Matthew Lowe: Civilian Son
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I might expose myself a little bit here, but I pick and choose my episodes literally that I listen to. Oh, let's talk about that. Okay. All right. Yeah. Tell me. She's one of my favorites for sure. Really? Welcome to a special edition of Literally With Me, because today it's all about family. I've got my firstborn. Matthew Lowe is joining us. And you always know what it's like if you're a parent. Your firstborn is still your baby.

but he's 30 and I need to get with the program. It's very, very hard to, uh, see your kids as fully functioning adults, but I'm working on it. And, uh, you know, I've had Cheryl on the show, my wife, I've had Johnny on the show because he's in the business. So this is net. Matthew is my civilian son. He has a real job. He's an upstanding person, extremely bright. And, uh,

I can't wait for you guys to meet him. Let's bring him on. Matthew, welcome to the show. I like, you know, we've done no, I did no research. I'm not really sure what to talk to you about. And I love that you're making your debut here. I think you're the last family member to be on the show, right? We had Johnny and we had your mom. I am the last family.

direct family member to be on. And I think my IMDB is a little bit less than Johnny's, but that's not saying much. Are you in, where are you in, where am I catching you? Are you in Hawaii right now? I am in Hawaii at good old Hawala. I can't. How's your, how's your, do you play golf? Are you learning golf? I've been trying to get you to play golf. So listen, I think it's really important for kids to learn golf.

If you can, if you have the wherewithal and the ability to learn tennis and golf, because it's such, they're both sports you can play forever. It's great for meeting people. It's great. It's a great social sport. And tennis, Matthew and I played forever. Golf has been a struggle to get Matthew to commit to it. But you tell me you've been doing it

How was the progress? I played two back-to-back days, nine holes each day. I wish I had taken a day on the range for lessons, but we had a pro come out with us, and it was quite something because it was mom and I together with the pro. Oh, boy. So that was something. I'll give you guys credit. I'm actually a little bit sore. My abs and core is a little bit sore, and my back's a little tight. I get it. I didn't understand that it was actually...

It's pretty intense. And my girlfriend's mom was telling me that actually she's a nurse practitioner that golf has been one of the number one sports for rib injuries. And she broke her rib golfing. Broke a rib golfing? How? Yeah.

Because her husband told her that to get really good at golf, you need to hit 10,000 balls. That's true. And so she would hit 100 balls every day at the driving range. Right. And I guess she threw out a broker rib or something like that golfing because she had the bad form and didn't learn it yet. And so I understand that now. I had to go in the cold plunge in the sauna yesterday back to back to get back to feeling all right. But my game is okay. I have a really good short game.

My putting is really good. I really need some help with the irons. And my drive, I smash it, but I don't close the club face enough.

coming through. I love it. What's it like playing with your mother? I love the way I say your mother, like Cheryl and I are divorced. We talk about each other as if we're divorced. What is your mother doing? I know, right? She's a little bit more interested in feeding the birds on the course Fig Newton bars than focusing on her game at the moment. See, that's why I love her. I mean, that is...

Fig Newtons. I saw that. Did you shoot that video you sent me of them? Oh, yes. Yeah. It's very cute. And they were following us from hole to hole. But on the 18th yesterday, she drove the green.

and then hit a hybrid up onto the green. Sorry, she didn't drive the green. She drove the fairway, then hit a hybrid up onto the green, and then I putted it in for par. And I was like, there you go. We should end on that. Yeah, that's a good ending. Matthew has always been, you know, it's funny. Those of you who have kids, you'll know. You raise the same kids in the same house, the same way, and

And then they grow up very differently and have different world views and different interests. And Matthew and I have always been super interested in the outdoors together, history together, documentaries together, politics together, and getting out in nature. I think, like, wouldn't you say that you and I would be outside any chance we could be?

Oh, for sure. I'm the type of person where even, for example, like on this trip here, it's a long weekend. It's Memorial Day. So I have three days here, but I get antsy just sitting around the resort and sitting around. I'm like, okay, like we should go snorkeling. We should go fishing. We should go diving. Activities, activities, activities.

And I really appreciated that because I remember on our family trips growing up, we always had activities. And I think that pushed me into always wanting to do things. And for me, I think I got it from your dad, from Grandpa Chuck, who loved fishing. And actually, Mom's Grandpa Earl, too, had fishing. And that just took off early. It started with fishing, and then it became surfing, and then it became spearfishing, fishing.

