Speaker 1: Indy is doing It's been a crazy week because he's
Speaker 1: doing two different plays, two different musicals, and uh he's
Speaker 1: actually he's been working as a voice over actor too.
Speaker 2: He's doing a cartoon.
Speaker 1: So this week he was working on his cartoon. And
Speaker 1: he had his show Matilda this weekend, which was amazing,
Speaker 1: so fun. Oh my god, I've seen it. So it's
Speaker 1: the new Matilda. You know, theyll Tim mentioned, who's an
Speaker 1: amazing songwriter comedian, wrote the Matilda musical that came out
Speaker 1: and now there's there's a Netflix movie which is wonderful.
Speaker 2: So it's that version of Matilda. And Indy played.
Speaker 1: Bruce, who's the kid has to eat the cake, and
Speaker 1: he just killed it. It was so fun, like because
Speaker 1: there's this moment where like once uh miss trunch Bull
Speaker 1: gets kicked off stage, you know, like they get the
Speaker 1: revenge on the teacher, and he just stands up and
Speaker 1: sings like this run like.
Speaker 2: And like the audience was just like what just happened?
Speaker 1: Yeah, And he's got a really good singing voice. It's
Speaker 1: it's it's kind of it's amazing. Yeah, and but he
Speaker 1: you know, of course he's so nervous. He's anxious and
Speaker 1: stressed out.
Speaker 3: He's an actor.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, that's the second play, The Descendants, singing like
Speaker 4: two different companies.
Speaker 5: Is that how he has to going at the same time?
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, man, but you know he loves I mean,
Speaker 2: he loves it.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I feel like we're gonna take the summer
Speaker 1: off from plays and just sort of be like, are
Speaker 1: you still into this?
Speaker 2: Like what what do you want to do?
Speaker 4: Man?
Speaker 1: Like, you know, it's a lot, Like he's got a
Speaker 1: lot of scripts to be reading and songs to be rehearsing.
Speaker 1: And but you know, I think, like last like, he
Speaker 1: did the show the last two nights, and I think
Speaker 1: it gave him the high.
Speaker 2: So he's like, oh, this is I just want to
Speaker 2: do it again. Yeah, never goes away.
Speaker 1: It's weird, man, having a like trying to relate to
Speaker 1: him and like, you know, support him, but also not
Speaker 1: pressure him, you know. And of course I have all
Speaker 1: my own stuff about this. I mean I feel like
Speaker 1: doing being being a theater parent or an actor parent
Speaker 1: in the midst of doing.
Speaker 2: This podcast is truly weird, you know, because.
Speaker 4: I feel like I'm coming to terms how much fun
Speaker 4: you had when you were his age on I know,
Speaker 4: I know, because it was you loved it, right.
Speaker 1: And what I have to remember it too, and like,
Speaker 1: you know, the reason I fell in love with acting
Speaker 1: was because I did theater and I loved that process.
Speaker 1: Like I you know, what I ended up not liking
Speaker 1: is what being an actor actually is, like, which is
Speaker 1: the audition process and like the lifestyle of like that
Speaker 1: is being an actor and I just don't have the
Speaker 1: stomach for that or the skin. I guess that I
Speaker 1: don't have to take enough skin for that. But what
Speaker 1: he's doing, like getting in a group and everybody nervous
Speaker 1: before the show and putting to get that was the best.
Speaker 1: And really that's what boy Meet's world was too. We
Speaker 1: were doing a play every week, and like that was
Speaker 1: the exciting part that was so fulfilling. It was all
Speaker 1: the fame and all the other stuff that really bummed down.
Speaker 5: What did your mom think? Your mom came down, What
Speaker 5: did your mom think?
Speaker 6: Oh?
Speaker 1: She you know, she just loves him, of course, and
Speaker 1: yeah he does is magical and sparacul and it's true.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, but yeah, I was.
Speaker 1: I was talking to her about like, you know, we
Speaker 1: were driving him to his play. You know, he had
Speaker 1: to be there a couple hours ahead of time. Meanwhile, well,
Speaker 1: first he had three hour rehearsal for The Descendants, then
Speaker 1: the show that Matilda, and I was like, I turned
Speaker 1: to my mom. I was like, you were driving me
Speaker 1: to San Francisco six days a week when I was
Speaker 1: ten to do they Miss and I was doing eight shows.
Speaker 7: And she's like yeah, I'm like that's crazy.
Speaker 1: He's like yeah, I'm like that is just I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm so stressed up and he's got two shows this
Speaker 1: weekend and our whole life is all about that. And
Speaker 1: she's like, yeah, so yeah, that was my Like it
Speaker 1: disrupted our entire lives.
Speaker 7: I'm like, that's insane.
Speaker 2: I remember my mom used to have to drive.
Speaker 7: Oh my god.
Speaker 1: I would want to stay for curtain Call because it's
Speaker 1: a three hour show. So I would be wrapping at
Speaker 1: ten thirty a night or eleven o'clock a night, and
Speaker 1: she would have to be driving an hour and a
Speaker 1: half back to Sebastball from San Francisco.
Speaker 7: And she talks about how she would suck on ice.
Speaker 1: Cubes to stay away, So like crazy, just for your
Speaker 1: kid to be in a play, Like.
Speaker 4: Yeah, what would you do for your kid to be happy?
Speaker 4: You do anything everything. Yeah no, that's yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: No, it's a lot though. I mean I actually would
Speaker 1: have a hard time if like if Indy was doing
Speaker 1: eight shows a week, I'd be like, is this really
Speaker 1: worth it?
Speaker 6: Are you really going to do this? Kid?
Speaker 2: Like is this what you want to?
Speaker 6: You know?
Speaker 7: But for my mom, like she gave up everything to
Speaker 7: give you everything's.
Speaker 3: And she had two of you.
Speaker 2: I know you were both doing it.
Speaker 8: I know.
Speaker 4: I mean that's the thing. You're you're taking what you've
Speaker 4: done and doubling it. It's it's crazy, but that's what
Speaker 4: it's like.
Speaker 1: But that's what I remember is that like the kids
Speaker 1: who didn't work as kid actors were the ones whose
Speaker 1: parents had, you know, stuff to do, Like they can't.
Speaker 7: Give up everything.
Speaker 4: One of the exceptions because my parents could not give
Speaker 4: up anything, and I was working all the time.
Speaker 3: And that's why they drive me to that's.
Speaker 1: Why you were Yeah, it just said to go out
Speaker 1: and take the bus out.
Speaker 4: They're like, if you want to do this, you know
Speaker 4: you're we can't. We can't physically can't quit our jobs.
Speaker 4: Like we can't quit our jobs, right, So, as you know,
Speaker 4: my dad had his own private practice. My mom was
Speaker 4: running all three courts in Connecticut. It's like, we can't quit.
Speaker 4: So yeah, this is just And eventually we got to
Speaker 4: the point where we hired a guy named Bud Bauer.
Speaker 4: He was an eighty two year old uh ex World
Speaker 4: War Two fighter pilot who would drive my dad's car
Speaker 4: with me in the back down of the city. Is
Speaker 4: the coolest guy, told the best stories ever. And he
Speaker 4: would drive me down while just telling me stories about
Speaker 4: like breaking off from formation uh while they were in
Speaker 4: a training exercise to buzz his girlfriend's house with his play.
Speaker 3: I mean, he would just yeah, he was the greatest
Speaker 3: guy in the world. So yeah, eventually we had to
Speaker 3: get somebody because it is it takes.
Speaker 2: Up your whole.
Speaker 5: Yeah. Yeah, Well you were in.
Speaker 3: Oc right, Danielle, So you also had a.
