Comments:
My Short History:
Once the earth was roamed by dinosaurs and covered in vegetation. Then an asteroid walloped the planet and left us with hidden oil and a visible Cancun and Cozumel.
Some time thereafter, I became a professional pilot for 22 years and over 13,000 hours. Then I retired. I had done just about everything that could be done. And then some. Plus I was kind of leading a double life:
One of the reasons I never went into the majors was that I was doing a little bit of interesting flying for some alphabet agencies of the US and allied governments on the side. This allowed for some of the neatest experiences that I cannot share as well as some truly amazing ‘payoff flights’ that are unbelievable. I've learned that those who knew me then figured that something was up.
Another interesting 'payoff' is the recent addition of "Sir" to my name. Yes... I'm a Knight now. Really. Add that to Captain and my name, with honorifics and all is now: Sir William Louis "Bill" Martin Jr., ATP, Capt. (Ret.) OMS
Had Challenger made it up the hill (lost a couple of friends there), I would have received my biggest ‘payoff flight’ and would have been regularly going up and down out of Vandenberg. (I have over 200 approaches and flights in the sim and flew the STA (G2 with shuttle mods) regularly, that’s one of the things I can sorta chat about!) But since that didn’t happen, follow up versions were never built and the whole shebang was never going to get really interesting, I got bored and decided I was done.
High tech and .coms are interesting but only for so long. I fed from the trough and retired again, all set up financially for life, in 2000. A totally new concept in home entertainment, divorce (gee, who coulda seen THAT coming?) and totally wrong girlfriend changed all of that. Lost everything, and I mean everything!!! 8 figures down to 0 figures. A "trusted advisor" moved everything into a ponzi scheme. Think Bernie Madoff. Had to live with Mom from 2007 to 2014, a toxic situation at best.
That led to opening my mind once again to find and follow my path: Doing standup, a bit of acting and radio as William P. Lewis. Almost 500 shows over 5 years as "Lewis! Ang The Gang". I was the Lewis. Duh! You CAN listen to the show, it’s really stupid comedy but we got a bit of a following. Old shows are at www.LewisAndTheGang.com. As far as the inspirational radio thing? As soon as I was away from Mom, they (KPRO 1570am) took me in. I'm the overnight radio personality doing "KPRO Over!Night" 7 nights a week: Live on Friday & Saturday nights, pre-recorded the other 5. How'd I end up on Inspirational Radio? Well, clean always pays twice as much as dirty and I’m in this business for the money. Everyone knows that I can do a really funny adult show (see some of the old videos at www.WilliamPLewis.com, select the ‘dirty stuff’) and the CCC (Christian Comedy Circuit) loves that fact that the ‘Heathen One’ does a cleaner set than the devout Christian comics!
So, William P. Lewis... Why? And what does the P stand for?
When I started doing some Hollywood flying, 74? 75? somewhere then, we had to join SAG and the Stunt Actors Guild. As there were many Bill Martins, William Martins, etc., I decided to come up with a stage name.
I was discussing this with Jeff and his girlfriend at the time, Karen Turner at the Coco's across from Del Amo Fashion Square on Hawthorne Blvd. When I mentioned the issue, Karen asked what my middle name was (Louis) and said "How about William P. Lewis? Like Jerry Lewis!"
I did and when I got into standup, I resurrected the name.
HOWEVER... I never asked her nor had I ever come up with anything for the P.
As I came off the stage from my very first show, someone called out "What's the P. for?"
Without a single thought about it, I yelled back, "It's to get rid of the Urine!"
Always was before, been that way ever since.
'later!
Bill
Sir William Louis "Bill" Martin Jr., ATP, Capt. (Ret.) OMS
Comedian. Actor. Dos Equis' 2nd Most Interesting Man in the World.
