00:00:00
Hey, David. Uh, you remember the show Always Sunny in Philadelphia? Yeah, it's been on since I was born.
00:00:07
It's coming back. I'm sure. Coming back. This will be back. And of course, one of
00:00:13
the stars of Always Sunny in Philadelphia is our good friend Danny Devito, who we interviewed a little
00:00:20
while back. That's right. Danny uh did SNL with us.
00:00:25
Um, also everyone on Always Sunny is a star and it's pretty shocking that a show can still be on the air even
00:00:31
though it's really funny. It's just that doesn't really happen as much anymore where you have Bonanza or Gunsmoke.
00:00:37
Yeah. Simpsons. There's there's some that just always come back. And um so I'm glad it's back on. I'm glad it's
00:00:45
still funny. I'm glad it's very edgy. It still gives people what they want. And I I'm glad they get away with all the
00:00:50
stuff they get away with because not many shows will try to do that anymore. it it's a great show and um you know we
00:00:58
thought we had a thought we huddled together with our team and thought that maybe we would uh
00:01:05
show Danny DeVito's interview um this week.
00:01:10
Yeah, it's a perfect Yeah, a lot of people they come and go and they and and it kind of goes back in
00:01:16
the library, but we put it at the forefront and say if you watch When Always Sunny, uh don't miss this
00:01:22
episode. But it was very funny and he was just very uh interesting talking about the New York days and blah blah
00:01:27
blah. So here he is. I hope you like him. We do. Mr. Danny DeVito.
00:01:34
But I was just thinking doing this in the 1960s. We might have waited for Yel Brener to come on. That would have been
00:01:40
fun. Yel Brener would be the first Yeah. guest. Podcast guest in 1965. We'd follow him
00:01:47
up with Steve McQueen. Yeah. You put him on. He does a little dance.
00:01:52
does the accent. He talks about the doing the jump, but he didn't really do it in The Great
00:01:57
Escape. Didn't really. Yeah. All the all the stuff that he does, you know, like I had an apartment in New York once night in
00:02:05
the 60s. I got on the bulletin board of u of uh
00:02:12
the American Academy of Dramatic Arts where I went to school. And uh you know, I was looking for apartments.
00:02:18
Everybody was always, you know, scrging for like no money, but we had no money,
00:02:24
so they had this bulletin board. Anyway, I went to an address and it was in the
00:02:29
weirdest place was on Madison Avenue in the in like 57th or 8th Street. 645 was
00:02:37
the address I remember. And yeah. Wow. And um I walk in the door. It's a really
00:02:43
shitty building now. It's all, you know, totally to turned into what New York is,
00:02:50
you know, and I I go in the building and the first thing I saw was a giant
00:02:55
picture from Buer.
00:03:01
Oh man. And it was a little shitty Yeah. A little shitty hallway like kind of
00:03:07
thing. And um anyway, it worked out because I I got
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the apartment. It was like the second flight up. It had an elevator actually in the building, but very very very very
00:03:21
old school. And uh of course 60 it was 64 or
00:03:27
something like that. So what was your rent? Do you remember your rent? Yes. $50 a month.
00:03:33
$50 a month. And it and it was a one-bedroom apartment. And the back and the bedroom was the was a living room,
00:03:38
bedroom kind of situation. It had a nice bathroom and a kitchen and and a and a
00:03:45
Mhm. Uh Yeah. And the bedroom had windows that looked out over the tops of um uh
00:03:54
buildings, New York. So, it was like one of those It was like if you were uh doing a play or a movie about New York
00:04:01
and you said like, "Build me uh a a outside like what the cycllorama would
00:04:08
look like or today what what you would put in in in the you know the background
00:04:14
of your movie. It was all the stove, you know, the the exhaust pipes and the
00:04:21
tops of buildings and railings and all that. Like it looked like the you could
00:04:26
do you could do uh Westside Story on the roof. Well, did did people hang out of the out
00:04:32
out of their out of their windows going, "Hey, what's with the [ __ ] noise over here?"
00:04:37
No. No, they weren't doing that. It was like more like it wasn't like enclosed
00:04:42
like like if there were buildings that went up cuz in that area, you know, at that time
00:04:49
it was just a top. So, you had a great panorama of looking east.
00:04:55
Uh but no, you didn't see a river or anything. I was on Madison Avenue and u
00:05:02
but to actually have that address at at that time was like amazing [ __ ] crazy
00:05:10
because I put these other glasses I see better from far away. That's a great right in the heart of
00:05:16
Midtown, right? Yes, it's right in the heart of And the thing about it is that
00:05:22
at that time, a lot of people don't know this, Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue
00:05:28
were two-way streets. I mean, you guys weren't even born.
00:05:34
Uh, I was born. I I go back. I remember Yel Brener. I look I mean, you know, David doesn't
00:05:40
know who Yul Brener is. Yeah. So, you remember him? But yeah. Oh. Oh, yeah. I remember the King and I was a poster.
00:05:46
But if you imagine Madison Avenue being a two-way street and you know you know
00:05:51
New York very well and Fifth Avenue also I used to walk up from 30th and and go
00:05:58
to 57th or 8th where I lived and uh it was a two-way street. It was really
00:06:04
there weren't any horses and carts though. You'll be happy to hear you weren't that far back. It wasn't that far.
