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Speaker 1: now at Samsung dot Com. There are very few crew
Speaker 1: members we have said more times over the first five
Speaker 1: seasons of recaps than Mark Blutman and Howard Buskang, a
Speaker 1: writing team who joined the staff for season two. In
Speaker 1: the Big April Kelly mix up, this pair traveled to
Speaker 1: Hollywood from the Great White North and conquered Boy Meets World,
Speaker 1: unlike any writers before them or after sixteen episodes, the
Speaker 1: most from any writer during the run of the show
Speaker 1: and over only three and a half seasons. Is the
Speaker 1: type of output people fear when they talk about AI,
Speaker 1: and yet these two humans somehow made it happen and
Speaker 1: crafted some classic scripts in the process. We've spoken to
Speaker 1: Blutman on Pod Meets World already, so today we have
Speaker 1: the honor of completing the one two punch as we
Speaker 1: finally sit down with the other B in B and
Speaker 1: B's B and B. Who's afraid of Virginia Wolf Band
Speaker 1: on the Run? Breaking up is really really hard to
Speaker 1: do what I meant to say, This little piggy Happiest
Speaker 1: show on Earth. Long Walk to Pittsburgh Part two, and
Speaker 1: that is is only half of the scripts.
Speaker 5: Howard wrote, you said, Who's afraid of Corey Wolf?
Speaker 6: Right?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's surprise winning.
Speaker 5: It's great film to Romeo.
Speaker 2: And Juliet.
Speaker 6: Bible Communist Manifesto, some great stuff.
Speaker 2: By by mouth say tong and Howard bust Gang.
Speaker 3: That would be.
Speaker 1: Okay, let me do that again.
Speaker 5: I think we got it.
Speaker 4: War.
Speaker 1: I can say this with all the confidence in the world.
Speaker 1: Boy Meets World is not the show you love without
Speaker 1: the contributions of this writer. Welcome to the podcast. One
Speaker 1: of the two most prolific thick writers in Boy Meets
Speaker 1: World history. It's Howard bust Gang. Yeah there you are lost,
Speaker 1: You there you are guys. Did you see that? Did
Speaker 1: you see that?
Speaker 5: The cool glasses?
Speaker 3: The I am so much cooler now than when you
Speaker 3: knew me.
Speaker 1: Wow, I know we we have talked about. This is
Speaker 1: my These are my dream glasses. And when I need
Speaker 1: glasses that's what I'm doing right.
Speaker 6: Man's something that our lives are so different than they
Speaker 6: used to be when now that.
Speaker 2: We were all like, he's got the whole apart glass.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I'm selling these on my website.
Speaker 1: That's what were you about, night Grab I'm in. It
Speaker 1: is such a treat to see you again, Howard. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for being here.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you for having me. I'm so excited to
Speaker 3: be the seven and fifty six guests on yourself.
Speaker 1: It's a very honored position.
Speaker 3: I know, I know listen and if I was you,
Speaker 3: I'd be doing the same thing. I wouldn't have had
Speaker 3: me on for the first six years either, So I
Speaker 3: totally get it. I think Craft Service needed to be
Speaker 3: on first. I get it.
Speaker 2: Oh, we had more interaction with Craft Service.
Speaker 3: Than I'm with you, guys.
Speaker 2: I don't need to know Craig better.
Speaker 1: I mean, I do want to start with one question,
Speaker 1: the amount of scripts you wrote? Did you sleep at
Speaker 1: any point between nineteen ninety four and nineteen ninety six.
Speaker 3: Well, that's great, it's it's uh. First of all, this
Speaker 3: is this has been this little journey like being invited
Speaker 3: on the show has been terrific for me. Because to
Speaker 3: be honest, I don't really live in the like I
Speaker 3: don't visit the past that often. I live in the
Speaker 3: immediate future, like ten minutes.
Speaker 1: Mark, Yeah, ten minutes, Okay, it's great smart.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I've gotten to Uh. I didn't even realize
Speaker 3: how many we did, Like, I had no idea until
Speaker 3: I kind of looked it up and I listed all
Speaker 3: the shows. I watched a bunch of the shows, and
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna lie. I became very impressed with myself.
Speaker 2: Yes I should, I was.
Speaker 3: I was like, really, I you know, I just didn't
Speaker 3: know that the output. I didn't realize how much output
Speaker 3: we did. Yeah, and I'm going this these these this
Speaker 3: is funny, this is great.
Speaker 1: Yes, unbelievable, more than any other writers on On Boy
Speaker 1: Meets World History, Like sixteen episodes in only three and
Speaker 1: a half seasons.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we were cut short in the in the in
Speaker 3: the youth of our life, we cut it on at beneath. No,
Speaker 3: it's I'm so proud of it and again watching it
Speaker 3: again and seeing that it holds up and it's it's
Speaker 3: funny and it's emotion all the things I'm sure you've
Speaker 3: talked about with the previous seven hundred and forty six guests.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we've talked about all those things.
Speaker 3: Yeah, all those things, so you.
Speaker 1: Don't need to cover those again.
Speaker 5: None.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for being great.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we get a.
Speaker 6: Deep dive of all your episodes with the Craft Service guy.
Speaker 2: We were really covered everything.
Speaker 1: It was great. So I did ask if you slept
Speaker 1: at all. But on a more serious note, did you
Speaker 1: have much of a personal life during those seasons of
Speaker 1: Boy Meets World or were you just in the room
Speaker 1: all the time?
Speaker 3: You know, when you're on an American sitcom because I
Speaker 3: worked a lot in Canada after that, but when you're
Speaker 3: on American sitcom, your life is the show. Yeah, you
Speaker 3: really give up your life for the show. And I
Speaker 3: think and for me, what made it really wonderful was
Speaker 3: the camaraderie. I mean, you say, you know, in the
Speaker 3: room and with these these these fellow writers and everyone
Speaker 3: on the show, many of which are still in my life. Right.
Speaker 3: We used to say, Uh, Matt Nelson used to say,
Speaker 3: you know, every day we go to war and if
Speaker 3: we only get we were in a minefield, and if
Speaker 3: we only get our leg blown up, it's been a
Speaker 3: great day. So you know, and you're making a sitcom, right,
Speaker 3: you're making but you know what it's like, there's a
Speaker 3: lot of a lot of uh moving parts. So the
Speaker 3: fact that we bonded as a as a group and
Speaker 3: as a team, and we've stayed friends. I think what
Speaker 3: makes the extra special for me?
Speaker 6: You know, I have to ask as a as a
Speaker 6: television officionado and sitcom fan, how does that differ from
Speaker 6: a Canadian sitcom? Is a Canadian sitcom just much more polite?
Speaker 3: Much more polite? Yeah? You camera say we have no conflict,
Speaker 3: so how was your day wonderful?
Speaker 6: And they should walk in if anyone disagrees or right? Yeah, yeah, no,
Speaker 6: I mean is it that is an American sitcom that
Speaker 6: different from a Canadian sitcomer?
Speaker 3: Well, you know here here's yes, it's the Canadian sitcom
Speaker 3: is more like the British sitcom system. You know, you
Speaker 3: do eight right, Okay, you have five writers that kind
Speaker 3: of thing, and you have fourteen dollars to make the shelf, so.
Speaker 2: The right, and it's Canadian dollars.
Speaker 3: So that's not dollars.
Speaker 6: That maple syrup thing is real. I'm sorry, it's a
Speaker 6: twenty dollars bill. That is a real thing. So do
Speaker 6: you guys know about this. No, the Canadian maple, the
Speaker 6: Canadian twenty dollars bill smells like maple syrup. Hmmm, And
Speaker 6: there's a people are saying, Oh, that's it, that's not true,
Speaker 6: or it wasn't done on purpose.
Speaker 2: It absolutely smells maple syrup.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not here to disagree with you.
Speaker 2: Thank you exactly because I'm a Canadian.
Speaker 3: Because I'm Canadian.
