WEBVTT - Lee Norris meets World 0:00:21.760 --> 0:00:25.200 My mom apparently talked to Jennifer Fishel and the two 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:27.240 of them decided that they should be on the show. 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:32.320 That's actually an amazing idea. I don't wait, we because 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:34.440 we've already talked about your mom so much. I mean, 0:00:34.640 --> 0:00:36.920 I don't know, it might get awkward. I I you know, 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:39.680 I don't know. But it was like, I didn't even 0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:41.760 think about it. I guess I never thought I would 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:44.080 put my mom in that position. But she brought it up. 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:47.000 She's like, you know, I actually would never have thought 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:49.519 of it because my mom normally says no to anything 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:51.599 that involves her having to be in the public at all. 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:54.040 She's like, oh no, Um, so we couldn't do a 0:00:54.080 --> 0:00:56.640 mom's episod. Maybe around Mother's Day next year. I think 0:00:56.680 --> 0:00:58.920 that would be great idea. I also we came up 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:01.760 with an idea downstairs. My parents and I were laughing 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:04.760 our asses off, where just halfway through the podcast, without 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:06.920 ever mentioning it, my mom and dad were gonna just 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:10.520 start wandering behind me with their canes and walkers, and 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:12.920 no one was going to say anything. They were just 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:15.720 gonna just be wandering in the background and just out 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:18.240 of camera. Then back over care We're just laughing hysterically. 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:22.160 It was so funny. Speaking of Will, where where are 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:25.000 you right now? Where am I? Yeah? Where are you 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:27.399 in this present moment? I am right now in my 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:32.520 childhood bedroom in Connecticut doing a podcast with my sitcom 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:35.160 mates from the nineties like you do on a normal 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:37.760 Tuesday morning, the s listener. There is a dark side 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:40.160 of the Moon poster behind the is so this is 0:01:40.200 --> 0:01:44.240 your actual childhood bedroom, my sexual childhood bedroom. Not it's 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:50.480 it's like a shrine essentially. Hockey stick stick that is. 0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:53.480 The Hartford, Connecticut where I'm from, had one thing that 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:56.840 was cool, which was the Hartford Whalers, which is so 0:01:56.880 --> 0:01:59.559 that's Dave Tippett's hockey stick, who was a Hartford Whaler. 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:01.840 They were the worst hockey team ever. Was like the 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:04.919 Mighty Ducks. If the Mighty Ducks were even worse. Um, 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:08.400 and then they they left and became the Carol Carolina 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:10.760 Hurricanes and like two years later won the Stanley Cup. 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:14.960 So it was it was like, are you kidding me? 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:17.280 So yes, if I turned the camera the other way, 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:20.680 it is a wall of Marilyn Monroe and I'm I 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:23.680 mean like if she was all of Marilyn Monroe. If 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:25.959 she was alive, the police would be visiting because they'd 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:28.519 be like, all right, there's been weird letters being sent, like, yes, 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:31.040 I had a bit of a thing for Maryland growing up. 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:33.400 Oh my god, that's fine. I never knew that. I 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:35.160 didn't know that. Did you have cars on your wall? 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:36.920 Did you have like you must have had there? So 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:39.760 over here there's the thunderbird over here, and the mother's 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:43.680 side is all every scenes that my brother had stolen 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:46.840 just at a gmilosity. Why didn't your parents when you 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:49.440 moved out by the way when you were like fifteen, 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:52.440 why didn't they immediately change your room into something else 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:55.880 like my parents did, because they rightfully worshiped me, and 0:02:55.919 --> 0:02:58.960 it needs to be kept exactly as is for every 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:01.320 time I still come. So he comes home to do 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:03.680 his podcast about the show that he started when he 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:07.000 was sixteen with his child. That's a normal way of things. 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:09.920 So welcome to Connecticut. Yes, I can't believe it in 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:14.519 your childhood home. Well, what a what a week it's 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:19.919 been um since our last episode with David Trainer, Um, 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:23.160 and we got to meet to Pana finally. I'm not 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:26.520 sure the episode where we meet to Panga I was 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:31.440 expecting to have so much, um, so much feelings. Yeah, 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:36.960 so many, so many feelings, too much feelings, feelings, new 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:40.720 T shirt. Yeah, I definitely had a lot of unpacking 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:44.080 after that episode. Okay, were you okay after that? After 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:46.120 we talked? I mean, were you? Did you walk away 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:49.200 feeling all right about the conversation we had or was 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:52.520 there a lot more kind of going on? No? I did. 