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With the amazing Chris Pratt. We've got Marvel talk. We've got fatherhood talk. We got new baby talk, marriage talk. We've got Parks and Rec talk. We've got golf talk. We've got transforming a body from a tubby lard man. And I don't think he'll be mad. He was a tubby lard man at one point.
And now the man is an Adonis. It's all there. Everything you want from one of my favorite people and one of the biggest movie stars around, Mr. Chris Pratt. Enjoy. Rollo.
Look at him. Look at that chiseled Adonis person. I just got a haircut. How did you get a haircut? I'm so fucking jealous. Catherine. No way. She did a pretty good job, huh? Did she laugh all the way through it? The whole time. Right? Wow. It's like I'm looking right at her.
Well, well, well, welcome to Literally with me, Rob Lowe. This is my podcast, and this is my first episode of my podcast. And I got to say, this has been insanely fun.
talking to friends that I'm interested in, friends that hopefully you're interested in. And this has just been an amazing, amazing new journey for me, this podcasting thing. And I've been recording a lot of them during this COVID lockdown. Some were remote, some were in the studio, but the breadth of
Uh, of the people that have shown up to literally has just been amazing. And I cannot wait, uh, to begin this journey with you. Finally, we're starting off with the bang. He's one of the biggest movie stars of the day. Um, he's got every club in the bag, as they say in the golf world, he's can be dramatic and sweet and funny. Um,
He can do action. He's smart as shit. He's handsome. He's romantic. He is the new prototype of the leading man and one of my best pals. He does not have as good a golf game as he would like to think that he does. But look, nobody's perfect, including the great Chris Pratt. Now, your wife has one of the most unmistakable laughs ever.
Oh, sure. Don't you think? Oh, yeah. The first time we started dating, the first few days she was laughing so much. Like I was like, God, I'm really killing it. And then she was really laughing. I was like, oh, oh, no. Does she have an issue? Is it is there and she's got a thing going on? Is this why this is why she's single? She has like I thought she was like the Joker. You know how he carries around that card. Like I just laugh all the time. I can't help it.
But it turns out she doesn't have that issue. She just thought I was funny. And it was really nice. Can you imagine if she inherited that laughing thing? Like, that's the weird part of the Kennedy gene. That's, like, the part nobody talks about. Like... You just can't stop laughing? All the lesser Kennedys suffer from... I gotta tell you. I gotta tell you. For me, it really works because I'm always trying to make people laugh. And so...
She likes to laugh. I make her laugh. It's a good fit. You know that I don't make Cheryl, my wife, laugh. You know that. You've been around us enough to know that. Catherine's a great audience. I married somebody who's a terrible audience. Here she is right now. She's delivering me coffee. Come on in here. We were just talking about your amazing laugh. Oh.
Oh, well, that was a sec. That was your public. Oh, I'm very. Well, because I just get, you know, so much criticism for, you know, my the laughter that never stops. Your sons make fun of it. It's like a whole thing. They do. By the way, can you cut my hair? Because you did a killer job on him. Did you use shears on the bottom of it, too? Like a shaver? Lovebug knows how to do it. Wait, who taught you? Did you go Google something? What happened?
Your wife taught me many, many years ago on your head when we were in Milan. How to cut hair?
Yeah, she taught me. Well, she hasn't offered to do anything for me. No, Chris, it looks really good. Yeah, she killed it. She hasn't offered to do anything for you? I doubt that. Well, there is that. I mean, she's always pretty good about that. Otherwise, let's face it, I wouldn't, you know, have survived as long as I have. That's true. She takes very good care of you. She does. Bye, Rob. I love you. I love you. So I was laughing about the fact that you and Catherine...
We're watching St. Elmo's Fire together the other night. It was on. It was on. It was on. Well, we were watching...
uh my best friend's wedding that's a good one on tv yep i was like oh whoa that's cool it's like you know young julia roberts and cameron diaz and i think i always get him confused dermot mcdowell dylan dermot moroni dermot moroni and i always get the two confused but uh yep we were watching that on tv and saint almost fire just came up next i was like no way it's almost time to watch that
And I had actually never seen it. And I turned and I was looking at Rob and you were how old were you? Were you 20? I was 20. Dude, I could legally drink. It was amazing because like you, your characters is like this, you know, drug addict, sex addict kind of guy. And but you're so attractive and so enigmatic and so charismatic that
Like that saxophone scene, like you were just like every girl in that, you know, everyone was in love with the character. And you can see why you're just so charismatic. And there's like, no, you shouldn't be able to get away with the stuff that character was doing and still be so beloved. But you were. And it's your charisma. I just was like it was it really was dawning on me because I know I know, of course, your work from before.
from your life and from, I had just never seen St. Elmo's fire. I've seen the outsiders and I've seen, you know, the West wing. And of course, when we met on parks and rec, so I know your body of work, but seeing you at that young age, it was like,
It was just fascinating. It was fascinating to me. I don't think I fully realized because that was the generation... That movie really was made up of that generation. It defined that generation. There are movies like that that happen every generation and it's like that was that Brat Pack. But of that whole group of actors at the top of their game in that time, you were the one with...
the most charisma and it was just, I mean, everyone was great obviously, but it just seemed to me that you stood head and shoulder. I don't want to compare you to them, but you were just so, you just really stood out to me and, uh, and to everyone in the world, obviously. So it was really cool to see that. And,
And just to see how the world must have seen you back then, because I know you're such a different person now. Do you think it was just because of the hair mousse and the haircut? I think it had something, of course, to do with your hair. You look sexual. I looked sexual.
You looked sexual. I looked sexual. Yeah. You just looked like you wanted to have sex. Well, I did. Like, I looked at you then and I was like, oh, he is then what kind of like Harry Styles is now.
Today to this generation, just like, you know, physical attract. It was just an attraction. There's a charisma and attraction there. It was it was youth. It was like the youth, beautiful youth personified. It was really cool. Joel Schumacher, the director, was it was very kind to me with the close ups.
