We're sunsetting PodQuest on 2025-07-28. Thank you for your support!
Export Podcast Subscriptions
cover of episode Jeff Ross: Judgmental Yoga

Jeff Ross: Judgmental Yoga

2022/3/3
logo of podcast Literally! With Rob Lowe

Literally! With Rob Lowe

AI Deep Dive AI Chapters Transcript
People
J
Jeff Ross
R
Rob Lowe
Topics
Jeff Ross: 我练习瑜伽是为了应对巡演的压力和不规律的生活,以及为《与星共舞》节目做准备。热瑜伽让我精力充沛,睡眠更好,还能排出体内毒素。在吐槽大会上,我曾是纽约Friars Club的负责人,Milton Berle和Buddy Hackett对我影响很大。Ann Coulter在吐槽大会上的表现很糟糕,她的表现反而提升了吐槽大会的关注度。我曾经因为笑话太刻薄而放弃过,在Rob Lowe的吐槽大会上,我最担心的是Ann Coulter会提前离开。我正在考虑做一些新的喜剧项目,在我的播客中,我会吐槽一些已经去世的人。 Rob Lowe: 我反复观看《白宫风云》,觉得很治愈。剧中的一些办公室言论放到现在已经行不通了,但它真实地展现了当时的办公室环境。Jeff Ross曾是纽约Friars Club的负责人,我在Comedy Central的吐槽大会上表现出色,我的妻子起初反对我在吐槽大会上表演。一个好的吐槽大会嘉宾应该能够轻松应对各种笑话,Ann Coulter在吐槽大会上的表现很糟糕。吐槽大会的编剧团队非常棒,Ann Coulter拒绝使用编剧提供的素材。我好奇吐槽大会的起源,在吐槽大会上表现出色可以迅速提升知名度。我在《与星共舞》节目中得了最低分,尽管眼角膜受伤,Jeff Ross还是坚持参加了节目的直播。

Deep Dive

Chapters
Jeff Ross discusses his early days in comedy, including his experiences at the Friar's Club and his transition to becoming the Roast Master General.

Shownotes Transcript

Translations:
中文

Art in your home can instantly transform your space and bring you joy. Saatchi Art makes it easy for you to discover and buy one-of-a-kind art that you'll love. Whether you're looking to complement your home decor, fill a blank space on your walls, or start an art collection, you can find the perfect piece for your specific style and budget at Saatchi Art. Go to SaatchiArt.com today to bring the beauty of art into your home. Plus, listeners get 15% off their first order of original art with code ROB.

That's 15% off at SaatchiArt.com. S-A-A-T-C-H-I-Art.com. Ever wish your favorite TV show had twice as many episodes? Everyone knows that feeling. And so does Discover. Everyone wants more of their favorites. That's why Discover doubles another favorite thing. Cash back.

That's right. Discover automatically doubles the cash back earned on your credit card at the end of your first year with Cash Back Match. Now that's a real crowd pleaser. Everyone knows how it ends. Double the cash back. See terms at discover.com slash credit card. Are those all your awards on the wall behind you? They're just a couple nice letters. One from the USO, one from George Bush. I won a Golden Hanger Award from Joan Rivers.

Hello and welcome to Literally with Rob Lowe. Today I have one of my favorite people. Oh my God, this man is funny. He is a very nice man, as you will see. But Jesus Christ, he's mean. He's the meanest, funniest man in show business. He's the roast master general. The king of the burn, Jeff Ross. ♪

I've learned more about Zoom meetings. I just remember Zoom being a PBS kid show that I did not get as a job. Zoom, ah, Zoom, ah, Zoom. I was much more like an HR puff and stuff. I love that stuff, too.

I'm surprised you haven't been on Richard White's Zoom quarantine parties. Oh, no, no, no. I have been. I had to talk to John Parr while he sang an acoustic version of Man in Motion, St. Elmo's Fire. It was a highlight of my career. Yeah.

At least he didn't play the West Wing theme. That would have been difficult. By the way, I've been binging all the way back to season one pilot. Now I'm halfway through season two of The Old West Wings are on Netflix and I'm finding it so comforting before I go to bed at night. My girlfriend wants to watch murder documentaries and I'm like, let me just look back at a better world. An idealistic Sam Seaborn world.