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:55.480 I What I'll say is that I think it was 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:58.600 the closest feeling I've ever had to a little bit 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:02.120 of an out of body experience where I felt a 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:05.600 little disassociated from everything we had talked about and I 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:10.880 was processing everything, and um, I don't know. I I 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:13.560 said to my husband. I said to Jensen that it 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:16.719 was weird because you know, we have talked about this 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:19.760 podcast as being a place where one we're going to 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:23.440 be honest and too we want all of our guests 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:28.960 to feel perfectly comfortable sharing any and all of their experiences, 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:32.560 whether they're positive, whether they're negative. And that's part of 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:35.159 the interesting journey of this for all of us is 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:37.960 trying to figure out, um, what the experience of Boy 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:40.160 Meets World was for not only us, but for everyone 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:41.800 else that was a part of the show. You know. 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:43.640 The other thing I said at the very beginning of this, 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:46.080 starting the podcast is that I my only concern was 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:49.279 that some of our honesty might change the way people 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:51.359 feel about the show, and that that would make me 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:53.520 really sad. And so I think one of the things 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:56.360 that's important for me to say after those wonderful episodes 0:04:56.400 --> 0:04:58.440 with David, where they were maybe some of our heaviest 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:01.880 episodes yet, or maybe our definitely our heaviest episodes yet, 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:05.560 is that, as I've said many times, Boy Meats Rolled, 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:08.960 especially the first couple of seasons, was an absolute joy 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:11.280 of my life, and I just wanted to be there 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:14.280 every single day. And so even though now I can 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:17.839 look back on it with adult eyes and um the 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:21.000 eyes of a parent and all of the two eyes, 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:24.120 and I can say, wow, maybe some of that wasn't 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:28.320 the way it should have gone, UM, it didn't change 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:30.640 the fact that while I was there, I was I 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:33.359 was really happy, and I loved it. I think what 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:35.839 was funny about for me, like listening to tell the 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:40.200 story um last week, was that I was imagining that 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:42.240 you've told the story a bunch, right, I mean, this 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:46.080 is sort of your the Topanga origin story, and yet 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:49.000 it was suddenly kind of different, you know, it was 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:51.160 like the narrative was changing while you were telling it, 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:54.559 because you've suddenly had another person's point of view. And 0:05:54.760 --> 0:05:57.320 I think that having to revise those narratives that we've 0:05:57.320 --> 0:05:59.640 told ourselves or that we've told other people for years 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:03.640 is super scary. It's important sometimes, you know, and I 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:06.000 think it's great. I think it's great, and I don't 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:08.120 think that it does takes away from the original narrative, 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:10.400 do you know what I mean? Like it's just now 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:13.240 now you're forty, and so the story of that you 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:16.279 tell all your life from twelve to thirty nine was, 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:17.880 you know, it might be a little different now, and 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:20.640 that's I think that that's really healthy and that's great. Um. 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:22.120 And I think that there's gonna be a lot of 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:24.760 that for me during during this experience, you know, because 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:26.880 I've been you know, for instance, I think I think 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:29.000 we talked about when we first started. I I think 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:32.480 I I've always been telling myself a somewhat negative story 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:34.680 about my experience on boemouth the world, you know, because 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:37.160 for me, I was a very unhappy kid. I had 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:39.559 all these sort of pressures I was putting on myself, 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:41.479 and now I'm looking back and you know, kind of 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:43.640 revising them and being like, oh my god, this was fun. 