And then it became hunting. And so now I'm just anything in the outdoors. Talk about, this is the other thing, as parents, you all relate, if you have kids, you want to know what they're up to, but also you're kind of glad sometimes you don't know what they're up to. We had a trip to Hawaii and Matthew went spearfishing and

It wasn't until a couple years later that you finally told me what happened on the deep hole experience. Tell that story because it still gives me the shivers. Yeah. So I grew up freediving, spearfishing. Absolutely love it. Don't get to do it as much as I like back home in California because it's a little cold and murky. For those who don't know, freediving literally is you're diving, holding your breath,

with a spear gun or a spear pole. Yep. And so we grew up coming to the big island of Hawaii. And here, the water's amazingly clear, warm. So whenever I'm here, I really like doing it a lot. Over the years, got to know a lot of great people here. So I had friends. One time, I was out with a friend of mine, Rob White, and a Captain Geo. We were both diving in the water. And we were

a couple hundred yards away from each other and the boat was a further hundred yards away out. How far offshore? We were in a hundred feet of water and like probably a quarter mile offshore. And we were trying to hunt these fish called uku, which is gray snapper. So you drop chum and you're watching it fall to the bottom and you're trying to see these fish come up in the chum line. And we hadn't seen anything in like an hour and a half. So you kind of zone out a little bit.

And I'm sitting there watching the chum go down. And it's kind of later in the day. And all of a sudden, I hear Gio from the boat yelling at me. And I was like, huh? And I turned my head up and he's like, Matthew, tiger, turn around. And I turned around and spun. And as I spun, there was a tiger shark right behind me, like coming full speed at me. And when I turned and swung my gun and made eye contact with it,

At about 10 feet away from me, it veered down like I had caught it in the act and went down to the bottom and did a circle around me and then went out, out into the blue and I lost track of it. I was like, oh my God, that was crazy. And it was probably like 12, 13 foot tiger shark. I swam back to the boat.

And Gio was like, yeah, man, that thing was coming at you full speed from behind and you turned around just in the nick of time. And I was like, was it coming to say hello or was it coming to investigate a little bit more toothy? And he was like, yeah, that was potentially really bad had you not turned around.

Because that's what they do, come up behind you. Do you think you would have even turned around had he not alerted you to it? But here's the other thing. I've just heard another part of the story that I'd never heard before. First of all, I didn't hear the story at all. Then I heard the story like a year later. Now it's many years later. And now you're dropping a very specific detail that if your mother heard, she would lose it, which is your buddy had to tell you to turn around. In other words, you didn't see it at all.

Yeah. To be honest with you, I didn't. And I've had a lot of times in the water, and I'm sure you have too, surfing, where you kind of get that feeling. Yes. You know? No, for sure. And I've had that before. And I'm pretty safe where if I get that weird feeling nowadays, I'm just like, I'm calling it or I'm out. But I didn't have that then. And I don't know why. I definitely just only turned around because he was yelling at me. Okay. So-

What does your mom always say to you before you go diving? Make sure you have a buddy. Never dive alone. Never dive alone. She literally was saying that, she was saying this last night. We were going to dinner and I forgot how the subject of freediving came up and she was just saying,

I hope that you're just smart now. I hope that you just... Don't be stupid. You have so much to live for. I was like, I know I have so much to live for. That's such a Cheryl Lowe. Yeah, it really is. That is insane. How would you describe your mother? What was it like being raised by your mother? Cheryl Lowe is a force of nature. That is for sure. She is...

Super loving. She would take a bullet for anyone in the family. You do not want to get on her bad side. She is the ultimate mama bear. And she is one of the funniest people, both intentionally and oftentimes unintentionally. Oh, unintentionally. I like when she starts speaking in broken English.

Yes. So I took a video yesterday. There was a gecko in the house and she was slamming picture frames trying to get the gecko. She's like, there's going to be multiple geckos behind all of these paintings. And she's slamming the paintings and just running around in her nightgown. I was like, this is just the unintentional craziness of Cheryl Lowe. Yeah, the notion that she thinks that there are going to be multiple geckos behind the picture frames because there's one gecko in the place. Yeah.

