Speaker 1: Still the Place with Laura Layton, Courtney Thorn Smith.
Speaker 2: And Daphne's Aniga and iHeartRadio Podcast.
Speaker 3: Welcome back to Still the Place. We have such a
Speaker 3: fun episode this week. We are meeting with our good
Speaker 3: friend Andrew Shoe. We're so excited we got to talk
Speaker 3: to him. And Andrew played the lovable nice guy Billy
Speaker 3: Campbell on Melro's Place, and we're going to get to
Speaker 3: hear all of his stories and we get to go
Speaker 3: down memory lane with him, and so yeah, we're about
Speaker 3: to invite him in and we're going to have that conversation.
Speaker 1: Soo yay, yay Andrew. So good to see you.
Speaker 4: Good to see you, guys. I have to admit that
Speaker 4: I've already failed you because I realized that you asked
Speaker 4: me to watch I think I've seen the pilot within
Speaker 4: the last five years.
Speaker 3: But that is all good enough. The test, it is
Speaker 3: sort of like a test of we're all having challenges
Speaker 3: with our memories, so you'll just be in good company.
Speaker 3: Like what you do or don't remember, it's all good.
Speaker 1: But what we really want to start with because we
Speaker 1: all started here and I'm dying to know I've already
Speaker 1: told my story of your audition. What do you remember
Speaker 1: about your audition?
Speaker 4: Just you really?
Speaker 3: Okay, that's amazing.
Speaker 4: Well, it is an interesting story. But it did end
Speaker 4: in a room with I think they were like twenty
Speaker 4: foot high ceilings in Aaron Spelling's house, in his what
Speaker 4: I guess was called his office.
Speaker 1: It was like a library, right, yeah, well it was.
Speaker 4: It was all you know, all the way around the
Speaker 4: every wall filled with leather bound scripts of every episode
Speaker 4: of every TV show he reproduced.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 4: And there were probably twenty five people in the room,
Speaker 4: all the casting people, people from Fox, people from Spelling,
Speaker 4: all the producers, Darren Starr, everybody from the show. And
Speaker 4: how I ended up in that room is quite a story.
Speaker 4: So I have to go back, well, we have to.
Speaker 4: In nineteen ninety I went to Zimbabwe to teach math
Speaker 4: and play professional soccer over there, and a very odd
Speaker 4: thing happened. I got a phone call from my sister
Speaker 4: about a month into the time there in Africa, and
Speaker 4: I only got phone calls like four or five times
Speaker 4: the entire year. When somebody called from America, you know,
Speaker 4: the phone was like jig, you know, and it's like
Speaker 4: it was back then. It was five dollars a minute
Speaker 4: it was. It was a big deal, and she got
Speaker 4: on the phone and she said, Andrew, You're never gonna
Speaker 4: believe what happened. The head of casting at Universal Pictures
Speaker 4: saw a picture of us at a premiere of Soap Dish,
Speaker 4: which was a movie that she had been in.
Speaker 1: Yeah. For those of you who don't know, Andrew's sister
Speaker 1: is Elizabeth Shoe.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so saw a picture of us at a premiere,
Speaker 4: and the head of casting at Universal Pictures wanted to
Speaker 4: know if you are an actor, and so I told
Speaker 4: them that you.
Speaker 3: Are, as sisters do.
Speaker 4: At this point, all I had done was two home
Speaker 4: movies up in Maine when I was about seven and ten.
Speaker 4: And so now for the rest of the year, while
Speaker 4: I'm in Zimbabwe, I have no idea what I'm going
Speaker 4: to do with my life. I was thinking, I just
Speaker 4: read Silence of the Lamb, so I was thinking I
Speaker 4: would be an FBI agent, baby broadcast journalism, being a
Speaker 4: sports commentator, and so the idea of being an actor
Speaker 4: just in the way back of my mind. So when
Speaker 4: I get back from Zimbabwe and I have to figure
Speaker 4: out what I'm going to do, I applied to journalism school.
Speaker 4: I only applied to one school which is probably not
Speaker 4: so smart, Columbia, which is probably the hardest one to
Speaker 4: get into. I did not get in, and I started
Speaker 4: working at ABC News trying to be, you know, a producer,
Speaker 4: sports producer. I was basically just getting people coffee. And
Speaker 4: then I decided to have a conversation with my sister's
Speaker 4: acting coach because of that little thing in the back
Speaker 4: of my head. So she woman named Sylvia Lee, amazing
Speaker 4: woman who had coached my sister for a long time.
Speaker 4: She said, well, you know what, you kind of have
Speaker 4: the same thing that your sister has, which is just
Speaker 4: the ability to know when you're full of shit, and
Speaker 4: you seem smart enough, and if you're willing to work
Speaker 4: at it, I'm sure you could do whatever she's doing.
Speaker 4: I was like, oh, really, how much do I have
Speaker 4: to pay? So anyway, I worked out it for a year.
Speaker 4: I had a little black book. Back then we had
Speaker 4: a little bit black books where you write down every audition,
Speaker 4: and I had thirty auditions for like TV shows and
Speaker 4: movies and things like that. I got two callbacks on
Speaker 4: those thirty auditions that we got a part. And I
Speaker 4: had about one hundred and twenty commercial auditions I got
Speaker 4: zero callbacks on those twenty.
Speaker 3: Are you exaggerating with one hundred and twenty or is
Speaker 3: that a real number?
Speaker 1: No, And I was a real number in his book book.
Speaker 4: It's an unbelievable yeah, in my black book. So then
Speaker 4: I decided, you know what, I'm going to give this
Speaker 4: whole acting thing one more year because I heard that
Speaker 4: they cast a lot more out in LA because they
Speaker 4: you know, you need to be there if you're going
Speaker 4: to get one of the small parts, and you know
Speaker 4: that's the only way you're going to get your start.
Speaker 4: And so I went out there, and the first month
Speaker 4: I was there, the Olympics were on. I hope you
Speaker 4: guys are all watching the Olympics. I actually just I
Speaker 4: just put the Women's All Around on pause so I
Speaker 4: can see what happened. Good, good, And so I get
Speaker 4: out there. I'm renting a place right off of Hollywood
Speaker 4: Boulevard that went for two hundred and eighty five dollars
Speaker 4: a month. Amazing, right, and somebody was murdered right outside
Speaker 4: while you lived there or and yeah, So that that
Speaker 4: was where I started out, and within a month I
Speaker 4: just happened to get a small part on the Wonder
Speaker 4: Years and then a month later, I auditioned for Melro's place,
Speaker 4: and I had to memorize the long monologue when I
Speaker 4: first walk up and meet my character meets Alison Parker,
Speaker 4: and so I remember I memorized that that monologue and
Speaker 4: I had it nailed. I went in and read with
Speaker 4: the casting director. I thought I had done really well,
Speaker 4: and they never ever called me again. That was it.
Speaker 4: I was like, okay, thank you.
Speaker 1: So when you wouldn't get a callback, would you write
Speaker 1: in your book no or just like question mark.
Speaker 3: I just I just write they missed them, their loss.
Speaker 4: And so so now cut to and the next another
Speaker 4: month later, I uh, I get an audition based on
Speaker 4: a monologue that I had done back in New York,
Speaker 4: where I'm gonna have to admit that it was not
Speaker 4: really acting because it was basically me making up a story.
Speaker 4: So they do these monologues. I was like, oh, this
Speaker 4: monologue and like, well, what was that from. I'm like, well,
Speaker 4: I'm not really sure, but it was just an Embella story.
Speaker 4: But it was really good. Bob Harbin was the one
Speaker 4: who he was at at Fox. He's the one who really,
Speaker 4: you know, kind of got me in the flow of
Speaker 4: getting into Spelling. I ended up getting a pilot for
Speaker 4: Spelling called Gulf City, which I was very excited about
Speaker 4: because it was basically a star Skin Hutch show and
Speaker 4: I was going to be one of the one of
Speaker 4: the cops. And we went down and we filmed it.
Speaker 4: It was it was a huge deal. Like I like,
Speaker 4: I couldn't believe I gone from nothing to one little
Speaker 4: scene on the Winter Years to getting this pilot. And
Speaker 4: it turned out that that the movie Soap Dish that
Speaker 4: I had been recognized that by the casting person, was
Speaker 4: produced by Aaron Spelling. So my sister was in the movie,
Speaker 4: which is about a soap opera Whoopy Goldberg and Kevin
Speaker 4: Klein and great, exactly good. Yeah you've been reading now.
