Speaker 1: Bring institute. That's okay, becaus no one here is.
Speaker 2: Oh.
Speaker 3: Hello, and welcome to teen Beat, a podcast that lives
Speaker 3: inside the snow globe that is.
Speaker 1: The Danielle Fisher Shows.
Speaker 3: I am your host, daniel Fishle, and this week I
Speaker 3: continue my mission of talking to interesting people who have
Speaker 3: done interesting things, hoping to learn about their upbringing, because
Speaker 3: I know that who we were is a direct pipeline
Speaker 3: into who we've become. I see it like this, I
Speaker 3: gave you my childhood. It's time we hear yours. But
Speaker 3: this week I am joined by an absolute Hollywood legend who,
Speaker 3: in his youth not only starred in some of your
Speaker 3: all time favorite eighties movies, he's also somehow found a
Speaker 3: way to defy the odds and maintain a still running
Speaker 3: fifty year career in film and TV National Lampoon's Vacation,
Speaker 3: The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, SNL, Edward Scissorhands,
Speaker 3: The Dark Night. His resume reads like your shelf of
Speaker 3: Blu Rays since college, but now he may just be
Speaker 3: taking on his biggest challenge yet, Nation's Dumbest on Fox,
Speaker 3: a competition show where alongside fellow celebs like Iced tea
Speaker 3: doctor Drew and Jojo Siwa. He has faced a number
Speaker 3: of educational challenges, pop quizzes, and elementary level physical activities,
Speaker 3: and hopes that he will avoid last place, inching further
Speaker 3: and further away from the title of nation's dumbest.
Speaker 1: But we know he's not the dumbest.
Speaker 3: Especially since he's smart enough to come hang out with
Speaker 3: me today. I genuinely believe his nuanced work and those
Speaker 3: golden era John Ces movies helped lay the groundwork for
Speaker 3: what we did mixing humor and real teenage emotion years
Speaker 3: later on Boy Meets World, and I am so excited
Speaker 3: to talk to him about it. Please Welcome to teen Beat,
Speaker 3: Anthony Michael Hall.
Speaker 2: Hi, Danielle, thank you for having me. It was very nice.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Thank you so much for coming. You come
Speaker 3: from a very talented family. Your mother was a blues
Speaker 3: and jazz singer, and then your half sister followed in
Speaker 3: her footsteps. Was it always a creatively encouraging household?
Speaker 2: Great question, Yeah, I think so absolutely. You know, as
Speaker 2: you said, my mother was a jazz, R and B singer.
Speaker 2: She also taught voice, you know, so I think she
Speaker 2: laid the groundwork for my sister and I. I also
Speaker 2: think a big part of Daniel was growing up in Manhattan.
Speaker 2: Girl grew up in New York City, so we had
Speaker 2: access to the arts, and I think just seeing what
Speaker 2: was possible in the world growing up in a city
Speaker 2: like New York. But absolutely it was instilled in our household,
Speaker 2: you know, the love of music. As you said, my
Speaker 2: sister's a singer and a recording artist, so yeah, a
Speaker 2: lot of music in my family.
Speaker 3: In your career began at just eight years old in commercials,
Speaker 3: and I was also a commercial kid. How were you
Speaker 3: getting around New York at eight years old? Was your
Speaker 3: mom taking you? Were you taking the subway? How are
Speaker 3: you getting around to auditions?
Speaker 2: Believe it or not? I you know, I think I
Speaker 2: had some assist at that very early age, you know,
Speaker 2: my mother or my father. But after that, I mean,
Speaker 2: by the time I was a preteen, I think I
Speaker 2: was just navigating the city on my own, which is
Speaker 2: pretty amazing, taking car, you know, taking buses and trains.
Speaker 2: They were a lot safer then. Yeah, So yeah, I
Speaker 2: think all of that kind of affected my upbringing, you know,
Speaker 2: just that access. Being raised in New York City, and
Speaker 2: as we talked about having that arts background with my mother.
Speaker 3: You know, it's so interesting how different it was in
Speaker 3: New York as what my co host on my other podcast,
Speaker 3: pod Meets World. Wilford all grew up in Connecticut and
Speaker 3: his parents were both lawyers, and by the time he
Speaker 3: was ten eleven years old, he was on the subway
Speaker 3: by himself. He was taking he was just navigating the
Speaker 3: city by himself, going to auditions. And when I hear that,
Speaker 3: being a California, you know, bread person, I'm like, I
Speaker 3: can't even imagine.
Speaker 2: Well, I was very similar to Well in that rock
Speaker 2: Yeah all right, actually, yeah, you know we did a
Speaker 2: movie years ago, Will, and I was called Swimming with Sharks, Yes,
Speaker 2: with Jennifer love Hewett. I forget the title of it.
Speaker 1: Trojan War, Crojian War. Right, Oh, that's so funny.
Speaker 2: Will, I haven't seen in years.
Speaker 3: He's such a great guy. I'll tell him you said hello.
Speaker 3: He'll want me to pass along his hello as well.
Speaker 3: Great and as a teen, you would become known as
Speaker 3: an actor who could play well beyond his years.
Speaker 1: Were you always a mature kid?
Speaker 2: I don't know if I was a mature kid, but
Speaker 2: like many and I'm sure you probably start off this way,
Speaker 2: doing shills for the family in the house.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, you.
Speaker 2: Know, doing shills making your relatives sit down at your parents.
Speaker 2: And so that was me as a kid. You know.
Speaker 2: I think back at that old Eddie Murphy film. I
Speaker 2: think it was called Raw, but there was a sequence
Speaker 2: at the opening where they kind of re enacted his childhood.
Speaker 2: He was doing this kind of stuff, you know, kind
Speaker 2: of performing for his relatives. So that was me. You know.
Speaker 2: I was born in Boston in nineteen sixty eight. Sounds
Speaker 2: like one hundred and fifty years ago, but I was
Speaker 2: raised by a single mom and you know, growing up
Speaker 2: in her in that household in Boston. At first, that's
Speaker 2: what it was about, was doing shows, you know. So
Speaker 2: it was that funerals or weddings or whatever, kind of
Speaker 2: getting up and imitating my uncles and aunts. And so
Speaker 2: I started out, I guess as a little stand up comic.
Speaker 2: I guess as a kid you know in the family,
Speaker 2: which is to yeah.
Speaker 1: That's so funny.
Speaker 3: I also was that way, and especially with imitations, Like
Speaker 3: I was good at imitating people. That's where my performance
Speaker 3: bug started. Was just like imitating my math teacher for
Speaker 3: my mom, or you know, just trying to trying to
Speaker 3: entertain in any way that you can.
