0:00

You made it weird, you made

0:02

it weird, you made it weird,

0:05

oh yeah You made

0:07

it weird, you made it weird,

0:09

yes, you did it, you made

0:11

it weird, oh yeah You made

0:13

it weird with Pete Holmes What's

0:15

happening, weirdos? This is a big one.

0:18

This is John C. Riley, who I've

0:20

been a fan of for decades. Um,

0:23

what is it? Magnolia? Step Brothers,

0:25

a movie I watch every year? Boogie

0:27

Nights? The Sisters Brothers? He's in,

0:29

he's in everything. He's incredible, he's

0:31

amazing. Gangs of New York, I

0:33

can't believe he's here. And he

0:35

pays out. He gives us so

0:37

many wonderful stories, changed my view

0:39

of acting forever. Honestly, our conversation

0:41

about acting just shifted how

0:43

I even think about acting, which was awesome. So

0:46

I'm so glad you guys are here. You can

0:48

go see John C. Riley, he is on tour

0:50

with a show called Mr. Romantic where he plays

0:52

a character on a mission to fall in love

0:55

with someone, anyone at

0:57

every single show. He's backed

0:59

by Grammy winning musicians and

1:02

a cracker jack band.

1:04

He's amazing, it's so

1:06

fun. Go see Mr.

1:08

Romantic. Mr. romantic.com. Spell

1:11

it out. M-I-S-T-E-R. romantic.com. Definitely give

1:13

it a go. Definitely check it

1:15

out. Everything he does is amazing.

1:17

I'm so glad you're here. You

1:20

want to see me? Go to

1:22

peteholmes.com. I'm doing the Danie improv

1:24

in Florida, coming up very soon.

1:26

I'm also doing my show here in Los Angeles

1:28

on May the 4th on Star Wars

1:30

Day. May the 4th be with you. Tickets

1:33

to that at peteholmes.com as well. Got

1:35

my Largo show. Beck was

1:37

at the last one. They're always so

1:39

awesome. Go to largo-la.com. I do that

1:41

monthly. It's called Pete Holmes Living at

1:43

Largo. So whenever you hear this,

1:46

I will be at Largo this month, which is one

1:48

of the great joys of my life. So I hope

1:50

you can be there. And also

1:52

at peteholmes.com, we are selling the

1:55

last remaining vinyls of

1:57

Dirty Clean. And 100% of the proceeds

1:59

are going to. Homeboy Industries, a charity very

2:01

near and dear to my heart. So that

2:03

is an album and a special that has

2:05

the bit like that doesn't make any Fucking

2:07

sense you can get the vinyl of

2:09

that while they last Last vinyl

2:12

maybe I'll ever make so go get that

2:14

vinyl go do it Pete ohms calm in

2:17

the meantime So glad you're here. Enjoy

2:19

the wonderful the incredible hilarious the thoughtful

2:22

the thought provoking John C.

2:24

Riley get into it I

2:29

Want something I haven't done. Yeah,

2:31

that's true Here

2:34

I will one day will you Are

2:41

you doing with you to reveal much

2:43

of my actual thoughts my actual personalities

2:45

I'm a little careful about that but

2:48

Yeah, I think I could tell some fun

2:50

stories if it's okay. We're just gonna roll.

2:52

Yes. Is that okay? It's

2:56

Katie Such

2:58

a genteel man You

3:00

are I'm always matter people matter.

3:02

No, can I say one more?

3:04

It's all we got Yeah, this

3:06

it that is what I that is what

3:09

I say during mr. Romantic. This is all

3:11

we have the machines won't save us That's

3:13

right. This is all we have but

3:15

like even this like that's why I'm

3:18

glad to have this show as an

3:20

excuse to dial In and just make

3:22

it small just for the next whatever.

3:24

It's just us. It's all we got There's

3:27

a lot going on but that's enough. It

3:29

isn't have to be enough. It's gonna have to be

3:31

enough I'm just looking at your

3:33

Steve Martin cover there That was like I think

3:35

that one of the first records I actually bought

3:38

Yeah as a kid was like I stole

3:40

some before that but I kind

3:42

of think I stole a Rolling Stone album

3:45

before that But oh I bought

3:47

that one and I have some amazing memories

3:49

of listening to that record I was obsessed

3:51

with it like everybody like a lot

3:53

of people my age at that time But I

3:56

Remember sitting with my mom and on the bedroom

3:58

floor. She Heard me listening. Two and

4:00

like what is going on here what

4:02

are you laughing so hard and other

4:04

sama got hear ya to hear it's

4:06

and see was have another generation her

4:08

my father both sides. Almost.

4:11

Like a world where to generation. Even though they

4:13

weren't of that generation they can thought like about

4:15

a mile up to that I was wondering how

4:17

she was going to respond to it and we

4:19

sat and listened to it and she loved it.

4:22

Sousa's. Cracking up a nice it

4:24

was fantastic is like that scene in

4:26

Aus be Topless when they assess when

4:28

the inlaws it's accidentally eat pot brownies

4:30

and they're just tackling with last of

4:33

the as cause if that had gone

4:35

the other way. I remember

4:37

listening to comedy with my mom. I remember

4:39

a center others that sex scene tumor and

4:41

ever seen it on terrorism and not recently

4:43

by you not actually holds up the I'd

4:46

I don't mean to say actually there's some

4:48

stuff that doesn't hold up. Don't get me

4:50

wrong, there's a whole it didn't age well

4:52

have empathy Atlanta, but there's You know, a

4:54

lot of it does. and there's a part

4:57

where they're just going at it like a

4:59

hard core. It's like comedic li big, sexy

5:01

and I remember my mom my covering my

5:03

eyes and says i can be I did

5:05

that one of those. I did a

5:08

comedic li over the to have

5:10

sex scene with Jenna Fischer and

5:12

Walker said yes and. even

5:14

though we're trying to be comedic and over the top

5:16

was like. Era just. It.

5:18

Will is a whole movie, the satire and one

5:20

thing or another with the satire in that scene

5:23

was. Animalistic.

5:25

Sex scenes between like yes, long lost

5:27

lovers of an era. To.

5:29

Do other stuff or like almost kissing

5:31

the knocked his and almost dizziness and

5:34

I breathing really closely to earth and

5:36

it was like this is turning into

5:38

a real success and I think it's

5:41

kind of I even though we're China

5:43

defiance. ah like. Throwing

5:45

each other around the room and stuff that.

5:48

Deal and charged. Sometimes.

5:51

As a as a silly boy when I'm actually

5:53

having sex it's tempting to be silly and can

5:55

you notice as every night are getting better my

5:57

wife just to sleep. And. I'm tempted.

5:59

we will cuddle. little bit I'm always tempted to

6:01

be like huh like just like it's so

6:03

vulnerable and so

6:05

quiet you can't avoid you can't resist and

6:07

in the same way sometimes when you're having

6:09

sex it's really hard not always but sometimes

6:11

I'm tempted to like reference something or something

6:13

that had happened that day I wish I

6:16

was one of those people that could be

6:18

kind of funny about sex but I don't

6:20

think I am like more of a silly

6:22

being in that way yeah I think it

6:24

more like it's a sacred bond moment it's

6:26

almost like a spiritual connection to

6:28

me I was never like very

6:30

good at like sleeping around I've been married for

6:33

31 years now but when I was

6:35

younger like I've always had to be friends with the

6:37

person and know them as

6:39

a friend and then it would move

6:41

into sex or romance or whatever yeah and

6:44

none of that way it wasn't like religious or

6:46

anything it was just kind of like I mean

6:48

I grew up Catholic but what not really no

6:50

that was not what I was thinking about it's

6:52

just more like how could this be casual yeah

6:54

this is not casual yeah yeah I'm revealing my

6:57

soul to this person and even biochemically

6:59

you know neurologically there's so much

7:01

going on during sex that is

7:03

intensely bonding as an actor have

7:05

you ever done like gazing exercises

7:07

oh yeah stuff like that well

7:09

you see how quickly and clout

7:11

in clown workshops to you clown

7:13

yeah clown when I

7:16

was a kid and I've been getting

7:18

back into it lately because the show

7:20

I do mr. romantic and it's a

7:22

sensible reason I'm here edit that out

7:24

um is it

7:26

kind of a clown show I don't wear like clown makeup

7:28

per se a little rouge but not full

7:31

clown face but it's a vaudeville act you

7:33

know it's kind of like an emotional magic

7:35

act all about love and have you seen

7:37

it I've we were work try

7:39

I know come on just

7:42

walk out it's not like you want me

7:44

to let you don't get the largo very

7:46

much you're not over there I understand I

7:49

understand you're the first I've been out of

7:51

town seven day spiritual retreat wow I'm like

7:53

a non-dual retreat you're the first episode and

7:56

this is how much I was excited to

7:58

have you come on Of course you

8:00

take a day to integrate, right? You can't just come back

8:03

from all that meditating and stuff, but this is the

8:05

only day you could do, so here we are. And

8:08

that is my commitment and love and excitement for

8:10

you. But had I not been away... I could

8:12

do it any day this week. I know. I don't

8:14

know who told you that, but... Son of a bitch. Well,

8:16

they didn't tell you the video. I think they were all

8:18

just trying to slot them into one day or something. I

8:20

did a few other interviews earlier today, but... Have you

8:22

been chatting away? A

8:25

little bit. Not too much. You're not

8:27

burnt yet. Not really... I mean,

8:29

talking about Mr. Romantic, the show... Edit

8:32

that out. ...is really like

8:34

a labor of love. It's like my own thing.

8:36

It's this thing that just came out of me,

8:38

so it's different than doing press

8:40

for a film that someone

8:42

else directed or whatever. That would be so beautiful if we left

8:45

that in the show. I'm

8:47

curious about your spiritual retreat, because

8:49

I meditate every day. I do

8:52

transcendental meditation. What

8:54

was the... What was it? Like silence

8:56

or... It wasn't a silent retreat. In

8:58

fact, I went in... I

9:01

was just telling my wife this. I went in

9:03

chewing nicotine gum. I got nicotine. And

9:05

day one, I was just like, I'm

9:07

not feeling like I need it. And it's

9:10

so interesting. And my wife jokes, it was like, yeah, because you

9:12

were in rehab. She

9:14

was like, that's why rehab works. All

9:16

your meals are communal. Right. Your

9:18

wife is not there stressing you out. Take

9:22

that. Take that,

9:24

sweetheart. So

9:27

much of it was being sharing,

9:29

not being silent, was having time

9:31

with like-minded people that are interested

9:34

in having a firmly established center, for lack

9:36

of a better way to put it. Sounds

9:38

like a cult. Well, there were some... No,

9:41

I'm kidding, but I've been studying

9:44

cults lately. I love cults. Which

9:47

one's yours? Well, you

9:49

could... I would imagine some

9:51

people think transcendental meditation is a

9:53

cult, but it doesn't have some of the hallmarks

9:56

of a cult. Well, remember the ceremony? You've been

9:58

doing it a long time. But there's that ceremony

10:00

with the rice and the incense and there's a

10:02

photo. Yeah, but that's The

10:05

thing about it is There

10:07

is no dogma about transcendental meditation. There is

10:09

nothing you actually have to believe. Yeah, there's

10:11

no God There's no is none of that

10:13

stuff All you have to do is just

10:15

do this on a regular

10:18

basis and it works whether you believe it

10:20

or not Yeah, which I was like, oh

10:22

great. No dogma. No guru. There

10:24

is a guru because This

10:26

guy yeah the Maharishi like sort of

10:29

put it together for modern audiences or whatever

10:31

but and the Beatles Yeah

10:35

But for thousands of years before that, you

10:37

know, it's not like it's really his He

10:40

just how did you turn on to that? I

10:43

did it you by the way. I needed it Yeah,

10:45

I needed it. I needed I was I

10:47

was just having trouble My Mind

10:53

was just too much traffic in

10:56

my mind, you know and the I know

10:58

not really an anxious person But

11:01

I was having a lot of mental pollution

11:03

there's just agitation and I Don't

11:07

know. I don't know exactly why it came to

11:09

me. I remember I Asked

11:13

a friend I was like because I

11:15

assumed he was all into this new age

11:17

stuff It was Mike white actually as Mike.

