Celebrity Underrated – The Redd Foxx Story JJ

[Music] when it comes to the kings of comedy let me tell y’all who i think are the original kings of comedy in my opinion right now you got richard pryor eddie murphy bill cosby and the one and only red fox red fox john elroy sanford you know sanford and son was the first black sitcom to hit national tv since amos and andy and look that’s another show my grandparents was always watching sanford and son everybody knows that theme song as soon as they come on quincy jones who worked with red since

the 1940s during their apollo days said when he made the san francisco theme song he made it to fit red’s personality because he knew him and he never thought somebody would give red fox his own show because of his x-rated comedy style red fox recorded over 55 albums that sold millions he won a golden globe award let’s get into the story man cuz the story i don’t want to be too long with it now red fox whose real name is john elroy sanford was born on december 9th 1922 in saint louis missouri

now red see he was born with red wavy hair because his grandmother was a full-blooded native american indian now by the age of four years old his father named fred glenn sanford he left his mother mary sanford him and his older brother who also was named fred g sanford jr that’s where the name fred g sanford come from the show sanford and son now after their father left the family his mother mary started dating a mobster who worked as a bodyguard for one of the most notorious gangsters in the world at the

time named al capone and she ended up moving to chicago but left red and his brother with their grandmother and red really resented his mother for leaving him and his brother he was he was real hurt by that now living with their grandmother they was dirt poor and his older brother fred was always getting into trouble he stayed in and out of jail a lot and but red looked up to him though he was his idol but see red even going to an all-black school people used to pick on him because of his light complexion and his red hair

and to protect himself he would joke back on him you know freddie he put them jokes right back on them kids in class and he became a class clown to be honest he actually used to see his brother fred getting all the attention for doing funny stuff and guess who else was in the class with him lawanda page better known as esther on sanford and son that’s how far they go back they go way back but you know eventually red ended up getting kicked out of school for throwing a book at a teacher he was only in the fifth grade now

after that red now 10 years old and his brother fred now 14 years old used to just hit the streets after being kicked out of school but see his grandmother was getting too old at the time to look after him so she sent him to chicago with his mother now in chicago he ended up dropping out of school in the eighth grade and would just hang out on the corners with his friends joining the 58th street game and while hanging out on the corners they used to play the game called the dozens like they just joking on each other back

and forth and they said red was real good at it he said sometimes he almost had to fight a lot because he was joking on people so hard now by the time he turned 14 years old him and his friends formed a band calling themselves the bonbons and they would play on the corners trying to earn money rare used to play the watchtop base and he was one of the singers of the group now after tired of playing on the corners and not making enough money red and his band wanted to go to new york to try to make it big

so they decided to train hop and ended up on a train which was carrying onions and for three days they ate onions and once the train got to new jersey that’s when it was time to get off but the railroad security ended up catching his friends but red he managed to get away and he jumped on a ferry and went to new york now in harlem new york red was trying to find his way and survived and 30 days later his friends that was caught by the railroad police for train hopping um they ended up getting out of jail and they

joined them in harlem and they ended up putting the band back together to try to make some money but in 1942 red and his bandmates was drafted for world war two after the pearl harbor attack but guess what red did to avoid the military he ate a he ate a bar soap red said he ate a bar soap which made his heart beat fast and that’s when the doctors told him he wasn’t fit to go to war rare was crazy man now after that now with no ban he had to come up with another plan to make money but whatever he decided to do

it had to be something in show business now homeless he ended up getting a job as a dancer and a comedian at a club but it still wasn’t enough money to get a place of his own so he would sleep on the top of the building on a rooftop and use newspapers as blankets but see the good thing about working that job was all the customers loved him because of his red hair and complexion and they used to call him fox or foxy because of the way he would dress even though he was broke and he liked the attention and start calling himself

red fox because it looked more attractive to the eye but he was struggling though man it got to the point where he started doing petty crimes just to eat like stealing food leaving restaurants without paying which led to him going in and out of jail and he also he also dealt with and dabbled in drugs like weed and cocaine but he never messed with the heroin like that because he said he’d seen two guys die from an overdose now later on he ended up getting another job as a busboy and a dishwasher at

jimmy’s chicken shack restaurant and at that restaurant during that time he met a guy named malcolm little who the world may know as malcolm x and while working together at the restaurant they became real close like brothers because they both had red hair and they had light complexion they was together so much that people thought they were brothers and gave them the nickname chicago red and detroit red and look both of them was off the chain robbing stealing hustling selling weed committing all types of crimes