Speaker 4: So so anyway, they end up, unbeknownst to me, they
Speaker 4: they end up casting Billy and the whole cast and
Speaker 4: then the person that they cast Unfortunately, for I guess
Speaker 4: a bunch of different reasons, they decided to not move forward.
Speaker 4: At the very last minute. I think he had you know,
Speaker 4: they'd just done some testing and so they had to
Speaker 4: do a crash course audition for the part of Billy.
Speaker 4: And because I had just done this, this pilot. They
Speaker 4: basically had thirty guys show up at Aaron Spelling's how
Speaker 4: and I remember pulling in with my my eighty two
Speaker 4: Masda that I had bought for one thousand dollars. With
Speaker 4: the three thousand dollars I got in my grandmother's will
Speaker 4: and I pulled into the parking lot and there was
Speaker 4: thirty cars like in the semi circle. And after we
Speaker 4: all went in for multiple auditions, I was there probably
Speaker 4: like three hours. And I remember walking into that room
Speaker 4: and seeing Courtney porn Smith and is the most beautiful
Speaker 4: person inside and out. And I remember it just wasn't
Speaker 4: even acting because I knew the monologue from way back when,
Speaker 4: and I just walked in and I just started spewing
Speaker 4: this stuff and talking to her, and everybody in the
Speaker 4: room just just disappeared, and I was just I was
Speaker 4: just completely connected with her, and I went in I
Speaker 4: was about to read for the third time when they
Speaker 4: let the last person go and Aaron Spelling walk out
Speaker 4: with Peter Chernan, who later became the CEO of all
Speaker 4: of Newscore and still obviously an incredibly successful businessman. He
Speaker 4: was the head of Fox TV, and I saw him
Speaker 4: talking to Aaron and he was like, so, what's the deal,
Speaker 4: what do you want. He's like, oh, I told you
Speaker 4: I wanted Andrew the whole time, So this is the
Speaker 4: whole thing. Was just going through the process of Aaron,
Speaker 4: you know, picking me to do this so I get
Speaker 4: the part. And that was on a Saturday, and I
Speaker 4: was shooting on Monday.
Speaker 1: So when you were sitting out there with Andrews, when
Speaker 1: you were sitting out there, you start with thirty guys, right,
Speaker 1: And it was like ten thirty on a Saturday morning,
Speaker 1: as I remember. So they were letting guys go like
Speaker 1: you can go, like Courus line the movie, like you
Speaker 1: can go, you can go? Oh really? And it was
Speaker 1: down to you because you know originally and I think
Speaker 1: you know this, but I told this ever before, there
Speaker 1: was another guy that most of the executives wanted. And
Speaker 1: Aaron's like, you're right, you're right, you're right, You're one
Speaker 1: hundred percent right. That's the guy. I just think maybe
Speaker 1: we should consider Andrew Shoe. I just of course, you're
Speaker 1: totally and bit by bit like he and he was
Speaker 1: right obviously, bit by bit he turned them. It was
Speaker 1: fascinating to watch. So they're letting guys go and it
Speaker 1: was just you and this other guy. I don't remember
Speaker 1: who it was.
Speaker 4: At the end, there's one other guy. Ye.
Speaker 1: Wow, thats they cast you that day. They came in
Speaker 1: and told you that day.
Speaker 4: No, no, no, he Aaron walked over to me. I
Speaker 4: mean literally, he said, well you got the part.
Speaker 1: Baby bababe.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, And.
Speaker 4: I was like right away. So he he called me
Speaker 4: at my little two hundred and eighty five dollars apartment
Speaker 4: on Friday and said, I want you to do me
Speaker 4: a favor. I want you to come and read at
Speaker 4: my house. I'm doing these readings and I just need
Speaker 4: people to read with.
Speaker 1: Aaron called you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, literally called me at my house. I looked and said,
Speaker 4: just do me a favor. Because he knew it and
Speaker 4: didn't tell me that Gulf City had been canceled. Oh
Speaker 4: if he called me Golf City is canceled and now
Speaker 4: this is your only you know, boat home, I would
Speaker 4: have been I would have been a wreck.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 4: They're completely relaxed. So when he told me I got
Speaker 4: the part, I was I was like, what are you
Speaker 4: talking about? What about Gulf Cities? Like, oh, that got
Speaker 4: canceled like four days ago. And I actually kind of
Speaker 4: felt sick to my stomach. I was, oh, my gosh,
Speaker 4: that was such a great show. And He's like, trust me,
Speaker 4: this is gonna be good. This is really you have
Speaker 4: an idea. This is a big show. And you know
Speaker 4: because and I'm like, I'd barely even heard a nine
Speaker 4: two and I was like, what what do you mean?
Speaker 4: This is like a soap opera? The twenty people.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's incredible. Aaron was an actor and there you
Speaker 1: can see it in that moment because he created a
Speaker 1: situation where you didn't have anything at stake and you
Speaker 1: could and that was your energy in the day, like
Speaker 1: everybody's coming very intense, and you were so lighthearted and
Speaker 1: as extraordinarily charming as you always are. And it was
Speaker 1: such a breath of fresh air when you came in
Speaker 1: the room. And isn't that amazing that he gave you
Speaker 1: the space to do that. I didn't know that part
Speaker 1: of the story. That's Andrew.
Speaker 2: Were you nervous at any point? I mean I'm hearing
Speaker 2: you come in and you you know you were. No,
Speaker 2: We're like taken by her and you weren't nervous. You
Speaker 2: drive up to this mansion and bel air and all these.
Speaker 4: People, no I mean, I think I think also just
Speaker 4: because my sister had managed her career so well and
Speaker 4: kind of just seen seen the business for what it was,
Speaker 4: and I genuinely thought I was on Gulf City, so
Speaker 4: I just saw this as a business opportunity just to
Speaker 4: meet people. So I was like, I'm meeting Courtney Thorpe Smith,
Speaker 4: and I look at all these other people like, hey,
Speaker 4: I walked in. I was like, how you doing, what's
Speaker 4: going on? What are you guys doing? And you know,
Speaker 4: I was I was completely more kind of almost you know,
Speaker 4: a political mode, not not at all like thinking about
Speaker 4: my performance and what to do and.
Speaker 3: Did that change then when you should up on the set,
Speaker 3: like what was it like? First you're like, oh, this
Speaker 3: is real.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and then you probably can see by the performance
Speaker 4: it was literally just me trying to pretend to be
Speaker 4: me and like being like, you're okay, just be Andrew,
Speaker 4: You're going to be fine. You know I was not again, Yeah,
Speaker 4: I was. I was a very I was. I was
Speaker 4: the proverbial rookie who who everybody was very sweet too,
Speaker 4: and Courtney. I just remember every being everybody being so kind,
Speaker 4: so professional, uh, and I was just wide eyed ously
Speaker 4: I've never done this before. I mean, the Sculp City
Speaker 4: thing was five days, and I think I was pretty
Speaker 4: terrible in that, but it was it was just so
Speaker 4: fun and exciting, uh, that that whole period. The other
Speaker 4: crazy thing was that you probably don't remember that. Maybe
Speaker 4: you do remember this, but the the La riots because
Speaker 4: of the Rodney King vile happened right at the beginning
Speaker 4: of the shooting of Melroe's Place, which delayed the shooting
Speaker 4: for two weeks. If the riots hadn't happened, Melros would
Speaker 4: have started shooting two weeks earlier, the audition for Billy
Speaker 4: would have happened two weeks earlier, and I would not
Speaker 4: have been available because because Gold City would would have
Speaker 4: absolutely been been still there. So the timing of Golf
Speaker 4: City getting canceled and it all.
Speaker 1: Wow, I didn't realize.
Speaker 2: I didn't put that together.
Speaker 1: The riots.
Speaker 2: That was a I remember being up in the hills
Speaker 2: and just looking down and seeing just this, you know,
Speaker 2: the smoke coming up in different areas. It was such
Speaker 2: a terrifying time.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So back to the pilot, do you remember, because
Speaker 5: we watched the pilot and I had totally forgotten that
Speaker 5: you started as a dance instructor.
Speaker 1: Do you remember that scene of you dancing with a mop?
Speaker 4: I do? I do. I will say that I got.
Speaker 4: Let's see what's the right. As the series went on,
Speaker 4: I was less free with myself to really embrace some
Speaker 4: of the crazy stuff that they were writing. So I
Speaker 4: would be like, I'm going to underplay this. I'm going
Speaker 4: to underplay that. People wouldn't normally do this, people wouldn't
Speaker 4: normally say this, which wasn't very good because I think
Speaker 4: in the end, really going after it the way I did. Clearly,
Speaker 4: when I was up there on the on the bed dancing,
Speaker 4: I was all in.
