0:09

A mounted

0:12

Canadian Rocky.

0:15

Amazing. Amazing performer.

0:18

First time kickball champion.

0:22

Just supernova partner.

0:25

You name it. Here he is.

0:28

Scott Thompson. Yeah. Thank you.

0:32

Thank you. We love you so.

0:35

And you're on the road right now. You just were telling us earlier.

0:38

Yeah, I'm in New Jersey.

0:38

Had a couple of days off.

0:41

I just did a show in

0:43

what was a Philadelphia.

0:46

Yeah, I think that's where I was. And then I have a market in New York

0:48

tomorrow. Then I'm going to Atlanta and New Jersey.

0:50

fantastic.

0:52

No, it's where I am. I mean, Nashville,

0:53

they both start with. Yeah.

0:56

You're doing

0:56

King is a Barry Cole show, right? Yes.

1:00

Is that the right title?

1:00

I don't want to miss? It's about.

1:02

It's like 12 monologues and they all kind of lead up

1:04

to a kind of staggering conclusion.

1:08

There is kind of a

1:08

there's a narrative to it.

1:10

It's it's got a story to it.

1:13

Like they are kind of

1:13

the monologues can all live on their own.

1:17

Then they all kind of

1:17

come together at the end.

1:19

And it has it's kind of it's the first time I've ever done a show

1:20

with Buddy where there's an actual arc.

1:24

Wow. That's amazing. Yeah, it's pretty exciting.

1:27

Has the kids all been picked up again or.

1:30

no. There's not going to be a second

1:30

season. There's not.

1:32

No, that was amazing.

1:34

That's so still. No, no, no, no, no.

1:38

Definitely not. What in the hell is wrong with them?

1:41

It's crazy. I mean, honestly. Everything?

1:43

Yeah. Don't even get me started, okay?

1:45

Everything is wrong.

1:45

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you can.

1:48

I mean, I'm very open about it now. I mean, ever since

1:51

I promised the boys that I would be quiet

1:51

until the time was right.

1:55

And now the time is right. And I can talk a little more honestly

1:56

about what we went through.

1:59

And what we went through

1:59

is what led to this show in many.

2:02

Well, amazing. Well, I think especially for like eighties

2:03

and especially nineties sketch comedy,

2:09

a lot of it was like hard punching

2:09

and breaking boundaries of things

2:14

you couldn't say or do on television,

2:14

which today might reach sensitive.

2:18

And so now you have these people,

2:18

producers and industry people

2:22

of a different generation

2:22

who have a different level of activity,

2:27

whereas you're like it's a completely

2:27

different way and they don't know.

2:31

It's like, Hello, this is what we do.

2:31

Yeah, they're humorless.

2:33

This is our show. But even humorless kids.

2:35

That's exactly what they are. But kids in the hall

2:37

have have a certain brand,

2:39

I guess someone would say, But you know what I mean? Like,

2:41

your repertoire speaks a certain way.

2:43

And to try to counter that

2:47

from an industry level like producers

2:47

or censors and things like that,

2:51

or to tell the kids in the hall

2:51

that they can't do kids in the hall.

2:54

I mean, I love to bitch about

2:57

any jobs I've had in the business.

2:59

So do you want to do you want to say like one? What was. Well, I'm just going to be.

3:03

The truth is, with the kids

3:03

and with the series,

3:05

it was a very difficult experience. I mean, I'm very proud of what we did

3:07

because we're just very lucky in that

3:11

we're very prolific. Yeah. And so you really can't stop

3:13

us, like in terms of like,

3:17

I think if there's like five waves

3:17

that make a tsunami

3:20

and you can block one of the waves,

3:20

you can even block a couple of the waves,

3:24

but you can't block the actual tsunami,

3:24

it will come for you.

3:28

Yeah. And so what you do is

3:29

when you block one of the channels,

3:33

then the other ones get stronger.

3:36

So when the wave eventually meets you, it's still going to be

3:37

as strong as it ever was.

3:40

It'll just be in a different area.

3:43

So that's kind of what happened to us. We were we basically,

3:44

you know, we started writing the series

3:48

just before the pandemic, and then

3:48

two weeks into it, the world shut down.

3:53

And we had just gone back to Canada

3:53

and we were all sent to our homes.

3:58

And like the rest of the world. And then candidate went really, really

3:59

they went really hard.

4:03

And we were we didn't see each other

4:03

for like over a year, year

4:07

and a half. And we kept keep communicating and we didn't even know

4:08

if it was going to continue.

4:11

And then it picked up a year later

4:11

and we got but luckily we got another

4:14

writing block, which is good

4:14

because they kept cutting stuff out

4:17

and the censorship was so extreme

4:17

we had to do so much more writing.

4:22

And then, you know, and then of course,

4:24

you know, the pandemic,

4:24

I think made people not think clearly.

4:28

ABC's. The weirdest and there we are,

4:29

five old white guys and we're the devil.

4:33

And that's kind of what happened.

4:35

Yeah. And I was like, But I'm a gay guy.

4:38

I never had that white privilege,

4:38

male white privilege you're talking about.

4:41

And they go, It doesn't matter.

4:41

We see, Right?

4:43

But you don't really. That actually is something

4:44

and something really noticeable.

4:47

Bit like white guys are definitely

4:47

the villain right now but gay white men.

4:51

villain and gay white men are the. Yeah. And no one wants to really hear

4:56

like we've had our chance sort of a thing

4:56

like we've had our moment.

4:59

Yeah, I noticed that Ryan Murphy

4:59

is really being shut down left and right.

5:05

But as naturally the more I sense a little, said

5:05

Scott.

5:08

No, no. No, no, no, no. I know.

5:11

And I'd like to get. Into

5:14

I love you. So no. Okay, I okay.

5:16

And do you think there's anything less.

5:19

I can't speak for Ryan Murphy. I know I have that kind of power,

5:21

but all I know now is

5:24

they went hard on us

5:24

and they went doubly hard on me.

5:29

And if you watch the series,

5:29

there are nobody called monologues.

5:32

They weren't allowed. Wow. Which is like signature.

5:36

And this is going to hurt. So you should buckle up.

5:39

All of our material had to be cleared

5:42

by the sensitivity committee,

5:42

which is the D.I.

5:45

And are you ready? Glad.

5:48

wow. Wow, wow.

5:51

Wow. The call is coming from.

5:55

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

5:57

Daniel, the call is coming from Scott.

6:00

You know, there's a friend of mine

6:02

who was is on the show on this show,

6:02

Liz Astrof was saying she,

6:07

she had a show called Pivoting,

6:07

and then the

6:09

then she had a meeting about it

6:09

not coming back.

6:12

And it was with three women

6:12

all in their forties, early thirties for.

6:18

I bet. It was. Mostly white. Yeah.

6:20

Yeah. The executives and, and they said.

6:23

To the executives. They said they said to her

6:24

we are you know,

6:27

our audience just isn't interested

6:27

in women in their forties.

6:32

It's like you're a woman, you're like

6:32

who the hell is you know, What.

6:35

Are you watching? Yeah, it's like, okay, like, but hearing

6:36

that from women and just like you're

6:40

saying, like hearing glad

6:40

say we don't want a gay character on here.

6:45

It's like,

6:45

or like the signature gay character, but.

6:48

It's not gay character. It's me. Yeah.

6:50

Yeah, it's personal. It's me personally.

6:50

Yeah.

6:53

Are you finding on the road the audience?

6:55

go ahead. I mean, it's unbelievable. This has been the most vindicating tour

6:57

I've ever done, so, yeah,

7:02

to just have the incredible love

7:02

from the audience and to see them so ready

7:06

for this kind of material, it's like,

7:06

I think I might actually catch a wave.

7:11

Like people are tired of this.

7:13

Yeah. And people have to really understand that

7:17

what's happening

7:17

is it's moving from one side to the other.

7:20

And the difference is the kids

7:20

in the hall, When we fight censorship,

7:23

I accept that we're always going to find

7:23

censorship, always going to fight it,

7:27

because there's always going to be

7:27

a certain amount of people, regardless

7:30

of what side

7:30

they identify with, who are pills

7:34

and. That's a nice place to. Put it. They will always right,

7:36

They will always fill that quotient up.

7:40

It doesn't matter what

7:40

they call themselves, what they look like,

7:43

how they identify their pill.

7:46

And and that's what happened to us. Yeah.

7:49

And so it was a

7:49

it was an extraordinary experience because

7:53

I got so, you know, there was you know,

7:53

the orders would come down

7:57

with like Glad wants this removed

7:57

and it was mostly my material.

8:02

And so I felt the entire

8:02

I mean, it was a nightmare.

8:05

And I just went, you know what? I kind of went, this is I don't know.

8:09

It's just like almost like,

8:09

how could my life have led to this?

8:12

How could people

8:12

that supposedly are like me

8:15

are protecting

8:15

people like me from people like me?