Yeah. And she's the type of person where you'll get a call at 4 p.m. And I'm like, hey, I'm just finishing up work. Can I call you in a minute? She's like, this is really important. I need to talk to you. Okay, well, let me step outside. I'll step outside. And she just goes, I'm really concerned. I really think that Daisy's mad at me and she doesn't want to hang out with me. Daisy being her dog, her pet Jack Russell. Amazing. Like, well, I'm at work right now in the office. Like, I can't talk about the politics of our dogs. Yeah.

And she's deadly serious, right? Oh, yeah. Very serious. She goes, she's moody. She doesn't like me. I don't know what's going on. There's no, that's why, I mean, that's, people are like, how did you pick Cheryl? And because she's, among other things, she's so interesting. And when she was on the podcast, it's funny, she was the first person I had on the show that was of the family because I just thought it'd be fun for people to see, to meet our family. And

Um, it's gotten, people love the episode because she's so entertaining and such a unique person in addition to being, you know,

all the other amazing things that she has. She's a character. Literally, she's an actual character. I might expose myself a little bit here, but I pick and choose my episodes literally that I listen to. Oh, let's talk about that. Okay. All right. Yeah. Tell me. She's one of my favorites for sure. Really? Yeah. It was a great one. People always like to ask, do your kids ever see any of your movies or like what exactly? And I say no.

And they go, not really. So here, for those of you who don't believe it, you've seen very little of my work. Yes, there are definitely things that I just don't have the patience to go and watch, nor interest. Or the interest. One of those being, we were on a trip recently and we had a tradition on this trip that we go on every year of watching movies and the host picks the movie.

And it was centered around artists. So you picked a movie that you were in. And we watched Bad Influence. Hang on, hang on. You're making me sound like an egomaniac, which I may be. But it was the artist has to pick a movie of their own. Yes. It wasn't like he said, pick a movie, Rob. And I went, I'm going to pick Bad Influence, which I did.

Had to be one of mine. I like my version of events better. Yes. Because it makes me look bad. Yes, but go ahead. Yes. So you put that one on rightfully. And I remember texting Johnny in the middle of it because we're sitting next to each other. And I go, I kind of want to just go get snacks. Not really because I want a snack, but I'm not very entertained by this. That's one of my better ones.

It's one of my better ones. I don't know. I think you should have thrown on Tommy Boy. Okay, what are the ones you have seen? I love Tommy Boy. I can rewatch that one anytime. I'm just a massive Farley fan. Wayne's World, also great.

The cameo in Austin Powers, amazing. I think actually I'm your biggest fan in the family of the West Wing. I've seen it multiple times, the seasons. I'm in it, which is- You are in it. Oh, you are in it. It's my claim to fame. It's the famous episode, right? Not only, Matthew, are you in the West Wing, you are in arguably-

And without a doubt, any West Wing fan will tell you it's in the top five ever made. And it's a lot of people's favorite episodes. The episode's called Noel. And it's the episode Richard Schiff won his Emmy deservedly for. It's a Christmas episode. And there are carolers in one of the rooms of the West Wing. Don't give it away too much. I want to see if the viewers can even figure out which one's me.

Oh, that's a good idea. Yeah. See if they can figure it out. We'll have to find a young Matthew Lowe. How old am I? Seven. I'm really young. I have a vivid memory of that day. You know how when you're really young, you have kind of like snapshot memories of things? Yes. I remember being...

really, really annoyed and uncomfortable because I had to wear dress shoes and they were really tight and being uncomfortable in dress shoes. And that's my little snippet memory of that day. And also playing chess with Martin Sheen. I mean, that's a pretty cool memory. Yeah. You got to play chess with President Bartlett. Mm-hmm. Those are my memories of that day. But yeah, I'm a huge fan of the West Wing. I love it. It got me interested in politics. I...

do think that the West Wing did a great job of glamorizing what politics is actually like, and it's only gotten worse and worse and more divisive since then. And I don't know. I think the world would be a lot better if we could go back to the West Wing days of politics. I know. It's like when you watch that show now, it almost seems, not almost, it seems quaint. It's like, oh, bless their cotton socks. Yeah. Yeah.

