Speaker 1: First of all, you don't know me. We're all about
Speaker 1: that high school drama. Girl Drama Girl, all about them
Speaker 1: high school queens. We'll take you for a ride in
Speaker 1: our comic girl Cheering father Right Drama Queen's Girl Fashion.
Speaker 1: But you'll tough, girl. You could sit with us Girl
Speaker 1: Drama Queens, Drama, Queen's Drama, Queen's Drama Drawn McQueen's Drama,
Speaker 1: Queen's Welcome. Welcome to Drama Queens. This is UH looking
Speaker 1: back on One Tree Hill episode nineteen, I'm Wide Awake.
Speaker 1: It's morning, air date May third, two thousand and five. Synopsis.
Speaker 1: Steb's younger brother Cooper is in town and stirring up
Speaker 1: trouble at the speedway with Nathan and Lucas. Dan tells
Speaker 1: the college where Andy teaches of his relationship with Karen
Speaker 1: and he's forced to choose, and then Mouth and Erica
Speaker 1: Marsh start up new relationship. Guys. For anyone who had
Speaker 1: to watch this episode back preparation for this episode of
Speaker 1: Drama Queens, we sincerely apologize. We're very sad bad. The
Speaker 1: episode was my guy ice cream to reward myself first
Speaker 1: sitting through that episode, The only redeeming thing was meeting. Well, no,
Speaker 1: there's a couple of redeeming things. There's a few good moments. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Skylar Fisk and Uncle Cooper, God, they're lovely mouth and
Speaker 1: Erica marsh are so flipping cute backseat of Brooks car
Speaker 1: pretending to be book super cute, tend to be drunk.
Speaker 1: But like those slow motion montages of cars doing donuts
Speaker 1: and girls dancing to music that clearly wasn't what was
Speaker 1: playing when we filmed it, it's so painful, so random
Speaker 1: and painful. Can we just say it? Can we say? Okay,
Speaker 1: when you guys hear this bitch about the things going
Speaker 1: on behind the scenes on our show, I think it
Speaker 1: is super apparent that the wheels are falling off at
Speaker 1: the end of season two, that is when people at
Speaker 1: the top of the pyramid lost their keen mind. The
Speaker 1: last episode was pretty bad too, except for a couple
Speaker 1: of things. But I missed it. I know, I watched
Speaker 1: it though I was kind of like, no I had
Speaker 1: I was in the airport. But yeah, I'm I'm glad
Speaker 1: that I didn't have to. You know, people don't need
Speaker 1: to hear me complain either, but they're gonna get to
Speaker 1: today because let me tell you, I think this episode
Speaker 1: was so lazy. The writing was so lazy. There were
Speaker 1: so many reasons. You've got a whole look. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know who's to blame, but all I can
Speaker 1: say is I do well, I do you know, you've
Speaker 1: got a whole writer's room. But also, you know, when
Speaker 1: he was writing it, it seems like something that he
Speaker 1: probably wanted to take the take the wheel and uh
Speaker 1: and and run with. But it really went off the rails.
Speaker 1: I mean, there are so many reasons you could come
Speaker 1: up with to put um a cast in that setting.
Speaker 1: It's random, settings are okay, you can kind of always
Speaker 1: figure out a reason to put people to be If
Speaker 1: we had introd Uncle Cooper calling Nathan from the road
Speaker 1: from a NASCAR race in episode eighteen of Seasons and
Speaker 1: he checked in with him, he said, hey kid, I've
Speaker 1: been there. I'm getting divorced. Nate had been like, screw you,
Speaker 1: I'm not getting a divorce whatever. Depressed, Fine, he comes
Speaker 1: to town to visit. Like, there's a million ways to
Speaker 1: at least not have everyone watching the episode going who
Speaker 1: is this person? Who is that girl? Who is that guy?
Speaker 1: Why are we here? Who's the race car? What's the
Speaker 1: thing like, it doesn't make any sense. And then it's
Speaker 1: just these long driving montages, which, as we talked about
Speaker 1: last week, we're clearly that on a sound stage with
Speaker 1: a guy shaking the car. They weren't outside terrible well,
Speaker 1: and the long shots it was they were as long
Speaker 1: as the coyote. They were longer than the coyote. Ugly
Speaker 1: sequence in the bar from the last episode, it was
Speaker 1: just NonStop. I didn't I didn't understand at all why
Speaker 1: any why we were watching this, and I was I
Speaker 1: felt bad for anyone at home who had to sit
Speaker 1: through that hoping that a storyline was going to come
Speaker 1: out of it. Joy Sophie and I ended the last
Speaker 1: episode being like normally, when we've got a great, big,
Speaker 1: huge stinker, we follow it up with something that's actually
Speaker 1: like heartwarming and lovely, and so we have high hopes
Speaker 1: for this week, really specifically because we like a lot
Speaker 1: of the people that were introduced this week. Yes, there
Speaker 1: are people that are dear to us um and so
Speaker 1: maybe part of the reason we're so offended is because
Speaker 1: we feel like they deserved better. We feel like they
Speaker 1: deserved like a little bit of breath and character development
Speaker 1: and not just like you know asphalt. Here's what this
Speaker 1: episode felt like to me. I felt like the writer
Speaker 1: was trying to pitch their own show of race car
Speaker 1: driving to other networks, like they had come up with
Speaker 1: a show for Night Right, you know, uh Nascar, Thank
Speaker 1: you the NASCAR, And it was just like, well, look,
Speaker 1: I can show everybody how good it would be, and
Speaker 1: so then I'll get another TV series spit like spinning
Speaker 1: off of this moment. That's what it felt like to me,
Speaker 1: Like it was a total and you can tell that
Speaker 1: when you watch shows that do actual spinoffs. And they
Speaker 1: turned the episode into a pilot for the spinoff, and
Speaker 1: everybody's always watching it, like when is this? I think
Speaker 1: even Yellowstone did it, introducing like these Moments of three,
Speaker 1: which you know is a great show, but it was.
Speaker 1: It's always weird. It's just always weird when you're used
Speaker 1: to seeing one thing and then they're introducing a completely
Speaker 1: new type of show. Well, yeah, because you can see
Speaker 1: how they could have done a spinoff with Truco and
Speaker 1: Skyler Fisk tell the guy that was playing Ray Green,
Speaker 1: you know, they had a formula about brothers who were
Speaker 1: at odds, like a family drama set in the world
Speaker 1: of sports was our show, And NASCAR was like going
Speaker 1: through a renaissance back in two thousand five where they
Speaker 1: were making it like hot and sexy for young people
Speaker 1: and not just like old people anymore. And and yeah,
Speaker 1: they were really trying to make it a thing. We
Speaker 1: had Nascar drivers on TRL at this time, because there
Speaker 1: was one really young one who was very charming. I
Speaker 1: can't believe his name, but boy was he a doll.
Speaker 1: And I remember being like, oh, Nascar is making a
Speaker 1: concerted effort to like attract new eyeballs. And and because
Speaker 1: we're in North Carolina and we were a couple hours
Speaker 1: away from Charlotte, the whole dang show took a field
Speaker 1: trip without us. Girls. We didn't get to go. No, no,
Speaker 1: forget you guys, We don't want to go on your
Speaker 1: dumb trip. Anyway. Was Skylar in more than just this episode,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, she definitely came to Wilmington
Speaker 1: like our our studio because she had to do Phitni's
Speaker 1: and they did all the car process stuff where they
Speaker 1: were like pretending to drive, so she was in both places.
Speaker 1: And she's cool, she's great, she's so great, But it
Speaker 1: did feel to me, like again, and I said this
Speaker 1: when we were watching it. It It felt like she was
Speaker 1: there to test out if they could release me from
Speaker 1: my contract and bring in this other sort of girl
Speaker 1: next door, a tomboy singer type, because she totally filled
Speaker 1: that Hailey role in the episode. I mean even having
Speaker 1: her singer song, I was like, and I was weird.
Speaker 1: So I mean, I understand why they did it, but
Speaker 1: it was definitely like it was weird. But she's great
Speaker 1: and super charming and effervescent and enjoyable to watch. And
Speaker 1: I hope she does come back from more episodes. I
Speaker 1: just don't remember. If she does, we would have been
Speaker 1: lucky to have had her. She's she's a and when
Speaker 1: she's fabulous. I remember just being such a fan of
Speaker 1: her from movies. She did a movie back in the
Speaker 1: day with Colin Hanks that I loved, and I just
Speaker 1: remember when she came on the show being so excited,
Speaker 1: and then I found out she was good friends with
Speaker 1: a pal of mine from a different movie, so we
Speaker 1: got to stay in touch for a bit, and um,
Speaker 1: she is just like a class act and a truth
Speaker 1: teller and such a talented actor. And yeah, between Skylar
Speaker 1: Fisk and Danielle Alonso. I really wish we'd gotten to
Speaker 1: keep all the girls from season two. They were full,
Speaker 1: that's it. Yeah, chicks are treated pretty disposedly on our show. Um,
Speaker 1: and you heard us talk about it last week about
Speaker 1: kind of the vilifying of our female characters. Are just
Speaker 1: making things their fault or them being sloppy in ways.
