and emcee celebrating 40-plus years on the fringe of show business Stories, interviews and comedy sets from the famous and not-so-famous. Here's your host and emcee, scott Edwards.

Soupy Sales and Celebrity Pies

R. Scott Edwards 0:47

Hey everybody, if you've been listening, in the last couple of weeks I got together with some very good friends my ex-partner and best friend, bob Stobiner, and his little sister Lynn, who is like my little sister, and the three of us were just working our butts off back in the 80s and 90s at Laughs Unlimited, our chain of comedy clubs, and the last couple of weeks and going into this last part, we've been sharing some stories, some nostalgia. We have a box of memorabilia we're going through and we're trying to keep it entertaining for you, the audience, but quite frankly, we're having a great time. So if you're into it, join in and listen and have some fun with us and we'll be back to our regular shows, which is a combination of stand-up comedy sets and interviews of professional entertainers next week.

Bob Stobener 1:36

Really appreciate you listening should we go back to the hat? Do we have any more? Okay?

R. Scott Edwards 1:41

a couple more times of the hat, but I see you brought something special.

Bob Stobener 1:44

I got one more thing in the hat here and I want to. Can we talk about soupy sales? And the reason why I talk about bring up soupy sales is because I didn't see him I don't know, I don't know. A lot of people don't know soupy sales, soupy sales, I know well, just to set it up, soupy sales in the early 60s was like the top children's television host, uh working. I mean he was up there with kangaroo, um, captain kangaroo always right um he had a.

Bob Stobener 2:11

He had a big uh lot of slapstick in his show.

Bob Stobener 2:15

It was, you know, kids really loved him and then he was, he was, uh, he had a network show and then it was just a local, uh, new york show, but he was on for years and years and years. Um, but he, he knew a lot of, he was on the inside track with Sinatra and Dean Martin and you know the Rat Pack and knew a lot of people in the industry. And so when you booked him, I was excited because you know he was one of the real, true One bacon away from a lot of people.

Bob Stobener 2:42

He was, and so I think he had a great time working for us on the one night he had it.

R. Scott Edwards 2:47

Well, so to give everybody. The exciting part of this is that Soupy Sales' claim to fame was on his nighttime show. Big time celebrities Cary Grant, presidents, ronald Reagan, well, sinatra got a pie in the face. Yeah, a lot of really famous people would show up. They would be a knock at the door. People would show up, they would open, they would be a knock at the door. They, the, the guest star, the, the celebrity, would open the door and soupy sales would hit him in the face with a pie. And it became um a badge of honor that all these celebrities wanted to go on a show and get a pie in the face.

R. Scott Edwards 3:25

So, um, again, I liked the classic, so I booked soupy Sales and probably again at my father's insistence. But I booked Soupy Sales, an amazing, funny, funny comic. He had a great week but because of his celebrity with the pies, I set up I like doing press things, press things, marketing things with Y92, paul and Phil that we had Soupy Sales at a local Chevrolet dealership and that you should, and they were going to interview Soupy Sales. And the gag was it was prearranged that Soupy would throw a pie in the face of Paul and Phil. Now Paul and Phil ended up being famous as the answer guys. They won a couple Emmys and they were stars on a radio show here, but they were also comics that worked our club. So there's, it's all symbiotic, right. So we, we get soupy sales out to the car dealership.

R. Scott Edwards 4:25

The press shows up Paul and Phil uh, doing a live taping of their show. It was early in the morning and they interview soupy and and a couple of things happen. And then some uh, whipped cream pies come out and he slaps them in the face of Paul and Phil and I was there, of course, as the producer of the show and I said, uh, you know, I said hey, hey, hey, what about me? Because this was like a historical moment for us that knew Soupy Sales and they had arranged there was a pie and I got hit in the face with a pie by Soupy Sales and what was so exciting about it was that that moment was really funny. Soupy was really cool about it. He was great on stage, great to have him as a historical comic and showbiz celebrity on our stage. But I interviewed Paul and Phil for this podcast a couple of years ago because they were so important to the beginning of our club.

R. Scott Edwards 5:22

We got a lot of press. We had all the comics on their shows. But one of the big stories and one of their greatest memories, especially Phil Cowan, went off on. One of the highlights of his life was getting a pie thrown in his face by Soupy Sales and, just like you, he was name dropping Ronald Reagan, frank Sinatra, Cary Grant, all these huge, huge people. Armstrong, who went to the moon, got a pie in his face All these and he goes and face. I mean all these, you know, and he goes and me.

Lynn Stobener 5:54

Sufi sales got me it sounded like him yeah.

Radio Days with Paul and Phil

R. Scott Edwards 5:57

And me and it was, uh, a great moment to share. It was great to to be there, but we had a couple special moments with Paul and Phil. I'll never forget and I reminded Paul and Phil of this we would bring comics to the show and Bob and I were regulars bringing people to the show. Bob and I were there. Boz Skaggs shows up live in the studio and does an acoustic version of Lowdown Could be, yeah, right there on the air and I have an air check of it, do you really?

Bob Stobener 6:29

Yeah, I'd like to get a copy of that. That's very cool.

R. Scott Edwards 6:31

And it was just, you know, wasn't planned. We brought a comic and there's Boss Gags yeah, that's awesome, and he was, you were there.

Bob Stobener 6:40

I do not remember that. I don't think I was, because I would remember that I did see Boss Gags in Old Sacramento at a club after a concert and I was like for me to you away from him, like he was just playing right there. But that is an amazing memory to an acoustic version in the studio.