Speaker 9: Well, we were in Orange County when I first started
Speaker 9: when I was ten, but by the time I started
Speaker 9: on Boy Meets World, we had moved to Calabasas, which was,
Speaker 9: you know, still far but at least closer than Orange County.
Speaker 9: But yeah, we used to make that drive from Orange
Speaker 9: County to LA for you know, auditions and sitting in
Speaker 9: traffic and be doing my homework in the back seat
Speaker 9: or falling asleep. My mom would ask me to fall
Speaker 9: asleep with my head high enough so that she could
Speaker 9: still be in the carpoolane without being worried that a
Speaker 9: cop wouldn't see me. She'd be like, Danielle, you need
Speaker 9: to sit up a little higher. I need them to
Speaker 9: know I'm allowed to be in this.
Speaker 6: Car pool lane.
Speaker 9: But yeah, I mean, and the only reason I was
Speaker 9: able to do it is because my mom was a
Speaker 9: stay at home mom, and so she didn't have a
Speaker 9: job that she was giving up.
Speaker 5: She had she had working at home that she had
Speaker 5: to give up.
Speaker 2: But no, my mom quit.
Speaker 1: I mean, she was a she was a nutritionist teacher,
Speaker 1: and she just quit her whole career to dedicate it
Speaker 1: to me and my brother.
Speaker 3: Two actors, two of you.
Speaker 1: We love you, mom so much, appreciation and.
Speaker 6: Power.
Speaker 5: Welcome to Vaudmeet's world.
Speaker 3: I'm Daniel Vishel, I'm rather strong, and I'm Wilfrede.
Speaker 9: We like to talk about how busy we were as
Speaker 9: child actors in the nineties, having a job before our
Speaker 9: teen years, still going to school every day while having to.
Speaker 5: Learn pages and pages of.
Speaker 9: Dialogue, smoldering our very own grappling hooks and constantly blurring
Speaker 9: the line between kid and adult week after week. Dealing
Speaker 9: with these issues was hard enough, but what if we
Speaker 9: did it for fifteen years consistently, over and over and
Speaker 9: over again. Well, this week's guest and her jam packed
Speaker 9: IMDb page knows exactly what that feels like. Because there
Speaker 9: were kid actors and then there were kid actors. She
Speaker 9: first burst onto the scene as Chrissy Seaver from the
Speaker 9: legendary sitcom Growing Pains, which honestly would have been enough,
Speaker 9: wrap it up, call it today, start a rewatch podcast
Speaker 9: thirty years later, But no, that was just the beginning.
Speaker 9: She would star in eight television shows by the age
Speaker 9: of twenty one, a statistic that seems almost made up.
Speaker 9: She'd voice characters on animated projects like Recess, King of
Speaker 9: the Hill, and Teen Titans. She'd appear in movies like
Speaker 9: Nine Months, The Help, and The Avengers. She'd show up
Speaker 9: on TV shows like Er, Blind Spot, and Last of Us,
Speaker 9: and to many people's surprise, she was part of the
Speaker 9: extended Boy Meets World universe. And still through all this,
Speaker 9: she'd somehow find time to co create a revolutionary media
Speaker 9: company from just a casual D and D weekly hangout
Speaker 9: and now she's looking back on it all in the
Speaker 9: form of a new podcast, Weird Kids, a show she
Speaker 9: co hosts all about her journey as a child actor
Speaker 9: now as a grown adult in a business that is,
Speaker 9: for the most part, truly unbelievable. So let's welcome to
Speaker 9: pod meets World the very busy Ashley Johnson.
Speaker 6: Hello, high pals. So great to see you, us grow,
Speaker 6: so fun.
Speaker 9: Us grown kid actors who now analyze our experience through
Speaker 9: the medium of podcasts have to stick together.
Speaker 6: Yes we do.
Speaker 5: Oh my god, it's so great to see you.
Speaker 6: I analyzing our trauma together. Yes, just a simple unpacking,
Speaker 6: which is.
Speaker 5: Always a light dusting of some unpacking.
Speaker 4: Yes, just a little like light of trauma trauma.
Speaker 9: I know most people expect me to start with some
Speaker 9: growing pains talk, but I want to ask about your
Speaker 9: first job. At seven years old. You co starred in
Speaker 9: the movie Lionheart Van Day. Did I have to imagine
Speaker 9: there were some great stories from it. What was Van
Speaker 9: Damn like through the pov of a seven year old?
Speaker 6: Oh my god, yeah, I remember. I mean I was
Speaker 6: so young, but the memories that I have from it
Speaker 6: were great. Yeah, I mean I remember. I mean it's ultimate,
Speaker 6: it's the great movie.
Speaker 3: He's getting to get your bike.
Speaker 7: Rewatch, Let's do an episode that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, please buy that little girl a bike.
Speaker 6: I mean, yes, you might know it a little better
Speaker 6: than I do. Yes, there is a bike involved. I
Speaker 6: I remember I had so much fun that was shooting.
Speaker 6: At the time, I was still living in Michigan and
Speaker 6: we had come out for I think with that job.
Speaker 6: We had come out to visit some family friends and
Speaker 6: their kid was auditioning for that part.
Speaker 3: Those are the best stories ever, I.
Speaker 6: Know, I know, and we had gone and the I
Speaker 6: believe this was Lionheart. It was either Lion Hard or
Speaker 6: Growing Pains, and we I went in. The casting director
Speaker 6: was like, hey, do you want to audition for this?
Speaker 6: And then I did, and then I got it.
Speaker 5: Your family friends were like, we are They're very cool,
Speaker 5: very cool.
Speaker 6: Yeah, just you know, it's and it's also like it
Speaker 6: was kind of like learning early on that you just
Speaker 6: don't know who's going to be right for what part,
Speaker 6: just like it's a it's a crap shoot. It's a
Speaker 6: crap shoot. Yes, so yeah, but I remember I had
Speaker 6: so much fun, and I remember I had like I
Speaker 6: think I had a little bit of a crush on
Speaker 6: Jean Claude. Did it just because like he had like
Speaker 6: this this secent, you know, he was like he was beautiful,
Speaker 6: he was a ballerina.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I had a crush on my I had a
Speaker 9: crush on my principal when I was in elementary school
Speaker 9: and he wasn't beautiful or a ballerina.
Speaker 6: So it isn't just funny when you go back and
Speaker 6: you look at the pictures and you're like, holy, yeah,
Speaker 6: I had a crush. So this is funny because last
Speaker 6: night when I was I was preparing and looking at
Speaker 6: you guys again, and I was like, I remember I
Speaker 6: had such a crush on writer, because everybody did at
Speaker 6: that time, and it was so funny. And I looked
Speaker 6: back at some of the older pictures and I feel
Speaker 6: like we all shot on the same lot. Am I
Speaker 6: making that up? Yeah? We did?
Speaker 9: Right?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm sure.
Speaker 2: Well yeah, well so you did.
Speaker 1: Maybe this time was my brother? So my brother was
Speaker 1: working with you, Like, yes, he was in the pilot
Speaker 1: in the first couple episodes. I don't know whatever he
Speaker 1: ended up not being on the show as a regular,
Speaker 1: but he was in the pilot.
Speaker 2: I think of maybe this time with you he.
Speaker 6: Was so great.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, he was great.
Speaker 7: He also worked with your sister at some point.
Speaker 6: My sister and I actually might have called her before this,
Speaker 6: but I didn't get a hold of her. She played
Speaker 6: I believe she played your girlfriend writer on an episode. Okay, okay,
Speaker 6: Hailey Johnson, Yeah she was under your she was she
Speaker 6: was somebody's girlfriend.
Speaker 2: What episode she was?
Speaker 3: I don't think it was mine. I must have been yours.
Speaker 6: I don't think it was yours. Okay.
