Speaker 1: Man, do we have an exciting show today?
Speaker 2: Donald Faison, We do have an exciting show.
Speaker 1: You know, we promised the people, we promised the listeners
Speaker 1: that we wouldn't just have stars of the show on,
Speaker 1: that we would bring on crew members.
Speaker 2: You're totally about to geek out about this. You brought
Speaker 2: up a director. I am going to geek as a
Speaker 2: fellow director. You're like, Yo, I'm gonna ask him about
Speaker 2: this shot. I'm gonna ask him about this shot.
Speaker 1: Well, I am going to talk to him. I think
Speaker 1: people if I sometimes think when I'm preparing for this,
Speaker 1: and you know, I do a lot of homework. You
Speaker 1: should see my desk. It looks like I'm about to
Speaker 1: write a novel. I was thinking about if I was
Speaker 1: a listener, I'd want to know some behind it, Like
Speaker 1: what's it like to be a director of a TV show.
Speaker 1: Michael Spilder, who we're talking about is is a very
Speaker 1: big television director, one of the biggest. In fact, he
Speaker 1: recently won the Emmy for directing Modern Family and he's
Speaker 1: a very talented guy.
Speaker 2: Wait wait, hold up, which for the like the final
Speaker 2: season he won the Emmy.
Speaker 1: I don't have the exact Emmy.
Speaker 2: Well, I want to ask him about some of this stuff,
Speaker 2: like how many shows have you directed? Now? Is it
Speaker 2: like you know, have you lost? Can you keep count
Speaker 2: of the amount of show.
Speaker 1: Savior spiller questions? Have them, have them pent up inside
Speaker 1: you and just have them ready to explode when he
Speaker 1: comes in the room.
Speaker 2: Okay, well I got it. I only got a couple.
Speaker 2: I'm great. How are you man, I'm good, I'm good.
Speaker 2: Did you work out?
Speaker 1: Are we gonna have a post peloton Donald?
Speaker 2: Today?
Speaker 3: I didn't want to.
Speaker 2: Talk about it because I did work out today and
Speaker 2: I finished the workout. But I'm now disappointed with it
Speaker 2: with said instructor that we talked about.
Speaker 1: Why, well, he was different today he talked too.
Speaker 2: Much, started singing on and then also singing off beat. Right,
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't do peloton to be talked to
Speaker 2: off beat. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Was it still the you know what I love about
Speaker 1: you know?
Speaker 2: I still well?
Speaker 1: The thing I liked about spinning was when you could
Speaker 1: get in the groove, unlock, nang.
Speaker 2: Right, and so it's important that your your your spin
Speaker 2: instructor is like a DJ, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: So right, he or she should be riding with the beat,
Speaker 2: so the music's going and and and then you need
Speaker 2: to be going with the music. Also, does he say
Speaker 2: stuff young?
Speaker 1: I like it when they go like they just make
Speaker 1: noises like.
Speaker 2: Hey, ho when they diddy that shit.
Speaker 3: I love that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's like Diddy. Diddy used to be like hey,
Speaker 4: and you.
Speaker 1: Know, it's so embarrassing. I find myself it's so fucking embarrassing.
Speaker 1: But I find myself on the treadmill not even spinning,
Speaker 1: and I'm listening to a good song and I'm.
Speaker 4: Like, hey, okay, and I'm doing the fucking Diddy spin
Speaker 4: instructor thing.
Speaker 2: Ah ha ah, take that.
Speaker 1: Take that Ahead Ahead. Before I knew Diddy was like
Speaker 1: a big producer and I was watching those, I'd be like,
Speaker 1: so this dude just makes a living on Ahead yeahha Ahead.
Speaker 2: I couldn't take it. It was like just too much talking,
Speaker 2: not enough motivation, Like when you talk, you're supposed to motivate,
Speaker 2: you're not supposed to talk about how dope the song
Speaker 2: is and stuff like I don't want to hear all
Speaker 2: of that. I already know this song is good, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean. I chose the class because I
Speaker 2: saw the playlist, right, and you like the music playlist. Right,
Speaker 2: the playlist looks dope.
Speaker 1: I can this isn't an amazing And I know this
Speaker 1: is the stupidest thing. Everybody knows this, but I was
Speaker 1: realizing it today. If the fucking music is good and
Speaker 1: you love it, you can do so much.
Speaker 2: More of a workout.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, because I've got I've gone to so many spin
Speaker 1: classes because I do like spinning, and the music is
Speaker 1: just so not my thing. I mean, it's other people's thing.
Speaker 1: I'm not, you know, to eat their own. But I'm like,
Speaker 1: And then today I had made this like awesome mix
Speaker 1: that I was fucking grooving out to, and I was like,
Speaker 1: I could really work out a long time to this
Speaker 1: amazing mix. I mean, but I don't know where you
Speaker 1: work out. You like to work out to rap?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 2: I do like to work Wait what do you work
Speaker 2: out to? You don't work out to like?
Speaker 3: Wait?
Speaker 2: Wait, hold on, I didn't realize there was other music
Speaker 2: you could work out to.
Speaker 1: Yes, style, Yes, it's in this country. You don't have
Speaker 1: to just work out.
Speaker 2: I can understand house music, but no, what do you wait?
Speaker 2: Hold up?
Speaker 1: What do you work I like to work out to
Speaker 1: pop like, but like up tempo pop like what do
Speaker 1: you kids like? I'm opening up the fucking playlist right
Speaker 1: now because there were some fire songs on Here.
Speaker 2: We Go, Here we Go recommendations from Zach Braff.
Speaker 1: Avichi has this song. It's like his most popular song.
Speaker 1: It's wake Me Up, and it's just like up tempo,
Speaker 1: and it makes me think of this time, because when
Speaker 1: you're in this time and you're working out, you're like,
Speaker 1: wake me up from this fucking horrible nightmare.
Speaker 2: So I like that.
Speaker 1: I had, you know, I had Michelle branch On here,
Speaker 1: because you know, I love Michelle brand I had Oh Asia,
Speaker 1: I love Cea ed Sheer Sia Unstoppable, Unstoppable today, and
Speaker 1: I had ed Sheering with Chance the rapper You crossed me,
Speaker 1: you grabbed me Joel's jam and she knows that song.
Speaker 1: Oh and also Fleetwood Mac. This is an old school one.
Speaker 1: I don't want to know at bath and then.
Speaker 2: So I worked out too. Ten crack Commandments b I G.
Speaker 1: Okay, we're on a very different plane right now.
Speaker 2: You don't know that song. I know who the Notorious
Speaker 2: b I G is that songs give us a sample.
Speaker 2: It's the ten Commandments of Selling Drugs.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm the I don't know. I'm dancing and working
Speaker 1: out to Michelle Branch and you're listening to a song
Speaker 1: about crack.
Speaker 2: You know, we grew up differently. Yes, I guess we
Speaker 2: grew up differently. We did. Hey, should we go again
Speaker 2: to the show.
Speaker 1: Let's invite in our special guys.
Speaker 5: About six seven, eight stories about show we made about
Speaker 5: a bunch of times, and nurses said, he's a story next,
Speaker 5: So YadA here, yead here.
Speaker 1: We want a song. Lots of talk about the song,
Speaker 1: the song. I gotta tell you something about those numbers.
Speaker 1: My whole timeline is people laughing at and saying the
Speaker 1: numbers and just writing them non stop in my timeline.
Speaker 1: That's becoming, unfortunately to me. But of course Bill will
Speaker 1: love it. He's become a huge hit with his whole
Speaker 1: bit about.
Speaker 2: Saying five eight. Yeah, he's like the PC. Well he's
Speaker 2: not PC, but he's like Todd. He's like the Todd
Speaker 2: of our show. He comes in and he delivers every time, dude,
Speaker 2: every time, he's like ups, always delivers, He always delivers.
Speaker 2: All right, let's bring in our guests.
Speaker 1: Let's bring in our very special guest. Turn him on,
Speaker 1: bring him in, ladies and gentlemen. Oh my god, I
Speaker 1: haven't seen him in years.
Speaker 3: Yay, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen. Michael Stiller, listen, Michael, you are the
Speaker 1: very first guest we're having on the show who is
Speaker 1: a member of the crew, not an actor or a writer.
Speaker 1: And I'm just We're so you're here.
Speaker 3: It's really awesome, thrilled to be here.
Speaker 2: You're I would say you're our first director. But Zach
Speaker 2: has directed an episode and Bill has directed an episode.
Speaker 1: Right, but not not before Michael Spiller. Michael's are our
Speaker 1: first director of from season one.
Speaker 2: He is also directed season No, he wrote it, that's right.
Speaker 1: No, I want to say that, Michael. I would say
Speaker 1: I think maybe directed the most. Spiller Do you know
Speaker 1: that trivia? Is that true?
Speaker 3: It is true? Of how many episodes? Twenty twenty episodes?
Speaker 2: Twenty episodes?
Speaker 3: You know? As I go and I work on other
Speaker 3: shows and stuff, I always meet Scrubs fans, and without fail,
Speaker 3: I say I've directed more episodes than any are human,
Speaker 3: leaving the possibility that another someone from another species has
Speaker 3: directed more than me.
Speaker 1: Right, but I can confirm it. I can confirm they
Speaker 1: have it. I would also confirm Michael that you are
Speaker 1: one of our favorites. If you look at IMDb, you'll
Speaker 1: see there's lots of directors of scool. Some came in
Speaker 1: for one episode and then never came back for either
Speaker 1: Bill's reasons or their reasons, mostly Bills probably, And then
Speaker 1: there's people like you that everybody loved so much, and
Speaker 1: you did twenty Yeah, I I guess go back to
Speaker 1: how it all began for you, at least with the
Speaker 1: Scrubs connection. How you got this. I know that back
Speaker 1: in the day you were Michael was a cinematographer. He
Speaker 1: was shooting the show Sex and the City. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you've ever heard of that show, but Michah
Speaker 1: was the cinematographer on the show and then began to
Speaker 1: direct that show. And then Michael just talked a little
Speaker 1: bit about how you got it, how you transitioned from
Speaker 1: shooting into directing TV.
Speaker 3: Well, I mean I went to film school. I went
Speaker 3: to Sunny Purchase Upstate, New York, New York, New York,
Speaker 3: New York, that's right. And I started making my own
Speaker 3: films when I was a kid in Brooklyn. Saved up
Speaker 3: my paper route and bought a Super eight camera and
Speaker 3: went to film school, and I wanted to be a cinematographer.
Speaker 3: I didn't want to be a director because actors were crazy,
Speaker 3: let's face it, and you know it's mainly I shot
Speaker 3: a lot of indie movies and music videos and documentaries
Speaker 3: and travel all over the place. And then I got
Speaker 3: married and wanted to start a family, and TV sounded like, well,
Speaker 3: maybe that would provide a little more stable lifestyle. And
Speaker 3: I was shooting out Sex and the City and at
Speaker 3: the end of the first season, my agent said, if
Speaker 3: the show gets picked up, I'm gonna ask for an
Speaker 3: episode for you to direct season two. And I'm like, nope,
Speaker 3: I'm good. I'm good, I'm happy where I am. I
Speaker 3: don't need it. He said, no, you're going to do it,
Speaker 3: and I did, and then I did went really well.
Speaker 3: I also dpeed that episode. Wow, I don't think I
Speaker 3: don't recommend doing that for your first episode of TV.
Speaker 2: That seems like a lot of work.
Speaker 3: It's a huge amount of work. And then the third
Speaker 3: season I did two more. In the fourth season, I
Speaker 3: did four episodes, and by that time we had moved
Speaker 3: to La bought a house, moved back for the four
Speaker 3: season uh, and then moved to La finally right after
Speaker 3: nine to eleven, but not because of it. Uh And
Speaker 3: I had already signed with my current agent, who after
Speaker 3: three episodes you see what I did, said I want
Speaker 3: to wrap the sky and he was at the same
Speaker 3: agency where Bill Lawrence was represented.
Speaker 1: Oh see, it is all about connections in Hollywood, everybody.
Speaker 3: It's true, no ret give up.
Speaker 1: So Scrubs was your was Scrubs your first non Sex
Speaker 1: in the City gig?
Speaker 3: It was meant to be, so, you know, my agent
Speaker 3: sight unseen, you know, convinced Bill. He did a great
Speaker 3: job presenting me to Bill, and it was meant to
Speaker 3: be my first episode after Sex and the City. I
Speaker 3: wound up doing an episode of Greg the Bunny. Oh
Speaker 3: remember that show?
Speaker 2: God was that? Who was? Who was? Who was the
Speaker 2: star of that show?
Speaker 3: Sarah Silberman Levy seth Green, There we go. It was.
Speaker 3: It was a great cast, but it was like, you know,
Speaker 3: huge puppet sets and all this other stuff, Like it's like,
Speaker 3: why these like I've never done a puppet show. You know,
Speaker 3: you had to build sets that were all like four
Speaker 3: feet off the ground so people could stick their hands
Speaker 3: up through manipulate anyway. Steve Levittan was the executive producer
Speaker 3: on that. So I met Steve on my first episode.
Speaker 3: I later did Modern Family and a bunch of other
Speaker 3: shows with and then Bill Lawrence on my second show.
Speaker 3: So very very good agent. Thing.
