Speaker 1: The Season with Peter Schreeger as a production of the
Speaker 1: NFL in partnership with My Heart Radio. What's off everybody? Uh,
Speaker 1: it's Peter Schreeger. This is the season with Peter Schreeger.
Speaker 1: I am so thrilled to be hosting this podcast this week.
Speaker 1: We just got through an incredible, incredible championship game between
Speaker 1: the Bengals and the Chiefs, the Eagles and forty Niners.
Speaker 1: Not so much. Nothing against the Eagles and what they
Speaker 1: just accomplished. They dominated, but that game to me is
Speaker 1: forever tainted by the quarterback situation with San Francisco. Um.
Speaker 1: Nothing taking away from this NFC championship. They were the
Speaker 1: number one seed, the Eagles and everything they possibly could
Speaker 1: and did so uh in flying colors, and they have
Speaker 1: just rolled into the Super Bowl. But gosh, that an
Speaker 1: f C championship game was one of the classics. And uh,
Speaker 1: I think our guest this week is gonna help us
Speaker 1: relive it and give some thoughts and then go a
Speaker 1: lot deeper in it. Our guest is a gentleman named
Speaker 1: Eric stone Street. He played Cam on Modern Family. He
Speaker 1: is an incredible, incredible dude. He is a friend of mine.
Speaker 1: We've gotten to know each other through the Chiefs um
Speaker 1: and his love for the Kansas City franchise. But over
Speaker 1: the last few years we've become incredibly close and I'll
Speaker 1: talk to him just about every other week about the
Speaker 1: Chiefs and where they're at. And he joined on the
Speaker 1: podcast today and is it is beautiful? He's wonderful and
Speaker 1: he gives us stuff from not only his experience an
Speaker 1: Arrowhead on Sunday Night, but also his career in Hollywood
Speaker 1: and how it wasn't a meteoric rise to the top,
Speaker 1: how they were setbacks and there was a difficult journey
Speaker 1: and there was adversity, and there were people who took
Speaker 1: shots on him, and gosh, it sang to me, and
Speaker 1: I think it would sing to any football fan as
Speaker 1: maybe Hollywood is as competitive as the NFL. And for
Speaker 1: Eric stone Street to come out of it all with
Speaker 1: two Emmy Awards for his role in Modern Family Um
Speaker 1: is the stuff that we love talking about, and the
Speaker 1: journey and the path and just having confidence in yourself
Speaker 1: and trusting those who give you a shot. Real quick,
Speaker 1: before we get to the interview, some top line stuff.
Speaker 1: If you're listening when this thing posts coaching jobs right now,
Speaker 1: there has been one that has been filled. That is
Speaker 1: the Carolina Panthers gig and that is Frank Reich. If
Speaker 1: you told me a month ago that Frank Wich would
Speaker 1: be the first coach hired in the coaching hiring process,
Speaker 1: I would have told you that's probably not going to
Speaker 1: be the case. Well it was. It made a lot
Speaker 1: of sense through Carolina side. Of course, there has been
Speaker 1: some questions as to why Steve Wilkes did not keep
Speaker 1: his job. Let's see where Wilkes. He ends up. A
Speaker 1: fine coach in his own regard, a guy that we
Speaker 1: almost had on the podcast one time. At the last
Speaker 1: second he had to cancel because he had to prepare
Speaker 1: for a game. I love Steve Wilkes. We'll see where
Speaker 1: his career goes. But that job went to Frank Reich,
Speaker 1: sixty one year old head coach now of the Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 1: He was the head coach the Indianapolis Colts. Of course,
Speaker 1: he was with the Eagles and the Chargers before that.
Speaker 1: Reich as a leader, he's a gentleman. And if Doug
Speaker 1: Peterson set the standard of hey fired from one place,
Speaker 1: you know, hang your head in infamy. Be a shame. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: get back on the horse and let me show you something. Carolina.
Speaker 1: They hit it off. Of course you saw the numbers
Speaker 1: and the stats there that he was the first Carolina
Speaker 1: Panthers quarterback to ever throw a touchdown pass. He's on
Speaker 1: the expansion Panthers and it all comes full circle. But
Speaker 1: what about those other jobs. I'm hearing Damiko Ryan's to
Speaker 1: Houston is almost a formality at this point, So put
Speaker 1: that one there. That makes a lot of sense for
Speaker 1: more second round pick, superstar player for them. He was
Speaker 1: the captain of the Houston Texans for several seasons. Uh,
Speaker 1: that would be a fit. That makes a lot of sense. Arizona,
Speaker 1: they have They've had interview invites out for just about everybody,
Speaker 1: and they added more today as we record this. On Tuesday,
Speaker 1: um By Kafka, the Giants offensive coordinator, has been has
Speaker 1: been interview. I reported on Monday that both Bengals defensive
Speaker 1: coordinator Louana Rumo and offensive coordinator and former guests on
Speaker 1: the season with Peter Trigger Brian Callahan both got interviews
Speaker 1: with Arizona. They're both there today as we speak. Denver's
Speaker 1: the interesting one. Denver has been quiet. I will say
Speaker 1: this as Denver and Indie and Arizona are still kind
Speaker 1: of jockeying, and I think Houston and Carolina are kind
Speaker 1: of spoken for. I work with Sean Payton on Sunday's Guys.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of reports this weekend that said
Speaker 1: that Sean Payton had no seats for him. I would
Speaker 1: say that Sean Payne had every opportunity to confirm that
Speaker 1: on our show on Sunday. He could have confirmed that
Speaker 1: to me. He could have confirmed that to America. He
Speaker 1: could have gracefully said this wasn't the year and I'm
Speaker 1: I'm moving on to other options as we record this
Speaker 1: on Tuesday. I believe that if Sean Payton wanted to
Speaker 1: bow out and wait for next year, he would have
Speaker 1: said it by now, and he would have said, I
Speaker 1: am happy to be coming back to Fox. He took
Speaker 1: the opportunity to not say that. Said that this week
Speaker 1: will tell a lot, which means he is still in
Speaker 1: the conversations. Whether that's for Arizona or Denver, I cannot
Speaker 1: report because I do not know at the moment, but
Speaker 1: I will say that the fact he did not close
Speaker 1: the door on either one of those jobs tells me
Speaker 1: he is still very much in the conversation for both
Speaker 1: of those jobs. Okay, onto football. A lot of stuff
Speaker 1: going on around the league, but this is all about
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl, and we now have a solid week
Speaker 1: and a half to preview it, preview it, preview it. UM,
Speaker 1: leave that in their errand I like what I just
Speaker 1: randomly mispronounced words that I've been saying my entire life. Um,
Speaker 1: And We're gonna do so. But I wouldn't be me
Speaker 1: if I didn't have to go through what we just
Speaker 1: saw this Bengals Chiefs game. I rewatched it on Monday night,
Speaker 1: after already sitting through it and grinding my teeth on
Speaker 1: a on a Jet Blue flight back watching it on
Speaker 1: a little Jet Blue screen where they're like, actually there's
Speaker 1: turbulence in the air and we have to leave you
Speaker 1: for three minutes. I'm like, I get back and back.
Speaker 1: It was incredibly, incredibly painful to watch a game that
Speaker 1: was so close and be in and out and then
Speaker 1: the whole fourth quarter. I got to watch the whole
Speaker 1: way through, right through the rough in the past there
Speaker 1: called you know, as we turned the page. It's games
Speaker 1: like this that will always remember where we were when
Speaker 1: we saw it, and you know who we were with.
Speaker 1: I'll never forget. I'm on a plane and Severn Rose
Speaker 1: ahead of me. Michael Irvin is also on the same plane.
Speaker 1: I am flying back from l A where I did
Speaker 1: the Fox pregame show, and I'm coming to New York
Speaker 1: because I do Good Morning Football every morning Monday to Friday,
Speaker 1: seven to ten am Eastern. We have to be here
Speaker 1: by five am. So that game was late. But because
Speaker 1: the championship games were staggered at different hours, I got
Speaker 1: in really late. And I'm on that Lafe flight. Michael
Speaker 1: Irvin gets on the plane. This is what I love
Speaker 1: and picture this. He's up there in the front and
Speaker 1: he's watching the game and he doesn't have his headphones in,
Speaker 1: so he's just watching the game. I'm mute, and every play.
