34. He Went Head To Head
By 1956, Berle’s variety show had had two name changes, a sponsor change, and was generally seen as coming to its natural end. But rival station CBS wanted to make that happen sooner. To do this, it scheduled a show featuring Berle’s buddy and regular co-performer, Phil Silvers. It was the nail in the coffin. The Milton Berle Show called it quits at the end of the 1955-56 season.
It should have been a chance for a fresh start—but Berle just kept spiraling to rock bottom.
35. He Went Live On Saturday Night
After a long stretch of so-so guest appearances, Berle got a huge invite: Saturday Night Live. Berle was 71 years old at the time, so this meant a bridge between Berle’s old school Vaudeville-inspired comedy and the new hip humor of the 1970s. So, how did it go? Let’s just say that the bridge, instead of spanning a gap, crashed and burned.
36. He Took Over
Berle didn’t get that his role on SNL was more guest and less dictator. He had tons of ideas and didn’t take too kindly to producer Lorne Michaels’ objections. He was downright condescending to Michaels, who probably already had a pretty firm handle on what worked on his hugely popular show. From there, things got really weird.
37. He Let It All Hang Out
Alan Zweibel, one of the writers on SNL, was a big fan of Berle’s and was thrilled to be working with him. The two were talking in a dressing room one day, and Zweibel mentioned the rumors of how well endowed Berle was. Berle shocked Zweibel by opening up his robe and proving that the rumors were true. It was at that inopportune moment that SNL regular Gilda Radner walked into the room. Oops.
38. He Went Back In Time
Saturday Night Live was introducing Americans to a new and hipper brand of humor. But when Berle got on stage for his opening monologue, he turned back the clock. His jokes came from a different era: He made fun of Puerto Ricans, homosexuals, and even Dolly Parton’s physique. This was bad enough, but what he did at the end of his monologue got him suspended for life.
39. He Planted An Audience
Berle ended his SNL monologue with a heartfelt speech about his career in show business. That was bad enough, but what Berle had done beforehand was to load the audience with supporters. When Berle finished his speech, his planted members stood up for a heartfelt standing ovation. The SNL audience members not in on the plant embarrassingly stayed in their seats.
To say Lorne Michaels wasn’t amused is a huge understatement.
40. He Made A Bad List
After Berle's disastrous turn on SNL, producer Lorne Michaels banned him from ever hosting again. Michaels also refused to let NBC air Berle's episode, as it wasn't good for the show’s reputation. Throughout his career, Berle has earned plenty of accolades and made plenty of lists, but this is one he'd rather not be on: Michaels always remembered him as one of the worst hosts in SNL's history. Still not as bad as Steven Seagal though.
Flickr
41. He Pulled A Kanye
The worst thing you could do to Milton Berle is let someone else take his limelight. And that’s why he’s the last person you should ask to give out an award. At the 1982 Emmys, Berle had just handed trophies out to the writers of sketch comedy show SCTV. His job should have been over—but Berle had something to say about that. He couldn't help but interrupt the acceptance speech given by SCTV writer and actor Joe Flaherty.
Eventually, Flaherty turned to Uncle Miltie and told him to go to sleep.
42. He Revitalized
In 1985, when he was 77 years old, Berle had quadruple bypass heart surgery. Instead of slowing him down, the surgery seemed to revitalize his career. He followed the operation with gigs in Atlantic City and Las Vegas, and a 1988 made-for-TV movie called Side By Side with comedy legend Sid Caesar. Maybe not surprisingly, the comedic movie was about old guys revitalizing their careers.
Unfortunately, Berle was about to learn the hard way that show business wasn't what it used to be...
Wikipedia
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43. He Returned To Radio
Not long after the surgery, Berle got back behind the microphone on Howard Stern’s radio show. Stern always wanted to shock both his audience and his guests, so he planned to relentlessly hit Berle with question after question about a certain part of his anatomy: The one often compared to a python. Stern didn’t seem to be able to let go of the topic.
When they started taking callers, Berle probably heaved a sigh of relief. Little did he know, Stern had a little "surprise" for him.
44. They Asked About His Member
A regular part of the Howard Stern Radio Show was the questions from callers—and it often got pretty heated. Stern had a secret plan to make the episode even more extreme. Stern told his producer to only air callers who had something to ask about Berle’s member. Berle took it in good fun, but there was nothing fun about what happened next.
45. He Faced A Tragedy
Sadly, Berle’s second wife Ruth Cosgrove passed in 1989. That same year, Berle opened up about his mother’s negative influence on his love life. He said that his mother never liked him dating a woman more than about three times. After that, she disapproved. Well, this fact didn’t stop Berle from wedding again. She was Lorna Adams and 30 years his junior.
Getty Images
46. RuPaul Destroyed Him
Just because Berle married someone young, didn’t mean he fit in with young people. During the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards, Berle appeared with drag queen extraordinaire RuPaul. Berle made a comment about how he used to wear dresses too and RuPaul dryly replied that sure Berle had worn dresses, but now he was in diapers. Berle wasn’t about to let this one go.
47. He Wasn’t Very PC
Berle followed up to RuPaul’s insult wasn’t pretty. He groped RuPaul’s chest, and then went ahead and ran wild with his use of pronouns, calling RuPaul a she-he. When they were ready to leave the stage, Berle tried to grab RuPaul’s elbow in order to walk off together. RuPaul was having none of that and swiped her elbow away.
Honestly, that ended about as well as it could have.
Wikimedia.Commons
48. He Was A Lousy Father
In 1999, Berle’s adopted son wrote a tell-all memoir about him called My Father, My Uncle. In it, William Berle seems intent on rattling off a rather long list of grievances—mostly that his father lacked involvement in his life. But he did go into specifics on one story—and it was pretty disturbing. William shared the story of his father paying for his first intimate experience with a woman—so I guess he showed a little interest in his son’s life.
49. He Went Mum
William aired his displeasure with his father in his memoir—but he was just getting started. He seemed to enjoy poking fun at his father as he aged, calling him “a pathetic has-been". He even described the layers of makeup Berle hid behind as he got older. And what was Berle’s response to this memoir? He resolved to never speak to his son again as long as he lived—which wouldn’t be that long.
50. He Made An Announcement
In 2001, Berle made a sad announcement. He said that doctors had found a malignant tumor in his colon. Apparently, the tumor was growing so slowly that Berle refused to have surgery. His wife, who clearly wasn’t a doctor, said that the tumor wouldn’t impact Berle’s life for another 10 to 12 years. Boy, did she get that wrong.
51. He Didn’t Get His Wish
Almost one year to the day of Berle’s colon cancer announcement, Berle passed in Los Angeles. The doctors and his wife had somehow gotten it wrong. In what must’ve been an affront to his current wife, Berle had stated that he wanted his remains laid to rest alongside his second wife—Ruth Cosgrove. In fact, he’d put Cosgrove's remains in a double crypt just for that purpose.
Sadly, that didn’t happen. Berle’s current wife, Adams, put her foot down: The burial would take place at Hillside Cemetery.
52. He Doesn't Rest Easy
At the time of his demise, Berle was still not speaking to his son William because of the hurtful remarks in William’s memoir. So, it was a shock when it was William who contested the Hillside burial site. William Berle gave two reasons for his opposition: His father couldn’t possibly reside next to or even near his nemesis Al Jolson and, in what sounded a little like one of Berle’s typical one-liners: It was too close to the airport. What, the planes are going to keep him awake?
Milton Berle’s burial site is at Hillcrest Memorial Park, conveniently located just eight minutes from LAX.