Speaker 1: Well, let's start with your origins back in Canada. Most
Speaker 1: of your early work on TV was actually in front
Speaker 1: of the camera. Is that true?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was a I was a stand up for
Speaker 3: about twenty years, so I I did that. I never
Speaker 3: had a job. I mean that was in college. I
Speaker 3: started doing stand up and started in Montreal, moved to Toronto,
Speaker 3: and actually in Montreal's where I met Mark Bletman, who
Speaker 3: became my writing partner. Yea, and moved to Toronto. You know,
Speaker 3: I had a very respectable career, I'm going to say,
Speaker 3: and that's what brought me to Los Angeles to be
Speaker 3: a sick to be a comic. Okay, yeah, yeah, and
Speaker 3: I did that. I love that. But it was one
Speaker 3: of those things where at the time, even then, I'm
Speaker 3: like an old jew. I was like, already at twenty,
Speaker 3: I'm going, I don't want to do this when I'm forty.
Speaker 3: I got too much already. I couldn't. It was already
Speaker 3: too much.
Speaker 2: Yeah was this the Was this the eighties?
Speaker 6: I'm just curious? Is this the eighties in LA? Like
Speaker 6: that's just my whole kind of stand up scene?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, I moved in eighty eight to Los Angeles? Okay, yeah?
Speaker 6: Wow?
Speaker 4: Could you describe what your character was or what your angle?
Speaker 4: Did you have like an approach or was it just
Speaker 4: kind of you being you as a stand up?
Speaker 3: Is this not good enough? Like? Is this not?
Speaker 4: I know Bluodman had like a wrestling going and like,
Speaker 4: so I'm very curious how you guys like where you
Speaker 4: were coming from, because I can't imagine you being in
Speaker 4: a wrestling mask or anything of that.
Speaker 1: ILK.
Speaker 3: So yeah, no, but there is there is a There
Speaker 3: was a moment when he was first doing the wrestling thing,
Speaker 3: and I thought, oh, it would be fun. I'll play
Speaker 3: the manager and I you know, whatever a manager wears,
Speaker 3: you know, a bad suit and a big gold chain
Speaker 3: with a probably a thie on it, you know, something
Speaker 3: like and as somebody gave me a cigar and I
Speaker 3: he put this cigar in my mouth and I didn't know.
Speaker 3: You're not supposed to win haal cigars.
Speaker 6: Jesus.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, you know where this is going. So I
Speaker 3: was inhaling scar and I passed out. So that was
Speaker 3: was my manager rule. That was it. No, No, I
Speaker 3: I did not. I was the I was the I'm
Speaker 3: the lonely jew. I guess as what? Okay, yeah, that
Speaker 3: was good.
Speaker 1: So you co created We Don't Knock, which is a
Speaker 1: prank show for the CBC. I did, and Canadians are known,
Speaker 1: as we talked about, for being wildly polite. So I
Speaker 1: need to know two things. One, what is the craziest
Speaker 1: prank that you pulled off? And did everyone just say sorry,
Speaker 1: sorry sorry once the cameras were revealed.
Speaker 3: Okay, no, that's great question. So two things. First of all,
Speaker 3: it was an incredibly critically acclaimed show for its time,
Speaker 3: and it was a precursor to kind of uh you know,
Speaker 3: kind of these yeah, these barging shows that came later.
Speaker 3: But it was two things that happened. One thing was
Speaker 3: it got It was incredibly acclaimed, but it also got
Speaker 3: pulled off because CBC didn't like the fact that we
Speaker 3: were barging in homes. Even though the name of.
Speaker 1: The show was real No, I don't knock right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they didn't quite get that, but the title guys.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: But the best one I which was actually the most heartfelt.
Speaker 3: I went to a high school reunion in somewhere in
Speaker 3: Manitoba and everybody who is like their sixtieth reunion and
Speaker 3: they were all, you know, eighty years old, seventy years old,
Speaker 3: and I was thirty years old. And I walked in
Speaker 3: and I pretended to be one of the people who
Speaker 3: was reunion.
Speaker 2: Oh that's kind of great.
Speaker 3: Oh it's so sweet, you know, bow up, how are you?
Speaker 3: It's been so long? My god? Is this erma? You
Speaker 3: guys were dating? This is Oh my god.
Speaker 4: Did you do research ahead of time so you would know,
Speaker 4: like how what they are, who they were, and how
Speaker 4: they were related.
Speaker 3: No, unlike you, I'm not professional, so I could not
Speaker 3: do research. I just went and they had name tags
Speaker 3: so that helped. It was just it was beautiful. So
Speaker 3: that was probably my you know, that was kind of
Speaker 3: a special moment that we all post for a class
Speaker 3: photo at the end. Oh my gosh, it was really.
Speaker 1: Did any one say to you you look amazing or
Speaker 1: did anyone say I don't remember you?
Speaker 3: Sadly, I think they thought I fit in, so I
Speaker 3: don't know I told you. I guess yeah, I.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, you get so you mentioned that at twenty,
Speaker 1: being a comic just felt already like I don't want
Speaker 1: to be doing this when I'm forty. When did writing
Speaker 1: become your goal?
Speaker 3: Uh? We we I went to do a showcase stand
Speaker 3: up showcase at the laugh Factory and it was a
Speaker 3: good showcase. But maybe THEE executive saw it and said,
Speaker 3: you know, this guy would make a good writer. I didn't,
Speaker 3: you know, I didn't know that. You know, I didn't
Speaker 3: know how to be writer. I knew how to write jokes,
Speaker 3: but I wrote a quickly. I wrote a script for
Speaker 3: an episode of Coach.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you yes, I loved that show.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it was fun show to write, but you know,
Speaker 3: not knowing how to be a writer, I probably wrote
Speaker 3: it in six hours, you know, like you don't you
Speaker 3: just start going, oh my god, this is the funniest
Speaker 3: thing ever. And ABC, you know whatever. They it was fine.
Speaker 3: But actually Mark read it, Mark blettmant and he said,
Speaker 3: this is this is really good why don't we write togegether?
Speaker 3: And that's what got us on track to writing. We
Speaker 3: then somehow got on a show called Good Advice was
Speaker 3: Shelley Long, which was her first show after Cheers. Okay,
Speaker 3: and we got on that show, which was amazing for me.
Speaker 3: It was I mean, this was a dream trunk come true.
Speaker 3: At Canaane guy, You're on a sitcom in La. At
Speaker 3: the time, I only had one car, which my wife
Speaker 3: and I split, so I had to take the bus
Speaker 3: down Venture Boulevard to where Mark would pick me up
Speaker 3: and take me down to the studio in Culver City.
Speaker 3: I was probably the only sitcom writer on a bus
Speaker 3: in La.
Speaker 6: Amazing.
Speaker 1: Wow, Mark wouldn't come pick you up.
Speaker 3: He would not. Okay, it was nice, which is probably
Speaker 3: the reason we still don't write. Okay, we don't write
Speaker 3: that does Yeah?
Speaker 6: I again I have to ask as as the television guy.
Speaker 6: So there's famous stories obviously about Shelley Long leaving Cheers,
Speaker 6: how she left everything behind her leaving. What was it
Speaker 6: like working with her on her first show after leaving
Speaker 6: a show like Cheers?
Speaker 3: Okay? So in twelve months we did nine episodes. Ooh, okay,
Speaker 3: they fired everybody several times they kept us because we
Speaker 3: were too we would didn't cost them anything. They called
Speaker 3: us the cockroaches.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, to your face.
Speaker 3: No no, but they didn't call us to our face.
Speaker 3: But we had we had a you know, we had
Speaker 3: an office. I can't believe I'm talking about this. We
Speaker 3: had an office with an adjoining room next to whoever
Speaker 3: was the executive producer. And we okay, this I shouldn't.
Speaker 3: This is horrible.
Speaker 5: Oh please, you.
Speaker 3: Would kind to lie on the floor under the crack
Speaker 3: and listen to what was going on so we can
Speaker 3: hear them talking about us, you know, approaches. And but
Speaker 3: the thing is they were all fired and we stay.
Speaker 2: Yeah they don't. They just they don't die.
Speaker 7: They just they were always there and they're load to
Speaker 7: the ground.
