Sam Elliott

[0] Welcome, welcome, welcome to armchair expert.

[1] Hi, Monica Padman.

[2] Hi, Dach Shepherd, Bell.

[3] Oh, it would be a beautiful man on today.

[4] Beautiful, beautiful man, Sam Elliott.

[5] Yes.

[6] My mother's number one crush of all time.

[7] Yeah, she's so cute when she talks about him.

[8] Oh, she loves some Sam Elliott.

[9] Who doesn't?

[10] I love some Sam Elliott.

[11] I think I fell in love with him as a boy in Mask and then parlayed that into Roadhouse, where he's one of the...

[12] Butt cheeks.

[13] Well, no, that's...

[14] It's not his butt cheeks, but there are butt cheeks in that movie.

[15] There's gratuitous male butt cheeks in that film, but Sam is just one of the legendary all -time badasses of the silver screen.

[16] I came to know him on The Ranch, which is on Netflix currently.

[17] We got another 10 coming at you.

[18] Such a privilege to sit and talk to Sam.

[19] Such a sweet person and...

[20] Very.

[21] Been a part of so many different iterations of this business.

[22] So please enjoy Sam Elliott.

[23] Wondry Plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad free right now.

[24] Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts.

[25] Or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts.

[26] He's an armchair expert.

[27] He's an option next to her.

[28] Those back shepherd calendars.

[29] Oh, I wish that.

[30] That was me. That's my idol, a friend of mine, Charlie Curtis, who owns a CrossFit, Jim.

[31] It looks like you.

[32] Oh, wow.

[33] God bless you.

[34] That's the best thing you could have ever said to him.

[35] I did.

[36] I thought it was.

[37] I thought it was.

[38] Charlie's got probably 30 pounds of muscle on me. Okay.

[39] Well, I want to start by saying, from the second we started working together, I thought, God, I would love to get him on the podcast.

[40] But you live in Malibu.

[41] I'm not going to be a pain in the ass and go come do my silly show in my attic.

[42] But luckily, Netflix was like, hey, what about interviewing Sam?

[43] And I said, if you ask them, I'll be there to party.

[44] They have no shame.

[45] They're going to ask.

[46] Well, that's their job.

[47] Yeah, I was like, oh, let them fall on their sword.

[48] If he's into it, then great.

[49] To leave Malibu, it's nice out there, right?

[50] It's heaven.

[51] So you can't imagine you want to leave.

[52] We've been out there for like 40 years through all the shit.

[53] You know, the fires, the floods, old Malibu getting.

[54] pushed out by Nouveau Malibu.

[55] And we're not finding it as much fun as we used to.

[56] Oh, really?

[57] We're looking north.

[58] We have a place up in Oregon, and I think ultimately, if we live long enough, we're going to get out of here.

[59] You are.

[60] Now, when the fires came last year, you stayed, you stayed and fought.

[61] We had to.

[62] Wow.

[63] No, not advisable.

[64] Hose in hand, brother.

[65] Hose and hand.

[66] And didn't, I remember seeing you at work.

[67] well first of all you had to miss a couple days of work because you're literally out there battling a fire yeah at some point like the news was there and there's a is there's a picture of you on your house right with a fire hose and the fire department the fire department came in about 20 minutes after it went over the top of us and they came over at our place because the house behind us was fully involved oh really and these guys were it was a strike team out of point oneimi uh okay the military base They will base.

[68] And they just happened to be going down to PCH.

[69] And I looked down there and see this house on fire.

[70] So they came through our place.

[71] Oh.

[72] And while I was there, this guy said, hey, man, we'll take a picture with me. My fucking thing ended up online.

[73] Well, it's rare that a photo you would take ends up online and you're stoked about it.

[74] But I got to say, of all the photos, me battling a fire.

[75] I'm kind of into that.

[76] Go ahead and put that out there.

[77] That was cool.

[78] But I wouldn't battle it.

[79] I was just leaning up against the rig.

[80] Catherine got burned out on that property in 78.

[81] Oh, she did?

[82] The year we met, actually.

[83] She lived in a big double -wide treasure, but she had everything she owned.

[84] Oh, wow.

[85] We lost all of her family stuff, all the photos, all that stuff.

[86] Had a big stack of Navajo rugs that she had collected and been given.

[87] I mean, it was priceless.

[88] Yeah.

[89] Got out with all the animals.

[90] We had three horses there at the time, and war dogs.

[91] lost one cat, went up.

[92] Went up.

[93] Went up.

[94] In flames.

[95] In smoke, man. Well, and this dovetails into one of my questions I asked you on set, which is you've been in really good shape for a really long time, almost impossible to stay in your shape.

[96] And I was like, what is your routine, what's your diet?

[97] And you go, I do yard work.

[98] Is that the truth?

[99] It is the truth.

[100] Just yard work.

[101] Just yard work.

[102] I ran, I ran for forever, ran in high school, ran in college, ran after.

[103] But my knees and one hip have now told me to stop doing that.

[104] I think a lot of people would have the same curiosity that I did when I met you, which is I guess I probably assumed you were from Texas or somewhere.

[105] And then I came to find out that you grew up in Sacramento from zero to 13, right?

[106] Then you went up to Portland.

[107] When I was 15, it went up there.

[108] I went up to Portland and I started high school in Portland.

[109] Yeah, so your dad was a predator control something, right, for the Department of the Interior.

[110] What the fuck is that job?

[111] U .S. fishing wildlife service, you know.

[112] They grew up in Texas, all my family's from Texas.

[113] El Paso.

[114] Yeah, which I just came back from, actually.

[115] I was down there during that shooting.

[116] Oh, you were.

[117] Which is fucking weird.

[118] Were you working there?

[119] They have a film festival, actually, a great film festival there.

[120] And I'd gone there last year with Bigfoot, the man who killed Hitler.

[121] Oh, yeah.

[122] Bigfoot.

[123] Potentially the best title of a movie at all time.

[124] And they asked us to come back this year, and they screened Butch Cassidy, and it was because it was a 50th anniversary.

[125] Uh -huh.

[126] And then they screen this terrible fucking movie that Catherine and I met on called The Legacy.

[127] It was like a gothic horror movie, and it was the most embarrassing screening.

[128] I mean, it's a really fucking awful.

[129] I mean, really fucking awful.

[130] So over the top.

[131] Oh, good.

[132] You should do that at least.

[133] So over the top.

[134] A couple times in your life.

[135] No, that was a, that's plenty.

[136] I did that in frogs, so I've done those two.

[137] But you take something like that, right?

[138] And then if you evaluate it in the sense of your career, maybe you're like, I don't know.

[139] But when you look at your life and the real importance, like you meet Catherine there.

[140] That was the legacy, man. right so that was the reason i went and did it because she was in it oh you did specifically to be with her i'd never met her before saw her coming and go on on butch cassidy it was a contract player at fox when they did that and i had a part in it which never survived the cut i'm a shadow on the wall yeah butch cassidy is her kind of breakout thing and you're there watching her coming and going and that's why I wanted to be in London in 1978.

[141] That's kind of adorable.

[142] So you liked her then.

[143] You liked her right out of the gates for 10 years.

[144] I liked her a long time before that.

[145] Uh -huh.

[146] That was after the graduate.

[147] We all liked her.

[148] Uh -huh.

[149] Yeah, yeah.

[150] Hard not to like.

[151] All of my generation liked her.

[152] Well, here's a real testament to Catherine is that, as you know, we've gone through in real life.

[153] My mother's number one heartthrob is you.

[154] I mean, she was speechless in Sam's presence, which I've never witnessed.

[155] It was so exciting.

[156] She was giddy like a girl.

[157] That blew my mind.

[158] And this is a testament to Catherine.

[159] As much as she loves you, she was like, I'm so glad he's with Catherine.

[160] That's the gal.

[161] Because she loved Catherine that much as well.

[162] And she thought, if I have to lose him to a woman, this is the one I would pick.

[163] That says a lot.

[164] When you love a man, but you're happy to see him with another woman, it says a lot about that woman.

[165] It does.

[166] Remember I brought her to set I remember vividly And she came back She bet you did Or seconds Yeah There was in front of an audience Yes So dad now a predator Controller Does this mean he's like monitoring Cougars and stuff It means they're killing them Oh they're killing cougars Yeah they were those guys My dad was an eagle scout He took it all very seriously.

[167] And I think those Eagle Scouts are Scouts forever, particularly my dad.

[168] I was in the Scouts, the Boy Scouts for a while, and I was in the explorers for a while, but I didn't take to it.

[169] And I think it kind of mystified him.

[170] Right.

[171] He grew up in El Paso.

[172] He and my mom both graduated from El Paso High, and they've been generations on both sides, particularly my mom's side.

[173] And my dad was just bitten by being outdoors.

[174] And he got this job working for the Fish and Wildlife Service.

[175] And my mom was going to school at the time.

[176] She graduated from University of Texas at El Paso.

[177] The night of her graduation, she married this guy.

[178] Oh, no kidding.

[179] And moved to Marfa, Texas, which today is cool.

[180] Yeah, it's like an art place or something?

[181] It's a very art art arty now.

[182] And it's beautiful country.

[183] but for a woman to graduate from college and then move to fucking Marfa.

[184] Right to the middle of a desert.

[185] Fuck, man. I don't think my mom ever got over it in some way.

[186] Really?

[187] Yeah.

[188] Yeah, I think my mom had a similar thing where she graduated high school pregnant with my brother.

[189] That'd do it.

[190] Yeah, and she was like, oh, shit, I guess now I'm on this trajectory.

[191] Yeah, and that's where my mom went.

[192] You know, that's what women did in those days, I guess.

[193] My mom was a crack athlete and just, She had a lot of shit going for.

[194] Well, in Sacramento, she was a school teacher, and she was also a physical teacher in Portland.

[195] Oh, in Portland?

[196] Yeah.

[197] So she was a swimming, she was a diving champion, a Texas diving champion.

[198] Oh.

[199] She was the first lifeguard in El Paso, Texas.

[200] Really?

[201] Wow.

[202] Yeah, my dad met at this place called Washington Park, which was a big outdoor, kind of a lake slash pool.

[203] Uh -huh.

[204] They were both lifeguards there.

[205] Yeah.

[206] It's good to meet in swimwear.

[207] Yes, it is.

[208] You have to check it all over.

