Josh Duhamel: Nash Bridges with Stethoscopes

0:28I am not grandpa. you're on the treadmill. You're all on the treadmill listening to this. I know you are. Josh Duhamel, ladies, you're welcome. And dudes, this guy's gnarly. I mean, he puts the ood in dude. And a wonderful actor. Got a lot going on. Let's get cracking with Josh.

1:09Yeah, baby, what's happening? Oh, look at that really fancy studio sitting in over there. You know, there's a, it makes me behave more like a professional. Because otherwise, I'll just start talking shit. Hey, that's okay. That's okay. That's why I'm here. Nobody does it better than you. You know? I mean, this is what we do. I was just listening to the one with you and Eli on the way over here. Eli Roth. Oh. So bad, man. So dark. Made me feel icky. What in particular are we talking about? Just the satanic stuff and like the Ozzy Osbourne stuff and the faces of death. Oh, the faces of death. Yes.

1:52I remember all that stuff so well. It just creaked me out as a kid. Right? We had some of that in North Dakota where I grew up. Tell me about North Dakota, growing up in North Dakota. What did you get into? Well, you know, it's an amazing place to grow up. I spent my first 22 years there. Then couldn't wait to get out and go see the world. But now after all these years, 25 years in California, I was ready to go back and I just got my residency back there after all that time. But it's an amazing place. But, you know, I was like I was telling you a second ago, I was listening to the pod with you and Eli Roth.

2:31And it just brought back so many memories of how terrifying those days were with even even Ozzy at the time. It freaked me out a little bit. I wonder if it's like, yeah, when I had Eli Roth on the podcast, we were talking about like, is it just a function of the time we grew up in or came of age as young boys and we're into crazy stuff and pushing boundaries? Or is it, do you think kids today, kids today, do you think they're still doing that too? I don't know. Well, you board all that crazy. You guys also spoke to, you know, that it's like that passage, you know, from boyhood to manhood that I think all boys have that, that, that, that they're learned to the darkness in some weird way, just to, just to see how scared they can get or what they can, you know, get past.

3:18like that was one of those things that for me it was the same way i was like you don't see much of that anymore it's in a i guess it's in a different capacity but yeah you see i mean not far from where i was from there was a whole satanic thing growing up and we're all terrified of it like what is this like something that we can't control something we can't avoid and uh anyway i just thought it was about did you have um did you have uh local legends like a certain street or a certain house that was haunted or like we had like back in Ohio, we had, what was the name of the, Betty Lane, whatever that was.

3:57It was like, there was a family that lived at the cul-de-sac and they were free. Who knows what? I just love that stuff. The name of the town, I think it was Burgess or Vargas, North Dakota. There's supposed to be some satanic cult out there that we were all like, But I do remember that it was real to a degree. And a lot of them, because there was already this uproar sphere of this thing sort of infesting the local communities and they took it really seriously. Now, I think they would just be able to debunk it pretty quickly. But also, it's one of those things, you know, that if you actually went, if I actually went to Betty Lane and knocked on the door, they'd be like, yeah, we just don't have any electricity here.

4:39Our minds have turned them into freaks, something crazy like that. But now you're, are you living, okay, I keep seeing, I think you're showing up on my social media feed is like, it's not that you're living off the grid, but you kind of are, right? There's something, do you have a cabin? Like what's going on with that? Because I'm fascinated with that too. So we just got back from out there. We spent the whole summer out there, mostly because we're back in Los Angeles now, but we were getting our place renovated here. So we were sort of homeless other than we have a place in Fargo, North Dakota, where we spend a lot of our time in the cabin in Minnesota.

5:13And no, it's not off the grid, but it was for a while pretty, pretty, uh, we were aware. It felt like we were homesteading, you know, because we bought a cat, this little shack of a cabin and then it had no electricity or water. So it was, it was pretty rough. Uh, and then I bought the property next to that. Uh, so then I had like 50 acres out there, but that one had electricity, but no water. So we were washing our dishes in the lake for the longest time. and we were just sort of like rough in the wood burning stoves and the whole thing. It was amazing. Did you ice fish? Did the whole thing? We do a little ice fishing.

5:49Yeah, it's, you know, growing up in my North Dakota, I didn't love winters because it's, you know, have you ever been in North Dakota? I've passed through it in the summer. Yeah. Yeah. In the winter, it's brutally cold. It's like... Brutally cold. It's the coldest place on planet Earth and you... I can't believe you pulled that off. I can't believe that people actually settled there when I really think about it. yes this feels perfect it must have been the middle of summer when they said that right because winter winter comes and it's just you know i think about that when we were when we were you know first starting out the cabin just like how did people even survive the winter in this we come out with our truck and our thing and we'd stay for a week or so and then we're out yeah it would survive whole winters like that it's just like anyway um yeah it was it was so so but but It's winter time in Minot.