Speaker 3: So charming, so adorable.
Speaker 4: Well maybe it worked, maybe it worked, but I was
Speaker 4: definitely pretty free with all that. But yeah, that was
Speaker 4: I just said, okay, that's what they want me to do,
Speaker 4: get up there and just start dancing.
Speaker 1: It completely worked. It was so charming. And when we
Speaker 1: talked about the pilot on the show, we were I
Speaker 1: was it must have been directed to just be horrible
Speaker 1: to you, and you were especially that first things with
Speaker 1: You're so charming and you're so bulliant, and you're so friendly,
Speaker 1: and I'm so mean to you just like everything. Why
Speaker 1: is she such a horrible, horrible person, but there had
Speaker 1: to be somewhere to go. I hope or I was
Speaker 1: just a horrible horrible person.
Speaker 3: No, you were scripted. You did what you were hoping.
Speaker 3: You did what was written.
Speaker 1: Look, do you guys.
Speaker 2: Remember being directed by Howie Deutsche, like specifically, was.
Speaker 1: He asking you to go bigger Andrew?
Speaker 2: And was he asking you to go colder? Or do
Speaker 2: you remember anything?
Speaker 4: I remember I remember just just being like, uh, relaxed,
Speaker 4: just relaxed, enjoy it, go for it, you know. But
Speaker 4: it wasn't ever like do more. I think I think
Speaker 4: it just worked again because I was I was so
Speaker 4: excited to be there, and I think the character was
Speaker 4: so excited. He's got his first job, oh my god,
Speaker 4: he's living with this new beautiful woman and it's all happening.
Speaker 4: So it all, it all worked. You're you being the
Speaker 4: way you were actually you. You look like you were
Speaker 4: covering in a way kind of like to like you.
Speaker 4: You let out little little moments, which was perfect. It
Speaker 4: was like breadcrumbs just like for for episode after episode
Speaker 4: after episode to get get us till there was.
Speaker 1: A conscious acting choice. Andrew. It was all very carefully
Speaker 1: thought out.
Speaker 3: She's softening. She's softening.
Speaker 1: Well, it's really sweet to watch it because I get
Speaker 1: to first of all, and I was trying to remember,
Speaker 1: do you remember what episode? Because I remember saying I
Speaker 1: will never date a co star, I'm way too professional.
Speaker 1: And then I'm thinking, like episode two, I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll kiss him like where I think I held on
Speaker 1: for like a week and a half. Do you remember
Speaker 1: which episode? Because I was watching which episode was like
Speaker 1: episode four that we started dating. I was watching like
Speaker 1: episode four and remembers we did wait, WATCHT met me Andrew, Yes, you.
Speaker 3: Told me you dated.
Speaker 1: I have pictures. I have pictures to prove it.
Speaker 3: Pictures to prove it.
Speaker 4: I will. I feel guilty about that. That's probably all
Speaker 4: my fault. I mean I should have I should have
Speaker 4: held off for a lot.
Speaker 3: I feel like I'm in a very private intimate conversation
Speaker 3: right here, like I don't belong here, listening to the
Speaker 3: years ago.
Speaker 1: He's good, She's still jealous.
Speaker 2: When we watched scenes of you with guest star.
Speaker 1: Watching you kissing Jensen, I was like, I will take
Speaker 1: her head right off episode two. I don't think we're
Speaker 1: dating them, but I must have been, like my my
Speaker 1: hard heart was already thawing. And then there was one
Speaker 1: where we had a guest and I was kissing the
Speaker 1: guest and I remember him saying to you, she has
Speaker 1: the hots for me. And you and I were already dating,
Speaker 1: and you were telling me you have a hots. And
Speaker 1: that was like episode four. So I, in my vast
Speaker 1: professionalism as the old time in the business lasted roughly
Speaker 1: seventeen days.
Speaker 4: I appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Admirable, admirable restraint.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean we didn't. You couldn't tell. The chemistry
Speaker 4: was all there. It did look like we were we
Speaker 4: were really pushing for something.
Speaker 2: I mean, you guys have one of the iconic relationships
Speaker 2: on television and from that era, and it lasted. You guys,
Speaker 2: Billy and Allison were on and off for years.
Speaker 3: I believe you guys.
Speaker 2: Were you guys I think ended in life right, But
Speaker 2: then you kept going.
Speaker 3: Was that weird? Was that easy?
Speaker 1: It was shockingly not weird.
Speaker 4: It was that we we handled it well. I remember
Speaker 4: there was a little bit a little bit of time
Speaker 4: where it was tough.
Speaker 1: Well do you remember me having to talk with you
Speaker 1: because we were the characters were still dating and you
Speaker 1: and I weren't dating, So we broke up at the
Speaker 1: beginning of the breaks. We had a couple of months
Speaker 1: to sort of adjust, and then we started back and
Speaker 1: we were still dating. So we'd been broken up for
Speaker 1: two months and then we had to kiss. You remember
Speaker 1: me saying, Okay, now we're professionals, no tongue. This is
Speaker 1: the kind of podcast this is, and I'm a professional.
Speaker 2: Everyone we asked all the boys this, Do you remember
Speaker 2: when I said, no tongue?
Speaker 4: I hope we had to talk about that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: We we did were dating. Did your characters date on
Speaker 1: the show?
Speaker 3: A characters eventually dated on the show too, because everybody's.
Speaker 1: Characters you date. Because we were dating before we were
Speaker 1: dating on the show. Then we were dating after we
Speaker 1: were dating on the show, after we broke up in
Speaker 1: real life. But you and I segued into friendship really well.
Speaker 1: I don't on your side of it.
Speaker 3: What do you feel, Andrew?
Speaker 1: I want to jump in if he has a different opinion.
Speaker 3: No pressure, but we're all just waiting.
Speaker 1: For you to think he's actually frozen.
Speaker 3: Frozen he picked a really convenient such a good actor
Speaker 3: when he just sits there and he doesn't even I
Speaker 3: am so amazed at how we can do that. I
Speaker 3: wish you breathing everyone at home could see this performance.
Speaker 1: Okay, sorry we lost you.
Speaker 4: Sorry.
Speaker 3: I like how you just like popped out, right.
Speaker 1: I said, I said, very casually. And we were friends
Speaker 1: after and then.
Speaker 3: You frozz and disappeared.
Speaker 1: That's what we saw. Yeah, you're like, I'm still mad
Speaker 1: at you. That's why I came on today.
Speaker 4: What I was kind of saying was, yeah, that our relationship, Uh,
Speaker 4: we we helped carry each other through a very intense
Speaker 4: time the show. The show got a lot of attention. Uh.
Speaker 4: I know you had already been kind of fairly well known,
Speaker 4: but that was that was We were dealing with a
Speaker 4: lot of uh we'll call it Fox celebrity craziness. And
Speaker 4: I remember just feeling safe knowing we were together guiding
Speaker 4: each other through it.
Speaker 1: So oh, that's so sweet and honestly like it was.
Speaker 1: We do glamorous things. But you lived in a house
Speaker 1: with how many roommates did you have three or four?
Speaker 4: Yahoo?
Speaker 3: Any of them actors or just you know.
Speaker 4: Well there were friends from.
Speaker 2: Soccer players, journalists, all the things you thought of.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it was very like grounded. And then I
Speaker 1: bought my first house, right up the street from where
Speaker 1: your rental house was, which is very sweet. And what
Speaker 1: I remember today driving in Do you remember going with
Speaker 1: me to adopt my first dog? Is a grown up?
Speaker 1: To the.
Speaker 3: Dog grown up? You're saying you were a grown up.
Speaker 1: I was a grown up. Also, the dog was a
Speaker 1: grown up. Andrew came with me. I should find it very.
Speaker 3: Grown up anywhere. Remember that.
Speaker 1: It wasn't that sweet though, So you're part of that
Speaker 1: very sweet memory for me?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I remember. I remember they were so beautiful and
Speaker 4: where where are percentes from Africa?
Speaker 1: Africa? And they don't they don't they don't bark, They
Speaker 1: like sort of they yodel.
Speaker 2: My neighbor has eight she just had a litter and
Speaker 2: and every time we drive down the driveway.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's so rare. That's so interesting.
Speaker 3: Make us sound really just like this, Oh.
Speaker 1: That's so rare. They yodeled, they made a lot of noise.
Speaker 3: We just went did you get Yeah?