Speaker 2: Right, me too. We share that then, Yeah, it's a
Speaker 2: natural thing. I think kids can really instruct us. I
Speaker 2: think they'll show you what their interests are. I mean,
Speaker 2: I just had my first child. I have a three
Speaker 2: year old here at fifty eight, so I just I'm
Speaker 2: an older dad starting. But you know, I think kids
Speaker 2: inform you of their interests and like yourself, I was
Speaker 2: performing for the family, you know, imitating people. So that's
Speaker 2: how I started as well.
Speaker 3: Do you see any any signs of what your son
Speaker 3: is gravitating to?
Speaker 1: I have a seven year old and an almost five
Speaker 1: year old.
Speaker 2: Incredible, Yeah, well you know better than I. Danielle. Well,
Speaker 2: first of all, my son had quite a little outburst today.
Speaker 2: He was not having it. He didn't want to leave
Speaker 2: his mommy's side this morning a bit, so we had
Speaker 2: a kind of a rough go getting him to school today.
Speaker 3: It's always difficult in the mornings, especially Monday mornings. They've
Speaker 3: just spent a nice weekend with the family and then
Speaker 3: it's like Monday morning, they're like what no.
Speaker 2: Literally, it was about forty five minutes of crying and
Speaker 2: I want mommy and all that stuff, But no, I
Speaker 2: think back to performing. I think is a very natural thing.
Speaker 2: It's an extension of childhood, you know, using your imagination.
Speaker 2: And let's face it, what we do for a living
Speaker 2: is to make believe. Even though people in Hollywood might
Speaker 2: have you think differently. It is just make believe. You know.
Speaker 4: It's fun. Yes.
Speaker 3: In addition to commercials, I know you also did some theater,
Speaker 3: but then your screen debut was in an Emmy winning
Speaker 3: TV movie called The gold Bug, and then just two
Speaker 3: years later you were cast as Rusty Grizzle in the
Speaker 3: original National Lampoons Vacation, a true genuine classic that will
Speaker 3: live on forever. Do you remember your audition for Rusty?
Speaker 2: I do. It's like yourself. I started in commercials, so
Speaker 2: you remember all those early auditions. I remember meeting with
Speaker 2: Harold Ramis and Maddy Simmons, the producer of the film, Yes,
Speaker 2: and that being a great experience, and then just seeing
Speaker 2: something in me, you know, that old saying of we're
Speaker 2: all standing on the shoulders of giants. We all have
Speaker 2: mentors and people that certainly brought us along, you know,
Speaker 2: and my life it was certainly John Hughes, and before
Speaker 2: that John, it was was Harold Ramis and Matty Simmons.
Speaker 2: You know, so I do remember that audition. I was
Speaker 2: midtown Manhattan at the Warner Brothers office, and yeah, it
Speaker 2: was exciting and they saw something in me, and next thing,
Speaker 2: you know, I got the job and we made that
Speaker 2: film way back in nineteen eighty three. It was incredible.
Speaker 2: This pre dates you know, Green Screen, Blue Screen. We
Speaker 2: actually made the trip. The crew went to Colorado and
Speaker 2: then we made our way back to Arizona and then
Speaker 2: back to California, so we kind of saw half the
Speaker 2: country at least, you know too, It's really you know
Speaker 2: how it is movie making. It's a real joy. It's
Speaker 2: a real blessing.
Speaker 3: I know, a movie making often feels like a traveling circus.
Speaker 3: But then hearing you describe it like that, it was
Speaker 3: really like a traveling circus.
Speaker 2: You said it perfectly. Yeah, it really was. It really was.
Speaker 2: And these days, right, everything's shifted. You know, it's a
Speaker 2: new century, so there's new technology and yeah, you know
Speaker 2: everything can be done on a single stage. Right, We're
Speaker 2: seeing AI and all these other developments. It's a fascinating
Speaker 2: time to be alive.
Speaker 3: Yeah, as you mentioned, directed by Harold Ramis written by
Speaker 3: John Hughes, starring Chevy Chase. Were you intimidated at all?
Speaker 3: You were thirteen years old, and I mean that's a
Speaker 3: who's who of comedy.
Speaker 1: Were you intimidated?
Speaker 2: Well, you know what I think I was. I think
Speaker 2: I was a bit nervous to start because I was
Speaker 2: one of those kids in the seventies I would ask
Speaker 2: my mother to stay up so I could watch SNL.
Speaker 2: So I loved all those comics and Chevy too, so
Speaker 2: I just looked up to him absolutely, and then getting
Speaker 2: to work with John Candy, all the great people I
Speaker 2: mentioned Coca. It was really an incredible way to start
Speaker 2: in my career. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Really, I wanted to ask you about the Wally World scenes.
Speaker 3: It's sure one of the best last acts of any comedy.
Speaker 3: And you are spending a day in an empty theme
Speaker 3: park with Chevy Chase, John Candy, and Beverly di'angelo. What
Speaker 3: do you remember about shooting at six Flags?
Speaker 2: Well, what was funny, Danielle is the first thing we
Speaker 2: shot was the run up when we're in the parking lot.
Speaker 2: That was actually the Santitita Racetrack ten degrees that day. Now,
Speaker 2: this was a Warner Brothers film, so you know, we
Speaker 2: couldn't use Disneyland, so we did use six Flags as
Speaker 2: you mentioned. So it's really funny. So the parking lot
Speaker 2: was Santaitita Racetrack kind of over here on the west side,
Speaker 2: and then once we get in, it was you know,
Speaker 2: out in Valencia at Magic Mountain. A lot of fun.
Speaker 2: I just remember that wooden roller coaster. They should have
Speaker 2: beann those things long a time ago, because I know,
Speaker 2: I think it was called the Cyclone or something. I
Speaker 2: forget it was called.
Speaker 1: I think it is the Cyclone.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, but it just had that rickety sound, like
Speaker 2: a very nervous, you know, nerve wrecking kind of sound.
Speaker 2: It was kind of a funny thing, but great experience,
Speaker 2: you know. And on that one, it was actually a
Speaker 2: different ending that we originally did for Vacation, And what
Speaker 2: happened was the studio tested the film and I think
Speaker 2: a lot of the cards came back when they would
Speaker 2: give the cards to the audience and give their notes
Speaker 2: they wanted to see them get to the park. The
Speaker 2: original ending was Chevy holds roy Wally hostage, and roy
Speaker 2: Wally would be the equivalent of Globalt Disney, you know,
Speaker 2: a Gentleman's business launch is Beverly Hills Mansion. So it's
Speaker 2: a funny scene, but ultimately didn't work for the film
Speaker 2: because it felt like, you know, the audience just wanted
Speaker 2: to see the family get to the park.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I get there, get to the park.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's so funny. What was it that made you
Speaker 1: not want to return for the sequel?
Speaker 2: You know, it's so funny. It's because of the great
Speaker 2: blessing of having John Hughes in my life. I wasn't available.
