Jay Johnson (Soap, Broadway's The Two and Only)

Jay Johnson talks to me about being introduced to puppetry by Ricky Layne and Velvel; starting with his cousins Jerry Mahoney doll at 11; having dyslexia; reading scripts; doing 918 shows the summer after high school at Six Flags in Georgia; hiss first puppet, Squeaky; working Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs in Texas; going to college for marketing; finding Edgar Bergen's trunk; Bob is in the Smithsonian; being friends for 40 plus years with Harry Anderson; surviving Reno with Harry; his 7 foot partner, Ruben Hickory (Rube Hick); making his TV debut on Merv Griffin; working clean; Otto and George and Wayland Flowers and Madame; getting Soap; favorite memories; the mind reading sequence; coming up with ideas for Chuck and Bob; director Jay Sandrich; being married 51 years; being part of an HBO special The Vent Event in 1979; hosting Celebrity Charades; a memorable Pyramid mishap; being mistaken for Dick Clark; an idea for Chain Reaction where Bob would be a contestant that was nixed by NBC's S & P; Mrs. Columbo; Something is Out There; a pilot Sutters Bay; guesting on The Love Boat; being a guest on The Tonight Show; talking to Johnny; his talk/game show So You Think You've Got Troubles; being on the last Jerry Lewis telethon and the first without him; working the phones on the telethon; his Tony Award winning one man show The One and Only; his producers Paul Kreppel and Murphy Cross; going on David Letterman to promote; being cut from a ventriloquist episode of Night Court; the "New Night Court"