Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
Danny Devito and Judd Hirsch first traded barbs on the hit sitcom "Taxi" back in the late 1970s-early 1980s. Decades later, they reunite as a squabbling vaudeville duo onstage for tonight's opening of Neil Simon's "The Sunshine Boys" at the Ahmanson Theatre.
The play focuses on the relationship between the comedy team of Al Lewis (Hirsch) and Willie Clark (DeVito). But then Lewis leaves the act.
Hirsch says, "Since my character says to his on that fatal night, 'I'm retiring,' it put this man into a tizzy."
"And rightly so," says DeVito, not missing a beat.
But then CBS comes along and offers to revive their act, setting off antagonism and hilarious antics between the two. TV viewers will recall DeVito and Hirsch had the same kind of chemistry on "Taxi."
"To have the history that we have, Judd and I," says DeVito, "being thrust together in 'Taxi' in 1978...for that five years it was a family. We got very, very close."
Even while they talked with Alex Cohen, the two kept bouncing off of each other, laughing and reminiscing along the way.
To see The Sunshine Boys: The play opens tonight and runs through November 3rd at the Ahmanson Theatre. Get more info on tickets here.