00:06:10
Oh good. All right. We're in the modern. Were you walking around with casting call magazine?
00:06:17
I was doing uh what we used to get was show business and uh and what what they
00:06:24
call backstage. You remember that? Oh, backstage. Remember that? See, you guys did it a whole other way. It was just we buy I
00:06:33
would you know I was never in the magazine. night, we'd buy these magazine, these papers that came out
00:06:39
once a week, show business and and uh backstage, and in there there would be
00:06:44
all the casting that was going on. Mhm. And we would, you know, we would go to
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uh uh on the corner of I think it was 47th and uh 7th was Howard Johnson's.
00:07:00
And uh everybody would meet in there. It was like you go in, you know, take up
00:07:05
space and have coffee and read the to see what was the latest thing. Yeah.
00:07:10
Yeah. To see what was going on. And and uh Danny, did you ever find when you audition for these things at the
00:07:16
beginning, I found this that you would audition and then you would hear through
00:07:22
the grapevine they already have offers out to stars, but they're just looking for backups or
00:07:27
No, no, it's it's always the same case. So, it's been that since the beginning
00:07:32
of time. And the other thing about like I I'm talking about auditioning for off
00:07:38
off Broadway, off Broadway, uh regional theater, anything that you could get. And, you
00:07:45
know, sometimes you get lucky and get a an audition at the public, you know, uh and uh you know, get get a
00:07:53
a tiny part in Shakespeare in the Park, you know, like it's not You're literally
00:08:00
a spear carrier. But you might have a few lines like I played once I got I
00:08:05
played the doctor in uh the Merrywe the doctor's servant sorry in the Mary Wise
00:08:11
of Windsor you know and uh the best those were the best show uh to get
00:08:17
because they literally paid man. Oh, that was like you would wind up with
00:08:22
$190 something dollars a week in uh in those uh in in at Joe Paps.
00:08:30
Yeah. $200. It was a different contract that you know, no strike needed there.
00:08:36
Yeah. Four months of rent. Off Broadway. Off Broadway was great,
00:08:41
man. Off Broadway was $68 a week, $70 a week. Damn. That's what I made on SNL. And SNL
00:08:49
didn't exist then, did it? Did Lauren Michael existed?
00:08:55
Well, Lauren Michaels always existed. He was in He was a teenager and he still exists.
00:09:00
There is no one. When did When did SNL start? When did Ed SNL start?
00:09:06
It's a good question. 75. It's like 70 something. 75. Yeah. So I Yeah, that's So 75. I was
00:09:14
already in California by then. I came I'd gone through off Broadway and all
00:09:21
those things um earlier and and you know uh did children's
00:09:29
theater in Massachusetts. I've done you know did all that kind of stuff and then I I got lucky in uh in the in 1971ish
00:09:38
or two around there and I got a a part off Broadway
00:09:44
and played Martini and Cuckoo's Nest. Oh, and so that was like there should be [ __ ] applause.
00:09:50
Then then uh I stayed in that play for almost a year and it ran at the Mercer
00:09:56
Arts Center and that was cool. And then uh
00:10:01
uh then Milos saw it and everybody saw it and I got lucky and got a you know Milo
00:10:09
and then I got the movie and then after the movie opened I moved out. Wait, Danny, sunny, California. Yeah. My my question
00:10:16
was when you do a play, you're not guaranteed a part in the movie, are you? No, you're not guaranteed anything in
00:10:23
this. Our business is you must know this. It's not there's no there are no
00:10:29
guarantees. There's no anything, you know. Yeah. I mean once in a while like for instance I you can imagine like Brando
00:10:37
uh giving a performance like he did in Street Car and then you know
00:10:43
that you got to be a you know you have to have your head in his head in the sand to not cast him in uh in the movie.
00:10:50
So right uh same thing with you know Vivian they're not going to get someone from the Bachelor
00:10:56
and they're not going to like Yeah. He's going to be uh the first choice. Yeah. I I starred in Hans and Fron's the
00:11:04
musical. I'm sorry. Go ahead. I want to hear more about Hans and Fr the musical.
00:11:09
Hans and Fron the Musical. What I was going to ask you, Danny, is a philosophical question. Usually when
00:11:14
people have their struggling years, struggling years, and then have hyper
00:11:19
superstar success, which I'm going to put you in that category. They look back at those early years and go, "Those were
00:11:26
some of the best days of my life." Do you feel that or did it suck when you look back on the struggle?
00:11:32
I never I don't first of all I don't I mean unless I'm doing something like
00:11:37
talking to you guys like or something you you don't think about that as much
00:11:42
but you you you do think like you know those days were struggles but not you know not
00:11:50
the best. They were not the those were the days. Uh uh I I think the toughest
00:11:58
part about that getting started was you know like you guys got started like when
00:12:04
you you know you you you hit television or I don't know what your history is but
00:12:09
how how much you did before before I met you at the when I did the church lady or
00:12:16
something like but uh you were there. You were you were there. Yeah.
00:12:21
Oh, I remember intensely. Well, you you hosted a couple times. Just so funny.
00:12:27
And when I did that drum solo in the dress, you were egging me on, you know,
00:12:32
and that was my best drum solo on television. There you go. You see, you have to have a coach.
