RE-RELEASE - Danny DeVito

0:00Hey, David, you remember the show Always Sunny in Philadelphia? Yeah, it's been on since I was born.

0:07Dana Carvey:It's coming back. I'm sure it is. It's coming back. Yeah, of course. And of course, one of the stars of Always Sunny in Philadelphia is our good friend Danny DeVito, who we interviewed a little while back. That's right. Danny did SNL with us. um also everyone on always sunny is a star and it's pretty shocking that a show can still be on the air even though it's really funny it's just that doesn't really happen as much anymore where you have a show or gum smoke yeah simpsons there's there's some that just always come back and um so i'm glad it's back on i'm glad it's still funny i'm glad it's very edgy it still gives people what they want and i'm glad they get away with all the stuff they get away with because not many shows will try to do that anymore it's a great show and um you know we thought we had a thought we huddled together with our team and thought that maybe we would uh show danny devito's interview um this week yeah that's a perfect timing for it yeah a lot of people they come and go and they and it kind of goes back in the library but we put it at the forefront and say If you watch him on Always Sunny, don't miss this episode.

1:22It was very funny. And he was just very interesting talking about the New York days and blah, blah, blah. So here he is. I hope you like him. We do. Mr. Danny DeVito.

1:33Dana Carvey:But I was just thinking, doing this in the 1960s, we might have waited for Yul Brynner to come on. That would have been fun. Yul Brynner would be the first guest. Podcast guest in 1965. We'd follow him up with Steve McQueen. Yeah, he put him on. He does a little dance. Does the accent. He talks about the doing the jump, but he didn't really do it. And the great escape. Didn't really. Yeah. All the stuff that he does. You know, like I had an apartment in New York once in the 60s. I got on the bulletin board of of. The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where I went to school and. And I was looking for apartments.

2:18Everybody was always scrounging for like no money. But we had no money. So they had this bulletin board. Anyway, I went to an address. And it was in the weirdest place. It was on Madison Avenue in like 57th or 8th Street. 645 was the address, I remember. And yeah. Wow. And I walk in the door. It's a really shitty building. Now it's all, you know, totally turned into what New York is, you know. And I go in the building, and the first thing I saw was a giant picture of a mule printer.

3:01Dana Carvey:Oh, man. And it was a little shitty, yeah, a little shitty hallway-like kind of thing. and um anyway it worked out because i i got the apartment it was like the second flight up it had an elevator actually in the building but very very very very old school and uh of course 60 it was 64 or something like so what was your rent do you remember your rent yes 50 a month $50 a month. And it was a one bedroom apartment and the back and the bedroom was the living room bedroom kind of situation. It had a nice bathroom and a kitchen and, and, and a, uh, yeah. And the bedroom had windows that looked out over the tops of, um, uh, buildings in New York.

3:55So it was like one of those, it was like, if you were, uh, doing a play or a movie about New York and you said, like, build me outside, like what the cyclorama would look like, or today what you would put in in, you know, the background of your movie. It was all the stove, you know, the exhaust pipes and the tops of buildings and railings and all that. It looked like you could do a West Side Story on the roofs.

4:30Dana Carvey:Did people hang out of the, out, out of their, out of their windows going, Hey, what's with the fucking noise over here? No, no, they weren't doing that. It was like more of like, it wasn't like enclosed, like, like if there were buildings that went up in that area, you know, at that time it was just a top. So you had a great panorama of looking East, uh, but no, you didn't see a river or anything. I was on Madison Avenue. And, but to actually have that address at that time was like amazing, fucking crazy because I put these other glasses, I see better far away. That's a great right in the heart of Midtown, right?

