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Remember those days when the weather caster was more than just a forecast when they were a friend, a comedian, a storyteller?

LA's beloved weather caster is in his second act, creating a sanctuary of laughter, a balm for our soul.

We're not just here to laugh, hurt.

Here to heal.

Tonight.

Join the ultimate comedy support group at the El Patel Theater in North Hollywood, where we bring the show right into your living room.

I'm so happy you're joining us from Los Angeles.

This is KLCS.

PBS.

Welcome to everybody.

With Angela Williamson and Innovation, Arts, Education and public affairs program.

Everybody with Angela Williamson is made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

I'm retired and I've been retired for three years, and I'm loving my retirement, but I've changed I've gotten lazy.

Really.

It disturbs me about myself.

I don't want to cook dinner tonight.

I don't even want to go out for dinner tonight.

I don't want to do anything where I have to undo the seatbelt on my recliner.

Let's just order our favorite sushi from DoorDash.

It'll only cost $1,000, but we have to walk to the front door.

I don't want to shop in the mall anymore.

When you buy things at the mall, the more you have to carry everything back to the car.

I don't want to carry things.

I want people to carry things to me.

I want Amazon to bring me whatever I need every day for the rest of my life.

I'm going to burn through so much waste in cardboard packaging material with Amazon that I single handedly increase global warming by three degrees.

I want all the porch pirates in my neighborhood to call my house.

"The catch of the day. "

I have Amazon Prime.

Do you know what that means?

If I wanted to, I could have a mail order bride in 24 hours.

Fritz Coleman is our guest.

Fritz!

Yes.

Wow.

You have this entire program coming right to everyone in your backyard where you've been since 1980.

But me.

But before we start that our audience would like to get to know the real Fritz.

We've seen the Fritz on TV.

But as I've learned recently, I said, this was your second act, but it really isn't your second act.

You've always been a comedian, correct?

Right.

I got my job doing the weather from being a comedian.

Real meteorologists hate that story.

But it's true.

I came out here in Parma in 1980 to pursue a career in standup, and I was working at the Comedy Store in 1982.

And in 1982, my friend that was employed at NBC brought his boss and his boss's wife to see me do a show at the Comedy Store.

And I talked at the Comedy Store about having been in the Navy.

I worked for Armed Forces Radio and television.

I was forced to do the weather against my will.

I didn't want to do it.

I didn't know anything about it.

The Navy didn't seem to care as long as I was respectful.

Said no, sir.

Yes, sir.

As long as my shoes were shined.

They didn't care that I didn't know anything about the weather.

And so I told a couple of anecdotes about being the weatherman with no knowledge on stage.

I come off the stage at the Comedy Store and go to meet this gentleman.

He was the news director at Channel 4 and his name was Steve Antonetti.

God bless that man.

I hope he's still alive, having a healthy life.

He said, this is a weird question.

Do you have any desire to come to Channel 4 and do some vacation relief?

Weather forecasting?

Some fill in weather forecasting for me.

I have a main guy who hasn't had a vacation in a year.

I need some help on weekends.

Would you have any desire to come and do that?

And I was making $25 a night at the Comedy Store.

I said, Oh, my God, when do you want me to start?

And May I please carry your wife to the car for you?

So I auditioned the following week.

I got the job.

I did vacation relief, and weekend fill in for two years.

Then the main weatherman left and I was bumped up and I retired from NBC two weeks shy of my 40th anniversary.

I always say it's the greatest bit of show business luck since that woman was discovered in Schwab's pharmacy in the forties.

It's a true story, and people wouldn't think that because they see you on TV telling us the weather that we have in California.

But in the background, you truly are at heart a comedian.

So how does that transition to what you're doing now?

Because you said you retired, but I just watched your show.

You're not retired?

Well, I mean, I'm retired from doing the weather.

And thank God my life does not involve maps or whining viewers calling because I ruined the weather for their outdoor wedding.

Now I have peace.