Speaker 2: It was because of John Hughes. You know, he wrote
Speaker 2: that script, but I didn't meet him on Vacation Daniel.
Speaker 2: I met him when I did Sixteen Candles, and right
Speaker 2: after that we wound up doing those three films In
Speaker 2: a Row, Breakfast Club and then Weird Science. So it
Speaker 2: was actually kind of his fault. I was working with
Speaker 2: John Hughes on these other films at Universal, and I
Speaker 2: was not available to do the sequel to Vacation, which
Speaker 2: was European Vacation. But those films have all held up
Speaker 2: and the tested stile, which is great.
Speaker 3: Did you know at the time, because obviously John Hughes
Speaker 3: was very taken with your performance, when did you find
Speaker 3: out that he was already thinking of you for other roles.
Speaker 2: You know, it was right after we did sixteen Candles.
Speaker 2: We just had this incredible connection, Danielle. I'm sure there
Speaker 2: been people like that mentors we've worked with where they
Speaker 2: just felt like family. There was just a love and
Speaker 2: a connection and you know, with genuine care that he had,
Speaker 2: I just felt like his little brother, you know. So
Speaker 2: it was right after sixteen Cannels. I remember him calling
Speaker 2: me in Manhattan. I was still living, of course, with
Speaker 2: my parents, and him telling me that we were going
Speaker 2: to do The Breakfast Club, you know, and then it's crazy,
Speaker 2: you know, cut to shooting in that film. I think
Speaker 2: we made all three of those films in the span
Speaker 2: of less than three years. But we were about a
Speaker 2: couple of weeks into The Breakfast Club. And this is
Speaker 2: how prolific he was. We were on a break shooting
Speaker 2: a big scene in the library and John Hughes came
Speaker 2: up to me in the hallway and he said, you know,
Speaker 2: I came up with our next film, and I'm like,
Speaker 2: what are you talking about. We're shooting our second film
Speaker 2: then right third, if you include Vacation. But he didn't
Speaker 2: direct it. He said it's going to be you and
Speaker 2: so as a kid, and we're going to make a
Speaker 2: girl on the computer. And he goes, last night, after
Speaker 2: we wrapped, I went back to the to the house
Speaker 2: and I wrote the first act. So that's how prolific
Speaker 2: that he was amazing. So he would shoot a ten
Speaker 2: or twelve hour day and then go home when he
Speaker 2: wrote thirty pages of what became Great Science, which is incredible.
Speaker 4: Oh my.
Speaker 2: So yeah, we have a group thread going with the
Speaker 2: cast mates at that. That film just turned forty one,
Speaker 2: I think two days ago over yesterday. So it's it's
Speaker 2: a real privilege to know that I started with these
Speaker 2: great guys that really gave me these opportunities, you know, Maddison,
Speaker 2: Harold and John. Yeah. But then we made those three
Speaker 2: in a row.
Speaker 3: I mean, you made those three movies in a row,
Speaker 3: and it's like nineteen eighty four, nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 1: Did you even sleep during this period?
Speaker 2: I was a kid. I was just happy to be
Speaker 2: an on set, you.
Speaker 1: Know, endless energy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and you know how it is. I mean
Speaker 2: we would get tutored on set and and you know,
Speaker 2: I mean it's it's no comparison them to being stuck
Speaker 2: in school all day. They have to make up three
Speaker 2: hours on set, as you know, that would be the
Speaker 2: rule for us, right, Yeah, but yeah, it was just
Speaker 2: such an incredible experience. You know, I really was life changing,
Speaker 2: and you know, I credit John was giving me my career.
Speaker 2: You know, it's really a great opportunity to work with.
Speaker 1: Was your mom on set with you for all of
Speaker 1: those films?
Speaker 2: You know what? She had been recently remarried at that time,
Speaker 2: and they had my sister, and so she was in
Speaker 2: New York and my aunt traveled with me, who was
Speaker 2: very close. She's like a second mother to me, so
Speaker 2: she was the one who traveled me at the time.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So The Breakfast Club is basically shot in like one location.
Speaker 3: You're sixteen years old and you're tackling these big existential
Speaker 3: life questions. Did you know while filming it that it
Speaker 3: was special?
Speaker 2: That's a good question. I think we did to some degree.
Speaker 2: You know. One of the things that John did, Danielle,
Speaker 2: which was really interesting, is he carved out time for
Speaker 2: us to rehearse. She don't always get that luxury. And
Speaker 2: you did a lot of TV and there's a lot
Speaker 2: of rehearsal with film. Yeah, it can be different and
Speaker 2: you don't always get that that luxury of having the
Speaker 2: times to work on stuff. But John really did that
Speaker 2: for us. He gave us a week or might have
Speaker 2: been even ten days where we just sat in that
Speaker 2: set that had been built inside the school that had
Speaker 2: been shut down and they built that beautiful library set
Speaker 2: inside it. Als amazing. So one of the things he
Speaker 2: did and he would bring the director of photography in it.
Speaker 2: He would start rehearsing the scenes. We would just sit
Speaker 2: around as a group in a circle kind of reading it,
Speaker 2: and then we'd start to block the scenes and the DP,
Speaker 2: the director photography, would come in so he would start
Speaker 2: pre visualizing it. But he gave us that time to
Speaker 2: work on the material and have, you know, ask questions
Speaker 2: and just have fun with it. And I think that
Speaker 2: was really helpful too. You know, it really prepares you
Speaker 2: for the days when you're shooting, you know.
Speaker 3: So that absolutely helps with your relationships with your fellow
Speaker 3: actors too, you know, bonding, connecting, getting comfortable.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 3: It also just gives you a real sense of creative agency,
Speaker 3: you know that, Like I'm working with people who want
Speaker 3: me to succeed and excel and are willing to give
Speaker 3: me a place to try things and do things.
Speaker 2: Well said, yeah, absolutely, and John was big on that
Speaker 2: and he always was. He maintained that that sense of collaboration.
Speaker 2: He was really great that way, even down to just
Speaker 2: having music on the set. He would make mixtapes for us,
Speaker 2: you know, based on things that he heard, and he
Speaker 2: was so talented that way. He would integrate all those
Speaker 2: musical cues into his films, and so much to an
Speaker 2: extent that like Universal, after his films took off, not
Speaker 2: only did he have an overall deal, but he had
Speaker 2: a record in that era because they understood that he
Speaker 2: really had a keen sense of music and he really
Speaker 2: had his finger on the pulse, you know. You see
Speaker 2: it with shows like all these years later, like Gray's
Speaker 2: Anatomy or other successful shows where the music is built
Speaker 2: in and really supports the project, whether it's dramatic or
Speaker 2: communic or what have you. So yeah, he was really
Speaker 2: I feel like, kind of an innovator in that way.
Speaker 2: You know. He was really great because, as I said,
Speaker 2: a lot of those cues were written into his work.
