Andrew McCarthy: Old Friends

26 Mar 2026 · 54 min · 11 chapters

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In short

Andrew McCarthy discusses his new book Who Needs Friends? and the state of male friendship in America, mixing it with stories from acting and aging.

Guest backgrounds

Andrew McCarthy is a Brat Pack-era actor and author. He’s currently in Dublin performing Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, and previously made a Brat Pack documentary. He wrote Who Needs Friends? after reconnecting with old friends and interviewing men across the U.S.

Key claims

Male friendship often fades as men scatter for jobs, marriage, and distance; many men confuse work-based or transactional relationships with true friendship. Isolation can be invisible even to socially active men, and older men are especially reluctant to admit loneliness. Reconnecting and naming the value of friends creates an “emotional safety net.”

Notable examples

McCarthy drove 10,000 miles on back roads to see friends in places like Baltimore, Kentucky, Texas, Wyoming, and San Francisco; he interviewed strangers (e.g., retired cops in Ohio, blues musicians, oil rig workers). He also contrasts U.S. theater “recognition applause” with London/Irish audiences, and reflects on returning to stage after 20 years.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

Tap a time to open that second in VO

Andrew's Experience in Dublin

2:07 to 3:22

Andrew shares about living in Dublin and performing 'The Crucible'.

“Tell me first, let's get the details out of the way.”

Challenges of Performing in 'The Crucible'

3:25 to 6:06

Andrew discusses the pressures and challenges of his theater role.

“And then I saw the Daniel Day-Lewis movie.”

Audience Dynamics and Acting Techniques

6:10 to 9:00

The conversation covers audience behavior and the art of stage acting.

“I mean, I did A Few Good Men with Sorkin.”

Reflecting on Youth and Aging

9:18 to 18:15

Rob Lowe and Andrew McCarthy discuss the challenges of aging and the impact of their youthful fame.

“because right when I come out, first thing I do is I walk to the end of the stage and I stick my hand out to the audience to let them know, I've got you.”

The Brat Pack Legacy

18:15 to 28:55

Insights on their experiences as Brat Pack members and the perceptions of youth.

“Dude, it's fine that I haven't seen it, but you haven't seen it?”

Acceptance of Aging

28:55 to 36:15

The conversation explores the acceptance of aging and the emotional aspects tied to it.

“the state of our emotional lives very easily.”

The Impact of Movies on Identity

36:15 to 47:01

They discuss how their past movie roles continue to affect their present identities.

“I started doing the math as I watched the movie.”

Filmmaking and Creativity

47:01 to 56:00

Rob and Andrew reflect on the filmmaking process and the creative challenges faced.

“And now my back, and now I can't move for six months.”

Directing and Crossing the Line in Filmmaking

56:00 to 57:22

Learn about the nuances of directing and the concept of crossing the line in filmmaking.

“It's like Louis John Carly, who I adored, wonderful man.”

Lessons from Cliff Robertson

57:22 to 58:48

Hear an insightful lesson on acting and audience perception from Cliff Robertson.

“Cliff taught me one of the great things, actually.”
Show all 11 chapters

Friendship and Life Updates

58:48 to 1:00:58

Enjoy a heartfelt conversation about personal lives and friendships between Rob and Andrew.

“You just don't want to be forgotten because then the Monday afternoon you go, people that were forgotten in the immemorial.”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

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1:20Hey, everybody. It's a Brat Pack visitor day here on Literally. Andrew McCarthy. old, old friend. We did class together. We did St. Elmo's Fire together. His Brat Pack documentary came out a few years ago. He's a great author and really interesting dude. And we share such a great history. And I love having him on. He's got a new book out called Who Needs Friends? An Unscientific Examination of Male Friendship Across America. Let's get it on with Andrew.

2:06Andrew, where are you? Tell me first, let's get the details out of the way. Where are you? Where are you these days? I'm in Dublin, in Ireland. No way. Where are you? I'm in Santa Barbara. Of course you are. Yeah. No, I'm in Dublin. I'm doing a play here, so I'm over here for a few months. Holy shit. I'm coming to Dublin. I'll be there. Oh, no. So the show I do, The Floor, we shoot it in Dublin, but I think they've moved us. Where are you going now, Paris? No, it's somewhere on the other side of—where could it possibly be? In Ireland, though? Yeah, but it's in Ireland. Galway, maybe out in the west.

2:48How is Dublin for you? Do you love it? Dublin's great. Well, my wife's Irish. We have a home here in Dublin. So it's, yeah, it's great. I mean, it's a bit, you know, it's been raining for two months, but, you know, other than that, it's fine. And, but yeah, Ireland's great. What play are you doing? I'm doing The Crucible, the Arthur Miller play. No way. Oh, that's a great play. Yeah, it's a great play. It's a bit of a mountain to climb every night. And I hadn't been on, I hadn't been in a play in 20 years, Rob, so it was a bit daunting. Yeah. The first couple nights were a bit, a bit daunting.

3:18But after that, it's, it's been great. It's been great. We have two more weeks at it. We've been at it for six weeks, two more weeks. So it's great. I have, you must have seen other productions of that. Have you ever seen it before? You know, in high school, I guess. And then I saw the Daniel Day-Lewis movie. Right. But I don't know that I've ever seen other productions, really, except for, like I say, high school stuff. Do you remember Tony Randall? No. What did he do? Tony Randall from The Odd Couple, Tony Randall. Well, I know Tony Randall. Did he do The Crucible? Tony Randall created the National Actors Theater in New York.

3:52And it was an idea of his he had for about 10 years. And he did The Crucible. And I saw it. I thought you were going to tell me you were John Proctor and you were in it. No. You know who was? Martin Sheen. Martin Sheen, right. Okay. Well, he'd be good at it. He'd be good. Let me tell you something. It's fucking hard. It's a really hard play. And, you know, there's all that ye olde talk. And so if you start a line off on the wrong foot, you're like really kind of, oh, shit, how do I finish this line? My favorite part of the crucible is where they keep calling everybody Goody this and Goody that.

