Into The Unknown

Into the Unknown: Randy Mantooth & Kevin Tighe - Episode 1

• Producers of Into The Unknown Documentary • Season 1 • Episode 1

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For fans of the 1970’s TV Series Emergency, Tonya Mantooth will conduct the first ever interview of Randy Mantooth and Kevin Tighe together.  You will hear never before told stories about the start of their careers and their experiences on the show “Emergency.”   Into the Unknown podcast is brought to you by FirstNet, built with AT&T. FirstNet® is the only network built with and for first responders – including paramedics and EMTs

SPEAKER_04

We are in road to the facility with a 24-year-old male fell from the ropes of a two-story building.

SPEAKER_00

We got a party work job.

SPEAKER_01

65-year-old male complaining of chest pain.

SPEAKER_00

22-year-old male, multiple GSWs to the abdomen. He's circling the drain. I'm Tanya Mantuth and welcome to the Into the Unknown podcast. Today I am here with Randy Mantuth and Kevin Ty. Full transparency. I'm Randy's sister. And am I correct that this is the first full-length interview you guys have done together?

SPEAKER_02

You are correct. Um hey, good to see you, buddy. Good to see you after all these years. Yeah. Well, you know, after I was talking to Kevin last night, and he said that uh we actually had done an interview, but this was on on a talk show. Uh and it wasn't really an interview. Uh it was with um Dinoshore, right? Uh-huh. And then you two other people, and I swear I don't remember it. Who were the other people you said the Murp Griffin? I don't remember that at all.

SPEAKER_04

And the other guy I can't recall.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, well that just shows you how old we're getting.

SPEAKER_00

All right, so you got two out of three.

SPEAKER_02

That's good. Yep, yep. You know, I I I'm excited about this because I have no idea what Kevin's gonna say. And uh and of course he doesn't have any idea what I'm gonna say either. So I'm excited uh as much as anybody is.

SPEAKER_00

Hence into the unknown. We don't know what anybody's gonna say. So you guys have been friends for decades. We won't name a number of decades, but and your friendship has really stood the test of time. It's really incredible because you guys have been best friends since you met in your mid-twenties. So what what what do you think is a testament to that?

SPEAKER_02

Um well we're opposite in a lot of ways. Um he's a thinker, and I'm not. Uh so I I I don't know. I I think opposites attract. Um, you know, when I first met Kevin, was in Jack Webb's office. Uh the very night uh I met Bobby uh Bobby Troop, Julie London, Bob Fuller, and then I met Kevin. And uh when I first saw Kevin, I said, you know, who's that shy guy sitting over there in a corner, not saying anything, and not laughing, not doing anything. And they said, Well, that's your that's your new partner, Roy DeSoto, meet him. And I got up and I went, Oh boy, here we go, man. He's nothing like I am. And within a matter of days, we were we were friends, and we've stayed friends for I'll tell you how long, 50 years.

SPEAKER_00

Wow.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, you know, I hadn't really thought of it as to why, but uh how we you know became such great friends, but it it really has to do with the show and with uh paramedics.

SPEAKER_00

But you stayed friends long after the show.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, but it was the the show always had we always had a thread. And and it was a real positive thread. And it was a and it was like a marriage, you know. I mean yeah, you heard that before, but it's basically you work at being together and and it it works out pretty well. And in our case, it worked out exceptionally well. We've managed to keep a friendship for over 50 years. It's pretty important to both of us.

SPEAKER_00

It is. So what do you remember of that that meeting at Jack Webb's office?

SPEAKER_04

Well, I remember that Jack was in charge and he was a pistol. Uh, you know, and in those days there were two big offices, buildings on the universal lot. One was Lucy O'Ball and the other was Jack Webb. And um I remember being really taken by meeting uh Bobby Troop and Julie, London, because it was a real Jazz fan. Uh and Bob Fuller looked so handsome, you know, a real leading man. Yeah. And Randy, you know, it's great to meet him. I but we didn't really know one another. He actually came over to my house. I lived near, I had a rental near the studio, and I had a uh I inherited two ducks and a rabbit Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And when Randy came over, he came over with a white pair of pegger pants to see my property. And and I failed to to inform him that sometimes my rabbit kind of goes a little nuts, and he went and he tried to make with my leg and was successful.

SPEAKER_03

So found a paper towel to wipe off his leg, and things have never changed much since then.

SPEAKER_02

That was that was the weirdest thing that ever had happened to him was to watch his web and said, What's this robber doing? Oh, I know, okay, I see what he's doing.

SPEAKER_00

It was just, it was bizarre. So he thought you were a guy in that first meeting. What was your first impression of Randy?

SPEAKER_04

Um I thought he was a handsome looking, you know, easy-going guy. Seemed like a working-class guy to me, so I felt uh instantaneously comfortable with him because I was the same. Yeah. Kind of came from a common background of family kind of just struggling to keep make ends meet and you know the stove that was heated the house and and how easy it could have been to turn off the heat and not have any. And uh only difference was that Randy would move from place to place, whereas I was pretty much set in uh downtown LA and then moved to Pasadena and lived in kind of one place for a while, unlike my partner here.

SPEAKER_00

So what would be so name something about each other that you most admire?

SPEAKER_02

Well, I as far as I'm concerned, uh Kevin's eternal patience. Uh things would go wrong, and and I would get so visibly upset about it, and and be upset for quite a while. And Kevin would be, oh well, you know, everything's gonna be okay. And I would get frustrated with him because I I felt he should be demonstrative like I was being. But it was just his his kind patience that just really moved me. And I think I I after a while I got to where I was thinking to myself, you know, he accomplishes more uh than I'm accomplishing, and I'm being very demonstrative, and he's not, and yet he still seems to conquer conquer the situation. And uh and so I kind of learned that. Now, Kevin, what what do you remember about me?