11:19

I was like Mike you do

11:21

TM, right? Can you tell me about that? He's

11:24

like actually no, I don't do that I was

11:26

like, whoa Why did I think you did

11:28

it? and then he told me about someone else who did and

11:31

they hooked me up with this teacher and I Learned

11:33

it and but that's really the last interaction

11:35

I had with the organization of

11:38

transcendental minute. Yeah It

11:40

was just meeting here in LA any yeah,

11:42

who taught do you remember name is penny

11:44

hints? She taught David Lynch to do

11:46

it Years ago. Did he

11:48

take to it? Oh, yeah, he's

11:50

a super devout hundred percent

11:53

JK. Oh, sorry That's

11:55

the thing about me. I don't I don't

11:57

traffic your own sarcasm. Yeah, it wasn't

12:00

sarcasm but I did for whatever that

12:02

was to the camera that was

12:04

to include you to let you know that I

12:06

was joking but you were off yeah

12:09

so but do you find

12:11

it not this is a leading question do you

12:13

find it as just a stress life improvement found

12:15

that in your couch by the way could

12:18

have been Marianne Williamson we

12:20

like to blame her if people find stuff in the

12:22

couch did

12:24

you do it for higher purpose me reasons

12:27

or just kind of no wrong answer kind

12:29

of like regulate stress quiet your mind sort

12:31

of thing or was it I

12:33

just needed it I just somehow I needed I

12:35

was like I need I need more peace like

12:38

the things I was doing to get peace for

12:40

myself or not really

12:43

delivering yeah after a while

12:45

and well that's that's and

12:47

I did it really devote I was

12:49

devoutly for a long time and then it got a

12:52

lot then I had this little mini

12:54

crisis in my head where I was like why

12:56

are you doing it this is stupid you're just

12:58

sitting here saying a mantra to you this is

13:00

you could just do this by you

13:03

know just being more mindful or

13:05

whatever and I kind of got off it for

13:07

a while and then I and

13:09

then I needed it again then I

13:11

was like no this is not I'm

13:14

not a very habitual person I'm not

13:16

a very disciplined person I'm not someone

13:18

that does anything on a regular basis

13:21

but doing TM on a

13:23

regular basis really has given

13:25

me a lot yeah it's really giving me a lot of no

13:27

no routines whatsoever

13:30

I have like

13:32

patches of routine and then just it

13:34

just goes to the wayside but

13:36

miraculously meditating has

13:38

been something I do every day

13:41

but I really it's the first

13:43

thing in my life other than like taking care

13:45

of my kids or whatever where when I wake

13:47

up like oh no I need to do that

13:49

for sure and if I forget I'll go oh

13:51

oh no oh my gosh I forgot every once

13:53

in a while I forget but yeah have you

13:55

ever been doing it and someone thinks something's wrong

13:57

with you that happened to me I

14:00

was on a film set actually and I was like

14:03

looking I was really into it at that time So I was

14:05

like I'm not gonna miss and I went it was lunch And

14:07

I went and found a little corner and I sat down close

14:09

my eyes like four people checked on

14:11

me They were just like are you okay? They thought

14:13

I was having like I don't

14:15

know Yeah, I like a second break. I

14:18

usually tell people I'm in 20 minutes. Yeah.

14:20

Yeah But it's

14:23

never been mistaken for psychosis giving me a

14:25

lot No, and penny actually told me she's

14:27

like people will if you're in your car

14:29

by yourself doing it No, thank you your

14:31

sunglasses. Yeah, that's a good tip because then

14:33

it just looks like you're just sitting there

14:35

or whatever That's a good tip. I

14:39

I I wonder if this

14:41

your schedule listeners helps you flow

14:43

and merge into a film set

14:45

Because that is really giving your life

14:48

to another schedule Yeah, you

14:50

know, you never every day is different and

14:52

you really have to be like to be Completely

14:55

my favorite day ever since I was a

14:57

little kid as long as I can remember

15:00

my favorite days are like waking up What

15:02

should I do now? Eat

15:04

when I'm hungry go outside when I feel like walking around,

15:06

you know, like just letting days

15:08

unfold That's really like my

15:10

personality I actually don't like to figure out

15:13

things ahead of time or

15:15

analyze things too much or yeah It's kind

15:17

of like how I am and that

15:20

you reminded me of something though. This is

15:22

kind of course course, but When

15:25

I shoot a movie Sometimes

15:28

I'm convinced that there's like a shit

15:30

detector in the trailer. What

15:32

do you mean? I asked her to turn the air on Oh,

15:35

it was a good story for that Because

15:40

whenever I have to Go

15:42

to the bathroom number two I

15:46

Would like to check things out. All right, I definitely have

15:48

time Nothing around I'm not

15:50

gonna be needed etc. Etc. I go into

15:53

the trailer You sit down on the toilet

15:55

and then bump bump bump like almost without

15:57

fail and ad comes when you're pooping. Yeah

16:00

And you're like, I'm, and then you have that

16:02

humble thing where you're in the bathroom. I'm in

16:04

the, you have to yell really loud to be

16:06

heard, like. I've noticed that phenomenon, by the way,

16:08

if you're sitting on the couch in a trailer

16:11

and someone knocks on the door, I'll

16:13

yell, come in. They've

16:16

never come in. Have you noticed this? I

16:18

don't know how thick these doors are. You go, come in! And

16:21

they just, well, in order to be

16:23

heard over the air conditioning or something, it sounds

16:26

like you're already mad. Like you're yelling, like. One

16:29

day I just did this TV show where I had winning

16:32

time where I played Dr. Jerry Buffs.

16:35

And super stressful life, as it

16:37

turns out. Yeah. Especially the first

16:39

year he had that team. So a lot

16:41

of my scenes were like raising my voice or

16:43

being passionate about something or whatever. And I would

16:45

run my lines and the trailer was someone before

16:48

I had to go. And

16:50

one day I was like, what is going on? What? I

16:53

thought they said they were ready. What is going on?

16:55

Like, can you find out what's going on? And then

16:57

finally, like, the AD wasn't even near the trailer. And

17:00

finally, like, this person who I asked to

17:02

help tracked down the AD and she's like,

17:05

I didn't want to knock. It just

17:07

sounded like it was a bad moment.

17:09

I was like, what? It's like you

17:11

were really screaming at somebody. It looked

17:13

like I was doing my lines. I

17:15

wasn't screaming at it. But you think

17:17

I would yell like that at somebody?

17:19

Like, I don't know. Can

17:22

I tell you my favorite Jerry Buffs moment

17:25

in season one? Just if it

17:27

meant anything to you. I thought it was so funny and

17:29

so novel was you're eating lobster by

17:31

the pool and then you go, I got to wash

17:33

this butter off and then you jump in the pool.

17:35

And I was like, that's it. It

17:37

was. I improvised a lot

17:39

when I worked. Well then I'm glad

17:41

your hat's off because hats off. That's

17:44

incredible. It felt like the perfect summation

17:46

of that character is. And

17:48

I did have a lot of butter. Oh yeah. Hands

17:51

on my face and my belly. Like,

17:53

definitely needed to get rid of the butter. It

17:56

doesn't that seem like a character trait like of

17:58

Jerry Buffs? It would be like. a guy

18:00

who eating lobster by a pool would just jump

18:02

in the pool to wash it off. Like that

18:04

felt perfect. I loved that.

18:07

There was a, yeah, anyway, I

18:10

haven't seen the show, but weirdly

18:12

I haven't watched it, but I

18:15

do remember shooting that scene and jumping into

18:17

the pool and there's like this fantasy moment

18:19

with all the girls around me in the

18:21

pool and I'm

18:24

supposed to be going, I'm

18:26

fucked or whatever. I say something like, oh

18:28

my God, I'm fucked. Like I scream underwater

18:31

because I just find out that I'm,

18:33

yeah, yeah, this paperwork was bad news,

18:36

but there's all these girls around me in

18:38

the pool, a whole circle of them and

18:40

their legs and they

18:43

were like, you guys should be laughing and having fun.

18:45

Like all of you should be laughing and

18:47

underwater I could hear this ghostly like, like

18:52

mermaids underwater was incredible. I

18:54

was like, I came up and I was like, you guys,

18:56

we got to get a microphone in the water somehow. You

18:59

won't believe what it sounds like under there. Like

19:01

all these legs going like this, then he, water,

19:05

goes through and laughter. It turns out.

19:08

Have you ever seen a ghost? You seem like a guy that's

19:10

seen a ghost. I thought

19:12

I saw a few ghosts, but I

19:14

think it was sleep apnea. What

19:16

does it look like? Difficulty

19:19

breathing? No, it was always like I wake

19:21

up with a start, like a noise. I

19:23

thought I'd heard a noise and

19:25

then I'd see someone like going out of the

19:28

room where I would have these like hallucinations or

19:30

whatever. Yeah. And I realized I

19:32

had sleep apnea and needed a CPAP machine. That

19:35

was literally my body saying, you're dying, wake

19:37

up. Right and your brain just fires. UFO?

19:43

UFO, I don't think

19:45

so. What about something you can't

19:47

explain? You ever go to a psychic and they

19:49

knew something really impossible? Well, yeah, I mean, no,

19:52

I've never been to a psychic, but... Something

19:55

unexplainable? Well, my

19:57

father was sick. He had a brain

19:59

injury. tumor and eventually died from

20:01

it. But I

20:03

was off doing a movie and

20:06

checking in with my sisters and my family about what

20:08

was going on with him. And it wasn't looking good,

20:10

but he wasn't, they weren't like, you

20:12

should think about coming home to

20:14

Chicago. It was just so like things are not great.

20:17

And I was sleeping and

20:21

in the dream I saw, so I won't

20:24

explain the long dream. But basically I

20:27

was in like a rooming house trying

20:29

to fall asleep in

20:31

this big room full of beds, like an

20:33

old wood floored rooming house with beds all

20:35

over the place. And I came

20:37

in at night with my wife in the dream

20:40

and everyone was already asleep in the beds and were like,

20:43

oh, thank God, there's at least there's a bed somewhere we

20:45

can stay. We get under the

20:47

covers and we just have to relax and

20:49

close, you know, fall asleep. And

20:51

then with my eyes closed, all

20:54

of a sudden there's like rustling people getting up from

20:56

beds. I'm like, oh my God, I can't believe it

20:58

with my eyes closed in the dream. I

21:00

can't believe people are now getting up. We just got here.

21:03

We're trying to fall asleep. I can't believe it. And all

21:05

of a sudden I sense people right near our bed and

21:08

I opened my eyes and my father was

21:10

in line slowly

21:12

moving in this line out of the room.

21:14

And I remember staring

21:17

at his face and he was talking to

21:19

the person in front of him like, can you believe we're

21:21

in this fucking line? Well, I couldn't really hear what he

21:23

was saying. But

21:25

in the dream I was staring at his face somehow

21:28

knowing this is the last time I'm going

21:30

to see his face. Well, I

21:33

knew in the dream and I'm staring. I'm like,

21:35

I have to memorize the details of his face

21:37

because this is the last time I'm going to

21:39

see him. And literally the

21:41

phone rang and woke me up from

21:43

this dream. And my sister

21:45

said, dad just passed. Whoa. I

21:48

can't explain that. I had no,

21:51

there was no, I'm telling you, I know

21:53

what was going on at the time and it wasn't like any

21:55

kind of emergency thinking or anything. Yeah. It

21:57

was like sad that he had this tumor

21:59

or whatever. and there was an operation, et cetera, et

22:01

cetera. But then two

22:03

other people in my family that night, the same thing,

22:06

one of my sisters had a dream where he was packing

22:08

up his boat to leave. She was

22:10

laying down in this house and

22:13

could see him out by this dock packing

22:15

up his boat to leave. And

22:17

then he did. And another, an

22:19

aunt of mine that same night. So I can't

22:22

explain that. I mean, how can he explain that?

22:24

Yeah, that's incredible. Thank you for

22:26

telling me that, that's awesome. I mean, not awesome

22:28

what happened, but that experience. Yeah,

22:30

it was awesome, my dad. It was literally awesome. But

22:34

I think there's a lot we don't understand. If you think

22:36

about like, just

22:40

for an analogy, how

22:42

much of the ocean is unexplored,

22:45

or how much about space we don't understand.

22:47

Or the human mind, yeah. Or the brain,

22:49

how much we don't understand, even about how

22:52

our own bodies actually work. And

22:54

it wasn't that long ago before it was

22:56

like leeches and stuff where

22:58

the answer, you know, like. They say that

23:01

we're gonna look at this time as a leech

23:03

time with the advent of AI by

23:06

2030 or something, 2035, I think. Well,

23:09

I hope we get some stuff figured out with the help

23:11

of AI. That would be good. I

23:14

do think there's metaphysical things. There

23:16

are metaphysical things that exist that

23:18

we don't understand yet. The way

23:20

matter behaves and plasma and all

23:23

this. There's a lot of

23:25

things that we just conceptually don't understand yet. So how

23:27

could you assume that we've

23:29

got it all locked down and there's no such

23:31

thing as ghosts. Or dreams or

23:34

visions really is kind of what we're talking about.

