00:00:00
You know, Dana, um, we all know Steve Bushi. Yeah. Friend of the show, friend of the Happy
00:00:05
Madison world. Uh, saw him at Sanders. Last time I saw him was at Sandler's
00:00:11
Kennedy Center award. Yeah, we were I was actually next to him singing. I'd not really hung out with
00:00:17
him and he's so much fun and so nice. You know, he's such an intense actor and we we talk about Fargo on on this movie
00:00:25
and he can play the bad guy or whatever, but man, is he a sweet, funny person in real life and can sing pretty good.
00:00:31
Good dude in everything. People really like him. He was in Con Air. I remember that's the part I
00:00:38
Oh, yeah. I love that. And uh obviously I think it was Wedding Singer and Grown-Ups. Uh we did one
00:00:46
summer. I think he was in both of them. Mhm. and just all around great actor,
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pretty beloved out there and does comedy, does drama and talks
00:00:57
about everything in between. So, here he is. Uh, everybody Steve was young.
00:01:07
Well, you were in Gronest, but the one I was in that I don't know if you This was the one you were in the cast. Which one
00:01:13
is that? Is that both of them or is it I was in both of them. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So,
00:01:19
so the one where But Dana, this is boring as [ __ ] [ __ ] but I'm Me and Steve will crack up. You're
00:01:26
already mesmerized. That's good. Okay. So, we're doing a drunk a scene where we're all around and it's night time and
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and uh we're all drinking and the couples start to pair off in slow dance
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and this Joe Walsh song comes on or something and I uh or not Joe Walsh but sentimental lady and I go, "Oh, no. Um,
00:01:46
oh, this is a good song. And I and I'm drunk and I get up and I sort of stumble around and I interrupt Adam and Selma
00:01:51
and then I wind up falling down drunk. But it's a seven-page scene and we're
00:01:56
all in it. So, it's hard to shoot. So, we shoot it all night one night and we get to my coverage and they go, "It's
00:02:01
getting light. We'll pick that up another time." And I'm like, "Another time?" Because I just had it all
00:02:06
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,
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three weeks later, McCartney is playing in Boston. We're pretty close.
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We might be in swamp squat. I just McCartney sounds.
00:02:24
Yes. Sounds like I thought he was here. Everyone's looking around. When did he
00:02:30
jump on? So, I go Chris Rock is in the movie and I say, "Chris McCartney is in
00:02:38
Boston tonight." And he goes, "His ticket lady was my third grade teacher."
00:02:44
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
00:02:50
around six, seven." We haul ass. We found exactly when he goes on. And then he goes, "And he wants to say hi right
00:02:57
before." We're like, "Oh my god." Wow. So about right before the end of the
00:03:02
day, it was maybe Jack or someone came into my trailer and goes, "We're going to pick yours up tonight." I go, "Oh
00:03:08
god, pick up my what?" And they go, "Remember, Jack, remember that scene you didn't finish?"
00:03:14
I'm like, "Like like it's my fault." I go, "Yeah, I didn't finish it, right?" And he goes, "I think tonight's good." I
00:03:19
go, "No, it's not. It's [ __ ] Paul McCartney." You're just not a worker. You know, you're not a real worker.
00:03:25
Paul McCartney waited till midnight to go on. He's like, "Are they coming?" God, he's 81 and he's up for half the
00:03:31
night. Yeah. So, I go I go, "Keep waiting." And then they go, I said, 'd
00:03:36
do not bring that [ __ ] cast in to do all their [ __ ] again. I go, I'll do it.
00:03:41
I said, I can't do that to them. So they gladly all scrammed. And then it was Sandler, you know, he's overseeing it.
00:03:48
And then um I'm doing it to, you know, a bunch of like tennis balls or whatever the eyelines. And I do my whole seven
00:03:54
pages. I'm drunk. And so I come to Video Village. This is sort of the point of the story.
00:04:00
Yeah. And uh can't wait. And I'm like like Adam like we got it and uh yes I haven't taken any classes
00:04:07
but yes I'm really good. And I sit there and he's just looking at it going.
00:04:14
And I go we watch the playback and I'm behind him kind of chuckling like this is working. And then he goes were you
00:04:22
drunker last time? Were you was it a little It was a little different. I don't know if it's matching. And I'm like, so I go,
00:04:29
play me back something from the last time, you know, and I was and so we we're trying to go, okay. And it was
00:04:35
really hard to match the exact tone of the drunkenness. Sounds crazy, but I go,
00:04:42
I'm going to go under on this one. And then I come back and then I go, okay, I'm going to go a little bigger. And we
00:04:47
did it until it made sense. Now, when you see the movie, you don't even notice, but it kind of fits in. Oh, you
00:04:53
you notice I noticed when I saw it that you go he's medium plus David is a little drunker in this line.
00:05:00
30 seconds later he's slightly less drunk. Just play it six and a half Titos and
00:05:06
Diet Cokes. And I'm like, "Oo, that's a big one. Okay, I can play that." And then um so that just shows you first of
00:05:13
all, Adam's eye is always on the ball. Yes. And and little things like that
00:05:19
matter and it's you can't tell yourself when you're acting and you need someone
00:05:24
else's eyes to go, it was good. I just don't think it's exactly what we had. And and
00:05:30
so it took a little bit of a collabing right there. And then that's kind of fun when you finish and you feel like you
00:05:35
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.
