00:00:00
Let me see what you got space. Look, not as good. Not as good. Scribbles. I called for line and we didn't have any system in place uh for line.
00:00:11
So, calling it back from the booth. I hear our poor stage manager go. What are you going to do? Yeah, you have to tell the audience there's real bullets and you're really
00:00:22
shooting at each other. This is a great idea, D. Put it on the play bill. That's the kind of producing we need.
00:00:29
So, Billy Crudeup is what did we He's on the morning show. He's in Pre Fontaine,
00:00:37
right? Yeah. I was really excited to talk to Billy cuz I've just, you know, he he's
00:00:44
one of those just kind of always good actors, you know, uh everything he does is great. He amazing in the morning show, like electric. Yeah. And yet he's sort of under the radar as
00:00:56
a celebrity. I don't know how you describe those kinds of people. He's always good, but he's he's not around.
00:01:02
Then he comes in. He's always great. And he's in Jay Kelly, which he was promoting with
00:01:07
with Sandler and George Clooney. Yeah. And just very, very interesting guy to talk to. Very interesting. Yes. Adam says a lot of great things about him because once we talked to him,
00:01:19
I went on the road with Adam and loves this dude. Thinks he's a big star. He's a greatlooking cool dude that uh you you guys got into that prefontaine
00:01:30
movie a lot. Yeah. And he starred as Steve Pre Fontaine. There was a few movies about this famous Olympic runner uh from the
00:01:37
70s and his his was great. He did a great job with that. So, I don't know. It was just fun talking to a guy like
00:01:42
that, you know. He's in so many once you see his face. He's he's very well known anyway, but
00:01:47
you go, "Oh, that guy." Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. We were watching Spotlight last night. It's a Michael Keaton movie.
00:01:52
Is he in Spotlight? and and then he shows up in spotlight. It's like and he's great, you know. So anyway, really
00:01:58
fun, nice guy and um highly entertaining, highly intelligent. Anyway, I enjoyed it. I hope you will. Here he is. Billy Crud.
00:02:11
We're not going to talk about how good-look he is. We're going to skip that cuz people get sick of Look at those notes. My
00:02:17
look at goodness. Let me see what you got. Space. Look. Not as good. Not as good.
00:02:26
Scribbles. The man who prepares. That's right. You and uh I found Justin Throw. When I found out you were friends, I went, "Oh, that makes sense." Yeah. We
00:02:37
This is how I connect it. Goodlooking guys, handsome guys. Cuz I mean, obviously Spade are, you know, sex
00:02:44
symbols with a small s, but you guys And you don't you don't play it up that much. The small what? Which S? Is it the sex or the symbol that's small? I don't know. Or the wiener.
00:02:56
Wait, somewhere an angel gets their wings when he says wiener. Got it in fast this show. This is where Justin and I met. We were doing a play in New York and he and Paul
00:03:08
Giamotti and I were all in it and the three of us used to uh take breaks regularly while the rest of them were doing drama to go play video games uh near Time Square. And that's when he and
00:03:20
I became friends back in 1996. Whoa. I love it. There's something about you guys. I'd say two excons, you know, white collar criminals become undercover
00:03:30
cops and it's called we know all the tricks. We go to the same surgeon. We've been
00:03:36
using the same guy year after year. GM decided to go with a different guy. God, these are three of my favorites. You're you're already in my top three. Giamotti I love talking to Justin and
00:03:49
now you we could stop right now. You guys are my because that guy's both those two are
00:03:54
incredible. I can't keep up with them. Well, Gio is just Yeah, he's a monster. Yeah. Are you in New York now? Uh I'm in LA right now just doing some press and stuff. Um
00:04:05
now now here's a big question everyone gets with you. Is it three options are crudeup crudup or some people pronounce it? Uh, [ __ ] face.
00:04:17
[ __ ] My family and I have always pronounced it. Crudeup. Uh, crude up. It's German and I think there used to be an umla over it. An umla. Yeah, like in Lowen.
00:04:30
Crudop. Yeah. I'm doing a movie with Kud. That's right. You did that play where you played 14 characters. You What What were some Did you do a lot of
00:04:42
different voices and accents? Can you do seven of them? Could you do I've already seen German.
00:04:48
Babe, I'm not giving it away for free, pal. If you know something on the side, I'll give you three. I'll give you
00:04:54
I heard that movie multiplicity with Katon was seven or eight. That was I thought that was impossible, but this was a play where you came out naked and then you do 14 characters.
00:05:06
It's there's I think you're conflating two things. Oh, I'm not a good researcher.
00:05:11
That's right. Your fantasies and the actual off Broadway production. actually know the the theater that I did do the
00:05:17
play in, that was the first place I ever did a play in New York in 1994. And in fact, there was a scene where I appeared uh completely naked for $225 a week in
00:05:28
what I might say was a relatively chilly theater. That being said, I would say that you had
00:05:36
the play bill. It was it was an esoteric think piece on Japanese internment camp. So, I'm sure you didn't miss it, Spade.
00:05:42
You know what? I was sick that week, but um I usually try to get out and watch the boards.
00:05:49
Spade worked as a stand in naked guy. Remember the Broadway show you did Spade? There was guys supposed to be naked and then you would stand in for him. It was kind of a shadowy thing
00:06:00
and that was the last time we used standins on stage. Yeah, it was the stage version of Police
00:06:05
Academy for said there's no such thing as a standin. He's like, "I'm here and I'm naked, so
00:06:11
shouldn't when I'm a standin, the audience goes like this, girl or boy?" And they go,
00:06:17
"Um, they just go spade." That's all. Yeah. They go, "It's a spade, whatever that is." The, uh, the other one that I did was,
00:06:25
um, uh, just I told a story for, you know, an hour about a guy who's going through a bit of an identity crisis. And he's from Indiana, but he grew up wanting to speak with a British accent.