Speaker 1: By the way, if you're gonna meet two showrunners when
Speaker 1: you get to Hollywood, it's pretty down good that it's
Speaker 1: Steve Levinton and Bill Lawrence. Yeah right, your agent's pretty good.
Speaker 3: He's Sean Freeden.
Speaker 2: Hey how many? Wow? Shout out? How many? How many?
Speaker 2: How manyisodes of Modern Family did you direct? Did you
Speaker 2: direct the most Modern Family episodes? Also?
Speaker 3: No, I didn't, but I did twenty two episodes.
Speaker 1: Twenty two episodes and won the Emmy, won the Emmy.
Speaker 1: I wish we could have given you an Emmy. Spiller,
Speaker 1: you deserve.
Speaker 2: You tried, We tried.
Speaker 3: I know we all were shot. I know you did.
Speaker 1: Now, Michael, I just want to say, you know again,
Speaker 1: season one, we're meeting all these directors. For those of
Speaker 1: you who don't know, it's usually a different director every
Speaker 1: week because they have to prep. They have about a
Speaker 1: week's prep before they shoot the episode, and so you're
Speaker 1: always alternating and some can't come in, and you know,
Speaker 1: you know, Donald and I would would like some more
Speaker 1: than others. Some were really good with comedy and others
Speaker 1: were good with moving the camera. One of the things
Speaker 1: I think we loved about you, Michael, is that because
Speaker 1: you were a cinematographer first, you really were amazing with
Speaker 1: moving the camera and doing interesting things with the camera.
Speaker 1: But also you did know how to talk to actors
Speaker 1: and make jokes funnier. And I thought you could just
Speaker 1: talk to that about about about how how you approach something,
Speaker 1: how you approach the script, and and and your experience
Speaker 1: with what it's like being you know, having the DP background.
Speaker 2: Also, we should go over the process of what it
Speaker 2: takes to since we have a television director on right now,
Speaker 2: we should go through the process of what it takes too.
Speaker 2: I mean, directing is like the end of the journey,
Speaker 2: you know. I mean that's not even close to the
Speaker 2: end that well, it's the middle of the journey. Really.
Speaker 2: There's prep, there's you know, all of pre production, and
Speaker 2: then there's post production. We should also talk about that.
Speaker 2: Our listeners might be interested in that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they will. So, Michael, we just gave you a
Speaker 1: lot answer all of that. Go No, talk talk first
Speaker 1: about you know, being having a DP background, and then
Speaker 1: how that affected the way you work.
Speaker 3: Well, I think there's no question that having the background
Speaker 3: as a DP was extremely helpful. I mean, first of all,
Speaker 3: event and when I came on to set, I could
Speaker 3: usually bond with the crew very quickly because I spoke
Speaker 3: their language. I sort of got it. You know. I
Speaker 3: would stay seen in such a way that worked first
Speaker 3: and foremost for the story, yet also kept the logistics
Speaker 3: in mind and the practical aspect of it. And you know,
Speaker 3: and I was flexible enough that you know, I encouraged
Speaker 3: and I love to collaborate. I want the DPS input.
Speaker 3: You know, obviously the cast would give input to the
Speaker 3: showrunners give input as well, but the nuts and bolts
Speaker 3: of it, you know, I understood. I've also been a
Speaker 3: grip and electrician. I've pushed dollie, I've I've pulled focus,
Speaker 3: I've operated camera for other people. So you know, I
Speaker 3: love the crew. I mean, these are my people and
Speaker 3: and I think most people I've worked with can pick
Speaker 3: up on that. So and I have a deep respect
Speaker 3: for them, and that that's half the battle. You know,
Speaker 3: when I was shooting Sex in the City, if we
Speaker 3: had a new director and if you know Sarah Jessica
Speaker 3: Parker wasn't in the first scene, you know that that
Speaker 3: director was shooting. When she would first come on to set,
Speaker 3: she would look at me and like gauging, like cow
Speaker 3: is this person? And if if I gave her like
Speaker 3: the I don't know, look, then that person had to work.
Speaker 3: You know, it's an uphill battle just to get back
Speaker 3: to you know, zero, right. So you know it's enormously
Speaker 3: important because I mean, you guys know it's like you
Speaker 3: love your crew and it's like it's one big family.
Speaker 3: So a director walking on to a TV show has
Speaker 3: to be both a leader, right and and you know
Speaker 3: they're not the ultimate top of the pyramid, but they've
Speaker 3: still got to lead the crew. They've got to get
Speaker 3: the crew behind, they've got to work with all the
Speaker 3: you know, the elements that are already in place, and
Speaker 3: you have to respect that that family that you're walking into.
Speaker 1: That's what's so bizarre about it. That's what's so bizarre
Speaker 1: about it is and I've only done it, I think
Speaker 1: once or twice, Michael. That is, come onto a show
Speaker 1: that is an entity and say hey, everybody, I'm the
Speaker 1: leader for the week, and you know it's one thing
Speaker 1: when you come back and like you came back, you know,
Speaker 1: nineteen more times. But on the first one, it's like, hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I know that you guys are all friends and have
Speaker 1: inside jokes and have a way that you do things.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm the boss for the week. And it's really tricky, right.
Speaker 3: It's sort of like I liken it sometimes too. You're
Speaker 3: gonna be a conductor on a train. You're gonna take
Speaker 3: it from this station to the next station. The track
Speaker 3: has already been laid. You know, everywhere the train already
Speaker 3: was is established there. We have a very good idea
Speaker 3: where the train's going to keep going. And yeah, you
Speaker 3: can slow down around this corner because you like that view,
Speaker 3: or you can speed up at this section, or you know,
Speaker 3: you can lean a little left or a little right,
Speaker 3: but you can only go so far because the train's
Speaker 3: got to stay on those tracks, right. You can't suddenly say,
Speaker 3: you know, we're gonna make a left here at Des
Speaker 3: Moines and go somewhere else.
Speaker 1: That's really that's a really good, great analogy, Michael, because
Speaker 1: I think that you were.
Speaker 2: Just talking about this actually the last episode we.
Speaker 1: Well, I was talking about how it's so tricky, you know,
Speaker 1: again just to Bill spoke a little about this, but
Speaker 1: to remind people who aren't in the business, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, the the pilot director and the showrunner will
Speaker 1: create sort of the look of the show. How does
Speaker 1: the camera move, what's sort of the language of the show.
Speaker 1: In our show, we had fantasies and we had you know,
Speaker 1: big camera move. The camera was sort of a character.
Speaker 1: And then other directors that come on they need to
Speaker 1: use that language. They can, they can, like Michael just
Speaker 1: said in his train analogy, they can slow down, they
Speaker 1: can look at this view, but they can't. You have
Speaker 1: to use the language of the show. If you look
Speaker 1: at the Office, for example, it's shot like a mockumentary
Speaker 1: modern family I believe was as well, yes, whereas Scrubs
Speaker 1: is crane shots and Dolly moves and steady cam shots.
Speaker 1: So you have to use that language. But then somehow
Speaker 1: find a way to make it your own. And I'm
Speaker 1: glad we're gonna watch the episode with you, because I
Speaker 1: think there's a lot of cool stuff in here that
Speaker 1: you that you found a way to make your own.
Speaker 2: I like that. I do like the train analogy, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean, It's the same route every time.
Speaker 2: It's the same track every time time. How can you
Speaker 2: can bend it and move it, you know, to make
Speaker 2: it your own? So like if a different conductor, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean, I don't know. I love that analogy.
Speaker 1: That's really and in season one I would say, you know,
Speaker 1: even on episode whatever, this is one thirteen, you're still
Speaker 1: you're still finding that, you're still shaping it.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: I noticed, Michael, you did some things in here, like
Speaker 1: going into blacks and coming back that I don't think
Speaker 1: we'd done too much of yet. That became part of
Speaker 1: the lexicon. So as an early director in the show,
Speaker 1: I just directed episode two of one of Bill's news shows,
Speaker 1: I still felt like, Okay, it's early on, I can
Speaker 1: I'm still contributing to what the look of the show is,
Speaker 1: you know, right.
Speaker 3: For sure, when you're when you're lucky enough to direct
Speaker 3: early in the show's run, there's still a lot of
Speaker 3: discovery going on. Yeah, the actors are really fine that
Speaker 3: they're characters, so they're still open to, you know, someone
Speaker 3: else's input.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: The writers are discovering what the actors are good at,
Speaker 3: and they're tailoring the writing to you know, help those
Speaker 3: words fit better in their mouths and you find the
Speaker 3: comedy if you're doing a comedy. And similarly, for a director,
Speaker 3: it's like, yes, you've you've been given the overall template,
Speaker 3: the framework, but it's a jumping off point. It's not
Speaker 3: like this is meant to just box you in. You're
Speaker 3: allowed to push things a little bit further. John Wells,
Speaker 3: i think, is credited as saying to Paris Barkley, I
Speaker 3: want you to make an episode of Er only better. Yes,
Speaker 3: it's like it still has to feel like an episode
Speaker 3: of the show that you're already watching, you know, and
Speaker 3: you've grown accustomed to. But push a little bit, get
Speaker 3: your thumbprints on it, and in consultation, you know. That's
Speaker 3: the thing. It's like, I could have what I think
Speaker 3: is a great idea, but I'd neither If that's the case,
Speaker 3: I have to run it past the showrunner, right and
Speaker 3: make sure that I'm presenting it.
Speaker 1: If you have something, let's say you're in prep and
Speaker 1: you have like a five day prep beforehand, and you go, oh,
Speaker 1: I have an awesome idea. If it's a little outside
Speaker 1: the box, you would you would run it by the
Speaker 1: showrunner and say, hey, what do you think if I
Speaker 1: do this, and I imagine Bill usually said yeah, go
Speaker 1: for it. Right.
Speaker 3: Bill was so amazing that, I mean, it was such
Speaker 3: a great guy to work with so early in my career,
Speaker 3: you know, as a freelance director, because I mean he
Speaker 3: I think this episode has a good example the end
Speaker 3: where we we have a music montage. You know, it's
Speaker 3: like and they kept the song.
Speaker 2: On Hulu, so yeah, that was pretty cool, right.
Speaker 3: They didn't they didn't swap it out. And you know,
Speaker 3: I can't remember how many there were leading up to this,
Speaker 3: but this felt like it was one of the sort
Speaker 3: of bigger ones, like we're com getting to this song.
Speaker 3: It was in the script early, you know, It's like
Speaker 3: it wasn't just like there'll be a rock song here
Speaker 3: and you know, do some cool shots. And it may
Speaker 3: not have been on this episode, but early in the
Speaker 3: run with you guys, Bill said to me, because I
Speaker 3: was like enthusiast pitching this you know montage I want
Speaker 3: to do in all these transitions, and he's like, dude,
Speaker 3: if I will cut story if you give me a
Speaker 3: beautiful piece of cinema, Oh great, wow, And that's just insane.
Speaker 3: I mean writers never say that, you know, And so
Speaker 3: I really felt empowered and encouraged by Bill. And he also,
Speaker 3: you know, there's no bullshit with him. If he doesn't
Speaker 3: like it, he just tells you.
Speaker 1: Well, there's plenty of times he would come to rehearsal.
Speaker 1: I'm sure this never happened on one of your episodes, Michael,
Speaker 1: but there's plenty of times.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: The way the way it would work is the director
Speaker 1: would sort of block out where everyone's gonna go, where
Speaker 1: the camera's gonna go, And there were definitely times and
Speaker 1: then Bill would come to the rehears arrive at the
Speaker 1: rehearsal and be like, yeah, that that makes it not
Speaker 1: funny at all.
Speaker 2: We're not doing it.
Speaker 1: And then you know, you watch some directors be like
Speaker 1: it was you know, he was even for Bill, he
Speaker 1: was tactful about it sometimes, but you know it was
Speaker 1: like he's like, no, I'm not not doing that. If
Speaker 1: you put him over there and her over there, it
Speaker 1: does it's not funny anymore. So we got to do this,
Speaker 1: and you know, you have to be a little bit
Speaker 1: humbled about it as a director because you're like.
Speaker 6: Oh, you know, I didn't now I see, you know,
Speaker 6: I think that most of the time when when writers
Speaker 6: have clear ideas about that, they're generally right, you know,
Speaker 6: if they're if they're if they're people you know of
Speaker 6: the Steve.
Speaker 3: Lovett and Bill Lawrence, Mindy Kaling caliber, like they get it,
Speaker 3: and you know, you listen to them, you don't fight them,
Speaker 3: and and they're generally right. Now. I did see that happen,
Speaker 3: you know, with other directors when I'd be there prepping.
Speaker 3: Didn't happen very often with me.
Speaker 1: With Michael Spiller, No, sir, not now with sorry Emmy
Speaker 1: Award winning Michael spill.
Speaker 3: I mean, but what I do remember happening a lot
Speaker 3: is like we'd be waiting for Bill to come up
Speaker 3: from the writer's room, and you know, must have been
Speaker 3: in the middle of a very fancy paragraph or something,
Speaker 3: and you know, dial we had to wait, but you know,
Speaker 3: the clock is ticking, we're losing a light. So generally
Speaker 3: frame to arrive. But sometimes I would rehearse without him. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and inevitably, inevitably, as soon as we finished the rehearsal,
Speaker 3: Bill come walking through the doors and I'd have to
Speaker 3: scramble like okay so for this shot, like fake, like
Speaker 3: we're starting the rehearsal from the time right now, just
Speaker 3: finished it right? Well?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1: Another thing that people might not know is that the
Speaker 1: onus to deliver the show in five days is all
Speaker 1: on the director's hands. I mean obviously working with his assistant,
Speaker 1: his or her assistant directors. So you are you not
Speaker 1: only come on to this set where you where you
Speaker 1: don't work every day, to lead a crew of people
Speaker 1: that are all friends. But it's your job to be like, guys,
Speaker 1: we gotta go, we gotta go, we gotta we gotta
Speaker 1: get out of here. So that's that's another thing is
Speaker 1: that you have to well you you've you've signed on
Speaker 1: to deliver this episode of television in five twelve hour days.