00:05:41
Did you make it to the concert? Not a [ __ ] chance. It was till 2 am we did
00:05:47
that. All right. Well, I guess my second question is not a question. It's it's a comment about Adam because I agree with
00:05:55
you. He's always so involved in like, you know, all the all the films. And I said to him, why don't why don't you
00:06:01
ever direct? Yeah. I said and he said he didn't doesn't want to location scout.
00:06:07
Like that was the extra extra work. Yeah. That was the reason. He works morning, noon, and night anyway. I mean there's
00:06:14
block. He's reblocking. He's doing things that directors all do. So I think he's listened to so much indie
00:06:21
Wayne. It's sort of just uh you know uh given that he's going to have a lot of
00:06:26
say, but uh I guess you're right. It's that extra. Well, it's a little bit like Saturday
00:06:32
Night Live. If you write a sketch, you're sort of the de facto director. We had Dave Wilson. He's setting up shots.
00:06:39
He's he's got just it's live. So that it's not you, but you're still kind of the boss of your sketch. You're the
00:06:45
producer and the director. If you wrote it, you're casting it with other cast members. And Sandler is like that. He's
00:06:51
like a co-coirector. I mean, you sort of everyone knows he's the overarching
00:06:56
creative force. He's got his eye on every ball. So um I think the way he did it was brilliant. You know, I don't
00:07:03
think anybody else in history has done that many movies where they are in a sense an aur, right? It it is Adam, you know, and uh
00:07:11
he puts his stamp. I mean, definitely when he he the fact that he actually cares and
00:07:17
even when we're doing movies where you think this will probably not get good reviews just because they have a sort of
00:07:23
bias, he still puts everything into it and really cares. I mean, another
00:07:28
grown-up story is Do you have a half hour is um We'll get We'll get to you in a minute, Steve.
00:07:33
No, Steve. So now we're gonna ask David for I want to ask Stephen when did he get fitted for the full body cast and what
00:07:41
was his reaction to going wait what do I do here or do you see the script and go uh oh
00:07:47
yeah I I could tell I was yeah in that one even on the day like because
00:07:54
I remember and and the whole cast was there you know because it's like one of the big scenes and it was and it started
00:08:02
to rain and they got the scene and then everybody just scatters. I thought these
00:08:08
are like I thought we were friends. Like are we You're left out there in the room. Nobody's checking on me. Like everybody
00:08:14
just like And then uh the ad. Then I thought I was
00:08:22
done. And the ad said, "Well, I think they want to get a shot where the dog comes up and sniffs your balls." And I
00:08:29
actually got mad. I went, "Are you [ __ ] kidding me?
00:08:36
Are your Are your real hands in the real sticking straight up like goalpost or do they put fake hands in there so you
00:08:42
don't have They put fake hands in. Thank you, God. You couldn't move. Thank you, Jesus. I thought it was real
00:08:49
until right now. I just went, "Wait a second. Could you hold your hand up all day?" Because also the thing about it,
00:08:56
when you're like that, like if I was seen like that, I go, "Well, obviously they're going to shoot me out first." And no one even gives a fat [ __ ]
00:09:03
They're like, "Nope. Oh, Bushami, we never picked up. We'll get him at the end. Just sit there in the rain. We'll
00:09:09
come to you while you're rotting and getting rusty."
00:09:14
Yeah, it is tough. Movies are so complex and especially grown-ups, you got 55 leads.
00:09:19
Oh my god, there's so many people Yeah. that are on set and I don't know how the producers and the ads do it, but they
00:09:27
somehow manage. And just just for the people, young people listening that are in the groundings or whatever and
00:09:33
aspiring to have a career in television or movies, we understand these are first world problems.
00:09:39
Sure. Stupid. But but um the thing is you're on a
00:09:44
movie set. I would say the most tired I I ever been I was because it was one of those 21-hour days and they said, "Okay,
00:09:50
G's going to go in the diner. I'm going to do this thing I worked on for weeks, this dance." And I'm going and I was
00:09:57
young and fit. I go, I am as tired as I've ever been in my life. I've been up
00:10:02
like 40 hours and here's your shot for eternity. Go for it. Oh, at the very end of the night they
00:10:08
get you. Yeah. Well, that's with Steve's film. I'm assuming like Woody Allen would do like night shoots would end at 8:00.
00:10:14
Let's, you know, I think we should get some Chinese, you know. Did you uh were you able to have civilized hours in a
00:10:21
sense for the listener? Pretty much. Um, but we know we wanted
00:10:27
to we we knew we had nighttime shots so that by the end of the week we were going to
00:10:33
be uh shooting outside. So, you know, we started at the beginning of the week normal hours and then each day we would
00:10:39
just start a little bit later. By the end of the week it was it was night shoots. Going to splits lingo lingo. Going to
00:10:46
split. You know, I wasn't going to say splits. Splits is lingo and I want the people want to hear it.
00:10:57
First of all, we were watching your uh movie this morning. Uh this is The Listener, right Dana?
00:11:03
The Listener is a heavy film. Uh it's very very interesting. The conceit of
00:11:10
it, this this volunteer helpline woman. I I mean, we'll talk to a minute. It is
00:11:16
your movie that Steve directed. It's very it's compelling. it and it it just
00:11:21
kind of captures the angst uh post-pandemic angst or just human angst
00:11:26
uh and sadness. It's it's extremely well done and well acted uh by Tessa Thompson
00:11:33
who is the only actor in the film. You go ahead, Steve. Well, she's the she's the only actor
00:11:39
that we see in the film. Thank you. There's an amazing cast of callers. Yeah. She plays a home helpline worker.