6:43All I remember is just by the time March came around, you couldn't wait for spring. That spring fever is real. But now at the cabin, it's like winter wonderland. It's just snowmobiles. There's so much stuff that we can do. So, yeah, it's not quite like summer, but it is a lot of fun out there. How old are the kids? i have a 20 month old and uh wait you had an infant out there oh yeah yeah what do you mean what what what what what what if they i mean i don't know about you my infants were always at the goddamn strep throat ear infection oh doctor what do you what do you do what do you do we're not that far from and if we needed to we could you know for the longest time we couldn't even get out there because the you know the there's a two mile stretch through the woods to get there so we couldn't get there until i got this this bob this uh bobcat t-6 like the skid steer yeah and we got a big blower on it so now we can blow our it's almost you know you see the movie is shining yes working no play makes josh a dull boy so yeah my wife doesn't let me stay there for any longer than you know you'd have dick halloran come up and clear the clear the snow for you dick halloran that's the that's oh yeah that yeah it was uh so that's that's really what it is we were able to get back in there now in the snow and it gets you know we're deep in the woods so but we can get out if we need to you know it's not like it can't if if the kid if somebody gets hurt or sick it's a 40 minute drive to a hospital pretty fun man i i love it i would i i don't know if it's like my, the fantasy of who I think I am or if I could actually do it, but I would, I would definitely give it a go.

8:39I'd for sure give it a go. I love that. I love that. Yeah. You also, um, lived up sort of in my neck of the woods in, uh, Santa Barbara up in, uh, what the hell was it? What's I always, Sandy Genez. Yes. Well, yes. My, my former father-in-law had a little, had a vineyard up there. Wow. Yeah. So my father-in-law had a, had a vineyard. Um, and what's the name of the town, the little Dutch town right there? Solvang. Yeah. Solvang. Uh, so yeah, I mean, that's one of the most beautiful parts of the whole country is up in, up in the central California. It really is that where you're at now? Yeah. I'm, I'm in Santa Barbara Montecito.

9:23So not, not, not in the Valley, but right, right over. Yeah. It's a, it's a beautiful part of the country and not so crazy. Yeah. Oh, exactly. It's, it's, it's not, I mean, I got my kids out of LA as soon as I could. LA was great for, it's like, I think it's sort of what you were saying. It's for a certain type of person and, or a person in a certain time in their life. It's great. And I think all the, all the, I think all the big cities are that way, you know, it's whether it's New York, Paris, uh, whatever, there's a, it's a certain type of person and, or a person at a certain time of their life.

10:01Right. Yeah. I mean, that was me. I mean, like I said, I was, I was, I couldn't wait to get out when I was in my twenties and go see the world. But then after a certain, you know, start to have kids and you start to realize what, what, you know, what does actually matter to you in that time. And it was, you know, it was time for us to go back. but I still love coming back to California and Los Angeles. And, you know, I live a much more regimented life here in, in California. It's like when I'm out at the cabin, it's just hot dogs and, you know, we all just sort of, there's no sort of program. There's no program, which by the way is a program in and of itself.

10:42Right. So I couldn't wait to get back here and just sort of get back into it. Um, so, you know, it's good to have both sides of it, I guess. You, uh, we got to talk about your time working with one of my all-time favorite, I mean, complicated, I can only imagine, I cannot wait to hear your take on it, Jimmy Conn. Oh, boy. I, so one of the great moments I ever had. So I had a friend who grew up as Jimmy's basically adopted son. Okay. And Jimmy was like a second father to my friend who since passed away. And would take him to the Playboy Mansion when he was a kid. And I mean, whatever you can imagine, right?

11:35And so I got to know Jimmy through him and we, and Jimmy loved playing pickup basketball with us. And this is, this is when I was a young bachelor and I had a, I had a court in my Nichols Canyon, Hollywood bachelor's pad and Jimmy would come over. And one night. Is this pre-sobriety or post-sobriety? For me, it was right. For me, it would have been. Was Jimmy the reason you got sober? No, Jimmy was not the reason. And by the way, my friends swore up and down that Jimmy was clean as a deacon. Always. But Jimmy never did anything. And so we're shooting, he's shooting, he's the free throw line. We're all kind of, we're not playing a game yet.

