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Man, anytime I get a greaser on the show, man, stay gold. Stay gold! I mean, my man Ralph Macchio, I put stay gold up there as one of the great quotes. And having Ralphie, and I think I'm one of the only people who can call him Ralphie at this point, and to talk about outsiders and Cobra Kai, the guy's still got it going on, man. He's got a new book coming out. But most of all, you know when you meet your friends from high school and go, do you remember the time when we...
That's what we're about to get down with. All right, let's bring him on out. I was thinking about, there are certain songs that come on and I think, oh, this is the Outsiders playlist. Like, oh, this is what we listened to on Matt's boombox in the pouring rain, shooting the rumble. Okay, so obviously Bruce, right? Obviously. There was a lot of clash. Wasn't Dylan into the clash at the time? Yes.
A lot of Clash. And then Tommy was into Adam Ant. That's right. Do you remember Adam Ant? I do. I do. I can't. Don't ask me to sing any Adam Ant. But I do remember. What is it? I can't do it. But he was... Adam Ant was...
It was pretty great. Yeah, yeah. No, I remember at the time. I remember Dylan was always playing The Clash. I had Springsteen on the box all the time in my room. And the hotel security would be like, could you turn that down? You know, darkness was probably the one that was rolling a lot at that point. It's funny the memories you have. We played a lot of Caps. Remember Caps? Yes. Which, by the way, now the kids, it's beer pong. Yeah, it is beer pong.
it's beer pong but in our in our era it was caps right and i can remember vividly it might have been i i don't know who was against might have been you you know the last notes of junk down in jungle and i threw the fucking cap up yeah yeah right i remember it like it was yesterday oh well it's um there's a you know that's where it all began for so many of us you know it was uh
That movie was the one everyone wanted to be in, so we all wanted a piece of that. I read it when I was 12, so it's kindred spirits, man. Anytime I see you or Tommy, Dylan, or Diane or whatever, it's like freshman year of everything.
That's what I say. People say, well, what's, you know, would you ever see this or that when I'm like, it's like when we see each other, if you were in a fraternity or a sorority and you see your brother or sister, that's what it is. That's exactly like you go, you go right back to those, to those days. I mean, dude, I,
We were so young, I remember being thrilled that I could order room service without my parents yelling at me. Right. So how old were you then? How old were you? You were 17? I was 17. Right. I was one of the elders. You and Swayze were the elders. Yeah, Swayze had me by a bit. But so was my second...
Yeah, the second movie. But I did a TV series. I was on this TV show called Eight is Enough. Do you know my connection to that? Yes, I read it in your book. And I said, I didn't know this. You think you know a guy. So Eight is Enough was a big hit. I had done a bomb for ABC, but they were nice enough to give me like a holding contract or whatever. And they were going to add this –
Amazing character to eight is enough. And, and I got to go and read, I worked my way through the audition process to get to the network reading. And I remember sitting in these giant chairs at century city. I think the network had big chairs to make you feel insignificant. Yeah.
And I look over and there you are. Of course, we didn't know each other then, but you're over there. And it's I think it was just between me and you. And I didn't get it. And you did. And I was like, God darn it.
I learned that when I read your book. I didn't know all that. I learned that. And I'm just, it's interesting because as you write and your memory, you know, it's not so much selective memory, but it's the stuff that solidifies in your mind over time and how that feels and how you felt and that you write to that. So, you know, it'd be interesting to have that visual playback of what really happened
played out on the day versus what you you you feel and take with you and and uh but as long as it's honest that's that's i think that you know that's what i always reach for and the other thing is is you know with a little bit of never let the facts get in the way of a good story like you know like i'm not sure that martin sheen when he would patrol the neighborhood uh
During Halloween to keep the punks in check. I'm not sure he was actually in his Apocalypse Now clothes. But you had it painted that way. In my memory of it, he was. But for sure he was. But like for sure he was patrolling the neighborhood with a baseball bat. That I'm not making up stories. I remember you telling that story. Emilio, get the ball back.
Get the ball back. I remember you saying that. I remember you. I remember hearing that story from you in, in the lobby of the Tulsa Excelsior, which is now like a double tree. I went and looked for it. I was in Tulsa. I did too. I went and I went up to the sixth floor. I did. I walked and my room was being serviced. No, I swear to God. It was like cruise me where you were Tommy Dillon down the end of the hall. I just, it was a trip.
It was a trip. Can you imagine a floor of a hotel? Let's walk over. You kind of did it, but let's just let's just marinate. Yeah, let's let it sit. OK, so I had an adjoining room with Tommy Howell. Right. Because I had crews next to me. Dylan was further down the hallway.
And Emilio. Yeah. Yeah. I just don't remember vividly. I remember Cruz next to me and Dylan down the hallway. Two reasons. One, I just do. But two, with Dylan, we'd go run lines sometimes. I'd come like, he'd say, you want to run these lines in this scene? And I'd...
