Comedy legend George Wallace is back home in Akron this weekend. Before he was famous, the “Tonight Show” favorite attended the University of Akron and worked at Firestone. He’ll be performing at the LeBron James Family Foundation’s House Three Thirty Friday and Saturday.
After chatting with his old friend Jimmy Malone, a Cleveland comedian and radio personality, on his way to the Southern Kitchen restaurant in Tallmadge, Wallace reflected on moving from his native Atlanta to the University of Akron in the 1960s. After college, he landed marketing work at Firestone when the city was bustling.
“You’d be surprised how busy Downtown Akron was, just traffic everywhere,” he said. “I think there were a few trolleys, and it was just really beautiful at Christmas. At Polsky’s, O’Neil’s with the Christmas windows- my goodness! You could actually smell rubber in the air back in the ‘60s with Goodyear, Goodrich, Firestone, General Tire. They were all here and even the water tasted like rubber.”
With limited outlets for comedy in the early ‘70s, he moved to New York City to pursue his dream of being a stand-up, eventually debuting on “The Tonight Show” before his roommate, Jerry Seinfeld.
“He called me six times yesterday. I said, ‘Would you please stop!’” he said. “People don't know that I am the real roommate. I am the real George: Roommate for 13 years and best man in his wedding and also the father of his kids. I wish everybody had a friend like Jerry Seinfeld because he's crazy.”
In the 1980s and ‘90s, both comedians would frequently play Hilarities Comedy Club in the Flats. Today the club is part of Pickwick & Frolic on E. 4th Street. There’s still a vestige of Wallace on the ceiling: Chandeliers he helped obtain from a historic spot.
“Nick Kostis owns Hilarities,” he said. “He bought the chandeliers from O'Neil’s in Akron… the last day it was open. It was the last thing they had in the store. That’s why the club is so beautiful. So, if you go there, you’ll see some history. You know how hard it is to get a chandelier down in the middle of O’Neil’s?”
When Wallace plays House Three Thirty, with opener Marcia Warfield of “Night Court,” he’ll be standing in another Akron landmark: the former Tangier Restaurant.
“When I was a kid, just driving about, Tangier’s was not a place for me,” he said. “When I thought Tangier’s, that meant, ‘Keep driving till you get to Swenson’s. Or Burger Chef across the street.’”
Back then, Wallace was absorbing comedy on records and television from comedians like Pigmeat Markham, Jackie Mason, Moms Mabley, Richard Pryor, Joan Rivers, Rodney Dangerfield and Redd Foxx. He later wrote for Foxx and over the past several years was discussing a reboot of “Sanford & Son” with producer Norman Lear. The project morphed into Lear’s last work, “Clean Slate,” debuting in April on Amazon Freevee.
“To make a long story short, I had a son that left my house 26 years and returns and sends an email that says, ‘Dad, I'm coming home,’” he said. “I go to the door the next day… and I go, ‘Hey, beautiful lady. You’re selling Avon? I'm not buying anything today because my son is coming home.’ And she says, ‘Dad, it’s me.’ And then I saw the eyes.”
Wallace’s daughter is played by Laverne Cox of “Orange Is the New Black,” who herself transitioned in real life.
“I have to be educated as a dad, because now I have a daughter,” he said. “What we're going to learn here is how to live and let live, love and let love, let people be who they want.”
