00:00:00
brian Cranston dana uh
Brian Cranston i'm a big fan of Brian Cranston and you know I don't really run into him out there in the world and uh most of these people usually kind of bump into it here
00:00:11
and there but um
maybe they were doing Malcolm in the Middle on CBS Radford a lot when I was doing Just Shoot Me it
00:00:16
feels like it synced up around the same time
uh super cool super light on his feet always uh is laughing doesn't take it too seriously for being a really good
00:00:28
dramatic actor and comedic actor
no he doesn't take it seriously at all and you
00:00:34
try to pay him a compliment he's very very humble about it um I'm not sure he can really grasp how great he is but
00:00:41
it's hard to not gush a little bit because he was so brilliant in Breaking Bad and I think it's a quintessential
00:00:49
show um just someone really fun to hang out with had a great sense of humor told
00:00:54
us all about his adventure trying to be a stand-up comedian for a full year and that's a very interesting story and where he came from and how he started in a soap opera in New York and
um
when he
00:01:07
felt like he made it yeah oh Malcolm in the Middle was huge
and he got was it Breaking Bad within a year it's so weird how those time frames
00:01:18
because Malcolm in the middle seems like forever ago breaking Bad does not seem like that long ago but I guess within a
00:01:26
year he got it
yeah and then it just goes to uh the idea of I call it whimsy or luck in show business and he kind of talks about these pieces of his career
00:01:37
there's this sort of like just planets lined up for him and of course the Phoenician
00:01:43
um
it's out right now with Wes Anderson uh the Phoenician Scheme was it
sorry about that
with Bonichio Del Toro who I love and
yeah and Tommy Tommy Hanks or
00:01:56
Tom Hanks to you
tombbo
tombo Hanks and uh yeah so great chat we all cracked up as always and uh hope you like it and here's the guy
here is Mr brian Cranston
00:02:15
[Music] [ __ ] that dude's here already
oh [ __ ] brian Cranston god damn it say anything he can't hear us yet he can't hear us yet
i can't hear anything not one thing
look at this guy brian
00:02:30
Cranston
brian Cranston is a name you want to say it feels good to say it god is
Brian Cranston our whole goal is not to bore you
00:02:42
so how's it going so far
uh I think we're you know I just watched your monologue
00:02:48
of Brian Cranston brian Cranberry the SNL mono
god
oh god thanks for coming on you're a You know you're
00:03:01
you're Brian Cranston when did you first realize that like I'm [ __ ] Brian Cranston
yeah when do you put [ __ ] in it when did you kind of go "Hey I'm Brian Cranston i'm Brian Cranon i'm
00:03:14
Brian [ __ ] Cranston
i want to know the moment cuz like we don't have a real structure here
um I'm assuming sometime during Breaking Bad it must have hit you
00:03:25
at some point this is fantastic this show's great and I'm I think I'm really killing it here this is This is [ __ ] You know what I mean you must have had a moment or maybe it was a gradual series
00:03:38
of moments when I got in SNL it worked out for me
i was sort of like "Oh wow i'm actually on SNL and it's doing
00:03:44
pretty well for me." So the same kind of thing was that Was it there or was it Malcolm in the Middle was it Was it
00:03:49
Seinfeld or I assume Breaking Bad i'll let you talk there you go
yeah you know I mean those uh elevations along the way when you're hoping that
00:04:02
you have opportunity i think I I started to talk to some young actors a while ago
00:04:08
and also um those of us who have been around a while and I I I said I think I realized what it was when you first start out you have tremendous ambition
00:04:20
but low opportunity and right it's like you want to conquer everything but it's like the
00:04:27
you're struggling to find an audition and and then if you get really lucky as we all have um I think the opportunities grow sometimes larger than the ambition
00:04:40
and that's where I find myself now is is putting out the same amount of energy but going "Oh my god." Okay yes I I I will read that script i I I will get to
00:04:51
that at some point you know I I instruct my agents now i said "Listen please don't send me anything that you don't really love." Uh so you know let them do that work to
00:05:04
be able to say "Oh this script is really really great so you should take a look at it." Um but I think it's a question I
00:05:12
actually had for you uh for both of you thank you
can I do that can I turn it around
we love that
we like it better
00:05:19
yeah it's better for us
you know the interesting thing of of when you feel like you've you've made it when I was 25
00:05:27
years old I got a job on a soap opera here in New York and uh
you know it's churn man you're just one script you do the script you throw it out read
so hard
00:05:41
next day next day next day next day it's it's a lot of churn that you're going through but there was something about
00:05:48
feeling like "Oh man I could do this i feel like I can do this." And it was from that moment on at 25 that I've only
00:05:57
worked as an actor since and so I wanted to find out from you guys if that's the
00:06:04
way you felt when you got on SNL did something click did you cross over a threshold that you went "Holy [ __ ] this is it for me
00:06:14
david uh my answer would be it was such a slow grind i think Dana popped quicker