R. Scott Edwards 6:56

Well, I was bringing it up because what's interesting about being on the fringe of show business, which is the term this podcast audience has heard many times? We interacted with celebrities from time to time TV personalities, movie personalities, but through the to time. Tv personalities, movie personalities but through the radio stations you know Bob Keller over at KZAP, and Tim Bedore when he was at KZAP, and Paul and Phil at Y92. And even Tom Sullivan, who's still a huge radio celebrity. I had a chance to be in his studio and bring comics and interact with him when he was just a local guy here in Sacramento. Now he's, you know, national and one of the biggest shows on the air. So Tom Sullivan and I we're like this, yeah.

Bob Stobener 7:39

Two fingers wide apart.

Lynn Stobener 7:40

Yeah, that's right, you are 117 bacons away from me, yeah.

R. Scott Edwards 7:47

So I just wanted to Well that's true.

Bob Stobener 7:48

I had another. We had another great experience and Bruce Baum, a very good friend of ours, loved Bruce.

R. Scott Edwards 7:57

Terrific comic.

Bob Stobener 7:58

He was in 1981, I believe, recorded an album called.

Lynn Stobener 8:04

Marty.

Bob Stobener 8:04

Well, he had Marty Feldman eyes, but the album was called Was actually a hit Was called Born to be Raised, and so, yeah, he had some success with Feldman eyes. But the album was actually a hit was called born to be raised, and so, yeah, he had some success with Feldman, and then he had to build out an album for it, part of which he recorded at our club. Yes, but he also invited you and me, scott, to go down to the studio in San Francisco to watch him or watch some of the recordings. So we had lunch and stuff, but we went to Wally Heider's studio in San Francisco, which those people that don't know.

Bob Stobener 8:35

So Wally Heider is a massive, very famous recording studios in Los Angeles. He opened one in San Francisco. Bands like Journey, jefferson Airplane, probably Boss Gags recorded there, crosby Stills and Nash Young recorded Deja Vu there. I mean, wally Heider Studios in San Francisco was a very famous studio and my memory of it is we get there and it's really like you couldn't tell there was actually anything in this building.

Bob Stobener 9:12

It was just a very small door and you walked in front, nondescript, right, very nondescript, and and the studio was like just about the size of this, a dining room, I mean, it wasn't like overly large, as my memory, so it wasn't that impressive. But just knowing that I was, these walls, what these walls have heard over the years, just astounding to me. And then the other memory I have of it is that they were doing a disco track and I don't remember I think it's the barbecue, I can't remember which track it is on it, but it was a disco track. And to do the disco they didn't have drum machines back then, because this is the early 80s or whatever they had was very primitive. Anyway, they didn't have a drum machine so the drummer had to do the. The track is five minutes long.

Bob Stobener 9:49

The drummer is just up there on the drum set doing for five minutes and they're recording this and and this is, this is what we're getting to hear, and it's like, and that's my memory is like, how stupid is this? You know, but the poor drummer, that's how they had to do it the creation of music is.

Studio Sessions with Bruce Baum

R. Scott Edwards 10:06

they play down 12 or 16 tracks and each track is a different instrument or voice, and in that moment they were just doing the drums for a disco song which was so basic. It was amazingly basic All this history here, and I'm hearing Well, again, we've talked about Bob and his love of the Beatles. He is also a bit of a music historian. Bob and his love of the Beatles. He is also a bit of a music historian, and so I remember going to the studio, but I had no clue where I was or how important it was.

Bob Stobener 10:39

You can go on the Google for that, because Wally Heider Studios is pretty famous. I have another story that we went to up to Tahoe. I think it was Robin Williams' show in Tahoe. We got backstage and John Sebastian was the opening.

R. Scott Edwards 10:53

Yeah Was the opening artist.

Bob Stobener 10:56

John Sebastian a famous musician played at Woodstock was also a leader of the love and spoonful which did he try to lie on you on the couch and inappropriate that's what you call a callback.

Lynn Stobener 11:09

That was a callback, ladies and gentlemen that was a callback Of course, if you don't get it together, it's going to be.

Bob Stobener 11:15

But my memory was, you know, I wanted to get his autograph and we got Robin's as well, but I wanted to get his autograph. And I'm just talking to him, which was surreal. And then I'm saying you know, can I have your autograph?

R. Scott Edwards 11:30

I just want to kind of prove to people that we hung out. That's what Stoffer's saying.

Bob Stobener 11:32

We had a couple drinks. We wrote some songs together. So I'm telling him this and he laughs and he signs it To Bob great writing songs with you, john Sebastian which is very very cool.

R. Scott Edwards 11:44

That's so nice.

Bob Stobener 11:45

I mean, this is a guy that wrote Summer in the City with his brother, by the way.

R. Scott Edwards 11:49

But anyway, you know there's a little music history for you and that must have been cool. Speaking of musicians, you know Paul and Phil had the Christmas special every year and I would go and sometimes I hosted. I always brought a comic. A lot of times it was Bruce, but Huey Lewis was one of the acts that liked Paul and Phil and were there, did a couple of them and I was hanging out with Huey Lewis a few times. I mean, the people you meet when you're in the industry is is fascinating.

Graham Chapman's Final Tour

R. Scott Edwards 12:19

Now, I'm not starstruck. I've been around celebrities, you know, since I was young, so I rarely have any. The only time I wish I'd had a photo or an autograph was Robin Williams, but all the others it didn't mean anything. You know, oh, it's Boss Gags, oh it's it's, you know, pat Paulson or Tommy Smothers. You know I never was the type that, oh, I got to get a picture, I got to get an autograph and now that I'm older I regret some of not doing that. I mean I have the Tommy Chong. We should say that Cheech and Chong were huge, famous comedy act, lots of movies, and I got Tommy to the club twice and when he played and the audience had some weird cologne that smelled like the ganja.

Lynn Stobener 13:05

Oh yes, there was a little bit of pot in the room.

R. Scott Edwards 13:08

But he did Ear Ache my Eye their famous song from their album live on stage.