[209] Now, I'm just thinking of it because your mom obviously was like she had gumption.

[210] She had dreams.

[211] She was competitive.

[212] She had all these things.

[213] I often feel very grateful that I have, the mom I have, because she's a, she is a fucking workhorse.

[214] She's a go -getter.

[215] And so I wanted a woman like that.

[216] So I found one like that.

[217] Kristen, and I feel very grateful.

[218] grateful that that was the model I had.

[219] That's the woman's love I wanted.

[220] And then I had to go find one that was similar.

[221] You get spoiled by mom.

[222] Yeah.

[223] I think I did too.

[224] You know, I think Catherine's very much like my mom in some ways.

[225] I also think my dad would have really loved Catherine because of who she is, you know?

[226] Yeah.

[227] Well, he married a firecracker, so he must like that, right?

[228] Yeah.

[229] We never really talked a lot about that.

[230] We never really talked about a lot of shit, you know?

[231] My dad died when he was 54.

[232] I was off at college in a bar.

[233] I was drunk in a bar the night my dad died.

[234] There was a scene in a ranch in which I'm telling Coutcher about my dad having a heart attack when he was out in the field.

[235] And I'd left him there because we'd had some beef.

[236] And I went into town, got drunk, came back, and he was dead.

[237] Made it fun playing that scene.

[238] Yeah.

[239] Now, you went to University of Oregon, right?

[240] You're there for a minute.

[241] I was there two minutes.

[242] I was started there, went away and graduated from a JC in Vancouver, Washington, Clark College.

[243] And then I went back there, and it was when I was back there that my dad.

[244] I had illusions that I was going to run the hurdles for Bill Bowerman back in the day.

[245] That was my event.

[246] Oh, that's why you were there.

[247] That's why I went there.

[248] Wait, is Bill Bowerman related to the Nike thing somehow?

[249] Bill Bowerman is the Nike thing.

[250] He is the, oh, he's the guy who in.

[251] invented the Waffle Shoe at University of Oregon.

[252] Yep.

[253] So you knew him.

[254] Yeah.

[255] Oh, no kidding.

[256] I knew him more in high school, actually, because the state finals were always down there.

[257] And I went to the state finals three times when I was in high school.

[258] And Bowerman was always there checking out the goods, you know, for the younger kids.

[259] And it's not like he said, come down and run for me. But that's why I went down there.

[260] And did you run at University of Oregon?

[261] I trained more than I ran.

[262] I competed once.

[263] Okay.

[264] Trained a lot.

[265] And you went there and you majored in English and psychology originally, yeah?

[266] Yeah, but...

[267] But then you kind of discover acting at Clark?

[268] No, I always wanted to be an actor.

[269] You always did.

[270] I want to be an actor since I was in Sacramento.

[271] Really?

[272] Going to the neighborhood theater, Saturday Mantineas, nine years old.

[273] I want to do that.

[274] It's just that thing about going into a movie theater in a dark and getting transported.

[275] It's a very romantic.

[276] Yeah.

[277] But your dad, obviously, he was very pragmatic, right?

[278] He's totally against it.

[279] Right, right.

[280] I remember him telling my mom, I overheard him say one time, that kid's got a chance.

[281] The classic, that kid's got a snowball chance in hell.

[282] That's what you're having a career in that fucking town.

[283] That's what your dad said.

[284] Yeah.

[285] Yeah.

[286] To my mom, but I heard it.

[287] Uh -huh.

[288] So did you not profess, like, I'm going to L .A. and all that while he was alive?

[289] I guess what I'm wondering is when he died.

[290] I think he always knew that I was serious about it, which is really why it gave him fits.

[291] He wanted me to go to college, and that's probably why I ended up going to college and not going south out of high school.

[292] And I think part of the reason that he wanted that is because in his world, he saw all these guys coming out of college and had what he referred to as a sheep.

[293] Sheepskin, getting the jobs away from the guys that he'd been working with.

[294] And that was cool.

[295] And I understood that.

[296] But the other thing that he's, you know, they had the sheepskin, but they didn't know shit.

[297] They didn't have any field experience.

[298] But they didn't deserve the job.

[299] It was kind of a. Yeah, it's kind of a paradox.

[300] He wants you to be the guy he resents, basically.

[301] Yeah.

[302] So when he died is, I'm sure, sad as you were, did it also liberate you to just go, all right, well, now I have no. there's no barrier at all?

[303] Or were you going to, you were going to do it anyways?

[304] No, no, I was going to do it anyway.

[305] Right.

[306] I laid out of school right after he died.

[307] At the end of that term, I left.

[308] And I probably could have stayed and probably graduate.

[309] I was like, I don't know, two terms short of graduating.

[310] Maybe I'll go back and do it someday.

[311] I don't know.

[312] Well, if you end up back up there, maybe you could swing through.

[313] That was during the height of the Vietnam War.

[314] I laid out of school, lost my 2S standing, my student.

[315] standing.

[316] And I knew I was going to get drafted.

[317] So I went and I saw all the recruiters.

[318] I went to the army and the Navy and the Marine Corps.

[319] And I'd settled on the army.

[320] I was going to join the army.

[321] And I had all this shit that you get from recruiters on the kitchen table.

[322] I remember going in there one morning.

[323] My mom had tears in her eyes.

[324] She was not like bawling or anything, but she's like, fuck, I'm not feeling good about it.

[325] She said, please don't do this.

[326] And my friend of my dad's knew the commander of the Air National Guard base there in Portland by joining the National Guard.

[327] Now, when you were going to join before Mom was upset, were you joining because you thought, oh, I got to join a version of this where I don't end up in Vietnam, or were you, at that point, you wanted to go to Vietnam?

[328] It's not like I wanted to go.

[329] I just wanted to fulfill my obligation.

[330] Right.

[331] I felt like I had an obligation to do it.

[332] My dad didn't go into military because he had bad knees from playing ball i know that about him he always kind of feel about it now i'm going to ask you a question that probably will be annoying because it's basically i'm asking you to put yourself into the boxes that exist today and i know they didn't then but when i met you at the ranch one of the first things i thought was god this guy is so kind and affectionate and loving and we'll talk about feelings and all these things that are certainly not the image i grew up with knowing you from television and i thought oh this is kind of cool he's always played a cowboy in a rough neck in a marlborough man but i have a feeling he's he's at least 50 % hippie yeah yeah it's it was kind of a fun revelation for me so back then would you say you were in either camp or you weren't really in either camp or were you i'm not sure i'm in either camp today no i'm not in either camp So you were in the Air Guard, right?

[333] But didn't somehow you end up in California in the Air Guard?

[334] I did.

[335] I transferred.

[336] I was in Van Nuys.

[337] Kurt Russell wasn't part of that same.

[338] It was the 146th Air National Guard.

[339] It was like a support unit.

[340] Oh, really?

[341] Yeah.

[342] It's a whole other world, man. How long were you in the Air Guard?

[343] Six years is the obligation.

[344] Oh, no kidding.

[345] And then so what's like the daily requirements?

[346] Do you have to go on the weekends?

[347] Yes, once a month.

[348] Oh, once a month?

[349] A weekend a month and two weeks every summer.

[350] So in a way, pretty convenient, though, it gets you to Van Nuys, right?

[351] It's easy.

[352] I mean, you've got a job.

[353] You've got a job.

[354] I used to wear a shirt -haired wig.

[355] Oh, really?

[356] Just cover my long hair.

[357] Oh, I'm the once -a -month thing?

[358] And I had a guy out there.

[359] Dick Bauer was his name.

[360] He was a sergeant, and he was a hard -ass.

[361] But because I worked, I've got a work ethic.

[362] And that's something that my dad gave me. And I'd go out there on the weekends.

[363] And most of the guys were like fucking around.

[364] And I always had my nose to some stone somewhere.

[365] And because of that, this guy let me slide on wearing a short -haired wig.

[366] In the late 60s, what is the path for someone who arrives in L .A.?

[367] Like, you know, I found a comedy theater and then slowly got an agent and all that.

[368] So what was the path?

[369] You know, I had a connection before I even left Portland.

[370] It's really a weird thing.

[371] After 50 years of doing this, I can kind of draw a line where everything's connected somehow throughout the career in one way or another.

[372] There was a couple that lived next door, and they had a daughter who ended up marrying this AD assistant director.

[373] The couple came to town, and he'd just gotten off of a film with Richard Brooks called The Professionals.

[374] And they said, there's his kid next door And he thinks he wants to be an actor And we, you know He said to talk to him Anyway, we bullshit and, you know, talked about the business You know, he came in that line, you know, If you ever come to L .A., you know, come see us.

[375] Well, little did he fucking know I was going to take him up on it, right?

[376] Yeah, what are they say, like a cruel acceptance of a casual invitation?

[377] Exactly.

[378] And I went and saw him And I ended up working as a day laborer in the construction business at that time.

[379] And I ended up doing some concrete work at his house and ended up painting the inside of his fucking house.

[380] One day I was up on a ladder and I was rolling a ceiling right in the entryway.

[381] And this guy comes in and he's got wearing a suit.

[382] There's a guy named Bob Thompson was a casting guy at Universal.

[383] And he took a shine to me. So I'd go and hang out and talk about.

[384] Thompson's office, I'd get off of my construction job, and I'd go, like, daily.

[385] And I'd just listen to him, do his thing, see people coming and going, and talk to him about the game.

[386] Turned out to be a very close friend.

[387] Yeah.

[388] But he sent me up with my first agent, a guy named Dick Bassman.

[389] First interview that Dick Bassman sent me on was to meet a woman named Lillian Gallo, who's also deceased, who was at Fox.

[390] And I ended up auditioning for that contract program.

[391] That's what got me into Fox.

[392] So you would, you would, what you'd do, like a monologue or some scenes for these people, and they would basically, based on that, they go, you're under contract.

[393] Yeah.

[394] We're going to give you some weekly, was it a weekly?

[395] $85 a week.

[396] A week.

[397] And I was paying $85 a month for a little bachelor apartment right out of the back gate at Fox.

[398] oh okay that was a sweet time yeah yeah so you're under contract and they just occasionally call and say hey come yeah rarely rarely they'd call the universal program they use their kids at universal they use their contract players a lot in television and once in a while once somebody'd get into a film but the the thing at fox was based on boyfriends girl friends and nepotism uh -huh and nobody was taken very serious.