Speaker 2: And that was an experience the show.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we stayed on that show, you know, the whole time,
Speaker 3: even when they were off whole episodes. And it's funny.
Speaker 3: The one time we went out, like somebody said, why
Speaker 3: are you staying in your office? No one's there, go out.
Speaker 3: We went to a movie, like we went to a
Speaker 3: movie in Santa Monica, and I think at the movie
Speaker 3: we ran into the casting director, like what why what
Speaker 3: are you guys doing here? You should be you know,
Speaker 3: I don't know what a cast director was doing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3: So that was our first experience. And then we we
Speaker 3: went and did a show in Canada for a year,
Speaker 3: and then we got we we got a call from
Speaker 3: Michael Jacobs and uh I met him and he seems
Speaker 3: somewhat impressed. He clearly had very low standards, and he
Speaker 3: brought us in.
Speaker 5: So what was the connection of Michael.
Speaker 4: Was it just an agent or a manager call, or
Speaker 4: was there somebody?
Speaker 3: I think I don't know. Mark would Mark, Mark would
Speaker 3: no better. He's our, he's our, He's the historian, he's
Speaker 3: the historian of the show.
Speaker 2: He lives ten minutes in the past. Yeah, well yeah,
Speaker 2: the king of him.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah. I think he knew someone at at at
Speaker 3: Sony and and we we had the meeting and Michael
Speaker 3: was impressed somehow and brought us on, and uh we
Speaker 3: came in in season two.
Speaker 1: Right. I'm assuming you didn't tell him the story about
Speaker 1: being called the correous job.
Speaker 3: I'd like no one to speak of this anymore.
Speaker 8: Drop now, Okay, Now, if memory serves, Mark told us
Speaker 8: that you were actually asked to be on season one
Speaker 8: of Boy but decided against it because you thought it
Speaker 8: was too young a show.
Speaker 2: Am I am I misremembering that.
Speaker 3: I don't think you're misremembering it because I listened to
Speaker 3: that podcast I miss. I do not. I'm not. I
Speaker 3: don't want to be contradictory, But do not remember that, right, Okay?
Speaker 6: I do not.
Speaker 3: Perhaps he was offered the show so he kindly turned
Speaker 3: down because he was waiting for me to show up.
Speaker 1: Right, you wanted to be a partner.
Speaker 3: That's a nice thing.
Speaker 1: That's total okay. So what then when you get your
Speaker 1: start with Boy Meets World in season two? Michael hires you?
Speaker 1: First of all, what was that meeting? Like, Michael seemed
Speaker 1: impressed with you, guys? What else do you remember from
Speaker 1: the meeting? Was it a did it feel positive?
Speaker 3: It was very positive? In fact, I think again, I
Speaker 3: think I brought my daughter at the time time, who
Speaker 3: was like five years old, to the meeting because I
Speaker 3: didn't have a babysitter. I don't know. My wife wasn't
Speaker 3: she didn't want a babysit. I don't remember, but I
Speaker 3: brought her and I think Bonnie, who was working outside,
Speaker 3: watched Alexandra for the meeting. But we went in the meeting.
Speaker 3: It was Bob Young was there, Michael was there, and
Speaker 3: I remember the one thing I remember he said, you
Speaker 3: guys are very facile. Oh, and I remember thinking, what
Speaker 3: is facile?
Speaker 1: Give me addiction?
Speaker 3: Give me addiction here?
Speaker 5: But you don't you could just do it.
Speaker 3: You know, you're going for a writing job. You don't
Speaker 3: really want to say, right, I don't.
Speaker 1: Know what that means.
Speaker 3: No, it was no in so many respects. I mean,
Speaker 3: it was obviously a dream come true and it remains
Speaker 3: to this day, which which a dream come true, which
Speaker 3: I can you know, it's coming back into my life
Speaker 3: in many ways because of what I'm doing now and
Speaker 3: the people. Should I just jump in to tell you
Speaker 3: why it's come into my life? Yes?
Speaker 4: Please?
Speaker 1: Sure?
Speaker 6: Oh?
Speaker 3: Okay, okay, So you know I'm eight years ago I
Speaker 3: moved away from Los Angeles. So I moved to a
Speaker 3: small island to British Columbia, Okay, called Salt Spring, and
Speaker 3: I still write. And my wife and I were looking around.
Speaker 3: We didn't really have a plan, and we saw a
Speaker 3: little shop that was available for a tiny little place,
Speaker 3: and she said, why don't we open a little deli here?
Speaker 3: And if it doesn't work, you'll have an office to
Speaker 3: write in. So we opened a place called Buzzies.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So it's a Montreal Jewish delhi on an island
Speaker 3: with more Bears than Jews.
Speaker 1: Yes, how's it going?
Speaker 3: No, it's truly. I'm blessed. I'm blessed because we've become
Speaker 3: this destination because people go why, like they just cannot
Speaker 3: believe we're here, right, you know we do. I'm probably
Speaker 3: one of a few restaurantors who had their menu punched up.
Speaker 3: I had writers come in, we punched up the menu.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I have said, can we beat roast beef?
Speaker 3: You know, we have sandwiches like we I make my
Speaker 3: own my trust smoke meat, which is a version of Pistromi.
Speaker 3: It's so our sandwiches. You know. We have the Hungry
Speaker 3: jew we have the the the room the Rubens called
Speaker 3: the Rabinowitz. So but but here's the beautiful thing about it.
Speaker 3: I have you know, it's a good place to put
Speaker 3: stuff that my wife doesn't want in the house. So
Speaker 3: I got Boy Meets World signs, a few things over
Speaker 3: and this is what amazing? What's it just? It's a
Speaker 3: beautiful thing. I cannot believe how many people come in
Speaker 3: and they look around, they look at the sign, they go,
Speaker 3: boy meets World, what what did you do? And I
Speaker 3: you'll work on the ship. And they tell me this
Speaker 3: was not only their favorite show, they tell me how
Speaker 3: important it was to them growing up. Yeah, I mean this, No,
Speaker 3: this happens every day like it's truly. I didn't realize
Speaker 3: at the time. You know, we're making a show.
Speaker 1: Yeah, none of us, none of us us. So we
Speaker 1: know you're telling the truth because we experience it every
Speaker 1: day as.
Speaker 3: Well, every day, right, and it's just beautiful. And I
Speaker 3: had one of my favorite lines from the show is
Speaker 3: that I put in every script I've ever written ever
Speaker 3: was Matt wrote a line called which you know, I'm
Speaker 3: sure life's tough wear a helmet, which I love, and
Speaker 3: I would put that. I would with his permission, Matt,
Speaker 3: the writer, I would put I'd say, I got to
Speaker 3: put this line in the show. So I had someone
Speaker 3: bring me in a poster they made that said Life's tough,
Speaker 3: where life's tough, eat a lutka. Yeah, I have that
Speaker 3: at the show up somebody, I'm sure you get this. Also,
Speaker 3: somebody just texted me a picture of them and their
Speaker 3: and their cat, George Feeney.
Speaker 5: Oh you know that's great. I love that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we got a lot of dogs named Topanga.
Speaker 6: We got a lot of babies named to Panga, cats
Speaker 6: named Feoenie.
Speaker 2: We get we we hear some some strange stuff.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so it's uh, it's it's a gift that just
Speaker 3: keeps on giving. It's really true. So kudos to all
Speaker 3: of us. Little pat on the back.
Speaker 1: Right, Yes, absolutely, that's so great. Well, you know we
Speaker 1: need to plan a trip to go visit you. A modern.
Speaker 2: Rub sandwich is my favorite sandwichever.
Speaker 6: Look at Suzy, I gotta try your ruben because.
Speaker 3: He's got tiny he's got a tiny little yamaka on
Speaker 3: the top. Just you know, we still live on island.
Speaker 3: I didn't want them to row me out and throw
Speaker 3: me off the island.
Speaker 2: So how far are you from Vancouver Island.
Speaker 3: We're an hour and a half by ferry from vancous In,
Speaker 3: thirty minutes from Victoria.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you're in an island, right.
