Ted Danson: Super Sunny (Re-Release)

29:14Or was it the kind of thing that its legend has only grown in time? Well, for sure it isn't that because it was a smash hit. But like, did you ever have a moment where you went, oh, this is a thing? I think it hits you. First year, we were dead last, the ratings. This is an amazing story. Yeah. Listen, we could turn this into a bitch-a-thon about what's wrong with the business, but here's one of the things. Cheers, people. Hear me loud and clear. Dead last. Dead last one week. In its first year. Yeah. Did they cancel it? No. And it became fucking cheers. Right. Would they have canceled it if they had something better to replace it with?

29:56They might have, according to Brandon Tartikoff. Saw Lily last night. Oh, I love that woman. Love that woman. She's as beautiful as ever and sweet as can be. Yeah. Saw her last night. She was like the den mother to everybody on NBC there for a while when Brandon was in charge. Yeah, well, give her my regards if you see her again. Really, truly, I think I had a crush on her, actually. Yes. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, dead last. then reruns in the summer is when people would watch shows and sample shows they hadn't seen during the year so a lot of people hadn't seen Cheers obviously and they sampled it and liked it we had the press on our side the press loved us so we grew very slowly and organically until Bill Cosby came along and Bill was phenomenal I know we're not, can't always speak glowingly about Bill, but he was a phenomenon and the show was brilliant.

30:59And it pulled the entire Thursday night lineup behind him. And we became a top 10 show because of the Cosby show and because it was good. So to answer your question, it was during, and I'm sure you've experienced this, it's when a show goes from just being on the air to being syndicated. Yeah. As soon as it's syndicated, you step out the door and you are hammered by an enormous amount of public energy coming your way that you hadn't ever experienced before. And it kind of takes your breath away when you can't move without people clocking you. Can you imagine? Have you ever had to pay for a drink in a bar?

31:41Well, here's the thing. I don't go to bars. That's right. Exactly. But I would go every day if I was in your shoes dancing. Poor George Wendt can't go anywhere without people yelling Norm as he enters. I'm sure he hasn't paid for a beer for a long time. I mean, it's really sort of unbelievable that the effect of that. And I guess I kind of have a bone to pick with Cheers because before I started working in television, I'd done movies and stuff. And it was just sort of in 1990. I want to say it's 1997-ish. And TV wasn't the golden era of TV in the 90s. When you were on, it was a lot of it, but it wasn't really in the 90s.

32:35Anyway, so I was like, maybe I'll do a TV show. Maybe I will. I want to stay home with my kids. Maybe I'll do it. So Mike Myers and I had just done Wayne's World and Austin Powers, too. God, I forgot that. Yes. Or I did Robert Wagner. Right. Young Robert Wagner. I think that's the first time I went, oh, my God, he's a funny fuck. It was fun. It was fun. I mean, you know, when you're surrounded by funny people, it's easier to be funny. So Mike had this idea. And Mike was batting 1 ,000 at that point. Mike had this idea that I should do a TV series with Robert Wagner. Oh. And Robert Wagner should play an alternative version of himself, a legendary television fixture.

33:19And who has a son, that would be me, who has never really found himself and is living in the guest house in Beverly Hills trying to find his way. That was the conceit of the show, right? Half hour or one camera? Half hour comedy. Yeah. I sell it to Paramount and NBC. It's all of the people who were still around who made Cheers. By the time they were done developing it, not only did it not star Robert Wagner. Oh, my God. It took place in a sports bar. And my dad was Dan Hedaya. That's great. That is the extent to which they would chase the cheers magic. Yeah, yeah. From Robert Wagner and me to Dan Hedaya and I running a sports bar in Chicago.

34:16I guess AI was alive and well even back then. Yeah. You know? Anything with a sports bar. Yeah. That's to work. I'm sorry about that. I know. I blame you.

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35:41tell me how you got into saving private ryan because that is such a great movie and then all of a sudden you're there with a great sequence i sometimes wonder when i see it myself if that's a distraction to have somebody show you know you've you've established all these character, even though you know Tom really well, but you believe them by the time you've watched the movie, by the time that the D-Day is over. Jesus, you believe anything. Yes. So I sometimes look at it and go, geez, oh, look, there's Ted. What's he doing in this movie? Kind of feeling. Anywho. Yeah, I think we talked about this earlier, but I had just gotten a show that was canceled.