00:12:39
You were good. I had 10 10 years of of uh anonymity before I got SNL. David had
00:12:46
David got a movie right out of high school. But um I know then I but then I Danny, thank
00:12:52
you for asking. I did a Police Academy movie, Police Academy 4, the good one.
00:12:58
And I and then I came back and turned something down. I thought I was kind of
00:13:04
a big deal. And then I lost all my heat for 3 years and had to grind it back.
00:13:11
And it's so [ __ ] sickening to even think about. But, you know, it all worked out. But,
00:13:16
but like you were saying in the beginning when you were struggling, I think like all of us, you don't really
00:13:21
know any better. And you, you know, you're taking a risk by going into this world of movies and TV and theater. So,
00:13:28
you can only really look back and think, god damn, how did I get through that? But at the time, $100 is a lot. You get
00:13:35
a little part is a lot. You know, you're just sitting with your buddies at the coffee shop. It's such a long shot to make it that it's probably once you make
00:13:42
it, you look back and you go, "God, that was tough." But at the time it's tough, but you don't I didn't really notice how
00:13:48
tough it was. You don't notice it. No, you just Well, you're you're focused on like you you're
00:13:53
focused on getting the job. Yeah. So, basically, that was what what was going on with me. I was like I would u
00:14:00
uh I would read those papers that you you know and at the time excuse me in
00:14:06
the 60s I I didn't have an equity card so I just got out of school and like the way they
00:14:14
did it was you they you would read in say you read in the in in backstage that
00:14:21
such and such was casting something and you go okay and and they're casting over
00:14:26
on 57th street, you know, by Carnegie Hall, somewhere near one of those buildings down the block, whatever it
00:14:33
was, and casting was, you know, say Tuesday, okay, but you didn't get in
00:14:40
until the end of the you got at the if you didn't have an equity card, they saw everybody, you know, they would there
00:14:46
because everybody's looking for the right person to play the part hopefully. uh if and especially if they're not yes
00:14:54
the the I mean maybe they already had the lead cast or that's the way they raised the money or
00:15:01
those things but you would you would wait up in the you go go at like 3:00
00:15:07
4:00 in the afternoon and maybe the line was less and you could uh you know you
00:15:15
could you waited and then in the end the very end uh they would let the non non-equity
00:15:21
people get in to uh to audition and then
00:15:27
they'd see everybody. And as a matter of fact, the first play that I ever got did
00:15:32
I did at uh in I think it was 1968
00:15:39
or so seven, the first off Broadway show
00:15:44
because I had done regional theater. Well, uh, I did toured with a play once that
00:15:51
came out of school that was like kind of cast in
00:15:56
we went to two theaters, went to the Eugene O'Neal Foundation where they the
00:16:01
playrights thing in 60s something 64 and and then like in ' 68 I I actually
00:16:10
did that. I went to the to one of those auditions and where they make you wait until the
00:16:17
very end and I peaked my head into the you know I it was this big big door in
00:16:22
one of those big old pre-war buildings in the like was I think it might have been on like near 57th Street and I I
00:16:30
walk up and it's giant door and it was nobody there because I had gone and come back the line was really long and anyway
00:16:37
long story short I stuck my head in and there There was an actor, a director,
00:16:43
and a writer, and a producer sitting at a table up really far away in this big empty room. It looked like a rehearsal
00:16:49
room. And I just popped my head in like and and
00:16:57
you know, you still uh you know, seeing people kind of thing. And the actor,
00:17:04
this a guy named Allan Garfield. You remember you know Allan? J James
00:17:09
Garfield's son. No, no, I don't know who who his dad was. His name was Alan Garfield, but he
00:17:15
was Do you know him, Dave? No, I know Garfield the cat.
00:17:20
Okay. Anyway, the guy literally at the table like across the room turns around
00:17:27
and said, "That's the guy who should play the part." Whoa. They were trying to talk him into Yeah.
00:17:33
He didn't want to do this part. It was wasn't a huge part, but it was a good part.
00:17:39
And I stuck my head in the door and the guy and the actor, not the director and
00:17:44
the producers and the writer or whatever, he said, "There's the guy who should play this part
00:17:51
and I I just backed out of the room or something. Then they came and got me." And I went in and I read the lines, did
00:17:58
the thing. I didn't I didn't I had never seen the script before. just you know like those things where they give you
00:18:04
the sides. Yeah. Yeah. And I got a part in a in a in a play called Shoot Anything with Hair
00:18:11
That Moves. Of course. Huge success.
00:18:21
[Music] I just think of the 70s and the films of the 70s and Cuckoo's Nest
00:18:28
and of course that play. Yeah. Don't shoot anything that has hair. And the
00:18:33
the friends that you that you made, Jack Nicholson and Michael Douglas and your your class, those 70s guys
00:18:41
that all became and they're lifelong friends. What What's the deal with those guys? Are they fun or do you like them
00:18:47
or Jack Nicholson? And yeah, they're good to work with. Yeah, Jack's the coolest guy out there.
00:18:53
Jack Jack was like a a guy from Jersey. He he actually lived like he was born in
00:19:00
this we were born in the same hospital. Figure that. Well, I'll be damned.