Speaker 4: But Lord didn't have to talk about any of herd dating.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: It's so funny because we just we just we just
Speaker 3: had grant on and I thought about this after, like
Speaker 3: we didn't really talk about that, Like we're in the
Speaker 3: same room and it just wasn't like a conversation. It
Speaker 3: didn't it didn't come up, and like, you know, we
Speaker 3: went out, We all went out to lunch, after which
Speaker 3: we wish we could go out to lunch with you
Speaker 3: if you would only, you know, come to la.
Speaker 1: To you let us know, please, we could bring you
Speaker 1: on zoom, Like we could have you on a phone
Speaker 1: and like seated at the table with us. Yeah, He's like,
Speaker 1: we could.
Speaker 3: I really we could do that sounds complicated, but yeah,
Speaker 3: like the topic just didn't kind of come up, and
Speaker 3: I didn't know if it was like, oh, you know,
Speaker 3: it was just it was just so nice to be
Speaker 3: like so comfortable, Like all of us feel like that
Speaker 3: cast and that group and that time in our lives
Speaker 3: led to such like lasting friendships even if we don't
Speaker 3: see each other for years whatever. It's so easy and
Speaker 3: great and I'm so grateful for it to be able
Speaker 3: to just text you like, hey, how are you, like
Speaker 3: after years or whatever, Like it's just feels like such
Speaker 3: a nice, comfortable thing to feel like we all, yes,
Speaker 3: we dated in our twenties, Grant and I and you
Speaker 3: two dated in your twenties too, but like all these
Speaker 3: years later, it's just such a fond and friendly and
Speaker 3: warm group as a whole. I just feel so grateful
Speaker 3: for that. I think it's really special.
Speaker 1: That's true.
Speaker 4: I agree, and I think everybody has has given to
Speaker 4: it in that way and kind of nurtured the relationships.
Speaker 4: It's it's it's unique. I think all the people were
Speaker 4: just quality people, Like I said, very professional, So I thought, yeah,
Speaker 4: I think we all.
Speaker 2: In a show like that lasts. It really is like
Speaker 2: it's like college or something, right, Like it's those years,
Speaker 2: every single day, five days a week, long hours, especially
Speaker 2: we're shooting doubles. We did twenty two up to thirty
Speaker 2: two or thirty four episodes a year, like you see
Speaker 2: each other more than you see others in your life.
Speaker 1: Yeah, do you remember going to re Calendars for lunch?
Speaker 1: Remember that? What did you order? Do you remember your order?
Speaker 4: Every time?
Speaker 3: I was wondering, were you eating carbs back then? Because
Speaker 3: he eats anything?
Speaker 1: You've never had Andrew's leg, Like if you were to
Speaker 1: touch Andrew's leg, it feels like that wooden table, Like
Speaker 1: his body doesn't make fat, all right, it is crazy.
Speaker 1: Did you get a fat cell, sweetie? Did you have
Speaker 1: a fat cell? You have to deal with one or two.
Speaker 1: So sorry, that's so hard for you.
Speaker 3: So Andrew, like you were always doing so many other things,
Speaker 3: like while while we were shooting a television show, and
Speaker 3: like you said, it was a lot, there was a
Speaker 3: lot going on, but you were also like developing these
Speaker 3: other ideas, and you always had something completely different aside
Speaker 3: from acting that you were doing. And the first thing
Speaker 3: was do something. Was that like sort of the first
Speaker 3: other thing that you did. I mean, I knew you
Speaker 3: had already been a soccer player and you were still
Speaker 3: always playing, so you.
Speaker 2: Were starting to do something. In our production office, I
Speaker 2: remember you using the fax machine like you were always
Speaker 2: in there.
Speaker 3: Do you remember that with.
Speaker 4: The facts I was I was, I was on that
Speaker 4: fax machine a lot tax machines. Again, I think it
Speaker 4: kind of kept my sanity. My sister, she just showed
Speaker 4: me that it was an opportunity to do other things.
Speaker 4: It's kind of a means to other ends. And I
Speaker 4: also just felt so fortunate. It just seemed crazy to
Speaker 4: have the ability to go on talk shows and talk
Speaker 4: about things. And it also seemed weird to me to
Speaker 4: be promoting, like the whole idea was to promote yourself.
Speaker 4: So more people would know you so that you could
Speaker 4: get the next part. And that all just seemed very
Speaker 4: weird to me. And obviously you had to go on
Speaker 4: those shows and try and be funny, which Courtney was
Speaker 4: really good at being funny. But I had liked working
Speaker 4: on these other things and then be able to go
Speaker 4: talk about them and do something. Had come out of
Speaker 4: an experience I had had in high school. You know,
Speaker 4: I lost my older brother, who was, you know, kind
Speaker 4: of my idol in life, and he had been an
Speaker 4: Eagle Scout, and so I had a lot of things
Speaker 4: that I The acting thing happened randomly for me. It
Speaker 4: was not kind of in my I didn't have real
Speaker 4: vision for my life, to be honest, and I lost
Speaker 4: my brother my senior year in college, so I kind
Speaker 4: of was in a wayward mode when I went over
Speaker 4: to Africa, and so when the acting thing happened, I
Speaker 4: immediately felt, this, this is an opportunity to do something else,
Speaker 4: Like this is not about you and acting and being
Speaker 4: famous or any of that stuff. So I think to
Speaker 4: ground me and to connect back to my brother, starting
Speaker 4: to do something was just really healthy and it's still
Speaker 4: running amazingly well all these years later.
Speaker 2: And did you pass it on to someone else? Starting
Speaker 2: to interrupt, but did you someone else runs it?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 4: I think two of Yeah. The two my buddy Mike
Speaker 4: Sanchez and I we started together. He was running it.
Speaker 4: We were always partners in crime and then and then
Speaker 4: we started a business together in nineteen ninety nine, which
Speaker 4: he's now still running. I'm at the offices right now
Speaker 4: of that company we started. It's called Kathya Media. And
Speaker 4: we did pass on the leadership multiple times and have
Speaker 4: an incredible CEO do something right now, and.
Speaker 2: You want to just tell the audience, like what that is?
Speaker 3: What is do something?
Speaker 4: Yeah, so do something. At the time, there were so
Speaker 4: many great social entrepreneurs like Wendy cop who started Teach
Speaker 4: for America and Alan Casey who had started City Year.
Speaker 4: These were social entrepreneurs who came up with ideas and
Speaker 4: created their own organizations. And so I had had an
Speaker 4: experience in high school because I had quit Boy Scouts
Speaker 4: and felt guilty about it, and that it was just
Speaker 4: called Student Serving Seniors, which also still runs at my
Speaker 4: high school. And so that experience, I felt we could
Speaker 4: we could figure out how to give that to other
Speaker 4: young people. So that creating kind of the little leagues
Speaker 4: for service to end up becoming kind of the you know,
Speaker 4: the the Wendy Cops and the Allen Cazys of the world.
Speaker 4: So we created clubs and schools, We had grants, and
Speaker 4: then once the Internet started, it was a lot through
Speaker 4: text messaging and so so do something as kind of
Speaker 4: the premier organization for getting young people involved in service
Speaker 4: and getting them to create their own projects and then
Speaker 4: growing them and building them. Not unlike what I did
Speaker 4: in high school, next to millions of kids around the country.
Speaker 4: And I think now, especially with the state of our country,
Speaker 4: we need young people more than ever to realize that
Speaker 4: they have a role to play, and so we give
Speaker 4: them tools, we get them funding, give them inspiration. So
Speaker 4: that's it's a you know, it's it's something we will
Speaker 4: we will always need in this country, is to inspire
Speaker 4: and activate young people.
Speaker 2: It's amazing, so great you were doing that while we
Speaker 2: were and learning all the lines on the show and
Speaker 2: coming and doing our stories lines.
Speaker 3: You know, and it's still a thing now, like it's
Speaker 3: a really big deal. You must be so proud of it.
Speaker 4: Oh wow, Well again it's been because it's been passed
Speaker 4: on to great leadership. Genora, who's the CEO now is awesome.
Speaker 4: But I just as you said that learning the lines
Speaker 4: I remember because I was also playing soccer in nineteen
Speaker 4: ninety six with the Galaxy, and I remember going home
Speaker 4: but not having time to shower. Was I was in
Speaker 4: such a studio that I literally took the hose and
Speaker 4: just then got in the car, turned the the it
Speaker 4: was like ninety Dev's out and turned the heater on
Speaker 4: and was literally like drying my head and learning the
Speaker 4: lines that I had like sitting up there. Yeah, it
Speaker 4: was a lot, just not exactly how an actor would
Speaker 4: would do that.
Speaker 1: Well, you were always a fan of learning the lines
Speaker 1: on the go. I remember walking on the set with
Speaker 1: you many times. You're going, now, what are we doing today?
