Re-Release: John Stamos: A Good Influence
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That's 15% off at SaatchiArt.com. S-A-A-T-C-H-I-Art.com. Ever wish your favorite TV show had twice as many episodes? Everyone knows that feeling, and so does Discover. Everyone wants more of their favorites. That's why Discover doubles another favorite thing, cash back.

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Please enjoy this wonderful chat with my friend, John Stamos. And let me just say something. You're so good at this. Thank you. You asked me a while back, and now that you're, you know, you've got more, you know, listeners, I said, now's the time. You're like, look, if it's good enough for Oprah, I'm in. I waited for her. Hello, everybody. It's me. We have a good one today. John Stamos. I mean, he has broken many a heart, and we share the same lineage, let's face it.

magazines to middle-aged men. It's a sad story as old as time. But I look forward to talking to Johnny. He's one of the sweetest men you'll ever, ever meet. Let's get to it. Hi, Rob. This is what Bop magazine, Tiger Beat, Sixteen, they've been waiting for for decades. We're giving people what they want. Which magazine did you like best when you appeared in them? Sixteen, Bop. I liked...

Tiger Beat was a big one, right? Oh, yes. Yeah. You know the weird thing about Tiger Beat? I'm looking at this art piece that I have. There was a woman named Doreen Lioi, and she discovered me before I was even on TV. And so she grew me and became really good friends with my mom and my dad. And she was sort of like a sister, an older sister. She spent Christmas and holidays with us. And she said to me, she said, I saw something that captivated me about me.

And years later, she said the same thing about her husband, who she married, Richard Ramirez, who was the, you know, the murderer. Yeah, that sounds about right. And so, I mean, literally, she was, she married Richard Ramirez. And my dad was like, don't let her come around. She'd call him. God damn it, don't you call. Slam the door. It was a strange thing. Well, that was the world of Tiger Beat, you know, mass murderers. Yeah.

Right, right, right, right. It was like, John's favorite first date, Disneyland. Richie R. loves dismembering his victims. How did Richard Ramirez... If he was so plugged in to Tiger Beat, Dickie Ramirez, you'd have thought...

He would have had a pinup. He wasn't us, Rob. He wasn't us. When was the first, what was your first cover of, Bob or something? Bob was a Johnny Come Lately, if I remember. 16 Magazine was the big one. That was the life, that was the time magazine of teen idol magazines. And I remember my, the first time my picture was in it, I was 15 years old.

And I did a photo shoot at the Malibu Pier. Oh, yeah? And my hair was like Farrah Fawcett Majors. It was like really like feathered. Tell me about it. And parted down the middle. But really what it was, it was a David Cassidy. David was cool. Did you know David? And I'm not kidding at all. I'm not being cute. He was my... When I was a...

12 year old 11 year old and watching the Partridge family or whatever I mean he was he was the shit he was didn't cast he was the man I think I love you yeah what a great song great song good guy you know Demons right I mean yeah we know about that he he was he did some opening he opened up for the Beach Boys a couple times so we got to hang out but what was he like drunk

Yeah, good. No, he was. I mean, he was pretty bad off most of the time. I'm good friends with his brother, and so I would sort of keep up. Sean Cassidy's a big TV producer. Very successful. Yeah, not that one. There's another brother who worked on ER. I want to talk to you about your son, one of them. Yes. Your kids goof on me in a sweet way. They love... They...

They love... A lot of people, not just my sons, a lot of people love putting you and I in the center of a comedy universe. It's kind of a thing. But I have to be honest too, I never consider myself in the same universe as you ever. You were always way up a...

many, many leagues above me. And like you looking at David Cassidy, that's how I used to look at you. And I don't even being silly too. And you've always been kind to me. You've always been a gentleman. You've always been respectful and caring. And I know, you know, when I went through getting sober, you were there, you know, texting and helping out. And you're just a good man. And I'm glad I'm on the show. Oh, thank you. But I don't, I never... Right back at you. I never considered myself, you know, John Stamos, Rob Lowe, that didn't even...

you know, I didn't ever thought that I'd be in the same sentence with you. Really? Well, listen, not only you in the same sentence with me, but I, when I do my one man show, one of my opening jokes that just fucking destroys is I look out in the audience and I go, yeah, I think it's important for me to explain the show and we'll

what it is. And, oh, I just see a whole bunch of women who just walked out. They're like, wait a minute, that isn't John Stamos. Well, I think we both use each other. I've been, you know what I've been doing lately and I've, you know, I'm sure you get it all the time. She's like, how do you look so young? What's your secret? I say, I drink the blood of Rob Lowe and it gets a laugh and it's a compliment to you. But your son's, I think it's Johnny, right? Like he'll post like happy birthday to the greatest dad ever and put like a picture of me. Yeah, I know.

He is such a demented little asshole, my son John. Is it weird hearing your name on stuff? Well, there's always that thing where you're watching TV and your name will pop up. But, you know, it's funny that you look up to or that came before you, like me with David Cassidy. You know, it's like, first it's David Cassidy, and then, of course, it becomes Paul Newman and other people like that. But, like...