00:06:21
on SNL but I I was doing standup then I got on an HBO Young comedians then I got on SNL then I was a writer first and so
00:06:28
it took me to getting through SNL and having to make one more jump to something that worked because I wasn't
00:06:35
quite solidified yet like you can always make one misstep off SNL and you get one
00:06:41
like free pass hey we'll give you a movie we'll give you a TV show or something and if that doesn't work to
00:06:46
generate that heat again is so [ __ ] hard
and so I got to a sitcom and then when the sitcom started to work that one old one just shoot me it was probably on around one years or something
but when
00:06:58
that got to like year three I started to breathe again and go "Okay this might be what I do." You know I don't think I'm
00:07:05
going back now but uh when was yours Dana cuz that was that was it took that long to be honest
00:07:12
um I bombed a lot you know I just started doing standup there wasn't ground lanes or theater groups up in San
00:07:18
Francisco in those days so I was doing standup but I didn't find out until 10 years later literally almost from my
00:07:24
first set to getting SNL like oh this is where I belong so when I got on SNL and
00:07:30
I'd done these characters as a standup and then I put the wig on and the dress with church and stuff it was like this
00:07:36
is this is really fun we'll talk about when you host it but and also your LBJ which is I think is extraordinary i was watching
you do one of the best LBJs out there
well the only one where you
you
00:07:49
Fred Travalina and uh
well he was doing it as an actor i I mean I Hollywood wanted to use me i I screen tested for Amadeas you know um
for real
yeah yeah i did a
00:08:04
sitcom with Mickey Rooney and Nathan Lane in New York City when I was 25 years of age at at at uh Studio 6A in
00:08:12
Rockefeller Center and then eight years later I got on the there so to answer your question shortly it's like once I got I felt like a fish in water like I really belong here you know and so that
00:08:24
was uh that was it for me you know
how old were you then Dana
i was 51 um no i
00:08:32
I was I was 31 and my first set in a shitbox comedy club where these comedians came up and I I thought well they're not that great it was a No it was in Berkeley
and I and I I scrolled
00:08:45
on a nap and I do a Howard Coell I do John Wayne you know and then a guy came up and levitated the room and it was Rob
00:08:52
Williams and then I crumpled the paper or the napkin put it back in my pocket cuz I didn't know there was only one of
00:08:57
him but basically it was the classic 10 years of this but the standups always have a baseline like a band you just go back to the clubs go to the theaters do standup so it's it's a nice little side
00:09:12
job so
it is it's foundational for for you
i I did standup for about nine months
oh boy
back in 1988 81 and uh I did it only because it
00:09:27
scared the [ __ ] out of me
i what you guys do was was something that terrified
00:09:33
me so I thought "Ah the only way I'm I'm ever going to get over this fear of it is to dive in."
So I rose from being terrible to being mediocre in in those
00:09:46
That's a big jump
yeah it's a big jump it is in stand up it is big consistently
00:09:54
walking everyone
do the job get consistent laughs you know
was it New York
it was in LA back in ' 81 when they had uh there were
00:10:04
place like the Playboy club was was there in Century City the Laugh stop of course the comedy store and improv
is laugh stop in Newport
00:10:15
uh there was there was one in Newport right
then there was one in the valley where I I had Great night
i My best
00:10:23
night was in in the valley i did it you know about eight minutes or something and killed i got in my car i drove to the improv i begged the guy "You got to
00:10:35
get me on." I finally
I'm on fire
i'm on fire
and he says "Well I could you stick
00:10:43
around because someone may not show up." And so
come on you're blowing it guy
i know so I So he says "I think I think
00:10:50
what's his name he's not going to show up so in about 45 minutes you can go on."
Okay okay 45 minutes 45 minutes i
00:10:57
walked around the block in that neighborhood i walked around the block in that neighborhood doing my set just
00:11:02
trying to recall it exactly as I did it that got such a great reaction and I felt great and I got
00:11:09
up it wasn't the same
not the same it's so weird crowds are like fingerprints they just they're all a little bit different and then you go I just was on the road and I'm like one night these
00:11:23
three jokes work the best the next thing these three so overall it's about the same but you go why why didn't they bite
00:11:28
on that did I say it wrong is a different attitude different something about it it just it didn't work
and you
00:11:34
could you could drive yourself crazy trying to figure it out
oh anyway and I started I I I started turning down auditions because I was drinking too much you know i was
00:11:47
in the clubs and and if I had a a good night someone would offer me a drink if I had a bad night someone would offer me
00:11:53
a drink
oh yeah
and it was like
And they're all free which is great
yeah and you're just going and then sleeping in
00:12:01
until noon or one
and turning down auditions and finally I just went "Wait a minute wait a minute what am I doing?"