Speaker 1: Michael Irvin, the guy that you see on TV on
Speaker 1: NFL Network, but you also see on first take on
Speaker 1: Monday mornings. It's really, oh the longest see that pass.
Speaker 1: He's just talking to the entire cabin. He walks back
Speaker 1: several rows and I'm not gonna say how many several
Speaker 1: I don't want to talk about where we sat on
Speaker 1: this plane, and uh he you know, in between dribes like, yore,
Speaker 1: what did you think of that borrow? You know, what
Speaker 1: do you think of that happened? What do you think
Speaker 1: of that penalty? Did they explain the third down and
Speaker 1: nine on? Just this is the life that I'm living.
Speaker 1: I'm on the road a lot, but like I'll never
Speaker 1: forget every commercial break, Michael Irvin coming back and talking
Speaker 1: to me and us breaking down the game in real time.
Speaker 1: This is a guy that I grew up watching, uh
Speaker 1: make all the plays in the big championship games and
Speaker 1: the Super Bowls for the Dallas Cowboys. But that's that's
Speaker 1: the life we're at right now, and that's the season
Speaker 1: with Peter Schrager. Um. But Michael Irvin and I take
Speaker 1: a giant backseat to the chair that that one Eric
Speaker 1: stone Street had Again. Eric stone Street, you know as
Speaker 1: Cam for Modern Family. He was also in uh the
Speaker 1: movie Almost Famous, and he has been on several different
Speaker 1: shows and he has one Emmy's and he's just an
Speaker 1: incredible dude. But he is a Kansas City native and
Speaker 1: a die hard fan. And uh, my lengthy and I
Speaker 1: think awesome interview with Eric stone Street is up and
Speaker 1: as I mentioned in the monologue, he's one of my
Speaker 1: favorite guys that I've met the last few years through
Speaker 1: Good Morning Football. A die hard football fan and all
Speaker 1: around great guy. And to me, truly, if you're trying
Speaker 1: to find the heart and soul of like Okaya City
Speaker 1: Chiefs fan, this is your your perfect ambassador, Mr Eric
Speaker 1: stone Street. How are you, my Fred I'm very good.
Speaker 1: My heart has finally calmed down a little bit and
Speaker 1: my bones have stopped chattering from the cold of Arrowhead.
Speaker 1: What about your heart, though, because the cold was one thing,
Speaker 1: but the game itself and we're just gonna get right
Speaker 1: into it, the a f C Championship game. It's still
Speaker 1: too fresh to like kind of have a perspective on it.
Speaker 1: But now that we're forty eight hours removed a recording
Speaker 1: this I said to you over text last night. I
Speaker 1: think it was probably the most satisfying win of Mahomes's career.
Speaker 1: The first time I've ever seen this Chief's team openly doubted,
Speaker 1: first time I've ever seen this Chiefs team get actually
Speaker 1: talked at them. The first time I've seen this Chiefs
Speaker 1: team actually lean into it. And they win. They win,
Speaker 1: and and and it was different. This is a different
Speaker 1: kind of game from the start of the Mahomes era.
Speaker 1: You know, it was a different I think Patrick and
Speaker 1: Travis said it best. You've got you know, the mayor
Speaker 1: of the city that we're playing coming after, which I
Speaker 1: know for a fact that Zach and the organization just
Speaker 1: hated what. I mean, it's so against everything that I
Speaker 1: feel like Zach is about, like as a coach and
Speaker 1: a player. So you know, they hated that I had.
Speaker 1: I couldn't leave it unaddressed and had to call him
Speaker 1: a dork, which is what it was. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: like for I wanted to say, first rule of being funny,
Speaker 1: be funny. That's that's number one anyway, So all that
Speaker 1: and and look then the Eli Apple stuff and the
Speaker 1: players stuff and burrow Head. I mean I love it.
Speaker 1: You know, as a fan, we love the bad guy,
Speaker 1: We love all that stuff. But in this world today
Speaker 1: where everybody thinks that or not everybody but the fringe
Speaker 1: thinks that the NFL is rigged, it doesn't help that.
Speaker 1: Somehow it became a little bit like in that way,
Speaker 1: even though Travis's comments at the ends calling him to
Speaker 1: GABBRONI was probably I mean, it's all over T shirts
Speaker 1: already in Kansas City. Oh my gosh, yes everywhere. Uh
Speaker 1: so that that was a great reference to the Rock.
Speaker 1: But look here's the deal. Uh, the whole borrowhead thing.
Speaker 1: You know, it just it motivated the guys more than
Speaker 1: they were already motivated. They didn't address it. Um, I
Speaker 1: was in my suite getting the arrowhead chance started, Uh,
Speaker 1: trying my hardest to get the whole stadium doing that.
Speaker 1: But it was a great game. The Cincinnati fan base
Speaker 1: went from what seemingly seems to be the cockiest fan
Speaker 1: base of all time to somewhat of the whiniest fan base.
Speaker 1: We're doing a show up a voting football. We're just
Speaker 1: giving credit to the Chiefs for overcoming injuries. And like
Speaker 1: their comments are from Bengals fans telling us the refs,
Speaker 1: the refs cosses cost them the game. Look, I've been
Speaker 1: and we here's what I would say to Bengals fans.
Speaker 1: It's like we all been there, Like we've all been
Speaker 1: a look at the roughing the pastor call against Chris
Speaker 1: Jones and Championship against Tom Well against Tom Brady, Uh,
Speaker 1: like it didn't happen, he didn't hit him. This was
Speaker 1: actually a roughing the pastor call that you can argue
Speaker 1: the refs. You're like, oh, but look at the inverse
Speaker 1: of that, had they not called it, what would that
Speaker 1: have looked like? Right? And the whole third down thing
Speaker 1: that's also uh or the do over play. Yeah, when
Speaker 1: you see the whole picture in the referee running in
Speaker 1: stopping the play, it looked bad. Optically it looked bad,
Speaker 1: But look at the inverse of that had they not
Speaker 1: called it. Then you say, well, the chief on the field. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the chiefs were like, well, that guy's in my way.
Speaker 1: So I get it. I get it. From the perspective
Speaker 1: of it hurts, and I would just look to the
Speaker 1: comments of your coach and Joe Burrow and the people
Speaker 1: that actually step on the field to play that you
Speaker 1: aren't find by one player. I've had to swallow that
Speaker 1: pill myself. Andy Reid taught me to swallow that pill
Speaker 1: of you play how many players in the game. There
Speaker 1: were many opportunities for the Bengals to beat us. And
Speaker 1: let me tell you, Cincinnati fans, I thought there was
Speaker 1: a chance you were going to beat us. So I
Speaker 1: get it, but move on. It will make you feel
Speaker 1: better just to move on. I've had to do it
Speaker 1: many times, heartbreaking losses for Chiefs fans. You grew up
Speaker 1: a Chiefs fan, obviously, and you've been through it. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I've done this with Chiefs fans for years.
Speaker 1: You start ranking them and there's Lynn Elliott and there's
Speaker 1: d Ford and all this stuff. Is it crazy that
Speaker 1: now you guys are the team that actually pulls these
Speaker 1: wins out? Like have you co and accustomed to that?
Speaker 1: That now we're the team that in the end of
Speaker 1: the day, like we actually beat Buffalo after having to
Speaker 1: do it in thirteen seconds, we actually do beat the
Speaker 1: Houston Texans after being down twenty four nothing in a
Speaker 1: playoff game. And now this game where you're down everyone,
Speaker 1: there's no Juju, there's no Tony, there's no hard men,
Speaker 1: there's none Willy Gate, and they find a way. Well,
Speaker 1: that is a testament to our friend, our mutual friend,
Speaker 1: Brett Veach, and Andy Reid gives him the credit rightfully.
