Speaker 1: Well, he looks so serious. I want to get into
Speaker 1: this sem it's hung. Well, I've noticed you have so
Speaker 1: many like shirts that just say phrases on them. It
Speaker 1: feels like every time we do the podcast, I'm like,
Speaker 1: what does that shirt say? What's this one? You're right now?
Speaker 1: This one just says don't make me repeat myself history.
Speaker 1: Do you buy all your clothes on Facebook? There are
Speaker 1: no I found this amazing website and so I've got
Speaker 1: now a bunch of different T shirts for the pod.
Speaker 1: The last one, you guys didn't see. It said you
Speaker 1: might be cool, and then underneath there's a picture of
Speaker 1: Teddy Rose riding a moose. It said, but you'll never
Speaker 1: be Teddy Roosevelt riding a moose cool. So it's just
Speaker 1: all those funky kinds. They're all based on history. It's
Speaker 1: really fun. It's really if there's a great it's a
Speaker 1: great one of um, it's Martin Luther. It's just a
Speaker 1: picture of Martin Luther and just underneath it just says
Speaker 1: nailed it. So again, it's all so good. I mean,
Speaker 1: Will is everybody's father. Yeah, I love it. It's true. Okay,
Speaker 1: so today's guest is somebody I have I've I've not
Speaker 1: seen or talked to in probably what twenty seven years,
Speaker 1: you guys, Yeah, since the graduation episode. Oh my gosh, okay,
Speaker 1: so graduation episode was maybe yeah, yeah, but he was
Speaker 1: brought back for that episode. So up until then we
Speaker 1: hadn't really been working with him either. So I'm so excited. Well,
Speaker 1: he is credited under the name Blake Soaper, our guest
Speaker 1: today played Joey the rat Epstein for sixteen episodes of
Speaker 1: Boy Meets World, one of the unforgettable new bullies we
Speaker 1: just met in the first episode of season two, and
Speaker 1: you may also know him from his work on Salute
Speaker 1: Your Shorts, Third Rock from the Sun, or as a
Speaker 1: member of the incredible band Rilo Kylie. He is now
Speaker 1: producing and composing on his own, but most importantly, he's
Speaker 1: decided to sit down with us for a trip down
Speaker 1: the Boy Meets World memory lane. So let's please give
Speaker 1: it up for Blake, senate. Yeah, you're doing man, It's
Speaker 1: so good to see you. I know you guys are
Speaker 1: old like me. It's the best. Yeah, it's kind of
Speaker 1: the best period of my life right now. How about
Speaker 1: you guys, yea, yeah, yeah, man, um, you guys are
Speaker 1: by the way, like so good at this, like like
Speaker 1: like I want to you know what, you should have
Speaker 1: a radio show? What a show? But yeah, yeah, you
Speaker 1: guys are you guys have been great? Thank you? Do
Speaker 1: you have you actually listened to the pod? I have
Speaker 1: only caught the Instagram like clips. When you guys have
Speaker 1: like a clip, I'll learn things about the show. Like
Speaker 1: it's like one said like Mr Turner was like unceremoniously
Speaker 1: recently like released from the show, and I didn't even
Speaker 1: know he. I had just assumed he was always on
Speaker 1: the show. After now we're good in thirty second clips,
Speaker 1: I was going to say, so you know for Instagram clips? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: And I guess I guess that answers another question, which is,
Speaker 1: so after you left the show, did you you never
Speaker 1: watched another episode of Boy Meets World. I'm gonna I
Speaker 1: never watched another episode after I left the show, and
Speaker 1: I never watched an episode that I know when I
Speaker 1: was really didn't write Yeah. No, That's why this whole
Speaker 1: thing so weird for me. It's like I'm finally seeing
Speaker 1: the show and it's like I'm meeting the show for
Speaker 1: the first time, and especially like the first season was
Speaker 1: was like really nice and like super comforting because we
Speaker 1: were like babies. But now that we're into the second
Speaker 1: season when you guys come on, it feels like a
Speaker 1: completely different show and it's so disoriented. Um yeah, I
Speaker 1: really don't. I didn't. Yeah, I had no idea. I
Speaker 1: had no idea what we were doing. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think here's the thing. When you're doing multicam, you do
Speaker 1: see it, right, you see the monitors and like it's
Speaker 1: not like it's stylized, You're going to change from week
Speaker 1: to week. Like really, so I kind of had a
Speaker 1: good idea. You know, it's not like it's completely saying
Speaker 1: you've seen one, you've seen them all right, that kind
Speaker 1: of a little bit usually visually certainly that's the king
Speaker 1: of TV over here. Wow, it was the king of TV.
Speaker 1: My life is basically television, not being on it, just
Speaker 1: watching it. Yeah yeah, I mean wait, okay to what
Speaker 1: you were saying, writer, like I kind of like agree,
Speaker 1: Like like for a lot of us I think who
Speaker 1: were like kids actors, Like being a kid actor was
Speaker 1: like not necessarily in some cases like our idea. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like it wasn't my idea to do that, you know,
Speaker 1: so I think every time I saw myself on TV,
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my god, this is like what
Speaker 1: it's like an imposter or I just didn't feel comfortable.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like hearing your voice recorded. It's like
Speaker 1: a total bummer, you know. Always so so I think
Speaker 1: I always like avoided seeing myself on TV. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I never wasn't. I didn't not watch a show because
Speaker 1: I was like to sort of pretentious for that particular.
Speaker 1: It was the show. It was just anything I was
Speaker 1: on was probably not something I was going to gravitate towards.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think even by that time in my
Speaker 1: like sort of acting career, I had instructed my manager like,
Speaker 1: and this was the case with Boys World, please only
Speaker 1: send me out for like one liners, two liners, things
Speaker 1: I can just bag because I really kind of want
Speaker 1: the doll and I kind of don't you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, Like that I didn't have I wasn't. I
Speaker 1: didn't have like great aspiration since as an actor by
Speaker 1: that time, you know, I think you've proven by this
Speaker 1: point you were a musician. I mean that's you were acting.
Speaker 1: Was like you're you had a great day job, but
Speaker 1: you were a musician, you know. Man, I was I was.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think I still am, and I think
Speaker 1: I probably still am like an actor in some respect,
Speaker 1: and I'm other things beyond that, you know what I mean, Like, um,
Speaker 1: I think all of us aren't can't be necessarily contained
Speaker 1: by like one. I think, um, I mean not to
Speaker 1: get to like sort of woo woo here, but like
Speaker 1: I think, you know, defining yourself by you know, how
Speaker 1: you make dough or what you like to do is
Speaker 1: probably um dated concept or right at this point. But
Speaker 1: to the point you brought up about not being you know,
Speaker 1: getting into acting, wasn't your idea before we get into
Speaker 1: you being Joey the rat on Boy Meats World? What
Speaker 1: is your acting origin story? How old were you when
Speaker 1: you started? Was it ten? And because everyone else for
Speaker 1: every almost everyone's ten? Um, and yeah, what was your
Speaker 1: story of acting? My origin story was that I was like, um,
Speaker 1: a precocious you know kid like I spoke early and
Speaker 1: I looked really young. I was always like a small kid.
Speaker 1: So um so I think we had a friend of
Speaker 1: the family and she had a daughter in the business. Well,
Speaker 1: I grew up in San Diego and she she was
Speaker 1: from l A And she came by and they asked her, Hey,
Speaker 1: what do you think do you think he would like,
Speaker 1: you know, thrive or do you think he'd have a
Speaker 1: shot being an actor? Look, he looks you know, he's
Speaker 1: he's he's ten, and he looks sick. So what do
Speaker 1: you think? And she was like, oh, yeah, absolutely, and
Speaker 1: I'll manage him. And so she kind of like took
Speaker 1: me up to l A and instantly got me like
Speaker 1: an agent and and um. And it was obviously like cool,
Speaker 1: like it's not like I win in kicking and screaming.
Speaker 1: It was like an incredible thing to do in my life.
Speaker 1: I think only when I got a little like older,
Speaker 1: I started to have like anxiety around like being on camera.
