I watched Spalding perform this monologue in a church on Martha's Vineyard in the summer of 1989. I already was a big fan of it, but never imagined that I'd catch a live version. It was all completely serendipitous. We were on the island for a completely unrelated reason, and learned of the show by accident.
I miss Spalding Gray so much. One of the best monologists out there. Swimming to Cambodia and Monster in a Box are beyond brilliant. I love his books too... Sex and Death Before the Age of 14 ... come on, to write about things like "the summer I dated my mother", and filming the killing fields of Cambodia while drinking beer with a South African unafraid of swimming with sharks -- and being a comedian? He was one of a kind.
He did a show at my university, and I saw him after the show, and I don't remember why, but I had this anger at him as some kind of a... not a sell-out because I didn't believe in that, but I had an antipathy to him. As I walked by, I gave him a steel look, and I was a young guy, not big but ripped and strong, and a bit crazy, and I just gave him a look like I would tear him up (and at that time, I had all that in me). He looked back at me (I was within arm's length of him, so he was just right there), and he looked at me in a troubling way. I am not proud of it, and I didn't even know at the time what I was so angry about, probably that I didn't have money to even see his show, and I saw him as a rich guy or something. Anyway, later, I saw his shows, and I still regret not just trying to go talk to him, especially given how similar some of our takes are on things. I tell this as a story of shame, not as something I am proud of.
Saw you in Santa Rosa CA. not long before your passing. You accidentally knocked over your glass of water. Then in one movement swept everything off your desk with your right forearm - endearing you more to the entire audience. RIP SPALDING GRAY. 🌹✌️🌹✌️🌹
Thank you for posting this! I taped it off HBO many, many years ago, and my tape is long gone. This is still a wonderful monologue, and it still has my favorite lines "You can change the house, but you can't change the location." Thank you thank you thank you!
I don't own the rights to the movie either, however I do own the cabin. The original furnace is still in the attic, the foundation is sinking even further. I watched this movie before closing and I still went through with the purchase. It is one of the best things I have done. As per Spalding Gray: There is a sucker born everyday.
My father had that cabin built for us. Thanks for posting this. I loved that place, tilting foundation and all. We spent many wonderful Summers there. He's right about that porch, it was wonderful on a Sunday morning, to have a full egg and bacon breakfast out there that my Mom had lovingly prepared... And the creek across the street was the best! Caught my first trout there. So Mr. Gray had some of it right, but he never got the spirit of that little cabin. So sad a talented artist like himself jumped from the Staten Island Ferry years later. Talented as he was he would never understand or see, the magic of that little cabin through the eyes of a child. Those Summers in that crooked little cabin helped shape my life and gave me an appreciation of nature that I can only thank my Father for. It IS the location after all, and now that you have heard from one the cabin's original family members, consider yourself blessed. Without Mr. Gray's crazy lampooning of my Father and that house, you would never know it's real story. Now you know. Hope it helps when the furnace breaks or you can't open the windows in the Winter;-) It settled you know;-)
joanne roscodog So, were you one of the 3 daughters? No way to substantiate really. You're either authentic or a delusional Spalding Gray fan. Just curious.
joanne roscodog I'm actually a Ma'am not a Sir. Cool story. Thanks for elaborating. Didn't mean offense, but on the internet people can make all sorts of claims. Pretty special to have this really cool one hour show that relates to you so personally.
***** hi Jo, your reply is under the Windensky post. I did however attempt to delete mine to you. A little too revealing in retrospect. But I must admit I still enjoyed rereading my own description of the fishing rock. Some memories can never be tainted. And there are so many attached to this sweet little cabin. I do have my father to thank for that. Since you are a daughter, as you have revealed, you might understand...all or some of this. Thx.. RIP Spaulding and Johnny Delfrado.
This was my introduction to Spalding back in '88 watching HBO at 2am -long before there was such a thing as "on demand". I became an instant fan, later catching many of his live performances up until he left us...Most fans don't -but I happen to love the exteriors in this-the Johnny Delfredo stuff is priceless!
This monologue (in part about the absurdities of show business) ironically shows the influence of the absurdities of show business. I imagine Spalding getting frustrated, then calculating the income from this special, then offering his own input on the inserts: “I think I need to rip the comforter off to reveal that I’m sleeping in the nude.” HBO exec: “Maybe…”
Still miss Spalding Gray. Can't believe I've never seen this, and I'm watching it on my phone in my own Catskills cottage with separate rooms, my favorite of these turns out to be the porch. I relate to so much of it.
