00:00:00
[Music] boo buemi Steve bumi friend of the show
00:00:05
a friend of the show what a treat we got to know him we meaning me and myself and
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I and David got to hang out with him a lot at the uh in Washington DC for the
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Sandler Mark Twain award and so we sang songs together we hung out uh couldn't
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be a nicer guy uh one of our great um I don't know he's just been around a long
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time when Steve bshi is in a movie you're always happy David yeah first of
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all he's very uh interesting dude he's very Earnest he jokes around but he's
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got a very quiet coolness to him he goes back to from right when he hit the scene
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that he's always had such a attenion scene stealing look and and he and he
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backed up with great acting he's just he's a great guy to have around he's in a lot of Sandler stuff and I sort of met
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him to the Sandler verse and then uh I just see him at different events that old Happy Madison party and so we've
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gotten to where we can shoot the [ __ ] and uh it was a great time with him glad he did it yeah the um he's done movies
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with the con Brothers um kind of Fargo was the one that I think got him incredibly noticed
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we talk about that movie yeah and then he's directing a new movie it's his second directing effort in 10 years and
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uh he he goes into that very interesting uh he'll tell you all about that which is fun and he's just a nice humble guy
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he just has um and a great sense of humor yeah we try to get him out of the shell and crack up and uh we all we
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always have fun guys like that who are just innately uh cool dudes and he's got
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a very good Funny Bone so he liked it we cracked up I cracked up yeah without
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further Ado click play and then here a [Music]
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commercial when I did grown-ups uh oh my God a few people remember I heard some Applause um well you were in grownups
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but the one I was in that I don't know if you this was the one you were in the cast which one is that is that both of
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them or is that I was in both of them yeah okay yeah so so the one where but Dana this is
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boring as [ __ ] [ __ ] but and Steve will crack up you're already mesmerized that's good okay so we're doing a drunk
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a scene where we're all around and it's night time and and uh we're all drinking
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and the couples start to pair off in slow dance and this Joe Walsh song comes on or something and I uh or not Jo but
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Sentimental Lady and I go oh no um oh this is a good song and I and I'm drunk
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and I get up and I sort of stumble around then I interrupt Adam and Salma and then I wind up falling down drunk
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but it's a seven page scene and we're all in it so it's hard to shoot so we shoot it all night one night and we get
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to my coverage and they go it's getting like we'll pick that up another time and I'm like another time cuz I just had it
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all memorized because I'm doing it all night I'm like I'm kind of glad I'm last because I have a lot of lines so three
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weeks later McCartney is playing in Boston we're pretty close we might be in
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swamp squat I just do McCartney sounds Yes
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sounds like I thought he was here everyone's looking around when did
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did he jump on so so I go I Chris Rock is in the movie and I say Chris
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McCartney is in Boston tonight and he goes his ticket lady was my third grade
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teacher and I said oh my God he goes let's call her right now and he goes we're all dialed in I said we're done
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around 67 we haul ass we found exactly when he goes on and then he goes any he
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wants to say hi right before we like oh my god wow so about right before the end
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of the day it was maybe Jack or someone came into my trailer and goes we're going to pick yours up tonight I go God
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pick up my what and they go Jack remember that scene you didn't finish I'm like like it's my fault I go
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yeah I didn't finish it right and he goes I think tonight's a good night I go no it's not it's [ __ ] Paul McCartney
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you're just not a worker you know you're not a real worker Paul McCartney waited till midnight to go on he's like are
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they coming God he's 81 and he's up half the night yeah yeah so I go I go waiting
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and then they go I said do not bring that [ __ ] cast in to do all their
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[ __ ] again I go I'll do it I said I can't do that to them so they gladly all scrammed and then it was Sandler you
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know he's overseeing it and then um I'm doing it to you know a bunch of like tennis balls or whatever the ey lines