Speaker 1: So all the time of stacking that roster of nex
Speaker 1: man up. I mean, that's the principle of football, right
Speaker 1: And every NFL team reminds us each week that they
Speaker 1: are professionals, that they are the best players on their
Speaker 1: college teams that make it to the league, and at
Speaker 1: any given time, credit to Cincinnati's offensive line against the Bills,
Speaker 1: and credit Cincinnati's offensive line against us. I mean, yes,
Speaker 1: we had our sacks, but they they slowed us down.
Speaker 1: Their schemes slowed us down in the second half. I
Speaker 1: truly thought the way we came out, there was a
Speaker 1: chance that we could hang some points on him, and
Speaker 1: we didn't. I mean, it was a tough game. That's
Speaker 1: the other thing I would say. It's like criticizing Travis,
Speaker 1: you know, in his passion or our passion of winning
Speaker 1: by three points. I'm sorry, can we hit the rewind
Speaker 1: button and see how many points the Bengals beat us
Speaker 1: by the last three times you beat us? And you
Speaker 1: did beat us. We you know, that's the That's another
Speaker 1: thing I would say. There's so much about this that's
Speaker 1: so um rewarding, right. I can't imagine how rewarding it
Speaker 1: is for again, the people that actually strap up the
Speaker 1: shoulder pads and get on the field. I'm just a
Speaker 1: dumb fan, right, But those games were hard fought games
Speaker 1: before and kudos to the Bengals winning them. It didn't
Speaker 1: mean anything in the long run. They didn't end up
Speaker 1: going on to win the Super Bowl and the games
Speaker 1: that they beat us in the regular season. It's called
Speaker 1: any given Sunday. We everybody beats everybody during the season.
Speaker 1: It's when you beat them is what matters. And in
Speaker 1: this time, in this opportunity agains the a f C.
Speaker 1: In the a f C Championship, you lost. Uh. Fourth
Speaker 1: quarter starts and there's a drum being banged on the
Speaker 1: top of arrowhead and the fans are needing a pep talk.
Speaker 1: Who is banging that drama? And how does that come about? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, I been privileged to be able to bang
Speaker 1: the drum when it was down on the field a
Speaker 1: few times and up in the upper deck now a
Speaker 1: few times. And Clark Hunt always does it at the
Speaker 1: a f C Championship. And I was fortunate enough to
Speaker 1: do it for the f C Championship when we beat Tennessee.
Speaker 1: I didn't do it uh last year uh and uh
Speaker 1: we lost. Uh. So I was back this year. When
Speaker 1: do you Eric, When do you get that call? When
Speaker 1: does Clark Hunt or Ted Cruzer, Ryan Pala who who
Speaker 1: tits you up? And it's like, you know, we need
Speaker 1: your fourth quarter. You're banging the drum. Yeah, So that's
Speaker 1: a direct call to Veach and then Veach to me,
Speaker 1: because if each knows my personality and he knows that, like, yes,
Speaker 1: I love talking to Peter Schreeger about the Kansas City Chiefs,
Speaker 1: but I also don't like it to seem like I'm
Speaker 1: somehow at the forefront of Chief's kingdom all the time.
Speaker 1: So I I do pick and choose what I do
Speaker 1: and when I do it, and I hadn't done it
Speaker 1: in two seasons, so it was time maybe for me
Speaker 1: to show my face there again. You know, I'm at
Speaker 1: every game, I'm in my suite. I don't want to
Speaker 1: be on the JumboTron. I don't want to be around.
Speaker 1: I just want to watch the game. But this seemed
Speaker 1: like the moment I was caught up in the passion
Speaker 1: as well with the mayor and all his comments, and
Speaker 1: I just felt like, Okay, it's time to make a
Speaker 1: return to the drum deck and let me go up
Speaker 1: there in the arctic cold and beat the out of
Speaker 1: that beg that droump baby, and you do. But for
Speaker 1: the record, everybody was like, you turn us around Stowe
Speaker 1: Street down on the field. I'm like, actually, it was
Speaker 1: fourth and six right after that, and they picked it
Speaker 1: up so that I don't think, Yes, um, I love
Speaker 1: that you go to every game, and I think that's cool.
Speaker 1: So you might think, all right, here's this guy, successful actor,
Speaker 1: Hollywood all this stuff. You go to every Chief's home game. Dude,
Speaker 1: you're legit, You're the real deal. Um. And and is
Speaker 1: that from childhood? When did that really start? Well, we
Speaker 1: got season tickets when I was in high school. My
Speaker 1: uncle had season tickets at the old Stadium and would
Speaker 1: give us his every once in a while. But in
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty six or eighties seven, probably Todd Blackledge era.
Speaker 1: Who are we talking about, Yeah, Todd Blackledge. Uh, you
Speaker 1: know right at the end of the Bill Kinney era
Speaker 1: is when I got season tickets. Steve de Bergh, those
Speaker 1: guys were all there, and I had season tickets in
Speaker 1: the no alcohol section. That was the way I got
Speaker 1: my dad to let us get season tickets, because you know,
Speaker 1: I was a kid, and I was and so we
Speaker 1: were there. And now the suite that we have is
Speaker 1: right above those seats, which is such a cool full
Speaker 1: circle moment. But let me tell you the reason I
Speaker 1: we got the suite, And again it comes back to
Speaker 1: Brett Veach. All roads lead to Brett veach Um when
Speaker 1: we started to become pals. He literally said, you're not
Speaker 1: gonna want to miss games this season? And I said
Speaker 1: for real? And he's like, dude, We're going to the
Speaker 1: super Bowl and you don't want to miss this. So
Speaker 1: I called Tyler, the then VP at Chiefs, and said,
Speaker 1: what do you have available? This was the last season
Speaker 1: of Modern Family, so I was making trip home every
Speaker 1: week that the Chiefs were here. We signed up for
Speaker 1: the suite, got the suite, and I didn't miss a
Speaker 1: game because Brett Beach told me not to miss a game,
Speaker 1: and he delivered on his promise. We went to the
Speaker 1: super Bowl and won. It is that not amazing? And
Speaker 1: and I know Brett for a long time. If you're listening,
Speaker 1: is the GM of the Chiefs. Obviously there's been no
Speaker 1: Burt person. And it's not a cockiness. It's not an
Speaker 1: over confidence, not arrogance. The second he laid eyes on Mahomes,
Speaker 1: he has been telling me that this this dude will
Speaker 1: change our franchise and he will change lives in this market.
Speaker 1: He's incredible and not enough is said about him. You know,
Speaker 1: as a GM first, I don't think, but as a
Speaker 1: person I think he's a quality human being. And I
Speaker 1: tell people all the time that we are lucky to
Speaker 1: have Brett Veach is our GM. But getting to know
Speaker 1: him in his thought process and his care and concern
Speaker 1: for the players, and thoughtfulness of the fans and everyone
Speaker 1: in the organization, and how much he is involved in
Speaker 1: the minutia in a good way, we are very, very
Speaker 1: lucky to have him as a leader of our Chiefs.
Speaker 1: It's great. And last year when you and I really
Speaker 1: met in person, it was at the a f C
Speaker 1: Championship game, maybe one of the lowest days of your
Speaker 1: Chiefs fandom, but it was around halftime and I popped
Speaker 1: my head into a box and the commissioner was there,
Speaker 1: and Curtis Martin was there, and I think Willie Lanier
Speaker 1: was there, and there's Eric stone Street, who i've to
Speaker 1: crumbry wearing a cowboy hat and Bengal stuff talking smack too,
Speaker 1: was talking smack. And you guys were up at a
Speaker 1: half and you're like, and they scored a touchdown. You
Speaker 1: looked at me and I saw this look in your
Speaker 1: face that I know from all my Jets fan friends
Speaker 1: and from all my you know, long suffering UH friends
Speaker 1: who are Vikings fans? And you said, Okay, I have
Speaker 1: to go back to my seat. I can't be sitting
Speaker 1: here mingling. This is not lucky for me. And like
Speaker 1: I know that superstition Juju thing and Eric I do
Speaker 1: right that and there like this guy's hardcore. Well it's
Speaker 1: not only it's it's different than like superstition. I get
Speaker 1: to the game, but for the players get to the game.