8:19

You know, they are doing that

8:19

by not letting me be hurt.

8:22

And it was a it was incredibly difficult.

8:25

But I got so I was so sad by it.

8:28

I mean, I was angry, but I was

8:28

I was really sad about what was happening.

8:33

But I gave all that body. Yeah.

8:35

And he took it and was like,

8:35

What the hell is wrong with you now?

8:38

Who cares what these pills think?

8:41

You know, you're right. Yeah. And so I just kind of I had a profound

8:42

transformation during the pandemic.

8:47

I didn't cut my beautiful long hair off

8:47

like.

8:49

Like Daniel Day realized,

8:52

but I just thought, well, you know, I.

8:55

I have to accept this is where I'm at. And anger is not going to help.

8:59

No one wants to see that. But so I thought, well,

9:01

I'll give it to Buddy.

9:04

And he just took it and turned it around.

9:06

Fantastic. But now it's it's, it's like triumphant

9:07

because it is universal.

9:11

Now, it's interesting because I feel

9:11

transformed by the experience,

9:15

because I feel, in a strange way,

9:15

grateful to the roadblock

9:20

because having to go around it

9:20

made me find even a better part of funny.

9:25

Your past. Yeah. And what I like, yeah.

9:29

Is what doesn't kill you. So it's been. Yeah, What doesn't kill

9:31

you makes you a burden to someone.

9:34

What happened?

9:36

You hear me? yeah. No.

9:38

No, I didn't.

9:38

But I'm pretending to laugh. Is the.

9:44

I new. It was. Fun. Now it doesn't. It's not worth repeating,

9:46

but I'm going to. What doesn't kill

9:48

you makes you a burden to someone else.

9:51

That's what I like to say. That's.

9:54

Yeah, that's a. No.

9:56

No, but no. In your case, like you got knocked down,

9:57

but it made it even better.

10:00

So it was good because you had a new

10:00

pathway for Buddy to say, come on.

10:06

Basically I took.

10:08

Yeah, but basically Buddy Cole begins

10:08

the show by saying, you know, that

10:12

basically Amazon didn't

10:12

want me to talk directly to the camera

10:16

because they believed that me

10:16

talking directly to the camera

10:20

might make the audience

10:20

think that we were on a Zoom call

10:23

and they might all start to mess.

10:26

Okay. Which made

10:29

complete sense to me,

10:29

after all, is my cameo

10:32

the only thing

10:32

which somehow got me booted off Twitter?

10:36

my God. that's pretty cool. Should have an only fans

10:38

that that would be a hit.

10:41

You really. That's like you really should do. That.

10:45

You know what? If I done a body call only fans fans

10:45

Amazon would have gone for?

10:49

Yeah, they would have said they would have loved it. I'd go, I'm going to show my bumble. man,

10:54

you don't have to look at me. Only funny. Yeah, you can.

10:57

You can be. Your starfish shot.

10:59

Yeah, you don't have to. Be because the censorship today is a it's

11:00

not about nudity, not about sex.

11:04

It's about identity politics.

11:07

And those things are

11:07

it was our things are changing.

11:10

We were not allowed to even weigh in.

11:12

And that's what's interesting

11:12

is that the most

11:15

the fault lines throughout our society

11:15

are the places that I thrive

11:19

and why I meant to be told

11:19

that you're not allowed to do that.

11:24

And it and it's the people

11:24

that are supposedly on your side

11:29

is just very bewildering.

11:31

It's like before

11:31

when it was the religious right.

11:34

I go, Well, at least they're not my friends. The people that I.

11:39

Spent any time with. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

11:42

It's your friends

11:42

that are that have become.

11:45

Yeah, it's cannibalism. And that's a difficult thing to accept.

11:48

Yeah. I often describe other gay men

11:49

as cannibals

11:51

because there's just like this

11:51

very little gay man.

11:55

We can't even get into that. There's not enough time.

11:59

But even in the in the throes of the pandemic, having a project

12:01

like that to work on, even to be mad

12:05

and frustrated with, like, creatively,

12:05

like what can beacon of hope.

12:09

You know,

12:09

what do you know? That's exactly true.

12:12

Because I would say that to myself. I'd be like, okay, I'm alone with my cats.

12:16

I can't see anyone. I'm going crazy.

12:18

I'm gaining weight, I'm

12:18

drinking all the time.

12:20

I go, but at least I have something

12:20

that I'm working on.

12:25

And even that's difficult

12:25

and I know that there is a window.

12:27

Like I went

12:27

there is a window at the end of this.

12:30

And that kept me going. Yeah. And so I am grateful for that,

12:35

you know, and I'm glad

12:35

that we had the two weeks prior.

12:38

So that we could be together physically.

12:40

Yeah.

12:40

And but it was, it was very difficult.

12:44

But, you know,

12:46

I just love sketch comedy. So no matter what you do,

12:47

I'm still going to do it

12:50

because I just accept that there's

12:50

always going to be roadblocks for sure.

12:54

It's just yeah, it's more shocking when

12:54

it's the people that you're working with.

12:58

Yeah, yeah. You know?

13:00

Yeah. And I mean, this is kind of shocking

13:00

what I said.

13:03

Told you it. Is. Yeah. But. And I think it needs to be addressed.

13:06

People need to understand

13:06

this is not good.

13:09

This is not the way art is made. Yeah, it's weird. It's weird.

13:13

Censorship comes in all kinds of. Yeah, it is. Yeah. Censorship. Yeah.

13:18

When I first moved to L.A.,

13:18

I just happened to be on a show with you

13:22

and, like, could not believe my life.

13:24

I remember and was like,

13:24

This is how Hollywood works.

13:26

And, like, urges, you know, just see you

13:26

running into someone like you.

13:30

Because, of course, Kids in the Hall

13:30

was, like, formative.

13:33

And it was also something in America

13:33

you had to get.

13:36

Was it called the cube or something?

13:36

You had to have?

13:38

It was cable, but it wasn't accessible.

13:40

You had to have a friend who had it. So and that's how I saw your show.

13:44

It's not Quibi. No, no. 100 years. That's Quibi.

13:47

No, it's exciting. It's extinct.

13:49

but we anyway. But we knew Buddy Cole was the one

13:50

that was like what we laughed at.

13:54

That was like we would talk about

13:54

It was like gay code for a while.

13:59

Even we did. I will never forget we did a musical.

14:02

We did Godspell, right? And there was this one kid, closeted kid.

14:06

It was the best. And he had one line

14:07

and he didn't know he was doing very cool,

14:11

but he was very cool. He was cross legged on a pie long ago,

14:12

and blessed are those

14:15

who are persecuted for righteousness.

14:19

And then like, I mean, he just take a swig of a martini

14:19

and we did that show a hundred times.

14:23

And every time I was like, Here it comes. Every time I.

14:26

Know we should have our martinis with us right now. He'd swing around,

14:28

but he didn't know he was doing Body Call.

14:31

I feel like. I feel like you really tap

14:32

into a real queerness

14:36

that you see audiences

14:36

are, like, receptive to right now.

14:39

But I feel like, Yeah, especially at the end

14:41

when they realize what I'm where I'm going

14:44

and when they realize what body is saying,

14:44

it's I'm not even going to give it away

14:49

because it's too exciting,

14:49

because it's they go what?

14:54

It's like a coming out again, you'll see.

14:57

And I'm like, Holy shit, this is fun.

15:00

I'm doing something I'm not supposed to do

15:00

is and that's where.

15:04

I'm going to guess you're going to

15:04

come out as straight. Is that where

15:08

the twist

15:11

are? You receive? I didn't hear anything.

15:13

I'm sorry. I you know, I'm a woman talking.

15:16

Why should you listen?

15:18

Right? Right.

15:20

Well, can you lower your register

15:20

so it's in a more non.

15:23

I am of all people,

15:23

have the deepest voice of this goddamn.

15:30

Of this. Show to. You know.

15:33

One of the counter tenors. I know.

15:36

Damn it. I can't help it.

15:39

My gain has made my voice sound like this.

15:41

I worked with the dude. I worked with the straight guy, and he.

15:45

He was from Michigan,

15:45

so he didn't know he was a big

15:48

and he was just born that way. He didn't know he would say

15:49

all kinds of horrible things.

15:51

And one day

15:51

he had a really confirmed customer

15:55

and he came up to me of all people,

15:55

it goes, Why do they talk like that?

15:58

It was like, Talk like what? It looks like me.

16:01

Wow, baby. I know we're all in awe.

16:05

That's my pet peeve

16:05

when when men do impressions

16:08

of their girlfriends on stage

16:08

and that they.

16:11

I can't do that. I can't go out with that.

16:14

You know, I'm just like, so everybody's

16:14

married to this how you see them?

16:18

He was Southern gay guy. I was at a bar.

16:21

I was at a bar. And a Tennessee Williams play. There.

