He’s the weatherman-turned-comic, or was he comic-turned-weatherman? A grueling stint in radio happened somewhere along the way too. But you probably know Fritz Coleman because of his 40-year gig at KNBC-Channel 4, which he retired from a couple of years ago.
Now he’s back on the comedy circuit with a string of shows, called Unassisted Residency, this year in North Hollywood at the El Portal Theatre-Marilyn Monroe Forum. He’ll touch on what it means to be a baby boomer, clinging on for dear life, in these trying times.
Host Steve Chiotakis: First of all, what's the weather forecast?
Coleman: By law, I cannot. I'm not allowed to forecast the weather anymore because when I retired, I relinquished my license. When people say, “Fritz, what's the weather?” I say, “Look on your phone and never bother me again.”
Now that sounds like what Unassisted Residency is about, right? Get off my lawn. Is that what it is?
I talk a little bit about doing the weather, but really, truthfully, there are no politics in this. It's just the common experience of getting old. We were reviewed when we did the Conference of Asia in Pasadena. One guy’s reviews said, “This is like a brilliant baby boomer support group.” And I thought that describes it. That's good marketing for me.
It seems like politics is infused in everything now. How do you not bring it up?
People are buckling under the weight of life right now. It's a dark, oppressive world. The divide is almost indescribable. So for this hour and a half, when they come to our show and other comedian shows, they just want to be taken out of their heads. Can I please not think about how bad the world is right now? And let's just talk about things that we have in common, which is exactly what my show is. It talks about what we have in common, about being at this particular stage in your life.