Speaker 2: He had a room Danielle at his house. I would
Speaker 2: often be visiting with he and his wife and their
Speaker 2: two young sons who are still friends of mine on
Speaker 2: the weekends in Chicago as a kid, and you go
Speaker 2: into his writing room and it was amazing. He looked
Speaker 2: like a record store, David word of ceiling twelve inch
Speaker 2: vinyl records, and over in the corner by the window,
Speaker 2: he had a desktop computer where he do was writing.
Speaker 2: So it's almost like he immersed himself in his own
Speaker 2: writing room, which also looked like a record store. Is critical,
Speaker 2: so music was really important to.
Speaker 3: Yeah, No wonder then you coming from a musical family.
Speaker 3: It was just something you guys had in common.
Speaker 2: You know, you said it. He was pretty too, because
Speaker 2: even when we were on the pitch, he would do
Speaker 2: really cool things like pick Molly and I up and
Speaker 2: other cast members and take us to see live music.
Speaker 2: We'd go see Blues and other great live venues in Chicago.
Speaker 2: So just great experiences where he was fully immersed in
Speaker 2: his work but also had a great sense of sharing
Speaker 2: as a person. He was really cool and open to Yeah.
Speaker 3: Around this time, when you're doing these three movies back
Speaker 3: to back, this is where the brat pack moniker popped up.
Speaker 1: You will never really embraced that title. Was that a.
Speaker 3: Conscious decision on everyone's behalf. Did you think at the
Speaker 3: time that it was lame because now people would everyone
Speaker 3: would like move in with each other and make tiktoks.
Speaker 2: So that's hilarious. I like what you just said. That's
Speaker 2: really funny and true to this young generation, which is
Speaker 2: the very hip in many ways. Yeah, yeah, it was
Speaker 2: for me because I think at the time what happened
Speaker 2: was it was a bit of a ploy on behalf
Speaker 2: of the magazine that published that article. You know, they
Speaker 2: sent a reporter out and got a lot of the guys.
Speaker 2: I mean, I was at the young end of that group.
Speaker 2: But I think Emilio and Robbelo and Judd and a
Speaker 2: bunch of guys sat down at a restaurant thinking it
Speaker 2: was all goodwill and good intended, you know, and I think,
Speaker 2: you know, they might have had a couple of drinks
Speaker 2: and they started talking and this that and the other thing,
Speaker 2: and then you know, that monitor, as you said, came out.
Speaker 2: Is that the leader of the article. And I mean
Speaker 2: I never thought much of it. I didn't expect it
Speaker 2: to stick either, you know, I thought the rat pack
Speaker 2: was a lot cooler in the sixties.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2: The rat pack, but it is what it is, and
Speaker 2: it was a way to kind of, you know, refer
Speaker 2: to a group of us. Ye, they didn't really have
Speaker 2: a bob. I just kept it, kept it moving and
Speaker 2: kept going ahead.
Speaker 3: Was there ever someone in that group that you were
Speaker 3: just in awe of talent wise that you really specifically
Speaker 3: looked up to.
Speaker 2: I think he was John actually yeaheah, just because he
Speaker 2: was a great ringleader and he led by example. He
Speaker 2: really had a great rapport with all of us. He
Speaker 2: really was very open and accessible throughout the making of
Speaker 2: the films, you know, and your performance and the way
Speaker 2: you chose the choices you made. It was always an
Speaker 2: ongoing discussion with him, and he did that for all
Speaker 2: of us. Yeah, you don't think that was great about him,
Speaker 2: And you know this, You've worked in a lot of
Speaker 2: comedy arenas and TV and stuff. We would shoot it
Speaker 2: the way it was written in two or three takes,
Speaker 2: you know, But then he was really cool about letting
Speaker 2: us improvise. And he was really cool that way. So
Speaker 2: what he did for me, he did for a lot
Speaker 2: of us. You know, if you had an idea, you
Speaker 2: could try that and the scripts are already great. There
Speaker 2: was always a sense of balance, and it was all
Speaker 2: fun things to do for all the characters, and they
Speaker 2: were all funny. Yeah, but he was great that way
Speaker 2: in terms of allowing if it made sense and it
Speaker 2: worked for the scene, you can improvise and have some
Speaker 2: fun with it, which.
Speaker 1: Is great, so great.
Speaker 3: I love that we didn't get to do a lot
Speaker 3: of improv on Boy Meets World. We were pretty much
Speaker 3: you know, you've said what's written to the script, say
Speaker 3: what's on the page. But so anytime I get to
Speaker 3: hear of people who would get that opportunity, it just
Speaker 3: seems it seems so fun and different from my experience. Right,
Speaker 3: I want to talk a little bit about Weird Science,
Speaker 3: which had you around Kelly Lebroc in exercise clothes for
Speaker 3: months on end as a How was that experience for you?
Speaker 2: She's a very cool aid To this day, she's really great.
Speaker 2: You know. There was actually another lady that was hired,
Speaker 2: a woman named Kelly Emberg, who was a model at
Speaker 2: the time, and unfortunately, I think what happened was we
Speaker 2: started shooting and I didn't think the studio didn't feel
Speaker 2: like it was working out, so Kelly replaced her, and
Speaker 2: at the time she had done a film called The
Speaker 2: Woman in Red with Gene Wild, and this was way
Speaker 2: back in the day, in the early eighties, and you know,
Speaker 2: when she showed up and she was hired, she just
Speaker 2: had a great kind of effortless charmed, great sense of humor. Yeah,
Speaker 2: she could be one of the boys and really fun.
Speaker 2: But at the same time obviously studying a beautiful woman,
Speaker 2: so yeah, whoa you know, but she was a very
Speaker 2: cool person, very down to earth, very much in her shoes,
Speaker 2: you know, very real, and very funny yourself. So she
Speaker 2: was a great compliment to the cast, and she was
Speaker 2: great in the film.
Speaker 3: I love that both care both women were named Kelly.
Speaker 3: If you're not Kelly, need not apply. We're only hiring Kelly's.
Speaker 3: You turned down two John Hughes movies after that, Ferris
Speaker 3: Bueller as Cameron and then the role of Ducky in
Speaker 3: Pretty in Pink. Was your concern at that time that
Speaker 3: you would never be seen as more than John Hughes's muse, Yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Think to some extent, even at that age too, where
Speaker 2: you're more self conscious about that, you know, on the
Speaker 2: stereotyping thing, I think that certainly was on my mind.