SPEAKER_04

Randy is uh when we were acting, uh I always was uh trying to act to be a certain person. Uh I wasn't comfortable being who I was. And Randy uh the extraordinary ability to be exactly who he was, was in front of the camera. It was a beautiful thing to watch. There isn't a moment of uh of anything other than truth about his work on film. Um and that's what I most admired and continue to admire. He's he's wonderful with friends, and as you all know, I mean he's he's just you know in the meeting, he's there with you, he listens, and you know, it's uh wonderful thing.

SPEAKER_00

So, Kevin, I have a story about you. So when I used to, you know, I was 13 and I get to come hang out on the set, and I was painfully shy. And whether or not we were on set or in the motorhome, you always came and sat next to me and asked me what books I were reading. And we would sit and talk about books for hours, and you were so sweet and very, very kind. Oh, thank you. Thank you. The Into the Unknown podcast is brought to you by FirstNet, built with ATT. Firstnet is the only network built with and for first responders, including paramedics and EMTs. It's designed to fit your evolving communications needs with innovative mission-critical solutions so you can keep yourself and your communities safe. So now share with me what's one thing about each other that makes you shake your head. Hmm.

SPEAKER_02

I'm sure there's a lot of shaking of your head, Kevin. Uh you want to start on that one?

SPEAKER_04

Well, I don't know that um uh nothing leaps off the page w uh uh uh as anything that you mean something that drives you crazy or something. Um I know one thing. It never drove me crazy. I just was kind of a curiosity that on occasion or uh often he would tell a joke to to a huge multitude of people and then forget the punchline.

SPEAKER_02

Oh god.

SPEAKER_04

Remember?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Yeah, I I've done that more than more than once.

SPEAKER_04

Impeccable pro, you know, prep all the way through and then blew the punchline.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, more than once I I did that. Um I have no excuse for that. Um I think what drove me crazy is that when I would do that, you would laugh. And uh which made me feel even more like an idiot for for uh remembering for not remembering uh the the punchline of a joke. And that would crack you up more than any of my jokes. I would watch you just kind of tilt over like the leaning tower pizza and start laughing.

SPEAKER_04

But it was enduring. You know?

SPEAKER_02

I mean, yeah, I'm gonna come out looking real stupid on this one.

SPEAKER_00

All right, so tell me about did you audition for the roles or did they come seek you out? How did that happen?

SPEAKER_02

Well, I uh I can tell you on in my case, I did not audition. Um Bob Senator saw a piece of film that I did um uh called um I think it was the bold ones, and I was working with Hal Holbrook, and he saw this piece of film uh where I was being uh uh questioned in in court by Hal Hobrick, and he just said, That's my Johnny Gage. Um and so I was informed I was going to be playing Johnny Gage on Emergency. So I didn't, and I didn't even know. I I remember Monique James um uh bringing me her into her office. She was she was uh my boss, she was vice president of what uh New Talent, something like that.

SPEAKER_00

At Universal.

SPEAKER_02

At Universal Studios, and uh and she said uh Darling, and she always had this kind of affected um uh accent, said Darling, you will be playing uh Los Angeles County, and she held up this little card, this little index card, and said, You will be playing Los Angeles County Firefighter Paramedic, paramedic uh Johnny Yates, and she put the card down. And I said, What the hell is a paramedic? And she picked the card back up, turned it over, and said, I don't know, but we're certainly gonna find out. And how did you react to to getting a wall? Well, I was just kind of dumbstruck. You know, to tell you the honest to God truth, I didn't really I I I said, you know, I I don't think I want to do this. And she was like stunned. And she basically told me to shut up and sit down, and she said, You're doing it. Uh I just want to know why you would not, you know, would turn something like this down. And I I said, Well, I said, uh uh Jack Webb uh has the show, right? Yeah. Jack Webb will probably want me to cut my hair, right? She goes, yes. I said, Well, I I don't really want to cut my hair. And she said, Oh shut up. And that was And you had to cut your hair, right? I did, indeed, yes, indeed. I got a pretty pretty good haircut at that point.

SPEAKER_00

So, Kevin, did you audition?

SPEAKER_04

Yes. Um, oh boy. Um I was told uh about the you know the I and I didn't know what a pilot was, really. Uh uh just that there was a pilot and there was a role and offered and would I could I come in? And and so I came in and it was Jack Webb's office and Jack was there. And uh and I was really nervous, really, you know, because he's I grew up on him. Uh even back when I was a little kid listening to radio. He was like, you know. So there he was in person, and um it was just he and I, and I forget who there was somebody else there. It wasn't Bob Senator, it was some uh someone else. Uh Bob was more responsible for hiring Randy, and Jack was uh hired me as it worked out. But I read about four lines on the audition, and he's and he suddenly he stopped me and he said, Stop, kid. And he called up, he said Sid Scheinberg. He called Sid Scheinberg, get over here, Sid. I think I found the kid. And he and he hung up and he said, Yeah, what do you think? Yeah, I think let's let's arrange a screen test. And so they arranged a screen test on the back lot, and I was still nervous. And I remember trying to do the lines about three hours later on a sound stage and was having a miserable time, and the door flew open, and David Jansen came on set and put his arm around me. Wow. And he said, Don't be nervous, kid. This is a this is a bunch of bullshit, just take it easy. And it was him putting his arm around me and being so comforting that I actually was able to mellow out a bit and uh yeah, kind of hold him responsible for having been hired and changing my life.