23:36

Or a metaphysical aspect of

23:38

human life, you know. Have

23:40

you had any contact kind of with your

23:42

dad emotionally or supernaturally? Is there a connection

23:45

there? Well, there's been a lot of times

23:47

when I was like hoping for a miracle

23:49

and I literally, dad, if you can put

23:51

in a word, like, I

23:54

mean, the day of my dad's

23:56

death, what is the anniversary of

23:58

the Irish Peace Accords? in

24:01

Ireland and I was like maybe

24:03

he had something to do with that because he was a super

24:06

ardent Irishman, Irish-American.

24:09

Anyway, yeah,

24:12

I think there's a lot that

24:14

we don't understand. Of course. I

24:16

think there were famous psychologists that we don't

24:18

understand 99% of how the mind works

24:21

or how the brain works. Not even just

24:23

the concept of mind but the brain. That

24:26

said, there's not much to be, I don't know,

24:29

I don't go around thinking a lot about how

24:31

I don't understand most. You

24:33

just have to go with what you have. Like in the

24:35

1800s, leeches, what the hell? The best we got. Now

24:40

we're at Tylenol. I guess Tylenol is

24:42

where it's at. It's going to be crazy to

24:44

see where it goes. It really is. Going back

24:46

to what you were saying about doing your lines

24:48

in the trailer and yelling, I

24:50

was really excited because I'm such a fan of

24:52

your acting, all the different styles. I know it's

24:54

all acting but I think you're hilarious and I'm

24:56

a big fan of your dramatic work as well.

25:00

Here's my question. How much

25:02

of acting is getting over that

25:04

acting is sort of embarrassing? Like

25:07

how much of that would you consider

25:09

your job? And to

25:11

preface it a little bit, you know, everyone knows

25:13

you're pretending. They're filming

25:16

you. Now you're very calm and

25:18

three, two, one, you have to be yelling. So

25:21

there's something kind of like... To

25:24

you. Not just me. It's

25:26

a Ted Danson quote as he did a

25:28

scene. Well, you and Ted Danson. But I'm

25:30

saying like... You don't find it embarrassing. It's

25:32

like how much of acting has to do

25:34

with drinking a gallon of water beforehand. Like,

25:36

well, I don't. I'm not embarrassed

25:38

by it. Yeah. You know

25:40

what, actually, what is kind of embarrassing... That's a

25:43

fascinating answer. You're not embarrassed. No,

25:46

ever since I was a little kid, when I started doing

25:48

plays, it was never... It just

25:50

seemed to be a natural thing to me.

25:53

Like this idea of pretending and this idea

25:55

of crossing over into an imaginary place. It

25:57

was just like, yeah, this is where I am most of

25:59

the time. to the start. This is

26:01

just like when I first did my

26:03

first acting class when I was

26:06

a little kid at the park near my house I

26:08

remember thinking like at first oh this is kind of

26:10

weird like the teacher was having us be pieces

26:13

of bacon on a in a

26:15

pan I'm gonna turn up the heat now what

26:17

happens he just like an exercise to get you

26:19

kind of in touch with your body and your

26:21

imagination firing but I remember thinking like

26:23

at first like oh this is kind of weird a piece

26:26

of bacon no one's ever asked me to do this before

26:29

like when I was eight and then as

26:31

it started to happen I looked around the room

26:33

and everyone was doing these bacon stuff I was

26:35

like I have found my people I

26:38

knew it's that young age I was like oh this is

26:41

what I'm supposed to be doing these are

26:43

the people that understand me this is what

26:45

I'm like yeah I spent

26:47

most of your time there like you were like

26:49

a big fantasy kid like just kind of yeah

26:51

just a mat you know like I think most

26:54

kids especially younger than say six years old there's

26:57

still a little bit in the world of the

26:59

pixies you know they don't they don't see

27:01

like I realized this from

27:03

doing animation like I did these two movies

27:05

record Ralph my daughter loves she's five and

27:07

a half she loves record Ralph well if

27:09

you if I were to meet your daughter

27:12

and she's five and a half I bet

27:14

if you said honey this is record Ralph

27:16

she would look at me and go no it isn't

27:19

because he doesn't look anything like record

27:22

Ralph yeah like younger than six years old

27:24

you realize they think cartoons are real oh

27:26

I've shown her cartoons that I'm in and

27:29

I don't think she knows what's going on

27:31

yeah so they don't quite and she's like

27:33

yeah that's what I mean I like I

27:36

was always in that place of imagination

27:38

like fat being involved in

27:40

fantasy was something that just came

27:43

really naturally to me I just always

27:46

that said I didn't it's not like when I was a

27:48

little kid I wasn't one of those kids like I'm gonna

27:50

be an actor I'm gonna be

27:52

the world's greatest actor like I'm made for

27:55

the stage or movies or whatever like I

27:57

had no reference points for that for

28:00

it being a life or a job or anything

28:02

like that. It wasn't until I was almost done

28:04

with college where I went to a conservatory

28:07

of acting school that

28:11

I was like, oh, maybe this

28:13

could be my job. I

28:15

literally didn't consider it because it come from

28:18

a very working class, blue collar kind

28:20

of life in Chicago where I grew up. I

28:23

didn't have any examples. I didn't know anyone who was

28:25

in any kind of show

28:27

business, music or anything else. So

28:31

I remember just watching Gene Hackman and

28:33

the French Connection or Gene Wilder and

28:36

Willie Wonka and just thinking that's what

28:38

they're like. That's who they are. I

28:41

didn't understand it as a craft.

28:43

Yeah, as a craft. And

28:46

then a friend of mine got cast

28:48

in a Francis Ford Coppola movie, Kevin

28:50

J O'Connor, who was from my

28:52

same neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. He

28:55

went to the same acting school as me. So as soon as

28:58

he graduated from the acting school, he got that part. And

29:00

I was like, oh man, it's

29:02

possible. It is possible

29:04

to come from the south side and

29:07

someone would ask you to be in a movie.

29:09

It's possible. I have to consider this now. That's

29:11

how I felt about Matt Damon and Ben Affleck

29:14

because when I was in high school, just

29:16

leaving high school, Good Will Hunting came out.

29:19

I would see them at Harvard

29:21

Square. I had friends that went to high school with them. And

29:23

I was like, what? I

29:27

wasn't in the land of the pixies, but I would go

29:29

see a movie. And I was like,

29:31

these are the gods of our time.

29:33

I was really reverent. Literally

29:35

bio-locating. They're on all these different screens

29:38

at the same time. They're huge. They're

29:41

making my father cry. You know what I

29:43

mean? It's just like, this is

29:45

huge. And somehow you need this concrete. I

29:47

need it anyway, this concrete example that it

29:49

is possible. Of course, I've

29:51

been acting for 12 or 15 years at that point. But

29:56

to see someone do it, it

29:59

actually happened. that concrete

30:01

reference point. Would you talk a little bit,

30:04

because when you were saying that, like Chicago

30:06

working class, and when

30:08

you think of an actor, like someone

30:11

who is gonna be like, I'm gonna be the best actor

30:13

in the world, do you think of someone who maybe looks

30:15

like Tom Cruise? You know what I mean, that type. I

30:18

don't know what Tom's journey was. Maybe not, you

30:21

know, there's a lot of people that look like

30:23

Tom Cruise that don't feel that way. I'm saying

30:25

like today, if there was an influencer that was

30:27

like, I'm gonna make it bigger, maybe I'll finish

30:29

the question. If somebody's

30:32

really classically, you

30:34

know, down the line, good looking

30:37

guy, white teeth,

30:39

winning, hey, personality, like oh, there's

30:41

an actor. And what's interesting is,

30:44

here's you, interesting person,

30:46

Gene Hackman, interesting person, Gene Wilder,

30:48

interesting person. These aren't just models

30:50

that talk, you know what I

30:52

mean, they're complex. And then this

30:55

working class Chicago thing makes

30:57

you a rare and

30:59

special commodity in LA where

31:01

every headshot is like a V-neck,

31:04

white T-shirt, tan. You

31:06

know what I'm saying, you are a handsome man.

31:08

I'm just saying like, isn't it funny that the

31:10

things that maybe- Well, I was at a party

31:12

one time with Dustin Hoffman and

31:14

I think Joaquin Phoenix was there. I think it

31:16

was the first night I met Joaquin. And

31:18

Dustin Hoffman literally said, you know, you guys have

31:21

a career because of me. That's

31:23

so funny. Before me, people

31:25

that looked like regular people did

31:27

not get the leading role in movies. When

31:30

I got to graduate and Mike Nichols forced them

31:32

to cast me, I paved the way, you

31:34

know, like, and he wasn't

31:36

just being like, you know, vain or whatever.

31:39

He was just telling the truth. And we

31:41

were like, wow, you're right. It does kind

31:43

of track back almost exactly to him

31:46

or his generation right around then. Yes. So

31:50

I forgot what the question was

31:52

exactly. I'm just saying, isn't it interesting that

31:54

here's little Johnny C and

31:57

he maybe decides he wants to be an actor. There had to be people

31:59

in your- life that we're like, but you're

32:01

not, you're not one of

32:03

those neighborhood was like, if you

32:05

come from the working class on

32:08

the South side of Chicago in the era that I was in,

32:11

the main thing people said was, who the

32:13

fuck do you think you are? Yeah, that's

32:15

what I was raised being told, you know,

32:17

get a job. What are you doing?

32:20

You know, like it was always people kind of always

32:22

under valuing you, you

32:25

know, and you asked like, do you think the

32:27

journey is the same for someone that looked like

32:29

Tom Cruise? Well, I know Leo

32:31

DiCaprio really well. Like I've known his,

32:34

I did a movie with him when he was 17 years

32:37

old. I think I've worked with him three times since then.

32:40

And I, he's also one

32:42

of the only people I've ever seen do an

32:44

accurate, I think impression of me when he was

32:47

17. I was

32:49

like, Holy, you little motherfucker.

32:51

He's been observing me this

32:53

whole time. He was

32:55

really a character actor. That's the truth

32:58

about him. I think he actually has

33:00

the constitution and the personality of a

33:02

character actor. He's not someone who cospies

33:04

in his looks. But what I will

33:06

say this about him, he

33:09

is he even

33:11

he didn't have any of that self

33:13

doubt stuff, or at least he didn't show it

33:16

that I had. He didn't

33:18

come from a place where they were like, who the fuck

33:20

do you think you are? He came from

33:22

a place where they were like, whatever

33:25

you want to do, you can do

33:27

it. We believe in you. Keep going,

33:29

keep going. Yes, dream big, dream big.

33:31

And I was just like, what a

33:33

gift to give a kid from the

33:36

very beginning that you know, people could

33:38

say something could always just this golden

33:40

boy and he doesn't know what it's

33:42

like. But that's not true. He grew

33:44

up with like not much money. And

33:47

you know, he had

33:49

this whole thing when he was younger, when I started

33:51

working with him when he's 17 of this whole tiger

33:53

beat thing of girls from him being

33:55

on the TV show when he was younger, Swooning

33:58

over him as this hung. This you

34:00

can a flavor the week good looking boy

34:02

but he knew he had more in him

34:05

than that so he's embarrassed by last us

34:07

through all that kind of at attention or

34:09

whatever but I remember looking like man this

34:11

is a guy he's never been souls who

34:13

the fuck are you he's always been told

34:16

i know you can probably do it you

34:18

should try yeah try to that nice and

34:20

I saw like that arms or any smile

34:22

did. It's a kind of goes against the

34:25

idea that the success actually comes from the

34:27

frustration of people telling you you can't do

34:29

it and. That's why John C. Riley said

34:31

I'll show you and he kept data. Or.

34:33

though as there's some truth to the other substances

34:36

to being like a middle kid. I consist of

34:38

six. Yeah, so when you're in a crowd like

34:40

that in the middle of a crowd your hey,

34:42

i'm over here Like you learn ways to like.

34:45

I don't know how some self esteem or

34:48

whatever but I did. You want to stand

34:50

out after Mad and Sisters sex? You want

34:52

some identity? Some recognition.

34:55

Yeah. I don't know. I I

34:57

suppose that I guess that were may

34:59

have been subconscious because. I.

35:03

Wasn't like I was ever consciously

35:05

singing that, but. I was

35:07

the second child and I was like. Sake!

35:10

Sound the china i tried s do

35:12

to thing. I was kind of house

35:14

down and i was trying to be

35:16

special I've seen that was. The.

35:18

Second sibling works there like a politician that

35:20

gonna be to have a was wrote. you

35:22

know like running for office in the summertime.

35:24

A lot of the room because there's this

35:27

other competition and like I'm a new one.

35:29

but ah yeah much you love me. see

35:31

I can't I be the favorites But I

35:33

think the truth is if you really take

35:35

a really emp empathetic view of the way

35:37

people are in the way they look in

35:40

what they have to offer as artist. You

35:43

just never know what's the Dark Knight?