Speaker 2: I also felt to be very honest that this, you know,
Speaker 2: Pretty and Pink. It was very similar story wise to
Speaker 2: sixteen Cannels, So it kind of felt like a redo
Speaker 2: in a way. But listen, you can't We've lived long
Speaker 2: enough to know you have to wish everyone's success in life,
Speaker 2: and you can't harbor resentment. You know, it doesn't do
Speaker 2: anything for anyone. Yeah, so I think that those films
Speaker 2: were they were great. You know, I think John Cryer
Speaker 2: is a very nice guy. I've met him since I've
Speaker 2: met Andrew. I just chose not to make that film
Speaker 2: and then with Ferris Bielo that had actually been written
Speaker 2: for me by John, and unfortunately, you know what happened
Speaker 2: was he wanted me to do both films at the time,
Speaker 2: and I just felt it was important that I kind
Speaker 2: of moved forward, you know, And I think that was
Speaker 2: kind of heartbreaking for him in a way. But all
Speaker 2: credit to you know, Matthew Broddock was great Ferris, and
Speaker 2: obviously John and Andrew did a nice job in Pretty
Speaker 2: Good Pink. But that's how it worked out. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: it led to unfortunately kind of a rupture in our
Speaker 2: friendship for years, John, because I think like the youthful characters.
Speaker 2: He wrote, he was very sensitive guy, you know, a
Speaker 2: so called adult at the time, you know, So I
Speaker 2: think that that hurt his feelings in a way that
Speaker 2: I didn't anticipate. I was really just trying to move
Speaker 2: forward professionally, but at the same time with full acknowledgment
Speaker 2: of what he had given me.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Oh that's sad that, Yeah, I mean, you know, like
Speaker 3: you said, it's like you obviously had to make the
Speaker 3: decision for you that you needed to move forward, and
Speaker 3: you felt like, especially pretty in Pink would have been
Speaker 3: too similar to something you had already done with him,
Speaker 3: And for him, he was like, but we've gone this
Speaker 3: far together, how could you not stay on the journey
Speaker 3: with me?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you said it beautifully. Yeah, I think that's probably
Speaker 2: a real accurate sense of where he was at.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: But again, given his writing ability, I think he had
Speaker 2: such an ear for that and a genuine and true sensitivity,
Speaker 2: which is great. It's important for artists and writers particularly.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So unfortunately, Yeah, that was his take on it.
Speaker 3: Well, talk about an amazing alternative, because shortly after that,
Speaker 3: you would become the youngest cast member of Saturday Night
Speaker 3: Live ever at just seventeen years old, and you had
Speaker 3: already mentioned that you were a fan. You used to
Speaker 3: ask your mom to stay up to watch it. From
Speaker 3: what we've heard about SNL, I cannot imagine that that
Speaker 3: atmosphere was very good to be in as a kid.
Speaker 3: What do you remember about it?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a tricky question. It was very exciting. It's
Speaker 2: an amaldam of a couple of things, Daniel. It's like
Speaker 2: live theater, stand up comedy, rock and roll, everything kind
Speaker 2: of rolled into one and a very high pressure work atmosphere,
Speaker 2: and a lot of people don't always acknowledge. We would
Speaker 2: come in on a Monday. Everybody would be tasked with
Speaker 2: writing sketches, like even if you weren't on the writing staff.
Speaker 2: I remember meeting Eddie Murphy at that time, who was
Speaker 2: a huge fan of as a kid, and he even
Speaker 2: telling me that he would start writing his own sketches.
Speaker 2: So I started writing. Everybody starts writing on Monday. We
Speaker 2: would turn in our sketches at about noon on Wednesday.
Speaker 2: And this is back in the day when people would
Speaker 2: have the assistants type them up, you know, So we
Speaker 2: would have a read through at about four o'clock on
Speaker 2: a Wednesday with the major key department heads and the
Speaker 2: cast and Lauren Michael's basically whenever got the most laughs,
Speaker 2: Lorne would be taking notes and then he would go
Speaker 2: back to his office after the readthrough and start designing
Speaker 2: the show on the coretboard you'll receive with the index cards,
Speaker 2: you know, a simple tool, but that's how we built
Speaker 2: the show. And then what's happened is that on Thursday, Daniel,
Speaker 2: you starting around the clock. We're coming at ten or
Speaker 2: eleven o'clock in the morning. And they're like twelve hour
Speaker 2: days Thursday, Friday, Saturday, same thing all day. So it's
Speaker 2: a grueling job. I have a lot of love and
Speaker 2: respect for all the men and women who've been great
Speaker 2: on the show, and especially people like Keenan whoever worked
Speaker 2: with recently, Keenan Thompson, who's been there the longest, you know.
Speaker 2: So it's a really high pressure, high stakes, intense kind
Speaker 2: of environment and scripted like sitcom, there's not much room
Speaker 2: for improv there. But then there's the release of the show,
Speaker 2: the kind of cathartic release of the show every Saturday night.
Speaker 2: Even if you didn't have a great sketch, you know
Speaker 2: you're there. You're feeling the energy, the whole cast and crew,
Speaker 2: and the audience of course most importantly, and then the
Speaker 2: live ban that week. I mean, it was really a
Speaker 2: real thrill to be a part of, even in weeks
Speaker 2: where you knew you didn't have so much to score with,
Speaker 2: you know, so very challenging, exciting environment to work in.
Speaker 1: Did you have a favorite skit you appeared in.
Speaker 2: The first thing that pops in my mind back in
Speaker 2: the day. I remember doing a bunch of stuff, like
Speaker 2: we did some weekend update stuff with me and Downey
Speaker 2: in that era. I got down to his audition and
Speaker 2: he auditioned for Lauren and got the job. We did
Speaker 2: Haul of Oates one year. That year. It was really
Speaker 2: funny because Downy came out as John Oats, but because
Speaker 2: he's a shorter guy, ye at him on his knees
Speaker 2: and they built these cowboy boots around his knees so
Speaker 2: he could look like he was out to my waist.
Speaker 2: And we both had like the eighties wigs, and I
Speaker 2: was doing Darryl Hall was briefly so great. There were
Speaker 2: some good stuff. Yeah. I did a great sketch too,
Speaker 2: also with Damon Wayans, who was in the cast that year. Yeah,
Speaker 2: which was called two Jones's, which was a spoof on
Speaker 2: these old Crazy Eddy commercials. People in New York would remember.
Speaker 1: Crazy any Crazy Eddy, you remember crazy Idea.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that was really fun working with Damon, working
Speaker 2: with Downey, you know, a lot of a lot of
Speaker 2: fun people, but again, very competitive. You know a lot
Speaker 2: of people don't acknowledge that. Right. Comedy writers will want
Speaker 2: to be stand up comics. Stand up comics want to
Speaker 2: be the star of the show. I mean there's a
Speaker 2: lot of you know, kind of that built in competitive spirit,
Speaker 2: which is good, it's healthy. I think it makes people thrive.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is, Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3: When you're working six days a week, almost twelve hours
Speaker 3: every single day. Yeah, you're you can imagine there's some
Speaker 3: competitiveness about what's getting on the air, who's working harder
Speaker 3: than who, who's getting things through, who's getting more laughs,
Speaker 3: health environment.
