WEBVTT - 9021One-On-One: Anson Williams A.K.A. Potsie! 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:00.840 It's nine. 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:05.480 With Jenny Garth and Tory Spelling. 0:00:09.520 --> 0:00:13.040 He's best known for playing Patzi on Happy Days, but 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:16.440 he has also had a fantastic career as a director. 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:19.560 Anson Williams joins US Today to talk about his time 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:22.080 on the side of Beverly Hills nine O two one. 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:31.080 Oh, here's our friend who's a handsome man. Hello, God, 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:33.279 how do you still make goodness? 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:34.600 Stop it? 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:35.920 That's so cool? 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:42.640 You are you kidding me? He was, OK, filter, I 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:43.520 have no filters. 0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:46.959 Oh my gosh, this is so great to see you. 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:51.560 It's so good to see you guys too. Yeah. 0:00:52.159 --> 0:00:55.920 In that life, that o Hi life, well O high life. 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:58.280 It's it's a quiet life up here, but it's it's nice. 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:02.040 It's it's a beautiful place, you know. Yeah, it kind 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:05.360 of time stops here. Yeah, and no one cares about 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:08.520 who you are, which you know, and it's a it's 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:10.640 a very it's a kind creative community. 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:16.280 I don't believe even in Ohai people don't care who 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:23.520 you are, like one of the most characters in TV history. Sorry, 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:25.520 you're not getting away from that. 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:29.440 Okay, all right, okay, fine, but you know, guys, can 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:31.880 you believe how many years since line two. One. Oh right, 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:35.560 how many years since Happy Days? I mean, seriously, we 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:41.680 just had our fiftieth oh last January, this last January. 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:43.240 Would you guys do. 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:49.680 Not much? I thought there'd be a big event, but 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:53.280 but the thing is, I think, like you guys, we 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:58.640 have been close friends for decades, Henry don Ron myself. 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:02.040 I mean we're literally a text way, you know, just 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:05.400 and we never talked business, We never talk about you know, 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:08.760 we just talk about you know, love and heart and family. 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:12.000 And it's just been a wonderful friendship. And just to 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:14.600 have that and on a show, to have that kind 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:18.840 of friendship that many years, it's it's pretty unique. But 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:23.560 that's a lot to do with Gary Marshall, our mentor, 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:29.440 you know. And he was like a like a college professor, 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:33.840 and he he really cared about us, not just as 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:36.920 a showruner, but as young people because we didn't know much. 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:43.320 And he really inspired us to educate ourselves in entertainment. 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:47.480 To our many hats. He made sure that Paramount Studios 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:51.840 was a college. He made it a meaning guys, you know, 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:53.600 if you want to last in this business, you better 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:55.840 wear quite a few hats and get it, get out, 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:58.200 get don't get in the way of yourself. You're not 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:01.919 that great, you know, you really aren't. He said, you know, 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:05.079 shadow directors come to the writing sessions, go to the 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:08.520 editing rooms, whatever you need. This is your school. And 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:11.040 I think that's why all of us are still involved. 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:11.720 And that's it. 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:16.839 That's such a giving person. He liked to bring you 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:18.640 in like that and let all of you learn the 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:20.799 ropes in the ins and outs of not just acting 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:21.640 but the business. 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:24.880 Yes, I get so smart. I wish we had that. 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:28.679 Well, and I tried as a director to to kind 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:32.200 of pay that forward early on Gary, Here we are. 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:36.560 He sat us down. I'll never get He sat us down. 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:43.280 He said, you guys are gonna be famous. Don't deserve it. 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:47.960 You're gonna be famous. There's gonna be a light on you. 