36:32Help Me Help You was the name of it. And great writing, all of that. But I think people were hoping I would still be Sam Malone, and I had aged past that working. Anyway, it didn't work, and I walked away from it feeling, I'm not funny. I'm not making myself laugh. There are so many other people nowadays out there who are really funny. I'm out. I shouldn't be doing this. so I went to Jeffrey Katzenberg who obviously works with Stephen and I said please put me in anything you don't have to pay me literally I don't care if it's a walk on I just want to start doing films again and I'm assuming that he talked to Stephen and I was like a Concord soldier I flew in on the Concord for one day of training and then one day of shooting, maybe two days of shooting.

37:31Whereas those guys had gone to boot camp. Yes. Very real. Captain Dale Dye. I worked with Dale Dye. Did you? Dale Dye was the guy. He was the guy who trained anybody doing a military thing. He was the man. After Platoon, right? I think that's where he started. That's right, Dale Dye. What did you do with him? Oh, my God. I did a movie for, you're of my vintage, Menachem Golan. Oh, yes. Yeah. Yeah, big financier. Yeah. And, you know, I think it's fair to say a little bit of a schlock merchant. And his thing was he would overpay famous actors to be in really bad movies. Yeah. And I did one about the Navy SEALs called The Finest Hour.

38:14Oh, yeah, yeah. It wasn't. It wasn't. But Dale Dye helped train me. And he does it. He's the real deal. Oh, he's the real deal. Yeah. 100%. Yeah, he doesn't coddle you. He goes for it. Yeah. My only experience, because it was short, was to learn how to use the Thompson. What was it? Thompson, not machine gun. Thompson something. But it's submachine gun. Yeah. And he took me around a corner with blanks, but they had a pretty good charge in it. And taught me how to shoot it and reload it and da-da and all of that stuff. And after about an hour, he went, well, I guess you're trainable. That was as far as his compliments would go.

39:04When I walk away from that, first it was fun to work for five minutes with Tom Hanks because he's very cool. Yeah, and great actor. Watching Steven shoot. Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me everything. Two things. All right, I have two stories. One, it's not a story. He was just so fast. Do you remember the name of his DP? Janus? Yes. Thank you. Tramuseki or something like that? And he, the two of them were working. It was outside, so it was a lot of outside lighting, which sometimes can go faster. But it was so fast. He worked so quickly. There was no downtime. It'd be like, okay, next shot. No way here.

39:45And I heard that they had finished, because I got called over sooner than I thought they'd be in it. they had finished D-Day, which is the first 30 minutes of the film. They had finished it 10 days early. And I thought, oh my God, that's astounding. He is so fast that he finished that whole sequence 10 days early. And I dined out on that story for a year. And then I bumped into him again. And I said, I still tell that story of how you finished D-Day 10 days early. He went, what? No, all of Europe, we had used every bit of black powder, which is needed for the special effects in Europe. We could not get any more powder, so we had to stop shooting.

40:31It had nothing to do with him working fast. It was like they burned through so much explosion. Wasn't that amazing, that sequence? Oh, there's never been anything like it. People would take their, vets would take their, who wouldn't talk to their families, because obviously why would they want to remember that, would take their wives to that screening of that. And the wives would just break down in tears and say, I understand. For the first time, I understand. I never forget when I saw it. I saw it in a theater in Santa Barbara, and I sat behind a family like that. It was very, very obvious what was going on.

41:10Yeah. It was insane. That movie is, I mean, what a masterpiece. Yeah, really, really was. A masterpiece. And Stephen, to be able to spend any time with him, he's just. Yeah, it's a treat. Yeah, it's a treat. I'm envious. I've never worked with Stephen. I've only been able to pinhole him at gatherings and go, tell me about Jaws. And I love people, though, who are really happy to share it with you. Like they, like, do you know what I mean? Like, Hanks is like that. Stephen's like that. Like they're happy to be Tom Hanks. Yes. Stephen's happy to be Steven Spielberg. And also generous. That's right.

41:54They want to share it with you. You know what I mean? That's, and I, I admire that. I, I, I try to, I try to, to do that. Oh, okay. Let's talk about Mr. Mayor. Let's do it. Okay. So, the way I end up, this is a long shaggy dog story, but if you have patience, I promise you. I do. I'll have a sip of water. Go. It'll pay off. So, I'm on a show called Brothers and Sisters with Sally Field. Right. And I was brought on by John Robin Bates, the great playwright who at the time created that show, to be Calista Flockhart, who I love dearly. love interest and I'm going to play a presidential candidate.

42:39I go on the show. The writing is great. Eventually the network goes, we're not going to do any more, any more stories having anything to do with politics, which is problematic for me, my character. He's a senator running for president. So like overnight, all my scenes are like with me wearing like oven mitts, like pulling pies out of an oven with Sally Field. Still a senator or no? Still a senator, but of course, we never talk about that. We never see it. But there's a lot of paella being made.

43:15My friend Bill Paxton, I called him up and I was like, yeah, he's an Ojai guy. Ojai guy, yeah. And he'd go, buddy, that's a one-way ticket to Palookaville.

43:27So, I was unhappy. That was a good Bill Paxton, by the way. It's pretty good, right? That was good. Yeah. Oh, I got some guy. I got great. He was the flipping best. Miss him. Oh, the best. He was the mayor of Ojai. Yep. He was the mayor of Ojai. Sweet soul. So my agents were like, would you ever go on 30 Rock? I was like, I'd love to go on 30 Rock. What, what, as what? By the way, I do it as anything, but as what? go well there's some talk about maybe like a foil to alec baldwin or something like that and so they this is like this is what's happening and then tina and robert carlock right right who run and created that show we're like yeah i don't know and like it kind of fizzles but they go but That's not going to work.

44:24But would you ever go on Parks and Recreation? Wait, what was their connection, Carlisle Cantina? Just they knew. Now it's an NBC talk. Oh, okay. This is NBC going, oh, we couldn't get them on 30 Rock. I know where we could get, where we could use them. Yeah. Is on the show that we're about to cancel. Which they were always going to cancel every year. They were absolutely going to cancel. 100 % they were going to cancel. and this saved them from being canceled. So, Mike and I ended up working together through the thwarted attempt to work with Tina. Tina and Robert. Yes. And so, when Mr. Mayer came up, which I heard was in a way sort of the Jack Donaghy spinoff.

45:17Yes, it was. It absolutely was, right? He was going to be the mayor of New York. And it was Jack Donaghy. Yeah, yes. I would watch the fuck out of that show. Me too. Jack Donaghy is the mayor of New York City? Yeah. It was perfect. How? In what world does that show not get made? I guess I can tell you. You can tell me. Because I know from my, because I was like all over this. Like you can imagine. The greatest character. Jack Donaghy's one of my, since Sam Malone. Yeah. One of my favorite characters in the history of characters. The story I heard was they were very excited. Robert, Tina. Tina Fey.

45:59Yeah. And it was going to be Alec. And here we go. We're about to make it. And they wake up to the news that Alec has slugged somebody. Hit a, I don't know what, who. But it was in the news. Right. Yes, this is true. This is what I heard. Yeah. And they went, uh-oh, and kind of had to shelf that idea. And then I came along, and a year later, maybe. A year later. Or two maybe, something, a long time after that. And I think Tina was looking, had an idea of doing something with me or whatever. And they talked about Mr. Mayor. and I said, oof, my life is in LA, kids, grandkids. I can't go to New York.

46:55And so they thought about it and made it the mayor of LA. So I do think it probably, I'm not supposed to say this, but I do think it got, the idea was brilliant and it kind of got watered down partly by me not going to New York, but partly because Alec slugged somebody. I mean, it's amazing how people end up in parts. Yeah. By the way, I'm looking. I'm glad I did it. It didn't, I don't think it quite worked, but my God, we struggled. First off, we shot, we shot for a while, we shot the first scene. Then we, I mean, first season, I think we were interrupted by COVID. So there's a big three or four months.

47:41How are we going to get back to work? Or will we ever? Then we came back to work and it was like, have fun. You guys are actors. Be childlike and have fun and don't die. Be funny with a mask on. Yes. And you looked around your crew and all the buddies who were in hazmat suits. And it was not ideal. Conducive comedy. Yeah. And then we premiered on January 6th, the evening of January 6th. 26th. Do we watch this new show or do we watch this? The Capitol being overthrown. Yeah. So, yeah, it was a tough go. And when I found out that we had been canceled, it was kind of perfect. I'd gone with Mary to Rome where she was shooting a second installment of Book Club and Jane Fonda, Candace Mergen, Diane Keaton.

48:35And it was the week before they started shooting. So production was giving them all these things to do. And one of them was to have a private tour of the Sistine Chapel, which is really cool. So off we went. And they said, you can take pictures. You cannot post them for yourself if you want. And so all of our phone cameras were out. And I get a little phone starts to buzz just like it did. And oh, it's mine. Mary, it's my manager. They're picking up the show. I have to take this. I'll be right back. And she's filming the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and she pans down to me walking off into a corner of the Sistine Chapel to discover that the show had been canceled.

49:24It's a great setting. A great setting to be canceled. It's a great setting. I lost my faith completely in that moment. That's where you looked up at the hand of God touching and went, couldn't he have touched Tina Fey's hand the god of the Nielsen I'm looking at you right now and hearing Mr. Mayer and going you should do the Gavin Newsom story yeah I could do the Gavin you would crush the Gavin Newsom story for sure he has younger darker hair but I could do his second chapter I don't think I could play I I think he's I think he's still I think he's definitely in the weeds waiting his moment right now.

50:05Yeah, he is. I like him. He's really charming. I like him. I like his environmental stance, which we're going to have to talk about here. Yeah. Yeah. Well, tell me. Hang on. We got good stuff here. We're both on the Orville. Yes. Oh, my God. We're both on the Orville. How about that? Well, so I get a call from Seth. So here's how I got to know Seth. Seth MacFarlane, then I want to hear how you did. My kids were huge Family Guy fans. Huge. Yeah. And I kind of watched it through their eyes and one day I was watching it and Stewie was in Hollywood getting his makeup put on by an extravagantly gay makeup artist.

50:50And Stewie goes, oh, please, just let me do one more. And the makeup artist goes, all right, you can do one more. And he goes, Rob Lowe. And the makeup artist goes, straight. And so he goes, no! You wouldn't know to look at him. And I absolutely died. And I... This was you just watching it and seeing it. Oh, that's fantastic. And I called Seth up. Somehow I got him and I just was like telling him how much I loved it. And we became friends and then I did a couple things on for Family Guy, but then he sent me the Orville. And the Orville had a character named Derulio in it. This is the pilot. Derulio.

51:39This is the pilot of the Orville. And so, when you, like, what the Orville is versus what it read to me like on the page are kind of different. Like, I saw it much more as a comedy, which you would think. It became much more melodramatic-dramatic. Yes. Well, my character ejaculated out of his forehead. Well, that's - He was an alien who just, and by the way, I called, I didn't finish reading the script. I called him and said, yes, you had me at ejaculating out of my forehead. I'm in. And it was, I spent five hours, five hours in blue makeup. I'm in the pilot. I'm only in the pilot. Oh no, I came back for one other thing, but it was the most fun thing I've ever had.

52:25I love Seth MacFarlane. Can I just ask, How do you know your character ejaculated from his forehead? It says it in the script. Says it. It says the phrase, he ejaculates out of his forehead. Right. Like, I don't know much, but I do know that when that is a description in a script, I'm probably going to do it. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think anyone paid another bit of attention to anything that came out of your mouth. They were just looking at your forehead. No, and there was a lot of talk about, but then, oh, who directed it? It was some fancy Hollywood director directed the pilot. Favreau. Oh, John Favreau.

53:06So then when we got on the set, Favreau got very squeamish about the ejaculation out of the forehead stuff. Strange. And I'm like, bro, this is the reason I'm here. Yeah. Why did a guy ejaculate? and he was like well i think it's really kind of a physiological leakage and i think it's something that just sort of happens i'm an actor i've been thinking about ejaculating out of my forehead for months leading up to this i've been making for five hours i i i've got a whole thing i'm ready to do and and he never really let me it's kind of it's it's very much of a non-event. Were you tempted to touch your forehead a lot while you were?

53:54Oh, you have no idea. Because I think we've established when I can put on a fake face, I'm freed. I'm freed. You're kind of a dickhead, really. Literal, actual dickhead. Dickhead, yeah. So, how did they hook you? If they got me with ejaculating out of a forehead, how did they hook you to the Orville? First off, we both went to the same school. So, there was a a kind of bond there. Oh. And then I think I did some family guy. And then he was incredibly generous to an organization. I've been kind of an ocean activist. Forever. Forever. What is your, is it Heal the Bay or is it your own organization?

54:40No, Heal the Bay is magnificent. I started something in the 80s called American Oceans Campaign, which was with my environmental lawyer friend Robert Sulnick. And it never got quite past the boutique celebrity organization. We had lobbyists in Washington. We had a lot of support. And we were early on to the ocean conversations. So there was a lot of respect. but fundraising was everyone would basically say, oh, well, Ted's got this. And so it never quite grew to the place we probably should have gone. But then it merged with a new organization about 22 years ago called Oceana. The Pew Foundation was setting up and it was truly international.

55:30And that's where I am now. I'm on the board of directors and all of that. But out of the blue, Seth MacFarlane made this astounding contribution to Oceania. It was just kind of mind-boggling and out of left field to me. And he had me, I will do anything for him. From that moment on, I was like, call me. You need me? Whatever. I don't even need to know. That's amazing. Yeah. What is the leading, if you could fix one thing about our policy around the oceans or what's happening with the oceans, what would it be? Well, I'll tell you what the work is that we're doing. In 1985, 6, 7, something like that, he's now on the board of directors and our chief scientist, but he was a renowned marine scientist, is like the best in the world, travels all over.

56:26Anyway, he did a study that said all of the fisheries around the world were in decline, that more and more boats are going out, technology is better and better, you can see that fish and you can catch that fish right over there. And yet the boats were coming back with fewer and fewer fish. We were literally fishing out our oceans. So we made that the priority when we started Oceania. This seems to be the most pressing danger facing the oceans. and if we rally around that and make the fisheries of the world healthy and whole, you have to do all these other things. You have to deal with pollution and oil and corals and all of that, biodiversity.

57:10But if you do it correctly and manage the fisheries around the world, you could provide the world a billion fish meals a day sustainably forever. And so it becomes this food security, you know, also social justice, because it's mostly the southern hemisphere that's getting cleaned out by the northern hemisphere. So, and it's the people who depend on fish as their only protein taken in the shorts. So it's a really interesting thesis to rally a whole organization around. but along comes climate change and the truth is climate change can undo everything on land, on sea you know I think the most horrifying thing I've heard this year was 100 degrees water, water temperature you know, sauna like or jacuzzi like temperatures off the coast of Florida I was just in the British Virgin Islands just there.

58:18And the water was unbearable. You didn't even want to get in it. That's just... You didn't want to get in it. Yeah. Nor did the fish. So, they either die, the coral reefs die, which are, coral reefs are pretty and all of that, but they're also the nurseries to the world's fish. So, it's huge. And if your fish that you're catching today is swimming around in warm water, they'll head north, you know, to find cold water. So, everything about it is fucked up. What do you – I was in the Galapagos, and there were – the longline Chinese fishing fleet was right there ready to – so what do you – like, we can do whatever the hell we want to do here, but it's not going to move the needle if they're still doing that.

59:03Correct. So how do we – You still need to. You still can't do what I know a lot of politicians do and say, well, India and China are messing up our atmosphere. So we should do nothing. So why are we going to hurt our economy? Well, you can't do that. You have to, everybody has to do it. I don't know the answer to your question. You can't work in China. You can't be a 501c3 and work in China because you put everybody who's Chinese and working in that office at risk because the only way to make change is to make, force governments to do the right thing policy-wise. And you can't do that in China.

59:41We did a whole study. Do we go there or - Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, interesting. And the end result was no. Was there a fix? No, but you could probably do more from the outside, either shaming or bringing the world attention to or developing laws that prevent them from doing what they do, which is go anywhere and do anything they want. Anything they want. They go to anything. They go to the coast of West Africa, and all of a sudden, people in their canoes are trying to catch fish. And they go so far there to find fish. Anyway. My son is a commercial fisherman, among other things. His commercial fishing license.

1:00:26So, I hear all about, I mean, he's very plugged in all of this. Yeah, because they will park outside of your, what is it, 200 mile now? Yep. And fish the outside of the, you know. Here's one of the things that Oceania has done, which I'm most proud of. And it's just a great example. Because you make, you change policy, you make all these rules, but how do you enforce them? It becomes, you know, you now know what to do to make it better, but how do you enforce that? and Oceana and Google and I think a satellite company called SkyTruth, I hope I'm getting this right, got together and created a system with the satellite, Google having the brain power to sort through all of it.

1:01:14You can now look, if you go to globalfishingwatch.org, it's free. Anyone in the world can go on And you can see every fishing vessel over 300 tons, where they are in lifetime. I'm going to bring it as a global? Fishing watch. And it's available to anyone. You don't pay for it. You just go on to their website. And you can literally become the eyes and ears of the world to monitor fishing vessels. And what happens is you'll see their path and you'll watch them go in this straight line at speed. And then when they slow down and start zigzagging, you know they're fishing. And if they're fishing in illegal waters or waters that don't belong to them, you can see that and watch that.

1:02:08And you know that they're fishing illegally. what you can do, because I don't know if it holds up necessarily in court, but you can go to like the insurance companies that are insuring that vessel and you go, they're doing illegal stuff. And if they're illegal fishing, more than likely, they're also into human trafficking and drugs and arms. It just kind of all fits together. If you're doing the illegal thing on the open sea, you're probably doing the whole package. So, all of a sudden, countries that are too small to have a Coast Guard can now show up and track that ship and monitor it, go to the harbor where it's trying to sell its fish and go, nope.

1:02:53Wow. Yeah, it's really cool. It's really cool. So, Oceana is a great organization. You should check it out. My son, Matthew, I texted him, do you know Globalfishing.com? Yes, immediately. Fantastic. That's so cool. Right? Yeah, that's very cool. Yeah, he's all about this. And I love your son. Yeah, and I have to have him get in touch with you and help. I mean, you need a lawyer to work pro bono, right? And we do. For sure. Yeah, no, because that's the big thing. Sue people, get their attention. It's the only way. It's the only way. I love, see, this is the kind of activism that still, we can still get away with doing.