5:17Yes. Right in the heart. And the thing about it is that at that time, a lot of people don't know this Madison Avenue and fifth Avenue were two way streets. I mean you guys weren't even born

5:33Dana Carvey:I was being born I go back I remember Yul Brynner David doesn't know Yul Brynner Oh yeah I remember the King and I was a poster But if you imagine Madison Avenue Being a two way street And you know New York very well And 5th Avenue also I used to walk up From 30th and go to 57th or 8th where it lived and it was a two-way street. It was really... There weren't any horses and carts though. You'd be happy to hear. You weren't that far back? It wasn't that far. Oh, good. All right. We're in the modern... Were you walking around with Casting Call magazine? I was doing... What we used to get was show business and what would they go?

6:25Backstage. You remember those? Oh, backstage. You guys did it a whole other way. It was just, we'd buy, you know, it was never in the magazine. We'd buy these papers that came out once a week, show business and backstage. And in there, there would be all the casting that was going on. And we would go to, on the corner, I think it was 47th and 7th was Howard Johnson's. And everybody would meet in there. It was like you're going in, you know, take up space and have coffee and read to see what was going on. Danny, did you ever find when you auditioned for these things at the beginning? I found this, that you would audition and then you would hear through the grapevine, they already have offers out to stars, but they're just looking for backups.

7:26No, no. It's always the same case. It's been that since the beginning of time. And the other thing about, like, I'm talking about auditioning for off-Broadway, off-Broadway, regional theater, anything that you could get. And, you know, sometimes you get lucky and get an audition at the public, you know, and, you know, get a tiny part in Shakespeare in the Park, you know, like not literally a spear carrier, but you might have a few lines. Like I played once I got, I played the doctor in the Mary Weiser, the doctor's servant, sorry, in the Mary Weiser Windsor, you know, and the best, those were the best shows to get because they literally paid man.

8:20That was like, you would wind up with 190 something dollars a week in, in those, in, in, at Joe Pabst. You had$200. It was a different contract. No strike needed there. Yeah. Four months of rent. Off-Broadway was great, man. Off-Broadway was$68 a week,$70 a week. Damn. That's what I made on SNL. SNL didn't exist then, did it? Did Lorne Michaels exist? That's what I tell people. It existed. Well, Lorne Michaels always existed. He was a teenager. And he still exists. there is no one when did snl start when did snl start it's a good question 75 it's like 70 something 75 yeah so i yeah that's so 75 i was already in california by then i came i'd gone through off-Broadway and all those things earlier and, you know, did Children's Theater in Massachusetts.

9:31I've done, you know, did all that kind of stuff. And then I got lucky in 1971-ish or two around there, and I got a part off-Broadway and played Martini in Cuckoo's Nest. oh and so that was like where should be fucking applause then then uh i stayed in that play for almost a year it ran at the mercer arts center and that was cool and then uh uh then milos saw it and everybody saw it and i got lucky and got a you know milo and then i got the movie and And then after the movie opened, I moved out. Wait, Danny. Sunny, California. My question was, when you do a play, you're not guaranteed a part in the movie, are you?

10:20No, you're not guaranteed anything in this. Our business is, you must know this. It's not, there are no guarantees. There's no anything. Yeah. I mean, once in a while, like, for instance, you could imagine like Brando giving a performance like he did in Streetcar. And then, you know You've got to be a You know, you have to have your head in the sand And not cast him in In the movie Same thing with You know, Vivian They're not going to get someone from The Bachelor And they're not going to like, yeah He's going to be the first choice

11:00Dana Carvey:Yeah, I starred in Hans and Franz The Musical Go ahead I want to hear more about Hans and Franz The Musical Hans and Franz the musical what I was going to ask you Danny is a philosophical question usually when people have their struggling years struggling years and then have hyper superstar success which I'm going to put you in that category they look back at those early years and go those are some of the best days of my life do you feel that or did it suck when you look back on the struggling years I never I don't first of all I don't I mean unless I'm doing something like talking to you guys like or something you don't think about that as much but you do think like you know those days were struggles but not you know not the best they were not those were the days I I think the toughest part about that getting started was you know like you guys got started like when you you know you you hit television.

12:06I don't know what your history is, but how much you did before I met you when I did The Church Lady.