Speaker 3: Run an island island and you can find us at
Speaker 3: Buzzies dot Ca.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's all it, Buzzies dot Ca. Okay, great, I
Speaker 1: can't wait to go. So when you start on Boy
Speaker 1: Meets World in season two, did you catch up by
Speaker 1: watching season one, and if so, what were your thoughts
Speaker 1: of the first season.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, of course we watched the show and I
Speaker 3: think Mark talked about this it for us and this
Speaker 3: was terrible time. It felt younger than what we were
Speaker 3: used to writing. Yeah, yeah, it felt it felt younger
Speaker 3: and I I feel like part of our job and
Speaker 3: I think he may have talked about it was to
Speaker 3: uh was to I don't know words age up the show.
Speaker 3: I don't know if I like that word, but I
Speaker 3: will say watching the episodes of season two now like
Speaker 3: watching what we did, I I the it didn't feel
Speaker 3: young to me, like it felt the time, the character,
Speaker 3: everything felt right for the time and the place. So
Speaker 3: you know, I don't know if we were there to
Speaker 3: I hate to say the word be funny, but uh,
Speaker 3: I I listen. I was watching it detached, but as
Speaker 3: a fan now and I just got a big kick
Speaker 3: out of it. I can't wait to show my kids
Speaker 3: who have not watched my career. So kids, if you're listening,
Speaker 3: it's hurtful.
Speaker 1: It's time.
Speaker 2: It's time. Yeah, you can also find your dad at
Speaker 2: Buzzies dot C.
Speaker 5: Please call, please call.
Speaker 3: Well, we always need someone on the meat slicer.
Speaker 6: So you know you kidding? You put me in a deli?
Speaker 6: I am all my life, I've all. I want a
Speaker 6: sandwich named after me. Eventually, I want one that that lasts,
Speaker 6: that's named after me, the Fredell, the Freedole, whatever, the
Speaker 6: Wilfrid's or something film Freedole.
Speaker 2: But I need a sandwich named after me. It's kind
Speaker 2: of what I'm I'm I'm going for.
Speaker 5: You're talking to the right guy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, let me get my team to punch that up.
Speaker 3: I'm not sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, please please do. I love that.
Speaker 6: And I don't know what's in the sandwich. But there's
Speaker 6: got to be ham. That's all I can.
Speaker 1: Say, because it's got to eat the scenery, my friend.
Speaker 5: That's right.
Speaker 3: And a Jewish deli.
Speaker 6: Okay, but listen and bacon bacon wrapped ham at a
Speaker 6: Jewish telli.
Speaker 3: It okay?
Speaker 2: Damn you joined.
Speaker 1: Season two Boy Meets World was kind of right after
Speaker 1: a big shake up creatively, as April Kelly left after
Speaker 1: season one and her team and they didn't return for
Speaker 1: season two. Was there any talk of that at all?
Speaker 1: Did you. Were you aware of any of that going
Speaker 1: into season two or not at all?
Speaker 3: Uh? All I know is I kept asking whose April?
Speaker 5: Did you?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 6: She was?
Speaker 3: No. I know you're wondering, who's this April? And it's
Speaker 3: like the person whose name she'll not be spoken. I
Speaker 3: have nothing, no, no one ever who's April. Why isn't
Speaker 3: she here? So I you know, I'm sure she's a fabulous, creative,
Speaker 3: wonderful human being. I have no I've never met her.
Speaker 1: I don't know anything, right, and no one would tell
Speaker 1: you who she was.
Speaker 3: Ill that's the story I'm sticking to. I don't know. Yeah, no,
Speaker 3: no one they she just left. I don't know under
Speaker 3: what circumstances. I really don't know.
Speaker 1: Do you remember your first impressions of us?
Speaker 3: Uh? Well, you know, I think I think that it's
Speaker 3: funny because now even now, you know, I say the kids, right,
Speaker 3: I talked about you, and clearly you've grown up and
Speaker 3: I've grown down so well. Obviously very impressed. But I
Speaker 3: think at the time, again, this was such a learning
Speaker 3: experience for me and being on a real show, you know,
Speaker 3: a big American sitcom I had. I think that a
Speaker 3: little bit of a Canadian inferiority complex, and I'm sure,
Speaker 3: I know, I'm sure I was more scared of you
Speaker 3: than you were to me. Like bears like bears, Hans, Buzzies,
Speaker 3: dot Ca. I was just in total awe of the
Speaker 3: whole thing, and I and you know, occasionally overwhelmed by
Speaker 3: it because it all moves so fast. It all was
Speaker 3: happening so fast, and I'm a little slow and laborious sometimes.
Speaker 3: But where I love to be was. I just loved
Speaker 3: being in the writer's room. I wasn't so much somebody
Speaker 3: who loved the stage as much because it's hard for
Speaker 3: me to work that fast and figure out now, don't
Speaker 3: this do this? That wasn't that guy. So I've just
Speaker 3: loved it being in that room. That was my safe space.
Speaker 6: When when you came to the show, did you come
Speaker 6: to a show that was in transition or did you
Speaker 6: come to a show and help with the transition?
Speaker 2: Was it kind of?
Speaker 6: Because we noticed such a big changes from season one
Speaker 6: to season two, especially when we go back and watch
Speaker 6: them now after we're now up to about to start
Speaker 6: season six, you know, Lee Norris is no longer. There
Speaker 6: were clearly going into high school. There was obviously some
Speaker 6: kind of of order from somewhere that they wanted to
Speaker 6: age the show up. Was that something that you and
Speaker 6: Mark were responsible for or did you kind of come
Speaker 6: into it as it was happening.
Speaker 3: Well, I don't want I hate these all responsible. It
Speaker 3: sounds because it's such a team effort. But I'd like
Speaker 3: to think that we were integral part of that discussion.
Speaker 3: You know, we certainly involved in that discussion, and so
Speaker 3: I know that we I know there was there certainly
Speaker 3: was that conscious effort. Listen, you were you The fact
Speaker 3: is you were getting older every year, So every year
Speaker 3: there's a transition to be made. Yeah, right, And and
Speaker 3: that's interesting to watch even even now as you go
Speaker 3: back on the episodes, if you're if if you're uh
Speaker 3: binging them and you start watching a Mike season season
Speaker 3: three and then season four and all of a sudden,
Speaker 3: you know, someone's got a beard like it's it's you know,
Speaker 3: it's really interesting to watch. And every year was handled,
Speaker 3: you know, very delicately. What are we going to do?
Speaker 3: These questions were always asked, So I think we were
Speaker 3: we were in an integral part of it. And uh
Speaker 3: and it was a great amazing you know, it's a
Speaker 3: great learning experience. I lot. I obviously, uh learned so
Speaker 3: much from that show. And uh, but I was not.
Speaker 3: I was not the guy who was great on the floor.
Speaker 3: You know, m hm and Mike would say, you know,
Speaker 3: when we'd shoot and Mike would say, we need a line,
Speaker 3: we need a line, we'd all just kind of yell lines.
Speaker 3: It it's you know, it's it's it's It's a very
Speaker 3: intimidating experience because you're still desperately want to, you know,
Speaker 3: get in there.
Speaker 5: You know, Wow, I jump in on that.
Speaker 4: I want to know, do you have a favorite line
Speaker 4: that you pitched, whether it made it to the show
Speaker 4: or not. Do you have a favorite a.
Speaker 5: Moment where you're you're most proud of throwing something out?
Speaker 3: Well, okay, you know, I'm sure other writers have told you.
Speaker 3: You know, we don't like to talk about what lines
Speaker 3: that we came up with, but I will tell you
Speaker 3: things that still make me laugh and I go, oh
Speaker 3: my god, that was mine. And this is not a
Speaker 3: great line. It's not a great mine at all. But
Speaker 3: I was watching the episode where Will is trying to
Speaker 3: win publisher's clearinghouse. Yeah, oh yeah, they're still laughing at it.
Speaker 3: And you know, you pull out the magazine. This is
Speaker 3: not the best line in the show by any means,
Speaker 3: but I just loved it because I remember pitching it.