Speaker 2: Spoken, it's just a it's in the air. Yeah. I
Speaker 2: think it's something that Lauren's very aware if he works
Speaker 2: with that, you know, yeah, you know he's right, he
Speaker 2: decider in chief.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3: You mentioned Downey, Robert Downey Junior, you're weird science co star,
Speaker 3: and you two have not only stayed extremely close now
Speaker 3: for over forty years, it seems like you two still
Speaker 3: eye projects to work on together. How and why do
Speaker 3: you think that friendship has survived this many decades.
Speaker 2: Well, I've been there for him, you know. Years ago
Speaker 2: when he was in trouble with the law, I spent
Speaker 2: a little time in the clink, so speak. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: went to visit him, and you know, we just have
Speaker 2: a long, a long history together. I wrote a script
Speaker 2: with he and his father right after we did and now, Yeah,
Speaker 2: and we had a project a couple of years back
Speaker 2: that we're trying to get made. Unfortunately didn't. It was
Speaker 2: very much by accident, kind of mirrored that show Succession,
Speaker 2: which was kind of took us by surprise. So unfortunately
Speaker 2: that didn't work out. But he's always been a good friend,
Speaker 2: and I'm really proud of his success, you know. And
Speaker 2: his wife is very cool. She's instrumental in his great comeback.
Speaker 2: And yeah, he's had just a great career. And he's
Speaker 2: a great guy. He's you know, despite all the great
Speaker 2: success he's had, he's very real, very down earth guy.
Speaker 4: He's cool.
Speaker 1: I love to hear that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you have been very open and vocal about the
Speaker 3: battle with addiction. You encountered during those early years. You
Speaker 3: got sober in nineteen ninety. How difficult did being in
Speaker 3: this young Hollywood scene and then snl all while becoming
Speaker 3: extremely famous. How hard did it make it for you
Speaker 3: to stay sober?
Speaker 2: Well, it's a challenge, you know, it really was. It's
Speaker 2: a pressure cooker of a situation, you know, this to
Speaker 2: have success at a young age, you know, because it
Speaker 2: puts you in a hot seat, and it's and it's
Speaker 2: very off putting in a way, even though it's something
Speaker 2: you think you want. You know, everybody has this idea
Speaker 2: about what fame is and recognition and all that stuff.
Speaker 2: But it was very challenging, you know. And I was
Speaker 2: a bit of a wild kid, I mean I was.
Speaker 2: I had a lot of fun, So it was challenging,
Speaker 2: you know, to navigate all that stuff, to maintain a career,
Speaker 2: to stay on the straight and narrow. You know. I
Speaker 2: give my mother a lot of credit. My mother was
Speaker 2: very tough love, but in the right ways. You know.
Speaker 2: She gave me a great foundational all my father. So
Speaker 2: that was really a you know, a great backstop, you know,
Speaker 2: especially considering the industry. And I didn't live out west,
Speaker 2: so I really wasn't fully immersed in a Hollywood lifestyle
Speaker 2: or all that stuff. So by the time I moved
Speaker 2: here in my mid twenties, I think I got a
Speaker 2: lot of that partying out of my system. If you're
Speaker 2: raised on the East Coast, you know what it is.
Speaker 2: I think you're your access to nightlife and all that
Speaker 2: stuff happens even at an earlier age, you know. So
Speaker 2: I felt like all that stuff was challenging. It was
Speaker 2: challenging to navigate all that but you got to, you know,
Speaker 2: you got to keep it moving. You got to keep
Speaker 2: moving forward in life, you know. So I've always you know,
Speaker 2: I pride myself on that sense of tenacity and discipline
Speaker 2: it takes just to keep going, you know, in industry,
Speaker 2: because there's no guarantees. Think about that, you know, and
Speaker 2: what we do. There's no company to fall back on,
Speaker 2: there's no team to rely on, you know. True. So
Speaker 2: I have a lot of respect and love for anybody
Speaker 2: of the arts that takes on this life, a creative
Speaker 2: life and endeavors to be successful with it because it
Speaker 2: comes with a lot of highs and a lot of lows,
Speaker 2: and you know, you can be racked with self doubt.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of different things that can be challenging.
Speaker 2: So it's important to have family, to have a foundation,
Speaker 2: and to you know, to clean up your act if
Speaker 2: you're on a wild on a wild path, you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And that's to make no mention of the tabloids
Speaker 3: which were massive back then, which now we can relate
Speaker 3: to the.
Speaker 2: Internet right now, it's social media.
Speaker 1: Now, it's social media.
Speaker 3: You know, where you're under a lens and people are
Speaker 3: just watching every.
Speaker 1: Move you make, right right.
Speaker 3: Well, the next time a lot of my listeners would
Speaker 3: see you is probably Edward Scissorhands, a movie that seems
Speaker 3: to get more popular with every passing year, and in
Speaker 3: this one you are playing maybe against type as a
Speaker 3: villainous jock. Do you remember meeting Burton for the role,
Speaker 3: who probably mostly knew you from your John Hughes movies.
Speaker 2: I do, I do. It was right around like in
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety we made that film, so it must have
Speaker 2: been like eighty nine or early nineteen ninety we met, Yeah,
Speaker 2: and yeah, I think that that's something. I mean, he
Speaker 2: was aware of the work I had done, and I
Speaker 2: think I had also physically bulked up and gotten bigger.
Speaker 2: I did a film called Johnny be Good. It was
Speaker 2: a football film in between there, so I had bulked
Speaker 2: up and gotten it bigger physically, and I think that
Speaker 2: was intriguing to him to kind of pit in the
Speaker 2: opposite of Johnny Depp, who's kind of a smaller guy. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but he's a great artist to work for, as we
Speaker 2: all know. I mean, he's really I like it him
Speaker 2: to Walt Disney, I really do. I think he's an
Speaker 2: incredible filmmaker, has owned his own signature look, and yet
Speaker 2: he's done so many different types of films over these years,
Speaker 2: you know. But he was a great guy to work
Speaker 2: for it. So yeah, we went to Tampa and shot
Speaker 2: Edward Scissor Hands, which is like, all these years later,
Speaker 2: when I reflect on it, it reminds me of like,
Speaker 2: I don't know, Pinocchio meets Romeo and Juliet, what going on? Right?
Speaker 2: It's kind of a fairy tale. It's a beautiful movie,
Speaker 2: you know, and I think that it's held up really nicely.
Speaker 2: It was great. A couple of years ago, I got
Speaker 2: a call from Tim to join the cast of Wednesday,
Speaker 2: So I went over to Dublin and shot an episode
Speaker 2: of that, and so that was great to work with
Speaker 2: him again.
Speaker 1: Oh, that's so awesome.
