Speaker 1: Welcome to the second part of our interview with writer
Speaker 1: Lenny Rips. We hope you enjoyed all of the memories
Speaker 1: we've shared so far during part one, and we have
Speaker 1: so much more to catch up on, So without further ado,
Speaker 1: here is Part two with Lenny. Lenny, we have to
Speaker 1: talk about one episode you wrote that is just so
Speaker 1: legendary on this podcast. It's the Sea Cruise episode, Yeah,
Speaker 1: which is universally regarded by us, our listeners and even
Speaker 1: Jeff Franklin ass episode and Channa Sween the worst episode
Speaker 1: in Full House.
Speaker 2: History written by you. We're bringing the ups and the downs, Lenny.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean.
Speaker 1: No, you're not safe on this podcast.
Speaker 4: If you do it every week, sometimes the assausgage is
Speaker 4: gonna spoil.
Speaker 3: That's true.
Speaker 2: Well, it was also what was it like the third
Speaker 2: episode of the show or something.
Speaker 3: It was exactly definitely.
Speaker 2: It's It's funny because you go back and watch it,
Speaker 2: and I think the reason that everyone goes, oh, secrews
Speaker 2: is because it's it was one of the first like
Speaker 2: five episodes that were meeting everybody, and it was the
Speaker 2: I think the first episode where it like immediately became
Speaker 2: obvious that the chemistry was was the family and the kids.
Speaker 2: It wasn't just the adults and their dating and their
Speaker 2: whatever like that was they were like, oh, we'll try this,
Speaker 2: but it just like that episode when you take it
Speaker 2: with sort of the cannon of all of the rest
Speaker 2: of Full House, you go, ah, that's why that one
Speaker 2: wasn't the thing, because it the magic was the family
Speaker 2: and that took us so kind of far away from it.
Speaker 2: But it was one of those things that you're like,
Speaker 2: we gotta try it, gotta you know.
Speaker 5: Upsitcoms are about exactly figuring it out what they're about.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's hard to like figure out who how
Speaker 2: are these people? Who are these people and how are
Speaker 2: they you know, what what are their dynamics?
Speaker 3: What is their life?
Speaker 5: Hey, you don't know the actor right right? So you
Speaker 5: what if it, well, what's their strength, what's Kimmy's strengths,
Speaker 5: what's Danny's strength? And that and you that's an experiment, yeah,
Speaker 5: you know, and and so that keeps.
Speaker 4: In the first season at least that keeps evolving for sure.
Speaker 3: Character change, Yeah, you definitely.
Speaker 2: We we got through watching the first season and it
Speaker 2: was really remarkable to watch the development of characters and
Speaker 2: story and relationship, and to watch us as actors also
Speaker 2: start becoming closer on screen, and you see the relationships
Speaker 2: developing between us as a as a family, you know,
Speaker 2: in real life, but it starts being portrayed through how
Speaker 2: these characters are interacting. You see from episode one to
Speaker 2: the end of the season, all of a sudden, it's
Speaker 2: like everyone's like, oh my god, I love you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but you.
Speaker 5: See, for a writing stuff, you have to evolve to that, Yeah,
Speaker 5: that's not going to be the first episode or the
Speaker 5: third episode or the episode. Your hope is that everyone
Speaker 5: is a little step closer.
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah.
Speaker 2: I find the first season of any show, you know,
Speaker 2: whether you're watching it, whether you're in it.
Speaker 3: When you go back and watch the like.
Speaker 2: The first half of the first season, usually you're like, oh, wow,
Speaker 2: this this could have gone really different, Like I say,
Speaker 2: it could have been a whole other show.
Speaker 3: And then you get to.
Speaker 2: Like season three or four and you're like, ah, they
Speaker 2: figured out what they're doing right, right, which is why
Speaker 2: the Bummer is now in television. It's so hard because
Speaker 2: you get thirteen episodes, so like, if your first episode
Speaker 2: isn't completely like all the characters aren't exactly where they
Speaker 2: need to be. It feels like sometimes people go, well,
Speaker 2: that's all right, not to cancel it. You're like, but
Speaker 2: the first few shows of any show are always kind
Speaker 2: of shaky gives.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's a discarver.
Speaker 1: So Secrews was a big experiment. Episode didn't exactly work,
Speaker 1: but that's okay, It's part of the process.
Speaker 4: I'm sure I wrote worse.
Speaker 2: No, I think it's just Secrews, just secrets as far
Speaker 2: as Full House goes.
Speaker 3: But one thing that's speaking of worse.
Speaker 2: What Andrea did want to talk about was the Star
Speaker 2: Wars Christmas Special, which is legendary in its own right.
Speaker 2: I have never watched it, I'll let you. I was
Speaker 2: a not a huge Star Wars fan, but I even
Speaker 2: have heard of the legendary Star Wars Christmas variety show,
Speaker 2: and it's amazing to me that it's still out there
Speaker 2: floating around.
Speaker 3: Andrea, you watched it.
Speaker 1: Well, it's known as it's been called the worst thing
Speaker 1: to ever air on TV, and I think a lot
Speaker 1: of people agree with this.