SPEAKER_00

So did you know what he did?

SPEAKER_04

I don't think so. I think I was just another day at his life, you know, but he had a huge impact on mine. Wow.

SPEAKER_00

Now, did you know that?

SPEAKER_02

No. I'm hearing this for the first time.

SPEAKER_00

So what was so okay, talk about the Jack Webb meeting where everybody's there, you're meeting, you know, Bobby Fuller, you know, Bob Fuller, Bobby Troop, Julie London. How intimidating was that?

SPEAKER_02

Um well in the beginning, I didn't think it was all that intimidating until um Bobby Troop walked in. Now, I had just seen the film MASH, the original film. And um and and I just I just loved this film. And uh so I didn't really recognize Julie London at first. I finally went, oh, oh yeah, that's Julie London. Oh, that's Crimea River, Julie London. And when Bob Fuller came in, I went, oh, that's the Laramie guy, yeah, yeah. But when Bobby Troop came in, I went, and I had just seen him in this film. And I went, oh my god, that's Bobby Troop. Now, Bobby's Bobby didn't have a lot of lines in the movie. He he was he was a uh uh he he played a sergeant who drove everybody around in his Jeep, and he and the Jeep was uh always breaking down or doing something, and so throughout the entire movie he would say, you know, this damn Jeep, this damn Jeep, and it was it was just a kind of a through line throughout the film, you know. And the very last line of MASH was where they were driving off into the sunset, and the Jeep breaks down, and you hear Bobby Troop go, this goddamn Jeep. And I just cracked everybody up, cracked me up, and so when Bobby Troop uh, which was odd, he was playing a sergeant, he was really a captain in the Marine Corps in real life, but he was playing a sergeant in the army. And when so when he walked in, Bobby Troop was the one who impressed me the most. And I and I have to tell you, I have never met a sweeter, more sincere, dearest person in the world than Bobby Troop. Loved him.

SPEAKER_00

Well, and what's interesting is that, you know, obviously he was an actor, but he really saw himself as a musician first.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_00

And and so, and you said, you know, obviously you were a big fan of both Bobby and Julie of their work. So what was your relationship with them like?

SPEAKER_04

I had a very deep friendship with them over the over the years. I mean, very close. And um uh saw them both, you know, through our show and after, and even in the last days of you know their lives, I was around that then for them. Um I was really close to Julie. Uh Bobby, it was impossible not to feel close to him. He just a lovely, they were he was a lovely guy. And and through them I met uh I mean they knew everybody in the music business. I went went to hear uh um uh um trying to think of who I'm Duke's Duke uh Ellington. Duke Ellington went to see Duke Ellington at at the uh ambassador, then went to his apartment and Sarah Vaughn was there, and Billy Eckstein and Joe Henderson, and you know, I mean, they knew everybody and Bobby because he had this show for two seasons on jazz and and introduced a lot of talent to to people. Uh and Julie was really well respected by you know, Ella Fitzgerald would come over each year to their party and Carmen McRae and and they'd sing. They'd sing, go go on into three or four o'clock in the morning, just singing, playing together. So I mean that's what we inherited, you know. I mean, the and we we always had we had on the show the biggest explosion at the end of our at the end of each show, there would be some big thing that we'd do, and people would come and watch it on the lot. And then uh on when the show ended, we'd always have a little end of the you know party with with good music. There was always good musicians and dancing, and you know, it was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00

Did they kind of take both of you under under their wings?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um you just felt at home with them. Uh and that's the best way to put it. Everybody has uh a view of Julie London being this glamorous um grande dame of you know uh of music. And but yet when she was on the set, she was like the dead mother, and she was so stunningly beautiful. If she asked for anything, you know, if she asked, and the oh, she had the crew in the palm of her hand, and if she asked for a coffee, 16 people would run out and get her, and she'd be drinking 16 cups of coffee. I mean, they they adored her, and she kept calling herself, I'm just abroad. You know, it's like I had never been around somebody like that before. I just I just worshipped her and and and Bobby.

SPEAKER_04

Bob Fuller was tough to get to know. I mean, he was he's very uh compacted within you know uh his his celebrity. And uh never got to know him till and it was only later in the last you know 10 or 20 years and watching his work that it would appear on, you know, I'd see him in westerns and just go, God, this guy is really good at that. He's really, you know, and so I wished, kind of have wished that I had been a little closer to him or, you know, and had had taken the time to understand that, you know, as an older guy, he probably had some things I could have learned, you know, and and I kind of I I didn't take advantage of that. Um Randy's gotten kind of close to him over the years.

SPEAKER_00

Were you doing the show? Were you close with him then?

SPEAKER_02

No, not really, but uh I think I might have been a little bit closer to him than Kevin was uh on the show. But no, we weren't all that close. But it was after the show that when I really got to know and really enjoyed.

SPEAKER_00

Joy Bob Ford. Well, and what's interesting is when the show started, it was really focused on the on the hospital staff. But then as time went on, then it shifted to focus on the two of you. So did that I mean, was that the intention of the show, or or did they did the writers change it once you guys gained in popularity?