Speaker 1: I get it, there's gotta be drama, there's got to
Speaker 1: be conflict. But the boys are all just just so
Speaker 1: wounded because of their big hearts, and the girls are evils. What. Okay,
Speaker 1: someone had a feeling about women. That's crazy. Okay, listen,
Speaker 1: you might be right, but let's let me let's think
Speaker 1: about this from the other perspective, from when it was
Speaker 1: all the boys that were in all the drama, and
Speaker 1: that was all the first season, right, It wasn't it
Speaker 1: mostly the boys that were creating all the drama, like
Speaker 1: getting into all kinds of trouble. Yeah, but they still
Speaker 1: got played like these heart throbs and these boys you
Speaker 1: wanted and every girl just wanted to sleep with them,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Yeah, like it was a
Speaker 1: sexy struggle, but it was like it was like the
Speaker 1: hot bad boy and the girls are played like these
Speaker 1: villainous women who are ruining everything with their dance, and like, god,
Speaker 1: world ring everything and you're evil titties that ever, Oh
Speaker 1: my god, now what we should call our production company,
Speaker 1: Ladies evil ties. This has been an evil Titty productions on.
Speaker 1: This message has been brought to you by evil titty.
Speaker 1: But that's like the messaging man. It's just so unlikable.
Speaker 1: It's so unlikable. Barbara passed out in the freaking grass
Speaker 1: with her evil titties hanging out of her shirts on
Speaker 1: the sprinklers, like, it's so God, they took it so
Speaker 1: far they did it. It gets just turned up to eleven.
Speaker 1: And maybe that's because we're in season two and our
Speaker 1: show runner had never run anything before. And so what
Speaker 1: you'll find is that seasoned showrunners understand nuance and how
Speaker 1: to build things in a way that's never their actors
Speaker 1: to trusting that the actor collaborating. Could you imagine no, no,
Speaker 1: I remember the word bottle. Episodes like floating around at
Speaker 1: this time because there was this concern that people weren't
Speaker 1: watching our show week to week, and so they wanted
Speaker 1: the episodes to stand alone in a way where you
Speaker 1: could just watch one and yeah, they wanted it to
Speaker 1: be like procedural. This feels that way. It's just it's
Speaker 1: on an island. It's so strange. I'm yeah, I'm really
Speaker 1: glad that we got Michael truck go out of it. Yes,
Speaker 1: because he saved that episode in the end with his
Speaker 1: white shirt, just standing there dirty in a white shirt.
Speaker 1: He saved the episode. He really did worth it just
Speaker 1: for that shot. God damn it. He's so handsome, he's
Speaker 1: so likable in an incredibly unlikable episode. So that just
Speaker 1: shows you how talented he is. And the fact that
Speaker 1: he was able to ground all of that to make
Speaker 1: it feel real that you bought him as a NASCAR
Speaker 1: driver immediately, that you bought him as the fun uncle.
Speaker 1: That that even when he was talking about you know
Speaker 1: how he was divorced from the supermodel, it wasn't gross.
Speaker 1: It was charming and funny and like, yeah, gross, any
Speaker 1: other actor would have made it gross totally. And he
Speaker 1: was just like, I've had this wild life. Can you
Speaker 1: believe it? But I mean, I'm a mess? What do
Speaker 1: you want for me? Like he was so um, he
Speaker 1: underplayed it all easy, man, it was so freaking cute.
Speaker 1: He's cool. Um, We also had a really nice performance
Speaker 1: from Katherine Bayliss again, who always shows up to work man.
Speaker 1: She just understands the assignment and and really comes through
Speaker 1: every time. It's always understated, it's always just exactly what's needed,
Speaker 1: and I loved it. I thought it was weird at
Speaker 1: the writers had her uh coming on to mouth at
Speaker 1: the end of the night, when just a few hours
Speaker 1: later she had been assaulted at a party. That felt
Speaker 1: like the timing was off there. But I did still
Speaker 1: love seeing her in mouth starting to build something together,
Speaker 1: and I thought that was super sweet me too. It
Speaker 1: was interesting too, you know, I love that you bring
Speaker 1: that up, that that earlier in the night she went
Speaker 1: through something I like. I like that she said. I
Speaker 1: was just scared and disappointed, because how disappointing it feels
Speaker 1: to be reminded that to some people in the world,
Speaker 1: you are something to get rather than a person who
Speaker 1: is is something that I think so many of us
Speaker 1: are unfortunately familiarized with. And I thought the way that
Speaker 1: Catherine played it, it felt like something I've seen friends say.
Speaker 1: It felt like something I know I've said, and I
Speaker 1: loved it, and so yeah, it especially made it a
Speaker 1: bummer that there wasn't someone in the room who got
Speaker 1: to say, hey, guess what. After girls get assaulted at parties,
Speaker 1: they don't They don't kiss other boys like four hours later,
Speaker 1: like brand new boys they've never hung out with before.
Speaker 1: They need to talk and have support and and have
Speaker 1: some space to process. Yeah, And I will say that
Speaker 1: if there was any any two actors who could make
Speaker 1: that makes sense, it would be Katherine and Lee Norris,
Speaker 1: because Leon Morris is such a good guy and you
Speaker 1: see who he is. Come out in mouth where he says, well,
Speaker 1: let's go get some food, and you know he wants
Speaker 1: to create a safe container. And what I liked about
Speaker 1: the way Katherine played it was you could see her
Speaker 1: as Erica see a good guy, be reminded that there
Speaker 1: are a good guy out there, and lean into a
Speaker 1: good guy. So I think the storyline is flawed, but
Speaker 1: I think those two did so far above and beyond
Speaker 1: like the best they could with them at too. Good
Speaker 1: actors working with so little always say Hillary, right, you
Speaker 1: all can keep your Emmy's in your oscars because you
Speaker 1: had good scripts and we had worked with some of
Speaker 1: the time, and we made it work and we made
Speaker 1: you cry. Anyway, watch your dumb awards. Um. It's true though,
Speaker 1: and I I don't know. It's so hard because a
Speaker 1: lot of our guest actors didn't have the same um
Speaker 1: footing that we had to push back on stuff, so
Speaker 1: they really did have to just do what was on
Speaker 1: the paper, you know. But you can see in this
Speaker 1: later part of the season how we are being I
Speaker 1: don't want to say punished, but there's no screen time.
Speaker 1: Did get We did get punished. It was it was like, okay,
Speaker 1: you have complaints, there's less this, there's not just higher
Speaker 1: bunch of other people for the audience store and and
Speaker 1: we're going to make you dance around and not talk.
Speaker 1: So cringe e like, like, my worst nightmare is having
Speaker 1: to dance on camera. I hate it. So here's a
Speaker 1: here's a production lesson. Because we know that our drama
Speaker 1: Queen's friends like these behind the scenes things. So for
Speaker 1: everyone at home, when you do a scene like we did,
Speaker 1: you don't have any music nothing. They say, get up,
Speaker 1: hit play on the stereo, but there's no music. So
Speaker 1: we're all looking at each other kind of getting in
Speaker 1: a groove, going like what are we supposed to be doing?
Speaker 1: Bouncing around? But there's no music to dance too, so
Speaker 1: you always look like an idiot because you're not dancing.
Speaker 1: And then when you have whomever pulling the puppet strings
Speaker 1: doing the edit, who doesn't even try to find a sink,
Speaker 1: which is the song that gets Sink to the scene.
Speaker 1: They don't even try to find a sink that matches
Speaker 1: the rhythm you've found, Like, we were clearly not dancing
Speaker 1: to Citizen Cope, so we look like a bunch of
Speaker 1: drunk giraffes. Just you know, it is the worst. Some
Speaker 1: real We had to go into a d R which
Speaker 1: is additional dialogue recording, and we would have to put
Speaker 1: in laughter and that I remember specific it seem charming,
Speaker 1: like like I want to die so awkward. Well, Haley
Speaker 1: got to be a ghost in this episode. Literally the
Speaker 1: beginning of the episode, Haley is there. Act. We got
Speaker 1: so pumped. She's back back back. They were still trying
Speaker 1: to kick me out. Hayley was a ghost and apparently
Speaker 1: deb was a poisoned woman. What is that taking painkillers
Speaker 1: make your blood unusable? Is that true? What did you find?
Speaker 1: Here's what it says. This is according to the Interweb,
Speaker 1: donors on medication are allowed to donate blood for blood
Speaker 1: products containing less than fifty million leaders of plasma of
Speaker 1: a single donor. We also we have a real problem
Speaker 1: with doctors entry Hill who don't understand HIPPA and who
Speaker 1: like have no understanding of privacy. The fact that all
Speaker 1: the doctors that we complained about with this r what
Speaker 1: is the hard test or whatever? HTM? And then he
Speaker 1: would just walk up to deb in front of another
Speaker 1: person and assume, how long have you been abusing prescription job.