12:18Dana Carvey:You were there. You were there. I was there. Well, you hosted a couple of times. It's just so funny. And when I did that drum solo in the dress, you were egging me on, and that was my best drum solo. on television there you go you see you have to the coach you were good i had 10 years of of uh anonymity before i got sno david had david got a movie right out of high school but um i know but then i danny thank you for asking i did a police academy movie police academy for the good one and i and then i came back and turned something down i thought i was kind of a big deal and then i lost all my heat for three years and had to grind it back and it's so fucking sickening to even think about but it all worked out but but like you're saying in the beginning when you were struggling i think like all of us you don't really know any better and you you know you're taking a risk by going into this world of movies and tv and theater so you can only really look back and think god damn how did i get through that but at the time 100 is a lot you get a little part is a lot you know you're just sitting with your buddies at the coffee shop it's such a long shot to make it that it's probably once you make it you look back you go god that was tough but at the time it's tough but you don't i didn't really notice how tough it was yeah you don't notice it no you just well you're you're focused on like you're you're focused on getting the job yeah so basically that was what what was going on with me i was like i would uh uh i would read those papers that you know and at the time excuse me in the 60s i didn't have an equity card so i just got out of school and like the way they did it was either you would read in say you'd read in the in in backstage that such and such was casting something and you go okay and and they're casting over on 57th street you know by carnegie hall somewhere near one of those buildings down the block whatever it was and casting was you know say tuesday okay but you didn't get in until the end of the, you got to, if you didn't have an equity card, they saw everybody, you know, they would there, cause everybody's looking for the right person to play the part.

14:50Hopefully. If, and especially if they're not, yes. I mean, maybe they already had the lead cast or that's the way they raised the money or then those things, but you would, you would wait up in the, I'd go like 3 o 'clock, 4 o 'clock in the afternoon, and maybe the line was less, and you could, you know, you waited, and then in the end, the very end, they would let the non-equity people get in to audition, and then they'd see everybody. And as a matter of fact, the first play that I ever got, I did at, I think it was 1968 or so, seven, the first off-Broadway show. Because I had done regional theater.

15:46Well, I toured with a play once that came out of school that was like kind of cast in. We went to two theaters. went to the Eugene O 'Neill Foundation where they, the playwrights thing in 60 something 64 and then like in 68 I actually did that, I went to one of those auditions and where they make you wait until the very end and I peeked my head into the you know, it was this big big door in one of those big pre-war buildings I think it might have been on like near 57th street and i i walk up and it's a giant door and there's nobody there because i had gone and come back the line was really long and hey anyway long story short i stuck my head in and there were there was an actor a director and a writer and a producer sitting at a table really far away in this big empty room it looked like a rehearsal room and i just popped my head in like and and you know you still uh you know seeing people kind of thing and the actor a guy named alan garfield you remember you know alan james garfield's son no no i don't know who okay who his dad was his name was alan garfield but he was you know him dave no i know garfield the cat okay anyway look the guy literally at the table like across the room turns around and said that's the guy who should play the part whoa they were trying to talk him into yeah he didn't want to do this part it was it wasn't a huge part but it was a good part and i stuck my head in the door and the guy and the actor not the director and the producers and the writer or whatever he said there's a guy who should play this part and i i just backed out of the room or something and they came and got me and i went in and i read the lines did the thing i did i didn't i had never seen the script before just you know like those things where they give you the cold sides yeah yeah and i got a part in the in a in a play called shoot anything with hair that moves.

18:14Of course. It's a huge success.

18:23Dana Carvey:I just think of the 70s and the films of the 70s and Cuckoo's Nest. And of course that play. Don't shoot anything that has hair. And the friends that you made, Jack Nicholson and Michael Douglas and your class. Those 70s guys. that all became, and they're lifelong friends. What's the deal with those guys? Are they fun or do you like them? They're really fun. Yeah, they're good to work with. Yeah, Jack's the coolest guy out there. Jack was like a guy from Jersey. He actually lived, we were born in the same hospital. Figure that. Well, I'll be damned. Well, hey. I'll be damned. How about that? That's what Jack would say.