00:12:07
And I realized that what you guys had innately was not me it was not in my being i was trying to overcome a fear and all of a sudden I realized wait a minute I did that oh let me go back to
00:12:23
that was the point yeah you did that which was a huge thing
i remember
but does it scare you with acting does it
00:12:29
scare you or is it the fact you have a few takes so it's a little easier well it's it's just a a different muscle right you you and you you're attracted
00:12:42
to certain types of uh performing and you find something that you do well and it's you know inspiring i I I didn't I didn't wake up thinking "Oh I've got to
00:12:54
get on stage and try to tell this joke." Um I I love being different people and getting into their skin and doing the research and figuring out what made that
00:13:06
guy tick and why was he important and all that
so are the police coming to your house right now
yeah we that's
00:13:13
usually that's from our parent company it's just saying pick up the podcast a little bit it's a little bit of they put
00:13:19
a siren in a little bit like I I'm just curious for a second because um you become one of our great actors uh it sort of maybe happened secretly or
00:13:30
whatever but I know you would never put yourself probably with your your nature into the the people you watch growing up you know and then you realize you must
00:13:41
realize at some point you're doing work as good or better than a lot of your heroes right i
I'm talking I know what
00:13:47
age group we're in you know there's the people die now would have loved you Jimmy Stewart I just so that's kind of surreal isn't it
to realize that
I I I
00:14:00
still don't feel that I don't know maybe it's just the way I was raised but um there is that impostor syndrome that I think many people go through that you go
00:14:11
wait a minute I don't I don't always know what I'm doing but people think I do like
you can get away with a lot like
00:14:19
"Oh my god
your acting choices are like so genius." You know I I forgot my line
00:14:24
it's throwing a dart yeah that stutter you did no I was searching for the word yeah I didn't remember
oh when you spaced out when you looked off you know so real
00:14:38
[Music] when did Bob Odenk first come to you and go "Oh that was a great take you're so
00:14:45
You're killing it." Oh my god so great people are going to love it
god yeah that's funny that's so funny we love you Bob
when
00:14:57
when he was hired for Breaking Bad he hadn't seen the show yet and I just ribbed him about that i go "So
he got hired to be on a show and the episodes
00:15:09
were readily available to you but you chose
readily
you chose not to be." So but he he uh he learned quickly and uh boy what a what a a lovely thing that's
00:15:20
happened to him you know yeah um
and I you know when he when he was offered uh Better Call Saul he asked if if he can go out to lunch with me and I said "Sure." And he said "I'm not that guy
00:15:34
i'm not the hey follow me i'll lead you to the promised land kind of guy." And I
00:15:40
said you know I don't know that I was that either but there is the need for that person to kind of take care to kind
00:15:48
of be the dad of a of a company
of a show
of a show you you're number one on a call sheet it's kind of saying there it is for you to take if
it's like quarterback yeah they look up to you
00:16:00
even whether you don't know you know it or not
exactly so I said there's there's a going to be a vacuum if you don't take
00:16:07
it someone else will or it'll be taken up by someone who you don't necessarily think is is the right person you know so it's you know just I said when I when I
00:16:18
first started getting some comments of of my work I used to push back hey you're really good no you No no i used to say that oh you're a you're a a
00:16:29
really becoming a television star oh no no no no no no i'm just an actor just and it I found it it did terrible things first of all it made the person wrong
00:16:41
which is not a good thing and feel bad it forced them to to then continue the fight
more compliments
i mean serious trick
00:16:53
so what do you say now
thank you
yeah thank you
that's it
you don't want to go
00:16:59
on a set and be run by number nine on the call sheet well can let me ask you a question about the and I don't know
00:17:05
exact I know the Malcolm in the middle of this and that but was you were the lead lead in Breaking Bad and you were
00:17:11
in the flow all day long i mean the the pacing of yourself but also when you're someone who comes in and does a guest spot or has one line you're waiting all day that I mean you get into a flow
00:17:23
right where you're just that character just for so many hours is it harder better obviously it's how do you hand how do you handle the sheer exhaustion and do you get almost hypnotized even
00:17:35
deeper into the into the world because you're just doing so much of it
well as you guys know this uh so for the listeners it's it's basically you you find your rhythm when you're needed when
00:17:48
you can rest you you develop a system of how and when you're going to rise to an
00:17:55
occasion and when you can shut down a little bit um but I always thought and we've all been on shows where you have the the person coming on the show who has one line and they know nobody and
00:18:10
they have to come in and nail that line and that's one of the hardest things to do
yes
so I would always try to greet
00:18:19
every co-star
sabotage them no go ahead and I and and just try to make them feel at ease because number one it's the right thing to do to help this person
00:18:34
but number two it it also helps your show that
Yeah they're very important those people that come in
it's really
00:18:40
hard
it's so important to get they get it right and they're in a vibe that they don't know they're just getting in the current going "Are we playing everything
00:18:46
like this?" And you're like "No no no no no we're all down here." Like but they don't know and then you're okay let's
00:18:51
make it all late in the day all the makeup's kind of wearing down on the people have been filming all day long
00:18:57
the crew looks wasted they're exhausted they're coming in to land that line yeah it's It's
Yeah they bring them in you're
00:19:03
up it's like ah right before we wrap
now just relax okay never thought of it
think of
00:19:10
that great yeah
but so you So how old were you when you really made it made it in your mind because you you struggled for a while
yeah you know I I I I
00:19:23
expected to struggle so I guess I didn't feel like I was struggling
um so
after
00:19:28
the soap opera were you saying like that that was 25 so you kind of consistently
00:19:34
worked after that so that's really making it right
very consistent after that i've never had to do anything but
00:19:39
act after that point and that kind of um confidence going into whatever you're doing next is is brilliant um and it was a savior and then about
00:19:51
30 I guess 35 years ago or so I stumbled upon a philosophy that I realized oh I was doing everything wrong