16:24

All Delilah's. Jesus. Yeah, Yeah, exactly.

16:27

Yeah. Well, I do decline. I was it.

16:29

This is not that pleasant this time of year to renew acquaintance

16:30

here at Gloria's Hall.

16:33

Well,

16:33

I've always depended upon the company.

16:36

The kindness of strangers. If you're a good damsel.

16:40

And. Right, you speak about this,

16:40

and I know you will be

16:43

fine.

16:47

That the young gay ones will.

16:49

They say. I know that's the thing.

16:52

Tennessee Williams, you know,

16:52

he was the old gay.

16:56

These two guys in Boston.

16:58

I was sitting next to them at a bar

16:58

and I was alone.

17:01

So I was eavesdropping. And they were really they were very manly.

17:05

But GROSS They were like, really ugly.

17:08

But their Boston accent

17:08

made them really hot.

17:11

But what though? How, how, how can explain.

17:15

It played Boston up. You know what I mean? They were just like they were so

17:18

and just like but the whole time

17:18

these two dudes were like bitching about

17:22

their old ladies and it was the most,

17:22

like, derogatory, disrespectful thing.

17:26

And so I was like,

17:26

they're horrible people, but their accents

17:29

make them so kind of like, horny, like,

17:29

I can't explain it.

17:32

And they really commiserate hitting

17:35

so hard that it made it broke,

17:35

which made it gay.

17:38

You know what I mean? Like,

17:38

I was just. Like it came full. Circle.

17:40

I just kept ordering drinks so I could hear more. So we make up set.

17:43

It came full starfish. We'll make a. Hummus,

17:44

but it really just seduced me.

17:48

Like their misogyny slash

17:48

that horrendous accent.

17:51

I was into it, man. Where are you from?

17:54

You're from? I know Canada, but like, where I'm.

17:56

From, a town called Brampton,

17:56

which is north of Toronto.

17:59

But I'm like a I'm an Ontario boy.

18:01

Are you like, are you in kids in the Hall?

18:03

Are you more famous in Canada?

18:05

How do you have a different reason? yes. Yeah.

18:09

yes. What is There's a Scott

18:09

Thompson Street in Calgary.

18:13

Not well. I have. I have a star.

18:15

I have a star and I have two stars.

18:17

I have one. I have three. I have one in Toronto for the kids

18:19

in the hall on the Walk of Fame.

18:22

I have one in my hometown, Brampton. And then the place where I'm born in

18:24

North Bay. So I have three.

18:27

That's amazing.

18:29

Yeah. That's great. Meanwhile, Laura showed us her

18:31

star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame,

18:35

and then you got ticketed. I know you did that. What is the.

18:39

Largest you do You have a star? God, no. No. And you know something?

18:43

They charge $50,000.

18:46

That's more than I make in a year. You have your own.

18:48

And so. That's more. That's more than you have to pay for

18:49

an awesome. my.

18:53

Yeah. It was cheaper than it is.

18:55

It's like, it's like a

18:57

it's like the most expensive vanity plate

18:57

that you could have.

19:01

Having a star on the Walk of Fame,

19:01

which is crazy.

19:05

I know I'm from you and all of us

19:05

are from, you know, we're all from Canada.

19:10

Yeah. Yeah. Where did you guys shoot

19:11

Brain Candy Otranto.

19:14

That was all in Canada. Yeah. Everything was done in Toronto.

19:17

We saw that movie so many times.

19:20

We had to lie to our parents

19:20

about what movie we were going to

19:23

because they wouldn't

19:23

give us money to go see it again.

19:26

Do you know what I mean? It was like, we're going, Yeah, we will,

19:27

because it was so nerdy to us

19:30

and it was so like we

19:30

it was so brilliantly funny.

19:33

They had to go a few times to

19:33

because there are so many things

19:36

that you would miss the first time

19:36

because it was subtle.

19:38

And then you go, my God, yeah. When you saw brain candy,

19:39

was there anybody else in the theater with

19:43

Was it always in a limo? Yeah.

19:46

It was very much the cool thing. We wore trench coats just in case.

19:50

No, I mean, we didn't pay for snacks,

19:50

but we.

19:53

Yeah, I remember lying to say

19:53

we were going to go see the movie Hackers.

19:58

but instead we. And then we had to

19:58

then sneak in to go see brain candy.

20:02

What was that like? To make something

20:03

to watch something evolve from like

20:06

sketch comedy to television to like movie

20:06

that has to be like.

20:10

Well, that was a very blank.

20:12

And it was difficult because we

20:12

we set ourselves a really ridiculous goal.

20:17

We we said we're not going to

20:17

we're not going to fill it

20:19

with all of our running characters

20:19

because that might make it successful.

20:23

So we're going to create all branding.

20:26

All right. Let's put a couple of hot in the queen

20:26

for one line,

20:30

like, no, that would just be too easy.

20:33

And we're going to make it a narrative,

20:33

right?

20:36

We just were like, We were so scared.

20:38

But then we thought and we're

20:38

going to take on the pharmaceutical.

20:41

Yeah, that's what we're going to do,

20:45

right? And we're going

20:45

to and we're going to fill it with with

20:48

gay and lesbian characters. We're going to dress as. Women like.

20:51

I'm going to be a huge. Yeah, but you're a voyeur

20:52

is because the pharmaceutical industry

20:56

really needed to be knocked even then.

20:58

Yeah, you especially now. Yeah.

21:01

Who were you watching as a kid

21:01

when you were getting started and stuff?

21:05

Who were you into?

21:07

Well, I was. I never really thought

21:08

about being a comedian when I was young.

21:11

I wanted to be a movie star.

21:14

That was funny on talk shows.

21:16

Yeah, I wanted to be Burt Reynolds.

21:20

to be. I wanted to be Robert Morelli.

21:23

I wanted to be someone that had

21:23

stories. You.

21:27

I, I, Peter Ustinov. These are people

21:29

they used to come in and they were.

21:32

yeah, they're great in the movies,

21:32

but they're going to tell a story.

21:35

Or David Niven, people like, yeah,

21:38

I would go as I read The Moon, The Balloon,

21:39

I went, That's the kind of life I want to.

21:42

Yeah, but I never dreamed

21:42

that I could be an actual comedian

21:46

because I thought, well, comedians

21:46

talk about their life as I know I'm gay.

21:50

And I wasn't

21:50

I didn't come out till much later.

21:52

And I said,

21:52

I can't talk about my real life.

21:55

So I but I can I would watch people

21:55

on like Johnny Carson.

21:58

And then I go, God,

21:58

they really got to tell a great story.

22:01

I'll tell you, we've got people like Martin Short, those people that are just phenomenal

22:03

guests. Yeah.

22:05

Amy Sedaris. Yeah, I want to be a guest like Valvoline.

22:09

And then I went to acting school

22:12

and, you know, and I thought, I'm,

22:12

I went to acting school.

22:17

I wanted to be a Shakespearean actor. I wanted to do Shakespeare.

22:20

I wanted to do all that stuff. I want to be dramatic.

22:23

And then I

22:23

then I thought, maybe I can do stand up.

22:27

And then when I graduated, I did a bit.

22:30

But it was very, very difficult

22:30

because I was openly gay.

22:33

That's when I started coming out. This is the mid eighties.

22:36

You couldn't be an openly gay man

22:36

and you couldn't even in comedy.

22:41

Impossible. Yeah. And then I met the kids in the hall

22:42

and then, I'm, I can go there.

22:46

I can hide with Sam until.

22:48

Until the war is over because.

22:51

God, I mean, either. But yeah, that's very.

22:54

That's basically how it was for me. I went, Well, there's a war and there's,

22:58

you know, you can't really choose the time

22:58

you're born into, but holy cow.

23:02

And I know,

23:02

but that's not the question you asked.

23:05

You asked about Frank Candy. But it's true.

23:07

Like brain candy. We just we made a lot of dumb steaks,

23:08

although I'm very proud of the movie,

23:12

and I know it's a great movie. Interesting enough,

23:15

you know, this is the thing

23:15

I've realized more and more is that

23:19

all the things that I wanted

23:19

when I was younger first starting out

23:22

was like because I wanted

23:22

look at I wanted superstardom.

23:27

And I thought that would

23:27

that that would solve everything. But

23:32

I didn't quite realize that that's kind of a recipe

23:33

for early flameout.

23:37

Yeah, you know I could disaster. Yeah.

23:41

And that huge success

23:41

can be just as devastating as failure.

23:45

Yeah. And so I think in a way,

23:46

I dodged a bullet.

23:49

We dodged a bullet.

23:49

You mean all of us are not making it?

23:52

Is that what you're saying? All of us. All of us.

23:55

Everybody in this world. If we. What if we think we're stars?

23:59

Well, you can still think.

24:01

I still think I'm a star, but like nobody else does,

24:02

because no one recognizes me anymore.