Speaker 1: So actually then we probably knew Haley first, and then
Speaker 1: you were like Hailey's sister, who also Yes, that's so funny.
Speaker 9: Because both of your siblings are we're also child actors.
Speaker 9: So which one of you was the first to broach
Speaker 9: the idea of acting? And how did your parents ever
Speaker 9: juggle three different kids going to audition?
Speaker 6: No? Can you can you even imagine that?
Speaker 9: No, Like we're just talking about Writer's son is an
Speaker 9: actor and and a voiceover actor, and like right crazy,
Speaker 9: We were.
Speaker 5: Like, how do you how your entire life is up
Speaker 5: ended for one kid?
Speaker 2: I got alone?
Speaker 6: Three? Let alone three? I you know, it's my My
Speaker 6: brother ended up going more behind the camera as time
Speaker 6: went on, and so it was just my my sister
Speaker 6: and I for the most part, okay, but I just
Speaker 6: I remember it just worked. I don't think we were
Speaker 6: working at the same time like my sister did. She
Speaker 6: did Kids Incorporated.
Speaker 10: Yeah, d yes, yes, we made did yes, so she did,
Speaker 10: she did that, And I remember we would never be
Speaker 10: working at the same time.
Speaker 6: I don't know how it ended up working that way, right.
Speaker 3: At this point or have you moved out here?
Speaker 6: We went back and forth a lot, but then we
Speaker 6: finally moved out here when it was just kind of like, Okay,
Speaker 6: I guess this is something that we're all going to
Speaker 6: continue to do and we enjoy. And my parents were
Speaker 6: super cool about it. It was like I don't have
Speaker 6: one of those stories of like I was forced into
Speaker 6: it and I hated it from the beginning, Like I
Speaker 6: always liked it, but I didn't start to love it
Speaker 6: until later. But yeah, for parents, I mean, thinking back
Speaker 6: on just going to auditions as a kid, like that
Speaker 6: was so strange, such a strange experience. It was such
Speaker 6: a strange world. And it's so fun talking to other
Speaker 6: kid actors because there's it's such a weird it's it's
Speaker 6: a weird experience. Yeah, it's also right, I'm glad I
Speaker 6: had it.
Speaker 4: It's a gone experience too, though, because the industry has
Speaker 4: changed so much, very much, that that sitting in a
Speaker 4: room with twenty other kids that you're going to then
Speaker 4: grow up with in a certain way.
Speaker 9: Right, social Security numbers down on a piece of paper
Speaker 9: for me to read.
Speaker 1: Why did they don't you remember more than the actual audition.
Speaker 1: The room was where you saw the other kids.
Speaker 2: It got a sense. It was those rooms like the
Speaker 2: waiting rooms that.
Speaker 3: You pilotas, and it would be winting down.
Speaker 4: It would start with fifteen of you in a room
Speaker 4: and then by the end there's like the four left
Speaker 4: that didn't get a pilot that season.
Speaker 3: Yes, it was just it was crazy. It was such
Speaker 3: and it's a world that's gone now it's gone.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's gone. My I mean you probably have this
Speaker 6: experience writer with your kid now, Like my, A lot
Speaker 6: of my nieces and nephews have started to get into it.
Speaker 6: And I think in the beginning I was like, I
Speaker 6: don't know, I don't know. Guys like not that I
Speaker 6: had a bad experience, but you are exposed to people,
Speaker 6: do it, you know? Yes?
Speaker 9: Yeah, the fact that means we were lucky, not that
Speaker 9: it's yeah, we were lucky.
Speaker 6: Yeah, we were lucky. We were lucky. Yeah, And I think, yeah,
Speaker 6: they're getting into it, and it's such a different experience now,
Speaker 6: Like some of them have worked on some jobs and
Speaker 6: they're like, it's so cool, it's so fun, and I'm
Speaker 6: like it is and I feel like just this old
Speaker 6: crone in the corner and I'm like, well, I'll be careful,
Speaker 6: don't don't take anything from anybody.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 9: Also, I will say, like we've talked about it a
Speaker 9: little bit too, as a director on a lot of
Speaker 9: these newer kid shows, the pressure is significantly less than it.
Speaker 5: Used to be for us.
Speaker 3: Yea, yes, I would agree with you.
Speaker 9: So, well, that's a different type of a different type
Speaker 9: of pressure for sure.
Speaker 5: But like the actual on.
Speaker 9: Set experience for for kids now is a lot more.
Speaker 9: This should be fun, we should be enjoying it. We
Speaker 9: need to protect each other. We if something's not working,
Speaker 9: it's not your fault, will change it.
Speaker 5: Let us suggest it.
Speaker 9: Those conversations are happening among the adults, not involving the kids.
Speaker 9: The ability to like the amount of pressure the adults
Speaker 9: put on themselves to make sure all their parents and
Speaker 9: all the kids are away before any note is given
Speaker 9: about a performance thing, and then it's like it's just
Speaker 9: a totally different world.
Speaker 1: Totally kids, right, And we were already in a better
Speaker 1: world than.
Speaker 2: Was for like characters, that's right.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean we already were like, oh, we
Speaker 1: have limited hours, we have studio teachers.
Speaker 2: I mean you think about like you know, Judy Garland
Speaker 2: day is like it was.
Speaker 1: Exactly a disaster, right, And then like the seventies, even
Speaker 1: like if you were a kid on a TV show,
Speaker 1: you were just expected to be just like the adult
Speaker 1: and everything that was kid like Mari was an annoyance.
Speaker 1: By the time we were there, there was like, okay,
Speaker 1: we have some sort of and I think you're right.
Speaker 1: Nowadays there's like a real standing like this a fragile do.
Speaker 3: You know the dog This is not a joke.
Speaker 4: The dog that played Toto made more money than Judy
Speaker 4: Garland when they were.
Speaker 1: Doing chicken broth, right, she was literally put on a diet.
Speaker 1: They were like, you can only have cigarettes and chicken.
Speaker 4: Broth to with amphetamines, and that the dog made more
Speaker 4: money than Judy Garland did.
Speaker 6: That's crazy to know that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so it's it.
Speaker 6: Is all right, We're doing okay, y'all, that's what we're
Speaker 6: comparing it to.
Speaker 5: We're great.
Speaker 6: I think about all the time, and I don't know
Speaker 6: if if if you guys have this, I guess I'll
Speaker 6: call it an issue where I feel like when when
Speaker 6: you're a kid and you're like, okay, you're you're rewarded
Speaker 6: for sort of doing what you're told and standing where
Speaker 6: you're supposed to stand and taking direction, well being a
Speaker 6: squeaky wheel, not being a squeaky wheel, And as you
Speaker 6: sort of get get older and you're like, oh, this
Speaker 6: is sort of turning into like a people pleasing thing.
Speaker 6: I don't know. God, yeah, you're like, I don't know
Speaker 6: how to like advocate for myself. Absolutely sometimes Yeah it was.
Speaker 1: It was when I was like early twenties and I
Speaker 1: was complaining about how I was being treated on a
Speaker 1: set to John DiMaggio, our friend that.
Speaker 2: Demaggio was like, writer.
Speaker 11: You're a grown man, I tell them to treat you
Speaker 11: like a grow And I was like, oh my, And
Speaker 11: it was I was probably twenty four and it had
Speaker 11: occurred to me.
Speaker 7: I was like, right, I can stand up for myself.
Speaker 2: I can.
Speaker 1: And because I always thought that if an actor was
Speaker 1: a pain in the ass or a difficult act. I
Speaker 1: didn't want to be a difficult but it's like, no,
Speaker 1: you don't, right. But conflict is part of the process,
Speaker 1: like after writers want certain things, producers want writers, everybody
Speaker 1: comes together to collaborate, and conflict is okay, like and
Speaker 1: not not judging one another for that. Conflict is something
Speaker 1: that's taken me a long time to learn. Oh, there's
Speaker 1: no one right or wrong. This is just the process.
