Dennis Quaid
01:18:32 Share

This episode is brought to you by FX's The Old Man starring Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow. The hit show returns as the stakes get higher and more secrets are uncovered. The former CIA agent sets off on his most important mission to date, to recover his daughter after she's kidnapped. FX's The Old Man premieres September 12th on FX.

streamed on Hulu. You know, Dana, I think we have a connection. We've been friends for a long time. And for this episode of fly on the wall, we've partnered with eHarmony, which isn't us. eHarmony is a dating app to find someone you can be yourself with. We are not dating. Want to clarify that, but the connection is what you want in a dating partner. Um,

just someone like, if you found someone that listened to this podcast, that's somewhat of a connection. And then you sort of build on that. You want someone with some common ground. Yeah. It's not, it, look, if you want to connect romantically over, you know, super fly or fly on the wall, uh,

It just makes us happy. You don't want to be watching The Godfather and the person next to you goes, this movie sucks. You want to- So dumb. Yeah. You want to connect on all issues and harmonize in life. Similar sensibility, similar sense of humor, and similar sense of sense. I don't like when they watch The Godfather and they're like, everyone in this movie is so old. I'm like, they're 40.

Watch 2001 Space Odyssey. Too much of this movie is in outer space. I don't like it. When do they land? When do they land? Why is that stupid red light acting so silly? Who's friends with a robot? We know dating isn't easy. That's why we partnered with eHarmony because dating is different on eHarmony. They want you to find someone who gets you, someone you can be comfortable with.

Yeah. I mean, the whole idea is you're going to take a compatibility quiz, helps your personality come out in your profile, which makes all the profiles on eHarmony way more interesting and fun to read. So I think this is the goal of dating sites, and I think eHarmony does it great. It's just finding somebody you're compatible with.

So get started today with a compatibility quiz. So you can find some and you can be yourself with. Get Who Gets You on eHarmony. Sign up today. Dana Dennis Quaid is on the show this week. And I really like Dennis Quaid. You know, what a stud.

uh versatile actor especially because he's playing reagan now which i i wouldn't he's got a new movie coming out where he plays ronald reagan yeah yeah and he plays him at every age basically i mean from 30 to to the 85 or whatever it was so yeah 30 months it's like a real movie star i mean he he came out in the early 80s and he's been just making consistent

Great stuff. Fun to talk to. Super casual. One thing we must say to you, which is kind of humorous. He brought this really adorable bulldog. Oh, right, right. That was lying at my feet and it had its legs out. It was almost like on its back and it was just sort of sleeping, I thought, and snoring. He said no.

I think it was a she. She's not asleep. Peaches, maybe? Peaches. It's just really content. So if you hear kind of heavy breathing, don't think anything's wrong. I was literally looking at Dennis going, are we going to keep going? So anyway, you might hear a low buzzsaw in the background. Yes. And we get to talk about The Right Stuff, which is still the favorite movie he was ever part of, which is like this classic thing.

first time astronauts. And he was, it was his coming out movie where, and then he just had all these amazing, amazing hits. Right. Even movies like I say, even movies, but like the day after tomorrow with Jake Gyllenhaal, I thought was cool. Uh, he does good movies. He's been around for a while. Good comedy. He hosted, uh,

Great dude. Good looking, which is the most important. And he was a lot of fun. He came in and we did it in person, which we don't always do. And we got to do that. He has no, no airs about him. He's just like a casual dude. And I asked him toward the end, are you a pirate or a cowboy? And when you listen, you'll find out his answer. Yeah. You're married to Meg Ryan. That's another piece of trivia. We had a great time with him. Here he is. Dennis Quaid.

90s paid for this. 90s, everybody, come on over. Come on, boss. Come on down. We all did better. Let me see. The 90s. Are we always recording? We're always recording. What was your biggest financial decade? The wisdom of McConaughey, ABR.

Always be ready. Always be recording. I do. Oh, recording. As a roller coaster operator. All righty, ride, ride, ride. That's all I got. Well. Nice and quick. I guess we'll have to talk about that too. I know. So you're still ripped. You did. What? He's still ripped. I'm vain. Yeah, are you? So I'm not going to give it up. I'm vain. I'm not that ripped. I'm vain too. Well, I'm a lighter frame.

This would be VA, Vane Anonymous, I guess. At your peak musculature, were you like 5'10", 180 kind of guy? Because you look like you could beat someone up in a movie. I'm six feet. I'm six feet 180. Six feet 180. Yeah. Always have been. So I'm in a movie with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, and they throw in punches, and it's just... So my character, I don't know how anyone thinks about it, but my punch is like...

I go, fuck, guys. You were in a movie with Burt Lancaster? Yes, I was. Kirk Douglas? Yeah. That would be the wider Doc Holliday reunion. Basically, yes. It was an extraordinary thing to be around them. I mean, mind-blowing and ridiculous. No kidding. Yeah. Especially Kirk.

Oh, Kirk, man. Yeah. He was in shape when he was in his 90s. Kirk, yeah, he was still doing, oh, yeah. Yeah. He would do like max push-ups, max sit-ups. He had weights in his place. And apparently when the director would go in there, he just wouldn't have any clothes on. I don't even know if it was homoerotic. He just, I don't like to wear clothes. And he's doing push-ups naked. I go, I don't want to see that. He and Dick Van Dyke.

Dick Van Dyke also was a nudist. No, he's nearing 100. Yeah. All right. Yeah. I mean, this is a good topic. Actually, actors who make it. Mel Brooks is 98. George Burns. Lovitz ran into George Burns in Vegas and he said, I got 18 months.

It got down to like 18 months is what he felt he had. And he died 18 months later. Was it some cigars? What did he die from? Well, he was 100. I know, but was there anything? Yeah, but there's something that smoking eventually gets you. Yeah, see, I told you. Smoking kills. So that's an old Norm MacDonald. So you made it. We got Dennis Quaid here. We do an intro before us. Don't worry. We're going to fuck you up. We got his height and weight. He's still ripped. I know I'm in great hands. Yeah. Yeah.

Nothing bad can happen here. Nothing bad can happen here. And there are no rules and we've already started and we're halfway done. You're almost out of here. How are you, man? It's been a long time. See, last time I saw you was on an airplane. Yeah. Coming from New York. What were we doing? Was it some upfronts or something? I was, yeah, I was doing upfronts. Yeah, that's right.

That's why we were both on the plane. And we were, because we took a picture on the plane. Yeah, and I'd just done that hoax. Oh, that's right. About that I had a meltdown on set. Oh, that's right. Yeah. And then why are you like in a headlock? Are you and me in a headlock on the photo? Three days later, I released it that it was all a hoax. We were on set. You did a hoax together? He did a hoax online and people thought he flipped out on the set. I think that was it, right? Yeah. That someone caught it from a camera. Yeah. Funny or die.

Oh, Funny or Die thing. Yeah, that I had a serious meltdown on the set. Very believable meltdown. And then it turned out that it was just a comedy skit. The last time I saw you, I don't know if we interacted, I was at the Par 3 golf course at Studio City with Lovett. With Sitt? Oh, yeah. Yeah, and- Is Lovett still there? Yeah. He never leaves that place. He's a caddy. If there's pie there, he's there. We love you, John. Yeah, we love you. No, I talked to him earlier today. Anyway, he's-

Tell Dennis Quaid. Yeah, he gets excited. But you were just booming driving the ball. And cursing in between. Are you still any good?

