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S39E8: Starring Dick Van Dyke | Clip

Why Dick Van Dyke is Ted Danson’s hero

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Ted Danson watched “The Dick Van Dyke Show” on his first television set, and found that Van Dyke was a performer you wanted to spend time with. “He gave people a laugh, he uplifted people, and he did it in such an elegant, funny, extraordinary way,” said Danson.

TRANSCRIPT

(upbeat music) - The truth is, Dick Van Dyke is my hero.

I grew up without a television in Arizona.

I mean, literally, my first TV was when I was a freshman in college, I found one on the street, hauled it up to my dorm room, tapped into some teacher's antenna out the window, turned it on.

It was about 11 o'clock in the morning, and it was an old black and white TV.

And on came a rerun of "The Dick Van Dyke Show."

Literally, as Dick came through the title sequence and tripped over the ottoman, and I was smitten.

(lively retro music) - [Announcer] "The Dick Van Dyke Show," starring Dick Van Dyke, (tinkling music) Rose Marie, Morey Amsterdam, Larry Mathews, and Mary Tyler Moore.

(relaxing music) - The thing about "The Dick Van Dyke Show" that made it a staple forever, and you can still watch it and laugh and enjoy it is, I think the setting is important.

I think it's important that you have a family structure.

You know, family always is what we're most interested in as an audience.

And then you had the work family, and that was just funny.

All of them were great actors, but you had Mary Tyler Moore, who was a radiant presence, and you had Dick Van Dyke who was radiant.

That's hard to resist, no matter matter how old the shows are.

(slow playful music) (playful music escalates) (audience laughs) (lips smack) - And that's what you get every time you sneak up on me.

- You promise?

- Promise.

- All right, I'll keep sneaking up.

You'll keep doing that thing you do.

(audience laughs) - If you wanna watch a show and watch a performer over and over again in your living room, you're gonna want to have someone that is clearly someone you want to spend time with.

In comedy especially, you're recognizing a basic kindness within that person, which you have with Dick, you know.

He gave people a laugh, he uplifted people, and he did it in such an elegant, funny, extraordinary way.

(lively music)