[399] And then you're now excluded right from working with Universal or Columbia.

[400] They'll loan you out.

[401] But they would.

[402] They would do that?

[403] They would loan you out.

[404] I never got loaned out.

[405] Okay.

[406] I found out how to make it work.

[407] And I did a lot of episodic TV when I was there.

[408] You know, I found out where the scripts come first.

[409] I'd befriend of these two gals in the legal department.

[410] And they said, anytime you want to come in, look at the scripts, come on.

[411] Oh, really?

[412] I did.

[413] And the legal department gets the scripts before the casting people get them.

[414] Oh, right.

[415] So I'd go through them, and I'd look for these little day parts or a couple of lines here and there and go down to the casting guys and say, hey, there's this part and numbers such and such coming up, and maybe I could come read.

[416] And did you feel at that time, what are you like, 23, 24 or something?

[417] Did you feel like I'm killing it?

[418] I'm under contract?

[419] No, I just felt like I was making.

[420] living as an actor yeah that's got to be a really good feeling now it was incredible yeah incredible so you're a very natural fit to be in westerns yeah did you think like oh that's probably where i'll end up or did that come as a surprise do you know i didn't i mean i had a lot of affinity for him because i you know there's something about them that always spoke to me and i also loved the western films that i'd say in john ford movies are huge for me but i think the fact that But my folks grew up in Texas and I was around guys on ranches.

[421] It just seemed like kind of a natural thing somehow.

[422] So you kind of knew you would land in that lane a bit or that that would be something you would be good at.

[423] Did you have at that time, well, in my case, you know, I don't, Nicholas Cade, I don't know who I was looking up to.

[424] Bert Reynolds, I thought, was the king.

[425] Like, did you have?

[426] Gary Cooper was my man. Gary Cooper.

[427] Yeah.

[428] And not just because of his Westerns, but I thought there was just something about Cooper as a man that I liked.

[429] You seem like a decent guy to me. Identify with it.

[430] It took me a long time to get, I think, where I could even go and do that on some natural level.

[431] What were your hurdles?

[432] Was it just like self -consciousness?

[433] Yeah, I think so.

[434] I think so.

[435] Well, and you need practice.

[436] You kind of underestimate.

[437] You need practice.

[438] And in the beginning, you'll do anything.

[439] Because, you know, it's never been about the money.

[440] It's always been about to work.

[441] but that said I would do anything in the beginning.

[442] Right.

[443] You just got to do it.

[444] You've got to do it.

[445] That's how you learn.

[446] Yeah, there's this kind of maybe perception that like actors are like combing through many great offers and then they're going to, they're only picking E .T. And it's like, no, no, no. You need to get out there and say some words in front of a camera.

[447] It doesn't really matter if that's in a diarrhea commercial or whatever the fuck it is.

[448] You just got to show up and get some hours on the job, right?

[449] That's it.

[450] I remember one time, oh, God, they had this.

[451] It was Toyota.

[452] You probably weren't even born then, but in the very beginning, they had these commercials for Toyota, and they'd do the sales pitch, and then at the end, maybe it was for Toyota trucks or something, one of those little tiny trucks that they made in the beginning.

[453] And at the end, these guys would jump up in the air.

[454] I totally remember it.

[455] Really?

[456] Yeah, they'd go like this.

[457] Yeah.

[458] yeah but up off the ground uh -huh yeah and then they freeze that yes yes like they just won the westminster dog show yeah right it was really did they freeze frame on them high yeah yeah yeah yeah and they were roughly dressed like lumberjacks right yeah but they were doing a very unlumberjackie thing and i went in and did this is i think when i it was really the first time when i thought no because i'd gone in and i'd read for this thing and gotten a call back and and I read for the director and then he wanted me to jump up in the air see what it looked like when I jumped up in the air I said he were really going to do this again you guys are going to do this in this spot too yeah man that's part of the Toyota thing and they just said no it's time for me to go I don't think I have a convincing jump in me sir I'd love to give that to you but I'm Oh, that's great.

[459] Stay tuned for more armchair expert, if you dare.

[460] We've all been there.

[461] Turning to the internet to self -diagnose our inexplicable pains, debilitating body aches, sudden fevers, and strange rashes.

[462] Though our minds tend to spiral to worst -case scenarios, it's usually nothing, but for an unlucky few, these unsuspecting symptoms can start the clock ticking on a terrifying medical like the unexplainable death of a retired firefighter, whose body was found at home by his son, except it looked like he had been cremated, or the time when an entire town started jumping from buildings and seeing tigers on their ceilings.

[463] Hey listeners, it's Mr. Ballin here, and I'm here to tell you about my podcast.

[464] It's called Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries.

[465] Each terrifying true story will be sure to keep you up at night.

[466] Follow Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries wherever you get your podcasts.

[467] Prime members can listen early.

[468] and ad -free on Amazon Music.

[469] What's up, guys?

[470] It's your girl Kiki, and my podcast is back with a new season, and let me tell you, it's too good.

[471] And I'm diving into the brains of entertainment's best and brightest, okay?

[472] Every episode, I bring on a friend and have a real conversation.

[473] And I don't mean just friends.

[474] I mean the likes of Amy Poehler, Kel Mitchell, Vivica Fox, the list goes on.

[475] So follow, watch, and listen to Baby.

[476] This is Kiki Palmer on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcast.

[477] Your big breakout role, Unless I'm wrong, correct me. Is the lifeguard?

[478] Is that?

[479] I guess so.

[480] You're the lead of that movie, 1978?

[481] 74.

[482] Oh, 74.

[483] It's like a sleeper hit, right?

[484] No one really sees it coming, but it's...

[485] Yeah, it was.

[486] It did well.

[487] I mean, it made some money, but that was a time.

[488] I've also, you know, suffered from being opinionated.

[489] But at the same time, I'm very honest.

[490] And honest and opinionated are really a shitty combination.

[491] if you're trying to sweet talk somebody and to hire you for their job.

[492] Yeah.

[493] I think I got probably over the years, this guy's trouble, you know, kind of a reputation because of script doctoring and just being honest with people.

[494] When we did Lifeguard, I named Dan Peacher directed, and Dan Petre was a brilliant director and an equally wonderful man. And we all looked at this thing as it was like a coming of age kind of, a story for Kathleen Quinlan, who was her first film.

[495] And it was about some guy that wasn't going to succumb to all his peer pressure and get off the beach.

[496] There's a sequence in there where he goes to his high school reunion, 15 -year reunion.

[497] And everybody's like amazed that you're still a fucking lifeguard.

[498] Right.

[499] And he had this friend that worked at a car dealer that tried to get him to come down and work for the car dealer.

[500] It just was, there was a lot more to it than the ad campaign.

[501] It didn't have been a, the one sheet was a animated one sheet of me with two big, busted girls on either arm.

[502] And me and a pair of speedos.

[503] And across the top it says, every girl's summer dream.

[504] Uh -huh.

[505] Well, again, 1974.

[506] Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure.

[507] And in those days, when you go to promote, Promote a movie, unlike today where everything's digital.

[508] I spent six weeks on the road for that film.

[509] One town, one night, another town the next night.

[510] Promoting.

[511] For six weeks.

[512] You travel with these press kits, and you've got a shitload of photos and bios and the whole thing.

[513] When you get into town, you spent the next day doing interviews, and invariably, anybody that you're interviewing has seen the film.

[514] and more often than not, the interview would open with somebody saying to me, this movie isn't anything like I expected it to be.

[515] Right.

[516] Based upon the one sheet, the stuff they're reading.

[517] And I'd say, yeah, I know.

[518] And then go on and talk about it, be honest and opinionated in the press.

[519] Uh -huh.

[520] They wrote that shit down.

[521] Uh -huh.

[522] My mom saved all that crap.

[523] My mom had like an archive on me at her place.

[524] And when she died, I started going through.

[525] it and all that shit ended up on a burn pile.

[526] I couldn't believe how fucking stupid I was.

[527] I didn't work at Paramount again.

[528] Because of that press tour.

[529] Maybe coincidental.

[530] I don't know.

[531] Now, were you immediately aware of the reaction from Paramount was that and that you'd kind of burned a bridge?

[532] Did you think to yourself, oh, I got to reel this in a little bit?

[533] I think I knew through my agents.

[534] I had a couple of agents that I dearly love still today, but they both told me about, you no cool it a little bit yeah and were you indignant or were you embarrassed i don't think i was ever indignant i don't think that's part of my game somehow uh -huh but embarrassed and certainly took their advice later on down the road but i feel like i've always done what i wanted to do somehow in the end you know i remember after last year was stars born and the nomination and all that stuff and talking on the phone with Ronnie and really happy and really proud and all that, which meant more to me than anything that was being said about me at the time.

[535] And he said, and you did it your way, you know.

[536] Uh -huh.

[537] Now in retrospect, it all worked out, clearly, right?

[538] It all worked out.

[539] You got nominated last year.

[540] Yeah, so far.

[541] But I am wondering, because I worry too much, increasingly less.

[542] Thank God.

[543] I think kids helps with that.

[544] But the ride is so full of uncertainty and insecurity.

[545] And now that, like, you must be able to go like, okay, it worked out.

[546] Do you wish you could go back in time and tap the 30 -year -old on the shoulder and go, like, hey, just fucking don't work.

[547] That shit, stop wasting your time and your energy and even obsessing or worrying.

[548] Yeah, there's a lot of things that changed, man. Yeah.

[549] About my life in general.

[550] When Catherine and I got married, we were both in our 40s.

[551] Cleo came into the world with parents that were already halfway there.

[552] I'd like to have been your age when I was raising my kids rather than...

[553] Well, I got bad news for you.

[554] By the way, you always flatter me like this.

[555] You kind of cut off 10 years.

[556] But no, I had Lincoln at 38 and I had dealt that 40.

[557] I'm pretty...

[558] If you get lucky enough to be 75, then you'll...

[559] By the way, if I make it to 7.

[560] I would be delighted.

[561] So you at least have me too.

[562] And if I make it till next, this coming Friday, I will have been it.

[563] Yeah, two days away from your birthday, right?

[564] Yeah.

[565] See, now, interestingly, I kind of think it's a, who knows?

[566] I don't know what the answer is.

[567] But I feel a little bit like it's an advantage for me to be older as a dad because.

[568] Well, I think it is.