Speaker 3: I think a lot of people said that was Full.
Speaker 1: House, Oh get wrong.
Speaker 3: Top five.
Speaker 2: Well, we're just happy to be included, you know. The
Speaker 2: closest we'll ever get to anything Star Wars related.
Speaker 5: It was one TV in between the first and second film,
Speaker 5: and Lucas wanted to have Star Wars out in the.
Speaker 1: Public, right, Okay.
Speaker 5: So the idea of a holiday special was a pretty
Speaker 5: good idea and CBS was all in, and the studio
Speaker 5: was all in. And an old friend of mine, Pat Proft,
Speaker 5: who wrote the Naked Guns movies and Police Academy, I mean.
Speaker 4: I really find yeah.
Speaker 5: So he and I had written do you remember Shields
Speaker 5: in Your Now? They were a mime group, but in
Speaker 5: a thousand years ago they were really really.
Speaker 1: Popular, right okay?
Speaker 4: And they had their own TV show. I mean it
Speaker 4: was huge.
Speaker 2: Mimes were huge in the eighties. It was it was.
Speaker 2: It was a time of mimes, and they.
Speaker 4: Played robots with their characters. Got it? And Pat and
Speaker 4: I wrote for them.
Speaker 3: Now, how do you for a mine? That's the well,
Speaker 3: and you write for stage direction?
Speaker 1: Mostly the first ten minutes of this holiday special, it's
Speaker 1: all it's on the Wookie planet, and the Wookies don't
Speaker 1: speak a discernible language, so the first ten minutes is
Speaker 1: just and they don't talk, So how did you write
Speaker 1: something where they don't speak a language.
Speaker 4: Except I've always been students of Silent Company.
Speaker 5: Okay, okay, old silent movie, isn't it.
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Yeah, so I we knew how to write side gags.
Speaker 3: Yeah huh.
Speaker 5: So we were perfect for Shoes in ther Now because
Speaker 5: they were all side gigs and we both knew how
Speaker 5: to do that, right, you know, And that's was pretty successful.
Speaker 5: The producers of that holiday special work for shows in
Speaker 5: your Now and when we found out when they found
Speaker 5: out that it was about wookies, so let's have Pat
Speaker 5: and Landy come in because they write nonverbal stuff.
Speaker 2: Uh huh, okay, lot's of physical comedy write excellent wookie jokes,
Speaker 2: I guess.
Speaker 4: So we spent twelve hours with George Lucas going.
Speaker 1: Over the script, right okay.
Speaker 4: And I mean that was it was worth it for
Speaker 4: for that.
Speaker 1: That's so free.
Speaker 2: I mean yeah, I wouldn't care what anyone said after that.
Speaker 2: I'd be like, but I got to spend twelve hours
Speaker 2: with George Lucas, so.
Speaker 5: Okay, and that he was brilliant and yeah, so we
Speaker 5: wrote the script what worked with his director, a terrific
Speaker 5: guy who had done mostly music videos in Canada, but
Speaker 5: a really talented man, and when we went to shoot,
Speaker 5: he was over his head because this was video and
Speaker 5: you know, he'd spend two hours on one shot and.
Speaker 2: We had to right, this was a variety TV show,
Speaker 2: not a film, right, And it.
Speaker 5: Wasn't his fault, I mean, just it was the wrong guy,
Speaker 5: but a wonderful guy and a great director.
Speaker 4: They fired him, which I understand what he did.
Speaker 5: And Lucas walked away when they fired him. So then
Speaker 5: they in very fine writers from the Carol Burnett Show
Speaker 5: who were really.
Speaker 3: Carol Burnett Show is hilarious.
Speaker 4: Yeah, not the right writers for Star Wars.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, No, bookies can't quite pull off Carol Burnett.
Speaker 3: So they their ear.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So they write in these Carol Burnett writers and
Speaker 5: all of a sudden there's a Harvey Kuerman and all
Speaker 5: of these.
Speaker 3: Variety people and b Arthur.
Speaker 1: B Arthur was in this.
Speaker 3: Archer was in it.
Speaker 1: Joe, do you got to watch it? She sings to
Speaker 1: aliens in a bar like it's the most amazing thing.
Speaker 2: I think I actually have seen a clip of that,
Speaker 2: because I saw it and I was like, what in
Speaker 2: the hell is happening?
Speaker 3: I really scen were Diane Carroll.
Speaker 5: Into a Wookie and he's having an orgasm.
Speaker 1: It's not safe for work, it's not safe for kids.
Speaker 1: It's a very like almost port graphic scene involving Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like I was so uncomfortable. That might have been
Speaker 1: right about the time my TV broke. This holiday special
Speaker 1: broke my TV, Lenny, it randomly turned off in the
Speaker 1: middle of just trying to watch it.
Speaker 3: It turned off in the middle, and now my TV.
Speaker 1: WI my TV won't come back on. So yeah, thanks,
Speaker 1: thank you, Lenny.
Speaker 5: So our name was so but our name was stolen it,
Speaker 5: but I didn't know what had happened to it. So
Speaker 5: so the night it was there and I had a party,
Speaker 5: it was catered right, and all my friend's over it
Speaker 5: turned it on and after five minutes I turned it
Speaker 5: off and said, let's party.