I think I definitely got more close-ups than anybody else in that movie, which always helps. Well, you could really hold a close-up from no matter what angle you were at. That was in the era that, this is how you know it's dated, that there was a saxophone player in a band. Like, in the 80s, every song, every song from, I'd say, from 1972 to 1986.
Yeah. Every song had to have a sax solo. Every song and the score of so many movies. Like if you look at Lethal Weapon, I wanted to watch it the other day. I was like, that's I've been I've been, you know, hitting the
It's been hitting me that some of my favorite movies growing up suck. Yeah. And that the only reason I like them is because I mean, I was an idiot when I was 10. Yeah. And like, you know, nothing holds up. And I was like, lethal weapon holds up. It's got to. And I put it on. I was like, oh, that's a lot of saxophone. Really? Yeah. Watch it every. And it's weird. I don't I kind of does. It does. It holds up. It holds up. But it is also like.
You know, stupid. It's a little bit dumb. I've been in quarantine. I've been having the boys, particularly John Owen, who, as you know, is a writer, catch up on movies that they've never seen before. And it's great. Interesting. Oh, my God. Really interesting to see, like what holds up to them and what doesn't. Oh, exactly. Because they're a great test audience because they don't have like the sentiment around it.
What have you watched? Well, it's interesting, but also he has that weird thing of being new in the business. He's aware of the movies that he's supposed to hold in huge esteem. Like we all know those movies we've heard about forever that are the greatest movies ever. And the truth of it is maybe we've seen them and maybe we haven't. Right. So the movies that you're supposed to say are great. Yeah. Even if you haven't seen them.
Yeah, I was the guy who loved Casablanca for years before I saw it. Yes, exactly. I was like, oh, Casablanca? I mean, probably top five in the air. Don't get me started on Casablanca. Don't get started. Same with Citizen Kane. I was a big fan of Citizen Kane. And then I saw it, and guess what? I loved it. It's really good. And same with Casablanca. But yeah, I know that. I do that all the time. I pretend I've seen something because you don't want to...
And it's funny because you just hope a tiny little white lie can get let off the hook. Like how far, how far will you go with it? You know what I mean? Yes, 100%. Frankly, kid, I don't give a damn. That scene, well, that wasn't even possible. I had a neighbor once who you just, you just say, you just nod your head and kind of go yes or no as your answer. And you can kind of get away with it. I learned that from my, may he rest in peace, my sweet, sweet neighbor growing up, Rory, was a member of the Special Olympics.
and was a talker, a real talker, loved to communicate and talk, but also had a, you sometimes said, with his speech impediment, he had a little bit of difficulty hearing or understanding him. So sometimes you get caught up in that saying yes and no, just in case, because you didn't actually know what the question was, but you wanted to be polite.
And answer it? I'm going to use it because, you know, I'm deaf in one ear and half the time I can't hear what anyone's saying. Is that true? Yeah, I'm deaf in one ear. Look at the way I'm, see the way I have my headphone on? Oh, I thought you were just doing like a Slim Shady thing. No. Yeah, no. And so I, a lot of times if somebody's on my deaf side at a restaurant or in a, I just kind of,
I usually nod yes. So I got to do work in that. The way you're doing your head right now is good. It's yes. Nodding yes and no. At the same time, I need to practice it in the mirror. Yeah. Yeah. Another thing you can say is, is, is your answer is yes. No, because that can mean yes. Or it can be no. Yeah. No.
Yeah. No. Oh, that's really. Yeah. Oh, yes. No. Yes. No. Because the answer could be the answer is yes. No. The answer is no. Or it could be. Yes. The answer is no. So if you say yes, no to something, then then they just take they they read whatever the answer should be. Yeah. No. Yeah. No. And then if you reiterate it. Yeah. Yeah. No. Yeah.
No, no, no, no. Yeah. No. So, yeah. So, the kids were looking at movies and they didn't like Patton. How about they didn't like Network? Network didn't stand up for them. Really? Yeah. Network didn't stand up for them. And the one... And what they loved, which gave me faith, is they...
John Owen had a out-of-body experience watching The Graduate. Oh. Out-of-body. And then Harold and Maude. I loved Harold and Maude. What was your favorite movie and TV show growing up? Were you like a $6 million man guy like me? I wasn't a $6 million man guy for TV. I mean, I kind of grew up for television. A lot of after-school specials. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop there. Have you seen my after-school specials? Wait, I don't. Maybe. Which ones?
Oh, it's been a while. How about schoolboy father? No, if I did, it's been a while. All I remember is learning some good. It was back in the day when I was very young, like I said, you know, low bar for criticism. And I remember it was back when television really cared about instilling values in kids. And so their after school special would be about.
your conscience or doing the right thing or making sure, you know, if a stranger talks to you that you tell somebody these kind of things. So I remember like getting like, I feel like a lot of my moral compass in life came from those types of movies. Yeah, mine was don't become a schoolboy father. Don't do it. Like a kid who's in school who becomes a father? Yes, exactly.
Wow. How old? How old am I? Fifteen. Oh, I thought you were going to say fifth grade. I was going to be like, what? Oh, my God. That's so great. Fifteen. Yeah. Hey, listen, don't do that. If you can, if you can avoid it.
That baby had to be given up. Is that true? I could not care for it. No, no. Dana Plato from different strokes. Is that was that who it was? Yeah. She was the mother of the schoolboy father. It was called schoolboy father. Well, that was the best because the titles were always exactly what the plot was. They just like put it right out there. Yeah. You know, one's going to be like, what's that about? No.
No. And they're always way ahead of their time. It was like, you know, my mother's bulimia. Yeah. Like, oh, this is going to be a story about a girl whose mother has bulimia. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. They don't leave anything to question. My mom loves those still loves. She'll call me and tell me the plot of one of those movies.
Oh, boy. As if it like legit happened to someone. Yeah, for sure. That's really close to her. She's like, and you're not going to believe it. The guy next door was actually spying on her the whole time. I'm like, what? What? You can't even write this kind of fiction. Yeah, mom. That's but she loved him. So those are those are my those are my I like the after school specials. But, you know, then I grew up in like that.
