Speaker 1: I am all in again. Oh, I guess you.
Speaker 2: I Smell pop Culture with Easton Allen and I Heart
Speaker 2: Radio Podcast. Hey everybody, Easton Allen, I am all in
Speaker 2: Podcasts one eleven productions. iHeart Media, iHeart Radio, iHeart podcast.
Speaker 2: It's I Smell pop culture. I smell pop culture. You
Speaker 2: smell pop culture. We'll smell pop culture. And we're smelling
Speaker 2: it here. Baby, we are back. We are exploring the
Speaker 2: pop culture references in Gilmore Girls that we love. We're
Speaker 2: going deeper than just listing them off. We're taking We're
Speaker 2: taking a submarine into these references and we're exploring what
Speaker 2: makes them a part of pop culture. We're talking to
Speaker 2: the people that created them, that wrote these songs, that
Speaker 2: play these characters, that are these people.
Speaker 1: It's so exciting.
Speaker 2: My name is Easton Allen, and it's so great to
Speaker 2: have you here with us. Something we love about Gilmore
Speaker 2: Girls is that is the pop culture references. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's the whole impetus for this podcast. And when you
Speaker 2: look at the grand scheme of what they have done,
Speaker 2: everything they've referenced, books, movies, television, real life people. There's
Speaker 2: one TV show that rises above the rest, and the
Speaker 2: fine folks at Vulture have tallied all the pop culture
Speaker 2: references in Gilmore Girls and categorize them by you how
Speaker 2: many what books were referenced, what movies, what songs? And
Speaker 2: when you look at TV shows, the one that was
Speaker 2: referenced the most is Happy Days. Five references to Happy Days,
Speaker 2: and of course of Gilmore Girls more than any other
Speaker 2: TV show. I'm not going to list them all here,
Speaker 2: but I'm going to list my favorite one. In season two,
Speaker 2: episode four, It's The Road to Harvard, Rory and Loralai
Speaker 2: are walking around and Harvard campus pretending to be students,
Speaker 2: and they have this lauraizes this like cringe conversation with
Speaker 2: some real students versus pretending to be like, Oh, you're
Speaker 2: gonna go the Pie Alpha Gamma thing tomorrow. And after
Speaker 2: they leave, Roy says, Laura, you do realize that all
Speaker 2: of your college kid jargon comes from Happy Days in
Speaker 2: the Valley Girls song, right, such a sick burn. Besides
Speaker 2: all the references, Happy Days in Gilmore Girls actually shares
Speaker 2: an actor Mary and Ross. She was Mary in Cunningham
Speaker 2: in Happy Days, she was the mom. She's also Tricks
Speaker 2: in Gilmore Girls and Marilyn Tricks's niece. But we're not
Speaker 2: talking to Mary and Ross today. We're talking to another
Speaker 2: star of Happy Days. We're talking to Don Most. Don
Speaker 2: Most played Ralph Mouth on Happy Days. And I don't
Speaker 2: know how much Happy Days you guys have seen. If
Speaker 2: you haven't seen that much, you are doing yourself a disservice.
Speaker 2: You have to watch Happy Days. It's so funny. Ralph
Speaker 2: Mouth is hysterical. He is so Everything he does is
Speaker 2: so funny. He has such a great catchphrase, I still
Speaker 2: got it, I still got it. It's so funny. We're
Speaker 2: going to talk to Don mos all about that. But
Speaker 2: here's the thing about Don Most. This man is a
Speaker 2: layered performer. He is I mean, he was on one
Speaker 2: of the most iconic and legendary sitcoms of all time.
Speaker 2: But he's also he's directed movies, he guests starting a
Speaker 2: million other shows, and he's a singer. This man has
Speaker 2: the voice of an angel. He's got such an incredible voice,
Speaker 2: and he's he's made some jazz albums. We're going to
Speaker 2: talk about it all. We're gonna talk about Happy Days.
Speaker 2: Don Mose is here with us. How's it going, Don, Oh,
Speaker 2: It's going pretty well.
Speaker 3: Thanks Thanks for asking it's a little cold. I live
Speaker 3: in Colorado.
Speaker 1: Now, Oh wow, Yeah, I moved about.
Speaker 3: My wife and I moved here about a year and
Speaker 3: a half ago, really liking it. Our daughter and granddaughter here,
Speaker 3: so that was kind of the motivation. Oh excellent, we'll
Speaker 3: pull right now.
Speaker 2: Well, let's see. I want to go back to you
Speaker 2: the beginning. I am so fascinated by Happy Days. It's
Speaker 2: one of those it's just such a touchstone in TV history,
Speaker 2: one of the most legendary shows of all time.
Speaker 1: How did you get involved with Happy Days? How did
Speaker 1: that happen?
Speaker 3: Okay? Well, I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and
Speaker 3: about the age of thirteen, I started going to a
Speaker 3: school in Manhattan on Saturdays. I remember taking the subway
Speaker 3: at thirteen from Brooklyn into Manhattan to a school a studio,
Speaker 3: Charlie Lowe Studio. He was an old vaudeville performer and
Speaker 3: he had a school for mainly kids and teenage uster singing, dancing.