Speaker 1: And even with like Joey the Rat, I remember they
Speaker 1: would give me like once in a while, they gave
Speaker 1: me like a real long thing, you know, and I'd
Speaker 1: be like, oh my god, I'm gonna forget to line. Um,
Speaker 1: I don't know. Yeah man. So so that was my
Speaker 1: origin story. I had just a family friend kind of
Speaker 1: like took me and then I would sort of ride
Speaker 1: the Amtrak train up to um up to l A
Speaker 1: and and and go on auditions or or I'd take
Speaker 1: a flight, or I'd get occasionally driven by a parent. Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: up to l A. And and by the time you
Speaker 1: were on boy Me World, you were you were eighteen
Speaker 1: right by that time. Yeah, and we're so were you
Speaker 1: already you were living in l A. You'd like moved
Speaker 1: up on your own. I was like living on my own,
Speaker 1: and it was like this, yeah, yeah, where were you were?
Speaker 1: Did you have roommates? I have no idea what you're living?
Speaker 1: Situation was like no, I love these questions. Did you
Speaker 1: have roommates or what? Like where were you living? What
Speaker 1: were you doing? Okay, let me try and think of
Speaker 1: the boy Me Like upon moving to l A. I
Speaker 1: moved into like a really scary place down like Pico
Speaker 1: and Hell, you know, and you know it was like
Speaker 1: the donut store like got little fire when I was there,
Speaker 1: you know, during the riots, Like it was scary down there,
Speaker 1: and it was like me and like six dudes. It
Speaker 1: was like a hesher who was like a like, well,
Speaker 1: let's say he was into substances and like, um, I
Speaker 1: don't know what I'm gonna say, like, but I think
Speaker 1: he smoked some crack. Yeah. Yeah. It was like an
Speaker 1: intense um indoctrination. It was really terrifying because I tried college.
Speaker 1: That's sort of my deal. Like the parents was like
Speaker 1: you can go to college or and continue acting, and
Speaker 1: I chose college. And then I got to college and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, this sucks, Like this is way
Speaker 1: worth than because it was just born or you just
Speaker 1: weren't into it. Well, okay, by that time, you're already
Speaker 1: you've made money in your life, right, so you're sort
Speaker 1: of like in a sense like Lee progued that thing
Speaker 1: where you have to get sort of go into a
Speaker 1: sort of qudified system where you learned a trade and
Speaker 1: then you go into the world and so on. Um.
Speaker 1: I think it was that, And it was like I
Speaker 1: wasn't probably like you know, when you're acting, whether my
Speaker 1: passion was towards like theater or not. I think feeling
Speaker 1: special was like cool. And as soon as I went
Speaker 1: back into college, I was like suddenly mortal again, you know,
Speaker 1: I like Superman took off his deal, I gave up
Speaker 1: his powers. Um, so yeah, so that was like I
Speaker 1: missed that, and I was like, I think I tried
Speaker 1: out for the play was like University Colorado, Boulder, and
Speaker 1: I tried out for the for the theater production and
Speaker 1: I didn't get a part, and I think there was
Speaker 1: a part of me and and that was like and
Speaker 1: I think somebody was like, oh, freshman, never get parts,
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh you man, I'm feeling I
Speaker 1: was like fist. And at the same time, I was
Speaker 1: going to no classes and probably flunking out and like
Speaker 1: I just was never like the best like world's best students.
Speaker 1: So um so yeah, I went back and I moved
Speaker 1: in with those that cast of characters. It was like
Speaker 1: a band and like a film school student and me
Speaker 1: and like six dudes in a two bedroom and man
Speaker 1: and then yeah, man, I mean you know, like and
Speaker 1: then by the time boy me world came around, I
Speaker 1: think I was finally like living on my own. Like
Speaker 1: you weren't at the oak Wood. No, I like, I
Speaker 1: like went the other way in where you like move
Speaker 1: into the like weird hollywoody area, Like I started Pico,
Speaker 1: then I ended up like Orange and Hollywood Boulevard, where
Speaker 1: like you know, like, oh, I'm like stars, Yeah you
Speaker 1: seemed too cool for the oak Wood. No offense to
Speaker 1: the people who lived at the oak Wood, but no,
Speaker 1: I was gonna say the same thing, Yeah, you moved
Speaker 1: to the oak Woods. Because it's not cool. That's why
Speaker 1: you go there, because it's safe, secure there with their moms.
Speaker 1: There's a store like you didn't have to leave that
Speaker 1: kind of yeah, that's right, was perfect for Rider and I.
Speaker 1: But that I mean to Blake's point. That was the
Speaker 1: thing that was so strange is you had such an
Speaker 1: air when you came on the show of being so
Speaker 1: much more advanced in life and more mature that until
Speaker 1: I googled you again last night, I would have bet
Speaker 1: all the money in my pockets that you were older
Speaker 1: than me. And when I looked at it, I was like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, we're essentially by less than three weeks,
Speaker 1: we're the same age. So you were so you seem
Speaker 1: so established and so much cooler, and so the kind
Speaker 1: of I've got my life on track that when I
Speaker 1: met you, I would have guessed you were in that
Speaker 1: I was eighteen and you were, so it was amazing
Speaker 1: to kind of see that. I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: we were the same age the entire time. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: was you just had that air about you have. I've
Speaker 1: been here for a while, I know what I'm doing.
Speaker 1: I've got this locked. Let me do the part I'm
Speaker 1: supposed to do, then I'm gonna go out and hang
Speaker 1: out with my friends. You just seem to have it together.
Speaker 1: So for for somebody like me who I guess was
Speaker 1: your age and didn't know it, I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's how I guess you're supposed to do it and didn't. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was straight. Yeah, maybe it was like a trial
Speaker 1: by fire thing. Like I thought, like when I first
Speaker 1: came to the show, you guys were like so wholesome
Speaker 1: and sweet and kind and decent and like probably the
Speaker 1: most like dark thing about you was like Rider's trench
Speaker 1: coat and like his John keats under his arm, you know,
Speaker 1: like you know, you know, like I mean, that was
Speaker 1: the most like God, I was just for keets or
Speaker 1: whatever whatever it was, the trench and I carried around
Speaker 1: n I remember it. Yeah, I remember that. There was
Speaker 1: like you know, you're sort of like you know, sort
Speaker 1: of you know, yea brooding thank you, like this sort
Speaker 1: of brooding poet. But like you guys were all so
Speaker 1: kind and decent and like welcoming that I that I
Speaker 1: actually almost like thought it was like disingenuous like that
Speaker 1: that at the time, I was like, all these guys
Speaker 1: are like they're like They're like it's total sacrain. So
Speaker 1: it wasn't you know. I learned later as I went on, like,
Speaker 1: oh no, these guys are just like the nicest dudes
Speaker 1: and like and even revisiting you guys like on the
Speaker 1: like clips that I've seen of the podcast, I'm like, Wow,
Speaker 1: these guys are like the same, super nice, like funny, decent,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, And like always thought Will
Speaker 1: you were like so fast, like you were so funny
Speaker 1: and so talented at like comedy the quickest, Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I remember that, and then watching the podcast, I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that, dude. He's like, Yeah, it's so funny that
Speaker 1: you mentioned that and that I'm so happy to hear
Speaker 1: that that was your your perception of us, because we
Speaker 1: have talked among ourselves about the fact that the way
Speaker 1: we felt with you and Ethan was like those guys
Speaker 1: are way too cool for us, Like they they don't
Speaker 1: want to be here. They I don't think they really
Speaker 1: like us. They think we're like, um, I don't know, children, children, Yeah,
Speaker 1: which is so funny because it actually reflects the parts
Speaker 1: you guys were playing on the show too, and like
Speaker 1: I don't know how much that affected is like affected
Speaker 1: our mindset because we're still kids, you know, I mean
Speaker 1: I was fourteen or whatever, Like how much of it
Speaker 1: was the roles you were playing, But also like you
Speaker 1: guys just you were like I remember having conversations and
Speaker 1: and good conversations and really looking up to you guys,
Speaker 1: but feeling totally intimidated, like feeling like you guys were
Speaker 1: just the coolest people I've ever met, and like that
Speaker 1: you lived this like crazy l a existence that none
Speaker 1: of us understood. That I just I wanted to be
Speaker 1: a part of so bad, you know, like and by
Speaker 1: the time when you guys left the show, I feel
Speaker 1: like I kind of did venture into more of Like
Speaker 1: if we had met when I when I was like eighteen,
Speaker 1: I bet you we would have been instant friends. But
Speaker 1: at the time, but fourteen, I was so intimidated by
Speaker 1: you guys, but you were the definition of cool. I mean,
Speaker 1: thank you. I mean it's funny, like I mean I
Speaker 1: didn't feel very cool at the time, but like it's
Speaker 1: funny like in reflecting, like obviously like one doesn't sit me,
Speaker 1: I don't. I haven't thought a lot about boy meats world.
