Ted Lange: Your Love Boat Bartender

This is a vintage episode from 2012 with special introduction by Sother Teague in 2024

The Banter

The Guys invite mixologist Sother Teague to introduce this vintage selection about his and America’s favorite bartender of the 1970s Isaac from The Love Boat, actor Ted Lange. After some reminiscing, Sother shares where Isaac has left his mark on pop-culture and where we hope we may encounter that likeness and mustache again.

The Conversation

The Restaurant Guys interview beloved television bartender Ted Lange who played Isaac on The Love Boat. He discusses his ground-breaking character and the impact it had on television. They chat about celebrities,  favorite cocktails and the one characteristic that’s imperative for a good bartender to have. 

The Inside Track 

The Guys happen to be at Tales of the Cocktail in 2012 at the same time as Ted Lange who was giving a talk on his work to become the first iconic television bartender. They come up with an idea for a phenomenal joint project. 

(On being cast in a racially integrated television show and its influence)

Ted Lange: So the idea of having an ethnic person in there as a bartender was a sharp idea. Smart idea.Then some of the Princess Cruise Lines had to start doing that. And the bartenders had to grow mustaches! 

Francis: I gotta tell you, that was a spectacular mustache with that signature smile.

Ted Lange on The Restaurant Guys Podcast 2012

Bio

After debuting on Broadway in Hair, Ted was in some other live productions as well as a few television roles. He made history by becoming the first recurring bartender character on one of the first racially integrated television shows The Love Boat. He’s a Shakespearean actor, writer and director. He has been in show business for over 50 years. 

For his work theater directing, Lange received the NAACP's Renaissance Man Theatre Award, the Heroes and Legends HAL Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Dramalogue Award. Lange has also been the recipient of the James Cagney Directing Fellow Scholarship Award from the American Film Institute along with the Paul Robeson Award from Oakland's Ensemble Theatre

Info

Ted Lange’s IMdb

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0486198/

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