Speaker 1: This is how the sausage is made. And we're gonna
Speaker 1: come at each other and we're gonna need to compromise
Speaker 1: you about.
Speaker 3: How we came up there.
Speaker 4: And again were also on a set where people got
Speaker 4: fired were.
Speaker 1: Doing exactly what we were talking about. That's how we
Speaker 1: were rewarded.
Speaker 9: I aside from the people pleasing aspect, I also had
Speaker 9: to learn how to be in touch with what I
Speaker 9: actually felt. I don't know because I'm so used to
Speaker 9: you telling me, just tell me what to do, and
Speaker 9: I'll do that for you. That like and and I
Speaker 9: just want to make you happy, and so what do
Speaker 9: I need to do? And then when it's put on
Speaker 9: me and it's like, well, you have to make a decision,
Speaker 9: It's like what do you mean I don't know what
Speaker 9: my personal style is.
Speaker 5: I don't know what I I don't know what I
Speaker 5: don't I don't know a thing about.
Speaker 4: Myself because against Danielle with more passion one more time, please.
Speaker 2: You're giving me.
Speaker 4: Okay, we have another question for you, something we've talked about.
Speaker 4: As we've been going through this, we found one of
Speaker 4: the weird kind of things we deal with. Do you
Speaker 4: have a weird kind of issue with how fast you
Speaker 4: get dressed?
Speaker 5: Do you have any issues around picking out clothes from.
Speaker 6: The self fascinating changing clothes, stressed changing clothes one hundred
Speaker 6: percent and ice, Yeah, but we.
Speaker 9: Just don't have to hear it out because it's on
Speaker 9: tape nights and you have to do it so fast
Speaker 9: that everyone for you and I do it as fast
Speaker 9: as humanly possible.
Speaker 1: Before we started this podcast, I was changing and I
Speaker 1: was like, my heart was racing.
Speaker 2: I was like, I got to do it.
Speaker 7: And I ran into my wife and I was like,
Speaker 7: do you get stressed.
Speaker 2: Out when you change? It's like, what are you talking about?
Speaker 1: Like I hate changing my clothes more than anything.
Speaker 9: Like I go into my closet and I'm like, all right,
Speaker 9: I go over to where the tops are and I go,
Speaker 9: because something fast, you've got it. And if whatever I
Speaker 9: take off, even if I put it on and don't
Speaker 9: like it, or for whatever reason, I'm like, I don't
Speaker 9: have time, even if I have all the time in
Speaker 9: the world, this.
Speaker 5: Is what I have to wear now I picked it.
Speaker 5: It's on.
Speaker 3: I'm realize.
Speaker 4: This is why I kept sweaters and shirts from B fifty, right,
Speaker 4: I knew that, And people saying me like why, like,
Speaker 4: because it was picked.
Speaker 6: Up you guys, I think you just unlocked something for me.
Speaker 8: Dude.
Speaker 4: It happens when we'll be talking about something, I will go,
Speaker 4: oh my god, that's I think.
Speaker 6: Those are the weird things that you can't quite place.
Speaker 6: And later and then when you talk about it with
Speaker 6: other people who have had the experience and you're like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 6: that's totally a problem I have. But I still have,
Speaker 6: Like I think I probably have clothed still from when
Speaker 6: I was on growing paints or like where I just
Speaker 6: like can't get rid of them.
Speaker 4: Ye.
Speaker 6: But the same thing is like it's it's been approved,
Speaker 6: so you can wear that, and.
Speaker 5: You know the color looks good on you. It's like
Speaker 5: it was for you.
Speaker 6: How could I be yes, they gave it to me.
Speaker 6: I have to keep it.
Speaker 4: The memories childhood trauma here on podets where thanks for jo.
Speaker 12: Love talking about Traumpa.
Speaker 5: So let's jump into Growing Pains.
Speaker 9: You booked the role of Chrissy sever in what appears
Speaker 9: to be your first TV job ever?
Speaker 5: Right? Do you remember that audition?
Speaker 6: Vaguely? Vaguely? I remember, So this is going really far back.
Speaker 6: I had so am when I still lived in Michigan.
Speaker 6: There was a talent scout that had come to our school,
Speaker 6: which is so weird to me. I'm thinking about that now.
Speaker 6: And they, Yeah.
Speaker 5: I come to your school and look at your children.
Speaker 9: Thanks, I'm just gonna look around see if I see
Speaker 9: any of your children are special.
Speaker 5: Yes, just give me permission to look at your kids.
Speaker 6: They like, how did that conversation go to the principle? Like, Hi,
Speaker 6: I'm a I'm a man, I work for you know whatever.
Speaker 7: But it was.
Speaker 5: I'm a man.
Speaker 6: So I had They had come for a talent search
Speaker 6: for Star Search, and I guess at the school I
Speaker 6: told this person that I sang and they were like,
Speaker 6: oh great, we'll have you on Star Search. And so
Speaker 6: my parents were like, wait, what do you what do
Speaker 6: you mean like you you sang for this person? Like
Speaker 6: what's going on? So anyway, so I ended up getting
Speaker 6: on star Search.
Speaker 3: Search.
Speaker 6: Yes, not to brag. I was on Star Wow.
Speaker 3: How many stars did you get?
Speaker 6: I don't remember, well, I don't. I did not win.
Speaker 6: I did not win.
Speaker 5: Did you Which song did you sing? I?
Speaker 6: This is so embarrassing because it's so like child? After
Speaker 6: I sang, Oh god, what's it called? Broadway baby?
Speaker 7: Oh my god?
Speaker 6: And so I went on and I remember there was
Speaker 6: like another another kid that was the other contestant. His
Speaker 6: name was Bud McGregor.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he was.
Speaker 6: He was like a country singer. He was amazing. I wonder,
Speaker 6: did you wear like.
Speaker 7: A sequin tuxedo? Did you have like a top?
Speaker 6: I did wear a sequin dress that was gorgeous, you know,
Speaker 6: taffata and whatever.
Speaker 4: All the other.
Speaker 9: Materials were our little actor girl dreams were made of amazing.
Speaker 6: Absolutely. So I don't think I I didn't win, but
Speaker 6: I think because of Star Search they had me come
Speaker 6: in for for growing paints. So I went in.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, you can't, you can't. You can't jump off
Speaker 3: of Star Search that quickly. I apologize.
Speaker 4: Did you so you met Ed McMahon. Yes, and they
Speaker 4: bring and I can't. But we have to find out
Speaker 4: how many starts you got because I want to.
Speaker 3: Is this beautiful stars.
Speaker 6: We got to be, got to be somewhere. It's got
Speaker 6: to be, I believe thinking about it, I think we
Speaker 6: I think we had gotten a tie, and then at
Speaker 6: the end they do like a re do something. Yeah, man,
Speaker 6: so and then I ended up losing, which was great
Speaker 6: because I think I only had one song that I say.
Speaker 6: I think I only sang that song and you needed
Speaker 6: to prepare all of these other songs. But yes, I guys,
Speaker 6: meet Ed McMahon. I don't I remember my mom said
Speaker 6: I had one hundred and three fever.
Speaker 5: Oh my gosh, guys, the show must go on the clip.
Speaker 5: We found the clip.
Speaker 6: No, you did not.
Speaker 3: So much.
Speaker 6: Spoke, Oh my god, eighty nine, y'all.
Speaker 4: What are you like?
Speaker 6: Six? Probably wait, hold on, I was born in eighty three. Yeah,
Speaker 6: it was six. But what's hilarious about this to me
Speaker 6: is how everyone was like, let's make a tiny Shirley temple,
Speaker 6: let's sleep again. But I mean that was my hair.
