Hour 3: WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes, and ‘Celebrity True or False’ with Andrew McCarthy

22:33Rich Eisen:You know how April feels. Everything speeds up. Games matter. More hoops and hockey schedules tighten. Your phone won't stop buzzing. And somewhere in the middle of it all, there's that quiet little reminder. Taxes. You'll get to it tonight or tomorrow or after the weekend. And if you handle it the old way, you're refreshing your inbox like it's breaking news. Waiting. Wondering. Hoping everything's squared away. That's a lot of mental bandwidth. With Intuit TurboTax Expert full service, you can match with a dedicated expert who understands your specific tax situation and handles your taxes for you, start to finish.

23:07Rich Eisen:You can do it all online or meet in person at one of their new tech-enabled store locations. Have your tax forms imported directly into the app and hand everything off to your TurboTax expert. While they work to get you every dollar you deserve, you can go about your normal routine, giving you time back to focus on what actually deserves your attention, like rooting for your team to make the playoffs. April 15th is not waiting, people. Visit TurboTax.com and hand off your taxes to a TurboTax expert today. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. Andrew McCarthy is here on The Rich Eisen Show on our New York set.

23:47Rich Eisen:the New York Times bestselling author, Who Needs Friends? An Unscientific Examination of Male Friendship Across America, born out of, as you just mentioned in the TV only segment, that your 21-year-old son just casually wondered who your friends were, essentially. And then you decided to just go out in your car and try and explore what friendship is between males in this day and age in America. What did you discover? Well, there's an extraordinary amount of loneliness, that's for sure. I mean, there are all sorts of crazy statistics about how guys who have only a high school diploma, 25 % of them said they have absolutely no friends at all.

24:2619 % of men say they have no close friends now, whereas that number was 3 % in 1990. So there's this increase, you know, this rise of men who are sort of more isolated. Why is that? Because of the phones, devices? Maybe it's phones, maybe it's devices, you know, but I think guys in general have a certain hard time with certain words like, you know, intimacy and vulnerability, you know, that's come to mean weakness. And the one thing a guy can't be is weak, right? You can't demonstrate any kind of weakness in that way. So it's, it's a very isolating kind of dynamic. But I think, you know, culturally, too, I've met so many guys, too, who would say, you know, my wife is my best friend, but I'm not hers.

25:00You know, and a lot of women I met would say, will you please? Yeah, my husband has no friends, you know, and it's kind of amazing. And so I just, the loneliness out there It was sort of shocking to me, but also met guys who've been dear friends for a year. You know, I met these two guys in Ohio who were in their 70s, former cops, and they've been friends since they were 10. They're 60 years old. And the one of them said, you know, when one of us dies, the other's going to have to go on ice because I don't know what we would do without each other. You know what I mean? I never had that kind of intimate, close-type bond with a guy.

25:29I've had my dear friends, but that kind of, somebody there, your whole life, right off your shoulder. Right. You know, somebody I met was saying, I stole this line. They said, women make friends face-to-face. Guys make friends shoulder-to-shoulder. and I think there's a lot of truth in that you know with guys there's sort of a bonding experience that happens you hear all about it with you know military guys are always talking about that and you know the brothers for life or you know I had a neighbor once he and I'm a good fences make good neighbors kind of guy and you know he would say hi to me over the fence for like 10 months and I'm like yeah hey how you doing and then one day I was making a putting together a basketball hoop for my kid in the backyard and I'm terrible DIY guy and he pops his head over the fence and he says hey you need a hand and i'm like uh yeah i yeah and anyway it took us two hours to make this basketball hoop and by the time we were done with that we were friends huh you know what i mean there's this bonding it's like when you go you know you go play golf with somebody it's right

26:18Rich Eisen:exactly happens well i mean there's who's the uh who's the um the comedian who tells the story about how he plays golf with a friend um and oh yeah brian reagan brian reagan the comedian tells a story this is perfect for this conversation right and and his bit is that his friend had just gotten divorced um i have this exact same story with my wife and the wife and he goes home to his wife and she wants all the tea that he just got on the golf course about what happened between his friend and and his wife and he goes and tells his wife like we didn't even talk about it yeah we just we went and she's like what are you doing when you're out there playing anyone he's like i know he's got a new driver it's a great it's a hilarious bit but it kind of is speaking to what you're talking about.

27:06Rich Eisen:I think it's totally true. And yet you come home from that feeling more connected. Right. So I said, you know, my wife had the same thing. She goes, you know, how's Rich's wife? And I'm like, I don't know. Well, she just had the operation. I'm like, we didn't talk about it. Well, what'd you talk about? Like, nice pot. I mean, you know, yeah. But, but at the end of that, I come home feeling closer to Rich, better, you know, happier to be with my wife. The whole thing, you know, there's a certain, guys are like toddlers, I think in a certain way we do parallel play very well yeah you know by the way you're not wrong you're not wrong I mean and and I'm sitting here thinking you know my core friends uh I we're still you know uh in contact and and tight from you know my friends in Staten Island where I grew up and then you know a handful of guys from college but mostly you know my poker group in in Los Angeles that I when I moved 23 years ago that's basically my my friend's base pretty much you It's great.

28:01And guys, you know, like my wife meets somebody and she'll go and she likes her. She'll go, hey, do you want to go have coffee tomorrow? And they'll go sit and have coffee and they'll look into each other's eyes meaningfully for two hours and have this great bonding experience. But like guys playing poker is the perfect thing. It's this activity. We barely look at each other just to see if they're bluffing. That's about it. You know what I mean? There's something about that. But I don't think that's to be negated, but I just think it's a different way of sort of connecting.

28:25Rich Eisen:You know, the book is called Who Needs Friends? An Unscientific Examination of Male Friendship Across America. Andrew McCarthy is here. Fifth book, New York Times bestselling author, but of course, obviously an actor in so many great films that I can't forget. and sort of to hit you on all of these subject matters. We have a segment that we frequently play with a guest of somebody with a filmography like yourself called Celebrity True or False about what's true or not about the backstories. And we'd love to play that with you right now. All right, here we go. Go. Here's the animation. Go and hit it, please.

29:03Rich Eisen:Celebrity true or false. You can't handle the truth. You can't handle the truth. Here we go. celebrity true or false with Andrew McCarthy true or false Andrew when you first got to Los Angeles you were too young to rent a car so your co-star in the movie class Jacqueline Bissett and her partner took you in and even drove you to auditions is that true true yeah but it's Bissett as in kiss it my bad that's how Jackie told me she said it's Bissett Andrew as in kiss it okay wow so i haven't forgotten that but yes so jackie did drive i will never forget it either jackie did drive me to my uh auditions and things early on and i was in a meeting with some guy and he said how you getting around town i said oh well i'm either taking the bus or jackie's driving me you know i was 18 yeah and he said jackie i said jack can visit no way so we went over to the window to look out the window jackie was sitting down there and her old cadillac convertible just waiting for me and the guy's jaw just dropped.

30:01I didn't get the job, but you know. But your status jacked up.

30:06Rich Eisen:How did you get in touch with her when you moved out? Well, I was doing a movie with her. So the movie class. Yeah, the movie class. Yeah, I played her young lover in this movie. And so when we were finishing the movie, she said to me, Andrew, what are you doing after the film? I said, oh, I have to go to Los Angeles and get an agent. You know, I was from New Jersey. What did I know? And she said, where are you staying? I mean, I don't know. She goes, you'll stay with me. I'm like, okay. So I stayed at Jack and she was then living with a guy, Alexander Goodenough, who was this Russian ballet guy who just affected this big ballet store.

30:35And so I used to just hang out at their house for, I was there for like six weeks. I freeloaded on them. It was absolutely, I should have quit show business right then. It was absolutely the most amazing time of my life.

30:43Rich Eisen:Should have dropped Mike and gone off, but thankfully you did not. True or false. Next one, Andrew McCarthy, while making St. Elmo's fire, Rob Rob Lowe invited you to dinner at Spago with Liza Minnelli, and you wound up all at Sammy Davis Jr.'s house by the end of the night. Absolutely true. Night of my life. It was crazy. Insane. You have a floor. Please. What else? We were doing the St. Elmo's friend Rob said, you want to go out to dinner? And I'm like, sure. Rob never invited me out. I'm like, sure. So we went out, and then I figured we were meeting his girlfriend, and we sat down at this table at Spago, which was like the restaurant, right?

31:15And I sat down next to this woman, and I said, this is Liza. She went, hi. and I'm like I'll have a double vodka please and anyway so then we went up this dinner's wrapping up and uh Liza goes should we go to Sammy's I'm like yeah yeah definitely let's go to Sammy's I thought it was a club so Liza goes off and makes a call and she goes yeah we're all set to go to Sammy's comes back and we follow Liza up you know we car pool up to following us up into the hills and we're at this house and I'm like this is no club this is a real private exclusive kind of club going you know you still thought you were going to some kind of private thing and so the door swings open and there's sammy davis jr and he's like cats come on in so we hung with sammy and it was fun that sammy was long sober but he i was getting drunker and drunker me and sammy like splitting cigarettes and smoking and he's got i got my eye on you young cats i love what you're doing i got my eye on you and i'm thinking like which eye and then the night goes on and then Liza says I'll drive you home in my my rolls and I'm like okay fantastic so Liza's gonna drive me home and I'm really drunk at this point I'm thinking I'm gonna I might throw up here so I try and put the window down but the window won't go down so I'm trying to distract myself now I can't throw up in Liza's rolls if he's driving me home so you can't so I start I'm drunk keep in mind and I get in my mind I should just start singing to distract So I start singing, somewhere over the rainbow.

32:43Oh, my God. So Liza turns to me. Just slowly I turn, turns and stares at me. And she just goes, way up high. And we both of us start singing, somewhere over the rainbow in her car. Wow. At a red light in West Hollywood. And it was, yeah, another great moment of my early life. Wow. I never saw Liza again after that. That was it. One and done. How about Sammy? Sammy also? Never saw Sammy. Well, I saw Sammy at Radio City performing years later, but that didn't count.

33:12Rich Eisen:Oh, my God. Oh, that's amazing. That may be the greatest answer in the history of celebrity, true or false. We've got three more to go. All right, Andrew McCarthy. I'll try and keep it short. No, no, please. No, no, no. You explore the studio space. During the reshoot for the ending of Pretty in Pink, you had already shaved your head and lost weight for a different role, so you wore a wig in the final scenes of the movie. Dude, you've got all my greatest hits here. Is this true? Yeah, absolutely true. Yeah. And so we had, because they screened the movie, the audience loved the movie, loving the movie, loving the movie.

33:42Then comes the part where I, my character, Molly Ringwald played like Girl from the Wrong Side of the Tracks, has a best buddy. And I was like the rich guy. And so we were going to go to the prom together. And then I dumped her because of peer pressure. So she shows up with her best friend and the audience hated that. They started throwing things at the screen. So the studio said, we have to reshoot this and she has to get the guy she wants. So as you said, I had a shaved head. I went and we went back to reshoot it. and when you look at the movie now there's a picture of me and it's really it's bad wig acting i look so forlorn and sad when i go up to molly and say you know i love you and all that but and i just look so pathetic and it's really just bad wig acting it's like a bird's nest on top of my

34:20Rich Eisen:head so when i'm watching pretty and pink which i know you do a lot by the way well we're showing it to our kids i mean my wife this one of her it's one of her favorite it's amazing how the next generation down no doubt we're showing well i mean because a lot of the stuff you know from those films translates to the current all the feelings totally the hairdos i laugh at but the feelings are exactly exactly right and so but so you're wearing a wig for the final scene that final prom scene yeah i have this really ridiculous wig on yeah and once you see it you can never not see it that's what i'm saying i'm gonna watch it very differently oh my god uh all right two more uh true or false andrew mccarthy originally the lead character in mannequin was written as an older lonely storekeeper with dudley moore in mind but was rewritten to a young artist when you hopped on board is that true that's the first i've heard of that no i gotta make a call oh all right i only had a career because dudley turned it down well i mean you're already in class right that was first yeah that wasn't much of a hit no i'd never heard that story oh wow okay i don't know we don't know if that's true or not no let's go with that we can go with her technically with kim cattrall as the mannequin you were the first sex in the city boyfriend of all time i'm correct that would be right yeah right yeah back in the day that's what i can i remember that kim just was allowed we couldn't catch the person kim was the last person who came in and auditioned and it was just for that yeah and it was just one of those things she just walked in and went okay she'll do she was great yeah yeah oh and there's a pick on me and a motorist I was like, God, I hated that Harley.

35:53I could not drive a Harley. Oh, my God. It was so nerve wracking. What do you mean? I was so stressed out trying to drive, you know, and you have to ride this bike and look like, yeah, yeah, we're cool. And then they go cut and I go, oh, fuck. Oh, my God. So they had to build a rig and mount to the tow me because it was so like, I'm like, don't put him on the back of this thing. You can't put me killing myself is one thing, but you can't put Kim on here, too.

36:14Rich Eisen:Oh, man. All right. Last one. True or false. Andrew McCarthy many of the Weekend at Bernie's iconic scenes were thought up on the spot with you and Johnny Silverman just keeping asking what couldn't we do at the body yeah that's true I mean there was so much crap that we just made up at the time like what what'd you make of well it's like let's throw him over the balcony yeah yeah let's throw him over the balcony what if the tide comes in and washes him out yeah yeah yeah and so then they build a rig to have him wash out of that scene you know what if he what if we staple a toupee on his head what if his hair is fake and we just staple his head and all that stuff so much of it That's my greatest move of all time.

36:49All that was written there was I'm just sitting out on the back with Bernie and a pretty lady walks by and I wave and say, yeah, there's a party tonight. And I was in a Monopoly jag when I was doing that. And so I just brought the Monopoly board to work the next day. And I said, Ted, can I do this? And then Johnny came up with the idea of stringing his hand up on the fish line and having it wave when I pulled the thing. And it was like me cheating Bernie, going, hey, all that. Yeah, the Monopoly thing is probably my most brilliant turn in show business.

37:16Rich Eisen:The tuxedo, too? That was just made up on the spot also? What's the tuxedo? I don't know if he's wearing a tuxedo or anything like that, no? I don't remember anything, but I used to drink a lot, so I don't remember that. All right, anything you wanted to do, and they're like, no. No, we did everything. Everything we wanted to do, we just did. Most of it's in the movie, too. Most of the time, that stuff, you think when you're doing it, if you think you're funny, you're usually not, is sort of the rule of thumb. But we would do stuff that we thought was hysterical, and some of it's pretty funny.

37:40Rich Eisen:All right. Well, the last one, true or false, Johnny Silverman's rabbi dad married me and my wife, and he signed the wrong line and was married to my wife for 24 hours. That is true. I'm just telling you. Really? Yeah, that happened. Johnny's dad, the rabbi to Jack Ruby, married. Really? Yeah, that's another true or false. Yeah, Johnny Silverman's dad married my wife and I married 23 years. But he signed the wrong line of the marriage license and New York City called my wife up and said, guess who you're married to, pretty much. I was married to Johnny's dad. My wife was married to Johnny's dad legally for about 24 hours.

38:14Rich Eisen:nice johnny's a great dude he is um he is so those yeah so very good baseball player yeah well i mean that's that's how he that's actually that's how i met johnny was at the uh the celebrity all-star softball game at the all the all-star game in colorado in the late 90s i owe him a thing he got me involved in some celeb softball game where i got to be at the plate at yankee stadium which was like the biggest amazing wow the old yankee not the original old but the old By the way, I loved the documentary that you can see on Hulu as well, Brat Pack. Oh, thanks. That was awesome. Yeah, it was good to go back and sort of see everybody again like that.

38:52It was really interesting. Yeah, and people really responded to that. I mean, that really captures a moment in time for a certain generation.

38:57Rich Eisen:For you to speak to the journalist who termed you Brat Pack, which was definitely a moniker that was not helpful in any way, shape, or form. Do you have that moment with the actual journalist who came up with that pigeonholing was quite moving in the movie? Oh, good. Yeah, that was quite a big thing for me, too. It was really interesting to talk to him and sort of see how he was unapologetic. And yet he you know, he was he was on the fence about it himself, the whole thing. But just, you know, we I can joke that he's like the fifth Beatle because he's he's a part of the Brat Pack. Brat is the name of the documentary.

39:31Right. But it was great to go back and see everybody. It really helped me sort of have so much affection for that time when I didn't for so long. And it made me realize what a blessing that was in my life. Or like the avatars of youth for a certain generation.

39:46Rich Eisen:Well, you're looking at them. I'm 56, so 100 % I was watching a lot of these films and wondering how I could kind of be like you guys and try and live a lifestyle like that. not going to lie, you know, sitting there and watching all of these films. No, I hear all that. It just didn't feel, you know, like anything when you're on the inside of it, it just didn't feel that way. It did not. No. I mean, not to me anyway. You're young. You're kind of scared. You're just trying to figure out what's going on. And all I sort of knew is suddenly women liked me a lot were the week before they didn't. You know what I mean?

40:19I'd go into a bar and I was very viable sexually. And that was sort of the big change for me. Yeah. But only in hindsight did I realize how important it was for us. and, you know, your generation.

40:31Rich Eisen:No doubt. What would you say is the avatar for the Brat Pack films of all of them, if you could choose one? Well, the best one, I think, is sort of Breakfast Club, you know? I think that's the most sort of captures that sort of, you know, because those movies made, the romance was friendship, you know what I mean? And so it wasn't boy-girl or boy-boy, you know, it was about, the romance was about friendship logic. Saddam Husqvar is also that way. It's just, it was a romance of friendship. Were you in the periphery of trying to, of being in that film? or how come you were not in The Breakfast Club?

41:01Well, my children think I was in that movie. Right. My 12-year-old came up to me and said, Dad, a friend of mine saw you in The Breakfast Club, said it was a really good movie. And I'm like, well, I wasn't in it. He said, no, you were. He said you were. So anyway, I don't know why I was in it.

41:17Rich Eisen:It just was the way it was shot. It's just the way it was. But you choose that one. I think that's the best one. Which one were you in, though, that you think? I think St. Elmo's Fire, I think, really. That was my favorite role of mine in that time because I had that. I that part really suited me. That sort of rotten before it's ripe sort of cynicism to cover up vulnerability and all that, you know, and he had a longing for this other this woman that he never told anybody in that kind of, you know, everyone feels that way when you're 22. Nobody understands me. I'm in love from afar. And, you know, just great stories, man, and great times.

41:47Rich Eisen:And everybody check out Who Needs Friends? An Unscientific Examination of Male Friendship Across America. the fifth book by New York Times bestselling author Andrew McCarthy. What a pleasure having you here. Thank you for coming and sharing stories. Thanks a lot. A lot of fun. We'll be wrapping up this New York show and our two-day residency here in the Get Up studios when we come back. Rich Eisen here. I've traveled all over for some of the biggest NFL moments you can imagine. Conference championships, Super Bowls, draft weekends, and everywhere I go, the city just feels different. It's buzzing, packed, electric.

42:20Rich Eisen:Now, take that energy and multiply it by the entire world. That's what's coming this summer with the FIFA World Cup. Fans from every corner of the globe are going to be traveling to experience it live. And when that many people come to town, they're all looking for a place to stay. That got me thinking. If you live in or near a host city, this is one of those rare moments. You already have a space. This summer, you could list your space on Airbnb while fans are in town for the FIFA World Cup. not as a full-time thing, not as some huge lifestyle change, just during an event when demand is naturally high.

42:57Rich Eisen:When I travel for big games, I just want a comfortable place in a real neighborhood, and that's exactly what so many visiting fans will be looking for. If you've ever thought about listing your space, this summer is a great time as we welcome FIFA World Cup fans. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com slash host. For some of us, personal finances aren't just personal. They include a lot more people than ourselves. Loved ones, neighbours, the communities we call home, and the causes we hold in our hearts. At Thrivent, we help plan your financial picture with the bigger picture in mind.

43:38Rich Eisen:Because even though our business is helping guide your finances, our ambition is to make it mean so much more. Thrivent, where money means more. Connect with us at Thrivent.com. the rich heisen show the podcast yes sir um we're getting ready to wrap this show up that may have been one of the best celebrity true falses we've ever had very good uh let's sneak in a phone call aiden in new jersey you're here on the program what's up aiden what's up rich how are you you there aiden there you are what's going on hello no hello you're there aiden all right here we go We're going to have to put him back on hold.

44:21Rich Eisen:Aiden. All right. Aiden can't hear us. All right. We're just having all sorts of stuff today. All good. Call back. Anybody who's on hold, call back tomorrow. We'll be back in studio for our next show. Carnell Tate is going to join us. Nice. First wide receiver taken, right? There's no doubt. The only question is, you wind up with the Giants at five. What do you do? Like, what do you do with also the question of Jeremiah Love? What do you do if you're the Browns at six? What happens? So, end of the story. We got Carnell Tate on the program. We also have Todd McShay is going to join us. Todd McShay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

45:08Rich Eisen:It's going to be very fun. We're getting echoes now in our ears. So bottom line is we do thank everybody here in New York City for the last couple of days to open up the in-studio doors. Do I leave Greeny a note? I think that you should. There's nothing like coming to New York. Love this studio. Love this setup here. It's it's as first class as first class can be. You're going to write it on a napkin. I mean, what else am I going to write? Well, I mean, it's all the things that's available. I think you should do this right now. What do you what do you want to say to Greeny? I need a pen. Honestly, I found a pen.

45:39Rich Eisen:Should I do it on a napkin? I think you just do a napkin. Should you say something? I resign as H.C. of the NYJ. That's true. Should you do something like that? Because didn't Bill famously do that on a napkin? Greeny. I resign as H.C. of the NYJ. Yeah. Rich. Pay homage. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nice. Did you say Rich Eisen or just Rich? I think Rich is fine. I mean, I need to sign my last name. So, you know, is it like you just not nobody named Rich? That's just strolling. OK, yeah, you should. Yeah, then do your messages on. Do you ever sign your name? He might think it's Rich Kotite. Well, you signed it.

46:25Rich Eisen:So he's going to. Yeah, he might think it's Kotite. That's good. That's what I mean. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yes. Thanks for the studio. Well, that's nice. Was that O'Shea? Yeah, perhaps. We're all OK. Thanks for the studio. All right. Very good. Here we go. Should I hold it up? Which camera should I hold it up? Yeah. There it is. That one. Oh, we can't. Where does Greeny sit? Which one is right here? Yeah. Straight here. Right in the middle. So you can just literally leave it right here. Right here. Yeah. And he'll. Right there. It's good. Nobody touch it. Greeny. I resign as HC of the NYJ. Rich Eisen.

47:01Rich Eisen:Thanks for the studio. P.S. Thanks for the studio. Yeah. Okay. Now we can go. Now we're off to the airport. Heading back to Los Angeles. Go Lakers. Carnell Tate, Todd McShay, David Spade. No Contest Wrestling is working it. I want to thank everybody here on our set for welcoming us in. Appreciate you guys. We're back in Los Angeles on Wednesday's edition. We'll be back to wrap. Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show podcast. You can watch and listen to the Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to 3 Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney Plus, and on the ESPN app. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.

47:41Thank you.