1:03:30Yeah, yes, yes, because, and I'm no longer the face of the organization. The organization is so powerful and worldwide and big that I get to watch. Right, right. You know, I can go raise money. I can introduce people. I can do press conferences. But I'm, yeah. That's right. Well, that's the value of it. I learned, you know, I was going to ask you this when we were talking earlier, that I was lucky. I learned kind of early on instinctively, or I don't know, maybe it wasn't me. Maybe somebody told me, but when you become really famous and the world is kind of looking at you, it's the equivalent of being a four-year-old kid in the middle of a group of adults who are all focusing their attention on that four-year-old kid.

1:04:18You can spin that kid out immediately just from all of that energy pouring into their little bodies. That's what it's like to be a celebrity. And I learned early on that instead of just absorbing that energy, which I think can fuck people up because it's a lot, if I deflected it into something I was caring about where I could perhaps make a difference, it saved me and it got things done. That's so interesting. I never did that sort of math. That's so interesting. It's kind of like I stand outside the big tent and I say, hey, thank you for watching Cheers. I appreciate that. Now, come on in. I want to introduce you to this marine biologist who has something amazing to tell you.

1:05:04And that kind of saved me, I think. Maybe that's why I was drawn to political activism so early in my career. Because looking back, it coincides exactly with that same moment in my life. Smart. I mean, it's a good thing. You're doing good. You're making use of what you have to offer. But it's also, I think, a degree of self-preservation. I'd never thought of it that way, but it makes perfect sense. Yeah. And, oh, curb your enthusiasm. Yeah. Okay, so where do you, look, it's worked out great for you. So I know where you probably stand. And this notion now that there's a cottage industry of alternative universe versions of oneself.

1:05:52Yes. Right? That's a thing that Larry pretty much invented it. Yeah. He really did, don't you think? Yes. And it's really hard, I think. And really, it's a fine target to hit. Is it not? Particularly, it's one thing for him because America didn't know Larry David. But America knows Ted Danson. Right. So when you're called upon to play a version of yourself, there's a lot more at stake than there is for Larry David. No, that's true. That's true. I'll get to that. I just spoke to James Marsden. Do you know James? I love James. I love him. And he was in. It's funny because I interviewed him and we talked about this exact same thing.

1:06:38Yeah. Yeah. And it's terrifying. Yes. Because this could be a career ender if this sucks and I'm prancing around as James. He's so funny in the show. He's so good. He's so good. And the show's amazing. He's so good. So I think the way I hold Ted Danson on Curb Your Enthusiasm is my whole character is about function. My function is to push Larry David into a corner verbally until he busts out and is crazier Larry than before. So your job is to pressure him and push him until he explodes. And so that's all I focus on. That's good. Literally. But it is confusing to the audience, not to us. the bastard I'm talking about Larry shortly after Trump was elected which was a difficult moment for me and I was very raw and vulnerable I go to work on Curb and to discover that Mary my wife Mary Steenburgen and I who played herself on the show were getting a divorce and that I would now be Cheryl Hines's boyfriend, Arm Candy.

1:08:05And I was so pissed off. It was just too vulnerable. Yeah, exactly. You've had a rough week. I know this is art and not life, but nevertheless, it's too close to the bone. Yes. And we would get calls from maybe not great friends, but acquaintances who we'd had dinner with two days, you know, two months before something, calling Mary and going, oh, my God, you know, I heard when the show came out, oh, my, I heard you. Is it true you guys are getting a divorce? You know, to which Mary said, yes, yes, we thought. We thought it was. Announcing it on curb would be the best way to go. But people believe that.

1:08:47People believe it. People who should know better. Yes. I do that. that's the thing yeah that is the thing that's so hard about it yeah were you on curb? forgive my ignorance no I've never done a curb I would always I would I worship at the altar yeah of curb I got I'm gonna have to take it up with Larry yeah I'm gonna hello hello sadly he has no guilt shame should to or ought to in his life none zero right yeah Social, yeah, the only problem about Larry's show becoming so great and loved and everyone knows him and he's so honored and respected is it gave him license to be more Larry, which is just, you know.

1:09:37Do you have a particular Larry moment that is like vintage Larry? Kind of, yeah. Woody Harrelson, and I'm trying to think who else it was. we were on Martha's Vineyard and we saw Larry and we all made plans to have dinner. And we showed up a little bit early, out of respect, Woody and I, and I can't remember who else, to have dinner with Larry. And Maidardy says, oh yes, he's over there. He was almost through with his entree and we were early to our dinner date because something had come up that sounded more fun to him. And I'm sure you guys understand. I'll pick up the check. Bye. That's Larry.