24:05

So biggest ones. Why not? God, no. No. No.

24:09

You just have to. If you think you're a star,

24:10

you just have to put it

24:13

in, you know, $50,000

24:13

if you really think it.

24:16

Yeah. And then and put it in the ground.

24:18

But you know what is cult? Cult success kind of guarantees longevity.

24:23

No, it's. Yeah, like, I mean I haven't had that

24:24

either, but I think you're right.

24:28

No, I feel like.

24:28

Yes, you are. Yeah, you are.

24:32

Are you kidding me? When I told people here that I was,

24:32

that was Lauren Kiley.

24:35

You're like, my God, she's fantasy.

24:38

I tell you or doesn't get it.

24:40

She doesn't get it. You know that. You all do.

24:42

I mean, I'm like,

24:42

You guys give me the same vibe

24:45

as like a John Waters kind of thing

24:45

where it's like generational.

24:50

There's a darkness to it. There's the but it's also just gender

24:52

bending.

24:57

You know,

24:57

there's like a queerness to y'all's show.

25:00

And I think it's elevated. It's, you know, it's subtle

25:02

and thought provoking.

25:04

Like, I mean, some of the shit now,

25:04

I guess even stuff on TikTok, I'm like,

25:09

you know, they could fart for an hour and that

25:09

and then they've got 20 million followers.

25:13

And I'm just like, yeah, you know,

25:13

I mean. That's the thing.

25:15

I want SNL like that too. I just watched they put

25:17

they posted somewhere on YouTube, Jack

25:21

Frost interview with David Frost,

25:21

interview with Jack Benny.

25:26

And then I got to be David Frost

25:26

interviewing Jack.

25:28

I was like, You know what? I want to see the movie.

25:32

I want to see it. It turns out they were related, but.

25:35

It's so slow. Like their conversation is so slow paced

25:39

and there's no sense of urgency

25:39

to getting a story out.

25:42

And all of that. Like Shelley Winters on The Tonight Show.

25:46

Another great game, right? I love her.

25:49

Like because she would a she would talk shit. She would name names like all of it.

25:53

my Lord. I watched one Shelley Winters last night.

25:56

I don't know why I fell down on Shelley

25:56

Winters.

25:59

yeah, but it was she was with,

26:02

I think not Phoebe Cates.

26:06

I can't remember the actress. She was in the,

26:08

say, the most obscure movie she ever made,

26:08

but she was in Corvette Summer.

26:14

I love Corvette. So it was a performing on a cruise ship

26:19

comedy. blow. Dry. Just like what?

26:21

What what did Shelley

26:21

Winters say in that interview?

26:24

yeah. Well, she was I'd say she said

26:24

to the actress, she goes, I love you.

26:28

I think you're great. I've seen you around,

26:29

but I don't know what you're in. And she goes, Shelley,

26:31

maybe it was the movie we made time.

26:34

I unbelievable.

26:37

I love it So good.

26:39

We Sally didn't miss a beat. She went, God,

26:41

Of course you were watching.

26:43

Yes, did. And then Johnny Carson goes,

26:47

boy, I can't believe you pull yourself

26:47

out of that type.

26:50

But, you know, like I used to.

26:52

When do you remember Betty Davis? When she came back

26:54

and she was skeletal? my God.

26:57

Yeah. Smoking on the poster for the drug.

27:00

I was. Still smoking. Post-stroke, still smoking dope.

27:04

Still smoking. Funnier than ever. Funnier.

27:07

yeah. Like unstoppable. And it was were.

27:09

Who did she name? There's one guest. I think it's Joan Rivers

27:12

where she's like, who's the who's

27:12

the worst actress you've ever worked with?

27:15

And she says, For all my money,

27:15

Faye Dunaway.

27:18

Yeah, that's right. Does it? Blank? Yeah. Is it Faye Dunaway?

27:22

It was just pay was mean to her, too,

27:22

I think.

27:24

Yeah, But like. no, she was young.

27:27

It was a young Faye Dunaway

27:27

because Faye was young men.

27:30

And then it's at this new actress,

27:30

Faye Dunaway.

27:33

Yeah, Yeah. What's the dollar amount

27:34

she puts on it, though?

27:36

She does put she's like, for $1,000,000.

27:38

Faye Dunaway. Like, Ken puts money on the table.

27:43

And, you know, I look at that, I'm.

27:45

Sorry to say,

27:45

but it seems like kind of an inspiration

27:49

for, like,

27:49

like me, like in terms of comedy.

27:51

yeah. Just because you're like,

27:51

I go look at her.

27:54

She's still go,

27:54

and then she's funnier than I go.

27:57

It's like, This is the party. This is Buddy. Now he's in Let's party.

28:00

Now is Buddy post Betty Davis. Yeah.

28:04

Yeah. And just to embrace that,

28:06

I think embracing the bitterness

28:06

is something like the woman.

28:10

You know, her teeth,

28:10

her mouth was already.

28:13

On this side of her face, right? And then the bitch has a stroke,

28:15

and now it's like all her hair

28:18

and she's still smoking and talking shit

28:18

out of that side.

28:21

Like it is a miracle. Even when she had,

28:22

like, genuine, genuine fans,

28:26

you know, kind of, you know, just falling all over her or whatever,

28:27

like she was.

28:31

She did some like kind of I'm

28:31

I'm not sure what it was.

28:34

It was like

28:34

a big kind of a not not a talk show.

28:37

But anyway,

28:37

she I'm having a stroke right now.

28:40

She said she said that she

28:45

someone asked her,

28:45

what would you tell this young

28:48

this young artist, you know, a young,

28:48

young women want to be actresses.

28:52

What tips

28:52

would you give them to to acting?

28:54

And she said, take,

28:54

take out and it's faster.

28:58

yeah. No, that's in June. I heard.

29:01

great. Joan said it. Right? Or is it Bette Davis?

29:03

I thought it was Bette Davis.

29:05

I think it's Betty. okay. Yeah. So anyway, Fountain.

29:08

Yeah, I have. To come up

29:08

that while I'm post-stroke.

29:11

Did you know that I had

29:13

I had a brain aneurysm three years ago.

29:15

I had a brain aneurysm in 2020. Not Yeah.

29:18

my God. I had. No, I'm so sorry. That's what. Happened.

29:20

I mean, what happened?

29:22

You had an. Aneurysm. Yeah. Yeah, it just may.

29:26

We should dress

29:26

you like Betty Davis one of the times.

29:29

Like we should put you in the can,

29:29

like, word askew.

29:32

I wanted to after I. After.

29:35

After I got out of it or whatever

29:35

I wanted to have people over

29:38

and just say hi.

29:43

What are you? Do they. If they didn't know, I hadn't recovered,

29:44

they didn't know it's an aneurysm.

29:49

I so did that happen during the pandemic?

29:52

It did. And Jesus.

29:56

Stress induced, Can I. Say that's what's so crazy?

29:59

Okay. You almost die. And then they say it's dehydration

30:00

and stress.

30:03

Like, I could twist

30:03

my ankle from dehydration and stress.

30:06

But Garret, my husband, was kind enough

30:06

to actually be listening to me.

30:11

Unlike most male comics with their wives,

30:11

he listened to me and noticed

30:15

I wasn't making any sense

30:15

and took me to the doctor.

30:17

And then I yeah, I had my and my brain had

30:17

been bleeding for three days.

30:23

She's it. Yeah. She always brags about. That a vessel just pops in your brain.

30:27

Had three days. Brags about. That.

30:29

I know what's the perfect amount

30:29

for your brain to be

30:33

good. It's like, like I'm just thinking. not at all. Sweet spot.

30:36

Well, you know, there's intermittent. there's intermittent fasting

30:38

and then there's intermittent bleeding.

30:42

I think. Screen bloat. That's unattractive, right? No.

30:46

Officially during award season.

30:48

Intermittent brain, that was.

30:50

The last time

30:50

there was any internal blood in my body.

30:54

What?

30:56

We should turn this into a medical show

30:56

one of these days, anyway.

31:00

Do you like touring?

31:00

I couldn't talk. Forever.

31:02

Missing you. with. Well, I want.

31:04

We will come and see you. Yeah, I want to see the

31:06

show. Where? So where can we.

31:09

We're going to plug this again at the end. But can we come and see you?

31:14

Well, if you're in New Jersey. Nashville. You're Nashville next.

31:17

Week of Nashville or. Or Atlanta. Yeah.

31:21

really? Okay. I feel like we could do one of them.

31:23

I love touring. I love, like, performing.

31:26

I've seen Kids in the Hall live.

31:28

I saw you guys at Moon Tower

31:28

a few years ago.

31:31

I saw I got twice.

31:31

yeah. Couldn't get enough of it.

31:34

And the audience love you guys.

31:34

It was the wedding, too.

31:36

We wear our wedding dress for you, and. And the curtain goes up. yes.