SPEAKER_02

Well it wasn't so much the writers as it was Bob Senator. And and it was kind of a decision that was made uh higher up in Universal. They just started watching the fan mail. And when the fan mail pouring in for us, they said, okay, that's what they want to see. So you know, uh but it was supposed to be um uh a hospital show with uh with firefighters coming in and the way Jack put it was uh yeah okay fine, we'll have these firemen. But this is this is a show, they're just gonna bring in uh sick people and do their scenes and then leave, and the rest of the show is gonna be a hospital show. Well the demographics of the show quickly pointed out they've seen these hospital shows before. This is not something new. What was new was firefighters being paramedics, and because you know, I would say up to 75 to 80 percent of the country had never heard of a paramedic before, didn't know what a paramedic was. I certainly didn't. I didn't know what a paramedic was. I mean, Kevin and I quickly found out what paramedics were, but um uh I forget what your original question was, but no, uh that wasn't the writers, that was Bob Senator. Uh that was one of our producers who decided that he wanted to uh drop his pacemaker on the floor.

SPEAKER_04

When we when we worked on the pilot, when we started on the pilot, um we realized that it was going to be an hour show. We did I I didn't think about that, I didn't really know that, which was unusual in itself because it's the only show that Jack ever produced that was an hour. All of his uh series were always half hour, so that that was a big bite for him to take. But it was clear when we did the pilot that the leads were, they were the leads in the hospital, and we were the minor characters on the side, and you know, and uh and we're fine with that. I mean, you know, we uh uh or at least yeah, we we both were fine with that.

SPEAKER_00

But when they shifted, and that was a significant shift, and uh and they were really secondary, how how did they take that and did it change the dynamics?

SPEAKER_02

Well, I know, you know, there's speaking from a you know, I don't know, it's hard for me to say definitively how they took it. I know that Bob Fuller was probably a little hurt. I I I think he felt like he was being pushed aside, Bobby and Julie. I don't think it affected them at all. They just felt that they were, you know, lucky to have, you know, a long-running series. Well, of course, we didn't know it was long-running at the time. Do you have a different perspective?

SPEAKER_04

Well, and we were both contract players when we started, when we started, Randy had been a contact player, contract player, and then Monique signed me up, and so we came into it contract players and stayed that way for four seasons. They lowered the leads, and that's how, and so financially, I mean, the amount of money they made was equal to the to their to their names and to their star power. You know, they paid a great good. We were very underpaid until about the fourth season, uh, which was okay, you know. And working with Jack, Jack directed the pilot. And and Randy has, you know, the I don't know the if they're all positive memories of you know working with Jack, but Jack was, you know, a DI in charge. I re I remember there was a situation where years later when we were on the show that uh there was going to be an animal husbandry show uh with uh Mark Dog catchers, yeah. Yeah, there were like two guys, and and there was a scene where we appeared on the on uh in the scene where there was a goat. They had they had rescued a goat, and the goat was on a scope, and there were these two guys, Mark Harmon and Albert Popwell, uh, and it was Randy and I and the little crippled girl and the goat. And I had no dialogue, and this was Jack directing me. Look at the goat. Look at the scope. Look at the goat. Look at the scope, look at your partner, look at the goat, look at the partners. Look back at the goat, the scope, the goat, cut. And he came up to me and he went, pal, that's what you do best.

SPEAKER_00

That's how he directed.

SPEAKER_04

That's how he directed.

SPEAKER_00

So no method acting there.

SPEAKER_03

No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_02

And that was one of the that was one of the points where I have to I have to say that Kevin was calm. Uh I was furious that he would say something like that. And I wanted to, I wanted to kill him. And Kevin goes, no, no, it's all right. He was calm, didn't overreact. Um, and so that I have to, you know, I gotta say, buddy, I I admired you for your restraint on that. I just literally wanted jump across that that uh table and strangle him. But I didn't.

SPEAKER_00

So let's talk about the show dynamics because Jack Webb was married to Julie London, then divorced her, then she marries Bobby Troop, and he casts both of them in the series. Takes care of alimony, doesn't it? Is that what that was? I don't know, but it sure was.

SPEAKER_04

He's a very loyal, he was a very loyal guy.

SPEAKER_00

Well, that's two very interesting perspectives.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, well to his he's giving him the benefit, he's a very loyal guy. To his money. I say he was beaten, he was beating out all the money on the alimony.

SPEAKER_04

He he used actors, uh we used many, had many actors on a show who had been on all of his shows. It was really interesting. I mean, you way back to this to the to the early days of TV, he had a lot of the actors, Jack Crucian and people who were old pals of his. And he loved comedians. Well, Bob did too, Senator. And so we had a number of wonderful comedians uh on the show. Martin Saul and Martin Saul, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. I was amazed he did our show.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Amazed. We had uh who was the biggest celebrity that came on that that really you report.

SPEAKER_02

Well, it depends on your point of view of what a celebrity is. Just for you. In my opinion, it was Dick Buckus. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

That was pretty big for me.

SPEAKER_04

John Carradine. Oh.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, yes. John Carradine did an episode.

SPEAKER_04

He did an episode and he k he k you know, Grapes of Wrath, and I mean, you know, and his sons, and and he was to be he was a guy who made old ships. He he he crafted old ships. So when they they didn't realize when they hired him, his hands were completely arthritic. You know, there was no way he could even open them for a hull.

SPEAKER_02

You know. Because I said to Kevin, I said, how did you get his hands like that? I mean, that's some pretty good makeup, you know. I didn't realize, well, that was in real life. Uh, another person, Cicely Tyson. We didn't have scenes, really. I don't think. Did we have scenes? No. But Cicely Tyson was on. I mean, I was impressed with her back then. Well, you know, she she quickly climbed right up right up the ladder after that show. And I was a little surprised she even did the show. But um, I you know, I was the other day I was talking about, remember when we had Larry Zonka on the show, the running back on the Miami Dolphins? He's crazy, by the way. I mean, he he was at the time. I'm sure he's a you know a nice guy now, but uh I I was afraid of him. Uh it's like, first off, I know what he can do on the football field, and he really got into the role where he was a crazy guy, and we had to tackle him and take him down to the and we thought, this guy, I don't know whether he knows this is called acting. You know, maybe I think we're gonna get hurt on this one. And he did, he took us all on, all four of us. We jumped on him and tried to pin him down, and he would not go down. Finally, the director had to yell, Larry, you have to go down. He just wasn't refused to go down. Who else is it? Nick Nolte was on the show.

SPEAKER_00

Wow. So who who came on the show kind of as a young actor or actress that went on to be a huge celebrity? John Travolta.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Uh who else? Uh Sharon Glass was on.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

And uh young actors.

SPEAKER_02

I can't think of anything right now.

SPEAKER_04

It doesn't mean it's you know, the show wasn't a show for actors, really. Right. I mean, it was it was uh like a showcase. Yeah, I mean it it just didn't Cecily Tyson was a unusual unusual to have somebody of that ilk. I mean, you know, you were somebody who was gonna get bandaged or there was gonna be you know they were gonna put things on your chest or they were gonna zap you. It just wasn't a show about it was a documentary. It's I mean that's what's kind of interesting about the documentary that we're working on now is that you know, as w that we're not there on set, we're just sort of, you know, outside of it. But uh emergency the the the thrill of the show really, I think, was the the rescues. No, there was usually three rescues in each show, and the the top one being the big one, sometimes there were four rescues.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Uh and there was humor in the get in the station, and then there were the scenes, you know, with the patients in the hospital. But uh I think the public were really responded to the work we did and the paramedic advisors did to, you know, during the sh run of that show. I think that's what people would come up to me anyway, and they would remember various rescues. They never talked about what was going on in the hospital. It was uh, oh, I remember that one where there, you know, a big toe was in the faucet and you had to get it, you know. I mean, and there were some silly ones with the girdle snapping in Randy's face, and you know, but and the guy who drank the there was this is back when beer had the pop top and it actually came off.

SPEAKER_02

And the guy who who swallowed that. Uh uh I mean th the there were humoro humorous rescues. Um you know, and I didn't realize how humorous they were until I actually was watched the rescue. I go, oh, that that's funny. But when we were doing it, we weren't playing it for laughs, we were playing it real.

SPEAKER_00

Well, and and it does it definitely has, especially at that time, a real sense of reality about it. So did it start that way or did it evolve over time to be more, you know, reality-based? Evolved. And did you guys have an influence on that?

SPEAKER_04

We had well, Randy's influence was you know interesting um because Bob patterned uh a lot of the stories on on what Randy would be doing, what what Randy and his private life would be doing. If Randy got a camera. With his hobbies. Then he'd then he'd suddenly got the idea of Randy doing you know, the gauge taking pictures and things. He he loved to work to write for Randy. You know, I I had a little trouble with the some of the humor in the show. It struck me as somewhat adolescent, but I went with it and and it's you know, he's smart, he's a smart guy. Well, yeah, Randy was able to he could pull anything off, and that, you know, is the attest to his talent. Um I had a hard time with some of the humor. I mean, it just seemed kind of but I think DeSoto would. He's, you know, I mean, I think the guy is just, you know, I patterned him on what I on our paramedic advisors, a couple that I saw and who they were, and that's who I became. And, you know, uh he just kind of went with the flow and you know, tossed his head up sometimes when he, you know, when I felt it went too far.

SPEAKER_02

Uh the the one thing that I I tell everybody, I don't care where I'm at, um Johnny Gage was funny for one reason. Johnny Gage was funny because of Roy DeSoto. And the reason why I say that is that if I were doing all that stuff just by myself, it would, it, as he said, it's almost adolescent humor. And so whenever and I and I didn't probably I didn't know this at the time, but whenever my character would do something that just was a little too far, the rest of the country would look at Roy and go, Did Johnny go too far? And if Roy kind of rolled his eyes and went, oh, okay, then they all knew Johnny was okay. But if Roy really put his foot down, said, That's crazy, and you shouldn't do it, uh then the country would turn on me and go, don't do it, Johnny. Roy was the adult, and I could not have been funny without Roy DeSoto. I could not have been funny without Kevin.

SPEAKER_04

That's a nice thing to say.

SPEAKER_02

Nice or not, it's the truth. It's the truth. I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for this man right here. Goes two ways.

SPEAKER_00

Well, and that's why you guys remain best friends. Yeah. You were in Randy's wedding?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Hey, look, this is a good friend. He was he was best man at both my weddings. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So t yeah, Brady, you touched on the paramedic program when you guys started. So when you guys started, obviously you said you'd never heard of a paramedic. How many paramedics were in the country at that time?

SPEAKER_02

You know, I there's always a floating number out there. But the last floating number that floated up to me was 13. Wow. In LA County. Um I'm Seattle had some, Miami had some, Columbus, Ohio had some, but in LA County at that time, at the time we did our pilot, the the floating number was 13. That's what I heard.

SPEAKER_00

What did the show do for the paramedic program?

SPEAKER_02

You know, we didn't invent paramedics. Um they were around before us. Um all the show did was it exposed it to the country. And people would sit at home and go, wait a minute, what? Um can you really do that? That that's really these firefighters can go out there and do this? No. Oh yeah, there it's happening in LA. Oh, really? I want that for my city. That's what it did for the paramedic program.

SPEAKER_00

Did you ever imagine that that show would spawn an entire industry?

