WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.320 --> 00:00:06.120 How you doing out there? It's me Tigger Duc Wayne Duck. It's me 2 00:00:06.280 --> 00:00:10.439 Bunker's Deep Bobcat. All right, y'all, did it great? Your favorite 3 00:00:10.519 --> 00:00:15.720 firefly you desire hold old knock goud. My name is Jim Cummings and welcome 4 00:00:15.800 --> 00:00:21.239 to tuned In. Ladies and gentlemen, we are here today. Welcome to 5 00:00:21.320 --> 00:00:26.000 tuned In with Jim Cummings. Today we have a very special treat and old 6 00:00:26.039 --> 00:00:30.600 buddy of mine and a bodacious actor. You know him, you love him, 7 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:33.439 you can't live without him. And the crowd went wild for Rodber. 8 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:40.840 Thank you, thank you so very much for being here. That's my pleasure. 9 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:44.039 Bro. We go way back, We go a little way back, 10 00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:49.759 and uh, I remember it like it was yesterday, and it was okay. 11 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:53.479 Actually I don't remember much, but I do remember yesterday and you weren't 12 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:58.640 there. However, Uh it was great because I walk in and there's this 13 00:00:59.159 --> 00:01:03.640 incredible actor that everybody loves, including me, and I'm getting to hang out 14 00:01:03.640 --> 00:01:08.560 with him because we're doing a TV show called Bunkers, and it was you 15 00:01:08.760 --> 00:01:14.599 and then Rita Moreno was sitting across the room and I'm going, are you 16 00:01:14.760 --> 00:01:18.280 kidding me? Wait? And I'm pinching myself, you know. And and 17 00:01:18.840 --> 00:01:23.879 I've I've dug you from in the name of the Rose and then the Father 18 00:01:23.959 --> 00:01:29.439 and of the Son and the spare amen. But I used to be in 19 00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:37.480 my stage name Spiritue sang to just call me spirit human spear. And why 20 00:01:37.480 --> 00:01:42.439 did they? No? No, but I joke, Yeah, you joke 21 00:01:42.519 --> 00:01:46.480 professionally. Well no, not really, as you'll you'll you'll find that as 22 00:01:46.519 --> 00:01:49.200 we as we go on here, no one would pay me for this ship. 23 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:55.959 Well I'll have what he's having. But but no, it was incredible 24 00:01:56.680 --> 00:02:00.079 and uh and and of course I think one of your big boost would have 25 00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:05.840 been the Beast. M Yeah, this was a post beast, Yeah, 26 00:02:06.519 --> 00:02:10.919 roast beast. Yes, this is like doctor Seuss. Yeah. You know, 27 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:15.719 it's funny when you talk about, you know, everybody's reaction to somebody 28 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:21.560 walking into the room and you you know whatever, whatever, you know, 29 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:25.520 the moment of recognition, and it's always the absolute shoe on the other foot 30 00:02:25.560 --> 00:02:30.560 for me, Like I walked into that room feeling like I'm a tin horn. 31 00:02:30.599 --> 00:02:34.199 I've never done a voice and a cartoon before walking into a world I'm 32 00:02:34.280 --> 00:02:38.520 unfamiliar with. Nobody knows who the fuck I am, and and I'm looking 33 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:46.159 around and you know the obvious, you know, like big Shanny object. 34 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:51.680 Of course it is Ridam Arena. Everybody knows who she is. So I'm 35 00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:53.439 like going, oh my god, I'm not the only one that like, 36 00:02:53.560 --> 00:02:58.960 you know, like you know, has has figured out like, Okay, 37 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:00.560 maybe cartoons is going to be the way I go for the rest of my 38 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:07.439 career. But I told I just told the story with you, Jim a 39 00:03:07.479 --> 00:03:13.159 second ago as we were getting ready to roll here. Andrea Romano was the 40 00:03:13.159 --> 00:03:20.039 director of that thing, and you were playing Bonkers and another role, so 41 00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:23.199 you were a couple. You played you played two of the lead roles, 42 00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:32.039 but anybody who was anybody in Voiceover World Cartoon World was in that room and 43 00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:38.639 we're doing pretty good. And it was one of those beautiful experiences where you 44 00:03:38.759 --> 00:03:43.240 record it, you know, in real time, with the entire cast present, 45 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:46.759 rather than coming in individually, which is how sometimes you do it. 46 00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:50.039 So I got a chance to sit there and be part of an ensemble and 47 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:53.280 listen to what everybody else was doing. And at the very end of the 48 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:57.360 session I went up, everybody had kind of dispersed and left, and I 49 00:03:57.400 --> 00:04:00.960 was kind of like so blown away that I just I couldn't really move. 50 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:02.080 And I was the last one out of the room, and I walked up 51 00:04:02.080 --> 00:04:05.199 to Andrea Romano, the director, and I said, who do I pay? 52 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:09.159 She said, what do you mean? I said, well, this 53 00:04:09.319 --> 00:04:13.719 was the most entertained I've ever been in my life. This was my mind 54 00:04:13.800 --> 00:04:18.199 blowing. Like the talent that I just watched just throws it away. There's 55 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:24.319 got to be a cover charge. And she she thought that was kind of 56 00:04:24.360 --> 00:04:27.439 amusing. Yeah, but she still took you fifty bucks and she said, 57 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:30.639 and also, no, we don't validate, so you can pay the parking 58 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:34.120 attendant. I'll validate here. Let me validate you. You're a hell of 59 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:38.839 a nice guy. Get out of here. Yeah, there's a second opinion. 60 00:04:38.879 --> 00:04:44.319 You're ugly too. But anyway, Oh Jesus, that was our first 61 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:46.600 day of meeting each other, and I was, I was, you know, 62 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:55.839 a fanboy for real inexplicable talent. You guys who do that? All 63 00:04:55.879 --> 00:05:01.439 I could think of was you have to be the most unsung hero of creating 64 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:05.839 entertainment that there are, because you know, you're most most of the time 65 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:11.480 exclusive to that world. You know you don't and so you're you're just a 66 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:15.360 voice. You're faceless most of the time. Yes, and yet your the 67 00:05:15.480 --> 00:05:23.319 creativity, the inventiveness, the genius way of approaching a role. And for 68 00:05:23.480 --> 00:05:29.199 me, my favorite kind of acting is city of your Pants and going for 69 00:05:29.240 --> 00:05:32.800 the performance on takee one, which is what you are charged to do when 70 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:36.680 you're when you're doing voices, especially in a cartoon. You go as big 71 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:40.319 as you can. You go as you go for the result, you go 72 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:44.360 for the performance, you go for And I'm in the room with the people 73 00:05:44.360 --> 00:05:46.759 who do that as good as any anybody I'd ever seen. So, I 74 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:50.879 mean, I was like floored and odd and every time I see you and 75 00:05:51.399 --> 00:05:56.680 all those guys Maurice LaMarsh and you know, Rob and you know all those 76 00:05:56.680 --> 00:06:01.560 guys that I go back all that way with, I just my heart goes 77 00:06:01.560 --> 00:06:09.240 all the flutter because that's you. Guys are just amazing actors. It's wonderful 78 00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:15.079 and so in touch with your all these you know, inner and outer child. 