1:10:23There is absolutely no should to or not to or social norms. It's an episode of Kirby. He lives in an episode of Kirby. Yes, all the time. And you can also tell when you say something or he'll practice on you all the time. Some things he'll do that are outrageous and you go, oh, this is not you really being outrageous. This is you practicing something for the show. Is it like a twinkle in the eye that you know? No, it just seems like it's off. It's so out of left field that you're going, well, how did he get? Oh, I see. He's practicing. That's amazing. He says, and I think it's true, he will not accept dinners at your home, anyone's home, because you can't get up and leave whenever he wants.

1:11:13He feels trapped. So if we go out to a dinner someplace, I can get up and leave anytime I want, and it will be more bearable. I'd like to ask him. I understand it in theory, but I feel equally trapped. I guess you could say, we should get the check, please. I guess you could say that, and that sounds acceptable, and it's the cue that the evening is over. You can't do that at a house. No. I guess. No, you're at the mercy of. I would love. Has he ever done like a Ten Commandments, a Larry's Ten Commandments? He should. He should. Yeah. Don't have dinner at someone's house. I would like to know 10 ways that I could be more like Larry David.

1:11:51Because you and I are both, I've learned about you and our time together. We're like super sunny, people-pleasing. We want people to like us and we want them to like themselves after they've been with us too. I mean, we care about. Yes. Yeah. He does not. No, no, no, no. I had just finished one of the shows that we had talked about and I thought I was through with comedy. and all of that. And, oh, I know. He had just shot the pilot, and he was renting a home with his then wife, Lori, and they invited six of us over after dinner to watch the pilot of Curb Your Enthusiasm. And granted, it was because of Wi-Fi or something.

1:12:41It was, we were halfway up the stairs to the attic, sitting on the stairs watching this to get good reception. A couple people fell asleep. I watched and went, oh, Jesus, this sucks. This is, oh my God, this is never going to work. But I like Larry and we're kind of new friends and Mary and I kind of went, yeah, Larry afterwards. Wonderful. You know, if you ever need us to play ourselves, we'll be happy to, you know, thinking not a prayer in hell or aren't we being noblesse oblige? Yes, of course. We're doing this poor schmuck a favor. And he did call us and we went and it changed my career. It changed my, I thought I didn't want to be funny anymore.

1:13:30And he kind of, being on that show, gave me a new lease on funny. Oh, it could be something else than my half hour experience of funny. funny can be this other thing. And he really did, I think, help my career. So yes, I love him. And he's a dickhead. He's still a dickhead. He's a dickhead. Does he ejaculate out of his forehead? I'm sure. Without doubt. I think you can say that. He thinks he's a big shot, but he hasn't ejaculated out of his forehead. I've just noticed something about you. Every once in a while, when you say something a smidge naughty or really interesting or out of left field, you'll look over to the, to our producer that we share and go, did you catch that?

1:14:16Or am I okay? I do. I like having, I like being. It's an audience for you, isn't it? I like having an audience. I like to know like if I'm, like if they give me the mmm, then I know I'm super screwed. I'm going to start doing that because they're, yeah. They're here. They're here for us. That reminds me of a story. I did a play with Christopher Walken. we did three sisters check offs at the Williamstown theater festival wow and it was a great group Amy Irving was in it and I mean Williamstown is like being on in New York it has the same amount of clout yeah you might as well be in circle in the square whatever and so Chris had a habit of talking to the audience what meaning he would literally okay like we're sitting here we're talking and our producers are over here at 90 degrees and in the middle of a scene he would go i think that when we go back to moscow we should and then he would turn and look talk directly to the audience and and finally the director said to chris because he's a guy named niko sakharopoulos oh yeah legendary legendary legendary Chris Chris you need to stop addressing the audience in the middle of the performance and Chris will never give this they're there I'm here I think it's rude to ignore them pretty good imitation and that's so spot on I'm I don't want to ignore they're here it would be rude to ignore them Chris so insane this is fun man thank you it is fun thank you so great but I'm a hungry man I'm gonna go eat lunch wanna go eat lunch let's go eat lunch yeah cafe gratitude or do you need a burger I've got that crazy chicken a pollo loco pollo loco is actually pretty really good really good a pollo loco is what makes the 911 franchise on Fox happen oh really that's how I eat it every day on 9-1-1 Lone Star, baby, coming to you.

1:16:37Do you know that I've, as one of the OGs of network television, as one of the Mount Rushmores. Yes. Very stony and stiff.

