Rodney Dangerfield was born in Deer Park, New York in 1921. His birth name was Jacob Cohen. Jacob Cohen began writing jokes at the age of 15, and started performing before he was 20. He took his act to the road for ten years, his stage name was Jack Roy. While working as a struggling comedian Rodney Dangerfield worked as a singing waiter. His first run at comedy was to no avail. Rodney Dangerfield married Joyce Indig, in 1949 and had two children: Brian and Melanie. During the 1950s Rodney was an aluminum siding salesman, living in New Jersey. The comedian made another attempt at stand up comedy, this time as Rodney Dangerfield. In 1961 Rodney divorced from his wife. When he appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" ("Toast of the Town" (1948)), Rodney Dangerfield made Ed Sullivan laugh. Few people ever provoked any kind of reaction out of the legendary Ed Sullivan. Dangerfield had the image of a lovable disgruntled everyman type that became a hit all across nightclubs in the 1960s. Dangerfield also made many appearances on the "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (1962) and "The Dean Martin Show" (1965) in the 1970s. Rodney Dangerfield snatched a minor supporting part in the movie The Projectionist (1971), in 1971. By the mid 1970s he had cemented his image as a comedian constantly tugging at his red tie, always proclaiming he gets no respect. His big break came with many appearances on "Saturday Night Live" (1975), bringing himself to a much wider audience and proving hysterical on many occasions. In 1980, Dangerfield became a cornerstone of American comedy with the classic Caddyshack (1980). Here, he played Al Czervik, a rich golfer who was a basically nice guy that was extremely outspoken and very obnoxious. His character was often unhappy with the rich snobbery he was around, and he takes on the rich people that are so snobby to him. The average guy that his character portrayed was an instant hit, and a formula th
1 | Son of No Respect | No Respect |
2 | My Neighborhood | What's in a Name |
3 | What's In A Name | What's in a Name |
4 | Audience Questions | No Respect |
5 | Paris and I'm not Sexy | No Respect |
6 | My Car and My Wife | No Respect |
7 | My Family Tree | No Respect |
8 | The Hold Up | What's in a Name |
9 | d Someones Going to Get Hurt | La Contessa |
10 | These are Jokes | No Respect |
11 | Growing up Poor and Sex | No Respect |
12 | b 2 Minute Warning | La Contessa |
13 | The Gourmet | What's in a Name |
14 | My Cousin and Doing Comedy on Drugs | No Respect |