The late comedian and actor Rodney Dangerfield is best remembered for his self-deprecating stand-up comedy and quick-fire jokes about his rotten luck in life, especially the trademark line “I don’t get no respect.” His large eyes and feigned nervous demeanor endeared Dangerfield to audiences and made him one of the most recognizable and frequently quoted comedians of all time.
Born Jacob Cohen in New York in 1921, Rodney Dangerfield had a heartbreakingly terrible childhood. His pain led him to comedy, which eventually became a lucrative career that brought him great fame and a dedicated fanbase. A regular on the late-night television talk show circuit, Dangerfield was also a success in movies like Caddyshack, Back to School, and Easy Money. He excelled at portraying obnoxiously uncouth characters who were still somewhat lovable underneath their crude demeanors.
Although Rodney Dangerfield passed away in 2004, we’re still laughing at his jokes today. Here are a few respectful facts about the comedic icon.
Dangerfield on childhood: I tell ya, when I was a kid I got no respect. My parents got divorced. They had a custody fight over me. No one showed up.
Rodney Dangerfield, internet pioneer
Rodney Dangerfield was the first celebrity to run his own website. He started rodney.com back in 1995, before people could access the internet on their phones. Entertainment Weekly asked Dangerfield about his foray into the World Wide Web. “I thought to myself, what’s the newest thing out today? And computers is it,” he answered. “So I asked my wife to check into it, and I got my own website. I figure it’s the future thing, so let me get involved.”
In its earliest incarnation, the site featured biographical information, downloadable videos and answering machine messages, recent press, signed photos for purchase, and a random Joke of the Day. Dangerfield often responded to messages himself, treating fans to a personal interaction.
A sleek and updated version of the site was relaunched by Dangerfield’s widow Joan in 2013, when he would have turned 92. Today it features an extensive archive of the comedian’s life and work.
Dangerfield on technology: I have a computer that I can talk to — it doesn’t answer me. I never had any luck with computers. I went out and bought an Apple computer. There was a worm in it.
Dangerfield toked up at the White House
The list of famous people who are publicly known to have smoked pot at the White House includes Willie Nelson, Snoop Dogg, and Rodney Dangerfield. Nelson partook with President Jimmy Carter’s son, Chip, while visiting the White House in 1980, while Snoop Dogg claims he smoked in (or near) the presidential residence twice.
Dangerfield, a longtime marijuana fan, admitted to his sneaky smoking episode in his 2005 autobiography It’s Not Easy Bein’ Me: A Lifetime of No Respect but Plenty of Sex and Drugs. He said he once performed for Ronald and Nancy Reagan and attended a reception at the White House after the show. “I didn’t feel like hanging out with the senators, governors, and all the other political big shots,” Dangerfield wrote. Instead he “got high” and “hung out with all the limo drivers.”
Dangerfield on drugs: I say ‘no’ to drugs. Whenever someone asks me for some of my drugs I say, ‘no.’
He gave Eddie Murphy some bad career advice
In the late 1970s Eddie Murphy was a teenager trying to establish himself as a serious comedian when he got the chance to perform his act in front of Rodney Dangerfield at a Florida comedy club. Dangerfield, who was famous by this time, agreed to stay after his set and check out Murphy’s material.
If you’ve ever watched any of Murphy’s early comedy like his standup films Delirious and Raw, you’re familiar with how raunchy his work is. Even when taking away the lens of modern sensitivities, his material is frequently profane and offensive. “Back then I was really dirty and did … edgy racial stuff,” he said in a a 2020 W Magazine interview. He wasn’t exaggerating.
After the two comics were done with their sets, Dangerfield had some advice. According to Murphy, he said, “Hey, kid. I don’t know where you’re gonna go with that — the language and the race stuff.” He thought all the swearing and controversial material would hinder Murphy’s chances of success.
Murphy was initially upset by the feedback but kept on with his same audacious style. Turns out that his edginess was exactly what people loved about his comedy. Just a couple of years later, he was signed to Saturday Night Live where he became a household name.
Years later, Rodney Dangerfield and Eddie Murphy bumped into each other in a Las Vegas restroom and had a brief chance to catch up. “Dangerfield comes to the urinal right next to me and I look over and he looks at me, and says, ‘Hey, who knew?’” Murphy recalled to W.
Dangerfield on being wrong: If the odds are 50/50, I don’t stand a chance!
He thought he was bombing in ‘Caddyshack’
Although he had some earlier small television and film parts (his first on-screen appearance was in Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing in 1956), Dangerfield found fame in the 1980 comedy Caddyshack.
He might have found the transition from standup to film daunting at first. Actor Scott Colomby, who played the arrogant caddie Tony D’Annunzio, later revealed that Dangerfield thought he was bombing on set. In an interview with the New York Daily News, Columby said, “He sat down next to me at lunch one day and he’s sweating and tugging at his collar just like you seen a million times on The Tonight Show saying, ‘Am I OK, am I OK? This is my first movie.’”
Colomby reassured him that he was doing great, but Dangerfield started to sweat profusely and said, “‘No. I suck. I suck. I’m dying out there. Nobody’s laughing.’” Colomby had to remind him, that they couldn’t laugh due to the fact that they were filming. Dangerfield was used to constant audience feedback, so hearing silence during his performance had seemingly unnerved him.
His performance in Caddyshack was lauded by many, with critic Roger Ebert writing: “To the degree that this is anybody’s movie, it’s Dangerfield’s — and he mostly seems to be using his own material.” Today, the film is a cult classic.
Dangerfield on self-doubt: I told my psychiatrist that everyone hates me. He said I was being ridiculous – everyone hasn’t met me yet.
Joking up until the end
Rodney Dangerfield’s health deteriorated substantially in his final years. He had a mild stroke during an appearance on The Tonight Show on November 22, 2001, his 80th birthday. Two years later he underwent brain surgery in an effort to increase his blood flow enough for a future heart valve replacement.
In 2004, Dangerfield’s doctors deemed him ready for heart surgery. As he entered the UCLA Medical Center he was asked how long he’d be staying in the hospital. Always ready with a one-liner, he quipped, “If things go right, I’ll be there about a week, and if things don’t go right, I’ll be there about an hour and a half.”
Sadly, the procedure did not go according to plan. Dangerfield remained in a coma for a few weeks and passed away on October 5, 2004. He was 82 years old.
Dangerfield on aging: You know when you’re getting old, you get certain signs. I walked past a cemetery, two guys ran after me with shovels!
He has an iconic headstone
Rodney Dangerfield’s website helped determine the inscription for his headstone. Eerily, on the day he died, the comedian’s website displayed this as the randomly generated Joke of the Day: “I tell ya, I get no respect from anyone. I bought a cemetery plot. The guy said, ‘There goes the neighborhood.’”
It was so fitting as a final put-down that his wife Joan decided to use the joke on Dangerfield’s headstone. Visitors can see the grave for themselves at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California, where Dangerfield rests near famous “neighbors” like Dean Martin, Don Knotts, Frank Zappa, Truman Capote, and Marilyn Monroe
Dangerfield on his own memorial: I can picture my own funeral, the things that would be said:
We are here today to bid farewell to Rodney
Dangerfield.
A good husband, a good father, and a very
good tipper.
A man who cared about the homeless. He was
always looking for a girl who needs a room.
Book cited
Dangerfield, R. (2005). It’s Not Easy Bein’ Me: A Lifetime of No Respect but Plenty of Sex and Drugs. Harper Collins.