1:16:53See, this is why you're so funny. Somebody told me that I've literally had a show on the air every year since 1999. wow 99 24 years every wow every yeah just when you think I'm like I'm not I'm gonna miss it something happens like I I went to England and did a play in the West End with Aaron Sorkin and thought well that's over and then nope sure enough I came back and like they're like you wanna go in Brothers and Sisters so it's like I'll join but I was thinking will that get me on the Ted Danson Mount Rushmore yes no they may even chip away my face and discover yours. I won't allow it. This year, no.

1:17:37It'll be when I start up again after the strike with Mike Schur, by the way. Very excited. I will have not worked for two years, which is the longest since I started working 45, 50 years ago. And it's weird not to work. I love going to work. I love driving through the studio gates. I know. Love it. Isn't the best. It's still my dream. I like driving through the studios. I don't like driving up to the retrofitted dildo factory where they're now shooting. Oh, you must be out in the valley. Yes. Yes, the dildo capital of the world. Yes, but it's like I just don't feel like I'm in show business when I'm – it's that one studio.

1:18:23Yeah. It literally was, it's a paint thinning plant on one side and a retrofitted dildo factory on the other. And it just doesn't have the same je ne sais quoi as the Warner Brothers Gates. It just doesn't. Yeah. But I shot a show there. Yeah. I prefer the lot. Yeah, the lots are fun. I prefer Warner Brothers. I love turning right on James Stewart Avenue, crossover. As opposed to John Holmes Place. Yeah.

1:18:55There are a lot of kids out there going, John Holmes. John Holmes. Oh, you missed something there, kids. Oh, you really missed. It's a long tale. Didn't he die? He did. Well, he died, but was he involved in some sort of murder case? Well, that's the scene from Boogie Nights is based on. Oh, oh. That whole insane, amazing sequence in Boogie Nights is based on. Great film. The Wonderland Murders, they call it. Yeah, I love Boogie Nights. It's one of my favorite films of all time. Okay. All right, this was good. I mean, we can't stop that. Does this mean we can, like, at a party or something, we can go, hey, hey, I know you, buddy.

1:19:34I mean, there's some gems in here. Yeah. The Gates of the Dildo Factory is a great. Rob Lowe and Ted Danson. Who doesn't want to hear that? I mean. A couple of dildos. Just a couple of fucking dildo. Oh, that was fun.

1:20:03What a great guy. So, so sweet. So great. Anyway, thank you guys for listening. Hope you had fun. You got questions? I got answers. Let's hit the lowdown line.

1:20:16Hello, you've reached literally and our lowdown line where you can get the lowdown on all things about me, Rob Lowe. 323-570-4551. So have at it. Here's the beep. Hi, Rob. This is Jean calling from Florida. I'm a big fan of the podcast. I think you're a really great interviewer. And I was wondering if you have a favorite interviewer of all time. And what makes them so good at what they do. Thanks and keep rocking the show. Hey, Gene, thank you for that. And, and what, it's such a great question. It's so funny, isn't it? Cause like, I mean, today everybody loves Howard Stern. They think he's the, the, one of the great interviews out there.

1:21:06Well, here, here are the qualities that I think make a great interviewer that they clearly have a natural curiosity and that they are listening and that they ask the question behind the question and that they never ask the obvious question. I mean, I think there are so many people that would have, I don't know, I'll make this up because if I have Chris Pratt on my show, I'm definitely gonna ask him about Guardians of the Galaxy, but it's not gonna be the first thing I'm gonna ask him. and it's not going to be 20 minutes of that. So when you get people that you know on your show, go to the obscure, go to something that's off the beaten path.

1:21:57And it's the people that do that that I think are the great interviewers. Thank you. That was a great question. Next week, next Thursday, there is a new episode of Literally. Tell your friends, spread the word, and I will see you then. You've been listening to Literally with Rob Lowe, produced by me, Nick Liao, with help from associate producer Sarah Begar. Research by Alyssa Grawl. Editing by Jaron Ferguson. Engineering and mixing by Rich Garcia. Our executive producers are Rob Lowe for Low Profile, Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross, and myself for Team Coco, and Colin Anderson for Stitcher. Booking by Deirdre Dodd.

1:22:41Music by Devin Bryant. Special thanks to Hidden City Studios. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time on Literally with Rob Lowe. Whoever says saving money is hard doesn't know that new customers who bundle and save with Progressive save hundreds. Because switching your home and auto insurance is better than cutting down on the things you love. Like those iced lattes that help you get ready to face the day. So switch your home and auto to Progressive and see if you can save. And keep sipping away. Get your quote today at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and other insurers.

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