00:19:06
And well, hey, I'll be damned. How about that? That's what Jack would say. I'll be damned. Born in the same
00:19:14
hospital. Yeah, how do you like that? Me and D born in the same hospital. Um, I don't
00:19:21
do a good accent. Uh, let's see. And then Michael, I met
00:19:27
I met actually in the 60s at the Eugene O'Neal um playrs conference up there where we
00:19:35
where that play that I was going through town with
00:19:40
uh we we opened the festival that year and um that's where we met. So, and
00:19:47
there were and not only good guys, but really uh fun to work with. And and you
00:19:54
and once we got going, we had a couple shots to work together, which was like
00:20:01
really good. But, you know, it's good when people are looking out for you because uh the
00:20:07
business is like very difficult. Uh, and when people are looking out for you as
00:20:13
well as you know your your buddies and know
00:20:18
what the scoop is, then you you know you you're fortunate to have those guys as friends.
00:20:24
You're lucky you're all good, too, because it's it's it's hard to help each other out or recommend someone. But if
00:20:29
everybody's good, those, you know, all three of you. So it it's not crazy that you would all be in another movie or
00:20:35
that you would work together because you you keep bringing bringing it, which is hard to do.
00:20:41
It's all about work, the work, right? Yeah. Just keep working. Yeah. Yeah. Keep having and having a good time
00:20:47
doing because our theme here uh casually SNL and uh you hosted five times. It's very
00:20:54
rare to host five times. five o'clock. You and John Goodman and a couple others
00:21:00
when you host that show, as you know, you got to pretty much cold read 55
00:21:06
scripts over four hours basically. And I remember thinking the time when you came in in 86 or 87, damn, this guy
00:21:13
can cold read. Was it Were you known for that? But you were like nailing it, you know, over and
00:21:19
over again. I don't you know, it's pretty cool to to to watch as a young performer. Well, it was a lot of fun to
00:21:25
sit in that room with all you crazy people and uh and and have that pile of
00:21:31
scripts in front of you and just go through them. And I mean that that's
00:21:36
like uh you know the opportunity to have everybody there pitching what they
00:21:44
thought was best best and what you felt comfortable with. That's the main thing I think that's key, right? for would you
00:21:51
say like for the hosts uh to be comfortable with all that material one
00:21:57
you know pick the ones that are the ones uh that suit you best. It's a lucky thing like to have that um pack of you
00:22:07
know trouidors all sitting around the table you know
00:22:12
it's like old school showbiz kind of yeah old school you know it's like yeah I could imagine what it was like you
00:22:19
know when the Marx brothers were running around all the theaters trying out material you know that that would be the
00:22:26
same kind of uh thing they they they just go do they suffer for people
00:22:32
through two hours or three hours of material and then pick the ones that they like
00:22:38
best. Yeah. Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin uh did some TV shows in there. Don Partardo showed me they said to me and they would
00:22:45
just go up to the director and cut his tie off with a scissor. They you know this is Jerry Lewis in the 50s
00:22:51
and they would both just push the piano over like destroy the piano. They were the anarchists then the crazy people.
00:22:58
But one thing about you I have to say so we get to it was on Hans and France when we got you in there as like a pitbull
00:23:05
over-the-top Austrian guy who was out of his mind and you kept we would berate the audience
00:23:11
the imaginary and you would start berating them and then you start attacking the camera and we had to keep holding you back. That was one of the
00:23:18
funniest moments I had on that show with you in that sketch. Yeah. hysterical cuz you committed so
00:23:26
[ __ ] hard. Yeah. I think sometimes the task of the director for me is you know sitting on
00:23:33
me holding me back. Get me away from the just try to turn the burners down a
00:23:39
little bit. You know once I get going I guess that's what happened. Burners down.
00:23:45
What happens that way? Well that's what Arnold Arnold told me about you. He said you know you you got
00:23:50
to keep Danny on his feet. keep Danny on his feet because his energy goes up on a short leash.
00:23:57
Otherwise, he gets going, he gets away at the leash and you have to you have to follow him and get him and bring him
00:24:03
back into the scene because the emotions get so high with Danny. It's funny about about with Arnold.
00:24:09
Arnold and I were thrust together by Ivan Wrightman who just passed away his
00:24:16
soul. uh he he uh he called me and said, "How would you like to be Arnold
00:24:21
Schwarzenegger's brother?" I said, "Let me I'd jump at the chance." I thought that was a great idea. Once we got
00:24:27
together, it was like we had a great chemistry. We breaking balls constant. It was like a kind of like, you know, uh
00:24:35
you know, he's he's so formidable, you know, and like and he's got a great
00:24:40
sense of humor. He does have Oh, yeah. like he's always doing all kinds of like, you know, crazy
00:24:47
ass [ __ ] And he always had a pack of guys around him like Franco and and
00:24:53
Franco Columbo. Franco Columbbo. Yeah. And all these guys and these other bodybuilders. And so it was like a pack
00:25:00
of it was like a pack of bros. was kind of similar, you know, going into like that with the, you know, as a host of
00:25:07
Saturday Night Live, going into this pack of like crazy people that were
00:25:12
always, you know, that had a second hand, a shorthand, and and uh and got
00:25:19
along the way you guys did. I don't, you know, at least when when I was around you, we're always, you know, [ __ ]
00:25:25
around, having a good time. And so it was a similar kind of thing with uh with Arnold. I go in and there would all be
00:25:32
these guys seriously pumping iron and doing [ __ ] and you know talking about
00:25:38
nutri you know and I just like you know when you get protein powder
00:25:43
all of a sudden a kind of a wrecking ball comes in and starts banging into
00:25:48
you know Yeah. It was fun. It was a lot of fun. Were they going to do a triplets?
