#1493 - Steve Schirripa & Michael Imperioli

[0] One.

[1] Steve!

[2] Yes, sir.

[3] Good to see you, buddy.

[4] Good to see you, brother.

[5] Michael, pleasure to meet you, man. Thanks for having us today.

[6] Yeah, really, thanks.

[7] It's been a while.

[8] I saw you.

[9] The last time I saw you was in the old studio.

[10] Three years ago.

[11] It looks exactly.

[12] It's eerie.

[13] Yeah.

[14] I'm going to do it again the next place I move.

[15] I'm going to rebuild this whole thing again.

[16] That's my move.

[17] Just make it look like this.

[18] Make it comfortable.

[19] You know, you like what you like.

[20] It looks like the same thing.

[21] Yeah.

[22] That way you don't get confused.

[23] Same desk.

[24] Yeah, this is.

[25] It's great.

[26] Good to see you.

[27] Good to see you, too, brother.

[28] I'm bummed out, though, about your sauce.

[29] Yeah, yeah.

[30] I was just bragging to somebody about it the other day.

[31] We grew too fast, but you have two of the last ones left.

[32] I know what to do.

[33] That inexistent.

[34] Do I, like, let it sit on a shelf?

[35] No, no, no. Listen, the sauce was good.

[36] It's all natural and organic.

[37] It was all good.

[38] Just unfortunately, it grew too fast, and my partner, you know, we had enough.

[39] He lost a lot of money, but.

[40] Not for lack of trying, or the product.

[41] No, the products, excellent.

[42] Let me tell you the biggest fucking thieves.

[43] Okay.

[44] Bigger than the mob, bigger than any thief, these stores that you do business with, okay?

[45] And the distributors.

[46] And then you have all these people with their hand in the pie.

[47] So we buy the sauce.

[48] It's our recipe.

[49] That guy makes it.

[50] Now we got to give it to a distributor.

[51] You can't go direct to like whole foods and shit.

[52] So there's other hands in the pie.

[53] Now, you give them a bill for 20 grand of sauce that you gave them, and they send you back a check for three grand.

[54] And they go, well, there was breakage, and there was this, and there was that.

[55] And you have to pay more money in the store to have it in the front and have it stacked.

[56] Oh, really?

[57] You pay more.

[58] You are fucked.

[59] You are fucked.

[60] Just like a book.

[61] You know, I've had books.

[62] I don't know if you have books out.

[63] Barnes & Noble.

[64] To say Barnes & Noble, you had a book out.

[65] You have a book out.

[66] Barnes are Noble favorite.

[67] You've got to pay more for that.

[68] They have the book on the show have turned this way.

[69] You've got to pay more for that.

[70] They nickel and dime you, and they fucking kill you.

[71] They are the real mob.

[72] I'm telling you.

[73] Are they worse than funeral homes, though?

[74] No one's worse than funeral homes.

[75] Well, they tug on your heartstrings.

[76] Yeah.

[77] Come on.

[78] They was a great guy.

[79] Aren't you going to have the nice box?

[80] Did you start out doing this just through the internet, though?

[81] you know, we started in the stores.

[82] We didn't really, you know, we came to Amazon later.

[83] My partner, the trade shows.

[84] Joe Scarp, Joe Scarp, you know, great guy.

[85] He was here last time.

[86] My partner, he put up the money.

[87] He's a builder.

[88] He said, we're going to make $50 million.

[89] We're going to sell the company.

[90] And he's got $50 million.

[91] He doesn't need another $50.

[92] Got a little greedy.

[93] No, he wanted to go.

[94] Listen, he's not a small -time guy.

[95] It's all and nothing.

[96] So I give them credit for that.

[97] It's such a good sauce, though.

[98] It kind of seems like you should just do it online.

[99] Maybe they'll make a comeback, you know.

[100] And like I said, if we would have stayed small delis, you know.

[101] Yeah.

[102] It was doing great Staten Island, you know, the biggest Italian area, you know, the Guinea gang plank there.

[103] All them Italians ate jar sauce.

[104] Even they won't admit it.

[105] They fucking like that sauce.

[106] Right?

[107] That's a good sauce.

[108] It's natural.

[109] It doesn't have that acidy thing that a lot of.

[110] jarred sauces have you know and you know I did all the press we did all the shit I said if I would have instead of being a partner I should have made $20 an hour would did well so you guys are doing a podcast now we're doing a podcast we're doing a podcast rewatch yeah yes Sussman clued me into it yeah it's we got approached by a bunch of different producers towards the end of last year about doing wasn't our idea.

[111] And we thought about it.

[112] We had done a show like on stage in conversation, like inside the actor's studio.

[113] And we did all over the country, did Australia last year.

[114] And then a couple of producers said, you know, do you want to do a podcast?

[115] And we worked, Jeff was the best of the producer.

[116] So we figured out a way to do it.

[117] We were going to do it in the studio live like this at the end of March in New York and everything hit.

[118] So we weren't going to do it at all.

[119] We were going to put it off because we were depressed and we were like who needs a podcast in the midst of all this stuff what is new york like right now you know uh i've been there i left i've been here a month now you know i have a place down in orange county and uh new york was all fucked up and it's all bought it up and uh my my daughter's there i live downtown uh way downtown and uh i was going out like an hour a day you know that's it i just went out an hour a day you know that's it i just went out an hour day I would take a walk and the streets are empty yeah streets are empty and I now after the looting they destroyed Soho yeah you know it's just destroyed you know and the cops are very timid and and it's all fucked up I mean it's all fucked up I don't I don't know what happens there I mean I don't know how it happened like seeing the cops just standing around while they were looting the art galleries in Soho while they were smashing Fifth Avenue It's like, what the fuck is this?

[120] I don't know.

[121] It's like the end of the world.

[122] You know, De Blasio's the worst fucking, I'm not a political guy at all, Joe.

[123] Like, not at all, but he's the worst fucking human that maybe walks the face of the earth.

[124] I kid you not.

[125] And, you know, I owned an apartment in Manhattan for like nine years.

[126] And when he became the mayor, within a year you saw, even six months, right?

[127] You saw like these fucking changes, I'm going, I'm out.

[128] I'm selling my fucking place.

[129] And I sold my place.

[130] What changes?

[131] All kinds of shit.

[132] The cops, basically, they have one hand tied behind their back.

[133] He changed all these laws, stopping frizzed, da -da -da.

[134] Some needed to be changed.

[135] Some not.

[136] Just the homeless is everywhere all of a sudden.

[137] The trains are impossible.

[138] There's all kinds of shit going on, you know.

[139] And I have to blame the mayor.

[140] I mean, there's, you know, where I live downtown, there's, listen, I'm compassionate to the homeless.

[141] I don't know the answer, which is why I'm not the fucking mayor, but they're everywhere.

[142] Same thing here.

[143] Yeah.

[144] Our governor was the mayor of San Francisco, which is the craziest fucking place you've ever seen in your life when it comes to homeless people.

[145] It's a big problem.

[146] And now, after COVID, it's like ramped up 40%.

[147] The homeless situation there is, it doesn't even make sense.

[148] Like you're seeing these beautiful homes and there's campsites in front of them.

[149] And these people have to come out of their houses and, you know, tiptoe around needles and broken bottles.

[150] and people's shit.

[151] This might get worse, though, right?

[152] After COVID, with the economy, you know, collapsing as it did.

[153] Well, that's what was happening with the COVID, too, in New York, because, listen, these guys standing on the corner, they're panhandling, there's no one, there was no one to get money from.

[154] I mean, there was no one to pan -hield.

[155] The streets were completely empty.

[156] Broadway, downtown, you could shoot a cannon to it, not a car.

[157] Yeah, Mark Norman, you know, in the comic, Mark Norman.

[158] him, hilarious guy.

[159] Filmed a bunch of shit with him just running around New York City with empty streets.

[160] Nobody around.

[161] How weird it looked.

[162] Wall Street is empty.

[163] All these places that are packed were empty.

[164] I don't know the answer.

[165] And with the cops, I don't know.

[166] I mean, I just don't know.

[167] I mean...

[168] It's all so bizarre, and I think so many people are either going to resign from the force, but definitely not join the force.

[169] There's a lot of guys that are thinking about joining the force.

[170] That's a tough job, man, for very little pay, and you're putting your life at stake.

[171] And just public opinion of the force is down so low.

[172] I don't get it.

[173] Listen, I know if God forbid I had trouble, I call a cop.

[174] I'm pro -cop.

[175] I'm pro -cop as well.

[176] I play a cop now.

[177] I've been on blue bloods for five years.

[178] I play a detective.

[179] I'm pro -cop.

[180] You play cops.

[181] You're just for playing a detective.

[182] Played a homicide detective.

[183] Yeah.

[184] We went from wise guys to detectives.

[185] There's a fine line.

[186] Is there a fine line there?

[187] But I agree New York is My daughter had just gone back And it's really depressing, man You know, you haven't been, right?

[188] No, I've been in California since March 1st I was in New York before that And so, yeah, I couldn't go back, really But I live here and there, both places Yeah It was a little easier here up in Santa Barbara area I love it up there Yeah, a lot easier to be quarantined there because you go outside and backyard and stuff like that yeah the beach it's like Santa Barbara is the perfect size but I I mean I was in New York we they shut us down March 13th well with two and a half episodes to go we just got shut down and then they you know then you couldn't even go out of the house two days later I mean I wasn't aware of anything I mean the trains were packed I was taking the train and shit and I went to a concert a few days before wow at the beacon you know they Matthews and Jackson Brown there was a fucking concert but nobody said anything you know and Jackson Brown got sick yeah he got sick yeah maybe at that concert you know maybe but then it was just I was there for two months and it was gloom and I'm in a building so you got to watch the elevator the fucking doorman the thing you know order food in you know it's just crazy wipe off the package don't wipe off the package wear gloves don't wear gloves don't wear gloves what the fuck nobody knows it's a very very confusing time nobody knows what the fuck is going on so we were doing a podcast was a good thing to do in the midst of all this because we figured our way to do it at home so we didn't have to you know be in a studio set up a little studio in the house you know figured out a way to do it he was in New York and I was in California and we that's how we started yeah it can be done you know it's and there's so many people listening to shit now The thing is consumers are up in terms of watchers, viewers of shows, listeners of a podcast.

[189] It's all up because people were just sitting around doing nothing for months at a time.

[190] Right, and it was kind of particularly a good time for us because the Sopranos was being binge watched by people in quarantine, like rediscovering it, young people who had never seen it.

[191] I think it was HBO's number two series.

[192] Wow.

[193] And that includes all their new stuff, like Game of Thrones and everything.

[194] I think it was Westworld and the Sopranos were their biggest shows during quarantine The show's been off the air for 13 years Well listen it's one of the best fucking shows Of all time It really is You guys were on Without a doubt When the history is written It was one of the best shows ever Yeah no no You know what's amazing Neither one of us watched it in 20 years I mean I don't watch the show I mean I watched it one time When it came out years ago And And we weren't even We were kind of depressed And we're going, who the fuck cares about a TV show now?

[195] Because the world was coming to an end, especially at the beginning, you know, Joe.

[196] I mean, and we had gotten offered shit, and Jeff helped us.

[197] We were giving Jeff like contracts.

[198] Is this a good deal?

[199] Is this a good deal?

[200] Finally, he said, listen, I'll fucking help you.

[201] We should tell him, but Jeff's my manager.

[202] Yeah, Jeff Sussman.

[203] So he helped us.

[204] And we started doing the rewatch, which is obviously bittersweet because of Jim.

[205] You know, you're watching Jim and he's young And I came on the second season You know, the second episode But the show holds up every fucking Like it was shot yesterday Besides the phones and the computers Everything else is like it was done yesterday It's not dated at all the show And we weren't gonna You know, we were gonna wait till things got back to normal So we could be in a studio like this And be face to face But we got so much communication from fans like on social media saying hey we heard you're doing a podcast where is it we're binge watching the show in quarantine like tons of you know tons of that so we figured out a way to do it so you know we we watch the episode we're up to episode 12 now you know it's on YouTube and wherever you get to the podcast and then we run down the episode he wrote five of them so he knows every every he knows a lot more than me I watch it more like regular viewer.

[206] We tell stories behind the scene shit, stuff that went on, stuff we remember.

[207] We've had guests.

[208] We got Edie Falco next week.

[209] We've had the casting people.

[210] We've had the two kids, Robert Iler, director, you know, whoever made the show a success.

[211] Costume design.

[212] Well, it's a great thing to do to go back and review it, just to kind of give the people that are fans this sense of, you know, what it was like for you guys and what it's like to see it again.

[213] And just to put it into context in history, When that's the show that started off these kind of shows.

[214] When you think about the shows that you have today, like the Ozarks and all these different, like really kind of wild shows where you have to follow one episode to the next and you have to know what just happened to pay attention to the new episode.

[215] The Sopranos started that shit.

[216] Yeah.

[217] That was, and it was also the first show where there was a real anti -hero.

[218] Anti -hero.

[219] Yeah, absolutely.

[220] And it was also bringing a cinematic quality to television.

[221] Yes.

[222] would traditionally go to the movies for, or even a novelistic quality.

[223] Well, in a sense, better.

[224] Because you could do it over the course of many hours.

[225] You weren't limited by an hour and a half, two -hour time frame.

[226] You could do it over the course of multiple hours.

[227] Right.

[228] And he wasn't, you know, listen, he was an overweight, balding guy.

[229] He wasn't your typical leading man. But he was sexy.

[230] Chicks liked him.

[231] They loved them.

[232] I told you.

[233] We used to say TV doesn't put, what was he used to say all the time.

[234] You know, they used to say TV puts 10 pounds on you.

[235] I say it takes 50 pounds off you.

[236] Well, there was something about his character.

[237] I mean, first of all, he was a phenomenal actor.

[238] Like, always was.

[239] I mean, he was fucking insane in everything he did.

[240] True romance.

[241] I mean, just go back through his whole history of his career.

[242] But that show, doing Tony Soprano just fucking synced.

[243] Whatever it was, his look.

[244] Those moments when the actor and the role really come.

[245] The great actor and the great role really come together because they don't always.

[246] They don't always.

[247] He was fucking perfect for that role.

[248] And you know, you see him like there's scenes.

[249] And now I look at it kind of differently, obviously, than back then, you know.

[250] Back then I was just trying not to get fucking killed, you know.

[251] But now you're watching it.

[252] And in one scene, right, there's some incredible scenes where he's happy.

[253] mad, furious in one three -minute scene.

[254] He goes through four different emotions.

[255] He's amazing.

[256] I don't know if you remember this, but when I first got the job, I had to go, I got the job, I auditioned, I got the job, I had to go to a read -through, and I happened to see you.

[257] I think you were working in Vegas at the Rive, and I said, Joe, what?

[258] I asked you in another comic, I think Bill Kerkumbao.

[259] I said, what goes on at a re -through?

[260] Because even though I had worked, I didn't know.

[261] Right, right.

[262] And I said, do you do it like 100 %?

[263] And you told me, you know, like, you know, 85, 90%, like don't go all in.

[264] You actually told me that.

[265] For an audition or a re -threat?

[266] For the audition.

[267] For the re -thru.

[268] I mean, do you fucking, you know, you're around the table.

[269] I didn't quite know if you go all, you know, fucking start acting, you know.

[270] Or you just read the lines, which some people do.

[271] just flat which is terrible I mean that's not the answer there's people that actually get fired during the re -through right right after a re -through there's actually you know that right because they're so flat I didn't know I didn't I honestly if I wouldn't really be there then they should have known that already yeah but if I would have known that you could get fired after the retrow I would have been shit in my past I was so naive that I didn't even realize that well that's the interesting thing when I tell people that I knew you from the RIV they go what did he do there I go here's the talent coordinator.

[272] I said, shut the fuck up.

[273] I go, yeah, I worked for him.

[274] I got booked by Steve Sharippa at the Riviera.

[275] It was one of the first times I ever worked in Vegas.

[276] It was great.

[277] And you had gotten some gigs through Drew Carey.

[278] You had done the Drew Carey show.

[279] I did Drew Carey show, Bruce Baum, helped me, Kevin Pollock, those guys at the beginning.

[280] Absolutely.

[281] I did Drew Special.

[282] What was the first acting you did, actually?

[283] First acting I did was Bruce Baum on the golf course.

[284] We did a thing.

[285] Then Lenny Clark.

[286] I played a prison guard.

[287] What, in a special?

[288] Yeah, he had like these, remember Friday Night Comics?

[289] Uh -huh.

[290] Remember that show on Fox?

[291] Yeah, they were like little sketches, five -minute sketches, and we had Lenny Clark in the, uh, we had, he was in the chair, electric chair.

[292] Is he from England?

[293] No, he's from Boston.

[294] Oh, no. And he, and I pulled the switch, I swear to you, I look right into the camera, right into the fucking camera.

[295] I didn't know what I was, doing that was the second thing i did that kevin pollock put me in his special i played his bodyguard and then drew and you know a little shit little shit you know did you start as an actor a comedian comedian yeah i only acted for a little while just did news radio do you like it i like stand -up better yeah the acting problem is actors you have to hang out with actors that's the problem with acting yeah but you see everything is so sensitive and just it's just they're you know you know Some of them are great.

[296] The news radio people were great.

[297] It wasn't the problem.

[298] The problem was when I'd run into other actors.

[299] You meet them.

[300] There's just this boundary of bullshit you have to get through to get to the actual person.

[301] Absolutely.

[302] Whereas comics are right there.

[303] They're right there for you.

[304] You meet a comic on the road.

[305] Like your comic, I don't know.

[306] I meet him like, hey, what the fuck you're doing?

[307] Oh, I'm working for this guy and that guy.

[308] He's right there.

[309] They're right there.

[310] You meet him instantly.

[311] See, I find it the opposite.

[312] Really?

[313] How so?

[314] The actors, I find, like what you're saying about comics, I find them about actors and I find the opposite about comedians.

[315] You know what, maybe that is, it's that.

[316] Because that's where you're coming from.

[317] Right.

[318] They know, oh, it's my goal.

[319] I'm not saying that just to be contrary.

[320] No, no, no, I believe you.

[321] I don't mean it.

[322] Yeah.

[323] But also, there's a difference between New York actors and L .A. actors.

[324] That is true.

[325] There's a big difference between these TV actors.

[326] And there's something about they can almost fucking taste it.

[327] It's like the actors that aren't quite there yet, they can almost taste it.

[328] They're kind of working, but they're not secure.

[329] Yeah.

[330] They're getting auditions.

[331] And maybe they might book something, but maybe they want.

[332] won't do you remember when we auditioned for uh we auditioned look at you how there look that's my first thing i ever did cheer man we shot it out here look that's the tuxedo from the rift that is it really oh that did you show this to david chase to get the sopranos is that you can see i'm not a golfer obviously when you got the sopranos i was like holy shit and it was for me it was a thing that i would tell people.

[333] It's like, listen, there's certain things that a person could just do.

[334] You can't just go on stage and do stand -up.

[335] It takes too long.

[336] You can't just learn guitar.

[337] But some people can fucking act.

[338] And you were really good.

[339] Not in theater, though, in film and television.

[340] It's different in theater.

[341] Oh, God.

[342] Yeah.

[343] You can't just, you can get somebody who's never acted, and if you're a good director or something, get them in front of a camera, make them feel comfortable, give them stuff to do.

[344] But you can't put them on a stage.

[345] It's because of the crowd.

[346] Because the crowd.

[347] It's like doing, you know, like you said, with stand -up.

[348] Yeah, a crowd, you're on stage.

[349] You have to, you know, there's no second take.

[350] You have to create these moments for two hours straight and sustain it.