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and I do my whole seven pages I'm drunk and so I come to video Village this is
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sort of the point of the story yeah and uh can't wait and I'm like like Adam like we got it and uh yes I haven't
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taken any classes but yes I'm really good and I sit there and he's just looking at it going
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uh and I go we watch the playback and I'm behind him kind of chuckling like
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this is working and then he goes were you drunker last time were you was it a
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little it was a little different I don't know if it's matching and I'm like so I go play me back something from the last
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time you know and and so we we're trying to go okay and it was really hard to
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match the exact tone of the drunkenness sounds crazy but I go I'm gonna go under
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on this one and then I come back and then I go okay I'm GNA go a little bigger and we did it until it made sense
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now when you see the movie you don't even notice but it kind of fits in oh you you notice I noticed when I saw it
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you go he's medium David is a little drunker in this line 30 seconds later
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slightly less drunk come just play it six and a half Tios and Diet Cokes and
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I'm like o that's a big one okay I can play that and then um so that just shows
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you first of all Adam's eye is always on the ball yes and and little things like
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that matter and it's you can't tell yourself
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when you're acting and you need someone else's eyes to go it was good I just don't think it's exactly what we had and
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and so it took a little bit of a collap right there and then that's kind of fun when you finish and you feel like you
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got it right and everyone goes got it and then you all go home and you go got it got it and you just knock it out I have two questions for you did you make
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it to the concert not a [ __ ] chance it was till 2 am we did that all right
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well I guess my second question is not a question it's it's a comment about Adam
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because I agree with you he's always so involved in like you know all the all
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the films and I said to him why don't why don't you ever direct yeah I said and he said he didn't
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doesn't want a location scout like that was the extra extra work yeah the reason
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he works morning noon and night anyway I there's block he's reblocking he's doing things that yeah directors all do so
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yeah I think he's listened to so much anyway and it's sort of just uh you know
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uh given that he's going to have a lot of say but uh I guess you're right it's
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that extra well bit like Saturday Night Live if you write a sketch you're sort
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of the deao director we had dve Wilson he's setting up shots he's he's got just it's live so it's not you but you're
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still kind of the boss of your sketch you're the producer and the director if you wrote it you're casting it with
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other cast members and Sandler is like that he's like a co- co-director I mean he's sort of everyone knows he's the
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overarching creative Force he's got his eye on every ball so um I think the way
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it was brilliant you know I don't think anybody else in history has done that many movies where they are in a sense an
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aour right it it is Adam you know and uh he puts his stamp I mean definitely when
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he he the fact that he actually cares and even when we're doing movies where
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you think this will probably not get good reviews just because they have a sort of bias he still puts everything
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into it and really cares I mean another grownup story is do you have a half hour is um we'll get we'll get to you in a
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minute Steve no Steve The Listener is out March 29th I'm juston real question
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that's all I wanted everyone just jump off March 29th if you want a great ride in a movie theater a sophisticated adult
00:08:43
drama beautifully done by Steve Bimi boom your publicist right now is
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actually having a glass of champagne even if they they're in AA they go Steve you can check out for
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the rest of this and now David's paid so now we're GNA David for to ask Stephen
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when did he get fitted for the full body cast and what was his reaction to going
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wait what do I do here or do you see in the script and go uh oh yeah I I could
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tell I was yeah in that one even on the day like because I remember and and the
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whole cast was there you know because it's like one of the big scenes and it
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was start and it started to rain and they got the scene and then everybody just scattered
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I thought these are like I thought we were friends like you're left out there in the nobody's checking on me like