That strange time of TV where I don't know if the stuff was good or if it was just good because it was all that was available, which I feel like happens. I feel like that was the case. You know, you see it in these emerging markets. I saw it when I was in China, when we were doing Jurassic World press in China, they had just opened up the country to.
to, you know, entertainment beyond just state-sponsored television. So, like, they only had a handful of channels. It feels like what America must have been in the 50s or something, you know, like the 50s and 60s where you had, like, news, you had NBC and ABC or something like that. You had, like, two networks and a news channel. And it was like, in China, it was the same thing. They had, like, a government, a state-sponsored weather news kind of channel, and then there was one channel that had
some kind of entertainment, but it was the only entertainment channel they had. And you look and it's like really low production quality because there's just not that much competition, you know, but people really like it. And I think I lived through that era. It was maybe in the 90s with shows like Full House and Family Matters and, you know, like like the one where the little girl's a robot with small wonder. Oh, that was amazing. You know, these kind of shows where if you watch them now, you're like,
This is it just we've come so far. You look back and you can say they're not good. They're not good. How could you how could I how could I have loved them so much? And it's because there just wasn't a lot of competition, you know, but then it's more wonder. But
small one. And then, but then like, yeah, like, uh, good. Well, there was the one about a Butler, Mr. Belvedere, Mr. Belvedere, you know, like, well, Mr. Belvedere was that, that was like, you know, magnificent Ambersons compared to, you know, by the way, that's another movie people always talk about the magnificent Ambersons. It's Orson Welles, finest oeuvre. That one I've never seen. I've never seen that one. People go on and on about that one. I use it only as a punchline for very obscure reference jokes. Um, the, the,
yeah the small wonder god I can't believe that you brought that up that was amazing the girl yeah like a guy who made a little girl robot and no one at the time ever questioned whether he was a pervert like if we made that now you know that would be the question be like why did he make a little girl robot he could have like first of all he fucking cracked the code on artificial intelligence like
like, like, uh, our AI sentient being intelligence. And he, and he wants to just make, I mean, it's kind of cute. He makes himself a daughter. Actually, it'd be a pretty good movie. Now I'm going to go out to Dakota Fanning's people and see if she's available. Oh, see now look at how quickly you've turned. You're like, wait a minute. So this is what happens when you get a big production company like you have now you're like just mining hit movies out of fucking everything. Stay tuned. Parks and rec after the break.
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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. When it really changed for me, though, and this is probably around the time that my own comedic, critical...
emerged for me when TV really changed two things happened America's Funniest Videos and In Living Color both came on the scene around the same time and I remember that was like I'm laughing my ass off every night that I watch this I have to see it I tuned in you know Funniest Home Videos was amazing but then In Living Color was something completely
different it was like finally the comedy was matching this side of the times like you had like this diverse cast cast it was really funny super cutting edge and even even and at the time everyone's like can you believe how cutting edge this is wow that to me is when things started to really pick up in the world of tv but as far as movies i was the guy who just loved
90s, like action movies, like anything, anything. Oh, yeah. There you go. There are certain things that do hold up and you're like, yes, I'm glad that that holds up. You know what I mean? Like Ghostbusters holds up. Goonies holds up. Yeah. Footloose holds up. Oh, dude. Footloose. You know, I've told you about my audition for Footloose, right? Did you audition for Footloose? Oh, yeah. I got to hear this. So...
There are a couple of scripts that I remember of that era where you read them and you were just like, oh, this movie is going to be a hit. Yeah. This movie is a hit. I have to be in it. I'm going to do whatever it takes to be in it. Top Gun was one. Yeah. Footloose was the other. And the producers, Craig Zayden and Neil Maron, really liked me.
And the casting was going to be coming up. And so I started taking all these dance auditions and not like really a dancer or anything, but you know, so they did a dance audition, not an acting audition, just a big dance audition at Paramount. I remember at a stage and all the actors auditioned together and we all had to learn a dance to the sticks song, the best of times of all songs.
How's that go? What's that song? The best times. I don't, that I don't remember anything other than that. Wow. And it was probably just as bad as my version of it now was. And anyway, at the end of the dance audition, it ended with a, a jump to your knees and a slide across the floor. And when I did it,
And the audition, I blew my knee out and they took me out in an ambulance. I left a footloose audition on a stretcher. Whoa, I did know that. Of course I know this. But the best part, and this is when I learned that Hollywood is just nothing if not a bastion of truthfulness, was when they said, don't worry, it's okay. We've decided we're not going to hire an actor anyway. We're just going to hire a professional dancer. Yeah.
Then I read that Kevin Bacon got it. While I was recuperating. That's amazing. You blew it.
It's as if dancing... First of all, if you're not a professional dancer or you're not a professional singer, trying to do either of those things as a professional actor is really embarrassing. Right. You know, like, as an actor, I can do anything. But if I have to sing or I have to dance, it's really embarrassing. Whoa, whoa, whoa. You sing great. You sing... Wait a minute. You sing great. We all know that. I don't sing... I don't think so. It's been... It's like pulling teeth to get a good...
It's like I sing like I golf, which is if you give me enough tries, I'll get it right. But if I have to do it live and go play scratch, I'm going to definitely when I shank it into the bushes.
it's going to be embarrassing. You know what I mean? But when you, when you sing mouse rat, when you're, when you're doing Andy is mouse rat. Oh, I think every, I've seen a mouse rat concert. I've been to a mouse rat concert at the rap. It's true. A Perkson. It's true. And you crush. Oh, that's nice. That's different. Cause it's a little, but maybe that particular voice, I'm doing like a comedic,
you know, a parroting of like Eddie Vedder and, and, and Darius Rucker, you know, I'm doing that sort of like nineties rock voice. And so in that regard, I, I, I trained to do that. So I'm just not like a trained singer. Maybe if I had like, what's my rock, what's my voice. And also it's comedic. So, so I'm comfortable in a comedic space, but if I have to, like, I remember one of my most embarrassing auditions was going to see,
sing i fucking sang some stupid fucking song from like oh it was like from the les mis it was from les mis aladdin or something did you audition for les mis dude no no no jean-vaughn chris pratt i don't think so i just it's not my forte but uh but certainly dancing as well like you know because there are people who do this professionally
And when they when they do it, you just look bad trying your best to hack it out. Would you have would you have been able to pull off the audition for Stars Born? Could you have sung that damn song? Oh, man. Come on. I'm going to do I could do that. I could sing country. I can sing country. I'm working on something. I'm going to work on. I'm doing something. Garth Brooks.
