KJ Apa: Poppin’ Tops

28:58All right, well, that's enough out of that. You're recuperating. You were sick this week. That's right. Thank you. Thank you. That should make him more shredded. That should be a good thing. That's true. Are we lifting this week? Are we lifting? Dude, my shoulder's really bumped. Actually, yeah. You're still... No one has gotten more sympathy for longer off of an injury than you with that shoulder. It's true. I've been milking it hard. Hard. Call Neil Eletrash. We can do legs. Take it up with him. We can do legs. We can do legs. He's sick of me. I think he doesn't want me back. Where are you? At a photo shoot or something?

29:33Yeah. Of course. What do you got? What are you wearing? Photo shoots are a reoccurring theme today. I know. I'm shooting another Tommy Hilfiger. All right. Hang on. Dinner on you, I guess. All right. Dinner on you, bro. Well, I'm going to Santa Barbara tomorrow Oh, good Catherine was texting me about it Oh, wait, I'm not going to be there I'm traveling What? Yeah, I'm going to Chicago tomorrow Well, then I guess I don't know I mean Well, you can come up and Come up and If I go, we can just go use the spa Come up and play with the dogs Come up and play with the dogs I just I wanted to jacuzzi with Rolo But I guess I know I'll come up with Sash Okay, let's go Let's do it I'm down Let's do it All right We'll enjoy the rest of the podcast I'll be here Enjoy your Enjoy your photo shoot What were we talking about?

30:19It was good Bye You being you I mean this is This is a really good Peak though I think Into what My life is like There's a lot of this Okay This is what I First I want to just Explain something Yes I think I'm going to stop you right there Why? Why? What was your What was your spider sense That could not have been More perfect By the way That was the best one I've heard In a long time Oh that's Yeah yeah That's your bit you guys do Hold on, hold on You guys have a bit where somebody's about to say something important And the other gets, let me just stop you Have you always felt that way? Because in my mind, and don't interrupt me It took me a while to really start stepping into me I just have to be me That's all I care about I just get to be me No one else knows what it's like to be me And for a long time I tried to try on all these different characters in my life Especially when I was on that TV show trying to figure out who I was.

31:16I started on that show when I was 17. Wow. And I dealt with a lot of stuff. And I think part of that experience, what I'm so grateful for is I could have got locked into some other vibe, but I eventually through recovery, actually, and my relationship with God, realized all I have to do is just be me. And my question to you is, have you always been like that? No. And I think, look, all three of us are in recovery. And I think it's no accident that you finding your true self comes part and parcel with getting into recovery. Because you can't be in recovery if you're not authentic with yourself.

32:02You can't do it. Right. You can't do the work either. No. You can't stay sober. You can't get sober. And you can't do the work. Got it. So I think if you, I mean, we're in recovery, we're out in the rooms and talking to people in our lives. And most people in the room who are out there have authentic, they are their authentic self, I think. And it's hard, honestly, when you're in, you know, being in the public eye, I did feel this like need to be cool. like I had to look cool I had to present myself in a way that I knew wasn't me but I thought I was being I cared so much about the perception of of who was KJ how do people see KJ Alperas and it was a really unhealthy thing but when I talk to other people who've gone through you know similar things it seems like you know I've gone to a place where I can talk about it and I'm not embarrassed about it it's a kind of a normal it's kind of a normal thing but I can't imagine what it was like for you because you were such an, back then especially too, in those prime years, you were an icon.

33:15It was a different time because there was less, like now everybody, what people watch is so segmented. Like I can remember, like I'll walk around a mall with my brother Chad today. Love Chad. He's the best. And these like 13-year-old girls will start going berserk because they've seen him in Pretty Little Liars. And the rest of the people in the mall have no idea. And that's like today's version of it. In the old days, like everybody watched the same thing because there was so much less content. So the intensity of it was like you couldn't escape it. Like my guess is, if you're walking down the streets of Vancouver on location and you see a group of people coming to us, you're like, oh, here we go.