00:06:37
So his dad beat the [ __ ] out of him. And he'd never none of them had ever been to England, but he didn't like he didn't
00:06:43
like that his son liked to speak like this all the time. And so he came up with this other alter ego which was
00:06:49
like, "Oh, go you want to [ __ ] with me? Go [ __ ] yourself. How about that, Dad? You know, take this punch in the nuts, you know." So there was uh that kind of
00:06:56
character was going back and forth. So I was having dialogues between the two of them. And so by the end of it, you just
00:07:02
feel like you've seen a story and then the lights come up and it's just one dude. So you go, "Oh, theater's fun." So
00:07:09
that was the kind of whole Is that the 14 one you're saying? Yeah. Oh, wow. So you had to do all that is
00:07:15
very tough to do. It was it well it it was so tough in fact David that they uh during the first preview uh first week of previews I I went up I forgot my lines and um so we didn't I've never
00:07:29
forgot my lines like that and uh I started to have a full-blown panic attack. You know you get tunnel vision
00:07:35
my heart's coming out of my chest and there's only 150 people there. It's not like anything terrible is gonna happen but still
00:07:41
you feel responsible for their $30 in each uh seat. So I called for line and we didn't have any system in place uh for line. So calling it back from the booth I hear our poor stage
00:07:53
manager go at which point I just I [ __ ] my pants the full warm pitch everywhere. I cut about 20 minutes from the show and it's
00:08:05
a thriller that your things are supposed to accumulate over time so nobody knew what the hell I was talking about. And
00:08:10
then I get home and um my wife is like, "I'm sure it wasn't that bad." And I'm telling this story a couple years later
00:08:17
and there's silence at the we're at a um a brunch and there's silence at the end of the table and that this director who
00:08:23
my wife knows says, "Gabby, you you I'm sure it wasn't that bad, right?" And she goes, "I was at that production and that
00:08:30
night, one of the worst experiences of my life." I said, "Well, but you know what? You weren't paying the audience would never forget it,
00:08:41
though. I'd actually rather see a debacle because it was it was a complete train wreck.
00:08:46
Why do they sound live?" Yeah. This just I we have so many It's going to be a two hour. But uh why do they say
00:08:52
when an actor loses uh their train of thought or they've gone up? Is that their expression?
00:08:57
I I I mean this is the first time I've thought about it, Dana, but I suppose because when you forget your lines, you typically go like this.
00:09:05
Oh yeah. Looking for you look up because you go, "Wait, what am Yeah, I maybe that's it. I don't know.
00:09:11
I'm sure there's a better explanation." The first few beats they think you're acting so they don't know. And then
00:09:16
someone is it you're standing supposed to yell it out. Is someone respond? Well, typically it's a stage manager,
00:09:22
but actually that reminds me of another time that I went up, but I didn't have a panic attack on this one. It was just a
00:09:27
quick, you know, as you get older, you I think this is my theory, guys. any actor already has a brain that's hardwired for internalizing text. So you can take a speech, you read it once or
00:09:40
twice and you know the general gist of it. You get the story of it and the words kind of go and you just have a
00:09:46
brain that's ready for that and as you get older that starts to atrophy a bit and you don't until you're front of
00:09:53
people and all of a sudden the words aren't there. And I was doing a play with Martha Plimpmpton and Ethan Hawk
00:10:00
amongst many others. And I had this big long like five minute monologue. And at the beginning of it, I went up and that
00:10:08
was the first time I'd really gone up on stage and I thought it was kind of funny. So, I just kind of paused and I'm
00:10:16
supposed to be lecturing the whole group and they're listening to me and I paused
00:10:21
and I was like, it works. This is an awkward experience. And so, I went and sat down and just kind of put my hands together waiting for the lines
00:10:31
to come. And to watch Martha Plimpmpton go from fake listening to real listening
00:10:37
was like my most joyful feel. was like listening like this and then she was like,
00:10:43
"Oh, so something's happening." Yeah. This isn't the way it's supposed to go. They have to adjust their acting cuz you're adjusting. You're acting. They're like, "Oh, he's doing this happening."
00:10:54
Exactly. Somebody might They think you're coming over to make a new move on your speech and they're
00:10:59
like, "Okay, we're doing this now." Right. There might be Billy's going to improv some Tom Stoppper.
00:11:04
Some Tom Stopp. It was It was a Tom Stoppper play. improvising there. That's funny. Sounds like a Dennis Miller reference. Christ. Oh, Dennis Miller had some great
00:11:15
references. Tommy Stoppper, you know, it's like the Sam Shepard of the East Side. All right.
00:11:22
I don't know where that came out of. I just watched Baby Boom last night with my wife in honor of Diane Keaton. Yeah,
00:11:30
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00:11:36
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00:12:53
So, where do you want to begin? I mean, morning shows out now. Yep. We've got the uh fourth season out
00:12:59
now. Uh, and um, you know, it feels like we did it more than a year ago. I could barely remember what happened, but great
00:13:10
experience working on it. I've never worked on a character, you know, more than a couple of months. So, to return
00:13:16
to this uh, this guy where they keep writing, you know, weird [ __ ] for me to do has been it's been really fun.
00:13:23
Actually, the the the best part has been the just being with the cast and the crew because it's been seven years now
00:13:29
and you never get a chance when um you I mean you've had the you know I do plays
00:13:36
and movies and wherever kind of the jobs come up so it's like three months somewhere and you get really intense with a group of people and then you
00:13:42
don't see them again for a while. So this one getting to come back again to Los Angeles year and a year with the
00:13:47
crew and the cast has been that's been [ __ ] awesome. I'll say that uh this true story. So my
00:13:52
wife and I are watching I guess season three or something and John Ham's in it and you're in it and you know you with live streaming shows you you sometimes you miss a season you come back. So we
00:14:04
watched your character who's sort of a genius egoomaniac and just and by the end of it we went [ __ ] Billy Cra. I mean
00:14:14
we both said he we were just sort of reintroduced to you by that that season and that arc and that character where someone is so in the pocket and so rhythmic and so connected and those
00:14:26
monologues and your alpha maleo confidence. It just must have been a blast but it really landed with us. were
00:14:33
like, "Hey honey, want to watch anything else?" Like, "Fucking Billy C." I had I had to convince them though.