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everybody just like and then uh the ad then I thought I
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was done and the ad said well H I think they want to get a shot where the dog comes up and sniffs your balls and I
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actually got mad I went are you [ __ ] kidding
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me are your are your real hands in the real sticking straight up like goalpost
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or do they put fake hands in there so you don't have they put fake hands in thank you God couldn't move thank you
00:10:10
Jesus I thought it was real until right now I just went wait a second could you hold your hands up all day because also
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the thing about it when you're like that like if I was seen like that I go well obviously they're going to shoot me out
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first and no one even gives a fat [ __ ] they're like nope oh bushu we never picked up we'll get him at the end sit
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there in the rain we'll come to you while you're rotting and getting
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rusty yeah it is tough movies are so complex and especially grown-ups you got 55 leads oh my God there's so many
00:10:43
people yeah that are on set and I don't know how the producers and the ads do it
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but they somehow manage and just just for the people young people listening that are in the Groundlings or whatever
00:10:56
and aspiring to have a career in television or movies we understand these are first world problems sure stupid but
00:11:04
but um the thing is you're on a movie said I would say the most tired I I ever
00:11:10
been I was because it was one of those 21h hour days and they said okay G's going to go in the diner I'm going to do
00:11:15
this thing I worked on for weeks this dance and I'm going and I was young and Fit I go I am as tired as I've ever been
00:11:24
in my life I've been up like 40 hours and here's your shot for eternity go for
00:11:29
oh at the very end of the night they get you yeah well that's with Steve's film I'm assuming like Woody Allen would do
00:11:35
like night shoots would end at 8 o' let's you know I think we should get some Chinese you know did you uh were
00:11:42
you able to have civilized hours in a sense for The Listener March 29th pretty
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Thon pretty much um but we know we wanted to we we knew we had nighttime
00:11:55
shots so that by the end of the week we were going going to be uh shooting
00:12:00
outside so you know we started the beginning of the week normal hours and then each day we would just start a
00:12:06
little bit later by the end of the week it was it was night shoots going splits
00:12:11
lingo lingo going to split you know I wasn't going to say splits split this is lingo and I want the people want to hear
00:12:22
it first of all we were watching your uh movie this morning uh This Is The
00:12:27
Listener right Dana The Listener is a heavy film uh it's very very interesting
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the conceit of it this this volunteer helpline woman I I mean we'll talk to a
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minute it is your movie that Steve directed it's very it's compelling it and it it just kind of captures The
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Angst post-pandemic angst or just human angst uh and sadness it's it's extremely
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well done and well acted uh by Tessa who is the only actor in the film you go
00:13:03
ahead Steve well she's the she's the only actor that we see in the film thank you there's an amazing cast of callers
00:13:10
yeah she plays a home helpl line worker she works the night Shi she works from home and um she gets all these calls
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during the night that she navigates and uh and we have a wonderful cast that of the callers but you only hear their
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voices but you and you only see Tessa on screen for the duration of the film and
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she's amazing because they are characters also and they uh I was watching with someone and the
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first guy that called in she was more into the guy she was like I like his
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voice I like his tone I like what he's saying I like this guy and so it's
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actually a big challenge to be a voice and to have any sort of resonance or
00:13:56
impact and Tessa is obviously great on her end she's got a very calm soothing uh voice
00:14:02
and she's you know she could get very riled and it seems she's got a very uh you have to to have that sort of job
00:14:10
that's what her whole job is and uh very interesting I think what she worked with
00:14:15
was you know because we did everything we could to make it cinematic you know if this was pre pandemic and she was at
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a call center where she was you know kind of Tethered to a desk I don't know how I would have made made that f but
00:14:29
because she is is able to work at home we purposefully found a location that had a
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nice flow to it that she could walk around be in different rooms go outside and uh yeah what's amazing about
00:14:42
Tessa is that yeah her voice was you know she always tried to keep you know like a calm level tone but then but you
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could see on her face if she was upset about something that somebody said or
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worried um yeah she had a lot of these uh micro
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Expressions uh that you know sort of gave you an inkling of of what she was
00:15:07
going through herself and you know what you really captured which you do a lot when you're young anyway where you'll
00:15:13
like a girl or something and then you'll talk on the phone at night it's very intimate it's C and these two people
00:15:20
Tess's character and the strangers calling in they don't know each other it's very dim it's the middle of the
00:15:26