35:45

Have a soul for Leo Dicaprio, Tom

35:47

Cruise, or Brad Pitt? or yeah, you

35:49

know, Marilyn Monroe and are people that

35:51

look a certain way who you make

35:53

certain assumptions about. He just don't know

35:55

what what it takes to to do

35:57

with I do or and in Leo's.

36:00

In any case, there were a lot of

36:02

guys of his generation that were really cute

36:04

that were in those Tiger Beat magazines. How

36:07

many of them ended up doing what he did? The

36:09

curse of Tiger Beat, man. You

36:11

don't want to be in Tiger Beat. I'm

36:13

just saying, you

36:15

have to have more than just a pretty

36:17

face if you're really going to contribute something,

36:20

and he does. I

36:23

hear that as, we'll happily have you just

36:25

be in Tiger Beat. Your

36:27

business will gobble you up and spit out your bones

36:29

just for Tiger Beat. It's not like now that you're

36:31

in Tiger Beat, we have a relationship, we want to

36:33

see what else you've got. He had to work that

36:35

much harder. In fact, it's the other way. If you

36:37

get held up in that way, people just can't wait

36:39

to... Yeah, of course. ...mite you.

36:42

That's right. They want to put you out like a cigarette.

36:46

I remember when I was coming up in the 80s and

36:49

doing plays and stuff and thinking, secretly dreaming,

36:53

could I be an actor? There

36:55

was this group of actors called the Brat Pack

36:57

who I thought, well, that's it. I'll

37:00

never get a shot because I don't

37:02

look like Emilio Estevez or Charlie Sheen

37:04

or Anthony Mike, even Anthony Michael Hall,

37:06

who was more of a character actor,

37:09

excuse me, back then. But

37:13

I remember looking at those guys and thinking,

37:15

well, that's it. Those are

37:17

the people that got picked from my

37:19

generation to be the actors of my

37:21

generation. There's no room for me.

37:23

It's a depravity. I'll never be in the Brat

37:26

Pack. I won't be invited. The

37:28

membership's full, so oh well. Something that somebody

37:30

made up at a magazine. And you're

37:32

like, that's it. The Brat Pack's been decided. I

37:34

was just talking to Ione Sky about this the

37:36

other day who's a friend of mine. She's like,

37:39

and look what happened, John. Look

37:41

what happened. You believed in yourself

37:43

and you outlasted a lot of

37:45

that. Well, that's kind of what I'm

37:48

saying is, isn't it interesting that a career...

37:51

I hope you feel this way

37:53

about your career. It's an enviable

37:55

career. It's a magical, wonderful, diverse,

37:57

interesting thing. And

37:59

going back to the... outside of Chicago, who are

38:01

you, get a job. And also even people

38:03

like my mother, who in the 80s

38:05

would have been like, that's no

38:07

Leo, she's reading Teen Beat. And

38:10

here you are, outlasting and

38:13

bringing something earnest and real

38:15

that people relate to on the stage, meaning

38:17

it's not just, show business

38:19

isn't just getting discovered at the

38:22

Roosevelt Hotel swimming with your shirt off

38:24

and some producer goes, that kid's a

38:26

star. You know, it's not just that.

38:28

And well, there is a certain thing about

38:30

movies where sexual charisma

38:33

is one of the key things that

38:36

sell movies, is love stories. That's

38:38

just as a fact of storytelling, you know,

38:40

Romeo and Juliet. It's like there's guys who play

38:42

Friar Tuck and there's guys that play Romeo. Like,

38:45

yeah, that's just the way it is, you know,

38:47

but I think

38:49

actually I'm kind of an anomaly and

38:52

I don't really credit my staying power

38:54

with the audience saying, oh

38:56

no, we want to elevate that kind of

38:58

person. We want someone who looks like that.

39:01

Actually that's not, I don't think how it happened for

39:04

me. How it happened for me, I

39:06

think was continually

39:08

believing in myself

39:10

and thinking I had, I could

39:13

bring something and challenging myself

39:16

and then key relationships

39:19

with directors. People

39:22

who like Paul Anderson or Terrence

39:24

Malek or Martin Scorsese who are

39:26

like, no, no, no, it's got

39:28

to be that kid. Yeah. It's got to

39:30

be that guy. Yeah, but he doesn't mean anything

39:32

better. He doesn't look, he doesn't, but I don't

39:34

care. It's going to be that

39:37

guy because something about him is honest

39:39

and sincere and seems right,

39:42

seems real. I want it to

39:44

be real. Even

39:46

Rob Marshall in that musical

39:48

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39:50

this character to be

39:52

a joke. I want it to seem real

39:54

that you really love Roxy Hart. And

39:57

that's why I picked you John, because you could

39:59

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40:01

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40:03

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40:05

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40:08

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40:11

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40:17

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43:36

would add to that I was researching you. I didn't

43:38

really have to because I'm such a fan but I

43:40

was you know giving it a look over and I

43:43

was like oh yeah the sisters brothers

43:46

and I loved that movie but I had that

43:48

moment of like and this is actually a

43:50

compliment. It wasn't that I forgot

43:52

that you were in it. It's that I thought

43:54

that was the sisters brothers. I forgot Joaquin was

43:56

in it too. I didn't go that's

43:58

a Joaquin Johnson Riley movie. I was

44:00

like no there were these two cowboys like I

44:02

really I really was younger That was the litmus

44:04

test really was when my own brothers the sisters

44:06

would say I forgot it was you yeah Like

44:08

I was like no that's exactly what

44:11

happened is and I think that's part of what's going

44:13

on and I also agree with you I don't think

44:15

people are going like let's give this kid a shot

44:17

like as a roost Yeah,

44:19

I think they're just in the world in general

44:21

is kind of a popularity contest and yeah You

44:24

just have to find your way in any way

44:26

somehow if you feel like if

44:29

you feel like It's all you really

44:31

can do and it's really what you know I

44:34

tried I thought about other things about being a

44:36

priest or being a lawyer or You

44:39

know I thought about these other things, but

44:42

then I eventually eventually I just came to

44:44

this conclusion like Well if

44:46

I'm an actor I can do all of

44:48

that stuff. I could play a lawyer one

44:50

day Yeah, I could play a priest one

44:52

day Yes, and I get to do the

44:55

most exciting and interesting parts of that occupation

44:57

and then when it gets boring move on

44:59

yeah Everyone who listens to

45:01

this show knows I'm gonna say this but I remember being

45:03

a kid And I was obsessed with

45:05

movies, and I wanted to make movies. I wanted to act I

45:07

wanted to be a comedian all that stuff was early on And

45:11

I would remember being like I can't wait till I'm 30 Because

45:14

then people would believe it if I

45:16

were a police officer's uniform and said

45:18

I'm a cop But it for

45:20

a long time. I didn't have a number interacted

45:22

with cops these days. There's some pretty young ones

45:24

is that like yeah Cops

45:31

and soldiers different people come up to me or

45:33

like Thank you for my love

45:35

stepbrothers or whatever and you're like yeah, man.

45:37

You are very young yes ever get out of a

45:39

ticket I know it's kind of a dumb question, but

45:41

I have to watch them I'm Irish and I come

45:44

from the south side of Chicago so in Chicago I

45:47

mean better for better or worse I was supposed mostly

45:49

for worse if they looked at

45:51

my license and thought I was saw I had an

45:53

Irish last name And I was from Marquette Park. They

45:55

were like get the fuck out What

45:58

are you doing? the red

46:00

light. I would just only get out

46:02

of tickets, you know? But

46:05

not because of set brothers. Oh

46:07

no. Oh no. No, no. I'm a

46:09

very good driver. So I very, I

46:11

actually don't really get much interaction with

46:14

the police, knock on wood. But I'm

46:16

talking about when I was younger, you

46:18

know? Yeah. What, it's interesting when I

46:20

think of you, for what it's worth, I was actually going

46:22

to ask you, a guy like me comes

46:24

up to you and I go, I love you, what's your

46:26

guess? If I go, John, I love you.

46:29

I'm such a huge fan. Do you have a guess

46:31

on what a guy like me? Movie you might have

46:33

seen. Yeah. Yeah. It's like a game I play in

46:35

airports. Yeah. It's hard because I kind of know you

46:37

a little bit now, but I

46:39

would probably say step brothers. I mean, that's,

46:42

that's usually the go to. Yeah. Especially anyone

46:44

who's in comedy or whatever. We watch set

46:46

brothers once a year. We absolutely love it.

46:48

It's like a weird, it's a lot

46:50

of myself into that movie. A lot of my

46:52

personal stories are in that movie. Like

46:54

what? Like one of

46:57

my brothers played the drums and was

46:59

really possessive of his drum kit. No

47:01

way. Getting jumped by a bunch of

47:03

kids in a playground. The dog shit?

47:06

Yeah. The dog shit was, uh, McKay's.

47:10

The white dog shit. Yeah. But almost all

47:12

the stories in that movie were

47:14

stories from the, one of the three of

47:16

us from our childhood, you know, kind of,

47:18

we hashed it all out together. I

47:21

just think about the opening shot of the tortilla

47:23

chips with just shredded cheese in the microwave. I

47:25

was like, that's what it felt like. 18 years

47:28

of my life felt like just like that.

47:30

Not just, uh, I remember I didn't

47:34

have nachos that was too exotic for the

47:36

South side. I

47:38

would sit in my underwear and watch green

47:41

acres and eat a whole lemon

47:43

meringue pie. From

47:46

the grocery store. You're like one of

47:48

those boxed lemon meringue pies. That was

47:51

just normal. The whole pie. I love

47:54

lemon meringue pie. Because

47:58

it wasn't sliced. So that's one

48:01

pie. That's a pie.

48:03

It's a serving. That and French

48:05

onion dip. Yeah, French onion dip

48:07

popping. It reminds me

48:09

of talking about eating when you're younger, Jet Apatow,

48:11

who we both know, would say

48:13

he used to get off stage at a

48:15

comedy club and have a double fettuccine Alfredo.

48:17

That was like, go Joe! A

48:20

double. Bring me a double! I get a

48:22

double. What does that mean?

48:24

Like twice as much sauce? No, no,

48:26

two orders in one bowl!

48:29

That's you with a pie! I meant calorically,

48:32

pretty similar. Make it a double. Make it

48:34

a double. Wow. But he says

48:36

it in the same way. Like, we didn't know

48:38

what we had, the superpower of you. Yeah, when

48:40

I was a teen, I was super skinny for

48:42

most of my, you know, I didn't really start

48:44

to pack on any weight that stayed on until

48:46

right around I did the perfect storm. I

48:49

like just deliberately tried to gain weight and it

48:51

was a little hard to get

48:53

off. Oh really? But before

48:55

that I was mostly skinny and whatever. And

48:57

I remember coming home on the bus from

49:00

the boys Catholic high school where I went and

49:03

at the transfer spot where I would go

49:05

from one street to another, there was a

49:07

McDonald's and I would stop and eat two

49:09

Big Macs, large fries and

49:12

a Coke, then get on the bus and

49:14

only 30 minutes later, my mom would have

49:16

dinner ready when I got home and an

49:18

hour later, I would have like pot roast

49:20

and mashed potatoes and like, it was incredible

49:22

the amount of food I could put away.

49:25

I feel the same way. It was a

49:27

golden time. It was a golden time. You

49:29

mentioned Paul Thomas Anderson, which by the way,

49:32

for me it would be a coin toss. I'd either say

49:34

I love step brothers or I'd say I love Magnolia. And

49:37

talking about being a priest, the image

49:39

of that character

49:41

praying, how he intercut

49:43

that with your personal ad, the

49:47

audio, and there's just something so

49:50

vulnerable about it, like you really

49:52

like this guy. Who

49:55

else, if I can butter your bread, who

49:58

else could have done that? It's

50:00

really tricky. You know, you and Phil Hoffman kind

50:02

of had that in common. Like Phil Hoffman, maybe

50:04

it would have been different for sure. But there's

50:07

like a tender, like when you

50:09

lose your gun in that movie, I

50:11

can't handle it. Like I'm, I'm dying

50:14

for you. Yeah.

50:17

Yeah. Well, I could go

50:19

on to a long story about Magnolia. I would

50:21

love it. I've seen it a thousand times. But

50:24

when we were trying to get Boogie Nights made and

50:26

I was like run it, ride or die

50:29

with Paul at that point for many years,

50:31

actually, where I was like his,

50:33

I was his read rough child. Yeah. And

50:38

so I was like, just every day I was just with

50:40

him every day. We just go, what are we going to

50:42

do today? You know, like, and,

50:44

um, we were getting

50:46

really, it was getting really frustrated because there was

50:48

this taboo about porn, which

50:50

is hard to even imagine now.