00:20:03
um I was uh I was thinking that an audition was a job interview and that uh because I'm an actor and they're casting for a movie or a TV show or something that's that's a job i'm going to go in
00:20:16
to try to get something and I realized by doing that you're putting you're giving up your energy and you're you're
00:20:21
you're sending it away from you and so I thought oh whenever anybody wants or needs something they don't have control they're giving up control because they need something they need a job they need
00:20:34
validation they need something so I thought "Oh I'm just going to hold on to that and I'm not going to want some i'm
00:20:41
going to give them something i worked on this scene i think I can do it but you know it's their option here here's an
00:20:47
idea you take it if that that works for you fantastic if it doesn't we'll see you later
oh like we're 5050 i'm going
00:20:54
in this is good you want my product take it
exactly
goodbye
and in the modern era
00:21:00
I like that
you can audition with your phone or with a friend which is kind of nice like here's how I'd play it you can
00:21:07
see me you know a lot of people get roles that way as well
you can tweak it a little bit that helps i hated going in
00:21:12
those rooms and I always bombed and it was horrible i bombed in front of Paul Newman terribly and Joanne Woodward god
00:21:19
what did you do
holy [ __ ]
well I I had no
Newman the superstar
take a [ __ ] in
00:21:25
front of them or something were you there i think Robbie Benson got the part i had no training i I you know at all i was
00:21:38
just a standup and so acting terrified me so I went in they put us off in pairs they auditioned so I went with a lovely
00:21:45
young woman we read the scene i was all over the place i knew I was bombing joanne Woodward was there with the dog paul Newman with red socks really tall red socks
red socks
and then Paul Newman
00:21:56
was so sweet we just bombed
and then he he spent 10 minutes saying "Well I appreciated that." He was just so nice about it but the air was thick and so I walked out with my partner i just I just
00:22:09
met and I said "Well that didn't go well." And she was like "Yeah
yeah it didn't go well did it?" You know I mean
00:22:14
I really ruined her audition so anyway what you just said I hope I hope young actors listen to that that you're just showing them something you're not really trying to get a job
00:22:25
it's it's the the difference is
do not go in there to get a job go in there to do a job
that's it if you can just say "This is my job i'm gonna create something it's either funny or it's it's
00:22:39
appropriate to this character here's my idea there it is if you like it great if you don't that's
00:22:44
a
I like that you don't look so desperate and thirsty
desperation
that's my my angle is desperate and thirsty
00:22:50
because when I would go in I would try to joke them i didn't know what I was doing so this is Dana probably does too
00:22:57
we spend eight minutes talking about the 405 and how the crazy drive and then they're laughing and then I read it and
00:23:02
when it stops laughing goes "Oh forget it well that happened to me
i'm trying to win him over with the meeting
i made
00:23:08
Suzanne Pushette laugh so hard i sp I had 15 minutes i'm doing Boy I'm doing everything and well let's Oh I'm excited to hear you read and then it was just dead
00:23:18
silence and you know I mean so um I'm just curious I thought again I'm curious about our guest today i think I heard you say at one point that I'm just gonna
00:23:31
do this show business this is you made a decision wherever it goes I'm just going
00:23:36
to do this and what what was that after the soap opera you went back to
No no I
00:23:42
was uh I was actually going to to a junior college in LA I had no money so I was studying police science I was going to become a cop and
00:23:55
uh detective
you look like you could play a detective
yeah you look pretty cool we'll get to that you must have
00:24:01
played a cop or detective playing yeah played lots of cops um and and I I didn't know what to do so I was going to become a cop and transfer to a
00:24:11
university to finish before I went into the LAPD that was the general plan but my second year of this junior college I
00:24:18
took an acting class and in the class my job was to kiss this really pretty girl
00:24:24
i am
making out with this pretty girl and I'm thinking "Oh my god this is amazing." And so after after that semester now I'm
00:24:38
19 and I went I have no idea what I want to do that just spun me out of control uh and so I I hopped on a motorcycle and traveled around the country for a couple years getting jobs and odd jobs
00:24:54
yeah just Well no I was so confused so in a way at the time I felt like I was running away and I suppose I was because I didn't know what it was I wanted to put all my energy in and it wasn't until
00:25:08
I was I was on the Blue Ridge Parkway of Virginia waiting out a rainstorm on my motorcycle underneath a a picnic covered um picnic bench with a slab of cement
00:25:22
and me and I stayed there for like five days because it just never stopped raining and it was at that time I had this epiphany that okay I am going to go
00:25:34
after something that I really feel I can be in love with but I wasn't necessarily
00:25:40
good at yet u as opposed to something I was good at which was police work but I didn't love it and so that was the distinction to me and I thought okay here it goes i'm going all in there's no
00:25:52
God that's ballsy too one of them's like a set job and the other one is iffy very very iffy
and will always remain that
00:25:59
way too when when did you first get a without giving numbers a check where you kind of went "Holy shit," you know
00:26:06
compared to regular you know I was a waiter a bus boy dishwasher all the all the rest but you know like wow that's
00:26:12
amazing they're actually I love this and they're paying me a lot of money to do it it's very heady thing well n I I was
00:26:21
doing some community theater and somers stock and dinner theater and stuff like that but it was in 1979 is when I got my
00:26:30
SAG card and started working and making a living and I did commercials and I did
00:26:35
industrial films and whatever would pay the the rent and and all that stuff that's you know
it was fun
when did you
00:26:43
get paid too much money when did you want to give some of it back because clearly this is wrong
00:26:49
there there are there are some of those jobs now that you say no no no wait what
00:26:55
you want
what did you get for Godzilla 2017 what did you get we don't ask
we don't
00:27:02
you don't answer that question I'm sorry I do know that you know I I did when I was coming up I I worked uh did voices for the um Power Rangers I did so many
00:27:16
voices for the Power Rangers that They renamed when they changed all the names from a Japanese name to Americanized sounding names they said "Uh why don't
00:27:27
we name the blue power ranger Cranston?" Billy Cranston not Brian billy do you mind and I said "I don't mind we didn't think it was going to go anywhere." And it goes everywhere so the blue Power
