Get Balanced with Dr. Marissa · KCAA Radio

KCAA: Get Balanced with Dr. Marissa (Thu, 9 Apr, 2026)

April 9, 2026·1 hr·5 clips

Rich Little describes finding his wife after she took her own life due to unbearable headaches.

Rich Little comes in joking before the conversation has even settled. Dr. Marissa frames him as the comic who made her laugh when she was young, then gives him room to warm up through survival jokes, showbiz timing, and Tropicana memories. He is still performing, still landing lines. The glamour has a funny little shadow over it, since the Tropicana is headed for demolition and Rich hopes, naturally, not to be onstage when that happens. That is very much his kind of timing. The interview moves quickly. Dr. Marissa asks, affirms, teases, and nudges him from life onstage into the people who shaped him. Gregory Peck gets real admiration. Jimmy Stewart becomes the softer story: the shy great actor sitting in a corner while Gloria works the room for both of them. Christopher Plummer gets a wistful nod. Rich says he wished he had met him, then lands on the plain truth that you simply cannot meet everybody. Then Dr. Marissa brings the personal stuff closer. She asks whether anything is off limits and moves toward love, marriage, and the kind of question a tidier interview might avoid. Rich answers with the comic bruises showing. Four marriages turn into a minute-rice joke, but under the laugh is a quick admission that he was not always a great husband. Dr. Marissa keeps it warm instead of letting it sour, and Rich answers with the balanced point that a failed marriage cannot be pinned on one person. The old names are not just celebrity wallpaper here. Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Gregory Peck, Jimmy Stewart, and Christopher Plummer become Rich's map of talent, manners, ego, shyness, admiration, and regret. Around the edges, the radio frame stays messy: news, station IDs, and housekeeping keep barging in. Still, the center holds. It is a fast, affectionate visit with a performer looking back without getting too precious. Funny, personal, and lightly haunted, with Dr. Marissa turning showbiz reminiscence into a small lesson about honesty, love, and staying alive enough to laugh at the punchline.

As heard by us

A loose conversation that blends show-business memory with personal reflection and keeps its tone intimate throughout.

The episode follows a loose, conversational path through stage life, old show-business memories, and personal history. Rich Little talks about performing at the Tropicana and notes that the venue is set to be demolished, while also naming performers he admired, including Gregory…

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Why you'd press play

For when you want a warm, old-show-business chat that still lands a few real punches.

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