12:22You know, we're kind of guys putting on their shoes and he's kind of by himself. And I kind of walk up and I'm waiting for a rebound and apropos of nothing. Just kind of to himself. he shoots a free throw and he goes, I was a big star once, but I fixed it. That's my favorite. What is that? So what does that mean? He was a big star once, but he fixed that? Meaning he wasn't a big star? Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

13:06you know what that's really what i love about that dude he just his he's an open book you know he was he was i worked with him for five years and at first he was you know i don't think he liked me very well at first because i just want to break your nose you're too pretty i just want to break your nose uh but but but truly one of the sweetest and and and open, honest mentors that I ever had. You know, he's the first guy that would say, do as I say, not as I do. He's one of those guys that was just, you know, he, and he would admit that he was, cause he was the number one box office star in the world, I think in 80 and 81.

13:50That late, that late in his career. That's amazing. He was a huge star and, you know, and he'll be the first to admit that he just, he went wild, but that's what that was kind of his allure is what made him so funny even as an you know i think we started he was 66 when we started vegas and he was probably 70 71 when we were done but you know he would just talk and even then he just loved like the he loved the the action he loved the drama he loved chaos around him that's how he felt like he operated best uh but always one of those guys who was didn't matter if you were you know just an intern a pa or if you're the you know the network uh showrunner you know you treated everybody the same and that's what i really loved about him is he didn't care he would sit and talk to anybody about anything um but man he taught that guy that guy that i would tell you this i probably hadn't didn't tell you the story but when I asked him if he'd ever worked with Brando, he looks at me like, he looks at me like, you dumb motherfucker.

14:54What do you ever see? You ever seen the movie called The Godfather? I was like, oh shit. That's right. I just, I hadn't made the connection between, oh God, that's right. He was in that movie too. But yeah, he was, I remember asking him like, I wanted, I wanted advice on a first date. He'd give it to me. You asked Jimmy Conn for dating advice? Get beat off before you go pick her up. There'll be no pressure. That is, by the way, that is great advice. That's great advice. That is, I mean, there's no one, what an era. Just rub one out before you get the figure out. It's like, what? There's no, then there's no, and I bet he meant it.

15:39He learned that at the Playboy Mansion. Shit. what did you ever pick up any acting technique did he have any truisms from all of his work acting wise or on the set or techniques yeah so i always knew that we were that i was in trouble when i'd uh we'd do a scene yeah hold on a second josh come here for a second and he'd pull me aside and i was like okay here we go but you know he'd be like just let just relax just have fun just don't don't try somewhere don't act don't act and that was because i was really green when i was like the first real show i did i had done all my children for three years but that was like sort of the big time for me yeah you got thrown in the right right so it was like and so i yeah i never took it as you know i was never i was never you know took that with any kind of an ego I was like, thank you.

16:35You know, that's exactly what I need. But yeah, he wasn't shy to dole out acting advice. And thank God he wasn't. I can imagine. I mean, he would be guys of that era when, you know, and there aren't that many of them left. When you had the opportunity to get advice from him, I think it was, I want to say it was the West Wing. I forget what it was I was doing in one day. I think you guys were doing that around the same time we were, no? Maybe it was... No, I was doing the less successful Vegas show, Dr. Vegas. Oh, God. That's right. Disaster. Rob's going to come and wipe us off the map. I remember thinking that.

17:18No, did not happen. One of the biggest debacles of... I thought it was a show like I thought we were making Nip Tuck for CBS, but we were really just making, what is it? The show where Don Johnson and Cheech Marin and they all were like. Oh, Nash Bridges. Yeah, we were basically Nash Bridges with stethoscopes. Okay. But I learned a great lesson on that show that make sure everyone knows what show they're making. Yeah. that's the truth right right that is the truth but man you've been you've been you know you amaze me first of all i mean whether we talk about it today or offline no no you can't flatter me i need to know your secrets dude i started i started a company so that i could look like rob low it's called gatlin there you go oh look at that i love dude i love that swag send me that hat i'll i'll sport that hat for you that's good swag absolutely um but no you know it's uh you you've just been doing this for so long that it's like and you don't seem to you just keep you just steady you know and you know and i think about that from time every time i see it's like how does that dude keep doing it at such a high level um you know thank you whether it's whether it's wayne's world come from some young guy.