Speaker 2: Let's just get really drunk because what's going to happen
Speaker 2: after this is gonna suck.
Speaker 4: But it became really famous.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and there's a documentary out called A Disturbance in
Speaker 5: the Force was out this year about that show that
Speaker 5: I'm in.
Speaker 4: The documentary.
Speaker 1: I watched that too.
Speaker 2: That's what I had heard about and how I heard
Speaker 2: about the Christmas special was through that documentary.
Speaker 3: Disturbance in the Force. I love documentaries, and so I
Speaker 3: was like, wait, documentary. I had no idea you were
Speaker 3: in it or attached like it was all crazy.
Speaker 1: Let me has the first talking head and the last
Speaker 1: talking head in that documentary, Like it's it's phenomenal. Highly
Speaker 1: recommend a Disturbance in the forest.
Speaker 2: See, I'm all for things that go sideways and become
Speaker 2: weird cult classics.
Speaker 3: And you're like, it was so bad that it was great, like.
Speaker 5: But you know, and also these Star Wars people are fanatical.
Speaker 3: Oh right, you can that's true.
Speaker 5: And they're reading things into it and it becomes part
Speaker 5: of the canon, you know, but sometimes misfied this.
Speaker 2: Would never happen and you're like, dude, you don't you
Speaker 2: you didn't write any of this.
Speaker 5: But the big deal to the Star Wars the orthod,
Speaker 5: I thought, is that it's the first introduction of Boba Fett.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I.
Speaker 5: Have never met, but apparently he's a very popular character.
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah.
Speaker 4: And they also see Star Wars as the bible.
Speaker 3: That's yeah, they it is.
Speaker 2: You can't and particularly now that's the thing with any
Speaker 2: of the like big franchise.
Speaker 3: You do one thing and it's that's it. You never again.
Speaker 5: But I get every time there's a Star Wars movie,
Speaker 5: it get calls from fanzine for interviews, and I mean.
Speaker 4: It's a life.
Speaker 5: I love it, but the show is.
Speaker 1: It's amazing to me that George Lucas wasn't confident that
Speaker 1: fans would stay with the Star Wars franchise in between
Speaker 1: the first movie and Empire Strikes Back. So that's that's
Speaker 1: why he created the holiday special, was to keep interest
Speaker 1: alive in the star.
Speaker 5: It's great genius was he made the money and made
Speaker 5: a lot of money and toys.
Speaker 4: He got lots of money, right right right.
Speaker 2: He was all about the merchandising and the rights and sell,
Speaker 2: and he knew sell the characters and people watch the
Speaker 2: movies regardless.
Speaker 4: Alive I mean in between movies. I mean, I totally
Speaker 4: get it. It's just that he lost control of it. Yeah.
Speaker 2: To be honest, I I blame the Wookie for everything.
Speaker 2: It's the or the mind because they what are they
Speaker 2: going to say?
Speaker 3: Nothing?
Speaker 1: It's definitely not be Arthur's fault.
Speaker 2: That's don't speak ill of b I will.
Speaker 1: She is my hero.
Speaker 3: I love Arthur. Yes, Harvey Harvey Corman was it?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Oh my god, there was it was. There was a
Speaker 3: lot of.
Speaker 5: Became a cow Burnett sketch show, which I'm not criticizing it,
Speaker 5: but I don't.
Speaker 4: But that's not what the fans wanted.
Speaker 2: It, right, because obviously the fans wanted a realistic depiction
Speaker 2: of what the Star Wars characters are doing on Christmas.
Speaker 3: Damn it.
Speaker 1: Well, no, Life Day. It's not Christmas. It's Life Day.
Speaker 1: That's what they celebrate in November is Life Day the
Speaker 1: Wookie planet.
Speaker 3: Is Okay, I'm great, what day is it I'm celebrating?
Speaker 1: You know, November. I can't remember November seventeenth.
Speaker 3: That's my I'm I've changed it.
Speaker 2: I'm now celebrating Life Day on November Day, dressing like
Speaker 2: a Wookie and I'm just gonna show up on Lenny's porch.
Speaker 4: I'll leave a bubble of order for you.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Watching that, I'm like, this must be what it's
Speaker 1: like to take psychedelics because it was just so out there.
Speaker 1: It's like, Wow, what a mind trip.
Speaker 3: It's great.
Speaker 1: And I love how you start the documentary the Disturbance
Speaker 1: in the Forest. You start with the line, there are
Speaker 1: always better stories about failure than success, and you alluded
Speaker 1: to this previously. About how you wish. You know, sometimes
Speaker 1: sit comes and end up with you know, all pretty
Speaker 1: and neat with a tide in little bow. You know,
Speaker 1: there's and this is a great example of that. How
Speaker 1: the Holiday special was a complete failure, but hey, we're
Speaker 1: still talking about it in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3: Almost had it been good, it would have it wouldn't have.
Speaker 2: Like been like, oh, yeah, that's Star Wars Christmas ning.
Speaker 2: But now it's like, oh have you ever talked about that?
Speaker 2: And it becomes its own narrative.