00:11:46
She works the night shift. She works from home. And um she gets all these calls during
00:11:52
the night that she navigates and uh and we have a wonderful cast that of the callers, but you only hear their voices,
00:11:59
but you and you only see Tessa on screen for the duration of the film. And she's
00:12:05
amazing because they are characters also. And they uh I was watching it with someone
00:12:11
and the first guy that called in, she was more into
00:12:16
the guy. She was like, "I like his voice. I like his tone. I like what he's saying. I like this guy." And so, it's
00:12:24
actually a big challenge to be a voice and to have any sort of resonance or
00:12:30
impact. And Tessa's obviously great on her end. She's got a very calm, soothing
00:12:35
uh voice. And she's, you know, she could get very riled and it seems she's got a
00:12:40
very uh you have to to have that sort of job. That's what her whole job is. And
00:12:45
uh very interesting. I think what she worked with was, you know, because we did everything we
00:12:51
could to make it cinematic. You know, if this was pre- pandemic and she was at a call center where she was, you know,
00:12:58
kind of tethered to a desk, I don't know how I would have made made that film. But because she is a is able
00:13:05
to work at home, we purposefully found a location that had a nice flow to it that she could walk around, be in
00:13:12
different rooms, go outside, and uh yeah, what's amazing about Tessa is that
00:13:18
yeah, her voice was, you know, she always tried to keep, you know, like a calm level tone, but then but you could
00:13:24
see on her face if she was upset about something that somebody said or worried. Um, yeah, she
00:13:31
had a lot of these uh micro expressions uh that you know sort of gave you an
00:13:38
inkling of of what she was going through herself. And you know what you really captured
00:13:44
which you do a lot when you're young anyway where you'll like a girl or something and then you'll talk on the
00:13:50
phone at night. It's very intimate. It's c and these two people Tess's character and the strangers
00:13:56
calling in. They don't know each other. It's very dim. It's the middle of the night and they're having this intimate
00:14:02
conversation and the voice actors immediately the first one just sounded very just extremely real like your ease
00:14:10
dropping you know you captured that. So thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate you guys watching it.
00:14:16
Yeah. Uh you know the voice is first of all I kind of want to ask you one other question but about this but
00:14:22
when I was on the phone as a kid or dating or doing anything in life the voice was kind of a fingerprint. So when
00:14:29
I think of women I've dated in the past or present, a voice is one thing I really appreciate in people because they
00:14:36
are fingerprints. It's so unique and you I think I was brainwashed growing up like trying to talk to girls on their
00:14:43
phone and talking for hours so many liked and you always remember that and sometimes people get older and everything but you know their voice
00:14:49
right away, right? And so when I go into 7-Eleven and if I ask for something they go, "Oh, I was waiting to hear you talk. That is you."
00:14:56
So you know it's kind of interesting. So when you have people call in, it's very powerful to have the right person with
00:15:03
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
00:15:09
for people that don't know that sort of indie uh budget is like if you have one
00:15:15
location, what you were saying is you have to use some trickery and some movements and some things to keep it
00:15:20
alive. And you did that. And that's the hard part with one subject and one um
00:15:26
location. It's it's an it's less expensive, but it's very it's hard to keep it going. So, to make a good movie
00:15:31
is tough. We also we also shot the movie in six days because
00:15:37
Essa was still working on Westworld, the HBO show that Oh, okay.
00:15:42
and that was her hiatus. She had seven days off and she chose to work with us.
00:15:48
you know, we were trying to find a window and she's so busy um with other films and other things, but she had that
00:15:56
one week off. So, we shot the entire film in that one week, which was doable
00:16:01
because it is a confined space and one actor, but still it was it was it was a
00:16:07
bit of a challenge. And another interesting uh layer frequency, I don't know. I didn't I went
00:16:12
to state school. um is this idea when you take on a role like when you see a
00:16:19
teacher outside of school, you go, "They're just normal. What are they doing?" So, in this case, her character
00:16:24
is has her own issues and yet she's in the helper mode. It's like when you have a therapist and you kind of wonder
00:16:31
what's going on with them, you know? So, that was a whole another layer to the film that the people don't, you know,
00:16:38
she's just in the helper mode and then she's in that mode, but she had so many other issues herself. So
00:16:44
yeah, I mean I think most of the people who do that work have been through it
00:16:49
themselves. And part of the conceit of the film is that Tessa's character, she breaks
00:16:56
protocol because you're not really supposed to tell, you know, your personal story to
00:17:01
callers, but she does so for this one call where this woman is in crisis.
00:17:07
And um she reveals, you know, a lot about herself in order to uh help or
00:17:16
save the person that she's talking with. Um, but I know what you mean about the,
00:17:23
you know, seeing people out of context, like seeing your therapist on the street or I remember when I was a kid, I went
00:17:29
to Catholic school and I remember one time during lunch seeing my teacher who
00:17:34
was a nun eat a sandwich and I was blown away. What you eat?
00:17:42
It's true. You never see him eat. They never eat. I saw Pastor Jerry. I was raised Lutheran. uh Pastor Jerry at the mall
00:17:50
and he's wearing desert boots and I go, "Pastor Jerry wears desert boots because those were very cool back in the days."
00:17:57
You know, I saw a rabbi on a pogo stick and I was like, "What are you? You're never on that." Um,
00:18:03
right. I know. You know, Steve, I'm looking at this. There's so much Dana about Steve that we
00:18:08
love because he's uh Oh, actually, one more question about the movie before I get into your illustrious I
00:18:13
I have a question about the movie, too. Okay. My last one is being a wellknown actor and a name and
00:18:22
uh I don't want to hype you up too bad, but you know, you direct and you're uh well-liked guy out there. Is it still
00:18:29
hard to get a small movie off the ground? Yes, this is the first film I've
00:18:34
directed in 15 years. Um and there were others along the way that I tried to do.