18:48Oh, Jesus. Absolutely. Why are you shaking your head? Do you like that movie? That movie, no, that moment, I remember seeing a, I was in an audience test screening with Mike Myers. And that joke came up. They laughed so hard and long. They had to go back and recut the movie. So if you ever see Wayne's World now, like on TV or whatever, Netflix, whatever. We had to cut the movie for a whole so the audience could, in those days you made movies to be seen with an audience. So now if you see Wayne's World, they go, I love the cream of some young guy. And then literally it's like, cuts to this guy, cuts to that guy, cuts to this guy.

19:38The movie just stopped. Because they had to let people stop laughing. Oh, really? Yes, yes. Yeah. Now when you watch, you're like what are they what why did the movie just stop for like 15 seconds that's amazing that was a great movie so what do you think it was for you though i mean what is the secret is it that you did get sober and you're able to keep going and not you because i would imagine i've been there i've been close a few times is you know it's easy to get to fall into these traps in this town and to yeah the train go completely off the tracks but you never did that i think sobriety, for sure, anything I have is because of that, for sure, anything.

20:18And, you know, I think that the ups and downs of any career, I mean, like, even huge, ginormous movie stars think they're never going to work again. I mean, Henry Fonda was, to the day Henry Fonda died, he was convinced he'd made his last movie. Jane told me that. So, and then, you know, And I can remember running into, you know, some big A-lister going, God, I haven't worked in two years. Like, and then, so it's like that old thing where people say it's all relative. Do you know what I mean? And it is. It's like you never, the uncertainty in this business is so gnarly that the only way to deal with it is you better be sober or have some sort of spiritual, self-reflective, meditative toolbox.

21:09or you just get fucked up yeah you know i i don't i don't feel like there's a middle ground with it because of the end the uncertainty well you know and oftentimes and this wasn't the case for you is that you know if you if you if you hit it like quick and you did you guys when you guys were you guys skyrocketed right yeah and that's usually a good recipe for you know is equally as fast you know plummet back to the earth um so i think that you and for me mine was much more i mean it's been sort of like plodding along for years uh but for me it's it was dabbling in sobriety i'm not sober completely i i try to be then i go to the cabin and the bush light looks really really good so i'll have a beer or two out there uh but i did what's the point of having what's point of having a cabin if you're not drinking.

22:00Exactly. Um, but you know, having done that for so long, you know, going back and forth, I do feel much more clear. Um, but what was I going to say? The, the idea that I have, you know, for me also along with what you just talked about is having that group of friends back home, staying very closely connected to my family and friends for all these years. I mean, just two weeks ago, we had our buddy games. I think we started, I think it was our 25th year of doing it. Every third weekend of August, every single year, all my friends show up and we just have a weekend of games. Wow, what are the games?

22:41I mean, everything from, you know, shooting each other with paintballs in our underwear and snowmobile helmets. This is, every year kind of changes. There's always golf ball. there's always golf there's always yeah a few a few staples but every year we throw in a couple ridiculous games and you know we had the one called splattle which was like you're on a paddleboard with the big you know the big thing and guys we i gave him a snowmobile helmet or i gave him a was it a snowmobile helmet never was it no it was a oh an actual paintball helmet and all i could wear were their underwear and the other team you got to go from buoy a to buoy b across the lake and the other team got to just try to knock you off that board of paintball guns.

23:29These are grown men doing this shit. Well, that's one of the things that keeps you young. Yeah, you're right. Doing kid stuff is one of the things that keeps you young. I agree, man. Keep that kid alive. 100, yeah, you got to keep your kid going. How old are your kids? My oldest is 31. He's about going to be 32. Jesus, he's going to be 32 at the end of September. And then my youngest is going to turn 30 in November. Okay. Wow. And, you know, my oldest just got engaged. So that's the new chap. It's just so fun to watch the chapters of life roll in. It really is. Yeah, I've got a 12-year-old, almost 12-year-old.

24:17he was 12 this week and then i have a 20 month old wow so i'm still changing poopy diapers over here at the demel house we're probably gonna have another one so i didn't get started until pretty late but there's another there's another thing that could either keep me real young or it could age me really fast i will only because my brother chad started late and he has three girls under the age of, uh, 15. And so he's basically, he's basically going to have like three teenage, young teenage girls in the house. And, and he is just, you better, you better have your energy. That's what I'm going to say.