Wow. Yeah, it's kind of top secret, but I can say that much, I guess. No, we don't know. No one listens to this podcast. This podcast is a complete disaster. I met Garth and we are trying to do something together. And I think in it, I will sing some country, which is pretty cool.
I would listen. If it's not Mouse Rat, it might as well be Garth Brooks. Yeah. Oh, how good is Garth Brooks? Garth Brooks is so good. I saw his one man show, his one man show in Vegas when he had a residency there. Unbelievable. He's one of the greatest. He just comes out. What do you guys want to hear? And sometimes he would play songs he didn't even know.
Yeah. But on top of that, if you watch that show, it's a very, it's not just him going up there and just doing like calls out to the audience to play songs. It's a really well-written, well-paced, funny show that talks about the evolution of music in America as he saw it from a young kid who loved Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash. And then growing up through the era of sixties and seventies, eighties into nineties, like it's,
If you watch it, you realize at the end, like Garth Brooks is a massive hit because it's truly the it's truly the next evolutionary step in American music. Picking up after what had happened from the greats, you know, like the 60s, the 70s, the 80s into the early 90s, like the best. You have to watch it. The best songwriting, not just the melody of the song, but also everything.
The lyrics of the song, like, you know, he does he goes into this bit in his show and you can watch it. It's so good. But he talks about how at first, you know, there was like an era where.
The melody was great, but the lyrics made no sense at all. And then he performs these songs, you know, and he's like, it's so funny. Like the melody is great, but the words that they put to it, just meaningless mumbo jumbo. Or they just go la la la la la la la la la la. He's like, what do you what? You totally missed an opportunity to say something there instead of just saying la la la la. And then he and then he goes into how about.
When the lyrics were great, but the music was terrible. And he got to the point where he evolved into putting really great stories to songs that were also musically really impressive. And so I'm a big fan. He's an American musician and he's the best. I think he's the best. I need to ask because people are going to be pissed if they listen to this and we don't talk about Parks and Rec. I need to know.
First of all, how fun was doing our little reunion? It was fun, right? Oh, man. It was really fun. It was fun to watch. It was fun to be a part of.
You know, it was funny because we signed on. Mike Schur reached out, said, you guys want to do this Parks and Rec reunion? It took about 10 minutes before every single person on the thread confirmed, you know? Yep. No one checked with their people. They were like, yes, I'm in. Let's do it. Okay, let's go. Right. 10 minutes later. And so I was like, that sounds great. Let's do it. And then they sent the script, which they'd worked on. And I was like, oh, my God, this is so much work. Like...
I think we all just signed up for this thing, kind of forgetting what it took to do an episode of that show. I know. But also to do it in quarantine because we're so spoiled as actors, especially me on that show. At the time, I lived seven minutes from the studio. I would drive to work and be about 10, 15 minutes late every single day, roll out,
Get it and go through my hair and makeup in 45 seconds, you know, step on set. I haven't read the script. I don't know what the dialogue is. I, that's what was perfect for me in that regard, because Andy was never like never carrying that much emotional through line weight. You know, it was just like, it was like, if we're a jazz band, Andy was like a weird instrument that would come in. And as long as I kept timing, I could, I could freestyle and do anything I wanted. And,
I could just riff. And as long as I stayed in timing, I'd say whatever I want. So I would, of course, look at the script a few minutes before and then give them a version of that. But then it would spin into something else. It was a lot of improv for me to do that character. And so when I was doing this, I forgot how much work it was. Because...
Right. You can, it's not like I had, I felt like I could just show up on set and they'd tell me exactly where to go. We had to do all this shit ourselves. So it's like, Oh wow. I got to set up a camera and set up some lighting and, and I'm going to have, I'm going to memorize all these lines because I have to, because I don't have, I can't really play off of anybody cause there's nobody here.
It was really hard, but I got to say it was really worth it. And it looked great. It was really fun and funny and great to see everybody. And it was a good cause. So I felt really positive about it. I just love how people loved it. And that they loved the 5,000 candles in the wind. That song just lives forever.
It really does. I first time I saw how much people must've loved that song was watching Nick Offerman do his one of his one man shows. Yes. And at the end he was closing playing 5,000 candles in the wind. And it was just like,
You take out your guitar and you, and it's just opens with a, you strung the guitar with no, no lyrics. And so you do that. And before he was even singing a single lyric, everyone knew what the song was. It was like so fresh in everyone's minds. I couldn't believe it. And so he would sing that and everyone would sing along. Everyone knew it. I was thinking about my favorite Parks and Rec moment with you that you and I ever did.
And I have two of them. One's a famous internet, you know, gif, which is I'm in the foreground doing something and you're behind me doing the ape walk. Oh, yeah. That is, yeah. Which is one of the- You gave me the toe shoes. I gave you the toe shoes. Yeah. Which is, I think, one of the first scenes you and I ever did together. I think so. Yeah, that's right. Pretty sure. Yeah.
The toe shoes thing. I also remember. Do you remember Whole Foods? Yes, it's Whole Foods. Yeah. Going to Whole Foods. We just ran amok. We just ran amok. And just with a camera crew, just did whatever we wanted.