[569] I'm thinking more from a kid's perspective.

[570] Uh -huh.

[571] Because you're not as, what, energetic and out there?

[572] Yeah, not as active, that's all.

[573] I do sometimes I have to police myself.

[574] I'm like, oh, I'm kind of, I'm dadding like a granddad does.

[575] Like, I kind of sit in my lazy boy outside and I interact with them.

[576] I talk with them.

[577] But, you know, I certainly would be up more probably if I was in my 20s.

[578] And I think, oh, Jesus, their dad sits down.

[579] And the other thing, I'll tell you one of the big differences of it, there's a lot of differences between you and me and my friend.

[580] Number one is your intellect.

[581] Oh, bullshit.

[582] No, this happens to be very true.

[583] But you're so full of life.

[584] And you're such a talker.

[585] And because of your intellect, you're always interested in, you know.

[586] I'm very quiet by nature, very quiet, around my family, around anybody, unless I get into a situation like this.

[587] And then I kind of stammer my way through, you know.

[588] Yeah.

[589] Do you think you were, and probably it's a mix, but do you think you were born as a quiet type?

[590] Yeah, I was quiet.

[591] I hung out by myself when I was a kid.

[592] I had a fort in the backyard.

[593] That was your world?

[594] It'd been a lot of time there.

[595] Because you don't have any brothers or sisters, right?

[596] I have an older sister.

[597] Oh, you do?

[598] Yeah.

[599] How much older?

[600] Glenda, five years older.

[601] And what was that relationship?

[602] Was she kind to you?

[603] Yeah, we had a typical relationship.

[604] I think that she'd probably have been better off, had I come along.

[605] Yeah, she had it made.

[606] All of a sudden, the focus went somewhere else.

[607] Yeah.

[608] You were basically born in the second to last year of World War II.

[609] And it's just a drastically different, I think even in my 44 years, I'm like, wow, man, I've now lived through a lot of iterations of what culture says is cool, what society is, what's acceptable, what a dad does, what a dad doesn't do.

[610] You know, it's been dramatic in my life.

[611] Yep.

[612] And there was no cell phones.

[613] There was, you know, fucking VCRs.

[614] There was no cable.

[615] All this stuff that came along.

[616] And then I think about you.

[617] And then you witnessed even.

[618] Oh, fuck, man. Paradigm shifts.

[619] It's unbelievable.

[620] culturally, when you look at it, when I grew up in Sacramento, but I'd get on my bike and right over to the Sacramento River five miles away and fish all day on the banks of the Sacramento River all day long by myself and come home before it got dark.

[621] Try to get home before dark.

[622] Sure, sure.

[623] And it's like, fuck, really?

[624] You don't do that anymore.

[625] You live through all the civil rights stuff.

[626] Yep.

[627] You witnessed all that firsthand.

[628] Like, what a thing to witness, huge.

[629] I'm often regret that I didn't get on a bus and go down there for some of that back in that day.

[630] Yeah, I can imagine having that.

[631] I'm sorry, I didn't do that.

[632] So you see these really kind of quantum leaps in culture and society.

[633] I do wonder, because for me, it feels really fast.

[634] Like, I look at my own career.

[635] There's stuff I did nine years ago on TV that if I did today, I would be gone.

[636] Yep.

[637] It's just completely unacceptable.

[638] And that's in nine years.

[639] So to me, it really feels like it's accelerating.

[640] But I wonder if you don't have that same point of view.

[641] Because I guess the Civil Rights stuff, too, was really like a light switch, wasn't it?

[642] It just was like, we're talking about this now.

[643] And things happened daily.

[644] Yeah.

[645] You know, and it's like, not only that, but it's like, again, with the Sharon Tate thing, when that happened, man, what kind of a shift was that?

[646] Yeah.

[647] You know, I mean, all of a sudden, you know, I mean, it paralyzed this town we're sitting in.

[648] Uh -huh.

[649] I don't know, man. I'm not sure the direction we're going is a great direction, and if we don't get a hold of it real quick.

[650] And because every, you know, it moved fast and it moved fast for your earlier years.

[651] But think of the way the thing is set up now and the speed that we're moving at right now.

[652] And it's not a good thing.

[653] And this whole warfare thing that's not going to go away because it's fucking big business.

[654] Yeah, yeah.

[655] Arms is big business.

[656] It's probably our biggest export, really.

[657] really right it's yes yeah and we just arm these guys all over the world and then step back see what they can do with them you know and then if we don't like what they're doing we're going and blow the shit out of them with our newer better shit so that we can then sell more of that yeah was it Eisenhower that warned of the military industrial complex i believe so yeah so to that's such a bummer that this isn't a new revelation that you and i have come to in this attic it's like this is something that's been warned for 60, 70 years.

[658] But we don't listen, do we?

[659] No. Well, let me ask you this.

[660] Could you at least compare to me?

[661] Obviously, there was tremendous divide during the Vietnam War.

[662] Yeah.

[663] Was that divide, did that feel more or less than what we have today?

[664] Oh, I think it was more.

[665] And I'll tell you why, 58 ,000 men died in that war.

[666] And it happened on the fucking news every night.

[667] You'd see these guys unloading these bodies back where I forgot where the place they'd bring those transport planes in and take those coffins off and saw it every night saw battle footage it was a real thing you know and we had guys like McNamara and all those guys trying to justify while we were there they were on how we're winning this war you know I was well aware of that one but it's a hard one for me to draw too hard of a line on it and I'll tell you why because I've met a lot of decorated soldiers I've met a lot of guys that were just fucking in the shit that went and served time.

[668] I've met a lot of guys that were wounded in that war.

[669] I've met a lot of families of men that died in that war.

[670] It's hard for me to talk too heavy against the cause, although I think it was a lost cause.

[671] But it's hard to be true to those friendships and have that opinion at the same time, if that makes any sense to you.

[672] Well, it does.

[673] I've gone on two USO tours to Afghanistan.

[674] I couldn't be more anti -war.

[675] I think the whole thing's a fucking racket.

[676] I cannot believe after 150 ,000 years on Earth, this is still how we're settling stuff.

[677] It is maddening.

[678] Yet I also recognize that the kids that are there are not a part of the machine deciding these things.

[679] They're not profiting from it.

[680] These are folks that are, you know, they're living on the side of a fucking mountain in Afghanistan.

[681] I want to go let them know I'm thinking about them.

[682] So for me, me I can be pro soldier and I can be anti -military yeah I think everybody ought to serve on some level serve the country serve the greater good I don't care what it is yeah figure something out have everyone get a little skin in the game yeah now when I and I told you the sunset when I came to idolize you was mask I mean that fucking movie gar from mask I was like that's the dude that's who I want to be He rides a fucking Harley.

[683] He's confident.

[684] He'll punch someone out, but he's goddamn sweet to Rocky.

[685] I mean, the moment where you're like, Rock, get me another beer out of the fridge.

[686] And he goes in there and the tuxedo's hanging.

[687] I mean, what a guy.

[688] And you're with Cher, you're riding fucking Harleys.

[689] You look sweet.

[690] Was it fun?

[691] It was incredible.

[692] It was.

[693] It was incredible.

[694] I was doing a series called a Yellow Rose at the time.

[695] And Sybil Shepard was going.

[696] with Peter Bogdanovich.

[697] I remember Sybil one morning and we were sitting in a makeup trailer and she said, I was talking about you last night with Peter.

[698] And he said, oh yeah.

[699] And she said, yes, he's getting ready to do this thing mask.

[700] And he's looking for a Gary Cooper on a motorcycle.

[701] Uh -huh.

[702] I threw your name in or whatever she said.

[703] And I'm thinking that's the end of that, right?

[704] Or that she was just pulling my leg one or the other.

[705] And then Catherine and I over a couple of weeks later, over in Hawaii, getting married.

[706] And I got a call from Ron Meyer to go and, you know, I've got to get back to town.

[707] And Universal wants me to come in and meet with Peter and this movie he's doing.

[708] I said, Ronnie, fuck the fuck, man. I'm on my honeymoon.

[709] I don't fucking fly home for a meeting.

[710] Right.

[711] So what you got to, man?

[712] I said, well, believe me, man. I can't make it.

[713] Uh -huh.

[714] I went back to the room and I told Catherine about it.

[715] sometime that evening later she went back up and called mire on the phone up at the desk and we'll be back so that the meeting happened she got me to go back two actors in a relationship does not come without challenges because you both recognize you're both fucking obsessed with some silly thing and you know it you have some awareness that this person has a real big passion yeah other than just you yeah and what you just described has played out in our relationship several times where I basically go, they want me to do this, I said no. And just her hearing that, that I pick you over this thing.

[716] She then goes, don't you dare?

[717] You fucking go say yes to that.

[718] And she has done that for me countless times.

[719] And it's a simple little gesture, but just being reminded, I would pick you over this thing is a prerequisite for two actors to be together for a long time.

[720] Totally agree.

[721] And then you got it.

[722] And did you know Cher beforehand?

[723] What I knew is Cher was that I really love Cher.

[724] Uh -huh.

[725] Which is also weird.

[726] Uh -huh.

[727] Just getting married.

[728] But I loved her from afar.

[729] I'd never met her.

[730] I used to watch the show, the Sunni and Cher show with my mom a lot because I was still up in Portland at that time.

[731] And then I came down and one time I was in Vegas with Melissa and we were staying at the Flamingo.

[732] and Sonny and Cher were playing in the back room in this place.

[733] I remember watching them through a curtain one night.

[734] It wasn't even sitting down at a table.

[735] I was like sneaking a look through some curtain.

[736] But I always was a huge share fan.

[737] And to have the opportunity to work with it, it was incredible, you know.

[738] But Peter and Lazzell Kovacs was the DP, you know.

[739] It just was an incredible experience.

[740] Eric Stoltz was just mind -boggling.

[741] Yeah, because he, what was he 15?

[742] It was early, early, early, early on in his game.

[743] And, you know, he spent the four hours a day in a makeup chair, ate all of his meals through a straw, and lost him, I don't know how many pounds he lost.

[744] It was a summertime.

[745] It was hot and wearing that get -up that he had on.

[746] Never once complained, never.

[747] Just wasn't in his bones to complain about anything.

[748] And Laura Dern, I think it was one of Laura's first films, you know.

[749] I mean, I think she was like 15 at the time.