night and they're having this intimate conversation and the voice actors immediately the first one just sounded
00:15:33
very just extremely real like you're EAS droing you know you captured that so
00:15:39
thank you thank you so much I appreciate you guys watching it yeah uh you know the voice is U first of all I kind of
00:15:46
want to ask you one other question but about this but when I was on the phone as a kid or dating or doing anything in
00:15:52
life the voice was kind of a fingerprint so when I think of women I've dated in
00:15:57
the past or present voice is one thing I really appreciate in people because they are fingerprints it's so unique and you
00:16:05
I think I was brainwashed growing up like trying to talk to girls on the phone and talking for hours with someone
00:16:10
you liked and you always remember that and sometimes people get older and everything but you know their voice right away right and so when I go into
00:16:17
7-Eleven and if I ask for something they go oh I was waitting to hear you talk that is you so you know it's kind of
00:16:23
interesting so when you have people call in it's very powerful to have the right person
00:16:29
with the right because you have to make them all a little different and true yeah yeah that's a trick and then you have to make for people that don't know
00:16:36
that sort of a Indie uh budget is like if you have one location what you were
00:16:42
saying is you have to use some trickery and some movements and some things to keep it alive and you did that and
00:16:48
that's the hard part with one subject and one um location it's it's it's less
00:16:54
expensive but it's very it's hard to keep it going so to make a good movie is tough so we also Shot the movie in six
00:17:01
days because Essa was still working on Westworld the HBO show that oh okay and
00:17:09
that was her Hiatus she had seven days off and she chose to work with us you
00:17:14
know we were trying to find a window and she's so busy um with other films and
00:17:20
other things but she had that one week off so we shot the entire film in that
00:17:25
one week which was doable because it is a conf space and one actor but still it was it
00:17:33
was it was a bit of a challenge and another interesting uh layer frequency I
00:17:38
don't know I didn't I went to State School um is this idea when you take on a roll like when you see a teacher
00:17:45
outside of school you go they're just normal what are they doing so in this case her character has her own issues
00:17:52
and yet she's in the helper mode it's like when you have a therapist and you kind of wonder what's going on with them
00:17:58
you so that was a whole another layer to the film that the people don't you know
00:18:04
she's just in the helper mode and then she's in that mode but she had so many other issues herself so yeah I mean I
00:18:11
think most of the people who do that work have been through it
00:18:16
themselves and part of the conceit of the film is that Tessa's character she breaks protocol because you're not
00:18:23
really supposed to tell you know your personal story to callers but she does
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so for this one call where this woman is in crisis and um she reveals you know a
00:18:37
lot about herself in order to uh help or
00:18:42
save the person that she's talking with um but I know what you mean about the
00:18:49
you know seeing people out of context like seeing your therapist on the street door I remember when I was a kid I went
00:18:55
to Catholic school and I remember one time during lunch seeing my teacher who
00:19:00
was a nun eat a sandwich and I was blown away what you
00:19:07
eat it's true you never see him eat they never eat I saw pastor Jerry I was
00:19:13
raised Lutheran uh pastor Jerry at the mall and he's wearing desert boots and I go pastor Jerry wears desert boots
00:19:20
because those were very cool back now days you know I saw a rabbi on a pogo
00:19:25
stick and I was like what are you you're never on that um right I know you know
00:19:31
Steve I'm looking at this there's so much Dana about Steve that we love because he's a oh actually one more
00:19:36
question about the movie before I get into your illustrious I I have a question about the movie too okay my
00:19:42
last one is being a welln actor and a
00:19:48
name and uh I don't want to Hype you up too bad but you know you direct and your uh well-liked guy out there is it still
00:19:55
hard to get a small movie off the ground yes this is the first film I've directed
00:20:01
in 15 years um and there were others along the way that I tried to do this
00:20:07
one was you know hard to get off the ground as well we um but yeah I think
00:20:13
the climate out there is tough for any filmmaker um but you know but uh where
00:20:20
there's a will there's a way and we did it you got through it yeah single single location helps with the budget and were
00:20:26
you like I was just as a making your film first film in a long time and now
00:20:31
it's it's it's digital digital playback and you're going you got six days and so you're with your DP or your producer
00:20:38
whatever and you're looking at stuff and are you going at some point holy [ __ ] this is awesome or you're being
00:20:43
self-critical or I I just wonder what you want us uh who will enjoy the movie
00:20:49
what do what did you want us to feel what were you trying to reach for and do you feel that you got it yeah I just I
00:20:55
wanted to create this really intimate atmosphere here and have
00:21:01
Tessa's uh the location be totally her her world where you're getting clues
00:21:07
about her um and and for the the audience to want to
00:21:14
lean in and and and be involved and it is exciting that on set um it's also
00:21:23
overwhelming because there's so much uh dialogue in it and
00:21:29
uh so I'm constantly thinking you know I try not to think of the editing process
00:21:35
while I'm doing it but yeah I mean that's things that you have to think about uh and is it is there enough
00:21:43
movement is is you know when should it be still when you know when or if the camera should should move when should
00:21:50
Tessa get up and move around and um so we spent a lot of time actually working
00:21:56
that stuff out before we before we shot it did you ever once on the set after a
00:22:01
take just go what are you doing like Sandler you sound like
00:22:11
[Music] Sandler I want to ask a question because Steve's been famous for a long time so
00:22:19
it's hard you kind of you okay I get to talk to Steve so much fun hanging out with you and at Sandler sing and DC you
00:22:25