Bob Stobener 13:15

And I'll just you know I mean, I got goosebumps. I'll never forget that moment. That's pretty cool, yeah. So what's in the bag? Well, I'll bring that. I just want to bring up Graham Chapman once.

R. Scott Edwards 13:26

Oh.

Bob Stobener 13:26

That was our very last story, because, ladies and Chapman, once.

R. Scott Edwards 13:29

Oh, there's a very last story, because, ladies and gentlemen, go to the Googler and put in Graham Chapman, and here's why.

Bob Stobener 13:32

So we're all huge Monty Python fans, I mean, I think certainly everybody who owned the club was I know where. Morning, morning, yeah, everybody's. Monty Python fan and and Graham was doing a tour I'm not dead Celebrating his not being dead yet, because unfortunately he did have cancer and he died shortly thereafter, but he was just wonderful, we were one of his last gigs. He was such a wonderful person and he was so gracious to do the show and it was really special. He wasn't even coming in as a comic.

Lynn Stobener 14:05

No, it was more of a sit-down storyteller.

R. Scott Edwards 14:08

Yeah, it was almost like a for us it was like having one of the masters of movie comedies. You know they did Monty Python and search for the Holy grail and some other just amazing movies. And of course he and his troop, Monty Python, were behind faulty towers, which was a long running famous comedy show in England with John Cleese and many others. But what Bob's leading up to is that we booked him really because we were such huge fans and instead of doing a comedy set, it was more of a lecture of and it was amazing.

Lynn Stobener 14:44

It was a TED Talk before TED had talks.

Bob Stobener 14:46

It was he was the original Ted.

R. Scott Edwards 14:48

He talked about hanging out with the Rolling Stones, the Beatles. He was name dropping right and left. It was amazing.

Bob Stobener 14:55

We even got some. I remember getting some audience complaints because, well, he's not funny, you know, but it's like we don't care Where's the stand up. This is not a comedy show tonight and it was just great to have him there.

R. Scott Edwards 15:07

Very, very, you know the people that came to see Graham Chapman from Monty Python were absolutely blown away, and he did a little bit of a bit of business towards the end of the act.

Bob Stobener 15:19

I mean, he did something. It wasn't, but it was more about his experience. I remember well his he, what he's. He was celebrating his. What was he doing? Dropping out of airplanes, something with Skydiving Skydiving, wasn't that?

Lynn Stobener 15:32

it, he was celebrating skydiving.

Bob Stobener 15:34

It was something he was doing personally that he was very excited about and he wanted to communicate that Well, he was dying he knew he had cancer. Yes, no, this was not part of the show. The skydiving part.

R. Scott Edwards 15:46

But he knew he was going to. You know, he didn't have long for the world and one of his bucket list was to skydive. It was right, yeah, and that was what had him, but he was also kind of doing a tour it was almost like a farewell tour, without telling everybody that he was sick.

Bob Stobener 16:02

But he really wanted to talk about skydiving.

R. Scott Edwards 16:04

Yeah, it's my memory. Well, that was a backstage thing, he didn't do it on stage, but that's a personal moment you were able to have with him because we own the comedy club and, as Bob mentioned, we had amazing magical moments with Graham Chapman from England and Monty Python, but about six weeks I mean very closely after he worked for us, he did pass, yeah, and it was just so great that we had a chance to do that, and this may be a horrible timing, but what I love about this podcast is that we get a chance to reconnect with the people that we work with, and I had a chance to do a really nice interview with Amazing Jonathan, who was a terrific magician out of Las Vegas and sadly he passed away just a few months later.

R. Scott Edwards 16:55

And yet I have this great interview that I get to share with the public, with his story, which was amazing in itself.

Lynn Stobener 17:02

There's a great documentary about him that I cannot remember the name about.

R. Scott Edwards 17:05

Yeah, and he talks about that in the podcast. So I didn't mean to go sidetrack on death and comedy, but we've had so many great opportunities to interact with people that are no longer with us, sadly. But we have those memories and, thanks to now this podcast, there's a way to celebrate and save it, and so thanks for sharing the Graham Chapman story.

Bob Stobener 17:27

Yeah, it was fantastic, it was great experiences.

Diving into Memorabilia

R. Scott Edwards 17:30

We've been pulling ideas out of the Graham Chapman story. Yeah, yeah, it was fantastic. It was great experiences We've been doing pulling ideas out of the hat, excuse me, scott, who's hosting the show today.

Bob Stobener 17:36

Oh snap, oh boy, all right, so hopefully we still have an audience and there's still people here. What I've done is I've brought today a couple sacks of old things that we had back at laughs, and let me now this is going to do you listeners at home no good, because you can't see any of this, but what I'm? Going to try what we're going to actually try to get is the honest reaction reaction yes of lynn and scott to seeing this stuff that they haven't seen in a long time.

Bob Stobener 18:05

So I'll ask you to remove your remove your drinks from the desk, please, so that we don't have any accidents. Thank you very much.

R. Scott Edwards 18:12

While you're getting to pull stuff out of this magic box that you've saved. I want to explain to the audience that Bob Stobiner is not only my terrific friend and longtime partner in many companies.

Lynn Stobener 18:26

He's a hoarder.

R. Scott Edwards 18:27

He's a hoarder. He's a hoarder, but he was also a graphic artist and did all my marketing and advertising for all of the businesses, but especially the comedy club, and what he's generously brought to today's studio recording looks to be a box of memorabilia that I have not gone through or seen. So it's your show. Well, why don't you? You don't want to pull stuff out and present it.

Bob Stobener 18:53

Should we be wearing gloves? No, it's not that.

R. Scott Edwards 18:57

It's that he's pulling stuff out of the bag.