00:18:41
This one was, you know, hard to get off the ground as well. We um but yeah I
00:18:47
think the climate out there is tough for any filmmaker um but you know but uh where there's a will
00:18:55
there's a way and we did it you got through it single single location helps with the budget and were you like I was just as a
00:19:02
you're making film first film in a long time and now it's it's it's digital digital
00:19:07
playback and you're going you got six days and so you're with your DP or your producer whatever and you're looking at
00:19:13
stuff and are you going at some point, holy [ __ ] this is awesome. Or you're being self-critical or I I just wonder
00:19:19
what you want us uh who will enjoy the movie. What do you What did you want us
00:19:24
to feel? What were you trying to reach for? And do you feel that you got it? Yeah, I just I wanted to create this
00:19:30
really intimate atmosphere and have Tessa's
00:19:36
uh the location be totally her her world where you're getting clues about her. um
00:19:43
and and for the the audience to want to lean in and and and be involved and it is
00:19:52
exciting that on set. Um, it's also
00:19:57
overwhelming because there's so much uh dialogue in it and uh so I'm
00:20:03
constantly thinking, you know, I I try not to think of the editing process
00:20:09
while I'm doing it, but yeah, I mean that's things that you have to think
00:20:14
about. Uh, and is it is there enough movement? Is there is you know when should it be still? when, you know, when
00:20:20
or if the camera should should move, when should Tessa get up and move
00:20:25
around? And um so we spent a lot of time actually working that stuff out before
00:20:31
we before we shot it. Did you ever once on the set after a take just go, "What are you doing?"
00:20:40
And like Sandler, you sound like Sandler.
00:20:48
I want to ask a question because Steve's been famous for a long time. So, it's hard. You're kind of okay. I get to talk
00:20:54
to Steve. It was so much fun hanging out with you and at Sandler Singh in DC, you know, because
00:21:00
you're one of the people I'd say uh Steve Bash's here. You know, I'm doing this thing with Steve Bash and it's like
00:21:06
what? You know, it's like But I just here's something maybe you've never been asked. Who's more talented,
00:21:13
Joel or Ethan Cohen? You have three seconds. Go.
00:21:19
They're both hacks.
00:21:25
Who likes feet more? Whon Tarantino or
00:21:30
anyone else in the planet? Is he like feet or is that like a fake thing or is that like a joke?
00:21:36
I don't know. I I I I don't I if he did know, he wouldn't
00:21:41
tell you. Well, no, he can like feed. It's fine. I like things. Yeah. I just don't know if that's, you
00:21:47
know, how much or Okay, we've got a We've got a what's it
00:21:52
called when the witness is being very troublesome. I'm a hostile. Hostile witness.
00:21:58
We We're trying to trend, Steve. We're like, no one knows we exist. We have a sweetheart deal with a F
00:22:03
feetinder. Okay. I I'm reading this. This is what I read about Steve Bushi because there's so much to know about him.
00:22:08
I know this guy goes frequently plays fast talkers, frequently plays cowardly
00:22:16
characters. It's funny. And often characters mixed up in crime.
00:22:22
Yes. All true. A little generic, but all true. They're just Steve is in so many
00:22:29
good movies and he's so someone that everyone thinks is cool, which is where
00:22:34
what I'm going for. Not there yet. But I think like Conair, cool [ __ ] movie. Just a random movie.
00:22:42
Conair fun big movies. I miss those kind of you get to work with Nicholas Cage
00:22:47
and his whole Nicholas Cage thing. It's great. Um, you remember that movie?
00:22:53
I've had a great cast. John Malkovich and Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Danny Tjo,
00:23:01
can't you tell that he's lying? No, I'm I'm working on a Malovich. Uh, Nicholas Cage. Why? God, why? Um,
00:23:11
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.
00:23:16
I'm timing you this time. I read three times for his part in
00:23:22
Conair. For whose part? Yours. And you probably was an offer.
00:23:28
I'm sure you got offered it while you were milling it out and swishing it around. They were dragging me to the
00:23:33
valley back and forth going, "Do it like this, you monkey." And then uh they go, "No, we got our guy. Thanks. Bye."
00:23:40
I never knew that. Wow. You would have been I have a Steve. When's the last time you
00:23:46
auditioned for a movie? Yeah, good one. Oh, wow.
00:23:51
It's been a while. I I yeah I remember auditioning for a movie and then
00:23:57
reading, you know, reading one of the parts and then asking the casting director, can I read for the lead? I was
00:24:05
like, why? You know, and she looked at me and she said, oh no,
00:24:10
we're going to get a name for that. And that's the first time I ever heard that expression. We're going to get a name
00:24:16
for that. Like, well, I have a name. And then I thought, oh, I see. I have to get
00:24:22
my name known. I didn't know it worked that way. I just thought if you were Oh, so many things I auditioned for were
00:24:28
offers out to people and I was jumping around to kill time to scare them like we're having auditions right now. I
00:24:34
mean, no one no one's good yet. Don't worry, no one's good yet. I hated when you walked into an audition room and I
00:24:40
saw all these this is in the 80s. Babyfaced men with no chins. Like I go,
00:24:46
"Okay, I get it. Oh, I I I get the look." Yeah. They're all look alikes of me. No
00:24:52
chin, baby face. Okay. Cherubic. I get it. But they I I was over for 150 at one
00:25:00
point. 150 auditions. And I've got one time the agent called me. You didn't get
00:25:05
it and you frightened them. Oh, I remember auditioning for Barry
00:25:12
Levenson once and reading, you know, reading this part and he liked it. He went, "That was
00:25:20
good. It was good. Now, can you do it?" And he gave me a very specific direction.