And I would, you know, go down to his room and we'd run some of the lines, you know, the barbecue sandwich scene from The Outsiders. And then with Cruz, he was just right next door. And I remember the script for Risky Business coming and him saying, I'm getting a script if they, you know, put it in my room if it comes up here. I just remember the script. It didn't say Risky Business on it. It just said, you know, it's just an envelope.
So I thought, what if I took that script and just, you know, that trajectory?
I remember envelopes arriving for Leif and there weren't scripts. Yes, there weren't scripts. They were kind of padded and puffy and soft. Do you remember? I remember thinking the coolest thing in the world that Leif had figured out a way to get to FedEx's blow to us. And it was like, but you were a good boy. You were a good Long Island boy. I was ridiculously good. You were very, very, you didn't fall down the, but we would like,
you know, imbibe with, with Leif and then walk to the river. That was our big night.
I do remember you saying, I put this in the book, I do remember you saying to me that we should get me a t-shirt that says, do not disturb on it. That's right. Because I'd always have that on my door, blasting Springsteen or studying my lines. At that point, it was like I was taking everything so seriously. I mean, I did have fun. I got out. We had good times. We had our case parties and all that stuff. But I was...
Pretty reserved and sort of arm's length from diving to the other side of the tracks. Yeah, because the other side of the tracks was, ironically, Tommy Howell. Right, at 15. He was 15. That guy cut a swath through Tulsa, Oklahoma like... Like a tornado. And, you know, the other thing that was amazing is...
The business of, I need to tell you, that has changed so much, obviously. This is a Warner Brothers studio movie by one of the most
iconic directors of all time. Everybody in the world knows about it on everybody's radar. And as a 15-year-old, they would provide you with alcohol at wrap every night. At times they were a-changin'. Do you remember, by the way, when you said you ran lines with Matt Dillon, I'm stunned because I feel my memory of Matt is all he did was ad-lib or try to. Yes, but this is this one scene and he's mentioned this a few times. So that's the only reason I would
I would dive into it a little bit. But that scene we shot...
He had all the dialogue there. Is this the one where he's talking about getting the train to Windricksville and everything else? No, no, after that. This is when Sofia comes up. Sofia Coppola is a little 10-year-old in the drive-in, eating the barbecue sandwiches. And he's saying – That was a big audition scene for people. Yeah, I get you a hideout, a hangout, a hideout. A hideout? Do you hide out at any hangout? So that's where the ad lib came from. And then so we only shot –
It might have gotten dark. I don't remember exactly, but we had to go back.
and finish up the scene so at that point um i don't know if i asked or if he asked but um because he always would say you're the most professional actor i've ever worked with i'm just because you want to run lines i thought that was the deal you know i thought you had i thought you had to learn the lines but uh and um so it was a little bit of a bonding moment for us with johnny and dallas it just uh
You guys are iconic. I mean, you guys are – I mean, I can't think of a more iconic pairing. It was great. I mean, it was great to experience all that stuff. But that's one of those memories, like I alluded to earlier, that sticks. There are many others that just blur. The other thing that is – it blows my mind looking back on it, and I guess it's because –
It was my first movie. I was super excited. We were all friends. It was a good time everywhere. But I remember being on the set
during scenes I wasn't even in. Yeah, me too. I schlepped out to the church sequence, which is way outside. I mean, I was at the scene. I have a picture from the day of the barbecue where you guys are getting the sandwich on the car where I brought my dad there. Oh, wow, yeah. We would just show up on the set even when we weren't working. Yeah, it was camp. It was camp. I mean, I...
That was part of it. And a lot that I learned about the camera and about, I mean, Steve Burum, our cinematographer, was so open and offering insights and his expertise that I was, you know, I was a little kid just saying, how come you're using that lens? And what's this? And why would you start back here and push there? And I learned an awful lot on the outside is because it was so ensemble. I had that, that
that meaty section where up at the church and all that stuff with Ponyboy and Johnny, but there was plenty of the ensemble, the Curtis brothers, the rumble stuff that I wasn't in that I would, you know, do exactly as you just said, you know, just come to come to set. And, and I learned an awful lot from, you know, that was a little early film school with some of the best. I forgot. Of course you're not in the rumble cause you're, you're in the hospital, your character, but you missed one of the great,
Yes. I mean, it's, so we go to do the rumble. It's going to be a three nights, night shoots. And the first night we're about to shoot and it starts to rain. And Francis doesn't, and by the way, it's going to rain and be done in like two hours. Right. Francis doesn't want to wait. So we shoot with the rain, which means now for the next three nights where there is no rain. We're creating it. We have to create rain. Mm-hmm.
And it's among the most miserable things I've ever shot to this day. I could imagine. I was, yeah, I was spared that one. You know, it was...
It's funny. When you're young, some actors are still this way, but you have that moment. The rumble, everyone was trying to find their moment. I didn't have that opportunity with the role I had, but I see that even in the show that I'm on now, Cobra Kai. When there's a fight, it's about Cobra Kai.
making the most of that spinning heel kick or that take down or that whatever, especially with the young cast. And I see when I, there's so many times I'm watching scenes on Cobra Kai, you know, where the kids are fighting or whatever. And I'm thinking of that time on the outside because everyone just talked about- All we talked about. You know, what they were going to do. Dialogue took a back seat to, you know, to the fight scenes. Absolutely.
