"SAFER:" "In many ways, Ralph Kramden was the forerunner for Archie Bunker." "I mean, in many ways, they're the same guy." "Well," "O'Connor sent me a letter one time, saying:" ""I know I'm doing a lot of things that you did."" "And I sent him a letter back saying, "I wish I'd done all the things you're doing."" "But it was the first attempt, uh," "I guess, to make the lives of working class people funny on tele" " Yeah." " Certainly on television." "And it's a good idea." "A bus driver, a lot of people can identify with a guy who's working like that, and not of course in the sewer." "It's always good for a laugh." "But how much of that apartment that the Kramdens lived in was drawn from your own home?" "Has practically the exact, same thing." "SAFER:" "To what extent did the network try and influence the substance of the show?" "They didn't." "They didn't try to." "Because, uh, I innately knew that, uh," "I didn't want any smut on the show." "It had to be straight." "And as I said, no sexual innuendo." "They let me do what I wanted." "And that happened because at DuMont, the first show, they started to direct me and the guy was telling me how to move, and I said, "Look, I'm only here for two weeks." "I'm gonna do it my way." "If you don't want that, send me home." "But if I'm gonna flop, I'm gonna flop through my own aegis."" "And, uh, the first week, they went along with me, and they found out I knew what I was doing." "So they never bothered me again." "And when I went to CBS, it was the same thing." "I would select the orchestra and the music that was to be played." "And of course, people that heard this or read it in the newspaper said:" ""Oh, he must be beautiful."" "But you have to do that." "You have to do a show that enhances the star." "And not only do the other performers want you to be enhanced, because they'll lose their job if you're not good." " So they're very willing to go along" " So it's something even beyond ego?" "Oh, yeah, ego has nothing to do with it." "It's just down-to-earth, good business." "If you think you're funny, you go out there and be funny." "And if you are funny, then you know that you know what you're doing is right." "If you're not funny, nothing will help you." "SAFER:" "No smut, no suggestiveness." "Just about every comedy show left on television now" " pretty much lives on that formula." " Absolutely." "Absolutely." "Because it's easy to write." "The Honeymooners were tough to write." "The sketches were tough to write." "Because I wouldn't do anything that wasn't" " That couldn't happen for real." "Even Reggie, as wild as he was, what he did, a guy like him would do." "And they were tough to write." " We had to..." " Why...?" "Are you in a certain way prudish?" "As far as my" " As far as my, uh, appeal to an audience," "I think so." "But not in private life." " So I've heard." " But, uh..." "Ah." "[SAFER CHUCKLES]" "Great deal of sexual innuendo is connected with my private life."