00:25:26
Did it again. Exactly the same. And we both looked at each other.
00:25:34
I was mortified. He was embarrassed. And I And I said, "That wasn't that
00:25:39
different, was it?" She went, "No, no, okay.
00:25:44
Okay. Can't take direction." My [ __ ] acting coach shocked. Yes, I had one.
00:25:50
They said they might give you direction just to see if you can take direction. A lot of people can't. I'm like, why not?
00:25:56
And they're like, it's shocking. They can't. They go Stemi. They just start listing people.
00:26:02
But honestly, it's like you just say that and you go, oh, I would just change it. And some people are coached so hard
00:26:09
or they're with their teacher or whatever and they go, this is the right way to do it. even to the director. They're like,
00:26:15
"I've got the right way. You don't." Right. And they're just testing you. But I've done that. I bomb every every commercial
00:26:22
audition. Even more embarrassing. Um do do the Cohen brothers give you a line by line reading
00:26:31
like say the line like how are they, you know, their writing is so
00:26:37
specific, you know, that they really want you to, you know, say what's written. And so there's very little. I
00:26:44
think I improvised something once on Fargo and I was nervous about it, but they liked it. But I remember in the
00:26:50
beginning when I first started working with them, they uh I think in Miller's Crossing that they just wanted my
00:26:57
character to be even, you know, he was a fast he was the fastest talker that I think I ever
00:27:03
It's hard with lines to do fast. Yeah. And they just wanted it even more
00:27:08
like they just wanted it more intense or more shrill. And um I remember doing the
00:27:14
scene where I, you know, all I do is talk talk talk talk. Gabriel Burn had like two
00:27:21
words, then I talk talk talk. He would just wait till I stopped talking, then he would say two two words. And there
00:27:27
was a whole casino of people behind me uh on my co coverage. And I remember on
00:27:35
one of the 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
00:27:42
the dialogue with the whole casino, you know, extras behind me, I see her head
00:27:48
poke out, you know, behind somebody to watch. And I just stopped talking.
00:27:54
Oh, through you. And all right, back to one. You know, and it was you hear a lot of rumbling
00:28:00
and she felt horrible. I could see the look on her face. She knew what happened and she just ducked back out. Um,
00:28:06
yeah, because your brain just switches. You go, "Wait, oh, Joe." Yeah. Turns you off.
00:28:13
You know, uh, Dana, I don't know if you remember this one. Of course you do. I don't know who you played in this. Maybe
00:28:19
Travolta. One of my favorite sketches was Welcome Back Cotter. Tarantino's Welcome Back Cotter.
00:28:26
When uh, John hosted when John Oh, it was John was playing John. Okay. about hosted and it was welcome Back
00:28:33
Carter directed by Quentyn Tarantino and um at the end of it
00:28:40
yeah because Michael McKeon was on the show and they had Lenny and Squiggy pop out remember and then I came out at the
00:28:48
very end as Mr. pink and said something like up your hole with a jelly roll,
00:28:54
something like that. I remember in the rehearsal uh or the dress the dress rehearsal show
00:29:03
uh I was late getting out there and I didn't think it was my fault. I thought I was cued late. But you probably don't
00:29:10
remember this, David, but afterwards you did give me a little [ __ ] about that. Shut the [ __ ] up, did I?
00:29:16
You gave me a little bit. A little bit. You did. You did. You were like, "Hey, the you know, Johnny on the spot there.
00:29:22
What happened?" Something like that. And I went and they didn't kill me. You know, how dare I? I I was I was nervous.
00:29:28
Nervous. I was Horseshack and I was in character.
00:29:36
I got to play Horseshack. It was I loved it. I thought that was such a funny idea, funny sketch.
00:29:41
It was great. Yeah. One of my all-time memorable ones. That's fun you got to be in that. And um
00:29:46
I just watched your monologue of character actors. That was a good idea.
00:29:52
You were people in the audience, cast members were character actors. Yeah. Asking you how to be a lead.
00:30:00
Wait. Yeah. They said like, "Hey, you're a lead, but you play a lot of character
00:30:06
actors, but now you're a leading man. I play the girl with all the bags at a store that's the best friend." And and
00:30:12
then she frat falls out of frame and then Kristen Wig is like, I'm the girl
00:30:18
running from the killer with a knife, but I don't know where anyone is. Steve, are you here? So, everyone was playing a
00:30:23
character and they were asking for your advice to get past being a character actor. I thought it was pretty clever. I
00:30:29
thought that was good. That was good. I should watch that again because I totally blanked that out.
00:30:35
I'll send you a link. Sure. Thanks. All right, let me ask you a question.
00:30:41
But now that you say it, now that you describe it, I do do I do remember it. Yeah. I mean, it is a blur because you've got
00:30:47
13 sketches. You've hosted I think twice. Twice. Yeah. Yeah. So, it's hard to remember every nook and
00:30:53
cranny, but it was a good job. I thought that was interesting. I like what I remembered about the first
00:30:58
time hosting during the dress rehearsal, I came out to do the monologue and I spotted a
00:31:05
friend of mine from high school sitting in the front row. And again, it was just like seeing seeing my wife on set. I
00:31:12
looked at 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
00:31:18
now." On top of your nerves. You see that throws you off. So scary.