00:14:39
They didn't want me for that part. I had I had just done that um play where I was
00:14:44
doing all those different characters. So, I was like, "No, if you guys give me a lot to say, I bet I can do it." Okay. And then when I
00:14:51
read that specific character, if you've ever spent any time in New York and gone to a gala of any kind,
00:14:58
it's just riddled with dudes who are room readers looking for the power that they they don't care about the charity.
00:15:05
They don't care about their jobs, whatever. They just want to be in proximity to power and they know how to read people. They talk fast. They think
00:15:12
fast. They're very proud of themselves. They've never failed before. If they have, they thought it was a lark. And so
00:15:19
that's not how I live. It's a sweaty experience for me being in those. But I I knew those guys. And so when those
00:15:26
monologues started to come, um the writer Carrie Erin, she just started writing them for me. Like she would use the kinds of ways of speaking that I would use. So it was I and I never had
00:15:38
that experience either. It was just she was teeing it up for me. So all I had to figure out how to do is think more
00:15:45
quickly because the guy thinks in paragraphs. He isn't thinking, you know, like little phrases. And he's sure he's
00:15:52
seeing around corners, knows a lot more than everybody else does. Very proud of himself. It's very easy. It's a good
00:15:59
character in that environment, too, because everybody's so um it all the the stakes are so high. Everything's so kind of wound tight. Yeah. So tightly wound. So when you got a guy
00:16:10
who comes in and goes, "Hey, this won't be a problem. Let me tell you the 50." Very LZ fair. The audience gets a quick reprieve and
00:16:17
then you get back to the drama. So the smartest guy in the room who knows he's the smartest guy in the room.
00:16:22
And you know what's funny too is that there are plenty of producers out here and politicians too who will either come up to me or come up to my agent and say, "That's based on me, isn't it?" Because
00:16:34
they're sure they're the smartest guy in the room. Really? And Bernie Sanders said that to
00:16:40
you. Wait, how would he have said it, Dana? Yeah, I'm You base the character on me.
00:16:48
Did you Did you just have a cup of coffee? This is how I talk. I'm 8. Do not proceed.
00:16:54
Why do him as a crosswalk guard in my stand up back? Don't proceed. Don't proceed. The system's rigged. The system's rigged. Uh, he has a lot of
00:17:05
energy for an 84 year old. He sure does. He's only 84. Yeah. Uh Billy got a good line in the pilot where well well the setup is we're setting the
00:17:16
whole stage for the whole series. But I I thought the pilot was super cool because it's very glossy, very
00:17:22
expensive. It looks great. Mimi Leader I guess is director from the old ER days maybe.
00:17:28
Indeed. She she probably those warers. And so when he when when uh Steve Carell gets fired and Jennifer Anderson is sort of soaking in it and and he says nobody
00:17:39
wants to watch a widow get [ __ ] Oh yeah. I'm like if I was reading the pilot I would circle that and go make sure that
00:17:45
stays in. Let me tell you and that was a temp one. They were like we're going to go ahead and do a couple takes of this. Uh we're
00:17:52
not entirely sure. And I have to say, I think we have a couple others that were even uh
00:17:58
um I I don't know is the right way. Yes. For for more late night audience. But you need those lines that stand out like that. Everyone goes, "Whoa." Okay. And I would say it and and they they go
00:18:12
cut and I'd say, "I need a shower." That would man are you guys actually to put that
00:18:18
out there? Yeah. that Steve Carell being a bad guy is just so much fun to watch.
00:18:23
Oh, that was great. He was brilliant in that. I was sad to see him go. Such a sweet sweet guy. Um there's one
00:18:31
little fetish I have about this this interview and that is that you play I'm a track and field guy and I am such a
00:18:39
a distance running mile through about preunting. Yes. Yeah. And um you know yours is I'm a play the field guy but go ahead.
00:18:50
Okay that's similar but not the same. You're not a dick that's not a dick athlete. That's a dick athlete. Right. That's something like that. Yeah. I I interrupted Dan. Dana is actually a
00:19:03
good runner. So I'm glad we're talking about that. I was during that running and prefontaine was the beetle of of
00:19:09
distance running and Jared Leto did one of called prefontaine the year before and then yours was without limits and you had Donald Sutherland and I was just curious about your training. What did
00:19:20
you did you do sports in high school? I did. Um I you know my dad was kind of a jockey guy. granddad, he he set records, high school records in in boxing and football and track in North
00:19:33
Carolina and he had all the pictures up, all the clippings um and the trophies and stuff. And my dad was always trying to live up to that. Tried out for the semi-pro uh Jets team, but uh blew out
00:19:47
both shoulders and uh was selling yarn. Um but he he was obsessed. a natural next move. You know, every all of the guys who don't make it into the semi-pro league
00:19:59
ending yarn one way or the other. Um but he had a a a crazy affection for sports. Um you know, it it um it ended up coming out um in a not necessarily
00:20:15
legal way. He was a he was a bookie for many years. Uh but we had TVs on all the
00:20:21
time and so sports it was a big thing. I don't know if you guys ever saw the great Santini.
00:20:27
Uh I we both lived it. We had kind of that was my dad. Oh, really? When my dad saw that, he called us sports fans for about two years. And he he was the kind of guy who My brother played baseball in
00:20:39
high school. And my dad would bring, you know, uh six-ack of Miller High Life or
00:20:45
whatever, start to get drunk in the stands, start yelling at the umpire, get kicked out to the parking lot where he
00:20:51
had another six-pack, and start laying on the horn and uh yelling at him from out in the parking lot. So, there was a
00:20:57
lot of sports. Um, and I was, you know, I was the feelings guy. I was short and,
00:21:02
uh, skinny and I'd put on shows and stuff, but I liked to compete. And about when you
00:21:07
get to high school, um, first of all, a fast ball your freshman year, if if you're not feeling
00:21:14
it, that that looks really fast. And baseball wasn't going to be the thing for me. and uh soccer, which I had
00:21:21
played since I was like, you know, first grade or whatever, I became, you know, a lot slower as the
00:21:28
guys got faster. So much so they called me Flash for a while and I thought, "Nope, that's not for me either." But I
00:21:34
had always um I had wrestled since fourth grade and that's when, you know, it's a handicap system, so you're always
00:21:40
wrestling guys your weight. So I wrestled when I was in high school, but I was not a great asset to the team. Uh
00:21:46
the year I was your weight class. Yeah. What were you? I was 148. Um, and I think we had 152 at
00:21:53
the time. Were you? That's That's big for I would have wrestled. Oh, you were a heavyweight. I don't even know how tall you I don't know anything.
