The Man of the Hour
Dave's childhood home
Dave at 2 years old
High School graduation
Basic training
Basic training 1951
Dave's early stand-up
In the beginning
Dave on stage
Performing his nightclub routine Performing at the Hilton March of Dimes Telethon The Rat Pack On the "Ed Sullivan Show" "Camp Runamuck" |
![]() Born in Sanaria, Ontario, Canada, on December 17, Dave was sent to Terre Haute, Indiana at the age of two to live with relatives following his father's death. Later, while stationed with the Air Force in North Africa, Dave worked on his old comedy magic routine, later performing before the King of Libya, and other delighted Arabs who named him, "Scookoo" or "The Crazy One." Following his discharge, Dave returned to the East Coast where he performed in a variety of comedy clubs before moving west where his act was caught by Frank Sinatra who said, "I believe that Dave Madden is one of the bright young comedy stars in show business." That led to three appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show," and numerous guest spots on such TV series as "Bewitched," "Accidental Family, " and his first regular series role as Camp Counselor Pruitt on "Camp Runamuck." Following "Runamuck," Dave was selected by Dan Rowan and Dick Martin to spend two summers touring with the "Laugh-In Comedy Show," which led to his being hired as a series regular. After "The Partridge Family," Dave enjoyed a lucrative career as a commercial voice-over artist, as well as guest starring on numerous television series including, "Love American Style," "Happy Days," "Starsky & Hutch," "Mulligan's Stew," "Fantasy Island," "Love Boat," "Barney Miller," "Life With Lucy," "More Wild Wild West," "Sabrina the Teen-Age Witch, " and "The Ben Stiller Show," among others, and became a semi-regular in Mel's Diner on "Alice." In 2008 Dave wrote his autobiography, titled ,"Reuben On Wry : The Memoirs of Dave Madden" which is chock full of stories too numerous to include here. For your convenience, we have included a link at the end of this interview where you may purchase it directly. Now semi-retired and living in Florida with his lovely wife Sandra, Dave spoke with us in March, 2009. So sit back, enjoy the ride, and hold onto your funny bone -- because Reuben is driving the bus!
GET HAPPY: What is your earliest memory...
Dave Madden: My earliest memory? Well, I was in the womb as I remember. I was inside it and I said, "Let me out of here! It's terrible in here! It's cold!" And I haven't gone into a womb since. GH: Well, actually I was going to ask about your earliest performing memory?
When did you realize you wanted to be a performer? DM: I don't know - what time is it now? GH: 10:00 AM. DM: About 9:30. No, actually when I was in the 8th Grade. I got hit by a car on my bicycle. It was a head-on collision between me and an automobile going about 45MPH. It broke my leg in several places, fractured my skull, and they didn't expect me to live for a few days. But fortunately, not too long before that, penicillin was invented. Boy, this really makes it sound like I am old, doesn't it? But it was the penicillin that they pumped into me on an hourly basis for three days that saved my life. I was in the hospital for quite a while because they had to keep breaking my leg over again because it wasn't healing properly and so I was in there for about three months. My aunt brought me a book called "101 Tricks You Can Do." It was a magic book and being flat on my back, I managed to sit up and study it and practiced a few things and tried them out on the nurses. So, by the time I was a freshman in high school I had developed a little magic act that I did for PTA meetings and things like that. By the time I went into the service it had developed into a comedy-magic act. Then out of the service and into college, that developed into a comedy act without the magic. GH: Was that a natural progression? Magic
and comedy? DM: I guess I always wanted to comedy - it was fun to do. I was the Joke Editor, as the called it, in High School. GH: For your school newspaper? DM: Yeah, for their paper. Looking back - and we're talking about the mid-to-late forties - I don't know anybody that did high school joke editor type work. I wrote monologues - I didn't write jokes. I wrote monologues, which I think was unique for it's time. I guess that's when I started getting interested in monologues and I started throwing monologues into the magic act. Eventually I took up guitar playing while I was in college. That was the folk era back in the late 50s. GH: Where did you go to college? DM: The GH: How did you start getting booked
professionally? How you get your first agent? DM: My first agent was in
GH: You were raised by an aunt and
uncle, right? DM: Yes, they raised me. They were like my parents. I got an agent while I was there. I wasn't yet in the union, but I got an agent in the area and he got me some jobs. Now, I had worked for money prior to that. Even when I was in the service I did shows for money. But my agent got me jobs locally in the GH: Did you search him out or
did he discover you while performing?
DM: I searched him out. His name was Sam Rowen. So I got out of the service in January and had until September before I enrolled in college to work and try and get some jobs. I didn't do a lot, but I got some jobs in the GH: So you were working as a stand-up
comic even through college? DM: Oh yeah, it was weird. I didn't have any agent down in GH: Did you look for an agent while in
DM: There was an agent in
GH: What did you do once you graduated
from college? DM: There was an agency in
GH: And I'm sure everyone was there to see the comic! DM: Oh yeah -- they packed in to
see me. I worked a lot of awful clubs back in those days. I did that for a few years till I
decided to go out the GH: What made you decide
DM: Well, I tell you - I had been to GH: Did you have an agent in
DM: Well, I had a manager named
Marshall Edson that got me that job. I was with him for about 12 years. I worked GH: How did you end up on "The Ed Sullivan Show?" DM: Well, Sinatra and I used to hang out together, and one night in his bungalow after the show, at about 2 in the morning, he said "You ought to be on "The Ed Sullivan Show." So he picks up the phone - because he has these numbers - and he called Ed Sullivan in
GH: What year was this?
DM: 1964. I did three guest shots
all in the same year.
GH: Where else did you get booked?
DM: My manager had a little club in
GH: That must have been a treat!
DM: Well, it would have been.
What happened there was the date we were supposed to open the tour at the Steel Pier in
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