31:40

And now that that wedding dress, Amazon

31:40

wouldn't allow that, which is so nice.

31:45

They called it transphobic.

31:47

See, here's the thing. It's like I cannot.

31:49

I believe you,

31:49

but they don't know that that's what

31:52

kids in the heart,

31:52

not the kids don't know anything.

31:54

But they when you guys

31:54

when the curtain came up

31:58

and the five of you were in these

31:58

kind of like goth, it's very,

32:02

I don't know, Victorian wedding dress

32:02

white dresses and they're holding these

32:05

All y'all did at the beginning held a pose

32:05

right before anyone says anything.

32:09

They just hold this pose

32:09

and the place is going nuts.

32:12

And liberal. Austin, Texas. Yeah, we just did.

32:16

I guess two or three weeks ago

32:16

we were at Sketch

32:19

Fest in San Francisco and we did

32:19

two nights of the kids in the hall.

32:23

Then I did the third night. KING

32:23

you did gets fest.

32:25

So it was quite

32:25

something WAS yeah, it was quite a win.

32:28

Probably the first night we did Kids in the Hall, like Unplugged,

32:28

but we did a lot of our sketches,

32:32

all kinds of sketches,

32:32

but without any real bells and whistles.

32:36

Not a lot of wigs or costumes. Just a just like almost like an old school

32:38

Rivoli show.

32:40

And it went really well. The next night we did the band material

32:41

and we did all not all that.

32:47

A lot of the band

32:47

material from Amazon things.

32:49

We basically did things that people have

32:49

censored us with all through the years.

32:54

We started with like stuff that the CBC

32:54

censored, HBO, HBO censored.

32:58

We, we started with things where the kids

32:58

in the hall censored each other.

33:04

And that that was the it began with

33:06

we started the show and it was great.

33:10

The audience went crazy, but we began

33:10

with the show with the very first piece

33:14

that I'd written for the group

33:14

called The Rectum Vagina Challenge,

33:18

which was parodying like the Pepsi.

33:21

The Pepsi Challenge. Yeah. And and basically I built a little box

33:27

that had like round holes and then

33:30

vagina shaped hole, you know? I don't know, you know.

33:34

Don't look at me. I certainly don't know.

33:39

I don't look down there. And I would go in the shoes

33:40

and it was a man on the street thing.

33:43

What I would say, man, if you are going to

33:43

and it was also parodying

33:46

the Stovetop challenge,

33:46

which is people comparing

33:50

stuffing that was put in the bird

33:50

and stuffing that was dumped on the stove.

33:54

And so we would get people on them. And that was this thing

33:56

where I would get people on the on the street and I go, Man,

33:59

if you were going to offer your husband

33:59

at home, rectum or vagina,

34:03

you would go all Hilton's vagina.

34:06

And then I would have up

34:06

and then I would have

34:08

and they would stick their cocks

34:08

through the hall of the fuck them.

34:10

I'd go, okay, try the next door.

34:12

And then he got all this is the one. And then I would go, What did you choose?

34:15

And I'd pull it up and go, You chose. Wow.

34:18

And then it's like, Ladies,

34:18

nine out of ten men choose.

34:22

And so. And the kids in the hall

34:24

did not want me to do it.

34:26

And it wasn't homophobic a little,

34:26

but it was mostly

34:30

because it went against our rules,

34:30

which we didn't do parody.

34:34

So that's one.

34:38

And then. And then? And then.

34:40

But we did all these

34:40

and then the Amazon material we did.

34:43

I did a Buddy Cole monologue

34:43

that wasn't allowed.

34:46

He all we did all these sketches

34:46

that we'd written that just killed.

34:50

And it was the beginning

34:50

of this vindication.

34:53

I went, Well, I knew they were wrong

34:53

because the only true

34:58

arbiter

34:58

of what's funny is the audience, right?

35:01

The only ones that matter.

35:04

And it just has been it's just this

35:07

tour has been wonderful for me because

35:07

it's like I'm getting my mojo back.

35:10

Yeah. And that's what this show is. It's Buddy Cole

35:12

basically claiming his crown.

35:16

Amazing. Is that what you get recognized

35:17

for the most?

35:19

Do people immediately conflate

35:19

Scott Thompson with Buddy Cole? Yes.

35:25

Yes. And quite

35:25

often they'll put a picture of of Buddy.

35:28

They'll say it's me. And that used to bother me,

35:29

but I don't care anymore.

35:32

Yeah, I'm like, okay, that's fine. Because I realize that's

35:34

only my own internalized self-loathing

35:37

because I'm going, I'm not that bad,

35:37

but that

35:42

you're hardly a big butch cowboy. You're not.

35:44

You're not your, you know, your pickup truck,

35:49

your long hair flowing in the way.

35:52

I assume your pickup truck is is a convertible.

35:57

It's got a moonroof. That's what I always say.

36:00

I guess people can't believe I.

36:03

I drive a pickup truck. I say, Yeah, I believe it or not.

36:06

Yeah, I'm a top and I drive a truck,

36:06

read it and weep.

36:09

Yeah, that's exactly. That's like buddy.

36:11

Buddy of Buddy

36:11

confesses to the audience that he's a top.

36:14

And that's the. Shocking.

36:18

I mean. That's when people walk out

36:20

that's what they that's they'll the out.

36:23

it's not it's. The last straw. I tell you, it's not a show

36:25

unless you people I think it's important

36:28

to walk people.

36:35

To Canadians love guns

36:36

the way we do here in the United States.

36:40

In a different way. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of

36:44

it's a fallacy that Canada is a country

36:44

that doesn't have guns and guns

36:48

everywhere. Lots of people have guns.

36:51

And in rural areas, lots of people do.

36:55

But we like rifles.

36:57

okay. We like long got it.

37:00

Well, you know, here's the thing.

37:02

We don't like pistols. Yeah, partly why I bring it up.

37:05

There was a mom who was arrested for her

37:05

son's

37:09

shooting of kids in the school,

37:09

but she gave him the gun.

37:14

The gun. And I think, like,

37:14

not even as an homage to Hemingway, who,

37:18

you know, his mom left him a gun. Would you give a kid a gun?

37:22

I don't have kids, but I know I would

37:22

never, ever give a kid it again

37:26

because it's not a gift. Really. It's a suggestion.

37:29

Yeah Yeah. No, actually.

37:32

Yeah, isn't it? And it's also it's it's

37:34

very passive aggressive violence from the.

37:38

Yeah. Well, you know, like the gun thing is easy

37:39

because I don't know.

37:41

When I was young, I was in a

37:41

I was in a mass shooting.

37:44

So I got a very different

37:44

feeling about what.

37:47

You really were feeling. Yes, I truly was. Wow. Are you kidding?

37:51

Can we talk about this or do you want to talk know? Yes, you can.

37:53

You brought it up and you can talk about

37:56

where. So I have a very I have a very personal

37:57

relationship to that kind of wild.

38:02

Where were you? So was it just at home? In school?

38:05

It was a. School. Just your parents are. You can get in. It with you.

38:09

Just your family? No. The boy behind the boy behind me

38:10

shot up my class when I was 16.

38:14

Are you shooting these? So we'll go.

38:17

Well, that's why you're a comedian. That horrible.

38:21

Yes, that's actually that. You've stumbled upon my origin story.

38:25

Well, he was somebody that you

38:25

you were in class with at the time.

38:30

I was on my way to class

38:30

and I was a little late. Wow.

38:33

And it wasn't that class.

38:35

But that's what he shot

38:35

16 people and three times.

38:39

And you felt like

38:39

you could have been part of that.

38:41

You would have been killed? Well, I was because I had

38:44

I had a teacher that saved my life

38:44

because I was running the class.

38:48

And it all erupted

38:48

and I didn't understand what I was seeing.

38:52

I'd never seen I'd never seen guns before.

38:54

I'd never I'd never like, never seen that.

38:58

I'd blood before, but not like that. Wow.

39:01

And I didn't really accept

39:01

what was happening because I was too young

39:04

and I'd never met these sorts of things

39:04

that never happened before.

39:07

This is the very beginning. This all began really a long time ago.

39:11

And I began to really in my small town.

39:14

And so I didn't quite understand

39:14

what was happening.

39:17

So when it I, I heard

39:19

it and I remember hearing the shots,

39:23

but I'd never heard gunshots

39:23

before ever, really.

39:26

So I didn't

39:26

I thought it was just firecrackers.

39:29

And and then I kept going

39:29

and then I smelled gunpowder.

39:32

And I never I just thought it was,

39:32

you know, fireworks.

39:36

And then and that's when I saw blood.

39:39

And I went, This isn't good. And then people ran by me and they yelled,

39:40

He has a gun.

39:42

And I was very I was just about

39:42

to turn the corner where he was.

39:47

And then a teacher saved my life. He grabbed me

39:48

and threw me into a classroom

39:51

where I hid for the next 45 minutes

39:51

until we were released by the police.