50:53

Oh yeah. When

50:55

we're trying to put that together, it was

50:57

like, what? You know, regular actors do not

50:59

do anything about porn and like managers and

51:01

agents were really dead set against it. Yeah.

51:04

It's pre-internet. We had the internet, but it

51:06

was pretty fast internet. So if you liked

51:08

porn, you were still like putting in your

51:10

time. I don't know if there was an

51:12

internet at that point. It might've

51:15

been dial up, but that it

51:17

was, it was still a niche market. But

51:19

we were struggling trying to get

51:21

that movie made and, and

51:24

at the same time cops came out around the

51:26

same time. And I had grown a goatee and

51:28

Paul was just teasing me mercilessly. But I think

51:30

he's like, what are you some kind of fucking

51:33

hipster? Goatee that thing off. I was like, no,

51:35

it looks cool. I like it. You know, for

51:38

it. And then one day I finally like just

51:41

got, I was like, he's right. I should

51:43

shave this stupid thing off. I'm like, I'll

51:45

shave off the bottom first. I

51:48

shaved up. Then I have this perfect cop mustache.

51:50

And I was like, Oh my God, I called

51:52

up on you're not going to believe it. I

51:54

got the most amazing cop mustache now. And he's

51:56

like, we have to do cops. We

51:59

have to do our version. Cops because at that point

52:01

cops had just come out and it was

52:03

a one of the first reality anything Yeah,

52:05

things I'm TV and he and I were

52:07

obsessed with it We'd

52:09

call each other and be on the phone watching

52:11

the episodes together like oh my god, like when

52:13

Harry met Sally Yeah, we just

52:15

thought Sir

52:18

you're like Crazy

52:20

things that they used to make in the apartment.

52:22

There's always a snake He's

52:24

like you saw the mustache. He's like

52:26

we have to do our own version

52:28

of cops I'm gonna get your uniform

52:30

We got the costume person got us

52:32

a LAPD uniform and I got these

52:34

Oakley blade Sunglasses and we

52:37

would drive around in Paul's car,

52:39

which was like an old Oldsmobile But from

52:41

the inside that's the thing about cop

52:43

cars. They only look like cop cars on the

52:46

outside Yeah when you're inside it he's videotaping me

52:48

driving around and a lot of the monologues that

52:50

end up in book in Magnolia

52:52

are from those videotape. No way

52:54

which we were just doing to

52:57

entertain ourselves So we

52:59

do like we drive around and then he we

53:01

would call like Phil Hoffman on the cell phone

53:03

and be like Phil Someone

53:05

called the cops because your music was too loud.

53:07

We'll be there in 10 minutes Like what? Just

53:09

be ready to hang up and then

53:11

on the way over to his Phil's house

53:14

I mean, well, apparently this individual

53:16

wants to listen to their music

53:18

real loud And

53:20

you know like talking to myself or whatever

53:22

we get there and then we'd start improvising

53:24

and then film would Paul

53:26

would film us Improvising

53:29

our way through like a police call at this

53:31

house And with the funniest

53:33

part of them was always like when they would

53:35

chase people and have the climb fences I think

53:37

I can hear the gun and all their equipment

53:40

clank. We just for some reason thought that was

53:42

so funny and Yeah,

53:45

so we did a bunch of those where

53:47

I think they might be on like some

53:49

DVD of that movie Anyway, Paul has them

53:51

all but um, we did

53:53

one with Jennifer Jason Lee and like all

53:56

these different people and then

53:58

when we thought then we made Boogie Nights,

54:01

that finally came together. And then

54:05

after that, Paul went back and he's like,

54:07

what should I do now? He's like, oh, those

54:09

tapes that we made of cops, I'm going to go

54:11

through those. And so he went

54:13

through and like kind of created the character

54:15

of Jim Kurring from those tapes. So

54:18

that whole model, like it's always bad news. People

54:20

never call you when their baby's born, they only

54:22

call you when something bad happens, you know, and

54:24

it weighs on you, you know, like all that

54:26

stuff that I say, a wide movie, I'm talking

54:29

to myself. Yeah, cool. That

54:31

was so he did from that. Yeah.

54:34

And it's from pure creativity, pure fun.

54:36

Yeah. So the kids run around. The one

54:38

thing I wouldn't do is carry an actual gun

54:40

because I knew, well, it's a felony to impersonate

54:42

a cop. And if we get caught, even though

54:45

we're not doing this for any reason, but fun,

54:48

for some reason, someone thought, you know, and

54:50

at one point where there was like an

54:52

altercation at Eda Pita, and I

54:54

was sitting there in this uniform, like we just stopped

54:56

for lunch. And the people are

54:58

going, arrest him, arrest him. And I

55:00

was like, I'm wearing a costume. It's

55:03

not so funny. I wonder if a

55:05

cop's ever done that. I'm

55:07

going to a costume party, like

55:09

something really dangerous. This is

55:11

LA. I'm an actor and it doesn't run

55:13

away. But just to tell you where the

55:15

lost gun bit comes from in that

55:18

movie, there was at one point, I was

55:22

this long extended improv with Phil Hoffman and I,

55:24

where I finally got him in the car and

55:26

I was going to arrest him. And

55:28

at one point he's like, I'm having a heart attack. I'm having a

55:31

heart attack. And I was like, oh my God, oh my God. And

55:33

pull him out of the car and I set him on the ground.

55:35

Like, what do I do? And all

55:37

of a sudden he hops up and runs away. Fuck

55:39

you, cop. And he's like, and

55:42

I go to reach for, this is when you would

55:44

reach for your gun if you're a cop and I

55:46

go to reach it, but I don't have one, but

55:48

we're in the middle of an improv. And I go, I

55:51

lost my gun. I

55:53

lost my gun. This is one of the worst. This

55:55

is the worst thing that could happen to a cop. It's

55:58

the one thing I'm supposed to keep track of. And

56:00

I just started going on and on about this gun,

56:02

how upset he was, and Phil's in the background, Ah,

56:04

fuck you, how laughing at me. And it's this total

56:06

humiliating moment that I can't chase him, I don't have

56:09

a gun. And Paul

56:11

took that, he took all this

56:13

stuff that happened in those tapes that we

56:15

were doing just to make each other laugh,

56:18

and deepened them, and added this romantic thing

56:20

with Melora Walters' character, and the whole thing

56:22

of the gun, losing the gun, is this

56:24

personal crisis that the guy has, and

56:27

made it super sad and real.

56:30

Yeah, wow. But it all came from just

56:32

goofing around on video tapes before

56:34

we even knew Magnolia

56:36

was in the future. Yeah, something

56:38

pure though. Isn't it fun that

56:40

I feel like we're trying to

56:42

trick ourselves back into those pixie

56:44

times, like when we were kids and

56:46

doing something for its own sake. Yeah, well, that's

56:49

what Paul and I were definitely doing

56:51

that, and he was smart enough to know,

56:54

you know, the genius of Paul was he knew like, oh,

56:57

I should go back to those video

56:59

tapes because there were true things that

57:01

emerged, that were real and were emotional,

57:03

and that is a character. Yeah, they

57:06

emerged organically too. Yeah. The LA cliché.

57:08

Like the name Jim Kuring, I just

57:10

made it up off the top

57:12

of my head when I was driving around. Wow. Yeah,

57:16

anyway. So there's a Jim. Took

57:18

it and turned it into this beautiful thing that was

57:21

very personal for him too, I think a lot of

57:23

issues in his own life at the time he

57:25

was exploring in that movie. It's so

57:27

beautiful. It's such a special

57:29

movie to me. Thanks.

57:32

Yeah, and you're wonderful in it.

57:34

My favorite Magnolia thing that I

57:36

read was that when Paul sat down

57:38

to write it, he said to himself, I'm going to write

57:40

a great movie, which just

57:42

seems so meaningful to me. You know, it's like, I'm not

57:45

going to write a movie. I'm not going to see

57:47

what it's like. He's like, I'm going to write a fucking

57:49

great movie. I feel like there's another there's

57:51

a scene in that movie where, I mean,

57:54

like I said, I was like really ride or die

57:56

with Paul in those days. You know, we see each

57:59

other. now because we have families,

58:01

etc. He's made a bajillion movies since

58:03

these movies we're talking about. But at

58:10

one point we had done Boogie Nights and

58:12

before he started writing Magnolia we

58:14

were both obsessed with this early film

58:17

from the 1920s called Sunrise and

58:19

it's a romance and it's

58:22

all about this guy falling in love with this woman's this

58:24

kind of tragic love story and I

58:26

was like oh man that's the kind of

58:28

I want to do a romantic part like

58:30

that I want to do a

58:32

movie like Sunrise and I said to Paul

58:34

dude write me a sunrise

58:37

write me a sunrise thinking

58:39

he knew exactly what I was talking about that

58:41

movie we'd already been talking about right but he

58:43

didn't hear it as that and in the movie

58:46

after the whole rain of frogs and everything when

58:48

there's this whole monologue where I'm in the car

58:50

it's kind of like in a weird way like

58:52

an emotional catharsis in the movie where I say

58:55

you know sometimes people

58:57

need to be forgiven and sometimes they need to go

59:00

to jail and that's a tough call for me to

59:02

make and I'm in that car after

59:04

I've dealt with Bill Macy's character and

59:06

the rain of frogs has happened and

59:08

the Sun is rising and

59:11

that's what he wrote because

59:13

you said right sunrise that's

59:15

what he wrote sunrise

59:18

in Magnolia the Sun that sunrise scene

59:20

as that after all a mess of

59:22

that night just a beautiful mistake yeah

59:26

that's kind of really misunderstanding is

59:28

what I mean yeah yeah yeah

59:30

oh I love that so much can you confirm

59:32

and you can just say pass but can you

59:35

confirm a boogie nights story that

59:37

I heard which is that Bert Reynolds was

59:39

gonna do a Scottish accent not

59:42

Scottish no Irish Irish

59:44

well you know you shouldn't

59:46

speak ill of the dead and and Bert really

59:48

I do have a lot of respect for Bert

59:50

and it was an important person

59:53

to me personally yeah actor you know

59:55

and people forget this now but Bert

59:58

saw himself and In

1:00:00

the 1950s the rest of the world saw

1:00:02

him this way too as a contemporary of

1:00:04

Marlon Brando Yeah, you know like yeah, so

1:00:07

he became Hooper and all this other crazy.

1:00:09

He was good at comedy Burt So he

1:00:11

became kind of more than Marlon Brando in

1:00:13

a way as his career went on But

1:00:15

I think it's important to remember

1:00:17

that about him So yeah, I'm gonna

1:00:19

tell a silly story about him Yeah

1:00:22

as an older man trying to understand

1:00:24

what these weird people Paul and me

1:00:26

and you know All

1:00:28

of us making boogie nights how we were

1:00:30

thinking it was a generational gap there. Yeah.

1:00:32

Yeah. Yeah, sure So well, that's not it.