Circa 1987, I taped this off of HBO onto VHS videotape. I had set my VCR on a timer. I screwed up the timing and the machine shut itself off five minutes before the program ended. 35 years later, I finally got to see the end. Thank you for posting!
I also bout a ho;use in the Catskills and can attest to the authenticity of this remarkable story. While the living here is very, very different from the city, you can't beat the mountains and the wonderful hiking and climbing, and the winters are particularly satisfying. RIP Spalding
I'm trying to buy a house right now and I remembered this great monologue. So funny and so comforting that the experience often feels ridiculous and frustrating, regardless of the circumstances.
Thanks for putting this up! I have the HBO VHS, but it has copy protection that my video converter can't beat. I'm so glad to watch this again without dragging out a VCR.
Thanks for posting. It's a pity that in post production cutouts and music were inserted. Did they think they were helping Spalding? The beauty his Spalding's performances was its simplicity. He created all the images we needed with words and words along.
I feel conflicted about the cutaway shots. Yes, HBO execs in the 1980s did not trust Spalding’s words or its audience to let the lecture do its full work. But some of the cutaways are so daft that they transcend the cheesiness of the move. Spald himself uses visual aids in the monologue, but then again there is an intimacy to the way those aids are used in the theater, like when he changes his shirt.
@@Thedrunkenodyssey Yeah, they kind of go against the whole idea of "monologue", and it's kind of insulting that HBO assumed we have the attention span of a gnat, but 35 years later that shot of Delredo hanging up the phone still makes me laugh out loud. I'm just glad subsequent directors "got" what he was doing
@@jonahfalcon1970 There is a "Sonya Live " interview from '88 promoting the HBO special-where Spalding talks about the exteriors and clearly seems proud of them, having used alot of the real life people and their real names -judging by this interview it does not appear to be post production creative license by HBO.
If you watch the documentary about Spalding made after his death at the end there is a old home video of him talking to his father. His father asks him what he's going to do with the cabin and he mentions the foundation problem lol.
I get it, Spald. One day this stuff that fuels you, that shakes the crap out of everyone, yes, but has been pretty good to you-that material called Life-one day it’s really really real. It’s everything. It’s so insignificant. What do you do?
I remember seeing this on PBS, not HBO. But the older I get, the more I doubt what I always believed was a steel trap memory. Maybe I should do a monologue on it.
I remember watching this on HBO back in the late 80s. I loved that Johnny Delfredo character and the weird chimney sweep guy. My favorite parts are 16:12 (Delfredo popping his heart pills) and 29:15 (snapping Sweep)
the rajnishes we're working on making a deal with my uncle on an island in Washington State to buy his portion of my family farm in which I lived on another portion of it. the city found out and chased them out. gentrification was going on Hardcore on that island. it would have been Sweet Revenge if they knocked on my door.
The Drunken Odyssey I bought the official HBO video release. And why is there no sound at the end, missing the whole singing of "House built on a bad foundation, will not stand, oh no, oh no"?
Bill Hader did the unimaginable. He truly understood the complexity, awe and nuance of Spalding Gray. Bill did us Spaulding Gray fans proud. RIP Spaulding Gray.
@@Thedrunkenodyssey Sorry, I'm a foreigner and no-one owns guns where I come from. He probably bought it to deal with the noisy neighbour upstairs. Thanks for the upload btw
@@drparnassus2867 If the gun isn't specific foreshadowing, it might suggest the dark thoughts anyway. Then again, maybe the director threw it into the drawer.
@@Thedrunkenodyssey I think he used these anecdotes to stave off the darkness. When people found humor in his misadventures is what gave him the fuel to continue on. That stifling of his storytelling via the car accident at the end of his life I think is what made him suicidal.
I hate living in a world without Spalding, but at least he was spared the last 8 years.
I think about how much water played into his stories. He drowned himself.
I watched Spalding perform this monologue in a church on Martha's Vineyard in the summer of 1989. I already was a big fan of it, but never imagined that I'd catch a live version. It was all completely serendipitous. We were on the island for a completely unrelated reason, and learned of the show by accident.