[351] It's not just getting a couple of lines.

[352] Right.

[353] But, you know, there's actors, like, you can't just learn stand -up.

[354] It's a very underrated art form, okay?

[355] Absolutely, to me. You have to do it and do it.

[356] You're by yourself, you're out there.

[357] There's actors, like, what's his fucking name?

[358] Piven, that little fuck.

[359] Oh, Jeremy Piven.

[360] He's a stand -up comic now.

[361] Now, how'd that happen?

[362] Is he a stand -up comic?

[363] I heard he's very good, though.

[364] Or is he acting as a stand -up comic?

[365] Did you see a stand -up?

[366] I have not seen it.

[367] What he's basically doing is what he can do.

[368] I mean, I don't, I think, because of all that shit that happened with him, the N -2 movement.

[369] Yeah, yeah, survival.

[370] It's nothing else he can do.

[371] But, but do you know what I'm saying?

[372] I mean, I've seen comics.

[373] Listen, I was around comics from 1986.

[374] I started at the Riviera.

[375] All right?

[376] It's very difficult.

[377] It takes guys years and.

[378] and years and years and years to find their voice, their rhythm.

[379] Even if a comic, if you don't like their material, not every comic's for every guy, you know the guy's a pro.

[380] He's really good.

[381] It's subjective.

[382] Hey, don't make me laugh.

[383] This guy, I think he's hilarious.

[384] But you know when a guy just don't have it.

[385] I mean, these guys, you know.

[386] And there's a lot, there's numerous actors that, all humorous, whatever they are, that started doing stand -up without putting all the work in.

[387] Yeah, I think what happens is the income opportunities get smaller.

[388] Yeah, sure.

[389] And then they look at stand -up, and then someone says, listen, we can schedule a tour for you.

[390] You know, you do this size.

[391] I don't blame them for doing it.

[392] Yeah.

[393] I'm just saying, I mean.

[394] It's a different thing.

[395] I don't blame them, but it's a different thing.

[396] Hey, listen.

[397] The fact - I heard he's good, though, Piven.

[398] Is he?

[399] Is he?

[400] That I don't know.

[401] I have no idea.

[402] I just find it hard to believe.

[403] People were very surprised, actually, that he was good at it.

[404] I still don't like the fuck.

[405] They expected him not to be good.

[406] He's a fucking rude fuck.

[407] But me and you audition.

[408] I think you got the role.

[409] We didn't audition for the same role, but it was a Bob Simon's movie.

[410] What movie is that?

[411] I didn't get it, definitely, because I didn't do it.

[412] The only movies I've ever done is Kevin James movies.

[413] Really?

[414] Yeah, yeah.

[415] Because we auditioned and Pee We Herman came out.

[416] Really?

[417] Yes, we auditioned Dave Sheridan.

[418] What year is this?

[419] We're going way back.

[420] I was on the Sopranos already, but probably early 2000s.

[421] We were there.

[422] Dave Sheridan.

[423] Oh, I know what you're talking about.

[424] He was the star of the movie.

[425] Yes, I didn't know who he was.

[426] That's right.

[427] I did that fucking movie.

[428] That's right.

[429] I forgot I did that movie.

[430] And I said to you, who's this fucking guy or something?

[431] That's right.

[432] And you said, I don't know.

[433] I think he overheard us.

[434] He was the star of the movie.

[435] One movie?

[436] I forget the name of it.

[437] But he's a good guy, Dave Sheridan.

[438] Yeah, very good guy.

[439] A really good guy.

[440] Very funny guy.

[441] But I didn't.

[442] You know, I said, who's he I think you overheard us who's Dave he's a comic actor and a funny guy and Paul Rubens came out and he said it's a great room guys and we would just sit there I didn't get it you got it yeah that was an interesting take because that guy was he was a young guy and he had never been the star of a movie before and they were making this movie and because they put money into this, the executives were giving him line readings.

[443] There was a guy who was wearing cufflinks and an expensive watch and this really nice tailored suit and he was saying, he was telling him how to be funny.

[444] That was Bob Simons.

[445] That was probably the producer.

[446] I don't know who it was.

[447] Because I did a movie with him, C -Spot Run, and this was after that.

[448] That's who it was.

[449] Did he need line readings or the guy was just being an asshole?

[450] He was just being a fucking guy with money.

[451] He's lucky he didn't get smacked.

[452] for something like that certain situations you don't do that well i think you know the guy wanted to do the movie what it was he was happy to be the star the movie and he just took it remember when they gave dominic a line reading he flipped i mean dominic's the most calm dominic kinase he played uncle june the most calm guy just sweetheart and somebody gave him line readings and he flipped out i was uh i was in the car we're in the camera car and i was driving on the new jersey turnpike you know they were toe on the car, but the camera was there, and I was stuck.

[453] I couldn't get out, and the director came over, and Dominic was going, don't tell me how to do it, just tell me what you want.

[454] And this is the nicest man in the history, right?

[455] And he was going, don't tell me how to do it, just tell me what you want.

[456] What is the thing about actors with line readings?

[457] Because then you get, you're now, you're not discovering it.

[458] You're not creating the moment.

[459] You're just imitating it.

[460] So it's not organic, and it might not be as interesting as what you're going to come up with as an actor.

[461] But it doesn't bother me so much.

[462] A lot of directors don't know how to deal with actors, so they think that that's helpful.

[463] But it's actually the opposite.

[464] It's not helpful because...

[465] When they give you a line reading, they would actually say the line the way they want...

[466] Sometimes they will.

[467] And you know what?

[468] That doesn't bother me. I flip out.

[469] It hasn't happened much.

[470] I've gone off on directors for that.

[471] And listen, especially with a sitcom, which I find very difficult.

[472] I find one -hour dramas I like that so much more sitcoms a different rhythm a different beat I don't think I'm very good at it and I've done quite a bit of them you know the guy's giving me a no to give me I said just tell me what you want man how do you say tell me how to say it I'll fucking do what you want because obviously I'm not getting what you want I want to make the director happy I want to do a good job tell me it doesn't bother me that much you know I have had directors I did a movie with a young kid it was a really good role a younger kid and after every take he came over to talk to me finally I went like just let me fucking do my thing I'll figure it out just stay away appreciative of the fact that you've got to think about what you're doing and if they're yapping at you then you're thinking about them and it interrupts this whole process absolutely you freak out though Michael yeah because as an actor you have to you're playing the scene the reality of the scene, whatever it is.

[473] This guy's saying something and it pisses you off.

[474] So that's what you're trying to create.

[475] That's what you're trying to do.

[476] Someone tells you, say the line like this, well, then I'm not in the moment.

[477] I'm not dealing with this.

[478] I'm just thinking about imitating this douchebag who just told me to say something a certain way.

[479] You know what I mean?

[480] I had a director who said to me, make a comical face.

[481] And I said, I don't know what that means.

[482] Do you want me to be happy?

[483] Do you want me to be ecstatic over the top, really excited?

[484] Make a funny face.

[485] And then I said, I don't know.

[486] know what that means i think he said be more cartoonish and then he said uh he said well i'm not really good at uh i swear to god he said i'm not really good at giving direction i said that's your job that's actually the title of the job is direction well is do you feel like as an actor it's a it's a strange thing to do because you're creating something but it's also this collaborative effort you're working with the other actors but you're also working with the director there's the script that you're supposed to be following and maybe there's some changes of the script and there's so much going on to try to create your version of it that the more that people are fucking with you, the more that's going to just throw you off the rails.

[487] It does.

[488] And what I found is the best people, the best director, best actors and writers make it so you feel very comfortable and that you are free to create and that you're not being dominated or dictated to and stuff like that.

[489] Like for instance, the best example is Martin Scorsese.

[490] I only worked with once in a movie, I felt like I could do no wrong.

[491] He creates that environment where you feel completely creative and free.

[492] And that doesn't get better than him, you know.

[493] Doesn't get better.

[494] I would imagine that that's a real skill that you hone to be able to look at it from the artist's perspective, from the actor's perspective, and just to figure out how to be the least annoying, the most supportive, and then just sort of convey what you're trying to get done in the scene.

[495] 100%.

[496] I mean, both ways.

[497] You know, as an actor, too, you've got to learn, you know, you learn how to deal with different types of directors and give them what they want and give and satisfy yourself at the same time.

[498] When you're not a skill, when you're learning, it's harder to do that.

[499] You know, I got fired from my very first professional job.

[500] I was 21.

[501] I had been studying for a long time.

[502] I've been auditioning.

[503] Never got anything.

[504] I get a play.

[505] And I was a lead in a play off Broadway, but it got a lot of attention because it was based on a true story.

[506] And I got fired after the opening.

[507] weekend because I didn't respect the director.

[508] I thought he, I didn't think he knew what he was doing.

[509] And I didn't know how to give him what he needed and still do my own thing.

[510] I wasn't skilled enough yet.

[511] So they fired me. It was devastating.

[512] But, you know, a lot of, like I work with Clint Eastwood a few times.

[513] And it's with the casting.

[514] He's relying on you.

[515] That's why he cast you.

[516] So a lot of, a lot of directors, even big ones, they don't even give you any direction.

[517] They hired you.

[518] You did your thing.

[519] Yeah, absolutely.

[520] You did your thing.

[521] And now go ahead, take it away.

[522] I mean, you know.

[523] And it's a lot with, like, he believes it's a lot with the casting.

[524] Michael directed me in a movie that he wrote.

[525] It couldn't have been better.

[526] What movies is this?

[527] Called the Hungry Ghosts, a very low indie, very indie movie we did in New York in 2008.

[528] And Steve was one of the leads.

[529] And it was great.

[530] I mean, you know, it was all New York actors and what's that?

[531] What was it about?

[532] You know, five people that all fucking lost, their life is lost.

[533] I played a guy that was a radio DJ.

[534] Late night radio host.

[535] That's a Coke guy and drunk.

[536] You could be a great radio DJ with that voice.

[537] Problem with his kids.

[538] But it was great.

[539] We rehearsed at the time he had a theater.

[540] We rehearsed because we didn't have a lot of money at times.

[541] We rehearsed.

[542] We got out on the street.

[543] We did it.

[544] And Michael was terrific.

[545] He knows what he wants.

[546] I mean, that's the biggest mistake a director can make.

[547] If they're hesitant, you know, they got to know what they want before they come over and talk to you.

[548] You know what I mean?

[549] There's a guy hemming and whoring, you know, it's like, what the fuck?

[550] But talking about line reading, there was an actor, a Broadway guy that did the Sopranos, a small role.

[551] And I was, it was in a scene with me and Uncle Jr. and this guy, and they were actually giving him line readings.

[552] He was a Broadway actor, and he wasn't getting it.

[553] And they wind up dubbing his voice.

[554] Oh, they dubbed his voice.

[555] Did they really?

[556] Yes.

[557] I forget the guy's name.

[558] When we get to the episode, I'll tell you.

[559] That's insane.

[560] Yeah.

[561] But you know what else happened on the show numerous times?

[562] Like I did a scene with the rapper Fabulous, and he was great.

[563] It was a scene where I shot the guy in the ass.

[564] I don't know if you remember that.

[565] Oh, I remember that.

[566] Yeah.

[567] I'm supposed to shoot him in the thigh because I'm a marksman and I get money from him and I shoot him in the ass by mistake.

[568] But I shot it with Fabulous and then a few weeks later they said, listen, you got to reshoot that scene.

[569] So right away, I go, wow, I fucked up.

[570] No, they changed Fabulous to treach, naughty by nature.

[571] Yeah.

[572] Good guy.

[573] They said he looked too young.

[574] They just replaced him.

[575] them.

[576] They just, they had the budget and the time and they just brought in another actor and they would rewrite scenes.

[577] If they didn't like the scene after they saw it, they would rewrite it and numerous times they brought another actors.

[578] There's two different FBI agents.

[579] Faruza Bork, you know that actress?

[580] Yeah.

[581] She was at the end of episode season three or something.

[582] She never came back.

[583] not only did they they took her off to DVD so unless you taped it you know like if you taped it back then they reshot her scenes they reshot her scenes even for the DVD so she unless she has a VHS of it somewhere she's non -existent that's crazy because she's a really good actress too no it wasn't it probably wasn't anything to do with that it was they didn't make a deal with her maybe she was busy making a movie I'm not saying it was just got a huge mouth yeah she was in smiles she's a huge she was in water boy water boy yeah that's right she was great in that really i just watched that me and my family went on a because we were you know stayed at home for the covid thing we had movie night every night we went on an adam sandler binge funny he watched everything underrated fucking funny movie that's a funny movie the wedding singers the zohan is hilarious that's a funny that's a funny great movie it's brushing your teeth with hummus Lenny Cazan he's banging Lanny Cazan That's a really funny movie It's a very funny movie Cooking Warbecuing naked And Nick is very funny Oh yeah He's great Fun Fick is awesome I love Nick Yeah Who was the comics That inspired you To be a comedian Prior first Prior first My parents took me to see Live in the Sunset Strip in the movie theater When I was like 15 He was brilliant Beyond You never met him Yeah, I did.

[584] I worked with him.

[585] I worked with him five weeks in a row, actually.

[586] Wow.

[587] Towards the end of his life, it was very odd for me because that was what really got me interested in stand -up.

[588] Because in that movie theater, thinking I'd never really seen stand -up before, I don't think.

[589] You know, maybe I'd seen it on The Tonight Show or something like that, but I'd never really seen that.

[590] And in this movie theater, here I am crying, laughing at this guy that was just talking.

[591] And I was like, I can't believe he's just talking.

[592] because every movie you know if I had seen a funny movie it was funny but it was never that funny I remember you said something about something about Mary we you had just seen something about Mary and we were talking and you go it's like a comic killing I'll never forget you said that like it's so funny it was like a comic killing yeah yeah that was the feeling that I got watching prior it was like I can't believe how funny this guy is just talking like I never I didn't know you could do that and you worked with at the comedy store working with the comedy store towards the end of his life where he was really sick and they used to have to crank the volume up on the microphone like like really loud.

[593] He would get on stage and he was on all kinds of medication because, you know, he was sick.

[594] And he had to sit down because he literally couldn't stand up.

[595] They just carry him to the stage.

[596] So they'd introduce him and they'd walk him through the crowd.

[597] And I'd work with him for five weeks.

[598] I was on after him every night.

[599] Like every night it was prior than me. Because, you know, Mitzi Shore, who owned the Comedy Store, when she had a young comic that she liked, She would shove you after anybody was any good.

[600] So if Martin Lawrence was on, I was on after him.

[601] If Richard Pryor was on, I was on after him.

[602] So you audition?

[603] Did you audition for the improv and comedy show?

[604] No, I didn't have to audition for the improv.

[605] The improv, you know, you just, if you had TV credits and stuff like that, they'd give you spots.

[606] But that was later on.

[607] But at the beginning, when you first got to L .A. No, when I first got out of here, I had a TV show.

[608] I was on a show called Hardball.

[609] Oh, that's right.

[610] That's right.

[611] What Mike Starr, Mike Starr.

[612] Exactly.

[613] Mike Starr, shout out to Mike.

[614] And that got canceled, and then I got on news radio right afterwards.

[615] So the whole time that I was out here, I was on a sitcom.

[616] And so the improv I could just get spots, but I wanted to be at the store.

[617] The store was Mecca.

[618] Did you ever see that movie, some kind of hero with Richard Pryor?

[619] Yes.

[620] And he plays like a Vietnam, I think it's about Vietnam vet or something.

[621] It's kind of a drama.

[622] I think it's a drama.

[623] And he's great.

[624] He was a great actor.

[625] He was great in everything.

[626] He was great in that, what was that movie that they did about his life story?

[627] Where you put in show, Joe, Joe, Joe Dancer.

[628] Oh, right, that was really good.

[629] Yeah, that was basically a drama.

[630] That's right.

[631] That was good.

[632] He's the goat, in my opinion.

[633] I mean, there's Lenny Bruce, who started all off, and then there's Kinnison.

[634] It was probably like the funniest of all time for like two years before he burnt out.

[635] But then prior is the guy, you know, when you look at, like, the guy who changed comedy.

[636] He made comedy a personal thing.

[637] He made comedy like an honest personal thing.

[638] He was the first one, you think you.

[639] Yeah, he was.

[640] He took what Lenny Bruce was doing.

[641] and he just did it a little bit better.

[642] You know, Lenny Bruce opened the door, though.

[643] Lenny Bruce was the guy who got arrested for it.

[644] Lenny Bruce was the guy who really changed perceptions in the, you know, in the 50s and the 60s, what he was doing was revolutionary.

[645] There was no one that was doing anything like that.

[646] Pushing all those boundaries.

[647] Yeah, everyone else was telling jokes.

[648] Like, two Jews walk into a bar, they buy it.

[649] But I'm bummed.

[650] Well, sure, that was what they all shared each other's jokes.

[651] It was Catsco Comics and Ed Sullivan, and that's what all that was.

[652] But he was pointing out hypocrisy and society and police.

[653] political things and things about language.

[654] Yes, language.

[655] But even he started out as impressionist.

[656] Yes, yeah.

[657] Yeah, he just decided to expand the medium.

[658] And then he got more and more famous from doing that.

[659] And then it more became social commentary that was actually funny rather than just what we had thought of as a stand -up comedian before that.

[660] And then, of course, Carlin took it from there.

[661] And then I think Pryor did it better than anybody else.

[662] He really opened the door for so many other comedians.

[663] But he made it personal.

[664] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[665] And he, like, almost confessional and introspective.

[666] And vulnerable.

[667] And vulnerable.

[668] As an actor, he brought that to.

[669] Yeah.

[670] Yeah.

[671] And everything he did.

[672] I mean, he was, as fuck.

[673] They destroyed Lenny Bruce.

[674] They just destroyed him.

[675] Yeah.

[676] You know, the, uh...

[677] The lawsuits and...

[678] The lawsuits at the end.

[679] That's what he was actually reading on stage.

[680] He had big problems.

[681] Well, he was a heroin addict.

[682] But, I mean, but they just destroyed him on top of it.

[683] I mean, I mean, they were arresting him for cursing.

[684] Yeah.

[685] Just, if you think.

[686] about that now.

[687] You know, I mean...

[688] Have you seen Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the Amazon series?

[689] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[690] It's really good.

[691] And the guy that plays Lenny Bruce is good.

[692] He's really good.

[693] Who is it?

[694] Who's it?

[695] I don't know the actor's name.

[696] He's really good.

[697] Jamie will find out.

[698] But the way they portray him is very close to how he really was.

[699] Yeah.

[700] And that he was very loved by people that would come to see him and then the cops would literally drag him off stage.

[701] What do you think of her stand -up on the show?

[702] Well, in the beginning, I think it was pretty good.

[703] It seemed.

[704] like a funny broad who was kind of drunk who went on stage who was hilarious and got laughs it's just hard to recreate stand -up if you don't do stand -up yeah that's what I'm but that's what I was talking about as a comedic actor there he is he's very good very good he even looks like him there yeah he's very good he was also on the deuce he played a good role on a deuce on HBO the one thing about Mrs. Maisel everything is a she's like on all the time yeah that's the one thing it's like always a funny you never saw the show it's a good show but it's always like a funny quip everything you ask if she wants coffee is a funny joke it's like like a comic that's always on right it's annoying you got to the third season the third season it seemed like it was a little manufactured like there's this big scene where she's in front of a USO tour overseas and these guys are laughing And she's just murdering, laugh and everything.

[705] And it's like, as a comic, I'm like, this is not, this isn't real.

[706] This isn't real.

[707] This is like a kung fu scene where a guy's kicking guys through windows.

[708] You know, it's like there's something about it.

[709] I can't relate to this anymore.

[710] You've taken this into fiction.

[711] But I think the beginning of it was really good.

[712] Joe, have you ever just aided on stage?

[713] Oh, yeah.

[714] I don't mean at the beginning.

[715] Oh, I hate shit.

[716] Yeah, of course.

[717] Well, this is one thing.

[718] I write a new act every two years.

[719] So I do a Netflix special or a Comedy Central special.

[720] I throw all that stuff out and I start all over again.

[721] And you're going to have some rough sets.

[722] Yeah, I eat shit.

[723] And then, you know, maybe you have a heckler, you get mad at the heckler and you eat shit.

[724] Do you have go -to heckler, you know, shut up heckler lines?

[725] I mean, you can do that, but really it's all in what's happening in the moment.

[726] They're so different.

[727] You know, though it's like, do you have a go -to spice for your food?

[728] Well, it really depends on what you're eating.

[729] Yeah, I mean, it's really, there's...

[730] Bells are worked at the Rive.

[731] I know what you're going to say.

[732] And a lady was heckling of it.

[733] He says, lady, the only time you should open your mouth is to switch sticks.

[734] Do you remember the comic Rick Reynolds?

[735] No. Rick Ramos was hot stuff.

[736] He had a one -man show.

[737] He was the beginning of that, played the improvs like, I'm going in the 90s.

[738] And he had this, I forget the name of it.

[739] Maybe, I don't know what the name of it is.

[740] Rick Reynolds, he was a San Francisco guy.

[741] And he was working, yeah.

[742] And he had a development deal and I think even a sitcom for a short time.

[743] And he had an act.

[744] And the act was kind of like, you know, he kind of came off like a studious guy.

[745] And then he would say, would you.

[746] sleep with me for a dollar you know you tell a girl you know how about for five dollars then of course for a million dollars would you go on me and of course she says you're a whewer you're a whore so he tells so he tells he does the joke he gets off stage a guy her boyfriend comes back and punches him in the back of the head right at the Riviera right and then two nights later a guy's heckling him he tells the guy if you don't shut up I'm going to leave that's what he tells the guy that's how he dealt with the heckling and the fucking guy kept heckling and he walked off the stage yeah and I was fucking pissed off that seems like a very odd approach yeah he said one more time and I swear I'm out of here you're basically giving up all your power to the heckler yeah that's probably why he's not around anymore yeah but he was strategy.

[747] He, in the 90s, he had this one -man show, maybe late 80s, development deal, big management, you know.

[748] Do you remember that guy who had a show called Defending the Caveman?

[749] Oh, yeah, Riggeron Becker.

[750] Yeah, I never saw it, but a lot of people did see it, and they told me that he did it for a while, and then he sold the show, and someone else was doing it.

[751] Oh, yeah, numerous people.

[752] He did in Vegas.

[753] There was a guy who did it for years.

[754] I think the guy, what the fucks his name?

[755] the bald guy who's in the thing, he was on the shield.

[756] Oh, Michael, uh, Chickles.

[757] Chickles, yeah, Chickles did it for a while.

[758] Yeah, that's a one -man show.

[759] Yeah.

[760] I was like, that's so weird.

[761] It was about women and men.

[762] Yeah.

[763] It went to Broadway.

[764] Yeah.

[765] He made a fortune.

[766] It was basically, though, like stock premises of stintas.

[767] I didn't see it.

[768] Yeah.

[769] That's what it was explained to me. Someone said, this is the craziest thing I've ever seen in my life.

[770] But it became a...

[771] This guy's making millions.

[772] All over the world.

[773] All over the world.

[774] And it's basically like, you know, standard premises.

[775] Men are like this, but women don't like that.

[776] Like real standard shit that if you saw a Rodak doing, you would go, oh, this guy's kind of a hack.

[777] But then meanwhile, this guy's doing it as a one -man show, and it's a theatrical production, so it's huge.

[778] I don't know if that's an accurate assessment of it.

[779] That's what it was explained to me. But he also hired, so he was kind of a, you know, not fat, but kind of a, you know, chunky kind of guy.

[780] and the other guys that filled in were all like that.

[781] How many is that, though?

[782] Like the same body.

[783] It wasn't a skinny, good -looking guy.

[784] They were all, like, kind of the same.

[785] Imagine if Dom Iera did that?

[786] Like, if you have some guy playing Don Laerera.

[787] Well, didn't Gallagher do it?

[788] Gallagher did it with his twin brother.

[789] And then he sued the brother, right?

[790] Yeah.

[791] Maybe not his twin, but it's his brother.

[792] And they look alike.

[793] Yes, who's Gallagher, too.

[794] And then after a while, he got tired of Gallagher, too, doing his act.

[795] Like, hey, give me my fucking act back.

[796] Fuck you.

[797] And so then they were fighting.

[798] I never knew that.

[799] Gallagher's too.

[800] Oh, yeah, he looked like Gallagher.

[801] He looked like a cloned Gallagher, but something went wrong in the process.

[802] Like something was like slightly off.

[803] Like if, you know, you were married to him and you came home one day and you're like, hey, are you okay?

[804] What's going on?

[805] He'd be like, you're not my husband.

[806] What is happening here?

[807] Domarera, too.

[808] That is well.

[809] There should be Domarera's all over the country.

[810] We'll send them out.

[811] Headline everywhere.

[812] There's Gallagher, too.

[813] Which one's which?

[814] I don't know which one's which.

[815] I'd say on the right.

[816] I think that's on the right is two.

[817] So the guy on the right, he had to grow his fucking hair the same way and wear the same clothes and the same thing.

[818] Was one better than the other?

[819] I never saw.

[820] Have you had Gallagher on the show?

[821] No, I haven't.

[822] No. I've heard him on Stern before, though.

[823] He's an interesting guy.

[824] Very opinionated.

[825] He, uh, but I got to tell you, he took that prop thing to another level.

[826] Yes, he did.

[827] Well, him, between, like, Caratop, I say, just, he, I don't want to say he ruined the genre of prop comics, but he defined it to the point where no one else can be a prop comic anymore.

[828] When I was starting out in 88, there was prop comics, there was all these guys.

[829] They're like, some guys would have music, some guys that have props.

[830] There was, some guys had a puppet, you know, they'd go on stage with the puppet.

[831] There was a normal thing.

[832] But there's no fucking prop comics anymore.

[833] Oh, no?

[834] Go down the Comedy Store on a Monday night.

[835] You don't see a single prop comic.

[836] They don't exist.

[837] No more ventriloquist?

[838] That's rare, too.

[839] I mean, I don't know who, I guess it was, what's his name?

[840] Jeff Dunham.

[841] Jeff Dunham is like the premier puppet guy.

[842] He's a Hall of Fame.

[843] Yeah, he's a Hall of Famer puppet guy.

[844] He used to work for me at the rift.

[845] Did you ever have Otto and Georgian?

[846] Sure.

[847] He's the best.

[848] He was a great guy.

[849] He was a puppet act.

[850] He had the dirtiest puppet.

[851] The puppet would say the most fucked up shit, and then he would go, how can you see that?

[852] It was horrifying.

[853] And he worked for me a lot.

[854] Remember we used to the show you did at the roof?

[855] Yeah, the dirty show.

[856] It was the extreme comedy, X, X, X, X, X. So I had all these filthy guys.

[857] Matter of fact, I was talking to Nick DePaulo.

[858] Nick did it, you know?

[859] There he is.

[860] There's Otto and George.

[861] There's Otto and George.

[862] It's so crazy.

[863] It's so funny.

[864] Someone actually ran on stage at the Dangerfields and stabbed the puppet one time.

[865] Yeah.

[866] They were so mad.

[867] Yeah, they were so mad at the puppets.

[868] And it's so horrifying.

[869] Look how scary that is.

[870] crazy eyebrows and when he would he would fucking the eyebrows would go up when he was hitting his punch lines and it's otto and you think that the the puppet's name would be otto but that's george yeah puppet is george but otto uh he worked for me a bunch of times and he had problems and he would disappear oh he couldn't find him he was on the west it's obvious he has problems he was on the west side of town and he died young died young but he's he did let him in you know he's he did let him in you know he He started finally, after so many years, getting some recognition.

[871] I wish he was around now so we could introduce him through podcasts.

[872] I think if he was around now, if I could get them on a podcast and show people who is, much like Joey Diaz, much like a lot of these guys, you're not going to understand who they are through a traditional format, like a regular television format.

[873] You're getting to get a shadow of what they really are.

[874] You've got to see, like, Otto was a wild guy who did these crazy fucking, these crazy road shows.

[875] We did those Bob Gonzo gigs together in Jersey, and we did Dangerfields for those.

[876] We did prom shows.

[877] Prom shows are the fucking worst thing a comic could ever do, because what they do is they take these 17 and 18 -year -old kids.

[878] They're at their prom.

[879] You went to one?

[880] They don't change the audience.

[881] So the audience, they just keep shoving new kids.

[882] kids in there and hope the other kids live leave rather so you'll start working you might have a 7 o 'clock show and you don't get out of there until like 2, 3 in the morning sometimes you get out of there it's just starting to turn daylight and they're just pumping kids in so they would tell you don't change your act we want them to be bored of your act so that they leave we get new kids How was that that Australian guy Tony?

[883] What was the big guy?

[884] It was Scottish Scottish yeah fuck what was his name not Tony.

[885] God damn it wasn't Tony was Rodney's partner he was funnier than most of the comedians that the big Scottish power lifter guy he would he he would lift weights with a he would take cement buckets like a like a bucket and fill it with cement and he would do a lot of his workouts just lifting these buckets filled with cement one of the strongest fucking guys I've ever seen in my life he was like built like a bowling ball with a head on the top of it he was a manager no he was like a doorman slash matre d slash bouncer So if anybody did anything wrong He was the guy that came in I saw him pick a kid up by his neck Literally grab him by his neck And lift him up in the air And the kid's feet were dangling And he's just trying to like Yeah Danger Fields I went there many years ago In the 70s And I saw David Frye You know David Fry?

[886] No He used to do Nixon He was five foot three And he would do fucking Nixon He had like Caesar's Palace Really?

[887] Look him up David Frye.

[888] And he wound up moving to Vegas.

[889] And he was Sullivan all the time.

[890] And he did Nixon.

[891] He was great.

[892] Really short.

[893] Right?

[894] And he was always lonely.

[895] And he was with Randy Credico.

[896] You know, Randy Credico.

[897] So Randy Credigo was an impressionist.

[898] The two of them.

[899] Wait, the guy with Roger Stone?

[900] Yeah.

[901] Randy used to work for me at the Rift.

[902] He was a comedian?

[903] Yeah, it's a stand -up.

[904] Impressionist.

[905] He did Johnny Carson.

[906] I saw him on Carson.

[907] There's David Frye.

[908] He's five for three.

[909] They go over.

[910] They're down in Times Square.

[911] It's four in the morning, 4 .30 in the morning.

[912] There's a hooker on the corner.

[913] They pull up.

[914] They said, how much for a blowjob, the girl is looking in, she's looking in the car.

[915] How much to fuck you?

[916] She went, I don't fuck midgets.

[917] Boom.

[918] He was lost for the night.

[919] He was in the press for two fucking months, David Jopry.

[920] He was a bad alcoholic, and he worked at the Rive when we first opened, right?

[921] He worked, it was like his big comeback because he was living in Vegas.

[922] He used to come around the club, and he did the first show, wore a tuxedo.

[923] And between shows, he got bombed, and Bud Freeman said, Go and get him.

[924] You know, we gave him a chance, and he just couldn't even work.

[925] He was a poor guy, and he passed away a few years ago.

[926] But, yeah, he was Headlight Sees his palace, a real comic.

[927] Wow.

[928] Very depressed, never married.

[929] He would say, life is hard, life is hard, life is hard.

[930] There's a lot of those stereotype comics, and you would hear about them more back in the day than now that we're never happy.

[931] They would go on stage.

[932] They would get laughs in the crowd, then they'd be depressed for the rest of the night.

[933] Hey, you know, that kind of but -ump -up comic.

[934] I mean, there was a lot more work then, I think.

[935] I don't know.

[936] You know, I mean, you had Catskills, you had nightclubs in New York, Chicago, you know.

[937] I mean, there was a lot.

[938] TV paid more money then.

[939] You didn't get scale.

[940] I think if you did a variety show, then you got real money, you know, like Flip Wilson Show or Sonny and Cher, and there was a Comic -Con.

[941] I think there was, you know.

[942] Flip Wilson's, boy.

[943] I look, I'm old.

[944] I told you I was old.

[945] I'm an old man Flip Wilson Sunny and Cher I love those shows I remember those shows Yeah You know all those variety shows In the you know In the 70s I mean that was good stuff What happened to variety shows I don't think people like them anymore I don't know The short attention spans I guess that's the new American Idol And the voice and shit That's Sort of But the variety shows Would have like Legitimate Famous acts come on Yeah Singers?

[946] Yeah.

[947] Singers, comics, then they had the guy with the plates.

[948] Magicians.

[949] Yeah, they would do things.

[950] Puppet, you know, ventriloquist.

[951] Joe Roe.

[952] That's what you got to do, Joe.

[953] Variety act.

[954] That's the next thing.

[955] I can't.

[956] I do enough.

[957] This is it.

[958] It can't be a short attention span because if that was the case, then podcast wouldn't work.

[959] Because podcasts require the most attention span.

[960] Now, do you, do you, that's the one thing.

[961] with our podcast too a lot of younger people are discovering the Sopranos and that was part of the reason we wanted to do one there's kids that are in their late teens early 20s yeah you know like that age and they're the podcast yeah and they were too young when the show was on originally but that that's pretty cool because a lot of shows don't get that kind of resurgence and new generation discovering it well it's the beautiful thing about our era that you can stream shows and binge them you can do that with back in our day Like, if you wanted to watch old episodes of fucking Starsky and Hutch, good luck.

[962] Sure, absolutely.

[963] Where are you going to find them?

[964] Where are you going to find Dragna?

[965] You had to wait for it to be on television.

[966] If you wanted to watch an older show, you had to wait for it or you'd find it somewhere.

[967] Now, someone tells you about the Sopranos.

[968] Is it on Netflix?

[969] No, it's on...

[970] HBO Macs, HBO and Hulu.

[971] And probably Apple TV as well.

[972] Yeah, you could probably buy it on Apple TV.

[973] Amazon.

[974] Amazon.

[975] Yeah.

[976] So, but you just go right to that.

[977] you get started.

[978] I mean, and instantly starts playing.

[979] I mean, it's amazing if you're a kid and you want to discover great old shows or great old films.

[980] I mean, you have instant access to them.

[981] You don't have to go anywhere.

[982] Absolutely.

[983] You know, back then, only 11 million people had HBO.

[984] Yeah.

[985] Which is nothing.

[986] There's probably more people now watching the show.

[987] You know, people get together on Sunday nights, right?

[988] They have their parties and all that and, you know, they would cook and have parties and dress up like the characters.

[989] It's just, It was harder to watch things.

[990] You had to go out and get a physical copy of it.

[991] Like, I remember I moved into this house in 2002, and it had a theater.

[992] And I was like, oh, my God, I made it.

[993] I got a fucking theater in my house.

[994] This is the shit.

[995] And I watched Apocalypse Now, the newly rematch, remastered version of Apocalypse.

[996] The one with the added scenes that weren't in the French plantation.

[997] Yeah, that was really cool.

[998] I was just sitting back watching.

[999] this thing going, this is amazing.

[1000] And then you find out the history of the film, and then you find out that, like, literally, it took, like, seven years to make that film.

[1001] Lawrence Fishburn's a teenager when he's in it.

[1002] You know, it's just, fuck, what a movie that is.

[1003] Yeah, that's a good one.

[1004] Look at his career.

[1005] Actually, Harvey Keitel was originally the Martin Sheenroll Willard, and actually shot for a while.

[1006] And got fired?

[1007] I think they felt he brought too much, like Martin Sheen was more of a blank slate, like an every man kind of Harvey had a very strong like personality like New York kind of tough guy and a lot more of a quirks to him and Martin he wanted more of like Martin Sheen was more of like a reacting to all the other craziness around him like Hopper and Frederick Forrest and Fishburn and Brando and he was kind of the center that just held it and Harvey was more like a character that makes sense that's at least what I heard but they should I think Harvey shot for at least a month maybe more wow wow that makes sense though because Harvey's such a powerful force.

[1008] Like when I think of Harvey, can I tell, I think a bad lieutenant.

[1009] Yeah, that's a good one.

[1010] That fucking movie.

[1011] That's a brilliant movie.

[1012] Oh, he did a series with him.

[1013] What did you do with him?

[1014] I did a series, the only series he ever did called Life on Mars.

[1015] We did one season for ABC in 2009, and Harvey was, played the lieutenant in that, and it was his first TV show.

[1016] It was good to work with?

[1017] Yeah, I worked with them before.

[1018] I worked with him on clockers.

[1019] I had a couple of scenes with him in that.

[1020] And then we did, I love Harvey.

[1021] Hardy's a very hard worker, takes his work really, really seriously.

[1022] And really good.

[1023] I mean, Battle of Tennis, he's incredible.

[1024] Brilliant.

[1025] I think that might be his best work ever.

[1026] And Dangerous Game.

[1027] Did you ever see that?

[1028] It's the same director, Abel Ferrarra.

[1029] It's with Madonna and James Russo.

[1030] Harvey basically plays a version of Abel Ferrar and kind of a version of himself.

[1031] And he's really, he plays a film director.

[1032] He's really good.

[1033] I don't know if I saw that.

[1034] I'd have to go look at that again.

[1035] That's a good one.

[1036] Yeah.

[1037] What did you think of the stand -up show on Showtime?

[1038] Which one?

[1039] What was that called?

[1040] What do you mean?

[1041] It was the Jim Carrey.

[1042] Oh, I'm dying up here?

[1043] Yeah.

[1044] You didn't like it?

[1045] No, I thought it was flat.

[1046] Yeah, I kind of liked it.

[1047] I mean, I like seeing some of the guys.

[1048] I liked it because it was basically based on the store.

[1049] Was he a stand -up comedian, Jim Carrey?

[1050] Yes.

[1051] He was before he started doing.

[1052] But Mitchie didn't act like that, right?

[1053] I don't know.

[1054] I didn't even get into it.

[1055] Oh, you didn't watch the show?

[1056] No. How did they have her act?

[1057] You know, like impossible, you know.

[1058] She was crazy.

[1059] Yeah, she was impossible.

[1060] You know, I met her a few times.

[1061] She was nice to me because she came out with Pauley.

[1062] Paulie worked at the hotel.

[1063] So I met a couple times.

[1064] She was always very nice.

[1065] That's her on the wall.

[1066] Oh, is it?

[1067] When she was younger, yeah.

[1068] She was always very, very nice to me. But was she crazy?

[1069] Oh, yeah.

[1070] Yeah, that's why she let the store become what it is.

[1071] She basically wanted the lunatics to run the asylum.

[1072] She wanted them to fight against each other She also know like say if you and Michael had a problem with each other She put you on back to back She had Michael bring you up If yeah if you were dating if a comic was dating another comic She'd have them back to back if they broke up And it was all this was all orchestrated Yeah well she had a theory about comedy She wanted people to be put into difficult situations That's why I told you when I was 27 and you know Just sort of getting my feet under me She had me going after Richard Pryor every fucking night And Martin Lawrence, she liked you.

[1073] She'd throw you to the wolves.

[1074] Wow.

[1075] And she would laugh about it, too.

[1076] Like later on in life, you know, I had a conversation with her, and she was laughing.

[1077] She was, I always knew where to point you.

[1078] She thought it was funny.

[1079] But that was, it was also how she made you a good comic.

[1080] She forced you to adapt to the moment.

[1081] If you just go on, if you have an easy opening act who does get some laughs, it doesn't kill too hard.

[1082] And, you know, you go on this cushy spot in the middle.

[1083] everything's soft and easy you don't get challenged you don't grow and she wanted you to grow she wanted you to she wanted you to she wanted you to face hardship she wanted you to fucking sink or swim bitch this is the comedy store and that's how she treated it you know but the store which was the mecca of course and then they end it tail off a little bit and then when you and Joey Diaz and all you guys started coming back now it's the spot or you know before the pandemic anyway that's the spot in the whole united states when i came back in 2014 we had already been talking about it for so long on the podcast it had kind of had a little bit of a ramp up before then but then when i came back and we were basically telling everybody hey i'm at the store we're there we're there you know five nights a week yeah it just became mobbed again i mean it was mobbed every fucking night it was sold out hundreds of days in a row three shows one in the one in the original room big show in the main room belly room just Just back.

[1084] Every night.

[1085] You couldn't get in there.

[1086] They had the, you know, they were at the Dune's.

[1087] They were before the improv, you know, and there was like five headliners, you know.

[1088] They would have like Dom and, you know, Kinnison or Mitchell Walters, you know, and they were at the Dunes Hotel in the big room.

[1089] And Mitzi Forwalled that.

[1090] So she made all the money.

[1091] And she was very smart, obviously a smart business for me. Yeah.

[1092] She didn't go for the, you know, guaranteed money.

[1093] She took a shot, and for years, that was the spot to be.

[1094] When did that place go under?

[1095] That was before my time.

[1096] And then, I was say in the 90s, early 90s, they knocked the dunes down.

[1097] But I think it started in 84.

[1098] The improv opened in 86.

[1099] And they would have five outliers, Johnny Dark, you know, all the headliners from the comedy store.

[1100] Jimmy Walker, you know.

[1101] Well, Vegas is making a comeback when it comes to comedy.

[1102] Like, there's a lot of clubs, yeah.

[1103] Yeah, there's a club.

[1104] And, like, Jimmy Kimmel's got a club there now.

[1105] And then there's a comedy seller, laugh factory, Brad Garrett has a thing.

[1106] The Brad Garrett place is great.

[1107] It's like, it's a good place for, not just for people that are doing big places, but for comic comics, guys, road guys are just, you know.

[1108] Hey, you, when you did Dice's show, you saw Rich Little.

[1109] Yeah, we all went, the cat, I was shooting.

[1110] He was playing in the Laugh Factory.

[1111] at the Tropicana, right?

[1112] Yeah.

[1113] Yeah, Dice does residencies there.

[1114] Like, he'll be there for months at a time.

[1115] At the left, actors.

[1116] I was just there in Vegas for the UFC two weeks ago.

[1117] And, you know, they're doing a UFC without a crowd.

[1118] It's very strange.

[1119] You know, we're at the Apex Center, which is a, it's an arena that the UFC built.

[1120] It's like, where is it?

[1121] It's next to the UFC Performance Institute.

[1122] It's off the strip, and they just, they built this very small arena.

[1123] So they do a series of other shows besides just the big UFC pay -per -views.

[1124] They do this thing called the Dana White Tuesday Night Contender Series where they have like up -and -coming comics, or fighters, rather, up -and -coming fighters compete, and then they do it in a small place with a very small crowd.

[1125] And, you know, like 1 ,200 people.

[1126] But now there's no one, no crowd, because it's the only way you could do the thing.

[1127] So as I'm driving to the APEC Center, I'm passing the Tropicana, and they've got dice up on the billboard for, February so it's like long past shows March shit like that they don't even take it down they haven't even because everything's been shut down all the casinos have been shut down now they're now they're opening yeah so did you have a hotel to stay in no I didn't even I flew in the day of the fights I flew out that night yesterday I watched a soccer game the German league and they had no fans but they had recording of the fans oh that's so weird which is and you know they sing the fans in Europe sing chance with the team they had that going on but there's nobody in the audio Are they going to do that for you?

[1128] It's strange.

[1129] No, no. It's just silent.

[1130] No recording of cheers and all that.

[1131] The brilliant part about it being silent is that you can hear the people breathing.

[1132] You can hear them talking shit to each other.

[1133] Like, hey pussy, how are you feeling?

[1134] Like they talk shit to each other when they're beating each other up.

[1135] You can hear the body blows.

[1136] You can hear the wheezing when they're getting hurt.

[1137] You can hear them heavy breathing when they're tired.

[1138] Like there's so much more depth to it when you don't have an audience.

[1139] There's undeniable that the audience plays up.

[1140] big factor in the energy but there's something to just being there like i was there for uh tony ferguson and justin gaiti in florida we did that in jacksonville and there was the same thing no audience but that was even weirder because it was a 15 000 seat arena but there was no crowd it was just these guys duke it out in this cavernous arena and the octagon set up in the center of the arena and all you hear is the corner men giving advice and then you you hear them beating the shit out of each other.

[1141] Do you have to adjust anything?

[1142] You'd do different, or you just do your thing?

[1143] I didn't, no. No, I didn't adjust.

[1144] You know, the only difference is the one in Vegas, they wouldn't let me interview the fighters in the ring after the fight.

[1145] So I couldn't go into the octagon after the fight.

[1146] I had to do it remotely, so I had a headset on, and I'm looking at them through a screen.

[1147] It was real weird.

[1148] Yeah.

[1149] That was weird.

[1150] And do you think the UFC, that's why boxing's not popular anymore?

[1151] Boxing is pretty popular.

[1152] Not as it once was.

[1153] I think MMA is much more exciting but I think the real big boxing fights are still very exciting like Tyson Fury Deonté Wilder that kind of fight those are still very exciting like anytime Canelo Alvarez fights those are still very exciting fights it's just it's not as multi -dimensional as MMA when you watch a UFC fight and you know you're seeing head kicks and takedowns and guys getting strangled it's fucking tough that's tough Those are legit tough guys.

[1154] It wasn't as excited.

[1155] Even before M .A. got popular, like, the heavyweight division, which used to be so, for years, so exciting.

[1156] Well, it comes in waves.

[1157] You know, Deonté Wilder was just starting to become, like, the resurgence of the heavyweight division because he was smashing and knocking everybody out.

[1158] And then they had that epic fight with him and Tyson Fury, and they knocked Tyson Fury down twice, and almost knocked him out in the 12th round, but then Tyson came back in that round, and then the fight was declared to draw.

[1159] That was a good one.

[1160] It was a great fight.

[1161] And then Tyson Fury came back and beat the fuck out of him in the rematch.

[1162] And when that happened, everyone is like, Jesus Christ.

[1163] Now American heavyweights, like, that was a big American heavyweight loss, right?

[1164] And in America, there's something about we don't give a fuck about heavyweights from other countries.

[1165] Like when Vladimir Klitschko, like you would think, like, the whole thing was like a white guy as a heavyweight champion would be the craziest shit.

[1166] Vladimir Klitschko was the heavyweight champion for years.

[1167] Nobody gave a fuck.

[1168] That's what I'm saying.

[1169] Because he was Russian.

[1170] You know, in the, I used to go to a lot of fights when I lived in Vegas in the 80s.

[1171] I was at the Herns Hagler, a couple of them.

[1172] I was at Mancini when he killed Dukukukim.

[1173] Oh, you were there for that?

[1174] I was at that fight.

[1175] It was the outside fight, right?

[1176] Yes.

[1177] I was at Hearns Hagel.

[1178] I was at the Cooney Holmes.

[1179] Oh, wow.

[1180] A hundred -dollar seat.

[1181] Guy tipped me. I was a doorman at Paul Ankins.

[1182] club, a bouncer, guy gave me a $100 ticket.

[1183] I was all the way the tippy top at Caesars in the parking lot.

[1184] Wow.

[1185] That was the arena.

[1186] I was at Agueo Pryor.

[1187] Agueo.

[1188] Yeah, Alexis Aguio.

[1189] Alexis Aguil prior.

[1190] Wow.

[1191] I was at Tyson's first fight when he came out of jail.

[1192] Oh, wow.

[1193] And he beat the shit out of the Irish kid.

[1194] Yeah.

[1195] Yeah.

[1196] Yeah, I was at a whole bunch of them.

[1197] A bunch.

[1198] And then they would have Saturday afternoons at the showboat on the outside of town.

[1199] I would go to a lot of those were great fights.

[1200] You know, they had Wednesday night fights at it was a silver slipper where the mirages.

[1201] I used to go back then.

[1202] I haven't been to a fight in years.

[1203] They used to have a lot of fights at the Orleans, too, right?

[1204] Orleans, that was later on, yeah, later on.

[1205] Later on.

[1206] But the silver slipper was just a shithole local place.

[1207] Just a lot of those in Vegas.

[1208] Yeah, a local place, and they would have these great fighters.

[1209] They would come in from L .A. and top rank was big deal then and Aram's been around, you know, forever.

[1210] Ali came to the set one day in Sopranos.

[1211] Oh, wow.

[1212] He was a fan of the show, and his manager contacted my manager, and I met him in front of the studio and brought him onto the set, and nobody knew he was coming, and Gendofini was, like, in bed.

[1213] He was doing when he was in the coma.

[1214] It was all that stuff.

[1215] And he was, like, taking a nap between takes, and I brought Ali in the whole.

[1216] whole crew just like froze and then I brought him up to the bed and I tapped Jim.

[1217] Jim turned around looked up and he went holy shit and he hung out the whole day man took pictures every crew people gave him a standing of eight people were crying it was crazy wow he was such a star and such an iconic figure that my parents who were hippies they didn't give a fuck about fighting but when he fought spinks in the rematch they made us watch it we're living in san francisco I'm like, you have to watch this.

[1218] Muhammad Ali is fighting Leon Spinks.

[1219] He's going to get his title back.

[1220] Like, it was a big deal because he wasn't just a boxer.

[1221] Like, it's hard for people to realize that now in retrospect.

[1222] But when I was a kid during the Vietnam War, he was also a symbol of the resistance to this unjust war that we didn't want to be a part of.

[1223] He was a guy who lost three years of his career because he wouldn't fight in the war.

[1224] And so they stripped him of his title in his prime.

[1225] Like he beat Cleveland Big Cat Williams Probably the finest performance of his young career And then for three years He doesn't do shit until he comes back And you know It was a He was more He transcended sports Oh absolutely All over the world All over the world And he got his due I think You know what I mean He's he's recognized as that guy Yeah You know It finally happened It took a while But look at that Oh there you go That must have been on the set Yeah, it's the hospital bed behind that.

[1226] Wow, that's crazy.

[1227] You can't make up some bullshit here.

[1228] They get right on you.

[1229] That's good.

[1230] Jamie gets right on your ass.

[1231] They fucking come up with the goods.

[1232] He was also a cautionary tale for boxers, you know, if you think that getting hit in the head has no consequences.

[1233] When, you know, towards the end of his life, it was very hard to watch.

[1234] Oh, sure.

[1235] Yeah, he wasn't talking that much, but he was very present.

[1236] Like, he was with it.

[1237] He just wasn't verbal.

[1238] Neurologically, he wasn't capable of, like, really speaking anymore.

[1239] I think Leon Spinks also.

[1240] Mm -hmm.

[1241] Right?

[1242] Yeah, everyone.

[1243] Joe Frazier towards the end of his career was horrible to watch him and listen to him.

[1244] The only one who's avoided that is George Foreman.

[1245] To this day, George Foreman speaks great.

[1246] He sounds normal, which is crazy.

[1247] What about Holyfield?

[1248] Holyfield's fighting again.

[1249] Do you know that?

[1250] No way.

[1251] Yes, Holyfield's been training, and he actually looks great.

[1252] you know with hormone replacement therapy they just juice them up with testosterone and growth hormone and fucking get him on a good diet and next thing you know he's hitting the bag and looking great and i think they're trying to set up a tyson holyfield rematch oh my god how old is how old is holyfield's old than tyson i think tyson's 53 and i think holyfield's 56 that would be something they'll all get a huge payday because i think holyfield was broke too right they're both broke yeah i mean i don't know if tyson's broke has tyson been on the show yeah Yes, and Holyfield.

[1253] Both guys have been on the show.

[1254] Tyson's got that Tyson Ranch, he's basically a weed salesman now.

[1255] He's got this crazy ranch that he's a part of Tyson Ranch.

[1256] They grow spectacular weed.

[1257] That box over in the corner, that gold box.

[1258] That's a Tyson weed ranch box that he gifted me. And he's got this whole entertainment venue there.

[1259] They're going to do shows there.

[1260] I just think something happened, and he just decided.

[1261] He even said on the podcast, I don't even want to work out.

[1262] He was like, because I don't want to re -ignite my ego.

[1263] And then something fucking lit a fire under him.

[1264] And the next thing you know, there's these videos that got resurfaced of him hitting the pads and looks fucking fit.

[1265] Have you seen it?

[1266] I did see it.

[1267] He looks fucking phenomenal.

[1268] It's amazing.

[1269] And I tell you what, now that would be a huge all over the world.

[1270] That would be.

[1271] Take my money.

[1272] Take my money.

[1273] That would be something.

[1274] They'd probably do it in like Saudi Arabia or something like that.

[1275] I hope they do it.

[1276] I hope they do it.

[1277] Why not?

[1278] There's interest in that.

[1279] Yeah.

[1280] Oh, yeah, for sure.

[1281] Where's Tyson's Ranch at?

[1282] It's in California, like towards the Palm Desert area.

[1283] Oh, okay.

[1284] Yeah.

[1285] Because he lived in Vegas for a lot of years.

[1286] He used to play basketball.

[1287] There was a place.

[1288] He's the worst basketball play I've ever seen.

[1289] I'm not kidding.

[1290] Terrible.

[1291] Just terrible.

[1292] You've never seen me play.

[1293] Oh, okay, maybe you.

[1294] And he used to play.

[1295] There was a place called the Sporting House behind the Stardust.

[1296] And like everyone played there, every celebrity.

[1297] It was like a, you know, a pool and, you know, racquetball, all that shit.

[1298] And he would come and play.

[1299] I would never fucking dare say a word to him, but he used to try to play a lot of guys.

[1300] You played against him?

[1301] Yeah.

[1302] I played in college.

[1303] And, you know, all the guys from UNOV would play.

[1304] It was like 100 pounds ago.

[1305] I could play.

[1306] Tyson was just, that's not his thing.

[1307] No. No. Now, I just found it really amazing that he decided at 53, he just wanted to fight again.

[1308] And he said he's going to do some exhibitions.

[1309] And that was the thought process behind us, you know, like five -round exhibitions or something like that.

[1310] But it seems like he really wants to fight for him.

[1311] I think as the process has gone on, he's gotten better and better shape.

[1312] And now he's shredded.

[1313] Look, look.

[1314] Jeez.

[1315] And he's got a podcast, right?

[1316] Yeah, yeah.

[1317] He's a really interesting guy.

[1318] And he did a one -man show?

[1319] Yeah, yeah, he did his one -man show for a while.

[1320] Spike Lee direct.

[1321] This guy who's holding the pads for him is Hafeel Cordero.

[1322] Hafeel Cordero is the lead trainer at King's MMA.

[1323] He's a very famous MMA trainer, like one of the best striking trainers in the sport.

[1324] Yeah, so he's working with a great guy.

[1325] But it's interesting that he chose to work with an MMA guy, too.

[1326] That's really interesting.

[1327] Cordero comes from this place in Curitiba, Brazil, called Shoot the Box.

[1328] It's a very famous MMA camp, famous for the most ferocious, fighters in Brazil and he's been training with Tyson how long did Foreman fight for like till he was well he came back at 36 and everybody thought it was a joke he came back 300 and something pounds fat as fuck and just looked like everybody's like ah ha what is he doing why is he doing this and then slowly as the fights went on he never got ripped but he got smaller and smaller and then when he flatlined Jerry Cooney everybody was like holy fuck like this he's real like this is real and then when he knocked out Michael Moore he became the oldest ever heavyweight champion.

[1329] And I believe he was 45 when he knocked out more.

[1330] And then he's had his grills and he made a lot of money.

[1331] He made a fucking killing on those grills, those George Foreman grills.

[1332] Did you have one?

[1333] Yeah, had one.

[1334] Great for grilled chicken.

[1335] Great.

[1336] Cook's quick.

[1337] Yeah, if you're really a bachelor.

[1338] They're great.

[1339] It's actually a pretty goddamn good idea.

[1340] That's very funny.

[1341] I mean, it's not the best way.

[1342] You know, if you want to cook the most delicious foods, it's not the best way to do.

[1343] Now, do you cook?

[1344] Yeah.

[1345] Oh, yeah.

[1346] What you went?

[1347] Top chef?

[1348] Chopped.

[1349] Celebrity tournament.

[1350] So you're a chef, chef?

[1351] No. You just like cooking?

[1352] I'm a home chef, but I'm good at taking what's there and making something out of it, like random stuff.

[1353] What are you into?

[1354] Like, what do you like to cook?

[1355] I like Italian food.

[1356] I like, you know, I mean, out here where, you know, you go to the farmer's market, there's all great stuff that's in season all the time.

[1357] And I don't know.

[1358] soup I'm really good at soup really good at soups really yeah whatever's I mean and I did it because my wife doesn't cook she's you know she's a designer she's good at building things so if I wanted to eat good I had to learn that cook because she's so you learned out of necessity and then really got into it yeah not well I mean I got into it because I you know I liked feeding like you know I liked eating good so but I did this I got offered to be on this show I never I didn't even know the show.

[1359] My kids were like, no, you'd go and do this.

[1360] You'll win if you'd do this show because you're good at, like, cooking with random ingredients.

[1361] And it was 16 people.

[1362] Like one day it was actors, four actors, four comedians, four athletes and four, like, musicians.

[1363] Then the winner from each day does the last day.

[1364] And how do they judge, based on taste, presentation?

[1365] Yeah, three professionals judge, taste, presentation, creativity.

[1366] What did you cook?

[1367] Well, I did, yeah, I used ice cream.

[1368] I made a dessert.

[1369] You have to make this three rounds every day, right?

[1370] So it was an appetizer round, a main course, and then a dessert.

[1371] But for the desserts, I made ice cream, and I put, like, booze in the ice cream, and that got over really good.

[1372] Like bourbon, bourbon ice cream, vanilla bourbon, and tequila ice cream or something like that.

[1373] But they give you weird shit.

[1374] Like, in one, you open this box, and these ingredients you have to use.

[1375] then you have a pantry with all the other like normal staples of all kinds of other vegetables.

[1376] Like what would be in the box?

[1377] Fake blood, like candy blood or like an unpopped dry corn on the cob, unpopped.

[1378] You know, like it's like popcorn but not off the cob.

[1379] Squid.

[1380] It was like that's kind of more of a normal thing.

[1381] So you have to have pretty well -rounded skills.

[1382] Yeah, and then it's timed, but then the thing I didn't think about, that's the hardest thing of it, is that there's cameras in your face the whole time, which is really hard.

[1383] And then if they follow you around, because you've got to go move around the kitchen.

[1384] Yeah, you're trying to cook really fast and do something.

[1385] And someone's right here with the camera and that kind of thing.

[1386] What the fuck do you do with unpopped corn?

[1387] Well, I knew what to do with it, which was good.

[1388] You put it in a paper bag and then put it in the microwave.

[1389] And then you got popcorn and you could do stuff with it.

[1390] But I had bought it at the farmer's market, like the week before, just by chance.

[1391] Oh, wow.

[1392] So I knew what to do with it.

[1393] Yeah, I would have been fucked.

[1394] And you cook for your family?

[1395] You win $50 ,000 for charity.

[1396] That was the thing.

[1397] But I wound up winning the last two people were me and Brandy Chastain.

[1398] You know, she was on the U .S. women's soccer team, not the recent one, but back then she took off her shirt and was wearing the sports bra.

[1399] That was a famous photo or something.

[1400] It was her and I were the two finalists.

[1401] Did she do that after that?

[1402] in the show?

[1403] She lost.

[1404] She does that with everything.

[1405] Maybe if she won, she may. Come in second.

[1406] No, you don't do that when you come in second.

[1407] Yeah, you got to do that for first place.

[1408] I did it.

[1409] You should have pulled your balls out.

[1410] So when you're doing this, so when you do it this, you get all these ingredients, like what is your thought process?

[1411] Like, what kind of, you get the squid and the popcorn.

[1412] So how much time are you getting, by the way?

[1413] I think for the appetizer, you have 15 minutes.

[1414] 15 minutes so you open up the box you got 15 minutes to make something you're going to make so you're looking at the squid you're looking at the popcorn you're like fuck yeah and you have to make and then there's there's all different machines too there's like a food processor there's an ice cream machine there's like a sous vide machine which is you put stuff in a in the plastic seal it and then put it into like really hot water and cook it that kind of shit if you want to get adventurous yeah wow you got to try one try one of these shows no not for you No, I'm not interesting.

[1415] What do you make usually?

[1416] I cook a lot of meat.

[1417] You know, I hunt, so I eat a lot of elk meat because if I shoot an elk, I get 400 pounds of meat.

[1418] What does an elk taste like?

[1419] Like a steak?

[1420] No. No, it's more like venison, like a deer meat, but more delicious.

[1421] Is it the deer family?

[1422] Yes, it is the deer family.

[1423] It's just a large deer, essentially a large mountain deer.

[1424] used to be a plains animal but then when people started coming around and development they started moving into the mountains so now they're more of a mountain animal but their real habitat is like grazing in plains but it's an enormous animal you know so that'll eat a lot of that you get one deer how long's it last you a year a year yeah one elk will let but I give a lot of it away too I have a bunch of commercial freezers in the back that's an elk on the wall that I shot I was big yeah it's a big animal i mean that's probably a 900 pound animal that one that's a really big one that some of them you know a good size utah mountain elk 800 pounds so you quarter it up you take the quarters the family likes it yeah they love it yeah i got good at it i know how to cook yeah yeah that's a specific style of cooking too because you got to make sure you don't overcook it because it's very lean it's not like like a fatty piece of meat where you you know you could kind of cook it longer You cook it at a low heat and you get it to a very specific internal temperature.

[1425] Usually I like it like 125 degrees.

[1426] Then I sear it on the outside of a very hot cast iron pan.

[1427] You cook?

[1428] I don't cook much, no. No?

[1429] And I don't eat anything.

[1430] You know, listen, I eat.

[1431] Not much or sometimes?

[1432] I could do something.

[1433] I could make breakfast.

[1434] Like what?

[1435] What's your go -to?

[1436] I can make fucking eggs.

[1437] I could, you know, I could do something here.

[1438] Did you have a mix sauce?

[1439] Like a short order cook?

[1440] You were a clam shucker I worked at Umberto's clam house when I was in high school I used to be able to open clams You know when you were ordered I used to be incredible at him Yeah Umberto's clam house was where they killed Joe Gallo Oh wow But they had a second one in Brooklyn Where I grew up And uh No but Gallo was killed Umobbery Street Mobury Street There was one on Moverry Street Umberto's Clam House It became famous after that And then there was one in Brooklyn And I was like 15 And I We used to hang around on the corner And they were building it And there was like a guy You know We were all hanging around Getting into fucking trouble A bunch of kids And he pulled out a big water money one day I mean like fucking hundreds And he said come here Come on get the fuck out of here Take them to the movies Back then a movie was probably a dollar You know And I said no no no I want a job I don't want your money And I gave them He was Maddie the horse Which was a big wise guy's brother Joe And he kind of became like a mentor.

[1441] You know, he was like a really good guy, gave me a job.

[1442] He learned how to open clams, bake clams, clams for the Linguidian clams, raw clams on a half shell, you know, squeezed a lemon, the thing.

[1443] Did being around a lot of those guys when you were younger, did that help you when you were in the Sopranos?

[1444] Did it help you, like, sort of, because you knew people like that?

[1445] Yeah, I grew up in that neighborhood.

[1446] Like, where I grew up in Benson, Harris, Brooklyn, at the time in the seven, these was all a big mob enclave big they were everywhere and you didn't even know who they were you know like Joey's uncle and this is a guy that I went to Little League with wind up doing 25 years for murder and they were just in the neighborhood they were just you know so yeah I knew that world I wasn't in that world I went to college I you know but I knew that world I know people, I have friends You know It was just that kind of a place You know where you just knew them And somebody was just telling me two days ago The guy Owned a store Like Italian deli, Ravioli store And I didn't know that he was a hitman And he sent me an article And he murdered two fucking guys In Coney Island, yeah This guy named Pete And I had no idea about that And I said really He lived up the block for me I didn't know that.

[1447] Because, you know, when you were a kid, you know, they was like, you know, he was coaching the baseball team.

[1448] Then you found out late.

[1449] I said, I didn't know the guy was a wise guy, like a real guy.

[1450] And they were everywhere.

[1451] They sold fireworks and, you know, it was that whole thing.

[1452] It was all Italian -American, you know, and it's changed now, you know.

[1453] It's not a little bit of that, but not as much as it used to be.

[1454] Well, when John Gotti was in his heyday, it was a very strange time for, like, Italian -Americans in New York because that whole area, like when he would have those block parties and, you know, people, there was part of the people that would love him.

[1455] Oh, yeah.

[1456] To this day.

[1457] Yeah.

[1458] To this day, absolutely.

[1459] You know, I was gone.

[1460] You know, I left for Vegas in 7980, so I was gone through all the meetings.

[1461] You know, I was in Vegas with those wise guys.

[1462] Right.

[1463] And I knew some of them.

[1464] We talked about it last time I was here, the Pesci character, Tony Spolacho, who was always very nice to me. I mean, he was, give me a 20 every time I saw him.

[1465] He's a write in my book.

[1466] But it's interesting, like the Gotti character, him as a person was very strange.

[1467] Do you know his grandson is a badass M .M .A. fighter?

[1468] No, I didn't know.

[1469] His grandson, John Gotti, the third, I think it is, is a legit M .MA fighter.

[1470] He's really fucking good.

[1471] He's shredded.

[1472] The kid looks like a fucking killer.

[1473] I mean, it looks like an M .M .A. fighter, covered in tattoos.

[1474] I think he's undefeated.

[1475] And I think he's got the majority of his fights, if not all of them are by knockout.

[1476] Wow.

[1477] It's kind of crazy.

[1478] Listen, people love him.

[1479] I never met John Gotti.

[1480] He did a lot of good for a lot of people.

[1481] Listen, you could only judge someone by how they treat you.

[1482] Right.

[1483] You know what I mean?

[1484] Because people go, well, how could you, you know, blah, blah, blah.

[1485] Hey, he was good to a lot of people.

[1486] He was known to be a good fighter, too, John.

[1487] John was?

[1488] Yeah.

[1489] That's how he kind of came up.

[1490] He was very good with his hands.

[1491] He was, you know, toe to toe and was pretty nifty as a fighter.

[1492] He was very public, though.

[1493] Yeah.

[1494] That was the thing that the old guard didn't like.

[1495] But he was flashy when he became the boss.

[1496] He was like this guy that like made a big show of who he was versus a lot of these guys like Vincent de Chen would act crazy and walk around a bath road.

[1497] God, he was like Al Capone.

[1498] Yeah.

[1499] But at least he enjoyed himself.

[1500] These other guys, some of these other guys, he enjoyed himself.

[1501] He was out to restaurants, good look.

[1502] He had movie star looks.

[1503] At least he enjoyed himself.

[1504] He had a nice family.

[1505] Some of these guys are holed up.

[1506] They have millions of dollars.

[1507] and they live in like some shit, one -bedroom tenement.

[1508] Like Uncle Junior.

[1509] Like Uncle Junior.

[1510] He lives like this shitty life.

[1511] He's got hundreds of thousands here and there.

[1512] It's like, why you're living like that?

[1513] You might as well go out and enjoy it, right?

[1514] Right.

[1515] Yeah.

[1516] And they still get caught.

[1517] Even the guys who live like shit, they still get caught.

[1518] Those old timers, you know, those old timers used to just, I don't know what they did with the money.

[1519] Well, they were trying to avoid prosecution.

[1520] Yeah, but.

[1521] Didn't work out.

[1522] Almost every mobster, unfortunately, winds up dead or in jail.

[1523] Yeah, yeah.

[1524] You know?

[1525] Michael, did you grow up around that?

[1526] A little bit, yeah, a little bit.

[1527] But more, I got out of that area when I was in my teens, really, and was in the city, you know, in the village and around actors and musicians and stuff like that.

[1528] Was that something that it always called to you being an actor?

[1529] No, not really.

[1530] I was going to go into be a doctor or something like that I was always really good in school but my father was a bus driver in the Bronx and he started doing community theater when I was in high school he was like 40 just all one day starts acting in plays which looking back knowing what it takes it's very courageous you know somebody to do that and so I always saw cool movies and even saw some theater in New York because my parents took me. But then in my last year of high school, I was like, well, what the hell?

[1531] What do you really want to do?

[1532] I mean, if you could do anything, I literally asked myself that question.

[1533] If you could do anything, what would it be?

[1534] And I was like, I guess, you know, I really didn't want to stay in school for 10 years either, like studying.

[1535] I was kind of sick of that.

[1536] And they'd come out in debt.

[1537] Come out in debt.

[1538] That's the big one.

[1539] That's a big one.

[1540] Flavors the way they live their life.

[1541] They live their life starting out of the gate in their career, hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.

[1542] Yeah.

[1543] And not just doctors, right?

[1544] Even people who don't even go to grad school.

[1545] Sure.

[1546] Yeah.

[1547] That's really rough.

[1548] So you asked yourself that question and how did you come up with acting?

[1549] Yeah, I started, I had some good teachers in high school who, like, brought us to theater and I was reading a lot of plays in high school and the library in my school.

[1550] And just got into it more and more in my last year or two of high school.

[1551] I wasn't acting.

[1552] I didn't do any acting then.

[1553] And then after high school, I went to an acting school in New York and took a couple of classes there and then stayed for a long time, actually, with a teacher and met a lot of people that I still work with today back then, you know, a couple of who were on the Sopranos, actually.

[1554] Is live performance?

[1555] Is that your love, like theater?

[1556] You know, it is, I mean, I love all of it.

[1557] I mean, it's always about the specific process.

[1558] and the material and the people you're with, but doing it live is really special because, A, you're doing the whole story every night from beginning to end, right?

[1559] And you're on stage for whatever, two hours.

[1560] It's that concentration and that commitment, you know, movies and television, as you know, has broken up into little bits throughout the day.

[1561] And it's a different kind of concentration, but there is something special about being in front of an audience that's different every night.

[1562] The reactions are different every night.

[1563] And there's an interplay that's very exciting.

[1564] So do you still do it now?

[1565] Do you go back and forth between doing films?

[1566] I haven't in a while.

[1567] I mean, theater.

[1568] I mean, I did, I hope to start doing it again soon, you know.

[1569] At one point, my wife and I built a theater, and we were producing new plays.

[1570] Where'd you build it?

[1571] West 29th Street, Manhattan, around, I think we opened in 2003.

[1572] So when you say built the theater, like what was there before?

[1573] I was just like a raw space I think it was a club at one point and then literally my wife and my father -in -law built it and it looked like a theater from like a hundred years ago it was beautiful how did you get the craftsmanship to like where did you get the people to do that kind of work my wife my father -in -law they did all themselves they did a lot I mean there were a couple of people they contract certain things out for but a lot he was he passed away but he was a master carpenter he was just brilliant and my wife's really good how many seats was it 75 seats It was very intimate.

[1574] That's awesome.

[1575] And we did only new plays that had never been done.

[1576] And we also had classes there.

[1577] Acting classes.

[1578] What year was this?

[1579] Between 2003 and like 2010.

[1580] So this is a real labor of love.

[1581] Yeah.

[1582] It's not like you can make a lot of money off of 75 seats.

[1583] No, we didn't make money.

[1584] No, it actually wound up cost.

[1585] That's why we went out of business.

[1586] After the economy collapsed, we lost a lot of our funding.

[1587] We lost all the corporate funding pretty much.

[1588] we had a few private donors who really loved what we were doing and I mean I built the theater basically I did a movie kind of a not so good movie for Harvey Weinstein actually oh wow and that money went and built the theater wow that had to be a really interesting thing like the moment you're on stage that on this theater that you built yeah and you're you're performing these plays I mean that's that had to be a dream realized it had be a pretty special moment Yeah, I didn't act that much there.

[1589] I did more directing.

[1590] I mean, we produced all the plays.

[1591] I did, I directed a bunch of them.

[1592] I think I only acted in one of them.

[1593] But, um, but it was kind of the inmates running the asylum, really, because it was, it wasn't really a company, but it was a company by default because there were a lot of people that go -to people that I, you know, worked with.

[1594] But it was, yeah, it was really, uh, rewarded.

[1595] My wife built all the sets for all the shows as well as built the place itself.

[1596] So intimate, 75 seats.

[1597] Really intimate, yeah.

[1598] Really intimate.

[1599] That's a wild decision to make, to build your own theater.

[1600] It was her idea.

[1601] I wouldn't have done it, probably.

[1602] Because I had done, I had worked in theater.

[1603] I started producing theater in my early 20s, you know, with a company.

[1604] And I knew what it, you know, it's hard.

[1605] It's not a good business model.

[1606] But if you have the kind of passion and we just found a way to do it, she was like, no, we'll build it.

[1607] I was like.

[1608] But it was really fun while it lasted.

[1609] Yeah, he wanted me to do a play Remember he offered me a play That's not for me No?

[1610] You have no desire?

[1611] I did one night only What'd you do?

[1612] Guys and Dolls in Carnegie Hall With a bunch of Tony winners and me But listen, if you're going to do A fucking play, guys and dolls Guys and Dolls I was so scared Remember I told you?

[1613] I was so fucking Joe, I would have fought Shaq instead I swear to God You know, my age called.

[1614] I said, sure, I'll do it.

[1615] Nathan Lane and all Patrick Wilson and Megan Malali, all these great people.

[1616] And me, I went, okay, Jack O 'Brien, one of the biggest Broadway directors.

[1617] And I went, okay, it's a charity for Carnegie Hall.

[1618] Wow.

[1619] And there you go.

[1620] Big Julie.

[1621] Look at you.

[1622] And so, you know, nine days of rehearsal, I'd never been so scared of my life.

[1623] I tried to get out of it.

[1624] I said, But I told my agent, get me out of it.

[1625] She said, I can't.

[1626] She said, there's no way.

[1627] And I did it, and it was the best thing.

[1628] When I was done, we had dress rehearsal in the afternoon, and then at night it was packed.

[1629] Nine days.

[1630] Nine days rehearsal.

[1631] I took the train up to 42nd Street in a rehearsal space every day.

[1632] But what?

[1633] You did the whole play?

[1634] The whole play.

[1635] And they memorized all the lines.

[1636] I memorized all the fucking lines.

[1637] I came in off book.

[1638] Is that unusual?

[1639] usual?

[1640] That's fast.

[1641] We would do 30 days.

[1642] That's for a drama you know, that's not what, we didn't do musical so you're not talking about adding choreography and all that stuff but usually 30 days, four weeks.

[1643] Had an orchestra.

[1644] It was fantastic.

[1645] I mean, the night, I was so scared, I didn't tell anyone except for my wife and kids.

[1646] They're the only ones that came.

[1647] I had fourth I gave them, that was it.

[1648] Wow.

[1649] And afterwards, it was sky high.

[1650] It took me a few days to come down because I was so scared, then it was so great, you know.

[1651] Nathan Lane, there's nobody funny than Nathan Lane.

[1652] Now, did you want to do it again after that?

[1653] Or was it such a...

[1654] Oh, I don't know.

[1655] I don't know if I...

[1656] You know, I don't know.

[1657] If it was the right material, maybe, you know, I don't know.

[1658] Now, is that a...

[1659] That's a rushed performance, or rushed getting ready.

[1660] Yeah.

[1661] Well, it was charity.

[1662] It was one night only for charity, you know.

[1663] I mean, if you were...

[1664] And that was another thing that added pressure.

[1665] Because, you know, if you're doing the play and you're going, All right, if I fuck up Tuesday, I'll come back Wednesday.

[1666] Right.

[1667] This was, you were all in.

[1668] This is all or nothing.

[1669] If I fucked up and there was producers out, the guy from Cats, the big producer, what's his name?

[1670] The creator.

[1671] Andrew Lloyd Webber?

[1672] Yeah.

[1673] He was there.

[1674] There was all these people and actors.

[1675] It's like, you fuck up now.

[1676] I would have been unmodified.

[1677] If I blew my line, I was so scared.

[1678] It's not like, so you blow your line, you know, on TV, you know, you film it.

[1679] I'll go back, you know, I'll go back, you know.

[1680] This was it.

[1681] Yeah, that's it.

[1682] That's it.

[1683] That's it.

[1684] 2 ,500 people I was shitting in my pants.

[1685] Seriously, one of the most scared things ever.

[1686] Did you have a lot of nerves when you start in stand -up?

[1687] Yes.

[1688] It's scary when you start.

[1689] Yeah, and I came from fighting.

[1690] I went from fighting.

[1691] I had three kickboxing fights while I was doing stand -up, and I think my first stand -up was more nerve -wracking than fighting for whatever reason.

[1692] It's terrifying.

[1693] Yeah, I mean, it's just also like...

[1694] What about now?

[1695] No, no, no, it's just fun.

[1696] I mean, it's probably nervous for me at the end of the month because I haven't done stand -up in three months.

[1697] Like, before I'm doing the Houston improv just to fuck around and knock the dust off, I'm sure before I go on stage the first time, I'm like, holy fuck, do you even remember how to do this?

[1698] Because it's been so long, you know, I've never had a stretch of my career three months with no stand -up.

[1699] I mean I've taken three weeks off before and it felt weird.

[1700] So taking three months off, it's going to be very strange.

[1701] Do you combine, like, set material with improvisation and free form stuff?

[1702] Yeah, like, there's always something going on in the audience or there's always something that happens that day or something that's going on in the news that you can talk about in the moment.

[1703] But you have to have some, at least I do, I have to have some structure.

[1704] So basically, I have places where I know I want to get to, and then, you know, the rest of it is, you've got to be.

[1705] in the you know you also have to be there you can't just be like reading the lines and like rigid with your script because in the audience doesn't feel like you're having fun they don't feel like it's fun that you you're you're you're orchestrating a dance it's not just you're putting on a stand -up routine you're also you're orchestrating their evening you're having fun it's like there's a lot to the art form it's it's hard to it would be hard to explain it to a computer you know you know you know what I mean it's like there's a rhythm that there's a thing that's happening with the audience and you got to know that makes sense just as simple as like if there was a huge storm that day and everyone went through it together and you're showing up exactly something like that affects exactly you may refer to it or i don't and then there's chaos in the crowd you know i've seen brawls in the crowd all kinds of crazy shit now but now every now you're so well known so do they laugh when they give you a break for like 30 seconds the beginning you got about 30 seconds They're like, oh, you're here, Steve.

[1706] All right.

[1707] But if you don't deliver the fucking goods.

[1708] We came out of our house and got a baby, he said, we're so excited.

[1709] You're there.

[1710] And then 30 seconds later, like, where's the fucking jokes, man?

[1711] This is terrible.

[1712] And then they're mad at you.

[1713] And then it's worse.

[1714] Like, I've seen that happen with comics at the store where, like, a famous guy will go on stage.

[1715] It doesn't really do stand up.

[1716] It does stand up every now and then.

[1717] And that is the worst fucking place to do that because you're on a lineup with murderers.

[1718] You know, it's Bill Burr and Crystalia and, you know, it's Bill Burr and, Joey Diaz and Al Madrigal, all these killers, and then some jackoff from a sitcom, we'll try to jump on stage and do 15 minutes and just, in the beginning, they're like, oh my God, it's that guy from that show.

[1719] And then 30 seconds later, they want to cut your fucking head off.

[1720] That's not a good idea.

[1721] No, it's terrible.

[1722] Just through the sitcom and stay away.

[1723] Or if you're going to do stand -up, you know, you've got to treat it like you're about to go do a fight.

[1724] Like you don't, you want to be in shape if you're going to fight.

[1725] If you're going to do stand -up, you better be in show.

[1726] shape for it.

[1727] You better be prepared.

[1728] You better have real material that's tried and proven or whatever you've written.

[1729] You better go over that shit with a fine tooth comb.

[1730] You better be loose.

[1731] You better be ready.

[1732] You've got to be prepared.

[1733] Start small maybe to go out of town or a little club.

[1734] Do some open mic nights.

[1735] Do some guest sets if you're a guy.

[1736] But there have been some people that were famous first and then they became stand -ups.

[1737] I think Charlie Murphy's probably the best example of that.

[1738] Charlie was Eddie's brother, so he's famous for that.

[1739] And then he did the Chappelle show, which was arguably the greatest sketch comedy show of all time.

[1740] And he had these hilarious parts.

[1741] But the guy had never done stand -up.

[1742] And so here he is a huge fucking star already.

[1743] And then he's going on stage and he's learning how to do stand -up in front of this audience.

[1744] And I think that's incredibly difficult.

[1745] Almost impossible.

[1746] Takes balls.

[1747] It's almost like Tom Hanks in Punchline.

[1748] Yes.

[1749] All right.

[1750] He acted like a stand -up.

[1751] He wasn't a great stand -up.

[1752] But did a good job.

[1753] I think he was acting.

[1754] You ever see that movie?

[1755] It's a good movie.

[1756] Sally Field, Tom Ex, they acted as a stand -up.

[1757] You could tell he's not a stand -up.

[1758] Yeah, you see it, and like, it's like when someone's playing a fighter in a movie or, there's a lot of other things.

[1759] Oh, a baseball player.

[1760] You say, this guy can't even fucking throw.

[1761] Like, with basketball, you see, this guy can't play.

[1762] Exactly, exactly.

[1763] Yeah.

[1764] There's things that you can see.

[1765] Like, people that smoke cigarettes would tell me that you could tell by what.

[1766] a way a guy's holding a cigarette that he doesn't really smoke.

[1767] Absolutely.

[1768] They hold it too high in the...

[1769] I could never...

[1770] You can always tell.

[1771] We talked about that on the podcast.

[1772] Just the way they hold it.

[1773] I could never smoke anymore, but I did.

[1774] I could...

[1775] I've never smoked in my life.

[1776] Never.

[1777] A cigar, I could get away with.

[1778] Right.

[1779] You know, I can't...

[1780] If I had a smoking cigarette, I don't even know how.

[1781] I could never do it on a show.

[1782] I think part of the problem is they're aware that they have a cigarette on them.

[1783] Whereas a person who smokes cigarettes, they just like that cigarette.

[1784] And they always have a cigarette.

[1785] cigarette in their hand.

[1786] So it's just a normal part of being who they are.

[1787] Whereas if you don't, you're like, I got a cigarette in my hand.

[1788] Everything you're doing, like, there's a cigarette in my hand.

[1789] I'm going to smoke a cigarette now.

[1790] But you can tell.

[1791] You can absolutely tell.

[1792] Yeah, you can tell.

[1793] You say, this guy's not a smoker, man. Yeah.

[1794] Yeah.

[1795] I'm sure guitar players feel like that.

[1796] When you watch a guy playing a guitar player in a movie, you know, I don't want to play guitar, so I can't get, I don't understand if he's doing it right or wrong, but I would imagine that would be in fury.

[1797] A lot of stuff.

[1798] But listen, I used to watch the show, in Vegas, movies like from Vegas or TV shows, and in the first two minutes you go, this movie sucks.

[1799] That'll never happen.

[1800] The deal is rooting for you.

[1801] Yeah, come on, you know.

[1802] This will never happen.

[1803] Just like in New York a Woody Allen movie.

[1804] Some Woody Allen movies are like fantasy, the beautiful block with the trees and, you know, it's like, you know, if you're from that place or you're a comic, you know, immediately, say that would never happen.

[1805] I guess in gangster movies too you see a lot of bad there's a lot of bad ones oh yeah yeah what's an example of an obviously bad one oh jesus i don't even know there's so many fucking bad ones where you go this is just ridiculous this is just you know i did one kill the irishman which i didn't like there's some really good actors in it but there's so many things that are off it was a period piece the hand I enjoyed that movie.

[1806] Did you like it?

[1807] A lot of people like it.

[1808] I didn't like it.

[1809] I liked it.

[1810] The first cut, I hated it.

[1811] I remember went to a screening.

[1812] I told my wife, I fucking hated it.

[1813] And it got better.

[1814] And as years gone on, people, we shot it in Detroit.

[1815] It was supposed to be in Cleveland.

[1816] You know, just a little shit.

[1817] Maybe if you're just a viewer, you wouldn't notice.

[1818] But I did.

[1819] But there's so many bad, bad I heard Travolta playing Gotti was a bad one I didn't see that I was hilarious I didn't see it I didn't see it but I heard it I didn't think Travolta was so bad I thought a lot of the other things were bad and they were I think it was in they shot some of it in Cincinnati so that means the extras are from Cincinnati you know what I mean right right yeah you know but there's a ton of them you know people love that genre.

[1820] You know, people love the mob genre like the westerns or horror films.

[1821] It's the same thing.

[1822] Particularly after the Sopranos.

[1823] The Sopranos fucking really kickstarted that.

[1824] It really, that genre became far more popular.

[1825] They tried, I think Mob City was a TV show and, you know, there's been so many of them.

[1826] You know, you got the nail on the head, the gangster in the can kind of guy, you go, this guy, you know, and you got some different stuff you say this guy doesn't scare me for two seconds right you know what's crazy for me was uh going back and watching the original episode of sopranos where it read like a comedy oh yeah very different show very different show when edie falco has the um the the the gun and she's outside and uh who was was her daughter's climbing back into the window yeah but i'm like this is like a comedy it's like it was a different show like edie falco's character evolved and became this very complex woman who is battling with this reality that she's living with this guy who's you know a fucking murderer and a mob boss and she's enjoying the perks of that it became like this very interesting character but in the beginning it wasn't like that at the beginning the first episode was kind of funny yeah when i first when i auditioned and read the script i wasn't sure if it was a full -on spoof of the mob i really wasn't sure there was some you know there was the murder scene that my character does, and there was some dramatic stuff.

[1827] There was a lot of humor in it.

[1828] Yeah.

[1829] And it was around the time, I think, analyzed this, so there was the mob spoof.

[1830] And I wasn't sure.

[1831] I couldn't say that, you know, from just reading that pilot episode, it was hard to tell.

[1832] But I really liked the cast they were putting together.

[1833] And that was the thing that really sold me on it.

[1834] Like, I knew some of them, like Edie and Tony Serrico and Fini Pestor.

[1835] or I knew Jim's work, but I didn't know him personally.

[1836] I'd seen him in a play.

[1837] So I was like, this is a good cast.

[1838] Yeah.

[1839] But it was very hard to tell from that pilot script.

[1840] What happened that it evolved?

[1841] And it became what it...

[1842] I think it was always...

[1843] That was always the plan.

[1844] You know, like anything, you start to see what you have.

[1845] Like, what are these actors bringing?

[1846] You know, what are they playing to their strengths and what kind of qualities they're bringing to it?

[1847] But, you know, just like there's that one scene in the pilot where at the end, towards the end of the pilot, and my character tells Tony Soprano, oh, I could go to Hollywood and sell my story or something.

[1848] And in the script, it was kind of, he was like fatherly, like, you don't want to do that and sell out.

[1849] You've got to stay with us and build the family or whatever.

[1850] And instead, Jim just grabs me, you know, by the throat or something like that.

[1851] And it became very menacing and very intimidating.

[1852] And he really, you know, and I think David saw that.

[1853] It was like, oh, wow, that's the guy.

[1854] That's the character.

[1855] And it probably influenced how he took the story and how he would write it.

[1856] But I think a lot of the tone was already in his head.

[1857] But seeing what the actors were bringing to it, I think, you know, influenced a lot.

[1858] Gandalfini was so fucking believable.

[1859] I mean, you know, when you think about a guy who just embodied a role, like when he was Tony Soprano.

[1860] And he's not, and he wasn't like that.

[1861] That's the other thing.

[1862] He was more like a hippie.

[1863] You know, he was very late back.

[1864] You know, he wore like Birkenstocks and like a bandana on his head.

[1865] Big music guy.

[1866] He didn't really talk like that.

[1867] He was...

[1868] Yeah.

[1869] I wipe my ass with your feelings.

[1870] Hey, big music guy, you know.

[1871] Yeah, he was...

[1872] He never wanted to do a talk show, you know.

[1873] Joe, I would say, why don't you...

[1874] Everyone thinks you're Tony Soprano.

[1875] Why don't you pick, whether it be let him in or whatever, and show them the real gym.

[1876] You're very intelligent guy.

[1877] I mean, he's not that guy at all.

[1878] Matter of fact, he would say to me, like before the season, let's go down and have dinner at I'll courtiel, which I ran into you there one time.

[1879] Let's go down to Moray Street.

[1880] I'd want to start getting back into the swing of things because he wasn't, he didn't hang around with those guys.

[1881] He wasn't that guy at all.

[1882] But he never did a talk show.

[1883] He did 60 minutes.

[1884] He wouldn't do any of the talk shows.

[1885] He said, I'm not interesting.

[1886] He wouldn't do anything.

[1887] And he didn't grow up around that.

[1888] He grew up in Jersey, he went to Rutgers University.

[1889] He was, you know, an actor, theater guy.

[1890] I tell you what's funny, you know, I wrote a kid's book called Nicky Deuce, and it turned it into a movie, and Michael's in it, and Pauley Walnuts, and Johnny Sack.

[1891] And I was in Jim's trailer, and he adjusted the movie with Brad Pitt, a mob movie.

[1892] And he said, Harvey Wonsting, Cawley wants me to do Letterman.

[1893] I said, I don't do talk shows.

[1894] and it gets calling and he says he got fucking nasty with Jim and Jim said I will beat the fuck out of Harvey Weinstein he fucking calls me again I will beat the fuck out of him for the money he paid me I'm not fucking doing it swear to God and this is all before the Harvey Weinstein shit when he was still the king shit this is 2012 you know when you see that Academy Award speech thank you compilation where all the people go up all the various people that eventually talk shit about him, go up and praise Harvey Weinstein.

[1895] I never saw it.

[1896] Oh, my God.

[1897] It's so bizarre.

[1898] It's so strange.

[1899] Because they were intimidated.

[1900] Yeah.

[1901] He had that much power over people's careers and they didn't feel like their voice would be heard or that people would, you know, take them seriously.

[1902] He would know.

[1903] Find a way to fuck you, basically.

[1904] What a crazy character.

[1905] He would know me every three or four times.

[1906] Like I run into him in Madison Square Garden and there's a restaurant, on Rebecca Grill, which he had owned a piece of at one point, and give you a half -ass, hello, maybe.

[1907] He was way above.

[1908] I was beneath him.

[1909] He never got punched in the face.

[1910] Is that what it is?

[1911] I heard Jason Priestley punched him in the face, though.

[1912] Jason Priestley punched him in the face.

[1913] Yeah, yeah.

[1914] I heard that.

[1915] He got out of line, and Jason Priestley punched him in the face.

[1916] Wow.

[1917] I think nobody beat the shit out of Harvey Weinstein, and it wouldn't be that difficult.

[1918] He could fucking hardly breathe.

[1919] He's smoking, chain smoking.

[1920] He wasn't a tough guy.

[1921] He was tough with assistance, you know.

[1922] But he's just, like, when, if you thought about a character in a film, Harvey Weinstein is almost two on the head.

[1923] Almost unbelievable.

[1924] Nobody would, nobody would do that.

[1925] He would never get away with all that.

[1926] Too much, too much.

[1927] How many years is he?

[1928] He did it for so long?

[1929] Do it?

[1930] 20 -something years.

[1931] Is it?

[1932] Nobody would do that.

[1933] 20 -something years.

[1934] Yeah.

[1935] And it might be more, right?

[1936] They've got cases in LA.

[1937] Yeah, there's way more cases.

[1938] Yeah, there's just what he's been convicted for.

[1939] Right.

[1940] I mean, he apparently was behaving like that.

[1941] for decades.

[1942] So you're telling me nobody knew?

[1943] They knew.

[1944] They all knew.

[1945] That's what's crazy is it's worked into his fucking contract.

[1946] His contract had if you get this amount, this amount of, like per sexual harassment case, they had it that he would have to pay this much.

[1947] If it was two, he'd have to pay that much.

[1948] If it was three, he had to, imagine if you're signing up for a place like Steve, I know you're a piece of shit.

[1949] So this is what we're going to work into the contract.

[1950] All your piece of shit behavior, we're going to write it down and you're going to be penalized per piece of shit.

[1951] I didn't know that.

[1952] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[1953] You know what else?

[1954] They're all complicit.

[1955] This is something that I don't understand.

[1956] These assistants, people in his office, people that knew this stuff, that saw this stuff, that set him up that he was meeting the girl in the lobby, but then she comes down and says, oh, Harvey needs to meet you up in his room.

[1957] She was part of it, or he, or whatever the assistants were.

[1958] It was like, I mean, I would never do that.

[1959] They can play dumb.

[1960] Yeah, I would never be privy to that.

[1961] No, of course not.

[1962] But you also, you don't have to.

[1963] And when you think of an assistant in particular, you're thinking about someone who has virtually no power.

[1964] And there's a thing called diffusion of responsibility where there's too many people involved.

[1965] You don't feel like you're responsible.

[1966] You don't feel like you, you know, when they say it's easier to assault someone in front of 100 people than it is to assault someone in front of one person.

[1967] Because one person might step in and stop it.

[1968] But 100 people will sit around and go, someone's got to stop this.

[1969] Gotcha.

[1970] You know, and I think that when you're an assistant, you're probably, you work in check to check.

[1971] You got this guy who's the king of Hollywood.

[1972] He's a fucking, he's worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

[1973] Intimidating.

[1974] Yes.

[1975] And he's a big, angry guy, yells at people.

[1976] He yells, that's what he did.

[1977] You know, what's amazing to me is people still haven't come forward, people that worked with him, actors, whatever, actresses.

[1978] I think they're still afraid somehow he's going to come back, like in a horror film.

[1979] He's dead.

[1980] He's not dead.

[1981] Some people don't, you know, they don't want to deal with that publicly, you know.

[1982] It's a hard thing to talk about.

[1983] Right.

[1984] They don't want to, they don't want everybody to know.

[1985] I think you're right.

[1986] And I think also they feel like you already got it.

[1987] No, I don't mean people that he assaulted, just people that were around him that were aware.

[1988] I don't know who that is.

[1989] I just think they don't want to talk about it publicly.

[1990] I think you're right about that.

[1991] I think it's, they've already, he's already been caught.

[1992] He's in jail.

[1993] He'd be in jail forever.

[1994] He's fucked up.

[1995] His body is falling apart.

[1996] He can't even walk.

[1997] I mean, it's punishment.

[1998] What a fall from grace.

[1999] Spectacular fall in just a few years.

[2000] I mean, if you go back seven years ago, there's not a whisper of this, right?

[2001] So seven years later, the guy's in jail, can't walk, you know, his body's falling apart.

[2002] That's where he just got to get somebody to give him the cyanide pill and fuck it.

[2003] Should have done that?

[2004] He had to know where this was going when he was free.

[2005] You should have just fucking.

[2006] I don't think he did know.

[2007] I think he thought he was going to get off and he was planning a comeback and, and, you know.

[2008] You know, he was not deluded.

[2009] You know, I know one of his attorneys that was there early on, and he fired him.

[2010] And I ran into him right before he got sentenced a few weeks before.

[2011] And I said, this fucking Harvey's going to get off.

[2012] And he said, no, no, no, you see, he won't get off.

[2013] If he would have kept me, he said, if he would have kept me, I would have got him off.

[2014] How would he have gotten him off?

[2015] I didn't go, you know.

[2016] I mean, I know the guy, Quentin is from the Nick Games.

[2017] And sure enough, he got, what, 23 years?

[2018] years it seems like things happen in the court of public opinion on guys like that well it certainly did he i would have just there's no way i would want to be what kind of life is that he's such a character i mean just with his disgusting face and his body and like everything about it yeah you had some dealings with him yeah i did a couple of jobs of them i did a i wrote a script for him i had to work with him kind of closely on did they try to grab you no try to grab me what was he like he you you know he was okay with me you know he had opinions um he was all right i mean it was just work there was nothing i mean obviously he didn't go to dinner with him on nothing no no it was only in his office and stuff i did and i did a job for his brother another job for his brother i think his brother was a nicer guy right he was okay i think he was very intimidated by harvey i think harvey was bullied of his brother big time it's such a fascinating story because it's incredible and the wife and the two kids and a beautiful wife.

[2019] It's crazy.

[2020] It's like, how the fuck does that even happen?

[2021] Beautiful wife.

[2022] And it's one of those things that if it's in a film, it's almost like he's too much of a villain.

[2023] That would never happen.

[2024] All the details when you put it all together, you're like, no, really?

[2025] In Hollywood, where he's famous and then he's dealing with the most famous people in the world.

[2026] Right, and everybody keeps their mouth shut and he fucks A -list stars and then puts him in films.

[2027] Do you think that some of the women that have denied having sex freedom, had sex with them?

[2028] Yes.

[2029] You do?

[2030] Yes.

[2031] Yeah.

[2032] Yeah.

[2033] I wondered about that.

[2034] I would have probably, I don't know.

[2035] You would have fucked him?

[2036] No, I wouldn't have talked about it if I did.

[2037] Yeah, exactly.

[2038] I don't know.

[2039] Do you want to talk about that?

[2040] That's hard shit to talk about it.

[2041] I understand, but the thing about Harvey Weinstein and people like that, they would have had, if he would have said, listen, I'm a fat, disgusting bastard.

[2042] But if you bang me, I'll put you in the next movie.

[2043] They would line up, there would be people lined up around the corner.

[2044] I think that is part of what he did.

[2045] No, no, I think, I don't know if that's true, you know.

[2046] I think, from what I understand, part of it.

[2047] I don't think he needed to do this.

[2048] I think it's his ego.

[2049] I think that's too.

[2050] Like Bill Cosby, it's the same thing.

[2051] Yes, yes.

[2052] It becomes a pathology.

[2053] And I think there's also a thing about power.

[2054] You know, it's a power thing, to have power over people.

[2055] Sure.

[2056] And also to have power over these beautiful actresses that everybody else was lusting over you know you put some actress in a film and you know she's the center of everyone's attention and she's got a you know a small dress on she walks into a room and the you know the whole place lights up and she's sucking harvey's dick you know that it's the power thing yeah there's something of tons of women a ton of women you know i think it's an addiction thing too yes i think if you you know there's there was a recording of this one girl that he groped and then you know she wanted a movie role and he's grabbing her and he's like, just come back to my place.

[2057] Come on, come on, just come out.

[2058] Like, you're hearing it like a guy asking for heroin.

[2059] Yeah, and he was almost sniveling, like begging her.

[2060] It was weird.

[2061] Like, he'd go from being really intimidating to almost begging, like, pity me. I need you.

[2062] Please, don't embarrass me, you know.

[2063] Right.

[2064] It was very weird.

[2065] Yeah, I think it's an addiction thing.

[2066] I think there was so much going on with that guy.

[2067] I mean, he had two young, I don't know if they're daughters.

[2068] You have two young daughters?

[2069] I think he has older kids, younger kids.

[2070] wife and they were just gone yeah right maybe unless he just said that's a rough unless he just said i'm going away i mean i don't know if they visit them a lot i don't know the whole thing jesus christ it's all crazy it's a it's a it's a it's a shakespearean story epic it is epic proportions horror story for everyone involved well the casting couch in hollywood if you stop and think about it right you've got all these women they want to be in films they want to be stars then you got these guys that can actually help them make them stars but they want something.

[2071] And then you set up this dynamic that's existed since, you know, the fucking 20s.

[2072] Imagine what it was like back then.

[2073] Oh, my God.

[2074] Well, you know the Faddy Arbuckle story?

[2075] Did you read the book, I Faddy, that Jerry Stahl wrote?

[2076] No. It's fantastic.

[2077] Yeah?

[2078] It's kind of almost like a fake memoir written from his point of view.

[2079] It's brilliant.

[2080] He was like, he was the biggest star of his day.

[2081] He was like world known all over the world.

[2082] Yeah.

[2083] I mean, he was basically like, he was a conference.

[2084] comedy star, a huge star, and he did something with a woman where he stuck like a bottle up her vagina?

[2085] Well, this goes into it.

[2086] Apparently, there's theories that he didn't really do that, that it was set up because the guy was jealous of him, like a studio guy.

[2087] Yeah, it goes into that.

[2088] It's a really good book.

[2089] Jerry Stahl, who wrote Permanent Midnight, you know, he did.

[2090] Oh, okay.

[2091] Oh, that's a great book.

[2092] Is there real evidence that points to the fact that you set up?

[2093] I think there is.

[2094] Oh, Jesus Christ.

[2095] And that was the end of his career?

[2096] Oh, yeah.

[2097] Done, toast.

[2098] Done.

[2099] Yeah, it was, the girl died.

[2100] Oh.

[2101] Yeah.

[2102] That's awful.

[2103] Yeah, there's different theories that he was set up by somebody and that he, that he, that all that was just, they.

[2104] Holy shit.

[2105] Yeah, imagine that.

[2106] That's crazy.

[2107] Well, I could tell you, the world is a better place with Harvey Weinstein off the streets.

[2108] Well, he does.

[2109] Honestly, what he did to, what he did to all these actresses and women and assistance.

[2110] Just horrible.

[2111] And not sexually, but he destroyed guys, too, you know.

[2112] directors and just a horrible human and Jesus.

[2113] Well, he was getting away with it, right?

[2114] For the longest time.

[2115] For the longest time.

[2116] Behavior that was reinforced by the people around him, and then he got away with it.

[2117] What's also interesting is, like, if you help someone murder somebody, you would get an accessory.

[2118] You would get prison time.

[2119] There would be charges, but there's no charges against any of the people that absolutely knew what he was doing.

[2120] But that's what I'm saying.

[2121] I have two daughters.

[2122] Aiding and abetting.

[2123] And that doesn't apply to that.

[2124] Joe, I got two daughters in their 20s.

[2125] I don't think my daughter's in a million years, no matter how much they wanted to be in the business, would be an accomplice to that.

[2126] And tell the girl and say, well, Harvey's going to be up in the room or whatever crazy things.

[2127] Go get Harvey's medicine to fucking inject his dick or something.

[2128] Yeah, he had.

[2129] Do you know what he had?

[2130] I was going on his text thread with a bunch of comics.

[2131] he had a type of gangrene that you get from diabetes on his dick and his dick was horribly malformed so I had this we were talking about this and then I googled it and then I said to my friends do not Google this and then they're like why not so they send them a photo of it of what it looked like oh my God it's like your your genitals just rot away like all the skin around it rotted away and that was one of the things that one of the actresses said is that she thought that he was maybe intersex or transgender or that he had a vagina because he was so scarred up oh my god so it's like it's it's it's again it's almost too on the head it's like as a as a movie character he's almost too disgusting well who do you see playing him in this movie hmm it'd be a good question who could pull it off Christian Bale I've gained the weight I hope they don't make the movie I don't want to see that movie If nothing else Lifetime they're going to make the movie They'll do it Lifetime I was going to say this What do you There's all this talk about CGI acting And that they're going to be able to create CGI characters That act in films I mean I was just saying I think it'll be really boring I agree with you But I mean maybe you'd have a CGI Harvey Weinstein just actually no one has to play him you know it's like no one wants to play Hitler now you know it's like it's too much you don't want to be the guy oh that's that guy I played Hitler you know what I mean so like playing Harvey Weinstein in a film I think at some point there'll be a movie I hope I think so there has to be it has to be the only thing that would hold it back would be Hollywood saying you know like this is probably not good for us yeah it's opening a opening wounds and you would have to I mean if someone really wanted to thoroughly research it and like in really find out what actually happened it would take a long time well those two girls did yeah that wrote the book there's a book out there I think they were writers for the New York Times or the New Yorker there is a good book out about two they they really researched does it go in detail about the speculation of which actresses actually I didn't read it I didn't read it I I mean, I don't know for sure.

[2132] But I think at some point, you know what?

[2133] Didn't they not want to make the Belushi movie years ago?

[2134] Remember that?

[2135] Who did the, who played Belushi?

[2136] Michael Chichlis.

[2137] Really?

[2138] Once again.

[2139] But that's a very different story.

[2140] Defending the Cape Bay.

[2141] Very different story.

[2142] Very different.

[2143] Yeah, very different.

[2144] But wait a minute, but they didn't want to make that at the time.

[2145] That was a big thing.

[2146] Because the drugs and.

[2147] Yeah, they were trying to protect them, I guess.

[2148] and then Hollywood kind of fed that beast also.

[2149] But he died and he was beloved.

[2150] Yes.

[2151] Yeah, that's for sure.

[2152] Absolutely wired.

[2153] This is it.

[2154] Oh, there is.

[2155] Is that supposed to be Jeremy Pippin?

[2156] Look at him there.

[2157] Wow, he's so young.

[2158] Yeah.

[2159] And they didn't want to make that movie.

[2160] And a lot of actors didn't want to be in it.

[2161] Wow.

[2162] Because of that reason, you know.

[2163] Interesting.

[2164] interesting.

[2165] I never saw this.

[2166] They thought it might have damaged careers.

[2167] Do you remember that?

[2168] I don't.

[2169] I'm old.

[2170] It was a long time.

[2171] Yeah, a big difference.

[2172] I'm old.

[2173] The CGI thing is weird, right?

[2174] Like, I think they're going to do that.

[2175] I think they're going to have CGI movies where the, I think they're going to do it.

[2176] I mean, they've tried to do it before with like that Tom Hanks animated film.

[2177] You remember that film?

[2178] No. It's like a Christmas movie.

[2179] He's on a fucking train.

[2180] Oh, okay.

[2181] Do you remember that, Jamie?

[2182] Something expressed.

[2183] Yeah, something express.

[2184] They won't want to...

[2185] At least they won't want a bigger trailer.

[2186] The producers will like it, right?

[2187] The producers will love it.

[2188] The producers will love it.

[2189] Well, they'll love it because they can completely eliminate...

[2190] I don't have to listen to this big mouth, right?

[2191] Yeah, yeah.

[2192] Fucking whiny actor.

[2193] Yeah.

[2194] Yeah, there it is.

[2195] The polar express.

[2196] It was very strange, but it wasn't realistic.

[2197] It was, it's like, it was that uncanny valley between, you know, realistic actual people and animation.

[2198] It was some strange...

[2199] sort of, but you get the feeling that as time goes on, they're going to get better at better at this, and then one day they're going to be able to nail it.

[2200] Right.

[2201] They'll get like Marlon Brando to do a movie.

[2202] Right.

[2203] Stuff like that.

[2204] Like when two -bock came to Coachella and they had the hologram.

[2205] We'll do stuff like that.

[2206] Yeah.

[2207] And that King Cole and his daughter, remember?

[2208] They sang the thing.

[2209] Oh, yeah.

[2210] Sanatra's coming back.

[2211] A new here to eternity.

[2212] God, that's so strange.

[2213] Does that shit drive you crazy?

[2214] Kind of.

[2215] Yeah.

[2216] Hey, I'll be retired.

[2217] I've done screen screen stuff, and I find it really boring and tedious.

[2218] Green screen stuff?

[2219] No, I haven't done like that animated version thing, but green screen is, ugh.

[2220] Well, yeah, given your sensibilities, if something came up like that for you, like a Jurassic Park type movie or something like that, would you even be interested in that?

[2221] I don't know.

[2222] It depends where I'm at the time.

[2223] You know, if I was broken out or something.

[2224] Sometimes you have to factor those things in.

[2225] No, I mean, the most fun thing is when you're, you know, dealing with other actors.

[2226] and going eye to eye and playing off each other.

[2227] To me, at least, not everyone's like that.

[2228] A lot of people like doing action and all that stuff.

[2229] I don't really care for that stuff so much, you know.

[2230] Yeah.

[2231] I like more of the, you know.

[2232] Well, that's the best part of the business.

[2233] The actual work, you know, Joe, I don't like show business.

[2234] I don't know if you do.

[2235] I don't.

[2236] No. I like the actual.

[2237] There's days, like even on Blue Bloods, I'm working, and I work a lot with Bridger Marnhan or Donnie Wahlberg.

[2238] You go, and this is, why I became an actor.

[2239] This was a lot of fun.

[2240] They respect each other.

[2241] The material's really good.

[2242] The scene goes.

[2243] What do you mean by you don't like show business?

[2244] What do you mean?

[2245] I'm not the whole bullshit agents, managers, opening nights.

[2246] I mean, it's not for me. I went to the Emmys four times, the SAG Awards.

[2247] I wanted to stick fucking needles in my eyes.

[2248] I mean, it's just not me. I like real people.

[2249] Most of my friends are friends that I've had.

[2250] had my whole life, you know, Michael's one of my closest friends, but you know what I mean.

[2251] I mean, I'm not a showbiz guy.

[2252] There's some guys that showbiz guys.

[2253] They love it.

[2254] They love going in and pitching.

[2255] I love it.

[2256] I love this.

[2257] I love that.

[2258] The whole world, the whole scene.

[2259] I don't, you know.

[2260] I like the work.

[2261] That's it.

[2262] Yeah.

[2263] You know, I was kind of in show business, even at the Riviera by default.

[2264] I don't know.

[2265] Somehow I went from a bouncer to book an axe and, you know.

[2266] I don't dislike them.

[2267] I just, not a showbiz.

[2268] It's a funny path.

[2269] It's a funny path.

[2270] Your path is very funny.

[2271] Very strange.

[2272] Yeah.

[2273] I tell them like an Italian forest gump.

[2274] It's such a weird world.

[2275] You just sort of stepped into it.

[2276] Kind of, yeah.

[2277] And listen, I've worked very hard, and I love the work.

[2278] I mean, I, you know, but that part I don't like.

[2279] There's some people who love it.

[2280] They were always there opening night, you know, and at premieres, and listen, I'm there if I'm supporting someone, a friend of mine, or something like that.

[2281] I don't go just to go on the red carpet, take pictures, and the fuck do I care, you know?

[2282] I mean, I don't, that's not my thing.

[2283] Yeah.

[2284] Yeah, no, I don't like it either.

[2285] I don't think you like that kind of stuff.

[2286] You're like you're doing what you do.

[2287] Yeah, that's why I like doing this.

[2288] It's like it's outside of it.

[2289] Absolutely.

[2290] Yeah.

[2291] I mean, you know, like I said, the work on the Sopranos on other shows, on movies, go, man, that was fucking great.

[2292] I had a great day, you know.

[2293] Yeah.

[2294] Not even if it's high profile.

[2295] Like, we did the movie.

[2296] That was great.

[2297] You know, every day was a great day.

[2298] Now, how do they, are they resuming filming now for things?

[2299] The governor of California said, I think, this week they're allowing some productions to open up again.

[2300] Not in New York.

[2301] I'm here in May August, maybe.

[2302] at least September.

[2303] Well, it's interesting is because of the protests, the COVID cases have ramped up, and no one's saying that.

[2304] It's hilarious.

[2305] They're like, I don't know what happened.

[2306] They're all playing dumb on TV because no one wants to blame it on the protests or connect it in some way to the movement because then you'll be labeled a racist or something.

[2307] So they're not even saying anything.

[2308] So the people that we're relying on for the news are playing dumb as to why hundreds of thousands of people marching together face -to -face screaming how that ramps up.

[2309] I guess we're going to know in about two or three weeks.

[2310] We already know.

[2311] We already know.

[2312] But the mayor of New York, De Blasio, said the people either getting tested or whatever, don't ask them if they were protesters.

[2313] Yes.

[2314] Yeah, that's part of it.

[2315] Yeah.

[2316] When they're doing contact tracing, they're not allowed to ask if you were a part of a protest, which is hilarious.

[2317] The world is upside down.

[2318] It's so strange.

[2319] I want off.

[2320] Does it bounce back?

[2321] Stop the world.

[2322] It'll bounce back.

[2323] You think it'll be different, but I think.

[2324] It's going to take a long, long time.

[2325] Does it, do we ever get to a place of logic?

[2326] Do you ever get to a balanced place?

[2327] Because it seems like this woke ideology that's permeated politics now.

[2328] It went from being a thing that only existed in universities to it was existing in like tech startups and it was starting to get into media and it was working its way to journalism.

[2329] And now it's fucking everywhere.

[2330] It's in politicians.

[2331] Some things have to go really far before they kind of find a balance into society.

[2332] Like a lot of the protest movement, which I find hopeful is a lot of young people.

[2333] Yes.

[2334] Very diverse crowd who are just saying, we don't want this world we're inherited with racism and institutional, you know, systemic racism and stuff.

[2335] And that gives me a lot of hope.

[2336] The protests, you know, when Parkland happened and there was this big movement of young people who's saying, we're scared to go to school, we want something done.

[2337] That was, you know, these kids who were saying, you know, these kids who were saying.

[2338] saying, hey, we want something different.

[2339] And as they get older, you know, I think it'll be integrated into society in ways that, you know, or work.

[2340] I hope.

[2341] I have to have hope.

[2342] Otherwise, it's just too, you know, I have a lot of hope in the young generation.

[2343] I really do.

[2344] Well, I have hope in humans.

[2345] And I think that if you look at the history of humans, if you go back 200 years the way people behaved and you compare it to today, there.

[2346] There's a vast improvement in almost every area.

[2347] That's 100%.

[2348] And I think this is a big blip on the radar.

[2349] This is a big moment in time.

[2350] And I think we'll come out of that on the other end, a better species.

[2351] I agree.

[2352] But along the way, there's going to be a lot of devastation, like the fucking looting and the riding and this stupid shit with de Blasio not asking if people have been protesters to find out what effect this thing has had.

[2353] Where you do get people that are in the middle of a pandemic and you get them on top of each other's breathing in each other's spit.

[2354] And that's what's happening.

[2355] World is insane.

[2356] It's fucking insane.

[2357] It's gone crazy, man. It has.

[2358] And there's nowhere to go.

[2359] Like, you can't say, well, I'm just going to pack up in where.

[2360] Well, what's really crazy is it's all overseas, too.

[2361] I've been looking at these London riots.

[2362] Like, they're having riots now in London.

[2363] So, like, and in France.

[2364] Like, what the fuck happened that this shit made it all the way across the ocean?

[2365] Yeah.

[2366] It's so strange.

[2367] It's like, how did you guys start fighting?

[2368] Like, what are you rioting for?

[2369] What are you doing?

[2370] Yeah.

[2371] You know what I mean?

[2372] Well, they're protesting too.

[2373] They're not just right.

[2374] Right, right, right.

[2375] So there also people who just, you know, have conscience about this and want change.

[2376] But there is the, you know, the extreme, you know, people who are, and some people who are not protesting who are just causing, you know.

[2377] And in some ways it's very, it's hopeful because it shows you that the United States still radically affects the world culturally.

[2378] That's true.

[2379] When there is something that's happening over here, the rest of the world sort of takes notice.

[2380] the United States, like it or not, does take the lead culturally.

[2381] Oh, yeah.

[2382] Yes, they do.

[2383] Yeah, I mean, and then with films, that's a huge part of it.

[2384] Huge.

[2385] TV, too.

[2386] TV and films.

[2387] I mean, there's been some great films and movies and television shows that have come out of England and the UK and other parts of the world.

[2388] But overwhelmingly, the art form emanates from here.

[2389] Oh, yeah.

[2390] We take the lead.

[2391] Yeah.

[2392] And then with stand -up, that's, I mean, this is.

[2393] is where it started.

[2394] Stand -up started the United States, and the difference between the stand -up here, the level stand -up here versus the level everywhere else, totally incomparable.

[2395] Now, have you done stand -up in other countries?

[2396] Yeah, go ahead.

[2397] Yeah, yeah.

[2398] Yeah, I get it, man. Four bottles of water.

[2399] I don't know how you still here.

[2400] Have you done?

[2401] Yeah, yeah, I've done stand -up in Australia.

[2402] I love doing it in Australia.

[2403] I've done stand -up in England.

[2404] I've done stand -up in Ireland.

[2405] Yeah.

[2406] Also, and audiences, what do you find?

[2407] Smarter?

[2408] They're great.

[2409] Smarter, dumber.

[2410] Attentive, very attentive.

[2411] Very attentive.

[2412] Yeah, like I took my friend Tony to Stockholm, Sweden, and he was like, he goes, dude, I felt like I got bombed.

[2413] I go, no, they laughed.

[2414] They just laugh, and then they listen.

[2415] It's different.

[2416] You get a different vibe.

[2417] Like, you just have to, and then the second show, he goes, I got it now.

[2418] He goes, it just felt so different.

[2419] He goes, it just felt like there's no, they didn't roll with you.

[2420] I go, you also have to remember English is their second language.

[2421] So when they're listening to you, there's, you know, they have to kind of.

[2422] translated and they're laughing but also cultural context is very different like they get our culture they get the context but it's not as front and center as it is if you're doing a show in columbus ohio or something like that wasn't it like in the 90s I think it was in the 90s where comics were going to england u .s comics didn't like the audiences here anymore hicks right hicks uh rich hall some other comics It was a ventriloquist, David, something.

[2423] They went to Australia and England, right?

[2424] Yes.

[2425] Well, they're very, England has fantastic audiences, and they're really attentive.

[2426] They really listen well.

[2427] And they do their stand -up very differently.

[2428] Their stand -up over there is, like, thematic.

[2429] Like, they'll do, like, they'll do, they'll have a theme, you know, and they'll carry that theme through their whole stand -up.

[2430] It's very different.

[2431] But, you know, there's been comic, like Ricky Jervais is a great example that they've done very well.

[2432] He's got a great show.

[2433] You like a show on Netflix?

[2434] He's great at everything he does.

[2435] He's hilarious.

[2436] Funny, funny.

[2437] Yeah, and I loved when he was hosting the Golden Globes.

[2438] He was great.

[2439] Really great.

[2440] Yeah, I mean, just tells him, shut the fuck up.

[2441] Yeah, it's beautiful.

[2442] This latest thing, all these actors have this black and white video where they're talking about racism.

[2443] He ripped it to them.

[2444] I take responsibility that one.

[2445] What are you doing?

[2446] You know what I was saying to my friend?

[2447] I go, you know what that is?

[2448] These motherfuckers haven't gotten any attention.

[2449] for months because they haven't been filmed jumping on it Well you talked about it with the song Imagine at the beginning right Yes These fucking morons They got the blowback from that Well they got blowback from this too Everything they try to do that virtue signals Like you know we're going to take a stand This is no longer going to happen It's not good Like nobody thought it was good Like this is not what this is What this is is a fucking horrible cop It's a really bad guy Who killed somebody It's not like these actors are out there being racist and holding people back and trying to...

[2450] That's not what you're doing.

[2451] Like, what are you?

[2452] You're taking responsibility?

[2453] No, you're trying to get attention.

[2454] That's what you're doing.

[2455] This stupid fucking thing you're doing.

[2456] I wish they ever feel like doing that again.

[2457] Call me. Call me. I'll tell you how it's going to turn out.

[2458] Every one of these dumb things you're going to do, I'll tell you how it's going to come out.

[2459] If you're going to have one actor and then the next, you're going to cut to each one of them, I take responsibility.

[2460] Not you do.

[2461] You take attention.

[2462] You're sucking it up like a sponge.

[2463] Shut the fuck up and wait.

[2464] You're a week away from filming again.

[2465] But that's also we've talked about.

[2466] There's people that do stuff, you know, for the money, right?

[2467] And then there's some that the money is irrelevant.

[2468] They need to be told how great they are and pat on the back.

[2469] Yes.

[2470] That's what they need.

[2471] And then there's some of them that are so wrapped up in this liberal and progressive ideology that they literally can't see how dumbness looks to the rest of the world.

[2472] They think they're going to do a good thing.

[2473] think that through their celebrity, they'll use their platform and their voice, and they're going to make a difference.

[2474] If you really think that as a professional actor, you're going to make a fucking difference with racism and crime and violence and police brutality, you should stop acting because you should go to a fucking doctor and get your head chat.

[2475] There's something wrong with you.

[2476] Just shut up and act.

[2477] Listen, if you've got opinions on something...

[2478] You can express your opinions.

[2479] Yes.

[2480] That's cool.

[2481] And people, you know, you want to know.

[2482] But don't preach.

[2483] But that video was a little bit It's pretty sanctimonious and very, you know.

[2484] Yeah, I got it from a bunch of my friends.

[2485] I don't even know what it means.

[2486] I'll be honest with you.

[2487] It means I want attention.

[2488] Yeah.

[2489] It means I want attention and get ready to cringe.

[2490] Get ready to clinch your butthole shut and go, oh, no, no, what are you doing?

[2491] What are you doing?

[2492] Yeah, that was kind of weird.

[2493] Do you guys know who Kyle Dunnigan is?

[2494] No. Kyle Dunnigan is.

[2495] I know that he's a comic, right?

[2496] Yeah, hilarious comic who does a lot of these face swap videos.

[2497] And he does Caitlin Jenner.

[2498] Like, fucking, it's one of the, his Instagram page is the funniest fucking Instagram page on the planet Earth by far.

[2499] But he's got this new one that he did where he, go to it, Jamie, go to Kyle Dunnigan's Instagram page.

[2500] You got to see this where he has these characters that he does with the face swap and he shoves them into that video.

[2501] So you get, and it's just, it lampoons.

[2502] Yeah, wait to, wait till you see this, because this is the perfect antidote.

[2503] for that cringe.

[2504] Here we go.

[2505] Jamie will cue this up here.

[2506] The guy is a goddamn genius.

[2507] I take responsibility.

[2508] I don't see it, Jamie.

[2509] Did you see this?

[2510] Steve?

[2511] I take responsibility.

[2512] I'm on the fence about it, but I'm missioning.

[2513] I take responsibility for every unchecked moment.

[2514] For every time I'll say, give me five on the light hand side.

[2515] I'll take responsibility for not listening to Megan.

[2516] And, in leaving me knickers on the floor, they're called underpants.

[2517] I will no longer allow an unchecked woman.

[2518] I will no longer throw away the African -American part of the Oreo cookie just to get to the creamy white mill.

[2519] I will hire more black hookers.

[2520] Going for a job should not be a death sentence.

[2521] Sleeping in your own home should not be a death sentence.

[2522] Uh, sorry, I guess.

[2523] I don't know.

[2524] We are no longer bystanders.

[2525] Well, who the hell's that broad?

[2526] Racist murderous cops need one.

[2527] The only time is going to stop is when you start truly holding the perpetrators to account.

[2528] Start putting them in jail.

[2529] You're welcome.

[2530] Racism, rest in peace.

[2531] That is funny.

[2532] That's good.

[2533] That's good, but that's nothing.

[2534] compared to some of his other shit go to his page if you need something to laugh at but have you seen the real one yeah you saw it he does ones with the Kardashians where he has Caitlin Jenner talking to the Kardashians but the Kardashians don't really talk they just make noises like me me me me be be bit no you're fucking idiot that's not when I shad like it's it's it's genius it's genius yeah this is what it is everybody and I like a lot of those people that are in that video unfortunately I think they're great uh -huh I just think somebody should talk to them.

[2535] Somebody outside the business.

[2536] Just grab them by the shoulders.

[2537] That's their publicist.

[2538] And they're home.

[2539] They're not seeing people.

[2540] They're not getting feedback.

[2541] That's what it is.

[2542] Yeah, they need feedback.

[2543] Someone needs to grab them and go, listen to me. Don't do this one.

[2544] Don't do this.

[2545] Don't do this.

[2546] The publicist is, well, the problem is also if someone comes up to them and tells them, are you willing to take a stand against racism?

[2547] And they're like, no. You can't say no. So you just wind up doing it because you don't want anybody to think you're a racist.

[2548] So you just kind of hop on board.

[2549] They got, they did get bad.

[2550] big blowback that and the song the song got the bigger blowback because that was ridiculous she was all smiling and beautiful imagine there's no heaven and big mansions and what was that about that was about the pandemic yeah but in the meantime what does imagine have to do with the pandemic exactly the song has nothing to do with the pandemic it was gal godot's idea she was apparently calling up all these celebrities asking for them to join in in song and they're going to heal everybody through love and music.

[2551] You know, people have their big mansions and a guy can't pay his...

[2552] But meanwhile, what a terrible song to sing when people are dying.

[2553] Imagine there's no heaven.

[2554] Imagine grandma's just rotting.

[2555] But also that song has nothing to do doesn't parallel the pandemic.

[2556] And you know, and especially at the time in New York, I mean we've had three or four people that we know that died, you know, and numerous people that got sick.

[2557] And They were those refrigeration trucks.

[2558] I mean, they were everywhere, man, and the ambulances were going.

[2559] I mean, you know, things have calmed down, but it was fucking horrible.

[2560] It was 800 people a day in New York at one point in time.

[2561] It was horrible.

[2562] Which is crazy to imagine.

[2563] I mean, think about nine of your theaters, right?

[2564] It was horrible.

[2565] And then, like I said, and then you knew people.

[2566] You know, I mean, there's, you know, a guy owned a diner, a couple diners.

[2567] I've known the guy for 20 years.

[2568] a photographer from the garden a good guy.

[2569] He died.

[2570] Another friend of mine.

[2571] I mean, they died and numerous people got it.

[2572] So it's a real thing.

[2573] I mean, some places there wasn't many cases.

[2574] So I could understand, like in a way you see it on TV, yeah, but it's not here.

[2575] But in New York, and people are holed up.

[2576] They can't pay their rent.

[2577] They can't pay their bills.

[2578] They can't eat.

[2579] Luckily, they got, you know, stimulus and unemployment eventually.

[2580] At the beginning, no. You know, and you got some celebrity.

[2581] Ellen's saying it's like being in jail, she lives in the biggest house in the world.

[2582] On the beach.

[2583] It couldn't be any better where she's living.

[2584] The thing about Ellen was, she got a little blowback.

[2585] She got a lot of blowback, but that was a funny joke.

[2586] She said, I'm in the same clothes every day and everyone's gay.

[2587] It's like being in jail.

[2588] That's funny.

[2589] Is that what the joke was?

[2590] That's what the joke was.

[2591] Oh, okay.

[2592] She wasn't saying I'm in jail over here in my mansion.

[2593] Okay, then I got her wrong.

[2594] Yeah, what she said was, fucking funny.

[2595] You know, she's like this pandemic is like being in jail.

[2596] I'm in the same clothes every day and everyone's gay.

[2597] I mean, that's funny.

[2598] That's funny.

[2599] Because she lives, she's gay, she lives with a gay woman.

[2600] I mean, it's like, that's a funny joke.

[2601] It was a good joke.

[2602] My mistake.

[2603] People were mad at her.

[2604] I'm like, oh, come on.

[2605] Oh, they took it out of context.

[2606] Yes.

[2607] Well, they didn't care.

[2608] It's also when people are broke and people can't literally, they're not just broke, there's no hope in sight and it's no fault of their own.

[2609] It's a very bad situation.

[2610] Terrible.

[2611] They don't want to hear any fucking jokes from some really rich lady who lives on the beach talking about how this is like prison.

[2612] I mean, honestly, and listen, I'm very compassionate.

[2613] I mean, these people lost their jobs, and they didn't have extra money.

[2614] Or maybe they're divorced and child support.

[2615] I mean, this is real shit.

[2616] And there was no way to make money.

[2617] Right.

[2618] Even as much as a guy wanted to go to work or whatever, there was no work to be had.

[2619] Right.

[2620] No work to be had.

[2621] Everything's shut down.

[2622] Yeah.

[2623] It's a mess.

[2624] Yeah.

[2625] And then you take into account how alcohol, like, sales, was an essential business.

[2626] Liquor stores is an essential business.

[2627] But Alcoholics Anonymous was banned.

[2628] Yeah, that's crazy.

[2629] So you couldn't go to meetings.

[2630] So this is people that are just, like, in despair, and then they can't go to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and they can't work.

[2631] And then, you know, there's a lot of fucking, a lot of bad things happened.

[2632] I, Sunday was the first time I had a drink in three months since this thing started.

[2633] I didn't have one drink.

[2634] I just, I was depressed.

[2635] I knew if I got a drink and watch TV all night.

[2636] I mean, I just had my first drink on Saturday.

[2637] What did you spend the time doing during the pandemic?

[2638] You know, we start, I would walk just about every day and really nothing.

[2639] I mean, I'm not a big TV guy.

[2640] I was reading doing a podcast.

[2641] watching some TV, doing the podcast, preparing that, doing press, you know, radio and Zoom and shit like that.

[2642] It kind of kept up saying we were doing two a week, then we went down to one, and had my wife with me and my daughter, we cooked every night, and I didn't see my older daughter for over a month and a half.

[2643] She just lives in the village.

[2644] I didn't even see her.

[2645] Wow.

[2646] I mean, you couldn't even see her, you know?

[2647] I mean, plus, I don't want to get sick.

[2648] I'm overweight.

[2649] I'm not a smoker or nothing, and, you know, my wife's a marathon runner, but, you know, we're older.

[2650] I don't get fucking sick, and so we were careful.

[2651] I'm still careful here, but listen, it's a terrible thing, man, you know, and it's not over.

[2652] No, it's kicking back in.

[2653] That's what's crazy, because of the protests and because of a lot of the states have lifted up their social distancing and all their, you know, and then people are acting like, there's nothing happening, so they're going to.

[2654] of bars and they're drinking and they're tired of it.

[2655] Yeah, they're tired of it.

[2656] And feel like, oh, if it's open, it's open, let's go.

[2657] Right.

[2658] Exactly.

[2659] I understand that, but the thing is it hasn't gone away.

[2660] I mean, and I don't know what the fucking answer is.

[2661] I understand everyone's tired of it, but listen, down in Orange County, the beaches are packed.

[2662] Packed.

[2663] Well, the good news is vitamin D is one of the most important factors in keeping a healthy immune system.

[2664] And one of the things that they found out was that 80 plus percent of the people that are in the ICU with COVID have a vitamin D deficiency.

[2665] 4 % have sufficient levels of vitamin D. It's a huge factor because vitamin D is not just a vital.

[2666] I had a lady, Dr. Rhonda Patrick, she's been on my podcast several times.

[2667] She went into this whole, I brought her on to talk about how to strengthen your immune system during this time.

[2668] And she said one of the big, most important factors is vitamin D. It's a huge factor.

[2669] It's one of the reasons why people on the East Coast, they get that seasonal depression, they're not going out in the winter, and if they're not supplementing with vitamin D, 70 % of America is vitamin D deficient.

[2670] 70 % has insufficient levels.

[2671] And that's in the sun, vitamin D?

[2672] Yes, you get it from the sun.

[2673] It's the best way to get it for sure is to get in the sun, but you can supplement it has a big impact to supplement.

[2674] 5 ,000 IUs a day, supplement, take it.

[2675] And you know, like you said, I didn't understand that.

[2676] Liquor store is essential, but all these other things are an essential.

[2677] And I mean, you're fucking drinking, your immune system's going down.

[2678] You're depressed as fucking hell.

[2679] There were some nights, you know, I can't sleep at night.

[2680] So I go to bed at 2 o 'clock, 2 .30 in the morning.

[2681] I mean, some nights are just, I mean, I'm up alone.

[2682] It's fucking horrible.

[2683] But there's a logic to the, the reason why they had alcohol being an essential business is there's logic to it.

[2684] And that is there's a lot of people that are alcoholics.

[2685] And if you make them quit cold turkey and they can't buy any booze, you're going to take beds up that would be better suited for people that have COVID.

[2686] So the idea is just like let these people have their alcohol.

[2687] They just didn't think it was going to last as long as it did.

[2688] They thought this was going to be a couple of weeks of lockdown and then we'd get back to business.

[2689] But obviously here we are in fucking June.

[2690] I mean, all this shit happened.

[2691] Mid -June.

[2692] Middle of March.

[2693] Three months.

[2694] Yeah, it's three solid months.

[2695] It is easier here.

[2696] After being in New York, I was there, you know, for two months of it.

[2697] It's just easier here.

[2698] It's easier here because people are more spaced out Exactly Get in your car I've got a little I got a backyard I've got a thing It's just easy as opposed to being holed up And I got a pretty good size apartment But It's not the same Yeah Going down the elevator and the shit And here it's sunny every day too Which is obviously better for your immune system And it's just better for yourself anyway Yeah Just like you wake up It's fucking Better for your head Yeah I mean I get New York I get it I just don't I don't want to do it anymore You know it's like I could be there occasionally for fun.

[2699] Have you ever lived in there?

[2700] Never lived in the city.

[2701] I lived in New Rochelle when I lived in New York.

[2702] I grew up right in Mount Vernon.

[2703] Oh, yeah?

[2704] Okay.

[2705] Yeah, I knew a guy named a pool player named Mount Vernon Tommy.

[2706] Vinny Pestores from New Rochelle.

[2707] Oh, is really?

[2708] Yeah.

[2709] And I think Chuck Zito as well.

[2710] Oh, no kidding.

[2711] Yeah, I lived there because I couldn't afford to have a parking spot.

[2712] You know, I needed a place to, I had to have a car because I had to do gigs.

[2713] I didn't know that you lived there.

[2714] Yeah.

[2715] That's where I lived.

[2716] Where'd you work?

[2717] All the places in Long Island.

[2718] Everywhere, yeah.

[2719] Connecticut, Long Island, Jersey.

[2720] Pips?

[2721] Oh, yeah, I did Pips in Brooklyn.

[2722] Yeah, I did that.

[2723] That was our friends.

[2724] Yeah.

[2725] Ray Garvey, did you know Ray Garvey?

[2726] No. He, at some point, well, in the 90s.

[2727] He bought it at some point.

[2728] He bought, he owned Pips.

[2729] But that had been there forever.

[2730] Yeah, it's gone now, right?

[2731] It's gone.

[2732] I think it's a sushi restaurant.

[2733] Is it really?

[2734] Yeah.

[2735] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[2736] Yeah, yeah.

[2737] That was where Rod.

[2738] And he started, David Brenner.

[2739] Richard Jenny, too.

[2740] Richard Jenny.

[2741] I think Dice.

[2742] I don't know if he started, but Dice.

[2743] And Seinfeld was there early on, you know.

[2744] Mm -hmm.

[2745] I mean, it's...

[2746] Shoops at Bay, right?

[2747] Is that right?

[2748] Yeah.

[2749] And it was...

[2750] There was no comedy clubs back then, you know.

[2751] Right.

[2752] You know, a bunch of rowdy fucking Brooklyn guys there.

[2753] That couldn't have been an easy gig.

[2754] Oh, it was a tough gig.

[2755] Yeah.

[2756] Yeah, Joey Cole, my friend Joey Cole was there, and some guy was...

[2757] Joey's great.

[2758] Oh, you know, Joey?

[2759] He comes on the...

[2760] with us to ask him about Pips.

[2761] Some guy was showing him his gun sitting in the front row pulling up his way showing him his gun and go fuck you fuck you look at this and like Joey's up there trying to tell us jokes yeah we do this comedy with the conversation with the Spanos he's a comic he comes with us everywhere he opens and he interviews us on stage oh that's the best guy I love Joe there's no better guy I've known him for 30 years yeah good guy he's a great guy and he's been around a long time yes yes it's funny comic too yeah you know he does great and we had a european tour that got canceled course of the 16 cities and joey was coming with us now when something like that gets canceled did they have an idea when to do it again they're talking we're talking next june we're supposed to do it okay uk and ireland well that's probably safe a year from now it's probably that's a good bet uk and ireland you know in australia we were doing like 2 ,500 people a show.

[2762] Wow.

[2763] Which is just this little show, me, him and Vinny, and we had an Australia comic who was a nice guy, but he fucking died every night except for his hometown.

[2764] Adelaide, he was in Adelaide.

[2765] But this year, we're out there.

[2766] We're playing the London Palladium two nights.

[2767] Oh, wow.

[2768] It was doing big business.

[2769] That's awesome.

[2770] Yeah.

[2771] And, you know, like I said, we answer questions.

[2772] Joey does a comedy, and we've done it a lot of places here, Atlantic City, Foxwoods, And this time, Joey was coming on the road.

[2773] So right now, we're scheduled next June.

[2774] Well, I hope nothing crazy happens between now and then.

[2775] I hope.

[2776] Jesus Christ.

[2777] It's like you can't.

[2778] It is a big hope, right?

[2779] Because it's hard to tell.

[2780] It's like you would have imagined, oh, you're going to be fine.

[2781] But all bets are off now.

[2782] All bets are off.

[2783] We're behind the looking glass now.

[2784] Yes.

[2785] It's a strange time.

[2786] It's terrible.

[2787] But listen, tell everybody one more time, the name of your podcast, how to get it.

[2788] Talking Sopranos, you can go to Talking Sopranos .com or Apple Podcasts, wherever you get podcasts, and YouTube, we have a YouTube channel.

[2789] Gentlemen, thank you for being here.

[2790] Thank you.

[2791] Thank you.

[2792] Always good seeing you, brother.

[2793] Thank you.

[2794] Thank you so much.

[2795] Thank you.

[2796] Thank you.

[2797] Great to meet you.

[2798] All right, everybody.

[2799] Charles, thank you very much.

[2800] That was fun.

[2801] That was fun.

[2802] Sorry, I had to run it.