[750] Oh, it's such a heartbreaking, wonderful movie.

[751] Peter gave me the best entrance I ever had in a film ever coming in on that Harley.

[752] Oh, yeah.

[753] Did you ride prior to that or did you have?

[754] I started riding.

[755] I did a pilot for a show called Evil Caneval.

[756] Oh, yes.

[757] Years ago.

[758] And that was my first time on Harleys, but they were the, those big souped up brand new ones you know i was riding them on a dragstip most of the time over in arizona somewhere uh -huh you know that was the first time i'd ridden on them though i really enjoyed oh you look cool as hell i really enjoyed you couldn't have looked more relaxed on it it was fun now shortly thereafter you do and now i've heard you talk about this movie and again is where i'm going to go i'm sure your idea of it is so much different than mine but roadhouse comes about and when you originally read that what are your thoughts i remember reading it i went back to fox for the meeting on that that's where jill silver had his office i remember sitting there after i'd read the script i mean it you know on paper well that's what i'm imagining that was pretty fucking mindless right right right you know not a not a very complex plot no yeah i mean it's like i don't know it's like the ultimate male fantasy on some level sure are.

[759] It's like really weird.

[760] And I remember going in and being a little bit, I really want to get involved in this thing or not.

[761] A guy named Rowdy Harrington was directing.

[762] I don't know that Rowdy had had a lot of experience.

[763] I went and sat in his office with Joel, and I think Rowdy was probably there as well.

[764] And I remember there was a set of Venetian blinds, like a big window with Venetian blinds on it.

[765] They were cracked open a little bit.

[766] And Joel, was like pacing back and forth and like fucking like that's one of the things that I loved about that movie was working with Joel Silver.

[767] Oh yeah.

[768] Because he was a throwback.

[769] He was like fucking old Hollywood, at least how I envisioned old Hollywood.

[770] He was allowed and he was smart and he was creative and he's kind of you know.

[771] Yeah.

[772] But I asked him, I said, why do you think I'm right for this film?

[773] He says, you got baggage, man. You got baggage.

[774] He got baggage.

[775] And that's why I got in that, I guess, because I got baggage.

[776] But then we got in there, and it just ended up being this incredible experience, you know.

[777] Swayze was a fucking total southern gentleman and the sweetest kid you could be around.

[778] And a crack athlete, dancer.

[779] And he'd had his hits.

[780] And he was a horseman.

[781] And, you know, we connected really quickly.

[782] Uh -huh.

[783] And it had a lot of fun.

[784] And there was a guy named Benny the Jet.

[785] Benny Uquitas was his aim.

[786] He had a place called the Jet Center, which is a, you know.

[787] Boxing place or something?

[788] Yeah, boxing, but it was more like kickboxing.

[789] I think he was like two or three -time world kickboxing champion.

[790] And he was the guy that we worked out with him every day.

[791] Oh, you did?

[792] Yeah, it was fucking unreal.

[793] Well, you two must have bonded over the work ethic, you and Swacey.

[794] Yeah.

[795] Because one need only look at him to go, oh, that might be.

[796] motherfucker must really dedicate to shit yeah yeah yeah we totally did that's the part of being an actor i guess that is really the thing to be envious of which is fuck the movie and all that stuff but like how do you come together with these strangers the relationship yeah you get to meet someone you do this weird thing you're both learning something together it's like how who on earth gets to do that yeah now at that time though were you at all oh how am i being seen where am i trying to get to does this thing take me back does this thing elevate me were you were you juggling all that stuff or just if you like something you liked the part and so is the part okay if i can identify with the part and feel like i got something to bring to it can believe it uh -huh that's why i've always been like a weird stickler for dialogue if i can't believe it then it's hard to transform it into anything that's worth watching or worth doing yeah i mean having a collaborator at the helm is to me the best thing Bradley was that way.

[797] I mean, Bradley was a brilliant collaborator.

[798] You know that.

[799] I mean, you know him better than I do, well better than I do.

[800] I know him well enough to love the guy.

[801] Beyond that, I don't know shit about him.

[802] Oh, you and I both have marveled at how, and this goes to me knowing him for 14 years.

[803] Yeah.

[804] Wow, he can sing.

[805] Who knew that?

[806] I don't know, did he know that?

[807] There's just every, almost every movie has come out.

[808] I'm like, oh, he's 230 pounds of muscle now in this night.

[809] I didn't know he could do it.

[810] So I'm almost, it's almost, I'm fatigued with how impressive he is.

[811] It's just like if he flies in the next movie, then of course he can.

[812] I'm a fucking guy's a musician all of a sudden.

[813] But he took a meeting with you, right?

[814] Originally when he was, he went to his home, yeah.

[815] You went to his house.

[816] I'd read the script when I got over there and, you know, the part was good, but I wasn't sure.

[817] And I wasn't sure because this guy was directing a movie for the first time.

[818] Sure.

[819] So I went in there not knowing anything about where it was going to go, other than I was excited to have the meeting.

[820] And, you know, I think we connected right away.

[821] We connected on the driveway on the way into the house.

[822] Like that brother thing somehow clicked right away.

[823] Right.

[824] The chemistry somehow was there.

[825] We got inside and I brought a bottle of fucking wine with me, man, because I was going to have dinner, right?

[826] I said, well, I don't drink, but, you know, somebody will enjoy it someday.

[827] Anyway, he said, it was really early on into the conversation, and he said, I want to play something for you.

[828] He showed me a piece of film or that video or digital or whatever the hell you call that shit that's on your phone, of he and Gaga singing in that first meeting that he had with her when he went to her home.

[829] And I thought, wow, that was impressive.

[830] And he says, I want to play something for you.

[831] You're going to think it's kind of weird, but I want you to listen to it.

[832] And apparently he'd been working with this voice coach that he works with.

[833] And he'd been listening to a couple of interviews that I'd done.

[834] And it was the thing that he played for me was him doing me in these interviews, not only doing a takeoff of my voice, but saying shit that I'd said at some point in time.

[835] Right.

[836] Right.

[837] And he turned it off, said, what do you think?

[838] And I said, well, you're right.

[839] It is kind of fucking weird.

[840] But it was a good, it was a good meeting.

[841] And I left there hoping it was going to work out.

[842] And also thinking, well, if he's committed himself to my voice, odds are in my favor.

[843] Right, right.

[844] Well, that's what's interesting is I can't imagine, I can imagine going, you know what, I kind of want to use Sam Ellie as my North Star.

[845] I should see if Sam wants to be in the movie, if he says, yes, I'll start working with a vocal coach and I'll put in that time.

[846] But to just do it all ahead of time, huge gamble that obviously worked out.

[847] But I don't know, there's something really cool about that that he had already done all that.

[848] And was like, hey, what do you think of the?

[849] It's uncanny.

[850] And, you know, in fact, I've never heard anyone do it.

[851] An ongoing bit on the ranch was that they would make people talk like you, but none of us could.

[852] Of the five people that had to do it, no one got within even 40 people.

[853] percent of what you sound like definitely low yeah but is and then I'm lost I'm lost after that but at any rate I mean it's really incredible how similar he is to you he's very close in that movie and there's one scene when I've the first time I saw it I thought what the fuck man and I was trying to think if I looped that line like went into an ADR session and did it for him yeah it's when she gets out of the car and walks away and he said hey and she turns around he said I just want to get in there to look at you oh big time that's in the trailer too textbook elliott it was a trip bradley was incredible man that last thing that he said to me out on the driveway when we were leaving he said just trust me man you just trust me he'll be happy you did you'd be glad you did and he's right that's great and i know that he told stephanie the same thing because you know we ended up going on the road and doing a lot of gab about the movie during the the thing to me that made it magic was like, A, the character was incredible.

[854] You know, what a neat idea to use you as kind of a North Star.

[855] What really hit me was what he mastered, especially being sober, is the fucking delay.

[856] He was like, he was 1 .9 seconds behind, and it was so consistent.

[857] He was just like catching up a lot.

[858] Things were coming to him a little late.

[859] And that, to me, was like, that was the one thing that made the performance and something incredible.

[860] And so, also, you had seen versions, right?

[861] He kept messing with it.

[862] And you'd seen versions that were fine.

[863] And then you saw, ultimately you saw the version that is an incredible movie on all accounts.

[864] What's that like when you're like, huh, I don't know if we're there yet.

[865] The first time I went and saw it, and I just knew that it was all there, but it was really a first assemblage.

[866] And Bradley later on told me I shouldn't even have showed you that.

[867] But then I went back and I saw it again.

[868] We saw it at Bradley's place, and I took Catherine with me, and we both walked out of thinking, what the fuck?

[869] What happened to the part?

[870] And the part was gone.

[871] It was really about Stephanie and Bradley, primarily.

[872] All the supporting players had suffered really badly.

[873] So at that point, I thought, you know, was a lot of fun doing it.

[874] In the movie, it would probably be really good.

[875] The music was incredible.

[876] Yeah.

[877] in that second assemblage.

[878] I didn't really know what was going to go on.

[879] And then we went up to Toronto, and we screened it up there, and I hadn't seen it for quite a time.

[880] But I'm going into the screen, and there was all the people from Warner Brothers who are there, and those people are brilliant.

[881] But I wasn't prepared to see this movie, and I looked at it, and I just thought, Stephanie blew me away, Bradley blew me away.

[882] The music was fucking unbelievable.

[883] This is the movie that came out.

[884] And all of a sudden, I was back in the fucking movie.

[885] And it knocked the shit out of me. And then we had a Q &A to do afterward backstage where we were going to do the Q &A.

[886] I was sitting up in the audience.

[887] And I was really like, it knocked shit out of me. Fucking tears in my eyes.

[888] And I was not boo -hooing, but I was fucking really, it really got me. Oh, that first time they sing on stage together, I was like chills everywhere, eyes watering.

[889] Stephanie looked at me and she said, are you okay?

[890] And I said, I don't know.

[891] He came and gave me a big hug.

[892] You know, what a big hug is worth.

[893] Yeah, yeah.

[894] You're a hugger.

[895] I'm going to talk a little more about Bradley, too.

[896] And he just never quit.

[897] He never fucking quit.

[898] And he had everybody on his side.

[899] Everybody trusted him.

[900] We'd done the last sequence, the bit in the driveway.

[901] Right.

[902] That was my last bit.