Uh, I could be, well, not quite there yet. No time. Yeah. Do, do you understand what it means to maybe at one point have a one handicap? Is that true? Yeah. That's like not normal for an actor. Oh, it's, it's called too much time on your hands, I guess. It's between films. You have these deluded dreams of, wow, maybe I could actually go on tour.

But that was a passing phase. And, you know, it takes a lot of time. Do you know how bad most golfers are? I mean, just – Yeah, I know. I'm one of them. I'm an eight handicap now. But that means –

I mean, I would shoot 100, okay, if I was playing by real rules on a real course. Yeah, I have shot 100 before. Oh, I feel better. Sometimes you do go by the real rules. You have to. I'm an 800 handicap. I don't know what that means, but I was told that early on. No, I actually try to play with... That's about a 15-hour...

You live here or not? I live in Nashville primarily. But my kids are here. And so during the school year, I come back here.

- Everyone loves Nashville now. What's the deal? The tax rate, Nashville, which I've played there, it's a great town. - It's fantastic. - Zero state tax. - They have zero state tax, that's true. - Fucking way. - The vibe that is going on there, there's an artistic collegial atmosphere that's happening there. It's not your grandpa's Nashville anymore. It's hard to find a hush puppy.

in fact i say yeah and uh it's it's just great 75 of all music done in the united states regardless of genre is uh done in nashville that's what i would tell people if you walk down the main drag and you go into a bar or whatever you see like one of the best country western bands you've ever seen and then you walk a few more feet then you see a family doing it great country western so

And that's another one of your things we'll get to. You are a number one gospel song, Fallen, which I listened to today. Great song. And you really can sing. Sometimes. Do you ever look at other bands of actors? Because you have to earn a lot of respect when you're an actor. And guess what? I can do this other thing. Costner has one. Mm-hmm.

Jim Belushi has- Keanu Reeves. Yeah. Keanu Reeves. So it's pretty cool that you've made a name. It's quite a bit. It's either that or athletes want to be actors or they want to be basketball players and football players. It's just something I've always done. Music is just something I've done since I was 12 years old. Songwriting, I knew I was never going to shred a guitar, so I turned to songwriting early.

And then I've always had a band. And so it's just something I do. So what hit you hard? Cause we're pretty much the same age. Yeah. So that would be, but you're kind of country Western got you more like Johnny Cash or were you, were you blown away by the Beatles and all that? All of it. All of that. Yeah. Grew up in Houston. It's a pretty eclectic place. Actually grew up musically and, and,

Uh, you know, I remember Elvis. I remember Hank Williams. I remember, you know, my dad would croon around to Bing Crosby. That was his Elvis and, you know, Dean Martin. And then, you know, the Beatles came along and blew everything out of the water. Yeah. Yeah.

We'd love it. Yeah. Do you ever go to Kid Rock's Country Shit Kicker Circus? Yep. That's a bar down there. Yep, I have. It should be called Bubba Trump's, to be honest. Yeah. Is that in there? He's got another one over at his place, too. Oh, his house. Was, yeah. Yeah. It's fun. His church or something, yeah. Yeah. Oh, I've been to the old. He's quite a guy. He's the mayor of...

Of Nashville, pretty much. He's the mayor of Broadway, that's for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's actually every other, Dana, if you go there, when I did the Ryman or whatever last time, every couple bars is a country-western,

singers bar yeah like aldine i think there's one of those there's tanya tucker's is there she's gonna it's tanya it's tanya she's getting ready to what is the tennessee accent i always thought it was almost like an al gore or something or he's well al gore is tennessee yeah so many people

in Texas came from Tennessee. It's kind of like very similar, I think, you know? Yeah. It was the West back then. It's an Andrew Jackson accent, I think. Is that the president? Well, you know, I'm doing Andrew Jackson because no one can prove it's not a good one. Yeah, you're doing good. I am Andrew Jackson. I'm Andrew Jackson here right now.

If you can't do the impression. Guy, you've done just about every president there is. Between you and me. You did Clinton in a movie. Yeah, I did. Which was great. It was fantastic. You know, it's interesting. Someone asked me and wrote a really good script. It's a live streaming show. To do Perot in a biopic, like what you just did with Reagan. Yeah. And it was a really good script. I just didn't. I wouldn't even know how to approach that. But.

I don't really want to get into how you're, you know, because you don't want to do a caricature. You want to be the character. I voted for Ross Perot.

Can I bust my buns and bite me with a butterfly? You're welcome, sir. I do Ross Perot as James Brown now. Like you said, saving to get around the economic crisis, it'll be fun. I'm surprised we even had a baby that learned to walk around here. It's held so much. The greatest character in the history of politics. It was fabulous. I act, now I do him as James Brown. Can I come in on the one? Can I?

Come in on the one. See, he gets the joke. I get it. Music joke. Can I come in on the one? Yeah, it was a revolutionary thing that James Brown came. It's not one, two, three, four. It's one, which creates this whole, you know. Good stuff.

Okay, well, you did Reagan. Sorry, David, just talk shop like this. No, I want to talk about Reagan. He does Michael J. Fox getting pegged from the movie Casualties of War. If you haven't heard it, you have to do it. If you've heard it, don't do it. It's hard to get me out of my shell, but I'll do it. Michael J. Fox from Casualties of War. Oh, remember Casualties of War? With Sean Penn. Yes, I do. Yeah. Yes. Hey, Sarge, what are we doing here exactly?

You got to give me a minute on this. Mallory.

I combined it. That's all I got, Dennis. The fact that it exists is funny. It's fabulous. That someone thought to do Michael J. Fox from that particular film. From that particular movie. And he did that movie, which was- When you do it, it's not like an impersonation. It's like you are Michael J. Fox. Yeah. Sean Penn, John C. Reilly. I even see the haircut.

I think I wanted to be like Michael J. Fox when I got into showbiz. And then I gave that up quickly. But he was too famous, too good. He was great. Well, let's give a little shout out to Michael J. Fox. Yes, let's do it, man. If you look at Back to the Future and how hard it is to play that part and how brilliantly he did it, you know, it's amazing. He's in love with his mom. He had to go back in time. And many, many other films. Oh, he's...

Besides being an incredible person. Yeah. He really has been. He's a, you know, well, yeah. Extraordinary. What about this Reagan thing? Let's talk about that.

The Reagan thing. You played Reagan. First of all, contextually, it's interesting that this is now probably started two years ago or whatever. It's coming out. It started really six years ago. Yeah. So this is the most tumultuous time in the history of American politics by any measure. Yeah. At the very moment we're doing this podcast and your Reagan biopic is coming out August 6th.

August 30th. So right after the Democratic National Convention. I guess so, yeah. I think they're going to close with the screening of the race. Yeah, Biden will do it. Here's a file, pick Dennis Quaid. What? I told you. Come on. Hey, Reagan's here. Let's get real. The fact of the deal is, come on. There's no doubt what we did there in the people's spot. Do you think you have the cognitive discipline to be president? Yeah. Yeah.

Sorry. He's my new toy. But so Reagan, let's start like you did Clinton. I did Clinton in 2005, something like that. And I actually played a George Bush type character in American Dreams. That's right. Z. You weren't technically George W., but you were. So how did that guy sound?

Kind of, sort of. I can't even go there anymore. He kind of, sort of, sounded like George Bush. Right. And then, you know, he's got a Cheney character, you know. So, it's pretty obvious. But then... Right. I was offered...

I guess this is 2018. And he was my favorite president. And he's probably, he's like Muhammad Ali. He's known all over the world and like that. So it took me a while to say yes because he was just scared to death to play him. And it seems like you were the perfect choice. I didn't see it that way.

