David Zucker and Dennis Explore the Ultimate Issues

In fact, one of the reasons we had David Zickaron is because he pledged $25,000 to PragerU.

And I'm very happy to do that, Dennis, for you. I assume it goes right into your pocket.

It does go into my pocket.

Oh, good. That's why I did it.

Unfortunately, the Living Martyr has access to my pockets, so it ends that possibility. Anyway, it is fundraising month, and I thank you. You are the audience that made PragerU possible. Our first fundraising was with my listeners. We're doing good stuff. And anyway, your kids watch it, right?

They do, yeah. I send them the videos. They're in college and I send it to them.

Well, I'm very touched and happy to hear that. So David Zucker is my guest. It's a very different Ultimate Issues Hour and one deeply necessary. The importance of laughter and comedy which is part of his nature. And of course, the airplane, the Naked Gun series, basketball. And now you've come out with an ebook, which I had the delight to look at. And I say look at because it's more looking than reading.

That's why I figured you'd get through it, because it has pictures and captions.

Yes, it's like the Daily News.

See, he laughed.

No, he smiled. I was right. No, no, you were wrong and I'm right. He smiled. All right. You consider a smile from him to be unconvincing? Controllable laughter. I agree with Dennis.

I'm a glass half full guy.

You are three-quarters full.

Okay.

Yes. Yeah, I love, I love your attitude. I really do. And I love you. I mean, you're a special human being. Thank you. And, and give a big hug to your brother. I will, because I deeply appreciate him, his work, his role in my life. And I wanted to say that publicly. By the way, I had him on for a movie I think is totally hilarious, Rat Race.

Oh yeah, Rat Race.

Yes, I thought it's very funny.

Yeah.

Okay, so you put out an ebook and the title is Before the Invention of Smiling, because all these ancestor pictures, they're just so—

I guess they're like Alan, you know, you know, just—

I never thought of things.

You're so serious. And that happened to be one of the captions.

I—

it was a picture in the book of my grandfather probably at his bar mitzvah in a still Russia, and his father, and they're just so stone-faced.

Well, let me just say on behalf of your grandfather that bar mitzvahs in Russia under the czar were not happy events. Just for the record.

There's no picture, but there is a picture of the yeshiva that he Is that right?

I know. No, you're— I can't believe you have so— I don't have anywhere near that number of family pictures.

Well, I actually, I used a picture from the internet. God bless the internet, you know, of the yeshiva. And there's literally 100 kids in it. And I say the caption says Leo Zucker is 5th row, you know, 13th from the right, you know.

Right. I know. I love the pictures were amazing. So you had a happy childhood?

I did, but it's not— it isn't so much about my childhood.

No, it isn't.

It's a— it's, you know, my— I used to listen to these stories that my grandmother would tell, and I'm interested, you know, I'm very devoted to family, and I love history. So my grandmother was one of 8 brothers and sisters who came from Hungary, and none of them talked about it. My grandmother was the only one, and I was the only one of her 10 grandkids who listened. And so I finally, you know, when I was about 40, I went back for a visit to Milwaukee from LA, and I got the whole story on tape. And then 20 years later, I had a transcript made. And by that time, my kids were able to hear the story. And so I did a children's book. I wasn't satisfied with that. So I let it go for 10 years until 2 years ago. And then I read the transcript, and it's fascinating, in my grandfather's voice. And so that's what I used, and I hired my storyboard artist Gary Thomas and then another artist Cynthia Angulo to do the drawings where pictures weren't available.

Normally that would not succeed, but you made it succeed partially because of the humor, partially the photos and the drawings. I mean, everything contributed, obviously. You think Well, let me ask you, obviously, how do people access this?

Oh, well, it's— you can get it on Amazon. You can read Amazon ebooks via the Kindle Library app on any device, Apple iPad or on Android and Windows tablets.

Oh, it's up at DennisPrager.com, The Connection?

Yeah, if you own a Kindle device.

Yeah, well, you don't even own it. You just download it. It's free.

Yeah, but a Kindle device will only show it in black and white, but it's worth it to get it in color.

Oh, really? Oh, how do you get in color?

If you view it on any other device, it'll be in color.

Oh, really? That's very interesting. I didn't know that. Okay. Anyway, the connection is up at DennisPrager.com.

But there's a great picture that I discovered in just in the last couple of years. It had been a color slide, and it was taken when I was 4 years old, and I'm standing on a chair in between my grandfather and my father, and my father and I are wearing bow ties. I probably had one of those clip-on bow ties, right? This is like in 1952 or something. And my grandfather is standing beside me with— and he had—

I saw—

converted his necktie—

that is the largest bow tie I have ever seen—

into—

outside of a circus—

into a ridiculous-looking bow tie.

You have a hilarious comment there.

That's why it's fun, because it's a straight face.

We'll be back, final segment with David Zucker, Ultimate Issues Hour.