SPEAKER_04

I had no idea. Uh no. Um, I had no idea. You know, the the the the difficult part of it for me was the celebrity. I mean for a while it was really enjoyable, but then it got to be kind of uh then I just started it it just was strange. Uh strange to be treated differently. Um because on the show you were we were like working people, but off the show gradually it was becoming kind of strange that you couldn't go anywhere without being recognized.

SPEAKER_02

And you know, since since the show was on, since the show was on at 8 o'clock on Saturday night, we were never watched by our peers. Uh so we could go into like a bar or or anywhere and not be recognized. But since it was on at 8 o'clock on Saturday night, the kids were watching. So I, you know, we couldn't go into grocery stores without being followed by a bunch of kids, you know, going, oh look, he's buying mayonnaise, you know. Um but uh but then once it went into syndication, all those kids grew up, and uh and then the adults weren't watching the syndication show. So we now could go back into the into the grocery store and buy whatever we wanted and not be followed around, but now we couldn't go into the bars because all those kids grew up. So it was it it it was a notoriety that followed us throughout our lives. And uh and there was a point where I I embraced it. And I said, you know, I'm wasting so much energy hiding with hats and glasses, and I you know, it's like I'm tired of that. So one day I took off my hat, took off my glasses, and when somebody said, Oh, I loved you in emergency, all I simply had to say was, thank you. And it was over. And so all those years I I ran from the notoriety of it. I didn't want to be famous.

SPEAKER_04

There was a one of the in early in the season, I think it was the first season, that uh Jack was still co-writing, he was still officiating over the scripts and what they looked like. And so we had kind of the Malloy, the the the uh what's the police, Adam 12 kind of visits, you know, the the paramedics. And there was one particular episode where we we went on on we went out on a burnt a truck that was on fire and that and it had marijuana in it. And he wanted he had written down, you know, the script of uh, you know, yes ma'am, no ma'am, do we there, you know, I mean direct questions just like a jack would just like Adam 12, but it was us. So we decided to not do it that way. Right. And we we the guys get a little high, you know, uh uh, you know, uh off what's there, which is burning marijuana. And I guess Jack was livid. He was he was livid. And it wasn't too long after that that he signed off on it. He still produced it and made the money off it, but it was Bob Senator's show from from that on, you know. And uh but uh I always thought that really that was kind of the one that broke the camel's back in in our favor.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, he kind of wiped his hands of it at that point.

SPEAKER_00

The Los Angeles County Fire Museum celebrates the history of the American Fire Service and the contributions made to that history by the Los Angeles County Fire Department. One of the Los Angeles County Fire Museum's goals is to document and present the evolution, history, and impact of fire-based emergency medical services. So, Kevin, you talked about you guys being contract players when you first came on. And obviously, you know, you were paid a small amount of money, here you're going to hit show and all that. So and that lasted for what, four years?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, but you know, the Randy was a contract player when I came, when I was came in for the show, I was didn't even have an attorney. Uh so I could was in a kind of the catbird seat if I had known about it. If I if I had known that, you know, really understood it in terms of money and all of that. I was so blown away by just being there at Universal. So Monique, uh, when she heard I was chosen, she uh asked to meet me and Monique James, and she was like, you know, legendary and this terrific, fabulous woman, and her Eleanor Kilgallen was her counterpart and back in back east, who is another powerhouse.

SPEAKER_00

And basically in one of the top floors in the black building.

SPEAKER_04

And basically she said to me that, you know, Kevin, uh uh you're not represented, and you're you know, Ranny's a contract player. And she said, you know, I think it would be good for you both if you also became a contract player. I know you you don't have representation now, but I have an attorney that would be good for you that he would and that that was uh Goldman Goldman Gay.

SPEAKER_02

No, you mean the re the agent? Bob Raison.

SPEAKER_04

Bob Raison. So she signed me the contract so that we would make exactly the same amount of money, which was pretty nil. Uh uh I think craft service was making more than we were, you know, the first couple. seasons. And uh that was a step that was so smart and s you know, I mean, on her part, and so set uh the tone for who we were to become yet sort of equal down the line.

SPEAKER_00

And your partnership. Okay, so tell the Bob Raison story of when you guys went, when you guys decided as a team that you were going to go for more money and what you did.

SPEAKER_04

Oh and Bob Raison is like just to throw in this, he was Cole Porter, one of his best friends. Bob was really connected to people. Yeah. You know, I mean he knew everybody. Uh we were Rubes, you know, really when it came down to it.

SPEAKER_00

So so what did he propose? How are you guys going to go for more money?

SPEAKER_02

I don't know whether I should tell this story or not because of legal reasons. But the only way we could get Bob suggested that, you know, if one of us got sick or God forbid one of us gets sick, you know, uh it might they might think about I don't know whether we should tell this story or not.

SPEAKER_00

But anyway, so I said, you know, of course Kevin So if you if somebody got sick that means you'd have to halt production.

SPEAKER_02

Halt production.

SPEAKER_00

And then that might create a ripple effect.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, oh yeah, and it did too. And so uh me, I jumped right on it. Yeah, well yeah you know somebody should get sick. Well you know you can't just invent a sickness.

SPEAKER_00

Um uh how did you decide who was gonna get sick?

SPEAKER_02

Kevin is thinking about it no well I don't know he you know he analyzed it up and down not me I didn't analyze it at all I said yeah yeah somebody should get sick so I said let's flip a coin see who gets sick.

SPEAKER_00

So you're in Bob Raison's office?