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm starting an n G O over here,
Speaker 2: so and I'm playing soccer with Galaxy.
Speaker 3: So you were much more than an actor. Well, yeah,
Speaker 3: so you left the show in ninety six, ninety eight,
Speaker 3: Oh you stayed till ninety Okay, right, so you.
Speaker 4: Stayed with six years. Yeah, we started ninety.
Speaker 3: Two and then was there a reason you you chose
Speaker 3: to leave was that you were starting something else yet
Speaker 3: another business, and you were going off to do something else?
Speaker 3: What was that?
Speaker 1: So did you do one year after the three of
Speaker 1: us left? You did your six?
Speaker 4: I did your six?
Speaker 1: Wow?
Speaker 3: What was that like?
Speaker 1: Without us?
Speaker 3: Did you talk about us?
Speaker 4: Are?
Speaker 1: Did you miss us every single day? What about us?
Speaker 4: Back then? We were there were so many people on
Speaker 4: the show, and like I said, we were doing still
Speaker 4: doing double episodes. You you just didn't work that much,
Speaker 4: so it was pretty easy. And I do remember trying
Speaker 4: to negotiate where I could do half the episodes and
Speaker 4: they're like, no, you know for season seven. So I
Speaker 4: was going to talk season seven, but I was like,
Speaker 4: I only do want to do half the episodes. I
Speaker 4: did think for a minute. I was thinking about like,
Speaker 4: all right, are you gonna are you going to leave
Speaker 4: acting or are you really going to try? And yeah,
Speaker 4: make a make a career out of this. And I
Speaker 4: was intrigued with going back and living on the East
Speaker 4: Coast starting a business, and so I had a decision
Speaker 4: to make and I so I was kind of straddling both.
Speaker 4: And I thought, if you're going to keep going on
Speaker 4: the acting front, you probably want to get off the
Speaker 4: show before it before it sinks. That the longer you're
Speaker 4: on it more. You're connected to that character, it's hard
Speaker 4: to go off and do do other things. So I
Speaker 4: felt like I was. I also knew that year six,
Speaker 4: when you've had a five year contract, year six is
Speaker 4: the one year where you can make some some pretty
Speaker 4: good money. So I definitely he's a.
Speaker 3: Businessman through and through clearly.
Speaker 1: So do you have kids by then? When did you
Speaker 1: start having kids?
Speaker 4: I did? I did? Nate? Was Nate's birthday? Actually, my
Speaker 4: oldest is today?
Speaker 2: They got few birthday?
Speaker 1: Neet? How old is he?
Speaker 4: Twenty eight years old? Wow? He was born in ninety six.
Speaker 4: And then Aiden was born in ninety eight. So Aidan
Speaker 4: was born just after we finished the sixth year. And
Speaker 4: then yeah, so I had just really Nate in that
Speaker 4: year and a half before the ship before I left
Speaker 4: the show.
Speaker 1: And then did you move back east right after you
Speaker 1: finished that last season?
Speaker 4: Uh? Pretty much pretty much like another five months later? Yeah?
Speaker 3: Where Andrew?
Speaker 2: Where did you guys grow up? I know you went
Speaker 2: to Dartmouth, where, coincidentally, my mom worked for twelve years.
Speaker 1: Can I tell my Dartmouth story?
Speaker 2: Did you grow up in New York?
Speaker 4: I grew up in Northern New Jersey, Okay, in South Orange,
Speaker 4: New Jersey.
Speaker 1: All right, I want to tell my Dartmouth story. So
Speaker 1: when Andrew and I were dating, he had a reunion
Speaker 1: of some sort at Dartmouth and we went back to Dartmouth.
Speaker 1: It was fun for me because I didn't go to college.
Speaker 1: I got to pretend I went to college. And we
Speaker 1: went to his fraternity and walked on into the basement
Speaker 1: and the smell I can't even tell you. And I said,
Speaker 1: what is the smell? And he goes, oh, the basement
Speaker 1: is where people go to throw up.
Speaker 3: Yes, it's spress your experience of call a fraternity bass
Speaker 3: and you take her to the nicest places. It's literally
Speaker 3: the fraternity.
Speaker 4: That what I said. That is not what I said.
Speaker 4: I may have said every now and then people it's
Speaker 4: a vomatorium. Accidentally throw up from the smell.
Speaker 1: Uh every now and then was fairly often. And I'm
Speaker 1: just saying maybe of guys doesn't do a whole lot
Speaker 1: of cleaning up on a regular basis. Not seem that
Speaker 1: those who lived there head adjusted to the smell. I
Speaker 1: had not. Well, they're guys, they do standard. You were,
Speaker 1: but you said, it's a matter of fact, Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what people go to throw up and I know
Speaker 1: you deny it now, but that's what you said.
Speaker 4: There may have been some throwing up down there, but
Speaker 4: let's get cleaned. Its just sometimes it's, you know, all
Speaker 4: the beer, the stale beer.
Speaker 1: A bunch of it's a twelve year old guys.
Speaker 3: It was such a nice thing to show her, though,
Speaker 3: I think that's so so romantic.
Speaker 4: That means myraites is U is the fraternity that that
Speaker 4: animal house.
Speaker 1: Okay, now it all makes sense. Yes, we have our verdict.
Speaker 3: Okay, you just answered the question.
Speaker 1: It is where they threw us.
Speaker 4: But you were very I remember you were appreciated by
Speaker 4: by all kinds of students there.
Speaker 1: What are some narrows memories that you have when you
Speaker 1: think about that time? What comes to mind?
Speaker 4: I remember life just being full, and I think, you know,
Speaker 4: talking about going to Africa and not having necessarily understanding
Speaker 4: where I wanted to go and and what kind of
Speaker 4: life I wanted to lead. I just remember that time
Speaker 4: feeling really alive, which was amazing considering after losing my brother,
Speaker 4: I definitely was in a darker place and not believing
Speaker 4: kind of in the in the the optimism of life,
Speaker 4: which has to drive everybody's life is the optimism and
Speaker 4: the opportunity of what could lie ahead, and again just
Speaker 4: being with great people, having my first two kids being born,
Speaker 4: being able to work on all these different projects, to
Speaker 4: be in la in this brand new environment. It was.
Speaker 4: It was idyllic. I think. I remember going on the
Speaker 4: Tonight Show and saying, I feel like I'm on fantasy island,
Speaker 4: Like how this all happened, I don't know, but I
Speaker 4: feel I just felt very fortunate and grateful.
Speaker 2: Grant was mentioning that too, that sense of like nostalgia,
Speaker 2: that time of potential. You said something similar to that,
Speaker 2: that energy and that fullness, and you know, I love
Speaker 2: just about life, like you never know what corner, what audition,
Speaker 2: what thing, what one little thing you say yes to?
Speaker 3: And look, you know, you.
Speaker 4: Got calls all the time for new exciting things. It's like, oh,
Speaker 4: they want to do a gat bed or they want
Speaker 4: to do.
Speaker 1: A bad I'd forgotten we did Laoreal.
Speaker 4: Appearances in Australia, and there's just so many differently I met.
Speaker 4: It's Zakrabin, who uh at the time, was the leader
Speaker 4: of Israel, probably five months before he was assassinated, and
Speaker 4: his wife was a huge fan of the show and
Speaker 4: so he crazy, right, He was like, yeah, it was.
Speaker 4: It was amazing.
Speaker 1: Do you remember campaigning for Clinton? You dragged poor little
Speaker 1: met who really still just wants to be home with
Speaker 1: her dogs, meditating on her couch, and you dragged me
Speaker 1: campaign like on a bus. We went campaigning with Clinton,
Speaker 1: and I campaigning for Clinton, not with him. He wasn't saying,
Speaker 1: what I need is Andrew and Alice Andrew and Courtney
Speaker 1: on my bus? No, but we were campaigning for him,
Speaker 1: and we were with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldbloom. Do
Speaker 1: you remember that? And I remember somebody walking up now,
Speaker 1: Laura Dern and Jeff Goldbloom are both hugely tall people.
Speaker 1: And I remember somebody coming up to me and going,
Speaker 1: I was just talking to my friend. You and Andrew were
Speaker 1: up there, next to next to Laura and Jeff. And
Speaker 1: I remember saying, Andrew and Courtney, they are tiny little people.
Speaker 1: They're the cutest, tiniest little people. I don't know how
Speaker 1: to take that, which are very tall. But do you
Speaker 1: remember that. I don't know how many times we did it,
Speaker 1: but it was exciting.