Speaker 2: You have a ton of support, though you have you know,
Speaker 2: if you have a good first your your golden We
Speaker 2: have some pretty cool first ads our show, Franklin Got
Speaker 2: Better and Scott Harris and.
Speaker 1: Richard Wells who was an incredible first ad.
Speaker 2: Paul Padrera. We had a few of them, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean? And you worked with all four of them, right.
Speaker 3: Yes, I worked with them all?
Speaker 2: Yeah, which was your favorite?
Speaker 1: No, you don't have to answer that. You don't have
Speaker 1: to answer that spiller. Should we get into the episode,
Speaker 1: because I think it would be fun to just really
Speaker 1: think so. So, Michael, the way we do this is
Speaker 1: but there's really no order. We just started to talk
Speaker 1: about the episodes. Uh, well you've heard it. You listened
Speaker 1: to your your favorite podcast exactly. The first thing I noticed.
Speaker 1: First of all, we have to say that Elizabeth Bogish
Speaker 1: is not only beautiful, obviously, but she's really funny. She's
Speaker 1: a very good actress.
Speaker 2: I thought she did a fantastic just very moments in
Speaker 2: this episode. And it's also it's also, uh, this is big.
Speaker 2: She's the first, she's the first love interest for JD
Speaker 2: and so, you know, just really set the tone for
Speaker 2: all of the other actresses that would come on to
Speaker 2: play your love interest on the show. And she did
Speaker 2: such a she did such a phenomenal job, and you know,
Speaker 2: you're right, she is very funny, and it made it
Speaker 2: so that whoever else came on had to be like,
Speaker 2: all right, well let me let me let me see what,
Speaker 2: let me let me let me step up.
Speaker 1: And yeah, they couldn't just be they couldn't just be
Speaker 1: a pretty face. They had to really be good actresses
Speaker 1: and be funny. And and I think that you know,
Speaker 1: Liz was all those things. She she had really good timing.
Speaker 1: She I thought she was good in her dramatic moments.
Speaker 1: And yeah, and of course Spiller, when you do that
Speaker 1: beauty shot of her at the end arriving with the
Speaker 1: picnic basket, it's so romantic and pretty.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Did you have anything the city training in?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I was thinking about that.
Speaker 1: All your sex and the city lighting women things all
Speaker 1: came together in this episode.
Speaker 2: Did you have anything to do with casting on that?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 2: I know that some directors sit down and help out
Speaker 2: with casting on television shows or bring in their own.
Speaker 3: Typically, typically we are you know, we're contractually we're meant
Speaker 3: to be involved than all the casting decisions. I mean,
Speaker 3: every creative decision on the episode that we're directing, we're
Speaker 3: supposed to be involved in. Sometimes an actu will span
Speaker 3: several episodes. It's sort of a bigger decision, and or
Speaker 3: maybe an actor's availabilities being challenged and you need to
Speaker 3: book them before the director has technically begun their prep.
Speaker 3: I can't recall what the situation was with Liz. I mean,
Speaker 3: she was fantastic. I hard to imagine anyone who I
Speaker 3: would have rather seen in the role right, But she
Speaker 3: did have a technically a three episode span, although I
Speaker 3: directed two of her episodes.
Speaker 1: Yeah to the second two, right, not the first one
Speaker 1: where she's in the Mr Action right, right, all right?
Speaker 2: But have you have you gone on to do other
Speaker 2: shows and be like, you know what, I got the
Speaker 2: perfect person and gone back to use actors that you've
Speaker 2: had from Oh sure, I say from Scrubs or from
Speaker 2: or from Sex and the City or whatever.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, whenever I can, I try to recommend
Speaker 3: people who I know are cool and they're going to deliver.
Speaker 3: And because we've all worked with people who are super
Speaker 3: funny on screen and really difficult to work with, and
Speaker 3: you know some some even you know, with like a
Speaker 3: toxic personality that could kind of poison a set. So
Speaker 3: it only takes one person to poison a workplace.
Speaker 1: That's a lesson to all you young aspiring actors out
Speaker 1: there that everybody talks. Everybody, everybody talks. So you might
Speaker 1: have been a jerk one day and Michael Spiller was
Speaker 1: the director on Sex and the City and you think
Speaker 1: you went home and went all right, well, I had
Speaker 1: a bad day, And then later and then later Michael's
Speaker 1: directing another show, where your name is suggested and he
Speaker 1: goes no, no, so you.
Speaker 2: Have to be My wife always says this sounds way
Speaker 2: too small to be an asshole exactly.
Speaker 3: That that's the perfect And I mean the fact is,
Speaker 3: you know, my wife used to be a costume supervisor,
Speaker 3: a wardrobe supervisor and off. And it's the people behind
Speaker 3: the scenes that get the brunt of an actor's wrath,
Speaker 3: you know, or bad behavior. And it's like, if you're
Speaker 3: making you know, your hair and makeup people, or the
Speaker 3: people who are adjusting her clothing, if you're making those
Speaker 3: people cry, you're not a good person, or you need
Speaker 3: some therapy, or you gotta work some shit out. But
Speaker 3: she told me there are a couple of people that
Speaker 3: made her cry, you know, back in the day. And
Speaker 3: I have had the pleasure of passing on.
Speaker 1: Some of ah sweet revenge. And you ran home and
Speaker 1: told your wife, didn't you like yese what I passed
Speaker 1: on the.
Speaker 2: I don't believe who they trying to push on me today,
Speaker 2: but I said no.
Speaker 1: And his name was Donald Faizon. So Michael, my first
Speaker 1: my first note for you is at twenty four seconds,
Speaker 1: why is my character have a giant entire piece that
Speaker 1: it's a whole chicken on my date plate. I would
Speaker 1: never order such a large meal. I had to stop
Speaker 1: and pause. I'm on this date with this beautiful woman.
Speaker 1: I'm just staying at her, and I have a full
Speaker 1: roasted chicken on my plate.
Speaker 3: You know, all I recall about that is that it
Speaker 3: was part of because it was this The sequence is
Speaker 3: that you can't take your eyes off her. We're so
Speaker 3: fixated on her that you almost forgot to eat. So
Speaker 3: I didn't eat. Having a having a vertical, you know,
Speaker 3: a large meal that would read in this shot because
Speaker 3: there's a lot look at icy.
Speaker 2: So you really wanted to be looking at you.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so you icy, So you rationalization or or
Speaker 1: real genuine roga. You wanted it to quickly read that
Speaker 1: I hadn't touched my plate. Yes, it looks like Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: dinner has been served and no one has calved.
Speaker 3: You know, we were on location for that, and you
Speaker 3: know we didn't do that very often on Scrubs, and
Speaker 3: certainly my first episode. I hadn't done it before with
Speaker 3: you guys. Yeah, and you know that may have been
Speaker 3: what the place had to offer, what Hugos had to offer.
Speaker 2: Oh mean, it was Hugos. They go, I was gonna
Speaker 2: ask that is that Hugos?
Speaker 1: And where is it riverside in the valley?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was right next to the hospital, just down
Speaker 2: the street. The photo booth in the middle of the supermarket.
Speaker 2: Is that a pharmacy?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: What was the deal with that, Mike? Who would put
Speaker 1: a photo booth? Who would put a foot of booth
Speaker 1: in the middle of an aisle of the supermarket? Michael,
Speaker 1: you can reach through the photo booth to get items
Speaker 1: off the shlves.
Speaker 3: Wealth Maybe they're handy props, you know. This is this
Speaker 3: is before the days of like giant hats and oversized
Speaker 3: sunglasses and big foam pointy thing.
Speaker 1: Was this a set or do you remember?
Speaker 3: I think it was a set and it.
Speaker 2: Was just like, yeah, I remember photo booths being like
Speaker 2: in like bowling alleys or I missed by the way,
Speaker 2: I miss photo booths. Let's keep love photo right now.
Speaker 2: That was like the set off for that is the
Speaker 2: because I guess because of the movies too. It's such
Speaker 2: a romantic setting, I know.
Speaker 1: Especially when they're black and white. Not this not this
Speaker 1: modern bullshit.
Speaker 2: The little black and white neon light that freaking yeah,
Speaker 2: it surrounds the camera and shoots in your face. I
Speaker 2: totally miss photo booths. I got some good photo booth
Speaker 2: pictures of me and my wife when we first started dating.
Speaker 1: And you know, it's so romantic when you look at
Speaker 1: them and you feel like you're old school.
Speaker 3: And I love a little fourth strip photo.
Speaker 2: I mean, yes, for those of you out here like
Speaker 2: photo booths at like parties and stuff like that, it
Speaker 2: doesn't it's not the same if it's not in an
Speaker 2: actual booth.
Speaker 1: If you're in Manhattan, Okay, there's a restaurant called the
Speaker 1: Smith on Fourth Street, and like, what is it like
Speaker 1: fourth and tenth ish you just google it. And in
Speaker 1: the basement of the Smith, which is a good restaurant,
Speaker 1: there's an old school black and white photo booth.
Speaker 2: So there you go.
Speaker 1: I just toocked you up. Next time you're we're on
Speaker 1: a trip with your loved one, go take a romantic picture.
Speaker 3: There when we're allowed to travel again.
Speaker 1: When you're allowed to travel again in August and yeah, so, Michael,
Speaker 1: I don't know how they do it on Sex and
Speaker 1: the City, but we certainly don't put photo booths in
Speaker 1: the center of a supermarket aisle here on scrubs. I
Speaker 1: want to say, this is very vain, but I looked
Speaker 1: very skinny in this photo booth and I.
Speaker 2: But what was up with your hair? Dude? Your hair
Speaker 2: was a little different in these episodes. Man, they were
Speaker 2: very spiky, and I.
Speaker 1: Was probably you know what I was probably the truth
Speaker 1: of the spinning of the hair on the time and
Speaker 1: the photobooth that looked like I have more makeup on
Speaker 1: than usual. I can only rationalize that I was probably
Speaker 1: nervous in front of this beautiful actress and I was
Speaker 1: probably like, more makeup your hair?
Speaker 2: Okay? Now, is this your first uh love interest in
Speaker 2: projects that you've been because you hadn't worked that much.
Speaker 2: That's a very tradition I think dated on camera before.
Speaker 1: Very good question. No, I had done an after school
Speaker 1: special called My Summer as a Girl, and basically it
Speaker 1: was an after the special where they just stole the
Speaker 1: whole plot of Tootsie and you know, in order to
Speaker 1: get the job, I had to dress up like a
Speaker 1: woman and then I fell. But I remember it's interesting
Speaker 1: remembering that that I remember that there was supposed to
Speaker 1: be a scene where I kind of got like too
Speaker 1: aggressive with trying to make out with her, and I
Speaker 1: remember the director was disappointed because I was I couldn't
Speaker 1: I was too nervous to do it. I wasn't doing
Speaker 1: it enough, being aggressive enough with her.
Speaker 2: Why why why are all after school specials? Why do
Speaker 2: the guys have to be so aggressive? Well?
Speaker 1: The lesson they always taught a lesson, right, Well, this
Speaker 1: one was I was kind of a guy, and I
Speaker 1: was kind of a playboy, but like I was a
Speaker 1: cocky guy, and uh. And then I in order to
Speaker 1: get in order to go after the girl, I dressed
Speaker 1: up like a girl because she had gotten the last
Speaker 1: last job as a chambermaid on the island, and I
Speaker 1: wanted to do that too, So I dressed up like
Speaker 1: a girl, like a lot totalies the platitutcy, except you know,
Speaker 1: a chambermaid on an island. And then I fall in
Speaker 1: love with the girl. And then i'm too I was
Speaker 1: when I'm a man, I'm too aggressive with her, and
Speaker 1: she's like, get away, You're you're moving too fast. And
Speaker 1: then there's a guy who's in love with me when
Speaker 1: I'm dressed as a woman and he starts doing it
Speaker 1: to me and I'm like kicking in the nuts. And
Speaker 1: the lesson was like, how do you fucking like it
Speaker 1: treat a woman with respect.
Speaker 3: Yeah, shoes on the other foot.
Speaker 1: Now, Yeah, so you can all go google my summer
Speaker 1: as a girl and watch that bit of artistry. But
Speaker 1: that's a good point you brought up, Donald. I don't
Speaker 1: think that I had really had a pretty love interest
Speaker 1: other than Sara Chalk. But we hadn't really you know,
Speaker 1: delved into that yet, not on the We're about to
Speaker 1: We're in a few episodes we're about I think after
Speaker 1: Liz is the first time that it comes up. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: I bet I was very nervous around her. I do
Speaker 1: seem to me to look like I have a little
Speaker 1: bit too much makeup on in this photo booth, Like
Speaker 1: I was like, I was trying to look like you know,
Speaker 1: it was important for you too. I wanted to look
Speaker 1: I wanted to look the best I could for Liz.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, I mean it is so funny. It's like
Speaker 3: it's it's been scanning a lot of attention these days
Speaker 3: because people are, you know, in this business are evolving somewhat.