And then also, I was a Parks and Rec fan before you were on the show. Yeah, you were. I remember coming to you and Johnny and saying I had a chance to be on this show, Parks and Rec. And all I knew at the time about Parks and Rec was I was a big Amy Poehler fan and a big fan of anybody with SNL. And I knew that they were making this show, which was originally supposed to be

sort of a spinoff or at least inspired by The Office. And every picture I ever saw was Amy sitting in a dirt hole or something. And I was like, what is this show? So I didn't really watch it. And then they asked me to be on it. And I went to you and Johnny and you guys gave me great career advice and said, yeah, this is a cool show. Be on it. And I was also a very big fan of the DirecTV commercials. Yeah.

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And craft the perfect Sunday brunch when it's not even Sunday. Because with McCormick by your side, it's going to be great. By the way, as your son, I've never seen you more famous than when those DirecTV commercials came out. It was crazy, right? I felt like... It was really insane. I've been around for a lot of stuff. But the amount of people that would stop you on the street and be like, Rob Lowe, which Rob Lowe are you?

It was insane. Harry Arms Rob Lowe. Super creepy Rob Lowe. Yeah. And that was one of my favorite

things I've ever done. It's, I mean, really, truly, like those commercials are super funny, super weird, super successful. But there is something about like having, you know, being around for a long time where you have ebbs and flows of when you're in the zeitgeist and the consciousness. And there, I mean, those things ran all the time and they ran on football. And if you want to be famous, be affiliated with football because that's the only thing anybody ever really watches live now.

We have another famous NFL moment together, too. Do you know what it is? I do. I do know. Why don't you tell the story? We were flying up to go to the NFC Championship game. I believe it was Packers 49ers. Yep. And you were going because Lone Star was on Fox. That's right. And Fox...

Fox had all these different hats for you to choose from. So you, yeah, this is what's great about this story is you saw the hats because we debated. It was a 49ers hat. It was an NFC championship game hat. It was a Packers hat. And then to your credit, a hat I've never seen before, which is just the NFL shield logo.

And you picked the NFL Shield logo. And I don't remember what your rationale was behind it other than you wanted to somewhat stay neutral and you thought it was cool. Yeah. And lo and behold, there's a shot of us in the middle of the game with, I don't even know why they panned to us. And all of a sudden-

Because Fox wanted to promote Lone Star on the game. So that's the only reason. Yeah. And I just remember our phones going zzz, zzz, zzz, zzz, more so than usual. Because, you know, look, like you and I go to a lot of sporting events together. You and I are massive Dodgers fans. So we go all the time to that. And they'll cut to us sometimes. But this was unlike anything else. I'm like, what is going on right now? Our phones were blowing up.

And then that was when the meme of Rob Lowe with staying neutral, Rob Lowe, go team. He's the team guy. I don't want to pick a side. I want both teams to have fun. Yeah. I support the shield. That was, who knew? That was, and that is one of those things you just don't. Apparently, Roger Goodell told me that it's the most circulated viral meme in NFL history. Oh, I'm sure. Yeah.

I'm sure it is. And it's just a happy accident. I just picked that hat, which I think is a cool hat. Yeah. I think that you, a lot of the time though, make unintentionally really smart branding and kind of just like, you tend to think outside the box a lot, either intentionally or unintentionally. I don't know which. I haven't quite discovered yet. Luck. But you have really good instincts, so I always trust them when it comes to those things.

Thank you. Tell them the great, and you have your own viral moment, which is my favorite ever. Are you eating a churro? That was really embarrassing. No, it was a Wetzel's pretzel. It was a cinnamon Wetzel's pretzel, which if you know me is a sweet spot of mine. I do love me some Wetzel's pretzels. Yeah, it was 2017. I actually looked this up last night because we were at the table and I showed it around. We were at, it was the playoffs, Dodgers.

2017, I was in the box. I don't know where you were at the time. And Vin Scully was alive. I'm not with you. I've gotten to the bathroom. I think I went alone. Yeah. And Vin was in the box. Vin Scully. The famous announcer, Vin Scully, before he passed away. And he was right above me. And I was sitting down below him in a row with no one there. And I'm just, you know, it's a baseball game. You don't pay attention every two seconds to something.

So I'm kind of zoning a little bit and I'm just eating this Wetzel's pretzel and didn't think anything of it. And then like an hour later, these people kept, multiple friends of mine sending me MLB gifs of, look at this fan enjoying his night at the ballpark. And he doesn't even know that there's a living legend behind him. And it's just me munching on a Wetzel's pretzel. So I'm like, dude, of course I know Vin Scully's there. Come on now. But I look like such a buffoon. Yeah.