Lynn Stobener 19:00

Bumper sticker.

R. Scott Edwards 19:02

Right on top is our old bumper sticker. Our logo Laughs Unlimited and the motto was laugh if you've been there. We gave away thousands of these.

Lynn Stobener 19:13

What is the? What is the first memory you have when you see this?

R. Scott Edwards 19:18

am I the laugh mobile? But what do you think?

Lynn Stobener 19:21

you the promotion that you used to say bring in your car, bring in your bumper, with the sun, you'll get in free, and a actually actually took the bumper off his car and brought it in.

R. Scott Edwards 19:31

No, I didn't remember that.

Lynn Stobener 19:33

Seriously.

R. Scott Edwards 19:33

Yeah, we have a bumper for a while we used to do this promo called t-shirt Tuesday, where we made up t-shirts that had our logo all over them and it said I got this t-shirt but I get in free at the club. And it was a big advertising thing, but we sold them and then the people got in free on Tuesday nights and so we did wacky promotions like that. And what Lynn's explaining is we had these bumper stickers and if you brought your car in or your bumper in with the sticker, you got in free and apparently somebody did it. I don't remember that, lynn.

Lynn Stobener 20:03

I do remember.

R. Scott Edwards 20:03

I'm sorry, I'm reading yeah, now we're all looking at the stuff.

Bob Stobener 20:07

This is going to be a wonderful editing opportunity for Scott oh by the way you know what I'm holding.

R. Scott Edwards 20:12

I'm holding an actual theater ticket from one of our early concerts at the Community Center Theater.

Lynn Stobener 20:18

Yes, we did three or four of them. Three or four, three of them.

R. Scott Edwards 20:21

Yeah, where we sold out all but one, and that one was close to sold out. But we had Jay Leno, yakov Smirnoff, jerry Seinfeld, paula Poundstone, we had some Dana Carvey. We had some amazing acts that we did in concert at the local theater.

Lynn Stobener 20:38

That's cool to see. Yeah, wow.

R. Scott Edwards 20:39

Yeah, what do you have, lynn?

Lynn Stobener 20:40

I have a. I got a autograph of Dana Carvey saying too, bob, remember always, risk is fun.

R. Scott Edwards 20:48

Oh, risk and game board.

Bob Stobener 20:50

Just like bowling, we would invite the guys over to play Risk. On Sundays, usually there's the old reserved. You're going to have to edit a lot of this out, and so that's what that's referring to.

R. Scott Edwards 21:02

No, no, wait a minute, you cut yourself off. What he's talking about is we used to take the comics back to the condo and play risk, which was a board game that we used to love to play in high school, and Dana Carvey played with us once and then wrote an autograph to Bob saying how fun risk was. And then Bob's referencing I'm holding one of the original reserve signs. Of course, every club has to reserve tables for VIPs and stuff, so I'm actually holding one of the original 1980s version of a Laughs Unlimited reserved table sign and here is the liquor usage form.

Bob Stobener 21:38

Well, we're talking podcast and entertainment.

Lynn Stobener 21:41

I have a flyer headlining Dave Coulier, coulier, coulier. Before he changed it to Coulier that was not a typo. That was how he used to pronounce his name, and we also had opening the show special guest, which means you had yet to find someone.

R. Scott Edwards 21:59

Yeah, that's what that meant on the marketing. So what we're doing, folks, is we're going through the scraps of paper from back in the 80s and 90s and sharing them with you. I'm holding an actual ticket to the Art of Pasta, which was our family pasta restaurant across the alley from the comedy club for a special New Year's Eve party, which is kind of cool and it's from 1988.

Lynn Stobener 22:22

Wow, Our Laughs Unlimited. New Year's Eve shows were always great. They really were. We really lucked out.

R. Scott Edwards 22:30

One of my favorites from Full House, which was on the air. We had Bob Saget and Dave Collier together co-headlining for New Year's the fifth anniversary.

Lynn Stobener 22:40

How cool is that, God? How can I not remember that?

Bob Stobener 22:43

Oh God, that was huge. Here is you are cordially invited to an invitation to a champagne party to celebrate the grand opening of Laughs Unlimited. Thursday, august 7th 1980 at 5 pm.

Lynn Stobener 22:54

No way Was that the new club.

R. Scott Edwards 22:56

Can I see that?

Lynn Stobener 22:57

Or the original club. That's the original.

R. Scott Edwards 22:59

August 7th 1980. That's when we opened. I didn't even know we did these. I didn't know it either.

Bob Stobener 23:04

That's cool. Here's the. You're cordially invited to the grand opening of the magic hat.

R. Scott Edwards 23:09

Oh, the bar. Upstairs I'm holding the cover for what was called the laughs unlimited gift pack and we would put a number of free tickets in two for ones and it would value at about $40. And I think we sold them for $25 and people would buy them as Christmas gifts oh yeah, and give them to their family and friends. That is cool. Oh, here's one that's got all the tickets.

Bob Stobener 23:31

Yeah, that is cool. Do you have any stories about Jack Marion?

R. Scott Edwards 23:37

Jack Marion for everybody. It was a really funny comic. But back in the day, nowadays everybody drops F-bbs and and does stuff that's just stupid dirty, but back in the day there was a real art to doing what we called blue humor, and so that's when you're talking about sex or you know lady parts or you know doing it with animals, whatever and there was adults here and even though the comics might occasionally drop an f-bomb or do a dirty song, bob saget was famous for his uh risque songs.

R. Scott Edwards 24:14

There was one comic, jack marion. He had one album that came out. Remember, folks, albums were these 10 inches of plastic that you know, had songs, 12 inches. Well, here's is bigger. And jack marion had an album called real balls, volume two, and he had some of the funniest material, but it was, you know, it was always very sexual, but it was so funny and so well done and always funny and never included f-bombs, it was just he had very clever stuff very clever, it was blue it was about sex, but it was so good.