00:27:37
Ranger Billy Cranston is is named after me because we did I did so many of those
00:27:43
those voices
let's go team
let's go i love that never defeat me i will kill you
oh I love it
you've kind of done everything haven't you voiceovers
00:27:56
sitcoms movies theater
it's you you you you have to expand your ability to work
00:28:03
or else you're really narrowing the field I think man right [Music] well I think you're in this new Phoenician is that correct
the Phoenician scheme
phoenician
phoenician
00:28:18
scheme which is uh very interesting movies
which I will see this one because
you're in it and we're buddies now but also because just those are so cool those movies um that he does
00:28:32
he is uh Wes Anderson is probably the most untexonike Texan you've ever met he's very nerdy dressed he's very he's very ariodite and polite and
and worldly
00:28:47
and uh he he it's not to say let me clarify it's not to say that Texans can't also be that but
sure the the sensibility send all your letters to
00:29:00
yeah to David um but uh you know and so I've done this is the third project I've
00:29:06
done Wes Anderson and he's uh it's brilliant he's such an a tour you cannot go into it thinking "Oh I know where he's going to twist this or turn that." It's like he blows your mind with where
00:29:19
bananas goes with stuff yeah it's crazy i think I saw that last one maybe Astro something with Scarlett Johansson asteroid City
yeah yeah asteroid City and uh went and saw the theater it was
00:29:31
so fun and so cool and it just like wakes you up like "Okay here's a movie okay pay attention." Like everything set
00:29:38
dressings everything very good he did a great job um and uh I love Bonicho also bonicho in this one what a
cool guy i've run into him along the way here and there but
what are your
00:29:50
thoughts co-star
yeah so
give us some Bonicho
so Tom Hanks and I uh play brothers we play brothers in the Phoenician scheme and we are shooting this in Germany and so we go over to
00:30:02
Germany and we're in every scene together so we're rehearsing together and stuff and and we had basically in this in this movie Phoenician scheme
00:30:14
it's kind of light lift for us
but Benio has a [ __ ] ton of dialogue very specific
00:30:22
very Wes Anderson you know the way it's carved and moved it's like wow and uh so we I
00:30:31
was just saying if there's anything I could do for you man you let me know because
you're carrying the load here
00:30:38
and he would just nod and look and he would cram and uh so it's challenging work because of the fact that he is so specific
and his in his shooting style
00:30:49
and his symmetry of his of his camera angles and everything it's it's uh it's amazing but the film works venetian
00:30:56
scheme really does work
those things I've already heard people that have seen it immediately
00:31:02
yeah you can tell it's it's one person is making the movie i mean some I know that he's uh it just sort of hit me
00:31:08
researching that sometimes he collaborates with Roman Copa
um and I did a commercial with Chvy Chase and Molly Shan whatever for a phone company and Roman was directing it and he had an
00:31:22
immaculate suit on and he was such a gentleman it was just very interesting to watch
00:31:28
him do that and uh so when I saw him connected to Wes Anderson there is an eloquence about them
that is a type of
00:31:36
director out there also it's nice to be in a movie Brian where
they're not just like who do we get to direct this you
00:31:43
know because it's going to look so specific to a director
when he does it you just watch the trailer and you go "Oh that's okay that's what that is." You know and that's that pulls people
00:31:54
right in I think and to be an actor to be in it would be what a blast
it's cool i mean there is some pressure be like
00:32:01
when we were shooting Asteroid City in Spain
uh
oh that was Spain
it was shot
00:32:07
in Spain for the California desert the California Nevada desert
but I believed it
he work he Wes lives in Paris most the time so and
00:32:20
he doesn't like to fly so he takes his his big bus coach that he has all decked out and he travels that way so
he usually stays on the continent
god what a what a life he's in Paris with a bus
00:32:33
and he has complete control over his work and he gets like 10 superstars so the budget for the acting I heard Hank's got 20 million for this one or is
00:32:45
that
what exaggerated
interesting well but how does he manage because you're doing it for the love of the art i mean is it right and he gets just the greatest Bill Murray and you guys
yeah
00:32:56
we We all make the same amount of money and I honestly can't even tell you what that is but I know it's not much i I I believe it's just more like if he wants you in you do it
that's such a
00:33:08
great thing that he has it obviously must be just a hell of a nice person to want to be around and it's a great hang because there are no trailers you all go
00:33:19
and you're in
um one like really souped up kind of tent with the rugs and and nice comfortable chairs and
floor lamps and and you know and and everybody just
00:33:32
kind of hangs out together and you go in uh you only work usually about eight hours or nine hours a day that's it and within reason then at night every night
00:33:44
there's a long rectangular table and all the actors and all the department heads and the writers the producers and Wes we
00:33:51
all have dinner together every single night with wine and all kinds of
So where do you watch porn that's my
Where how
why not where how who has to ask someone it's so embarrassing can we do
00:34:04
it at dinner do we have to wait
i do anyway you know
yeah you'll you know you'll figure it out how do you
00:34:09
personally or I guess it's project like to be directed you know do you like a soft touch you like someone in your face cranston i don't believe a word you're saying
i don't get it
or does Wes
00:34:20
Anderson kind of just sort of wander around and sort of give you subtle notes or you like it all i mean
the the first
00:34:29
first day I worked on Asteroid City I had a quite a a large uh speech to give and um and I got through it in his tricky dialogue and I thought I did
00:34:42
pretty well and he did too he came to me and he said "Yes Brian that was that was very very good now I just need it much
00:34:49
much much faster." And it was like oh it
oh to hear that it was like oh my god so you're you're going so fast you don't
00:35:00
even hear yourself you don't even think you're thinking and you're and getting it out um so the work
00:35:07
is the work is challenging
it's hard with dialogue people forget you're memorizing it's so hard to get every
00:35:14
word right especially if you're working for a writer director and you go
I've had one where he came back and he said
00:35:19
"You were great you missed this one word here let's go again and I go one word it was like one word that didn't change
00:35:26
anything
but that's the way I wrote it i go "Got it."