I, I never stopped doing comedy when I was doing the weather.

My I had a split shift because I was doing the four or five or six and 11:00 news.

I would go to work at noon.

I would work till 630, the end of the 6:00 news.

Then I would be back at nine or 930.

Barring any radical changes in the weather and do the 11:00 news and get home about midnight.

But I would go to the Improv or the Comedy Store or the Laugh Factory or somewhere in between and perform a show between shows at work and drive back.

I did it.

I never stopped.

I just had the benefit of regular employment, the ability to give my kids a stable upbringing with this wonderful, amazing job as a weatherman.

And you have to remember, this was a time when there was, for better or worse, more personality in the news than there is now.

Our evening newscasts were almost like the morning newscast.

It was very familial.

We talk about what we did over the weekend and oh, yes, here's the latest headline.

We would do the news.

It was it was different because when I started, there weren't all the independent stations.

There wasn't five, 11, 13 and nine.

It was just for two and seven.

So the competition was less.

There was less news.

And so we could be more relaxed.

Now, there's so much competition and we have a short American attention span that we we are more competitive.

And so I used to get 5 minutes to do the weather at 5:00.

Now you get two or two and a half minutes because they're so afraid that people are going to be bored for 2 seconds and click away.

It's a totally different business.

I was hired at a time when it was more personality driven than it was meteorology.

It really wasn't about meteorology.

It wasn't about the science.

It was about making people like you and getting them to watch you because there were three or four weathermen doing the weather at the same time on different stations.

So you had to get them to like you.

You had to get them to appreciate your presentation all during the same weather, all getting air from the same source, the National Weather Service.

So that was my job.

My job was it was a personality job.

I describe my job as being the palate cleanser between the tragedy and the sports.

Well, in speaking of sports, I mean, when I was growing up, it was Fritz and Fred.

Yes.

I mean, what I saw on TV was that true life where you really that close?

I mean, it was almost like you were together.

We were there at the same time.

We were young men at the same time.

And we had very forward thinking bosses who say, what do we have about our newscast That could be different?

I was a comedian.

And Fred did sort of a funny, interesting sports cast that was designed for even people that didn't like sports.

It was entertaining.

Fred Rogan, Fritz Coleman, if it sweats, hooks, steals Fred, will show it to you.

Because when it comes to sports, nobody puts on a show like air Fred.

Fritz on the other end is the prince of weather Fritz and Fred, good sports through all sorts.

We've got Fritz and Fred.

It's kind of you know, it's this rhyming f r name.

Let's promote that.

So we did these campaigns where we would compete with one another in a faux competition of some kind.

And and it became why they spent thousands of dollars on these ad campaigns.

It's unbelievable.

The the the work we did in promotion in that in that television station, we were so lucky.

And we had a boss that believed in us and just let us be ourselves.

And that's what we did and got number one ratings for many years.

So with being yourself, when you're out there in public, people already feel like they know you.

You're part of the family.

They do.

I want to hear a story of probably maybe one of the strangest encounters you had with a fan that just thought you were part of the family.

Okay.

One night I finished the 11:00 news and I went to Vons in Toluca Lake, which is open 24 hours.

And I went through this routine.

I got a Snapple and you know something?

And this man came up to me from behind the battery display and said, Fritz Coleman, my name is Jorge something or other.

I'm a big fan of yours, but I have to tell you how you've affected my life.

I said, Oh, God, here we go.

Thank God there's not malpractice for weathermen.

And the man said one time you said that there was going to be rain on the following weekend and I was having an outdoor wedding for my daughter in my back yard on that Saturday.

So Wednesday night I called you up at your station and you answered the phone and you said you were forecasting the rain.

I said, Are you convinced about this rain?

Because tomorrow is Thursday.

That's the cutoff day.

I have to rent a tent from my back yard for $6,000 and I have to know by tomorrow.

I said, Sir, I will state my reputation on the fact that there's going to be rain on Saturday.