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:45.560 I was having fun, I was laughing, I was meeting 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:47.840 these amazing people. And so like, you know, we're gonna 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:50.120 keep We're gonna keep doing that. It's gonna keep fluctuating, 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:52.560 going in different ways. And and also we'll do it 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:55.359 again when we're sixty. We'll do it again when you know, 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:58.040 And that's what's gonna be different exactly. You'll go through 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:00.200 all these things, you know, kind of different faces is 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:02.320 in your life. And as we're re you know, every 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:04.280 time you look back, you're looking back with you know, 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:06.920 wiser than you were yesterday. So it's going to change 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:10.960 your perspective. And I also think to what you said, Danielle, 0:07:10.960 --> 0:07:13.560 where we don't want to ruin kind of anybody's experience 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:15.920 with Boy Meets World. Um, I think it's okay that 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:19.200 people understand that it's two things that boy meets World. 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:22.360 The show Boy meets World can always be the show 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:25.040 Boy meets World. But there were real people making the show, 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:27.160 and we had our own experiences as we were making 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:30.480 this wonderful thing for people. But the show itself is 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:33.160 still this wonderful happy place that brings back all the feelings. 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:35.520 And I don't think again, I always talk about this, 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:39.120 I'm not gonna like mash less because I know a 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:41.800 lot of As a super fan of mash I grab 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:43.560 all the books, I read all the books. I want 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:45.160 to know about the making of I want to know 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:47.200 the audition process, I want to know all that stuff. 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:49.400 So I think the super fans that are listening to 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:50.880 the show, and all the fans listening to the show, 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:53.040 I think it's going to enhance the experience of watching 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:55.000 Boy Meets World more than anything else that they know 0:07:55.120 --> 0:07:56.760 kind of some of the stuff we were going through 0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:59.480 and the process of everything going on. That's the feedback 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:02.800 I've gotten most, especially from the first episode, which I think, 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:05.440 if memory serves so, the idea of the show was 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:10.200 Betsy's and then the idea um of of talking about 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:13.400 the process of making the show was yours, Danielle, right, 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:16.680 And and that's one of the creative things I'm getting 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:19.640 most from people. One of the feedback, the most feedback 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:22.160 I'm getting is I love the first episode where you 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:26.040 talked about the actual process of making the show. So 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:28.760 I think that behind the scenes stuff is people are 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:31.119 gonna love and got just once again, thank you Betsy 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:35.280 Randall because the idea has been awesome, and thank this 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:41.280 podcast so um in happier news. I cannot wait to 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:45.640 get my too much shirts. I am going to rob that. 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:48.400 It's so funny because we we we used to get 0:08:49.720 --> 0:08:52.880 cast and crew coats every year. That was so they 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:55.720 would be called the jackets more than okay, sure, but 0:08:55.880 --> 0:08:57.560 there are also years where there were robes. I don't 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:00.240 know if there were there were years to Anyway, every year, 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:03.200 every season of Boy Meets World, the producers would would 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:05.000 get together and or the network I don't know who 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:07.600 did this, but they would custom order jackets in whatever 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:10.120 size you wanted to have like big Boy Meets World logos. 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:12.960 These things are probably huge collector's items, and they would 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:14.920 have your name engraved on them, and we could never 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:17.520 wear them because they would like have our face on them, 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:20.040 or they would just say world so loud it would 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:22.240 seem We had the feeling that if we wore it out, 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:25.200 it was like we were begging for attention. Yes, but 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:26.880 I can wear it too much shirts out. I feel 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:29.120 I feel very comfortable wearing too much shirts, because it's 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:30.520 like it's one of those if you know, you know 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:34.000 kind of shirts. It doesn't like the show I was on. 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:37.120 I want to show you you all something that is um. 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:40.120 I'm going to have to um on thumb tack it 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:42.640 from my wall, but I imagine it has been stuck 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:46.559 on my wall since. Do you have the navy blue 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:48.920 Boy Meets World robe? I don't know where mine went 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:51.120 but when you said to have it. But what I 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:55.520 actually have on the wall. Here is our invite Saturday, 0:09:55.559 --> 0:10:00.800 March six at the Renaissance Restaurant and night we are 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:05.920 celebrating the first season rap wow of Boy Meets World. 