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Exclusive: Funnyman Kenny Solms Opens Up About His New Memoir- Bits!
Nov 5, 2022
If variety is the spice of life, Kenny Solms has tasted great success. Touted in his hometown newspaper as 'Philadelphia's funniest person,' he began his career in New York, where he teamed up with New York University classmate Gail Parent to create material for Leonard Sillman's last Broadway revue New Faces, and sketches for New York's famed Upstairs at the Downstairs. His collaboration with Ms. Parent climaxed with their co-creation of the now legendary Emmy award winning The Carol Burnett Show.
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0:26
And I'm here to introduce to you the Bits Bundle
0:31
It's a promo for the book Bits that I wrote and a record of me doing the book of Bits
0:39
with a ribbon probably tied around and making it a bundle. Well, at that time, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C., Baltimore
0:59
they were where you would take the new shows and try them out
1:04
All the big musicals came to the Schubert in Philadelphia. So I made my way down there every weekend catching the matinees
1:17
Well, I realized Philadelphia was fun, but it wasn't like socially a turn on for me
1:24
I didn't want to go into the real estate business like my father or the mortgage business
1:29
I liked showbiz. I loved attention. We all do. And I think people who go into showbiz do
1:36
They just want more of it. A little too much, maybe. That was a funny thing, my parents' reaction to me going into show business
1:50
Not a lot of approval, but when I became successful early, my parents would tell their friends to watch the Burnett show on Sunday night
2:01
or Monday night or whenever night we were on. Then I knew they loved it
2:06
They were still to the bitter end, especially my father. Why aren't you doing more work, Kenny
2:13
You know, needled you about it a lot. Loved coming out to Hollywood, lying by the pool, though
2:18
and going to the Beverly Hills Hotel and meeting stars. My mother once said, Kenny, what's with Cher
2:30
Drama, which was hilarious because it was sort of a rundown department
2:35
was a year before Martin Scorsese. He was the student who started the motion picture department
2:44
which became fabulous. But earlier, it wasn't so fabulous. You took courses like makeup, $100 a unit
2:54
I remember Gail Parent was in my class. She put two smudges of dirt on her cheeks in makeup
3:02
and said she was Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lane. Yeah, we met at the NYU dorm
3:12
It was a co-ed dorm, but the elevator would only stop at the men's floors
3:18
You couldn't get off at the girls' floors. It was genius, wasn't it
3:23
But Gail and I started laughing, and I would shelter her in the subway
3:28
She liked that, because she was a slow mover. And I said, get on, you know
3:33
And we were that way with Career. And in college, we started writing on the weekends
3:40
And by the end of college, we were selling our material to chic places like the upstairs and the downstairs
3:47
And the first season out of college, we came up with this idea for a comedy album on Lucy Baines Johnson's wedding
3:56
She was the first daughter of Lyndon. And it was called Our Wedding Album
4:00
And it was in the stores four days later and it was a runaway hit We would get into cabs and it was playing on the radio So we sort of felt like oh a star is born
4:13
You know, we felt like maybe too much success. But it did bring with us phone calls that were extraordinary
4:21
One was from Carol Burnett, who had heard the album in her car in LA and was about to
4:29
to set up a staff for the next fall. And we were the first writer signed
4:34
to do the Carol Burnett Show. It was a big break. We were 23 and 25
4:39
It's unbelievable. Meeting Carol at the Hilton in New York. Much to our surprise, she opens the door
4:50
and she's on her knees, singing our praises. I said, Gail, get her off her knees
4:55
I'm dying, I'm embarrassed. And she just wouldn't stop. She was just fabulous
5:01
And we laughed the whole interview, and she was adorable. She's just exactly as you think she is
5:08
She's the girl next door, isn't she? I think the reality of seeing your sketches come alive
5:21
right in front of you, because it was done like a live show
5:29
Career-wise, we had turned down a few of the other variety shows that were on the air
5:35
like Laughin' and Flip Wilson, I remember that, because his was very funny
5:41
Because we wanted to branch out already. We didn't want to be on a staff anymore
5:45
We got spoiled. Producing specials was fabulous. Everybody was doing them
5:55
So my first without Gail was with Julie Andrews. Flown to London, first class, put up in London
6:03
It was exciting. Julie, like Carol, very accessible, very sweet. First one was with the Muppets
6:13
and my friends in New York laughed at me because I was totally serious when I came home
6:18
And I said, well, the Muppets were fun. Kermit's okay. Piggy's a to work with
6:24
I'm saying this seriously about cloth characters. Do you know what I mean
6:29
But we did work with the Muppets, and that was fun, and Jim Henson. And Julie was magnificent
6:35
It was called One Step into Spring, a spring special. And then I went on to do a very, very chic special
6:45
Burnett discovers Domingo, starring Carol and Placido Domingo at the Dorothy Chandler here in L.A
6:52
big, big, huge theater, sold out, big benefit, and it won a couple Emmys and won a Peabody Award
7:01
which is for excellence in television. So that was exciting. William Morris handled it, and they got the book out
7:13
and Sidney Fury was the director who really loved it, and he was obsessed with Jeannie Berlin
7:20
who had just come off Heartbreak Kid, where she was nominated for an Oscar
7:25
And that was, the deal was set like in a weekend. We should have trusted Sidney
7:30
but when those cameras started moving, he was off script on day one
7:40
Harry was also a young producer, so Sidney intimidated everybody. They all thought it was a hit
7:48
And when we went to the preview in New York, they had to cancel a showing and have another showing
7:54
It was standing room only. And it was a little like singing in the rain watching it
7:59
though, because Gail and I were hearing comments around us. What is this
8:04