Speaker 6: Oh my god, I look.
Speaker 3: Bigger than your head.
Speaker 8: How Ashley, do you have a sister. What's your name, Haley?
Speaker 8: Do you have a brother, Yes? What's his name, Chris?
Speaker 8: Do you have a dog? Yes? What's its name?
Speaker 6: Wonderful Waite stars three.
Speaker 8: And three quarter stars. The Challenger Ashley Johnson receives three
Speaker 8: and three quarter star.
Speaker 1: It was a time.
Speaker 6: I know what was going on clearly, look at my face.
Speaker 3: That's the best.
Speaker 4: In all fairness, Bud had the belt buckle of a
Speaker 4: full grown man.
Speaker 6: He had the hat with the it set his name
Speaker 6: on it. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if he want.
Speaker 6: He actually had a really great voice, so I'm sure
Speaker 6: he went on to hopefully bigger and better things.
Speaker 3: He's one of the star searching Yeah, he's one of
Speaker 3: the blowfish. Now it was enough to be true.
Speaker 6: It totally was. I was like, that could be totally true.
Speaker 9: That incredible star search performance leads you to pains, and
Speaker 9: this is clearly a part that kid actors dream about.
Speaker 9: It's still a classic show that has survived the test
Speaker 9: of time. As an adult now having been on hundreds
Speaker 9: of sets since, what are your overall feelings about that
Speaker 9: experience on Growing Pains?
Speaker 6: God, I every memory that I have from that is
Speaker 6: so good. It really really is like I feel like
Speaker 6: that show. They were such a family on that show
Speaker 6: already because I came in and on the sixth season,
Speaker 6: I think I was on it for the last two seasons, okay,
Speaker 6: and I just everyone was so wonderful to me. I
Speaker 6: mean not that they're going to be, you know, a
Speaker 6: bunch of to a little kid, but it could have been.
Speaker 6: They could have been. They could have been, yeah, and
Speaker 6: they were just so they just took me in like
Speaker 6: I had been there and were so nice to my family.
Speaker 6: And I remember shooting on it was it shot on
Speaker 6: Warner Brothers Ranch and at the time the lot there
Speaker 6: was like the old little house on the prairie set
Speaker 6: was still there, and it was there was the old
Speaker 6: Jason Barn from Halloween, and I just remember just going
Speaker 6: out and just playing every day, and it was it
Speaker 6: was such a It was a great start to this career.
Speaker 6: I think, you know, some some weird jobs came later
Speaker 6: or weird people, but Growing Pains, for the most part
Speaker 6: was I still have such incredible memories from it. It
Speaker 6: really was just so it was so good. It was
Speaker 6: so good.
Speaker 9: Infamously, another child actor made a stop on Growing Pains,
Speaker 9: mister Leonardo DiCaprio.
Speaker 6: Oh, yes, the Leo decaps.
Speaker 5: What do you remember about young Leo?
Speaker 6: Oh my god, I do remember. He was so he
Speaker 6: was so good, like you could tell so early on.
Speaker 6: And I think at that time he had just finished
Speaker 6: filming This Boy's Life, I think, yeah, and then that
Speaker 6: hadn't come out yet, so he was on sort of
Speaker 6: the last bit of the season for Growing Pains, and
Speaker 6: I just remember everyone was like, this kid is so good,
Speaker 6: like he just had he just he had it. He
Speaker 6: had it, you know, we felt it, and it was. Yeah,
Speaker 6: he was great. I just remember. But he was like
Speaker 6: a teenager, you know, he was a kid, so it
Speaker 6: was but I remember he was so sweet to me,
Speaker 6: and you know, we just stayed. We stayed lifelong friends
Speaker 6: of course.
Speaker 8: You know.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I get it, I get it.
Speaker 6: And my Palio. Yeah, I did actually see him. Well,
Speaker 6: I got to see a lot of the last time
Speaker 6: I saw everybody. Not the greatest, but I went to
Speaker 6: Allan Thick's funeral, and which he was the greatest. He
Speaker 6: was the greatest, and like I just I mean as
Speaker 6: like a first TV dad, like just I just remember
Speaker 6: I loved hugging him and just being around him. And
Speaker 6: he was just so he was. He was wonderful. But
Speaker 6: I saw a lot of you know, Joanna Kerns and
Speaker 6: Jeremy Miller, and getting to see all these people as
Speaker 6: an adult, I mean not at a very good time
Speaker 6: at cour celebration, bad circumstances, bad circumstances, but I hadn't
Speaker 6: seen a lot of them in a while, and it
Speaker 6: was really it was sad, but it was really cool
Speaker 6: to see them as an adult and get to sort
Speaker 6: of have a different conversation with them that I that
Speaker 6: I had had I've never had.
Speaker 9: But yeah, did you ever return to like real normal
Speaker 9: school because you genuinely have never stopped working?
Speaker 6: Yeah? I did. I did, so I only I only
Speaker 6: went to school. I didn't go to high school. I
Speaker 6: homeschool through high school. But I went to elementary and
Speaker 6: middle school and they weren't fun. Yeah, they weren't fun.
Speaker 6: I mean, elementary school was fine, but middle school is
Speaker 6: where it kind of just like took another.
Speaker 5: No matter who you are, middle school so.
Speaker 6: School, yes, it does. So it's a it's yeah.
Speaker 4: I've also said, even when even when it's something good
Speaker 4: or cool, like being an actor, anything that makes you different.
Speaker 3: As a kid is bad.
Speaker 6: Yeah, they're like, oh, you think you're super into yourself
Speaker 6: for you know, it's it's yes, anything that is different
Speaker 6: is bad. And so I was very and I still
Speaker 6: land like I'm a very introverted I'm not a social creature,
Speaker 6: Like I love spending time alone, Like I could totally
Speaker 6: just be out on an island and be fine. Like
Speaker 6: you send me to Mars, I'll be fine. Let me
Speaker 6: find out there. So a lot of it I was.
Speaker 6: It was hard, but I had my core group of
Speaker 6: friends that I have still have since elementary school. My
Speaker 6: best friend I met an elementary school still she's my
Speaker 6: best friend. Will has met her before Meila, Oh, of course,
Speaker 6: of course.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 6: So we yeah, so we've we've rolled dice together.
Speaker 3: We have we have we've formed a shield wall together, Yes,
Speaker 3: we have.
Speaker 13: Yeah.
Speaker 6: I I mean I kind of kept to myself for
Speaker 6: the most part when I was in school. But yeah,
Speaker 6: there is that sort of otherness that when you have that,
Speaker 6: you're sort of pushed out of the inner circle, which
Speaker 6: I was fine with because I've always kind of been
Speaker 6: a little weird.
Speaker 9: Lone Wolf, you starred in eight different TV shows by
Speaker 9: the time you were twenty one.
Speaker 4: How oh, yeah, yeah, your career.
Speaker 3: I don't.
Speaker 9: How did you avoid burnout or did you ever think
Speaker 9: about walking away?
Speaker 6: I guess there was a very brief time when I
Speaker 6: was thinking about going to college. There was a very
Speaker 6: sort of brief amount of you know, seventeen eighteen where
Speaker 6: I'm like, is this is this what I want to do?
Speaker 6: Do I want to go to school for something else?
Speaker 6: Learn and learn something else at least? And I just
Speaker 6: kept doing it.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 6: I mean, the thing is like it's it's I do
Speaker 6: love it, like I love part you love parts of it.