19:12Dana Carvey:I'll be damned. Born in the same hospital. Yeah. How do you like that? Me and D. Born in the same hospital. I don't do a good accent. Let's see. And then Michael, I met actually in the 60s at the Eugene O 'Neill Playwrights Conference up there where that play that I was going through town with, we opened the festival that year, and that's where we met. And not only good guys, but really fun to work with. And once we got going, we had a couple of shots to work together, which was, like, really good. but you know it's when people are looking out for you because uh the business is like very difficult uh and when people are looking out for you as well as you know your your buddies and know what the scoop is then you you know you'd be fortunate to have those guys as friends you're lucky you're all good too because it's it's it's hard to help each other out or recommend someone but if everybody's good, those, you know, all three of you.

20:32So it's not crazy that you would all be in another movie or that you would work together because you keep bringing, bringing it, which is hard to do. It's all about work. The work. Yeah. Just keep working. Yeah.

20:44Dana Carvey:Keep having, having, and having a good time. Cause our theme here, uh, casually SNL and, uh, you hosted five times. It's very rare. I have a clock to host five times, five o 'clock, Doc, you and John Goodman and a couple others, when you host that show, as you know, you got to pretty much cold read 55 scripts over four hours, basically. And I remember thinking at the time when you came in in 86 or 87, damn, this guy can cold read. Were you known for that? But you were like nailing it, you know, over and over again. I don't, you know, pretty cool to watch as a young performer. Well, it was a lot of fun to sit in that room with all you crazy people and have that pile of scripts in front of you and just go through them.

21:34And I mean, that's like, you know, the opportunity to have everybody there pitching what they thought was best and what you felt comfortable with. That's the main thing. I think that's key, right, for, would you say, like for the hosts to be comfortable with all that material, you know, pick the ones that are the ones that suit you best. It's a lucky thing, like to have that pack of, you know, troubadours all sitting around the table, you know. It's like old school showbiz kind of. Yeah, old school, you know. It's like, yeah, I could imagine what it was like when the Marx Brothers were running around all the theaters trying out material.

22:24That would be the same kind of thing. They just go do, they suffer people through two hours or three hours of material and then pick the ones that they like.

22:38Dana Carvey:Yeah, Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin did some TV shows in there. Don Pardo showed me, said to me. and they would just go up to the director and cut his tie off with a scissor. They, you know, this is Jerry Lewis in the fifties and they would both just push the piano over, like destroy the piano. They were the anarchists then the crazy people. But one thing about you, I have to say, so we get to it was on Hans and Franz. When we got you in there as like a pit bull over the top Austrian guy who was out of his mind and you kept, we would berate the audience, the imaginary and you would start berating them and then you start attacking the camera and we had to keep holding you back that was one of the funniest moments i had on that show with you in that sketch yeah hysterical because you committed so fucking hard yeah i think sometimes the task of the director for me is all you know sitting on me holding me back get me away from the just try to turn the burners down a little bit you know once i get going i guess That's what happens.

23:43Burners down. It's what happens that way.

23:46Dana Carvey:Well, that's what Arnold told me about you. He said, you know, you got to keep Danny on his feet. Keep Danny on his feet because his energy goes up. Keep him on a short leash. A short leash. Otherwise, he gets going. He gets away at the leash. And you have to follow him and get him and bring him back into the scene because the emotions get so high with Danny. It's funny about Arnold and I were thrust together by Ivan Reitman, who just passed away, rest his soul. He called me and said, how would you like to be Arnold Schwarzenegger's brother? I said, I'll jump at the chance. I thought that was a great idea.