4:23Yeah, Goody Proctor and Goody Nurse and all that. It's so good. No pun intended. I still don't know what Goody means. I think it sort of means Mrs. or something in Ye Olde talk. But is that, or is that just Arthur Miller going, you know what would be sick if they? It might be Arthur Millerese, yeah. I've never heard Goody in any other ye olden literature other than Arthur Miller. Well, I don't think anybody had any idea how they talk, so he just made it up, you know. For sure. But it's a challenge, that's for sure. But it's been good. It's been, you know, just being on stage again after 20 years was like, holy shit.

5:00That first night, I mean, no, I don't ever want to go through that again. Were your knees shaking? No, my name's okay, except when I froze up after about, you know, six or seven lines. I suddenly just went. And then I had no fucking idea what came next. And I just turned all sorts of shades of gray. And luckily, one of the other actors saw the sheer panic in my eyes and jumped in and saved my ass. But it was in that moment, it was like everything I've ever feared in 20. Why I haven't done a play for 20 years, it's all coming back to me. I'm going to humiliate myself in public right now in front of a thousand people and have to stop the show because I don't know what I'm doing.

5:42And anyway, after this four or five seconds that lasted, you know, 10 years and took 10 years off my life, we sort of got back on track. But in that instant, it was like all my bad choices in life were coming back on me. But since then, it's settled down. It's good. But there was that moment, dude. That was on opening night? It was the first preview, yeah, the first night. I'm fucking at you. Luckily, by the time the critics came, I was sort of had it under control somewhat. Well, in the Irish audience. Have you done a play in a while? You haven't done a play in a while. It's been like 15 years.

6:18Oh, that's okay. I mean, I did A Few Good Men with Sorkin. We did a revival on the West End. Really? I would like to have seen it. You weren't Jack Nicholson, were you? No, I was Caffey. okay i was still young enough i don't know what he is except for that one moment yeah oh dude and every night you can't handle the truth it's like a it's just like a mathematical equation that's that that that that thing lands but you know what's amazing about audiences is in it's it's it's a trope but it's true like i find it really hard to go to anything in the States because everybody gets a standing ovation.

7:02Everybody. Every single show gets a standing ovation. And it used to be you had to earn it. And I'm not saying these shows don't earn it every night, but like, people are just hooting and how they're so, it's like an inflationary money that's been devalued. But - I just think they're getting up to leave Even on the way, they're just kind of giving it a little bit of, you know. Did you ever hear that great Frank Langella story about standing ovations? No, but I worked with Frank. Did you work with Frank? No. Maybe you were the one who told me this. Go on. I heard that when he was doing Dracula, which was a huge hit.

7:48Yeah, yeah. That was his big thing. That he had a thing that he would do to cue the audience to give him a standing ovation. Oh, that's good. Frank wouldn't do that. What'd he do? That he would come out and, you know, they do the curtain call in the flying V formation. Yeah. Do you know what I'm talking about? Yeah. Which is always just like such a setup. And he comes out last and he does that great thing that actors always do where they suddenly realize that there's an audience there. and they're realizing it in real time. And so there's that - I'm so embarrassed already. There's that great moment where you're like, oh.

8:37And the hands go to the heart. I love when the hands go to the heart. Yeah, you're here. What's all about like, it has to be, you have to be playing a certain beat. And then so that the hands go to the heart, like, oh my God, I can't believe it. Right? And then there's the, oh, you, the extension. This, this is it. This is the extension. And then, and then, and this is the part that takes the balls. You go, oh, and you raise your, as you raise your hands, people will stand. This is really interesting because when I come out on stage, I heard one time an old, I don't know where I heard the fucking story, that an old geezer sort of, you know, bad old actor used to come out on stage because right when I come out, first thing I do is I walk to the end of the stage and I stick my hand out to the audience to let them know, I've got you.

9:28And it's kind of the same thing. So now when I have this entrance, I come in, I don't come in until the act. I'm playing the old judge now. That's how old we are. I play the old judge. And so when I come out, I kind of go to the end of the stage and I go, who is this man? And just like that. And that's what I do. But they don't stand up yet, so I don't know. But it is that, it's this kind of motion. And it does sort of cap, It just brings everybody together. Like, I've got you now. You're going to listen to me now. And it kind of works. You got to, okay, tonight, I want you to try to do, I fucking double, triple doctor you.

10:05I'll give it one of those. You can't just do that. You have to, it's a whole process. Like, you can't skip the math. It's - Rob, I'm too shame-based for this. I could not do that. You do that. You'd be good at that. The shameless creature.

10:22I can't do it I would be too but isn't that a great one? It is but it's very Franklin Teller too Franklin's great I love all those old great I mean you're working with the wonderful Irish people are so full of great stories have you heard any great theater nuggets that you can impart to me? No I can't say those no but it is a great company I mean I'm the there's one other American in it but it's all you know it's a really good group of people it's great I mean, it's, you know, and they're old theater pros, thank God, to sort of carry me through the damn thing. So it's been, you know, it's been a big learning experience for me.

10:58I don't know what it's done, anything for my career, but personally, it's been a big deal to do it. Question for you.

11:06People, I've seen people, last time I was in New York, I went to Lincoln Center and saw a play. And everybody's using, not a musical, a play, a play. And when did people start using microphones? When did that start? Everyone uses microphones in New York now. And I was just in London last month, and they were using microphones. And this tiny, beautiful theater, but we're not using microphones. We just, we're in a 1200-seat theater, and we are speaking. Yes. We don't have microphones. And so it's like, your choices have to be fairly big choices. Yes. You can't be talking like that. No. So it's a whole other kettle of fish.

11:42But yeah, everything is amplified now, except that's what I said. I assumed we were going to be amplified when I saw the size of the theater we were in. And I said, when are they fitting for the mics? And they're like, no, little American boy, we're not giving you a mic. I see. Okay, so what are your feelings on it? Because my thing is like, I love that you're doing. Fuck microphones. We're not doing cats. Sometimes it feels like that, I'll tell you. But at first it sort of was arcane and ridiculous and come on. And now I think it's kind of fantastic. I think it's kind of great. And so actually, to get a little not technical, but all the choices become full-body choices.