Speaker 2: It was really great, And again I was just impressed
Speaker 2: with just the art department, just the depth of production,
Speaker 2: you know, creativity, the craftsmanship. You know, he's really a
Speaker 2: brilliant guy, very cool guy, very calm and low key too,
Speaker 2: but really comes alive when he directs. You know, he's
Speaker 2: a really interesting guy to work for.
Speaker 1: I love his aesthetic.
Speaker 3: It's just and like you said, so many different types
Speaker 3: of movies and yet he still has he is such
Speaker 3: a signature alone, totally totally.
Speaker 2: I mean, my wife was with me, we brought our son.
Speaker 2: We were in Dublin. Just one day. I had her
Speaker 2: come to the studio. It was called Ashbury thing out
Speaker 2: in the countryside of Dublin. It's just beautiful and I
Speaker 2: just wanted to walk through the art department with her
Speaker 2: and Shore. I mean, there was literally, I don't know,
Speaker 2: thirty forty to fifty people just working in the art department,
Speaker 2: seeing the models and all the you know, the creative work,
Speaker 2: painting and just all the work that goes into his
Speaker 2: you know, his world is really incredible and everybody gets
Speaker 2: it too. They kind of understand what his vision is.
Speaker 2: And I didn't get to be directed by him. It
Speaker 2: was a gentleman named Potable Cabasa, Spanish director. That's when
Speaker 2: I got to Dublin. I said, where's ten They go? Oh,
Speaker 2: Tims to the south of France editing. I was like,
Speaker 2: of course he is, he's Tim Burton. I'd be in
Speaker 2: the south of France editing.
Speaker 1: Too, exactly, That's exactly where he should be.
Speaker 2: Yeah. But great artists and really nice man.
Speaker 3: As an avid watcher of Monday Night Raw growing up,
Speaker 3: I also know you as the star of Dead Zone,
Speaker 3: a show often promoted during the WWE broadcast because it
Speaker 3: would air usually right after the last match. Oftentimes they
Speaker 3: would cut to you in attendance for Raw, and this
Speaker 3: was during the Stone Cold and the Rock era. I
Speaker 3: assume the network sent you, but there are worse places
Speaker 3: to promote. Do you remember anything from those days?
Speaker 2: So funny you said that, yes, and it was a
Speaker 2: really fortunate thing. I remember that crossover with WW and
Speaker 2: also the US Open because every August when I had
Speaker 2: that show for USA Network, they would invite me to
Speaker 2: the US Open too. I do remember that, and I
Speaker 2: did some commercials too with some of the wrestlers. It
Speaker 2: was really great that cross promotional thing was a lot
Speaker 2: of fun. I mean I personally was not a big
Speaker 2: wrestling fan that, but yeah, I thought that was really
Speaker 2: cool how they did that. You know, it was like
Speaker 2: a cross promotional thing, so much fun.
Speaker 3: I know, did you ever then stay? Did you go
Speaker 3: and just promote? Were you there for a few minutes
Speaker 3: or did you stay for the whole event?
Speaker 2: No? I did, I watched it. I mean that's a
Speaker 2: whole other type of theater as we know, right, Yeah,
Speaker 2: wrestling is serious, you know, and again the fans, the
Speaker 2: fans would just make it great.
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 3: That's what made me fall in love with wrestling, is
Speaker 3: the fans who are just as much a character as
Speaker 3: the wrestlers themselves. The whole ecosystem. It just it wouldn't
Speaker 3: survive without the other.
Speaker 2: Well said, you said it perfectly. I agree completely. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's almost like ancient Rome or something, right, Yeah, that's right, horrible.
Speaker 3: Deaths, right, exactly, hopefully on a larger scale. How have
Speaker 3: you personally been able to avoid burnout? I mean, now
Speaker 3: fifty years in this business, you are still working constantly.
Speaker 3: Have you ever thought about just becoming a car mechanic
Speaker 3: or a chef or just something else?
Speaker 2: Funny you said that because my father. I grew up
Speaker 2: without my biological father, but he was actually a mechanic.
Speaker 2: You know, I've entertained that thought over the years, but
Speaker 2: I guess it's just the kind of a hard head
Speaker 2: you have to have to be in this business, you know.
Speaker 2: I guess I've just maintained that. And it is amazing
Speaker 2: to me too, you know. I started when I was
Speaker 2: actually seven, you know, doing commercials. So it has been
Speaker 2: fifty years already. You know. Again, I just I credit
Speaker 2: my mother to a large degree, but also just my
Speaker 2: own tenacity, just keep staying at it, not giving up,
Speaker 2: you know, the idea of tolerating the unknown, you know.
Speaker 2: And I think that this industry really can throw people,
Speaker 2: you know, and I think success can really damage people,
Speaker 2: just like the fear of failure or the fear of success.
Speaker 2: All that stuff is really potent and powerful stuff. But
Speaker 2: I just maintain a diligent kind of mindset. I just
Speaker 2: kind of kept going, you know, through all these decades,
Speaker 2: and you know, and and I've tried to come to
Speaker 2: this peaceful awareness that, you know, these things don't define me.
Speaker 2: It's not who I am, but it's I love my
Speaker 2: work and I love what I do, but I can
Speaker 2: also leave it there. You know, I haven't really been
Speaker 2: someone in hot pursuit of celebrity like a lot of
Speaker 2: other people are, and you know they'll show up to
Speaker 2: the opening of an envelope or whatever. Yeah, but our
Speaker 2: industry is you know, it's a wonderful thing, you know.
Speaker 2: But the idea that it's it is make believe it.
Speaker 2: It's core. It's never lost on me too. You have
Speaker 2: to keep it real, you know, enjoy what you do,
Speaker 2: but have a sense of humor about yourself, right, and
Speaker 2: enjoy the work and the people that you're working with.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, whether it's Reacher or like we just talked
Speaker 3: about Netflix's Wednesday. In the past few years, we are
Speaker 3: still very used to seeing you on our TVs, but
Speaker 3: not quite in the same way we are right now.
Speaker 3: You are one of the contestants on Fox's new hit
Speaker 3: reality competition show Nation's Dumbest. What made you want to
Speaker 3: participate in this show? Considering I'm sure this was not
Speaker 3: the first time you've been asked to do reality TV.