Speaker 3: But you know, when you have two actors or more
Speaker 3: depending on the show, uh, you know, who have to
Speaker 3: have a love scene or be intimate physically intimate with
Speaker 3: each other. I mean it's awkward, it's weird, and it
Speaker 3: can it can be really uncomfortable for for people. So
Speaker 3: I mean I totally get it, even as sort of
Speaker 3: PG as.
Speaker 1: This was right, well, this was pretty you know, when
Speaker 1: we get into some of the Sarah stuff, I can't
Speaker 1: even believe that we were doing what we were doing
Speaker 1: for network TV, and I remember it being like awkward,
Speaker 1: like this is so bizarre. I remember feeling like are
Speaker 1: we on like HBO, Like how are we doing this
Speaker 1: for NBC? You know, it's pretty That was that was
Speaker 1: pretty risque stuff. This stuff with Liz was was was
Speaker 1: pretty tame. But you you know, you're still lying in
Speaker 1: bed with a with a beautiful stranger and to.
Speaker 2: Say at the end of the episode, I'm on top
Speaker 2: of uh Judy and it's we're simulating r This was
Speaker 2: a sexy episode.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of talk of orgasms and and and
Speaker 1: Sarah masturbating on a washing machine.
Speaker 3: It works?
Speaker 2: Does that work? Is a washing machine that powerful? Because
Speaker 2: I can't. I don't. I don't. I don't. Apparently I don't.
Speaker 2: I definitely don't produce like the washing machine can produce. Obviously,
Speaker 2: Listen first undred. First, just be honest with everyone, of
Speaker 2: the washing machine? Is that good? Aware at the end
Speaker 2: of it, you fall off the motherfucking washing machine. I
Speaker 2: can't compete with a washing machine. What am I useful for?
Speaker 3: Honey?
Speaker 2: I've been helping you raise these kids? What am I useful?
Speaker 8: Hey?
Speaker 1: Donald?
Speaker 2: The washing machine and the crazy shit? Is My wife's
Speaker 2: always like I'm gonna go put another load in?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yes she is.
Speaker 1: She's definitely gon hey Donald, that washing machine cannot provide
Speaker 1: for those children.
Speaker 2: Only you can. Only I can. That's well, I don't
Speaker 2: know whether or not.
Speaker 1: You know, we three men have no idea obviously if
Speaker 1: a washing machine can can do that to a woman.
Speaker 1: But I gotta say, Sarah, it worked for Elliott.
Speaker 2: It really works Elliott, it definitely well. And it worked
Speaker 2: for Carla too, because she's the one that suggested it.
Speaker 1: Yes, she said, when are you doing laundry next? Now,
Speaker 1: we had a lot of female writers on this show.
Speaker 1: I can only imagine that they had a conversation in
Speaker 1: the writer's room like, do y'all have them run a
Speaker 1: washing machine?
Speaker 3: Well, let's move on, or you can ask could be
Speaker 3: an ask bill moment.
Speaker 2: No no, no, no, no no.
Speaker 8: I don't want.
Speaker 1: Hey, listen, I don't have anything. Do you guys have anything?
Speaker 1: Before Sarah shitting a brick? Because I laughed out loud
Speaker 1: at that.
Speaker 2: I laughed out loud at that.
Speaker 1: That was funny, especially Sarah. First of all, when you
Speaker 1: think you'd ever get to see Sarah chalk, you know,
Speaker 1: poohing face, and there we saw it.
Speaker 2: But that's that's that's the one thing. Usually somebody makes
Speaker 2: a pooing face on television, they get real big with it.
Speaker 2: It was pretty it was pretty subtle. You didn't know that.
Speaker 1: You know, this eye closed thing.
Speaker 2: She did an eye closed thing.
Speaker 3: You're right, she closed one eye and they had to
Speaker 3: be just enough, just enough push.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a brick, you that brick?
Speaker 1: So what's funny. What's funny about it? It's builder is
Speaker 1: that she she just does a little bit of a push,
Speaker 1: but then a giant brick fall. I just realized that
Speaker 1: in one episode, in one episode of brilliant television, in
Speaker 1: twenty two minutes, we have Sarah's pooh face and her
Speaker 1: orgasm face.
Speaker 3: That's right. We opened the whole gamut.
Speaker 1: We opened the show with her poof face and closed
Speaker 1: the show the orgasm face.
Speaker 3: What what art we made what from an O poop?
Speaker 2: Okay, so I think the yeah was improved. When Carla
Speaker 2: pushes me down, I remember that, Yeah, I think that
Speaker 2: was improved. I don't remember if that was in the
Speaker 2: script or not.
Speaker 1: It wasn't because who the hell would ever guess that your.
Speaker 2: T shirt would say yeah on it? Right, that my
Speaker 2: T shirt would say yeah on it?
Speaker 1: It didn't say in the script. Turk wearing a yeah
Speaker 1: T shirt.
Speaker 3: Points to said prieze Yeah, but that was funny.
Speaker 1: Donald. I wanted to point out a little trivia that
Speaker 1: I saw on the Scrubs Wiki at three h five,
Speaker 1: right before uh You're yeah, saying that doctor Cox knows
Speaker 1: Doug's name, and the Scrubs Wiki was pointing out it
Speaker 1: might be the only time he ever says Doug's name,
Speaker 1: because he goes Doug and uh.
Speaker 2: Well he uses it. He also uses it as like
Speaker 2: he's gonna pick on Doug.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I'm saying Cox never you know. His whole
Speaker 1: thing was he doesn't know people's names. He calls them
Speaker 1: all these nicknames, but he randomly knew Doug's name.
Speaker 2: But you too, a Jamin in this episode also you
Speaker 2: to a like a camaraderie in or Yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: you're his go to now this is the fund he
Speaker 2: established it in the last episode. But yet now you
Speaker 2: two are it doesn't seem like you're a fresh nubi
Speaker 2: even though he calls you nuby and everything like that.
Speaker 2: We're starting to see your your relationship as colleagues form.
Speaker 1: That's true, and I think I wrote down this is
Speaker 1: the first episode to me it seems like he genuinely
Speaker 1: likes JD. Like he's usually good at hiding it, but
Speaker 1: in this episode, I felt like Cox was really bonding
Speaker 1: with JD and liked him even though he was, you know,
Speaker 1: still trying and hide it, but he couldn't hide it.
Speaker 1: And then in the end he really bonded with him
Speaker 1: and said, you know, don't be me, don't be me,
Speaker 1: go have a life, which I thought was was moving.
Speaker 1: I thought that was, you know, a side of doctor
Speaker 1: Cox we don't only see, yes spiller.
Speaker 3: Since where That's a nice segue into what it's like
Speaker 3: working with Johnny C for the first time as a directory.
Speaker 1: Yeah, was he scared?
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's go.
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, first of all, he's so damn good,
Speaker 3: he's so damn funny, but he is a very, very
Speaker 3: intense gy, particularly when you know he's in character. You know,
Speaker 3: on set because you know he's a prepping director. You
Speaker 3: go and you're you're doing all the work in the
Speaker 3: various meetings and location scouting and stuff that you do
Speaker 3: to prep your own episode, but you also try and
Speaker 3: spend as much time as you can on set so
Speaker 3: that you're getting to know the cast in a more
Speaker 3: informal way. You're starting to connect with the crew, learn
Speaker 3: people's names, all these things that are essential to you
Speaker 3: know when you're headed the baton the next week that
Speaker 3: you'll have a good episode. Right, So you know, you'd
Speaker 3: hang out and observe and try not to be in
Speaker 3: the way, and I'd watch another you know, like Mark
Speaker 3: Bucklin work with Johnny c or something, and Johnny is intense.
Speaker 3: You say cut and he stands there, his jaws like
Speaker 3: clamp shut, his cheek muscles are like fluctuating and like
Speaker 3: he's he's ripped. You know, it's like so aspiring, Right,
Speaker 3: It's like okay, and you have to give that person
Speaker 3: a note. So the very the very first time I
Speaker 3: did it, I said cut, went up to him and
Speaker 3: it's like you got the sense that if you said
Speaker 3: the wrong thing, he might actually hit you because he's
Speaker 3: that he's he appears to be that tightly wound, right.
Speaker 3: So I can't remember what the note was, but you know,
Speaker 3: I said, Johnny, can't try that, you know, I have
Speaker 3: an idea. Blah blah blah blah. He looks at me
Speaker 3: for a second, cheek muscle still, you know, rippling away,
Speaker 3: and he says, fuck, yeah, let's do it, and we
Speaker 3: just we went.
Speaker 2: It's like, okay, I made it.
Speaker 1: That was your test. In one day, in one or
Speaker 1: two sentences, he decided if he liked you or not
Speaker 1: forever exactly thankfully. Well, I think Johnny Johnny, Johnny Johnny
Speaker 1: has so much had so much experience, you know, and
Speaker 1: and I've worked with so many directors at that point,
Speaker 1: and I think he he you know, if you gave
Speaker 1: him a good note, he was he was down to
Speaker 1: do it. And and then you know, like all of us,
Speaker 1: we sometimes got notes from directors and we were like,
Speaker 1: I'm not doing that, and you know, so I think
Speaker 1: that he in that moment, he decided that he liked
Speaker 1: you and respected you.
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, listen, from from an actor's standpoint, I
Speaker 3: completely get it, because it's like okay as a new
Speaker 3: director every week, and some of them are not going
Speaker 3: to be great, or some you're just not going to
Speaker 3: get along with, and some are going to ask you
Speaker 3: things that may not even be their note, maybe a
Speaker 3: writer's note, and you know you can't you can't go
Speaker 3: up to an actors say oh, well the writer asked
Speaker 3: me to say this. You know that's not a good
Speaker 3: thing to do that.
Speaker 1: It's like, well, then you're just the messenger person. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then and then it just shows that you're weak.
Speaker 1: I think you have to be like, you have to
Speaker 1: be like you know what I try to be like,
Speaker 1: is I do you want to do you want to try?
Speaker 1: You know, if it's my thing, then I'm like, let's
Speaker 1: try this. But if I'm coming on to a show
Speaker 1: like this, I would say I was thinking this, do
Speaker 1: you want to maybe try this? Because you know, you
Speaker 1: don't know if the actor is going to say, oh,
Speaker 1: my character would never do that, you know that kind
Speaker 1: of thing. Hey, we need to go to a break
Speaker 1: that thought. Donald, We're gonna break hold that thought. Don't
Speaker 1: don't you forget it? Donald, Because I know that you've
Speaker 1: tried some of God's lettuce and that affects memory.
Speaker 2: Hold on to that tried some of God's a few hours.
Speaker 2: Let's go to break.
Speaker 1: Okay, we're back from break. Donald, did you remember did
Speaker 1: you hold onto the thought?
Speaker 2: I forgot?
Speaker 3: Oh fuck?
Speaker 1: And you kids say we doesn't cause memory laws.
Speaker 3: Wow, it's like a case study.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like a case study. So Donald, we're doing a
Speaker 1: podcast about the show Scrub. I had to remind him
Speaker 1: after each breaks. But Mike Spiller directed you twenty episodes.
Speaker 2: I don't remember. I don't remember. I don't remember. So
Speaker 2: I'm start hanging out with you outside of Scrubs. Spiller,
Speaker 2: this isn't This is for everyone out there that's sitting
Speaker 2: there and they're like, wow, this is you know, a
Speaker 2: director on the show with the two actors, and he
Speaker 2: directed twenty so that makes him special. That's not all
Speaker 2: that makes Spiller special. We've all gone out and hung
Speaker 2: out and eaten together and stuff like that, so you know,
Speaker 2: it's also it's very cool to catch up with you.
Speaker 2: I'll give you pool before I've polpier House.
Speaker 3: Spiller. No, we we moved. You have to come see
Speaker 3: the new crib.
Speaker 1: Yeah, now that's right.
Speaker 2: Now that you've got that, Emmy, Now he's got one
Speaker 2: of those Emmy houses.
Speaker 1: One of those Emmy houses is like three levels. Listen,
Speaker 1: it's shaped houses, shaped like an Emmy.
Speaker 2: If he wasn't responsible, there'd be a water slide from
Speaker 2: his bed to the pool.
Speaker 1: Yeah, when we met him, he had a DP on
Speaker 1: sex in the city house. Now he's got a modern
Speaker 1: family Emmy house.
Speaker 2: Spiller.
Speaker 1: I have a great memory of you two and that
Speaker 1: you came over and helped me install a door knob.
Speaker 2: Do you remember that? Wait? What I mean?
Speaker 3: That totally sounds like me. It's completely on brand.
Speaker 2: Wait, I need to understand this. You have sewer, man,
Speaker 2: Here's what happened. Here's what happened, Spiller. Now you don't
Speaker 2: know how to put a door?
Speaker 1: No, let me explain. It's a very sweet Michael Spiller story.
Speaker 1: I was talking him on set. Now, Spiller, you could
Speaker 1: say that this has never happened, and I dreamed it.