79 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:18.160 Yeah, but you know, I mean, you know, being an 80 00:06:18.199 --> 00:06:23.399 actor, you have to access parts of yourself that most people don't ever have 81 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:28.879 a chance to even explore them or know that they know it is. We're 82 00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:32.920 always digging down but I really feel what you're saying there. You know. 83 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:42.360 It's it's interesting because I remember you just reminded me of it. We'd always 84 00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:46.199 do a read through and they would, you know, and Andrea or whoever 85 00:06:46.199 --> 00:06:47.720 it would be, would perfect voice, well, yeah, yeah, this 86 00:06:47.800 --> 00:06:51.040 guy's not from Brooklyn. I think he's from Montgomery, Alabama or you know 87 00:06:51.079 --> 00:06:55.759 what what are And then you're okay, okay, okay, So we do 88 00:06:55.839 --> 00:06:59.439 this and that, and and you you bade me one of the coolest compliments. 89 00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:02.560 I don't want to be sounded self aggrandizing here, but but we did 90 00:07:02.600 --> 00:07:06.560 the read through and you said to me something to the tune of, do 91 00:07:06.680 --> 00:07:13.360 you go this hard when it's not rolling? You know? And I said 92 00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:16.600 I couldn't. And it never occurred to me that I was going, you 93 00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:20.279 know, overdoing it or not overdoing it, but you know, giving it. 94 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:24.040 And I said I don't. I don't think I know any other way, 95 00:07:25.079 --> 00:07:28.279 you know. And you said, so everyone's the super Bowl, and 96 00:07:28.360 --> 00:07:31.120 I go, yeah, yeah, I think it is. I said that 97 00:07:31.240 --> 00:07:35.120 yeah something very yeah, very sick. You're confusing me with Tony Roberts. 98 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:42.639 No, no, no, but I was so about that. But that's 99 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:46.720 kind of like I don't know how to go halfway, which is why I'm 100 00:07:46.759 --> 00:07:49.759 one of these guys. Yeah, what's really I you know, even when 101 00:07:49.800 --> 00:07:55.319 I'm when I'm shooting in front of the camera, Let's shoot the rehearsal. 102 00:07:55.560 --> 00:08:00.480 Oh yeah, yeah, let's let's start shooting immediately, because the first thing 103 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:03.879 that comes out is going to be the most unjudged per going to give. 104 00:08:03.879 --> 00:08:09.720 It's going to be it's going to be instincts of instincts are the best thinks. 105 00:08:09.959 --> 00:08:13.720 Yes, that's so true. I wish I had said that, and 106 00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:18.279 I will on my next podcast, coming to you Live from Higher Top. 107 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:24.839 Anyway, Uh no, I'm off to the floor. I like I like. 108 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:30.040 I like taking that very very first reaction that I have to what I'm 109 00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:33.159 what I'm what I'm reading on the page, and now I'm having to embody 110 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:39.399 it, channel it or whatever and see what happens. And very often it's 111 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:43.279 wrong, but sometimes it's really really like, it's not going to get any 112 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:45.840 better than that, which is why I like to shoot the rehearsal, which 113 00:08:45.879 --> 00:08:50.120 is why I was. I was the minute I got introduced to the cartoon 114 00:08:50.200 --> 00:08:56.960 world and giving these pure voice performances where you don't have to worry about anything. 115 00:08:56.559 --> 00:09:01.519 There's no vanity involved, that's for sure. There's just performance, and 116 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:07.440 there's a kind of an invitation to be entertaining, you know we are. 117 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:11.000 Yeah, we're not playing Louis Pasteur. Yeah that's right. We are not 118 00:09:11.320 --> 00:09:15.240 curing anything here. We're not looking for you know, a Humanitius Award or 119 00:09:15.240 --> 00:09:18.720 anything. We're just Saturday Morning. Yeah, we're just trying to fuck up 120 00:09:18.759 --> 00:09:24.559 the mind on our part of the next generation. Yeah that's right. God, 121 00:09:24.919 --> 00:09:26.840 I'm going to carve that into stone. That's so true. And we 122 00:09:26.919 --> 00:09:31.600 succeed so much of the time sucking up these little kids. I'll never be 123 00:09:31.639 --> 00:09:37.840 the same after that. Yeah, that ould hold the little bastards. Yeah 124 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:43.320 yeah, okay. Now Super Sales, Oh my god, it wasn't that 125 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:48.679 him who said that. No, Actually there was a movie that pre dated 126 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:54.000 Super Sales, but Super Sales was kind of like the new incarnation of what 127 00:09:54.039 --> 00:09:58.000 I'm about to share with you, okay, And they made a movie of 128 00:09:58.039 --> 00:10:01.200 this thing was called Facing the Crowd with Andy Griffith. Was actually a movie 129 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:07.320 that was directed by Elia Kazan, the guy who did like streetcar name on 130 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:11.279 the Waterfront, Facing the Crowd, and he played this kind of country boy 131 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:16.879 who was always getting in trouble and he was in jail and he just starts, 132 00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:20.000 you know, playing guitar and talking and giving all this local knowledge and 133 00:10:20.039 --> 00:10:24.639 he's as charming as charming could be. And somebody walks through the jail and 134 00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:33.799 hears him and decides to give him a morning radio show, and he instantaneously 135 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:39.039 becomes the hottest thing in America and he becomes a star, which turns him 136 00:10:39.080 --> 00:10:48.879 into He was always kind of like nefarious, but success takes nefarious and pumps 137 00:10:48.879 --> 00:10:56.159 it up to a volume where it's not just harmless, it's megala maniacal. 138 00:10:56.480 --> 00:11:00.159 And that's what this movie is. It's the study of this guy. He 139 00:11:00.440 --> 00:11:03.679 his character in the movie is Lonesome Roads, and he's based on a real 140 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:07.799 guy, lon some Roads that name. He was based on a real guy 141 00:11:07.960 --> 00:11:11.879 who had been on the chain gang and he went from jail to jail to 142 00:11:11.960 --> 00:11:16.519 jail. But he was as funny as fuck was charming and the women loved 143 00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:18.639 him, and he used to get on early, you know, daytime stuff. 144 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:26.159 And then he got so successful that he became he had so much weight 145 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:30.759 to throw around at the network that he became a monster, complete monster, 146 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:35.799 and he said, after he had done this this real homespun kind of show 147 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:43.440 where he's just given recipes and talking about what's going to happen at the next 148 00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:48.639 church social and everything like that. And he gets done with the broadcast and 149 00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:54.519 he says that out of hold the little bastards, and they and his engineer 150 00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:58.080 kept the mic open because he wanted to. He wanted to show the world 151 00:11:58.159 --> 00:12:03.879 what a fucking monster this was, and he spun he went down the drain. 