but later on they ended up going their separate ways because red still wanted to be in the show business and malcolm was just too deep in the streets at the time and y’all know what happened to malcolm after that he went to prison and converted to islam and so on now after that red got back to trying to make it in the show business and ended up becoming a recording artist for a record label called savoy records and also during that time he ended up getting married to a woman named evelyn killebrew right

now check out how red and evelyn met one night a guy he knew wanted to buy some bootleg liquor from red so he came over to his spot with evelyn but the guy planned was to rape her and red kicked him out and protected her and five days later red and evelyn got married wow now also around that time he met legendary comedian slappy white and they ended up joining forces forming the comedy duo called fox and white now see when they got together they both had the same dream of being a star and at the time slappy white he was

married to legendary singer and actress pearl bailey but she wasn’t that famous yet during that time when he was with her but you know to pursue his dreams at that time he had to let her go and read he divorced his wife evelyn also after seven years now a comedy duo there was a big hit with the black and the white crowds but see the only thing with the white crowds during that time was they wanted them to wear the black face with white lips in which red refused to do that if we look red they say red would come

on stage like a regular person he wasn’t having that he was one of the first comedians to do that now with a buzz in the city the comedy act caught the attention of legendary jazz singer dinah washington who wanted to take red and slappy on tour with her to be the opening act in california and the deal was she would pay them a thousand dollars which was an offer they couldn’t even refuse but it was broke during the time now in california things didn’t go as they expected because they thought going to the west coast

wouldn’t be that racist like the chitlin circus shows in the south it was doing but it was wrong it was worse over there plus after one month red and his partner slappy started bumping heads and ended up splitting up over some money that slappy odom now summer red friends say they did split up over money and some of his friends say it was over a girl that they both was interested in hmm but anyway they split up and slappy went back to the east coast with dinah washington on tour but red stayed in cali and said he’d rather be

homeless in sunny california than cold back in new york now when solo act was still homeless he had to figure something out to survive so he got a job as a dishwasher again at a popular jazz club where a lot of stars would visit like joe lewis ella fitzgerald and billy halliday red say he always like to get jobs at a restaurant that way he can eat ribs crazy man and see look by red just being naturally funny making the club staff laugh all the time the owners of the club they decided to make him the host of the

club and from there he just became popular and started getting booked for all the black shows and the strip clubs because his comedy style was nasty and street and the people loved it and when people asked him about his name he told him he added the x to the fox because his style was x-rated and added another d to the red to smooth it out now as his fame grew red was working non-stop sometimes six days a week and he caught the attention of a guy named dutchy williams who had a record label called doodle

records and he wanted to sell red’s material worldwide now dutsy williams he became popular because he had signed the doo-wop group the penguins we had that number one smash [ __ ] song of earth angel and at the time red he was broke man and you won’t believe this look dutchy paid red 25 to record his shows and put them on records because at the time red didn’t think nobody would bother his comedy act without actually seeing him perform and when dussy put the comedy albums out they was a instant hit everybody was

loving the raw x-rated street comedy he was doing and most of the top comedians today were all inspired by his records plus you know red looked at gutsy like a black man trying to do his thing and he wanted to help him and over the next two years he recorded over 40 albums selling millions worldwide that’s crazy man and the people they love those comedy albums man that’s when they gave red the title king of the party records but here’s the bad part though you know how i go in the industry the music

industry he he really didn’t make the money he should have made the money he should have got from no records and he tried to sue duty williams but he lost the case and was stuck in a contract after the judge awarded gutsy the rights to the albums now also around that time he met his future wife named betty jean who used to sing and dance with his childhood friend lawanda page in that same club the same club where red was performing that’s where he met at even though he was stuck in the contract

with dussy williams his name was buzzing from the comedy albums though so red decided to go to las vegas instead of going back to the chitlin circuit because he felt in vegas it was a higher pay and if he connect with the right people his career could really take off but see once he got to vegas it was still hard to find work because of the racism even though stars like louis armstrong and dorothy dandridge could perform in vegas but they still had to stay in the worst hotels for blacks they say one time dorothy dandridge was

at a white hotel right and she stuck her feet in the pool water and the owner of the hotel drained the whole pool wow it was really racist back then man but see nat king cole was the first black person to stay in a las vegas white hotel in 1955 man y’all wait until i do that nat king cole story that’s gonna be a real history lesson for y’all look even sammy davis jr had to stay in the all black motel during that time and him and red they was real good friends during that time but anyway in 1960