Bob Stobener 24:49

My our uncle and aunt, aunt barbara and uncle led um. They came to a laugh show and he was a headliner I do not remember that but they enjoyed the heck out of it. It was very funny. Uh, here's a good one.

R. Scott Edwards 25:02

Look at that oh cool, he's holding a ticket for our show starring Bobcat Goldquake and who was?

Lynn Stobener 25:10

one of their best friends, one of his best friends, who, really, jack Gallagher, jack and him are super we're super good friends. I think that's how you guys got on.

R. Scott Edwards 25:19

I saw Jack just the other day. He's doing some training here in Sacramento at the B Street Theater teaching comics.

Lynn Stobener 25:26

Jack training here in Sacramento at the B Street Theater teaching comics Jack Gallagher, very funny comic writer.

R. Scott Edwards 25:29

He's teaching comedy. Yeah, lives here in Sacramento, you can see it. So we tried everything. I'm holding something very special. This is a ticket to a lot of people don't know on the podcast. We produced three TV series. We did a one hour special for Fox and then we had a short run series with, I think, the ABC affiliate and one with the NBC affiliate. But we actually had to do special tickets and I'm holding a ticket for the show live at laughs unlimited that we sold people so they could be part of the TV audience. When we taped the KTXL channel 40 one-hour special. Here's the bad news it aired the same night as An Early Frost, which was a movie about being gay and Well, it was a very high-profile movie that got a lot of big ratings All the churches were telling everybody you had to watch because it was about AIDS.

R. Scott Edwards 26:24

It was the first real public movie and discussion about AIDS, and so that's the night our comedy show ran, or you can watch comedy.

Lynn Stobener 26:35

It didn't do as well as we hoped, did you say the churches were promoting that?

R. Scott Edwards 26:38

The churches were telling everybody that they had to watch it because AIDS was killing a lot of people at that time. This is the mid-'80s.

Lynn Stobener 26:47

Speaking of that past, here's an advertisement for it. It was the Wacky Person, you card.

Bob Stobener 26:53

Yep, there it is you.

R. Scott Edwards 26:55

Wacky Person. You Is that part of our membership club. Yeah, that was the membership club I'm holding a card with the cute little guy.

Lynn Stobener 27:02

My brother draws all that stuff. He's very talented.

Bob Stobener 27:03

That's a magic hat thing and it guy, my brother, draws all that stuff. He's very. That's a magic hat thing and it's blank. You know what it is. We had a magic store, I know, but that's a price tag.

R. Scott Edwards 27:09

That's a price tag for the magic store. We had a, a magic bar called the magic hat and then across the hall I had a magic store because I love magic, and bob uh put together all the marketing stuff. I'm holding a ticket to a new year show starring baby man bruce bomb. He's been heard on this podcast many times. Hilarious prop comic.

Bob Stobener 27:29

I don't remember this show.

R. Scott Edwards 27:30

I remember that, and it's at the community center.

Lynn Stobener 27:32

I don't remember it Because I remember her running off stage and finding out how much longer she could be on because of the union. It's like the show could not go past a minute past.

Bob Stobener 27:43

Like 10 o'clock or something.

Lynn Stobener 27:44

Yeah, something like that.

Bob Stobener 27:45

I mean, she had to wrap it up real quick who else was on the show?

R. Scott Edwards 27:48

Do you remember? Elaine Boosler, by the way, is one of the top comedians at the time.

Bob Stobener 27:52

The miss the dog tour that I don't may 21st, uh celebrating our 10th anniversary. This is 1990.

R. Scott Edwards 28:00

Um do you see this? Oh, that these are the actual plastic cards for you wacky you um admission cards as part of our club. Yeah, these are the proofs. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to take away from boozler. Boozler's a terrific comedian. Uh, look her up on youtube very, very funny.

Lynn Stobener 28:18

She's done a ton of tv uh here you know what also I don't remember, which is crazy. Uh well, I don't remember a lot of things, uh, but on the on our menu, that we call them like cow sandwich, which was hoppistromy, uh, bird sandwich, turkey. I don't remember pig and cheese. I don't remember us being witty with that way oh, we always came up with funny things.

R. Scott Edwards 28:41

Uh, in fact, are you, may I? All right, you, you're holding one of our original menus and here's what you have to hear, ladies and gentlemen, because no one of you will remember Thunderbird wine, but it was a wine. Old Sacramento used to be the home of a lot of winos. Back in the 70s and 60s it got converted into a tourist area, but it used to be just hobos and bums. Converted into a tourist area, but it used to be just hobos and bums. And Thunderbird is this really really cheap, awful wine that the bums would drink out of a brown paper bag? So what did we do? We sold it. So on our menu it says and don't forget to impress that special someone Thunderbird half bottle, served in a brown paper bag without drinking glasses, a dollar 38. Served in a brown paper bag without drinking glasses $1.38. It's right on the menu. That's hilarious.

Famous Comics and Forgotten Stars

R. Scott Edwards 29:30

Hey, I'm holding something very special I'd like to read to the audience, if you guys don't mind. It's a small baby card, like you're expecting, and it says I've been had, but I'm not the only one. It's handwritten. And then handwritten inside it says Dear Scott, patty, mac Fawn and Bob this is my way of saying Happy belated New Year's. Can't wait to return. Loved your flyer. I ate it. Thanks for being nice people, your pal Bob Saget. A personal note from Bob Saget. How cool is that? And then on the baby side it says by and he wrote sexual baby's name, he put bastard born. He put to be wild and wait till you return, wait until I return. Anyway, very creative, very nice and autographed or signed by Bob Saget, who gave this to us. Bob, thanks for sharing this stuff. This is amazing.