152 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:07.919 From that moment on when everybody realized this guy is completely full of ship. 153 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:13.960 Wow. So it was one of the you know, go see it. 154 00:12:13.960 --> 00:12:18.240 It's it's a phenomenal and it made Andy griff of the star. It's 155 00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:24.279 called Facing the Crowd Ilia Kazan. It's as underrated a movie as you're ever 156 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:28.240 going to find. Patricia Neil was the girl who discovers him and then and 157 00:12:28.279 --> 00:12:31.360 then Patricia Neil and then becomes you know, she rused the day that she 158 00:12:31.519 --> 00:12:37.879 made him a star because she watches him become this, you know, monster, 159 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:41.360 the most the most objectionable human you could be. I will check that 160 00:12:41.399 --> 00:12:46.240 out though, Yeah, as you you have your assignment. Yeah, oh, 161 00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:48.320 I didn't realize we were filming this. Oh yeah, I should have 162 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:52.759 given you my good side, but then I don't have one, So here 163 00:12:52.759 --> 00:12:54.919 we go. Just take a good side. Is when I'm out of the 164 00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:58.080 room and the cameras are going, Yeah, you said something that made me 165 00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:01.679 think of a question for both to you, how do you think you've changed 166 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:05.759 becoming famous? Like how do you think fame has changed you? Or has 167 00:13:05.799 --> 00:13:11.639 it? As a person? I swear to God I'm not being COI or 168 00:13:13.240 --> 00:13:16.799 saying this for effect or being disingenuous in any in any way, shape or 169 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:24.879 form. I am incapable of thinking of myself as famous. If anything, 170 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:28.720 it's the opposite, if anything, is like this guy who nobody knows, 171 00:13:28.159 --> 00:13:33.480 who's obscure, who never you know, who never got to that level that 172 00:13:33.559 --> 00:13:39.600 one dreams of when one dreams about fame and money and success and all that 173 00:13:39.639 --> 00:13:43.720 stuff. In this business, I've always felt like I'm an outsider looking in, 174 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:48.559 and I always give all the credit to everyone else, Like you know, 175 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:54.399 I know what a genius Jim Cumming is. I have zero sense about 176 00:13:54.440 --> 00:13:58.120 that about myself, and I never have. And I'm conscious of the fact 177 00:13:58.159 --> 00:14:01.559 that I've done very well in the business, and I'm conscious of the fact 178 00:14:01.559 --> 00:14:07.919 that I have standards that make me not behave like some newbie on the set. 179 00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:15.320 I know what I'm doing. But that's different than celebrity or fame, 180 00:14:15.399 --> 00:14:20.960 which is with the question you're asking me. So yes, have I developed 181 00:14:20.440 --> 00:14:26.559 a lot of confidence as somebody who feels like I know what I'm doing in 182 00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:30.960 the business and when I'm on the set or whatever it is I'm doing, 183 00:14:31.240 --> 00:14:35.679 you know, I'm having to give a performance. Absolutely, much more so 184 00:14:35.799 --> 00:14:39.159 than back in even ten years ago, way more so than when it all 185 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:45.919 started, where I have zero self esteem and zero confidence whatsoever. But I 186 00:14:45.960 --> 00:14:50.600 don't consider myself. You know, George Clooney's famous. You know, I'm 187 00:14:50.600 --> 00:14:54.120 a schlepper. I get what you're saying, and in my mind and you 188 00:14:54.120 --> 00:15:01.000 know, and I know it's a kind of dysmorphia of certain because you know, 189 00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:03.159 people keep the fuck out of here. Man. Yeah, of course 190 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:05.720 you're famous. I mean we're just in the lobby and like, you know, 191 00:15:05.879 --> 00:15:09.759 two out of the four people in there, yeah, half of them 192 00:15:09.480 --> 00:15:16.120 and the other two we're going you know who that is. So that's kind 193 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:18.080 of cool, But that's that's just part of my fucked up you know, 194 00:15:18.200 --> 00:15:22.639 wiring same question for you, Jim, how do you feel Do you feel 195 00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:26.639 as if you've changed when you started getting notoriety and you started getting fame and 196 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:31.080 people are coming up taking pictures, people are crying when they hear your voices. 197 00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:35.519 Yeah, well that's different. Yeah yeah, I don't even know what 198 00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:39.279 to think about that, because it's impossible for me to think of. The 199 00:15:39.320 --> 00:15:45.440 first thing I think of is well, you flunked math in eighth grade and 200 00:15:45.480 --> 00:15:48.320 then in ninth grade, and then you know, and I ended up taking 201 00:15:48.360 --> 00:15:52.919 business math my sophomore year in high school twice because you had to have that 202 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:56.399 math, and and lord knows, we all use that high school diploma. 203 00:15:56.759 --> 00:15:58.200 I mean, without that high school diploma, I would have never have been 204 00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:02.240 here. It's bring up a hole in the wall that I punched one day. 205 00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:07.080 Yeah, yeah, so you know, it's a dubious worth. I 206 00:16:07.080 --> 00:16:11.799 mean I always say that the best lessons I learned were in the hall, 207 00:16:11.559 --> 00:16:15.960 you know, when I got kicked out of class for doing those weird voices 208 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:19.639 and everything, and I still remember. I don't know if this is within 209 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:25.559 the realm of the answer, but having a guy who remained nameless is jim 210 00:16:25.559 --> 00:16:30.399 on on M A U. G. H. A n he's manning nameless 211 00:16:30.919 --> 00:16:34.159 and he slammed me up against the wall and he goes, look, you 212 00:16:34.200 --> 00:16:37.519 think you're mister cute and mister this and that, and you say all these 213 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:41.720 voices, all these kids, but let me tell you something. You're gonna 214 00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:45.200 end up just like your cousins. He knew he used to date my cousin. 215 00:16:45.480 --> 00:16:48.200 You're gonna end up working at the Youngstown Sheeting Tube until you're sixty five. 216 00:16:48.559 --> 00:16:52.360 Then you're gonna retire. Then you're gonna drink Budweiser and lose money on 217 00:16:52.440 --> 00:16:57.080 the Browns or maybe the Pirates. I don't know, but you're gonna lose 218 00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:00.200 money, and you're gonna be sitting there and you're and then you're going to 219 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:03.240 die. I said, oh, I guess I can go home now. 220 00:17:03.319 --> 00:17:12.720 I mean, just killed myself. And I remember thinking that I'm going to 221 00:17:12.759 --> 00:17:17.920 live long enough to make you eat those words and that, you know, 222 00:17:17.960 --> 00:17:22.839 I've always been a negative encouragement guy, me too, you know. You 223 00:17:22.839 --> 00:17:26.359 know that's that's the one thing where like, oh yeah, well, you 224 00:17:26.359 --> 00:17:30.559 know, I mean, I can remember some of the early earliest meetings I 225 00:17:30.599 --> 00:17:37.599 went to. It took me so many years of going to regular school because 226 00:17:37.640 --> 00:17:41.400 I wanted to kill time, because I was terrified of actually saying, Okay, 227 00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:42.960 I'm a professional actor. I'm going to start trying to do this. 228 00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:51.440 When I finally did it, I got nothing but disrespect and negative reinforcement, 229 00:17:51.720 --> 00:17:56.640 and like one casting director actually said, what makes you think you deserve to 230 00:17:56.680 --> 00:18:00.480 be here? She actually like asked me that kind of question, Like, 231 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:04.480 you know, it's almost like, don't you realize you're wasting everybody's time. 232 00:18:04.799 --> 00:18:11.000 If you're somebody who's never been validated professionally and that's the only feedback you get, 233 00:18:11.319 --> 00:18:15.680 that's suicidal, man. I mean that's devastating because that becomes, oh, 234 00:18:15.799 --> 00:18:19.799 is that what they're seeing? They're seeing a guy who really just shouldn't 235 00:18:19.799 --> 00:18:23.279 even bother. But at the same time, there was that, you know, 236 00:18:23.359 --> 00:18:29.440 like luckily there was that part of me. They went really really well, 237 00:18:29.480 --> 00:18:30.920 I guess I'm going to have to show you. Yeah, yeah, 238 00:18:30.920 --> 00:18:37.839 because we all got the bug performing bug early, because we did it and 239 00:18:37.880 --> 00:18:41.759 we were successful at it. In other words, even if it was like 240 00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:45.759 a junior high school play or a high school player high school. When I 241 00:18:45.799 --> 00:18:48.480 did my very first play, and when I did that first play, the 242 00:18:48.519 --> 00:18:53.839 feedback was through the roof positive. So even though that casting director didn't see 243 00:18:53.880 --> 00:18:57.240 it, I knew there's something I'm holding in reserve here. Maybe it's not 244 00:18:57.279 --> 00:19:00.359 coming out in a commercial setting. Maybe, you know, like when you're 245 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:04.720 trying to cast one life to fucking live, because that's you know, look 246 00:19:04.759 --> 00:19:11.519 what you're doing, bitch. Yeah, you know, sure, go ahead, 247 00:19:11.759 --> 00:19:15.400 sit up on your ivory tower and piss down on me because you know 248 00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:22.519 you can, but you really like you have to use that that indignation and 249 00:19:22.519 --> 00:19:25.519 that like, no, no, I know there's something in there that's worth 250 00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:29.279 sharing. I've seen it, I've felt it, I've seen it happen, 251 00:19:29.960 --> 00:19:32.519 and I don't know how long it's going to take, or what it's going 252 00:19:32.599 --> 00:19:34.880 to take, or whether I have what it takes to stick it out. 253 00:19:36.440 --> 00:19:41.519 So much of that coming up in New York, so much time with no 254 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:47.119 validation or whatsoever. You know that you got to reach back and find some 255 00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:49.920 reserves that are going to get you through those times. I'm just really, 256 00:19:49.960 --> 00:19:56.880 really lucky that nothing was devastating enough to make me give up. Yeah exactly 257 00:19:57.119 --> 00:20:04.759 was there? Hello? Hello? Yes, And that's right. Yeah, 258 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:08.559 I've heard I've heard show business described as a battle of attrition. You know, 259 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:12.240 just the older you get, the more you kind of miss out on 260 00:20:12.359 --> 00:20:17.279 things that your peers are doing, and you know they're starting families and you 261 00:20:17.319 --> 00:20:21.759 know, whatever they're doing, you know, and when you're in this industry, 262 00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:25.279 would you guys agree that, like you kind of the longer you hold 263 00:20:25.319 --> 00:20:27.119 on to that and the more you work at it, do you think it 264 00:20:27.160 --> 00:20:32.640 really does increase your chance of success. I feel like there are so many 265 00:20:32.680 --> 00:20:34.599 other factors, and I have to say luck has a lot to do with 266 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:38.920 it, because one of the most heartbreaking things for me was watching some of 267 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:44.279 the people I started out with that did fold up their tent and get out 268 00:20:44.279 --> 00:20:48.200 of it, and watching them make that decision like I'm not doing this anymore. 269 00:20:48.200 --> 00:20:51.400 This is like banging my head against so well, I'm not doing it. 270 00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:55.200 Yeah, And they all ended up taking civilian jobs. It was heartbreaking 271 00:20:55.279 --> 00:20:57.720 because I saw their talent, and it's just they didn't get the breaks, 272 00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:03.000 you know, things, and break their way enough so that they could be 273 00:21:03.240 --> 00:21:07.599 just encouraged enough to give it another day, another week, and another month, 274 00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:14.079 et cetera. And I'm really really lucky I had just those enough crumbs 275 00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:19.759 to sustain me through the really really rough times men say, Okay, here's 276 00:21:19.759 --> 00:21:25.240 a little bit of encouragement. Maybe I can parlay that into something. Would 277 00:21:25.319 --> 00:21:29.279 you agree though, that with the statement that luck is being prepared for the 278 00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:33.119 moment? Well, was it Leo Derosi opportunity or something like that? Yeah? 279 00:21:33.359 --> 00:21:37.759 Who was it? I couldn't have been a baseball manager, But I 280 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:44.519 think they credit this quote to I think maybe Leo de Rosia, the manager 281 00:21:44.559 --> 00:21:48.640 of the Dodgers, who said luck is the residue of design, and the 282 00:21:48.680 --> 00:21:52.039 harder you work, the luckier you're going to get. Right. The more 283 00:21:52.440 --> 00:22:00.359 you insist on not succumbing to being dispensed, the luckier you're going to Yet, 284 00:22:00.920 --> 00:22:07.039 because you're you're kind of putting yourself in a position to get lucky by 285 00:22:07.160 --> 00:22:11.359 just being there. And it may take fifty times to get lucky once, 286 00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:14.920 but if you get lucky once, and you know, that could be the 287 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:18.039 key to everything. You know, It's like the other old expression. You 288 00:22:18.039 --> 00:22:21.759 know, it took me twenty years to become an overnight success, you know, 289 00:22:22.279 --> 00:22:25.960 Yeah, yeah, yeah, why were you doing this again? It's 290 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:30.039 too late now we're stuck exactly. Yeah, We're too late. And I'm 291 00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:32.720 at this point now and I'm just looking here at Jim. You know, 292 00:22:32.759 --> 00:22:37.759 I'm almost When I see my friends who are able to look back and have 293 00:22:37.799 --> 00:22:44.400 all these things to be proud of, makes me very emotional because I know 294 00:22:44.480 --> 00:22:48.480 what they've been through, I know what they had to I know how many 295 00:22:48.880 --> 00:22:52.359 of those moments they had to go through where it was they were getting nothing 296 00:22:52.839 --> 00:22:57.240 back that was encouraging and they had a supply it on their own, and 297 00:22:57.440 --> 00:23:03.759 so and then I see that they are Now I'm seventy three years old, 298 00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:07.279 you know, I know what a body of work feels like. You know, 299 00:23:07.839 --> 00:23:11.119 like, Okay, there's a body of work. There's something you can 300 00:23:11.160 --> 00:23:14.640 actually look at. If I never work again, I just you know, 301 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:18.160 yeah, there's something you can point to. And I see that with guys 302 00:23:18.200 --> 00:23:22.079 like Jim and some of the other guys that hung in there and have a 303 00:23:22.119 --> 00:23:30.359 tremendously prideful body of work that they can look to, and it's really moving 304 00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:33.400 to me. It's really like because I understand what it took, what it 305 00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:37.319 cost to get there. Yeah, yeah, it's true, well said. 306 00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:41.359 It's not for the faint of heart, no, but it's like an addiction. 307 00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:45.240 I'm never going to get the kind of high that I get from when 308 00:23:45.319 --> 00:23:52.359 I'm on that set or in that sound booth creating bonkers, just a cartoon 309 00:23:52.440 --> 00:23:56.960 character, but I'm creating you know, right right, and I'm and it's 310 00:23:56.960 --> 00:24:03.000 getting it gets a response. Yeah, it plays on television or plays in 311 00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:04.240 the movies and people go, yeah, I just saw that thing you did. 312 00:24:04.359 --> 00:24:07.200 Man, that was fucking awesome. You know. So it's like not 313 00:24:07.319 --> 00:24:11.799 just an exercise, it's not just a wank. It's like it's cause effect, 314 00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:15.960 you know, it has the world. Yeah, and and that that's 315 00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:21.119 another thrill of it all too. It's like to just see, like you 316 00:24:21.200 --> 00:24:25.960 know, it's like a mathematical equation without the actual product getting out there and 317 00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:29.880 and and get and and generating a response. It's not a full equation. 318 00:24:30.359 --> 00:24:34.000 Yeah, but when it when, when it reaches that final you know that 319 00:24:34.200 --> 00:24:37.880 which is the end zone. Yeah, that's true. That's a great way 320 00:24:37.880 --> 00:24:42.279 of looking at it. You're welcome to use that. I'm going to write 321 00:24:42.279 --> 00:24:47.759 it soon. I hope you do, because I'm never going to remember anything. 322 00:24:47.799 --> 00:24:52.640 I'm saying, right, well, I'll have what he's having whatever. 323 00:24:52.680 --> 00:24:56.000 Anyway, I'm with you, I'm with you, man. Yeah, that's 324 00:24:56.079 --> 00:25:00.559 that's really inspiring because really, yeah, you know, Chris is an actor, 325 00:25:00.680 --> 00:25:06.799 so he knows it's it's I'm reticent to say this because it's not the 326 00:25:06.799 --> 00:25:11.640 first time I've said it publicly, but we all start out acting for a 327 00:25:11.119 --> 00:25:15.240 set of reasons, and I think the longer you do it, the more 328 00:25:15.319 --> 00:25:21.839 those reasons transform and shift into other reasons. Oh that's for sure. Yeah, 329 00:25:21.880 --> 00:25:25.119 Like that's a great observation. Actually, the reason why I say that 330 00:25:25.240 --> 00:25:30.400 is because when I first discovered acting, it was the antidote to being me. 331 00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:34.599 Like being me I was disastrous. I was like a schmuck. I 332 00:25:34.640 --> 00:25:37.799 was a putts. I didn't fit anywhere. I you know, I you 333 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:44.000 know, I had tremendously low esteem. But I played a character and I 334 00:25:44.039 --> 00:25:48.119 had a shot at getting the character right, even though everything else in my 335 00:25:48.200 --> 00:25:52.200 life was wrong. So it was pure therapy. It was like walking into 336 00:25:52.200 --> 00:25:56.920 somebody else's shoes, which was kind of like a relief from the drudgery of 337 00:25:56.960 --> 00:26:00.279 being me. And it was all so like a high. It's like, 338 00:26:00.920 --> 00:26:04.640 this is as close as I'm going to get to a human that's sort of 339 00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:08.799 bordering on perfect. Even though it's an illusion, it's like a character. 340 00:26:08.839 --> 00:26:11.519 I'm playing it and then I go home at night and it's over. You 341 00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:22.319 know, So what started out as a tremendously therapeutic endeavor was transforming myself into 342 00:26:22.480 --> 00:26:26.559 something that wasn't me. Over the course of time, as you get more 343 00:26:26.599 --> 00:26:30.079 and more comfortable with yourself, but you still find like, I'm still getting 344 00:26:30.079 --> 00:26:33.960 a thrill out of acting, then you have to start exploring, like why 345 00:26:34.039 --> 00:26:38.920 do I still dig it? And I'm at this point now where I feel 346 00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:45.279 as though the amount of admiration that we all receive as part of the storytelling 347 00:26:45.400 --> 00:26:52.079 community from people who really do have shitty lives but who get to watch something 348 00:26:52.119 --> 00:26:56.319 beautifully well performed and they see humanity there, and they see suffering there that's 349 00:26:56.519 --> 00:27:00.599 enacted in a beautiful way. But they get to see that they're not the 350 00:27:00.640 --> 00:27:04.480 first people to feel lonely. They're not the first people to feel like losers. 351 00:27:04.480 --> 00:27:10.519 They're not the first people to feel like they're in an insurmountable situation. 352 00:27:10.599 --> 00:27:11.559 They don't know how they're going to get out of it, but they watch 353 00:27:11.599 --> 00:27:15.200 the hero journey in a movie or something like that, and it gives them 354 00:27:15.240 --> 00:27:22.680 hope. So what we're doing is we're providing humanity with as noble an expression 355 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:26.440 of the beauty of what it is to be human as there is. And 356 00:27:26.839 --> 00:27:30.000 if that sounds corny, I'm sorry. I'm not going to apologize, but 357 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:34.960 that's truly like. That's what sustains me now is that I realize like I'm 358 00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:42.000 in a very very exclusive, wonderful club where I get to work in some 359 00:27:42.119 --> 00:27:48.839 kind of an incredible world that some amazing writer has invented with amazing humanity all 360 00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:52.119 over the place, and I get to be one of the colors on the 361 00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:59.079 painting by playing this one character. And if we do it successfully, and 362 00:27:59.119 --> 00:28:03.400 we do it well and it gets lucky enough to get marketed properly and enough 363 00:28:03.440 --> 00:28:08.279 people see it and it affects them, then I'm performing as useful a service 364 00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:17.000 as one can. Because the collective consciousness is our only hope at rising to 365 00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:21.920 the prayer of all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with life, 366 00:28:21.960 --> 00:28:25.440 liberty in the pursuit of happiness. That's what we're doing in our endeavor 367 00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:30.519 to tell stories and show humanity in all of its many, many different highs 368 00:28:30.519 --> 00:28:36.640 and lows. We are participating in an exercise of the collective consciousness, which 369 00:28:36.680 --> 00:28:41.920 is as valuable to somebody in Kenya as it is to somebody in Alabama because 370 00:28:41.920 --> 00:28:48.039 it resonates on the same human level. And I didn't really sorry, I 371 00:28:48.039 --> 00:28:51.720 didn't expect to go there, but that was pretty pretty great. That's wonderful. 372 00:28:52.279 --> 00:28:56.640 That's sentiment. Yeah, so it really is. I want to sing 373 00:28:56.720 --> 00:29:00.759 Kumbayan now, go ahead, okay, by I don't even know what that 374 00:29:00.839 --> 00:29:04.319 means, but I know I meant that somebody said anything that was really really 375 00:29:04.359 --> 00:29:10.079 touching and really heartfelt and really well thought, well considered. Thank you. 376 00:29:10.200 --> 00:29:15.400 That's pretty awesome pleasure. Yeah, that good stuff. I'm very very lucky, 377 00:29:15.480 --> 00:29:18.319 dude. Yeah, well, I think that's one of the keys keys 378 00:29:18.319 --> 00:29:22.359 to happiness is gratitude. You know, if you ever there's no way to 379 00:29:22.640 --> 00:29:26.359 run into somebody going well, I should have got that job. I mean 380 00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:29.839 cheese now now I'm working for the asshole or took my job and blah blah 381 00:29:29.880 --> 00:29:32.720 blah. Well, you're not going to be very happy because you're not grate. 382 00:29:32.839 --> 00:29:36.319 You should be grateful for having that job and then be good enough that 383 00:29:36.359 --> 00:29:40.200 when this guy gets promoted, you'll get his job. You know, it's 384 00:29:40.799 --> 00:29:45.200 it's all perspective. Perspective is our friend, yeah, or in a can 385 00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:48.839 be our enemy. There's a million cliches that come to mind, but it's 386 00:29:48.920 --> 00:29:53.160 it's true. Now we're being invaded. Yeah, there's the Hollywood biker gang. 387 00:29:55.000 --> 00:30:00.640 Yes, is this friends of yours? Yeah? Yeah, that's my 388 00:30:00.759 --> 00:30:04.759 ride right off. Good night everybody. Obviously they're a little early lily. 389 00:30:07.960 --> 00:30:14.039 Those are the Sons of Sunset. Yeah the sun Where was that film? 390 00:30:15.400 --> 00:30:22.720 Now? And now I'm my new club is the Sons of Arthritis. I 391 00:30:22.759 --> 00:30:26.480 think I'm joining that guy I saw somebody with with the leather the leather cut, 392 00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:30.559 you know, the motorcycle clubs. Guys were said Sons of Arthritis. 393 00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:34.920 So it wasn't original, guys, throwing myself under the bus, but yes, 394 00:30:36.160 --> 00:30:38.759 Sons of Anarchy was supposed to take place up in northern Cali, up 395 00:30:38.799 --> 00:30:45.480 around the Bay Area, but we shot it all here. Oh that's the 396 00:30:45.519 --> 00:30:48.880 miracle of of television. Yes it is. And it looked like Canada, 397 00:30:49.680 --> 00:30:55.920 which was which was really amazingly shy. Wrap your mind around that one. 398 00:30:56.279 --> 00:31:00.240 Yeah, man, we managed to pull that off. Well that's beautiful. 399 00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:03.720 No, but yeah it was a great experience and I got to sleep in 400 00:31:03.759 --> 00:31:08.279 my own beds, so yeah, when that counts, it sure does that 401 00:31:08.400 --> 00:31:11.720 really counts? Did you guys have any idea going into it, how big 402 00:31:11.759 --> 00:31:15.599 of a show that was going to be. No. No, In fact, 403 00:31:17.240 --> 00:31:21.440 I on the other side of the coin from all that Kumbai eye and 404 00:31:21.480 --> 00:31:26.960 I was just doing them a second ago. Is that I'm also completely wired 405 00:31:26.039 --> 00:31:33.039 for failure because you too, huh yeah, no, because of security and 406 00:31:33.559 --> 00:31:36.880 good at failing. By the way, I can no, no, no, 407 00:31:36.880 --> 00:31:40.240 you have no idea. If you look at if you look at MIAMGB, 408 00:31:40.400 --> 00:31:45.799 this like over two hundred entries, and only three or four of them 409 00:31:45.920 --> 00:31:49.279 were successful. But those three or four of them were what people remember, 410 00:31:49.480 --> 00:31:56.200 so but they didn't see the other two hundred and thirty two that really stunk 411 00:31:56.240 --> 00:32:00.519 out the joint. And it wasn't as if you went into any of those 412 00:32:00.799 --> 00:32:02.519 thinking you were going to stink out the joint. It just that's the way 413 00:32:02.519 --> 00:32:08.839 it went. Because there's just so many ways amazing things have to happen in 414 00:32:08.920 --> 00:32:15.319 order for something to be really really good and perfect and break through and be 415 00:32:15.319 --> 00:32:19.359 regarded as as as a classic or there's a lot of moving parts successful. 416 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:23.119 And the longer you do this, the more you realize how rare that is. 417 00:32:23.519 --> 00:32:29.720 And so what I do now is I just expect everything to fail. 418 00:32:30.599 --> 00:32:36.319 One of the great realizations I made in order to protect my thin skin is 419 00:32:36.440 --> 00:32:42.720 like, no expectations, no disappointments, and if you expect nothing, you're 420 00:32:42.720 --> 00:32:46.000 never going to be disappointed because if something good does happen, then it's a 421 00:32:46.039 --> 00:32:52.200 complete pleasant surprise. So to answer your question, no, I mean I 422 00:32:52.200 --> 00:32:54.200 went into Sons of Anarchy thinking this is this is going to be one and 423 00:32:54.319 --> 00:32:59.119 done. You know, we're gonna we're We're lucky. We're lucky they got 424 00:32:59.119 --> 00:33:05.279 that far. This is too special, it's too weird, it's too unlike 425 00:33:05.319 --> 00:33:09.319 anything anybody's ever seen before. And you know, Hollywood is not known for 426 00:33:10.279 --> 00:33:17.960 breakthrough you know, original content, especially these days. So uh yeah, 427 00:33:17.960 --> 00:33:24.240 that's and then there was so much violence and so much bloodshed towards the middle 428 00:33:24.279 --> 00:33:30.119 of season one that people wanted more. And that's when I realized that people 429 00:33:30.160 --> 00:33:34.960 wanted more. Yeah, that's when I realized, Okay, that's just that's 430 00:33:34.759 --> 00:33:37.480 that's the function we serve. Yeah, there you go, not not a 431 00:33:37.519 --> 00:33:42.319 normal men of mayhem. Well, you know, you hope for the best, 432 00:33:42.559 --> 00:33:45.119 you expect the worst, and you take what comes exactly. And you 433 00:33:45.160 --> 00:33:49.880 know, when you when you really really do have no expectations or you or 434 00:33:49.920 --> 00:33:53.000 you think this is never going to fly when it doesn't. You know, 435 00:33:53.119 --> 00:33:57.279 you're you're just you're good. Yeah, you were there, Yeah, you 436 00:33:57.359 --> 00:34:00.000 were you beating you know, and we're all doing the best we can. 437 00:34:00.480 --> 00:34:05.880 But you know, there's just too many other factors that, yeah, need 438 00:34:05.920 --> 00:34:09.800 to go right in order for things to resonate. Now, this is a 439 00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:15.480 funky question because I've had and I remember it because I've been asked any number 440 00:34:15.480 --> 00:34:20.559 of times. But was there something you really, really really wanted and then 441 00:34:20.760 --> 00:34:25.119 they gave it away somebody else? Yeah, I'm pretty sure that there were. 442 00:34:25.639 --> 00:34:29.519 Yeah. I blocked all that out though, you too, Yeah, 443 00:34:29.639 --> 00:34:32.000 Wow, Okay, that's my answer. Yeah, because you got to suggest 444 00:34:32.079 --> 00:34:37.239 there has to be Yes, I was doing. Did we mentioned this earlier? 445 00:34:38.320 --> 00:34:42.840 We talked about this prior to when we came on the air. The 446 00:34:42.920 --> 00:34:47.599 last show I did on stage was I came in and replaced Stephen Lang in 447 00:34:47.679 --> 00:34:53.199 a Few Good Men on Broadway, And while I was performing it, that 448 00:34:53.320 --> 00:35:00.239 show was such a huge success that Hollywood started coming to call. So while 449 00:35:00.239 --> 00:35:04.360 I was on stage, Rob Reiner came one night to see it, and 450 00:35:04.400 --> 00:35:07.400 then a couple of nights later Rob came with Tom Cruise to see it Wow. 451 00:35:08.239 --> 00:35:12.400 And then the rumor started flying Hollywood is going to make the movie. 452 00:35:12.639 --> 00:35:15.880 Rob Briner is going to direct it. Tom Cruise is going to star in 453 00:35:15.960 --> 00:35:22.599 it. And I wrote Rob Ryner a letter saying, well, I know 454 00:35:22.639 --> 00:35:27.599 you saw me play Colonel Jessup and you know, and this thing and you 455 00:35:27.639 --> 00:35:30.679 know this, this, this piece of material means so much to me, 456 00:35:30.920 --> 00:35:34.960 and you know, blah blah blah, and I know my odds are crazy, 457 00:35:35.119 --> 00:35:37.519 you know, but I'm just I just want to put it out there, 458 00:35:37.559 --> 00:35:39.599 you know, if there's any way you could consider me for this role. 459 00:35:40.480 --> 00:35:45.800 And it went to Jack Nicholson and I wrote another note to Rob and 460 00:35:45.840 --> 00:35:49.760 I said, I get it, man, he needs the work so much 461 00:35:49.760 --> 00:35:57.280 more than I do. But that was I mean, you know, I 462 00:35:57.360 --> 00:36:00.360 finally remembered one that you know, I kind of want and yeah, yeah, 463 00:36:00.440 --> 00:36:05.480 yeah yeah and fell by the wayside. Yeah. And also anything that 464 00:36:05.880 --> 00:36:09.760 anything in the world that you see Josh Brolin in should have gone to me. 465 00:36:10.760 --> 00:36:15.639 Okay, he's my he's my nemesis these days. But I'm losing to 466 00:36:15.960 --> 00:36:22.599 to better people than I ever thought I would. Like, you know, 467 00:36:22.639 --> 00:36:25.679 I'm losing the better people than I ever thought I would did you audition for 468 00:36:25.760 --> 00:36:30.440 Thanoms. Well, there was a thing that went on, you know, 469 00:36:30.719 --> 00:36:36.480 like on social media for what's the character in Deadpool that got introduced in the 470 00:36:36.519 --> 00:36:43.079 second dead I know who you're talking about. Yeah, justin I can't remember. 471 00:36:43.199 --> 00:36:45.639 It went to Josh, but yeah, he wasn't even in the fucking 472 00:36:45.679 --> 00:36:49.360 survey. Yeah really, you know, me and and about five other people 473 00:36:49.400 --> 00:36:52.800 in the survey. And you know, I got one hundred and fifty times 474 00:36:52.840 --> 00:36:57.400 more votes than anybody else because the cable. It was a roll of cable. 475 00:36:57.519 --> 00:37:01.000 Cable, that's cable. Yeah, with the bionic Josh Broland. Are 476 00:37:01.039 --> 00:37:05.519 you kidding me? Yeah? Enough when you imagine my cable. I mean, 477 00:37:05.599 --> 00:37:07.480 no disrespect, Josh. If you're listening to this podcast, which I 478 00:37:07.519 --> 00:37:13.199 know you are, that's right. You're fulling no one. You're fooling no 479 00:37:13.320 --> 00:37:21.639 one. Yeah, and that's good stuff. Whatever it is. I said 480 00:37:21.679 --> 00:37:22.920 it, I said it, God damn it. I'm sticking to it. 481 00:37:23.119 --> 00:37:29.000 That's right. Are you on the on the circuit nowadays? Are you you 482 00:37:29.119 --> 00:37:31.679 got a lot lined up right? Well? As we as we speak, 483 00:37:31.760 --> 00:37:38.760 we're still on strike. Yes, but but I'm always I produce a lot, 484 00:37:39.119 --> 00:37:44.119 and I always have little projects that I'm trying to push up the mountain, 485 00:37:44.239 --> 00:37:46.679 whether we're striking or not. So yeah, I stay very, very 486 00:37:46.719 --> 00:37:52.239 busy promoting some of my own ideas and some of the things that i'd love 487 00:37:52.280 --> 00:37:57.159 to see get made. And I've been really really lucky over the last few 488 00:37:57.239 --> 00:38:00.000 years, you know, just a lot of work coming my way. Even 489 00:38:00.119 --> 00:38:04.719 during the strike, some of these independent films of which I do a lot, 490 00:38:04.840 --> 00:38:07.840 have been green lit because they've signed this interim agreement which allows for you, 491 00:38:08.559 --> 00:38:14.400 you're if SAG approves, you're allowed to make a picture on this independent 492 00:38:14.800 --> 00:38:19.119 This interim agreement kind of a reality. So I made a couple of those 493 00:38:19.199 --> 00:38:22.760 during the strike. So you know, I'm doing fine, keeping my head 494 00:38:22.760 --> 00:38:27.880 above water and waiting for better days ahead, which I think are right around 495 00:38:27.920 --> 00:38:30.960 the corner. I have a question for you about how boy, how many 496 00:38:31.039 --> 00:38:37.920 hours of makeup was that process? So it was four hours of makeup every 497 00:38:38.039 --> 00:38:43.840 day except for the days where I was shirtless, and then that was six 498 00:38:43.920 --> 00:38:49.400 hours, jeez. And it was one hour to get cleaned up, only 499 00:38:49.440 --> 00:38:52.920 one hour to get cleaned up. Yeah, that's because I had a lot 500 00:38:52.920 --> 00:38:57.920 of drinking to do, so I made them. Sometimes I just left the 501 00:38:57.960 --> 00:39:00.400 gig with the makeup on. Yeah, I went to h the bar as 502 00:39:00.440 --> 00:39:06.599 Hellboy the runner. Oh hi, run, I got really good service. 503 00:39:07.400 --> 00:39:12.239 Yeah, I bet you did really good service. Oh God, you wouldn't 504 00:39:12.280 --> 00:39:15.239 like me when I'm mad. You don't. You don't want to ignore brought 505 00:39:15.239 --> 00:39:20.320 the gun and everything. Jesus. Yeah, that was a real That was 506 00:39:20.360 --> 00:39:22.719 a high watermark for you, I would think. Because I saw it, 507 00:39:22.800 --> 00:39:28.440 I was like, oh, hell yes, I mean that's that's every now 508 00:39:28.480 --> 00:39:31.519 and then they get it right. And that's was perfect casting, perfect timing, 509 00:39:31.960 --> 00:39:36.440 perfect care I mean perfect that. You were amazing. Thank you. 510 00:39:36.440 --> 00:39:39.800 I thought it was the damn thing. So lucky to have been in the 511 00:39:39.920 --> 00:39:46.360 very first film of this young Mexican director named Giamo del Toro. He's been 512 00:39:46.400 --> 00:39:51.079 struggling through a little, yeah, tiny, little vampire movie that he made 513 00:39:51.079 --> 00:39:55.280 when he was twenty six years old in Mexico City, and they called Kronos. 514 00:39:55.840 --> 00:40:00.079 Some years later, he said, I want to do this comic a 515 00:40:00.360 --> 00:40:04.760 character called Hellboy, and you're like, you're the one I want. And 516 00:40:04.800 --> 00:40:08.119 it took him seven years to get the movie financed with me in it, 517 00:40:08.159 --> 00:40:15.199 because I wasn't bankable or I wasn't considered you know, name of the title, 518 00:40:15.360 --> 00:40:20.440 especially the star of a comic book franchise. And he just spent seven 519 00:40:20.519 --> 00:40:22.119 years saying, sorry, I won't make it with him. I won't make 520 00:40:22.159 --> 00:40:23.800 it with him. I won't make it with him. This is what I 521 00:40:23.840 --> 00:40:30.159 want. And so I was the recipient of something that I've never seen before. 522 00:40:30.679 --> 00:40:32.079 And I don't think an said anything I'll ever see again. It's like 523 00:40:32.239 --> 00:40:39.480 one guy's so dogged determination to make it his way. He had a kind 524 00:40:39.480 --> 00:40:45.039 of a vision of what the kind of tone of the character needed to be. 525 00:40:45.199 --> 00:40:52.880 He was conceiving a superhero who was a complete under retiever of slob schmuck 526 00:40:52.039 --> 00:40:55.400 who liked to watch Marx Brothers movies and play with cats and eat pizza. 527 00:40:57.000 --> 00:41:00.599 And let's face it, when you narrow it down to that, there is 528 00:41:00.639 --> 00:41:06.400 nobody better than me. There you have it. And he knew it got 529 00:41:06.480 --> 00:41:08.800 you, he got he fought for it, but he got it done after 530 00:41:08.840 --> 00:41:13.000 seven years. Yeah. Wow, that that. I didn't have no idea, 531 00:41:13.079 --> 00:41:15.519 and it wasn't background. It was a game changer, just you know 532 00:41:15.559 --> 00:41:20.840 it, Like I would think. Yeah, as hard as it was to 533 00:41:20.840 --> 00:41:24.119 get the guys who write the checks to wrap their brain around me playing that 534 00:41:24.239 --> 00:41:30.000 role, that's his dramatic reaction as one guy. You know, when it 535 00:41:30.039 --> 00:41:35.440 came out and the public got to see it, So it was phenomenal opportunity. 536 00:41:35.920 --> 00:41:39.320 Would you say that that's like among your biggest or the biggest success commercial 537 00:41:39.400 --> 00:41:45.880 success or yeah, commercial. I mean that that and Sons were there were 538 00:41:45.679 --> 00:41:52.320 the two biggest commercial successes and the ones that were most mainstream. A lot 539 00:41:52.360 --> 00:42:00.440 of wonderfully peripheral uh artsy fartsy successes along the way, but nothing that hasn'tated 540 00:42:00.559 --> 00:42:04.440 enough to be game changes. Whereas hell Boy was on a huge stage. 541 00:42:05.159 --> 00:42:09.559 You know, it was a comic book franchise, and Giamo had already established 542 00:42:09.599 --> 00:42:15.079 himself as that by that point, as being a force of nature. So 543 00:42:15.440 --> 00:42:19.719 I got all of the toys that came Yeah, yeah, boy, that's 544 00:42:19.760 --> 00:42:22.440 not bad. Yeah luck Yeah, I mean have a friend like that. 545 00:42:22.840 --> 00:42:28.679 Well, I remember Quest for Fire right and uh in the Name of the 546 00:42:28.760 --> 00:42:30.920 Name of the Rose, Name of the Rose. He had a lot of 547 00:42:30.119 --> 00:42:37.800 interesting characters. That's so cool. I mean your your your resume is like, 548 00:42:37.199 --> 00:42:40.119 oh that was so cool. Oh I remember that. Oh that one 549 00:42:40.159 --> 00:42:44.280 was really Oh he was really good in this That's what it feels like when 550 00:42:44.280 --> 00:42:46.760 you look down to your you know, it's that's good stuff. Thank you 551 00:42:46.840 --> 00:42:51.000 man. Yeah, what would you say, is your your favorite project that 552 00:42:51.039 --> 00:42:54.400 you've ever worked on? And again, not not wanting to sound disingenuous, 553 00:42:54.639 --> 00:42:59.440 but what Jim was saying, like, for an actor to have played so 554 00:42:59.559 --> 00:43:05.159 many characters that were like really like mind blowingly interesting and cool, it's impossible 555 00:43:05.199 --> 00:43:08.960 to pick one. I would say. There was a period there from twenty 556 00:43:09.000 --> 00:43:14.519 thirteen to twenty eighteen where I had my own production company and I was producing 557 00:43:14.559 --> 00:43:19.159 my own projects, and the very first project that came across our desk was 558 00:43:19.199 --> 00:43:22.320 called Asher. It was a story of an Israeli assassin living in New York 559 00:43:22.719 --> 00:43:28.039 just killing people you don't even know why or who. And that was really 560 00:43:28.079 --> 00:43:31.320 hard to get made, and I crawled on our bellies to get it made 561 00:43:31.360 --> 00:43:37.239 and finally lost a lot of money. You know, she was supposed to 562 00:43:37.360 --> 00:43:44.360 start shooting it, how to get canceled. So finally made that And that 563 00:43:44.480 --> 00:43:47.199 was the biggest sense of accomplishment I've ever had, because that was, against 564 00:43:47.280 --> 00:43:51.800 all odds, a tiny movie. To this day, no one has seen 565 00:43:51.840 --> 00:43:53.639 it. So I'm not telling you it's my favorite because it was a success. 566 00:43:53.880 --> 00:43:57.599 Because it wasn't. No one has seen it. No one has seen 567 00:43:57.639 --> 00:44:00.320 it, like it hasn't been I've seen it released or I've seen and I 568 00:44:00.360 --> 00:44:04.760 know what went into getting it finally fucking done. But it was released, 569 00:44:04.840 --> 00:44:07.199 right, you mean you're like exaggerating then nobody. Yeah, you know, 570 00:44:07.519 --> 00:44:12.840 it was sort of released, but it really wasn't. These little distribution companies 571 00:44:13.360 --> 00:44:15.719 they give you no money, not even close to what you spent on the 572 00:44:15.719 --> 00:44:21.159 picture, and they don't do any advertising, so no one knew it it 573 00:44:21.320 --> 00:44:25.400 even existed, right, and they take their cut and that's it. Yeah, 574 00:44:25.440 --> 00:44:30.239 it's the nature of the beast show business. Yeah, well it's one 575 00:44:30.280 --> 00:44:35.880 of those learning experiences. Yeah, like the School of Hard Knocks. Yeah, 576 00:44:36.800 --> 00:44:42.079 where you do all of your really important learning death. Do you mind 577 00:44:42.400 --> 00:44:45.760 telling that story of how you came to be on a role on Archer again? 578 00:44:46.199 --> 00:44:50.840 Can you tell that for the audience? So? Yeah, I was 579 00:44:50.880 --> 00:44:54.800 on a show, The Sons of Anarchy, was on FX and FX like 580 00:44:55.079 --> 00:45:00.320 all the networks. There's a thing in Hollywood called Critics Week where the rics 581 00:45:00.360 --> 00:45:04.039 come out and they take every network and they have all the stars of all 582 00:45:04.039 --> 00:45:07.159 the networks and they have press conferences and stuff, and then you know, 583 00:45:07.639 --> 00:45:12.360 network throws a big party. So FX through this party at the Ritz Carlton 584 00:45:12.440 --> 00:45:19.000 and Pasadena, and there were thousands of people, their critics and directors and 585 00:45:19.079 --> 00:45:23.760 producers and stars and you know. And at the end of the night, 586 00:45:24.039 --> 00:45:27.760 I was at the last table. Everybody had got home. It was like 587 00:45:27.840 --> 00:45:30.000 quarter to two in the morning, and I'm sitting at this table. I 588 00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:31.400 don't even know who I'm sitting with. I'm drunk out of my mind. 589 00:45:32.360 --> 00:45:35.880 And I said to this one guy said, so, what do you do? 590 00:45:36.000 --> 00:45:37.320 He says, well, I got this new show on FX. It's 591 00:45:37.360 --> 00:45:42.320 an animated series. And I go animated series on FX. He goes, 592 00:45:42.400 --> 00:45:45.239 yeah, yeah, it's kind of it's kind of cool. It's kind of 593 00:45:45.280 --> 00:45:47.199 like an adult animated series. It's the first one that's ever going to be 594 00:45:47.239 --> 00:45:50.599 on the network. And I said, well, I don't know if you 595 00:45:50.639 --> 00:45:58.079 realize this, but I'm the premiere voice actor in America, obviously hoping they'd 596 00:45:58.119 --> 00:46:02.280 never heard of Jim Cummings. Yeah, And the guy said, oh, 597 00:46:02.360 --> 00:46:06.840 really you are. I said, yep, number one. He goes, 598 00:46:07.280 --> 00:46:10.840 wow, that's really good to know. And two weeks later I got a 599 00:46:10.920 --> 00:46:15.239 call for my voice OVERGIN. She said, well, you at a party 600 00:46:15.280 --> 00:46:20.119 with a guy from Archer because he just he's offering you this role he wrote, 601 00:46:20.360 --> 00:46:27.079 playing a gay Cuban spy, and I knew that. He was like, 602 00:46:27.760 --> 00:46:30.159 let's find out exactly how premiere you are, because you're going to now 603 00:46:30.199 --> 00:46:35.039 play a gay Cuban spy. And I go, yeah, I don't have 604 00:46:35.199 --> 00:46:39.079 that in me. That's not part of my my you know, my my 605 00:46:40.159 --> 00:46:46.880 repertoire. For the right amount of money, he tested me and we ended 606 00:46:46.920 --> 00:46:51.039 up having a great time, and then they invited the character back a couple 607 00:46:51.079 --> 00:46:54.039 of times after that, so it was I fooled them. I fooled them 608 00:46:54.039 --> 00:47:02.960 again. That's wonderful. Gosh, I knew I should have never turned that 609 00:47:04.079 --> 00:47:08.960 role down, damn it. Apparently it was well received. Well that's amazing. 610 00:47:13.960 --> 00:47:16.679 Yeah, that's great. So what do you think now? Man? 611 00:47:16.800 --> 00:47:21.159 What's do we have anything on the books that we can see you in? 612 00:47:21.360 --> 00:47:24.239 I think I've asked a variation of this. A couple of things that I 613 00:47:24.280 --> 00:47:29.880 was really looking forward to have come out during the strike, one of which 614 00:47:29.880 --> 00:47:32.719 I was like, the title character. But I am not allowed to promote 615 00:47:32.760 --> 00:47:36.960 anything, right, right, Okay, So the movie came and went. 616 00:47:37.159 --> 00:47:39.519 I wasn't able to even share with anybody that I was in it, you 617 00:47:39.559 --> 00:47:45.840 know publicly. Yeah, but what do I have coming up? I have 618 00:47:45.880 --> 00:47:53.280 another movie, big movie with Matt Damon and Casey Affleck coming up, which 619 00:47:53.280 --> 00:47:57.320 I'm also not allowed to promote. So what was it like working with me? 620 00:47:57.320 --> 00:48:00.920 I can't tell the name of it was omenal guy. Yeah, terrific 621 00:48:00.960 --> 00:48:07.880 guy, as nice as the day is long, man and fun and smart. 622 00:48:07.199 --> 00:48:10.159 Yeah, and really cool to do. He seems really dedicated to his 623 00:48:10.199 --> 00:48:15.920 craft, like a he loves being an actor, he loves other actors, 624 00:48:15.960 --> 00:48:19.639 and he loves like shooting the ship like we're doing here. I mean, 625 00:48:19.679 --> 00:48:22.440 he could just do that with you, you know, hours and hours and 626 00:48:22.480 --> 00:48:27.440 hours on it. Yeah. Oh man, I thank you enough for coming 627 00:48:27.480 --> 00:48:30.119 here and doing this. Hey. Thanks, this has been a thrill bro, 628 00:48:30.239 --> 00:48:35.559 hanging with you and reminiscing and and we're still here and we're still here. 629 00:48:35.840 --> 00:48:37.800 Yeah, this has been great. Thank you so much for Let me 630 00:48:38.000 --> 00:48:42.280 give me let me ask one more question before we before we wrap things up. 631 00:48:42.360 --> 00:48:45.400 I guess I guess we're not saying goodbye. Well, I know there's 632 00:48:45.400 --> 00:48:49.960 always one guy I'm calling it off. That's right, one guy. I 633 00:48:50.039 --> 00:48:57.000 just want to know what Charlie. Charlie Huntum is like as a co star, 634 00:48:57.559 --> 00:49:02.400 a good guy. Yeah, yeah, I absolutely love the guys from 635 00:49:02.400 --> 00:49:08.000 that show. Yeah, and Charlie and I were born four days and thirty 636 00:49:08.079 --> 00:49:12.519 years apart. As much as I believe in that astrology bullshit, you know, 637 00:49:12.840 --> 00:49:15.280 when I met him, I saw my younger self, you know, 638 00:49:15.320 --> 00:49:21.519 a guy who was full of idealism and righteous indignation about things and stuff, 639 00:49:21.519 --> 00:49:24.920 and so I kind of always took him on as my kid brother. Rightful, 640 00:49:24.960 --> 00:49:29.119 beautiful guy, beautiful guy. God bless you, buddy, Thank you 641 00:49:29.159 --> 00:49:34.599 so much. I'll bless you. Jim