Speaker 1: I mean I've rolled into the stadium and been driving
Speaker 1: alongside Travis Kelsey like telling him good game. That's when
Speaker 1: I get to the game, right, because I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: be out there, but I want, I want to breathe
Speaker 1: it all in and I want to focus because my
Speaker 1: attention is there. And I was in that suite and
Speaker 1: I was out of my element. I wasn't myself at
Speaker 1: that game. And I know I'm not stupid and think
Speaker 1: that I really have anything to do with the outcome,
Speaker 1: but my mind wasn't right and I needed to go
Speaker 1: back to my suite and stop talking to people and
Speaker 1: sit in my seat and get focused back on the game.
Speaker 1: And I was nervous and worried because well what happened.
Speaker 1: We lost? We got beat and I blame myself. I
Speaker 1: blame myself. You're laughing, but like that's you know that
Speaker 1: is a fan, because you know, I'll go back to
Speaker 1: all my friends who are Red Sox fans in college
Speaker 1: and they're like, we have to sit in this room
Speaker 1: to watch this series otherwise it's real. And you start
Speaker 1: blaming yourself for these losses because why was I hobnobbing
Speaker 1: with Commissioner Goodell that that wasn't the time and place right.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're the hardcore fan. You want to be
Speaker 1: in the trenches, and I'm the same way with you know,
Speaker 1: away games and televised I get invited all the time
Speaker 1: to go to a bar or to go to a
Speaker 1: friend's house and watch the game. And I always know
Speaker 1: when people truly know me, uh, they don't call me
Speaker 1: and they don't invite me anywhere on a Sunday at
Speaker 1: noon or three thirty or whatever the game time is.
Speaker 1: I don't watch football games with other people, or I
Speaker 1: only watch people football games with people that are like
Speaker 1: me and don't talk. Yes, look that's it. Um, you've
Speaker 1: become such a piece of this this run obviously, and
Speaker 1: I know Andy would have you in over the summers
Speaker 1: that training can't you do the Randy Reid thing, which
Speaker 1: was great. You've gotten a chance to get to know
Speaker 1: Andy read it all, and like, what kind of guy
Speaker 1: is See for those who don't know Andy the man,
Speaker 1: they know him as just the figure on television. You know,
Speaker 1: I have gotten a chance to get to know him.
Speaker 1: I can't believe I'm saying that. I was always so
Speaker 1: intimidated by Coach Read. And the first interaction we ever
Speaker 1: had was it as San Diego away game when they
Speaker 1: were the Sandy. But no, it was I guess it
Speaker 1: would have been that last season they were San Diego
Speaker 1: and I was standing at the top of the tunnel.
Speaker 1: We had one in dramatic fashion at the end of
Speaker 1: the game, and he comes to the top of the
Speaker 1: ramp and he just sees me and he goes like
Speaker 1: that on my chest and it was this one, not
Speaker 1: this one, like right, and he just went like that.
Speaker 1: No words were spoken, and I just was like, that
Speaker 1: just happened to Coach We just acknowledged me. It's like
Speaker 1: the song the Prince song. She spoke to me, she
Speaker 1: spoke to me. Uh, Coach Red just uh. It was insane.
Speaker 1: That was our first interaction. And then because of each
Speaker 1: You know again, I've I've gotten a no coach, And
Speaker 1: you know, we have a lot of references that are
Speaker 1: the same, being a big kid, him growing up in
Speaker 1: l A, me living in l A. He has friends
Speaker 1: that work in the entertainment industry. One guy that was
Speaker 1: cameraman on our show was a really close friend of his.
Speaker 1: We have the same food references, the same love and
Speaker 1: passion for for food, and the and the obviously football
Speaker 1: and the Kansas City Chiefs. But he is a great person.
Speaker 1: You want to talk about a guy. I always say this,
Speaker 1: It's like I don't know how he does it, but
Speaker 1: he seems to know everything that's going on around him.
Speaker 1: And when I say that, I mean what TV shows
Speaker 1: are on, what popular music is happening, what Lagarius need
Speaker 1: has been up to, how the ankle is on Clyde
Speaker 1: Edwards Hilaire, what his assistant needs to put on his desk.
Speaker 1: I mean, from the smallest thing to the most ridiculous
Speaker 1: pop culture thing. It seems like Coach Reid is right
Speaker 1: there with it, which is a great gift but also
Speaker 1: a tribute to what kind of human being he is,
Speaker 1: which is an outward, upward life living person. Right and
Speaker 1: I see why play yours love him because he's a
Speaker 1: unique personality and a funny guy and he allows people
Speaker 1: to be the greatest they want to be while having
Speaker 1: fun doing it. Is my take on Coach read that's
Speaker 1: that's awesome. And I work with you know, so many
Speaker 1: of like former players and whether it be a Brian
Speaker 1: Westbrook or a Michael Vick or uh you go right
Speaker 1: down to Shady McCoy, Like the love that these guys
Speaker 1: have for Andy Reid is forever. And that's even if
Speaker 1: these guys were traded or cut or whatever, and it's
Speaker 1: like that's a special human they love big red love well.
Speaker 1: I think it all starts with honesty too. I think
Speaker 1: Coach is an honest person. What would be my take
Speaker 1: on Coach? Again, I'm not a player and don't have
Speaker 1: that relationship with him, but listening to other people talk
Speaker 1: about him, it's like you kind of know where you
Speaker 1: stand with Coach, which is a great gift in life
Speaker 1: when you're dealing with anyone in the leadership position, whether
Speaker 1: it's good or bad, it's nice to know where what
Speaker 1: they think about you, whether if they love you, which
Speaker 1: they love you up, coach you up or mad at you,
Speaker 1: disappointed in your whatever it is. And I've you know,
Speaker 1: talked to a few friends of mine that have played
Speaker 1: for Coach, and one thing that they always remind me
Speaker 1: is enjoy these years because as Chiefs fans and football fans,
Speaker 1: we're in rarefied air, like we are really truly in
Speaker 1: this moment of He's a one of one. God broke
Speaker 1: the mold when they made Coach read his attention to detail,
Speaker 1: his attention to preparation and getting teams ready to scheme
Speaker 1: and play and win when you have a quarterback with
Speaker 1: one ankle, when you have no wide receivers other than
Speaker 1: three left. Um. He's a unique individual and Kansas City
Speaker 1: can never forget how lucky we are to have him.
Speaker 1: Uh could do a quick bit of story time where
Speaker 1: I just kind of throw on a topic and you
Speaker 1: tell me stories about your career in your life, because
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of life lessons we can
Speaker 1: all learn from you. I love you, I think you're awesome,
Speaker 1: and I think some of the stuff that everyone sees
Speaker 1: on televisions something, but you've got an amazing career and
Speaker 1: I think would be kind of cool if I just
Speaker 1: like throw questions at you and you answer them taken
Speaker 1: wherever you want? Is that all right? Yeah? I'm usually
Speaker 1: better at that, like being prompted and reminded of things. Um,
Speaker 1: almost famous, you get casted into that film. Um, take
Speaker 1: us to where you were in your life and your
Speaker 1: career at that point and what that meant for you.