Speaker 6: Sometimes like there's and of course it's it's like that
Speaker 6: I'm sure with any job, but I there's I think
Speaker 6: there's also that thing that we have as actors where
Speaker 6: you don't know when the next job is coming, so
Speaker 6: you're always just like ready to go and just want
Speaker 6: to keep working because you know at some point it
Speaker 6: probably will stop. Yeah, So I think I think I
Speaker 6: just kept doing it because of that reason, because I'm
Speaker 6: just I'm like, at some point and it's just going
Speaker 6: to stop, so I might as well keep doing it.
Speaker 4: We've also talked about how there's the people that keep going.
Speaker 3: There's a certain group of people.
Speaker 4: It's like a stand up comedian where you know that
Speaker 4: you're supposed to be a stand up comedian or an
Speaker 4: actor if you.
Speaker 3: Can't not do it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yes, And I think there's a point where you're
Speaker 4: just like, I don't picture my life without doing something
Speaker 4: in this industry.
Speaker 3: I just it's I couldn't imagine not doing it.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it's almost a call. You hate to use
Speaker 3: the word calling, but it seems to kind of be
Speaker 3: like a calling.
Speaker 6: It does kind of. Yeah, it kind of feels that way.
Speaker 6: And I mean, I don't know. I guess there's a
Speaker 6: part of me that I'm like, I don't know if
Speaker 6: it's a calling for me as opposed to just it's
Speaker 6: what I do. It's kind of like because I've been
Speaker 6: doing it since I've been a little wee baby, it's
Speaker 6: the alternative. What is the alternative? But I do love it.
Speaker 6: I love each aspect of it, and like even now
Speaker 6: with working with you know, critical role stuff and we
Speaker 6: do you know, a writer's room or comic books and
Speaker 6: sort of getting to sort of do this another way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it stuff.
Speaker 4: So you're you're one of the few people that can
Speaker 4: really give us an insight. And I know this is
Speaker 4: it's for a lot of actors, it's like asking which
Speaker 4: of your children do you like better? You've done You've
Speaker 4: done sitcom for a long time, but you've also done
Speaker 4: a lot of really good single camera work. So for television,
Speaker 4: do you prefer multiicam or do you prefer single cam?
Speaker 6: Geez? I haven't done a multiicam in so long, and
Speaker 6: I feel like I don't remember what my last multi
Speaker 6: caamer sitcom was. I mean I think I was probably
Speaker 6: probably early twenties. Okay, so you know, a couple of
Speaker 6: decades ago. But there is I mean, it's like the
Speaker 6: same as theater. There is an energy there that you
Speaker 6: don't get from just a single camera, right, yeah, but
Speaker 6: there there's there's They each have their like pros and
Speaker 6: cons yeah, you know, but there is something like the
Speaker 6: sitcom multicam schedule is the best, you know, because it's
Speaker 6: like it's consistent, you have, your you have, It's it's
Speaker 6: the closest thing that we have to a nine to five,
Speaker 6: I think exactly, and it's it's I haven't done it
Speaker 6: in so long, and I feel like it would be
Speaker 6: so fun to do it again.
Speaker 9: But well, let's remind you of some multiicam with talking
Speaker 9: about a very odd moment in your child acting career
Speaker 9: which ties directly into Boy Meets World. Oh, we talked
Speaker 9: about it the show called Maybe This Time, which is
Speaker 9: created and executive produced by one mister Michael Jacobs.
Speaker 6: Oh my god, that's right, yes, co.
Speaker 5: Starring Betty White and Marie Osmond.
Speaker 9: And there is a very meta scene in the show
Speaker 9: where your character is watching Boy Meets World and then
Speaker 9: Corey and Sean start talking directly to you your character
Speaker 9: through the screen.
Speaker 6: Wait what Yeah, we do not remember that?
Speaker 1: Maybe on IMDb for being in Maybe This Time as Sean,
Speaker 1: which is Yeah, it's so weird.
Speaker 6: Remember this.
Speaker 9: I have to play it for you because I want
Speaker 9: to say it. It's like, I think you have to
Speaker 9: remember it once you see it, because especially you said,
Speaker 9: but you remember you had a crush on writer, so
Speaker 9: I would imagine wonder.
Speaker 6: Yeah, so it maybe it was just like that. Oh
Speaker 6: my god, I can't wait to see this. This is
Speaker 6: so crazy. I haven't seen any of Maybe This Time
Speaker 6: since it aired, so I don't remember it at all.
Speaker 5: Was it a great experience for you?
Speaker 6: Do you remember the best? Come on, Betty White, Marie Osmond?
Speaker 6: It was just it was I was I was surrounded
Speaker 6: by incredible women. Yeah, it was great.
Speaker 7: Well, I don't give up on you. She sees that
Speaker 7: she doesn't give up on Nicky. Who's Nicky? You know,
Speaker 7: the little boyfriend?
Speaker 6: Wow?
Speaker 5: Have never seen this episode before?
Speaker 14: Okay, if I still got one question? Is she dreaming
Speaker 14: or is this actually on TV?
Speaker 15: Well, essentially, she's experiencing what we call a waking dream.
Speaker 15: It's the momentary blurring of the line between the conscious
Speaker 15: and the unconscious.
Speaker 14: I lived my entire life like that. Hey, what's going on?
Speaker 14: What's with all the slime?
Speaker 15: A relax, it's just the special effects. It means our
Speaker 15: work here is done. So long, Gracie, good luck.
Speaker 6: Oh oh my god, I have a vague memory of that. Now,
Speaker 6: thanks for that. But how great are you guys?
Speaker 5: They're so great, They're so great.
Speaker 8: Good.
Speaker 1: It's weird because it's actually like a boy meets World
Speaker 1: storyline scene.
Speaker 7: Yeah, accurately to our care.
Speaker 2: It's weird.
Speaker 6: I wonder what prompted them to write that in.
Speaker 9: Michael jacobsabel Yeah, yeah, he's just trying to like, you know,
Speaker 9: put together right.
Speaker 1: But it's also so funny because it explains his philosophy
Speaker 1: with boy meets world, Like he literally did believe that
Speaker 1: he was teaching children how to behave yes with art,
Speaker 1: you know, like that moralizing quality is what he thought,
Speaker 1: you know, he went he looked at it as like
Speaker 1: his mission to inspire kids to do the right thing,
Speaker 1: and like he's literally expelling out like the writing philosophy
Speaker 1: behind the Corey Shawn dynamic.
Speaker 2: It's really interesting.
Speaker 13: Yeah, oh my god, that is so wild to see.
Speaker 9: What was your experience with Michael, Like, I know he
Speaker 9: co created the show with Boy Meets World writer Susan
Speaker 9: Estelle Janssen.
Speaker 1: Yes, and the Trainer was directing it right, Yes.
Speaker 5: Very tall, skinny David Trainer.
Speaker 6: Yes, oh my god. Yes, yeah. You guys are giving
Speaker 6: me so many flat there's like every you know, like
Speaker 6: there's that part of time and your brain of being
Speaker 6: a kid where it's all just a little fuzzy and blurry.
Speaker 6: But you guys for.
Speaker 5: Me most of my life.
Speaker 6: Yeah. Yeah, but you guys are making it a little
Speaker 6: more sharper around the ches. Yes, David Traynor, Oh my god,
Speaker 6: he was such a fun director.
Speaker 9: Yeah.
Speaker 6: I just remember with Michael, I remember he was really fun.
Speaker 6: I mean maybe this time only was I think we
Speaker 6: only did one season, and I remember, I just remember
Speaker 6: it was a great I mean, any I feel like
Speaker 6: because of the age that I was any sort of
Speaker 6: problems that were happening on set, and I think there
Speaker 6: were some. I was shielded from them. Sure, you know,
Speaker 6: it was like, Okay, the kid is on set now,
Speaker 6: so everybody's you know, we put our differences side at
Speaker 6: the moment. But I remember he was he was really
Speaker 6: nice to me good and I think I don't remember
Speaker 6: him being there a lot.
Speaker 9: Okay, yep, that could make sense. Maybe, so maybe Susan
Speaker 9: was there more.
Speaker 6: I feel like Susan was there more, but I just yeah,
Speaker 6: a lot of a lot of Maybe this time is
Speaker 6: a very vague memory. I just remember that there was
Speaker 6: a basketball court on the Disney lot and there would
Speaker 6: be like lunchtime. Yeah, it's gotta be. Yeah, that's where
Speaker 6: he did Jim the Home Improvement Kids, you guys and
Speaker 6: thunder Ally Zach Tarn And.
Speaker 3: Yes, it was a strange gym class if we're honest.
Speaker 6: It was because I don't feel like we did Jim
Speaker 6: just probably do.
Speaker 5: You remember Angel and VICKI.
Speaker 6: Were they?
Speaker 5: You're Jim trainers by any chance?
Speaker 6: Wait, those names sound very familiar to me.
Speaker 9: They were like a married couple who did personal edge
Speaker 9: personal edge training.
Speaker 2: You would come and like hang out with us on set,
Speaker 2: like yeah.
Speaker 9: Maybe get your sponsorships, like take you to like Rebok.
Speaker 3: Brought snowboards.
Speaker 6: Wait, this is so crazy. This is so you guys
Speaker 6: are bringing up stuff that I haven't. I don't think
Speaker 6: I've ever thought about it.
Speaker 1: And so you were younger than us, So you were
Speaker 1: you were probably only like eight, right, or she's.
Speaker 9: Not that much younger than me. You're two years younger
Speaker 9: than me. So if I was twelve, I'm forty one.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm forty one.
Speaker 6: So I mean, like, wait, this is so crazy, so
Speaker 6: much stuff that I've thought on so long. Oh my god.
Speaker 5: Well get used to this feeling.
Speaker 9: Because you have recently started a podcasts and with a
Speaker 9: friend tell us in Jaffie.
Speaker 5: Am I saying the name right?
Speaker 3: A love former child actor?
Speaker 9: Yes, from movies like Mister Mom and TV shows like
Speaker 9: Facts of Life, And you guys.
Speaker 5: Have decided to dig deep into the vault.
Speaker 9: That contains the very complicated memories of our preteen jobs.
Speaker 9: It's called weird Kids. How has that treated you so far?
Speaker 9: And has it thrown you into therapy like the rest
Speaker 9: of us.
Speaker 6: Yes, absolutely, I mean we we sort of We had
Speaker 6: talked for a long time about wanting to start a podcast,
Speaker 6: and with our group of friends, they're like, you guys
Speaker 6: have a perspective of being child actors that a lot
Speaker 6: of us don't have, and you know that that's not
Speaker 6: our main in general. Talison and I are very weird
Speaker 6: that so we're like a little a little off center.
Speaker 6: So I think the the a lot of it is
Speaker 6: not just about, you know, the experience we had on sets,
Speaker 6: but also just the two of us just being very
Speaker 6: weird kids. So we've had a really good time. But
Speaker 6: it is funny how when you start talking about from
Speaker 6: when you were a kid and then you're like like, oh,
Speaker 6: this is this is bringing up some really interesting, interesting
Speaker 6: things that now we are dealing with. But it's been great.
Speaker 6: I mean, I I love podcasts. I listen to podcasts
Speaker 6: all day long when I'm not working or doing something
Speaker 6: I'm I'm mostly political podcasts. That is what I listened
Speaker 6: to one hundred percent of the day.
Speaker 5: But do you talk about Ed de Bevic's on your podcast?
Speaker 6: WHOA I was just talking about with somebody like a
Speaker 6: week ago because BJ's and Burbank used to be ans
Speaker 6: as well, but not the O G One. No, but
Speaker 6: I loved, didn't we all we went.
Speaker 3: There was one left in Chicago and they had us
Speaker 3: there at.
Speaker 4: The podcast to go and we were actually at the
Speaker 4: EDS in Chicago.
Speaker 6: Dancing on the Chicago was nationwide.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well it was just Chicago in l A.
Speaker 6: Oh my god, wait I didn't Is it still there? Yeah,
Speaker 6: we just went, my god, you guys have fun. Take
Speaker 6: weird kid, it will take weird kids Eds and and
Speaker 6: just oh my god.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's the best when you're not looking and dance
Speaker 4: on the table. It's amazing kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they stand character.
Speaker 6: They're like, yeah, yes, we need to bring it back
Speaker 6: here to l A. What is happening. I don't know,
Speaker 6: I mean I don't. We just got a.
Speaker 5: Group of us together, a group of us kid actors.
Speaker 6: And reopened it and reopened I'm all for it.
Speaker 3: It's the restaurant industry is very safe.
Speaker 9: It's very it is not a stressful career.
Speaker 6: No, I mean, podcasting definitely probably helps prepare you for
Speaker 6: a restaurant touring exactly.
Speaker 9: It's a it's it's the new straight shot. You go
Speaker 9: from hostcat in directly into opening your own restaurant, stop
Speaker 9: on your way to stop on the way, then.
Speaker 6: Boin, and then you know we're there.
Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, well anything is possible because you did become
Speaker 4: hugely successful playing Dungeons and Dragon. Yes, so again you've
Speaker 4: proven that even just a childhood fun craziness can then
Speaker 4: turn into a business. Now I know a little bit
Speaker 4: about how it started, but can you tell us how
Speaker 4: this incredible foray into the world of beautiful nerdom started?
Speaker 9: Yes, you are a founding member of the Revolutionary Critical Role,
Speaker 9: So tell us how did that start?
Speaker 6: Yeah? We it started. So there's eight of us and
Speaker 6: one of the members, Leom O'Brien, had wanted to play
Speaker 6: D and D for his birthday, and some mutual friends
Speaker 6: of ours Matthew Mercer, he was a dungeon master and
Speaker 6: was like, I can run the game. And I actually
Speaker 6: was not at the first game, but I went to
Speaker 6: the second game that we played, and we just once
Speaker 6: we started, we couldn't stop. Yeah, because we were like,
Speaker 6: oh this is I mean, it's it's long form improv
Speaker 6: in a fantasy setting, which you know, I love fantasy,
Speaker 6: I love sci fi. So I was I and it
Speaker 6: was something I had always wanted to play as a kid,
Speaker 6: but I couldn't because I was working and I couldn't.
Speaker 6: You know. It's it's you got to get in with
Speaker 6: that group as a kid in school, and they're not
Speaker 6: gonna let me play in their group when I was
Speaker 6: in school. Yeah, but yeah, So we started playing, and
Speaker 6: we played for a little over two years just at home.
Speaker 6: And then another friend of ours, Felicia Day, who had
Speaker 6: uh a streaming channel Geek and Sundry at the time,
Speaker 6: and we uh she was like, would you want to
Speaker 6: try streaming it? And we were like, I don't know
Speaker 6: who's gonna be. That's so long. He was gonna watch this,
Speaker 6: you know, it's because it's hours and hours. One game
Speaker 6: of over it's over like four hours long. So we're like, well,
Speaker 6: we'll try it. It's something that we all love so much.
Speaker 6: So if it takes away from our love for it
Speaker 6: and the love, yeah, you know, we'll stop.
Speaker 5: We'll just stop.
Speaker 6: And we didn't. And then it just kept working and
Speaker 6: we just kept going, and we just decided to build
Speaker 6: whatever it is that we've built, you know, And we
Speaker 6: just released our first RPG, Dagger Heart, which is crazy,
Speaker 6: which we've been like building it over the past five
Speaker 6: years or whatever, and it's finally going to be out
Speaker 6: there in the world. And it's it's so it's just
Speaker 6: so fun, like we're just i mean, at work every
Speaker 6: day we just sort of play make believe and you know,
Speaker 6: I've just continued to sort of do that my whole life,
Speaker 6: and I love it.