Speaker 1: But I haven't done hallucinogenic since college. So I remember
Speaker 1: that I was talking to Michael. Michael's handy. Aren't you
Speaker 1: a handy around the house guy? Like you can ferry
Speaker 1: your handy love buildings? And I was saying, God, I
Speaker 1: wish I knew how to build stuff like I have
Speaker 1: to put a doorknob on a door, and I gotta
Speaker 1: I have a door without a doorknob, and I got
Speaker 1: to go hire someone to do it. I wish that
Speaker 1: I knew how to buy the right drill bit and
Speaker 1: install this doorknob. And Michael said I could teach you,
Speaker 1: and I said really, and he said, yeah, I'll come
Speaker 1: over and show you how to do it. And I
Speaker 1: said that would be so awesome because I don't know
Speaker 1: anything like that and I'd love to actually learn. And
Speaker 1: Michael came over and helped me install a new doorknob
Speaker 1: on a door.
Speaker 2: Isn't that true? Michael?
Speaker 3: That is true. I don't like to blow my own horn,
Speaker 3: but yes, that is true.
Speaker 2: And you remember this, Michael, Yeah.
Speaker 3: I don't think, but I do remember it.
Speaker 1: He charged me thirty five.
Speaker 2: I got a story too. So we just finished the
Speaker 2: screening of Garden State. Zach invited great film that Zach.
Speaker 2: Zach invited a bunch of people over to the screening room.
Speaker 2: Danny de Vito was there, Uh was there? A bunch
Speaker 2: of people were there. Mike Spiller, myself, we were there also,
Speaker 2: and I remember the movie ends and we're all like, wow,
Speaker 2: the movie was really good. I had notes, though, and
Speaker 2: I wanted to dude, and I wanted to figure out
Speaker 2: a way to tell Zach, all right, I've got a
Speaker 2: couple of notes about the movie. And I remember I
Speaker 2: see Spiller and we're I don't know if we're drinking
Speaker 2: or we're eating. It's after the movie's over, probably, and
Speaker 2: we talked. We're talking and You're like, wow, that was
Speaker 2: pretty good. And I was like, I was right. I
Speaker 2: was like, I've got some notes and you said to me,
Speaker 2: you know, now might not be the best time to deliver,
Speaker 2: said Zach. And I was like, oh, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, No,
Speaker 2: of course I'll figure out a way too, you know,
Speaker 2: to tell him. Flash cut to Danny DeVito doing a
Speaker 2: Q and A after the movie, and he was like,
Speaker 2: does anyone have notes?
Speaker 1: One hand shoots up, one beautiful brown hand.
Speaker 2: And then and then what happened? Then what happened was this?
Speaker 1: So then Donald goes off on his notes and I'm
Speaker 1: looking at him like, dude, not fucking now, like tell
Speaker 1: me these Like Danny Vito was my.
Speaker 2: Danny de Vito was my producer.
Speaker 1: I was like, dude, tell me privately, what the fuck
Speaker 1: are you doing? And then so then Danny's like, you
Speaker 1: wanted to be heard.
Speaker 2: I wanted to be heard. I didn't want to be.
Speaker 1: Heard because I wasn't allowed to be in the movie,
Speaker 1: because because I gave the part to method man.
Speaker 2: Now, listen, Danny DeVito.
Speaker 1: You know at the time the movie had had too
Speaker 1: many endings. It was like it was it was going
Speaker 1: on a few beads too long, and we all knew that,
Speaker 1: but I was in denial about him, and and Danny
Speaker 1: DeVito said, how many of you felt like.
Speaker 2: The had too many endings? Donald's hand shoots up.
Speaker 1: I'm like, fucking Donald, put your fucking hand down. I'm
Speaker 1: supposed to be my man on the inside.
Speaker 2: But you changed it.
Speaker 3: We changed it.
Speaker 2: We did.
Speaker 1: Hey, you know what, this many years later, I'm glad
Speaker 1: that you're never a yes man.
Speaker 2: You always tell it like it is. I just remember
Speaker 2: that being like, yeah, you know, we should, Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2: I'm sure we all have notes, but I would wait
Speaker 2: for my own moment, so you didn't. The lesson of
Speaker 2: this story is that you should have listened to Spiller.
Speaker 3: Yes, it's usually that's the end of most stories.
Speaker 1: Act So I want to say, at four or fifteen,
Speaker 1: I I don't remember the episode, so I thought that
Speaker 1: it was you who couldn't who had lost your erection,
Speaker 1: And it was a very good misdirect by both Spiller
Speaker 1: and Bill, because uh it was it was Judy.
Speaker 2: I don't think I've ever seen a story of a woman. Wait, yeah, right,
Speaker 2: I remember that. But this I knew right away. I
Speaker 2: remember this episode now. I remember this episode because Rob's
Speaker 2: line in this show. So when I saw you in
Speaker 2: the hall today and I asked you, how's your penis? Yeah,
Speaker 2: and you didn't want to talk about it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So Rob's still tracks. It's still tracks. It's all
Speaker 3: part of the mislead because I was I was proud
Speaker 3: of that. I don't remember. I don't think that was
Speaker 3: in the script specifically, is like she's holding a piece
Speaker 3: of bacon in a really odd, upright manner that nobody
Speaker 3: would ever do. But I thought, Okay, this would be
Speaker 3: a fun visual transition, and it does. It does lead
Speaker 3: you to believe. It's more evidence as a viewer that yes,
Speaker 3: Donald is the one who's had the problem in the
Speaker 3: classic situation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you misled. I just wanted to do one little
Speaker 1: director thing that Spiller kind of introduced.
Speaker 2: I believe to the show.
Speaker 1: I don't know that we were doing this too much beforehand,
Speaker 1: but at four twelve, sorry, it's a little bit before that.
Speaker 1: So they have sex, and then the camera pans and
Speaker 1: goes into the back of the TV, and we use
Speaker 1: that as a transition, you know, a transition time passage,
Speaker 1: a little time passage, and then we come back to
Speaker 1: see the bra on Rowdy's head, and then we cut
Speaker 1: to Liz Bogish holding a bacon in sort of an
Speaker 1: erect way.
Speaker 2: Spiller, you naughty, naughty boy.
Speaker 3: Sometimes bacon is just bacon.
Speaker 1: Yeah, sometimes bacon's just bacon. But yeah, so I was
Speaker 1: I wass tricked the whole episode because I genuinely until
Speaker 1: until obviously she says it. It's funny, Judy. Oh wait,
Speaker 1: I want I'm jumping ahead. There's a waste of Oh
Speaker 1: there's a waste of a gift certificate. Oh yeah, there's
Speaker 1: a gift. Cancel the Cobbler. Now that's eleven twenty eight.
Speaker 1: I think Neil improv canceled the Cobbler. Definitely, right, Spiller, I.
Speaker 3: Think so, But I mean, I the only draft of
Speaker 3: the script that I could find, although it has notes
Speaker 3: and diagrams all over It says, it's like a pre
Speaker 3: table draft of the script. I have almost all my
Speaker 3: Scrub scripts I couldn't find anyway. Yeah, that that whole
Speaker 3: bit wasn't in the version I had, But I mean,
Speaker 3: I love the bit with Neil that starts that runner.
Speaker 3: You know where you we reveal him next to you?
Speaker 3: Can you know someone walks away and just happen to
Speaker 3: look at him? Right, He's like, what if I told you,
Speaker 3: you know, look at me when I'm eating? I don't
Speaker 3: like it? Okay, what am I doing eating? And what
Speaker 3: are you doing daring?
Speaker 8: Ye?
Speaker 1: Any Way, I would listen to a whole podcast that
Speaker 1: I would the whole podcast it's called Michael Spilder acts
Speaker 1: out all the parts of Scrub.
Speaker 2: Would I would listen to it.
Speaker 3: It's coming to Spotify. So Michael an endorsement Carrot Top.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, Yeah, we gotta talk about.
Speaker 2: Okay, First of all, I remember the story shut out,
Speaker 2: go ahead, you should tell it that.
Speaker 1: No, I don't want to take it. You got it, No,
Speaker 1: you got I'm just worried you're gonna suck up the
Speaker 1: story because it's.
Speaker 2: Up the story. So what's Carrot Top's real name? Joell
Speaker 2: Can you look up whatever. Scott Thompson, Scott Thompson, Joel
Speaker 2: never mind.
Speaker 1: Scott Thompson came on the show, and I always found
Speaker 1: Scott Thompson very funny. I know that this was sort
Speaker 1: of like making fun of carrot Top, but I always
Speaker 1: thought he was a funny guy. And the only thing
Speaker 1: we had heard about Scott Thompson, uh, just by You know,
Speaker 1: sometimes when you have a guest star, there'd be a
Speaker 1: couple of things like, hey, don't you know sometimes like
Speaker 1: I remember someone was allergic to nuts and they were like,
Speaker 1: don't eat nuts around him.
Speaker 2: What was Scott?
Speaker 1: It was like, hey, guys, don't call him carat top.
Speaker 1: He prefers that you call him Scott, Like, don't don't
Speaker 1: call him carrot top. And so the crew was told that,
Speaker 1: the cast was told out, and we had this old
Speaker 1: prop man at the time who walked right up to
Speaker 1: him was like, hey, how you doing carrot Head? And
Speaker 1: I remember we all all flinching, like, don't call him
Speaker 1: carrot you call him carrot top? Along, carrot head?
Speaker 2: Hey, how you doing cart How you doing carrot Head?
Speaker 7: Now?
Speaker 3: Is this the same guy that allegedly hit Rowdy or not? Yes,
Speaker 3: same guy so another strike.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think his first building, his first strike was
Speaker 1: calling Scott carrot.
Speaker 2: But I know it's funny.
Speaker 1: I thought Scott did a very funny job, and I
Speaker 1: laughed at every single one of his jokes. So fuck
Speaker 1: off if you don't like carrot.
Speaker 2: Top right on. I've worked with I've worked with Scott
Speaker 2: since then. You have. Yeah, we did it, he's still doing.
Speaker 1: He's ripped, right, that's one thing.
Speaker 2: Now, we played basketball together, all types of things in
Speaker 2: the celebrity circuit. Uh, he is ripped. He's and he's
Speaker 2: ripped like he's ripped like diesel, ripped, like rock ripped.
Speaker 1: You know, he's not just like he's not he's not as.
Speaker 2: Tall as the rock, but he's ripped like you know,
Speaker 2: at least back then, at least you know, ten years ago.
Speaker 2: The last time I saw him, he was freaking diesel. Dude.
Speaker 2: You know, as you get older, you try to figure
Speaker 2: out ways to stay young, and.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well I'm trying to stay I'm trying to stay
Speaker 1: in shape. But I don't have muscles like that. But
Speaker 1: I guess I could take it more seriously and eat
Speaker 1: a lot of calories.
Speaker 3: You have muscles like.
Speaker 1: Johnny John did I give you that John C. I
Speaker 1: think I went on so he's holding up.
Speaker 2: Guys.
Speaker 1: There's a there's a Johnny C who played Red and Platoon.
Speaker 1: There's a there's a there's a beautiful uh doll. I
Speaker 1: don't know what you call that. It's like a ken doll.
Speaker 1: It's like an action figure, an action but it's but
Speaker 1: it's ken doll.
Speaker 2: It's a twelve in And when I when I saw them,
Speaker 2: I when I went sixth scale.
Speaker 1: By the way, it's it's it's it's accessory is a cigarette,
Speaker 1: which I always thought was funny. And I, uh yeah,
Speaker 1: when those came out, I bought one for Johnny and
Speaker 1: for I guess I bought one for use builder. God,
Speaker 1: I must have really loved.
Speaker 3: You, he did. Those are the days.
Speaker 2: Uh So, I love you definitely changes everything it does. Yeah, Well,
Speaker 2: and when you say it, apparently in this story, when
Speaker 2: you say I love you, ship gets weird for a
Speaker 2: little bit. Yeah, yes, for Judy with at least with
Speaker 2: the Turken Carla, I.
Speaker 3: Think it's weird for both of you. I don't think
Speaker 3: either of you has ever really said it.
Speaker 2: Before, right, I just don't. I mean, I've said it
Speaker 2: a couple of times in my life. But I don't
Speaker 2: know that it's changed. I mean, you know, I guess
Speaker 2: it just makes the breakup harder. I don't know. I
Speaker 2: just found that. I found that as an interesting story
Speaker 2: for these guys that I love. You made them have
Speaker 2: cold feet in the in the bedroom. Well she did, right,
Speaker 2: and you didn't have cold Well he had cold feet,
Speaker 2: he did too. It was a blow to his ego.
Speaker 2: Also right in his head. He got in his head, right.
Speaker 2: But and even and the fact that Turk is like,
Speaker 2: you know, it's never happened that, you know, I've always
Speaker 2: been able to pleasure a woman to the point of
Speaker 2: orgasm to marry out. I was like, right, I was like, yeah, whatever.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think the stakes are high.
Speaker 3: The stakes are high.
Speaker 2: That's a weird plot line for me. I love you
Speaker 2: and because of that, you can't come Now.
Speaker 1: Well, I don't know if you're supposed to say the cud.
Speaker 1: I mean we can say orgasm comes a little aggressive
Speaker 1: for a family podcast.
Speaker 2: You know, are we a family podcast? I know we're
Speaker 2: explicitn't know we're explicit, but we stay away had we
Speaker 2: had established don't know what type of podcast.
Speaker 1: No, No, we're definitely explicit, but you could have said ejaculate.