Well, you have kind of a... A big head, is that what you're trying to get to? Your head is square-jawed. It's like, I can't play Reagan. But you kind of... Physically, they could kind of... Yeah, well, I said we're both actors. We both have sunny dispositions, I think. But it was like...

And everybody in the world knows what he looked like, sounded like. And I just didn't really feel... It was just a... It's a tough one. A tough one to take on. Yeah, sure. Oh, yeah. So I thought about it for a while. And then... Because where's the way in? You don't want to do an impersonation. No. That's...

Well, that's pretty easy. Yeah, Nancy and all that. That's right. And so it took me a while to really kind of get into who he was as a person. And I went up to the Reagan Ranch, was Western White House back there. And it's not a public place. His friends bought it to keep it as it was. Their clothes are in the closet there.

You expect them to come back any second. They didn't change a thing. And you go up five miles of the worst road in California and get to the top. And I realized that Reagan was a humble man. He wasn't a rich man. And they had a king-size bed, but it was two single beds that were zip-tied together. Right.

jesus they did have ge they had ge appliances you know that's for general for money bags now and his uh his bookcase was there which had every book he'd ever read going back to when he was nine years old and there was just a feeling there that uh you that uh you could just feel his presence in a way and his uh

His Secret Service agent, John, was kind of the caretaker of the place. He told me all kinds of stories about him. And that's when I decided, yeah, I'll do it.

He's still guarding it even though Reagan's gone. Yeah, John is gone too. He passed right before we started shooting because we wanted to put him in the movie. One thing that's interesting to me is being around during that time and Reagan was hung in effigy over they wanted a nuclear freeze and no, we're going the other way. Yeah. And so,

And now he's become so bright and shiny that even the New York Times will refer to him how he dealt with Israel once. And Fox News likes him. I mean, he's become this character that sort of transcends politics in a way. Yeah, there were Reagan Democrats that came over at the time, but he was...

you know you if you remember those times they he was called a warmonger he's going to get us into a nuclear war for sure yeah you know it's uh his economic policy was just for the rich and uh he didn't care about the working man and uh kind of like what's going on today in a sense but he was he was who he was you know and he also just he knew how to lead

Something in him knew how to lead. He was tough. I mean, right in the first part of his administration, the air traffic controllers went on strike. Right. And he fired all of them. Yeah. That was like a tough thing at the time. Yeah. I mean, he shut down the airspace, you know, and the FAA, and that had never been done. An entire agency fired all of them. And I think that's when, in fact, him doing that,

actually made the Russians think that this guy is like, he's crazy. We better watch out. And, you know, Reagan won the Cold War. I mean, along with the Pope and like Valencia, yes. But it took a Cold Warrior like that to deal with the Russians because they

They respected him. Yeah. You know, they said there was 80% thought, oh, well,

He's reasonable in that 20%. They thought, well, he just might. He might just. He might just, if we're not careful, he might do something we would regret. One thing that I think in terms of playing him, I wonder what you think about this because watching all these different debates, different politics these days. And Reagan had a thing and he did it with Carter. And it seems to speak to him so much that he would never get angry about

And if he was misrepresented in his way, in his mind, he would say, well, there you go again. It's the most benign, likable way to say you're lying, motherfucker. Yeah. There you go again. The best one was in the debate with Mondale. Oh, right. When it was about his age.

He said, I will not, for political purposes, exploit my opponent's youth and inexperience. And it brought down the house. Even Mondale couldn't help it. He cracked up. And then Reagan did a thing that I'm sure you will recognize. He did a Jack Benny.

because he had them laughing and he just licked up his glass of water. Oh, and just did a take on the stillness. Just drank to pause so it would continue. It's called killing. Okay, when you're hiring for your small business, you want to find quality professionals that are right for the role, obviously. That's why you have to check out LinkedIn Jobs. Everyone knows LinkedIn, but LinkedIn Jobs has the tools to help find the right professionals for your team faster and for free.

That's right. You need good people, Dana. You do, David. And newsflash, LinkedIn isn't just a job board. LinkedIn helps you hire professionals you can't find anywhere else. Even those who aren't actively searching for a new job, it might be open to the perfect role. In a given month, David, check this out, write it down if you want to, over 70% of LinkedIn users don't visit other leading job sites. So if you're not looking on LinkedIn,

You're looking in the wrong place. Well, because they get what they want from LinkedIn. So why look around? On LinkedIn, 86% of small businesses get a qualified candidate within 24 hours. That's one day according to my calculations. That's right. And LinkedIn knows that small businesses are wearing so many hats that might not have the time and or resources to hire. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. They're constantly finding ways to make the process easier, even though it's easy already. Yeah.

They launched a feature that helps you write job descriptions, make it even easier if you want to post something, you know. That's right. Quicker. 2.5 million small businesses use LinkedIn for hiring. Listen, post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash candidates. That's LinkedIn.com slash candidates to post your job for free. As always, terms and conditions apply.

- Hey, I'm Rhett. - And I'm Link. - Maybe you know us from our daily YouTube show, "Good Mythical Morning." - But this is a little trailer for our podcast, "Ear Biscuits," where two lifelong friends talk about life for a long time. - And nothing is off limits. We talk about our sex lives, our mental health journeys, but we try to never take ourselves too seriously.

So we invite you to not do the same or to do the same. We invite you to listen. Follow and listen to Ear Biscuits now for free on the Odyssey app and everywhere you get your podcasts. It's a privilege kind of to inhabit him for a while. I mean, he just comes off so likable. Yeah. You know, he was everybody's dad, I think.

to the boomers, especially, you know, and that's for worse, better or worse. You know, there's a lot of people who still, uh,

You can't mention his name and they'll kind of fly off the wall. This seems like a non-sense. But it was either you're good dad or you're bad dad. Or bad. Yeah. I ran into Patty Davis right after 9-11 at a gym. And she was, I know, I'm just remembering this now. And she goes, I know this might come off weird, but I kind of wish daddy was in the Oval Office now. Yeah. You know? Yeah. It's not that weird. That would be great.

You know, there was a reason the Iran hostages got released the day of his inauguration. I know. Because the Iranians didn't want to deal with Reagan. Well, he was the kind of guy, we will not.

negotiate with hostages. And Jimmy Carter's like, well, if we're nice to them, if we're very nice, maybe they'll release the hostages. They'll be reasonable. They'll be reasonable. Like us. Yes. I think that's what, you know. That's the problem. Well, with Americans, we're like that. We grew up like that, you know, the golden rule and all that, what we get taught and that,

we think the whole world is the same way. Like leave it to beaver. You can reason with, yeah, it's an episode of leave it to beaver. You could talk to Gaddafi and, and reason with the guy and you should be more like Warren Beatty, you know, if you want to protest, but, uh, his cousin. Yeah. Uh, but, uh, when you play that way, they looked alike, but there's, there's really bad, bad people, bad, uh,

of nations out there. And they've grown up in a culture that's based on political violence or personal violence or whatever. And that's what the way they act. Right. So I agree with you. There's not, you can't, you got to play it a different way. Because we always think if we do the right thing, they'll do the right thing. And that doesn't always work. And they sort of show their cards. No one, they're not hiding it. No, they don't.

Since we are the world, literally, there is in the DNA in Americans a lot, in the people who fought to get here and all the immigration we had and all our ancestors that we want freedom above everything. And we don't want anyone to tell us what to do. I think if the government had said, well...

Would you take the COVID shot? You don't have to, but we'd kind of like you to. People might have said, okay. But once you tell a certain kind of American, you know, hey, man, fuck you. It's like there's a rebellious side to us. Yeah, there's true. I am that too. I'm not a very good rule follower. Yeah. I'm just not. I don't know if it's based on personal freedom or just.

I don't know. Well, when we grew up, it was question authority. That was the bumper sticker. Whoever is the authority, you know, just question them. They work for us, remember? It's our government. Yeah, Watergate, that really, that did a lot after that. And Kennedy getting shot.

You know, Bobby Kennedy getting shot, Martin Luther King, and then Watergate. Yeah. Pretty much, you know, we were... I think America was kind of walking wounded back then. That was our formative years. David's a little younger, but that was... It's true. That's what we came into. David's a lot younger, but... I'm like a child here. Yeah. I'm like my two dads. So when people...

No, I'm old and gross. Ask anybody. Go to the comments. He's very bright. So, David, do you have any questions? What I do is I take it in. I think we all got introduced to Dennis during the Let's Give Him Something to Talk About video. That's where I first was introduced to you. Do you remember that video? The something you talk about with Bonnie Wright? Yes. Yes, I remember that very well. Yeah, you look very cute in that. I was...

It was a lot of fun. But a great musician, Bonnie Raitt, and your music. How do you even get involved in that? At the time, I had a band, The Eclectics, that was also Bonnie's road band. See, nobody knows that. That's a good way to put that together. How was Bonnie? She seems cool as shit. I've been a fan of hers since I was working at Astroworld in Houston.

That's when her first record came out, that blues record. That was like, man, it was so different from anything in music. And I just fell in love with her and her music. And then she was one of the first people I actually ever met. I met her when I got to LA about very soon after that. And she was just so nice to me.

And you cannot give her a compliment. She just, that's her only fault. She won't take a compliment. Yeah. She will not do it. Not me. But. That's what's great about you. By the way, you got into one of her best songs. That song is great. This song is fantastic. That song is unreal. She's brilliant. And that was before. Then I did a movie called Something to Talk About. Oh, you did? It was in that. But that.

That was just a coinkydink. It had nothing to do with... Does this ring true with you that I was with Bonnie Raitt at an SNL party

and eric roberts and christopher walken were sitting next to each other wow and bonnie ray looked at them and goes god i feel like i'm having sex just looking at them that was a really funny line yeah you know and they were kind of in their prime you know it was yeah they looked like bad asses yeah it's like well you know i was just talking to dana about when you did snl and

It was probably right when I got there. I think you said right when Sandler got there, right? Because it was December. Sandler was in that show. Yeah. It was the Christmas show. Christmas show. Yeah, that was, he just joined. It was a pretty big show. It was a great show. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, because we did dysfunctional. Please don't.

♪ Don't touch me ♪ ♪ Leave me alone ♪ ♪ I'm doing fine ♪ ♪ Just go away ♪ ♪ I'm doing fine ♪ - Leave me alone, I know that one. - The family Christmas dysfunctional. - We just talked to Bonnie and Terry Turner, the writers who wrote that. One of their favorite sketches they ever wrote on SNL. - It was beautiful. - That got stuck in my head. That was hilarious. - And you played the crazy pilot.

And that, Mike Myers was on the show at that time. Did you do sprockets? I was on sprockets. Did you touch the monkey? Yes. You did touch my monkey. That was my favorite part of that. The arbitrary. What a great time to be on the show, though. How fun. Yeah. That was a great time. Who was your music? Do you remember?

The Neville brothers. Neville brothers? Oh, is that because of you? I guess it was, but I didn't ask them. That was all done. It was mysterious how that all happened. Made sense. Yeah, what a great time. Yeah, pilot renegade guy and then Mustang Calhoun. So they did get you on the sixth string. It's a pretty funny name for a country western guy or whatever. Mustang Calhoun. Mustang Calhoun. Mustang Calhoun. Still use it. MC Calhoun.

So what do you want? I just finished up with Reagan a little bit. What's your hopes for that? Have you seen it? Are you feel great about it? I've seen it. Yeah. And, uh, you know, we, we finished shooting like almost, uh, four years ago. Oh, four years ago. It would be this October when we started shooting the whole thing. And, uh, so it's, you know, it's been a journey. And then, uh, the movie got COVID.

Yeah. That's never happened. Yeah, we got COVID. Do you get shut down? I see the scene where I got COVID in this. Oh, really? That was the assassination. Oh, yeah. That's the worst kind. Yeah, in the hospital, you know. Oh, shit. Getting by a gurney, passed all these extras like that at two in the morning in a basement with no ventilation. You must, when this happened with Trump, you must...

know more about assassination attempts just from knowing about the movie. So was there any questions? That was the last time a president was shot was Reagan. And you do it. It's, it's bio. I mean, you do him young, you're doing middle age. I mean, that's also a huge challenge to do that. You know, I play him from 35, you know, when he first came to Hollywood through when he said goodbye to the American people, uh, in his letter, uh,

that we had uh diagnosed with alzheimer's beautiful letter i mean only right yeah this is so human yeah and it was you know it was a challenge i mean you know first just the voice you know because in his younger days he's he's like way up here you know we all have a kind of a higher pitch and you know eventually get down to i totally agree where it's well and uh it's that and just to

meeting so many people that were close to him. And one thing I found was that even to those who were very close to him, probably including Nancy, there was kind of a private place in him that was kind of unknowable. A little bit of, yeah, something there. Yeah, that was kind of separated and distant from the rest of the world. Yeah.

Nancy was, who plays Nancy? It'll be Ann Miller. Okay. And she is Nancy. She's a Nancy. Because she was in The Enforcer, right? When it came to Ronnie.

A lot of people would think that, but no, they just... Or even just... There would not have been a President Reagan without Nancy. Okay. Because she was just there for him. She really dedicated her life to their love and his aspirations. But...

It's, you know, she wasn't what I call the enforcer or anything like that. Well, I think that she protected him in a different way. Like when Reagan went to Japan, it was a seven day trip. And Nancy insisted first they go to California, rest for a day. Then they're in Hawaii. Then they're in. Oh, Brian, I read about that. Rather than just like when they're whipping Biden around, you know, I mean, that is tough at 81. You go there and back. Right. She was protective that way. Yeah.

But so did you, did you, was the assassination attempt, did you act that out? Yeah. The whole thing? Yeah, we recreated that. Okay. And that was. Was there, was James Brady shot and then also. Yeah. Someone else, right? James Brady and then also the Secret Service. Secret Service guy, okay. Famous shot where he did the. Takes it in the gut like that. And, you know, the shot that got Reagan and was actually a ricochet off the car.

Oh, they're off the bulletproof glass or the metal. And he was going like this, you know, saying hello to everybody. And it caught him right here in debt under the arm. You know, they it wasn't like four minutes of, you know, why they clear anything. They just go. They just.

put a hand on his head shoved him in there he got up and he said gosh you almost broke my ribs he was acknowledging the secret service for that and then you know they were going to the white house they weren't going to the hospital because he was okay untouched and then about four or five blocks down he coughed up some blood and that's what made him go to the hospital

And he still didn't feel, oh, wow. Yeah. And if they hadn't done that, he would have died for sure. The bullet had gone here. They, it was just the smallest little tiniest little hole, but it had stopped like a quarter inch from his heart. Jesus. It's like Trump with the. I also thought when they, they took him away.