Speaker 1: It's like it doesn't know anything about her history. He
Speaker 1: doesn't anything about your blood is unusable again, you damaged
Speaker 1: evil women. I'm not sing anything about painkillers on here.
Speaker 1: I'm seeing like accutane and soriasis medication. No, this is nonsense.
Speaker 1: This was just like unrest. Maybe because a pain killer
Speaker 1: for somebody who's already an anesthesia would like interact badly
Speaker 1: in that moment. I don't think that. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know. She's a good story.
Speaker 1: Appreciate you trying. While they tried to vilify all of us,
Speaker 1: they gave us Michael Truco. We said it once, but
Speaker 1: we're going to say many more times. Everyone. He was
Speaker 1: the gift that kept on giving and we're very lucky
Speaker 1: that we got him in season two. And and we
Speaker 1: have for you today, Yes we do. Man in this room.
Speaker 1: Do you think he's wearing a white T shirt? I
Speaker 1: had him episode Ladies and Gentlemen, Michael Truco, Oh my god,
Speaker 1: you're so handsome. Yeah, it's crazy. Is we've been gushing
Speaker 1: about talented. So I watched I watched the episode. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: terrible episode. It kind it was so bad and there
Speaker 1: were so many good ones. Actually, it really is a
Speaker 1: sucker that this one is to deliver monologue worth of
Speaker 1: exposition and also just like crazy like advice from someone
Speaker 1: who were just meeting who the audiences just was to
Speaker 1: like trust right away, and you were trust you. You
Speaker 1: were to make us care about you immediately. We we
Speaker 1: just spent the whole opening of the podcast talking about
Speaker 1: how unbelievable it is that you instantly were so cable,
Speaker 1: so charming, so honest, so believable inside of the container
Speaker 1: of an episode. And that is a trash bag like
Speaker 1: how did you do it? Pure ignorance, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's weird. You gotta remember when you come into a
Speaker 1: world like that that's already been established, well established, you
Speaker 1: guys are already through season one. You're just about at
Speaker 1: the end of season two. I think, yeah, so it
Speaker 1: was episode nineteen. Um, you know, I don't know any
Speaker 1: of the dynamics going on. I knew absolutely nothing. I
Speaker 1: knew it was I loved car racing and when they
Speaker 1: said you're gonna play a race car drivers like sign
Speaker 1: me up. Um, And we got to go to Charlotte
Speaker 1: Motor Speedway and there was Jeff Burton. I was like, Holy,
Speaker 1: this is really cool. Um. But in terms of yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right, Like I have this long scene, uh with
Speaker 1: Nathan right where I'm telling my nephew about love, and like,
Speaker 1: you're right, you've never met me before. We have no
Speaker 1: idea who I am, where I came from, and suddenly
Speaker 1: I'm the sage of a relationship advice. Right. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: were doing Supermodel exactly. We wish there'd been a like
Speaker 1: an Uncle Cooper phone call in the previous episode to
Speaker 1: establish of some kind, but if Nathan had called you
Speaker 1: for advice, it was so random but work. You know,
Speaker 1: a huge part of it too, was James's reaction because Hilary,
Speaker 1: did you say that He's making James giggle, lushing and
Speaker 1: like giggling when you're giving him. Yeah, he was like
Speaker 1: a real brotherly kind of relationship that we hadn't seen
Speaker 1: from him before. So that there was an odd opening
Speaker 1: standing over the beer looking at a weird wall with
Speaker 1: paint and a clown and like better than you you
Speaker 1: a little bit And I was like repeated it right
Speaker 1: after you said it, Jesus, one of the better lines
Speaker 1: in the episode. Frankly, well did you and James have
Speaker 1: to read together? Like what was the process for you joining?
Speaker 1: So it's so funny. Yeah, I was. I want to
Speaker 1: say that casting direction name was Deborah forgetting her name anyway,
Speaker 1: it was Mark Schwan was was was in the room
Speaker 1: on one of them, because it was one of those
Speaker 1: things where you go in and then they narrow it
Speaker 1: down and then you go back and uh, it was
Speaker 1: just a small room on the lot at WB and
Speaker 1: one of those bad trailers, yeah, and the bad lighting
Speaker 1: in the whole night, but um, yeah, it's just it's
Speaker 1: something clicked and suddenly it was you're on a plane
Speaker 1: to North Carolina and you're gonna go out, you know,
Speaker 1: to Wilmington's and do this, and I think it was
Speaker 1: it was only meant to be one or two episodes
Speaker 1: and then I don't know how many it was three
Speaker 1: four six. You didn't use it because the flip. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't know what. I just I think
Speaker 1: it was just based on those guys saying, you know,
Speaker 1: this is our guy. And then when I met James
Speaker 1: and Chad, you know, we had a lot of time
Speaker 1: to hang out in Charlotte at the at the race track. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and just you know, we just got on like straight away.
Speaker 1: You guys got to remember too. It's super weird because
Speaker 1: I feel like, you know, here we are, and I
Speaker 1: love this, this full circle we come back. We're all peers.
Speaker 1: But at the time, I felt like such an old guy,
Speaker 1: and what how old are you? Because we don't know
Speaker 1: you in your thirties? Yes you're not. You were, because yeah,
Speaker 1: we were all surprised because you look so young. I mean,
Speaker 1: he still looks so yeah, like, but I think I
Speaker 1: was thirty five or thirty six, and you guys were
Speaker 1: all early twenties in so I automatically thought you were
Speaker 1: like thirty and still grown up. But yeah, he's a
Speaker 1: I was. I was feeling super old and super out
Speaker 1: of place, and um, I just got a I got
Speaker 1: this instant vibe from James. I just what a what
Speaker 1: a great soul, what a great And it was true
Speaker 1: that day and it's true to this day. I saw
Speaker 1: him only a few weeks ago. We went on the
Speaker 1: hike together. You know, we lived close by each other. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we you know, we we need to stay in touch
Speaker 1: more and and we kind of make the concerted effort
Speaker 1: whenever I text him, it's you know, we get these
Speaker 1: these great text threads going where you know, it's really
Speaker 1: enthusiastic and there's just something about him that really resonates
Speaker 1: with me. And I picked up on that first day
Speaker 1: and I was like, that's just luck, that's just kids, mean, right,
Speaker 1: Like you get thrown into a part and he's supposed
Speaker 1: to me in my flesh and blood. And we had
Speaker 1: this report. So maybe that's why those scenes worked. While
Speaker 1: we're walking down rage track at the leven thirties night,
Speaker 1: you know, on a on a fifteen page one er
Speaker 1: talking about my ex supermodel wife. But it did it.
Speaker 1: It worked, and you felt this connection and you could
Speaker 1: see how this character Nathan, who was a bit of
Speaker 1: a rudderless ship at the moment, I felt grounded with
Speaker 1: Coope and the natural chemistry between the two of you.
Speaker 1: It did. I I think it. It gave like a
Speaker 1: footing to this very bizarre storyline, you know when when
Speaker 1: he's in that moment of emergency, you know, taking the
Speaker 1: car past its limits and you're telling him to come in.
Speaker 1: I really bought it. I believed your care and fear
Speaker 1: and like the look on your face, it was so honest.
Speaker 1: And yeah, we're just very impressed with what you did.
Speaker 1: Scripts did you did you get recognized by fans after
Speaker 1: you were on the show because that the show was
Speaker 1: kind of like becoming super popular right right around that time.
Speaker 1: I'll say this, to this day, of everything that I've
Speaker 1: done so far career wise, this is the single most
Speaker 1: recognizable really really battle Stars. Yeah, yeah, Battlestar and and
Speaker 1: uh yeah, even it's weird because to this day it's
Speaker 1: you can always kind of tell the demographic to who,
Speaker 1: you know, like the young mom, right the mom and
Speaker 1: her thirties daughters, like you know, kind of preteen, so
Speaker 1: they both now like mom watched it back in the
Speaker 1: day and now daughters watched it. Um. And it's always
Speaker 1: like an airports and stuff like that, but in the
Speaker 1: most random locations. But um, it's I don't notice as
Speaker 1: much as my wife does. For example, right, so we're walking,
Speaker 1: we're out someplace, and she's like, those girls are looking
Speaker 1: at you. You know, they totally turned around. I was like,
Speaker 1: I didn't see it. Actually, I was playing attention. And
Speaker 1: so we were when this is a funny story, we
Speaker 1: were this her mom was in town from Switzerland, and
Speaker 1: we all decided to go to dinner with her mom.