Speaker 1: And then in you know you guys, right and you
Speaker 1: invited me to do this, and so you think about
Speaker 1: it and then you watch a little of the clips
Speaker 1: and you sort of it's sort of like, it's interesting
Speaker 1: that you guys were in its sense, like this wholesome
Speaker 1: bunch and writer you were a little bit like Emo
Speaker 1: or whatever, and Sean was like a little bit right
Speaker 1: sand and then like and then like Ethan and Danny
Speaker 1: and myself and like um Adam Adam Scott. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: all kind of had like a whiff of darkness about
Speaker 1: us in like real life too, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And it kind of speaks to the brilliance of like
Speaker 1: the casting and Michael Jacobs and like that he like
Speaker 1: that they created this um this ecosystem that like reflected
Speaker 1: our real true characters. Because I think even and I
Speaker 1: were a little we did connect because we both had
Speaker 1: that like a little whiff of darkness. Yeah. Yeah, well
Speaker 1: you mentioned Michael, and I one of been looking up
Speaker 1: some of the projects you had done before you got
Speaker 1: to Boy Meets World. You had done Family Ties, which
Speaker 1: we mentioned a ton on this shows, like you know,
Speaker 1: one of his favorite shows of all time. But then
Speaker 1: you also appeared on My Two Dads for two episodes
Speaker 1: in seven did you Is that where you first met
Speaker 1: Michael And was there already a relationship with Michael before
Speaker 1: you came onto Boy Meets World. Yeah, I think Michael
Speaker 1: liked me or his cast and director whoever that was,
Speaker 1: and Michael Barbie, Barbie Block and Sally Steiner. Yeah yeah, man, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think he was always kind to me and always
Speaker 1: like like brought me in and stuff. So um so yeah,
Speaker 1: I always felt real comfortable with him and and even
Speaker 1: like I got really I don't know about you guys,
Speaker 1: but I would always get really excited about those days.
Speaker 1: Remember there was like a day was maybe Thursday or
Speaker 1: where Michael would come and sit and talk to everybody
Speaker 1: about what was working, what was not. Mondays and Tuesday, yeah,
Speaker 1: after the run through, so we start we would start
Speaker 1: our weeks on Fridays with the table read to a
Speaker 1: light rehearsal, then Monday full day rehearsal and run through
Speaker 1: that afternoon for the producers, then Tuesday rehearsal and and
Speaker 1: then network run through and those after those um run
Speaker 1: throughs is when we get those marathon note sessions. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I always get excited, like I felt like I
Speaker 1: was watching somebody I felt like I was watching like greatness,
Speaker 1: Like I always got really excited to just watch him work.
Speaker 1: You know, yeah, those notes sessions are we we have
Speaker 1: so many memories of those notes sessions, and some of
Speaker 1: them I remember a similar feeling a lot of times
Speaker 1: of just being like it felt like watching its own
Speaker 1: show in a lot of ways. And you and I
Speaker 1: do remember also feeling very much like I had an
Speaker 1: understanding of what the script was, and then listening to
Speaker 1: Michael talk about it, I'd be like, oh, there are
Speaker 1: so many layers here that he's intending that I did
Speaker 1: not pick up on, that we would discover um during
Speaker 1: the note session. Do you remember your audition for Boy
Speaker 1: Meats World? I do, I do, Yeah, I remember it. Um.
Speaker 1: I had done a character kind of like that on
Speaker 1: like UM Wonder Years and I and it was Fred
Speaker 1: Savage and I think I did two episodes there. And
Speaker 1: I think when I read it again, like I was
Speaker 1: probably in a period where I was like, well, how
Speaker 1: do I Well, it's just where I was at. So
Speaker 1: I was in a where I was just trying to
Speaker 1: book stuff. I wasn't like going in like I need
Speaker 1: to feel this, and I'm like I wanted to book it.
Speaker 1: So I was like, Okay, this is kind of a
Speaker 1: this is a kitchy thing to New York accent, and
Speaker 1: I think I just I don't know how I think
Speaker 1: of My voice was kind of pitched higher, and I
Speaker 1: think and and then um, yeah, I went in did
Speaker 1: it for producers. I didn't go in for Sally or whatever.
Speaker 1: It was just straight to producers. And then I think
Speaker 1: I booked it instantly. Um, and I think, you know,
Speaker 1: I think you guys know this, but it wasn't meant
Speaker 1: to be recurring, you know. It was just a one
Speaker 1: deal and that Yeah. I didn't know that. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: we were just one episode and then they and then
Speaker 1: they just I guess dug it or whatever. You know.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I can't get over so so far. I'm
Speaker 1: I've just heard my two dads Family Ties one years.
Speaker 1: You've been on some of the most iconic sets in
Speaker 1: the history of Terris. That's amazing totally. And hearing that you,
Speaker 1: like I loved Family Ties so like, like Alex P.
Speaker 1: Keaton to me is like part of the reason I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, this is yeah, act exactly have you
Speaker 1: seen Back to the Future like recently, it's oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's right. It's only works because it's perfect, only works
Speaker 1: because of his performance. Yeah, it's p I said the
Speaker 1: same thing after I said it's perfect movie. It's perfect.
Speaker 1: It's absolutely perfect. Yeah, so wonderful. So what do you
Speaker 1: Immediately after getting the part, you're put in a little
Speaker 1: gang with Danny McNulty and Ethan. Did you know either
Speaker 1: one of them before starting Boy Meat's World or was
Speaker 1: that your first introduction to them? That was my first introduction.
Speaker 1: But Ethan and I became friends pretty quickly. Um, Ethan
Speaker 1: had no we had. Ethan and I had a couple
Speaker 1: of friends in common, but um, but I didn't know them,
Speaker 1: but we became friends quickly. I mean, um, did you
Speaker 1: starting off of set? Yeah, you had like after yeah
Speaker 1: yeah yeah, yeah, totally to us, like you guys have
Speaker 1: known each other forever. Yeah. I mean Ethan's like one
Speaker 1: of those dudes. I mean he's gonna come on or
Speaker 1: he has come on coming yet. Yeah. He just has
Speaker 1: a kindness and and just a gentility about him that
Speaker 1: like he's just magnetic. So I don't know, I just
Speaker 1: kind of like like being around the dude. I don't know,
Speaker 1: you know, So yeah, I have to play you a
Speaker 1: clip because we watched We've Been you know, obviously we're
Speaker 1: in season two watching the recap, and we recently watched
Speaker 1: episode two oh three and I we'se laughed like could
Speaker 1: not catch my breath and rewound the line of yours
Speaker 1: five times. I think it's now in the running for
Speaker 1: one of my favorite jokes on the show. And it's
Speaker 1: not even because of the It's not because the joke
Speaker 1: is that funny. Your delivery is absolutely genius. And I
Speaker 1: we pulled the clip because I have to play it
Speaker 1: for you. It is one of the funniest things I've
Speaker 1: ever heard. So let's listen to it, because Harley's got
Speaker 1: a whole lot of fole is from guys who have
Speaker 1: done the same thing. The guys saying cooking now because
Speaker 1: they got no hears what I'm saying, you're saying, okay.
Speaker 1: So basically what happened is Sean over here is you
Speaker 1: guys having a conversation, and he comes over and says like, hey,
Speaker 1: you know what you were talking about? And Danny as Harley,
Speaker 1: gets very angry and goes, hey, did I give you
Speaker 1: permission to eavesdrop? And you say, yeah, Harley's got a
Speaker 1: locker full of ears from guys who were doing the
Speaker 1: same thing. Now their glasses hang all crooked because they
Speaker 1: ain't got no ears. You like, this is the funniest thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's amazing, Like that was like nostalgia. But it's hard
Speaker 1: to believe that was me. It's kind of beautiful in
Speaker 1: a way, like you were doing a real character work.
Speaker 1: Were doing like a fool and ethan, like completely committed
Speaker 1: to these pretty ridiculous characters, and you made them work.
Speaker 1: I mean they're iconic. It's so good, you made them hilarious.
Speaker 1: I really do encourage you to go back and watch
Speaker 1: some of your episodes because they're really good. You will
Speaker 1: be so impressed with yourself. Yeah, cool, thanks, I will.