know because you're one of the people I'd say Steve bim's here you know I'm doing this thing with Steve bimy and
00:22:31
it's like what you know it's but I just here's something maybe
00:22:37
you've never been asked who's more talented Joel or Ethan Cohen you have
00:22:42
three seconds go they're both [Laughter]
00:22:48
[Music] hacks who likes feet more whon Tarantino
00:22:55
or anyone else in the is he like feet or is that like a fake
00:23:01
thing or is that like a joke I don't know I don't I if he did know he
00:23:07
wouldn't tell you well no he can like feed it's fine I like things yeah I just don't know if that's you know how much
00:23:14
or okay we've got a we've got a what's it called when the witness is being very
00:23:20
Troublesome I'm a hostile hostile witness we were trying to Trend Steve
00:23:26
we're we're like no one knows we EX have a sweetheart deal with a feetfinder okay I I'm reading this this is what I read
00:23:32
about St Bushi because there's so much to know about him I know this guy goes frequently plays fast talkers frequently
00:23:41
plays cowardly character funny and often characters mixed up in crime yes all
00:23:49
true a little generic but all true they're just Steve's in so many good
00:23:55
movies and he's so someone that everyone thinks is cool which is really what I'm going for
00:24:02
not there yet but I think like Con Air cool [ __ ] movie just a random movie
00:24:08
yeah on air fun big movies I miss those kind of you get to work with Nicholas
00:24:13
Cage and his whole Nicholas Cage thing it's great um you remember that movie
00:24:19
that had a great cast John malovich oh yeah yeah yeah Danny
00:24:27
tro shot tell that he's lying I'm I'm working on a malovich uh Nicholas Cage why God why
00:24:37
um oh you know Dana to bore the [ __ ] out of Steve again not to bring it back to me and it's not about me I do not care
00:24:43
I'm timing you this time I read three times for his part in
00:24:48
Conair for whose part yours and you probably was an offer I'm sure you got
00:24:54
offered it while you were Milling it out and swishing it around they dragging me to the valley back and forth going do it
00:25:00
like this you monkey and then uh they go no we got our guy thanks
00:25:06
bye I never knew that wow you would have been great I have a St when's the last
00:25:12
time you auditioned for a movie yeah good one oh wow it's been a while I I yeah I
00:25:20
remember auditioning for a movie and then reading you know reading one of the
00:25:25
parts and then asking the casting director can I read for the lead I was
00:25:31
like well you know and and she looked at me and she said oh no we're gonna get a name for that and
00:25:39
that's the first time I ever heard that expression we're gonna get a name for that like well I have a name and then I
00:25:45
thought oh I see I have to get my name known I didn't know it worked that way I
00:25:51
just thought if you were oh so many things I auditioned for were offers out to people and I was jumping around to
00:25:57
kill time to scare them like we're having auditions right now I mean no one no one's good yet don't worry no one's
00:26:03
good yet I hated when you walked into an audition room and I saw all these this is in the 80s babyfaced men with no
00:26:10
chins like I go okay I get it oh I I I get them that's your look yeah they're
00:26:17
all look alikes of Me no Chin baby face okay cherubic I get it but they I I was
00:26:24
over for 150 at one point 150 auditions and I've one time the agent called me you
00:26:31
didn't get it and you frightened them remember auditioning for Barry
00:26:39
levenson once and reading you know reading this part and he liked it he
00:26:45
went that was good it was good now can you do it and he gave me a very specific
00:26:51
direction did it again exactly the same and we both looked at each
00:26:59
other I was mortified he was embarrassed and I and I said that wasn't that
00:27:05
different was it she went no no okay okay can't take Direction my
00:27:13
[ __ ] acting coach shocked yes I had one they said they might give you Direction just to see if you can take
00:27:20
Direction a lot of people can't I'm like why not they're like it's shocking they can't they go Ste Bui they just fedal
00:27:26
listing people but honestly it's like you just say that and you go oh I would just change it and some people are
00:27:34
coached so hard or they're with their teacher or whatever and they go this is the right way to do it even to the
00:27:40
director they're like I've got the right way you don't right and they're just testing you but I've done that I bomb
00:27:47
every every commercial audition even more embarrassing um do do the Cohen Brothers give you a line by line
00:27:56
reading like the line like how are they you know their writing is so specific
00:28:04
you know that they really want you to you know say what's written and so there's very little I think I improvised
00:28:11
something once on Fargo and I was nervous about it but they liked it but I remember in the beginning when I first
00:28:16
started working with them they uh I think in Miller's Crossing the uh they
00:28:22
just wanted my character to be even you know he was a fast that he was the fastest talker that I think
00:28:29
it's hard with lines to do F yeah and they just wanted it even more like they
00:28:35
just wanted it more intense or more shrill and um I remember doing the
00:28:41
scene where I you know all I do is talk talk talk talk Gabriel burn had like two
00:28:47
words then I talk talk talk talk talk he would just wait till I stop talking then he would say two two words and there was
00:28:54
a whole Casino of people behind me uh on my Co coverage and I remember on one of the
00:29:01
takes my late wife Joe she came to visit me on set but I didn't know she was there yet and as I'm doing the dialogue
00:29:09
with the whole Casino you know extras behind me I see her head poke out you
00:29:15
know behind somebody to watch and I just stopped talking oh it threw you yeah and all
00:29:22
right back to one you know and it was a lot of grumbling and she felt horrible I could see the look on her face she knew
00:29:29
what happened and she just ducked back out um yeah as your brain just switches
00:29:34
you go just I was like oh Joe yeah turns you off you know uh Dana I don't know if you
00:29:41
remember this one of course you do I don't know who you played in this maybe Travolta one of my favorite sketches was
00:29:47
Welcome Back Cotter qu Tarantino's Welcome Back Cotter when uh John hosted
00:29:54
when John oh was John was playing John okay hosted and it was Welcome Back Cotter directed by Quenton Tarantino and