Speaker 5: I mean, the thing is that everyone who sees it
Speaker 5: thinks they were thinks they're into something.
Speaker 4: Secret, right, right, Yeah, the idea that we.
Speaker 5: Know about this and most of the fans don't, or
Speaker 5: we saw this and most of the fans didn't.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 5: For years, you could not get a copy of it.
Speaker 1: It has a very bootleg feel to it, even on YouTube,
Speaker 1: which is where I saw it.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like, I'm so proud of you, Like I know
Speaker 1: that I know it's a flop, but like that is
Speaker 1: a great credit to have to your name.
Speaker 2: It's like, I love, like you said, the history of
Speaker 2: like everything in this business and how many people, I
Speaker 2: mean everyone that we've interviewed for the show You Joel
Speaker 2: Adria but has talked about the various failures or things
Speaker 2: that didn't work out that led to something else that did.
Speaker 3: And I always like, I love those stories.
Speaker 2: Because so many times I think we all need to
Speaker 2: step back and go, oh, wow, had I not failed
Speaker 2: at this or that, or that I didn't have gotten
Speaker 2: where I wanted to be or wound up in the thing,
Speaker 2: you know, because you don't. Winning is great and having
Speaker 2: everything go great is really nice, but you don't learn
Speaker 2: much from that.
Speaker 5: And if we're good producers, we have an atmosphere on
Speaker 5: the set where you can fail at first to try
Speaker 5: to get better, where you don't get judged if it
Speaker 5: doesn't work. I mean you can judge everybody, judges everybody everything,
Speaker 5: but okay, it's good that you try things and that
Speaker 5: the atmosphere that you want is because I'm not naive
Speaker 5: to think that if I wrote it, it's gold. It
Speaker 5: has to go through the actors and sound like. I'm
Speaker 5: pretty good at language, so I can write a joke
Speaker 5: for Red Fox or a Runney Dangerfield or Bet Middler
Speaker 5: and make it sound like they said it right.
Speaker 1: So that's that is such a skill that is, I
Speaker 1: don't know if you can.
Speaker 5: Judge, so begin to hear your voices on the TV show, right,
Speaker 5: you know, not only the funny, but how would Kimmy.
Speaker 4: Gibber say it?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 4: How would Bannie say it?
Speaker 2: I definitely felt like Steph has a lot of your
Speaker 2: zingers and sort of quick punchline responses. Kim me too,
Speaker 2: But I just like, you know, I hear it's funny
Speaker 2: even just talking to you. I'm like, I hear like
Speaker 2: some of Steph in it, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah, Like it would take somebody
Speaker 2: with that kind of sarcastic, witty, smart sensibility to be
Speaker 2: to write for a little smart alec kid.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, characters were fun to write for when
Speaker 4: they were at a little bit of an age.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Who's the hardest character to write for on Full House?
Speaker 1: Would you? Says standing Away?
Speaker 5: Because he had to carry a lot of information? Yeah, true,
Speaker 5: not just jokes, and sometimes that's hard to write for it.
Speaker 5: But how do you keep that interesting?
Speaker 1: Right? How do you explain things to the audience without
Speaker 1: making it making it seem like you're explaining things to
Speaker 1: the audience?
Speaker 2: And he was also kind of the straight man to
Speaker 2: Joey's that's right, yeah.
Speaker 4: But what is that hard? I mean obviously Dave is easy.
Speaker 3: Right, silly comedy bits.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and Dave will bring you stuff. And Bob you know,
Speaker 5: you know, we knew Bob because he was doing he
Speaker 5: was doing the warm ups for Bosom Buddies, right, that's right.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2: Bob was the warm up guy for Bosom Buddies. For
Speaker 2: our audience that maybe doesn't know what warm up is.
Speaker 2: It's the person that literally tells jokes and gets the
Speaker 2: audience warmed up and ready to be laughing and having
Speaker 2: fun in a sitcom audience, so.
Speaker 3: They're really really important.
Speaker 2: And in between scenes and while you're moving cameras and
Speaker 2: doing that, they're keeping the audience hyped up, laughing, having
Speaker 2: fun so that the energy doesn't drop.
Speaker 4: I'll tell you the great warm up story.
Speaker 5: Yes, that's they were doing a show and in between
Speaker 5: scenes they would throw candy out to the audience.
Speaker 4: You know, there's something to keep them occupied. Right.
Speaker 5: Nobody told the warm up guy that the audience half
Speaker 5: of them were blind.
Speaker 4: Oh no, After the first thing, he's throwing candy audience
Speaker 4: and it's hitting these people.
Speaker 3: Bob was the one throwing it.
Speaker 2: No no, no, no, no, no, somebody else Okay, God, but still,
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that's definitely something that you want to you
Speaker 2: want to know before you start throwing things at people.
Speaker 3: Yes, can you see it?
Speaker 1: The warm up guy needs to be briefed before the taping.
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, certain things are very important.
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker 1: Do you have any stories about Tom Hanks from your
Speaker 1: Bosom Buddy days?