He doesn't know there could be one in his back. If you're in shock and you're adrenaline, I wasn't sure everything was okay. You know, same reason. Yeah, exactly. I mean, you never know. And, you know, I think those guys on the ground,

I mean, they took four minutes, but they did the right thing, you know, thinking about other shooters. It seemed to me, too, that when they got him on the ground, what they did, because remember he said, I want my shoes? Yeah. I think they basically ripped open his shirt. Yeah. And checked him everywhere for any kind of wounds that he might have.

You know, before they got him up, knew they could transport him. Because you don't, if somebody's shot. And his shoes are what? He just fell? What? What was the shoes? Well, they must have taken off the shoes. I don't know. Maybe they took his pants off. When they tackled him, maybe they were loafered when they grabbed him. Somehow his shoes got off. His shoes got off because I think they took them off. Yeah. Oh, they just took them off, took the tie off. They're just looking for. Yeah, they were just looking for any kind of. Yeah.

And then they're like on top of them going, okay, we got to make a move now. Yeah. And then they got to plan. Then they heard what shooter, they said the shooter's down. Right. That was about 45 seconds. Did it surprise you that the guy got close and wasn't seen? It's incredible. When you are seeing this video, I don't know if it's a policeman or the Secret Service, the sniper looking at the bad guy, let's say, and he sees him,

aren't you allowed to just shoot if the guy's got a gun? You see a guy laying there with a gun. Do you have to wait to get orders or, because remember he looked up, then there's a shot, then he goes down and hits him. But if you've got him in the sights, he's wearing camo and he's got the gun. So is it just a rule? You can just take a shot? Well,

Well, who knows? The person here between the three of us is qualified to play the head of the security team in a biopic. We're going to write a report. This is a commission. With three, you have a commission, right? Yeah, you'll be the hard-boiled guy coming and going, what the fuck went on here? I want this perimeter locked down.

We can take all the lines from every movie we've done. Three dipshits. I'm getting too old for this shit. Who's your agency? CAA, UTA. Just put it in their ear. This has got motion picture written all over it. But yeah, we'll find out. We cracked the code right here. No one thought of this.

August 14th. Yeah, so everything we say now will be useless. They'll be falling asleep on the freeway. It was like, what were they thinking? So I think we better shut up right now. It's impossible. No, it'll still be going on knowing the way it works in America. All I can say is thank God we can laugh about it as far as Trump goes. Absolutely. But the firefighter lost his life. Was it the same bullet? Yesterday.

Trying to protect his wife and daughter. I'm trying to figure out where he was. Was he directly behind him? Was a grandstand over between him and the shooter? I don't get it, but the guy dove on his family when things came up. Because of all the, oh, he's okay,

No one knew right then, no, if someone was not okay. Yeah. You know, when they get Trump out, you think he's okay, but no one knew if someone got hit. The randomness of human existence, it's just so tragic. Yeah, it really is. And heroic, of course. The instinct, you always think...

the impulse would be to dive on your loved ones, but he actually did it. Yeah. Yeah. He sacrificed himself. You know, I think when I watched that or when I was seeing replays, it was so weird to see if Biden or Trump, if something happened to them on live TV, it would be so disturbing to the, it's so weird. Cause you know, it was not since Kennedy where it was like really, but no one really saw that. They saw a video later, but to see it happen in real time,

It would have shook the shit out of anyone. We all know it would have been the most gothic thing. I talked to a military guy, a friend of mine. Especially kids. What would have happened would have been beyond what we can imagine. Yeah. And with bright color, 8K television globally. It would have been terrifying. We're all a little still shook from it. I definitely was adrenalized after I saw that. It would have been one of those things you could never unsee.

As a Ford owner, there are lots of choices of where you get your vehicle serviced. You can choose to go to their place, the local dealership, your place, home, apartment, condo, your workplace, even your happy place, like your cottage on the lake. Go to your Ford dealer and choose Ford pickup and delivery to have your vehicle picked up, serviced, and brought right back.

Or choose mobile service where a technician will come to you and do routine maintenance right on the spot. Both are complimentary and depend on your location. That's ownership built around you. Contact your participating dealer or visit FordService.com for important details and limitations. Toyota's national sales event is happening now, meaning it's a great time for a great deal on a dependable Toyota truck.

Like the Tundra, Workhorse by Nature, Powerhouse by Design combines raw capability with premium comfort and advanced tech to fuel your wildest adventures.

With the available i-Force Max hybrid powertrain, you can take electrifying horsepower farther than ever before. Or check out the fully designed Tacoma, delivering trail-dominating power and captivating style. The new Tacoma was born to make your off-roading dreams come true. And with new available tech, this legendary truck is getting even better.

Visit buyatoyota.com, the official website for deals. All new Toyotas come with ToyotaCare, a no-cost maintenance plan. See your dealer or visit buyatoyota.com for details. Let's go places.

What was your first bit? I'm going to get away from this because you guys don't know what you're talking about. Okay. But it's, uh, it's the Ronald Reagan extravaganza picture, August 24th. Yeah. But, uh, you know, I, I'm very proud of the movie to tell you the truth. Of course. That speaks volumes. Editing. And we, you know, we try it's, I don't, I don't see it as political, uh,

the film it's you know it's about a man's life yeah it's not a total love letter you know reagan missed uh you know a few the way his response to aids at the time was wanting i think you know uh later on i think he came around about it but the initial response was it was not there um iran contra

I don't think he was involved in it, but it was on his watch. You know, he delegated a lot and I think he would say things and then those below would carry them out. And, you know, so there's, you know, some things which I, which were not the best, but overall I, you know, I myself, I think he was the greatest president of the,

20th century he and maybe franklin roosevelt well he was he was charming even going back to this but after he got wounded and just again very reagan i'm sorry mommy i forgot to talk i forgot i mean you know just all of you know he he did bring unity to a nation and he he brought us back we were a declining nation everything it's very it's so strange about how uh

the today is so similar you know carter was in there who i voted for too by the way you know because after watergate you wanted somebody out we wanted somebody out there nixon yeah yeah and uh carter like he gave away the b-1 bomber he uh you know he had the economy was really down the tubes and

crazy you know it just uh 20 was the interest rates back then you know and that may have been caused by the vietnam war not just you know carter's ministry the 70s was an odd decade it was yeah we felt like we were nation and decline and reagan came along and really made us feel proud

to be Americans again. Well, and also there's this great picture. Tip O'Neill was the leader of the Democrats and then Ronald Reagan, and they would go in and have a drink and tell dirty jokes. And then Reagan would say, what do you need? You know, they'd negotiate and there's a picture of them coming out, just laughing their asses off. And that's like, as if that would be, uh, you know,

The Speaker of the House, I don't know, Schumpf, Schumer, and whatever, Trump, are being friends. So he did rotate that a little bit, and he negotiated with the Democrats. Yeah, it'd be like Nancy Pelosi and Trump. Yeah, laughing their asses. Laughing and, you know, getting together for a beer on a Friday afternoon. And that's basically the way it was. They even...

said at the beginning that, you know, we're going to be bitter enemies until five o'clock. Yeah. And then we're, you know, we're just a couple of Irishmen having a beer. Yeah. And they were. I did like that Biden called Trump. I do like when there's something, some normal things happen in the world. Yeah.

And it just drops it for a second and it's not going to go away, but you just go, okay, so we have real people trying to be real people for a second. That was, you know, that was a time back then, which I think Tip O'Neill and Ronald Reagan kind of exemplified that. Yeah. I think that's what we need to get back to at least to be able to talk, uh,

back and forth. That would be great. I don't know. Sounds so simple. Yeah, it does. I mean, we pass each other in street every day. We go into each other's businesses, no matter what side, and we're polite to each other, treat each other like human beings until you find out they're a label. And then all of a sudden they're demonized. Well, whoever made social media, I guess

program the robots to get more views and the robots figured out the way to get more views is to get people angry. And so, so anyone who doesn't know they're being hypnotized into darkness on the worldwide web, you know, at least be aware that it's trying to feed you what gets you going. So I think I don't have any answers. You hit something right on the point there. And that starts, I think with kind of self-examination and,

I tell every human being I meet whatever their opinion is. Okay, now read the opposite.

Yeah. Read the opposite. Yeah. I juxtapose the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. In the morning, it's a hundred bucks a year each. I just go, well, what does the New York Times take? What's the Wall Street Journal's take? And I find myself watching stuff I disagree with more because I know my opinions. Yeah, exactly. But if everyone would say, okay, I'm going to just read the opposite for a week. I might learn something. Yeah, that's all. You know what I mean? Yeah.

You know, even if it's that wire, why is the other side not even covering this, you know, sometimes? Well, censorship by omission is the greatest use of censorship. Yeah, I totally agree. And I'd like to see at least more of that.

Well, more awareness. I mean, I... No, more in coverage. Yeah. More reporters. I mean, people who call themselves journalists actually... Right. ...not giving you their judgment of something that's... Yeah. ...putting themselves in the story to...

actually tell the story. - To humanize all of it. - I think that is very, I agree 100%. That's called journalism, I think. There's a quote by Thomas Sowell, who's an economist I always like in terms of the whole political theater and the intensity of it. "There are no solutions, only trade-offs."

We are always trying to make better, but there's not like one side has it all perfectly worked out. So there's no reason to demonize the other side. Yeah. I mean, that's what our country is based on. They called it compromise. Compromise. Right from the very beginning. You like equality. I like freedom. Let's work out a relationship, how they work together. Yeah.

I would run on a ticket with you. Just for you would run for governor. I'd be lieutenant governor in California. Oh, we could switch it up. I'm just throwing it out. What do I do? Look after this dog? I think in California, you have a better chance. In Texas, I would have the better chance. Oh, in Texas. In Texas, yeah. But you do such a great George Bush that you would be. I'd go to Texas and I would just do George W. Yeah. Most of your impressions are. Say hello to Governor Quaid. That sounds good, doesn't it?

I like being W because he was our frat boy president. Emotional. And just that kind of, you know, he's just a cheerful. You get me every time with that. Then you also delineated between him and the father, George, George, the one. Well,

Education. Doing well. Down here. Quaid. Podcast. Fly. Wall. Spade. Greg. Heather. Somebody. In a room. Thousand points of light. Thousand points of light coming at you. No, but to the point, that was the most extreme, if you reverse extrapolate, whatever, interpolate. I made fun of him. He loses the election and he calls me and we become friends.

People go, but I didn't know him while I was doing him. You know, I didn't know. But the impressions are silly and dumb. It's nothing. SNL was like that. It was so perfect. If he'd had Twitter back then, he might have been Dana Garney doing that impression of me right now on Saturday Night Live, waving his arms around like a spastic monkey, hashtag dick. Put him in, but there was no Twitter. Yeah.

So I was out there. But anyway, so we all hope for a better time. I'd like to talk about the right stuff. Yeah, I was about to say, any of these movies ring a bell. Excessed by that movie. Right stuff. I love it. I mean, just... The right stuff is actually my favorite movie ever done. Really? Yeah, until Reagan, actually. Wow. After 40 years, that's been taken over. I judge... The movies I do, I judge by the time I had on them. You know what I mean? That... You mean the shooting? Yeah, well...

but the time that I had experienced while making it, I mean, that's really what I know. Martin Sheen said that to Rob Lowe and all the Brad Pack guys. And he says, and they were, he just, that was his advice. Just think about it.

think about, do you like who you're working with? Do you like the job you're doing? Don't think about outcome and all that other stuff. So that's really interesting that you loved making the right stuff. Well, I was, I was from Houston, you know, which was space city. And I was right there. First grade when they rolled in the TV. So we could watch Alan Shepard go up. Mm. Uh, capsule Gordo Cooper was my favorite astronaut. He was the youngest. He was the rocket roll. Yeah. And, uh,

I love that name, Gordo. And then the book comes out and I read it in two days and if they ever make a movie of this, gosh, I want to

I want to play Gordo. And I, I was not Dennis Quaid back then. Sure. You, you, I was, you done some work. I'm just trying to get a job. Yeah. That's a while back. Yeah. So you had done a few things and you were lucky to get an audition. I got in for the audition, uh, because, uh,

Somebody dropped out of the role that I got on there and I got the part. And then it turned out that Gordo Cooper lived three miles from me in LA over in the Valley. So I called him up. Oh, you got to see him. And met him. And then he turned me on to a flight school in Van Nuys. And I got my pilot's license while we were making the movie in secret.

And did that come naturally to you? I mean, no, I was afraid to fly. Actually, before that, I felt like, you know, you're going to fall out of the sky. I still have a, I don't really like it. Yeah. But I had this teacher, but my instructor was Bud Wallen.

and he was he was three years he was three years younger than aviation itself and you can solo if you want to but you don't have to that was his thing and uh it was he had to throw it on the side of the plane you can solo if you want to but you don't have to that must be scary shit the seat of my pants falling oh i just was after i got my license i got

Is it really scary to go solo? I mean, the first time, even if you're good, is it just terrifying? It's a license to kill yourself. Yeah. Until you get like an instrument rating on top of that, you know, because you got to get back on it. It's too scary because anything can happen. You're by yourself. Yeah. I was lucky. John Kennedy is kind of, you know, God love him. You know, I don't think he really had any business.

uh, flying that night. Yeah. It's a night common thing of the disorientation. You can't tell up from down. No. Yeah. You're just completely like, when you do your instrument training, they put a hood on you, you take off and they put a hood on you. That's like this just, you know, covering the only thing you can see is the dashboard with the instruments. You don't, can't see outside and you have to fly for maybe two hours like that.

And then they take the, you get 50 feet above the runway and they take it off and you see if you're there. Did John F. Kennedy Jr. get that? But you have the, your inner ear is telling you that you're in a turn, that you're at an angle. And so you're constantly trying to, at first trying to level your,

What you think is the wing, but your instruments are saying you're straight and level. Wow. But you're going to trust your inner ear. Damn. So you're trusting the panel? That's the thing you have to get old. Note to self, don't take pilot lessons. Don't leave the house. But that was something else. And then Chuck Yeager was on the set every day.

So he's arguably like the coolest badass test pilot or is the test pilot of all time. Nobody will ever touch it. He was, he was checked out in 192 separate aircraft.

It was, and, uh, he locked us in a room and told us this whole story going back to, from when he was a lawnmower repairman in West Virginia, you know, farm kid to, uh, like World War II, you know, five, uh, shoot, uh, shoot downs in, uh, World War II and, uh, and the whole test pilot stuff. Yeah.

The X-15, I think, the first speed of sound. Yeah, he never, he never, that was the X-1. X-15, he never flew. Oh, okay. But he was out of it by that time. But he was an incredible human being. He was like hanging out with John Wayne for four months or something. The thing about that book and that movie, it's just so interesting when you don't know anything and really just the idea of these young men or whatever age they were, and

And how you kept going back and forth with the German scientists. We want a window. Yeah. All that stuff. Right. And what a tin can it was. And the technology was so lo-fi. The bravery or the craziness, I don't know what, how did you? Well, you know, the only thing, like I said, it was my favorite movie. I loved making it. It was nine months. I was, you know, I wish it never ended when I was doing it. But the one thing that I think,

It's kind of the Achilles heel about the film is the way they treated Gus Grissom. The second one into space, lost his capsule, went to the bottom of the ocean. Right. He blew the chute, or what was the phrase? Yeah, screwed the pooch. Screwed the pooch. They were always trying to get to the top of the pyramid. Right. And then if you screwed up, that was, you know, it was your fault. It wasn't the machine, even if it broke. That's kind of like you panicked.

If you, if you pull that thing before you're supposed to. You lost your cool. Lost your cool. You panic. Worst thing could happen. Yeah. Now, do you think that was fair or unfair? Not fair. Unfair. Completely unfair. I, it was used as a device, a literary device by Tom Wolfe. And then, and Phil, uh, uh, carried it over and directing it. And it, uh,

But was it true? I mean, his family is still alive. This is more people saw the movie than remember all those things. And that's his legacy.

But what happened was, is that they, it was the first time they were trying out that, uh, the escape hatch that they put needed an escape hatch. And they didn't take into account that when you go into space and you come back down to earth, the pressure building up and stuff like that, uh, it inside the capsule and the air outside. So when he hit the water, the escape hatch actually blew itself. And then the hat, the, uh,

the spacecraft went 16,000 feet down and, and his, he was filled up with water and a space suit. He barely made it outside. It was heroic. I actually got out of that spacecraft and, uh, so that's what he gets. And if he had screwed the pooch, then why did they give him the first Gemini mission? And why did they give him the first, uh, Apollo mission where he wound up getting fried on the,

on the launch pad right burned alive yeah he was actually the one that because the astronauts were also kind of in charge of quality control that he was constantly complaining about how uh how shoddy the these things were put together in the electrical system and that's what what happened in the pure oxygen i know i remember that day too but to his legacy ed what happened i that's the one my one regret of that film well

We have 1,300 peaches. Is the dog okay? She's just agreeing. She's just agreeing. That's her talking. It's snoring and there's a fart once in a while. It's not actually snoring. It's kind of like her talking. Right, Peachy? Peachy. Yeah. Peachy's like, jeez. Super happy on this carpet. Riveting convo, Peachy. Yeah.

Incredibly comfortable. She goes everywhere with me. She's a service. Sandler, too, always has dogs like that, right? Bulldogs. Does he? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. He's got Bagel right now. Hey, Fidelity. Can I get a second opinion on stocks in the Fidelity app? With Fidelity, it's easy to get an outside opinion from independent experts in a single score. And then? When you're ready, trade U.S. stocks and ETFs with no commissions. That's right. I am always right.

Investing involves risk, including risk of loss. Sell order assessment fee not included. A limited number of ETFs are subject to a transaction-based service fee of $100. See full list at fidelity.com slash commissions. Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC. Member NYSE SIPC. This episode is brought to you by FX's The Old Man starring Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow. The hit show returns as the stakes get higher and more secrets are uncovered. The former CIA agent sets off on his most important mission to date.

to recover his daughter after she's kidnapped. FX is the Old Man premieres September 12th on FX. Streamed on Hulu. So then you go into, what's the movie that turned you into a 80s sex symbol? Was it, it was sort of easy, was the one in New Orleans? Yeah, I guess so. Big Easy? Big Easy. Big Easy, yeah.

Who was in that? Elric Barkin. Oh, yeah. And that was a cool movie. That was a cool movie. Yeah, atmospherically. Jim McBride directed that. And he had just done Breathless with Richard Gere. He was actually over there during all that French New Wave stuff in France. And he kind of brought that sensibility to the film. And it was...

It was so much fun. So they tell me to do that movie. Okay. We can read through the lines a little bit. They can't all be, but... New Orleans. We were in New Orleans for like six months. You mean Nolens? Nolens, yeah. Yeah, Nolens. That's right. Now that we're into... That world. You were literally riding a rocket there.

once Dennis Quaid came into being, you know, the movie star, Kevin... The movie came out and it was, I remember it was like, it didn't really do well. Really? It kind of resonated. It was kind of down the line, you know. And then, it's the only time this ever happened in my whole career is like the second weekend. They said it went up. It went up? Yeah. That's almost impossible. And then it kept going up. And then it turned into this kind of like...

you know, girl get together. Pure word of mouth. Right. Did they have a name? They were called Quaidies or did they have a name? The fan group. Big E's years. I don't know. Yeah.

Big and easier. The dentist doll. Bigger and easier, whatever it is. Quaid loads. So that's, quaid loads. There you have it. That's what I was remembering that it got into the zeitgeist as a sex symbol. For a movie to go up, there's very, I think Titanic, there's very few movies that go up this first week, the second week then, and the third. Oh,

Almost never. It's impossible. Almost never. Bonnie and Clyde was the only other one I could... Oh, really? Yeah, you know, they brought that out at the beginning of the summer, I remember, when I was like 12. And it didn't do well. It just fell on its face. And then they brought it out again in the fall. I love that shit. And it was all about Faye Dunaway's wardrobe. It was a huge hit. Oh, she was...

I saw it in the theaters. I was a little disturbed by it. I didn't quite know what was going on at certain times. That was a brutal shooting. They were rolling around in the bed and he had a gun. I didn't know quite what it meant. What's happening? Yeah, yeah, no love involved. Dana was scared. I did see Enemy Mine.

Was that a fun one to make? You were on a planet with Lou Gossett Jr. Yes. That was affecting. I thought that was really landed, emotional. Yeah, I did too. A stranded astronaut meets an alien. Lou was like, he was so incredible. He was key. The whole time. Really? Yeah. I did see it. And then Interspace. Interspace.

Which is probably the most seen movie worldwide. I've been in the back of India. Really? Inner space. I love it. Yeah. No.

Is that your character's name? You go, guy. You go, guy. Hey, guy. You're very tiny in the movie. You're not so tiny now. You're bigger than the movie time. I have a Hindu cardiologist, so I get a free pass for that. Dr. P.K. Shaw won't let me not. There was nothing not racist for

There was nothing racist about that. Not at all. Yes. Politically correct. Great Balls of Fire, another one. I saw these in the theater. Another incredible, high-energy, memorable movie. The Great Balls of Fire, yeah. Jerry Lee Lewis, who was like 18 when he made it. Or 16, I mean. Yeah, he was 21 when he made it. And a crazy man on the piano, for people who don't remember him. Ed Shulman. Yeah. He was on the set every day. I didn't play piano when I got that role.

But I had a year to...

to prepare for it. And luckily I was on cocaine at the time because that will make you obsessed about anything. And so I was 12 hours a day. Yeah. Not for our listeners. Yeah. When the movie ended six months after the movie came out, I was in rehab for that, by the way. But for that part, it's been over 30 years for that. But, but you were playing the piano really pretty skilled. I mean, very, I,

I stuck with it. Jerry was one of my teachers. He was teaching you piano? Yeah. Jerry Lee, probably his only student he ever had. How do they do, he had a young bride, right? How do they do that on a movie where you have to, they have to hire someone 18 to play? How old was she? Winona was. Oh, it was Winona? Yeah, Winona Ryder. I think she turned 17.

Oh, and she had to play 13, maybe 14. What's that? How old was she in the movie? In real life, uh, she was still on the cusp of 12, 13. And he was 21 and they were cousins. And, uh, you know, it's like, it really seems outrageous. And this is in no way in defense of anything. All I could say is about the, you know, culturally that, uh,

Back in the day of farm families, there was a reason that you have bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs. It means that you are grown up, and that's when people got married back then at that age. Henry VIII was 14 when he got married to...

And it's, you know, historically that's otherwise we wouldn't be here. People were early, but you know, it's still. Did people flip out back in the day when he actually did it? Yes, they did. Once they got it, no one here knew about it in the States. And it's when they went to England and she was tagging along and some reporter in the

welcoming airport press conference. Asked her, who are you, little girl? Mrs. Jerry Lee Lewis. That was the end of his career just like that. It turned off just like that. And it was done. It was like he was as big as Elvis at that point. Elvis, in fact, had just gone into the military and he was king of rock and roll.

And that was the end of that. Shit. And then he just trundled around, but he never really got headlining gigs or record deals or a lot less. It, you know, it was about eight years went by and he got into country music, which was his roots. Yeah. He was huge in country music. Really? He did come back. So he slowed down the music then.

Cause in the fifties it was really bebop. Oh, he'd still do that. Oh yeah. I went on tour with him, uh, a couple of gigs when, with the shark. No, would, with his band and his like Learjet, you know, six guys jammed, jammed. 25. Yeah. Oh man. I had a guy, they pulled G's. I saw him. He, he would just go all night. I saw him when we were recording the music, uh,

sit at the piano for 10 hours without even getting up to go to the bathroom yeah 10 hours yeah well unmedicated okay jerry in this back pocket he had a 38 yep and this other pocket he had a bottle of seagrub 7 and that he had soaked his pills in most probably because i know people who took a

like one sip of that stuff and went, went down. Show business is fascinating. The amount of self-destruction in artistic people. And he was, he was like, he was a really sweet, genuine person. And then he could be like a 14 year old, a schoolyard bully at the same time.

But he was genuine and he was like, there'll never be another like him. He was a genius at the piano. When you go super famous to that happens to goes away, it must screw with your head so much. Yeah. It's too weird. Plus he probably wasn't ready for fame anyway. No one really is. I think we've all had many versions of that. Haven't we?

Yeah. I mean, not scandal if you didn't want to say scandal, but you know, your ebbs and flows are suddenly, you know, the tap is turned off because of this or that.

Oh, absolutely. But I always go back to... Hollywood jail. Hollywood jail. One bad movie, Hollywood jail. But to be able just to make a living was always the goal. Yeah, exactly. Like I'm working right now. Exactly. And it's extraordinary to lose that humility about it because there by the grace of who? God. There still is some whimsy to this whole chapter and brilliant people might've just missed. I knew comedians that were...

and just miss the timing of getting on SNL. - Right. - And have a fine, they do stand up and they're fine, but there's a lot of whimsy to it. - It's hard to get cocky when you see people better than you all the time and you go, they just didn't, it didn't happen. - Yeah, we all grew up with people like that in our classes. We're so lucky to be here. And you're exactly right about that. Just wanting to get a job,

Yeah. I still carry that around because it's like, it makes it real and it makes it enjoyable actually. Oh, absolutely. Doesn't it? Yeah. Cause then it's just fun. I'm still in the game here. By the way, something you did recently, I just love, I just want to insert this because I loved Billy Bob Thornton, everything he does. And I love Goliath and I love the season where you were the bad guy.

Yeah. It was with Billy Bob. Did you love that? Cause it seemed like you were having a blast. It's almost like a Columbo thing in a way that you're the bad guy. And I've been friends for 25, 30 years. Yeah. He's just, he's just, he's in his own frequency and it's so fun to be around. We're both very much alike. Cause we're both down at the bottom. We're rednecks. Just happened to break out over here. He's the ultimate one. He's, he's,

he's he's so smart and he's so great to work with and so much fun it's in other words you know it's what we were talking about before yeah you know it's about the experience you have while you're making it yeah and it affects you get to hang out affects your work yeah you know yeah when you look back on movies you go oh that one was fun and then you start to appreciate that part because you're usually so looking ahead and just getting through the day and memorizing your lines just

you gotta stop and say, this is actually fun being here. He's like a nonstop poet, basically. I ran into him at this photo shoot and it was for Paramount 100 year anniversary. And I'd never met him. And everyone's there, Streep, just every actor, giant thing, they're taking pictures. And I get over in the stands, I'm way over...

away from everybody. And then he happens to be next to me and goes, he says, you're the one I wanted to meet. I go, what the fuck? And Jerry Lewis is there and Tom Hanks. And, you know, it's just weird. And he taught, he was, Trump was just starting to run for president. And he goes, we've got some John, John Wayne shit going on. You know, it says all, you know, stuff about furniture and,

He gets right to the point. He's quirky. He did sound like him. That did sound like him. He is a poet. When I was hanging out with him, I used to be able to do them. I need to get a tape and learn how to do them again. Billy Bob, if you're listening, if you want to come on, you can come back on with Dennis. Dana will work on his impression. We will cater. Yes.

Let's do it. Yeah. Let's do it, bud. Dennis, thank you for coming in with your still looking good, still looking ripped. So are you, man. All of us, yeah. Yeah, we're still here. Still here. Yeah, let's wax poetic a little bit and be philosophical. Okay. Very lucky to sum up. Yes. Good fortune. Still employed. Thousand points of light. Moving, shaking, acting, talking, singing, dancing. Be grateful. Be grateful.

Be grateful. Never get cocky. Don't think you're special. Treat the catering man the same as you would as the lead. I'm just on a roll here. Keep going.

So Peaches is there with you too. I use him to, if I'm feeling anxious, I do him in my head, summing up, making a list of where I am. Here, Spade's Mansion, large, not too big, but special. Extra bedrooms, empty. Dennis Quaid, played Doc Holliday. Parent Trap, didn't get to it. Another classic. Keeps going round and round. So you're saying that Bush actually keeps you in the now. Yeah.

He's calming. He's your guru. Yeah, just make a list of what you're doing. Like, are you going to go fly a plane today or what are you doing after the podcast? Are you going to wrestle a cow? You're like a cowboy. I always say when you get past 60 or something, you can be a pirate or a cowboy. A pirate would be... A weekend boater? No, a pirate would be from...

The band. Sorry. Steve, you're going to get this. No, we're going to let you die on the vine. Oh, by the way. The band? The band? The band? Steven Tyler is a pirate. He's a pirate. He's a pirate. He's a pirate. You're a cowboy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm a cowboy. So is Billy Bob. Billy Bob's a. Or a redneck. He's an honorary cowboy.

Well, of all the badasses in Hollywood, who do you look to? Would you like to work with Russell Crowe? You guys would be good to pair up, probably. I'd like to work with you, Dane. Yeah. That's what I'd like to do. Look to self. Yeah. And Reagan, too.

Reagan, too. You could play Bush. Can I do a cameo as Ross Perot? You actually should have come. Yes, you could. Can I come in on the one? Can I? Come on. You're not listening. Let me put it this way, Dennis. You can't put a porcupine in the barn, light it on fire, and expect to make licorice. Boom. God love them all.

Love you guys, man. Well, Peaches, Dennis, really thanks for coming. I thank you. Thanks for coming to the house. And it's great seeing you again, bud. You too, man. All right, here we go. Peaches, that's it. That's your cue. This has been a presentation of Odyssey. Please follow, subscribe, leave a like, a review, all this stuff, smash that button, whatever it is, wherever you get your podcasts. Fly on the Wall is executive produced by Dana Carvey and David Spade, Jenna Weiss-Berman of Odyssey, and Heather Santoro. The show's lead producer is Greg Holtzman.