12:22There's no little eye movement. It's like the whole thing is involved. Yeah, yes, yes. And it's kind of great. It's kind of great. And so I really appreciate that. And you really do have a difference between film and stage acting. There's no subtle eye movements or little whispers or nods. It's all fully committed, head-to-toe kind of acting, and it's kind of great. Yeah, I mean, to me, it's like... But it's also like if I, the part of, the point of doing the theater is it's a different muscle. But if it's now no different than doing your close-up, I don't know. It's, but then the other thing I noticed is like, have you been in the run long enough where you guys still gather and do like a speed run of the, just to get the lines?

13:05No. I mean, we're good now. But I mean, I don't come on until two hours into the place. So the first night when I was there, I just sat backstage for two and a half hours before and I thought I was going to have a fucking stroke. And so I said, guys, I can't come in at half hour anymore. I'm coming in an hour before, while the play has already started, because I can't sit there backstage for that long. I'll just, I'll get too tight. And so I just sort of, I never see anybody till I'm on stage with them, because they're all in at half hour doing all their thing and all their warmups and everything, and I'm off having dinner.

13:35And so when I come in, the only time I ever see anyone is when I walk on stage. So I'm like in a different universe than everyone else is. Here's a mortifying thing, too. The other thing is recognition applause. You don't do that here. No. Thank you, Andrew. Where were you when I needed you? Because that's a big thing in the States. They're like, oh, thank you for playing this part. I can't believe you're here. It's so great to see you, Kelsey Grammer, or whatever the fuck. So, I can remember on A Few Good Men in London, I was like, yeah, okay. I'll come out, I'll hold for recognition applause.

14:17There was no recognition applause. They were holding for the hold. Yeah, I didn't know that nobody was a fuck. They're just there to see the show. I mean, you know, they're real people is what I'm saying. Well, they seem to go to the theater a little more.

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18:36Did you see the Outsiders musical? I did not. I heard it was great. Did you see it? Haven't seen it. Won the Tony. Dude, it's fine that I haven't seen it, but you haven't seen it? Can you believe it? No. The stars never aligned for me to get there and see it. My daughter saw it, said it was absolutely fantastic. That's what I hear. I hear it's insane. They can wear microphones. They're singing. It's fine. Who was I talking to? who's in that with you that, um, I can't remember. Anyway, yeah. Oh, I see Thomas Howe. I ran into someone and he said that he was fantastic too. He's the absolute greatest.

19:14He's the greatest. He's a lovely guy. Yeah, I never knew him when we were young. He's a lovely guy. Yeah, no, we, it's funny. You guys didn't ever path, cross, never path, paths never crossed? That's what it is. And I also, you know, who I recently also met that I'd never met before was, uh, Ralph Macchio. I'd never met him before. You'd never met Ralph? No. Till about, I met him at a wedding like six months ago. He's the, again, one of the nicest. He's the nicest guy in the world. He's the nicest human. And by the way, he has not changed at all. It looks exactly like he did in The Outsiders. He does.

19:45Yeah, it's up with that. Well, you do too, dude. I eat the blood of young puppies. Tell me about the book, Who Needs Friends? An Unscientific Examination of Male Friendships. By the way, it's a great action. and I'm all kidding aside, it's a great subject. It's a great subject. It is a good subject. But aren't you like me? In the era when I knew you really well, I pegged you as kind of a loner. Well, that's still the case, dude. And when I told my wife I was writing a book about, particularly you are writing a book about friendship. Are you kidding me? Yes. It's exactly who better to write a book about friendship than the guy who doesn't have any.

20:25You're right. No, I'm dead serious. Yes. No, but it came up, Because, yeah, it's called Who Needs Friends? An Unscientific Examination of Male Friendship Across America. So what it is, I was sitting at the kitchen table chatting with my son. He was telling a story about one of his buds. And we laughed. And then he looked up at me and said, You don't really have any friends, do you, Dad? Amazing. And I paused and I said, You know, Sam, I do. I just never see them. But I know they're there. And that's enough. And I meant it. And he went, Okay, whatever. And he left. And I thought about it. And I thought, You know what?

21:00but it's not enough. You know, because I had these guys, which I'm sure you do too, but you're probably still friends with them. That's the difference between us. One of them. And I had these guys when I was in my, you know, early 20s and that were like my core group of guys that I was close with. And they were sort of instrumental in forming who I became, you know? And they threw life, life happens. They got married, they got jobs, whatever. They scattered all over the country and they're all gone. And none of them are in New York anymore. And I realized I hadn't seen any of them in like 20 years, minimum.

21:27And I thought, I sat there after my son, and I literally said, I need to go see my friends. So I got in the car and I drove 10 ,000 miles across the country all on back roads because I hate driving. I hate freeways. They terrify me. So I just drove all back roads for 10 ,000 miles and I went to see all my friends in Baltimore, Kentucky, Texas, Wyoming, San Francisco. And so I just drew this circuitous route around the country to see all my old friends. And along the way, I started talking to guys. I just stopped. I would approach rando guys on the street, like cops in Ohio. I talked to blues musicians, Mississippi oil rig workers, all these people.

22:00I just said, hey, will you talk to me about your friends? And people just look at me like, what are you talking about? But then I kind of said, no, I'm going to see my old friends. And I was, you know, and not a single guy said no. And I talked to all these guys about their experience with male friendship. And it was an amazing, just personally, it was an amazing experience. And then it sort of grew into this book of me talking to all these kind of men across America. So it's sort of this cross-country journey, reconnecting with my friends, but also kind of taking the temperature of friendship across America.

22:31And so it was really a big deal for me. And then I'll shut up, but it's like I felt like an emotional, to risk being sincere, an emotional safety net sort of spread under me in a way that I hadn't experienced in years and years. And I didn't even know I was missing until I sort of reconnected with these people and started connecting with these other kind of guys. And it was really a huge experience for me at this point in my life. You know, because we get to our, you know, an age and you just sort of go, what's important to you? What am I doing? You know what I mean? Just hustle and try and get the next job and do whatever.