Speaker 3: I didn't really care about the dancing, but I had
Speaker 3: to do some and acting, and that's when I started
Speaker 3: going after it. And then I actually from there got
Speaker 3: picked to beat in this nightclub review. So when I
Speaker 3: was fifteen, I was part of this review of the teenagers,
Speaker 3: seven of us singing in the hotels and nightclubs of
Speaker 3: the Catskill Mountains, which was a big resort area upstate
Speaker 3: New York where they had a lot of entertainment. So
Speaker 3: that summer I was so that's like my first it was,
Speaker 3: you know, singing really came before acting. But then I
Speaker 3: switched my focus the next year really laser focused onto acting.
Speaker 3: I really started getting into that and went to a
Speaker 3: different school for that in New York and then started
Speaker 3: getting I got a manager through that and going out
Speaker 3: on auditions and doing doing a lot of TV commercials
Speaker 3: and some little theater work, but you know, came real
Speaker 3: close on a couple of Broadway shows. But then I
Speaker 3: went out to LA This was this summer after my
Speaker 3: junior year in college. I was twenty now, and so
Speaker 3: I went out there to try to sort of plant
Speaker 3: the seeds and so that when I graduated yor later,
Speaker 3: i'd have some footing already. So I went out there
Speaker 3: and I was able to get agent, and I went
Speaker 3: out on auditions during the summer and booked a couple
Speaker 3: of guest roles on TV shows. So then my agent
Speaker 3: said you know, instead of going back to school, take
Speaker 3: six months off. You got some momentum going, you know.
Speaker 3: So I said, yeah, I think that's a great idea,
Speaker 3: and you have to think more than a second. So
Speaker 3: I didn't go back for my senior year for six months,
Speaker 3: and then went to started going out on auditions, got
Speaker 3: one or two more jobs, and then nothing for like
Speaker 3: a couple of months, and then I thought I made
Speaker 3: a mistake. But then my agent said, I'll have an
Speaker 3: audition for you for a pilot for a new series
Speaker 3: takes place in the fifties and called Happy Days. And
Speaker 3: so that's how I went in on the audition. They
Speaker 3: called me back. I did another one. Then I had
Speaker 3: a screen test, and then uh, then I was screen
Speaker 3: testing for the role of Potzi. Uh. But then but
Speaker 3: they came back and they said that, you know, you
Speaker 3: didn't get Pozzi. Anson Williams had and Ron Howard actually
Speaker 3: screen tested, even though a year and a half earlier
Speaker 3: they had done a pilot for the same show with
Speaker 3: a different name, but it didn't sell. Now it's a
Speaker 3: year and a half later, and and and Greece is
Speaker 3: a hit on Broadway, and American Graffiti is a hit.
Speaker 3: So they ABC was like, oh, we had a show.
Speaker 3: And they went back to Gary Marshall and said, we
Speaker 3: want to redo the pilot, but you know, you might
Speaker 3: need to recast because they thought Answering and Ron might
Speaker 3: be too old now because it was like two years later.
Speaker 3: But Gary wanted Ron and Answer, but he had to
Speaker 3: go through screen testing them along side a bunch of
Speaker 3: other hopefuls, myself included. So they called me and said, no,
Speaker 3: they've got to go with Ron and Anson and yeah,
Speaker 3: and you know, but they liked your screen test so
Speaker 3: much they want to sort of create a role for
Speaker 3: you to be on the show. They said, there's a
Speaker 3: small role in the pilot, a guy named Ralph, you know,
Speaker 3: Ralph Mouth. He's he's into cars, He's got a cool car.
Speaker 3: He's a bit of a wiresecracker, that's all I said.
Speaker 3: And and so so I decided. So I decided I
Speaker 3: would do it, and because I was up for another
Speaker 3: role at the same time, and long story, and I
Speaker 3: actually passed on Happy Days on the Friday night. But
Speaker 3: then on Monday I changed my mind because my agent
Speaker 3: played basketball at Gary Marshall's house on Saturday, and Gary
Speaker 3: talked to my agent and sweetened the deal that they
Speaker 3: offered me and and said told my agent they thought
Speaker 3: it had a great chance of getting on the air.
Speaker 3: So then yeah, because because the other one there was
Speaker 3: a dramatic World War two TV movie and I I
Speaker 3: was really more into dramatic, wanting to do drama. Then
Speaker 3: all the parts that I had gotten leading up to
Speaker 3: this one, except for one, they were dramatic roles. So
Speaker 3: that's I was, you know, and I've said to my
Speaker 3: I can do comedy, you know, if it's a if
Speaker 3: the script is good and the writing's good, you know,
Speaker 3: the character. So that's why I passed. But then now
Speaker 3: after hearing what mys has said, so you know, we
Speaker 3: decided burn hand, let's let's take it. And so that's
Speaker 3: how that's how that came about.
Speaker 2: It's so interesting that you were more drawn to drama.
Speaker 2: You're so funny in happy days, like you're hysteric. I
Speaker 2: was watching the other day, like a clip on YouTube.
Speaker 2: It was like best Ralph Mouth moments. Really yeah, and
Speaker 2: it's every single time you say I still got it,
Speaker 2: that just I burst out laughing. It's everything is so
Speaker 2: funny that you do on that show.
