Rodney Dangerfield’s Widow Tells the Story of How Rodney Crafted the World’s First Viagra Joke

Viagra: A Gift for the World (and for Comedy)

Back in 1998, Rodney and I lived in this big high-rise. Every morning, I would wake up first and make coffee, then Rodney would wake up and go down for his morning swim. But because of Rodney’s schedule in the comedy world, we’d be doing good if that was before noon. 

While Rodney took his swim, I would preview the Los Angeles Times for him and circled the articles I thought he’d like to read — he’d always go straight to the obituaries, but there’s more to life than that. On the morning of March 28, 1998, which would have been a Saturday, I circled this one story on the front page with a big red heart drawn in magic marker. I knew that would get his attention right away. 

The story I circled was that the FDA had approved this oral medication for impotence, and I couldn’t wait for him to come back from swimming. I was so excited to see his reaction. I normally wouldn’t wait for him to come through the door and sit down to read the paper, but that morning, I did. I just knew he was going to react. 

When Rodney was done with his swim and sat down with the paper, he said, “Holy shit!” I was thrilled to see that reaction. He also said, “I can’t believe a boner pill was created during my lifetime!” He was excited because it was a new subject for him to write jokes about. Normally, he’d do “My wife,” “My dog,” “My doctor” — all these normal life things, but this was like, “Wow!” 

In Rodney’s mind, he saw Viagra as a gift to the world. Good for romance, health, happiness, and, of course, humor.

The first thing he asked me was, “How many people know about this?” So I checked the internet, which was my little wifely duty, and saw that the story was rolling out really fast. There were over 2,000 news stories on it by that point in the day, which was about noon. When I told him that, he was really happy because that meant everybody knew about it. I started reading some of the stories out loud. The pill wasn’t automatic, as Rodney assumed it would be; it required sexual arousal to work. I also read that it was proven effective in clinical trials, to which Rodney said, “Why wasn’t I a part of that?”

As I kept scrolling through the reports on our computer in the living room, Rodney went to the dining room table, and I could hear his slippered feet shuffling under the table. When he was in joke-writing mode, he would shuffle his feet. He actually wore out the hardwood floor underneath where he sat. I had to replace it every few years because he’d shuffle his feet back and forth as he was writing jokes. 

I was still reading articles and learning what I could, and moments later, he told me his first Viagra joke: “I started a new diet — Viagra and prune juice. Only trouble is, I don’t know if I’m coming or going.”

I cracked up, but he and I knew that he had to try it out. After that, the goal of the day was to go to the Laugh Factory that night. We’d usually go at 9 p.m., after the crowd had filled up a bit, but it might have been earlier this time. He was raring to go, dressed before I was, and I believe he called ahead to let them know he was coming in.

When Rodney did his set, he didn’t lead with the Viagra joke. He was very particular about that kind of thing — about the placement of jokes. He compared it to a necklace, where he would place the jokes — it was all about where it leads your mind. He probably began with girlfriend jokes or health jokes or losing weight jokes; then he told the “Viagra and prune juice” joke, and it killed. He was so happy. I’d recorded it for him so we could listen back later, and there was laughter and applause.

On Monday, Rodney called Tracie Fiss at The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to book himself that night, which they would always let him do. Tracie was the talent booker and had a good sense of humor, too. He wanted to run the joke by her and make sure he was able to tell it on the show. He told it to her, she laughed, and we quickly heard back that he could tell the joke on the show. 

As far as I know, he was the first person to tell a Viagra joke on television because I kept checking online afterward and didn’t see anything other than his prune juice joke circulating. After maybe a week or so, I saw other things pop up, but by then, Rodney already had a few more. These two in particular:

• “I tell ya, what I like is those Viagra pills. Oh, they’re really strong. I remember the first time I tried Viagra, I sprained my wrist.”
• “I’m not a kid anymore; I’m getting old. I tell you what I like, though: Viagra pills. They’re great. They really work. One time, I was having sex with a girl, I was on Viagra, she chipped a tooth.”

For that second one, I still have the paper written in his own handwriting, though I’m not sure you’ll be able to read it. Rodney would always write the setup to the joke in cursive; sometimes, he would abbreviate words, but he’d always write the punchline in capital letters. Even before he was Rodney Dangerfield, that’s how he did it.

A Gift for Bob Saget

Later that year, Pfizer announced the very serious and respectable Bob Dole as the spokesperson for Viagra. At first, Rodney was stung that they didn’t call him, but sometime later on, we found out that Bob Dole had actually suffered from erectile dysfunction. Dole had tried that medication, received the promised result and then offered to spread the word. After hearing that, Rodney felt it was fair and even felt a bit bad for being jealous. Because imagine how meaningful it is for people who really needed it, which, between you and me, Rodney didn’t. 

Now, Rodney got one prescription of Viagra because he wanted to see what it would do — he saw it as recreational — but I remember, when Rodney died, there were only two pills missing. Otherwise, the bottle was full. 

After Rodney passed, I gave that bottle to Bob Saget, who was always the dirtiest comedian of all of Rodney’s friends. For some reason, I thought of him for that particular gift. It’s not like Rodney went by a code name or anything, and it was a prescription, so the bottle said “Rodney Dangerfield” and “Viagra” right on it. Bob even talked about it on his podcast, but he told one lie. 

He claimed the reverse — that there were maybe only one or two pills left, implying that Rodney had taken them all. But again, that’s not true! It wasn’t like I was going to call him up about it; I know how comedians work, and sometimes, to make a story work, they embellish a bit. It’s part of the art. I still want to set that straight, though.