Skip E. Lowe, the worst interviewer in history

Did Martin Short base his Jiminy Glick character on him?

Is he worse than Chevy Chase?

r1 Yes, he did.

Skip E. Lowe did a public access show in LA and that's where the OP's clip is from so the technical aspects are understandable. He was super good friends with almost everyone in Hollywood, so that's why he had so many old timey celebrities on his show. His best friend was Shelley Winters who was on numerous times.

Short saw this and created a character called Skip E. High that was much closer but Lowe threatened to sue so Short retooled making him a fat slob and changing the character's name to Jiminy Glick. I met him a few times and the first time I met him I thought he was a little old lady, a lesbian.

I've only seen short bits of his interviews but I would make bet that many are with actors who who were rarely interviewed by anyone, so in a way it is an archive.

[quote] Did Martin Short base his Jiminy Glick character on him?

A combo of him and Merv Griffin.

He was an asshole unless you were a "celebrity" or a hot dude, then he turned into a little ass kisser.

I was there for one of Sally Kirkland's tapings in the mid-90s. Would see him frequently at the Silver Spoon.

R5 Yes, he interviews A-list actor to the more obscure stars, although not totally unknowns, some of which were rarely interviewed. I love that he interviewed people like Nick Corri and Yvette Vickers.

He definitely fawns way too much, but for getting the details wrong, many of these were back before the days of the internet and he didn't have a staff of people to prepare a bio or resume for his guests like the network talk shows.

Another spoof of Skip E.

I hated how he interrupted people constantly.

Jesus, Joseph and MARY.

He seems ok with Martin Short here.

Oh he's dreadful. As much as I want to see late career interviews with many of his guests, and that's a lot, I still can't abide him. Just dreadful.

a truly awful interviewer.

If you look through his videos on YT, they read like a Who's Who of DL fame. Absolutely incredible. Aside from Shelley, one of his best friends was Jackie Stallone.

Nick Corri update:

Skip E. was one of my dad's best friends. My dad came up with his name (Skip's real name was Sammy LaBella - he was Italian/Jewish) and Skip E. dedicated his memoir "the boy with the Betty Grable Legs" to my dad, who died very young. I spent a lot of time around Skip E. when he hung out with my parents in the 1970s. Wild times!

But he was an awful interviewer, lol.

I read his bio R18, seemed like a lot of "baloney." What was he like when you knew him?

Harry Shearer wrote a piece on him in The NY Times and believe it or not, it's fairly respectful.

From Shearer's article:

But -- and this is part of Lowe's attraction to the entertainers I know who regularly watch 'Skip E. Lowe Looks at Hollywood' -- his obsession with show business has nothing to do with grosses or ratings and everything to do with big breaks and comebacks and wonderful evenings in the theater. That is, it's a fairyland reading of an industry that has become even crueler and greedier than it was in its Golden Age, whenever that was.

Lowe kissed some really ancient, wrinkly ass.

R19 I remember him being fun and cheerful. I liked being around him when he'd come into town and visit. I remember he'd usually bring me a little gift. He absolutely adored my father, and spent a lot of time with my dad and his girlfriend in NY before my dad & mom started dating.

His first book does have some head-scratchers in it though, some stuff that seems implausible. I'm sure a lot of it is BS, lol. I never read his 2nd book, which I understand is kind of a re-hash of the first, with some celebrity trash added in.

Thank you R23.

R18, did he have a crush on your dad?

Please tell me that blond headed son of Mickey Rooney was wearing a horrendously cheap wig.

I read his book. Very weird and disjointed.

Didn't Jan Hooks play Jimminy Glick's wife Dixie?

He did look like an old lesbian.

Or a tarted up Golda Meir.