39:54

Holy shit. But so I'm very I have a very

39:56

personal relationship to this.

40:00

Yeah. So I have been this has been

40:03

this is a kind of a wound

40:03

that's that erupts all that.

40:07

That's a wound that keeps coming up. So I was going to ask like.

40:10

I have to have dinner with him, but for 2 seconds. Scott, do you.

40:13

Know I can't believe you asked for it.

40:15

No darling. No, I was just going to ask you to move back because I am losing

40:17

the end of your flight.

40:21

Thank you. It's got to been shot.

40:24

Is this.

40:27

Okay? Well, you. Know, one of my jokes is I just.

40:29

I'm doing stand up about it now, and I. And this is it.

40:31

Like it's actually very dark. It's very.

40:31

Yeah.

40:34

When I finally got home,

40:37

when my finally got released and I

40:37

eventually made my way home, my mother had

40:41

I have come from a family of five boys

40:41

and there were two of us in school

40:45

and my mom had been waiting for hours

40:45

for me to come home.

40:48

And it was it's not like today.

40:51

There was no she she didn't run out

40:53

onto the lawn and embraced

40:53

tears, seated stood

40:57

behind the screen door,

40:57

looking at me with her hands on the hips.

41:00

Because I'd taken so long. Yeah, well, you took a long time.

41:05

And I'm like, well, and I want

41:05

I thought she would, like, hug me and,

41:08

my God, my baby's home is going,

41:08

Why didn't you call me?

41:11

I go, Well,

41:11

I didn't say we don't have cell phones.

41:15

It's a seven. But, you know,

41:18

and she was at times,

41:22

but I was like,

41:22

she didn't want to show it.

41:25

She just was like, well,

41:25

your brother got home and I was

41:29

like, well, I was so worried

41:29

that I was hiding under it.

41:32

Yeah.

41:34

And then she says to me and my brother,

41:34

I have two brothers

41:37

and they're playing basketball in the

41:37

in the carport.

41:40

Right.

41:40

And they're like, and I, I was upset.

41:44

And my brother goes,

41:44

What are you upset about?

41:46

You didn't get shot. I know, I know.

41:51

My joke

41:51

is that I wasn't physically wounded,

41:54

but I'm I'm

41:54

I'm covered with emotional woo.

41:58

I'm still they're not like

41:58

like scars, like, I suppose scarring.

42:02

I go, yes I don't have any physical scars,

42:02

but I'm covered with emotional scars.

42:07

But they don't get you lay.

42:07

They just make you better and better.

42:11

Yeah, but this is what my mother

42:14

literally said to me when I said to her,

42:14

Where's Dad?

42:18

So the shooting happened.

42:20

38 a.m. and I didn't get home till about three.

42:25

And I said to my mom, Where's Dad?

42:27

I assume she called my dad

42:27

and he'd come home

42:30

and she said to me, Your father's at work.

42:33

And I went to work. And she said, Well, of course

42:34

he's at work. I said, Well, why didn't you call him?

42:37

She says, Scott, I'm not allowed

42:37

to call your father at work unless

42:43

it's a call

42:43

because it wasn't an emergency.

42:46

Because I wasn't actually. You were not hurt.

42:50

That's unless it's an emergency. How different the world has.

42:54

That's how much we've changed. Yeah. Wow.

42:58

And we were back in school, and. That was my next question.

43:01

They hadn't even

43:01

they hadn't repaired anything.

43:03

It happened on a Wednesday with

43:03

they gave us Thursday and Friday off.

43:07

We were back on Monday and,

43:10

and my teacher was two dead in my class.

43:12

He was dead. She was dead, two wounded,

43:13

and no one ever there was no counseling.

43:19

No one did anything for us. We had a teacher that babysat us, was near

43:21

the end of the year was May 28,

43:25

and they just kind of

43:25

people were so traumatized by it

43:31

that they just kind of pretended

43:31

it didn't happen.

43:34

And now you cut to many, many years later.

43:36

I have been working on I have a screenplay

43:36

with I've written about it called

43:40

It's inspired by

43:40

it called Dance with My Bones,

43:43

and I've been working on it

43:43

for over 20 years.

43:45

Wow. I started writing it

43:45

the day after Columbine

43:48

because Columbine, really, I hate that

43:48

word triggered because I hate it.

43:51

But it did open up the wound again.

43:54

Wow. And that's when I it's interesting.

43:56

Can I tell you the story? Yeah. I want to know. Scott, I wanted to ask you first

44:00

that did anything happen with the kid

44:00

that did the shooting?

44:04

Did he. Kill himself?

44:06

He did shot. He blew his head off. But, you know.

44:10

Yeah, but here's the thing, you know? So what happened to me and my movie?

44:15

I've been working on it for a long time,

44:15

but it finally

44:18

I finished it during the pandemic

44:18

when I went again.

44:22

More good that came out of this dark time

44:22

because I finally

44:26

I finally could finish the screenplay

44:26

because I couldn't.

44:29

It took me it's taken me almost 25 years,

44:29

two over 20 to write this

44:34

because I had to

44:34

first of all, the writing process,

44:37

I had to separate myself

44:37

from the actual story, right?

44:40

I had to make it fictional, right? Because it's not a memoir.

44:44

I want it to bring people in. And the original,

44:47

when I first started writing it,

44:47

it was very much like what you would do

44:50

for a psychiatrist where they'd say, I want you to write down

44:52

everything that happened.

44:54

So I was very adamant

44:54

about trying to be truthful to everything,

44:59

but I realized I was just really trying

44:59

to honor everybody that had gone or people

45:04

that had been hurt because we were

45:04

so we were emotionally hurt.

45:07

And no one understood that then. Yeah, but then I realized

45:09

that was no way in Sure.

45:12

And I had to fictionalize. And, and, and it all began because the day

45:17

after the night of Columbine,

45:17

I, I had a dream.

45:22

And I usually dreams,

45:22

usually tell me what to do.

45:25

So this dream I was partying up to no good

45:32

and up to no good.

45:36

And there was a knock at the door

45:36

and I went to the door

45:39

and it was my teacher, Mrs. Wright,

45:41

because I can't even say her first name.

45:43

Because you didn't call a teacher by their first name unless you were going to shoot them.

45:46

Then you could use their fighting rap.

45:49

She she, she, she would sleep with them,

45:54

you know, or sleep with them.

45:56

Yeah, that's right. That's, that's for another podcast.

45:59

So that would be she actually she looked

45:59

you and she said, What are you doing?

46:03

I said, Hey Mrs. Wright, how you do it?

46:06

And she said, She said to me, Scott,

46:09

I want you to dance with my bones.

46:12

And I woke up and I wrote it down.

46:15

And the next day I started writing, Wow.

46:17

And now because this whole movie

46:20

and now it's in development, fantastic.

46:24

And I'm hoping I hope to do. I hope to direct it.

46:26

Yeah, that's amazing. That's the angle.

46:29

Great, great, great. I'm going to direct

46:30

this movie. That's amazing.

46:33

You have

46:33

you done directorial things before?

46:36

Is that something? You know. I directed Little Blood

46:38

Short little shorts and stuff like that?

46:42

No, never know. But I this is probably

46:43

the only film I'll ever direct.

46:48

I don't even know if I'll even ever write another screenplay

46:49

because it was so difficult.

46:53

Although I learned so much about how

46:53

to write a screenplay because I realized

46:58

halfway through the process where it was

46:58

Bruce McCulloch help me, he said, Scott,

47:03

this is really riveting,

47:03

but it's your story and it's

47:07

I know this is what happened,

47:07

but you have to fictionalize it.

47:11

And then I would hear her say to me,

47:11

as with my bones,

47:15

I didn't say,

47:15

show my bones, dance with them.

47:19

So that gave me permission

47:21

to to make it a story.

47:24

Yeah, right. Yeah. So, like. Like my stand by.

47:27

It's my stand by me. Honestly, that is a fascinating shoot.

47:31

Like the word dance. Like, it's not.

47:34

It's seasonality. And I didn't. I didn't know

47:39

it's dance with me

47:39

because she was my English teacher, right?

47:42

It was my English class

47:42

and she was the first person in my life

47:48

that had ever truly seen me

47:52

because like, in a way,

47:52

because she was very young.

47:56

She was 26 years old. She was just married.

48:01

She'd just started her career. I they say she was pregnant.

48:05

I'm not exactly sure really

48:05

what really happened,

48:08

but she was my English teacher

48:08

and I was a kid

48:11

that did very I was smart

48:11

and I got into a lot of trouble.

48:15

What were you to? Everything. I never shut

48:17

up. I was. I was a class clown.

48:20

Yeah, Yeah. But I was really good in

48:20

English, and I was an incredible reader.

48:24

Like, I was a real bookworm.