24:26Once we got together, it was like we had a great chemistry. We were breaking balls constant. It was like a kind of like, you know, he's so formidable, you know, and he's got a great sense of humor. He does. Oh, yeah. Like he's always doing all kinds of like, you know, crazy ass shit. And he always had a pack of guys around him like Franco and Peter. Oh, Franco Colombo. Franco Colombo. Yeah, and all these guys and these other bodybuilders. And so it was like a pack of bros. It was similar, you know, going into like that with the, you know, as a host of Saturday Night Live, going into this pack of like crazy people that were always, you know, that had a second hand, a short hand and and and got along the way you guys did.

25:20I don't, you know, at least when I was around you, we were always, you know, fucking around, having a good time. And so it was a similar kind of thing with Arnold. I'd go in and there would all be these guys seriously pumping iron and doing shit and, you know, talking about, you know. And I just like, you know, when you get protein powder, all of a sudden a kind of a wrecking ball comes in and starts banging into, you know. Yeah. It was fun. It was a lot of fun. Were they going to do a triplets? Yeah, we were going to do it. And then two, this is a, I always go by the Super Bowl because it was, I was in Atlanta doing a movie and it was Super Bowl Sunday.

26:09And I was just getting over COVID. I was stuck in a room for two weeks. and and uh the news came that ivan passed away on that day and so this is going to be three this is three years now that he's gone two yeah three years two years yeah okay brilliant director yeah it was a drag um he was uh you know he's a lot of fun and uh and made a big difference in my life. Yeah, I was told that. But we were going to do triplets. We were going to do triplets. We had a script going. Everything was going. And then when he passed, his family didn't want to continue with doing it. So Arnold and I are working on other things together.

27:04Oh, good. And you know, that's awesome. We love Arnold. Yeah, he's a cool guy. He's a good guy.

27:17Tracy Morgan was going to come in. I'll put a baby in there.

27:25Dana Carvey:You know, he's so funny. We had a great group together, and he was just off the charts. Bananas. Hysterical. I mean, that energy in there was like. Mr. D, it don't get any easier. That's that. You know, that's the way, you know, the way things, things go, you know, like they, you know, you have to always adjust as like we do. Did you have the role that got away, Danny?

27:59Dana Carvey:Or maybe a conflict. He had to do another movie. No, I had that I couldn't do. I hadn't had one of those that was really substantial that, you know, you could look back and say, you know, no. I've had roles that I desperately wanted and got, which I got. I had to work hard to get. If you can't imagine, you know, how everybody holds out. you know you get a part and somebody says the last minute you get a part and it's the one you wanted and that that's really uh the ones i think about once it got away i don't know i can't you know were you going to be costanza no no no i think like you mean like in uh seinfeld yeah no i i wasn't i i they they they just uh yeah uh when yeah i was still i don't know what i was doing at the time i i when when but i did a movie i did a movie called the ratings game which is uh was done for showtime it was the first movie that i directed and and i cast in that movie as a it was his one of his first things on camera jerry seinfeld i don't know if had done anything before this.

29:42But I cast him as an agent. And coincidentally, there were a couple of character, really wild characters in the movie. I cast Michael Richards in the same movie. Really? Wow. I didn't know that they would later be teamed up in Seinfeld. But this was in it was in 83. When did Seinfeld go on? Like 90,

30:17Dana Carvey:93, two, three, four. I'm sorry. Something like that. So, so 10 years earlier, I did a movie called the ratings game and, uh, both Jerry Seinfeld and Michael Richards were in it. Did Jerry ask you questions about how to direct? How do you want me? How do you want me to play this scene? Did he ever say that to you? No, I don't. He's pretty kind of serious in real life, I think. By the way, which Batman did you work with? I can't remember. Batman Returns. Who was the Batman again? Oswald. Oh, no. Oh, I love my. I do. I'm not just because you're on our show right now. I love your penguin. I loved it.

31:03Dana Carvey:You're Oswald penguin. I thought. Didn't you have fun doing that? I had fun with it. Your getup was so crazy. Yeah. Yeah. I had fun doing that. That was one of the ones that I really wanted.