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Search forVeteran comic has no plans to quit
Friday, October 24, 2008, 08:23
"A break? No, why? You got something better to do?" he told a reporter in Sydney who asked if the comedian was contemplating leaving the stage after more than 50 years of performing.
"Show me somewhere better than this and I'll consider it."
Jerry was fronting a news conference in Australia to promote his latest stage show, a retrospective of his career that includes show tunes with a 24-piece band, excerpts from his scores of movies and television shows, and his trademark slapstick comedy.
As he walked onto a small stage at a luxury hotel for Friday's news conference, Jerry lost his balance on the stairs and ended up stumbling slightly toward a reporter on the floor.
Without missing a beat, and true to ad-libbing form, he grabbed the reporter's hand and started pumping it, saying, "How do you do?"
"Don't you understand that when you croak, it's for a ve-e-e-e-ry long time," Jerry said later when asked about retirement. "So you want to get in as much activity as you can before you go."
Another topic the entertainer doesn't give much time to is the US presidential election.
"Everybody talks about politicians -- I don't do it because I do comedy already," he said, declining to comment on either Barack Obama or John McCain. "There's nothing fun about it."
Regarding the smoking ban, when you go out and go back home you no longer smell like an ashtray. Passive smoking kills. Period.
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