00:22:07
It's not necessarily fat. It's good. I would have wrestled it at 112. I think I was about honestly I was 114 or something. I was like a [ __ ] full pipsqueak. But I I loved the
00:22:18
competition. So when I I uh I got to do that movie. Yeah. I did like exercising and stuff. But there was a a woman named Patricia Donley who was in another of
00:22:30
Robert Town's movies called Personal Best. Um which was Yeah, you remember that, David.
00:22:36
I do sort of I know you do. And Robert Town made a lot of great movies. There was a relationship between two of
00:22:43
the athletes and there was a shower scene. That's why I'm thinking you might remember that. All right, let's look at the
00:22:48
Yeah. So, we did our research about you and you did your research about David. That mean the research comes from just taking
00:22:55
a hard look at him right there. There's nothing to know. It's all right. shoot. So, um, she said, "Listen, the the the
00:23:04
thing that'll screw you up if you do this is if we run anything more than 200 meters at a time because we're going to
00:23:10
we're going to do these takes and then we're going to there's going to be an hour between the setup and during that
00:23:16
time if you cool down, you're going to tear something when we get back up and going again." So, I'm only going to
00:23:22
train you with intervals. And we spent about like six weeks um training out here. And the guy ran in a kind of
00:23:28
specific way. He's sort of barrelchested and barrel chested ran with his bumped arms a little bit.
00:23:34
Exactly. He's kind of giving it um and yeah, he wasn't as efficient as some of the other runners. He liked to run with guts. So I I just had a incredible time
00:23:45
getting to hang out with all those people and and and some really worldclass athletes and runners, you
00:23:51
know, that and all of them when when when you see middle distance runners, it looks like they're jogging.
00:23:57
They're running like four-minute mile pace, you know, they're just so efficient with their movement. And a four-minute mile pace for anybody else
00:24:04
is a full sprint. Learning how to do that, you know, was um that was that was a really fun
00:24:10
experience. chunk together and it looks like they're all going medium totally because they're all together but if anyone else was running they wouldn't be
00:24:20
able to keep up but 100% you can't really tell the cardio on those guys it's unusual
00:24:26
they all have you know pretty physiologically unique bodies yeah V2 max is a big
00:24:32
V2 max measurement and prefontaine was 84 85 uh there was a Norwegian crosscountry skier that was 93 then some of that people stop testing. But
00:24:43
Lance Armstrong apparently was an 83 or an 84. He knew he couldn't beat a 91 or a 92. Just the engine, your the way your
00:24:50
oxygen gets to your muscles and through your your cardiovascular system, heart, lungs, arteries, and all that.
00:24:56
And so if you're really efficient and you have a gift like you have a head start a little bit.
00:25:02
Yeah, you definitely do. That's the gift of it. You just can run and then you can train it. But what so I I thought it was
00:25:08
great. I thought you really captured it. And Donald Sutherland was uh was great as Bowerman. So that that was a
00:25:15
tremendous movie. I don't Conrad Hall um who shot Bonnie and Clyde, he he was our cinematographer and
00:25:22
you know the fact of the matter I was just scared shitless. that was my first like big part and
00:25:28
I did not want to let anybody down and I I wasn't sure that I was up for the task, you know, and so I couldn't really
00:25:35
ever take the time to enjoy the fact that I got to was getting a chance to work with these, you know, great people. I I Con Conrad Hall was testing out some new
00:25:47
equipment uh because he wanted to do these these specific kinds of shots where he was using a very long lens at uh magic hour. So low light long lens
00:25:59
means you have a very small depth of field which means the focus puller if you are running at him has to be able to
00:26:05
keep up with you in a very precise way otherwise it you know you'll be like in real time it's constant real time he was developing the laser at
00:26:13
the time he was one of the first ones using the laser to try to well meanwhile I'm running over these hills again and
00:26:19
again and again he's like all right we got precisely which is not the exact great attitude to take with Conrad Hall
00:26:25
uh so Never. So, it was it was uh it was a bit of a mixed bag. I look back at it now and I
00:26:32
think, "Oh, man. I wish I wasn't such a I know. I thought you came I thought your pre was great and I thought you
00:26:38
actually had a resemblance once you got the kind of wig on and everything and you're playing this insecure but
00:26:44
hyperconfident, hyper cocky. I mean, Pri was so charismatic. He was about I'll get it down to a pure guts
00:26:51
race because then no one can beat me. His interviews are bonkers when you look I mean he had such incredible confidence
00:26:58
and uh he also he he had he was kind of preient about uh athletics as well. He was one of the first guys who was advocating saying you're not paying for anybody you should pay for somebody. I mean these amateur athletes are busting
00:27:10
their balls. They're living in you know squalor and um the colleges are making money off of it. Yeah, I've always said that like the Olympics is another feels like a scam
00:27:21
because you go there, you train your whole life and then it's over and then even if you won what's next coaching I
00:27:28
mean totally you you win or you lose even worse. So you trained all that for nothing or whatever and then you go I have to start
00:27:36
studying for a life or a career or this because I love amateur athletics and I do love it. It's a big sacrifice for sure. It sucks. I mean, I'm I went to Carolina, so I'm a college basketball
00:27:48
fan and trying to figure out uh I one of the things that is exciting about watching co college athletics is you will inevitably be watching a game where
00:27:59
a young person becomes themselves and they'll do it in front of a crowd of 30,000 people and it is incredible to
00:28:06
watch. All of a sudden, this young athlete becomes the professional athlete that he's going to be the rest of his
00:28:11
life. And that's cool. you know, you don't if if you're paying for it one way or another,
00:28:17
I'm not sure you're going to get the same experience, but obviously I always thought if it should be deferred income,
00:28:22
they should be able to um there's like a pool of money that at 25 they start to get uh um tap into the rest of their lives or something like that. But
00:28:34
well, at least they can do n I mean name, image, likeness. They can monetize. Yeah, they can do that. Yeah, exactly. So that's, you know, they almost don't use any of those letters. It's just money.