Speaker 1: I mean, where do you This is weird? But like
Speaker 1: is it just YouTube or like Disney Plus? Okay, we
Speaker 1: have Disney Plus. We have Disney Plus, Great Disney Plus,
Speaker 1: Boy Meets World season two pop on? It was I
Speaker 1: only in season two? No, I think also season three. Okay,
Speaker 1: that kind of amazed me. Danielle when you at because
Speaker 1: you know, we alread give an intro for for the
Speaker 1: guests coming on when you said sixteen episodes, this is
Speaker 1: another one where I would have guessed it was a
Speaker 1: lot more because you, You, you loom so large. I
Speaker 1: think in our collective memories of the show, you and
Speaker 1: Ethan and Danny that when you hear you only did
Speaker 1: sixteen episodes out of what the hundred and fifty eight
Speaker 1: we did, I never would have guessed that. I would
Speaker 1: have thought you were there for several seasons worth of
Speaker 1: the show. I mean, in my head, you were. So
Speaker 1: it's so strange you figure college took over. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's the thing. We kind of forget that the last
Speaker 1: three years of the show. We're out of high school
Speaker 1: and we'll just keep reinventing himself. That's what we That's
Speaker 1: what we find is that season one was one sitcom
Speaker 1: into itself. We're now three episodes into season two, which
Speaker 1: it's a completely different show, and that's going to continue. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're gonna then We're gonna go to college. Is gonna
Speaker 1: be totally different again. And so it's very strange. But yeah,
Speaker 1: in our minds for some reason, why in my speaking
Speaker 1: for me, in my mind, you you were there for
Speaker 1: most of it. So it's so so we we said
Speaker 1: that the same thing with Danielle for season one. It's
Speaker 1: like no, You're in all the episodes. She's like, no,
Speaker 1: I did like eight, Like wait what So it's um,
Speaker 1: it's strange how your memory does that. We're we're looms
Speaker 1: so large. I don't want, I don't mean to jump
Speaker 1: ahead in your career, but I very briefly want to
Speaker 1: tell a story because my arguably one of my single
Speaker 1: favorite behind the scenes memories of Boy Meets Were involves
Speaker 1: you by far, and I think about it often because
Speaker 1: it was a really cool moment in my life. You
Speaker 1: brought your guitar and Jenny Lewis visited you on the
Speaker 1: set and we were in it was either my trailer,
Speaker 1: your trailer, somebody's trailer. I want to say it was myself,
Speaker 1: it was Ben Rider. I don't know if you were there,
Speaker 1: Daniel was there. You were there and for an it
Speaker 1: must have been an hour. You guys just played acoustic
Speaker 1: for us, and it was one of the coolest days ever.
Speaker 1: I can't even explain why it touched me so much,
Speaker 1: but it was. It to the point where it got
Speaker 1: me out of my house. I was a total introvert,
Speaker 1: and like you said, there was a danger side which
Speaker 1: I never had. The following week, I think I drove
Speaker 1: to Spaceland, which is a club out here in Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: to to hear musicians, and sat to watch you play
Speaker 1: not anymore really, yeah, to watch you play because I
Speaker 1: was so enthralled by this day of just listening. We
Speaker 1: just sat there and listen. Nobody said a damn word
Speaker 1: and you guys just played song after song and it
Speaker 1: was unbelievable. I don't even know if you remember that,
Speaker 1: but it was such an artistically inspiring day for me.
Speaker 1: For I mean, I have no musical talent whatsoever, but
Speaker 1: just sitting there watching it happen in front of me
Speaker 1: was truly amazing. It's something I think about often. So
Speaker 1: you know, you never know when you do something that's
Speaker 1: so par for the course for you but really touches
Speaker 1: somebody else. And so I just want to thank you
Speaker 1: for that. It was you guys shared that with us
Speaker 1: for for like an hour, and it was it was
Speaker 1: really unbelievable. So it was so blake. Maybe you should
Speaker 1: do something with the music maybe that maybe I don't
Speaker 1: know it it was really it was really amazing for me.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that was that was a great day. Thanks
Speaker 1: well that Yeah, that was a cool time for me
Speaker 1: and like my life too, Like Jenny and I were
Speaker 1: so you know, NonStop um doing that. So, um, that's cool, man,
Speaker 1: what an honor? Like I think in a sense that's
Speaker 1: like that's like what life is eased of is these
Speaker 1: like poignant moments you like remember and and I think
Speaker 1: I think that's like one thing that's like really cool
Speaker 1: about what you guys are doing because I think so
Speaker 1: many kids grew up with your show or this show
Speaker 1: where whatever our show. I don't know, um our show, yeah, sure,
Speaker 1: our show. Yeah, this thing that we contributed to who
Speaker 1: are like they feel connected to what what um that show?
Speaker 1: And to see you guys go through it and have
Speaker 1: a personal experience, you know, acting I stopped acting, um
Speaker 1: for music, did that for a while, right lo Kylie.
Speaker 1: Then we stopped doing ray Kylie. I did another band
Speaker 1: that was on Atlantic, and then um, after that, I
Speaker 1: moved to Nashville, so um, so I was there and
Speaker 1: in Nashville, Um, we were living at a baby and
Speaker 1: then sort of COVID comes a long and sort of
Speaker 1: acts as sort of a stringent or an antibiotic for
Speaker 1: anything in your life that maybe isn't bringing more pleasure
Speaker 1: or more worth than it is pain, and I think
Speaker 1: music started to fall under that umbrella, you know. And
Speaker 1: I thought i'd experience experiment with what would life look
Speaker 1: like if I wasn't like a musician anymore? And and
Speaker 1: I made a record first, and who knows. You know,
Speaker 1: life has a way of sort of oscillating. Just when
Speaker 1: you say I'm not a musician anymore, things come back
Speaker 1: or whatever. Yeah, I don't necessarily, Um, I didn't walk
Speaker 1: away from music with any anguish or or or resentment,
Speaker 1: just like okay, like let's try and not that now.
Speaker 1: Um and um, so you probably want to know what
Speaker 1: I do for money, right, for a living or is
Speaker 1: that I'd like to know the same about you guys. Um? Um,
Speaker 1: So I kind of got into like a real estate
Speaker 1: stuff and I'm a landlord. I owned some commercial buildings
Speaker 1: and um, what's my wife? And I flipped the occasional
Speaker 1: house and um and um yeah, so we have like
Speaker 1: rents and then it's kind of like my band with
Speaker 1: my wife, So we buy a house, will make it
Speaker 1: beautiful and selling it feels like being in a band.
Speaker 1: We get to talk and huddle up and be creative. Right, yeah,
Speaker 1: are you then, Nashville Marsden, you ever see Jason Marsden.
Speaker 1: He reached out when I first moved there, but and
Speaker 1: he was such a nice guy always. But no, we
Speaker 1: never we never saw each other. Yeah, we never saw
Speaker 1: each other. Would you ever consider acting again? Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: of course I would. I mean, I mean, I think
Speaker 1: when I was like in that band Night Terrors, someone
Speaker 1: came from Girl Meets World or whatever and said, hey,
Speaker 1: there's this job for uh the janitor. Would you you know,
Speaker 1: I think Danny ended up doing it, and she said
Speaker 1: you would you do it? And I was like, I'm
Speaker 1: kind of in this band right and she was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: so great, would you do it? And I was like,
Speaker 1: I know, because I'm We're going on tour and it's
Speaker 1: just you know whatever. But at the time, like there
Speaker 1: was a part of me that like sort of seemed um,
Speaker 1: that seemed like appealing. I don't know, I think life
Speaker 1: is so short, you know, like why not try stuff
Speaker 1: that scares you? And and of course, like I think
Speaker 1: I've always been a creative above all else. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, um, I can relate with what you said.
Speaker 1: Will I think there were times where like anxiety came
Speaker 1: into like acting for me. But yeah, I think I
Speaker 1: do it again. Yeah, why not if if somehow the
Speaker 1: call rose? Yeah, So a question, how old is your
Speaker 1: daughter gonna have to be before you start her on
Speaker 1: boy Meats World? Oh my god, I mean she's four
Speaker 1: and you just said you guys just told me I
Speaker 1: can watch it on Disney Plus and I should. And
Speaker 1: my first thought was, oh, I gotta show Tuesday. That's
Speaker 1: my daughter's name, and I like and and I was like,
Speaker 1: that was my first She probably won't give it, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, like, she probably like, Okay, that's weird?
Speaker 1: Is that even you? I don't know. So we're going
Speaker 1: to have Danny McNulty on soon and so we will
Speaker 1: talk to him about his experience and and all of that.
Speaker 1: But I do want to know what was your what
Speaker 1: is your memory of the time period where Danny left
Speaker 1: the show and then Adam Scott was brought in and
Speaker 1: now you guys had this like new leader of the pack?
Speaker 1: What are what were what are your memories of that
Speaker 1: experience and what was that like for you? Um? Well,
Speaker 1: my experience with that was like I was hanging out
Speaker 1: with Ethan and Danny separately as friends, and I remember
Speaker 1: going to Danny's house one night and he started to
Speaker 1: we're drinking red wine, and he started to like talk
Speaker 1: about some stuff that seemed like a little heavy, not
Speaker 1: heavy or not based in sort of like this plane
Speaker 1: of you know, sort of reality or whatever, um, you know.
Speaker 1: And so I think I was like, oh, Danny's trippy,
Speaker 1: like you know, like like you know, because that's what
Speaker 1: I thought. Oh, he's kind of out there. Maybe he
Speaker 1: takes a lot of acid, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I didn't know what we're going on. He just seemed
Speaker 1: And then I think there was an episode that Danny
Speaker 1: and Ethan were in and I wasn't in, and Ethan
Speaker 1: called me, He's like, yo, bro, the table or or
Speaker 1: I didn't come to the table read something, because I
Speaker 1: think I came like the next day. Maybe that's what happened.
Speaker 1: They excused Danny from it and brought me in to
Speaker 1: take because Ethan couldn't be alone, and and I was like,
Speaker 1: I don't know what's going on, and and Ethan was like,
Speaker 1: Danny at the table read right, started to have some
Speaker 1: kind of episode, and right, yeah, but dude, I remember
Speaker 1: you being there. I remember you being at the table.
Speaker 1: I remember you kind of helping him. Yeah, you helped
Speaker 1: him you pointed him out to the script where to be,
Speaker 1: and I remember seeing you because remember and you like
Speaker 1: picked it up and you put it there, and you
Speaker 1: were like right here, man, right here, and you were
Speaker 1: like helping him along. And I remember as a kid,
Speaker 1: we were just like, what is happening? I remember now.
Speaker 1: So there was something that Ethan told me about that
Speaker 1: either predated that or right after that. Ye, yeah, totally,
Speaker 1: but yeah, yeah, I remember him leaving and then there
Speaker 1: was like one and it was kind of weird. It
Speaker 1: was like psychologics sudden. Yeah, and at that stage of
Speaker 1: my life maybe like you guys hadn't experienced that. That
Speaker 1: was like, no, he got to go get some help
Speaker 1: or whatever. Yeah, So I was like, oh, should we
Speaker 1: visit him? And like I think Ethan went visited him
Speaker 1: and and which is very that's Ethan, you know, it's
Speaker 1: so sweet. Um and um. And then they brought in
Speaker 1: some other guy for one episode. Yet they brought in
Speaker 1: one the other guy hard. I think they changed it
Speaker 1: to Harvey or something ridiculous like that. I think they
Speaker 1: might have just changed like one letter, but kept just
Speaker 1: brought in a guy for to just do exactly the same.
Speaker 1: That was the motorcycle episode. Righthere're supposed to up the
Speaker 1: motorcycle and it's likely so we're supposed to not notice.
Speaker 1: It's just another dude, just like what really, we're just
Speaker 1: supposed to not pick that up. You're not gonna change
Speaker 1: the television man. Now, this is a different guy playing
Speaker 1: exactly the same role. It was really weird. It was weird.
Speaker 1: It was weird, and it was like, okay, don't ask,
Speaker 1: you know, don't nobody saying anything. Yeah, nobody looked behind
Speaker 1: the curtain. Nobody looked behind the cart. And then they
Speaker 1: brought in Adam Scott. And it was interesting because like
Speaker 1: Ethan As I recall, boy mean's what was his very
Speaker 1: first job, like ever ever ever, like Taft Hartley, like
Speaker 1: newest and I remember yeah talking to him being like
Speaker 1: hey man, so this is how it works, this is
Speaker 1: what you do, lunches at this and then Adam Scott,
Speaker 1: I think, same thing where it was very first thing
Speaker 1: ever and like the same thing where so there was
Speaker 1: like these two guys now that we're sort of green
Speaker 1: and I was the sort of veteran or something, the
Speaker 1: old pro yeah, but Adam was like, you know, he
Speaker 1: had that whip of darkness or whatever, and he was
Speaker 1: real kind of sarcasting, had a funny sense of humor.
Speaker 1: And that's why he never made it. That's why he
Speaker 1: never made it any lack of talent. Yeah, So I
Speaker 1: remember hanging with those dudes a lot, Ethan and Adam. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know, man like it was a good spot
Speaker 1: to meet friends, apparently for me. I don't you know, um,
Speaker 1: but yeah, it was great. I was sad when me
Speaker 1: and Ethan no longer you know what I mean, we're there,
Speaker 1: you know, how did you find out? You like, what
Speaker 1: was the I don't we don't remember because we haven't
Speaker 1: watched the show. I don't remember what your exit from
Speaker 1: the show was. Do you remember what your last episodes
Speaker 1: were or when you found out you weren't going to
Speaker 1: be returning. So Ethan and I in like hiatus after
Speaker 1: sort of sort of towards what what would end up
Speaker 1: being the end of our tenure. Ethan and I saw
Speaker 1: the next season coming, and we thought we should write
Speaker 1: a script. Let's write a script and it will be
Speaker 1: the first episode. It'll be the first episode of the
Speaker 1: next season. So me and Ethan work on this script
Speaker 1: and we write like half of it and then we
Speaker 1: write like a treatment for all this scenes to follow
Speaker 1: up with some pilot skeleton with like jokes and like
Speaker 1: we you know, we had like a name for it,
Speaker 1: and the whole concept was like Catcher in the Rye, Right,
Speaker 1: they're studying Catcher in the Rye, but also like Sean
Speaker 1: or Corey I can't remember which feels like holding Caulfield.
Speaker 1: He feels kind of crazy. And so we had this
Speaker 1: whole like fun idea for this Catcher in the Yeah,
Speaker 1: we thought so. Um, so we went in and we
Speaker 1: like made a meeting. We pitched it to like Michael
Speaker 1: and like all the right good, Yeah, it was a trip. Well,
Speaker 1: so we went in and we pitched the script and
Speaker 1: they said, okay, that's a great idea. We love the script.
Speaker 1: I don't know that we're gonna, you know, buy it,
Speaker 1: but we've come here to tell you today that we're
Speaker 1: gonna offer you contracts and make you guys official to
Speaker 1: the show. Guys are going to be like not regulars,
Speaker 1: but you're gonna be like but more than you had
Speaker 1: in the past, and they have your own storylines and
Speaker 1: all this stuff. And um, I mean Ethan, like we
Speaker 1: left meeting high five. Oh my god, how fun this
Speaker 1: is going to be so great? Um and never darken
Speaker 1: the door that plays again. That was that was it.
Speaker 1: We never heard from the beginning. We never came back, Yeah, Hollywood.
Speaker 1: But I don't think my impression was not that they sca.
Speaker 1: I don't think they were like, oh my god, how
Speaker 1: dare they let's like I think I think that show
Speaker 1: just had these hard elbows in it. What I mean,
Speaker 1: like like you would lose like the little girl or
Speaker 1: a little boy right in the first see just poof
Speaker 1: just gone, a sibling just gone. Like I think that
Speaker 1: show just kind of did that. And I think that's
Speaker 1: what happened. Is the day we were there, the latest
Speaker 1: great idea was like the police should have more of
Speaker 1: a presence, and then somebody had a better idea, so
Speaker 1: that was it. We just never heard from anybody again
Speaker 1: until there was like a graduation episode yea three years later,
Speaker 1: and then we kind of came back. And because we
Speaker 1: talked about how they never told us anything ever, it
Speaker 1: was we would show up on set and somebody wasn't there,
Speaker 1: or somebody knew would show up, or somebody we were
Speaker 1: just never told anything. And we also had very much
Speaker 1: a similar feeling to the way you described the Danny situation,
Speaker 1: where it's like, Okay, jn't ask anything. We also had
Speaker 1: a little bit of like, if we're supposed to know it,
Speaker 1: someone will tell us. If no one tells us anything,
Speaker 1: we are just not supposed to know. Yeah, you can
Speaker 1: also get away with a lot more when you didn't binge,
Speaker 1: when there are breaks between seasons and you had months off,
Speaker 1: you could make it seem new when you came back,
Speaker 1: as opposed to Hey, I'm watching thirty seven episodes in
Speaker 1: a roaw tonight. Okay, Wow, there's a new little sister.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just it's different now than it was then,
Speaker 1: but still it's just it's one of those things where
Speaker 1: again being being a television addict, Frankie and Joey are
Speaker 1: such awesome television tropes. I mean, it's Lenny and Wiggy,
Speaker 1: It's I mean, these are these are favorite This is
Speaker 1: These are famous television characters that are being brought onto
Speaker 1: the show essentially in a new light, and they could
Speaker 1: so easily slip into the awful cartoony this is gonna
Speaker 1: last an episode because there is no depth. They're just
Speaker 1: the terrible kind of come in say a line and
Speaker 1: leave and again a tribute to you and and um
Speaker 1: Ethan where it wasn't that. I mean, you guys started
Speaker 1: to get your own storylines and started to get you.
Speaker 1: We learned about you know, Frankie's family and all that.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's that easily could have so been a
Speaker 1: one episode exactly we're talking about. We came in for
Speaker 1: one episode, we said some funny things in the hallway,
Speaker 1: and then you're gone. But you get the chemistry was
Speaker 1: just so right that it was like, how do we
Speaker 1: not pivot to writing to these people? So yeah, it
Speaker 1: was it was great, Yeah, yeah, it was yeah. Thanks.
Speaker 1: I mean it sort of just felt at the time
Speaker 1: like you know, it's funny like we look back and
Speaker 1: we can sort of like savor it, But at the
Speaker 1: time it felt so like, you know, we were on
Speaker 1: sort of you know, if it's basketball, we're on a
Speaker 1: ten day you know, like we were not signed for
Speaker 1: any more than the episode we were doing at the time,
Speaker 1: So there was always this feeling like, okay, you better
Speaker 1: do good. Um yes, But like looking back, you know,
Speaker 1: I wish in a sense like hearing you guys say,
Speaker 1: oh you thought we were so cool, it's funny because
Speaker 1: like I didn't feel like that was the case. I
Speaker 1: felt like we were sech like we were lower casts
Speaker 1: sort of people. You know, we were guest stars or whatever. Um,
Speaker 1: it's it's funny yet to hear that later, I mean,
Speaker 1: it wasn't sort of. I mean, I don't remember walking,
Speaker 1: you know, skulking around thinking you know, I'm you know,
Speaker 1: you know, lower lower class citizen. But but I mean,
Speaker 1: it was just nice to hear hear from your guys perspective. Um,
Speaker 1: and it was super fun, like you know, yeah, yeah
Speaker 1: it was. It was cool and it was it was
Speaker 1: also like one of those things that made me okay,
Speaker 1: it was super cool, and it was also simultaneously one
Speaker 1: of seeing how you guys all interacted the like grace
Speaker 1: and like ease at least that's my perception with with
Speaker 1: which you guys like approached each day. And you guys
Speaker 1: were so young, made me feel like, oh, I better
Speaker 1: quit this job. I can't do Like I am like emo,
Speaker 1: I am troubled. I have issues, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like I have sink. Like these guys are just like
Speaker 1: sailing through this. These guys are like twelve and they
Speaker 1: act like their thirty five and Will somehow like this
Speaker 1: like comic genius whirling around and meanwhile you like sort
Speaker 1: of learned that like maybe Will, you were having some
Speaker 1: kind of like panic and you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: and you know, like it's just cool to like humanize
Speaker 1: it all like later it's like really beautiful and sort
Speaker 1: of well, that's one of the things you started when
Speaker 1: we started talking, you mentioned that, and we we all
Speaker 1: talked about this all the time, where we love the
Speaker 1: ages that we are and we love getting older, and
Speaker 1: I think one of the reasons is because of that
Speaker 1: exactly what you're talking about, where you start to realize
Speaker 1: that everybody is has their own issues, everybody is going
Speaker 1: through their own thing, everybody, you know, and you're looking
Speaker 1: at somebody saying, man, that person's life is perfect. It's not.
Speaker 1: There's no such thing as the perfect life. Everyone's going
Speaker 1: through their own thing. And just because we grew up
Speaker 1: in an industry where people got to watch us grow up,
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean we're not all real people going through things.
Speaker 1: So we're always our own harshest critics. And you know,
Speaker 1: you're looking at you know, I was looking at you
Speaker 1: the entire time, going, man, that's God. He's got all
Speaker 1: these cool friends and he's a musician and he just
Speaker 1: walked onto the set and he owned the thing. And
Speaker 1: I'm going home by myself and I'm you know, taking
Speaker 1: long showers because they calm me down. And it's so
Speaker 1: you and you were at the the time. We're like,
Speaker 1: I can't do this there. Look at how put together
Speaker 1: they are and I'm going through. So it's just again,
Speaker 1: I love the age I am because you get to
Speaker 1: look back and kind of say, yeah, we're all people
Speaker 1: and going through what we go through, and we've all
Speaker 1: earned the gray that we've got, which we can all
Speaker 1: see on our zoom like Somebody, which again is due
Speaker 1: to beef by Danielle Fischel. You're checked in the mail,
Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Like do you have any favorite
Speaker 1: behind the scenes memories or just any favorite memories from
Speaker 1: being on set? Will shared one of his um, do
Speaker 1: you have any oh Man favorite behind the scenes memories?
Speaker 1: I think like me and Ethan used to whenever we
Speaker 1: would get there in the morning, we would like, um,
Speaker 1: tableweed and then we boom. He'd be in my trailer
Speaker 1: or I'd be in his, and we always had a
Speaker 1: like we often had like books and they were always
Speaker 1: sort of like, you know, mine was sort of like
Speaker 1: Jon Fonte and his was like market assad. They were
Speaker 1: like insanely not And I think that little like brotherhood
Speaker 1: where we'd sit and like tell each other about our
Speaker 1: book and music and just talk and talk philosophy. And
Speaker 1: I think we were cool and you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: think we were as as deep as you know the
Speaker 1: books were reading. UM. It was like just kind of
Speaker 1: kind of beautiful. You know, it was like it was
Speaker 1: like a really special thing, you know. I don't know, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's still talk not really no, but
Speaker 1: not no rift. I mean, I think geography has a
Speaker 1: lot to do with that. When we moved to UM
Speaker 1: Nashville five years ago, I think we were like, okay,
Speaker 1: you you're gonna when you draw, geography changes like you
Speaker 1: checking him with your l A people is probably more
Speaker 1: of like a UM, like a four or five friend thing.
Speaker 1: Hopefully probably not going to keep all of them. But
Speaker 1: I think if I called him or texted him, he'd
Speaker 1: be quick to respond. You know, I have one more
Speaker 1: question for you, And because this is so fun, I'm
Speaker 1: only assuming I'm taking up too much of your time,
Speaker 1: Like no, no, I had to ask this question because
Speaker 1: when we had Adam Scott on, he told the story
Speaker 1: that none of us remembered. Has already been on Adam. Yes,
Speaker 1: Adam has come on the show, and he told us
Speaker 1: about his experiences and what he remembers and how he
Speaker 1: got the part, and um, you, it's actually saying that
Speaker 1: we all seemed very saccharin and sweet. His perspective was
Speaker 1: his perception of us was a little bit like, oh,
Speaker 1: they're like, we're not allowed to talk to them, like
Speaker 1: they're they're the stars of the show. We're supposed to
Speaker 1: keep our distance. So he and he did feel very
Speaker 1: taken in by you and Ethan, like you guys were
Speaker 1: very warm and welcoming and made him feel comfortable, and
Speaker 1: he talked about the fact that he was very green
Speaker 1: and didn't really know what was going on and that
Speaker 1: you helped guide him and all that. But he told
Speaker 1: a story that none of us remembered, and it has
Speaker 1: been eating away at him. He hadn't shared it with anybody.
Speaker 1: He had just recently started telling the story to like
Speaker 1: people in his inner circle. And the story is that
Speaker 1: at the end of the season, there was like we
Speaker 1: taped the last scene and It was this big celebration
Speaker 1: of that's it, that's a rap end of the end
Speaker 1: of the season, and everybody was like high fiving and hugging,
Speaker 1: and you and Ethan both hugged Writer, and so Adam,
Speaker 1: who was standing there and didn't know Writer as well.
Speaker 1: Adam like just turned and gave Writer this hug, and
Speaker 1: Writer hugged him and then kind of out of nowhere,
Speaker 1: shoved Adam away and looked at him like dude, and
Speaker 1: then ran away and then walked off like no recollection
Speaker 1: of this whatsoever, No idea what he's talking about now?
Speaker 1: I knowing writer the way we no writer. Absolutely, something
Speaker 1: else was going on there, like Writer is a very
Speaker 1: huggy person. It is not. It is not just that
Speaker 1: Adam hugged writer, and Writer didn't feel like he knew
Speaker 1: him well enough to get a hug. Like something else.
Speaker 1: Writer just lost power. I can talk about him, good,
Speaker 1: We'll talk about him now. What do you really think
Speaker 1: a writer? Blake? Yeah, go for it. Look, do you
Speaker 1: see the cool the cool side of town infrastructure exactly exact,
Speaker 1: exactly exactly so we remember and we didn't really talk
Speaker 1: about it a lot, but you and Ethan used to
Speaker 1: kind of like play pranks like you guys would like
Speaker 1: you know, I was wondering if you have any memory
Speaker 1: of this hug or of this exchange, because one of
Speaker 1: the things I thought may have happened is like when
Speaker 1: Adam went to go hug writer, you like, grabbed Writer's
Speaker 1: butt or did something that that maybe made Writer think
Speaker 1: Adam had done something, because I have memories of you
Speaker 1: guys like basically being kind of sneaky, but in a
Speaker 1: fun way, not sneaky in a in a bad way,
Speaker 1: just like pulling, pulling little pranks. Do you have memories
Speaker 1: about at all? I think Ethan and I probably, like
Speaker 1: I mentioned before, sort of this well the width of
Speaker 1: darkness would go back to you know, I think that
Speaker 1: I probably played pranks. I doubt we would have played
Speaker 1: them on rock, like I wouldn't have grabbed riders, but
Speaker 1: at that time because or you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: You know I would have done that to Ethan. But
Speaker 1: like I think what Adams said, I can relate with
Speaker 1: around you guys feeling a little bit like the you
Speaker 1: guys were like the royals and we were Now this
Speaker 1: wasn't coming from you, but in general, you probably didn't
Speaker 1: want to go like goose, you know, thirteen year old
Speaker 1: ride or whatever. You know, that was probably not you know,
Speaker 1: probably a good rule of thumb, not to year old. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I don't know, man, I don't remember that, but
Speaker 1: it's amazing. Maybe like John Keats was just hitting with
Speaker 1: too hard that day. I don't, I don't, I don't know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't have a memory of that. Let's just do
Speaker 1: another hour on making fun of riders. Since his powers out,
Speaker 1: I was asking Blake if he had any sort of
Speaker 1: memory of him and Ethan playing like I mean, I
Speaker 1: guess pranks is not really the right word, but I
Speaker 1: wanted to hear from your perspective, like what we talked
Speaker 1: about whether or not maybe Blake or Ethan did something
Speaker 1: like grabbed your butt or something that made it seem
Speaker 1: like Adam had maybe done that in order to get
Speaker 1: you to have that reaction. Um, And Blake said he
Speaker 1: didn't think he would have done anything like that because
Speaker 1: he would have felt like he couldn't have done that.
Speaker 1: But I wanted to know if that is, like, what
Speaker 1: are your no, I remember Blake doing it like that
Speaker 1: all the time. When she was saying it the second time,
Speaker 1: I thought, actually that would have been a good time. Yes,
Speaker 1: there was some I feel like you guys were always
Speaker 1: doing bits like that, Like there was all like you
Speaker 1: were always like part of like why it was hard
Speaker 1: to keep up with you guys, or why I felt young,
Speaker 1: was that you were always doing They would layers of
Speaker 1: jokes and like there was a level of sarcasm that
Speaker 1: I just did not have, Like I had no irony
Speaker 1: in my life whatsoever. I was like the most earnest
Speaker 1: fourteen year old fourteen through sixteen year old ever And
Speaker 1: I remember you guys kind of taking advantage like and
Speaker 1: I also remember no in a loving way, like I
Speaker 1: always felt like you guys liked me. I just never
Speaker 1: felt cool enough to keep up with like the layers
Speaker 1: of jokes that were going on like you guys. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you guys already discussed this, but Adam
Speaker 1: told the story of how he told you guys, like
Speaker 1: a really really dirty joke, and your response was, Uh,
Speaker 1: you should tell that to Tony Quinn. He loves dirty jokes. Yeah, Yes,
Speaker 1: Adam went and told like the dirtiest joke possible to
Speaker 1: Tony Quinn and you guys just let him week on
Speaker 1: this and just let him out there left him to
Speaker 1: drive Hong about to drive. So like I have a feeling,
Speaker 1: like I remember you guys used to like grab our
Speaker 1: knees all the time. Do you do horsebreads corn and
Speaker 1: like squeeze our yes, sure, Like I feel like something
Speaker 1: was going on behind the scenes when Adam hugged me
Speaker 1: that because there was no reason I would have like
Speaker 1: shoved him away, But I have a feeling something was
Speaker 1: going I was either part of some bit I was
Speaker 1: doing with you guys is or I have no idea
Speaker 1: like yeah, maybe the picture asked or something when um, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's possible, it's possible, and like it's true, Blake, I
Speaker 1: want to know. I want to know about how, how
Speaker 1: and when you stopped acting and and then I think
Speaker 1: it seems to coincide with the name change, Like I'm
Speaker 1: curious about how that all went down, like how conscious
Speaker 1: was it and how much of it was just sort
Speaker 1: of a slow fade, because like I know, like I say, oh,
Speaker 1: I quit acting, but the truth was, it was like
Speaker 1: this slow dissolved. You know, It's like the audition stopped happening,
Speaker 1: or I started doing projects I really hated, and I
Speaker 1: found myself more and more unhappy and like in bad situations.
Speaker 1: Since then, it was finally like no, no, no no, I'm
Speaker 1: officially done. Was like a hard line. I finally had
Speaker 1: a draw. But it took a while, you know. So
Speaker 1: I'm curious about how that happened or like when Ryan
Speaker 1: o'ciglie came up. Is that when it happened, or what's
Speaker 1: the story there. I think I had had during my
Speaker 1: time as an actor. I think I was struggling with
Speaker 1: some substance stuff and that stuff came to a head,
Speaker 1: let's say, and um, well I almost died, like so,
Speaker 1: so I sort of got like, you know, brought back
Speaker 1: to life and on upon this, I um, I I
Speaker 1: sort of came to so to speak, the next day
Speaker 1: and I was like, well I got it, figure something
Speaker 1: else out. So I was able, you know, with the
Speaker 1: help of of um things that are at our disposal
Speaker 1: of these days, I was able to to to get
Speaker 1: help and and with that near death stuff, especially at
Speaker 1: sort of like your own at least that's the way
Speaker 1: I saw it at the time your own hand. I
Speaker 1: think I I felt like a reassessment was in order,
Speaker 1: and I was like, you know, I really don't I
Speaker 1: love acting, And at the time. I loved music. That's
Speaker 1: all I thought about, It's all I wanted to do.
Speaker 1: So I just decided that if I were to try
Speaker 1: to act and do music simultaneously, that I wasn't going
Speaker 1: to succeed at music. That that just wasn't gonna happen.
Speaker 1: Whether it's like knowing that the safety net was there
Speaker 1: or um, not having a focus. You know, I'm a
Speaker 1: pretty I can be pretty obsessive in my work, and
Speaker 1: and so I decided I was, um, gonna just do that.
Speaker 1: So I called sort of my mom and said, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, this is what's going on. Also, I'm quitting
Speaker 1: acting and going to music. And she's like, that's not
Speaker 1: a great idea, but okay, And you know, and it
Speaker 1: wasn't a scary scary for mom, And it was probably
Speaker 1: a terrible idea on paper. If my kid said that
Speaker 1: to me, I'd be like, what are you doing? Like,
Speaker 1: you know, hard it is to get as far as
Speaker 1: you've gotten, um um. And perhaps had I been doing
Speaker 1: like you know, had I been doing Scorsese movies, I
Speaker 1: would have felt differently. Um, But you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: because I did have a pretense about me what you
Speaker 1: know what I mean? A little or or that feeling like, um,
Speaker 1: I wanted to, you know, do something meaningful. I think
Speaker 1: later I've learned that doing something meaningful it doesn't necessarily
Speaker 1: have to do with your work, you know. Um. It
Speaker 1: can be meditation, it can be kindness, it can be learning,
Speaker 1: it can be parenting. You know, those are the things
Speaker 1: that I've almost felt most meaningful in my life. Um So, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what happened. I abruptly decided I wasn't gonna act
Speaker 1: anymore and and and went full head first into music.