Speaker 2: No, it was not, To be fair, I've been asked
Speaker 2: at numbers numerous times by ABC and Disney to do
Speaker 2: Dancing with the Stars, which is again I can enjoy
Speaker 2: that from Afar, but it's just not for me. But
Speaker 2: with this, Yeah, it's so funny because I'm one of
Speaker 2: those husbands talks a lot of smack about reality shows
Speaker 2: that my wife loves all the dating. You know, love
Speaker 2: is blind and this right, So it's really funny. Do
Speaker 2: you know what I learned from this experience, Danielle, Never
Speaker 2: say never? And it was also it turned out to
Speaker 2: be the thing that I needed, you know, to kind
Speaker 2: of take myself just to lighten up, because I think
Speaker 2: I was really kind of stressed this year. At the
Speaker 2: beginning of the year. I wasn't sure where the next
Speaker 2: job was. As you this industry is really challenging in
Speaker 2: that regard, so when this came up, it just forced
Speaker 2: me to kind of reframe my thinking. I went up
Speaker 2: to Toronto. I took my family with me, my wife
Speaker 2: and son, my mother came out from New York. We
Speaker 2: kind of made it a family affair. We had a
Speaker 2: nice time during the making of it. It was a
Speaker 2: quick two week shoot, and I got to tell you,
Speaker 2: the surprise for me was all the people. I was
Speaker 2: really happily surprised. I enjoyed everybody that I worked with.
Speaker 2: I thought everybody was cool, everybody, you know, awkward surprises.
Speaker 2: I think in the competition itself smarter than you think,
Speaker 2: you know, and it was a great lesson on many levels.
Speaker 2: You know, don't judge your book by its cover, you know,
Speaker 2: stay open, don't take yourself too seriously. There was a
Speaker 2: lot of great lessons I think that came with this
Speaker 2: experience from me. So I was glad that I dove
Speaker 2: into it. It was really a fun opportunity and I
Speaker 2: have to say shout out to Fox and BBC. They
Speaker 2: did a beautiful job, you know producing the show. This
Speaker 2: is a show I guess that was tested and as
Speaker 2: a hit in Norway and in about four or five
Speaker 2: other European countries, so it was kind of a proven
Speaker 2: model that they felt really strong with. We just had
Speaker 2: a great time doing it, you know, and just hanging
Speaker 2: out with some cool people like Ice Ty was a
Speaker 2: lot of fun. Steve O Hailaria L. King. Yeah, Jojo
Speaker 2: c was someone who I had heard about for years
Speaker 2: as a young lady grew up in reality show. Yeah,
Speaker 2: she's a real spark, you know, a spark plug. She's
Speaker 2: a lot of fun. Great competitive spirit, really fun person.
Speaker 3: I just spent the weekend with her at the Dancing
Speaker 3: with the Stars con. Oh yeah, Jojo is amazing. We
Speaker 3: had so much fun. She's so talented, so funny, so
Speaker 3: much energy.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, so I got that from everybody. Honestly, we
Speaker 2: had a good time. We're all thrown together and we
Speaker 2: just went for it. It was really a lot of fun.
Speaker 3: Was there anyone in particular that you really connected with?
Speaker 3: Did you exchange phone numbers with anybody? Anybody you're like
Speaker 3: still in touch with?
Speaker 2: Well again, with the cast group thread, it's still going,
Speaker 2: We're still almighty, you know, just you know. There was
Speaker 2: the ogs in the group, which of course was Doctor Drew, myself,
Speaker 2: Iced Tea, you know, and the older guys. It was funny.
Speaker 2: I put Steve oll the in the young category there.
Speaker 2: But it was so funny. Sometimes I see the commercials
Speaker 2: running for the show, I'm like, is that me or
Speaker 2: Doctor Drew of White Hair the same? Yeah, But I'll
Speaker 2: se Danielle was a great experience. I really had a
Speaker 2: lot of fun. For example, the way you can learn
Speaker 2: something about someone like Iced Tea, for example, he had
Speaker 2: great stories and he was like, yeah, man, you know
Speaker 2: he always got that kind of stern outer shell. But
Speaker 2: he's a great guy. He's actually really cool once you
Speaker 2: get past that. But he's like, yeah, I never did
Speaker 2: a drink or had drugs in my life. But then
Speaker 2: he proceeded to tell the stories about robbing jewelry stores
Speaker 2: and Beverly Hills, and I was like, yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 2: stee we get it. But also something about himlet I
Speaker 2: fell fastening. He was an army ranger. He was in
Speaker 2: the Army. Yeah, so that whole idea of you know,
Speaker 2: there's always more to a person and the first look.
Speaker 2: And it was really great and fun to get to
Speaker 2: know some of these people. I enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's so fun.
Speaker 3: Well, we've talked a little bit about your son, Michael
Speaker 3: Anthony Hall the Second, who just turned three this past joon.
Speaker 3: Now let's say when he turns seven and he wants
Speaker 3: to follow in you and your wife's footsteps. Your wife
Speaker 3: is also an actor, and he says he wants to
Speaker 3: start auditioning.
Speaker 1: What is your reaction.
Speaker 2: Well, that's a tough one, Danielle. Yeah, no, kid, Well,
Speaker 2: I've always said that, I even mentioned this earlier. I think,
Speaker 2: like I think kids will show you what their interests
Speaker 2: gives them everything. I want to give them sports, I
Speaker 2: want to give them music. I want to you know,
Speaker 2: I don't know I would. I would have to be
Speaker 2: open to it. We'll see, we'll see what happens. You know. Yeah,
Speaker 2: he's a lot. You know, he's very funny already, we're
Speaker 2: seeing that in him. He's got a big personality. He's
Speaker 2: very funny, he's very talkative, and it's just a joy,
Speaker 2: as you know, and becoming a parent, right, our greatest
Speaker 2: role are most importantly. Yeah, So it's been. I mean
Speaker 2: this morning, for example, he was not having it, did
Speaker 2: not want to get to school, didn't want to leave
Speaker 2: mommy's side. So it was he was a lot. But
Speaker 2: I'll see, you know, we'll see what happens. You know,
Speaker 2: I'm open to it. We'll see where his interests lie
Speaker 2: and it'll be interesting to discover that.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you so much for coming on my podcast.
Speaker 3: You can tune in to see Anthony Michael Hall tackle
Speaker 3: grade school challenges on Nation's Dumbest, airing Wednesday nights on
Speaker 3: Fox at nine pm, and then it is streaming next
Speaker 3: day on Hulu, Disney Plus and tub and please go
Speaker 3: check out as many of his classic movies as you can.
Speaker 3: Like I said, alongside his co stars and John Hughes,
Speaker 3: they defined what it means to speak two teenage moviegoers,
Speaker 3: not at them, and what an honor it was to
Speaker 3: talk to you today.
Speaker 2: It's my honor too, Danielle, You're a real lady. Nice
Speaker 2: to talk with you, so.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Yeah, see you soon.
Speaker 2: Bye.
Speaker 3: Teen Beat is an iHeart podcast produced and hosted by
Speaker 3: Danielle Fischel. Executive producers Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman, Executive
Speaker 3: in charge of production Danielle Romo, producer and editor Tara Sueboch.
Speaker 3: The theme song is by Mark Coppis, Yes that Mark Coppus.
Speaker 3: Follow us on Instagram at teen beat pod.