Speaker 1: I had one credit on my resume. Uh. My agent
Speaker 1: at the time sent me in to see Gail Levin,
Speaker 1: the casting director for Cameron Crowe, and I read for
Speaker 1: the Philip Seymour Hoffman role, Lester Bangs and she I finished,
Speaker 1: and she looked over the paper and she was very sweet,
Speaker 1: and she said where are you from? And I said
Speaker 1: Kansas City. She's like, how long have you been in
Speaker 1: l A. And I'm like twelve, twelve months or eleven months,
Speaker 1: whatever it was at the time. She's like, well, you're
Speaker 1: very good. You're not going to get this part, but
Speaker 1: you're very good. And I said, I don't think I
Speaker 1: should get this. I can't believe i'm here. I have
Speaker 1: Darman Greg on my resume. Uh. And she said, but
Speaker 1: I really want you to meet Cameron and I think
Speaker 1: he would really like you. And I said, okay, sure,
Speaker 1: and I leave and this was still at my career
Speaker 1: when I shared things with people because I thought they
Speaker 1: were actually gonna happen. So I called my parents and
Speaker 1: I told my best friends. I'm like, I'm gonna meet
Speaker 1: Cameron Crowe, uh, not knowing that most people in our
Speaker 1: business don't follow through on what they say. In the moment,
Speaker 1: she happened to be the person that followed through, and
Speaker 1: a few weeks her name Gail Levin, Gail Leven. Every
Speaker 1: person in our lives like in our career, it's like,
Speaker 1: you'll never forget those people that help open doors. Gail Leven,
Speaker 1: and she brought me back in and here I go
Speaker 1: up into this loft in Santa Monica and Cameron Crowe
Speaker 1: with his cam quarter following me around the room as
Speaker 1: I'm saying these five lines, and he's like, now do
Speaker 1: it this way, now do it that way. Like made
Speaker 1: me feel like I was about to be the lead
Speaker 1: in a movie. And I left there feeling so proud
Speaker 1: and excited to be a performer and an actor. And
Speaker 1: then a couple of weeks later, I got the part,
Speaker 1: and then we shot the part and opened a lot
Speaker 1: of doors for me. People always ask about that, you know,
Speaker 1: it's uh five lines and a major motion picture mean
Speaker 1: a tremendous amount to an actor at any time in
Speaker 1: their career. But for me, it gave people permission to
Speaker 1: think I was good, even if they thought maybe I
Speaker 1: was good. Well, Cameron Crow cast him in a Steven
Speaker 1: Spielberg movie cast by Gail Levin, so he must be good.
Speaker 1: It's like, oh, yeah, he's great. That's yeah. Um, next name,
Speaker 1: and the viewers and listeners might not know who it is,
Speaker 1: but if hold on, he's calling. Look who's calling right now?
Speaker 1: That's so funny Brett Veach Collin. Hopefully the number doesn't
Speaker 1: reveal itself. Tell him we're doing this right now. I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear his response. Um, I'm gonna give you
Speaker 1: an I'm gonna take a picture and send it to
Speaker 1: him real quick. Go ahead. The name is Joe Pitka.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, who is Joe pitt Gun? Why is
Speaker 1: he important in your life? Joe Pitca is the craziest,
Speaker 1: best guy ever that intimidates, has intimidated so many people,
Speaker 1: But for whatever reason, our personalities clicked. He called me,
Speaker 1: uh what did he call me? Oh German, the German
Speaker 1: from Kansas City. And I called him the pullock from
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh and we just like clicked. But he's a commercial director,
Speaker 1: probably one of the most famous commercial directors of all time.
Speaker 1: Is the most famous commercial director of all time, probably,
Speaker 1: I guess yes, for sure directed Space jam. Um, what
Speaker 1: did he tell the pets? He adds of Michael Jackson,
Speaker 1: like he's the big commercials of my generation, Bartles and
Speaker 1: James and Hallmark commercials. And but he's got this reputation
Speaker 1: of being like a tyrant and an angry man, yeller screamer.
Speaker 1: He is. But I identified Joe Pitka as someone who
Speaker 1: had created a character in Hollywood for himself, because what
Speaker 1: I saw was a really nice person and a loyal person,
Speaker 1: and a thoughtful person, an artistic person. But yet you
Speaker 1: walk on stage and he screaming and yelling at people
Speaker 1: and something. For some reason, I broke through that. Um.
Speaker 1: First audition ever was for an American Express Tiger Woods
Speaker 1: commercial where the ball was traveling around the world. And
Speaker 1: I go in and I just stand there and he
Speaker 1: looks at me up and down. Where are you from?
Speaker 1: Like Kansas City, Kansas City, God forsaken place, shot up,
Speaker 1: shot boos there. I'm like, yeah, you shouted at wind
Speaker 1: out high school that's where my dad went to high school,
Speaker 1: and we just clicked in this moment. And then I
Speaker 1: get a call when I leave there from my agent
Speaker 1: and she said, I just got a call from casting,
Speaker 1: and I said, yes, I should say Peter. Before I
Speaker 1: went into that audition, she had told me you're auditioning
Speaker 1: for Joe Pitkin today, and I'm like, okay. She's like, no,
Speaker 1: you're auditioning for Joe, you know. So then I was
Speaker 1: immediately nervous and she's like, he's known for kind of
Speaker 1: like being mean or rude to people or whatever. So
Speaker 1: I go in. So I get this call and I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh God, I screwed up because we did have banter
Speaker 1: back and forth. I did not like run away from him,
Speaker 1: and so I thought something was wrong and she said, um,
Speaker 1: Casting called and they said you're not going to get
Speaker 1: this commercial, but um, Joe said he wants to work
Speaker 1: with you at some point. Well, true to his word.
Speaker 1: A few weeks later, I get a call to show
Speaker 1: up in Long Beach Harbor and I'm shooting an IBM
Speaker 1: commercial And that was the first of probably thirty IBM
Speaker 1: commercials I shot with Joe. Thirty commercials he did before
Speaker 1: Modern Family, before all that stuff. You were doing commercials
Speaker 1: with Joe. Yes, but that's just IBM commercials we did.
Speaker 1: I did two campaigns of IBM commercials, totaling twenty some commercials,
Speaker 1: and then I did Pepsi, diet, Pepsi, xerox, you name it.
Speaker 1: I I don't know how many I ever ended up
Speaker 1: doing with him, but that's him. He's a loyal guy.
Speaker 1: He realized that I wasn't gonna screw around. I wasn't
Speaker 1: gonna mess with him. I wasn't gonna embarrass him. He
Speaker 1: could hire me. I would show up, be professional, entertain him,
Speaker 1: you know, make him laugh. And um, we were known
Speaker 1: as the pit could play years and I didn't know
Speaker 1: that was a thing until I was one, and then
Speaker 1: people would refer to people as the Pita players. But thankful,
Speaker 1: and I still email with him and talk to him
Speaker 1: and have dinner with him when I'm in l A.
Speaker 1: He's a He's a great guy. He would like to
Speaker 1: be called a great guy, though I'm sure he's got
Speaker 1: an image still. Um, when you go to YouTube and
Speaker 1: you want to type in blah blah blah commercial to
Speaker 1: see a young Eric Stone Street in a pit at
Speaker 1: what would be the one that would that would stand
Speaker 1: out if you type in Pitca IBM commercials or Pitka Disney.
Speaker 1: I was in a Disney commercial where I was Uncle Phil,
Speaker 1: the crazy Uncle Phil dressed as a Laddin. But those
Speaker 1: IBM commercials are quite a bit all over YouTube. I
Speaker 1: love it. Um. Okay, next one, you've had a bit
Speaker 1: of success in your career. You're building Greg Daniels, Michael Sure,
Speaker 1: they're doing the the American version of the Office. You
Speaker 1: go in for an audition for which role and how
Speaker 1: far did you get in that process? Well, I went
Speaker 1: in for again recurring theme here, going in for one thing,
Speaker 1: being told I'm not going to get it, but come
Speaker 1: back again, which I hope actors listen to that and
Speaker 1: hear something there, which is you can't control what you
Speaker 1: can't control. What I could control was doing a good job.
Speaker 1: If I went into an audition and thought, well, I'm
Speaker 1: not right for this. I know I'm not right for this,
Speaker 1: and I take that attitude into an audition, then I'm
Speaker 1: not right gonna be right for anything. But if I
Speaker 1: go in as well prepared as I can be with
Speaker 1: the best take on, and I can have who knows
Speaker 1: what happens, other doors will open. So that's the message
Speaker 1: there for anyone listening that wants to pursue this. I
Speaker 1: think it's any career that honestly, if I'm I'm having
Speaker 1: a meeting with someone at another network or whatever, and
Speaker 1: then we don't have any room for you, but why
Speaker 1: not make a great impression on them, because who knows,
Speaker 1: you know, your first job in any interview process is
Speaker 1: to somehow convey that you would be a good partner,
Speaker 1: you would be a good person to be in a
Speaker 1: room with them, Like your first job is to convey, Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to be a problem, right, You're gonna
Speaker 1: like working with me. So I went in audition for
Speaker 1: Steve Carrell's part. Alison Jones an amazing casting director, the
Speaker 1: best of the best, legendary casting director, done freaks and geeks,
Speaker 1: all the Apatow stuff. She's the legend. She gave me
Speaker 1: a part on Spin City, saw me in an improv
Speaker 1: show and gave me one line on Spin City when
Speaker 1: I hadn't had any stuff really other than that darmand Greg,
Speaker 1: and she said, probably not gonna work for this role,
Speaker 1: but let's have you come back in for Kevin, which
Speaker 1: is the great Brian bam Gardner's part. So I went
Speaker 1: in and and read, and then they put our tapes
Speaker 1: up against each other. It was me, Brian and Jorge Garcia. Yeah, hurly,
Speaker 1: it's amazing. Yeah, testing for the office on tape for
Speaker 1: the network. And of course Brian ended up getting it.