I never met David Cassidy. I did go to his concert. The first concert I ever went to was in Dayton, Ohio, Hera Arena. It was a hockey rink. And David Cassidy was my only memory. And doing the math, I realized I must have been seven years old. And he was a speck in the distance in a white Elvis jumpsuit. But you've toured tons of stuff, right? With the Beach Boys? How?

How did the whole Beach Boys thing happen? I mean, for those of you who don't know, and I think most people do know that you're an incredible musician and you've been playing since you were a kid. I'm okay. And you are, you're, I mean, it's not too much of a stretch. You are the Beach Boys drummer at this point.

and have been. Well, I never think of myself as a guest. They always had two drummers. And when Dennis Wilson died, I was kind of around. I knew the guitar player, Jeffrey Foskett. And the first time I went to see him in San Diego at the Padre Stadium, and I was on General Hospital at the time, and

I went backstage, I went back, the show ended but they still had an encore and I went backstage and all these girls were screaming and Mike Love turns to my friend Jeff and says, who's that? He says, that's John Stamos, he's on General Hospital. Mike said, do girls always scream like that when he's...

Jeff said, yeah. Mike said, get him on stage. And that was it. I played, but you know what? We got to talk about you. We got to talk about you showing up at a show. Now, do you, I know you remember this and I, oddly enough, I found video of this recently. It's too bad. By the way, who thought of putting Rob Lowe on radio? That's the dumbest thing I ever heard. I mean, come on. I have a face for radio. No, you should be seen.

Do you remember showing up at a concert in 1988? I was there with the Beach Boys in Detroit. And it was so great. You guys have to see this. It's so cool. Maybe you should post it or I'll post it or something when this airs. Rob came on stage and he had sunglasses and he rolled up his thing. On the set, we had a... Beach Boy chair. A lifeguard chair. Yes, lifeguard.

And he's just sitting up there like, you know, so fucking cool. It was such a great, great, and I have video of it and the place went crazy and you sang with us. My memory of it was like, it was like Lily Tomlin's rocking chair. Like I was like Edith Ann. By the way, I'm hitting the audience with an Edith Ann reference. Like I'm a hundred years old. But I get it. And I heard you talking to Daryl about like not being contemporary references. Who gives a fuck? You and I, we're old people. We're old. I mean, we can't, what are we going to do? But, uh,

Yeah, I remember that and I remember watching you play and I was like, wow, this isn't a bit. John can really play. Did you play on Kokomo? I did. There was some drum machine stuff that I did, but I don't know if it ever made it. Mainly it was the video. Mainly it was just the video. You're in the video. By the way, I love that song and I didn't realize, I'm a music nerd and I'm also a, I'm a background singer nerd. I'm like, you know, sing background and that. I love that and I love credits. I didn't realize that- John Phillips. John Phillips. John Phillips.

Yeah. Kokomo, among other people. And Mike Love. Love would come up with the hooks to all the songs. He would do, you know, Mike was, I'm picking up good vibes. Or round, round, get around. You know, those were the hooks. And then Brian Wilson, being the genius, you know, filled everything. Did you ever have any relationship with Brian Wilson? Yes, yeah. I mean...

When he came back, you know, when Landy, they kidnapped him, I guess. I don't know if they talked. Johnny, first of all, I owned the rights from brief second to Landy's book. You did? Because I wanted to play Brian.

Oh, really? You would have been good. I mean, I wanted to play Brian in the worst way. And they made the movie and the movie is spectacular. For those who don't know, Landy was his psychiatrist who was very controversial and kidnapped him apparently and programmed him. And it's just, I mean, like saved his life, but then he took over. Yeah. Then he took over. I'm I love the Brian Wilson story.

He's a genius. He's a genius. And he, you know, he was... You know what you have in common with him is he had a great sense of humor. He was very, very funny. Still is, I'm sure. And I'm deaf in one ear, like him. Are you really? I don't see him much. But in the early 90s, I think it was, you know... Well, Landy...

Apparently they kidnapped him and reprogrammed him and he came back great, right? And when he came back, they were, first of all, they were filming him and they were around him all the time. And I think it was, we were, well, I know we were in Canada and I believe Mike Love was going to be gone for five shows. And so Brian came out because there was a deal in the contract had to be a certain amount of original Beach Boys on stage. So Brian was out for four or five shows and it was so fucking cool. And late one night, I'll send this to you, late one night,

He wanted to play piano. And he hadn't been around in a long, long time. He was skinny. He was funny. He was sharp. And we broke into this ballroom at the Four Seasons in Toronto. And they were videotaping him. And I have the video. And the video wasn't on us yet. You could hear him go, please, sir, please, please unlock the door. Please, please.

and the door unlocks, and we sit there for two hours, and he's playing all the stuff we called. It was just me, Bruce Johnston, Jeffrey Foskett, and Brian. Wow. And his handlers. And then he starts writing a song, and he says, rock, roll, rock, Stamos. You sing the low part. Rock, roll. You do mic, and then he starts handing out parts, and then I'm singing rock, roll, Stamos, good, you know, and he's buzzing. And then, like a few weeks later, I get this call to come into the studio and sing on...