Speaker 3: Oh thank you, thank you. Yeah, well you know, and
Speaker 3: I wasn't like that character, but you know, it's to
Speaker 3: me that was the joy of acting. That's why I
Speaker 3: was saying to you a little earlier that I loved
Speaker 3: playing a wide variety of different kinds of roles, and
Speaker 3: I've been getting to do that. It was tough, you know,
Speaker 3: after Happy Days, because you're so associated with that character
Speaker 3: and that style of comedy. So it was tough. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I wasn't like that guy, but that, you know, that
Speaker 3: was the joy of acting. And I was, and I
Speaker 3: based him on people I knew, and in even our
Speaker 3: director Jerry Parris reminded me very I said, he's more
Speaker 3: like this character than I am. And I would, you know,
Speaker 3: get ideas from Jerry steel things from him. As a
Speaker 3: matter of fact, that line, I still got it. I borrowed,
Speaker 3: stole it from That was what Jerry used to say
Speaker 3: when he would when he would crack us up, and
Speaker 3: he'd get a good laugh and say, I still got it,
Speaker 3: you know. So one day I decided it wasn't in
Speaker 3: the script, and we were doing a scene in Arnold's
Speaker 3: in front of an audience, and I came was supposed
Speaker 3: to come in the scene and say something funny and
Speaker 3: the guy's crack up. So before we shot it, I
Speaker 3: went up to Ron Howard because he was the one
Speaker 3: in the doing dialogue right with me in that, and
Speaker 3: I said, I'm not going to tell you what I'm saying,
Speaker 3: but just get ready so that I don't throw you too,
Speaker 3: which I'm going to say something that's not in the script.
Speaker 3: I just decided it was a perfect time to do it,
Speaker 3: and so I did it, and every day all cracked up.
Speaker 3: The audience didn't even know, but they loved it, and
Speaker 3: Jerry Parris was cracking up, and so then you know,
Speaker 3: they loved it so much. Then the writers started putting
Speaker 3: it in, you know, in different situations, and so that's
Speaker 3: how that came about.
Speaker 2: I'm so thank you for telling that story because I'm
Speaker 2: so curious, how like when you have like a catchphrase
Speaker 2: like that, I'm always curious, like is it I don't
Speaker 2: want to say manufactured, but like, did the writers keep
Speaker 2: putting it in? Hearing that you just added it and
Speaker 2: then basically reaction from the audience, I mean, that's so
Speaker 2: beautiful and organic it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and they wrote some of the others, you know,
Speaker 3: like sit on it. I remember the writers came up
Speaker 3: with that, and they were a couple of others. You know,
Speaker 3: Henry Winkler came up with his own because his his
Speaker 3: gesture and his a you know, that was something that
Speaker 3: came from Henry. But uh, but there were a few
Speaker 3: others that the writers did, but that one, Uh, that
Speaker 3: one I owe to Jerry. But but it was a
Speaker 3: good idea for me to use it that particular time.
Speaker 2: Yes, I mean, someone else invents the guitar, but it
Speaker 2: takes an artist to play it.
Speaker 1: I think that's that's, you know, good analogy.
Speaker 2: There's a couple Your timing is so I don't want
Speaker 2: to kiss you ask too much, don but your timing
Speaker 2: is so great on that show too. There's a couple
Speaker 2: of times that I was watching in this like clip
Speaker 2: thing where you don't you say the line and then
Speaker 2: you don't even really wait for the other characters to react,
Speaker 2: so you just launch with I still got it. And
Speaker 2: it's that makes it even funnier. It's just it's so
Speaker 2: it's so great, and I was curious to like, so
Speaker 2: in the first season, you're Ralph is kind of like
Speaker 2: a like a side.
Speaker 1: Character you're supporting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then it's season two I mean your main cast,
Speaker 2: you're rain core. What was that transition like, going from
Speaker 2: getting bumped up like that?
Speaker 3: Well, I mean it was great the evolution of that.
Speaker 3: And I often tell people, you know, if they're maybe
Speaker 3: introducing their kids to the show, or they say, oh,
Speaker 3: I love the show, but I haven't seen it in
Speaker 3: so long, and I know that there's reruns going on.
Speaker 3: You know, you could see it now. So I often
Speaker 3: tell people what you should do is watch it from
Speaker 3: because you could do it now. Watch it from the
Speaker 3: first show and chronologically take it because you'll see a
Speaker 3: real evolution. And you're right at the beginning, you know,
Speaker 3: they told me, you know, I was going to be this,
Speaker 3: you know, it was a small character. But they they say,
Speaker 3: we'll do seven out of thirteen episodes or something like that.
Speaker 3: You know. But then we started, you know, they started
Speaker 3: really liking what Harry too. Henry was just the same
Speaker 3: supporting type of character. But we started doing some things
Speaker 3: that they were really liking, you know, the producers and
Speaker 3: the director and Jerry Parris, who was our director. I
Speaker 3: would come up with things that weren't in the script.
Speaker 3: I'd have ideas because I wanted to make it a
Speaker 3: little bigger, you know. So I'd come up with things
Speaker 3: and he'd really like it, and so we'd do it.
Speaker 3: And we were not in front of an audience those
Speaker 3: first two seasons, so you could do stuff like that.
Speaker 3: It was like shooting a movie, you know. And and
Speaker 3: so they the writers started seeing the producers, so they
Speaker 3: started making it a little bigger, and slowly I wasn't like,
Speaker 3: you know, it was Richie and Possi that were best friends.
Speaker 3: Ralph who's like this guy that you know, they're kind
Speaker 3: of friendly with, but you know, he wasn't core, like
Speaker 3: you said. And then they started getting more friendly with Ralph,
Speaker 3: and he'd started including me in more and more things,
Speaker 3: you know, and it just kind of evolved in that way,
Speaker 3: and like you said, by season two, it was even
Speaker 3: probably towards the middle late part of season one where
Speaker 3: where it was getting pretty good, and then season two
Speaker 3: definitely even more so. And then in the third season
Speaker 3: when we went in front of an audience, it probably
Speaker 3: continued in that in that fashion.