25:00You better be doing whatever you better, supplements, injections, would it would it caffeine that's that is the thing that's why i'm glad i started young because i i i look at my brother you know he's 60 no he's not 60 yet he's late 50s and he's he's those girls running oh god and they're in those girls i got three younger sisters we're hoping to have a girl but man those teenage years there's about from like 13 to about 19

25:36yeah it's uh it's you know it's just part of you know they're going through the same thing you know you can imagine you know i had to sit so my son goes to a to a catholic school and you know like every class i'm guessing they had they brought all the dads in to talk to the sons about you know this the birds and the bees they want to have that conversation they only they had the dads come into the class. One of the dads come in so that they, you know, so just to be there with the sons and talk about like the basics of this stuff. Yeah. And one of the dads

26:13stood up for his daughters and said, you guys need to make sure you respect these girls because they're going through a hell of a lot more than you are. Wow. You know, with all the things, all the hormones and stuff and they have to deal with a lot of stuff the guys don't. So, you know, he made sure to make sure these boys knew to respect the girls. Yeah, I thought that was pretty clever. Because it's a tough time for women. There are girls going through from, you know, from about 12 to about 19. I look back on those times just, I feel like I remember them like they were yesterday, like growing up in that era.

26:52Like, I feel like my memories got crystal clear at like from 13. I can remember people's names and faces. I can't remember anybody now. But I can remember like my, you know, my seventh grade woodshop teacher. And, you know, it's, I think it's because everything's so heightened because we are going through so much when we're that young. It's like, we're just, everything's new. And it's a great time. It's a great, it'll be fun when my grandkids go through it. I'm going through a thing where like, I'm future tripping. You're going to be a granddad. Like, well, I mean, let's hope, you know, Matthew's going to get married.

27:32You know, I'm sure I know he wants to have kids. No, he and his fiance, Emily want to have kids. And so I'm like, okay. And I've opened this up to, by the way, listeners, low down line. I call on the low down line and give your idea. What should they call me as grandpa? Because I am not grandpa. There's no, that's not on brand. America does not want me as grandpa and nor do I. So what's the, you can't go with the pop, pop. I need a cool grandpa name and I'm throwing it out there just to be ready and to put pressure on my son.

28:22my grandma's uh or my my mother is nana bonbon nana bonbon sick she had the same she had the same thing you did she did not want to be called grandma. No.

28:36Well, but here's the other thing, though. Then you go, like I was talking to my old pal, Demi Moore, the other day, and she was like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then my grandkid, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. What? So I actually think I need a name not only for me, but I need a name for, and I don't even want to say it, the grandkid. Yeah. you're not gonna care when that kid shows up you're not gonna you're not even gonna care man because that's my grandkid everything i've heard because i have some friends here here i'm changing shitty diapers and my friends are either sending their kids off to college or having grandkids themselves yeah and all they talk they just cannot believe how much they love these little because it's almost i i i wouldn't know because i don't have any yet uh but it's like you you this kid that you love so much raising now has this, now has his own, and you got, it's almost like double.

29:37I know. And I can't imagine that you could love something more than your, but it's different. But everybody says it. It's just like everybody said, all the hacky, truism, pithy one-liners that people give you about fatherhood. And you go, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll just see about that. They're all true. Every one of them. So I'm sure the same is true with grandkids. I'm sure it's true. And the other thing is that I love is like my memory of my grandparents is more, it's more vivid and more like emotionally connected and strong, stronger than even my memories about my own parents. Yeah.

30:24Yeah. So the notion of being that for your grandkid is psyched. By the way, I love that I'm talking about this like it's imminent. Oh, it's happening, pal. It's coming. Yeah, but then the next, I hope I'm not jinxing it, is what I'm saying. We don't want to jinx this. No. We don't want to jinx it. Tell me, I need to know what you, your show with Josh Brolin. No, James Brolin. Oh, no way. It's James. Yeah, James Brolin. Oh, I love him. So he was, so it's a show called Ransom Canyon that we did last year. That came out this spring, I guess. Yes. Did really well. And as you know, it's hard to come by shows that do, you know, you put things out.

31:20You just never know. You never know what's going to hit. But this one did, thankfully. And it's really good. It's a, it's about, it's, you know, it's, um, it's a modern Western about these two families that have been sort of at each other's throats for years. Uh, uh, one of the families is trying to sell, trying to convince the other ones to sell. And it's about water rights and it's about all these, you know, it's, it's about real stuff, but it's really at the end of the day about relationships in the small town. Uh, Minka Kelly is, uh, is fantastic in the show. Um, yeah. Yeah, and the kids, Lizzie Green and Andrew Leiner, and we had James Brolin was one of the older characters in it, but still looks like a supermodel.