SPEAKER_02

Yes sitting on his couch actually so he flips a coin and before I can actually see how it landed he grabbed a coin he said oh Randy you lose and I went okay but I didn't think for a minute you know that that that thing landed right and uh and so Kevin kind of sat back and breathed a sigh of relief and so I got some strange Mexican disease that I caught in Mexico camping. And it put you in the hospital because I remember visiting you. And nobody came to visit me except you and you were the only one as worried about me.

SPEAKER_00

I was I can understand why mother she really didn't care.

SPEAKER_02

She was she was mad yeah she didn't like it at all. So finally I you know I said to Kevin hey I'm up here I'm in the hospital you haven't visited me once oh okay well I'll come up uh next weekend so he came you came up what once or twice and I'm I'm going out of my mind I mean and I went this this being sick sucks you know but didn't you say you kept trying to sneak out to smoke cigarettes and that got you in trouble? And I got constantly in trouble with that so because this is what I smoked. I don't smoke anymore I hope everybody understands that is not good for you.

SPEAKER_04

And uh uh and so it was a perfectly miserable miserable time by that time um we had been on the show the we were in our fourth season and I was married on the show to a wife that you never saw she appeared in a pilot for like one scene and then there was another one and she appeared but it was enough to make to I suddenly I I was a character with two kids and a wife and uh who you never saw but you know I would have random phone calls about the wife and you know about the kids and all of that. Well what happened was his fan mail skyrocketed because he was single without any and and and I suddenly be you know and so he he became the power in the of the two of us you know he had he had he had the power.

SPEAKER_02

There goes the phony coin flip.

SPEAKER_04

If it had been me I don't know you know they just would have gotten another wife or something you know uh but as it was it you know it worked it worked out fine for us but he was getting tons of fan mail and I would get quite a bit of fan mail about how I get in how to get in touch with him so did you get the raise? Yes we did we did yeah yeah we were and it wasn't we were making 4,000 a week at the top and friends of like I had a friend Mike Onke on the rookies who was making $17,000 a week you know I mean we had we were not making that much $4,000 was a lot of money.

SPEAKER_02

Do you know how did do you know how much we were making the very first year we did the show? $350 or something $750 a week. Yeah yeah it was really uh then it moved up to $1,400 and then I got sick.

SPEAKER_04

And it was also it rearranged um it rearranged who was making money too I mean it wasn't so overloaded that you know the the three in the that the hospital was the major it ought it was obvious that now that the paramedic fire department was the the major part of the show and that the the hospital became ancillary and that that that that helped I mean you know we we probably would still be making 700 the fifth or sixth season.

SPEAKER_00

So his fan mail goes up yeah your fan mail they want to connect with him yeah and yet none of that interrupted your friendship in fact didn't you for the first five years you guys shared a motorhome right?

SPEAKER_04

Oh the whole time we did the whole time. And so then you were given the choice to have your own and you guys decided not to um um well I didn't want to Kevin said yeah I I think I want my own and I said oh come on Kevin please come on we're buddies man we've been in this together let's and finally I talked him into it but I remember when we got a brand new motor I don't remember that at all you don't no how do you remember it I remember just the just uh the two of us thinking for a while of what we wanted to do with you know I mean because we went to that motorway at the stadium yeah but but we were not thinking in terms by that point we weren't thinking in terms of you and I getting separate ones we were looking at what was out there for the two of us would be the best one for the two of us and went you're right you're right which led to you know the next season when we got the bobcat named Cray but we'll we'll I'll let Randy tell that story.

SPEAKER_02

No I want to tell the story we we wanted to go to Dodger Stadium right but we get we're so recognized right and and Dodger Stadium was just filled filled with people and so we decided we'll go in disguise so we bought these mustaches or we got them from makeup or whatever so we had these stupid mustaches and I kept looking at Kevin and you know back then and of course nobody's gonna remember this but back then there were these little mashbook covers it says draw me and if you could draw this character that you know they wanted to talk to you about being a you know cartoon artist or whatever right so I kept looking at this little matchbook cover with this guy with this mustache and it says draw me and I look at I said God Kevin you look just exactly like Pierre Dromey and so the whole night we're we're having people show us these motor homes and I says uh Monsieur Drami ask him about this and every time we do that we would go into gales of laughter and these poor salesmen were like who are these guys you know obvious we had these phony you know mustaches on and but we just had a blast and we finally picked one and Universal bought it for us right yeah yeah remember when JJ our driver uh JJ right parked for some reason he his favorite parking lot when we were on the set uh when we were at the studio he always seemed to park it next to the men's restroom for whatever reason and we kept saying can't you like park this someplace else every time somebody flushes the toilet we we we can hear it you know and he says no this is the best spot blah blah blah and so one day I'm in that bathroom and I'm bragging about our beautiful motorhome well the person that was at the other urinal was James Garner and he's listening he's listening to me bragging about and he said come here you want to see a good motorhome now his motorhome was parked right behind ours and he says I'll show you a good motorhome well I walked in I couldn't believe I mean it was luxury personified and here I am thinking that our motorhome was the greatest in the world this was like palati had a TV set in it we didn't um uh you know it was like and so I went over to Kevin I went over to Kevin he was in the motorhome and I said hey Kevin uh you want to see James Garner's motorhome and I told him all about it and Kevin says yeah so he walks out of the motorhome he goes in the back and knocks on the door and says can I see your motor?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah come on in so he Kevin comes back and he goes we're getting screwed you know he was such a nice guy Jim Garner he was uh we were at and the uh when we first went to the uh what's the name of the restaurant they what did they call it the uh oh in the valley no on our our on the lot our our commissary went to the commissary and we were sitting there and he brought his daughter over and introduced us to his daughter looked like she was a fan of the show and just a great guy. Everybody who worked on the lot loved loved Jim.