And my whole thing on Parks and Rec was just to cause destruction and break shit that they didn't know they were going to have to pay for at the beginning of the day. I loved just breaking stuff. And so I think I was breaking stuff at Whole Foods. I walked down the aisle with a coffee and just opened the coffee thing because I knew we had a budget to pay for 70 pounds of coffee that would spill all over the floor. So I just...
open the thing and all the coffee came pouring out. Like that was unscripted. Did a lot of stuff with fruits and vegetables and you pushing me around in a cart. I remember that. I, you know, listen, I think the whole seat, the whole going to, when you were able to pull up the thing with your say and go down to Indianapolis to go into Indiana and shoot that bachelor episode where we went into Colts stadium, Lucas oil stadium. That was, that was so sad. I'm covered in goosebumps right now. You can, that's official though. I'm getting goosebumps. Yeah.
That was so cool. We wanted to shoot there. I'm friendly with the owner of the Colts, Jim Irsay, who's one of the nicest men. And I called Jim and asked him if we could come and shoot in the stadium. And not only did he let us shoot in the stadium, because obviously Andy was a huge Colts fan and wore, you always wore the receiver's jersey, right? Reggie Wayne. Yeah, I wore Reggie Wayne's jersey when I got married. Yeah, the best. Yeah.
And so we got, not only did we shoot there, that we had Andrew Luck and Reggie Wayne in the scene and Jim, right? That's right. And I remember Andrew Luck, you had to go and catch a pass and you caught every single pass Andrew Luck threw you.
It was insane. They were like 55-yard bombs, too. Bombs, lasers. He was throwing from 50 yards out to the end zone. And flicking it with his wrist, he never even wound up. He's like, thunk, thunk. Yeah, I did. I caught every one. I couldn't believe it. Remember when you were kicking the field goals? Yeah. It's the first time I ever tried to kick a field goal. I never was ever in a position to try to kick a field goal in football because I wasn't the kicker. And so, yeah, I remember kicking field goals. We hit like a 35-yarder or something. It was awesome. I was drenched in sweat.
I was about 40 pounds heavier then than I am right now. And I was just drenched in sweat having so much fun. That was pretty remarkable. When we were doing that sequence, Morgan Sackett came up and said, I just need you and Pratt.
To really do this because you're the only two men on the show who know how to even hold a football. And you think of it, you didn't want to see Aziz and Zari throw a football. Adam Scott couldn't identify a football from a basketball. And Nick couldn't throw a football. Could he not? It was you and me. That surprised me.
Just us. God, I can't remember. That's true. Wow. I don't remember that far, but that's amazing. Think about it. You know, it's right. Remember when remember when. Oh, when we did that scene where I had to slide across the across the countertop and then I threw the briefcase across the room and it smashed into the light socket or the light switch and literally broke the light switch off the wall and shut all the lights off in the whole building.
It was a Burt Macklin scene, right? Yeah, the Burt Macklin moment, yeah. Yeah, I just, it wasn't scripted that I'd throw a briefcase. I don't even think I was supposed to grab a briefcase. I think I just literally saw somebody's briefcase
slid across the countertop and then improv that I've just stolen it. Then you improv that I need, I should probably put it back. And then I threw some stranger's briefcase across this office. We were renting and hit the light switch on the wall, smashed a hole in the wall. And then all the lights shut off in this. And it's all starts with, with an improv. Yeah. You saying I've stolen this and I go, you need to put it back. You should probably put that back. Yeah. Yeah.
Oh, that was so fun. You also, it's famous within the family of Parks and Rec. We all know this story and it's been told a thousand times, but I'm sure there are people who don't know it, that it's pretty much a given that you have the single greatest ad lib in the history of Parks and Rec.
You know, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. It's true. So and I was in that scene. I remember it. So it's it's. Well, go ahead. Tell the story because it's so good. Well, I remember just sitting there like for some reason, Andy was allowed to work at Jim's. Oh, it's the flu season episode, which is so good. You're so you have. I don't know. That's a pretty great improv that you have in that same. I have stopped pooping in that one. Stopping is I would honestly, in all modesty, it might be the second best. Yeah, that was pretty damn good.
And everyone is stop pooping. Everyone was in the office or everyone in the office got sick. So I was taking over for somebody sitting at Jim's desk or something. And so basically I'm just sitting in Jim's position talking and I wasn't even any of us align in the episode or in that, in that scene. Sorry. And Adam is walking who, or, you know, Ben is walking Leslie out.
saying you probably have a fever, you have the flu, you need to go. And then Dean, I think, directed the episode and was like, hey, Pratt, do you want to say anything? We might catch you. Or Tom, the camera operator, said we're kind of catching you in the background. I was like, yo, give me Mitch, put a mic down here. I might want to improv a line or two. So they stuck a mic on the desk.
And then they were walking out and I improv the line where I said, I had the computer in front of me. I said, Leslie, I typed your symptoms into the thing up here. And it says you could have network connectivity failure or something like that. Or network connectivity problems. That was a good one. And Mike sure gets so mad about it because he's like,
He writes jokes and he's very generous. And by the way, he writes amazing jokes all the time, but he's always been very effusive in complimenting that joke. He says it's the perfect joke because it's A, hilarious. It's story point driven. It propels the story. And you're the only character who could have said it.
I mean, you think about it. That's why it's so great. Like, in theory, anybody could have said stop pooping and it would have been funny. Andy's the only person, other than maybe Jerry, who's an idiot, who could say you have network connectivity.
Right. Right. And it fits into the idea that I'm a little fish out of the water in the office that I'm trying really hard. But I obviously don't know what I'm doing with the computer. Yeah, I you know how I know. I know that it's a good joke here. I'm patting myself on the back of this joke. But I know it's a good joke because every once in a while I'll repeat it to myself and laugh. So like a joke that makes you laugh every time you hear it is a good joke.
You know, when I need to stop pooping, I say to myself, stop pooping. And I laugh and then I continue to poop. And we'll be right back after this.
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I don't think I've seen you with that actual haircut before. I think you need to keep it. I took it down low because I was doing Jurassic World and I had to have a certain hair length.