Speaker 3: It's the magazine when you got to seize. It's the
Speaker 3: magazine Chester for people named Chester. And I actually have
Speaker 3: that magazine at home to keep it.
Speaker 2: I've got to keep it.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: It's so dumb, so right, but it's just I can't
Speaker 3: help but smiles, so stupid, and which will delivered brilliantly.
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you.
Speaker 6: So another question I have, I think we all have,
Speaker 6: because we've noticed in some seasons it clearly seems like
Speaker 6: before the season started there was an arc of where
Speaker 6: the season was going to go. You could clearly see
Speaker 6: what was going to happen. Okay, we're starting here, we're
Speaker 6: ending here. As we're getting a little bit later in
Speaker 6: the season, it seems a little less like maybe there
Speaker 6: was an overall plan. Did you always write at the
Speaker 6: beginning before we even got there, before the you know,
Speaker 6: our first script was put in our hand. Did you
Speaker 6: all sit down and and arc out an entire season.
Speaker 6: Here'shere we're going to start, here's what we're going to end,
Speaker 6: and here's how we're going to get to that point
Speaker 6: or was it more just we by week?
Speaker 3: So this is a this is a situation. It's like
Speaker 3: the best laid plans of mice and men, right, you know,
Speaker 3: you would you would argue, you would see how the
Speaker 3: season would go. But as you all know, by you know,
Speaker 3: episode nineteen or something, you know, we're just so struggling
Speaker 3: just to stay awake and survive and get through and
Speaker 3: that we need a script tomorrow. And so that's that's
Speaker 3: and that's no one's fault. It's just the nature of
Speaker 3: the beast. So that's what what wiy. Things can get
Speaker 3: a little messy at the end because you just just
Speaker 3: don't have the time to do it. Yeah, right, Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's just you know, it's nature. And listen, I'm just
Speaker 3: shocked that we anyone's able to do this. I can't
Speaker 3: imagine the old days when they did what thirty nine
Speaker 3: episodes off a show, like really old days. So yeah,
Speaker 3: we just some you know, by the end, we were
Speaker 3: just just just struggling to just get to you know,
Speaker 3: get get those scripts out. So I I I think,
Speaker 3: you know, best intentions sometimes, Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well you had five episodes in season two. Who's afraid
Speaker 1: of Corey? Wolfe band on the Run. Breaking up is
Speaker 1: really really hard to do on the air, and the
Speaker 1: thrilla in Philla band on the Run was a favorite
Speaker 1: one of ours to talk about. Do you remember the
Speaker 1: background on this episode at all? Like it had a
Speaker 1: slew of rock stars, Mickey Dolans, Ricky Nielsen, Billy Vera, Like,
Speaker 1: how did this idea for you? How did the script
Speaker 1: idea come to you? Was it you and Blutman or
Speaker 1: was it handed to you?
Speaker 3: I hate to tell you this, I actually don't do
Speaker 3: not remember how that one came. But we can make
Speaker 3: something up.
Speaker 1: Let's make sense, sure, whatever you want, Let's make something up.
Speaker 3: I know, I you know, I don't. I don't recall
Speaker 3: how that that one came, how that came about. And
Speaker 3: it's funny again watching watching them and I'm seeing these
Speaker 3: moments and suddenly they they come alive to me again,
Speaker 3: like yet back there, you know, And I you know,
Speaker 3: I think Mark talked about this and I think it's
Speaker 3: Breaking up is really really hard to do. Yeah, watching
Speaker 3: uh like Rider and Ben play their ninety year old.
Speaker 1: Selves so fun.
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna like I mean that, Actually, you know,
Speaker 3: I don't. I don't look back like I said a lot.
Speaker 3: I had a big smile from grint Eardia and you
Speaker 3: guys were so funny. It was so funny, and I
Speaker 3: I just I was very yeah, like I said, I
Speaker 3: walked away going, Okay, that's not that's that wasn't that's
Speaker 3: not too horrible. This is really good. It's beautiful.
Speaker 1: It was great.
Speaker 6: It was great.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you know that's where we
Speaker 3: brought ourselves. Like again, you know, I know how we wrote.
Speaker 3: You know that that scene feels very authentic to who
Speaker 3: I am, but stealing the roles.
Speaker 2: But well that's okay.
Speaker 6: So that's a good question then, because one thing I
Speaker 6: remember is anytime, I well most of the time, when
Speaker 6: we got a script that we saw your names on,
Speaker 6: I knew it was probably gonna be a Corey Sean
Speaker 6: Buddy episode. Yeah, so which which one between you and Bluckman?
Speaker 2: Which one was Corey and which one was Sean?
Speaker 3: Uh? I will tell you this between Okay, I don't
Speaker 3: know that we did. We we were each that character.
Speaker 3: I think we you know, you write, you kind of
Speaker 3: tend to write in your own voice for both, and
Speaker 3: then the actor kind of finds puts their voice on it. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I will say for for you, Will, I felt that
Speaker 3: I had the Will character.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, so you were Eric. Oh that's great.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I felt I had the Eric character down, and
Speaker 3: I you know, everybody was so great. But I used
Speaker 3: to say, you know, Eric is our uh well, Will
Speaker 3: is our Tom Hanks, and that you will give you
Speaker 3: and sometimes overboard. We went overboard a little bit occasionally.
Speaker 3: But what I loved is that you would commit to
Speaker 3: it no matter what mm hmmm, and just you would.
Speaker 3: You would do it, even if you hated it, you
Speaker 3: would do it. And for for us that that just
Speaker 3: meant the world. That just just I love that. And
Speaker 3: you know that sweet thank you something sweet to you?
Speaker 2: You did you did?
Speaker 1: You called them Tom Hanks?
Speaker 2: I mean, my god, Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll find a way to take it back, don't
Speaker 3: we can.
Speaker 2: Well, you'll you'll make my sandwich and you'll call it
Speaker 2: the Tom Hanks. That'll that'll get it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not and there's no bacon, there's.
Speaker 6: No happen It is a very sandwich called sandwich.
Speaker 3: And I'm kind of offended that you actually.
Speaker 6: So.
Speaker 1: Then in season three, you somehow have five more scripts,
Speaker 1: including the iconic Happiest Show on Earth which shot at
Speaker 1: Disney World, and we noticed you and Mark in line
Speaker 1: as a cameo. What was your memory of taping in
Speaker 1: Orlando like that week?
Speaker 3: Uh? Tough, yeah, okay, yeah, no, only because of where
Speaker 3: you're shooting, and you know, you think you're going on
Speaker 3: a vacation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're all excited.
Speaker 3: I'm going on vacation. How much fun is this? And
Speaker 3: then you get there crowds and you have you have
Speaker 3: characters and uh so it's it's it just my memory
Speaker 3: is really just it was. It was a challenge and
Speaker 3: I actually I hope the episode turned out. I'm not
Speaker 3: that familiar. I have watched it. Did it turn out? Okay?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean it's not.
Speaker 3: We're not all on the same page. You know.
Speaker 1: What we talked about was that it felt like it
Speaker 1: needed to be two episodes. The idea of of Topanga
Speaker 1: winning this trip and there being a guy the and
Speaker 1: Corey being jealous and then the girl interfering, all of
Speaker 1: it felt like it could have used a two parter,
Speaker 1: especially because it's such a big thing to go to Florida.
Speaker 1: But we understand. Of course, it was one night where
Speaker 1: all the shows did an episode where they were taking
Speaker 1: place in Florida, and so you know, it felt like
Speaker 1: a lot of story for our show to fit into
Speaker 1: one episode. But of course we understand why it had
Speaker 1: that constraint of it needing to be one episode. But
Speaker 1: so it turned out well. Like as far as getting
Speaker 1: the shots, the shots are all great. I mean, Jeff
Speaker 1: McCracken was incredible that we also felt like there was
Speaker 1: an opportunity to use more of the park, but.
Speaker 6: Instead of just the dolphin, behind the scenes of the dolphins,
Speaker 6: the dolphins.
Speaker 3: Anywhere anywhere. Okay, so you're saying I could put it
Speaker 3: on my reel, It's okay, I would, Yes.
Speaker 2: I would.
Speaker 3: Okay, good.
Speaker 1: In season four, you wrote a real sleeper hit for us,
Speaker 1: one of our less predict to Bowl favorites, B and
Speaker 1: B's B and B.
Speaker 3: I love that about it. Tell me you didn't take over.
Speaker 3: pH didn't get there this house, remember, I remember so much,
Speaker 3: but I remember moments, but oh my god.
Speaker 1: He's leaving and he asks Corey to water the plants,
Speaker 1: and Sean steals the key and takes over. He needs
Speaker 1: to make money and so he we You guys, they
Speaker 1: hatched this plan of using Phoene's house like a B
Speaker 1: and B and it's so good. It's really, it's really
Speaker 1: it was a really great episode that we enjoyed. We
Speaker 1: enjoyed many moments in it.
Speaker 2: That's what Lenn Lesser was in this one from Seinfeld.
Speaker 2: He was remember.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and he's singing and all that kind of ya.
Speaker 3: Can't I actually can't wait to watch that.
Speaker 5: You should.
Speaker 6: This is sad when we're the ones who remember stuff,
Speaker 6: by the way, because we just watched it, you know,
Speaker 6: a year on this, because this is episode and fifty six.
Speaker 3: You know, the craft service guy could probably talk about
Speaker 3: Greg remembered this right away. Greg was great in this stuff.
Speaker 3: I love that. What was Eric doing in that episode
Speaker 3: in B and B?
Speaker 1: What is the one?
Speaker 2: What was he was overshadowed by the great A story?
Speaker 2: Is what he was doing. I don't remember what Eric was.
Speaker 6: Doing in B and B's B and B and we
Speaker 6: meet people yelling at their their radios right now because
Speaker 6: they remember, but we don't.
Speaker 2: We'll google.
Speaker 6: But something not as funny as the A story because
Speaker 6: the A story was hysterically funny.
Speaker 4: And again that's when you go to Boston with Phoenie
Speaker 4: B story, that's great B story to where Eric's about
Speaker 4: to get.
Speaker 1: You guys become friends friends. Yeah, is that the one
Speaker 1: where you eat dinner twice or Phoenie eats dinner twice?
Speaker 5: Phner different?
Speaker 6: And then and then he blocks Eric with the with
Speaker 6: the bartender, right, and which is inappropriate to begin with?
Speaker 2: Honesty?
Speaker 6: He was you know, yeah, she knew he was too
Speaker 6: young to serve him alcohol, but apparently not too young
Speaker 6: to take him home.
Speaker 2: Uh so, yeah, it was in it was. It was
Speaker 2: a great episode though, and it was one.
Speaker 3: Out of it. I'm so proud of it. I just
Speaker 3: loved that episode.
Speaker 1: Watch it, Watch it. You're gonna You're gonna enjoy it.
Speaker 2: Another Sean Corey caper that was that was you saw.
Speaker 3: I just love those capers like I just love you know,
Speaker 3: I love the again. Did you talked about band on
Speaker 3: the run or on the air? I just love I
Speaker 3: I I we love the caper. We love putting guys
Speaker 3: in situations that were totally above your head. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, looking at your list of episodes, you guys
Speaker 1: tackled very high concepts. There was never kind of like
Speaker 1: Corey and t Banga just get into a fight. You
Speaker 1: have to, and then we have to deal with the consequences.
Speaker 1: Like it was. Corey thinks he's a werewolf. The boys
Speaker 1: get a pig, the show travels to Disney World, Shawn's
Speaker 1: ex girlfriends kidnap him and plan on killing him in revenge.
Speaker 1: You guys really take some big swings.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, you gotta be careful because you know,
Speaker 3: I'm married. I'm not used to compliments.
Speaker 2: So she didn't say they were good. She said you took.
Speaker 3: I appreciate that.
Speaker 1: Thank you, also married.
Speaker 3: Did anyone ever talk about, by the way, the Boy
Speaker 3: meets World Baseball Team?
Speaker 1: Let's talk about it, please please.
Speaker 2: Daniel's dad, My dad, dad was on it. Yeah, was
Speaker 2: a right, that's what I remember. Your dad was like, you.
Speaker 6: Would get the ball and it was scary, the frozen
Speaker 6: rope from the warning What shows did you guys play?
Speaker 2: Improvement was the was the final? I remember because I
Speaker 2: was there. You're there, so yeah, I.
Speaker 3: Only mention it because I talked about the camaraderie of
Speaker 3: the room. The baseball team was just a pit like
Speaker 3: for us. This was more fun and brought us together
Speaker 3: in the best way possible because we called ourselves the
Speaker 3: bad news bears, right, half of us, didn't half of them.
Speaker 3: I could say I could they They they looked at me.
Speaker 3: I wasn't ahead, and there was no expectation that I
Speaker 3: could play or hit. So when I did, you were yeah,
Speaker 3: they were all like, oh my, like it was.
Speaker 1: Just that good job, good job, good job, honey.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. And they were people who couldn't hit or
Speaker 3: you know, and then there was the regards like like
Speaker 3: Mark or Matt, who were exceptional and always upset about
Speaker 3: the people who couldn't pitch or hit or do anything.
Speaker 3: But we called the bad News Bears. We had no uniforms.
Speaker 3: We played. We played Frasier, yeah, and Home Improvement, and
Speaker 3: they were all in beautiful you know, they had to spend.
Speaker 3: I mean they came out, you know, there was there
Speaker 3: was music playing when they came out, you know.
Speaker 5: So we were just like the scrappy.
Speaker 3: We were challenging the Scrappy's. And somehow, and Barry Safchick
Speaker 3: was our manager.
Speaker 2: Barry was Walter Mathow.
Speaker 3: Barry was Walton Matho and we get, you know, we
Speaker 3: get those those speeches, you know, how we're going to
Speaker 3: do this game, and somehow we just kept winning, right
Speaker 3: and after every game they put on a newsletter about
Speaker 3: how everyone did you know, and somehow we just we
Speaker 3: just kept on winning and winning, and those days were
Speaker 3: so much fun. And then we went to the finals
Speaker 3: and UH played Home Improvement, playing for the fight. It
Speaker 3: was like we were playing, you know, for the World Series.
Speaker 3: It was so important to us, and I was I
Speaker 3: remember one time in that last game and they put me.
Speaker 3: Where do they put the guy they think can't play?
Speaker 3: Although I could in the outfield, in the outfield where
Speaker 3: in the outfield? Right field?
Speaker 6: Right?
Speaker 3: And I remember a ball is hit to right field
Speaker 3: and I could feel the gasp.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no.
Speaker 9: Anyone but Howard and going back to the fence and
Speaker 9: I can't say my eyes were open or closed, but
Speaker 9: the ball it I caught it.
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, And this is this is sadly one of
Speaker 3: the great moments of my life that I talked about.
Speaker 6: I remember this game, you winds yet you did didn't
Speaker 6: didn't you know? You lost?
Speaker 2: That's no, that's right.
Speaker 6: But I remember going there like, Okay, it's the it's
Speaker 6: the finals. We're playing Home Improvement. I was like, okay,
Speaker 6: I'm going to go see a nice softball game. And
Speaker 6: then I remember people from Home Improvement striking out, like
Speaker 6: throwing the bat on the ground, and kicking dirt, and
Speaker 6: I was like, oh god, there, everybody's taking this really seriously,
Speaker 6: like it.
Speaker 2: Was this four.
Speaker 1: No, no, you weren't there the first season, so.
Speaker 8: Seven.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it's a very special time. And uh it was.
Speaker 3: It was. It was so much fun. Uh So years later,
Speaker 3: somebody uh said to me, did you write for It's
Speaker 3: Adam Sandler? Did you write for Adam Sandler? And I know,
Speaker 3: why what are you talking about? He said, there's a
Speaker 3: there's a disc that he put out, a CD. Yeah,
Speaker 3: that's called left Field, and you're listed as a writer
Speaker 3: on this thing. And I go, what do you I
Speaker 3: don't you know. I don't I didn't write it. I
Speaker 3: don't know Adam Sandler. I don't know him. We crossed
Speaker 3: past his comics. Anyways, long story short, I listened to
Speaker 3: c D and he's playing a character in left field
Speaker 3: that's standing out there going please don't hit to me,
Speaker 3: Please don't hit to me. It's the if anyone knows
Speaker 3: Adam Sandler, tell me, I want to know I'm listed
Speaker 3: as a writer and I don't unless he was at
Speaker 3: that game and he saw that moment's.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so funny. He may have been at that game.
Speaker 3: He may have been at that game. Horror on my face.
Speaker 1: That's unbelievable. I want to talk about Long Walk to
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Part two. It's another big script where Tapega returns
Speaker 1: to the Matthew's house after walking in the rain in
Speaker 1: the rain. Do you remember that tape night and all
Speaker 1: the secrecy around the reveal of Tapega in front of
Speaker 1: the audience, You know, I don't.
Speaker 3: I know, I don't.
Speaker 2: This is why Craig came on before you.
Speaker 3: Now, I know, right. What did he say about it?
Speaker 6: He was amazing, he said it was the biggest, the
Speaker 6: biggest audience reaction we had to that point, and it was,
Speaker 6: you know, it was an episode that we all thought
Speaker 6: was interesting because it's it was also what's her name
Speaker 6: who came back who just unfortunately passed away, Olivia Hussey
Speaker 6: who came on, who was Topanga's aunt. It was a big,
Speaker 6: very big episode. Is also kind of the thing that
Speaker 6: we that amazed all of us as we did the
Speaker 6: rewatch is the fact that the writers very subtly and
Speaker 6: yet abruptly, if that's possible, went from not using Tapanga
Speaker 6: enough to her being integral to the show within episodes.
Speaker 6: So that was one of the Long Walk to Pittsburgh
Speaker 6: might be one of the ones that really sealed it
Speaker 6: as Topanga being as important, if not more important, than
Speaker 6: most of the other characters on the show.
Speaker 3: Okay, so I've got to put that on my watch
Speaker 3: list too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I I I. I did not get to
Speaker 3: that episode. You have the advantage of having seen it.
Speaker 2: In the one we did. We just we just watched them.
Speaker 2: That's why we were just watching them again.
Speaker 4: Okay, so what is your favorite episode? Do you have
Speaker 4: one that you remember well.
Speaker 3: Now that I the now that I've heard the story,
Speaker 3: it's the B and B s being B and B. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I know, I already love the setup. I love I'm
Speaker 3: sure came home too early?
Speaker 1: Yep, he did.
Speaker 3: I'm sure you know. I'm already so excited about watching it.
Speaker 4: There's also a very little what we should do is
Speaker 4: we should tell Howard one of his own episodes and
Speaker 4: have him pitch us plots like scenes and see how
Speaker 4: much they end up being exactly what they actually were
Speaker 4: because he doesn't remember.
Speaker 2: That's pretty great, that's funny.
Speaker 3: I did love. Breaking up is really really hard to
Speaker 3: do too.
Speaker 1: We love that.
Speaker 7: Which one is that one of the Wendy, right, that's
Speaker 7: that's the love that episode that's to you as the
Speaker 7: old Men. Yeah, yeah, which I mean you could argue
Speaker 7: is the best scene in the history of the show.
Speaker 2: I mean, there really is an.
Speaker 5: Argument the history of the show. Season two.
Speaker 6: I mean, but it's just it's so iconic and so good,
Speaker 6: and you and Ben just so great in it.
Speaker 5: We're having so much fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it could you could really say that that was
Speaker 2: arguably the best scene we've ever done.
Speaker 3: Oh that's very fine, but you know, and I love
Speaker 3: Wendy and that I love loved it. But there were moments,
Speaker 3: you know, there's a couple of cringe worthy moments, you know,
Speaker 3: when they're talking about her, she's she's crazy.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's.
Speaker 3: Where I'm like, Okay, maybe we could have been a
Speaker 3: little more delicate about that, you know, I'm not Yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm not sure I would do that the same way
Speaker 3: right now, but but I just can't. I also couldn't
Speaker 3: believe we went there too, Like, I can't believe we
Speaker 3: actually went to this, to this place of of pushing
Speaker 3: Wendy that far.
Speaker 2: Yes, she was great too.
Speaker 6: The actress that played her was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful?
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, do.
Speaker 1: You remember I don't remember her name.
Speaker 3: Now I'm gonna ask you questions that you don't know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't. I don't remember. We'll find out.
Speaker 4: Well, well, she played my girlfriend on Home Improvement before
Speaker 4: the one episode of Home Improvement I've done.
Speaker 5: It's written by Susan stelle Jensen.
Speaker 6: Yeah, okay, So how many of or did any of
Speaker 6: the episodes you write? Did any of the stories that
Speaker 6: you pitch that made it in did any of them
Speaker 6: come from your real life experiences? Did any did you
Speaker 6: have a Wendy or did any of this stuff actually
Speaker 6: happen to you?
Speaker 2: Guys?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know. If you know me, I don't
Speaker 3: have any real life experiences.
Speaker 2: I don't think that's accurate.
Speaker 3: I don't live in the real world.
Speaker 1: You live in the future. In the future, very very wessondo.
Speaker 3: I actually looked at it when I watched the episode.
Speaker 3: When is that el Fanning? Like I thought, she Yeah,
Speaker 3: she's really good. Yeah, here's here's what. But I do
Speaker 3: know that we loved, we love coming up with like
Speaker 3: the BnB episode, or like we love coming up with
Speaker 3: Corey Sean Capers. That's what's the fun. And you know,
Speaker 3: I'm sorry at the time, I probably wasn't the best
Speaker 3: person to write to Panga.
Speaker 1: You know that's okay. I appreciate you recognizing that.
Speaker 3: You know, I know, and and I'm sure my wife
Speaker 3: would tell you that I'm not the guy to write.
Speaker 1: If you wrote to Pega anything like Wendy, we'd be
Speaker 1: having a different conversation.
Speaker 3: You know, we love we love the caper, so that's
Speaker 3: where you would find those And you know, I'd like
Speaker 3: to I'd like someone tell me I don't remember the
Speaker 3: origination of the piggy story, which is insane. I just
Speaker 3: you know, again, that's a little that's a buddy between
Speaker 3: you know, a man, a man and a four legged animal,
Speaker 3: and it's beautiful. Somebody did tell us.
Speaker 5: To tell us the origin of that.
Speaker 4: There was an origin somebody, I swear it's one of
Speaker 4: our interviews, is the one.
Speaker 1: Where Michael went to go pitch a pilot. Did Jeff
Speaker 1: McCracken tell us it?
Speaker 6: Then?
Speaker 5: Hysterical story?
Speaker 4: Now I feel like so like blud Man had a story,
Speaker 4: there was somebody who had a pot belly pig. And
Speaker 4: that's why our listeners probably will remember everyone's.
Speaker 1: Yaeling at us and the everyone's yeling at us in
Speaker 1: their cars.
Speaker 3: By the way, I just want to the Pig has
Speaker 3: been on before me too.
Speaker 2: Right, yes, as our third guest, yea three times.
Speaker 1: We didn't have much time with the pig and so
Speaker 1: we thought let's have him on very early. Amazing he
Speaker 1: lived thirty years.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm going to have the pig on at
Speaker 3: my deli.
Speaker 2: So for the opening of Wilson has excellent for the
Speaker 2: Tom Hanks Veggie Sandwich on Ham, I want to.
Speaker 1: I want to talk a little bit about your memories
Speaker 1: of when you guys left. So from what we've from
Speaker 1: what we've gathered, you guys were taking over the room
Speaker 1: in season five, but then Michael's other show got canceled
Speaker 1: and he returned, and you two were interested in staying
Speaker 1: head writers, and so you basically left. Is that the
Speaker 1: gist it was?
Speaker 3: You know, Michael gave us, it was very generous, gave
Speaker 3: us our start, did so many great things for him.