00:25:54
Yeah, we were going to do it and then uh two this is a
00:25:59
I always go by the Super Bowl because it was I was in Atlanta uh doing a movie and uh and it was Super
00:26:08
Bowl Sunday and I was just get getting over COVID. Mhm. I was stuck in a room for two weeks and
00:26:16
and uh the news came that Ivan passed away on that day. And so this is going
00:26:23
to be three this is three years now that he's gone.
00:26:28
Two Yeah. Three year. Two years. Okay. Brilliant director.
00:26:34
Yeah. It was a drag. Um he was uh you
00:26:39
know he's a lot of fun and uh and u made made a big difference in my life.
00:26:46
Well, yeah. I was told that. But we were going to do triplets. We were going to do trips. We had a we had
00:26:52
a script going. Everything was going and then when he passed, uh, his family
00:26:58
didn't want to continue with doing it. So, we're Arnold and I are working on other things together.
00:27:04
Oh, good. And, you know, that's awesome. We love Arnold. The way Yeah. He's a He's a cool guy. He's a
00:27:11
good guy. [Music]
00:27:17
Tracy Morgan was going to come in. I'll put a baby in there.
00:27:25
You know, he's so funny. I had a we had a we had a great zoom together and he
00:27:30
was just off the charts. Bananas, hysterical. Yeah. I mean, that energy in there would been
00:27:36
like it easy. That's that, you know, that's the way, you know, the way things
00:27:43
swings things go, you know, like um they
00:27:48
you know, you have to always adjust as like we we do. So,
00:27:53
did you have the role that got away, Danny? Uh
00:27:59
uh or maybe a conflict he had he had to do another movie instead, you know, choices
00:28:05
that I couldn't do. I hadn't had one of those that that was
00:28:10
uh really substantial that you know you could look back and say you know no I'm
00:28:18
I've had the roles that I desperately wanted and got which I got I had to work
00:28:25
hard to get if you can't imagine
00:28:31
you know how everybody holds out you know you get a part and somebody says the last in it, you get a part and and
00:28:39
it's the one you wanted and and that that's really uh the ones I think about
00:28:45
ones that got away. I don't know. I can't you know. Were you going to be Castanza?
00:28:51
Oh, no. No. I think like you mean like in Seinfeld? Yeah.
00:28:57
No, I I wasn't. I I they they just uh
00:29:02
Yeah. Uh when yeah I was still I don't know what I was
00:29:08
doing at the time. I I when when I did a movie
00:29:14
I did a movie called The Ratings Game which is uh was done for Showtime. It
00:29:22
was the first movie that I directed and and I cast in that movie
00:29:31
as a it was his one of his first things on camera, Jerry Seinfeld.
00:29:39
I don't know if he had done anything before this, but I cast him as a an agent.
00:29:47
And coincidentally, the there were a couple of like
00:29:53
character really wild characters in the movie. I cast Michael Richards in the
00:30:00
same movie. Oh, weird. Really? Yeah. Wow. I didn't know that they would later be teamed up in Seinfeld, but this was like
00:30:08
in u it was in 83. When did Seinfeld go on? like 90 93
00:30:18
two three four I'm sorry something like that. So so 10 years earlier I did a movie
00:30:24
called the ratings game and um both Jerry Seinfeld and Michael Richards were
00:30:30
in it. Did Jerry ask you questions of how to direct? He goes, "How do you
00:30:36
want me how do you want me to play this scene?" Did he ever say that to you? No, I don't. I Yeah,
00:30:42
he's pretty kind of serious in real life, I think. By the way, which Batman did you work with? I can't remember.
00:30:48
Batman Returns. Who was the Batman again?
00:30:53
Oh, no. That Oh, I love my I do. I'm not just because you're on our
00:30:59
show right now. I love your penguin. I loved it. Your your Oswald penguin. I thought
00:31:05
Didn't you have fun doing that? I mean, your your get up was so crazy.
00:31:10
Yeah. Yeah. I had I had fun doing that. That was a um that was one of the ones
00:31:15
that I really wanted and I I you know and
00:31:22
I met Tim and uh we had a great you know uh conversation about it and I knew he
00:31:30
had done a lot of drawings and we sat in his office and uh looked at and I really
00:31:37
really wanted to play that and the makeup was the first makeup was I was in
00:31:44
the chair for almost 5 hours and then that we got it down to three but we stayed around three three and a three
00:31:50
three and change. Mhm. And it was amazing and it was the thing about I liked about that was you know I
00:31:57
like I say I like to go big and boy oh boy Oswald was written like
00:32:04
an opera. I mean, he could go, you could take this guy, you know? I mean, he just
00:32:10
was he was slapping his flippers off the walls, baby. You know, I mean, your bird could fly.
00:32:19
He was the wicked witch. He was all of it all in one. Yeah. Crazy character.
00:32:26
It's odd. It's odd. Yeah. And that was after Okay. That was after see I'd worked with I did the you
00:32:33
know we did romancing the stone jewel of the Nile great and then War of the Roses with Michael
00:32:38
and Kathleen and Iu I was just about thinking about what we were going to do again
00:32:44
because I was trying to uh pull a Fritz Lang you know where you as a director you cast you know the same
00:32:52
people in in the in all of your movies but they play different parts
00:32:57
and and then Batman came along song and it's odd the way things you know emerge.
00:33:04
most of the movies that I've done um you know ca came out of the blue and I was
00:33:09
very you're very fortunate you know I was I was going to direct a pilot in I
00:33:15
was sitting in the in the commissary of Paramount and and u I was just about to
00:33:21
make the deal like with I was talking to the writer and I was talking to the producer and it was at Paramount and I
00:33:28
was going to be the I I was directing this pilot and and uh I had a a yellow p
00:33:34
pad full of notes, you know, about the pilot script. And I knew I was getting
00:33:40
really steely daggers from the writer was also the producer and a woman, this
00:33:49
was in the days we didn't have cell phones and stuff. A woman from the like the commissary, I was in the commissary
00:33:56
all the time because of taxi. We that's where we shot taxi. She came over to me and she said, "You have a phone call."
00:34:03
It was like the old Hollywood day. She didn't bring it to the table, but I I got up and went over to where the phone
00:34:10
was. And I and I it was it was Michael Douglas and and and uh he rescued me from doing
00:34:18
that pilot because we had shot Romancing the Stone already.
00:34:27
No. Yes. Romancing the Stone and he said, "What are you doing? I heard
00:34:32
you're going to do a pilot." And I said, "Yeah, man. I'm struggling through this meeting right now." He said, "Well, you
00:34:37
can't do that. You got to we got to go on the road, man. We're going all over the world to promote the movie." And I
00:34:44
said, "I love you, baby." Yeah. Get me out of here.
00:34:49
Any I love you. You rescued my ass. All right. I got a question. Go. Did you ever go see, you were on a
00:34:57
show called Taxi, you might not remember, but did you ever see uh Andy Kaufman go do standup just like at the
00:35:04
comedy store. Yeah. And how was that? That was that was bizarre.
00:35:09
Yeah. Bizarre. Yeah. But I went to see him do that and I saw him and I went out to eat at the
00:35:16
restaurant he waited he bus boyed out in the valley. It was uh
00:35:21
after he was on tax. Yeah. While he was on the show,
00:35:28
he bus boyed out in uh I love it on uh I I think it I'm not sure the name
00:35:34
of the jelly. Yeah, it was a good uh might have been Cats. No, no. What the hell? In in the
00:35:41
valley. It wasn't Arts Deli. It was the other one. It's closed now.
00:35:46
But Jerry's out in It was on Santa. Is it on Ventura Boulevard? It was
00:35:51
Jerry's is Yeah, Jerry. Yeah, that was that was probably That might have been it. Jerry's there. Yeah.
00:35:57
And uh and you know, we went out. We had like
00:36:04
couple of us from the show. I think Tony might have been with me and Jud might have come. Uh we just one night went out
00:36:12
and uh we knew he was working and so we we went and ate and uh you know had
00:36:20
conversations with like you would have with the bus boy, not Andy. Andy's nowhere around.
00:36:27
All right. He's the bus boy now. He was the bus boy. It was like really great. I mean that
00:36:34
that that was that guy was like uh Yeah, we had some fun. His dressing room was
00:36:40
right next to mine. We would um he was uh he he was hysterical. One day uh
00:36:48
somebody was delivering a package and it was a woman and he started yelling at her because she she was uh I don't know
00:36:56
UPS or I can't remember what maybe it was the government. I don't know what the [ __ ] it was. But she's walking in.
00:37:02
She's got a uniform on. She's delivering a package to somebody and he tells her that she should be home. you know, take
00:37:08
she's taking a man's job and he booked her into a wrestling match. Yeah,
00:37:14
I was there for that one. Right in the hallway. Both of them turning red. You know what
00:37:20
I mean? Like choke holes. We had a break card a
00:37:25
couple of times. So about that [ __ ] You could do that. He was like crazy about that.
00:37:31
I don't think you could actually. I mean, you could do that. You could do Yeah. I don't know. There was no like,
00:37:38
you know, again, if that was a it was that was today, somebody would be out
00:37:43
with a cell phone and the next thing you know, it would be online and people would comment about it
00:37:49
and they would say, you know, but I'll tell you, the woman that he was fighting was as big as he was and and she did a
00:37:57
good job, man. Really had his ass down big time. You know, it was it was uh I
00:38:05
don't know if Tony I always wondered if Tony always had a little camera with him, Dan, and I was wondering if he you
00:38:13
had one of those little Oh, he's had a camera 8 mm.
00:38:18
Did Do were you cast before Andy? Were you cast first or did you have any hand in the cast? No, I think Andy might have been cast. I
00:38:25
was I was the last I think I might have been one of the last members to be cast.
00:38:31
Uh, and the the uh the the
00:38:36
story was that I was told later was that my part was actually written as a like a
00:38:44
voice that came over the loudspeaker like kind of like Carlton the door man
00:38:51
involved in that guy. And uh and then uh
00:38:56
ultimately, you know, I came in and and did my famous audition where I I said uh
00:39:04
there I said to them before I they just introduced me and I said to Brooks and
00:39:12
Weinberger and Dan Stan Danny Dave Davis was there all the guys sitting around. I
00:39:18
said, "One thing I want to know before I start. Who wrote this shit?" and I threw it on the table and and it was like a
00:39:25
split second of like am I going to get thrown out not even you know a nanocond
00:39:30
where they didn't do it and then they just [ __ ] pissed themselves right and then it was one of those auditions where
00:39:36
you you couldn't say anything you couldn't do anything wrong I'd say and and I'd
00:39:42
get a laugh you know it wasn't yeah it was the that was
00:39:49
the the casting director was Joel Thurm He he said, "You got to come and do
00:39:54
this. You gota," you know, and I I said, "Yeah, man." Okay, cool. What a [ __ ] score. That was such a
00:39:59
score that was. Yeah. Yeah. What was weirder, working with Andy Kaufman on Taxi or then doing The Man on
00:40:06
the Moon with Jim Carrey doing Andy Kaufman? I think working with Jim was it was like
00:40:12
really off the charts. That was the most fun. Like I've had fun like on
00:40:19
Sure. I'm really fortunate. I had fun on a lot of the mo, you know, I've never had one of those, oh [ __ ] that was
00:40:25
awful movies. I always had these like really quirky kind of things. And being on the set
00:40:31
with Jim Carrey, sorry about that. Being on Carrie was Oh. Oh, it is Jim.
00:40:40
No, I'm only kidding. He was like in so far in, you know, the
00:40:46
all the star. We saw the documentary. I was producing that movie and so my but
00:40:52
also playing God rest his soul George Shapiro. Uh anyway
00:40:57
he was busting my balls constantly and you know and Milos is then see it's
00:41:03
infectious because then what would happen we were having fun but Milo should go to me you got to go to M's
00:41:11
trailer I'm losing time my I got to get you know I the studio is going to be on
00:41:16
my ass. Yeah. And I'm going Andy uh Jim uh
00:41:22
Tony Tony come on out. And he's going, you know, but it was fun. It was even
00:41:29
though it was like, you know, and I've got a lot of friends who worked on that movie and we still talk about that
00:41:35
experience because Pam Abdi was my assistant at the time.
00:41:42
uh she was there and knowing that I was going through what was going on. I mean,
00:41:48
he did things like lot he Okay, we're acting in the movie, but I'm also the producer, one of the producers of the
00:41:54
movie. And so, he he would get mad at the And he like he he pull his car up to
00:42:00
my trailer and went up, you know, there's got the little metal steps. Yeah.
00:42:06
He jammed his the car up, put it in gear or something, locked it, took the keys.
00:42:11
I couldn't get out of my trail. Teamsters had to come with a crane to
00:42:16
get the car, you know. It was like one of those. It was a crazy crazy time. I
00:42:22
love Jim Carrey. Jim Carrey is [ __ ] great. Just just the fact that he committed that. Did he get nominated for
00:42:28
best actor for that or I don't know. I don't know. We had a really brilliant uh
00:42:33
it was a he was brilliant in that part and uh you know
00:42:40
and and seriously um uh would turn it on and off when he
00:42:48
wanted. So that was like one of those things where whenever he came to the set he was
00:42:53
always in character. But if you see him like, you know, you know, off like I went to his house
00:43:01
or something like that for a me, you know, some he was like cool. He
00:43:07
wasn't, you know, he wasn't like a serial killer off the Yeah.
00:43:13
off the He's very He's sort of a quiet sweet guy. Yeah. Quiet sweet guy, but then turned into
00:43:20
like Tony Clifton. I love it. which was like Tony Clifton is a whole other that was [ __ ] up.
00:43:26
We we we shot at a place called Chason's down on I remember that that place.
00:43:33
Okay. He spread there was some kind of I don't know union strike or some there
00:43:38
was something going on. He wrote like big letters like you know in red ink I
00:43:45
mean red spray paint uh all over the building. I had I had I had to re to
00:43:51
paint I had to repaint the entire building. [Laughter]
00:43:57
It's like a Farley. It's like having a crazy person on the side like like Chris. I I I can't imagine
00:44:03
what it was. I I I always loved Chris and uh uh because he would take it to that, you
00:44:10
know. Oh yeah. He was always the one. Oh my god. Same kind of thing. Just a
00:44:15
lot of attention, a lot of craziness. And uh Chris, lovable, sweet guy like Jim. I mean,
00:44:21
just but they really liven things up. There's always a story after the fact. There's always a story.
00:44:29
[Music] Dana, I got to ask Danny about uh always
00:44:35
an an always sunny question because we can't let you go without talking about always sunny. Uh, one question of mine
00:44:40
is I don't see all the episodes, but I see a lot of it on Instagram, which I don't know if you know this, but when
00:44:46
they show Tik Tok and Instagram clips, they're always so [ __ ] filthy. I'm like, are these from the real show? Are
00:44:52
they getting away with all this stuff? Are they filthy? I don't know. I don't I don't I mean, like, just they're very R-rated.
00:44:59
And I thought, yeah, the show I mean, people love that [ __ ] show. They love Yeah, the show
00:45:04
is a little uh you know, I don't know what you're talking about, but uh we have had some um innuendos.
00:45:12
Hilarious, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, there's some innuendos for sure.