Speaker 2: Now, like if you stop someone on the street and
Speaker 2: ask them about happy days, like they're probably going to
Speaker 2: bring up Fonsie, you know, like that that's like he's
Speaker 2: kind of the de facto mascot of the show. I'd say,
Speaker 2: when when that character and like Henry's like popularity just
Speaker 2: like went into the stratosphere, what was that like for
Speaker 2: the for you and the rest of the cast.
Speaker 1: Was it was there any like weirdness or anything like that?
Speaker 3: Not really, no, I mean luckily, you know, people ask,
Speaker 3: you know, how did you really get along that well?
Speaker 3: And was it you know, because we say we were
Speaker 3: like a family and all that, and then they were
Speaker 3: wondering if how accurate that was, and and it was
Speaker 3: for some it was. Well, you have to give the
Speaker 3: executive producers a lot of credit for the casting of
Speaker 3: the show, the way they picked their people, because there
Speaker 3: was such a sort of immediate connection that we all
Speaker 3: had and respect for each other and developed a real
Speaker 3: fondness and affection and grew into we were really a
Speaker 3: type family. And then when and we were rooting for
Speaker 3: each other, you know, and then when when Henry really,
Speaker 3: like you said, burst into this stratosphere, it was exciting,
Speaker 3: you know, it's really exciting to see it. And we
Speaker 3: knew it was good for the show, you know, so
Speaker 3: we never really it wasn't the jealousy and that kind
Speaker 3: of you know, resentment or anything like that. I mean,
Speaker 3: there might have been a couple of moments here and
Speaker 3: there where we would look at something that happened and
Speaker 3: you know, like the network ABC, you know, would be
Speaker 3: fawning over him so much, and you know and kind
Speaker 3: of ignoring us. You know, yeah, you know, the gifts
Speaker 3: like they give gifts at Christmas, and we'd all get
Speaker 3: this sort of normal gift and then Henry got like
Speaker 3: something crazy, you know, So then there was a little
Speaker 3: like wait a minute, you know, we're feeling like what
Speaker 3: are we chopped liver? You know. Yeah, but we didn't
Speaker 3: have any uh any hard feelings in any resentment to
Speaker 3: Henry at all, you know, I mean we was excited
Speaker 3: and as Anson would say, why why would have you upset?
Speaker 3: Henry bought me my house, you know, because meaning that
Speaker 3: the show got you know, so popular and number one
Speaker 3: in the country that you know, it kept going and
Speaker 3: made everybody more money and so so I mean he
Speaker 3: was joking, but it was a good joke. But anyway,
Speaker 3: there were no there was none of that weird stuff.
Speaker 3: It was all support and excitement and happiness.
Speaker 1: That's great.
Speaker 2: That makes me happy that that is a hard woman
Speaker 2: to hear, you and Anson became very close on the show,
Speaker 2: and that's something I think. I know, you guys aren't
Speaker 2: your characters. I mean, that's something you've had to deal
Speaker 2: with forever. But like I think fans love hearing that
Speaker 2: kind of things, like, oh, they're actually like they're close friends,
Speaker 2: they hang out in real life. How did that friendship develop?
Speaker 3: Well, you know, the friendship with all of us, like
Speaker 3: I said, just happened pretty quickly and just kept growing.
Speaker 3: So we were all really great friends. But I'd say
Speaker 3: now like Anson and I like best friends, and we're
Speaker 3: probably even better friends than we were back then. That
Speaker 3: just you know, And there were some years where we
Speaker 3: didn't see each other that much because after I left
Speaker 3: the show after the seventh season, because they went for
Speaker 3: four more years after I left, so I didn't see
Speaker 3: Answer as much. And then we'd see each other here
Speaker 3: and there, and he was very busy directing a lot,
Speaker 3: and so it wasn't until we, I don't know, we
Speaker 3: got together for some baseball game that we were playing
Speaker 3: together and we just kind of said, hey, we got
Speaker 3: to get together more. And then we started to and
Speaker 3: we lived pretty close at this point. Twenty minutes away,
Speaker 3: So we just started doing more and more things together.
Speaker 3: Ron was now living on the on the East Coast,
Speaker 3: and Henry was still out in California, but he was
Speaker 3: busy and so I didn't see him as much. But Answer,
Speaker 3: I just became tighter and tighter, you know. So like
Speaker 3: now it's great and we're still all four, you know,
Speaker 3: still friends. We have like a group text so that
Speaker 3: the four of us, so that somebody texts, you know,
Speaker 3: and we all get it and we chime in, and
Speaker 3: so it's nice. It's a great way to keep it up,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 1: Oh that's all that makes me so happy that rules.
Speaker 2: Is it true that you and Answer we're going to
Speaker 2: have a spin off together?
Speaker 1: I heard that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that was a whole thing. What happened was
Speaker 3: they I guess they had the idea because they wrote
Speaker 3: an episode where the two of us decided to share
Speaker 3: an apartment together, and and you know, it became like
Speaker 3: an odd couple kind of thing. It was a funny episode.
Speaker 3: And then they then they showed it, you know, the network,
Speaker 3: and they go, yeah, yeah, this could be a show.