Speaker 1: Brian gets it. And were you dejected or did you say, hey,
Speaker 1: that's just that's were you devastated? Heartbroken? Heartbroken? You know again,
Speaker 1: it took so long for me to get to a
Speaker 1: place where you put everything you possibly have emotionally into something,
Speaker 1: knowing that you're probably not going to get it, and
Speaker 1: then being able to walk away from it. It's why
Speaker 1: not in an aggressive way. But my technique for auditions
Speaker 1: for TV shows and stuff is I would print out
Speaker 1: the sides. I would walk in with the sides and
Speaker 1: read off the paper, you know, for my audition, and
Speaker 1: then I would wad that up and I would throw
Speaker 1: it in the garbage can in the casting director's office
Speaker 1: and just never think of it again. Yeah, And it
Speaker 1: wasn't like this. But I can't. I can't hang onto this.
Speaker 1: It's too emotional of a connection. I have to I
Speaker 1: have to move on. And I was fortunate enough to
Speaker 1: be in a place, you know, most of my career
Speaker 1: close to leading up to modern Family, where I had,
Speaker 1: you know, a couple auditions a day sometimes, So I
Speaker 1: was doing that in a practical way too, of like
Speaker 1: this one's done, now I have to drive to Venice
Speaker 1: and do this again with different somebody else's words. So
Speaker 1: I just didn't want a car full of paper. But
Speaker 1: I also didn't want the baggage of not probably not
Speaker 1: getting this. So I just moved on from it, and
Speaker 1: then if I got called back, I'd reprint it out
Speaker 1: and go back in. You know, Luis c K was
Speaker 1: doing a podcast last weekend. I was listening to it
Speaker 1: and he was the host's guy named Christa Stephano and
Speaker 1: Chris is a comedian, and he was saying how he
Speaker 1: got a CBS pilot and he told everybody, you know,
Speaker 1: Chas Politary was casted as his father. They filmed that,
Speaker 1: everyone loved it, and then it never saw the light
Speaker 1: of day, and that was that it just is over.
Speaker 1: And Louis c K said, I had ten of those.
Speaker 1: You just have to appreciate the moment when you're in
Speaker 1: it and enjoy that, and you can't start thinking ahead.
Speaker 1: That's the training of an actor. There's so many almost
Speaker 1: and it took me forever to you know, I finally
Speaker 1: had to tell my parents, like, I'm not telling you
Speaker 1: everything that I auditioned for. I'm not telling you everything
Speaker 1: I get called back for. I'm going to tell you
Speaker 1: the big stuff, which you know happened with Modern Family.
Speaker 1: I was on the phone with them when I got
Speaker 1: the job of the Modern Family. I had to say,
Speaker 1: I'll call you guys back, Steve, my manager is calling.
Speaker 1: But I would include them when it was that moment, yes,
Speaker 1: because I always thought like, well, you didn't ask for
Speaker 1: this emotional roller coaster that I'm chose as my vocation
Speaker 1: to be on, right, So I'll just hopefully let you
Speaker 1: experience the end part and the excitement. It's beautiful, but
Speaker 1: you know, here, here's a good one. You'll enjoy this.
Speaker 1: On the way to the Chiefs game the other day,
Speaker 1: I was so anxious and so stressed out that I
Speaker 1: had to put on music that was my stressed out
Speaker 1: traffic audition testing nerve racking music. Can I ask what
Speaker 1: it was? Yeah, it's Don Williams The General Giant twenty
Speaker 1: Greatest Hits. Um It's very soothing. His voice is very relaxing. Lord,
Speaker 1: I hope this day's good. Yeah, that's so great. So
Speaker 1: I had to put on Don Williams, and then that
Speaker 1: reminded me that I needed to put on the soundtrack
Speaker 1: of the audition process of Modern Family, which is the
Speaker 1: Curious George soundtrack by um Jack John Jack Johnson. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the banana and apple. Yeah, it puts me in this
Speaker 1: tranquil I got chills right now because that's what that's
Speaker 1: what you drove to. That's what you're saying, Hawaii surf
Speaker 1: Jack Johnson. So for those two two and a half
Speaker 1: weeks of the process of the ups and downs of
Speaker 1: testing for Modern Family, because I went in, was dismissed,
Speaker 1: went back in, was dismissed, and then called back in
Speaker 1: and then had to wait a couple of days and
Speaker 1: then went to test. Right, it was a fourth step
Speaker 1: over two and a half process. Well, as you know,
Speaker 1: you're traveling all over l A and there's you're in traffic.
Speaker 1: So that became my c D at the time, was
Speaker 1: in my truck and I hit that and just drove
Speaker 1: to my audition. So now whenever I hear that, it
Speaker 1: both relaxes me and brings a tremendous amount of anxiety
Speaker 1: to my life, but also reassures you that it's going
Speaker 1: to work out. Yeah, that's true, that's great, that's true.
Speaker 1: That's probably psychologically what it is. But those butterflies. I
Speaker 1: always tell those butterflies. The calm anxiousness is when you
Speaker 1: feel those butterflies. People are like, no, it's like, go
Speaker 1: out there and feed those butterflies. Those butterflies are hungry,
Speaker 1: so walk out there onto the stage. It's good to
Speaker 1: be nervous, it's good to be anxious. It's how you
Speaker 1: how you deal with it. And my technique was always
Speaker 1: that you know, this means I'm alive. This means I
Speaker 1: take it serious. So I always tell people it's it's
Speaker 1: it's okay to be nervous, it's okay to be anxious.
Speaker 1: It's just how you address it. And my technique was
Speaker 1: always that I'm alive. This is good. Now, let's go
Speaker 1: feed these hungry books and drive into the arrowhead. It's
Speaker 1: different because I can't control the outcome. I have nothing
Speaker 1: to do with it. And that's the thing I would
Speaker 1: say to most fans, like we're fans, let's be fans.
Speaker 1: We're not tying our shoelaces. We're not putting on our helmets.
Speaker 1: These guys have sweat, they've bled, they've worked their whole
Speaker 1: life for this moment. Let's be appropriate in our in
Speaker 1: our cheering, and our fandom, and then let them be
Speaker 1: the most excited, let them be the most disappointed. Whatever
Speaker 1: the outcome of the game is. They deserve all that
Speaker 1: emotion more than we do. It's beautiful. I have two more.
Speaker 1: I'm getting emotional, and I think this next one is
Speaker 1: gonna be get So. How many months after the office
Speaker 1: of being told you're not on the office did you
Speaker 1: walk into that Modern Family audition? I would have to
Speaker 1: go online to see what that was, but I will
Speaker 1: tep out a year. Less than a year, Oh no
Speaker 1: more than that. More than that. The office was on
Speaker 1: for a long time. But but what I will tell
Speaker 1: you is had I got that part, I wouldn't have
Speaker 1: been able to audition for Modern Family. No, of course not.
Speaker 1: They would have had you, They would have had me,
Speaker 1: and I wouldn't have been available, and I would have
Speaker 1: been happy with that job. But that is really what
Speaker 1: Brian and I have talked about. It It all worked
Speaker 1: out for you know, he and I didn't work out
Speaker 1: for the people other people, but maybe it did after that.