Speaker 1: We were at this really hip restaurant that was on
Speaker 1: lastna I forget the name of it, but we're waiting
Speaker 1: for our table and they said you can have a
Speaker 1: seat at the bar, and we were kind of early
Speaker 1: because her mom likes to eat early, and we were
Speaker 1: sitting on the short side of the bars, big bell shaped,
Speaker 1: longest bar, and we're on the short side and there
Speaker 1: was a group of about I don't know, ten eleven
Speaker 1: twelve girls in their twenties, obviously having some sort of
Speaker 1: bachelor that party. And they were down the way a
Speaker 1: bit and we were minding our own business and uh, Sandra,
Speaker 1: you know, we're talking. She squeezed my hand. She goes,
Speaker 1: they're looking over here, they're looking over there, and I
Speaker 1: was like, they just you know, what I just let
Speaker 1: it be and she does, it's just everyone we go
Speaker 1: and then they kind of looked over, and then they
Speaker 1: would talk and another girl would look over, and then
Speaker 1: this girl walks up and she's got a camera and
Speaker 1: she does that kind of you know and exactly and
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry, don't mean to bother you. And Sandra's yes, yes,
Speaker 1: it's him, it's him, okay, and she but she's very
Speaker 1: sweet about but She's like, of course it's him. And
Speaker 1: the girl goes, oh, okay, I could we just will
Speaker 1: you take a picture of our friends tonight? They were
Speaker 1: just looking for a frapher. That guy looks like he
Speaker 1: knows how to handle a camera. Sorry, I think people
Speaker 1: in the bar so and it was like, I'm so
Speaker 1: sorry to boot you, and Sounders like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: here we go. Do you want to be over here?
Speaker 1: And she went, oh my god, I just want you
Speaker 1: guys to take a pet of my friends that universal
Speaker 1: right here. But it's the strangest thing. It really is
Speaker 1: the strangest thing. How ingrained Uncle Cooper. This character has
Speaker 1: become from something that I thought was just going to be,
Speaker 1: you know, in and out, be done with. And I've
Speaker 1: gotta tell you I'm proud of it, you know, I
Speaker 1: really am. I'm I'm armed to be included with you guys.
Speaker 1: That that really means a lot to me. And and uh,
Speaker 1: it's it still blows my mind that people that the
Speaker 1: character resonates with people. And I just I thank you
Speaker 1: guys because I remember how sweet and how good you
Speaker 1: were to me when I got there. All of you.
Speaker 1: We just yeah, listen, Michael, you were a good safe
Speaker 1: dude to hang out with because you were really fun
Speaker 1: and you didn't talk down to us. You know, you
Speaker 1: had been on a lot of stuff and you were
Speaker 1: super inclusive, but you also, you know, respected boundaries and
Speaker 1: you were a very safe person to be around. Absolutely. Yeah,
Speaker 1: of course, I mean that's just it's in my nature.
Speaker 1: But yeah, you're right, and and you know you have
Speaker 1: to be caught into that, of course. And that's why
Speaker 1: I think part of it. Like I said, I felt
Speaker 1: like I was this old guy and you guys were kids.
Speaker 1: But we would go out and you know, there were
Speaker 1: nights when we all go out to dinner, we had
Speaker 1: some drinks and I was like, is this weird? Should
Speaker 1: I I should just I gotta beat it. I gotta
Speaker 1: get out of there and just go I feel like
Speaker 1: I'm out of my here. But then I bonded with
Speaker 1: like Lee, you know, and and and James, and I
Speaker 1: was like, I really enjoyed my time here. And then
Speaker 1: you know, I spent a good amount of time with
Speaker 1: Paul as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, fishing. Tell me about
Speaker 1: that trip. After he knocked me, he pushed me down.
Speaker 1: You know, we had that moment the hospital in this
Speaker 1: episode by the way, Yeah, that's right, you know at
Speaker 1: the end and he pushes me in the chest and
Speaker 1: I kind of pushed back. Well, we did a take
Speaker 1: where he shoved me into a chair because there was
Speaker 1: a chair, and I was like, oh, I see how
Speaker 1: this goes. So it was a complete and total you know,
Speaker 1: there was this pissing match going on, and Paul came
Speaker 1: and kind of wanted to set the tone and he
Speaker 1: pushed it and I pushed him back, like okay, cut, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's a little too much. Guys, Like we just
Speaker 1: kind of had this moment, and then after that we
Speaker 1: were we were totally cool. Yeah that sounds like Paul
Speaker 1: toxicity or and you're just marking your territory. Where did
Speaker 1: you hang out in Wilmington's where were your hotspots? Who
Speaker 1: have no idea? One didn't one of you guys live
Speaker 1: over a steakhouse. Well, yeah, so there was a steakhouse
Speaker 1: that was you know, I don't know what. You gotta
Speaker 1: remember my first time in Wilmington, I think it was
Speaker 1: February or March now Willington's city. Yeah, boy, in February
Speaker 1: and March, it's grim. It's like it's cold, and it
Speaker 1: was bleak exactly. It was gray, and there was no flowers,
Speaker 1: no trees, no leaves, nothing, just like dead trees, and
Speaker 1: it was really quiet. I remember walking around and looking
Speaker 1: at that battleship on the river house in that hotel,
Speaker 1: and I was like, Holy Lord, what am I doing?
Speaker 1: And I just it felt like, you know, a tumble
Speaker 1: weed would walk would go by the street when I
Speaker 1: was walking down. And I largely spent the first week
Speaker 1: or two the day I was up there by myself,
Speaker 1: just you know, going to a bar and sit and
Speaker 1: pull up and watch a NASCAR race or you know,
Speaker 1: have breakfast in some cafe. And then eventually I got
Speaker 1: to know you guys and got the land. But I
Speaker 1: can't remember so long. I remember that steakhouse is being
Speaker 1: sort of fa central meeting point and then I was
Speaker 1: just there. Well I saw you guys there. Oh god,
Speaker 1: we were there before COVID. How did we all escape
Speaker 1: that guy? I mean maybe we didn't because I think
Speaker 1: we all got sick after that. But yeah, that was
Speaker 1: the last time I saw anybody before the pandemic broke out.
Speaker 1: I saw you. Um that was it was. It was
Speaker 1: a fun convention. I want to say. It was February
Speaker 1: of two thousand twenty in the world shut down in
Speaker 1: the thirteenth of March. Yeah, bas And how were those
Speaker 1: couple of years for you? I mean, were you able
Speaker 1: to work at all? Or what did you? And Sandra?
Speaker 1: I did? I actually, um spent. It was kind of
Speaker 1: tough because I was in Vancouver for five months and
Speaker 1: I couldn't leave and son couldn't come up because we
Speaker 1: were under you know, it was non essential, you know,
Speaker 1: so we were allowed to travel as to get to Vancouver.
Speaker 1: We once we were there, we couldn't leave. So I
Speaker 1: was making that show for Netflix called Midnight Massah, and
Speaker 1: uh we shot that for We started in February. Right
Speaker 1: after I saw you guys. I went up to Vancouver
Speaker 1: and then we got shut down on March thirteenth. I
Speaker 1: spent the whole summer here at the house, which was
Speaker 1: kind of great. It was l A was a really
Speaker 1: interesting place. You know, there was no traffic. It was
Speaker 1: so beautiful. It really was right. There was something that
Speaker 1: was the silver lining. It was Yeah, there was remember
Speaker 1: the haze of fog, that of the smog that just
Speaker 1: cleared for the first time in thirty years. It was
Speaker 1: just clear. So we really enjoyed that. And then I
Speaker 1: was gone for a good portion of in in uh
Speaker 1: in Vancouver, and it was really weird to be away
Speaker 1: from my wife for five months straight. I know, not
Speaker 1: like you know, we usually try to keep a two
Speaker 1: week ruel where either she's coming to where I am
Speaker 1: or I go where she is. I was going to say,
Speaker 1: becausually have been together since two thousand and nine or
Speaker 1: did you just get married into that married in two thousand.
Speaker 1: Now we've been together since two thousand, so this isn't
Speaker 1: But okay, the two week rule, that's something that I've
Speaker 1: heard a lot of couples in this industry do. It
Speaker 1: must work, Yeah, yeah, it does work, because you know, look,
Speaker 1: sometimes it's not you can't be right to the letter
Speaker 1: two weeks. You know, there's some inconveniences. You just it's
Speaker 1: so important to check in with each other. I mean,
Speaker 1: my husband's gone all the time. Yeah. I was going
Speaker 1: to say, of course, I just keep his stunt doubles
Speaker 1: Jeff stunt double silicone face mask. Yeah. He just wrapped
Speaker 1: The Walking Dead and he was like, I mean it
Speaker 1: has his beer, Like, what are we doing? We need
Speaker 1: some photo? Hold on. I hear what you guys are saying.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, that's so nice. But you're right. He
Speaker 1: was down in Georgia and couldn't travel the quarantine and
Speaker 1: so we ever, well we spent part of the year
Speaker 1: down there when my son was doing homeschool, but we
Speaker 1: couldn't go back and forth. Um, there was no back
Speaker 1: and forth, and he was like forbidden from travel, so
Speaker 1: he would like sneak up everyone. So of course you
Speaker 1: had to be really real careful. We went up to
Speaker 1: do the pilot of Good Sam February. We were four
Speaker 1: days from picture when they were like everything shutting down.
Speaker 1: Go home, and so then we went back to do
Speaker 1: the pilot to actually film it. And yeah, Michael, same thing.