You said element instead of
00:35:31
B
exactly oh I hate that that's why I hated movies cuz you go in the morning for the master shot and then you're
00:35:37
you're in your closeup eight hours later and the script supervisor says "No your
00:35:42
elbow was on top of the chair." Oh really i mean that's why have you have you done um movies where it's like a moving master minimal shooting um that
00:35:53
kind of freedom
yeah yeah and actually you know I don't know if you remember this Dana but we worked together
why
00:36:01
whoa
i remember running into you at Letterman right
well we've done that but no like Dave said
was I first on the
00:36:08
call sheet where was I
yes sir you were was I nice opportunity knocks yeah kind of no
00:36:16
it wasn't that
clean Slate
clean Slate whoa you were in that that movie that's
00:36:24
your probably your lowest grossing movie oh that's great
i'm so sorry if I could write you a check a do a Venmo where are
00:36:30
you
i I uh I played the very pivotal role of club official dana what would that be do you remember we were at We were in Santa Monica at on
00:36:44
the beach at a beach club
right and and I don't remember anything else not a thing
dana doesn't remember Santa Monica
i don't remember a thing so I play a character with amnesia it was
00:36:58
terrible went to this acting coach and and his theory was you don't you don't have amnesia your character is
00:37:05
pretending to have amnesia but you don't your character does not have amnesia he
Was that real
00:37:12
from the movie
this is Roy London God rest his soul he's this great actor so that was his way of getting you out of
00:37:18
your own way so then there was a guy um playing a blind person we were filming at the beach and he had the stick and he's playing a blind person and I say I said to him um you know I I I don't
00:37:31
really have amnesia i'm just pretending and he goes "I'm not really blind." He'd gone to the same acting
00:37:38
coach you know whatever i just fig I'm But uh uh yeah that was uh that was ridiculous that was me making a foolish choice right off of SNL i had way too
00:37:51
much heat no experience and um I wish I could take it back if we could have switched in that you became the lead and I was guard number one it might have had
00:38:02
a chance
no I was club official
oh club official god Wikipedia sucks sometimes oh my god that was written by uh Robert King by
00:38:13
the way robert King
he's great
i've worked with since yeah i was partners with him on on a series called Your
00:38:19
Honor and he's terrific that's a great show i've never seen I've never seen you bad i don't know if you
00:38:26
like
Oh you were kind of bad
let's see what was um What was I was the one we circled
no but by the way when I heard
00:38:38
Amalgam in the Middle reboot is it That's right what is it on what is on Disney Plus
it's going to be on Disney
00:38:44
yeah that since they bought out Fox we were originally owned by Fox
oh yeah how
00:38:49
do they do that and so now we're owned by Disney and uh they bought four episodes of this
reboot uh I didn't think it reboot it's it's something I
00:39:01
was trying I was pushing for for the last 10 years because I thought that that audience
that was that hard wow
00:39:10
well be fun
no Lynwood Boomer who is the creator of the show when I first pitched
00:39:16
it to him he said no I'm not interested no about a year and a half later I said "What about it?" He goes "No I I really
00:39:22
don't think it's something I want to do."
And I went "Really it's starting to improve." And then a third one the third
00:39:29
time three years after that it was like "Well I you know if someone else wrote it maybe I'll look at it." And I just
00:39:35
started wearing him down until he said "I've got an idea." And I said "Good love it go get it
love it."
So we just finished it we shot that uh a month ago
00:39:47
and uh it's amazing how these boys who were my boys on that show are now around the same age I was when we first started oh no really
they've got children of
00:40:01
their own
there's a kid on there named Eric is there
yeah eric
Sullivan
yeah eric Pur Sullivan
played uh little Joe
00:40:10
Dirt in an old movie I did
that's right he played me as a kid now now David did you remember that or or now that you
00:40:17
were doing the research
i didn't i remembered he was on it that back then he's really cute and funny and he walked
00:40:22
on a little cowboy boots and uh
in the movie
but now that you say it again I'm like "Oh that's right he's probably you
00:40:29
know older now." But
he is the only one who's not who didn't come back to act in
00:40:35
the show
oh for real
yeah i talked to Eric and I I said "Hey we got the show it's going to come back." He goes "Oh that's fantastic." And I go "Yeah so we're looking forward to having you
00:40:46
back." He goes "Oh no no i I don't want to do it but it's fantastic."
Yeah because he's
he's actually going to Harvard and
he's a normal person now
00:40:58
well I I don't think he's he's not normal because he's really not in my circle normal he's he's
00:41:05
really really smart and he's getting I think he's getting his masters at Harvard right now he said "Oh god no i
00:41:12
haven't acted since I was
nine or something so I'm I'm not into it." Yeah wow because he's like "It just makes us all feel so dumb that we're actors." He's like "I don't want to go
00:41:24
do that stupid [ __ ] again." I'm like "No it's pretty smart what we do." And you're like "No not really
it's not that
00:41:32
hard." Oh cool though pick a topic okay um SNL you hosted
oh god
and and uh just because it was all over the place a
00:41:44
couple years ago during the strike that just the idea of AI and robots integrating with our in industry and
00:41:51
where it seems to be going is fascinating to me because we keep seeing these
digital short films by Alphabet
00:41:59
Google where you're like you know what what the hell i mean it's getting surreal we are actually digital copies
00:42:05
right now i just want to be full disclosure but it is kind of bizarre isn't it just to watch the future right
00:42:13
it is it just feels like something a little impersonal but um you know I I remember it so fondly and being invited to host at that time
00:42:26
when Breaking Bad was at its
you know pe pink peak and uh I immediately said yes
00:42:33
and
it's such a rush i mean I know you guys have talked about this on the podcast before and everyone's experience
00:42:39
but it was it was incredible and how how deep dive involved you are in every moment of that and that
you know from the from the first time I'm sitting in in Lauren's office in that chair in the
00:42:55
middle and everybody all the writers are on the floor and behind the curtains and things and and every I thought the
00:43:02
pitches that were going on that first day that Monday were actually supposed to be sincere it was like some of them
00:43:09
are
some most are fake pitches
yeah most I just want to say this because it'll be
00:43:14
rejected and let it die a cold death someone said uh Okay so you're a barista at Starbucks and you finish your drink and you call out
00:43:27
Trevor trevor ice mocha uh latte trevor trevor and no one ever shows up that's that that was his pitch
that's the whole pitch
that was the whole pitch i went I bet this is going to be a long week
00:43:48