Speaker 3: And then they started talking more about it and they
Speaker 3: wanted to cast a girlfriend for me, and we had
Speaker 3: to bring in. We were reading with different girls, and
Speaker 3: I initially, when the executive producers talked to me about it,
Speaker 3: I wasn't sure I wanted to do that, because you know,
Speaker 3: i'd been playing this role for five six years at
Speaker 3: that point, I guess, and I knew what I was
Speaker 3: going to be facing when it was over, trying to
Speaker 3: get away from that so that I could play different
Speaker 3: kinds of roles and not just that. So I wasn't sure.
Speaker 3: And you know, we were doing great as a show.
Speaker 3: I wasn't sure about it, but they they kept talking
Speaker 3: to me and talked to me okay, made me think, okay,
Speaker 3: let's do it. And then it looked like it was
Speaker 3: I mean, they were already recording the title song, you know,
Speaker 3: for it, and then all of a sudden we hear
Speaker 3: ABC decided they're not going to do it. And I'm
Speaker 3: not sure what what happened, but I wasn't too upset,
Speaker 3: you know, I was kind of like, Okay, you know,
Speaker 3: it's not going you know where. Maybe in a different situation,
Speaker 3: I would have been pretty disappointed, but so I think
Speaker 3: it's it's probably better that we didn't even go there,
Speaker 3: because you know, spin offs are tough some of them.
Speaker 3: I mean Happy Days had so many Yeah, and la Verne,
Speaker 3: Shirley and Mork and Mindy didn't do too bad. But
Speaker 3: there were a few others that I don't think you know,
Speaker 3: that didn't make it. And it's it's always a little tricky.
Speaker 3: So anyway, that's the story there, And like I said,
Speaker 3: I was fine when when it didn't go.
Speaker 2: Everything happens for a reason. Don Most is with us
Speaker 2: from Happy Days. We have so much more to get into.
Speaker 2: It's the ICE Smell Pop Culture Podcast. Stick around, everybody,
Speaker 2: We'll be right back. It's the I Smell pop Culture Podcast.
Speaker 2: We're here at Don Most, the legendary Don Most. Something
Speaker 2: I really want to ask you about. I'm so curious.
Speaker 2: I Ron Howard said that you were the one who
Speaker 2: actually coined the phrase jumping the shark. Like that was
Speaker 2: the story I heard on behalf of Ron Howard. Is
Speaker 2: that you look down the script and you're like, we're
Speaker 2: jumping sharks.
Speaker 1: Now, that is that right?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Well, yes, yeah, I mean he's right, And I
Speaker 3: heard some people I think sent me a link to
Speaker 3: the interview where he gave where he said that, and
Speaker 3: he's right, But I don't know that the way it
Speaker 3: caught on in our vernacular, if you will, in the culture.
Speaker 3: I don't know how that whether the thread was from
Speaker 3: me or not, because what happened was, like Ron said, uh,
Speaker 3: this was about the fifth season, I think, and and
Speaker 3: and I was starting. Ron and I talked a bunch
Speaker 3: about this during that year because we felt that the
Speaker 3: scripts just weren't great that year, you know, like it
Speaker 3: was starting to get a little far fetched, or you know,
Speaker 3: because Phonsie was character was so popular that I think
Speaker 3: ABC started like pushing, you know, the right pushing the
Speaker 3: executives of our show and producers you got to do
Speaker 3: keep doing more with you know, with Phonsie. We loved
Speaker 3: when he snapped his fingers and he made all the
Speaker 3: animals stop making noise or whatever, you know, and that
Speaker 3: was a funny bit. But then they just kept wanting
Speaker 3: to do more and more of that, and it started
Speaker 3: getting a little ridiculous, you know, and we were feeling
Speaker 3: the scripts are just going in a insurrection, and so
Speaker 3: then there was a reading Mondays. We would all sit
Speaker 3: around the table, those cast, the writer's producers and read
Speaker 3: through the script that was going to be done for
Speaker 3: this you know, that week and to shoot that Friday.
Speaker 3: So we're reading the script and you know, and then
Speaker 3: after it's over, you know, Ron and I kind of
Speaker 3: walked over to the side or something, and and Ron's
Speaker 3: kind of like, you know, what do you think. I
Speaker 3: don't know, what do you think about this script? And
Speaker 3: I looked at it. It was right. I remember it.
Speaker 3: I said, now they got him jumping a shark, and
Speaker 3: and Roan remembered I'd forgotten that I had said those
Speaker 3: exact words, but I think I did. I probably did.
Speaker 3: I remember saying to him, now they got Phonsie doing
Speaker 3: you know, viz and and so I I don't know
Speaker 3: how that would have gotten beyond me and Ron so
Speaker 3: that it got out there. But somehow, you know, I
Speaker 3: guess these these guys that had some kind of I
Speaker 3: don't know, I heard these guys had started started it
Speaker 3: by saying this is you know, when a show they
Speaker 3: coined the phrase jumping the shark, and that's when a
Speaker 3: show starts to you know, it's hit its peak and
Speaker 3: now it's starting to lose lose its lose ground. So
Speaker 3: I don't he wasn't in the room and I said that.
Speaker 3: So I don't know how it You know, so I
Speaker 3: can't take credit, but I probably did say it first.
Speaker 2: I'm attributing it to you Don Moss here that you
Speaker 2: came up with that phrase. Uh so moving on from
Speaker 2: happy is a little bit that You've had so many
Speaker 2: incredible roles. I want to ask you. There's one that
Speaker 2: caught my eye that I want to ask you about.