00:31:24
One take. That's the hard part. I know. You're like, "Let me start over." Nope. But thank God it was a dress rehearsal.
00:31:30
And then at the for the show, I just went just told myself, just don't look at anybody. Just avoid eye eye contact.
00:31:38
Yeah. Yeah. So, what a run you had in the 90s. I mean, it come and then SNL calls. You'd
00:31:44
been in at least five giant movies, Reservoir Dogs, Pul Fiction. Um, when
00:31:51
did Fargo come out? Yeah, that came out like in 96. I was surprised that I got the call for it
00:31:56
because I didn't think I had really done enough to like warrant me being like
00:32:03
that people would even know me. Uh but John Toutur was also on that year and I
00:32:08
thought, "Oh, is this the year that they're like going after uh independent
00:32:14
film actors or something?" And I I was like, I'm so thrilled to like get it, but I
00:32:19
was nervous that uh I think I suggested because in the opening monologue, it was
00:32:25
some monologue about my name, Steve, and something, you know, it was and it just wasn't me and I was nervous about that.
00:32:34
So, I sort of addressed that and then I suggested something. I can't remember
00:32:40
who came up with the idea that we were gonna like I was going to take suggestions from the audience and do
00:32:46
like an improv with the rest of the cast and then I would just insert scenes from
00:32:52
movies that I was in. But part of but the ulterior motive was to like to remind people I was in Fargo where
00:32:59
Reservoir Dogs were nervous that people wouldn't know like who is this guy? Um
00:33:04
but I was glad that they changed it. I was very sort of shy to say can we do I have to do this opening monologue
00:33:13
can can we change it? and uh and Lauren was really open to it and and receptive
00:33:18
and but that first time you host it's just it's just so uh mindb boggling. I
00:33:26
was so anxious and I didn't know if I was allowed to say anything or contribute and even though they were
00:33:32
asking me like is there anything that you like to do or you have any special talents can you sing?
00:33:37
Yeah. Whatever you want. Right. Do you feel like you're being a problem if you say too much on a set?
00:33:44
Yeah. Yeah. And then also like what do I know? Like aren't like you're the experts.
00:33:49
Yeah. You put yourself in their hands. I think they just test you to say we have a sketch we've been sitting on, but we
00:33:55
need someone that can speak Russian or we need someone that can, you know, sing and they and Yeah. And you need just
00:34:01
dialects and weird [ __ ] And you go, I can juggle. They go, okay, we can put that in something. And then right, that helps. Did Did Lauren calm me down
00:34:09
or is he sort of imposing in his own way? But normally he would really take a host. You go to dinner with him. You'll
00:34:16
be nervous on the dress rehearsal and then on air it'll all just come together.
00:34:22
That's Yeah, he's kind of both. He's very intimidating and comforting at the
00:34:28
same, you know, kind of at the same time because he's so calm, you know, that like and it's no, this is what we do and
00:34:35
you'll be fine. And it's like, okay, I'll believe you.
00:34:41
Do you you know, we had a an old movie you did was called Airheads. I saw it again on the flight because we had
00:34:47
lovely Brenon Fran who was a super sweetheart. Uh he's great. And then uh or Sandler
00:34:54
for seeing Airheads Again because I went and saw it on uh Broadway in like 69th
00:35:00
wherever there's that little theater in New York during I think it was SNL and it I saw the whole thing again. Pretty
00:35:07
fun to see the whole thing again. Um and Billy Madison of course is such a big
00:35:12
one that people remember you from you know I did one day on that movie on
00:35:19
and everyone remembers it. Is that you when you cross the the list of kill who to kill that thing? And then Yeah. Yeah.
00:35:25
So memorable. He he calls me up and he apologizes for his bullying behavior in high school and
00:35:31
then I cross his name off the people to kill to kill and then I for no reason at all
00:35:37
I just put on lipstick which that was my favorite part.
00:35:44
You know we went Do you think I mean Yeah. Being the character actor is great. We saw Sandler tape his thing. I
00:35:50
thought I might see it. He's doing his um stand up special. I know. And uh Bridget was there.
00:35:57
Yeah. Veronica Vaughan, the teacher in Billy Madison. And uh
00:36:05
and I said, "You get to be for history in one of Farley's funniest things,
00:36:11
saying that Veronica is one fine piece of ace." And then
00:36:17
Billy goes, "You went with her?" And he goes, "I had a couple fun nights with them." He goes, "No, you didn't." He goes, "No, I didn't."
00:36:24
Or whatever. He says, "It's so funny. It's very, very, very Chris." Yeah, it was. Yeah.
00:36:31
He plays the bus driver in Billy M. So funny. Yeah, that's fun. It's fun to be a part
00:36:37
of even like that one scene you did just everyone remembers it. I loved and you know Yeah. And Chris was in Airheads. And I remember when we did
00:36:45
the read through and afterwards, Chris said to me,
00:36:51
there's a part in Airheads where, you know, like my character gets angry and I'm like yelling at Adam and and uh
00:36:58
Chris says to me, "Wow, Steve, when you were yelling that one time, you you sounded just like you did in Reservoir
00:37:04
Dogs." And I kind of looked at him like, "What are you saying?" And I realized Chris really was that way. Like when he
00:37:10
had that sketch on SNL, he was, "Oh god, what?" You know, remember when you were in the Beatles?
00:37:16
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He really was that way kind of, but he was excited, I'm sure, to see
00:37:22
you. I know. I know. It's fun. And and I just, you know, and and I kind of looked at him and he looked at me and
00:37:28
and then we like just laughed. But, uh, it was a really funny thing for him to say.