yeah people think of that at Starbucks on the way to the meeting they're like cuz they have I think the problem is you
00:43:53
end the show Saturday you don't wake up until Sunday at 3:00 in the afternoon you do your laundry and then you're in
00:43:59
front of Brian Cranson you're like I haven't I will think of something for him i just have not
i would say a guy
00:44:04
walks up and says his name is Trevu trevu no not Trevor trevor and then another guy walks up taniv no trevor
00:44:12
trevor
i'm Trevor
travu i'm just trying to complete this
we can write it we'll write it
lauren will be listening to
00:44:17
this we'll have him back you know after you know the Wes Anderson kick we'll get good numbers with the Malcolm Pedle we What do they have nicknames for malcolm in the middle fanatics like
00:44:30
Malcolmites or middlers
they probably do but I I don't
I don't I'm not aware of
00:44:36
that stuff yet i don't know [Music] so what were you what was your monologue like u did you when you were coming out there did you have a strong one
i did I
00:44:51
did have some ideas and John Melany is wrote it
i remember that guy did he do that barbershop kind of quartet one or whatever you did
yes the singing
that's right the barberh shop kind of and he
00:45:02
said "Uh you know what if we take the the point of view that uh people kind of know you but they don't really know you." And I said "Yeah okay." He's like
00:45:14
because I was getting that "Oh you're the guy from Malcolm in the You're the dad you're the guy you're the guy." It
00:45:20
wasn't
associating name with face breaking Bad was on at that time right yeah but then
still kind of going up you're kind of that guy oh you're Wolf you're the guy from Breaking Bad
right
00:45:30
you're the guy from Breaking Bad and it's not until someone actually knows your name connected to your face
that
00:45:38
you go "Okay things have changed." Which which goes back to your original question Dan
is that that's when you go
00:45:44
"Oh things have changed." Uh but we did Yeah we we did the monologue and I I I just wanted to do anything uh I had a couple pitches for them which I pitched
00:45:57
ideas which were like almost immediately shot down shut down shut down shut down
i had a great pitch which I think is still
I'm a circus clown and do you remember the
00:46:09
pitch
i do remember the pitch
well let's hear it and let's see if it's really that bad we'll grade it 1 to 10
so
00:46:17
uh myself and a date and and another couple we can't believe we got reservations for this restaurant it's supposed to be amazing it's called All In the Sauce and it's like "Wow." And
00:46:30
this very snoody waiter comes in and says "Are you ready we can we see a menu?" "No we don't give menus we serve you food you eat the food you leave." You know it's like "Oh okay yes yes
00:46:40
yes." And he said "It's all about the sauce." So he puts down a crude and we dip it in the sauce and it's like "Oh my
00:46:47
god just amazing crudeet is taken away here comes the the entree you're eating the entree we're eating oh my god this sauce is absolutely insane we're overeing we eat too much we throw up we
00:47:00
dip the barf in the sauce oh my god it's okay
it's all about the sauce it's like no matter no matter what you're eating as long as
What's in the sauce do we
00:47:12
know
no I like it's in the sauce it's in the sauce
what if it's soil and green at the end it's It's like you you know you
00:47:18
have a severed finger and you dip it in the sauce and stuff
whatever i I got you yeah
still good
still good
that didn't
00:47:24
get past Monday meeting
yeah it didn't get past Monday now I truncated that pitch now it goes much longer
00:47:31
i can do a longer version sauteed pig snout to take a bite oh this is horrible dip in sauce yeah get everyone to come in with a funny accent you're halfway there
yeah
00:47:45
did you get to play uh big big broad accents Italian what get that out of your system and just because you have a
00:47:51
great ear i mean
you you know it's like that your your listeners know the system now so I mean Tuesday is the big writing overnight and then Wednesday the binder
00:48:03
the binder of 60 sketches terrifying
and each writer is can I talk to you a second okay now you're a pirate you're a
00:48:10
pirate and you're
there's absolutely no system they just grab you and
they just grab you you're a pirate you're you know and and
00:48:18
so you're you're just making big choices you know okay I'm going to do a New York
00:48:23
accent a southern accent an English accent i'm a pirate i'm a baseball player just you know and so I don't know
00:48:30
what I was doing it was just one after another after another and it's dizzying as you know and then but but you know
00:48:36
he's weighing Lauren kind of knows what he wants already
and then uh and then I'm shuttled into the room
uh Seth Yeah kind of
secret Lauren's
00:48:49
office brings you in
seth and Steve came in
steve Higgin Seth Myers
steve Higgins
00:48:55
yeah and Seth and we're we're looking at the board and he's and Lawrence saying "Well
is there any
00:49:02
particular sketch that you felt connected to?" And I said "Yeah that uh this other one this laundry one." Yeah that's not as strong as this one though you
00:49:14
know he hoped you agree and then you're like "No actually you're wrong
what you just picked uh would never work." Um if
00:49:22
yours is better oh you're a novice it's not your fault but we'll take care of it
00:49:28
is there anyone you don't like that'll be the
Marcy any more popcorn don't bother
brian he's starving help him
he
00:49:37
But yeah I mean it is uh there's nothing like it we've It's been called an athletic event on this show by some
00:49:42
people like a sporting event
it's tactile it's It's uh
high r I I don't know i mean just we got to get you back on i want to co-host with you and David
00:49:55
I would love to go back on because it is you know Steve Higgins said uh there's two things I I two pieces of advice I can give you
and I and I had known Steve before because I worked with his
00:50:07
brothers Al Higgins and David Higgins who were connected to Malcolm al was one of the writers of Malcolm dave Higgins was one of the actors on the show um so Steve says two things f first and
00:50:20
foremost trust the cards
don't think you can go off the cards and I got this i know what it is because they're constantly changing cues are changing lines are ch trust the cards and second
00:50:32
don't try to be perfect allow it to not be perfect allow it to be
wherever it's
00:50:38
going to go
it's part of the fun yeah yeah and so I took it that advice and I think by doing so I mean I had a blast
00:50:46
and man that 90 minutes was over in it felt like
two seconds oh yeah
it felt like you know 85 minutes it was amazing
00:50:57
yeah the energy that comes because you gra you're going when you host that show you're pretty wiped out by the time the
00:51:03
dress and all this stuff and you're coming out and you're like damn and then of course it just it just comes when you
00:51:09
need it as soon as you hear that
and it's adrenaline
yeah and then to hear Don for the first time I'm backstage at
00:51:16
that door with the facade and people are scribbling their names on the thing is and you're waiting behind the door and I
00:51:22
was standing there going "Oh my god I'm about to host Saturday Night Live."