Speaker 2: You were on an episode of Chips Yes Rock Devil
Speaker 2: Rock and anyone listening if you have, if you have
Speaker 2: not done a Chip's Deep Dive, you should and you
Speaker 2: should watch this episode. I think it's season six. But
Speaker 2: you're you're the singer in a like a kiss style
Speaker 2: rock band. Yeah, yeah, heavy metal. It's like, you know,
Speaker 2: it's kind of implied that it's satanic maybe a little bit. Yeah,
Speaker 2: people are protesting the concert.
Speaker 3: Yeah, were singing Devil Take Me, you know, I mean
Speaker 3: it was like Satan worship, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that's actually you singing the song.
Speaker 3: Right, Actually not. No. What happened was I was supposed
Speaker 3: to because they knew that I sang yeah, and I
Speaker 3: was going to do it. And then the a day
Speaker 3: or two before I was supposed to go and to
Speaker 3: record it, I came down with this really kind of
Speaker 3: you know, chess cold or whatever. And no, I was
Speaker 3: like going, I don't know how I'm going to sing.
Speaker 3: And so they they told my agent told them and
Speaker 3: and they said, no, problemly, you know, we have somebody,
Speaker 3: you know, studio singer that can do it. So I
Speaker 3: was supposed to but I wound up not, which is
Speaker 3: too bad. It would have been nice to do it.
Speaker 3: But the guy, the guy saying, it's great voice. And
Speaker 3: it was fun lip syncing and performing to it. You know,
Speaker 3: it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2: There's a part in the performance where the character breathes
Speaker 2: fire like it takes a swig of like was that you.
Speaker 3: No, No, that wasn't me. They had somebody a double,
Speaker 3: you know, so I had a face paint and all
Speaker 3: that in the hair, so you couldn't you couldn't really tell.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I didn't do that.
Speaker 2: Was that fun making that episode and like playing that
Speaker 2: kind of character?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was. It was a lot of fun, you know,
Speaker 3: because it was so different, you know, and I was
Speaker 3: able to to bring out a whole different kind of
Speaker 3: side and and what was interesting about it. Then they
Speaker 3: showed in the episode, you know, at one point they
Speaker 3: showed I'm taking my all that makeup off and you
Speaker 3: see and then I'm like this regular normal kid. I'm
Speaker 3: not that way. That was just an act, you know,
Speaker 3: of this character. So that was kind of cool because
Speaker 3: although maybe it would have been even more fun if
Speaker 3: I continue, if that character came through even off stage,
Speaker 3: but that's a whole different a different way. But but
Speaker 3: it was kind of neat that you saw that I
Speaker 3: was just this normal kid and then this was my act.
Speaker 2: You know, Yeah, I love it, And you're on a
Speaker 2: couple episodes of Glee. Yeah, and it's so cool. And
Speaker 2: you know now that I know you have this you
Speaker 2: said have an incredible voice. We'll talk about your singing
Speaker 2: in a bit, but you have this passion for music
Speaker 2: and Glee is I mean, of course a musically centered show.
Speaker 1: Was that was that? Like?
Speaker 2: Is that what drew you to that show? Like what
Speaker 2: brought you into the Glee universe?
Speaker 3: It wasn't really that. I mean, yeah, the truth of
Speaker 3: the matter was that that for that one, they I
Speaker 3: went into audition like a bunch of other people. I
Speaker 3: just went in and auditioned for it because they wanted,
Speaker 3: you know, another ginger, a redhead, uh to be the
Speaker 3: father to Emma and and that the woman to play
Speaker 3: my wife would be a redhead that we were both gingers,
Speaker 3: you know, And so I auditioned for it, and you know,
Speaker 3: when I got the part, they music didn't enter into
Speaker 3: it at all. It wasn't like, oh, then we're gonna
Speaker 3: maybe have you you know, joined the cat in a
Speaker 3: song or something like that. That never came up. So
Speaker 3: it was just, yeah, it was just a regular, regular
Speaker 3: casting thing where I went in and read for it.
Speaker 3: But it was really fun because it was a great
Speaker 3: It felt almost reminded me in some way of happy
Speaker 3: days of how how well the cast worked together and
Speaker 3: how well the crew work. You know. It was really
Speaker 3: tight and well run and the people were great. So
Speaker 3: it was a really good experience. But but then I,
Speaker 3: you know, and then I played some other roles on
Speaker 3: TV TV scrolls that were different. I did a two
Speaker 3: part star Trek Voyager, where I played this sort of
Speaker 3: you know, a doctor that had a lot of evil,
Speaker 3: very you know what, not so well intentioned plans for
Speaker 3: you know, he was like the villain. He was like
Speaker 3: the villain of the piece. And so that was a
Speaker 3: completely different role. So that's what helped I kept you know,
Speaker 3: I kept chipping away and getting something a little bit different,
Speaker 3: then something even more different, and then people were like
Speaker 3: a little more open to trying me in different things.
Speaker 3: But for a while I still had to audition for
Speaker 3: you know, Chip Side. They just offered that to me,
Speaker 3: and luckily I had to. And but I auditioned for
Speaker 3: the Star Trek Voyager. It was tough because people are going,
Speaker 3: wait this guy for that part, you know, and a
Speaker 3: lot of times they wouldn't even let me read. But
Speaker 3: then but then I'd come in and get some of
Speaker 3: you know, get to read and get something. And then
Speaker 3: it started opening up. And then I started getting some
Speaker 3: independent films and a couple of studio films, small roles,
Speaker 3: but it's just started, you know, cracking that that, you know,
Speaker 3: the little opening in the wall start getting bigger and bigger.