1:00:35

Yeah, Burt had various things that

1:00:37

made him feel insecure. I think True

1:00:40

true parts of his personality and who he

1:00:42

was that he didn't share with

1:00:44

the world We're very private and I think made

1:00:46

him very insecure in some ways So

1:00:51

I'll just preface this story with that but

1:00:55

He Comes in one day We're

1:00:59

gonna shoot this scene in the

1:01:01

all the disco stuff No,

1:01:05

we shot a scene in the van on The

1:01:08

way to Vegas everything was kind of out of order

1:01:11

But we shot that van where we thought was a

1:01:13

where we pitch him our names or Emily Burt dirt

1:01:15

I'm gonna be Brock Landers. He's gonna be just rock

1:01:17

wall We shot

1:01:19

that scene but Burt was had a cigar the whole

1:01:21

time and he kept putting his hand up by his

1:01:23

mouth I thought it was

1:01:25

cuz he had dentures which he did he was adjusting

1:01:28

his dentures and he's embarrassed about that Yeah, he's covering

1:01:30

his mouth a lot and I was like, oh, that's

1:01:32

weird But then the next day we're

1:01:34

shooting in the discotheque and Paul

1:01:36

comes up to me and says You

1:01:39

gotta help me You gotta help

1:01:41

me because I was kind of like Burt's little buddy

1:01:43

on the movie Like he just whatever he older people

1:01:45

often kind of take a shine to me for some

1:01:48

reason Hmm, like a lot of my

1:01:50

girlfriends growing up their moms liked me more than But

1:01:54

sounds like Burt's little buddy and I was like

1:01:56

crisis management for Burt who was a lot

1:01:58

going on in his life pain from injuries

1:02:01

taking pills and whatever he's struggling in

1:02:03

certain ways like older people do I

1:02:05

now know but

1:02:08

Paul comes to me he's like you got to help me you got

1:02:10

to help me with Bert and I was like what what happened he's

1:02:12

like he he he

1:02:15

just told me he wants to do the

1:02:17

character with an Irish accent and I

1:02:19

was like what how did that conversation happen

1:02:21

he goes he came to me

1:02:23

this morning and he said you know I was sitting

1:02:25

with my lady last night and trying to I couldn't

1:02:27

memorize these lines and I couldn't understand why I was

1:02:30

not able to memorize these lines and my lady says

1:02:33

well who wrote it you

1:02:35

know like he said this kid Paul

1:02:37

Anderson he's like well what's his ethnic

1:02:39

background and I think he's Irish which

1:02:41

that's not entirely true of Paul he's

1:02:43

part Irish but yeah I think he's

1:02:45

Irish and then my lady says well

1:02:47

why don't you do with an Irish accent and

1:02:50

he's like so I cracked your code I

1:02:52

cracked your code those are the rhythms

1:02:55

you write in this Irish and

1:02:57

Paul's like he doesn't

1:02:59

know what to say and he's like you have to talk to him

1:03:01

you have to talk to him and talk him out of this and

1:03:03

I was like Paul I can't

1:03:06

I he's gonna flip out if I feel like

1:03:09

I don't want to say that I don't know

1:03:11

what to say like what about this team we

1:03:13

shot yesterday he wasn't doing an Irish accent and

1:03:16

that he's like no no he said I got

1:03:18

you covered on that I was covering up my

1:03:20

mouth most of the time so we can just

1:03:22

loop those lines in because I think he

1:03:24

already had the idea but he hadn't presented

1:03:26

it yet that's why he was covering

1:03:28

his mouth he's covering his mouth up with with

1:03:31

the cigar so that he could dub his lines

1:03:33

with an Irish accent later and

1:03:35

then all of a sudden I was just like I don't

1:03:37

know what to say but you better tell Mark

1:03:40

you know because this was a shoot

1:03:42

this scene they're seen where they meet

1:03:44

in the dishwashing area of the club

1:03:47

later that day and and

1:03:49

Paul just freeze he just for some reason he

1:03:51

can't do it we're all kind of afraid of

1:03:53

Bert you know because he had this he was

1:03:55

older than everyone on the movie almost you know

1:03:57

like it was just like this I

1:03:59

don't know we were Gravitas yeah, and

1:04:02

he was like yeah, so Paul

1:04:04

does not tell Bert He

1:04:07

does not tell mark, and he

1:04:09

just thinks like well. He'll just forget about

1:04:11

it You know he'll just stop doing it.

1:04:14

Maybe you know just goes into denial mode

1:04:18

And they go to shoot the scene and Mark

1:04:20

has not done a lot of work on film at

1:04:22

this point He's only one movie called fear before this

1:04:25

yeah, and maybe that's it He doesn't

1:04:27

have a lot of experience on the set himself and

1:04:29

bird is like ah

1:04:32

Eddie Adams from tyrants and Mark's

1:04:35

like ha ha ha fucking bird and just

1:04:37

laughs and birds like Not

1:04:40

happy that he'd laughed at it, and

1:04:43

he's like fucking bird or and

1:04:45

then and Paul's like He

1:04:47

doesn't know to say no. This is just to

1:04:49

do it again. Let's do it again, and you

1:04:51

know you know Eddie Adams,

1:04:54

I think there's gold in those pants or

1:04:56

whatever and marks like no marks

1:04:58

like you're fucking with me And

1:05:00

mark is a pretty street dude at that point you know like and

1:05:03

he was like Are you trying

1:05:05

to fuck with me? You know he starts

1:05:07

getting this serious look in his face like

1:05:09

like he's pranking him Yeah, you don't fucking

1:05:11

prank me like we're doing a scene now

1:05:13

or whatever and then Paul's like oh shit,

1:05:15

and that was a two-shot And

1:05:19

he's like let's it cool. We got that we get

1:05:21

so awesome. We got it We're gonna be playing the

1:05:23

coverage anyway, and he just skips past the two shot

1:05:25

and he films Mark's

1:05:29

part and then he films

1:05:31

Burt's part when Burt keeps doing this Irish

1:05:33

accent through it And it's not

1:05:35

a great Irish accent It's slipping all over

1:05:37

the place and it's not it's not consistent And

1:05:40

it just seems like really out of

1:05:42

left field they finish that scene and

1:05:44

then eventually what eventually happened was Paul

1:05:47

just figured out if I just do enough takes

1:05:50

He'll see sort of stops doing it

1:05:52

and then Burt just kind of forgot

1:05:54

about it. That's what happened Yes, eventually

1:05:57

there were many days until the next

1:05:59

scene And I think Burt

1:06:01

just maybe intuited like he doesn't like it

1:06:03

so I'll just sort of... But Burt, Paul

1:06:05

just knew like if I do enough takes

1:06:08

he just gets tired out and he just

1:06:10

gets grumpy and he just starts doing it

1:06:12

just kind of basic which is what he

1:06:14

wanted him to do you know? So he

1:06:17

exhausted him. But there's two shots that has

1:06:19

to be redone because it's

1:06:21

not you know whatever. And so

1:06:24

Burt was really proud of himself as a director

1:06:26

too and so Paul went to him and was

1:06:28

like... Burt

1:06:30

you're not gonna believe it the lab screwed up.

1:06:33

Can you believe it as a director you know

1:06:35

what a disaster that is. Remember that scene we

1:06:37

did with the dishwashing there's a scratch right through

1:06:40

the negative. I don't know what they did but

1:06:42

we're gonna redo that two shot and he's like

1:06:44

no problem I got you kid. I understand you

1:06:46

know like... So he kind of flattered that director

1:06:48

to go. And then they just went back to

1:06:50

it and by then he had kind of forgotten

1:06:52

about the Irish accent. I can't believe it. Thank

1:06:54

you so much for telling that. It's a long

1:06:57

story. That story has been reduced to the way

1:06:59

I heard it. Burt Reynolds

1:07:01

no one wanted to tell him Burt Reynolds

1:07:03

told Mark I'm gonna do an Irish

1:07:05

accent. Mark said that's hilarious you should do that

1:07:07

like laughing and then he didn't do it. So

1:07:09

it's been reduced. No it's on camera when he

1:07:12

was like laughing at him yeah. I

1:07:14

wonder if Paul has the footage but anyway.

1:07:17

I mean I sure hope so. There's

1:07:19

another moment I love Dr. Steve Ruhl very

1:07:22

very much. And I'll tell him you

1:07:24

said so. I

1:07:27

also have a message for Wreck-It-Ralph. Like

1:07:29

we just start writing little letters to your

1:07:31

characters. But Steve Ruhl is

1:07:33

amazing. It's one of the things that makes me

1:07:35

laugh harder than anything. And there

1:07:37

was one Steve Ruhl quite I'd love to just

1:07:39

talk about Steve Ruhl if you if you feel

1:07:42

like it. But I was the executive producer on

1:07:44

that show and I've never spoken for Steve because

1:07:47

he's his own person but I'll try it my best

1:07:49

to help you with it. You don't go on the

1:07:51

record about Dr. Steve Ruhl. It's annoying but that's

1:07:54

how I feel about it. And people who love

1:07:57

Steve appreciate that I'm this

1:07:59

way about it. that you don't

1:08:02

talk about him. He's his own

1:08:04

person, yeah. So you can

1:08:06

speculate on Steve. Yeah, I was

1:08:08

there. I was the executive producer with Tim and

1:08:11

Eric. I helped create the show, but...

1:08:14

And there you were. Well

1:08:16

then, when you were there with

1:08:18

Dr. Steve Brule in the

1:08:20

episode about prison, and

1:08:22

there's a guy that Dr. Steve Brule is sort

1:08:25

of provoking, a real prisoner, and

1:08:27

in the Tim and Eric style, it kind of

1:08:29

jumps to later in the interview, and

1:08:32

the guy is ready to murder

1:08:34

Dr. Steve Brule. But

1:08:36

you don't really see what happened. Do

1:08:39

you know what I'm talking about? Yeah,

1:08:42

I think, yeah. I

1:08:44

actually don't remember the part where he's going to murder

1:08:46

me. It will murder Steve.

1:08:48

Quite frightening. It's quite frightening. Well,

1:08:52

yeah, that's the thing about that, the brilliant thing

1:08:54

about that show is like, it's a hell world

1:08:56

that Steve lives in. Nothing

1:08:59

ever is nice for him. And

1:09:01

what I love about that character is like, the joke

1:09:03

is always on him, you know? He's

1:09:08

always the dumbest one in the room. Yeah.

1:09:11

But... We say sweet berry wine a lot. Do

1:09:13

you get sweet berry wine a lot? Yeah,

1:09:15

that's a pretty popular clip from that

1:09:17

show. In

1:09:19

fact, sweet berry wine exists. Eric Wareham

1:09:22

started a wine company called Las Haras,

1:09:24

and they sell sweet berry wine. That's

1:09:26

very good. It has

1:09:29

my face on the label, or Steve's

1:09:31

face on the label. No way. I

1:09:33

always want to show you the clip, but it's

1:09:36

okay. If you don't remember what

1:09:38

happened, it's alright. I really was worried for

1:09:40

your safety. And if you don't remember, for

1:09:42

Dr. Steve, we'll stay with you. But if

1:09:44

you don't remember... Well, you know,

1:09:46

a lot of times what you see on

1:09:48

TV, just pretend, Pete. That if that guy's

1:09:50

an actor, he's fantastic. He is an actor

1:09:52

who actually... The guy in

1:09:54

prison? Yeah, he was a famous skateboarder

1:09:57

who actually did go to prison for

1:09:59

a violent crime. crime and then got out

1:10:01

and was trying to get into acting. So

1:10:03

he had a life as a scary person

1:10:05

once upon a time, but he was trying

1:10:07

to be nicer. You

1:10:09

are exposing something that I get

1:10:12

fooled by show business all the time. Me too.

1:10:14

When people tell me that the Mad Men offices were set, I'm

1:10:17

like, hmm? Like I

1:10:19

just don't. I had this happen so many

1:10:21

times where I'm going, I don't do as

1:10:23

many meetings for parts anymore.

1:10:26

I don't know. Send me stuff. But

1:10:29

for years when I would go for auditions or

1:10:31

whatever, there would be other actors coming out of

1:10:33

the elevator or whatever. Like, hey man, how's it

1:10:36

going? Thinking you know the person

1:10:38

and then you get this blank look like, no

1:10:40

dude, I'm just an actor

1:10:42

that you remember like, oh. Even

1:10:46

someone like in the business who is

1:10:48

an actor, like it's still, you fall

1:10:50

prey to the illusion. I've done it

1:10:52

back when I was auditioning for commercials

1:10:54

more, I would see somebody that

1:10:56

was in a huge campaign. Those guys get it

1:10:59

the worst. Because you're seeing them, back

1:11:01

when we were watching commercials, you might see them 12 times

1:11:04

in an hour. Some AT&T guy and then you see

1:11:06

him and you're like, what's happening? I think we went

1:11:08

to high school together. Which

1:11:11

is more- Back when we used to watch

1:11:13

commercials. He's not kidding. At people

1:11:15

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1:11:17

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1:15:24

There's a clown friend of mine

1:15:26

Bill O'Neill who's very funny. He's

1:15:32

on all those Wendy's commercials right

1:15:34

now. He's the skinny guy

1:15:36

on all those Wendy's commercials. I

1:15:38

say I haven't seen a Wendy's commercial since 1989.

1:15:41

Somehow they made their way to me. My

1:15:44

buddy Bill O'Neill is on them and

1:15:46

he's very funny. I

1:15:50

feel like you're not gonna bristle at this but

1:15:52

if you do bristle away

1:15:54

and we'll just move on but I'd love has

1:15:56

someone ever given you some advice

1:15:59

on acting? that stuck with you. I've

1:16:01

asked this question to a lot of people

1:16:03

and it's really interesting. I'm

1:16:05

not so bristly about it. It's

1:16:08

just share a gift. There are a lot of people that are going

1:16:10

to listen to this that are interested in it. This is a real

1:16:12

simple one. Yeah. This is, this

1:16:14

is actually really important. Although

1:16:17

there's a back end

1:16:19

to the story. Make

1:16:22

sure you go to the bathroom before you

1:16:24

act. Like

1:16:26

if you have to pee, check in with yourself.

1:16:28

Do I have to pee? And go pee. Even if maybe

1:16:31

you don't feel like you have to pee. Go pee anyway.

1:16:33

Take a road trip. Well, when

1:16:35

you're on camera, like then once you get to

1:16:37

the set, it's not going to be

1:16:39

convenient for you to go pee.