It was bad. So sweet. I love it. It's so good. One of the most fun things that... The other thing you and I share is our love of ancient aliens and Bigfoot and being obsessed with all that stuff. And when we did the low files, which... Do you know if that's still around? Yeah, I was recently...

I was recently showing my girlfriend The Low Files. It is available on Apple TV still, or on iTunes, I think, so you can go and find it. And I'll plug the first episode is a great one, and both Bigfoot episodes are great. I mean, the first episode, you was in the haunted...

Like, it was like a... Preston Castle. What would you describe? It was a... Reformatory? Boys' reformatory. So it started out as like a, you know, wards of the state, but it became a little bit more prison-y. I think it was, whatchamacallit, Juvie. It was essentially like a precursor to Juvie that was open in like 1901. Yes, when people were really running amok with that stuff. Yes.

They had multiple deaths there. They had two murders. They had one of the housekeepers get murdered. So it was very, very vibey haunted place. It's now a museum in Northern California and we filmed there. And look, I think the way that the low files went, you believed everything.

I was the, I want to believe, but I will try and prove everything away with science first. And then John Owen was, nothing is real. You guys are all idiots. And I don't really want to be here. That's right. So we had a great little mix. Yes. And of all the episodes that we shot, that was the one where I came away from it being like, oh, yeah.

I've changed my complete perspective on the subject of what we were coming here, which was ghosts. What do you feel like you experienced that made you change your mind? It was interesting because when we were filming...

Most of the time we had not a large group, but a crew around us. So when we were filming, I could never really say, okay, well, that sound I heard was 100% not the crew because I couldn't see who was around. So later on in the night, I decided to stay alone with the docent and they locked us in. So we knew that it was only us two in the entire building.

And at that point, we went and sat in the dorm where he had said, hey, this is where a lot of the activity happens. It's like 3 a.m. We had this kind of deflated ball, which this is all on film. You can see it in the episode. And we put it on the ground in front of us. We're sitting on two chairs like this on either side of it. And I'm filming it. And we're asking the spirits to move the ball.

asking, asking, asking, nothing's happening, asking, asking, asking. And then all of a sudden it felt like someone took a knife of ice and stuck it in my back and started to spread through my body.

And as that happened, the ball started to move. And it's a deflated ball, mind you. So it's hard to move the ball. The floor is completely wooden and on plane. There's no open windows. There's no draft. None of us are touching it. I can see it in the video. And the ball clearly goes this way and then that way and it moves. And it was really, really, really crazy. I can't explain that away. I caught it on film.

That is amazing that you have it on film and you can see it's low files on Apple TV. No, is that what you said? Apple or iTunes. iTunes. Same thing. And we're threatening to do it again. I want to do it again. Would you do it again with me? If I set it up, would you go again? 100%. Because for me, it was the easiest thing ever. And this is a good little segue for me. I didn't have the acting bug like you and Johnny had at all. Right. But...

The low files is not acting. It's just us having a great time together, doing things that we would do anyway. And there happens to be cameras there and we get to share it with the world. And it was so fun. I loved it. And we did such a good job of, I'm in law school, Johnny's in college. We'd leave on a Friday, film throughout the weekend, and then go back to our day jobs. And it was so fun. It definitely felt like we were escaping reality. Oh, for sure. When you fly to

Oklahoma City and get in the tricked out Raptor and we're going to go hunt Bigfoot for the weekend. Or we're driving to the Redwoods or some secret military base in the middle of the Utah desert. It literally is like a mix of two of my all-time favorite shows. Scooby-Doo and Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown. I remember when you were trying to... When we were...

Something that you do a lot, I don't. Upfronts and pickups. And you were saying, that was the line every two seconds. It's Scooby-Doo meets Anthony Bourdain unknown. And so I had that line just logged into my head. Yeah, you have to be able to describe. If you can't describe what you're doing in one sentence, then you're probably not doing something that's going to work. By the way, I say that all the time in my line of work. If you can't tell me what you're doing in succinctly within two to three sentences, it's probably not going to work. So you...