Speaker 4: I do. I do remember that. And you were you
Speaker 4: were a trooper to do it.
Speaker 1: That's a very nice way to say it. You're a
Speaker 1: trooper kind of means I would have got my heart
Speaker 1: in it. I followed you around IM like, all.
Speaker 4: Right, I remember I'm not hugely tall, but it's true
Speaker 4: that TV can make you look like yeah six too,
Speaker 4: what do you look?
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's bring it back to Billy, just doing Billy
Speaker 2: playing Billy.
Speaker 1: What you liked about him?
Speaker 2: What you know?
Speaker 3: What do you remember? Do you remember any like scenes
Speaker 3: or storylines that stood out? Did you enjoy did you
Speaker 3: not enjoy?
Speaker 4: I did. I didn't love the fact that Billy kind
Speaker 4: of got he kind of got walked on a little bit,
Speaker 4: which it was. It was in the writing. Uh. And
Speaker 4: in the first season when the whole kind of love
Speaker 4: triangle happened with Alison and Amanda, I thought that was
Speaker 4: that was better where I was. I was clearly not
Speaker 4: large and in charge, but at least I.
Speaker 1: Was being fought over by two women.
Speaker 4: I mean I was navigating you know, some some some exciting.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I thought later they did. They just did. They didn't
Speaker 4: didn't allow him to to thrive the way I would
Speaker 4: have liked. But I think he was still very human
Speaker 4: and he was clearly likable.
Speaker 1: Enough super likable, and you know, we just watched because
Speaker 1: we're a little bit ahead, and the watching. We watched
Speaker 1: the bungee jumping episode when you get all the guys
Speaker 1: bungee jumping, and I was saying to Laura, it felt
Speaker 1: like when the show sort of came together, like all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, it looked like we were really friends
Speaker 1: hanging out. And you brought the heart, like you got
Speaker 1: everybody together. You really brought that energy and that heart,
Speaker 1: and that's what Billy did, like you were the vulnerable
Speaker 1: heart of the show.
Speaker 4: You're sweet, It's true, really, it is sweet.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're kind of like the everyman you know, like
Speaker 2: you I know, it's not you know, maybe like the
Speaker 2: glamorous or the like you say, large and in charge part,
Speaker 2: but you are the part that the audience is meant
Speaker 2: to identify with, right, like the guy who comes in
Speaker 2: and then this stuff happens with all these different more
Speaker 2: out there characters. But yeah, in that scene in that
Speaker 2: episode specifically, remember when he's they're all celebrating in the
Speaker 2: courtyard because you'd gotten an article in a paper, and
Speaker 2: then they throw you in the pool with your clothes on,
Speaker 2: and then they throw in Michael in the pool because
Speaker 2: he saved somebody's life in the hospital or something.
Speaker 3: It was like this tradition.
Speaker 1: Well, we started dancing, and you were talking about in
Speaker 1: the first in the pilot where you're going, yes, you're
Speaker 1: all dancing with the broom And I was watching that
Speaker 1: episode thinking we're all dancing doing like the hustle and
Speaker 1: then going in the pool, and like that was before
Speaker 1: we started saying that is not gonna happen. Everyone's dancing different,
Speaker 1: dancing getting stuck in the pool. I was like, well,
Speaker 1: that's an early in the show.
Speaker 3: Well, the show evolved. It started out definitely as sort
Speaker 3: of one tone and one dynamic it and it certainly
Speaker 3: evolved over the years. And then with doing so many episodes,
Speaker 3: we all went through so many variations of our characters
Speaker 3: and so many ups and downs, and you know, for better,
Speaker 3: for worse, and ultimately everyone ended up dating everyone and
Speaker 3: everyone ended up you know, good, bad, indifferent. At some point,
Speaker 3: I think characters were all a little bit of everything
Speaker 3: because they there were too many episodes not to have
Speaker 3: them travel from one thing to another.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I do remember a stretch where Billy was borderline
Speaker 4: mean and evil, and I remember the writers coming like yeah, we.
Speaker 3: We tried that.
Speaker 4: It was it was wrong. We're going back to where
Speaker 4: do you remember why?
Speaker 1: Why was Billy.
Speaker 4: Being I think they were I think they were trying
Speaker 4: to he was just getting to be a little too
Speaker 4: plain and you need some bad stuff to happen and
Speaker 4: instead of having it always happening to him. It might
Speaker 4: have been it was either with a camera, which is
Speaker 4: either Kristen Davis or Brook Langton. It was something that
Speaker 4: was in there down the line doing something. It was little,
Speaker 4: it was a little bit later, or they were like,
Speaker 4: we got a spicy.
Speaker 3: Well, we're going to We're going to get there because
Speaker 3: we get to rewatch all of all of the episodes
Speaker 3: and we're reminded of all this stuff that happens. We'll
Speaker 3: eventually get there.
Speaker 1: Do you remember having your shirt off and every other.
Speaker 3: Let's just get to it, guys. We remember that, especially
Speaker 3: early on, because that's how far we are into the podcast.
Speaker 3: You had your shirt off quite a bit doing We're not,
Speaker 3: you know, complaining, We're just noticing that. Do you remember
Speaker 3: that was the thing?
Speaker 4: I do. I do remember. It was quite chilly there
Speaker 4: and I remember going on on what at the time
Speaker 4: was read Just and Kathy Lee, and he said, I'm
Speaker 4: going to be loaning you some of my shirts.
Speaker 3: Okay, so you yeah, you had it aful lot. Yeah,
Speaker 3: well it wasn't your idea. We realized, like, that wasn't
Speaker 3: That wasn't Andrew going, hey, I think I should do this.
Speaker 3: It was in the script. Just to be clear, Like
Speaker 3: you know, when when these guys are shirtless, it's because
Speaker 3: it was written. I remember I remember Grant doing, look
Speaker 3: at this shirt off.
Speaker 2: Of course I walk out, you know, like it was
Speaker 2: just a thing, like would you just read your sides,
Speaker 2: read the scripting?
Speaker 3: Of course the shirts are stepping out of the apartment.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think if we were, I don't know, you're
Speaker 4: shooting something and you're not. You're really not really thinking,
Speaker 4: like there's millions of people who are watching this thing
Speaker 4: every week. You're just out there on the stage, Okay,
Speaker 4: what do you want us to do? But then when
Speaker 4: you're actually watching the show or later, you're kind of
Speaker 4: like this is ridiculous. People must be like this is
Speaker 4: not serious. People prancing around with no clothes off.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it got less and less, like in the beginning
Speaker 1: they would have you guys with it for no apparent reason,
Speaker 1: like if you walk, you just walk on the apartment
Speaker 1: without your shirt on. And then over time you could
Speaker 1: see that you guys started saying, we need to put
Speaker 1: the kibosh on this, and it made sense, like if
Speaker 1: you were in bed or getting out of the shower,
Speaker 1: then they would do it. But in the beginning, like
Speaker 1: the first episode, they're like ten shirtlessing, maybe fourteen may
Speaker 1: we counted. That was one of our things. We counted
Speaker 1: so many. Do you remember, though, Andrew, what is your
Speaker 1: craziest storyline? Do you remember the thing you had doing?
Speaker 1: You were like, oh, I can't believe I have to
Speaker 1: do that.
Speaker 4: See I'd see I didn't get to do anything that help.
Speaker 3: And I have to say, like Billy and Sydney didn't
Speaker 3: have a whole lot together because I think maybe if
Speaker 3: that had happened and you would have ended up crazier,
Speaker 3: you kind of didn't. You steered clear, Billy steered clear
Speaker 3: of Sydney, and you know, so you didn't didn't end
Speaker 3: up in that realm.
Speaker 4: It could have done a breaking bad thing where you know,
Speaker 4: maybe I got cancer and all of a sudden, in
Speaker 4: order to save somebody, I had to do some crazy
Speaker 4: stuff there.
Speaker 3: There are some good ideas that are still worth exploring.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, but who did Billy day? So
Speaker 3: Billy dated Allison, Billy dated Amanda? Who else would remember
Speaker 3: he was in?
Speaker 1: Who is the interested in?
Speaker 4: Joe? Amanda lost Lost, lost the baby? Right, Yeah, you
Speaker 4: were there and I felt bad. I kind of you
Speaker 4: and I it was tough. That was that was a
Speaker 4: very tough What else I was with? Like I said,
Speaker 4: I married what was Kristin Davis?
Speaker 1: That was amazing, pulled that right out of.
Speaker 4: Brook Langton's brook Langton's character.
Speaker 3: Was Sam Sam.
Speaker 4: I almost married her.