1:16:41

And if you have to pee, for me anyway,

1:16:44

there's an impatience to what

1:16:47

you're doing then. Like some part of your brain

1:16:49

is going like hurry up and

1:16:51

finish this so you can go pee. Yeah. But

1:16:53

you want to be relaxed and in the moment and

1:16:56

not have this kind of like bodily

1:16:58

thing, like knocking at your brain.

1:17:00

Yeah. Although Jonah Hill told me,

1:17:03

he's like, actually dude, I purposely

1:17:06

act when I have to pee. To

1:17:08

give it to him. I don't know what it does

1:17:10

for him, but it does something good for him. But

1:17:12

I thought that was really good advice. Here's another one

1:17:14

that I got from an old character actor that I

1:17:16

did theater with the name Robert

1:17:19

Bruhler in Chicago at Steppenwolf.

1:17:22

He was like, John, if

1:17:25

you ever have to fart on stage, make

1:17:29

sure you fart during your line,

1:17:32

not during the other guy's line

1:17:35

because the other guy might stop talking.

1:17:40

And then sure enough, I did this play

1:17:43

Grapes of Wrath with Bob and he would,

1:17:45

you'd hear him farting while he's talking. You'd

1:17:47

hear him farting because he knew like, as

1:17:49

long as I'm talking loud, no one's hearing

1:17:51

this cough,

1:17:53

a cough and a fart at the same time

1:17:55

or whatever. You don't want to be like letting

1:17:57

it loose and then someone takes the pause. It's

1:18:00

gonna be real obvious. Only you know. Is

1:18:02

this part done? Now I can buzz. I

1:18:04

think that's very practical advice

1:18:07

for actors and now there's another one

1:18:09

that I remember There's

1:18:12

another one which is oh Michael

1:18:15

Caine's one of pick an eye when you're looking

1:18:17

at someone. I saw that. That's on YouTube Pick

1:18:19

an eye. Pick an eye. And

1:18:21

also he said don't blink He

1:18:24

goes he does a scene twice and he's like

1:18:26

watch how much more compelling it is if I

1:18:28

don't blink and he doesn't blink And you're like,

1:18:30

oh my god. It's true. Yeah. Well, of course,

1:18:32

you don't want everything to be like that, but

1:18:35

that's true. Yeah If

1:18:37

you're trying to be impactful, I suppose pick an eye

1:18:41

blinking can be a great way to Well,

1:18:44

when I heard him say that I was like, you

1:18:46

know, you watched Daniel Day Lewis and there

1:18:48

will be blood He's the man's blinking.

1:18:50

He's blinking quite a bit Joaquin is blinking

1:18:52

a lot in the master Are you fucking

1:18:54

nuts that that doesn't work for those characters?

1:18:57

Right. I mean those are blinking boys.

1:18:59

Well Brian

1:19:04

Denna he came to got arrested

1:19:06

soul. I think he passed away If

1:19:09

he didn't my apologies if he

1:19:11

did my apologies he

1:19:14

came to my school when I was in acting school in Chicago

1:19:16

and He was on stage and

1:19:18

he was like with this Q&A and all of

1:19:20

us were like someone from the real Peter

1:19:23

Falk came at one point David Mamet came in

1:19:25

one point He's amazing speakers that would

1:19:27

come and talk to the students and

1:19:30

Brian Denna He said, you know someone said

1:19:32

well, what about like how do you deal with

1:19:34

like your family like with your kids

1:19:36

or whatever? Like how do you have a career and

1:19:38

he's like don't have kids don't get

1:19:40

married You know I did

1:19:43

but I my family knows

1:19:46

The acting is more important than you

1:19:48

my career is more important than you all my

1:19:50

kids I know my career is more important than you

1:19:52

because that's what an artist is You

1:19:55

have to be totally committed to your craft

1:19:57

and nothing else can be a priority And

1:20:00

I was like, holy shit, this is

1:20:02

big news. Like, I

1:20:05

was hoping at some point I would have a

1:20:07

family or whatever, like, and I was like, wow,

1:20:09

he must know though. He's Brian Dunhey, he must

1:20:11

know. And for years,

1:20:14

I kind of avoided, I used to think, like

1:20:17

getting married was like, I

1:20:20

thought the two scariest things to me

1:20:22

are prison and getting married. You

1:20:25

know, like, I want to, you have to be

1:20:27

free and you have to be committed to your

1:20:29

art and blah blah blah. But it's total bullshit.

1:20:31

That's totally wrong, what he said. And

1:20:34

I feel bad for his family if that really

1:20:36

was how he acted. Somehow I think he was

1:20:38

kind of showboating for the Q&A and

1:20:41

trying to make us realize that being

1:20:43

an actor is a serious vocation and you have

1:20:45

to commit yourself and you have to take yourself

1:20:47

seriously. And I do think that that is true.

1:20:50

But getting married and having a

1:20:52

family actually made

1:20:54

me become who I was meant to become.

1:20:57

It gave me confidence

1:20:59

and focus. You

1:21:01

know, like once I had a relationship that

1:21:03

was steady in my life, I've been married

1:21:05

like over 31 years now, like

1:21:07

once I had that, I could stop worrying

1:21:09

about dating or whoever, if I was ever

1:21:11

going to find somebody. Then that

1:21:13

part of my life was kind of like settled and I

1:21:16

could focus more on what I needed to focus on. The

1:21:19

same thing with children. You think like, I waited a long

1:21:21

time to have kids. We

1:21:23

were married for I think six or seven years before we

1:21:25

had kids, but the

1:21:28

same thing. You think like, oh man, it's

1:21:30

going to take away from me.

1:21:32

It's going to whatever. But the truth

1:21:34

is anything, I now know anything that

1:21:37

we do for love only

1:21:40

builds us up, only makes

1:21:42

us bigger and more fully

1:21:44

realized versions of ourselves. So

1:21:47

I wish Brian Denny could have known that

1:21:49

in his life, because I think

1:21:51

men of his generation, I think especially

1:21:53

my father, was part of his generation. They

1:21:56

missed out on a lot. They

1:21:58

were at work all the time or at the tavern. or whatever

1:22:00

and they thought like, you know, the women

1:22:02

handle the kids and our job is to work

1:22:05

and not have relationships with our kids. Right.

1:22:08

Right. It makes me

1:22:10

feel really sad actually when I think about all

1:22:12

the things my dad missed. You

1:22:15

know, as I moved through my children's lives, I

1:22:18

thought, wow, my dad

1:22:20

missed all of this. My

1:22:22

dad never once went to a school where I

1:22:24

went. And

1:22:27

I directed plays at my kids' schools. You

1:22:30

know, I was there, part of their classroom,

1:22:32

knew their teachers, knew their classmates, knew what

1:22:34

was going on, what they were interested in,

1:22:36

everything. And it was just nothing but

1:22:38

added richness to my life, you know, like. Yeah.

1:22:43

So you have to make room and you

1:22:45

have to take your art seriously and you have to really do

1:22:49

the work and show up for yourself when you

1:22:51

need to grow

1:22:54

as an artist, but you

1:22:56

don't have to sacrifice all that personal stuff to do

1:22:58

it. I really appreciate that you said

1:23:00

that. And of course I agree with you. We

1:23:03

have a daughter and getting married and having a

1:23:05

kid isn't just helping my life.

1:23:07

It is my life. And then it becomes almost

1:23:10

paradoxically like you

1:23:14

sort of take some focus off your work, but

1:23:16

then it makes your work better instead of

1:23:19

being like a lunatic kind of

1:23:21

obsessing about it. There's a little

1:23:23

bit more flow and air. Oh, you know this from

1:23:25

being a comedian. You can't just hang

1:23:27

around with comedians all the time. Yeah, you have to

1:23:29

have a life. Because all you're doing is you're reflecting

1:23:32

a reflection of a reflection of a reflection. Yeah.

1:23:35

So live your life so you have something to say about

1:23:37

what life is. Yeah. Like.

1:23:41

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did you have any, I'm

1:23:43

so in awe of you, but when I

1:23:45

mentioned Daniel Day-Lewis, I remember that you worked

1:23:47

with Daniel Day-Lewis. Yeah. How

1:23:50

was that? It was intense. Yeah. It

1:23:52

was intense. I saw, of course, the interview

1:23:54

where he said that Daniel

1:23:57

would listen to Eminem in the morning. The

1:24:00

get in for the owner of I never.

1:24:03

I. Never do that. but yeah whenever he

1:24:05

was genocide himself ups I know that he

1:24:07

was fully and character all day long. You

1:24:10

never see him in any kind of

1:24:12

like by the snack table or and second

1:24:14

guess he didn't get thousand toss him and

1:24:16

the only started making him were a

1:24:18

warm up coat when he caught pneumonia on

1:24:20

the sets because he would only where

1:24:22

his own. His costume of his character investigate

1:24:25

was sick and there are you have to

1:24:27

wear it wasn't. Like grumpy

1:24:29

about it, but. I

1:24:32

remember we we had, we

1:24:35

each had sons of the

1:24:37

time and I'm. summers,

1:24:39

Are invited to come to the house.

1:24:41

Or he and his wife in there

1:24:43

somewhere and bring your kid because you

1:24:46

know we here we are. Wrong reaction

1:24:48

now because it was like did you

1:24:50

see that over like years? Know there's

1:24:52

like six months in Rome. Oh Canada.

1:24:55

And then maybe was preproduction because. Martin.

1:24:57

Scorsese was timer how long it took our

1:25:00

sets were so I like him forever to

1:25:02

get that movie made for the Airbus. I'm

1:25:04

so I go to this weekend. Is this

1:25:06

a lovely as guys a dentist like oh

1:25:08

hello can I have utilities have a t

1:25:10

and else also yeah he's handsome threaded a

1:25:12

different personality like that he's pretty mean intent

1:25:14

of that's your that's your. Buddies

1:25:18

you know he debonair and and sweetie

1:25:20

at times but the assistant on the

1:25:22

most lovely host like like like Irish

1:25:25

people are you know he and his

1:25:27

comes. From Irish people like come in, have a

1:25:29

cup of tea How I used to sound the

1:25:31

table with me, the kids and whenever. And so

1:25:33

we do That one weekend I saw that said

1:25:35

I'm in, I'm in with Daniel now. Like.

1:25:38

A movie we were friends with our kids play

1:25:40

together like so I see him on Monday and

1:25:42

he's and cost him again and like a day.

1:25:44

I just wanna say thanks for the week ending

1:25:47

as. Fuck off Jack. Causing.

1:25:50

My character's name and blocks away but he

1:25:52

meant he mentor in I was like. Oh.

1:25:54

my god okay so that would ever

1:25:56

happen on the weekend it was not

1:25:59

what's happening now And

1:26:01

Daniel has he is this thing. I don't know what it

1:26:03

is like He's obviously a

1:26:05

fit guy, but I

1:26:07

think I would stand a chance in a fistfight

1:26:09

against him Maybe I mean he studied boxing you

1:26:12

so maybe not but yeah, but just in terms

1:26:14

of his you know There

1:26:16

are scarier people physically. I will say

1:26:18

it depends if the script says that Daniel

1:26:20

wins he'll win If

1:26:23

it's an improv, I think you were there's

1:26:25

something about him. There's this a a

1:26:28

Current of violence that this

1:26:31

frequency that's underneath whatever he's

1:26:33

doing that makes him very

1:26:35

scary Yeah, whatever it is.

1:26:38

You don't want that demon to come

1:26:40

out of the bottle, you know Yeah,

1:26:42

whatever that undercurrent is whatever that electricity

1:26:45

be underneath is you don't want to

1:26:47

see it Yeah, and he's genuinely intimidating

1:26:50

in that way. Yeah, talk about not

1:26:52

being embarrassed again, which is me and

1:26:54

Ted Danson thing You

1:26:56

know like when you're playing a bear so much younger

1:26:58

remember thinking like what am I supposed to do with

1:27:01

my arms? What am I supposed to

1:27:03

do with my arm? Oh, right.

1:27:06

Yeah Did that

1:27:08

get into the movie? No you that's

1:27:10

just something. Yeah young actors think about

1:27:12

but yeah But

1:27:14

I mean to be scary I heard

1:27:17

uh, what's his name? Gomez

1:27:25

I guess it doesn't matter. There was a guy who

1:27:28

got a part in a movie by the casting director

1:27:30

Just said give me a look that makes me think

1:27:32

you're gonna kill me and

1:27:34

he did it Lewis Gomez. No,

1:27:36

that's a comedian. I Know

1:27:39

him as a voice in Grand Theft Auto. He doesn't

1:27:41

matter. This is this is a trail No,

1:27:44

it wasn't Danny Trejo, but it is a Latino man

1:27:48

And he's wonderful and he's

1:27:50

in everything and he kind of kind of have a list He's

1:27:52

in some even to miss it come over here. I did all

1:27:54

you like that That was a pretty good

1:27:56

impression actually some of you are screaming at your radios.