00:28:46
It's like, what happened to the image like they go, "No, no, we'll just shovel you some cash." Well, some of those attractive people or
00:28:53
gymnasts, they can go on Instagram, whatever. They they make really good money. They got to stay in school. But
00:28:59
there's a lot of money in professional sports. I'll just go out and say it. I don't know if that's a hot take. It is.
00:29:05
But you want to get like Brock Perie in the 49ers got he he came in as the you know the last guy drafted and then he had these great seasons but he got his contract. He's hurt now
00:29:17
and it had a guarantee. Yeah. He's rolling out there with 900 grand a year when everyone else is getting 40 million. He must be like my
00:29:23
ship better come in soon. Right. If he finishes this game then he's on to his $200 million contract.
00:29:29
Oh, he's tackled. He's down. They're taking him off. Yeah. I wouldn't give it to him. I wouldn't give it to him. $3,800.
00:29:37
Heartbreaking. So brutal. They're calling it now. I mean, they've got the they've got the lines up on every game while you're watching them.
00:29:43
So like probability to have a career will be the next one. We have nine lives. We can keep coming back. It's true. I watch those running backs. They're
00:29:54
like, "This is the running back for the next four years." And they they pull their hamstring. They go, "Next guy up.
00:30:00
We forgot about the other guy already." Oh god. It's unreal. It really is. It's a That's a rough one.
00:30:07
Shall we talk about Jay Kelly? Oh, yeah, man. Let's talk. I don't want to drive the interview
00:30:12
because I could talk to you about pre for a half hour. I Well, I I it was it was a fun
00:30:17
experience and and typically it's the people who were runners in high school or college um that that respond to it.
00:30:23
So, I'm always happy to talk about it. But yeah, Jay Kelly, you know who does some running in this? George Clooney.
00:30:29
Clooney. trailer. He's He's not doing the same kind of running. Um he's running from something.
00:30:35
But uh yeah, what is the premise? Well, the premise is there's a guy who's in the last part of his career, an
00:30:42
actor, a big famous fat movie star, and he's got two daughters who he has a kind of um uh unfamiliar relationship with. They both wanted more from him
00:30:55
than he could give. and he finishes this one big picture and he's at home, has a
00:31:02
like sort of brief rest and his mentor dies and he goes to the memorial, sees some of his old friends, some of his old classmates and realizes that maybe in this process of trying to pursue this
00:31:15
career, he's missed out on his life. And you know, for me, there's something just
00:31:22
gorgeous about George playing that character, the and Adam is his agent in it. and is absolutely spectacular. Um
00:31:29
but and he's really loving, adoring, kind nice guy in it, right? Sure. I mean, beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. And and George is too. And you know,
00:31:41
it's up also too about America and how we attach our own expectations on the movie stars. That's like the the gilded idea. What if everything goes perfect?
00:31:52
you could end up with this sort of life where limousines are always uh pulling up for you and you're in the perfect
00:31:59
world. And is it perfect? It's it's a it's a great interesting concept because someone who doesn't get to do that, they have their kids and they give up their career. The whole life they're going,
00:32:09
"Wow, what if I had that?" You know, I never got that. And then the person gets it goes, I didn't get that. I didn't get
00:32:15
the other thing which they got. I'm going to put this out there for you guys to uh discuss. But I do think
00:32:21
there's something very American about that. This uh capitalistic idea that we're the land of opportunity leaves a
00:32:28
lot of people feeling like because most of the lives that people lead are normal
00:32:33
and they are fine but they're not gilded. And so when we in this country has the expectation that you have all the opportunity in the world. Most people end up feeling like oh my great
00:32:44
life is about to start. And meanwhile, while you're waiting for your great life to start, you miss your life.
00:32:51
Rather than accepting the fact that, you know, you can still work hard. You might have some there might be some great uh
00:32:57
payoff there, but there's a beautiful life to be had just the same. Um but I think there's some of that in Jay Kelly. Yeah. You know, it's funny because they always say, "Tell your kids you can do
00:33:07
anything in the world." Like, you can't. Right. I mean, that's that's a little exactly overreaching because then the whole time
00:33:13
they'll be whatever they're doing like wait, I could do anything. thing and you're like not really. That's what that's what I mean. And and
00:33:18
and you you end up feeling my dad he like felt like [ __ ] about himself the whole time because he never hit the
00:33:23
jackpot. And that's a tough you know death of a salesman is all about that. There's an
00:33:29
American kind of ideal that uh there there if you don't make it then you have failed and by make it you know like you're the big wig and in good things system there's whimsy to it like uh my
00:33:43
friend knew someone who just was a nice young woman out of junior college or something got a job at Apple in 97 got
00:33:50
shares retired millionaire you know we're in a casino where people can pull the slot and I'd say the the things that had to come together
00:34:01
for just me to get on SNL. Yeah. That the previous season wasn't so good. I was there at that time. My manager
00:34:07
Bernie Burlene knew Lauren Michaels. I mean, so there's always whimsy to it and luck. But in the end of the day, most
00:34:14
people are hanging out. Whether it's George Clooney or you and me, you're with your wife watching a
00:34:19
show, going for a run, whatever. Most people just hang out. But it's very difficult, I think, especially right now. Hot take social media. Four young people. Everyone's a star. Everyone's
00:34:32
making millions. Everyone seems to be on in the Mediterranean. Everyone's on a yacht. I see. And they're all curating their lives. None of it's like I'm like, "How much for that shitty picture? Why not post
00:34:43
that one?" Cuz we look terrible. And that's kind of how we felt that day. Wouldn't that that makes for good content?