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:51.240 Your responsibility is take the light and put it on 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:57.320 someone that does deserve it, help them out. And it 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:00.160 really hit it hit home, and you know, we've all 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:04.040 kind of live by that. And the other thing he did, 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:09.320 which was incredible. They asked people ask us, oh, what's 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:11.960 the greatest moments on the set of Happy Days? What's 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:14.880 And I think I thought, well, it's not really the set. 0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:18.119 I mean we had fun times. It was the ball team. 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:22.960 It was a softball team. And Gary was a sports fanatic, 0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:25.680 and he goes, I'd like us to go to every 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:28.400 colleg I'd like to go to every major stadium in 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:31.560 the United States. Let's put together a ball team. We're 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:34.400 all ex athletes. The only one who wasn't was Henry, 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:38.240 but Ron Howard and Clenn Howard's brother taught him how 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:40.520 to pitch and he ended up being really, really good. 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:44.640 So he really had a very good ball team. And 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:47.320 Gary put this team together and we played in every 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:51.679 major stadium in the United States, pregames, hardly ever lost. 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:55.159 We went on USO Tours, playing against the Marines, the 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:58.640 Army you know over the China Sea where the third 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:02.520 Infantry Division Germany, and he said, he goes, and I 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:05.359 put it together because, yeah, he goes, you always have 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:07.720 the back of your teammate. I think it's going to 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:10.240 come back to the set. I think it's going to 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:13.800 stop a lot of egos. And sure enough, I mean 0:05:13.960 --> 0:05:17.520 for over a decade. Yeah, ball team, And those are 0:05:17.560 --> 0:05:23.200 the moments. I mean, we're we're in Germany. Uh what 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:25.600 was the name of that? Oh gosh, the small third 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:27.760 Infrey Division and what's the name of the town? I 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:30.800 forgot But in that little town, it was very original, 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:32.960 over a thousand years old, and there was a castle 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:36.200 and it was the original suit of armors and everything 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:39.160 else in there. But they turned it into a restaurant 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:43.640 and an overlooked brine river and there's Ron Henry Donny 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:47.840 myself where at the table. Instead of serving water, they 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:54.400 had wine dispensers. You got a glass of wine, not water. Wow, 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:58.080 we were feeling no pain. So we ended up going 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:01.960 outside on this original terrorists that's one thousand and seven 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:05.839 years old, singing splush blasts to the entire over the 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:10.400 Rhine River, to the entire city of Wartzburg. Okay, you 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:13.480 can't make those stories up, man, what. 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:17.159 An incredibly I wish that we had that kind of 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:19.120 somebody sit us down in the beginning and say, we 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:21.480 are a team, we are together. 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:25.080 You're so young, you don't know. You need someone to 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:28.919 kind of guide. Wait, was the ball team called Happy 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:29.880 Days or it. 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:33.039 Was the Happy Day Team? And it's so great And 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:35.400 if you wanted a line in Happy Days, it's an extra. 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:40.440 Just be a good ballplayer, football player. Listen, we're taking 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:42.120 you to Germany. I'll give you a line. 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:44.760 That's how you recruited. 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:47.960 I'm telling you. It was so basic, it was so tactile, 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:51.520 the whole situation was, and it was so funny. Got 0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:55.800 to the point where Jerry Paris are amazing director, one 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:59.400 of the greatest comedy directors in history. He did All 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:02.440 the Dick Band, He played Jerry the dentist next door 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:07.840 in Melbourk's. We had the most most brilliant comedy minds 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:12.880 in the world on that set, which is incredible. But 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:15.720 but it got to the point where people would come 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:18.520 down and they thought we were nuts during rehearsal because 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:20.600 you know, it was three camera at the time, so 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:22.640 it's like a play, you know, which I think, by 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:26.320 the way, really helped with the camaraderie, unlike nine on 0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:29.760 two one zero, where it's kind of piecemealed. It's a 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:33.000 you know, it's like a movie. Here we're together every day. 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:38.640 Every day, we're together rehearsing theater basically. But it got 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:41.920 to the point he'd say, okay, here first rehearsal. Okay, 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:44.520 your answers start here, you go there, Henry coming here, Okay, 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:49.560 let's go. It's like going, well, hey, Richie ah, you 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:52.400 never had to say words a grunt. You knew it 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:54.600 wasn't funny, you knew the timing is all. You didn't 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:57.640 have to say anything. You knew. So basically rehearsal was 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:00.920 a bunch of grunts and people would say, what are they? 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:02.960 Is that a language? What are they doing? 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:11.040 It's yeah, oh that's so good when you know somebody 0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:13.440 so well grunts everything, uh huh. 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:15.320 And I really do think, and I actually think for 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:17.840 you guys, because honestly, the one thing directing nine or 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:21.360 two and zero and all that, I don't remember the 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:24.560 scripts that much. I remember you guys and the joy 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:27.880 of working with you guys all individually different days. Just 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:31.000 a wonderful group, no we goes, I mean really beautiful. 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:33.600 And I really remember the times you reached starting to 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:38.640 direct an episode and all our direct you'd ask questions 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:42.000 and it was just a beautiful time on a set 0:08:42.240 --> 0:08:45.560 with a great and a wonderful cast and just so 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:49.720 heartfelt uh so kind to me, you know, I mean, 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:52.079 because you know you're the director, you're the odd person out. 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:55.400 Well, what what made you want to pivot from being 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:59.439 like this iconic character in television history to directing to 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:00.640 going behind the scenes. 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:04.600 Well, actually it actually started early in that I started 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:11.160 writing and producing for directing. I never really meant to 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:14.560 just stay at an actor at all. I actually thought 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:16.560 I got a lot for not much. I thought I 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:18.199 went about as far as I can go as an actor. 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:21.319 I've always been more interested behind the camera, writing or whatever. 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:26.360 So I did educate myself as on the paramount lot, 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:29.240 just in terms of the craft and all that. And 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:34.200 then in nineteen eighty Ron Howard had a deal at 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:40.920 NBC for three movies of the Weeks, and the first 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:45.680 two were like okay, And I told I said to Ron, 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:47.800 you know, I said, you're too good. You got to 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:50.640 do something substantial here. You got a movie of the week. 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:56.640 Assess something something. So one night I visited my parents 0:09:56.720 --> 0:10:00.800 in Burbank, and I was driving back home and I 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:06.120 passed the Burmac Airport and kind of a remote area 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:10.120 of it, I saw this old plane and I saw 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:15.400 someone in a wheelchair handing something to someone working on 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:19.040 the plane. And I had been involved in with several 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:21.800 palsy because my cousin had several palsy, so I was 0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:24.200 I did a lot of charity work. And I looked 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:26.719 at that and I went, WHOA, and this idea came 0:10:26.800 --> 0:10:30.640 to be called Skyward. I said, you make this child 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:35.040 in this always look up. You're always looking up, so 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:38.240 they're always looking skyward and this so everything becomes free 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:40.840 in the sky and basically, will I ever look down? 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:44.640 Will they ever look up at me? And I thought, 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:48.000 what if this person learned to fly? So created this 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:51.520 film called Skywork. I visited to Ron, he said, I 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:55.840 love this. We went to Brandon Tartakoff at NBC. He said, 0:10:56.880 --> 0:10:59.719 I love this. I looked. So they put it into 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:05.520 the and we wrote a script and they he said, okay, 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:09.360 that's great. Melissa su and is playing the lead. We 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:13.760 have this deal with her, and Ron and I are going, 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:16.920 you know, we really should have we found this disabled actress. 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:19.959 It's fantastic. No one knows they're fantastic, and we really 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:23.280 shouldn't be hypocritical. We should really give a shot to 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:26.480 an actress who's disabled. And he's going on and on, 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:29.160 and we're arguing, and he's going he goes, look, guys, 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:32.360 this is business. We have a deal with Melissa Sue Anderson. 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:34.880 We have to pay her play movie of the week. 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:38.560 And we're going on and on and on finally, So 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:42.400 we go finally, I said, okay, Ron, Ron does the 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:46.880 scene with Susie Gilstrap, who's a paraplegic, and we're there 0:11:46.920 --> 0:11:48.760 and we put it together and we bring it back 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:52.120 to Brandon. He's like so frustrated. Now he goes, all right, 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:56.480 you got this other part, Billy an ex stump part 0:11:56.520 --> 0:11:59.880 of the Lady. Blah blah blah blah blah. You get me 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:04.840 Bettie Davis, you got your girl. Well that's the pope 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:07.640 at the time. All right, yeah, I mean it's like, really, 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:12.240 I go, thanks a lot. We're walking out. I tell Ron, well, 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:15.160 it's Melissa. We did our best. It's Melissa Swanners and 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:19.800 we did our freaking best. That's it. So that night 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:25.560 on Carson there's Betty Davis no on Curson Society. I'm 0:12:25.720 --> 0:12:29.520 tired of playing women's parts. I want to do something 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:30.079 with action. 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:32.000 Hey, that's pretty good action. 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:36.800 I'm going stumpilot later. That's action, you know. So I go, 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:40.920 I go, Ron, bro, let's get this script over I 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:43.400 don't know the agent. I don't just find a regent. 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:45.760 Let's get it over there. We get the script over there. 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:50.760 Betty Davis trusts nobody in life especially buboynowns to us 0:12:50.760 --> 0:12:54.000 she reads everything submitted. We didn't think it ething get 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:54.280 to her. 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:59.640 She said yes, Oh my gosh, wow, she. 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:02.160 Said yes, And we got Susie and we got and 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:05.200 that was the film that got raw at the features. 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:08.120 That's the film Alan Ladd Junior saw it. Okay, I'm 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:12.800 for night Shifts. Oh. And that all came out of 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:16.320 Happy Days, out of Gary Marshall. I just showing you 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:20.640 how things happened. So produce that and I was exec producer, 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:22.720 wrote the story, We wrote the script, blah blah blah, 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:25.559 did a few others and then I was like, as 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:29.200 I said, you know, this producing stuff's cold. I mean, 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:31.800 you're not involved, You're kind of away. You're not you know. 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:35.680 He goes, you should direct? I go, oh great, a 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:39.320 third career, thanks, you know, he said. So. Basically, I 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:43.280 had a show in development called No Greater Gift. It 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:48.160 was an after school special co wrote with a partner 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:50.800 and it was about it was really one based on 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:54.079 a inspired by a true story about organ downership between 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:56.920 these two kids. Anyway, No Greater Gift, and I was 0:13:57.040 --> 0:14:00.640 able to beg the network to let me direct language show. 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:03.920 And that was the beginning of it, and that put 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:07.959 me behind the camera, and from there it just progressed, 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:09.640 thankfully through the years. 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:11.600 You're a trifecta. 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:12.560 Yeah. 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:20.680 Yeah, wow, that's such a beautiful progression though, because as 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:24.080 you ended that show on Happy Days, I would imagine 0:14:24.560 --> 0:14:28.120 I know that we probably felt this way pigeonholed into 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:31.120 that stereotypical character. People didn't really want to see you 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:34.080 as other characters. It was a little more challenging as 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:49.800 an actor, but you could just kind of pivot. Yeah, 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:54.360 when we found out you POTSI was directing our show, 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:57.200 we were all freaking thinking out. 0:14:57.320 --> 0:14:57.560 Yeah. 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:02.080 Really, I imagine every buddy who was directed by photos 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:02.680 with you. 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:05.280 Which never did with anyone who came on the show. 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:07.480 Oh my gosh. 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:10.920 Then you ended up being like, we became friends with you, 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:15.720 Like you're one of the few directors on nine that 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:19.040 became like our buddy, our friend, like someone we trusted 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:22.400 and we would have like great conversations outside of directing 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:26.200 and acting. 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:29.080 Because you were started as an actor, like you, he 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:30.520 got us. 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:35.400 Oh really got us totally. And it's acting is very 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:38.400 sensitive area. I mean, we're all I mean, everyone has 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:40.920 the background of why they go into into acting anyway, 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:44.000 it's pretty complex, a lot of a lot of emotions, 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:46.200 a lot of reasons. I'm like, you know, make up 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:50.920 for loss whatever. But you know, and it's a and 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:55.280 there's just I mean, and you know, trust and love 0:15:55.560 --> 0:16:01.440 and like comfort means everything, you know where and collaboration 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:04.920 means everything. And I hated directors, honestly, God, they go, 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:09.240 I'm the director. It's like a director is a storyteller. 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:12.400 It's all you are. It's like whatever your psychologist, you ever, 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:14.880 whatever you have to do to make it work. You know, 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:19.360 you're not You're not that. What's important is what's printed. 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:22.720 There's a lot of people involved in that, a lot 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:25.960 of talent involved in that, a lot of sensitive situations 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:28.040 in that, you know, And it's a big how do 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:30.720 you collaborate everyone and get it done and get it 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:34.080 done right? And everyone feels involved and everyone feels satisfied 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:34.600 with their part. 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:36.560 Yeah, that's the job. 0:16:37.120 --> 0:16:40.880 It's such a group like village mentality like it is. 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:42.880 It's really and you guys. 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:44.720 Oh my god, how you could you could? You guys 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:47.200 couldn't be more popular? And how many it was it 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:50.920 ten years or eleven? How many years? Ten years? And 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:53.360 that was happy to its ten ten years the same thing. 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:57.800 Really rarity, Oh my gosh. 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:00.680 And here you guys still are still souper, are popular, 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:03.320 but you all give back, you're all, you're all. You know, 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:08.600 it's important to be you know, examples of you know, 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:11.800 of doing the right thing and you know, and it's 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:13.920 you know, not be a giver and not a taker. 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:15.080 Mm hmm. 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:15.640 Yeah. 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:21.840 We've always realized and maintained that our fans are are everything, 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:26.120 like we'd be nothing without them. Yes, so we'll forever 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:32.960 be grateful. How often do people say potsy? Nowadays? 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:36.399 A lot they still say, but it's so funny early 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:40.199 on unhappy days, we're real popular and we're getting potsy 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:44.119 potsy potsy and honestly being young, Ron Howard was there 0:17:44.160 --> 0:17:47.280 and I said, you know this Potzi stuff. Man, He goes, answering, 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:52.000 you got to earn your name. They know you this character. Hey, 0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:54.560 how do you think I feel? I have two Opi 0:17:54.760 --> 0:17:58.840 and Richie. He goes, he got one. Shut up, I 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:03.320 gotta new I that makes OPI is pretty good. Okay, 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:06.040 I get it. Yeah, you have to earn our names 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:10.320 to take this and do something bigger with it. That's 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:14.000 where it's you and that's directing and writing whatever. And 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:16.440 you earn your way, you know, you earn your way 0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:18.800 and that makes sense. That was a had a run 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:22.080 had a big influence on me and Gary Marshall. But 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:24.680 it's true. And now and then it gets what were 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:27.480 you doing? They they know what you do now, they're 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:30.040 probably know you're direct they know you're right, but they 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:32.320 still love your character. You know, it's cool, it's great. 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:35.120 I mean, Ron, I was just wrong. Ron had won 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:39.159 the Oscar and they're calling him Richie. It's like, you go, 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:41.000 this's great. Whatever makes forever. 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:41.840 It's forever. 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:47.520 The power of what you guys do. Seriously, Henry Winkler 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:53.520 and I don't his popularity at the time, it was 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:56.600 the Beatles times three. I mean, I don't know. I 0:18:56.600 --> 0:19:00.600 mean it was nuts and back then there were three networks. 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:03.600 That was it. We had an average of sixty so 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:08.679 million people watching sixty point two wet rating. If we 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:13.720 get that, we figot into the fifties. Are disappointed? Okay? Three? Not? Well? Yeah, 0:19:13.840 --> 0:19:16.800 we talk about popularity, man, and you talk about plus 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:19.320 they're syndicating during the day, and I mean, and Henry 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:23.400 was like, just you could you could not be more popular? 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:27.080 In life anyway, he always made a point to visit 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:30.479 children's hospitals when in the town. He would go in, 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:33.639 not as even as the character. He would just you know, 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:37.960 but he would play the character. And he went in 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:40.280 to this one room and I guess they were they 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:44.720 were there was an autistic kid, and there's an old 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:47.600 guess who's coming to visit you? And nothing. He's never 0:19:47.760 --> 0:19:54.719 never expressed nothing, no express nothing since birth. Nothing. Henry 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:58.479 comes in, Henry comes into this room. Oh hey, this 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:01.760 is I mean, he goes Henry goes hey, Ka goes hey. 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:05.280 It's the first time, all of a sudden he was 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:12.120 Everyone's breaking down, crying, the mother, nonverbal and anything anything, 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:14.520 And it was the first time there was any sense 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:18.600 there was a connection. That's that's the power of the 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:21.160 media and it's the power of character. Yeah. 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:25.760 So so we learned from you. I mean we learned 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:29.120 I for one, learned from you like just having you, 0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:35.360 like the legendary you directing us being so like personable 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:39.320 and chill and just talkative with everyone, just having a 0:20:39.359 --> 0:20:44.680 really cool, normal like energy about you. That was inspiring 0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:48.560 for me and like an example for how we should 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:51.600 be as we get older. In this business like, you 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:56.080 don't have to be like some affected person star you 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:58.320 know all the things that people assume. You could be 0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:02.320 a real person and just light up so many people's 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:04.919 worlds because of who they know you from and what 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:05.880 they know you from. 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:08.439 Yeah, because it's funny when they see someone like you, 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:12.320 just the wall goes down and they go they're vulnerable 0:21:12.800 --> 0:21:15.920 and and you you put a little joy in there. 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:20.680 It's it's it's it's very effective. Gary did. He gave 0:21:20.760 --> 0:21:25.119 us another great lesson and he said, you guys, you 0:21:25.200 --> 0:21:29.520 guys are in it, and in it means yeah, you 0:21:29.600 --> 0:21:31.399 got the fire and you want to be successful. You 0:21:31.440 --> 0:21:33.159 want to be this, you want to be known. You 0:21:33.240 --> 0:21:38.200 got Yeah, never be of it. It's not who you are. 0:21:38.640 --> 0:21:41.920 If you're of it, you're hiding behind it. You're running 0:21:41.960 --> 0:21:45.760 and that could be. It could be from hiding behind kids, 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:49.560 hiding behind this, hiding behind drugs, hiding behind a VP. Whatever. 0:21:49.960 --> 0:21:52.320 Never you're in it, never ever be of it. You 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:55.919 will never ever be happy as a human being. You know, 0:21:56.080 --> 0:22:00.560 you're hiding from yourself. Wow, that was it was That 0:22:00.680 --> 0:22:03.440 was a very important lesson he taught us. Yeah. 0:22:04.240 --> 0:22:05.919 Yeah, authenticity. 0:22:06.560 --> 0:22:10.400 Yeah, yeah, so it's what we do so who we are? 0:22:11.840 --> 0:22:16.040 That's right, Yeah, they ask you a fun thing about 0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:17.000 happy days. 0:22:17.320 --> 0:22:18.400 Sure, so we. 0:22:18.320 --> 0:22:21.840 Always talk about this when we have people on OMG 0:22:22.920 --> 0:22:26.360 from nine oh two one oh and Iron was infamous 0:22:26.400 --> 0:22:29.560 for it. Is there anything you took from the set 0:22:29.960 --> 0:22:32.920 the very last day, like ten years are up the 0:22:33.040 --> 0:22:36.960 final scene, like Iron took the jukebox like I was. 0:22:37.440 --> 0:22:39.359 I didn't. I wasn't there the last day for the 0:22:39.440 --> 0:22:41.080 last and I didn't get a chance to take anything 0:22:41.080 --> 0:22:45.800 I wanted to complain about that. You're talking about happy days? 0:22:46.080 --> 0:22:47.600 Yeah, hap, happy days. Sorry. 0:22:47.640 --> 0:22:50.080 Sorry, Now you're going to see You're going to see 0:22:50.080 --> 0:22:52.800 how absolutely dumb and stupid this guy is. 0:22:53.840 --> 0:22:57.639 You got two right here. We took nothing, trust me, 0:22:57.720 --> 0:22:58.159 think of it. 0:22:58.560 --> 0:23:02.480 Listen to this. Oh no, who knew this stuff would 0:23:02.520 --> 0:23:06.119 be like you know, you know Kate Hut's Kingdom. I 0:23:06.119 --> 0:23:10.639 mean seriously, it's like, what check this out? Last Night 0:23:10.680 --> 0:23:16.439 of Happiness, last show. Mickey Gerard you might know and 0:23:16.480 --> 0:23:19.880 you know his his his niece is Jill, the one 0:23:19.880 --> 0:23:25.040 on Love Boat, your Dad's show, right, Joe Wheeling whatever, Yep, 0:23:25.480 --> 0:23:29.520 Well there's Mickey and Fonsie you know had three jackets. 0:23:29.600 --> 0:23:32.399 One went to Slsonian one he owned, and there's one 0:23:32.440 --> 0:23:36.159