[903] and I rapped on the show.

[904] And then he called me back.

[905] Two weeks later, he texted me. We texted a lot.

[906] We didn't talk much on the phone, but he texts a lot.

[907] Another development in your lifetime.

[908] He said, I got this idea of, you know, but she was doing this last scene with Stephanie, what do you think?

[909] And that's really, yeah, I'll be there.

[910] Because originally that was going to be her dad, you know.

[911] That was the dad was going to talk to her about losing the boy.

[912] And, you know, Andrew was so fucking good.

[913] Anyway, he decided that it should be the brother.

[914] And going in, going back in, and doing that last scene, that last day.

[915] I think that was probably my favorite scene in the movie for me in the doing of it.

[916] Right.

[917] Because she was just scrubbed bare and totally blown away.

[918] And it was just right there on her face.

[919] And we just sat there on a couch and just like, this man yeah only bradley was like where that trash can is instead of across the room and the camera was right there behind him it was all very close and such a gift he just gave me such a gift there gave the world a gift yeah yeah it's it's fantastic you're brilliant that's your first academy award nomination yeah yeah how does it feel did it feel like you would have guessed it felt like yeah i'll tell you it was really weird because it while the academy award was going on or that whole thing was going on we're still working on the ranch and the fucking fire went over the top of us and burned two or three houses right next to us now malibu was shut down i was going through roadblocks and coming home at fucking two in the morning and a fucking tuxedo trying to get my way back through having to circumvent the whole fucking thing i'd go up to 101 to los posis come around the long way yeah and your fantasy of being an academy award name and nominated actor you're not Like, oh, I guess I'll be cross and barric.

[920] It was all great.

[921] I found it exhausting.

[922] And there were times where I felt like I was chasing it.

[923] Uh -huh.

[924] And I didn't feel too good about that.

[925] Had you prior to that really wanted one?

[926] That never really crossed my mind.

[927] Interesting.

[928] I never thought it was that kind of an actor that I deserved to get an Academy Award.

[929] Right.

[930] You know.

[931] Yeah, life's weird, right?

[932] Yeah.

[933] Yeah.

[934] And I'm still not.

[935] sure.

[936] Oh, you definitely deserve that nomination.

[937] There's no question.

[938] You were amazing.

[939] Stay tuned for more armchair expert, if you dare.

[940] Have a crazy charisma with women.

[941] It is undeniable.

[942] I'm on that set of the ranch.

[943] The youngest person in the cast is telling me she's in love with you.

[944] The oldest person in the cast tell me they're in love with you.

[945] My mother is in love with you.

[946] This is a kind of charmed existence.

[947] have to be aware of the fact that you have some something you have what you got you got lucky right i got lucky i think it's because i'm safe is that what that could be it i think it's because i'm safe yeah you're super respectful you're super protective i was raised to treat women right that's another thing that i got to think for my dad you know when you commit to someone probably half the reason it took till you were 40 to do it.

[948] Yeah.

[949] But there's a certain, you know, you're going to have to say no a lot more than I'm going to have to say no than a lot of people are going to have to say no. I think earlier on probably that was the case.

[950] Well, and then you're just missing the signals now.

[951] And now I'm going to go back to when you're 75.

[952] It doesn't really matter so much anymore.

[953] I don't know.

[954] But it's a great fuel source, isn't it?

[955] Sure.

[956] Like that kind of.

[957] It's weird.

[958] It's weird on some.

[959] ways.

[960] Anytime some young girl comes up and it's like, gaga about something, I think, oh, what the fuck?

[961] Mostly now it's, you know, it used to be the women in general about them, but now it's about their mothers.

[962] My mother just loves you.

[963] She loves you.

[964] I'm doing it to you myself.

[965] It's funny.

[966] Although my mom's a spring chicken, so it's still kind of...

[967] Oh, yeah.

[968] Right.

[969] I think she told me on the phone last week she said i pray for katherine's longevity but just make sure sam knows there's always a backup plan on hood river i'm not really enjoying getting scripts now where i'm the old guy all the time because i don't feel like the old guy you know what i mean i mean my body feels like it my body feels really old too much yard work there's too much something for too many years maybe just too much longevity i don't know maybe it's that simple it's just been around too long but you go hard too yeah you're working hard when you're not working you're fucking driving katherine up to oregon doing road trips you're maintaining these properties way too much i'd love to be in a position right now to just kick back and enjoy it two -bedroom condo fruits of the labor so to speak yeah well one of the things i was impressed with by you i sometimes fear, I won't have it, is you care a lot.

[970] You still care a lot.

[971] The ranch, Kutcher asked me to do it.

[972] I love Kutcher.

[973] Absolutely.

[974] Another part of my hands, like, I don't know, multi -cam sitcom.

[975] I've never done one of those.

[976] That's scary.

[977] I don't personally watch a lot of multi -cam sitcoms.

[978] Also, I recognize that the show has a bit of a right -leaning political agenda.

[979] I'm not right -leaning myself.

[980] I got to kind of wrestle with that and think about that.

[981] I'm learning how to act in front of the audience, you know, real time with you.

[982] I think my first scene on the show was with you and all those things I could have gone into it either thinking I shouldn't be doing this blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah I was telling Monica this the other day lo and behold on a show that I underestimate our last episode of last year low and behold I bet that's the best thing I've ever done yeah we're in a VA meeting together yeah you're there and I'm really I'm not being sacrin or over -inflating this you being there is everything your commitment is what you care so much that you're there for me it's not your scene yeah and you're there and you're checking in with me and you care i can feel it and i pray that i still will care yeah i think it's really admirable it's really gracious of you i don't think if you if you don't care then why bother you know well there's reasons either you're bored or you don't know what else to do or you want the money to do something mouse you know most shit doesn't pay as well but i think if you do as soon as you start not caring then i think that's the end of the road you know because you see it you know kutcher i felt like i got to see ashton kutcher become a fucking really fucking incredible actor i mean he did some shit on that show that i'd never seen him do before and he's such a powerhouse anyway i mean he's got such a rich life and so many other worlds.

[983] And it's almost like the acting things are sideline.

[984] And it's just mind -boggling.

[985] What I've always said about him.

[986] And again, he gave me my first chance in this business.

[987] 10 years of unemployment until that guy came into my life.

[988] So I will forever be grateful to him.

[989] We're sitting in front of a house that I wouldn't be sitting in front of without Ashton.

[990] So the thing I always told about people is I don't admire people because they're good actors.

[991] It's just not in me. I can appreciate it.

[992] I can look at Sean Penn's acting and go, fucking, hey, that's another level I'll never get to.

[993] I see the brilliance.

[994] That doesn't mean there's going to be need to be something else for me to, like, idolize him or look up to him or appreciate him.

[995] And Coucher, the one thing I saw immediately, I was like, this motherfucker works hard.

[996] He works really hard.

[997] He has a work ethic unparalleled.

[998] I've never seen anybody work harder than he does.

[999] And so he has character.

[1000] I look at him and I see someone with character.

[1001] I'm not even evaluating the other stuff.

[1002] Right.

[1003] That's right.

[1004] But yeah, he's just.

[1005] an incredibly driven hardworking considerate everything great guy to work with you want that motherfucker on your team if you're doing anything yeah that whole team on that show you know from the top down was brilliant to work with so you have this you most of your career is just hard work earning stuff all that and yet you've also had this awesome lottery ticket in your back pocket which is that fucking voice so just the voiceover thing is that not the greatest little part of your it's incredible i turn a lot of voiceover stuff down i'm real picky about it and the reason is because my voice is so distinctive if i had one of those voices that you know he says god it sounds like that's not him right right right then it'd be easy to do a lot a lot more than i do but i'm happy but over time you have represented almost every truck brand right i've sold every truck there is non -demand which I love you did Dodge IBM Union Pacific American Beef Council how many hours of I've been Ford and Chevy too Ford and Chevy yeah Ford was my first voiceover yeah how many years you've been doing Coors I don't even know it's been so long since Adolf Coors was at the helm I think I think Pete was running the show but that's another thing about working for an outfit like Coors it's like we were talking earlier about it's the people you work with those people at that company are solid yeah that's a solid family have you been like i have to imagine at this point you've been invited to their home or i've never gone to their home oh you haven't and i really haven't seen them since early on in the campaign but i had some really nice encounters with the family when we first started and i just know the kind of people they are this well the simple fact that there's still a family business, almost impossible to keep a family business going more than a generation.

[1006] Right.

[1007] Yeah.

[1008] And then lastly, of all the things, where does being in Lubowski rank?

[1009] Where does introducing us to the dude in that world?

[1010] Where does all that fall?

[1011] Is that?

[1012] It falls high.

[1013] It ranks high.

[1014] You mentioned it again when you were given the rundown on all the great elements in regard to the ranch.

[1015] And one of them was the political bent.

[1016] A political bin of Boas is a long way for me. Right.

[1017] That was something I wrestled with weekly, you know.

[1018] And an example of that beyond that, which connects to the little, to the big LaBeath, the little Lebowski.

[1019] It was actually a part of that line in that last sequence about the little, I happen to know there's a little Lebowski on the way.

[1020] Yeah, yeah.

[1021] A little LaBowski.

[1022] Every once in a while, there's a picture of me. that'll show up online and it's from the big Lebowski sitting there at the bar looking right into the lens and then whoever it is it's selected that photo to you know and it's always about some right wing fucking thing you know what I mean right you that they've made you the poster I'm the poster child yeah well that's what I was kind of saying is the the roles you've played and stuff is kind of misleading.

[1023] Yeah, they are misleading.

[1024] I'm more the center.

[1025] I'm an alt -centrist, is what I say.

[1026] I mean, if you can't fucking sit down and talk to each other or reach across the aisle, you know, what the fuck?

[1027] How can you serve your constituents if you can't be talking about something that's everybody's going to benefit by?

[1028] The last sequence in the Big Lobosky was only there two days.

[1029] and did all that stuff in two days never got out of the bowling alley anyway I'd done this voiceover or the long speech at the end like I don't know the boys are sitting the Coen brothers are sitting right there behind the bar right next to the lens and I think I did it like I don't know I'd done about eight takes and I'd given it my best I pride myself with coming in ready to work yeah that's one thing that I've learned And I think that that's one thing that allowed me to get better.

[1030] And I had done that on that scene.