Speaker 2: I wasn't PC.
Speaker 1: You don't have to say come. It's so graphic, right,
Speaker 1: Joel crashing up at you right now?
Speaker 3: She could a climax.
Speaker 1: She couldn't, Joel, as our producer, should we be using
Speaker 1: a word? I don't know. I call iHeart on the
Speaker 1: red phone.
Speaker 2: I don't think it'll matter much, guys, whenever you're coaching.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: Donald said it. My heart skipped to Beat No. Eight
Speaker 1: episode I know it's fucking staying. It's say listen, you know,
Speaker 1: listen to that point. I noticed Judy didn't say orgasm
Speaker 1: in the first scene that it comes up, and I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, it must be like a TV thing.
Speaker 1: And we see that we had a tiptoe around the word.
Speaker 1: And then everyone starts saying it. You say it, Sara
Speaker 1: says it. I'm like, oh, it's just a Judy's character.
Speaker 1: Carla is like uncomfortable saying the word in public.
Speaker 2: Which is odd to me because as you saw, I
Speaker 2: just said a different word, and all of you guys got, oh,
Speaker 2: now you're ashamed. Now now you guys kind of shamed me.
Speaker 1: That was no judge, We're not shaming you, there's no judgement.
Speaker 2: It was a little bit of judgment. I'm gonna keep
Speaker 2: going no way, No, there's no judgment. And anybody out
Speaker 2: there listening, I felt your judgment too.
Speaker 3: No, they weren't judging your judgment too.
Speaker 1: I think we were all just a little taken aback
Speaker 1: that you came at us aggressively, no pun intended.
Speaker 3: I'm going to keep us on topic, but maybe get
Speaker 3: us out of this off or are you going.
Speaker 1: To direct us? Piller direct us. I'm just gonna say that,
Speaker 1: you guys, this is what a director does.
Speaker 3: It's a little redirect here at that moment at eleven
Speaker 3: fifty five where Carla catches herself after Elliott's made her
Speaker 3: confession that she's never been able to climbax ever, even
Speaker 3: by herself, that that moment after she says it, Judy's like, oh,
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, I should be more surprised. It's just like that,
Speaker 3: the the pause and her like her realization. It's it's
Speaker 3: a silent beat. It's so funny and so definitely executed.
Speaker 3: And there was something that I have No, you can't
Speaker 3: take no credit for. Of course, that's all the actor.
Speaker 1: Elliott is so self deprecating in this episode. It's so funny.
Speaker 1: Every scene staras in She's like she's just like taking
Speaker 1: digs at herself over and over and over again. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about the legendary Sam Lloyd at fifteen thirty saying
Speaker 1: walk off, bitch. I laughed out loud of it. Oh yes,
Speaker 1: now it's spiller. I noticed he's not sweating. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you recall because it was so long ago,
Speaker 1: but I wondered if there was a conscious decision like, no,
Speaker 1: you found your courage, You're not going to be flopped
Speaker 1: sweating in this seat.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I don't remember actually saying the words, but i'd
Speaker 3: like to think that that is why, you know, with
Speaker 3: his new found you know, since since Kelso's lost his mojo,
Speaker 3: Ted has this newfound confidence that he wasn't sweating.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then then he goes, and then he goes,
Speaker 1: you are a wonderful person with you.
Speaker 3: Don't blurrd know what you did?
Speaker 1: Yeah, so good, it's blurre. Do you want to share
Speaker 1: any Sammy thoughts? I thought, just you know, because you
Speaker 1: worked with him a bunch of times, and and and
Speaker 1: we you know, Donald and I shared some thoughts. But
Speaker 1: I thought you might want to say anything that you
Speaker 1: remember about him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, gosh, it's take him too soon. I mean,
Speaker 3: such a great guy, such an amazing talent. I'm so
Speaker 3: pleased to work with him a bunch and and gotten
Speaker 3: to know him a little bit. And but I often,
Speaker 3: I mean when I heard the news, I kept thinking
Speaker 3: back to one episode that I haven't seen in a while,
Speaker 3: but this moment is all I stuck with me where
Speaker 3: Ted the Lawyer winds up falling off the roof and
Speaker 3: I mean we shot like a pretty elaborate sequence for it,
Speaker 3: and you know, see him falling away and he says, oh,
Speaker 3: sweet relief, you know, like he's finally, you know, gonna
Speaker 3: be at at this torturous life. And you know, years ago,
Speaker 3: I just would think about that moment because it was
Speaker 3: so funny and so on character. And you know, the
Speaker 3: past couple of weeks I've just been thinking about It's like, well,
Speaker 3: I hope that he has found peace and you know
Speaker 3: it's not in pain, and it's just heartbreaking. What an
Speaker 3: amazing guy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he really was. I've been thinking about him a
Speaker 1: lot lately, and I know, I know all the fans
Speaker 1: of the show have, but and and now of course
Speaker 1: when he comes up in an episode, I'm like extra
Speaker 1: leaning forward because I know, I just know what's going
Speaker 1: to be funny. And you know, I have this thing
Speaker 1: when I write my notes down for the episode, I
Speaker 1: write lol just to remind myself to say that. That's
Speaker 1: something that made me laugh out loud and saying he
Speaker 1: has like two lines in this episode. I laughed out
Speaker 1: lout of both of them.
Speaker 3: It's just him just delivered always.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he definitely.
Speaker 1: Johnny c At nineteen twenty seven puts in his own
Speaker 1: five good ones, you know that's what.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I noticed that.
Speaker 1: That's up with that well, you know he was that
Speaker 1: that was his expression. I think he I don't know
Speaker 1: if the writers put it in the script or not.
Speaker 2: Right here for you, Bob. I like that whole storyline too.
Speaker 2: That was very funny of Kelso losing his mojo, and
Speaker 2: the way Ken played it was great, like a wounded
Speaker 2: little like a wounded little puppy. Ken was so funny.
Speaker 1: Right when you ever see Kelso play that like humbled puppy,
Speaker 1: That was so funny.
Speaker 2: And and even and uh and and John and you know,
Speaker 2: and him realizing, wait a second, how did I lose
Speaker 2: my Mojo and john c rolling by, Yeah, the wheelchair
Speaker 2: waving at him.
Speaker 1: Hilarious, dude, that's a that's a shot I've seen like
Speaker 1: in every Scrubs clip reel that's ever shown, or like
Speaker 1: you know, gifts and stuff. You just that's it's one
Speaker 1: of those shots you always see Johnny on the wheelchair
Speaker 1: rolling by, waving like that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I'm owed some residuals or something, some gift.
Speaker 2: Those gift residuals are Yeah, they don't pay, they don't pay.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just wrote I wrote down the same thing.
Speaker 1: Donald ken Ken is so good being humbled. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's not something he ever really saw on Scrubs, but
Speaker 1: he was, like, he played it so well. Just he
Speaker 1: that guy has such an amazing range.
Speaker 2: Yeah. But and then also also his his comeback was
Speaker 2: great and the way Cox tricks him or you know,
Speaker 2: revives him by saying, you know what, guys, from here
Speaker 2: on out, you just ask me the question and I'll
Speaker 2: answer everything for you. And you and you realize, oh
Speaker 2: wait a second, you realize right then, and there Kelso
Speaker 2: is trying to teach. He gets a kick out of
Speaker 2: being the most evil person on the planet, but he
Speaker 2: is the chief of medicine at a teaching hospital, and
Speaker 2: he fulfills his job in every episode, regardless of how
Speaker 2: evil he might be or how angry he might seem.
Speaker 2: You know, I talked about this earlier. He h an
Speaker 2: older and earlier podcast. He's always teaching. He's always he's
Speaker 2: always a part of the solution and not necessarily the problem.
Speaker 2: Even if it's like, well, look, this is how we
Speaker 2: run things. He the lessons always somehow revolve around how
Speaker 2: mean he is. But he's freaking so he's always teaching.
Speaker 2: The kids. He's always teaching or the students or the.
Speaker 1: And always taken away from him. This time he's totally
Speaker 1: like lost his mojo, you know, he.
Speaker 2: Well, not only has he lost his mojo, he's lost
Speaker 2: his purpose in the hospital. Also, what do I do here?
Speaker 2: I can't freaking get ted to do his job. I
Speaker 2: can't get you know, I can't get the med students
Speaker 2: or the interns to do their job.
Speaker 3: What?
Speaker 2: How do you know?
Speaker 3: How?
Speaker 2: What is my purpose here? And it's only until it's
Speaker 2: only until Cox says, you know, you guys ask me
Speaker 2: the question where he's like, wait a second, that's not
Speaker 2: how we run things, And it's all right, if I
Speaker 2: scare the shit out of them, that's a fine way
Speaker 2: to teach people fear. We're in a hospital. If this
Speaker 2: ship hits Code RED, these people need to be ready
Speaker 2: to you know, push their nerves aside and answer questions
Speaker 2: and save lives and everything like that.
Speaker 3: Psion and you got another glimpse of, you know, inside
Speaker 3: doctor c that you know, there's more than meets the
Speaker 3: I there. He's not just you know, a scary, intimidating
Speaker 3: figure in the hospital. It's like, no, he's got part.
Speaker 3: He's got compassion and you know, understands how things work
Speaker 3: here and he's the one who's instrumental in restoring the order. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I thought that was really nice just moment
Speaker 1: into doctor Cox's mind, seeing that he's a lonesome guy,
Speaker 1: who's who who's dedicated his life to this and and
Speaker 1: I thought, you know, I just thought that was a
Speaker 1: nice sort of reveal as we get to know the
Speaker 1: character more in episode thirteen of the whole series, that
Speaker 1: you know how dedicated he is to being a doctor,
Speaker 1: even even in sacrificing relationships with with with people. And
Speaker 1: you know, Joelle brought up a good point that you know,
Speaker 1: when you do a TV show. Granted we're not doing
Speaker 1: something noble like saving lives, but you know, when you
Speaker 1: we had something analogous going on in that we were
Speaker 1: just at this hospital sixteen hours a day, and it
Speaker 1: definitely hurt relationships with family and friends. You know, Donald
Speaker 1: had children and and and and was gone, and I
Speaker 1: lost touch with a lot of old friends, and it
Speaker 1: was it was a bit analogous to what was happening
Speaker 1: in our lives. You know, it's interesting when Scrubs ended,
Speaker 1: I have this feeling that I was delayed in a
Speaker 1: sense in that I hadn't had nine years of building
Speaker 1: friendships outside of the hospital. I had built the best
Speaker 1: friendships of my life, you especially and Spiller, Spiller, Spiller,
Speaker 1: you're close, like ten down. But no, I had built
Speaker 1: some great friendships and uh and and actually that's that's
Speaker 1: one of the reasons so many of these wonderful people,
Speaker 1: including a Bill and others, are so in my life.
Speaker 1: And of course I I fostered other relationships, but but
Speaker 1: you know, we didn't have much time over those nine
Speaker 1: years to build and develop other relationships. And I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you if you noticed that Donald
Speaker 1: were we were finally done and kind of had our
Speaker 1: normal lives back. I felt that I was like, I don't.
Speaker 1: I have small circles of friends that I love so much,
Speaker 1: but I'm not one of these people that really knew
Speaker 1: a ton of people outside of my job right.
Speaker 2: And because of that, it's a little awkward now when
Speaker 2: I do well, we're on lockdown. But when I do
Speaker 2: meet people, I'm a little awkward about. You know, when
Speaker 2: you make a bunch of really good friends and it
Speaker 2: all ends and you only see them occasionally, Well, you
Speaker 2: and I are a bit different. It's like, well, you know,
Speaker 2: I spent ten years getting to know a lot of people,
Speaker 2: and as much as much as I respect and cherished
Speaker 2: all the time that we spent together, it's weird not
Speaker 2: having these people in my life. It's weird not seeing
Speaker 2: Chris or Or or you know, or Ethan Or or
Speaker 2: Calvin or Natural Bolt and Patrick Bolton. It's weird not
Speaker 2: seeing that so Vaughan, it's weird not seeing these people.
Speaker 1: You know, one thing you could do it would be
Speaker 1: to ask Spiller to come put a doorknob on your house.
Speaker 1: That's one trick that I've sometimes used when I.
Speaker 2: Don't want Spiller anywhere near my house in quarantine.
Speaker 1: Oh, he could mask up and come put a doorknob.
Speaker 2: I totally understand that. I totally understand that, but I'm
Speaker 2: trying to listen.
Speaker 3: He was thirty five an hour. It was worth every penny.
Speaker 3: You know the rates of change. Yeah, it's DGA scale
Speaker 3: plus fringes.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: But you know, let's talk for a second about new Slang,
Speaker 1: which is the song that ends the show. Rumor has
Speaker 1: it it was chosen by Neil Goldman, who unfortunately he
Speaker 1: keeps getting mentioned because he loves getting mentioned on this podcast.
Speaker 2: But he was a writer, contributor.
Speaker 1: He was a what are you saying?
Speaker 2: I said he was a contributor. He contributed big show,
Speaker 2: I think on that show. Because of that, on this show,
Speaker 2: because of that, he gets spoken of all the time.
Speaker 2: Neil Goldman. I didn't know that Neil Goldman picked this song.
Speaker 2: Neil Goldman.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you something. Neil Goldman is very into music,
Speaker 1: was and is very in music, and he picked the song. Now,
Speaker 1: this song I so fell in love with.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know you used to sing this shit all
Speaker 2: the time. Go teeth and a curse in my mouth.
Speaker 1: And a curse for this town and I put it
Speaker 1: into it.
Speaker 2: I thought it was a curse in my mouth? Do
Speaker 2: you know this town?
Speaker 1: Do you know that it's in garden State?
Speaker 3: It is.
Speaker 1: It's the song that when I say to that, no.
Speaker 2: Black people in garden Stead, I've never seen garden staate.
Speaker 1: Well when they do, like when we do, like the
Speaker 1: Wiz version, maybe you'll check it out.
Speaker 2: Will you be me and the Are you gonna do
Speaker 2: the Wiz version? Yeah, a Wiz version. Who's gonna play
Speaker 2: your character? Who's playing you? Are you are? Of course?
Speaker 2: It better be me. That's all I know because when
Speaker 2: people say your name, they better say my name next.
Speaker 2: That's all my motherfucker know that.
Speaker 1: You didn't know that We've already started casting the Wiz
Speaker 1: version of garden Stead and you're the star. I love
Speaker 1: it except when you say you tell me now instead
Speaker 1: of new slang. When when I when Natalie, when the
Speaker 1: Natalie character says, you gotta hear this song, it will
Speaker 1: change your life. And you're in the Whiz version of that.
Speaker 1: You're in what's the song gonna be?
Speaker 2: It goes right foot up, left foot slide, left foot up,
Speaker 2: right foot slide, anyway about to slide? We do it
Speaker 2: slide slide.
Speaker 1: What is that song?
Speaker 2: It's just like Michael Ja Son. I can give you
Speaker 2: the path, aren't the lyrics like?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I saw it briefly on somebody's video. But isn't
Speaker 1: it like.
Speaker 2: Lessen?
Speaker 1: Uh, pretty much anything you're gonna do. It's lie.
Speaker 2: Dope moment. And then I think we should listen. I'm
Speaker 2: not gonna knock the idea. I'm doing an all black
Speaker 2: Garden States.
Speaker 1: Listen. I will license I will license you.
Speaker 2: It'll be a different story. I mean, it's the same story,
Speaker 2: but it's a different it's a different it's a different movie. Though.
Speaker 1: Listen, I will give you the license. You and you
Speaker 1: and you and someone.
Speaker 2: And instead of going to method man and now, I'm
Speaker 2: not gonna choose you to play motherfucking the character at
Speaker 2: the hotel, choose Jack Shepherd, Dax Shepherd, Dax Shepherd. I'm
Speaker 2: gonna have Ray Romano.
Speaker 1: So fucked up. My feelings are hurt, Hey, everybody. While
Speaker 1: Donald cools down and writes his Wiz musical version of
Speaker 1: Garden State.
Speaker 2: It's not a musical, it is. The Whiz was a musical.
Speaker 2: So is The Wizard of Oz.
Speaker 1: Though, Okay, stop yelling.
Speaker 2: I'm not yelling I listen, I'm calm. Okay, well, we'll
Speaker 2: be right now. And we're bad. We're bad. We have
Speaker 2: Michael Spiller with us.
Speaker 1: We have director Michael Spiller, Emmy Award winning director Michael Spiller,
Speaker 1: who not only is a fantastic filmmaker, but also can
Speaker 1: throw a doorknob on a door in thirty minutes flat.
Speaker 1: Joel introducess to Whitney and Dustin.
Speaker 2: Whitney and Dustin, Hi, guys, thanks.
Speaker 3: So much for coming on this show, and.
Speaker 1: Thank you for having us.
Speaker 3: Baby.
Speaker 8: We brought the baby along because we wanted to introduce
Speaker 8: you guys to Atticus Dorian.
Speaker 3: Oh, totally named after j D.
Speaker 2: I thought you were gonna say no, Atticus Dorian's a
Speaker 2: beautiful name.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 7: But he does have on his baby bear shirt.
Speaker 2: Oh so cute. He's such a cute.
Speaker 8: We figured since he was gonna meet Vanilla and Chocolate Bear,
Speaker 8: he needed.
Speaker 7: To rock the baby bear shirt.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Where do you guys?
Speaker 8: We're from Leaton, Alabama. It's a tiny little town in
Speaker 8: the sort of like in the Shoals area. I don't know,
Speaker 8: it's probably something you've never heard of.
Speaker 2: I've been to Alabama, but not in that area. I've
Speaker 2: been to Birmingham, Alabama.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're a.
Speaker 8: Little bit north of Birmingham's.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, we're so glad you guys are here. And
Speaker 1: you were joined not only by by is it me
Speaker 1: and Donald but Michael Spiller, who was one of the
Speaker 1: best directors of Scrubs.
Speaker 2: Directed several episodes of.
Speaker 1: Twenty twenty episodes. He directed some other shows too, but
Speaker 1: we don't care about them on this podcast.
Speaker 2: They might care, though, Yeah, your show called Sex and
Speaker 2: the City. He directed a little show called Modern Family.
Speaker 2: Do you guys have a question?
Speaker 1: Go ahead, Yeah, we hit a couple.
Speaker 2: Okay, let's get into it.
Speaker 7: It was one extram or I guess it was an
Speaker 7: extre a background character. It was a bond doctor. In
Speaker 7: the episode where Janitor got married, she was milk doctor.
Speaker 8: She seems to be in almost every episode.
Speaker 7: In the background, alike, just about every.
Speaker 8: Episode we have, like we've noticed her and know on
Speaker 8: these rewatches we've you know, watched over and over again
Speaker 8: and every time you know, she's in the background, said,
Speaker 8: there she is. She's in every episode.
Speaker 2: What does she look like.
Speaker 8: She's she's blonde. She's probably close to like you know,
Speaker 8: would have been like doctor Cox's age. She wasn't one
Speaker 8: of the younger interns or anything. But you know when
Speaker 8: we've looked before. You know, if you try to search
Speaker 8: for Scrubs milk doctor, you get.
Speaker 3: A lot really racing results.
Speaker 2: It's different.
Speaker 1: Yeah, different, I'll bet, I'll bet it probably have nothing
Speaker 1: to do with the show.
Speaker 2: They're not at all.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I will tell you this. I will tell
Speaker 1: you this that you know. This is what we tried
Speaker 1: to do is have the same to have it feel
Speaker 1: like the same people work there. There would be the
Speaker 1: same group of like thirty to forty background people that
Speaker 1: would all sort of rotate in and out, and then
Speaker 1: each day there'd be some people we'd never seen before.
Speaker 1: But she must have been. I can't think of who
Speaker 1: it is. Give me a second, but maybe Joelle can
Speaker 1: do some recon.
Speaker 2: Second, I think I got it. I got it. Hold up,
Speaker 2: do you remember what was the episode Arlene Grace? I
Speaker 2: think that's who they're talking about. Is this her?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yes, ye. Arlene.
Speaker 1: Arlene was one of our regular background folks, and so
Speaker 1: that's why you see her all the time. She was
Speaker 1: probably there every day right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she was there every day. Her snoop Dog, Mickhead.
Speaker 2: I haven't seen Mickhead yet yet. I guess he came
Speaker 2: a lot later.
Speaker 1: But Snoop has a lot of screen time in the
Speaker 1: episode that we're talking about today. Yes, Spiller, you had him,
Speaker 1: you had you had Kelso bangs a pot right in
Speaker 1: Snoop's face in this episode.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and he held it perfectly, didn't even flinch. I
Speaker 3: can't remember if he put earplugs in or anything.
Speaker 2: That's crazy that you guys recognized Arlene she was. Yeah,
Speaker 2: she was on the show from pretty much the beginning
Speaker 2: all the way till the end. I don't know. I
Speaker 2: don't know if everybody did season nine. And you do
Speaker 2: refer to her when you talk to all of the
Speaker 2: other background I do, yeah, yeah, yeah, yea.
Speaker 1: Okay, wow, how did you find that so quickly? By
Speaker 1: the way, I'm very impressed with you.
Speaker 2: Right now because I remember her. I remember, I knew
Speaker 2: exactly who they were talking about.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: And you know, Facebook is a is one of those
Speaker 2: things where everybody still keeps in touch. So once they
Speaker 2: said that, I was.
Speaker 1: Like, are you still using Facebook?
Speaker 7: You're friends with or on Facebook?
Speaker 3: Or you just need to look her page up?
Speaker 2: No, No, I'm friends with her on Facebook. I'm friends
Speaker 2: with everybody, friends with everybody that we worked with.
Speaker 1: I don't even go on Facebook anymore, but Donald, You're
Speaker 1: still on there, getting in getting in arguments with everybody.
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 2: I try to stay away from all of the political That's.
Speaker 1: Why when I turned on and when I turn on
Speaker 1: Facebook these days and see everyone battling each other, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, good night.
Speaker 8: I imagine Facebook in the South and with all your
Speaker 8: you know, conservative friends and stuff that's on there.
Speaker 7: That's a whole different you.
Speaker 1: Know, I'll bet that's tricky.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I'm in LA, the most liberal place in the world,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, nope, I'm out. All right, guys, you
Speaker 1: have another question.
Speaker 8: Well, we were talking earlier, and you know, we were
Speaker 8: kind of both racking our brains like we want it,
Speaker 8: really wanted to come up with some profound, you know,
Speaker 8: like deep question to ask. But really, all I could
Speaker 8: think of to ask would be, you know, obviously Scrubs
Speaker 8: is one of our favorite shows, but what do you
Speaker 8: guys consider to be your favorite TV shows, like of
Speaker 8: all time?
Speaker 2: That's a great question.
Speaker 1: I wow, let's make Spiller start.
Speaker 3: Since he's yes, Spiller, you go first direct, very.
Speaker 1: Very fancy director. Let's see, what are his TV show's
Speaker 1: favorite spiller And you can't say anything you've directed, because
Speaker 1: we know Scrubs is number one.
Speaker 3: That's correct, well, slightly different genre. The Wire. Yeah, a
Speaker 3: lot of people say, absolutely, I've watched that all the
Speaker 3: way through twice. Also Narcos, I've watched that all the
Speaker 3: way through twice.
Speaker 1: Really, I just watched Narcos Mexico, which was really well done,
Speaker 1: but I didn't watch the original Narcos spiller I'm making
Speaker 1: I'm writing down this list, by the way, because you
Speaker 1: know the Wire, sure, but I haven't watched Narcos the
Speaker 1: first one.
Speaker 3: Chrisas, I love them currently, I love Ozark. Okay, when
Speaker 3: current season ended, what ended?
Speaker 1: Free?
Speaker 3: When I got through it, I was really really bummed out,
Speaker 3: just wanted more. He hasn't watched yet. I won't say anything.
Speaker 1: Everything. No, wait, you're covering now, you're covering his his
Speaker 1: eyes and ears. But do you guys not watch shows together?
Speaker 1: Because I find if if if my girlfriend and I
Speaker 1: get off of sync and watching a show together, that's
Speaker 1: all hell breaks loose. In fact, I'm currently rewatching a
Speaker 1: show I've already seen because I want it dead to me,
Speaker 1: which is really good, and we want to watch season two.
Speaker 1: But now in order to watch that, I have to
Speaker 1: rewatch all season one with her.
Speaker 7: With the newborn baby and her own maternity league, she
Speaker 7: watches a lot more TV during the day while I'm
Speaker 7: at work, so right, sometimes I try to catch up,
Speaker 7: but I haven't had time to catch up on those ords.
Speaker 8: I really want him to go back and watch, and
Speaker 8: I would totally not mind going back and watching it
Speaker 8: again with him because it is so good. But normally, yeah,
Speaker 8: when we actually it's pretty good for us because we
Speaker 8: have very similar taste in television shows, so it works out.
Speaker 1: So what's your TV shows that well, I'm gonna recommend
Speaker 1: one that that I can't believe is this underrated because
Speaker 1: I never heard anyone talk about it, and it's called
Speaker 1: Patriot and it's on Amazon and there's a few seasons. Spiller,
Speaker 1: you ever watch that?
Speaker 3: No? I haven't.
Speaker 1: It's amazing. You're gonna love it. Steve Conrad is the
Speaker 1: showrunner and really really amazingly. Now, that's like the best
Speaker 1: last show I saw. I really really love that. What
Speaker 1: about you, Donald?
Speaker 2: I'm embarrassed because my shows are shows your embarrassed. So
Speaker 2: my favorite shows are shows like The Clone Wars and
Speaker 2: Star Wars Rebel and recently The Mandalorian. The Mandalorian. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I like Mandalorian a lot that I don't know, those
Speaker 2: are those are the type of shows that I enjoy watching.
Speaker 2: I don't watch a lot of television, but when I
Speaker 2: do watch television, I prefer to watch Star Wars related
Speaker 2: related or documentaries.
Speaker 1: Do you find that now that sports isn't on, Donald,
Speaker 1: that you have a lot more time on your hands
Speaker 1: because you normally like to watch a lot of sports.
Speaker 2: So I've been doing a lot of animating as of
Speaker 2: late because sports isn't on. I'm a stop motion animator
Speaker 2: by hobby, and because sports isn't on and I'm not
Speaker 2: sitting in front of the TV at at night after
Speaker 2: the kids go down, I find myself in my animation
Speaker 2: room animating.
Speaker 1: So it's making you more productive, Actually, you're I.
Speaker 2: Don't know if it's productive. I mean it's a hobby.
Speaker 2: It's not like I'm making things that are gonna get
Speaker 2: put on television and are gonna be well.
Speaker 1: You never know. You could do a robot chicken type
Speaker 1: thing and make your own tea.
Speaker 2: Absolutely you know we mentioned Seth Green earlier and how
Speaker 2: Spiller worked with Seth Green. If it wasn't for Seth Green,
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be animating like I was looking for an
Speaker 2: outlet like most actors do when they moved to Hollywood.
Speaker 2: That hasn't that isn't just acting. I realized I didn't
Speaker 2: want to be a director. No offense, Mike, and I realized,
Speaker 2: you know, I don't necessarily I don't. I don't necessarily
Speaker 2: like hanging out on set all the time. Which directors
Speaker 2: do you know they arrived before actors and you know
Speaker 2: they leave after all the actors. I realized, Okay, that's
Speaker 2: not for me.
Speaker 1: Way more stressed with way less money makes no sense.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I realized, said I need something to do though,
Speaker 2: that's gonna fulfill my creative itch other than acting. And
Speaker 2: I remember doing taking a stop motion class when I
Speaker 2: was a kid, and my buddy Seth Green had had
Speaker 2: me do voiceover work for this little project he was
Speaker 2: doing called Sweet Jay and it was stop motion animation.
Speaker 2: I was like, dude, I'm totally into this. I'd love
Speaker 2: to come and check out where you filmed this. And
Speaker 2: he brought me down to the studio and introduced me
Speaker 2: to a bunch of animators and the rest is history.
Speaker 2: And now now I do stop motion animation as a hobby.
Speaker 2: Now that my television at night if there ain't no
Speaker 2: Mandalorian and you're getting Star Wars and you're getting really
Speaker 2: good at it and instag Yeah, I'm Donald working at it.
Speaker 1: Check out Donald's instagram you can see his progress, or
Speaker 1: go on YouTube and watch his old lego ones called
Speaker 1: Black Stormtrooper. But yeah, but I think you've gotten a lot.
Speaker 1: I think you've gotten a lot better since Black Stormtrooper.
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, absolutely, But yeah, that's that's so my favorite.
Speaker 2: My favorite television has always been like cartoons and stuff
Speaker 2: like that. I enjoy animation very much. So the Clone
Speaker 2: Wars Rebels. Yeah, just to bring.
Speaker 3: I will be checking out your instagram, Donald, Yes, not
Speaker 3: now after the show.
Speaker 2: Give me a followback, though I think I do follow you, Bud.
Speaker 1: Damn, give me a shout out or something. All right,
Speaker 1: Whitney and Dustin, thank you guys so much. Good luck
Speaker 1: with the new baby with the beautiful We really appreciate
Speaker 1: you joining us. And uh and uh and stay safe,
Speaker 1: stay inside, stay safe. We're getting to the end. I
Speaker 1: just wanted to say that. Yeah, so I I I
Speaker 1: heard this song news Slang and then I just loved
Speaker 1: it so much that I years later put it into
Speaker 1: Garden State. And I want to credit Neil Goldman for
Speaker 1: being the first person to uh to introduce me to
Speaker 1: that song.
Speaker 2: Amazing.
Speaker 3: Finally he's getting this props.
Speaker 1: Finally, And Spiller, you, I think we were the very
Speaker 1: first to do a very cool crane shot out of
Speaker 1: the wind. That was a really cool shot you did
Speaker 1: where you started inside the window and then craned out.
Speaker 1: I thought that was clever.
Speaker 3: Thank your signature move of mine.
Speaker 1: We ended up using that a bunch. But you you
Speaker 1: brought that to the you brought that to the table.
Speaker 3: Well the table, the table was ready for it.
Speaker 2: Well that's that's a question. That's a question that I,
Speaker 2: uh that I have for you, Zach, because I know
Speaker 2: that you used crane shots in your stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: If Spiller's the first one to do it, that made
Speaker 2: it so that other directors when they came on, they
Speaker 2: were like, so I saw the crane shot in episode
Speaker 2: one thirteen. What are the chances that I get to
Speaker 2: use a crane on this?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think you know, the crane was always uh pricey
Speaker 1: thing and both time, you know, obviously the rental of
Speaker 1: the crane, but also the labor of of sending it
Speaker 1: up and practicing and rehearsing it. So you know, I
Speaker 1: think within an episode usually you could say, hey to
Speaker 1: the line producer, you'd say, hey, can I get a
Speaker 1: I'd like to use a crane for this scene. And
Speaker 1: you know, I don't think it was very rare that
Speaker 1: they ever said no, particularly to the directors they liked.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think that you know, crane shots are
Speaker 1: really cool and they give the show scope and scale
Speaker 1: and and can be really beautiful. And in that end
Speaker 1: montage that that that Michael created here, which was beautifully done,
Speaker 1: it was sort of the beautiful It was like the
Speaker 1: most perfect way to end it coming out and I
Speaker 1: believe you had to mount that build that crane on
Speaker 1: the rooftop in order to get it. There was a
Speaker 1: lower roof and then he came out to the window
Speaker 1: and then tilted up to the sky. And so yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think cranes were introduced as part of
Speaker 1: the sort of the language of the show.
Speaker 2: And then he said, he said it was it was
Speaker 2: his signature move.
Speaker 1: Well, what I was saying specifically, I was I don't
Speaker 1: know this, this isn't the first crane shot on the show,
Speaker 1: but the idea of the camera was within the was
Speaker 1: within the room and then came out the window and
Speaker 1: then went up to the sky. And I think Spiller
Speaker 1: was the first person to do that. And you know,
Speaker 1: I think we copied that many many times.
Speaker 2: Well, have you gone on to use that on other shows?
Speaker 3: Yes, I've done versions of of of that shot on
Speaker 3: other Is that what it was cool? You sort of like,
Speaker 3: you know, especially we didn't have a techno crane or anything.
Speaker 3: I don't believe, but there's a type of crane where
Speaker 3: you know, the arm itself extends from the base. Yeah,
Speaker 3: so I mean you can really like you know, it
Speaker 3: can actually physically be inside the window. I think we
Speaker 3: probably hit a zoom in the shot as well to
Speaker 3: sort of make it appear as if we were in
Speaker 3: there in a close up. So you can do shots
Speaker 3: that that appear to actually travel through the glass somehow.
Speaker 1: And nowadays later I did a really cool shot in
Speaker 1: Going in style where you can camera or pull back
Speaker 1: through the window. And then in post now add we
Speaker 1: added a taxi cab door. I had the shot of
Speaker 1: Michael Caine where he's in the cabin and the camera's
Speaker 1: in the cab with him. And then and we took
Speaker 1: the back door off the cab and we we pull
Speaker 1: out and then out of the cab and the cab
Speaker 1: drives off, and then and post we added the cab door.
Speaker 2: That looks so.
Speaker 1: Cool and most people who aren't filmakers wouldn't even know
Speaker 1: how hard that was to do exactly.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think like with any of the sort
Speaker 3: of bells and whistles that we pull out and the
Speaker 3: tricks that we use them, it's part of the fun
Speaker 3: of being a director, is part of the fun of
Speaker 3: telling the story. But sometimes, and this is often true
Speaker 3: with directors who are former cinematographers, you can get caught
Speaker 3: up and the gadgetry and the toy of it all
Speaker 3: and forget that you're telling the story. So first and
Speaker 3: foremost it's like, yeah, cranes are great. All these devices
Speaker 3: are great if they're supporting the story, or if they're
Speaker 3: underlying the comedy, or they're making a dramatic moment more
Speaker 3: dramatic or whatever. Because they do take a lot of time,
Speaker 3: take a lot of money, and often can be misupplied.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think the job as a director is
Speaker 1: to go when am I going to spend? When can
Speaker 1: I afford to spend time and money during these five days.
Speaker 1: So the way I would shoot Scrubs when I directed
Speaker 1: it was you'd go, okay, in order to save time,
Speaker 1: do that elaborate shot I want to do.
Speaker 2: I need to.
Speaker 1: Really get through this dialogue scene quickly.
Speaker 8: Now.
Speaker 1: I don't want to rush it because it's important. But
Speaker 1: if I just shoot this one really simply, then I'm
Speaker 1: banking time for later. I can do that elaborate oner
Speaker 1: or later. I can do that tricky crane shot. But
Speaker 1: you have to you have to pick and choose because
Speaker 1: you just you have to fit it into twelve hours.
Speaker 1: They used to let us go longer, but nowadays, I
Speaker 1: don't know if you find this on your other show, Spiller,
Speaker 1: no one wants you to go over twelve hours.
Speaker 3: And frankly I don't want to either. I mean Scrubs
Speaker 3: with Gueniku m Sex and the City was the same way.
Speaker 3: Our hours were really really long, but it was a
Speaker 3: similar energy on set, where it's like everyone just enjoyed
Speaker 3: each other so much. You know, you never laughed as
Speaker 3: much the work was high quality, and you know, and
Speaker 3: no one was telling you to stop spending money, so
Speaker 3: you know, you just kept going to you you got it.
Speaker 3: But it's you know, frankly, it's it's unsafe these days.
Speaker 3: I feel maybecause I'm a tiny bit older that and
Speaker 3: you know my work doesn't tend to improve after twelve hours.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and everyone gets cranky, and it is unsafe. You know,
Speaker 1: there's been plenty of instances of crew members who have
Speaker 1: to be there longer hours, whether it's teamsters or transport
Speaker 1: guys or or camera acs, and who've gotten in accidents
Speaker 1: or even died from just being in preposterous hours. So
Speaker 1: it is a safety thing.
Speaker 3: But we used to go.
Speaker 1: I mean we'd have sixteen seventeen hour days on Scrubs.
Speaker 3: When you guys on one of the earlier shows were
Speaker 3: talking about like favorite cameos and all that sort of
Speaker 3: stuff and like the sort of fantasy camera we run.
Speaker 2: I got a picture of you.
Speaker 3: I know, there's the re one rerun one which I
Speaker 3: love that photo. But there's also Dick Van Dyke.
Speaker 2: Yeah, did you direct that episode?
Speaker 7: Yes?
Speaker 3: And I mean when you sung with him in that
Speaker 3: moment when we were all just hanging out. I mean
Speaker 3: it's like I get choked up thinking about it.
Speaker 1: I mean, give us a little dollar, give us a
Speaker 1: little of that magic.
Speaker 2: Day ahead. Right is the morning in May. Hey, I
Speaker 2: fee like I could fly.
Speaker 3: Hey.
Speaker 2: Have you ever seen it's not habits? Have you ever
Speaker 2: seen the grass so green? Or a blue sky? Okay,
Speaker 2: so that's beautiful story.
Speaker 1: Jolly Holiday.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Dick Van Dyke was on the show and I
Speaker 2: got to sing Jolly Holiday. Well I didn't sing. He
Speaker 2: sang it, and I played the guitar while he sang it. Uh,
Speaker 2: there's a tape. There's there's a recording of it out
Speaker 2: there somewhere. I don't know where.
Speaker 3: I know I shot it. Yeah, I'm on something. But
Speaker 3: I was like, did phones have video cameras? Then? I mean,
Speaker 3: I can't remember, but I know I shot it.
Speaker 2: It's out there somewhere, somewhere, somewhat somehow it could be found.
Speaker 2: I don't know who has it, but yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, Spiller, you've been a fantastic guest.
Speaker 2: This is the longest this is the longest we've ever
Speaker 2: had a guest.
Speaker 1: On this, We've ever We were gonna have to cut
Speaker 1: this fucking way down.
Speaker 2: We got down one to listen to one.
Speaker 1: No, I want to be sincere for a second and say, uh,
Speaker 1: not only are you a fantastic guy, but I, as
Speaker 1: a filmmaker, learned a lot from watching you, because you
Speaker 1: are talented and you not only direct a beautiful episode,
Speaker 1: but you're so charming and everybody loves you on set,
Speaker 1: and uh, you're a great leader, and I'm not surprised
Speaker 1: that you are successful and have an Emmy and uh,
Speaker 1: and I hope I get to work with you again soon.
Speaker 3: Oh, thank you, Zach. That's so kind.
Speaker 2: I hope I'm one of those actors that you're like,
Speaker 2: you know what, I got a guy, don't worry about it. Yeah,
Speaker 2: bring enjoyed. I really enjoyed our time together.
Speaker 3: You know it shows.
Speaker 2: It shows by how long this podcast episode was too.
Speaker 3: But hey, just just keep going because I directed the
Speaker 3: next episode too. Look at two for you'll be I
Speaker 3: didn't watch it. I didn't watch it.
Speaker 2: I didn't watch the next episode. Yeah, yeah, he will
Speaker 2: we probably.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm available if you every want to bring me.
Speaker 1: Back, We're going to have you back.
Speaker 2: You've you definitely callback.
Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for tuning in
Speaker 1: to fake doctors, real friends. I'm your co host Zach
Speaker 1: Braff with what's your name again?
Speaker 2: Black Scrubs, Donald Faison, a k A T.
Speaker 3: Diggs.
Speaker 2: We like K brown Bear, a k A Turk turkle
Speaker 2: Tip a k.
Speaker 5: At Stories that show we made about a bunch of
Speaker 5: dogs and nurses, and jan I said, he's the Stories Nephews.
Speaker 3: No so YadA round here, yet here we show is