I think I hear the tiny dutchmen in the radiator pipes...
Thats why i am here
Oh god dammit, yeah that's why I'm here too.
I miss Spalding Gray so much. One of the best monologists out there. Swimming to Cambodia and Monster in a Box are beyond brilliant. I love his books too... Sex and Death Before the Age of 14 ... come on, to write about things like "the summer I dated my mother", and filming the killing fields of Cambodia while drinking beer with a South African unafraid of swimming with sharks -- and being a comedian? He was one of a kind.
He did a show at my university, and I saw him after the show, and I don't remember why, but I had this anger at him as some kind of a... not a sell-out because I didn't believe in that, but I had an antipathy to him. As I walked by, I gave him a steel look, and I was a young guy, not big but ripped and strong, and a bit crazy, and I just gave him a look like I would tear him up (and at that time, I had all that in me). He looked back at me (I was within arm's length of him, so he was just right there), and he looked at me in a troubling way.
I am not proud of it, and I didn't even know at the time what I was so angry about, probably that I didn't have money to even see his show, and I saw him as a rich guy or something.
Anyway, later, I saw his shows, and I still regret not just trying to go talk to him, especially given how similar some of our takes are on things. I tell this as a story of shame, not as something I am proud of.
Saw you in Santa Rosa CA. not long before your passing. You accidentally knocked over your glass of water. Then in one movement swept everything off your desk with your right forearm - endearing you more to the entire audience.
RIP SPALDING GRAY.
🌹✌️🌹✌️🌹
Thank you for posting this! I taped it off HBO many, many years ago, and my tape is long gone. This is still a wonderful monologue, and it still has my favorite lines "You can change the house, but you can't change the location." Thank you thank you thank you!
I don't own the rights to the movie either, however I do own the cabin.
The original furnace is still in the attic, the foundation is sinking even further.
I watched this movie before closing and I still went through with the purchase.
It is one of the best things I have done.
As per Spalding Gray: There is a sucker born everyday.
My father had that cabin built for us. Thanks for posting this. I loved that place, tilting foundation and all. We spent many wonderful Summers there. He's right about that porch, it was wonderful on a Sunday morning, to have a full egg and bacon breakfast out there that my Mom had lovingly prepared... And the creek across the street was the best! Caught my first trout there. So Mr. Gray had some of it right, but he never got the spirit of that little cabin. So sad a talented artist like himself jumped from the Staten Island Ferry years later. Talented as he was he would never understand or see, the magic of that little cabin through the eyes of a child. Those Summers in that crooked little cabin helped shape my life and gave me an appreciation of nature that I can only thank my Father for. It IS the location after all, and now that you have heard from one the cabin's original family members, consider yourself blessed. Without Mr. Gray's crazy lampooning of my Father and that house, you would never know it's real story. Now you know. Hope it helps when the furnace breaks or you can't open the windows in the Winter;-) It settled you know;-)
joanne roscodog
So, were you one of the 3 daughters? No way to substantiate really. You're either authentic or a delusional Spalding Gray fan. Just curious.
joanne roscodog
I'm actually a Ma'am not a Sir. Cool story. Thanks for elaborating. Didn't mean offense, but on the internet people can make all sorts of claims. Pretty special to have this really cool one hour show that relates to you so personally.
***** hi Jo, your reply is under the Windensky post. I did however attempt to delete mine to you. A little too revealing in retrospect. But I must admit I still enjoyed rereading my own description of the fishing rock. Some memories can never be tainted. And there are so many attached to this sweet little cabin. I do have my father to thank for that. Since you are a daughter, as you have revealed, you might understand...all or some of this. Thx.. RIP Spaulding and Johnny Delfrado.
Do you rent it out? Do you have pics you can share. That would be amazing.
This was my introduction to Spalding back in '88 watching HBO at 2am -long before there was such a thing as "on demand". I became an instant fan, later catching many of his live performances up until he left us...Most fans don't -but I happen to love the exteriors in this-the Johnny Delfredo stuff is priceless!
This monologue (in part about the absurdities of show business) ironically shows the influence of the absurdities of show business. I imagine Spalding getting frustrated, then calculating the income from this special, then offering his own input on the inserts: “I think I need to rip the comforter off to reveal that I’m sleeping in the nude.” HBO exec: “Maybe…”
Still miss Spalding Gray.