00:34:48
That might be a real like shows the life that it's not always 10 out of 10 every
00:34:54
second. I I think that would be great. whatever platform is going to uh take over uh I
00:35:02
don't know there's some Instagram correlary in there you could come up with smart guys
00:35:08
everything you get you give up something and everything you give up you get something so
00:35:13
if you're going to get all that fame then you're you're sort of an exotic insect out in the world
00:35:19
that's precisely what Noah is taking a look at and you know I think part of him too was kind of disenchanted with movie
00:35:25
taking um after this movie he did, White Noise came out and he didn't feel like people understood it in the way maybe
00:35:31
that he wanted and so he wanted to make a movie that was about how lovely movie making is and how lovely we the experiences for the people who get to do it. Um so part of it is is really
00:35:43
charmed but there's an underbelly of I think I've really missed my entire life. Uh, and um there there's this
00:35:52
great line by his daughter um where she says, "You know why I know you didn't want to be
00:35:58
there? Because you weren't there." And it's like and and he he goes, "But all of this everything that I've done, all these movies that I've made, all the the ways
00:36:11
in which I I've transformed culture and entertainment, it must be worth something." And she's like, "But what if
00:36:17
it isn't?" You're like, "God, what if talking to that kid?" Because they are just just be like just those two. And yeah, he
00:36:30
goes he, you know, it's probably he's going, "You know, I did all this for you." And she's like, "No, you didn't." That's exactly That's exactly it. And um
00:36:37
it's a it's I think it's a really it's it's a beautiful it would take some of the pretense off
00:36:42
if we got rid of the word acting and said and the you know best pretender goes to he can pretend in front of a lens really good I've never seen a pretender like this
00:36:55
but act now your character in the movie is the one who quite didn't make it who's friends with George yeah he was at acting school um or and they took acting class
00:37:05
so Perfect. And he didn't that always happens. I mean, the our worlds are replete with
00:37:11
them. It's just it's an impossible business. And um and so George's character runs into him at
00:37:18
the memorial. And because George is feeling like he he's just on the on the verge of having that idea that he may have missed out on his life. And he was like, "Hey man, you were one of my buddies back in the day. We should go
00:37:31
have a beer." The guy's like, "Oh, that would be really nice. should I, you know, call your office or something? And
00:37:36
he goes, "No, no, let's go right now." So, they go and have a beer and George's character is kind of regaling him and
00:37:43
like, "Oh, you were the actor we all looked up to or whatever. I could watch you do anything." So, he kind of pure pressures him into doing some impromptu
00:37:50
acting. And so, it's like it's a it's a great weird trick uh that Noah tries to pull
00:37:57
off. Um, and that's Noah Bombck. Yeah, Noah Bombach. We didn't say that. That's no longer Oh, I didn't say that before. Um, director, writer, director, writer. I mean, just a
00:38:10
fantastic collaborator. It was it was it was a completely charmed experience for me to get a chance to do it and work with those guys. So, I I breezed in for four days and now I get to do
00:38:21
um, you know, we went to we went to Venice. No, this is great. Was Adam there? I think he was, right?
00:38:27
He was. We had a great time in Venice and then we went to Tellyide together. So, I feel it's it's all icing on the
00:38:34
cake for me. Yeah. So, behind the scenes, just manto man is Clooney what's what's what's that
00:38:39
all about? Yeah. No, I wanted to give Clooney a compliment in case he hears this, but
00:38:46
yeah, he hasn't had one. Clooney is phenomenal. Uh, he's almost exactly as you might imagine. He has the
00:38:54
most brilliant stories. He is incredibly generous, really gregarious. Um, I remember when we were in Venice, um, the the the paparazzi follows you on boats.
00:39:08
It's kind of nerve-wracking experience. And so Naomi and I were kind of hiding under
00:39:14
the canopy from them. And George does the opposite. He goes up and takes the wheel of the boat and uh, so he can get
00:39:20
all the pictures. He can't escape. He's like Mickey Mouse out in the world. Venice is my Venice is my life. And he's
00:39:27
pretty impressive the number of ways that he's involved not just in the career but involved in our culture and
00:39:34
our politics and um he's out there. He's he's out there. He lives a very very big life.
00:39:39
He did a nice thing early on and came to the premiere of either Black Sheep or Tommy Boy and talked to my mom for 10
00:39:45
minutes and my mom will always remember it. Yeah. And he was he was killing it then. He's actually never really been not killing
00:39:51
it for most people. From er on it's been up here. So even back then, he talks about his career with a level of humility, too, that is unusual for someone who's accomplished the the kinds
00:40:03
of things that he's accomplished. Um, but he still has that old memory of being a working actor, not having er
00:40:10
yet, trying to get jobs, doing some shitty movies. I mean, he doing facts of life. Facts life. Yeah.
00:40:16
He and Laura Durn were on the the stage at New York Film Festival talking about the fact that they had both been in Grizzly 2. Uh which wasn't someone else
00:40:28
just told us that. Yes. Until like recently. And it's like they die in the first scene, but they're
00:40:33
the headliners now on the uh on the case. Oh, that's so funny. Wow. I love George Clooney in The
00:40:39
Descendants, which is one of a great great one of a movie one of those movies that my wife and I will visit once in a
00:40:46
while. Yeah, because it's so brilliant. And his scene at the end where he says goodbye to his wife in the hospital, that is
00:40:52
masterclass. I mean, that's as good as it gets. I agree, you know. Yeah, I agree. He's a superb actor and he's
00:40:58
and there is a funny kind of thing that happens in the movie is there's a tribute to Jay Kelly
00:41:05
and you you see the George Clooney movies the actual ones. That's funny. Oh, funny. So, it's kind of spoiler alert there. Yeah. No, that's interesting then. Okay. Reel
00:41:18
them in. Great. And and and it's supposed to be at a film festival. So when we took this to film festivals and watched the film
00:41:26
festival crowd watching George film a tribute it's really it's a exceptional and unique experience and you would you call it dramdy comedy what would you say yeah dramdy sounds good
00:41:38
okay um I always like to bring in a little bit of uh um there's some edge to even
00:41:45
his most light-hearted movies there's something uncomfortable something but George and Adam's relationship in particular is um it's it's really sweet
00:41:56
and um it's executed so well and there's just it's just charming. I think you know we're in the same management company as Adam and you know we know four or five managers you know
00:42:11
so Adam would have a lot to draw from so I'll be interested to see see which one he picks who he leans on. He might be more like himself.