Bob Stobener 30:29

It's pretty fun to watch, to look at again.

Lynn Stobener 30:31

Okay, quiz show for the owners of Laughs Unlimited. Yes, in 1985, november 27, 1985, you had Jay Leno in concert. You produced a show. How much was the admission price?

R. Scott Edwards 30:50

$35.

Bob Stobener 30:52

Remember, this is a long time ago for uh jay leno, uh he's mumbling off, mike it wasn't. It wasn't 85.

Lynn Stobener 30:58

I want to think it says 1985 on this ticket.

Bob Stobener 31:02

It is an 85 oh, I thought you said it wasn't um. No, it was 85. I want to think $20?

Lynn Stobener 31:09

$12. Really what? No wonder you went out of business. I only charged $12. That's in the orchestra.

R. Scott Edwards 31:18

Jay Leno $12.

Lynn Stobener 31:20

Now everything is explained.

Bob Stobener 31:22

He was still an elevated nightclub comic. I mean he'd been on to Carson and stuff, but it wasn't like he had the Tonight Show or anything.

R. Scott Edwards 31:30

But still $12 to go to a big night. I mean, the Convention Center Theater cost us like $5,000 to rent. How many tickets do you have to sell at $12?

Bob Stobener 31:39

You never guess what.

R. Scott Edwards 31:40

I'm holding. Oh ladies and gentlemen, you have to see this.

Lynn Stobener 31:46

They're not going to see it.

R. Scott Edwards 31:47

It's a printed card that says we're getting hitched, announcing the wedding of Scott Edwards and Patty Badeau. February 14th, that's right, valentine's Day 1982. Ladies and gentlemen, you've heard it often mentioned my first wife. 18 months of marriage, 18 years of payments, and I married her on Valentine's day. So I would never forget my anniversary. After 18 months of marriage, I can't forget that bitch.

R. Scott Edwards 32:21

No, I'm kidding, I love Patty. We've been divorced like 30 something years. She, we still talk, we're good friends. But it was a difficult time for Scotty back in. Well, 82 was fine by 83, 84, life got very challenging.

Bob Stobener 32:39

But that's interesting.

R. Scott Edwards 32:41

This is the wedding announcement.

Bob Stobener 32:42

That's the wedding announcement.

R. Scott Edwards 32:43

Wow.

Bob Stobener 32:43

I think we've lost all the audience by now. Right, I'm sorry folks, so it doesn't really matter.

R. Scott Edwards 32:47

This is fun for us. I don't know if we're explaining it enough. We're going through a box.

Lynn Stobener 32:51

This is going to get you over 24 listeners.

R. Scott Edwards 32:54

Lots of paraphernalia. I'm holding a flyer promoting Jerry Seinfeld and the funny boys, a great Hollywood comedy team that ended up doing some TV and movies. The funny boys were opening for Yakov Smirnoff. Oh my gosh, the feature act was Jerry Seinfeld. Oh, that's it.

Bob Stobener 33:14

That's the. That's funny, oh, no wait.

R. Scott Edwards 33:16

I don't know, but Is that a concert?

Bob Stobener 33:18

Oh, that's a concert. Yeah, I remember that that was at.

R. Scott Edwards 33:21

Wow, it just shows you. Yakov was an opening act, then a feature. These guys are big time pros did movies TV.

Lynn Stobener 33:29

Ferris Bueller.

R. Scott Edwards 33:30

Ferris Bueller. Yeah, I'm holding a ticket to see Harry Anderson at our club famous.

Lynn Stobener 33:37

One of the songs that was very popular at the time was take me down to a paradise city with. I just remember that song, oh.

R. Scott Edwards 33:45

Aunt Lynn is not a singer.

Bob Stobener 33:47

Oh, thank you, she is a singer.

R. Scott Edwards 33:48

Ladies and gentlemen, did you just say Aunt Lynn? No, aunt Lynn, ladies. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, no, aunt lynn. Ladies and gentlemen, take your seats.

Lynn Stobener 33:54

I have something shocking in my hand everybody that lives oh no, scott man, you keep saying there's special things in your hand something that will shock and amaze everybody listening in 2023.

R. Scott Edwards 34:11

This is our after the show drink specials menu. Are you sitting down?

Bob Stobener 34:17

You're okay.

R. Scott Edwards 34:18

Well, drinks in wine one dollar.

Bob Stobener 34:22

Oh boy.

R. Scott Edwards 34:23

And we're not. We're talking 10 ounces plus and draft beer. Draft beer, ladies and gentlemen, 50 cents.

Bob Stobener 34:31

Oh, my God.

R. Scott Edwards 34:33

You know what you pay for a draft beer or a glass of wine these days, oh my God, $1 and then $0.50 for beer. Wow, we had a really good after the show special.

Bob Stobener 34:44

We did, we did.

R. Scott Edwards 34:45

All right. Well, we don't want to bore the audience too much more Too late.

Bob Stobener 34:50

They're all gone, yeah, Anyway. Yes, it's been great to go over a few things. I just wanted to there was a couple other comics that we didn't really talk about and just to close it out. We shouldn't leave people off the list. We don't. Well, we don't want to leave people off the list. We're very inclusive here. I mean, there's a lot of famous people but knowns like that.

R. Scott Edwards 35:14

Well, surely, ellen, I just see one word, I just see Ellen, ellen, ellen.

Bob Stobener 35:16

DeGeneres had a show for a while. Yeah, she's very I like, I really she's an epicumber big fan of Ellen.

R. Scott Edwards 35:19

So back in the day before her fame and fortune, ellen was a just a regular comedian and she came through the club as a feature act. She only worked for us once for a whole week as the feature and I thought she was good. But she never came back because soon after she started getting some recognition started doing some of the talk shows and then, as we all know, a few years later got her own talk show and maybe you've heard of it she might have been the first female comic to uh have been called over by johnny carson to she might have.

R. Scott Edwards 35:51

Oh, really, Even though Elaine Boosler and all these others.

Lynn Stobener 35:57

Paula Poundstone. No, they were after her. We had.

R. Scott Edwards 36:00

Shirley Hemphill, who's an old actress, slash comic, who was on the TV show what's Happening. Way, way back in the day in the 70s she came through the club. Charles Fleischer, who was the voice of Roger Rabbit in all his movies, was uh, worked our club several times and he was a little nuts on stage, In fact, one time uh quirky offstage as well.

R. Scott Edwards 36:23

He actually interviews himself. He was supposed to do a radio interview. He ends up interviewing himself and I captured all that and shared it on one of my bonus shows. But Charles Fleischer very interesting guy, very talented on stage and worked for us a couple of times and then got famous with Roger Rabbit and working with Disney but just a few more of the people that came through the club that we had a chance to rub elbows with.

Bob Stobener 36:48

We met a lot of famous people and I think I said this on a previous episode, but I think it's even more memorable Some of the people that were, many of the people who are not famous, I mean overwhelming majority of people we never heard from again, but they were just really brilliant performers and it was great to hang with them.

R. Scott Edwards 37:05

Well, yeah, you were alluding to Jeremy Kramer, or even Bruce Baum never got famous. He did things like Hollywood.

Bob Stobener 37:14

Squares and he would have you know he was on many, he was on a lot of TV shows and TV specials, but he was on the Simpsons.

R. Scott Edwards 37:21

He was on the Simpsons as a character, yeah, which is pretty amazing. Yeah, you would think he was somewhat famous for that.

Bob Stobener 37:27

Well, I think he was inside famous. You know, Well, I think he was inside famous. He was known in the industry. Yeah right.

R. Scott Edwards 37:32

But, bob's right, we were really blessed to work with many, many people Tim Bedore, steve Bruner, mark Gaffey I could go on and on Jeff Jenna.

Lynn Stobener 37:42

Frank Prinze yeah, I'm going to start my own podcast. Where is Frank Prinze? That's all.

Bob Stobener 37:47

Where is Frank Prinze? Where is Frank Frank? Where?

Lynn Stobener 37:50

are you Frank?

R. Scott Edwards 37:51

Every week.

Bob Stobener 37:51

We want to talk.

R. Scott Edwards 37:53

We want to get together again. If you're listening to this and you know who and where Frank Prinzey is, reach out.

Bob Stobener 37:58

Mr Prinzey, I think we even have a set or two on video of Frank the great Frank Prinzey oh well then, maybe I really great. I guess we can close it out now officially.

R. Scott Edwards 38:11

Well, yeah, and thank you for to my audience, for being patient with, oh sorry, breaking the rule.

Bob Stobener 38:17

Do I have to put you back up in your closet? I'll do it. I'll stop. I'll turn this bus around.

Lynn Stobener 38:23

I thought he was down in the basement.

Bob Stobener 38:24

We want to thank everybody for coming joining us today along this little nostalgia route. I want to thank Scott for letting Lynn and I take over the show, and it's been great. It's been great, A lot of fun.

Lynn Stobener 38:38

Are we doing a children's party?

Bob Stobener 38:41

Scott, it's been a lot of fun.

Lynn Stobener 38:42

Thank you for letting us come in and taking this stroll down memory lane.

Bob Stobener 38:47

Memory lane.

R. Scott Edwards 38:48

And it really has been fun. I mean, not only are we like family and been through many, many adventures together, but this box that you brought and going through some of the stories from back in the day really reinforces the interesting life that we were able to lead because of Laughs Unlimited and some of the great friends that we made over the years of Laughs Unlimited and some of the great friends that we've made over the years. And I just want to thank my audience for being patient and going along with this trip of nostalgia.

R. Scott Edwards 39:18

A little selfish of us, but I think there's some good stories.

Bob Stobener 39:21

I also want to thank our partners Mac and Fawn and Patty and Rich and Millie and Paul Lear for his contributions.

R. Scott Edwards 39:29

Yeah, there's a lot of people, so many people that helped make.

Bob Stobener 39:32

LaSue, oh, you know.

R. Scott Edwards 39:35

Was such an important part.

Bob Stobener 39:37

My bride.

R. Scott Edwards 39:38

Jill, jill, of course, jill your wife, cassie Jesus.

Bob Stobener 39:42

Christ, jill and Cassie. Well, I'm sorry, I did not mean to not mention Jill and Cassie, but I'm talking about when we were actually putting up the walls to get it started? Yeah, but there was other people. Ben Toney was around a lot.

R. Scott Edwards 39:56

And Mary the waitress and Patty Sewell and Sherry Morissette. I mean there were people that worked with us side by side for over a decade that helped make Laughs Unlimited the success it was helped make Laughs Unlimited the success it was. Yeah, it was me and my partners, like Bob Mac and Richie Lynn, who was not only a terrific employee and brought in lots of people, but a really funny comedian. In fact we mentioned Ellen. We should give a plug, even though Ellen only worked my club once she went on to Fame and Fortune and started touring as a concert comedian. Lynn opened for her in concert right Again, she closed for me.

R. Scott Edwards 40:38

That's the correct terminology, I believe. Do you remember what year or where it was? 86, 87.

Lynn Stobener 40:43

It was at UOP the University of the Pacific. No, I don't remember I'm so between 80 and 90.