Can't believe I've never seen this, and I'm watching it on my phone in my own Catskills cottage with separate rooms, my favorite of these turns out to be the porch. I relate to so much of it.
You sir, are a GOD! I've had this on VHS forever, but was never able to get it transferred due to macrovision.
Very welcome.
@@Thedrunkenodyssey I still want "House built on a weak foundation, will not stand oh, no, oh no!"
Circa 1987, I taped this off of HBO onto VHS videotape. I had set my VCR on a timer. I screwed up the timing and the machine shut itself off five minutes before the program ended. 35 years later, I finally got to see the end. Thank you for posting!
I also bout a ho;use in the Catskills and can attest to the authenticity of this remarkable story. While the living here is very, very different from the city, you can't beat the mountains and the wonderful hiking and climbing, and the winters are particularly satisfying. RIP Spalding
I am watching this now!! This is hidden treasure! The highest value. Perfect timing to find this. Thank you!!!
My favorite part is when Johnny says no one is trying to take advantage of him and he pantomimes with his mouth "Oh, no?"
FINALLY! Thank you for posting!
I saw him do this in San Franciso in the 80s. Wonderful stuff.
Thanks - been looking for a copy of this for so long was a favorite of men when it came out
This is a favorite of many men... wonam too.
“The stuff you did on that video…you could never repeat it” 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I'm glad I can watch this again
I'm trying to buy a house right now and I remembered this great monologue. So funny and so comforting that the experience often feels ridiculous and frustrating, regardless of the circumstances.
May your luck be better than his.
"The little house that cried" so funny!!
Love this man. He speaks my language.
This is amazing! I just finished listening to the album five minutes ago! Thanks for preserving this.
The album is a slightly different version. I love 'em both.
@@Thedrunkenodyssey back when howl.fm was a thing they had a TON of unreleased SG monologues, one of which was (yet another!) version of ToP!
Thanks for putting this up! I have the HBO VHS, but it has copy protection that my video converter can't beat. I'm so glad to watch this again without dragging out a VCR.
You are a fucking God!!! Thank you for posting the funniest thing I have ever seen. I have looked for this for the last 30 years.
First time I have seen this, and so my problems...moving a 101 year old one room schoolhouse 250 miles across Texas to my daughter's ranch
Thanks for posting. It's a pity that in post production cutouts and music were inserted. Did they think they were helping Spalding? The beauty his Spalding's performances was its simplicity. He created all the images we needed with words and words along.
I feel conflicted about the cutaway shots. Yes, HBO execs in the 1980s did not trust Spalding’s words or its audience to let the lecture do its full work.
But some of the cutaways are so daft that they transcend the cheesiness of the move. Spald himself uses visual aids in the monologue, but then again there is an intimacy to the way those aids are used in the theater, like when he changes his shirt.
@@Thedrunkenodyssey I love those inserts.
Also... full frontal nudity by Spalding.
@@Thedrunkenodyssey Yeah, they kind of go against the whole idea of "monologue", and it's kind of insulting that HBO assumed we have the attention span of a gnat, but 35 years later that shot of Delredo hanging up the phone still makes me laugh out loud. I'm just glad subsequent directors "got" what he was doing
@@jonahfalcon1970 There is a "Sonya Live " interview from '88 promoting the HBO special-where Spalding talks about the exteriors and clearly seems proud of them, having used alot of the real life people and their real names -judging by this interview it does not appear to be post production creative license by HBO.
Never seen this before, love it to bits. Great listening music while working.
You have my thanks, wonderful stranger.
This guy, funny as ever. Amazing.
great upload! I remember watching this on HBO many times back in the day. and I still remembered lines :) love it, thanks!
I hadn't seen that since the early 90's....laughed out loud! Thanks for posting!
Legend
If you watch the documentary about Spalding made after his death at the end there is a old home video of him talking to his father. His father asks him what he's going to do with the cabin and he mentions the foundation problem lol.
Genius
I get it, Spald. One day this stuff that fuels you, that shakes the crap out of everyone, yes, but has been pretty good to you-that material called Life-one day it’s really really real. It’s everything. It’s so insignificant. What do you do?
Thanks for sharing this 1!