Oh my god and I just I just took a couple deep breaths and then I hear Don
00:51:34
Partardo's voice going and host Brian Quin you know and I went that freaked me out and the door opens and out we go and it was Oh god like shot out of a cannon
00:51:50
well Brian before you go I definitely want to tell you it's great first of all great to have you second of all
to have
00:51:57
a line like um I won't get it exactly right but that scene when you say I am the danger everyone knows it everyone
00:52:03
talks about it it's great to have a show it's already everyone's all over it but
00:52:08
then to have such a cool thing what a blast
i It It possessed me i was completely possessed by that show and the acting and Aaron Paul all of it was
00:52:21
just so new and different i try to think cuz I was talking to someone I got Sopranos Breaking Bad you know when they say television's better than movies you
00:52:32
know like
to be up in that category
i thought Ozarks was really good there's been a lot of other shows but I can for
00:52:38
sure say Sopranos Breaking Bad like if you have people haven't seen Sopranos you got to watch that haven't seen
00:52:44
Breaking Bad you got to watch that and I think they're seinal i think they're some The Wire also is
The Wire is
00:52:51
another one there are others
where it's like not arguable people like "Okay okay."
It almost didn't happen for me
00:52:57
either um we were we were finishing Malcolm in the Middle seventh season and Fox said "Keep all the sets up we might pick it up for an eighth season." Then
00:53:10
they turned around and a month later said in May of ' 06 "No we had a good pilot season so we're we're done with Malcolm thank you very much." We're all a little disappointed it would have been
00:53:20
it would have been fun but later that year is when Vince Gilligan wanted to see me for for Breaking Bad and we shot
00:53:28
the pilot for Breaking Bad in February and March of ' 07 had Malcolm in the Middle gone that
00:53:35
eighth year
i'm not doing Breaking Bad someone else is
wow
so it's I try to tell that to to young actors all the time to say luck has a weird way of working so just when something happens
00:53:48
that you think is bad luck it may be putting you in a position to have better luck you don't know
yeah that's I love
00:53:55
Paul Newman for a lot of reasons you know his charitable work but he always people would try to go how great and
00:54:01
cool and Luke and how great you are
he goes it comes down to one thing dumb luck you know whether that's completely
00:54:07
true or not but you know there is whimsy whimsy to this life and whimsical things
00:54:13
happen in show business you never know but you still should not have taken a [ __ ] on his Red Sox
no that's crazy
that
00:54:21
was that was a mistake
i know but I did have a dream last night i'll leave you with this i had a dream last night cuz I thought of you as in a way like archetypal like you could you could have
00:54:32
been an actor from the 40s or 50s or whatever just because of who you how you look you're timeless in a
00:54:39
way and Henry Fonda came to me in the dream and I said "Well what do you think of these young actors?" Brian Cranston he said "Well he's as good as anybody's ever been he sure knows his way around a
00:54:52
camera would have loved to have done a movie with Brian Cranston." And then I woke up you know I said to my wife "Well
00:54:58
I I just heard Henry Fonda talking about Brian Cranston." So I just wanted to do that for you
thank you
no one asked me
00:55:05
to do Henry Fonda anymore no
that's a perfect Henry Fonda unfortunately you got to be 60 to to to know who he is they only remember Jimmy Stewart they don't remember Spencer Tracy Carrie
00:55:17
Grant it's Jimmy Stewart because of the Christmas movie
it's a wonderful life ryan looks like a little bit like
00:55:23
Springsteen today oh
don't you think a little bit
he does look a little There's an underbite there
00:55:30
got an underbite yeah
I like cool
ryan thank you buddy
all right such a pleasure and uh good luck and everything and um I'm going to go
00:55:41
see this Wes Anderson picture
i'm going to see this
Phoenician scheme
the Phoenician scheme why not
phoenician
00:55:47
scheme and we got Malcolm coming out soon i love it all
yep
thanks guys
okay bud
have a good day
be well buddy you
00:55:53
too
this has been a presentation of Odyssey please follow subscribe leave a like a review all this stuff smash that button whatever it is wherever you get your podcasts fly on the Wall is
00:56:05
executive produced by Dana Carve and David Spade Jenna Weiss Burman of Odyssey and Heather Santoro the show's
00:56:11
lead producer is Greg Holtzman