Speaker 1: I'm sure there are people that auditioned for jam on
Speaker 1: Modern Family that found their own success in other ways
Speaker 1: in areas, but it was quite a while after the office. Okay,
Speaker 1: so you get that job, you go on to win
Speaker 1: multiple Emmy's, you get nominated for all sorts of People's Choice,
Speaker 1: all that stuff. You have this great stardom. At the
Speaker 1: end of the season, you look back and you know,
Speaker 1: the kids on that show are now adults, and your
Speaker 1: your colleagues are all ten years older, and Ed O'Neill,
Speaker 1: who I'm sure you grew up watching, is now a
Speaker 1: lifelong friend. Like when you think about team and football
Speaker 1: and what you go through, did you ever know going
Speaker 1: into that that you would walk away with a new
Speaker 1: family and the cast and crew from that show and
Speaker 1: still be a set with them as you are today. Well,
Speaker 1: it's that's a good question, and give you an answer
Speaker 1: that exposes a little bit about my dark, morbid humor.
Speaker 1: I remember in season one me telling Jesse, I feel
Speaker 1: like I just gained a lot more people to come
Speaker 1: to my funeral, you know, which is a beautiful thing
Speaker 1: a morbid thing? Yeah, it's morbid and awful, but it
Speaker 1: did feel right from the beginning of like we're making
Speaker 1: lifelong friendships here. And we were lucky because even though
Speaker 1: you see us all on TV together, we weren't actually
Speaker 1: around each other as much as people would think. We
Speaker 1: were with each other every Wednesday for a table read,
Speaker 1: and then Jesse and I were together in our scenes,
Speaker 1: but unless it was a big family scene, we didn't
Speaker 1: see each other. I wasn't having a lot of time
Speaker 1: with Sophia or Tie or Julie. You know. It was
Speaker 1: that winds day. So those Wednesdays became kind of like, Hey,
Speaker 1: how's your week been, How did the scene go on Monday?
Speaker 1: Or whatever it was. So we had this kind of
Speaker 1: very close relationship, but also each of us were allowed
Speaker 1: to have our own space more than people would think.
Speaker 1: So I think that was one of the secret sauces
Speaker 1: to our show, as we weren't on top of each
Speaker 1: other it's all the time. But yeah, ed was one
Speaker 1: of the first texts I got after the Chiefs one.
Speaker 1: That's awesome really, Oh yeah, I put him in Kelsey
Speaker 1: on a tech this is this is great. I put
Speaker 1: him in Kelsey on a text thread together. So there's
Speaker 1: a text thread in this world that is Ed O'Neil,
Speaker 1: Travis Kelsey, and Eric stone Street all game. When Travis
Speaker 1: Kelsey scores four touchdowns, does paul I get brought up?
Speaker 1: Or is that just God? Yeah? I had so so
Speaker 1: Uh after that happened, I called Ed and I said,
Speaker 1: we gotta get a jersey. We gotta get it to Travis.
Speaker 1: And then Travis was like, dude, I wish Ed could
Speaker 1: come to a game because we could do a jersey
Speaker 1: swap into the game. And yeah, but a percent Travis
Speaker 1: got a Polkai jersey after that name, and uh, he
Speaker 1: and Ed had some great because they're from the kind
Speaker 1: of the same part of the country too. He's from
Speaker 1: Youngstown and and Travis is from Cincinnati. Right is it
Speaker 1: Northeast Ohio or yeah? I think so, yeah whatever they
Speaker 1: call that area of Ohio. They both have relatable references
Speaker 1: and are cut from the same cloth, so immediately fast friends,
Speaker 1: and um, you know, Kelsey is such a such a
Speaker 1: great guy and Ed is such a great guy. Uh.
Speaker 1: It's it does my heart good to know that they're
Speaker 1: each fans of each other and you connected them. That's awesome. Uh.
Speaker 1: My last one is is a random story and it's uh,
Speaker 1: our executive and producer here, Jason brought this to me.
Speaker 1: Says he read a book and it was I'm gonna google,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna look up in our document right here at
Speaker 1: the book. It's from a gentleman named Mark Ambinder. Okay,
Speaker 1: And there is a story to confirm or deny that
Speaker 1: you were at the White House for the White House
Speaker 1: Correspondence dinner and you were told that you were going
Speaker 1: to be able to meet the president, President Barack Obama,
Speaker 1: but it did not happen that evening and you were disappointed.
Speaker 1: But take it from there, Eric, what was going on?
Speaker 1: And take us from your shoes. Yeah, so this is
Speaker 1: the first year of Modern Family's success. And so you
Speaker 1: know the White House Correspondence that what they do is
Speaker 1: they curate these tables at the Correspondence dinner where basically
Speaker 1: on the clown at the table with all these serious
Speaker 1: people dance for them. Right. They don't even let you
Speaker 1: sit next to your partner at the table. You sit
Speaker 1: across from them, so that it forces everybody to talk.
Speaker 1: And you know, every news organization has bragging rights of
Speaker 1: who they brought. Well, we were the hottest show US time.
Speaker 1: So ABC was hosting, so we were all guests of ABC.
Speaker 1: So here I am at the table with George Stephanopolis
Speaker 1: and his wife, Okay, Ben Sherwood, the then head of
Speaker 1: ABC News, Bill Daily, the chief of staff of the
Speaker 1: White House, his wife, uh, and somebody else I can't remember,
Speaker 1: and then all of our partners. Well, I was sitting
Speaker 1: next to Bill Daly's wife and she was saying, what
Speaker 1: are you doing while you're in Washington? And I said, well, actually,
Speaker 1: tomorrow I'm going to the White House. We have a
Speaker 1: very special tour at the White House that had been
Speaker 1: set up for myself and my then girlfriend. She's like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's exciting. And Bill, her husband, is sitting across and
Speaker 1: she goes Bill, Eric, He's coming to the White House
Speaker 1: tomorrow and he said, oh that's great, awesome, And I
Speaker 1: said yeah, so if anything's you know, moved on your desk,
Speaker 1: it was probably this guy. He's like, well, have a
Speaker 1: good time. We continue the dinner. I had my BlackBerry.
Speaker 1: I looked down and I had a flashing message and
Speaker 1: I look and it said this is like twenty minutes
Speaker 1: after this happened, and it said White House Tour canceled.
Speaker 1: My White House tour was canceled from my publicist and
Speaker 1: I look at it and I show it to her
Speaker 1: and she goes, Bill, Bill, his white House tour just
Speaker 1: got canceled. And he goes, oh, wow, sorry about that. Well,
Speaker 1: here's my business card. If you're ever in Washington, d C. Again,
Speaker 1: give me a call. I'll give you a personal tour.
Speaker 1: And I'm thinking, Okay, the chief of staff just gave
Speaker 1: me his card. That's pretty cool. But also, like, I
Speaker 1: went my tour tomorrow, dude, I'm here. I'm here now,
Speaker 1: Like I don't want it next month or whenever. So whatever,
Speaker 1: it got canceled. And the next day we went to
Speaker 1: the Smithsonian. We did this, We went to the Native
Speaker 1: American Smithsonian. And then I was like, let's go to
Speaker 1: a capital's game. So we went to a capital's game.
Speaker 1: So we go back to the hotel in Georgetown. We
Speaker 1: walk in to the bar to have a cocktail. All
Speaker 1: the TVs are lit up breaking news Osama bin Laden
Speaker 1: killed and I'm Michael, oh my god, this is why
Speaker 1: our White House tour. Oh, And I think, well, that's
Speaker 1: cool enough. Right there. I was gonna be there when
Speaker 1: all this was going down, you know, tip of the spear,
Speaker 1: tip of the sword, whatever the operation was called. So
Speaker 1: that was that. Well, like four weeks later, Jake Tapper
Speaker 1: hits me up on Twitter direct message and says, is
Speaker 1: it true that you had a White House tour the
Speaker 1: next morning, you know, of the White House Correspondence dinner,
Speaker 1: And I said, yeah, percent true. And he said, well,
Speaker 1: there's a story that you told Bill Daily that the
Speaker 1: White House tour. You had a White House tour, And
Speaker 1: that was the first he had heard that the tours
Speaker 1: hadn't been canceled, and it was an oversight that people
Speaker 1: were still coming to the White House. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: you talking to his wife and and he was like,
Speaker 1: wait a second, yeah, still on the books, still on
Speaker 1: the books. And and so cut to then the six
Speaker 1: months later, the deconstruction of the night, when we found
Speaker 1: out that, uh yeah, it was all that was going on.