I bought this very house,only in a different state. I am still here.I'm totally broke.
thank you so much for posting this - my only copy was on Beta, remember the players!
I remember seeing this on PBS, not HBO. But the older I get, the more I doubt what I always believed was a steel trap memory. Maybe I should do a monologue on it.
PBS showed Swimming to Cambodia.
"...that doesn't sound like something I'd say."
I remember watching this on HBO back in the late 80s. I loved that Johnny Delfredo character and the weird chimney sweep guy. My favorite parts are 16:12 (Delfredo popping his heart pills) and 29:15 (snapping Sweep)
As a teen, I thought he was so unfunny. I get you now, sir.
A guy talks about tubing like he’s never done it. Surely it’s as American as apple pie and [insert sport of choice].
love it! thanks for sharing :)
I still can't get over the fact he didn't marry Renée.
He did marry her, but only briefly.
My ex's name is Renee and I can identify.👍
the rajnishes we're working on making a deal with my uncle on an island in Washington State to buy his portion of my family farm in which I lived on another portion of it. the city found out and chased them out. gentrification was going on Hardcore on that island. it would have been Sweet Revenge if they knocked on my door.
"Scalding" Spalding Grey,the Delware Destroyer!
"So I bought the house."
Lol! If your facing the creek.. the flat fishing rock is to the right... funny
19:12 - 21:35 my favourite part
Much grass on the otherside! I AM PFYE!
I owned the VHS of this.
This came from a VHS tape I made from the HBO broadcast.
The Drunken Odyssey I bought the official HBO video release. And why is there no sound at the end, missing the whole singing of "House built on a bad foundation, will not stand, oh no, oh no"?
@@Thedrunkenodyssey Oh, PS. I'd originally taped it off HBO, too, but when I saw the lonely VHS just sitting there at KMart, I bought it.
@@jonahfalcon1970 UA-cam is laissez-faire when it comes to video, but meticulous when it comes to music copyright. I should have told you 7 years ago.
@@Thedrunkenodyssey The copyright is idiotic. Contest it, there is no "House built on a weak foundation". It's protected by parody.
Neat story
People would kill (not literally) for those 80 acres now.
if sheldon from bbt had 7 more dimensions as a character he still wldnt touch him but their is something
This is Dan Harmon’s Harmontown before harmontown.
you guys better check out the show "documentary now" they just did a killer SG tribute.
My girlfriend and I just watched that episode of Documentary Now. It was Perfect!!
I watched it, too, and was amazed how much they captured of him. I was a bit worried that they wd mock him but they didnt.
Bill Hader did the unimaginable. He truly understood the complexity, awe and nuance of Spalding Gray. Bill did us Spaulding Gray fans proud. RIP Spaulding Gray.
Miss him
HE CRACKED ME.UP!!
Haidresser, not florist, in audio version.
Where can I watch Swimming to Cambodia" again? Says Amazon Prime but nope. Says Netflix, nope. Help me please! I need a fix!! Thank you!
Check out his amazing SWIMMING TO CAMBODIA (anti-war) piece directed by J. Demme... There is a 5 min trailer on UA-cam.
Yes, that's a great one. Wish I could watch it on UA-cam for free. Pity.
eek a rusty saw tetnus mr
10:17 Is it me or is the gun in his desk drawer a bit eerie? Benefit of hindsight, I guess
Good eye, but Spaulding Gray didn't take his life with a gun.
@@Thedrunkenodyssey Sorry, I'm a foreigner and no-one owns guns where I come from. He probably bought it to deal with the noisy neighbour upstairs. Thanks for the upload btw
@@drparnassus2867 If the gun isn't specific foreshadowing, it might suggest the dark thoughts anyway. Then again, maybe the director threw it into the drawer.
@@Thedrunkenodyssey
I think he used these anecdotes to stave off the darkness. When people found humor in his misadventures is what gave him the fuel to continue on. That stifling of his storytelling via the car accident at the end of his life I think is what made him suicidal.
💗✍✍💗
🙏🏽💯❤️🤣
Ze frank
yup :)
This was about as entertaining as a child's funeral.
Perhaps a more entertaining funeral if you were being laid to rest.
🤦🏼♂️
It's ok if you don't get it. 👍
zzzzzzzzzz boring
This guy stinks