00:45:19
I'm not sure if they're even innuendos. They're just straight ahead. But yeah, there it's so funny and uh it's it's
00:45:26
such a long run. So, it sounds like a gift. I'm sure just like being with fun. They all look fun
00:45:32
as [ __ ] I don't know everybody that well, but No, they were all they're all you know uh uh when I got this show uh that you
00:45:42
know Landraph was my buddy and he showed me
00:45:48
FX uh and then I met them and they were you know just the way they are
00:45:55
and uh the same cat, you know, the three oddballs and then I met Caitlyn and
00:46:01
she's she's like hysterical. Hilarious. Yeah. But um yeah, they're they're a lot of
00:46:08
fun to go to work with, you know. Yeah, it's good. It's a good job. It's been on there forever.
00:46:14
Keeps giving. Keeps giving. And now Matilda, we have to talk about. Yeah.
00:46:19
Matilda came to me. Yeah. Which you directed the movie.
00:46:24
I did. I directed the movie. And Mhm. And I, you know, I I saw Mara Wilson in
00:46:30
in uh in the u uh movie uh Mrs.
00:46:35
Doubtfire. And she was a little bit older when I met her. Perfect for
00:46:40
Matilda. And we shot the movie and it it it was great. We had a great time. That was
00:46:45
like that was fun. That was a hund hundreds of kids. There was no CG. We
00:46:52
you added kids and all that stuff. Yeah. Yeah, this was all real kids. It was really great. Me on the stage with a bullhorn.
00:46:59
Yeah. Do this. Do that. You know, like and get your finger out of your nose. We're shooting. Okay.
00:47:05
Wrangling cats. Wrangling. Yeah. And so now we're doing it on uh we we've
00:47:10
taken the sound out. You know, you've seen these things. Uh everybody's does it with ET and does it with Star Wars
00:47:18
and does it with Back to the Future. I I took the soundtrack out and David Newman is gonna conduct the
00:47:25
the Philarmonic uh it's a symphony or New Jersey Symphony Orchestra
00:47:32
and we're doing that. Here's the thing. You take the sound out, okay? The not just the music out,
00:47:38
but I I narrate the movie as well as play a part in it. So when I when I'm narrating, I'm on
00:47:46
stage actually with the symphony orchestra. It's really intimidating, but it's really a lot of fun. Yeah. And and
00:47:53
you're watching the, you know, the streamer go by on a little monitor with the movie. He's conducting
00:47:59
the score. The people are watching the the movie. I've got a brand new print
00:48:05
and it's just beautiful. The print is like gorgeous. And um and then when the
00:48:12
stream when it's my turn to narrate a talk, you know, you have he conducts.
00:48:18
It's like being in Kentucky over it. You talk over it. Me. Yeah. Well, in the movie I play the
00:48:24
part of Wormwood, Mr. Wormwood. And I also narrate the movie.
00:48:29
So, because I tried to find somebody to narrate the movie, but I being the egotist I am, I couldn't embarrass
00:48:35
anybody else. Cast myself. And
00:48:41
uh and it's kind of a trip to see, you know, you play the part, you're narrating the movie, and I've got uh
00:48:47
Ria, of course, plays Mrs. Wormwood. She's going to come on the 22nd.
00:48:53
Great. And uh and I've got Pam Ferris coming over from England. She played the Trunch
00:48:59
Bowl. It's really astounding how many kids love the Miss Trench Bowl.
00:49:04
Miss Trunch Bowl. She was like really like stuff
00:49:09
and Mars. By the way, I don't hear about a lot of these things, Danny. You don't hear about the the symphony. Maybe with a
00:49:16
Star Wars or something, but this is a really interesting thing to do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Fun fun challenging situation.
00:49:23
Yeah. It's um and I David Newman who wrote the score. We've we've done this
00:49:29
once be we did it once before. Uh we did it a few years ago
00:49:36
uh with a a orchestra from the east coast, not not New Jersey and it worked
00:49:42
out really great. It's fun. It's uh it's a it's a fun night because you get to
00:49:49
you know, but but you're right. Usually it's done with uh more uh like Back to the Futury kind of ET blockbuster crazy
00:49:58
movies. This one is um it's got a lot of music in it, so it's fun. Who who wrote the score?
00:50:04
David Newman. He's he's one of the Yeah. The Newman uh pack. There's As
00:50:13
soon as the Newmans were born, the father was uh the head of 20th Century
00:50:18
Fox music did all the lot of the scores of all the old movies that we love. And
00:50:24
his brother, they have the whole you always see the Newman name on. And then David
00:50:30
David scores Thomas Newman, Randy Newman. They're all related, these guys.
00:50:35
They're all like as soon as they're born, they give them a violin or a or stick them little babies. The first
00:50:42
thing the Newman's do. Yeah. Even Even uh Eric Newman is his
00:50:48
son, Ry's son, produces narcos, a lot of movies. So there you go. Everyone's in the biz.
00:50:53
Yeah. Everybody's in the biz. Uh, so this should be a really good night. Sounds great.
00:50:59
Yeah. If you are you guys in the East Coast, are you are you here sometimes? We are in California, but if
00:51:05
I was out there, I'd crash that party.
00:51:11
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00:51:18
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00:51:29
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00:51:37
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00:51:59
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