Speaker 9: You also run the Critical Role Foundation the cheerity of
Speaker 9: the company, which is awesome. Tell us about what you
Speaker 9: guys do there and what your goals.
Speaker 5: Are for the initiative.
Speaker 6: Oh my gosh. So we started the foundation in twenty twenty,
Speaker 6: which was we had wanted to start it earlier, but
Speaker 6: then when COVID hit, which is I would not suggest
Speaker 6: trying to start a nonprofit in the midding that time,
Speaker 6: but it really, it's it's it's been so incredible. Like
Speaker 6: we just ran a charity one shot. The last sort
Speaker 6: of big initiative that we did. We tried something where
Speaker 6: we played a live game and we wanted to raise
Speaker 6: money for the La Wildflyers and we raised about four
Speaker 6: hundred and fifteen thousand dollars.
Speaker 14: Wow.
Speaker 6: And so we raised money for LAFD, the Latino Community Fund.
Speaker 6: I'm forgetting what the third one is right now, But
Speaker 6: it's our community is so incredibly I guess giving that generous.
Speaker 6: And so when we had started the foundation, it was
Speaker 6: a lot of like, well, we love what we do,
Speaker 6: we love doing this, there's got to be a way
Speaker 6: that we can give back, and we did so we
Speaker 6: started the foundation and it's been incredible. I mean, we've
Speaker 6: worked with amazing nonprofits from First Nations Development Institute, A
Speaker 6: two six l a Red Nose Day, Pablove Foundation. It's
Speaker 6: it's it's really been kind of the highlight of what
Speaker 6: we do. And I think Matt, Matt and I are
Speaker 6: the ones who are are most closely related to it, Matthew,
Speaker 6: Mercer and me, and we can't always talk about We're
Speaker 6: like that's this is going to be our what we
Speaker 6: leave for the world. Like later as we get older
Speaker 6: and we keep going and we can still work on
Speaker 6: the foundation. It's our our legacy.
Speaker 5: We will have to tell you about Ashes to Films
Speaker 5: as well.
Speaker 6: What is this? Please tell me?
Speaker 1: Started nonprofit? Yeah, to support filmmakers after the fires. Uh
Speaker 1: So it's he's basically raising funds to allow filmmakers to
Speaker 1: make ten short films and you know, filmmakers that were
Speaker 1: and then higher crew and.
Speaker 9: Multimakers that were directly impacted by the fires, and then the.
Speaker 2: Festival to Yeah, yeah it's great.
Speaker 6: Yeah, how cool is this just to film?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you gotta joint, you gotta, you gotta help out. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'll put you in touch with them.
Speaker 6: Yeah, definitely incredible. Yeah, you're incredible.
Speaker 9: Great well, Ashley, you are an absolute joy and it
Speaker 9: has been so wonderful reconnecting with you.
Speaker 14: Uh.
Speaker 9: You guys can all watch or listen to Weird Kids
Speaker 9: right now on Beacon dot TV through Critical Role or
Speaker 9: learn more about it on Instagram at the Weird Kids
Speaker 9: pod or check them out at the Chicago Eddubevic's right.
Speaker 5: I mean you're going to be there.
Speaker 6: Or you know, you'll see us at the opening of
Speaker 6: the news exactly.
Speaker 9: We're going to be we get we should get together
Speaker 9: to talk about ashes to films and then as a
Speaker 9: side project, work on how do we open.
Speaker 4: LA Okay, I want to throw something out there. All right,
Speaker 4: I'm gonna I'm gonna be crazy. I'm gonna be crazy
Speaker 4: right now.
Speaker 3: Okay, Charity Edbvick's nineties kid food fight.
Speaker 6: Can we also get some slime like like a double like.
Speaker 2: A something dropped on us.
Speaker 6: Yeah, something dropped on us screens.
Speaker 9: We get dropped into a vat of something like It's
Speaker 9: like how Will was dropped into the butter as a lobster.
Speaker 9: Something needs to get dropped on us. We need to
Speaker 9: get dropped into something.
Speaker 3: I think it'd be good. We can.
Speaker 4: People can come and join the food Fight for charity
Speaker 4: and we raise a whole bunch of money. We'll pick
Speaker 4: some great uh charities out there, and I bet you
Speaker 4: we'd raise a ton of money to come giant.
Speaker 6: That sounds so fun.
Speaker 9: We do actually have the connection to the edbics in Chicago.
Speaker 9: We could reach out to them. We could get edbe
Speaker 9: Chicago to come out to LA for an event uh
Speaker 9: and and do something really fun.
Speaker 6: I am in and I will destroy.
Speaker 3: Yes.
Speaker 4: I should also mention Ashley can be a little bit competitive.
Speaker 5: I love it.
Speaker 3: I have seen this happen.
Speaker 6: I loves that.
Speaker 5: So fun.
Speaker 6: Well, you guys so much. This was so fun.
Speaker 9: Thank you, Thank you so much for coming and joining us.
Speaker 9: We appreciate you so much. Let's seriously get together. I mean,
Speaker 9: I feel like we've got so many more stories to share.
Speaker 6: I'm in.
Speaker 5: Thank you Ashley.
Speaker 2: Great to see you.
Speaker 6: Bye guys, Bye.
Speaker 7: Writer.
Speaker 9: We figured out Haley played Linda in the Beard episode
Speaker 9: you were she was your love interest in the Beard episode.
Speaker 1: There were two they're too because the other was the
Speaker 1: original Topanga's sister. There are two roles in that episode, right.
Speaker 5: Right, right, so two sisters.
Speaker 1: Which is the Beard That's the one where I'm trying
Speaker 1: to date two different girls and I don't remember it's
Speaker 1: where it's where everyone at Chubby's calls me scum, calls
Speaker 1: me and Ben scum like we're because we're Ben ends
Speaker 1: up taking one of them out, and he takes Haley
Speaker 1: out and then.
Speaker 2: She falls for him.
Speaker 3: I don't know. It's like holding on to her in
Speaker 3: case you want to date her too or something.
Speaker 5: Right, she was supposed to be the safe one, right.
Speaker 2: Yes, okay, right, it's yeah, Oh that's so funny.
Speaker 6: She's great.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and she's a ton of fun to play games with.
Speaker 4: She really it's that energy for five hours and as
Speaker 4: you're rolling into a town with your crew and you're
Speaker 4: trying to destroy everything in the town.
Speaker 3: It's yeah.
Speaker 1: She was always such a solid actor too, Like you know,
Speaker 1: she's one of those like, oh, there's a reason you worked.
Speaker 1: She never stopped working, just immediately arrived with like a
Speaker 1: complete ability to act like it's just yeah, yeah, she's phenomenal.
Speaker 9: Thank you all for joining us for this episode of
Speaker 9: Pod Meets World. As always, you can follow us on
Speaker 9: Instagram pod Meets World Show. You can send us your
Speaker 9: emails pod Meets World Show at gmail dot com.
Speaker 5: And we've got merch.
Speaker 4: Okay, So, Jean Claude van Dam is leaving the French
Speaker 4: Foreign Legion. He's got to escape the French Foreign Legion
Speaker 4: and he has to get into an underground fighting ring
Speaker 4: to help save his family, which is Ashley Johnson is
Speaker 4: his niece.
Speaker 3: Lionheard merch.
Speaker 9: Pod Meets Worldshow dot Com writers send us out.
Speaker 6: We love you all, pod dismissed.
Speaker 1: Pod Meets World is an iHeart podcast producer hosted by
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