1:27:58

I can't think of it I

1:28:00

can't either but anyway he did it and he got

1:28:03

the part because he gave the look and

1:28:05

if I feel like you're a guy that If the

1:28:07

casting director was like give me a look that says

1:28:09

you're gonna kill me You would do it and I

1:28:11

would just get red-faced and like embarrassed and like it

1:28:14

would be like that's impolite Like I don't want to

1:28:16

scare you Different that's a

1:28:18

deer a different person though. Yeah, I'm thinking

1:28:20

you necessarily are an actor Well, that's what

1:28:22

I mean. You're like a true actor. You

1:28:25

primarily are so our commenter on life, you

1:28:27

know That's what comedians are. It's a skill

1:28:29

that I'm really when I sat down here

1:28:31

Like the final frontier for me is doing

1:28:34

stand-up comedy. Yeah, I really have a lot of

1:28:36

respect and just from a philosophy

1:28:39

point of view like Let's

1:28:42

listening to you or Sarah Silverman or

1:28:45

you know, you hear a great comedian Reflect

1:28:47

life back to you like there's something really

1:28:49

deep about it and it's not just like

1:28:51

how about peanuts on airplanes? You know, yeah,

1:28:53

there's some deep stuff that you get into

1:28:57

Anyway That's my skill. I agree. I

1:29:00

Deprecation is the main thing of comedians That's one

1:29:03

of the main tools you have is that and

1:29:05

why I'm an idiot But isn't this funny, you

1:29:07

know like and connection it's a different breed Oh,

1:29:09

I agree So look what's happening in that moment

1:29:11

if the casting director is like give me a

1:29:13

look that makes you think I'm gonna kill me

1:29:15

What did I say? I was like, well have

1:29:18

these been here the whole time? I It's

1:29:22

like they're my audience and as

1:29:24

a comedian my Paramount

1:29:28

thing is that they know that I'm being real

1:29:30

with them I know that's silly but

1:29:32

I'm like, but you know, I don't want to

1:29:34

kill you You know, I want you to like

1:29:36

me to give me the part That's why parts

1:29:39

I've gotten I've either written for myself or it

1:29:41

helps that I'm kind of a sweaty comedian That's

1:29:43

like I hope they like me you want the

1:29:45

advice Like if the channel the fact that this

1:29:47

person's making you do this and you and the

1:29:49

power dynamic you want you some part of you

1:29:52

Wants to kill the casting director too, right? So

1:29:54

you find the part of you that does want

1:29:56

to can you expand that you know Like like

1:29:58

zooming in I I think I

1:30:01

think I'm the same way actually like I think

1:30:05

I think performers in general are all very very

1:30:07

different And we're all

1:30:09

unique products of our past so

1:30:13

You know like you talked about Phil Hoffman Phil.

1:30:15

I really looked up to Phil so much as an

1:30:17

actor. He just had inherent skills

1:30:20

and gravitas that just I To

1:30:25

me When I would compare

1:30:27

myself to Phil I would see

1:30:29

you almost see myself like I'm a circus

1:30:31

performer compared to Phil Like

1:30:33

I'm someone who I'm thinking about the audience

1:30:35

all the time You know like

1:30:37

I want them to know I'm being real with them.

1:30:40

Yeah, like yeah, even I'm playing a character I want

1:30:42

them to know I'm being genuine. I'm being

1:30:44

sincere. You know like So

1:30:49

and Phil wasn't doing that Phil like I

1:30:51

don't know you did have this ability to

1:30:53

kind of channel like you really believe Who

1:30:56

he was it wasn't I? Don't

1:30:59

I think very eloquent. No I completely I know

1:31:01

exactly what you mean It was it was sort

1:31:03

of a next level when I think of him

1:31:05

and Magnolia ordering the nudie mags And

1:31:08

he's kind of he's doing this Do

1:31:11

you or something like De Niro you know like

1:31:13

I'm in I'm

1:31:16

a very different kind of actor

1:31:18

than De Niro. You know like

1:31:21

Even though we're you could say well you both

1:31:24

have the same job you act on film So

1:31:26

there must be all these commonalities, but there aren't

1:31:28

there aren't commonality He comes from his

1:31:31

background what he learned as a

1:31:33

kid the experience He's he had whatever

1:31:35

his natural abilities to create illusion

1:31:37

and stuff. That's he has his own

1:31:39

approach That's one of

1:31:41

the funny things about what up-and-coming actors

1:31:44

like what's the what is it? Meisner

1:31:46

or the method or a viola spolin

1:31:48

or improv or what it what is

1:31:50

the best acting technique? And

1:31:52

it's just absurd to even try to like

1:31:54

put You

1:31:56

know just to put one over another you

1:31:58

know just whatever works for you, whatever

1:32:01

brings out of you what you

1:32:03

needed to bring out. Because

1:32:06

I always thought like method stuff, I always thought

1:32:08

like, well, think about your dead

1:32:10

grandmother. Well, I

1:32:13

have to remember my lines. Like I

1:32:15

have to think about this person, not my

1:32:17

grandmother. If I start thinking about my grandmother,

1:32:19

so, oh, I used to go to her

1:32:21

house for tea and better like I'm off

1:32:24

thinking of some other bullshit. Some

1:32:26

of those method techniques never really worked for

1:32:28

me, never really believed in them. You know?

1:32:31

Yeah. No, I completely get that.

1:32:33

So you have to find your own way to it.

1:32:35

You have to find your own way towards honesty in

1:32:37

your work and... Did

1:32:39

you take any... Not take anything. Did you learn

1:32:41

anything from Phil? Meaning just specifics.

1:32:43

Was he a big rehearser? Was

1:32:45

he an auto-rehearser? Was he mingling around

1:32:48

the set? He came up in theater too. So

1:32:50

he was... We had a

1:32:52

lot of commonality in terms of our approach actually, I

1:32:54

think. We didn't really talk about

1:32:56

craft so much or methods. It

1:32:58

was more just like... We were

1:33:00

competitive with each other to be honest. We were

1:33:03

very similar in age, trying to get for

1:33:05

the same parts. We

1:33:07

were competitive with each other. So in that way we had this

1:33:10

respectful competition. It

1:33:13

wasn't like we were sharing secrets or whatever. Did

1:33:15

you ever lose a part to him? Oh,

1:33:17

all the time. All the time, yeah. He

1:33:22

was a force of nature. I was just in awe

1:33:24

of Phil. There was one...

1:33:27

I'll tell you this story that I told

1:33:29

actually at the wake, at

1:33:31

the funeral home from him, which is

1:33:33

that we were doing

1:33:35

True West and there's

1:33:38

this... I don't know if you remember the play, but there's

1:33:40

this whole section where one

1:33:42

crazy brother has stolen all of these toasters

1:33:45

from all these houses in the neighborhood and

1:33:47

the house is a wreck and there's toasters

1:33:49

all over the house. I

1:33:54

had my back to Phil doing

1:33:57

one of these parts. You

1:34:00

know, we've switched roles though, so we each had

1:34:02

to do this, you know? And

1:34:04

what, I think he's playing the screenwriter

1:34:07

character, and I was like the desert

1:34:09

rat character. He was playing Austin,

1:34:11

I was playing Lee in this iteration

1:34:13

of the thing. And during

1:34:16

this one part when we start using the

1:34:18

toasters, there

1:34:20

would be this huge laugh. There would be

1:34:22

silence, and then this huge laugh. But

1:34:25

I couldn't see what Phil was doing. And

1:34:28

I was just like, wow, what is that laugh? I'm

1:34:31

not gonna like, I'm too

1:34:33

proud to turn around and see it. You

1:34:36

want to do that. Yeah, I want to do that. And

1:34:38

after a while, after a few months of doing it, it

1:34:40

was so consistent. Finally, I had some friends

1:34:42

that had seen the play a number of times, and I

1:34:44

was like, hey, can you do me a favor? The

1:34:47

next time you see the play, you know that part

1:34:49

when the toaster's come, can you tell me what Phil

1:34:51

is doing? Because I'm mystified why he's

1:34:53

getting this huge laugh, you know? And

1:34:56

then sure enough, the friend comes, oh. So

1:34:59

what he does is he puts the toast

1:35:02

in the toaster, and then he presses it

1:35:04

down, and he looks into the toaster, and

1:35:07

he feels if the toaster's working, if it's hot

1:35:09

or not, you know? Which is

1:35:11

just really finely

1:35:13

observed human behavior. It's

1:35:15

what almost everyone does when you put toast in

1:35:17

a toaster. You think about it. You put it

1:35:19

in, you click it, and then while you get

1:35:21

a little impatient, waiting to see if it's working,

1:35:24

you put your hand over it. Is this actually

1:35:26

on? You know? It's this really identifiable

1:35:30

human behavior. So

1:35:32

he was killing with human behavior. And

1:35:34

I was like, thanks for telling me to

1:35:36

my friend. Like, next night I'm playing that part,

1:35:38

and I'm like, I put the thing, and the

1:35:40

thing, puts the thing down, put

1:35:43

my hand over it. Crickets.

1:35:46

No response at all from the audience. Because

1:35:49

I was trying to do a gag, you know? I

1:35:51

was trying to do what... I

1:35:53

was taking almost like a circus performer's attitude

1:35:56

about, oh, I know the trick now. You

1:35:58

put the toast in, duh duh duh, you put the toast in. put it in, then

1:36:00

you get the laugh. But I

1:36:03

was missing some really important

1:36:05

genuine ingredient that still had,

1:36:07

which was he

1:36:09

wasn't trying to be funny. He

1:36:11

was trying to be exactly real

1:36:14

and do behavior that was recognizable

1:36:16

to him when dealing with a

1:36:18

toaster. Wow.

1:36:20

Incredible. Anyway, I

1:36:22

told that story at his funeral or at his

1:36:24

wake and it brought down the house.

1:36:28

So you finally got your laugh. Wow.

1:36:31

Would you say being present is a

1:36:33

big skill, like being in the moment?

1:36:35

That's it. That's everything. Being

1:36:38

in the moment, the eternal moment. And really,

1:36:40

you mean, you know, I was

1:36:42

throwing shade on various acting techniques and

1:36:45

methods of teaching acting, but what really

1:36:47

worked for me was Viola Spolin, Games

1:36:49

for the Theatre, which is the improv

1:36:52

Bible kind of. Yeah, I read that.

1:36:55

That's when I discovered really how to

1:36:57

take acting seriously and what it was.

1:36:59

It gave me things to do besides

1:37:01

memorizing lines or putting

1:37:04

on attitudes. It

1:37:07

gave me like real skills in it. I

1:37:11

don't know. That's what unlocked it

1:37:13

for me. That's how I got from musical

1:37:15

theater to doing Sam

1:37:17

Shepard was improv and what to

1:37:19

do with your hands. Yeah,

1:37:22

yeah, yeah. Improv teaches you all that teaches

1:37:24

you to be present right now. And that's

1:37:26

a beautiful thing I think about coming up

1:37:28

in Chicago. I don't know what it's like

1:37:30

for actors in Chicago now, but when I

1:37:33

was coming up in Chicago doing theater, you

1:37:37

weren't going to get famous overnight in Chicago. You

1:37:39

just weren't. If you were in New

1:37:41

York or L.A., chances are there could

1:37:43

be an agent that came to see a play

1:37:45

you're in and you could be a star overnight

1:37:48

in New York or Chicago, New

1:37:50

York or L.A., but not in Chicago at the time. Even

1:37:53

though Malkovich got pretty famous, but that was when

1:37:55

they took their place to New York when they

1:37:57

did Balm and Gilead and True West in New

1:37:59

York. That's when those actors really hit

1:38:02

it. But in Chicago,

1:38:04

it was always like you were

1:38:06

taught the only way to

1:38:08

succeed is in combination with other

1:38:10

people. If

1:38:12

I really give you all of

1:38:15

my focus and I find this moment with

1:38:17

you and I'm with you right now for

1:38:19

real, in this moment, we

1:38:21

may succeed together. That's

1:38:24

how you do it. A

1:38:26

rising tide lifts all ships. That

1:38:30

was the ethos because it wasn't like, give

1:38:32

me my chance, I'm going to become famous tonight

1:38:34

because there might be an agent on the crowd.

1:38:36

It was just that was never what was going

1:38:38

to happen. Have you seen Mike Birbiglia's movie, Don't

1:38:40

Think Twice? No. I

1:38:42

think you would like it. It's a really great movie. I like

1:38:44

that. I've seen some of his

1:38:46

stuff. I like talking about philosophy. I really like

1:38:49

his take on life. Yeah, he's wonderful. He's an

1:38:51