23:05But like, what matters here? So anyway, so it grew into this book. And that's what it's about. It's about this notion of friendship. And it turns out a lot of guys have, you know, there are all these staggering statistics. Guys don't have friends. You know, I can bore you. Oh, my God. Like in 1990, 3 % of men said they had no close friends. Now it's 18 % of men. So half of men said they have, are unsatisfied with the amount of friends they have. But then there's also all these physical ailments that come from lack of friendship. It's a double, your chance of dementia is doubled with people with few friends.

23:36Your heart disease risk goes up 32%. Stroke goes up 28%. There are all these, you know, physical symptoms that come from people who are isolated. Let me ask you something. Okay, you got, like, isolated. So is there a difference or how do you reconcile isolation with not having friends? Because like, you know, with what we do, I'm hardly isolated. Like there's bombarding interaction with people all the time. You're on a set. There's 150 people there. You're on this. You're on that. Like, so when I'm not doing that, I love my alone time.

24:19Like, how does that reconcile it to somebody who literally might be in a world where they don't have a lot of human interaction and they don't have friends? Yeah, then they're isolated, right? Because most people are not on the set with 150 people looking at them going, what do you need, dude? You know what I mean? Yeah, right, right, right. And so then when, you know, yes, you're done, you won't kind of go, okay, I need to go regroup. But you're also extremely good at being engaging and having interest in the outside world. Like people like me, I love being alone. I could spend a lot of time alone.

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24:49And somehow that sort of invisibly crosses over into isolation at a certain point. My wife has busted me on it. She said, you know, it's not like your introversion, whatever you want to call it, sweetheart. It is not serving you when you cross over this kind of line and it's making your experience smaller. What's the line? what i guess it's one of those things where it's suddenly you just don't want to go you just i'm not answering that the knee jerk is i'm not getting that i don't know you know but one of the things i noticed was like because like kids don't listen right we try and teach kids they don't listen to us but they learn by sort of example they model on month it was i realized it was one of my greatest failings i was talking to some guy and actually in austin texas and he was talking about this, how one of my greatest failings as a parent was that I didn't model friendship for my kids.

25:40You know what I mean? So they didn't learn that from me. Luckily, my wife is wildly extroverted, so they did in some regard. But I ran into lots of guys who were, because they work, particularly older guys. Older guys would very rarely admit they were lonely. I talked to young men. Young men would very quickly go, yeah, I'm lonely all the time. I get lonely all the time. But old guys will not admit to being lonely because that admits that seems to be, well, that's a weakness. And the one thing a guy can never demonstrate is weakness, right? And so older guys will go, no. You know, and I asked everybody, I go, you ever get lonely?

26:17And invariably, older guys go, no, really too quick. Whenever I answer too quick, I know I'm lying. You know what I mean? It's amazing. I'm talking about a topic that frightens me. Like, no, no, I don't get lonely. And then you sit a few minutes with them and you talk a little more and they kind of go, Yeah, man, I don't really, yeah, I don't get out enough. I don't have enough contact, you know, and then they sort of, it starts to creep out. But I think initially it's this sort of admission feels like weakness to them. And weakness, like I said, is something a man shouldn't, you know, admit to, even to themselves.

26:47So I don't know where that invisible line is, but I know it certainly exists. Did you find, obviously, you just acknowledged generational differences. Were there geographical differences? Were people like more urban centers felt differently than people who were more rural? People, I was in a lot of small towns. I didn't go to cities much because cities are so anonymous and hard to meet people. You know, if I go up to some rando guy on a street corner in a big city and I say, hey, will you talk to me about your friends? He's going to look at me like, get away from, you know, by going to small town.

27:19I found people who were connected to their communities had an ease about them. I found the best place to talk to people was in diners in the morning. I think breakfast is, I discovered, is without a doubt the most optimistic meal of the day. You know what I mean? People in diners, like, having breakfast, having coffee, are fine to chat about kind of anything with kind of anybody. Yeah, right. You know what I mean? And I found these people in small towns really accessible. The people that, you know, I met in obvious places, like in the far west, like Nevada, in rural Nevada, I'd run across these guys that were really isolated and remote and insular and locked off.

28:00But what was interesting, too, is most guys, once I started talking to them, no matter how reluctant they were at the beginning, they didn't want to stop talking about it. Because in vera, they would always say to me, dude, I had never talked about this before. I met two cops in Ohio, old guys, 70s, retired cops. They'd been friends since they were 10, like 60 years. And they said to me, we've never talked about our friendship before, ever. This is the first time we've ever talked about it. And like, you know, our wives are talking about it all the time. All the time. Talking about their feelings and getting together for teas and coffees.

28:30It's like, if I come up to you and I don't know you, but my wife meets somebody, she's going to go and likes them. She goes, do you want to get a cup of coffee, get a cup of tea one day? And sure, they'll go out and have tea two weeks later. She goes, I'm meeting Nancy for a cup of tea. Who's Nancy? We met her at the thing. We're having tea. Like, oh, wow, good for you. Like, we would never do that. I mean, we might say, you want to play golf sometime? I think guys are kind of like toddlers. We're good at parallel play, but we're not going to just sit there and talk about the state of our emotional lives very easily.

28:59And so people always sort of diss and make fun of guys doing that kind of sports and stuff, but I think sports is a wonderful way for guys to get intimate in a certain way without it being a threatening kind of thing. You know what I mean? For sure. And even if you don't talk about anything, you just talk about that, yeah, and you just razz each other. There's a certain connection that happens that you feel less alone. You go home in a better mood and, you know, life is better. Yeah. That's, you raise a good point. What, um, you talk about modeling. One of the things that I'm terrible with follow up.

29:36Um, you have people for that. I have people for that, but, but like I'll meet somebody and go, Oh, we could, and then I kind of don't fall. And my wife is great at it, like your wife apparently is. I'll just like, yeah, we'll exchange numbers. And then why bother exchanging numbers? Because I don't call. I don't call. I'm better at it now and I make myself do it. And I'm way, way better than I used to be. But I think it's a failure. Maybe it's emblematic of dudes that we don't network in that way, maybe. Well, I found it in the last 10 years, since I, I found it to be an easier thing because I don't care as much in the sense that I don't fear like, well, what if they don't like me or reject me?