And then they sent me home. They're like, don't cut your hair. And now it's been so long. I look like a like a fraggle rock character. And I don't think they're going to be opening up London long enough. I'll be able to grow back into it. But I thought I would take it down. It might be the one of the last times I can have short hair. So you've got also I was dealing with Catherine who kind of just went buck wild with the razor. So I don't know what she did. She went crazy. So you were how far done were you on Jurassic? Not even close. I mean, we only like two or three weeks in.
No way. Yeah, we got a lot left. We have 80-something days left. 80 days left, and then Guardians is next for you? Well, no, next is Terminal List. Well, it's going to depend because I know that I have a slot for Guardians of the Galaxy that we've made a deal on that. But I also have closed a deal for this show Terminal List.
um is that the tv series yes yeah it's at amazon uh it's with mrc antoine foucault is directing he and i are both executive producing it's based on it's based on this book that dude you have to read this book and you know who else would love this book is matthew matthew would go crazy for this book anyone who's like a gear guy it's written by a navy seal about a former spec ops guy who you know uh
is the lone survivor of a massive attack overseas and comes back with kind of
a failing memory and of what had happened and then realizes he's starting to get blamed for it, but then on earth's darker forces that are at play. And so it's this, it's this, it's kind of a revenge psychological thriller. And it sounds amazing. It's so awesome. And the way that it's written by this author, Jack Carr, it's, it's really fast paced, but it's super authentic and,
to the point of view of a Navy SEAL, dealing with everything from, like, the War Com brass all the way up to the Secretary of Defense, how they, you know, without giving away any tactics, because anything that a Navy SEAL would have to write would go through the DOD, and they'd have to, like, sign off on it. So there's some redactions in there, but it talks everything from, like, not just warfare, but also espionage and, you know, um...
Using electronics to find the enemy and using cell towers to ping people to track people like it's kind of got some spy stuff, some war stuff, but it's all authentic and it's based on, you know, the real experiences of this guy. And so he comes back and basically uses some of the tactics that had been used against him as his squadron against these dark forces. So everything from like, you know.
he becomes an insurgent in America trying to weed out some evil forces that are trying to take him down. Dude, is there a part for a Navy SEAL that plays the saxophone in it? There is now. I'm down. There is now. I don't know if we can afford you, but dude, we'll do it. If you play Billy, like Billy went on to play the sax in...
He tried to get in. Bill, my character in St. Elmo's Heart tried to get into the Navy SEALs, but he was too pretty. They're like, fuck you, pal. Get out of here. Yeah, get out of here. Too pretty. Fuck you. I quit anyways. You can't fire me. I quit. That's a line in every movie in the 80s had that line, I think. Don't you fuck you. I quit. You can't fire me. I quit. Yeah, that one. There's a good long list of lines that...
exists in every 80s movie there's like um there's like uh it's quiet a little too quiet a little too quiet that's in everyone there's like um where you're going you're gonna have plenty of time to think about it there's that like that's what you tell the bad guy before you put him in jail oh there's this thing where you're in front of the computer and you go and you say we're in yes you know you like click the thing and we're in you break through the firewall we're in
God, there's so many of them. You know, a lot of people don't realize that you had to learn how to bat left-handed for Moneyball. I love that little factoid. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. How about that? And I love the story. And I'll tell it so you don't think that no one will ever interpret it as you being in any way disrespectful to Pitt, which you're not. And no one should ever be because I love him. He's a genius. But you have that beautiful swing that's in the trailer for Moneyball.
It's in the coming attraction, that slow-mo trailer where your character hits the big home run. Yeah. And then when you go to the movie and you watch the movie, you're like, oh, we're going to see that great shot of Chris in slow-mo. And you step into it and they cut to Brad Pitt's big mug. Is that true? Yes. And you hear a...
Oh, that's right. I always wondered why. Yeah, you don't actually see him hit the home run. Here's the thinking. Hmm, you're Brad Pitt. You're like, so this movie is about me. I'm the star. This is the big moment. I wonder if it should be on that guy who lost all the weight from Parks and Rec or if it should be on my face. Hmm, I think it should be on my face. In all seriousness, I'm being funny. I don't mean that, but it was, I love that shot. It's so... They did have the swim.
You did. You had the swing, man. How hard was it to learn how to bat? I couldn't do that. I don't know. There's no way. It was not easy. It was like wooden bats. I remember the first. Here's what happened. I went to the batting cages thinking because I had to do it. I had to do like a tryout. I had to go to a physical baseball tryout. Before the acting? Before I got the movie. Like I needed to show them. No, no, no. I think I may have.
Yeah, I think I needed to prove to them that like I could physically be a baseball player. You know what I mean? So I was doing that, hitting the ball. I went to the batting cages and I was like, I'm just going to bat right handed to try it out. The first swing I took, it was with a wooden bat because I was going to have to use a wooden bat. I hit the ball and the bat jammed my thumb.
so hard that like, I thought I broke my thumb. The first swing at the batting. I was like, Oh my God, I had a giant purple bruise on my hand right here. And so I was like, and I had like two days before the tryout.
So I just had to practice with this massive giant wealth on my thumb. Like talk about an actor. Like I have the bitchiest actor hands. If my dad were alive and he shook my hand right now, he would slap me across the face, probably with my own hand. They're so soft and supple. I haven't worked a day in my life. You know, like they're so, so gently soft. People say all the time, like, oh my God, you have soft hands. I'm like, I know it's so embarrassing.
Then I rub lotion on my face and that's pretty much all the physical labor that these hands will have for a whole week. And so naturally I did my swing and my, my bitch ass actor hand popped. And so I had to do the whole tryout basically with a thumb that I felt like was going to fall off.
But I still swung through and I kept hitting the ball, kept hitting the ball. And they gave me the part. And so I did learn to hit left handed. And down underneath the Oakland Coliseum, they have one of those pitching machines that throw the ball 100 miles an hour.