Speaker 3: And then as I got older, I think it got
Speaker 3: a little easier because in the because I was more
Speaker 3: distanced from that character in terms of age and time.
Speaker 3: So although it's still on all the time, but obviously
Speaker 3: I'm in a different age bracket. So in the last
Speaker 3: five six years, as I think I mentioned, I've gotten
Speaker 3: to do more more films and a wide variety of
Speaker 3: different kinds of characters in the last four or five
Speaker 3: years than I had in the ten years before that
Speaker 3: or twenty years. So it's really been nice. And I
Speaker 3: mentioned you have a film coming out yes March that's
Speaker 3: very different, true story based on a book of the
Speaker 3: same name called Harson's Island Revenge and during Prohibition, and
Speaker 3: I play it's a very different role. I play the
Speaker 3: head of this gang. It was a real gang called
Speaker 3: the Purple Gang. You know, they were like a mob
Speaker 3: and they were vicious and this intense role. So I'm
Speaker 3: looking forward to I haven't seen it right, I'm looking
Speaker 3: forward to that and having it come out. I can't wait.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Harson's Island Revenge, it's coming soon. Be on the
Speaker 2: lookout for that in theaters. And yeah, it's so cool.
Speaker 3: You know, I don't know whether it's Netflix or Amazon.
Speaker 3: We'll see.
Speaker 2: You were no slouched on most This man is working.
Speaker 2: You have albums out too. I mean you can go
Speaker 2: on Spotify or your streaming service and listen to your
Speaker 2: latest is called New York High and what a voice, man,
Speaker 2: I was listening to it this morning.
Speaker 1: Incredible.
Speaker 3: Oh, thank you so much. Yeah, Well, as I mentioned,
Speaker 3: you know, singing was my first first love, so to speak.
Speaker 3: And so it wasn't like, you know, all I decided,
Speaker 3: you know, at the age of you know, fifty five
Speaker 3: or whatever it was, that now, you know, I'll try
Speaker 3: to do this. I mean, that's when I was in
Speaker 3: my blood from the time I was nine years old
Speaker 3: wanting to do that, and I did do it when
Speaker 3: I was fifteen in those nightclubs, you know. So gutting
Speaker 3: back to it was and I'd done some singing in between,
Speaker 3: I did some musical theater, and every once in a
Speaker 3: while they'd be some you know, something on television where
Speaker 3: a variety show or telethon or where I'd get on
Speaker 3: and I and i'd bring it out do some of
Speaker 3: my some of that kind of music that I loved,
Speaker 3: which were the you know, the Great American Songbook but
Speaker 3: with the jazz field, jazz standards and swaying big band.
Speaker 3: And although this latest one isn't so much big band,
Speaker 3: it's a little more, but it's still the jazz standards,
Speaker 3: but it has a more contemporary kind of feel. So
Speaker 3: going back to it was, you know, it was like
Speaker 3: you know, riding a bike. It's just it was always
Speaker 3: always been there. So I decided. It was like about
Speaker 3: ten years ago. I said, well, if I'm ever going
Speaker 3: to do what I wanted to do with music, which
Speaker 3: was to do my own show and in the style
Speaker 3: or in the format of some of the greats that
Speaker 3: I loved growing up, you know, whether it be Sinatra
Speaker 3: or Nat King Cole, you know, Dino, Tony Bennett, all
Speaker 3: the great singers, and especially Bobby Darren, who I saw
Speaker 3: at the Copacabano when I was eighteen, and I was like,
Speaker 3: oh my god. So I wanted to do a show
Speaker 3: like that. And so I put it together, met a
Speaker 3: musical director, and we got some great musicians, and we
Speaker 3: tried it out at a jazz club in La It
Speaker 3: was called It's Vitello, and and you know, I said,
Speaker 3: let's I got to do it and see what happens.
Speaker 3: And the show when people were like, well, wow, we
Speaker 3: didn't know you could sing like that, and how come
Speaker 3: you didn't sing more on happy days? Why did Patzi
Speaker 3: get to do all the things? You know? I got
Speaker 3: all that, And so it was a great response. And
Speaker 3: then I did another club, and then I did some
Speaker 3: in New York, you know, a couple of jazz clubs,
Speaker 3: and and just and more and more in La and
Speaker 3: then it led to me meeting a producer, a musician,
Speaker 3: record producer, ranger named Willie Mario, and he he talked
Speaker 3: to me about doing an album together, and we did
Speaker 3: and that one's called The Most mostly swinging and with
Speaker 3: a great big band of top La jazz guys, and
Speaker 3: I was a blast. I loved it. And then another
Speaker 3: album that like you just alluded to, a New York High,
Speaker 3: which I did in Nashville with different musicians, different producer
Speaker 3: because has a different vibe, different style. But it came
Speaker 3: out really great too. So I'm real excited about that.
Speaker 3: And I'm going to be doing a show here because
Speaker 3: I'm living, like I said, live near Boulder, and I
Speaker 3: did a show at a jazz club out here called
Speaker 3: Dazzle in Denver, and they asked me to come back
Speaker 3: really quick because you know, it went so well. So
Speaker 3: I'm going back there and this Sunday I'm going to
Speaker 3: be doing shit awesome.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, if you're in the Boulder area and you
Speaker 2: want to see hang around your local jazz club, you
Speaker 2: never know who might pop up.