30:26We don't even know, I mean, that's what you're thinking. You know what I mean? I don't, I don't see it as a power dynamic because that's often what guys are involved in is sort of, you know, particularly when you're working and you're in a working age and you're trying to achieve, everything sort of has a certain power dynamic to it. When I disengaged myself from having a power dynamic with the person, either wanting something or being pursued, a lot of that fell away because I just didn't care anymore. I liked you. That was really cool to me. Do you want to go do whatever, go play golf or do whatever?

30:55And I found myself, like in the last 10 years, be more accessible to doing that and to receiving it than I was in the past. And, you know, of course, in our line of work and all that, it's complicated in some ways too, but you have a pretty good sense very instantly. You can smell where somebody's at and where they're coming from, toward wanting something from you or anything like that, of course, right? So, but I think it's just on a more, I do think the power dynamic thing is always, is in play until it isn't. And then when you stop wanting something, then it can be more open to kind of like, is something there or something not there?

31:36Do, what about the notion of outgrowing people? I don't like that term. I don't either. It implies that, go ahead. Let me go back because I didn't like it either as I said it. What about two people who are friends and they both go on different life journeys and have less in common? How about that? Well, I think that happens. I mean, I mentioned in the book, I had this one friend, you know, as I started doing this, I can imagine, you know, I started doing all this research then. I'm like, holy shit, you know, and not to quote Aristotle, but Aristotle talked about three different kinds of friendship, the kind of their sort of work-based, you know, transactional relationships that it can be very nice.

32:18You know, we can have work friendships that are terrific. But the minute work is over, that kind of friendship is sort of, it's not for any reason. It just doesn't get continued. you. That's my, I'd say most of my experience with work people. And it doesn't mean any of you see him again on Next Job 10 years later, it's like, oh my God, fantastic to see you. And it's great again. And that's lovely, but that's the end of it. And then there's relationships that are sort of like, you know, you go out to dinner occasionally and it's lovely and it's great to see them. And then there are these kind of what I started called perfect friendships, which are these friendships where each person is improved by the dynamic that happens between you.

32:52And not only that, but they acknowledge the dynamic between them. One of the things I got out of going across the country and reuniting with all these guys I hadn't seen in years was me saying to them, and by my physical act of driving all this way and going to see them, was me saying to them, dude, you know what? You really matter in my life. You have been so important in my life. I needed to come see you and just tell you, you know, I love you and I'm so glad to see you. And in owning it and naming it, it sort of takes you to a deeper kind of place. But Rento, but trying to answer your question, actually, the trouble comes in, I think, sometimes when people think a relationship is one level, but it's a different kind.

33:32Like I thought I had a friendship, which I mentioned in the book with this guy, and I thought we were like good friends. I'd stay at his house when I went to London. He'd stay at mine. We did business together, but we were just, I thought we were intimate friends. And a business thing came up between us, and he suddenly had power over me, the ability to hire me or not. And he then didn't hire me, which was fine. And it kind of required him to kind of go, dude, you know what? It's not going to happen. And to which, you know, we've done this long enough. We know there's lots of reasons. I would have gone, oh, wow, okay.

34:02And the friendship would have had some strain in it, but it would have been fine. But instead, he just kind of couldn't go there and just dropped it. And the friendship ended. And I realized, oh, this wasn't really a friendship. To me, it was. But he understood it to be more of a transactional kind of thing. And so when it was no longer of use to him, it was no longer of use in the friendship. So I think people often kind of misunderstand where their friendship lies with people. I think that's when people sort of outgrow or grow apart in that certain way. I think that has a lot to do with it sometimes.

34:33But, you know, like when I saw my old friends, and I'm sure you have this, you know, you see a true friend and it's like, it was yesterday. It could be 20 years and it's like, it was yesterday. And you're not catching up, you're just picking up, you know? Yes. Yeah. It's always when we get together. It's always like we just. Like, dude. Dude, we just wrapped class. Can you believe that's like 40 odd years? No. Well, 40 years. More than that. That's like 45 years. Okay. What? Okay. Let's go through a greatest hits of class. Here's the thing that just popped into my mind. How fucking cold it was in that fucking rowboat where we were out in the middle of that lake on that night shoot.

35:15Wow, I forgot all about that. Yeah. Because it was that scene that everybody had to do in the auditions. Yeah, yeah. What's your deepest, darkest secret? Whatever. And like finally doing a scene that we've fucking had done so many times there was no magic left in it at all, but it was so fucking cold. That's my, and then, oh, I've thought about you a bunch because of course we listened to Nebraska endlessly, which had just come out. Right, yeah. It had just come out. And then, of course, the movie that just Scott Cooper did came out. By the way, have you seen that movie? I did, yeah. Here's my takeaway.

35:57Look, you know, it's established. I love Bruce, okay? So I can say whatever the fuck I want. I love the guy. However I'm watching that I'm watching that scene In the In the Springsteen movie And it's a great scene It's the scene that's in the trailer Where he goes With a guy selling him the car He goes I know you And he goes Well That makes one of us Right He goes I know who you are He goes That makes one of us Great Great line It's great And it's very Bruce But the notion That he's like It's a car man And I don't know I never bought no car before? She's been getting a car. I'm like, wait a minute.

36:38I started doing the math as I watched the movie. I go, I saw him sell out the sports arena for two weeks before he can't figure out how he's going to buy a car? The thing is, it's not that he couldn't afford a car. It's that Bruce actually didn't drive until he was really old. until he was in his 20s. So he didn't even drive. He didn't, you know, he's writing all these songs about, you know, Thunder Road and, you know, racing the streets and he doesn't even have a driver's license. You know what I mean? So I think it was more referring to that. But my problem with that movie, and I thought the actor was terrific.

37:19I thought it was, you know, I enjoyed the movie a lot because, you know, we know so much of that story. And I read the book. I liked the book a lot. And so, you know, I've drunk the Bruce Kool-Aid too. And, but I just, the problem I have with every biopic is that like, okay, this crisis triggers this. And there's an immediate cause and effect with everything that happens. And I wish life was that neat and simple, you know? Yes. And I have no problem that they just chose this one specific moment in life. I thought that was kind of cool. But I always find that with biopics, it's like, oh, crisis leads to this light bulb moment, leads to this revelation, leads to this beautiful artistic result.

37:54And, you know, is life like that? Mine isn't. Well, no, it isn't. And the other thing is like, the notion of what the conflict is is always hard because it's like there's this cassette Bruce made it. I know you want these rock and roll tunes but this is what he did and we'd really appreciate you putting it out and the record player would go, okay. That's what it was. It's like in fairness the Bob Dylan one is actually even worse where it's like I actually really enjoyed the Bob Dylan one. I loved that movie but I'm like When you think about it, it's like literally it all comes down to what guitar is he going to pull off the rack?

38:37These are big conflicts, Rob. You don't understand. It's like he might pull the acoustic out or he might pull out the electric. He's plugging in. He's plugging in. The whole movie. The whole movie goes around. That's all. It's all. Rhythm death. It's like. Anyway, don't get me started. But yeah. I don't know. That one worked for me. somehow. Anyway. Well, I like those guys in the music, so I'm in. Anytime I, you know, like I'm like, I'm not a fair audience because I just like all that stuff.

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42:51But I remember that about class. I remember being really cold, a lot. Well, we're in Chicago in the winter, dude. It was the winter, wasn't it? Right? It was like... We started in like November, November, December in Chicago. It was, right? It was like, okay. I remember I had one scene on the... They put us on the lake waterfront. You know, on the lakefront. And it's fucking... We're just shivering. We're like purple. And Jackie's just in this little short skirt, whatever, and she's trying to be Jackie. And she's just like purple. It was just like crazy. She was the first person I ever saw that had her own light.

43:28Right? Do you remember that? Yeah. She had her own light, which is like now of my age, I'm like, fucking A, you're going to have... You travel with your light, don't you? Dude, what do you think this is? What do you think this is, bro? I don't have one. I'm in this rando rental apartment. You wouldn't believe the glance I've pushed over to make it bright. No, no, but see, you're an actual director because I literally, I don't love, for the record, don't love the lighting here. I've been trying to figure it out. Your lighting's better than my lighting. I don't, like, my lighting is one step away from Megyn Kelly lighting.

44:05And, you know, so it's a little much. You look natural and authentic and male. I, however, look like I might be a woman with this lighting. Do you notice, actually, a friend of mine, I asked, she said she saw somebody recently. I go, how's he doing? He's, well, he's starting to get that look that guys get where they start to look like old women. And I looked in the mirror the other day and I went, God, I look like an old woman. So you're like, oh no. How are you feeling about it? How old are you now? You're like, are you 60 yet? I'm going to be 62 next week. Oh, cool. What day? March 17th. St.

44:45Patrick's Day. Dude, they're going to run amok where you are for my birthday. But they canceled the show for St. Patrick's Day, actually, because they thought, let's just not do this. um yeah my son is on the 15th but um i forgot what we were talking about getting old being old oh yeah like did you 60 bother 60 sent me back like 30 40 50 i never blinked but 60 was like wow that's the beginning of being old and it really kind of sent me for a spin it took me like a couple years to kind of be okay with that and i like because it made me because i was famous for being young. You know what I mean?

45:24You've been famous the whole time. I was famous for sort of being a young guy. And now suddenly I'm sort of this old person. And where'd the middle go? When am I going to start being like a grownup? You know what I mean? So I don't know. It took me a minute at 60. How about you? I remember 40. 40, which now seems like I was a kid, was like - 40, jeez. I've got conditioner older than that. Yeah, set me back a little bit. 50, I was really down with. I was really, if I don't know why, I was like really excited about 50. Like, like, fuck yeah. Like, I made it. I'm alive. Whatever. And 60's been a learning experience.

46:05And it's, in fact, again, you'll appreciate this. The great Jimmy Iovine produced all of Bruce's great. I just heard him on a podcast. He was so great. He's so great. He's so. He's like the Marty Scorsese of music. You know what I mean? I'm trying to think of who is it that he talks like? It's Marty Scorsese. He's like Marty Scorsese. He's fast talking. He's in New York. He's talking like this. And he's really smart. And he's just cutting to the bullshit. You know? Anyway, go ahead. Here's the thing you need to know about being 60. Okay? Here's what you need to know. I just turned 70. And here's what 60 is.

46:39You feel like you're 50. You're not. And you feel like it. Act like it. Seem like it. Probably even look like it. You're not. and you're going to do something, I'm just saying, it's going to happen. I'm in shape. I work out. I work in the pool. I lift the weights. I turn 60. I do the same thing. I've been doing a whole time. And now my back, and now I can't move for six months. So something is going to happen. Rob, you're so fucking funny. You're getting better and better at that shit. You really are. That's not a bad Jimmy Iovian on the fly. No, it's very good. And you can really carry it on too, dude.

47:22I thought like a sentence or two, but now you went there. Nice. And it's just like him. And by the way, the advice is true. Yeah, totally. But the real problem is, it's okay to say, okay, what do you do? You know, you can't stop doing what you're doing. I guess it is you're going to fuck up and that's just part of the deal. I hurt my back the other morning doing my morning exercise stretching so that I don't hurt my back. You know what I mean? I'm saying. But anyhow. It's not good. But it is a funny thing. But there's certain emotional things about it that I'm starting to kind of go, oh yeah, this is okay.

47:58I guess I stopped trying in a certain way and just kind of accepting certain things a little bit. I'm not even sure what they are. It just feels a little easier in certain ways. But yeah, the physical stuff is like, and being, you don't experience this, but being sort of invisible to a younger set is kind of like, wow. Well, that's, again, Bruce, Girls in Their Summer Clothes that passed me by. Yeah. That's a great song about that. Anyhow. I, um, you should, that, if I were your editor, publisher, I would be suggesting, because I would like to read your thoughts on that. Like you said, like you're emblazoned as that.

48:43And it's sort of underneath all the Brat Pack documentary a little bit, but not really. But like, it's like, what is it to be, to have that part of your life and now be in this part of your life and vis-a-vis aging? And what can we all take away from that? Like, because everybody does. Everybody has that part of their life and they're never going back. You're never going home again. You're never going back to pretty in pink. It's not happening. You know, several years ago, I hadn't seen Jacqueline Bissett in years and years. I hadn't seen a photo. And so several years ago, I Googled, I clicked her up, and a picture of her popped up.

49:22And she's like this 80-year-old woman. And she was stunning at 80, but she was full of wrinkles and looked like this really beautiful bone structure, incredibly beautiful, but 80. Yeah. And I was shocked. I was just like, whoa. And what it made me real, and then I realized, then I looked sort of through the shock and I realized, oh, she's still beautiful. She's Jackie and now she's 80. And, but for that first instant, I went, it dawned on me, it hit home like a sledgehammer in my forehead. That's all over. My youth, all that. And seeing her at that age, it made me realize, and somewhere I realized I'd always been harboring that, you know what?

50:00I'm going to go back and stay at Jackie. Like after we finished class, I went out and Jackie invited me to stay at her house when I went out to L.A. And I stayed at her house for like two months while I was meeting people in LA. And that's all another story. But, and it was a wondrous time in my life. I should have quit sale business right then. It was the high point of my life. And I've always thought somewhere, oh, that'll happen again somehow. Not whether it's Jackie or whatever. But then when I saw Jackie being old, I don't know if this makes any sense. I just realized, oh, it's all over. Like you were saying, pretty and pink ain't ever coming again.

50:28That youth is done now. It's over. And, you know, I'm fine with it now. when I had that realization several years ago, it hit me like a ton of bricks. And I have to say, doing that Brad Pack documentary and writing the book before really helped it put in a place for me that, you know, I know it still trails me around and people come up to me, you know, they do to you, but they do to you for lots of things, but they come up to me about the Brad Pack stuff. And I really, we've talked about this. You know, they start talking to me and they're really just talking to their own youth. They're not talking to me.

50:59And it's wonderful. And all I have to do, and which you've always been good at, is just receive them. and receive them that we are the avatars of their youth. Right. And that's a beautiful gift to be able to give them, to receive them. And it took me a long time to realize that. But in realizing that, it liberated me from its hold on me. Now when people come up to me, I just go, that's great. Thank you so much. And it means it's touching and it's lovely. And I'm enriched by the experience as opposed to, thank you. Oh, Jesus, they're dragging me back. Why can't they see me for now? Like, I don't give a shit if they ever see me again.

51:28You know what I mean? That touched them. Something I did touched them deeply and they want to share it. And I can share that with them. And it's lovely. And in doing so, it's liberated me from that youthful kind of whatever, you know, drag on my tail. It's just now this kind of wondrous thing that happened to me when I was young. Yeah.

51:48It's interesting. It is. And yet you still have, because the movies are immortal. That's the other thing. It's like we age, but part of us also doesn't. Like, like there's still, I do, I go every, whenever I'm asked, I love doing it. Like seventh grade classes will read the outsiders and I'll come and talk to them. And these, they're seventh grade and they're losing their fucking shit. And you're like, because I'm, you know, I'm, that part of me exists for them in that movie. I mean, I'm sure they're appalled when I walk in the door, but it's weird. It's weird because it's over, but it isn't. Yeah.

52:41Yeah. I remember watching, like in school, you'd have to watch, like we'd be studying Shakespeare and you watch Romeo and Juliet. And you'd see that Zeffirelli movie, bad version of it, but whatever. And you'd see them and you'd go and you think they're real. You think they're there and you realize, no, no, that Olivia Hussey is now 85 or whatever, or whatever that guy is. Yeah. Yeah. It's a weird one, isn't it? I mean, invariably some people, when they come up, they're kind of like, come on, they're excited and they kind of close to look and they're just shocked. You know, they're like, oh, you got old.

53:15And I've had people say, I mean, you must have, well, you probably don't. But I've had people come and go, oh my God, you got old. They don't say that. Oh, I've had people. Of course, people lose. People lose. They can't, they don't, they stop thinking. You know what I mean? off and they're just sort of excited and they stop thinking and then i kind of want to say well take a look at yourself there's not hello hello but we don't do that you can do this but the great line from spinotop i'm just as god made me maybe i'll try that one but i saw you know i have to say i was in a hotel i don't know where i was once several months ago now and i turned on the tv and i went and i went into the bathroom and and i come in i hear and i'm like what is that i know that I come out and Weekend at Bernie's was off.

53:59Oh my God. On the TV. And I sat there and watched, alone in this hotel room, I don't know where. I just sat there and watched the last 20 minutes of Weekend at Bernie's. And I just laughed my brains out. I thought, this young guy is absolutely hysterical. Whoever this young guy is, he's really good. He is great. And I just laughed so hard. And I was so, I had so much affection for my young son. And you know, when you watch this thing, don't you, you sort of like, I know that's me. I remember that day. and yet it feels in some ways, I don't know, it's both alien and so incredibly intimate in a certain way.

54:34I mean, you don't watch your old movies, do you? No. I mean, it was the first time I've seen anything of mine and I don't know how since I made it. And so, but I have to tell you, it was such a pleasure. It was really funny. It's, I get, yeah, it's super, like I'm good with watching dailies and watching movies. Oh, that's the other thing I remember. I never do. I never do that anymore. I used to. Yes, we had dailies together on, remember they give us beer and we'd go watch that was a big deal every day to go to the dailies after work yeah I stopped doing that because I just realized I had too much vanity all I cared about was what I looked like and like I just said I'm not interested in doing this anymore that's amazing you're like didn't help all your notes were makeup and hair notes the director would be like how did you feel about this scene do you think we got it I don't know that's not a good angle on me I don't like the way my yeah I think I need I think I need a better haircut I think I need I'm talking about haircut.

55:26Jesus. Yeah. The other thing I'll remember about class, did we shoot that fucking fight scene for three weeks or is that my imagination? That was days and days and days. And we used to have, that's what I remember now. We'd have to come back in the morning and put back on the same muddy, wet, dirty clothes to continue the fight. And I remember then they couldn't dry them because it would all cake and everything. So they were still wet and cold from the day before. Yeah, yeah. I'd forgotten that. I think that directors thought he was making something a little more. It's so interesting. It's like Louis John Carly, who I adored, wonderful man.

56:04But I just remember, oh, the other thing I remember, and as a director, you'll appreciate this. I remember them arguing about crossing the line. Like you, it made me think, well, I could never direct. I mean, obviously, how could anybody? I mean, you know, you cross the line and you, you know, it was how you should, they, I mean, they could not. The most ridiculous and overrated kind of fear in filmmaking. It's nothing. And it's the only thing on the set where there are three people's job it is to make sure that you don't mess that up unless you do it consciously. You know, there's the DP, the camera operator, the script person are all there to say you're crossing the line on that.

56:45And like, but now you actively cross the line to change things up, you know, like, you know, all that's out the window. And by the way, for those of you, crossing the line doesn't mean like, oh, you've crossed the line here. It's literally, it's how you shoot a scene with people looking in certain directions. Left to right or right to left, you know? Suddenly I have to look at you camera left, you have to look at me camera right. And if we're both looking camera left, then it looks like we're looking in weird directions and things. But now people do that all the time. I remember they had that conversation hours and hours.

57:15By the way, there were two people in the scene. Two people. You and me and... In a dorm, crossing the line. All the time. And, of course, Cliff Robertson. Cliff taught me one of the great things, actually. I don't know if I ever told you that. He walked down the hallway, paused at the door. I was his hand on the doorknob. Took a beat and went in. And I remember, you know, this is my third day on set. I'm so excited and eager and acting student. And I went, Mr. Robertson, Mr. Robertson, when you went up the doorknob, you held it, you paused for a second, your eyes, you just, what were you thinking, sir?

58:00I said, son, I grabbed the doorknob and I thought,

58:07one, two, three, and I entered. And I actually, it was a great lesson to me because I thought it made me realize that it doesn't really matter what you're thinking. As long as you're thinking something specific and it's outside of what you think you look like, the audience will project it onto it and you'll be fine. That's true. It's true, yeah. I wonder what that was about. One, two, three, entering the door. You know, when I enter doors now, I don't count, but I wonder, is this my in-memoriam clip that I'm making? Because inevitably it's somebody...

58:45It's always somebody walking through a fucking... Dude, you should never walk through a door. if you're in a movie or TV. That's really funny. That's funny. Jesus. You just don't want to be forgotten because then the Monday afternoon you go, people that were forgotten in the immemorial. Oh, no. Yeah. Well, it's probably because they didn't have a clip of them walking through a fucking door. What are they going to use? That's funny. You know? That's funny. Well, this is great. Well, how long is the play? How many, how long are you going to be there for? How long is it around? Just another two weeks.

59:16We've been up for five weeks now and here for another two weeks. That's a short-ish run. That's a truncated run. I mean, Dublin's a small town, so it's a seven-week run, and that's funny. That's a really good point. That's a good point. You've run out of theater officially. We've run out of punters, yeah. And it's 1 ,000, 1 ,200-seat theater. It's a big theater. That's a big theater, man. It's the biggest theater here, yeah. It's a beautiful theater. What's it called? The gaiety theater, it's beautiful. What's it called, the theater? The gaiety. I'll come look it up if I get there. All right, love you, brother.

59:45This is great. Great to see you. Book is out. Everybody go read the book. I need to read it. My boys say the same thing. Dad, you have no friends. Just isn't true. How is Johnny? Johnny is great. He's... Give him my regards. I think he might be directing a movie. Really? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And he loves you. He's great. He's good. Matt, my oldest son's getting married. You know, it's... Oh, my God. Life is happening. Wow. How old are they now? Matthew's 32 and Johnny's 30. Jesus. Yeah, wow. Mine are 24, 19, and 12. I've still got a 12-year-old. I can't believe it. That's great, though. Talk about - He's awesome.

1:00:28Yeah, he's going to be in the NBA. Really? Well, it'd be gross. That's the thing. Talk to him about it. He's going to be in the NBA. I like that. That's good. Well, I'm happy for you, as always. the best and longtime friends. You know, there it is. Great to see you, dude. You too, brother.

1:00:57See, I have friends. I'm going to tell my sons. I had my old friend, Andrew McCarthy, on the show. It always makes me feel good. It's like we just had like a mini high school reunion just now. That's what it was like for me. I hope it wasn't too boring for you guys. But to me, I just had a very quick conversation at the punch table with my pal from high school, Andrew McCarthy. I'll see you all next time on Literally. Give us a good review out there. Spread the word. Maybe download it and send it to a friend. This little show that we do and that you guys are so important. And keeping going. We really appreciate it.

1:01:37And I know I do. See you next time right here, Literally. You've been listening to Literally with Rob Lowe, produced by me, Sean Doherty, with help from associate producer Sean Calvano. Research by Jeff Fox. Engineering and mixing by Joanna Samuel. Our executive producers are Rob Lowe for Low Profile and Nick Liao, Adam Sachs, and Jeff Ross for Team Coco. Booking by Catherine Cook. Music by Devin Bryant. Special thanks to Hidden City Studios. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time on Literally.

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From the publisher

It’s a Brat Pack reunion! Actor, director, and author Andrew McCarthy (St. Elmo’s Fire, Pretty in Pink, Weekend at Bernie’s) returns to Literally to discuss his new book about adult friendship, entering his sixties, the Brat Packers he surprisingly didn’t meet until recently (including Ralph Macchio!), his work in theater in Ireland, and much more. Make sure to subscribe to the show on YouTube at YouTube.com/@LiterallyWithRobLowe! Got a question for Rob? Call our voicemail at 323-570-4551. Your question could get featured on the show!


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