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:11.680 So there's the original invite to our first remember that party. 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:14.959 I remember our holiday party very vividly, and we could 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:16.960 talk about that maybe some other time. But I don't 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:18.320 remember the rap party. I don't know if I went 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:19.679 to the rap part at the end of the first time. 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:22.160 I'm sure you did. You must have you. I don't know. 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:23.760 I would have bailed if if it was after the 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:25.800 season end. Yeah, if it was like days later, you 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:27.000 might have just I would have gone home to go 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:29.360 to school and finished all the year, so you know, 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:30.880 And I don't know if my parents would have been like, 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:33.040 it's really important you go to this party. You know, 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:36.760 parties at the beginning of every season. Yes, those were 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:39.320 fun because there was somewhere just like Ray and Tony 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:42.360 I remember. But those were fun because they would always 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:44.079 be all the shows. You'd get to meet all the 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:46.600 actors from other shows. But it was also at like 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:49.160 the Librea tar Pits or some some kind of cool 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:51.680 place where it was like, man, this is awesome. I remember. 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:53.360 That's what the first place I ever met Melissa joan 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:55.880 Hart was that one of those parties. So get your 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:58.400 too much shirt shirt or whatever other merch you want 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:01.720 at Pod Meets World show dot com. And I'm really 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:04.760 excited about our guest today. Well, first of all, welcome 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:09.440 to Pod Meets Walt. I'm Danielle fish All and I'm 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:12.760 Wilfred l I'm super excited about our guest today, and 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:15.199 I know that you both are as well, and even 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:17.880 more so than us. Our listeners are going to be 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:21.880 ecstatic about this guest because he is definitely one of 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:25.040 our most requested um and he's just one of our favorites. 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:28.600 So Lee Norris is from North Carolina. He is best 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:30.760 known for his role as Stewart Macus on Boy Meats World. 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:32.760 But that may not even be true. Maybe he is 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:35.959 best known for One Tree Hill. He is a very 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:39.760 talented actor. By the way, He's in two David Fincher movies. Yeah, 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:43.360 I can't wait to talk to him about that. Um, 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:46.320 but he has reprised his role as Mancus on Girl 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:49.480 Meets World. He was in twenty three episodes of Boy 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:51.079 Meets World, which I also can't wait to talk to 0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:54.199 him about because I feel like he was in every episode. 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:57.560 He's so memorable. It's shocking to me that it ended 0:11:57.600 --> 0:12:02.360 up only being twenty three episode episodes. UM. And Lee 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:05.079 has a son who is about the same age or 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:07.080 close to the same age as Adler. He had a 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:10.079 son born in two thousand nineteen, so I'm really excited 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:12.640 to I didn't either. I just found it out, and 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:14.640 I'm so excited to talk to him about that too. 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:32.000 So please join me in Welcoming Lee Norris. I friends, 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:37.080 are you? I am so excited to see you. I mean, 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:40.439 I've been waiting for this forever. You have no idea. 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:43.880 Can you believe we're we're forty? Something's talking about when 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:50.920 over twelve? I know it's so weird. Oh my gosh, 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:57.000 I to you. You look incredible. Wait, I want to 0:12:57.000 --> 0:12:59.560 talk to you. So you're married and you have a 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:03.000 son who was born when in two thousand nineteen? I do, Yeah, 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:05.920 he was born in October. Yeah, Oh my gosh, I 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:10.520 so my son, Adler was born in June. Thank you 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:14.000 for the next generation exactly that they're going to do 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:19.920 their own podcast show. Yeah, exactly a show, and then 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:25.720 Harry Kidd and you will for sure be the leader 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:29.280 of that group. And he's definitely going to be like, Okay, 0:13:29.360 --> 0:13:31.079 let's put this all together, and then he's gonna tell 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:33.679 everybody what their rules are. I'm excited for that. Actually, 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:35.840 