How do they hold up, the episodes? I think they seem like... Do they seem like science fiction? They're very, very... The acting and the writing and the direction hold up. What occasionally slips it up, believe it or not, is like...

office comments that would never fly now. That's the stuff that pops out at you and go out. And there's a lot of it. I think there's an episode where President Bartlett accuses, there's a lot of Allison Janney objectification on that show. Right, right.

In fairness, there's a reverse power dynamic happening there that was fascinating that would play great if it was acknowledged today, but it's not acknowledged. It just sort of happens. And to be honest, that's how life was. It was very, you know, it portrayed an office. I love that show, man. Hats off to you and everybody involved. It's a great one, really great one.

And it makes me feel good before I go to bed. It's one of those shows that even had I not been a part of it, it would have been one of my favorite shows. Yeah. I mean, or as I like to say, that falls into the category of TV or movie you fire your agent over. You're like, what the fuck? Why am I not in that thing? Now you're appearing on your agent's Zoom parties. Yeah, he's working hard. He's working hard at getting Al Jarreau.

Come sing Roof Garden acapella. I think Al Jarreau's dead, unfortunately. Wait, so you were telling me, because you don't strike me as a yoga guy. I don't know what that even means, that you don't strike me as a yoga guy. Why is that a big part of your routine? I heard cynical comedians talking about it about 10 years ago at the table where the comics hang out at the Comedy Cellar in New York.

And, you know, when you start to hear it from your own cult, you go, huh? And, you know, you fly a lot as a performer and, you know, you're tied up into these airplane chairs and you're in a hotel room by yourself. Your hours are weird. You're not going to go to the gym. So you just start stretching and...

I got asked to do Dancing with the Stars, and I was panicking because I hadn't been in touch with my body. I was very athletic as a kid. I'm a black belt in taekwondo, but I hadn't done anything in decades. So I thought, well, before I learn to dance and put that kind of pressure on my bones, I better just stretch and get in touch with my body.

inners a little bit and learn what it's like to touch my toes again and crack my vertebrae. And it really helped. And then, because I would do hot yoga, and once I got used to it, I literally walked out of there feeling an inch taller.

Really? Yeah. It only took one or two times till I just suddenly went, wow, this is what my body needs. But the first time, it's really super exhausting, is it not? Like, whenever I've tried it, A, I'm exhausted afterwards, or during it, I'm exhausted.

Or I feel like I want to take a nap when I'm done. Does that make sense or no? Do you have that experience? No, the opposite happens for me, especially if it's hot yoga. I feel invigorated. I sleep much better that night, feel better the next day, and have more energy.

It sweats out all the toxins if you're drinking or smoking or anything that all that all like releases out of your body and to the exhaustion point I would say don't try to keep up those first couple times go to child's pose just sort of lay down on the mat and And don't worry about what other people are doing. I try to find a non judgmental yoga class Judgmental yoga is my idea of health

And if you ever need a tutor, I would love to teach you. I think we could sell that as pay-per-view. Because I would be so bad, you'd be right in your wheelhouse to just knock the living shit out of me. Namaste at home during the quarantine. You were the head, whatever your official title was, but at the actual Friars Club, correct? Am I correct? Yes. Okay, so the Friars Club...

The headquarters was on Little Santa Monica Boulevard. Am I correct about this in L.A.? That's correct. Yes. Is it still there? No, it's not. It basically died when Milton Berle died. I went to a couple of them. There was a moment and probably it was during your auspices where they were really refurbishing it and sort of bringing it new life. And it was the greatest sort of mix of old Hollywood culture.

types and young really really young happening comedians and it was awesome I loved it it was a big part of my development as a as a as a man you know I had really I those were those Milton Berle and Buddy Hackett they were father figures to me they were mentors to me and I needed that at that point in my life and and I was still like the young punk who could say get away with murder because I didn't really have friends I could just

I didn't care what I said. And then when I came out to LA and that was all at the New York Friars Club, which is still there. But when I came out to LA and I started to meet these Hollywood legends that were out here, I was like, man, I,

This is my comedy family, and I would sit and eat lunch with Milton Berle. For people listening who may not know the famous joke, can I hear your version of it? Oh, well, I remember Milton Berle would always say, I'll take out, you want to see who's bigger? I'll take out just enough to beat you. Yes. Yeah, that's it. It's next week's guest on your podcast.

So good. I love, and it's true, he was a very generous guy. And all those guys, the Buddy Hacketts, Rich Little, he was another one. Was he in that crowd as well? Oh, you'd see him at the crowd. You'd see him at the roasts.

And he was a really sweet guy. You know, I'd always like tease him because, you know, we'd be roasting somebody, you know, this would be in the mid 2000s and he would still be doing Eisenhower impressions. He was very easy to roast back. Buddy Hackett was my favorite roaster and one of my favorite people ever.

He really killed me at the roast because he would work everything into a story and call it back and make it clean and then make it dirty and then make it clean again. And he would tie it all up.

My friends trade, my friends and I text each other Buddy Hackett clips from The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and they're all so funny. If you go on YouTube and you're ever feeling the blues, look up those Buddy Hackett clips on The Tonight Show, some really funny jokes. And they're really long stories, a lot of them. Yeah. It's a long way to the punchline that's funny the entire way. ♪

At Ashley, you'll find colorful furniture that brings your home to life. Ashley makes it easier than ever to express your personal style with an array of looks in fun trending hues to choose from, from earth tones to vibrant colors to calming blues and greens. Ashley has pieces for every room in the house in the season's most sought after shades. A more colorful life starts at Ashley. Shop in store online today. Ashley, for the love of home.

All set for your flight? Yep. I've got everything I need. Eye mask, neck pillow, T-Mobile, headphones. Wait, T-Mobile? You bet. Free in-flight Wi-Fi. 15% off all Hilton brands. I'll never go anywhere without T-Mobile. Same goes for my water bottle, chewing gum, nail clippers, passport. Okay, I'm going to leave you to it. Find out how you can experience travel better at T-Mobile.com slash travel. ♪

Qualifying plan required. Wi-Fi were available on select U.S. airlines. Deposit and Hilton Honors membership required for 15% discount. Terms and conditions apply. You know, there's nothing better than somebody who can sit there and laugh at themselves. It's the greatest. You go back and you look at, I don't know, John F. Kennedy's press conferences. And he would make jokes at his own expense all the time. He was really charming. And I kind of grew up with...

People on The Tonight Show coming on like you're talking about and they got the joke, they could tell the joke and they could take the joke. And those were always the people I tried to emulate myself on because when we did our roast for Comedy Central and they called me and said they wanted to roast me. Yeah.

I was like, this is great for sure. I'm a fan of the roasts. I've seen all of them and this is great. But then I went, you know, you don't get married and stay married for as long as I have without running everything through your wife. So I told her about it and she said, no, you can't do that. I said, why? She goes, because honey, you're going to humiliate yourself on a national level. I said, honey, that ship has already sailed.

And then, of course, as any good wife, she was like, well, do they even pay you? And I'm like, yeah. And then I told her how much. She goes, oh, you have to do it then. Here's why you were a good roast. And it's because...

oh first of all you're surrounded by your friends and family like everybody was there you have a beautiful family and they were all there so you feel protected right it's like uh it's like you know sinatra would have the wrap pack around them for these things but modern times like you would have your family anything kind of like embarrassing you did when you were young like it's back there it's

decades ago so you can kind of like brush it off like yeah yeah you know what i mean so to me when the ideal guest of honor the stuff can bounce off them they can let if you're if you're have the reason the roast was great was because you were having fun if you're having fun i always tell the the honorees if you're having fun everybody has fun have you ever had anybody that did not have fun

Never the guest of honor that I can recall. Never the guest of honor. They always got it. There's been a few guests there over the years. Well, bro. You had the ultimate meltdown. Don't you think? I mean, that has to be the ultimate. That one might be my fault. That one might be my fault. Because I was pushing to have somebody from politics at the roast because I wanted to make political jokes. This is Ann Coulter we're talking about, by the way. And she had just released a book. So she thought it was a good way to promote her book.

And now whenever somebody bombs at a roast, I send them the Ann Coulter book. She did sell a lot of copies. What do you, I was trying to, as it was happening, I was sitting, you know, I'm sitting on, you know, there and Peyton Manning is next to me. Right. I'm like, I didn't want to turn around and look at her because I didn't want to start feeling bad.

Because I knew I had to keep my A game and deliver really some nasty shit myself when it was my turn. You didn't want to break. Yeah. So I would turn to Peyton and go, how's she looking over there? He's like, bro, don't look over there. So Peyton was giving me sort of signals of it. I think she thought the roast was purely about me and didn't fully appreciate that by being there...

It's open season on everybody. I really believe that. But would you, I mean, come on. She's playing naive, Rob, because she used to hang out at the comedy cellar with the comics. She understood. I think she just got in too deep with that and was a little dismissive of the writing staff. You know, when we book somebody at the roasts,

We want them to score. We want everyone to score. Even if we don't agree with them politically, we don't... If somebody doesn't do well, it only makes the job harder for the next roast to book it. Well, I don't want to be the end coulter, you know? So I found that frustrating that she's like, I didn't know what I was getting into. I'd never seen a roast. Well, and the other thing is...

What I found great about the experience is how great you guys are in terms of the staff. You guys are all hilarious. The jokes that you provide are fucking fantastic. And the notion that somebody wouldn't avail themselves of that is not good. You don't want to be writing your own material. I mean, listen...

Some of us who are funny and can write, you know, there are certain jokes I did that I made into the cut and stuff. But, I mean, all the good stuff is you guys. It's so funny. Really funny. Well, our job is to deliver each roaster a script that they can then shape into their own. You know? We're not trying to...

have someone read a hostage video. Like, the way for it to work is for Rob Lowe to sound like Rob Lowe and for, you know, Peyton to sound like Peyton. And everybody generally plays along. For some reason, Anne didn't or wouldn't get it, and she wanted her friends to help her write it, and, you know, it's not going to work. It's a classic. And the other part is it took the focus off of me. Like, it ended up being...

The roast of Ann Coulter and oh, by the way, I was there. So it's like. I disagree. If anything, it brought attention to your roast. That's a good point. And that was one of the reasons I wanted her there because I knew something would go off the rails or there'd be some fun, you know, some fun moments that would bring attention to the roast. It has to be.

And I say this with all possible modesty, which is not easy for me. It has to be one of the best roasts for sure. Right.

Yes, it was very fun. People always ask me what my favorite roast is, and I always say who's next. So for me to say that was one of the best roasts, you know, if Bruce Willis asked me if theirs was the best, I would say, yes, that was one of the best roasts. I mean, you know, they're like the Super Bowl of comedy. They're all really fucking great. Which you think is more high pressure, and see if you can divorce yourself from your own personal interest in this. Okay.

Hosting Saturday Night Live or doing the Comedy Central roast as either the roasty or being on the panel. SNL's been on 40 years or something, but the roast as a tradition is over 100 years old. So I think there's something really special. Tell me how it started. This is the one piece. First of all, why is it the Friars? They look like the logo for Pizza Pizza. They look like that guy to me.

Am I wrong? This goes back to the days of George M. Cohan. The Friars Club was started by show business publicists in New York.

And this was a way that they would honor each other or do... It was a chance to see legendary comedians curse. Because you couldn't curse on radio, obviously. But if you wanted to hear Newt Burrell say a really dirty word, you had to be a member of the Friars Club.

and to be within that secret society. And there was no press. So the press agents would have their own events with no press. So it was this kind of cool, you know, verbal fight club that they would... And good natured. And by the way...

probably it was in the 1950s, a young comedian in his 20s, a magician, really, a game show host named Johnny Carson made his name in New York, not from his, not from magic or the game show, but from roasting people at the Friars Club in basic, for the members. And then the industry said, oh, this guy is great. And that's when he,

took par slot on the tonight show so you know you see what happens with these roasts with pete davidson and nicky glazer and anthony jeselnik they they do them and they pop off and so you could stay at snl for five or ten years and maybe pop off maybe not maybe but uh you score on a roast and

Yeah. Martha Stewart scored and immediately went into a TV show with Snoop. You can handle that pressure and keep it on the track. You're going to feel really good about yourself afterwards. No, I was hot. I was hot, like high euphoric off of it for forever. And I do feel like our that roast was kind of Pete Davidson's coming out away from SNL. Right. Because he was he was so angry at Ann Coulter. Yeah.

He was so angry. He was literally, by halfway through the show, he was just yelling at her from the panel while other people were performing. I was sitting right in front of her.

So occasionally when I, when I heard a stinging joke and don't forget, I got to go on like towards the end. So I'm like taking it all in, making mental note, mental notes. Am I going to be, I'm trying to roast the roast in my head so I, I can, and I,

I have so many great Ann Coulter jokes on my script in my head. I'm worried she's going to leave before I go on because Pete is killing her and everyone's killing her. So I kept looking back and like, are you okay? Giving her a little thumbs up. It's okay. You know, it's all in good fun. And she's just sort of,

She looked a little frightened. I thought I would have stress about me and what was being said about me and what I would say and not willing to fuck up and all of those things. I didn't give one shit about that. All I was thinking about was I just don't want Ann to get up and leave right now. I may have had as many jokes about her as I had about you.

I think at least a couple of the people on the panel were like, Rob Lowe's here, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, now. And they just went, unload. We should send her a gift basket or something. She took the pressure off you. She did. It was really fun. But I have to state, like, when the sun starts to set at night, the inner roast master comes out and I start roasting the dogs and inanimate objects around my house. It's becoming a little bit of a problem. Yeah.

I need to get back out there. My friends are telling me I should do an Instagram roast or, uh, I do a podcast called thick skin where it's like the inversion of roasting. If roasting is about dishing it out, the podcast is about taking the jokes. So, um,

I, in that show, occasionally I will roast somebody who just passed away, like as a, a way to see them off. So we did Linda trip from the Monica Lewinsky. You, uh, yes, of course. And you know, it's my way of honoring people when they, so I said, you may remember Linda trip, uh, uh, from her role in the Monica Lewinsky scandal or her role on Harry and the Hendersons. Yeah.

So I think in roasts. You know, it's like I can't help myself. Has there ever been a joke that you thought, that's too mean. I can't do it. Yes. I find that impossible to believe. Years ago, we were roasting William Shatner, who was a great sport and a lot of fun.

And I was killing, I was killing. The whole cast was there, Star Trek people. I had a run of five jokes about my childhood crush, Farrah Fawcett. She was there. And I had a bunch of snarky jokes about how she looked bad and she got old and she's not from the 70s anymore. It's now, you know, 30 years later. And I get there. I go right back to my 12-year-old self. She's absolutely stunning.

I couldn't even get... I literally just put a big X through it and chickened out. I just couldn't do it. I still thought I had a chance with her. I don't blame you. She was amazing. I had that poster. I think we all did. Of course. Her and Linda Ronstadt. Who were you listening to in Jersey? Were you a Springsteen guy? Bruce. Bruce, Bruce, Bruce. And...

Kiss oh boy, and then as I got into high school in college it became the Ramones and the clash and Rock I knew Johnny Ramone a little bit and You know, he was a horror fan And you go to you go to his house and it was like it was literally a museum of horror Wow, it was like something out of a Tim Burton movie figurines Chainsaw Massacre

VHS boxes everywhere. It was 100% devoted to the only decorational theme was horror. His grave at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery is one of my favorite tourist spots. As a matter of fact, I've been thinking that for me, maybe I need to do a similar thing. I was thinking of getting a plot for The Day I Die where

there's a podium next to where people could stand and just roast me for eternity. I think that's a great idea. It's such a good idea that I'm afraid somebody will kill me just to see that. And it might be me. I would love, I would love that. Cause yeah, Johnny Ramones, he's in like a,

It's a guitar. He's like with his guitar. Coming out of the ground. Yeah, it's a guitar coming out of the ground and he's there and it's a badass grave. One of my favorite. What would mine be though? Interesting. Maybe me looking in a mirror. I like that. I always do think about, see, I don't think about what would be at my grave.

Like what my grave would be look like, but I think I talked about this the other day. I do think when I'm shooting a TV series or a show or something and I walk through a doorway and turn around that I just shot my in memoriam. Yeah.

Segment. Have you ever had, I've had this, obviously I don't have the kind of experience you have, but one time I had to play a character that died in a drama. It was CSI. Yeah. They die a lot there for sure. A long time ago. And I have a big death scene and then I spent an entire day as a cadaver. Right. So they have to do the, uh, the, the morgue shot, the morgue scene now, and I have to be laying there. And,

I'd also been shooting and I was tired. And on the flight, I think I went to New York from there, I was having nightmares for like a week that I was dead. Like that I was... Do you ever, as an actor, do you ever have those sorts of... Does the character ever enter your dreams? Yeah. Oh, for sure. And particularly doing something like that where you're just... You are on a slab for 12 hours a day or something. For sure. Death scenes are...

I appreciate as an actor famous movie deaths. Like I...

Like there's the cop who gets shot in The Godfather when Michael comes out of the bathroom with a gun. One of the great deaths of all. He kind of grabs his throat in a real sort of mincing movement and then just falls face first into the table. You got, you know, famous last words in movies like in The Unforgiven. Yeah. Which is one of my favorite movies. Clint Eastwood where he shoots Gene Hackman in the end and Gene Hackman gets shot in the stomach and is shocked and looks up and says...

But I was building a house. It's like, I'm a student of that shit. I got to dig out my CSI because what the plot was, you'll love this. So I'm playing a comedian, but not myself. Dougie to the max, leather jacket, a little bit Andrew Dice Clay, a little bit maybe...

Dane Cook, both friends of mine. And I'm now a big sitcom star in Hollywood, but I've gone back to Vegas, it's CSI Vegas, for a homecoming at my home club. They bring me on, big intro. My opening act is Bobcat Goldthwait, who's not playing himself, he's playing a character. Gilbert Gottfried is going on too. We're all there playing characters. And

I have a drink. And every time I take a drink on stage, I'm poisoning myself. Until about three minutes into my act, I collapse. And I have a whole big writhing death scene. And it turns out it was my opening act poisoned my drink. All the local comics hated me. It's always the opening act. Yeah, I guess so.

At Ashley, you'll find colorful furniture that brings your home to life. Ashley makes it easier than ever to express your personal style with an array of looks in fun trending hues to choose from, from earth tones to vibrant colors to calming blues and greens. Ashley has pieces for every room in the house in the season's most sought after shades. A more colorful life starts at Ashley. Shop in store online today. Ashley, for the love of home.

All set for your flight? Yep. I've got everything I need. Eye mask, neck pillow, T-Mobile, headphones. Wait, T-Mobile? You bet. Free in-flight Wi-Fi. 15% off all Hilton brands. I'll never go anywhere without T-Mobile. Same goes for my water bottle, chewing gum, nail clippers. Okay, I'm going to leave you to it. Find out how you can experience travel better at T-Mobile.com slash travel. ♪

I want to know about Dancing with the Stars. I got to hear about this element of your career. First of all, full disclosure, every time I turn on Dancing with the Stars, I think I've mistakenly turned on to Telemudo. This is a while ago now.

And it had the word stars in the title. And at that point... So you did it. Of course. You're like, yes. I was like, wow, I'm a celebrity. It was my first real celebrity moment. And you're a comedian. When you're a comedian, you're always on shows with comedians. I want you to be on a show with...

actors and singers and other types of entertainers. I was like, oh, I'll be the funny guy in the cast this season when Kim Kardashian was on it. So she was just starting to break out and a lot of other cool people.

Warren Sapp, you know, NFL Hall of Famers. So I was like, this is going to be a fun experience. And I will honor the people that could sing and dance and their showman, showmanship. I'm going to do so well and be funny and make this work. And then I lost 20 pounds training. I learned the quick step and the cha-cha-cha.

And I was in love with my partner, Edita. She was amazing. And on my entire, my sister, my entire, my nephews, they all flew into town for the big premiere live on ABC and primetime. And everybody's calling me up, offered me advice and well wishes. And I, um, at my last camera blocking rehearsal, a few hours before we go live and, um,

Edda excuses herself for 20 minutes. She wanted to do her nails for the big show. She had fake nails put on so it'd be a little more glamorous when she spins around. And we blocked it one more time in front of the cameras. And on the last move, when I hit my knee and she does her final thing, that eighth of an inch difference in her nails sliced my cornea. Oh, man.

I go down. I'm on the ground. Everyone thinks I'm kidding. I don't get up. I don't get up. I don't get up. Next thing I know, I'm in a production assistant's car in the backseat on my way to the emergency room. And, you know, his doctor's, then an ophthalmologist, then another doctor, and...

They say you can't dance. You need to wear an eye patch or you need to rest your eye. And I go, what are you talking about? I, Jimmy Kimmel texts me. He goes, you have to dance. You'll be a hero.

Boy, and I'm taking it all in and my partner editor... And for those who don't know, a cornea scratch is the most painful. Yeah. It's unimaginable how I've had it. You can't function at all. Months of training now and I don't want to bow out. I don't know what to do. My partner editor says, if you can walk, you can dance. I go, let's dance. So then the producer comes over and he says, maybe you should just...

you know, take this episode and it's live. It's so exciting. We've been promoting it for months. And he goes, I go, come on, I got to dance. The show must go on. He goes, Jeff, the show goes on whether you dance or not. Okay.

And I dance, and I'm terrible. I can only see out of one eye. My balance is bad. I don't even think they gave me enough credit for dancing with the bad eye. I got the worst score. I lost to Cloris Leachman. Oh, my God. And she was 80 at the time. Yes. She wasn't even dancing. It was like Weekend at Bernie's the musical that her partner just dragged her.

her around the dance floor and I think her score was 9-1-1 and you know I got eliminated and they said something about my ballroom dancing and at that point I was live I knew I was getting kicked off I didn't care I said speaking of ballroom these pants are too tight I'm getting the fuck out of here laughing

Did it make it on the air? Please tell me it did. It all made it on the air. And, you know, I remember a few of the steps. So it's not a total bust, but it was a heartbreaking memory at the time. I know more people get injured on that show. Legit. Like, for sure.

They're mostly the non-dancers, but I've heard multiple people go down. Right. Well, that's what I was saying about the yoga. You know, like I needed the yoga in order to not like pull a muscle or rip my shoulder off. You know, it's a tough, it was a tough physical challenge for me, but I'm glad I did it. I got out of my comfort zone. Did I honor the showmen, the entertainers that came before me? I'm not so sure. I need to go back and

Well, if nothing else comes of it, people are going to go and watch our roast on iTunes. Where do you get the roast? On iTunes, right? I'm not even sure. I think you'd have to probably go to Comedy Central's website and research it from there. Yeah, I know people who've told me they can watch it on iTunes, and that's great. But now I'm going to be looking for your – I'm going to see if I can find that dance. It's got to be unbelievably painful. You're a cultural enigma.

And people want to know what goes on beyond the facial hair. So tell me this. Who's scarier? Zombies, werewolves, Democrats or Republicans?

Of that group, who frightens you the most? Werewolves. Because I live in the hills. Yeah, I think it's all, they're all equal there. Rolling Stones or Beatles? You're a big music guy. Rolling Stones or Beatles? Where are you on that? I love them both. But if it was a desert island situation, it would be the Beatles. Can't live without the Beatles. Who's the most overrated Beatle? None. Who's the most overrated cast member of Friends? Chandler.

Matthew Perry, overrated. Because I auditioned for that role 25 years ago. But I think a big key to it all is surprising your audience. Especially with me, because it's easy to get pigeonholed as the roast guy. But if you change what that means every year...

If the first year it means roasting celebrities in tuxedos for a while, and then it means roast battles, and it means roasting historical figures, and it means doing a podcast that has a roast element. To me, it's okay if you have a brand as long as you keep the audience on their toes and don't do the same formulas, the same jokes, the same fads.

type of thing every time. When people ask me about what I've seen over 40 years of doing this, the thing I always talk about is that it's...

The key is the people who keep surprising you. Like my heroes surprise me. We talked about Bruce Springsteen earlier on in the show. Yeah. Like Bruce does his rock and roll big band stuff. Then he'll do his acoustic Woody Guthrie stuff. And his last album was like an homage to sort of the Beach Boys pop Southern California rock and roll, which I loved. And the people who stay stuck are the people you get tired of, I think. Yeah. You can't be doing your greatest hits.

You got to work some stuff in and earn those greatest hits. That's just how I think. You got to keep people on their toes. Got to keep it relevant. I love Joan Rivers. She always brought new material. She was a killer. I did The Tonight Show with her twice. She was so... And that was when she was at her most powerful... God, she was funny. Yeah.

I miss her. I got a picture of her on my desk right here at Howard Stern's 60th birthday party. Oh, my God. Look at you. We got to do a dueling roast together. Big honor for me. Oh, my God. That is awesome. Well, this is great. Thank you so much, Jeff. This is great to see, like, the sweet, cuddly side of you. Not that I didn't know it was there. You're a good man. Thanks for having me.

Thanks for listening, everybody. That was fun today. I love Jeff. He's such a sweetheart. You know, that's what I always find is that the people who you think you have one perception of, there's a whole other side to them that you don't get to see. And he's like really thoughtful, really, as you saw, great storyteller, really, really, really funny. But man, can he whip it out. No pun intended. I don't know what that was about. I need to...

Talk to my therapist. Okay, before I sign off today, it's called the lowdown line. Hello, you've reached literally in our lowdown line where you can get the lowdown on all things about me, Rob Lowe. 323-570-4551. So have at it. Here's the beep.

Hello, this is Edward from Santa Monica, California. And I love the podcast. I always feel good when I listen to it. And I just left Mulberry Pizza in Beverly Hills and

and saw written in a Sharpie a nice little note signed by you and was wondering, is that really you that signed the wall at Mulberry Pizza on Cannon in Beverly Hills? And then the other thing I was wondering, there's always such a joy in your voice, and I was wondering if there's one thing you could share that helps you stay so engaged and youthful-sounding and joyful-sounding. All right. Thank you very much for all you do. Bye.

Oh, thank you. That was great. I love that. You put a big smile on my face. I'm even more joyful.

Now, so if there's anything having to do with pizza anywhere at any time, the answer regarding me is going to be yes. And yes, I signed the wall at Mulberry Street. I've been a big patron of theirs. I come in, they get my Coke and my three slices of pepperoni. You sit at the counter. It's one of the great, great days you can have in Beverly Hills.

I'm not doing the fancy stuff in Beverly Hills. I'm not going to Gucci. I'm having a Coke and a pizza and reading the New York Post. It tells you kind of all that you need to know about me. And thank you for noticing that I am upbeat. I think I am an optimistic person.

And I like, you're hearing a podcast that I'm doing and I'm super excited to have these folks on. I mean, I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't love, you know, picking the brain of whatever guest I have. And I hand, I choose the guests that, you know, every single person who shows up on this podcast is somebody I've wanted to have on. And, and I think, you know, I, you're, you're picking up on the fact that I'm, that I'm, I'm feeling great about curating such a great

group of people like when I go back and look at the stack of the podcasts you know on you know when I go to Stitcher and I look and see who's on I'm like you know what this is a murderer's row really funny interesting talented bizarre whatever it is these are people I want to spend time with so that gets me excited anyway thanks for listening there's more of this where it came from all you got to do is download it or subscribe which would be better subscribe and I will see you next week on literally

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

And music is by Devin Bryant. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next week on Literally with Rob Lowe. This has been a Team Coco production in association with Stitcher.

At Ashley, you'll find colorful furniture that brings your home to life. Ashley makes it easier than ever to express your personal style with an array of looks in fun trending hues to choose from, from earth tones to vibrant colors to calming blues and greens. Ashley has pieces for every room in the house in the season's most sought after shades. A more colorful life starts at Ashley. Shop in store online today. Ashley, for the love of home.

All set for your flight? Yep. I've got everything I need. Eye mask, neck pillow, T-Mobile, headphones. Wait, T-Mobile? You bet. Free in-flight Wi-Fi. 15% off all Hilton brands. I'll never go anywhere without T-Mobile. Same goes for my water bottle, chewing gum, nail clippers. Okay, I'm going to leave you to it. Find out how you can experience travel better at T-Mobile.com slash travel. ♪

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.