Speaker 5: Only that Tom and Peter Scillari, who were teams, were
Speaker 5: lovely And what I had the stories is that they
Speaker 5: were wonderful improvisers. Yeah, they were very fresh and real,
Speaker 5: and they seemed like they were their characters, you know,
Speaker 5: I mean they were. They were young, hip, funny, a
Speaker 5: little bit quirky guys. Yeah, and they were really nice guys.
Speaker 5: I mean they made every script better, as every actor
Speaker 5: does if you give them a chance and they're the
Speaker 5: right people.
Speaker 4: But the particular stories.
Speaker 5: I mean, he was really sweet and we hung out
Speaker 5: with him and like and Ian Scullari were wonderful people
Speaker 5: that it was just great. I mean it was a
Speaker 5: hard show because we went to the edge so much,
Speaker 5: but it was really fun. And when Tom became a
Speaker 5: huge star, it was not a surprise.
Speaker 4: Yeah, just a very nice man.
Speaker 2: And yeah, and just a great appeal, like he's just
Speaker 2: one of those people that you enjoy watching.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I mean he's and I run into him.
Speaker 5: He's still a wonderful guy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've always heard that about him, which I I'm
Speaker 2: so glad to hear that.
Speaker 1: That's so nice when you when your heroes meet your expectations,
Speaker 1: You're like, oh god, he seems like a nice guy.
Speaker 1: I'm glad that he is.
Speaker 5: His terrific guy and extraordinary talented and he is a
Speaker 5: friend of one of my best friends, and he's a
Speaker 5: good friend of his and say, he is, by any standard,
Speaker 5: a good man.
Speaker 3: I love that. Now.
Speaker 2: You also wrote, well, you wrote the helped write the
Speaker 2: original short movie Frank and Weenie.
Speaker 3: And I bring this up because I actually am.
Speaker 2: A huge I love the twenty twelve version, the stop
Speaker 2: motion Frank and Weenie.
Speaker 4: Yeah it's a different movie.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yes, very yes, a different movie.
Speaker 2: But what was it like writing a short movie back
Speaker 2: in what was it in the early eighties? And then
Speaker 2: finally seeing I had a contract with Disney okay to
Speaker 2: create television, and I had on that and listen, everything with.
Speaker 4: TV and movies is accident and networking.
Speaker 5: My assistant was friends with another assistant who was best
Speaker 5: friends with Tim Burton's girlfriend who was producing his movie Okay,
Speaker 5: and they were they were looking for someone to write
Speaker 5: this movie.
Speaker 4: Because of my deal with Disney, I was already being
Speaker 4: paid for it.
Speaker 5: And through these connections, I had lunch with him a
Speaker 5: couple of times and we kind of unders I understood
Speaker 5: what he wanted.
Speaker 4: And that's how it happened. You know, as I say,
Speaker 4: I was under contract anyway.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so might as well might as well put you to.
Speaker 5: Work, right, And he knew what the movie was. I mean,
Speaker 5: he gave me all stack of art of what was
Speaker 5: going to look like. Yeah, and I understood it to
Speaker 5: be a movie about a kid who was an outsider.
Speaker 5: And I was a kid who was an outsider. So
Speaker 5: I think he saw that I got it, and yeah,
Speaker 5: that's that's that happened. I mean, I wear a couple
Speaker 5: of drafts and he shot it, and from that movie
Speaker 5: he got Peev's Big.
Speaker 3: Adventure, right.
Speaker 1: Oh, I didn't know that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that was his movie after Frank and Winny.
Speaker 2: Which is one of my favorite Tim Burton films.
Speaker 3: Great Still's Big Adventure is so.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's great. I used to watch that all
Speaker 2: the time as a kid. I loved it so and
Speaker 2: I love Tim Burton, so yeah, what a cool really
Speaker 2: interesting guy, you know, very interesting.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: And and Frank and Wine the half hours in black
Speaker 5: and white and you know where else you are you
Speaker 5: in a studio was going to give you in the
Speaker 5: eighties over a million dollars do and a half an
Speaker 5: hour film?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 3: And then oh god, the eighties when they gave money
Speaker 3: to do show.
Speaker 4: For a week and they pulled it because it scared
Speaker 4: the kids.
Speaker 3: They should have scared the kids.
Speaker 2: Let them get them right, I'll survive them up a
Speaker 2: little bit, right, But they only knew what was coming.
Speaker 4: But it was really an hundred to do and it
Speaker 4: was fun and it was great. You know, I was
Speaker 4: really proud of that. It was the first movie I
Speaker 4: was involved in.
Speaker 2: Okay, what have been some of your favorite projects?
Speaker 3: Then?
Speaker 4: Well?
Speaker 5: I rewrote The Flintstones okay? And I rewrote Are We
Speaker 5: There Yet?
Speaker 4: And snow Dogs?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, and oh yeah.
Speaker 4: I re wrote lots of movies. I did the Golden
Speaker 4: Girls in Athens.
Speaker 1: What this is Jody's love language?
Speaker 3: Greek Golden Girls.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Disney sold the scripts to Greek television. Greek tell
Speaker 5: sitcoms are about forty five minutes long, so they needed
Speaker 5: someone to come in and help expand the scripts. So
Speaker 5: the actors were pretty easy to replace because they were
Speaker 5: all stereotypes. So the Pety Way character came from instead
Speaker 5: of a small town in Minnesota, a small island in Greece.