Well, the following Saturday, with a tent in my backyard, it turned out to be one of the most beautiful days in Southern California.

He said the only saving grace for you was that it made the photography of the wedding much more beautiful.

And I'm still your fan, and I'm still mad at you, but that's how you affected my life.

So I cost a guy $6,000, but he didn't sue me, which was a lovely thing to have.

One more question before we go into our break.

Okay.

How did you come up with assisted Oh, Unassisted Living.

I just thought of it.

I mean, I wanted to come up with one where I wanted people of a certain age to understand it's about being old.

But I didn't want it to think it's about people in wheelchairs and, you know, needing assistance to get through the life.

So I said Unassisted Living.

I'm old, but I'm not in need of assistance yet, and it seems to have caught on.

Well, we're going to talk more about that when we come back from our break.

Fantastic.

Come back and hear more from Fritz and just in case you haven't figured it out yet.

We are live at the El Portal Theater.

Yes, thank you.

You really doing a good job.

Every conversation I have includes a medical update.

Hey, Bob.

How's that new sprinkler system you put in at the house?

That's funny.

I just got out of the hospital, getting my own new sprinkler system.

I used to have drip irrigation.

Now I have a Rainbird.

My best friend since elementary school became a vegan.

Could not believe it.

He only eats vegetables now that volunteer to be eaten.

Vegetables that carry donor cards in their wallet.

And he invites me to his house for a barbecue.

I thought, Mm.

A vegan barbecue.

I tried to get out of it.

I said, you know, I'd like to, but last Thursday, I tested positive for pork.

I now using a pill caddy for my medication.

The little plastic box days of the week.

I looked at this thing and I weep.

Up until a year ago, I was using it for fishing tackle.

Let's spend some more time with Fritz talking about "Unassisted Living".

How do you come up with this?

And also my other question, who are your comedian comic heroes?

Okay.

Well, I'll answer the first question first.

I have done a series of one person shows.

I came up with this idea of doing it like I came up with this name.

I don't know if anybody else used to call a single topic monologue.

And this is my fifth one.

The first one was about being a parent.

So I talked for an hour and a half about being a parent.

The second one was about divorce.

So I call it talk for an hour about it.

The third one was about the 11:00 news called "Tonight at 11."

The fourth one was my first one about aging called defying gravity.

And then this one.

So I like to take a topic and just sort of frame all of the comedy around that.

This one getting old.

The the thing that I found out as we were creating this is that the senior demographic that is baby boomers and older are very underserved in the comedy area.

I mean, there are a million specials on Netflix, Dave Chappelle and all these people, but none are focused on older viewers.

And the truth is that older viewers have a lot more time on their hands and like to have those issues, their issues addressed.

You've seen the audience here tonight.

Somebody's speaking their language.

And so I just found that it I touched a nerve with this particular this particular topic.

And so I decided to call it Unassited Living.

We've been here for a year at the El Portal Theater.

We celebrated the beginning of October, a year of sold out shows.

They've asked me to continue to 2025.

So once a month we will be here at the Marilyn Monroe Forum at the El Portal Theater.

Through 2025, we hope as long as we have an audience, they'll let me work here.

And I'm so thankful I this is my home, the El Portal.

The second part of the question is, who were my heroes?

Well, I had a couple of heroes, my standup hero when I was younger was George Carlin.

And George Carlin was a master of language.

And and of timing.

And when I was in 11th grade, my uncle bought me tickets to see George at a theater outside Philadelphia, my hometown called the Valley Forge Music Fair was this outdoor performance venue with a big, beautiful tent.

It was like the tent you see, at Cirque du Soleil.

It's seated 3000 people.

Now, I had seen comedians on television, you know, in Johnny Carson doing five or 6 minutes on Ed Sullivan, on Merv Griffin.

But I had never seen one do a complete show, like an hour and a half show.

And George came out and I didn't understand the mechanics of standup.

You slowly build an hour and a half show in modular fashion.