The first person in the family, well, listen, you went to law school and I've never seen a human being study harder than you did studying the bar. What was it like for you studying the bar? Because for me, it was painful watching you do it. Painful. It was interesting. I had a very interesting thought process to it of after I graduated law school, I kind of knew that I didn't want to practice law full time. Yeah.

So I was struggling with whether I was even going to take the bar a little bit. And then I said to myself, well, I would feel like I didn't complete this task and accomplishment of mine if I didn't give this a shot. And so I said, okay, well, if I'm going to give this one shot, I need to give it my absolute best shot. And if it's meant to be, it's meant to be. If it's not, it's not. So I went into it.

being like, this is it for me. And I studied 11 hours a day, seven days a week for two and a half months. I took a half day off, a half day for the 4th of July. And I did like three or 4,000 extra multiple choice questions that I needed to do. And for me- Wait, three or 4,000? Yeah, yeah. And for me, I'm-

I like school. I'm not necessarily naturally great at studying or taking tests. So I had to work extra hard at it. And look, man, it's brutal. It's a two-day test, like six or seven hours each day. I took it in the Anaheim Convention Center with like 1,500 other people, guy with a megaphone at the front. You may now begin and you have your computer there. The kid next to me, his computer didn't turn on. So he had to write the exam.

And the girl next to me, they said, three, two, one, go. She threw up over her computer and I had to just tunnel vision focus and go. No way. No way. Yeah. Yeah, of course. Oh, yeah. By the way, that kid who sat next to me went to UCLA Law. I don't remember his name. I wouldn't expose him either way. And we walked out of the test on day one on the essay section. He goes, oh, man, like, how about that Crim Pro essay? I go, what do you mean, Crim Pro essay? There was a Crim Law essay. He goes, no, no, it was Crim Pro. I was like, nah, it wasn't, man.

And my buddy Ronnie walked by me and go, Ronnie, that's whatever essay was with crim pro or crim. And he goes, yeah, it was crim law. So that kid had completely messed up what the subject was. Cause they don't tell you on the essays. There's essentially no coming back from that. You may as well not go to day two. If you messed that up, you're just not going to pass.

So it's that much of, I don't know. I never saw him again. There's 1500 people. But when he said, when your buddy said to him, confirmed that he got it wrong, what did he do? Oh, his face just went white and he just was a shell. But I was in like game time mode. I had to go refocus myself. Um, yeah. And then you don't find out about whether you passed or not for three. So, uh,

end of July, August, September, October, November, four months, you don't find out about it. So you're sitting there. I can't even, I don't know how people do it. And I just don't know. And then your grandpa, my dad, he's a lawyer. He's practiced for 50, 50 plus years. Can you imagine? No, God bless him, man. And he loves it. And

He is one of those people where you'll have to drag him out of a practice. I got lucky with him being super passionate about that, you being super passionate about your career. Although it was hard growing up with you being so passionate about what you were doing because I was the opposite. I didn't know what I wanted to do.

And so it was harder for me when I would ask you for advice. You're like, I wanted to be an actor at eight years old. I knew it and I went out and did it. I'm like, okay, well, thank you for that. What do I do when I'm still trying to figure it out? What did you do? How did you, how did you now, do you feel like you've figured it out? Or do you feel like, cause you know, you do know that you're,

Not so much your generation, but whatever they call the even younger generation, the notion of knowing what you're going to do and that's what you're going to do is like completely outdated that most people are going to have at least three different chapters of their lives of what they're going to do. Yeah. I look, I think I'm 30 years old. I'm really, really lucky to be where I am. I wouldn't take anything back that I've done. Um,

But I definitely think it took me a very roundabout path to get to where I am today, where I am very happy in doing what I'm doing in the field that I'm in, being venture capital, finance world. But it was hard. And I think that the biggest impact you guys had on me in helping me with that was from a very early age,

always having me do internships in the summer somewhere to try and figure out what I wanted to do. And I was really lucky that I got to do a lot of crazy stuff. I worked for the house majority leader in the debt ceiling negotiation crisis, the first one. That was insane. That was literally the government was almost going to shut down or did it actually shut down? I can't remember. I don't remember if it did or didn't at that time, but I remember- Who was the majority leader? It was Eric

Eric Cantor. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so I remember a couple of days walking into the, walking in to the Capitol building in the morning on day one and then walking out nighttime two days later and having been there for like 24 to 48 hours straight. Um, wow. And mind you, I'm not like prepping memos and in negotiation myself. I'm just an intern and I'm still there that long.