48:26

And I did well, like,

48:26

I was the top student in English,

48:29

but I was also the top student

48:29

in being grounded and expelled.

48:34

I was never expelled, but I. I was constantly having detentions. Yeah.

48:38

And so being disruptive. She would say to me for being disruptive,

48:39

I was just disruptive.

48:43

And she said to me, and meanwhile

48:43

the guy is sitting behind me.

48:46

He's the real dust. Yeah, I don't know.

48:49

I But he was quiet, right?

48:52

It's and he sat behind me like we were.

48:55

It was really it's quite something. This guy is kind of haunted me

48:56

my whole life.

48:59

Most teachers make such a huge impact

48:59

or can make a huge impact on your life.

49:03

Yeah, mine was Mary Brickley,

49:03

who I still am in touch with and.

49:06

I she, she was also the drama club person

49:11

and so I she cast me in the first play,

49:15

which was I was Penny Sycamore

49:15

and you can't take it with you.

49:18

Wait, I was in. I was the uncle

49:19

and you can't. Take my place.

49:22

I was the. We would have gone to the prom together

49:23

because.

49:25

Yeah, we were totally.

49:28

Like a prom date. In. The end.

49:31

Anyway, just. Went to Uncle the.

49:33

Yeah. Because we were both,

49:33

we were both in the play together.

49:36

Anyway, I was in that. She said, and it made me laugh.

49:39

She said she was going through a really hard time and because I was always

49:41

trying to be funny that we'd go into the auditorium

49:42

and I was like, I don't at 14.

49:46

And I'd say,

49:46

I love the smell of the theater

49:49

water. And do you think I think teachers

49:50

do like a wink, wink, nod, nod to, sorry.

49:55

I want to, but no, I want to talk about your awful teacher

49:56

that was that used to that used to point.

50:01

You outed me. Yeah. I was going to say,

50:03

I think you said your English teacher,

50:06

like, noticed you or like, I think.

50:09

Well, yeah,

50:09

because I didn't finish what you.

50:12

No, no, no, it's not. Basically what happened

50:14

was if I had his attention, what she would

50:16

do, what she would say,

50:16

Look at Scott, Write me a poem.

50:20

If I like the poem,

50:20

I'll let you out his class.

50:23

I'll let you go early. So I would write poems for her.

50:25

I never written it.

50:27

And I when I write a poem,

50:27

I dashed off a poem and she'd go, okay.

50:31

And so that was it. She started me writing and I thought,

50:32

maybe I can write.

50:35

And so this whole

50:35

this whole thing is for me.

50:39

I have to show her

50:42

that she, her,

50:42

her faith in me was not misplaced.

50:47

And so this is I will this movie is going to be for her

50:49

even though I've changed it tremendously.

50:53

You wouldn't even recognize me

50:53

because the truth is, I couldn't

50:56

really recreate her

50:56

because I didn't know her.

51:00

Because you didn't know teachers

51:00

in those days,

51:04

they weren't like going

51:04

they weren't teachers of like today

51:07

with, like the Pride flag going,

51:07

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

51:10

Very different. Well, I was going to say, don't

51:11

you think at least my experience in Texas

51:14

was because the kids

51:14

are not necessarily out or we weren't out.

51:17

You know what I mean? Like,

51:18

you were not like a 13 year old or 14

51:20

or even like a young kid

51:20

who would say like, I'm gay.

51:23

But I do think there were certain teachers

51:23

who would like wink, wink, nod, nod.

51:28

And you know what I mean? Kind of bring you under wing or.

51:31

Yes. Or notice that about you.

51:33

I won't say protect you, but like encourage give you a safe place

51:34

to create kind of thing.

51:38

Like, I don't know, Mrs. White,

51:38

that was her name. I don't know.

51:41

She saw that in me. But she did see someone that she thought

51:42

could be a writer.

51:45

I had a teacher named Mr. Potter who was a gay man.

51:48

Not there. No, nobody was. yeah. Okay.

51:51

But he knew and he

51:54

he did something remarkable for me

51:54

and people like me.

51:58

He had a little light and he was also

51:58

an English teacher and a Latin tie.

52:02

And he had a little library

52:02

at the back of the class.

52:05

And there were all these books in it,

52:05

like this paperbacks of all books.

52:08

And he would say to people like me, he was

52:08

he said to me one day, you know, there's

52:12

a bunch of books back there, Scott,

52:12

that I think you might enjoy.

52:16

And that's when I found Giovanni's Room

52:16

by James Baldwin. Wow.

52:19

And I said, Well,

52:19

because yes, go read that.

52:22

And so that's when I discovered

52:22

James Baldwin.

52:24

And then I read another country

52:24

and then I read In the Fire next time

52:29

and then I read, you know,

52:29

if Beale Street could talk, whatever.

52:32

And it was

52:32

it was him leading me to James Baldwin's.

52:36

Literally a band section in the classroom.

52:39

That's amazing. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

52:42

Sitting in the pillar

52:42

by Gore Vidal was that.

52:45

my. God. Speaking of good interviews, can we talk

52:45

about Gore Vidal for one second?

52:49

Wow, That's the great like. The Evans-smith is that he was the

52:50

he owned Texas Monthly.

52:54

He was editor for Texas Monthly for ever. And he had a talk show on PBS.

52:57

And he's like me, the worst interview ever. Can't can't ever like long

52:59

winded questions.

53:01

And then we'll let the guest

53:01

answer them. That's me. But

53:05

Evans-smith is the worst at it and the best thing

53:06

ever was trying and just fatal futile

53:11

to try to get Gore Vidal

53:11

to answer anything succinctly

53:15

or even Gore

53:15

Vidal will not be interrupted.

53:19

The man will just bulldoze

53:19

through everything

53:21

because his story will take 10 minutes and he needs every last

53:23

second to get it out.

53:26

I love that. Okay. I do, too.

53:26

I love those.

53:28

All those. Those were the guests I love.

53:29

Like Gore Vidal.

53:31

My you don't can you imagine a talk show today

53:32

letting people have that kind of latitude?

53:37

Like I just. Nobody nobody can talk that long.

53:41

No, we're just that. maybe.

53:43

They let it, like, let it simmer. Yeah.

53:45

And the references and and,

53:48

you know, he never

53:48

he never, like, talk down to the audience.

53:51

He's a bit of

53:51

a snob. Right. But, you know.

53:55

Yeah. Gore Vidal was a great guest.

53:57

I hope when I'm old

53:57

I have that that I want that

54:00

that back of the throat

54:00

that I want to sound like that.

54:03

You know what I mean?

54:03

It's like I. Want to live.

54:06

I want to live in Italy,

54:06

like in in a villa, like he did.

54:09

Was that what he would I want?

54:09

I want a villa. Yeah.

54:12

He was living in Italy and I got to write

54:15

a. Book on. It. And I are going to retire at the

54:16

the Donkey and Mule Rescue in Ireland.

54:22

We're going to, like,

54:22

actually be with the animals, I think.

54:25

Is that were you really?

54:27

I know I can't get off of Ireland. Where is your place?

54:30

Are you like Canada is home for me.

54:32

That's for you. Do you

54:34

Are you asking my ethnic origins? No.

54:37

I mean because it's thrown out there. I wasn't, but let's hear it.

54:40

I'm Scott. I'm mostly Scott. Okay. Yeah.

54:42

my God. My family and I did. Or we did. My parents did.

54:45

The 23 me or whatever.

54:48

yeah, me too. When my great grandmother was born, 1895,

54:49

I knew her, right?

54:52

She lived to be 98. Why? Yes. I find that to be like.

54:56

That's the biggest brag I've got, is that

54:56

I knew a person from the 1800s,

55:00

but she was incredible

55:00

and she was totally like.

55:05

Like, like you could talk to her

55:05

like she was an old woman

55:08

who just died of being old,

55:08

but she was not like, you know, anyway,

55:12

But why? Why did I bring her? yeah, She lied to everybody and said

55:15

we were Comanche Cherokee, which is not true. We're fuckin Welsh.

55:18

End of story. Is she, like, only Welsh?

55:22

Yeah, but she's just from the old days

55:22

where that was the spin.

55:25

You know,

55:25

That was the thing she was a pretending.

55:31

Yeah. my. I didn't hear.

55:34

I know what you said. Yeah, I'm pretending.

55:38

pretend that I've Never heard. The word

55:41

never gives you, like, some clout,

55:41

you know, to just say.

55:43

That, like,

55:43

my God, I've never heard that. That.

55:46

yeah. Well, my mom, there's a rumor going on

55:47

that my great grandmother

55:50

that we were Choctaw part, partly

55:50

because my great grandfather was on

55:55

I guess it was on a reservation,

55:55

but it was just because he was a drunk

55:59

and the Native Americans

55:59

would, would take him in, and that was it.

56:03

Wow. Yeah. So none of us are Indian.

56:05

It's just we we, we.