00:30:03
um at the end of it yeah because Michael mck was on the show and they had Lenny
00:30:10
and Squiggy pop out remember and then I came out at the very end as Mr Pink and
00:30:17
said something like up your hole with a jelly roll something like that I
00:30:22
remember in the rehearsal uh where the dress the dress rehearsal
00:30:28
show uh I was late getting out there and I didn't think it was my fault I thought I was queued late but you probably don't
00:30:36
remember this David but afterwards you did give me a little [ __ ] about that shut the [ __ ] up did I you gave me a
00:30:43
little bit a little bit you did you did you were like hey you know Johnny on the spot there what happened something like
00:30:49
that and I want they didn't kill me you know how dare I I was try I was nervous
00:30:54
nervous I was horse Shack and I was in character Miss C
00:31:01
out I got to play hor sh was the I loved it I thought that was such a funny idea funny sketch it was great yeah one of my
00:31:08
all-time memorable ones that's fun you got to be in that and um I just watched your monologue of character actors that
00:31:16
was a good idea you were people in the audience cast members were character
00:31:21
actors yeah asking you how to be a lead wait monologue yeah they said like
00:31:29
hey you're a lead but you play a lot of character actors but now you're a leading man I play the girl with all the
00:31:36
bags at a store that's the best friend and then she Prat falls out of frame and then Kristen wig is like I'm the girl
00:31:44
running from the killer with a knife but I don't know where anyone is Steve are you here so everyone was playing a
00:31:49
character and they were asking for your advice to get past being a character actor I thought it was pretty clever I
00:31:55
thought that was good that was good I should watch that again because I totally blanked that out
00:32:02
I'll send you a link thanks all right let me ask you a question but now that you say it now
00:32:08
that you describe it I do I do remember it yeah I mean it is a blur because you've got 13 sketches you've hosted I
00:32:14
think twice twice yeah yeah so it's hard to remember every nook and cranny but it
00:32:20
was a good job I thought that was interesting I like what I remembered about the first time
00:32:26
hosting during the drad rehearsal I came out to do the monologue and I spotted a
00:32:31
friend of mine from high school sitting in the front and again it was just like seeing seeing my wife on SE I looked at
00:32:39
him and I was like hey it's Eddie and I was like ah [ __ ] what's my like I don't know what to do
00:32:45
now on top of your nerves you see that throws you so scary one take that's the
00:32:51
hard part I know you're like let me start over nope but thank God it was a dress rehearsal and then at the for the
00:32:57
show show I just went just tell myself just don't look at anybody just avoid
00:33:03
eye eye contact yeah so what a run you had in the 90s I mean come and then the
00:33:08
SNL calls you'd been in at least five giant movies Reservoir Dogs Pulp
00:33:15
Fiction um when did Fargo come out yeah that came out like in 96 I was surprised that I got the call
00:33:22
for it because I didn't think I had really done enough to like warrant me
00:33:28
being like that people would even know me uh but John tatur was also on that year and I thought oh is this the year
00:33:36
that they're like going after uh independent film actors or something and
00:33:42
I I was like I'm so thrilled to like get it but I was nervous that uh I think I
00:33:49
suggested because in the opening monologue it was some monologue about my name Steve and something you know it was
00:33:56
and it just wasn't me and I was nervous about that so I sort of addressed that
00:34:03
and then I suggested something I can't remember who came up with the idea that we were gonna like I was going to take
00:34:09
suggestions from the audience and do like an improv with the rest of the cast
00:34:15
and then I would just insert scenes from movies that I was in but part of but the
00:34:20
ulterior motive was to like to remind people I was in Fargo or Reservoir Dogs
00:34:27
nervous if people wouldn't know like who was this guy um but I was glad that they
00:34:32
changed it I was very sort of shy to say can we do I have to do this opening
00:34:37
monologue could can can we change it and uh and Lauren was really open to it and
00:34:44
and receptive and but that first time you host it's just it's just so uh mindboggling I was so anxious and
00:34:53
I didn't know if I was allowed to say anything or contribute and they were asking me like is there anything that
00:34:59
you like to do or you have any special talents can you sing yeah whatever you
00:35:05
want you right do you feel like you're being a problem if you say too much on a set yeah yeah and then also like what do
00:35:13
I know like aren't like you're the experts yeah you put yourself in their hands I think they just test you to say
00:35:19
we have a sketch we've been sitting on but we need someone that can speak Russian or we need someone that can you know sing and they and yeah and you need
00:35:27
just dialects and weird [ __ ] and you go I can juggle they go okay we can put that in something and then right that
00:35:33
helps did did Lauren call me down or is he sort of imposing in his own way but
00:35:38
normally he would really take a host you go to dinner with him you'll be nervous on the dress rehearsal and then on air
00:35:46
it'll all just come together that's yeah he's kind of both he's very intimidating
00:35:52
and comforting at the same you know kind of at the same time cuz he's so calm
00:35:58
you know that like and it's no this is what we do and you'll be fine and it's
00:36:03
like okay I'll believe you do you you know we had a an old
00:36:09
movie you did was called AirHeads I saw it again on the flight because we had lovely BR Fran who is a super
00:36:16
sweetheart uh he's great and then uh course Sandler for seeing AirHeads again
00:36:22
because I went and saw it on a Broadway in like 69th wherever there's that
00:36:27
little theater in New York during I think it was at SNL and it I saw the whole thing again pretty fun to see the
00:36:34
whole thing again um and Billy Madison of course is such a big one that people
00:36:40
remember you from you know such one day on that movie on and everyone remembers
00:36:46
it is that you when you cross the list of kill who to kill that thing the yeah yeah the so memorable he he calls me up
00:36:54
and he apologizes for his bullying behavior in high school and then I cross his name