34:06Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then there's another group, different Democrat, whatever, and you're like, oh, I'm going to be fine here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you walk past and you were fine and you go, how come they didn't recognize me? That's right. Well, give me a... And then you're pissed off about the fact that they didn't recognize you. And then when people do recognize you, you're pissed off about the fact that they're recognizing you and you have to deal with this. Now I'm like, after coming off of that show, like I was... I got so much attention on that show. Getting off of the show... and not getting the same amount of attention, I really had to examine my thoughts and take a step back and be like, okay, why am I thinking like this?

34:45Where is it coming from? Because I wasn't happy when I had all the attention. I'm now not happy not getting any attention. And I think it all comes back to me not actually being okay with myself. Right, yeah. And at that point in time, I was also really struggling too with that. And I think recovery helped me. What the most beautiful thing about recovery is, and you guys both do this really well, like I'll call Johnny in the morning and we'll just be grateful about like the weather and the day can only get better from there. Or we'll just look at each other and be like, we're so lucky. We're sitting at John's on third eating a burrito and we're like, dude, it doesn't get much better than this.

35:25That's why I'm so grateful for recovery, honestly, because it allows me to just be happy with really, really simple things. What is your protocol? Is it a gratitude check-in every morning? We just kind of naturally do it now. I mean, KJ and I are similar, I think, mindset-wise, where we're such high achievers that work can really get the best of us if it's not moving the way we want it to be or expect it to be. So I think we check in a lot on a concept that we're all familiar with of like things don't happen on our timeline. It's on God's timeline and you have to be okay with that. And then the sort of most important, most obvious fact that we overlook, which he just referenced, which I'm, we're always, and I think it's an accountability thing of, you know, one of us will call the other one and I'm like, you know, people aren't reading this script.

36:23It's taking forever. He'll be like, I haven't heard back on this thing. And I'm like, look where we are, dude. Or he'll say that to me. And, you know, we're living in LA and we, we have, you know, beautiful places and, and beautiful people around us. And I'm like, what the hell do we have to complain about? And then for a moment, at least it's all fine. And then your human, you know, uh, conceptually disease riddled brain creeps back in a couple hours later. And you're like, God, it's funny that you got the bug, but Matthew didn't. You know, saying at your house the other day, Matthew's up at six.

36:59He's like at the tennis court. And I'm just like, whoa, you're. He's a total normie. You're just. Yeah. My other son, Matthew, he's like his mom. Right. By the way. Total normie. Speaking of Matthew, I was talking to Mark Foster and we were like, maybe we go out on the fishing boat this weekend. And I was like, we were like, that sounds so fun. Let's do it. And then, you know, I don't hear anything. And then Mark calls me two days later. He's like, Matthew's engine blew up. You didn't hear this story? Well, that's my favorite part. I'm like, oh, I'm glad you know. He's so cool. By the way, Matthew could be one of the coolest people I know.

37:32He's very cool. But the fact that Mark knew that before me, I was like, dude. How did, I don't know. Well, because it was on, he had an engine fire on his boat. And this is my son, Matthew, out on the islands when they were testing the engines. And luckily he had the, you know, his engine guy with him. And they were fine, but it was a little bit, a little bit gnarly. Yeah, the boat kind of blew up. I love guys that just go on their boat and just fish. Yeah. They're just simple guys. They're always good people, and they just like going on their boat. I expose both. It's so interesting as a dad, and you'll get this having a son, you expose your kid to as much as you can, and some things take and some things don't.

38:15Both of them had piano lessons. Matthew hated it. Johnny still plays and is great. Both of them fished. Johnny is not into it. Matthew literally has a commercial fishing license And you just You know You know one of them decided they really enjoyed alcohol Johnny picked up a drink He loved it Matthew picked up a drink and said I like it, I can take it or leave it Then Johnny said give me that drink I want it And I was like that's my boy That's my boy right there By the way can I point out You've got A little bit of my St. Elmo's fire haircut and literally the exact earring. Making it about him.

38:56I am. And the shirt, denim, white, open t-shirt. That's the Outsiders thing going on right there. Right. What's the Outsiders? Can I point out? Oh, come on. Wait, what? I actually haven't seen it. I'll be honest. I haven't seen Riverdale either. Well, see, I knew it. You haven't seen the movie that I'm here to promote. I knew it, just bring it full circle. He's going to big dog you this entire time. That's not true. Yeah. Do you know that Johnny read for Jughead? Yes. Do you know that story? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He told me that. story. He told me that. No, the best part of that story is that we had a bit.

39:25We had a running bit for years. Yes. Because his longtime agent, Richard Weitz, would sort of disparagingly say. Richard Weitz, who basically runs WMEI, still thinks that Johnny's a charlatan, I'm pretty sure. Yeah, that's why I left. And he's like, I don't know, he could have been Jughead. He would just call. That's still to this day. Could have been Jughead. Yeah. We love you, Richard. We love you. We love you, Weitz. I know you're listening to this. Could have been Jughead. Yeah. All right, what else do we need to cover? This is where I wish we had live call-in. I feel like this would be a sick live call-in podcast.

40:02Yeah, it would be sick, actually. And you could go, Roanoke, New Jersey, go ahead. Like Larry King. Yeah. I mean, what can we talk about? We've covered... Oh, I know. Can we talk about the movie that you may be doing? Because I know what it is. Johnny told me. Oh, you can't talk about that. Can't talk about it. I was specifically told not to. Yeah, no, I get it. No, I really do get it. By the way, he's talking about the other one too. This guy who you're going to play, I've had, it was a guest on my podcast. You're kidding. No. That's incredible. Yeah. That's incredible. There's a lot of mysterious, misterioso going on here.

40:40You're talking about. Yeah. You know what you should do sometime on this podcast is we have a conversation where we can't air it and you just go, you do like a boop for like 10 seconds. Oh. I don't, I want it to be, I like the messiness. I had Eric Roberts on the other day. He got up and went to the bathroom in the middle of the conversation.

41:13Rob, what do you care about most? I'm serious. What do you care about most in life? what kind of takes up the most space in your head in the day? Hair. TikTok. He looked at me so earnestly. I can answer this for you. His hair. TikTok.

41:37A steam room and a sauna. Golf. His dogs.

41:48his IMDb SAR meter. That is not true. I don't even know what it is. Yeah, but just sort of what it implies. Oh, the implication of the IMDb SAR meter. I don't know if that's true. I agree. I don't know if that's true. I actually, I get that you're doing a bit and I don't disagree with the first part of it, but the IMDb SAR meter. Oh, his wife and kids would put somewhere in there. I think... Are you guys somewhere in there? I would love to get a glimpse to be in your brain for like 10 minutes. Because I think... that it's really nice in there. I think it's very happy in there. It is happy. You're a happy guy.

42:23Yeah, I am. Yeah. For sure. That's true. And I think, you know, I imagine, yeah, what do I imagine? I think you have a really good self-dialogue to yourself. You talk to yourself quite healthily. You compliment yourself a lot in your head, which is good. Narcissism, yeah. While I look in the mirror. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We can't seat him Across from mirrors At dinner So The TV show that you wrote With your dad Unstable Which you've never seen But I've seen parts of it And I understand the gist of it Which is basically You are like Hypercritical of Your character Yes So where did the Inspiration come from Because you aren't really Like that with Rob What do you mean?

43:05I mean with Johnny Yeah he's like that in a What? No Cheryl's way more like that No but he is Well Cheryl's way more like that My mom's is gnarlier. It's more, when my mom comes at me with changes she wants from me, they're usually pretty intense. My dads are mostly like physical appearance based. And so they're just like sort of ego damaging, but not that serious. You just saw, I mean, when he was like, oh, your hair's cut. It's all like backwards insults, veiled sort of like criticisms where he's like, you know, your hair is kind of like mine. And that one thing kind of like Right you know what I mean Or you know I take my shirt off he's like chicken arms right So that's where it comes from it's that kind of stuff Oh Well hang on that's a dad thing I go home and I hug my dad and he goes You're too skinny The first thing I say is you're too skinny You might be No such thing But that's interesting too Because what I think about now is I have a son who is going to have a father who is an actor.

44:18By the way, your kid's going to be an entertainer. I know. You realize that, right? I know, I know. Huge. And I don't say that lightly because, I mean, if I had a nickel for everybody, my kid wants to be an actor or whatever, and then you meet people, kids, and you're like, oh, it's a faded, destined, just get out of the way thing, and your little guy's got that. I feel like he does. 100%. I'm stoked about it too. He's the best. I want him to be a big, you know, beast. See, I would have been petrified. I'm trying not to say beast on this. Have you noticed that? I've been trying not to. Yeah, how did we?

44:54And I was going to say something. How did we not? We've talked for what, 45 minutes? I've purposely tried not to say beast on this. We've been told that we, well. I say it too much. Especially KJ. That he. He's a beast. I say it too much. That's our thing, a monkey beast. And I become perplexed because I'm like, I don't know what else to use. Can you tell a story without using names? No, enough with not using names. We might have to cut this, but whatever. He met a girl who he's seeing and enjoying. She called him a beast? No, no, no. She told me to stop saying beast. Tell the story about the publicist, at least.

45:26That's funny. That's funny. Oh.

45:32She said, yeah. I said, well, what did she say about me? Because it was right when we met. This is a young actress you're interested in, and you're talking to a publicist who's facilitating the meeting? No, I just knew, had met her publicist and that's how she knew about me is because her publicist relayed information about me. Got it. And then I said, oh, I was interested. We were on a date and I said, well, so what did she say about me? And she said, she had really only good things to say about you, apart from the fact that you apparently say beast a lot. No, no, no. I was told it was, she relayed that you say beast too much.

46:09And then I remember asking for clarity I said, well did that seem like a bad thing? And she went, yeah Yeah, that's true Yeah Which is pretty beastly Yeah, that's beastly I don't want to end this podcast, we should keep going By the way, is the caffeine I feel cooler now, it's cool in here They turned the air conditioning on And I just want everyone to know, I took my shirt off because it was hot And I have to go to a meeting after this and I do not want to sweat through this shirt. I understand. Listen. I get it, dude. You have a meeting, bro. You have no, there's never, there's no, you can take your shirt off all this.

46:46What? Whoa. Jesus Christ. Anyways. Should we do legs today? We can do legs. I can't work out today. Why? Are you guys going to beast? We're going to Equinox. And you're going to beast there? Tell everyone. We're going to beast out there, yeah. You're going to monkey beast? I'm going to beast, Johnny, in the Equinox bathroom. I'm going to monkey you, you little monkey animal beast. Are we getting together for sushi or something later? Whoa We could do dinner tonight Should we do it? I'm down I just can't I don't have a babysitter right now I have to bring the beast Well wait Where can we go Bring that little guy?

47:15Um Yeah I'm down to do anything Yeah we could do that Burgers You know the one I'm thinking of I'm trying not to eat burgers right now I'm trying to be healthy right now I want to look like Rob at 61 dude 36 years sober There's a lot of Medical things you can do to do that You've been sober longer than I've been alive That's insane Been married longer than you've been alive That's really crazy. What's the deal with that? I've been alive longer than you've been alive. How have you been married that long? What's the key to that? I don't understand. Getting the right person. Marrying the right person.

47:46Period. Full stop. And then being able to do the work as it comes up. I mean, underneath those two headlines, there's a lot of different things. But basically, it boiled down, those are the two things. because you don't really hear that that often anymore. My parents are still married. They've been married 35 years, something like that. But I always thought I'd be that guy. I thought I would wait for marriage. I thought that I would be with one girl and be married. And then my life took a completely different thing. And I was, it rattled me because I was like, whoa, life looks so different, but that's the beauty of life.

48:27Yeah. It's not, it's not for us to know. No. Isn't that, that's the most beautiful thing about life is that we don't know what's around the corner. Well, that's the great, you know, there are so many great phrases in recovery, but the one that's among them, my favorite is, if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. Right. Yeah, it's so true. It's a great one. Who's the worst guest you've ever had on the podcast? Oh, it's... You can't say. I can't say, but I've had two... I think I asked you this last time. Yeah, I've had... She gets Cheryl on it. She came. She was great. Cheryl's great.

49:04She's going to come back by popular demand. That, by the way, is the reality show that I want to see. Oh, she's Cheryl. I don't think people realize. No, they don't. She would have been. Burn our family to the ground. She would have been the biggest reality star in the world. It would be. She would have been for sure. And she's been asked many, many, many, many, many, many times. Yeah. She would be huge. She's one of the most interesting characters I've met. Truly. Yeah. Well, she's a character. I mean, I need someone. Her story is incredible too. Oh, her life story is beyond. But I need that.

49:37I need that on the daily. I can't be with someone who's flatline. Got it, got it, got it. I need some volatility. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Johnny's like that too. Yeah. Well, yeah. Her podcast did well when she came on. Huge. How do you know they tell you? Yeah, you can look up the downloads. Ah. You can just look them up. So this one has to do well. Well, we'll see. We'll do well. We'll do well. You put me up against anyone. Put me up against anyone. Who's your competition? Don't give them any free time. I don't look at it like that. Good. Good. I don't. Great. I don't look at it like that. I love that.

50:19But I will say, I will say, I was going to say something. I was going to say something really good. I've forgotten it. what I was going to say what I was going to say was what is it like working with Ricky Gervais he's my favorite oh Ricky is you should get him on this next time he's in LA back to Richard Weitz who represents him I've only been doing the podcast for almost five years you know so I mean I don't know what more I need to do to get Ricky on the podcast Ricky is obviously a genius and my favorite thing is I did a movie with him that he co-wrote no no I know he co-directed it I don't know if I can't remember if he co-wrote it but anyway but as a director the very first thing he does when he gets any script is takes out all the night shooting really?

51:06wow yeah doesn't matter not working nights not gonna do it yeah yeah yeah nobody cares nobody cares nobody cares it's such a rake of jove nobody cares nobody cares there's a lot of nobody cares stuff going on wow I mean from white? my favorite was the day when I was doing a scene with Jennifer Garner and we did. Nobody kiss. We did it. We did it. We did the coverage and then we did like a wide shot. And then he goes, okay, well that. And they go, Ricky, we didn't do a, we didn't do a closer angle on Jennifer Garner. He goes, nobody kiss. Whoa. That did not go over well. Oh my. I'm surprised you went on extras.

51:49I am. Was that post? That would have been. Yeah, I think that was post. He was going to say he's too famous. Oh, there's great people. What do you mean? Liam Neeson's on Extras. I've been still on it too. God, Liam Neeson's so funny on it. He's so good. Is Extras, that's the one where he comes in and says he wants to do improv comedy? Yeah. That's the one who keeps saying it. Which he's now doing. He's in The Naked Gun. Which I hope that does great. I hope so too. It looks really funny to me. Yeah. I'll send you a link. I hope so. Don't do that. Hey, hold on a sec. Don't do that. I can't let you do that I can't let you get close um alright hold on we're not done no we're not done you can cut it here if you want but we're gonna continue talking because I like the feeling of this I guess all the hip guys are doing longer podcasts these days so why don't I get in the mood yeah who's your competition here I don't look at it that way well if you had to if you had to I don't look at it that way smartless no they have their own those guys are great they have their own empire those guys have an that's like you know yeah yeah yeah they have an empire and there's three of them there's only one of me that's the other thing if you had okay here's a good question if you had to do your own smart list if you can find two more of me then I'll go compare me to smart list I'm talking who are the other if you had to do your own smart list right now who are the other two people you're bringing in maybe this is it is this an enjoyable one for you today yeah hell yeah I respect that but let's say seriously you know your production company comes to you and says hey we want to do your version of smart list who are your two top choice people to bring in?

53:26Robert Downey Jr. Well, I mean... And Gene Simmons. Gene Simmons? Downey's obviously great. That would be incredible. Right. So this is, you know, an impossible hypothetical. And then... Oh, and Gwyneth, who is so funny with the three of us. God, yeah. I mean, that would be irresistible. Yeah. It'd be electric. It'd be great. They would be... your goddaughter. Mother. Godmother. Yeah. Your goddaughter. Interesting. Godmother. I can't win one. Interesting. Yeah. I love GP. That would be good. What would you call it? Jesus. Nobody cares. Nobody cares. Nobody cares. Whoa. Let's pitch this. Nobody cares.

54:09All right. Serious. But hang on. That's a good name. You make us the right deal. For a podcast. I'm not doing it for a charity. Literally with Rob Law. Nobody cares. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you should change it to Nobody Cares. Literally Nobody Cares. Literally Nobody Cares. Literally Nobody Cares. That's the new name for this podcast. That's really funny. Literally Nobody Cares. Is there a headline for each podcast? Like, you know what I mean? Yeah. A title? This one should be Nobody Cares. Do you know the genesis of the phrase Nobody Cares in our life? No, tell me about it. I don't know. Why is Richard Weitz getting so much play in this podcast?

54:42I don't know. I don't know. Richard Weitz runs WME, represents Tina Fey, Ricky Gervais, me, now runs the whole damn company. Me Me That's so good Me How am I supposed to He doesn't even It's too He doesn't notice it I know It's second nature to him dude What did it What I'm literally still Don't notice it Me Me It's just really good It's our podcast I like that This is ours Okay me If you need someone To sub in for you one day I got the hot seat Bro I can do this I know you could We'll bring you guys back We'll bring you guys back

55:23I could probably do your voice too, I think Do my voice Do my voice Well That's pretty good, actually That's pretty good, actually No, I don't know It's just a vague Little Charlie Sheen thrown in there A little actually He'd be good Mel Gibson, you should get on Well, you got Mel You sound like Mel to me A lot of people give me that A lot of people say that I'm kind of I have a Mel Gibson No, you know who he is? You know who said that to me? Jim Carrey really big he you drew that because that's one of his your heroes that's one of mine but I was like and you really have that vibe sometimes yeah do the face do the face do the face yeah oh my god I've been doing that for a long time this is why video podcasting is the shit so where do these videos go is this recorded yes where is this going Amy Pollers I feel like I see clips of that all the time nothing makes me happier than seeing podcasts that aren't mine well Amy you celebrate I'm sure you're fucking where you look.

56:20But we love Amy. You celebrate her. I celebrate it. I 100 % celebrate it. I can't get comfortable. Every time I see Amy Poehler, every time I turn around on anything right now on her podcast, it makes me ecstatic. Well, I think it is the biggest podcast in the world, in fairness. But one of them. Joe Rogan's, I see. I mean, that makes sense. You're not Joe Rogan. That's the only one that I listen to. He's great. Yeah, like consistently. He's great. He's so good. He's really good. He's just smart. He's really smart. You don't listen to Smartless? Smartless is great. I've heard that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

56:52They're funny as hell. Those guys. Or if we're shouting out a podcast we like. His is good. Who? Ricky Gervais. Hollywood Handbook. Sean's is great. I don't know if you ever listened to it. Sean Clemens and Hayes. Oh, Sean Clemens is amazing. They're so funny. Hollywood Handbook. That's my favorite, honestly. What else? What else? Okay, okay. Well, that was. That's it, huh? John Owen, you literally have your Zin sitting like right out in open view right now. So does KJ. But yours are open Which is weird I give up I'm a little bit I haven't had coffee in four days I know Let's go get coffee I'm dying I need to eat And let's go eat Where should we go I'm dying Right next door Let's go to a really good place Right next door Really?

57:31Yeah We're going to eat And maybe we're into Amy Poehler She's a huge podcast star And she's I'm sure right God you're jealous You're green with jealous rage man I love it for her I don't like it for me Does that make sense? I love it for her And I think it's funny for you So Okay Alright Right. This has been great. All right, let's go eat. Thank you, Rob. Thank you. You're the man, bro. Let's go eat.

58:00Well, that was something. I'm not sure what just went on, but I think some of it was good. Some of it, right? I think some of it was good. We may have to revisit that. I think there's there there. Anyway, thank you as always for spending time with us. You could be doing a lot of different stuff, but you're here with literally, and I literally love that. And I'm going to see you next week right here. Thank you. You've been listening to Literally with Rob Lowe, produced by me, Sean Doherty, with help from associate producer, Sarah Begar, and research by Alyssa Growl. Engineering and mixing by Joanna Samuel.

58:38Our executive producers are Rob Lowe for low profile, Nick Liao, Adam Sachs, and Jeff Ross for Team Coco, and Colin Anderson for Stitcher. Booking by Deirdre Dodd, music by Devin Bryant, special thanks to Hidden City Studios. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time on Literally.