SPEAKER_02

So what would you say the high point of the show was for each of you season four or five because we knew our roles for me for me because we knew our roles we knew who our characters were and and obviously I could grow my hair as long as I wanted because there was nobody that's gonna stop me. And I I think I was just flying high as a kite season five because we knew this was probably going to be the last year.

SPEAKER_04

It turned out then you know for two seasons afterwards we did the seven two hour movies so it lasted a little bit longer than five years but uh I I I think that that was uh that to me was I was in heaven uh on season five Kevin probably will have a different perspective on that I mean Kevin wanted off the show the end of season one was great because we we had never been to Hawaii oh yeah yeah and we just said to ourselves let's go let's just go to the Hawaii for the weekend for the weekend and we did we got a first class flight which was the first time I was ever fought on first class yeah and we went to Hawaii and had a ball met a couple ladies and then you know yeah it was just really nice.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah he meets and falls in love with a nun I mean I didn't I never got that but but remember how'd that turn out was it a nun? She was a nun yeah well a nun sister what whatever they she wore that collar and I I thought Kevin you're barking up the wrong tree here it's gonna go nowhere.

SPEAKER_00

Well there was always a couple bucks to read oh my god so have you guys have you guys learned anything about each other that you didn't know after talking today things of how you felt about each other?

SPEAKER_04

No not really I mean he's always been my best friend so I think you know it's it's uh I'm sure a lot of people could think about think about this because it happens to us all as we age but it's just been kind of interesting that with our aging and our friendship we you you you have that history of you know it you find it with if you're your husband or your wife where they look exactly like they look years and years ago and you may not see them for a while and then you see gee they look a little old and then about five seconds pass and you're right back where you were you know and uh we've been able to enjoy actually being there in the past and actually being here in the future and you know it's all working pretty well.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah yeah yeah pause pause can I draw something well what's interesting is that you guys have had this long friendship and and then always had the desire to make a documentary about paramedics and and you have so you've started that and so we're gonna talk a little bit about that next time but before I let you go uh talk a little bit about why it was important for you to focus on paramedics and to do this documentary into the unknown well for for for me focusing on paramedics is very important um because you know we portrayed paramedics on the show and uh and I I've sort of stayed with it for for for all these many years and I've watched uh paramedics become um I've you know I've I've watched them go from not knowing what a paramedic was to uh to now all of a sudden there are those paramedics are out there but now all of a sudden due to a lot of different things either mass shootings or you know the the COVID virus that has hit our our world actually um that people uh are the they either are avoiding being a paramedic an EMT or a paramedic or they're resigning and getting out of it and those coffers are not being filled and that always bothered me always bothered me when the show emergency was on the air it was a great inspiration for a lot of people because they had a show that they could watch and would inspire them.

SPEAKER_02

Now that's not there anymore and so um you know the young kids who want to be paramedics today they don't know emergency they you know they don't watch it it's not of their generation and I think on a personal level I wanted to change that or try to change that and I also wanted to give accolades to the people who were paramedics and and that that have stayed with it all this time because it's so important for our society uh to have an EM EMS system that we have today. And uh I I my whole personal point of view was to inspire that person to to be the the greatest person they can be and you can't be any greater than to lay down your own life for the betterment of of mankind and and that's what that was the point that I wanted to make in this doing this uh this documentary.

SPEAKER_00

And in particular the documentary focuses on specific paramedics and their stories of what they're what they do why they do it and their passion and compassion around it.

SPEAKER_04

Kevin w what was your drive to have this film made um I just felt that the series never really got its due you know it it uh what once it was uh once it ended and it could have gone on it wasn't like we we were f faltering in the uh you know our audience the audience was staying pretty much the same we were pretty solid all the way through they just it was somewhat of a political move I think to actually end it uh it benefited them to end this show in order to be able to syndicate another show and uh what was your question again because so what what was your drive to see the the documentary so I just thought to and and voiced to Randy uh that we never really got our due because of it was on against all in the family and at eight o'clock and then kung fu was after that and we were you know pretty much the kids' show or the the lower you know folks who would watch I want to say the working man you know what watched us uh uh um there was no erudition on our show it was the the you know uh all the family had that in spades but we did have a documentary approach we had uh a lot of the crew had had been to Vietnam had you know had that Vietnam experience uh we had a handheld camera which was fairly new during that time and we merged that in with what what I had trouble with but what what Bob Senator rendered so well you know thought thoughtfully was the the humor that he added to the show. So we we you know so to be able I just wanted us to be able to be recognized at least for playing a part in what the show has be what the the the profession has become and also to be somewhat responsible to help in any way we can with furthering this you know the the the paramedic program and make it available to everyone and and be sure that it will never be less than that you know of use and by use by the people.

SPEAKER_00

And you're filming all over the country so what what are some of the cities that you're highlighting?

SPEAKER_02

So far we filmed in Batrouge a great a great uh pair of paramedics uh there uh then uh Denver another pair of paramedics and then um I think we went from there to Oregon uh then we went to Sparks Nevada and uh we were gonna go to Tucson but he Tucson Arizona but he was kind enough to come to us and uh and then we have uh and you know something I'm not gonna tell you who else we have we're just gonna let that be the secret.

SPEAKER_00

Well that'll be the second in the series and we'll talk more about into the unknown the paramedics journey in the documentary that you guys are both executive producers on. So thank you. It's been our pleasure likewise KMG three six five