Speaker 1: And here Bill Daily gives an interview that says, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm sitting that the correspondence and earned some actor
Speaker 1: from family guy tells me he's coming to coming to
Speaker 1: the White House. And I was like, uh, no, you're not.
Speaker 1: And he canceled the tours right there for me. And
Speaker 1: then it pretended like come another time. Well here, So
Speaker 1: then I learned from Ben Sherwood and George Stephanopolis, being
Speaker 1: the savvy newsman they are, when she said, well, why
Speaker 1: did his tour get canceled? Bill, and he said, quote,
Speaker 1: maybe a leaky pipe or something. That those two went
Speaker 1: and they came over and started. George and Ben they
Speaker 1: already had something like their new synapses went off. Yes,
Speaker 1: they knew. When I said my tour got canceled and
Speaker 1: he said maybe a leaky pipe or something pipe, they
Speaker 1: moved those people out of the way and sat next
Speaker 1: to him, and I watched that happen. They got in there.
Speaker 1: So then throughout the deconstruction of this process, hearing those
Speaker 1: stories and George tells his story, Ben tells his story,
Speaker 1: somebody writes an article about it. It's in a book
Speaker 1: that your producer said, he he read. I know it's
Speaker 1: documented on in a few different places. But yeah, I was.
Speaker 1: I was sitting there and Eric all along. You're going
Speaker 1: on a Vechan game the next night, not knowing a thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think he may have had a hat trick or
Speaker 1: I know he scored a goal that night for sure,
Speaker 1: But you don't think anything leaky pipe whatever. Uh So
Speaker 1: that is my brush with history with that specific thing
Speaker 1: and why the White House Correspondence dinner always became one
Speaker 1: of my most favorite things to go. Would you go
Speaker 1: every year after that? I went every year until he
Speaker 1: stopped having it. Yeah. I loved going. I had so
Speaker 1: many great experiences, met so many amazing, awesome people. I
Speaker 1: was at the famous Italian restaurant in Georgetown. I can't
Speaker 1: think of the name of it right now. It's where
Speaker 1: everybody goes the night Daniel Snyder drafted uh r G three,
Speaker 1: who was it, Yes, r G three, And we're standing
Speaker 1: in there, and he walks in, and I walk over
Speaker 1: and say hi to him. And then I see him
Speaker 1: at the Italian Embassy later that night, and I was
Speaker 1: talking to r G three and and Daniel Sneider came
Speaker 1: over and like grabbed him and took him away, and
Speaker 1: I remember like he just needed to go go for
Speaker 1: him to meet somebody else, and I just remember thinking,
Speaker 1: like that's exciting, and that also sucks that he just
Speaker 1: got drug away from this conversation. UM, thank you for
Speaker 1: this last forty five minutes. This made my day. This
Speaker 1: is incredible. My last thing Chiefs Super Bowl. I assume
Speaker 1: you're there. Do you have a bunch of plans? Are
Speaker 1: excited to get to Arizona. I am excited. We're gonna
Speaker 1: get in Friday. It's gonna be kind of a quick
Speaker 1: trip of some obligations in l a before and then
Speaker 1: after and hopefully we'll get a victory. I mean, I'm nervous, man.
Speaker 1: I mean that offensive and defensive line of the Eagles
Speaker 1: is absolutely no joke. And I told Lindsay last night,
Speaker 1: I said, I kind of feel like I need to
Speaker 1: be the canary in the cave because of my experience.
Speaker 1: But Chiefs fans think they had their hands full with
Speaker 1: since fans um they have no idea. We better strap
Speaker 1: up for Philadelphia Eagles fans because they are no joke either.
Speaker 1: And I'm telling you, I'm on the East Coast. I
Speaker 1: live in Brooklyn. All Philly fans they're coming, like the
Speaker 1: amount of ticket requests. I Chiefs fans, if you're taking
Speaker 1: this for granted, you gotta represent this time. You do
Speaker 1: not want this. If you see a green, I'll tell
Speaker 1: you that, Oh yeah, it is no Philly fans or
Speaker 1: no joke. I've I went to the first game ever
Speaker 1: at the link he played a preseason game against the
Speaker 1: New England Patriots. Yeah, I was in town shooting a
Speaker 1: commercial with Donovan McNabb, a T and T commercial. You
Speaker 1: can google that commercial, a T and T Donovan McNabb commercial.
Speaker 1: But I got to go to a preseason game and
Speaker 1: it was the first game at the link. But, um,
Speaker 1: Philly fans or no joke. Andy Reid needs to let
Speaker 1: everybody know that he knows they're no joke. Brett Beach
Speaker 1: needs to let everybody know he knows they're no joke.
Speaker 1: And I'm telling everybody, Chiefs fans, keep your cool. We're
Speaker 1: a great team. Don't get engaged at all the other stuff.
Speaker 1: Let the players play, let them talk the trash. I
Speaker 1: think the Philly Mayor is smart enough now to know
Speaker 1: not to to do what the sense mayor did. I
Speaker 1: know our mayor won't U. Let's just have a good game.
Speaker 1: Let's love each other. It's just like hitting mad at
Speaker 1: each other. Let's enjoy the fact that we live in
Speaker 1: a world where we get to go watch grown men
Speaker 1: beat each other up on the field and have a
Speaker 1: great time and don't engage in negativity with each other.
Speaker 1: Just have fun. It's a beautiful message. That's kind of
Speaker 1: the spirit of our podcast, My Friend the Season with
Speaker 1: Peter Sugar Eric stone Street, way more time, hold on,
Speaker 1: hold on. Beach said, thanks for calling him back last night.
Speaker 1: So either you did call him back last night or
Speaker 1: you didn't call him back last night. I didn't, do
Speaker 1: you realize I texted him several times throughout the day
Speaker 1: and he kept on saying he was in meetings, and
Speaker 1: I go, hey, buddy, you've got a game. You're not
Speaker 1: at the Senior Bowl. I was, yeah, we'll get in
Speaker 1: touchy and I but you know what, I'd much rather
Speaker 1: spend forty five minutes with you than just some general
Speaker 1: manager talking about sizes, heights and weights. Anyway, you're the best.
Speaker 1: I so appreciate you, guys. Eric stone Street. Awesome of
Speaker 1: you to join us. And uh, I'll see you in
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. Hopefully I'll see on the field for
Speaker 1: the game. See there, Peter, see you guys. Eric stone
Speaker 1: Street's amazing. That's a true die hard fans season ticket
Speaker 1: holder since nineteen with his family and then living in Hollywood. Says,
Speaker 1: you know what, I don't want to miss a single
Speaker 1: snap of the Mahomes Era goes and buys a suite
Speaker 1: and he goes to every single home game. I love
Speaker 1: the guy. I think he's beautiful. I think there were
Speaker 1: life lessons in there, and I love his passion for
Speaker 1: the Chiefs. And I love you guys for listening truly.
Speaker 1: I want to thank Aaron Won Kaufman. I want to
Speaker 1: thank Jason English there here every week with me as
Speaker 1: we record these podcasts, which I'm having such a blast doing.
Speaker 1: I want to thank you the listeners. I want to
Speaker 1: thank Jason Kleinman, who does such a great job with
Speaker 1: the clips that go up on social Matt Schneider, Meredith
Speaker 1: Batt and everybody over at the NFL network who has
Speaker 1: been supportive of this podcast. Uh. And I want to
Speaker 1: thank the music man, a Chiefs fan, Mr Jack rud. Uh.
Speaker 1: This has been a blast, and we have plenty more
Speaker 1: content to come. Super Bowls coming, guys, and UH, let's
Speaker 1: enjoy the next few weeks because it's it's alive and
Speaker 1: well and the Chiefs and the Eagles are going at
Speaker 1: it and we have plenty to discuss right here on
Speaker 1: the Season with Peter Schueger. Yeah, The Season with Peter
Speaker 1: Schrager is a production of the NFL and partnership with
Speaker 1: i heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts.