Hour 3: ‘4-Downs’ Buccaneers Preview, Stefon Diggs to Commanders, plus Anthony Michael Hall In-Studio

24:16Rich Eisen:Our radio audience has just returned. We saw a clip of what you're going to see tonight on Fox at 9 Eastern and every single Wednesday. Ladies and gentlemen from Nation's Dumbest, we've got Anthony Michael Hall back here on the program. And so you're a smart guy, though, Anthony. You know what? I'm proud of the GED that I earned, Rich, and yet this show was more challenging than I realized, man. Honestly, there was a lot of stuff. Okay. Geography, math, science, things I didn't do well with in high school. Okay. But it was fun, man. It was fun. So GED, that's the most you ever got? I barely made it through high school, to be very honest with you.

24:49Rich Eisen:Not that I'm not a smart guy. Yeah, yeah. When did you first get a call to say, do you want to act or anything like that? I started out when I was a kid in the 70s. I was doing plays and doing commercials and all that stuff. Right. Huh. And so you were in grade school or something like that? I was in elementary school, yeah. Younger than that, yeah. So what's the first, like, what's the, when you get like a residual check? Oh, yeah. What's the earliest thing you ever did? Yeah, I was probably in grade school, yeah. No kidding. Yeah. Doing what? Making money, Rich. What was the first show? Commercials.

25:22I think I did a honeycomb commercial back in the day. Honeycomb. Remember those cereals? Oh, yeah.

25:27Rich Eisen:They used to hold it up next to a rule. Right. You'd measure the width of the honeycomb. Right. I remember that. I did a Nerf soccer ball commercial, too. A bunch of stuff. A Nerf soccer ball commercial. Huh. Things you got to do to earn a buck. And then that's how you got things rolling for you, huh? That's how it got going? As a kid, yeah. Okay. I only did paper towels. Did that. Paper towels? Paper towels. I did. I did a paper towel ad. That's right. Okay. Remember Nancy Walker? remember her of course she was she was a quicker picker upper remember we're going deep into the 70s here guys you did a bounty quicker picker upper commercial with nancy walker that happened that's how old i am that's how well come on we're from the same era so uh okay so then let's get to uh some of the uh some of the the stuff sure um when was the first time you got a call from John Hughes.

26:19Rich Eisen:When did that happen? After I'd done Vacation. I did Vacation with Chevy and Harold Ramis directed that, but that was a John Hughes script. And then from there... He wrote Vacation? He did. I did not know that. Yeah, he did. And then I worked on Sixteen Candles after that, and then we did a run of the three films. We did Breakfast Club and the Weird Sciences. Okay, so then what's your favorite memory from Vacation? When was that? It was a great experience. I think shooting at the Grand Canyon was a lot of fun. Working with John Candy. Incredible. He was great. You got a good story on that, Fran?

26:45Well, you know, There was originally another ending to the film. It was originally Chevy was holding Roy Wally hostage. He's supposed to be like the Walt Disney character, right? Right. Ultimately, they tested the film and they felt that the ending wasn't strong enough. So the audience wanted to see the family get to the park. So we did a reshoot. So we shot at Magic Mountain way back in the day, early 80s. And that was a sort of added ending, you know, the one with John Candy. When you say, sorry, folks. Yeah. Yeah. That was like the second ending. Yeah. That was the second. Yeah. It's like eight months after we wrapped the film.

27:14because when they tested the film, the audience was like, wait a minute, we want to see them get to the park.

27:18Rich Eisen:Right. Oh, so that was totally added. That was an added added. So how old were you? 14 at the time, yeah. Yeah, man. Did you get some of the humor? Did you get some of it? Oh, yeah. And I still think it holds up great. I think that movie of all of them, I think it's hilarious. Yeah. And Chevy was... Chevy was great. He was? Yeah. Okay. He was cool. I mean, I've seen the documentaries about it. You hear some things. You were going to bring that up? How was the documentary? Telling? It was telling. Enlightening? Yeah. Interesting. That's one word for it is telling for sure. Okay, so you're 14 years old and you're – No, now I'm 58.

27:52Rich Eisen:No, no, no. You were 14 years old. You're on the set of Family Vacation. Yeah. And did you meet Christy Brinkley? I did. Oh. She was a highlight. Incredible. Because I was getting that Sports Illustrated, the swimsuit edition every year. Remember? Yes, sir. Oh, yeah. Yeah? So for her to be on the set, great lady, really sweet, nice person. But it was a yowza. It was kind of, there she is. This was pre-Billy Joel or post-Billy Joel? This is, I think, pre-Billy Joel. Pre-Billy Joel. There you were on that set. And John Hughes wrote it. And so when it's time for you to, so 16 Candles was the first one?

28:26That was the first time that he and I worked together. Okay. Yeah. He was a great guy, man. I owe so much to him. And Matty Simmons. And of course, Harold Ramis. You know, they saw something in me as a kid, which was a blessing.

28:36Rich Eisen:I mean, Harold Ramis is as classic as they come. I mean, obviously, folks might know him from Ghostbusters. Sure. also stripes right um he also directed groundhog day if i'm not so many hits yeah stripes caddyshack you know and he was responsible for 10 of the biggest comedies of all time as a writer he sure was yeah he's a great guy and so then 16 candles you were on the set there and did you know that you were you know we had no idea these were small budgeted films at the time right greenlit by by universal and then john hughes was a new director so i don't think we had any idea you had no idea Yeah, what could happen or that they would hit and land with an audience.

29:16Okay.

29:16Rich Eisen:And so what would you say from that era of your career is your favorite movie where you're like, that's the best one? I had a lot of fun on Weird Science because at that point John and I had done three films together and we just had a shorthand. He was great to work with. What did you love about it? Well, just we got along. He had a great sense of humor. He loved music. We were always kind of conspiring together to make it better. We would shoot the scene as written, two or three takes, and then he would say, mix it up. you know do something else okay and that what a heck of a cast yeah he was great that way he let us all do that rich he was great about ad-libbing and but once we shot it the way it was written after two or three takes right but he was just awesome that way you know he really was the breakfast club um to me is is so good and it still resonates today man i don't know you know you have kids or or i mean we my wife and i showed it to our kids as they were getting into one of them was getting into high school and a couple were you know my my daughter's now 12 we showed it to her when it was like she's nine so she might have it might have been too young for her right but we because we wanted to show them like hey listen some of the stuff that you might be hearing in high school now or going into that it's been going on forever right you know right and so that's though shooting that you was shooting in in an actual high school we were in chicago where John was from.

30:36So the studio enabled him to do that. So we shot a lot of the films in Chicago and then partially back in Los Angeles. But that one was like a play. I mean, it really holds up. It's incredible when I think back that he was still a young guy. He was only in his early mid thirties at that time. Right. But it really has a great message and the writing is great. You know, that one definitely lives in the hearts of people, which is a blessing. How long did it take you to shoot that? Quick shoot, Rich. That was about 35 days quick. So just a month. Yeah.

31:02Rich Eisen:And did you get along? Did everyone get along? Everyone got along. Great. Yeah. One thing he did, which was cool, he would always allow for rehearsal time. So we'd all get together for about a week or so, just sit around, talk about it. Then we'd start blocking the scenes, bringing the other departments in and kind of figuring out how he was going to shoot it. But he was just, just cool on all those levels. He was right there with you, collaborating on the process. What license did you take for that role in any way, shape or form? Well, just like when we're all getting high in the, you know, and I'm ad-libbing and just doing stuff that was inspired for me as a kid by listening to Richard Pryor, George Carlin, But I would come in and imitate bits of Pryor to John, and we would be watching some of Pryor's films.

31:38Even on weekends, I'd be at his house with his family and his kids. And so just that kind of thing, the impetus from that came from just laughing together, just me imitating all Richard Pryor bits for John. And then he would incorporate them, and that became the scene of Weird Science, too, at the Blues Bar, too. No kidding. Yeah, so just that kind of fun, that sense of play was really great that he had that because all the scripts are already funny. They're already working. so he would give us license you know to try things and mix it up which was really cool and he did

32:03Rich Eisen:that for all of us and and so for for for breakfast club was there an alternate ending for that too or no nothing no that was it scripted as it was yeah i think that was intended to be done first and then they wound up switching it back in the day at universal so then we made 16 candles first and went right into that one i gotta be honest with you man i would love to see um like a a reunion version of The Breakfast Club to see where everybody is now. You know what's crazy? The last time I spoke to Mr. Hughes, Rich, he called me with John Candy on the phone. It was about 1988. And we just hung out on the phone for a couple hours.

32:40And he talked about it at that time. It was something that was on his mind. Like what? The idea of bringing back The Breakfast Club. Like those five characters reunited somehow later in their life and they're in the workforce and they're in their 30s. I mean, it's a long time ago. So I think that it was something he was playing with. I don't know if he had written it or not, but he just was so prolific. You know, even when we were doing breakfast club, he came to me about a couple of weeks in and we were shooting the breakfast club. And he came to me in the hallway goes, I just came up with the other idea for our next film.

33:04And he goes, it's going to be you and this other kid. You're going to create a girl in the computer. I'm like, what? He wrote an entire act of weird science after we had wrapped the night before at rap rather when he went home. So he was just incredibly prolific, man. Wasn't he also, was he just finished shooting Ferris Bueller? That was after this. Right. So the trilogy of films I did with him led to those other films. At that point, he also had a deal at Universal and he was making a lot of films that he wasn't just directing, producing.

33:31Rich Eisen:So he's already thinking about maybe like a high school reunion and it's The Breakfast Club all back together. Right. And this was probably like 87 or 88. As I said, it was the last time I got to speak to him, unfortunately. But he called you with candy? He called me with candy on the phone. It was really cool. It was really great. I was amazed. I'm just sitting there listening to you guys. You're like, whoa. Yeah. Yeah. We just kind of hung out on the phone. It was great. Right. Right. And so also one last thing for you on this, if you don't mind, I appreciate you going down the memory lane. I'm happy to cool, man.

33:59Rich Eisen:When you guys were called the Brad pack, you know, that was a very famous documentary that just came out. Andrew McCarthy did quite a, that, that, that one hit me. Did it? Yeah. How did it hit you when you were called the Brad? Well, that didn't really bother me. I thought it was kind of goofy. I always thought the rat pack was cooler than the Brad pack, but that article was a thing, you know, I think it was a bit of a ploy. They set them up to carouse and sit around talking about themselves. Right. I wasn't really in that. I mean, I was part of the article, but I was at the young age of that group.

34:25Rich Eisen:You were – Yeah. But that's kind of stuck as a term with people, but I never really made – Pardon me. I'm sorry. I would consider you part of that though. Yeah. Yeah. It was a way to identify a group of us, a generation of actors. But did it really affect me? No, I just kept it moving. It just kept working. But I saw the documentary. I thought it was interesting. What did you think? I thought it was mostly about Andrew McCarthy. Right. Well, I mean, because he was talking about how that kind of derailed a lot of their... That's his perspective, yeah. But not yours. No. That's what you're saying.

34:57Rich Eisen:No, sir. So when you look back on that time of your life and your career, what do you think of? Just grateful. Grateful. Gratitude. Just thankful for the great start I had, the people, the shoulders who I stood on, giants like Matty and Harold, and gave me an opportunity, and yeah, just kept working at it. How'd you like doing Reacher? I had a good time on that show, man. It was fun. It was fun. Yeah. I mean, big action show, man. Yeah. We've had Rich sit in that chair. Yeah. He filled up the chair. He fills it up, huh? Yeah. I enjoyed meeting him. Did you? Like, yeah. Oh, good. It seemed like a good time that you were having on that set, right?

35:32Rich Eisen:Yeah. No, it was good. I liked playing the villain against him. Do you like playing villains? Mm-hmm. Well, that role was kind of funny. It was kind of an arms dealer. It was a crazy role. Right. And he's a great script. This guy, Nick Santora, created the show. It was wonderful. gave me the opportunity to do it, and I really enjoyed playing opposite Alan. But the crew, we had a great group of people. They turn out a big show every two weeks. They make those episodes, and it's strong. It was very well done, very well produced. Dark Knight, you want to roll that one out a little bit here? Dark Knight, yeah.

36:05I had a small role in that years ago. Great experience. What did you do for that one again? I played the newscaster in it. I just finished the Dead Zone, and I went to London to shoot that. It was a lot of fun. And seeing people like Gary Oldman, guys that I really admired work, and Heath and Christian, too. They were fantastic to watch.

36:21Rich Eisen:Yeah. I mean, and again, you've got a Halloween store coming up. Yeah, this is a film I did for Kenan Thompson's company, Rich. It's a horror comedy. We shot in Hawaii about a year and a half ago. It stars a young lady who's on Dutton Ranch. Her name is Natalie Lynn. She's really talented. And it's a horror comedy. It's really fun. I play Sheriff in it. Really great cast. So that's forthcoming. And then the show, SWAT, which is going to be on. It's a new offshoot of SWAT. Okay. Spinoff. It's called SWAT Exiles. I work with Shamar more on that. Jerry O 'Connell, some other people. That was great.

36:52Jerry O 'Connell. Yeah, he's a nice dude. That guy is off his rocker.

36:57Rich Eisen:Is he? Yeah. I mean, how many fantasy football leagues is that guy in? Like 12? All of them. He's a big fantasy guy? He is that for sure. And then that's coming up on Stars in September. Yes, sir. And then Nation's Dumbest, Wednesday at 9 Eastern on Fox. You got choices this summer. You got Odysseus and you got Nation's Dumbest. You're welcome, America. You're welcome, America. Can we talk about the blues bar scene again, though, in Weird Science? Because for my group of friends, we were in, like, elementary, junior high. Like, we still, to this day, will quote this. What do you remember? And who were you channeling in that scene?

37:33Well, like I mentioned earlier, man, like, Richard Pryor was a huge hero of mine. As a kid, I would listen to all those albums from the 70s of Richard and George Carlin equally, you know. But I think that that was the impetus for it, TJ. would imitate those bits like Mudbone and these other bits that Pryor would do. And it would make John Hughes laugh. And that's how we set up that scene. But there's a very funny story. Fats, the guy who was with me in that part scene, TJ, this is a great story. Yes, sir. He was homeless on the nickel downtown LA in the 70s. They were shooting Beretta on the streets with Robert Blake.

38:04This is way back in the day when we were kids. Homeless guy jumps up on the camera truck and tries to make off with the damn 35-millimeter camera and starts running down the street. And Fats recovered it because he was just almost living on the dime there, right? Down in LA. So he gets the camera back. Next thing you know, Fats had a job on Beretta. He was a supporting character. Like next week, he was like a regular on the show. So that's how Fats got into show business. So he saved the camera. And then he winds up in weird stuff. And he winds up in Beretta. Yeah, he winds up on Beretta. And then I got to work with him.

38:33He was a great guy. No kidding. Fats, remember Fats? Let me tell you my story. From back in the day. On the telephone?

38:42Rich Eisen:That's what you're talking about, huh, TJ? Yeah, I mean, the whole scene was he was drunk in the bar with a bunch of brothers, and he was spitting game, and he had this beautiful woman with him, and they were trying to figure out how he was able to pull it. How do you do this? How do you do this? How do you do this? How do you do this? How do you do this? How do you do this? Well, and I just love the fact that - There's like four of these old - I'm not watching it. It's really funny. I can't believe I have like a handful of movies that are over 40, which makes me feel 107. Thank you, America. But dude, man, I mean - They hold up, man.

39:10We're still talking.

39:10Rich Eisen:We talk about stuff like this all the time, as you know. I love it, yeah. And so it's great. Nostalgia is great. And it's kind of like a new thing for people who are half our age. And stuff stands up. It's just kind of crazy. When my wife and I showed Breakfast Club to our kids, they were all like, we paused it, which is a very provocative act. This is the teachable moment. And we're like, you notice that they were kind of like straying from paying attention. And we're like, hey, what's going on? And the two oldest were like, when does it become tomorrow? And we're like, no, no, no. It's just it's about one day of detention.

39:58Rich Eisen:I see. And how relationships can change even in a span of hours when there's a connectivity and a collective of having shared experiences. A great review of it. This is what we're trying to explain. And they're like, when is it tomorrow? They're like, yeah, but where's the editing? Because that's what they were like. But this is the generation of – I appreciate it. No kidding. Everybody's on the scroll, Rich. I know. Were they confused why they didn't have phones? Did they bring that up to you? Yeah. Yeah, like, that one they knew. Okay. I mean, because, you know, Susie and I are conditioning them.

40:32Rich Eisen:Like, when we showed them E.T., we're like, you see that thing on the wall with this little wire? That's called a phone. You know what I mean? Like, people used to have busy signals. I know. You know? Like, and I understand it makes me sound old or whatever, but it's the truth. But this stuff stands up. When it's well-written and well-acted, man. I appreciate it, Rich. You know? Well, listen. Sure. All, you know, credit to John Hughes. Because it is crazy. The whole world's doing this. everybody's on the scroll. Right. Doom scroll or not, but yeah. New world. Well, I mean, you'd have had your phones taken from the detention anyway.

41:01Rich Eisen:Oh, no kidding. Come on now. He don't even have his license, Lisa. Great to see you, man. Great to see you. Thanks, Rich. Anthony Michael Hall, everybody. Check him out tonight on Fox at 9 Eastern Time on Nation's Dumbest. Everybody, we're back with some fun Jim Harbaugh stuff from across the street. Harbaugh. The Rich Eisen Show. The Podcast.

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43:47Rich Eisen:It should be a nice yap fest between me and TJ. You got any guests or just the two of you? No, it's too much news. Yeah, it's too much news. That's awesome. Plus, we didn't get a guest. TJ, I knew it. I knew it, TJ. We keep it real. That's one thing are the people that listen to us love about this. We keep it real. Okay. All right. He got his nice jacket on. He's got something going on over there. So So we have a segment here that we love to call the Harbaugh Files. Yes. When Jim has a moment at the podium. Normally it's just him, you know, talking about, you know, extraterrestrials or whatever.

44:28Rich Eisen:But this one involves a hold-in. A hold-in? A hold-in. Hold-in. Yeah. Tui. Tui. Tui. Almost lost you back there. I know who you're talking about. was drowning tooly as he is known on the uh on the chargers um he's holding in right now and um but he's also hurt and so let me make sure i i get this all correct yeah tuli tui pelotu yes that was actually excellent the harbaugh files involves tuli tui pelotu who is one of the best young pass rushers in the national football league a mouthful certainly uh for opposing quarterbacks to see coming at. So this Harbaugh Files, normally a very light and airy segment, involves Jim going back and forth with a reporter, I believe Chris Rim of ESPN, asking him about Thule when he's going to get out there for team practices, which he's not going to do if he's holding in.

45:37Rich Eisen:But if he's injured, then he's got to work his way towards it. So that's the setup for this Harbaugh Files. Sometimes people that are standing on third base think they hit a triple, but they didn't. The Harbaugh Files. Will you participate in team drills today? Expected to, and we'll see how individual goes, but that's the expectation. Has something changed with the situation that he'll participate in team? Yeah, the ramp-up. been progressing. So this whole thing has just been a ramp up with Tully? Yeah. Yeah. I don't know for sure where it's at. You know? I mean, if I knew for sure, then I would say for sure.

46:32You know something I don't know, Chris? I mean, you get that look like you do. Let me know if you do, because I don't know for sure. It's been mysterious. I don't know for sure. It seems like none of us know. With anybody. If anybody would know, you wouldn't know. That's what I'm asking. No, no, that's not true. That's not true. Oh, you wouldn't know. Am I in somebody's body? Am I a doctor? I've got a lot of things that hang on my wall, you know, but a medical degree is not one of them.

47:00Rich Eisen:The Harbaugh File. Wow. that's quite the back and forth across the street. No contest wrestling. Check it out later. The Ridge Isis show podcast. You know, when you're locked in focus and fearless, welcome to the WNBA, your vision narrows. You can't look away. Every assist, every stop, every logo three. From beyond the logo. Every, did you see that moment? You bet. What records are going to be broken this season? All of it right here. Lock in. It's the WNBA on ESPN. All season long.