Speaker 3: But the later years.
Speaker 1: And so when they bring in people, I meant of
Speaker 1: like the core group because I think Heather Amanda dated
Speaker 1: everyone in the building except Doug.
Speaker 3: Right, she did not date I really didn't, That's correct.
Speaker 4: I did not get it. I really only had Alison
Speaker 4: and Amanda of the core of the Yeah, they.
Speaker 1: Brought people in for Alison too. I think Alison did
Speaker 1: it the later time date Jake for a minute. But
Speaker 1: they really brought people in.
Speaker 3: Mm hmmm.
Speaker 1: They outsourced for Joe too.
Speaker 2: They brought in they always brought in some evil guy
Speaker 2: for me, and because I knew that Joe would be
Speaker 2: attracted to him and they could create some drama, some
Speaker 2: real jerk.
Speaker 4: You guys became you guys. All the women were the
Speaker 4: stars of the show. It really was centered around you guys.
Speaker 4: We were we were props in and around with it.
Speaker 1: Really did it feel that way? I didn't feel that way.
Speaker 4: Yeah, really, yeah, they had all the best storyline.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, I think so, He's right.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think of watching because of you guys, and
Speaker 4: then men were watching because of you guys as well,
Speaker 4: and then women.
Speaker 3: Were watching because I don't know, we do we hear it.
Speaker 3: On the other side, women were watching you still recognized
Speaker 3: for Billy.
Speaker 2: Do people say this to you on the streets to new.
Speaker 1: Looking exactly the same Andrew, it's isless.
Speaker 4: My great gray beard. Uh. Every now and then somebody
Speaker 4: will come up to me, and then they will they
Speaker 4: will say, did we go to high school together?
Speaker 3: How do you handle it?
Speaker 4: I said, uh, no, I'm not sure. No, I'd say
Speaker 4: I just tell them I was on a TV show,
Speaker 4: and always.
Speaker 3: Like, did they go Nope, that's not it.
Speaker 1: No, I never watched that.
Speaker 3: Sorry, what else?
Speaker 1: I don't watch TV? And I know I don't know.
Speaker 4: Very It's always so nice. People come up and that
Speaker 4: was that was that was such a huge part of
Speaker 4: my twenties.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, they tell you about their place that looked
Speaker 1: like our apartment building.
Speaker 4: Yeah exactly. Yeah, we're in where they had their parties.
Speaker 4: That the Melrose parties were a real thing.
Speaker 1: It was.
Speaker 3: It was a really meaningful part of people's lives at
Speaker 3: that time in their twenties. We all sort of remember
Speaker 3: where we were, who we were with, and that's just
Speaker 3: special and different. And I feel like that's what's coming
Speaker 3: back around for us doing this podcast. We're hearing so
Speaker 3: many stories about remembering that time in their lives and
Speaker 3: what an impactful time it was, and it's so fun
Speaker 3: to sort of relive the nostalgia of it. Do you
Speaker 3: have any Do you have any interest at all? I
Speaker 3: know you're doing lots of other things. You've got cafe media.
Speaker 3: Do you have any interest at all in acting?
Speaker 1: Again?
Speaker 4: Uh, not really. I think it's something Yeah, you never
Speaker 4: say never. I have a a movie project I want
Speaker 4: to do at some point. There's no timeline for it
Speaker 4: because I it's a very long story. But I got
Speaker 4: very deeply involved in the Lindberg kidnapping, where I got
Speaker 4: to know the window of the of the man who
Speaker 4: was convicted and executed for that, and uh, it's a
Speaker 4: fascinating story and love story. So I don't think I
Speaker 4: would act in it, but it's it's that's probably my
Speaker 4: will be my last kind of big entertainment project. At
Speaker 4: some point. I'll get geared up for that. I think
Speaker 4: it's I think it's the best picture type, so I
Speaker 4: won't be writing it. It's a I love.
Speaker 2: We love the Billy typing and writing his script, his
Speaker 2: best American script, finger Bike.
Speaker 1: That how you really type? With the Hunt and Bank?
Speaker 4: All right, I did not do well my typing class.
Speaker 4: I've gotten better, but not much.
Speaker 1: What did Billy do for work at the end? I
Speaker 1: was trying to remember because you dance instructor then always
Speaker 1: a writer than a cabby? Do you remember remember being
Speaker 1: a cab?
Speaker 4: I was a vice president, went for.
Speaker 3: A driver, the vice president.
Speaker 1: And serious, I can't even wait, I have to I
Speaker 1: have to watch ahead.
Speaker 3: I were not there yet, were you, my boss? You're
Speaker 3: still a cab driver? Where we are right?
Speaker 1: Only my own part?
Speaker 3: Were you at D and D at all? Were you
Speaker 3: even there?
Speaker 1: It doesn't even sound familiar to me.
Speaker 4: You had a big job there and I think by
Speaker 4: the end it was.
Speaker 1: Is that why you dated Alison in season one? It's
Speaker 1: all coming Is that why you dated me to get
Speaker 1: to Alison, to get.
Speaker 3: To d So now wait, this is weird and I'm
Speaker 3: a little bit all coming.
Speaker 1: Together for me.
Speaker 4: This is why I left that acting was because of
Speaker 4: my success. I decided going to business. I really fertilized
Speaker 4: my success. Excused me.
Speaker 3: Wow, amazing, Well it all seems to have worked out.
Speaker 3: But I do have to ask you, like, hypothetically, this
Speaker 3: is just a complete hypothetical, but if there were an
Speaker 3: occasion for like a Melrose Place type of like reboot,
Speaker 3: she said. But she said that saying, if there were
Speaker 3: such a thing, would you consider participating? Would you be interested?
Speaker 4: Just a hypothetical if it was one of those movies
Speaker 4: like Get Out maybe.
Speaker 3: So yes, the answer is that what we're hearing the
Speaker 3: hypothetical world.
Speaker 4: I would never say no to us, to you, but
Speaker 4: it would have to be done really well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, so hypothetically that would be real fun, wouldn't
Speaker 3: I mean, just just for the excuse to all be together,
Speaker 3: and you know, it's just wouldn't that be fun?
Speaker 4: That's a great idea.
Speaker 2: I want to know what you're doing now and if
Speaker 2: you are happy, and what is the project and what's
Speaker 2: the company that you're running now.
Speaker 4: I'm doing very well. I am very happy, my kids
Speaker 4: are all great, and I'm working on a project. So
Speaker 4: beyond Cafe Media, I have a project that's very exciting
Speaker 4: that I think as the potential to be the basis
Speaker 4: for bringing our country together. Obviously, there's a lot of
Speaker 4: discussion around how our political leaders may or may not
Speaker 4: bring us together, which I think all of us see
Speaker 4: that as almost impossible at this point. So what we've
Speaker 4: been working on is the idea of creating citizen assemblies
Speaker 4: where citizens come together from all different backgrounds, political persuasions
Speaker 4: and work to create model legislation. So it's essentially creating
Speaker 4: the structured process of articulating the people's will, which has
Speaker 4: never been done before. Traditionally, we can just vote and
Speaker 4: then our elected leaders will go and hopefully act on
Speaker 4: our Will'd be like, well, how do they really know
Speaker 4: exactly what we think based on phone polls? So we
Speaker 4: know that the country's so polarized that the citizens have
Speaker 4: to get involved, but it has to be done in
Speaker 4: an organized, structured way. And we've just tested this in
Speaker 4: just literally in the last month in New Hampshire, spent
Speaker 4: a year long process of bringing citizens together so that
Speaker 4: they would be heard, and then eventually having a representative
Speaker 4: body meet for three days in Manchester, and they came
Speaker 4: up with four very specific recommendations. The Secretary of State
Speaker 4: was there, all the elected leaders were taking it very seriously,
Speaker 4: and at the end, I think ninety seven percent of
Speaker 4: them agreed to endorse what they had put forward. So
Speaker 4: the unanimity was was amazing, and then the emotion in
Speaker 4: the room was incredible because they all realized this this
Speaker 4: country is in the success of our Our country is
Speaker 4: up to us. That it's it can't be up to
Speaker 4: the elected leaders. So I'm all in on this and
Speaker 4: have been working on it for about the last four years.
Speaker 4: So this is UH that I get.
Speaker 2: What's it called, Andrew, does it have a name?
Speaker 4: So the organizations called the People UH and the process
Speaker 4: that we're working on we're still in the process of
Speaker 4: branding the Citizens Assembly process. We piloted also a project
Speaker 4: in Kentucky called Meeting of America, so that would be
Speaker 4: the kind of the initial call to people to come
Speaker 4: in and meet.
