Veteran actor Alan Alda may be almost 40 years out from the historic last episode of his hit sitcom MAS*H, but he will always be remembered as brash jokester Hawkeye Pierce.
Even all these years later, Alda still makes a nice chunk of change from the classic and beloved sitcomโs reruns.
Alda hasnโt stopped working
After leaving MAS*H, Alda went on to write and direct for feature films, with notable successes including The Four Seasons in which he co-starred with Carol Burnett. He also appeared in several of director Woody Allenโs projects, including Manhattan ๐๐ฆ๐ฃ๐๐๐ฃ Mystery and โ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ค ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ค๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ค.
Despite being ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ค๐๐ in 2014 with โ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ค๐ ๐โ๐ค ๐๐๐ค๐๐๐ค๐, Alda hasnโt allowed it to slow him down. Most recently, he launched a podcast called โClear+Vividโ on which heโs had lengthy and in-depth conversations with guests including Dr. Anthony Fauci, Goldie Hawn, and Betty White.
He shared with the Saturday Evening Post in 2019 his thought process on what he chooses to work on nowadays.
โNumber one, it has to sound like fun, and it has to seem like it will be a challenge because I donโt want to keep doing what Iโve done before,โ he said. โItโs like walking a high wire between two buildings and seeing if you can keep from falling off. It doesnโt always have to be in front of a lot of people. Iโve gotten as much of a kick out of performing in a small theater before a couple of hundred people as 20 million on TV or in a movie.โ
His least favorite aspect of M*A*S*H
The Marriage Story star has not been shy about expressing his dislike of one part of the ๐๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐ช situation comedy: the laugh track. Alda looked at the showโs laugh track as an ๐๐๐ค๐ฆ๐๐ฅ to viewers, as he told journalist Jeff Greenfield at an event for the Museum of the Moving Image in 2013.
โ[Show producers] Larry (Gelbart) and Gene (Reynolds) got the network to agree that they wouldnโt have a laugh track in the ๐ ๐ก๐๐ฃ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ room. The ๐ ๐ก๐๐ฃ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ room scenes. I donโt know what the rationale was. It didnโt make any sense in the tent, either.
โBut, whereโs the audience? I didnโt know where the audience was supposed to be. It wasnโt in the studio. Somehow it was the tradition that if we didnโt show the audience at home where to laugh, they would think it wasnโt funny.โ
What Alan Alda earns from M*A*S*H reruns
According to Collider, Alda earns a not-too-shabby $1 million per year in residuals from the show that ran 11 seasons from 1972 to 1983.
Alda reunited with his former MAS*H co-stars Loretta Swit, Gary Burghoff, Jamie Farr, and Mike Farrell in 2019 on his podcast. As he told the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas that year, the showโs fans donโt seem to tire of seeing the old gang get together from time to time.
โThe response to that was wonderful to see,โ he said. โItโs so interesting. People like to know that weโre still friends. I guess itโs partly a response to the program originally because the characters were drawn from all over the country, but they had to live together like a family. I think to see that played out in real life is reassuring to people, that a sense of family is possible.โ
