Ed Asner brings one-man show to Pottsville

Ed Asner live on stage in a performance of "A Man and His Prostate" at the Majestic Theater in Pottsville. PHOTOS BY JACQUELINE DORMER

This story originally appeared in the Pottsville Republican-Herald on July 23, 2021.

POTTSVILLE — A man in a flannel shirt, blue jeans and cowboy boots, and a woman with red hair walked past the Majestic Theater on Thursday. Chase Morrison, a photojournalist for WFMZ-TV 69 News, was eagerly waiting outside.

“Ed Asner’s here!” Morrison told them.

“Who’s that?”

“Voice in ‘Up,’ ” Morrison said, referring to Asner’s leading role in the 2009 Pixar animated movie. “He was on the Mary Tyler Moore show, Santa in ‘Elf.’ ”

“Really?”

“Yep. Laundry list. He’s doing a show about prostate cancer — a comedy.”

“You wanna see a comedy show about prostate cancer?” the man in boots asked the redhead. They continued walking up Centre Street, having no idea what they were missing.

Ed Asner, the entertainment legend with a Broadway, film and television career spanning seven decades, performed the one-man show “A Man and His Prostate” at the Majestic Theater on Thursday to a full house and big laughs. The audience was aflutter as Asner made his way from the back of the theater to the stage.

Ed Asner performs to a sold-out crowd.

"Ed Asner," one woman said. "You know he's in Hallmark movies?"

“It’s Ed Asner!” a man said. “If I would’ve known, I would’ve taken a picture!”

The show, written by veteran comedy writer Ed Weinberger, stars Asner as the titular "Man" (like Godot, the Prostate does not appear on stage) who has emergency prostate surgery while on vacation in Italy. Based on Weinberger’s own experiences, the show uses humor to raise awareness about a serious men’s health issue. In a 2017 interview with the Chicago Tribune, Weinberger said Asner, best known for playing the irascible newsman Lou Grant on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and its spinoff series “Lou Grant,” was perfect for the role of “an old codger who won’t take any of life’s injustices sitting down.” Playing Lou Grant won Asner five of his seven Emmy Awards, the most given to any single actor. Close friends of Asner’s have struggled with prostate cancer, including actor Jerry Orbach and “Mary Tyler Moore” co-star Gavin MacLeod, who died in May.

As he and his crew prepare an hour before the show, it’s hard to tell where the bombastic character ends and the real Asner begins.

“There’s too much outside noise!” he shouted while Morrison is interviewing him. After the noise dies down, he continues to explain the plot of the show.

“You’re gonna see me at death’s door, brought back to life.”

Ed Asner.

He’s wearing a Hawaiian shirt and backwards baseball cap, his costume as the hapless vacationer. At 91 years old and still performing in films, television shows and on stage, his sharp wit hasn’t dulled. He attributes his long life to his Russian-Jewish heritage, and hopes to “keep up with” his siblings, who lived well into their 90s. When we shook hands, a look of shock came on his face. His daughter Liza, who also serves as his producer, manager and booking agent, cautions him not to shake with that hand.

“I took him for a weakling,” he told her. “I was wrong to judge him that way.”

“A Man and His Prostate” has toured across the country since 2016, being sponsored by hospitals and medical centers along the way, and Asner is sick of reporters asking him if it’s his first time in whatever town he happens to be performing in.

“It could be my last, too!” he said. “Liza! What’s this town called?”

Is it part of the act, or does he genuinely not remember?

Asner got here at 7 a.m. Thursday from Los Angeles. He calls Pottsville a “curvaceous” city, with its winding roads.

“I have been talking with Lisa (Gillespie, executive director of the Majestic Theater) about bringing the show here since 2016,” he said.

His last show was in Whitefish, Montana, not “A Man and His Prostate” but another show he’s starring in and touring across America. Called “God Help Us!” it is a political satire starring Asner as God.

After Pottsville, he’s headed to Caledonia, Minnesota, to do a staged reading of a screenplay he plans to star in. After that, it’s onto Muncie, Indiana, for the next performance of “God Help Us!”

Asner yawns, a loud gaping yawn that commands attention.

“Such a boring job!” he sarcastically declared.

In truth, he loves what he calls “the adventure of acting.” He describes it as “showing your flesh out there to watch it hacked to pieces by the savages around you,” and he can’t get enough of it.

2020, which saw tours of “A Man and His Prostate” canceled due to COVID-19, was excruciating for him.

“I sat at home most of that year,” he said, “and pondered the stars.”

Above all else, Asner wants to be remembered as “an honest actor.”

“Most of your lines you deliver carry the weight of honesty that people recognize,” he said. “The other 10% is the surprising tilt you give to a particular line, which your average citizen would not have done. And maybe down to 6% or 5%, whatever, it just might happen, and it gives it its stamp of originality.”

As Asner went to do soundcheck, he delivered his parting shots.

“I’m glad I’m not your barber,” he said. “I’d have to charge you double!”