[1031] And I finally looked at these guys after about eight takes and I said, you guys got to tell me what you want.

[1032] I've done the best I can do.

[1033] And I think it was Joel that looked at me and said, oh, we had it on a fourth or fifth day.

[1034] We'd just like watching you do it.

[1035] And I ended up doing 15 takes on that.

[1036] It's just so they can enjoy it.

[1037] yeah i similarly i've directed a few movies and the two times in my life i forgot i i literally forgot to call cut was one was with bradley yeah i'm just watching him on the monitor do this fucking gnarly scene and he's so in it and i'm watching it and i totally forget i'm on a movie set i think i'm just watching the movie and i i forget to cut there's just a moment where he's like out of stuff to say he's clearly over and then he just kind of looks in the barrel and like oh jesus cut Right, right, right.

[1038] And then Jason Bateman, too, one time.

[1039] He just kind of started riffing, and I was like, yeah, I'll watch this for two hours as long as you want to go.

[1040] I get a front row seat to someone as good as you.

[1041] I'm just going to sit here and watch.

[1042] So that's a great feeling getting sucked into someone like that.

[1043] Happens occasionally, too, when you're acting with somebody and they kind of make everything fall away, right?

[1044] It's the best when that happens.

[1045] It is.

[1046] It's a really.

[1047] It doesn't happen a lot.

[1048] Right.

[1049] When that happens, there's nothing like it.

[1050] It's really fun.

[1051] Sam, I just want to say that over the years, I've had the pleasure of meeting a ton of my heroes, a lot of folks.

[1052] This business doesn't always promote happiness in some way, fulfillment.

[1053] It's kind of counterintuitive.

[1054] It is.

[1055] I think I've been disappointed more than I've been happy.

[1056] You over -delivered in every single way, just kind and generous and lovely.

[1057] And the highlight of doing the ranch, well, there are a couple.

[1058] I really just enjoyed that audience and everything.

[1059] But getting to come into work, see you, get a hug from you.

[1060] I was like, this is a very special thing that I'm present for and I'm grateful for.

[1061] Thank you, Dex.

[1062] Yeah, it's been such a highlight to get to know you.

[1063] I'm honored to be here.

[1064] Talk to you.

[1065] I miss you.

[1066] I miss you.

[1067] I'm so proud of what you're doing.

[1068] Oh, thank you.

[1069] I just want to see you keep doing it.

[1070] I'll try.

[1071] Maybe we'll get together again sometime, you know.

[1072] I'd love it.

[1073] I'd like to get out there to Malibu with the kids and let them trash that place.

[1074] Come on.

[1075] before we head to Oregon Well yeah I hope I see you again soon I appreciate you coming out Anytime pal Thank you And now my favorite part of the show The fact check with my soulmate Monica Padman Sam Sam the Muffin Man Is that something?

[1076] No that's Do you know the Muffin Man The Muffin Man Flam Flam the Muffin Man Do you know the Muffin Man He lives on Drury Lane Oh Drury Lane Yeah That sounds very English Do you think that's an English Nursary rhyme?

[1077] Definitely I think Drury Lane is an actual lane.

[1078] And it's a popular one?

[1079] I think so.

[1080] Oh, I'd love to live on Drury Lane.

[1081] It sounds Drury.

[1082] Oh, you would have major sad there.

[1083] Yeah, because you're thinking...

[1084] Dreary.

[1085] Derey, yeah.

[1086] Yeah, Drury.

[1087] In fact, I would even think maybe an English person's accent would make it sound like dreary.

[1088] It's dreary out.

[1089] Yeah, it kind of also sounds like jewelry.

[1090] Yeah, jewelry's.

[1091] I would not like it.

[1092] I mean, to be honest, I wouldn't really like it there anyway, because it's very rainy and dreary.

[1093] In England.

[1094] Yeah.

[1095] In England town.

[1096] Yeah.

[1097] But it's lovely, too.

[1098] It is lovely.

[1099] I studied abroad there.

[1100] I loved it.

[1101] But it was...

[1102] How long were you in London town?

[1103] A couple hours?

[1104] Long enough to stand in that line.

[1105] A couple months.

[1106] A couple months.

[1107] Maybe two.

[1108] So if we went to London, would you be able to navigate us around with ease?

[1109] No way.

[1110] That was so long ago that I went.

[1111] I mean, that would have been 2010.

[1112] Okay.

[1113] Maybe I'm wrong, but I, this would sound cocky, but I'm pretty sure, because I did the Ural trip when I was 19, went to a bunch of cities, and I'm pretty sure I could get from the train station to everywhere that I went.

[1114] Okay.

[1115] But I have a very, it is cocky.

[1116] It is cocky.

[1117] Yeah, that was a really long time ago.

[1118] It was, but I have a good, uh, 25 years ago.

[1119] Yeah, coming up on 26 years ago.

[1120] Wow.

[1121] Should I do a 26 year reunion?

[1122] trip?

[1123] Sure.

[1124] You're around?

[1125] Well, I have a good sense of navigation.

[1126] You do.

[1127] And I'm feeling very bullish.

[1128] Now, if we went and tested it, I bet it'd only be about 50%.

[1129] Now, I think I could do it in 75 % of the places I went and I bet it's really only 50.

[1130] But I bet it's 50.

[1131] Okay.

[1132] Do you trust me?

[1133] No. Okay.

[1134] I don't.

[1135] I don't.

[1136] I think you'd have us walking around all over the place looking for step wasting our day okay that's what i predict only one way to find out well yeah 26 anniversary trip to europe by the way can i just tell you one funny thing so my brother just turned 50 i love him david uh happy birthday david and so he's freaky because he's five years older than me so i know what's right around the corner basically and so we were texting about it and we were recalling my father's 50th birthday party and i'm telling you from my point of view we were sending him away like that party was it was a death party yes it was like it was like uh almost a retirement party or something it felt so old to me at 26 or four or whatever the hell i was when he turned 50 and we were both just kind of remembering how old we thought he was when he turned 50 and we had this big party with pictures of him everywhere like he was going to pass and now that i'm here that's very young a lot happens in five years.

[1137] Think about five years ago.

[1138] A lot's changed.

[1139] Yeah, I mean, I think as the older you get the less changes for you, right?

[1140] Like five years ago, I had a kid.

[1141] You were 39.

[1142] Wasn't even 40 yet.

[1143] 39.

[1144] We hadn't done this.

[1145] No. You had one kid, barely.

[1146] Barely.

[1147] Hadn't made chips.

[1148] Yeah, you hadn't done a lot of things.

[1149] Anything.

[1150] Yeah.

[1151] Yeah, you're right.

[1152] I was just a little baby.

[1153] Lots can change, is my point.

[1154] A lot's going to happen between now and 50 for you.

[1155] Yeah, probably.

[1156] That's exciting.

[1157] Yeah, so it doesn't feel like right around the, I'm saying, right around the corner is not really fair.

[1158] No, but just because he's my brother, and he doesn't feel that much older than me because we're brothers.

[1159] Whereas your parents feel way older than you.

[1160] I feel like old people, always.

[1161] Even when you're 15 and they're 30, well, that doesn't happen.

[1162] But let's say when you're 12, like my brother was 12 in my mom.

[1163] almost 30.

[1164] Uh -huh.

[1165] That was a young lady.

[1166] Very.

[1167] But he thought she was an old woman, I bet.

[1168] Yeah, of course.

[1169] That's what we do.

[1170] I mean, this is all relevant because...

[1171] Oh, yeah, because Sam is older than me. On the older side of life.

[1172] Yeah.

[1173] Right?

[1174] I don't want to make himself conscious if he listens.

[1175] Do you think he doesn't know that?

[1176] It's like something you can know, but do you want to hear?

[1177] Like, that people, like, when they think of you, one of the things they think of is old.

[1178] Well, I think is age is...

[1179] real, don't you?

[1180] I mean, I think people have ideas about old people.

[1181] Yeah.

[1182] That maybe isn't fair.

[1183] Yeah.

[1184] I do.

[1185] But sometimes it's fair.

[1186] Sometimes it's fair.

[1187] And then, but I'll recognize it.

[1188] Here's how I know.

[1189] I got a perfect analogy.

[1190] We all know that it's racist to say that a black person is well spoken.

[1191] Because what you've noticed is like, oh, they speak well.

[1192] Meaning you think the average black person doesn't speak well because they don't speak exactly like you similarly i will watch i can i can give you an example i've even said on this show i watch the rupert murdock interview on charlie rose and at the time i want to say he was 80 or something or late 70s and he had just acquired my space and i was like this motherfucker is sharp like he understands the future of social media at his i barely understand it and i'm 30 something so i was like i make a point to say how sharp someone is when they're older which is very similar.

[1193] I do not think it is because there's an actual brain degeneration that happens the older you get.

[1194] That's a real thing.

[1195] For some people.

[1196] No, no, for every person.

[1197] Your brain isn't not going to be at its same state as it is right now.

[1198] I'm not at its peak.

[1199] I think you're in ages.

[1200] I think we're finding out your age is right now, real time.

[1201] No, I'm not.

[1202] That is literally science.

[1203] Okay, sure.

[1204] So that happens.

[1205] So when somebody is 90 years old and seems to have all their facilities completely intact, it is remarkable.

[1206] That is unusual for someone of that age based on science.

[1207] But underneath that is you had a stereotype.

[1208] You expected them to be not with it.

[1209] And when they were with it, it seemed exceptional.

[1210] Because it actually is exceptional because of science.

[1211] I don't think it's as exceptional as we sometimes.

[1212] paying it out to be.

[1213] I think that's ageism, where we think everyone that's 80 has some mental decline that probably they don't.

[1214] And that I think people age differently.

[1215] I think the assumption shouldn't be that someone that's 80 is declined mentally.

[1216] I think that's a bad assumption to make and that when someone's not declined mentally, it's shocking.

[1217] That's the exact same way there's no difference between that and saying gay people have a higher rate of HIV.

[1218] So when I meet someone, I expect them to have AIDS.

[1219] Well, no. Yes.

[1220] And yes, that's true.

[1221] And no, that shouldn't be, you shouldn't walk in expecting them anything.

[1222] Ideally, like each individual should get a clean slate evaluation from us.

[1223] Right.

[1224] That's fair.

[1225] Yeah.

[1226] So he talks about Phil Bowerman, the Nike guy.