So, you know, I got to do stuff like that. I worked in... And you never wanted to get into politics? Do you want to run for office? It was very disillusioning being there and seeing what it really was. How so? How so? It just seemed like if you succeeded at something, it was expected. And if you failed, you were tar and feathered. So...

There was no winning. There was no great achievement, no accomplishment. It wasn't like the old days where you can look back on, oh, this person did this and that's why they're known and they're so great. It was just... It was starting to be so divisive and it's only gotten, like I said, much worse. So I was like, this is not the world for me. I just wasn't in love with the cloak and dagger kind of like political... Politicking of it all in DC. And I had a...

internship in private equity that I enjoyed. I didn't like, I went, I was working at Colony Capital. I loved the industry. I didn't necessarily love the area that we were in for my interest, but I was like, this is really cool. I really like putting together deals. I like this area of it. And that kind of started me on my path of where I ended up. It took me a little bit, but got there. Yeah.

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Well, so what if you say, oh, he's a finance bro. Are you like, what I love is every sector has their pejorative and justifiably so. Like actors, I roll my eyes at actors. I roll my eyes at politicians. I roll my, like there's a caricature and a cliche no matter what you do. Yes. In almost any job in the world. And the finance bro, I think is probably because of, uh,

Right? That was the thing, the Jeremy Strong character, right? Yes, that. And then the other one for my area specifically being Silicon Valley. Oh, Silicon Valley. That show is great. So good. If anyone hasn't seen that one, hard plug for that show. So great. And it does such a good job of capturing...

tech in that time. But yeah, I think there's different subsects of the tech bro culture and the finance bro. Most of it being like the investment banker at a New York type, you know, when you think of the Laura Piani shoes, the hat.

The Rolex, the expensing everything, the going out every night getting hammered, but working crazy hours. I will say a couple times I have shown up on set for you filming Unstable where you play a tech founder and you and I are dressed similarly, unintentionally, and you're in wardrobe and I am not. No, everybody has it. Listen, yeah.

everybody has a wardrobe no matter what they do, if they're doing it right. So you have a finger on the pulse of the new generation of thinking in finance and business. And you've had the advantage of watching me navigate a changing business your entire life. Where do you see the inefficiencies going forward? And where do you see the opportunities going forward while everybody is

Talking about how much the movie and TV business has changed and is changing. Yeah, I think that I grew up in a very interesting time and you have been a part of this industry for so long that you've seen the ebb and flow of different changes. But we're living through a massive shift because of technology, technology.

because of economy and because of connectivity of the world and just the way content is distributed. I think that now if you are a major talent and you're not starting to think about how you own your own medium of distribution and you own your own content and you own your own brand, that you will be left by the wayside. The days of

tentpole movies, tentpole movie stars, tentpole television actors, and that's what you did and you could be the best at that is not really there. There's so much content in the world now that people aren't forced to watch five different things. They can get everything at their fingertips anytime they want. And there's 10,000 different shows or movies for every little niche.

So, you have to be, as a talent, have your finger on the pulse of what people want and what interests you because you have to be authentic to yourself and do what you want. But you also have to understand, how do I distribute directly to my consumer and cut out the middleman and own my own brand? I think that's really important and that's the future of where things are going. And...

What's your view on AI? I mean, how much do you use AI in an average day? You use ChatGPT all the time, I'm guessing. I use AI tons. I use ChatGPT daily. I have a legal AI that I use to punch up stuff as well. Use it daily. Give me an example of how you use it daily. I'll write an email and I'll say, make this sound a little more

a little closer to tone X. Make this sound a little bit more sophisticated. Or I'll say, you know,

I'm doing research on a company and I'll say, hey, are you aware of X company? And they'll say, yes, I am aware of X company. I'll say, okay, find me 10 other companies that are similar to this company in this sector. And then it will do that. And then that'll inform where I start to go with my research. On the legal side, I have a platform where I can plug a contract and be like, hey, what am I missing here? I'll go, hey, I'm