Speaker 1: The Canadian government was like you can come and you know,
Speaker 1: we'll lock you in a hotel room for two weeks.
Speaker 1: You can't open the door to order a lot of groceries.
Speaker 1: And they wouldn't. They wouldn't let grant. They write. They said,
Speaker 1: he's not essential to the production. And I was like, well,
Speaker 1: it's pretty essential to me. Actually, I just didn't get
Speaker 1: to see him for three months. It was it was crazy.
Speaker 1: I can't believe you guys have five you know, thank
Speaker 1: God for FaceTime obviously, and right we're checking every day
Speaker 1: and we talked to three times a day, and you know,
Speaker 1: that's that makes a huge difference because being able to
Speaker 1: have that one on one, that FaceTime literally FaceTime, it
Speaker 1: just it just makes life easier to see. But it's important. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we listen, we have We've been together for twenty years
Speaker 1: and we've got twenty years for a reason, because you know,
Speaker 1: we take this relationship serious and we work at it.
Speaker 1: And that's not to say that it's not without you know,
Speaker 1: difficulties and distractions were human beings, and so you have
Speaker 1: to you really have to massage it and work it
Speaker 1: and and it's a it's a choice. It's a choice
Speaker 1: that you make. And you know, if you choose to
Speaker 1: to stray or stumble then that you know you have
Speaker 1: to be accountable for that, and so we choose not
Speaker 1: to and we check in with each other and the
Speaker 1: love is real, and yeah, it's it's fascinating. I mean again,
Speaker 1: I thought I'm sounding like the old guy, you know,
Speaker 1: savee advice, But it's take us on a lap around
Speaker 1: the track to hear look at that leaning in. I
Speaker 1: don't know what all leaned towards our companions were, like
Speaker 1: tell us your secrets, Michael, for twenty years, tell us more.
Speaker 1: I fall more in love every day I get. And
Speaker 1: maybe because I turned fifty, I don't know, maybe that
Speaker 1: has something to do it. Maybe age is a factor.
Speaker 1: But it becomes abundantly clear to me that having that presence,
Speaker 1: that energy, my person, my soul mate, is invaluable and
Speaker 1: I will do nothing to compromise that, and to jeopardize that,
Speaker 1: and and her and and so the protection instinct kicks in.
Speaker 1: And it's just when you have when you build a
Speaker 1: shorthand with somebody, you know, I can't imagine starting, Oh
Speaker 1: my god, I imagine. I don't. I don't, man, I
Speaker 1: just I I the whole. I can't because the generation
Speaker 1: that has to date on this and they have to yea, well,
Speaker 1: who is that? Jason Mova Lisa. It was like they
Speaker 1: broke up for two weeks and then they were like,
Speaker 1: you know what, never mind, we don't want to I
Speaker 1: don't want to do it. Yeah, so I don't. I
Speaker 1: just can't relate to that. I just I'm from a
Speaker 1: different generation. So I'm very I'm very happy and I'm grateful.
Speaker 1: And that's what it is is you have to have
Speaker 1: you have to have gratitude and you have to be
Speaker 1: aware of it. You just have to. You got to
Speaker 1: acknowledge it. Don't take anything for granted. But this is
Speaker 1: what your advice, as Uncle Cooper landed, because it's it's
Speaker 1: authentic to you. You know, you can tell that you're
Speaker 1: not some sleazy dude that's out there trying to hook
Speaker 1: up with everybody you know, and like you're giving this,
Speaker 1: But Michael, you didn't play it that. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1: Try not to know a lot. I mean, it could
Speaker 1: have been it could have been creepy. We were even
Speaker 1: saying the supermodel line could have come across like kind
Speaker 1: of sleazy and creepy. But it didn't at all, just
Speaker 1: came across the sincere and like, isn't that crazy? Yeah,
Speaker 1: isn't my life kind of wild? My waist ad that
Speaker 1: I was like, Jesus God. And then and then I
Speaker 1: end up sleeping with the seventeen year along the show.
Speaker 1: So you oh, Danielle, Oh, I forgot honey. They did
Speaker 1: it to all of us. Like, so hookes up with
Speaker 1: a teacher, I hook up with a dude in a band? Joy,
Speaker 1: did you ever hook up with an adult? Well, Chris
Speaker 1: Christ in high school? Wait, what's that storyline? Well, that's
Speaker 1: where I was during this episode, was off on a
Speaker 1: music tour and that's why she sang that song at
Speaker 1: the campfire because that was a song that I started
Speaker 1: singing with with Tyler Hilton before we went off on tour.
Speaker 1: So that like offended Nathan and yes coming together. Yeah. Also,
Speaker 1: can we talk about that for one second while we're
Speaker 1: just talking about the ways this episode jumped the shark
Speaker 1: who lets a bunch of people camp in the center
Speaker 1: grass at a NASCAR with fire track and light a
Speaker 1: fire vehicles. What's happening in this episode? And there's lanterns, Like,
Speaker 1: what is going on? Somebody broto lantern race track through
Speaker 1: his bloodlights and then it's like, you know what we
Speaker 1: need this this little tinny daddy lantern lamps. Man our
Speaker 1: shows all about the Skinna lamp. That was yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know true. What's your background with NASCAR? Um
Speaker 1: So I raced. I went to racing school. I race
Speaker 1: in this ridiculous series called the twenty four hours and Lemons,
Speaker 1: which is a play on the twenty four of the
Speaker 1: mons is where everybody has to purchase a car for
Speaker 1: five dollars in less. And I know this race. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 1: I have a friend who's done it. Where does this happen.
Speaker 1: This happens all over the country, from from California to
Speaker 1: New Hampshire. There there's there's races just about every other weekend.
Speaker 1: You guys, this is an internet rabbit hole, that is.
Speaker 1: So what's it called? It's called twenty four hours of Lemons. Okay,
Speaker 1: we're all right in this town. This is a real
Speaker 1: big thing. We were the We called our team the
Speaker 1: mastera Rachis because we had a Mazda and it was
Speaker 1: painted like a Mexican flag and we wore we wore
Speaker 1: big some bar. So it's kind of like, you know,
Speaker 1: it's sort of Marti grab everybody dresses up for it
Speaker 1: in your car. Each car has a theme. This is
Speaker 1: so fun. I want to go. I've got five hundred dollars.
Speaker 1: I'll sponsor you. Let's get a car and spray paint
Speaker 1: a crown on it and got drama can wet it.
Speaker 1: And it's way less high stakes than that pinball rally. Yes, oh,
Speaker 1: way less Yeah, the pinball rallies, like with with Lamborghinis.
Speaker 1: And these are five piece of cars. Yeah, joyl drive
Speaker 1: over anything. I have a driver, yea. Not a fascination
Speaker 1: with the racing. Um. I just always said I grew
Speaker 1: up in the wrong state. I grew up in California.
Speaker 1: If I grew up in a state like North Carolina
Speaker 1: or someplace in the South where you know, racing is culturally,
Speaker 1: you know, in their blood, I can see where that
Speaker 1: was something I probably would have pursued. I just you know,
Speaker 1: as a kid, way back, I would watch racing with
Speaker 1: my dad and everybody else was watching football and basketball, baseball.
Speaker 1: You know, I wasn't watching those sports. I was watching racing,
Speaker 1: IndyCar music, NASCAR, racing, Formula One. So that was kind
Speaker 1: of a it was kids. Mean, it was when this
Speaker 1: role came up, I don't know if I told you
Speaker 1: this story as conventions before. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: guys know the story. I was on the plane from
Speaker 1: l A to North Carolina, and I was going through
Speaker 1: the script, you know, as you do, and getting ready
Speaker 1: to go on to the show, and I'm trying to
Speaker 1: get a good sense of, you know, who this guy is,
Speaker 1: and it just referred to this character's Cooper Um and
Speaker 1: so I was like, I need to do a deep dive.
Speaker 1: And I know that I'm Dep's brother, and and somewhere
Speaker 1: I found the name Lee, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: so the character is called Cooper Lee. And I put
Speaker 1: that together and that some I'm sitting on the plane
Speaker 1: and I'm wearing this jacket that actually made it to
Speaker 1: the show. And the reason it made it to the
Speaker 1: show is because it was some cheesy leather jacket I
Speaker 1: got on mel Rows years ago. But the brand was
Speaker 1: Lee Cooper and the name was stitched. The name was
Speaker 1: stitched onto the sleeve and said And I took the
Speaker 1: jacket off and I looked aside. It was called the
Speaker 1: Lee Cooper jacket. And I was over here to Cooper Lee,
Speaker 1: and I was like, Okay, this jacket has to be
Speaker 1: on the show. So that's the one that I'm wearing
Speaker 1: in that episode when we're walking on the track, and
Speaker 1: I thought Wardrobe did it. That's yeah, nuts, stuff like
Speaker 1: that happened and I love it. And I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: it's meant to be with your knowledge of NASCAR, Like,
Speaker 1: what did you see in this episode? Because you know,
Speaker 1: in like like when military guys watch military shows and
Speaker 1: they're like, oh my god, they're like that's bullsh What
Speaker 1: did you see in this episode where you're like, no,
Speaker 1: hate it? Yeah, well, just the disparity between the cars
Speaker 1: look like they're going about thirty five miles an hour,
Speaker 1: and the idea that we're supposed to be on a
Speaker 1: hundred thirty five miles an hour. Um, you know, there
Speaker 1: was a few things that listen. I'm sure NASCAR guys
Speaker 1: are also, I'm not certain that you'd put two kids
Speaker 1: in the car on the second day that they're there
Speaker 1: or four kids. Yeah, they do have schools like that
Speaker 1: and you do a lead follow, but they don't really
Speaker 1: open it up to hey, I'm going to take the
Speaker 1: high line. I definitely if I'm a professional race car driver,
Speaker 1: I don't bump draft my nephew in front of me
Speaker 1: and his first day on the car, first day of
Speaker 1: the car, and you grew up and you hit him
Speaker 1: on the you know, that's that's unbelievable. So that was
Speaker 1: a little probably a little dicey um, but I think
Speaker 1: it was good. Like they had the terminology right when
Speaker 1: Skyli gets out of the car, she goes, it's loosening
Speaker 1: tight off um. You know those are terms that they used,
Speaker 1: meaning at the car at the back end comes around
Speaker 1: and the front end pushes and and so I thought
Speaker 1: all that stuff was good. I mean, Jeff Burden was
Speaker 1: there that that legitimized it. Yeah, he's a big deal man.
Speaker 1: I used to lie when I was a kid and
Speaker 1: tell people I was related to him. That's the same name.
Speaker 1: At hearing that, because we were talking to about you
Speaker 1: know how you and Skyler were both such highlights of
Speaker 1: this episode. She's just so lovely and we were jealous
Speaker 1: that we didn't get to work with her. So it's
Speaker 1: nice to hear that. You know, the stuff she had
Speaker 1: to do was as accurate as it could be. Was
Speaker 1: that role meant were they gonna expand that was that
Speaker 1: going to be a potential Dude, we were just talking
Speaker 1: before you came on. It felt to us like they
Speaker 1: were prepping for a spin off. Interesting. So do you
Speaker 1: guys know the story. I was doing Battlestar at the
Speaker 1: same time as this, and I was recurring on both shows.
Speaker 1: And this is one of those weird moments that you
Speaker 1: can't orchestrate as an actor. You know, you just want
Speaker 1: all the forces aligne. At one time I was going
Speaker 1: to Vancouver but shoot an episode or two Battle Start,
Speaker 1: going to go back to see you guys in North Carolina.
Speaker 1: And then inevitably there was that one year, I think
Speaker 1: it was towards the end of the season, maybe at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the next whenever it was that Battle
Speaker 1: Start called and said hey, we need you for these dates,
Speaker 1: and your show called instead of when you do for
Speaker 1: the exact same dates, and we're like, so we came
Speaker 1: to this impass and um, I don't know if you know,
Speaker 1: but both shows stepped up and and there was a
Speaker 1: scenario where Mark had approached me and said, we want
Speaker 1: to bring you in to the fold next season full time,
Speaker 1: and Sophia they were going to hook our characters up together.
Speaker 1: I was robbed. I was yeah, that was because you know,
Speaker 1: how there was gonna be a time jump. I think
Speaker 1: you guys at all graduated and then yeah, god, you
Speaker 1: were going to come in for five for grown up
Speaker 1: Brooke Davis, the owner of Clothes Over Bros. Dating the
Speaker 1: Hombrace car Drive. What the man? I was so mad.
Speaker 1: I didn't know that. That makes you sad, Honey. We're
Speaker 1: gonna have to send her flowers. We're gonna have I
Speaker 1: would have loved to have like a good buddy, be
Speaker 1: my on screen boyfriend. That would have been so nice.
Speaker 1: But then you got you that in my adult life,
Speaker 1: and it's been so nice, Like it's so even. Like
Speaker 1: on my show now my character is in a bit
Speaker 1: of a love triangle. And Edwin Hodge, who interestingly enough,
Speaker 1: was on One Tree Hill with us back in the day,
Speaker 1: and then Michael Stall David, who I love from Narcos.
Speaker 1: They're like the two guys my characters trying to figure
Speaker 1: her show with, and they're like two of my best friends,
Speaker 1: and it's so funny. That's so great. Yeah, I feel robbed.
Speaker 1: Then you've got your battlestar that offered you a series regular.
Speaker 1: That's what happened. So then One One News Got One
Speaker 1: got wind of the other one. Yeah, They're like, well,
Speaker 1: hold on a second, and um, I think yeah. I
Speaker 1: think it was just came down to you know, I
Speaker 1: was looking and I've got it, given you a better deal,
Speaker 1: of course, yeah, you're a free agent and it was.
Speaker 1: And I don't regret at all. I mean, listen, I do.
Speaker 1: I would love to have spent more time with you guys.
Speaker 1: And like I said, I don't regret for a second
Speaker 1: my time on One Tree and it's been It's been
Speaker 1: amazing because the reaction just from being there for a
Speaker 1: short time. I was like, why, it would have been
Speaker 1: great to have spent a whole another season or two
Speaker 1: with you guys. Um, And I'd love to see what
Speaker 1: that would have taken me. But I think Battlestar was
Speaker 1: such a great experience for me, and it put me.
Speaker 1: It gave me a whole you know, opened a lot
Speaker 1: of doors, like a behind the scenes thing that a
Speaker 1: lot of people think about in terms of how actors
Speaker 1: have to make decisions like that. You know, for you,
Speaker 1: l A to Vancouver is a quick three hour flight
Speaker 1: that's easy for you and Sondra for your relationship. You're
Speaker 1: in the same time zone, you can see each other
Speaker 1: on the weekends. Wilmington's is not only you know, across
Speaker 1: the country and three hours later, but there's no direct flight,
Speaker 1: so it's just eight hours flying, not even the travel
Speaker 1: time to and from the airport on either side. It's
Speaker 1: our flight two planes to get there. So it doesn't
Speaker 1: surprise me that you know, someone in your position who
Speaker 1: loves and prioritizes his relationship with his wife is like
Speaker 1: I almost gay close to home, So you know that,
Speaker 1: I mean, you could not have iterated that better. That's exactly.
Speaker 1: That factor in a lot into it, of course, because
Speaker 1: Vancouver not only is the flight show, you're in the
Speaker 1: same time zone, and that's just it just it makes
Speaker 1: things so much less complicated. There's nothing worse than trying
Speaker 1: to communicate on two different time zones so hard and
Speaker 1: invariably it's that what times there? Why are you up?
Speaker 1: Are you up? You know, like, oh my god, you know,
Speaker 1: well I'm just going to sleep, but you're just getting
Speaker 1: up and I'm going to sleep and you're out at
Speaker 1: dinner with our friends. Like it's just it's so hard. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So those things can can you know, there can be
Speaker 1: a grind and that definitely has a factor in the decision.
Speaker 1: But you know, I wished in an alternate universe that
Speaker 1: there was a scenario where Cooper was back and see, now,
Speaker 1: now you can like throw the Reese Witherspoon thing at
Speaker 1: the networks and be like, well she did big little
Speaker 1: eyes and little fires everywhere at the same time. Let
Speaker 1: me be on two shows at once. But at the time,
Speaker 1: shows would not allow that, like the idea he would
Speaker 1: work on one show and then work on another. Networks
Speaker 1: were like, who do you think you are a person?
Speaker 1: And you're like, well, I'm an actor, so I'd like
Speaker 1: to act. I don't know what they wanted. Exclusivity for sure,
Speaker 1: and that's ultimately what they had to step up to
Speaker 1: the deal and come with the deal. You know, when
Speaker 1: you're recurring, they don't own your time, you know, and
Speaker 1: so you're bouncing between shows and you're paid accordingly. If
Speaker 1: they're gonna, if they're gonna, you know, secure your time,
Speaker 1: then of course you get you get paid more. But
Speaker 1: then you're you're explicit that show. So yeah, that worked out,
Speaker 1: But how are you guys doing? Who cares about us?
Speaker 1: What I want to know is, um, all these guitars
Speaker 1: hanging on your back wall, we had we had a
Speaker 1: little bit of music in this episode at the weird
Speaker 1: bonfire in the middle of the field. Um, am I
Speaker 1: an idiot for not knowing that you're a musician? Are
Speaker 1: you a musician? No? Those are cake I'm a baker. Shot.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, those are made out of frosting. And
Speaker 1: do you have a band? You? What do you? What
Speaker 1: are you doing? Swing? Swing the camera? That was my
Speaker 1: simple world? Did your hair in a band? Full? So
Speaker 1: you're still recording? Then you're still not really but like
Speaker 1: this is yeah. So there's a j C one twenty,
Speaker 1: which is a classic. There's this pedal board that pulling
Speaker 1: this up on Google? Simple? What now? Con simple world?
Speaker 1: I'm right, I'm literally writing it on a post that
Speaker 1: one word. No, I was terrible voice, but well I
Speaker 1: did back up, but you could bury back up in
Speaker 1: the mix and nobody knows it bad or not. Yeah.
Speaker 1: We um oh you got you got? Um I'm looking
Speaker 1: at someone. Oh my god, god yea god? Yeah T shirt? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: which picture is that? I don't know what you guys
Speaker 1: in the viper room you're playing the viper rooms? Yeah,
Speaker 1: we were, We were legit for about a half. I'm
Speaker 1: following your band now, thank my god, Yes, what was
Speaker 1: that again? This is so funny how really with age
Speaker 1: comes wisdom. At the time, we didn't. We didn't appreciate
Speaker 1: what we were doing. We were we were chasing the dragon.
Speaker 1: We were always trying to be what was happening in
Speaker 1: the scene because we were always a step behind the trend.
Speaker 1: We were a big arena um YouTube style, r E M,
Speaker 1: Rolling Stones, rock and roll band when grunge and like
Speaker 1: clubs and like super angsty emo was happening and we weren't.
Speaker 1: We were pop and we apologize for it. We apologize
Speaker 1: in our performance. We apologize and using me, you know.
Speaker 1: And so like those days at the Viper and when
Speaker 1: you were lined up with four other bands and you
Speaker 1: have your half hour of slot or st and all
Speaker 1: these other guys dripping cool. Everybody was just they were
Speaker 1: they were like it felt that way. I've had to
Speaker 1: explay this to my son, where I'm just like dudes
Speaker 1: and bands or nerds and they just are yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure, Like you know, I mean, my drummer was
Speaker 1: wearing you know, this is the nineties and early two thousands.
Speaker 1: He was wearing uh shoelaces, shoes with two different shoelaces
Speaker 1: that were hot pink and hot, you know, green, and
Speaker 1: they said new kids on the block, you know, like
Speaker 1: nobody would would be rocking New Kids on the Block
Speaker 1: when they were still super popular like that. Roney wasn't
Speaker 1: cool yet. The early two thousand's were not ironic. We
Speaker 1: had to like get out. Yeah, yeah, so we were.
Speaker 1: We didn't really I wish I could go back and
Speaker 1: enjoy it a little bit more. We were always like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, we got to be this, we have
Speaker 1: to be that, and we have to dress like that.
Speaker 1: And I was like, no, you don't. You just got
Speaker 1: to do whatever you do, whatever your jam is, whatever
Speaker 1: your sound is, and however you choose to dress and perform,
Speaker 1: that's who you are. It takes a while to figure
Speaker 1: that out, though, especially as artists, because I think built
Speaker 1: into most artists is the desire to be liked and
Speaker 1: you want the attention, you want the strokes, the accolades,
Speaker 1: you want all of that, and so the easiest way
Speaker 1: to get that is to fit in where you see
Speaker 1: that everybody else getting all that's right, and it's hard
Speaker 1: to realize like, actually you being original and bringing something
Speaker 1: that's only from you to the table is what ultimately
Speaker 1: will give you the fulfillment that you're looking. Yeah, you're
Speaker 1: so right, and you hear that and people tell you that,
Speaker 1: and that's the advice that you were given and you
Speaker 1: see it on shows like Eric and Idolwold, like you
Speaker 1: just be yourself and be authentic to yourself and you
Speaker 1: always don't. Yeah, and then you and then there's like
Speaker 1: an A and R exactly who's like, you know what
Speaker 1: you need kids like to like this guy. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: had to produce her a manager who's like, you know,
Speaker 1: our singer's name was Zeus by the way, I mean,
Speaker 1: if you if you're yeah, well his real name is
Speaker 1: his Susman doesn't, but his whole life he went by Zeus.
Speaker 1: That's so that's just a rad name from a singer.
Speaker 1: But at one point they tried to get him to
Speaker 1: sing kind of gravelly like Eddie Vetter. Yes, exactly, everybody
Speaker 1: was doing the Eddie Vetter was her. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: it's like how everybody tries to sound like Marcus Momford. Now, yes, exactly.
Speaker 1: So that's that was the stuff that we were fighting
Speaker 1: because exactly what you said, Hillary, that somebody told us, well,
Speaker 1: if you guys want to you know, just make it
Speaker 1: to the next level. You need to sound, you need
Speaker 1: to be this, and we didn't need to be anything.
Speaker 1: We just were what we were. But it was it
Speaker 1: was short lived. I mean it wasn't shortly. We had
Speaker 1: the band for a long time, but by the time
Speaker 1: we all got into our thirties, was starting to Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's too late, Michael. We have these conventions.
Speaker 1: Everybody plays at the conventions. Hell, if I wanted to
Speaker 1: start a band thing, let me play, Okay. I'm also like,
Speaker 1: do you do you just still play at home for
Speaker 1: fun for you Yeah. Yeah, that's why. That's what most
Speaker 1: of the stuff is that it is. You know, it's
Speaker 1: a great it's super therapeutic and uh like, for example,
Speaker 1: when I was in Vancouver five months, I brought one
Speaker 1: of my guitars and here's the other thing that I
Speaker 1: you know, if I wish I had had back then
Speaker 1: as this university of YouTube. I became an infinitely better
Speaker 1: guitar player in five months sitting in my apartment in Vancouver,
Speaker 1: because I was like, I've always wanted to learn, uh
Speaker 1: this solo from you know, whatever song, you know, pick something,
Speaker 1: pick a song or something that I was like, I've
Speaker 1: always we used to play it, but I never played
Speaker 1: it right. And now you can just die it up
Speaker 1: on YouTube. And guy goes, well, here's what you want
Speaker 1: to do, and he just shows you how to play it.
Speaker 1: And if you have the time and you have the
Speaker 1: basic cognitive knowledge of a guitar, you can you can
Speaker 1: learn these things. And so through I spent five months
Speaker 1: every day playing the guitar in Vancouver, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I never knew. I never knew this, you know, put
Speaker 1: that into our music because I was I was pretty
Speaker 1: rudim entering. I mean, you know, our our music is simple,
Speaker 1: hence the name Simple World. But it was it was
Speaker 1: very it was poppy, and it was you know, it
Speaker 1: was just simple, good old fashioned. You're going to have
Speaker 1: to send us a video for us to post on
Speaker 1: art social media. You can bask in like the sexy
Speaker 1: guitar plane. I think you get your shirt undone too,
Speaker 1: you know, but sexy. Okay, there's that pictures shirt, but
Speaker 1: this is even better. This is the mouth breather, oh
Speaker 1: my god, with no shirt underneath. And then the headband.
Speaker 1: You're still giving me strong Craig Scheffer vibes. This right,
Speaker 1: but you're gonna have to give us the same amp
Speaker 1: that amp is right there. No way that I love that.
Speaker 1: We need you to play as a song. Sure well
Speaker 1: right now, I mean whenever you want, whatever you Honestly,
Speaker 1: I hate to be weird, but I'm like, but if
Speaker 1: you said us a video, we can watch it more
Speaker 1: than once up you can. You can't. You're in a
Speaker 1: phone call. Like That's why I like letters. We can't.
Speaker 1: I like things I can hold on to. Is that
Speaker 1: what Uncle Cooper is doing right now? That's what the
Speaker 1: fans always asking, what's your character doing? Now? Do you question?
Speaker 1: Now he's let's see Coopers now? Yeah, you know you
Speaker 1: could conceivably in NASCAR, give you raising it this possibility.
Speaker 1: I think he's still in the game. I think he's
Speaker 1: in racing. I think he owns a team. Yeah, he's
Speaker 1: got he's got twenty two year old drivers and you
Speaker 1: know that that's the new up and coming generation. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I think Cooper Lee's uh, that whole that team, that
Speaker 1: whole business is still is still going like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I love it. What can we tell people to watch
Speaker 1: you in? What can we point to? What are you
Speaker 1: working on right now? Well? So I did finish in
Speaker 1: that mass which was on Netflix, which if you guys
Speaker 1: like horror, I don't know if you guys are down
Speaker 1: with the ho do. I mean, I'm carrying around my
Speaker 1: husband's fake heads. So I just had a horror movie
Speaker 1: come out, how you did, My first time ever doing
Speaker 1: a horror movie. It's called so called The River. It's
Speaker 1: it's out now. But what's in what's Midnight Mass about? Oh? God,
Speaker 1: midnight Mass? Um? It's really scary. Yeah, it's it's it's
Speaker 1: really esoteric. It's midnight Mass as a UM it's a
Speaker 1: study on religion. Actually, it just gets into the lore
Speaker 1: of of faith and um fanaticism and um. It's about
Speaker 1: a small fishing island that's about thirty miles off the
Speaker 1: coast of the you know, the United States, and this
Speaker 1: staunchly Catholic little fishing society has had the same monsignor
Speaker 1: for seven decades and suddenly he falls ill, and this
Speaker 1: young priest shows up and says, I'm not here to
Speaker 1: replace them, und just here, you know, to fill in
Speaker 1: for Father Paul or for Monseigneur Prewit. And when this
Speaker 1: priest shows up, strange things start happening on the Island,
Speaker 1: and yeah, it gets it's it's a slow burn. It starts,
Speaker 1: it kind of pulls you in and then it just
Speaker 1: gets crazy and it's it's a it's a study on
Speaker 1: life and death in religion. And uh, it's all set
Speaker 1: in a horror genre, which is interesting. You know. That's
Speaker 1: what Mike Flanning and does so well is take horror
Speaker 1: and turns the convention on its head and actually gives
Speaker 1: you this real deep, esoteric think piece. And so I'm
Speaker 1: leaving this end of this month to go back up.
Speaker 1: We're doing the next one. Um. It's called The Fall
Speaker 1: of the House of Usher. It's based on the Brow
Speaker 1: and Pope. Yeah, it's five ed growling poet short stories.
Speaker 1: It's like the Pillar. Hi, Michael, you want to put
Speaker 1: a word in for me, I'm your creepy friend. I can.
Speaker 1: I can make the introduction. Trust me, You'll never meet
Speaker 1: a goth girl. That's so cool. So I'm very fortunate
Speaker 1: to kind of have been, yeah, sort of adopted into
Speaker 1: the They call it the flana Verse, the Mike Flannagan universe.
Speaker 1: Is like he's notorious. All of us from Midnight Mass
Speaker 1: have come back for the House of Usher. That is
Speaker 1: so cool, and they were in a lot of them
Speaker 1: were in Midnight I'm sorry, the Haunting of Hill House,
Speaker 1: the Haunting of Manner, So those are all like I
Speaker 1: did this movie called Hush with with Mike. It's really
Speaker 1: small in the film. We shot in Alabama and twenty
Speaker 1: one days and I just gotten into Yeah, that was
Speaker 1: a great movie and I just got into his world.
Speaker 1: And thank God, because it's just it's a it's a
Speaker 1: it's you know, it's a strange world. And we were
Speaker 1: gluttons for punishment this business. Well, and that's why we've
Speaker 1: all stayed together. It's important to find your little families
Speaker 1: and to nurture them. And we're so glad that, you know,
Speaker 1: even though this episode was kind of a doozy, you
Speaker 1: became a part of our family in this episode in
Speaker 1: a way that's so grateful. Yeah, I didn't stink up
Speaker 1: the joint when I showed that it was a break.
Speaker 1: You were the gift. You saved it the show for sure. Well, guys,
Speaker 1: should we spin a wheel? Michael? We spent a wheel
Speaker 1: every week because this is a show about high school,
Speaker 1: so we do most likely too. From the yearbook, Oh
Speaker 1: who is fast likely to compete on Dancing with the Stars,
Speaker 1: so we do, so we do who which character do
Speaker 1: you think and then which person in real life do
Speaker 1: you think would be the most likely too, So we
Speaker 1: have two answers. Always Okay, dancing, I have to answer that. Well,
Speaker 1: here's the thing. I have to make a confession. My
Speaker 1: husband wants me to do Dancing with the Stard Jeff.
Speaker 1: Jeff's like, I think you should do it, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: what are you talking about. He's like, Oh, you're just
Speaker 1: always moving your body weird around the house. Like I
Speaker 1: did not say no to that show because you know what,
Speaker 1: it's a lot of hard work and you just get
Speaker 1: to completely throw yourself into it. I know people have
Speaker 1: done this show and it's like it's so much work,
Speaker 1: but it's so fun and such a great Really think
Speaker 1: I just want to be strong, Like do you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? Like you see everyone's muscles when they're done,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, yeah, I got honest. I would totally
Speaker 1: not do that show. I can't think of anything more
Speaker 1: tortures and horrifying and terrifying. That is my chili. I'm
Speaker 1: an awful day. That's your next horror film, that's the
Speaker 1: next Gary movie. You have to do. You have to
Speaker 1: waltz in the next plan Verse project Goode Bevin doing
Speaker 1: Dancing with the Stars. Bevin's character's good. You know who
Speaker 1: first came to mind for me? Who I think would
Speaker 1: be so good? Barbara right, dancing with the slash Barbara. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was I could agree. Okay, that's the winner event
Speaker 1: so good. But Hillary, I'm I'm encouraging, you know, I'm not. No, No,
Speaker 1: this is like my husband thing so weird. Um, it's
Speaker 1: like wanting to see you and dance around and some sparkles.
Speaker 1: I bet he's like, you know what would be? I
Speaker 1: can just do that at home, Like I don't want
Speaker 1: to go on TV. I think that's I think the
Speaker 1: world needs no you could you know what, Hillary, With
Speaker 1: both of our musical theater background, like there's there's something
Speaker 1: that happens in there. You never quite get away from that.
Speaker 1: Just dancing in your life and your right, I think
Speaker 1: you never joy And I want to do Cabaret on Broadway.
Speaker 1: That's what we I mean, sorry, not Chicov in my brain,
Speaker 1: Jolie and I want to do Chicago on Broadway. There's
Speaker 1: only one role in Cabaret, like you want to do
Speaker 1: Broadway in Chicago. We could trade off. Yeah, did you
Speaker 1: guys do a lot of musical theater? Yeah, a lot
Speaker 1: you did. But if you watched this episode, you can
Speaker 1: tell that I wasn't the better dancer. Joy Is definitely
Speaker 1: I was in this episode. I was a ghost. I
Speaker 1: just leave it. And then she wasn't it was you
Speaker 1: and Mora and Barbara. It was too Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1: It was the two of us and then Barb and
Speaker 1: Moira cringe ist dancing ever, Yeah, it was pretty cringe
Speaker 1: e I was. I was just pissed. I was like, God,
Speaker 1: I was like I danced in school, not having music
Speaker 1: and being expected to do a routine. And even so,
Speaker 1: I'm so bad about it. Even the girls, the cute
Speaker 1: girls who did the coyote ugly routine in the last episode,
Speaker 1: they got choreography. I was like, we have some anyway,
Speaker 1: I'll be thinking about that for the next ten years.
Speaker 1: But most of the time, dancing makes me a couple
Speaker 1: of watching it. Even I don't like watching people dancing.
Speaker 1: Get huh, you can all be uncomfortable together this episode, guy, Hey,
Speaker 1: how did you guys know you have to go? But
Speaker 1: I'm just curious how the three you guys. Y'all did
Speaker 1: good Sam right you guys? Yeah? We do so fun,
Speaker 1: so fun, so fun to go on so show and
Speaker 1: you know she's killing it over there and she's just
Speaker 1: so well loved and respected and it's so nice to
Speaker 1: see her in her element like that, and for all
Speaker 1: of us to also just play together again. I know,
Speaker 1: I last wait, is that your way of being like
Speaker 1: you want to be on season two? Have a love
Speaker 1: Triangles like you want to love Square? Yes, my god,
Speaker 1: you know Davis loves plus on. I'm just saying, oh
Speaker 1: my god, Michael, please come on my show so I
Speaker 1: can get the dream that I didn't even know was
Speaker 1: someone from me until the day. Let's make that full
Speaker 1: circle to happen. This has been an informative episode Evil Cities,
Speaker 1: Evil Cities. He wasn't there for that part. Sorry, it
Speaker 1: was a whole I love it. Michael. You are the best.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for coming to play with us today.
Speaker 1: That was so fun, so great to see it all
Speaker 1: three of you. And um, I'm in l a. Let's
Speaker 1: go for a hike. I'd love to come. I know.
Speaker 1: I thank you. Like Sophia and I, we contact each
Speaker 1: other and was like them on Instagram, and I was like,
Speaker 1: that's that's so so what we do. We're pretty good.
Speaker 1: We get back to each other and I love it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you have yes, you have my you got my email?
Speaker 1: You know I would love to. I love to hook
Speaker 1: a couple, go and do a hike or something. That'd
Speaker 1: be great. Perfect everybody fine, take care? Oh everybody, that
Speaker 1: was so fun. Thanks for listening. They just love him. Hey, girls,
Speaker 1: here's to our high hopes for a better episode next week.
Speaker 1: You know, squirrely ones in a row means we gotta
Speaker 1: get a good one next week, right, Yeah, what do
Speaker 1: we know about it? What's it called? Can we get
Speaker 1: a teaser with our title? Next week's episode? Season two,
Speaker 1: episode twenties called Lifetime Piling Up? Oh? God ready, Joy,
Speaker 1: do us a favor? Can you create a mixed drink
Speaker 1: for next week's episode so that we can get through us?
Speaker 1: I love that idea? Help? Okay, alright, cocktail time is happening. Alright,
Speaker 1: I love you guys to Hey, thanks for listening. Don't
Speaker 1: forget to leave us a review. You can also follow
Speaker 1: us on Instagram at Drama Queen's th h or email
Speaker 1: us at Drama Queens at I Heart Radio dot com.
Speaker 1: See you next time. We are all about that high
Speaker 1: school drama. Girl drama girl, all about them high school queens.
Speaker 1: We'll take you for a ride in our comic Girl
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