red was cast as an extra in his first movie called all the fine young cannibals with robert wagner and natalie wood after that red continued to get bigger as a stand-up comic in las vegas and one night he ended up meeting frank sinatra who saw him performing wanted to sign him to his label called loma records now red told frank though he couldn’t sign with him because he was stuck in the contract with dussy williams but frank sinatra told red don’t even worry about it man he will take care of it

and a few days later red was out of his contract red said he don’t know how he did it but he didn’t even ask no questions and said some things are just best left alone and you already know what happened you know frank sinatra had the mafia behind him man he was getting things done back then now after signing with frank sinatra after he bought his contract from dixie williams red sold millions of comedy albums especially to the white people which made him ready to cross over and make a lot more money

that’s when frank sinatra started getting him a lot of gigs in las vegas and red took the city by storm man performing in front of large white crowds doing stand-up with the help of frank sinatra and sammy davis jr now successful red wanted to open up his own club in california and he named it the red fox club but to the people they called it red’s place and that’s where a lot of legendary comedians got their start like richard pryor flip wilson and bill cosby and all the famous musicians used to be there

they say that club was wild man a lot of fights shootouts drugs and everything but then bill cosby and red became partners of the club but they started bumping heads after bill cosby raised the door mission and he started changing pictures on the wall and bill didn’t like how the money kept disappearing either plus bill saw how all the bills won just weren’t getting paid so they stopped doing business together later on the club ended up burning down anyway after somebody left a cigarette

that somehow caught the couch on fire but you know at that time man red had bigger dreams his popularity was getting so big he started getting offers for movie roles and that’s when he landed a role in the movie cotton comes to harlem now even though the role he had was small producer norman lear who you are probably know from producing the shows all in the family good times the jeffersons etc he saw the movie and thought red was great and wanted him for a new show they was putting together

called sanford and son which was the american version of a british show called steptoe and son and after auditioning with demon wilson who played lamont sanford norman lear settled for them to be the main characters plus you know red got them to use his brother’s name fred g saffron as a dedication and on january 14 1972 sanford and his son debuted on nbc and was a hit coming in that number two behind all in the family they say the ratings were higher than the baseball world series that year

and and look red see think about red red got all of his friends jobs on the show like luanna page who play on esther and what’s crazy about her role is the producers didn’t want her at first because she wasn’t a seasoned actress but red demanded she’d be on the show and he helped him with her lines and look man i used to love seeing esther and woodrow come on the show woodrow he used to always try to drink up fred’s uh ripple other people on the show pat morita who y’all probably know from the movie the

karate kid as mr miyagi he played achoo on the san francisco bubba grady and a whole bunch of them man it was all red friends from back in the day doing the chitlin circuit and fred was just putting them on he was a loyal guy like that now by this time the money was rolling in and red was making like 20 000 an episode and used to like his money in cash and he was spending money like crazy too and he loved the gamble now the success of the show surprised everybody and that’s when red found out that a lot

of people on staff was making more than him and in his mind he thought the only reason they was making more than him was because he was black and red was the type to fight for black actors in hollywood because they used to treat them with no respect back then because see red he was about his money because he knew that he was trying to sell the show saffron his son to colombia for millions and that’s why he asked norman lear for 25 percent of the company so when the show gets syndicated he would

make money for the rest of his life and his family would be taken care of when he’s gone now angry with the producers red will pull all types of stunts like cursing people out not showing up for work saying he was sick and everything and money wasn’t the only problem he had with the producers on the show it was the white writers that wanted them to act like combs and red and damon wilson fought for black actors not to make a fool of themselves like jimmy walker did on good times that’s why james amos who played james

evans was fired because he stood up to the producers on the show for making jj act like that now also around that time red and his wife betty jean was at odds because of his mental and physical abuse to her and he was also cheating with other women and during that time they say he fell in love with a bunch of asian women which was his type at the time and that’s when him and his wife betty jean you know she had had enough and she filed for divorce after 19 years of marriage after that it just

seemed like red’s life was going down and he was having problem after problem and finally you know norman lear had had enough of red’s behavior because he wasn’t showing up for work and demand wilson was on his side also and refused to work until they got a higher paid salary so norman lear and the company ended up suing red in demand for like 10 million dollars for not fulfilling their contract but see red he had to go back to them because his money was getting low and he couldn’t work nowhere

else because of the contract you know in the contract it had he couldn’t work nowhere else so him and norman lee they worked out an agreement and they dropped the lawsuit and he did like two more years of sanford and some but he was still angry with producers plus his marriage at the time was over and red was just done with everything so frustrated he just pulled the plug on the show just pulled the plug right on the show but see right after that that’s when red announced that he will be hosting a new show called the