56:07

Are you related to a

56:07

are you related to Elizabeth Warren?

56:11

Yeah. We're that type of Indian or that type of

56:16

we're more related

56:16

to Elizabeth Warren than actual.

56:19

Yeah. Yeah, I know.

56:21

It's crazy. It's just like we benefited

56:22

from the kindness of native Ohio.

56:27

Yeah, I like. We like all the nice that.

56:30

I did my ancestry ancestry.com as well.

56:34

And I thought,

56:34

maybe that'll be something interesting.

56:36

Although the idea of making an interesting. What Scottish isn't interesting.

56:40

Yeah, it's so weird, but I'm 10% Viking.

56:43

I'm kind of. Like, that's good.

56:45

And why does anybody want to be, you know,

56:45

and you think, that

56:48

maybe there's royal blood. But the royals are more inbred than pugs.

56:53

You don't want to be. That's not a good thing, because

56:54

they all just slept with each other.

56:57

And yeah, I'm going to I'm

56:57

going to say something in pro ensign.

57:01

because if it's so bad for their genes,

57:05

why did the queen almost make a hundred?

57:08

Like, why did they live? Wait a minute.

57:10

So bad for you also.

57:13

Then have you been your. God damn right. Have you been to Iceland?

57:16

I had a really cute cousin, a super cute

57:16

second cousin that I was very well.

57:21

Anyway, there are some handsome men in.

57:24

Well, second cousins.

57:24

They're kissing cousins, right?

57:27

Yeah. Well, I guess I think the medical term. Yeah, the medical term.

57:29

I didn't get that far though. No, Iceland.

57:32

They have. I mean, they're kind of inbred,

57:32

but they're also hot.

57:35

They're really sexy.

57:37

They are like Vikings. and. Viking when I. Was a Vikings. Ah.

57:42

You see every the Vikings,

57:44

their DNA is everywhere. Like if you're from Scotland,

57:46

like my family, mostly

57:49

from like the Orkneys,

57:49

like even beyond stock.

57:52

You got Viking blood in you. What's interesting is that people

57:53

want Viking blood because they think your.

57:59

You mean rape blood makes me look

58:03

Well, I mean, I don't know. I'm.

58:05

I'm the Vikings had consensual

58:05

relationships

58:08

with people I

58:13

it's we get it but I mean the Vikings I mean.

58:19

They are sexy and then in Reykjavik

58:19

when I was leaving the bar going home

58:24

30 a.m., you just saw all these,

58:24

like, shirtless men running

58:29

towards the bar, like getting things

58:29

going at like three, 4 a.m.. Yes.

58:33

And they're all are they

58:33

all they're all blond, right?

58:37

Blue eyes. Yeah, they

58:37

I said they look like gorgeous horses.

58:40

Really beautiful. Some would say blond and blue

58:41

eyes are the ideal one.

58:43

Wait a minute. No, stop. Right? Yeah. Hi,

58:47

Laura. You know, my last name is Kightlinger,

58:48

but I have nothing to do with any of that.

58:52

Okay, We know I had to. Cut a guy.

58:55

Have you seen that guy online? He's the big Viking, and he's got a big

58:57

beard, and he's always got an ax.

59:01

And he does things with the ax. Like he'll just dive off a cliff

59:02

and do, like, a flip with the accent

59:05

and land with the ax

59:05

holding the ax up or something.

59:10

it's incredible. It's

59:10

hard. It's incredible.

59:12

Yeah. Yeah, it's. Super. There's a guy who works out.

59:15

He works out on my street and pre-pandemic

59:15

he's still you know, when everybody

59:20

ran outside and was like, working out

59:20

because I know Jim, it's this guy forever.

59:24

He flips

59:26

track a tractor tire full big, big wheel.

59:30

He flips up and down the street

59:30

all the time, and then he has these

59:33

other metal bars that he brings out

59:33

and does handstands and whatever that is.

59:37

But very recently he brought out

59:39

a sledgehammer, which I think is funny because it looks like he's

59:41

training for a crime, but he.

59:43

Has a Gallagher three, he. Has a sledgehammer, and he just

59:46

does this up and down the street,

59:46

which I think is some form of exercise.

59:50

But I also think it looks like he's

59:50

training to like kill his powers.

59:53

But it's just this up and down

59:53

the but is so hot that.

59:57

It smells like so like 1920s

59:57

like strongman.

1:00:00

He should be in a one piece bathing suit. Have you seen Houdini's legs.

1:00:05

Have you seen that man's legs. Please?

1:00:07

I. Believe he's so. He was said.

1:00:10

Yeah, he's so sexy. Like, have you not seen that So. No, no.

1:00:14

In that one. Yeah,

1:00:15

it's unreal. I know exactly the photo.

1:00:20

No, no, no. I mean, he never look better.

1:00:24

It's on. It's on Scott's pillow.

1:00:26

It's on Scott's pillowcase pillow.

1:00:28

He's been looking at cases.

1:00:31

He. Look, I'm from an I'm

1:00:31

from a generation which didn't have.

1:00:35

Right. Didn't have the Internet.

1:00:37

Which didn't. You couldn't even there

1:00:38

there was no there no, not even gay porn.

1:00:41

You know, there was Playgirl. Right. You have to steal that. Right.

1:00:45

But, you know,

1:00:47

my God, my masturbation

1:00:51

material back then was be the

1:00:53

the dance section in Time magazine.

1:00:57

And then imagine there was a dance section

1:01:00

and I would masturbate to like Maria.

1:01:02

sure.

1:01:04

And the other one. And then there was another

1:01:05

there was this gorgeous picture

1:01:08

of Buster Keaton

1:01:08

that I used to masturbate to.

1:01:12

I wonder how he was very. So handsome.

1:01:15

But Houdini was the sexiest.

1:01:17

He was so hot

1:01:17

and and he would wear that bathing suit.

1:01:20

There's a shirtless photo of of Leslie

1:01:20

Nielsen.

1:01:25

He's, like, getting out of a costume. And I think it's worth I think it's with

1:01:26

Angela Lansbury some or someone like that.

1:01:31

He's stunning and you're like goofy old

1:01:31

Leslie Nielsen like Airplane.

1:01:34

sure. So hot. He was beautiful.

1:01:37

Scott, we now we episodes this up

1:01:41

was on Houdini. I was. Going through a young

1:01:42

and I want to just make do

1:01:45

a shout out to the young Ed Asner over.

1:01:48

You know I don't believe. It.

1:01:50

Yeah, I don't believe. You know what? You Google it,

1:01:52

you'll go, okay, I'm stunned already.

1:01:57

I can't wait. I didn't know. You were so good

1:01:59

then. Fine. Let's get Scott.

1:02:01

Can we get your dates? Just so this is going to come out

1:02:02

next Monday, right?

1:02:06

My Twitter handle is it's

1:02:09

Will Scott Thompson underscore

1:02:12

and Instagram. I can't remember what it is.

1:02:14

We'll probably post it.

1:02:17

We'll post it with the thing. I'm

1:02:17

the same.

1:02:19

I didn't know I had Instagram.

1:02:19

Yeah, Garrett said.

1:02:22

Yeah, I've been putting stuff up

1:02:22

through my young husband.

1:02:25

My child bride has been putting

1:02:25

shit on Instagram for me.

1:02:32

I need a child. Right?

1:02:34

So is there a like you have a

1:02:34

do you have a website or just

1:02:39

where do people find the dates

1:02:39

that you have a website?

1:02:42

my God, I,

1:02:42

I have this social media manager, Melanie.

1:02:46

AVC She's doing a fantastic job.

1:02:49

I'm so bad at this. But we I do have a website

1:02:50

called New Scotland Land.

1:02:54

Awesome. So then so people can go there

1:02:56

and find out where Buddy Cole will be

1:02:56

and everything's there.

1:03:00

Yeah. And it also will keep people it'll keep

1:03:00

to tell people about where the screenplay

1:03:04

is, what part of the process

1:03:04

it's in the development.

1:03:08

And also I have an album

1:03:08

coming out in the spring

1:03:12

with my band, my old punk band.

1:03:14

my God, I love that. Amazing.

1:03:17

You have you back with that. that's so great. I'm so glad.

1:03:20

Yeah, it was called out Congress and

1:03:20

the album is called Valley of Song Butte.

1:03:25

Wonderful. I'm

1:03:25

so glad we got to talk to you.

1:03:27

You're such an inspiration. Yeah. And you're so prolific. It's phenomenal.

1:03:31

It's like an honor to talk to you

1:03:31

every year. The real life.

1:03:33

You're the real. Deal. You are the real deal. That's the truth.

1:03:37

Thank you, Scott Thompson, this is such a pleasure. Great night. I can't wait to see you soon.

1:03:40

I can't wait to see you both in Rio.

1:03:40

I know I will.

1:03:43

I will.

1:03:43

You got to come now. I'll be there soon.