I think we should get that going. So Lee, welcome 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:38.080 to the podcast. Thank you for me, Thank you for 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:40.040 having me. This is so exciting. I'm so glad you 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:42.440 guys are doing this. This is awesome. Yeah, we've had 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:44.760 a lot of a lot of really good conversations. I 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:46.079 don't know if you've had a chance to listen to 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:48.840 any of the episodes I have. You better believe you know, 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:51.160 I always do my homework. Come on, I am not 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:55.120 surprised at all that you do your homework. So you 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:57.040 know what we do here. You know how we are. 0:13:57.360 --> 0:14:00.240 You know, we're very honest and we like to get 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:01.959 down into it. So why don't you take us back 0:14:02.000 --> 0:14:04.960 to the beginning. How did you, as a young boy 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:08.280 in North Carolina decide that you wanted to be an actor? 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:11.160 What is your origin story? Yeah, yeah, I'm just one 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:14.120 of those weird kids. It was never my you guys 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:16.839 met my mom and my dad. It was never then 0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:18.880 pulling me into it. It was it was the other 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:22.440 way around. I watched The Cosby Show and those shows 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:25.760 the kids on it, and just said, why can't be 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:27.560 like those kids? I want to be on TV? And 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:30.200 you know, God bless my parents for trying to get 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:32.360 me involved in theater and not just laughing at me. 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:35.680 You know. They they explained that, you know, typically back 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:37.680 then at least you had to typically live in l 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:41.080 A or New York. Um, but there were, you know, 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:45.480 film studios in North Carolina. Dino de Laurentis years before that, 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:48.960 had built studios there um to film fire Starter and 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:53.640 some other things. So because of yeah, great movie, and 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:56.640 so because of that, there actually there actually was like 0:14:56.640 --> 0:14:59.960 a local agent who lived nearby, and I was able 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:02.480 to meet with her and start going out, you know, 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:05.520 mostly for things that were coming to North Carolina to film, 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:09.400 but occasionally there would be you know, national searches for things, 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:12.640 and like my third or fourth audition was in National 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:16.360 search UM for show called The Torkalson's, which our very 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:19.760 own Michael Jacobs was you know, looking for Southern kids, 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:23.960 and I was a Southern kid. So I put myself 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:28.280 on tape on the old VHS you know tapes, and 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:31.520 did the audition, sent it off, forgot about it. Like 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:33.560 two weeks later, we were on our way to Disney 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:36.760 World in Florida for Easter vacation and we got a 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:39.440 call saying we're flying out to l A to meet 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:41.520 with Michael and didn't have a screen test or NBC. 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:45.040 And my parents are just like, what is happening? So, 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:48.320 you know, we we go to we go to l A. 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:50.800 You guys will appreciate this. I meet with Michael first, 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:53.720 just Michael and I. I do the scenes exactly the 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:55.080 way I did them on the tape, and he's like, 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:57.720 that was terrible. We gotta we gotta figure this out. 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:01.440 And I'm like, oh my god, what happened? I did 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:03.080 it the same way, you know, and he's he was 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:05.080 trying to explain to me as if I was maybe 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:07.480 eight or nine, like the nuance of acting for television, 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:09.800 because up until this point I've done like children's theater, 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:12.720 which is you know, all over the top. Um. So 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:15.000 he's trying to explain that to me, and you know, 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:18.320 I'm trying to take the notes and internalize it as 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:20.680 best I can. I tell my parents, I'm like this, 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:23.080 this may not go well. We go over to NBC. 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:25.880 I'm sitting in this waiting room full of two are 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:28.400 there to screen tests. They find out kind of and 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:30.960 they're all like freaked out that I've been flown in 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:34.120 And there, of course all like coachild actors. You know 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:36.000 you were you know this writer at Yeah. Well it's 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:37.840 also if we talked about this, like, you know, Will 0:16:37.920 --> 0:16:39.840 was the guy from New York, you were the guy 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:44.360 from North Carolina. It's always exactly, but they were. They 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:46.960 were already these like mind games going on with this 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:49.640 kid who was sitting next to me of the room 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:53.840 and says really over the got it, And of course 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:57.480 I just immediately thought he was, you know, telling the truth, 0:16:57.520 --> 0:16:59.240 And I was like, well, this has been a great 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:01.400 to I guess I'm not gonna get it, you know. 