Speaker 1: And I called Jenny and I said, Okay, there's this
Speaker 1: thing we've been sort of putting off and and I
Speaker 1: think we should. Uh you know, I'm going to go
Speaker 1: into music. That's what I'm going to do. Would you
Speaker 1: come and sing some backups? That'd be great? And she
Speaker 1: said no, I want to sing lead. And I was like,
Speaker 1: okay then, And that's what happened. We just started, you know,
Speaker 1: That's how I remember it, and I worked. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it worked out. It was great. It was really really
Speaker 1: some incredible times in my life. Um, we're touring in
Speaker 1: that band, and you know, touring with like Modest Mouse
Speaker 1: and Bright Eyes and us. I mean that's like just
Speaker 1: for me, like the coolest you know, European tour or
Speaker 1: whatever it was. Um playing like Madison Square Garden with
Speaker 1: you know, like all those things are like like it's
Speaker 1: funny like when you're doing them, and I don't know
Speaker 1: if you guys related to this, but like when you're
Speaker 1: doing them, you think like, well, I'm doing this, but
Speaker 1: I really want to get think always that's never ends, right,
Speaker 1: that never ends, Like yeah, I mean I think it can.
Speaker 1: If with I think it can, but not at that
Speaker 1: age it couldn't. Um So, so looking back, yeah, it's like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, I've like the coolest like photo library
Speaker 1: in the world, you know what I mean. Once I
Speaker 1: feel that way, I think I think I work on
Speaker 1: that now though the like, yes, the craving that that
Speaker 1: oh god, misery. All I have a million bucks, I
Speaker 1: need to I need ten whatever. It might be money
Speaker 1: or not as easy as it's supposed easy to express
Speaker 1: in money. Um in this moment for me, umah, maybe
Speaker 1: I can. I definitely feel like jelly bellies too, though,
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong. Um yeah, it's going like no,
Speaker 1: I feel like craving that friction, that course feeling, you know,
Speaker 1: not to get to, um, you know, a nice n
Speaker 1: inn over here. But you know, like you know, just
Speaker 1: like Okay, it's cool, this is it, this is this
Speaker 1: is is this is cool, this is good. Well, we've
Speaker 1: talked about it a lot on the show, the like
Speaker 1: burnout that you can feel, especially when you've started as
Speaker 1: a child, like as a child actor. And do you
Speaker 1: think I know, you know, we talked about you mentioned
Speaker 1: the substance abuse issues that led to near death. Um,
Speaker 1: do you think like, were you burnt out before you
Speaker 1: got to that point? Do you think you were experiencing
Speaker 1: a certain amount of acting burnout that led to that
Speaker 1: or do you think that burnout helped lead you to
Speaker 1: even acting. Well, maybe burnout shows up for everybody a
Speaker 1: little differently. For me, I think, yeah, some burnout. I
Speaker 1: think the burnout was like that that lack of control,
Speaker 1: you know, and always feeling like, oh my god, I'm
Speaker 1: like walking on a tight rope and I'm just when
Speaker 1: am I ever going to not feel so like? Um
Speaker 1: that and I hated driving across town to like Abbot
Speaker 1: Kinney to like try out for stuff, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? I like that part too, you know, like
Speaker 1: and um, and yeah, I think I had. I think
Speaker 1: I had probably some burnout around that, wanting to just
Speaker 1: feel normal or something, wanting to feel some sense of
Speaker 1: control or ownership over what I did with my day,
Speaker 1: you know. And do you feel like you have that now? Definitely?
Speaker 1: Definitely yeah. Yeah. I'm like going to you know, Italy
Speaker 1: for two weeks and you know what I mean or whatever,
Speaker 1: and I'm like bringing my daughter and my wife and
Speaker 1: my mom and like, yeah, yeah, yeah I do, man,
Speaker 1: I do. I mean there's always something you know right
Speaker 1: to me. It's almost like the psyche spiritual like whatever.
Speaker 1: This work is my favorite stuff now, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's good for you. Man. I'm so excited that we
Speaker 1: were able to reconnect with you. Thank you for agreeing
Speaker 1: to do this with us, Thank you for taking time
Speaker 1: out of your day. Of course, you guys are so
Speaker 1: nice and cool and like when I first writer wrote me,
Speaker 1: my feeling was like, oh, I want to you know,
Speaker 1: I want to support like I want of course, I
Speaker 1: want to contribute. And now being here, I'm like, wow,
Speaker 1: I got so much out of this, Like, yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: glad you figured then, what twenty seven years since we've
Speaker 1: seen each other that you guys look amazing. So do you.
Speaker 1: We're all old and happy. Um yeah, I'm I'm so
Speaker 1: I'm so happy that we at this and you know,
Speaker 1: thank you for again for your time and for your
Speaker 1: generous spirit being here with us and your honesty all
Speaker 1: of that good stuff. Um, this was a real pleasure. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: really good to see you. Yeah, come back and do
Speaker 1: a rewatch episode with us. I'd love to, man, I
Speaker 1: would love to just be a watch because he has
Speaker 1: never seen it. So's and before we do a watch,
Speaker 1: I encourage you to go back and and watch some
Speaker 1: of your work on Boy Meats World and allow yourself
Speaker 1: to be impressed with you the same way we are
Speaker 1: impressed with you. And really good. It was really really
Speaker 1: really special. Yeah, thank you, Yeah, I will thank you
Speaker 1: for let us know what Tuesday. Thanks yeah, I will, man,
Speaker 1: thank you. Blake, all right you guys, I he ain't
Speaker 1: got no he is it's ees yeah. Yeah, the longest
Speaker 1: word years. Oh my god. Wow. That walking on a
Speaker 1: tight rope. That hit me because that's so exactly the
Speaker 1: feeling you get in this industry. It's you all are
Speaker 1: constantly walking that tight rope. It's great. Wow, so happy
Speaker 1: now that it was really nice Um, I could feel
Speaker 1: through zoom that he he is in a totally different
Speaker 1: place than he was when we knew him on Boy
Speaker 1: Meats World. And and you'd think, well, of course he is.
Speaker 1: You know, twenty seven years have passed. Everyone's in a
Speaker 1: different place. But that's not true. No, no, not at all.
Speaker 1: Some people don't grow at all. No, some people don't change.
Speaker 1: Some people are the exact same people they were in
Speaker 1: the nineties, and when we see them, were like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: there's that's a person who hasn't done a whole lot
Speaker 1: of adjusting. Um, there is a real like sense of
Speaker 1: calm and a real sense of self to blake. Now
Speaker 1: he was obviously going through some stuff. Yeah, I washse
Speaker 1: if I can what you just said, you felt it
Speaker 1: through zoom or zoom feels Zeals. I'd like to say,
Speaker 1: it's all new Zeal's Zeals trademark. You got the Zeals.
Speaker 1: It's amazing. No, God, it was fun to talk to him, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was. Well. Thank you all for joining us for
Speaker 1: this episode of Pod Meets World. As always, you can
Speaker 1: follow us on Instagram pod Meets World Show. You can
Speaker 1: send us your emails pod Meets World Show at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com. And we have got merch we should start
Speaker 1: selling us Yes on our Pod meets World show dot
Speaker 1: com and we'll see you next time. We love you all,
Speaker 1: pod dismissed. Pod Meets World is an I heart podcast
Speaker 1: produced and hosted by Daniel Fishel Wilford, l and Ryder
Speaker 1: Strong Executive producers Jensen Carp and Amy Sugarman Executive in
Speaker 1: charge of production, Daniel Romo, producer and editor, Tara sup
Speaker 1: Box producer, Jackie Rodriguez, engineer and Boy Meets World super
Speaker 1: fan Easton Allen. Our theme song is by Kyle Morton
Speaker 1: of Typhoon and you can follow us on Instagram at
Speaker 1: Pod Meets World Show or email us at Pod Meets
Speaker 1: World Show at gmail dot com