You do little chunks and you build it out until you have a long one.

But this guy came out on stage and spoke as if he'd never said these words before for an hour and a half.

And I'm not exaggerating when I tell you it was like a religious experience for me.

I never thought I could see somebody exercise power over an audience with his humor and his words.

And I thought it was like watching a TV evangelist seriously.

And I never thought I'd be able to do it professionally.

I never thought about it.

But I was smitten at the time and became a big fan.

Another person I'm a big fan of is Robert Klein, who the same reason a very educated comic.

He's not afraid to be smart.

He's one of the greatest practitioners of stage presence of anybody I've ever seen.

So those two guys are the main two guys, and I like lots of people who are different.

So.

you think that's important to do, to be different to do this type of job?

Yes.

I think you need to find a hook.

You need to find a little something that makes you different.

And whether it's your presentation, whether it's your phrasing, whether it's the content that you choose to talk about, I think it helps to be a little bit different.

And forget starting a car, your phone.

Now you can buy a car on your phone, which is immoral.

You should not be able to buy a car on your phone.

Buying a car should be a painful, drawn out experience.

So you make the right decision.

You should be forced to walk from dealership to dealership along the entire Bellflower Boulevard of Cars.

You should be forced to fend off irritating sales trolls with pepper spray.

You should be forced to spend an additional 2 hours in the sales office negotiating your sports package, which turns out to be a suction cup phone holder.

That's what buying a car should be like.

There was a story that I heard you talk about, and I want you to share it with our viewers.

Okay.

It was really interesting.

It was a Johnny Carson story.

Mm hmm.

And you were asked to be on a show.

It went really well.

But then all of a sudden, the next day, you tried to talk to him... Oh, yeah.

Yeah, that's great.

I love your story.

You have a great memory.

So, you know, doing the Johnny Carson show is the when I was coming up.

Not so much anymore, the late night talk shows.

But that was the biggest achievement you're going to have in your life.

Would you please Fritz Coleman?

Well, I had been booked three times, bumped twice.

And being bumped means if you remember the timing of the Carson show, the stand up comedians usually came on from about 10 minutes after 12 to about 1220.

It was after the headliner, and then they would have a comedian and then they would have a musical guest or some other featured guest.

So I got bumped twice.

The first time I got bumped because Charles Grodin, who's a wonderful, funny actor, was a great storyteller, but he didn't know when to end his story.

So he went too long and I was bumped off.

The second time I was bumped off because Heather Locklear was a guest and Johnny was enamored with Heather Locklear and he wouldn't stop talking to her.

He just you could tell he just wanted to be in her presence.

So I got bumped the third time I made it on, I made it on.

And Linda Ronstadt was the headliner.

This is the warm up to the story.

I'll eventually get to the answer to your question.

So Linda Ronstadt and I'm a Pacer.

Before I perform, I walk around backstage and I pace and Linda Ronstadt came backstage and she was she was going to be the headliner.

She was going to be on from the start of the show, too, when I came on and she knew I was nervous and she came up to me and she said, You're Fritz Coleman.

She knew me from TV.

I said, Yes, I am.

She said, Can I give you a hug?

And I said, Absolutely.

So she just put her arms around me and held me for like a minute.

She didn't say anything, but it was the most maternal, beautiful experience because all of the tension drained out of my body.

She was so lovely.

She sensed I was very nervous and just it was it was just the loveliest thing.

And I am forever in her debt for making me feel so comfortable.

So after the show, again, the Johnny Carson show was the biggest experience of your life.

And I walked right upstairs from The Tonight Show at NBC.

My the news office was on the third floor.

The Tonight Show was the first and second floor.

So the next day, after my big, triumphant Tonight Show appearance, I'm walking down the hall at NBC.

Johnny is coming to work.

He would come to work at the same time every day, 2:00.

He would either drive a Corvette or a DeLorean, and he would always wear a tennis outfit and he would change his clothes when he got to work.

So this is total coincidence.