Speaker 5: That was over okay, right, The characters that were easy
Speaker 5: to do, and there were things in the show. For example,
Speaker 5: there was a gay fight attendant in season one in
Speaker 5: a few episodes, right, we brought him back. We brought
Speaker 5: back people in the families.
Speaker 3: Okay, oh cool, and expanded it.
Speaker 4: And I lived in Athens for a month.
Speaker 3: Oh oh wow.
Speaker 2: Oh that's sort of like when Scott Weiner has gone
Speaker 2: to do because he is a writer and he's gone
Speaker 2: to like go punch up shows and gone parents live
Speaker 2: in Paris and stuff and do some stuff.
Speaker 3: What a cool, What a cool experience.
Speaker 4: And then I wrote one of the two top sitcoms
Speaker 4: in Germany.
Speaker 1: Did you live in Germany for a while too?
Speaker 2: Then?
Speaker 5: How to know?
Speaker 4: I went to to Germany?
Speaker 5: Okay, but it was great, and they brought in English
Speaker 5: translated in German. And again my ability to write physical
Speaker 5: stuff was good because I was able to write.
Speaker 4: Jokes that that did translate, yeah, even if the language
Speaker 4: might not.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would imagine it's very hard.
Speaker 2: Like humor in different cultures and languages can be very different,
Speaker 2: and what lands in one country and another would be
Speaker 2: like either offensive wouldn't make sense or what you know,
Speaker 2: you've got to kind of.
Speaker 5: What they wanted to do was do these shows and
Speaker 5: then sew them all over Europe. But for that exact reason,
Speaker 5: it didn't work. What they turned back to were police shows,
Speaker 5: which work everywhere, right, Yeah, because that's not a function
Speaker 5: of wordplay and language and everything. It's procedural. Right, So
Speaker 5: they were able to do one in France and just
Speaker 5: and some titles in German or page and still work, right,
Speaker 5: But right, the jokes didn't work.
Speaker 2: I find jokes in German, I imagine, are just a
Speaker 2: bunch louder and scarier sounding.
Speaker 5: They're more physical. The pilot that was involved and someone
Speaker 5: walks into a store with.
Speaker 2: A gun, and I mean that's the sitcom that's usually Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's I mean that sounds very German, that sounds very German.
Speaker 3: It's yeah, like.
Speaker 4: That now but but but that was acceptable, right.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it's it is true though.
Speaker 2: You'll watch shows and other places and you're like what
Speaker 2: we would or we would either never do that here
Speaker 2: or like what it's just an interesting kind of windows everywhere.
Speaker 1: Well, it does. It's very universal. That's a good point.
Speaker 1: We hear that from Brazil and Japan, Like we have
Speaker 1: huge lots of fans, lots of fans in Japan, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and Brazil, so it's working there at least.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not surprised.
Speaker 4: I'm totally not surprised.
Speaker 2: Yeah, when we went to Japan, they said they loved
Speaker 2: the full House Family because we were a little crazy
Speaker 2: and wacky and not at all like sort of the
Speaker 2: more subdued and structured like family dynamics in a Jazanese family.
Speaker 2: But what they said they really related to was the
Speaker 2: like generations living together and different parts of the family
Speaker 2: all coming together and like that family unit idea. And yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean that was kind of the base of the show,
Speaker 2: that that translates everywhere.
Speaker 3: Family is well.
Speaker 5: What there's a great story that they did a production
Speaker 5: of Fitter on the Roof in Japan and the guy
Speaker 5: who played Debby came to the writer and said, do
Speaker 5: they understand this in America?
Speaker 4: This is such a Japanese story.
Speaker 5: Wow, And it's because it was about generations.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh yeah, Okay.
Speaker 4: The exact same thing that you're talking about.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean yeah, Filler on the Roof
Speaker 2: absolutely is about that and very Yeah.
Speaker 3: Wow, that's interesting.
Speaker 4: I like that connection.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I do too.
Speaker 2: And I again like knowing that people all over the
Speaker 2: world have watched Full House and grown up with it.
Speaker 2: I mean people in all of Europe and Japan and
Speaker 2: Brazil and Greece and.
Speaker 4: Just it's aking for something different.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, it has struck a chord of.
Speaker 2: Some kind with so many people across generations, across cultures.
Speaker 2: I am always very proud and like kind of just
Speaker 2: honored that that show.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: I think when we were doing it, nobody considered it
Speaker 2: to be something that was like a cultural touchstone.
Speaker 4: No do you know.
Speaker 2: We were like, it's fun and it's a silly sitcom
Speaker 2: and whatever. But as it has gone through the ages
Speaker 2: and through generations and through sort of the shift in
Speaker 2: everything that's gone on the last thirty seven years, people
Speaker 2: still connect with it and love it. And that's that's
Speaker 2: very that's hard to do. Not everything will last for
Speaker 2: thirty something years.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it is for so many people an important memory
Speaker 5: mm hmm.