00:37:34
Yeah, he's he is a sweetheart. Was Fargo the one you get asked about the most only because it won best pitcher, right?
00:37:41
It was No, it's uh the big Labowski. Okay. And that was another
00:37:46
And it took a few years for that to happen. Um because that was the one that followed Bargo and
00:37:54
I think critics and like didn't know what to make of it at at the time and it kind of fell through the cracks. But
00:38:00
then like five years later, I would start to get these like college kids come up to me and mention it because
00:38:06
they watched it on VHS like over and over. And then in 10 years time, then it was Yeah. And then it it got to be where
00:38:14
I knew the Labowski fans like somebody would come up to me on the street and
00:38:20
they'd be about to say something and I'd say, "Shut the [ __ ] up, Donnie." And they'd like look at me like, "Yeah, I'm
00:38:25
wild." Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. God, I I'm telling you, I hear about that like people I'm not in it, but people go, "God, have you
00:38:32
seen The Big Labowski?" Oh, like one of my when they listing movies they like and comedies and it just really did
00:38:38
resonate. Yeah. Hey, I'm the dude, man. Jeff Bridges is such a stud.
00:38:45
Such a stud. Jeff Bridges. I always say that when he became a cowboy actor, he always sounded
00:38:50
like it just had a hogy. I'm gonna do a take here in a minute, but I just had a
00:38:55
big deep fried sandwich with him. He, you know, he a his Jeff now, if he
00:39:02
listens to our podcast, he just once he did true true grit and then he just
00:39:08
stayed his voice got grallyier. Well, he just sort of he went post acting. I think some people if you see Hell or
00:39:14
High Water, he's being so playful in that it's almost like Anthony Hopkins in the one
00:39:19
he got the Oscar for a couple years ago. some kind of like beyond acting. They're just playing. I I don't know how to
00:39:26
describe. He's like, "Let's get a giddy up on this car." You I don't know. In the hell or high water, I went, "Oh, he
00:39:31
jumped the shark. He's not acting anymore." Do you know what I mean, Stephen? Yes. He's just become whatever,
00:39:39
you know, you just Yeah. He Yeah. Rules are out. the most in the pocket you feel you've ever been like in a role
00:39:46
like okay this is the most I'm not thinking that I'm acting in a way or I'm
00:39:51
just feeling so so great in each take if it ever happened well no um
00:39:59
I mean the first feature that I directed Trees Lounge was a character that I
00:40:04
wrote for myself that kind of was like an exaggerated version of me, but
00:40:12
it was me and and um so but it was weird
00:40:17
because I was also directing it and I always get very anxious when I direct. So it was hard to really enjoy it, you
00:40:25
know, fully in the moment. If somebody else was directing, I think I maybe I would have felt like, "Oh yeah, I'm
00:40:31
nailing this." Otherw otherwise I'm just like I'm just thinking about the rest of the day and just wanting to get through
00:40:38
a scene, make sure I got it right. But yeah, uh but my anxiety I think just
00:40:43
gets in the way. Wait a minute. An actor with anxiety. I mean and and self and self you're you're
00:40:49
having a brilliant actor has self-doubt and anxiety except for Brando maybe. I don't know. But everybody else was a
00:40:55
little shaky. I don't know. Hard to hard to place Brando. I'll bet he was insecure.
00:41:01
Brando. No. Well, he got the earpiece at some point. So I think he was like a [ __ ] memorizing
00:41:08
lines. It's too stressful. Not giving a [ __ ] is is another way to
00:41:13
do this, you know. No, I'm saying the word anxiety I didn't know growing up or I would have said it
00:41:20
every day. But I think now that you give people this word, like kids, they're like, I'm anxious at
00:41:25
school. I'm like, well, no [ __ ] I've been anxious since the day I was born till right now. Like, it's a very rough
00:41:30
life out there. And they're like, I don't want to do my homework. It gives me anxiety. No [ __ ] Like, everything
00:41:36
does. Oh, I had panic attacks before I do standup and I didn't know I was having a panic attack.
00:41:41
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 225 an hour.
00:41:47
Maybe a talk her down to 200. Well, that's enough personal information for tip. But
00:41:53
uh yeah, everybody is anxious now and depressed. Steve,
00:41:58
true. We can now now we know what we are. We know we're screwed up. We have
00:42:04
vocabulary. Before I let you go, Steve, because you're a wonderful guy, I I And you're doing 12 other podcasts after
00:42:12
this for the listener. You know, the good thing about Steve is he's not totally out there on everything. Like that's the interesting
00:42:17
mystery of Bushmi. He's just kind of cool, lays back a little bit, doesn't smother them.