You know, which is not like two wheels the way that you typically think of pitching these two wheels and the jugs. The jugs gun is that is the two is the jugs. I think this is like a metal arm. Yeah, that they spring it back and then it lets go in the arm, throws the ball. I think that's the only way you can like throw it this fast or maybe that's just the one they had. But we can crank it up to 100 miles an hour. And I got to tell you, I was able to hit 100 mile an hour fastball with this.
left-handed now i'm not i have no illusions that i'd be able to ever i'd get struck out 10 out of 10 times if i faced a major league pitcher no doubt because they're not throwing repetitive strikes right down the middle at 100 miles an hour so like you can time out you start swinging before the ball even before the ball even leaves the arm you start your swing to try to hit 100 mile an hour fastball and but uh but um
You know, I would just throw a change up in a curveball and I'd be, I'd be screwed. You throw a slide and I'd miss for sure. I'd get struck out 10 out of 10 times right-handed or left-handed. But when it came down to movie making, I could do it left-handed. It's a great movie. It's one of my favorite movies. And it's funny. I don't know if it's something about that as I get older and I see more things like it, sometimes, sometimes I'll watch a great movie and I'll know instantly it's great. Oh my God. And then there are times where I'll watch a movie and go, I love this movie so much that
But not realize it's great and not realize that I'm watching a movie that from now on, if I ever come across it on TV, I'm going to have to fucking watch the whole thing. Right. And Moneyball is one of those movies for me. Yeah. For sure.
It is good. It is a good, good, good movie. Although there is one thing I would have told that daughter to fuck off the end. I would have been like, I'm like, you know what? I'd be like, hey, I could be the most highly paid GM, the Boston Red Sox in history. And I'm throwing it all away so you can play that damn ukulele for me again. Are you kidding me?
But that's just me because I'm a misanthrope and... And you like the money. That movie would just be called Money. Have you worked with anyone yet where you were like, oh my God, I can't believe I'm working with so-and-so? Like, I'm very jealous that you got to work with Denzel. I'm very, very jealous. Yeah. Yeah. That's pretty intense. I mean, I can only... I mean, I can just only imagine he's the man. I mean, he's the...
He's got to be our greatest actor alive. Got to be right. I think he might be. I mean, I think he's the I think he may be the greatest leading man. Oh, right. You know what I mean? He's not like a character actor. I think like, you know, Daniel Day-Lewis is probably or Christian Bale.
To me, it might be the greatest, finest actors, like where the instrument is there, the medium, the clay with which they work as the human spirit and the physical presence and the sound. And they can completely change exactly who they are. Denzel is probably the greatest leading man, though. I think he's got like a sense of pathos and dignity and.
And the perfect amount of handsomeness and a great voice. But he's never been a goofball. He's never done anything to take away from his leading man image in the choices of characters that he plays. It's like Redford famously would never – Redford's never really played a bad guy until recently. He finally did on something. I don't know what it was. Captain America, I think. It's Captain America.
Right. That's the first time he's ever played a bad guy. Yeah. But in his, you know, heyday, which is an extraordinary run and he's one of my favorite stars, leading men, actors. For sure. I mean, to talk about a baseball movie, The Natural. Yeah. Dude. But you're right. He never you never saw him singing. Take me out to the ballgame out of tune.
Right. Or with the wrong lyrics. Like somebody has. I'm not going to mention names, but it was me. You could have been Denzel, bro. You blew it. You did take me out to the ball game. That could have been you in Training Day. That's all that's kept me from two Oscars. That's it.
That's it. I mean, I'm a man who knows my limitations. Had I not done that? Had you not done that? Do you play saxophone or was that all fake? No, I fake play it. And I can fake play the saxophone. You can fake play the shit on the saxophone. I once was like, um...
So David Foster, who wrote St. Elmo's Fire, wrote the song, he does a lot of big charities and plays St. Elmo's Fire. And he and I have a thing where he'll be like, oh, Rob Lowe, are you here? Hey, do you still remember that sax solo? I sure do, David. And I come up and they've pre-rigged the sax so there's no reed in it. So I couldn't make a noise with it if I wanted to. And there's like a guy behind the curtain playing it. And I did that once.
as a joke and then thought it would be like the old thing of a, you know, where like the piano is playing and then you take a drink and realize it's a player piano. Yeah. I thought I was going to do that thing, but I got up there and started blowing and everybody was going fucking ape and thought it clearly thought it was real. And then my actor's ego got involved and then I couldn't give up. And then I just doubled down on it. And, and then I looked out and there was president Clinton and,
And he was going like, yeah, fucking yeah. He was losing his shit. Oh, at that point now, if you give it up, then you're in trouble. And now if I give it up, I feel like, right? So I kind of finish and I scurry back. And Cheryl Lowe is so angry with me. She's like, you're such a fucking asshole. She's so pissed that I did it. And I was like, I felt like I pulled. Oh, and Rashida's dad.
Quincy Jones was right in front of me. Signs you right there. He was right in front of me and he was going in and he was yelling, you blow Rob Lowe. He was yelling at me. And wow. And I was like, dude, the fucking bell of the sax is right in front of your face. There's nothing. There's nothing coming out of it.
And so I was all flipped out about it. And I thought, well, it'll let bygones be bygones. Nobody will care. Remember? And two weeks later, I got a handwritten note from President Clinton asking me to come to Washington to do a saxophone duet with him. Because he really plays the saxophone. He really plays it. And I'm like, oh, what? Really? What do you do? You go, hey, so, by the way, I don't really. What do you do? So you say you can't afford me, Mr. Clinton.
I called David Foster. I said, David, we have a problem. President Clinton thinks I play saxophone and wants me to do a duet. And he was like, yeah, I already solved that. I said, how'd you solve it? He goes, well, I'm recording Barbra Streisand. And I told her the story and she was irate. And she called President Clinton and said it was all bullshit. So this is when I really knew I was in show business and I'd made it. I knew I'd made it. I was like, I'm in a shame spiral now.
with the President Clinton, David Foster, and Barbra Streisand. I've made it. Wow. That was the moment that you knew? That was the moment. That's so crazy because my moment that I felt like, wow, I might have made it also involves Barbra Streisand. Come on. I swear to God. I went to a party with my trainer. My trainer happened to do
Training for and security for Ron Meyer. Yes, one of the great agents and businessmen and ran Universal movies forever. Yes. And so I went with Duffy, my trainer, to this party at Ron Meyer's house. I didn't have an invite. I just went as...