Speaker 2: Yeah, an important memory with their families and with their
Speaker 2: you know what, getting together and watching TV on a
Speaker 2: Friday night. Particularly now when that was something, when that's
Speaker 2: something that it has been lost a little bit, well
Speaker 2: not a little bit, a lot of it, uh that
Speaker 2: it's I think families love remembering when they used to
Speaker 2: do that, and then also with fuller, like getting to
Speaker 2: do that again and being like, oh see this was
Speaker 2: what we used to do. Is I'll watch Family Together
Speaker 2: as a you know TV it together as a family
Speaker 2: appointment TV.
Speaker 3: Sure.
Speaker 5: So, I mean what was the Fourhouse experience like for
Speaker 5: you as compared to the original?
Speaker 1: Mind blowing? Like we never thought we'd get to come
Speaker 1: back and do it again, Like, yeah, special was that?
Speaker 1: I mean, now everybody's got a reboot, but we were
Speaker 1: one of the first.
Speaker 3: I also think getting to come back, you know, talking.
Speaker 2: With you today about sort of the collaborative process and
Speaker 2: the note and the being able to shape storylines or
Speaker 2: jokes or do all of that, that was something I
Speaker 2: think as an adult coming back, I was so excited
Speaker 2: to get to be a part of because you know,
Speaker 2: when we were kids, we showed up, we did our lines,
Speaker 2: we did our job, and then we went and did
Speaker 2: our other job, which was school and life and whatever.
Speaker 2: You know, you're not giving a ten year old a
Speaker 2: seat at the notes table and being like what do
Speaker 2: you think?
Speaker 3: But as an adult to come back, it was such a.
Speaker 2: Great experience because you were like, oh, wow, like I
Speaker 2: get to participate in the creation of this, and it
Speaker 2: felt there was such for me, at least, a sense
Speaker 2: of ownership more over the final product and over the
Speaker 2: show and what we were doing.
Speaker 3: Sure, and it was it was really cool.
Speaker 2: And I you know, I got to direct an episode,
Speaker 2: Andrea got to write, Candice got to direct some like
Speaker 2: we all got to do things that we had been
Speaker 2: exposed to since.
Speaker 3: We were kids, that we just had absorbed.
Speaker 2: And learned and lived. And then we got to come
Speaker 2: back and do it as adults all over again and
Speaker 2: be on the flip side of it, which was really
Speaker 2: really cool.
Speaker 4: And I also think audiences rarely get to see the
Speaker 4: people they love grow up.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and usually when they do their horror stories, yeah right,
Speaker 5: I mean usually stories about kid actors. You don't hear
Speaker 5: anybody say they finished the show and they were really
Speaker 5: in real estate and they're rich and they're successful, and
Speaker 5: everybody's happy. People don't care about this story, right, So
Speaker 5: when you hear about young people who are actors, it's
Speaker 5: almost always a horror story.
Speaker 2: Right, right, And this I think it was like people
Speaker 2: were so excited to see that the Tanner clan come back,
Speaker 2: and yeah, they and we were all kind of still
Speaker 2: the same people. And I always say, like our characters
Speaker 2: on the show and our real selves, even with the adults,
Speaker 2: Like there was such crossover in so many ways because
Speaker 2: you guys as writers listened to us as people and
Speaker 2: what we who we were and also who we.
Speaker 3: Thought characters should be, and like it.
Speaker 2: It just we got to come back and like live
Speaker 2: those fully experienced characters as adults, and people loved getting
Speaker 2: to see where they all wound up and what happened.
Speaker 4: Oh, I know, I know.
Speaker 1: It was very satisfying. And we tried to recreate that
Speaker 1: type of atmosphere on the Fuller House set for the
Speaker 1: kids that we experienced on Full House too, where it
Speaker 1: was very nurturing. It was never like we weren't trying
Speaker 1: to push the kids over their time limits or yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, we try to be very respectful of their
Speaker 1: job to say that.
Speaker 4: We were very careful about you guys.
Speaker 3: You guys really were.
Speaker 2: It was an ideal place to you know, work as
Speaker 2: a kid. But it really was like the experience that
Speaker 2: we had on Full House and on that show was
Speaker 2: wonderful and magical and like, yes, it was hard work,
Speaker 2: but compared to some of the other stories that I
Speaker 2: hear about sets of that era or working as kids,
Speaker 2: I'm like, yeah, we didn't have that, Like we all.
Speaker 5: Really when you saw some of these other kids auditioning
Speaker 5: with their families, you really saw what the downside of this, right,
Speaker 5: you know. I mean I remember a kid came in
Speaker 5: and you see, it was like seven years old. I'm
Speaker 5: talking to them, what are you doing it for the weekend?
Speaker 5: Is that it's really exciting? I'm going to his birthday party?
Speaker 5: Mother says, no, we're not. Don't remember the agent as
Speaker 5: a dinner.
Speaker 4: That we're going to.
Speaker 1: Oh right, you know, the kid got it, But the
Speaker 1: kid still needs to be a kid. You know, he
Speaker 1: wants to go to the park and play on the playground,
Speaker 1: not going executive dinner.