Speaker 3: Like a town hall.
Speaker 2: My imagining it.
Speaker 4: It is a town hall that starts with kind of
Speaker 4: a very involved process to get to the ultimate town hall.
Speaker 4: But it has to be a representative body. It can't
Speaker 4: just be well, who showed up, Well, it was for people,
Speaker 4: and you know it. It's It's been done overseas. The
Speaker 4: citizens assemblies have been done overseas, but in those cases
Speaker 4: it was always at the request of the elected leaders
Speaker 4: where they were trying to solve solve issues like abortion
Speaker 4: in in in Ireland or end of life treatment in France. Uh.
Speaker 4: It's it's been used for for budgeting here in America
Speaker 4: and certain cities where they bring citizens in to help
Speaker 4: solve uh sticky issues. And I think we have we
Speaker 4: have too many existential crises building that where nothing has
Speaker 4: been done.
Speaker 2: And so it's fantastic to engage and to awakened the
Speaker 2: public us because I think with all the everything that's
Speaker 2: going on are in America, you know, it just feels
Speaker 2: like are for a common reaction is to shut down,
Speaker 2: and so you're creating it sounds like outlets and a
Speaker 2: way to stay alive and engaged and take part.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the anger that's out there is real, whether it's
Speaker 4: on the right or the left. It's people basically feeling
Speaker 4: that they aren't being heard. Obviously, massive wealth gap that exists,
Speaker 4: and there's a certain part of America that's doing really well,
Speaker 4: and there's probably eighty to ninety percent who feel like
Speaker 4: they've been they've been running in place for a long time.
Speaker 4: So there's a reason why there's so much energy, sometimes
Speaker 4: negative energy on both sides. So we need an ultimate arbitration, really,
Speaker 4: and the American people are the only ones that can
Speaker 4: do it do it at scale. Now now we need
Speaker 4: to prove that we can do it at scale and
Speaker 4: show that it's credible. The eyes into it.
Speaker 2: And do you have a website that people can come
Speaker 2: to or is that all in beta or is it.
Speaker 4: We're not kind of ready for prime time national, but
Speaker 4: you can go to the people dot org. It's it's
Speaker 4: still kind of a small organization that's been doing all
Speaker 4: these pilots. It's great to listen. First Project, which has
Speaker 4: been doing a lot of the bridging work. It's really
Speaker 4: the combination of three different movements that have been building
Speaker 4: over the last ten years. Has been a kind of
Speaker 4: a bridging movement, which is all getting people just to
Speaker 4: have conversations and then there's a deliberate democracy movement, which
Speaker 4: has been getting people to actually, you know, come up
Speaker 4: with ideas and work through policy recommendations. And then there's
Speaker 4: the political reform movement, which is about changing specific rules
Speaker 4: like ending gerrymandering and changing the way we do primaries
Speaker 4: and campaign finance. So it's the combination of those three things.
Speaker 4: We have to you know, we're a sport that doesn't
Speaker 4: score any runs anymore. If you had that, which in
Speaker 4: some sports is getting like that, it just gets so
Speaker 4: competitive and they get so good that nobody scores. You
Speaker 4: change the rules. You have to do rules, and this
Speaker 4: is a once every hundred years we have to change.
Speaker 4: We have to improve our system. It doesn't it doesn't
Speaker 4: deliver anymore, it doesn't. You just have performative politics. It's
Speaker 4: all all performative and it's not really getting us anywhere.
Speaker 1: That's amazing, Andrew, So no, no, I'm so grateful that
Speaker 1: your vision is bringing people together and hope and unity.
Speaker 1: That's so rare and extraordinary in these days, and you
Speaker 1: have the energy and drive to put behind it. I mean,
Speaker 1: I remember when you were doing do something and now
Speaker 1: this not to put you on the spot, have you
Speaker 1: ever thought of learning running for office. I want you
Speaker 1: in charge of everything.
Speaker 4: I do. Get asked that right right now. I think
Speaker 4: it's better to do what we're doing and kind of
Speaker 4: figure out the right way eventually to bring in elected
Speaker 4: leaders into this and to support this. But I think
Speaker 4: we have to we have to prove that again kind
Speaker 4: of as as the citizens who are outside of the
Speaker 4: political arena, I think as soon as it becomes political
Speaker 4: in that sense, then then right away it's like, oh,
Speaker 4: which party, which party are you trying to benefit? And
Speaker 4: that's really not what this is about. This is absolutely
Speaker 4: about really articulating what the vast majority of Americans want.
Speaker 4: There's so much, so many common sense solutions on every
Speaker 4: issue from immigration to guns that you could get seventy
Speaker 4: percent buying on. So it's really about creating a seventy
Speaker 4: percent agenda that the American people put forward, not a party.
Speaker 4: As soon as the party puts forward it's done. You're
Speaker 4: into a deathmatch. So you've got to stay above the
Speaker 4: party game. This is American people saying, you know what,
Speaker 4: We're now going to be the adults in the room,
Speaker 4: and we are going to create the agenda that the
Speaker 4: American people want and then we're gonna have to fight
Speaker 4: for it. Unfortunately, even if we put it forward that
Speaker 4: the parties are still going to be like, oh this
Speaker 4: helps you help me, like I'm never you know, they're
Speaker 4: not going to go for it. Some some of them
Speaker 4: will support it, but they'll be in like very purple
Speaker 4: states where they have to support the thing in the middle. Wow.
Speaker 1: Amazing Andrew, thank you for sharing really extraordinary, so excitedly has.
Speaker 2: Grown up and he's doing it now with the world,
Speaker 2: with the whole country.
Speaker 3: Well, we're just so happy that, like, you know, you've
Speaker 3: been doing so many interesting things with your life and
Speaker 3: that you can come on our goofy little podcast on
Speaker 3: Still the Place and share it with us. It's like
Speaker 3: so great to hear all that you're doing and just
Speaker 3: great to see you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I give you guys a lot of credit for
Speaker 4: doing this, and I know that that Courtney, I guess
Speaker 4: one day was like, we should do a podcast about
Speaker 4: the show.
Speaker 2: She called us and said I had my friend woke
Speaker 2: up and said I had a dream You're doing a
Speaker 2: podcast from Melrose.
Speaker 3: And we're like, let's get that done right away.
Speaker 4: Not everybody some people talk about things that everybody goes
Speaker 4: out and does it.
Speaker 1: I command you do on a far larger scale in
Speaker 1: the world. So good to see you, sweetheart.
Speaker 3: Oh and Doug is so bummed that he couldn't be
Speaker 3: here in person and say hi to you and see
Speaker 3: you too, so he's he's jealous of a reason. He says, Hi, for.
Speaker 4: Sure, exhaust it's one of my favorites.
Speaker 3: And is there anything else that you may have wanted
Speaker 3: to say while you're here and those place fans, anything
Speaker 3: you wanted to mention that we haven't remembered to ask
Speaker 3: you about.
Speaker 4: Well, I just want to. I want to thank our
Speaker 4: super fan, Jerry Seinfeld exactly reference he put us on
Speaker 4: the map for Jerry that was Maybe it's Larry David.
Speaker 4: I don't know. Maybe it's been Larry David who decided
Speaker 4: to do that.
Speaker 3: It's really fun that our show had all those mentions
Speaker 3: from all those shows that we looked up too so much,
Speaker 3: and then we're talking about us and yeah, it's so flattering.
Speaker 3: It's amazing.
Speaker 4: And I will say say special thank you to Aaron
Speaker 4: obviously he uh, he's up there, but he pulled the
Speaker 4: rookie off off the bench and stuck him in there.
Speaker 1: Yay, he did he knew you had something. Yeah, we're
Speaker 1: so grateful. We're all so grateful.
Speaker 3: Well, it's been amazing to see you. I hope that
Speaker 3: I hope that we can have you back and we
Speaker 3: would love to see you again.
Speaker 4: Guys, love you, guys.
Speaker 3: Thanks, and it's great to see you. Thanks for coming. Bye,
Speaker 3: thank you bye. Oh my gosh, that was so amazing.
Speaker 3: And then we have We've gotten to visit with Grant
Speaker 3: and now Andrew, and we have so many more fun
Speaker 3: guests coming up. But like next week we have we're
Speaker 3: back to our recaps, right, We're on to episode three,
Speaker 3: Lost and Found, that's our next episode. We got to
Speaker 3: get back in recap mode. Excellent here and still the place.
Speaker 3: But that was a super fun way thought, that was amazing.
Speaker 1: He's a very such a good guy, such an admirable
Speaker 1: man to him. M h m hmm.