Basically, his trainers plus one. I've been to that house. Those parties are hardcore. Unbelievable party. And I got up there and there was like Jim Carrey was at this party. Jim Carrey, I told you, in living color, Jim Carrey was my man. I love Jim Carrey so much. Yeah.
And I had to tell him in the moment, what a great, how much he shaped my life. And then I chose my manager based on who his manager was and all this stuff. And he told me all this stuff and he was like, yeah, that makes sense. And, uh, he had, I had a great moment with him, a great conversation with him where he was like, he's, he said to me, I'm kind of getting off topic here, but I'll get back to what Barbara said that made me feel like I'd made it. But Jim Carrey is a bigger name right now. So just stay with Jim Carrey. And so Jim said like, uh,
He was like, you know, one thing that's that you'll see that's strange is that you've become a wonder of the world. And he said, which means you can no longer visit the wonders of the world. He was like, I was in Machu Picchu and I've never felt worse because I got there and everyone turned their cameras on me. And so I stood there in front of something that I just wanted to be. And I just wanted to be in awe of this thing.
And it was distracted by other people being in awe of me in the presence of this great thing. And he said, like, he was like, your life is going to be forever changed in that way. Like, you've become a wonder. And you that takes you out of the running of it was something along those lines. And I'm paraphrasing. So if Jim Carrey hears this one day and it's like, I've never met Chris, you did meet me. But also it might have been he might have said it slightly different, but it was like that. But Barbara Streisand came up to me and she's like, you, you're the guy.
And I was like, what? She goes, how does it feel? How does it feel to know you? You are you're the guy. And I was like, wow. Oh, my God. Barbara Streisand said that I was the guy. And then, like, I was watching Jim Carrey walk by and there were I mean,
Every person that walked by was super famous. It was like one of the only times I've ever been to a party where what you would kind of imagine if you dreamed that you woke up and you were at a Hollywood party. It was all of those. I feel like Mel Gibson was there. And I feel like, I can't even remember. I think Oprah was there. And all of these super famous people were there. And Barbra Streisand was there. And I came there as the plus one person.
To the trainer and I and I when I walked out of there was like, I actually I probably could have gotten invited to this party without having that. You know what I mean? That connection is the weirdest thing. It was like because I've never I never lived in Hollywood when I was coming up to where I ever walked up. I've never walked to a club and let someone let me in because of who I am. That's never happened to me. You know, like I just never by the time anyone would know who I might kind of stop going to clubs. And so like.
That was the moment to me where like I walked to the front of the velvet rope and they let me in because of my face or whatever. It was pretty cool. Right, right. When I tell that story about Jim, people are like, wow, he said that. But it's like I get it because like people like me have been coming up to Jim Carrey for decades telling him that like he does know. And also it doesn't mean anything like as much as you as much as you like. In that moment, I wanted him to be moved.
by how much he moved me. Right. But it was impossible because you can't hurt it all before. They've heard that before. They know that before. And it's not that it's, it makes sense when you're on that. You're like, yeah, I get that. I get that. Yeah. That I had that. I've had that effect on people. I've had thousands of people tell me that. And I, I like, you know, it'd be great acting on his behalf. If he, if he hit for my sake had said, okay,
Thank you so much. Oh, my God. Wow. That really means something to me. But it certainly wouldn't have been true. And I'm glad you didn't like duplicate me. You know, it's just, you know, it's such an interesting thing because it's like you could go because I've had it where you talk to some some famous person, you know, and you tell them I loved you. And so they go, oh, thank you. And you get the sense that it's the first time they've ever heard it. Right. And but it's actually better. They just go, yeah, no. Yeah, right. For sure. Thanks, man. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right.
That's more authentic. I mean, what do you want? You know, what do you want from you? You want like another great performance? Then then you can get that. Maybe they'll say, oh, oh, my gosh, thank you so much. I mean, I guess you could do that. And it is probably the nicest thing to do. But at the same time, it can be exhausting to always have to perform, you know, and sometimes maybe you don't want to. Yeah. What's the name of the podcast? Literally. Oh, it's great.
Right? That's perfect. Yeah, it's perfect. That's a great name. Because it is literally a podcast at the end of the day. Yeah, it's literally Rob Lowe's podcast. Is that what it's called? Oh, I like that. That's a bumper. This is literally Rob Lowe's podcast. Literally. This is good shit. Literally Rob Lowe's podcast.
You have a career as a voiceover artist. Thank you. I hope so. I'd be nice, huh? Never have to go anywhere again. Listen, I love you. Let's figure out when we can escape. I'd like that, man. Let's figure it out. All right. I love you. Love you, man. See you later. Bye, guys. All right. Bye. Oh, that was so fun. This podcast thing's kind of fun. I'm kind of liking it. I hope you guys like it. I'm not kidding. There are very few things...
you know, after 40 years that are new to me and this is new and it's really fun and I'm having a blast. And I, and I, and I love just having a chat like that. You know, just, it was like two guys hanging out and, and you guys get to invite it, get to be invited into the, to the circle of conversation. And that's, that's what this is going to be from here on out. And, and we've got great people coming up and that was a great start. Thank you to Pratt.
Prat, prat, prat. You didn't come back. He's the best. All right, folks, I will see you for the second second podcast next week. Very exciting. Don't forget to download literally with me. You have been listening to literally with Rob Lowe, produced and engineered by me, Devin Tory Bryant.
Executive produced by Rob Lowe for Lowe Profile. Adam Sachs and Jeff Ross at Team Coco. And Colin Anderson and Chris Bannon at Stitcher. The supervising producer is Aaron Blairt. Talent producer, Jennifer Sampras. Please rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts. And remember to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. This has been a Team Coco production in association with Stitcher.
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