00:36:59
off people to kill kill and then I for no reason at all I just put on lipstick
00:37:06
which that was my favorite part you know we went you think I mean
00:37:12
being the character actor is great we saw Sandler tape his thing I thought I might see that he's doing his u stand
00:37:19
special I know and uh Bridget was there yeah Veronica
00:37:26
vanan the teacher in Billy Madison and uh oh and I said you get to be for
00:37:33
history in one of Farley's funniest things saying that Veronica W is one
00:37:40
fine piece of Ace and bil goes you went with her and he goes I had a couple fun
00:37:46
nights with her and he go no you didn't he goes ah no I didn't or whatever he says it's so funny very very very Chris
00:37:55
yeah like yeah the bus driver in Billy mad so funny yeah that's fun it's fun to
00:38:02
be a part of even like that one scene you did just everyone remembers it I loved and you know yeah and Chris was in
00:38:08
Airheads and I remember when we did the read through and afterwards Chris said to me
00:38:18
there's a part in Airheads where you know like my character gets angry and I'm like yelling at Adam and and uh
00:38:24
Chris says to me wow Stephen when you were yelling that one time you sounded just like you did in Reservoir Dogs and
00:38:32
I kind of looked at him like what are you saying and I realized Chris really was that way like when he had that
00:38:37
sketch on SNL oh God what you know remember when you were in The Beatles yeah yeah yeah
00:38:44
he really was that way kind of but he was excited I'm sure to see you I know
00:38:49
know it's fun and I just you know and and I kind of looked at him and he looked at me and and then we like just
00:38:55
laughed but uh it was was a really funny thing from the St yeah he's he has a sweetheart was
00:39:02
Fargo the one you get asked about the most only because it won best pitcher right it was no it's uh the big
00:39:10
Labowski okay that was another and it took a few years for that to happen um
00:39:16
because that was the one that followed Fargo and I think critics and like
00:39:22
didn't know what to make of it at at the time and it kind of fell through the cracks but then like five years later I
00:39:27
would start to get these like college kids come up to me and mention it because they watched it on VHS like over
00:39:35
and over and then in 10 years time it then it was yeah and then it got to be
00:39:40
where I knew the Labowski fans like somebody would come up to me on the
00:39:45
street and they'd be about to say something and I'd say shut the [ __ ] up Donnie and they'd like look at me like
00:39:51
yeah wow is yeah yeah yeah God I I'm telling you I hear about that like people I'm not in it but go God have you
00:39:58
seen the big laow like one of my when they listing movies they like and comedies and it just really did resonate
00:40:05
yeah hey I'm the dude man Jeff Bridges is such a stud such a
00:40:11
stud Jeff Bridges I always say that when he became a cowboy actor he always sounded like he just had a hogy I'm
00:40:19
going to do a take here in a minute but I just had a big deep fride sandwich he
00:40:25
you know he a his Jeff now if he listens to our podcast he just once he did True
00:40:32
True Grit and then he just stayed his voice got graer well he's just sort of
00:40:37
he went post acting I think some people if you see heler high water he's being so playful in that it's almost like
00:40:44
Anthony Hopkins and the one he got the Oscar for a couple years ago so kind of like Beyond acting they're just playing
00:40:51
I I don't know what to describe he's like let's get a g up on this car you I don't know in the hell high water I went
00:40:57
oh he jumped the shark he's not acting anymore do you know what I mean way yes he's just become whatever you know he
00:41:05
just yes yeah rules are out the most in the pocket you feel you've ever been
00:41:11
like in a role like okay this is the most I'm not thinking that I'm acting in
00:41:16
a way or I'm just feeling so so great in each take if it ever happened well no
00:41:24
um I mean the first feature I directed trees Lounge was a character that I
00:41:30
wrote for myself that kind of was like an exaggerated version of me
00:41:38
but it was me and and um so but it was weird because I was also directing it
00:41:45
and I always get very anxious when I direct so it was hard to really enjoy it
00:41:51
you know fully in the moment if somebody else was directing I think I maybe I would have felt like oh yeah I'm nailing
00:41:58
this other otherwise I'm just like I'm just thinking about the rest of the day and just wanting to get through a scene
00:42:05
make sure I got it right but yeah but my anxiety I think just gets in the way
00:42:10
wait a minute an actor with anxiety I mean and and self and self you're telling a brilliant actor has self-doubt
00:42:17
and anxiety except for Brando maybe I don't know but everybody else was a little shaky I don't know hard to hard
00:42:24
to place Brando I'll bet he was insecure Brando no well he got the earpiece at
00:42:30
some point so I think he was like a memorizing lines it's too stressful not
00:42:37
giving a [ __ ] is is another way to do this you know no I'm saying the word
00:42:43
anxiety I didn't know growing up or I would have said it every day but I think now that you give people this word like
00:42:49
kids they're like I'm anxious at school I'm like well no [ __ ] I've been anxious since the day I was born till right now
00:42:55
like it's a very rough life out there and they're like I don't want to do my homework it gives me anxiety no [ __ ]
00:43:01
like everything does oh I had panic attacks before I do stand up but I
00:43:06
didn't know I was having a p yeah you don't know what it's called you're just like I was I'd give it a name and then I'd have to go talk to a therapist for
00:43:12
225 an hour maybe a talk her down to 200 well that's enough personal information
00:43:17
four tip but uh yeah everybody is anxious now and
00:43:23
depressed Steve true we can now we know what we
00:43:28
are we know we're screwed up we have vocabulary Before I Let You Go Steve because you're a wonderful guy I and
00:43:36
you're doing 12 other podcasts after this for the listener you know the good thing about Steve is he's not totally
00:43:41
out there on everything like that's the interesting mystery of Bushi he's just kind of cool lays back a little bit
00:43:48
doesn't smother us he I don't it's I think it's unintentional but yeah he's effortlessly cool and the fact that you
00:43:56
I mean I'll just throw this CU I don't it's not common knowledge to everybody that you were a firefighter who dreamed