some new record he was doing. Because he thought of me as a bass singer. It was a trip. And then they were calling me to come around a bit. I think Landy thought I was a good influence on him. Brian loved Kokomo and he wanted to sing on it. And Landy said, I have to be a producer. Me and Brian both need producer credits on it. Or maybe it was writing credit. I can't remember. But they wanted credit if Brian sang on it. And

and John Phillips said, no, we already recorded it. Terry Melcher was on it too. Terry Melcher? Terry Melcher was the producer of that. And, you know, do you know the Terry Melcher stuff with Manson? I know the man. Yeah, that's who Manson was trying to kill. Yes. And you know who lives in the- Who'd ever thought, this is what's great about the podcast. Go ahead. It's like, you're going through the menu, you're like, oh, I'd like to see the John Stamos one. I'd like to hear the Rob talking to John Stamos. We're talking about Richard Ramirez and Terry Melcher and- Charlie?

Charlie Manson. Charlie Manson in a natural, organic way. Who would ever thought? I love that. Beautiful segue. Look, I'll tell you one thing that people don't want to hear right now is the two of us talking about, oh, I'm so good looking. I can't do this. I'm so good looking. I didn't get that role. I didn't get, you know, I don't, I'm not taking serious. I'm too good looking. They would drive their cars off the cliff if they were listening.

That said, Johnny, give me a name of a role you didn't get because you're such a handsome devil. There was a role in Tommy Boy. I think, who got that role? You. You got it. But they wanted someone for that. For Tommy Boy? Yeah, yeah, your part. No way. That's amazing. And they wanted someone not, I was too good looking and they said, okay, we're going to go with Rob Lowe. Get that character actor Rob Lowe in there. Should we finish the man stuff or should we move on?

Speaking of Manson.

And the two girls that he picked up, I think one was Squeaky Fromm. And it's pretty rare, although I'll say it because I think Mike Love talked about it in his book, but he would tell me stories about, there was an orgy over there, him and Bruce Johnson went to. And Manson was, he was on a little chair. It was a short guy, I guess. He was on a chair, like conducting you do this to that person, you know, passed out drugs first.

And Love wasn't into it, and he was in the shower with Squeaky Fromm, or maybe Susan Watkins, is that her name? Susan Atkins. And he said, he got this knock on the shower, and it opened, and his man said, you can't leave the group. And he thought that was weird, and he split.

when Manson, you know, committed the horrible heinous crime up there, it was a week or so, you're probably an expert on this, but it was a while before they got him, right? And Love said that, all the beach boys were like on the roofs with guns and, you know, paranoid. And Love said that he got a call that, and he picked up the phone and said, you're next, motherfucker. No. Yeah.

Scary shit, huh? It's so funny, like why the Beach Boys? Well, because Terry Melcher, so Terry Melcher was a big producer. He was producing the Beach Boys and the Birds and Manson wanted to, you know, was a singer and so Dennis brought Manson to meet Terry and Manson played, you know, songs and Terry thought it was shitty and said, no, I don't want to produce you. The Beach Boys recorded a song called Never Learn Not To Love that Manson wrote and did it on the Mike Douglas show. How's that for a reference? Whoa. Yep.

I wonder if people want to hear this from us. Oh, they do. Okay. Who else do you trust more about mass murdering? The two of us, yeah. Yeah. Stamos and Lowe. We clearly should have our own podcast of dark crime shit. Let's talk about that, huh? ♪

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You have a new podcast. It's called The Grand Scheme Snatching Sinatra. It's about the Sinatra kidnapping. So like 25, 30 years ago, I was at the Orange County Fair and I knew Jan and Dean through the Beach Boys. Jan and Dean were another surf duo. And Dean turns to me, we were backstage, and says, hey, Stamos, do you produce? All my Beach Boys voices sound the same. You're a good impressionist. Everyone sounds like Michael. And I said, hold on a second. This is a

I got props. I got props. Oh, good. Like a carrot top in the pocket. So he says, he says, do you produce? And I'm like, yeah. I didn't even know what a producer did, really. I was on...

I think I was on General Hospital or somewhere at the time. And he said, well, my best friend kidnapped Frank Sinatra Jr. and I have the rights. This is a manuscript that he wrote in prison. And I'm out pitching the show, pitching the podcast, pitching the documentary. And I'm always sort of telling it in the sense of, you know, it's the Marx meets the Coen brothers, right? Because this guy, Barry Keenan...

He was at Rockbite. He was an extremely smart guy, very intelligent, the youngest on the stock exchange at the time, and his dad was in securities. And he just, he was a guy who wanted a seat at the big table, right? He went to Uni High, and it was with Jim Brolin, James Brolin, Ryan O'Neill, Jan and Dean. All these guys were becoming successful and had a lot of money, and he wasn't.

And he wanted to get there. He got wrapped up in drugs and alcohol, as we know can be a terrible thing. And he was at the lowest bottom that he could be. He lost all his money, his parents' money. And he's sitting on Babaoa Island in his Chevy and overlooking Catalina. And there's this great movie scene, by the way. There's a snowstorm, rainstorm, you know, thunderstorm happening. And he said, God's voice came over the radio and told me to kidnap somebody.

and the radio wasn't even on. I said, okay. So he had these voices that told him that he, and at first it was going to be, at first he wanted to do Bob Hope, but he thought, no, he's too patriotic. I got to go for something a little dirtier. How about Sinatra? Can that Bob Hope? He's got three wood in his hands all the time. Yeah, isn't that marvelous? Come on.

Kidnap my son, huh? You see, I don't do impressions, Rob. It was pretty good, though. What? I'm just doing that. That was pretty good. It was a pretty good Bob Hope. It's better than my Bob Hope would have been. So he sets aside on Sinatra Jr. because he knew Nancy. They went to school together. And he tries three times. And the third time he goes to get him, it's the day that Kennedy is assassinated.

He says, well, that was in Dallas. I got a schedule to keep. I got to go. Kidnaps him, gets him out of Tahoe and stashes him in the valley, the deep valley over here on Winnetka. Realizes, oh shit, I left the gun. I didn't pay the hotel bill. I left fingerprints, my fake mustaches.

Gets his girlfriend, drives him back up. So then they disguise themselves as honeymooners. They bring skiing stuff. Wait, how old is Frank Sinatra Jr. during all this? 19 years old. 19. And this guy's 20. 21, 22. You know, he was mentally ill. And that's, you know, being able to do it over 10 episodes has really let me kind of dive into his psyche and really tell the story properly and not sugarcoat it by any means. And not... I started it and I'm like, what am I... Am I glorifying this guy? I mean, I have a kid now. Like, this is not...

But it's just such an amazing story. So Sinatra didn't want this made. I mean, he didn't want... During the trial, they caught these guys red-handed and they eventually got life plus 75 years. But there was this crazy...

named Gladys Tolles Root, who was this famous female lawyer. And she would come to the court, big hats and big outfits and stuff. But she whispered when they were losing, she said, didn't Frank Jr., this was a publicity stunt, right? Didn't Frank Sr. pay for this to get publicity? And they pulled that out. And it really ruined Jr.'s career. I mean, it stayed with him until the day he died. So,

Frank didn't want this talked about ever again. Didn't want Barry talking about it. Didn't want... And Barry was trying to make the movie. So all of a sudden, you know, Barry noticed that people were trying to kill him. There's so much going on. This sounds like a Ryan Murphy special. I mean, Ryan makes those Hollywood...

Dark Tales of Hollywood I mean have you ever talked to Ryan about it I when Brad Falchuk you guys you know them from the I want to talk about your new show too it's great and you're great in it you work more than me than anybody

You got it. I like working. I don't idle well. Yeah. I'm like a certain type of an engine that like... I'll bet. It's like it has to run. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're a finely tuned machine. I get it. So he... Brad, we took it to Netflix. They bought it with Falchuk. And then Barry... Oh, you did. See, I didn't even know that. But that makes perfect sense to me. Let me finish. Brad, Barry fucked up the deal and it got complicated and we all pulled out.

And then I walked away and I couldn't let it go. So then I came back to do it. But Sinatra, so it went on so long. And on Sinatra's deathbed, supposedly he said, get that son of a bitch. The last hit that was on Barry was in Huntington Beach. And the guy had him in his sights and his colostomy bad broke. Come on, Stamos, you're making this up. Hand to God.

And he talks, Barry talks about it in the, and you know how he found out, Rob? He, you know, so he was, after he got out, and we could talk about it, but he was really big into prison reform and a big AA guy and helped a lot of kids, a lot of people get sober. He was great. He was in a meeting and a guy who, a guy was in, saw this hit band and he was doing an amends and talked about this hit. What? Mm-hmm. It all goes back to AA. Now, wait a minute. So-

First of all, did you ever meet Sinatra? Yes. And did you? I was going to ask you. I did. I met him. Tell me about him. And he, you know, he was a very intimidating figure. I was young. It was...

Not at the end, but towards the end. He was performing. He was still singing. It was after a show. Where was it? It was a charity event for the Princess Grace Foundation. Was it in Monaco? No. It was in Texas. They did one a year, and Prince Rainier and all these people were there. And I was introduced to him by Robert Wagner and Sinatra-

looked at me deeply, pulled me into him, by the way, hard, and slapped me in the face and said, my grandkids love ya. And I took that as a high compliment. I loved Elvis and my dad was into Sinatra and he was like, you gotta listen to Sinatra and I'll listen to Elvis and we'll see. I listened to Sinatra and I said, dad, you're right, he was so fucking cool. What'd you think of Elvis? My dad was like, eh. But I took my dad, my mom and dad, to the Pacific Amphitheater here in Orange County

to see him and we called up to see if we could meet him afterwards and they said if Frank wants to meet you you'll know what does that mean so we're sitting there and it was before so Rickles goes on first and it was you know I later became very very close with Don but I didn't know him well at that point he goes on and then it's intermission and somebody taps me on the shoulder you know Jimmy Baganonzo I think it was and said Mr. Sinatra we'll meet you now

So we go back. At intermission?

Yeah, because Rickles went on and there's intermission and then Frank comes on and then after the show he leaves so the time to say hi has been limited. So we go and he was super cool. My mom has this story for years that Sinatra hit on her on her honeymoon in Vegas. And so she had to tell him that story. She was into a couple of wines and she kind of beelines to him and then I see Jilly Rizzo almost tackle my mother and I was like, okay. Amazing. And then we said hi to Frank. We took some pictures. There's one up there.

Of you and Frank? Yeah. Me and Frank and Rickles and then Sammy. And then we went back out. So Frank, Sinatra finishes. Rickles comes out and introduces the celebrities in the audience. You know, they used to do in the old days. Yeah, yeah. And so-and-so, so-and-so, John Stamos. He said, he's probably in the grass. Rickles is still saying. In fact, he's probably smoking grass. And Frank takes the microphone from Rickles and says, smoke one for me, Johnny. Oh, God.

And I could die because my dad was there. You're a made man then. So I collect stuff, right? And I have Frank Sinatra's phone book from the last 15 years of his life, right? What? Look at that. And it's all in his writing. It's really something. I mean, look. You have to be... Flip to a page and give me a name out of that thing. Well, there's one... Sue Wasserman. Yeah, I think so. Milton Berle, who you mentioned earlier. Yeah.

You see that? John, that's amazing. That is an amazing artifact. I'm not kidding. Yeah, it is. And he... I got it. It was a three-day auction and it was the last item. I said, people are going to be... No one's going to be paying attention to this. So I got it. Perry Como. You got your Jimmy Cagney. I mean, look at this. What? And then somebody did it...

Before I bought the thing, someone wrote a, had a book on his phone book. I know you love this old Hollywood stuff. I know. This is insane. But wait, I'm getting to a good name and there's a little story behind it. So, Saga was over one day. I don't think he's left yet. It was about a year ago. Bob, and I showed this to him and

Your boy, here we go. Cary Grant. Oh, John, there he is. Excuse me. Excuse me. What number was I using at that time? 213-278. Excuse me, Rob Lowe. I don't know. I don't do. So it sounds like there were only celebrities in this book. I don't think he dealt with plumbers much back, you know. Unless it was air quote plumbers. I'm going to call a plumber to take care of it. All right.

He had some of those, trust me. Gene Kelly. I'm trying to get to this thing. Sorry, folks, if you're still listening. No, this might be my favorite thing I've ever seen. Really? I'm not kidding. Greg Peck. Not Gregory Peck, but Greg Peck. Greg Peck. That's what they called him. So...

So here's your boy in there, right? Robert Wagner. There he is. Oh, good. There you go. You know, Frank would call all hours of the night. Yes. So Saget's over, and he calls your boy Wagner and says, John Scott, Frank's book. Was this your number? And he said, yes. Well, you do the pressure. He said, yes, it was. That's my number. How did Stamos get that? You know that? Oh.

That was, you know, I mean, I, and we're like, we're the same age. We, and you were friends with the Rickles, one of your best friends. I mean, that's an era of, of entertainment that we were really super, super lucky to

To catch the tail end of. Who have you met? Have you, did you meet everybody that you idolized or is there anybody out there left or? I'm trying, the only person that I had not met for years and years and years and years that was on that list. The only person who was like the great white whale I just had never, and there've been a lot of close calls was Redford. Oh, really? And I finally, um,

I was at an award show and he was being interviewed on the red carpet and I just stood right behind him until he was done with the interview and waited and then introduced myself. And I, I love kissing the ring of my heroes. I love it. I love it. And it just, and the other thing is I have no shame about it. Zero. Because I'm like, I don't know when I'm ever going to see Robert Redford again. And this is a guy who, um,

Was invaluable to my experience of being a movie fan and being an actor and learning what what kind of acting I was.

Everybody has their own style, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I am a style of the like, I mean, dude, Redford in the natural, Redford in, I mean, come on, he's amazing. What is that style? Because you do have that. I mean, very naturalistic, right? I know you're a pro. You know your lines. You hit your marks. It's super natural. It's super honest. It's super...

It's super subtle. Yeah. The number one thing is it's not showy. Right, right, right, right. It's never like you never think Redford's acting. There are some actors who are like Daniel Day-Lewis is one of my favorite actors. That's a different style. Right. Yes. Equally valid. Have you worked with those sort of those method people?

I've never worked with Daniel Day-Lewis. And by the way, I have Daniel Day-Lewis scenes on my phone. I've gotten this new thing I do where if there's particular scenes in movies I like and it's on TV, I'll film the scenes. And so I keep them on my phone. And I have a really cool library going now. Would you put on stuff, if you're doing a comedy, you'd put on a comedic actor that you like? The only comedy I have on the phone is Bill Murray going, he's like, big

Big hitter of the llama. Yeah, right, right. And then he said to me, he said, Goonga, Goonga, Goonga, Goonga, Goonga, Goonga, Goonga, Goonga. Like I have that on the phone, but I also have, I've abandoned my boy, Daniel Day-Lewis. But do you do that just to be like, or do you look at it before you're doing scenes like to get inspiration? No, no, I just do it for, I mean, I do it for inspiration. Okay. And I have Alec Baldwin's Always Be Closing. Yeah.

Put the coffee down. You've worked with a lot of great... I mean, who is the best? Who was the most... Not intimidating, but who were you just like, oh my God, I'm acting with this person? Besides me. I mean, I have to say I was a little nervous coming in because A, I was coming in as a supporting actor on a movie that was already up and running and it was a lot of heavy hitters who I didn't really know and that was...

on Behind the Candelabra with Soderbergh and Michael Douglas and Matt Damon. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think I auditioned for that part too, you bastard. Did you? Well, I think I went on tape or they wanted me to. You were great in that. Thank you. In fact, I used that picture of you with the plastic surgeon. Yeah, that was my thing that I used on my phone and stuff. Yeah. No, no. Like if you called me, you know the picture you can put on your address book? It was that.

And then I switched to Phyllis Diller and people didn't know the difference, but. That's true. People are like, who is that? Oh my God, that's Rob Lowe in that movie. You were great in that movie. So was Michael Douglas cool to you? Oh, he's great. He was great. And Matt was, Matt's just one of the great guys and a fantastic actor. And we had so much fun doing that movie. It was, I just teed off. And that was it. I'm sure you must've felt like you come on a set like that. It's like, oh, here comes the pretty boy. You're not going to be able to act through this. Like what?

what was that about? Well, I, I talked to, to Soderbergh about, cause you know, like doing ensemble stuff. I love doing, I love being part of a team and being supportive in like knowing, you know,

To play my instrument in conjunction with other great instruments. And they make you better, right? But I'm not talking about just on Liberace, but just like any job, didn't you? Did you feel that you went through those years of having to prove that you're a good actor? Or did you say, fuck, I hit where I am? Oh, for sure. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, 100%. But then I also remember very vividly

I don't know, it was incrementally probably, but vividly getting to a point where that all left. Yeah, me too. Because you just go, fuck it. And that's really freeing. I just figure like, I've been around long enough, I've done enough stuff, it's like...

the jury's in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. One way or the other. I hate it, whatever, but there's nothing I can do one way or the other, nor should I. Right. To change anybody's minds. But I think it's the longevity with both of us, right? It's like eventually you got to go like, well, he's still around. He must be doing something right. I remember, it stressed me out for a long time, but I also was very, you know, I came up, Full House was, you know, one very specific thing and,

I remember when I finished it, I was like, Jack Klugman was a mentor of mine at that time. Oh, yeah. I worked with him and he, I said, what do I do, Jack? He said, go to the theater, get you to the theater, you know.

So I did. Which you've done. You've done a ton of musical theater mostly, right? Well, yeah, mostly. But the last one I did was called The Best Man. Maybe you know it. It's a great political thing, Gore Vidal. And it was with Angela Lansbury, John Larroquette, and James Earl Jones. You know, the greatest acting experience I've ever had, I think. Where did you do it? Where was it? A little place called Broadway. What theater are we on? Oh.

I can't remember. Yeah, I'm obsessed with wet theaters because... Oh, really? I always forget, not that I've done so much, but it was not the Richard... Was it Richard Rogers? No, that's where Hamilton is. The first one I did was How to Succeed in Business. I replaced Matthew Broderick.

You replaced Matthew, but Jesus Christ. Yeah, which was not, yeah. It's balls. Like, I don't know where I had those balls. And I don't know if you feel the same way. It's like, I'm trying to get back to that guy. Where's that guy who could just walk in? I'd never done, I'd never been on Broadway. I'd never really done play. I wasn't a good singer. I still am not a good singer. I don't really dance. And I went in there and said, oh, I could do this. But I just studied. I studied. I said, well, I'll just do it 10 hours a day. I'll sing. I'll dance. I walked in and I got it. But, um...

with James Earl Jones, so you're doing that thing and standing ovations and he was great and he called me Little John and we worked on scenes, I was a real actor. And I walk outside and it's like, Uncle Jesse, Uncle Deha, say have mercy. I said, you know what, forget it, fuck it, I'm done trying to prove anything, I don't care. That's amazing. And I'm shaved at those moments. Tell me about the show you're working on now.

Who's your coach based on? Did you base him on anybody? Well, first I got to say that I don't know anything about, and when I mean I don't know anything, I don't know anything about sports. I know you're a sports guy, right? Yeah. And do you know David Kelly? Have you ever met him? I obviously know who he is and I've never had the pleasure to work with him. He's a legend. Legend. One of the best. And just when you get something juicy of his, you just go, oh my God, I want to, and you read every, and,

So they called me and said, "You're getting offered this new David Kelly show." I said, "Oh my God, it's Big Little Lies Part Three or something, or play a lawyer or one of those things." They said, "What's it about?" "Basketball." I was like, "Oh no, God, I'm so lame at all sports. Playing them, I'm lame. Talking about them, I'm lame." So at least he was a coach. So I go, "Let me figure this coach thing out." So a friend of mine knew the logo, right?

Jerry West. Yeah, the logo. The greatest nickname in the world. For those of you who don't know, the NBA logo is modeled after Jerry West. Right. And so I went to see him and I said, Mr. West, thank you so much for letting me come to this rehearsal today. First of all, son, it's called practice, not rehearsal. Wait a minute. That's hilarious that you called it a rehearsal. That's really funny. And it's true. And then we goofed. Those aren't costumes or anything.

But I studied him for a while. I mean, I talked to him for a long time. And then I just started, I read every book and I watched Bobby. You know, the first episode, I throw a chair. And, you know, it's sort of Bobby Knight-ish, right? Yeah. So I watched him a lot. Have you ever met him? I've never met Bobby Knight. Oh, my God. He was so funny. I was just watching these things. So my character throws a chair and then I get kicked out of the NCAA and I have to work my way back up at an all-girls private high school in Laguna. So I come in as if I'm coaching, you know,

The Lakers, whatever. Yeah, yeah. And I also thought that... So I went to see the Clippers practice and I thought... For some reason, I thought the Clippers were a college team because I was playing a college guy. So stupid. But I really... You had it right the first time. The Clippers are a college team. I'm a Lakers fan. I'm allowed to say that. Okay, good. Don't come at me, Clippers fans. Don't. Did you ever go to the Lakers? I know you went to the Lakers. Did you...

You were friends with Shanley, right? Johnny. Or Gary Marshall? The reason I was in Detroit was not Dukakis. It's come back to me. The reason I was in Detroit to sit on the lifeguard stand with you in 88 was I was there for the Lakers final. I...

literally it was me and Nicholson traveled with the team that's why I was there just I don't remember Jack Nicholson on any uh any lifeguard stand um what are we what were we we're talking about did you you Gary Marshall would take me once in a while Gary Marshall the famous director Laverne and Shirley Happy Days pretty woman he had badass basketball games at his house in the valley oh yeah you yeah and you played right

Yeah. And Shandling too? Didn't you play Shandling? Gary Shandling then took it over, but this was a big, just what you think of, boy, I bet you that Gary Shandling is tough down in the post.

You just would be like, by the way, in the post, John is a basketball phrase. Well, I'm telling you, I didn't know any of it. But I knew I had to learn. I knew I had to do this right. I knew if I didn't play, if I didn't get the coach down, the whole show wouldn't work. And I think I got it. If you watch the pilot, the first scene is just like, just me out with his college team, coaching my ass off and then, you know, throwing his chair. And Jerry West, you know, went on talk shows. You know, Stan was likes to goof around and say he was practicing all this stuff.

That guy was a real coach. He really looked like a coach. He was the kind of coach that I would have liked, that he treated the women just like the men.

And the show dropped at a really good moment when women's basketball were in the headlines, whatever it was, a couple months ago with the inequality. So it worked out great. We both always say this, this is the best show I've ever had, the best job I've ever had. But it's up there. I just love it. That's awesome. That's awesome. Where do you shoot? You in L.A.? Paramount. You in Vancouver? Paramount, Paramount, Paramount. Well, that's amazing. You actually get to shoot something in Los Angeles. Yeah, I don't think I could make it to Canada. Yeah.

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 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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Meet the next generation of podcast stars with Sirius XM's Listen Next program, presented by State Farm. As part of their mission to help voices be heard, State Farm teamed up with Sirius XM to uplift diverse and emerging creators. Tune in to Stars and Stars with Issa as host Issa Nakazawa dives into birth charts of her celeb guests. This is just the start of a new wave of podcasting. Visit statefarm.com to find out how we can help prepare for your future.

Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. By the way, because I know you love rock and roll people, and I know you played with him, apparently, at a baseball game. I had John Fogerty on the show. I was listening to that last night, and I dozed off. Not that it was boring, but it was late. He was great, and he was very happy that I did his song with Snow White, so that absolved me once and for all. What song was it? It was Proud Mary.

You said that, you sang that, that's what you sang in the beginning of that Oscar thing? Yes, but with different lyrics that were written by Marvin Hamlisch. No shit. Yeah, yeah. Well, that was crazy.

Cool. How did you get through that? You just did it. Barely. Fogarty. I'm going to tell you about Fogarty. It's more interesting than Disney. I meet him through my friend Roger Lodge. Who knew your wife? Yeah, I know Roger Lodge. You know Roger. I played basketball with Roger Lodge forever. Good basketball. And he's the one who really helped me get this coach thing down. He surprised me. He hooked me up with all these coaches. He rewrote all the coach lingo in the show. Yeah.

So Roger was working at Santa Pietro's. Remember that place? The pizza place up there? The Santa Pietro's sign was written by my wife. What do you mean? She wrote it on a napkin and gave it to George Santa Pietro. And that was the sign. My wife ran Santa Pietro's restaurant. There you go. And the first hire that she hired, she was hiring only other hot girls. And that's why the thing did so well. Was... Vanna? No. Hang on. Mariska Hargitay.

Really? Yep. Mariska was the first waitress that my wife hired. So the last time I saw you guys, we had dinner a far six years ago. We were both on Fox together. Remember? Grandfathered and The Grinder.

So Fogarty used to go up there all the time. And Fogarty said to Roger, I know you know Stamos and my daughter's a big fan. She just got in a car accident. She's okay. But do you think John would ever come by and say hi? Of course. I went by because I wanted to meet John too. I said, you know, we're having a Christmas party coming up if you guys want to come. And I always put a band together and he's sitting there and we're playing this music. And then I go, we stopped. I said, John, I don't want you to think that I invited you just to play, but I don't want to be rude and not ask you to play. And he was like, well, could I just play guitar? I'm like...

Yeah, okay. And he had, this was before he started, this was when he was not playing Creed and stuff. I mean, he was pissed off at his brother and stuff. Oh yeah, for sure. He hadn't played, this was, you know, 30 years ago or something.

He gets up and plays and he turns to us. You guys know Proud Mary? We know, John. And then we had a rap party and he said, can I just be the guitar player? Like, sure. And that was cool. And then it was his 50th birthday. He said, come over. And then he had a band. He said, do you want to sit in? Oh, I'd love to. We're playing. And then he goes, and then we stop and he goes, and there's 60 people there. And I have the video of this too. And he's like, Bruce, Bruce, you want to get up? Come on, Bruce. I'm like, no, fuck it.

Springsteen gets up and two hours were just Bruce and John. Come on, you played with them? Yeah. So you've played with Fogerty and Springsteen at the same time? Yeah. My life is, I know you wrote a book, I would never write a book, but it would be called, if you would have told me when I was a kid that

I'd be on a podcast with Rob Lowe or that I would be, but seriously, any of this stuff, I wouldn't believe it, right? Don't you pinch yourself sometimes, Rob, and go like, what a life we have. Wow, grateful. And you know, our thing is all about gratitude. 100%. I mean, I live in gratitude all the time. I see. I mean, that's my default position. Well, you can see it on you and I'm grateful to you for having me on the show and grateful for you being a friend over the years and

helping me out when I needed help in that area and hair products too. I'm very helpful with that. I mean, look, people can come in and say, you know, Rob, you've been sober for 30 years. Do you have anything? And I say, I have some advice on that, but what I really know more about is hair products. Yeah.

I'm not particularly well-versed in that. John, this was great. Thank you so much. I'm so excited for you. The podcast sounds insane. The show's great. Thank you. And we will talk again soon. Congratulations. Thanks for having me. And God bless you, Rob. You're good, man. Thank you. How fun is that? I'm still trying to untangle the Frank Sinatra stuff. So sounds like we're going to have to check out the podcast, which is called The Grand Scheme Podcast.

Snatching Sinatra. Anyway, that was really fun. Who knew? Who knew all that stuff? What a like Rolodex of interesting stuff Mr. Stamos is. Who would have known? Have mercy. You've called the lowdown line and now it's time to see what you've had to say. Hello, you've reached literally in our lowdown line where you can get the lowdown on all things about me, Rob Lowe. 323-570-

So have at it. Here's the beep.

Hey, Rob Lowe. This is Melody from Erie, Pennsylvania. I am in my car, always listening to Literally. And I just want to let you know that absolutely love, love, love your podcast. But two things. Do you think you're going to have a book coming out soon? Because I miss those as well. And also, do you think you'll be making a movie anytime soon? Love watching you. Love listening about your family. Keep up the great work, and thanks.

Well, thank you, Melody. Thank you. That's really nice of you to say. I am actually doing a movie. I'm leaving for Atlanta to shoot a movie in about a week. And it is called Dog Gone. And it is unbelievably heartwarming. Just so, so emotional.

A story about a father and his estranged son who do not understand each other and do not relate to one another. And their beloved dog gets lost on the Appalachian Trail. And they have to hike the Appalachian Trail together to try to find their dog. True story.

It became sort of a cause celeb and got picked up by the Associated Press. And before you know it, communities all over the South were looking for this beloved dog, Gonger. So I'm off to do that. And that will be on Netflix when we're done with it. And books, I would like to write another book. I found those to be interesting.

I'm incredibly fulfilling. Don't know what it'll be, but I feel like that part of my life is not over yet. But thanks for your support. I really, really appreciate it. Thank you all for listening. And we will see you next week on Literally With Me.

You have been listening to Literally with Rob Lowe, produced and engineered by me, Rob Schulte. Our coordinating producer is Lisa Berm. The podcast is executive produced by Rob Lowe for Low Profile, Jeff Ross, Adam Sachs, and Joanna Solitaroff at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson at Stitcher. Our talent bookers are Gina Batista, Paula Davis, and Britt Kahn. And music is by Deventory Bryant.

Make sure to leave us a rating and review, and we'll see you next week on Literally with Rob Lowe. This has been a Team Coco production in association with Stitcher.

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 never go anywhere without T-Mobile. Same goes for my water bottle, chewing gum, nail clippers, passport. Okay, I'm going to leave you to it. Find out how you can experience travel better at T-Mobile.com slash travel. ♪

Qualifying plan required. Wi-Fi were available on select U.S. airlines. Deposit and Hilton Honors membership required for 15% discount terms and conditions apply.

Meet the next generation of podcast stars with Sirius XM's Listen Next program, presented by State Farm. As part of their mission to help voices be heard, State Farm teamed up with Sirius XM to uplift diverse and emerging creators. Tune in to Stars and Stars with Issa as host Issa Nakazawa dives into birth charts of her celeb guests. This is just the start of a new wave of podcasting. Visit statefarm.com to find out how we can help prepare for your future.

Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.