Speaker 1: Writer, I have a very important question to ask you.
Speaker 1: Do you still quartal every day? So do I? Although
Speaker 1: then I got into set Chordal and there's another one.
Speaker 1: There's sixteen at the same time. Sorry sorry, Actortal is
Speaker 1: eight and I was doing that and then Scordal is
Speaker 1: sixteen of them at the same But here's what I
Speaker 1: figured with with those, it completely changes the game because
Speaker 1: then all you would have to do because you would
Speaker 1: have nine chances or even more than because Quartal gives
Speaker 1: you how many seven, so set Chordal would give or
Speaker 1: what they would give you like twelve. So I just
Speaker 1: realized all I gotta do is a do story pros
Speaker 1: night and then I would have like covered the entire
Speaker 1: out And then it was just like so I was like,
Speaker 1: this isn't fun, So I do Quartal. It is a word.
Speaker 1: You have your first two quirt like words, choose a
Speaker 1: different one every time. So Gensen I do it together.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like a bonding thing we do. Uh
Speaker 1: and so sometimes depending on how we're feeling, Gentsen will
Speaker 1: make it really hard and he'll be like, first word, pinch.
Speaker 1: I'm like pinch, okay, but listen to waste and or
Speaker 1: not and I start with always start with I do.
Speaker 1: I start with Earth. Earth is pretty good, pretty good.
Speaker 1: I do a do story every time, like, I'm what
Speaker 1: am I doing here? What's the point of this? Welcome
Speaker 1: to pod meets World, a podcast where we deep dive
Speaker 1: into episodes of boy Meats World until you are behind
Speaker 1: the scenes, stories, feelings, and we do a lot of unpacking.
Speaker 1: If you will, I will, I absolutely will. We should
Speaker 1: have called this Unpacking the World. You're right. We all
Speaker 1: know that this podcast was Will's idea and so oh sorry, sorry,
Speaker 1: you're right. It was actually right idea. It was Will's idea.
Speaker 1: He came up with it on the side yard where
Speaker 1: Phoenie was. It's like when I get asked to call,
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, you think I'm Will? Oh, I get
Speaker 1: that all the time. It's like you were old man.
Speaker 1: What is it like playing Corey's friend? Like I don't know,
Speaker 1: asked Rider, Speaking of which I am Daniel Fishel, I'm
Speaker 1: wilfrid l and I am right or Strong may be
Speaker 1: better known to you as to Panka, Eric and Sean um. So.
Speaker 1: I am absolutely thrilled we have our first ever guests
Speaker 1: World podcast. This is an incredible guest. Please welcome Rusty Russ.
Speaker 1: William Rusty Russ. You're talking about you know when they're
Speaker 1: going to show up? Oh my god, here, Rusty's here, Rusty.
Speaker 1: They just did a screening of Cruising. Did you know this?
Speaker 1: Who did this creating of Gosh? What theater was it?
Speaker 1: Let's see if my our podcast producer Jensen Carp could
Speaker 1: send it in the our chat. It was a theater
Speaker 1: in l A. They just did another like a live
Speaker 1: showing of a screening of the movie. And I wanted
Speaker 1: to ask you were you at the original premiere? No?
Speaker 1: Probably not. No, No, I actually I don't even remember
Speaker 1: what I do. Remember, you've had such a career, you
Speaker 1: don't even remember. It was literally the second movie ever
Speaker 1: that you did. No, it actually was the third movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I did. You and me Kid Brookshield. Yeah, she was
Speaker 1: about fourteen. Oh my gosh, how are you okay? Six?
Speaker 1: Remember I came back. I came back from Mexico. Was
Speaker 1: doing a show called Catalanian Little Bridges with Burt Lancaster,
Speaker 1: Rod Steger, etcetera. And uh and then and I'd work
Speaker 1: with with al Pacino on Broadway, and so I'm doing
Speaker 1: this movie. Come in and I think you can do
Speaker 1: this part and great And it was like for the
Speaker 1: audience who doesn't know Rusty has been in everything, I
Speaker 1: mean aside from where you will know him best as
Speaker 1: Alan Matthews. I did not say that. I just yes,
Speaker 1: the dad, the Matthews family, Matthews family patriarch, and you
Speaker 1: are truly an iconic TV dad and grocer. I know, ralps,
Speaker 1: I'm right up there with the other managers and the
Speaker 1: picture bananas are open there, thank you. You know I
Speaker 1: don't know where the can soup is. Thank you. Still
Speaker 1: still a Methodist, Rusty worked at a grocery store for
Speaker 1: three years before taking on the role of Alan Maths.
Speaker 1: And then what you guys were a camping store by
Speaker 1: the end outdoor? What are the jobs did you have?
Speaker 1: Those are the two main on the show. Yeah, I know,
Speaker 1: Betsy was a real estate agent at one point. Level one.
Speaker 1: It's so funny. There are certain lines I guess just
Speaker 1: because as a as a community we thought certain things
Speaker 1: were funny. I was like in jokes because I remember
Speaker 1: the brick split level when you said clean up on
Speaker 1: Aisle seven and the pilot or remember when you remember
Speaker 1: we used to say that, Oh yeah, we used to
Speaker 1: do all that fill or whatever you had. And the
Speaker 1: second I heard that line, I was like, I remember
Speaker 1: we used to reference to what like we decided to
Speaker 1: make a an inside joke and that was Yes, it
Speaker 1: was one of the one of the ones that you
Speaker 1: and I had. Rusty was years later at the at
Speaker 1: the camping store with you doing the we're trying to
Speaker 1: sell hiking shoes to or or climbing shoes to climbers
Speaker 1: and you have to go like and then halfway down
Speaker 1: they're like they're falling off the cliff. And you and
Speaker 1: I did that for years after that, Right, Yeah, you
Speaker 1: better get these good hiking shooes and you don't want
Speaker 1: to be on the hike going Hell, look over here.
Speaker 1: That's all right, So Rusty, let us walk us through
Speaker 1: coming on too, boymate's world. What what was it like? What? How?
Speaker 1: What was your experience coming on? Did you audition? Did
Speaker 1: you get offered this part? You were replacement there shot
Speaker 1: a pilot with a different dad, Matt McCoy, So I
Speaker 1: want to hear how you came to this world. Well,
Speaker 1: and let me stay right off. Matt McCoy was a
Speaker 1: friend of mine and a terrific actor, and I love
Speaker 1: Matt but then yeah, it's it's just funny. I was
Speaker 1: at a certain point in my career as working and
Speaker 1: I've done the series, and I've done movies and I've
Speaker 1: done this, but you know, and I remember someone asked
Speaker 1: going and would you you could take a meeting on
Speaker 1: this show, and I said, I don't. I'm not, you know, honestly,
Speaker 1: on the sitcom it was hard for me. Yeah, you didn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't get it. I didn't understand it. I didn't
Speaker 1: know how people did them. I didn't. I just didn't understand,
Speaker 1: and I frankly thought I wouldn't be any good. And
Speaker 1: so actually when the first audition or meeting came up,
Speaker 1: I just said, no, I'm really not. I'm sorry. I
Speaker 1: just don't feel comfortable. I think this is not right
Speaker 1: for me, even the genre. And then um so then
Speaker 1: obviously you guys went on did the pilot and I
Speaker 1: did something or whatever it was, and Michael, for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: Michael Jacobs I wouldn't let it go. He did the pilot,
Speaker 1: and then when they sold the shows, he had decided
Speaker 1: that somewhere he still he had wanted me, and I
Speaker 1: think he had seen a Baseball movie, I did Past
Speaker 1: Time some other stuff, and he just had something in
Speaker 1: his head and at that time they came back to
Speaker 1: me and literally it was kind of a practical thing.
Speaker 1: He said, Yeah, they still would like to maybe see
Speaker 1: you on this, but now they're doing thirteen shows. Right,
Speaker 1: it's not a pilot anymore. It's not just one one
Speaker 1: off and there's you know, I mean, I hate to
Speaker 1: say it, but there's real money and you know, and
Speaker 1: I was just at a point in my life I said, well,
Speaker 1: you know, I've always been an exponent of if you
Speaker 1: have door A and door B in front of you
Speaker 1: and you keep banging your head on door A and
Speaker 1: it's just not opening, and door B opens, you're a fool.
Speaker 1: If you keep banging your head on door A, you
Speaker 1: walk through door B and you go, well, let's see
Speaker 1: where this leads. You know. It's funny you said that
Speaker 1: you didn't feel comfortable with the sitcom form or didn't
Speaker 1: really get it, because in a lot of ways, I
Speaker 1: think that's why you were perfect for the show. And
Speaker 1: I think that because I think you know, what happens
Speaker 1: with any form, right is that it becomes stale. And
Speaker 1: I think if actors like, in other words, if if
Speaker 1: the more sitcomy of an actor they had found the
Speaker 1: sort of less meaningful the character would have felt. I mean,
Speaker 1: what what's incredible to me is that your presence is
Speaker 1: so grounding in the show. Yes, you know, and it's
Speaker 1: it's it's it's remarkably like relaxing, and you're not trying
Speaker 1: to go for laughs. You're not trying, You're not a goofy,
Speaker 1: put upon dad, You're you know that. I feel like
Speaker 1: that the father on a sitcom is such it's the
Speaker 1: Homer Simpson trope, right, Like the idea that you're like
Speaker 1: nom and don't know anything and you your character ends
Speaker 1: up feeling like a real dad, not being a joke
Speaker 1: but also being funny, and it's just like it's an
Speaker 1: amazing balance. So I really do think that's probably what
Speaker 1: Michael saw, and I think it's what the show needed.
Speaker 1: It's it's really uncol it is. Yeah, I mean, Michael,
Speaker 1: did I mean for a quote unquote kid show, the
Speaker 1: adults on our show were great. I mean that's the thing,
Speaker 1: as adults on a lot of kids shows are like
Speaker 1: the most ridiculous pulling one over on them. They're kind
Speaker 1: of buffoons. Michael didn't do that with any of the
Speaker 1: adults on it. I mean, all the adults were written
Speaker 1: like adults. You know, it was it was a totally
Speaker 1: different thing. Well, that's a great observation, and I think,
Speaker 1: you know, like I said, it's hard to be objective,
Speaker 1: but you know it's actually I haven't seen the shows
Speaker 1: and like forever, and I watched the other day and
Speaker 1: I kind of went, oh, and now that you mentioned that, yeah, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: I don't really have a banana in my ear right.
Speaker 1: I mean, it seems so wonderful that all I had
Speaker 1: to do is kind of sit back and you know,
Speaker 1: not knock over the furniture. When did you meet Betsy?
Speaker 1: Did you and Betsy have a relationship before Boy Meets
Speaker 1: World started or did you guys meet your first episode?
Speaker 1: Met probably in the first prepisode or the first the
Speaker 1: photo shoot you where we all met. You were seeing petrified.
Speaker 1: I was petrified because I wasn't at the photo shoot.
Speaker 1: So I need to know what was your first impression
Speaker 1: of Will and Writer and the rest of the cast.
Speaker 1: You could be honest, by the way, what have I
Speaker 1: gotten a nicelf? Know? They were it was great, and
Speaker 1: I you know, one thing you have to have as
Speaker 1: an actor, or hopefully you can is you can walk
Speaker 1: into a situation and kinda hopefully listen and watch and
Speaker 1: not impose anything. I was really just trying to stay
Speaker 1: out of the way and not scare anybody, because I
Speaker 1: have a very you know, I've been told I mean,
Speaker 1: I can have an ambrasive or you know, I'm the
Speaker 1: kind of guy you look and go, why are you
Speaker 1: so angry? I agree, I just just my face, you
Speaker 1: scared me. You did, you really, he absolutely did. And
Speaker 1: it was nothing that you did. It wasn't that you
Speaker 1: were angry or had you were just you came in
Speaker 1: and were like I knew who you were and you
Speaker 1: were the consummate actor, and it was I was intimidated.
Speaker 1: So it was like you, you know, you're meeting everybody
Speaker 1: at the at the photo shoot, which by the way,
Speaker 1: that the poster is is five feet from where we're
Speaker 1: sitting right now outside this door. Um, and it's it's
Speaker 1: one of those things where it's like here's your family,
Speaker 1: this is your dad, this is your mom, here's your
Speaker 1: little brother. You're going, oh, no, that Kathy my dad,
Speaker 1: And it was it was just like no, put your
Speaker 1: arm around your dad and it's you're going like, what's
Speaker 1: your name again? Like, oh, that's right, Oh you're a
Speaker 1: William too. It's like, no, call me Rusty. And I
Speaker 1: was like, okay, he's this Gary guy now he played
Speaker 1: I mean, he had just played a gangster and wise
Speaker 1: guys and then rolled into being America's dad. That's the thing.
Speaker 1: So it was like, and you know, I've seen him
Speaker 1: on a bunch of things and you're you're the consummate
Speaker 1: actor where you were always I mean again, you were not.
Speaker 1: You were not sitcom dad. That's what that's exactly right
Speaker 1: here saying you're gonna go cast TV sitcom dad on
Speaker 1: a kid show quote unquote. Other than Michael, there's probably
Speaker 1: not a lot of people at the time that would
Speaker 1: have been like, get me William Russ. So there was
Speaker 1: something like that was brilliant. The same thing with Bill Daniels, Right,
Speaker 1: it's like you take people out of their context as
Speaker 1: like you know, they're acting context, and you you you
Speaker 1: borrow from that to make the show more meaningful. You know.
Speaker 1: It's like it's what I think is part of the
Speaker 1: reason why the show has that level of seriousness is
Speaker 1: that there's the adults with presents and and you know
Speaker 1: the real actors and they're able. No one's just no
Speaker 1: one's hamming it up. No one's like just here for
Speaker 1: the lacept except Ben. But again, but but it was
Speaker 1: he did it. That was the perfect balance of the
Speaker 1: stuff that we needed because Ben was like a little
Speaker 1: stand up comedian, so he he did exactly what he
Speaker 1: was supposed to. And then there was this kind of
Speaker 1: realism surrounding this chaotic twirling character in the center, which
Speaker 1: was which was a great way to do it. I mean,
Speaker 1: that was exactly what you needed. That's why the balance
Speaker 1: between especially uh Ben and Bill was so different, because
Speaker 1: it was that wiley coyote character running around and then
Speaker 1: Bill Daniels right next to what was your relationship with Bill?
Speaker 1: Had you known Bill before the shows? Actually I had.
Speaker 1: I had actually worked on st Elsewhere three episodes they
Speaker 1: did one they did they did like three episodes where
Speaker 1: they went into the past and they followed a patient
Speaker 1: like not just me, but through thirty years. I was
Speaker 1: there as a young person with an accident middle age,
Speaker 1: and then I was there as an older chargery had
Speaker 1: a heart at and so I'd work with Bill there
Speaker 1: and then Also I had come out to l A
Speaker 1: and we had done a TV movie together called Rehearsal
Speaker 1: for Murder Movies Movies of the Week with Lynn Redgrave
Speaker 1: and uh music man actor anyway, but a lot of
Speaker 1: big actors, pytro McGee, you know, Jeff Goldbloom's and it
Speaker 1: was a murder mystery and I ended up to being
Speaker 1: the guy that did it. Alert it was just semi
Speaker 1: five bucks. I'll send you the link. But anyway, so, yeah,
Speaker 1: i'd work with Bill and you know, so and so
Speaker 1: we you know, we knew each other, and so Bill
Speaker 1: didn't scare the crap out of you, like did us. Look,
Speaker 1: there's there's a picture we're looking Okay, we'll put this
Speaker 1: on our Pod Meets World show. At the photo you
Speaker 1: can see it. It's a picture of Bill Daniels and
Speaker 1: Rusty in Jeff and Jeff Goldblum row who in that?
Speaker 1: But then you got to work with right or Strong
Speaker 1: Wilfred of course. Yeah, you may remember him as Sean Hunt,
Speaker 1: Shawn Hunt. He did the Phoenie Call, you know. Honestly,
Speaker 1: Rusty and I barely got to work together on Boy
Speaker 1: Meats World until later, until later you know we So,
Speaker 1: I mean, I I. Yeah, it's funny because, like I,
Speaker 1: I just we never even had scenes together because I
Speaker 1: was always you know, isolated from I was always at
Speaker 1: the school situation, you know, So I didn't get to
Speaker 1: know Rusty, I would say, for a couple of years,
Speaker 1: like really get to know him, you know, and it
Speaker 1: was actually anybody gets to really get to know Rusty. Well,
Speaker 1: Postboy Meets World, Rusty and I spent more time together.
Speaker 1: We did a movie together that I produe and he
Speaker 1: came up, and that's when I really became friends with him.
Speaker 1: And then Girl Meets World. But yeah, during Boy I remember,
Speaker 1: you know, both he and Betsy were kind of a
Speaker 1: distanced from from my experience, which is interesting to think.
Speaker 1: We we we've we've often talked about the multiple boy
Speaker 1: meet worlds, and it started right at the beginning. I mean,
Speaker 1: it really was. There was a show that took place
Speaker 1: in the school, and then there was a show that
Speaker 1: took place at home, and then the through line thread
Speaker 1: was Mr Feenie, who was in both areas. But other
Speaker 1: than that, I mean, that's why I always said, you
Speaker 1: and I did not work together for years and years ago.
Speaker 1: Well there's a rumor and you guys can clear this
Speaker 1: up if it's true or not. There is a rumor
Speaker 1: that goes around on the internet that the reason you
Speaker 1: guys didn't do a lot of scenes together is that
Speaker 1: you could not keep it together. You guys were constantly laughing,
Speaker 1: making each other laugh. No, that's not true at all.
Speaker 1: It's actually that rider steals things. You'd be halfway through
Speaker 1: a scene and be like, my wallet's gone. That is
Speaker 1: absolutely true. Is true, It is true. But that was
Speaker 1: that was later. That was what happened is Will and
Speaker 1: I started asking to be able to do a scene
Speaker 1: together because we hated We were friends in real life,
Speaker 1: we were constantly hanging out, but we were never in
Speaker 1: scenes together. So we asked them to write us scenes.
Speaker 1: They wrote one and we could not get through it,
Speaker 1: and we in front of the audience. I mean, and
Speaker 1: that's like time consuming. That is that you know when
Speaker 1: you're when you can't get through a scene. Uh yeah,
Speaker 1: I have. I have a tendency to indicate that I'm
Speaker 1: about to laugh and try and overcompensate by making a
Speaker 1: very serious face, which, if you know me, is so transparent.
Speaker 1: I'm sure we're going to see it when we're watching episodes.
Speaker 1: And because I'm sure it made it to air, and
Speaker 1: hopefully nobody knows at home. But I am constantly trying
Speaker 1: not to laugh when I'm in a scene with Will,
Speaker 1: and he sees it and loses it. So yeah, it
Speaker 1: was a disaster. And so then they decided we can
Speaker 1: never work together. So, Rusty, you had worked with al
Speaker 1: Pacino a million different people who were professional, and then
Speaker 1: you get to work with a bunch of kids. What, truthfully,
Speaker 1: you don't have to you don't have to sugarcoat anything
Speaker 1: for us. What was it like working with a bunch
Speaker 1: of kids. It was fascinating. Yeah, I know it was.
Speaker 1: It was. It was really fun. I mean, you guys
Speaker 1: are just fun to watch, and I I kind of
Speaker 1: totally loved it, tell you the truth. You know, once
Speaker 1: I let myself just relax and go okay, okay, and
Speaker 1: I was a learning process because you guys are funny
Speaker 1: and spontaneous and I loved watching you. I still remember,
Speaker 1: and I remember not so much even the war, but
Speaker 1: just you as people going to school and working so hard.
Speaker 1: I still can see you guys during Halloween walking across
Speaker 1: to this stage in a line on Halloween, going from
Speaker 1: school to the set right this is indebted in my
Speaker 1: in my memory, you guys all in your Halloween costumes
Speaker 1: parade a little post first season. Yeah, I remember that.
Speaker 1: You have that photo burned in my memory. Jane, what
Speaker 1: were you a french Maid about? Sexy Hallow sexy french Maid?
Speaker 1: I had a picture of it. We can also post
Speaker 1: that on the Boy Meet the Pod Meets World show
Speaker 1: Instagram account. Pictures that I have with April Kelly. How
Speaker 1: did we decide? Because I remember we made a big
Speaker 1: deal out of that Halloween. Will and I went and
Speaker 1: rented costumes. Then we rented costumes. Joker, you were Batman.
Speaker 1: I bought mine at the Halloween store for like you
Speaker 1: guys did something much more. But what was like? So
Speaker 1: I guess maybe the teachers or we did we decided
Speaker 1: to do that. I mean, I've always been a huge
Speaker 1: Halloween fans. Maybe weach of us guaranteed, but yeah, so
Speaker 1: we it was our table read day, so it was
Speaker 1: a Thursday. I guess Halloween landed on that day. And
Speaker 1: we dressed up and went to the table red table
Speaker 1: read in full costume and everybody stood up and applauded.
Speaker 1: Was don't you remember you and I did a fake
Speaker 1: fight because I had blood. We had blood cat so
Speaker 1: everybody like their bleeding look, even a blood caps It
Speaker 1: was such a one of the most memorable halloweens in
Speaker 1: my first season of Boy Meat the World. That's so funny.
Speaker 1: So one of the things getting back to you, Mr Russ,
Speaker 1: I remember, thank you, thank you for being here. Um.
Speaker 1: One of the things I remember is always thinking I
Speaker 1: didn't know what I was doing and wasn't doing enough
Speaker 1: homework every time I saw your script, because your script
Speaker 1: was like script marked up, ripped apart this world, and
Speaker 1: I eventually I was like, why is that word circle?
Speaker 1: But that one is a square? Why is that diamond shape?
Speaker 1: I love Rusty during a table read with his pencil
Speaker 1: and then and then he would put the scripts everywhere
Speaker 1: on the set, so you would be in the middle
Speaker 1: of a scene in front of the audience and he'd
Speaker 1: be like, hang on, and he'd reach under the cushion
Speaker 1: of the chair that he was sitting on and marked script.
Speaker 1: And I remember just looking at you and thinking to
Speaker 1: myself like I'm I'm he's he's doing this better than
Speaker 1: me because I don't know what I'm doing. Breakdown how
Speaker 1: you mark up your scripts well? It's because I'm kind
Speaker 1: of have kind of you know, special needs as an actor,
Speaker 1: and I found many many years ago that physically underlining marking.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's really just really I've always done it.
Speaker 1: What we're doing plays. I mean, if you look at
Speaker 1: copies of plays I did, they're like falling apart. But physically,
Speaker 1: I'm literally saying, physically writing something down goes into my brain.
Speaker 1: I can't just look at I have to physically. There's
Speaker 1: a connection between physically doing something and in my part
Speaker 1: of my brain that records that I've heard of actors
Speaker 1: actually like writing out their entire Yeah, but that's all.
Speaker 1: It really was your process and yeah, you guys really
Speaker 1: weren't working enough. You're so naturally talented. I had to
Speaker 1: actually thank you the first night I saw it, and
Speaker 1: being like, I guess I'll underline this line we're supposed
Speaker 1: to get. I'm supposed to do this, so I'm going
Speaker 1: to circle this and put a triangle around Phoenie. So
Speaker 1: there isn't like a glossary. It's literally just any particular
Speaker 1: marking you do around things like the diamond or the
Speaker 1: square doesn't actually mean something to you specifically. It's just okay,
Speaker 1: it's and it's just it's just the physical thing of
Speaker 1: getting it into my head. It's like being an athlete.
Speaker 1: I had to physically do the movement and write it down,
Speaker 1: and that would something and also would help me get
Speaker 1: very as an actor specific with everything that I was saying.
Speaker 1: Otherwise I didn't know what was going on, right. I
Speaker 1: guess one of the things we should probably do with
Speaker 1: our guests, at least a little bit, is find out
Speaker 1: what why did you become an actor? Where you know?
Speaker 1: Where did you? Where did you start? What made you
Speaker 1: decide that you wanted to become an entertainer? Desperation? Really, man,
Speaker 1: I didn't I didn't know anything else. I mean, honestly,
Speaker 1: I I think about this all the time. And then
Speaker 1: because I see how other people choose where they're going
Speaker 1: in their life, and there's usually something and I couldn't
Speaker 1: really figure it out. Um. I mean, I went to college.
Speaker 1: I had no, no desire to be an actor. I
Speaker 1: didn't know what that was or anything. But then I
Speaker 1: look back and I look at high school and I
Speaker 1: remember going to everyone all these high schools will go
Speaker 1: to the local repertory company would come through and we'd
Speaker 1: see two or three plays. I do remember sitting in
Speaker 1: the balcony going and this is weird. But then I'm
Speaker 1: watching these actors are going it looks like fun. And
Speaker 1: then they go out and they have lunch with their
Speaker 1: dinner with their friends. I mean, that looks like kind
Speaker 1: of a good life. They yeah, they go all around
Speaker 1: the country. And then I forgot about it, never really
Speaker 1: the thing. And then I literally went to the University
Speaker 1: of Michigan totally lost. Just went in athletic kind of
Speaker 1: scholarship and what was your sport. I was a diver,
Speaker 1: you know, and like high diving, like all the yell
Speaker 1: then the world class of gymnasts. It was all men cheerleaders,
Speaker 1: all world class gymnasts and divers and you know, but
Speaker 1: it was also put it on a show. You're going
Speaker 1: to the stadium and there's a hundred thousand people in there.
Speaker 1: Bring the energy up and you're doing the flips and
Speaker 1: welcome to the circus. Let's go. But anyway, I didn't
Speaker 1: quite know what I was doing, and I just wanted
Speaker 1: to get away from home. And I thought I had
Speaker 1: a loving home, but I had five brothers and sisters,
Speaker 1: so I really wanted to get away in New Orleans, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: kind of grew up. I'm a navy brat. I grew
Speaker 1: up all over actually, um, but yeah, and then I
Speaker 1: someone said wanted. I was in speech class and someone
Speaker 1: said can you do a scene? And go what's the scene? Go? Oh,
Speaker 1: we do this thing? And I did it. And one
Speaker 1: of the teachers is what happens in your life, you
Speaker 1: have to pay attention. Someone said you're really good at this,
Speaker 1: you should do this. I went, well, really, yeah, maybe
Speaker 1: I should. And then I just had blinders on and
Speaker 1: they went, oh, this is what I should do. And
Speaker 1: then based had blonderds onto We're better or force and
Speaker 1: that's what I focused. And so that was what like
Speaker 1: the early seventies by this point in an Arbor, Michigan
Speaker 1: and I and it was a great period because there
Speaker 1: was a lot of political theater. We were creating theater.
Speaker 1: We went to Europe and did mime lunchtime theater in Edinburgh.
Speaker 1: We traveled and you know, did The Tempest, Shakespeare's play
Speaker 1: in London in the round wow for six people. One
Speaker 1: of the classic theater experience. I can tell you so
Speaker 1: many Well, when you say mime, are you like literally
Speaker 1: painting your face? We were called the ann Arbor Mime Troupe,
Speaker 1: and it was this guy who had conned some money
Speaker 1: from somewhere and they're like, you know ten or twelve
Speaker 1: ohists and Anna Arbor, we're all doing off and our
Speaker 1: shows and lunchtime theater and political shows. And he had
Speaker 1: supposedly put together this tour of Europe and we got
Speaker 1: that ed and we flew into London and got to Edinburgh.
Speaker 1: We had this whole band at that Annabur Mime Troupe
Speaker 1: and we got to Edinburgh and realized that none of
Speaker 1: this was true. This is a guy hoping to get
Speaker 1: more money. So then we had to figure out what
Speaker 1: how do we do this money? Thank you very much,
Speaker 1: Yes they did. Unfortunately money was to send a mind. Well,
Speaker 1: it wasn't that we had to make money. It's like
Speaker 1: we didn't know money for food. It was like Christine Lotty,
Speaker 1: Oh my Christine. And then there's some there's some wonderful actors,
Speaker 1: and we all knew each other and we'll said, we're
Speaker 1: stuck in at what are you doing like busting on
Speaker 1: the street for money, like how did you Basically we
Speaker 1: did lunchtime theater, mime shows and then people come and
Speaker 1: have lunch and on French bread, not from ime. You know,
Speaker 1: it's really clunchy and everything. And then we were premiererying
Speaker 1: a new play at the Edinburgh Late Night Theater, which
Speaker 1: is a very famous theater. And that's a whole another story.
Speaker 1: Uh and uh, and then just hustling until you know,
Speaker 1: we literally ran out of money and how to get
Speaker 1: people to send its money to get home. But were
Speaker 1: you having fun though? I mean it must have been
Speaker 1: the time. Of course it was a great time, or
Speaker 1: up all night. But what's so crazy to me about
Speaker 1: hearing these stories is how like for me showing up
Speaker 1: on the set of Boyan's World, how little life experience
Speaker 1: like my comparison. So when I think of of our
Speaker 1: time when boy I sort of imagine everybody showing up
Speaker 1: with the same blank slate and it's like, no, Rusty
Speaker 1: was like, how old were you when we weren't? Like right?
Speaker 1: So you were my age now. And so for me
Speaker 1: to like wrap my head up because and we said
Speaker 1: this before we started recording, Uh, when your kid, all
Speaker 1: grown ups are the same age to you, you know,
Speaker 1: And so for me, there was no difference between you
Speaker 1: and Bill Daniels, For it was just an anybody else,
Speaker 1: anybody old. It was not in school three. It was
Speaker 1: basically the same age to me, and like, so it's
Speaker 1: so mind boggling now to be able to put myself
Speaker 1: in your shoes and say, like god, that must have
Speaker 1: been a trip to see us little kids running around
Speaker 1: getting paid as much as you working as it's so weird,
Speaker 1: like you know, but you had already lived this huge
Speaker 1: life and now I can appreciate it so much. I
Speaker 1: really it's it's really cool. Wow. I was, you know,
Speaker 1: as I said, it was like I've always been hopefully
Speaker 1: open to the new thing, and it was like, okay,
Speaker 1: I'll try this. I mean, I didn't know what a
Speaker 1: play was. I mean literally I can remember the table
Speaker 1: read that we did, and I actually got up during
Speaker 1: the table read to get a cup of coffee. I've
Speaker 1: never been in a table scom before. And I was
Speaker 1: literally called out after the reading going people noticed you
Speaker 1: got up and had a coffee, and I was really,
Speaker 1: really I couldn't do that, no disrespect. It's just because
Speaker 1: you know, you weren't in the scene. I didn't know
Speaker 1: again that the whole sitcom experience was new to me. Um,
Speaker 1: had you ever done even a guest starre on a
Speaker 1: forecamera before never so this done one? Wow, it's true.
Speaker 1: Really not done? Is your only sitcom experience all the
Speaker 1: way around? Pretty good? Only one to do? I would
Speaker 1: I would say, that's what's so ironic and funny and special,
Speaker 1: and I'm grateful and I'm constantly amazed. Were the adults
Speaker 1: friends offset like we Obviously the three of us here
Speaker 1: have always been very close, but we were kind of
Speaker 1: forced together too because we were in school together. Then
Speaker 1: we were on set together, and then we did spend
Speaker 1: time our social time ticket and yeah we did that
Speaker 1: a lot. Did you guys do that? Yeah? We did.
Speaker 1: We had you know, at the time, We're living in
Speaker 1: the Hollywood Hills and we had the big house. You
Speaker 1: guys were there when we finished. Yeah, but yeah, Bill
Speaker 1: and Bonnie Bartlett, Bill Daniels would come over for dinner,
Speaker 1: and Betsy and John and other friends. Then we'd have dinner, yeah, sometime,
Speaker 1: and it was a great bunch of people, you know. Really, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we had a special time. You know what I remember.
Speaker 1: One of the things I remember about you is you
Speaker 1: came up to me one day. Well, I have stories
Speaker 1: all day long, but when first of all, we'll get
Speaker 1: into this. The only bad car accident I've ever been
Speaker 1: in my life was Rusty and tell the story. We
Speaker 1: will get to that story. Okay, we gotta talking. That's
Speaker 1: exactly what I was gonna say. Rusty comes up to
Speaker 1: me one day on the set and he says, Hey,
Speaker 1: I gotta I gotta a favor to ask. I go
Speaker 1: what he goes, will you drive for me? I said,
Speaker 1: what he goes, will you drive for me? Just come
Speaker 1: come to my house. You're gonna drive my truck for me.
Speaker 1: And I didn't honestly didn't even know what he meant
Speaker 1: at the time. He goes, I'm gonna I'm going hang gliding.
Speaker 1: I go, all right, So I come. I meet him
Speaker 1: at the house. It's like, you know, four o'clock in
Speaker 1: the morning or whatever it is. And we get there
Speaker 1: and I pick him up. We drive all the way out,
Speaker 1: it's like an hour hour and a half away, and
Speaker 1: then we drive he's driving the truck at this point,
Speaker 1: and we drive up this like steep hill in this
Speaker 1: on this mountain. What was a big truck? What kind
Speaker 1: of car was? It? Was a biger. I ended up
Speaker 1: I ended up having that was stolen from my actual
Speaker 1: actual truck, which was not technically legal, the truck the
Speaker 1: way they had it rigged up, and there wasn't like
Speaker 1: seat belts or anything. But anyway, so we drive up
Speaker 1: this hill and Rusty pulls out his his hang lighter,
Speaker 1: all the stuff, sets it all up. He's talking to
Speaker 1: me the whole time. Then he looks at me, He's like,
Speaker 1: all right, I'll meet you at the bottom, and just
Speaker 1: runs and jumps off the hill and takes a kidding.
Speaker 1: Now I'm at the top of this mountain in a truck.
Speaker 1: I've never driven, having to drive down these trails set in.
Speaker 1: You ever seen a hang glider much much less somebody
Speaker 1: who literally just runs and jumps off the side of
Speaker 1: a mountain and and and then goes I'll meet you
Speaker 1: at the bottom. Oh gosh, is an incredible athletic. Yes,
Speaker 1: he's obviously stream sports guy, like you've done all of it.
Speaker 1: And I remember, yeah, I remember you came in. You
Speaker 1: had an accident one time with your hang glider. I
Speaker 1: just remember him coming in all scraped up. Do you
Speaker 1: remember this at all? Usually I don't have an accident
Speaker 1: flying probably get you, But I don't even remember. Maybe no, no,
Speaker 1: I did. I had a really bad bike accident years ago.
Speaker 1: And that's really I love riding bikes. I'm just not
Speaker 1: very good at it. But yeah no, usually most of
Speaker 1: us flying usually hurt ourselves. So what happened with the
Speaker 1: car accident? So Rusty is trying to teach I just
Speaker 1: bought my first cool car. And what I mean just
Speaker 1: bought it. There were two hundred miles. It was new.
Speaker 1: It was a brand new BMW M three. I remember it,
Speaker 1: so I think i'd had it like a week. By
Speaker 1: the way, how did BMW not sponsor BMW not driving BMW? Okay, So,
Speaker 1: so I want to set this up though, how old
Speaker 1: are you? We were at k T l A at
Speaker 1: this point, so it was yeah, seen three or four
Speaker 1: and three or four eight or nineteen No, no, no, sorry,
Speaker 1: we went Disney Disney. So so Rusty was trying to
Speaker 1: in vain, God love them teach me how to play racquetball,
Speaker 1: and teaching me how to play racquetballs like teaching a
Speaker 1: potato to whistle. So um he literally he's like, well,
Speaker 1: come on, we're gonna go. We're gonna try this again.
Speaker 1: And what you would always do just very quickly racketball wise,
Speaker 1: was you just hit the same shot every time, and
Speaker 1: I get so frustrated because you're like, well, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: keep hitting it if you've got to learn how to hit.
Speaker 1: He'd hit it high off the wall. It would go
Speaker 1: over my head, dieds wear. That was us playing racketball. Um.
Speaker 1: So one day he's like, we're going to go at lunch.
Speaker 1: And if you remember, you come out the kt L
Speaker 1: at the gate, you took a left, you went up
Speaker 1: to the main street, and then you took a left
Speaker 1: or right that was like Hollywood Boulevard or some some
Speaker 1: major road up there. So Rusty grabs, He's like, let's go.
Speaker 1: He's in the passenger seat. I'm driving. We get up
Speaker 1: to the lights and I'm like halfway in the intersection
Speaker 1: and the and the light goes red, so I, by
Speaker 1: law have to go like I'm I'm in the thing.
Speaker 1: So there's three lanes coming from our right. The first
Speaker 1: lane stops, the second lane stops, and we can't see
Speaker 1: the third lane. So I pull out and I remember
Speaker 1: Rusty saying like, um, just just turn just turn left,
Speaker 1: just turn left. When we had to go straight, like no,
Speaker 1: be fine, And I went straight and the car in
Speaker 1: the third lane did not see us and slammed into
Speaker 1: Rusty side. And I mean like it was. It was
Speaker 1: a good hit. It was. It was a d It
Speaker 1: put a ripple through my entire car. The car was
Speaker 1: not total, but it was bad. But the thing I
Speaker 1: remember most is Rusty looking at me first and going
Speaker 1: are you okay? And I went, I'm fine, I'm fine,
Speaker 1: and then getting out of the car, going our fault,
Speaker 1: our fault. Wait a minute, it might not have been.
Speaker 1: It might not have been. Let's let's book my parents
Speaker 1: and lawyers and like, let's all calm down for a second.
Speaker 1: And what happened? What I meant to say, But it was,
Speaker 1: it was. It was the only knocking wood as I
Speaker 1: say this, knocking costco plastic as I say this, um,
Speaker 1: it was the only like real car accident I've ever
Speaker 1: been in. And I look like it's it's my TV,
Speaker 1: Dad and I and the car. They I again, I was,
Speaker 1: I had two hundred miles on it. They had to
Speaker 1: cut the entire car in half and and like meld
Speaker 1: on a whole another side. I didn't see it again
Speaker 1: for like another six months. Were you physically okay, Rusty?
Speaker 1: Did you have any But I remember the the I
Speaker 1: can still see, like you can see in your head,
Speaker 1: the four of us walking uh while dressed. I can
Speaker 1: still see looking over at you as the accident happened.
Speaker 1: The glass smashes in all over you and you rock
Speaker 1: all the I mean we were probably hit at doing
Speaker 1: you know, they were probably doing which is which is
Speaker 1: a good size smack in the car um so we were.
Speaker 1: It was like a full on accident. And then I
Speaker 1: remember going back to the set and Steve hay for
Speaker 1: going you guys are late, and it was like our
Speaker 1: first day. Who's the nicest guy in the world. And
Speaker 1: we were like, we were just in the carton and
Speaker 1: then he was like, oh, wait, is everybody okay? But
Speaker 1: but it was I remember going out to my car
Speaker 1: later that day because you'd walk where it was parked.
Speaker 1: You'd walk to the car and the side you saw
Speaker 1: was perfect and pristine and gorgeous in the coolest car
Speaker 1: in the world, and you'd walk to the other side
Speaker 1: and it was just destroyed. So yeah, those are a
Speaker 1: couple of rusty, rusty stories. That is really an honor
Speaker 1: to be there. Her fault. What was Will like as
Speaker 1: a TV soun What was your relationship like on the show, like,
Speaker 1: how would you guys describe the Alan Eric father son relationship.
Speaker 1: I think we had a really good We had the
Speaker 1: same problem that right or we have, especially at more
Speaker 1: relaxes getting through this scene. I have to say, as
Speaker 1: an actor, the hardest days I've ever had our days
Speaker 1: with like Will Um, you know, I've had with other actors,
Speaker 1: but mainly Will because he really you know, it was
Speaker 1: new to it all. But no, actually the hardest day
Speaker 1: they've had on the set. And I had this happen
Speaker 1: on Wise Guy many years later with grown up actors.
Speaker 1: Four of us got the giggles so bad that we
Speaker 1: would have to shoot a scene. We're sitting around a table,
Speaker 1: and as soon as the scene was cut, we'd have
Speaker 1: to all run a way and hide out in a
Speaker 1: bedroom so we couldn't look at each other. And it's
Speaker 1: the longest day I ever had. I couldn't hang out
Speaker 1: with my actor, right, But we had a lot of
Speaker 1: those we had time. There was one episode where you
Speaker 1: guys are in a museum or something and Rusty, you
Speaker 1: guys could not keep it together, but Rusty couldn't remember
Speaker 1: his lines, and so I remember, you just like went
Speaker 1: and we lost it. But you kept a straight face.
Speaker 1: You're just like you just like spoke gibberish. And I
Speaker 1: do remember Will could you were like crying, laughing, You're
Speaker 1: like what are you do? And I think it was
Speaker 1: in front of the audience too. I just remember, oh,
Speaker 1: we had fun, and that made me feel good because
Speaker 1: at the beginning, uh, you know, I was you guys,
Speaker 1: have to tell me what you thought, because I was like,
Speaker 1: I was wouldn't and I didn't know how to act
Speaker 1: right away. And I thought at the beginning that you
Speaker 1: were kind of like because it took us a little
Speaker 1: while to bond. And I thought at the beginning, you
Speaker 1: were kind of like this guy doesn't know what he's
Speaker 1: doing yet. He's not this is he's kind of saying
Speaker 1: the words that are written on the page. And then
Speaker 1: by like season two, I thought you and I really
Speaker 1: kind of started to get along and bond a lot better,
Speaker 1: which I thought was was a lot of fun. But
Speaker 1: I remember Rusty in front of the audience. It's the
Speaker 1: first episode we've ever done. Now we're we've talked about
Speaker 1: how we have never we we shot things out of order.
Speaker 1: So the first episode that I actually shot, which was
Speaker 1: the first episode you actually shot because we were both
Speaker 1: not in the pilot. Was the episode where we Eric
Speaker 1: goes to a concert with his first girlfriend and the
Speaker 1: parents are at the same concert having more fun than
Speaker 1: Eric and Nicki Cox who was who was the girl?
Speaker 1: That was the first episode we actually shot, and so um,
Speaker 1: I think it was maybe an episode later. Maybe it
Speaker 1: wasn't that episode. It's an episode later Rusty, there's I
Speaker 1: want Eric wants to get like a corvette or something
Speaker 1: like that. He wants, Dad, you gotta buy me a corvette.
Speaker 1: It's a scene between Corey and Eric and and the
Speaker 1: dad and Alan and they're sitting there and Rusty had something.
Speaker 1: We're in front of the audience and Rusty had something
Speaker 1: lodged in his throat and one of the lines is
Speaker 1: you want a corvette, I'm gonna buy you a Schwin
Speaker 1: so to try to clear his throat but not lose
Speaker 1: the scene where Rusty was going you want a corvette,
Speaker 1: I'll buy you yeah, so you can't lose it like together,
Speaker 1: Ben and I just losing it like I couldn't get
Speaker 1: That's classic Rusty. Rusty is were these actors you get
Speaker 1: through it no matter what, and yet wholehearted. You always
Speaker 1: stay present. You always go for it, and I just
Speaker 1: remember that that being results. You'd also talk about you
Speaker 1: in later episodes because you were at the time the
Speaker 1: only cast member who went on to direct the director.
Speaker 1: You directed several episodes that you're first directing experience on Boy.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, and I, um, yeah, I hadn't really
Speaker 1: thought about it. I mean we were talking about earlier
Speaker 1: actors and directing and it hadn't really occurred to me.
Speaker 1: But you know, you guys were so good. I mean
Speaker 1: it was like, you know, let me try, you know,
Speaker 1: it was it was fun and it was like, you know,
Speaker 1: I hope we had a good time. I mean I
Speaker 1: didn't really know anything about directing really, but what season
Speaker 1: was that? Was that like fifth seas four fourth or
Speaker 1: fig and so how did that come about? You just
Speaker 1: asked Michael, like, Hey, can I direct one this season? Well?
Speaker 1: I said, you know, yeah, I think, I said, oh,
Speaker 1: I like to you know, I just went to him
Speaker 1: and said, yeah, Michael, do you think I mean, I
Speaker 1: think I like to direct one of days, like to
Speaker 1: see and he said sure, you know, and then I
Speaker 1: just followed David Trainer around and whoever else came here,
Speaker 1: and uh, I just learned it and it was so
Speaker 1: much fun. And you guys are so easy. I mean, well,
Speaker 1: you used to direct. I remember you used to direct.
Speaker 1: During the scene he was so he would like, we'd
Speaker 1: all be on the couch and we'd be in the
Speaker 1: middle of the scene. It'd be like, well, I don't know, Dad,
Speaker 1: what do you think you should do? And be like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, Eric, let's figure it out now, turn
Speaker 1: the audience is there, We're in the middle of the scene,
Speaker 1: and then you start laughing like, oh yeah, that's right. Sorry.
Speaker 1: You guys are so easy to work with. It was
Speaker 1: really fun. Your parents another Do you have a favorite episode?
Speaker 1: Is there one that sticks out in your mind as like, God,
Speaker 1: you know, I just remember pieces of a million of them,
Speaker 1: and you know, I mean I remember, you know, jumping
Speaker 1: the parachute one where we're jumping out of the the plane.
Speaker 1: I remember the one with the bear and the honey
Speaker 1: and the one arm bear trainer, and I remember, I mean,
Speaker 1: I remember moments you know that you guys did that
Speaker 1: were just you know, I mean I had to watch
Speaker 1: you know that we're just you know, you and Ben's relationship,
Speaker 1: and yeah, I know, I didn't get to work with
Speaker 1: you nearly as much as I as I wish I did.
Speaker 1: But you know, again the multiple Boy Meets worlds, I
Speaker 1: was mostly in the school setting. Um, and then of
Speaker 1: course as the show went on, I we would do
Speaker 1: more things. We had the Matthews family Christmas that topango was.
Speaker 1: You know. I was in the in the house a
Speaker 1: little bit obviously. Then the episode where you guys think
Speaker 1: we ran off and got married and then there's a
Speaker 1: big thing in the kitchen. That long walk to Philly.
Speaker 1: Is that the one that's the one where you just
Speaker 1: you show up again. That's the one where I show
Speaker 1: up again after I Pittsburgh the gas. Yeah, but I
Speaker 1: didn't get to work with you a ton obviously. Then
Speaker 1: I got to work with you. For people who don't know,
Speaker 1: Rusty was the dialogue coach on Girl Meets World, and
Speaker 1: so we got to I got to work with Rusty
Speaker 1: every single day. There was so much fun watching you
Speaker 1: guys and watching the girls. Yeah. And see, that was
Speaker 1: such a great experience for me because, like writer, like
Speaker 1: you're talking about being able to now put yourself in
Speaker 1: his shoes on Boy Meets World, I was then in
Speaker 1: those shoes the same way you were in those shoes
Speaker 1: on Girl Meats World. But I but we were there
Speaker 1: with Rusty who had been It was like, so the
Speaker 1: Girl you know, the girls looked at us as all
Speaker 1: the same age. I didn't understand that us. So how
Speaker 1: did you guys deal with seeing working with kids? It
Speaker 1: was great, it was amazing, It was they were great kids.
Speaker 1: But it was different. It was very different to be
Speaker 1: able to see what the kids on Girl were going through. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, it was the first you know, we talked
Speaker 1: about this podcast as a reflection on our experience on Boy.
Speaker 1: I feel like my first real reflection back was Girl
Speaker 1: was working on Girls World, and I was able to
Speaker 1: see what we went through with completely different eyes, clearer eyes,
Speaker 1: and and really, I you know, I I ended up
Speaker 1: directing a lot of episodes, and I think he directed
Speaker 1: more than anybody. Is that true? So UM and I
Speaker 1: ended up loving I loved it mostly because I want
Speaker 1: it to be for those kids what a lot of
Speaker 1: directors had been for me. You know what a lot
Speaker 1: of the group and I, you know, Jeff McCracken, David Trainer,
Speaker 1: UM and these people really UM protected us, supported us,
Speaker 1: encouraged us as actors, and you know, like there were
Speaker 1: times on Girl Meates World that I just was like
Speaker 1: we we we were ahead, you know, the day was
Speaker 1: made and we were fine. We had a couple of
Speaker 1: hours and I'd be like, let's let's just sit around
Speaker 1: and talk about acting. Yeah, and we would do like
Speaker 1: I have conversations with the kids and then we do
Speaker 1: running charades. I was like, you, guys, like make sure
Speaker 1: that you think about what like the fun of what
Speaker 1: we're doing. This isn't just delivering the lines. It isn't
Speaker 1: just like showing up and hitting your marks and pleasing
Speaker 1: the grown ups, but actually, this is an opportunity for
Speaker 1: you to explore acting. And like that was I cared
Speaker 1: so much about that. I hope some of that stayed
Speaker 1: with them, because I haven't seen the girls or anybody since.
Speaker 1: That was a great gift that you were able to
Speaker 1: give to them. I mean having that perspective. And it's
Speaker 1: because I remember working with the grown ups that that
Speaker 1: that gave us, you know, the feedback that we needed
Speaker 1: as kids to be like, oh, this is a real
Speaker 1: job and this is this is your show. You know.
Speaker 1: Also we hopefully hopefully we helped you be kids too,
Speaker 1: because I would be the first one I hope. I
Speaker 1: was the first one. Someone was not cool. I no, no, no, no, yeah,
Speaker 1: let's writer, let Daniel, let you will do what they
Speaker 1: need to do. And you did that on Girl as well.
Speaker 1: And I mean then I remember because I got then
Speaker 1: got to direct my very first episode on Girl Meets World,
Speaker 1: And I remember sitting around the table with you and
Speaker 1: other people who were so instrumental in helping me learn
Speaker 1: to direct, and me just asking Rusty Okay, I get
Speaker 1: I get the blocking, what is a shot list? How
Speaker 1: do you do that? What? And talk about marking up scripts.
Speaker 1: I mean because Rusty as the dialogue coach, he had
Speaker 1: things marked for you know, every different person. And I
Speaker 1: mean Rusty was just he was so helpful. He's like, look,
Speaker 1: everybody does it a different way. There's not a right
Speaker 1: way or a wrong way to do it. Here's how
Speaker 1: I do it. And you can do whatever you want
Speaker 1: to do, but here's how I do it. Um. You
Speaker 1: were just so you were so wonderful and helpful. You've
Speaker 1: always have been. But you're such a um. The same
Speaker 1: way you were that like tent pole, that like that
Speaker 1: comforting uh dad on on Boy, you carried that same
Speaker 1: energy as just a human being onto the set of
Speaker 1: Girl Meets World, and all of us there who were
Speaker 1: in kind of chaotic life experienced times like boy Girl
Speaker 1: Meats World was a bit of a chaotic time for
Speaker 1: many reasons. But you were a person all of us
Speaker 1: flocked to for advice, stability, um just comfort. Remember my
Speaker 1: first Taming night, I was so scared directing because so
Speaker 1: intense you're directing, you have to keep track of four
Speaker 1: cameras all the performance, and there's an audience watching you,
Speaker 1: and of course for me it was also like the
Speaker 1: audience knew who I was. I was so scared, and
Speaker 1: you just looked at me and you were like, it's
Speaker 1: an acid trip, man, It's got to end at some
Speaker 1: Remember I leaned on you so heavy that first time,
Speaker 1: and I was so scared, and I always look over you.
Speaker 1: Would you would You knew it from every angle because
Speaker 1: you had been the acting, you had been the directing,
Speaker 1: and here you were dialogue coach, which is like being
Speaker 1: a right hand person for me. It was so helpful.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I remember feeling so much better know
Speaker 1: when you were there. Well, we all guys all did
Speaker 1: a great job. Thank you. Well, we all know you
Speaker 1: as an iconic TV dad, but one person, Georgia. I
Speaker 1: asked what her experience was like having you as her
Speaker 1: real dad, And I'd like to play that for you.
Speaker 1: What was it like having Rusty as a dad in
Speaker 1: real life? A little edgier than Alan Matthews with his
Speaker 1: motorcycle and Rockert pants and choose. And he's a great
Speaker 1: dad though. When I was little, you know, he would
Speaker 1: drive me to competitions all over the country. Even um
Speaker 1: now he'll come to Florida and come with me to
Speaker 1: some of the competitions. He's truly one of my absolute
Speaker 1: best friends. You could say I'm a bit of a
Speaker 1: daddy's girl. Yeah, he's just he's incredible. Sweet. I'll tell
Speaker 1: you funny story about Georgia. Clara and I my wife,
Speaker 1: George's mom. We were with Georgia. We're coming from having
Speaker 1: dinner somewhere and she's about literally three or four years old,
Speaker 1: and uh, I said to her, oh, and we're doing
Speaker 1: the Christmas Show. When I said, oh, Georgia, how would
Speaker 1: you like to be in the Christmas Show? I have
Speaker 1: something to tell you about being a you know, boy
Speaker 1: meets world. Maybe it's something you can do. And she
Speaker 1: looks really at us, both, and she goes, oh am,
Speaker 1: I going to direct literally said that. Clara and I laugh. So,
Speaker 1: but that's kind of Georgia. You always used to do
Speaker 1: that though you always used to also try to make
Speaker 1: us laugh. I have one more very funny, rusty story
Speaker 1: that everyone always asked for behind the scenes stories, and
Speaker 1: I never remember them until the people are standing in
Speaker 1: front of us. So we're in the set for the
Speaker 1: now you're ninth job as Dad, which is the uh
Speaker 1: outward Store, the outback store, whatever you want to call it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, And there is on the desk there is
Speaker 1: a giant tub of beef jerky. Ben has a problem
Speaker 1: with germs sometimes, as a lot of us do, and
Speaker 1: would refuse to eat any of the beef jerkey. And
Speaker 1: and you would reach in and grab it and take
Speaker 1: a bite and eat your beef jerkey. And Ben's like, well,
Speaker 1: look what you're doing. Your hands are in there the
Speaker 1: whole time. How is anybody's supposed to be. And you
Speaker 1: picked up a piece of beef jerky, you bit it
Speaker 1: in half, and you threw it back into the full
Speaker 1: jerkey and then you shut it and Ben went, that
Speaker 1: doesn't freak me out. He opened it up he reached
Speaker 1: in to grab his beef jerky, took a bite, and
Speaker 1: it was the exact one. Have been in half anyway
Speaker 1: across the chances don't. It's so it's etched in my mind.
Speaker 1: You and I then lost it because I mean, the
Speaker 1: chances of that happened. But it was Ben biting right
Speaker 1: into the beef jerky you had just eaten and then
Speaker 1: throwing it across the room. In my head, but I
Speaker 1: don't know. I grew up with five brothers, and sisters
Speaker 1: were not an issue. Other people was not an issue.
Speaker 1: Clara still yells big put get your hand off my plate. Yeah. Well, well,
Speaker 1: I'd love to talk about the episode, can we? Yeah,
Speaker 1: but we should do another episode. Let's do another episode.
Speaker 1: Join join us for the next episode. That's right where
Speaker 1: we're going to break down episode number one oh two.
Speaker 1: It's called on the Fence. I'm so glad this is
Speaker 1: the week that we asked you to come on because
Speaker 1: this was an Alan Matthews heavy episode. Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: fun to watch it. I hadn't seen it in a while. Alright, great,
Speaker 1: so we're gonna do that in the next episode. Uh, guys,
Speaker 1: we have an email address. Email us your thoughts, your questions, feedback,
Speaker 1: tell us what you think about the show thus far,
Speaker 1: what you'd like to hear more of. We are pod
Speaker 1: meets Wait, what meets World Show at gmail dot com
Speaker 1: and also check out our Instagram. We're gonna put a
Speaker 1: couple of pictures up there that I mentioned earlier. That
Speaker 1: picture of Rusty working with Bill Daniels will go up there. Um,
Speaker 1: I've got a Halloween picture will put up there. It's
Speaker 1: pod meats Show, no pod meets World Show. Okay, guys,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get this work. I promose I'll have the
Speaker 1: name of the show memorized eventually. Uh. Pod meets World
Speaker 1: show on Instagram and yeah, go there. Email us though
Speaker 1: pod meats World Show at gmail dot com and world
Speaker 1: show dot com. Is that that pod meets show? Napster
Speaker 1: can't say world show meets World show? Pod meats World Show? Okay? Great,
Speaker 1: this is going well. All right, We'll see you in
Speaker 1: the next episode for number one O two on the fence.
Speaker 1: We love you all, pod dismissed. Pod Meets World is
Speaker 1: an I heart podcast produced and hosted by Daniel Fishel,
Speaker 1: Wilfredell and Right or Strong. Executive producers Jensen carp and
Speaker 1: Amy Sugarman, Executive in charge of production, Danielle Romo, producer
Speaker 1: and editor, Tara sup Boch, producer, Lorraine Vurez Engineering boy
Speaker 1: meets World super fan Eastern Allen. Our theme song is
Speaker 1: by Kyle Morton of Typhoon. Follow us on Instagram at
Speaker 1: pod Meats World Show or email us at pod Meats
Speaker 1: World Show at gmail dot com