00:42:23
He I don't It's I think it's unintentional, but yeah, he's effortlessly cool. And the fact that you
00:42:29
I mean I'll just throw this out here because I don't it's not common knowledge to everybody that you were a firefighter who dreamed of becoming an
00:42:36
actor. Yeah. Who became an actor. 9/11 happens and then you apparently volunteer and you're
00:42:44
going into the rubble with the firefighters. Not to bring up such a dark subject, but that's an extraordinary
00:42:51
uh thing for a human being to have done, you know. Well, thank you. No. Yeah, because I I
00:42:58
was a firefighter for a few years in the early 80s and then, you know, as the years went by, I got
00:43:04
further and further away from it and lost touch. But then 911, yeah, it just put me back in touch and I felt really
00:43:11
honored that they would even let me come back and work with them with my uh my
00:43:18
company, Engine 55. and I I had access,
00:43:24
but I know so many people who would have done the same thing that wanted to be there, but just was couldn't get in
00:43:31
there and and I had I had the opportunity and the access because I used to be on the job and I felt very
00:43:39
honored to, you know, that that I was that I was able to do that. It's hard for any of us to imagine that
00:43:46
scene of what what you went through and you were invisible in a sense with the gear and everything. No one knew, hey,
00:43:51
that's the Fargo guy. You know what's weird is that, you know, I still had my uh my turnout coat and my
00:43:58
helmet and boots. And so I went there thinking that I would that I could blend
00:44:04
in, but I had been off the job like since the mid8s and all the and all the
00:44:10
equipment changed and the bunker gear. You look like Curious George or something. I kind of stood out anyway. And then
00:44:17
people were like kind of looking at me like who why who is this guy? Why doesn't he have like why is he
00:44:23
from a time machine? A relic from the past. Oh, wait a minute. It's that guy. It's that actor. Yeah.
00:44:29
You know, Dana, he did that anonymously and he he helped for uh weeks. In a
00:44:35
related story, I brought cookies down and had tipped off TMZ to follow me and
00:44:41
then later and I was in full makeup and then Hey man, you both you both are heroes. when I you're different kinds of heroes.
00:44:49
I want to ask Steve a qu because I don't know if this is true either because I was a pipe David and I were pipsqueaks in high
00:44:55
school. Like I I graduated I was probably 125. Me too.
00:45:00
But I I heard you wrestled at 105 on the varsity. Oh, really?
00:45:06
But you got bigger than that, right? Were you that a freshman? 105 or I know I did that up until my senior
00:45:12
year. Maybe I went up another 105. I don't think so. 105. Yeah, that's crazy. I know.
00:45:20
Were you your height? Uh I But the because I I was pretty wiry
00:45:25
and I was pretty uh strong for my weight. I did pretty good during the
00:45:30
year. Uh you know, like in the in the team matches, but then in the tournaments I
00:45:36
always I always choked. When you started wrestling guys, was it harder?
00:45:42
He says the girls a little easier and then they started putting me up against guys when they got to 110.
00:45:50
Then it was two girls versus Steve and he he'd take them down three girls and it was getting hard and then they had a
00:45:56
87 pound uh guy. No, but you were good. I mean you were actually you would seem
00:46:02
like the kind of guy who would be good at wrestling. I don't know why I think that, but yeah, your intellect and kind of I
00:46:08
think wiry people are secretly strong. I was I was okay. I did I you know I had
00:46:15
I had a great coach, Mr. Earl, and and uh and his son Richiro was my wrestling
00:46:22
partner. So, and like he was like the best on the team. So, it kind of rubbed off on on me. I had one secret move
00:46:29
called the reverse cradle. And if I got you in it, if I got you in the reverse cradle, it was like a
00:46:36
surprise. And I actually beat some like guys who were probably better than me. But then, you know, that's why I would
00:46:43
choke in the tournaments because then you wrestle these same people again.
00:46:50
It always seemed a little close quartery in a way. You ever wrestling a guy and all of a sudden your face was right up
00:46:55
against his junk and you're going, "Why am I doing this?" It's very almost erotic wrestling. It is
00:47:02
okay. You know, it Let's look at a clip. It's part of the appeal. It's part It's part of the appeal. It does get a
00:47:09
diverse audience. Yes. Yes. That's good. Yeah. All right, Dana. What do we do with Steve? We let him go.
00:47:16
Well, we could do hours because of He doesn't need our help, but Yeah. He's Steve Bushi. He's a national treasure.
00:47:23
I'm going to use that as a because you're just been around so long and uh
00:47:29
if I see one in a movie, I'm just happy. Yeah, you're like this guy.
00:47:34
It's this guy. And I think when you are in your lane, um I I don't know who your
00:47:41
peers are. I don't know if it's Christopher Walkin. These are older people, but um it's there's the cool
00:47:47
factor. You're not in you're not a pretty boy in front of a movie doing all the press. You're just the guy who goes
00:47:53
in and you can't take your eyes off that guy, you know? I mean, it's like you weren't in Fargo. It was like it didn't
00:48:00
feel like you were acting. You weren't an actor in that movie. They're like, they got a real guy to do
00:48:05
this. They How where'd they get this? I had that once with Rip Torren. I saw a movie. Where'd they get this guy off the
00:48:11
street? He was so good in this movie. And I think you have that vibe about you.
00:48:17
Thank you. So, I'm not a pretty boy. That's what you're saying. Well, I'm saying you're you're ruggedly
00:48:24
handsome. Thank you. Thank you. I agree. Do you think David's a pretty Yes, absolutely.
00:48:30
Thank you. I've gotten away with uh every time I date someone, it's Beauty and the Beast in every article. I'm like I enough for this. Like just why not
00:48:39
just say I'm okay like a beast. They say they go yuck. That's like exclamation is the headline. I'm like
00:48:44
all right. You can't do that. You can't do that with the girls. You can't say, "Look at this great looking guy with
00:48:50
this dog." It's like, and you can't. You can do with me. All right, Steve. That's really what I
00:48:55
wanted to get off my chest. Okay. Um, thank you for talking to us. Uh, you're a stud and, uh, we'll talk soon.
00:49:01
Hopefully. Enjoy both. I love you both.
00:49:09
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00:49:15
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00:49:20
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00:49:27
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00:49:34
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00:49:41
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00:49:50
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00:49:56
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00:50:03
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