Speaker 3: But you know, I I think I could feel there
Speaker 3: was an expiration date to how long you know you
Speaker 3: want to you want to move on and do other things. Sure,
Speaker 3: and he was very he was very generous, and I'm
Speaker 3: very grateful for the opportunity. But you know, when he
Speaker 3: came back, I think we both felt that it was
Speaker 3: time to kind of just exp or what else we
Speaker 3: could do. You know, Uh, we got an offer to
Speaker 3: do and this sounds horrible now because as I look back,
Speaker 3: it was probably the dumbest thing that we could do.
Speaker 3: We got an opportunity to be on a Tom Selleck pilot,
Speaker 3: to do a show with Tom Selleck that was created and.
Speaker 5: But you never know what television that makes pro you
Speaker 5: never know that move, you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but on paper, it sounded like this was going
Speaker 3: to be you know, and a huge actor. With all
Speaker 3: due respect Tom, maybe not the funniest man. That's a
Speaker 3: lot of things great.
Speaker 2: Yeah, an awesome times seek Yeah.
Speaker 3: Maybe not the leading a sitcom, you know, as I
Speaker 3: look back, right, So, but you're at the time you're
Speaker 3: offered the show, it's it's it's an adult show. So
Speaker 3: to see it, you know, it's it's the version of Oh,
Speaker 3: a pretty girl just walked by. You know. Kind of
Speaker 3: horrible again looking back, but uh, it just looked like
Speaker 3: an amazing opportunity for us, and it all happened very quickly.
Speaker 3: That was part of the thing. It was like I
Speaker 3: felt like we were there and then we weren't there.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was midweek.
Speaker 4: I remember saying goodbye to you guys. I think it
Speaker 4: was during the the Ski Lodge episode.
Speaker 6: Which is why I didn't get a chance to say goodbye,
Speaker 6: because I wasn't in that episode and I just came
Speaker 6: back to do the next episode and they're like, oh,
Speaker 6: Mark and harradigone.
Speaker 3: No, I wondered why you didn't say goodbye, And it's
Speaker 3: bothered me.
Speaker 2: It's because you didn't say goodbye about that.
Speaker 3: It stayed with me a long.
Speaker 6: Time because I was, well, that's that week I was
Speaker 6: hanging out with Tom Selleck.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no, I have picture.
Speaker 3: I have pictures to you.
Speaker 6: But it was guy, I just came back and you
Speaker 6: guys were gone, wait what it happened.
Speaker 3: Too abruptly, And it's one of those it's you know,
Speaker 3: I don't want to say a regret. It wasn't maybe
Speaker 3: a well as well thought out a decision as maybe
Speaker 3: looking back, I would have liked. Although you know, again.
Speaker 1: You did the best you could.
Speaker 3: We did the best we could, but it all happened
Speaker 3: too quickly, for for for us, for being on a
Speaker 3: show for three years, four years and suddenly leaving like that.
Speaker 3: So you know, I guess you know.
Speaker 1: The baseball team was never the same without baseball.
Speaker 3: Wasn't the same field. I guarded that, I guarded that fence.
Speaker 2: You did, okay, golden glove, golden.
Speaker 3: Gloves and glove, eyes closed, eyes open. I was there.
Speaker 1: Did you ever think at the time that you were
Speaker 1: on Boy Meets World that thirty years later we would
Speaker 1: still be talking about at it and it would still
Speaker 1: be relevant.
Speaker 3: No. Yeah, that's the beauty of this. That's the same thing.
Speaker 3: That's the lesson for you know, for people out there.
Speaker 3: It's just it's just, you know, we all did our
Speaker 3: best and it was special because the emotional element, the
Speaker 3: dramatic element, so we knew we knew it was special.
Speaker 3: And I'm not gonna lie. I don't know that I
Speaker 3: appreciated that part of it.
Speaker 6: I don't think any of us did, to be honest
Speaker 6: with you, thank you, But it's true, and we talk
Speaker 6: about that all the time.
Speaker 2: We didn't. None of us knew what we had. None
Speaker 2: of us appreciated it as much as we should have.
Speaker 2: But that's also just being young. When do you appreciate
Speaker 2: anything when you're that age.
Speaker 5: Well, Howard, wasn't that young.
Speaker 3: I've always been this this always.
Speaker 2: You kind of have you?
Speaker 3: Yeah, look the same, look the same. I look like this.
Speaker 3: I've grown into this a little bit more, you know.
Speaker 3: For those you can't see, it's the silver fox thing
Speaker 3: is kind of almost yeah, yeah, I like it.
Speaker 1: Well, Howard, thank you, Thank you so much for being
Speaker 1: our seven hundred and sixty fifth guest.
Speaker 3: You know what, it's an honor.
Speaker 1: You lived up to it.
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, it's worth I've been sitting at the
Speaker 3: zoom for the years.
Speaker 4: Just waiting for the badly, just waiting for the ball, being.
Speaker 3: The little pig, and when the little pig got called,
Speaker 3: it hurt a little bit. I'm here and I appreciate
Speaker 3: this so much. And you know, if you ever hear
Speaker 3: little bells going off, it's people talking about you and
Speaker 3: our little DELI.
Speaker 1: Can we please come visit you in Buzzy Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: of course we'd like to come visit.
Speaker 3: They'll be lining up, are you kidding?
Speaker 1: It'll be on the front page of Buzzies Dot see.
Speaker 3: Me and greet me a meet and greet.
Speaker 2: Thank you, there you go. Thank you guys so much.
Speaker 3: I really appreciate it. You. This was a lot of
Speaker 3: fun and continued obviously six. Yes, you guys are great
Speaker 3: and so much fun to listen to.
Speaker 1: So thank you, Thank you so much. Howard. It was
Speaker 1: great to see you. We'll see you at Buzzi's.
Speaker 4: OK.
Speaker 1: Bye.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 1: He's funny.
Speaker 3: He is so funny.
Speaker 6: He's got that kind of dry self deprecating thing that
Speaker 6: I love, same kind.
Speaker 1: Of self deprecating, but he's also deprecating.
Speaker 4: But he's one of those guys like I love I
Speaker 4: love it when he's like I was more about the
Speaker 4: room because he did not break.
Speaker 2: Up that much.
Speaker 4: He was very unassuming, especially compared to blud Man, because
Speaker 4: bluff Man was like always hanging out with me, like
Speaker 4: talking to me and like and you know, just one
Speaker 4: of us in a way, and Howard was always there.
Speaker 5: And but I don't I didn't connect with him.
Speaker 4: And now I'm like, man, I would love to know
Speaker 4: Howard because I totally missed you know you went with
Speaker 4: especially at that age is like fifteen, I went to
Speaker 4: whoever was the biggest personality.
Speaker 1: Talking totally do you know what I mean?
Speaker 4: And so somebody like Howard, who's like wit and intelligence.
Speaker 5: Was sort of more back rounded.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't have leaned into.
Speaker 5: Because I just didn't think like that.
Speaker 4: It was just like, Oh, I just listened to whoever's
Speaker 4: talking to me, So yeah, I'd love to get up
Speaker 4: there and have a sandwich at.
Speaker 5: His deli in that really would be so fun so funny.
Speaker 1: Geez well, thank you all for listening to this episode
Speaker 1: of Pod Meets World. As always, you can follow us
Speaker 1: on Instagram pod Meets World Show. You can send us
Speaker 1: your emails Podmeets World Show at gmail dot com and
Speaker 1: we have got merch.
Speaker 2: Tom Hanks doesn't need a sandwich.
Speaker 1: March I do meets the World show dot com will
Speaker 1: send us out.
Speaker 2: We love you all, pod dismissed.
Speaker 6: Pod Meets World is nheart podcast producer and hosted by
Speaker 6: Danielle Fischel, Wilfordell and Ryder Strong Executive producers Jensen Carp
Speaker 6: and Amy Sugarman. Executive in charge of production, Danielle Romo,
Speaker 6: producer and editor, Tara sudbachsch producer, Maddy Moore, engineer and
Speaker 6: boy Meets World super fan Easton Allen. Our theme song
Speaker 6: is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon, and you can follow
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Speaker 6: at Pods World Show at gmail dot com.