Neil appeared on the Joey Bishop Show on New Year’s Eve, 1968. (I guess I should post this under 1969, too, because in the Eastern Time Zone, at least, the telecast extended into that year!) Joey was not on that night. The substitute host was Jack Carter, a comedian who came from the same area of Brooklyn as Neil.
Recently, someone posted a link on the IAIS board to a web site for a garden in Brooklyn that honors famous people from Brooklyn, including, of course, Neil. I noticed that Jack Carter was one of the honorees.
Jack Carter made a lot of silly jokes, and I don’t think that Neil appreciated them. He held up a copy of “Velvet Gloves and Spit” with the original cover and asked about the picture with the mannequins. Neil said that the picture had been taken in a mannequin factory in Los Angeles.
Neil sang at least two songs. I know that near the end of the show, he sang “Merry Go Round”, from VG&S, which had been released about three months earlier. One thing I remember is that he sang the verses in a different sequence than they appear on the record. I don’t recall what else he sang, but I believe it was something from VG&S, not one of his Bang-era hits. Maybe “A Modern Day Version Of Love”.
— Regina Litman