[1227] Oh, right.

[1228] He was going to go run for him.

[1229] Oh, at the University of Oregon.

[1230] Yeah.

[1231] And I didn't know if people don't know who he is.

[1232] He's an American teacher of and co -founder of Nike.

[1233] Over his career, he trained 31 Olympic athletes, 51 all -Americans, 12 American record holders, 22 NCAA champions, and 16 sub -4 -minute milers.

[1234] He disliked being called a coach, and during his 24 years at the University of Oregon.

[1235] The Ducks, track, and field team had a winning season every season but won.

[1236] Whoa.

[1237] Attained four NCAA titles and finished in the top 10 in the nation 16 times.

[1238] As co -founder of Nike, he invented some of their top brands, including the Cortez and Waffle Racer and assisted in the company moving from being a distributor of other shoe brands to one creating their own shoes in house.

[1239] And he made him with a real waffle iron.

[1240] Have you ever seen any footage of him in the early days?

[1241] I think I have.

[1242] Yeah, it's crazy.

[1243] Why didn't he like being called a coach?

[1244] What did he prefer?

[1245] I don't know.

[1246] It doesn't say.

[1247] Maybe he didn't like the ranking of it.

[1248] What if your coach announced I want to be referred to as your lover?

[1249] Problematic, right?

[1250] Probably a me -to moment.

[1251] Okay.

[1252] So you said guns are our hour.

[1253] It's hard to do our hour.

[1254] It's incredibly hard.

[1255] Yeah.

[1256] Guns are our biggest export.

[1257] So the U .S. is notably not just by far the world's largest military force, but also the largest supplier of arms.

[1258] But it's not our biggest export.

[1259] Yeah.

[1260] Yeah.

[1261] Currently, the biggest export is machinery, including computers.

[1262] $213 .1 billion.

[1263] $12 .8 % of total exports.

[1264] And then there's a bunch of others.

[1265] Mineral fuels, including oil.

[1266] Electrical machinery equipment, aircraft, spacecraft, vehicles.

[1267] Vehicles is number five.

[1268] Optical, technical, and medical apparatus.

[1269] Plastics, plastics, wait, plastics, plastic articles is seven.

[1270] Gems, precious metals, pharmaceuticals, and organic chemicals.

[1271] Those are top ten.

[1272] So, arms is not on there.

[1273] It's not.

[1274] I'm talking fighter jets, tanks, missiles, ballistics.

[1275] I don't just mean like pow -pow guns.

[1276] Right.

[1277] Yeah.

[1278] I don't see it on here.

[1279] Oh, okay.

[1280] I don't think.

[1281] Well, I just think about it this way.

[1282] When Trump hosted MBS, the big thing was they're spending $100 billion, just them.

[1283] Do you remember that?

[1284] No. Was it $100 billion that he kept announcing why we have this relationship with Saudi Arabia?

[1285] And he kept pointing to that they were going to buy $100 billion worth of stuff.

[1286] And he was listing like $12 billion.

[1287] I might have the numbers wrong.

[1288] But it was enormous.

[1289] And that was just Saudi Arabia.

[1290] Right.

[1291] It was crazy.

[1292] I don't know.

[1293] I don't know either.

[1294] Largest supplier, so that makes sense.

[1295] I mean, it could be in these categories.

[1296] Maybe it's in machinery.

[1297] I don't know.

[1298] And planes.

[1299] Aircraft, spacecraft.

[1300] Yeah.

[1301] Maybe they just haven't compiled all the, I don't know.

[1302] I don't know.

[1303] I don't need some independent research.

[1304] What I think the total military industrial complex export is.

[1305] Okay.

[1306] Those bunker busters?

[1307] What's that mean?

[1308] These missiles that we make, like each missile is like $50 ,000.

[1309] People are buying thousands of them.

[1310] Right.

[1311] There's a lot of money in it.

[1312] Oh, yeah.

[1313] Speaking of the military industrial complex, you said, was it Eisenhower and it is.

[1314] Oh, it is, always not, Weisenhower.

[1315] It is, yes, it is.

[1316] Well, they say Eisenhower was Weisenhower.

[1317] Very wise.

[1318] Oh, wow.

[1319] What a good nickname for him.

[1320] Yeah.

[1321] Can I tell you one interesting thing about our interstate highway system?

[1322] Sure.

[1323] So that was something that happened under Eisenhower.

[1324] And it was basically sold as kind of a military endeavor in that we needed it in case we had to transport military stuff.

[1325] And there's some requirement that every X amount of miles, there has to be a straight chunk, like a mile or two long so that aircraft can land on our interstate system.

[1326] Like it was designed specifically to be able to land jets anywhere we need.

[1327] it around the country.

[1328] Yeah, so it had two goals.

[1329] Cool.

[1330] Well, that is neat.

[1331] That's pretty much it.

[1332] That's everything.

[1333] Yeah, I mean, you said it was almost impossible to keep a family business going longer than a generation, but I did find the list of those.

[1334] And actually, Walmart is one of them.

[1335] Oh, sure, the Walton's?

[1336] Yeah.

[1337] What's interesting, I haven't looked at that Forbes top ten richest people in the world list in a long, long time, but I used to be super interested in who was the richest person in the world for some reason.

[1338] Is that ever interested in you?

[1339] Yeah, of course.

[1340] Oh, okay.

[1341] I would find that interesting, yeah.

[1342] Okay.

[1343] So you think the Salt and Brunei used to always be at the top of that list.

[1344] So you know, Warren Buffett, of course.

[1345] Now Bezos.

[1346] But anyways, about whenever I stopped reading those, I want to say like 10 years ago, always the decade I read that list, always in the top 10, five of them were fucking Walton's.

[1347] Wow.

[1348] All the children of Sam Walton, their chunk of it put them on the top 10 worldwide.

[1349] That's incredible.

[1350] That's a big chunk of cheddar cheese.

[1351] Yes, it is.

[1352] That little mouse could spin herself silly in that big chunk of cheese.

[1353] Big time.

[1354] Big time.

[1355] Now, one neat thing about their inheritance is it's predicated that they have to do a public works project in Bentonville.

[1356] Do you know this?

[1357] Yeah, so all of them to get their inheritance, they have to better the city, Bentonville.

[1358] So Bentonville has like some of the best museums in the world.

[1359] They have like the best bike path system.

[1360] They have all these weird, really nice public.

[1361] public work projects that have been funded by these the Walton's yeah that's interesting place um well if you're in Bentonville go visit that museum yeah it's the best one eight hundred million eight hundred million dollar endowment we had a couple good museums in Atlanta oh yeah yeah like a history museum nice history museum coca cola museum oh cocaula yeah there's well Atlanta's a great place everyone should visit it they should swing through Duluth oh yeah on their way up to Lake Lanier say hi to my mom and dad and grandma maybe get some kind of a custard you know an ice cream we don't call them that oh dq yeah blizzard for sure you don't call them custards ever frozen custard that was like a thing there was one place that opened when I was in high school I forget it what it's called and it was frozen custard and my friends were obsessed with it and so I went and I was so excited and then I was I was underwhelmed.

[1362] I was underwhelmed by the custard.

[1363] Was it called Cuckoo's frozen custard?

[1364] It wasn't.

[1365] Oh, cluck, cluck custard?

[1366] No. Is that what yours is called?

[1367] No. Oh.

[1368] I'm just making up names for custard.

[1369] Trying to come up with some alliteration with C. I think it was called like Gia's or something.

[1370] Oh, Italian.

[1371] Italian spin on the custard.

[1372] Yeah.

[1373] It wasn't Italian custard, though.

[1374] Or was it?

[1375] Well, wouldn't that be?

[1376] Jolato.

[1377] Jolato.

[1378] I love gelato.

[1379] Oh, it's nice.

[1380] I didn't think I cared about ice cream all that much.

[1381] And then when we worked in Rome, Will Arnett was super into the gelato.

[1382] And he sussed out all the best ones and he found it.

[1383] And we went there every single day.

[1384] It was heavenly.

[1385] I know.

[1386] We went to the best one in Florence.

[1387] Oh.

[1388] We found it and went when I studied abroad there.

[1389] Oh.

[1390] I didn't study abroad in Florence.

[1391] I studied, but I went there while I was studying abroad.

[1392] Was it called the Custer D 'Elegance?

[1393] I don't remember what it was called.

[1394] But I did buy a T -shirt from there.

[1395] Oh, you did?

[1396] Yeah.

[1397] Any tities on it, like the one you got in Nashville?

[1398] I don't remember any breasts on the shirt with the ice cream.

[1399] But it was a classy place.

[1400] They wouldn't have had naked ladies on it.

[1401] Although you see a lot of breasts around Italy, because all the art, you know.

[1402] That's true.

[1403] Yeah.

[1404] That's true.

[1405] Lots of exposed.

[1406] During the Renaissance.

[1407] They were popping...

[1408] You know, Italy has some of the best museums in the world.

[1409] Well, yeah, the Sistine Chapel.

[1410] That's a hell of a place.

[1411] Oh, yeah.

[1412] What's your favorite gelato flavor?

[1413] Pistachio.

[1414] No. Is that yours?

[1415] No. Mine's strachia tella.

[1416] Oh, yeah.

[1417] I love strachia tell.

[1418] There's little ribbons of chocolate in it?

[1419] Yes.

[1420] Yes.

[1421] So good.

[1422] It's like chocolate chip.

[1423] Yeah, I think that might be my favorite.

[1424] Or strawberry.

[1425] Straubiatoria.

[1426] I bet you ordered it so gross.

[1427] Oh, you better believe I did.

[1428] I'd go in and I'd go, grazie.

[1429] Ciao bello.

[1430] Stradadali.

[1431] What was the one that you?

[1432] Strachietella.

[1433] Oh, my God.

[1434] Give me an extra big a one.

[1435] Ew.

[1436] I'm a very hungry.

[1437] I need a sugar.

[1438] A variety of ducay.

[1439] Stop.

[1440] Very sexy.

[1441] Oh, my God.

[1442] You love it.

[1443] No, I love it.

[1444] No. I don't.

[1445] All right.

[1446] Well, thanks for tuning in.

[1447] I'm sorry.

[1448] Get yourself a nice plate of a strachitelli.

[1449] In a bowl of oatmeal.

[1450] Oh, my God.

[1451] Goodbye.

[1452] Love you.

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