00:44:01
of becoming an actor yeah who became an actor 911 happens and then you
00:44:08
apparently volunteer and you're going into the rubble with the firefighters not to bring up such a dark subject but
00:44:14
that's an extraordinary uh thing for a human being to have done you know well thank you no
00:44:23
yeah because I I was a firefighter for a few years in the early 80s and then you
00:44:28
know as the years went by I got further and further away from it and lost touch but then 911 yeah it just put me back in
00:44:36
touch and I felt really honored that they would even let me come back and
00:44:41
work with them with my uh my company engine 55 and I I had access but I know
00:44:50
so many people who would have done the same thing that wanted to be there but just was couldn't get in there and and I
00:44:58
had I had the opportunity and the access because I used to be on the job and I
00:45:04
felt very HED to you know that that I was that I was able to do that it's hard
00:45:10
for any of us to imagine that scene and what what you went through and you were invisible in a sense with the gear and
00:45:15
everything no one knew hey that's the Fargo guy you know what's weird is that
00:45:20
you know I still had my uh my turnout coat and my helmet and Boots so I went
00:45:27
there thinking that I would that I could blend in but I had been off the job like since the mid 80s and all the and all
00:45:36
the equipment changed and the bunker here you look like Curious George or something so I kind of stood out anyway
00:45:43
and then people were like kind of looking at me like who why who is this guy why doesn't he have like why is he
00:45:50
time machine A Relic from the past oh wait a minute it's that guy it's that actor yeah you know Dana that's fun did
00:45:57
that anonymously and he he helped for uh weeks in a related story I brought
00:46:03
cookies down and and had tipped off TMZ to follow me and then later and I was in
00:46:08
full makeup and then hey man you both you both are heroes and I sent you're different kinds of Heroes I want to ask
00:46:16
Steve a qu because I don't know if this is true either because I was a pip David and I are pipsqueaks in high school like
00:46:21
I I graduated I was probably 125 me too but I I heard you wrestled at
00:46:29
105 on the varsity oh really but you got bigger than that right were you that a
00:46:35
freshman 105 or I know I did that up until my senior year maybe I went up
00:46:40
another I don't think so 105 yeah that's crazy I know were you your Heights uh I
00:46:48
but the because I I was pretty wiry and I was pretty uh strong for my weight I
00:46:55
did pretty good during year uh you know like in the in the team matches but then in the tournaments I
00:47:02
always I always choked when you started wrestling guys was it
00:47:07
harder he says the girls a little easier and then they started putting me up against guys got to
00:47:15
110 then it was two girls versus Steve and he he'd take them down three girls
00:47:20
and it was getting hard and then they had a 87b uh guy F no but you were good I mean
00:47:27
you were actually you would seem like the kind of guy who would be good at wrestling I don't know why I think that
00:47:32
but yeah your intellect and kind of I think wiy people are secretly strong I
00:47:38
was I was okay I did I you know I had I had a great coach Mr Earl and and uh and
00:47:46
his son Rich earo was my wrestling partner so and like he was like the best on the team so it kind of rubbed off on
00:47:53
on me I had one secret move called the reverse crle and if I got you in it if I got you
00:48:00
in the reverse cradle it was like a surprise and I actually beat some like guys who were probably better than me
00:48:07
but then you know that's why I would choke in the tournaments because then you wrestle these same people again
00:48:13
they're on be old one it always seemed a little close quartery in a way did you ever wrestling
00:48:19
a guy and all of a sudden your face was right up against his junk and you're going why am I doing this it's very homo
00:48:26
ertic wrestling it is okay you know it's part of the appeal it's part
00:48:33
it's part of the appeal it does get a diverse audience yes yes that's good
00:48:39
yeah all right Dana what do we do with Steve we let him go well we could do ours because of he doesn't need our help
00:48:46
but yeah he's Steve bumi he's a National Treasure I'm going to use that as a
00:48:51
because you're just been around so long and uh if I see you on in a movie I'm
00:48:57
just happy yeah you're like this guy it's this guy and I think when you are
00:49:03
in your lane um I I don't know who your peers are I don't know if it's Christopher Walkin these are older
00:49:10
people but um it's there's the cool Factor you're not in you're not a pretty
00:49:15
boy in front of a movie doing all the Press you're just the guy who goes in and you can't take your eyes off that
00:49:21
guy you know I mean it's like you weren't in Fargo it was like it didn't feel like you were acting you weren't an
00:49:28
actor in that movie they're like they got a real guy to do this they got how where did they get this I had that once
00:49:34
with rip Tor and I saw a movie where'd they get this guy off the street he was so good in this movie and I think you
00:49:40
have that Vibe about you thank you so I'm not a pretty boy that's what you're
00:49:46
saying well I'm saying you're you're ruggedly handsome thank you thank you I
00:49:52
app do you think David's a pretty yes absolutely look at I've gotten away with
00:49:58
uh every time I date someone it's Beauty and the Beast in every article I'm like I enough of this like just why not just
00:50:05
say I'm okay like a beast they say they go yuck that's like exclamation is the headline I'm like all right you can't do
00:50:12
that you can't do that with the girls you can't say look at this great looking guy with this dog it's like you can't
00:50:18
you can do it with me all right Steve that's really what I wanted to get off my chest okay um thank you for talking
00:50:24
to us uh you're a stud and uh we'll talk soon hopefully I love you both and thank
00:50:30
much love you hope we see you see you bug this has been a presentation of Odyssey please follow subscribe leave a
00:50:38
like a review all the stuff smash that button whatever it is wherever you get your podcast fly on the wall is
00:50:44
executive produced by Dana Carvey and David Spade Jenna Weiss Burman of Odyssey Charlie finan of brillstein
00:50:50
entertainment and Heather Santoro the show's lead producer is Greg
00:50:55
Holzman