00:42:18
Yeah. and himself as well, you know, cuz he's got a mentor. It's like got like, you know, and we've
00:42:24
all had people in our lives. You can't do this alone. And you can see in some of them raw
00:42:31
ambition in some of them, you can see like distraction. And some of them you can see like they're biting their time,
00:42:37
but very few do you see like some mentorship and like they they see what you specifically uh David Spade have to offer.
00:42:50
Yes. And they're able to promote that in a way that not only uh makes you feel good
00:42:58
about it, but tells the story of you to people who want to hire you. And yeah, that's who he plays in this. Hard to
00:43:04
find. It's hard to find. There's a great line in the movie where Adam says he goes, "You're J. Kelly and I'm J.
00:43:11
Kelly." Exactly. You know, it's becomes like this. And you know, it's I'm sure you've done it yourself. um you know a
00:43:19
young actor you saw in a play or you meet and you want to say nice things or encouragement or and that's a skill set and and an art really too to not look
00:43:30
like you're shining a mom but actually specifically I always say specific compliments absolutely and not condescending either
00:43:37
like oh I'm an old sage or whatever it's really hard to but it's important I mean I remember the
00:43:43
people who um terrific actor Victor Garber who I did uh play with and do you know Victor?
00:43:50
Uh I just remember him being on like Manx. Yeah. So Victor Victor was like a veteran when I was working with him first time but the way that he was supportive was you know unique. It was
00:44:05
it's the kind of thing that you you feel like, oh, okay, this might be a hard profession, but at least there's some people in it who uh I
00:44:13
can align myself with. And right, some people are too competitive. It's not always the case. There's there's not
00:44:18
everyone's out there to help you out. So, that's it's mostly competitive. They want you to go away,
00:44:24
especially if you're any good. They want you out of there. So, it is good to get someone that actually feels
00:44:30
like they give a [ __ ] It's It's unusual. For some reason, soap dish just popped in my mind. I don't know
00:44:35
why. A great movie. I mean, Kevin Klein, though, but there was some kind of competitive thing between them. Soap. Yeah.
00:44:41
I love that scene where he's on stage and he's doing it's but it's dinner theater and he's doing death of a
00:44:48
salesman and somebody's eating and he turns to him and goes, "You're doing very well."
00:44:56
Oh, man. I What's What's the play you're doing? I want to talk about this because this fascinates me. First of all, Jay Kelly,
00:45:03
November 14th in the theaters, number December 5th, Netflix. Okay. So then you London December 17th, High Noon, which I
00:45:11
saw as a kid. Yeah. And I remember it to this day. It really hit me hard. I think I might have been
00:45:16
alone in 10 years old, black and white. Uh you're making High Noon, the Gary Cooper movie, 1950 two, three,
00:45:24
right? As a play in London. Okay, that's great. Tell us about it. There's a great screenwriter, Eric Roth.
00:45:30
He wrote Forest Gump, recently did um uh Star is Born and uh has collaborated on, you know, a million things, probably been nominated for six Academy Awards. He's never written a play before, but he
00:45:43
was really interested in this story. Uh and he he he and I worked briefly together on um The Good Shepherd, it was called. It was a spy movie. And um
00:45:56
uh I I just had a ready affection for him. He was like one of the guys that you're talking about like a real mench
00:46:01
like really wants to uh support and encourage the creative process. He understands how insecure
00:46:08
everybody is and is just a really um expert writer. In any case, um, High Noon, it turns out it was written by a guy who was blacklisted with the timing is not necessarily correspondent,
00:46:23
but what I think he saw coming was that in the face of uh physical threat, people and communities will capitulate. and that um this sheriff who's been taking care of this town for 15 20 years
00:46:39
now and has just turned in his badge. Um the the bad guy is coming back to town on
00:46:46
the high noon train. He's about to leave because he's just married a Quaker and she says, "I don't want you to have anything to do with guns." And the town
00:46:54
is like, "Uh, nope. We'll be totally fine. Don't worry, Marshall." And he's like, "Wait, I can't leave you. I I know what you guys were like before I got here. You're about to get screwed. This
00:47:06
guy is, you know, slaughtered. He is a badass and he shouldn't have been released from jail. I don't know
00:47:11
what happened. The politicians up north released him. But so he goes around to try to get a posi together and everybody's like, "Uh, I
00:47:19
don't know. My shop is in really good shape right now. I'd love to help you." The Apple Dumpling Gang.
00:47:25
Exactly. The Apple Dumpling Gang. Tim Conway pops out of what? Oh, one of my all-time favorites. We
00:47:36
need KN in this one. But so he wrote this um for the stage. Uh and um it's a Who are you? I play the Gary Cooper part. And so I got to figure out who my sheriff is
00:47:48
right now. So that's what I'm gonna I've been watching a lot of westerns now. They're actually great to revisit right
00:47:54
now. There's one called the Oxbow Incident with Henry Fonda. Another one that blew my mind as a kid.