Speaker 1: Don most might how long stage and sing some songs.
Speaker 1: That's awesome.
Speaker 3: In Denver Dazzle called Dazzle.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, John Most, you're just the absolute best.
Speaker 2: I have a couple more questions for you, if if
Speaker 2: we can stick around just a few more moments here
Speaker 2: on I Smell pop Culture. It's the icemo pop Culture
Speaker 2: podcast on I Am all In. My name is Easton Allen,
Speaker 2: and I'm sitting here with Don Most. We know him
Speaker 2: as Ralph Mauth from Happy Days, but he's so much
Speaker 2: more than that. So this is a Gilmore Girls podcast.
Speaker 2: And I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you about
Speaker 2: working with Mary and Ross. She was Mary in Cunningham
Speaker 2: on Happy Days. She had she was in Gilmore Girls.
Speaker 2: She had two roles in Gilmore Girls. Yeah, she played
Speaker 2: She played Laura Lei's grandmother, the main the mom, the
Speaker 2: main mom. Yeah, her her father's mother. It was Laurlai
Speaker 2: Trixie Gilmore. But you got to work with her too
Speaker 2: on Happy Days.
Speaker 1: What was that like?
Speaker 3: Oh, Maryon is the greatest. She's just it's so incredible.
Speaker 3: I mean as a as a as a person, as
Speaker 3: a just as a wonderful person and an actress. I
Speaker 3: mean she was one of the best. What you see,
Speaker 3: that's the way she is in a lot of what
Speaker 3: you see. I mean, she's she also has range as
Speaker 3: an actress and can play different characters. But but she's
Speaker 3: got such a great heart, and she's just so vibrant
Speaker 3: and and loving and funny and just unbelievable to work with.
Speaker 3: And it reminds me I need to give her a call.
Speaker 3: I haven't spoken to her in a while. And because
Speaker 3: when I lived back in you know, the LA area,
Speaker 3: I could pay her visits a little harder now, but
Speaker 3: I'm gonna I want to give her a call. I'm
Speaker 3: glad you brought her up. What was the other role
Speaker 3: that she played on Gilmore Growth?
Speaker 2: Marion also played Marilyn Gilmore, who is TRIX's niece, So
Speaker 2: the grandmother's niece, Marilyn Richard who is louralized dad. It's
Speaker 2: her cousin, and she's in a couple episodes. But that's
Speaker 2: the other She's in two episodes. That's the other character
Speaker 2: that Marion Ross plays.
Speaker 3: I'll have to try to kick those episodes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I'll send them over and then you can
Speaker 2: you can tell her you like, hey, Mary, and I'm
Speaker 2: just saw you Gilmore Girls.
Speaker 1: What was that like?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good so you told me before we
Speaker 2: started that you and your wife watched a big Gilmore
Speaker 2: Girls when it was on.
Speaker 1: Do you remember what was there something that stood out
Speaker 1: to you about that show?
Speaker 2: I mean, you're such a your sitcom like legend, so
Speaker 2: I'm always interested when when guys that have your resume
Speaker 2: and your experience, when you'll watch another show like this,
Speaker 2: like kind of is there something stood out to you
Speaker 2: about The Gilmore Girls.
Speaker 3: Well, I thought the writing was it was really really
Speaker 3: good writing. I like the tone, the sensibility of it.
Speaker 3: I really liked the actors. You know. I thought Lauren
Speaker 3: Braham I'd never seen her before, and I thought she
Speaker 3: was great. I loved her in that role and the
Speaker 3: relationship that she had with her daughter. I'm sorry, I forget.
Speaker 1: Her her name, Alexis Plodell was the daughter.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and she was and she was really so refreshing
Speaker 3: and genuine and and so that relationship between them I
Speaker 3: just loved. I remember, and then and some of the
Speaker 3: other characters. I didn't watch it, you know, for what
Speaker 3: it was kind of regularly for a while, but then
Speaker 3: you know, I lost touch with it for a while
Speaker 3: and get back to it, so I don't and it
Speaker 3: was a while ago because it was when it was
Speaker 3: originally broadcast, so it was a while ago, but I
Speaker 3: just remembered and the warmth it had and the humor.
Speaker 3: I thought, all the combinations worked really well and the
Speaker 3: cast awesome.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's what we love about it too, and
Speaker 2: I love that that that's what stood out to you.
Speaker 2: Don Moss. You've just been so generous with your time.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for hanging out with us and
Speaker 2: everybody listening. You should go check out Harson's Island Revenge
Speaker 2: when it comes out in March, and uh yeah, and
Speaker 2: also put on an episode Happy Days when you're sitting
Speaker 2: at home, just put on and check out Ralph and
Speaker 2: watch some great Ralph moments.
Speaker 1: He's so much fun.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you for I have to look on YouTube
Speaker 3: for those great Ralph moments.
Speaker 2: Don There are multiple, there's like if you look up
Speaker 2: best Ralph moments, there's like ten that coming. Like people
Speaker 2: can't pick their favorite. There's so many.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you brought that up. Thank you.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Thank you so much, and I hope you
Speaker 1: have a great rest of your day.
Speaker 3: Appreciate it's a pleasure chatting with you. Really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: Everybody I guess.
Speaker 2: Follow us on Instagram at I Am all In Podcast,
Speaker 2: and email us at Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com