She wrote this? This isn like the book We were dying When we were hot on Burnett offers came in even Broadway
8:18
Well, that's what I always wanted to do. And this was big Broadway
8:21
This was Carol Channing in Lorelei, which was a look back on Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
8:29
which meant we had our way with Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. We took the whole script and rewrote it
8:35
We made it contemporary where she was looking back on her life
8:40
There was a new song added by Julie Stein and Betty Compton of Greenwood
8:45
We're in this great company. That song was called It's Nice Looking Back, Looking Back on the Past
8:52
And it was adorable. And Lorelei was a 30-city tour. That meant it was going to be on the road for a year
8:59
Well, this is unbelievable. That meant the royalties were coming in. And it also meant, though, that Miss Channing thought the creative staff would be on the road for a year
9:10
So she got sort of disgruntled with the crew. And I remember saying to Gail, she's not saying anything
9:19
And Gail said, well, you know, she doesn't see well. Maybe you got to tell her, tell her to her face, you know
9:24
And I said in front of Gail, Carol, the tech really went well, didn't it
9:30
She turned to me and said, you do your job and I do mine
9:35
And I remember what Gail said. I still don't think she saw you
9:40
Lorelei did finally open on Broadway and at the palace. So it was still good luck for us
9:47
And it ran for a year. So it wasn't a bomb, but it was fun
9:53
It was fun trying to make her happy. Nightmare. After Lorelei came another musical that I had a lot of fun on, but again, there were complications
10:09
This was a review, which I had all the experience in the world with because of Carol and Variety
10:15
shows, where I had sketches and songs of Frank Lesser. Our running gag was never to let Mrs. Lesser talk about Mr. Lesser
10:25
That'll be fine, dear. Let's move on right now. and everyone in Hollywood came to see it
10:31
because it was at the Westwood Playhouse. I think my favorite was Silzen Burnett
10:40
because of the prestige and also at the last minute, Beverly sort of got cool on a sketch we had written
10:49
Gail and I had to think of a new sketch right away, write it, and hopefully, well, they loved it
10:55
No new sets were required because the sketch took place in a theater
11:01
Carol and Beverly were auditioning for opera. Carol was the cocky girlfriend of the director
11:07
Smoking, strutting around stage. And poor Beverly was this bedraggled person who'd been through earthquakes, floods, and stuff, but had the voice of a lifetime
11:19
And she didn't get the part. Carol did. Oh, I loved the Neil Diamond special because he coincidentally was a good friend
11:27
It doesn't hurt to have good friends in the business. And we actually went to NYU together
11:32
So we had a past. And I loved the opening. I had Neil in the mirror in his bathroom, shaving, singing, hello again, hello to the audience
11:44
And at the end of the song, we pulled back and there was an entire orchestra in his shower
11:49
Good, guys. We got it. Thanks. Very funny side gag, you know what I mean
11:58
Oh, absolutely. And that was your pecking order. You rose from the ranks from junior writer to head writer
12:05
and then the next choice had to be producer. I think the most difficult thing can be if it not working I was doing a pilot on Second City We had the rights to all their material
12:23
And when it transferred to television, it wasn't that funny. So we had to rewrite a lot of it, but not enough
12:29
because it still wasn't getting huge laughs. And they're coming to you and say, make it funnier
12:35
Well, you've got the material, you've got the performance, and if it's not playing, what do you do
12:43
The Smothers Brothers. That was a nightmare. I don't think the audiences will be surprised
12:54
They all know that Tommy and Dick were difficult. We did a new series for them after they had been fired from CBS
13:03
We were doing the NBC version, and we were producing and head writing
13:09
And I had Chevy Chase. He was only writing then. and brilliant, brilliant writers
13:15
and we gave them a lot of funny stuff. They wanted to stay very serious
13:20
We want to do soliloquies to Indians. The American Indian has been roughed up in this country
13:27
While you agree with them politically, besides an ode or a poem here and there
13:32
what can you do? It's not funny, is it? One of my favorite moments ever on television
13:41
was the first season of Burnett. They were doing a sketch that Gail and I created called
13:48
As the Stomach Turns, was a spoof on soap operas. In it, of course, was the steadfast Marion, which was Carol
13:59
sitting with the coffee. Her guests that night, Betty Grable and Martha Ray
14:05
Well, Betty Grable, I was like dying. You know, we had stars, Gloria Swanson, Lana Turner, Maggie Smith, and you just saw brilliance week after week
14:17
It was unbelievable. And I think doing As the Stomach Turns and being told by Carol as she came off, that'll be a department
14:27
That meant it'll be on the show. We did about 30 of them over the years, too
14:31
The most humiliating show, I think, was Playboy's Roller Disco and Pajama Party
14:43
plus a preview of the Playmate of the 80s. Needless to say, this was at the Hefner Mansion
14:52
The director and I, the producer, head writer, were in pajamas during the taping
15:01
What do you do next is always coming up. If they're not doing specials, if the musicals are too expensive, what about a book
15:12
I thought, that's what I'll do, a book about all my bits
15:17
I called it bits because I'm known for doing bits. The bits were in sketches
15:22
The bits were in real life. The bits were ever since I was in high school
15:31
When kids ask me how to get into television, how to get into comedy, I say sit down and write your conscience
15:39
Write your stream of consciousness. Write what you think is funny. When you're looking for subjects to write about, of course you look for subjects that are funny
15:55
but also that have a verisimilitude, they would say, a truth behind it
16:00
And this subject is about a kid who goes back to camp to find something he's always wanted
16:07
I'll give you a hint. It's not his bite plate
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