I think it's why I relish and seem to have good luck like you do as well when in an ensemble, because it was the first thing we did in that kind of super healthy but really intense competition. And listen, between Swayze and Cruise, I mean, look, at this point, Tom's competitive, you know, focus is literally legendary. Right. And he had it.
I mean, today he's hanging off of, you know, jumping off 2,000-foot cliffs, but in our day, it was just doing a backflip. Right. Like, I wasn't doing the backflip. Fuck that. Yep. Yep. No, he was always that way, always. I mean, when he pulled his...
cap off to pull his tooth out to, he's driven from the earliest days and you said it's, um, you know, it's kind of paid dividends. Uh, and then it's part of, part of what, what he's done and what he is, um, really amazing to, to be there at the, the origin of that. Total that, the Tom Cruise origin story, Steve, Steve Randall did. Now when you auditioned
Because the other thing, there was the L.A. crew. I did not audition in New York. This is an interesting thing. People just assume, since I was from New York, that I auditioned in New York like Matt Dillon and such. I auditioned at Zoetrope Studios on Las Palmas, right? Yes. Two days in that, you know, the famous slash infamous studio.
ensemble auditions where you're watching each other and trying to gauge. I'm always curious, who do you remember being there? I remember Dennis Quaid, Helen Slater, Kate Capshaw, Scott Baio. I remember Scott Baio coming in because he was probably one of the more famous people walking in the room.
Who else do I remember? Mickey. Oh, Mickey Rourke. I read with Mickey a few times. I remember Mickey, listen again, whether it was actually true or not, my truth is he was on roller skates and he stank. That's my memory. The guy was literally on roller skates. And I remember Francis and everybody treating him like Jesus had walked in.
Well, you know, they were big fans. It was like the Red Sea parted. Yeah. What was the movie? What was the movie that he was? Oh, it was Body Heat. Yes, yes. Body Heat. Right, right. Right. He had that great character part in Body Heat, but hadn't really, you know, taken off. And of course, he was in
Did they ask you to be in Rumblefish? At one point, good question. At one point, I spoke to Fred Roos. For those of you who don't know, Francis Coppola is a longtime producer and casting guru. Genius. Casting genius. Yeah, he is a casting genius because he loved us and gave us great parts. Well, that's the only reason. So he came to me and discussed the role that Vincent Spano played. I bet, yeah. And we...
We spoke about that and I didn't read for it, but we had discussions. But then the ship kind of sailed in a different direction. It's funny. My perception up until recently is that...
Outsiders was the sort of public hit, but the cool one to be in was Rumblefish. Right. Didn't it feel that way? Stuart Copeland, the black and white, you know. Yeah, it kind of did feel... Mickey Hart from The Grateful Dead. Right, just hanging around. Tom Waits. Well, Tom Waits was in our movie too, but it was cool having those guys around. Wasn't it? It was really cool to just hang out and...
Talk to Tom Waits. I remember when I went to the first Zotrope Francis's in New York, I vividly remember Carly Simon in a cat suit. Wow. Don't know what she was doing. And I was like, man, there's a lot of cool shit going on in the world. Exactly. You know, it's interesting because I auditioned, like I said, those few days in L.A. And then it was radio silence for more than a couple of weeks.
Really? And then I heard that some of the guys were flown to New York. Now, were you flown to New York for that session? Yeah, see, this is the thing. See, I was not. What? I don't know if they were still looking. Francis, I've asked them point blank. Even recently, like a couple of years ago in Napa, we did a talk back to a bunch of grade school kids about the outsiders and
He said, because I know when they did the workshop, I know Downey, Downey Jr. played Johnny Cade in the workshop, but I think this was before Francis was directing, when it was first up. So I always wondered if that's the guy they wanted, but it just didn't happen, and I was the default. But I was, in his mind, in his words, I was the Johnny, so they closed the book on that. I said, you could have called me Johnny,
Right away. That's not his way. Yeah, yeah, no, no. So it was whatever it worked out. I mean, that's the movie that holds such a special place for me. I love Francis, but bedside manner with actors is not his strong suit. Right, right. Yeah, the trip to New York was my first time I went to. It's me, Tom Cruise, Emilio, Tommy Howell.
Darren Dalton. First time we ever flew first class. It was great. It was, it stayed at the Plaza. I'll never forget that. And I also remember Tom getting on the phone to his, I read about it in my book, getting on the phone to his agent, Paula Wagner going, they had me sharing a room. I know. Right on it. Right on it.
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And craft the perfect Sunday brunch. When it's not even Sunday. Because with McCormick by your side, it's going to be great. I remember seeing Karate Kid. I was making... Isn't it funny that we all... In the 80s, you had to do a sports movie. Yeah. Didn't you? You had to. Right. Vision Quest. Vision Quest. Just pull a random one out. My favorite thing about Vision Quest is...
The Appalachian bar where Madonna is singing. Yep. She's in the bar. It's what happens in salt rust belt towns. Just talent placement. Vision quest. But Karate Kid's the granddaddy of there's nothing that comes close. My little young blood is a speck in the
celestial body that where you are a supernova, I would say, sir. Well, being, being a hockey fan as I am, uh, Oh, I know that's right. So I, yeah, I listen, the, the karate kid has, um, you know, stood beyond the test of time now, you know, uh, and it's,
You know, you get a credit, you know, it comes from, if it's not on the page, it ain't on the stage. I mean, Robert Moore came and just wrote a script that just caught fire at the right time, and the casting was just...
Dead on the time, you know, there's so many of those elements that go into if I mean, I remember going up, I ran into Diane Lane when we were going up to look at the outsiders and do the talk through of the anniversary cut, like the full version that had all your scenes back in and such. She said she was just nominated. And I said, congratulations. She said, listen, honey, if I knew how to make a hit, I'd do more of them.
She said almost like a Lauren Bacall delivery. I expected the tag on the cigarette and the smoke after. So there's so many elements going back to what I was saying about the Karate Kid and all those
elements that came together. You know, the director, John Avilson, Jerry Weintraub, the great Jerry Weintraub, the old school producer. He was great. All those pieces and then Pat Morita in the role of a lifetime. I mean, that's the secret sauce, you know? And then what happened with all the little, when you talk about the
the different, you know, you mentioned Youngblood and The Karate Kid, sports movie overcoming obstacles, winning in the end, rooting for that underdog, the protagonist, the hurdles, the payoffs, the setups that pay off, all that stuff. With The Karate Kid, the afterlife of even the original theatrical distribution became pop culture, right?
And then the internet, it becomes theorized as, okay, wait a second, was it really a legal kick and maybe that was the good guy? And now you have, you know, get him a body bag is all of a sudden, you know, a line that you could yell out at a sports game and everybody cheers.
And that's just some otherworldly magic strike that why it all came together. And also, you always had to have that great song and that Peter Cetera. It wasn't Chicago. It was Peter Cetera. Peter Cetera was the sequel, The Glory of Love. That was for part two. Oh, you're kidding. That was the...
In my mind, that's in the original. Yeah. I mean, that was the sort of love theme for part two that took place in Japan, Okinawa and the love story. But the original was the you're the best around, which is arguably the ultimate 80s montage theme.
And I write about that stuff as well. Like how the music montage, it was the era of that. The music montage. I mean, what would you do without it? I mean, there's no greater moment in movie montage history than you with the paintbrush. Right, right. Or the waxing on, waxing off. That's it. I mean...
That's that's I mean, you just you just kind of go, yeah, that's the in memoriam clip for sure. You know, dude, I love that you mentioned that because every Oscars probably sans this last one. That's the conversation I'm always having when I watch that as I'm getting older and older. I can I put in a submission for what I want?
Yes, you should be able to. I think you should be able to. Right. I think when you hit what age, what age would be the time where you could say these these are the clips either I want or this is the freeze frame that I want to go with. People plan their own funerals. Why is this any different? I think so. I think we should spearhead this. Well, I'm just convinced every time I exit a door and turn around and deliver a line.
You know, you walk and then you pause and you turn around. Or God forbid you wave. Yeah. Oh, no, that's not. You wave goodbye. No more waving. You're like, oh, yeah, this could be it. This could be the one. This could be the one. Or you could be omitted. You could be that one that's the next day. How could they ever leave Rob and Ralph out of the play? Yeah, who are we? Well, he was a television guy. Well, he actually made it in movies at first. Yeah, but it was a. Yeah. Oh, listen. Believe me, there could be a way to be ignored. Yeah.
It may not be the worst thing in the world. Yeah, it wouldn't be the first time. By the way, your book is great. Let's just get the – because your book is coming out like almost any day now, isn't it? Yeah, October 18th. I have a lot of questions. First of all, how are you enjoying being an author? I'm enjoying it. I think that – for me, it happened – I wrote The Lion's Share –
during season four and five of Cobra Kai when we were shooting kind of back-to-back seasons during the pandemic. So I was kind of in a bubble
And it was go on set, testing three, four times a week, face masks, the whole thing. And then I would just go back to where I stayed in Atlanta and sit at my computer ordering food because nobody was going anywhere. And it was cathartic. I really – it's a story that only I kind of can tell what it's been to walk in the shoes of –
this character for, for four, close to 40 years now and the ups and downs of it all. And, and, but it's really a celebration of it. You know, I tried to make it equal parts nostalgia and, and contemporary relevance at the same time, because that's what it is in my life, especially with this show that's kind of blown up now on Netflix. But I enjoyed diving into, um,
to all I've gained from it, all I've learned from it, my missteps during it, and being sort of, you know, like I said, in the shoes of Daniel LaRusso that has become a piece of everyone's, maybe not everyone's, but many people's childhood, and now they're sharing it with their kids, and that's the cool part. I got, I said this joke on Colbert, he
Last time I was on, I just said, what's it like? This thing is number one on Netflix because it was on that day. And I said, well, it's gone from... It's kind of humbling. It used to be, hey, aren't you the guy from The Karate Kid? And now it's like, hey, don't you play the dad on my favorite show? I said, yeah, that's me. I'm your dad on your favorite show or whatever. That's right. So that's kind of a nice thing. But to answer the question...
I do enjoy writing. I want to do more of it. Not necessarily in this genre, maybe other areas, because it's an expression. And if you feel you have something to say, you know, and it's unique, just like what you did when you launched on with your best-selling first book. And from there, it's, you know, people want to hear. And if you have a voice and it sounds like you,
That was important to me upfront. I said, I'd rather have a bad sentence that sounds like me than something brilliant that sounds like someone else wrote it. I tried that once. I just kept having to rewrite everything the ghostwriter delivered and it never worked and I'm glad it never worked. So this is all me, you know,
Good, better, and different. I've never understood the ghostwriting thing. Makes no sense to me. I don't get it. Because people know you want it to be you, right? You want it to be your voice, for sure. I love that you named your son Daniel. I love that. That's the greatest.
It makes me think I should have named one of my boys Soda Pop. That's so funny because – it's funny you bring that up. It was a back and forth. My daughter Julia was born a couple years before Dan. He's Dan now as a 26-year-old. Yes, of course. But it was a conversation. Yeah.
You know, my wife's best friend, her cousin growing up, is named Daniel. And they were very, very close. And he's actually since passed prematurely. It was very difficult last year. But not to put a downer on it, but I'm just paying homage to him and the namesake. And so that was always, she always wanted to potentially name her son Daniel.
I was like, okay, now this comes with a few things if I name my son Daniel, if I'm blessed with a son. So we had the – with Julia, we didn't know if it was going to be a boy or a girl. And I think I convinced – let's not name –
You know, Daniel's son. I'd have to deal with this. We'd have to maybe Daniel's son, Daniel's son. You know, it was kind of, you know. But then time had passed and we – it's a beautiful name. It never goes out of style, maybe unlike Ralph. Yeah.
And so we went for it. And I wrote this story in the book when, you know, my son was really proud of it. But there was that time, and I forget exactly how I laid out the story in the book, but when I was in the Little League game and he tripped going around third base and the opposing coach goes, down goes LaRusso, because he looked at me like, really, Dad? Really? Yeah.
Yeah, for sure. You're asking for it. But he's proud now. And he's his own person. But it's good. And on the Rob Lowe roast, if you will...
Which I participated in. You were so funny. You're so funny in the roast. So funny. It was a crazy time, man. I am so glad I did it. It was just a, you know, I hadn't done something like that. I'm not a comic. And I had to wait my time, you know. And it was like two and a half. You know, it's waiting for it. I wish I went second, not seventh or eighth. Because, first of all, you're getting hit with shrapnel all night long. You know that going in.
So I was ready for it. And that was part of it. I wouldn't have done it if I was not open to that. And self-deprecation is one of my favorite hobbies. So I was like, okay. But one of my favorite jokes was, I forget who it was. I don't know if it was Spade. I don't know who it was. But he says, Ralph Macho named your son after his character from his biggest movie. And that's like Rob Lowe naming his kid nothing. Yeah.
I forget who it was, but it just made me, it was just like, it's a, it's a tough room, man. It's a tough room. I, um, that remains one of the, I think it's their, their, their biggest roast ever. Yeah. And I love it. I, I highly, you can, you guys can watch it. Um, it's, it's, you can get it on wherever the hell you get. Yeah. It's worth it. It's so funny. At least for Robin, my part. It's really funny. And I take a beating. No,
No, it was good. Which is the whole point. And so I, you have to get the shit pounded out of you so that when you go up there and just turn the tables, it works. But God, that was such a fun night. Yeah, it was, you know, it's interesting because for me, you know, it made sense, uh, uh,
the head writer I had worked with on a film. So we had kind of talked through what the angle was for me. And I just wanted, I said, let's make it an acting piece. Let me, let me get to some point where,
that I get to stick the landing, even if I slip and fall along the way. And I think at the end of it, I was able to kind of, because it was not just like ripping you a new one constantly. It was sort of like, how did you get this? And I didn't. Now, this is literally eight months before Cobra Kai hit and explodes and has been on for five years.
But it was like such a kind of interesting timing and interesting tie-in to Cobra Kai and the Rob Lowe Rose to Comedy Central. How about that for a plug? I was watching it. It was like around Labor Day, right? When they air it. And I'm watching it and I notice on my phone that I'm being followed by John Hurwitz, the
who I recognized the name, who was, you know, who created, co-created Harold and Kumar. And I started saying, why is this guy following me? And literally three days later, you know, when you get the check mark and you know it's... Three days later, I get a call from my lawyer saying, hey, do you want to meet these guys, Hurwitz and Schlossberg and their friend Josh Shield? They have an idea. And that was Cobra Kai. So I'm like...
I was so good on the Roblo roast. I look great. I was funny. I'm going to get a show out of this. That's amazing. That's really amazing. But it really had nothing to specifically, it wasn't, I think doing the roast was not, it didn't create that project by any stretch.
But it might have, you know, just four or five people who make decisions might have just said, you know what, this might, this seems okay. I tell young actors that you never know what's going to lead to the next thing. 100%.
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All set for your flight? Yep. I've got everything I need. Eye mask, neck pillow, T-Mobile, headphones. Wait, T-Mobile? You bet. Free in-flight Wi-Fi. 15% off all Hilton brands. I'll never go anywhere without T-Mobile. Same goes for my water bottle, chewing gum, nail clippers. Okay, I'm going to leave you to it. Find out how you can experience travel better at T-Mobile.com slash travel.
This is a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup sound experiment. We're looking to find the perfect way to hear Reese's so you'll buy more of them. Here we go. Reese's. Reese's. Reese's. Reese's. Reese's. Hey, get out of here, you old stinker! Reese's. Reese's. Reese's.
Reese's. Peanut butter cups. That breathy one sounded very creepy, am I right? Does the name Patton Place mean anything to you? Yes.
And you just jogged by. I mean, I just went down the, what is that? Did you go down the rabbit hole just now? Yeah, I was just like, where am I? And all of a sudden, I found myself on Riverside by Van Nuys. So I'm obsessed with Patton Place. I think there's a TV show in it. Oh, there so is. Isn't there? Yeah, so what it is is a very 1970s redwood decked,
three-story condo with probably 15 condominiums in it, literally next to the freeway. It's right next to the freeway. On Riverside and Van Nuys in the Valley with a sign that says Patent Place because it was owned by Dick Van Patten. It was his big real estate play. Yep. And it was kind of a haven for actors. So...
You lived there for a bit. I didn't live there. I just had folks that I knew there. So I was there all the time. I thought you lived there. You were always there. That is true because I was by myself. This was during eight is enough before The Outsiders. I was living in Santa Monica and
And then I moved to Marina Del Rey when I was evicted because the whoever owned the condo I was in had a divorce and she got that. And I was down the Marina Del Rey. So I would drive up, you know, the 405 and and and hang out there and then go to Westwood on Friday nights and see movies. That was kind of it in 1980 and 81, 82. And Jillian.
And Jillian, yeah. Who was on what was her show? It's a Living. Yes. Married to a gnarly policeman. Remember that? That is true. Chicago cop. I forget his name. Yeah. And all of the various and sundry younger Van Patten's. Mm-hmm.
Nels, Vince. Vince Van Patten was like playing Wimbledon. Yeah, no, major tennis. What's her name? The amazing, who's now Gretzky's wife. Janet Jones. Janet Jones, solid gold dancer. That's right, man. You're good. You are good, sir. Yeah, you're really jogging my memory. That's right. I pass it every day. It's on the way to my studio. It's still there. It still has a room for you. I'm going to drive by when I'm out. I'm going to be out there next week, probably.
Yeah, the end of next week. Oh, you are? You're coming out? Oh, good. Well, let's try to get together. Yeah, then next week and then the following. So I'll be next. Are you on the book tour? Are you doing the big book tour now? That will be going on. That'll be, you know, that's a one day. And you've done that, right? It's like a day on the plane at the theater, on the plane at the theater, on the plane. So I'm looking forward to the experience, I think. It's going to be great. You're going to love it. It's going to be great.
How much time did you spend on titles? I think titles are super important because I know you're a music fan like me. And I looked at my book as my album. Yep. And like, and the chapters is the songs. Do I want to lead with a hit?
Do I want to do like a kind of deep cut? And then, you know, this is kind of a poppy feel good chapter. So maybe I need to do a ballad. Did you did you look at the book like that? And did you spend time on the titles and all of that? Do you think of it in that in those terms? I did. I very much so with the with the chapters. That's what I came up with first. I mean, at first, my working title on the book was Me, Myself and LaRusso.
That was sort of my working title because it's, you know, it's that blurred lines of, you know, people like, hey, so you enjoy growing up in Jersey? I'm like, didn't live in Jersey, but I get it. You know, I'm not from Newark.
And I didn't have a nice little Japanese guy teach me how to paint and sand and polish. But it's so me, myself and LaRusso made sense in sort of the initial onset of it. And then I took chapters. I just laid down. I wanted 12 chapters, you know, for some reason. And I just started coming up with titles of chapters that sort of encompassed, you know, that were hopefully humorous, interesting, you know,
Um, you know, it wasn't just like getting the part, meeting Miyagi, you know, I didn't, I wanted it to, to have, uh,
you know other relevance to to it and so when that was laid out we i stayed true to that uh the whole the whole writing process and then i mean i always had waxing on was always a back pocket you know and obviously anyone not obviously but certainly you know the publishing houses and the and the lit agents all like you have to call this that you know
And the Karate Kid should be on the cover because it's such a global brand. And so it was a matter, like you talk about, like that's the album cover and finding. I kept looking for a more obscure, but like had all that. And it never would take. So waxing on the Karate Kid and me. And to wax poetic is to go on about, you know. So I like that.
that sort of subtle double meaning. And then, so that's where we landed. And it's so obviously the right title. It's just not even a conversation. No, but I try, you know, you try, I'm like, I don't want to just be this, you know, you could tell how I could see you like totally belaboring. Like when it's so clear, I know there is no title other than this. I've seen the poster. Listen,
Listen, and I talk about the title of The Karate Kid, like hating that title because I said, you know, I always joke that if I, you know, if I ever get the part, I'd probably have to carry it for the rest of my life in a kind of funny way. But it's like Weintraub said, it's a terrible title, which makes it a great title. Did he say that? That's amazing. Yeah. He goes, it is a terrible title, but that makes it a great title. I love Jerry's great.
Okay, so I have a movie coming out in Netflix, and it's coming out, I think, around Christmas time. So it's a story about a father and his estranged son, and the only thing they bond over is the family dog who runs away on the Appalachian Trail, and they have to go together and try to find the dog. So it's everything you think it is. Right. Right? You know what I mean? You know exactly what that movie is. Title of the movie?
Dog gone. Jerry Weintraub title. That title is so bad that it's actually great. Yep. That's it. Home run. The last time I saw Jerry, he said he was, we were the group of people, you know, the Hollywood and all his friends and such. And he was like, you know, he took me by my face and, you know, said it in a very earnest way. He goes, you know,
You're a big part of my life and I love you. And, you know, I forget exactly from those are the words I heard. There's a little more of that. And then he turned to a bunch of people and goes, hey, Jimmy Ralph, this kid bought me a couple of houses. Yeah.
So that's Jerry being Jerry right there. And Jerry Weintraub, he's one of the great Hollywood producers. I did Behind the Candelabra for him, which is I think his last movie. Yeah, with Michael Douglas. He had at his – the biggest estate I'd ever been on at the time. And at the front door, on either side of the front door –
He had stained glass portraits, one of his wife and one of him. His wife was a singer. So it's a picture of her with a microphone in a very evocative pose. And then the other side of the door is a picture of him with a phone in his hand. Yeah.
He's the last of a breed, man. He is the last of a breed. I have so many Jerry stories. But yeah, and a couple of them are in Waxing On because they deserve it. I mean, he's the one we, you know, we saw the movie for the first time and everyone's out on the street doing the crane stance. And he said, took me by the arm and he goes, we're going to be making a couple of these.
Wow. And so I write to that, you know, what is a couple of these? And then here we are in 2022 and season five of Cobra Kai. None of us knew that. Pretty amazing. Great stuff.
Are you going to see Bruce on the new tour? I think so. I haven't, I'm looking at, uh, I don't know when our production schedule, uh, uh, lines up, but, uh, where do you guys, are you guys still shooting in Atlanta? Yep. Yep. It's the only, it's, it's, I call it a Cobra, California because it's,
We have no leaves on the trees. You can never have an open window. It's supposed to be the valley. And we have three stock shots and we shoot maybe four hours in L.A. to someone just walking by Ventura Dupars. And we go like, we're here. And then we're back in Atlanta. I hate to break it to you. The Ventura Dupars is gone. Shocking. Yeah. I used to go there all the time from Patton Place. From Patton Place? Yeah.
Oh, man. I remember that going to Westwood on Friday nights, that was a thing, right? I'm not imagining that. No, that was it, man. Almost like...
Sideshow circus jugglers and sword swallowers and the college kids from UCLA coming down. And it was the only place to see movies. It was the only place. Indiana Jones there, Star 80. I'm trying to think of that time. Star 80. Oh, my God. I went to the 10.30 a.m. show of Star 80 with Eric Roberts. I'm like by myself because it's Bob Fosse. It's like certain filmmakers...
I see their movies, even when they miss. I don't think that missed. No, it did not. It did not. But I would see, you know, I'll see anything Scorsese does or Francis or, you know, and Bob Fosse, among others, Sidney Lumet, who I also write about because I was such a, his movies were such a big influence on me. Oh, Prince of the City? Oh, my God. I saw that at the Cinerama Dome. How about the one that with Noel, is it,
Q&A. Oh, Q&A. Timothy Hutton, right? Timothy Hutton and Nick Nolte. Wow. Star 80. I think, didn't we have, I think we had a lot of bits around Star 80 on The Outsiders. I think we all did our Paul Schneider. Yeah, right. Oh, sure.
That's 100%. We had more stupid bits. It's amazing that we remember them. Yeah, and the Bill Murray caddyshack. Anytime I went to play miniature golf. Do you remember going to the Nautilus? The gym? The Nautilus. This is my favorite. So, by the way, look, you were not a big workout guy. No, still am not. I have to work out, but I spend my time in the gym.
to stay in shape. But, and I was never, I, I since became one ironically, but then I'd never worked out, didn't like working out, but you know, Tom and Emilio were my homies and they were like lunatic work, working out fiends. And, and,
And there was, you know, this is 1982. There are no gyms. That hadn't really happened yet. But there was what was called a Nautilus. Like people who know will know. There was a Nautilus and we had to take a cab like an hour outside. And it was so tiny. And I just remember Tom would always want me to go. And so me and Cruz would take a cab to the Nautilus. And the music, I just can remember being on the Peck deck.
Helping Tom and that stupid song. If you like pina coladas, a getting caught. That was what they were playing at the Nautilus in Tulsa. But do you know how you just remember that? Talk about a snapshot. Yep. Yep. Whenever I hear that song. You're there. I'm in the Nautilus with Tom. So stupid. I know. Nautilus was so distinctly. Because I think I.
When I would be leaving Patent Place, for whatever reason, I would go to some Nautilus in the Valley, you know, with all the chains on all the equipment. It was this, you know, it's sort of like blockbuster video. Like, this is going to last forever. No, it's not. Yeah. It's too good. Well, God, this has been so fun. Jeez, I mean.
I was so glad that we got to do – you and I could go on and on. No, we'll have a deeper dive 70s cinema conversation when we get together, which is long overdue. This is great. I mean it's just so fun to have a familiar conversation and tie into something –
that is so meaningful and poignant in both of our lives. And here we are still kicking these kids. I know. It always feels like it's better than a high school reunion. Mm-hmm.
Yeah, because you don't have to look it. Because we look pretty good, that's why. Because we've kept our fucking shit tight. We have preserved pretty, pretty well. Yes. You are like the guy who, you're like frozen in amber. No, no, it's my parents' fault. They fucked up for me. Do they have it? Because my dad has it. My dad's a freak of nature. Yeah, yeah, I think so. I got a little lucky, although I like the camera a little bit wider these days. Wow, my heart is all warm and fuzzy.
First of all, Ralph looks exactly the same. One of those people who's always been such a decent, sweet, talented, funny, like truly one of the good guys. And I could not be more happy that he's having this success that he's having at this point in his life. I hope you guys had fun. I could have gone on forever talking to him about outsiders. There was Leif Garrett on one end of the pendulum and then there was Ralph.
And then I was swinging in the middle. All right, y'all, you got questions? I got answers. Let's hit the lowdown line. Hello, you've reached literally in our lowdown line where you can get the lowdown on all things about me, Rob Lowe. 323-570-4551. So have at it. Here's the beep.
Hey Rob, my name's Jaden and I'm here with my sister Julia, my cousin Natalie and my mom Heather. Hi! We're from Toronto, Ontario and we just wanted to know what was your most rebellious teenage moment?
That's it. We love your podcast. Bye. Oh, you guys are so damn cute. Thank you for calling in. But I know your mom is there listening. And I feel like if I give you a really rebellious thing, it's going to give you all an excuse to be rebellious. And then your mom's going to be mad not only at you, but at me. And I don't want that. My.
I will have to say, honestly, I was a I was a, quote unquote, very good boy as a teenager. I was like afraid to ditch class, afraid to cheat on a test. When like kids around me would just run amok, I just couldn't believe like their audacity. And I was like, just couldn't do it. And then I got older and then I made up for it big time.
So I guess what I'm saying is moderation is good. I probably should have been a little more rebellious as a teenager, and then I would have been less rebellious as I was older. But let me give you a specific. I would say I once completely made up an art project essay. We were assigned an artist to do a deep dive into their lives, and I completely made up everything about the artist and the teacher itself.
Never knew the difference. And I think I got a B, maybe even a B plus. Not my finest, but it proved I could write clearly. Pulled it off. All right. Thanks for calling you guys. I'll see you next week on Literally. Thanks for tuning in.
You've been listening to Literally with Rob Lowe, produced by me, Rob Schulte, with help from associate producer Sarah Begar. Our coordinating producer is Lisa Berm. Our research is done by Alyssa Graw. The podcast is executive produced by Rob Lowe for Low Profile, Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross, and Joanna Salatara for Team Coco, and Colin Anderson at Stitcher. All of the music you hear is by Devin Bryant. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next week on Literally with Rob Lowe.
This has been a Team Coco production in association with Stitcher.
At Ashley, you'll find colorful furniture that brings your home to life. Ashley makes it easier than ever to express your personal style with an array of looks in fun trending hues to choose from, from earth tones to vibrant colors to calming blues and greens. Ashley has pieces for every room in the house in the season's most sought after shades. A more colorful life starts at Ashley. Shop in store online today. Ashley, for the love of home.
All set for your flight? Yep. I've got everything I need. Eye mask, neck pillow, T-Mobile, headphones. Wait, T-Mobile? You bet. Free in-flight Wi-Fi. 15% off all Hilton brands. I'll never go anywhere without T-Mobile. Same goes for my water bottle, chewing gum, nail clippers. Okay, I'm going to leave you to it. Find out how you can experience travel better at T-Mobile.com slash travel.
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