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:07.320 Um and and God bless no, it wasn't. I knew Jason. Jason. 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:11.639 You know it was a spin off with Jason. Yeah, exactly. Um, 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:14.720 So anyway, I went in, I did the best I could, 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:18.560 and um, you know, it worked out. And God bless 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:21.439 my parents for just you know, kind of resetting me 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:23.880 and saying you've come this far and that's a win. 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:27.000 Whatever happens from here is is icing on the cake. 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:28.919 And so you know, I was able to relax and 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:31.639 do it. But so started my journey with TV and 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:34.160 Michael and the Torcal sins it. We did Almost Home 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:38.360 with Jason and Brittany Murphy, who obviously we missed, and um, 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:40.760 you know that ended, and I thought that might be 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:43.280 it until I got a phone call one day and said, 0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:45.640 you know, come out to l A. We can't find 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:48.920 anybody to play this kid. Minkus. It's Michael on the phone. 0:17:48.960 --> 0:17:50.640 He says, I think you'd be perfect. And I guess 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:52.880 now I should be insulted that he thought I was prettyfect. 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:57.840 Not at all, not at all. I also think, uh, 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:02.840 at the at the beginning, wasn't it mpkey? It was? 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:06.280 It was? Yeah, I'm sorry I have to go back 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:12.560 because I have been triggered hearing Lee say that he 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:15.360 flew you out here after doing your audition and then 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:18.399 told you everything you were doing was wrong and he 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:23.280 wanted you to do it differently. How different would you 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:28.280 say your screen test performance will ended up being from 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:31.520 the from the way you did it on the VHS, 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:35.120 And yeah, how what was that? How? How was that? 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:38.560 Why your original performance? And what did Michael want? I 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:40.320 really have no idea. It was such an out of 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:42.920 body experience. I mean, really, it was all I could 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:44.800 do to just get in the room. I remember there 0:18:44.880 --> 0:18:47.480 was like forty executives in there, and I had been 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:50.679 raised as a little southern kid like manners were a 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:52.480 big deal. So I tried to go around the room 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:56.560 shaking everybody's hand, of course executives, and they were five 0:18:56.600 --> 0:18:59.200 minutes later. Yeah, they're like, you've got to do the audition. 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:01.159 You can't shake up everbody, you know, And I'm like that. 0:19:03.400 --> 0:19:06.240 I honestly, I honestly think that had as much to 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:09.240 do with it as the lead, if I'm being honest. Um, 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:11.840 but you know, I just tried. I tried, Danielle to 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:13.960 I tried to bring it down I tried to take 0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:17.520 his notes. I would say it was mostly probably the same, 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:20.440 but you know, some of the things that I hit harder, 0:19:20.480 --> 0:19:23.800 I tried to soften and you know, but I guarantee 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:26.000 you that it was so it was just as much 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:27.919 what happened in the room as it was the remond 0:19:28.040 --> 0:19:33.719 Michael gave you notes. Weird, right and what I thought. So, 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:36.040 how long did the Tortolson's go for? Was it one 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:38.600 full season or two? It was one one full season. 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:40.560 They put us on after the Golden Girls, which was 0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:44.399 an interesting time slide, and then they moved us against 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:47.600 sixty minutes, so we got clovered. Um. And so then 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:49.760 they tried to retool it, and they brought in Jason 0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:53.199 and Bread and Perry King and um, you know, we 0:19:53.240 --> 0:19:55.000 lost some of our siblings and it was just a 0:19:55.040 --> 0:19:59.280 different show. And as happened, that was my first ever 0:19:59.640 --> 0:20:02.280 lost Angel's screen test was for Almost Homes. It really 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:05.880 I didn't know about. It was between myself and Jason 0:20:05.960 --> 0:20:11.640 and Shiloh for writer's older brother for Almost Home and Jason. 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:13.360 The first time I met my one of my best 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:15.680 friends in the world, Jason Marsden. We were on an 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:19.359 elevator and Perry King got on the elevator and I 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:22.119