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I Went Public With The Alcoholism, Very Early On... The Early '70s. Mercedes Mccambridge, The Actress, I Think Was The First Recognizable Person That Went Before Congress And Talked About It, And I Thought That Was A Good Idea, To Take Some Of The Stigma Away From It And Say "normal, Average People Can Fall Prey To It." So It's Been Public For Me. I Did A Movie About An Alcoholic. And Today, You're Nobody Unless You've Been To Rehab. It Seems Like Everybody Has Some Kind Of An Addiction.

-Dick Van Dyke

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I Went Public With

Dick Van Dyke

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I Went Public With The Alcoholism, Very Early On... The Early '70s. Mercedes Mccambridge, The Actress, I Think Was The First Recognizable Person That Went Before Congress And Talked About It, And I Thought That Was A Good Idea, To Take Some Of The Stigma Away From It And Say "normal, Average People Can Fall Prey To It." So It's Been Public For Me. I Did A Movie About An Alcoholic. And Today, You're Nobody Unless You've Been To Rehab. It Seems Like Everybody Has Some Kind Of An Addiction.

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If You Spend Your Life Thinking, "i Wonder If Today Is When It Ends," You're Going To Miss Out On Everything Wonderful.

I Hear Music And My Feet Just Start Moving.

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I Have Two Kids Who Were Like Me, We Get Out Of Bed Feeling Good, And The Other Two Would Sit At The Breakfast Table And Grumble. I Think It's Born Into Us. I Usually Wake Up Feeling Pretty Good. Looking Forward To The Day.

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You're Going To Die. That's Going To Happen. What Matters Is What You Do With Your Time Before You Get Flushed Out.

Stan Said He Used To Keep Hardy Late, Make Him Miss His Golf Game, And Really Get Him Mad.

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Dealing With It

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10 Years Ago, I Would've Host Saturday Night Live. But To Me, The Show Has Declined. For Some Reason, Humor Isn't What It Was. It Just, To Me, It's Not As Funny As It Was, Not As Sharply Satirical.

We Used To Get 27, 28 Minutes To Do A Story In, And Now They're Lucky If They Get 18 Or 20 Minutes. So I Don't Think They Can Really Do A Beginning, A Middle, And An End Anymore. There's An Awful Lot Of One-line Jokes; Almost Every Line Is A Punchline. It's Not The Same, But There's Still Good Comedy Around.

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There's A Lot Of Very Funny People I'd Love To Work With That I've Never Met, Of Course. I Love Steve Martin And Jim Carrey.

You Know, I'm Almost Out Of The Habit Of Watching Episodic Television Now.

I Know Friends Of Mine Who Have Never Changed Their Mind About Anything In Their Lives, Despite Evidence From All Directions. And I Think If You Can Keep An Open Mind And Some Understanding, That Helps You Stay Young.

I Wouldn't Mind Taking A Chance At Real Time, I've Always Thought If I Could Pick My Interviewer, It'd Be Charlie Rose, Who I Think Is The Best.

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So I Think We're Kind Of An Alternate Choice For People Who Have Had It With Sex And Violence.

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In The Best Of All Worlds, The Producers Would Take Some Responsibility For The Kinds Of Things They're Putting Out. Unfortunately, They Don't.

I Would Love To Be Moses.

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I'm The Anti-quentin Tarantino.

I Was Lucky To Get The Kinds Of Parts I Wanted. I Always Said I Didn't Want To Do Anything My Kids Can't See.

Rob Petrie Is Who I Really Am - In Personality And General Ineffectiveness.

Ineffectiveness

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There Are Tribes All Over The World Who Sing And Dance Every Day As Part Of Their Lives. And We Oughta Do That.

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I Got Into A Broadway Show Before I Ever Sang And Danced. I Learned How After I Got In The Show.

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I've Had A Lot Of Writers, In Particular, Who Said They Got Into Writing Because Of The 'van Dyke Show.' They Said It Looked Like Fun.

I Do Miss The Rhythms Of Comedy. And I've Never Been Able To Perform Very Well Without An Audience. The Sitcoms I've Done Had Them. It Was Like Doing A Little Play.

Bob Hope, Like Mark Twain, Had A Sense Of Humor That Was Uniquely American, And Like Twain, We'll Likely Not See Another Like Him.

I Just Think Everyone Needs Their Own Private Space.

When I Was A Kid, I Had Ambitions For Being A Television Announcer, Which Was Before Television Took Off, You Know, In The Late 40s. And Just Through Necessity, Going Out Looking For Work, I Was Starting To Sing, And Dance, And Act, And I Never Expected To Do That, Nor To Have Any Success At It At Least.

People Think I'm Talking Like I'm In Perfect Health, But I Have All The Infirmities For My Age. I Have Arthritis And All Those Things. But If You Keep Moving, That Won't Bother You.

I Found Out Retirement Means Playing Golf, Or I Don't Know What The Hell It Means. But To Me, Retirement Means Doing What You Have Fun Doing.

Once I Got A Job Singing And Dancing, A Reasonable Person Might Think, "maybe I Should Learn How To Do This." But No, I Never Did.

But Once We Got On The Air, Everybody Except Morey Amsterdam Pretty Much Stuck To The Script.

Hope Is Life's Essential Nutrient, And Love Is What Gives Life Meaning

Today, If You're Not An Alcoholic, You're Nobody.

I Sing And Dance. That's My Job.

I Was A 'laurel And Hardy' Nut. I Got To Know Laurel At The End Of His Life, And It Was A Great Thrill For Me. He Left Me His Bow Tie And Derby And Told Me That If They Ever Made A Movie About Him, He'd Want Me To Play Him.

I Never Made A Good Movie.

Sing Like Nobody Can Hear You, Dance Like Nobody Can See You, And Love Like You've Never Been Hurt.

I Think The Saddest Moment In My Life Just Happened Two Months Ago. My Old Nightclub Partner Passed Away, Phil Erickson Down In Atlanta. He - I Owe Him Everything. He Put Me In The Business And Taught Me About Everything I Know.

Longevity In My Family's Been Pretty Good. And My Grandparents Were Pretty Spry At Their Age, So I Figured I'd Probably Stay Skinny And Fairly Agile. I Used To Do Old Men All The Time In Sketches. And There Used To Be An Organization Called The Gray Panthers. And They Would Send Me, Oh, Terrible Letters About Making Fun Of Old People. And I Would Just Always Say, "i'm Playing The Old Person I Intend To Become!"

I Never Had A Lot Of Drive, But Because I Had Family Responsibilities, I Had A Lot Of Tenacity - The Tenacity Of A Drowning Man.

A Lot Of Violence, A Lot Of Gore In It, And I Just Didn't Want To Do That Kind Of Thing.

I Turned Down Some Movies That Were Quite Good. Mainly On The Basis Of Taste.

I Found Doing That Kind Of Comedy Without An Audience Is Just... For Me, It's Almost Impossible. You Need The Audience To Do Their Half Of The Work.

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I'm Always Announcing My Retirement. I'm Still Not Retired.

Otherwise, Everything Got Better And Better, Just One Surprise After Another. And That's Why I Wrote The Book About A Matter Of Being In The Right Place At The Right Time, And Just Luck.

No, I Did Night Clubs Right Here In Los Angeles. My Partner, Phil Erickson, Put Me In The Business, A Guy From My Home Town, A Dear Friend Who We Just Lost A Couple Of Months Ago.

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It Means You Never Know What's Going To Happen,' I Said. 'you Do Your Best, Then Take Your Chances. Everything Else Is Beyond Our Control.

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