Speaker 4: Give me, it's easy a lot because you're auditioning kids.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, And it's definitely like our families were
Speaker 2: so involved in such a part of it, and our
Speaker 2: moms in particular, like it was I always say it
Speaker 2: was the most normal, abnormal way to grow up.
Speaker 4: Like it just seems always in the stands.
Speaker 5: Yep.
Speaker 2: They were always there, even in a bunch of episodes
Speaker 2: and I was.
Speaker 5: Talking to your mom. I mean we would talk, you know.
Speaker 5: They weren't like apart.
Speaker 4: From this show.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was.
Speaker 2: And again that's also something that's not always the case
Speaker 2: that like even the kids parents are included and talked
Speaker 2: to and that everybody knows them, you know, just I'm.
Speaker 4: Always but you didn't have to show.
Speaker 1: Up his parents No, no, not have stage moms.
Speaker 5: They no, I mean no, I mean nobody came to
Speaker 5: me and said, you know, Andrea can use a couple
Speaker 5: of lines and act too right.
Speaker 2: I know that our parents were not. They were like
Speaker 2: just have fun and like do your job, and but
Speaker 2: it wasn't about.
Speaker 3: Like what's next and who are you going to be
Speaker 3: and we're you know.
Speaker 2: It was always about like just be a good human
Speaker 2: and then we'll figure the rest out.
Speaker 5: I think that they trusted us with you yea, in
Speaker 5: the sense that they knew that we were not going
Speaker 5: to put you anywhere that was uncomfortable or inappropriate.
Speaker 2: True, you we have We were raised by a community
Speaker 2: of really solid, lovely, wonderful adults on the on that
Speaker 2: set and uh and and when we got to do
Speaker 2: it with Fuller too, we got to really we create
Speaker 2: that and include those kids, and it meant a lot.
Speaker 5: It's rare that any of us can be part of
Speaker 5: the legacy, and foll else is a legacy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's huge, Lucky Well, Lenny, this has been such
Speaker 2: a joy and an amazing interview.
Speaker 3: I mean, we have had. It's so great to see you,
Speaker 3: it really is.
Speaker 2: I haven't so great, like we said, haven't seen you
Speaker 2: in thirty something years. I've only seen photos of you
Speaker 2: that I have from when we, you know, were shooting
Speaker 2: the show when I was a kid. But I just
Speaker 2: always remember how kind and wonderful and funny you were
Speaker 2: and I and it's wonderful to see that you haven't changed.
Speaker 5: Well, you guys are wonderful ladies. Thank you, and that's
Speaker 5: you know, And I'm proud of had you turned out.
Speaker 5: I take no responsibility for it, but I'm very pleased.
Speaker 1: Oh, Lenny, we love and appreciate you seriously.
Speaker 3: Thank you for bringing Kimmy Gibble into the world. Thank
Speaker 3: you for.
Speaker 1: Like we have you to think.
Speaker 5: I mean, they're two legendary characters. And also, Gimbler is
Speaker 5: the best name in the world. That was not the
Speaker 5: name came up with the greatest name.
Speaker 3: Gibbler is. I mean, it's the most ridiculous last name
Speaker 3: ever and it's and it's so Kimmy. Yeah, thank you
Speaker 3: so much, Lenny. We loved having you. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 3: And that was Lenny Rips.
Speaker 2: Everyone, what a great episode, two parts of a fantastic interview.
Speaker 2: Being able to work with him on Full House was
Speaker 2: such an unforgettable experience, and he is so incredible at
Speaker 2: what he does.
Speaker 3: We loved being able.
Speaker 2: To reminisce on all the work he's accomplished throughout his
Speaker 2: life and hearing about I mean, the Star Wars, Christmas thing,
Speaker 2: gold Greek Golden Girls. There was so many fantastic things
Speaker 2: that we found out about Lenny Rips, and I was
Speaker 2: just really honored to have him on the show. So
Speaker 2: thank you so much for tuning into another episode of
Speaker 2: How Rude Tanner Rito's Make sure that you are following
Speaker 2: us on Instagram at how Rude Podcast. You can also
Speaker 2: email us at howardpodcast at gmail dot com, where you
Speaker 2: can send us questions for some of our minisodes, or
Speaker 2: comments or concerns, or you know, your thoughts on the
Speaker 2: Star Wars Christmas special.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: You make sure you're also liking and subscribing to the
Speaker 2: podcast wherever you're listening to it so that you can
Speaker 2: make sure and get all the newest episodes as soon.
Speaker 3: As they come out.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: Thank you everyone for joining.
Speaker 2: Us for another fun episode of how Rude tanner Rito's
Speaker 2: and remember everyone, the world is small, but the house
Speaker 2: is FULLA.
Speaker 3: I've had to stop for a second though. I know why.
Speaker 3: I almost said the show is small, and then I
Speaker 3: was like, nope.
Speaker 1: Well you paused right before you say it.
Speaker 2: I think that helps, like reset while I pause and
Speaker 2: say it in my head.
Speaker 3: But that was why I was like, that show is
Speaker 3: I was like, no
Speaker 1: That's not the thing, so yeah, yeah, no it I
Speaker 1: figured it out.