I walked by him in the hall coming in and I thought, This is going to be my triumphant moment.

He's going to say, You're the greatest comedian I've ever had on the show.

I'd like to retire and hand the show to you.

That was my imagination.

I walked by him in the hall and he wouldn't even say hello to me.

And it knocked the wind out of me.

I said, Oh, my God.

I must have bombed on the show.

I tanked.

He will never do who I was.

He wouldn't even say hello to me.

So I ran back up to my office and I called Jim McCauley, who was the talent coordinator for comedians, and I said, I hope I didn't get you in trouble.

I think your boss was disgusted with my performance last night.

He said, What are you talking about?

I said, I just walked by him in the hall.

He wouldn't say hello to me.

He started laughing.

He said Johnny Carson would not say hello to his mother if he walked by her in the hall.

He's the most socially awkward human being on a one on one basis.

He didn't want to say hello to you because he was afraid it would draw a crowd because there were tours at NBC.

He'd just walk by.

Had nothing to do with your performance.

But it was an ugly 10 minutes until I got on the phone upstairs.

So what I learned from that is be careful of meeting your heroes.

It can be very scary.

It can be very scary.

But what I learned when I heard that story was Johnny Carson is a bit of an introvert.

Very much so.

He was wonderful on TV and maybe the warmest, most pleasant persona on television.

But on one on one, he was very, very uncomfortable with people.

And I found that out obviously later before I lost years of my life, wondering why he had rejected me in the hallway.

And after he rejected you.

How long was it before you got back on the show?

I did a total of eight times because my office was right there.

If they'd got a fallout or somebody canceled, they would call me and say, Do you have a new 6 minutes?

And I would say, yes.

So I was on eight times.

I was on with Johnny, Joan Rivers, Garry Shandling and Jay Leno.

Wow.

All legends.

I, as I say over and over again in my act, I'm the luckiest person I know in show business.

You are.

And we're so lucky that you were our weather person, even though you say there's not a lot of weather in California.

But you made it entertaining for us.

I appreciate it.

I just the older I get, the more I appreciate this wonderful journey I've had.

I've been very, very fortunate.

Before we end our conversation, there are going to be viewers that want to come and see you here.

What's the best place they can go?

What?

We're going to do this into 2025, and God willing, we'll be able to keep the enthusiastic audiences.

Go to the El Portal Theater website, which is El Portal Theater dot com e l p o r t a l theater r e not e r e dot com.

We have a obvious notification in there.

Buy your tickets.

It's very reasonably priced.

If you are a person of a certain age, you need to see this.

It will be therapeutic.

It's as if I'm recommending a good probiotic for you to come here and have a great time.

You won't be offended.

We talk about everything connected with the aging process and somebody said, this show is like a baby boomer support group.

And I take that as a compliment.

So this reunion was fantastic.

I ran into a faculty member who was my who was my industrial arts teacher in 11th and 12th grade., Mr. Thompson, at the reunion was 89 years old.

Wonderful man came in a wheelchair and he just imparted all this great wisdom to me when I was a young man.

Fritz, you won't reach your full potential as an adult man without a full set of socket wrenches.

And I never forgot that.

And so he and I are talking for a while, and he asked me to push him out to the parking lot so he could smoke.

I didn't find out till we got out there that he wasn't talking about cigarettes.

He had me push into his van.

In his van.

He had a bong hooked up to a CPAP mask.

Now that's industrial arts, ladies and gentlemen.

Yes, I said the ultimate comedy support group.

Very teasers.

Perfect.

Thank you so much.

And thank you, Angela.

Thank you so much.

Definitely.

It's an honor and allowing us to come in and tape your show here at the El Portal Theater.

Thank you to our audience.

But most importantly, thank you for joining us on everybody with Angela Williamson.

Viewers like you make this show possible.

Join us on social media to continue this conversation.

Good night and stay well.

Hi, I'm Angela Williamson, host of Everybody with Angela Williamson.

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