When the cameras stopped rolling on “Taxi,” Danny DeVito and his co-stars apparently shifted into a very different gear.
DeVito recalled cast members and celebrity guests spilling into all-night “ragers” where music blared until sunrise and, as he put it, there was “crudité and cocaine.”
“But getting back to the parties, those were like ragers,” he explained during an appearance on the “All the Smoke” podcast. “Like we would have like, crudité and cocaine … basically it was the eighties. It was like, really crazy.”
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And the guest list extended well beyond the “Taxi” cast.
“…people would come from like, ‘Laverne & Shirley’ would come and watch our show. And Robin Williams would come,” he remembered. “And we had visitors from outside who was a big fan of the show – Michael Jackson would come.
“He would sit up in the booth, not with the audience, sit up in the booth and watch. Lots of people came. Belushi, you know, people from ‘SNL‘ in the early days.”
DeVito said the celebration kicked into high gear as soon as the night’s work was finished.
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“So then we would transition right from the show that we finished, like, 10:30, 11. And immediately go up and blare the music … until the sun came up,” he recalled.
“We had to be to work on Monday at noon,” DeVito said. “That’s all we had to care about.”
DeVito became a household name as the hilariously abrasive Louie De Palma on “Taxi,” the hit sitcom that ran from 1978 to 1983. The show featured an ensemble cast that included Judd Hirsch as Alex Reiger, Marilu Henner as Elaine Nardo, Tony Danza as Tony Banta, Christopher Lloyd as Jim Ignatowski, Jeff Conaway as Bobby Wheeler and Andy Kaufman as Latka Gravas.
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DeVito’s performance as the tyrannical dispatcher earned him both an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe, turning what could have been a supporting role into his Hollywood breakthrough.
“And it was one of the greatest experiences for the beginning of anybody’s career, because you were working with writers who were nose to the grindstone, never give up, dedicated, funny a– people. And they never let you down. And they work until an hour before the show with you.”
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After “Taxi,” DeVito built an unusually versatile career as an actor, director and producer.
His most recognizable acting projects include “Twins,” “Batman Returns” and “Matilda.”
Since 2006, he has also introduced himself to a new generation of comedy fans as the outrageous Frank Reynolds on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”