00:48:00
My Darling Clementine. Another great like the first Wyatt Herp story. Henry Fonda again. Freaking incredible. Shane. Um yeah, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
00:48:11
The man who shot Liberty Vance. Valance. That's another phenomenal one. Um so you're in on that. You can sort of help figure out. I'm gonna try to David. We went and
00:48:22
we've got some fantastic um collaborator Thea Sherik who is really um a brilliant director and a great designer named Tim Hadley and an actress named Denise Goff
00:48:35
who is just um otherworldly on on stage and um so yeah, we're going to give that
00:48:42
a go in London. It's exciting. I love theater in London. I saw the fairy man out there and I was
00:48:49
just Oh, that that was a great production. I saw that one as well. Did you see Jerusalem there?
00:48:55
No. Oh, it was another It was a Mark Ryland one. Just sublime. I'd be interested though with the set
00:49:01
design, you know, like a western town. Well, that's the problem of it. Exactly. So, you know, when you watch the movie,
00:49:07
they cut from inside the saloon to then to the barber shop to then up to there. They don't do that on the stage. So,
00:49:13
it's going to take some inventive. Also too, there's a gunfight, you know, how exactly do you stage that uh in a way
00:49:20
that is both, you know, dramatic enough, reveals something about what it means to
00:49:26
be shooting at each other. Yeah, you have to tell the audience there's real bullets and you're really shooting at each other. This is a great idea, David. Put it on
00:49:33
the play bill. That's the kind of producing we need. That's how you need fresh ideas.
00:49:38
Here it is, guys. Real guns. Real guns. Think about it. at lunch. Everybody signed the waiver.
00:49:45
Just say it's after the intermission we use real bullets. It's blank sign. You can decide to leave if you want.
00:49:52
You come to the You want to come to the good show or the bad one? You But Gary Cooper didn't have much dialogue, so you probably won't have a
00:49:58
lot of dialogue in this. you have hit on uh two of the major challenges in uh trying to stage this is he he's he's known as a guy of few words but on stage
00:50:10
that doesn't really translate you know the words are you adding your precious monologues
00:50:16
well so what they've done yes they've given him like an internal monologue um where he um gets to speak to the
00:50:23
audience you know um oh he's thinking yeah no you go like this here's the new one you walk into the horse you Oh yeah.
00:50:29
Check out the saloon. That looks pretty cool. Oh, look. They have a general store. They're like, "Billy, you sure you want to add all this stuff?"
00:50:35
Hold on. I got to write this down. Check out the saloon. What's lot of good filler. Yeah. Yeah. You need
00:50:41
filler. Here's my Gary Cooper. This is your only line in the first act. I reckon I don't know where I'm going to be a goal. Is that Obama?
00:50:53
Oh, no. No, I should have done Henry Fonda. If you have any problem, just do Henry Fonda. Nobody knows what he talks
00:51:00
like anymore. Oh, that's you can use that voice the whole time. He could have done that. Dead on, man. That is dead on.
00:51:07
Nobody wants to listen to anyone but Jimmy Stewart from Oldtimey Actors. Oh, no. I mean, when Henry Fonda, his
00:51:15
voice actually in in those westerns in particular, that's the thing that gives him authenticity. That's the thing that
00:51:20
makes you feel like, oh yeah, that guy seems like a Marshall. Um, well, I figure I better figure out what
00:51:25
I want to do. You know, it's kind of a very distinct rhythm and I can't I don't like your I don't have that one yet, but I'm going to be working on it. Well, you're going to be stoic. And how
00:51:36
how tall are you? I'm 6'2. Okay, so you're fine. I mean, I've played 5'8 my whole life.
00:51:43
Um, but uh so you'll be 6'4 with the cowboy boots on. You know, it's one of those things
00:51:49
like like um when you meet someone of a stature like myself who's running in at about buck 65, 5 5'8, 5'9, um you have to figure out what community would want
00:52:03
him to run the show with respect to law enforcement. So, he's got a couple chances. He's got to be really good at talking. He doesn't mind negotiating uncomfortable situations. And it helps
00:52:14
that this character is a vet. he fought in the Civil War. So, he must have and I there's a couple of guys that I found
00:52:21
online that were small guys who were, you know, um awarded a lot of medals and stuff because they just had a screw loose and they didn't mind going into a dangerous situation. Buddy Murphy,
00:52:34
the third is you got to be really good with guns. Yeah. So, that's those are the ones that I'm
00:52:39
going to lean on primarily is that he doesn't mind getting into weird situations and he's really good with guns. Maybe Kevin Hart could play the
00:52:46
other guy. Um, by the way, if I had him as Frank Miller, people would say, "Well, that that makes a perfect pair." I bet, you
00:52:53
know, Kevin Hart's he's pretty stocky there. He uh Yeah, you think about Dairo. Dairo, he
00:52:59
he plays the power guys, but you know, played the power guys because they got a screw loose. So, there's something
00:53:06
unpredictable about them. And at the, you know, at if you're on the short side of it, what's going to happen is he's
00:53:12
going to rip your throat out. Something, you know, peshy and good fellas. Yeah, precisely. Peshy and good.
00:53:18
Exactly. So, you got to figure out the good guy version of that. That That's interesting. That's
00:53:24
interesting. I might see it. That sounds cool. And, uh, Billy, I have to say, very nice to meet you and, uh,
00:53:30
thank you. I know we're busting your balls, but it's great to have you on here. Right back at you, David. I appreciate
00:53:36
having you. Hey guys, if you're loving this podcast, which you are, be sure to click follow on your favorite podcast app. Give us a
00:53:47
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by Odyssey, an executive produced by Dana Carvey and David Spade, Heather Santoro and Greg Holtzman, Mattie Sprung
00:54:05
Kaiser, and Leah Reese Dennis of Odyssey. Our senior producer is Greg Holtzman. And the show is produced and
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edited by Phil Sweet Tech. Booking by Cultivated Entertainment. Special thanks to Patrick Fogerty, Evan Cox, Mora Curran, Melissa Wester, Hillary Shuff,
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Eric Donnelly, Colin Gainner, Shan Cherry, Kurt Courtourtney, and Lauren Vieiraa. Reach out with us any questions to be asked and answered on the show. You can email us at fly onthealla.com.
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That's audacy.com.