red fox comedy hour with the network abc which was nbc’s rival at the time and they would be paying him a hundred thousand dollars a week and he would be the first black executive producer of a network series but after only six weeks on air his show got cancelled after that his problems got worse and in 1983 he had to file for bankruptcy but he didn’t let that stop him though so he went back to las vegas and would do more shows now trying to get back on his feet he was trying to make a comeback in

hollywood and in 1989 he starred in the movie harlem nights with richard pryor and eddie murphy earning over 500 thousand dollars for that role but see here’s the thing red never paid his taxes ever they say he would file him but he would never send the money in and that same year in 1989 the irs hit him with another tax lien for close to a million dollars from 1983 to 1986 and they took everything cars furniture jewelry even the jewelry he had on at the time and the money in his pocket the only thing they left was his bed

that’s crazy man they ended up taking the house too but they told him he can stay there until the house was sold and the crazy part is they had it live on tv red fox was crying and never man that was so sad man live on tv man when he was taking everything that’s you know afterwards red said it was all racism now john witherspoon rest in peace john witherspoon he was good friends with red too now he said in the interview that that happened before the red back in the day and he said frank

sinatra and sammy davis helped him out by performing in his club for two weeks and once red got the money up he said red still didn’t pay his taxes red fox was wild man but you know eddie murphy looked out for him though he got him the 500 000 roll in the movie harlem nights and he actually created and wrote the show called the royal family which at first was going to be called chest pains and he wrote it just for red fox and de la reis because when they was on the set on the movie harlem nights

they was always joking on each other back and forth and that chemistry was so good together and the show the royal family i loved the show that was a good show man the royal family i want to say that that was lorenz tate and naya rivera acting debut on tv if i’m not mistaken now that show the royal family it debuted at number one on september 18 1991 on cbs and red was on his way to a comeback but on october 11 1991 red fox died after having a heart attack on the set of the show the royal family now the story

goes see red was already having problems with some of the white producers of the show who was trying to tell him what to do and how to be funny and that rubbed him the wrong way now according to dela reese who was there that day she said red was doing an interview with the tv show entertainment tonight on the set and one of the producers demanded red to finish a scene which only required him walking across the back of dela reese’s chair in which they could have got anybody to do that little scene

so this is what the producer does to get red mad right he storms in the middle of red’s interview with entertainment tonight stops the cameras from shooting and everything and tells red to do the scene so when red realizes they stopped his interview for this little scene he lost it he flipped out he lost it but by him being so angry he falls to the floor and everybody thought he was joking because he always clowning around but della reese said when she leaned down and put her hands on him that’s when red told her to get his wife

and that’s when she told somebody to call the paramedics now originally he was pronounced dead on the scene but they was able to bring him back to life but then four hours later he was pronounced dead again from a fatal heart attack sad man and you know after his death man there was a big mess of his estate between his widow his family and his public administrator you know they say red owed more than 3.6 million dollars in taxes when he died you know what else is sad they say red was so broke

eddie murphy had to pay for the funeral you know it’s a shame man and look you all remember that show current affair you know one time on current affair they had a guy they had the guy who bought red fox’s house after he lost it to the irs and look they had to do a seance with a psychic because he said red’s ghostly spirit was still in the house and he ended up selling the house because he said a door had opened up by itself and the lights would turn off annoying by themselves the blinds be moving and the neighbor

who knew red when he died and he knew red since he lived in that house he said red loved and adored the house cause all the stars used to come there he built it back in 1969 so that was red doing all that that was the ghostly spirit of red and red fox man that’s crazy and make sure y’all go by all the red fox’s comedy albums man i think he got like 55 albums out that’s crazy man and make sure y’all check out damon wilson too man and go buy his books he got a book called the um

second banana where he’s breaking down the story behind the san francisco a whole bunch of stuff went down on that show man and you know damon wilson let me tell you man y’all might call him a conspiracy theorist but he was there he was in the industry and he was talking some crazy stuff about hollywood man y’all check out a couple of his interviews damon wilson who played lamont sanford on the show and you know what i also remember back in 2015 they said that uh comedian tracy morgan was supposed to

portray red fox in the richard pryor biopic with comedian mike epps so i don’t know what happened with that i don’t know if he’s still doing the movie or what man i left out look i left out so much info because i wanted to make this video kind of short not too long so i hope it’s not too long but you know he was 68 years old rest in peace one of the greatest comedians of all time the original king of comedy red fox