The force majeure clause is pretty weak here. You're missing an indemnification. And I'll say, hey, can you help me add an indemnification clause to this document? So I use AI every day. So wait, so you can look at a contract and as an attorney yourself, have your opinion, and then it's a second set of eyes. Yeah, and what I say too is it can get you 80% of the way there with most things right now.

you're still going to have to do the 20% and punch it up. It's not good enough to send out. But I also then caveat that with, if you equate AI today with computing, we are living, the current stage of AI would be equivalent to the stage of computing when a computer was the entire basement at a university. So if that is the level AI is today,

imagine where it's going to be when we have that same computer in our pockets. Now, so as someone coming up and making their mark in this new world, which is here and exponentially growing, are you excited about it? Does it scare you? Are you uncertain? Like, how do you feel knowing in all likelihood that AI is going to transform the workplace unlike anything in human history? I...

Would be lying if I said I was a little scared, but it's not so much scared as much as it is apprehension and nervousness and excitement. I'll plug, you had a great episode the other day with Marc Andreessen, one of my heroes. And he brings up a great point in his manifesto about the good that will come of AI to...

Everyone having their own personal doctor, everyone having their own personal lawyer, the stuff that the elite have because they have money will be available to all. It will create a lot more equity in the world. It will allow for untold advances globally. And I think that the focus and villainization of it, of being like, it's going to take jobs and it's going to replace all art.

It's untrue. I think that AI is not going to replace people. It's going to make them more efficient and better at their jobs and allow them to focus on the true human element of things that AI will never be able to replace. That is the most positive. You had me the entire way up until you tried to tell me that it wasn't going to replace jobs because it for sure is. Yes. Do I think it's going to replace other jobs? It's going to replace simple jobs

task-based jobs. But then that allows people... Do you consider being a lawyer a simple task-based job? No, but I don't think AI will replace all lawyers. I think that AI will replace a lot of the day-to-day work that takes up a lot of time of attorneys. I don't think it's going to completely replace them. You're still going to need oversight. I don't think that we will ever get to a place of complete trust in the system that we will have robots running everything.

I don't think that's going to happen. Do you see a day when the Supreme Court is run by legal AI? Because I don't. That's a very good point. I like that. I'm going to leave it at that. It's a lot to think about. The Great Mamu. That's always been your nickname. It will be forever. It was so fun. Did you have fun? I hope you had fun. Yeah, I did. We got to do it again soon. We have hopefully some exciting announcements coming up that we can come back on and do together. Yeah, Matthew and I are planning some

some very cool outside businesses. As you can tell, it's great to have a young mind like him in your

in your corner. I love you, buddy. Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe just maybe I'll get a guest spot on Unstable season three. I thought you didn't want to act anymore. Will you grace us with your acting? I'm always down for a little cameo. Okay, well done. I mean, I know people. I mean, you're going to have to get it past your brother. Do you think you can get him to

Ooh, he's a tough one. Johnny Lowe is a tough character. You'll just have to, um, he's going to just make you audition. Oh God. The thought of the thought of him critiquing my acting.

As he will and as he should. All right. I love you. Have a good time out on the golf course. Oh, and by the way, Low Files is on Hulu Premium as well as Apple TV. Hulu Premium. How about that? There you go. Because, I mean, you don't get any more premium than a couple of GoPros strapped to a car driving around. That's about as premium as you get. I highly suggest it for everyone. It's a great time. All right.

Love you, Memu. Thank you. Love you. Bye. Yeah, Matthew and I love... What a great boy. I love that. Man, man, not boy, man. And having him basically now run the family business and...

bring me, you know, opportunities with investments is, it's a dream. It's a dream. I have one boy I can go and act and write with and create. And I have another, another son who, um, we can figure out business opportunities together. And some of them are very, very cool. And, um, when they come to fruition, I'm going to share them first here on Literally. Um, thank you for listening. Um, more great stuff to come and I will see you next time right here on Literally.

You've been listening to Literally with Rob Lowe, produced by me, Sean Doherty, with help from associate producer Sarah Begar and research by Alyssa Grau. Engineering and mixing by Joanna Samuel. Our executive producers are Rob Lowe for Low Profile, Nick Liao, Adam Sachs, and Jeff Ross for Team Coco, and Colin Anderson for Stitcher. Booking by Deirdre Dodd. Music by Devin Bryant.

Special thanks to Hidden City Studios. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time on Literally.

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

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