R. Scott Edwards 40:50

Well, my point of bringing it up is that you are not only like a sister and so so important to the clubs and all the businesses, but you are such a terrific master of ceremonies and comedian it we had so much fun over the years and I'm wearing your glasses. We had so much fun over the years and I'm wearing your glasses. Oh, didn't even notice and it was just you know. And it's fun to have you on the podcast because you always bring your sense of humor. And Bob, I have to say for those listening, the host for today's show is Bob Stobiner.

Appreciating Everyone Involved

R. Scott Edwards 41:25

But not only was he my best friend and early partner and first best man at my first wedding, but, yes, there's been more than one. He was my partner in a couple other businesses and a good friend since high school, but has been made clear in this weird reminiscent podcast as a graphic artist, as a humorist and as a terrific guy. You emceed shows, you ran some of my clubs and restaurants. You were always there working with me, side by side on the TV shows and radio programs. And artists, your art. There's a whole box of Bob's talent right next to us that put us on the map and made us a success. So for Lynn and Bob, who to me are family, thank you.

Bob Stobener 42:16

Yeah, well, thank you. And, most importantly, I want to thank Cassie and Jill, the most important people. You're afraid to get into trouble, aren't?

R. Scott Edwards 42:26

you.

Bob Stobener 42:27

I'm sorry, I'm really backpedaling here. Well, no, but it's true, it's true because I met my wife through Laughs Unlimited Cassie, the love of my life.

Lynn Stobener 42:37

And two amazing children that I'm the godfather of, and you met your wife because Carrie and I play basketball at the same time. That's right and Carrie worked at the Art of Puzzle I mean yes, we used all of our family, yeah, and even.

R. Scott Edwards 42:52

Jill, my bride, came to work at like 1920 because she fit the jacket. We had the Brady Bunch, we had the girls in white tuxedo jackets to serve food and to seat the people. We were somebody quit.

Lynn Stobener 43:07

It was the first person to quit.

R. Scott Edwards 43:09

First person to quit and Jill shows up with a friend and Lynn's first question to her, I think something was like uh, what size are you? Something like that.

Lynn Stobener 43:19

Yeah, no, I remember it, cause I remember I was in the bar and Pam had just gave a notice and Natalie came in and Natalie bought Jill in and when I talk I was telling her about needing to find someone and Jill seemed interested in my what size and the long story short is she fit the jacket.

R. Scott Edwards 43:39

She ended up being a hostess, then she became a head of the kitchen, then she became a one of our best bartenders for years. Then she ended up running one of my restaurants, oh, and somewhere in there I got divorced, was single for many years.

Lynn Stobener 43:54

Your starter marriage.

R. Scott Edwards 44:00

Yeah, my starter marriage and then we got together and we've now been married like 24 years and we've been together like 35 years. But it is all really the focus of all this, the crucible of all this life. Excitement was, laughs unlimited. All these people came together to make something that was nothing into something special and we were all a part of it and I just am so appreciative.

Bob Stobener 44:24

And after we opened in 1980, so it'll be 43 years today. I and nobody in town talks about this. But laughs unlimited is still running, still successful. It is the it has to be the longest running continuing entertainment, live entertainment platform in the city. Go, go out and see some comedy folks wherever you may find it.

R. Scott Edwards 44:45

Yeah, stand-up comedy is always better live, yep.

Bob Stobener 44:48

And I think that does it for us.

R. Scott Edwards 44:50

Yeah, you know it's kind of weird we were having so much fun and going through so much nostalgia.

Lynn Stobener 44:54

I'm going to slice my wrists. I'll be right back.

R. Scott Edwards 44:56

He ended on kind of a serious note, but I did want to show on this podcast my appreciation for all the people involved. Oh God, I have to mention one other person that was very important to the club and for some reason hasn't been mentioned. Chris braun did so much for the club. She helped run some of the restaurants. She helped run the club at times chris, chris braun. Uh, if you're out there and you happen to hear this, you're not forgotten. You were just well set aside for a minute thinking of chris.

Bob Stobener 45:26

How about chris? I mean chris andrews, one of our, and and Bob Melody, our bartenders. Yeah, you know, you mentioned.

R. Scott Edwards 45:32

Rich Giannichini and Jim McCandless are in our world. Mac yeah, there was a lot of guys that we went to high school with that ended up working at the club. Chris Andrus almost got arrested by ABC because he was fooling around with his end girlfriend, soon to be wife, and he's sold a drink to an underage agent.

Bob Stobener 45:49

That was fun. That was little boy of the comedy. What else yeah?

R. Scott Edwards 45:54

Bob Melody. He was a bartender.

Bob Stobener 45:56

You had a lot of friends that worked the laughs I did.

R. Scott Edwards 45:59

Oh yeah, we couldn't have done it without you.

Bob Stobener 46:00

You know there's just too many people. We're going to miss somebody. I'm afraid I'm going through my head.

R. Scott Edwards 46:07

No, okay, we can't name every employee. My brother stole money and stole cigarettes.

Bob Stobener 46:13

That's another story. Okay all right. Well, that's another podcast.

R. Scott Edwards 46:17

There we go.

Lynn Stobener 46:19

We've gone way too long, but ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being patient and if you're still, listening.

R. Scott Edwards 46:24

Wow, yeah, do that. Okay, all right, you're the host, take it away.

Bob Stobener 46:27

Okay, everyone, thank you so much for listening and come back again and listen to us soon.

Lynn Stobener 46:32

Alright, and don't forget, if you're a 29th caller, call us now you might win $5,000.

R. Scott Edwards 46:36

She's kidding folks.

Lynn Stobener 46:38

You probably won't. Bye, goodbye, bye now.

Bob Stobener 46:43

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Stand Up Comedy your host and MC. For information on the show, merchandise and our sponsors, or to send comments to Scott, visit our website at wwwstandupyourhostandmccom. Look for more episodes soon and enjoy the world of stand-up comedy. Visit a comedy showroom near you.